Lose the good, take the bad

I try not to make too much out of the individual deaths of people I don't know, as like to believe I have some grasp on the fickleness of health an the sheer number of people (some decent human beings, I imagine) who die every second over the world. On the contrary, I wasn't one of the people screaming at the TV that there was "too much Michael Jackson coverage" even if I didn't care too much. Despite that, the recent death of David Mills (aged 48) is probably the saddest celebrity death I've heard of in a long time.

Mills was an extremely successful black television and music writer, producer, and journalist, a man who seems to have devoted his career to not only discovering unique and meaningful artists, but creating one of a kind work along the way. A close friend of David Simon, Mills' writing resume reads like a DVD collection one might have in heaven:

The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Corner, NYPD Blue, ER, Kingpin, and most recently, HBO's upcoming show Treme, which along with Boardwalk Empire easily comprise my two most personally anticipated shows of the last 5 years.

I write this not just because Mills went to high school in my home county or graduated from the U. of MD, but more so because of what he accomplished with little national notoriety. Without being too presumptious, it certainly seems like Mills may have been one of, if not the best television writer of the last 15 years, perhaps ever. And throwing the word television in front of that phrase might not do him justice. There are truly some brilliant and humble people out there, and while they often go without proper recognition, we the audience are left to hear notorious celebrities whine about not getting a fair shake.

Yes, the media and its coverage of itself is often vain, false, and terribly counter-productive, but that's a rant not for today. To be blunt, if I or you are actually interested in anything, it's up to us to do the research, to commit the time and effort to find out the truth in life or entertainment, which at it's peak can itself be a study or portrait of life. It's find to be a casual passer by with a few cute comments here and there, often that's all I am, but I earnestly believe that ego, authenticity, and substance are three very different things, too often jumbled and switched around, perhaps unconsciously.

David Mills' blog.