"Celia: My Life" Coming To Television

A board book I bought my future 

niece about Celia (@MisfitLibrarian)

As you may or may not know, I am first generation Cuban-American from my father's side and I have been brought up as Cuban as one can be from Long Island with a mother who does not have a drop of Spanish/Latin in her. And aside from Cuban food, the second most prevalent things growing up as a Cuban-American was music (I mean, the fact that my father is a musician probably has a lot to do with it also). I grew up listening to Gloria Estefan, Cachao, Los Van Van and the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz in between all of the pop and alternative rock hits of the 90's and early aughts.

So because of this, when I found out that they were making a scripted television show about Celia Cruz based off her autobiography "Celia: My Life" I was beyond excited and had to share it just in case anyone else loves themselves some Celia. 

ENDEMOL SHINE NORTH AMERICA AND MAJOR TV TO ADAPT CELIA CRUZ’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY INTO TV SERIES     

Kenny Ortega Set To Executive Produce & Direct     

Los Angeles, Ca. — Endemol Shine North America and Major TV have optioned the rights to late Latin superstar Celia Cruz’s best-selling autobiography, “Celia: My Life,” with plans to adapt it for a scripted television series.     

Veteran film and TV producer/director/choreographer Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical”) is signed on to serve as an executive producer and direct the series. Flavio Morales, Executive Vice President, Endemol Shine Latino, U.S. Initiatives, is also set to serve as an EP.     

Cruz, known as the Queen of Latin music, was one of the most popular recording artists of all time, having won 4 Grammy Awards, 5 Latin Grammy Awards, recording 23 gold albums and attracting millions of loyal fans globally before her death in 2003.     

Endemol Shine and Major TV are currently developing an English language series based on Cruz’s only authorized autobiography, with a foreword by the late Maya Angelou. Based on more than 500 hours of taped interviews by the Smithsonian, recorded just months before her passing, Cruz let fans glimpse a life that, while lived in the full view of the public, had remained largely private.      

“There is no bigger name in Latin music than Celia Cruz,” says Endemol Shine North America CEO Cris Abrego. “We are thrilled to be adapting her amazing life story, one filled with triumph and tragedy, for a dramatic television series with a producer of Kenny Ortega’s pedigree attached.”     

Added Ortega, “I had the extraordinary honor of working with Celia Cruz many years ago as a burgeoning choreographer on a little movie called ‘Salsa.’ While we were working together, Celia and her husband invited me to join them for her concert at the Hollywood Palladium. Celia seated me in a chair on stage and I was there, in the light, watching La Reina de la Salsa, hypnotizing the audience with her voice and performance magic. Over the years, my appreciation of her gift to music has grown and deepened. Celia has been an inspiration for so many and I am honored to participate in this tribute of the incomparable Celia Cruz.”     

“With a voice that transcended language, color, race, and gender, Celia Cruz broke barriers, changed the landscape of music and became a Global icon. Capturing her authorized life story for the first time on screen, in any language, is an incredible milestone,” says Major TV’s Raymond Garcia. “We are honored to have the captivating vision of Kenny Ortega guiding this production. His universal sensibility in story-telling, expertise in resonating with viewers through music and dance, coupled with his sincere cultural and personal connection with Celia, makes this one of the most important, moving, and electrifying musical series of all time.”      

“Celia Cruz was a black woman, of limited means, who painfully abandoned her small island and triumphantly conquered the world with the power of her voice.  Her story is a testament of perseverance, hope and inspiration that deserves to be told,” said Omer Pardillo Cid, Executor of the Celia Cruz Estate and her former manager.

Endemol Shine and Major TV previously announced that they had jointly optioned the rights to Chris Perez’s “To Selena With Love,” the best-selling book that tells the late Latin superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez’s love story through the eyes of her husband.     

Major TV is led by Raymond Garcia, formerly publisher and founder of Celebra at Penguin Random House, where he published numerous New York Times and international best-sellers with top authors such as Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, as well as, Gloria and Emilio Estefan. 

Endemol Shine North America and its Spanish production division Endemol Shine Boomdog, currently have numerous scripted series in development, including “To Selena With Love” (With Major TV) and the upcoming drama “Nicky Jam: El Ganador,” which is slated to debut later this year on Telemundo and Netflix.     

From her modest childhood in Cuba, to her exile years in Mexico, to her remarkable career and life in the U.S., Cruz was a woman of contrasts. Her flamboyant costumes contrasted with her simple and straightforward demeanor. She was open and accessible to her fans, but staunchly private about her personal life. She was uninhibited without decadence, honest without offense, confident but not arrogant, and generous without fault. Yet above all, Cruz was authentic, and it was this authenticity that resonated so deeply with her public.   

After Cruz passed away on July 16, 2003, more than a half million people stood in line for hours in order to pay their respects, in both Miami and New York. Millions more paid tribute to her, holding impromptu memorials in living rooms and crowded street festivals throughout the world.   

Ortega is a three-time Emmy winner and he’s served as a director, choreographer and producer on many top TV series and films. Some of Ortega’s works throughout his illustrious career the feature documentary “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” “Newsies,” “Hocus Pocus,” and Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” franchise and served as the executive producer for “High School Musical’s” multi-platinum soundtracks. In 2008, Ortega directed and executive produced “High School Musical 3: Senior Year (HSM 3)” for Walt Disney Motion Pictures.     

Most recently, Ortega directed, “A Change of Heart” (produced alongside long-time friend and partner, Emilio Estefan, and starring Jim Belushi and Virginia Madsen), “The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again” for FOX and Disney’s “Descendants” and “Descendants 2,” which premiered to record breaking numbers in July 2017.  The “Descendants 2” Soundtrack also debuted at #1 on iTunes.     

Ortega has been the recipient of three Emmy Awards, and 2 Director’s Guild of America Awards, The Fred & Adele Astaire Lifetime Achievement Award, Bob Fosse Award, American Choreography Lifetime Achievement Award, MTV Video Music Award, American Music Award, Billboard Award, ALMA Award, Nosotros Golden Eagle Award, Imagen Creative Achievement Award, NAACP Award, as well as a number of others. 

This is definitely a television show I'm going to keep my eyes out for because Celia lived such an interesting life and was such an incredible musical talent. I really do look forward to seeing what they do with the accounts from her autobiography and rich life she lived.

Here is the video for one of my favorite songs by Celia:

From The Hold Shelf (Or What I'm About To Read)...

As I was taking a picture of "The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo" by Amy Schumer for Instagram yesterday I realized that I haven't done a From The Hold Shelf post since March. So I decided I needed to get on that and share what I'm reading/listening to with you guys...

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"Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow
Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.

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"The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo" by Amy Schumer

 The Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, writer, and star of Inside Amy Schumer and the acclaimed film Trainwreck has taken the entertainment world by storm with her winning blend of smart, satirical humor. Now, Amy Schumer has written a refreshingly candid and uproariously funny collection of (extremely) personal and observational essays.  

In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is—a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh.  

Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend—an unforgettable and fun adventure that you wish could last forever. Whether she’s experiencing lust-at-first-sight while in the airport security line, sharing her own views on love and marriage, admitting to being an introvert, or discovering her cross-fit instructor’s secret bad habit, Amy Schumer proves to be a bighearted, brave, and thoughtful storyteller that will leave you nodding your head in recognition, laughing out loud, and sobbing uncontrollably—but only because it’s over.

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Because I couldn't get my hands on a copy of "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow (Justin has a copy of it on his Kindle but I refuse to use an e-reader) I started listening to Chernow's "Washington: A Life" because Adam Savage was talking so highly of it on an episode of his podcast Still Untitled. And I must agree with Adam, it is an excellent biography and I was only up to chapter nineteen when my hold expired (I had it downloaded on Overdrive and now I have to wait to get it again). So as soon as I get my hands on another copy and finish it, I'll let you know how I feel about the rest of it.

Now because I can't finish that book I'm going to start Amy Schumer's "The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo" which Nicole told me is funny as hell. We shall see...

Are you reading anything good, bad or meh right now? I'd love to know what you're reading.

Book Release | Make It Reality: Create Your Opportunity, Own Your Success...

As of late I've really been into reading and/or listening to nonfiction books by various celebrities and learning about the path that got them to where they are today. So when I got the press release for television producer Cris Abrego's book "Make It Reality: Create Your Opportunity, Own Your Success" I was really intrigued because it seems like the kind of book that has been up my alley recently. And because of that I thought that I'd share the details with the book with all of you in case any of you think it could be an interesting read like I do.

So here is the press release bit that intrigued me...

From Humble Beginnings To A Big Shot Reality
Cris Abrego, a son of immigrant Mexican parents from El Monte, CA, built an reality TV empire creating mega-hit television shows including: The Surreal Life, Flavor of Love, Rock of Love and Charm School. Now, as Co-Executive General Manager of Endemol Shine North America he shares his incredible journey of success in Hollywood through his new book, "Make It Reality: Create Your Opportunity, Own Your Success."

Abrego’s tell-all book, which now available, provides practical and motivating lessons collected from almost twenty years on the frontlines of television, including: how to visualize your goals and work tirelessly to attain them; when to take risks and push boundaries; and how to continually raise the bar for yourself and realize there are no limits on what can be achieved.

Abrego looks back on his humble beginnings in El Monte when he was only dreaming of doing something big with his life to his current days of working with the likes of Pitbull, Ryan Seacrest, Eva Longoria, Steve Harvey, George Lopez, Flavor Flav, Mario Lopez and Irv Gotti. "Make It Reality: Create Your Opportunity, Own Your Success" will give any reader the urge to take action, inspire creativity and take control of their life. Abrego proves that success isn’t about your pedigree or your connections; rather it’s about vision, leadership, and courage. He teaches that finding your overarching dream is the first step in achieving your goals.

Here is the description from Amazon:

The creator and producer of several mega-hit television series, including The Surreal Life, Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, and Charm School, shares his incredible journey of making it to the top—and how you can too.   

“No one paves the road for you. You have to create your own path. If you believe in your dreams, embrace what makes you different, and bet on yourself, the destination will be greater than you ever imagined.”—Cris Abrego  

From carrying camera gear on the sets of MTV’s Road Rules, to pioneering the celebreality genre by creating such breakout hits as The Surreal Life and The Flavor of Love, and now as one of today’s most prominent figures in the television industry—Cris Abrego’s career has been nothing short of extraordinary.   

As a young boy growing up in L.A., Abrego spent his formative years glued to his family’s TV set, forging his dream of one day working in television.  With unrelenting drive, he overcame countless obstacles to build his own reality TV production company in his garage, which, by his mid-thirties, he sold to one of the world’s largest television production companies, before being tapped as their co-CEO.    

In Make It Reality, Abrego provides practical and motivating lessons collected from almost twenty years on the frontlines of television, including: how to visualize and your goals and work tirelessly to attain them; when to take risks and push boundaries; and how to continually raise the bar for yourself and realize there are no limits on what can be achieved. 

Success isn’t about your pedigree or your connections: it’s about vision, leadership, and courage. Abrego’s story is unforgettable, full of heart, and inspiring to anyone seeking to transcend all obstacles and achieve true success.  

Foreword by Pitbull

Like I said, it sounds interesting to me. If you agree lemme know!

Hopefully I can get my hands on a copy, read it and let you know what kind of read it is.

The Taliban Shuffle | Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Giveaway...

In honor of Tina Fey's newest offering Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) hitting theaters March 4th, I am giving away one (1) copy of the memoir that the film is based on "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan" by Kim Barker.

When Kim Barker first arrived in Kabul as a journalist in 2002, she barely owned a passport, spoke only English and had little idea how to do the “Taliban Shuffle” between Afghanistan and Pakistan. No matter—her stories about Islamic militants and shaky reconstruction were soon overshadowed by the bigger news in Iraq. But as she delved deeper into Pakistan and Afghanistan, her love for the hapless countries grew, along with her fear for their future stability. In this darkly comic and unsparing memoir, Barker uses her wry, incisive voice to expose the absurdities and tragedies of the “forgotten war,” finding humor and humanity amid the rubble and heartbreak.

This is a standard Rafflecopter giveaway. In order to be the lucky winner you must leave a comment below letting me know if you'd travel to another country where you didn't know the language to shake up your life and follow this blog using Google Friend Connect. You can gain additional entries by doing a number of other tasks listed in the widget below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 ••••••••••••••••• CONTEST ENDS FEBRUARY 29th AT MIDNIGHT ••••••••••••••••• 

This post and giveaway were sponsored but I did not receive monetary compensation. I'll be receiving my own copy of The Taliban Shuffle identical to the winners.

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When reporter Kim Barker’s (Tina Fey) life needs something more, she decides to 'shake it all up’ by taking an assignment in a war zone. There, in the midst of chaos, she finds the strength she never knew she had. Sometimes it takes saying ‘WTF’ to find the life you were always destined to have. Also starring Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina and Billy Bob Thornton, the film is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”) from a screenplay by Robert Carlock (“Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock”).