do YOU has a guitar?

betty has.

she won it in a raffle.

at the guitar center memorial day sale.

rock. on.

"what's the true role of media nowadays?"

this is my response to a thread on MIX.


we are indeed a culture that is fascinated with violence and catastrophes, but we are mainly a culture that is fueled by fear. and considering our country's history, it seems that it has been that way for quite a while.

from the beginnings of our industrialized history, we have profited from exploiting the concept of the "other" -- outsiders or the unknown. the "snowclone" of "if you don't do 'X', the bad guys win" can be credited with most of our country's economic growth.

but today, it's not just the "bad guys" we need to worry about. there is no longer just "one evil". everywhere we go, we are now given the message that constant danger is lurking around our every action.

we have become so afraid of everything, that we are even afraid to make up our own minds. we are so frozen in our fears that we allow our media to spoonfeed us everything from "what happened" to "how we should feel about happened". we are so desperate for the illusion of safety that we pour our time and hard-earned money into schemes that are designed solely to perpetuate the fears we are trying so hard to escape.

and it's oh so profitable.

granted, some of our fears are warranted on some level. i most definitely would not want to be in a car crash, caught in a gang shooting, mugged, suffocated to death by my own friends, cooked in a microwave by my father, drowned by a post-partum mom, attacked by a road-rage-charged driver, mobbed by out-of-control teens, or spontaneously combust.

all of the events described in that list have indeed happened. and yes, they are undoubtedly disturbing situations. but what is the likelihood of all of these things happening to each and every one of us? it appears that we are fearing the wrong things.

maybe it boils down to simple human nature. somewhere deep within our psyche, we have an inherent, twisted intrest in the obscure, the painful, the uncertainty of the unknown... and our conscious, morally-governed mind is in a persistent battle for dominance over it all.

if that is true, maybe the media isn't necessarily entirely to blame. perhaps the current state of mass media is a personification of our own inner evils brought to the surface allowing us to externalize our own faults and escape passing judgement on ourselves; we depend on the media to present such horrible images of "the others" so that we can validate our own uncouth actions by comparison.

but, in my humble opinion, that's no way to live. living in a constant state of anxious fear and panic in exchange for temporarily evading personal responsibility is not my idea of fun.

it hurts all of us greatly in the end. we'll become completely disengaged from reality. disconnected from a sense of balance. lost in an ocean of moral indifference. it'll only contribute to more ignorance, prejudice, and violence.

with today's technology making the world ever so smaller and closer, our need for responsible media sources is greater than ever before. everyone should be entitled to balanced news, and be encouraged to develop the skills necessary to take their own stand on a given issue.

but, that change is entirely up to us, before any media outlet follows suit. As long as we watch the carnival that is today's mass media, there's money to be made. but the generation of revenue isn't the problem. it's what we choose to watch. we ourselves must elect for change if the media landscape is to improve.

if not, we could have mass-miscommunication at a detrimental level. and that could prove to be disastrous for all of us.

or deep down, maybe that's what we really want.

party of the nerds, er... gamers.

the homie had a party last night. it was good. everybody was real cool. i had a lot of fun.

there were tons of food, a load of drinks (props on the captain coke!), decent music... and everyone was sitting around playing tetris on their ds.

:-|

wtf.

nerds.

well, i can't blame them, really. if i had a ds (and believe me, i want one), you know i would have been right there with them!

actually, the nerds, er... gamers do in fact know how to party down. after the bar was pretty much raided (and the ds's were stashed away), everything got much, much, much more interesting. i hope the homie doesn't get evicted after all the craziness that ensued!

don't eat here.

i have passed by this place everyday since i was a kid. it's practically a neighborhood landmark. sadly, the only cool thing about this place is its name. don't ever eat there!

inverse rocked it.

the show @ knitting factory was off the hook. the house was packed, and the crowd had such a great energy. inverse rocked it, of course, and i was happy to be there on stage to contribute my two cents.

brother ali was there, and it made my night when he shook my hand and congratulated me. that was a cool moment.

all this excitement has made me miss performing my own material. lately, all i've been doing is behind-the-scenes stuff. of course i really do enjoy the studio work, and i have fun guesting on other people's sets, but i'm really starting to miss the direct connection to an audience. it's a good thing i'm in the process of booking some solo shows as we speak!

and now, some random thoughts:

i have finally cleaned my apartment, and now i can start to think clearly again.
it's looking like a good weekend to take my comp book and start penning some lyrics down.

i've just passed the two-year mark on my phone, and it's looking like it's time to replace it.
i like the treo line, but i wonder if there's anything better coming up soon.
maybe iphone? hmm...

i love the internet, but i realize i need to read more books.
yeah, books.

gotta practice some scales and arpeggios on the old fiddle.
i hate practicing scales and arpeggios.

i want an mbox2.
soon.

go blue!

IT'S TIME FOR BASEBALL!

so the homie's family is cool with one of the umpires at dodger stadium, and he hooked us up with some tickets to the dodgers-cardinals game last night.

it was my first game of the season, so i was definitely excited when the ticket was in my hand (it was for the loge section, too!)

as soon as we got in, i got right in line to get my first dodger dog of the year. you know i made sure to add onion, ketchup, & mustard! and of course, i grabbed a bag of cracker jack (because it's just not baseball without cracker jack!).

i've always wanted to sit in loge, and my day had finally arrived. obviously, it's not as close to the action as when you sit in field, but loge is an elevated level and it's actually a really good angle to view the game from.

and what a game! the dodgers scored three right away in the first inning and eventually won over the cardinals 9-7.

i also got to see saito pitch live for the first time. pretty exciting.

but, i can't say the same for the stupid prizes cracker jack has been putting in the bags and boxes lately (or for a while, should i say). seriously, there was a time when cracker jack prizes were cool: decoder rings, plastic animal figures, etc. this time, i got this stupid folding riddle thing of thomas jefferson or whatever. such the let down.

come on, no whammies!

wtf?!

but, for what cracker jack lacked, the game made up for. furcal is the man! garciaparra and ethier can definitely throw down, too, but that little shuffle that garciaparra does at bat always cracks me up.

baseball season is back in full effect, and i am loving every bit of it.

go blue!

people.

i've been meeting a lot of new people lately (through work, industry connections, and just life in general), and i have made the following conclusion:

people really are weird, man.

a lot of them are bulls***ers and have no problem straight up lying to your face even when they know that you're fully aware of their dishonesty. it's kind of a let down, actually. i'd much rather you just be real, whether your truth favors me or not.

otherwise, it's a complete waste of time.

new week.

it's monday.

a new week has started.

let's make it a good one!

i ate what?

aight, so i was challenged to keep track of what i eat for one day and take pictures of each meal.

so here goes...

breakfast: chocolate bars
lunch: blueberry waffles
snack: coffee w/ cinnamon
dinner: burger lunchbox, green tea, & apple

more lights

taken with the little camera phone that could.

box fort

i did too make a box fort!

lights.

i like playing around with the crappy camera on my treo.

what up, blogosphere!

okay, so i've nerded up and joined the blogging world. don't know how i'll often i'll use this blog, but i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

for a quick blog-like snack, join me on www.twitter/pauldateh.

or, to keep up on all of my net feeds (including this blog), just find me on pauldateh.jaiku.com.

that's it for now.

peace!