At the moment, everything in my life seems to be closing in on me. I was described earlier as ‘narrow-minded’ and I took it rather badly. It’s not so much the accusation as the realisation of the truth that lies within it. As a hole in my life is currently leaking spirit, I’ve foolishly turned to what I cherish most to plug the problem. I’ve become insular and heavily dependent on my moments alone to get me through the day. Taking solace from sitting at my desk listening to The Smiths is not what my heart yearns. Morrissey is an idol of mine because he delivered raw emotion into popular music. He had the courage to say something different and for once give people an outlet for their angst in life. His unquestionable talent to poetically portray the glum zeitgeist of the 80s is adored by many including myself. However, this adoration has come at a cost to me. I have surrounded myself with his lyrics and style and begun to reject what society would deem as mainstream through sheer disgust at its lack of meaning. A rejection of commercial music to me was my gut reaction to any mention or sound of it. How can it possibly serve a purpose with no significance? Why do we constantly settle for inadequate artists that do not enrich our existence?
These questions are my own and shall remain my own. I have, on too many occasions, voiced my concern for the deteriorating nature of art. It is not my place to say what should influence your life or what you should take meaning from. I once visited my friend’s father’s funeral; for his final song Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ in the wind’ was played. Originally an anti-war song, in this case it clearly just said everything the mourning family wanted it to say. It was not the poignant lyrics about war that made them chose that track, it was simply the piece of music they felt best represented their now departed loved one. Everyone sees the world differently; there is no blueprint for happiness and art is just a medium for expressing emotion.
My emotions are surrounded by artifice. I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve; I mould my heart to the occasion at hand. Without an ounce of truth to my being, how can I begin to judge what others have chosen as their influences? I don’t know anything about my life, except that it’s a separate entity to what people see. I am no one without validation. Without the people around me, I would cease to be relevant. Distance placed between human to human because of likes and dislikes is no way to exist; you need friendship, love and a place to have your 15 minutes with a pair of understanding ears.
I don’t know what this is, I don’t know what anything is anymore; but all I know is one day I will know. And before that day, all I ask is for my friends to tell me where I’m going wrong.
“Anything is hard to find, when you will not open your eyes” - Morrissey
Friday 21 May 2010
Monday 19 April 2010
Be Young. Be Free. Be Somebody. - Sam
The title for this blog is lifted from the strap line of the new film by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant - Cemetery Junction. The film is about a guy who is expected to "do the norm" and get a job, get a wife, work for 40 years, fade into obscurity and that's that. However, he has other ideas.
This made me think about the 'other ideas' and following on from the last blog I started to wonder; why can't we be exactly what we want to be? Why can't we 'chase our dreams' (for lack of a less American-teen-drama-esque phrase)? Why can't we believe in ourselves enough to try it?
In the past 2 years I have become a huge believer that it is possible to do anything you want to do, but you just have to have faith in yourself enough to try it. Mark Twain said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I'm not sure a truer word was ever spoken. I particularly love that ‘explore’ came before ‘dream’. Just go out and see something new, do something you’ve never done before, learn something. Then, and only then, is dreaming really possible.
If you, like me, are at a cross roads in your life and you're not sure whether to turn left in to a safe, comfortable option or turn right in to the more risky, but ultimately desired option, I urge you...no, I beg you, turn right! (I should mention now that I didn't choose 'right' as my preferred option on purpose, and it certainly has no correlation to the upcoming general election. In fact in that particular charade I'd prefer you to go straight down the magnificent middle).
So I guess while the last blog was urging us to stop talking and start doing, this one is saying don’t settle, and believe yourself enough to try.
This made me think about the 'other ideas' and following on from the last blog I started to wonder; why can't we be exactly what we want to be? Why can't we 'chase our dreams' (for lack of a less American-teen-drama-esque phrase)? Why can't we believe in ourselves enough to try it?
In the past 2 years I have become a huge believer that it is possible to do anything you want to do, but you just have to have faith in yourself enough to try it. Mark Twain said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I'm not sure a truer word was ever spoken. I particularly love that ‘explore’ came before ‘dream’. Just go out and see something new, do something you’ve never done before, learn something. Then, and only then, is dreaming really possible.
If you, like me, are at a cross roads in your life and you're not sure whether to turn left in to a safe, comfortable option or turn right in to the more risky, but ultimately desired option, I urge you...no, I beg you, turn right! (I should mention now that I didn't choose 'right' as my preferred option on purpose, and it certainly has no correlation to the upcoming general election. In fact in that particular charade I'd prefer you to go straight down the magnificent middle).
So I guess while the last blog was urging us to stop talking and start doing, this one is saying don’t settle, and believe yourself enough to try.
Thursday 1 April 2010
Starting from tomorrow... - Ali
The single most destructive thing you can seemingly tell yourself; apart from that is, things like "go and slap the Queen" or "Did Hitler really have it all that wrong?" Well, yes, you shouldn't need me to tell you that Hitler was the personnification of wrong and slapping the Queen would undoubtedly see you thrown to the Swans. That said, there is nothing more crippling for your existential being than delaying it's development. As humans why do we constantly procrastinate? Especially when the thing we are delaying, in our minds, is beneficial to us. When did talking about things become an adequate form of self-validation? Is anyone actually what they say they are or are we just hearing the aspirations of yet another lazy human-being?
This blog is in no way an attack on the lazy and unmotivated. I myself mingle in these circles from time-to-time and they happen to have a very strong knit community which offers a very attractive pension scheme. No, this blog is designed to question the unfulfilled quest for happiness which we find ourselves in the middle of. We strive to achieve certain goals in our lives, that we know, when we reach those goals the rewards we receive will make it all seem worth it. For example, working for a company for 5 years and suddenly your pay goes up by a couple G's, all of a sudden your newly found financial freedom is directly correlated to that swagger you've now adopted. Well, i'm here to say good for you. Why is that hurdle of hard-work so terribly hard to get over? (the clue is in the description of the work) But when we know what lies on the other side, why do we still delay?
Albeit undecided, it would seem we have one opportunity at this human lark. ONE opportunity is hardly two opportunities is it? Yet we remain shackled by the fear of labour and an unadvantageous, potentially humiliating, situation. The man in the suit swallows his humility and toils behind a desk all day for the feeling he has on pay-day. The hippie protestor endures harsh weather conditions and really itchy clothing for that moment when they realise they have made a difference (although according to recent advertising, all you need is a good sausage? Naive of the hippies for missing that trick.) My point is, we all have somewhere we want to be. We all know (vaguely) what it would take to get there. Why do we postpone our journey? As my mother would say "you can't wait for something to come to you". Oh and also, for the record, money doesn't grow on trees, thought i had her with that one but no, mum's are always right.
What we often don't realise is that we don't share the same dreams. As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. And that's exactly what the tramp i found in my bins last night quoted to me. A simple 'touché' and i let him go about his business. But that tramp was chasing his 'dream'. He was working for a better life. Yes when i say working i mean scrummaging but it's all the same in the bigger picture.
Why don't we start acting instead of thinking? A method actor would have a sarcastic answer to this question but for the rest of us we've got nothing. There is no better time than the present, starting something tomorrow is perpetual, which you will never escape without action. We are all raconteurs just desperate to take to the stage only lacking the material to actually realise it.
Happiness is out there, so too is your dream. Stop talking and begin living.
"Another drop of paint falls on to our blank canvas...our picture is slowly being painted. We don't know what it will paint but it does not matter. What matters the most is how that droplet falls. We are artists, never let go of the brush."
This blog is in no way an attack on the lazy and unmotivated. I myself mingle in these circles from time-to-time and they happen to have a very strong knit community which offers a very attractive pension scheme. No, this blog is designed to question the unfulfilled quest for happiness which we find ourselves in the middle of. We strive to achieve certain goals in our lives, that we know, when we reach those goals the rewards we receive will make it all seem worth it. For example, working for a company for 5 years and suddenly your pay goes up by a couple G's, all of a sudden your newly found financial freedom is directly correlated to that swagger you've now adopted. Well, i'm here to say good for you. Why is that hurdle of hard-work so terribly hard to get over? (the clue is in the description of the work) But when we know what lies on the other side, why do we still delay?
Albeit undecided, it would seem we have one opportunity at this human lark. ONE opportunity is hardly two opportunities is it? Yet we remain shackled by the fear of labour and an unadvantageous, potentially humiliating, situation. The man in the suit swallows his humility and toils behind a desk all day for the feeling he has on pay-day. The hippie protestor endures harsh weather conditions and really itchy clothing for that moment when they realise they have made a difference (although according to recent advertising, all you need is a good sausage? Naive of the hippies for missing that trick.) My point is, we all have somewhere we want to be. We all know (vaguely) what it would take to get there. Why do we postpone our journey? As my mother would say "you can't wait for something to come to you". Oh and also, for the record, money doesn't grow on trees, thought i had her with that one but no, mum's are always right.
What we often don't realise is that we don't share the same dreams. As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. And that's exactly what the tramp i found in my bins last night quoted to me. A simple 'touché' and i let him go about his business. But that tramp was chasing his 'dream'. He was working for a better life. Yes when i say working i mean scrummaging but it's all the same in the bigger picture.
Why don't we start acting instead of thinking? A method actor would have a sarcastic answer to this question but for the rest of us we've got nothing. There is no better time than the present, starting something tomorrow is perpetual, which you will never escape without action. We are all raconteurs just desperate to take to the stage only lacking the material to actually realise it.
Happiness is out there, so too is your dream. Stop talking and begin living.
"Another drop of paint falls on to our blank canvas...our picture is slowly being painted. We don't know what it will paint but it does not matter. What matters the most is how that droplet falls. We are artists, never let go of the brush."
Wednesday 24 March 2010
"Faculty of Wonder" - Sam
Why are you starting a blog Sam & Ali?
Well, heroic follower, our reason is simply this: http://sophiesrabbit.blogspot.com/.
That is our inspiration; a blog written by an old school friend of Sam’s - Sophie Gledhill. Without meaning to, we stumbled across it and have since read every eloquent and inquisitive word on the page.
The thought that resonates most with us is where she mentions Jostein Gaarder’s definition of a philosopher as, “somebody who retains the 'faculty of wonder' with which they were born, somebody who never becomes willing to sit back and accept the world at face value.”
With that, Sam & Ali would like to attempt to become Gaarder’s philosophers, and retain that ‘faculty of wonder’ for new experiences. We will explore thoughts and inquisitions that cross our minds, as well as describing key events that occur along the way.
And with that, our blog is alive.
Well, heroic follower, our reason is simply this: http://sophiesrabbit.blogspot.com/.
That is our inspiration; a blog written by an old school friend of Sam’s - Sophie Gledhill. Without meaning to, we stumbled across it and have since read every eloquent and inquisitive word on the page.
The thought that resonates most with us is where she mentions Jostein Gaarder’s definition of a philosopher as, “somebody who retains the 'faculty of wonder' with which they were born, somebody who never becomes willing to sit back and accept the world at face value.”
With that, Sam & Ali would like to attempt to become Gaarder’s philosophers, and retain that ‘faculty of wonder’ for new experiences. We will explore thoughts and inquisitions that cross our minds, as well as describing key events that occur along the way.
And with that, our blog is alive.
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