Idol Chatter: March 2007 Archives

If you're a spiritually minded person who enjoys a fresh music sound that inspires, check out FFH's current album, "Far From Home (The FFH Collection)." Unlike some other bands of their kind, FFH manages to maintain a consistently fresh sound--every song doesn't sound the same. It's the kind of collection a spiritually-minded person can love as both entertainment as well as a resource tool for their spiritual journey.

"One of These Days" was hot on the inspirational charts several years ago and still stands strong as faith-based "up" song, celebrative in both words and style. "You’ll Find Me,"
"I Wanna Be Like You," and "Fly Away" are among the other highly positive and encouraging tracks.

FFH is also as honest as they are celebrative, including exhorting lyrics ("You're missing the mark on your spiritual walk") and honest prayers ("I'm ready to sing a different song," and "I think it's time … I'm ready to open up the door.").

My main criticism of the album is that it only has ten tracks. Perhaps there's a manager somewhere who wants to “keep us wanting more," but I’m sure a band like FFH had more stuff that could and should have made it onto this compilation.

-- Douglas Howe

Alabama's "Songs of Inspiration II" album starts with a wonderful spiritual posture: "I'm a pilgrim and a stranger, travelin' through this wearisome land." Then comes the familiar country gospel refrain: "I gotta home in that yonder city, good Lord, and it’s not made by hand."
If you like your Christian contemporary as country gospel, this collection is safe and will work for you. If you don't have that place in your heart for the Christian gospel, country choruses, or anything that makes frequent references to the sweet "by and by in the sky," this may not be for you.

Alabama sings with passion about their memories of going to church as kids, and they offer their versions of several of the hymns they probably sung there. If you like a hymn and it wasn't on the first "Songs of Inspiration" CD, it's probably on this one. ("Down By the Riverside," "Lonesome Valley," "Love Lifted Me," etc.)

Always laudable, of course, is anytime a well-known band chooses to express their faith in music. While this album may not be everyone's taste, it will warm the hearts of those who like Alabama and who seek to have their faith gently encouraged. And listening to a track like "When It Comes My Time" is a good reminder for us all to spiritually consider what happens to each of us when our time comes--and what happens after that.

--Douglas Howe

Gogol Ganguli. That’s the name Ashoke and Ashima fill out in the forms for their newborn when a letter from their grandmother--that was supposed to inform the Gangulis of their newborn’s name, as per the Bengali tradition of the elders choosing a "good name" for the baby--doesn't arrive in time.

Adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's book, Mira Nair’s "The Namesake" tells us Gogol’s story--why Ashoke chose a Russian author's name for his son, why Gogol struggles with it, and how he comes to accept it. Interwoven in Gogol's struggle with his name is the story of the Ganguli family.

In the Hindu tradition, the namkaran, or naming ceremony, is the first important ritual for a baby. Besides giving a child an identity, the name is supposed to be the root of the child's destiny. Gogol is nothing like the traditional Sanskrit names that often draw upon Hindu mythology for their meanings. But Gogol's journey to find out what his name means to him is full of the questions we often ask ourselves, making "The Namesake" a compelling watch.

The film's eloquence comes from its nuanced interpretation of Gogol and his family’s struggle as Indian-Americans. It’s not merely about a battle between the East and West, a clash of Indian traditions and American explorations. It’s about finding a balance in between both those worlds.

Above all, it's a beautiful portrait of a family, a lyrical story that Nair paints with vivid montages of seminal moments in the Gangulis' lives. Drawing on her experience of growing up in Calcutta and love for Satyajit Ray films, Nair not only recreates an older Bengali era, she also conveys the deep bond between Ashoke and Ashima that grows from a tentative beginning to an unspoken understanding.

At the same time Nair, who counts New York City as one of her homes, portrays the youthful exuberance of Gogol’s Manhattan exploits with the insight and ease of a New Yorker. Just as the metaphor of the bridges in the movie, "The Namesake" is about bridging the gap.

It begins with an arranged marriage between Ashoke and Ashima. Bollywood stars Irrfan Khan and Tabu bring the couple's understated romance to life. As always, Khan is masterful in his interpretation of the somewhat eccentric professor Ashoke. Tabu’s take on Ashima’s life as a new bride in a new country to her journey back is heartfelt.

Then, there’s Gogol, played with charm by Kal Penn (known more for his comic role of Kumar in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle"). As a child, Gogol loves the name his father gave him, preferring it to his formal name Nikhil. But as a gangly teenager growing into a suave architect, he starts to dislike it. His initial discomfort comes from the discovery of his namesake Russian author's idiosyncrasies. Later he wants to go by his formal name, Nikhil, to stake out his own identity outside of his father’s shadow.

Just as he struggles with his name, Gogol wrestles with the worlds inside and outside his parents' home. But when tragedy strikes the family, he begins on a journey of rediscovering his roots. But the journey goes much beyond a simple reclaiming of Gogol’s cultural heritage, an oft-explored movie theme. It's a deeper attempt to understand where one comes from, and that's what makes "The Namesake" a movie to be seen.

--Aparita Bhandari

If you look hard enough in the Gospels, you'll find a Jesus that any red-blooded, pick-up truck and football lovin' American he-man can relate to. Just flip past all the parts where Jesus heals the sick and hangs out with widows and children, or where he talks about turning the other cheek and the meek inheriting the Earth, and get to the part where the Lord goes ape in the Temple. Now that's a man for Men, or more specifically for GodMen, a growing group of Christian guys who believe that traditional church services are too feminine and sissy, explaining why less than 40 percent of churchgoers today are men.

Founded by comic Brad Stine, GodMen meets in a rented space at Tennessee mall hoping to put some hair back on the chest of Christianity. Daylong sessions are full of guy stunts (men bending frying pans and bars of metal with their bare hands) and God talk. "It's about men stepping up and being strong again," Stine told Good Morning America today. "A meek and mild Jesus," he added, "eventually is a bore."

Stine doesn't want to do away with the even-tempered, loving Jesus, just to put him in perspective. "There was also a table-tippin' guy that went after people with a whip," he told GMA. "I mean, that's assault and battery in the United States of America. It sounds like a sin, at least if I'm whipping you! But Jesus didn't sin, so apparently there are nuances to Christianity, an element to it, that we haven't been taught as men because we're different than women."

"So when we walk into a church," he added, "we don't see metal, we see ferns. We're not used to that! We want something that shows the masculine side as well."

So what does to GodMen offer guys?

"You go to this event, you get to be real and raw," Stine said. "We're flawed, we're messed up, we're not perfect. We don't have it right. We're on a journey, but we screw up every single day. But now you have a tribe of brothers that promise to walk with you on this."

--John D. Spalding, editor of SoMAreview.com

A hilarious retelling of the David and Goliath story, set to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." The song, called "Bethlehemian Rhapsody," is by a Christian parody band called The Apologetix; the video is by some creative high school students:

How much would you pay for a 16-ounce pouch of dirt from Israel? Five hundred dollars? Fifty? No, no, silly. Try 20 bucks. That's right. For only about twice the price of a one-pound bag of Starbucks' Sumatran extra bold,...