10 Things I Loathe

Last week I started a series titled "10 Things," and I kicked it off with "10 Things I Love." When thinking about the topic for this week's, I thought it only appropriate to counter the "love" post by things, well...I don't love. But I don't believe in the word hate, to I present to you "10 Things I Loathe."

10 Things I Loathe:

1. Lying. This is really at the top of the list. I have very little tolerance for lying of any kind. This also falls into the same group with stealing, cheating and hatred; they seem to all have their root in the same soil.
2. Hypocrisy. Very, very close to lying, in terms of its place on the list. I can't stand hypocrites. If you are one, don't come near me.
3. Humidity. Rather ironic since I live in Central Florida, and humidity plagues us during the summer.
4. When people use their signal in a turn-only lane. I have no idea why this bugs me but it always has. I mean, if it's a turn-only lane and you're in it, it's pretty much a given that you're turning. You don't really need to signal!
5. Really bad reality television. Of course this is subjective, but for me it's programming like pretty much anything you can find on VH-1 ("Rock of Love with Bret Michaels", "I Love New York") or MTV ("A Shot at Love", "The Real World: Hollywood")
6. Spiders. Shivers. The creeps. Get them away from me.
7. Angelina Jolie. Sure, she's a good actress, but every time I see her on TV she seems more "I'm a humanitarian and so much better than you," and I don't need this Hollywood lifestyle attitude. I don't know, I just do buy it.
8. Mustard/mayonnaise. Have never, never, never liked either one of these. One of my aunt's always use to try to sneak mayo on my ham sandwiches when I was a child. Not a wise decision to do to someone who loathes mayonnaise.
9. Alarms/alarm clocks. Mornings are not my friend. In fact, I've often said nothing should begin before noon. I love to sleep, and anything that interrupts that is bound to end-up on my "loathe" list.
10. Close-mindedness. I don't really have any thoughts on this one. That's how much I loathe it.

Do any of these 10 points line-up with things you loathe? If so, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about it.

Music Monday: Walk This World

Heather Nova isn't well-known in America. In fact, I doubt any of her singles have ever received any [radio] airplay, and that's primarily where she would've received her exposure when she originally came out in the mid-90s. I think I somehow stumbled across one of her videos while watching MTV late one night. Said video was "Walk This World," which is featured here.

"Walk This World" is featured on Heather's first release, Oyster (1995). This release is eerie, haunting, and gorgeous. If you like "Walk This World" you should give the entire album a chance; however, be advised this song is the most "pop-y" track on the CD.

Heather's two must-have albums:

1. Oyster.
2. Siren.

Such a tease...

Exciting news this-way-comes, with the release of the street date of Madonna's yet-to-be-named (or revealed) album. The big date: 29 April 2008. This just days after Madonna, Justin Timberlake, and Timbaland wrapped filming for the album's first single, "4 Minutes to Save the World." Never one to to box-in her creative horizon, the storyline for the video is Madonna as a dominatrix, with Justin and Timbalake being her "bitches." Certainly peaks my interest....

Photo compliments of Madonnalicious.com.

MTV: Washed Up

I find myself talking about my disdain for MTV again. Shocker! Now, I'm a fan of the reality TV series "America's Next Top Model" (I can hear your laughter!). Hey...it's my guilty pleasure, OK! So MTV has been sporadically playing old cycles of the top model show; I can't really figure out what that schedule is, but they're playing the episodes in marathons...and have been for weeks, if not months.

I'm just now realizing how much MTV realizes they're in the shitter with their programming, or else why would they be playing this show so often. Sure, it's great for their [momentary] ratings, but how can it really help them long-term? I want to know what you think:

Is MTV on the way out? Or are they simply striving to keep-up with the ratings game?

Kanye Pest?

Is it just me or is Kanye West the anti-artist? I mean, in my opinion, a true artist--including "true" musicians--is on earth to share their craft -- speak their mind, speak to other...really have something to say...regardless of whether or not people like or enjoy what they have to say. Let's define things a little:

Dictionary.com defines the word "artist" as the following:

art·ist /ˈɑrtɪst/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ahr-tist] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun

1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.
2. a person who practices one of the fine arts, esp. a painter or sculptor.
3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.
4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mime artist; an artist of the dance.
5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.
6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit: He's an artist with cards.
7. Obsolete. an artisan.

I suppose to some folks Kanye might fit into one or two of these.

Now, after losing all the awards he was nominated for at the recent MTV Video Music Awards (honestly, are these the gauge by which "artists" are now being measured?) Kanye West is now boycotting MTV. Seriously? Isn't this completely vain, and negating the whole point of being an artist? Who cares if you get rewarded? Obviously being rewarded for your craft is an honor, and certainly a wonderful feeling, but ultimately if the "art" speaks for itself at the end of the day, that should be all that matters.

As for the "battle" Kanye is currently in with 50 Cent -- don't even get me started. That's just a situation of corporate music strongholding the American music industry.

Take On Me

This is undeniably one of the most original music videos, particularly since it was released in the infancy years of MTV. Unarguably a groundbreaking video:

Video Killed the Radio Star? (Part 2)

Last week I wrote a post about my infatuation with music videos. Now, mind you...I don't really watch American music video channels like MTV or VH1 because they play nothing but crap, that is essentially bought by powerhouse music companies to get promotion for their artists. (Bitter, party of one, please!) That's OK...I can live with that. (Thank you, YouTube.com.) Anyway....

I always find it interesting to see the visual interpretation of a song, so in paying homage to the artistry of music videos I'd like to kick off "Music Video Week" here on Nifty Nation. That being said, it's only right to begin with one of the most visionary music video artists of our time: Madonna. Now, "How in the world can he choose a video from such a robost catalogue of work?" Well, it's certainly not easy, and there's a possibility another one of her videos may appear in the coming week. But for the sake of recognizing a video for the "creativity" aspect, I'm going with "Nothing Really Matters" from the groundbreaking 1998 release "Ray of Light". An exceptional song lyrically, to the naked eye the video makes no sense, and is really a mish-mosh of weirdness; however, there is a story behind the video, and it was inspired by the story Memoirs of a Geisha. If you'd like to learn more about the backstory click here.

Here is the video for "Nothing Really Matters":

Video Killed the Radio Star?

Did radio kill the video star? Ummm, I don't think so. If anything it made them bigger stars! Madonna, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Prince? These are a few of the pop icons that come to mind when I think about videos. As I talked about in a previous post, I love watching people creative. And there is unarguably lots of creativity saturated in music videos. Of course, the level of that creativity is certainly debatable.

There's a fun discussion going on over at BlogCatalog.com where users are posting links to some old-school music videos! What a great idea! Here's the link to the discussion:

http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/old-school-video-party-come-on-in

This discussion inspired me to leave one of my favorite "old-school" videos, and one of my earliest memories of MTV (back when they actually played music). It is from the aforementioned "Queen of Pop", Madonna:

Madonna - Borderline
Uploaded by jpdc11

Sorry...say what you want, but Madonna is da bomb. For now...and forever.