30 Days of Song: Day Three

Day 3: Song that makes you happy

This song got chosen simply because it's been in my head all week and it never fails to put a smile on my face. Who would have guessed I would have fallen in love with a musical entitled "Hairspray"?

World's Greatest: Alexei Yagudin (RUS)

Alexei is considered one of the greatest skaters of all time. He's one of the few skaters that has 4 titles to his credit as well as an Olympic title. Plagued with injury through most of that time, he made it a full cycle before being taken out of competition by his knees. They just couldn't handle the stress and strain. He skated with Stars On Ice after his forced retirement from competition. Now he's still Mr. Celebrity in Russia and his the father of an adorable little kid.

Alexei got me hooked on men's competitive skating. Most of the time I waited until they were pros to make a determination on if I would like them, but Alexei did for competitive figure skating what Kurt Browning does for the pro world. He was able to seamlessly weave athletics with musicality/art. Skaters like Alexei are rare.

Alexei had the difficult hardware, but he was more known for his footwork. Many still claim it's the best ever, however if one takes a look at what he does it's not only simple in comparison with other skaters - it's pretty much the same step sequence over and over (and the same from program to program). Tarasova and Morosov found a formula that worked on their skater, and people blindly follow.

That does not diminish Alexei's mark on the sport, however. He is a fantastic showman and athlete. I truly believe we'd be hearing more out of him competitively but his injuries - and knee surgery - kept him out of the running. Still, four world titles and an Olympic title is nothing to sneeze at.


My favorite program of his at worlds - a year he didn't win - his SP to Revolutionary Etude:

What the Worlds [Figure Skating Championships] Need Now...

I'm a little slap happy as it's been a long day, but I'm planning to revive my blog a little bit and in the next few days leading up to the World Figure Skating Championships set to be held in Moscow later this month. I'm going to feature my favorite World Champions. From Kurt Browning to Gordeeva & Grinkov, Yuka Sato to Torvill & Dean and beyond. These will probably be more editorial, as they're my favorites.

Just a heads up, there's going to (hopefully) be more skating in the coming days.

30 Days of Song: Day Two

Day 2: Least Favorite Song

Hmmm. Blogger ate my post about favorite song, but that's okay because it's good as it stands, I sat for hours trying to think of my one favorite song. Anyway, least favorite would have to be ANY song from the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana collection. That stuff is horrible.

30 Days of Song: Day One

Day 1: Favorite Song

Oh this is difficult. I could go in so many different directions. I could go with favorite country song, Christian song, Hymn, Disney, broadway, movie theme... where do I start? How do I choose?!

Oh look! Another 30 Day Challenge!

So I have a lot to share, but I just don't ever get down to sharing it, so for now I'll share a new 30 day challenge I found.

day 01 - your favorite song
day 02 - your least favorite song
day 03 - a song that makes you happy
day 04 - a song that makes you sad
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone
day 06 - a song that reminds of you of somewhere
day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event
day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
day 09 - a song that you can dance to
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep
day 11 - a song from your favorite band
day 12 - a song from a band you hate
day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure
day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
day 15 - a song that describes you
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
day 29 - a song from your childhood
day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year

Official Street Team Member for What's In The Bible

You might notice on the upper left hand side of my blog I have a banner saying I'm an official street team member for What's In The Bible. It's a new ministry venture that Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer started a year or so ago. It's a Sesame Street method on the Bible, but it doesn't talk down to kids. In fact, adults can learn a thing or two from the series as well. It's in its infancy and so far only 4 of the scheduled 13 DVDs are even available. I found out about it through the grapevine and Phil's personal website. Being a huge fan of Veggie Tales and its creator, I was very excited to see what he was coming up with.

I was not disappointed. I had won a set for Haille and myself on their facebook page, and I am so very happy I found this series. It's adorable, fun, educational, and Biblical. It's a little less funky Veggie version of stories and more of the meat. Basically What's in the Bible is about discovering the meaning of the Bible - the way Phil goes about it is keeping the viewer in suspense of God's exit plan. How God is going to basically save the world. We're going in order of the books of the Bible, so whenever the Jesus factor should be brought in Phil mentions him but says we'll get more into that later on... I can't wait for that to happen!

The fifth DVD is set to come out soon, and with the Sunday school/home school curriculum finally catching up with the videos, they've decided it's time to really get the word out. Apparently even partnering with Focus on the Family they still felt that word of mouth was better than anything else. So I'm pleased to become part of the Street Team family. I am completely behind this project and hope you will at the very least check it out. Friends in the area if you're interested in seeing the first four DVDs email me and I will gladly let you borrow my copies.

30 Days of Disney: Day Thirty!

Day 30: Favorite Live Action Film

It's gotta be Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. It singlehandedly gave rebirth to the Disney franchise, IMO, as well as Johnny Depps career. It gave me hope for the future of the company I grew up with, and it's killer funny. It's based on a ride, looks like a serious swashbuckling adventure, and is so tongue in cheek. They made pirates sexy, funny, and kept the adventure alive.

The sequels were decent, for sequels, but Black Pearl will always be special. It was fresh, and completely original while still saluting the many Pirate adventures before (and of course the ride). The sequels rely on rehashing the jokes from the first film, but have their moments of brilliance.

So here's to the movie that tributes one of Walt's final works!


*and with that another 30 day meme is finalized. Now what to write about?

30 Days of Disney: Day Twenty-Nine

Day 29: Least Favorite Animated Series

Definitely The Little Mermaid and Aladdin series. Both were just lame. I tried getting into the Aladdin show, but no dice. It didn't help that the Genie's voice was not Robin Williams. And let's face it, anything that is Little Mermaid is gonna go down as wrong in my book.

One last day to go... and then it's back to randomville...