I laughed...

[Guest Dabeagle]

Does that make me a bad person?

http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/31/11996822-bieber-falls-into-glass-wall-during-concert-suffers-concussion?lite

[blue]

Ouch. Glad it wasn't me. Not the most well coordinated person sometimes, and between bad eyesight and short attention span theater, well.... Yeah, just glad it wasn't me.

He'll be fine. He's got a few bazillion teen girls and boys who'd be more than happy to make him feel all better. Perhaps the ego got taken down a peg. Could be beneficial.

I like some of his music. I like that he's determined and working it. He's even teased the public with a few androgynous marketing decisions, but it looks like he's going less for that androgynous appeal now, to stress he's all grown up.

*Thud* *Ouch* Who put *that* there?

Good thing it didn't break. Or he didn't.

But yeah, I'd hate to think I was supposed to pay attention to all those fans, media, and cameras, and act cool and sound good. Might make a guy forget there's a glass wall there.

Um, yeah, but it isn't everybody who bangs into a wall under their own power. D'oh! Kinda funny, in a funny way.

Hey! Maybe he can do a commercial with that "Open, Open, Open!" lady! Heheheh.

[Merkin]

I don't know if anyone remembers Paul Anka, but he could routinely knock off dozens of young Canadian girls just by stepping out of a car.

[Cole Parker]

Does that make me a bad person?

http://todayentertai...concussion?lite

What? You don't like the Biebs! Incredible.

I guess you're not 14.

And have good taste.

C

[Gee Whillickers]

It's so hilarious listening to fourteen and fifteen year old teens of the male type talk about Justin Beiber. They all revile him. The insults are incredibly creative. And yet, most of them have haircuts and clothes exactly like Beiber. The straight kids at least. They know what attracts the girls.

[Guest Dabeagle]

Yep, as I recall it was the same when I was in High School, but then it was New Kids on the Block. I distinctly recall the shirt saying 'New Kids Bite'.

I have no deep seated issues with Bieber, except that I think it's far too easy to grow up in an insular, out of touch way having the experience that he is having. For his own sake he'd better hope he has strong financial planners because fame is fleeting, just ask the boy bands of the nineties. Also I've seen a few articles that make me think he's a little punk, kind of above other people but I guess living as he does, it might be hard not to think of yourself as superior.

[blue]

You know, in high school, I remember one of the guys wore a pink button down shirt with the tab/loophole at the back to hang the shirt, you know? Very conservative shirt, just pink. He was popular, good looking, smart, and the girls liked him and he liked them. Good reputation. He caught flak for wearing that pink shirt, for being preppie, as if there weren't plenty of other boys equally preppie, as if none of the other boys wore a pink shirt ever. I don't think he wore that shirt to school again. It was just silly. Oddly enough, pink was OK for guy's dress shirts, right around then. Not the most popular color, but common enough. -- Yeah, this was the mid-80's, Miami Vice and Madonna and Culture Club / Boy George, Pat Benatar, Michael Jackson, MTV was new and played actual rock music, the whole thing. Boy bands too. I remember someone making fun of Tears for Fears, calling them gay. Sheesh. And we all thought we were so grown up and smart! Hahaha. ...Oh, man, the photos with the hair in feathered wings... Um, yeah....

So, ol' Justin Bieber's not so new. The girls love him. A few of the guys love him (whether they admit it or not). A lot of the other guys like to say how much they don't like him. Yet oddly enough, they'd like to be able to sing and play music, and oddly, they dress a lot like him and wear their hair a lot like him (and like the other boys on TV, film, and music videos). Because that's what's in now.

Ten and twenty years from now, they will wonder why they hated on the Biebs or why they ever wore their hair or dressed like that, and they'll probably wonder why their own teens are dressing so weird and listening to such weird music.

I do hope that ten years from now, they won't still think saggy, baggy pants are a cool fashion thing. Dude, if your pants fall down, it is not cool, it's just funny, no matter how handsome you are. If your pants fall down, it's just wacky. Uh, thankfully, I haven't actually seen that happen in person, but yeah, I've seen it almost happen. Um, hey, listen, only your best buddies or your girlfriend or boyfriend need to see that, OK? Or your doctor. Trust me on that. LOL. OK, sooner than ten years, please. Way.

[dude]

Affected by JB? Nonesense... Now where did I leave my hoodie?

[blue]

Three years ago now, I had a chance to visit cousins with a teenage daughter and son. The boy was very quiet then, mostly, though I think he's finally growing out of it. The daughter, though, is the kind of girl who knows her own mind and what she wants and where she's going. (Dang, don't you admire people like that?) However, well, you know, she's a teenage girl. So...OMG! The Jonas Brothers! Justin Bieber! The.... (And so on.) And then when we drove by the neighborhood of the boy she liked, OMG! He's so.... You don't want to know the reaction when we actually went by and saw the young guy, skateboarding and shirtless. You'd have thought a major earthquake hit the van, hahaha. Hmm, and I have no idea of his personality (...apparently, he's hot, cute, and soooo dreamy, and Mama, can she stop for just a minute and talk...) but hey, if I were that age, he was indeed good looking. Except, you know, for a 9th grade athletic skater type boy. He'd have to grow up a few years. Definitely my female cousin's thing, though!

Watching and hearing all the reactions from the young female cousin was, OMG! sooo amazing! -- particularly when she was otherwise very together, poised, and well spoken...when not experiencing massive teenage girl hormones, hahaha. Her brother was too quiet to really know yet. I got the feeling he'd be reserved, even on his favorite subjects, at the time, or about girls. (He was much better about all that last time they visited.) (Uh, and I think he's probably straight.) All the teenage fangirl drama, though, was hilarious to watch, only a little tough on the hearing. :D

I do wonder, though, about the teenage guys' reactions. I can bet (from similar memories of friends that age) they'd be very busy downplaying Bieber or boy bands or other teenage male stars, unless they're somehow "cool" (and undeniably macho enough to be safe to say they like them). Yet those same guys likely dress and talk somewhat (or a lot like) those very same stars, and if you catch 'em off guard, they may even like listening to them.

Then you'll have the guys who are less hung up about liking those male teen stars and their music / acting / etc.

Then you have a few guys who are fans, fanboys, and they're not the least bit worried to say so. It doesn't prove one way or the other if they're gay. It does say they are comfortable enough in their own skin to say they like who and what they like.

I'd bet it can get very interesting seeing how teen guys and girls react to, say, Glee. I'd bet you'd get that range of opinions.