“Fellow Americans, it is with the utmost pride and sincerity that I present this recording, as a living testament and recollection of history in the making during our generation”~PSA Intro
Every so often a movie franchise, TV series, comic book or other form of entertainment will undergo a process of “rebooting”. In the most literal sense, it means exactly how it sounds: start over. There are many reasons this process occurs, but primarily it happens when the aforementioned wants to stay relevant or change something that makes no sense. A few great examples of this would be The Dark Knight movie series by Christopher Nolan, Daniel Craig as 007, and the Star Wars Prequels. In each case the series underwent a dramatic process to freshen it up, fill in plot holes, etc. Of the three examples my favorite is the Bond reboot. Gone is the hardened veteran who’s seen and done it all, instead he’s a freshly promoted Double 0, arrogant and makes mistakes. It makes the series a little more believable for me.
It should be noted that an essential component to a reboot is the process of a Retroactive Continuity (also known as retcon). Retcon is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction.
I see the light bulb in your head. I see the face you’re making. Retcon is a tool of fiction, so you snarky mofo’s are probably asking “How can retcon be used in real life”. Well snarky mofo reading this, one can retcon one’s life by simply changing the impact established events had on one’s life. For example, I often cite my time and subsequent break up with Nicole as the “ultimate” event of the past decade the one event that helped “define” me. With the reboot (and by default retcon) the Nicole event was not the defining moment. Was it a moment? Most definitely, but it no longer will define me. To make that the defining moment is dishonest and bit extra. I mean what about my Luncheon presentation, standing by my mother during my father’s death, standing by Rhonda during her crisis, my time with Nickia and learning from her, all of 2007, and most recently my time with [Classified]. To put so much stock into that is really diminishing to a number of events and people that I remember much more candidly than a break up that was going to happen anyway. Shit, truth be told, had I thought of it I’d gotten her first. So there, it’s done. Retcon’ed. So this means gone is the whole brother “jaded” by love and “hardened” by its setbacks persona. Gone is the brother who you have to work hard to get and break down and love. The truth of the matter is I am an emotional cat, a terry bear who loves hard and truly wants to settle down with the right queen, and you will be judged on your merits not and not because you were/are/is the “anti” Nicole.
Another example is my “Fisk Experience”. In the past I was cited as a place where I “discovered” myself and became free. It was the scene of my first major defeat. Oh the horror, oh the tragedy. Pffft. With reboot the truth of the matter is I never felt home at Fisk, and my connection was more towards a small cadre of people and the relationships that I built and maintained in 3 years I was there than some stuffy ass institution that doesn’t get Black Life in the post civil rights era.. The expulsion was not as traumatic as I claim it was and truth be told I wasn’t coming back anyway because my parents were not gonna let me go back as I had a brand new son. That is retcon’ed too. It happened, but again losing at OH was far more traumatic than losing at Fisk. Shit the Fisk loss put me on the map at OH.
The last example is one that I was recently challenged to let go by one of my associates. In the old series Terrance rarely showed emotion. He was a remorseless strategist who only saw the world as a chess board and people as pieces. The only thing that mattered is the checkmate. This of course made my emotional meltdowns seem all the more “intense”, kinda like when Spock did it on Star Trek to spike ratings. “Oh wow T’s emotional. It’s a moment in history!” Blah. In the reboot the truth is I AM emotional, I do cry, albeit in the dark and I am just a man. While the mission is important, while the goal is paramount the fact is I am haunted by my mistakes and I regret a lot of shit. I’m only human. Shit I’ve been bitching and crying for two days straight over [Classified].
So the obvious question is why the reboot and retcon? Well honestly I need to go through a personal Glasnost and Perestroika, if I am going to become less of a montage of characters and more Terrance. I need to be open and honest; stop with the CIA/MI6 rhetoric (well at least all the time) and truly open up.
*pause*
I am not going to however stop using political science terms. I will however give out wiki links where needed to put you on the path. Wanna know what those terms mean? Go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika
TLT
*play*
I’ve wrestled with this for a while, but after a couple of failed dating scenarios and personal crisis I realized that people don’t trust an enigma. It’s not sexy. The mysterious stranger will get charges pressed against him, not love. I think though it really hit me the night I was told “I don’t know or trust your agenda” or something like that. Either way I need to be more transparent, more man, less solider, more human and less “Prime Minister”.
I must simply be Terrance.
So snarky mofo reading this, you’ve probably saying “Well damn dude I don’t know who the fuck you are any more.”
Indeed.
This is a public service announcement
Sponsored by The Office of the Prime Minister and BFL INC.
Allow me to reintroduce myself…
My name Terrance L. Thomas. That’s with an “A” not and “E”. Terrence is a different dude.
I’m hotter than the Black Studies shit wearing my name; I got the hottest Zeta in the game wearing my chain and will do whatever I need to do to keep it there.
I love my people. Good, Bad and Ugly and I take PRIDE I can walk in the world of the bourgeois Negro and the hood Negro. I’m a citizen of both Afrolantia and Negronia. Yes I’m articulate and will still grab a nigga by the collar quick.
I hate losing. I never learned to lose.
I hate confusion. I take it personal.
I am arrogant to a fault. I need to work on that.
I am sorry for the pain I’ve caused in the past, but I can’t change that, any more can mine be changed. So I’ll use it to be better or let it go. I won’t lose nary another night of sleep again.
I love my Sorors, even the ones I don’t love.
I love Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc, but I HATE the niggaz in it. However I need to get active.
Socialism sucks. Why I gotta share my shit with lazy mofos? Living back with my fam has shown me community property is for heathens.
After Baby mama sister’s stint here I no longer think ignant southern Negroes are cute.
My depression is real. It is not a cute quirk anymore. At 21 is made me eccentric. At 33 it will get me fired, dumped, arrested or killed.
I am not Asian.
I am never going to quit drinking.
I am not interested in “poor oppressed people of color”. I am interested in Black people (defined as those of us here), then my brothers on the continent and the
Illegal Immigration is a Black problem for if they are working as willing slave laborers, then what is to happen to our labor class.
I would be a Jehovah’s Witness if A) I could keep my politics B) They got some real music C) my mama would stop tying it in to every thing. For example: Me Damn I wanna Pepsi. Mom: Oh Joy Jehovah makes Pepsi. No mom the Pepsi bottling company does that.
It wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t wait, I just insecure and worried if I could make her happy as she was and hid behind the security of a title.
Nickia and I weren’t that happy.
Nicole wasn’t that evil.
I like being a big dude.
I’m not lazy. I just don’t want to move your shit.
Yes you were the best field agent but you defected. So how can I ever trust you again?
I can do math.
Pussy does taste good to me
I’m the smartest guy in the room except when I’m not.
I haven’t written that book not because I didn’t have time, but because I was scared.
Yes I think me and Rhonda got the second best Baby mama/daddy relationship formula. Will and Jada got the first best.
I am now addicted to that coon jingle: Pop Champagne in the Club.
I don’t know everything.
I do talk like a robot or evil dictator.
I love my Blackberry. A lot.
I am willing to wait.
I AM an Obama dick rider
I should have taken Dr. Robinson’s offer. At least then Armstead would have had help.
I’m only human.
Whew. That was a lot of retcon.
I hope you enjoy the changes.
They were
Straight, No Chaser
1-02-09
3:33pm
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