Lady Gaga: Prophet of Joy

I love Lady Gaga.

Yes, I said it. Probably not a terribly ground-shaking comment, but I often find myself defending my position.

My first real encounter with Lady Gaga was while I was working as a dishwasher at a hotel restaurant. The radio in the kitchen was always set to the local pop station. The only problem I have with this station is that they have a really bad habit of overplaying a song. I could hear Poker Face three or four times in 4 hours. I probably would have heard it again later in my shift, but the kitchen crew and wait staff would clear out, and I would immediately turn the radio to CBC. Learn some stuff, or listen to Stuart McLean recite an ode to pumpkin pie. So, hearing Lady Gaga so often, and in such a repetitive manner really turned me off of her. Also, I was listening without any context, so she seemed like any other blonde, poorly choreographed pop star. Not worth my time thought I, with an arrogant, self-satisfied smirk.

A few months later, being quite comfortable in my Anti-Gaga position, my wife (then girlfriend) brought home the double album The Fame and The Fame Monster on CD. I was shocked, as she had always agreed with my conclusion of "Gaga? Pffft." and now she's all a twitter (not that) and telling me how wonderful these albums are. Then she played Speechless and the world ended in a hyperbolic fun-splosion. Yes, fun-splosion. That one song, so well written and so different from her singles really intrigued me. I listened to both albums, start to finish and I was hooked. Also, South Park gave her the stamp of approval, and I do whatever Stone and Parker tell me to. Just like they would want.

She's Brilliant! Driving beats and bizarre lyrics. Thinly veiled, cutting metaphors, and an underlying message of "Fuck it." that really resonates with me.She inspires individuality and self-respect. She mocks the main-stream while at the same time changing it for the better. She's an artist that will forever be reinventing herself and moving forward and I'm excited to see each new step. She's about having fun, and embracing the euphoria and joy that is existence.

Life is too short not to dance to Lady Gaga.

What and odd young man...

It's a glorious day. God is great, humanity is great, and we dance together through the universe together, forever spinning and joining in glorious orgasm. Take this time to glory in existence and feel the raw power that is your life force. The universe pulses through you and you through her. There are no words to describe the magnificence and joy that is unadulterated life. Feel the beat of your favourite song. Don't let anything stop you. Feel it all, feel it through your sinew and bone and blood and into the deepest parts of your soul. Explode with the awesome and awful righteousness that is the unstoppable, untameable, unnameable, untraceable eternity. Life is an exclamation point. God is the line and you are the point. You are the point. It's the only way to be.

Allow yourself to be filled with it, to overflow with it and revel in your inability to contain it. You are incapable of containing it. You are incapable of being contained. Explode into the universe and it will explode into you and together and forever you will dance in ecstasy. You are invited and you feel it within yourself but for some reason you fear it and you recoil. Don't. That's not even a strong enough word, "don't", you can't, you must not give in to the feeling of despair and turmoil and drudgery that so many of us fall into. That's not why you are here, you are here to dance and explore and explode with joy and wonder! Don't let the weight of existence overpower the power contained within. They are one and the same and when you flip that coin, when you turn the weight on your shoulders into the power under your feet you will know why it is, why you are and even better, you will know why you don't know, can't know, and it is glorious.

It is glorious.

I am a child of love and beauty and peace and eternity and I can never use it up for it is everything.

I love you.

i am weak and i am flesh and i am finite, but that which looks out from these eyes is greater than the sum of it's parts and when i let i go, I become so much more. I become We, We become Eternity.

The beat of the drum, the drive of life, the power that will not be contained. Stands defiant in the face of oblivion, glories in the face of obliteration, laughs and dances like a child in the presence of ruin and becomes Life!

Mournful Whale Wail

Yesterday I learned that Whales commit suicide. What a depressing concept. I just never considered the possibility that Whales would intentionally beach themselves. Why would they do that? I know they must live difficult lives, and we certainly make it worse, but why off themselves? 

Not all of them commit suicide, certainly a percentage do get confused in storms, are sick, or exhausted. Some apparently just want it all to end. My understanding (which is extremely limited, I no smart.) is that Humans are the only species on Earth intelligent (or dumb) enough to understand our own finite existence. A Squirrel understands that a Hawk could kill it, but it does not understand that even if it avoids Hawks forever it will someday die of old age, or disease. Maybe they don't even understand that much. Maybe they only understand that Hawk = Pain. So for a Whale to truly commit suicide, by our standard definition, it would have to understand that it is finite, and has the ability to end it's own existence. If it understands that, what else does it understand? 

There are examples of animals killing themselves, though it is usually inadvertently. There is a bridge where Dogs routinely jump to their deaths, seemingly without hesitation. Squirrel road-kill seems to skyrocket in late fall, when they might become aware that they do not have enough food stored for the winter. These examples are weak references to suicide. The Dog bridge has no explanation, and the Squirrel road-kill could be instinct, or more associated with a hectic and distracting drive to get better prepared for winter. 

Some animals will become depressed, and waste away. Animals that have lost companions or mates often stop eating. This probably can't be called suicide. In order for it to be called suicide, the victim must understand that it's actions will lead to it's own end. It must also have a concept of the past, present, and future. For example "This event in my past is torturing my present, and will continue to do so in the future. It will not get better." This is of course a fallacy, as all things must pass. That being said, the afflicted exists only inside themselves and therefore creates a world in which the pain is omnipresent.

Coming back to the Whales: They are very sensitive beings, who form very close relationships. It is plausible that when they lose a loved one, either a mate, a child or a companion, they certainly feel the pain as much as (or perhaps more than) we do. Perhaps this drives them into an emotional spiral where they rage-beach themselves, having no concept that it will kill them. I know I've felt emotional pain so intensely that without thought I attempt to turn it into a more manageable physical pain. Not proud, just saying. On the other hand, perhaps they have a concept of death that we don't associate with animals. Perhaps Whales are smarter than we give credit, and they know exactly what they are doing to themselves.  

In the end, this begs the question: Just what do Whales sing about?