It is with great shame that I am forced to admit...

I have been infected with a horrifying disease. The Lady Gaga disease.

I tried to avoid her for so long. I'd see pictures of her on the entertainment sites I frequent: always pants-less, always wearing something outlandish that never (IMO) actually made it all the way to "cool"...okay, except for that silvery gown with the orbiting satellites. I kind of liked that one. But I digress.

I made a concerted effort not to hear any Lady Gaga music or to watch any of her videos...okay, except for that notorious clip that supposedly shows her dick. But again I digress.

Yesterday, for some reason or other, I read a description of the new video for "Telephone" that actually made me curious enough to watch it. And, slightly to my horror, I ended up liking the damn thing. I suppose it must have been the combination of utter ridiculousness and Quentin Tarantino-isms (Of course, it could be argued the two are one and the same). Oh, and that bit where she's wrapped in yellow caution tape didn't hurt. ;-P Her music isn't entirely to my taste, but I didn't actively dislike it...which is a good thing, since it sticks to your brain like glue.

Well, after watching "Telephone" on YouTube, I read some comments about the video for "Bad Romance" that made it sound even better; so I had to see for myself. And lo and behold, this second Gaga video turned out to be a cornucopia of all my personal fetish fantasies: mind control (with associated sex slavery), latex, depersonalization, vampires, science fiction, sparkly baubles, dolls.... It even has a great "Hah!" ending that completely made up for the mdom elements - which honestly didn't bother me very much because I was too entranced by everything else that was going on.

I guess this means I'm a complete lost cause now. Whatever cool points I once possessed (and believe me, they were never many), they've been thoroughly obliterated by black lipstick and cubic zirconia. But at least I'll be a happy zombie.