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nautiscarader · 6 years

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Kim Possible season 3 recap

And here is part 3 of my KP marathon notes. Obligatory thanks to @fereality-indy for encouraging me to watch this awesome show.

So, what will happen this this time? Will Kim Possible save another kitten from a tree? Will Ron discover something better than nachos? Will Doctor Drakken release the Krakken? Will Shego puncture her ego? Will Lord Monkeyfist buy Club Banana just because he is bonkers? Will Duff Killigan finally score?

So, let’s see what’s the first big problem KP has to deal with!

Kim being alone on a Friday evening. Okay.

Also, amusingly, everyone is doing something on a Friday evening, including the villians.

Motorhead turns out to be Drakken’s cousin. okay.

And people know the address of Draken’s lair bc of mailing list

See, it’s the little touches like those that make this show a very accurate portrayal of superheroes and villians.

KP gets jealous of Ron’s friend in wheelchair because they spend too much time together playing video games, so she has to find a way to “fit in”.

Okay, so they can approach it in a sensible and subtle, or so-cringe-worthy-and-painful-the-skip-button-presses-itself way.

So, which did they choose?

painful it is

Few stupid scenes later, Draken STEALs THE WHEELCHAIR FROM A DISABLED KID

shego: what’s next, stealing lolipop from a baby?

and there is a brilliant running joke about it

is it ableist to say that a joke about disabled person is “running”? Well, this is tumblr you gotta be carfeul

Anyway, turns out that Drakken and Jake the Dog make an actual competent combo, even though they end up in prison. And momma Lipski is still clueless about her son’s profession

Next ep: KIM CHANGED HER HAIR! and she looks cute

Ron is a pickle, but that’s normal

Draken and shego steal moodulators (get it?) from random scientist #464

Shego: if you are so smart why do you always steal instead of inventing things yourself

Draken: it’s called outsourcing, shego

God d amit, that is a smart show.

And of course moodultaors accidentally fall on KP and SHego, so they act random throughout the day. And boy it is weird when it’s set to loveskick

Shego: steals lolipop from a baby for Drakken because she luvs him

KP turns into a proper stalker mode for her Ronnie

And Monique is completely fine with it.

and then kim KISSED him!!!

OMG NOSEBLEED

And then poor Ron has no idea what to do with dating KP so suddenly, and the whole scene where he debates what to do is absolute gold with a punchline that defies expectations.

Draken and Shego go on a date and boy it is weird. SHE CATWALKS TO HIM

I can already see Disney censors thinking when it’s going to be too much for The Mouse

and kim’s dad threatens to send ron to a black hole when he takes her on a date

Also the random professor wants to sell his no-longer-existent moodulaTors on auction and he thinks about blaming it on the mail. You know, i’ve seen some approaches how to handle a world where superheroes/villians/geniuses live in our society (like in BNHA, for example), but KP so far makes it the best approach, because it makes them so relatable.

And boy the finale is satisfying because everything completely backfires

Shego and KP got stuck in an anGry mode, and chase their boys. Ron tries to hide in the same place as drakken

Drakken: Dibs!

Ron: Double dibs!

Drakken: all right, you won with your superior dib-calling (ACTUAL QUOTE)

And the day is saved thanks to the power of friendship and not that Kp and ron are definitely in love with each other

KP, Ron, Drakken and Shego somehow manage to get into Tv, where they visit parodies of famous shows

Honestly, meh. I remember a similar episode of Teen Titans, that one was funny as heck.

and then we find out who’s the real villian of the middleton high: THE SCARY LIBRARIAN!

And turns out Ron accidentally put a book Kim rented in his backpack, causing her to get into trouble doing library duties.

So he goes on a mission to revisit all of the bad guys they fought to see where he might have left it

Okay: calling it now, it’s still in his backpack

Shego: Where’s Possible?

Ron: She’s not my girlfriend!

Shego: Never said she was.

And Ron accidentally saves the world on that book hunt

Lord Monkey:Ron Stoppable!

Ron: You’re the only one, who remembers my name, I respect that

Okay, so Wade can make stuff invisible. Like, how?

And there we go: the book it was in his backpack all the time.

Oh, and Ron takes a book from Lord Monkeymonkey contaning a spirit of a monkey demon.

And he returns to the library, saving Kim from being bored to death by retunring the book.

GUESS WHICH ONE HE RETURNED.

Oh, it was another half-episode. Weird.

And the next one is about giant bugs. Interesting how Kim tells Ron not to be afraid of bugs, and next moment she’s all squirmish while Ron befriends a giant roach and calls him Roachie.

KP: Ron, did you start working on the project? it was supposed to be autobiographical

ron: No, I’m waiting for it to write itself.

WE MIGHT GET RUFUS’ BACKSTORY!

Oh, and Drakken tried to take over the world with shampoo. Honestly, it’s funny as heck

he tries smarty mart to sell it

he even makes loreal-style ad, but it doesn’t sell

so he tries product placement in a hip hop song, and the artists is like “Aw, hell no”

And then

and then

turns out that Shego and Drakken are having karaoke night every friday.

God dammit, i don’t know why but that is beyond funny

and turns out that Drakken can sing.

and shego points out that he could sing about the shampoo

so he goes to an american idol

And I think I realise what really makes it funny: Kp is barely in this episode, helping ron with homework. No evil-doing is actually done, we only get to see, for the most part what goes behind the scenes of an evil plan that is so insanely and unnecessary convoluted it is beyond belief.

OH, AND kp GETS TO RIVAL HIM ON STAGE, OF COURSE.

people hypnotised by the shampoo so far: one (1) random henchman

one (1) old TV producer in a sauna

one (1) Simon Cowell

And...holy shit, his song is actually good.

And instead of KP, who is busy fighting the mean lean green machine, Ron sings about Rufus. The song is titled “Naked Mole Rap”. And it is FREAKING PHENOMENAL.

Oh, add one (1) Shego to the list.

Okay, so far that is the most crazy episode. Like, seriously, the quality was through the roof.

SCRATCH THAT NEXT EP is EVEN WEIRDER

So, the Team Impossible, which we have learned about in the movie, is angry at KP for saving the world for free, whereas they actually charge people for it.

And they try to cut Kim from all of her world-traveling assets and knock her out of competition.

THAT IS FUCKING V ILE

And they hack Wade

AND TURNS OUT YOU DON’T FUCK WITH WADE

YOU DON’T CUT THEIR INTERNET CABLES OF A NERD

SINCE THIS IS ONE WAY TO MAKE AN OBESE SUPER GENIOUS WALK OUT OF THEIR ROOM

AND HE LOOKS SO FREAKING BAD-ASS WHEN HE STORMS INTO THEIR HEADQUATERS

aaand TI is defeated the same way they would have been defeated had they answered the call.

Pretty funny, and it does go into the details of how on Earth superheroes work in this world.

And we have another episode about the secret ninja high school Ron was sent to

And Yori travels to US for Ron

And Kim is super jelaus

Wade: Kim, you are jelly

Kim: So not

Monique: You are jelly

Kim: So not

Kim: *is jelly*

So she pretty much stalks Ron all the way to the school, and nearly fails the mission of trying to save the levitating magical jedi principal. Seriously, he’s OP as fuck.

And he’s escaping from a huge monkey. turns out it’s crazy dna lady who turned herself into monkey for Lord Britishmonkey.

Next episode is bascially one huge satire on the movie industry, down to the title (”and The mole rat will be CGI”). KIm and Ron accidentally crash a movie set, after Senior Senior Junior crashes it first since he accidentally applied for a role of a henchman in said movie.

It was supposed to be set in Britian, but the movie set was in New Zealand, since “it was cheaper”

And I was like

Is that a “Lord of The rings” joke? Someone tell me if I’m right.

Oh, and we have another long episode WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS ANOTHER MOVIE?

And it looks like it’s a three-part episode again, I wonder if the formula’s gonna work again.

The beginning feels like a short promo scene for people who might not know what KP is about, and I’m not gonna lie, this sums it up perfectly. Action, drama, explosions, more drama, goofy ron, naked mole rat kicking ass and more drama. By the way, what;s the title?

I guess the intro is an homage to the James Bond ones, with lots of colourful, surreal visuals floating in the background to the soothing, slow music. Love it, too bad it’s short, but again, it had to fit an episode’s running time.

wait so the Nakasumi president CAN speak English? Even the movie calls him wacky for whispering all the time as if he couldn’t.

Okay, now the movie just fucks with us.

mr and mrs possible almost switch their cloaks with important documents, but she switches them back just at the last moment

mr posible ALMOST deletes his work file worth three billion dollars but undos it at the last moment.

it’s like the plot TRIES to start itself

And I bet the key is under the doormat

So the dating drama IS going to be the theme of the movie, huh.

Wade: Drakken has been spotted in the Bermuda triangle

Bermuda triangle: *turns out to be a hotel*

And Ron just happened to have his suit under the scuba diving gear.

Shego proves to be once again, way more competent than Drakken.

and we have obligatory fight between two kickass ladies in dresses and high heels. This IS a James Bond movie.

So, the prom drama continues, and it is sadly kinda goes into the cringe territory, with some new dude falling in love with Kim and Kim falling for him, Ron feeling sad, they both being conflicted, yep, seen it.

But for once Drakken helps the cause and moves the plot forward, stealing some super project from dr Possible.

he deletes the file like he did in the opening, but GASP drakken has some mind reading machine

I do wonder if the coat switcheroo is going to be part of the plot.

Holy shit

Drakken’s plan is so crazy that it actually makes sense. Take over the buneo nachos and put kiddy meals in it with robot toys that take over the world. And neither kim nor Shego could have forseen it.

And more prom drama. Ugh.

I always like when Possible family work together to stop the evil-doers.

So Drakken’s plan was brilliant, minus the part when the entire army of robots shuts down when the signal goes off-line. Kinda a major fuck-up.

And they kindapped Kim’s boyfriend to lure her.

OH, SO HE WAS A SYNTH ROBOT

I genuinely didn’t see that coming.

Drakken learns Ron’s name, yeah! And it’s shot like Drakken’s yelling a curse to the skies, love it.

Also, HOLY SHIT, Kim kicks Shego into the tower so hard it looks like she was about to kill her. Like, that was genuinely chilling moment, especially with an ominous, lightning-filled close-up onto her later.

Spoiler: she didn’t die.

Okay, colour me confused: I didn’t think that Kim and Ron were going to kiss and start dating now, I thought this movie was going to be one huge prequel to a movie by the end of S4. Or more precisely, it feels weird NOW, knowing that there is a whole season ahead of me. Cos that felt like a pretty good end of a series, something akin to the Last Airbender one, so I’m slightly concerned how it’s going to be played into season 4, cos this can go haywire pretty easily.

Uh, not going to lie, I’ve got mixed feelings about the movie. On one hand, it gave us a proper evil plan from Drakken, one that attacks Kim psychologically, showing that for once, he DID his homework and actually studied Kim’s behaviour. On the other, the prom/dating drama is kinda painful to watch, but fortunately gets resolved in the end. Maybe it’s just me, but I had the same expression as Rufus when he and Ron said that guys don’t talk about feelings. It felt kinda clumsy and not subtle at all, and what’s worse, the show itself did way better job of portraying romance in previous episodes, most notably the moodulator one. But as I said, those last few scenes with Ron and Kim fighting together does make up for it.

also, Rufus once again is the unspoken hero. He did so freaking much, including, but not limited to: saving ron from the tentacle monster, freeing kim and ron, defeating the synth boyfriend, pushing Kim and Ron together... He really is a badass.

So, not a bad one, though I preferred the first movie. Also, on the whole Season 3 was significantly shorter than second. Wonder what’s gonna happen in the next season.

#kim possible

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thefootballlife · 6 years

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The State of Celtic

Breaking £100m in turnover and having a level of profit greater than the entire revenue of Scotland’s second best side (Aberdeen, before anyone says anything) puts Celtic in a whole other dimension from any other team in Scotland when it comes to resources. At the same time, Brendan Rodgers is making comments to say the side is in a slump and that that slump may not end this season. These two facts are coexisting with each other as Celtic reach for the skies off the pitch but are finding themselves dragged into the mud (or the black rubber in the astroturf) on the pitch. Just what the hell is actually going on?

It’s not exactly a secret that I’m a Celtic fan. So, that Brendan Rodgers has put together a side that doesn’t have me excited or really up to making an extra effort to watch them is, well, it’s quite unlike me. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve known myself of that opinion since even before Deila. At least with Ronny, you’d get a roar every now and then. Right now, you merely get frustration.

This isn’t anything to do with matters off the park save to say that it’s all well and good having an incredible balance sheet but, if things aren’t right on the pitch, fans will be restless. Equally, if things were the other way around, fans would be restless too. Celtic aren’t striking a happy medium at the moment but, surely, there is one to be found.

Nor, should it be said, are Celtic paying poorly. Celtic’s £59.3m wage bill is, bluntly, EPL sized - as per Burnley’s last accounts, they were paying a total of only £2m more than Celtic. Brendan Rodgers may plead poverty, but Celtic fight on an almost even footing with some EPL clubs when it comes to salary.

What Celtic are doing is playing poorly or, at least, playing in a manner that has been found out. St Mirren did so, Hearts did so and won, Killie did so and won and, perhaps most damaging, AEK Athens did.

That’s not really news. Celtic’s standards began to slip last season. The Double Treble was, by that point, mere formality but that isn’t exactly relevant. Call it complacency, wear and tear or whatever you like, the quick, incisive attacking play has been replaced by that most usual of Deila traits - passing sideways and seeing attacks slow down. If people want to get technical with it, it’s passing in a U shape around the box with nothing breaking through the lines of the defence to pull a side open. It may not yet be as endemic as it was under the affable Norwegian - Celtic are a higher quality side nowadays than then - but that it can be pinpointed at all is concerning.

With standards slipping, so too has Brendan Rodgers’ cheeriness. Stating that a slump might not end between here and the end of the season is a fairly extraordinary statement by a manager who has done fairly extraordinary things. It was presented less as a challenge laid down to his players to defy him and reach the higher standards they have previously set and instead as an acceptance that things aren’t entirely right and that there isn’t an entirely obvious answer to sort that out.

With all deference to Brendan, I would suggest that it’s a rather disappointing state of affairs if a man paid £45k a week to answer that question is drawing a blank. You’d perhaps go as far as wondering why someone would be paid that much if they can’t answer that question. Given that the game immediately following that has been a defeat, whatever mind games Rodgers was trying to use on his team back fired horribly.

It’s fairly clear that Rodgers’ energy for the job is on the wane also - beset by frustration that he may have taken the club as far as he can. That is perhaps semi-justified.

Celtic’s recruitment has not worked as a well oiled machine in the Rodgers era. While John Park took his fair share of flak, it’s fair to say that his success rate ran a fair way higher than it has since. Scott Sinclair looks increasingly like a one season wonder, Charly Musonda appeared more set on being Instagram famous than actually good at football, Messrs Izaguirre and Mulumbu are uninspired signings and Marvin Compper potentially doesn’t actually exist in corporeal form. Dembele, Ntcham and Edouard are undeniably successes but these are very much the minority. The players missed out on read like a list of players who went on to be very good indeed - John McGinn hit the ground running at Aston Villa, Nikola Milenkovic was a breakout star at the World Cup, Filip Benkovic is at Celtic, but only temporarily. Bluntly, it has always felt like Celtic are operating a step behind everyone else and, as a result, have ended up scraping the bottom of the barrel rather than the cream from the top.

Now, find me a Celtic fan who is always happy with the club’s recruitment and I will be able to find you a few hundred thousand that aren’t, but it’s hard to deny that Celtic have, in the past five seasons, gone from being a club unable to actually buy a good striker to a club who seem capable of finding good strikers and that’s about it. As a result, the side Rodgers puts out is still very much Deila’s side and, as a result, it’s hard to act too surprised when it occasionally plays down to that level.

With the amount of money Celtic have in the bank compared to their direct rivals, this should be an avoidable state of affairs. Yet here we are.

Celtic’s investment has, of late, been off the park and, more to the point, in making sustainable changes to ensure the club has diverse revenue streams. Disco Lights may be much mocked, but it brings Celtic into line with top stadia in Europe. Celtic don’t need a big hotel, but few will complain if it’s running at 85% occupancy and providing a decent all year round revenue stream to the time of a few million a year. If, as back in the Lennon days, the club is designed to run smoothly on Champions League revenue three years out of five, in these days, the club is designed to run without interruption to playing staff investment on Champions League revenue three years out of five. We may have seen Moussa Dembele go off to France, but let’s not kid ourselves that Celtic’s salary largesse has been much diminished over this summer.

So, what now?

This site can witter on all it wants about prospects from Eastern Europe or about TV Deals are whatever, the fact is that Celtic aren’t about to listen to that. Fans do see through certain bloggers who appear to toe the party line a little too tightly, almost to the point of ridicule from even their fellow supporters. Celtic, as a business, are on a path towards complete self-sustenance that is unlikely to be deviated from until the league trophy itself resides in someone else’s cabinet. Such long term thinking in a market that is renowned for, as Vince Cable would put it, Erotic Spasms, sorry… Exotic Spresms… is highly admirable but, as the ironically immortal John Maynard Keynes quote goes “In the long run, we are all dead”. The foundations put in place now are worth little if they are not backed up by continued success on the pitch and, by continued success, I do mean the Group Stage of the Champions League and that will be the case until the point at which Celtic are able to get £20m a season through domestic TV rights alone.

None of that is going to stop me wittering on aimlessly about how good Lirim Kastrati is (seriously, go check him out, he’s the Kosovan James Forrest) or about what BT or someone might bid to show almost every single game from the league but it serves a point. Celtic’s business path is not about to be deviated from, Celtic’s playing path can be. Not in terms of success or, for that matter, funding, but in personnel.

Celtic don’t just need to play better - any idiot could tell you that - they need Brendan Rodgers on the sort of form to actually inspire them to do that. Martin O’Neill might not have had an unbeaten season, but he did have a Celtic side playing seasons of similar length to now and he did have players running through walls for him. Such slackness as Celtic have shown of late would not have been tolerated in some days gone by and I certainly can’t imagine any manager would have been accepting of the feeling that it’d last a whole season - it’s not exactly a sentiment that is going to put bums in seats, to put it mildly.

There needs to be an end to this slide and Brendan Rodgers, the manager who inspired Celtic’s ascent to history in the first place, is the man who needs to find the words to inspire the club to history once more. He’s the only one in the position to do so.

Should he fail to, he risks history judging his failures at Celtic far more harshly that it would ever praise his accomplishments.

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blogging4myself · 6 years

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Baaghi 2 review: Tiger Shroff-Disha Patani’s film saves itself from becoming just another whodunnit by turning into a full-fledged action fest

A damsel-in-distress seeking help from a saviour with a heart of gold – Baaghi, as a franchise, is as predictable as it gets. But it worked in the favour of the first film and so, a second film has been spun on the same premise. This time around, though, quite a few things have changed. For starters, instead of Sabbir Khan, who was at the helm of the first film, choreographer-turned-director, Ahmed Khan has been roped in to take on the director’s chair. The film’s leading lady, too, has changed. So while the first film had a spunky Shraddha preening for the cameras, this one has Disha Patani acting as Tiger Shroff‘s love interest. Apart from this, there’s also the lure of the supporting cast comprising of interesting names such as Randeep Hooda, Prateik Babbar, Deepak Dobriyal and Manoj Bajpayee. Given how the first film had worked for the makers, it is not difficult to see why they pulled all stops when it came to backing the second film. But will it pay off? Let’s find out…

What’s it about? Army officer Ronnie (Tiger Shroff) is as ruthless as he is patriotic. He is a smooth operator when it comes to tackling a bunch of terrorists, without much help from his comrades. And just when you are thinking that he might be taking on national issues, helping the country solve some major crises, he is summoned by his beloved Neha (Disha Patani), who needs his help to find her daughter, who seems to have been kidnapped.

We are then offered a glimpse into Ronnie and Neha’s past, which looks as sweet as candyfloss. He is the college jock – a guy who girls have crushes on and she is the diva whom no one can dare to even think about dating. But they like each other and the rest, as they say, is predictable. Enter Neha’s cancer-struck dad, who blackmails her with his own imminent death, to marry the guy of his choice. ALSO READ: Baaghi 2 box office occupancy report: Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani’s film is off to a remarkable start

And it would just be a sad love story had it not been for the guy who was Neha’s dad’s choice. So, thanks to him, poor Ronnie is pulled out of his base in the mountains where he seemed content in spending the rest of his life. In Neha’s world, he finds himself impersonating James Bond more than the Rambo he was trying to be all through the film. Snooping for clues, impersonating police officers and looking for evidence, Ronnie ends up doubting Neha in the process.

But just when you think that the film is turning out to be a whodunnit instead of the action fest you paid for, the makers lay out a playground for Ronnie. But will he be able to find Neha’s daughter? That’s for you to find out, Sherlock!

What’s hot When allowed to defy gravity and flaunt some flying kicks, Tiger Shroff seems to be a kid on a sugar high. And it is indeed a delight to see him take on a whole army of baddies. You can see that he is at home when he is getting beaten down to a pulp or sending his arch rivals flying in the air after having cracked their bones. Unlike his previous films, here he is not trying to be the overly sweet guy with a penchant to prove his point by repeating the same dialogue over and over again. His restrained, angry Ronnie holds the film together and manages to rope you in to side with him and seek revenge just like him. Allowing him to shine are the supporting cast. A splendid Manoj Bajpayee, as the quick-witted DIG, an uber cool hippie ACP, Randeep Hooda, and a rather harmless seeming, cunning car dealer, Deepak Dobriyal – all help Tiger do what he does best – deliver some kickass action scenes. ALSO READ: Baaghi 2 celeb movie review: Vivek Oberoi, Sudheer Babu are blown away by Tiger Shroff – Disha Patani’s performances

What’s not Tiger Shroff. Yes, he is indeed impressive with his action chops but when it comes to emotions, he has a long way to go. Quaking when required to emote anger, and whispering dialogues to convey he is heartbroken isn’t acting. So while he is a delight while dancing and breaking bones, he still has to work on his nuances quite a bit. Disha, as the wide-eyed deer, caught in the headlights is offering nothing new. If she has acting talent, we need to see her live through an entire film, so that we can judge as to what she has to offer. Prateik Babbar, as a junkie, is deplorable, who gets his kicks out of snorting cocaine and watching a rather loud Jacqueline dance to a badly mixed ’90s song. There’s a reason why subtlety is an art – not everyone gets it. Apart from these, the basic premise of the second film in the franchise, is more than a little hard to digest. It seems like the plot of most of the ’90s films with a few twists and turns thrown in for good measure. For how long will we use drug-peddling as a means to give the hero of a film a chance to show off his action skills?

What to do? Some whistle-worthy dialogues that will remind you of Sunny Deol and some well-choreographed action scenes, make Baaghi 2 a decent watch. However, if you don’t get high on seeing an unbelievably ripped Tiger Shroff take on an entire army of baddies, you can give this one a miss.

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 Reviewed by Ankita Chaurasia

* Poor

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#Bollywood

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mtwy · 7 years

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The Virgin Tour

SDSU Open Air Theatre San Diego, CA April 19th & 20th 1985

2x SOLD OUT

Promoter: Avalon Attractions Attendence/Capacity: 8696/8696 Ticket Prices: $17/$15/$14 Gross: $124,773

Madonna Makes a Hot Topic

By Robert Hilburn (Los Angeles Times)

SAN DIEGO - “Well, how was she?”

That’s what the woman at the hotel desk asked sarcastically when I checked in after seeing Madonna’s long awaited Southern California concert debut here Friday night. She knew I had been at the show because I was carrying a large souvenir program.

“Well?” she repeated impatiently, defying anything positive about this sexy young performer who has emerged as such a hot - and most controversial - pop figure that she has been on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine twice in the last five months. The issue surrounding Madonna: Is she a legitimate pop star or simply a fly-by-night pop tart?

I would have voted for “star” even before the concert, but I knew I was going to have a hard time convincing the desk clerk and most of the rest of the free world - who equate Madonna’s bimbo/boy toy image with lack of talent.

On the defensive, I told the clerk: “You’re not going to believe this, but Madonna’s show was real good. In fact, I’ve rarely seen a more confident or convincing debut. She’s not a great singer, but......”

“Great? I’ll say she’s not great. Want to try mediocre?”

“But you’re missing the point,” I continued. “She’s a perfectly adequate pop singer who shows signs in a song like ‘Crazy For You’ of even being a good one. But singing isn’t what she’s about. Madonna’s a personality who has simply used pop music as a vehicle for launching a career.

“On strictly a pop scale, she is far from the stature of Chrissie Hynde or Laurie Anderson, but her personality and ambition make her infinitely more interesting than a Pat Benatar. She was terrific in her film debut in ‘Desperately Seeking Susan,’ and she’ll probably move on to other areas of show business.”

At this point, a bellhop asked who we were talking about.

“Madonna,” he said, his eyes widening. “How’d she look?”

“I told you,” the desk clerk laughed. “That’s really all anyone cares about - how she looks.”

Welcome to the great pop debate of 1985

-------------

Friday’s show was at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theatre where all 9,000 seats for shows Friday and Saturday night were sold in less than two hours. But there were times during the show when Madonna could easily have been on a burlesque stage.

There isn’t any nudity on this debut tour (teasingly titled “The Virgin Tour”), but Madonna has this constantly sexy attitude, both in her teasing asides to the audience and in her dress. Madonna once said she tries to look like Ronnie Spector’s voice used to sound on hits like “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You” sexy, hungry and totally trashy.

It’s a perfect definition of her outfit; a fashionable jacket and micro-mini skirt designed to look like grafitti artists had taken spray cans to it just before show time, a sparkly lingerie harness and black lace stockings that stopped at the knee. She also wore the usual assortment of ornaments: crucifixes, a peace medallion and enough bracelets to cause a metal detection device at the airport to over-load.

Madonna represents a contemporary fantasy figure that revives the glamour, innocence and raw sexuality of many of Madonna’s own teen heroes, including Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Like the early Monroe, Madonna may portray a bimbo, but there she’s clearly no pushover.

There are unsettling aspects to her character: The tart image could give unsophisticated teen-age girls the wrong idea about the role of women, but there is a question of whether they take the boy-toy symbolism any more seriously than the young rock fans take the “devil worship” imagery of heavy-metal groups.

On stage Friday, Madonna was in almost constant motion, moving her hips in ways that would have made Elvis envious and sometimes crawling around on the floor in the sensually inviting style of Prince. Oh yes: She also sang, while her six-piece band captured the frenzied techno-pop nature of her dance-conscious record hits like “Holiday,” “Material Girl” and “Like a Virgin.” The only break in momentum was a drab battle of the synthesizers when she went off stage to change costumes.

Though the audience was on its feet throughout, it often seemed that Madonna was operating beneath her potential in this pop format. It’s important to demonstrate that she can handle herself live, but the simplicity of pop concerts doesn’t begin to tax her ambition or talent. In fact, she has so little to do other than express this aggressive, sexy attitude that the show seemed long at just over an hour. She was at her best when working off an idea or concept, such as injecting a witty bit of “Billie Jean” (complete with mock Michael Jackson moves) in “Like a Virgin,” or involving her two male dancers in a scorching acting out of her “Burning Up.”

Surprisingly, the female fans in the mostly teen and collegiate audience responded the strongest. Many even dressed like Madonna. “She is living out our fantasies,” one 16 year old said. “She’s able to be something that our parents would never let us get away with.....that whole ‘slut’ image. I’d never really want to be like that, but it’s fun seeing someone else do it on stage. It’s usually just the guys who get a chance to do that.

Then she said, nervously: “You’re not going to quote me, are you? My mother would kill me.”

The star also was to appear Sunday night at the Pacific Ampitheater. Madonna and the great pop debate of 1985 will resurface Friday for three sold-out nights at the Universal Ampitheatre.

#1985 #sandiego #thevirgintour #thevirginera

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