Back to Basics: A Flower List Update

Do you like where you live?

20% said GET ME OUT OF HERE.

10% said Yep, it's a nice place!

70% said Eh, it's a love hate relationship

0% said I'm never in one spot for long!

0% said It's ok (:

and...

0% said I love it!!

I have to deal with it everyday. Wheter it be browsing my Facebook newsfeed, or sitting in geometry:

"I hate this town!" "I can't wait until I leave." "When's graduation?" "Yeah, this town…definitely not my favorite place." "There's nothing to do here!" "Get me out of here!"

I'm not perfect. I hate this town too when I get into one of those crappy moods. But that's it: you can't let it get to you. I know you're wired right now with all this weird and for no good reason teenage angst and you can only see beyond the confines of your dramatic high school life, but please try to keep a hold of your emotions. I'm tired of hearing all these remarks about our town. I try to be optimistic in this life of mine. Look around you people, you live in a great place!!!! Believe it or not you're in one of the richest areas in the nation. My dad tells me allll the time, not to forget how crazy it is where we live. Go down south to Georgia or whatever you can buy a house twice the size of ours with half the price. Why maybe? It could be because we have an excellent school district, and a great location. So suck it up! I think living in an area where some of the surrounding towns were in the top ten Forbes list of most affluent areas is pretty damn good.

You still want to hear my rant against my town? Okay here it goes,

I hate the people here. I hate walking around the halls in school with this need to be perfect lingering above everyones heads. You created this aura Miss. Hunter boots, and yet you sit here day after day crying about your life. Your life draped in Tiffany jewelry and spring break trips to Europe. I have some advice for you then if you want to change. Stop pressuring yourself and everyone to be perfect, stop hooking up with guys that treat you like crap and are just thinking about your best friend while they're trying to get some with you. Stop being mean and judgemental towards people and maybe you'll get some true friends with less drama involved. Stop thinking your life revolves around Cheer, or that you're some Olympian because you can successful do a couple back hand springs or whatever. Stop posting pictures of yourself on Facebook drunk, don't talk about how your best friend lost her virginity to the same guy as you did and now she's copying you. What kind of freaking reputation do you think that's setting up for you? Stop hating this town. Because this town gives you everything wheter you realize it or not.

"We've got it good

Whether you like this town or not

I know it's small but with a big head

it's bound to get hot

In the summer

But the summer is a bummer

If you can't leave

This pathetic excuse for a town

That holds all your memories

A lifetime of crushes and your broken dreams..."

- Never Shout Never "Big City Dreams"

I love my town. I look for places in my town that are quirky and cool and you can escape from the town in there. They're there. Trust me, or my Schwinn. This town has given me great opportunities. This town has given me friends and memories that will last a life time. This town will always be waiting here back for me, unchanged I know it. Because it was the same old stereotyped town my Dad grew up in. It's here when I come back every weekend from my other home out east. It will be waiting here for me when my plane from London lands in at JFK, sometime soon I hope! It will be here when I show my kids where I grew up. Maybe where I met their dad, or maybe where they'll be living. Who knows.

My father said "Son, we're lucky in this town,

It's a beautiful place to be born.

It just wraps its arms around you,

Nobody crowds you and nobody goes it alone"

"Your flag flyin' over the courthouse

Means certain things are set in stone.

Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't"

- Bruce Springsteen, "Long Walk Home"

Song stuck in my head today: two links for you inn this post already set up and ready to go! go find 'em :)

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison

World of Jenks: "Freedom's Flight" The Buried Life: "Ask Out The Girl of Your Dreams (Part II)"

Best episodes by far for both shows. If you haven't seen them GO NOW!

(sorry this review is two weeks late, my computer and TV have both been having problems)

This week Andrew lives the life of Brogan a young Miami Beach native who is extremely passionate about stopping illegal horse slaughter farms in the south Florida area. I've never watched something so eye-opening in my life. Right when Jenks got to Brogan's hometown she had him ducking in disguise in front of a slaughter farm on the outskirts of Miami. Every day she and Jenks put their lives on the line in order to protect the lives of the horses. Though she understood the severity of her actions Brogan never hesitated when approaching the farm owners or shooting her gun. She did everything and anything to secure the lives of the helpless animals.

You really can't understand all Brogan puts out there until you watch the episode for yourself. There's a price on her head for her actions and people she's affiliated with from the horse slaughter farms. Her boyfriend's identity had to be kept a secret while Jenks filmed to ensure his own safety. Brogan however didn't change any of the information that's shown on World of Jenks in an effort to really expose the truth of what she does. She realizes that life is short so you either put your all into something or it's not worth it. If she dies trying to save the horses than so be it. It's better than dying in some car accident or random act of violence.

Brogan's whole lifestyle was so inspirational, the problem is what do I do with all that inspiration? I've always wanted to get involved and Brogan does more than that. Her life is now the lives of the horses she saves, she's not just passing out pamphlets like Andrew assumed when he first decided on this story. All this work she does for the ASA is voluntary. She struggles to have ends meet just like any other person. Some may think she is revered and rewarded for her heroic actions but on some occasions it is the exact opposite. Brogan is a real hero and role model for everyone. I hope to find ways to follow in her actions.

The Buried Life this week was just as enjoyable. The boys set out on their second try of #59: Ask out the girl of your dreams. Ben's attempt to ask out Megan Fox last year was so close and now they've decided to try it again but this time giving Duncan a whack at it. He has had his eyes on pop country star (one of my favorites!) Taylor Swift ever since their brief meeting in an airport. Duncan fell for her down-to-earth attitude and sweet demeanor so the boys (minus Ben who was helping out someone pursue their own dreams) devised a plan to have the moment between Duncan and Taylor at the CMT awards in Nashville Tennessee this past summer. The guys made their first stop at a thrift store to pick out disguises they would use to transform their trio into Boone McCaw, up and coming country sensation, Pipe Wilson, his manager, and Padagonia the eccentric backup bass player. With the hilarious outfits, great voices and sweet ending the episode was amazing.

Since the guys needed to spend so much time on coming up with a plan to get to Taylor Swift, they couldn't show a lengthy clip about the dream of a random stranger they were helping to achieve. So for a brief minute or two before a commercial there was a segment about Jonnie's quest to help an older man find his lost love, Joyce Hook. In a way that resembled this year's blockbuster Letters to Juliet the Buried Life team was trying to get any leads on where Australian native Joyce Hook might be now, and how they could find her. Visit their website to find out how you can help the search!

Song stuck in my head today: "Dear God" by XTC

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison

Concerts=Motivations

I don't see how you can hate Taylor Swift. After last night, I think it's physically impossible. I'm not sure if you guys are fans of her (ya better be!) but sorry, 'cause this post is nothing but Taylor, Taylor, Taylor.

You can judge me. Say I haven't been to enough concerts to make a firm opinion on what I experienced last night, but I don't care. The Fearless tour is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. I came home, with my ears ringing, body shaking and a pure determination to start saving money to get the best seats for her next tour.

So I don't start babbling as I so often do, here's just some quick reason why The Fearless 2010 tour was the best thing ever.

1.) Taylor got into it.
This made the show. That Taylor got into the crowd, physically and mentally. Doesn't it just really make you wanna scream when you spend all this money to come to a concert, buy food and shirts and then you're stuck all the way in the back up high, surrounded by unenthusiastic 'fans' and their Blackberry yielding fathers who are wondering why they ever got themselves into this mess, spending their Friday night in a mob of sparkly, singing, girls? Well, it makes me cringe thinking about it. But instead of staying up top a decked out platform in the safe confines of her band mates and screaming ground floor fans, Taylor came in through the crowd, sang a song on the steps and hugged and shook everyone she could while making her way down to the opposite end of the coliseum to ask her fans - who were freaking out at this point - if she could hang out with them back here. Oh, did I mention she gave some lucky girl her bracelet?! I'm pretty positive that'll be on that teen's wrist for years to come, as Taylor right now seems unstoppable in her current star status. When she came to the back of the arena, I swear the only thing separating the two of us was a small wall to block out insane fans and the lucky people with ground tickets. She made everyone back there freak out, all of us were happy she looked like the Taylor we know and love, not some ant sized girl that we had to watch on the big screens! Not only did she come back into the crowd but you could tell clear as day she was so into the concert and her fans. She stopped so many times, for five minutes or more to just look around and take it all in. She'd stop and smile or laugh to herself as the crowd screamed and cheered for her infinitely. You might say she was taking a break to let herself breath. But she did it so long, and so often and looked so happy you knew what she was feeling.
2.) The performances were spectacular.
Everything Taylor did with her songs was big, the little speeches she gave, the outfit changes, the videos leading up to them, and the scenery too. They gave the crowd a dose of energy everytime she stepped out in another sparkly dress. Sometimes I think things artists do on their live performances can be too much, and hide the music. But with the Fearless tour, the things that happened may have even enhanced it! There was always something new that made you think differently about the song, got you more involved, or just made you smile and laugh.
3.) The merchandise.
This might sound stupid, but I had to throw it in here! The t-shirts were only $25. I'm sorry but that made me extremely happy that I didn't need to spend $40 like other concerts!! :)
4.) Her and her band sounded good.
Taylor Swift didn't sound like some other artists that seem like they had some sorta vocal chord transplant after seeing them live. She sang just like you would hear on the radio, and her band was just as great. She also got her band into, not just by recognizing them at the end of a set but by letting one of her guitarist play around with the crowd, making up scream and telling us when to get louder or softer. Basically he was the conductor of a stadium packed with girls who, even though they had been non-stop singing and screaming the whole night, weren't about to give up yet. And seeing Taylor's other guitarist come out for a long solo was an amazing contrast to some of the slower pop song she had been singing previously.

I could go on and on as normal but bottom line: TAYLOR IS AMAZING. This tour showed who she was, and that she's here to stay! I was so impressed with it and it opened my eyes up to so many different things. She really made me feel fearless!

But, two last things before you take a gander at some photos I painstakingly snapped last night, balancing my camera on my knee while keeping a look out for the security! (No that was not me running around looking for better seats) One: Taylor really showed me how much she appreciated her fans and why. I never understood a celebrity's love for their fans. I mean, I get it but still it's not like they'd be nothing with out them. But they would in a way, and I get that now. I finally comprehended last night, after years of thinking if I ever got famous I would never let my fans get to me that much, why singers, actors, etc. are always saying how much they love their fans. They are their inspiration, they're the people that keep them going, make all the rejections worth it and I guess in a way, their friends. I don't know how I come to realize this, and it's sort of hard to express in writing but I'm glad I did.

And, my last statement is that if you have a Facebook I'd love if you'd become a fan of 'An Interview With Taylor Swift!'. It's a fanpage I started to cross off 'Meet Taylor Swift' from my Flower List. (Which new page will be up soon). I thought if Betty White could get on SNL with the power of Facebook and ahugfromtaylorswift.com could accomplish its goal in four months, trying for mine was worth a shot! So please join, send fan mail to Taylor, tweet her or whatever else you can think of! I might start a new blog/website, Youtube or Twitter for it in the coming months but for right now I'm just getting some other things with it going. I hope we can all make this happen together. Write or post a video on the fanpage to tell me what you want me to ask/tell Taylor if I get to interview her.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/An-Interview-With-Taylor-Swift/111018958941059?ref=ts



^ MY FAVORITE (:


Song stuck in my head today: "Should've Said No" by Taylor Swift

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison