1 post tagged “britney”

Weekdays, I limit my news intake to business, poltical, economic and international news: things that may actually impact my life or workday, you know? I spent the last 2 hours catching up on news of the week from the sports world, local news and.....news from the world of entertaiment. Why, oh why (sweet Jesus why?) did I just waste these precious moments? I can't ever get them back...

I didn't watch the Video Music Awards. I have my own tastes in music; will listen regardless of what the rest of America thinks; believe most of today's music is CRAP (most, but certainly not all) and frankly, I don't have the time or inclination to sit in front of the TV for 4 hours. I do remember when MTV used to actually play videos. Those were the days.....but I digress.

I chalked up all the hubbub about Britney's performance to mainstream America's continued obsession with celebrity, even if it involves a no talent shit like her. Britney was manufactured by corporate America and suits at the music companies who packaged her little teen ass in a little plaid skirt, schoolgirl pigtails and rammed her down our sycophantic throats. And we bought it. Lots of it. Britney was on a train straight into America's voyeuristic camera eye the moment she donned the schoolgirl outfit. I don't listen to her music, but I have to admit that I probably bought into the teen sex symbol thing myself, back when Britney was the Britney that she was compared to countless times since the VMA fiasco.

I still haven't seen the performance. I just don't care enough to search for it or to see the trainwreck its been described as. What I just don't get and probably never will, is how all this nonsense is able to permeate my consciousness, my days. I go out of my way to avoid the entertainment world news most days, and yet I knew of the botched comeback a few hours after it occurred.

I don't care about Britney Spears. I don't know Britney Spears. I don't listen to the music of Britney Spears, and therefore I do not judge Britney Spears. What the fuck, America? Why do we care about her comeback at all? When was the last time YOU bought Britney Spears' music? My thought is that its the schadenfreude in our collective personality. We watched because we know how successful she HAD BEEN and how meteoric her rise to fame WAS. We all know that she fell off the stardom wagon on way too many occasions to count. Run-ins with the law, personal videos of her in some "private moments", bad interviews, mother-episodes that made America's judgemental mothers cringe in horror, etc. Funny....I don't think the cameras were rolling on America's mothers/parents when they allowed their children to run screaming through my local Walmart, or when they were so busy chatting on their cell phone that they didn't see little Johnny grab that candy bar in the checkout line and put it in his pocket. And yet, these are the same people who believe they deserve a fucking medal because they would never be the parent that Britney Spears is.....Again, I digress....

What really made me shake my head in disbelief this morning, was all of the week's stories ABOUT the story. The controversy about her *gasp* weight gain. The pro-Britney and bash-Britney "sides" squaring off. Jeezus H. Are you fucking kidding me with this? Do we not have lives compelling enough to occupy the moments spent on Britney's troubles?

And, then, finally, there was this: The incredible internet smash web-hit in response to all the criticism of Brit. I trust many of you have seen this already. I had not.... I clicked on it only because this video broke some kind of internet record for most clicks in a 12 hour period or something like that, and it made headlines. I wanted to see what America was up to this week, the six year anniversary of 9/11. When I tell you that my jaw was on the floor, aghast in disbelief at what I had just seen....that would be the understatement of the year. I think a little drool had fallen to my shoulder.....

I'm not sure if this kid was making fun of Britney, making fun of himself or just making fun in general. Perhaps, most frighteningly, he was being totally serious, and lashing out at a society that has forgotten him or made him a pariah. I don't know, and I couldn't muster the energy to try to find the story, behind the story, BEHIND THE STORY that tells of the twisted fan who reacted to the reaction of the much ballyhooed Britney fiasco at the VMAs. What I do know is that I once again find myself searching for some connection to my country. Go out and make your own lives. Make some memories. Don't live vicariously through Britney or anyone else. Live your own fucking lives, and stop watching or judging how others are living theirs, 'kay? Wait. Nevermind that. I don't care. I've got my own life to be lived. Do whatever the hell you please. 

Then, this....Since I also caught up on my sports news this morning, and I am a Patriots fan (sorry all you haters), I had to post this as well. This actually made me laugh in the midst of all my America-angsting. I shed a tear, I was laughing so hard, but I'm still not sure if it was a laughing-tear, or an actual tear left over as I weep for our country.  It won't make any sense if you haven't seen the first Britney clip.....

I really need to go back to bed. What a waste of a beautiful morning. I think I'll spend a little time searching for something to rekindle my faith in America. Some story that got overlooked this week because it just wasn't important enough to make headlines or capture a bazillion web hits. I'm sure there's a couple out there....the feel good story about a rural farmer making a difference in his community.... Its out there, right?  The story about the person who had thousands of dollars raised for their terminal cancer care and ended up donating it all to the local soup kitchen. You heard that story, right? No?

How about the story of the little 10 year old girl that had a lemonade stand last weekend and raised $28 dollars? No? You didn't hear that one? It happened in my own neighborhood. Yep. She raised $28 dollars and without provocation, prompting or hesitation, she decided, on her own, to donate the $28....all of it....to the local children's home.

That happened in my own neighborhood; in my own backyard......in my driveway, actually. Yep. As a matter of fact, it was my very own daughter. Yeah. That's the kind of news that America should pay more attention to.