Get on board

So it finally appears that everyone got on that Fort Minor track “Where’d You Go?”, you know the one I was talking about back in November [http://tainteddragon.blogspot.com/2005/11/marital-status-retired-family.html, that’s the proof (November 23rd)]. It appears that everyone is finally realizing the totality of having soldiers leave to another country… I guess it takes that many people to leave for it to really start to hit home. Yeah, the video helps, I know. Don’t get it twisted; I’m not upset that many people just didn’t turn their heads to the guy standing in the middle of a city screaming at the top of his lungs. I guess I’m just speaking a world language and all everyone understands is American, sounds like a sad story… yeah I know. And I was thinking about that post, it’s got some serious meaning to me (the track that is) and like Linkin Park’s track “In the End,” its popularity doesn’t overshadow it’s meaning to me. [You know that song already, I’m going to say that I liked the song before it was popular… but I got no proof. That’s what makes this “Where’d You Go” more of a triumph.] The current frequent circulation of “Where’d You Go” will never take away from its meaning to me.

But since there’s this window of opportunity, I’m going to take this opportunity to give another prop to another Fort Minor track [that I can only hope will get radio play]—it’s “Right Now.” [http://tainteddragon.blogspot.com/2005/11/fort-minor-black-thought-styles-of.html, (November 22nd)] And this blog post is in that direction…

Sometime last year, I told someone I look at music and movies because what’s popular reflects on the society that we live in. The music that we listen to… it sets a general state of mind of/for everyone. For example, what I just said “it takes that many people to leave this country to fight a war many of us don’t believe in.” In the video for “Where’d You Go,” it portrays a family that was left behind; in the song, it’s about what’s happens to a family when someone’s gone away for a long time. See the parallel? It saddens me to see that it took this long… I’m satisfied that most of us got there, but sometimes—the luxury of time won’t be there.

Now you look at this past Oscars… some people say fuck the Oscars, but hold up a second. The five nominations are as follows… Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck, and Munich. All five of these movies are highly regarded, many will tell you that they’re all a must see. So, how do we pick a winner? [I gotta do this at least once, get on this board and discuss the best movie… but anyways] Many were running around and saying Brokeback Mountain was going to win. I’m not going to say which one I chose, because at the time I did not see all five movies. [I think they’re all great films, by the way.] Now, I had a general understanding of what all the movies were about. From the way it looks, the academy people always pick the one that’s most pertaining to the rest of the audience. They voted for what is most relevant to the rest of the country, and what has more impact. Let’s put it this way, they were okay will the gay issue. Cuz I mean, I’m okay with gay people… it really doesn’t dwell on my mind, but I can’t stand when people are racist. And the academy seems to agree… if it didn’t already figure it out Crash won. And there’s another reason why I liked Crash so much, it was at the beginning. “It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.” That put into words what I've been thinking and saying for the longest time.

I mean, I spent most of my time in the suburbs. Now I’m in the city, and I have this contact with so many people at one time. I witnessed the White Sox drive up my block after they won the World Series. I witnessed the 10,000 immigrants march outside my apartment to argue against a bill that would affect them. I don’t claim to meet someone new everyday, but when I meet someone… its never idle conversation. I detest idle conversation. When a conversation between two people happens, there’s got to be something there. If it’s about something that happened yesterday, please let there be something that was learned. If it’s something about what is going to happen tonight, please let it be about something more. Basically, let the question is asked… is this conversation going to matter tomorrow? Conversation is great, I love it. Talking to someone, getting their feelings about something, getting a different view… I could go on and on about it. But please… I’m begging you, let there be some substance—something deeper.

Now, here is where its gonna get cloudy, difficult… Idle conversation has benefits to it. [As everyone says, “What the fuck man.”] “General conversation” does a couple of things… it initiates conversation; conversation, often begins, with “hey, what’s up? What are you doing?” And even though its not gonna matter what I’m doing at 12:15 in the afternoon tomorrow, I still answer the question. As long as that’s not all the conversation is about, I’m cool with it. I’m just begging for something after that. Sometimes, idle conversation will tell you what a person is about. When I’m asked “hey, what are you up to?” I’ll answer with what I’m really doing. And that little bit of honestly, usually says something. “Chillin’, listenin’ to music,” (a frequent response of mine) that right there… that’s says a whole lot about me. And everyone’s got a story to tell.

Alright, now that you’ve finally “acquired” Fort Minor, Black Thought, Styles of Beyond – Right Now, allow me to speak on it.

Please… be aware of the encounters you have every day. Everyone lives in a world of their own design. Yet, we’re all together on this planet. This conflict with other nations, with other ethnicities, with other people/human beings… it brings a tear to my eyes. And it’s not about sadness, its anger. It makes me upset enough to say, we don’t deserve world peace. We deserve what we get—until we are really take a look at the world as one whole place. One planet. [This is going to come up again, it belongs in that series A part of a whole]
All of us, we’re going through something… we’re all experiencing something… take a moment and listen to what someone has to say. [Nelly – N Dey Say, lemme plug that one too] Stop this mentality of “it’s all about me and my struggle with life because what I’m going through is harder than what you’re going through.” With that way of thinking, you’re only bringing on your own ignorance. And…

Ignorance is not bliss.