It is certainly true that, in her role as seeker and radical self-improver, Madonna has provided a shiny alternative to a pop landscape that, without her, would doom audiences of the world to the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Shakira or, shiver, Angus Young.
She also referred multiple times to a new interview in which President Obama praised his 2008 rival for the nomination as a "good, smart, tough" person up against a "bright, shiny" new alternative, Sanders, who hasn't been as fully tested.
True health requires a realization that moderation actually is the shiny and sexy alternative -- that the latest purification regimen is fleeting, a distraction that draws your attention away from the true elements of healthfulness.
TERMINAL 5 610 W. 56th St. (212-582-6600) — Sept. 17: In the nineties, the Dandy Warhols carved out a respectable niche for themselves by combining the hazy drone of the Velvet Underground with the shiny hooks of eighties alternative pop.
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner took the time to speak to me as she embarked on the maiden voyage of her "Courage Express" -- a school bus with a shiny makeover, a modest alternative to the rock star-quality campaign tour bus that typically rents for two grand a week.
Of course there were more sensible and streamlined alternatives and some shiny red carpet dresses.
There were shiny, slim pants as an alternative.
There may soon be an alternative: those tiny, shiny flash drives (also called thumb drives, jump drives, U.S.B. drives or keychain drives).
Read the marketing spiel around Amazon Echo and Google Home and it appears that talking to a shiny box is the new alternative to pressing the touchscreen of a shiny box.
For geeks who prefer "text sex" to physical encounters, e-mail to "facemail," e-commerce to "bricks and mortar" shopping, the human body is nothing but "wetware" -- a fragile, inefficient alternative to the shiny hardware of their computers.
