Episode 624: Stupid Short Loan!

Am almost finished with The New Poetry. Not quite sure what to read after that for revision. Oh well. So it's been raining for the past couple of days, and I was going to stay at home and chill with the new episode of Lie To Me, but I discovered that I had an overdue Short Loan book, so had to race down to campus. The damage was £10! Not amused. Anyway, I've been spending a while on YouTube, watching music videos. Have seen Lady Gaga's 'Alejandro', which I found interesting, but less impressive than her previous videos. For one, it felt overextended, which was never a problem before. With 'Alejandro' though, there were segments where the track was obviously mixed just to pad out visual sequences that felt like they could have been trimmed without losing much. Plus the simulated orgy motif is really getting a bit worn out now. Mylène Farmer's 'Dégénération' had it, and then it popped up on a literally massive scale in Kylie Minogue's 'All The Lovers', so it's not particularly shocking. (They weren't even that good-looking in 'Alejandro'!) Miley Cyrus's 'Can't Be Tamed', on the other hand, intrigues me. I've never been a fan of her voice, which actually really annoys me. It's not the country twang so much as how shrill she gets. Have a listen to 'Party In The U.S.A.' to see what I mean. On her newest single, however, bless Auto-Tune for making her sound at last like every other disposable female popstar on the scene, i.e. this is something you can listen to without wanting to saw your ears off (unless you're a musical purist/snob). The video isn't particularly original, but for an artiste who's (unsurprisingly) trying to break away from her Disney origins, it's a decent piece of work. It's completely trashy, of course, but in a way that slots it neatly into the current landscape of pop. I've tried listening to the song without the video though, and it doesn't have quite the same impact without the visuals, so I'm not holding out high hopes for the rest of the album.