.:: LiBM ::.

Suge Knight’s Unfinished Business

Al Sharpton schools FOX News

FOX News is taken to school once again, this time by Al Sharpton as he is asked his take on the whole Obama and his pastor issue.

Take notes .

Pussification, pt. 1 – criticism
Virtues: criticism (duh), bodies of work, constructive, pride, ‘tough skin’
View Pussification pt. 0 – An Abstract, to get familiar.

This is not a piece on American Idol, as it continues another run to churn out a pop tart, I’m tired of Idol, but I’m going to use one of Idol’s ‘stars’ to touch on acts in pussification; specifically on the topic of ‘criticism’.

Many hate on him, but I think that Simon Cowell deserves some award for being so genuine – in an industry that doesn’t know what the word means. We have all seen American Idol and especially the horrid singers perform a putrid rendition of a pop classic. Simon received criticism for being too brutally critical on these performers because he said “You are Horrible”, “You can’t sing”, and other quips. The politically correct culture that we live in advocated that Simon should not be so negative to the contestants, which he should take on a more Paula approach & sugar coat any criticisms of the contestants.

On one hand, I get the reasoning of such an argument criticisms can affect self-esteem, and that can lead to some in losing their motivation. However, learning to handle criticism is necessary in life3B especially in any performance-.driven industry where you put yourself ‘out there’.

Now, there is the Simon route of delivering criticism – which even I agree may be too harsh at times (but entertainingly funny), and then there is the blunt approach accompanied with an explanation. For example, “Molly the Singer, your performance was weak because of points A, B, and C, thus you shouldn’t sing unless you correct A, B, and C” – that is the chord that one should strike when being critical, because being or saying anything else such as saying you like the performance when you didn’t is not being real with yourself and is an act in pussification that you may think is small, but w/ repetition can manifest into a bigger & more problematic behavior.

As a Multimedia producer I have had to swallow harsh criticisms, I know that the criticism does not only attack your work/craft, but it attacks YOU because the work is a derivative of whom you are & all of your experiences, thoughts, and education. I learned to handle the harsh criticism, and now I even look forward to it (maybe that’s my pseudo way of coping w/ criticisms, who knows), but what I hated even worse was when someone said they ‘liked’ my work, but were lying because they ‘did not want to hurt my feelings’. For those type of people I have no respect – And such is why I give you my ‘all’ when I’m asked for my opinion.

Because as Jay said “I may not always be right, but I’m real and that is how I sleep at night”

P.S. I sleep well!

.: d.b :.

View Pussification pt. 0 – An Abstract, to get familiar.

-, +, *, but never /
Virtues: poetic, feelings, compromising, love, affection

Math is not one of my favourite subjects, but I’ll learn it for you;

I’ve subtracted many of the girls in my life because they would just be trouble – and try to reduce our love from multiplying;

I’ve taking away some lessons from them and added it to our equation;

As I learned that being too impersonal isn’t adding as much objectification as much as it multiplies the distance between you & I;

So I learned to be more direct and crass, even though you say it subtracts from my being ’sensitive’, but I say it adds to the facts that you know where my true feelings is, are;

I also learned to be more understanding – as women are from Venus and men are from Mars, and fighting over our differences doesn’t add to any productivity, but takes away from relationship efficiency – so trying to understand YOU subtracts any tension and any incrementing space between you and me;

So I try to be understanding and compromising if it multiplies your happiness, but as long as it doesn’t subtract any of the pillars, rocks, and foundations that I stand with (read pussification pt. 0);

I’ve learned a lot about myself and I add my best qualities, I try to take away my imperfections, as I learn to multiply what makes you happy so that our love will never divide.

~ fini

.:: d.b

From Hbo.com:

Few of these matters received the serious attention — or, in some cases — any attention from the media. These problems exist in plain sight, ready to be addressed by anyone seriously committed to doing so. For those of us writing The Wire, a television drama, story research involved dragging the right police lieutenants or school teachers, prosecutors and political functionaries to neighborhood diners and bars and taking story notes down on cocktail napkins and paper placemats. To be more precise with their tales? To record it and relay it in a manner that can stand as non-fiction truthtelling? Yes, that’s harder to do. But there was a time when journalism regarded that kind of coverage as its highest mission. The true stories that The Wire traded in are out there, waiting for anyone willing to take the time. And it is, of course, vaguely disturbing to us that our unlikely little television drama is making arguments that were once the prerogative of more serious mediums.

We tried to be entertaining, but in no way did we want to be mistaken for entertainment. We tried to provoke, to critique and debate and rant a bit. We wanted an argument. We think a few good arguments are needed still, that there is much more to be said and it is entirely likely that there are better ideas than the ones we offered. But nothing happens unless the shit is stirred. That, for us, was job one.

If you followed us for sixty hours, and you find yourself caring about these issues more than you thought you would, then perhaps the next step is to engage and to demand, where possible, a more sophisticated and meaningful response from authority when it comes to such things as the drug war, educational reform or responsible political leadership. The Wire is about the America we pay for and tolerate. Perhaps it is possible to pay for, and demand, something more.

Again, accept our sincere thanks for making the commitment to watch a show as improbable and problematic as ours and for considering the arguments and issues seriously. We are surprised as you are to be here at the end, on our own terms, still standing. As a cast and crew, we’re proud. But the credit is not all ours. It’s yours as well for believing, year after year, in this story.

David Simon
Baltimore, Md.
March 10, 2008

.:: d.b

Subscribe for the latest urban literary works from D dot B