Born This Way review

On Monday, May 23rd, Lady GaGa released her much anticipated third full-length album, "Born This Way." The deluxe version, boasting 22 complete tracks indulges the listener's senses by presenting a wide array of sounds- from techno-synth pop, to 80's ballads, to grungy rock and roll. Lady GaGa's fans, who she lovingly calls her "little monsters" have been waiting for "Born This Way" for nearly a year. Overall, I would say this album was well worth the wait.

"Born This Way" showcases GaGa's vocal talent, versatility and cutting edge lyrics. One thing that GaGa does effortlessly is bring attention to herself at the right times. Her marketing genius has already made "Born this Way" a huge success, even in the first 48 hours of its release.

Unlike several artists who make relentless efforts to keep majority of their songs under wraps, GaGa released four songs before the album's release on Itunes, and also provided links to her fans of her live performances of other songs. This was a smart marketing move on her part - experts say the album would have leaked months ago instead of a week ago if GaGa didn't release these songs when she did. One of the songs released last week, "Hair," ranks high up on my favorites on the album.
"Hair" is a response to people who have criticized GaGa in the past, calling her a shock artist, or someone who looks outlandish for the sake of attention-getting. The message in "Hair" is GaGa telling her naysayers that her appearance is part of who she is, and a true expression of her inner self.

Many people critice GaGa in saying that she is taking beats, melodies and riffs from Madonna. I think this is due in part to the fact that GaGa's vocal tone is similar to Madonna's(well, when Madonna was good in the 80's.) "However, "Fashion of His Love," written for the late Alexander McQueen, definitely sounds like an early 80's Madonna-like track. Not like one that has been done before, but one that Madonna would have sang in her "Like a Virgin" days. It even features a sax solo from Clarence Clemons, who is best known for collaborating with Bruce Springsteen.

"Queen," a bonus track on the deluxe album version, also has an 80's pop sound that I love. It is one of the cheesiest songs that Gaga has ever done, proclaiming that she can "be the queen that's inside of me." This squeaky clean track surprised me more than her meat dress.

Of course, it wouldn't be like GaGa to not have controversy. The thrid song on the album, "Government Hooker", is a dark, eerie, hard-tempo beat that starts off with an opera-like intro. Although a reference to JFK is made, the song does not carry a heavy political tone. The song's hook says, "as long as I'm your hooker," an emotionally tender, boderline desperate thing for her to say.

GaGa is fearless in what she sings about, and religion is no exception. In her second single, "Judas," GaGa is torn between good an evil. She stays with a man who betrays her over and over again, even though she knows "Jesus" loves her. She says, "Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to." The video is equally controversial, as she turns the 12 disciples into a motorcycle gang, and has a young, Hispanic, gay male play Jesus.

In "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion, a pop-techno dance song, GaGa pays homage to one of her biggest loves- runway fashion. She says "Jesus is the new Black," and I'm not necessarily sure I understand what that means and where she's coming from. Nonetheless, it is one of the best dance songs on the entire album.

Aside from all the GaGa greatness, there are a couple of tracks that I don't like. Americano is probably my least favorite. Not only is it lyricaly all over the place, but the music itself never really kciked in for me. I wasn't sure if she was talking about her love affair with a foreign girl, immigration social justice issues or wanting to move out of the country. "Bloody Mary" is a song I only heard good things about, but I'm just not seeing it. It's another slower tempo, ominous type of song, and it is a little too theatrical for my taste. These songs don't really fit in the main album in my opinion, and I would prefer them to be bonus tracks.

Aside from the mentioned "Queen," The bonus tracks on this album are remastered and remixed versions of songs already on the regular album. If you like club dance remixes, you will enjoy them. I kind of saw them as unnecessary, and I now wish I would have bought the album on the first day of its release, when it was only 99 cents on Amazon.com.

One of my favorite tracks on GaGa's last album, "the Fame Monster," was "Speechless." Just her, a piano and some background musical accompaniment. "Speechless" is a deep, heartfelt song that shows GaGa's raw vocal talent and refined piano skills. The second to last song on "Born This Way" is not a new song, but a song that (until now) did not have a studio-recorded version available for purchase. Fans could only hear this song at her "Monster Ball tour" where she would sing it live. "You and I," tells the story of two people that just can't seem to stay away from each other, no matter what their circumstances. It is a passionate, romantic, rock and bluesy type of song that is really fun to sing along to.

The album ends with "Edge of Glory," a song she wrote after her grandfather's death. The song is from the point of view of someone who is in their last moments of life, when nothing in the world is left to scare them. This song is very uplifting, and quite easily, my favorite song on the album. It's the perfect closer to an amazing piece of work.

GaGa's extreme fame and success will inevitably burn out one day, and whether that's soon or decades from now remains debatable. But there definitely is something to be said of the body of work she has put out in such a short time. She is dedicated to status as a pop star, and takes it very seriously.
Her fans questioned how she would top "The Fame Monster," but I really think she may have done it.

What's more annoying than a self-absorbed pregnant woman?

Nothing.

I just saw a report on "belly buds," adhesive earphones pregnant women stick onto their bellies for babies to hear music clearly while in the womb. I'm not sure why, but this really annoyed me. If there's anything I can't stand, it's pregnant women who act like they're the only person in the world who has ever been pregnant, and they do all these self-indulgent things that won't really help their child's development. They act as if all the things they are doing for their pregnancy are going to help their child be better looking or something. Belly buds, prenatal yoga, cloth diapers. GET OVER IT.
You want your kid to be smart? Spend time with your kid once it's outside of your body, and don't dump them off with someone else. You want your child to have tenacity and a strong sense of development, read them a book, or actually talk to them. Playing Mozart to a fetus won't make your kid a genius, or you any more of a pretentious hipster than you already are.

Free from the constraints of society

photo: Michael Pierron

You have heard of vegetarians, pescetarians and vegans. But have you ever heard of a freegan?

Freeganism is one of the newest food movements to sweep the United States, and it isn’t just about scoring free food. Freeganism is a committed lifestyle dedicated to rejecting consumerism and materialism.

Freegans live off of what was meant to be discarded; they often search in dumpsters behind grocery stores, restaurants and apartment buildings. Freegans hope that by using up what was meant to be thrown away, there will be less of an impact on the environment by reducing the amount of waste.


Freegan Kaleigh Wyrick chose this lifestyle as a reaction to the rampant amount of waste in the United States.

“Freeganism is an effort to break away from the consumerist mindset that one always has to have the newest, latest and greatest goods,” she said. “Such a mindset leads to tons and tons of waste building up in the environment, along with a lot of money wasted on buying these unnecessary goods that could be put to a better cause.”

One might picture a freegan as being a dirty or unkempt looking person, since they find their food in garbage containers. This is only but a stereotype – freegans come in all different types, from the upper middle class to working class to poor. Interestingly enough, freegans are motivated not just to preserve food and discarded items, but their own money as well. While some Americans spend hundreds of dollars a month on food, freegans don’t spend any. This allows a lot of them easily to pay mortgage and other bills while having a lower paying job. “If one doesn’t waste all their money on stuff, they no longer have to feel pressure to get a high-paying job. Instead, they can live on a lesser income and are able to use their time in volunteer work” Wyrick said.

This lifestyle seems minimalistic, but freegans seemed to be more than satisfied with what they can find on their own, without having to buy anything. Several freegan blogs and support groups can be found online, and the amount of food and household items that are salvaged is shocking. One blogger uploaded a picture of nearly 100 dollars worth of fancy cheeses thrown out by a gourmet food shop, a person from the Freegan Facebook page uploaded a picture of a toaster oven that just needed new knobs, and another blogger had photo which showed an entire box of heirloom tomatoes.

What is most disheartening about the idea of freeganism is that such a need for people to live this way even exists. A study from the University of Arizona showed that fifty percent of the food from the United States is thrown away. If half of our food goes uneaten, what happens to it? After it gets thrown away, it eventually spoils and gets thrown into a landfill. What was once perfectly good, life sustaining food now contributes to our already massive waste problem.

Freegans aren’t eating and living off of other people’s garbage for the sake of being frugal. It speaks to a higher cause, one that is against consumer America. Wyrick explains, “We don’t need to contribute by following the normal ‘buy and toss’ style of everyone else, but instead we need to salvage and use what we can, and it’s easy to find everything you need to live comfortably.”

Most freegans only need to go out and look for food once or twice a week. Finding sustainable food in dumpsters isn’t as hard as one would think. Freegans call their trips for food “dumpster dives” or “dumpster tours,” and some even lovingly call it “shopping.” There is a strategy on where to look for certain items. Bakeries usually throw away bread after it is one day old, and it can be easily reheated back to life in a microwave 30 seconds. Grocery stores throw away good produce as new (and unneeded) shipments come in. Gourmet shops have stricter guidelines for shelf life of products, and often throw away edible and expensive food items.

Food isn’t the only thing freegans are after, though. They try to reuse anything and everything that was meant to be thrown away by re-purposing things that can no longer be used for what they are intended. Freegan Blogger Jennifer gives step by step instructions on how to take an old ripped T-shirt and turn it into a reusable tote bag for dumpster diving. Freegans also frequent junkyards, where usable household items have been thrown away for the sake of getting the latest and greatest. Freegans look in the dumpsters of hardware and gardening stores, where they find half dead plants that they bring back to life for their own gardens and home décor.

For those of us that want to reduce the amount of waste but aren’t exactly ready to look in dumpsters, Wyrick has a few tips. “Start by using all the food that you have; don’t throw any of it away. Don’t cook something new until you eat all your leftovers. Don’t be tempted into buying the newest item to replace your old one if the one you have works fine. Recycle everything that is possible, and if you can’t recycle it, stop buying it.”

Freegans do have to work a little harder to get their food, but they don’t have to reach into their pockets for it. For freegans, there really is such a thing as a “free lunch.”

some people are short, WHO CARES?

The entertainment business loves to cash in on people with disabilities, deformities and even mental impairments (i.e. Jersey Shore.)
For the past decade, I have noticed an increasing trend in reality shows and T.V. documentaries profiling little people. I would have to say it all started with MTV's 2002 "True Life: I'm a Little Person." This 1 hour documentary followed dwarfs, who affectionately liked to be called "little people" (which has always puzzled me, since "little people" typically refer to less important people, but whatever.) These "little people" show us how they function in a world made for 5 foot somethings. This fit my favorite "freak show" criteria, as the sole creation of the show was for us to gawk at these tiny people, which brought ratings. It was clearly not to inform us on the lifestyle of a little person.

This one show brought on a slough of shows about little people, and some of these shows are the network's top rated series!

Little people, Big world, was TLC's first show about little people, which has been running for at least five seasons and continues to be one of the networks highest rated shows. It profiles two parents who are both little people, their two average height children and one "little" son.
Our Little Life, TLC's newest show about little people, profiles two little people and their new baby, who is of average height.
The Little Couple, also on...you guessed it, TLC, follows two married little people with different types of dwarfism. She is a doctor, and he is in the IT business.
Pit Boss, an Animal Planet series, follows an "ex con" little person whose new life mission is to rescue abused pit bulls. I'm not sure what kind of crimes this little tattooed nugget could've committed. Big Wheel theif? Needless to say, he tries to come off all threatening and bad ass, but it's just silly. Someone put a giant lollypop in his hand and a wig on him already.

Finally, Little Chocolatiers, my personal favorite freak show in terms of exploitation. This show on TLC profiles a married couple who own a candy store. Did anyone else automatically think OOMPA LOOMPA when they heard about this show? Seriously, why don't they just paint their faces orange and dye their hair green?

Why I find little people shows just plain boring is that little people really aren't freaks at all; they're just short. You want to know what it's like being short? Ask a kid. Children adapt to their surroundings every day by climbing counters, standing on their tippy toes and finding other creative ways to get around.

All of these regular adult problems inflicted upon people who are about a foot and a half shorter than the average person serves no true interest to me.

Little monsters crawl to SJ to see Lady Gaga

On Monday and Tuesday night, Lady Gaga performed to sold out crowds at H.P. Pavilion in San Jose. Fans from all over California came to see one of the most controversial artists of our time.
Gaga’s message is made clear in the very beginning of her show. After her first 2 songs, she tells the crowd that her tour, “The Monsterball” was created as an outlet for her fans to express themselves. “I used to not be so brave...I felt like a freak,” said Gaga.” “But now, all the freaks are outside, and I locked the doors.” Gaga continues to motivate her fans, or as she calls them, her “little monsters” by constantly reiterating the importance of being yourself, even going so far as saying they are “cheating the world” if they do not do so.
The crowd attending Gaga’s show was anything but normal. From men in drag to elaborate costumes, many concert go-ers seized the opportunity to dress like Gaga from one of her videos. Some Gaga impersonators were taking pictures with fans before and after the show.
Gaga fans spent the time and money to make going to this show memorable with the expectation that Gaga would, too. Known for her intricate (and sometimes electrical) costumes, enormous sets and fierce dancers, this was something that most fans had been looking forward to for weeks.

“I bought my ticket 7 months ago,” said Gaga fan Claire Flyer from San Francisco. “My mom is a really good seamstress, she helped me sew the jewels on my outift.” Flyer was wearing a black one piece bathing suit with fake crystals sewn on the top, fishnet stockings and a leather and lace sweater with black boots.
Gaga seemed grateful for the participation of the fans, stopping after one of her songs to read signs out loud from people in the crowd, and to comment on people’s outifits and creativity. Gaga also took that time to look at the things people threw on stage, including men’s underwear which she proceded to put on for one song.
One thing Gaga’s fans love about her is her love of controversy- she is fearless when it comes to what she wears or says. She likes to poke fun at herself too, which is sort of humbling, since she is one of the most famous people in the world right now. Gaga jokingly addressed the rumor that she was a hermaphrodite, saying, “I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but I have a huge dick.”
She has made herself a spokesperson for the LGBT community, personally thanking them several times during her show for all their support. The music video for the song “Alejandro” is a tribute to all the gay men and women in the military.
Gaga’s 2 hour set went by very quickly, as the entertainment never stopped and the performances were getting more and more intense.
The beginning of her show started with her song “Dance in the Dark,” where she really did dance in a dark-lit corner of the stage for about half the song. The build up to her coming out was drawn out, where she made slow movements with her hands and arms until she finally came out on stage. After that, she sang her first smash single, “Just Dance,” and then she took off her big studded glasses, her trademark fashion piece, similar to Michael Jackson’s white glove. After that, the show truly began. She sang all her hits along with a few older songs, including “Boys Boys Boys,” “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi,” “Alejandro,” and so on. Gaga’s show is more about her music, it truly is performance art. From an old American car that turns into a piano, to the giant animatronic monster that almost gobbles her up, Gaga is constantly trying to entertain us in a symbolic sort of way. All of her outfits and sets might seem like random happenings created for shock value, but they all provide purpose and meaning for Gaga, who spends her own money on all the set and costume designs.
After the show ended, “little monsters” stayed at H.P. for quite some time, taking pictures with one another, discussing the show and comparing outfits.
Gaga fan Jonny Arguello of Fremont felt the show was intimate, despite the nearly 20 thousand people in attendance, “She stands there in between songs and talks to us, uplifts us, and thanks us. I’d say a good combined 20 minutes of her show were spent nurturing us with her devotional words. It was the most entertaining show of my generation,” said Arguello.
The way Gaga moves, talks to her audience, and performs is already very iconic. No detail is left unnoticed, no hit song is left out of her show, and each outfit is more ridiculous than the one before it.

eat pray love - 3 things you don't need to leave home to do.

Eat Pray Love, a film adapted from the best selling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert is the story of a woman who travels the world to find herself and inner peace after divorcing her husband.
In the film, Elizabeth “Liz” Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts), an author living in New York City, wakes up in the middle of the night and decides that she no longer wants to be married to her husband, Stephen (Billy Crudup) because she feels trapped in the monotony and routine of her life.
Following her painful divorce, Liz quickly falls in love with a younger man, David (James Franco) who inspires her to learn Hindu practices and meditate. When their relationship slowly starts falling apart, Liz decides it’s time to be single for a year. Liz’s realization that men are her distraction from dealing with her own emotions brings her to the conclusion that she needs to be secluded. Liz decides to travel for a year, first going to Italy, then India, then Bali.
When Liz arrives in Italy, she is frazzled, intimidated and confused by Italian culture. Of course, overtime, Liz becomes accustomed to her surroundings and soon she is enjoying gelato by a pack of nuns in front of a cathedral. Endless shots of Liz eating carbohydrates in many forms ensue, followed by her retiring to her rented room each night, reading aloud phrases from her Italian dictionary. Liz learns to say “sono sola” or “I am alone,” and begins to cry. At this point, I asked myself if Liz could ever make a decision that wouldn’t upset her. She decided to leave her husband and travel abroad, and now she is sitting in Italy crying because she is alone. Is this woman ever happy?

After her whirlwind of pasta eating and gaining weight, Liz is thrown into a totally different culture when she visits India. Again, she is at first frazzled and awkward about not fitting in, and eventually finds her place. It is in India where Liz learns discipline, waking up before sunrise each day, scrubbing the floors of her dormitory and eventually participating in the orientation process for tourists taking meditation retreats. India seemed to be the most challenging for Liz but also the most fulfilling, as she chose to forgive herself for leaving her husband for no other reason than for her own self.

Finally, Liz visits Bali where she regularly talks with an old medicine man named Ketut. Liz met Ketut years before on a previous trip to Bali, where Ketut prophesized Liz would return. In Bali, Liz tries to learn how to love again, and this is where the movie comes to a close.

Although this movie was touching, well written and visually stunning, I couldn’t help but hate Liz just a little bit. Watching this movie made me wonder how the tourism in these three countries would increase, with many more middle-aged women visiting, who are freshly divorced and trying to “find” themselves.

Everyone can relate to Liz – we all feel stressed and sometimes even depressed by the routine in our lives. I do agree with her sentiment that stepping outside of your comfort zone and seeing the world does enable personal growth and change. However, I am not so sure that making the rash decision to end your marriage and quit your job all so you can eat, pray and love is necessarily the best route to sanity, either. It seemed more like she was running away from everything and starting over, rather than trying to fix her life.

Eat Pray love was two hours and 20 minutes of one woman trying to feel better about herself, when her life wasn’t that bad in the first place.

oprah calls it quits, needs more time to eat

The internet was abuzz today in reporting Oprah Winfrey's announcement that the next season of her show will be the last. During her announcement, I heard the sound of hearts breaking from middle-aged white women everywhere. Her reasons for qutting? "25 feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit. It is the perfect number," Confucious er...Oprah said. Right. this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that for the first time in years you are no longer the highest ranked talk show, would it Oprah? Or the fact that you're getting fatter by the second and you don't want everyone to catch on to your Krispy Kreme addiction. How anyone can think she's even slightly sincere in her "tearful" announcement is beyond me. Besides being the godmother of narcissism, Oprah can't stand to be in the background.
According to Forbes Magazine, Oprah makes an estimated $758,000 A DAY. Dividing her yearly earnings into her donations to charity last year, Saint Oprah gave away 5 weeks pay. You wouldn't expect so little out of somebody who promotes their own generosity so much, would you? Bill gates gave away more than 3 months of his earnings, but how often do you hear about that? SHAKIRA gave away 40 MILLION dollars to orphans in Columbia! And she has what...4 hit singles?

Oprah's "farewell" to daytime television will lead to one of 2 things.
1) she will get her own late night or cable talk show
2) she will change her mind and surprise everyone by going on with another season after 2011.

She won't go away no matter how bad I want her to.

If the world were to end tomorrow, there would be cockroaches and Oprah. She'd be eating them, of course.