Tag Archive: Meta


Jut a really quick post that my review of Episode 6 will be up later today.

But! Before then… I want to welcome Armchair Judge Erin to the blog who will also be putting up comments and reviews as well. I’ll let Erin do up a little bio post; assuming I haven’t terrified her with all the annoying meta. I’m really thrilled to be bringing her on board and I hope you’ll enjoy her opinions as much as I do.

Having been heavily drugged since 9am this morning I am slowly regaining my faculties. I have transcribed my notes from Vocal Rush, Home Free, Voice Play and am in progress on SCR from last night.

Fortunately, tonight is a short episode with only 4 groups (I am assuming) So I should be able to get caught up by the end of tomorrow. Such is what happens when you slam 7-8 episodes into a two week period.

I’m curious what might make the reviews better. More detail, more background, more comparisons, or just leave it like it is.

Drop you opinions, we’ll go from there.

In the meantime I plan to stop funding air so fascinating by 8pm to take notes again.

Here’s the pre-review

In Your Eyes – Intro Production number

It’s really hard to mess up this 80s classic. I expect it to be full of love and tears.

 

Ten – Chain of Fools

Ten last episode took a step towards what they an do. This will assure us if they are on the path. A good choice for their style.

 

acoUstiKats – Amazed

This group has two speeds. Frat choir and new evolution in Acadameia a cappella.  Let’s hope that yesterday’s USO reminded them we’d like more of the latter.

 

SCR – Forget You

I am especially surprised when they take modern music and attach it to their style. This could be a strong entry for them. Or likewise may show us that they are a one niche wonder.

 

The Filharmonic – One More Night

I’m going to assume Maroon 5 and not Phil Collins here. Once again, Filharmonic deep in the heart of their style. It was made clear that Stockman is watching for missing notes; so now they have got to get the technical as tight as the performance.

Thanks for keeping up. See you soon

I am reminded of two commercials… Libby’s and Smuckers. Both finally were honest about the nature of brand-based advertising. In the case of the former the jingle went, “If it says “Libby’s, Libby’s Libby’s” on the “Label Label Label” you will “like it like it like it” on the “Table table table.” Smuckers took the direct approach; “With a name like Smuckers… it’s got to be good.”

Is the name really sufficient to identify something’s worth or quality? The classic “Saturday Night Live” had their response to the name making the Jam But in the 1970s… SNL had a driving and vicious look at the world that has only been rivalled of late by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show.

So in this worlds where we are seeing the war of Gay Marriage vs. Equal Marriage for all … words as always become weapons of mis-definition and weighted egregore. The great saint George the 14th (For those not keeping count that is George Carlin) said it best that…”There are no bad words… Bad thoughts… but no bad words.”

We use words to define and refine who we are. This can be either by single words that we try to master, own, re-direct, or any other number of verbs. My personal favourite will always be ‘slut.’ This word contemporarily still carries with it darkness or often an ugliness directed at a woman who enjoys having intercourse; often times with more than one partner. There is no gentle word for this behaviour for a woman in English. There is no gentle or even not-so-gentle word for the behaviour in a man. Though sadly, in a man it’s just behaviour that is expected and underwhelming when revealed.

These words can also be sentences, phrases, or oaths. Promises we make to ourselves or to others. I will be this way. I promise to do that thing. I resolve to lose twenty pounds in the New Year. And in truth we find ourselves fixated on the guilt when we either don’t live up to these phrases or worst condemn ourselves when we unconsciously or worse yet consciously break them with intent.

Sometimes we seek definitions to hinder, soften, or deflect other definitions. I am a heterosexual, white, and married male. Each of those words carry the weight of an entire polar opposite group who have members that avidly resent me just for having one of those. For each group represented by one of mine descriptors there are members that have committed (and still commit) great injustices. So, I deflect by finding comforting terminology that subdues each one. I actually consider myself a Queer, Jewish, Pair-Bonded, ummm… err… Okay… Now I mis-quote Meatloaf: “Three out of four ain’t bad.” Well, two out of four.. It’s never okay to admit Judaism… there’s still groups out there that think Semitic Genocide is still a good plan.

Queer? But you said you were hetero?!?! While I’m not going to go fully into my sexual views in this posting (as thanks to the Facebook revolution I now have active co-workers reading my blogs 😉 but suffice it to say; that I tend to view my views as avant-garde and often times challenging to the norm. This ability to see both sides of the line and to try to pull both sides closer has served me well as an ordained priest. Especially when offering pastoral counselling.

Priest? But you said you were Jewish!!! (And now I see the old Giggles and Goggles routine from the Electric Company. And please… This is a show that ran in the 70’s and 80’s. Any programme you saw from the last 5 years calling itself “The Electric Company“… Wasn’t even close. But look… we come back to the power of names and words.

My last post was about the change of my name. It’s interesting how people have reacted to it. There have been the obvious two camps. Those that knew me by my birth name and those that never knew me by that name. Society seems to not really have a strong acceptance for men changing their names at marriage. As I said before, it’s an interesting argument with civil servants who ask for my wife’s birth name but not mine. Of course there is one subset that does stand out, those that were there when the transformation began.

My name change happened outside before it happened on the inside. This is similar to the Watchman character of Rorschach who put on the name until one day something changed inside of him that made him change from being a man calling himself Rorschach to becoming Rorschach even out of costume. I can say with all honesty, The Greg calling himself Andrei was not a great person. He kind of sucked in many, many ways. There are those that probably would never be able to really accept the Andrei I am as I wear Greg’s face and carry the name Andrei. Again, the reference here is to an amazing two-part Doctor Who. The 2nd part “Family of Blood” really hammers home the idea of “The Doctor wearing an identity” while the identity itself has a life of its own.

Doctor Who also gives me another inspiration for this twisted web of the value of a word or name. In one episode we meet creatures that use the power of words to build, control, and destroy. Yet, when they try to use the name of a contemporary woman to kill her, it fails. She is merely rendered unconscious while the creature exclaims that ‘the name has lost its power and meaning to these people.” We’ve come a very far way from the worlds of “Earthsea” where people used public names because their secret names carried so much power over them.

Perhaps in reflection this is a possible reason why the Jews were so hunted and hated. Their entire language and alphabet is built on the Thoth-ian concept of the power of the word and the letter. The Hebrew alphabet is often referred to as the “Alephbet of Flame” as each letter looks like it was breathed out by the Old Testament God him-(white, male, straight)-self. The Hebrew Torah itself is copied by hand so that every letter looks and is placed exactly where it always is required to be. The deepest layers of Hebrew Mysticism come from the power of words and the numbers they represent.

So, while we wish to control words, we must also understand that words have power. A name can be as powerful an identifier as an epithet or slur. But power comes from within as well as from without. We can take on the power of a word as quickly as we can let ourselves be crushed by its weight.

Words are magickal creatures. They have a life and a power of their own. We keep them, we wield then, we use them, and we abuse them. But we have no choice… Words are the doorways to the unspoken magic that transcends the voice of creation and destruction. This is the magick that exists without sound or form. And when we unlock that power… maybe we won’t need words to cause each other harm.

Agape-

When you log in on WordPress it has a checkbox that says, “Remember me.”

I haven’t posted here since the interview. As anyone left reading can tell.

There have been a few things that have contributed to this.

  1. From the time of the interview I had a verbal job offer within 2 days. I was in town for a week 2 weeks after, had 3 weeks to move, didn’t find a house, moved to an apartment and this weekend I’m moving into the house we finally found.
  2. We were initially unable to find day-care for my son. As a result; mom has been on full-time solo-parenting duty. Please see my post on being a care-giver to understand how wrecked she’s been in the evening.
  3. I’m back to full time work as of 3-4 weeks ago after being off work for about 4 months. With this not only comes the adjustment of rigourous work, but ramping up in new technologies. Well, old technologies but handled in new ways you’re expected to learn, grok,and take ownership of already.
  4. And least of all… I haven’t had much to say.

Moving back to the ‘Burgh has been good. I bus downtown. (I miss my afternoon busses usually by a minute). I’ve reconnected with a few people. Some of which I thought I’d never speak to again. One really nice lunch this week at Primanti’s with probably one of the last people I thought I’d enjoy a lunch with. And for the record. I wouldn’t mind lunching again or more regularly with this person.

I’ve been chatting with an old friend from my SCA/Pennsic days online. Many of my old friends from then are married and/or have kids. (Hell, I do) My one friend and I have been up talking often until midnight local time or later. Since I get up at 5:30 for work (I am working 7-3 to be home early)… this has left me a little groggy in the morning. But the conversation is wonderful. So, I expect those conversations to continue even if we adjust our curfews.

I’m hoping this little exercise will start to break down the mental block I’ve had about #4 above.

Initially any new posts may be short so I don’t overwhelm myself into not posting.

My amusing link for the week has been the anonymous crush meme at:

http://www.thiscrush.com/~lordandrei

So here’s a chance to humour me either publicly or privately, openly or anonymously.

More soon. *waves*

Thanks to shadesong for the reminder:

December 24th, 9pm. Eastern Standard Time. From here on in I shoot without a script. See if anything comes of it. Instead of my old s&#^.