Fantastic Distractions To Make Your Wednesday Awesome

      In keeping with the spirit this week of finding good time wasters that may brighten your day, we thought it would be fun to blog about the top five sites where you can waste some time, get a laugh, keep yourself informed on what is going on in the world and find some relaxation this Wednesday. Wednesdays are always an interesting time, specially during the summer, it's hot out, work keeps you from being outside enjoying the day and sometimes you just can't help but get a little bogged down by it all, so taking time away to watch a funny video or reading about your favorite game, movie or tech can brighten a stale day and give you the right spirit to finish your day well. Hopefully this post might aid refresh your Wednesday and bring a smile to your face.

  College Humor

     From their never ending slew of original content to their series "College Humor" is by far one of the best humor sites on the net. Out of all the styles of writing, humor is most definitely one of the toughest mediums to succeed at. For a site to be able to release so much original content while keeping it all funny and entertaining a cast of writers must assemble to take on this task, a cast of comic geniuses that stand out among the rest. "College Humor" has gotten much praise over the years and every praise they get is well deserved, this site has a little bit of fun for everyone and is the number one site you should always keep in your 'bookmarks' for those bad days where a laugh is needed.

    Cracked

      Cracked does follow suit with "College Humor" in that they also have many awesomely written original videos in which you will lose yourself in. Though their videos are superbly well written they are not what makes "Cracked" awesome, the articles found within "Cracked" are the highlight of the website. One can spend hours on their site just browsing through article after article and not get enough. They range from music to random facts about the world and they are all interesting, entertaining and educational. After spending a few minutes reading up on some articles you'll know a lot more about the world then you had previously known while at the same time being entertained throughout the whole thing. This is the number two pick for best site to lose yourself in during a bad day for sure.

    Break/Digg/Fark

   The convenience of "Break" is the same one you would find in a site like "Digg" or "Fark" except for they focus more on videos. Both "Digg" and "Fark" are sites dedicated to keeping you in the loop to what is happening in the world right now, so they link you to various sites that are trending online that you might have an interest in. "Break" does a similar thing but with videos, you'll be able to find out all the trending videos not only on YouTube but everywhere else in the net as well. For those not into videos then "Digg" and "Fark" are both a good choice for you. These are the three sites you need in order to always stay in the loop with everything that is going on. There is a danger here though for there is always something going on, be careful not to lose yourself in the absurd amounts of information within these sites.

  The Onion

    This is an oldie but a goodie. "The Onion" is the classic "John Stewart" of the newspaper industry, and their website keeps that tradition going. If you are not familiar with "The Onion" we recommend you check their site out for sure. Keep in mind that some content within "The Onion" is rather mature, so keep that in mind when accessing the site. Their articles are generally work friendly but you never know, sometimes comedic writers choose to push the line a bit for the sake of humor and though sometimes they succeed, more often then not they fail. Though some articles within their site might be hit or miss, they are still the forerunners to everything so a shout out is always deserved.

  IGN

    Out of all the sites within the Internet that deal with games, tech, movies, and comics there is no site that succeeds as well as IGN does. From articles, to videos, to conference coverages, to movie reviews, IGN is one of the most reliable sources of information on the web. If you are looking to catch up on missed E3 information or looking forward to some good Comic-Con coverage IGN is the site for you. They also have free guides to your favorite games and have all the latest news on all your television needs. If you care about being informed on everything games related IGN is the site for you, there is no site out there that comes even close to how awesome these guys are. Be sure to give them a look.

   And there you have it, hopefully some of these sites might bring a smile to your face,  and be a pleasant distraction this Wednesday. We hope the rest of your week is a good one and pray that it might be a safe one.

  Love from your humble blogger,

Upcoming TV Shows You Should Be Aware Of

     2012 has been a great year for television and it looks like the second half of the year will be filled with even more awesomeness. "Game Of Thrones" is still one of the most fantastic shows around, proving that sometimes a TV series adaptation of a book can in some aspects be superior than the book, something many would never have even thought possible prior to this series. We'll have many favorites like "Spartacus" returning in the Fall for a third season, but there are also a few new shows that will be coming out that you should be aware of. Some of these shows have been approved for this year and one or two will be making an appearance next Spring, but the bottom line is the same, here are some shows you should definitely be aware of and prepare yourself for.

   Revolution

      NBC is stepping their game up big time by introducing this new epic series who is being written by J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke, the series is to be directed by the great Jon Favreau. By what we know of the story so far this follows a group of people who are trying to survive in a world where everything electronic has stopped working. The series takes place 15 years after the desolation has taken place thus instead of focusing on the governments falling and all that jazz that we've seen before they focus on another question, the "now what?" question. The show will be airing soon and if you know anything about J.J. Abrams then you know that this is a show you don't want to miss. As soon as we hear more about this show we'll be sure to pass the word to you.

    Elementary

        We've previously covered the great British show "Sherlock" exclaiming how amazed we were at the show's production and story arches. We also explored the fears we had of American television wanting to create a show based off this concept like we have done to shows like "The Office" or "Being Human" and so forth. Well, "Elementary" is looking more and more to be the American version of the British show, instead to change things up they are making Watson be played by a woman instead of a man, Lucy Liu, so no ordinary woman but still any fan of the book series can't help but to cringe a little. The chances of this being good are 50/50 at best, especially being that this will be competing with "Sherlock" which is way way better. We're trying not to be too negative about this though, this will be a show we'll follow closely before we make an overall judgment.

     Arrow

      It's about time that Green Arrow gets his own television series, so when CW made this announcement many fans of the Arrow stood up and applauded. The Green Arrow reminds us a lot of Batman except he's more of a tool and has more laughs, which makes for great television. The Green Arrow already made an appearance in "Smallville" so we're not talking about a new character here, so this show is looking better and better as we approach the deadline of its release. There is a lot that can be done even if this series were to do well as simple as having more heroes involved in the series to raising popularity of DC again, which is needed after "The Avengers" movie stole all of our hearts.

     American Gods

      Neil Gaiman is the genius mind behind books like "Neverwhere" which became a TV series, "Coraline" and "Stardust" which both got their deserved big screen debut, he wrote one of the best comic book series ever to be written "The Sandman" and now his best selling novel "American Gods" has been given a chance to take life by HBO and will be making a appearance next year blowing all of our minds for sure. IMDB does a good job given a brief synopsis, being that we have read the book we fear giving anything away so here is how they summarized it, "a recently released ex-convict named Shadow meets a mysterious man who calls himself "Wednesday" and who knows more than he first seems to about Shadow's life and past". This is a series to look forward to for sure, anything Neil Gaiman touches is gold, so keep an eye out for this one, you won't regret it.

    If there is a show coming out that you think is important that we talk about then please let us know via email or a comment down bellow. We hope that your summer has started well, full of laughter and rest.

Love from your humble blogger,

The Reinvention Of The Board Game

     It isn't news to smartphone users how much fun apps can be. From random camera apps, to information or mass media apps, smartphones have quickly begun to replace the need for laptops more and more. This in many respects was expected, many saw this coming, but the replacement and reinventing of board games, though inevitable, was not foreseen by many. The concept was simple, introduce a game that everyone could play, while being a simple game that does not require much investment when it comes to learning how to play it, the solution, board games.

     "Words With Friends" was not the first board game to make it to smartphones, but it was the first one that succeeded in a massive scale, this was the reintroduction of Scrabble to the world. Scrabble is a fun game for sure but when you are playing the board game there are pieces everywhere, you have a limited time per turn, you can't consult anyone around you for aid, you are basically restricted to a table and not able to continue on with your life until that game is over. This is the big appeal to the rethinking of the board game, the ability to play wherever you want whenever you want, no longer are you constrained to a chair and time limits, now you can play at work, at school, before bed, or whenever you feel like playing. You get to play a board game with your friends without all the negative aspects of playing said board game.

    Here is a point that should be made, sitting down and playing a board game is really fun and not a "universal negative", what is meant here is that sitting down to play Scrabble counts as a positive at times but the majority of the time it is a negative, not in all cases but in most. Let's take this thought further, what would the creators of Scrabble want us to be able to do everyday? Play Scrabble. What prevents us from doing so? Having the time, want, and company that is required in order to play. How do you solve this? By removing the need to slow down and giving the players the power to play whenever they want by removing the need to sit and play. This is why board games for smartphones was so ingenious, because people love playing games against one another and now they are able to do so whenever they want.

    Other games have sought to follow Scrabble's example but no game succeeded like "Draw Something" did. Here is another simple concept, a game enveloping attributes from our favorite classic board games like "Pictionary" and so forth. The concept is simple and fun, therefore making it a hit with everyone, it appeals to all ages and because of this it is bridging a gap that has long existed between generations. Where as before this there was no way to play a fun game with your parents back home, or friends back home while you were away at school, now you can, not only that but you can play multiple games with multiple people and reconnect with far away friends.

     There is another aspect to this movement, one that was also unexpected but welcomed by many, the resurgence of board games due to smartphone games. The concept is simple, raise the awareness of how fun your game is and people will come together to play it. Though we do live in world where time is becoming precious and everything is done quickly, there is always time for recreation, there is always time to sit down and enjoy a good conversation with friends, while playing a game together. There are immense health benefits to slowing down and including a social gathering in your week, in fact to not have any social interactions during a week can bring life from being a beautiful thing to a morbid thing.

     Board games caught their second breath due to the smartphone move, it should be interesting to see what the future might look like when it comes to them, we think that they will always be around. From card games, to video games, to make believe games, to board games, being united is a very important aspect to being human. Having social interactions keeps us going, it ignites something within us that is unexplainable and it is this spark that helps us see the beauty in life. This is why board games will never disappear, because we are sociable creatures, we need one another and board games just happen to be a great medium for a good bonding, relaxing, and rejuvenating time. Thus we think that the reintroduction of board games is a beautiful thing in that it bringing people together and reinvents an old concept while at the same time breathing life into a classic concept.

  We hope you have a great week this coming week and pray that as we approach the end of the school year that you may find time to relax and rest, maybe play a board game with some friends, that is always a good choice. Personally I'm partial to "Quelf", I recommend it. 

Love from your humble blogger,

NCAA BBall Comes To A Close and Baseball Season Begins!

      So the first week of April is upon us and already there have been many events that caught the worlds attention happen, specially those that follow college basketball and have awaited for baseball restlessly during the season. Of course there are more things that occurred these past two days, some good, some bad, but college basketball is a huge deal in the United States, for some reason it is the one of the most taken seriously sports in the US, schools get out after victories, everywhere you go in town there are school flags and discounts for students, it's an all out love for the sport. Hence why we couldn't not reserve an article just for these celebratory moments, these are important events though fleeting they still hold something special within them and should be celebrated.

       To start us off we must tip our hats to Kentucky for defeating Kansas, it was predicted that they would but many hoped that that would not be the case. The game itself was really good, Kansas put up a fight but they did not play their best, hence the loss. The horrid nightmare of playing someone like Kentucky is that in order to win you cannot make mistakes, specially consecutive mistakes, you need to play your best and hope that they play their worse game in the season, its a tough thing to do, and no one is mad at the Kansas team they played like champions it was too bad that they lost. A great win for Kentucky though, with their good season and all, too bad you'll be losing so many players to the NBA draft, hopefully it won't damage the team too much.

     We must also celebrate Baylor's lady Bears for their 19 point victory over Notre Dame, this was the 40th undefeated game for the Bears in the season breaking the NCAA record for most games won in a season 40-0. Baylor University is having an amazing year in sports, with RG3 winning the Heisman, the boys basketball team getting to the elite eight and losing to Kentucky who won the tournament, the lady Bears having an undefeated season and now there are rumors that their baseball team is also packet with talent, guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one, we congratulate anyone over at Baylor, truly you've been having a great year.

    We can't not talk about baseball season officially starting this week, though there were the two games on the weekend, today is when everyone else starts playing. Today's big game being between the Cardinals and the Miami Marlins, which is the big champion versus the new favorite rookie. Since the Marlins were bought last year they have gotten a very good team together, from management to players everything is looking good, thus many commentators have begun to speculate about how they will make it to the playoffs this year, some have even said that the Marlins will win the World Series Tournament, we feel that that is a little too soon to say and a very bold guess, which we think would be fun if it came true.

    And there you have it, consider yourself updated, there are a ton of things happening this month so if sports aren't your bag do not worry, there are a ton of things to talk about still. We hope your week has been going well, and pray for those going home during this Easter break that you may have safe travels.

Love from your humble blogger,

Joseph Kony 2012 Raise Awareness!!

     Sometimes the internet comes together to fight a cause or to raise awareness about a cause, these are times where we see what the internet could be, the tool it can become, and it brings a smile to our faces. Joseph Kony is not a name known to many, those that had political science in college might have heard of him, he is a modern day terrorist, the worst kind of terrorist, preying on kids and families. Here is a man who must be stopped, but has had years of bad deeds go unanswered by the world. Part of the problem is that most people do not know who the man is, another is that there has been no outcry about this massacre by the people and therefore no action has come, thus the importance of this movement, a movement that will raise awareness and tell the people that can do something about it that we, the people, care and want this guy taken out. Here is the video that has been circulating with this movement, we recommend you watch it and pass it on:

      There comes to a time to stand up and raise awareness for a cause, there are some out there that have begun to focus on "Invisible Children", who is the company that released this video, and have begun to deface the group "Invisible Children" with all sorts of accusations. We are not here to defend "Invisible Children" , you never know who is doing what is this world, but what we are here to do is defend the cause, the cause here is simple "Raise Awareness on Joseph Kony", that's the cause, that's the fight, not who put out the video and whatnot, the point here is that we need to be united and remember that together we can accomplish great things and that Kony must be stopped.

     It has warmed our hearts to see the amount of people that have come together to fight this cause, it is always a beautiful thing when the world stops and joins hands to accomplish what was thought impossible to accomplish before, we hope that this is just the beginning, one of many causes we all fight against together.

Love from your humble blogger,

So Danca Presents "Calling All Dancers!!"

        If you wear So'Dança dance wear or shoes, we want to hear from you! Send me an email at anne@sodanca.com and tell me a little bit about yourself. Are you a dance student? Professional dancer? Teacher? What product of ours do you use and how long have you been using it? Do you own a dance store and have a customer you are particularly proud of?

        So'Dança provides clothing and shoes to thousands of dancers in the U.S.A. alone. We are a very large family and would love to include you and your news on our Internet social network pages. Have you received an award, a scholarship? Taken any memorable dance trips? Do you have photos or a video of a performance you'd like to share? Send it on to us and we will be happy to include you in our So Dancer news.

        Bringing the world closer together, one dancer at a time! So'Dança is always there for you!

anne@sodanca.com

  --- Anne Polajenko

       Anne Polajenko is So Danca's (USA) personal pointe shoe expert, she is known around the world for her performances throughout the years. Mrs Polajenko gives pointe shoe seminars every year at different shows and at our HQ in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Anne has been a guest writer for our blog and is constantly reaching out to the public in order to grow our So Danca family. She is a mentor, a teacher and an overall blessing within our So Danca family. 
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  Thank you for everyone that already got in touch with us! Because of the positive response these last few months, we felt like we should re-post this entry every few months or so in order to let everyone that didn't get a chance to be involved a chance to participate. <3


      Love from your humble blogger,

Recalling Our Highlights: So Danca 2011

     With the closing of the year near us, we here at So Danca believe that it is important to look back unto the blessings that this past year brought, remembering all the good things that occurred in order to never forget them, and thus understand how fantastic this year really was. It is really easy to get bogged down on the bad, to only remember the bad things that happened, thus this exercise of looking back on the good is very important and is one we recommend to everyone. Here is a look at the highlights of this year for So Danca:

Growth

      The recession has hit us all pretty hard and we are no different than any other company out there when we say that it was a tough year full of heavy planning and sweat. Though this year was a tough one we braved the storm like champions and came out of this year not only in good standings but we also grew 25%, which is our company's all time record. Thus we at So Danca are very happy to see our sweat and hard work pay off, we look forward to this next year anticipating an even better year.

    New Product 

     This year we introduced  our new pointe shoes SD09 and SD40  in the market promising that they would not disappoint any who would wear them, and Oh did they do well. Our new pointe shoe line quickly was accepted in the market and began to win the hearts of the populace one foot at a time, quickly establishing itself as the best shoe in the market and one of our best selling items we have. If you love pointe and have not tried our shoes yet then do yourself a kindness, in fact do your feet a kindness and go to your nearest retailer and try one on, we promise your feet will be in bliss.

    Best Selling Line

      This came to no surprise to us, our tap shoe line has been the best in the market since its birth. We believe in having the best possible product in the market at all times, putting all our expert shoe makers together with professional dancers to provide you with the best tap shoes in the market, thus it came to no surprise that our tap shoes earned such great standings in the charts and in your hearts. We will continue to support the tap world with the best shoes in the market, the tap scene deserves nothing but the best, and we at So Danca only know how make perfection, you can always count on us.

     Workshops

     So Danca USA and So Danca Canada have both begun doing tap workshops all throughout their respective countries, within the USA branch So Danca has been hosting tap workshops taught by the great pair Aaron Tolson and Derrick Grant, be sure to stay tuned for upcoming tap shows at your nearest retail store, or request one from a retail store in order to bring Aaron and Derrick to your town, for more details stay tuned here as well, as we will always keep you In The Know. Our Canada branch is also hosting these workshops taught by the one and only Everett Smith, we've seen nothing but great things come from Everett and any time spent with him has always been a good time, a great teacher, a great dancer, a great guy, overall a fantastic addition to our So Danca family.

      Clothing Line

     This year So Danca's USA and Canada branches both wowed the North American market by introducing our European clothing line taking everyone by surprise and stealing the hearts of millions. So Danca's European branch produces the most beautiful styles in the world, with designers from Italy, France and surrounding countries we stand out above all competition, always providing you with the most exquisite clothing lines deserving your attention and admiration.

       Seminars 

     So Danca's USA branch has also begun having periodical pointe shoe seminars with our very own Anne Polajenko. These are held at our USA headquarters located over at Deerfield Beach, Florida, and will always be advertized here and on our main site, so be sure to keep a look out. We've had great success with these seminars and there has been high demand for them to happen more frequently so be sure to check with us for upcoming news, for they will surely be coming soon.

    Awards

     This year marks the 14th year in a roll where the So Danca customer service team has been rated the best in the world. This is something we take very seriously, since the birth of our company we have always fought to provide you with the best team we could find, we have no robots answering our phones, you'll always find someone on the other line with a smile ready to answer any and all of your questions, with honesty and respect. At So Danca we believe in old family virtues, and the need to always be respectful to anyone and everyone. You can always count on us, we are here for you.

    Net

    This year market the beginning of something beautiful, this was the year that So Danca went viral witnessing the birth of our ever growing blog "Be In The Know". We thank everyone that has been supporting our blog's growth, and promise to continue providing you with entertaining posts, informative posts, encouraging posts and more. So keep checking every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for there is a lot more to come!!!

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    So Danca has had a fantastic year and we hope that you have had a glorious year as well. We hope you have a fantastic New Year and please make sure to be safe in your celebrations.

       "So Danca Fits Well, Feels Great, Is Always Available, And Very Comfortable, We Are The Best!
                                                                It's As Simple As that"

Love from your humble blogger, (and a Happy New Year to you all!)