Sing Along...

Well, the turkey has been put away and we're officially in the count-down for Christmas! We started the rush towards "holiday spirit" so nicely, too, with the manic rush to "get the good deal" on Black Friday. (I'm just glad that I haven't heard anything about anybody getting trampled this year.) As Christmas gets closer, I'm looking forward to parking lot rage as people fight over parking spots - motivated by last-minute shopping panic. (I am reminded during this time how glad I am that I no longer work at the mall.)

However, now that the day dedicated to giving thanks is over and out of the way, at least we have the release of holiday music to play a constant soundtrack for us in the growing mania.

My particular favorite is "Christmas List" by Simple Plan. This song is great. It's upbeat and (more importantly) it's culturally honest. I respect that.

I'm not sure if the song is satirical or serious, but either way I like it. (Although I like to think it's the former over the latter.) It's also really fun to sing.

A few songs after hearing "Christmas List" play, "I Believe", sung by Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton started playing. (Thank you, Radio Disney, I guess I caught the premier release of the duet. The music video comes out December 8th.) My speakers are basically junk so musical clarity wasn't exactly something I was given, but I was caught by the possibility of some theological hunger that I heard in the lyrics:

What makes a miracle?
What makes a Christmas dream come true?
How can a man in red change the world I thought I knew?
How can there be miracles if hearts are filled with doubt?
It's time to leave the doubt behind and find out what life's about.

I believe in a wondrous place they call the imagination.
I believe in a childhood world of hope and celebration.
I believe in the miracle of love.
Because
Oh yes, I believe in Santa Clause.

At this point, I turned off the radio. The song continues in the usage of religious terms to describe a magical, imaginative god in a red suit. I guess we prefer him to the real thing, because we can control him.

Here's a sample of the song. Look for the duet (which has more developed lyrics) in about a week. If you'd like to listen to the song before then, you can YouTube "Tiffany Thornton 'I Believe'" for some really poor quality videos.


A few years ago, I stumbled across a lovely little ditty called, "All I Want for Christmas is to Get it Crunk," by Dirty Boyz. With a title like that, I don't think I need to go into the lyrics to explain what the hip-hop song is about or to describe the moral caliber sung about. However, the song caught my attention not only because it was a direct slap in the face to what every Hallmark Christmas card tried to paint the holiday season as and not just because it was the first song that seemed to honestly confess consumerism as the driving motivator behind "celebrating." To me, the song is one of those that highlights the purpose of the season in that it absolutely points to the need for a savior (while Christmas answers the need - celebrating that the Savior came to the earth). Don't get me wrong - I don't recommend that we go out and start listening to trashy "Christmas" music that is ridden with sex, consumerism, and narcissism...but this song in particular caught my attention.

But maybe this is the result we get when we look for Santa to save us. We reject believing in the love and the gift of Christ, who paid for our sins with His death on the cross. Instead, we "believe" in a man in a red suit, who gives us goodies according to if we are good enough or not.

To clarify, I'm not anti-Santa Clause. I absolutely love the Christmas season. I just think that when we see the selfish, frantic, panicked, guilt-ridden symptoms of a society that has chosen "Santa Clause" to be god (the reason for the season), then the obvious cure is to dump the old god and perhaps return to the old stand-by. Personally, a Christmas inspired by God and producing a time of wonder, thankfulness, and meditation on what Love really is appeals to me a lot more. Sorry, Santa Baby, but you just ain't cuttin' it.


And now I need to go to the mall...

Nancy the Truck Attempts to Thwart a Red Light

So I sat at the red light, my foot pressed down on the break pedal. However, it wasn't pressed down enough to keep the engine from engaging. Almost imperceptibly, the idle strained against the breaks - but to no avail. All that resulted was a gentle push as the truck's tires failed to move forward. However, I noticed the attempt at movement and pushed my foot down harder.

For all of the effort and energy spent towards moving, nothing happened.

Sometimes, I feel like my life is that way.

Laughing

So, I saw this a few days ago (and I remembered seeing or hearing it once in Memphis when my attention was partially distracted). I now can't get it out of my mind. I don't know where Ms. Spektor is at spiritually, but I think this song has a lot of merit as far as it provides commentary on our society. (And perhaps on ourselves?)
Oh, and I think the song is pretty, too.

Hurt

Here's an outline of how my thought process went the other day while driving home:

~ As to why pirates are cooler than ninjas.
~ A comparison of the Pirates movie(s) to Batman
~ The Dark Night
~ Heath Ledger
~ Heath Ledger's untimely death and how saddened I was by it. Man, I had such a huge crush on him.
~ The drug overdose of Ryan, a kid I went to school with from elementary school up through high school, when he died.
~ Why is it that we care more about the famous people who die than the everyday individuals who hurt?

I wanted to pray for their souls, but part of me felt like it was too late. They're already gone. But then I got to thinking about C.S. Lewis and prayer...and only God knows the state of a person's heart...

And I don't think God would mind me praying for others anyway.

So, I did. And that is all.