JOURNEY on Oprah with ARNEL PINEDA

I just want to say WOW! He sounds SOOOoooo much like the original artist with Journey. It sounds great! I swear Filipinos sing so well! They ARE the karaoke champions, anyway. Well, back on subject...supposedly he used to try to make money, singing on the streets of Manila, doing Journey covers. He was discovered by the original band members of Journey, minus Steve Perry. Besides, that is who Arnel Pineda replaced for the new Journey of the Millenium! I mean, OMG...Oh my goodness!!

He used to play with a Philippine based pop band called The Zoo. Journey discovered him on YouTube! Wow! YouTube, you are so awesome. So much talent is discovered through this venue. Here is an interview that is more than a year old which gives a little more background.



I have friends who are watching Journey as we speak, in Las Vegas, Nevada at the M Resort! I love that place, too. What an awesome place for him to have a concert! Anyway, congratulations and continued congratulations to Arnel Pineda and his family for such a great dream come true! You are great!

And I would like to say...THANK YOU to Oprah for recognizing this great talent! This episode of Journey on Oprah will air on Monday, October 5, 2009.

Black Eyed Peas: Infectious Flash Mob Performance on Oprah's Season Premiere

This week, I saw this and felt that it was one of the most incredible things I have seen in a long time.

Oprah's season opener featured performances from popular groups like Rascal Flats, Jennifer Hudson, James Taylor and Chris Angel, but there was one in particular that I though was very special. During the The Black Eyed Peas performance of the song "I Got a Feelin" there was an incredible Flash Mob performance that turned out to be a nice surprise

For those of you who don't know, a Flash Mob is a large scale choreographed performance involving hundreds, even thousands of people. The cool thing about this Flash Mob, is that I don't think anyone knew about it, including Oprah. When I saw it, I thought it was incredible, the energy was infectious and left me feeling really happy.

If anyone out there was part of that Oprah Flash Mob, and happened to stumble upon this blog, feel free to chime in and let us know what it was like. I'll bet that you'll never forget that day. I wish I was there, but in all honesty, the energy could be felt from far away - it was truly amazing. I could only imagine some of the bystanders who were attended but were not part of the originating group, I'm sure you couldn't help but join in either.

The Flash Mob portion of the clip begins at about :58, and after the performance, you'll see a segment about how the entire stunt was planned, organized and executed. The incredible thing is that the word got out through the use of Facebook and Twitter. Way to go guys on pulling off an incredible memorable event.

The original instance of the Flash Mob can be seen in this clip below, filmed in Antwerp Belgium approaching 11 million hits.

and more recently in Mexico, over 13,000 people perform Michael Jackson's Thriller, I think that's a new Guiness Book World Record.

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Rihanna and Chris Brown Controversy

Over and over again, someone, somewhere is being hit. One out of 3 women is abused in this country...these are reported cases. Where is the line drawn? When is it abuse? When is it dangerous and when does it need more attention? Ladies, help yourselves and get out before it's too late. I take this issue to heart because I have a loved one dear to me who is in this right now and I am so scared for her. I can only tell her so much but she has to want to leave. She doesn't see what everyone else sees. "Oh, but he's a good father." and "I don't think he would ever go that far." and "He's just saying that because he's depressed and angry." Best one of all: "I must have done something to provoke him. It's partly my fault." 

Tell-tale signs for anyone out there...

• Your abuser shows controlling behavior: If your significant other is telling you who you can hang out with, what friends you can have, when or where you can go, what time you need to be home, THAT IS A SIGN!!! that this relationship is damaging your soul and spirit. Is he going through your emails, looking at your cell phone calls and texts? Why does he not trust? Wake up! Get out! 
• This person is using threats or guilt: "If you don't..." blah, blah, blah, then "I'll leave you." "If you don't..." yadda, yadda, yadda, "then you must not love me enough." These are manipulative ways the person is trying to control you. Love is not that way. Real love does not have conditions.
• The person insists on sex: HELLO!!!! This is surely a sign that the relationship is not healthy. Sex is not even the issue. It's control. It's not about "love". This person wants to be in a position where you are vulnerable. THAT IS SCARY!!
• (These 3 points discussed on the Oprah show today.)

It is a good thing that the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation has surfaced. This is not good for any of our youth to witness. I hate to say it, but I'm sure there are some people out there who say "She deserved it!" BS! No one deserves it! And there are some people who believe it was just a one time thing & he won't do it again. What do you think? Haven't we had enough of this? I don't care if he is a mega-star. He deserves what's coming to him. I hope that she starts to wake-up and see the real deal, too.