Collateral Bloggage

I have to say, I’m not optimistic about seeing a lot of really great performances in the Finals if we have to take six of these ladies. For that matter, I don’t see six really strong men coming through, either. For all the talk of this year having the “best talent yet”, it just hasn’t really been there yet.

As with the men, I decided not to categorize, but I *will* make one categorization. It’s the This Performance Sure Looked Better as the Night Went On Category, and it was inhabited by our first singer of the night, Carly Smithson.

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I can’t remember the exact context, but suffice it to say we’ve been reading the New Testament with Ethan. Oh, that’s right, I was coming back from the store with Ethan, commenting about Vegetarians (the word was referenced in the “Duck Season! Wabbit Season!” episode of Looney Tunes). I explained that they ate vegetables and grains and beans, then explained some things that are made of grains, like crackers. Ethan cut in with this gem:

“Some crackers are made of Jesus…”

Yes, our church uses crackers for Holy Communion. So, evidently Ethan subscribes to the transubstantiation. I’d better watch him to make sure he doesn’t Catholic on me.

At this point, I think discussing any singer from last night other than David Archuletta is basically irrelevant. However, I must cover the bases, I suppose.

I’m not going to categorize them, other than to reiterate there was David A. and everybody else. Call David’s category the Melinda Doolittle Just Sign Me Now and Let Everybody Else Compete for Second Place Category.
Behold the Lack of Categorization

In the beginning, there were comments. And comments multiplied and became evil. Spam was in the blog in those days, when spammers saw the comments of men (and women), that they were beautiful. And the Blogger saw the thoughts of the spammers, that their every intention was evil.

Then the blogger said to CAPTCHA, “Build for me an ark of php code, and stop this incessant spamming.” And CAPTCHA was installed. But the ark was leaky.

The Blogger saw that only he could patch the ark. So did he cover the ark over with pitch, turning off all comments for the sake of stemming the tide of spamming. And the spam was stopped. As were all comments.

But the Blogger was grieved that his reader could not communicate with him, even if he (the Blogger) had written something just incredibly brilliant, unlikely though that might be.

Therefore, in his mercy and forbearance, the Blogger caused Comments to be re-enabled. And he vowed to never again destroy all comments.

However, the Blogger will still moderate comments.

Nothing spiritual here. Wait, actually, I *did* have a thought about Mark 15. But first, brain droppings:

1. My alarm seems to have gotten louder, and it doesn’t have a volume switch.
2. The snooze button on my alarm is huge and impossible for me to find.
3. My son is a sleep walker. Not sure where he gets it.
4. Butternut Squash seeds are just like pumpkin seeds, except smaller. And better. Unfortunately, there’s only about a half cup’s worth in a typical squash. But, don’t throw them away. Roast them.

Okay, so, Mark 15. I noticed, as I noticed when reading the Passion narrative in Matthew, something about the “Barabbas” thing. I think Pilate purposely chose the nastiest prisoner he could to put up against Jesus. It would have been like putting Dahmer or Ted Bundy in today’s terms.

Ooops…gambit didn’t work. Pilate couldn’t just man up and say, “Sorry, guys, but your King here don’t deserve to die.” He tried a trick, and it backfired. Conclusion? Pilate was a wuss.

How’s that for spiritual?

I’m officially underwhelmed with this group of ladies. If I managed to basically like five of the guys’ performances, I’m struggling to pick out three on the girls’ side. Best talent ever? Right.

As with the men, I’ll group the ladies into categories.

The Abject Humiliation Category:
Amy Davis - Wow. Just…wow. My heart is consumed with terror. Must have been that Lunar Eclipse or something. That was brutal.

Like how I kept up the humiliation by putting her before the cut?

While there were several very good performances last night, I noticed that several contestants really didn’t want to be there. I mean, why else pick a ballad on Week 01? You *know* it’s suicide, right? You’re not stupid, right?

The contestants were nice enough to sort themselves into easy categories for me. So, here they are:
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David Archuleta is the best singer on the show, maybe ever. Better than Clay, Ruben, Elliot (though it pains me to say it), and anybody else I can think of. Now, I make a distinction between “singer” and “vocalist”, but David has a pure voice that should slide into any style with ease.

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Like that word? Randominity. Okay, so I made it up. But, I’ve been reading a very interesting book called Depraved English. It’s going to make me really dangerous at Balderdash. Why? Well, because it’s filled with real words that virtually nobody knows, about things that most people wouldn’t normally talk about (did I just use “about” twice? Whatever). I’ll get back to that.

In the meantime, more random thoughts. Some observations about this Wednesday:

1. It’s a coffee day. Good thing. (more…)

It’s not at all uncommon these days to hear people, even ostensibly Bible-believing Christian people, claim that the God of the OT and the God of the NT are somehow different. Not so.

Yesterday I came across (again) this passage:

How often do we hear that the God of the OT is anything but “compassionate and gracious”? All. The. Time.

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