Territorial Bloggings

Once again, the circumstances of day-to-day life (read: redhead #1’s first softball game of the season) precluded my preferred live-blogging approach of writing up my thoughts on the performance show. Now that were at the penultimate performance show, however, and I (along with most folks & the AI show itself) am running out of steam & enthusiasm for this edition of AI, I’ll take this break in the routine as a positive opportunity, rather than a negative.

In other words, I’m gonna change up my format & try to keep things reasonably readable.

Round 1 - Judges’ Song Choice - Winner: David Cook

This round was sadly predictable in that Randy & Paula did (respectively) Syesha & David A. no favors in their song choices. I guess Paula sort of gave David a chance to stretch himself, but he failed miserably. Randy pandered to his own ego, and let Syesha fall back into the trap of imitating a current star - something that caused her all sorts of trouble back when she was on the brink of elimination many weeks ago prior to her recent resurgence.

Simon was the only one who got it right, with his choice of song for David Cook. Yes, it was a tiny bit old fashioned. But, more important, it gave David a chance to show (yet again!) that he is a talented and versatile artist, one who is capable of stretching & growing, and of bending & molding the music, such that both he and the music both end up in new & exciting places.

Perhaps the most frightening part of the first round was that Paula spoke truth, when she correctly observed that it wasn’t about Randy & Simon dumping testosterone on each other, but rather about the singers & what they did with the songs. Scary…

Round 2 - Singers’ Song Choice - Winner: David Cook

This was the weakest of the three rounds, and the one where I think the 90 second time limitation was the most obviously evident.

Syesha, well, I’m not quite sure what she was thinking, but I don’t think her choice was as damaging as the judges did. Frankly, I was expecting Simon & Randy’s reactions - it was Paula’s that surprised me. That’s about as close to a verbal bitch-slap as we’ll ever see from Ms. Abdul - I think it’s pretty clear that she didn’t like that song choice. At all.

David Archuleta’s song choice was, quite honestly, illuminating & baffling. Baffling, because I don’t know why he would decide to go outside his wheelhouse now, of all times. Illuminating because it proves my earlier point about David Cook, re: versatility. This type of versatility is something that David Archuleta has proven himself singularly incapable of doing! It is why he should not win the competition. Yes, he is talented. No, he is not versatile. Yes, he has skills. No, he is not a complete artist.

David A.’s failure in stepping out of his talent zone was so obvious that even Paula & Randy couldn’t lob the usual praise bombs his way after his 90 second crapfest. They didn’t eviscerate it like they did Syesha’s (superior) performance, but neither did they risk a visit from the Special Victims Unit, like they do after the “normal” Gnome-boy warbling session.

David Cook’s second song was merely OK. He got hosed by the 90 second time limitation. I’ll say he won the round only because the other two did worse - it’s a backhanded compliment, but a compliment nonetheless.

Round 3 - Producers’ Song Choice - Winner: David Cook

Honestly, the producers screwed over Syesha. Big time. A song from the Happy Feet soundtrack? Really? Who’d she piss off? Wow…

And, despite Simon’s protestations about the cheeziness of Longer (of course it’s cheezy - that’s what makes it great!), I thought it was actually a great choice for Gnome-boy. It actually solidified in my mind what his niche is. He’s a balladeer in the Dan Fogelberg/Christopher Cross mold. He’s just not quite that good yet. Some day he might be, and he will probably make a nice bit of money from it, as long as his dad doesn’t suck the will to perform and/or live out of him before then.

Closing the show in the pimp slot was David Cook, and he did it up right, proving that he is the one David who belongs to be in the finals next week NO. MATTER. WHAT.

Should Go Home: David “The Gnome-Boy” Archuleta

Will Go Home: Syesha

I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that it will be an all-David finale, or that Archuleta is a/the lock to be there. I think it’s quite possible that Syesha could sneak into the finale, and that she could do it at Gnome-boy’s expense. It’s a gut feeling I have, based on equal parts of my personal preference & my take on how the voting blocs could break down - i.e., Syesha has a unique & potentially significant voting bloc, while the Davids split some demographic groups in such a way that I see the majority going to Cook because he’s more completely/versatilely talented (and the folks who like/respect that will get out the vote to protect that against the tween vote for Gnome-boy).

Or, I could be full of crap. We’ll see…

-ghp

Something that’s come up more often of late is the idea of maintaining an anonymous, or pseudonymous, presence on the ‘net. Largely, my awareness of this has been driven by the spike of activity in the Lutheran blogosphere generated by the Issues, Etc. contretemps.

Rather than deal with the wide-ranging implications of anonymity on the Internet, let me preface my comments by putting them within a slightly more limited context - i.e., that of anonymity within religious communities (e.g., discussion forums, email lists, & the blogosphere).

Beginning with the secondary arena — anonymity & the use of pseudonyms in discussion forums & email lists — I’ll just say that I’m against it. Why? Well, in a nutshell, these forums & lists are largely known & controlled environments. They are not free-for-alls. Take, for example, the CAT41 family of email lists, or the ALPB forum. The CAT41 lists are unmoderated, but do not (with very limited exception) allow anonymous participation. The ALPB forum is moderated, and discourages, but ultimately allows, anonymous participation. Both allow “lurking”, whereby you can read all you want & never let anyone know you were there.

I prefer the CAT41 approach, as difficult as it can be to enforce. If you really want to be anon/pseudonymous, you’re gonna be, especially if you’re willing to skirt the edges of honesty. And being online, who’s to know, right? It’s just that being on religious sites, especially controlled and/or moderated communities, you’d hope that such skirting wouldn’t need to happen. These communities should be safe places to engage in discussions.

I know, there’s that “S” word — should. It’s a loaded word, isn’t it? But if we can’t model good discussion practices in our online communities, doing so in an honest, upfront, and non-anonymous fashion, then do we really have a chance at doing them in our face-to-face communities?

Thus, whenever possible, and with only rare exceptions, I think that anonymous/pseudonymous participation in email lists & discussion forums should be avoided, if not outright banned.

Now on to anonymity in the blogosphere…

I have a little softer line about certain anonymous/pseudonymous blogs. Much like anonymous pamphleteers during Revolutionary War days, and other gadflies throughout history, the anonymous purveyor of objective fact — facts that can be inconvenient to the-powers-that-be — can serve a valuable purpose via the cloak of their anonymity. That cloak need not diminish the import of the facts they provide us. This type of anonymity, then can, and does, serve a good & beneficial purpose, despite the indigestion stirred up in those who would prefer that certain facts not come to light.

Two other types of anonymity in the blogosphere, however, do not escape equally unscathed. Many folks equate anonymity with cowardice. In the previous paragraph, I hope that I showed that for whistleblowers, such is not the case. For another class of anonymous bloggers, however, it most definitely is the case. Many anonymous bloggers are cowards. They hide behind their keyboards & their lack of discernible identity, while they lob grenades at other people. They hurl invective. They weave lies out of whole cloth. They say things with impunity, because, after all, on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog!

A sub-category of the cowardly anonymous blogger is the anonymous commenter. I know folks are hyper concerned about identity theft & all that, and that’s well & good. But that doesn’t really excuse you from lobbing anonymous blog comment bombs. There are acceptable, ethical ways around it. Worrying about email spam isn’t that much of a worry, because many/most blogs (like mine, or say, WorldMagBlog) don’t publish the email address. What they will publish with your name is a link to a website. So, either man up & put your full name, or (do what I do most of the time) put your initials & link to your website/non-anon-blog — then you can truly stand up & let you yes be your yes & your no be your no!

These last two categories of anonymous blog posters/commenters I would like to see gone, both in the limited scope I laid out at the start of this post, as well as from the larger blogosphere. There’s just not that much discernible value that they bring to the table, as far as I’m concerned, not compared to the amount of hurt & negativity that they routinely inject into the festivities.

As far as the recent Issues, Etc. discussions are concerned, I certainly understand the emotion driving much of the posting & commenting. Frankly, the posting (i.e., that being posted by the bloggers themselves) hasn’t been the biggest problem for me. No, the more worrisome stuff, from a “what were they thinking?” standpoint, has come from the comments to some of those excellent posts. Some of the most out-there, conspiracy-minded, damaging-to-the-cause stuff has been from anonymous commenters.

Being angry is ok. Being stupid isn’t. Clicking send/ok without thinking isn’t.

Anonymity lends itself to all of that, which is why it’s not ok.

-ghp

Circumstances dictated that I not write up my thoughts as I watched the performances this week. It’s probably just as well, as I was tired & cranky. As I’ve had a chance to consider my initial thoughts & then tweak them a little bit, I’m actually surprised at just how much thought & consideration I’m able to put into it when I’m writing them up during a ‘normal’ week of doing it while watching the performances. I very much prefer doing it that way now. Yesterday was just a perfect storm of getting kids to practices & then getting myself to meetings at church. (I know, I know - priorities… )

David C. - Hungry Like the Wolf & Baba O’Riley - David is not a Duran Duroid, plus, the AI production staff did him no favors with how they mixed the audio on the first song - the band was nowhere to be found, and the song suffered because of it. The second song was much, much better, both as a song, and as a performance. Given Jason’s self-immolation, I don’t think this unfortunate dip in song choice (combined with the accursed first slot in the final four upset week) will hurt him. Thankfully…

Syesha - Proud Mary & A Change Is Gonna Come - She’s peaking at a good time - sounding good, looking fabu, & benefiting from being the only girl left. She ain’t that great, but she is the best girl left singing. And that’s enough to get her into this season’s Top 3. Although Syesha might’ve, just might’ve mind you, been better served by not equating her getting into the AI top 4 with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. I’m just sayin’…

Jason - I Shot the Sheriff & Mr. Tambourine Man - Good Lord. He just gave up, didn’t he? Never before has a contestant just flat out given up on such a big stage. I’m even more offended than Randy & Simon, especially after seeing Carly in the audience. Jason doesn’t want to be in the competition any more, & I don’t want to write about him any more.

David A. - Stand By Me & Love Me Tender - Gag. If the judges stroked him any more, it would be considered statutory child abuse. He’s not that good, folks. A glimpse into his soulless, unfeeling eyes will tell you that. If Jason wasn’t so painfully bad, I’d really push harder to see Gnome-boy gone. He’s got as much soul as a hunk of government fromage.

Should Go Home: Jason

Will Go Home: Jason

I was not happy to see David C. in the oft-cursed lead-off slot this week, the week of the final-four, when so many true upsets have happened in odd-numbered past seasons (Tamyra in AI:1, LaToya in AI:3, & Daughtry in AI:5). I was hoping that this year we might see David A. somehow sneak in as the Final Four “upset special”. I don’t think that’ll happen. Neither, though, do I think we’ll see David C. get the Ziggy. No, I think that Jason will deservedly get sent home, unless his fans are as high as he seems to want to be, or are just plain stupid. He obviously wants to go home, and I think he deserves to go home. You don’t disrespect the contest at this stage (by forgetting lyrics, for example) without paying a price. I hope.

-ghp

In order to get something other than realitytv/pop-culture posted, I’ll stoop to writing about rank politics. Eeew…

Living in Indiana, I didn’t think that our little primary would amount to much; however, it turns out that we’ll actually matter, given the fratricide that’s taking place in the Democratic Party these days. Yay! (both for our primary mattering and for the fratricide.)

I’m all for Hillary & Barack beating each other senseless all the way through to the convention. I want to see a nice, long, protracted & bloody fight. Let them each expose the other’s flaws (and make no mistake, they will, just as they have been - Hillary can’t help herself, and I actually kind of admire that willingness to fight…), because then it will just leave it for McCain to drive the obvious points home in the general election.

I started out fearing Hillary more than Obama. Lately, however, I’ve come to realize that Obama is, I think, actually more dangerous. They’re both leftist ideologues, to be sure, but Hillary is more along the lines of a party machine politician, ala the Chicago Daleys, or Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall in NYC. IOW, she’s Old School - she wants the power & wants to run the machine, maybe making some changes along the way. Obama, is more leftist intelligentsia - he’s all about making academic-type, ideology-driven changes. Big changes. Systemic changes.

Obama is Lenin. Hillary is “merely” Stalin. (Think about it - in an historical sense, given the role that both played in the creation & life of the USSR, I think it makes a wonderful analogy…)

Anyhoo, what’s interesting, is that at Schloß TB, I would say that we’ve been getting more contact/sales-pitches from the Obama campaign (via phone & direct mail) than from the Clinton campaign. Whenever I answer the phone, I just tell them what they want to hear, so I’m probably not helping their internal polling data all that much. Oops… ;^)

It’ll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow, both here and in the last state we lived in (NC).

-ghp