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Pennies From Peter Vol. 5: Pop Culture War Zone

Pop culture has always been a war zone for the famous. They are attacking an image, not a person who has worked their whole life to make their dream a reality. The reason celebrities can handle it is because they know their careers were built on hard work and ambition, not just talent. When you reach a point of public scrutiny you have already had a million doors slammed in your face. That’s the hard part. Reading about yourself in papers and online blogs about how much people disapprove of you and what your doing is only making them bigger stars...which is what they wanted in the first place.

Everybody wants to be Hollywood

The fame, the vanity, the glitz, the stories

One day I'll become a great big star

You know, like the Big Dipper

and maybe one day you can visit my condo

On a big hill you know, like 9 0 2 1 0

Just imagine my face in the magazine

People analyzing my look, my body or any plastic surgery

You know like the Big Dipper

and maybe one day you can shake my hand

on the planet Hollywood

You say I'm not underground

I'm rich

I'm famous, I'm vanish, I'm glitz

I am the story, I am the the star

You know like the Big Dipper

Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll

It's over

It's over

I decide it's over

Everybody wants to be Hollywood

Maybe one day you can visit my condo

On a big hill you know

Like 9-0-2-1-0

oh yea

Madame Hollywood (feat. Miss Kittin)- Felix Da Housecat from Guy Sagy on Vimeo.

Pride: What Are You Proud Of?

With the ever so exciting Vancouver pride week just weeks away it is no surprise that everyone is running around talking about their “pride diets” and the parties they plan on attending this year. With all of the different events and all of the excitement that this time brings to Vancouver it is very easy to get caught up in the hype and forget why we have an annual pride parade to begin with.

Most will agree that the first pride parade actually started as a march to commemorate the events of the 1969 Stonewall riots. If you don’t know about the Stonewall riots I suggest you look it up, it’s probably one of, if not the most important moments in queer history. Anyways, the first march took place a year after the Stonewall riots on Saturday, June 28, 1970. This event was known as Christopher Street Liberation Day. On the same weekend gay activist groups on the West Coast of the United States held a march in Los Angeles and a march as well as a 'Gay-in' in were held San Francisco.

These marches were both serious and fun but served a larger purpose. The marches served to inspire the growing gay rights activist moment in the demanding of equal rights for all members on the GLBTQ community. These marches were repeated annually, billed as “Gay Liberation Day”, “Gay Freedom March” and “Gay Freedom Day”. While in later years these names were dropped and simply replaced with “Pride” however, the purpose remains the same.

Personally, I am proud to live in one of 7 countries that provide equal rights and protections to the LGBTQ community (the others being South Africa, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Iceland which has no army). Having said that, it is easy for us to forget about the original meaning on the pride parade, or the fact that 182 countries worldwide do not give its people these rights.

Vancouver plays host to thousands of people from around the world throughout the week and it is a great time to meet new friends. The parties are amazing, the visuals are spectacular and the community comes alive with excitement and joy. So by all means, get out there and enjoy it. Got to the parade, go to the parties and certainly take the chance to meet new people or see old friends. My one request is that while working on your “pride body” and planning out your pride parties, you keep in mind the millions of people worldwide for whom a pride parade, and full expression of self is forbidden.

We have a long way to go and pride parades and celebrations are a great way to inspire the movement. I just hope we as a community don’t lose sight of the goal of equal rights for every human being, all over the world.

Pennies From Peter Vol. 4: Peter Breeze Reviews Alejandro

So I watched the 'Alejandro' video.

It was weird because I actually got up a lot earlier than I normally do... It must have been my pop-culture-spidey senses tingling. I made my tea and remembered that it was Gaga’s release date for yet another mini movie for us all to drool over.

So I watched it, and I totally dig it. It’s like the dark version of “Telephone”. The imagery alone was a lot more inviting and the symbolic images and situations seemed more relevant than the ones of her making a fucking sandwich with her creepy crooked smile and lazy eye. I really liked her red nun outfit thing... Actually, the religious references in general were really well done. I thought the scenes of her in gay sex positions with her dancers were very clever. It's one thing to be a gay icon, but to write a song and film a video with a rumored “falling in love with your gay friends/fans” theme… She’s making it personal.

So after I swallowed Gaga’s huge load I couldn’t help but wish it was a simple facial instead because you know once you swallow that shit it's in your tummy and until you shit it out, her army of peroxide covered swimmers are going to be dominating whatever you ate for breakfast.

Then I leave my house and on my way to starbucks I see this big mechanical something covered in yellow caution tape (a la telephone video)…that’s when I lost it. Gaga has not only dominated the pop charts she has shimmied and step-snapped her way into everyday life.

Here’s the thing: if you were to just listen to her music on your iPod and never got the chance to see her or hear her talk then I don’t think she would be such a global super power. Her music is simple pop music. Its good, don’t get me wrong but its built like any other tune on the radio. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus, chorus, chorus until the song has burrowed itself in your brain. Gaga just has this way of taking her pop music and enhancing it with images, videos, performances and explanations that take it to a whole new level.

Ok I just watched Alejandro again.

Sometimes I watch her and I find her creativity paralyzing. As extravagant as she is Gaga is probably the most raw and genuine artist who is relevant in mainstream media. She is taking music that would otherwise be considered cheesy pop music and making it relevant. She stands for something. Can you imagine what it would be like for the other pop girls out there? Can you imagine waking up and watching Alejandro and then trying to think of a concept for your next single? Can you imagine knowing that no matter how hard you try you will never be able to puncture the giant bubble that Gaga has placed over the planet?

Poor Xtina.

 

Gaga’s presence in pop culture is essential. She is like a bulldozer that’s taking out all the other bulldozers that are cutting down our trees. She is replenishing our resources. She is not something to aspire to or compete with, she is something to be admired and celebrated! But one day Gaga is going to need someone to make out with at the opening of the MTV Awards and you KNOW I’ll be wearing my finest fur and my best lipstick.

Until then…
Don’t call my name, don’t call my name...

Your friendly neighborhood superstar,
pb


Lady Gaga - Alejandro

Ace of Base - Don't Turn Around

Madonna - La Isla Bonita

Ace of Base - All That She Wants


Editor's Note: We all take inspiration from something, how we choose to represent and mold our inspiration into something new is what makes it our own.

I've Got To Stop Sleeping All Day

I know it sound awful but for the last 10 days I've LITERALLY been sleeping the entire day. I often use the excuse of working at a nightclub and going out on my night's off but really that's not the case.

4-5 nights a week I work until shortly after 3 meaning I can easily make it home by 3:45. A smart person would normally head right home but not me, oh no. I go get food, and gas, and sometimes just drive around listening to music. Often I don't get into bed until 4:30. By 4:30 most people would be drained... not me.

I tend to catch up on TV shows I've missed or... watch a movie to fall asleep to, get a glass of water, fluff my pillows, go to the bathroom and essentially putz around until I'm exhausted, smack my head on the pillow and pass out. It's 7:15am, the sun is fully out. FML.

If the average person needs 8 hours of sleep to function normally and be healthy then the best I can do is 3:15-3:30. How many people wake up and immediately hop out of bed, because I don't. No, I'll roll around, rub my eyes and tend to other things that need tending to in the bedroom for about... 20-30minutes. So at the earliest... I'm up at 4. This is awful. It needs to change.

I'm so sick of wasting the daylight and living in the dark. It's summer, the time for outdoor activities, health, sunshine and fun. So from here on out I'm making a pact to go to sleep as early as possible. I'm also making a pact to tend to the things that need doing at home as fast as possible and be out the door. Fresh air and physical activities will hopefully make it easier for me to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour.



Britney Spears - Freakshow

Editor's Note: I'm 16 in that picture... 16.

Pennies From Peter Vol. 3: Fake It Til You Make It

I’ve decided to blog about the most fascinating and delicate creatures on the planet: Socialites and Reality stars. Not just about them, but when they bless us with perhaps their most sacred gift of all... Music.

The first one that pops into my head is of course the shameless leader of socialites: Paris Hilton. When she started popping up on blogs and trash mags after the debut of the Simple Life I have to admit I was addicted. I’ve always been a sucker for the mega famous, but she was a new breed. At least she was to me and my generation. I found it fascinating how muttering “That’s hot!” and courting paparazzi made her literally one of, if not the biggest star on the planet. Love her or hate her she knew what she was doing and single handedly made fame whoring without any real talent, other than posing and showing up, a new art and an aspiration for millions.

Defending Paris Hilton is actually one of my favorite topics. I see an art in what she did. Fame can be conducted just like an orchestra and she was pretty much the Beethoven of Hollywood. Status, Gossip, Reputation and Fame is a new medium in performance art and I can appreciate that, hell…I even do it myself. There are incredibly talented Actors and Singers that would never be able to pull off the kind of media circus and social frenzy that Paris did. She was shameless and she was specific and she fed on our insatiable need to live a more glamorous life…then she started making music.

This is where I think she went wrong. “Stars Are Blind” was mediocre and if it didn’t have Paris’s name attached to it would have never seen the light of day. Paris represented the high life. She was a poster child for the rich and the famous and instead of making a track designed to make people feel like they were “hot” like her she released some reggae sprinkled love song with a cheesy beach video. Her first single should have been called “That’s Hot” and followed the same ruthless self promotion the rest of her career did. I swear to god, if she would have done that she could have at least done a club tour. I did listen to her full album and there were some very good “Paris” tracks that should have been released first. That’s the thing…don’t try to convince your audience who you are, give them what they want and feed the illusions they have of you...

Vancouver's Next Top Charity 2010!

There's a little competition running in Vancouver to see who Vancouver's next top charity is. Basically, they are running an auction and accepting donations and the winner of the competition gets the process of the auction/donations. How do they win? It's simple! Every day people get votes and they vote on their favorite charity. Easy right?

I've chosen Friends for Life as my favorite charity. While all of the entries do amazing work, I know have personally seen the great things done by Friends for Life.

Friends For Life serves as a catalyst to enhance the wellness of individuals living with a potentially life threatening illness by providing complementary and alternative health services. We support members to assume responsibility for their own health and well-being. People living with a life threatening illness do better when they gain the tools and resources to make their own best health decisions.

For some people, living with a life-threatening illness can lead to anxiety, fear, depression, and/or social isolation. Friends For Life believes it is of the utmost importance that people learn to take an active role in their wellness journey. At Friends For Life, we recognize that with compassion, support and knowledge, the experience of illness can be a catalyst for positive personal transformation.
for more information please visit our homepage www.friendsforlife.ca

GET ON THERE AND VOTE!!

vote at http://spotteddoing.com/topcharity/entry/11/