Ballet

At work, our favorite radio station is 104.1 - "Voodoo 104.1 ... New Orleans". Because of the station, I'm able to kick ass in the Current Pop Music category in the Song Pop games I play with my friends.

One of the songs in current rotation on the station is The Script's song Hall of Fame. Here are the lyrics. The video is below the lyrics.

 Yeah, you can be the greatest
You can be the best
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

You could beat the world
You could beat the war
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

You can throw your hands up
You can beat the clock (yeah)
You can move a mountain
You can break rocks
You can be a master
Don't wait for luck
Dedicate yourself and you gon' find yourself

Standing in the hall of fame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

You can go the distance
You can run the mile
You can walk straight through hell with a smile

You could be the hero
You could get the gold
Breaking all the records they thought never could be broke

Yeah, do it for your people
Do it for your pride
How you ever gonna know if you never even try?

Do it for your country
Do it for your name
'Cause there's gonna be a day...

When you're standing in the hall of fame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

Be a champion, be a champion, be a champion, be a champion
On the walls of the hall of fame

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers
(Yeah)

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions
Be truth seekers

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions

Standing in the hall of fame (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah, yeah, yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

(You can be a champion)
You could be the greatest
(You can be a champion)
You can be the best
(You can be a champion)
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

(You can be a champion)
You could beat the world
(You can be a champion)
You could beat the war
(You can be a champion)
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

(You can be a champion)
You can throw your hands up
(You can be a champion)
You can beat the clock(yeah)
(You can be a champion)
You can move a mountain
(You can be a champion)
You can break rocks

(You can be a champion)
You can be a master
(You can be a champion)
Don't wait for luck
(You can be a champion)
Dedicate yourself and you gonna find yourself
(You can be a champion)

Standing in the hall of fame

And here's the video...



I'm going through some trying times at work right now and am looking for any kind of inspiration to help me work through this time. One of my philosophies in life is: when I'm not sure how to proceed, throw enough darts at the dartboard and some of them will stick. That is, try enough methods to work myself out of a situation and some of them will work.

Here is where I want to link to the tag of the past times I've discussed some of my other life philosophies, but I see that I have not previously created that link. In the future, I will come back to this post and rectify that. I'll leave this tag for now.

The Script's lyrics and especially the video reminded me of a 1982 Rush song called Losing It. Both songs involve ballerinas - and making a live change. In the Rush song, the ballerina is defeated. In the Script's song, she is not.

The lyrics to Rush's Losing It (with the video following)...

The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration

Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory
The echoes of old applause

She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door...

The writer stare with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined

And streaked with tears of rage

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more...

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee... 

And the most representative video...



My point is that adversity is universal. By zeroing in on one example - the life of a ballet dancer shown in two different songs - we see that there is potential for different outcomes.

We make the decisions. We make the choices. We rule our life.

I read Marc and Angel Hack Life regularly. Their post entitled 5 False Beliefs That Are Holding You Back works with my theme, especially their retort #3 (I am stuck in my current life situation.) and #4 (It's too late to start anything.)

List: Best Movies That Celebrate Food

There are 297 movies currently on my Netflix queue. By the time a movie makes the top of my list and into my house, many times I have forgotten why the movie was on the list in the first place.

I watched one of those movies today - Last Holiday. The 2006 version not the original version from 1950 with Alec Guinness, which I now want to see.

The movie's summary from IMDB:
In morte veritas. Georgia Byrd clerks at a New Orleans department store. She defers pleasure: cooks gourmet meals, eats Lean Cuisine; likes a co-worker in silence; has savings, but hasn't left Louisiana. All that changes when a CT Scan discloses she has three weeks to live. She cashes her savings and heads to Europe's Grandhotel Pupp, where Chef Didier(Gerard Depardieu) presides. She checks into the Presidential Suite, orders everything on the menu, snowboards, and comes to the attention of the chef and the hotel's powerful American guests: a Congressman, a Senator, a retail magnate, and his mistress. She has nothing to lose, so she tells them what she thinks. Will the truth set them free?

 It is a bit predicable, but Queen Latifah, LL Cool J and the rest of the cast are quite good. The movie had two other things going for it that made it even more enjoyable: 1) a large part of the movie was filmed and set in New Orleans (which came as a pleasant surprise to me) and 2) the movie celebrated food - eating and cooking it.

In the first scene in the European restaurant run by the character played by Gerard Depardieu, in response to the waiter announcing the day's specials, Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) orders all of them. According to IMDB, Food Network posted the recipes for all of the dishes on their website. Specific dishes prepared for the movie include:

• Lobster Salad in Potato Leek Nests
• Duck Hash on Toasted Baguette
• Spiced Lamb Shanks with Blood Orange Relish
• Roasted Quail with Brioche and Chorizo Stuffing
• Risotto Barolo with Roasted Vegetables
• Bananas Foster
• Poulet Tchoupitoulas

This movie has me thinking of other movies that have the love of food as a main idea so here is my list of...

Best Movies that Celebrate Food
Last Holiday
Bend It Like Beckham (for the Indian dish Aloo Gobi, which I have made twice)
Waitress
Julie & Julia

Honorable Mention:
Soylent Green (no spoilers here)
The Help (for the chocolate pie)

That's a short list for now, but there are other movies on my Movie Master List that I have yet to see that may make the above list once I watch them:
Tampopo
Soul Food
Mostly Martha
Fried Green Tomatoes
Chocolat

Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars is one of those artists who - like Katy Perry or Pink (who I'll discuss one day soon) - are on the charts today that you wouldn't normally think I'd like. But I do.

I especially like his latest single Locked Out of Heaven:




It reminds me a lot of early Police songs, around their Outlandos d'Amour and to a lesser extent Reggatta de Blanc phase. As I did with the song Strawberry Letter 23, before I worked up a whole compare and contrast post, I Googled to see if someone else had already done the work. Sure enough, someone had!

First,  here are the three Police songs that I think Bruno Mars took inspiration from.

#1 - Can't Stand Losing You (from Outlandos d'Amour):




#2 - Roxanne (from Outlandos d'Amour):




#3 - Message in a Bottle - especially the chorus (from Reggatta de Blanc):




Here is the mash up of Bruno Mars's Locked Out of Heaven with The Police's Can't Stand Losing You - Can't Stand Locked Out of Heaven:




Here's an article entitled "Does Bruno Mars Think 'Heaven' Sounds Like A Police Song? 'Hell Yeah!''

Full article here.


Finally, here is the cast of Glee performing the song on their January 24, 2013 episode:

Figure

I guess it depends on the orientation. See what I did there?

Cool Ideas

Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup

I was looking through my fridge and pantry tonight to see what meal I could work up for tomorrow night when Carlos comes over. (Tonight, I'm eating leftovers; Carlos is at his parent's house.)

I have carrots, celery, chicken stock, egg noodles, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, among other things. Pretending I was on an episode of Chopped...



...I came up with Chicken Noodle Soup.

 After a quick search through the Food Network's site, I found this recipe...

Chicken Noodle Soup

by Paula Deen

Ingredients

Stock:

• 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) fryer chicken, cut up
• 3 1/2 quarts water
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup cooking sherry
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, optional
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
• Seasoning salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Crusty French bread, for serving

Directions

For the stock: add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.

For the soup: bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.

Here's the link to the original recipe.

List: The 50 Most Powerful Coming Outs of 2012

Another list, to add to my last post...

From Towleroad -

I'm Gay: The 50 Most Powerful Coming Outs of 2012

2012: GAYEST YEAR EVER

"The fact is, I'm gay." Anderson Cooper's long-awaited announcement sums what it meant to come out in 2012. Again and again we heard the same sentiment — from pop singer Mika's equally anticipated confirmation, "If you ask me am I gay, I say yeah," to actor Andrew Rannells casually remarking about relating to a gay character, "I am gay in real life, so I definitely get it." —  proving that coming out today is in many cases a non-event, and certainly secondary to other achievements.

Yes, a lot has changed in the 15 years since Time magazine ran that cover of Ellen DeGeneres declaring, "Yep, I'm Gay," and even in the six since Lance Bass told People, "I'm Gay." Entertainment Weekly published a cover story this summer called "The New Art Of Coming Out," concluding, "The current vibe for discussing one’s sexuality is almost defiantly mellow."
Yet most of this positive change has happened in familiar territory.

Former NFL star Wade Davis' coming out was a first, as was current professional boxer Orlando Cruz's. And Lee "Uncle Poodle" Thompson from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo helped broaden the overall discussion about LGBT people. But there are a few people on this list who were less valiant, like Republican Sheriff Paul Babeu, and still others who remained quiet about their sexuality to the day they died. The debate over balance between privacy and responsibility is still one worth having, and clearly there are more arenas where LGBT people need space to shine.

All in all, though, 2012 shows that gay people who break down that closet can have it all.
Who had the 50 Most Powerful Coming Outs of 2012?

Read the list here.

A List of Lists

Constant Readers - to borrow an expression from Stephen King - of my blog know that I love lists.

Click here for past posts tagged with that term.

Today, I was perusing some websites that I frequent when I realized that a few of them were sites about lists. Apparently, even the sites I visit are related to lists. That's how much I like lists.

Which brings me to today's topic: A listing of sites that I like that show lists or...

A List of Lists

Ultimate Classic Rock -
Featuring such lists as:
Top 10 Songs of 1977
Top 10 AC/DC Songs (we agree on three of the choices)
Top 100 Classic Rock Songs

11 Points -
featuring such lists as:
11 Studies That Prove Christmas and Science Mix Wonderfully
11 Wonderfully Misspelled Messages of Anger and Bigotry
11 Very Unfortunate Mistakes on TV News Graphics
11 Magazines with Surprisingly High or Low Circulations (and a bonus point for illustrating each magazine with a Sally Field cover)

Marc and Angel Hack Life -
featuring such lists as:
8 Things You Must Give Up To Find Peace
10 Lessons from 10 Quotes that Changed My Life
10 Things Your Friends Wish You Knew
10 Life Lessons People Learn Too Late


 Those are the ones for today. I'll have a Part II another day.

Christmas Morning Menu

For the past few years, Carlos and I have hosted Christmas Morning Breakfast - where we eat, drink and exchange presents, before heading off to the get together with our extended family. (This year, we have 36 attending.)

I thought I'd share this year's menu.

To Drink:

Coffee

Eggnog

Candy Cane Cocoa

To Eat:

Cinnamon Toast

Sausage Casserole

Biscuits

Grits and Grillades

I have seen many versions of the Grits and Grillades recipe. The one I have linked is Paula Deen's and is my favorite.

Boy Bands

So I was driving down Airline Drive on my way home from work today, blasting this song...

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

...when I came to a stop light. The passenger in the large red truck on my left side gave me a strange look. I rocked on.

That got me thinking...

One of my hobbies is trading shirtless photos of celebrities. I guess it's the modern day, gay version of baseball cards.

I run three fairly successful Yahoo groups - 

Male Stars Shirtless

Male Stars Undressed

Male Stars Update

I also frequent and contribute to a message board called Famous Males Forum. Because it's based in the UK, I find out about many stars that never cross over to here in the US.

Even though I have over 100 shirtless photos of, for example, Lee Ryan...

until last week I had never heard a note of his band Blue. That is, until I started compiling my list of...

Top Ten Boy Band Songs of All Time

Or at least that was the original idea of this post. I quickly realized that I liked looking at the members of the boy bands much more than actually listening to their music. Even with 89 listed American Boy Bands -- and 58 listed English Boy Bands - plus the 50+ ones from the rest of the world, this is the best list I could assemble.

Once I assemble a Top Ten Boy Band Members for my other blog, I'll post a link here.

Starting off our countdown is One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful at #7. You saw that video above.

Here's how to correctly remake a song - with style, humor, and a wink to the original version...

#6 - Westlife - Uptown Girl

Bonus points for the best looking member being the one who came out (and the fan base didn't care)...

Here is Billy Joel's original version...

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl

The aforementioned boy band Blue has done both a classy remake...

#5 - Blue featuring Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

...and a fumbled attempt...

Blue (featuring Kool & the Gang and Lil' Kim) - Get Down On It

Here is Kool & The Gang's original version...

Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It

Of the Disney-Channel-spawned band The Jonas Brothers, this is their best song (though they actually do have some other good ones)...

#4 - The Jonas Brothers - Year 3000

The youngest brother Nick is especially talented. I've heard his solo album - and it's quite good.

Going back to 1996, I still sneak this song onto mixed CD's that I create...

#3 - Hanson - MMMBop

Zac Hanson, the 10-year-old drummer in the video, is now 27 years old, and married with two kids. Taylor Hanson, the lead singer, is now 29, married with five kids. Don't you feel old now?

Interestingly, my top two songs both have the same title..

#2 - The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back

The top of my chart of Top Ten Seven Boy Band Songs of All Time was always going to be this one...

#1 - NSYNC - I Want You Back

What are your favorite boy band songs?