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The X Factor: Day 3 Favorite Performance

September 29, 2011 in The X Factor, TV Shows 0

On week two of the audition rounds The X Factor was back with a bang. It seems that the producers were really moved by everyone complaining about too many trainwrecks on the show and too little talent. Last night, the show was a lot more bearable. Some good auditions, some interesting ones, and some spicy fighting between the judges.

One of my favorites of the night was Peet Montzingo, yes, he really can’t sing and the change to the song was horrible, but how adorable was he? And he has tiny parents. So sweet.

Another thing that surprised me was when Nicole Scherzinger went off and sang a a lil’ Whitney for Simon, baby girl rocked it. Who would’ve thought her voice could do that? I mean, I’ve been dancing to some of her songs for the better part of the week, but wowie. Count me impressed, even if I still want Cheryl Cole back.

And here is a first, I never thought I would post something related to Justin Bieber on the site but that is changing… just this time, hopefully. Here comes Drew Ryniewics, a Bieber fan who seemed obsessed, as pretty much any other 14 year old Bieber fan comes up through the internet. Personally I was not expecting a lot, I mean, usually they have people like these to just show how hopeful they are and how their talent doesn’t match that. But this Belieber went ahead and sang “Baby” by the man kid himself. And it was very, very good. Nice arrangement, nice voice, and made me forget that she is obsessed with Bieber. Favorite of the night! Watch her below!

Who was your favorite?

 

The X Factor: Day 2 Favorite Performance

September 23, 2011 in The X Factor, TV Shows 2

Well, ther first week of The X Factor is officially over. As in Idol, too much time is being given to the crazy ones, while talented people take the backseat. Actually, it’s even worse here. However, there were some shining lights on last night’s show. I was particularly happy to see the Dallas auditions since I was able to be in one of the tapings, the rugby girl that made it and Dexter, were two of the ones I got to see live. How did it compare from TV? Well, their performances live were pretty electrifying, the crowd was loving it. There are some others that made it through who were great but weren’t shown, I guess we’ll be seeing more from them later.

I enjoyed a few of the performances. Nick Voss, has something that I like and I don’t really know what it is yet. Caitlin, the rugby girl, was very good as well. And I am so glad of what happened with Xander Alexander, he didn’t have a horrible voice but he had such a horrible attitude, I am glad that Simon said he liked him(giving him some hope) and then squashing those hopes by sending him home. Reality check.

My favorite performance of the night was Melanie Amaro who sang a great version of Listen by Beyoncé. But let’s be honest, anyone remotely good would shine on this show at this moment since they have been showing such little talent. Also, her sister is so cute and supportive. Watch below!

 

The X Factor: Day 1 Favorite Performance

September 22, 2011 in The X Factor, TV Shows 0

Here we are, after much wait The X Factor USA has started. Overall, the show wasn’t as exciting as I expected it to be. But based on my experience, it’s around the middle of the competition when it starts getting exciting, when the contestants are split into groups and start being mentored in bootcamp. There were some good auditions, nothing really blew me away. As always there were some touching stories and my favorite performance of the night was a very emotional one.

Chris Rene closed the night. He has been clean and sober for 70 days and wants to do this for his kid. Having experienced heavy addiction in my family I could empathize with him and I know that many will also. Not only his story was good, but he wrote, composed and sung an original song which was really good as well. Watch him sing Lil’ Homie below.

What do you think about The X Factor? Love it? Hate it? Too soon to tell?

The Inspirational Power of Social Media: @GitzenGirl’s Story

September 16, 2011 in Inspiration, Random 0

Many of us use social media all the time. We tweet what we are doing, we tag people, we mention others, we “check in” at places and post photos to Instagram. Twitter wants to know “What’s happening?” and Facebook wants to know “What’s on your mind?”. All this, to show others what we are doing and in most cases to show them a glimpse of who we are and what our lives are like. I am one of those. Mention a Social Media platform and I am 99% I have an account on it, eh, I’m even on Orkut. Interacting with others on the internet has become part of my life, I am connected. Some people fear this, their opinion is that no real “community” comes from this and that we can become too used to hiding behind a computer or an iPhone and being social. They are entitled to their opinion and yes, it can happen, but that’s not what I see every day.

Take my life on Twitter for example, I have “met” people on Twitter with whom I have some of the deepest conversations; when my Mom has struggled with some of her conditions, my Twitter friends were there to help me pray, when my father was sick they stood by me. Twitter, a website, has allowed me to meet some incredible people in person. One of my biggest Twitter success stories is meeting Christy Polek, who took me to In N’ Out for the first time and for a drive through Hollywood, in which we saw the cast of Entourage filming a scene. I count her now as one of my closest friends, a friend that knows my life, all of it, our friendship was born on Twitter and grew way out of there, to the point of making our lives better. Social media can do that. It can bring people together, it can make lives better.

We use all these platforms as we go on with our lives. But what if this was one of our only means of interaction with the outside world?

Sara’s Story: Choose Joy

I have followed Sara, @gitzengirl on Twitter, for about two years I believe. I first followed her because a lot of people that I follow would mention her and retweet her tweets. My first impression was that she was a happy, inspiring and funny lady. These people that followed her first seemed to love her and I constantly saw words of encouragement coming from her to many of her followers. A while back I visited her blog and read through a few pages. And that’s when I knew her story. Sara has an “autoimmune disease that begins by attacking your joints… It is progressive and systemic… it’s goal is to attack your joints an build scar tissue, causing pain and stiffness”. You can read more about her story here, and please do. Basically, what ended up happening is that Sara wasn’t able to go outside because the air outside would harm her, she had to live life in seclusion and with a heavy dose of medicine. But even through her pain and her difficult situation, Sara has always showed joy. Through social media, many, like me, got to know her story a little better. I was amazed that a person who lived in pain as she did, was able to shine a light in others the way she did daily.

I am grateful for the internet and social media. Can you imagine? Just a few years ago, something like this would’ve been impossible. Sara’s life was not bound by her seclusion, she was able to inspire and encourage others and at the same time have a strong group of people to be in her life every day. She was not alone.

Sara’s journey among us is coming to an end. But she is moving up, she trusts God and is looking forward to a life with him, free from pain. Choose Joy is the name of her blog, and has been the standard in her life and it is know a thought that is running wild in the minds of those that know her. If someone had reason to complain of her situation it was Sara, but she chose Joy.

What if we do the same? What if we choose joy as the standard of our lives? What do you think would happen?

Dear Sara, catch you in the flip side! Thank you.

What to Expect from The X Factor

September 7, 2011 in American Idol, Celebrities, The X Factor 0

As you may already know there’s a new singing competition in town. The X Factor is starting this month and the only thing that most people know about it is that Simon Cowell is back. I, for one, have missed Cowell. Yes, American Idol had a very successful season without him, but the new judges are no Simon. Another thing that you may have heard is that Paula Abdul will also be a judge on The X Factor, along with music veteran LA Reid and former Pussycat queen Nicole Scherzinger. The X Factor is basically American Idol on steroids, it’s bigger and with more intricacies than the 10 year veteran. Will it trump Idol? I am not sure, but it has the potential to make a big splash. I have watched several seasons of The X Factor and was at one of the US tapings and really enjoyed the format, going by that I will quickly tell you what to expect.

It’s not just “The Voice”
Having watched the first season of The Voice (and actually enjoying it) I noticed that singing voice is not the deciding factor here. This show is about that special something that some people have, they may not have the best voice but there is something that just pulls you in. The have IT. And you will see, even in the audition process that the judges will put through people that are not necessarily Christina Aguileras or Jennifer Hudsons but there is something that makes you want to see them again, and again.

No Age Limit
One of the things that you will notice is that The X Factor has no limit of how old a contestant can be. With an age range from 12 to 200, you may see a fantastic contestant who is 13 years competing with another amazing one who is 55, who may have not had the chance in life to be famous but is a diamond in the rough.

Categories
Once the audition process ends, the real fun starts. The last 24 contestants are separated in four groups: Young females, Young males, Groups and Adults(Over 25). Each judge will have one of these groups and will carefully select the best six of that categories to be a part of his group.

The Judges do More
Not only will the judges personally choose six people to be a part of his/her team, they will mentor them, assist them in song selection(big plus), choreography, style, etc. This goes a little further than Idol because, here, the judges have the ability to have favorites and root for who they think deserves it more. It then becomes not only a competition between contestants but also between judges, which may irk some people with the mentality that “It is about the talent” but in reality, the judges are just rooting for who they think deserves it more.

Big Prize
The winning singer or group will get a recording contract of 5 Million dollars. Which is said to be the biggest prize given on a reality TV competition.

What I saw at the Live Taping
As I said before, I was able to be at one of the live tapings of the show and it was really enjoyable. The atmosphere was electric in some of the performances. As I said before there were some people that really didn’t have an impressive voice, but there was something that made me want to watch them every week on my TV. You may not know who Cheryl Cole is, she was one of the judges on the UK version of the show and I really liked her. After being brought in by Simon to take part of the panel of judges in the US version, it all fell apart. There are rumors that her accent was hard to understand and other reasons, but she got the boot. She was then replaced by former Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger, who has been doing the rounds on TV. She was a winning contestant on Dancing With The Stars and has performed on Idol and other shows. Here is what I saw live. Nicole cries a LOT. She got emotional about performances all night, and she was very repetitive on her comments to contestants. Yes, the show I went to was one of her first as a judge, so hopefully by the time the live shows start she has her act together. You may not even notice this because they will, for sure, edit that a lot. The chemistry between judges is very nice and it has the potential to get fiery since you can tell they all have strong personalities. And what else, Simon and Paula are back to their usual hijinks.

What do you think? Will you be watching The X Factor? Do you miss Simon as much as I do?

Florence + The Machine is Back with What Water Gave Me

August 23, 2011 in Music, News 0

It is no surprise that I am a huge fan of Florence + The Machine. And she is back with a brand new song and video, for her upcoming album which will be released in November. Can’t wait! Watch below!

Dance… It’s Contagious!

August 16, 2011 in Fun, Music, Random 0

I’m usually not the one that starts dancing at places. And yes, I love dancing. I especially love when I go nuts and dance on my own. But I love when someone has the guts to not give a f… I mean, not care about anyone around and have a great time. The guy on this video did just that and madness ensued. Amazing. Flash mobs have nothing on this! Enjoy!

Idol, Striking While The Iron is Hot: Pia Toscano, Scotty McCreery & Lauren Alaina Official Videos

August 10, 2011 in American Idol, Music 0

It seems that to a certain extent American Idol is learning from previous mistakes. I have always said that they miss out on striking while the iron is hot, letting the contestants’ names fade from people’s minds before any music or marketing is put out. This year, Pia Toscano, who was surprisingly eliminated early on the competition was signed to Interscope. In what has become a common event, the winner Scotty McCreery and the runner up, Lauren Alaina, where also signed. And a few weeks back it was announced that the famous growler, Haley Reinhart, also secured a recording contract with Interscope. Scotty and Lauren had their first singles as coronation songs, again, a normal move on Idol. But Pia, had a brand new single. We are still waiting for Haley’s first single, I, for one, am looking forward to it.

Not only did these three released singles but this week, videos for the singles were released. Watch them below! Who do you think has what it takes to make it in the long run?

Pia Toscano – This Time

Scotty McCreery – I Love You This Big

Lauren Alaina – Like My Mother Does

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