What is Right?

i'm sure everyone is aware, the first pic is lady justice.  the dude in the video there?  his name is james dalby.  i had never heard of him until about 20 minutes ago, but that video is spectacular.  i highly recommend that you watch it.

so i'm writing this post b/c james dalby's video reminded me of something.  i'm now going to be honest and say, i really like the song, "ignition (remix)," by r. kelly.  i first heard this song a little bit after r. kelly was arrested for... statutory rape?  am i remembering this correctly?  i remember there was a whole thing about how he peed on some girl and all, but he got arrested b/c she was underage, no?

anyway, what i wrote about "ignition," a few sentences back?  for as much as i like that song, i think i said it less than a handful of times.  the reason for it is b/c i always felt like if i said i liked the song, it meant i was making some sort of a statement about how i felt about r. kelly as a person.

to go off on a tangent a little bit, in all honesty, i'm not sure what to think about r. kelly's situation.  i mean... live and let live (as long as you're not hurting other people) is my usual motto, but he did break the law.  however, operating under the assumption that he was arrested for statutory rape, why is the age for consent set at 18 in the us?  i only ask this b/c in korea, it's like 13 or something.  so then it's just an arbitrary number that someone picked, right?  so like i said, i'm a little confused about r. kelly.  THIS IS MAINLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT I KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT THE STORY.  AND I DON'T CARE ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY LOOK IT UP.

but that's not what i wanted to talk about anyway, so it matters not.  what i actually wanted to write about was chris brown.  so he beat rihanna, yes?  now that, i agree it's wrong.  it's also illegal in the us.  yet if i say i like his music, does that make me a bad person?  by being a fan of his songs, am i somehow excusing his behavior?

what about michael vick?  can i say i'm a fan of his without being thought of as someone who thinks treating animals cruelly is cool?  what about ray lewis?  lindsay lohan?

i guess my question, ultimately, is this: where should we draw the line?

Pyrrhic Victory

i finally saw "zero dark thirty" last weekend.  i've seen better movies, but i felt like this one of those movies i had to see at least once.  it was worth watching.

but the part that really struck me about the movie was the very last scene.  the scene where she's sitting there and crying?  if someone told me she was crying tears of joy for a job well done, i'll say that person didn't watch this movie.  i have an idea about why she was crying, but let's get this clear: those were NOT tears of joy.

the reason those tears struck me was b/c personally, it confirmed what i thought about the movie.  for people who haven't seen the movie, the movie follows a cia... agent?  i don't think they use that word to describe their people.  operative?  anyway, the movie follows a cia employee's 10+ year hunt for bin laden.  and spoiler alert, she succeeds in finding him.

but the movie also felt like a character study.  by focusing on this one person throughout the entire movie, who we know nothing about, we see her changing.  in the beginning, torturing makes her uncomfortable.  but as the movie goes on, she changes.  by the end of the movie, this is all there is to her.  she sacrificed EVERYTHING for this one goal.  to be honest, this made me feel bad for her.

before anyone accuses me of being unpatriotic, allow me to explain.  the goal was worthy.  for the thousands of innocent lives that were taken, i'm glad we pursued him for so long to kill him.  but the reason i felt bad for the character is b/c even though she was successful in her mission, the single thing that drove her for 10+ years, nothing had changed.  and in that scene, i think she realized that perhaps it was a pyrrhic victory, on a personal level.

Different Perspective

i was born in the early 80s and did most of my growing up in the 90s.  i mention this b/c if i was creating a soundtrack of my life, most of my songs would come from the 90s and early 2000s.  on occasion, i watch music videos of the songs i grew up with on youtube and i know i shouldn't do this, but at times, i read some of the comments that are on there.  and there's usually 2 types:

1. "i miss music from this time, today's music sucks."

2. "i'm watching this video b/c of (insert whoever's name here)."  most recently, i don't remember what video i was watching, but multiple commenters said they came to that video b/c of ray lewis, which was a little confusing to me.  were they talking about ray lewis, the football player?  or is there a singer named ray lewis?  obviously, i missed something.

the 2nd type of comment is whatever.  it's nothing to pay attention to.  however, the first type of comment makes me think, b/c if i'm honest... i think i agree with its sentiment.  but let me be clear, it's not that i think the comment is true in an objective sense.  i think it's true as an opinion.  and that makes all the difference.

so why do i think today's music sucks compared to the music i grew up with (one more clarification: i don't think today's music sucks, it's just i don't like a lot of it)?  i think the answer is quite simple.  i mentioned this in a previous entry, but a writer once said that there is something to be said for being alive during the time of the song's original popularity.  i mean, i can like the beatles as much as i want, but it's gotta be a VERY different feeling from someone who was not only alive, but genuinely cared about music at the time the beatles were actually performing and releasing new music, right?

when i graduated from college, one of my friends told me about a band called bloc party.  i was definitely interested b/c i liked the name of the group, but i couldn't get into them.  and these days, since i don't listen to the radio (it doesn't work in my car), i have very few opportunities to listen to new music.  but that's not really an explanation for anything, since i do keep up with korean music.  it's just that i choose not to keep up with the majority of today's music.

so back to my question: why do i not like the majority of today's music?  it's b/c music isn't as important to me anymore.  when i was growing up, music played such a big role in my life.  i loved it and it mattered.  today, it's more of a hobby.  i still love it, but b/c my life has grown more cluttered, it matters less.

i guess that's just the way life is.  i'm sure when i get much older and i have less clutter in my life, music will matter more once again.

Looking Outward

i read an article from cracked.com like 2 weeks back that i REALLY liked.  i linked it on fb once, but allow me to paraphrase it for you: the only thing that counts about you is what you can do for other people.  please cut the bullshit about how you disagree.  even Jesus healed people and taught life-changing lessons.  if you can't do something that will benefit other people... well, then.  i don't know what to tell you, other than let's start being people with value.

on that note, like the author of that article said, my new year's resolutions will be to add something to myself that can benefit others.  i have other goals, but they're more... selfish, so i won't be sharing them here.  here i go:

1. i'll graduate from usc with a 4.0 gpa.  if i may go on a tangent for a moment, i have received straight a's only once while in school and that was in 8th grade and my dad lied to me about buying me a bike if i got all a's.  it's ok, dad.  i'm over it now.  but i'm saying it here right now, i'll graduate with a 4.0 gpa and be a kick-ass teacher.  people will move their families and lie about their addresses so their children can go to my school.

2. learn to play the guitar.  because "learning to play" an instrument is such a vague phrase, i'll say, i'll learn to play 5 songs on the guitar.  those 5 songs will be: "sweet child o' mine," "faith (by george michael)," "사랑은 비를 타고 (by cn blue)," "more than a feeling," and "all for you (by sister hazel)."  that's 5.  this will benefit my girl, just in case you were wondering. =P

3... i've been racking my brain for a few minutes now and i can't think of anything.  i came up with a few more things but those are not possible until i start working, so i'll make a mental note and save those for the future.

so like i said, let's add value to the world.  the ability to breathe isn't enough.  what do you bring to the table?