I realize that the minutes I spent reading his article and watching the embedded video is time I will never get back. To me, the music seems comprised of very standard pop words, pop chords and pop melody dressed up with things very sexy and very glamourous and very flashy, making it irresistable in our culture. Desire and danger combined sell well these days.
I was impressed when the Lady held her arm aloft for a period of time with her second finger extended. Yes, she was proudly flipping the bird to a stadium full of adoring fans. Has the meaning of flipping the bird somehow changed since I grew up? Naturally there's a Wikipedia entry about Finger Gestures. (All the really important stuff is in Wikipedia.)
I screen captured one of the frames of her salute and edited it using my new photo editor software The Gimp. I've been using Gimp only a couple weeks and this was my first attempt at removing a dark background so I could replace it (in this case with blue sky.) This process took much longer than reading Andrew's post and watching the video. The difference is that I don't regret spending the Gimp time because I learned something useful about this excellent free program.
Here's the picture:
It comes from this video at about 3 minutes 56 seconds.
Arm Hair Tags: Lady Gaga. . . Flipping the bird. . . The Gimp
5 comments :
I would like you to help me with my professional PR blurbs. Your astute comment that the world out there is drawn to a special combination of desire and danger woke me up again. Right. Desire and danger. Titillation. I thought if you just felt that way that your public would get it. But actually, a majority of the public needs to be hit over the head. Or worse.
You could start flipping the bird in your publicity photos - or while you're on stage. How about finding a rifle the same length as your flute. Then put both on a stand in front of the stage and tell the audience, as you pick up the flute, "Don't make me use my other instrument."
I read a story about the young George Antheil who gave piano recitals in Europe - I guess this was in the twenties, the age of American gangsters - he would start the concert by producing a pistol. He just laid it on the piano but that was enough to keep the audience attention level high.
And of course, the less clothing you can wear while do the above, the better it will work. Lady Gaga seems to have set a new standard for bizarre clothing. Maybe a concert outfit covered in flashing LEDs?
(Ah, in reality, I have no idea how you can use the concept of Desire and Danger without getting yourself arrested. How about a lot of flashing lights synchronized with smoke bombs?)
She is apparently, figuratively, flipping off paparazzi in the song--so it's not the adoring fans or is it? These pop stars have become very complex so you never know. Of course paparazzi love to get those shots of their targets flipping them off anyway so it's counter productive. And of course again, these so-called pop divas would be nowhere without the paparazzi and they know that...
To quote Frank Zappa, "who gives a fuck anyway?" I'm just glad I could scrub over to 3:56 so I could spare myself from the song.
By the way, both Steve Vai and Peter Gabriel have performed in outfits covered with lights.
PS: Happy Gimping!
one more thing... Poof, You're a Gimp!
Anne: did you see the news story predicting female terrorist bombers who have had explosives implanted in their breasts? That's danger.
RZ: Shouldn't that be "Goof, You're a Gimp"? Gotta preserve the alliteration. (For those who don't understand, click here.
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