MTV Video Awards recap!

Cultural shift alert! R&B and watered down hip hop, look out! It might have been subtle, but I noticed a change in the guard last night. MTV has decided to pass the torch to corny pop-rock bands like Fall Out Boy and AFI, who swept up most of the VMAs last night.

This was most symbolically apparent during the Video of the Year award. J. Lo seemed confused and maybe even hesitant when she begrudgingly announced "Panic! At The Disco" as the winner in this category. It's supposedly the biggest award MTV can hand out (although everyone stopped caring about 15 years ago) and it went to a hack "rock band" who has the most annoying song titles ever. You could almost hear every pretty boy 20-year-old with an angular haircut pick up their guitar and flock to New York and L.A. to ride out the trend, forming bands with names like SchoolGirl Crush and Johnny Danger.

I'm not actually interested in any of this, except maybe in a scientist checking out an ant colony sort of way. From what I've checked out, most folks thought the awards were pretty dull.

My personal reasons for checking out the VMAs were pretty disappointing. Jack Black was painfully unfunny (and I'm a fan) and Jack White (leading the VMA house band the Raconteurs) continually made faces that seemed to say "this is the worst mistake I've ever made." Hoping for some witty banter between Jacks Black & White? Didn't happen. Just awkwardness and plenty of it!

OK, the rant stops here. Admittedly, I didn't watch more than a half hour of the show. I need to cut myself off from awards shows completely. I felt bad for Kari who had to hear a few of my rants, including one that involved comparing the decadence of the VMAs to the Roman Empire (this was around when the cast from Jackass gave out an award). A little over the top on my part. Maybe.