These people are crazy

I'm absolutely fascinated by the A&E show Hoarders which I've only recently discovered.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend the day today watching the marathon aside from having to work.  In fact, it's on right now, and I'm watching some insane old woman with hundreds of chickens and other malnourished and abused animals as well as some aggressive guy with rabbits who roam around his house and eat through the walls.

I have this persistent want to vomit as I watch every episode, absolutely astounded by the level of filth these people have let their houses get to.  It's unfathomable to me that a person is capable of letting their house deteriorate to such states which are shown; I saw an episode where a decrepit old woman lived in five feet of garbage and that is disgusting.  The thought of even a single food wrapper sitting out on my dresser makes me uneasy - I can't imagine being psychologically incapable of throwing anything out or spending so much money on a single obsession that you're literally swimming in it.  (I'm referring to this batty old lady who hoarded thousands of stuffed animals)

I guess, in some strange way, I do feel bad for these people.  I feel bad because their hoarding is rooted in a mental inability to part with things, or to collect massive amounts of things, or what have you.  My sympathy is completely erased when these people become psychotic: if you refuse to clean out your house even after the law has told you they're going to remove your children from you, and if you become violent when others try to help you throw things out, you're deranged.  In respect to the episode I'm watching now, the old woman with the hundreds of abused animals is absolutely despicable, and I'm disgusted as she violently insists her chickens are happy as the camera pans over easily ten chickens living per cage never being let out.

I don't quite know why I'm so fascinated with this show.  Maybe it's because some of these people are trainwrecks.  Reality at its finest.

Tik tok, there goes your fifteen minutes

Try to tell me that this is not a sign of what's wrong with the world (or, at least, the music business): Bad Romance never reached number 1 because it was blocked by Tik Tok.  Tik Tok also lasted in the number 1 position for - get ready - nine weeks.  Flash forward to today, where We R Who We R only just debuted at the number 1 position, being only the 17th song in history to do so on the Billboard Hot 100.

(Before I go on, I realize there's already a few things to clear up in just my opening statements - shockingly all Gaga related: no, I'm not being biased to Lady Gaga.  I'm sorry, but even if you hate BOTH Lady Gaga and Ke$ha, you'd realize that Bad Romance is a FAR superior song, and I don't care what anybody says against that, it's that blatant.  Also, when I refer to stats and position numbers, I'm referring to the Billboard Hot 100, which I'd hazard is one of the most reputable charts there is, and it's certainly the one with the most weight and prestige.  Sure, Bad Romance might've hit number 1 on Kiss 92.5's Hot 3 countdown or Muchmusic's Top 30, but who gives a shit about those?)

In all reality, the reason why I love Lady Gaga so much is because the woman can sing.  There's no denying that - in fact I believe that her live show is persuasive enough to turn haters or indifferent minds into believers or even fans (I've witnessed this personally).  Yes, it's a truth that some of her songs do rely on autotune and the likes, but the fact of the matter is she doesn't use it as a crutch.  Unlike Ke$ha.

This rant isn't solely aimed at Ke$ha alone, but it just so happens that she is the embodiment of everything that's wrong with pop culture these days.  I remember the days where being famous meant having some sort of measurable talent, but now we're swarmed with lowlifes who get our money because we're lulled into thinking what they present is worth something.  The same can be said outside of the music industry: people like Paris Hilton, famous for nothing, or people like the cast of Jersey Shore, who are getting more money per club appearance than someone meaningful to society like a teacher or nurse makes in a year.

Again, yes, I'm a bit of a hypocrite (that seems to be a running theme with everything I post here - I take a stance and then can support the opposition).  I have Ke$ha on my iPod; I watch Jersey Shore.  I take these as nothing more than face value entertainment, and I can say that I'm in no way supporting Ke$ha's music career as all the songs of hers I have are illegal.  So as I said - brainless entertainment.  From brainless entertainers.  To be perfectly honest, though, I wouldn't be missing anything without these things in my life - another sign that their presence is really unnecessary.  I watch or listen to that type of "garbage" as just that - garbage, or popcorn entertainment.  If I want something more meaningful, I'll switch the station or even talk myself out of the digital age and open a book.

I can see a faint light ahead: Ke$ha actually shows some level of vocal capability in her newest song Cannibal, where she revisits the "ooh-ooo-oh-ooo-oh-oooh" from her first song Tik Tok (you'll have to get past the growls, the grunts, and the lyrics such as "I am cannibal!" or "now that I'm famous, you're up my anus."  Can't believe I typed that.  Who the fuck writes that?).  Mind you, that could just be the autotune singing.

When it comes down to it, though, I think the only people/singers that deserve to be famous are those who are capable of giving us the real deal in real life.  Think: how was someone like Ke$ha discovered if she literally can't sing live?  You surely must exhibit some sort of talent before being ushered into a studio where you can mask your lack of talent behind computers.  That's why I'm a firm believer of why a person's live capability of talent should be a measure of their success.  That's also why I'm a fan of Lady Gaga; she goes as far to have an acoustic version of EVERY song, and if you strip down the computer effects and you get raw talent.

I'll just sit around and wait until people like Ke$ha fizzle out.  I don't give it long; but then again, you never know.  I'm looking at the same society that puts a garbage song like We R Who We R straight to the top of a chart based on sales.