AI:5 - Hollywood Days 3&4
Well, that was a nice, reasonably tight hour of AI.
Excepting Brokenote Mountain. We shall never speak of that again. It didn’t happen. It. Never. Happened.
The group auditions are always interesting, if only because the angst-o-meter gets maxed out when prima donnas have to not only cooperate in order to advance, but to also do it in a pretty much unreasonably compressed time frame.
The only real problem with condensing the group auditions and the next round of cuts into a single hour, particularly with the “room reveals” being jammed into the last 5-10 minutes) was that it made it keeping track of who all made it & didn’t make it a little tough. I don’t think there were any major surprises in the room that got sent home, but since I haven’t been able to find a list of the 44 who made it (or of the ~15 who didn’t) I can’t say for sure.
I was able to catch, however, that the “biggies” on my list thus far — Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler, Katherine McPhee, Lisa Tucker, Ace Young, Taylor Hicks, & Mandisa — did indeed make it through. I’m not sure about Brooke Barretsmith, Ayla Brown, or Rebecca O’Donahue.
The Brittenum twins. Ay-yi-yi! What drama queens! Frankly, I don’t think they should’ve let them back in. Or, at the very least, Derrell should’ve been “allowed” to stay quit while Terrell was let back in. In any event, it doesn’t really matter, since both have already been “uninvited” from continuing in the competition.
The overall drama of this episode didn’t really surprise me, as it’s about par for the course at this stage of the competition. And I don’t have a problem with the crucible that’s constructed primarily from the extreme time crunch. It actually seems like a pretty good way to thin the herd of those who can’t hack the extreme pressures that will only increase as the competition goes on. I mean, if you can’t learn the words to a song, and a few dance steps, overnight, then you’re probably not the next AI. It doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have talent, just that you might not be smart or mature enough (yet) to cope.
Finally, it didn’t really surprise me that 3 of the 4 rooms got through. Why? Because, if things are going to work like they did last season — and why wouldn’t they, with the success & praise that last season’s format tweaks got? — then tonight’s show needed to be set up properly. And going from 44 to 24 is far more interesting & worthy of a full hour-long show than is going from 30 to 24.
The best part is that next week we start the public-voting, semifinals phase of the competition, with the girls singing on Tuesday, the boys on Wednesday, with 2 of each getting eliminated on Thursday. Then, after a mere four weeks, we’ll have our Top 12 finalists!
Yay! 
-ghp
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And now, even the ELS…
Words fail me.
I’ve heard about it both on CAT41, and now also via Vicar Chaz Lehmann.
As a result of the great deceiver’s neverending efforts to assault the Church Militant, a good, honorable, and faithful servant of God, the Rev. Rolf Preus, has been unscripturally “removed” from his position of Pastor of River Heights Lutheran Church (ELS).
The saints at River Heights were given an unscriptural, and dishonorable, ultimatum by the leadership of the ELS — choose your pastor or your synod — as the result of Pr. Preus’ dissenting role in the ELS Ministry Debate controversy. Even though they had defended their pastor in the (very recent) past, when faced with the unfair & false choice, they buckled.
This should clearly illustrate the dangerous difference between being a “synodicalist” and a “confessionalist” (a lesson that many in Missouri must heed!) — i.e., that no man-made entity, neither congregation nor synod, is more important than the precious Gospel contained in Holy Scripture & clearly defended in the Lutheran Confessions!
My thoughts & prayers go out to: Pr. Preus & his family, that they may be strengthened and comforted by our risen Lord & Savior; The saints at River Heights, that they may be given proper pastoral care & be lovingly shown the error of their ways; and for the leadership of the ELS, that they be shown their sin such that they can repent of it and rectify these errors.
Come, Lord Jesus, come!
-ghp
“Pastoral Letter” vs. “Presidential Leadership News”
Nothing like a little synodical politics to make one feel all warm & snarky…
So I finally read the February Pastoral Letter from the President of the LCMS, (NOTE: I’m not a pastor, but I do subscribe to the email distribution of this letter, as it is made available at the synod’s website and I like to know what’s being said for official/public consumption…) and I must say that I was struck by the sectional titles:
- “President’s Leadership News”
- “What do your people know of Ablaze!?
- “For what it’s worth…”
- “Our public face”
- “St. Valentine”
- “A parting word of encouragement”
Now, this might seem rather innocuous, and it might very well be just that; however, I just found it interesting that the lead section was a reminder of the fact that there wasn’t a January Pastoral Letter, but that there had been a printed copy of a new “President’s Leadership News” distributed instead. Personally, the change in tone from “Pastoral Letter” to “Leadership News” is more than a little off-putting to me — I don’t like the coporatization of the church, not one little bit. The pastor is the pastor, not the CEO who dazzles us with his visionary leadership!
The second section, about Ablaze!, is just too funny because it reads to me like a bit of a scolding for everyone who isn’t touting the party line. I’d love it if he asked me what I know about Ablaze! — 1) It was originally developed for the Methodists, who ended up not wanting it, 2) It focuses on numbers & measuring what we do, 3) It’s got a hokey counter on a cheesy webpage, and 4) For all the previous reasons (and so many more) it’s neither Lutheran, nor theologically sound.
The third section, “For what it’s worth…” isn’t worth all that much, as it is based on some Barna Research Group “research.” I put research in quotes because George Barna tends to make some rather dubious claims based on his polling data (i.e., theologically suspect & decidedly non-Lutheran claims…). This section is lobbing some grenades to no real stated purpose, and I’m not sure that’s anywhere close to being a good thing.
The fourth section, “Our public face”, is probably ok. But there’s definitely a danger in worrying too much about external appearances, and too little about internal theological integrity & consistancy. [much sarcastic text removed by ghp's New Adam...]
Anyway, at the end of a long week, there was something about this “pastoral” letter that just set me off a little. There’s so much that’s disingenuous about the political hierarchy within the LCMS these days that it’s unfortunately hard for me take things at face value (I mean, when “disingenuous” is truly believed to be the best construction…)
-ghp
S:12ep02 - When Bipolar Would Be An Improvement
First off, a shout-out to all you (CCF) nurses out there — y’all must be so proud of your fellow ‘angel in white’, the ever robust Cirie! 
(Oh, I am so going to pay for that remark next week… :eek:)
So, what is it about this particular location (Panama/Pearl Islands) that seems to be breed folks who are even more manic & willing to quit than anywhere else Survivor’s been? I mean, really, first Osten (S:7 - Pearl Islands), then Sue & Jenna (S:8 - All-Stars), and now Shane, who just might be the most unstable castaway ever! I know that folks in the Amazon (S:6) were worried about Matthew, what with all his machete-sharpening & ‘helter-skelter’ facial expressions, but, wow! — Shane is really raising the bar in terms of making us wonder if we’re going to see our first clock-tower like psychotic break. If I were Mark Burnett, I think I’d stay away from Panama for a good while after this…
I liked the overall arc of this episode, as the use of the pick’em & Exile Island were both quite good (although, I must state that the schoolyard pick’ems I grew up with were never quite like this one — they were more like the one in S:5 - Thailand, where a captain made all of the choices…). The challenges were good, and we got some reasonable character development.
Of primary significance, however, is quite obviously the two new tribes:
La Mina — currently, my tribe of choice. I was glad to see the Dan & Terry proto-alliance kept together, and I think Misty is a strong addition as well. This tribe seems nicely constructed, stable, & quite functional; hopefully it’ll stay that way (although I must admit that Sally losing the spear so ineptly could portend some future conflict…).
Casaya — Well, they seem to have self-selected a tribe consisting of the Manson-family reject & master alliance architect (Shane — btw, “34 going on 12″? That’s an insult to 12 year-olds everywhere…), both touchy-feely nut-jobs (Aras the “psychic firestarter” & Courtney “mother-earth turtle-lover”), and the two most moronic mature matrons (Melinda & Cirie)! In a rational world, these yo-yos would have no chance & no hope. Survivor, however, is hardly a rational world, so I guess we’ll have to wait & see. (but, nah, they still don’t have a chance as long as they keep Master Detox around & calling the shots!)
Strategically, I can’t say that Casaya dropped the ball when they voted off Melinda (though I think Cirie would’ve been a better choice…), as replacing one of the “older” women with Bruce is definitely a trade up in terms of making them more physically capable during a phase of the game where team strength is of primary importance. Even so, if it were up to me, I think I would’ve leaned in the direction of taking the chance of getting rid of Shane, if only for the collective sanity & emotional well being of the tribe. Swapping Shane for Bruce would’ve been darned close to a wash physically, and it was a reasonably close enough finish in the challenges to make it worth the risk.
All in all, a good episode, and another step along the way to what looks like will be a strong & entertaining edition of the king of realitytv.
-ghp
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