Thursday, May 17, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The Baguio Experience: Vacation, Gangwars, Dirty Philippine Politics
The
The 6-hour Ride
Not much to say about the trip since I spent most of the travel time sleeping. I would just wake up every time we reach a stop over so I could smoke and pee. I had a lot of fun looking at the sceneries as soon as we reached, I’m not sure if that was Benguet---the zigzag trail going up to Baguio. It was my first time to set foot in
On my first day in
After our escapades in Mine’s View, we went to SM Baguio, and my gosh! It is like Divisoria! It’s too crowded, and it’s probably like the only mall in town so everyone’s there. The temperatures freezing at that time, it was around 8pm and still many people were just hanging out, being laid back, and all.
The following day, we went to Camp John Hay. It’s nothing like how I remembered it to be. 17 Diner is no longer there. I have good childhood memories about this place, as my family used to bring me to Camp John Hay, have breakfast in 17, and I remember always ordering the same thing for breakfast---blueberry pancakes and I would eat up all the strawberries with whip cream and powdered sugar on the dessert area. We had a long walk inside the camp, taking pictures and picking up pine cones. Soon after, we went straight to the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, famed for its 100 steps up the mountain to reach the altar of the Blessed Virgin. Then we went to bayan and rummaged thru the famous UK-UK and more pasalubong shopping.
That evening, as I ran out of cigs, I left the house alone. It was around 9pm and I had to go to
I told everyone what happened, and Mrs. Santos said that it was a good thing nothing happened to me since her son died in a gruesome death because of these people. Her son was murdered by 50 people while waiting for a taxi ride in front of the victory liner station. Rex (the son) had multiple skull fractures, his brains literally fell off his head, multiple wounds, beaten to death and had 1 stab wound and was left there after being attached to die. The local government had a news black out about the incident, the murder charges was decreased to homicide, the 50 killers still free running in the streets and its been more than a year or so, and still no justice for Rex’s death. ABS-CBN covered the story, but never released the news on TV,
The Journey Home
Monday morning, my partner and I left
Post Birthday Depression
Another year older...
Emotions turning colder...
I need more anti-aging cream,
I now need to watch indulging on ice cream.
Another year added,
Yet I dunno where I'm headed
I still have too many questions
But there is no single solution...
Am now another year older,
But not a bit more bolder.
Questions in my head I try to eradicate
Fuck! I don't wanna think, I'll just masturbate.
Life goes on another year,
I know I'll have to face my fears
I'm letting go of my dreams and illusions
For I have no other options
Emotions turning colder...
I need more anti-aging cream,
I now need to watch indulging on ice cream.
Another year added,
Yet I dunno where I'm headed
I still have too many questions
But there is no single solution...
Am now another year older,
But not a bit more bolder.
Questions in my head I try to eradicate
Fuck! I don't wanna think, I'll just masturbate.
Life goes on another year,
I know I'll have to face my fears
I'm letting go of my dreams and illusions
For I have no other options
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Madonna Ads
Unreleased COADF ad
Queen of the Dancefloor Ad
Ariake Ad
Madonna VIP ad
Unreleased Max Factor Ad
BMW ad
Gap Ad with Missy Elliot
Queen of the Dancefloor Ad
Ariake Ad
Madonna VIP ad
Unreleased Max Factor Ad
BMW ad
Gap Ad with Missy Elliot
Madonna Confessions Tour
Song 19: La Isla Bonita
Song 18: Erotica/You Thrill Me
Song 17: Music Inferno
Song 18: Erotica/You Thrill Me
Song 17: Music Inferno
Madonna Confessions Tour
Song 16: Paradise (Not For Me)
Song 15: Substitute For Love
Song 14: Let it Will Be
Song 13: Ray of Light
Song 12: I Love New York
Song 15: Substitute For Love
Song 14: Let it Will Be
Song 13: Ray of Light
Song 12: I Love New York
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Madonna Still Reigns Supreme!
Madonna :
the most successful female recording artist of all time
Guinness Book of World Records
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Madonna is the Most Successful Female Recording Artist of All Time.
- From 1963 to 1996 Elizabeth Taylor had the record of the greatest change of costumes in a motion picture with the movie Cleopatra. Madonna, 23 years later, broke that record when she had 83 changes of costumes during the motion picture Evita. She also wore 39 hats, 45 pairs of shoes and 56 pairs of earrings.
- From 1988 to 2002, the Guinness Book of World Records named Madonna as the Most Successful Artist on Record for the unprecedented worldwide success of the True Blue album, which hit number one in 28 countries.
- She has the most consecutive top 20 debuts in the charts (27) from 1983 to 1992.
Billboard
Madonna is the only recording artist to have a top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with at least one single from every album (Madonna to Confessions on a Dance Floor) that has had a single released.
- Madonna has achieved the unique feat of having had at least one single peak at every position in the top ten of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
- According to Billboard Magazine, Madonna is the Top Female Act of the 1980s. The magazine also declared her as the Second Top Act of the 1980s, behind Michael Jackson.
- Madonna holds the record for the most consecutive top-five hits (16) among female artists ("Lucky Star" to "Cherish"), and second only to Elvis Presley. Prior to Janet Jackson, she previously held the record for the most consecutive top-ten hits among female artists (17)("Borderline" to "Cherish").
- In the first six months of 1985, Madonna had six separate hit singles on the Billboard Charts (and five videos in rotation at once on MTV).
- From 1985 - 2003, Madonna has received 25 Billboard awards and citations.
Billboard Hot 100
Madonna has had twelve number-one singles on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart; the same number as Diana Ross and The Supremes, and behind only Mariah Carey's seventeen among female artists.
n Madonna's
n Like A Virgin (1984)- 6 weeks
n Crazy For You (1985)- 1 week
n Live To Tell (1986)- 1 week
n Papa Don't Preach(1986)- 2 weeks
n Open Your Heart (1987)- 1 week
n Who's That Girl (1987)- 1 week
n Like A Prayer (1989)- 3 weeks
n Vogue (1990)- 3 weeks
n Justify My Love (1991)- 2 weeks
n This Used To Be My Playground (1992)- 1 week
n Take A Bow (1995)- 7 weeks
n Music (2000)- 4 weeks
Madonna is the third oldest female to place a number one at the Billboard Hot 100. The single "Music" reached the number-one spot when Madonna was forty-two years one month old (September 2000). She is behind Tina Turner's single,"What's Love Got to Do with It?", which made number one when Turner was forty-five years old (1984), and Cher whose single,"Believe," reached number one when Cher was fifty-two years old (1999).
n Madonna has had six number-two singles on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart, the most for a female artist, tying her with Elvis Presley for the record.
Madonna's Number Twos
Material Girl (Blocked from no. 1 'Can't Fight This Feeling' by REO Speedwagon)
Causing A Commotion (Blocked by Lisa Lisa & the Cult Jam's Lost in Emotion and Michael Jackson's Bad)
Express Yourself (Blocked from no. 1 by Martika's Toy Soldiers)
Cherish (Blocked from no. 1 by Janet Jackson's Miss You Much)
I'll Remember (Blocked from no. 1 by I Swear from All-4-One)
Frozen (Blocked from no. 1 by All My Life from K-Ci and JoJo)
Hot 100 Chart Records
n Madonna has the most top-five singles by a female artist on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (27).
n Madonna has the most top-ten singles on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (36).
n Madonna has the most top-twenty singles by a female artist on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (42).
n Madonna has the most top-thirty singles by a female artist on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (44).
n Madonna has the most top-forty singles by a female artist on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (47).
Madonna's Hung Up Single
1) 51st Madonna single to enter the Hot 100 Singles Chart.
2) 36th Top 10 Single (A record for a female artist and ties with Elvis Presley's 36).
3) 42nd Top 20 single (A record for a female artist).
4) 44th Top 30 single (A record for a female artist).
5) 47th Top 40 single (Again a record for a female artist coming behind only to Elvis Presley who has 104, Elton John with 54 and The Beatles with 51).
Billboard 200 Album Records
n Madonna has had six number-one albums on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart, behind only Barbra Streisand's eight among female artists.
n Madonna is one of only nine women to have had five or more top-ten debuts on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The others are Barbra Streisand, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, LeAnn Rimes, Tori Amos, Britney Spears, Céline Dion and Mariah Carey.
n Madonna has had sixteen top-ten albums on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart, behind only Barbra Streisand's twenty-six among female artists. Only her two remix album EPs, You Can Dance and Remixed and Revisited failed to crack the top-ten.
n Madonna's US Number one albums
Like A Virgin(1984)
True Blue (1986)
Like A Prayer (1989)
Music (2000)
American Life (2003)
Confessions On A Dancefloor (2005)
Madonna has had five number-two albums on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart, behind only The Beatles' six and Frank Sinatra's seven.
Madonna's Number Two Albums USA
Ray Of Light (Blocked from #1 by Titanic (soundtrack))
Evita (Blocked from #1 by Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt)
Erotica (Blocked from #1 by The Chase by Garth Brooks)
Immaculate Collection (Blocked from #1 by To the Extreme -Vanilla Ice)
I'm Breathless (Blocked from #1 by Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em- MC Hammer
Hot Dance Music/Club Play
n Madonna has had thirty-five number-one singles on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, proving her dominance in
n On the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, Madonna is the only artist in history to achieve seven top-ten hits from one album (American Life). Madonna is also the only artist ever to achieve seven consecutive number-one hits on this chart twice.(This information is according to Billboard magazine, which was published in the Q&A section.)
n For only the second time in Billboard history, one artist is No. 1 on all four of Billboard's dance charts. Madonna's "Sorry"(Warner Bros.) made it to number one on the Club Play, Dance Singles Sales and Dance Radio Airplay surveys while "Confessions on a Dance Floor" rules the Top Electronic Albums list. The only other time this happened was the week of Dec. 3, 2005, when "Hung Up" by Madonna was in charge on the three dance singles charts and "Confessions" was No. 1 on the Electronic tally. Billboard Chart Beat March 09, 2006
n Madonna (and Janet Jackson) has a streak of seven uninterrupted chart-toppers. Second only to Kristine W, who has nine.
n Madonna's Number One Dance Hits (35)
SORRY (2006)
HUNG UP (2005)
LOVE PROFUSION (2004)
NOTHING FAILS (2004)
ME AGAINST THE MUSIC (2003)
HOLLYWOOD (2003)
AMERICAN LIFE (2003)
DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002)
IMPRESSIVE INSTANT (2001)
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRL (2001)
DON'T TELL ME (2001)
MUSIC (2000)
AMERICAN PIE (2000)
BEAUTIFUL STRANGER (1999)
NOTHING REALLY MATTERS (1999)
RAY OF LIGHT (1998)
FROZEN (1998)
DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA (1997)
BEDTIME STORY (1995)
SECRET (1994)
FEVER (1993)
Deeper and Deeper (1993)
Erotica (1992)
JUSTIFY MY LOVE (1991)
VOGUE (1990)
KEEP IT TOGETHER (1990)
EXPRESS YOURSELF (1989)
LIKE A PRAYER (1989)
YOU CAN DANCE (LP CUTS)(1987)
CAUSING A COMMOTION (1987)
OPEN YOUR HEART (1986)"Angel"/ Into the Groove"(1985)"Materi al Girl (1984)"Like a Virgin"(1984)"Holida y"/"Lucky Star"(1983)
n In 2004, Madonna became one of the five founding members of the UK Music Hall of Fame, joining Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Marley, and U2 as automatic inductees.
n In 2001, Madonna was named Top Female UK Singles Artist of All Time in the Guinness Book of Hit Singles edition of the Most Successful Artists in the 50-year history of the British charts.
n Madonna holds every major sales and chart record for a female artist in the UK In all-time singles sales she lies comfortably fourth behind – Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and The Beatles – and she is also fourth in combined singles and albums sales behind those three artists, pulling away from the Rolling Stones.
n Madonna remains the female artist with the most No. 1s in the
n Madonna is now tied with Cliff Richard's backing band, the Shadows, for fifth place among artists with the most No. 1s in the
Top Single Records
n Madonna has had twelve number-one singles on the
n Madonna's UK Number Ones (12)
Into The Groove (1985)- 4 weeks
Papa Don't Peach (1986)- 3weeks
True Blue (1986)- 1 week
La Isla Bonita (1987)- 2 weeks
Who's That Girl (1987)- 1 week
Like A Prayer (1989)- 3 weeks
Vogue (1990)- 4 weeks
Frozen(1998)- 1 week
American Pie (2000)- 1 week
Music (2000)- 1 week
Hung Up (2005)- 3 weeks
Sorry (2006)- 1 week
Top Album Records
n Madonna has had nine number-one albums on the
n Madonna has had four number-two albums on the
n Madonna has had sixteen top-five albums on the
n Madonna has had seventeen top-ten albums on the
n From the Evita Soundtrack in 1996 to Music in 2001, Madonna had three consecutive number-one albums on the
n Every album, Madonna has released, has reached the top ten in the UK; her self-titled first album is the only one to miss the top five.(Her 2003 EP, Remixed and Revisited, was not allowed to appear on the
n In the
Madonna is the most successful female singles artist in
Other Tidbits
n Madonna’s Ray of Light noted in the Mojo’s record book among the best albums of all times and her Immaculate collection appears among the best Collection albums of all time.
n Queen of Pop Madonna has been awarded a Guinness World Record for being the highest paid female singer.
n The star, famous for constantly re-inventing her image, knocked singer Britney Spears from the top spot she had held since 2001.
n It is thought Madonna made an estimated $50m (£26.7m) in 2004.
n Billboard magazine recently reported the singer broke another record for having the highest earning tour for a female performer for her Confessions World Tour
Melanie Marquez Quotes
From:
http://manilagayguy.com/2006/11/21/melanie-marquez-may-toyo-ako/
In the middle of a Pinoy gay lovers’ quarrel due to trust issues, expletives had been flying left and right, when suddenly an aggravated partner (let’s call him Gay #1) blurts out with all emotion:
If I want, I do!
If I won’t, I don’t!
Gay #2 stops to analyze what was just said and breaks in laughter. Gay #1 is confused, “Did I say anything funny?” Thanks to that accidental comic relief, the lovers’ quarrel had a literally happy ending.
Gay #1 and Gay #2 are my friends, and it’s so much fun being with them. And Gay #1 is so funny without even trying, everytime I’m with him I’m reminded of Melanie Marquez, the Queen Of Malaprop. Here are some of Melanie’s crazy quotes:
And the Base of My Observation Is …. (showbiz stripped May 14, 2005 GMA Ch. 7)
My brother is not a girl; he’s a gentleman.
“I keep my crown in the voltage”
That’s why I’m a success, it’s because I don’t middle in other people’s lives.
Don’t judge my brother; he’s not a book.
I won’t stoop down to my level.
Hello? Bulag ka ba? Bingi ka ba? Are you dep?
‘Yung STD, baka sa maruming toilet lang niya nakuha yan.
Eh, ikaw ba naman, durugin ang ari mo… Pag di ka naman manutok ng baril.
We are lovers, not fighters.
Kapatid ko pa rin siya. We are one and the same.
I don’t eat meat. I’m not a carnival.
Eto na po ang pinakamaligayang pasko at manigong taon sa inyong lahat. (During her acceptance speech at a Metro Filmfest awards night where her bioflick, directed by her late father Temyong Marquez, won an award.)
Sumasakit ang migraine ko.
Ang tatay ko ang only living legend na buhay!
Period na talaga; wala nang exclamation point. (When asked on S-Files if her present husband, Adam Lawyer, is her Mr. Right.).
At a talk show after her break-up with Derek Dee, Melanie was asked if she had some words for Derek’s mother (whom she partly blamed for the separation). “Oo nga,” said Melanie, “pero i-English-in ko para maintindihan niya.” She looked into the camera and, with the peremptoriness of royalty, said, “And to you, Mrs. Dee, I have two words for you. Ang labo mo!”
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL ....AND YOU WILL CRY...
Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: "How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?"
The surgeon said, "I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it."
Sally said, "Why do little children get cancer? Doesn't God care any more? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?"
The surgeon asked, "Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the university."
Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good-bye to son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair.
"Would you like a lock of his hair?" the nurse asked.
Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally. The mother said, "It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody else. "I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom." She went on, "My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could."
Sally walked out of Children's mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried
herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Laying beside her on the bed wasa folded letter. The letter said:
"Dear Mom, I know you're going to miss me; but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say I LOVE YOU. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know. Don't be sad thinking
about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD! And guess what, Mom ? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That's
when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good-bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn't allowed. Well, you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'Where was He when I needed him?' "God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.
Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool? I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm, sure the food will be great.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I
couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either. That's when He send The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that?
Let's see Satan stop this one.
Take 60-seconds and send this to five other people, within the hour, you will have caused a multitude of believers to pray to God for each other. Then sit back and feel the Holy Spirit work in your life for doing what you know God loves
Famous MaDoNNa Quotes
"I don’t think about how much longer, I just keep looking forwards. Onwards and upwards – that’s always been my motto. I feel better now that I have in my entire life"
Carrie: I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love. And I don't think that love is here in this expensive suite in this lovely hotel in
Carrie: You shouldn't have to sacrifice who you are just because somebody else has a problem with it.
Carrie: No matter who broke your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you'll never get through it without your friends.
Carrie: Maybe all men are a drug. Sometimes they bring you down and sometimes, like now, they get you so high.
That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out. I know these things for sure.
Madonna, O Magazine, January 2004
To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage, because we don't want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt.
Madonna, O Magazine, January 2004
MADONNA ON RELATIONSHIPS
"I don't have many women friends. It's because I haven't found many who are worldly wise and intelligent. Then again, I just seem to get on better with boys..."
"The first boy I liked was so beautiful. I wrote his name all over my sneakers and on the playground - I used to take off the top part of his uniform and chase him around."
"I liked my body growing up and I wasn't ashamed of it. I liked boys and didn't feel inhibited by them. Maybe it comes from having brothers and sharing a bathroom. The boys got the wrong impression of me at high school. They mistook forwardness for promiscuity. When they don't get what they want, they turn on you. I went through this period when all the girls thought I was loose and the boys said I was a nymphomaniac. The first boy I ever slept with was my boyfriend and we'd been going out a long time."
"My first boyfriend was when I was, I guess... gee, I think 14 or 15. I fell in love with a boy named Russell. He was the only boy who would dance with me at school, because I was really wild at the high school dances and I danced completely insane and all the guys were afraid to ask me to dance with them because I basically ignored them anyway. But Russell was a wild dancer and he was a couple of years older and he was more sophisticated... so he was the one who had the courage really. So he won my heart, because he wasn't afraid of me..."
"Even after I made love for the first time, I still felt I was a virgin. I didn't lose my virginity until I knew what I was doing."
"I wouldn't like to sleep with a guy who was a virgin. I'd have to teach him stuff and I don't have the patience."
"When I turned 17 I moved to
"All my boyfriends turned out to be very helpful to my career. That's not the reason I stayed with them. I loved them all very much. I'm not Alexis from Dynasty."
"All the men I stepped over to get to the top... every one would have me back because they all still love me and I love them."
"I dig skin, lips and Latin men."
"I live for meeting with men in suits. I love them because I know they had a really boring week and I walk in there with my orange velvet leggings and drop popcorn in my cleavage and then fish it out and eat it. I like that. I know I'm entertaining them, and I know that they know."
"I guess a lot of my hot-blooded and passionate temperament is Italian. I like dark brooding men with rough tempers. Italian men like to dominate and sometimes I like to cast myself in the submissive role."
"Straight men need to be emasculated. I'm sorry. They all need to be slapped around. Women have been kept down for too long. Every straight guy should have a man's tongue in his mouth at least once."
"To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage, because we don't want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt."
"I've had some painful experiences with men in my life, just as I've had some incredible experiences. Maybe on Like a Prayer I'm representing more of the former than the latter. I certainly don't hate men. No, no, no. I couldn't live without them."
"Romance should be spontaneous, but in my career I'm totally in control."
"I prefer effeminate looking men and young boys. There are a lot of very sweet Puerto Rican boys where I live, and if it outrages people when we go out together that's fine by me. Fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys are the best and I like smooth men who aren't afraid to show their emotions and cry. I want to caress a nice smooth body, not a hulk."
"I can't conceive of living happily ever after or happiness for a long period of time with one person. I change so much and my needs change also."
"I guess you know you're in love when you finally decide that you want to make sacrifices for somebody else, and you want to give something up for somebody else, you don't just concentrate on yourself. Like the love that parents have for their children..."
"Marriage is a roller coaster."
"I think that everyone should get married at least once, so you can see what a silly, outdated institution it is."
"The best thing about being single is that there's always someone else. I wouldn't wish being Mr. Madonna on anybody."
"To me, Sean's love feels like a huge hand that comes around my whole body. Sometimes it's all furry and warm and sometimes it's all scratchy and it hurts."
"From the time we got married people couldn't make up their minds. They wanted me to be pregnant, or they wanted us to get a divorce. That put a lot of strain on our relationship too, after a while. It's been a character building experience, and a test of love to get through it all."
"I have to admit I do flirt a lot but I guess Sean knows that by now, flirting is part of my make-up. I'll flirt with anybody from the garbage man to grandmothers."
"I'm a very old-fashioned girl. Marriage is a great thing when it's right. And I did celebrate it and embrace it, and I wanted the whole world to know that this was the man I loved more than anything. But there's a price to pay for that, which is something I realize now. Ever since I was in high school, when I was madly in love with someone, I was so proud of that person. I wanted the world to know that I loved him. But once you reveal it to the world - and you're in the public eye - you give it up, and it's not your own anymore. I began to realize how important it is to hold on to privacy and keeping things to yourself as much as possible. It's like a runaway train afterwards."
MADONNA ON HERSELF
"I would rather live one year as a tiger, than a hundred as a sheep."
"I've always wanted to be taller. I feel like a shrimp, but that's the way it goes. I'm five-foot four-and-a-half-inches - that's actually average. Everything about me is average. Everything's normal, in the books. It's the things inside me that make me not average."
"When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it."
"I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name. How could I be anything else but what I am having been named Madonna? I would either have ended up a nun or this."
"I feel just as hungry today as I did the day I left home."
"I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art."
"I'm like a cockroach - you just can't get rid of me!"
"Sometimes I just assume that I'm going to live forever."
"They thought they would wake up one day and I'd go away. But I'm not going to go away."
"I won't be happy until I'm as famous as God. I'm tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch - okay."
"In the beginning they thought that I was the flavor of the month, a one-act disco dolly who was just going to pop in and pop out. But slowly as the years go by I've been showing a little bit more of myself: One facet and then another."
"I've always been good at manipulating people and getting my way with charm."
"It's more than ego. It's an overwhelming interior light that I let shine without control. I am guarded by my instinct... it's both my faith and conscience."
"I hate polite conversation. I hate it when people stand around and go, 'Hi, how are you?' I hate words that don't have any reason or meaning. Also I hate it when people smoke in elevators and closed in places. It's just so rude."
"I've been called a tramp and a harlot and the kind of girl who would always end up in the back of a car."
"I know the aspect of my personality, being the vixen, the heartbreaker and the incredibly provocative girl is a very marketable image - but it's not insincere. You just can't take it seriously."
"I have to listen to the criticism that I get when it's dealing with my work. It's beneficial, I guess I don't take criticism very well but it's getting better. If I do something and there's 100 people in the room and 99 people say they like it, I only remember the person who didn't like it."
"They used to say that I was a slut, a pig, an easy lay, a sex bomb, Minnie Mouse or even Marlene Dietrich's daughter, but I'd rather say that I'm just a hyperactive adult."
"When I get down on my knees, it is definitely not to pray."
"The maid comes three days a week and on the days she doesn't I make my own bed. I've even been known to wash my own clothes."
"In everyday life I am quiet and reserved, not the housekeeper type but cool and relaxed. I don't get up in the morning wearing false eyelashes and I don't wear fancy underwear when I'm cooking popcorn. I'm a nice little ducky."
"No matter what I do, there will always be people who think of me as a little disco tart."
"I laugh at myself. I don't take myself completely seriously. I think that's another quality that people have to hold on to... you have to laugh, especially at yourself. I do it in most of the things I do, and most of the videos that I make and most of my performances. Even in my concerts there are so many moments when I just stood still and laughed at myself."
"It's healthy for me to force myself to move about independently. It helps me touch base with reality. I could never live a sheltered life... That would drive me insane."
"My biggest fault in impatience. I just can't stand waiting. I always want everything right away. Nothing came as fast as I wanted it to."
"I have mixed emotions about the way I look. I wish I was taller. I probably look taller 'cause I've got such a big mouth. I think it's important to try and look larger than life if you're a performer."
"Oh... I can be a bitch. Deep down inside I'm really a nice girl. But, certainly, I can be a bitch. I'm a perfectionist, and I'm under lots of pressure. Sometimes you have to be a bitch to get things done."
"I think I stand for a whole lot of things in fans' minds, a lot of kinds of stereotypes, like the whole sex-goddess image and the blonde thing. But mainly I think they feel that most of my music is really positive, and I think they appreciate that, particularly the women. I think I stand for everything they're really taught not to do, so maybe I provide them with a little bit of encouragement."
"I am ambitious. But if I weren't as talented as I am ambitious I would be a gross monstrosity. I am not surprised by my success because it feels natural."
"I'm a terrible cook. I just wait for someone to take me out to dinner. I like Japanese and French food."
"I'm very indecisive: yes - no - yes. In my career I make pretty good decisions, but in my personal life I cause constant havoc by changing my mind every five minutes."
"When your name is Madonna it's best to become one."
"I think I have an original sense of style, and I think that people are unconsciously copying my style. My style is a combination of a lot of things and maybe theirs is too. Either it's coincidence or they're copying my style - it's just obvious. But sometimes, when you see people do that, it's really cute, you know? But sometimes it isn't."
"I act out of instinct, just like an animal. Suddenly I couldn't stand all that hair of mine and all those baubles any more. That image had to be cleaned thoroughly. My new look is innocent, straightforward and feminine. I feel perfectly at home in this new skin."
"I live in a huge loft - 2,000 square feet - in Soho in
"
"My image is a natural extension of my performance so my songs may not be deliberately sexual but the way I achieve them could be."
"With the crucifixes I was exorcising the extremes that my upbringing dwelt on. Putting them up on the wall and throwing darts at them. And the 'Boy Toy' thing was a joke, a tag name given to me when I first arrived in
"I like clothes you can move about in - I don't like it when someone looks as if they're glued in their outfit."
"Exercise is absolutely necessary for me because I don't dance anymore."
"I like having a supple body. It allows you to move more easily, and it's also visually more appealing."
"Basques are restricting. They have ribs that make you feel you're suffocating."
"Bruce Springsteen was born to run. I was born to flirt."
"I'm sexy. How can I avoid it? That's the essence of me. I would have to put a bag over my head and body but then my voice would come across. And it's sexy."
"Losing my virginity? I thought of it as a career move."
"I think my voice sounds innocent and sexual at the same time. That's what I tell people anyway, but they look at me and go, 'Innocent, huh?'"
"Sex symbol? I guess I would be perceived as that, because I have a typically voluptuous body and I express sexual desire without really caring what people think about me."
"Books are my next favorite thing... after kissing."
"I can go for nights without sleeping if I'm not working on anything specifically, but if I'm doing a tour or working on a film I really have to be on the ball so I make sure I get to bed early. I need at least six hours sleep so I have to cut down on my social life if I want to feel good the next day. When I occasionally get eight hours sleep I find it hard to believe."
"I work at not being self-destructive."
"The thing is, I wouldn't even be blonde now except that I'm doing Dick Tracy and I had to dye my hair blonde. It took me so long to grow my hair out and I really wanted to have dark hair. I felt kind of great having my own hair color for the first time in years. Women with blonde hair are perceived as much more sexual and much more impulsive... fun-loving but not as layered, not as deep, not as serious."
"Being blonde is definitely a different state of mind. I can't really put my finger on it, but the artifice of being blonde has some incredible sort of sexual connotation. Men really respond to it. I love blonde hair but it really does something different to you. I feel more grounded when I have dark hair, and I feel more ethereal when I have light hair. It's unexplainable. I also feel more Italian when my hair is dark."
"I'd like to see every teenage girl in
"I'm proud of my trashy image - my clothes come from the street."
"I think I always make the worst dressed list. It's just silly. But it is kind of nice having something you can always depend on."
"I've changed my image. If you spend a couple of years wearing lots of layers of clothes and tons of jewelry, it takes you forever to get dressed. And if your hair is long and crazy, you just get the urge to take it all off, strip yourself down and cut your hair just for relief. Everybody does that, you know."
"I'd love to be a memorable figure in the history of entertainment in some sexual, comic, tragic way. I'd like to leave the impression that Marilyn Monroe did, to be able to arouse so many different feelings in people."
"I would like to write a searing love story, probably semi-autobiographical, you know, because it's best to draw on your personal experiences."
"I never remember feeling tormented for my name. But then I went to Catholic schools. It wasn't until I came to
"My mother is the only other person I have heard of named Madonna. When I got involved in the music industry everyone thought I took it as a stage name. So I let them think that - it's pretty glamorous."
"I worry about worrying too much. I worry too much about what other people think. I worry about hurting people and I do it a lot, though not intentionally. And I worry about living up to my own expectations. That's helped make me a very determined individual but it's also made me too much of a manic about things and too hard on myself."
"I can be arrogant sometimes, but I never mean it intentionally. I can be really snotty to people but that's not anything new really. I always acted like a star long before I was one. If people don't see my sense of humor then I come off as being expensive, but I always endear myself to people when I find their weaknesses and they acknowledge it. It's the people who try to hide everything and try to make you think they're so cool that I can't stand."
"I'm vulnerable to people who want to rape my soul. You know, like journalists. It's weird - it depends on what kind of mood you're in. Sometimes I'll be doing a photo session with someone that I've done a lot of work with, and all of a sudden I feel like they've seen too much and I don't want them to look at me any more. Usually I'm pretty outgoing and gregarious, but I can be really shy about things sometimes."
"I remember the past when I can't go to sleep."
"I've never worn a jewel in my belly button, but if I did it would be a ruby or an emerald - not a diamond."
"I have the most perfect belly button. When I stick my fingers in it, I feel a nerve in the center of my body shoot up my spine."
"That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out. I know these things for sure."
"I think if someone becomes hugely successful the public becomes disgusted with them and begins to wish the star would slip on a banana peel. That's the basic aspect of human nature."
MADONNA ON GROWING UP
"At family reunions I'd climb on tables and start dancing. If I didn't get people's attention that way I'd make some noise."
"I definitely lived out my fantasies playing with my Barbies. I dressed them up in sarongs and mini-skirts and stuff. They were sexy, having sex all the time. I rubbed them and Ken together a lot. And they were bitchy, man. Barbie was mean."
"I actually studied piano for a year but I quit. Actually my teacher made me quit because I never went to lessons, I used to hide in a ditch."
"My father was very strict and a disciplinarian - we had to go to church every morning before we went to school. When we got home we'd get changed, do our chores, do our homework and eat supper. I wasn't even allowed to watch television until late in my teens. My father didn't like us having idle time on our hands."
"If we didn't have homework he'd find us something to do around the house - he was very adamant about us being productive. My father came from a very poor family, his parents were Italian immigrants. He was the youngest of six boys and was the only one who got a college education so it was very important to him that we made the best of our educational opportunities. I turned down a scholarship to the
"When I was tiny my grandmother used to beg me not to go with boys, to love Jesus and be a good girl. I grew up with two images of women: the Virgin and the whore."
"At family reunions I'd climb on a table and start dancing. If I didn't get people's attention that way I'd make some noise."
"I felt really lonely and forlorn, even though my brothers and sisters were in the room with me. My mother had a beautiful red silky nightgown and I remember rubbing against it and going to sleep."
"My mother tried to keep her fear deep inside her and not let us know she had cancer. Once she was sitting on the couch and I climbed on her back and said, 'Play with me,' and she wouldn't. She couldn't. I got really angry with her and started pounding her with my fist and saying, 'Why are you doing this?' Then I realized she was crying."
"My father was a first generation Italian. My grandparents weren't very educated and I think in a way they represented an old lifestyle that my father really didn't want to have anything to do with. He got an engineering degree and wanted us to have a better life than we did."
"I've inherited some of my father's qualities - stubbornness and being a killjoy. If I go out with friends I'm usually the first one who wants to go home in spite of their protests. When we went to visit relatives my father would always want to go home instead of spending the night with them. That's my father in me."
"From when I was very young I just knew that being a girl and being charming in a feminine sort of way could get me a lot of things, and I milked it for everything I could."
"The thing is, if my father hadn't been strict I wouldn't be who I am today. I think... I think that his strictness taught me a certain amount of discipline that has helped me in my life and my career and also made me work harder for things, whether for acceptance or the privilege to do things."
"I left home at 17 and didn't go home that often. It's taken a few years to get close to my family again. There was a time when we weren't talking a lot. It wasn't a case of my just having to go away and make my own way in life. I just didn't feel that he'd truly understand or appreciate it until later... Now that I'm an established artist I think my father understands what I am trying to do."
"Madonna is my mother's name, she died when I was very young and I loved her a lot so that alone means a lot to me. She was sweet, beautiful and a hard worker. Sometimes I think about how like her I might be but I'll never know - I tend to romanticize and fantasize about it all the same. It's very rare for an Italian Catholic mother to name her daughter after her - especially as it's such a rare name - so I think maybe it was meant to happen that she died when I was so young. But somehow her spirit is inside of me... I don't know whether she can hear me but I tell her things that a girl can only say to her mother. Private things."
"One of the hardest things I've faced in my life was the death of my mother and that's something I really haven't gotten over to this day."
"That period when I knew that my mother wasn't fulfilling her role - and realizing that I was losing her - has a lot to do with my fuel, so to speak, my fuel for life. It left me with an intense longing to fill a sort of emptiness."
"It was hard to accept my stepmother as an authority figure and the new number one female in my father's life."
"As the oldest girl in my family, I feel like all my adolescence was spent taking care of babies. I think that's when I really thought about how I wanted to get away from all that. I saw myself as the quintessential Cinderella."
"When you're from a big family everybody's really competitive with each other, so aside form just screaming really loud and doing things that got me attention like... we would all get in various kinds of trouble to get my father's attention and then be punished accordingly."
"I was really competitive in school with my grades and stuff because my father used to give us rewards if we got 'A's on our report cards. It wasn't so much that I was interested in learning... my father gave us 25 cents for every 'A' we got so I wanted to earn the most amount of money."
"When I was a little girl, I wished I was black. All my girlfriends were black. I was living in
"We lived in a real integrated neighborhood. We were one of the only white families, and all the kids had Motown and black stuff. And they had yard dances in their backyards, little 45 turntables and a stack of records, and everyone just danced in the driveway and back yard... I really liked The Shirelles, The Ronettes, Martha Reeves And The Vandellas and The Supremes - they're the quintessential pop songs."
"I wanted to do everything that everybody told me I couldn't do... I couldn't wear make-up, I couldn't wear nylons, I couldn't cut my hair, I couldn't go on dates, I couldn't even go to the movies with my friends."
"Everyone in the family studied a musical instrument. My father was really big on that. Somehow I only took about a year of piano lessons and I convinced my father to let me take dancing lessons instead, so I escaped the dreariness of piano lessons every day which I despised. But there was always music in our house, either records or the radio or someone singing in the bathtub... noise. Lots of noise."
"I had a traditional Catholic upbringing, and I saw the privileges my older brothers had. They got to stay out late, go to concerts, play in the neighborhood. I was left out. Then, when I was dancing, most of the men were homosexuals, so I was left out again. Somewhere deep down inside of me is a frustrated little boy."
"My father and I get on very well right now. I mean, it's been up and down. You know, my father is not an incredibly verbal man, and that's been my frustration. He doesn't really express himself. And more than anything, I want my father's approval, whether I want to admit it or not. But he's always been very affectionate with me. I have a million different feelings about my father, but mostly I love him to death. What's difficult for my father is the idea that I don't need him. But I do need him."
"To my superiors I seemed like a very good girl. I was very good at getting into those situations where I was the hall monitor and I reported people who weren't behaving. And I used to torture people."
I wanted to be a nun. I saw nuns as superstars.... When I was growing up I went to a Catholic school, and the nuns, to me, were these superhuman, beautiful, fantastic people.
"
MADONNA ON MAKING IT
"I want to rule the world. Every time I reach a new peak, I see a new one I want to climb. It's like I can't stop. Maybe I should rest and admire the view, but I can't. I've got to keep on pushing. Why? I don't know. I don't know what motivates me. I just know I've got to do it."
"A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want."
"I think your parents give you false expectations of life. All of us grow up with completely misguided notions about life and they don't change until you get out into the world. It's like someone telling you what love or marriage is: you can't know until you're there and you have to learn the hard way."
"I really learned how to dance on my own. I watched television a lot and I used to try to copy Shirley Temple when I was a little girl. I used to turn on the record player and dance in the basement by myself and give dance lessons to my girlfriends in my five-year-old manner. As I got older I started giving lessons to boys too, and I remember the first guy I gave lessons to, the song was 'Honky Tonk Women' by The Rolling Stones... it was really sexy."
"It really annoyed me that most of the dancers I knew had such a simple-minded view of life. They were really closed up. They got up early, took dance classes all day, and then they went to rehearsal and ate healthy food. Then they went home and went to bed early. They did this every day and they didn't know anything about music or art; they just knew nothing and were completely ignorant."
"Most of the kids that I knew who were in my ballet class and stuff, were little bratty girls who stared at themselves in the mirror all day. I found myself doing the same thing, ultimately, I did that when I was living in
"All these girls would come to class with black leotards and pink tights and their hair up in buns with little flowers in it. So I cut my hair really short and I'd grease it so it would be sticking up, and I'd rip my tights so there were runs all over them and I'd make a big cut down the middle of my leotard and put safety pins all the way up it. Anything to stand out from them and say, 'I'm not like you, OK. I'm taking dance classes and everything but I'm not stuck here like you.' Eventually I said to myself, 'Well, if you don't like it Madonna, do what you want to do.' That's when I started exploring other territories and quit going to dance class every day."
"I used to finish school early and rush off to dance classes and I guess my ballet teacher became my introduction to glamour and sophistication. He was very Catholic and disciplined. He's the one who really inspired me. He kept saying, 'You're different' and 'You're beautiful.' He never said I'd make a great dancer. He just said 'You're something special'."
"When I was in tenth grade I knew a girl who was a serious ballet dancer. She looked smarter than your average girl in an interesting off-beat way so I attached myself to her and she took me to ballet classes. I met Christopher Flynn, a tutor who saved me from my high school turmoil. I loved him. He was a mentor and a father, an imaginary lover... he encouraged me to go to
"I used to run in late to my dance classes with ripped up leotards held together with safety pins. I loved doing things for the shock effect."
"I wanted to dance in
"When I left home and was poor I lived on popcorn, that's why I still love it. If I had a dollar to spare I'd buy popcorn, yogurt and peanuts. Popcorn is cheap and it fills you up."
"I was sacked from Dunkin' Donuts for squirting the donut jelly all over the customers."
"When I was a child, I always thought that the world was mine, that it was a stomping ground for me, full of opportunities. I always had this attitude that I was going to go out into the world and do all the things I wanted to do."
"Sometimes I travel through people, but I think that's true of most ambitious people. If the people can't go with me - whether it's a physical or emotional move - I feel sad about that. But that's part of the tragedy of love."
"When I came to
"Although I took to
"When My father came to visit
"I loved getting dressed up and going out on the street and walking around. I didn't have the money to take cabs then, so I took subway trains a lot and I loved seeing the unusual effect I had on people, and now I can't really enjoy that privilege any more because I already have all the attention. I feel like when I walk down the street, people don't see me as an interesting person, they see me as Madonna."
"I thought, 'Who's the most successful person in the music industry and who's his manager? I want him."
"I worked my butt of before I got where I got and literally starved and lived off the street and ate out of garbage cans before any of this happened."
"I've been working my ass off for seven years. I've worked for everything that I've got and I worked long and hard so when I got it I thought I deserved it. I always knew that it would happen."
"I always said I wanted to be famous... I never said I wanted to be rich."
"I knew I was different when I was five. My father brought me up to be competitive. I was encouraged to aim for the top rung of the ladder."
"Eventually I decided I should try and get pro about dancing. At about 12 or 13 I started going to the schools where they teach tap, jazz, baton twirling and gymnastics. It was just a place to send hyperactive girls, basically. When I was 14 or 15 I started taking ballet every day."
"I felt like I was camping outside in the wilderness for seven years. I never had any money and I never had any help. Dealing with all that and having to struggle to survive has made me into the bitch that most people think I am."
"You have to be patient. I'm not."
"Money's not important. I never think I want to make millions and millions of dollars but I don't want to have to worry about it. The more money you have the more problems you have. I went from making no money to making comparatively a lot and all I've had is problems. Life was simpler when I had no money, when I just barely survived."
"I have more bills, my telephone rings more, I look down at the ground when I'm walking, I take people out to dinner more and sometimes I get this scary feeling that I could do anything that I wanted."
"When the nude pictures were taken eight years ago they weren't meant for publication in any magazine. They were taken by these guys who took pictures for nude exhibitions. At the time I wasn't well known and wasn't aware that I was setting myself up for a future scandal. For years I modeled for lots of life studies in art schools. I was a dancer at the time. I was in really good shape and slightly underweight so you could see my muscle definition and my skeleton. I was one of their favorite models because I was easy to draw."
"You get paid 10 dollars an hour (for posing nude). It was a dollar fifty at Burger King. I kept saying, 'It's for Art'."
"I did that work to make money and ended up modeling privately in people's houses so I got involved with photographers. I consider the nude a work of art. I don't see pornography in Michelangelo. Obviously I would have preferred they weren't published but I think when people saw them they said, 'What's the big deal?' It's other people's problems if they turn them into something smutty. That was never my intention."
"At first the Playboy photos were very hurtful to me, and I wasn't sure how I felt about them. Now I look back at them and I feel silly that I ever got upset, but I did want to keep some things private. It was like when you're a little girl at school and some nun comes and lifts up your dress in front of everybody and you get really embarrassed. It's not really a terrible thing in the end, but you're not ready for it, and it seems so awful and you seem so exposed. Also Penthouse did something really nasty: they sent copies of the magazine to Sean."
"When I was in
"There have been times when I've thought 'If I'd known it was going to be like this I wouldn't have tried so hard.' If it ever gets too much, or I feel like I'm being over-scrutinized, or I'm not enjoying it any more, then I won't do it."
"
"I do get depressed but not about the press. I'd have to be on the tablets not to be depressed. It's not so much that people are being anti-Madonna, but the fact that they are dwelling on something negative when they could be doing something positive with their lives."
"The thing that more than anything annoys me about the paparazzi is that they really feel they have put you where you are. They really think that because you're a celebrity you owe them all the pictures they can get. I think it's completely unfair."
"You can't sit around worrying about people disliking you because they're always going to be there. It can't stop you."
"When I laugh out loud in the streets here in
"I get so much bad press. People associate a girl who's successful with being a bimbo or an airhead. Sexy boys never get bad press."
"I have a lot of young girl fans and they'll start squealing on the trains. People come up and say, 'You look just like Madonna,' and I'll go 'Thank you,' or they'll say 'Are you Madonna?' and I'll say 'Yes.' Then they'll say 'No you're not'."
"I could never have imagined that success could be like this. Yes it was a surprise but I can handle it. I can still laugh about it, so I guess I'm alright."
"When Robert de Niro comes into the airport, there aren't 20 photographers who sit on his limousine and won't
allow him to leave. I don't think Al Pacino - or Robert - has been hounded the way I've been."
"There are the nutcases. Basically there are two kinds of nut - the sex maniac who wants a piece of my underwear and the moral majority who condemn me to emotional hell."
"Warner Brothers is a hierarchy of old men, and it's a chauvinist environment to be working in because I'm treated like this sexy little girl. I have to prove them wrong, which has meant not only proving myself to my fans but to my record company as well. This is something that happens when you're a girl. It wouldn't happen to Prince or Michael Jackson. I had to do everything on my own and it was hard trying to convince people that I was worth a record deal. After that I had the same problem trying to convince the record company that I had more to offer than a one-off girl singer."
"When I first started I think it offended a lot of people to find out I was white, especially black radio programmers in the American South. So many black artists won't get played that they don't want to give airtime to someone who isn't black. It's not like I'm ripping them off. At least I'm sincere. I don't feel guilty about not being black, though I think ultimately I will be able to cross over bigger because I'm not."
"I think the ultimate challenge is to have some kind of style and grace, even though you haven't got money, or standing in society, or formal education. I had a very middle, lower-middle class sort of upbringing, but I identify with people who've had, at some point in their lives to struggle to survive. It adds another color to your character."
"Do you really think I'm a material girl? I'm not. Take it - I don't need money. I need love."
"I suppose when I ever get to the point of not having the desire to know and the hunger to learn more, then I won't continue to act or write songs."
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