Rocknation
Rocknation's JournalI winced when I learned that Lady Gaga was in the newest remake of A Star Is Born
I knew instantly that it wouldn't work for me because her voice is too generic.
I had no problem imagining the characters played by her predecessors Judy Garland (in 1954) and Barbra Streisand (in 1976) being told, "Sorry, but while you have the right voice, you don't have the right look," and needing someone further up the ladder to help them through the door.
To his credit, director/co-star Bradley Cooper realized that in these times, Gaga's character would be told "Sorry, but you don't have either the right voice OR right looks," and has her complain instead that she's not good-looking enough for her songwriting abilities to be noticed, never mind respected. But even that is a crock, of course: if her lyrics WERE that good, they would have been noticed by someone who could give her the opportunity to sell them to the kind of vocalists who could make them BOTH rich and famous!
rocktivity
HDMI? Never "heard" of it until now
I grew up turning up the bass and turning down the treble on the stereo, which evolved into pushing up all the levers on the graphic equalizers on the stereo. As the home computer age favored digital over analog recording, I came to miss that warm, natural, 3-dimensional vinyl-y sound where you didn't have to increase volume to increase audio quality.
About five months ago I had to cough up twenty dollars for new computer speakers, and last week I had to replace my monitor. I had used a DVI-to-HDMI cable on my old monitor, while my new monitor has HDMI and VGA sockets. I decided to get a HDMI cable instead of a VGA-to-HDMI cable or VGA adapter simply because their prices was about the same, and besides, how much of a difference would it make? Such a difference, it turned out, I was compelled to do some research on the subject -- apparently, HDMI enhances the audio as well video signal!
While my new monitor's sky-high graphic and video resolution is indeed dazzling, it's no match for what I'm hearing: My natural 3-D analog vibe has returned, and my speakers now sound like they cost five times as much! No more "cranking it to crank it" -- so I get to appreciate the DU Music Appreciation Group all over again!
rocktivity
SOP for Kanye -- serving up a controversy-sells salad with meltdown dressing
And just in time for the release of new album, of course!
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989163475636142080
https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/989170257238487043
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989177694309859328
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989179757651574784
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989180180659777536
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989192498307219456
One minute he's a pioneering advocate of independent thought, the next minute he's a henpecked husband. He's in a sunken place, all right -- a mental and marital prison.
rocktivity
The college I graduated from required a 1000 total SAT score. Mine was 850
But I got credit for graduating in the top fifth of an academically reknowned high school. I graduated from the college with a B average.
I was once asked if it was "fair" that I had "taken" a spot from a student with a higher SAT score. I replied, "It must have been, since the students who got in with higher SAT scores but ended up graduating BEHIND me got to stay!"
rocktivity
The Truth About The Kanye West/Taylor Swift "I Made That Bitch Famous" Feud
Taylor posted this on Instagram in July 2016:
2009 was when Kanye interrupted Taylor's acceptance speech at an awards show and announced that Beyonce should have won, inspiring President Obama to call him "a jackass."
"Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that bitch' in the song?" is an excellent question. Unfortunately for Taylor, this is also an excellent question: "Why didn't you ask that question five months ago?"
If Taylor had complained that "The lyrics Kanye read to me did not contain the word 'bitch'" when the song was released in February 2016, Kanye and his wife Kim Kardashian would have had to keep their mouths shut about the video -- not so much because they may have recorded it illegally, but because it would have proved that Obama was right.
While all three of them are guilty of lying by omission, Taylor would be running victory laps over "Kim-Ye" in her stiletto heels if she also hadn't counted on no one being able to prove that she'd lied by omission. Sorry, Taylor, but that means the "assassin" of your character was actually you.
rocktivity
Facebook Live captures man shot in head
The victim, Devyn Holmes, was in a car with a woman and another man who were playing with two guns..."You're making me nervous," Holmes says in the Facebook Live, captured outside a (closed) Valero gas station...in Houston.
(S)omeone called the police, and claimed that Devyn shot himself in the head...
According to this ABC.13.com video from the gas station camera, Devyn enters the car, then Cassandra, then Coleman a few minutes later. They were all in there approximately nine minutes.
The victim is currently responsive and in stable condition after surgery.
Link to cell phone video -- very graphic, but the first 27 seconds need to be looked at because you see Cassandra pull the trigger (the gun just clicks), then chamber and raise the gun before it went off -- which is why I smell a setup. Either:
- Coleman and Cassandra set up Holmes by convincing him to "squash their beef" in person: Sure, the meeting took place at 2AM in the parking lot of a closed business -- but with Cassandra in tow (as a "peace offering," perhaps?), a Facebook live stream going, and allegedly unloaded guns, why would Holmes have any cause for mistrust?
Or:
- Coleman set up Cassandra to believe she would be firing an empty gun in order to embarrass Holmes online with a "Russian roulette" style April Fool's joke.
It all depends on whether or not it's possible to chamber a bullet when:
a) there is no magazine in the gun
b) there is no magazine in the gun, but there is a bullet in the chamber
c) there is neither a magazine nor a bullet in the chamber of the gun
d) there is an empty magazine in the gun
e) there is an empty magazine in the gun, but there is a bullet in the chamber
rocktivity
Nowhere near presidential enough
The first African-blooded United States president is placed in what is essentially a jungle? And while the artist did manage to capture and project his essence, he's been colored an oompah loompah orange.
The painting of Michelle, meanwhile (I cannot consider it a portrait) comes across as the work of an earnest but wall paint-supplied junior high schooler: it's two-dimensional, the dress is the star of the show, and doesn't resemble her in the least.
rocktivity
The 2018 Grammys: a big show of supporting women that didn't support women
This maddening attempt to have it both ways was echoed throughout the 2018 Grammys ceremony...Lorde was the only woman nominated for Album of the Year, which was made more conspicuous by the fact that she was one of the few nominees who didn’t perform. She reportedly turned down an offer to share her slot for a Tom Petty tribute performance of “American Girl.” (Lorde is from New Zealand.)...Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich insisted that “there’s no way we can really deal with everybody,” despite giving U2 and Sting — neither of whom were nominated this year — multiple performances, both solo and collaborative...
When asked why more women weren’t rewarded for their work, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow shrugged that they need “to step up...”
Pink echoed this in an open letter to Portnow that she posted (to Twitter): “Women in music don’t need to ‘step up’—women have been stepping since the beginning of time," she wrote. "Stepping up, and also steppin aside. Women OWNED music this year. They’ve been KILLING IT. And every year before this. When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women STEP UP every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it looks like to be fair.”
...The only woman who won a major award was Alessia Cara for Best New Artist. Four women were nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, but Ed Sheeran—the only male nominee in that category—won the honor. Women, more or less, were completely shut out of the show, which for many was both confusing and infuriating.
One of the Best Album nominees, Jay-Z, declined to preform (most likely because he wasn't guaranteed a win), so there WAS "room in the box" for Lourde. And since Alissa's debut album was released in late November of 2015, it shouldn't have been eligible, as it had a one-year head start over the others.
If "the Academy" is too logistically incompetent or socially tone-deaf to realize that the 2018 Grammy ceremony was a textbook example of "not a good look" for them, then people "stepping up" is not the solution -- people "stepping DOWN" is.
rocktivity
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Home country: USA
Member since: 2001
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