Last weekend, the youth group did a talent show/spaghetti dinner to raise money for the Opportunity Center of the Midpeninsula, a new center being built in Palo Alto to serve the homeless and needy. Excellent cause, excellent times, excellent garlic bread, and they raised over $1400. This, by the way, is more than the adults of the congregation have been able to fundraise so far.
Anyway, one of my favorite skits in the talent show was "Methodist Idol," a send-up of "American Idol," in which talent-impoverished contestants compete for the next chance at stardom only to be ripped apart by merciless judges. The youth group's way of making this funny was to start out with 'contestants' who were actually talented and making the acts get progressively worse. Their final act was two conjoined twins, Dixie and Trixie, singing "And Bingo was his name-o" by alternating every syllable. They won the competition, but it turned out the judges could only take one of them to Hollywood. Very silly. Very funny.
So, this morning, I read in the paper that Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear are starring in a new movie called something like "Stuck on You," in which they play conjoined twins who are arguing about whether or not to try to make it in Hollywood.
Who knew entertainment executives had the brains of Palo Alto 13-year-olds?
Similarly, the youth group told me last night that they are writing a play based on Mary, so they explained to me how they've been studying the Gospel according to Mary from the Dead Sea Scrolls. By choice.
What do I see in the business section this morning? A description of a local man who reads the Dead Sea Scrolls for relaxation. Keeps up his Aramaic, he says.
I have been saying for a while now that I like reading the Mercury News because I usually see somebody I know in the paper. I'm starting to become convinced that all the Merc does is cover people in my life and change their names.
And you wonder why I haven't been blogging. . . .