I didn't get a chance to live-blog last night, because the show wasn't actually shown live in my area (grr- hate when that happens), but still, let's skim over the highlights and lowlights anyway, shall we?
Well- I don't even know what more there is to say about the monstrosity that was Miley Cyrus last night, unless it's simply to echo the hilariously apt reaction of the Smiths (see below), which I'm sure many people were. It seems to be the only thing anybody was talking about the next day though, which is probably enough to make Miley happy (under the old "any publicity is good publicity" mantra). But I've got to say, not since Britney Spears' infamous 2007 VMA nosedive has anybody made more of an embarrassing and unsexy fool of themselves in public- and Miley Cyrus has less of an excuse, as Britney was in the middle of her famed nervous breakdown at the time. The only word left I can think of to utter is simply, ICK. Poor Robin Thicke was the innocent bystander in that trainwreck (his weird Beetlejuice outfit notwithstanding).
As for the rest of the performances, Lady Gaga was good (although almost immediately overshadowed of course) and Justin Timberlake's nearly 20 minute performance was probably the highlight, if you're a fan of his. I've never been that crazy about him, but he is a good performer, although his very brief reunion with NSYNC reminded me of Beyonce's Super Bowl show where she was nice enough to condescend to sing with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child for about 2 minutes before sending them away again in a flash- hee. Clearly the leaders have moved on. And shouldn't Jessica Biel have been in the audience or at least gotten a mention from him in one of his speeches? I forget they're married half the time. No one else stood out much, in my opinion.
I'm sorry, but this is what Daft Punk stood up Stephen Colbert for? After the big fuss they made about ditching his show at the last minute because of their contract with the VMA's they didn't even perform on the show!? They show up to give Taylor Swift an award and that's it. I would expect more retaliation from him when he gets back next week for this glaring insult If I were them.
Ok, Li'l Kim looks completely different- she has to have had surgery since the last time she's been seen in public, that''s just not her old face. And as for Rihanna, she looked all night like she'd been forced to attend the show at gunpoint, pretty much glaring or looking bored at every performance except JT's.
For all that Katy Perry's finale was hyped all night, that lame boxing stunt show was decidedly underwhelming- but I will say that it's the best performance I've seen her give on one of these things, which should tell you something about the extremely low bar she's set. In fact, I think the bar in her case has finally moved up about two inches from the floor (but no more than that, because she's still lip-synching which I can't stand).
Well, that about wraps up any thoughts I had on the VMA's this year- a pretty lame show overall, only a slight improvement on last year's, but I never tune in expecting much from this thing anyway, which is smart because if you do that, then you're never disappointed! See you at the next major awards show, everybody!
