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weekly font posted:Speechless live on the AMAs will give you a Gagasm. Seriously. Holy Christ, that was insane. I hope that flaming piano makes an appearance in the actual video for Speechless. God. drat. Bitch can sing.
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Nov 23, 2009 07:44
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So apparently the version that is available now on iTunes is censored (with the exception of Bad Romance), but her label just tweeted that they're going to release the uncensored versions soon. Just a heads up for those planning on buying it and would be annoyed (I know I would be).
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Nov 23, 2009 08:58
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ArmoredBlue posted:So apparently the version that is available now on iTunes is censored (with the exception of Bad Romance), but her label just tweeted that they're going to release the uncensored versions soon. Just a heads up for those planning on buying it and would be annoyed (I know I would be). Athletic Footjob fucked around with this message at 11:18 on Nov 23, 2009 |
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Nov 23, 2009 11:15
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Blodskur posted:Excellent, do you have a link for that tweet? The fact the album has been censored has been the only thing preventing me from going to the shops and buying it today. Wait, that better not just be iTunes only, I want to buy the disc of it. Yeah, they say they're making it available asap: http://twitter.com/cherrytreerec/status/5945702666
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Nov 23, 2009 11:36
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Bad Romance is an obvious reference to Cleopatra. In the beginning, when the song isn't playing, note how monarchical the scene is. The Lady is reclining on a throne with her attendants (including a dog!) all around her. She is visibly nervous/anxious/fearful, and you can see her shaking slightly. When Gaga clicks the music on and the "invasion" happens, you can clearly see the panic, not only in her, but in her attendants--note the one on her left that takes her hand to her mouth in shock. Later, she is kidnapped and made a sex slave by the invaders. She is literally thrown at the Roman's feet and made to perform. She is seen as being "presented" to the aristocrats when she is dressed all in diamonds, and here you can clearly see her face being a mixture of both defiance and desperation--she screams "Don't judge me" with her eyes. Her climax, is, of course, when she kills her lover/slavemaster with her own sexual power, and her fellow slaves(those in red, the color of blood and clear symbol of female strength) encircle her, this time in feminine power and unity, not betrayal. She questions a culture where you are either smart or sexy, beautiful or brilliant, independent or satisfied. Indeed, Lady Gaga embodies the contradictory essence of third-wave feminist thought. Can a woman be in control of her own sexuality--flaunt it, show it, emphasize it, and not be subject to the punishment of male gaze and patriarchal ridicule? No. Is this flaunting and emphasis a symptom of patriarchal culture in and of itself? Yes. Is the perfect feminist covered and modest, a nondescript head on an androgynous body? No. Lady Gaga uses her own sexuality and challenges the culture that denies it to her. The patriarchs claim she is a transsexual--this does not make her one, and of course she realizes that. She also realizes that it is ridiculous to be insulted by this. She uses it, she grabs the culture by the balls and twists, she makes their oppression work for her. She is woman.
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Nov 24, 2009 02:12
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I dig it. Note though how all the symbols of subjugation (the vodka, the bathtub, the ice-white outfits, the bathhouse itself) are all centered the traditionally-feminine element of water, while the liberating symbols (including the cigarette, her explosive brassiere, and the red outfits at the end) are centered around the traditionally-masculine element of fire, which Gaga appropriates for herself.
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Nov 24, 2009 02:19
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I would say that the idea of white as purity and power is what Gaga is doing away with. She makes everything red or black by the end, obviously signifying her passage from the innocent Maiden form of the Goddess to the more vengeful and destructive Crone, and the protective and powerful Mother. Is the fact that everything in the video is white, red, or black, the three colors of the triple goddess who reigns over all things a coincidence? Doubtful. The observation that the avenues of power are all fire and male and the oppression are water is a good one which I have done little study on. Could this be Gaga advocating the use of symbol and power theft, the "revenge" for the patriarchal's power structure for stealing the pagan traditions of female power?
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Nov 24, 2009 02:32
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I once heard someone say... Lady Gaga is powered by six gays, telling her what to do, what to sing, what to wear... Crazy bitch! It's just a joke, but somewhat true, with her constant references to her Haus of Gaga (re: her recent interview with Ryan Seacrest).
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Nov 24, 2009 02:41
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Gothy McAngstydie posted:I would say that the idea of white as purity and power is what Gaga is doing away with. She makes everything red or black by the end, obviously signifying her passage from the innocent Maiden form of the Goddess to the more vengeful and destructive Crone, and the protective and powerful Mother. Is the fact that everything in the video is white, red, or black, the three colors of the triple goddess who reigns over all things a coincidence? Doubtful. I definitely see the progression you're talking about : note how when Gaga is in the tub, she has enlarged, wide eyes with diluted pupils. This is a classic signal of neoteny, which gives off the image of being helpless and immature.  However, by the end of the video, Gaga has an entirely different look and expression, one that conveys power and maturity -- look at the swept-back hair and straightened posture.  Another opposition to consider is that the male oppressors are heavily tied to technology; their outfits and faces feature bolted-on gears and metal, and they bid on Gaga using computers. Gaga, on the other hand, is possessed with a sort of animalistic, primal energy. She wears a bearskin cloak at the end, another one of her outfits is blatant in its recalling of an animal, many of the dance moves feature clawing motions, and she crawls across the floor, prowling towards her target.
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Nov 24, 2009 02:44
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Also consider that when the Russian is finally faced with his night with Gaga, the moment she disrobes (and gives him body language that not only stresses her womanhood - the posture exemplifies her hips - she also expresses her power over him by raising her arms as to say "you want it? Here it is"), his bed bursts into flames. Despite being flaunted about for her sexuality by a patriarchal society, her sexuality is what frees her from those same bonds. And yeah, she goes to bed wearing white, and finishes with a cigarette, sparkling black bra, and black panties, going from the virginal "bride" to a "groom", switching the traditional societal idea of power. Now, what of her choice of hairstyle for the last part of the video? She's clearly referencing Marilyn Monroe with that look (at least when she's in red, particularly with the eye shadow). Of course, referencing Monroe extends to referencing Madonna (who made massive leaps and bounds in popularity by grabbing that persona and twisting it to her own ends), so she could be trying to place herself along those sexual icons through association. She could be suggesting that by grabbing their own sexuality, any woman can be free (like Madonna), or they can only be used for their sexuality and be left to waste in the bonds of a society controlled by men (like Monroe). And red is not only associated with fire - it's also associated with blood. If this particular choice in color in the video is meant to call back to her VMA outfit (which, holy poo poo, it most certainly does) -  - then it is also referencing, perhaps, the menstrual cycle? Great, this music video just turned into my favorite visual-related thing all year.
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Nov 24, 2009 03:12
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The Cameo posted:Of course, referencing Monroe extends to referencing Madonna (who made massive leaps and bounds in popularity by grabbing that persona and twisting it to her own ends), so she could be trying to place herself along those sexual icons through association. She could be suggesting that by grabbing their own sexuality, any woman can be free (like Madonna). I think this is especially important; at one point in the video, Gaga incorporates the Sign of the Cross into her dance routine, and Catholic imagery is something that is often associated with Madonna. The video for "Like a Virgin" touches on the same issues and also incorporates this white/black, maiden/mother, bride/groom opposition, along with animal imagery.
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Nov 24, 2009 03:24
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The Cameo posted:then it is also referencing, perhaps, the menstrual cycle? In the very same interview mentioned above, she recounts how MTV execs warned her about the prop blood she planned to use... don't get any near your crotchial region. She thought, what? Don't get any? That would be perfect!
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Nov 24, 2009 03:32
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TMZ is reporting that she bought pizza for her fans waiting outside for the album. http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/23/lady-gaga-to-fans-who-wants-a-slice TMZ posted:Lady Gaga's rollin' in dough -- in fact, she just threw down more than $1,000 to buy pizza for her fans.  Oh, Gaga.
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Nov 24, 2009 04:35
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:I think this is especially important; at one point in the video, Gaga incorporates the Sign of the Cross into her dance routine, and Catholic imagery is something that is often associated with Madonna. The video for "Like a Virgin" touches on the same issues and also incorporates this white/black, maiden/mother, bride/groom opposition, along with animal imagery. If you look closely, she doesn't make a cross. She touches her forehead, her right shoulder then her left shoulder, making a triangle.
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Nov 24, 2009 04:38
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archwhore posted:If you look closely, she doesn't make a cross. She touches her forehead, her right shoulder then her left shoulder, making a triangle. I'd argue that it's an abstracted version of one, since what other iconography incorporates touching your forehead and shoulders? The three-point version still retains the trinity symbolism of the gesture, plus she's definitely wearing a diamond cross in the preceding shots. It's not the strongest symbolism in the video though, I'll grant you that.
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Nov 24, 2009 04:45
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The menstrual cycle reference is remarkably likely, especially given that, as we have mentioned before, she doesn't wear red until the end, when she matures and comes into her own. It references her evolution as a person and a woman, both metaphorical and physical. Once again, esteemed Gaga scholar CharlieFoxtrot raises a good point. Throughout, Gaga seems animalistic, in a variety of ways. The clawing motions of the dance, the prowling, and even the outfits--note the green luminescent outfit she wears while walking in shoes shaped like crab claws(interesting of note is that the pose she's sitting in while in this scene is the same as the throne pose from the beginning of the video--I believe this signifies Gaga's plan to seize back her power from the invaders)  This outfit creates an aquatic animal sense of mind, like a fish or lizard. Since fish are often symbols of the yoni, this shows the idea that it is only when she embraces her sexual power when she is truly powerful.
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Nov 24, 2009 04:57
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archwhore posted:If you look closely, she doesn't make a cross. She touches her forehead, her right shoulder then her left shoulder, making a triangle. That isn't a triangle, she's clearly making this guy  LADY GAGA IS A GOON
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Nov 24, 2009 05:00
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She looks like a Pokemon in that picture. Like I should capture her right now.
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Nov 24, 2009 05:02
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I've been reading a lot of Joseph Campbell lately and he makes the point that myth (religion) stimulates religious/spiritual experiences through metaphor because there is no other way to communicate the unspeakable. Myth goes through cycles, like the Judeo-Christian tradition replacing nature-based religions with a strong emphasis on the paternal and masculine which displaced various goddesses. Now that Judeo-Christian myth has become old and we have moved out of pastoralism it is time for another more relevant stream of religious metaphor to enter our culture and perform its function. With the lack of any widespread current mythology in the modern age of machines he says it falls to artists to create such metaphors as they have since the beginning of time. Reading about all of that, seeing the more learned men here dissect Lady Gaga's use of symbolism and motifs, then reflecting on the many times I have listened to her music as I looked up feeling enchanted by a starlit night. Many of those times I would be feeling as though I was coming into contact with the fundamental goodness of this world as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche talks about in his book concerning Shambhala. The divine is transcendent, the transcendent is wholly mysterious, art cloaks mystery, and Lady Gaga is art. Nova Bizzare fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Nov 24, 2009 |
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Nov 24, 2009 05:41
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I am not digging nearly as deep into the video as you guys (but this stuff is fascinating, however) but I just wanted to comment that I love the vampire symbolism that appears in the first section of the video. Her and her minions crawling out of the coffins really evoke the old 30's Todd Browning Dracula feel, and while it seems a tad out of place with the rest of the video, it might symbolise the transition from the theme of The Fame and the themes of The Fame Monster. Possibly that Fame can suck the life out of someone, thus...the vampire. I dunno, maybe I am looking into this more than I should, but this video is chock full of stuff to look at and think about. I do love the Nintendo Wii Nunchuck that gets used to buy her during the auction. That's just a weird little thing I noticed. I'd like to think Gaga was playing some video games before they shot that take, and she just handed them that when they needed a prop 
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Nov 24, 2009 07:56
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There's a lot of references to horror and thriller pictures throughout The Fame Monster - from the line "I want your psycho, your vertigo step" in "Bad Romance" to pretty much the entirety of "Monster" to "run run her kiss is a vampire grin/the moon lights away while she's howling at him" and I believe also throws in "she's a tramp, she's a vamp, but she still does her dance" in "Dance In The Dark", and slips in "I got my vamp" in "Teeth". So her visually referencing Dracula and vampire and horror/thriller films in general isn't without precedent now if she's referencing it in the music, and it's kind of obvious what mood she was in/what she was watching when she wrote what ended up becoming the album. It's also made it blatantly obvious she's a horror fan, and that makes me all I'd actually love to see her just do a straight up horror-themed video for "Monster". Can't imagine who she'd grab to work with for that, though. What's most interesting about that opening for "Bad Romance" is that she comes out of the coffin labeled "Monster". (Also, as an overall point, going back to the whole sign of the cross thing, don't forget it does form the T in "Monster" on the album cover, and she also tells the girl in "Dance In The Dark" to "find her Jesus" on the dancefloor. I'm sure there's other references littered throughout the songs and in future videos that may be picked up.)
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Nov 24, 2009 09:02
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All the scholarly posting makes me think that Camille Paglia is a secret goon, except I just read that CP isn't a GaGa fan. But then Camille publicly hates anything that she'd normally like, just to be loudly contrariwise.
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Nov 24, 2009 17:38
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Anybody else pissed as hell that their copy of the Fame Monster is censored? The one you can buy on itunes is censored, the one I bought in Target (deluxe 2-disc edition btw) is censored.  The only non-censored version of Bad Romance I've heard is one that I accidentally "found" in a "forum" on "the internet" a few weeks ago. And the music video version as well. But none of the official releases. What the gently caress is up with THAT? Lady GaGa does not appear to be much of a free bitch, baby. On a less spiteful note, Monster is my favorite on the new album so far. I still love Bad Romance to pieces, and Alejandro.
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Nov 24, 2009 20:50
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The Cameo posted:There's a lot of references to horror and thriller pictures throughout The Fame Monster - from the line "I want your psycho, your vertigo step" in "Bad Romance" And the line after that too - "Want you in my rear window, baby you're sick"
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Nov 24, 2009 21:29
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speshalxxed posted:This is driving me crazy. I tried to cross post on the dubstep and electropop forums but no one answered. What song is she sampling (or atleast sounds very similar) to for that backround ripping/warp noise, around 25 seconds into bad romance. I swear I've heard it before. I know this is late but that sample has been in tons of songs. The most recent that I can think of is 'Warp 1.9' by The Bloody Beetroots, are you thinking of that?
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Nov 24, 2009 21:57
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Marshmallow Mayhem posted:Stuff about censoring I think uncensored versions of albums take a bit longer to come out, so they probably pushed this version through to get it out before the holidays. I don't know how long an uncensored version will take. Thankfully there's only 3 tracks that really suffer from it, and it's not too much of a detraction. quote:I know this is late but that sample has been in tons of songs. The most recent that I can think of is 'Warp 1.9' by The Bloody Beetroots, are you thinking of that? If I'm not mistaken that sound effect is called a "hoover" and is used a lot in rave music.
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Nov 24, 2009 22:14
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Just saw her on Jay Leno, and for being such a crazy huge pop star she seems very nice.
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Nov 24, 2009 22:51
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The Drifter posted:And the line after that too - "Want you in my rear window, baby you're sick" I can't tell whether that's a lyrical combo of Hitchcock and anal sex or what. VVV "I'll take the British director and filthy sex act Daily Double, Alex" VVV hilly fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Nov 25, 2009 |
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Nov 24, 2009 23:39
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hilly posted:I can't tell whether that's a lyrical combo of Hitchcock and anal sex or what.
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Nov 25, 2009 00:13
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ArmoredBlue posted:If I'm not mistaken that sound effect is called a "hoover" and is used a lot in rave music. You're not mistaken, it's the "WhatThe?" patch on the Roland Alpha Juno 2 synth. Really takes me back to 1999...
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Nov 25, 2009 01:38
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My god, I just realized that if "Poker Face" was sung by someone with a really strange voice like Björk or Karin Dreijer Andersson we'd all be calling this loving art.
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Nov 25, 2009 05:35
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Now I just realized that Lady Gaga is just a mass marketed Björk 
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Nov 25, 2009 05:36
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Just got back from her Ellen taping. A long work day, but having her and Sandra Bullock on two consecutive shows pretty much made up for it. Saw her driving into the lot (she looked pretty tired) and a tiny bit of set-up for the rehearsals. She's apparently very, very nice according to my friends in-house who watched all of the sound checks. She played Bad Romance and Speechless, and also did each song twice for reshoots. She's amazing and has a wonderful voice live that will hit these perfect pitches that you can actually feel from the speaker system. Wonderful, wonderful job. Her interview was really, really cute as well. Apparently she called the big orbit dress "Ellen" during construction since the smaller headpiece version was what was worn her very first appearance on the show. Just absolutely charming and great with the audience. It should be airing Friday for those of you with Tivo or the day off.
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Nov 25, 2009 05:56
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Marshmallow Mayhem posted:Anybody else pissed as hell that their copy of the Fame Monster is censored? The one you can buy on itunes is censored, the one I bought in Target (deluxe 2-disc edition btw) is censored. gently caress! I bought the 2-disc version at Target, and my wife already opened it. I really would have preferred an uncensored version, but it's probably too late now. It didn't have any kind of "Censored" warning labels or anything! Do you know what the differences are?
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Nov 25, 2009 06:02
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Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:gently caress! I bought the 2-disc version at Target, and my wife already opened it. I really would have preferred an uncensored version, but it's probably too late now. It didn't have any kind of "Censored" warning labels or anything! Do you know what the differences are? At least one The Fame Monster, the only things that are censored are "I'm a free bitch" on Bad Romance and the intro to Dance in the Dark, and the line on Monster that (most likely goes), "We might've hosed, not really sure, don't quite recall".
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Nov 25, 2009 06:05
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Oh, I noticed the "I'm a free bit" thing, but I just assumed the "We mighta... not really sure" was intentional.
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Nov 25, 2009 06:27
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There are new interview videos from Logo on her homepage. In one of them she goes into a little bit of detail on her thoughts behind the Bad Romance video. They seem to echo the conclusions the posters here came to.
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Nov 25, 2009 07:31
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Guys, "Pokerfayce" was catchy, but we weren't supposed to continue paying attention after its two weeks were up. This is like having a discussion about the Black Eyed Peas. content: "Paparazzi" kinda sounds like "Don't Stop Believin'".
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Nov 25, 2009 08:49
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If you think that there isn't a little more under the surface to Lady Gaga than to something like the Black Eyed Peas, I really don't know what to tell you. You at least have to admit that she's a little more interesting/thoughtful than most top 40 acts, even if you don't like her musicReacharound posted:content: "Paparazzi" kinda sounds like "Don't Stop Believin'". Not really at all Final Fart Buttball fucked around with this message at 09:59 on Nov 25, 2009 |
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Nov 25, 2009 09:57
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Yeah but if we're discussing what songs sound like, does anyone else get a Sonic 2 boss battle vibe from certain parts of Poker Face? I've maybe mentioned it before and explained it terribly.
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Nov 25, 2009 12:52
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