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

Carly’s gone. I’ll take partial credit for getting that right, as I predicted the circumstances where it was possible, but not that it would happen. Kristy’s votes, along with a boatload of sympathy votes, went to Brooke, thus keeping her safe for another week. I don’t buy the bogus argument that singing Jesus Christ Superstar generated some sort of holy/fundie backlash against Carly. Remember this contest is rigged such that it’s hard to vote against someone & get them out… No, I think this was just the end of a several week streak where Carly just didn’t perform consistently good enough to stand out & build a rabid voting bloc. She had been up & down on top of having had been a little controversial coming out of Hollywood week (along with Michael) because of her prior recording contract, and her having been “chosen” by the producers & Simon. That ended up being too much for her to overcome in the end. At least she seemed ok with it…

This week, it’s Neil Diamond. I can only imagine that bigsis is happy, as I do believe she is a big fan. Me? Eh. He’s ok. I respect the man’s talent & all (and I’m secretly hoping that David C. will sing America…).

Frankly, I’ve been in a wretched mood most of today, and I think that I’m going to try something different this week. I’m going to keep it short, sweet, and succinct.

Jason - Forever In Blue Jeans & September Morn - Forever was barely ok. Same with September. Neither was what was needed to get the job done in this competition. EPIC SUCK. BEGONE.

David C. - I’m Alive & All I Really Need Is You - Hot. Compelling. Strong. I didn’t know the songs, but he made me want to know them. EPIC WIN. IDOL.

Brooke - I’m A Believer & I Am, I Said. - Shrek did Believer better. Writing that made me sad. I Am, I Said was only marginally better. Writing that made me even sadder. EPIC SAD.

David A. - Sweet Caroline & America - Sure, this punk had to go and sing my favorite Neil Diamond song. Punk-ass punk. Both of his arrangements sounded like a commercials/adverts. Weak-ass, wussy, punk. Grow a pair, let ‘em drop, & learn some rock & roll. EPIC SUCK. STOP ANNOYING ME.

Syesha - Hello Again & Thank The Lord For The Night Time - Damn, she looked good again tonight. Sounded good too. She can stay another week. EPIC PIMP SLOT.

The Top: David C.

The Safe: Syesha & David A.

The Bottom 2: Jason & Brooke

Should Go Home: Jason

Will Go Home: Jason

-ghp

Go read The Man Who Invented Mars.

I blog about this for two simple reasons: First, out of respect for Professor David Strauss. I took a class (American History II) from him at Kalamazoo College back in (IIRC) Spring Quarter 1989. He wasn’t my advisor as a History major (my guy was Dr. David Barclay), but Strauss was very good nonetheless. And he was obsessed, in the academic sense, with Percival Lowell. Dr. Strauss was a top-notch scholar, and I was blessed to have been able to study under him (as well as Drs. Barclay, Wickstrom, and Moritz!)

The second reason is slightly more self-serving. As a Senior History major, I was chosen to be a Senior Fellow, and was awarded a stipend for completing some work during my fellowship. That work was basic research grunt work on Dr. Strauss’ book, Percival Lowell: The Culture and Science of a Boston Brahmin. So, I learned quite a bit about good old Percy during that Winter Quarter of 1989. And I’ve always felt a little twinge of pride whenever I’ve read about Lowell or Strauss’ book in the years since.

-ghp

One of the big, controversial topics at last year’s LCMS national convention was the big push for a special convention in 2009 to deal with a massive restructuring of the synodical constitution. After encountering more resistance than initially anticipated, the special convention was tabled & will now be folded into the next regular convention in 2010.

Over at Extreme Theology, Chris Rosebrough has put out a post — Changing the LCMS — that is, I think, sadly prescient about the current, and future, state of leadership & affairs in the LCMS. In a nutshell, Chris shows that SP Kieschnick is following a large-organization change management guide almost step-by-step. And the next key step is the special convention topic of the radical constitutional restructuring.

It’s really pretty simple. And I’m not even attributing ill intent, no matter how much I disagree with the course of action. I don’t think it’s evil. I think it’s mistaken & ill-advised, but I don’t think anyone is trying to destroy synod out of nefarious intent. No, SPK believes he’s doing the right thing. He’s just wrong in that belief.

It’s all the more interesting to see this in the light of the unfolding controversy surrounding the Issues, Etc. debacle, which is spinning up again today following some new statements by SPK & the Council of Presidents, both of which were heavy on the passive voice bemoaning of conflict & calls to move on, but light on actual answers & claiming of responsibility. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to check out the usual suspects (Augsburg1530 & Weedon’s Blog for good info.

When it comes to writing in general, the passive voice is an ill-advised choice. But when it comes to a controversial situation like this, where mistakes were made & responsibility needs to be taken? It’s downright cowardly & sinful. It’s like I wrote elsewhere earlier today:

It smacks of the all-too-common use of the passive voice to minimize & make a crisis go away.

“Mistakes were made. We need to move on & get past this.”

Yes, but who made the mistakes & why? What will be done to fix these mistakes? To ensure that similar mistakes won’t happen again in the future? What about all of the other related issues & questions that have cropped up as a result of these “mistakes”?

Forgiveness can only be given once repentance has been offered. Even then, forgiveness does not obviate consequences & responsibility for actions.

What was done, and what has come to light certainly seem to be worthy of responsibility and consequences - not blind trust (for that would not be good stewardship on our part, nor does the 8th Commandment demand blind trust…)

I’m just wondering now, how in the world, if at all, a God-pleasing result can be found in all of this. I’m not sure that one can. I think that the best we can do might just be to find the least sinful endgame & play that out…

-ghp

One of my pet peeves is when folks trot out the old chestnut of, “Well, I’m not a theologian, I’m just a simple layman…” Sometimes, they even mean it in a truly self-effacing way. Usually, however, I’ve found that it’s meant in a way that’s calculated to cut off any negative reaction, or correction, to whatever follows that declarative statement.

I would contend that it is actually more accurate for folks to say that they are not dogmatist/theoretician.

Let me explain…

Theology: The field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God’s attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.

Theologian: a person versed in theology, esp. Christian theology

In short, theology is the relationship of God to the universe, and thus a theologian is someone who is interested in that relationship. Pretty simple.

I’ve said it in the past, and I’ll say it again here: We are all theologians.

What we might not all care to be, however, are dogmatists.

Dogma:

1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church.
2. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true.

Dogmatist: One who dogmatizes; one who speaks dogmatically; a bold and arrogant advancer of principles. Another good word for describing what I’m after here is theoretician.

In other words, what I’m contending is that when folks say “I’m not a theologian…” what they really mean is that they’re not a policy wonk - i.e., someone who gets off on the minutiae of delving into the theological DNA of doctrinal issues. Most folks want to feel comfortable that they have a good grasp of the ‘big picture’ stuff.

The thing is, understanding the big picture framework is easy enough if you let yourself be open to what I’ve outlined above. That’s the easy part. Once you’ve accepted it, that’s when the hard part begins. Because no matter which direction you go in, theoretician or non-, you have to constantly work to keep up to speed, lest Satan overtake you & lure you off the narrow path.

As Luther himself observed, there’s a ditch on either side of the road, and you’re in equally bad shape (i.e., IN THE DITCH!) if you stray from the path. Meaning, if you get lost in the minutiae of the DNA, like so many dogmatists who end up down rabbit holes, your faith is in just as much danger as the “plain old pewsitting layman” who is led astray by that “nice man” Joel Osteen who preaches his false gospel of feel-good prosperity, or by Oprah with her new-agey paganism.

We are all theologians, my friends, and it is my fervent prayer that the Holy Ghost will strengthen and preserve us such that we will all be Theologians of the Cross!

-ghp

Before getting to the Top 6 & Andrew Lloyd Webber, first a brief comment on last week’s elimination, seeing as how I didn’t actually see fit to write anything about it in a, you know, timely fashion. I’m not shocked that Kristy got sent home. A little disappointed, perhaps, but not shocked or surprised. In a voting bloc dynamics sense, it makes sense, even if it doesn’t make much sense in light of the fact that she was actually improving over the past few weeks. We’re now in the phase of the competition where what happens on the stage isn’t of paramount importance from one week to the next. In the aggregate, over several weeks, it can take its toll, but from one week to the next? Not so much. Keeping that in mind, let’s move along to what could be the oddest of our theme weeks, shall we?

First, a question: If Simon says someone is “too Broadway,” is that a good or a bad thing this week?

Second, David Duchovny’s in the house? But where’s Téa Leone?

Third, all those arm waving ditzes in the mosh pit? They’re sorority girls they bus in just for that purpose.

Wow, Ryan pinned Paula down. Paula didn’t like that one little bit, did she? She stammered & stuttered her way through that non-answer more than usual. Heh.

ALW says it’s all about words, words, words.

Ok, then. Let’s sing, sing, sing.

Syesha - One Rock and Roll Too Many - I’d like to see her fall prey to the ‘curse of the opening slot’ (it seems that more eliminations have come from the first performer slot than would be statistically warranted). That said, I think that Syesha is the ‘bad penny’ for this season - the one who inexplicably stays around too long (ala Nikki McKibbin, Josh Gracin, Jasmine Trias, etc…). Her acting ability seems to have served her well this week (and she does have a fundamentally good/solid voice), they did her hair up nice this week, and she surely wore that little red dress up nice! Randy, Paula & Simon were right - this is her element & her sexy, happy place.

Jason - Memory - He hadn’t seen any of the musicals? The hellz you say! I’ve never seen Cats, so I can’t compare Jason’s version to the original - that said, Jason’s was nicely understated, and I can’t imagine it not appealing to his core constituency. He looked sharp, his eyes were clear, his smile was bright, and the voice was pure. I liked it. Paula, as a member of the core demo, ‘gets’ him. Randy & Simon don’t. Pretty simple. I’m not sure how it’ll translate & play out in the voting bloc arena, but my gut inclination is that he’ll be safe this week.

Brooke - You Must Love Me - The connection that ALW had with Brooke was palpable. It was the kind of moment that you hope for when they announce who the celeb coaches will be, and it makes it worth enduring all the drek that we endured from people like Mimi Carey last week. ALW is a monster talent and a consummate professional, and Brooke is a truly talented cypher - genuine, caring, & vulnerable. She won’t win this contest, but if she can deliver moments like this one, she’s well worth having on this program.

Wow. She forgot the words. So she had the band start over. That took guts. Screw what Paula said. In the end, though, that was not a great performance. Heartfelt & vulnerable, but not great. Paula wanted to verbally bitch slap her, and came about as close to doing so as we will ever see from Ms. Abdul. Unless this generates a boatload of sympathy votes for her, and/or she picks up a lots of support from VoteForTheWorst.com as their new choice, I think Brooke’s time could be running out.

David A. - Think of Me - Much like Syesha, I think that David is in his element this week. Sweeping, emotional, powerful ballads. That’s Broadway. That’s showtunes. That’s David. He kept his eyes open, so he followed the advice he was given. He’s golden again this week. I still don’t want him to win, but he’s safe as a baby again this week. Just don’t make me listen to him talk, ok?

Carly - Jesus Christ Superstar - ALW once again proved his worth as a coach, getting her to switch to the proper song. and she knocked it out of the park. The Carly who the producers preordained as a pre-Hollywood pick to tout graced us with a visit tonight. And it was really nice to see her again - it’s been a while since we saw her sing Come Together. Plus, good or bad, right or wrong, she’s better served when she covers up the tatts…

David C. - Music of the Night - Good news: He gets the pimp slot. Not so good news: He gets the pimp slot during ALW week. He grew up doing musical theater, eh? Ok, sure. I shouldn’t have doubted him. Dude. Nailed. It. He proved that he can flat out sing. He is the best this competition has to offer this year. You can keep Archuleta. Cook is better. BETTER. It’s just that simple. That was an Idol Moment, people. Goose bumps & everything. Even if he, by some odd chance, doesn’t win the vote count, David Cook will be the real winner of AI:7 - he’ll be the one that will be remembered 5, 10, 15 years down the line.

The Top: David C.

The Safe: David A. & Syesha

The Bottom 3: Brooke, Carly, & Jason

Should Go Home: Brooke

Will Go Home: Brooke

Please note that on the bottom 3, I would prefer to have Syesha there instead of Carly, but I really think that the voting bloc breakdown will happen in such a way that Syesha will be safe. The one wildcard scenario is if Kristy’s fans continue to vote, but shift their votes en masse to Brooke (which would be my most logical guess, unless they somehow view either Jason or David C. as more appealing - that’s the thing about trying to predict…). If that happens, then that could drop Syesha into the bottom 3 and spell doom for, quite possibly, Jason. I don’t think it’ll break that way, though, and we’ll be seeing the last of fair Brooke tomorrow night.

-ghp

Much has been made in the LCMS over the past, well, about as far back as I can remember, that we’re on the cusp of an impending crisis. Namely, a shortage of pastors. It’s driven the recruiting efforts of our fine Seminaries. It’s driven fundraising efforts. It’s driven theologically suspect things as far back as the 1989 Wichita Convention’s lay ministry efforts right up through the passage of SMPP at last summer’s Convention.

Here’s the thing: for a great many reasons, there’s not really a shortage. We’re churning out Sem grads who aren’t getting Calls & have seminarians who can’t get Vicarage placements. We’ve got over 800 pastors working as district and synodical bureaucrats. Pastor Beisel has a nice post on this over at One Lutheran… Ablog! (take note of the link that he has to a posting over at Priestmanship — it’s worth clicking on, too…).

Now for the absurd, ‘right-hand/left-hand’ part of all this…

Today, I just received an email from Synod, touting May as “Pastoral Education Month”. This, in and of itself, is a good thing, and not at all absurd. Let me pull out one quote, though…

With about 100 fewer seminarians than three years ago, and a growing number of retirement-age pastors, “now is the time” for the Synod to get serious about recruitment of pastors, according to Rev. Glen Thomas, executive director of the Synod’s Board for Pastoral Education.

If you haven’t read Pr. Beisel’s post yet, please go do so now & then come back & read that quote again. There’s a disconnect somewhere, don’tcha think? Why, when they can’t place all of the men they have right now, would they continue to perpetuate the fallacy that there’s an impending shortage? That’s just not right.

-ghp

Yeah, yeah, Ryan. Shocking elimination. Every vote counts. Blah, blah, blah. Pimp the vote out, Ry-ry.

Paula’s looking especially glammed up tonight. Gee, I wonder why?

Tonight, we get the Top 7 singing, and being ‘coached’ by quite possibly the ‘diva-iest’ of all the divas, Mariah Carey. She has 5 octave range. She’s a legend. She’s sold millions upon millions of records. She’s gorgeous. She’s just your friend. Wearing spray-on black jeans. Just normal old Mimi from the block. Oh yeah, and she’s a certifiable whack-job. I can only imagine what fun this will be tonight…

David A. - When You Believe - Meeting Mariah was scary? Why? Because she’s a girl? Because she’s got those boobie thingies? Who let him wear leather pants? Why is his posture so bad? Can I write every sentence as a question? Did I like the falsetto? Did I like the lower register? Will David be safe? No, no, no, and yes.

Carly - Without You - She was emotional last week because she thought she was the one who was gone, that’s why. Nice dress. The first girl to perform, and, thus, the first to be suffer in comparison. And rest assured, all the girls will suffer in comparison to Mariah this week - that’s just a given, because none of them are as talented. That aside, Carly did a very nice job of delivering this performance, rebounding from a few sub-par performances. I wouldn’t eliminate her this week, by any stretch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she finds herself in the bottom 3 again this week.

Syesha - Vanishing - The actress/mimic was able to learn directly from the source this week. I would hope that the voting blocs will shift & move in the aftermath of Michael’s elimination such that Carly is kept safe & Syesha is kept at risk. The judges, predictably, loved her this week. Hopefully, that will lull her fans into a sense of complacency, and they won’t feel the sense of urgency to get out the vote. She’s the one I want gone & banished from my TV.

Brooke - Heroes - She’s all sparkly & back in her comfort zone at the piano. Her genuineness hasn’t warn out its welcome with me like David A.’s has (the wife disagrees with me slightly on this…). Not a great performance, but a very, very good one. If things were based solely on performances, Brooke would be safe without question, I think. Factoring in voting bloc dynamics, I think she’s more than a little at risk of being in the bottom 3, but not really in much danger of getting sent home.

Kristy - Forever - Her confidence has been growing over the past few weeks. I’m not sure it’ll continue. She looks awfully good, in a Carrie Underwood-esqe way. Ok, I was wrong - she’s continued the got streak. They countryfied the arrangement, making it just twangy enough to let Kristy shine. And she did, perhaps even enough to stay out of the bottom 3 again this week. Nicely done.

David C. - Always Be My Baby - Another step outside the box? Uh-oh. Pretty & haunting? Ruh-roh, Raggy! Well, David Alt/Emo-Rocked the crap out of that pop hit didn’t he? I’m not a fan of the song, but I liked the performance a whole bunch. He’s back with a vengeance & ready for radio. Taking risks & making them pay off. Boo-yah!

Jason - I Wanna Cry - Rasta in the pimp slot, party people! Very understated. Very focused on his pure vocal tone. I don’t think it was an ‘Idol Moment’ performance, but it was a great follow-up to last week’s performance. I think his fans will like it a lot, and he’ll still be able to expand his voting bloc with it. Solid.

The Top: David C.

The Safe Middle: David A. & Jason

The At-Risk Middle: Kristy

The Bottom 3: Brooke, Carly, & Syesha

Should Go Home: Syesha

Will Go Home: Syesha

This is when is starts to get tougher to pick a bottom 3 and, oftentimes, to predict the contestant sent home. This week, I agree with Simon - the guys carried the night. The bottom 3 will be populated by 3 of the 4 girls. Who’ll get a pass? I don’t know, but I’d guess Kristy, who has a rather motivated voting bloc. I will not discount that I’m engaging in wishful thinking, because I really do want her gone, but I’ll stick with my predictions.

-ghp

Getting a new toy is always fun, even if the reason for getting it isn’t the best.

Case in point: I just got a nifty new treadmill. (yes, dear, I know, we got it - the allowances I have to make now that I know the wife is reading my blog…) It’s really very cool — sturdy, powerful, & lots of cool features. Ultimately, though, the reason for the purchase was because I’m a lazy so-n-so. A lazy, 40 year old, so-n-so. Who’s overweight, borderline diabetic, and has high blood pressure & cholesterol. I also have a largely sedentary (and way too stressful) job, and I’m not a big fan of the great outdoors. And I like to eat. Did I mention that I’m lazy? But, other than those minor things, everything’s just peachy.

You get the picture.

Anyhoo, my main thinking behind the treadmill is that I’m far more likely to do something if I can do it within the convenient comfort of my basement, rather than having to go out into the elements. For some folks, the elements are a/the draw. I’m not one of those folks, at least not on a consistent basis. Neither am I one who gets my moneys worth out of a gym membership. One, I lack the discipline & motivation to get there all the time, and two, I don’t like being around the people (I like having my equipment ready & waiting for me right when I want to use it!).

The challenge is, and will continue to be, to keep on keeping on. To use it & not get discouraged. Because doing something is better than doing nothing.

And it looks pretty darned cool… ;^)

-ghp