The Vans Warped Tour rips into town tomorrow, and controversial singer / songwriter Katy Perry is on the bus.

Perry, who started her career as a Christian gospel singer, released a single last you called "UR So Gay" followed by another hit, "I Kissed A Girl."

Both songs created a fair share of  controversy, but for different reasons. Some members of the LGBT community felt "UR So Gay" came off as homophobic, whereas "I Kissed A Girl" is criticized for using shock value lyrics to sell albums.

It's genius, really. Perry relies on the classic girl-on-girl fantasy to appeal to male listeners, which is exactly what Britney did with her naughty schoolgirl look. Simultaneously, Perry hooks female listeners, too, because -- let's just say it --  most ladies are bicurious.

However, "I Kissed A Girl" doesn't scratch the surface of the lesbian or bisexual experience. Lyrically, it's much weaker than songs by Ani DiFranco like "In or Out" or Jill Sobule's less contrived song also called "I Kissed A Girl" that came out in 1995.

If anything, "I Kissed A Girl" is closer to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun."

At the end of the video, Perry wakes up in bed with a man and it turns out her female-on-female frolics were only a dream. This suggests the song is merely a safe, mainstream attempt to snag listeners by capitalizing on straight people's obsession with the gay experience.  

Not that there's anything wrong with that. 

 

Recently, my son started two different conversations with, "Mom, after you wake up tomorrow and drink your coffee, can you …"

I found this funny and a little strange. I never make a big deal out of my morning coffee drinking. I simply wake up, put on my ugly, outdated glasses that are never worn in public, and pour a cup of coffee at some point while making breakfast for the boys.

This, like everything else I do, is documented in the minds of my 5-year-olds. And this, my friends, is one of the most frightening aspects of parenting.

I am their license-less teacher and their three-dimensional film strip about life. I am being watched and recorded by their ravenous intellects. I am their reality TV.

Even at 7 a.m.

This is very Generation X of me, but I -- and now my kids -- collect Pez dispensers. We have a couple hundred and they fit perfectly on a piece of molding that adorns the walls in their playroom.

I prefer the classic models, like the Incredible Hulk and Yoda, but we have our share of modern Pez characters, like Bob the Builder and Shrek. I had an Uncle Sam dispenser and an eyeball Pez dispenser as a kid, and I've been told both models are quite rare. I don't know what happened to either of these dispensers, and I'm sure I could buy them off eBay, but I'm not that Pez passionate at this point.

Today, I bought a new Pez from the NASCAR series (my 6-year-old son wanted it) and I had the same thought I often do when loading a Pez dispenser: they're annoying to load into the springy sleeve and the candy really isn't very good.

So why do so many people collect Pez dispensers, myself included?

Most likely it has to do with childhood. Maybe we wanted them and our parents wouldn't buy them for us. Maybe it's because they come in so many different forms. Maybe the candy is laced with meth and nicotine and I'm addicted to it.

In any case, while loading up Kai's new racecar Pez dispenser, I had a deep Pez thought: Pez dispensers and bobble heads are from a similar planet. Both are wildly collectable, made of plastic and have an emphasis on the head. One bobbles, one dispenses nasty sugar pellets.

I guess it doesn't really make sense why people collect anything: bobble heads or Pez dispensers or cat whiskers or Norman Rockwell figurines. I guess we do it because we like the way they look, the feelings they evoke and derive pleasure from having scads and scads of something.

Yesterday, my family and I went to Six Flags Great America so I could do research for my upcoming article about taking young kids to the massive theme park. (Tough job I have, I know.)

Because it was a weekday, we experienced very short lines at every ride except the new Dark Knight Coaster. The first time we checked, the wait was 90 minutes and we decided not to stay. A few hours later, the wait dwindled to about an hour, so my daredevil son and I decided to give it a whirl.

The roller coaster -- which is indoors -- coincides with "The Dark Knight" Batman film, and the premise of the ride is that you’re a citizen in Gotham City that’s under The Joker's wrath. 

Waiting in line is supposed to be part of the experience. Pre-boarders wait in a mock subway station and watch a "live" news broadcast featuring characters from the film alerting the public to The Joker’s evil ways.

Unfortunately, despite the elaborate pre-boarding build-up, the ride itself is no marvel. It really isn’t thrilling or scary. Instead, it’s more like a mediocre haunted house experience. The coaster rides mostly through the dark, with lots of flashing lights, backlit effects, screens with creepy images and loud noises.

The experience lasts less than two minutes, and at the end, I felt like it was still working up to the scary part. Plus, the coaster ride is mostly a series of abrupt turns, which cause a lot of uncomfortable heads thrashing.

Unfortunately, the Dark Knight Coaster comes off more like a marketing gimmick to support the film. At most, it was a good idea that just doesn't deliver enough thrill.

I was hoping to include the coaster in this week's "OnMilwaukee.com Recommends" column, but instead I walked away feeling duped.