Have you ever held a grudge over someone for not calling you back or standing you up for the umpteenth. Are you still holding onto those feelings of rage against those bullies who put you down every day when you walked through the school gates. Can you still stand the sight of you ex-partner who betrayed you? Could you ever forgive them for what they did to you? Well Jacqui Saburido is a master of forgiveness, she knows that forgiveness has a power that can not be measured by anything. If you ever doubted the power of forgiveness allow this video below to show you just what forgiveness can do.
What did I tell you? After I watched this video I looked at the grudges and anger I held inside against people that had done me wrong and to be honest they all looked petty now. After I had looked at my past experiences and slowly but surely I am beginning to free myself from each of these feelings of hate and regret and each time I let one go there is more room in the heart and soul for love and happiness. Thank you Jacqui Saburido for teaching me the power of forgiveness.
There is something about Ellen DeGeneres that just makes me so very happy. This is a woman who I would literally swim oceans for. I don’t understand why there aren’t more people like her in this world. If you don’t know who this woman is then you SERIOUSLY need to get out from under that rock that you are clearly living under. Just bring you up to speed with who she is and what she does let me quickly go over everything Ellen.
So firstly she started out as a stand up comedian way back in the 80’s. Then in the 90’s she starred in her own self-titled sitcom from 1994 (the year I was born) right through to ’98. During the fourth season her sitcom Ellen in 1997, DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In my opinion it seems that Ellen DeGeneres really came into her own after she stood in her truth and owned it. Many of my generation (the 90’s babies) will probably recognise her from ‘Finding Nemo’ where she played the amnesic loveable blue fish that goes by the name of Dory. This was where I was first introduced to Ellen and I must say it was love and first .. sound? She was bubbly, energetic and fun, and for me, little miss Dory stole that movie. It appears that Pixar agreed with me, because in the year 2016 a WHOLE movie dedicated to the character of Dory is going to be out in cinemas everywhere and this movie is going to be titled ‘Finding Dory’ and Ellenhas agreed to come back and play that role I am just so excited by that! She was a judge on the hit TV show American Idol, she has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmy’s. She has won thirteen Emmys and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.
OK, so now your up to speed I really want you to understand why it is that Ellen is such an inspiration of mine. to mark her 1500th show the Ellen team put together a little montage of all of her best bits and this video truly embodies everything about Ellen which I just love and adore. So here is a challenge for you, try to see if you can make it to the end of this video without experiencing any kind of positive emotion. Take a look.
As you can see from this video she is such a positive force of energy in this universe. Every day I am going to strive to be a little more like her and find the joy in every thing I do and bring laughter and love everywhere I go, I hope that you do the same.
After seeing how well she is doing and observing how successful her show has become I began to wonder why her show is doing so great and why does everyone, including myself want to tune in and watch her. I do not watch Ellen on the daily, because her show does not broadcast over here but from the many clips that I have seen all over the internet, Ellen has yet to deliver any real ground breaking interviews. So if she isn’t delivering any REAL top quality journalistic style interviews what is making her so popular. Well I will tell you, her success is solely based on her kind nature her giving spirit and that beautiful smile, she makes us laugh with happiness and cry with joy. Ellen is just being Ellen and THAT is the key to her success and the key to yours and by you being more of yourself. Thank you Ellen for teaching me that.
For more information on Ellen you can visit her website http://www.ellentv.com there you can find more thing Ellen.
Ever had that one family member you wish you could see again? That one who left and vanished without a trace? I bet you never thought you would see them again, huh? Well it seems that ITV is going to answer all your prayers with their series ‘Long Lost Family’.
The general layout of the television series is it starts with a tragic story of a person/s who have lost contact with a specific family member. This person/s has been trying for years to get in touch with their long lost relative and each and every avenue they have searched has led them to a dead end. So now clinging on their very last strands of hope they are forced to call upon the help of a ..TV show desperately believing that a team of people will stumble upon something that they have missed and perhaps find there lost loved one. Eight times out of ten they do find the lost loved one and bring them together in a very emotional moment bursting at the seams with joy and love.
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell are the face of this series and have hosted all three seasons and they are both planned to return to film series four.
The Daily Telegraph gave the show a mixed review “the presenters seemed to be trying slightly too hard to squeeze tears out of their interviewees“. They went on to say “I wonder what the producers would do if the two people they brought together, instead of embracing joyfully, launched into a furious rally of accusations and blame. Perhaps I’ll tune in next week to see whether it happens, although that will depend on whether I can stomach more of Pavlov’s Piano, or for that matter Davina McCall’s habit of talking to her interviewees, even the elderly ones, as if she were their proud mother, waving them off at the school gate“. The Daily Telegraph were not the only ones to give it a review The Guardian also had something to say but they had more positive feedback for the show “Within its own parameters, it succeeds quite nicely. Davina’s common touch remains infallible and her co-host Nicky Campbell’s almost pathological lack of charisma is obscured and alleviated by his status as an adopted son himself, makes the whole thing slightly less painful than it might have been“.
The Independent gave the show a mixed to positive review, they wrote; “It was all very warm and fuzzy and just what you’d expect, apart from the presenters, who struck me as an odd duo. His connection is obvious – adopted at four days old – hers rather less so. Still, she’s really rather good: none of the overgrown-yoof presenting she favours on Big Brother. I can’t imagine this continuing for more than a couple of series – it’s all a little one-trick: once you’ve got the hang of the tracking-down-strangers part, there’s only so much to be astonished about. But, for the meantime, it ain’t bad“. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian praised Long Lost Family calling it “very good” and “so much more interesting than the programme Who Do You Think You Are?“. He went on to say “It’s so moving because it’s real, and it’s about separation and hurt, guilt and regret, growing up, identity, belonging, family, love, life. Now I’m blubbing, like a baby.“
Well Sam Wollaston I completely agree with you sir. This show is probably the only TV show to have made me literally cry sitting on my couch. I don’t understand how or why this happened. Whenever the closing credits began to roll I would find myself in a sobbing mess on the floor surrounded by tissues..in a good way. I would truly recommend this to anyone who needs to fell good and just have a good, what I call, a good joy-cry. What it is for me is, this series carries a very important message, in fact it carries several in addition to what Mr. Wollaston said earlier. Persistence, redemption, new beginnings, faith, forgiveness and hope. I absolutely watched every episode that I could get my eyes on.
And it seems that my fellow British have agreed with me.
The series, which has just finished its third run, averaged a live overnight audience of 5.2 million viewers…making it the highest rating series yet.
Since its launch, Long Lost Family has consistently won its prime time weekday 9pm slot. The first series averaged a consolidated audience of 5 millions viewers, series two averaging 5.15 million and series three has leaped to an average audience of 5.9 million so far, [based on consolidated data].
Based on these statistics taken from the ITV website and the Press Centre it appears that many of us in the UK enjoy watching this series. I don’t know whether they all get all teary eyed like me but they enjoy it nonetheless. I loo forward to next series and I hope that you will all be watching along with me. If you have missed any episodes they are all available on the ITV Player website. Here is a link to the page https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/
Ben Haggerty, who goes by his stage name Macklemore is very well known for his song ‘Thrift Shop’ (above), produced by Ryan Lewis. It managed to peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 7 million copies in total. The song also reached number one in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Canada, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, the song has garnered more than 400 million views on YouTube. Thrift Shop was used in the trailers for the films ‘Pain & Gain’ and ‘The Internship’.
The song received critical acclaim. Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song 5 out of 5 stars, calling it “a rare beast of a song – original, musically daring and genuinely funny.” Entertainment Weekly named the song as the 18th best single of 2012. Some thrift stores have reported an increase in business, especially among college students, which they have attributed to the song.
Macklemore is a multi award winning artist. Collecting awards from the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, BET Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. He was victorious in winning awards such as Rap Song of the Year and Best Hip-Hop video. I am sure his awards are all carefully and mindfully placed around his home in Seattle, Washington.
As you can clearly see, this artist is a huge success with countless adoring fans all around the world watching his every move and the money flowing in from all his success… which his why his next move was completely confusing.
It is very common for artists, such as Macklemore, to lose their moral compass when the spotlight hits them. When they take centre stage its known that stars tend to get blinded by the flashing lights and distracted by the money. And all of a sudden they have completely lost themselves to the forever hungry entity known as fame. But dear old Ben ..ahem excuse Macklemore is an exception to this rule and seems to have truly kept his moral compass in check. I don’t know how he has done it whether he meditates, listens to Jessie J ‘Who You Are’ on repeat or just gets pulled back down to earth on the regular by his dear mother.
If you have not guessed already I am talking about his song entitled ‘Same Love’. This song was written in support of legalising same-sex marriage particularly in reference to a Washington state referendum to approve or reject the February 2012 bill that would legalise same-sex marriage in the state. Macklemore explained that the song also came out of his own frustration with hip hop’s positions on homosexuality. “Misogyny and homophobia are the two acceptable means of oppression in hip hop culture. It’s 2012. There needs to be some accountability. I think that as a society we’re evolving and I think that hip hop has always been a representation of what’s going on in the world right now.”
I must say when I heard this playing on the radio in my flat I was quite surprised at how Mac was so open and honest about everything. He truly bared his soul let us take a look at some of the lyrics in just ‘Same Love’.
“When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay, ‘Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight….”
“…Bunch of stereotypes all in my head. I remember doing the math like, “Yeah, I’m good at little league” A preconceived idea of what it all meant…”
“…The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision And you can be cured with some treatment and religion…”
“…And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago…”
“…If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me Have you read the YouTube comments lately? “Man, that’s gay” gets dropped on the daily We become so numb to what we’re saying…”
“…Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board…”
“…It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from religion Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins It’s human rights for everybody, there is no difference! Live on and be yourself…”
“…A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are…”
“…No law is gonna change us We have to change us…”
As you can see from these extracts I took from Macklemore’s song he truly touches on some very controversial and profound points. He opened up about the time when he thought that he himself was gay and that must of took a lot of courage and a straight man to openly admit that at one point he thought he was attracted to men. He also layed out on the table the fact that his own uncle was a gay man and in a committed and loving relationship. I truly stand up and salute this young man for the courage it took for him as a heterosexual male to take a stand. He put everything on the line to make his point, all of his fame and success could of come to a very sudden and abrupt holt. Thank You Macklemore for your courage and honesty.
‘I might not be the same but that’s not important no freedom til’ we’re equal, damn right I support it’
The Soul Journal 