Anyone else annoyed at Madonna (for the same resons I am)?

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m sure that kung fu lola, at least, will be in here to defend Madonna… I’m ready for the onslaught.

First let me say that I am a Madonna fan. I have all of her music prior to this most recent album, American Life.

She’s entertaining and her crazy persona changes have always amused me. I think her “in your face” attitude has helped women to be more free with who they really are… sexually and humorously, in particular.

I am annoyed by “American Life” and the related publicity tour.

Number one, she doesn’t fucking live in America. I don’t care if she’s American. It is the height of assholishness to criticize when you haven’t even lived here for what, two years?

Number two, in recent interviews she has cringed about her past behavior, calling it unimportant. Now she knows what’s important. Everything before the age of 40 was bullshit. This attitude drives me bugnuts, especially since Madonna is an intelligent woman. Madonna, you wouldn’t be able to look back at your past behavior and evaluate it if you hadn’t gone through it. Ever heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy? It’s the fucking process of life. Get the basic needs met first, then get philosophical about it all. Hel-fucking-lo? She should at least acknowledge that she had to do what she did to get where she is now. Maybe not EVERY thing, but the general direction and experimentation… Yes.

I think it’s buggin me so much because I absolutely hate it when people regret decisions to the point of wishing they could erase them. Especially when the person benefits from the decisions that they made!

For example, I have a friend who will repeatedly blow off responsibilities in order to have some spontaneous fun. She’ll party all night long, have a great time and then whine the entire next day, “Oh man, why did I do thaaaaat? I shoulda studied! I shoulda cleaned my apartment!”

Judas Priest!! Learn to live with the consequences of your decisions or change your future behavior, but don’t fucking WHINE about what you should have done!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2

Sheeyot.

That should be “reasons,” of course.

3

Humm - while I kinda get your point, I’m not sure I see how it relates to Madonna, per se.

Firstly, perhaps she moved from the US because she was dissapointed in the current administration - there were a number of celebs that threatened to leave if Bush was elected (I don’t actually remember if she was one of them) and the bulk of them, AFAIK have stayed in place. Assuming Madonna was one of those folks (and I kinda think she was) by moving she’s just showing that she has the character to stick to her convictions.

To draw a GROSSLY EXAGERATED parallel, if a former Iraqi had moved to the US and began to publicly criticize Hussen I can’t imagine that his former countrymates would complain that because he’d been away, he had no insight into the government.
See what I mean?

Secondly, what’s wrong with Madonna saying she regrets things shes done? The Sex book? Didn’t help her career - made her look like a tool. The affair with Sandra Bernhardt - kinda made her look like a wannabe lesbian and if you want to experiment with being a lesbian pick someone cuter than Sandra - although she does look super in the latest MAC adds.

Really - the woman has made mistakes. Big ones. Ones that made her look like a fool. Lots of em. I’m hypothesizing that she could have made 1/2 the mistakes she actually did, and still have experienced satisfying personal growth.

Thats it. I will add that I find the new song a bit annoying, but I guess I’ll wait and see.

4

How old is she? Let’s say she’s 50 (IANI). That means she’s lived in America for 48 years. I think that gives her some justification to criticise.

5

I haven’t lived in England for 11 years, but I still reserve the right to criticise it. Furthermore, she splits her time between LA and England.

Personally, I am pissed with her because she’s never off the TV these days, and her new songs blow.

6

What a load of shit this is. She moved because Guy Ritchie is in England, not to make a fucking political statement.

Yep, takes a lot of character to move from a house in LA to a castle in England.

7

She said in an interview that she didn’t want to move here, and kicked up a fuss when she had to, but fell in love with the place when she did.

8

I’m pissed of that she’s feeling super duper, in her Mini Cooper.

9

Are you saying that there were no celebs threatening to move if Bush was elected? Because if you are, you’d be wrong.

I said quite clearly that I wasn’t sure if Madonna was one of them.

Why don’t you chill the fuck out.

10

Yes I remember celebs, (Alex Baldwin being the loudest) threatening to leave if Bush was elected. Our country would probably be better off if they had gone, but that’s another story.

Sorry to jump on you like that.

Nice location BTW :smiley:

11

Sometimes I get annoyed with my bunnies…

12

What astonishes me is that anyone could think they’re making some kind of profound philosophical statement by criticizing America for its (supposed) shallow materialism. Does this dumb broad actually believe she’s got, like, some kind of deep spiritual insight or something? This kind of stuff was already pretty lame even back in the Sixties.

I’ve never liked Madonna very much. Sure, her * Material Girl * phase was kind of cute and playful and sexy, but somewhere along the line Madonna failed to grasp the difference between sexy and sleazy. And what was more, I got woefully tired of not being able to pick up a popular magazine or turn on the TV without having Madonna shove her crotch in my face. Madonna, honey, there’s such a thing as overexposure. No, really, there is.

Then again, maybe it’s not just Madonna. When you come right down to it, I’m pretty sick and tired of the whole show business industry these days.

13

What bugs me about her is how she now has some pseudo-British accent. She’s a working-class Italian girl from Detroit. That’s much cooler than being a wannabe sophisticated Brit. Her accent was starting to sound like that way before she moved there too.

14

Well she does have an apartment a few blocks from my friend’s building on 64th St & Central Park West.

15

I just read some interview with her, and she comes across as smug, self-centered, and above all, just plain dumb. No doubt the woman is some sort of marketing genius, I’ll grant you that. But she’s become the Death Star of American entertainment, nothing more than an overblown symbol of everything it means to be famous in the US. Madonna is now famous for being famous.

She was so deeply cool back in the 80’s. She was fun and sexy and didn’t take herself so damn seriously. Then she blew up and became the evil chimera of feminine social perception. For the life of me, I could not tell you why. I am bored to death with her “re-inventing” herself. I’m pleased she’s exploring new avenues in her personality. I do not want to hear her crow about it at every opportunity.

And the little bubble world she lives in drives me crazy. It’s hard to stay “real” when you have tons of money and everyone in the world knows what your crotch looks like. But Madonna genuinely seems to believe that because she’s taken a few yoga classes and made friends with a rabbi she is now a certified bodhisattva. Her new message seems to be that war is stupid and we should all just get along. And that fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and really, she’d much rather just be a normal person like you and I.

Spare me. :rolleyes:

16

With every persona, she tries to convince us that THIS time she’s really enlightened. This time she KNOWS what life is all about and finally she can open up and discuss herself with us. It’s such a joke. Her music doesn’t say much so she’s got to blather on about this and that. The only way I’ll be convinced of her enlightenment is when she learns to quit with the self-absorbed philosophizing. She’s like a freaking’ ever-changing Campbell’s soup can with all the labels she puts on herself. Just admit you’re Scotch Broth and be done with it, Maddy!

Also, this latest persona - the one with the dark hair, Parisian-striped or black shirts, black beret, and acoustic guitar (complete with traveling guitar teacher) - makes me laugh. It reminds me of the ending of She Devil when Meryl Streep’s character gets all serious and pretentious because she had to deal with reality for a short while. I honestly hope that she’s making a mockery of herself on purpose, because if she doesn’t, she’s walking around with the biggest piece of toilet paper on her shoe and no one seems to have the heart to tell her. She’s headed for Norma Desmond territory, and fast! (I can’t wait!)

17

Hopefully that last bomb of a movie she was in should keep her off the screen for good.

18

So I suppose you’ve been waiting for me

  • Madonna still lives in America. She splits her time between a house in LA, an apartment in NYC and a home (NOT castle) in London.

  • She never said that she regretted doing anything, in fact if you ask her if she has regrets, she’ll deny it. What she’s on about these days is that she had no idea what was really important until her daughter was born, and even then she didn’t know how to have a good relationship. As has been pointed out by other posters, she WAS selfish, shallow, petty and bratty. Now she is more mellow, willing to compromise, and respectful of other people. She said; “I realized that if I wanted the right kind of man, I had to be the right kind of woman.”

  • As for the “fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”, it isn’t. Listen closely and she says (paraphrasing), “I appreciate the freedom that my wealth gives me, and the influence that I have over people. But those things aren’t as healing or fulfilling as simple things that anyone can have, like a good marriage and adorable children. I thought that being famous would make me supremely happy and solve all my problems, but it didn’t. People in America think that if only they can be famous, all their problems will go away, but that’s an illusion. You have the same problems and heartache, you just don’t have to worry about making your car payments on time.”

Madonna only gives back to interviewers what they bring to the table. If the interviewer is stupid and boring and doesn’t challenge her, she won’t open up. Some interviewers who have actually gotten her to talk include Norman Mailer in 1994, and, more recently, MuchMusic’s Bill Welychka, whose interview with her on this junket was very revealing.

Finally, I have to say that I am very disappointed with her new album. It’s really a “for-the-fans” CD, and I think she should have recognized this and launched it quietly. It’s nowhere near Ray Of Light and I don’t see how anyone who isn’t a fan could enjoy it, frankly. It’s obvious that she gave too much control to Mirwais and that she scribbled off the lyrics in about 15 minutes, probably because what she really wanted to be doing was sitting in front of a big bowl of bastina with her son on her lap, not making an album. I personally agree with the criticisms of American Life, but what I can’t stay quiet about are the myths that people propagate about Madonna, and the assumptions that they make about her, based on a surface judgement or out of ignorance. I guess that’s why I’m so vocal, around here and IRL.

19

Yes of course, she’s just a regular sweetheart, our bad.

20

I like how she talks about American Life like it is a piece of fucking public service that she created it, and then pulls the cute little anti-filesharing stunt. Now, I understand she has legitimate concerns about file sharing. But if she are going to say that fortune and wealth arn’t important to her and talk about how this song is going to “show” the world this and “explain” to them that and talk about it as if out of the goodness of her heart she decided to share all her wisdom and write a song that will fix all the problems in the world…well, you think she wouldn’t be quite so upset that the word is getting spread.