Ah, the Grammys. My favorite awards show. Cooking is my current path but there was one point where I was quite certain I wanted to go into the music industry. That being said, there will be a lot of posts about music as well as food.
Overall, I enjoyed the show this year. I’ll share my thoughts of the awards as a whole at the end but first I’ll go through all the performances in chronological order.
Bruce Springsteen “We Take Care of Our Own” - A
“America Are You Alive Out There?” What a great line to kick off the show. I loved the random shots of Paul McCartney and Chris Martin trying to sing along but not really knowing the words. I don’t love the Boss as much as, say, Paul McCartney, but this was a solid performance to get the show started and it definitely felt appropriate as it really was speaking to our times. Great energy and a nice kick start.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Loss of a Legend
The death of Whitney Houston has certainly hit many people hard but surprisingly, many people were not too shocked to hear of her death. Given her long history of drugs and substance abuse, it seems as though her fans expected something like this to happen. One source compares Houston’s death to Amy Winehouse’s, saying, “she knew the repercussions but ignored them.” According to CNN, Houston was seen ordering several drinks before 10am on more than one occasion during the week leading up to her death.
The night before her death, Houston appeared disheveled and disoriented, an effect of combining prescription drugs with alcohol. Even so, it was a total surprise when she was found in her bath tub and pronounced dead. Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, was hospitalized the following day for stress and anxiety.
As soon as news of Houston’s death hit, celebrities and fans alike took to social media outlets such as Twitter to share their thoughts and feelings on the late diva. Mariah Carey, who once sang a duet with Houston, tweeted, “Heartbroken and in tears over the shocking death of my friend, the incomparable Ms. Houston.” There were many other similar tweets from artists such as Cee-Lo, Bret Michaels, Lenny Kravitz and Katy Perry.
Houston’s death caused the producers of the Grammys to scramble at the last minute to try to put something together in her honor. The host of the event, LL Cool J, led the audience in a short prayer for Houston. Later on in the evening, Jennifer Hudson paid tribute by singing a very emotional version of “I Will Always Love You,” leaving the audience in tears. Hudson herself struggled to finish as she was very emotionally distraught over the death of one of her idols.
“Relapse is common for a former drug addict,” says another source. Though Houston had spent the last several years clean, it seems as though she fell back into some of her old habits. Houston’s exact cause of death is still being investigated now. It could be up to six weeks before the toxicology report results come in.
Houston’s funeral is set for this coming Saturday, February 18 in New Jersey open only to close friends and family. No public memorial has been planned.
Though she is gone, Houston’s legacy will certainly live on through her music.
The night before her death, Houston appeared disheveled and disoriented, an effect of combining prescription drugs with alcohol. Even so, it was a total surprise when she was found in her bath tub and pronounced dead. Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, was hospitalized the following day for stress and anxiety.
As soon as news of Houston’s death hit, celebrities and fans alike took to social media outlets such as Twitter to share their thoughts and feelings on the late diva. Mariah Carey, who once sang a duet with Houston, tweeted, “Heartbroken and in tears over the shocking death of my friend, the incomparable Ms. Houston.” There were many other similar tweets from artists such as Cee-Lo, Bret Michaels, Lenny Kravitz and Katy Perry.
Houston’s death caused the producers of the Grammys to scramble at the last minute to try to put something together in her honor. The host of the event, LL Cool J, led the audience in a short prayer for Houston. Later on in the evening, Jennifer Hudson paid tribute by singing a very emotional version of “I Will Always Love You,” leaving the audience in tears. Hudson herself struggled to finish as she was very emotionally distraught over the death of one of her idols.
“Relapse is common for a former drug addict,” says another source. Though Houston had spent the last several years clean, it seems as though she fell back into some of her old habits. Houston’s exact cause of death is still being investigated now. It could be up to six weeks before the toxicology report results come in.
Houston’s funeral is set for this coming Saturday, February 18 in New Jersey open only to close friends and family. No public memorial has been planned.
Though she is gone, Houston’s legacy will certainly live on through her music.
A Reluctant Return to the Blogosphere
Well, it’s certainly been a while since I’ve shared my thoughts on the internet somewhere other than Facebook. I used to have a blog that I wrote in quite often but I chose to delete it one day. I decided to start another one a few years later. This one, in fact. Originally, I had intended for this to become a daily account of life as a culinary student in Italy. A lot of people had been asking me to collect all my thoughts together. I wrote my first post and got so many responses from friends and family. I wrote more in Italy than I had in a very long time and many things that I wrote were what I decided would turn in to future blog posts. But, as you can see, my first post was also my last until now.
While in Italy I came to the realization that I was spending more time on my computer than being out there and exploring the beauty that was around me. So after the first few weeks I chose to go for an evening bike ride rather than type on my computer. I spent my time exploring the area that I was in and cooking up a storm with my fellow classmates. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s wasting my precious time and using up all the minutes of my life sitting in front of a bright screen. That’s why I went to culinary school.
Recording everything can certainly be a way to relive your life but you’ll also miss out on everything else if you spend all your time simply typing, typing, typing. If I had spent all my time writing about my classes and posting pictures, I never would have had the time to make the most of my experience. Being in Italy is really a full sensory experience and I'm not sure pictures and words can really do justice to what I experienced during my six months there.
That isn’t to say that I’m against blogging. However, I do think that too many people have gone way over-board with the social networking. Many people use Facebook as their social calendar. Other people decide to share every meal and every thought on Twitter. It’s too much for me sometimes. Children play on the computer more than they play outside. I can’t even imagine growing up with a cell phone in one hand and an iPad in the other.
Blogging sparingly and social networking responsibly can certainly be a good thing. As long as you’re not spending more time talking about the weather than actually experiencing it, then go ahead. As for me, I’ll be making a disaster creating new recipes in my kitchen, or going out to concerts, or riding around town on the same bike I’ve had since I was in middle school. I’ll be living my life. And yes, this time I’ll really be sharing my thoughts on a myriad of topics once a week at the least, perhaps more if I feel so inclined.
~ElenaNicole
While in Italy I came to the realization that I was spending more time on my computer than being out there and exploring the beauty that was around me. So after the first few weeks I chose to go for an evening bike ride rather than type on my computer. I spent my time exploring the area that I was in and cooking up a storm with my fellow classmates. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s wasting my precious time and using up all the minutes of my life sitting in front of a bright screen. That’s why I went to culinary school.
Recording everything can certainly be a way to relive your life but you’ll also miss out on everything else if you spend all your time simply typing, typing, typing. If I had spent all my time writing about my classes and posting pictures, I never would have had the time to make the most of my experience. Being in Italy is really a full sensory experience and I'm not sure pictures and words can really do justice to what I experienced during my six months there.
That isn’t to say that I’m against blogging. However, I do think that too many people have gone way over-board with the social networking. Many people use Facebook as their social calendar. Other people decide to share every meal and every thought on Twitter. It’s too much for me sometimes. Children play on the computer more than they play outside. I can’t even imagine growing up with a cell phone in one hand and an iPad in the other.
Blogging sparingly and social networking responsibly can certainly be a good thing. As long as you’re not spending more time talking about the weather than actually experiencing it, then go ahead. As for me, I’ll be making a disaster creating new recipes in my kitchen, or going out to concerts, or riding around town on the same bike I’ve had since I was in middle school. I’ll be living my life. And yes, this time I’ll really be sharing my thoughts on a myriad of topics once a week at the least, perhaps more if I feel so inclined.
~ElenaNicole
Friday, June 18, 2010
Ciao!
Welcome, welcome to my wonderful new blog. I’ve gotten tons of requests to start one so here I am, writing to you about my Italian culinary adventures. I’ll get into the daily school details in my next post but for now just a (not so) little explanation about how I ended up on this crazy path.
If towards the end of my senior year of high school someone told me that I would end up where I am today, I would have asked what drugs that person was taking. NEVER in my wildest dreams or fantasies would I have thought that I would end up in culinary school. It was never part of the plan, not that there was much of one left anyway from the past few years. I always pictured myself spending the “best 4 years of my life” at one college where I would go to every football game, maybe join a sorority, graduate with a good GPA, find a job where I would have to straighten my hair and get made up everyday and that’s it.
Obviously, things have changed since then. I had a very different mindset about college, life, and relationships when I was in high school. Granted I was only 17 when I graduated but I still had VERY strong opinions about everything (as anyone who went to high school with me and had AIM could tell you). As a perfect example, I was extremely embarrassed by the thought of attending community college after my first year at Lafayette. I thought it was for losers, failures, and burnouts just as I believed the same about trade schools such as culinary school. I thought it was a joke. End of story.
If towards the end of my senior year of high school someone told me that I would end up where I am today, I would have asked what drugs that person was taking. NEVER in my wildest dreams or fantasies would I have thought that I would end up in culinary school. It was never part of the plan, not that there was much of one left anyway from the past few years. I always pictured myself spending the “best 4 years of my life” at one college where I would go to every football game, maybe join a sorority, graduate with a good GPA, find a job where I would have to straighten my hair and get made up everyday and that’s it.
Obviously, things have changed since then. I had a very different mindset about college, life, and relationships when I was in high school. Granted I was only 17 when I graduated but I still had VERY strong opinions about everything (as anyone who went to high school with me and had AIM could tell you). As a perfect example, I was extremely embarrassed by the thought of attending community college after my first year at Lafayette. I thought it was for losers, failures, and burnouts just as I believed the same about trade schools such as culinary school. I thought it was a joke. End of story.
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