Has there really been more impactful celebrity deaths that any other year? Does Trump make it worse?

Are people just being overly dramatic on social media?

less abt celeb deaths tho, but trump and other world stuff is pretty horrible

Prince is dead.

Last night I saw a stack of CDs in my apartment (I'm old) - Prince, Marvin, Coltrane, James Brown. I said to myself "They're ALL dead. Prince is dead." I have to say it out loud every few weeks to make it real. Bc I keep checking for concert tix to go on sale. Since I've been in Chicago he's played here at least every couple of years. Sometimes on real short notice. I still expect that. It won't ever happen again. Bc Prince is dead.

I was car-singing, and then I stopped and said out loud: "Damn...they're both dead".

That just messed up my whole drive home. and to your point, when I walked in the crib, and there's "ATWIAD" and "1999" sitting on the coffee table. I ain't gotta tell you how it felt.


The Grim Reaper was on some hoe shit this year.

I legit find myself trying to not cry at least once a week thinking about it.

For me, there really isn't anything else.

celebrity passings...and such impactful ones. Even before the election ever happened.

that alone makes it devastating but then you have:

-Natalie Cole died on NYE
-Muhammad Ali
-Phife
-Pat Summitt
-Buddy Ryan
-Gordie Howe
-Billy Paul
-Alan Rickman (Harry Potter)
-Frank Sinatra Jr
-Chyna
-Garry Shandling
-Vanity
-Lee Andrews (?uestlove's dad!)
-Maurice White
-Patty Duke
-Blackjack Mulligan
-John Berry (Beastie Boys)
-Scroog McDuck
-R2D2
-Kimbo Slice
-Prince Be (PM Dawn)
-Miss Cleo
-Gene Wilder
-Jerry Heller (NWA Manager)
-Shawty Lo (Dey Know!)
-Radio Raheem
-Arnold Palmer
-Tommy (You ain't GOT NOT JOB TOMMY)
-John Saunders (ESPN)
-Janet Reno
-Florence Henderson
-Big Syke (Pac's homeboy)
-Abe Vigoda
-David Bowie
-Alan Thicke
-Craig Sager

Pretty significant pop culture list. Not to mention the Orlando shootings, The countless unarmed or justly armed black folx killed by cops, the dallas cop killings...

Yeah, it kinda sucked. And I lost 2 family members this year.

Totally different set up for the year.

the accident. Rob Ford, that that fat crackhead one-time mayor of Toronto. Frances Cress-Welsing (The Isis Papers).

Which makes that list even worse.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/16/world/2016-look-back-trnd/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlarge

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people

2016 took him on Christmas! On Christmas!!!!!

>And I lost 2 family members this
>year.
>

personal life sucked too, which is why I'm basically done with this year. These last two weeks are just 2017 warmups lol...

..Prince passed away. That alone rocked the WORLD. I remember hearing about his death at work and a few of us went to First Ave in Minneapolis that evening and that specific level of sorrow was felt internationally...
http://tinyurl.com/hlqpfq5

We lost countless other legends, icons, brothers and sisters of the community.

Philando Castile's death hit extremely close to home as I am but a short drive from where this took place and often drive by frequently, the proximity of where he worked and the governor's mansion where there had been many rallies..checking up on folks making sure they were good knowing the media and "other" folks were and are watching...the funeral and how that swept the cities...

Jamar Clark in Mpls prior....countless other brothers scrutinized publically...

2016




...it's 2 degrees here right now and was -5 this morning when I went to work with a windchill even below that.

I think I might need to hit up somewhere else to meditate and experience seasons with my loved ones moving forward.


yay 2017!

:'(

but 2016 kinda tipped over to the far end of the scale, a while ago.


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

As oft-pointed off, PRINCE, motherfucking PRINCE MOTHERFUCKING NELSON, is gone. It's still surreal. Both MJ and Prince are gone ...that still plays with my head b/c it's so ...well, unreal.

But yeah,

A list of departed celebrities reads like the roll-call for an award show telecast.

Donald Trump is now our President.

The Cubs won a World Series

The Orlando shootings

All the unarmed black men who were killed

A very surreal year in Los Angeles for me ...

2016 was one strange, sorrowful year, bro.

the Cavs ( nothing against them, but I liked the Dubs in that matchup)

the cubs. I loathe 'em. Couldn't stand it.

the Broncos. Eff Peyton Manning. It pisses me off that he got the storybook ending.

So on top of all those deaths, I couldn't even enjoy sports.

I have to give it up to Putin
revenge is a dish best served cold.
motherfucker paid us back for the cold war, USSR collapse, and helping the afghans beat them (he was a KGB officer at the time)

well done, Vlad. Well done

but in the face of darkness it's important to feed the light within ourselves

If jay or kanye or an athlete who is currently doing their thing passes, sure maybe that'll move me somewhat

but a dude in their 50s or 60s dies from disease especially one that was contributed to by their lifestyle, sorry..i don't find that 'tragic' compared to other instances of loss of life. And just bc they had a special skill or talent...doesn't do it for me. For the people that it does move, bc they feel connected to them, i get it and its understandable.

i guess i just don't connect to celebrities like that. I'd be more moved to find out that someone died in my neighborhood that i didn't know, than a celebrity that i didn't know. *shrug*

but Prince is special cause I grew up on that niggas music. Prolly the most influential musician of my time. I had 2 older sister who loved him so I been rocking with Prince since Controversy.

Jay or Ye dying wouldn't impact me at all.

Honestly my first thought, as far as i'm selfishly concerned would be no more new music. And i think i'm pretty done with new music jay so i don't even think his passing would effect me thaaat much there either.

Thats an obvious one for so many because he has been around longer and connected to more people.

and its not like Prince was expected. Dude had a show and died 2 days later.

>Thats an obvious one for so many because he has been around
>longer and connected to more people.
>
>and its not like Prince was expected. Dude had a show and died
>2 days later.
>
>

His last show was the 14th, so he passed a week later.

in hindsight:

how many tropes of manhood have been laid out?:

Dukes of Hazzard
Fall Guy
Buck Rogers
etc...

All the leading men since forever been white, and any 'acceptance' in Western society been hinged on assimilating and mimicking the 'White Maverick'

How many lanes did nxggas have when prince was poppin? As an outsider it was just dope to reach that understanding that THIS IS ALSO A MAN. That there was no specific way i had to 'be' to be considered a man.

Nxggas have drank their fair amount of 'real nigga' koolaid just in the name of 'survival'. Prince represented a LOT of different shit to ME. I don't necessarily connect with 'celebrities' like that, but that title was moreso something people thrust upon him than how he represented himself.

when he died and all that west coast/east coast, deathrow/bad boy "beef" was going on.

Tupac and I were close to the same age, his lyrics resonated with me more than any other artists ever.

When he was shot in Vegas I was like "no big deal, its Tupac, he's been shot before, he'll be fine."

When I heard he died I couldn't believe it...

when pac died

sobbing even

i was in eighth grade

fuck this year!

Not necessarily to tears, and we all knew it was inevitable, but that was just damn

I don't think I have ever cried when a celebrity died. I may have cried a little after the yaroslavl lokomotiv crash, i don't remember, but i vaguely knew some of the people who died.

Usually it's more a feeling of sadness or sort of melancholic nostalgia. Sometimes I don't think it's right to cry. When Gordie Howe and Ali died this year, it was almost a proud moment to look back on lives well lived and incredible careers as part of them.

the public life stuff.


In less that a years time 3 of my wife and I's parents have died or drastically gone down in health. So yeah, fuck this year.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

but oddly enough I'm in a good place.

Prolly because new life is all around me.

Yeah, these kids manye. They the reason to do EVERYTHING.

I've also had other areas of life, creative/professional, that have gone pretty well.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I don't trip too much on celebrity deaths....watching the rise of Trump is definitely the most haunting and depressing public thing to happen for me in 2016. Really, without Trump, 2016 would be just another year in regards to overall society from my perspective. Even if he didn't win the general...I would still be scared by the success he had leading up to it.

It was great for me personally. Learned a bunch and planned my next 5
years out. But I can understand why many didn't like it.

So yeah, it has been

Barely holding on.....missing an arm....that his deadbeat daddy cut off.
---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

i mean in the 90's Pac and Biggie were felt as was Eazy E.

but this era been something else. after MJ passed and it became real, well i can conclude with others, however that was the most striken for me personally.

show runners, actors, dancers, choreographers, designers, graphic artists, painters, sculptors?

how have they fared?

d

Leon Haywood, Prince, Luther Vandross,Isacc Hayes, Barry White, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Teena Marie(we claim her) BB King, Bobby Blue Bland,Aaliayh, Left eye,Richard Dimples fields,Ollie Wootson,Levi Stubbs,Jam Master Jay,Phife,J Dilla, and there are more musically


now Richard Pryor,Bernie Mac,Gregory Hines and some others

however look at the Black Musicians we have lost just since 2000?

I know war happens all over all the time but ........

very possible we're going to end the year with a 5th week

and this isn't the rust belt. we're living in an area with a growing economy, but the regulatory/tax environment is producing this because people think the market is going to just take care of the environment and infrastructure.

trump's appointments and republican legislatures are going to mean this is going to keep happening all over the country.

Im smiling now thinking about it
that shit put so much joy in my heart

when lebron swatted Curry's half hearted lay up attempt
and said something like "Man up Nigga!" afterwards]
that was the moment i had been waiting for

for all the shit i have said about cleveland, it made me happy, especially the way they pulled it off. you had to respect the winner of that game/series, period.

the cubbies winning didn't mean much to me but it's nice. and also potentially a sign of the apocalypse.

now we gonna be stuck with Bron versus Steph as this tired cleveland versus golden state gonna be the Russell celtics versus the Chamberlin Lakers.

and psychologically, i don't see how it does anyone any good to designate a year as a bad year.

most things are out of our control...we do what we can. but of the things we can control, how did that go?

as a person, did you grow this year? did you learn more than you did last year? have you evolved any? did your health improve? did you make better choices and decisions? did you learn from the mistakes you made? did you do more to help others than you did last year?

i can say that the answers to all those questions for me is yes.

2016 was a good year, imo.

d

While death played a large part in my frustration with 2016 it was still a good year.

I didn't vote for Trump but a part of me feels vindicated for knowing what time it was in 2016 vs what time I "wanted" it to be... if that makes sense. Lol

I'm expanding my knowledge of design which is exciting. The wife and I are great and I think we are going to start taking a few chances with our careers. It's been a good year.

Just got my Xmas bonus too.

rough at times, but decent overall

outside stuff has been pretty bad tho

Got converted from per diem to full time employee.

Got a raise.

Hike to top of Half Dome in Yosemite.


Now, I am convinced that Trump will fuck America up 5 times more than W did.

So we're super fucked.

But if I can stayed employed for the next 20 years, save as much as possible, and then die young, well then I'll be okay.

2018 should see the end of the social security entitlement.

2019 should get dramatically decrease financial aid because bootstraps and fuck you Trump voting collegiate shitstains.

2020 needs to be a real fuck you to middle America. I need "job creators" aka wealthy people to pay even less taxes and common Americans to pay a greater share than they do now.

zsa zsa gabor died... okay, player....

crises in syria, venezuela, the philippines, etc, plus we got trump, brexit and the shit ain't over yet.

Yeah it's been a hard year





I'm the best there is that's all to it... and I piss excellence

It's like i'm fightin for freedom...Writin for freedom

My mind warps and bends float the wind count to 10

Attend many funerals this year.

Watch a lot of people's lives implode to either job loss or personal loss.

Add to everything that's been going on worldwide, this has been a nightmare year.

really sucked donkey balls....

this has been a ruff hear personally and otherwise... I will post about this soon though...

The Grim Reaper, pitched a tent in 2016 and was content to stay a while and make some friends.

http://abc7ny.com/news/rapper-troy-ave-shot-while-on-way-to-meet-family-in-brooklyn-for-christmas/1672935/

But i read a pretty convincing argument that 2016 really isn't an anomaly in the amount of famous musician deaths. It has to do with our popular tastes taking root in the 60's. In short....just about every year going forward is going to be similar....this is just the beginning of a wave of pop music deaths. Just think about how many beloved musicians we grew up with that are in their 70's now. It's just that most artists from the 50's didn't feel as connected to our generation as those from the 60's. So you have a steady toll of 60's and 70's musicians who are nearing more or less 'natural' ends and add in a few premature ones (which happen all the time anyways). Even the premature ones...we're talking about people in their 50's and 60's. Shit happens as you get old.

to her dream school. For me and mine, this has been a great year despite the horse manure floating around in the ozone.

She's two for three with the schools she applied to for early notification. Still waiting on the third. Since she's already heard from her dream school though, it don't even matter. I'm sending that enrollment deposit as soon as I get home this evening.

Got a new and amazing Job
Met the Love of my Life
Son Came home to go to school
started pre-marital counseling.
Published a Book
Got a lead into a new and better-paying job

My 2016 has been awesome


.
.
.



Order Here:
https://www.createspace.com/5827547 OR http://tinyurl.com/Amazon-Prayvolution

www.jeromejcase.com


My New Book PRAYVOLUTION is Available to order on Amazon.com

months?

lol

>lol
>

btw I'll bet that nigga's lying about at least ONE of those things...

>

Yeah 2016 has been consequential for me. Lets see beside the great music artist (Phife, Prince, Bowie, etc) and entertainers (Ali, Wilder, Shandling, etc) that has passed away, my mother died (last week). And well, that death came less than 3 months after my uncle killed himself but, firstly he shot his wife with a shotgun (she died as well). They were married 30+ years. My ma' dukes and pop's has been married nearly 40+ years. Yeah all that jazz...

..."Focus on the Past your ass will be has what" - Dre3000