tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post3158237425898369433..comments2024-03-28T03:20:15.940-07:00Comments on Edward Feser: Goo goo ga gaEdward Feserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-38931344675944435692010-09-16T09:12:45.370-07:002010-09-16T09:12:45.370-07:00At least David Bowie gave us that classic "Sp...<i>At least David Bowie gave us that classic "Space Oddity" (Major Tom). </i><br /><br />Neil, what's more important, David Bowie gave us such mind-bendingly psycho stuff as "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgLy2PAJRiQ" rel="nofollow">Please Mr. Gravedigger</a>." Oh, and "Love You 'Till Tuesday."introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-23122433624844477102010-08-22T13:35:55.755-07:002010-08-22T13:35:55.755-07:00Well, if nothing else, it's useful as a remind...Well, if nothing else, it's useful as a reminder that when dealing with Lady Gaga we actually are on the more enlightened end of the modern-day pop culture pool, however sad that fact may be.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698839146562734910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-7042928649380109152010-08-22T12:29:18.942-07:002010-08-22T12:29:18.942-07:00Hadn't heard of that one, Brandon, but having ...Hadn't heard of that one, Brandon, but having just Googled the lyrics, I think I will try to expunge it from the memory banks. Vile stuff. Just knowing that Lady Gaga exists was bad enough!Edward Feserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-87643074914205893792010-08-22T11:35:13.172-07:002010-08-22T11:35:13.172-07:00*Weird fascist aesthetic?*
All these showboaters ...*Weird fascist aesthetic?*<br /><br />All these showboaters have such out-of-the-ordinary hair...HmmmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-64347974530616801632010-08-21T15:09:27.120-07:002010-08-21T15:09:27.120-07:00I think it becomes clear just how derivative much ...I think it becomes clear just how derivative much of Lady Gaga's work is when you compare, for instance, the video for "Alejandro" with something like Madonna's famous video for "Like a Prayer"; there's no real contest. Madonna took specifics of Catholic popular devotion and, so to speak, played them backward to portray sex in a purely religious vocabulary, made use of specifics of the devotion to St. Martin de Porres, now sexualized, in order to make a statement about race. Using sexualized blasphemy to talk about race relations was just a blatant attempt to stir up controversy by hitting three buttons at the same time, but you have to give some credit for the cleverness of the mix. But when Lady Gaga does it, it's warmed over and completely generic.<br /><br />At the rate you're going, Ed, I'm almost expecting a post any day on the philosophical implications of Ke$sha's "Blah Blah Blah".Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698839146562734910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-39900794855737329992010-08-21T14:03:45.504-07:002010-08-21T14:03:45.504-07:00Dr. Feser and the excellent and wise Peter Hitchen...Dr. Feser and the excellent and wise Peter Hitchens (the sensible Hitchens brother) should write a book together.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-54560652160861577762010-08-21T12:16:34.082-07:002010-08-21T12:16:34.082-07:00I look forward to reading that. I don't know i...I look forward to reading that. I don't know if you're aware of Peter Hitchens, Christopher Hitchen's brother-- an Anglican and a social conservative. He is entirely dismissive of television, and laments the loss of the English literary canon as a part of every English speaker's heritage.<br /><br />I can appreciate classic poetry and literature just enough to think he's right, and to be aware that I am impoverished because I don't know my Shakespeare, my Virgil, my Homer etc. (The latter two obviously not part of the English literary canon but you know what I mean).Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-11873305745935974562010-08-21T12:12:30.524-07:002010-08-21T12:12:30.524-07:00At least David Bowie gave us that classic "Sp...At least David Bowie gave us that classic "Space Oddity" (Major Tom).Neil Parillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11074901258306769278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-24549358645061925432010-08-21T12:01:39.020-07:002010-08-21T12:01:39.020-07:00Maolsheachlann,
In my view, conservatives like Ro...Maolsheachlann,<br /><br />In my view, conservatives like Roger Scruton take too negative a view of pop culture, while conservatives like Brian Anderson (who wrote <i>South Park Conservatives</i>) take too positive a view of it (though I respect both Scruton and Anderson very much). The right view is somewhere in the middle, though of course saying only that much is pretty vague. Someday I'll write something on this.Edward Feserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-61314795706890374322010-08-21T11:50:57.292-07:002010-08-21T11:50:57.292-07:00After viewing her "music" video, I'm...<i>After viewing her "music" video, I'm going to be in a foul mood for at least a few hours. Thanks a lot for bringing it to my attention, Dr. Feser.</i><br /><br />Hey, I <i>told</i> you not to watch it!Edward Feserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13643921537838616224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-83296875266600154152010-08-21T11:13:23.108-07:002010-08-21T11:13:23.108-07:00The more interesting question here might be what a...The more interesting question here might be what attitude social and cultural conservatives should have towards pop culture. I think our host mentioned he has a less withering view of it than Roger Scruton, for instance-- as shown by all the Steely Dan posts. I prefer movies to books, for instance. Does that make me a dupe of modernism, a slave of the entertainment industry?Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-45378796278866793242010-08-21T10:39:57.208-07:002010-08-21T10:39:57.208-07:00After viewing her "music" video, I'm...After viewing her "music" video, I'm going to be in a foul mood for at least a few hours. Thanks a lot for bringing it to my attention, Dr. Feser. <br /><br />Her brand of narcissistic perversion is tiresome, to be sure, but also tragic, in that I am barely able to intuit (much less fully understand) the immense sort of inner, narcissistic forces that would impel a grown woman to drop all self-restraint and then make a shameless and infantile spectacle of herself in front of a <i>worldwide</i> audience.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-89030687124056471602010-08-21T07:43:35.036-07:002010-08-21T07:43:35.036-07:00I have no idea, Anon, how you could have read Fese...I have no idea, Anon, how you could have read Feser's post and conclude that he "fell for it". Try reading it again, and look for words that indicate that "Feser" is describing Gaga as just more of the same old schtick.<br /><br />Now it is an adorable post, true enough. But not because "Feser" fell for anything. Like "Feser", I read VF religiously, and like "Feser", I wasted my youth listening to Bowie, Floyd and others. So I thought his post was "adorable" indeed, a kind of admission of guilty pleasures and the foolishness of youth. Which is indeed adorable, coming from the often somehwat, ah, intense "Feser".<br /><br />Your comment, though...not adorable at all. Not even one anonymous illiterate bit.PatrickHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-88152430626593529542010-08-21T05:56:55.474-07:002010-08-21T05:56:55.474-07:00Her interview answers are performance art. Bad pe...Her interview answers are performance art. Bad performance art, granted. But it's adorable that Feser fell for it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-2611580468348803742010-08-21T05:54:01.102-07:002010-08-21T05:54:01.102-07:00I also think I’m afraid of depleting my energy. I ...<i>I also think I’m afraid of depleting my energy. I have this weird thing that if I sleep with someone they’re going to take my creativity from me through my vagina.</i> <br /><br />Mandrake! We must protect our precious bodily fluids! "[Men] sense my power, and they seek the life-essence. I do not avoid [men,] Mandrake… but I… I do deny them my essence."Codgitator (Cadgertator)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00872093788960965392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-20589143222073504722010-08-21T02:46:02.792-07:002010-08-21T02:46:02.792-07:00It scares me that her music might become a standar...It scares me that her music might become a standard in the future, but as you have mentioned, there have been plenty of publicity stunts like this pulled by many a performer. She is so out there, almost like a female Michael Jackson, with some Madonna. The worst part is how her songs get stuck in your head, forever. I always thought Gaga was quite an appropriate name.Patient Grasshopprthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15369823676882652825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8954608646904080796.post-68901997400062062182010-08-21T00:46:10.712-07:002010-08-21T00:46:10.712-07:00>Perhaps the one thing truly novel about the ex...>Perhaps the one thing truly novel about the ex-Miss Germanotta is her choice of stage name.<br /><br />I reply: Not really. She took that from Freddie Mercury's Queen Song "Radio Ga Ga".BenYachovhttp://www.catholic.comnoreply@blogger.com