183rd Annual General Conference Predictions

[MarkGrace]

Watching basketball and listening to conference is definitely better than just watching conference.

[myboynoah]

Watching basketball and listening to conference is definitely better than just watching conference.

You should switch things up and try it the other way around. Live a little.

[ERCougar]

I liked that talk most of all. but can't remember his name--guy from Guatemala.

[ERCougar]

That's what I thought. He's a funny guy. He's obviously very careful with his words, but he frequently manages to give an otherwise fine talk which is marred by an unfortunate analogy or gratuitous swipe at some bogeyman. It really is like he just can't help himself. See: "women as walking pornography," the persecution we have suffered for opposing gay marriage as analogous to the suffering undergone by African Americans in the struggle for civil rights, etc.

ha...that's exactly what I said to my wife. it had nothing to do with his subject. is there such a thing as a conference troll?

[PaloAltoCougar]

I know the three guys (including Elder Porter) who were in his "Oh what a beautiful morning" story. i guess if you live long enough, you end up knowing pretty much everybody in the Church.

[jay santos]

Monson trifecta.

[All-American]

I hope Uchtdorf's positive approach is contagious.

What could possibly be more optimistic than planning my first steps after achieving a position of leadership?

[OceanBlue]

Well I'm a better man after these two days. At least I will strive to be a better man. Last night was great, sitting with my 16 year old son always seems special during Priesthood.

[clackamascoug]

I know the three guys (including Elder Porter) who were in his "Oh what a beautiful morning" story. i guess if you live long enough, you end up knowing pretty much everybody in the Church.

A quarter says you were the singer.

I too enjoyed conference. Listened to every speaker, and was moved often. I also enjoy reading perspectives here. Kind of like a ying/yang.

[PaloAltoCougar]

A quarter says you were the singer.

I too enjoyed conference. Listened to every speaker, and was moved often. I also enjoy reading perspectives here. Kind of like a ying/yang.

T'wasn't me, although I admit to busting out that song a time or two during my college days. The guys in the story were part of a duplex filled with a dozen recent RMs, a pretty impressive bunch which included future GAs, CEOs, professors, a Rhodes Scholar, and some of the worst golfers you can imagine. I did not live there.

[pellegrino]

I have enjoyed the choir all weekend. I especially enjoyed "Ye Elders of Israel" last night.

And for the record...I like our stance on premarital sex. I don't want my daughters bed hopping. Sorry.

"Ye Elders of Israel" is perhaps the most masculine hymn we have and that rendition completely emasculated it. It was awful, the worst I've ever heard.

[wuapinmon]

[clackamascoug]

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...35b07593c7a6d9

I'm not sure what your link represents, or the purpose of your reply.

[UVACoug]

That's a fun thought. Reminds me of the NBC morning show in 2002, when they asked MoTab to sing "Bingo."

Mac Wilberg is hyperformulaic and predictable. Once you've heard one of his arrangements, you've heard them all. It gets so you can tell within 5 seconds of a song that it is a Mac Wilberg arrangement, and you can then predict how it will go at every turn. Overly-long interlude based on half of a phrase, then first verse in unison; repeat overly-long interlude, then women in unison; then men in unison; awkward key change, full choir in a'capella, climactic finish, interlude, repeat last line, interlude, "AMEN!!"

He'll force any song into his style of arrangement irrespective of the damage done to the song. Most egregious is his arrangement of "The Lord is My Shephard," in which he actually writes out the melody so the women can sing the descant in unison. He'll disregard important melodic elements of others, too (e.g. "The First Noel" "Put your shoulder to the wheel").

He has at his disposal one of the most talented choirs in the nation, and with that talent he serves up tripe that would fail to challenge an assortment of YSAs from the Logan Utah 197th Ward. If this is our contribution to culture, it is embarrassing. Bach or Mozart could wake up in the morning, hung over from the revelries of the night before, and excrete out more impressive choral music than Mac Wilberg can generate on his best day. Worst of all, he has placed millions of members of the church under a sadly ill-informed impression of what constitutes good music.

So help me, if I am ever placed in a position of leadership, I will see to it that he is posthumously excommunicated. I won't even wait until he is dead to do it.

I certainly don't have as strong of feelings about Wilberg as you do, although I will admit his arrangements are nothing special and have gotten quite stale and boring. He does a serviceable job with the choir, but I think there has been a noticeable degradation in the quality of the sound of the choir since Jessop left. Jessop was amazing. Don't know why he left, and probably never will ... but I wish he was still the director.

[Tex]

"Ye Elders of Israel" is perhaps the most masculine hymn we have and that rendition completely emasculated it. It was awful, the worst I've ever heard.

We are dying for our women to be more like men. Don't complain when our men become more like women.