Happy Birthday, Madonna

Today is Madonna's 52nd Birthday! We will have a tribute post in her honour and it will double as Music Monday.

I really love Madonna. She is a favourite. For 30 years, this bitch has been kicking ass, winning the hearts of people from many generations. All this from a woman who lost her mother to cancer at the age of 5, had to take care of herself and her siblings, and had to work hard at everything else; she was a straight-A student! And at 19 she made the bravest move of her life: she relocated to New York with no more than $35 in her pocket.

Second best is never enough, you'll do much better baby on your own.

Waiting for you.

When you're around, I don't know who I am.

Gomen nasais.

Mujhe maaf kardo.

Przepraszam.

Sli'kha.

Forgive me...

This is a photo from Interview Magazine, which was shot a few months back. I know this image has been photoshopped to hell and back, but those abs are REAL. Her skin is saggy and it's been airbrushed to make it look like it's young and smooth...it's not. She's still old, no matter what, and age will have an effect on her skin. But the muscles are real! She works hard at her body. At 52, Madonna has abs. I will have a lot of things at 52 but abs won't be one of them.

Songs in this Post: 

Express Yourself
Waiting
X-Static Process
Sorry

What's your...

Favourite song? Favourite video? Favourite era? 

Leave a comment below telling us what you love about Madonna.

Marilyn Mouse

Ron English has done a bit of work on Marilyn Monroe and incorporated some Disney in it as well. It's so comical. Check it out!

Images from his website and google.
www.popaganda.com

Which is your favourite?

The Monster Ball.

(I totally should have blogged about this way earlier, but better late than never.)

On Sunday, July 11th,

I attended Lady Gaga's Monster Ball in Toronto.

Best. Musical. Experience. EVER.

There we are on the far left.

I attended with my mom and my cousin. We had VIP Floor Tickets so we were standing right in front; practically a perfect view, until she got to the catwalk, where we only saw her ass.


Everyone should attend a Lady Gaga concert at least once in their lifetimes. I say this confidently because I caught my mom smiling, dancing, and singing along to the lyrics many times throughout the night (and she wasn't too excited about going because she thought she'd be attending a "satanic porn show", but later on told me she thought it was in fact "very decent" in regards to the suggestiveness).

The show has a storyline with elements from Wizard of Oz and her own past in New York. Her and her friends are trying to find their way to the Monster Ball and must overcome a set of obstacles to make it to their final destination. There's music, dialogue, as well as some personal talk from Lady Gaga to the audience and her Little Monsters.

Before we start with the tsunami of kick-ass pictures, I'm just going to let you know that I didn't take these. While I enjoyed my time yelling, dancing, and watching Gaga, my lovely mother took all the pictures for me. And they turned out DAMN GOOD too.

When doors opened, Gaga's good friend from New York was DJing. Lady Starlight used to Go-Go Dance with Gaga before she was famous; they wore indian headdresses, lit hairspray on fire, and danced to heavy metal tracks. Starlight was so energetic, and girl got good taste in music! She was spinning classic rock records on vinyl--yup, vinyl, not some electronic DJ crap.

Then came the opening act: Semi Precious Weapons. Also friends of Gaga from New York, these glam rockers are on a mission to bring Rock N Roll back. Justin Tranter spat champagne at the crowd!

And then, at 9:00,

there she was: Gaga in all her glamorous glory.

She started the show off with a track she only performs live: Glitter and Grease.

Her ass was so close, I felt like I could grab it.

She was looking at me around this time 8D

Now I should probably let you know what I was doing while all this took place. Well, each time she came around to my side of the stage and took a glance at me, I gave her the middle finger. Yup, that's right, I flipped my idol off. Why? I don't really know. But I think it has something to do with the fact that she has a fascination of her own with flipping people off, so I decided to give it back to her, I suppose. I was secretly hoping she'd give the finger back to me, but that never happened. (Although, she did glare at me a few times, and even pointed at me!)

Click the More! >> Button for lots of goodies after the jump ;D

No One Man Should Have All That POWER.

Hey folks! This is our first blog post in a long while. Sorry for being so dead. But we're back, I can ensure you this much.

This monday, I knew I HAD to share this video with you guys for Music Monday. I love the song, too. I really do. But the video is spectacular.

Ladies and Gents, behold:

Kanye West's Power

I am completely blown away by this masterpiece! Kanye collaborated with artist/director Marco Brambilla.

After he saw 'Civilization', a video that Brambilla made for The Standard [Hotel], Kanye blogged about it, and then became interested in working with him on the video for Power.

See the video 'Civilization' below:

Brambilla explained that he thought of the song as "a symbol, an icon of power about to fall, like an emperor about to fall." He describes the video as "a video portrait of Kanye as this symbol of power." On the inspiration for the video, he says "I think the visual inspiration for me was definitely the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel; they are kind of bombastic and iconic." The inspiration is quite evident, since "Power" looks very much like a reinaissance painting.

Kanye makes a bounty of crazy decisions; half good, half bad. Maybe it's a little stupid to exchange your bottom row of teeth for diamonds, but he has always proven himself as a great artist. He's experimental with his music, his visuals, and his overall image. Especially fashion-wise; can we give this boy an award for being the best-dressed rapper? Recall: my personal favourite, the denim-on-denim look.

And that's that. Leave a comment below telling us what you thought of the video!

Sources:
Kanye West's 'Power': What the Video Really Means
Marco Brambilla: From Civilization to Power

Rabia Zagarpur

.. is a fabulous Muslim designer. She takes modern day fashion, and adds it into the Middle Eastern palette. Rabia is a United Arab Emirates born fashion designer, who studied Business and Fashion Design in the US. She attended Esmod(French Fashion Uni) and in October 2007, debuted her collection at the Dubai International Fashion Week. There, she stirred a lot of buzz being a new designer, and eventually won the "Emerging Talent Competition". In 2008, Rabia went on to win the British Council's regional "International Young Fashion Entrepreneur of the Year" award. She still maintains her fashion forward thoughts, all while holding firm to her faith, Islam. This woman is extraordinary in what she does, and has taken Hijab(head covering) style, to the essence of beauty. Oh, what I would give to have a piece of her collection!

Taking a little bit of the harem pants style.. and a little hijab to it! LOVE this piece, my favourite. Rabia's collection consists of the not-so-norm head coverings. The way the hijabs fit on each models head in a different and more versatile way can't be anything but brilliant.

Check out her website here!
And follow her on Twitter

Music Monday(s)

Since we missed so many music Monday posts, here's a bunch of good songs to quench your music thirst. You can never go wrong with a bit of Gaga and Coldplay... and more!
Most of these songs are of the popular variety, but I couldn't help but add them. You know.. sometimes most of us are just out of the loop.



Bad Romance Cover - 30 Seconds to Mars

Nedda is a huge Gaga fan, and soon she will post pictures from the recent Monster Ball concert tour she attended! Trust me, you wont want to miss these shots, brilliant photos and stories to tell.



Heads will Roll- Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Deepest Apologies

So, if you're one of our avid readers, then you should've realized by now that Ebo and I have not blogged in.... forever. Well, Nedda has more of a stand than I do, seeing as she actually took the time out of the hectic festivities to get online and blog.

I know the last blurb-blah blog we wrote was totally rendering towards the "I swear we'll blog every day route", but we totally lied. Well, not lied, but told half-truths. Both Nedda and I enrolled in summer school, and that has kept us busy. However, due to lazy reasons and tiresome days, I've dropped out. So, you'll probably be seeing a lot more of me.

Now enough with the babbling. I suggest you don't even count this as a blog post.. seeing as its full of (legitimate excuses).

HERE COMES A HAND FULL.
x

Playfully Provocative

I feel like it's about time we pay tribute to the almighty fashion and beauty photographer Ellen von Unwerth in a post.

Before becoming a photographer, Ellen von Unwerth was a fashion model for ten years (that's her in the picture on the right). She then took her skills in sensual photographs and placed herself behind the lens, rather than infront of it. This woman has practically photographed nearly every iconic woman in popular culture!

Without further adieu...lets marvel at some of her shots!

She recently did a photoshoot with Christina Aguilera for OUT magazine. So superb, it's definitely one of my favourites of hers.