Lingk2us Culture page

2011-08-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

On the heels of their first album release, Robbie Pressley, a member of the six men a cappella group, discusses the groups new found fame, the recording studio experience, and the challenge of keeping up with multiple time zones.

Fresh melodies, impeccable harmonies and out-of-this-world vocals wowed the judges, and six millions viewers of NBC’s a cappella singing competition The Sing-Off. Since becoming the Season two winners, "Committed" has embarked on a whirlwind tour in anticipation of the release of their self-titled debut album due out August 30. With an eclectic mix, of jazz, gospel, blues and R&B, the group promises “there’s a little something for everybody,” featuring versions of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," Maxwell's "Pretty Wings," a spirited rendition of "Down by the Riverside" and "Break Free," an original track co-written by Committed’s own Theron (“Therry”) Thomas. Although often compared to the likes of multi-platinum and award-winning gospel artists Take 6, the group combines their love of creativity, music and God creating a unique sound all of their own. Robbie Pressley, a member of the six men group, discusses Committed’s new found fame, the recording studio experience, and the challenge of keeping up with multiple time zones.

What has life been like since winning The Sing-Off last year?

Life has been really busy. We have been touring, recording and doing a lot of shows and meeting our supporters.

What has been the response from family and friends back home since your newfound fame?

Everyone is still in shock. They are always asking what it's like. The family misses you because you're on the road a lot. Everyone has been really supportive and excited about our "newfound fame."

Committed started from a cappella roots in 2003 in Florida and grew to a sextet at Oakwood College, in Huntsville, Alabama, alma mater of the world-renowned gospel artists Take 6. Could you tell us what was your first recording studio experience like?

Our first experience in the studio...we walked into the studio, we didn't even know how to begin. We knew the song and decided to just start with the bass. We were trying to manage how to put the emotion that we had on stage into the studio.

On last season's Sing-Off, the group showed extreme musical versatility, ranging from Michael Jackson's "Hold My Hand" to the Backstreet Boys and Maroon 5's "This Love". To what do you owe your ability to interpret and communicate such diverse musical genres?

We are open-minded musicians. We listen to all types of music. Because we listen to all types of music, the versatility seems to be second nature. With a little practice and hard work it's not too difficult.

You're scheduled to appear on BET's hit singing show Sunday Best, a talent competition for undiscovered Christian artists and also on Season 3 of The Sing-Off. What advice would you give to other undiscovered talent who are trying to take their music careers to another level?

My best advice is to stay focused, continue working really hard. One thing I have realized is that when you do something you love, and you truly love it, you will work nonstop and have sleepless nights. The more work you put in, the better you get. Your mindset determines how far you will go. A lot of people are scared or intimidated by being a superstar, but everyone who is up there is working just as hard or harder.

Stay hungry.

How did you become involved with The Sing-Off? What was the audition process like? Are there any funny or interesting stories?

We as a group performed as a tribute to Take 6, and they heard us. The following year, Tommy (Alain Gervais) attended a Take 6 workshop. One of the members, Dr. Cedric Dent, recommended trying out for the show called The Sing-Off. Tommy came to the rest of the group, and we submitted a video.

We auditioned without Geston Pierre (our bass), who was in grad school in Virginia at the time, and we still made it onto the show.

What has been the most challenging part of your musical experience so far?

We are in different time zones almost every day and sometimes we don't remember what day or time it is.

What do you hope audiences will come away with from listening to your first album?

I hope that they are inspired. We made an album that we consider to be "life" music. We are sure that people go through the exact same things that we go through. There are positive messages in our music, and we hope people go away with a smile and wanting to hear more, of course.

Could you tell us a little something about each member of the group….

Well, I am the perfectionist of the group. I am also the one who wants to be on the road all of the time.

Therry likes to work and then go home. He is less about the lifestyle of an entertainer and more about family and friends.

Tommy is the clown of group, he's always making every one laugh.

DJ (Dennis Baptiste, Jr.) is the most shy of the group, he won't really talk a lot until he gets to know you.

Maurice is probably the most outspoken individual in the group.

And Geston is the klutz. He's really clumsy and accident prone.

2011-08-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Help raise awareness. Find a cure and save children by supporting these organizations.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

And the CureSearch for Children’s Cancer

How can I support CureSearch advocacy?

Here's what you can do.

Send a letter to Congress
Support a proclamation in your state or town
Join the CureSearch Advocacy Network
Wear a gold ribbon
Write a letter to your local newspaper promoting Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Attend a CureSearch event

EVENT:

2011-08-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 24, 2011 is Museum Day!

In the spirit of the Smithsonian museums, which offer free admission every day, Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket...for free.

To learn more: Click here to view the list of 2011 participating museums

Ticket and Information: Click for Free tickets for two

EVENT:

2011-08-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Eat. Drink. End Hunger.

The New York City Wine & Food Festival is back and once again benefits the Food Bank! Join them, along with your favorite celebrity chefs, winemakers and culinary personalities from September 29 through October 2. Last year the Festival raised more than $1.2 million for hunger relief, making it possible for the Food Bank to provide over 3 million meals for hungry New Yorkers. One hundred percent of the net proceeds benefit the Food Bank and our friends at Share Our Strength, making the Festival one of the Food Bank's largest fundraisers. Don’t miss your opportunity to eat, drink and help end hunger!

With more than 135 events to chose from, which one will you attend? This year's star-studded line-up includes Alton Brown, Paula Deen, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Masaharu Morimoto, Marcus Samuelsson and many more!

2011-08-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

Products We Love!

Tiblo Lets Dyslexic Kids Snap Words And Sounds Together Like Legos

Tiblo, an "open-ended learning aid" developed by Sumit Pandey and Swati Srivastava helps dyslexic kids become more facile with words, letters, and phonemes by "connecting" them physically like puzzle pieces. Each colorful Tiblo is a "modular interactive electronic block" that can record 10 seconds of audio, play it back, and snap with other blocks to form syntactical patterns based on the meaning the kid has assigned to the block. (The blocks are also designed with a broad gridlike surface that kids or teachers can decorate with pictures, letters, pushpins, or anything else they like.) If a child is having trouble reading a written word or sentence, its component parts can be assigned to Tiblo blocks and sounded out individually in the teacher's voice or the child's—and then reconnected in other orientations.

A $20 Kit Lends Any Paper Plane an Electric Motor

The only thing better than a perfectly made paper airplane arcing through the air is that same airplane refusing to land because it's got an electric motor.

And all you need is Power Up, a kit that allows you to mount an electric propeller to a standard paper plane. The invention of Shai Goitein, an Israeli industrial designer, Power Up consists of a lightweight supercapacitor attached to a rear propeller via a carbon-fiber shaft. Simply clip the module onto the plane’s nose with the propeller at the rear, charge it for 20 seconds using the separate battery pack, and let her rip! Goitein recommends doing so in a large, open field. One charge provides enough juice for 90 seconds of flight, which is probably more than you need, since you’ll have to retrieve it afterward.

The biggest challenge, the designer says, was figuring out a system that works with many different kinds of airplanes. Because the module rests in the plane’s crease—a structural feature of all such gliders—the center of gravity is maintained regardless of the model. “As long as it maintains the basic stability factors,” Goitein says, “it can really fly.”

Power Up is available for $19.99 from Think Geek. Batteries sold separately.

EDITOR'S PICKS:

2011-08-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

2011 Fall TV Previews: Here's what to watch

The Chew (ABC)

Not just for foodies...The Chew is an innovative and groundbreaking daytime program co-hosted by a dynamic group of engaging, fun experts in food, lifestyle, and entertaining. The Chew (premiering in September) serves up everything food-related—from cooking and home entertaining to food trends, restaurants, holidays and more, all aimed at making life better, fuller and more fun. Featuring celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Michael Symon, and Carla Hall, lifestyle expert Clinton Kelly, and the fresh face of healthy living, Daphne Oz, The Chew is a leap forward into a delicious new kind of talk show.

Scandal (ABC)

From the creator and executive producers of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice comes a drama revolving around the life and work of a professional crisis manager and her dysfunctional staff. A former media relations consultant to the President, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) dedicates her life to protecting and defending the public images of our nation's elite. After leaving the White House, the power consultant opened her own firm, hoping to start a new chapter—both professionally and personally—but she can't seem to completely cut ties with her past. Slowly it becomes apparent that her staff, who specialize in fixing the lives of other people, can't quite fix the ones closest at hand— their own.

Prime Suspect (NBC)

From director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) comes the re-imagining of the British television hit, this time starring Maria Bello (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, A History of Violence, The Cooler) as the tough-as-nails detective who doesn't know when to quit.

Jane is by no means perfect, and with her own vices and questionable past she can be forceful, willful, rude, and downright reckless. She's also a brilliant cop with an uncanny ability to see what others miss, and get inside a criminal's head like no one else. While she wouldn't admit it, she wants the respect of the men in her life—including her commanding officer, her fellow detectives, and her complicated boyfriend and his young son—but above all, she keeps her eye on one thing: the prime suspect.

Smash (NBC)

Ivy Lynn, a tough Broadway veteran, seems like the obvious choice. But enter Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee), a young girl from Iowa with a dream of making it on Broadway who walks in and blows everyone away. So who will get the part and begin a journey that will change their lives? It's an age-old story, but a star just might be born once again.

While everyone is consumed with putting the show together, real life has a tendency of getting in the way. Julia and her husband are in the middle of a complicated adoption; the producer's husband begins divorce proceedings that could threaten the finances of the show; and the brilliant but womanizing director could derail everything if he puts the young star in a compromising position. This will be a roller-coaster ride that culminates on opening night when the audience gets to determine whether or not the show is a smash!

In the era of The Voice and Glee, executive producers Steven Spielberg and Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (producers of Chicago and Hairspray), and songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray), bring you the blood, sweat, and tears of the making of a Broadway musical.

Terra Nova (Fox)

From executive producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga, René Echevarria and Aaron Kaplan comes an epic family adventure 85 million years in the making.

TERRA NOVA follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct. The future of mankind is in doubt, and its only hope for survival is in the distant past.

When scientists unexpectedly discovered a fracture in time that made it possible to construct a portal into primeval history, the bold notion was born to resettle humanity in the past – a second chance to rebuild civilization and get it right this time.

And we are also glad to see the return of....The marriage Ref, Chuck, The Office, The Voice and No Ordinary Family.

2011-07-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

TRENDS & CULTURE: PLACES TO GO...PEOPLE TO SEE

In July…. Celebrate!

For starters, join the festivities at Macy's July 4 spectacular fireworks from the Hudson River in NYC (or on NBC at 9 p.m. EST). It’s definitely worth the watch! And through July and August, in New York City’s Bryant Park, enjoy FREE performances of some of Broadway's most popular on- and off-Broadway shows (open to the public, each week from 12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m.) Featuring performances from mega-hit shows like Stomp, Sister Act, The Lion King, Rent, Mary Poppins and so much more!

And for a change of pace… what better way to celebrate our country’s melting-pot heritage than to swing by the 40th annual International African Arts Festival! Held in the Commodore Park, downtown Brooklyn, the four-day fest (from July 1 through July 4) stages an eclectic lineup of performances,
including jazz, gospel and reggae concerts, dance, story- telling, arts and crafts,
face painting, rides and a massive African marketplace. For more info visit:

www.iaafestival.org.

2011-07-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

And here are a few more cool ideas worth mentioning!

On July 16, grab the kids and head out
to the 9th Annual New Jersey State
Ice Cream Festival!

Complete with ice cream tastings, eating contests and loads
of games, rides and entertainment for the whole family.

Where: Washington Street, Toms River, NJ
Time: 11.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.
For advance tickets and information visit:

9th Annual New Jersey State
Ice Cream Festival

2011-07-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

It’s National Grilling Month!

July is a natural month to focus on grilling. The Fourth of July is synony-
mous with grilling, and every weekend the smell of cookouts fills the air.
It’s easy, it lends itself beautifully to get-togethers and lets you stay out-
side. So why am I pouring water on our grilling fires? It turns out that
grilling food can expose it to two different types of cancer-causing
agents (carcinogens):

PAHs, created when the food’s fat drips onto the heat source,
causing the food to be coated with PAH-filled smoke.

HCAs, created when food is cooked over high heat, and when
red meat is cooked well-done.

And it doesn’t matter if you use wood, charcoal or gas to grill
your food, the effect is the same.

So should we give up grilling altogether? Not at all! Reader’s
Digest has a great article on safer grilling at www.rd.com/food/-
10-guidelines-for-healthier-grilling, and I’ve highlighted them
below. Follow these guidelines for healthier grilling and enjoy
your meal!

Choose fish over meat. Fish generally contains less fat than
meat and poultry, which makes it less likely to create PAH-
carrying smoke. And it tends to require much less time on the
grill, reducing its exposure to carcinogens.

Don’t char your meat. While you want to cook meat thoroughly
(especially poultry), you don’t want to cook it beyond all recogni-
tion. Avoid well-done meat as much as possible.

Keep the fat to a minimum. Choose lean cuts of meat, trim
all visible fat, and remove skin from chicken.

Precook your foods. Partially cooking meat or poultry in the
microwave for two to five minutes draws out most of the potentially
harmful chemicals without sacrificing moistness. (Be sure to dis-
card the juices produced.) To prevent bacteria from multiplying,
grill the food immediately after precooking.

Oil your grill. A little oil keeps charred material from sticking to
the food. (It also helps keep fish and chicken in one piece.)

Use aluminum foil. Make tiny holes in a piece of foil and place it
on the grill underneath your meat. The holes let the fat drip down,
and the foil reduces the amount of smoke that billows back up.
Wrapping the meat completely in perforated foil is an even
better idea.

Lower the heat. On charcoal grills, increase the distance between
the food and the hot coals by spreading the coals thin or by prop-
ping the grill rack on bricks. On gas grills, simply adjust the
heat setting.

Stick to charcoal and hardwood (like hickory and maple) because
they burn at lower temperatures than softwood (like pine).

Clean your grill. Scrub your grill thoroughly after every use to
avoid a buildup of carcinogens that can be transferred to your
food the next time you grill.

My favorite bonus tip: marinate your food before grilling it. Researchers
have found that marinating food reduces the resulting carcinogens by
more than 90%, possibly by drawing out the chemical precursors of
carcinogens. Just be sure to treat marinades, which draw bacteria from
meat and poultry, as a raw food. To use a marinade as a serving sauce,
set aside a portion before you place the meat in it or boil it for three
minutes before serving.

2011-07-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

2011 "Rock Your Park" Flash Mob Contest

Demonstrate the power of parks and recreation through the National
Park and Recreation Association (NRPA) 2011 “Rock Your Park” Flash
Mob Contest (via YouTube). NRPA will choose one park and recreation
agency and one citizen group as winners!

Click here to access the rules and official online entry form.
All entries are due on or before Aug. 1, 2011.

Not quite sure of what's a 'flash mob'? (well here's the scoop!)

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public
place, and perform an unusual act for a brief time, often for the purposes
of entertainment and/or satire, and then disperse. First attempted in 2003,
flash mobs have become an Internet phenomenon. Combined with social
media, flash mobs can send a powerful message.

Here is a great example of flash mob goes “green,” which took
place in Canada in 2011.

2011-07-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 24th, is Auntie's Day!

Help to celebrate that special Auntie in your child's life with
a cool few suggestions from our friends at SavvyAuntie.com

1. A Picnic for Two (or More!): It's summer, and an outdoor picnic
is a perfect way to have some major fun in the sun. Don't forget to pack
a picnic basket full of delicious treats like mac and cheese and peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches, or whatever else you know your Gourm-
Auntie will love.

2. Trip to the Zoo: Perfect daytime fun for our Adventurer Aunties,
celebrate Auntie's Day™ with a few extra furry friends. Make sure to let
Auntie choose an exhibit or two of her choice, and don't forget to talk
about all the natural wonders you're sure to witness!

3. Niece and Nephew Night In: Getting all dressed up for a night on
the town isn't the only way to celebrate our Aunties (though it is a fun op-
tion!). Dust off your favorite board games, snacks, and playing cards, and
get ready for a night of unforgettable QualAuntie time. Scrabble anyone?

4. Evening at the Museum: Research shows that taking nieces and
nephews out to museums can be an extremely positive and impactful
experience, but the even greater news is that Aunties love museums too!

5. Movie Magic: Take your Auntie to see a movie of her choice, but don't
argue if she insists on springing for the popcorn. A cozier alternative—rent
her favorite classic DVDs. Auntie Mame (1958) is one of our favorites!

BONUS! Read the exclusive lingk2us interview with Savvy Auntie
founder and brand creator Melanie Notkin.

2011-07-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

And at the movies...
three deeply affecting films shine the light on the
complexities of fatherhood.

A Better Life
In theaters: June 24th, 2011

From the director of ABOUT A BOY comes A BETTER LIFE—a touching,
poignant, multi-generational story about a father's love and the lengths
a parent will go to give his child the opportunities he never had.

Courageous
In theaters: September 30th, 2011

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers,
they are confident and focused, standing up to the worst the streets can
offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge they're ill prepared
to tackle: fatherhood. When tragedy strikes home, these men are left
wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering.
Sherwood Pictures, creators of FIREPROOF, returns with this heartfelt, action-
packed story. Protecting the streets is second nature to these law enforce-
ment officers. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That
takes courage.

The Descendants
In theaters: December 16th, 2011

From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning SIDEWAYS, set
in Hawaii, THE DESCENDANTS is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic
journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father
of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future
when his wife suffers a boating accident off Waikiki. The event leads
to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with
a decision to sell the family's land handed down from Hawaiian royalty
and missionaries.

2011-07-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

SITES WE LOVE!

Your brain, just brighter.

Created by neuroscientists, Lumosity is a web-based training program, proven to make brains
smarter, faster and more flexible,through the use of 40 games designed to sharpen a wide
range of cognitive skills. The sign-up process walks you through a series of questions to figure
out whether you want, for example, to improve your ability to remember names, get better at
problem solving, or simply develop better concentration at work or while driving. It then designs
a series of “courses” tailored to your particular interests. But all of this comes at a price. Website
subscriptions cost $14.95 a month, or $80 a year. And yet, plenty of people are paying! To learn
more visit...

lumosity.com