Okay, I was watching "Breaking Bad" last night and missed America's loosing its mind on MTV's VMA show when Miley Cyrus decided to twerk it up with a bunch of Teddy Bears and then stripped down to flesh colored bra/top and panty (I'm not sure but they either were "little boy" or "grandma" style). Anyway, apparently no one was prepared for the former Disney child star getting down even though she has left her "Hannah Montana" persona far behind. I mean, once she went on "Two and a Half Men" it was pretty obvious that she's "all grown up", for example, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--NpyimtIL4 And she was practicing twerking long before the VMAs; see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8YCl7_CpPY
Nonetheless, a lot of people seemed to be shocked especially when she did the "duet" with Robin Thicke for his "Blurred Lines" song. If you have not see it, here is one source with some of the reactions on twitter: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/miley-cyrus-cant-stop-twerking-at-vmas-2013-20130825 Kudos to the tweet suggesting that her tongue suffers from Gene Simmons syndrome. I wonder how many of the "shocked" folks saw the original unrated music video for "Blurred Lines" which had the three naked girls in it. I mean, it's not like Miley Cyrus went Elizabeth Berkeley and "Showgirls" nuts on the show (in the unlikely chance that one is not familiar with this classic of American cinema, see the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showgirls ) One point that should be cleared up: apparently someone on twitter mistakenly thought a reaction shot of Will Smith and his family (they were in the audience) was in response to the Miley Cyrus bump and grind but -- and you can use this in class as an example of attentional blindness -- it was actually to Lady Gaga's opening act; see: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/26/will_smith_and_jaden_smith_reaction_to_miley_cyrus_at_the_vmas_no_that_wasn.html I have to admit, The Smith's family reaction is priceless but notice the "picture-in-picture" in the lower right with a scene from Gaga's (like Woody Allen, an NYU drop-out) performance of "Applause". So, Miley Cyrus sets a new world record for the number of tweets (see: http://www.eonline.com/news/452500/miley-cyrus-vma-performance-gets-more-tweets-than-the-super-bowl-inspires-god-and-billy-ray-memes ) and sets a high mark for pop music, music videos, and MTV. Some might find this inspiring, even professors. Have any Tipsters twerked in front of their class? I admit that I have once tried to twerk during class but had to stop when the students screamed that I was having a seizure. So it goes. ;-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=27360 or send a blank email to leave-27360-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
