Viral. Contagious.

I must be about the last person on earth to see Matt Harding's "Dancing" video. I first heard about it today on the NY Times website . After reading the article, of course I wanted to see the video, which is here:



This video has nearly 5 million views, and over 23,000 people have rated it (with an average rating of 5 stars).

On the face of it, this is just a video of a guy doing a goofy dance. With some beautiful music for the soundtrack. But for me, and I'm guessing for a few million others, this strikes a deeper chord, even a sense of longing, or yearning. What do people see in this? What do I?

• Community?
• Acceptance?
• Joy?

Matt Harding's web site is here.

It's the Weekend. Hallelujah!

I was in Starbucks yesterday, and they were playing Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's song, Hallelujah. The first time I ever heard this song, it was performed in concert by Justin Rosolino, and then several months later in another concert by his friend, Brian Webb.

I'm told that some have called this "the most perfect song ever written." I'm not so sure about that, but there is something about it that tends to draw you in and take you to a different place.

I also get the impression that Jeff Buckley's version is generally considered to be the best, but for my money (which is Zero, since YouTube is free), I find K.D. Lang's the most compelling. She's not exactly what you'd call beautiful, but her rendition grabs me. Perhaps it will you, too:



And as a bonus, how about four Norwegian guys singing the song? It's strange, but captivating in its own way. For some reason, it can't be embedded in this blog post, but you can go to it on YouTube here.

Attending the Papal Mass?

As you may have heard, the Pope will be in the U.S. next week. He'll celebrate Mass on April 17 in Washington, DC. In anticipation of this event, the local transit system produced a commercial encouraging people to ride the subway.

The Archdiocese protested that the spot was irreverent, and it was pulled. I agree that it's not appropriate. Besides the hat being the wrong color, the depiction fails to show Benedict with a German lager in his hand. On the other hand, when's the last time you saw a commercial in Latin? Check it out:



Here's a short news story on YouTube about the controversy: