...in regards to the "Anti-Archuleta campaign for the betterment of society" -- AACFTBOS.
[see post below]
Last night's votes went to Michael, Carly, Jason and Brooke. Carly and Brooke were weaker last night than normal, but they're still far better than others.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Good reads for midweek
I encourage you to check out this Street Prophets post on the importance of narratives, and the need for new racial narratives. I found it to be right-on and a good call for our society. It also reminded me much of the idea of one's 'grounding' or ethos, back from my days in Skrade's Ethics class at Capital (a rather enlightening and life-altering class, if there ever was one).
While you're over there also scroll down and read the "Obama and Intelligent Design" post. Another post in which I second the notion. As my mother explained to me at a somewhat early age: "Evolution shows us how the world was created while creation stories show us why."
It's not one or the other. It made perfect sense to me as a kid, and it was all I really needed to know. I just never really understood--after hearing this in the most simple, yet profound way-- why this debate carries on with such ferocity.
Anyhoo...i'm tired and am off to bed. Nighty-night, world. (and by 'world' I mean the 2 people that may read this post...)
While you're over there also scroll down and read the "Obama and Intelligent Design" post. Another post in which I second the notion. As my mother explained to me at a somewhat early age: "Evolution shows us how the world was created while creation stories show us why."
It's not one or the other. It made perfect sense to me as a kid, and it was all I really needed to know. I just never really understood--after hearing this in the most simple, yet profound way-- why this debate carries on with such ferocity.
Anyhoo...i'm tired and am off to bed. Nighty-night, world. (and by 'world' I mean the 2 people that may read this post...)
Friday, April 4, 2008
In Memoriam...
In memoriam of a great man who had the audacity to hope and to break silence, to speak out for those with no voice and against what was wrong. I memoriam of a man who showed that life lived in contradictions is no contradiction at all, but rather the way we're supposed to live. A man who loved America yet challenged it to become more perfect, a man that was both revered yet deemed a traitor to his country. A man that showed us that dreaming and questioning and challenging is the way to the truth.
It is our duty to not just listen to one speech, but take the man in the full context of his life. To listen to all that he had to say. Read the letters and the speeches that don't make us well up with pride. Be both moved and agitated by what he spoke. Realize that truth is found most often by words and actions that shake us to our core...those that challenge what we thought we knew.
"God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place...[God will say:] And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." -(MLK, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Feb. 4, 1968)
True patriotism comes supporting your country when it lives up to its values and challenging it when it does wrong. True faith comes from this same pattern of awe & doubt.
"Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial ‘doubt.’ This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious ‘faith’ of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion.“ - (Thomas Merton, From New Seeds of Contemplation 1949)
It is our duty to question our actions, challenge our superficial 'faith' and conventional wisdom, strive to become better people and a better nation. Too often people cannot accept this challenge and they seek to strike down those who make us uncomfortable. Too often 'the good die young.'
It is our duty to not just listen to one speech, but take the man in the full context of his life. To listen to all that he had to say. Read the letters and the speeches that don't make us well up with pride. Be both moved and agitated by what he spoke. Realize that truth is found most often by words and actions that shake us to our core...those that challenge what we thought we knew.
"God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place...[God will say:] And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." -(MLK, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Feb. 4, 1968)
True patriotism comes supporting your country when it lives up to its values and challenging it when it does wrong. True faith comes from this same pattern of awe & doubt.
"Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial ‘doubt.’ This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious ‘faith’ of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion.“ - (Thomas Merton, From New Seeds of Contemplation 1949)
It is our duty to question our actions, challenge our superficial 'faith' and conventional wisdom, strive to become better people and a better nation. Too often people cannot accept this challenge and they seek to strike down those who make us uncomfortable. Too often 'the good die young.'
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Anti-Archuleta Madness
I don’t know if any of you out there watch American Idol -- as a joke, in serious, or just in passing because nothing else is on TV right now. But if you do, I really need your help. I really, really, really don’t like that David Archuleta brat, and I know I’m not the only one. See, I think he’s an over-produced stage kid with no soul to his voice, no honest connection to the songs he’s singing, and an almost-manufactured sound...a bi-product of pushy parents who "wanted their kid to be a star."
Yes, he can sing. I DO acknowledge that fact. And he’s even had a few great moments on the show. I also appreciate what he overcame with the physical strain to his vocal chords, and that he’s even able to sing at all. However, the real thing here is that he is 17....his parents pushed him that hard that he strained his nodes before the age of SIXTEEN. You do know that he was on Star Search and won, right?? He isn’t an ’up-and-comer’....he’s been doing this so long (or someone has pushed him to do it so long) that he almost lost his ability to sing before even graduating high school.
What bugs me is that his voice lacks any soul and/or connection to the songs he sings. He sounds as inauthentic to me as one of those bad Christian pop bands. (On a side note, I am a deeply spiritual person, a life-long Christian, so that was NOT a slap on Christianity....just that entirely UNMOVING, UNSPIRITUAL, UNINSPIRED shite that is spewed on Fish FM’s across the country....But that’s another topic for another time.) The point is....HE DOESN’T STIR THE SOUL. He’s cute, he’s got that sweet "look-at-me-I’m-so-shy-and-gracious-you-just-want-to-pinch-me" look that so many people are swooning over. BUT HE DOESN’T DO ANYTHING NEW.
This season is different in that it has several contestants with great talent, fresh approaches, and sounds that show that they’ve lived a little and are bringing that experience to their song. But with the hysteria around this "cute David Archuleta" people are forgetting that it’s supposed to be about the song. We’re supposed to be picking the next big ’star’.....The world has TOO MANY "David Archuletas" -- manufactured stars that peak too early before they truly find out who they are. Case in point, BRITNEY SPEARS. The poor girl was crafted by her parents, managers and record execs, and never had the chance to make silly teenage mistakes until she was a grown woman. And look how well that turned out.
Let’s start some sort of a viral web campaign to 1) Help save the sanctity of song from any more uninspired CRAP that is bound to come from a David Archuleta AI album, 2) Help give people like Michael Johns, Carly Smithson or Brooke whats-her-name (who I really think is cool even though i forget her last name) a REAL fighting chance to make an AI album then BREAK AWAY and create some good stuff on their own (like Fantasia did), and 3) Help save this David Archuleta freak from his parents and the AI machine that will break him later in life.
VOTE FOR EVERYONE BUT DAVID ARCHULETA. Post ANTI-David Archuleta stuff wherever you can. I know many of you will say, "why don’t you just stop supporting American Idol? Turn it off. It’s just glorified-karaoke anyway." To that I say, AI is a machine that is not yet ready to break. As much as you may want it to, it won’t break yet. So, if you can’t beat em, join em. See that there IS some good within AI -- for example, the 3 people I listed above -- and see that you can do something to raise up that good. If David Archuleta wins, your previous assumptions about AI are correct. And nothing changes....the machine keeps going. You can either do nothing, keep the machine, and get shitty Archuleta albums and an inevitable True Hollywood Story about him and his demise 5-6 years from now. OR you can vote for someone different. ALTER THE MACHINE. MAKE IT BETTER. If you’re going to have to live with it, let’s at least make it produce something decent.
HELP ME START THIS VIRAL ANTI-ARCHULETA CAMPAIGN. Vote him off. Save him. Save music. Save the world. :)
Yes, he can sing. I DO acknowledge that fact. And he’s even had a few great moments on the show. I also appreciate what he overcame with the physical strain to his vocal chords, and that he’s even able to sing at all. However, the real thing here is that he is 17....his parents pushed him that hard that he strained his nodes before the age of SIXTEEN. You do know that he was on Star Search and won, right?? He isn’t an ’up-and-comer’....he’s been doing this so long (or someone has pushed him to do it so long) that he almost lost his ability to sing before even graduating high school.
What bugs me is that his voice lacks any soul and/or connection to the songs he sings. He sounds as inauthentic to me as one of those bad Christian pop bands. (On a side note, I am a deeply spiritual person, a life-long Christian, so that was NOT a slap on Christianity....just that entirely UNMOVING, UNSPIRITUAL, UNINSPIRED shite that is spewed on Fish FM’s across the country....But that’s another topic for another time.) The point is....HE DOESN’T STIR THE SOUL. He’s cute, he’s got that sweet "look-at-me-I’m-so-shy-and-gracious-you-just-want-to-pinch-me" look that so many people are swooning over. BUT HE DOESN’T DO ANYTHING NEW.
This season is different in that it has several contestants with great talent, fresh approaches, and sounds that show that they’ve lived a little and are bringing that experience to their song. But with the hysteria around this "cute David Archuleta" people are forgetting that it’s supposed to be about the song. We’re supposed to be picking the next big ’star’.....The world has TOO MANY "David Archuletas" -- manufactured stars that peak too early before they truly find out who they are. Case in point, BRITNEY SPEARS. The poor girl was crafted by her parents, managers and record execs, and never had the chance to make silly teenage mistakes until she was a grown woman. And look how well that turned out.
Let’s start some sort of a viral web campaign to 1) Help save the sanctity of song from any more uninspired CRAP that is bound to come from a David Archuleta AI album, 2) Help give people like Michael Johns, Carly Smithson or Brooke whats-her-name (who I really think is cool even though i forget her last name) a REAL fighting chance to make an AI album then BREAK AWAY and create some good stuff on their own (like Fantasia did), and 3) Help save this David Archuleta freak from his parents and the AI machine that will break him later in life.
VOTE FOR EVERYONE BUT DAVID ARCHULETA. Post ANTI-David Archuleta stuff wherever you can. I know many of you will say, "why don’t you just stop supporting American Idol? Turn it off. It’s just glorified-karaoke anyway." To that I say, AI is a machine that is not yet ready to break. As much as you may want it to, it won’t break yet. So, if you can’t beat em, join em. See that there IS some good within AI -- for example, the 3 people I listed above -- and see that you can do something to raise up that good. If David Archuleta wins, your previous assumptions about AI are correct. And nothing changes....the machine keeps going. You can either do nothing, keep the machine, and get shitty Archuleta albums and an inevitable True Hollywood Story about him and his demise 5-6 years from now. OR you can vote for someone different. ALTER THE MACHINE. MAKE IT BETTER. If you’re going to have to live with it, let’s at least make it produce something decent.
HELP ME START THIS VIRAL ANTI-ARCHULETA CAMPAIGN. Vote him off. Save him. Save music. Save the world. :)
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