day 2 of being sick only makes me wonder what happens if i actually caught the flu this year.
a relatively short day begins with a review for Hong Kong Eatery (check my Yelp), the middle with false news, and the end with a hope for a better day. as i type this, i think "damn, the year's almost over. where am i gonna be on new year's eve, and who do i wanna spend it with?" thoughts in my mind about the weather, the festivities, and most importantly the future. nothing's planned, nor set in stone, even though there's a nagging in the back of my mind that it's already been and being taken care of for decades on.
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in this ho-hum day, i posted a couple of statuses on the facebook. one random update turned out to be either coincidental or providential.
i had posted "if there's one thing neone should do before they die, they shoud definitely confess to killin Biggie or Tupac." after listening to the radio and my itunes. the update is a play on the whole bucket list of recommendations for what people would or should do before they die. these things are as mundane as travelling to Europe, to as wild as wrestling in a tub of jello with swedish swimsuit models.
but anyways, 5 minutes after i had posted that, on the news feed, another friend posted a link to a youtube clip saying that Tupac's murderer was arrested today. link to one of many posted videos about the coverage is
it turns out that this was actually a hoax. i looked at the clip to entertain the thought, and during the clip, one can see on the news channel's scrolling bar that the date was may 20, 2010 or something like that. there are also a couple of slip ups regarding the date and time-frame of certain events as well.
regardless, whether or not the clip had been real, (though it would have been great if it were), the focus of thought i have right now upon said clip is the why. bleh, let me start again-word salad. { i would have been happy if the clip were true. it was not. nevertheless, it got me thinking why the clip was made. }
there were many comments on the youtube. among them are the standard spammers, the classiness of cuss words towards certain peoples and "representing your block of LA". in looking for more coherent responses, i had found two. one was that this clip was an attempt to promote the Tupac assassination dvd. the other is that suge knight is responsible.
i don't know of or know about the tupac dvd. i don't know suge knight. i can't say if he is directly or indirectly responsible. all i know, and i say this without implicating anybody, but this was my comment about it, that most murders are usually committed by a close party or had some intimate contact with the deceased. usually killings are not done by strangers to others (this is what i remember from my forensics class)
if either of those responses are true, that could spell out different implications, but again, i'm not sure. what i see in front of me though are that both of those responses are both media-related and media influenced.
the tupac dvd was produced by mill creek entertainment, a business started in the early 2000s and distributes dvds or box sets. i don't know much about the company itself, but i wouldn't be surprised if a company would engage in this in order to profit. after all, when bruce lee died, there were a string of movies released by dozens of studios that sought to capitalize on the fame of that legendary person. these films were labelled as "bruceploitation", a play off the blaxploitation films of the 70s.
suge knight was the current ceo of death row records. at the time, the whole east coast and west coast hip-hop rivalry was at its peak, with all the big names involved. during the latter point of Tupac's life, death row records was falling into decline not only due to the rivalry, but also because of internal struggles within the record label, mainly due to the increasingly thug apperance of the organization. prominent artists such as dr. dre, snoop dogg, and warren g had left to record and produce their own records. tupac had also talked about starting his own label, makavelli record, and also signing new talent. one could possible conjecture that suge did this either in retribution for leaving, or because due to his popularity, tupac could have been a major threat financially to death row records. again i don't know.
what i also know is that the responses to blame the media and these media figures are, oddly enough, being reasoned to us and conferred to us by the media. the same outlet that we blame for these behaviors is also our dominant source material in our logic. it's kinda like that catch 22 where you need to have experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience.
the important thing to realize though is that we're being distracted. yes, people can blame the media for X kind of people, or Y type of behavior, but the thing is that, like technology, the media is inherently good. it has started as its base word-medium. given, there have been many changes ever since advances in technology, but essentially, it has always remained as a channel of mediums to convey information. it is the conduit, the wire, the messenger, the container which holds a substance.
it is actually the substance to focus upon. the dominant themes within this whole conversation, elements of greed, power, thuggery and pride, are transmitted to us through the media and perhaps even driven to us as well. however, these people and parties whom are involved live outside of media too. in fact we all do. what i'm saying is that those issues existed long before media-those problems and shortcomings of people in society. people need to change those attitudes and individuals first before blaming the channel that provides it. it becomes all too easy subvert our brothers and sisters and even our own humanity when there's a readily available and prevalent scapegoat.
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2 more days and phase 1 is complete.
