If you remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, back, you'll remember that one of my first posts (in fact my first real post), I wrote about Wen® Hair Care Sweet Almond Mint. It messed my hair up, and then I tried (and wrote about) old school Infusium, and how it rescued my hair.
Since then, my hair grew back... and then I tried washing my hair with African Black Soap and Castile Soap. My hair got messed up again. Apparently, they weren't kidding when they said that stuff was highly concentrated.
Never experiment with multiple products simultaneously, by the way.
Once again, it was back to the old drawing board. Infusium 23 came back up. Only this time, we got it from Wal-Mart.
Yes. This exact bottle. I think. Its shape was the same.
Once again, after texturizing (gosh, I don't like that stuff, even though it does work on my hair), we used this stuff. At first I was leery because it wasn't the 80s version, and usually when a hair product changes its looks, it changes its ingredients so that a perfect product no longer works (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, SUAVE AND CREME OF NATURE!).
Believe it or not, this product saved my hair again. My hair felt soft, manageable, and styleable! I used it for a while, until it just stopped working in my hair. The thing with Infusium 23, for me anyway, is that it works as damage control for the hair. Strange how that works. I still have a little bit of this stuff on hand, my hair's juuuust past my shoulders, and all is right with the world. And I've stopped experimenting with products. That might've been the biggest factor in my hair health, along with the fact that I stopped shampooing so frequently.
What's your favorite / least favorite thing about your hair? What's your craziest hairstyle?
Okay, the reason I called this movie Zootopian Idol was mainly because I thought Illuminionation (I know what I wrote!) was pulling a DreamWorks. Id est, jumping on Disney's coattails to make an "edgy" version of a children's film. 1) Zootopia was actually pretty edgy on it's own, and I personally thought Sing was a little more palatable or for children. 2) I'm not sure if even Dreamworks is doing that to Disney anymore.
Without further babbling, Ew, Minion Nation's Sing.
Does anybody else see the koala for the first time?
Illumination Entertainment, mostly known for those awful yellow Dr. Mario pills, the Minions (don't get me wrong, I actually did like the first Despicable Me, when those Demon Loompas were more in the background and more disposable than some generic Legos) came out with the movie at the end of the tumultuous (for Americans) year 2016. This was a movie I wasn't particularly eager to see. It looked fun, but I wasn't sure (based on the trailer) how fun. I saw the part where that one pig was dancing to BambodeyaMambodegaLambo-Leya Bamboleo. You know, that Spanish song that another, more famous cartoon character was dancing to:
I watched the movie and.... there is no possible way I could even dislike this movie. Is it cheesy? As heck. Is it dated? Fo' shizzle. Are the character stereotypes and plot points played out more than a child's favorite talking toy? You bet your sweet bippy.
So what in the world causes me to like this somewhat predictable movie? For one thing, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for musicals. This movie for me is kinda like the song by Silento, Watch Me. It called out some classic elements and turns it all into something fun and light-hearted in a crazy, crazy world. Sing does ultimately do what a movie is supposed to do: take you out of your real world for a short period of time and make your life a little bit better.
Let's start with the main characters.
Buster Moon is a koala who, from a young age, was in love with all things musical theatre. His Dad helped him open his theatre, and no shows of great acclaim had been produced inside it. The money runs low, and he needs a quick idea to save the place. He decides to have a local singing competition to bring in a large audience. He sets the prize at $10,000 (which he composes with some money and other valuables), but due to an accident involving his secretary's (Ms. Crawly) glass eye, the prize is set at $100,000, and the flyers get literally blown across the city. The adventures that follow give Buster a new sense of personal growth as well as remind him why he wanted to work in theatre in the first place.
And that's why I like to call this Zootopian Idol.
Makes sense, no?
Six more main characters find flyers (along with the rest of the town).
Rosita is a mother pig with her hooves full. She's got 25 piglets, which keep her attention away from her dreams of being a performer, as well as her husband, who loves her, but the spark is clearly gone from their marriage. While she's a terrific singer, she lacks moxie in her performance, so she's paired up with an over-the-top performer pig named Gunter.
Gee.... A flashy performer named Gunter...
I wonder where they got that idea--
Oh.
Johnny is a gorilla with a heart of gold, and a voice to match. His obstacle is his Dad. Mainly because his Dad is a Gang leader, and Johnny is set to be next in line. His dedication to music soon costs him more than he could imagine.
Mike is a crooner / saxophone player who is as talented as he is a bully. The little white pipsqueak is unabashedly in it for the money, glory, fame, and status.
Did I mention he's voiced by Seth MacFarlane?
Ash was originally part of an amateur punk duo with her boyfriend, but Buster chooses her for her dynamic range. While she is not particularly happy about this, she decides to enter the contest anyway, looking to use the prize money to start a record label with her boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, her relationship with her boyfriend breaks up shortly after the duo breaks up. Doubly unfortunately for her, Buster wants her to do a cheesy pop number for the competition. Ash has to learn to cope with a breakup and find her true voice in her madness.
Meena is a young girl elephant who has quite the amazing voice (anybody ever see Tori Kelly on Star Search, btw? I don't remember her for some reason.), but is too shy to perform, despite her family having her back. She flops at the audition due to stage fright, but when her parents urge her to return to get into the competition, she chickens out again, becoming a stage hand instead of a performer. She eventually learns what courage is to bring down the house.
Those album covers are awesome.
I gotta say, this has to be my favorite part of the movie, as well as the reason I find it charming. (Mad about the twerking bunnies, though.) It really does appeal to a HUGE audience and multiple generations. Music does a wonderful thing to the psyche and the soul, I believe, and even showing a few clips can bring back all kinds of wonderful emotions and memories, plus this
The little menagerie tries to get the competition off the ground, but there are many setbacks along the way. Again, I do not feel like giving away the ending of this or many more details. I say watch it for yourself, especially if you love music.
What's a crazy thing you've always wanted to try? If you worked for yourself, what would you do? And if you've ever auditioned, what was your favorite audition story / role?
Well, I'm on a roll here! This is the third movie post in a row that features (in my opinion), a fun family movie that's safe and challenging for all ages!
I saw all the trailers and promos for this and didn't really know what to make of it. I'm pretty sure I wanted to watch it, though. It looked really cute. It seemed like kind of a standard story: small town girl has big city dreams / cop movie. I actually was excited enough to spend $2 to rent this at my local library (mine does that for new releases).
Wow. I was SHOCKED at the material covered, plus how well it was covered.
Zootopia starts off with an elementary school play, where Judy Hopps (who is notat all voiced by Holly Robinson Peete) and a few of her friends put on a play about how in the city of Zootopia, all animals are equals, and any animal can do anything. Judy also expresses her dream of being a cop, despite the fact that the entire enforcement is made up of predators. The only problem for her is that she lives in a small town that still has a huge preditor/prey division. Judy grows up and eventually moves to Zootopia, and actually becomes the first Prey to be in the police force. However, she becomes a meter maid, which is nowhere near what her dreams were.
Through the movie you see Judy's progression as she learns about her job, solves a case with a fox renegade named Nick Wilde, climbs to a respectible position in the force, and learns about prejudice all along the way. Of course, everybody knows that one scene with the sloths:
The movie was excellent, and if you want to know more about what happens to Judy and Nick, I'd suggest that you watch it. What I especially love about it is that it has that small charm of being good for kids to watch while still being challenging for all ages.
