Don't Quit

If you stop Gargamel just might get you, so you have to keep on going!

Did you ever have one of those days?...  Of course you have.  I mean that is unless you're one of the Smurf's living in a cartoon world where everything is drawn out for you.  I mean imagine if you were a Smurf, what's the worst thing that could ever happen?  You get chased by Gargamel?

Seriously though... if you're not a Smurf and you're a real person living in the real world it is highly plausible that at one time or another you've had a bad day.  So what do you do when that happens to you?  Are you the kind of person who just buries their head under the covers to hide until it has passed?  Or do you dig your heels in and push back when the world pushes at you.

Because no matter who we are, where we live, or what we do or are trying to do, there always comes a point where we have to make a choice.  Chose to keep going or give up.  For me there is no other option, I keep going.  Maybe it's that Greek "Stubborn" gene I was born with, you know the same Greek gene that invented the Windex, Acting, Politics, or any of the other cool stuff that came from the ancient Greeks.  Or maybe it's because I have spent my entire life chasing the same goal, I don't know.

For some people it's not that easy.  Some people find out what they are made of early on in life, for others it comes later.  Some, however never discover how strong they really are.  That makes me sad.  Some people give up before they have ever really reached their true potential, and even worse some do the unthinkable, they kill themselves.

How is it that so many celebrities have committed suicide lately?  Some have flat out killed themselves.  Others did it slower with drugs and alcohol and overdosed.  My question is, how is it that so many people with seemingly so much to live for and to look forward to could give up so easily?  I think part of it, well maybe a big part of it is because as a society we are living in very negatively infused times.

The media is quick to prop up, chew up and spit out sensation or celebrity of the week.  While the powers that be are pushing the idea that hard work should not be rewarded and everything in life is fair.  But in reality - life is not fair at all.  The good guys don't always win, and the bad guys don't always lose.  So when life beats down on the people who do not have a strong sense of who they are and where they are going, what happens?  When God has been removed from everywhere he might be able to "offend" anyone, what do these people who do not know where to turn do?  Sadly we see the results all around us.

Many people are so much stronger than then give themselves credit for.  Quick to assume they can't do something, when in reality they have no idea how strong they really are until they push themselves past where they thought they "couldn't" go.  I just have one wish for everyone who is having a bad day... Don't quit.  You might not "feel" like you can do it, you might not see how now.  But if you quit, you will never reach your goal.  If you keep going, there is always hope.

One of my favorite quotes from one of my fitness heros:

"Your legs are not giving out, your head is giving out, keep going." ~ Jillian Michaels

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xo
www.avaaston.com

Why Should I Care

if you don't care... someone else will and you may not like the results.  just sayin'

Well you probably shouldn't.  Especially if you like all the crap that passes for entertainment these days.  I mean if it makes you giddy to know the umpteenth season of Kardashian's is about to start... then it's probably a good idea to just stick your head in the sand and roll with the dumbing down of our society.

What's wrong Greek Girl?  You seem kind of sarcastic this week you might be thinking.  Well, to be honest I am, and I am also mad.  Mad as heck.  Why?  Well because I know a lot of people who do not like what they see in entertainment today.  They are tired of watching mediocre talent be rewarded for acting like lunatics.  People go to rehab, great give them another movie role.  Arrested for drugs, or battery?... hey give them a Grammy.

Anyone see a problem here?  Is it just me?  No it's not.  I hear it, I see it and in my coconut for the life of me I can not figure out why on earth if people do not like what they see, they why are they watching it?  Why support things that are not in line with your values?  I'm not talking about boycotting everything or company that you do not necessarily agree with.  Because that could get pretty lonely and boring.  After all we can not just go crawl under a rock to hide from everything we do not believe in.

What I am saying is, if people want to see a change in society, then they need to realize the culture needs to be changed.  In order to change the culture you need to change the narrative.  If you want to change the narrative and what you see going on in the world, then you need take control of it by supporting the things in entertainment that fall in line with your values.  It is that simple.  Hollywood has been doing it for years now and for whatever reason the people of this country act like sheep and just go along with it.

I guess what it all boils down to is that we all see the fabric of our society being attacked left and right.  So what do we do?  Well we turn on the TV, we tune in to the radio and buy the concert tickets and re-tweet the very junk that is destroying our culture.  What most people don't get is that our culture is what is shaping us and drives our politics that run our country.  So, in turn, we are left with a government that is corrupt, leaders we can't trust and role-models who we should be ashamed of not rewarded.

Okay, take this for example.  As many of you may know I am in a songwriting contest for my song, "I Carry You With Me".  It was written about the loss of a loved one and has helped  a lot of people deal with grief and loss.  I'm an artist who desires to be a positive role-model who wants to share a positive message and be an inspiration to help lift people up.  However being an independent artist without the help of a record label I have limited resources to do so.  I'm not complaining by any means, just explaining why I entered the contest since the grand prize is $100k.  Hey - Greek Girl's money tree hasn't sprouted yet if you know what I mean and $100k would sure go a long way towards my musical goals.

Well, yesterday I posted about the contest and was attacked for asking for support from the very people I felt would most value my cause as an artist.  This shocked the Greek Girl.  It made me wonder What in the Heck in the World is wrong with this picture?  Here you have a hardworking artist trying to be the very thing this guy supposedly is fighting to support. Yet when faced with the choice to actually support it he attacks it.  All I was asking for was a vote, that is free.  Call me confused.  What's worse is he is just one of many.  There are a lot more like him.  These people are angry at what they see and the direction our country is going but for whatever reason find it perfectly okay to continue supporting the very thing that is at the root of our demise.

Don't take my word for it.  The other day by a dear friend of mine, popular writer/blogger Daria Degiovanni wrote a wonderful blog about this very thing.  It's a blog that talks about why it's so valuable for like-minded people to support one-another especially when it comes to shaping our culture through mainstream media and entertainment. http://www.dariadigiovanni.com/vote-for-ava-aston/

All I am saying is, Why should you care?  In the end, if you don't want real change in the narrative that drives our culture then don't support me.  For that matter don't support anyone who is fighting to change our country with our values, morals and sensibility.  Or, take a stand and make a difference by supporting artists like myself and others like me.  We NEED your support.  It's not just me, there are a lot of us but for whatever reason it's not "cool" to do so.  But in the off chance you want to take a minute out of your day and help the Greek Girl win that songwriting contest and move me closer to the goal of helping shape the narrative that will help move our country back to where it once was, well then go to: http://www.veewall.com/vocals/video/avaaston and follow these simple steps.

- Register for a Free account
- Confirm your registration (check spam folder - could end up there)
- Then vote.  You can vote once per day through April 29th.

It would be wonderful to win as it will enable me to continue to share my music and message with the world.  Thank you very much for your support :D

Blessings, Love & Music~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

Politichicks

Honorary "Rock" Politichick ;) with a twist of comedy for good measure.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you might've guessed by now that when I am passionate a particular topic, I am hard pressed to keep it out of my blog.  What can I say, I'm Greek... It's in my genes.  We invented Politics, The Olympics, Drama (Acting, seriously we did - look it up on google), Windex and a whole bunch of other things, so it's to be expected.  There are lots of things I'm passionate about like coffee, working out, dogs/animals and of course my music, and politics.  Shocking, I know you would have never guessed that one would ya? ;)

You see my filter broke off a few weeks ago, due to the fact that my noggin has at times has about spun off seeing the goings on in the world lately... and I can't seem to keep my big fat greek yap-trap shut.  So I decided to start speaking out about what I see going on.  Many of you may know this already about me, especially with my song, "We The People" that was written about getting back to our founding principals.  It was written because I can't stand to see my country losing it's identity.  The very same country my dad came to with only $20 in his pocket to chase the American Dream.  So I started my MissionWeThePeople.com website to help get the message of the song out to the masses before this the most important election of our lifetime.

A few months ago a good friend of mine asked me to be an honorary Politichick and take part in trying to make a difference.  What's Politichick's you might be thinking?  Well it's a group of women all across America coming together to help shed light on local, regional and even national and sometimes international news.  It's kind of like a conservative version of TMZ but with all smart women. ;)

My role as a Politichick will take a different approach.  Because I am a Greek and I love to laugh, and entertaining people; I will be creating political rants in the form of adding a sarcastic and funny spin on what is going on in the Main Stream Media.

As an artist, I love and value the freedom of speech which allows me the right to express myself however I feel it necessary.   For me it is crucial that I take part in what is going on.  Too often I turn on the TV or walk in the mall and see the impact our pop-culture is having on our society.  Not just on the youth, on everyone.  What most people don't realize is that with most of Hollywood being so liberal in their ideology they are literally stripping the morality away from our country.  In so doing they are allowing our very freedoms to be attacked and stripped away from us.  Including our freedom of speech as seen with the recent Innocence of Muslim's video on YouTube.  What's worse is that most people are becoming more and more desensitized by the people they idolize and don't realize their values are shallow and go against everything this country was founded upon.

So to get a taste of what to expect, feel free to watch any of my "Greek Girl Rants" on Politichicks or subscribe to my own YouTube channel and get them as they are posted.  Here are the first 3 with more to come:

Hope they bring you a great big smile!

Blessings, Love & Music~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

A New Greek Phone Hacking Scandal

Many bloggers spend countless hours upon hours trying to figure out the best way to get more eyeballs on the words they write. After all, what's the use of writing a blog unless a lot of other people are reading it?

So, give the Greek blonde girl, (yours truly) some credit for possibly coming up with a brilliant new way of developing current topics for my blog. Yep, I decided to go Rupert Murdoch on a bunch of famous people and start hacking their cell phones!

I'm not sure what I would write for each post, but here are some of the cell phones I hacked and some of the conversations I overheard during my hacking:

Mark Zuckerberg- Called Bank of America and complained. He thought there was possible fraud on his checking account. Mark said he is missing about $5 Billion dollars from his account in the last few days.

Danica Patrica - Called Yoko Ono and said, "I am more popular than the Beatles!"

Barack Obama - Called Allied Van Lines and asked for a quote for a move from Washington D.C. to Chicago. When the moving company asked if he had a date in mind for the move, Mr. Obama said, "Shortly after November."

New York Mayor Bloomberg - Called 7-11 and said they need to change the name of their signature hotdogs. he said he won't allow them to be called "Big Bites."

Phillip Phillips - Called Rolling Stone magazine and asked if they wanted an interview with him? They asked him, "Who are you?" Phillip told them that he was the most recent winner of American Idol. The reporter at Rolling Stone told him that they quit writing about the winners on American Idol after their story on Kris Allen in 2009. Phillip said, "Kris Allen? Who's that?" The reporter said, "Exactly!"

Mr. Bricks - Called the McDonald's headquarters and complained that the McRib wasn't on the menu anymore. They apologized to him for the inconvience and told him that some fat man, with googly eyes, in Hollywood, ate them all. Mr. Bricks said, "Well technically, I have only one eye that googles."

Bethenny Frankel- Called the Governor of Wyoming and told him that she had just bought the entire state of Wyoming. And when the Governor asked Bethenny why Wyoming, she said, "She was bored, wanted to spend some money and besides, it wasn't as expensive as Rhode Island."

Kim Kardashian -  Called Kanye West and asked if he thought that her cell phone made her butt look fat? Kanye responded, "Yes, but that's Ok, because I like a 4g Butt."

OK, maybe I really didn't hack into anyone's cell phone... but hey at least I was able to create another blog post, and probably made ya laugh!  Score one for the Greek girl.

Blessings, Love & Music ~

Ava
www.avaaston.com