I love Miley Cyrus

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, I made an effort, I wont bother any more if I'm just a cultural snob when I try.

Well, it's like this:  Nigel brought up several points.  Those points were ignored.  This is not entirely unexpected, on account of 2 things:

1.  Nigel brought them up, and

2.  She unreasonably expected people to stop sneering for 10 seconds and examine what she had to say, and maybe even for 3 minutes 14 seconds to examine the video in question.  What Nigel, of course, doesn't even CONSIDER is that if we stop sneering at "pop culture" even for that long, EVEN in the interests of examining what MIGHT MAYBE POSSIBLY be the biggest MIND FUCK since p-funk shuffled off stage left, why, we'll lose our seniority down at the local Coffee & Wine Bar, and they'll take our Brad Pitt hats away.  We might even lose our tallbike licenses.  She's totally fucking unreasonable.  She FAILS to REALIZE that this sort of shit is REFLEXIVE, and we have about as much control over it as we do over our MIGHTY PENISES.  Mine, for example, is 3 feet long and beats up the neighbor once a week.  Anyway.

...All hyperbole aside, there is something hilarious going on here, and I'd expect just a LITTLE BIT MORE than CASUAL, SNEERING DISMISSAL from a board full of Discordians.  That's MY Discordia, though, and results may - as always - vary. 

The really interesting thing here is that everyone IMMEDIATELY has to scream THIS HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE, for the same reason many people - myself included - AUTOMATICALLY dismiss any good news as "bait for suckers".  It's a SUBSTITUTE FOR THINKING.  It's the uniform jacket so tight around our necks that we all involuntarily SHIT OURSELVES, and then congratulate ourselves on our scatalogical OUTLANDISHNESS.

Wait.  Scratch all that.  Nigel is the cancer that is killing PD, and Miley Cyrus is the same old shit microwaved to room temperature and dished out in pre-sized portions, and anyone who says anything different is just being contrary.

BURP.

[AFK]

Mind Fuck?  Really?  I don't see it at all.  She isn't the first pop star to do outlandish stuff at the VMAs and she isn't the first young pop star to grow up and use aggressive sexuality to distance herself from her pop-princess era. 


I mean, I guess she's the first one to lick a sledgehammer and ride a wreckingball naked.  Which I guess is interesting.  I'm not sure it rises to "mind fuck" though.  Who's mind is she fucking exactly? 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Mind Fuck?  Really?  I don't see it at all.

I realize that.

[Cramulus]

I think what makes this particular incarnation of the innocent little girl to pop nympho cycle unique is that Miley seems to be driving it herself.

A lot of child stars are pressured to sex up their acts gradually over time, either by crazy parents, or by the pressure to remain relevant -- but I don't get the sense that Billy Rae is the one pushing her to descend into the underworld like Ishtar, shedding her treasure as she goes --  his comments actually seem very supportive.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I think what makes this particular incarnation of the innocent little girl to pop nympho cycle unique is that Miley seems to be driving it herself.

And she's doing a brilliant parody of it as well, with a couple of really funny "meme short circuits" embedded in it, and...

...Uh, what am I saying?  Personally, I won't listen to anything less than Miles Davis on wax, while I drink elephant-turd coffee and leaf through F Scott Fitzgerald novels.

Anything less would be pedestrian.
\

[Cainad (dec.)]

But Britney Spears did the same thing.  Including using "aggressive sexuality".  How is Miley any different?

Britney was always shown as sexy, even when presented as sexually aggressive. Her image was always designed to be desirable. Sexually aggressive, yes, but in an unmistakably "you want a piece of this" way.

Miley's VMA performance was gross. Not "a bit too over-the-top," because pop music sexualization loves over-the-top. She ditched the part where she was supposed to make her sexual objectification look hot.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

But Britney Spears did the same thing.  Including using "aggressive sexuality".  How is Miley any different?

Britney was always shown as sexy, even when presented as sexually aggressive. Her image was always designed to be desirable. Sexually aggressive, yes, but in an unmistakably "you want a piece of this" way.

Miley's VMA performance was gross. Not "a bit too over-the-top," because pop music sexualization loves over-the-top. She ditched the part where she was supposed to make her sexual objectification look hot.

Okay, Mac.  Hand over the ukelele.  YOU'RE OUT OF THE CLUB!

[Cainad (dec.)]

But Britney Spears did the same thing.  Including using "aggressive sexuality".  How is Miley any different?

Britney was always shown as sexy, even when presented as sexually aggressive. Her image was always designed to be desirable. Sexually aggressive, yes, but in an unmistakably "you want a piece of this" way.

Miley's VMA performance was gross. Not "a bit too over-the-top," because pop music sexualization loves over-the-top. She ditched the part where she was supposed to make her sexual objectification look hot.

Okay, Mac.  Hand over the ukelele.  YOU'RE OUT OF THE CLUB!

[Placid Dingo]

It's kind of like the spectacle as the artwork. It goes beyond the performance.

Like an artist painting a black canvas hiding inside with a camera to film audience reaction. The interaction is the artwork.

I may be going too deep with this.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I never thought I'd ever see Poe's Law apply to music.  Seriously.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

It's kind of like the spectacle as the artwork. It goes beyond the performance.

Like an artist painting a black canvas hiding inside with a camera to film audience reaction. The interaction is the artwork.

I may be going too deep with this.

It's more like watching someone take a formula for something, and leave ONE thing out.  Something that isn't immediately recognizable...But it jangles and bugs you until you see it.  Then you shit bricks.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Have you ever known the way little kids like to hear the same stories over and over? They love it, and they'll eagerly listen to the same stupid thing hundreds of times.

But have you also seen what happens when you tell the story wrong? You'd think the fucking barbarians were at the gates.

Ever done it on purpose just to get a rise out of 'em?



Miley is telling the story wrong. She's messed up the good part, too!

It's kind of like the spectacle as the artwork. It goes beyond the performance.

Like an artist painting a black canvas hiding inside with a camera to film audience reaction. The interaction is the artwork.

I may be going too deep with this.

I was just going to say something like this. The reaction is part of the art, and this is a masterpiece. It's one thing when avant-garde arthouse nerds try to outrage people with their weird art, but Miley is painting with the biggest damn canvas she can find.

[Don Coyote]

Why does it matter that she is using shock and horror to get attention and make sales? Why does it matter that she is paying others to write the lyrics, do the musical arrangements, direct the shoots? Why does her shit have to be extremely radically different from other women popstars to have meaning?
This woman evidently has some manner of vision, has the means, financially and other wise, to pay for professional assistance in realizing her vision, even if all it is being shocking for the purpose of being shocking and getting more money.
Or is this just some affected cynical snobbery?

You are making my point for me.  She isn't different from other women pop stars.  She's playing the same game all the others played before her.  And yes, she is playing it very well as evident by breaking that record of most views.  But I don't see anything particularly "arty" in her vision compared to other pop-stars as has been suggested by others.


And honestly, I don't even see how anything she has done can be considered "shocking".

And you missed mine, like you've missed Nigel's and TGGR's.

[AFK]

I haven't missed it, I don't agree with it. 

[Don Coyote]

Have you ever known the way little kids like to hear the same stories over and over? They love it, and they'll eagerly listen to the same stupid thing hundreds of times.

But have you also seen what happens when you tell the story wrong? You'd think the fucking barbarians were at the gates.

Ever done it on purpose just to get a rise out of 'em?



Miley is telling the story wrong. She's messed up the good part, too!

It's kind of like the spectacle as the artwork. It goes beyond the performance.

Like an artist painting a black canvas hiding inside with a camera to film audience reaction. The interaction is the artwork.

I may be going too deep with this.

I was just going to say something like this. The reaction is part of the art, and this is a masterpiece. It's one thing when avant-garde arthouse nerds try to outrage people with their weird art, but Miley is painting with the biggest damn canvas she can find.

But it's just some dumb female popstar. So it's obviously not art. I mean she's trying to make money.