Remembering Michael Jackson: Five Years Later

Hi everyone. This is Andrew.
Today I'm releasing a more serious post because today is the day the world never thought would happen and will never forget. Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of one of the biggest, most powerful, and most influential entertainers in the history of music: King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Everyone remembers where they were when he died. I was outside my house playing with my brothers and sisters and some friends when the news came. My mom called us inside and shown us the TV, which had MSNBC at the time, and we watched rolling coverage of Jackson's death as it was repeated over and over, "Michael Jackson has died." I was 15 years old at the time, and when I heard it, I got reaally sad, and so did my siblings, who felt much more heartbroken. We were kids at the time, yet it's surprising that we know who the person who just died is very well and have the kind of bond with that person, even though we've never met him, and he isn't related to us in any way.
Hours after the sad news, we went outside and listened to cars passing by, and they were playing Jackson's music, and it was really loud, too. That proved that almost everyone loved Michael's music and felt so close to it.

This was the first time in a while the death of someone impacted me so very hard. The frst was Mister Fred Rogers in 2003 (and you probably felt the same way, too). His music touched millions of people around the world, with the messages, spirit, and iconic beats and dance moves. You could feel his love and passion of his music when you listen.

Of course, outside of the of person's family, the world never changes when someone passes away. But Jackson is pretty much the closest thing to an exception. He brought the world together with his music, his tours, his moves and his spirit. So it's understandable that his death was really shocking to everyone, including me. But his music will still live on, and it will be just as great as they were in the years they've been released.
We will miss you, Michael Jackson. You are gone, you will never be forgotten.

EDREWtorial: REVIVALS. Who Needs Em?

If you went on the internet this past week, then you heard some very surprising news. Some TV shows are coming back in a year or two. Almost all of these shows originally aired in the 80's and 90s, and now, because of some demand, these shows are getting a reboot. This notably reached a point last year when Disney Channel announced that classic sitcom Boy Meets World would be getting a sequel/spin-off/continuation/respawn titled Girl Meets World, in which Cory and Topanga grow up, move to New York, have kids and and watch them grow, with the story taking place from the point of view from their 12-year-old daughter Riley.

In fact, you could call this year "The Year or the Reboot". Just this and last month alone, some other shows are getting reboots including (but not certainly limited to):

and Heroes with a miniseries event called Heroes: Reborn. Also, the biggest one of them all:
!!
That's right. Reading freaking Rainbow is coming back too!! Thanks to a hugely successful campaign for funds on Kickstarter and a very popular mobile app, the Levar Burton-hosted PBS icon has come a happy, long way since its 1983 premiere. So when I heard that there was a Kickstarter campaign to bring it back on TV, I was super excited, and so was the rest of America, who chipped in a lot of money to the campaign, and within 12 hours, it already reached its goal.

And it's not just TV that's getting into the recreation area; movies are getting into the game, too. MGM already has the Jump Street movies with Columbia Pictures, and it announced that its Stargate franchise is getting a movie reboot with Warner Bros. next year.


I have one question about this: WHY?!?
Why are all these shows (and movies for that matter) getting a reboot? Who are the people who think it was a good idea? What's the point of rebooting them in the first place? And why is this a good thing?

We don't need them. They won't hold a candle to the originals. Maybe it's just me, but the procession of reboot stories across the Internet has annoyed me. They just come so fast, with one more coming after the other, and it probably annoys a lot of other people too. I am excited to see the reboots, but I won't enjoy them as much as I had the originals,and how they impacted not only me, but also all of television. You know, it's sometimes okay to start over a TV show or movie but only if it started off corny, and everyone (maybe) wants it to be better. But if the reboots bomb, people will laugh and mock. Producers will lower their heads in shame, actors will be pissed, and fans will be angry more than cry. But we as a society are used to these things; there are just as much reboots as there are original projects. We shouldn't ask so much for reboots if they're not going to last long.
I'll take some reboots than others; I'm looking forward to the Danger Mouse and PPG ones, and I'm definitely looking forward to Reading Rainbow Girl Meets World, mostly because Cory, Topanga and Mr. Fee-hee-hee-hee-heeeneey(!!!) are in the pilot.
I don't care for Teletubbies, though.

Maroon Mondays Awards Reviews: Much Music Video Awards 2014

(UPDATED and RE-EDTED on April 25 and June 21, 2015 for better reading experience)

Welcome to MaroonMondays Awards Reviews: the reason people go to this site every month, and the reason I wish I get paid for this stuff every year.


The time around, I'm reviewing the Much Music Video Awards, the biggest awards ceremony in Canada...and the only one I really know of from that country.
(well, I've heard of the JUNOs, too, but in name and never watched.)

If you've never heard of it, here's the sum-up from my review last years' show.
Plus it airs on Fuse here in the States, so that's all I'll give.
(Well, used to; sadly, they don't do that anymore for some dumb reason. So you'll have to rely on the Internet to watch it.) [And fortunately, this video here below. Thank you to the people who uploaded it.]


This year's show is hosted by Kendall and Kylie Jenner. If you've never heard of them, good. Don't bother researching them. Much usually has recording artists co-host, so I don't know why the execs chose them to host; if they have careers in music, I'm not bothering with them. And please don't ask for an SLMR on any song. I do applaud them for taking this step toward a different direction, though.

I've been a fan of the MMVAs since 2010, but this year got me really excited because of the performers.

LORDE! IMAGINE DRAGONS!

ARIANA GRANDE! ED SHEERAN!

...and the Canadian acts I've never heard of because of this show.

Also, THE SET. Nothing gets me excited than something that a network uses for an awards show every once a year. Last year:

I though this one was tied with 2012 as best I've ever seen. This year?

I love it, almost as much as last years. It's huge, pops of color, and is an amazing mash-up of the set from 2011 and 2012.

Now that the crappy stuff is out of the way, let's get to the performances.
I’ve never heard of some of the performers and the songs they performed at the show before last night, so the reviews of the performances (and thus, this review in general) are a little more shorter than usual.

So we start with Hedley performing their latest hit “I’m So Crazy For You”. Never heard it before last night, but it was great. Nice influence of Disco (as referenced by the disco balls in the giant screens). This is the first Hedley song I truly like (and there aren’t many).

Immediately after, Ed Sheeran finally made it to the adults table that is the main Queen Street Parking Lot stage to sing--well, “Sing”. It sounds completely different from his earlier work, which is more folk-y, but this is a really good song by him and sounds fantastic acoustically. I think this is one of the better performances of the show.

Next up, MAGIC! sang “Rude”. It’s about a guy who wants to marry some girl but her father doesn’t want him, so he thinks the dad is “Rude” and based the song around that. I don’t like the song; because the guy calls the dad “rude” because he doesn’t want the guy to marry his daughter. Maybe the dad has a good reason; you could be an annoying slacker or a jerk to the girl or is a trophy wife-like dude, and the dad just had the instinct not to trust him. The reggae beat is really good, though. Also, the live performance does save me from downright hating this song.

Kiesza (Kai-Zuh) performed "Hideaway". This song has a very rad 90s beat and is really dance-able. Although the chorus is questionable; it’s just “Ooh” and "Aah” repeated over and over; it’s sounds like she was having sex in the recording booth during sessions, heard it, liked it, and decided to make it more to the beat. It sounds nice though.




LORDE.

Seriously. She performed her colossal hits “Tennis Court” and “Team”. She looked nice in something you might find in a video from the 1980s. The show said that she had a performance made just for the show; It’s just nothing but her and some stage lights, dancing like Kurt Cobain on an episode of Headbanger’s Ball, then she got down with a lamp.
LITERALLY.
I felt a little let down by this, but since Lorde is such a low-key artist when it comes to performances, I guess that was the point. Still it was pretty awesome to see her sing.

Sam Roberts Band (who by the way haven't played in over a decade) played their song "We'll All in This Together". It was an awesome song; so catchy and rockin'. I surely did sing along later on, and the sax sample coming later on. I like this band, and they deserve their awards.

Virgina to Vegas performed “We Are Stars” with guest Alyssa Reid. It's a very heartwarming song, and I enjoyed it very much. I like this band...or duo...or person. Who names themselves a name like that, though?

Imagine Dragons killed it. They performed “Demons” and “Radioactive”. I love both songs but I hate “Radioactive” performed live. I hate the way the frontman sings the lyrics differently, I hate the chorus when sung differently and the drum solo; I could do without that long-ass part. I must get used to that if this keeps getting performed live, which is a lot. On the plus side, the producers said the band would melt the stage. They did; there were pyrotechnics everywhere. On stage, and over the stage, with fireworks all over. That really made up for that. I really loved their performance of “Demons”, too, though.

Rihanna vs. TLC?: The War on "Sex Sells"

Legendary 90's girl group TLC is in hot water, and when it comes to Rihanna, the water couldn't be any more lukewarm.

In an interview with Australian 7 Network's Sunrise morning show, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas talked about the girl group's iconic legacy, the loss of third member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and what the future holds for the group. Also in the interview, they mention the mentality of music today, in which artists use their sex appeal to sell music and wear povacative clothing and do controversial things to pull in views. Mentioned in the clip is Rihanna, who the voiceover guy claimed they "singled out". Because of this part, the interview blew up around the world. Here it is below.

And of course, Rihanna responded in the way she did. She took a picture of TLC and used it as the cover photo on her Twitter page. The picture? One of them is topless and covers her breasts!

God, that is funny as hell.

And before I say something, I'm not gonna be some Helen Lovejoy/Moral Guardian-type person. I'm saying this how I want to say it.
TLC made a huge point. It annoys me when artists show off too much skin in their music videos and sing about sex and drugs in their songs. It's not very good and there are other topics in the world and history to write about, and not with with the freedom of female love in the subtext. You're already famous enough to be known and beloved by fans; it's not mandatory to show off yourself every freaking video. It's cool to show of a little skin; I really don't mind. But doing this over and over, when everyone already knows who you are, is just annoying to me and a lot of other people. But hey, at the end the day, it's what it's all about. It makes record execs a lot of money, and they get really happy. And if record execs are happy, they don't care about anything else. Money talks.

Also, the whole interview was taken totally out of proportion. Despite what the anchors (foolishly) said at the beginning at the clip and the "singled out" thing, TLC never mentioned Rihanna by name at all in the interview. They never even implied her either; they just said what they said about sex selling in music in general. No names were mentioned, and if a name was mentioned, then that person has a right to call foul. Rihanna has no right.
And the thing is, Rihanna was overreacting a little to try to make a point. She did try to make one by saying that TLC are hypocrites for dissing her and her plan to sell music, when they did it too. But they never said "wearing something with your stomach showing", they said "HALF-NAKED". Big difference, meaning they're wearing pants most of the time. And that was in a picture, not a video. And I bet'cha she didn't find that photo herself; she probably got it from her social media people or one of her whiny, obsessive fans. See "Prombat".

So point, match, game TLC.

...and y'all probably don't know what "spade a spade" is until T-Boz said it.

MaroonJoon Awards Reviews: CMT Music Awards 2014

Welcome to Nashville, y'all. Hats, boots, gee-tars, twang, thick southern accents, moonshine, what have ya. You'll have everything you'll need from here and the annual country music showcase that makes the city proud (well, everything except the last one), the CMT Music Awards.

Hosted this year by Kirsten Bell (who is obviously not from the south), I believe this is the best show in the few years I've watched. {Hold on; which year did Kenan Thompson show up dressed as Reba McEntire?}
In the mandatory pre-taped hosting bit, Kris needs a new co-host. her friends suggest using an app to find the perfect perfect partner after Jason Aldean parted ways with her last year. She tries to find one in guys you really wouldn't want to host anything like Rob Ford, Larry the Cable Guy, Kanye West, Donald Sterling, Tom Arnold, Sean Hayes (who's really creepy here) and even her husband Dax Shepard. She finally realizes that Country has so much sausage, she can make some major clit-power alone this time around.

The show kicked off with the one and only ZZ Top (I thought it was either them or some guys from Duck Dynasty). I knew from there it was gonna be good. And it did. They performed one of their greatest hits.
Then Florida Georgia Line popped up (literally) to sing (or twang) "That's How We Roll" with Luke Bryan, who also popped up. I'm beginning to like that song. The way they sang the "Roll" part really irritated me, though.
The popping up continues when (really) Jason Derulo performed his smash "Talk Dirty", with FGL and Luke joining in. And they danced...really.

Later we get a reprise of "Roll", and that told me the show will get off to a fantastic start. And it did, and it kept getting better.

The legendary Alan Jackson (I called him Taylor on Twitter; I admit my faults) was honored with a performance by Lee Ann Womack and Kacey Musgraves (typed Casy) singing one of his classics, and later received the CMT Impact Award, the first artist to get this honor.

Keith Urban had a performance at the world-famous Bluebird Cafe in the Nashville area of Green Hills. Keyword: HAD. Before I get to why I said this, Keith performed his song "Cop Car", which, without hesitation or exaggeration, is about two people falling in love, but the guy has been in a battle with police. It's a gritty, yet sweet song.

Now, at first, the piece was performed at the Bluebird, but it was later revealed to be just inside the Bridgestone Area with set pieces looking like the Bluebird. It even have camera angles looking like we're in a small restaurant and not a huge arena. It was an amazing, song and performance.

Jake Owen, a new artist heating up the country charts, sang his breakthrough song "Beachin'". I honestly thought of him as a poor man's Florida Georgia Line, because of his hair, and how his music sounds similar to theirs. That song is pretty good, though.


Eric Church rocked out hard with his guest Lizzy Hale, performing "That's Damn Rock 'n Rock". This was one of the best performances of the night. Lizzy really sang her heart out; naw, she screamed her heart out. I want to sing with her one day just to hear her sing. Sorry, I mean saaang.

Little Big Town gave us the first performance of perhaps a new summer anthem called "Day Drinking". It's about...well, drinking...in the day--time. It's also about having fun and enjoying time with frien--okay it's a country version of Will Smith's "Summertime". The performance was said to have everyone talking. It's just the band and their backing players in all white, along with the stage.

Then, during the 3rd verse, everything turned to color; the backing players played the drums with paint all over them, and powder covered the group and things got messy. It's a really nice song, and pretty good performance.

John Legend took to the CMTA stage to sing his huge hit "All of Me" with Jennifer Nettles and Hunter Hayes joining in to turn the R&B ballad into a wonderful countrified croon. Fantastic.

Dierks Bentley sang "Drunk on a Plane". This one had everything, drinking, hot stewardesses, references to a dated Far East Movement song, and well--more drinking. I originally thought of the song as some parody, based on the title. I mostly thought of "Snakes on a Plane", but that's too dark and facetious a base for a parody. But no, it's a real, legit song. I still really like it, though.

Brantley Gilbert performed a song really liked called "Bottoms Up". If you heard of the Trey Songz--song of the same name, you already know that it's yet another country song about drinking. But it's different--slightly. It sounds like one of those "Redemption/I want to change my life" songs, judging by the beat, which I loved. It's like country-rock with a touch of rap, but that's from looking at the dude. I love this song and I make this one of my favorite performances.

This year seriously went to Blake Shelton. First his artist on The Voice, Cassadee Pope, won the award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year (which he presented to her!), his wife Miranda Lambert won for Female Video (for the fifth time in a row!), and he won for Male Video (third time in four years). This night really belongs to him. Outside, he performed "Boys Round Here". Fantastic song about hanging out with the guys down South, drinking cool beer and talking about trucks, conversing with God, and how the girls love a guy doesn't give a damn about the Dougie. Great song and great winning night from a guy that's used to never stop winning The Voice.

Last but not least, two of the hottest bad bitches in country, Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, ignited the stage with perhaps the hottest song of the summer "Something Bad". They rocked it on and off, hair billowing in the on-stage fan breeze. Both giving their all to the song and this performance. This is the best performance of the night.

Thank you all for joining me for this review. I hope you all enjoyed it as much I we enjoyed the show. Can't wait for next year, and I can't wait for the MMVAs and BET Awards.
See you later this month for the reviews.
See y'all later.

12-year-olds Stab Classmate for "Slender Man"

Okay guys, before we make parallels to a certain show with this story,

We have to remember that this is a scary and serious one. So I'll tread carefully with this.

Two 12-year-old girls from Waukesa, Wisconsin, stabbed their good friend and almost killed her. But the reason wasn't jealousy, or anger, or a general rift in their friendship. It was because they were told to do the dirty deed by...the Slender Man. What is the Slender Man?

It is an urban legend/myth created on the Internet by Eric Knudsen in 2009. It first appeared in this picture

and has sadly since become a cult figure all across the WWW. It usually appears in black and white photographs, hiding in the woods and lurks in the shadows, watching innocent ordinary children playing and having fun. It has no face, is impossibly tall and wears a black suit. One one sees it, and follows him,
Many people have created photos with the Slender Man either hiding in the woods or walking with a child hand-in-hand.

I've never heard of this before the Gravity Falls reference, but it all came full-circle when I tweeted this on my personal Twitter page with the eerie similarities

I hope Dipper doesn't go to murder. http://t.co/ZQZGcXlJ7q http://t.co/8hbI2EpXQb pic.twitter.com/B9IUnj2uJQ

— Andrew Pollard (@APollard36) June 3, 2014

and then later watched Inside Edition last night. Here's their report from Wednesday's show about the reactions from one of the culprits' family.

Post by Maroon Mondays.

Now here's where the story comes in: Two girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, Ask their friend to come to a sleepover with them. What she didn't know is that they had a plan for her. Hours after everything has settled down, the two took the girl to a local park for hide-and-seek. Then, when the three reached the park, it happened. While the other holds her down, One of them stabbed her 19 times in the arms, legs and torso. The victim was later taken to the woods and left to die. She later survived when a jogger spotted her nearby and called police.

They were later arrested and charged with attempted murder and might receive 60 years in prison. In court, one of the two, Geyser, was quoted by cops as saying "stabby, stab, stab" to describe what they did. "It was weird that I didn't feel remorse," she allegedly said. The other, Weier, said, "The bad part of me wanted her to die, the good part of me wanted her to live". That explains how the victim barely survived. It was later revealed they planned this crime for months.

This is one sad story. What makes this sad is three things:
1-They're kids
2-They spend a lot of time on the Internet, and
3-They've not only heard of the Slender Man, they believe it is real and actually did a crime because of what they believe it told them.

It disgusts me that random people take fictitious things to heart and use them to commit murder, arson, and other kinds of violence. Why do thing like this happen?
This makes me fearful of my own country and it citizens. Believing what you want to believe can get you into serious crap. Also, I'm 20 and I've never heard of the Slender Man, while many children around the world in the same age range as these girls know what it is. If that doesn't tell you that they can also believe in the Slender Man and may do the same things these two did, then I don't know what does. We as adults should be aware of what children look at online, and filter everything they do.
This is inexcusable and just plain sad.

School cancels fundraiser because of Jennifer Lopez's Free Concert

A school in New York has problem on its hands. The fundraiser began scheduling in November, 2013, and was to open the night of June 23. Instead, the school district cancelled the fund
The reason? Jennifer Lopez has a free concert at the

Really, little boy? Have you not heard of "On the Floor", "I'm Into You", "I Luh Ya Papi" (ugh; I hate that title) and others? Those songs are hits, and J.Lo is larger than life and makes more money than you or your family can ever make past the day any of you turn 200.

Oh Boo-Hoo.

I'm gonna say this like I'm Ashley from "Ask Ashley" segment on All That

JUST MOVE THE STINKIN' FUNDRAISER!!

It's hard to postpone something, and you'll lose some money from it, but when a celebrity comes to town with a free concert at a place near where you're having your fundraiser, it's time to give your head a shake. Just reschedule it to a week later or something. Sure it'll take a bunch of phone calls and you'll lose a deposit on holding down the last date, but making J.Lo and her promoter cancel something her fans were looking forward to (and by the way, that's 100,000+ people vs. about 250 kids and adults), it makes you all look like a bunch of greedy idiots, wanting J.Lo's money for something you could have easily fixed.

Don't blame Jennifer. She didn't plan this, schedule this, or know about the fundraiser. Her managers and promoter did. Blame them. Or at least have your superintendent call the promoters to work something out. Why should they cancel their event, something they also planned for months, for some small, measly event a charter school had planned? The bad sign I see from their side is that they must've known something about the fundraiser and didn't care. And I watched the report by WABC; it sad that the adults are making the kids throw shade at J. Lo. just to get sympathy from viewers. I'm not buying that crap for one second.
J.Lo or her workers never heard of the fundraiser, until recently when the fundraiser sign was held up. And even then, you have a point to reschedule from that.



Now, sure, I feel just as sad as the rest of the people who heard about the fundraiser, trust me, I really am. But to watch a report making J.Lo out to be a monster and these people the wounded animals she's eating, it made me disgusted. And I know it seems I'm on the side on someone who doesn't "Luh" Me {squirm} or care about me, but if all I hear from this story is "We cancelled our fundraiser and we're gonna lose a lot of money because of Jennifer Lopez's free concert."

whoa. Maybe I took it the wrong way.

Oh and J.Lo, a suggestion. Donate a perfect amount of money to the school, and that'll shut them up. They'll be happy, you'll be happy, I'll be happy to get on with my life, and all who care will move on to the next thing: maybe another stupid girl fight captured on cellphone, some goofy video or song going viral, or some kid