Monicker

Lily, i have a feeling that maybe you were thinking of L’appareil a sous, the first track from BB's first album (one of my most beloved pop songs--i think i posted this once on ldr.fm), which was written by Serge and recorded by both of them. BB version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=725ZHftWQrU And here’s his version. Both fantastic. The STRINGS on this one, gah. I'm sure you're familiar with these songs anyway! Damn, i need to move my body RIGHT NOW. BRB.

Didn’t see this post until just now. The forum has been acting buggy lately with the going to last unread post feature--sometimes it just skips over a lot of unread posts for some reason. I don’t know. It’s a good question. I’m sure some people in the military would be offended. Offended by what exactly, i don’t know. I mean, any country’s flag represents its people, no? And an entire country’s people is a diverse population. And any person of any country is entitled to identify with their country and whatever symbols are used to represent the country, no? What is she doing with the flag that is damaging to its people? Some would probably argue that there are only certain things that are acceptable to do with a flag, and that draping it over oneself is not one of these things. I’m personally not offended by her doing it. I don’t feel as if she was misrepresenting, stereotyping, or belittling my or anyone’s culture by doing it. I should make it clear that i’m not necessarily offended by the use of the headdress in the Ride video, i just think she’s being stupid and thoughtless. Re: fashion: What about wearing a t-shirt with an American flag on it? Is that offensive? It’s so broad, you know? (see above). A headdress, though, is very specific with its meaning, connotation, and history. Wearing something, a symbol, that is sacred or meaningful to an entire group of other people as nothing more than a fashion item simply because you think it looks pretty or cool is dismissive of the value that those people place in it. I don’t know if she has no right making art out of gay culture. Maybe she has had conflicting feelings about her sexuality before? Do we know with complete certainty that she’s totally straight? But the more important question is: was gay culture really being represented in Summertime Sadness or were we just watching a love story where the characters’ sexuality could have easily been interchangeable? Were Native Americans represented in that section of Ride or was it just a white girl using a Native symbol (for either purely aesthetic purposes or to identify with another people's struggles)? Either way, i don’t think she was making art out of gay culture in SS. She was telling a love story with characters that happened to be gay, but their sexuality wasn't pertinent to the story, lesbianism wasn’t the crux of the narrative nor was she making a particular point about it. Again, it goes without say, but homosexuality is present in every culture, ethnicity, sex, class, age, etc. It’s universal. Specific Native American symbols and customs are not. She could have very well been playing the role of a mother in SS. She’s not a mother in real life (that we know of, at least!) so would that have been offensive to all mothers? Motherhood is not unique to any one specific culture just as homosexuality isn't. I don’t know, i feel that at this point we may just be asking each other rhetorical questions back and forth. Which, don’t get me wrong, is totally fine--it gives us stuff to think about.

I see what you've done there, evil. Clever as always. Additionally, i'm starting to really believe that the Auto-Tuned Loon wants to, uhm, fuck me, no?

Industrial farming? The defilement of animals, the land, the consumer, and even the workers? Agriculture and factory farming are inherently destructive? This video embodies malaise. I think it's definitely one of her most powerful videos of the homemade ones. It kind of gives "purpose" to her whole DIY video approach. I feel that within the first 10 seconds you can already tell it's better than most of her other ones, there's just something about it. It helps that it's one of her better songs, too! What? Alright, who wants to start the A-Team thread?!

This is an interesting thought. A Born to Die more like the demos? She's a weird one, who knows what's ever going on with her. While i believe she's a totally self-contained artist with her own vision, i also get the impression that she gets pushed around a bit by record labels, managers, and producers. What bothers me is that it really seems that she and others hold this (silly) belief that one direction/sound/style--and only one--had to be chosen and adhered to and presented to the public at large. But why? We all know that she is an incredibly diverse recording artist who does well in many genres and approaches, so why this seeming rigidness in one musical direction? What's wrong with embracing disparate influences and approaches? Was most of her old stuff only the result of trying out different things because she truly didn't know what she wanted and then realized that she wasn't into most of it? Maybe the decision comes entirely from her being eager to move away from certain things toward something more unified, but i wonder if it has to do with marketing and wow, there is a really REALLY tiny weird bird on the tree right outside my window, this is great, bye!

Yeah! What a great synth sound.

I have never understood this being surprised with celebrities being like "normal people" because they dress casual and, like, eat at a cafe or something.

Oh. My bad. I just took a cursory look and they appeared to be the same. Thanks.

What? How is this a second version of the Lolita video? This is the same video. ???

Hello Twin Peaks. Easily one of her very best songs. MORE HARPSICHORD, ELIZABETH, PLEASE.

He absolutely was, but he didn't write Moi Je Joue. It's written by Gerard Bourgeois/Jean-Max Riviere, who wrote nearly every song on her second record, B.B. from 1964, which is where Moi Je Joue comes from. Gainsbourg wrote some of the songs on her first record, Brigitte Bardot Sings from 1963, which is, by the way, ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME.

Was she using symbolism in Ride? I guess all we have is the dubious screenshot from twitter of her explanation, so maybe we can't comment on any of this yet with certainty. However, even if that was legitimately a response from her, i think the symbolism is hard to pick up in the video (maybe that's my own shortcoming though). There's also the fact that it happens in conjunction with her brandishing a gun and drinking in the desert, while saying she's fucking crazy, which, needless to say, doesn't paint a good picture. In Ride, she's a white girl, she's basically herself, and then suddenly she's in the desert with the headdress. In Summertime Sadness, there's nothing about her and her character that couldn't make her a lesbian. Anyone can be a lesbian. It's used in the video as a vehicle to tell a love story, something that is as universal as anything can be. It's not as if she was in blackface in SS or donning a kimono in an attempt to be a Japanese character. She wasn't stereotyping gay women. There was no symbol or badge of gayness that was used in the video to either make a point or simply look pretty. She wasn't taking something recognizable and in the process representing an entire group of people.

Haa, terrible point! Is she playing a Native American character in the Ride video? Is homosexuality exclusive to one culture?

Did anyone really think that if there was going to be any sort of Lana participation in the Grammys that it would be anything other than VG? By the way, these are not nominations. An artist has to first vie for even a nomination. Record labels send in submissions. It costs them money to do so. The committee receives the submissions (plus their money), reviews the submissions, selects final nominees, and then the awards take place. And, all along the way, there are SO MANY politics involved that influence and affect all the decisions along the way. It's a pretty weird world. Blarghghhdtg

I can relate to this. Both of my parents are Cuban, i am ethnically 100% Cuban. Though i was born in America, i was raised in a Cuban household, learned Spanish before English, was immersed in a specific Cuban community, but i really haven't felt any connection with Cuban culture since i was very, very young. I have essentially had an American experience, that is, i am culturally American. And i have certainly gone through times when i didn't necessarily feel American either. When it comes to identity, for me personally, the truth is that, as a white, middle class, heterosexual, cisgender male, it hasn't been important, it's not really an issue. Of course that's because it's not a necessity to me, being that i belong to the demographic that holds the most influence and power around the globe. I am of the dominant, privileged group. It's often an uncomfortable thing to negotiate and reconcile with myself. Fortunately, i don't feel the need to blame myself for these things that i was born into, and i'm still figuring out the different ways in which to think about my position in society, in the world. It would be insane to believe that the world is only what i see and experience. Despite the amount of time i spend on it, i really, really, REALLY dislike the internet. It depresses me, it overwhelms me, it makes me feel hopeless, etc. One of the biggest factors in my feeling this way is seeing how homogenous things have gotten and keep getting, and the way that it all becomes so oversaturated, and so rapidly. Sometimes it seems that everything is melting into one, that the same things reach everyone, that everyone thinks the same, that everyone is the same person. Then i remind myself that there are always specific things--ideas, places, people, etc. that i gravitate toward, which are contributing to and shaping my limited reality. I am only exposed to a very small facet of culture and life. Most of us are. Humanity is so diverse, the human experience so varied, that it makes my head spin. What's the point of all this? To all of us: get the fuck off of tumblr.

Hear, hear.

Is that what they need to realize? I take it you don't think this is a very limited, typically American-white-privileged view, right? You really think that what you experience on your youtube screen at home is fully representative of the multitude of cultures, values, traditions, ways of living, creeds, politics, economic systems, art, etc. that exist AROUND THE WORLD? Maybe in your reality tunnel culture is dead and "we" live in one, big bubble of sameness, but that certainly doesn't warrant the kind of misinformed, sweeping generalizations you've made here. Were you trying to make an incendiary and sensationalistic statement or is it just ignorance? You've traveled the world and seen the homogenization of culture in every pocket of the globe? You've fully investigated and exhausted all modern art, huh? You've only ever met people with experiences similar to yours? Imagine ANYONE else of ANY culture besides yours making the same presumptuous statements you've made here.

Wait, is this racist?

I'm sorry. That's very bleak. But not too long before things change, so hang tight.

THAT SHIT IS GONNA BE EVIL TOMORROW, SON.

Literally? What did they say about it, if you don't mind me asking?

You know, i never read that thread. I always intended to but just never got around to it, and well, i put it off for so long until it was too late. I've always thought that, if anything, she was a craigslist prostitute, only because one of my closest, dearest friends, who reminds me so much of Lana in many ways, did that for some time, so i can't help making that connection.

So now we know Sitar sits naked in the dark with his headphones on singing give me the brite lights just like me. Fuck it, wanna touch dicks in the dark sometime?

1. Yes 2. There are only self-imposed ones (which i personally advocate) 3. No

This may seem counterintuitive, but i really don't see why a producer would know the lyrics.