5768-MIA's Middle-finger turns to gold, indicative of a new wave of publicity stunts

Let's face it. Millions of Americans didn't know hip-hopper MIA from Adam before she performed in Madonna's Super Bowl show and flipped off 115 million people. I will attest I had never heard of her and still could not name a single song she has sung, whether she is a solo artist or in a band. I do believe she is from London but that's a stretch. This is the second story I have written today about people who "go that extra mile" to bring attention to themselves, to take the short-cut to fame. The first story was about Durango, Colorado high school student Sydney Spies, who tried to get a sexy picture of her walking up stairs in a halter top and short skirt used as her Senior portrait in the school yearbook. I mean come on, even she, as a blond ( sorry blond people that joke still has some mileage) knew that picture was not going to fly. But it did take off into international Internetsphere and in a few months she will be a model in New York City, leaving a trail of dust and laughter behind in little old Durango. It's a sign of the desperate times with so many beautiful and talented people it's just not enough to have just those two qualities anymore - not if you want people to know your name and to channel megabucks into your bank accounts. For these reasons I am convinced this MIA took that rare opportunity to boost her standing in life and utilized bad publicity to catapult herself into larger stardom. She used us like like a dog uses a bone to bring attention to herself and it worked. We can expect to see more of these antics from little or unknown ladder-climbers. As a matter of fact, if I thought writing a blog on public nudity in the nude, live from New York would increase my page views and viral-spiral me into bloglebrity , I might do it. -Preston Brady III, MobileTribune.com/AL.org