(no subject)

A guy writes a review of The Secret to let everybody know exactly how it changed his life.

Trust me. You will be happy you clicked.

Praise bands annoy God!

Because we have so little time to bring "Godspell" together, and I don't already know the music that well, I'm pulling a Suzuki method and listening to the CD constantly. I have no idea, yet, of what my housemates think of it- perhaps I keep my volume low enough that it doesn't filter outside my bedroom, because so far they haven't staged an intervention yet.

But as I listen to the music, and think about how much I really enjoy it, I can't help think about some of the other Christian music out there.

I apologize if this offends anybody reading this, but I really hate almost all contemporary Christian music- the stuff actually labeled CCM, as well as praise music, Christian pop, and 98% of Christian rock. Hate. HATEHATEHATE. I think it is so incredibly shallow, both musically and theologically. In some cases, I think it is actually downright bad theology. I mean, I don't have words enough to express how much I loathe it all. I think there is a small percentage of it, as well as some renderings of traditional church music/hymns that are good to use for, say, youth, but that's about it.

Neither am I particularly a fan of musicals. I mean, I don't hate them like I hate Christian pop music, but for pretty much most of the genre, I could take it or leave it. I can name, on probably one hand, the musicals I do really enjoy: "Les Miserables"*, "Miss Saigon"*, "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", and "Godspell". Yep. That's one hand. But yeah, "Godspell" is on the list.

I'm a member of a group on Facebook called something like "Praise music annoys God". I think that might be kinda true. I mean, can you imagine God with God's hand to God's forehead, going "I gave these people gifts of creativity, passion, and the ability to think really deep thoughts, and they give me this crap?"

But anyway. That's why I like "Godspell". I think it gives us good theology in good music, with a pretty big dash of a sense of humor.

I just wish it didn't run through my head 24/7. I'm waiting for the night it shows up in my dreams.


*I had thought I'd read in the program for "Miss Saigon" that Claude-Michel Shoenberg was related somehow to Arnold Shoenberg, but that was at least fifteen years ago, so I could have been hallucinating it, because I can't seem to find any mention of it on the internet. Odd. Anybody know?

(no subject)

A weird little clip, produced by Saturday Night Live, that satirizes cultural appropriation:

For those of you who can't view the Hulu video, here is a link to the YouTube version.