On GaGa

Ah yes, the title of my college thesis finds new life again. Anyway, via amphigory, comes this link to a good feminist article on Lady Gaga. Says everything I would want to say I think, such as:

The clip is just one more thing catering to pornographic male fantasies, part of a broader cultural story being read by young people forming their understanding of relationships and sexuality.

And also

This is not about being edgy. It's about playing to sex industry-inspired scripts. Fetishising sexual violence isn't all that imaginative. It's standard fare.

And now, I'm off to think about less annoying things.

Oldness and evidence thereof

I find it terribly amusing that new pop music videos are generally greeted by young people as an artistic breakthrough ("it's someone scantily clad and pretty singing and dancing in formation!!! Again!!!") and greeted by old fogies like me as a sign of the apocalypse. I'm not always so irritated by these things. The last Lady Gaga video (Bad Romance) was kind of interesting, if vapid, shallow and completely self-indulgent and self-absorbed.

Her new video though, ye gods. I hates it. I want those 9 minutes of my life back. There's no narrative, gratuitous product placement, has no relation to the song she's singing along to and is only shocking if you're 18 and easily titillated. Complete and utter train wreck. I'm not sure how the other dancers fit on the screen between Gaga and Beyonce's ginormous egos. I generally hate most pop music videos, but this is by far the worst piece of trash I've ever seen. That said, the song itself is tolerable if not inspired (would whoever is calling Gaga at the club please stop? she is busy dancing and doing fashion).

I know, I know, pop music is a young person's mug. Oldsters have the luxury of picking and choosing the good parts and dismissing the rest with no social stigma. Still, it irritates me. It's like mass training on how to be as stupid and vapid as possible. I guess I listed to songs like "unskinny bop" and "Rico Suave'" though, and I turned out okay. Right?

Also, you kids, off my lawn.

Comics! Comics! Comics!

SO, a brief break from work while I discuss something of vital importance. Comics! Well, we'll get to that in a second.

I'm in another vital round of "who do I want to be?" grappling with questions like "what do I want to let go of? and "what do I want to hang on to?" While these questions basically encompass every plane of my life, of specific interest to me as far as this post is concerned is the amount of STUFF I lug around with me. Some of it will be going and/or gone before I move. This we know. What I haven't had the time to figure out due to work stress is WHAT specifically will go and what will stay. It's thunderdome for pack rats! Two tchotchkes enter, one leaves!

ANYWAY, to return to the point which was fast drifting sideways at 80 miles an hour across the Australian desert, I think my 16 boxes of comics will not be trailing me for all time. I'd like to slim it down to a more manageable 4 or 5 or so. Or maybe none (I would love to have my entire collection be digital or in trades). So I will probably be getting rid of them soon. I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience to try and get "top dollar" for them on ebay and I've seen good arguments that they ain't worth that much in reality anyway. So I will either be selling them as bundles on craigslist or donating them to some people or just flat out recycling them.

This is where you come in. For those of you who know my collection and have any interest in it, shoot me an email and, depending on what you want, am likely to just donate it to you. If anyone wants a more detailed list, I'll see what I can do. But one way or another most of them will be gone in about a month and a half so now's the time to speak up if you're interested.

Just so you know.