Conviction

A well acted film about the true story of a convicted man’s sister’s phenomenal fight to get his murder conviction overturned by new DNA evidence. Hilary Swank does her usual excellent job as the mature soul scholar sister who becomes a lawyer to save her young sage brother. This is an excellent example of the mode of perseverance and the goal of growth working together to handle an almost impossible situation. The fact that her brother has an obstacle of self destruction makes the job even harder. The sister by the way, has an obstacle of stubbornness that at times, threatens to get in the way of her hard work.

The Grammy’s

This of course is not a film but television’s showing of the 2011 Grammy music awards. While many people have no interest in television award shows or even in popular music, they do represent what is happening in the world of creative artists, the prophets of the coming times.

While many types of music receive awards, the most popular forms of music are the ones performed at the Grammys. To put it simply, the primary music forms showcased are pop, r&b, rock, country, and hip hop. Pop is mostly young peoples music and performed by artisans and sages. Country is warrior music, the music of the people, all about their hardships and every day experiences. The blues part of R&B is server music and the rhythm part is often sage, artisan, or warrior. Rock is transitional music, that is, it expresses changing times and therefore you can find all roles participating in it. The more severe forms express a disconnect between head and heart. Hip op and Rap are bard music coming out of the tradition of storytelling so many sages and priests are represented here.

All these music forms convey many messages about current life on this planet. Some say “ain’t it awful” or “life is hard.” Some speaknof love and or disappointment and rejection. Some express rage at one or another aspect of life and some seem to say “just kick back and enjoy.” In this respect nothing is new about today’s music, what is new is the variety of ways these sentiments can be expressed.

I actually enjoy watching award shows because despite the crass corruption and commercialism they give me insight into the culture and the times. After all, I do have a B.A. in sociology. When you want to know what’s coming just watch the artists. Lady Gaga anyone?