30.04.08 :: i only got 10 minutes to write this post ...

so, if you're a queen anywhere in the world worth your weight in salt [or lollipops], you are well aware of the fact that madonna has released a new album this week. i have to admit, in my early years on the dancefloor as a gay whirly-twirly chipper-twinky, i really dug anything that material madge put out there. to me, back then, she symbolized the very essence of what was on the minds of gay men at that very moment. it is like madonna had access to some kind of freaky, secret portal that tapped into the collective consciousness of fags around the globe.

in some recent conversations with my boyfriend, however, i now subscribe to his thinking that madonna, with her latest effort in hard candy, has lost her grip on what is on our minds. the creative, insightful portal is closing. i think that as of late, she is putting material out there just for the sake of making money. and for the sake of fear. fear of her fanbase forgetting her. fear of aging. fear of having to resort to doing something that she's no good at, like act in movies, for a living. [would she starve, or what?]

don't get me wrong. i truly love madonna. some of her albums -- like a virgin, true blue, music, american life, ray of light, confessions on a dancefloor -- i have in itunes and will always play and enjoy. but i just don't think she is doing what she enjoys doing anymore, and it's starting to show.

i'll close with this review of hard candy written for edge boston by one of my favorite bloggers, alan bennett ilagan. he really likes the album, and since i respect alan so much, maybe i'm missing something. let me know your thoughts. you've got 4 minutes.

posted by lonestarsteve on wed 30.04.08 8:03 AM

this southern belle seems to think that everything fell to shit after janet flashed her titty on television. i say, it could have been much, much worse...

good times, indeed.

posted by lonestarsteve on tue 29.04.08 6:49 PM

i found this fascinating beyond my human comprehension. damn you, youtube.

posted by lonestarsteve on sun 27.04.08 9:02 AM

i was a bit late in discovering the incredibly soulful croonings of miss amy winehouse, but i'm extremely grateful that i finally did. [do women vocalists croon, or is it just male singers who can? i'll need to find out...]

actually, it was none other than him who turned me on to her. he has her website link listed among others on his music link on his own blog. thanks for that, kurt. it's true that some of the most gifted artists are also some of the most tormented.

well, my love affair with her music is in some trouble. actually, it's amy who's in some trouble.

associated press in london reported that winehouse left a london police station today after receiving a formal police caution for assult. winehouse, just 24, was there being questioned about reports of a scuffle she was involved in with two men during a late night out tuesday and in the early morning hours of wednesday.

luckily the caution that was issued is not a formal charge, but the incident will remain on record and could count against her if she is ever charged with a similar offense in the future, ap reported.

the scuttlebutt is that a man was quoted in a tabloid as saying winehouse hit him when he got in her way while she was playing pool at a bar in london's camden neighborhood. the man also alleged that winehouse head-butted another man, who was trying to hail her a cab.

this event follows closely an incident in october when winehouse and husband blake fielder-civil were arrested in bergen, norway, and held for a night on charges of drug possession. [have you seen the now-infamous internet video of her allegedly taking a hit off a crack pipe? shit].

then, in december, winehouse was arrested in london on suspicion of attempting to interfere with a court case involving her husband. as of early this year, however, prosecutors are said to no longer be pursuing the affair.

despite her erratic behavior, missed concerts, and stints in drug rehab, winehouse's musical career is flourishing. she won five grammys this year for her album back to black.

my thoughts and prayers go out to winehouse that she may find the help she needs. i hope she has a long, prosperous musical career and life.

posted by lonestarsteve on sat 26.04.08 10:49 AM

friday, finally. thank you, jesus. what a long freakin' week. is it me, or do the weeks sometimes drag on? or is it just that i'm getting older? [i'll have to get back to you on that one.]

pretty busy weekend planned. event-filled. will probably go faster than i care to even think about. i'm planning to make the most of it, regardless how short it feels.

for sure, i have to get some of this crap that has been piling up around me in my apartment out. i'm talking magazines, papers, clothes, shoes ... you name it, it needs to go, go, go.

this year was supposed to be all about streamlining. less clutter in my life. sleek. clean. polished.

i'm just sayin'...

posted by lonestarsteve on fri 25.04.08 7:28 AM

i just wasn't feeling it this morning. i had to call off sick for the day. it's my first sick day this year. and although i know they were sweating it out at work due to my absence, i refuse to feel any remorse.

on saturday i ate a couple handfuls of mixed nuts for breakfast before going over to play volleyball with the fellas, and i got so freakin' sick! i mean, i'm talking puking-my-lungs-up-sick. over and over. lonestarsteve in the corner of the schoolyard where we play every week, one hand up on the trunk of a tree for support, the other clutching a water bottle, body doubled-over, just letting loose. totally gross. at one point, the ball rolled over toward where i was and i called out, "do not come over here to retrieve the ball."

i think that either some foreign strain of seed or legume had gotten into that nut sack, or the expiration date on the bag was back when i was still just a fetus. in either case, i haven't been feeling quite right since then. and last night's sleep was not what it could have been.

that said, i'm feeling a bit better now that i've had some nap time and now i'm starving, so i'm going to go forage for food.

hope you all had better mondays.

posted by lonestarsteve on mon 21.04.08 4:10 PM

i didn't quite understand what parts of the chicken i was eating last night for dinner. thanks, tyson, for making my dining experience such an adventure!

sure there's no trans-fat in those suckers, but damn, are they so desperate for meat that they are starting to bread and fry up the chicken's twigs and berries now? what is that thing?

yummers! get me some of that honey mustard dippin' sauce!

posted by lonestarsteve on wed 16.04.08 7:24 AM

Like, hello? where the hell did the weekend go? jesus h. christ. i'm like this close to calling in sick today, but with the weather being what it is (gorgeous, just like over the weekend), my coworkers and boss will no doubt call my bluff. damn them. damn them all.

speaking of weekends, has anyone noticed how much pete burns from dead or alive has "altered" his outward appearance? of course, i'm sure -- like most other surprising things in this life -- i am probably slow on the uptake with this not-so-shocking revelation. if that's the case, gentle reader, please don't hate me. i'm getting old.

that said, the reason i ask this question is because i woke up on saturday morning with a dead or alive song in my head (take your pick, kids. it could have been one of a dozen songs; i was a complete dead or alive addict/freak in my trying-to-get-into-gay-clubs-underage heyday. can i have an "amen?") and since now i have an 80GB ipod to load up with crappy 80's music, i thought i would log on to itunes and see what their dead or alive offerings were. (most of my dead or alive music, if i remember correctly, is on cassette tapes and those tapes are at the bottom of my second closet, probably unplayable at this point).

so, it turns out that itunes has quite a bit from the band. i didn't realize that they made something like 8 albums during their turn in the spotlight. so now, $80-plus-some-tax later, i own it all.

told you i was an addict.

posted by lonestarsteve on mon 14.04.08 8:04 AM

so, this past saturday i went shopping in a thrift store in the heights with my boyfriend and one of his best friends, who was visiting from out of town. we didn't find any real bargains, but we did come across this bin of what one could only refer to as "misfit" toys. the huge wire bin was heaped with some of the saddest discarded stuffed and plastic toys i'd ever seen. some had torn seams, while others were missing limbs. most, if not all, of these toys showed clear signs of not so much "too much love" as blatant, outright abuse.

and then there was naked barbie.

first off, i didn't take this photo. credit for that goes to my beau, who happens to have a better camera in his cell phone, god bless him. i shamelessly lifted this photo from his blog without even asking. that's the kind of boyfriend i am, after all. [thanks, baby. be safe on your trip. i miss you already.]

but i digress...what i meant to say was that this particular naked barbie -- and there were many to choose from -- struck me as particularly contented with her place in life. sure, she once lived the high life, probably even had a towering, plush townhome, with a fast, shiney malibu, and a gorgeous boyfriend, who she'd swear up and down was straight and totally into her. but now, look at her.

she's completely naked, with a shaved, christopher walken hairdo, a pricetag on her neck written in green sharpie, sitting atop this vat of misfit, abused toys, with nothing left to show for her past glamourous life than a cheap, plastic, blue loveseat. but, observe. she's waving. and she's smiling. what bravery. what style. what true display of class. i'm just sayin'.

she completely deserves to have an alcoholic drink named after her?

posted by lonestarsteve on thu 10.04.08 8:20 AM

kristin wiig outdoes herself each and every time...

posted by lonestarsteve on sun 06.04.08 4:23 PM

fuck. i overslept. so now my already late-running morning routine is thwarted with yet another challenge: making up even more lost time. shit. fuck. shit. i hate it when this happens.

and all this on top of having already suffered silently through another incredibly stressful work week. [side note: there's something going on at work -- something evil -- and i don't think i'm paranoid in thinking so. mark my words. i'm just sayin'.]

so, where from here? well, all i can do is write this, slowly drink my second cup of coffee (is she using the back end of a fork to stir that? what the hell? can't she wash some of them nasty dirty dishes for christ's sake?), and pray that my boss is in his office when my head pokes in the door in about an hour.

shit.

posted by lonestarsteve on fri 04.04.08 8:25 AM

posted by lonestarsteve on thu 03.04.08 7:36 AM