You don’t have to try.

Recently I have been paying more attention to diversity of representation in the media I enjoy.

I have also been quite fed up with music without meaning. Don’t get me wrong, catchy songs are great–but a song where the same four phrases are repeated twenty seven times ? (“Feliz Navidad,” I’m looking at you)

So, while one can argue that, because the singer is yet another young, slim, white, privileged woman, this song is just more of the same…well, I really like the message of the song, and I absolutely love the video:

Ah, the 80s!

If you are a child of the 80s, this video will make you smile.

 

I admit that I cannot name all the movies, but isn’t it just wonderful?

I could listen to them all day, every day.

Long ago (at least in online terms) I saw a video of 2Cellos, playing Coldplay’s Every Teardrop is a Waterfall in ONE cello.

Which blew my mind and led to me watching their Smooth Criminal video obsessively for a few days.

These days, I have bookmarked a playlist of 200+ videos that I listen to most of the time I’m at work.

Below the fold, a few choice selections.

What Happily Ever After can mean.

Earlier today I was reading the comments on this post¹ at the Smart Bitches blog. One of the commenters made a point of saying how unrealistic genre romance HEA is–people don’t live happily ever after, they must face all the things life throws at them over the years. Growing pains, unemployment, illnesses, differences of opinion, families.

As someone who is currently single and unattached–and not feeling very optimistic about change on this front, frankly–I embraced the idea articulated by another commenter: the HEA is the single most escapist aspect of romance. I’ll go one better and say that the HEA is what makes it so accessible to, and beloved by, so many people of different backgrounds, different educational, social and economic levels.

And then, I saw this video:

It comes down to trust…

I was reading this piece on nbc news about a company that has been continuously run by the same family for 390 years.

Almost four centuries–one family, one company.

Clearly, a whole bunch of people have been doing something right, correct?¹

The part I find fascinating is the fact that for decades there have been no layouts. None. Mind you, I’m sure not all the people hired have always worked out and people who are incompetent or incompatible with the company’s policies surely find their way to the door. But none of them have been laid off.

The CEO says, “You take care of us, and we’ll take care of you.”

How can I like it when it makes me so uncomfortable?

(aka, what is this consistency you speak of?)

The music is bouncy and catchy, and the lyrics are deceptively simple, with the refrain/title repeated so much it’s pretty much all you remember of the song. Then you watch the original video or this jaw dropping, incredibly amazing live performance at the 2012 American Music Awards:

and become extremely uncomfortable about the actual subtext of the song.

While still being amazed at P!nk’s courage, talent and commitment to be true to herself.

This is, quite simply, adorable