#my pea brain is very fickle

[sanstropfremir]

Hey so I was wondering what you thought about Seventeen’s choreos? I don’t know if you’re familiar with them but my favorite choreo of theirs is Call Call Call (also it’s an absolute banger and my favorite song of theirs). That’s a pretty general question but do you think they live up to their image of being one of the best groups dance wise?

you sent this in before i published my hoshi response where i said i watch zero seventeen content but that's fine! i have actually seen a decent amount of their choreographies, and although yes the whole group is at a very high skill level and their synchronicity is phenomenal, there isn’t really enough in my eyes that differentiates them from a high level dance troupe (other than the whole singing at the same time thing). it’s very satisfying to watch a lot of people move in sync, but i have a very small brain and 13 people on stage at all times is too many for me to pay attention to in the way that kpop wants you to pay attention to. my brain is pretty hardwired to look for recognizable ‘main characters’ or narratives within things, and with the speed in which svt has to swap out centre because there's 13 of them, i almost immediately lose track. i feel like every time i watch an svt video i see a dude i’ve never seen before. 

i wrote my dissertation partially on this actually, but there’s a direct link between narrative and emotional investment. if you can craft a compelling narrative around a character, make them relatable to the audience in some way, the audience becomes much more willing to be emotionally involved and engaged with the material. this is a basic storytelling tenet, but kpop pretty much functions the same way. and with groups that are larger than 7-8 people, if the time distribution is even, it's very difficult for me to get a solid grip on who anyone is. plus, the higher number of people in a group, usually the lower the percentage of performers who have good enough stage presence to make it past that short screentime window. i like to watch things that change shape a lot, and although svt does do a lot of very beautiful formation changes, those 13 people are on stage the whole time. with a smaller sized group there’s a lot more options for the physical numbers on stage. i’ve also not really been able to parse what svt’s signature is? other than having a lot of members and being very good at dance. not that those are bad things; their music is generally very listenable, and when you are dancing in that big of a group you need everyone to look uniform or it gets messy really fast. but they just doesn’t hit for me. i think the most interesting choreo of theirs that ive seen is don’t wanna cry. 

so yes, i do think their choreos are very cool and they are one of best dance-based groups on the scene currently, but i don’t engage much with their content because they don’t have enough of a distinguished style and driving emotional factor for me.

#seventeen #i have incurable 'i must look for the main character' disease because my brain is pea sized #i do occasionally listen to their music #i know for a fact that fallin flower and dont wanna cry are on my general bg playlist #but personal style and charisma + interesting choreo + good song are the three things that get my brain in gear #and if one of the three is missing it dont hit #my pea brain is very fickle #kpop questions #kpop dance #text #rainbowchild421 #group analysis #svt w

[loyolahcmass]

Keeping the Faith by Billy Joel

Here is the preview of Fr. Rossi’s homily about the song Keeping the Faith by Billy Joel:

“Keeping the Faith”

By

Billy Joel

In 1983, Billy Joel made a very funny video for his biggest hit that year.

 The video depicts a jury trial to determine whether Joel is innocent and is "keeping the faith" with his music. 

 The courtroom is populated by 1950s acts on one side, and 1960s entertainers (including a Jimi Hendrix lookalike) on the other.

 Joel is guilty of nothing more than singing and dancing riotously throughout the video. 

 It’s a blast!

__________

 In another classic music video, George Michael also sang about having “Faith”. OK! 

But in what? In himself.

 It occurs to me that neither one of them must have known very much about the theological virtue of faith.  

 Sorry Billy and George! You were great, but faith is about how we relate to God Himself, not merely ourselves.

__________

 After all, one sings about having faith in his music, the other croons about having faith in himself. 

 The songs sold a lot of records and they deserved it, because they're great tracks.

 But how does that kind of faith, faith in what you do or who you are, change anything outside yourself? 

 There’s a fancy word for that: solipsism.

 That’s the view or theory that the self is all that’s important.

__________

 It’s good to have faith in yourself, there's no denying it. You need it for a "can-do" attitude.

 Who wants to hang around a negative person? 

 You know, a person who thinks he or she can't do anything and will give you every reason that you can't either.

__________

 But you know the problem with mere faith in myself?  

 I fail. Regularly.  

 And when I fail, I lose faith in myself. Quickly. 

 Eventually, I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again, with a lesson learned, I hope (another theological virtue).

 But I’ve still failed.

__________

 Which is why it's not wise to have the object of my faith be little old me and what I do. 

 Because Me, Myself and I? We're just not reliable. 

 We’re not evil or anything.

 We usually try to do what’s right and all.

 But we’re still not G.O.D.

 You know who I mean, the real God? The One in whom I should have faith.

__________

 Admit it. We're fickle and erratic. 

 We’re human. Fallible. Flawed. Pick you own word.

 Prone to mess up, sometimes on a grand scale.

__________

 So, back to faith, which must have a supernatural, spiritual object. 

 So, what is your faith in? 

 Your best self? 

 That's a good start, but it’s not enough.

 We need to ask a further question.

 Where does the good in me come from?

__________

 We’ve got to have faith in something bigger than ourselves.  

 We may be weak, sinful human beings, but we still can have faith in the Creator God who never fails.

 He’s the same God who also came to our rescue on the first Easter Sunday (Jesus Christ) and is still around to help us now (The Holy Spirit).

__________

 Even when we think He’s failed us, He hasn't.

 We just don't understand why some things happen.

 Ask that guy Job in the Old Testament!

__________

 Faith in God is the kind of faith that does change things. Everything, in fact. 

 Sometimes it's as simple as changing my attitude for the way I accept something I can't change. 

 Sometimes, it sustains and buoys me to keep on working at something I'm ready to quit on. 

__________

 Speaking personally, I’m grateful that I've chosen to keep my faith.

 I’m not bragging here, except about God Himself.

 Faith in Him, an unwavering, fixed object that won't rust and decay or get wiped out in the next recession, is a meaningful fidelity.

 He’s someone that isn't capricious, likely to make a mistake, or leave me alone to just figure it all out by myself with my pea sized brain. 

 Because it's with personal hindsight that I'm able to look back and see how that faith has been rewarded.  

 For example: I've never told Mount Everest to move, but God has helped me move quite a few mountains of another kind.

__________

 So, my question for all of us is, what is it that we need to move?  

 Our anger? Our bitterness? Our fears? Our unloving hearts?

__________

 If so, maybe it's time to refocus on what, or on whom, our faith rests. 

 Because keeping the faith in yourself or what you can achieve like Billy Joel or George Michael?

 Well, that's just not going to change anything significant or long-term.

 You may have noticed that Billy Joel is no longer putting out classics like “Keeping the Faith”.

 And George Michael probably died alone of substance abuse.

 It’s time to have faith in the Peace that ONLY Christ can give.

__________

 The Apostle Thomas and the other disciples put their faith in themselves after Jesus died.

 What did it gain them? Nothing but fear, panic and doubt in themselves.

 That’s why the Resurrected Jesus lovingly comes to their rescue in today’s Gospel.

 He’s happy to do the same for us any day!

#Billy Joel #billy joel keeping the faith #keeping the faith billy joel #keeping the faith #billy joel music #homilies #homily #catholic homily #Catholic Mass #hcm homilies #loyolahcmass

[paharvey99]

No Waitrose October - Days 21-23

Day 21

“Daddy, do the ROAD INSTRUCTIONS.”

The four year-old I live with is in the back of the car, demanding something. This happens quite a lot. For about 18 months from the age of two, the thing she was demanding was the song Let It Go from the film Frozen, which sent us a bit mad, but I quite enjoyed actually. Over the summer the thing she was demanding was the song Staging The Plaguing of the Raised Platform by the band Cornershop, which was unexpected and good. Today the thing she is demanding is that I give a running commentary on all the driving decisions I am making on the way to nursery, which is unexpected and odd.

I’m not sure how it started, but it’s been going on for a few weeks now. She shouts for the road instructions and I have to start going “Now we’re at the traffic lights, they’re on red, waiting for them to turn first to amber, then to green and now we’re going into first gear, up to second, third and up the hill, watching out for the car coming out of the driveway there, bit of a busy morning, give the cyclist a wide berth and now over the brow of the hill and into fourth…”, that kind of thing. All the way to nursery.

It sounds like a bit of a pain, but I quite enjoy it. For a start, I’m a brilliant driver, but given that no one else I live with can drive, I often feel like my talents are going unappreciated. So it’s nice to be able to pass on a bit of my expertise. Also, it turns out she is actually picking things up; I was joining the A27 the other morning and described it a bit differently to usual and an angry “NO DADDY, it’s the SLIP ROAD” emanated from the back of the car.

It’s strange that she’s interested in driving, I never was. Although I’m a brilliant driver, I have no interest in it beyond getting from A to B. I’ve done driving experiences in fancy cars as part of my job and it’s embarrassing, as the people doing it assume a level of interest in cars that I simply cannot feign. The worst one was in Las Vegas a few years ago, when I had to drive a Porsche around a track and an old man called Chuck showed me how to do it and when I’d done it he asked me if I’d like a USB stick containing a video of my driving experience. Instead of going “Oh yes that’d be great” my brain went “Why the heck would I want that?” and I think I actually laughed in poor Chuck’s face. I turned down the USB stick thing, but then it turned out that the USB stick thing was a brand new feature everyone was very excited about and Chuck was actually angry with me. But really, why would I want a record of myself driving? A record of not going to a high-end supermarket – yes. A record of driving a high-end car – no. Them’s the rules, I can’t do anything about them.

Speaking of supermarkets, we were driving to the supermarket, as it was Wednesday and you all know this means BIG SHOP DAY. As I mentioned last week, I was hoping to persuade the four year-old I live with that she didn’t want to go to Worthing Morrisons for a third week running. This proved remarkably easy, I simply told her if we went to West Hove Sainsburys we could buy a swimming costume. She has been making noises about wanting a new swimming costume for about a week now. She has been told about the current germs situation making it impossible to visit a swimming pool, but that hasn’t dampened her desire for a swimming costume. I think she just wants to run about the house in it, which is fair enough really.

Luckily, when we got to Sainsburys, the Tu range didn’t have any swimming costumes available. I imagine this is due to lack of demand, due to swimming pools not being open and it being autumn. I also suspect they are yet to identify the “Four year-olds who want to run about the house in swimming costumes” market, more fool them.

Excitingly, the big shop came to exactly £88.88, which meant that we were eligible for nine packets of free Lego cards. We already have about 17 packets of unopened Lego cards in the back of the car, as they’re really not very exciting, but I feigned excitement and accepted the cards gratefully from the woman at the till. Then the man behind us in the queue piped up that he was doing a big shop and if we wanted to wait until he’d paid, we could have his sure-to-be extensive quota of Lego cards as well. I said thank you, but we had to get on home, which was true, and he looked put out that we’d turned down his kind offer.

I realise now that this is vaguely similar to the situation with Chuck in Las Vegas that I related earlier; this wasn’t intentional, it just came out that way, honest.

Being Wednesday, we went home, unpacked the shopping, had lunch and then I took the four year-old I live with into nursery for the afternoon, while I did some work.

Once everyone was back at home and the four year-old was washed and in bed, the person I live with and I had roast chicken, potatoes and veg for tea. I’d put two courgettes in with the potatoes, carrots and chicken; the courgettes made the whole thing very wet, as courgettes are basically just water. So, no crispy roast potatoes, more of a soggy roast, which sounds bad but wasn’t. All roasts are good roasts in my book.

After tea we started watching another film, we’ve really got into films recently. We found the Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman 1992 vehicle Far and Away on Netflix, it’s a completely watchable mess of a film, highly recommended.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

Day 22

Thursday is the day of the week when I like to get as much work as possible done, so that’s what I did. The day goes by in a bit of a whirl with not much to report usually, and it was the case today I’m afraid. Breakfast, nursery run, work work work, last night’s tea reheated for lunch, work work work, nursery run, evening.

Oh, here’s the exciting thing that happened – at around lunchtime my computer decided it needed to do a big restart and updates thing, you know, the way they do. It had been nagging me about for some time, and then at 11.30am it just announced that it was going to do its update right now and it didn’t care what I thought, so that was that. I took the opportunity to make tea for later, which turned out to be a curry, a basic tomato masala with some mushrooms and the rest of last night’s chicken chucked in.

It puttered away all afternoon and then in the evening, just as we were about to eat, I realised that there wasn’t enough chicken left over from last night for the amount of curry that I had made. The sauce looked a bit sparse; I needed something to bulk it out, really. In the freezer I had some paneer, so I decided to chuck it in. I sawed the frozen block of cheese into bits with a breadknife, not a recommended procedure, and then chucked it in the curry. It turned out that paneer doesn’t take kindly to being treated in this fashion and the texture had gone completely weird. Not inedible, but not massively nice. Just about got away with it though.

I’ve just realised that I advertised that story about weirdly-textured cheese as an “exciting thing that happened”. Sorry about that.

After tea we watched the rest of Far and Away, very much the film equivalent of an odd-tasting cheese and chicken curry.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

Day 23

Fridays are very similar to Thursdays at the moment, with the main difference being the proximity to the weekend. As such, it was another breakfast, nursery run, work work work, last night’s tea reheated for lunch, work work work, kind of a day.

Being Friday though, I did the evening nursery run slightly earlier than usual and took the four year-old I live with to M&S Food at Hollingbury as a special treat on the way home. She’s never been before, I thought she might enjoy it – and my hunch was correct. As we pulled up, she looked out of the window and exclaimed, “I love it Daddy, the colours are beautiful!” and once we were inside she looked around in wonder and said “This is the greatest shop ever!”. She said the same in Worthing Morrisons though, she’s quite fickle with her affections.

We only really needed milk, but I picked up a few other bits as well, including a pumpkin for carving and some Christmas stuff. Seeing as we’re almost certainly having Christmas at home this year, I’ve been making an effort to buy stuff that you want to have around at Christmas that other people (ie my mum) usually provide. Last week I bought a big tub of Celebrations, and in M&S I got a big biscuit assortment and some chocolate coins. I’ve also bought Nigella’s Christmas book off Ebay to get some further inspiration.

On the way home the four year-old I live with ate chocolate coins as a Friday treat and we listened to some jazz in the rain. My dad bought me an album called Everybody Digs Bill Evans for my birthday and I’ve finally got round to listening to it. I have no idea who Bill Evans is, or was, other than that he makes jazz that fits nicely with driving around Brighton on a wet Friday evening. I’ll let my dad know.

Later I made spicy pork balls with aubergine and peas for tea, but I got carried away with the chilli on the aubergine so I served it without the aubergine. It was ok, I’m going to have to find some way of using the spicy aubergine tomorrow though.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.