Music and Dance

I love my camera and what it allows me to do. As the Freezepop song "Photographic" goes: "I take pictures, photographic pictures."

I'm not going to blog about MJ, Farrah Fawcett, or the death of any other person. Those topics have been talked, ranted, tweeted, raved, reported, mourned, celebrated, blogged about, and written about to death.

I have decided against complicating this blog. You want to see more awesome links than I've linked to on the sidebar? Stalk Shelbi and I. The ongoing conversation is renewed with either "This is [awesome, adorable, cute, funny, weird, or some other adjective]." or "O.O". I don't let myself eat while checking msn or anything on the internet for that matter. I'm afraid my drastically-changing facial expressions will cause total mouth failure (a.k.a. dripping or spewing of food in possibly random directions at possibly unexpected times possibly on living creatures or clean carpets). I'm kidding about stalking us on msn, of course. That's what Twitter is for. It's win-win. You get to follow and we know you don't know our awesome, secret world cutification (you WILL say "aww") and plushie plans. Gr. I'm kidding about the world cutification plans. I'll try to stop repeating things that add words rather than meaning. I will stop repeating myself. I will stop repeating myself. -_- [What' Up Doc reference]

Earlier this week, I took my first classes in Argentine Tango and West Coast Swing. Both were awesome. So far, my favorite is WCS. I watched a few other dance classes. I can't wait until tomorrow night! Three hours of dancing! :D It's Latin night at Shake It Up which should be fun. Really, I don't care what dances they feature; I'm excited to just dance.

Also, I went to Diane's asssisted living homes. There are 2 with 6 residents each, I think, and she takes care of old folk like I've never seen them taken care of. I actually enjoyed visiting the homes. I can't say I've ever said that about a nursing home. Nursing homes have the appeal of a septic tank; Diane's homes are wonderful places. They are true homes for the residents rather than just places to die. The nurses and residents looked healthy, loved, and happy. Diane is doing an impressive, wonderful thing. I wish all people in their later years would get care like that.

Today, I went to the Redlands Bowl where the San Bernadino Symphony and Rita Coolidge performed. I wanted to hear more of the symphony by itself and less of Rita because I couldn't understand what Rita was singing half the time anyway and I didn't need to hear several tribute songs to Peggy Lee. Sure, I like Peggy Lee, but I didn't know who Rita Coolidge was and I didn't want to think of her as a Peggy Lee tribute singer. I wanted to hear Rita Coolidge sing her own music and show who she was. I did end up pretty satisfied after she sang "Amazing Grace" in Cherokee. Very beautiful and it felt like it came from her heart. All in all, I enjoyed the concert. Taking my camera would have been pointless because they were not allowed according to the program. According to my own observations, I could have gotten plenty of shots had I charged my batteries. Oh, well. Just take my word that it was cool.

While I'm in an I-love-dance mood, I'm going to share the links to dances and dance-related videos that I have enjoyed watching several times.

36 Pirouettes. Crazy. Alicia is a good dancer anyway, imho, as you can see here, if you so choose.
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. I have watched a different version of this several times, but this one popped up in my list first. Maci has some other cool videos floating around.
First Love. I want to dance like this.
Carnevil. Eight minutes and thirteen seconds of twisted coolness, imho.
A Dance From Above. I like this because it's not traditional. How many dancers do a routine with rope?
Wade Robson's routine from Dancing With the Stars. It's Wade Robson. He's awesome. He could do the Hokey-Pokey and I'd probably faint with joy. :P
Lindy Hop Showdown. Lindy Hop is nuts and these people look completely awesome doing it.
Heidi and Travis. Of course, the famous bench routine by Mia Michaels.
SNAP. One of Anaheim Ballet's awesome videos.
Benji and Heidi. They make my jaw drop.

Side note: I am a So You Think You Can Dance enthusiast, so I do search for some videos of contestants outside of the show. Pretty much assume that I'd post tons of SYTYCD videos, if I could find them all. I don't want existing ones to get reported, so I've only including one. That's the only one I will include. Search away or ask me for more links.

Those are just a few and they don't cover all of the types of dancing that I enjoy watching, but I think they are enough for now. I need to get some sleep if I want to dance tomorrow.

Until the next post, and as always, take care. :)