"Starships" Nicki Minaj's new single is out of this world!

On February 14th, just two days after her stunning and controversial performance of "Roman's Holiday" at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, Queen Barbie, Nicki Minaj gave all her fans some more love and premiered  the second single off of her upcoming album: "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" during Tuesday's "On Air with Ryan Seacrest".

I, for one was and am absolutely gaga over it. Its infectious from the first few notes, and it demands that you get up and dance even before the lyrics start.

A smooth blend of euro-dance beats and a techno rhythm accompany Nicki's impeccable rhymes and flow.
Though it seems to be a bit of a departure from her previous releases, and there is more singing than rapping, "Starships" is still pure Nicki.

 

Though its not rare for me to fall in love with a song it is a bit more rare for me to immediately HAVE to have a single upon first hearing, I usually wait and just get the entire album after its been released.

Not this song. I had to have it, thankfully it was released the same day for purchase on  iTunes, and I have been listening to it every day.

Not going to lie, I may have even been doing a little dancing in my chair as I've been writing.

Personally I think this track showcases Nicki's ability to switch flawlessly between singing and rapping, and though this song does have a decidedly dance-pop sound and the lyrics are not as in your face as some of her previous releases, there is still a huge amount of talent evidenced in this song. 

"Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" is set for release on April 3rd, and if "Starships" is any indication of what's in store on that album then I may even order my copy in advance.

If you've been under a rock, go ahead and click that video and see what I mean, and then go ahead and try NOT buy the single.

Random things.

 Hi Folks!

I've been up to my ears in research since my last post, well research and quitting smoking; you'd be surprised at how much of my thoughts and energy have been directed into kicking that habit. I'm still not all the way there but I'm getting close!

So aside from that I've been searching, and researching, finding and trying out interesting things to write about, I do have a number of different topics planned for the next few weeks, and I hope you'll find them as interesting as I do.

Check back here periodically as I plan to have at least one new post up every week, later today I've got a song review coming, so make sure you come back for that!

Up In Smoke

I was 16  when I had my first cigarette, I didn't think much of it even though my smoker friends told me that I was stupid to start and I'd get addicted, I didn't think I'd be like that, I was only smoking socially, and only one or two cigarettes at a time, I never expected it to become a daily habit but eventually it did.

By my early 20s I was smoking heavily and at 22 I tried to quit for the first time, it didn't work.
In the 10 years since I've tried  a number of times to quit, usually at the request of a partner or family member, I've tried cold turkey, the gum, substitution, all manner of "quitting methods" I've had varying levels of success with each method, but inevitably I always go back to the cigs.

Now I'm nearing my 33rd birthday, I have a child, and I'm still smoking, when I go outside for a cig my daughter asks me what I'm doing and why, and I feel bad when I have to explain not only that I'm addicted but also what that word means.

Mostly though I've begun to worry that she'll see both her father and I smoking and start the habit too,  maybe a lot younger than either one of us.

It really is time to quit.

This time I decided to go another way, I did a search for Smoking Cessation and started browsing.

I found, among all the information and scare tactics a very promising looking website.

Text2Quit is a web, email and SMS based program created by Voxiva, and developed with The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

After registering with the site, smokers are given access to a 5 step program to help prepare for and aid in quitting, the site offers a survey to determine the best cessation medication for you, once you've set up your smoker profile, the site tailors information specifically to your needs, you also get sticker stats on the site, that update on how much money you've saved, and how your health has improved since your last cigarette.
Once you've registered with the site and provided a contact number you will begin to receive helpful texts containing tips and tricks to keep you motivated to quit, you can send them a text any time requesting more tips or pep talks, and when strong cravings hit, there is even a trivia game to distract you.

You can also select a "Text Buddy" to receive motivational texts from, I picked the "buddy" who's smoker story was closest to my own.

Text2Quit is fun and surprisingly helpful and motivational, I would highly recommend it to anyone who is trying to or plans on quitting.

I'm still working on quitting, but I've cut back drastically and the Text2Quit program is definitely helping, and I'm looking forward to soon being able to say "No, I don't  smoke".

Getting Started.

From time to time we've all wondered "what am I doing here?" and though this is normally a personal and somewhat existential question, today I will answer that question as it lies, in regards to what I am doing here, on blogger, writing, again.

The idea for a review blog came about randomly one night, after I drank a cup of  Sleepytime Sinus Soother from Celestial Seasonings, I've enjoyed Celestial Seasonings teas for the majority of my life, and they are hands down my favorite brand of tea.

My favorite has always been their "Sleepytime" tea and their "Sleepytime Extra" so when my Mother in Law bought me a package of Sleepytime Sinus Soother,

I was excited to try it, in fact I was so excited to try it I did so without really even needing to have my sinuses soothed.

The tea tasted fantastic, and the little bit of sinus congestion I had dwindled away, unfortunately so did any element of sleepiness.

Within 15 minutes of ingesting the tea I began to feel more awake than I had prior, then I began to twitch, sleep was not anywhere on the game plan, my sinuses were clear and I was wide awake, I did suspect the tea was the culprit but dismissed that idea because hey it was "Sleepytime" right? Well, yes and no, turns out the tea has a number of herbal "stimulants" nothing that really should have kept me awake to such a degree, but as I don't normally ingest a lot of stimulants and since I wasn't really sick I deduced that the tea really had been what wired me until 3 am.

A few weeks later I came down with a pretty wicked cold, I was stuffed up and congested in pretty much every way you can be stuffed up and congested, so I thought, in between nose blowing and coughing that this would be the perfect time to try the tea again.

So I did, and this time I noticed that not only did it clear up my sinuses, but it didn't wire me, in fact it made me sleepy.

Herbal remedies are a bit different than pharmaceutical drugs I mean if you take an aspirin and you don't have a headache its not going to give you one, but it seems that herbs can often have different effects and taking remedies you don't need could have unexpected results!

But I learned my lesson, found a great tea for when I'm sick and came up with an unoriginal yet fun idea for a blog.

Not too bad eh?

So here we are, back to today and why I'm here, I think I just explained that, yes, I'm here to review things, to impart consumer insight and shed some humor on shopping.

I've no idea what I'm reviewing next so if you have something you'd like me to review or something you need an opinion on, drop me an email or a comment and we can work something out.