Soxy

Was Prince using his guitar as a giant Phallic symbol? Or do people just need to get a damn life? Prince's Halftime Imagery Questioned By JAKE COYLE AP Entertainment Writer Published February 6, 2007, 10:16 PM CST NEW YORK -- In the sensitive post-wardrobe malfunction world, some are questioning whether a guitar was just a guitar during Prince's Super Bowl halftime show. Prince's acclaimed performance included a guitar solo during the "Purple Rain" segment of his medley in which his shadow was projected onto a large, flowing beige sheet. As the 48-year-old rock star let rip, the silhouette cast by his figure and his guitar (shaped like the singer's symbol) had phallic connotations for some. A number of bloggers have decried "Malfunction!" -- including Sam Anderson at New York magazine's Daily Intelligencer. Daily News television critic David Bianculli called it "a rude-looking shadow show" that "looked embarrassingly rude, crude and unfortunately placed." CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said Tuesday that the network has received "very few" complaints on Prince's performance. CBS last aired the Super Bowl in 2004 when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's "wardrobe malfunction" sparked criticism and a subsequent crackdown on broadcast decency from the Federal Communications Commission. But this time, it was the NFL that produced the halftime show (MTV had in 2004). Spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has received no complaints. "We respect other opinions, but it takes quite a leap of the imagination to make a controversy of his performance," Aiello said. "It's a guitar." The majority of the reaction to Prince's performance has been laudatory, including positive reviews from The Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today -- all of which noted the lack of controversy in this year's halftime show. AP Entertainment Writer Douglas J. Rowe wrote: "He delivered one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows -- ever." For decades, the electric guitar, by nature, has been considered phallic. From Jimi Hendrix's sensual 6-string swagger to Eddie Van Halen's masturbatory soloing, the guitar has often been thought an extension of a male player's sexuality. Was Prince's pose phallic? "The short answer is, of course it is," says Rolling Stone magazine contributing editor Gavin Edwards, who points out that on Prince's "Purple Rain" tour in the mid `80s, he performed with a guitar that would ejaculate, squirting water out of its end during the climax of "Let's Go Crazy." "All that said, it didn't seem like a sn*****ing little puppet show," adds Edwards. "I think it was one of those things because a guitar at waist level does look like an enormous phallus." By enlarging his shadow, it's possible Prince intended to accentuate this aspect of his solo, but it's just as likely it was accidental. (You can find videos of the halftime show at YouTube.com.) A message left with Prince's publicist Tuesday wasn't returned. The late-night shows have taken notice. On CBS's "The Late Late Show" on Sunday night, host Craig Ferguson said of Prince: "He was obviously very happy to be there, wasn't he?" Stephen Colbert reacted with mock outrage on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" Monday night: "They knew that they were dealing with a lustful, pansexual rock 'n' roll deviant," said Colbert, who joked that the sheet hid (not enhanced) Prince's "demonic guitar phallus." In recent years, Prince has scaled down his performances, which were once renown for their gymnastics. His mini-concert at the Colts-Bears game in Miami included parts of "Purple Rain," "Let's Go Crazy," "Baby I'm a Star," Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," the Foo Fighter's "Best of You" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary." The Minnesota native has attracted controversy before. Tipper Gore launched a campaign to place a warning sticker on his 1984 album "Purple Rain" because of the lyrics to the song "Darling Nikki." Though his musical style has been expansive, he's best known for funky, sexually charged songs like "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Get Off." Prince's previously most talked-about performance came at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, where he donned yellow, butt-baring pants, (a stunt later spoofed by Howard Stern). Always eccentric, he famously changed his name to The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, then to simply a symbol and finally back to Prince. He also became a Jehovah's Witness in the mid-`90s. But Prince's halftime performance, though celebrated, came in a much different cultural environment, where even the fleeting outline of a man and his guitar could, for some, suggest shaded depravity. "If people want to be hypersensitive, they can be hypersensitive," says Rolling Stone's Edwards. "Those trombones are phallic, too. What are you going to do?"

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 11:33 AM) YOu mean the guy who didn't get tough until after he left the room, then he started yelling like a badass? Yeah, but he told the judges he was going to do it. I thought he was funny. I liked him. And I liked his Cousin. And the mini-Rueben.

Cold, absolutely no question. I HATE heat and humidity

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 01:48 AM) Will it help if I gave up drinking before next year?? Why the heck would you want to do that? Who would be our resident Beer Knower then?

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Feb 6, 2007 -> 10:37 PM) At least you have a chance in that category. I was nominated in the Conservative category, with Nuke. Yeah, I'll win that one! But hey, couldn't have lost to a better guy. Touche. But you'll always be my little Conservative EvilMonkey. Although, bully to Balta for sewing up the Lefty award. (And, no, I did NOT cast the my lone vote for myself. . .)

QUOTE(mreye @ Feb 5, 2007 -> 10:38 AM) I feel like Susan Lucci. Don't worry, I haven't won anything either. We should start the "Always smile when someone else wins" group. I'm, like, one of 3 girls on this site and every damn year I lose "person to have a drink with" to Flaxx. Come on! I'm a girl! And he would talk about science the whole time (okay, I would too, but I'M A GIRL).

Ick More Minn. schools report herpes cases 2 hours, 15 minutes ago ST. PAUL - Six more schools have reported cases of herpes among Minnesota high school wrestlers. The mild form of herpes was found in 16 additional wrestlers after the Minnesota State High School League shut down the sport last week because of the virus. So far, 16 teams and 40 wrestlers have reported infections of the skin-to-skin virus. Symptoms have included lesions on the face, head and neck of wrestlers. The high school league imposed an eight-day ban on practice and competition after herpes gladiatorum was diagnosed in several wrestlers. Despite the new cases, teams were scheduled to resume practices and matches Wednesday, said Craig Perry, associate director at the league who oversees wrestling. "You can never say there's no more risk, but the suspension is done," Perry said. "It accomplished what it was intended to accomplish. ... We've been able to isolate those cases that come out of this. It helped us and it helped our programs." The source of the outbreak hasn't been determined. It was thought that it might have originated with wrestlers from Valentine High School in Nebraska who had competed in a meet in Rochester. But examinations of the Nebraska wrestlers showed no evidence of herpes. Perry said it will be up to the individiual schools to decide on when, or if, they make up for the lost matches this season. He said some have already rescheduled some meets for this weekend.

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Feb 5, 2007 -> 12:47 PM) We got a dog Saturday!!! He is half german shepherd and half black lab. Our friend was going to take him to the no-kill shelter by us but we decided to take him and give it a try (see if he could acclimate to the house and us or not). So far, so good. His name is/was Mooka so we decided to change it to Pooka (based on http://www.irelandseye.com/paddy3/preview2.htm ). I leave for Philly early tomorrow morning though . Oh and I almost totalled my car. I looked away for a split second and some idiot in front of the car that was in front of me slammed the brakes for no reason (no one was in front of them). Turns out the lady in front of me works in the same building I do and rode the elevator with me. She told me good driving in avoiding her and confirmed what I saw - the moron in front of us stopped for no reason. I am so angry at myself, but at least I recovered in time to avoid what would have been a horrible wreck. Glad you're safe Queenie! And I'm afraid we're going to need to see some pictures of the dog. He sounds adorable!!!!!! I love dogs.

Stay safe Nuke!

Saw two foreign films yesterday: Pan's Labyrinth and L'auberge espagnole (the latter we rented) Labyrinth was very entertaining. The story was very simple and predictable, but the visual effects were stunning and the acting was good. The story, albeit simple and predictable (although I think both were intential, as the film begins and ends with nearly the same shot) was entertaining. I think the real joy of the movie is how WELL the story is told. A simple story told well, as in this movie, is about a million times better than a complex story told poorly. There is some violence and gore in the film--I think a lot of people in the theatre (including a few that I went with) didn't read any reviews and had no idea what the movie was about. There was a lot of audible discomfort during a few scenes. So, if you're going to see this with some quesy people, warn them. Overall I enjoyed it a lot and so did the people I went with. I would definitely recommend it. L'auberge espagnole is a good foreign film about a group of students from all over Europe (France, Spain, England, Denmark, Germany and Belgium) who live together in a Barcelona. The movie is mostly in French, but also has a healthy dose of Spanish and English (with smatterings of Catalan). I really enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who has spent a semester abroad. Very entertaining and funny.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Feb 2, 2007 -> 05:24 PM) I've already said that I'm not discouraging kids from reading it. But why some adults are more excited to read the book than the children, that has me a bit confused. Like Jim said they're really well written. I, personally, love the suspense in the later books. Mostly I enjoy them because they offer me an exciting break from the all too often s***ty reality that is adult life.

I thought this was about the pop. And now I'm thirsty, and disappointed.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 1, 2007 -> 04:34 PM) Personality was one of my favorites. My favorite was Abnormal and watching the hypochondriacs self diagnose all their problems. How are you studies going? Are you achieving a good balance between TA and student? Personality is so far out of my comfort zone, it's not even funny. Luckily I'm good at memorizing, so I can usually stay ahead of the students. School is meh. Not a huge fan, but right now I don't have any other options. I keep telling my mom to get me a job working for the state, but apparently nepotism only works now if your related to Blago. Grrrrr, why change things now?

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Feb 1, 2007 -> 04:04 PM) That's exactly what I was when we did this a week ago in my Managing Behavior in Organizations class. Weird science. It was weird, my senior year I lived with 3 other girls and 3 of us had the same personality type. The other girl was an ENPJ. She was faaaaaaaaaar less cool than us ISTJ girls (although getting that many emotionally reserved perfectionists in one place was, uh, special). I'm ta-ing Psych of personality and we're doing Jung, so I thought I would brush up on his personality types.

Oh, Myers-Briggs Personality test, how are you always so right about me?

The previous book sold 6.9 MILLION copies on its first DAY. How many will this sell when it's released this summer? And more importantly, who's excited? Me.

I think most of Tom Cruise's meltdowns were in 2005. He's been more low profile lately.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 30, 2007 -> 08:58 PM) Hillary on March 7, 2003 Hillary on January 28, 2007 What a hypocrite. How can anyone vote for this woman with any conscience at all? (I bet this thread is pretty sparse... ) I did. She's a good senator, and I'm very happy with her representation. I agree with Jason, she admitted her mistakes. I'm sure you'll just say it's political posturing--but I think she's sincere.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 30, 2007 -> 09:45 AM) Just for discussion's sake, here are the top 5 from the GOP thread and the Dems thread along with the percentages of total posts in those threads. According to the numbers, it doesn't look like the GOP thread has been left alone either, so the whole idea of "only" threads has been long gone for quite a while now. I was also surprised that the GOP thread has way more balance it in, as the top 5 posters in the Dems thread own almost 70% of its posts, while the top 5 in the GOP thread hold only just under half of thread. The myth that the GOPers are the only ones doing this is busted IMO. I never said it wasn't just the GOPers doing it. I just rarely read that thread, so I don't know how big of a problem it is. I think I've posted once or twice over in that thread, but then I realized how silly it is to do so. I try to respect your guys' right to have hyperbolic conversations about politics (much like the ones that happen in this thread). Or at the very least, not go over to your thread and act like an asshole. I wouldn't treat someone with disrespect in their own house, and that's just how it comes across in these threads. If there was some sort of meaningful discussion, sure fine. But here (and probably in the GOP thread) it's just "snark, snark, snark, you guys are just as bad, snark." Which is exactly what the rest of the filibuster is. We've had some good discussions with Republicans in this thread (I think Yas was involved with a good one recently), but some of them are just f***ing ridiculous. Either have a discussion or b**** and moan in your own thread. Oh f*** it, nevermind.

But most Americans have also heard about evolution. Doesn't mean they believe in it (or understand what it actually means). Would be interesting to see how many people actually believe it's having a negative effect and how many think it's just natural.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 11:27 PM) haha, jump to conclusions much? you may want to actually follow the thread and click on links to which posts are responding before throwing a internet temper tantrum. meh, or just keep being a spaz. either way is fine with me. but i do like your attempt to show wit by using a Freudian term. it's very amusing. I did follow Tex's link. I just find it very funny that so many republicans constantly post here and are all offended by stuff that is thrown around in this thread. And I don't see how my post has anything remotely to do with a tantrum. I would actually say your post was more waaaaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaaaaa mean old dems. And it wasn't an attempt to show wit, it was merely an observation. I have to put all of my graduate training to use at some point, right?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 02:15 PM) Like there was seriously any doubt as to who was going to be on top in this thread. I knew you'd be number 1, but I also figured Kap would be in the top 5.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 11:53 AM) Click on Texsox's link and you will understand. I just continue to fail to understand some hard core republicans and conservatives unwavering interest in this thread. Hence the reaction formation comment.

Wowza. When did Oscar Wilde become a "reformed homosexual," I must have missed that. . . Thank goodness Tori Amos is still okay. And Sinead O'Connor and most importantly: I can keep my Wham! songs. Whew. . .

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jan 28, 2007 -> 07:58 PM) Here is a list of Hitler's public stances. So now you too can accuse just about ANYONE of being Hitler!! for abortion capital punishment socialism censorship Christianity eugenics nationalism euthanasia genocide gun control Leni Riefenstahl films racial purity vegetarianism against gypsies Jews feminism Freemasonry democracy "degenerate" art atheism capitalism communism labor unions miscegenation nudism Pacifism Poles pornography prostitution psychoanalysis Slavs smoking wtf is this doing in this thread? And, I would be really curious to see who the top 5 posters in this thread are. Really curious. I believe the Freudian term is: reaction formation. . .