Brian Williams' Daughter Allison Cast as Peter Pan in NBC Live Special; Many Cry Nepotism

Hey everyone.

Last year, NBC announced, after the astounding success of its first live televised musical special in decades, "The Sound of Music Live!", that it will air another live televised special in December, Peter Pan Live! (What the hell is up with the exclamation points?). Usually the title role in the Broadway musicals and TV specials are played by a woman; the most famous being Mary Martin, who won a Tony award for the musical and the hearts of millions (65 to be exact) in the NBC special in 1955, '56 and '65. This announcement left questions and wonder as to who will play the amazing boy wonder of Neverland. That is until now. Today, NBC made the announcement that Girls star Alison Williams will play the title role in the live special. She is also a classically-trained singer and has videos on YT that have millions of views each. Here's one of them below.
Damn, she's got pipes.

Oh yeah, she also happens to be the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams.
Soon after the news hit the web, people immediately threw the nepotism card because of the Peacock keeping it in the family for the role choice, writing bitingly hilarious comments about it, saying that she's Brian Williams' daughter and saying "Nepotism!" and crap. And there were a lot of them.
Here are some of the comments at this article on Deadline:
http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/allison-williams-cast-as-peter-pan-in-nbc-musical-peter-pan-live/#comments
And some at TVLine.com: http://tvline.com/2014/07/30/nbc-peter-pan-cast-allison-williams-girls/#commentform-536386

Hey, I don't blame the people for the accusations of nepotism. They have a really good point. Remember, Brian Williams IS her father, he does work at NBC News, and he may have put in a word in to for the producers to consider her. So, it does make sense to say so. But come on, people, the network execs didn't make the decision (they're probably too busy fixing it's messed up schedule); the show's producers did. Even if they they did, at least they made a great, smart choice! I don't care what the other people think or say and I don't find this a bad idea; she's a very talented actress. I admit, I don't watch Girls (I find it annoyingly overrated) but I've heard her name. And I have never heard her music before, but I regret that. This girl can sing! Just listen to her. Her voice sent shivers and chills to my spine (among other places), and it'll send some to yours, too. Here's some more examples:



Also this ultra-cute picture she later shared of her 3-year-old self dressed as Peter Pan is another great indication. Just look at the hair!


If she has an album out, I'd buy that in seconds, and if she's in anything else, I'll support it from the start. Whether it be comedy, drama, musical, hell, even sex tape--I support it. (okay, maybe not sex tape; she's better than this). She's just that talented. I wish her the best as Peter Pan, the producers for making this as fun, amazing (and safe) as possible, and NBC as much of the best in the world for catching lightning in a bottle for a second time. Only God knows how many people have watched it before the show airs, but everyone already has 3 million on lock.

I'd also want to point out that I always wonder why a woman always plays Peter Pan and not a dude, and why the producers of the original Broadway musical did this choice. I'd want to look further into that, but I'm too lazy to at this point.

Adorable, Innocent Daddy-Daughter Date Video Gets Stupid Outrage

Hey, guys. Take a look at this video I watched earlier today.
This video features a guy taking someone out on a date. And that someone...is his daughter. The video is called "The Best Date Ever" and was created by the guy, Aaron Dickson, who wanted to record the entire date with daughter Analynne. It's really cute with a nice dinner, a waiter, and the two playing in the park. The best part is when it all began when Daddy meets his date. You can really see how happy and excited she is, with beaming red cheeks and everything. Here's the video below, which was posted last month in time for Father's Day.

This video later went viral on YT, reaching almost 8 million views as of posting this. But, the reason for it's popularity isn't because of how cute it is...No, no, no. It's because of some people making comments about how disgusting it seems to be.

Some of these comments include "This is too creepy" and "Ewwww, on so many levels".
Umm...okay.
To the people who find the video disgusting: you find this purely innocent video of a Dad enjoying a date with his daughter the most disgusting thing ever, but you find rape, domestic abuse, incest, murder, cannibalism, necrophilia, and anything else sex- and violence-related on television and in music okay. You also find putting fake relationships of blood-related characters from television shows together (like some as found on TVTropes.org) cute,
including one between a twin brother and sister.

Yeah. Let that sink in for a minute.

If you think that video is sick and wrong on so many levels, YOU must be even more wrong for putting two members of the same family together for the sake of liking some scenes between the two people. Don't give me the argument that it's all fake and just for fun, or that we like these characters a lot, or that they just make the show they're even better. So what? It's still proving my point. Just because they say things in some way that aroused you, that disgusts me. Sure, the word "Date" is used, and that made me a little creeps out too, but that's the only downside.

If the dad was a war hero, we all wouldn't find the video gross; we'd praise the dad for all his service to the country, say that the daughter is really adorable and say that this is the cutest video we've ever saw. And if any of us had still called the video gross, we'd all be called terrorists or un-American immediately. But because not much is known about the dad or how the date came into plan, the people who commented find this disgusting.

Now, I'm not gonna force you all to change your minds for the sake of righting things; we'll all entitled to our own opinions. But I'm just saying, if you want to ship a brother and sister, or a cousin and cousin, or a father and daughter, then whatever. But also saying that a cute, sweet, adorable video of a father and his daughter spending the day together is creepy and gross really puts how creepy and gross you are into the spotlight.

Oh, humanity, how I give up on you.

Sam & Cat-roversy Part Dice: Suddenly Cancelled

Well, everyone?
The news that we already knew would happen for the last few months, has happened. Nickelodeon's hugely popular sitcom Sam a& Cat has been cancelled after one season. And to be honest, I'm not all that surprised. First off, giving a show a FORTY-episode season is definitely gonna put a strain on everybody, especially without a hiatus in between everything. Second, it had to happen because Ariana Grande now has a huge music career. Almost all of her singles are hugely popular on the charts and on the Internet. third, those sexy lingerie photos that were leaked.
And fourth, the rampant rumors circulating between the two main stars, like the one about Jen and Ari getting into problems, the one where Jen is pissed that Ari has a bigger paycheck than her, and the one where Jen had problems with, all of which which were vehemently denied. So basically, this production has been a troubled one after the first taping.

Oh, what the heck? It's 1 Season Wonder Time!!

Sam & Cat is created by Nickelodeon ratings powerhouse Dan Schneider. It's about

Okay, Sam & Cat were both annoying in their own ways.
Sam is still the cold-hearted bitch we all knew and liked from iCarly, and Cat is still the scatter-brained nutcase from Victorious (who of course, didn't start that way; she was dim but had some common sense.) Cat's voice is seriously beyond grating; every time she speaks, it hurts my ears, especially when I watch on a PC with headphones on. It's the vocal equivalent to someone scratching a chalkboard.
And Sam is back to her old ways, and it is just annoying. The worse offenders are #PeezyB (where she coldly brushes off Cat to hang out with a dickhead rapper, and give a fucking girl to two grown fucking men when they go to fucking Mexico!!) and #Twinfection (where she forces her twin sister to help do a dirty deed involving a stupid "disease" and scaring Cat).
To quote her from an episode of iCarly:

Mama doesn't play to get even. Mama plays to win.

The fact that this show exists with these two complete opposites was puzzling, but a smart move because of how popular it was younger viewers.

Now, the other characters I have a better time with.
Dice is a pretty cool straight man to the two. He's funny in his own accord, is pretty to cool to see, and isn't really dull. His peddling scenes are strange (Which is predictable considering it's Schneider's forte) but are pretty funny
Nona is not your typical Schneider-verse elderly character. She sweet, caring, lovely, and her stories of her past are hilarious (and questionable) and she isn't frustratingly annoying or senile, like the many old people Schneider has featured in his shows. In fact, Nona might as well be my favorite character.
And yes, I enjoy even Goomer, too. Yes, he's stupid, but he provides a lot of laughs, more than Cat. He does have some bright spots: In #BlueDogSoda, he knew how to make a carbon copy of the episode's titular soft drink in order to start an underground business thanks to the sody-pop being banned by the CFC. Also, in #RevengeoftheBritBrats, he figured out the evil Gwen and Ruby's plan to sever Sam and Cat's friendship without difficulty...despite the fact that he barely knew who they are, since he didn't appear in (hashtag)TheBritBrats. Anyway, Goomer is more funnier to me because -- and Zoran Korch's delivery. He can make me laugh more than be annoyed.

This show had some funny moments. But the taste in humor that Dan Schneider has does not work out for me in the long run.

Now to some serious talk: Nickelodeon, it's all your damn fault!! If you hadn't cancelled Victorious (which was your highest rated show at the time, mind you) we could've gotten some more episodes. The 60-episode limit is old, outdated and weak, especially after iCarly ended and since SpongeBob is still on the air. I really like this show; the characters are really fleshed-out, the music is great and the actresses have better voices than Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. So it's not fair this show cancelled when it got better. I refuse to watch anything else on this network that is live-action anymore; they really suck.

Anyway, goodbye to Sam & Cat. You have become The Monkees of live-action television shows. 2013-2014

"Clarence" Creator Fired at CN Studios for Being a Perv

Hey everyone.

Okay, there's this show on Cartoon Network called Clarence. It's about this happy, excited and sweet little guy named--well, Clarence. The series created by Skyler Page, features Clarence's daily adventures with his friends and his mother.
He is voiced by series creator Skyler Page. The reason I'm saying this is because Page has been accused of sexual assault by many female co-workers at Cartoon Network Studios. Because of these allegations, Page has been forced out at CNS, leaving his show in limbo and the voice of the character he created silent.

The details are found in this exclusive article at CartoonBrew.com:


Okay. This one is a little serious for me and I apologize if I go a little Helen Lovejoy, but this is how I feel about it.
This news just came out of nowhere these past few days, after I began to enjoy the show, even though I haven’t watched in weeks. There were posts of disgust from people on Twitter and all have been retweeted by one of my personal followers. You know what? I'll tell you this first. I hear this all the time in music, and any time I hear of cases of sexual assault in the real world, I get two scenarios:
1) I shouldn't be surprised because men can be total pigs sometimes.
2) Whoever is accused of these crimes should be arrested if these are true.

But with all of these allegations popping up, stories of past contacts of Page said by those who claim it happened, and tweets of said allegations, calling Page "a piece of shit", and hope this never happens in the future, I believe that Page has a lot of explaining to do. I don't like people who are sexually aggressive and/or abusive to others. Using woman as just sexual objects is wrong. Just because they have vaginas and tits, doesn't mean you can use those things. Women have many other talents. Men thinking women belong on Earth to freak and breed children are disgusting creatures and bigamists.
Also, from what I heard, using a mental illness as a cover-up for these sexual assault escapades is not only wrong, but makes things even worse. And this revelation makes me downright pissed, because as a person who has a mental illness, feel very disgusted and insulted! And because of this, even if he has one, I have reached a level of disgust with this dude. Just because you have a mental illness, you shouldn't use it to your advantage. People will not judge you that way, especially after the horrible rash of shooting in this country these past decade. The killers had mental illnesses!!

I hope this dude gets some help, because this is no laughing matter. And I've watched his show Clarence. It's a really good and very enjoyable show, and I really enjoy the antics of the title character, which so happens to be voiced by Page himself. And now, after this, I can never watch Clarence the same anymore, especially because Page voices him.
Also, I want to give major props to the women who publically spoke about the assaults he committed on them. It takes guts and bravery to stand up to the attacker and open up about it, especially these days with social media. Although going to social media instead of going to the police was not a good move. Telling potentially hundreds of thousands of strangers about your personal life first, instead of law enforcement, isn't going to do you any good. I am very proud of the women who want this fucking guy away from them as possible. And the people who used to work with him, but quit because of his assholish behavior should be applauded too. Especially Patrick Harpin, former Head of Story of Clarence and close friend of Page. He wrote this personal post on his tumblr page:


This is one reason I'm--disgusted, to say the least--that I am a man.
Also, Cartoon network has a lot of money to spend now that an ad for Clarence has popped up. Talk about poor timing, if you know what I'm CN.

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.