Jumping on the Glee Train to Stop Bullying

http://www.gamingangels.com/2011/01/review-glee-karaoke-revolution-wii/

I have always been a Gleek since the day Glee first started airing. Although I do have to admit, in my opinion, i think the show has been slowly going down hill the last couple of seasons. I always watch and keep up with every episode because I still love it. It's based off a music club at a high school, so it goes along with my "Music" blog. The season 3 winter finale aired last week February 21, 2012 and although this season wasn't the best, they defiantly ended on a great episode that pulled on the heart strings the entire time. Glee covers various topics kids go through when in high school  ranging from what prom dress to wear to peer pressure to do drugs and alcohol. Glee frequently covers the topic of bullying that goes on in high school particularly bullying that happens to kids who are gay. This season finale, "On my Way", dealt a lot to do with bullying that gay teens deal with in high school. I hate to spoil what happens, but it happens in the first couple minutes of the show. The show opens up with Blaine on the stage singing "Cough Syrup" and flipping between camera shots of Blaine singing and video shots of David Karofsky being bullied about being gay at his new school. As the song is ending you watch David Karofsky crying, dressing up in a suit and making his belt into a loop. At this point, it was clear what his intentions were. I was yelling at the TV trying to stop him as I watch him look upward at the ceiling, and you then see his feet step onto a chair and the scene ends. Here's the link to the video of "Cough Syrup" from the episode. I and probably many others were holding back tears at having just watched Karofsky commit suicide, or at least attempt. Luckily, his dad caught him in time and saved him. Regardless, I thought it was the saddest episode ever covered by glee. I wanted to believe that this was an exaggeration of an outcome of bullying but I very well know this happens in real life, which is so unbelievably sad. The ruthless bullying that goes on in the world and at schools is just awful. Even though this episode was extremely sad and heartbreaking to watch, I applaud Glee for opening up some peoples' eyes to some of the outcomes of bullying. The littlest actions can hopefully make someone feel slightly better and worth it. Just caring about other people in any way possible can hopefully brighten someones' day. The episode continues going on and you see Glee compete against their rivals, the Warblers, at Regional's. For once, both teams are on the same page during the competition, that it's not about winning, it's about helping each other and realizing bad actions have bad consequences. Like I said before, not only has Glee's episode topics been going down hill for me, their song choices have too. There wasn't a song choice problem for me this episode though. I loved the songs both teams sang at regional's and they related so well to the topic, like usual. My favorite performances in this episode were the Warbler's Regional's performance of "Stand" and "Glad you Came" and than also the performance of "Stronger" sung by the Glee club.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2omZt36cS1c

The other two performances I loved, "Glad you Came" and "Stronger", can be watched here along with some other Glee performances. 

GRAMMYS!!

The 54th annual Grammy Awards happened on February 12, 2012. I as well as probably the rest of the Grammy watching population knew off the bat that Adele would take it all home and she did! Adele won all 6 categories she was nominated for including both  Record of the Year and Album of the Year. I think she deserves all 6 awards she got because I think she's such an amazing artist, writer, and singer. She performed at the Grammys and her live performance sounded just like a recording, that's how pure and true her voice is. Her performance was also a huge deal not only because she's Adele and many people think she's amazing but also because it was her first time performing since she had her vocal cord surgery. This night was huge for her because not only did she win 6 Grammys, but she also topped or equaled so many achievements like equaling Beyonce with earning the most Grammys for a female artist in one night. You can read about more of her achievements from that night here.

http://thezoneranger.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/grammy-time/

Adele's performance wasn't the only special performance of the night, Whitney Houston's tribute was highly waited for. Sadly, Whitney Houston died at 48 on February 11, 2012 the day before the Grammys. Although the news of her death was unexpected and everyone had been preparing for the Grammys for months and especially that week, they knew they had to honor Whitney for her great success. Jennifer Hudson had the honor of singing the tribute to Whitney Houston and say Whitney's song "I Will Always Love You". It was so beautiful and a picture of Whitney was shown in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olTXylHpuJM

As always, I was excited for Taylor Swift's performance of Mean, which she also won two Grammys for that night too. She won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. Click here to see a video of her performance of Mean at the Grammys. My favorite part of her performance was when she changed a line in the original song to "Someday I'll be singing this at the Grammys" which was such a cute addition for the night. There were so many great moments and performances at the Grammys but I do have to mention the one downfall of the night, I thought, was Nicki Minaj's performance of her song "Roman Holiday". I had no idea what was going on and it honestly scared me. As much as I love Nicki Minaj, I just didn't understand her performance and I have no idea what she was thinking. As for the rest of the night, I thought it was great! The Grammys is one of my favorite nights for the music industry and I thought it past all my expectations. To all the winners and nominees, congrats on your acomplishments! Here's a full list of the catagories, their nominees, and their winners.