Crossing my fingers the stereotypes are true

You know how some people think ......

1) All Latinos instinctively know how to Salsa
2) All Italians are awesome cooks
3) All tall people can play basketball

Well.....I just got an ABBA karaoke CD. My life is so stinkin busy that I haven't had the opportunity to play with it yet, but I am hoping that for once I can reap the rewards from all my Swedish Ancestry. There has to be some benefit to growing up with fine blonde hair and a father who eats kipper snacks. I think I deserve to be able to sing ABBA better since they are my people so to speak.

Only time will tell.

Commandaoke? Project Karaoke? The title still needs work

Peeps. This has been brewing for a loooong time. I love a good game and a good challenge. The promise of singing karaoke at Sam's B-day this weekend only spurred on the madness. Karaoke needs to be more challenging. Yes, that's right. Who cares if I totally can't sing as well as Mariah or Christina? Being good is not necessary for what I have in mind. Here are the new rules:

1. You throw in a ton of really well known songs in to a hat. Man songs, Woman songs, Not Sure songs.

2. You get another separate hat and into it you add the names of famous singers with trademark sounds or famous styles (Sonny, Cher, Barbara, Pee Wee Hermann, Snow White, Sarah Brightman, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Opera, Country, Beat Poetry, Rap, etc)

3. Contestants pick a song and a style and go to it! And train wreck.

4. People will have have gongs or buzzers. Sometimes it will be torturous. Life is agony sometimes and so is the greatest game ever. So bad it's good.

5. Hilarity will ensue.

I think singing in a particular style is both a) awful sounding and b) forces people not to take themselves seriously which are the key elements to karaoke when it is in public. You can sing Faith Hill when you're all alone and then no one has to listen or pretend they like it. And you can realize(as I have) that you are not as good as you sound in the car and maybe you shouldn't try out for American Idol. Unless you write a song and bring mums.

I know there will be naysayers. I have not presented my ingenius idea yet because pretty much everyone I know except Erin and Alison(who both do great Chers) has said "What are you smoking- I can't sing- why would you think I could karaoke and do it in a style?" My response is No I don't think you can sing. That is why I am suggesting this alternative where no one expects or wants you to sound good. That is why this idea could rock hard.

The only obstacle is that people are way too self conscious to tank a song like "Stand By Me" while singing like a large german opera singer apparently.

I am thinking my game only appeals to a select few. And to those to whom it appeals - we must play it someday and see if it is awesome or an abomination.

For the Kids

I was listening to the radio while I was coming home today and I heard the lady on the radio(not a station I normally listen to so I don't know her name) start a conversation about famous people being from Texas. She mentioned American Idol's Jason Castro because apparently today they are having an event in Rockwall for him.

Now here's the awesome part. She suggested that he should come into her studios so she could cut his hair. She was polling women on the phone and they all said his hair was heinously awful. And here's where it gets really good. The radio host started suggesting (with all seriousness) that Jason should come in so she could cut his hair on the air and donate it to Locks of Love. Let's think about that for a moment shall we.

Can you imagine that those sick dreds are actually useful to an organization that makes wigs? Off the top of my head I knew this, but for your info the rules are

- 10 inch minimum length of hair cut

-Not bleached or highlighted

-Clean and dry and in a ponytail

Then I checked the actual site and here is a quote for your reading pleasure :

"We cannot accept dreadlocks. Our manufacturer is not able to use them in our children’s hairpieces. "

And can you imagine the poor kids if they did?! Although his wig might be fun for the Make-A-Wish foundation for kids who want to be rasta for a day.

So Let's Dance the Last Dance

Why must dances be so lame sometimes? It's not that dancing in and of itself is not cool. Or that white people are doing the dancing. Sometimes it's greatness.

Tonight was brought home for many of us that the music is crucial to a dance's success. Miss Karen and I tried our best to dance hard despite how lame/ undanceable some of the music was.
Apparently (another ward hosted) the music was dropped off by leadership and only song numbers showed up- ie- they had no clue what the approved songs actually were. If no one danced they bumped it ahead but couldn't guarantee what it would be.

And I had a conversation with a leader tonight complaining about the lyrics of the music in the Guitar Hero/ Rock Band rooms. Seriously. We might as well resign to the fact that we can't listen to anything but ballroom music and just all learn it. Then we wouldn't have to worry or hear swear words in the Lord's house at all. Except from boys playing sports. And the special people I referred to in another blog.

There seems to be a strong correlation between censoring and lameness of dances. I am not sure why this is. But it is true. I have been to really squeaky clean dances that were way fun- but not censored. And I have been to supposedly censored dances that were dirty awful- but LAME.

How can our dilemma be solved? I also think many people who do not dance(and have not ever danced) are having input into the music being approved. They are approving music that you bop your head to in a car but that you cannot actually dance to. It DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! Seriously. One time I went to a dance in Denton with Erin C and I was like.....OK the DJ has on a white jean jacket with an upturned collar and you can tell he is trying to recreate the soundtrack to an episode of the OC. It was all Emo-esque beach tunes. AWFUL. Great for a car, but to DANCE? They had a packed dance with no one dancing all night. It was heinously awful. Such a waste.

Apparently I need to find another form of social interaction and getting my groove on. Sigh.