Posted on 02/10/2017 7:51:38 AM PST by Kaslin
Halftime at the Super Bowl, once merely a forgettable 30 minutes to get another beer or join the line at the restroom, is now more entertaining. It sometimes gets different reviews from different generations. But this year, everyone could find something to be dazzled by in Lady Gaga's terrific patriotic pop.
She was a dazzling Peter Pan, a hip Mary Poppins, a sparkly SpongeBob SquarePants, floating through the air like the man on the flying trapeze, shimmering drones illuminating an American flag in the night sky behind her. It was testimony to high-tech triumphalism to match the magic on the stage, sky and field.
The lady who vamped Tony Bennett at his 90th birthday party with a seductive version of "The Lady is a Tramp" and engages millennials with flamboyant, funky and freaky electronic fireworks buzzed the stadium in radiant sequins of silver and steel. She announced that she was simply there to "make you feel good."
That's not easy to do in a polarized political culture, but the tweets afterward were decidedly cross-generational, enthusiastic and even bipartisan. Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted that his "good friend" continues to amaze him. Ivanka Trump tweeted, "Incredible performance." And Tyler Oakley tweeted, "actual goddess bringing together all of America to celebrate being one nation under God, pop music & aerial acrobatics." The goddess soars through the air, courting the camera for fun, not miracles. Her drones do not kill or deliver packages; they decorate the sky for dramatic effect.
Super Bowl halftime is a fantasy world for everybody, whether they want to make America great again or nourish a post-November hangover for the ages. This year it called a truce in the culture war, if only for a half-hour. There were no sexual politics (or any other kind). Hers was entertainment to match the heroics of Tom Brady's astonishing comeback.
There was no wardrobe malfunction, as in 2004 when Janet Jackson's black leather jacket popped open for a split second and out popped her boob. Nor did we have to endure a tribute to Black Panther cop killers, which Beyonce came up with last year with a chorus in black berets, presumably as testimony to black power. Lady Gaga, by contrast, even gave a shoutout to her parents. That's as American as apple pie in the sky can get.
Vice President Mike Pence watched the show with two wounded warriors who flew with him to Houston on Air Force Two. One was wounded in Iraq in 2008, the other in Afghanistan last year. One rooted for the New England Patriots, the other for the Atlanta Falcons. Nice touch.
Polarized politics slam in your face 24/7, and they're in the eye of the beholder like a cinder, relentlessly cultivating divisions, fissures and chasms. Several pundits and big talkers describe Lady Gaga as a stealth subversive. They accuse her of sending a double message by singing "This Land Is Your Land" because Woody Guthrie originally composed it to be an edgy protest in an America still suffering from the Depression. They miss the lady's bigger point. Her rendition of Irving Berlin's mighty "God Bless America" and Guthrie's anthem brought the Super Bowl crowd together. She even added a few words from the Pledge of Allegiance. For a brief span of the game, Americans were divided only by competing loyalties to the Patriots and the Falcons. How refreshing is that?
Not everybody was thrilled, of course. Amanda Petrusich, writing in The New Yorker, scorned the men on the field as gladiators fighting at the Coliseum, "demolishing each other for the profit and entertainment of others." Who took Grandma Grundy to the ball game? That said, the scientific research on brain injuries on the gridiron is indeed scary. One study observing an offensive lineman in a game found that 10 hits he accrued had "the average G-Force of a car ramming into a wall at roughly thirty miles per hour." Few club owners, coaches or players protest that kind of wall when reaching for the millions.
There's a caution in this for our sons and grandsons who dream of making the team. Lady Gaga says she started planning her halftime entertainment when she was only 4 years old, and many little boys no older than that are dreaming of scoring the winning pass, run or field goal to win a Super Bowl years hence. No G-force is powerful enough to snuff that dream. But evidence mounts that football is bad for the brain (and the knees, shoulders and ankles).
Criticism of the sport sounds mean-spirited to anyone watching such skill and talent. Better to watch Lady Gaga catch a sparkling pigskin and disappear into that mysterious wonderland where talented performers and athletes go to dream their dreams. It makes the rest of us feel good, too, if only for the moment.
More than ever it's a good time to get a beer and take a leak.
Lady Gaga is not suddenly a conservative hero, she is most likely just as liberal as she always was, she just did not stuff it into our faces with a political statement at the Super Bowl.
She did her job, which was to provide entertainment for everyone (not just the half of the audience who may agree with her)
It was a wise decision on her part to not insult them on-stage, and that’s all.
And Jackson's wardrobe did NOT "malfunction"...
It was a planned stunt. It was a tear-away bra, purposely removed, by whoever that was singing with her. AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THAT?
She even had a strategically placed piece of jewelry and did not act like it was an accident- it was fake 'surprise' acting as if she was shocked.
But if she was really shocked that her boob was suddenly hanging out she would have tried to hide it not stand there flaunting it.
I am sick of liberals twisting language and getting NO ONE in the media to call them out on it.
"On May 1st, May Day [1969], the day of the gigantic Free Huey rally, two of Alioto's top executioners vamped on the brothers from the Brown Community who were attending to their own affairs. These brothers, who are endowed with the revolutionary spirit of the Black Panther Party defended themselves from the racist pig gestapo [the police].
Pig Joseph Brodnik received his just reward with a big hole in the chest. Pig Paul McGoran got his in the mouth which was not quite enough to off him.
The revolutionary brothers escaped the huge swarm of pigs with dogs, mace, tanks and helicopters, proving once again that "the spirit of the people is greater than the man's technology."
To these brothers the revolutionary people of racist America want to say, by your revolutionary deed you are heroes, and that you are always welcome to our camp."
Source: Maoist Internationist Movement
Article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROS (May 11, 1969)
http://web.archive.org/web/20060717050055/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/bpp/index.html
A smart entertainer (or business) does not gratuitously offend a large percentage of their potential market.
Leopards don’t change their spots, as my grandmother always told me.
HUFFINGTON POST - ENTERTAINMENT
Sept 19, 2012
Barack Obama was the guest of Beyonce and Jay-Z on Wednesday night. The foursome joined by about 100 other people at Jay-Zs 40/40 club in Manhattan had a wildly successful evening, raising $4 million for the presidents reelection campaign. ...
To J and B, thank you so much for your friendship, the president said.
Beyoncé could not be a better role model for my girls because she carries herself with such class and poise and has so much talent, he said.
The singer has taken an active role in promoting Obamas bid, posting an open letter to Michelle Obama on her blog and later reading it an a web video released by the campaign. ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/obama-beyonce-role-model-jay-z-4-million_n_1896368.html
Wishing the Super Bowl producers would book Zac Brown Band or Sundance Head from The Voice. Why not a country band every few years?
She is evil and a satanist. She’s also a deceiver and it’s very disheartening to see so many people fooled and singing her praises when she is leading our youth down a dark path. The Bible tells us about deceivers. Unfortunately the warning is not heeded.
I am not a fan of Lady Gaga, but I must say I enjoyed her show, especially the first part. I didn’t notice any pentagram backdrop, though I do know she uses them.
Very well said.
Can someone edit that photo of the sistas and put Katrina dude in there? I think it will add some humor to some very mean looking ladies.
Beyonces Eye of Sauron all-seeing eye, repeating Madonnas Satanic eye symbolism.
Many of these symbols are ritualistically repeated multiple times across many halftime show
I realize her show came off innocent and entertaining but this is what she is putting out there to the youth of this country and beyond. After you watch it, let me know if you really want to reward this woman with praise and Superbowl half time shows because that is sending a message to kids that is all OK. Make sure you take note of the views these videos are getting because they represent the rot our children and young adults are absorbing.
For your ‘entertainment’.....
I’m sure there are more videos like these but these were enough to stomach for me. Then there is her spirit cooking with Marina Abramovic.............
http://politopinion.com/2016/11/racist-spirit-cooking-dinner/
Exactly.
And I do wish the person who wrote this would not refer to that skank as a “lady”. I am a lady; this trollop is not.
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