Student Radio Update

In a previous post I discussed the sticky situation our campus radio station, Radio Laurier, was faced with. I thought I'd update you with some good news via our student newspaper, The Cord Weekly. We are officially transitioning to Student Publications, the organization on campus in charge of, well, student publications (i.e. newspaper, magazine, yearbook etc...). We can all collectively breath a sigh of relief.

For details on our transition, read this article featured in today's publication of The Cord.

You can listen to the station online here.

Glad to see all of the hard work put in by our executives and DJs payed off.

Look what you can do with a little bit of Chutzpah. :)

Springtime's for musicals

Spring Awakening: ****/*****

I don't get to see musicals very often. They are way too damn expensive for students to see on a regular basis but this past Saturday I got my semi-annual musical fix--Spring Awakening.

Awakening interestingly enough premiered off-Broadway in 2006 but it wasn't always a song and a dance. A play of the same name was written by German Playwright Frank Wedekind in 1891 but was banned for its controversial (at that time) content; think abortion, homosexuality, suicide, masturbation etc...It was only in the past decade that Wedekind's work was adapted for the Great White Way.

Since hitting the Broadway circuit, it has received critical acclaim including 8 Tony Awards and a Grammy. Pretty impressive, huh?

I went into the theatre pretty uninformed about the plot of the production. I figured it was a cheery coming of age testament to way back when but it turned out to be a lot darker than I had envisioned it. This is not me being disappointed, just me dealing with a false understanding / lack of previous knowledge/ ignorance on my part…Much like the time I watched Pan's Labyrinth thinking it was a children's film. Rude awakening, I tell you. Anyways, the darkness proved to be a nice break from the happy-go-lucky style and content of most musicals I've seen.

On a side note: Not to get all reflective but we’ve come a long way since the über orthodox ideologies of even 20-30 years ago. We still deal with many inequalities but not even a fraction of what was considered taboo in the past.

Back to Spring Awakening: The show opens with a song called "Mama who bore me"—Great opener to a fabulous musical. One of the leads, Wendla (Christy Altomare), sings of her sexual curiosity. Her only knowledge of sex is of the stork delivering babies. The catchy rock ‘n’ roll number set a good pace for the rest of the show. The guitar-based soundtrack was a nice touch. It added some edge to the emotionally charged music. I love a good rock-opera [disagree if you will, but We Will Rock You is not included on this list]. The genre is a great way of updating the musical / expanding the viewer demographic.

The cast delivered a high caliber of talent putting longer-term residents of the Yonge Street entertainment sector to shame [see previous musical mentioned]. The set was simple yet impressive; enough to captivate yet not distracting from the performance itself. There were some audience members that were seated on the stage adding to the interesting mise en scène. They also threw some plain-clothed chorus members in there too which was a cute addition.

Of course the show was not without its campiness. From a flamboyant homosexual character [avec some man on man action] to 'cheeky' song titles like "the bitch of living" and "totally fucked", it celebrated the essence of musical theatre.

Definitely would recommend seeing the show if you have any appreciation for theatre [if you don’t, what’s wrong with you?]. Splurge on this one. It’s worth sacrificing two nights of drinking for.

To buy tickets / see cast and crew info click here

Get Excited

Remember the days of taking out picture books from your elementary school library? Well here's a way to get a little bit of your childhood back: Director Spike Jonze has adapted the beloved children's book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to film. The film uses suitimation, live action, animatronics and CGI so expect some high class cinematography.

The trailer alone is phenomenal. Adding to the film's cred is the use of a really cool version of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" and music collabs with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Excited? Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until October 16th to see the film.

Below is the trailer for your viewing pleasure

enjoy! I know I did...many, many times.

If I can do it, You can do it.

"If I can do it, You can do it"

I just watched the second commercial where the phrase "If I can do it, you can do it" bears its ugly head. The first was for one of those online colleges...perhaps Everest College? It was more of a "if he can do it, you can do it" so this poor guy didn't have any way of defending himself. The one I just saw encouraged people to become school bus drivers. A woman says "If I can do it, you can do it".

Am I the only one who finds this phrase offensive? Doesn't it seem like these people are saying "hey, we're the lowest common denominator. We have no skills but we managed to get this degree / do this job". Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't seem like the best marketing technique.

Just a little peeve. Beg to differ? If I can do it, you can do it.

Hip hop is dead (?)

You want some of this?

In taking a course on popular music, of course not everyone will agree on certain things. Me being the pain in the ass that I am, do not agree with most people on most things and I remain quite vocal about it. So we were quarreling about the status of hip hop today. It seems like a big chunk of people believe that hip hop is a dying genre because it isn't what it used to be. Well DUH. How is music supposed to evolve? The world changes as do people, interests, ideologies etc...

They say it it has changed because no one really sings/raps/talks through a synthesizer mouth piece thing (cough* Kanye, T-Pain, Lil Wayne) for a cause nowadays. Back in the 60s-80s, people wanted to fight the power, represent the working class, support equality. Punk was the same way. Its content may have changed, but we still call it punk music today. In hip hop, one can see two paths emerging within the genre:

One sees the 50 Cents rapping about their bitches and their bling, busting caps in whatever they see fit. You know the drill. These are they guys that many claim have killed hip hop and if they were the only hip hop artists to exist right now, I would half-heartedly agree. Yes they channel elements of old school hip hop (i.e. extreme sexism) but they lack a passion and a connection to the music. If this is the route hip hop has gone, I still believe it is hip hop. Who has the right to decide the essence of this genre?

So there are the "Gs" and what I will call awesome-urban-artists (AUA for short. pronounced Owaaaaaaa). Think Mos Def, The Cool Kids, K'naan The Roots (on Jimmy Fallon, everyday. Awesome) and so on and so forth. These guys keep it so damn cool. They're melodic, creative, lyrical and NOT ghetto fabulous. ATTENTION: You can rap about the ghetto without sounding like an asshole. I see a lot of the old school in them without the "I'm a convicted felon" flare. This IS hip hop at its finest.

Yes I am a white girl writing about hip hop but who'se to say what people can/cannot listen to and get inspired by. Hip hop is a large part of African American culture/history but it has become bigger than that. Anyone can appreciate it however they relate to it. Lets be a little less ignorant and a bit more open minded, thanks.

Twittery twitters twittering twitterly

I got the twitterbug. There's so many ways of using the word "twitter" it seems. Way too much fun. What a nerd I am. Anyways, I felt like I should be part of the trend if I want to enlist in the media savvy army (and I will never call it that ever again, I promise).

So far, so good....I like how easy it is to network on it. You can look up people using your e-mail contact list. Cool beans I tell you. I also like how easy it is to get news updates. Pretty sure I added at least 5 news sources already. It's a mini, more awesome Facebook, weeding out all the bad stuff. I am, however, waiting for the day when Twitter realizes its popularity and adds all of those silly applications that FB has.

No I do not want to play Scrabulous with you, Time Magazine.

p.s. if you have it, my username is Romeh

Late night with Mr. Giggles

When choosing a new late night host to take over Conan O'brien's spot, you would think that someone who is at least somewhat on par with Conan would fill this position. I mean this in the nicest way Jimmy Fallon: you better pull up your stockings because if you don't, you'll be back to doing....what was it you were doing before this anyways?

I wanted to give him a chance, I really did. I still do. I'm hoping he gets a little bit better because I get uncomfortable looking at him being uncomfortable. Watch him, he's a nervous wreck. I would be too probably but I wasn't chosen as a late night host and he did SNL for christ's sake! (Doesn't say much actually since he giggled through that as well)

Anyhoo...lets cheers to a better season of Jimmy Fallon, or a lack thereof in seasons to come.

Jimmy Out