I watched the MTV Video Music Awards. Frankly, I was appalled. I was appalled for 2 reasons: 1. the poor quality of the show on the whole and 2. the pure consumerism that was promoted.

If you have not yet seen the show and don't want me to ruin things for you, stop reading here. That being said, let's procede.

First of all, MTV needs to find someone new to direct the show. There were so many mistakes. And..umm..hello! It's not even live! (at least on the west coast). Editing problems, directing problems. At one point Jamie Foxx, the host, totally read the wrong prompt and introduced the wrong presenter. There was also no continuity whatsoever to the show. One minute, Missy Elliot and Janet Jackson were doing a tribute to Aaliyah. Suddenly, Chris Katan was imitating Rage Against the Machine's stunt from last year when one guy climbed up onto the top of all the sets. Strange. I also was too impressed with the performances. Of course, U2 was amazing. They sang "Elevation" and "Stuck in a Moment." It was weird that they were given one of those "Lifetime Achievement Award" type deals. But, it was called the "Michael Jackson Vangaurd Award." Michael Jackson's still around!

It was just an odd show. 'N Sync's performance was...weird.. I guess, I don't understand the whole concept for Celebrity. The Dirty Pop video is weird...their preformance of it tonight was strange; it wasn't even close to the "It's Gonna Be Me" performance from last year's VMA's. Dirty Pop just lacked creativity. There were just lots of people dressed strangely and dancing. No Strings Attached had a marketing and production spin that I understood and actually found to be rather cool. All the performances were basically the same. Nothing exciting, except for Michael Jackson dancing with 'N Sync. But...other than that, there wasn't anything new or different. No little people with Blink 182 or Britney in a quality song and dance. Britney lip-synced this time!

Maybe I'm just too old for this. I just don't understand why "N Sync won so many awards. They even admitted it sometimes. Justin Timberlake would say something like "Dude, Fatboy Slim got jacked this time."

It just sucks how the winners were so..ugh..can't find the word...it was so rigged. (not that this is any type of democratic voting process.) But, basically, little screaming girls are the ones who buy things from the advertisers that keep MTV running. Consequently, little screaming girls must be kept happy. Therefore, 'N Sync, Destiny's Child, Alicia Keys, and the Lady Marmalade chics must win and win big. But what about the quality artists like Coldplay, David Gray, and U2?

This leads into my second gripe about the show. It's all about consumerism. The winners are dictated by what will keep viewers happy. And, tonight was the night for EVERYONE to plug their new albums. Almost every artist that presented mentioned something about when their new album was going to drop. Britney Spears performed a song that hasn't even been released yet. Ananda promoted her new talk show. That was not interesting. I want to see cool performances, not hear about new albums. The show ran for 3.5 hours. About 1 hour of it was commercials. We didn't watch commercials, we washed dishes instead..but still. I imagined being a 16 year old...or even being a 21 (almost) year old...and seeing how everything on the show was to glorify these celebrities. Buy more, spend more, make them rich, and you can live vicariously through them.

I dunno...I think that's why Moby impresses me so much. He won an award. But he didn't say much. He's kinda cool like that. Seems like a pretty low-key kind of guy. Same with the Fatboy Slim team. Just real chill..doing their thing, making music, entertaining. But, they're not trying to suck kids dry of every resource they have (time, money, affection).

Hmm..i dunno. I think I'm just in shock. I have no words...actually, I apparently have had many. I have run out of words. Someone convince me that 'N Sync is not all evil! Good night.