February's Playlist

Here are the songs that stuck with me or somehow affected me this month!  Enjoy!  :)  I am always open to new song suggestions, as you will notice I don't listen to a lot of newer music haha.

This song always makes me want to revisit Devil Wears Prada & 13 Going on 30

Secondhand Serenade rocks at life...  "I was born to tell you I love you" 

I love the Cardigans, I love this song, what more needs to be said haha

Liam and I like to watch and listen to this song on repeat over and over again.  We watch the extra features on Rio more than we watch the movie anymore.  I absolutely LOVE this song.  It is so heartfelt!


John Legend's song was already awesome, but when you add Lindsey it's the epitome of an epic song that will last


I wish that there were more fuel songs, I loved them all. I have had a lot of random bad days this month and somehow listening to this song makes me feel better and smile to myself thinking of the things that make it a bad day.


Breakign Benjamin always has some great instrumentals going on, and this is a good song :)


I don't think Pandora lets me go an entire week without this song, and they always give me this amazing acoustic version that I love! I always have to stop whatever I am doing and crank it up and sing a long with it! This song has such painful lyrics and yet it is beautiful in it's pain. I love Sara!


This is another song that you just have to stop and sing along with! It makes you want to sing, I love Ellie! She has so many songs that just speak to my soul!


This song has such an eerie soulful tone, you instantly recognize it and the vampire franchise seems to love it.


This song always makes me feel like an epic battle is about to go down. I love it!


I have found myself listening to a lot of Stone Sour songs lately but I always loved this one.


This song is and always will be my all-time favorite Weezer song! It just makes you happy to listen to it!


This is another one of those songs that is even more amazing in acoustics. I LOVE the lyrics to this song.


John Mayer is so talented, I love this song. I always have a hard time matching his voice and his face, he just doesn't look like he would have such a soothing and gentle voice haha.


This is seriously one of my single anthems for hope in love


I love pre-country Jewel! And this song


Liam and I love jamming out to this song that is also featured in Despicable Me 2! And it makes you happy :)


Oh Coldplay I love you and this song too.... Must be the month of love haha


My month wouldn't be complete with out a song from FATM to grace my playlist


Oh yes Mandy Moore, Center Stage & Sascha Redetsky.... I am in heaven....


I am seriously jamming while making this playlist and I love this song


That's right Mya! Girl power!


Seether & Amy lee seriously made one of the greatest collaborations EVER in this song


When I was younger my mom used to constantly listen to Sarah, As I got older I really listened to her lyrics and realized that she had a ton of sexual lyrics but she described love in a way that wasn't often approached and I love her now too! This song is great as well


Last but certainly not least is J Lo's Play! This was definitely me when I went out. I always wanted the DJ to play my song. So there you have it a song for each day of the months. Enjoy!

Rio

Rio is one of those movies that I had heard about but never got around to watching until recently.  Everyone told me how great it was so I had very high expectations.  I must say that the first time we watched it I was a little disappointed.  However Liam got into it more and more to the point that he kept asking for it, once we sent it back to Netflix.  Finally I conceded and we found it on sale and bought it.  The more that we watched it the more that it grew on me.  I definitely love the music and the bright colors.  There are a lot of big stars doing voices.  I love that the main character is kind of dorky and out of his element.

If you aren't familiar with Rio it is about a Blue Macaw that was a black market smuggled bird.  He ends up with a loving owner in Minnesota and lives his life domesticated, never learning to fly.  He is the only known documents male left of his species and so he must embark on a journey to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in order to help populate his species.  The crazy adventure begins there.  The story is cute and the characters are unique from ones that we have seen in the past.

Rio came out in 2011 and connected the main character Blu (the male blue Macaw) with his female counterpart Jewel.  His owner is named Linda and lives her life around Blu as a bookstore owner in Minnesota.  Tulio is the ornithologist who finds them in Minnesota to bring Blu to mate with Jewel.



Rio was released in 2011 by Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age) as a 3D Computer animated musical-adventure-comedy.  It was directed by Carlos Saldanha.  Originally the concept was for a penguin to wash ashore to Rio.  But when the concept was being developed in 2005, Happy Feet and Surf's Up were also coming out.  This caused Saldanha to change the concept from a penguin to a blue macaw.  The film was considered a box office success grossing over $484 million worldwide.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for "Real in Rio."  Originally Neil Patrick Harris was approached to voice Blu, but due to other obligations he had to pass and Jesse Eisenberg was selected to voice Blu.  Originally the film was given a PG rating for "mild off-color humor."  Due to the target audience being children, it caused the film to be edited and re-submitted to the MPAA in order to achieve a G rating.  The release of Rio caused Pixar to cancel the 2012 release of their movie Newt due to similarities in the plotline. 

The amazing voice talents of Rio include:
Blu voiced by Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network, Zombieland, Adventureland)
Linda voiced by Leslie Mann (This Is 40, Funny People, Knocked Up, Big Daddy)
Tulio voiced by Rodrigo Santoro (Xerxes in 300,  Love Actually)
Jewel voiced by Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables, Dark Night Rises, Bride Wars, Devil Wears Prada)
Nico& Pedro (Friends of Jewel) voiced by Jamie Foxx & Will.I.Am (From the Black Eyed Peas)
Rafael (Toucan) voiced by George Lopez (the Comedian)
Luiz (A Bulldog) voiced by Tracy Morgan (30 Rock, Cop Out)
You also get cameos from Wands Sykes and Jane Lynch etc.

Overall I give this film a 4 out of 5.  It definitely grows on you and you learn to love it more and more but initially you don't feel that it is the greatest film that you have ever seen.  The animation is done beautifully and you get to know a lot of characters individually.  Rio 2 is set to be released in April of 2014.  I definitely recommend checking it out if you have never seen it, and giving it a second chance if it didn't stick with you the first time you saw it.