Grammys' Grammar

M.I.A. avoids water breakage, Swaggers.

For some reason I was really excited to watch the Grammy Awards. It doesn't make much sense considering I already assumed that anyone who I wanted to win would walk away empty handed. Regardless, I wanted to see the clothes, the presenters and the performers. I enjoy some mindless entertainment once in a while.

It was quite entertaining in a "laugh at" rather than a "laugh with" sort of way.

Take Whitney Houston as presenter. For a former crackhead, you'd think she would attempt to get herself together if she plans on making any sort of a comeback. I'm glad she didn't though for my own personal enjoyment. What a mess.

I also am not sure whether I want to give the Grammy writers a high five or punch them in the face. The presenter's speeches were fabulously terrible. For example, Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock had the greatest speech in television history. It went something like this:

"I like the Grammys. They are really awesome. Sometimes, I wake up and all I can think about is the Grammys. Thanks to the recession, the Recording Academy hired a 10 year old to write this."

So eloquent. anyways...Performance-wise, there were some highs and some lows. I noticed there was a lot of old-new retro style performances which I liked. i.e. the most ego to ever set foot on any stage ever (Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T.I and a very preggers M.I.A) performing a rat-pack meets hip hop version of "swagger like us" (never thought that "rat pack" and "hip-hop" would appear in the same sentence). It was pretty awesome and they know it.

I am not much of a country fan but I really admire Taylor Swift. As a 19 year old who writes and plays her own music and has a beautiful voice, you have to giver her props. And then she has to do a duet with Miley Cirus. WHY? Cirus's voice seemed far more inferior to Swift's putting poor Miley to shame for the 10000th time this year. She's just being Miley.

My favourite performance of the night was Radiohead with 15 Step. What a beautiful return to television. Equipped with a marching band, they outdid every single performer / nominee at the award show. Bold statement but worthy. On a side note, Thom Yorke is such a funny little man, in the best way possible. He gets so into the music and I hate to associate "cuteness" with Radiohead but come on. Look at him!

Alright, Awards. Coldplay won too much. Give them some cred but there were more deserving winners (i.e. for Best Rock Album...give it to a rock band?).
My favorite little Adele won too which made me happy. She is just fantastic. Even Daft Punk won 2 awards for an album they put out 2 years ago. Mr. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss owned it winning a whopping 5 grammys. Good for Plant...That's quite the comeback.

I will leave you with Katy Perry butchering the song that made her famous. I adore her but oh gosh...

"is this gonna be forever?"

I don't see the appeal of being a dentist. I'm sure it's fulfilling in that you make a pretty penny but staring into people's infected, plaque-filled mouths isn't my favorite pastime. You often hear of dentists having the highest suicide rate out of any other profession. Makes sense to me. There seems to be an entertaining aspect to the job though: These guys probably get more people high than most legal jobs out there. The funniest part is, the people that are going under are those that would never get high normally (i.e. kids, seniors, priests?). Take this kid for example. His parents got a laugh out of it, so did I, and I'm sure his dentist did as well.

It's a good thing I'm not at all interested in going into a medical-related profession because CLEARLY I'd be in it for the wrong reasons. :)

Radio ga ga

Let's talk student media....

Every college and university at least in Canada has a campus newspaper. Many of those institutions also have a radio station. It is clear that educational institutions value the freedom students have to express their values, opinions, and concerns in an open forum.

My personal connection is with campus radio. Being an executive on the Wilfrid Laurier radio station (Radio Laurier), I've learnt the importance of letting yourself be heard. Radio, being the younger, louder sister of print media has become an important part of the university community especially at Laurier. Unlike print, radio offers a conversational outlet for students. It's content is current and immediate therefore issues that are discussed are not remnants from the week before but are the hot topics of the day.

Why I am bringing this to your attention is because our beloved station is being dropped by our students' union. YES the union that preaches transparency and student representation believes that we do not fit under their mandate. Understandable, but no real effort has been made to transfer us elsewhere. The plan is that we move to another organization on campus--Student Publications. This area of student life is in charge of the print publications on campus so it makes sense if we end up there. This switch is not guaranteed however so as of April 31st, we might cease to exist.

I was asked by the current coordinator if I would have applied to this position if I knew that the station was being cut and I said yes. I would have been even more enthusiastic than I was initially. We would have been able to fight harder from the beginning. We work the equivalent of full time jobs and get paid nothing. We don't even get a pat on the back for working our asses off.

For all of you blog surfers, newspaper readers, radio listeners and TV watchers (and other media consumers)--I'm encouraging you to defend those channels that serve as a voice for others. Small scale outlets such as those found on campus should not be silenced. If this is attempted, speak louder.

We are an online station. To listen click here. Please show us your support.

If you have something to say, leave a comment or e-mail me at romi.radiolaurier@gmail.com

Foot...ball?

So yesterday for the first time ever, I watched the Superbowl. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it way more than expected. This is most likely due to the fact that the game was explained to me, as Michael Scott of the Office would say, "like I'm five" (as it should be. I wouldn't have understood it any other way) but now I kind of get it. It also wasn't the aggressive hyper-masculine event I had expected. It was severely lacking odd victory dancing and scantily clad cheerleaders (where were they anyways?).

Anyways, let's recap some of the highlights from the game from the perspective of myself, a 21 year old woman that doesn't watch football ever:

1. Penetration--you know that every time the commentators said it, millions of university students raised their beers and said "that's what she said"

2. Larry Fitzgerald--So I was told to root for the Cardinals because they never win anything ever so I obliged. Three cheers for the underdog. Yes they lost but this Fitz guy was a champ.

3. Who's the boss?--If you didn't see the halftime show, check out this clip. Mr. Springsteen slides right into the camera crotch first. Despite the black eye, it was the happiest day in the cameraman's life.

4. The most famous Cardinal--My favorite audience shot from the SB was that of Cuba Gooding Jr. who was lovingly named the most famous Cardinal since not many worthy athletes have hailed from the AZ team. I wish I could find a picture of this shot because it was magical. Cuba looked like his beloved Best Supporting Oscar for Jerry McGuire was taken away from him...in a tornado.

5. Bud Commercials--We Canadians are not blessed with the awesomeness that is Superbowl commercials but one seemed to wiggle its way into the 49th parallel. This Clydesdale featured in a series of Budweiser commercials has got it going on. I don't really know what it has to do with the beer itself, but it sure was entertaining.

Have any Superbowl highlights? Do share!