Follow Your Own Rhythm

  Brother Bear   Background Information      Brother Bear is a very powerful and uplifting animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Brother Bear was released back in 2003 and has since made $250,397,798 cumulatively around the world. This movie came out when I was 9 years old so I didn't really grow up watching it, I only started watching it recently because of my two young children who absolutely love it. It is also extremely relevant to where we live- the movie takes place here in Alaska!      Brother Bear is a story about 3 brothers, Kenai, Denahi, and Sitka who, as brothers do, were continually teasing each other. At the beginning of the movie, Kenai, the youngest, was in the dawning of becoming an adult which meant that he would receive a wooden totem. This totem is a symbol of your powerful contribution to the tribe and your family.  When Kenai discovers that the spirits carved a bear into his totem which symbolizes "love" he was extremely disappoi

The Lion King        My ALL time favorite children's movie even to this day is Disney's The Lion King, which was released June 24th, 1994, exactly a month after my birthday! The Lion King was directed by Roger Allens, and Rob Minkoff- the "B" team. When The Lion King was first in production the original director left to pursue the Disney movie "Pocahontas", because it was claimed to be a hit movie and he wanted to be apart of it. Come to find out, The Lion King has grossed a total of $1.657 billion dollars in revenue!  The Lion King does a really good job at keeping you very intrigued at every scene as well as emotionally involved with the storyline. It's incredible to think that this movie was completely hand-drawn. The famous 2.5-minute wildebeest stampede scene took TWO years to create and took a brand new computer program to execute the movements of the herd.       The Lion King is about a young lion cub, Simba who embarks on his life journey after t

  Musical Biography When I found out that we were asked to write a blog post about a music performer, only one person came to mind! The beautiful, extremely talented, Céline Dion! Céline Dion was born in Quebec Canada where she was raised with her 13 brothers and sisters, who are all musically inclined as well. Since Ms. Dion's early start in the music industry, she has released a total of 27 albums including 7 live albums. "By the mid-1990s, Dion had established herself as one of the best-selling musical artists in the world. Dion's "Let's Talk About Love" album (1997) reached major success featuring the movie "Titanic's theme "My Heart Will Go On", becoming Dion's signature song. The film had a record number of Oscar noms, and "My Heart Will Go On" went on to win the 1997 Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song for Dion. Dion two Grammy awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the coveted Record of the

Let's take a musical trip to Africa together!  Musical Background I chose to explore the musical world of Africa! I found that I enjoyed exceedingly everything that I heard. A lot of the music is quite upbeat, catchy, and really easy to dance to.  In Africa, music and poetry are an incredibly big part of their culture and traditions. Music is often used in celebratory gatherings such as weddings, birth, rites of passage, hunting, and sometimes even political events.  I can relate because music is very important in my life as well. Often times in the African culture, music is used to ward off evil spirits and also to pay respect to others.   "The most significant instrument in African music is the African drum. It expresses the mood of the people and evokes emotion. The beat of the African drum is the “heartbeat of the community” and its rhythm is what holds the dancers together." (Centuries of African Heritage)                                                              

  Vinyl vs CD: Which has a better sound quality? Image Source: Pixabay            Image Source: Pixabay If you are a musicophile like I am, I am almost positive you have gotten into a debate about whether Vinyl sounds better than CD or vice versa. Well before we get into that discussion I would like to touch on the history of both of them.  Vinyl   In 1888 the very first flat vinyl record was invented by Emile Berliner which was made of vulcanized rubber. Berliner then eventually invented a mixture made out of shellac to make the discs even harder. Between the years of 1900-1960, the vinyl records only allowed about 2-5 minutes of playtime on each side. The next remarkable development for the vinyl record was back in 1948 when Columbia Records created the 30 cm vinyl record. These new vinyl records allowed about 20-30 minutes of playtime on each side vs the previous 2-5 minutes. Talk about a development!  It appears that once the CD was invented and released the sales of Vinyl records

Real Life by The Weeknd The Weeknd has been one of my favorite artists since the first time I heard his music-his ominous-sounding melodies and super emotional lyrics caught my attention. Over the years, The Weeknd has done an effortless job at storytelling through his sound and lyrics. In 2015 The Weeknd released the album "Beauty Behind the Madness" which features a song called Real Life.  "Real Life -  is the first song in the album which   serves as an undeniably strong opener packed with charging, electric instrumentals, and funky melodic undertones." (Flare.com)  Throughout his career and fame, he has remained authentic and true to himself. Just this past Sunday, The Weeknd performed the SuperBowl LV halftime show where his crew was seen wearing bandages over their faces. According to Insider,  "The significance of the entire head bandages is reflecting on the absurd culture of Hollywood celebrity and people manipulating themselves for superficial reasons