Monicker

WHAT THIS THREAD IS FOR:
 
General and fact-based Lana-related questions that are easily answered and not intended for their own discussion.
 
Examples:
 
“Which interview was it where Lana mentioned being a fan of David Lynch?"
"What performance was it where Lizzy did the cover of The Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A.?"
“What’s Lana’s brother’s name?”
“What was the name of that boarding school that Lana attended?”
 
You know, stuff like that.
 
 
 
WHAT THIS THREAD IS NOT FOR:
 
--Any questions about specific discussion topics that already have a home somewhere on the forum, such as individual songs in the Lyrics section, past photo shoots in the Gallery, unreleased/demo songs in the Audio section. Questions pertaining to specific subjects such as these can still be directed to those existing threads.
 
--Discussion type of questions that are a matter of opinion. Eg: “Who do you prefer, Lana or Lizzy?" or “What do you think would happen if Lana went on SNL again?” Those are opinion-based topics for on-going discussion that are not appropriate for this thread, and are better suited for their own thread.
 
***Before you ask your question, have a look here at the thread dedicated to rumors and debunked myths about Lana Del Rey, as the answer to your question might very well already be there.

Gawd, she must hate us all and wish for us to get lives.

I’m happy that the topics that came up with the GQ shoot are still being discussed and have now spilled into another thread; it's important and it's nice to see it being discussed. I agree with whoever said that everyone should be a feminist. Why in the world not? What single good reason is there not to be?
 
Anyway...about the topic of this thread:
 
As some of you may remember, i really hate the National Anthem video.
 
I like the Blue Jeans video much more than the Born to Die video.
 
TIWMUG is my least favorite song on the record.
 
I have no interest in Damn You, it’s a weak song with bad production and i think it’s been singled out as such a coveted song because that’s what previews do--they whet the appetite and make anything more appealing. I think there's a need to fill in the gaps and a desire to grab hold of the dangling carrot. That song stinks.
 
I think Lana can be incredibly cheesy and i love it. I also enjoy all of her paradoxes. I actually love that she has terrible songs sitting right alongside amazing ones.
 
I often wonder if she’s mentally unstable. She seems a bit off.
 
I don't know if this is an unpopular view or not, but she's weird, genuinely weird. Not Lady Gaga/Marilyn Manson weird, which isn't weird in the slightest. That said, what the hell does it even mean to be weird anyway? But yeah, she's a weirdo.
 
There are a few interviews in which i cringe because she comes across pretty dumb. I think she plays that up though and uses that as a sort of tool to be evasive.
 
I wonder why people--if they’re interested in this sort of thing--almost never bring up her nose job and instead focus on her lips. Anyway, discussion about her lips and nose is boring.
 
That's it for now.
 
 
 
P.S. ednafrau, it’s nice to see you again!

Oh my god, this is the first time she mentions any specifics on the Beach Boys.
 
 
 I knew it. I’m telling you, her favorite Doors song is Light My Fire.  

Nobody here even knows what the Illuminati is. 

Evil, TPD, Sam Gho, et al. are probably on the right track regarding the Alabama sojourn, but i had a passing thought and just wanted to throw out another possibility just for the hell of it. It's the sort of little detail that often gets overlooked because it's either so obvious or just plain silly: Could it be that she listed Alabama...don't laugh...as a state of mind of sorts? What i mean is maybe it was just a fantasy she had, perhaps she romanticized the south, and she wanted to make her own narrative more appealing, so she fancied herself living in Alabama to give her persona a certain image, to add to this character/art project she was creating. God knows how many false locations i listed on my MySpace music profile throughout the years...
 
Is Alabama mentioned anywhere else in relation to her past, or did the Alabama talk all come from MySpace? I guess i should have asked that question first. Disregard this if it sounds stupid and implausible. Admittedly, i know little about this sort of stuff.

Maybe, just maybe, Lana Del Rey is like a China Russian Doll, and when you open her up, inside of her there is Lana Del Ray, and inside of Lana Del Ray there is Lana Rey Del Mar, and inside of Lana Rey Del Mar there is Sparkle Jump Rope Queen, and inside of Sparkle Jump Rope Queen there is May Jailer, and inside of May Jailer there is Lizzi Grant, and inside of Lizzi Grant there is Lizzy Grant.

Someone just needs to start opening Lana Del Rey up.

Oh, that all too familiar feeling of having big ideas, things that seem amazing in theory, all worked out nicely in the mind, only needing to be executed, and then...nothing happens. 
 
 

I'm still laughing at the title of this thread, that it's only one breast. Don't change it though, please. 

Lyrically speaking, i've always thought of Lana Del Rey, first and foremost, as a storyteller. Not, say, in the sense of Tom Waits, whose lyrics read more like short stories, and one doesn't ever really wonder if he's singing about people, places, and situations from his own life. I think with Lana it's a lot more apparent that her subject matter is drawn from her life, but it's always puzzled me that so many people take every word completely as autobiographical truth. Almost as if that gives the lyrics more value somehow. I suspect she embellishes quite a bit, and i don't find anything "wrong" with that, nor does it make her and her songs less interesting or valid. I think that, as is the case with most everything, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. That said, when it comes to Lana Del Rey, i'm not terribly interested in the truth and details of her past and personal life. I'm just a music d00d at the end of the day.

You know, i suddenly see a reality show on the horizon. Evil and i would be the most boring characters on reality TV. What would we even do? It would be like hours and hours of him sitting in front of a computer sleuthing the internet for Lana content. I would sit around all day listening to music on headphones. I imagine he and i sitting in the same room but on opposite ends of the room, mostly in silence. Every once in a while one of us will get up to go to the kitchen and say something like, "I'm going to the kitchen, you want anything?" Your husband would occasionally pass through, uncomfortable but agreeable, questioning to himself this decision that you've made. How will you reassure him that it was a good decision? What are we gonna do when it's time to go on the forum? Do we take turns, each of us allocated a set time with the computer? Or do we all go on at the same time and surf together, having to come to an agreement on which threads we want to see, reading over each others' shoulder? Oh my...

I am in agreement with those who think this is an annoying, defensive, evasive, whiny interview. What bothers me though is not so much her “attitude” but how juvenile she can be.  
 
Also, she seems to not really understand a lot of concepts and things that she’s asked about. For example, i don’t think she really knows what it means to be anti-feminist. I have never read anything from her about art, politics, or philosophy that gave me the impression she had anything to say on the matter. I wonder if she is as much of a simpleton/anti-intellectual/philistine, etc. as she comes across in interviews or if it’s an act. That’s not something i hold against her, i’m just making an observation (through my biased lens obviously). I still wonder if she has some sort of “personality disorder” (which i've wondered pretty much since day 1, so that is not something i'm drawing up because she was a bit erratic in this interview) or if she’s on a lot of antidepressants.
 
At any rate, i have a hard time finding anything engaging or interesting in her interviews. The more of them that i read/watch, the more i see her fitting into this pattern i’ve noticed in my life where the people whose music i really love are the ones who i’m least interested in as people (do any of you experience this too?), which is one reason why i have no interest in meeting any artists whose music i follow. BUT...this is also, i think, another testament to the potency of music, that it can allow me to take an interest in the lives of people who i’d otherwise have little to no interest in. 

Anytime i've heard her speak on the subject, she has only ever mentioned YouTube. You can see it too in the footage, the compression artifacts are very visible, in varying degrees, in all the found footage in her videos. I've always found that interesting, how that places her in the current era, she is a product of these times, the generation that grew up online. And that little detail, the fact that shitty video compression is a big part of the aesthetic of her videos, is another reason why i classify Lana Del Rey as a postmodern artist, and shun all those labels that suggest that she's merely a throwback to a bygone era.
 
I don't know where that footage that you're asking about comes from, but i just noticed that in the Diet Mtn Dew video she used footage from that
! Which i still haven't ordered but intend to. It looks so, so great.  
 
 
 
Re: studying metaphysics, Maru wrote the following in THE CLUSTERFUCK THREAD:
 

Naw, i wouldn’t go that far and say that i corrected you. We’re just talking and exchanging ideas here. You stated your opinion, i disagreed with it and i explained why. Your opinion is no less valid or correct than mine or anyone else’s. And no need to apologize for your post, haa.
 
Continuing on this subject though, because i think there's a lot of good stuff to talk about here, something i love so much about Lana Del Rey is how much of a ‘90s/early 2000s kid she is. Nirvana, Britney Spears, Guns N' Roses, Biggie Smalls, but with that very crucial component of having one foot planted firmly in the past, and all the inspirations and obsessions that come along with that--Elvis, Americana, old Hollywood, etc. She’s a little too old to have grown up with the internet and YouTube, but she’s still very much a product of it. That is just so apparent in all her homemade videos. And part of that is the whole webcam aesthetic: kids sitting in their poorly-lit room in front of the computer, un-self-consciously hamming up the camera, knowing you’re alone in your room, that no one is looking, you’ve got your ridiculous wigs on and you’re dancing like a fool. There are no pretenses there about the “right” lighting and camera angles and even picture quality. Forget that, leave that to the people who already shot the footage that she’s stealing and splicing into her videos. And i even love the fact that rather than, say, scouring for old VHS videos at the library and thrift stores, she just gets the footage directly off of YouTube, including the atrocious quality and compression artifacts. It’s like she’s wearing it on her sleeve and reminding us that she’s of her generation and time. It’s great, i don’t think she’s trying to fool anyone or pretend as if she transcends her era or anything. And i think this is where a lot of the magic in her whole persona, artistry, and aesthetic comes in--that highly idiosyncratic conflation of influences, styles, and ethos that form something without precedent. She is neither here nor there, but at the same time, as i mentioned before, she’s totally right here in the present, sort of holding a mirror up to the past--albeit a highly romanticized one. She could not have materialized as the artist we have come to know as Lana Del Rey any other way or time but the here and now.
 
Oh, and what you said about how she pushes your buttons...that, too, is why i’m here right now. She’s flawed and a lot of her choices are rather questionable. But that’s exciting. I don't want some perfect package that is always doing the right and artistically-sound thing. I want the hiccups, missteps, the warts and all. The Brite Lites video, a little embarrassing? Sure. And like you yourself said, awkward. But that’s a real person sitting in their home without any pretenses, and that sort of clumsy, incongruous pairing of music style and imagery is refreshingly baffling and inviting. At least i think so.

I was finally able to read this all for the first time. My head is kind of spinning. 
 
God, this person wrote a lot and was very fiery. I don’t know that that sort of zeal can be faked. Or more specifically, when someone sounds that passionate about supposed events, chances are they’re not making things up, or at least not entirely. She is also almost neurotically specific and repetitive about locations and names. It sounds like a person who was, in some way, wronged or saw, firsthand, questionable behavior toward others that she is strongly opposed to, and wants the people responsible to be held accountable.
 
But then that weird, endless tirade about how music today is corrupting the youth, how the record industry should take responsibility for all problems in society, that they are mostly responsible for crime, pedophilia, rape, and violence against women, all the while using words like evil and so many CAPS. Dude......wut? I really wish people who make these sort of claims would realize that these things have been around since the beginning of humanity.
 
She sounds like someone who's a little "off." Which i hate to say because if she and others really were sexually and mentally abused, there’s nothing worse than dismissing a person as hysterical and discrediting their account. Plus, trauma can make people sound crazy    Even just her writing style and the way she is so incredibly repetitive comes off as someone who has had trauma. Also, based on her language, it seems she had already done a good amount of talking to lawyers.
 
The comments under hers piss me off so much, and are so typical of the lowest lows of the internet. I love when people get angry at someone with a mental illness (if she is indeed mentally ill), and call them a BITCH. Ugh, i hate people. One single person (the last comment) responded in a civil manner and refrained entirely from insults. 
  If this stuff really did happen, i really hope that she and others are okay and that the guilty parties are dealt with accordingly. I don't know, i feel like something probably happened here. Why put so much energy into accusing specific people? Those people must have done something, but the question is what exactly and how severe was it. 
 
Very puzzling piece of the puzzle. My head hurts and i feel depressed now. 

I was finally able to read this all for the first time. My head is kind of spinning. 
 
God, this person wrote a lot and was very fiery. I don’t know that that sort of zeal can be faked. Or more specifically, when someone sounds that passionate about supposed events, chances are they’re not making things up, or at least not entirely. She is also almost neurotically specific and repetitive about locations and names. It sounds like a person who was, in some way, wronged or saw, firsthand, questionable behavior toward others that she is strongly opposed to, and wants the people responsible to be held accountable.
 
But then that weird, endless tirade about how music today is corrupting the youth, how the record industry should take responsibility for all problems in society, that they are mostly responsible for crime, pedophilia, rape, and violence against women, all the while using words like evil and so many CAPS. Dude......wut? I really wish people who make these sort of claims would realize that these things have been around since the beginning of humanity.
 
She sounds like someone who's a little "off." Which i hate to say because if she and others really were sexually and mentally abused, there’s nothing worse than dismissing a person as hysterical and discrediting their account. Plus, trauma can make people sound crazy    Even just her writing style and the way she is so incredibly repetitive comes off as someone who has had trauma. Also, based on her language, it seems she had already done a good amount of talking to lawyers.
 
The comments under hers piss me off so much, and are so typical of the lowest lows of the internet. I love when people get angry at someone with a mental illness (if she is indeed mentally ill), and call them a BITCH. Ugh, i hate people. One single person (the last comment) responded in a civil manner and refrained entirely from insults. 
  If this stuff really did happen, i really hope that she and others are okay and that the guilty parties are dealt with accordingly. I don't know, i feel like something probably happened here. Why put so much energy into accusing specific people? Those people must have done something, but the question is what exactly and how severe was it. 
 
Very puzzling piece of the puzzle. My head hurts and i feel depressed now. 

Isn't it weird to think that we're planning ahead on how we're going to systematically express emotions and reactions through tiny pictures of other people?

This is why i love reading your posts and why you’ve always been one of my absolute favorite members!
 
I'd like to add that, despite any perceived simplicity and superficiality, Lana--her persona, her lyrics, the breadth of her recorded output--is complex. I wouldn’t be here right now if i didn’t think that. She's certainly not easy to box in, though journalists seem to love doing just that, while simultaneously singling her out as highly individualistic. What makes her interesting and engaging is that she’s highly idiosyncratic and filled with paradoxes, which she embraces. A lot of her work has an uncomfortable quality to it that can often fill the listener with uncertainty. Lines often get blurred. There’s a vulnerability, a rawness, and ambivalence in the simplicity of a lot of her lyrics and themes. And, you know, she’s flawed. But that’s great--she’s human. Post-feminists and detractors of feminism tend to make the dubious case that women who are seen as feminists should basically be infallible. It’s yet another bogus, flawed, and unrealistic argument aimed at discrediting feminism and oppressing women. Change from within is definitely my stance as well. bell hooks makes that argument a lot. There are clear ties there to the civil rights movement and the progress that came about due to the different “sides” working together. The oppressed obviously need the compliance of the oppressors, it can't just all come from one direction. This is why it’s important not to isolate feminism and designate it as a strictly female mindset/ideology. I also think feminism needs to stop toiling away in academia, but that’s another discussion, though very much related.

No ambiguity.


 

Well then...that is just the most awesome (1) thing i've read all week. MOSTAWESOME1? REALLY? Tubular.
 
Wasn’t MsSaintTropez the youtube channel that had Florida Dark that Jldr linked to on .fm or am i thinking of something else? Or am i smokin' crack?
 
How many licks does it take to get to thstdsjfdtv,ghkugggjjgjgjgjapwppowirlqp

And K is just a pony. All right, mystery solved. Reality pales in comparison to the fantasy. Next. 
 
Ponies, for some reason, always make me want to cry. 
 

Why are misheard lyrics so unbelievably funny? I have a headache now from laughing.
 
 
 
This is amazing. I want to make a song now called Ridin' His White Pony Named Kevin. This might be my very favorite misheard LDR lyric.
 
 
This just reminded me of when BEEPERS were around and people would beep 143 as a code for "I love you." 
 
 
Oh my god, take me to the German pig. Another song i'm going to make. 
 
 
Me too. 

I was sitting at my kitchen table having some tea when i looked across the way over at a tall tree. I noticed a little bird, a cardinal, high up in one of the branches. It was speaking to another bird, a little finch, and it said, "Just because there's a Thread for Minor, General Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread doesn't mean the search function is now obsolete." It was the damndest thing. Anyway, my tea is getting cold, i better go.

The authenticity of that back cover has never been confirmed one way or the other. If i recall correctly, we originally got it from Calendargirl. I, too, have never seen the photo in any other context. And i’ve definitely seen albums where the front and back covers don’t really “match.” It’s funny, when i first saw it, the first thing i thought (besides that i really liked it) was that, for some reason, the front and back do go together. It made "sense" to me when i first saw it. It's obviously a subjective matter. I’m not a graphic designer by any stretch, but wouldn't you say that the gradients of pale yellow and pale blue complement each other? Also, to me, the picture seems to fit the music of the album really well, although on the other hand, the front cover doesn't fit the music at all, right? I have the feeling that if someone was trying to fake the back cover, it’s likely that they would try to “match” the front cover more, so as to make it more believable. And i also think that the widely accepted misconception of the album title being called Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant would have been used for a fan-made cover, especially considering that this cover photo surfaced before it was brought to light (by European, i think?) that the 5 Points site was simply using Lana Del Ray as the title. Who knows. Until given irrefutable evidence, i think we're all guilty, to varying degrees, of believing what we want to believe.
 
It’s nuts that not even one physical copy has surfaced though, right? Perhaps they were only intended to be distributed at shows, but they never actually got to the point where they were made available at shows, and so Kahne and others are the only ones in possession of copies, which are probably just sitting somewhere stowed away?