Work to inspire. Live to be inspired. by Kia Tolentino on Grooveshark

Hi friends! My name is Kia; I am 18 years young, and I was born and raised on Long Island, NY. There are so many things out there that interest me, but if I had to narrow them down to my most prominent interests, I would have to choose two things – dance, and Korean pop music. Dance has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; I was practically forced into it as a child because my mom wanted me to do something and I just so happened to stick with it all of these years. It is what brought me into the city every weekend during high school for rehearsal with my dance crew, of which I am now a co-director, further encouraging me to spend my college career in Manhattan. Kpop has been an obsession of mine ever since I was introduced to it six years ago; I have always been so in love with the fashion, choreography, performance aspect, and music of course. Just as I combine the two throughout my daily life, I have combined them to compile this playlist. These songs mark pieces that inspire me, works of my own creation, and music that keeps my inspiration and ideas flowing.

The first song is Latch by Disclosure. One of my former members had choreographed and taught a piece to this at a class last week which I had attended. I first met him when he choreographed his first piece and seeing as to where he is now, I am both proud of his growth and inspired to grow myself.

After Latch is When You’re Mad by Ne-Yo. I took one of my best friend’s cousin’s classes and learned a piece to this song. The piece is both challenging and fun. The song and choreography are so feel-good, I can not keep myself from doing it on a daily basis.

The next song is N.O by BTS, a Korean pop group. My friend had taught this in a class I attended – combining the original choreography with her own. As she and some of my other friends are teaching under a brand new company they had founded on their own, the piece to this song reminds me of how important it is to support those about which you care.

The fourth song is titled XOXO by EXO. This one is especially significant to me because not only is it the song to one of my favorite pieces of which I choreographed, but it is also the song of the piece for the first public class I ever taught. It just brings back good memories of my first class and makes me eager to teach again.

Following XOXO is Question Mark by Primary. This song is also fairly significant in my life right now because it is the song to which I choreographed my first piece alone to be used in a competing set by my team. Thinking about how far I have come as a choreographer as well as my status in the team, I have come to realize the growth I have made as a dancer and wish to continue.

After XOXO is Jump by RDX, to which I as well as my other crew members learned a piece for our upcoming competing set. Just like the song, the dance is fun, and maybe a little bit silly, encompassing what we are as a team perfectly. Whenever I rehearse with these people whatever seems to be bothering me at the time completely disappears as I forget so easily while having so much fun.

The following song is called Secret Place by Danity Kane. It was shown to me by one of my team members during a freestyle session. We were both so enthused by the intricate beats that we have decided to collaborate in making a piece for it. I am so excited to work with him on this piece because I love learning how other people work and I feel like collaborating often inspires both choreographers to pursue different ideas and brings out the best in their talents.

1HUNNIT by Jay Park is the next song, a song of which I would really like to choreograph to if and when I find the time. I love choreographing to music like this – the aggressive rapping and intricate beats gives me a lot to play with and allows me to be something different in my choreography in comparison to how I am throughout my daily life.

After Jay Park is GG Be by Seungri, another song I would very much like to choreograph to. While listening to it on the train, I came up with an idea that inspired me to explore something completely different from my usual choreography. I would like to create a piece with somewhat theatrical undertones for this song, and I am super excited to pursue that idea in the near future.

And finally, the last song is called First Love by After School. I would like to choreograph it to challenge myself in smoothing out my moves since my style tends to be hard-hitting. But I would also like to hit those occasional intricate beats, just to be in my comfort zone some of the time and create a nice contrast between two different textures.

And that pretty much sums up who I am. Someone constantly inspired by the work of their closest friends and eager to put that inspiration to work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/103059135@N06/sets/72157635830199543/

Hello all. My name is Kemin, though since most people mispronounce it, I tend to go by Kem. I happen to be the first generation American born in my family with my dad being Cantonese and my mom being Shanghainese. Despite being Chinese, I do not know how to speak either of my parent’s native languages nor am I fluent in Mandarin. Growing up I have never been really close with my relatives besides my immediate family. My relatives live in China, Japan and even Australia.

Anyway, on to the pictures…

As you guys can see, the first two pictures are of my beloved red Fender Stratocaster. This is probably my most favorite guitar out of all the ones that I currently own. Not only is it the iconic image of an electric guitar, but it’s also styled in my favorite colors: red and black. Although the original had a white pickguard, I replaced it with a cooler looking black one. It came with two single coil pickups as well as humbucker near the bridge for some more distortion, perfect for playing rock music.

Another picture of a guitar, my one and only acoustic guitar. This guitar was originally my previous teacher’s guitar so not only do I use it for practice, but it also serves as a memento of the time I spent with him. Also whenever I’m looking to take a break from the loud distortion and electrical sounds that my Stratocaster emits, I would always switch to this for the more natural and cleaner tone.

The next two pictures are drawings that I drew fairly recently. The drawing on the right was actually a present that I drew for my friend’s birthday last month. It contained three of his favorite characters from the Japanese animation “Hunter X Hunter” using their powers to spell out “Happy Birthday”. The one on the left was drawn last week for a contest on twitter.

Then we have a picture that shows the most important family member relaxing in the sun. She is a beagle that goes by the name of Remy and is one of the most friendliest creatures that you will ever meet in your life (except when it comes to sharing food). Everyday when I come home from school, she is always the one there to greet me at the door and scream with joy so loud that it hurts my ears.

This picture is of a public event that I went to this summer at South Street Seaport called the “Mp3 Experiment Ten”. It was hosted by ImprovEverywhere, a group that likes to cause social chaos and joy. People who chose to attend the event were given instructions to download an mp3 file, prepare some items and arrive at the designated meeting place. Once there, participants press the play button simultaneously and are greeted by a voice instructing them to do various tasks. The result? Humorous confusion and awkwardness as non-participants witnessed the people around them drop to the ground at the same time, freeze in place for a few minutes and even run around handing out dollar bills.

Now we have a picture of Shanghai, the hometown of my mother. Out of all the places that I have traveled to, I have been to Shanghai the most often. I chose this picture because it just seems to be a part of me, being almost like China’s version of New York. Also, most of my memories with my now deceased Grandfather took place there.

Second to last picture is of these fictional robots called “Gundam”. It is quite a popular anime series in Japan and their most popular merchandise are “Gunpla” which are basically model kits that let you create a Gundam from tiny pieces. I used to build these a lot, but recently haven’t since they’re very time consuming.

Finally we have a picture of my small 3DS/DS games collection. Ever since I was little, I have always been a fan Nintendo and their portable handhelds. And as you can see, half of my games are Pokemon. Yes, I still like Pokemon because its a very fun game! Who says that I can’t like it just because I’m older? Ridiculous. (´･ω･)

https://plus.google.com/photos/107182624935320893680/albums/5927045803557918289

Hello everybody, my name is Abulkhair Bekbenbetov and I’m a freshman at Baruch college. Because I couldn’t paste the photos in the post I posted the link but I’ll walk you through every picture and what it means to me.

I am starting off by introducing you to my roots. The first picture is the flag of Kazakhstan, the country that I was born in and raised in for a significant time. Even though Kazakhstan is in the past stages of my life right now, everything that I’ve seen and learned there has affected me for my whole life.

The following two pictures describe my hobbies. The picture of LeBron James reveals my love for basketball. Although I started playing ball freshman year of high school, it has since been a routing of my life. It has gotten to a point that long stretches of life without basketball could be depressing to me. The reason I chose LeBron though is because he’s my favorite player, and also because his versatility on the court proves to me that in order to dominate in life you need to be multifaceted. So in short, ball is life but I have other hobbies as well. Once in a while I sometimes enjoy horseback riding.

Following pictures show you my family. To me family is of the most importance because they’re one of the few ones that have unconditional love for you. I have my parents, and two sisters. The older sister’s name is Anel and she is 13 years old, while the younger one’s name is Inkara and she is 5. I enjoy the company of everybody in my family as my parents usually have great advice for me and they’re always there when I need them, as for my sisters they’re a pure joy to be around because they’re so different.

The next picture is a picture of some of my friends, exactly from left to right: Brian, Rahat, and Joel. I decided to put this picture because it came at a very good time for all of us: graduation.

Finally, is a picture that would probably draw some questions. In it is a Kipchak(a group of nomads that were the ancestors of Kazakh people)  warrior. The reasoning behind this picture is to show off my favorite academical field: history. Although history is a study of the past I feel like a lot of it is relevant to this day.

Hey guys, my name is Johnathan. I was born and raised in Brooklyn but spend most of my waking hours currently in the city. Though I love living in Brooklyn (Bushwick region), there’s not much to do out here. I spend most of my time in the city because the city never sleeps.

Over the years, I’ve grown to enjoy many pastimes. My current favorite hobby is biking. My bike is a single speed fixed gear bike, which has been greatly popularized by the film, ‘Premium Rush.’ Whenever I get bored, I can go for a relaxing bike ride around the neighborhood. I found myself to love biking around the city. Many people find biking in the city dangerous but if you follow most traffic rules, you’ll be safe from danger.

Another hobby I have is basketball. Though I’m not the next Jeremy Lin, I enjoy playing ball with my friends in the park. It’s a great sport to play with friends whenever there’s some free time. The main reason I found basketball so interesting was because of my growing interest in the NBA. I spent hours watching games over the season. My favorite player would probably be Lebron James because watching him play is always exciting.

Below, I described some of my favorite picks from my playlist and why I love listening them and how they describe who I am.

2 )Hoodie Allen- Make it Home
This song reminds me about my own home in Brooklyn. I’ve lived in Brooklyn ever since I was born and though I spend most of my waking hours in the city, living at home has been the greatest years of my life. I remember having multiple family events where everyone would come together and have a good time talking and eating.
3) Hoodie Allen- You are not a Robot
Everyone is unique and no one should simply follow the norm. You should be yourself and never try pretend otherwise to be “normal.”
4) J. Cole- Born Sinner
J. Cole has been one of my new favorite artists after his release of his latest album, Born Sinner. This song is a personal favorite.
5) J. Cole- Crooked Smile
This song reminds everyone that everyone’s perfect the way they are. No one needs to become perfect in order to succeed in life. Instead of trying to look perfect, people should keep working hard.

http://hypster.com/music/hmigelratne?rnum=104527

Music is a great way for me to be able to express myself and describe who I am. I am not a person who likes a certain type of music or person or food. Just like with music, I am willing to give anything a try. I wasn’t always like this! Until recently I was very afraid to try new things and just stuck with the few things that I liked and didn’t have to experiment to figure out. Once I got to high school was when I realized that going out of the comfort zone a little and trying new things will help me find more things that I like. These songs are not all from the same genre or artist, but there is one thing they all have in common; I like every one of these songs and they have a very special meaning to me.

The song Brooklyn by the Youngblood Brass Band was the first piece of music that made me excited to play. I play the trombone and I liked playing ever since I started as a freshman in high school. However, until sophomore year, I was only learning to play and that first year was not too exciting. Sophomore year started out with a bang when my teacher introduced this song and said we would be playing it.

These next three songs are all from the genre known as jazz. It was a genre I knew little to nothing about until my years in high school. I was introduced to jazz by my music teacher, who himself is a fine jazz musician, and fell in love with it immediately. Blue Bossa is my favorite blues and it is played exceptionally well by J.J. Johnson, one of my favorite jazz trombonist. The next song is called One Serious Night and it is written by my teacher, Paul Corn, who is also the lead saxophone player and leader of his own big band called Paul Corn and the Modern Jazz Workshop. The next two songs are songs that the symphonic band and jazz band at Susan E. Wagner High School played on our way to a second place and first place finish respectively.

The next song is titled Gone, Gone, Gone and it is sung by artist Phillip Phillips. He is one of the up and coming artists that I have learned to listen to.

The next is by one of my all-time favorite performers, Michael Jackson, and it is entitled, You Rock My World.

Danza Kaduro is one of the popular songs that I’ve grown to like and one that I will never get tired of. Most popular songs become unappetizing because they are over-played on the radio, but not this one.

The next song, Victory, by Diddy is a song that gets me pumped up and gets me ready to take on any challenge ahead of me.

Dear Mama by Tupac is one of my favorite songs because it is written for his mother and it has a very strong meaning and is a song I love and respect because of its special meaning. As he says in his song, “there’s no way I could pay you back, but my plan is to show you that I understand,” Dear Mama.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112630300822740772592/FROBlogpostDexterKingstonJr?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Hey my name is Dexter Kingston Jr.  As I mentioned in the title, these photos don’t do any justice to show you what my whole life is about, but it does provide a very good idea of what it mainly consists of.  The 8 photos represent football, music, family, food, vacation, fashion, and friends.  These are a few of the things that I hold dear to my heart and am very passionate about.  First, I’d like to start off with music.  I’ve been playing music since I had the chance to walk, from playing my little guitar in church, to playing in my middle school band to now playing professionally.  I started off learning how to play the piano, drums and recorder in the first grade and have continued playing the piano and drums ever since.  Throughout the years I’ve also learned to play the bass guitar and alto saxophone.  Music means a lot to me, both listening and playing, every time I play I feel as though I’m in a whole new zone; sadness becomes joy, stress is removed and the worries of the world become invisible to me.  Football, I’ve loved the game of football since I was old enough to understand sports, but only began playing in the 8th grade.  I’ve played all 4 years in starting my senior year at cornerback and safety.  Football’s been a great experience for me, especially my senior year thanks to my Coach Bruce Eugene.  I was blessed to learn how to play the game much better and also how to become a better individual.  Next is my family, the best group of people I could’ve asked for in my life.  When I’m with my family it’s always filled with fun, food, and laughter.  I can talk to them about anything and they seem to always give the best advice possible.  They’re always showing support for each other no matter the situation.  Food is also a big part of my life, you can catch me eating food almost every chance I get.  Although I’m a very picky eater I do like a variety of foods.  I also love getting away from the big apple ever so often to experience the other sights of the world, almost every year my family plans a trip or two.  I’ve been to places such as Guyana, Arizona, Texas, Virginia and many other places.  Getting away from work and school is a great way to bond with family and learn new stuff about them.  I haven’t too long been too big on fashion but I’m starting to change the way I dress and am beginning to pay more attention to the way I dress and look.  Not to mention LeBron James is my favorite player.  Last but not least, the people in the photo(We were at prom) are who I call my brothers, although I don’t have any blood ones.(We were   I’ve known some of the people in the photo from since 6th grade and have ever since grew a close bond with them.  I’ve went away on trips with them played on the same sports teams as them and have even gotten in trouble with them.  Things weren’t always good between us but our bond is everlasting.  That is my life in a glimpse!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/103076449@N08/sets/72157635820234306/

I choose to describe myself through photos that symbolize my life. Unfortunately, I was not able to upload the pictures straight onto the post so I attached a link to the photos.

The first photo I used is an animated family tree. Family is a large part of my life. I always have my family on my mind in whatever experiences, challenges or adventures I encounter. My family as been by my side through all my new journeys and college is certainly one of those moments.

The second picture I uploaded is of adorable Golden Retrievers. As a kid I constantly begged my parents for a dog but never got one. I am determined to get a Golden Retriever when I grow up, maybe not as many in the picture but at least one. Im an avid animal lover so this photo describes me well.

My next photo is one that I took myself. This picture is of the Verrazano Bridge, taken from Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island. During this summer I hiked up there with my friends and took this photo. The reason I put this photo up is because I am from Staten Island. Many people refer to it as “The Forgotten Borough” but I call it home.

I guess most people can guess why I put the fourth picture up. I am obsessed with sushi! If I could only eat one thing for rest of my life, I would most likely pick sushi. I think that most of the money I spent this summer was for sushi because my friends and I are addicted.

I like to think that I am adventurous, so one big goal of mine is to go sky diving. I would also like to go bungee jumping, swimming with sharks and all sorts of crazy things. I really liked this picture of people linked together as they sky dive so I posted it and I hope to try it out some day soon.

My reason for posting this next picture is quite typical. There have been several days that my friends and I can not decide what to do and where to go, so one common thing we do is shop. While shopping is not very good on my wallet, I have the best time with my friends and it always brings a lot of laughs.

The final two pictures are also ones that I took myself. The first one seems strange because its a basket of water balloons. But over the summer my friends decided to have a fight in the middle of the night and it ended up being one of the most fun things we did together. No matter how old we get, we still manage to act like little kids. The last picture I decided to post is a little corny but this is the view of the city from Pier 15 and it symbolizes one of my favorite places on earth, New York City.

So yeah real name: Edwin Ayala-Campbell. MRS(MikuRockShooter) is usually my handle name for anything ,PSN, Xbox, Anything username related. its a hybrid name taken from Hatsune Miku and Black Rock Shooter. you guys probably don’t care though : ) Anyways quick run through, I’m 18, Hispanic(Columbian to be more specific), short and well yeah that’s it. Interests? I watch a lot of anime and play tons of video games across most platforms. I guess you can call me an Otaku, although that may not mean anything to you “normal people” haha. Not much else. Kinda limits my outreach with people since I don’t really care for the everyday normal stuff (sports, T.V, other normal nonsense). but hey wanna talk anime, or games? then I’m your guy. See me as weird? that’s cool, to each his/her own I guess. Sorry, just don’t like normal stuff : /

well ill leave it at that. want to know me better? Ill leave it up to you to approach me, otherwise we’ll only remain classmates :/ especially if we don’t have any common ground.

Uh ill do the ten songs thing for the rest of the blog. Um ill try to fit it into one video, otherwise ill just set links to youtube down below. Warning! They probably wont be your generic songs XD. Mix of game music from favorite games and Openings from some of my favorite anime. Man there is no way that I can fit all my songs so the songs used are not in order of preference and their are so many more I could easily use. Just had to pick a handful of all of them. Comes with being an Otaku/Gamer 😉

Edit: ok I got it onto 1 video and uploaded it to youtube, since the blog will only let me upload files no larger than 73kb….lame ill post the song list in the description if you care for it, otherwise listen or don’t listen to the whole thing. No you don’t have to subscribe, rate, or comment, or any other nonsense. I guess if you want to comment though you can, either here or on youtube. probably better here since that channel will only be used for purposes of Blogs and I might not pay attention to it…..

Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d37enJGSFHM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/102972946@N06/

One of my favorite hobbies is playing basketball. Whenever I have free time, usually during the weekends, I play basketball. I would either shoot around by myself or play a game with my friends. Even though I started the sport when I was in elementary school, I’m not that good of a player. But hey, even bad players still like to have fun. Just kidding, I’m like an average player, I guess. Anyways, basketball wasn’t the only sport I played.

During middle school, I got into handball, which is another sport. I think it’s a less popular sport, but it was and still is a very popular sport for Asians. I guess that was probably why I got into it. It was hyped and sort of like a trend back then, so I joined the bandwagon. If you were Asian, you had to play it. My friends also got into it, so we played for a fair amount of time. It was fun at first, but then it got boring because all we did was just hit the ball back and forth. It was only fun when we played against tough opponents. Once high school started, I went back to basketball and started to play a little football, too. Of course, it was touch football; tackling was too crazy.

I like to eat food, but I’m a picky eater. And even though I eat a lot, especially when I was in China, I don’t grow or gain weight. Instead, I can end up losing weight. One of my favorite dishes is sweet and sour chicken. I don’t really pay attention to what I eat, but I’m going to try to eat smarter and healthier.

When I’m not outdoors, I usually watch anime or listen to music at home. I’m not that really hardcore into anime; I just watch a few popular ones (Ex. Naruto). Watching them helps me past time, and some of them actually have a pretty interesting storyline. I also like listening to music, but I just listen to whatever’s on the radio and tune in on the new hits. I don’t really have a favorite genre, but my favorite artist would be Bruno Mars.

Sadly, I have many fears. Even though I hate to admit it, I am scared of heights and I hate the dark. Being scared of heights prevents me from enjoying nice views and makes me reluctant going on amusement park rides, specifically rollercoasters. I also hate watching horror movies because I get scared easily. In the past, I’ve watched many horror movies which probably led me to hating the dark. I always hate the moment when I need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. And yes, I know that horror movies are all production, but my body and mind just won’t accept it. Hopefully one day, I can overcome my fears.

The first photo is significant to me because it was when my team and I won the Memorial Day Korean Youth Volleyball Tournament. It was a goal that we had to win first place, and for years we practiced and trained only to come up short every time, but our last year, we finally pulled through and won the first place trophy.

The second photo is the Google icon. This is important to me because if I need to know something, Google is always there to give me the perfect answers all the time.

The third photo is Tom Hardy. He’s an inspiration to me because of how great of an actor he is and how the movie “Warrior” was my favorite movie. Also, he has those enormous traps that everyone wants.

The next photos is of me and my two best friends. This is after we worked out and took a photo. They are like brothers to me and I would take a bullet for them. They love most of the same things that I love like fitness and basketball. They are off to good things and I’m not with them at the moment, but I know even when we grow up, we will still be there for each other and do retarded stuff together that will be in our memories forever.

The fifth photo is of my dog. She’s just a thug.

The next photo is J.R. Smith. The reason I put him in this is because he is one of my favorite basketball players. I love him because he isn’t that all-star that everyone loves like Carmelo Anthony. He’s on the bench but he is very good at that, winning the 6th man of the year. He shows characteristics of an everyday person such as partying whenever and however he wants, doing legit whatever the hell he wants to do and not caring about his reputation as a basketball player.

The next icon is of a youtube fitness channel called “Physiques of Greatness”. This is where I get most of my inspiration to living a healthy body building life style from. Dude name Chris Jones cracks me up all the time but at the same time, motivates me to go hard in the gym and stay healthy.

The final picture is of the cross, showing that I am in fact a Christian. I know we live in a very liberal state where not a lot of people really have a faith in religion. I came from a town that is majority Jewish and it was really hard to show my faith as a Christian publicly. Everyday, I’m trying to become a better Christian and I will fall many times, but I know God will help me to get up and keep moving forward.