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Floating Down the River of Life
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| I can NOT get enough of Lady Gaga lately. Here's my YouTube playlist that's basically the new album + a few bonus tracks that were supposed to be on the deluxe edition (but weren't on the copy I bought) for you to enjoy if you didn't send your best friend's husband off to another county to buy The Fame Monster yesterday like I did:
Other than my overwhelming current obsession with Bad Romance (and it's unbelievably awesome music video,) I find that my favorite song so far is "Teeth." I know this is going to sound strange, but I hear a lot of influence from The Beatles in it. The best way I know to describe it is like a modern dance update of Bungalow Bill, haha. I also really find "So Happy I Could Die" as an early stand out. But, of course, if this album is anything like the previous, I will probably go through "Gaga Phases." I started out thinking "Dirty Rich" was the coolest song, then "Paper Gansta," and finally settled on loving "I Like It Rough" best. so, who knows?
I've read some of the early reviews, and while they do seem to be generally favorable, they seem to be almost listening to a different album to me. They talk of Lady Gaga's music as being vapid, meaningless pop fluff. I don't really see it that way. The songs and lyrics can be quite sometimes very simple and repetitive, but I don't think that means there is no substance there. I think the problem is that people think that there is no greater importance in pop music and fashion. But, in the right setting, with the right people, such things can be revolutionary.
Lady Gaga's music is sincere vanity, ripe with references to styles that were as well as to styles that never were. It's retro-future absurdity. It's taking what was once exciting and new and taking it back out of the closet where it has lost its cultural potency and not only polishing it but pushing it farther than it was ever taken before. I think this is nowhere more obvious in the video for "Bad Romance." You can see Gaga not only trying to be more Brittany than Brittany, but more Madonna than Madonna and also more Micheal Jackson than Micheal Jackson. It nods to and expands upon pop stars of the past while also bringing a fresh new flavor.
One of the other gripes I've had with reviews I've read is that they will simultaneously be dismissive saying that the songs are all of a similar vein, but then complain about the songs which are not dance-pop singles, like "Speechless." How can you hold it against her that the album is "uneven" because of the change of pace in songs like "Speechless" and then also bitch that the songs are "more of the same?" It doesn't even make any sense. Although, even the reviews that I read with these criticisms were overall positive reviews and did acknowledge the fearlessness required to try as many new things as she does.
All in all, I'm very excited to finally have something in the music mainstream that actually does something for me. I feel like Lady Gaga will be the artist that people look back fifty years from now and remember most from this time period. She is "our" Madonna" or "Beatles" or whatever cultural touchstone you care to reference. The funny thing is that she plays the "vapid pop diva" role well enough that she seems to fool a lot of people into never even giving her a chance. I don't know exactly why I decided to really give her a listen, but I'm so glad I did. | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment   |
| A friend of mine posted something about evolution in his Facebook status and promptly received one of those predictable comments about how evolution is "just a theory." I wrote this back, at my friend's request, discussing why dismissing scientific fact based on an incomplete understanding of scientific terminology is just plain ridiculous:
"Theory" as a scientific term merely means that an idea cannot be proven by recreating the events in a lab setting. Seeing as evolution happened throughout the entire universe over millions of years, you might be able to see how it would be problematic to try to test it out in a lab setting. However, the evidence is so overwhelming, there is literally NO DOUBT that evolution happened.
There was a process where the many animal species on this planet developed, leaving some more closely related (such as a human and an ape) and some less closely related (such as a human and a tree.) There is absolutely NO scientific doubt that this is true. Those who are unacquainted with scientific terms see the world "theory" and misinterpret its meaning, but that argument, that the concept of evolution is some how fallible because it is a "mere theory," only shows the ignorance of those that may use it, rather than proving any sort of point.
Christians who choose to try to argue against it are simply wrong to do so. I am a Christian myself and see absolutely no reason to disregard what is as obvious as the nose upon my face. One may easily still acknowledge the reality of evolution and still be a Christian! Who said God did not direct the process? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Tags: | whiny | | Current Music: | Bob Marley - Satisfy My Soul | | Subject: | Understanding | | Time: | 07:37 am | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/opiummmm/foxies/confused.gif) curious |
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| So complicated is human interaction, so much is said and unsaid and implied and underlying, so much is writhing under the surface, it is a wonder that two human beings might ever fully understand each other. Is it really possible? Are we doomed to always feel the need to hold parts of ourselves back?
Not everything we hold back from one another is done for unkind reasons, of course. Sometimes people just cannot hear something. Sometimes the kindest thing a person can do for another, in fact, is shut their mouths. Which makes me wonder why we all seem to have such a strong desire to be understood. If we can't even hear everything that we need to from those we trust, how can any one person hear everything that we need to say?
Denial is such a powerful force. When a person is fully committed to the idea of being in denial about something, nothing can derail them. Anyone who dares try to point out the obvious truth instantly becomes an enemy, where once they were a friend. This violent switch can leave quite a path of destruction in its path. It's an old trope, but really, sometimes people really just can not handle the truth.
So where does that leave their friends and family and others that care about them? They must play along with the denial or be thrust aside, I suppose. So, they learn to shut their mouths about that topic and start wondering what else might be off limits. No understanding can be found there.
We all do it-we all have things we would rather not hear. But are we all pre-programed to shoot the messenger? Or, could we, with some reflection, learn to hear those hard things from those who love us and in doing so be able to understand them-and ourselves-more fully? Is it possible to ever really be a fully-formed human being?
Is learning to understand the true path to being understood? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| First off, Daddy's doing okay, at least for him. No more attacks, as yet. Let's hope that's over.
It's so ridiculously strange to think about how much EVERYTHING has changed since last week. Let me repeat: last week. It's really bizarre to think about what I was thinking about last week. I guess patience is rewarded, and sometimes way sooner than you can possibly imagine. I'd say that I'm sorry to be so vague, but I find that I'm not. I think my days of being more or less open on the internet about anything are pretty much over.
Lately I've been becoming more and more aware of how much the internet is used to passive-aggressively attack others. It's easy enough to sent coded snubs through the various sites of social media. One can express his or her real feelings to those around them without ever having to deal with the messy construct that is confrontation. I've become aware of it, and I don't want to let myself do this.
I've been thinking a considerable amount lately about maturity. What is it? What makes a certain act childish and what makes another choice "better" and "more mature?" I would like to think that I could go through life making the best choice I can and avoid the whole "childish" side of behavior, but I think we all have our moments of "tantrums."
I also realized lately that I am a self-righteous bitch. I say that meaning not that I'm some sort of judgmental asshole, but instead meaning that I consider the best interests of those around me more important than their feelings at times. Socialization doesn't come easily to me, and so the logical thing to do is study those around me and learn to take my social cues from them. But as I am an inherently curious person, I have done this so much, learned so much from my mistakes and the mistakes of others, that I believe I have an opinion on very nearly every dilemma that my friends and the others I know encounter. Sometimes, out of no desire other than to help those I care about, I share my observations about what they are doing without being asked, at the cost of offending their sensibilities.
Hence the "bitch" part.
I have examined this possibility and have decided that I don't mind being labeled as such. I do not hold people's mistakes against them (or try not to in some cases; I'm only human,) but I would like to try to help them avoid them. I don't think that sharing what knowledge I have with others is an unkind act, and there have been things when thinking the way I do has vastly improved the lives of ones that I love. I am not always going to say what people want to hear, but I will tell them the truth and let them make of it what they will. I'm sorry that sometimes this may cause those I care about some distress, however, I would hope that they trust in me enough to know that I would not say what I do to them unless I care about them. When I'm not telling you what I think of you, that is the true disrespect, coming from me.
I take people seriously when they say they are trying to better themselves. You are forewarned. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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Floating Down the River of Life
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