I wrote an essay a few weeks back about Lady GaGa’s taking over from Madonna and becoming the numero uno gay pop icon. And any gay with a Facebook account can attest to this with a simple look at their status update bar from this week. The gays are going gaga over Bad Romance, the new video from Ms. G. Every homosexual I know, and I know a lot, are freaking out.
The video is epic. Costumes, pyrotechnics, McQueen shoes, and murder all combine with some fierce choreography (nods to MJ) and a dress train made from a white bear pelt. A dress made from a bear! Watch and learn ladies. Watch and learn.
BeautifulAgony.com launched in 2004 as a response to what the founders saw as a vacuum of real erotica on the Internet. It features videos of contributors’ o-faces, i.e. orgasms from the neck up. Hundreds and hundreds of videos later — they update each weekday — the site is still going strong. It’s heavy-breathing sexy without being obscene in the slightest — quite an accomplishment. You have to pay to join ($14.95 a month) but there are plenty of free samples in case your sex life is on a recession-induced budget. We chatted with c0-founder Lauren Olney about the site:
Do you post every video you receive?
Unfortunately not all the videos we receive make the cut. Mostly it’s technical problems that prevent us from using a contribution: poor lighting, framing, or flashing a little too much flesh. Anything that’s obviously faked or exaggerated will also get politely declined we’re looking for authenticity, genuine emotion — and believe me, after five years, we know how to spot a fake! We also require a Confessions interview with each Beautiful Agony submission, so if a contributor is not willing to speak openly and honestly about themselves and/or their experiences on camera, then we can’t really use their “o-face” video, no matter how sensational it might be.
It is no secret that I adore Swedish electro-pop. I have since I first discovered ABBA. Then Roxette. Neneh Cherry. Robyn. And of course Röyksopp. Last month I posted a link to a free download for “This Must Be It,” their new single featuring the vocals of Karin Dreijer Andersson.
The video for that song just came out, and in similar Röyksopp fashion, it is, how should I say this? Freakish? Baffling? Scary? Hypnotic? Yes to all of the above.
Mad Max meets Swedish disco. Brilliant stuff. I don’t quite get it, but like most good art, maybe you’re not supposed to.
Depeche Mode, relics of techno-pop, survivors of the 1980s are still crafting fantastic, and relevant, music. While surfing, of all places, Kanye West’s blog, I came across their video for “Hole To Feed” from their most recent album Sounds of the Universe. It says something that Kanye is citing the band as an inspiration.
We mentioned comedian Mike Birbiglia in passing the other day, but failed to convey just how awesome he is. Someone who can appeal to both the audiences of Comedy CentralandThis American Life possesses a rare gift. He covers crass topics without ever crossing the line. He’s the boyfriend you love so much, but ultimately only as a great friend (and we mean that in the nicest way!). You’d have a great long-distance relationship with him over the phone, but then face-to-face a little of the magic would disappear. That’s not to say he’s ugly (he is in fact adorable, like a beagle) — but the richness of his voice and how it helps tell tales and deliver jokes can best be appreciated without a visual, or at least without his visual. Which may be why he’s recently animated a few of his choice bits from his latest show, “My Secret Public Journal,” on his YouTube channel, Birbigstube.com. The second in the series is “Porno for Parents” which, again, tackles a touchy topic hilariously without going for gonzo shock. And we love him for it. Like a brother.
Although the Internet has successfully reduced our collective attention span to the time it takes to watch “nunchucks pro” fall flat on his face, there are still some great online opportunities for enlightenment if you apply some patience and commitment. Fora.tv, for example, is a vast “collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates going on all the time at the world’s top universities, think tanks and conferences.” Basically, the kind of fascinating stuff that’s wasted on hungover college students.
Okay, we know it’s just one big commercial, but we don’t care: “Zack 16″ is a great little piece of movie-making. At the beginning of this 4-part series (which you can watch in one go), Zach wakes up to find his boy parts replaced by girl parts!
In case you missed mention of Matt and Kim’s latest video in a recent post by fellow SUNfiltered blogger Matthew Rodriguez, we thought it deserved another look (at least from the Naked Love perspective):
To end your work week on a musical note, each Friday we plan to bring you a roundup of some of our favorite and most creative music videos circulating around the Internets. Here’s our first selection – more after the jump.
