The Music

Freed from the reel today : The Music.

I have never really been one to care what I listen to, my musical tastes extend far beyond my comprehension. I listen to music that you need to know different languages to understand, music that doesn't have lyrics but still has a meaning to it. As many say, music is a universal language, much like dance. You can communicate to other people with song and dance, and I do believe this is true. I've come across many people who I found that I connected really well with, in light of the language barrier, just by playing some of my favourite songs which they happened to know.

One of my all time favourite bands since I started caring about music; Puffy Ami Yumi

Some may be looking at the band wondering, well I don't think I've heard of them before, and that's perfectly fine. I mean, there's probably others who look at them and say ew, japanese music, definitely not for me. It's really funny when you realize that a lot of music is connected to each other when you really open your mind to it. Just a few days ago, one of my big R&B enthusiasts was having a conversation with me about my tastes in music and after mentioning that I have a bit of a soft spot for R&B he proceeded to ask about my favourite artists. He was flabbergasted by the names I was listing as none of them sounded English.

"Hold up a second there my nigga; you can't make R&B if you can't even speak English."

Ignorant, I know, but rather than start a big argument about it, I thought I would just show him some CLEARLY R&B sounds from another one of my favourite artists.

Utada Hikaru; another one of my all time favourite artists.

Until recently, I was unaware of the tracks that Hikaru had made before I started listening to her, some of her very early tracks which were all in English. Rather than attempting to educate my friend, I pulled the first track that I could that screamed R&B and told him to take a listen. Wouldn't be such a bad idea for any readers to take a listen as well.

Lover Boy - Utada Hikaru (Cubic U) - Precious

After hearing this, he understood what I was talking about; music doesn't know race, gender, or any discriminatory attributes. Even if the song weren't in English, he said just listening to the Rhythm and Beats in the song, he approves of it. That must have meant something because it was his first time listening to 'foreign' music and he really enjoys Hikaru. Last I talked to him, he was using some useful music tools like Last.fm to locate artists similar to Hikaru and has had a lot of success with it.

So, where am I going with this some of you may be asking. I am asking my readers to take a chance with the music they listen to and to expand their grasp on music by trying a different genre that they don't typically listen to. I started listening to music with JPop, and it extended into Metal, then to R&B... it continually jumped from point to point on a music spectrum, that is from one extreme to another. You will be quite amazed by what comes from the songs you find.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.
- Gustav Mahler 

The Shackles

Freed from the reel today : My mind.

I'd kept something from a lot of people for a long long time, and it was a really shocking secret. It didn't affect a whole lot of people, but unfortunately, the people it did affect, it hurt a lot. I didn't mean to do what I did, and I feel that I will be paying for the mistakes that I made for quite sometime, but at last, my mind is finally free. I feel like shackles of oppression had finally been cast off myself, though no oppression was involved at all. It's very refreshing, but very painful at the same time. What happened, shouldn't of happened. I shouldn't have lied to my best friend about essentially an imaginary family, getting many feelings stomped on and getting people to reach their emotional highs. We may never be as close again because of it, and I regret every moment of the things that I did. I won't try and make excuses for it.

I should've known that people who weren't involved would be out to get me, to try and get others involved to defame me. What they hope to accomplish by it is beyond me, but they say and do what they do. These people used to be my friends, and while they may not be anymore, I'm not bitter towards them at all. They have experienced their fair share of unfortunate events, and while my words may fall on deaf ears, they are just as supporting as they were had we stayed in contact, wishing them good luck on their various trials, wishing them happy birthday, sending condolences for any loses, the list goes on.

I've been trying to better myself since then. Not to win back what I lost, but because I realized that what I did wasn't who I was before actually losing my mom. I used to be very care free of what I did. If I liked to talk about toys and things that interest me, I could care less who got in my way to tell me that I was wrong or to put me down on whatever level they can muster. I'm trying to go back to being that person I was and always knew myself to be, the caring individual who puts my friends and my family before myself. I may be beaten, tattered and scared, but I'm still alive...

There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.
Robert Alden

So, what is this post then? A rant to whoever stumbles upon this? A way for me to express myself? It's both of those and more. Writing, whether informative or just for the hell of writing is a way for me to feel better about myself. To calm myself down regarding my feelings. If I'm upset or angry, I'll write. If I'm happy and excited, I'll write. If I'm feeling scared or threatened, I'll write. Surely, you get the idea now, but I want to have a blog as such. It was suggested to me by of the councillors that I speak to once a week. She suggested for me to start a space where I can write about anything. And since I wasn't thrilled with the idea of writing a diary, I chose a blog instead. I am going into my 3rd year of Media Studies program at the University of Guelph Humber majoring in Image Arts. Photography is a huge passion of mine, but as is digital communications. Integrating media into everything I do is something I always do, from posting images and videos as replies to my friends statuses on Facebook or Twitter, to using those same things in intellectual discussions and reports for class. It's an expectation of me these days, and I shall not disappoint.

I’ve loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
Galileo

I just want to be freed from the reel. Being free meaning I can enjoy my life without worry of the endeavours I have to face the next day. Realistically, I don't think I will ever be completely free, but I will continue to free things from the reel, post by post. As things become free, others become new obstacles, new hurdles, new shackles. And like others in the past, they will become freed from the reel.

Images seen in this blog post were taken and edited by me.