New Rammstein video "Mann gegen Mann"

I've just finished watching the new Rammstein video for "Mann gegen Mann" and dude... it's bizarre. Of course I realize that's a "Duh" thing for Rammstein, but still... *laughs* If you're familiar with the song, it's about "the gay man" or "being gay". As usual, every time when Rammstain tackles a subject people immediately freak out and say they're being hostile towards it, against it, ridiculing it, whatever. So, naturally, Rammstein was accused of being anti-gay since they made a song about being gay. Makes total sense, doesn't it. Most people don't even bother to listen to what the band is saying about their songs and what they were thinking - something which they're usually very clear about - and so it just happens that Rammstein is one of the most misinterpreted bands I know.

In case your interested is piqued, the lead singer, Till, said about the song that he once lost a bet with one of the members of another band (forgot which) who's gay and so he had to go to a gay bar with him. While he was there he was enjoying himself greatly and he was observing how the gay men were acting around each other and he admired how easy it was for them to hook up with each other. No silly games, no needless beating around the bush. He thought that was great and it made him wish he could be like that. That's how the song was written. Just FYI.

Anyway, about the video. One thing I've always liked and adored about Rammstein was their aestheticism (which sometimes could actually be rather unaesthetic, but it's still part of a big consistent picture). I mean, they've never been cooler than they've been on "Live aus Berlin" and I'm still kinda craving for the eyeliners, silver hair, duct tape, tight latex clothes and leather coats. After that came "Mutter" which was a bit icky with all the birthing stuff and goo and gore. I haven't seen a lot of live material around "Reise, Reise", I must admit, so I don't know which theme they've chosen there and I don't notice any particular theme in "rosenrot" yet either. In "Benzin" they were dressed in some sort of Mad Max-ish fur-leather combo, in "rosenrot" they were all priests, monks and other clerics.

Now in "Mann gegen Mann" they're uhm, naked. Yes. All of them are, except for Till who - quite inexplicably - is wearing some sort of Marilyn Manson commemoration outfit with high heels, stockings (or were they boots that reached to his thighs? The stream was kinda low quality) and long black hair. Just like MM he tries to disfigure beauty by disrupting the black glossy long hair with a strip of shaved skull right on top, kinda like a reversed mohawk. He's the only one wearing anything around his naughty bits, too. He's wearing black panties. The shots are quite masterful, since you're always dangerously close to seeing the full monty of the guys when they move around but you never really see anything of consequence.

Ironically, Till is the one who sports the least droolable body, so to speak. The other band members are surprisingly lean, well-defined and muscular. Especially Paul surprised me O.o. Flake is his usual skinny self and I thought Schneider, being "the pretty one" usually, was actually rather lacking in definition on his chest, at least judged by his position behind the drums, just to be fair. Added to this scenery are gratuitous shots of musclemen flexing their muscles, then piles of naked men sliding across each other, rubbing against each other, slick with oil... yeah, the imagery is rather clear, if you ask me.

Then comes the usual "OMGWTF" moment that you get with almost every Rammstein video where the naked guys storm towards the band and sorta sweep them off their feet and wild fighting / humping ensues and you can't really see anything with all the naked bits and limbs flailing about, but you kinda get the idea that the band isn't that happy with being oberwhelmed like that. Rain is pouring down on everyone, slicking them up more. Then the band starts fighting back, beating off the men and sending them into retreat while Till is standing in the rain, black stuff pouring down his body, while he's screaming and tearing at his hair, pulling it out until a shaggy black shock of hair is left over.

Interesting video, but IMO not the best they could have come up with. Kinda reminded me of "Stripped" with the Riefenstahle aesthetic they used there. Not my favorite video of them, no. My favorite will always be "Du riechst so gut"... hmmm. "Sonne" is also awesome. Okay, a lot of them are awesome, but this isn't one of them.

Charles and Camilla

I've read this series on Charles and Camilla for the past couple of days. Apparently some biography has been wriiten on Camilla and for some reason I'm enjoying it greatly, reading all those sordid little bits. Hah... It makes Camilla sound like an awesome woman, I'm surprised to admit. They go on about how she met her first husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, when she was 17 or so and he taught her everything about love, sex and eroticism. That he gave her the lesson that nothing about sex is shameful and that it changed her a lot. Apparently, Andrew was quite the ladies' man and she'd often find him with some cheap affair in his bed, and she never cried or was upset but sorta gave the girls a look-over and sneered how he could do better than that.

Then she met Charles when she was 25 and he was... dunno, younger I suppose, and she immediately sweeped him off his feet with her straight-forewardness and sensuality. She in turn taught him everything about love and sex. He was madly in love with her, but it was clear from the start that he'd never be allowed to marry her. Supposedly his father told him "Wed her, don't bed her". He knew he was supposed to marry a virgin and the choice was Diana. Supposedly, when Diana moved into the Palace for get married, nobody received her, but there was a letter on the bed addressed at her from Camilla, dated three days before she'd even know she was going to move into the Palace. Weird situation.

When Camilla got married to Andrew, Charles spent days and weeks mourning his lost love. Apparently Camilla's husband never had a problem with his wife sleeping around with the heir to the throne. As a matter of fact, he enjoyed the social upgrade he experienced through that. After Charles had gotten married, they had taken the resolve to no longer consume their relationship physically since Charles had wanted to make his marriage work. Well, we all know where that led to, eh?

Anyway, reading this kinda has changed my mind a bit about the nature of the relationship between Charles and Camilla. I mean, it's no news of course. Ever since their marriage last year we kinda know all the details, and yet... I wil admit that I had always felt a slight twinge of animosity at the idea of them now getting a happy end after having been so mean and unfair to Diana, adulterers and what not. Silly me, of course the press had always been skewed towards Diana who was the beautiful, tragic fairytale princess.

Nobody, or I at least, had never taken the time to actually look at Charles and Camilla and reading all this kinda makes me realize that if at all it was probably Diana who was disrupting a great love, not Camilla. Camilla had always been the love of Charles' life and they just couldn't be together until last year. That's pretty awesome to think that they managed to maintain such a love and passion for each other through all these years, against all odds. Yeah, I think that' s pretty damn awesome. *nods*