I’m going to be away from this spot, “It Is What It Is“, for a few days. I won’t have full access to a PC or laptop.
I still have the capacity to keep an eye on what happens in the blogosphere while I’m away.
I’m not able to just disconnect, particularly with what is going on in our world at this time.
There are so many problems, issues, conflicts, injustices, bigotry, destruction, killing, wars ….. We need to stay informed and educated about “happenings“.
I will leave you today with a message.
As noted above, we won’t find peace until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, as Mr. Sweitzer noted.
‘Tis the season …
We are all in this together. Be kind to on another.
Karen Rodriguez is out to smash all the pop chart toppers.
After killing you softly with her Spanglish cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” the American Idol alum is back with another bilingual twist, giving Adele a run for her money with a raw and powerful rendition of “Hello.”
“I connected deeply with ‘Hello’ and after seeing how well it was received, I knew people would enjoy hearing it in a new way,” said Karen to VIBE Viva.
“I decided to give it a twist and write my own lyrical adaptation in Spanish, opting out of a literal translation. I wanted to express what the song made me feel, and I also wanted to stay as true to the melody and to Adele’s flow in the original.
But I am a bilingual artist, I love singing and writing music in both languages, and I hope this cover serves as a platform where I can gain more fans who genuinely love and appreciate the work I do!”
I’ve followed this family since their early days in Miami.
I know their story and how Gloria came to be the main singer of Miami Sound Machine. The band became a huge hit in the Latin community. Then Gloria “crossed over” into the American mainstream music scene.
It was all then about Gloria.
I remember their hits, I have all the CD and concert videos. I couldn’t forget the harrowing time of the bus crash, her fractured back, her rescue, her recovery, her rehab and her comeback … that blue dress singing “Coming Out of the Dark”.
And the rest is history!
In their personal lives, they had Nayib and finally a daughter, Emily. Her name honors her dad Emilio.
I’ve seen Emily dab here and there in music. She has it in her genes, her internal makeup and her talent has grown.
She has released an awesome video with an absolutely on target message.
If you ask Gloria Estefan, it feels like yesterday when her daughter Emily was a baby backstage at her sold-out concerts. Fast-forward to today and the 21-year-old college sophomore is totally grown up and ready to rock out on her own.
“I always think about it as a double-edge sword,” Emily shared on Today’s show when asked about following the same career as her mom. “I don’t even understand that saying because doesn’t a sword have one edge?”
She continued, “But the reality is they’re amazing golden footsteps to follow in so my biggest fear now is just being able to do the past justice.”
“I know that must people I know believe in me for my talent and for what I stand for but there’s always a doubt in my mind because there is no way of knowing when you are a descendant of the Conga Queen.”
As her parents focus on their Broadway musical appropriately titled “On Your Feet,” Emily is ready to prove she herself can turn the beat around. And yes, she’ll do it while wearing mama’s clothes.
“When I want to go shopping, I just go to the warehouse and grab her clothes,” Emily admitted while wearing Gloria’s retro pants and T-shirt. As they like to say, like mother, like daughter.
Singer Emily Estefan, the Miami Beach daughter of Gloria and Emilio, on Thursday released a music video in which she expresses her point of view to a ‘sterile and ominous’ world: F#ck To Be.
F#ck To Be prominently focuses on male and female gender roles and stereotypes.
On November 3, Emily Estefan released her brand new video F#ck To Be. The concept behind the video shows Emily discovering and noticing a world that it is not what she expected instead it is very sterile and ominous.
“There are two POVs in the video, it is either what I see or what the mirror sees. It is me against the mirror. The mirror being expectations that I carry of myself, or what people expect me to be. I’m combatting the mirror, “ says Estefan.
F#ck to Be will be the first single from her forthcoming full length CD, Take Whatever You Want. Emily wrote, recorded, produced and performed her full album at Fairy Light Studios (her own studio in her college apartment in Boston, MA).
“Many people think I am saying “F” everything or everything sucks, but that is not true. I go in and out of these very different looks in the video that I don’t necessarily like for myself, but that doesn’t mean that I frown upon them, it just means that it is not me” said Estefan.
Back to school with What’s the Mashup!
To celebrate, here’s a mashup of 100 scenes of dance made in Hollywood and elsewhere !!
Can you identify the 100 movies?
Starbucks unveiled its new holiday design – a red cup with the green Starbucks logo – and sparked significant controversy due to its lack of Christmas symbols like reindeer and snowflakes.
Starbucks defended the blank holiday design as welcoming of people’s different stories.
A book is pages, pictures and words
A book is animals, people and birds
A book is stories of queens and kings
Poems and songs-so many things!
Curled in a corner where I can hide
With a book I can journey far and wide
Though it’s only paper from end to end
A book is a very special friend.
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
~~Steve Jobs~~
~~GALLERY~~
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
~~Most Important Life Lesson for All~~
Steve Jobs Inspiring Speech
~~Published on Feb 3, 2014~~
Here is the Steve jobs inspiring speech which teaches most important life lesson for students, entrepreneurs, teachers, employees and everybody else.
About Steve Jobs
A child put up for adoption soon after birth, a college dropout who just had a single calligraphy course as his formal education could never have been a millionaire until he is Steve Jobs.
Jobs preached that no matter what happens in your life, struggles in school or an unsuccessful career path — every aspect will somehow help you down the road.
“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards,” Jobs said. “So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Jobs gave an inspiring commencement address at Stanford in 2005. Though he is not with us anymore, he made sure that he leaves behind a giant company we all know it today as the Apple.
It Is What It Is 