Today is absolutely magnificent. The sun shines on grass made neon green by a week of spring rain. I'm watching the Memphis UCLA game and listening to Cecilia Bartoli and talking to friends after taking a walk in the breezy day. Perfection.
I was also musing this morning about President Bush. Follow me, people, I'm in a good mood and my mind is all over the place. So, the Prez is in Croatia. And yet again, he's receiving a hero's welcome. They love him there. His speech was incredible. Gateway Pundit is on it, as usual:
President Bush shared these words on liberty and freedom with the people of Croatia today from St. Marko's Square:
The people of this region know what the gift of liberty means. You know the death and destruction that can be caused by the followers of radical ideologies. You know that, in a long run, the only way to defeat a hateful ideology is to promote the hopeful alternative of human freedom. And that is what our nations are doing today in the Middle East. The lack of freedom and opportunity in that region has given aid and comfort to the lies and ambitions of violent extremists. Resentments that began on the streets of the Middle East have resulted in the killing innocent people across the world. A great danger clouds the future of all free men and women, and this danger sits at the doorstep of Europe.
Together the people of this region are helping to confront this danger. Today soldiers from Croatia, Albania, and Macedonia are serving bravely in Afghanistan -- helping the Afghan people defeat the terrorists and secure their future of liberty. Forces from Albania and Macedonia are serving in Iraq -- where they're helping the Iraqi people build a society that rejects terror and lives in freedom. It's only a matter of time before freedom takes root across that troubled region. And when it does, millions will remember the people of your nation stood with them in their hour of need. (Applause.)
Democracy President George W. Bush was among friends in Croatia today.
See, I believe these high-minded sentiments. I believe that every person born deserves a chance to live and to live free. One of the reasons my support for President Bush has not waned is because I believe he is right in principle and that being a force for freedom trumps some of his other ill-advised stances and his inability to adequately communicate his ideals. I've said it before and I'll say it again: We'll miss him when he's gone. History will be kind to this president.
To end, here is a fascinating YouTube clip. This autistic child didn't talk until he was five years old and now, he uses his photographic memory to draw cities. These children are amazing.
There, I said it. I've said it before. And now The Anchoress is saying it:
Worst Jesus Praise Song Ever. Really. That’s execrable. H/T Junkyard Blog. 95% of all “praise music” and 98% of all Catholic “hymns” written since 1972 are just shudder-inducing. Most of what is played at mass these days serves as useful penance and not much else.
Ha, ha! The Anchoress makes me laugh. I'm so glad I'm not alone in my distress. Here's the thing: anyone who is musically inclined recognizes that the songs are all in the same key, they have no interesting rhythm, the melodies are bland, the repetition puts one into a zombified trance.
There are a few good songs. I've been forced to listen to this stuff because 1) my kids love it (more proof they're more spiritual than I am--not that that's a huge accomplishment) and 2) I was drafted to lead the kid's choir at church and they like this music.
Here are some Christian praise I like, with commentary.
First, "Held" by Natalie Grant (no relation to Amy). This song has great meaning for me because of my own son who died.
Second, going a totally different direction, is TobyMac singing "Made to Love". The message is fantastic. Redemption again. I love the line, "Daddy, I'm on my way." Check the lyrics here.
Third, "Remember Me" with Ginny Owens. This is a ridiculous video, but you can at least hear the music.
There's a start. They're not all bad, but few are truly great. See, here's how I see it. Either a song glorifies God or it doesn't. And some don't glorify God even though the lyrics are well-meaning, because the musicality of the piece is an insult to music and ears which are a creation of God. Good intentions pave the road to musack hell.
And don't get me started about Amy Grant's "Pave Over A Parking Lot". Just when I think Democracy is the best thing going, I remember that song and her singing it and I thinks to myself what a horrible world!
Do you know that there is a terrorist training camp in Upstate New York? My husband's family doesn't live too far from there. The locals are terrified. Not one on-the-record statement from a local. In America.
Do you know how good the commander in Iraq is? Do you know about Michael Yon, the great independent reporter in Iraq? He's a blogger, not some MSM hot-shot. He dodged an IED again this week while travelling with British soldiers. It's not all candy corn and sunshine in Iraq, but there's hope, too. Why is it that the media vascillates between certain doom, and paradise of Eden proportions (if only America would leave) when talking about Iraq?
Do you know that Planned Parenthood ignores the law when it inconveniently impedes abortions? You've suspected it, but how do you get proof, right? Well, here's some proof.
Do you know that Global Warming Zealots are for spreading the "word" and against scientific inquiry? It shouldn't be surprising, given that Global Warming can be classified as the new, "new age" religion. Meanwhile, "The Secret" causes some heartburn as new age nonsense. Small potatoes next to all the other nonsense being foisted as fact.
Do you know the biggest problem facing the music industry isn't suck-bag talent but poor college students down-loading 80s music for free? The best people in the world to sue are those who can't afford a defense, don't ya think? Where do they come up with a $3,000.00 number? Why not just charge the kid fair market value for each song?
Do you know that mothers pass on their cells to their babies and babies leave behind their cells in their mothers? And, do you know that aborted babies leave the most behind? Truly, a mother who has aborted her baby carries that memory and the babies cells with her, forever. The mother is permanently changed.
Do you know that you can launch your music career as a blogger? Yes, you can. This guy did. So stop making fun of me about my blogging, family! Not that I have music dreams, but I have other dreams and maybe the blogging will help...or maybe it's just a diversion.
Do you know all the stuff you can find in J.C. Penney's? Do you know that losing a job can be the beginning of the life you were Meant to Have?
Do you know about the teachers who faked a terrorist attack, terrorizing students unnecessarily? Can you say law and suit?
Do you know that we're in a recession? It seems to me that the recession is hitting some and not others. Since Texas continues to chug along, it makes me wonder how the northeast is doing. My family and friends seem to like it fine, but don't realize that the area is dead compared to the south. They're like boiled frogs.
Do you know that this will make the recession worse? When Wal-Mart is losing money, when GM's profits are off 90% (because of the mortgage market), when home sales are taking a dive, when sub-prime lenders are dying, and when all sorts of weather disturbances are causing economic hardships for bigger and bigger swaths of the populace, it's not good.
And for news I've missed that you shouldn't miss, go visit The Anchoress. I'm glad she's feeling better. She has a unique gift.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of joining a friend during her annual, musical quest at the Houston Livestock & Rodeo. For her, the yearly pilgrimage is equal parts freedom and bondage. While listening to the music, riding the rides and watching the bull riders, for a few days, she's freed from the constraints implicit in rearing five children. And, for those few days, she indulges in her love, fandom and willful bondage to her favorite musical artists and one in particular: Clay Walker. Each year, she selects a few friends to escort her to her musical pinnacle and I was lucky enough to be one of those friends.
Riding home after watching this friend dance and sing with abandon, we ladies had a philosophical discussion about fame and money and being a fan. One friend said that she felt that artists, musicians, actors and athletes who had "made it" didn't deserve the money they made or the adoration they receive. "I mean, big deal, they can sing or they can catch a ball. Who cares?" My response with a little more to follow was along these lines, "It's a big deal to the fan because the fan feels they can be a part of greatness. Maybe the person doesn't believe they'll ever have that sort of greatness in his own life and being a fan is a way to be connected to it. Or, maybe the music or art resonates energetically, spiritually and emotionally with the fan. The art connects them."
I then told them about the experience of listening to Reneé Fleming sing Twilight and Shadow from Lord of the Rings. I found this clip on YouTube, ignore the video and listen. Fleming strips her voice of vibrato, and imbues her delivery with such raw grief and pain I find it soul-wrenching. In fact, this music caused me to cry when I was beyond tears after the loss of my son. Her artistic expression exactly matched my emotional resonance. It is difficult to describe, as the words, themselves are in Elvish (a language created by J.R.R. Tolkien) and not comprehensible. As I have made the point before, lyrics are only a part of music, the music itself, is a language, and its meaning can be manipulated--say if the lyrics are in contrast with the melody--a sad melody with happy lyrics ("What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong or "Hallelujah" as performed by Jeff Buckley).
Other artists come to mind for their ability to touch people emotionally. Some, like Elvis, have been accused of being marginally talented. Or, like Madonna, not talented at all. In Madonna's case, her music represented the voice of a generation of young women, and some men. Her lyrics, the pop sensibility and tinny anger must of spoke to someone, she sold a lot of albums. (She didn't, by the way, speak to me.)
And then there are the one-hit wonders. Gnarl's Barkley's song Crazy is a nice synthesis of crazy lyrics, crazy melody and his crazy voice. The lead singer for the Fray, meanwhile, has a rather flat musical delivery which conveys beautifully the song How to Save A Life. The singer's voice is depressed--how difficult and depressing is it to try to save a depressed, fatalistic person? Some silly songs like Mambo Number 5, Living La Vita Loca by Ricki Martin, and Toxic by Brittney Spears encapsulate the things people do in the name of love and lust.
And when we see an actor reveal a complex character so believably, we relate to that performance based on our own life. For example, I was deeply moved by Sean Bean's turn as Boromir in Lord of the Rings. There are so many people I have hope for, who, hopefully, before they die, will submit to God, and say, "I didn't see. Forgive me. I didn't see." And I hope for forgiveness for all those parts of myself, too, where I deceive myself, and seek that which destroys because of my own blindness or weakness, and I hope that some of my contributions will be a sort of redemption, and I hope for divine peace and comfort. I project my experience on the performer's art.
So this brings us to the question: Why do people cry in movies? (Or any art for that matter...) The question of why people cry at all is still not resolved scientifically. Never mind, the complicated social and psychological phenomenon of crying about something that doesn't touch your life personally. But I'll give a stab at an explanation:
Humans are social creatures with shared, universal emotions. Good artists tap into this universal well when they touch people significantly with their creations. The more intensely emotional the art, the more connected a person feels to him or her. The fan, the observer feels like they know the artist, and in a sense, on that level they do--intensely. The artist has to come up with his creation from that same universal well and reveal part of himself. Like Anna Nalick says in her song Breathe:
2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song If I get it all down on paper, its no longer inside of me, threatening the life they belong to And i feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud And I know that you'll use them, however you want to
So an artist (the giver) dips into the same well the listener or observer (the receiver) dips into. To the extent that they experience the world the same way, is the extent they communicate. At the concert yesterday, Clay Walker broke down crying trying to dedicate a song to his grandma. His fans lifted him up clapping and at one point, singing for him. He was overcome and just couldn't get it back. I felt his pain, but not as acutely as my friend who has met him, knows his history and knows his life experience. While Clay Walker didn't touch me in the same way Reneé Fleming or Norah Jones or Chris Martin or Itzhak Perlman does. As much as emotion is universal, relationship is individual.
People cry at movies because the story shared resonates with their own experience. It is a form of empathy. Crying for art is one of the wonderful parts of being human. There is no evolutionary reason for these tears, are there? That purpose hasn't been found yet. Maybe God created us to be connected and to appreciate beauty in all its forms. Maybe God created tears as a gift to humanity, otherwise we'd be no more than an animal driven by instinct. Maybe tears ultimately connect us to God, revealing our smallness in the face of a big, beautiful, awe-inspiring universe.
Ann Althouse has a laugh-out-loud post about what music (or pop muzak as the case seems to be) to play at one's funeral.
For those who are vertically challenged: Randy Newman's Short People Got No Reason to Live.
For those who are goodness challenged: Pyromania by Def Leppard.
For those who are prone to sin but repent a lot: Sin Wagon by the once famous Dixie Chicks.
For the optimist: Let the River Run by Carly Simon.
For the perversely vindictive: Mr. Mistopheles from Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (Yeah, all you survivors can let that song roll through your cranium over and over forever. How's that for living pergatory?)
For those who want to stick around: Possession by Sarah McLaughlin.
For those who want to let the world know their dead spouse was less than a nice person: Since You Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson.
For those who want to surrender to the inevitable: The Long Day is Over by Norah Jones.
For those who want to describe the next life: What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.
For the hero: I Would Die 4 U by Prince.
Got any ideas? Actually, the hubby and I have talked extensively about this--I guess it's a by-product of the cancer thing and losing a child. We both have our wishes. Some of them are pretty conventional, some not.
Also, I want everyone notified here and now that we both want to be put in pine boxes (the cheapest possible) and cremated. Please do NOT judge the surviving spouse for the ignominious box. The funeral industry is a racket. It will piss me off on the other side to find out that 20Gs were spent on a beauty box. What a waste! Go on a vacation...buy a toy...something.
