So, watched the VMAs last night. By "watched," I mean that if a performance didn't catch my interest in the first ten seconds, I fast-forwarded. Still, there were some moments.
The good:
1. Sarah Silverman's monologue was performed in front of the wrong crowd, but was damned funny (mostly).
2. Chris Brown. Holy fucking shit.
Go here. Watch. It doesn't matter what you think of the music; this is what a live performance should be.
3. Justin Timberlake. That reprieve he got as a result of "Dick in a Box?" Extend that by a couple of years. He used both his award speeches to implore MTV to start playing videos again. Oh, and his exhortation for MTV to play more videos and fewer reality shows? Came after being presented with an award by the skanks from The Hills. And he used the rest of his "Male Artist of the Year" speech to do nothing but rave about Chris Brown. Classiest guy at the awards show.
4. Rihanna. Most folks (Brown, Timeberlake, and a few others excluded) phoned it in. She, meanwhile, performed about sixteen times, including numbers with Brown and with Fall Out Boy.
The bad:
1. Britney. It wasn't even bad in a "train wreck" sense. More like watching a really bad karaoke video by a girl who just swallowed a handful of quaaludes. Truly pathetic.
2. The ongoing reminder that the "V" in VMA is pointless. Only one award was actually presented for a video.
3. Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. Off-message and out-of-it. Bad combo (but good train wreck).
4. The fact that many music stars suck as presenters.
5. The fact that almost no talented artists get played on MTV any more, anyway.
Anyway, I'm back to my tradition of not watching MTV again until this time next year.