I've been angry and sad about the things that you do

Tonight I wasted $7.50 watching Amanda Seyfried (Plastic Karen in Mean Girls) try to determine which of several men is her father in time for him to walk her down the isle.

Don't get me wrong, Seyfried is really enjoyable on screen. Mostly what the movie suffers from is an extreme excess of songs. After each song there is approximately ten seconds of dialogue which nudges the plot along, then it's time for another song.

Of course the excessive (and weird) songs are not the only issue. Meryl Streep and Co. take up much, much, much more of the movie than I would have anticipated. Mostly this flick is about their former exploits. Occasionally we flick back to Amanda (aka Sophie) and once in a while there are these three men.

In the end Sophie doesn't find out who her father is, but the men agree to share Sophie, while Pierce Brosnan takes Donna (Streep) all for himself, Stellan Skarsgard get's chased after by one of Donna's friends, and Collin Firth confesses that he is actually gay. If that isn't enough to ruin the movie for you, I don't know what is.

Save your money and call Mamma Mia! a miss.

Idol Gives Back?

I haven't been that excited about American Idol this year and Idol Gives Back turned out to be an extra bummer because Michael Johns got kicked off.

I didn't really watch Idol Gives Back, last night. As a matter of fact, I made plans for the evening specifically because one year of watching Paula, Randy, Simon, and Ryan pretend to care was enough. But, last minute changes in plan found me at home when the last half of the show was airing after all.

This year American Idol execs planned better. Most of the songs actually had to do with caring for people rather than reveling in our apathetic tendencies. The people who were sent to Africa either actually cared...or they have better acting experience. The point is, as a viewer at home I felt like they care - and that's what keeps people phoning in their pocket change, yes?

There are only two bits of the show I really payed close attention to.

One was when the Idol contestants sang Seasons of Love. I like that song. Yes, I know. RENT is an evil movie created for the sole purpose of corrupting good Americans like you and me. The song is still pretty.

Ironically a, somewhat anti-Christian, idol-blogger, Rickey Yaneza, and I were upset about the same part of the show. The finale. Idol contestants came back together with a gospel-type choir to sing Shout to the Lord.

Rickey is angry because,
"Shout to the Lord...is one of the anthems of the born-again movement in the world — a movement which does not support contraception and is intolerant towards gays and people with HIV/AIDS...Saving children in Africa and New Orleans has nothing to do with the Christian god. What were they thinking? Bah!"

My roommate and I were horrified because...it's a worship song. And it wasn't even one of those songs about God's love for the earth or how God takes care of His children or how we're His hands and feet. That could have been appropriate. The whole song is about how glorious God is and about how the whole world recognizes it. The point is to worship God for His greatness...and they used it as a display case for pretty voices. It wasn't about God at all.

I don't expect the majority of the Christian viewers to be bothered. I rather imagine that they will be tickled that a song they sing Sunday mornings was on American Idol. That their importance as viewers has been noticed. I imagine the same people will have been offended by Carrie Underwood's rendition of Praying For Time (which I loved and thought was incredibly appropriate). That's not to take a swing at anyone who feels that way. I'm imagining having this conversation with my parents and how perplexed they would be at my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I've always said that Idol execs need to get their act together and realize that a majority of their viewers (and probably contestants) are church-goers. I was thinking more that they should just refrain from offending the living daylights out of us - not that they should hold us a service.

In the end though, I don't think it would matter what they sang. I'm never going to help people through American Idol. Ever. I much prefer to know where my money is going and what it is doing. I can't help thinking that the money Idol Gives Back has gathered will primarily go towards paying for "promotional materials" or to pay for celebrity appearances.

Imagine

I missed most of American Idol last night, but I did catch one of the younger guys singing singing John Lennon's, "Imagine". Pretty song. Absurd lyrics. Randy, Paula & Simon love it.
Because the show is still in the multitudenous contestants stage, Mr. Archuleta had to choose only one verse to sing. He tactfully chose the third verse, which does not suggest the eradication of religion or absense of diety. Randy immediately jumped on that as the choice, but Archuleta side-stepped ridicule saying, "It's my favorite verse, it has such a beautiful message." Well alright Davey.

Who does the market research for this show anyhow? Randy might not know who makes up the main audience of American Idol, but I bet that Archuleta - hailing from Murray, Utah - knows exactly who that audience is. He sings beautifully, but his subtle edit of the song may have been just as important.

"You've met my mother?"

Katie and I went to see "Hairspray" tonight. We walked in late as Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) belted out, "I Love You Baltimore". The film is truly odd, but it was too much work to try and dislike it.

The characters weren't really highly developed, but they were incredibly likable. The songs weren't as smooth as they might have been (most of the lines are in there, not because they make sense - but because they rhyme), the quirkines made me smile.

On the other hand...Tracy gets sent to detention after her rejection from the pretty white skinny kids and finds out that dention is where the black people party. At first there's some tension, but when she proves that she too can dance in sexually provocative manner, the black kids all accept her.

What? That's it? Sexy dancing equals integration?

In the end it gets lost in the bigger issue of inequality. Tracy is innocently appalled that black people and white people can't dance together. Penny (Amanda Bynes), Tracy's naive friend with an oppresive mother, doesn't seem to notice much at all except that Seaweed is hot and her mother is unreasonable.

Corny Collins (James Marsden), host of the Corny Collin's Show, just thinks that integration is the next big thing and that if "you can't fight, it you might as well rock it."

But of course the evil blondes are trying to keep black and/or fat people off of tv at any price. And while both the black people and the fat people are portrayed as being willing to give it away any moment, it is the blondes who get frowned at for the same feeling, which was confusing more than anything. Sexuality is good - except for when mean people have it?

Again, what?

The movie was fun, enjoyable, makes you happy and even makes you want to dance...just don't ask it to make sense.

After a rather disappointing evening of things that should have happened very distinctly not happening, Robin and I are back at her apartment watching "Annie". Its a good movie for when you're feeling kinda bummed.

Work was long today. One of my co-worker's father died last night and we found out exactly how much her presence is important to our work. So, long day. But it stormed right before I had to leave and driving home in the rain makes me happy.

Robin and I are also dying our hair tonight. Highlights for Robin, auburn for me.

You call that compassion?

Last night on American Idol they had their 2 hour special "Idol Gives Back".They raised alot of a money and probably look on it as a success, but I found it mostly disturbing.

For starters, their number was something like 1-800-idolaid. Idol Aid just sounds wrong.
Then there is the fact that Ryan and Paula made small children cry. Not because the kids are poor and hungry and prone to cry any way, but more they're getting prodded with a sharp emotional stick so they look pathetic for the camera.

Scene: African Hut
Ryan: Where are your parents, sad African children? (jab)
Children: They're dead.
Ryan: Dead? Really? You live here alone? (jabbity jab)
Children: Yeah, thanks for bringining it up.
Ryan: You must feel pretty terrible about your parents being dead. Everyone loves their parents and you don't have any. (jab, jab)
Children: (eyes well up with tears)
Ryan: Oh. You're crying. Well that's natural, your life does suck, but don't worry, it's ok. I still have nice hair. (pathetic attempt at a hug)

Scene: Community Center at which I'm certain the children were prepped for the cameras
Paula: So, your life sucks, what do you hate most about it?
Girl: Um...
Paula: Come on, someone as pathatic as you must be sad.
Girl: Well, my mom works three jobs because we're poor. (unconvincing crying and sobs)
Paula: Don't worry honey, you're not alone. Isn't it good to know you're not alone? (unconvincing concern)

During the scene with Ryan and the children Simon was just silent, but later Simon was his typical rude self, going on and on about the deplorable conditions of the hut they visited a dying woman in. I know he was trying to convey to a tv audience how great the need is, but to criticize the little these people have right in front of them just seems wrong. He kept talking about how awful it was that this women was dying in a hut like this. I yelled at the tv, "Then buy a her a hospital room Simon!"

These people are professionals in entertaining but, clearly, amatures in compassion. They noted death rates, they relayed how many of the people they met died. The did not bring medical professionals or even medical supplies on a trip to visit aids victims. They ran very low on hope, not even making good use of the monetary hope they were offering. Even the background music they chose didn't make sense, songs like "Waiting on the world to change" and "Chasing Cars", which depict inaction and apathy, hummed along as we watched people helping others & scenes of tearful little children flashed across the screen.

The highlight of this thing was seeing Carrie Underwood sing to the little African kids. She hugged them and looked into their eyes. If it was an act, at least it was a good one. The reason it works, in spite of the fac that we have no way of ascertaining if Carrie really feels for these kids, is that people feel being compassionate when they see compassion. It motivates us to give. Seeing people be rude or unfeeling only makes us angry.