Memo to Lady Gaga (a mini-rant)

[Clairitek]

Maybe I need new glasses and a hearing aid, but I don't see or hear any talent coming from Gaga.
I suspect she's a displaced Kardashian.

Hardly a displaced Kardashian. I suspect that if she were truly void of talent Elton John would not have lowered himself to sharing a stage with her to sing one of her songs. There is a lot more to Gaga than meets the eye (hard to believe since she puts so much out there). Go watch some of her YouTube videos from before she became mega-famous. I especially love the ones of her performing her songs on piano. Really shows her singing talent, vocal power, and ability to play a real instrument.

Gaga certainly isn't for everyone. I am from the Madonna generation, too, but I don't take any offense to a torch of sorts being passed.

It's not that I take offense to it, it's that I don't believe it. To me, all of these "pop princesses" are pretty much at the same level. Gaga might be arguably the most talented of them, and the most controversial (I mean that in a good way), but the new torch bearer, the new Queen of Pop, maybe when Gaga has achieved it. Madonna is the best selling female recording artist in the world, and in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and still working. Gaga has never been as famous or as successful. I mean how many people have? How many single female recording artists? None. And the rest of Madonna's achievements I mentioned earlier. Also, to be honest, my taste in music is very eclectic. If I want singing talent, I'll listen to the soprano Emma Kirkby, or Fantasia, or the Mississippi Delta Blues, or a thousand other artists. That's not why I listen to pop stars, Madonna or Gaga, either one.

I think Gaga is interesting. Her work is interesting. I plan to pay more attention to Gaga and her work, but I could live without her fetish with paying homage to Madonna, to be polite about it.

I can't believe this thread has had almost 600 views. It was just a rant as I said in my title. Yes, I feel strongly about it, but it's just my personal opinion.

I can't highlight parts of your quote for some reason, but I wanted to point out (again, since someone else has already said this), that Gaga is less than half of Madonna's age. Give the girl a chance! I think that if you compare them at the same age its more of an apples to apple comparison. The person a few posts up pointed out the fact that Gaga is 25. At 25 Madonna was significantly behind Gaga in terms of career success, but I don't think that makes Gaga better. Just that she isn't totally unfortunate or talentless.

I will agree with you that the Madonna fetish on Gaga's part is a bit odd. I think she will grow out of it, though. Can you blame her? She is 25, part of a generation that grew up listening to Madonna. Doesn't surprise me that she wants to honor Madonna in that way.

 

[LGK]

Danny, I'm going totally OT here, sorry, but I just quit smoking too last month (cloves, Djarum Blacks) and I've been using an e-cigarette instead. It was ridiculously easy to switch to for me, I stopped smoking completely the first day, and I've been tapering the nicotine level I use down pretty easily too- apparently nicotine on it's own is a lot less addictive than you'd think, it's more that the zillion other chemicals in a burning cigarette create the addiction along with the nicotine in a sort of gestalt of evil, haha. Anyway, if you have a hard time cold-turkeying it, I'd absolutely recommend trying an e-cigarette; if you're curious about it let me know I can give you some good info on what to shop for (and plenty to avoid, there's a bunch of serious rip-off sites out there). I know some smokers are afraid that it's just transferring your habit to another form, but frankly, I've felt a zillion times better and haven't had to use my inhaler, so that's awesome IMO. (And it breaks a lot of your smoking rituals too, which is all to the good.)

And iLander, I'm totally impressed you've kept up with quitting so well. Good luck!

 

[partgypsy]

I knew Lady Gaga must have hit some barrier of world famousity when in the last year I had 2 different dreams with her in it. and it's not like I'm immersed in popular culture (don't have a smart phone, watch cable or watch videos). So when Vanity Fair came out with an article about her I read it, and decided I liked her. My sister went to art school and from high school on we knew a lot of people who were "out there". She seemed to be artistically out there before she became famous, and uses it as a motivation and source for her creativity. Not necessarily musically but visually she reminds me a bit of David Bowie that way (who I LOVE). So while all her facades are fake, I don't think SHE is fake. Not that I buy or listen to her music (someone else will have to make that comparison).

I don't follow Gaga enough to know why you say she is following Madonna. A lot of pop stars mix sexuality, s&m and even religious imagery in their videos, performances to such an extent that it is almost a cliche for being "shocking". Gaga is imitating Madonna in that way but then so is half the crowd. Brittany and stripper poles, Katy Perry wearing cone shape bras, Rihanna and bondage outfits. At least Gaga seems to have more of a sense of humor about it.

 

[Imdanny]

Danny, I'm going totally OT here, sorry, but I just quit smoking too last month (cloves, Djarum Blacks) and I've been using an e-cigarette instead. It was ridiculously easy to switch to for me, I stopped smoking completely the first day, and I've been tapering the nicotine level I use down pretty easily too- apparently nicotine on it's own is a lot less addictive than you'd think, it's more that the zillion other chemicals in a burning cigarette create the addiction along with the nicotine in a sort of gestalt of evil, haha. Anyway, if you have a hard time cold-turkeying it, I'd absolutely recommend trying an e-cigarette; if you're curious about it let me know I can give you some good info on what to shop for (and plenty to avoid, there's a bunch of serious rip-off sites out there). I know some smokers are afraid that it's just transferring your habit to another form, but frankly, I've felt a zillion times better and haven't had to use my inhaler, so that's awesome IMO. (And it breaks a lot of your smoking rituals too, which is all to the good.)

And iLander, I'm totally impressed you've kept up with quitting so well. Good luck!

Thank you! I'm doing OK and I don't think I want to try anything but different right now but I might change my mind AND you might help as well as possibly me, people who might read this, SO I DO think you should tell us the details.

I MISS cigarettes. Some days I want to smoke the way thirsty people want to drink. I want to smoke so much, but everyone else doesn't want me to smoke. I'm feeling a tremendous pressure to keep not smoking and I doubt if I did smoke it would make me happy. It would probably just make me ill. But I could so buy a pack or even a cartoon of cigarettes. SO's mother is coming for a visit. Help me! Must escape! Shoot me now!

LBK, I wanted to say I ENJOY your posts so much even though I don't always comment. Don't worry about being OT. That's cool. Thank you again. Good luck to you with quitting!

 

[LGK]

Danny, I'm going totally OT here, sorry, but I just quit smoking too last month (cloves, Djarum Blacks) and I've been using an e-cigarette instead. It was ridiculously easy to switch to for me, I stopped smoking completely the first day, and I've been tapering the nicotine level I use down pretty easily too- apparently nicotine on it's own is a lot less addictive than you'd think, it's more that the zillion other chemicals in a burning cigarette create the addiction along with the nicotine in a sort of gestalt of evil, haha. Anyway, if you have a hard time cold-turkeying it, I'd absolutely recommend trying an e-cigarette; if you're curious about it let me know I can give you some good info on what to shop for (and plenty to avoid, there's a bunch of serious rip-off sites out there). I know some smokers are afraid that it's just transferring your habit to another form, but frankly, I've felt a zillion times better and haven't had to use my inhaler, so that's awesome IMO. (And it breaks a lot of your smoking rituals too, which is all to the good.)

And iLander, I'm totally impressed you've kept up with quitting so well. Good luck!

Thank you! I'm doing OK and I don't think I want to try anything but different right now but I might change my mind AND you might help as well as possibly me, people who might read this, SO I DO think you should tell us the details.

I MISS cigarettes. Some days I want to smoke the way thirsty people want to drink. I want to smoke so much, but everyone else doesn't want me to smoke. I'm feeling a tremendous pressure to keep not smoking and I doubt if I did smoke it would make me happy. It would probably just make me ill. But I could so buy a pack or even a cartoon of cigarettes. SO's mother is coming for a visit. Help me! Must escape! Shoot me now!

LBK, I wanted to say I ENJOY your posts so much even though I don't always comment. Don't worry about being OT. That's cool. Thank you again. Good luck to you with quitting!

Oh yeah tell me about it. I had both my beloved kitties die this last two months (actually, right after I quit) and I found out yesterday my dad just died. I've been sucking on my e-cig like a pacifier today, consequently. Great timing on quitting

Basically, there's a couple good, cheap and easy to use and cigarette-looking e-cigs that are good for people just switching- the Joye 510, and the KRD808D1. Many places sell them but if you're paying more than, like, $50ish *tops* for a very well stocked starter kit you're getting ripped off- there's a lot of sites like Greensmoke.com, thesafecig.com, etc., that price kits at double and triple that. Also you can get empty cartomizers (those are the mouthpiece bit that screws into the battery end, and holds the nicotine liquid) and fill it with pretty much any flavor of e-liquid in existance or even make your own flavors... you don't have to stick to the gnarly prefilled flavors.

The best, cheapest places to buy hardware- which you will do, because various parts are disposable or semi-disposable- are not the best places to buy nicotine liquid. Oh and duplicating your favorite cigarette brand's flavor is not gonna happen- tobacco flavors are more like the scent of a freshly opened pack, and nothing like burning tobacco- so most people kind of give up on that and use other flavors. For example I use vanillas, bakery flavors like cheesecake etc., much more than anything with a tobacco flavoring. I buy most of my hardware from www.madvapes.com and my e-liquid from www.kickbassvapor.com and www.mstsbakery.com

An e-cigarette (or personal vaporizer aka PV) is basically a battery, and an atomizer which heats the liquid nicotine which is sometimes combined with a cartridge part that has filling that wicks it slowly. The nicotine liquid is a combination of pure nicotine (which is usually listed like "24mg strength"- that means 24mg nic/mL), flavoring, and a combination of propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerine. The last two ingredients are responsible for creating the actual vapor you inhale/exhale... and if you use a mix high in vegetable glycerin, believe me- there is a LOT of vapor, way more than you'd see from smoking a cigarette! There are no long term studies about the safety of inhaling propylene glycol but it is the stuff used in inhalers, nebulizers, and a bazillion other things.

Basically, everyone who uses an e-cig is taking a gamble that it's safer than a regular cigarette- personally, I'd recommend doing your research and making an informed decision... I decided I felt it was worth trying- because, though it's pretty much anecdotal evidence at the moment- quitting an e-cig sounds like it's much easier for most people than just cold turkey quitting cigarettes, and while it may not be like 100% perfectly safe and/or good for you, I personally think it's a heck of a lot safer than inhaling burning tobacco. And my body certainly says that an e-cig is much easier on it than regular cigarettes, so that's good enough for me at the moment.

I have to say one of the really nice things is being able to use an e-cig in places you would never smoke, like in your living room, in bed at night while reading, at work, etc. You don't have to exile yourself into the farthest reaches of BFE in all sorts of weather to try avoid contaminating other people with your nasty habit, which is great. And no more smelling icky either.

So anyway that's my novel on the subject And thanks Danny, I actually always love your posts too Hope you hold up to your in-laws visit OK- eek, that's one of my least favorite things ever!