My Votes on America's Got Talent

So, a vice I've got is I'm a dedicated watcher of America's Got Talent. This season especially has brought out some outstanding talent. It's tough to pick among some of the very best, but here's my list for what order the finalists should be in:

11. Wait, Wait, Number 11?!!? I thought there were only 10 finalists! Indeed there are, but I had to put a vote in for Nick Cannon. He has really shined as much more talented than Jerry Springer at hosting a show like this. He can't win, but way to go, Nick!

10. Hairo Torres. They say Hairo is the best at what he does. Indeed, but there's a good reason no one else does it. He's fascinating to watch, much like a train wreck, but not very entertaining. He's easily shown-up by the club dancers around him, each of whom should be a finalist if Hairo is. In the "it's an honor just to be nominated" category, it was indeed an honor for him. He should take the honor and go home.

9. The Voices of Glory. I was fretting when the Fab Five and VoG were the last two on the first round. I cheered when they both went through. I really like them. However, there are a lot of singers in the final (6). Compared to the other singers, the two boys in this trio (especially 13-year old Avery Cole) really don't have the chops. 9-year-old Nadia is wonderful, but not good enough to pull this trio to $1 Million.

8. Drew Stevyns. I had been pretty much ignoring Drew as he went along, as he's a rather nondescript pop-style singer. He really gave a great performance of George Michael's Careless Whisper ("Guilty feet have got no rhythm"). However, his performance was all in the singing. That song has some great guitar riffs, and he just played rhythm (ironically) behind his singing. He doesn't really have the guitar chops to present himself as a singer-songwriter or solo pop artist. Drew belongs as the lead singer in a great cover band, not as a Vegas act all on his own.

7. Grandma Lee. Her first performance was hilarious, and her comic timing was perfect. On each successive performance, her material has gotten weaker and repetitive. Also, as the stakes have gotten higher she's clearly gotten more nervous, and her timing has failed. Piers thinks shes funnier than she is, but that's not surprising, he's British. Unless she seriously steps it up for the final with all new material and impeccable timing, it's time for Grandma to have a guest appearance on Jay Leno's new show, and then go home.

6. Texas Tenors. These guys are individually decent singers. Put them together with a very large dose of cheese (to quote Piers), and they're a very entertaining act. I'd be happy to see them at the Birchmere at some point. But one night at the Birchmere is not a standing show in Vegas. They've made a name for themselves, and if they keep refining their act, they've got a career to look forward to, just not as winners of AGT.

5. Lawrence Beamen. A very nice man with a very nice voice. Listening to him is nice. Nice is not necessarily interesting. His talent and performance merit a decent finish, and maybe a single on some Simon Cowell anthology album, but not the big prize.

4. Fab Five. Okay, this is the first one on the list that I wouldn't mind being wrong about if they win. Their back story is great, and they are on the cusp of being the Next Big Thing. I liked the firefighter skit, but the majorette piece -- Riverdance meets Bring in Da Noise Bring in Da Funk meets Toni Basil. It's not clear they've got enough variety to do an entire Vegas show, but they keep pleasing and surprising, so if they find a way to keep delivering, more power to them!

3. Barbara Padilla. Oh, man, did I want to to put her at #1! I cried from the beginning to the end of her Ave Maria. The opera world is tough, though. I don't really have the expertise to know how good she is. I think Cristina Nassif is awesome, and no one's really heard of her. If Barbara is as good as I think, she'll have a great opera career, regardless of whether she wins AGT.

2. Recycled Percussion. Okay, I admit, I don't really like them very much. But, much as with Eminem, I can admire their talent. Plus, it takes a great deal of creativity to make music (that can be appreciated) by hitting an old van with a sledgehammer. If they hire some additional creative writers/choreographers, they could be the next Blue Man Group. They are very Vegas, and know how to structure a performance. I'll never go see them, but they would certainly be deserving winners.

1. Kevin Skinner. I don't think I can be happy if Kevin doesn't win. He just draws the audience into his world, and makes you love it. When he sang "You were always on my mind," I felt like I had never heard the song before, because it was so gentle and sincere. I'm ready to buy his album, and buy tickets for his next performance at Nissan Pavillion. He's already won in my mind, and I hope he gets the $1 Million to go with it.

Dear Washington Post Editor

Well, I guess The Washington Post is not going to publish my letter to the editor, since the original letter to the editor it references is no longer available on their website. I thought I wrote a good letter, so here it is:

Dear Editor:

In a 16 June Letter to the Editor, Sophia Panieczko of Manassas wonders rhetorically "If the goal of antiabortion activists is to reduce or eliminate abortions, why aren't they enthusiastic advocates of the use of contraceptives?" Perhaps Ms. Panieczko is unaware of actual contraceptive failure rates. A June 2008 study published in "Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health" showed average contraceptive failure rates of 12% per year. This is "substantially unchanged" from other studies in 1995 or 2002. If half the undergraduates at a university of 10,000 students are sexually active, unmarried, and using contraception, then this results in approximately 300 children per year. All of these children are, by definition, unwanted, and most will be aborted. If advocates of "planned parenthood" really have "every child a wanted child" as their goal, why aren't they advocating for the elimination of contraceptives? Unlike Ms. Panieczko, I won't engage in idle and insulting speculations about what others' motives might be.

I hope The Post's readers eventually learn the truth about the ways in which contraception leads to abortion.

Best Mass Ever!

So, there was an interesting message on our parish website today:

A Message from Father Specht

Feast of the Assumption

August 15^th is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, the day that the Church celebrates the Blessed Mother’s spiritual and physical entry into glory. Because August 15^th falls on a Saturday this year it is not a holy day of obligation for the faithful. This means that there is no requirement to attend Mass on the feast this year.

This feast is also one of a handful of feasts that include a proper Vigil Mass. A vigil is a Mass intended to be celebrated on the proceeding evening, and containing it’s own proper prayers and readings.

Over the last two years the choirs have spent a great deal of effort expanding their familiarity with “proper” musical parts of the Mass. Most people do not realize that each Sunday and Feast Day Mass also has assigned its own “proper” music, intended as an intimate part of that specific celebration along with the specific prayers and introductions (prefaces) to the Eucharistic Prayer itself. We have used the English translations (and sometimes the Latin originals) of this music during most Sunday noon masses.

Now that these elements are in place we are able to celebrate some masses in a more solemn way. The Vigil of the Assumption of Mary will be celebrated on August 14^th at 7:30PM. This Mass will be fully chanted in Latin with the proper music parts. Mass celebrated in this way is likely to fullest expression of the reforms of the Novus Ordo, the Mass instituted by Paul VI. The Holy Hour normally scheduled for Friday evening will not be held on the 14^th.

Please consider joining us for the celebration of this great vigil.

Intrigued, and alone for the weekend (my wife & kids are out of town) I went. I have two words to say: "Wow!" and "Yeah!"


Wow. This was one of the most beautiful Masses I've been to. Yes, better than Easter Vigil at the Abbey, although that was excellent. What was wonderful about this was it finally felt like we were doing Mass the way it was intended to be. This took us, our community, in many ways out of the mode of creative self expression, and instead into the mode of conforming ourselves to Christ. It's like in a marriage where it stops being an effort to accommodate the other person, and instead becomes natural to be the person your spouse needs you to be.

Yeah! This is the Mass I've been yearning for. This is the Mass that the Council Fathers promised us. The use of Latin ties us with the rest of the Church. The expanded collection of readings (in English) open up the Word to us more fully. The use of Gregorian Chant (and some polyphony) expresses the richness of our Western heritage. The audible canon with responses facilitates full, active participation. (I know some people won't like me saying that, but I really find the inaudible canon of the extraordinary form indefensible. )

I know I said before "Latin, I just didn't get it..." and I promised to go an Extraordinary Form Mass, which I did eventually do. Here's why the Mass this evening was so much better than the one I went to before:

1. Consistency of language. Except for the readings & the homily, the Mass was in Latin. There was none (well, maybe one minor mistake) of the random switching between languages as in the previous Mass I attended

2. Gregorian Chant. Singing or chanting everything gave me, as I predicted, the time to understand what was going on. Thank you, Fr. Specht, for chanting the entire canon. I know that's not easy for you, but it adds richly to the experience.

3. Pacing. Nothing seemed rushed about this Mass. (Yes, it took about 90 minutes, but it seemed shorter than many 45-minute Eucharistic-Prayer-2 rush-jobs I've attended because I was never distracted.)

A couple of things I appreciated:

• Having the words of the Collect, the Gradual, the Offertory, etc. in English. I found that I could scan the English first, and be able to catch enough of the Latin keywords to both know where we were in the prayer, and let the beauty of the experience fully affect me.
  
• Also, I really like it when the acolyte incenses the congregation. Indeed, we are all together offering ourselves as a sacrifice of praise. Talk about active participation! We are also gifts offered to God.
  
• Ad Orientem. As I said in my previous post, once you've seen this, you'll never want to go back.
• The Choir learning all the parts. They did a great job helping all of us navigate this somewhat unfamiliar territory. Sure, they were a little rough in some parts, but I don't think the Holy Spirit minded.

Now, maybe we could start having Mass Ad Orentem every Sunday at the Noon Mass, hey Father?

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Fr. Specht!

A comment on the Christopher West West Kerfuffle

So, I had been carefully restraining myself from commenting on the current kerfuffle regarding Christopher West after he was profiled on Nightline. The first reason is that I am related to Christopher and even received an acknowledgment in one of his books. The second reason is that in many cases, I would have been guilty of committing the exact error I would criticize someone for.

Did the person criticize Christopher without talking to him? How could I do the same? Did the person criticize his teaching without knowing what he teaches? I'm no theologian to know whether Christopher teaches that or not. It seemed that anything I might say would end up being a supreme instance of the pot calling the kettle black.

Now, a fellow named Dan Kenney has posted his reflections on the commotion. I really think Dan Kenney has hit all the marks on the points I wanted to make, and has done so in a manner much better than I could.

I hope that more people read his posting.

Mission Accomplished?

Well, I can't really say that the craps table is finished. It just reached the point that I had more important things (like a see-saw for the kids) to work on. Obviously, finishing wood is a real art, and I don't have it. I was needing multiple rounds of painting, sanding, cleaning, painting, sanding, cleaning, and I just couldn't get the finish to look anything like I wanted. I finally decided to just attach the pull clasps to get it looking like something more than a pile of boards. Here's that result:
But, really the edges still were very rough. One more round of sanding, cleaning, and painting, and I declared it "good enough." I put it together in the living room; here's the result:

Gee, in that light you can see the finish really isn't very good at all. I played a few rounds immediately: First throw was a craps 3, but then I made two 6s and a 9 in a row, with several placed 8s hitting during the 9 point. Then I sevened out on a 4 point. Not too shabby. I discovered that every time I throw the dice, I'm digging pits into the boards at the end, so it looks like I'm really going to need to buy that pyramid bumper to put on the ends. Oh well, the craps table budget is about tapped this month.

I took off the players' long rail so that the kids could play. My 5-year-old really got it, and was placing odds on his come bets before I knew it! We played about 2 hours. He was up about 400 on an initial stake of 185 after one hour, but then he started putting blacks on the field, and ended up with about 120. I started also with 185, but ended up with 250 by the end. Again, not too shabby!

I went to put the players' long rail back on, and the way I grabbed it the molding fell off again. That makes tonight the 3rd time I've glued that molding back on. Neither the brads nor the liquid nails wants to hold it, so I think I'm going to have to find some wood screws and see if they'll work.

Okay, so it's about time to plan the craps party! I figure I can get 8 players at $20 stakes with a 10-to-1 buy-in. Hmmm, how soon can I plan this?

Getting Closer on the Craps Table

I'm really pleased with how the craps table is turning out. I got all the molding around the outside cut, glued, and nailed. Then I primed the boards. I discovered that MDF absorbs primer like Ganesha drinking milk! After an extra run to Home Depot for more primer, I got everything primed and sanded:


The black glossy enamel paint then started to go on beautifully. I'm really happy with how things are turning out:


There's only one spot on a piece of molding that for some reason, the paint started to crack and bubble immediately on contact:

I'm not sure what's up with that, since I've handled all the boards the same. Evidently there was something on the molding. I'll sand down that location, prime and paint again, and hope that fixes it.

The pull clasps I ordered from Amazon.com never showed up. I went to Amazon.com, and they don't show any record of it having been ordered, and the credit card has no charge. I must have done something wrong during the order. Oh well, I went to Fischer's Hardware in Springfield and found the clasps I wanted, anyway. And that without shipping & handling!

The sides are only half painted at this point. Once they're dry, I'll turn them over and paint the other side. Then I just have to add the clasps, and it should be done! I'm hoping no other hiccups show up, and it'll be done soon.

Progress on the Craps Table

Well, the home-made craps table is starting to take shape. I got a 4x8 piece of MDF cut down by Home Depot to make the 3x6 table top. I'll use the extra for the rails. (I bought another 6'x1' piece of MDF for the dealer's rail.) Here's the pieces at home:
So, I fine-tuned the lengths a little, and then put pegs in the corners. Here's the result:

Just don't touch it! There's nothing except pegs holding it together at this point. After this, I sanded all the edges down.

I started working on attaching the hardware to the corners to hold it together, and I've decided that I just don't have quite the right hardware. It was getting more and more complicated -- adding lattice pieces and additional molding -- I decided to take a different route. I found some different pull clasps on Amazon.com. They should be here in a couple days.

Also, I realized that the brads I have for attaching the molding are too long: they'll go right through. I need new brads. Also, the liquid nails was opened previously, and had seized up. Off to the store soon, then, to buy new brads, new liquid nails, and return the old clasps. Also, I think I won't need the lattice at all, but I've already marked it up, so I can't really return it.

I'm just going for minimalism on the first round. I'll improve it after it gets a couple of nights of play. I guess I'd better go buy some more 11.5g chips!