October 26, 2011
X-Factor 17 to 12
In the end, the judges made the right choices but did we really have to have all that manufactured drama on the way to those decisions?
Choosing Dexter Haygood and then saddling him with that song and that presentation? He needed something more raw, gritty, that screams soul-deep pain … and he got vanilla.
Kicking off Melanie Amaro then bringing her back … did anybody, except perhaps Melanie herself, believe that was for real?
Making the music for Philip Lomax so loud that we could hardly hear him sing?
Putting through Simone Battle and Tiah Tolliver? C’mon, it would have been more real if Simon had put through Caitlin Koch.
The judges make much of the artist bring ‘authentic’. We could do with a bit more of that on their behaviour and judging! As it is, it’s like failed 4-person stand-up comedy.
Lucky for the show, the talent is enough to keep me watching. Melanie Amaro, Josh Krajcik, Leroy Bell, Drew … they’re FANTASTIC!
Talking about Drew, they should fire whoever styled her. Her hair was a mess.
Actually, Rachel Crow didn’t look too hot either. The buttons on her top was straining, and she’s such a character, I would have added bright accents somewhere. I think their own clothes were a lot better.
October 24, 2011
inSingapore: Oh the shame of it!
Last weekend, I attended a free seminar series at Raffles City Convention Centre. It seemed like a great opportunity to find out about liver and colon health. And indeed all was fine – good speakers (specialists from local hospitals), comfortable venue – until … we broke for tea.
The guests at the event, many of them older folks, rushed at the food … crowding round each tray as it was replenished, each stabbing at multiple dumplings with their forks, some over the shoulders of others. It was ferocious!!! And the thing is … none of the people looked anywhere near Survivor-level starvation!
SHOCKING!!!
February 4, 2011
inSingapore: Shopping Trolley “Thieves”, or rather, “Borrowers”
Now, I’ve heard of shopping trolleys being taken home by shoppers, leading to supermarkets having to send their staff to surrounding blocks to look for stray trolleys, and I’d seen these abandoned trolleys just left around the housing blocks. And I’ve always wondered: why haven’t I ever seen anyone wheeling their trolley home? Well, I finally spotted a family blithely pushing their trolley home today!!!
December 28, 2010
‘Emotion’ in church services
This Christmas, I brought my friend to a cantata by an accomplished choir. At the end of it, she opined that the choir was excellent, but lacking emotion. This view highlights a thread I’ve noticed this year, one that seems to have arisen as a reaction against the kinds of practices increasingly being introduced into churches new and old.
In churches with ‘modern’ approaches, the focus seems to be on providing a feel-good experience to attract more people to God. In the more extreme of these churches, there is an emphasis on performance and even entertainment, on faith healing and other ‘spiritual gifts’ and on eliciting emotion. In reaction to this, some churches seem to be going to the other extreme, and have come to be increasingly critical of emotion, seeing emotional experience as ephemeral, quickly forgotten once worshippers get home. This point of view has some merit – the emotional outpourings at some services do seem more like crowd hysteria than genuine spiritual experience.
However, my friend’s perception of the cantata performance shows that denial of emotion is not the answer. The choir may have wanted to be more restrained to emphasise the message of the hymns rather than the performer or performance, but in doing so, it has forgotten that the lyrics are merely the vehicle for greater spiritual truths, not truth itself. To my mind, spiritual truth must surely encompass emotion, otherwise how can we talk of a relationship and connection with God?
