Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Poor Preposition Choice, Vegetarian Angst, and Seminary Dessert


So, I just heard a Nestle's commercial, and the ending tag line asserted, "Summers are better in the Nestle's freezer." Really? In the freezer? To me, that sounds like the worst summer ever...unless you are a snowman or an ice carving.

I had my first real vegetarian Lenten test on Monday when the seminary had a lunch and served italian beef sandwiches. The other options were salad, chips, coleslaw, and potato salad. Italian beef is one of my favorites, and they even had the giardiniera, which, if you are a faithful reader, is one of my favorite Chicago food items. Amazingly, due to some special dispensation of will power from on high I resisted. Vegetarianism has suited me pretty well on the whole. While I probably won't keep it up altogether, I'm going to reduce my meat intake when it is reintroduced into my post-Easter diet.

You know your team lost pretty bad (11-0 against the Orioles) when the highlights on the team's website include the infield turning a routine double play.

Tonight we had the graduating seniors' dessert with the president of the Evangelical Covenant Church, Gary Walter. Upon leaving, all seniors receive a Covenant hymnal and Covenant book of worship with their names inscribed. While I have both already, I think it's such an appropriate gift to give seminary grads because it reminds them that their call is rooted in the worship of the Triune God and gives them resources for that specific purpose. Plus, we got to sing some hymns, which I'm always in favor of.

Listening to Leonard Cohen's version of "Hallelujah" (the original) and trying to figure out what makes it such a great song. I love most of the versions I've heard: K.D. Lang, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlile, even Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris's version at the concert for Haiti. No doubt the words are amazing, but maybe it's because they fit so well with the melody's rise and falls. However, I think all of the covers leave out the best verse:

I did my best, it wasn't much;
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch.
I've told the truth; I didn't come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong,
I'll stand before the Lord of song
with nothing on my tongue but "hallelujah."

Those last three lines may be some of my favorite lyrics in all music. Here's a link to Cohen singing it himself a few years ago. Note he's about 73 in this video. I think he's still doing pretty well for himself, and he's got top notch musicians. Listen to that organ solo if you don't believe me!


Well, I'm going to read and go to bed. Later.

1 comment:

  1. 1.) Yay for flexitarianism.

    2.) What is with the sickness-plagued Twinkies? Mauer should use his millions on some better medicine.

    3.) I'm also a fan - of course - of David Bazan's "Hallelujah" cover, which keeps that great verse in tact: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=617WurAWEcA&feature=related

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