The Ryan Thomas Collection

Kylie Minogue embarked upon her first US tour on September 30th in Oakland, Ca and visited a selection of major metropolitan cities. She finished her two week American tour in NYC on Tuesday night and one can only pray that she’ll visit us Americans again very soon.

Kylie has been making pop music for about twenty years, hitting stardom in Europe and Australia in the 80s acting on TV series and then producing great pop hits and albums. She’s always had minimal success in the US, with hits like “Locomotion” and “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.” More recently, she hit some US headlines with her battle and conquer of breast cancer a few years back.

Worldwide, Kylie has had great success releasing album after album of great pop music. Kylie can sing; she can perform. Kylie is adorable; she is a star. Like a lot of great foreign cultural goods, Americans have yet to fully grasp the greatness that is Kylie. She has a presence like most American women in pop, with more of a Cher like performance quality.

I can see why she has had minimal success in the US. Her music is a lot more “pop” than a lot of the harder sounds I hear in popular American music. Her albums have had less R&B influence and I haven’t heard too much rap artists featured on her albums. Kylie is in my mind quintessential British/Aussie pop (she is Australian for those who don’t know).

If you don’t know Kylie, find her and explore. She has 20 years of consistent and indulgent pop. This should not undervalue what she produces, because lyrically she goes from songs about simply dancing and others explore deeper emotions. Think Madonna, but softer on the edges with less of an ego and need to be considered “an artist.”

Kylie USA 2009 was a brilliant theatrical production. Incorporating performance sets from her previous worldwide tours, about eight dancers accompanied Kylie through performances of hits spanning her entire career. Lasers shot from the stage. Scantily clad dancers hit the stage floor with slick choreography. Kylie’s voice was clean and actually live for those who think women in pop tend to lip sync. Kylie’s no Britney! For the small theatre stage, this tour used every inch magically. The show was intimate and sitting in the audience you could sense she was thrilled to finally be touring America and the audience was even more thrilled to have her here. She even said in her first show in Oakland that she had been waiting twenty years to do it and I have been waiting for almost half that time myself.

It is my sincere hope, now that we have leadership in Washington that looks to reach out to the world, that Americans, as a whole, will reach out more to our foreign reigning princesses of pop. I had to wonder if President Obama bringing in new American ideals about global citizenry helped persuade Kylie to finally bring her concert to American soil. In the end, I don’t care what brought her here; I am just happy she came. From what I have heard, Kylie’s tour has converted quite a bit of people who never knew her contribution to pop music. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a healthy career in the States.

Kylie, thank you for visiting America. It was a lot more convenient for me to cross the Bay Bridge than the Pond to Europe. Come back soon! For those reading and have some curiosity, Kylie’s “Ultimate Kylie” greatest hits collection is a great place to start.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Fox Network’s Family Guy is a Sunday line up staple. The Simpsons has been around for millions of years now and is firmly a classic in our culture and what The Simpsons leave out, Family Guy seems sure to cover. Family Guy continues to impress in the Sunday animation line up, a revival after being canned by the network originally. In this month’s issue of Playboy, the show’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, discusses baby Stewie’s sexual orientation, but refuses to declare Stewie gay or straight.

It is no secret that the writers of Family Guy  are well in tune with the ins and outs of the gay community. The “gay episode” (Season 7, Episode 8) where Peter is injected with a “gay gene” proves this point ten fold. Allusions were made here and innuendos made there (excerpt provided by Hulu.com at end of post). It solidifies the writers’ ability to ride the line of gay-straight with Stewie, the clever and speaking baby, who once focused on murdering his mother, but now seems more inclined to pursue other ventures. Like an actual growing child, Stewie’s sexual orientation seems to be revealing itself more and more and is being alluded to more often by the family dog, Brian.

MacFarlane told the gay magazine, The Advocate, last year:

We all feel that Stewie is almost certainly gay, and he’s in the process of figuring it out for himself. We haven’t ever really locked into it because we get a lot of good jokes from both sides, but we treat him oftentimes as if we were writing a gay character.

This is something the writers continue to do well with as seasons progress. Historically, the flamboyant character in television or cinemas has always been utilized as either comic relief, making them almost clown like, or more dramatically, as the sad lost character meant to show audience the horrors of being gay, as to dissuade those watching from accepting homosexuality. The great part about Stewie’s character is his ability to follow neither of these classic representations. His ambiguous sexuality is used for humor, but seems less offensive in the environment of this program. Intercept the innocence of his childhood appearance with the adult quality of his speech, and the comedy is almost natural, and his baby state makes his ambiguous sexuality realistic and acceptable.

Stewie consistently has a love/hate relationship with his mother, Lois. He also has aspirations of a hostile take over of the world. MacFarlane tells Playboy:

Ultimately, Stewie will be gay or a very unhappy repressed heterosexual. It also explains why he’s so hellbent on killing [his mother, Lois] and taking over the world: He has a lot of aggression, which comes from confusion and uncertainty about his orientation.

When we take a cultural view at this idea, we can see progression, in that, 50 years ago the “gay characters” were unhappy because of their homosexuality, which was widely considered abnormal and unhealthy, resulting in the suicide or continued unhappiness of those characters. We see in 2009, in a cartoon, the audiences being exposed to the consequences of repression, in a comedic manner, as means of exploiting the atrocity of such socially enforced ideals.

Although outrageous at times, and comically awkward at others, Family Guy is able to utilize these qualities in presenting real ideas and social commentary to broad audiences. Some audiences may be too stupid to pick up on it, and others too prude. In the end, those on the fence, like Stewie, get to see the evolution of a baby’s character to one that may just be a gay toddler. Only Seth MacFarlane and his fellow writers know how this will turn out.

Here’s another classic Family Guy moment…

Popularity: 1% [?]

American Idol is down to nine contestants. I find myself watching American Idol every season (minus two – the first season and third season) and each time, my favorite contestant makes it to second place. The winner usually ends up being someone on the polar opposite of my taste. I always thought that this was because American Idol has only been a fixture on Fox during the Bush adminstration. I told myself, “Well, Americans don’t know how to vote for a good president. It makes sense that they can’t vote for the good AI contestant.” Now, Barack Obama is President and the American people finally got that right. This gives me hope that the American public will finally push a real pop idol into the winner’s circle of American Idol. A sign of this is that all country artists have been voted off. Country boy, George Bush, is no longer in office, no country artists are eligible to win AI. It is a good feeling!

We still have eight weeks after today, but I have my favorite and based on his continued performances, I want him to take the win. For too long has American Idol had lackluster winners, allowing contestants who fell off earlier in the challenge to bring in greater success than most of the winners. Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson are the only real stars who have won, in my eyes. I only say Carrie Underwood because she has record sales to back it. I find her and her country music to lack presence on stage. Not to mention, “Jesus Take the Wheel” made me cringe. I think Adam Lambert has the great potential to finally bring renewed credibility to a show.

Every week, Adam spices up the show. Each week this season has about two or three great performances and he is always one of them, if not THE one. He is creative. He is skilled. He is interesting. He is certainly a breath of fresh air for the show. I will not go so far as to call him “unique” because I have seen plenty of guys who fit into his look, but he is the “unique” one amongst the current AI contestants. He has not really done any of the cheesy ballads that so many contestants rely on and during country week (the week I alwayd dreaded), he took a country song and rearranged it into a fantastic performance that hardly resembled country. 

I do not lose sleep over who wins American Idol, but I am hoping that since the American people got the Presidential choice correct this time around, then hopefully, they will choose a contestant that feels like a star, ala Adam Lambert.

Who is your favorite to win this season?

Popularity: 47% [?]

The story surrounding the alleged domestic violence between Rihanna and Chris Brown continues to make headlines as both parties and their reps release statements. The incident is disturbing and a vivid reminder of the pain domestic violence continues to bestow on society. However, the leaked photo appearing to be a beaten Rihanna and its subsequent public release by TMZ is a disgrace to our modern society.

Domestic violence certainly is not an issue that should be swept under the rug. Awareness surrounding this issue needs to be continuous and strong in order to empower those who are victims and prevent others from falling victim to its vicious cycle. Detailed stories and images can be an impactful tool. These stories and images need to come from the victims themselves, not exploited by pop culture for dollars or Internet hits. TMZ’s release of the image shows a complete disrespect towards the very celebrity it needs to survive, and although TMZ’s reputation is based on these types of actions, where is the line drawn?

Britney Spears walking barefoot in a gas station bathroom. Michael Phelps smoking marijuana at a party. These types of incidents are rather trivial. Spears being rushed to the hospital in the ambulance. This image technically occurred  in a public space, not making it more acceptable, but making it more legal. TMZ’s release of a supposed beaten Rihanna was disrepectful and trivializes a very serious issue. It statisfies a curiousity of the public, but a curiousity that needed no such statisfaction. The release of this photo does not necessarily glamorize the issue of domestic violence, but its occurence being carried out by TMZ puts it in the wrong context. TMZ is a gossip mechanism, plain and simple. In this sense, TMZ does trivialize the real issue at hand, alleged domestic violence. Their intention is not to help society through prevention and awareness, it is for monetary gain. This is disgraceful and those who fell into their trap should rethink their action.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Talk continues about March’s edition of W Magazine featuring a 48 page photo spread titled, “Blame it on Rio.” The photo spread depicts a scantily clad Madonna with her twenty year old male Brazillian friend, Jesus, posing as her young lover. Critics from all sides have been going after this since the publicity photos were released. Gossip blogs and the press alike have been reporting on whether Madonna and Jesus are “dating” or simply having a love affair. We know one thing, the two were working together.

The initial shots from the photo spread look like a refined and updated version of Madonna’s brush with sexual exploration in Justify My Love and even bits of her Erotica album, ala “Bad Girl.” The shoot utilizes black and white photography to enhance the contrast between the porcelain skin of Madonna and the olive tones of her Rio lover. The contrast helps further separate these two “characters” by their age and what seems to be economic and social status. Photo spreads in W Magazine tend to be fairly artful in their production and representation. A story is being told and this can be seen simply by the title of the shoot. What is the story? What is being told of these two characters? These are the questions that should be asked. Rather, the question the photo spread and the gossip around Madonna’s supposed love affair with the twenty year old continues to be, “Why is Madonna going after a man more than half her age?” If a question must be asked along these lines, then why not ask, “Why are we still talking about an older women going after a young man?”

Women are still fighting the stigma that their sexuality ends at the age of fifty. Women are continuing to battle the double standard that their age must be in line with that of their latest boytoy, whereas their male counterparts can stroll about with girls half their age and the acceptance comes with little struggle. In the 80s, the media had a field day with Cher’s relationship with the infamous “Bagel Boy” who was noticeably younger than her. It seemed like ages for the American media to get over the Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore age difference. Why are we still talking about this? The idea of the “cougar” is being raised more and more, evening finding its way onto a regular skit on Saturday Night Live. Yes, these “cougars” are the products of the Women’s Liberation movement and therefore, we can understand how they continue to live their sexual lives more openly than older generations, but is this really unusual for society to witness now. Why is this funny? After 35 years of women’s liberation, this apparently is the next frontier, culturally. Enough is enough.

Is this funny to you?

(W Magazine cover photo credit, Steven Klein)

Popularity: 20% [?]

In its third edition, Rihanna released The Remixes – Good Girl Gone Bad. This album originally came out as simply Good Girl Gone Bad. Almost a year later, the CD was released with a couple additional tracks that were released as singles and this was named Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded. People were enticed to buy an album they pretty much owned already, but if this second addition was bought, extra new tracks would be found. Approximately six months following this release, the third addition of this album was released Tuesday, January 27th. The Remixes- Good Girl Gone Bad is a full album, and all songs remixed. The original LP versions are not found on this CD. Thankfully this third edition of the album provides somewhat new material. At least three of the remixes are on the maxi-singles, including Umbrella and Take A Bow.

Madonna released a full remix album in her earlier career called You Can Dance, but the content on this album spanned a couple albums. It wasn’t simply an album remixed. It was a great way for Madonna to keep her name in the public between new albums, and provide the clubs with some material. I understand the logic of releasing remixes. As a huge fan of Rihanna, I am excited about this release, because dance remixes all in one place are great and these new versions of the songs feel like a new album. However, it feels like Rihanna is riding too long on this album. She recently released Rehab as a single with Justin Timberlake in the video. At this rate, the whole album will be released as singles. It would be nice  to get a full album of NEW material from Rihanna. The time has come! Three releases of one album is the end of line for this material. For an artist that is visually stimulating with fantastic videos and live appearances, the logic behind this release schedule is odd.

Rihanna, we love you! We’ll support a new album… if it’s good, but we can’t keep dancing to Good Girl Gone Bad. A rose by any other name is really still a rose.

Popularity: 14% [?]

December kicked off with Britney’s week of media dominance. Releasing a new album, new music video and tickets to her new world tour, Britney and her team left no stone unturned in capturing the attention of the country, and world, at that.

MTV broadcasted an hour and half documentary, “Britney: For the Record,” that followed Britney through September to November, working towards the release of her new album. The documentary proved to be rather candid and although Britney seems to accept the mistakes of her past, she did little to show that she is actually an intelligent leader of her team, and is indeed a puppet to her masters, including her father and her record label. Witnessing this documentary, one gets the perception that Britney stopped mentally developing when she gained her fame. She says she has grown up a lot in the past year, but the maturity of a world traveled, mother of two with enormous success has dared to display itself to the public. The interpretation here is that the crazy behavior witnessed in the past years is a result of her inability to mature past the age of 16, dealing with problems in life in ways a rebellious teenager would rather than a 26 year old, mother of two.

Another issue on the table here is the rapid release of this “comeback” album entitled CIRCUS. The album, released Dec 2nd, Britney’s 27th birthday, comes on the heels of her last album, BLACKOUT, released just over a year ago. This rapid succession of album releases has left the public little time to digest the previous album, let alone take in a new look. This “comeback” seems to be too much, too soon and a coerced act by either Britney’s record label or her father in attempt to keep her busy.

Evidence that this album, and now world tour, is coming too quick can be seen and heard in CIRCUS and its accompanying videos. The songs that fill the album lack a cohesiveness. With a heavily themed idea such as a circus, which inspires the album art and the second single’s video (which is for the title track, “Circus”), we don’t see it infiltrating a majority of the tracks. To have a single and an album utilizing such a strong theme, visions of a demented circus theme in the songs takes to mind. This can be seen in Britney’s latest video, but leaves the video for “Womanizer” out of line with the theme of the album. The latest live performances of Britney have the circus theme in full action, including her performance of “Womanizer” at the Bambi Awards in Germany. The fact that the video for “Womanizer” is as far from a circus as possible, it seems like there was a rush to get Britney in the public eye before a cohesive theme could be drawn. In sum, Christina Aguilera’s Back to Basics album and accompanying videos should have been used as a model for this album.

Musically, CIRCUS provides twelve tracks (minus the inclusion of “Radar”) worth of solid pop. Creatively, the album does not provide the usual sense of progress or change we have seen in Britney’s previous albums, including BLACKOUT. The fact that the track, “Radar,” made a mysterious second appearance on this new album shows the lack in progress and the quick rush to release a new album. “Radar” sits comfortably on both albums, which is the problem for a pop artist like Britney who should be keeping things a bit more fresh. CIRCUS could be considered a mild version of BLACKOUT. Simply having a song like “If You Seek Amy,” which has been pointed out it sounds like “F. U. C. K. ” when sung in the song, does not make the album “edgier.” It cheapens the album. After the year that we’ve all witnessed Britney make her way through, I’d expect an album with a bit more depth and bite to it. Had she waited one more year, the chances of that would have been increased. In the meantime, the solid hits of “Womanizer” and “Circus” shall suffice.

The lesson to be learned here is that doing it right is worth the wait and I would have preferred to wait another year for a more solid album, with a well thought out release. In the end, I bought a ticket to see her concert in April, so I guess you can keep a girl out of Louisiana, but you can’t keep a gay guy out of a dramatic circus production!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Politics have been flooding the news and this site. It’s time to take a break, sit back and just indulge in the fun that the pop world can provide. It is what it’s there for, right?

Britney Spears has embarked on her mission to reinvent herself as the not so crazy pop megastar she once was about four years ago, depending on who you talk to. I pinpoint her downward slope beginning when she hurt her knee during the filming of the “Outrageous” video.  It onslaught is irrelevant now. The important thing is that the end looks like it is in sight.

The latest music video added to Britney’s archive is for her latest single “Womanizer,” off her soon to be released album, “Circus.” The premiere was on Friday on 20/20 of all shows, with a disclaimer that the video may be inappropriate for some ages. There is nothing extremely provocative in the video to substantiate that for a 20/20 audience. The video presents images of a fit, healthy and vibrant Britney. Take a look at the video now and read the critique below:

“Blackout,” Britney’s last album, was released at the height of her erratic behavior. The behavior the world witnessed devalued the content of the album. The music now goes underrated, as the album is actually a great pop album, fitting comfortably in her discography, if not surpassing some other releases. However, we all know that “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and thus Britney’s music videos suffered for ”Blackout.” Do not be deceived by Britney’s wins at the MTV Video Awards last month. These wins were simply industry alliances working together to promote her new image and increase ratings for the award show. All can agree the video for “Piece of Me” is far from the grandeur witnessed in videos such as ”Toxic,” “Slave for You,” and “Stronger.” 

The music video for “Womanizer” will hopefully prove to set the tone for this new album and Britney’s efforts surrounding it, ala future videos, appearances and perhaps, a tour. Scenes of Britney naked in the sauna flicker with close up shots that show a Britney who is ready to go again. The dance moves in the office scenes are sharper than those scene in Britney’s less than satisfying “Gimme More” live performance. Viewers can see she is taking a sense of ownership in her latest video. The action moving the film along is reminescent of “Toxic,” ironically, her last exceptional video.

The fact that Britney is actually highly present, active and dancing in the video should hopefully prove that she is back on her career track, re-engaged and ready to go. Looking back on videos for “Piece of Me” or “Break the Ice” (a cartoon) off the “Blackout” album, we witnessed simplicity and simple production. Often there were points where viewers had to wonder if there were body doubles or computer generated images. The “Womanizer” video, on the other hand, is Britney doing what she does best, captivating audiences visually for something other than a tragic personal display with Starbucks/Cheetos in her hand.

The “Womanizer” video is rather clever in its use of imagery supporting the theme of the song, that being a womanizing man. No surprise. A good portion of the video are various scenarios where the female character is subservient to the male position, whether it be in the office or a server of the restaurant. These scenes set up a male character that holds traditional roles of hypermasculinity, a sense of entitlement over women; roles of power over women or simply using women.

The last fourth of the video changes course and actually objectifies the male character visually, which is still rarely done in modern media. The male character is placed as the subject of lust, as seen in the stills . Close ups of the male physique and people grabbing at him in an advantageous way, rather than a worshipping manner, push the male character into this objectified role. Women have typically been placed as the subject of lust in cinema and even television. Therefore, the male character is pushed into a traditionally feminine role.

These images pushing the male into the subject of lust are also intermixed with shots of Britney in the nude touching her body in the same manner we see the male touching himself. The montage of images asks the viewer to place both characters on equal standing. This can be seen in the last shot in the sequence to the side. Both characters of the film are nude, and subjects of lust. Do note that the male seems to have a more revealing placement in the shot, maintaining his new role in the video.

The conclusion of the video shows a sexual Britney taking on the final dominating role of three women grabbing at the male, fear in his eyes. He is the object at their will and he loses. Placing the male in this role does not happen enough in pop culture. Typically this imagery is seen within products of gay culture, which brings the question; is Britney asking for the gay vote of approval with this new video? Every diva falls and brings herself back up by definition. However, if the gay population doesn’t support the revival, can she be revived? I’m not ready to provide a vote of approval, but I will provide a vote of confidence.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Sex and the City- The Movie Reviewed (Small spoiler below)

Standing amongst a sea of teenage and quarter-life girls with their token gays waiting to see the midnight premiere of Sex and the City, The Movie, the cult following of four women in their forties is shocking at first. However, looking at the television series and now the movie, it makes sense that the storyline of these women has captivated so many women of all stages in our modern age.

Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha are new archetypes of the modern woman. In a post-women’s lib world, these women depict the results of such efforts. Though the movie lacks a strong storyline, and instead crams a television season’s worth of fluff, puns and chaos into a 2.5 hour movie, it successfully presents modern women with a plethora of examples of what it can be to a be a woman.

A successful writer, lawyer, art dealer and PR rep of the Big Apple afford young women a clearer vision of career and personal growth intermixed with traditional feminine ideology of family and marriage. Increasingly, it is important for impressionable young women to realize they can have both a career and a family, if they choose. Furthermore, it is important for women of all ages to realize that it is alright if traditional feminine ideology does not suit their individual lifestyle.

This is what Samantha’s character and storyline in the movie portrays successfully. As Samantha attempts to fulfill traditional ideas of living for love, rather than solely herself, she realizes that she prefers the freedom of herself. The “me” factor. She abandons a unfulfilled and saddened life where she feels stuck at home as a traditional “housewife” in Los Angeles. The film ends with her turning 50, being single, successful and living the socialite life in New York City. The important part here is that she is happy with that and shows that this independent lifestyle is a perfectly fine selection for women. She is not punished in the storyline, like films of decades past where older, single women were treated more like old hags rather than fulfilled and happy members of society. Living to live rather than living to find a man is a pivotal pinpoint of Samantha’s character and a vital element that audience members should pick up on.

The overarching importance of a film like this, which relies on audience loyalty rather than cinematic quality and/or excellence, is the defining of a new type of womanhood, or rather the destruction of a single traditional ideal of womanhood into a flood of choices and options. Each of these options lead to differing places and viewers see the struggles, and they see the benefits.

Sex and the City reminds viewers that being single at 30, 40 and 50 is okay and, in actuality, can be beneficial for the idea and fulfillment of one’s self. Happiness can come from more than getting married, having a child and staying at home. At the same time, it is okay to desire traditional feminine archetypes. There are options and women are empowered to create them and choose them.

Sex and the City, The Movie fulfills America’s incessant need to overindulge, going for a second helping when the final meal was more than satisfying. However, the presentation of four successful, hard working, fun women living varying lifestyles in the nation’s biggest city is imperative in a society that continues to present young women with conflicting ideas of womanhood.

Popularity: 21% [?]

The long awaited day is here; Madonna’s US release of her 11th studio album Hard Candy. Brand new tracks. Brand new sounds and beats that make you want to get up and dance all night. Go to iTunes. Go to the store. Buy the album. You won’t regret it. Having listened to it for the last week, this album is a great addition to her discography. Buy it now!

Popularity: 8% [?]