Last night's Grammy awards

Did you watch last night's Grammy awards? I did. It was easy to see that Whitney Houston's death the day before had shaken many people up and that the tributes to her were hastily added to the night's program. The somber moments were limited but seemed to be heartfelt.

The show opened with LL Cool J, the host, saying a prayer for Whitney Houston. While I understand that the producers and the host meant well by saying some words and wanted to honour her memory, I wish that they hadn't said something that began with "Our heavenly father" and ended with "amen". I know I'm not alone in not believing in a personal god who listens to what you say and I`m uncomfortable and excluded, having to listen to things couched in a religious way. When I've objected to prayers like this before, I've been told to pay attention to the meaning behind the words and to ignore the religious phrasing because its the intent that counts. My thinking is that religious phrasing definitely does not belong at a non-religious event, so why should I have to ignore the religious phrasing? Why don't religious people have to insert the religious words instead, if it's all supposed to mean the same thing anyways?

Anyways, back to the Grammys. The show overall was fun and entertaining to watch. I loved watching the acceptance speeches because they sounded so raw and honest - they sounded like real people accepting awards. Adele sang for the first time after her recent vocal cord problems and she sounded as good as she did before. Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen also performed new songs which sounded pretty good. Glen Campbell was there, too; apparently he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is doing a farewell tour.

The "talk of the night" was Nicki Minaj's performance of Roman. I didn't totally understand it but there was an exorcism and religion involved somehow. It didn't really make sense and the song wasn't catchy in any way so the whole thing left me quite cold. It was as though she was trying to be as relevant and interesting and unique as Lady Gaga or Madonna and in the end the whole thing was disjointed and mediocre.

Speaking of Nicki Minaj, she behaved rather badly, in my opinion, when she didn't clap for the winner of the award she lost. I understand that she wanted to win and was disappointed when she lost, but not clapping for the winner is being a poor sport. I also thought that Lady Gaga behaved badly when she got up to leave after the last award was given before the final performance of the night. Considering she was close to the front stage, it was impossible to miss her getting up out of her seat and trying to leave. I know she didn't win anything (and I don't think she was nominated for anything) and she wasn't on the red carpet, and no one cared much about what she was wearing, but to get up and try to leave before the show was officially over is rude.

Aside from those small things, I enjoyed watching the show. I even recorded it while I walked Gozer so that I wouldn't miss any of it. If only all award shows were so good, I'd be a much happier girl.