Taylor Swift vs. Beyonce

Whoa! It's been a long time since I've blogged! Sheesh!
It's been a busy month, and I have a lot to catch you guys up on! Namely, these things:

• Trip to Salt Lake City, Utah
• Cousin Lara's wedding
• Move to a new house
• A few parties
• The Atlanta Floods

But since I have a lot of pictures to upload for all of those things (and my home computer doesn't work at the moment), it's taking me longer than expected to keep you posted on the busy nothings of my life. Do you even care?

I guess the point is, is that I care.
Still, just thinking about all the pictures I have to post makes me exhausted . . . There's got to be an easier way to correct photos in Photoshop and upload them onto Blogger! Until I figure that out and until I actually just buckle down and upload the photos, I wanted to discuss a pressing issue: Taylor Swift vs. Beyonce. Their videos, that is.

Although I was a Hollywood nerd when I was a teenager and watched all of the awards shows I could get my eyes on, I don't watch any of that stuff now. Those shows are different now -- all over-the-top and political and just for show. One could argue that this is how it's always been, but I'll wholeheartedly disagree.

One awards show I don't watch anymore is the VMAs, the MTV Video Music Awards. On Monday morning, though, I heard what everyone else in the material world heard: Kanye West insulted Taylor Swift by announcing onstage that Beyonce -- not Swift -- should have won the award for Best Female Video. I did what any other recovering celebrity-watcher would do . . . I immediately went online to find a clip of the public diss: Kanye West Crashes the Stage.

Hm. Despite the obvious rude behavior displayed by Kanye, I wondered whether there was any merit to his words. I don't know if anyone can argue that Beyonce's video wasn't a sensation. Even my mom has seen her music video. Even babies watch her video and dance along to it. I heard, too, that her video took a lot of work -- they shot the whole thing in one take, but they did countless takes before they got it right.

I decided to compare the two videos:
Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"
Taylor Swift, "You Belong with Me"

I've gotta say that as provocative as those leotards are in the Beyonce video, I'd still say that it deserved the award. It's such an inventive video -- so simple, yet so inventive!

HOWEVER, after I watched Swift's video, I found myself wanting to watch it again. So I did. I think I watched it about three times, total. And I wondered why it won. Why did viewers and critics like this video so much?

I can't be positive, but I think it's because we all love an underdog story. Everyone likes to see the dorky girl get the guy. Or the nerdy guy get the girl. I think America is a rags-to-riches country, and therefore, Americans appreciate those kinds of success stories. (We could further prove this point with all of the blockbuster movies of the 80s.)

What makes this video so fun for me, though, is that I'm a romantic at heart. My kind of romance doesn't involve handsome strangers or rich princes dashing into my life. Mine is steady friendships that turn into love. To quote Anne Shirley, "I don't want sunbursts or marble halls." I just want a friend who knows me well.

So maybe that's the sentiment that won Taylor Swift the award. If that's the case, she can have it. I won't insult her onstage.

What do you think, readers? Who was the rightful winner, to you? Swift? Beyonce? Someone else?


Thing I'm thankful for: a good boss at work. It makes all the difference sometimes.