Idol Ranting

I previously stated that my dislike of American Idol contestant Paul McDonald simply reflects my personal taste, however, I have become increasingly baffled by the seemingly unconditional praise he receives from the judges. Now it’s not just his voice that I don’t like – he actually sings badly. I feel nothing emotionally when he sings, except for a longing for it to end.

(SPOILER ALERT – Results from the April 7 episode of American Idol are discussed below.

Less rantily, I was a bit surprised last week when Pia Toscano was voted out. Yes, I realize that my mild surprise is not a very shocking revelation, since everyone on the TV has been shocked by her departure. However, I am special (as my mom always told me), because I have not been a big fan of Pia’s. I have felt little emotionally and personality-y from her, and thus, despite my recognition of her good voice and singing ability, I didn’t love her and I therefore would not have been surprised if she had been voted out earlier. However, her last performance, in my opinion, was actually good. I sensed a personality, and I heard and felt emotion (I can’t remember what the song was though). I also felt a bit uncomfortable watching her in what looked like pajamas that might have been cute before they were altered into that thing she was wearing. Perhaps her departure had something to do with that. But seriously, I was surprised to see Pia go because I was finally starting to like her, so I naturally assumed the rest of America was too.

Finally, to end on a positive, non-ranty note, I love James Durbin and Scotty McCreery. They are amazing every time (or nearly every time) they sing. I also like the other remaining contestants (Lauren Alaina, Stefano Langone, Casey Abrams, Haley Reinhart, and Jacob Lusk).

Who Doesn’t Love Shiny Objects?!

I’m not a fashion expert by any means, but I appreciate beauty in any form, ByJuliePie tops and dresses (discussed here by someone who does seem to have fashion expertise) effortlessly fit that description, just as anyone can effortlessly wear these works of art, as you can see at the ByJuliePie Etsy store and Facebook page.

Not only does Julie use ornate buttons, and colorful tie-dyes, but she also uses shiny objects on her one-of-a-kind embellished ByJuliePie tops and dresses. Not just any shiny object, but the shiniest – Swarovski crystals!

The cute tops and dresses burst with Julie’s creativity, and maintain a nice balance of creative artistry and shimmering glamour. What could easily become overwhelming, too-much-going-on, or even tacky never does; rather, everything always seems to remain simply and perfectly pretty yet bold and artistic.

To top it off, she also has adorable doggy clothing! This is fantastic for people who have dogs who like to wear very fashionable and sparkly clothing. You and your dog can wear similar styles, if that’s your thing.

With all the lovely and fun embellishments on the human and doggy clothing, you might think (as I did) that these items must be impossible to clean. But surprisingly, some of them are actually machine washable! The ones that aren't are hand-washable and/or dry-clean-able.

Since holiday shopping time is upon us, ByJuliePie tops and dresses could make for beautiful gifts for friends, and as ByJuliePie says, for “you daughter and your pooch!”

Evolving Perceptions of Lady Gaga

My hatred of Lady Gaga (whose real name is Stefani Germanotta) was immediate, from the moment she entered my consciousness. She is just a wannabe Christina Aguilera (whom I love, and whose talent is unquestionable; if there was ever any doubt regarding Christina’s talent, her impromptu a cappella performance of “Beautiful” on Saturday Night Live very clearly elucidates her talent), I thought, as I’m sure many people did. So, as I mention in my previous blog posting, I hated Lady Gaga for what I thought was: an obvious lack of originality. I thought she was a derivative and therefore fake pop singer who, beyond her lack, of originality, appeared to lack talent. Another Paris Hilton-like pop quasi-singer, manufactured to sound decent.

I was informed at some point that according to Perez Hilton, Lady Gaga is, in fact, original. Apparently, he provides evidence that Lady Gaga’s fashion precedes Christina’s, so, assuming he is correct (which I do), Lady Gaga is original and therefore is not fake. Yet I continued to hate her, despite the elimination of my perception of her as a wannabe Christina.

Her music itself didn’t anger me quite so much; I kind of like “Just Dance,” though I couldn’t listen to the whole song since it just got annoying. I did (and continue to) like “Poker Face,” but I hated (and continue to hate) “LoveGame.” I also continued to hate her.

My hatred began to change when I saw the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where Lady Gaga performed “Paparazzi.” Until then, I hadn’t heard the song at all; I occasionally reside under a rock where I somehow manage to (usually inadvertently) avoid any exposure to new music or celebrity and newsly goings on. As I watched the very dramatic performance, I found myself…enjoying it…a lot. This came as quite a shock to me. The song was fantastic. More notably, it became clear that she actually does sing, and her voice is kind of good and unique in that its distinctiveness makes the Lady-Gaga-ness unmistakably recognizable. In addition to her singing talent, I noticed she plays the piano as well. I had seen her perform “Poker Face” on American Idol where it was evident that she actually sings and also plays the piano, but somehow her talent didn’t strike me then; my hatred at the time was too strong because I hadn’t yet learned of her originality and so I still thought she was a wannabe Christina at the time. But at the VMAs, the song and her talent struck me, and I began to realize that she is not only original in her fashions, but she seems to have some real talent too. My hatred was dissolving, and I was beginning to like her.

My hatred further dissolved as I watched her further demonstrate her talent on SNL, where in her second performance of a medley of her songs, she appeared to improvise on the piano and with the singing. I was impressed. I didn’t see the whole episode at the time, so I had missed her talent-displaying performance of "Paparazzi" as well as her rather funny appearance in this funny sketch. Apparently she has comedic talent as well as musical talent.

Then, a few weeks ago, I heard somewhere (probably on MTV or VH1) that Lady Gaga had spoken and performed at a Human Rights Campaign dinner, and then participated in the National Equality March on the mall in Washington DC, and that she had stated that it was the most important thing she has ever done in her career. Upon hearing this, very much to my surprise, I thought to myself “I love Lady Gaga, she is awesome.” I am a huge fan of equality and of not discriminating, and also of GLBT people and their rights, so it truly warmed my heart to hear that Lady Gaga shares my love for the gays. My perception of Lady Gaga was fully transformed. My initial hate-filled perceptions were based on misconceptions. She is a talented performer, and a kind-hearted person.

Since antipathy had turned to admiration and fanliness (if it hasn’t become obvious, I like to make up words), I became interested in how far her talent goes. Apparently, before releasing her own album (for which she wrote most of the music and lyrics), she had been writing songs for other singers. More interestingly, her talent seems to be quite a natural one; she learned to play the piano by ear when she was four years old, and has been writing music since she was 13. She is vastly more talented than I had thought, and is the antithesis of the Paris-Hilton-esque quasi-singer that I thought she was.

Since I now love her, I find that I like her music more than I had. However, I still hate “LoveGame,” both the song and the video, but that could just be because I’m not much of a fan of pornography.

UPDATE December 24, 2009
Since writing this blog posting, my love for Lady Gaga has grown. Since then, I've seen her in a few interviews on the TV, where she appears to be a genuinely kind and sweet human being who loves her fans and always remains true to herself. Additionally, "Bad Romance" in particular and The Fame Monster as a whole are fantastically good. Shockingly, "LoveGame" has grown on me, and now I kind of like the song, though I continue to not like the video.

I heart Lady Gaga.

UPDATE February 1, 2010
As if I didn’t already love Lady Gaga enough, she just keeps making me love her more. She kindly donated proceeds from a concert and from merchandise to Haiti earthquake relief efforts. I know a lot of celebrities do things like that, and I love every one of them.

Lady Gaga’s sweet, genuine kindness pours from her in interviews, including Oprah’s interview, where Gaga said about her fans, “I want them to free themselves, and I want them to be proud of who they are. I want them to celebrate all the things they don't like about themselves the way that I did, and to be truly happy from the inside.” She said something similar to that (somewhere, possibly also on Oprah) about the meaning behind “Bad Romance.” She explained that the song is about loving someone for everything he or she is, for all the good, all the bad, and all the things the person doesn’t like about him or herself. She spoke as though these are the things she wants, and, therefore, she read my mind…I think that might just be what every human wants, and she captures that perfectly.

If you missed her amazing performance with Elton John at the 52nd Grammy Awards last night, you should watch it right now – it’s fantastic. I was very happy to learn that she won two Grammys last night (during the un-televised portion) for “Poker Face” and The Fame. I love her so much.

I think a big part of what makes me love Lady Gaga is that she seems to have always felt like a freak and an outsider, and she makes such an effort to keep other people from feeling that way, or from feeling bad about being a freak or an outsider. I imagine most people (myself definitely included) have felt like freaks and like outsiders in some way, and Lady Gaga makes us realize we’re not alone. She is a wonderful human being.

UPDATE: May 23, 2011
The TV, or more specifically, the Fuse, has explained that what I called pornographic in the LoveGame video was an homage to Michael Jackson's "Bad" video.  I guess that makes it less gross, but still...ew.  In Gaga's defense, I think it's gross in the "Bad" video too.  I suppose I'm just too prudish.