Dance Flick (2009)
★★ / ★★★★

Damien Dante Wayans directed this parody about a girl (Shoshana Bush) who moves to the city with her father after her mother dies on the way to her dance audition. With the help of a friend (Essence Atkins), she’s able to meet others, open up a little more and fall for a guy (Damon Wayans Jr.). If that sounds familiar, that’s because that’s pretty much what “Save the Last Dance” was about. But this movie takes it a bit further by adding in “Step Up,” “Step Up 2 the Streets,” “High School Musical,” and “Hairspray” into the mix with occassional popular references to icons such as Britney Spears, Halle Berry, and the like. As accessible as those references were, I liked that Wayans added some less popular jokes such as from movies like “Black Snake Moan.” As idiotic as this movie was, I somewhat enjoyed it because I saw it when I was in the mood for watching something where I don’t have to think. I also liked the fact that it showed some vignettes where it revealed the stupidity of the plot or meaningful of certain dance movies. For instance, in “Step Up 2 the Streets,” people constantly had to fight for “respect” (whatever that means) instead of focusing on issues that would most likely impact their futures like education and working toward achieving something most people would assume to be impossible. This movie’s ability to bluntly present issues like that made me like it because I hardly think fighting for so-called respect should be the main drive of young people today. Still, the movie consistently lost focus such as whenever it would refer to something ridiculous like “Twilight.” In my opinion, if such in-your-face spoof pictures should stay in their own universe. That glaring decision to show something so out of the blue was not only unfunny, it also reflects desperation. “Dance Flick” could have been so much more fun if it had its act together. After all, there are a lot of dance movies out there to make fun of because they take themselves too far. The difference between those and this movie is that “Dance Flick” knows it’s being ridiculous.

That’s right. Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Robert Hoffman, Briana Evigan, Rick Malambri, Sharni Vinson, along with SYTYCD/DWTS dancers, etc. are attending/ making appearences at the first ever DizzyFeet! (A foundation founded in 2009 which helps underprivileged young people realize their dream of becoming professional dancers and to support, improve, and increase access to dance education in the Unites States.)

According to Channing Tatum Unwrapped:

Jenna Dewan-Tatum tweeted yesterday that she would be both presenting and performing with “So You Think You Can Dance” dancers and more at the upcoming Dizzy Feet Foundation benefit, and today, she announced that Chan would also be presenting with her.

Dizzy Feet Foundation was founded in 2009 by producer Nigel Lythgoe, director Adam Shankman, “Dancing with the Stars” judge Carrie Ann Inaba and actress Katie Holmes to help underprivileged young people realize their dream of becoming professional dancers and to support, improve, and increase access to dance education in the Unites States.

Guided by a board consisting of some of the most illustrious names in the American dance community, the foundation’s mission is threefold: (1) to provide scholarships to talented students studying at accredited dance schools, studios, or institutions; (2) to establish national standards for dance education and an accreditation program for dance schools in all of the major styles of dance; and (3) to develop, provide, and/or support dance education programs for disadvantaged children through and with local community organizations.

Dizzy Feet’s first-ever fundraising gala, CELEBRATION OF DANCE, is taking place at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California on Sunday, November 29th 2009 at 3PM.

All of the leads from ‘Step Up‘, ‘Step Up 2: The Streets‘, and ‘Step Up 3D‘ will make appearances at the event. As I mentioned earlier, Jenna and Chan will be presenting and Jenna will also perform.

Jenna tweeted…“Buy tix now to support dancing and come say hi to us!”. I also learned that the event will not be televised, so if you want an opportunity to give to a good cause and see Chan and Jenna, please visit Ticketmaster.com to get your tickets TODAY!!!

Source- Channing Tatum Unwrapped

Will you attend? I wonder if Adam will make an appearence as well?

Check out “Moose”. Ha ha. (-;

So I went into a DVD shop the other day looking for the movie…. Step Up 2. Obviously with a movie like this, and being 25 years of age, you don’t want to bring too much attention to yourself. You need to walk into the place, look like you know exactly what you’re doing, grab the product in question and get out, avoiding all eye contact at all times.

I tried to make this operation as quick and shameless as possible but I couldn’t find the mofo thing!

Knowing at this point I’ve lingered far too long, I look up to see the sales assistant slowly sauntering over in my direction. I began to panic, various thoughts running through my mind when suddenly that classic “Devil vs. Angel” on the shoulder scenario popped up:

Devil: “OK, you need to lie.”
Angel: “No, don’t lie; you came all this way to the shop to get a specific DVD.”
Devil: “Yes, but you’ll look pathetic.”
Angel: “So? You don’t know this sales assistant. Maybe he likes shite movies too, and if not, who cares. You’re your own person.”
Devil: “He’ll think you’re a loser.”
Angel: “You’ll be true to yourself. And that’s the most important thing.”
Devil: *cough* “Dorkface!” *cough*cough*

Time was up – The sales assistant had arrived:

Sales Assistant: May I help you with anything?
LT: Ummmm, yes, I’m looking for….  the movie… (way too long a pause) Schindler’s List.
Sales Assistant: Oh sure thing. Just follow me; you’re totally in the wrong genre section.
LT: Oh, am I?

Sales Assistant and I walk over to the Drama area of the store and find Schindler’s List.

Sales Assistant: Here you go.
LT: Great, thanks so much. Oh, and also, almost totally forgot. Um, do you have that movie, what’s it called now? Step…Up…2? It’s, uh, for my little sister. (Cue: LT’s forced laugh and lame attempt to roll eyes)
Sales Assistant: (With a little too much attitude I feel) Ya, (snigger) we have that too. (Grabs the DVD and basically throws it at me.)
LT: Thanks.

I paid for both movies and pretty much ran out of the store…

Devil: “He so knows.”
Angel: “LT, you disappoint me! You don’t even have a little sister.”

LT: Shut up both of you!

The evening was a long one.

Step Up 2 was the bomb though! Totally worth it!

Schindler’s List…. average

“Step Up 2 the Streets” เป็นภาพยนตร์อีกเรื่องหนึ่งที่เจนชื่นชอบมากค่ะ เพราะเป็นหนัง
แนวโชว์ลีลา B-Boy หรือ Break Dance บวกกับดราม่าและ Romantic เล็ก ๆ

บางคนอาจจะสงสัยว่าทำไมเจน review หนังช้าเกินไปเปล่า เลยอยากจะบอกว่าจริง ๆ แล้ว
เจนไม่ได้ต้องการจะ review หนังนะคะ เพียงแต่แค่อยากจะบอกว่าชอบลีลาการเต้นที่แปลกใหม่
และมีเสน่ห์ดึงดูดใจของนักเต้นในหนังเรื่องนี้ รวมถึงเพลง Low ของ Flo Rida ด้วยค่ะ

บ่อยครั้งที่เจนเปิดดูหนังเรื่องนี้บ่อย ๆ เพราะหวังว่าสักวันอาจจะได้เป็น Hip Hop Girl !!

An Epic Online Dance Adventure…Get ready.

Meet one of my favorite people and directors, the talented Jon Chu.  Some may recognize him from the Miley Cyrus youtube dance off videos, his guest spot on Ellen, the Teen Choice Awards or as the director of Step Up 2: The Streets and soon to be Step up 3D.  Jon and some other skilled people in the business have been locked in a room secretly building a project that combines music, dance, story telling, sport and interactive media.

They call the project LXD, which stands for the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. Partnering up with Agility Studios, Jon and his crew have gathered their army and have been slowly but surely creating something really special.

No Special effects. No Wires. Real People, Real powers.

Join the dancer uprising on this epic online adventure and who knows even YOU may be part of the LXD.

ARE YOU EXTRAORDINARY?

Jon we think your fine dancers should attend and teach a class at NeverWood High.  You can be the Xavier (Proffesor X) to our X-Men style students.

We were lucky enough to film a behind the scenes of one of Jon Chu’s dance battles to Miley Cyrus.  We filmed at club Area and some fun people stopped by like Amanda Bynes, Brittany Snow, Evan Ross, Elijah Kelley, Ben Lyons AND…

Wait for it…wait for it.

DIANA ROSS, ladies and gentleman.

Check out the video below.

[Video coming soon!]

Source- Neverwoodhigh

Step Up 2 the Streets
★★ / ★★★★

Jon Chu directs the sequel for “Step Up” and I must say that although the dancing was much more incredible than the first, the story did not quite hold up. Briana Evigan decides to audition to attend Maryland School of the Arts with the help of Channing Tatum (a more than welcome return). In the school, she meets a geeky kid (Adam G. Sevani) who has a passion for dancing but decides not to pursue it because he doesn’t think he’s good enough and an all-star charming guy (Robert Hoffman) who’s sick of the school’s way of structuring/limiting certain styles of dancing. Evigan and Hoffman team up and gather outcasts who have a talent for dancing in order to compete in The Streets, an underground hip-hop battle of dance. Aside from the first scene when Tatum reprises his role to pass the torch (and for the audiences to find out what happened to him after the first film) and the final dance scene in the rain, the rest of it was pretty weak. The dialogue was laughable because even though it makes fun of pop culture such as “The Hills” and the “High School Musical” franchise, they resort to the same type of drama that defined such references. So, in a way, the sequel’s jokes worked against itself. Other than the two leads, we didn’t really get to know who the outcasts were outside of their stereotypes. Although they might have said one funny line or two, they were still one-dimensional. I almost wished that the picture could have focused more on the relationship between Evigan and the strict dance professor who wanted to mold her talents (Will Kemp). I felt like there could have been a two-way street connection between the two to highlight the fact that there are teachers out there who truly care for their students. That would have been a much better film because such an issue is concrete and universally relevant. The bit about the rivalry between groups felt too forced at times. Still, if one is in the mood to see impressive dancing, then by all means, see it. If one cares more about the story, I suggest to watch its predecessor instead.

This is the final dance sequence from the movie StepUp2. Check out the crazy stepping moves on the  Streets and it  is in fact a legitimate form of artistic expression.

3…2…1 yo!!

Here we go..

Move your leg.. move your ass. Can you follow me?? Hahahahaha….

Hey everybody, whats up??

Have you seen Step Up 2-The Street?? Not yet?? Hahahaha… you’re so left behind. I recommend you to see it immediately for you guys who haven’t seen it yet. It’s a great movie, not only for the dancers but also for all circles or professions could watch it,,<it’s possible you can dance after u see it.hehehehe..>  you are gonna be entertained by looking their dance, even for they who are getting stress or depress, hahahaha (Oops, I’m sorry, I didn’t meant…) you’ll feel better like having no problems.

Okay, I’ll tell you a little bit about Step Up 2 movie, but the rest just see it. I promise you won’t get bored.

:: Step Up 2-The Street is something like dance competition and shows the moves where the dancers should have a crew. But it’s not easy to register the crew to The Street. The first thing to do is the crew must record their dance through by video recorded and show it to “The Prank”. A good dance should be unique, awesome, cool, free and those the requirements to join The Street..

Four-One-Oh is a well-known crew at that moment with Tuck as a leader. They have a great move, free dance. They have won the competition five times. Andie (Briana Evigan) with Chase(Robert Hoffman), the Maryland School of the Arts students, also make a crew. They recruit 8 people, known as a MSA crew. Moose (Adam G. Sevani), one of MSA crew is my best dancer. He moves like Michael Jackson did. I never imagined he can move, Director Collins  (Will Kemp) even never imagined he did. After a lot of practices they had, finally the competition’s coming. Four-One-Oh, MSA crew, and other crews just be ready to compete…

And what comes next?? What’s the surprise thing??

Just see the movie..

yeah, that’s right people, they are married! I saw them together in Step Up one but never did i imagine them being married. To be honest, i didn’t even know they were engaged, i was just aware that they were dating. Here’s what the Hollywood Gossip has to say about it…

Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum: Married!

Posted on July 12th, 2009

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan tied the knot yesterday in Malibu, Calif.

The two stars said “I do” in a 15-minute ceremony on the grounds of Church Estates Vineyards, the same venue where Fergie and Josh Duhamel wed.

More than 200 guests attended the nuptials. A source tells Us Dewan’s maid of honor was Entourage star Emmanuelle Chriqui. Also in the bridal party? Tatum’s sister Paige and Haylie Duff, accompanied by the groom’s pal Nick Zano.

The bridesmaids all wore light pink dresses.

Beneath a white altar covered in roses, Jenna Dewan wore a white strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline and a long veil. Tatum wore your basic black suit.

When it was time for their first kiss as husband and wife, the G.I. Joe star bent Dewan back and kissed her over his knee to cheers from the approving crowd.

Jenna Dewan, 28, and Channing Tatum, 29, met on the set of their 2006 flick, Step Up. They got engaged last September. Congrats to the newlyweds!

Principal photography has begun in NYC on the third movie in the hit ‘Step Up’ film franchise — and this time the dance drama is coming to you in eye-popping Digital 3-D.

Alyson Stoner (‘Step Up’) and Adam Sevani (‘Step Up 2 the Streets’) reprise their original roles in the third film — helmed by ‘Step Up 2′ director Jon M. Chu — which follows a tight-knit group of street dancers as they take on the world’s best breakdancers in life-changing showdown.

The first 3-D dance flick to shoot entirely in NYC is slated for a 2010 release.

Source- Entertainment Tonight

Two girls left today to go home for the 3 week break, so now I’m down to four girls. Things have been going well. My schedule got changed and instead of just working morning/evenings, I get the girls 24/7. It’s good so that way I’m not running back and forth and am here more consistently. The extra hours also help with saving money. The girls continue to do well. For example, we have guests coming by tomorrow so the girls had to make sure the whole house was clean. With only four, it took a little more time. They all pitched in and were a huge help. They even let me sleep because I’m starting to get sick, mostly from exhaustion.

Other than stuff around the house, we are at the pool a good part of the day. We swim two hours in the afternoon and an hour and a half most evenings. It’s fun and gives the kids something to do. I enjoy it too, although I have nice red arms to show for it. I burn so easily…sigh. It’s fun, although I always am especially on my guard with all the kids at the pool because I want everyone to be safe and not get hurt. There are so many to keep an eye on, especially the little ones. Ha, I feel like a referee half the time with the younger ones! They fight over goggles and intertubes and all sorts of stuff. Fortunately we have a really good life guard, too. It’s funny though ’cause half our teen girls have a crush on him.

Let’s see, what else is going on? Hmm. I’ve covered the longer (full-time) hours, what’s going on with the girls, the days at the pool…well I guess most of it has been touched on. I’m sorry this post is kind of boring. I’m a little out of it, so I doubt my writing capabilities are just superb today.

I’m watching Step Up 2 with the girls. (By the way, the last dance sequence in that movie is rockin’ — you should check it out if you haven’t.) It always makes me wish I had taken dance lessons. I wish I could dance like that. I love dancing and always have. I don’t know if a lot of people know that about me, though. I used to choreograph songs and stuff to do at my school, church, functions, etc. I even had a club where I taught girls dances to do and how to work on their own dances. I miss doing that stuff. I should dance more.

What are the things in life you love but don’t do often enough?

Have a great week. I’m gonna finish the movie with my four girls and then go to sleep. I am a huge fan of sleep these days.

When rapper Flo Rida originally burst on the scene (his song Low was featured in the award-winning-worthy Step Up 2 The Streets), I wasn’t a fan.  I thought the song was essentially shilling a catalog of products: Apple Bottoms jeans, Uggs (boots with fur), Reeboks (with straps), and um, baggy sweatpants…

But somewhere along the line, I got hooked.  The same happened with his follow up (In the Ayer) and Right Round, which borrows quite liberally from the classic 80’s tune, You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive.

Now know this – I usually can’t stand it when most songs lift old songs for new ones.  (Rihanna’s borrowing of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love back-beat to create the entirely different SOS was a major exception.  And I don’t count the Numa Numa song lifted for TI and Rihanna’s Live Your Life.)  And Right Round barely passed that opinion, but imagine my surprise when I heard Eiffel 65’s Blue in a new song:

Initially, I thought, “Oh geez, not this now!”  But when I figured out it out was Flo Rida, all was forgiven.  Why is that?

Jabbawockeez

Link for Download Jabbawockeez dance video:
Jabbawockeez – Step Up 2 Deleted Scene HQ [Download]

Download jabbawockeez step up 2 song

Why do I love HBO/Showtime so much? Because they don’t hide the dark, bold, and harsh details of life that shows on Fox or NBC tend to sugarcoat. And there are no commercials. Try to watch United States of Tara online. The first season of every show is always kind of awkward but the idea is fresh. Thank you Showtime.

If you or someone you know has

(1) become a victim of le alcohol and has suffered the symptoms of drunkeness, specifically projectile vomiting, and/or
(2) watched I Love You, Man

this is dedicated to y’all:

Long weekend was fun! Fulfilled my cousin Monica’s desire to watch Disturbia, so hopefully now she stops relating everything to that movie. And for some reason I had this urge to watch a dance movie so I rented Step Up 2. The dancing was incredible HOWEVER some of the scenes from the finished product should have been deleted, and the deleted scenes in the bonus features should have been included in the movie. Cassie’s character made no sense to me until I watched the deleted scenes. Moving on.

Anyways a couple of months ago, the cousins and I were wandering aimlessly in Wal-Mart when we decided to take a little pit stop at a patio display. This bar dispenser caught my eye, and whadda you know. I get it for my birthday lol. Here let me give you a visual:

Totally pointless right? But I love it.

Yup, these (as well as this blog) are just a few of the countless distractions going on in my life to keep me from thinking about the problems facing mankind in the long run. Too tired to write about it. Hounds will be released next post.

you can’t build a house of leaves, and live like it’s an evergreen
it’s just a season thing, it’s just this thing the seasons do

Another hip hop/dance teen drama, I wanted to watch this one purely for the groovy dance moves and the music! And I wasn’t disappointed et all!

Most of the hip-hop/R&B dance dramas have a plot which has everything to do with expressing and interpreting emotions through the street dances, and this loosely woven plot just exists to guide the dance sequences presented in the movie. I maybe wrong there but almost all of them have similar story sequence – girls go to ballet schools, the hero and his cool gang hangs out at da clubs, and then a chance encounter – viola they fall in love. Not to mention the hero helps the girl out with her problems and they win whatever competition she was entering.

Nothing much there right! But then its all about the music and the mix. And almost all of these feature dance moves which are a cross between ballet and hip hop, more of a fusion dance you might say.

For this reason, I was dying to watch Step Up and Step Up 2: The Streets very badly I might add.

Step Up has Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) doing community service at Maryland School of Arts for breaking into the school at ungodly hours ofcourse. He meets a ballet dancer Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan) who is struggling to find a dance partner for her “showcase”. This would make or break her dance career, so ofcourse Tyler helps her out. But they have to struggle against jealous friends and sceptical school admin, and their social differences, which they do and perform the ‘showcase’ successfully. The best singles for me in this movie are Samantha Jade’s “Step Up”.  

I felt that Step Up 2: The Streets is way better than the 1st one owing to its stronger storyline and better dance moves.

Here we do have Tyler Gage from the original movie but he just plays a minor role, something like the protagonist Andie West’s (Briana Evigan) guardian prompting her to join Maryland School of Arts. She ultimately gets in due to the good impression she makes on Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) who is also a student there and also the brother of school director. But her challenges come in the form being ostracised from the dance group she hangs out with as well as the school director. Chase and Andie form a group of their own with a couple of more freestyle students and well they prove to people to that “dance is something which is free from race, street and whatever you belong to.”

The last half hour of the movie is the best as it showcases various groups performing their dance moves. Pretty fantastic movie to watch if you are a hip hop fan! One word though, both the stories have no connection interms of the plot except for the school. So if you were to choose one to watch, Step Up is good for watching the fusion dance mix while Step Up 2 is good for the plot and the hip hop moves.

Our Southern feast was Patricia and Carrie’s idea.

Start with crisp, sweet and tearful onions.

Green beans, onions, a sprinkling of onions, some salt.

Mashed sweet potatoes.

“Chicken n’ dumplings.” Less dumplings, more doughy, cauliflower mini-brains. They expand in your stomach until you feel painfully full, the kind of fullness even the right yoga poses cannot completely cure.

But no trace of the soy sauce Carrie supposedly put in the pot.

Broccoli casserole.

Then we topped it off with Julie’s brand-new copy of Step Up 2 (dancing makes every movie better) and mango pudding, one of the most Asian desserts ever. Perfect. And yum!