I saw something on MTV Dance earlier and now I'm so so pissed off.
Just to clarify, I don't purposefully watch MTV Dance as a rule. I channel hop through the music ones and as I was in a time wasting sort of mood today I was stopping at ever single one.
Right so as we all know I am an insanely humongous Slumdog Millionaire fan. I love everything about it, especially Dev Patel and the soundtrack. But this is specifically about the soundtrack.
SPOILER WARNING!
At the end of the film there is this Bollywood dance, the last scene transitions suddenly into it and the leads are Dev and Frieda and it is to a Bangra song called Jai Ho and it is amazing. The scene itself is really romantic and special and it's really tasteful too; the acting is not over the top and it is just so so lovely. And then they go into this traditional Bollywood dance which is what happens in all of the Indian films, they spontaneously start dancing. The moves are all really authentic and it's got so much atmosphere and I think it is my favourite part of the film
SPOILER WARNING OVER!
Which brings me back to MTV Dance. So I stop on that channel. And I hear a familiar beat. And it is Jai Ho from the Bollywood dance scene at the end of Slumdog Millionaire! Except it's not. It's the FUGGING PUSSYCAT DOLLS. It is the most HORRIFIC thing you ever did see or hear. They've taken the beautiful, authentic Indian dancing and put their signature Slutty Trademark on it, totally sexed it up and made it tacky and disgusting. And what I found most insulting is that they set it in a replica setting as is the original dance in the film. And that stupid lead singer of Pussycat Dolls is wearing yellow too, which is Latika's colour in the film. I really do not know how it got passed to be filmed or recorded. Because I'm not being funny but they even made up some revolting lyrics in English to fit to the same rhythm. Some things in the music world should not be touched. This song is a beautiful, upbeat Indian song that fits the storyline perfectly. And the Pussycat Dolls have slaughtered it. What even makes them think they have the authority to completely sabotage the initial meaning of that dance sequence? It was inserted to add in an authentic Bollywood touch, and they've gone and mimicked some of the moves but started thrusting out their boobs and shaking their hips all over the goddamn place. It's just totally inappropriate. "Jai Ho" translates into "Victory" in Hindi, and if you've seen the film, you'll know that this is the perfect song to be performed at the end. I was pissed off enough when they ripped off an ELO riff, but this is worse. Because I love Slumdog Millionaire more than I love ELO. I'm so angry that they had the sheer audacity to completely destroy the song. I know that A. R. Rahman, who wrote the original Jai Ho, played a big part in the re-writing of the song, but I really do not think he should have sunk so low. We should known from the start that any girl group who call themselves the Pussycat Dolls were an absolute joke.
End of rant.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Monday, 16 March 2009
Yay for burning calories :D
Right I'm not being funny but I have been saying for the past 3 years that I am going to take advantage of living in the countryside and actually use the fields around my house to get some exercise.
This started today.
Hallefugginglujah.
So I got home from school (not till about 5.10 because we had drama rehearsals) and then Sarah and I went jogging.
I'm not even joking.
I, Jocelyn Levy, exercise-a-phobic, went JOGGING.
It turned into alternations between jogging and power walking (which is called interval training, hellz yeah for terminology) but we did it for a solid hour and covered about 4 miles.
I feel so so good now. Very achieved. The weirdest thing is that I actually quite enjoyed it. Apart from the horrific stitch in my side and feeling sick most of the time. But it felt really good and shiz.
I'm so glad that the drama trip is to Greece because last year it was Italy and carbs are pretty much the national dish of Italy. It's all pizzabreadpastapizzabreadpasta. But in Greece it's all nice fish and salad and stuff. AND BAKLAVAS! OHEMGEE I CANNOT WORDULATE MY ADORATION OF BAKLAVAS! But anyway. At least I don't think I will gain weight like I did on last year's drama trip.
I'm going to watch last night's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and then I'm going to tidy my room and then I'm going to have a shower and then I'm going to do some of my English essay. Speak to you all soon (: xo
This started today.
Hallefugginglujah.
So I got home from school (not till about 5.10 because we had drama rehearsals) and then Sarah and I went jogging.
I'm not even joking.
I, Jocelyn Levy, exercise-a-phobic, went JOGGING.
It turned into alternations between jogging and power walking (which is called interval training, hellz yeah for terminology) but we did it for a solid hour and covered about 4 miles.
I feel so so good now. Very achieved. The weirdest thing is that I actually quite enjoyed it. Apart from the horrific stitch in my side and feeling sick most of the time. But it felt really good and shiz.
I'm so glad that the drama trip is to Greece because last year it was Italy and carbs are pretty much the national dish of Italy. It's all pizzabreadpastapizzabreadpasta. But in Greece it's all nice fish and salad and stuff. AND BAKLAVAS! OHEMGEE I CANNOT WORDULATE MY ADORATION OF BAKLAVAS! But anyway. At least I don't think I will gain weight like I did on last year's drama trip.
I'm going to watch last night's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and then I'm going to tidy my room and then I'm going to have a shower and then I'm going to do some of my English essay. Speak to you all soon (: xo
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Goodbyes, good grades and what will be good times
Hi guuuyyyssss!
It's been an exhausting week. It started off horrifically depressing; on Monday morning I waved off the Young Americans and it was so, so sad. We all felt really close to them after the 3 days of workshops and watching them pull out of the carpark in their coach was so upsetting. The show we put on with them on Saturday evening went incredibly well and we all surprised ourselves as well as the audience. Unsuspecting people discovered that they had amazing talents that not even they knew about. The Americans brought out the best in us, and I think that is the main reason why it was so hard saying goodbye to them all. And another reason it was so hard was because you know the chances are you'll never see them again. However, enough of that for now.
I had ridiculous amounts of work this week, including a piece of English A2 (I'm accelerated) coursework that I've been putting off for months. But the other night I sat down and just did it and now I feel much better. Speaking of English, in January I retook one of my English AS modules. See, I got an A overall in the AS, but this consisted of 3 modules and in these individually I got A A B. So i retook the B. When it came to the day of the exam I was ill and pissed off and I was just so annoyed that I was retaking an A so I made absolutely no effort. I didn't even finish the paper. I got the result on Thursday and it was...A! I was SO shocked, I was genuinely expecting a C at best. So really, really chuffed about that ((: It's been a good week for grades. I also got top marks in an English vocab test and joint top with Matt on a Sociology test. So yay :D It's actually been quite motivating and encouraging, I feel I'm rebuilding up the work ethic that I lost after getting my GCSE results, so that's good.
There's a few things that I'm really looking forward to. On the 4th April I'm off to Greece for the week with the drama department at school. We're having lessons in Greek theatre and then performing in an amphitheater, which is going to be an amazing experience. Not to mention, Greece is one of my favourite countries (I've been there the past 2 summers) and I can't wait to get away from the shitty English weather for a little while.
Then in May I'm going to Warwick uni's open day. I've wanted to go to Warwick uni to study drama for about 4 months now and I absolutely cannot wait to see it. I think it's definitely what I need as a last push to try really, really hard on my AS exams. I need ABB to get an offer and I already have the A so I'm feeling fairly optimistic. Obviously I don't want to get my hopes up too much. Part of me thinks that knowing how gutted I will be if I don't get an offer is a good thing and part of me thinks it's bad. But we shall see.
Shizzz, this has been a wordy blog. I just really feel like getting everything down in words is important so that when I'm an adult I can look back and know what I was thinking/feeling at the time. DEEP! I'll shut up now. Au revoir!
It's been an exhausting week. It started off horrifically depressing; on Monday morning I waved off the Young Americans and it was so, so sad. We all felt really close to them after the 3 days of workshops and watching them pull out of the carpark in their coach was so upsetting. The show we put on with them on Saturday evening went incredibly well and we all surprised ourselves as well as the audience. Unsuspecting people discovered that they had amazing talents that not even they knew about. The Americans brought out the best in us, and I think that is the main reason why it was so hard saying goodbye to them all. And another reason it was so hard was because you know the chances are you'll never see them again. However, enough of that for now.
I had ridiculous amounts of work this week, including a piece of English A2 (I'm accelerated) coursework that I've been putting off for months. But the other night I sat down and just did it and now I feel much better. Speaking of English, in January I retook one of my English AS modules. See, I got an A overall in the AS, but this consisted of 3 modules and in these individually I got A A B. So i retook the B. When it came to the day of the exam I was ill and pissed off and I was just so annoyed that I was retaking an A so I made absolutely no effort. I didn't even finish the paper. I got the result on Thursday and it was...A! I was SO shocked, I was genuinely expecting a C at best. So really, really chuffed about that ((: It's been a good week for grades. I also got top marks in an English vocab test and joint top with Matt on a Sociology test. So yay :D It's actually been quite motivating and encouraging, I feel I'm rebuilding up the work ethic that I lost after getting my GCSE results, so that's good.
There's a few things that I'm really looking forward to. On the 4th April I'm off to Greece for the week with the drama department at school. We're having lessons in Greek theatre and then performing in an amphitheater, which is going to be an amazing experience. Not to mention, Greece is one of my favourite countries (I've been there the past 2 summers) and I can't wait to get away from the shitty English weather for a little while.
Then in May I'm going to Warwick uni's open day. I've wanted to go to Warwick uni to study drama for about 4 months now and I absolutely cannot wait to see it. I think it's definitely what I need as a last push to try really, really hard on my AS exams. I need ABB to get an offer and I already have the A so I'm feeling fairly optimistic. Obviously I don't want to get my hopes up too much. Part of me thinks that knowing how gutted I will be if I don't get an offer is a good thing and part of me thinks it's bad. But we shall see.
Shizzz, this has been a wordy blog. I just really feel like getting everything down in words is important so that when I'm an adult I can look back and know what I was thinking/feeling at the time. DEEP! I'll shut up now. Au revoir!
Friday, 6 March 2009
What a day. To say the least.
Today has been the strangest day of my life.
I'm in the middle of three days of workshops run by the Young Americans who are a non-profit organisation consisting of ridiculously talented Americans of ages 19-23 who are teaching us singing, dancing and acting.
Basically, today they performed The Circle Of Life from The Lion King and then we learnt it. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I must have been to about 30 West End musicals and this was better than any of the ones I've seen before. The passion was just unbelievable, it was so emotional. Lots of people cried just because it was so moving, you could tell how much they love what they're doing and the thought they put into their performances is just mind-blowing. So then we had to learn it. Well put it like this, by the end of the run through the majority of the YA's and us students were in tears. I can't explain it. The Lion King rehearsals and performances took up about 2 hours and I can't really remember anything that happened. But I can remember how I felt. It was as if my subconcious took over and pushed my concious away. I really can't put into words what that felt like. Out of body is the best description I can think of. All I can say is that it was the most moving experience of my life. I always feel a bit tearful during musicals just because I love them so much but this was something else. The fact that one song and dance had such an impact on 150 people simultaneously, so much that most were crying and some sobbing hysterically for no obvious reason just absolutely outstands me. I never realised how much of an outlet musical theatre is until now. All the barriers were broken down. No one was self-concious or worrying about letting go and showing their emotions. Boys, girls, teachers and students alike were all just completely comfortable in releasing emotion in a way that is usually seen as "shameful", "embarrassing" or "childish", and that is totally breathtaking. I've never felt like that before and I don't think I ever will again.
What made the day even odder was that after this we just had a massive dance in the sports hall. This room in my school is associated with boredom and torture, yet I can safely say those 15 minutes of dancing were probably the best of my life. I'm the most paranoid dancer you'll ever meet, but all that left me and we just went crazy. We danced on our own in front of everyone and it was just the best feeling of freedom ever. I never thought I'd get that out of dance. But it was just so fun. And to go from feeling absolutely emotional, fragile and vulnerable to feeling confident and excited in the span of a few hours is just indescribable. They were the two most extreme senses of the emotions I've ever felt, and to feel them both in such a short space of time is just ridiculous, special and once in a lifetime.
I feel emotionally drained but really priviledged that I've experienced this. What I thought would be three days of song and dance and constant jokes has turned into a life-changing experience. It's altered my whole outlook and just listening to the YA's talk about their experiences and hearing their advice and stories is just such an impact. They're all so grateful and willing to share and it's incredible because they have such different lives to us despite being around the same age.
I genuinely do feel honoured to have been part of this because it has affected me more than I can say. I've learnt so, so much.
So that is a brief summary of Friday 6th March 2009. It has, without a doubt, been the most unbelievable day of my life and I'm going to sleep tonight a different person to who I was when I woke up this morning. I wish a blog can do today justice, but it's one of those things you have to experience to believe. And I know I'm so lucky to have got to experience it because there's no way I'd be able to get my head around or properly appreciate this just hearing it from someone else's point of view.
I'm in the middle of three days of workshops run by the Young Americans who are a non-profit organisation consisting of ridiculously talented Americans of ages 19-23 who are teaching us singing, dancing and acting.
Basically, today they performed The Circle Of Life from The Lion King and then we learnt it. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I must have been to about 30 West End musicals and this was better than any of the ones I've seen before. The passion was just unbelievable, it was so emotional. Lots of people cried just because it was so moving, you could tell how much they love what they're doing and the thought they put into their performances is just mind-blowing. So then we had to learn it. Well put it like this, by the end of the run through the majority of the YA's and us students were in tears. I can't explain it. The Lion King rehearsals and performances took up about 2 hours and I can't really remember anything that happened. But I can remember how I felt. It was as if my subconcious took over and pushed my concious away. I really can't put into words what that felt like. Out of body is the best description I can think of. All I can say is that it was the most moving experience of my life. I always feel a bit tearful during musicals just because I love them so much but this was something else. The fact that one song and dance had such an impact on 150 people simultaneously, so much that most were crying and some sobbing hysterically for no obvious reason just absolutely outstands me. I never realised how much of an outlet musical theatre is until now. All the barriers were broken down. No one was self-concious or worrying about letting go and showing their emotions. Boys, girls, teachers and students alike were all just completely comfortable in releasing emotion in a way that is usually seen as "shameful", "embarrassing" or "childish", and that is totally breathtaking. I've never felt like that before and I don't think I ever will again.
What made the day even odder was that after this we just had a massive dance in the sports hall. This room in my school is associated with boredom and torture, yet I can safely say those 15 minutes of dancing were probably the best of my life. I'm the most paranoid dancer you'll ever meet, but all that left me and we just went crazy. We danced on our own in front of everyone and it was just the best feeling of freedom ever. I never thought I'd get that out of dance. But it was just so fun. And to go from feeling absolutely emotional, fragile and vulnerable to feeling confident and excited in the span of a few hours is just indescribable. They were the two most extreme senses of the emotions I've ever felt, and to feel them both in such a short space of time is just ridiculous, special and once in a lifetime.
I feel emotionally drained but really priviledged that I've experienced this. What I thought would be three days of song and dance and constant jokes has turned into a life-changing experience. It's altered my whole outlook and just listening to the YA's talk about their experiences and hearing their advice and stories is just such an impact. They're all so grateful and willing to share and it's incredible because they have such different lives to us despite being around the same age.
I genuinely do feel honoured to have been part of this because it has affected me more than I can say. I've learnt so, so much.
So that is a brief summary of Friday 6th March 2009. It has, without a doubt, been the most unbelievable day of my life and I'm going to sleep tonight a different person to who I was when I woke up this morning. I wish a blog can do today justice, but it's one of those things you have to experience to believe. And I know I'm so lucky to have got to experience it because there's no way I'd be able to get my head around or properly appreciate this just hearing it from someone else's point of view.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Updates
Ok so I had an absolute panic attack for 7am because I felt soooo sick and was worried I wouldn't be able to do the school play. But then my mum said that I should stay at home and just go in this afternoon to do it so I drugged myself up and went to sleep till midday. I woke up feeling okayish so then I did some more packing. I got to school at 2.30 and we did a run through and just had a nice time together. And then at 7 we did the play and it went incredibly well and I'm on such a high now. I'm so proud of all the cast because they genuinely are such talented people and I love them all so so so much and I'm gonna go now because this is getting to be like a triple cheese pizza with extra cheese.
Love you Toby, Charlotte, Sarah, Aimee, Rhianna, Jenna, Eleanor and Pete xoxoxoxoxoxo
Oh and also we have just had another load of snow. There's about 3 inches out there. It shouldn't have even settled because it was soaking wet on the ground. But it did. So yeah.
SKI TRIP TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laterz potaterz xoxoxo
Love you Toby, Charlotte, Sarah, Aimee, Rhianna, Jenna, Eleanor and Pete xoxoxoxoxoxo
Oh and also we have just had another load of snow. There's about 3 inches out there. It shouldn't have even settled because it was soaking wet on the ground. But it did. So yeah.
SKI TRIP TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laterz potaterz xoxoxo
A pretty horrific situation tbh.
Ohdear.
It's 6.17am and I really should not be awake yet.
But y'know, sod's law means that today has to be the day I'm ill.
The day of the school play. And the day before the ski trip.
The play's already been rescheduled from last Thursday because of the snow and the thing with having a small cast like we do for this one means there are no understudies. Which means that being ill is not an option. I'm really really worried.
And then there's the ski trip. On a 24 hour coach journey you really do NOT want to set off feeling anything less than your best, trust me on that. Shittt why is this happening!!?!?!
I'm sorry but I'm SO PISSED OFF.
We've been rehearsing for this play since September which is FIVE MONTHS.
I've been looking forward to and saving up for the ski trip for TWELVE MONTHS.
And I'm sitting here at 6.20am feeling absolutely dismal.
This is the absolute worst thing that could happen in this situation.
Why couldn't I have been ill last week? Why now?
This has got to be karma for something but as far as I'm aware I haven't even done anything really bad lately!
I'm gonna go.
:'(
It's 6.17am and I really should not be awake yet.
But y'know, sod's law means that today has to be the day I'm ill.
The day of the school play. And the day before the ski trip.
The play's already been rescheduled from last Thursday because of the snow and the thing with having a small cast like we do for this one means there are no understudies. Which means that being ill is not an option. I'm really really worried.
And then there's the ski trip. On a 24 hour coach journey you really do NOT want to set off feeling anything less than your best, trust me on that. Shittt why is this happening!!?!?!
I'm sorry but I'm SO PISSED OFF.
We've been rehearsing for this play since September which is FIVE MONTHS.
I've been looking forward to and saving up for the ski trip for TWELVE MONTHS.
And I'm sitting here at 6.20am feeling absolutely dismal.
This is the absolute worst thing that could happen in this situation.
Why couldn't I have been ill last week? Why now?
This has got to be karma for something but as far as I'm aware I haven't even done anything really bad lately!
I'm gonna go.
:'(
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
A blog of the extremely bloggy variety
So here in the South East of England we've had some really dramatic weather conditions. I am well aware that for most countries, 15 inches of snow is not a big deal or reason for life as we know it to stop. But over here we are not geared up for really hot or really cold. Which is why despite the fact that it's all melting, we're all off school for the second day running. Not that I'm complaining, I love a day off just as much as the next person. But like, in Austria, they frequently have multiple meters of semi-frozen precipitation, and people still function...
So yesterday was good, I had a bowl of Cheerios which was epic because I never have time for cereal on weekdays usually. And then I sat on my laptop for several hours and then I went out with my mum and my neighbours and we made a Harry Potter snowman. I'll stick some photos in at the end. And then I started reading Slumdog Millionaire by Vikus Swarup. It was originally published as Q & A but I bought the new version. I'm just under halfway through and it is incredible, really really hard to put down. And it's not really like the film at all apart from the concept, so nothing's getting ruined for me. Then yesterday evening I talked to Tom (www.youtube.com/interneticalrehab) on Skype for ages which was SO MUCH FUN and I wish he didn't live in Wales because I wanna meet up with him.
Today I REALLY need to get some work done. I have like 3 pieces of Sociology and English coursework and Drama coursework and French homework. And that's not to mention THE SCHOOL PLAY IS ON THURSDAY! From these two days off school we are missing about 5 hours rehearsal time. This is EXTREMELY BAD and I really cannot see us being ready for Thursday. I'm guessing it's gonna get postponed. Which is good because I still don't know all my lines...oops.
This is by far the bloggiest blog I've written in a long time. I hope everyone is enjoying the snow or if you don't have snow then whatever weather condition you do have. Speak to you all soooon xoxo
Harry Potter, the snowman edition:
So yesterday was good, I had a bowl of Cheerios which was epic because I never have time for cereal on weekdays usually. And then I sat on my laptop for several hours and then I went out with my mum and my neighbours and we made a Harry Potter snowman. I'll stick some photos in at the end. And then I started reading Slumdog Millionaire by Vikus Swarup. It was originally published as Q & A but I bought the new version. I'm just under halfway through and it is incredible, really really hard to put down. And it's not really like the film at all apart from the concept, so nothing's getting ruined for me. Then yesterday evening I talked to Tom (www.youtube.com/interneticalrehab) on Skype for ages which was SO MUCH FUN and I wish he didn't live in Wales because I wanna meet up with him.
Today I REALLY need to get some work done. I have like 3 pieces of Sociology and English coursework and Drama coursework and French homework. And that's not to mention THE SCHOOL PLAY IS ON THURSDAY! From these two days off school we are missing about 5 hours rehearsal time. This is EXTREMELY BAD and I really cannot see us being ready for Thursday. I'm guessing it's gonna get postponed. Which is good because I still don't know all my lines...oops.
This is by far the bloggiest blog I've written in a long time. I hope everyone is enjoying the snow or if you don't have snow then whatever weather condition you do have. Speak to you all soooon xoxo
Harry Potter, the snowman edition:
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