Commander in Chief

According to most conservative news sites and radio shows no one likes ABC's "Commander in Chief".  I, on the contrary, really enjoy the show, and am looking forward to the new episode tonight.  I am a big fan of NBC's "West Wing" (have been for a while), and was hoping that Commander in Cheif could be it's succesor (although, I'm not sure that is going to happen, the West Wing was a brilliant show respected by both sides of the aisle for its quality of drama, and I'm not seeing the same type of quality yet on CIC).  

Am I the only one who likes this show (actually, I'm not, 10.5 million viewers watched the last episode)?

Not so lucky, Bucky

Well, the results are in, and the Buckster has left the building.  Is it just me, or after watching the end video for each contestant who gets kicked off (the one with slow motion shots and the song "Bad Day") you feel bad for he/she.  Just an observation (they try to guilt you into voting). 

So next week we have Rod Stewart.  Sounds fun.  My guess is that this will be an amazing night for Taylor. Since the song choices are pop standards Taylor could go with something soulful and take all.  It's a possibility that next weeks show could be really good.  My guess is that Bucky fans will trend toward Kellie, some could go to Chris, but Bucky was 90% country and 10% rock.  Let's all hope for good song choice.

p.s. Did anyone feel really bad for Elliott and his "hometown" video sharing every single health problem he ever had?  I don't think he was crying out of sentimental reasons, but out of reasons of embarrasment.  Poor Eliott.

I'm Just Not Sure

I'm just not sure the American Idol producers know what we want to hear. Maybe there is some producer who is a closet Queen fan and really wanted to do a Queen theme night. I thought most of the performances were okay. My favorite was Taylor, just for sheer performance value, but even he sounded a little odd. The hope for next week is that someone stellar would stand out, the last three weeks have been flat.

My pick for bottom 3:
Ace, Bucky, Katherine

My guess is that Ace will go home. His arrangement of We Will Rock you was cool, but his performance was less than amusing. Did he really think he could do a rock tune of that magnitude. Can't you just see it now...the Backstreet Boy's next single--We Will Rock You. blah.

Song Choice, Song Choice, Song Choice

WARNING: THIS POST COULD SPOIL THE SURPRISE OF AMERICAN IDOL TONIGHT, AND IT ALSO COULD MAKE YOU LAUGH HYSTERICALLY. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Here are the song choices for our contestants tonight. I'm just not sure about Kellie Pickler and Bohemian Rhapsody...yikes. Oh, and Bucky...no.

•Ace Young, We Will Rock You: "I urbanized the verses a little, just by riding on (the notes). I put a little R&B soul on it. When we were done, they said, 'That sounds like a record.' "

•Bucky Covington, Fat Bottomed Girls: "Yes, we all love the fat-bottomed girls."

•Chris Daughtry, Innuendo: "It's a relatively unknown song. It just had a mixture of a dark feel and a positive message. And I just found out they've never performed this live."

•Elliott Yamin, Somebody to Love: "I was drawn to the passionate emotion of the song. I heard a lot of soul in it."

•Katharine McPhee, Who Wants to Live Forever: "How could (this) not be fun? We're working with so many different legends."

•Kellie Pickler, Bohemian Rhapsody: "We only have 1 minute and 30 seconds, and the song is really long. Having to cut so many pieces is really hard to memorize, because I'm not singing the song as it's originally played."

•Paris Bennett, The Show Must Go On: "Being with the band was a big experience to me, never being with a rock band before. I was able to pick a song that fits me, that's still rocky."

•Taylor Hicks, Crazy Little Thing Called Love: "You listen to a Queen song, it's really melodic and very powerful, and the dynamics (are) really cool."

The Music of Queen

Out of all the musicians, bands, and superstars this world has to offer the producers at Americal Idol decided to use the music of "Queen" for this weeks theme. Interesting choice? Fun choice? Terribly ridiculous choice? I guess we will see tonight. My only concern is that someone will try to outdo Constantine's epic version of Bohemian Rhapsody from last year, those are tough shoes to fill. My picks for tonight's best performers: Chris, Taylor, Paris

Oh, and remember to vote, we all know what happened last time.

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, the day that followers of Christ all over the world celebrate that God came into this world, wrapped himself in humanity, and lived a human life. It is because he came that followers all over the world can say "If the son has set you free, you are free indeed".



God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

John 3:17

This Weekend at Northview

This weekend at Northview we are doing part 1 of our series iDefy...iCame (Palm Sunday). This weekend is going to be incredible. Every element of our worship experience is going to point to the fact that the Son of God came to this earth, wrapped himself in flesh, and lived a human life. What an amazing God. The video below is one element of this week that I thought I would share. It is a video piece designed to accent the beautiful story told in the song "Why" by Nicole Nordeman. Enjoy this Easter season. The reason this season exists is how we know Jesus Christ is the redeemer and savior of the world.



Mark 11

The Triumphal Entry

1As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2"Go into that village over there," he told them, "and as soon as you enter it, you will see a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, `The Lord needs it and will return it soon.' "
4The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside a house. 5As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. 7Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it.

8Many in the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut leafy branches in the fields and spread them along the way. 9He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting,


"Praise God![a]
Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

10
Bless the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Praise God in highest heaven!"[b]
11So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. He looked around carefully at everything, and then he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he went out to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

Mandisa We'll Miss You

Tonight America voted off Mandisa.  I could say a lot of things, but the only thing I'm going to say is that America voted off the best singer on American Idol.  She'll be missed.

This has showed me that it may be time to start voting, because my guess is that the majority of those who watched American Idol last night would not have voted off Mandisa, so it was left up to only those who had the gumption to vote. Shame on me.

Oh, and, the music of Queen? Give me a break.

Goodbye Ace

Ace will leave American Idol tonight. That is my final analysis.

Bottom 3:
Ace, Taylor, Elliot

Headline: Apple Achieves World Domination

Apple is apparently moving towards world domination with their latest surprise.  Windows on a Mac.  Many people who have to use Windows due to business technologies, but miss the elegance and simplicity of the Mac can now rejoice.  Smart people out there at Apple.

The Worst They've Ever Had

For that last 2 weeks American Idol performances have been consistently in the dumps.  From the first note tonight I could tell this was going to be another let down.  

The biggest disappointment of the night was Taylor Hicks.  Taylor is probably my favorite contestant (out of any season), and I think he could still do very well, but tonight was a terrible night for him, but my guess is that he'll be back next week like a storm.  




We all know Mandisa and Paris can sing, but they didn't show their strengths tonight.  



Katharine has always been boring to me, but she gave us a little more tonight, no mistaking she has a great voice, just not the X factor.



Elliott was good, but forgettable, use the voice dude, don't listen to Kenny Rogers (the author of boredom).  



Even though Kellie isn't a favorite of mine, she did pretty well tonight.  



Ace has got to go, period (could someone remind him that the Backstreet Boys went out with the trash in 1999).  



And then there is Bucky, he's like the fly you continue to try to swat, but it just keeps flying away by an inch. My fear is that he has done that tonight, he wasn't good, but he may be good enough for that mystery fan base of his (who really votes for Bucky?).  



Chris was the star of the show in my opinion, he showed that he can sing and not just yell. Good song choice as well.

So that leaves the question, who will be voted off tomorrow?  If it was based purely on the performances tonight I think Taylor would be gone (I hate to say it), but I think he has enough of a fan base to be safe (I'm in that fan base). My guess is Ace or Elliot. They are both somewhat forgettable.  Who knows, what do you think?


Taylor why, oh why.

Easter at Northview

This Easter at Northview Community Church (where I work as the Creative Arts Pastor) we are doing a series titled iDefy. I won't give you all the details here, you can go to northviewcc.com for that, but I thought I would show you a promo piece I created for this series. Because of the wonderful technology that is YouTube, you can view it right here. Let me know what you think. Also, be watching this blog because I'm going to be a mad blogger these coming weeks of American Idol. Peace.

Back to Blogger

Okay, so I moved my blog to Apple's iWeb, and I loved it, but there was one thing...no comments. How was I supposed to know if you were reading or responding to anything I was saying? Well, I believe that blogs are meant to be interactive, so I decided to go back to Blogger, I chose a new look as well, something simple, bright, and cool. Let's let the blogging games begin again. Hopefully I'll post more often now that I know people are actually reading. Peace.

It's Been Awhile

I know I haven't posted in a month, and I'm truly sorry, but life has been busy as of late. I will update you on all the happenings of this month soon, but before I do that I want to wish you a Merry Christmas! Enjoy family, and friends, and enjoy this break.

Also, happy Hanukkah for all my Jewish friends
Happy Kwanza to my African friends (David in Johannesburg)
Happy Festivus to all my friends who are Seinfeld fans.

Tommy

World Aids Day

Today is World AIDS Day, and we never get any good news about the AIDS/HIV fight so I thought I would share some.

The ONE campaign was started last year to ask Americans to use their voice to influence the government to step up the fight against AIDS/HIV. So far, because of the response of the American citizens, 350,000 people are alive because America decided to use some of their resources to change something. I love hearing good news. Although we must continue to do more, this is a great first step.

Wonderful Quote

Silence is the very presence of God---always there. But activity hides it. We need to leave activity long enough to discover the Presence---then we can return to activity with it.


-M. Basil Pennington



This is a truth we all need to hear. Sometimes I wonder if our time spent doing nothing but communing with God should be tithed the same as our money.

Tommy

The Christmas Season

The Christmas Season has begun. As you know I am the Creative Arts guy at Northview, and our Creative meeting today completely focused on Christmas worship experience. To be honest, as a worship leader, the Christmas season is not my favorite time of year. Don't get me wrong, I love singing Christmas carols and the traditions of Christmas are beautiful, but it is extremely difficult to jump modes for a month to totally divulge your energy on completely different music, creative elements, etc. I will say though, that as a creative director the Christmas season is full of color, symbolism, and life that can connect on many levels, so I am excited about what is to come. Also, Northview is revamping its podcast to include video starting this week, so you can listen to the message and see the speaker all at the same time. Technology rocks.

p.s. here is a picture of me and my dog (it's not the best picture of me, great of the dog), it's also Emily's dog, and she also took this photograph. She is an amazing photographer and an amazing person :) check out www.emilyborah.com

Tommy

The Chronicles of Bethlehem

Check out northviewcc.com to see the next series at Northview. It's called The Chronicles of Bethlehem (The Search For The King). We decided to take a different look at the Christmas story this year, and follow the steps of the different seekers of the Christ child (shepherds, wisemen, etc) and apply truths from their stories. It will be an interesting study. Also, $5 for the first person who tells me what movie the promo music comes from (hint: it's not Chronicles of Narnia). God bless!

Tommy

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving day. Take this day and completely rest from the ongoing week that you usually partake in. Enjoy family, friends, and God. God bless.

p.s. did you know that the Seperatists who formed the Plymouth Colony actually observed Thanksgiving day as a fast not a feast?

Vinmergent

Great Podcast/Blog. He'll make you mad, sad, happy, and he'll make you think.