Christmas Music, Videos and oh yeah, JC Chasez, *NSYNC and even a little NKOTB too.

This is something that a lot of people don't know about me in real life. I love Christmas music! Now I must admit that I hated hated hated it when I worked in retail and I had to listen to 3 hours of Christmas music on a continuous loop (do you know how many versions of Jingle Bell Rock there are??).



Consider this my off-topic post for the month as well as a gratuitous JC Chasez post. I find it very odd that most searches that come to this blog are looking for info about Mr. Chasez. For those of you who want to know if he's married. I don't think so, but if he is, good for him. All I can say is that there had better be a new season of America's Best Dance Crew in the New Year! And I would love it if his movies actually got released. I'm still waiting to see 21 and a wake up!

Sorry, back on topic. There are lots of reasons I love Christmas music, but probably at the heart of it is that they are usually about love. They kind of boost your spirits, no?


I love this video, but what were they thinking with those goggles? And all that orange?

And just for fun, here's an oldie from New Kids. I remember staying up to watch this and I taped it! Is it bad that I know exactly when Jordan takes his jacket off still?



OK, I could probably tell you most of Arsenio's monologue too. I watched it quite a few times.

One more video. I love this song for a couple of reasons:



First reason: It's acapella! And they do it so well.
Second reason: It's a hymn. What a great song. I was at church this weekend to see my kids in a play (they were fabulous) and it was such a treat to sing real Christmas songs. Not songs about Santa or Rudolph, but songs that really celebrate what Christmas is supposed to be. It's amazing to hear Christmas carols as worship.

I love the old standard Christmas carols for another reason too. They remind me of my grandmother. She loved the songs and she roped me into singing with her in a choir for Christmas Eve service once (at a church that neither of us went to!). My grandmother had Alzheimer's, but right up until near the end, if she heard the piano play one of her favourite songs, she would try to sing along. That's how much she loved to sing. I always miss her more at this time of year.

My Readers Love JC Chasez! Gratuitous JC Posting

I know it's a rather general statement to make and it may not be completely true, but the fact is that 80% of the searches on this blog this month have been about JC Chasez. I didn't think I talked about him that much, but perhaps I do.

He hasn't been in the news lately, so I don't have much else to talk about. I am looking forward to the next season of America's Best Dance Crew though! I find it funny that the audience boos JC when he gives the crews constructive criticism. He always gives those crews something to work on to get them to that next level. He's not mean-spirited about it either.

JC has some movies coming out sometime. If you want to see what he's up to, one great website is JC-Chasez.net. There are lots of great pictures, interviews and videos there. Of course, you could just come back and visit me here, because I'm sure to talk about him again sometime soon :)

Now, just for some fun, here's another JC video. Basement Jaxx featuring JC Chasez, "Plug it In". It's a quirky video--you've been warned.

Today I Ran Away....

running away, age 8. 2/10/2008
Originally uploaded by jillallyn

....and no one noticed! OK, that's really because they are all asleep. I was having one of those nights and I felt like just getting out of the house, so I decided to drive up the street to get a slush drink. When I got in the car, I had this terrible urge to just put the pedal to the metal and keep going. I didn't. I went to the gas station, got my slush (Crystal Lite Cranberry, let me just say-ew!) and an ice cream sandwich (hello! chocolate and ice cream!) and got back in the car.

Now, I didn't head home right away. I put on my JC Chasez CD which permanently resides in my car's CD player and hit the road. I've gotta say, the roads were a lot more fun when I was younger and could drive five minutes before hitting one of the country roads. They were good old dirt roads and you could really just escape for awhile out in the country. Now those roads are paved and the speed limit is 60K. Really? And why does it take almost 20 minutes to get out of the city?

It's pretty obvious that I came back home, since I'm blogging and all, but wow, for that split second, I thought about just going. I ended up having a nice drive singing along with JC. It was fun. For once I wasn't driving somewhere that someone else needed me to go. I wasn't going to work or driving hubby to work or taking one of the kids to buy shoes or even doing grocery shopping. I was being totally irresponsible and LOVING it! (sure, maybe it wasn't totally irresponsible, I did drive the speed limit and wear my seat belt and all). It was nice to be in the moment and not worrying about 6 thousand things. That's why I don't sleep well. Those 6 thousand things keep me up, so I do things like blogging or reading, or just tossing and turning. And can I just say how frustrating it is when hubby gets into bed, rolls to his side (taking my share of the blankets with him) and falls asleep??? How can he do that? It's so not fair!

Back to the topic at hand. I think that sometimes we all need to run away. We need to disconnect from the world for just a few minutes to find our sanity. And have some chocolate. Because everything is better with chocolate. Next time, I think I might run away to a tropical paradise somewhere.....like I have the time to plan something like that!

More JC Chasez with Videos this time!

Eek! I can't believe I forgot to add videos to yesterday's post! D'oh! I spent all that time writing about JC's talented singing and song-writing and I didn't even include any examples of his work at all. So, I'm going to start with one of the songs from Schizophrenic, "Blowin' Me Up (with Her Love)"



Going on YouTube reminded me of all the songs that leaked from JC's second album. I hadn't listened to most of them before because I wanted to hear them the way he intended to have them heard, with all the finishing and everything, but I listened to one tonight that just blew me away. I know JC left Jive and all that, but I really wish he would still release Kate, because I think it will blow people away.

For now I will settle with catching him on America's Best Dance Crew. He's a great judge and always gives constructive feedback. Looking forward to seeing Sunday's Disco challenge (no spoilers if you've seen it already! It airs in the US on Thursday, but we don't get it up here until Sunday-wah!)

And on that note, one more video, from the *NSYNC era, "Music of My Heart". Love this song!

It's Official, JC Chasez is in Demand Here!

How sad...I write about my life with depression, trying to get fit, healthy and organized and occasionally, I go off topic with my love for Mr. JC Chasez, and he is the bigger draw to my blog-more people come here through a search for JC than any other topic! Ha ha! It's a good thing that JC is a topic that I am more than happy to talk about again and again and again...you get the picture. And I'm glad to see that so many other people seem to be interested in JC as well. And why not, he is a very talented musician--writer, singer, producer, performer....again, you get the picture.

I recently located my Schizophrenic CD (JC's 2004 debut album for those not in the know) and have been playing it pretty much non-stop when I'm in the car alone. I would play it in the car with the kids, but I really don't want to hear my 3 year old singing "All day long I dream about sex and all night long I think about sex..." Now I'm not saying that anyone hid my CD or anything, but it was in the car the whole time! It was actually in the driver's side door and since I have only recently become the main driver in the family and my husband was prior to that...well, you see where this is going. I'll just leave it at that.

When I listen to one song on this CD, it always makes me smile. The song is "Something Special" and the reason it makes me smile is that it came to me at one of those life defining moments. I had recently been laid off of work, was dealing with what I then thouht was postpartum depression (later found out it was clinical depression) and I was feeling just really crummy about myself. I was loading my oldest daughter into her car seat (at the time, she was my only daughter) and I was running late to drop her off at my mother-in-law's house so I could go to a career coaching appointment and try to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. Finally got her strapped in and got myself into the car as well. Took a deep breath before starting the car, and when the CD player came to life, JC was singing, "Babe, I've been dyin' to tell you something...you're something special!" I know he wasn't actually singing, let alone singing to me, but that line sunk in and I realized that I was special and things would eventually be OK. It basically gave me some perspective in my life and gave me permission to feel good about myself, even when I had so much going against me at the time. So, that, in a nutshell is another reason I have a soft spot for JC Chasez. Just in case you wanted to know. And even if you didn't.

If you don't have this album, you should get it! This is one that I can listen to for days on end without being bored. I love it!

Just Sayin'....

I'm used to getting ribbed about my "boyband obsession". Sure, I'm not in their target audience, but whatever--I like the music! And I regularlly listen to my *NSYNC music still, even though they haven't recorded anything new together for awhile. Well guess what? Billboard says *NSYNC had the top selling album of the decade--No Strings Attached. So there!

What does this have to do with my blog topic? Absolutely nothing! Isn't it great! I felt like changing it up a bit tonight. So there you go. I find it funny that people talk about Justin Timberlake as a solo artist all the time and how great he is--funny that as a solo artist, he hasn't topped the success of the group as a whole. Now that is as good a reason as any for *NSYNC to get back together for another album (even though JC Chasez says it won't happen). To be honest, I'd be happy with an album from JC &hearts. At least Chris Kirkpatrick's new group has an album in the works. If you want to hear Chris's band, Nigels11, you can check their myspace. I love "All She Wrote".

OK, so back to the whole *NSYNC thing. In honour of their accomplishment, allow me to present a video here of one of my favourite videos from the No Strings Attached album, It's Gonna Be Me. It's cute, it's fun, and hey--they're toys!

JC Chasez Gallery on Perez Hilton

A while ago, I posted a mini rant about Perez Hilton posting about Robert Pattinson all the time.  I still fail to see the attraction of this greasy looking guy.  Really??  A sex symbol??  I don't think so!

Anyway, I was more than happy when Perez posted a gallery dedicated to one of my favourite artists on his birthday on August 8th.  (Yes, I know I'm like a month late here).  JC Chasez is pure talent.  There is something about the way he sings that I really connect with.  If I had to pick a word for it, that word would be passion.  He seems to be emotionally connected to his music, and in turn with his listeners.  Of course, I could be totally wrong here.  I mean what do I really know about the guy?  OK, it's probably best that I don't actually answer that quesiton!




Now is JC sexy?  I sure think so.  And not just because he looks good either.  It's because of his confidence, his passion for music and dare I even say his classiness?  I'm not sure that classiness is an actual word, but he is all class.  I've never heard him say anything negative about someone in the press.  He had nothing but nice things to say about Eva Longoria (his former girlfriend) when she was getting married. In a time when other celebrities are publicly shredding their former partners to pieces in the spotlight, he is a refreshing change.

I even enjoy watching him on America's Best Dance Crew when he gives constructive criticism.  This season he doesn't seem to be getting booed quite as much as earlier seasons.  The audiences love to boo his suggestions, but if they actually listen to what he says, he is usually giving them something that they can work on to make their next performance even better.  No routine is perfect, there is always room for improvement.  And he's been in the business for awile, so he (usually) knows what he's talking about.



But the guy has got to stop calling women "Honey"!  My guess is that he does this out of habit from meeting so many fans so he doesn't call someone by the wrong name...hmmm.  I actually counted how many times he used "Honey" in one episode--I think I could be on to a new drinking game...if I drank.

This post is totally off topic, but guess what?  I'm totally OK with it.  LOL.  Now please do not worry, I am not about to go stalking Mr. Chasez.  As much as I think he'd be a cool person to hang out with, I'm happily married to my Sweet Baboo (whom I also edit a blog with) and I'm far too busy with two kids to go traipsing around after a celebrity any way.  No fear, JC is safe from me.