This Will Change Your Life

Don't ever tell me that the iPad is not a powerful and fun tool.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYq97enkdx0&w=640&h=385]

I'm well aware that I just changed your life.

-B

"Wrong Worship"

Divinity School has been busy. Sorry it's been so long.

Give the next few minutes of your life to this clip.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJp98hoqy5I&w=640&h=385]

It is evidently a clip used in a sermon illustration at what appears to be First Baptist Church in Orlando, FL.

I've been to the church before. It's huge and their growing services are almost all in the contemporary style.

It seems to me that out of context this might appear to be a treatise against contemporary music, the performance-based nature of the art, and the sad reality that has come with the modern church.

I think this is what many people see when they see contemporary music. I think this is what many think of when they think of modern worship.

While I think the video makes some great points about the me-centered church and cultural bindings that have come with the modern church movement, I also worry about the danger it brings to those who criticize the modern church and contemporary music. Are some of the songs sung "hymns"? Sure. But, the giant stage, lights, microphones, and everything else that comes with it may add fuel to the raging fire around what seems to be a growing dislike for the modern worship movement.

It's an interesting introspective look at what modern music has done to our world, the dangers that lie within any type of musical worship literature, and it surely will serve as an accountability measure for the faith community.

Funny, too.

-B

Auto-Tuned Steve Jobs

Steve's famous words from his Stanford Commencement speech, put to music.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4VTZx5jcnQ&]

-B

Chris August, "Not Over You"

It's so good to see Christian artists being just as creative as the rest of the YouTube world. I'm convinced that this guy is a genius.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0vauPfKc4]

Thanks to Sam for sharing.

-B

Apple TV, iCloud, and The Future

When Steve Jobs introduced iCloud at WWDC, he announced a new thing called iTunes in the Cloud.  In essence, iTunes now makes all of the music that you purchased from iTunes in the past available to download onto any iOS device or Mac you own. One problem though: how much music have you bought from iTunes? In recent years, probably a decent amount.  But in the past, perhaps not as much. Problem solved: he then announced iTunes Match, a $25 a year service that takes your iTunes library and matches the music you own (legally acquired or not) and matches it with the high quality iTunes files.

This makes one thing possible: if your hard drive goes down, your iTunes will be backed up in their cloud services. Thanks Apple, nice touch.

Today, quietly, Apple updated the software in the second generation Apple TVs and allowed for any iTunes TV Shows purchases you ever made to be streamed to the Apple TV over the internet.  Kind of like Netflix, but with content you've already purchased.

Presumably, after more deals are made, iTunes Movies will be next.

Before we press on, allow me to explain to you what I do on a regular basis now. Throughout my life, before things like Netflix and Hulu, I purchased a lot of content on optical discs (DVDs). I got a little addicted to the 4-for-$20 deals at Blockbuster. We bought (or usually, received as gifts) TV seasons of shows that we enjoy.  And pretty soon, we had a nice little library of DVDs that had to find a place to sit in our tiny apartment.

One thing has struck me as strange throughout the past couple of years though: why do we do this? You know where my collection of CDs is? I have no idea. I really don't know.  Every piece of audio I own has been ripped into my iTunes library. Prior to Amazon Cloud Player, Google Music, and iTunes in the Cloud if my hard drive crashed, I'd consider my library of music gone. Not because I don't have the physical CDs (for a lot of them, I do), but because the amount of effort to find and rip would be too much to go through.  From the time when I first learned of digital music players (and particularly, the one that could hold ALL of my library in my pocket...iPod), I knew that optical media was going away. And it was going away quickly.

So, recently, I've been doing the same to my video collection. Slowly, but surely, I ripped all 9 seasons of the King of Queens onto my computer. It took time, yes, but it was well worth it. Because here is the process I used to have to go through to watch an episode:

  1. Decide I want to watch a random episode of the King of Queens.
  2. Go get a season from the bookshelf.
  3. Open the box.
  4. Find a disc (usually three or four per box)
  5. Put it in the DVD player.
  6. Wait for the opening menus (that don't allow you to fast forward) to end.
  7. Pick an episode.
  8. Press play.
But here's how I usually watched an episode: TiVo. If there wasn't a recent episode to watch on TiVo, I just didn't bother.
Last year, Apple introduced iTunes Home Sharing, allowing the new Apple TVs (and an iOS device on the same Wireless network) to access your iTunes library. Thanks to my handy ripping, here is my new process:
  1. Decide I want to watch a random episode of the King of Queens.
  2. Change the input of the TV to Apple TV.
  3. Choose an episode.
  4. Press Play
Because of this, I literally haven't used TiVo in months.


When it comes to personal digital content, I am convinced that this is the only way going forward.


And as always, there's a catch: Apple TV must connect to an iTunes library. Which means that your computer must be on, awake, and iTunes open in order for Apple TV to see it.


So this update today: big news or small news? BIG news. Why? Because now, you can watch anything you purchased through iTunes anywhere.  At the airport and forgot to sync that TV show you've been meaning to watch? No problem, download it from iTunes.  You bought it, right? You have the right to watch it. FINALLY.


But there's a catch: how many TV Shows have you purchased from iTunes?  Not many, I'd bet. Why? Lots of reasons: too expensive, crazy copy protection, only digital forms (can't lend them to people, etc), and more. Instead, you'd do what I did.  Buy it at Target on sale, rip it all and THEN access it. Or if you didn't know how to do that, you'd still be using those silly old things called DVD players.


Which leads me to my proposal: iTunes Match for TV and Movies. PLEASE, Apple.


Here's how iTunes Match works (from what we know).  Apple went to the Music companies and asked for it.  They most likely said no. Then Apple said, "We'll pay you large sums of money.  You're not getting a dime from people stealing music now, how about we do this and give you large sums of money?" To which the music companies thought, "Good point." This is the same reason Netflix has a bunch of content you may never watch.  Netflix approached the studios and said, "Listen, you've got content collecting dust on shelves not making ANY money.  How about we write you a check and you let us stream it?" To which the studios thought, "Good point."


This needs to happen with iTunes TV Shows and Movies. I own a bunch of video content in optical form. And I definitely don't want to have to buy it again. BUT, if I could pay a yearly fee (probably more that $25) and could give it the bar codes to everything I own and then have that content on any iOS device I want, whenever I want, however I want, it'd be worth every dime.


The studios would get more money than I've already paid them, and for those who stole episodes of this and that...the studios would be getting something from someone they weren't getting anything from. Everyone wins.

Every time you go to Target, more and more optical content is priced cheaper and cheaper. Why? Because Netflix and Hulu are popular. And because it makes less and less sense as time goes on.  Netflix doesn't have the King of Queens or the Big Bang Theory. And if I stop paying my subscription, Netflix goes away. I need a way to access my content that I own, in as convenient a way as I have through Netflix and Hulu.


Please, Apple, hear my cry.


-B

God Bless NASCAR

Somehow I missed this entire meme until now. Work has been too busy, I guess.

So...there's this pastor. I think he's a pastor of Family Baptist Church in Lebanon, TN. In April, he prayed this prayer before a NASCAR race: You don't want to miss this.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dCj7n1PhHA&w=640&h=385]Let's be straight: that was good. Quality communication with the Father if I do say so myself.

But only a few months later, big boy outdid himself. If you skipped the first one, shame on you. DONT MISS THIS ONE.

Boogity, boogity, boogity, AMEN

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J74y88YuSJ8&w=640&h=385]The faces of the drivers are about the most wonderful thing in the world. I'll forego this opportunity to criticize his use of the word "power" when he has been charged with demonstrating and relating the power of God. I think he stole the "Boogity" line from Darrell Waltrip, but he used it in a way that will be remembered for ages.

Of course, the Songify kids put this gem together (though I think footage from a Dale Earnhardt crash is probably in poor taste):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZnDt2wEFjk&w=640&h=385]I hope you've benefited from this experience. I know I have.

Lessons I've learned: I want to go to his church and God Bless NASCAR.

Boogity, boogity, boogity, AMEN.

-B

UPDATE: It's Lebanon, TN, not Nashville. Also, their website is a real treat. FULLY colored in Red, White, and Blue. You need to check it out. Do so, here.

The KJV on Contemporary Music

Michael Pearl (whoever he is) on Contemporary Music in the Church.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCmY3HgZF7w&w=640&h=385]

It is obvious that he has shining opinions. It's also fairly obvious which side he is on.

I hear tons of arguments for and against "contemporary music" (whatever that means) in the Church very, very often. Many make good points. Others make points like our friend above.

It is, though, an interesting approach to be sure. All of his other videos seem to focus around the Bible for guidance in issues he drones on about(yeah, I watched more than one). This one, besides the trumpet point at the end, does none of that. Rather, he uses "science" (and to use that term is more than a large stretch) to talk about how a happy song can't have a "sad" melody or harmonic pattern. While most any human would agree with this notion at first glance, I doubt many are able to make the jump that our friend does here (we might also profit from thinking about how many other emotions are portrayed within music, especially outside of the realm of happy and sad). Somehow he went from that concept to...rap music glorifies violence and rape. While we all know that many songs on the radio do glorify violence, rarely (if at all) do they glorify rape. And, just because a rapist listens to rap music, doesn't mean that all music with the same rhythms or "beats" is intended for rape and violence. It's a boggling correlation that makes very, very little sense.

He remarks that music that glorifies God has to have four part harmonies and be the music of "Bach and Beethoven." He also says that that was when music was at its best, "it was at its most complex." I'm a fan of both noted composers, but music has become more and more complex since the time of Bach and Beethoven. It is only within the past 75 years or so that music has "simplified." Beethoven's works, in and of themselves, are good examples of the progression of complexity that continued through time. If one compared Beethoven's early works to his later works, one might not be even able to tell that they were written by the same man. Bach was incredibly talented and brilliantly minded to be sure, but complexity within music (specifically within harmonic studies) has become more and more developed since his time. It's what we like to call "progress" and it is both necessary and inevitable.

The part about the trumpet may have some truth to it (I haven't done any research) but he contradicts himself again when he speaks about how if the spirit of God tugs at you then it is Godly music. He assumes that all people feel the spirit of God in the music he does.

We all know what you do when you ass-u-me.

-B

NOTE: My choice of title for this post is intended to reflect the irony of our friend's lack of Biblical insight into this "issue" while also explaining to the reader who Michael Pearl is. He only uses the KJV Bible, and actively speaks negatively about all other translations, including the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament. He prefers the Masoritic and Vulgate, which in translation were heavily influenced by church politics. Because when you want an accurate translation, politics are the first thing your need.

This post spends no time at all looking into what the KJV actually says about music (the trumpet parts appear in every text). If you're disappointed by this reality please accept my profuse, yet not that profuse, apologies.

"Language" by Stephen Fry

Great essay, I thought. And oh, the animation. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY&hd=1]

Found via Andy Ihnatko (On Google+.  I'd include a public link, but I can't figure it out.)

-B

Schmoyoho

They're at it again. The newest creation: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4NMoJcFd4&]

and, the infamous (and incredibly annoying) original

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc&]

Yes, I downloaded their app. I'll let you know how it is.

-B

I'm On The Edge...of Stupid.

Gaga's got a new video. It's brilliant. So deep.  So inspiring. So well-written. So perfectly executed. [vodpod id=Video.11139720&w=425&h=350&fv=]

She's received quite a bit of negative press for this one(But that's not that different for her, is it?).

In all honesty, she can do whatever she wants.  If she chooses to write a song while taking shots with her dad on the piano after her grandfather died, then tell everyone that the song is about her grandfather (ought to be sentimental, right?), then dress in scant leather and basically have sex with poles and brick walls for the video; she has the right to.

But here's what I think happened:

  • Someone offered her some kind of drug.
  • She took it.
  • She thought, "I'm GaGa; I can do anything and get away with it"
  • Then she looked at a friend next to her and said, "what if I just dance without planning anything and we make it into a music video and then I sell it and get huge publicity for it."
  • Then her friend said, "Stephanie, I think that's a terrible idea."
  • Then GaGa said, "Great, let's do it; I'll do it naked."
  • Then her friend said, "But that song's about your Grandfather!"
  • To which GaGa replied, "He'd be proud."
  • They filmed it ten minutes later (no need for elaborate set design).
  • The next day, the drugs wore off.
  • GaGa realized how bad it was.
  • So she decided that if she blamed it on a creative director, people would think it was brilliant.
  • So she did.
  • But he had Twitter.  And he corrected the whole world.
Thus, ladies and gentlemen, we get the current product displayed above.
I never knew Elton in his crazy days. I came to really appreciate his work later in life. I liked his eccentricity, but I liked his music more.  I wonder if the same thing will happen with artists like GaGa to my kids.
God, I hope not.
Oh, GaGa.
-B

PS22 - True Colors

They're at it again. Cyndi Lauper's best song. While not my favorite arrangement (and it is hard to tell what part are where due to the volume of other harmonies), the kids still do a nice job with it.

This is one of those songs that works so well for things like this too: great, gorgeous pop harmonies with a positive message.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUiPArKFafo&]

It is clear, too, that the kids are close to their teacher. Every time I see a new clip, I always think of my friend Andrew and when they did his song. Cool kids for sure.

-B

Schubert's "Wohin?" (Performed with an iPad)

I generally go for creative uses of technology with music. Especially when they include an iPad. Words cannot describe or encompass all of the things wrong with this, however.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C9iIKCtVCA&]

-B