Spunky

Victoria Beckham may have a reputation os cold, unmoving, never smiling but she's actually absolutely hysterical. She has an incredible subtle humor and I think it's awesome.

Can we first of mention how young Jon Stewart was 12 years ago. And I love how Victoria takes him on, acting like she's mad but clearly not.

And this always makes me laugh. David cannot handle it but she knocks jibes right back at "Ali G" like it's her job. And the Scunthorpe United part kills me. "That's horrible! That's my friend and she's lovely!" Every time. (Also, I've never seen her laugh so much...)

Also, yes, I have watched her "Coming to America" special and it's also hysterical. Again, that subtle humor comes out. Oh how I still love the Spice Girls!

Ballet History

I have always loved ballet. Since I was little tyke, I had the dreams that many little girls had about being a prima ballerina. I had a tone of ballet dress-ups and there are pictures of me going back to as little as three-years old of me with tutus and crowns and pretend little ballet slippers. When I was five and six, I took ballet and was in the Nutcracker. The first year I was in the party scene and a snowflake and the following year I was again in the party scene but was part of the "Giggling Girls" dance and also was a Chinese Dancer. The pictures are cute but years later I watched a video and I was not very good. It's OK though.

I was able to keep my love for ballet alive in two ways. First of all, Grandma would take Roni and me to New York City, to Lincoln Center, to see both "The Nutcracker" and "Coppelia." (Funny story about Coppelia.... we would always go see the ballets in Millie Brock's limo and after Coppelia, Roni and I were dropped off at Mom's reunion... the kids were pretty taken aback by the limo and our dresses and we were celebrities until we had to change into our play clothes....) I loved watching the New York City Ballet company onstage and loved even more when I was able to read books about dancing. My favorite growing up was "A Very Young Dancer" about Stephanie, a ten-year-old student at the School of American Ballet who gets chosen to dance the role of Mary/Clara in NYBC's "Nutcracker." I loved how you got to see the entire process of how a ballet is produced, from all the individual and group rehearsals, dress rehearsals on stage, costumes, makeup, the awe that younger dancers have for the seasoned principals. As I got more and more familiar with the members of the NYCB of the 70s and 80s, I would always go back to "A Very Young Dancer" and enjoy seeing pictures of them. 

As I got older, I started to pick up other books, many of them autobiographies or memoirs by NYCB principals. My favorites are featured below, ones by Merrill Ashley, Suzanne Farrell, Toni Bentley (which gave me a very interesting view of the life of a corp ballet dancer in the company), Christopher and Jacques d'Amboise. I've read all of them numerous times (except for the Jacque d'Amboise one which has just come out in the last few years) and each time, I love finding out something new about the dancer's personal life, experiences on and off the stage, their view of George Balanchine and their thoughts on being a dancer. I have read these over and over and over again and each time, I love them more.     

                  

I love the opportunities that I do get to see ballets, especially when they're the Balanchine ballets that I have read about so much but never gotten to see. Luckily, I found on Netflix some filmed versions of Balanchine ballets and spent several hours over the summer watching them several times each. Below are some of ma favorites. "Tzigane" was written about many times in Suzanne Farrell's memoir, as this was a ballet created for her. Peter Martin's part at the end was a later addition and Suzanne write about how she was glad when he finally showed up to dance with her because it was so lonely on stage. I personally love the beautiful music and the non-traditional moves. "Chaconne" is also absolutely beautiful. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Patricia McBride and her smile and so I love watching her move in the "Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux." And finally, "Diamonds" is one movement of "Jewels", along with "Emeralds" (which I saw this summer while watching "Breaking Pointe on the CW) and "Rubies." After reading about it in both Suzanne and Merrill's memoirs, I was so excited to get a chance to see the famous pas de deux.

Bend It Like Beckham- Oldskool

Shiri and I decided to watch Bend It Like Beckham today. On VHS. Oldskool style. Shiri almost forgot what rewinding was like.

Also, let's talk about who was in this movie (NOT counting the fake David Beckham). These three.

 Jess' David Beckham poster is HUGE. And she talks to him. Now, I liked Michael Owen, but my posters were never that big and I never talked to them. That would have been taking it a little too far.

I do love Indian culture though. I love their gorgeous saris, seeing all the food makes me miss afternoons at Sonya's house, their music is so catchy.

The three friends remind me of the Gaga Kids in "We Will Rock You."

Jules' mum is my FAVORITE character of all time of this movie. Within two minutes she had the best lines.

"When are you going to realize you have a daughter with breasts!"
... and
"All I'm saying is there's a reason Sporty Spice is the only one without a fella."

She is hysterial. Of course my favorite line of hers is "Can your lesbian feet out of my daughters' shoes!" "Lesbian? Her birthday's in March. I thought she was a Pisces!?"

The soundtrack left us speechless. Then we remembered that it was 2002 and the song "It's a Lady" was appropriate.

And Jonathan Rhys Meyers will always be hot. No matter how many poor choices he makes in life.

Week 3 of AXP Magic

Week 3 started the day after the Opening Ceremonies so of course I had to be prepared. I made sure I knew when exactly Michael Phelps was competing and also made sure that I had some sort of idea of when to watch him swim. I also downloaded several Olympics aps. They turned out to be not great but that's what internet at home now is for, right?

I had a very interesting CE class- they were fascinated with the humor of death (I told them that it was a lot less fascinating to adults than to students). But they came up with some funny poems, some ridiculous stories and we laughed a lot. I was definitely proud of them and their parent presentation.

So far in CE, we have written in our journals, making sure we talk about a goal and a discovery we have for the day. We also created acrostic poems with the work CREATIVITY (our theme for the week). Today we talked about the elements of story and created our own using the Titanic, the phrase "We're all gonna die!" and the adjective "ugly." Enjoy the CREATIVITY of Michal's CE class!

Meghan S.: Some goals that I have for myself include being able to draw better, make new friends, try new foods, learn new things.

Create Whatever!
Recreate images in your own way!
Express the REAL you!
Always think outside the box!
Truthful to yourself
Individuality is OK!
Versatile attitude
I will be MYSELF!
Tell your story
Your choice
by Chloe and Dolce

On a dark windy night the Titanic was priceless. Nobody could ever call this glorious view ugly, but that didn't last long for the indestructible Titanic sank into nothing. It if wasn't for the glacier, the Titanic would e still in the seas with its beautiful and priceless view. Now I'm just looking to the seas writing this story and I hope somebody reads this. I can still hear the voices in my head over and over again "We are all gonna die!" was what the people were saying. So now I"m going find land and inform people about what happened and I can rest for some time to forget all these horrific memories.
by Teresa

Can be expressed any way
Rainbow of personality
Everyone has a creative side
A way to find out who you are
True to yourself
Incredible!
Very easy to experience
It can be anything that you imagine
Terrifically in style
You can't be without it.
by Sarah and Meghan

Once upon a time at Vanguard University, there was a whole bunch of cheerleaders that came to cheer. There were all very competitive with each other. Everyone of them wanted to be the best at everything... who had the best splits, who had the longest hair, and who could do the best cartwheel. Then one day, a boy cheerleader came along. He was better at everything. He had the longest hair, the best splits, and a very pretty cartwheel. All the girls were mad, so they all got hammers and broke the boy cheerleader's bones. Now, he is not a good cheerleader anymore. He was really upset, so he posted terrible pictures of all the girl cheerleaders on facebook. He wasn't finished with his revenge though so he cut all the girls' hair off and with all the hair, he made the longest wig ever, so he had the longest and prettiest hair every, making him the best cheerleader ever!
by Abby (inspired by the cheerleaders outside our CE classroom)

Choosing the unexpected
Risk taking is key
Exclude nothing
Always reach deeper
Think outside of the box
Imagination is the foundation
Various ways to express it
Improvise with WHAT YOU HAVE
Try your best
You are creative.
by Camryn, Ha and Caitlyn

Day 2: Ok so yesterday night we was the NCI... the show was based on 4 different choreographers and their ballet dances. My absolute favorite was Wendy's dance, "Something about Sundays." I observed that there were five couples and 1 single guy. I believe he felt lonely until he met somebody. The setting was a cafe on Sunday. My second favorite was about dancers, oops, I mean writers imprisoned in Korea. So anything, that night I took my three minute shower. Skillednessessess  OK the bed are so uncomfortable! My back hurts like crazy. But that's OK. My goal for today is to meet at least 3 new people and my discovery is that I should've brought an blanket, pillow, sweats another jacket and another pair of jeans. Ah, who cares. I'll be fine. My discover, I can take a 3 min shower.
-Caitlyn

"We're all gonna die!" yelled Ryan. "I've starving and we're gonna die of hunger!" "No we're not, we're almost home!" said Jewel. They were on their way back from the beach on a sunny afternoon. Ryan, Jewel, Jacob and Sonia had all gone to the beach that day and were planning on going back the next day. They were all going to go on a boat to a little island in the Atlantic Ocean. "Let's go!" screamed Sonia. "We're going to miss the boat if you don't hurry!" Everybody rushed out the car and drove off to the dock. By this time it was already noon. Ryan, Jewel, Jacob and Sonia were all good friends. Ryan and Jacob were tall, while Sonia and Jewel were still five feet tall. "This is an ugly boat, Sonia." said Jacob. About half way through their ride, there was a huge thud under the boat and the engine stopped. Everyone stopped talking and looked at each other. When all of a sudden a a shark breaks though the bottom of the oat, making a gigantic hole in the bottom. The boat starts sinking like the Titanic. Luckily , the little island was visible from where the boat sank. Jacob, Jewel, Sonia and Ryan swam up and started for the island. But on the way there was just a pool of sharks. Everyone just floated there... To be continued!!!!
 -Josie

Create a new way of life
Really interesting to know
Exciting
Awesome
Teriffic
Interesting
Victory starts with creativity
Ideas are from being active
The arts define creativity
You only live once.
- Adrian, Thomas and Sam

They saw that the indestructible ship did snink and to some extent, this is true. But you know the old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover." So I'll tell you the real story, to start off it was a warm summer morning of which my great grandfather had the pleasure of boarding the ship "Titantic". He had presented the officials with his ticket and walked onto the ship's beautiful  interior, inhaling all of its features. He, however, quickly noticed what he thought to be a small experimental bomb strapped to the mantle of the grand fireplace. He was right, but after another glance he siply decided it was a weird clock. It would bleep and coitnue to count down isntead of up..... to be continued!
-by Jacob.

"We're all gonna die!" Harry Potter screamed after Voldermot put his curse on the Titanic and now the mighty ship was plunging straight into the ocean. Harry Potter started running all around. Panicking and rubbing hsi scar as the pair it caused him started increasing every minute. His messy hair was flying and blocking his sight as he continuously tried to flip it out of his eyes. He was amazed at how foolish he was in dropping his wand into the water. This was a life or death situation for Harry, since the Gamemakers in his seventy-fourth annual hunger games' was to kill him with a traffic death to entertain the Capitol people. At the moment, Harry was extremely jealous as he saw Edward Cullen walked by him at perfect peace. OK, he was wrong. They were all gonna die, except Edward, he was a vampire. He couldn't die again. The ship suddenly tilted even more. It was impossible to think of a way to survive now. Just as sudden as the ship had nearly flipped, it went back to its original position, flat on the ocean, floating at peace at though it hasn't hit an iceberg at all. He knew that the game was gonna get as ugly as possible after this calmness.
-Ha

Mairen, Brendan, Jessica, Amythest, Hannah, Bailey, Annabeth and Josie- my children :)

That evening we went to go see the NCI performance at UCI. I loved- a perfect combination of ballet and slightly more modern dance, as well as some great music. I really enjoyed a piece in which the stagehands choreographed version of a night out at the bar, including the cat fights, over-drinking, fighting, throwing up, weird dancing, etc. I laughed so hard. I also really enjoyed some of the mirror image dancing they performance and the costumes. 

The next day we went to the Great Park for Circle Painting. I missed the beginning of the activities and the directions so was a little confused when a woman painting next to me looked over at my design and exclaimed "woooooow!" Later, I discovered that the three "yeses" of Cirlce Painting are: yes to silence, yes to breathing and yes to wow. Well, thanks random lady. Wow to you too. 

Darci!

glamour candid shot

triplets- Abbe, Gemma and me

Let's be honest, folks. The best part of the concert at the Great Park? A tie between the glowing balloon and the fact that THE CONCERT WAS OVER AT 8:30 AND WE WERE IN BED BY 10:00 PM. 

Festival of the Arts day was typical as usual. The kiddos had a great time making their artwork and we were lucky enough to this time get white scratch paper, which I hadn't seen in a long time. The kids loved Pageant as well- I was able to get my family group over to talk to the director, narrator and the sound mixer, which gave them another element of the backstage tour. 

Sarah

Chloe and Josie

Mairen

counselors Claudia and Jessica

Four generations of AXP- Mo, me, Eddie, Mindy

Eddie always asks me to sing with him so I spent my break on Tuesday "kickin'" it in my Blue Converse kicks and practicing "One Moment In Time."

This is Jacob, our little shredder of the week. He didn't talk much, always covered himself up with the hat, sunglasses and the looooong hair, but man, could he play the guitar. And was fascinated that we used to call Steve Maughan "Stevie Ray Maughan". I call this picture "Artist At Work".

  

me and Kameron

silly CE class

Brendan was in my CE class in 2008

so was Mindy

The talent show was phenomenal- pianists, singers, original songs, a tap dancing, piano playing, viola playing trio of girls who also sang, a little boy singing "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga, a skit with 11 girls and two boys fighting with light sabers while their friends played the "Star Wars" themes. Also the party was rocking. It was such a great night.

We came back to the admin suite from the party to find that Leslie had left us all gifts of wine. What a perfect was to end the week. Thanks Leslie! Your son was one of my favorites!

Hannah, Annabeth, Camryn, Bailey, Cari, Gianna, Rachel and Liam

This group of kids was incredible. We are all exhausted, drained, totally fried and over caffeinated but at the same time, thrilled we had such an inspirational, talented and creative group of kids. After a bit of a rest, I'll be ready for next year!

Movies at OCPAC and some news...

Although I don't think it's called OCPAC any longer... but anyway, the PAC shows movies on their wall on Monday nights and a few weeks ago, Mom and I went to go see Billy Elliot. Despite being underneath the speakers (IT WAS SOOOO LOUD AT TIMES!) and enduring the man who I'm sure once won the "Most Grating Voice" award reading off about 39583938 raffle tickets, the movie itself was incredible. I cry at least fifteen times at various moments in that movie. It kills me, every single time. I just can't help it.

And in other news, we had a power outage, RIGHT in the middle of Franklin and Bash. So I had to read Jacques d'Amboise's autobiography with an Orange Vanilla candle. It wasn't half bad.

And in some other other news, I have always been a Matt Damon fan. I really enjoy his movies, I appreciate how he stands up for quality causes, and he really doesn't seem at all like a typical Hollywood celebrity. He's big into family and he and his wife and children seem incredibly solid.

Also I like that he stands up for teachers like in these two clips. I agree with a lot of what he says. And I love how he calls out that woman on the second clip.

Then I saw this and he went up about fifteen notches in my book. This is hysterical and the line "the one where I sang 'Scotty Doesn't Know', what the hell was that?" just kills me/mades me laugh so hard.