Did you see the Lady Gaga windows at Barneys this past holiday? Neither did I or anyone I know. As Down with the Slant's Mac put it, "Who are they pandering to?" Apparently though some folks did go up to Barneys and recognized what they saw. The windows ripped of the work of Colette the Artist, whose work spans four decades. Colette was alerted to the forgery and went uptown to discover if it was true. Her artistic reply is in the video above.
Picasso may have said "Good artists borrow; great artists steal" (but probably didn't). Lady Gaga and her "body of work" is more like taking the canvas of a great work up to a subpar Canon copier and calling it art. It cheapens the original work and states an utter contempt for art. Gaga is a Tumblr of a human being.
1. Here is a picture of Lady Gaga's former residence from when she was a struggling artist living in destitution on the Lower East Side in an apartment that is about twice the size of most studios on the Lower East Side.
2. She is doing a Thanksgiving special on ABC. A "celebrity" chef has been hired to reproduce her family recipes. You will not be watching. Mary J Blige will stop by because she and Gaga have so much in common.
3. Barneys has turned their holiday windows this year into Gaga's Holiday Workshop. They've also emptied the fifth floor of the men's side and turned it over to Gaga merchandise. Happy shopping.
Attention artists: Could someone please draw a picture of Lady Gaga riding a shark? Despite claims of her jumping the shark last night at the VMA's she is and has been riding the shark from almost day one, so it would be nice to have that rendered appropriately. Thank you in advance, FYF.
Yes, really, the whole album can be yours for less than a bag of rainbow-colored Skittles! (Yay?)
Via Kottke
Confession? Words with Friends is one of my most used apps, although an occasional break is needed. In one of the strangest stretches of saturation strategy, Lady Gaga now has a Words with Friends word of the day. This marketing ploy does what exactly? Marries up the Scrabble-friendly crowd with the pop music crowd? Gets Gaga some pocket change for a new sweater? Seriously, it is one of the oddest mashups ever, no?
Oh child. You're too young to be gracing a "library" card and serving as figurehead for readings.
Still, endorsing and encouraging "cultural" education? Brava! (Although - as opposed to...?)
Now...set the example by educating your monsters on your references and artistic pedigree. And if you haven't delved into them yourself, get on it!
We'll be over here, studying our worn old Webster's.
"I got a Kylie ticket!"
"Kylie's covering Eurythmics!"
"Kylie! Kylie! K-k-k-kylie!"
Seriously, you may never see a group of middle-aged homosexuals behave more like teenagers. With Kylie in concert Monday through Wednesday this week, the Book of Face and Twitter have been filled with Kylie among men of a certain age.
Meanwhile, there is this:
Mentions among my friends excited to see this are, well, nonexistent. It airs Saturday night on HBO, so you'd think there would be some postings here and there, but no.
The troubling thought arises: Does a preference for Kylie over Gaga make one old? Is Kylie to my friends what Bette Midler is to a generation beyond mine? Or could the shady "Well, my friends have better taste so of course they prefer the gracious showmanship of Kylie over the crass imposter Gaga," be true?
A look outside the social networks shows older folks drinking the Gaga Kool-Aid. Joe.My.Gaga posts regularly about the lady. And clearly Towleroad doesn't just drink the Kool-Aid, they bathe in it. Then again Lady Gaga means pageviews in the Internet world, so of course they mention her often.
So does a Facebook feed full of Kylie mean that you are old? Does a dearth of Gaga mean the same? Conclusion: Maybe! The key is to just appreciate that both represent similar things to many of your brethren, so if you're a "young" don't hate on Kylie, and if you're middle age, don't just dish on the Gaga lest you come off as a bitter old queen.
(Disclaimer: The author is still very much Team Madonna.)
Valentine's Day, besides being the title of a deplorable film starring many people, some of whom will continue to have promising careers in the future and others who will fade into obscurity like that one wine stain on my favorite red shirt after I vigorously rubbed salt and tonic water into it, is not one of my favorite days in the year. It's the one day a year when I'm at my scroogiest. But this year, I'm willing to forgo all the bah-humbugs in the world if one of you mail orders me an enormously hideous-but-beautiful Adenium obesum--or, more commonly, a Desert Rose. But before you rush to your neighborhood botanist to inquire about the gift you'll be sending me, take a look at our civilization which is all about love! and mending things! and progress! Am I exercising selective memory by ignoring some tragedies? Probably! But if I'm to make it through this weekend in one piece, I may have to get a little Britney up in here. That said, onward with the week's minutiae!
• If you didn't find a soulmate in Park Slope last night, don't despair! You can always try again in a couple weeks. Although you probably won't enjoy the Valentine's Day spoils. [Effed in Park Slope]
• This is distressing. There are people out there who want to see Lady Gaga fail. They are mean people. [DigitalSpy]
• ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE: Just in time for a holiday weekend that is synonymous with her last name, Courtney Love has settled a long-standing $4,000 flower debt. [TMZ]
• Our commander-in-chief has decided that one of his goals is to make free wireless available to everyone across America. [The Detroit Free Press] [Ed. note - YAY!!!]
• FEROCITY: Joan Rivers presents a solid argument in favor of marriage equality.
More Rohin/CPR and Valentine's after the jump...
He-he-hello to 2011, fair readers! With 2010 shrinking far away in our rearview mirrors, let's look to the future. Let's also think about New Year's Resolutions. One of my resolutions was to get back into the gym, if only to keep in time with Nicole Scherzinger's "Poison" while on the ellipticals (check!) Another resolution? To shelve the thunderstormy doomsday theories of 2010. Y'all know bad things happen in the world, but let's vow to laugh and dance and eat P'zones and high-five despite it all. Deal?
• One of the best reasons you can have in January to finally get that digital converter box for your old TV set is the return of the Amy Poehler-led Parks & Rec next Thursday night. Below, she sings "Poker Face"--first at a gay bar and then at her desk. Good times!
Continue reading "Civilization Progress Report: Ophiuchus rising!" »
Much of my extended family--relatives who are so distant that they believe that a trip down the aisle via Shaadi.com still remains a strong possibility in my future--use bizarre terms like "ladies' man" and "casanova" when I explain to them who my friends are these days, as it sounds like I'm reading off a laundry list of lady-loves. And sadly! mine is a culture where two members of the opposite sex can't seemingly just pass around a bottle of wine and wail along to Tori Amos' "Leather" without inviting implications of matrimony and suburban dreamscapes. But this week, I thought I would take a break from the usual bit of rubble-sweeping and doom-predicting and celebrate some lovely things that lovely ladies are doing that make this world a much better place for the rest of us to exist in!
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says China is not the enemy. She may have a point because it's not as if they've blocked their citizens off from playing Farmville entirely...they've just branded it differently. [NYT]
• And here is her "It Gets Better" contribution. [Feministing]
• Meanwhile, now that Padma Lakshmi has popped out a sprog, she likes to keep fit by running up 70 flights of stairs. [New York Daily News]
• SHE CAME TO HAVE A PARTY, BUT DO NOT OPEN UP THE BACARDI! Not to be outdone, Mariah Carey has taken to rooftops to announce that soon, she will also be popping out a sprog. [Daily Mail]
Continue reading "Civilization Progress Report: The Ladies We Love Edition" »
This image has haunted my online banking and ATM for too long now. You see, Citibank thinks its clients are clowns. Not just clowns, but clowns with with learning disabilities. No, wait. Citibank thinks its clients are learning disabled clowns with no concern for their finances.
When I buy a toaster, I want it to toast things. When I buy cat food, I want it to nourish my cat. When I purchase a condom, I want it to protect me from microscopic critters (and feel like it's barely there). When I enter into a credit/debit card agreement, I want my money to be readily available to me and not have to pay fees to subsidize bullshit marketing campaigns like "special access to purchase Preferred Tickets for Lady Gaga". Again, I do not want to subsidize bullshit marketing campaigns like "spec..." Wait. What the hell is "special access to purchase Preferred Tickets for Lady Gaga"?
Taken literally, this means that I'll be given an ability that is special to buy Lady Gaga some tickets that are preferred. What type of tickets will I be buying for her? Can I buy her tickets to the Professional Bull Riders? That is something that I am certain Lady Gaga and I would enjoy. We'd put on our western drag and cruise the men's room and drink beer and cheer on the bull riders. Lady Gaga and I would so totally enjoy that.
But no, it means you can use your card to get seats to which only you and the millions of other Citibank MasterCard users have access. Oh, joy. Thank you so much Citibank for spending the hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to create this very special opportunity for me and the millions of others.
If you haven't moved your money out of the big banks yet, you really should. Time after time they prove that they simply don't have a clue as to what is important: the management of the assets that you put into them.
Last weekend, I decided it would be a good idea to ignore the sunshine and stay indoors and play video games for about seven hours, so I rigged up an emulator on my MacBook and played this old gem and this one, too. And then when my eyes started bleeding and I decided a better idea would be to get up and pour myself a cup of lukewarm coffee. Then I took a couple minutes out to stare at the wall and idly wonder about how the human condition could be well summed up by a litany of RPG tropes: If an angry jerk stands in your way, give him some KFC and he will let you pass, if an oversized metal cat threatens you, shoot him with your crossbow, and so forth. But what do you do if your biggest hero, who has spent the last couple years leveling up, fails to vanquish the evil overlord bent on perpetuating a meaningless agenda and rescue Princess Zelda (i.e. America)? Put "Alejandro" on repeat and dive right in for your weekly edition of CPR, naturally.
• "Today was an enormous DISAPPOINTMENT, for myself, and for many young American people." - Lady Gaga on the decision to block the DADT repeal. [Official Site]
What to think of this stunt? Perhaps more importantly, what would Morrissey say? Start with his longtime animal activism ("Meat Is Murder" lyrics post jump), add years of commentary about the treatment of animals in Asia (the vitriol of which has brought him complaints of racism). Lady Gaga and Morrissey have met before, and she cites him as a "style inspiration". And where does Terry Richardson come out in this? The photographer for this cover has also shot Morrissey before. What does it all mean?
Update: Flavorwire does a recap of things that Morrissey has hated over the years.
Via Flavorwire, where there is more gag-worthy Gaga art from Regretsy.
These sort of look better constructed than what she usually wears, don't they?
