Woodstock, no, 'Woodstock 1999' (film)

(LukeTheDuke) Woodstock 99: Three Days that Ended a 30-Year Legacy: Rage against the...

Taylor Swift's nasty 'Wood' and LA pop up

She's gone blue. What/s blue? It means "obscene"

• The Boner 🍆 Song: Taylor Swift’s “Wood,” her raunchiest yet, lyrics and meaning (Cosmopolitan)

Like wood? Come to Penis Museum

LYRICS: "Redwood tree [rock hard red boner], it ain't hard to see / His lovе was the key that opened my thighs." "Forgive me, it sounds cocky." "Girls, I don't need to catch the bouquet, mm / To know a hard rock is on the way...The curse on me was broken by [Travis'] magic wand."

• Taylor Swift – "Wood" lyrics | Genius
• Are Taylor Swift's nasty 'Wood' lyrics about her sex life?
• Taylor Swift's raunchy Life of a Showgirl lyrics in 'Wood' explained | Us Weekly

It's not "porn," Dad! It's romance, erotic fantasy, and WOOD shop talk. It's free speech art!

I love wood, Big Daddy!

It used to be all influenced by Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish, and now is Swift "borrowing" from Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Tate McRae, ad nauseum? It's not just the sound but the themes, as if she's so impressionable at 16 that dating that junior varsity football player Travis Barker has detracted from her [f]"art." - She's not 16, and it's not Barker. That's the Kardashian gal. - No, how old is she then? - She's 35, and his name is Woodrow "9 Inches" Kelce. - And she's bragging? - It would seem so. - That would explain why it's 2:30 in length, which in cm is 9 inches, and it's Track 9. Hmm, Easter egg. And it also suggests what mean Bart Baker is on about. - Well, how bad could it be? Mothers like it, like they used to secretly sing Britney "Brit-Brit" Spears.

These two are SO in love! You can tell. It's 4ever!

All the 'Easter eggs' in Life of a Showgirl

Age progression: Tay gets more plastic surgery and Trav take job at an insurance company.

.

Life of a Showgirl the movie!

• Taylor showed up LIVE to our movie screening!!!

Los Angeles activation!

Los Angeles Activation, Century City Pop Up : r/TaylorSwift

This is getting exhausting. I'm glad he likes it.

(myreputation1989) Oct. 2, 2025: OMG, Los Angeles it is your turn @taylornation and @TikTok just announced a The Life of a Showgirl activation in Los Angeles!!! I definitely will be going on Sunday!!! [I cannot wait!!! I'm so excited!!! This is life-changing!!! Is that pee in my panties??? Oops!!!] - Instagram #rich #ts12 #taylurking #thelifeofashowgirl #taylorswift #tsthelifeofashowgirl #taylornation #swifties #swiftie #taylornation13

She's so deep: W knew you were TROUBLE, Tay-Tay, Bart 'n me.

Taylor Swift - "The Fate of Ophelia" (official music video)

• Taylor Swift; Bart Barker, Taylor Swift - "Shake It Off" PARODY; LISTENING PARTY, Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

"Buddha Nature," Ven. Thanissaro?

In honor of Festivus, which customarily begins with the "Airing of Grievances," let's take a critical look at Tan Geoff (American translator Ven. Thanissaro, abbot of Wat Metta, California) and the Mahayana-Hindu concept of [some sort of self to cling to through the idea of an essential] "Buddha Nature." Feel free to differ in the comments section for the traditional "Feats of Strength." Happy Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us!

What is "Buddha Nature"?

Ego Podcast (Buddhism) Discover the Buddha’s profound teachings on the nature of the mind (citta) and the path (magga) to true freedom (nirvana). Learn why the mind is neither inherently good nor evil, but capable of immense transformation. This video explores the Buddha’s insights into intentional actions (karma), freedom of choice, and the process of dismantling ignorance (moha, avijja, miccha-ditthi) to achieve liberation (mokkha, moksha). Find out how understanding (panya) and training the mind leads to ultimate peace and Awakening (bodhi).

#Buddhism #BuddhaNature #Mindfulness #Freedom #Awakening #Discernment #Dhamma #TrueFreedom

COMMENTARY

I have a right to my opinion! - Yes,
venerable sir, but state it as such.

Alas, this podcast suffers from too many Ven. Thanissaro (American Geoffrey DeGraff) bad translations, using his idiosyncratic renderings of many Pali terms one might otherwise recognize as countless other Western Buddhist translators have kept them. If one gives a new rendering, it would be customary to provide either the Pali term being translated or the common rendering.

But Ven. Thanissaro doesn't care anything about that, recklessly innovating and misleading countless readers through free distribution on websites like accesstoinsight.org and his English language books. If advice from Bhikkhu Bodhi couldn't restrain him, what could?

Therefore, we try to avoid his translations altogether, opting for the much more reliable and useful work of Bhikkhu Bodhi, Maurice Walshe, Andrew Olendzki, Ajahn Sujato, the Buddhist Publication Society and the German-Jewish monks who, following in the footsteps of the British team who worked on the Pali Text Society translations, give reliable and illuminating renderings of difficult Buddhist terms and concepts.

The one-man wrecking crew that is Ven. Thanissaro (Mr. Geoffrey DeGraff) will either go down in history as the biggest English-speaking goof with poor grammar (Hire a reliable editor and don't brow beat the person into submission with your heavy-handed opinions and quirks!) or the man who saved a generation of would-be Buddhists who never read the legends of Pali-English translation.

The other less serious but equally annoying problem is the A.I. voice can't pronounce even simple words like simile, making one realize that for a podcast on ego, there doesn't seem to be anyone home, just a machine reading text that seems tailor made by Thanissaro (aka Ajaan Geoff).

• Long ago his first Western student (Ven. Mahindo or Tan Jess) was inducted to Wat Metta and had a miserable time until he quit, as many others had who visited and were brow beaten and yelled at by the know-it-all monk-in-charge who had been thrown out of Thailand, it is rumored in Thailand, for trying to break Thai law and take over a temple. If one becomes abbot, one de facto owns the property, which Thai law did not allow. We tried to warn Tan Jess to go to Thailand and ordain there or at least see the tradition there, but he was being bossed around by Ven. Thanissaro by then so only did what he was told. This was long ago, when the latter was writing Wings to Awakening. Having a look at the manuscript, we thought it was garbage -- exactly for its idiosyncratic renditions of Pali words in needless misleading ways, bad grammar, and questionable novel interpretations of things -- and urged Tan Jess to say so if he were reading it over and being asked for notes. He was seized with terror; he wouldn't dream of making an actual note, correction, comment, or criticizing his "all-knowing" teacher, thinking what he might suffer as retribution for his candor and honest evaluation. Because he was a coward, and because Ven. Thanissaro surrounded himself with cowards or yes-men to look at his manuscripts and praise him, they are of poor quality. This is the way we revere monks in the tradition. It's wonderful that Ven. Thanissaro tackled these texts. What might have been if he had done so in a peer-reviewed way or with an editor to put his jumbled writing and invented-grammar into standard English? We were shocked to be told by Bhikkhu Bodhi that he corresponded with Ven. Thanissaro because this meant it was not that help and guidance was not available to Tan Geoff but that he apparently dismissed it, rejected it, or ignored it altogether, much to the detriment of the world. If you make people fear you and you don't take anyone's advice, this is what you can expect to happen to you. He photographs his own covers, edits his own writing (which is one way of having them go unedited), gets someone to proofread the obvious errors, and viola -- a generation of readers who think he's faithfully rendering the Pali canon. It is a pity. So we are reluctant to feature this nice sounding mechanical video, which makes some good points but makes the poorly, almost certainly reading verbatim from some Tan Geoff tome.

Otherwise, a good point is being made. By relying on such post-historical Buddhist concepts -- seemingly derived from Brahminical Vedic Hindu ways of thinking, which insists there is identity, and luminous consciousness is it (and identical with Brahman), an Atman of one kind or another, a waterdrop longing to return to the ocean (samsara) and be forever at rest in an eternal heaven.

Mahayana evades the impersonal nature of all things, preferring in its philosophy to go on and on about "emptiness" without seeming to know what phenomena are empty or devoid of. Self-nature, yes, but also of self or anything belonging to a self (soul, ego, personality). The Mahayana majority reads the Heart Sutra and it never occurs to them to study it, analyze it, and see how straightforward the point is being made: shunyata = anatta.

• Ego Podcast (Buddhism), Winter Solstice, 12/21/24; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY

Jon Stewart on American fast food (TDS)

Jon Stewart devours the fast-food industry, Pt. 2 | The Daily Show

(The Daily Show) May 28, 2024: Jon Stewart continues to explore the fast-food industry from completely safe and healthy mid-show snacks to McDonald’s monopoly fraud, to the disturbing firing of a Taco Bell employee. #DailyShow #McDonalds #TacoBell Subscribe to The Daily Show: @thedailyshow

Music's bad, make it worse: Metal, Punk, Thrash

Finn McKenty, MBA; Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Carcass) Vegan British grindcore death metal with a beat? It's classic "Corporal Jigsore Quandary"

The Ultimate METAL Starter Kit

Old Man Finn Mckenty, Aug. 11, 2023: The ultimate metal starter kit is here! From classic metal to death metal to death and grindcore and more -- all the best metal bands that one needs to know are in the metal starter kit.

The Punk Rock Starter Kit

Funny Man Finn Mckenty, Aug. 17, 2022: The punk starter kit is here! Including punk bands like Ramones, Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, Crass, NOFX, Bad Religion, Subhumans, DI, Descendents, Misfits, Operation Ivy, and Nausea. Where to they belong? Find out in the punk rock starter kit.

Thrash Freekin Metal - is it dead?

What killed thrash metal?

COVERED: The Big Four: Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Anthrax, and other thrash bands like Exodus, Testament, Forbidden, and Dark Angel. There's crossover (from punk to) thrash bands like Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, SOD, and Excel. There's a German thrash scene: Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, and Brazil's own Sepultura. How Pantera and grunge killed thrash, then Municipal Waste, Havok, and Toxic Holocaust brought it back.

🔴 TWITCH: https://www.twitch.tv/finnmckenty -- 🎉 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/thepunkrockmba -- 🔊 PODCAST (Spotify): https://bit.ly/prmbapodcast 🔊 PODCAST (Apple Podcasts): https://bit.ly/prmbapod ▶️ SPOTIFY PLAYLIST: https://bit.ly/prmbalist -- 🕹️ DISCORD: https://discord.gg/9GbTq4d8Pe 📲 INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/finnmckenty 📲 TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@finnmckenty 📲 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thepunkrockmba 📲 LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnmckenty/ -- 👕 MERCH: https://prmbamerchstore.com/

Employees EXPOSE McDonald's (video)

Spill, June 8, 2023; Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

McDonald's employees EXPOSE what they do, TikTok goes viral

Namaste. Bring money.

(Spill) It’s not hard to see the appeal of fast food. It’s cheap, inexpensive, gross, budget-friendly, convenient, and if one is not expecting Michelin star quality, it can have a lot of [cancerous synthetic chemicals and] artificial flavors for taste. But appetizing and safe are two different things. People are suing some popular fast food restaurants, items are being recalled, employees are being forced to serve food gone bad, customers have been hospitalized, and some "ingredients" have no business winding up on a plate. Is eating fast food worth the risk?

• Sources

Title card image by vecstock on Freepik (freepik.com/free-photo...). Music license codes: XVTQWYU2W3EVBF15, R7MERWLB2BTB1BPW, PF8EC92UPQZPTQ3S, DSXD24KUSA7KSRTD, TWWTY6M4AZ4L8459, 6EKMXVLVSHQANQWB, PNXADNQWT6XKEEQT, 5NJE5RENJMRXBXW9, 1QMWO3X1G1GBMIL5, 9K3DNGALW1WFSXDX.

Films: "Cocaine Bear" vs. "Meth Goat" (clips)

That's stupid. Bears don't do blow, but crazy goats will eat anything, even meth

Why would an animal scream just like humans? They're not Bigfoot, which according to Native American lore, is a human tribe of cannibals -- though not all of them are cannibals, just the rambunctious and troubled adolescents. The elders try to control them, but they can't and these newly sexually aroused creatures go mad, break the rules, and get seen by humans. But that's another story. Goats are insane, goats are mad, goats are reborn like we all are but seem to remember those past births as humans and now, finding themselves penned up on ranches and farms waiting for slaughter, they scream. They must be trying to call out, as they used to be able to do when they were gifted with voice as most humans are. Not all animals remember. Not all humans have forgotten (their past lives). Not all sasquatches are bad. Your Daily Laugh brings us meme-worthy ungulates in "Funny Goats Screaming like Humans [on meth]." See more at ydl.dk. Now that we know that goats can sing, we have to ask, Is Taylor Swift the G.O.A.T.?

What if lazy Yogi Bear did blow without Boo-Boo around to calm him?

"How Sex Changed the World" (video)

History2 Channel via Discovery HD; Ven. Khantipalo, Bag of Bones: A Miscellany on the Body; Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, text edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
Start at Min. 10:00 for sex in the USA, partying and prostitution in NYC under Teddy Roosevelt.

(Discovery HD World via History2) Extreme Sex: How Far Humans Will Go for Sex? or Brain Sex: How to Work Sex in Human Brain. This playful, prime time U.S. television documentary was actually titled "How Sex Changed the World."

This Body: Bag of Bones
Ven. Khantipalo (BPS.lk via accesstoinsight.org) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

This body is thought to be most obviously "me," what I regard as the most tangible part of myself.

Around it are constructed many views, all of them distorted in some way. They prevent insight from arising into the body as it really is.

Bag of Bones is a small anthology relating to the body. It presents material that, if contemplated by an earnest and sincere student of the Dharma, will eventually provide fruitful insight and freedom from the many kinds of craving and fear focused on this body.

 

Such overwhelming desires for pleasure with the body as the instrument (even though craving dwells in the heart-mind not the body itself) stir up and intensify greed of all kinds -- lust for sex or food, for instance.

Greed is accompanied by pleasurable sensations that are desired. So greed needs rather bitter medicine to undermine it. One antidote is simple: reflecting on the unattractive aspects of this beautiful body. It's beautiful but it also houses decay, repulsiveness, and death, all unpleasant matters to work hard to avoid and be ignorant of.

Reflection concerned with bodily unattractiveness is like medicine that only needs to be taken while the disease of greed-craving-lust is active. Afterwards, it may be discontinued.

 

What will humans be reduced to with bots?

It is important to understand this rather than form the mistaken impression that the Buddha advocated viewing all beauty as loathsome. It is only that there is a hook in beauty. It is tangled up with greed in our hearts, and it leads to more and more complications and difficulties.

 

Beautiful on the inside: sexy sex organs.

Fears center around aging-decay, disease and death. They are not overcome by pretending they do not exist. It is said that an ostrich buries its head as danger approaches. If it were true, not many ostriches would be left.

It is only by resolutely facing the inevitable difficulties of life that can bring insight and relief from fear.

 

The Buddha's instructions on the contemplation of the body are addressed to those who are able, through their lifestyle, to practice them. This means, in effect, monastics together with dedicated lay people.

Monastics practice the contemplation given to them by their teachers as they ordain or "go forth" from homebound life into homelessness. They need such a medicine to combat lust, which is destructive to the celibate way of the supreme faring.

(Uncensored) Real sex education for teens in England

Lay people have the Five Precepts to develop contentment with their partners as an important part of their lay practice.

Sex is a natural part of their life but should still be restrained and kept within the bounds of the Third Precept (not to harm other people's relationships). If not, how much trouble follows!

Some may wish to live without sexual attachment for a time. This cannot be done in the way of the Dharma by ignoring the power of the sexual drive or by suppressing it with willpower.

Only when it is treated with mindfulness can it be transcended. The aspect of mindfulness that is needed for this is the subject/interrelated subjects of Bag of Bones.

Adverts

The future sex trade: android sex dolls for sale for home use or for rent in legal brothel?

 
In the world today people are subjected to a bombardment of sensuality by way of the mass media. Sex is used as a bait to sell things. Adverts (advertisements) exploit sexual urges to titillate many kinds of pleasant sensory experiences -- pleasing sights, sounds, tastes, and so on.

When subjected to this continuously, the defilements of the mind -- notably lust, greed, and attachment -- are sure to be strengthened. Then when this has happened the result is not more happiness but only more dukkha (disappointment, dissatisfaction, woe, suffering, troubles, and difficulties. The medicine for such over-indulgence and over-stimulation is given here.

 

It is said that this subject of meditation is unique to the Buddha's Teachings and that elsewhere it is not clearly taught. This is not surprising as we find that craving, particularly in the form of sexual desire, is sometimes accepted as being "natural."

Wherever desires are viewed as "natural," as inherent in one's nature or self, nothing much can be done about them.

Mind leads the body. The ancient swastika symbol signifies spiritual nobility here.

.

But the Buddha analyzed desires into those which are wholesome -- to practice the Dharma, gain enlightenment, reach nirvana, for instance -- and those which are unwholesome, like greed and lust.

They may not be gross either, as in the case of the meditator who is greedy for bliss, or lights and visions, and attached to such things.

The Buddha provided medicine -- antidotes -- for all unwholesome desires. And according to our various ways of life, we can use this "medicine" to effect a partial or complete cure to our unhappiness (dukkha).

When emphasis is placed on so much sensuality, youth, and beauty as we find now, the darker sides of life get pushed away and attempts are made, always futile, to sweep them under the carpet.

Those who try to do so will not be pleased with the exercises contained in the Buddha's contemplation of the body.

Such meditations, contemplations, and reflections will appear to them as morbid and unnatural. Yet, they are also a part of this life and should be seen rather than ignored.

If an effort is made to ignore what is unpleasant about the body, sooner or later one will be jolted into the recognition of these things by circumstance. Such jolts are very unpleasant. Rather than leave it until one is forced to know the body's unpleasant sides (illness, old age, gory accidents, death), it is better to acquaint one's emotions with this knowledge gradually.

 

Marge's sisters and their new sex robots.

In this spirit, Bag of Bones was published by the Buddhist Publication Society. As a book and only a book, it cannot give person-to-person advice on special problems. It can offer general guidelines to laypeople interested in reducing pathetic clinging, craving, greed, and consuming lust.

A word of warning: meditation on the unattractiveness of the body can be very potent and should only be practiced with moderation and care, particularly if one has no personal contact with a good Buddhist meditation instructor.

If fear, anxiety, or other extreme unwholesome emotional states arise after practicing it, then it will be better to lay it down and take up Loving-Kindness (metta) or Recollection of the Buddha (Buddha-anussati) as one's meditation subject instead.

 

This book, therefore, is not so much for beginners in Buddhism but rather for those who have already practiced for some time. May it inspire many people to practice the Dharma more intently!

-Bhikkhu Khantipalo, Wat Buddha-Dhamma

Forest Meditation Centre, Ten Mile Hollow
Wiseman's Ferry, N.S.W. 2255, Australia

"Meditators, when one dharma is developed and cultivated,
it leads to a great sense of urgency, to great benefit,
to great safety from bondage, to great mindfulness
and full awareness, to knowledge and insight,
to a pleasant abiding here and now, to realization
of the fruit of true wisdom and liberation.
What is that one dharma? 
It is mindfulness with regard to the body." More

- (A. I. 43, translated by Ven. Ñanamoli, edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

KROQ Cinco de Mayo concert (webcast)

KROQ.Radio.com

This Cinco de Mayo ("Fifth of May") means a day of rock 'n roll under a rare supermoon.

This Saturday, May 5th, marks the 20th Annual KROQ Weenie Roast Y Fiesta. This year the mega concert features Mayan (or Incan) dancers, Coldplay (channeling the Buddhist Beastie Boys), (Soundgarden), Incubus, The Offspring, Silversun Pickups, Pennywise, Angels and Airwaves, The Dirty Heads, Garbage, AWOLNATION, Grouplove, Of Monsters And Men, and Walk The Moon. The webcast, hosted by KROQ’s Stryker, begins at 2:00 pm PST and will show complete and uncut performances, backstage interviews, and more.

VIDEO: WATCH WEBCAST
VIRTUAL TOUR OF WEENIE ROAST 

SET TIMES

MAIN STAGE

COLDPLAY [10:45-11:50] PM
INCUBUS 8:45 PM
THE OFFSPRING 7:55 PM
[SOUNDGARDEN with Chris Cornell surprise]
SILVERSUN PICKUPS 7:15 PM
PENNYWISE 6:35 PM
ANGELS AND AIRWAVES 6:00 PM
THE DIRTY HEADS 5:25 PM
GARBAGE 4:50 PM

BUD STAGE DOS

AWOLNATION 4:00 PM
GROUPLOVE 3:30 PM
OF MONSTERS AND MEN 3:00 PM
WALK THE MOON 2:30 PM

Why I love Cinco de Mayo

Patheos.com (Monkey Mind)

I love Cinco de Mayo. It is a quintessential American holiday. And by "American" I don’t mean that broader use standing for all of us who occupy the two continents bearing the name; I mean United Statesian. Yes, it is observed in parts of Mexico, but like with St Patrick’s Day it is more our holiday...

Cinco de BuHo
Wesleying.org "Cinco de BuHo"
John Ryan '14 writes in to keep your eardrums happy this Cinco de Mayo. This Saturday afternoon [May 5, 2012], Buddhist House is hosting a concert/BBQ backyard bash featuring bands that will certainly make the celebrations celebration-worthy. Not only is this a great way to celebrate Mexico’s victory over the French...

• Cinco de Mayo in Boston
• New York's Cinco de Mayo 
• Though not much celebrated in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that commemorates an 1862 victory of Mexico over France at the Battle of Puebla. In New York City, the recently hyped holiday commemorates the importation of inexpensive tequila to the United States....
  

The Fukushima nuclear disaster today (video)

RT.com, Greenpeace, 60 Minutes Australia. Dr. Michio Kaku, Wisdom Quarterly

The consequences of the Fukushima disaster will be emerging for at least several decades. According to the Japanese government, it will take up to 30 years for the complete clean up of the radiation released from the reactors.

Japan aims to reduce radiation by half over the next two years. To do so it may have to remove and dispose of massive amounts of radioactive soil, possibly enough to fill 23 baseball stadiums, reports Reuters.

(Manekinekotattoo) Exposing the "unspeakable" that will impact "all of humanity."

Experts say the areas inside the evacuation zone will have to remain uninhabited throughout the years of contamination. All collected soil and other waste will be stored in the Fukushima Prefecture, in an “interim facility” with an estimated capacity of up to 28 million cubic meters.

Despite official information, some reports suggest the Japanese government is seriously downplaying the real amount of radioactive substances that leaked from Fukushima.... More

Japanese fear authorities hide ugly truth about nuclear risks

The Japanese government is starting radiation checkups for more than two million people living near the crippled Fukushima plant. But many citizens of the country fear those in charge prefer face-saving public ignorance to life-saving knowledge.

• VIDEO: The Unbelievable Truth About Fukushima

Fukushima nuclear disaster

Fukushima crisis to be resolved in six months

Earthquake in Japan Fukushima nuclear disaster

Almost half the children in Fukushima test positive for radiation

Fukushima nuclear disaster

Fukushima Prefecture “like another universe” to Greenpeace activist

Fukushima nuclear disaster

‘Nuclear-test monitoring works like anti-burglar system"

Will UFOs from the heavens clean up the radiation?

Recycling as art: Lady Gaga, Colbert, Waste...

WARNING: Skimpy outfits, mild use of bad words, irony, sexually suggestive dancing!

Recycling in Search of Strong Women

Wisdom Quarterly

We sure do love Lady Gaga. Maybe it's because she seems like a strong woman, and they are in short supply. Unfortunately, it seems like a case of false bravado as with Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, and other right-wing starlets. There aren't enough Chelsea Handlers, Wanda Sykes, Ariana Huffingtons, Hillarys, or Amy Goodmans. So we're stuck resorting to music for role models on how to be strong. Fortunately, they keep recycling through the dance hits, raps, and R&B themes. It may not be fresh, but it's reliable. Kwan Yin, Tara, Prajapati Gotami, the female arhats, Khema, and Uppalavanna are of course better role models, but they aren't in the media very often. Lady Gaga and others (Ke$ha, Christina Eagle, Britney, Cher, Paris, and Lindsay) are. Is there a media conspiracy to dumb down our distractions, or is it the cosmetics industry trying to convince us that women's only value is beauty, sexuality, and/or acting like a lesbian? It's a great media wasteland where trash and mash ups make the best art. We might as well have fun with it, like our comedy hero and heroine Stephen Colbert (of the Colbert Report and the Colbuffington Re-post) and Sarah Silverman, or take a lesson from Brazil.*

• The Huffington Post posts about the "Colbuffington" Re-Post: It's the only site you'll ever need now that the Huffington Post has sold out to AOL
• VIDEO: Colbert mocks Huffington Post, starts Re-post
• Brits have been cannibalizing one another for a long time

WARNING: Mild use of bad words, irony, pseudo aggression, transvestitism, and Sarah stabs a stuffed moose, (No moose were harmed in the making of this parody).

Lady Gaga tops music charts with "Born This Way"

Lady Gaga leaves Britney Spears in the dust but can't trump Flo Rida or the Black Eyed Peas' digital hits. It's the 1,000th hit single since Billboard started the Hot 100 in 1958. Talented Lady Gaga is no "overnight sensation." "Born This Way" is Gaga's third single to top the Hot 100, but it's her first to debut in the top spot. Her breakthrough hit, "Just Dance," took 22 weeks to reach #1. Her follow-up, "Poker Face," took 15 weeks. Surprisingly, "Bad Romance" never reached the top spot. It logged seven weeks at #2. Is she recycling? "Born This Way" owes an obvious debt to a pair of Madonna hits, 1989's "Express Yourself" and 1990's "Vogue." Previous Gaga hits have also echoed Madonna. It's just like "Sarah Palin" raps in their epic battle: "Everything you do is just a rerun of Madonna! Your fans are in a frenzy like a bunch of g*y piranha."

*Brazil's "Waste Land"

Filmed over nearly three years, "Waste Land" was a hit at Sundance 2010 and is poised to take home a best documentary Academy Award. The film follows renowned artist Vik Muniz on a journey from his home base in New York to his native Brazil. His aim is the world's largest landfill, Gramacho Garden, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to photograph an eclectic band of pickers (catadores) of recyclables. Muniz's initial objective was to "paint" the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of waste reveals both dignity and despair as the catadores begin to re-imagine their lives. In the end, Walker offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit (Almega Projects).