P - Pesach

This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge. This year I have decided to go themeless. Each day I will post about whatever topic pops into my head. The result of this spontaneity is anyone's guess. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

It's almost time for Passover (Pesach in Hebrew)! I love Passover, but it can be a little stressful. I lead the Passover Seder for our congregation each year. This year, we started with about a dozen people signed up. The last count was 54. Setup might take a little longer than originally planned. But that's fine, because it means we'll have a great crowd. Many of them have never celebrated Passover before. I always enjoy watching the reactions of the newbies. You can see the wonder and excitement as they begin to understand the meaning of the celebration. As we tie it into the redemption of Messiah, it really gets their attention. Plus, there's food. It's an Israelite festival. There has to be food, right? Gotta cut this short, we're still planning and preparing for Friday night. Until tomorrow... Shalom!

P - For the Best Character Name of All Time

Welcome to day sixteen of the A to Z Challenge. If you're here for the first time or if you've forgotten already, this year's theme is movies! I am posting a quote, a character or two, and a brief synopsis of a movie for each letter. You then get to guess the movie in the comments. Answers will be revealed in the following day's post.

Answer to O: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Today we have the guilty pleasure of guilty pleasures. This movie is, by all reasonable standards, terrible. The plot is simplistic and obvious. There are no surprises. The acting is OK at best (with one significant exception.) The action is over the top. It is quite simply a turn-off-your-brain-and-enjoy-the-ridiculous-awesomeness type of a movie. I've seen it many times.

Synopsis
Robots fight monsters. Who wins? The audience. As stated above, just turn off your brain and enjoy.

Quote
"Today, we are canceling the apocalypse!" - See today's character.

Character
Idris Luther Heimdall Elba himself as Marshall Stacker Pentecost. If there is a better character name, I haven't run across it yet. Elba brings his A game as always. I'm not sure which is the best part of the movie; Idris Elba, the in your face action, or the special effects. But since I'm pretty sure Heimdall can kick my butt, I'll say he wins.

Anyone else love to just shut down the cranial power plant for a couple of hours and just enjoy? Let's hear about it in the comments.

P - Push a Dancer in Paradise

We're already to letter P in the A to Z Challenge. Today, we've got a variety of musical styles. In fact, we've got two styles in a single category. Let's get started.

Love
Plumb - I've been a fan of Plumb for over 15 years. From her start in Christian music in the late 90s, through her more secular music in the middle of the last decade to her return to Christian music with her most recent album. I got to see her in concert for the first time last month at Winter Jam. It was worth the wait.

Paradise City (Guns N' Roses) - On the other end of the spectrum is one of GNRs best songs. This is stadium rock at its best. Wailing guitars, driving rhythms, and the one of a kind voice of Axl Rose. Take me down...

Hate
Private Dancer (Tina Turner) - What is up with this song? Are we glorifying prostitution now? Am I missing something? I'll pass on this one. It also just sounds terrible. Not Tina's best work.

Hate to Love
Push It (Salt-N-Pepa) - Granted, this is not exactly musical excellence. It barely qualifies as musical averageness. (Hey, I just typed it so it's a word.) Sometimes, though, you just have to embrace the sheer fun of the music. It's got a beat and you can dance to it. And it doesn't have to be a private dance.

Tell me who you would put in each category. Do you prefer music with a message or just something you can shake your butt to?

P - Puppets

If you read my post for the letter B, you know that I voice two puppets for an upcoming show on Hebraic Roots Network called Torah Puppets. If you have ever done a puppet show, you know that it can be a lot of fun. It can also be very tiring on your arms if you're not used to holding them up for a long time. With practice and experience, it gets much easier. Until you get older and start getting weaker and your arms start to hurt all over again.

I've discovered recently that performing is not the most difficult part of puppeting. Writing is much harder. I (foolishly?) volunteered to assist with writing episodes of Torah Puppets so our head writer and creative genius Stan wouldn't be stuck doing it all and losing what's left of his sanity. I now understand why he's mentally unhinged at times. I've written one novel and part of a second. Both are still works in progress. It was hard work. Writing this show is harder.

It seems fairly straightforward.

• Have a topic.
• Pick which characters are going to focus on what part of the topic.
• Write dialog.

Simple, right? Wrong! There are several other considerations.

• Character personalities
• Does it make sense to pair this character with that character?
• Filming schedules
• Who is available to film with whom?
• How many different scenes should there be?
• Many short scenes
• Fewer longer scenes
• Timing
• 26 minute episodes

All of these things have to be juggled and balanced when writing an episode of Torah Puppets. You can guess what that means. That's right, I'm behind. Again. I don't know why, but the episode I'm writing right now just does not want to get onto the page. It's the worst case of writer's block I've ever had. And that's saying a lot for someone who (attempts to) write(s) novels. Oh well, I'll just have to keep praying and keep writing. It will all work out. As long as Stan doesn't find out how far behind I am.

(Maybe I shouldn't have written that last part on a blog that Stan reads.)