um...this got longer than expected - bear with me?

[nova33]

Hey people. I promise I am not going to be one of those people who expects you to comment on my posts while willfully ignoring yours. I am just doing a terrible job of managing to be job-hunting and playing sports and such while also keeping up with the internet

Comments

[tailoredshirt]

I don't really have any feelings about Lady Gaga, so I can't add to this discussion. I listen to her music sometimes and don't really know much about her otherwise. I have no idea why she is considered so controversial except for the way she dresses.

Glee frustrates me a lot. Sometimes they'll have a great episode where I care about the characters and/or they approach an important subject with grace, but then they'll follow it up with something so ridiculous that I wonder why I'm even still watching. Well, as it is I'm about 5 episodes behind. I think at this point I just watch because it seems like everyone watches and I want to know what they're talking about. (Unsolicited opinion: I find Kurt/Blaine extremely uncompelling, probably because I think Blaine is so boring and weird and forced, and I cannot get a handle on his character.)

I'm kind of amused that you're asking for fic recs.

[nova33]

YOUR FIC IS OPEN IN TABS. TO BE READ TODAY. I PROMISE

[tailoredshirt]

See, I hate that. I am not caught up and haven't even seen them kiss yet, but I thought he was strange from the first time we met him. He plays this weird...guardian angel character to Kurt, like a gay mentor who inexplicably comes to Kurt's school to help him stand up to a bully. And he's supposed to basically be perfect and, as you said, non-threatening. I get the feeling that he never does or will do anything wrong, which already makes him a stupid character. Then there was the episode where he sings to the dude at the Gap, and I was like, wtaf. He doesn't even really know this guy, but he's proclaiming his love? It didn't come across to me as someone who overestimated someone's feelings and made themselves vulnerable. It came across to me as someone who is unable to connect with other people and is more about dramatic demonstrations of affection regardless of whether or not it's real. I didn't sense any tension between Blaine and Kurt, mostly because Blaine didn't seem capable of connecting with another person. It seemed like Kurt

[nova33]

I'm assuming that wasn't a spoiler since, you know, internet, but I apologize if I said anything that was spoilerish

[nova33]

I think that's probably a good way of putting it - that she's bought into her own hype.

I KNOW. And I know that it's on Fox, but still...it frustrates me!

I...don't know what Shameless is. Sorry?

[nova33]

It's one of those weird things that I don't think about that often, but as soon as I start thinking about it, it gets so frustrating. And it's worse when it's shows you love, that are great in every other way, but there's just this nagging sense that something is off.

[mrsquizzical]

my thoughts on lady gaga exactly. if she really was concerned with the issues she talks about she would put in the effort to be less faily. i think it's something that goes with the personality type (ahemgerardwayahem) as well? there's a level of self involvement that does mean they actually get around to creating stuff that other people just think about, but it just comes with, well... the self absorbtion/importance thing. /o\

i haven't gotten into glee, because i tend not to watch telly that much anyway.

[nova33]

I think that's a really good point. That it becomes so much more about building up the image to have a platform for discussion than it is about the actual discussion.

Well, that's fair enough. I don't know if it's worth it, to be honest. Sometimes it's astoundingly good and fun and funny, and other times you walk away from the television feeling genuinely let down.

[nova33]

Hmmm, I guess I just don't get enough of the winking at her self-seriousness, and maybe that's why I find her frustrating? Like, it comes across to me like she actually takes herself entirely seriously, which I sort of think you have to do to be that image all the time. But yes, the causes thing is basically what I was thinking about.

I'm sure she would be!

Yeah, I watched Glee all year with people who don't ever think critically about shows, which was weird, but also let me just sort of enjoy it more, at times.

YAAAAAAY! Congratulations!

[escherzo]

I think the trouble in Glee's case--and most of the reason I stopped watching--is that it doesn't know whether it wants to be a silly and lighthearted show about high school or a show that takes on serious issues, and it doesn't seem to have the balance between the two right at the moment. It's possible to do both, and it markets itself as doing both, which is why I expect more from it than I probably should. If it didn't sell itself partly as "look what issue we're dealing with now" at all, maybe someone could make a case of 'reading too much into this' but it does, so.

I like Lady Gaga's songs, though I'm mixed on her as a person. Imo she started out just going for the fun pop songs and then realized she had a platform from which to speak about things, and, like Glee, her heart's probably in the right place but she's not terribly well educated on certain things and doesn't always get the balance right.

I liked Kesha. Almost unashamedly. Aaand then I heard 'Grow a Pear.' Which, if you look at the lyrics... well.

[nova33]

Good point. It feels a bit like they just have token issues, like they're ticking things off on a list rather than tackling issues that are current and putting a lot of thought into it. Like, you know...teen pregnancy, bullying, homosexuality, obesity/healthy eating (I still don't know what happened with that episode). But it just does an unconvincing job with almost all of them, or the message gets bizarrely muddled by the involvement of someone like Sue, or just the general over-the-top-ness of all the characters.

Also a good reading. I've been defending Gaga for a while - she seemed like she was doing her own thing, and I am totally happy for someone who is devoted to that and makes fun music, but it just seemed to get a little muddled at a certain point.

Ah, yes. I don't think I've even heard that song, but I do see the problems. I suppose that's a sad risk of unabashedly enjoying cheesy pop music - it doesn't usually have a social conscious at all.