Written by Katherine Cordero

Elegantly displayed food, performers keeping the crowd entertained between awards, and an audience dressed to impress is what was seen at the University of West Florida’s Conference Center at the “Night at the Grammy’s” themed awards ceremony for Student Organizations on April 17.  

The night started off with the nominees walking the red carpet that was placed outside the doors of the Conference Center. As each “celebrity” strode down the red carpet, they had the opportunity to have pictures of them taken. An elegant display of hors d’oeuvres filled the lounge of the Conference Center where everyone grabbed a plate and filled it with different fruit, various pot-stickers, and about three different types of meatballs, all catered by UWF’s own Chartwell’s.

The ceremony started with a bang thanks to the host of the evening, Tricia Hartley. Her energetic spirit kept the crowd going throughout the night. Awards such as “Member of the Year” and “Officer of the Year” were given out to clubs, but the big win was from the Filipino Student Association who won the Outstanding Multicultural Award.

Emily Ward, 20, a sophomore psychology major was the first performer of the night. Wearing a sequined silver dress and pink cowboy boots, Emily said her influence is Taylor Swift, and like the famous songstress, Emily blew the crowd away with her original song “Different Colored Daisies.”

The second performer of the night was a student known for his many musical talents, Mr. Avery Greene. He amazed the crowd with his incredible beat-boxing talents and earned a standing ovation when he perfectly executed a back flip off the stage.

Another highlight of the night was when the Fashion Police crashed the party for the “Best Dressed Contest.” Some of the best-dressed members of the audience came up on stage and strutted their stuff while wearing everything from stylish cocktail dresses to new twists on the classic bowtie.

Last, but certainly not least, the night came to a close with a performance by our very own Jerico Magallanes. With nothing but his guitar and impressive vocals, it was no trouble for Jerico to get the audience to sing along to a medley of songs which included Ben E. King’s original “Stand by Me,” Akon’s “Nobody Wanna See Us Together,” Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and even Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls.” His performance was so enjoyed, some audience members even got out of their seats and danced along.

“Night at the Grammy’s” was truly a success that UWF hopes to continue and we here at UWF Student Media hope to cover again.

Battle of the Bands 2012 video is now up for your viewing pleasure!

Tell all your friends! Shout out to the world! Enjoy enjoy enjoy!!! 

Written by Jerico Magallanes

So…TRY THIS OUT!!!

Whenever I’m with a group of people, I like to ask self-reflection questions. Some are deep, some are just for fun. One that I usually ask isout of the five W’s (who, what, when, where, why, or how), which one do you feel best represents you the most? After people share their answers I share my story of how I used to say why but now I say who.  

That story goes a little something like this…

Back in 2008-2009, I started asking this question whenever I found myself in a group of good company and we were all having a good time. Whenever it was my turn to answer I would say why because during that time I was going through a relapse with anxiety and depression. It was a dark and hard time of my life where I questioned every little thing. I had a negative and pessimistic outlook on life, never had the sense to learn how to accept and how to stay positive. So with all of that going on, I would answer the question with whybecause I always wanted a reason for everything. I was never satisfied until I knew the answer to all of my questions and not finding the answer would fuel my anxiety and depression more and more. 

But recently I started changing my answer to who. Over the period of three or so years, I went through an amazing journey that was “life changing” to say at the least. It was through that journey that I learned so much about myself and about life. I learned that true happiness really comes from within and not from external sources, that not everything in life has a straight forward black or white answer, that life is however we make it. 

Another important and crucial lesson I learned was that who you are is what matters the most. In the end, after everything, who you are is what has the most influence on your life. Knowing and accepting whoyou truly are is what will make you truly happy. When everything else around your falls, fails you, leaves you, all you’ll be left with is yourself. Who you are is what will get you through all the ups and downs in your life. 

Now don’t take this as a pessimistic note, saying that everything around you will be guaranteed to fail you. No, that’s not the point. The point is that instead of relying so much on external sources to get by in life, we should rely the most on ourselves and who we are. Loved ones and such are of course great to have as a part of your life. But to better those relationships, having a better knowledge of one’s self will only better your relationships and communications with others. 

So whenever you feel like all the questions in your life are starting with why, start asking the questions that start with who. You’ll have better clarity when you finally learn that not everything in life has a reason, when you finally learn to accept. One of my favorite sayings that go along this message is:

“Either learn how to change or accept, but never feel hopeless and do nothing.”

In life there are things that have reasons, things that don’t. There’s no specific flawless list either that informs us of all the things that have reasons and all those that don’t. If anything, that’s what makes life exciting. What makes it more exciting is that we’re all together on this amazing journey called life. We always have our fellow man to relate to, to never feel alone. 

So kids…

Smile and be happy =)

Written by Katherine Cordero

Hi there! My name is Katherine and I’m a contributing writer for the UWF Student Media blog. I’ll be writing about different things, from music reviews (see below) to campus event coverage and more. I hope you enjoy!

After almost three years since their debut album, and six months since the release of the first single, “We Are Young,” off their sophomore album “Some Nights,” fun. has finally released the much anticipated album to a world of eager fans.

The best way this album can be described is just one simple word; fun.

The trio formed in New York, New York after lead singer Nate Ruess’ previous band The Format broke up in 2008. Ruess recruited Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff of Steel Train to form fun.

The opening song “Some Nights Intro” sounds like the opening number of a dark musical. With Nate Ruess’ strong vocals that seem to have a similar style as that of Freddie Mercury, this opening track prepares the listener for an album filled with hard-hitting melodies and beautiful harmonies, all while keeping the upbeat anthem feel “We Are Young” originally brought .

The title track, “Some Nights” shows off the influence Queen has had on fun. With a strong intro with nothing but the vocals of Ruess, Dost, Antonoff, and other background vocals singing “Some nights I stay up/ Cashing in my bad luck/ Some nights I call is a draw.” It isn’t until 35 seconds into the song that the bass drum joins in creating a constant exhilarating rhythm this song continues to.

“We Are Young” truly lives up to this album full of anthems. Ruess sings “Tonight/ We are young/ So let’s set the world on fire/ We can burn brighter/ than the sun,” while Janelle Monáe lends her enchanting vocals to the chorus and bridge to truly make this song unforgettably catchy.

According to the album insert, “Some Nights” was written by all three members of fun. and was produced and mixed by Jeff Bhasker, who is known for having previously worked with Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Bruno Mars.

According to an interview with Sonic Live, the band worked with Jeff Bhasker because of what he has brought to the songs of other artists.

 “We wanted to make an album that had a whole bunch of great beats, and a lot of those production elements are on hip-hop songs,” Nate Ruess said in the interview. “So we thought to ourselves, why not try and incorporate some of those things in our songs? So working with Jeff is perfect because that’s precisely what he does.”

On a personal note, this album has been officially released for exactly seven weeks and I have still not had enough of it. Songs like “One Foot” and, of course, “We Are Young” continue to blare from my car speakers on almost every outing. Each song has so many ways of being interpreted, no matter what mood I’m in I can always count on fun. to relate to me. This album is pure genius and deserves more than one Grammy nod in the future. 

“Some Nights” is an upbeat album that lives up to the hype created by the hit single, “We Are Young,” while making each song unique in its own way. Whether it be a children’s choir in “Stars,” the blaring of trumpets in “One Foot,” or even the use of a vocoder in “Some Nights,” or auto tune in “It Gets Better,” every song has it’s own element of pure fun.

written by Jerico Magallanes

Why hello interwebs! Jerico here writing the first post on UWF Student Media’s brand new Tumblr page. 

I happen to enjoy blogging as well but am a little brand new too it. Or not brand new, but not too familiar with modern blogging. I did it back in the stone age of Xanga (props to those who remember THAT). I even managed my own website back in 5th grade…hard to believe huh?

Anyways, we just got back from New York City for the National Broadcasting Society annual convention. I’ll definitely be talking about that soon in another post, but for now enjoy the rest of our other mediums we have up!