Precisely because she extols the liberatory power of hetero sex, Madonna remains firmly within the humanism that Lee Edelman identifies as “reproductive futurism.” In spite of all the love she gets from 80s white feminists and from gay men, Madonna’s…
I’m happy to announce that, over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing a series of posts related to some research I’ve been doing this summer. The title of the series is: This robot is so not a ‘dick in…
So, last night I was watching VH1 Classic, and the video for Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy” was on. With the paired dancers, bright colors, and sort of carnie/Geek Love aesthetic, it totally reminded me of the video…
So, it is often the case that women’s accomplishments (in art, research, business, politics, whatever) are often overlooked for, read in terms of, seen as dependent on, or otherwise secondary to their appearance. Adrian Piper has commented on the tendency…
Here’s a clip from the beginning of “The Last Angel of History,” an awesome and seminal 1998 film about Afrofuturist music. The film is REALLY hard to find (I haven’t been able to get my hands on a complete copy),…
So, the Gaga-Madonna connection is a totally overworn topic. Gaga encourages some of the comparisons, but I think that Madge is NOT the artist we need to see as Gaga’s immediate aesthetic ancestor and interlocutor. It’s Marilyn Manson. Yep, Gaga…
Readers of this blog have probably safely assumed that I totally endorse Nancy Bauer’s recent contribution to the New York Times philosophy blog, “The Stone”. Her reading of Lady Gaga through Beauvoir (mainly through The Ethics of Ambiguity’s first few…
Apart from their titular references to California, Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg’s “California Gurls” and Dre and TuPac’s “California Love” might appear to have little at all in common. However, the compositional genius of the Perry/Snoop track is that it…
Simon Critchley recently began a philosophy column for the New York Times, and his inaugural post poses the question “What is a Philosopher?”. Here’s the post: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/what-is-a-philosopher/?hp Below, I argue that Critchley’s philosopher practices the logic of hipness. As I…
Beyonce recently released a new video for her funkspolitation-style track “Why Don’t You Love Me?”. While everyone seems to be focusing on her continued use of the pinup aesthetic, I’m going to argue that this is, like “Single Ladies” a…
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