How much influence do popular artists have over their young listeners

Today I am in a hangover like state, dwelling in the come down after seeing many of my favourite bands play at Soundwave. It's in seeing these bands play live that a flood of emotions can hit you and you realise what a tremendous influence these bands, and their members, can have on shaping the lives of the young and impressionable. 

The crowd was littered with all sorts of people, many of them identifiable to their respective fandoms. Black Veil Brides fans were easily the most notable with stitches drawn across their face akin to Andy Sixx’s makeup. While these aesthetics are mildly amusing at best it made me think about how much deeper the influence these bands ran. 

Even today I am frighteningly devoted to the band that has had more influence on my life than any other and I hope that I am not naive in my belief that this influence has been positive. I am drawn to wonder how much of who I am has been crafted by that band that I adore so much. Without their influence would I still be living a vegetarian lifestyle? I like to think so but maybe it was their influence that pushed me over the edge. They are a band who’s lyrics I have not only sort comfort in but my endless hours of watching interviews may have led me to adopt their beliefs. Or perhaps this is a chicken or the egg scenario. Was it the similarity in ideas that drew me to them or were my ideals shaped by their words? While it would be wonderful to have an answer to this I don’t, and in the long run I don’t think it really matters. I think that regardless of which causes the other it is important for the band members to be aware of the influence they have on young and developing minds. Promoting anarchy and self-expression is all well and good as long as it isn’t hurting anyone.

I know that I lot of parents and guardians get hung up on the lyrics of what their child is listening to but I think we need to be more aware of what the artist behind it is promoting. Lyrics are where comfort is sought but the ideals of the artist that are far more likely to influence the behaviour of the listener. This is from my experience of course. 

My favourite band might sing the lyrics 

While I waited I was wasting away
Hope was wasting away
Faith was wasting away
I was wasting away

But if at the same time the members whom I admire so much are spreading messages of compassion towards other people and animals and promoting abstinence from drugs and alcohol, this is the message I am going to take away from them and their lyrics just become a way to feel less alone when the world seems to be against you. 

What I am trying to say with all of this is that I hope public figures take upon themselves the serious responsibility of influencing the beliefs and lifestyle choices of the next generation. 

Moving out blog: What if these little accomplishments lose their merit?

It's been a week now since move in day, and although I haven't had a lot of responsibilities (uni hasn't started yet, I still haven't found a job yet, etc). I have been finding joy in the merit and sense of accomplishment I feel each time I complete a "grown up" task. For example a few nights ago I quickly whipped up a vegetarian lasagne for dinner, added some of my roommates leftover salad on the side and wah lah, a home cooked dinner for four. It’s small things like this that make me feel responsible, give me a sense of achievement and make it all worthwhile. This motivation has begged the question, what if these chores lose their merit and just become a monotonous routine that I am obliged to follow? I’ve never been good at routine and it’s always been a sense of achievement that keeps me going. If I lose this in the everyday tasks such as cooking and cleaning that I am obliged to do will I continue to do them? What if losing this sense of achievement leaves me stewing in an uncleaned apartment surrounded by empty two minute noodle packets that I am too unmotivated to even throw out? The dumpster is on the ground floor after all, that’s four floors down and few locked doors away. Whose design was that? Don’t they realise I’m busy and sometimes taking out the garbage isn’t my top priority? On F.R.I.E.D.S. they have a garbage shoot on their floor and a super to unclog their toilet, where is my garbage shoot and super?

It’s upon typing this that I realise that maybe I still have some growing up to do. Adults aren’t rewarded for doing what is expected of them. Tasks like the ones that have been giving me a sense of pride since moving in are simply expected and much less than it being an achievement for getting them done, it is a sign of slothfulness to not have them done. Naive as it was I had come to adopt an idealistic view of what it would be like to move of and live with a best friend. This may be a result of the countless hours I spent watching sit coms in my adolescence. However the truth remains that once again, TV shows little resemblance to reality. After all, when was the last time you saw one of Ted Mosby cook a meal or Joey Tribbiani vacuum the apartment. Even though I now live above both a bar and a coffee shop I guess I have to accept the fact that my life is not a sit com and I will have to endure all the mundane aspects of living that are so purposefully skipped over in my favourite TV shows. This is not me resigning myself to a life of routine boredom, this is simply , me accepting the challenge to complete all my grown up activities and still have enough misadventures and laughs to fill a 45 minute sitcom each week. 

I thought I would end this week's blog with a quote that I read recently and has become yet another life motto of mine. 

"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people."

Missing deadlines- The Wasabi Punishment and apartment tour

I missed my 5pm Sunday deadline to post my blog so as agreed I ate a teaspoon of wasabi. Stick around to the end to see a quick tour of my new abode.

Nb: See if you can catch the moment where I gag on the wasabi.

I've missed my Sunday deadline and as a result I'm being punished with a teaspoon of wasabi as set out by a friend a few weeks ago. So, I will have the promised video posted in the next few days. I could make a thousand excused for why I didn't post a blog in time, moving into my own apartment for the first time has kept me very busy and Sunday was the day most of our furniture was delivered, we don't have internet yet and as luck would have it my laptop is chucking inconsolable problems, but the point remains that journaists face deadlines regardless of what is happening in their own lives and I have failed to meet mine. A few friends have also asked for photos of my new place so within the next few days I will not only give you the wasabi video, I will end it with a tour of my new apartment.

The changing of our culture: Body Modifications

It has been drilled into me that two of my greatest passions cannot coexist. When I search myself for things that I love I am only ever certain of two things. The first is obvious, the reason that I am here writing this blog. I love words and want to be a journalist more than anything. I am even prepared to compromise, as I am told is necessary, my second passion. My love of body modifications.

I really can't explain this love any more than I could explain why I prefer skinny jeans to summer dresses but it just the same is a fact of who I am. This is a part of me that I love to express and it is something that I enjoy for myself and not for the approval of any other. However currently in our culture there is still a great deal of stigma around modified people, one that I (and many others I know) enjoy disproving. While we are doing our best to reduce prejudice towards modified people I know that it won't happen overnight and I tend to wonder if we will ever reach a time at which we will be able to have professional journalists, teachers and lawyers with tattoos, piercings and stretched ears.

My desire to be a journalist is stronger than my desire to be modified so I am prepared to remove my piercings the day I graduate or get an internship but I am inclined to wonder if one day myself, and other like me, won't have to make that choice.

It is a bizarre thing, our cultures hostility towards decorated people. I know that it stems back to times before my birth when body art was affiliated with gangs, violence and rebellion. This is the most common explanation that I have heard and it seems to be one that is rapidly evaporating as body body modification becomes more common amongst the wider parts of the younger demographic. One day today's youth will become the CEOs and nation leaders, will this cause a cultural shift? It would seem logical but let's not forget the trend to veer towards conservatism that frequently happens as people age. It only takes a look at the our current world status and an acknowledgement that many of the people ruling our world in suits and ties were the same protesting against the same principles that they now abide. Maybe this cultural shift that I dream of will happen, even if it takes decades. I can only hope, any progress is good progress in my eyes.

Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and, free?

Today is a day of national pride. We "chuck a shrimp on the barbie" and celebrate all that it means to be Australian. To me being Australian means a sense of pride in the diversity and multiculturalism of our nation. We are a nation largely of convicts and refugees. We came here in search of a better life and I sincerely hope that everyone has found it. I know that I am probably in the minority, but please don't let me stand alone when I say this. Nothing makes me happier than walking down the street and seeing another person speaking on the phone or to a friend in a language other than English. Isn't that amazing? That person has, more likely than not, come from another country to be in Australia. Of all the countries in the world this person decided that there best chance at a brighter future lay in our country and I find that the greatest compliment available. These people who easily slip between their native tongue and English are intelligent individuals whose presence in our society can only enrich our culture. This may have selfish subtext coming from someone who thrives on Indian food and Asian teas, but I can't understand why we would not welcome these people with open arms and hearts.

On that note I want to mention that only 2.5% of our population identify as indigenous. I know that regrettably in the past, and even more regrettably, at present we have treated and still treat these people inhumanly. I am among the population that wholeheartedly regret and apologise for our treatment of indigenous Australians and believe that it is only these people that we have taken so much from that I feel have any right to hold any ownership over this country of ours. I deeply thank the traditional owners of our land for sharing this beautiful place with us and resent any early immigrants who believe that they have a divine right over this nation and show hostility towards additional immigrants and refugees who are, as their descendants once were, looking for a better quality of life on our shores. Our country is one of the least densely populated, and one of the most economically stable in the world. We have built our country on a foundation of Indigenous cultures, European settlers, English convicts, Chinese miners, Jewish refugees and Kanak slaves, just to name a few. So please remember this before you decide that you have any more right to be here than a man fleeing from prosecution from Iraq, Congo, Afghanistan, Syria or any other country suffering conflict today. They are likely in worse positions than your descendants were when they arrived.

In saying all of this I am not trying to deprive you in any way of a sense of nationalism. Be proud of your country for we are great and we have achieved so many great things. Just be inclusive with your pride, we all deserve our spot in this country and someone who received their citizenship last week is no less an Australian than a 5th generation Australian. Our country is a wealth of natural beauty and agricultural gold, let's celebrate that. We are a democratic nation of people free from the fears of war, poverty and prosecution, let's celebrate that!

So cheers Australia, here's to many more years of fortune, cultural growth and development!

Happy Australia day. 

"As you get older you will gain a bit more control over everything. Don't let anyone, even your parents, break you. Find good people who care about you and surround yourself with just them. If you can't find them at first, find good music and fall into it and let it hold you until they come..."

-Davey Havok 

I have spoken a lot lately about expelling negativity and allowing yourself to be surrounded by positivity and it is something that is ever prominent in my life. As I grow older I'm becoming more secure within myself and allowing only positive people into my life is helping with this. 

There are two people in my life that would never suspect that they have such a tremendous effect on my self-esteem. They are just two people that I work with once or twice a week in a little pizza shop, but when I am with them there is never a dull moment. I have known for a long time that they are fun and lovely people but it was only last night, when we laughed so hard that my chest felt like it might cave in, that I realised that when I am with them I am fun as well. These two people probably can't even imagine my weaker sides as every time I am with them I myself can't even fathom anything less than the extreme confidence and happiness that I feel.

I think that it's important for your best friends not to be "yes" people, at least not to you anyway. Your best and closest friends need to be people who challenge you and make you better. Just a few days ago while driving two of my best friends to the movies the first in the car for the ride pointed out on more than one occasion that our conversations would quickly become very heavy (as we spoke about concentration camps and questioned our responses to potential inhumane treatment of our loved ones). The three of us are different people and I think that's important in the dynamics of our relationship.We need people to challenge us and be critical of our views or we may remain stagnant in our world views. 

Another of my best friends is someone that I know I can call at three in the morning when I am having a hard time and she will be my by side in an instant. I will be lucky enough to be calling this wonderful human being my roommate in the coming months. She is a girl more wonderful, caring and intelligent than words could ever do justice. She is that person that it is important to have in your life because you would never need to tell them a lie. She is too open minded and supportive to hide any detail from and she is the kind of friend that everyone needs to have in their life.

These are the kind of people that I have been privileged enough to surround yourself with, and although it took some trial and error, I think I have it right this time. Sometimes it is hard to find the people that bring out the best in you, but never stop looking. Sometimes the best way to love yourself is to see others love you first.

If these people are missing from your life know that they will come, provided you keep looking. Forge friends at every opportunity, you can never have too many. In the interim surround yourself with good music and things that you enjoy. There are some songs that it is nigh impossible to feel sad or lonely while listening to. 

 

You're not being very pleasant

After watching this video by my favourite author, John Green, I recently watched the 1950 film Harvey (that, admittedly, my father had been nagging me to watch for years. Sorry Dad). Unsurprisingly I did find it to be quite an important movie, as quirky as it may be. To me the point of the movie can be summed u by one quote that has suck with me. Elwood quotes his mother in saying, 
"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant." 
This was important to me because I had spent to much of my time trying to be smart. I try to read all the right books, watch the right movies and listen to the right music. It was an exhausting part of my being that I felt the need to consume as much cultural knowledge as possible before my time was up, lest I grow old to be an uneducated proletarian.
While education and cultural knowledge are still important to me this movie brought me down into reality reminding me that knowledge was not all that was important in life. So for now I have chosen to be "oh so pleasant."

Herein lies the problem. Some people make it very difficult to be pleasant and finding myself sufficiently short of Gandhi's patients when words of cruelty are gushing out of the mouths around me. For me to respond in the words circling my mind would not me pleasant of me. Nor would it be pleasant for me to release my frustration to another by retailing the tail. I am forever attempting to better myself and I feel this is a necessary point for improvement. Can can one be pleasant when they cannot let annoyances pass over them like water off a ducks back? I will be sure to update when I have found a successful method to do so. At this point I would like to note that for my own personal purposes I have altered the statement to "kind" in place of "pleasant" as I feel that is a more desirable and more complete attribute that I would wish to have associated with my name. So, where is the line drawn? It is more kind to point out the ill-intentioned words and acts of others in a hope that it may advantage them, and others, in the future. Or is it more kind to simply keep ones mouth shut and choose not to participate?

Once again I end the week with many questions left unanswered. Perhaps as I gain life experience some of my questions will be answered. Here's, once again, to hoping.

Expelling negativity

This week I am filled with such tremendous happiness after making some positive changes in my life. Months ago now I bit the bullet and let go of the negative people in my life. While I knew that even though it was hard it would be good for me to let go of these people I didn't quite realise the potential for change this would have. The moment I made that decision and let go of the people that were bringing negativity into my life there was room for more positivity. While I'm still in the early stages of my new found friend and and romantic relationships I am so far extremely happy that I found the strength to move on of the people that were bringing me down. As soon as I stopped wasting all my time on people who make me feel down I was able to give time to those who raise me higher than I had been in a long time. I am grateful for all the people in my life and I am so thankful to those who helped me to realise that I deserve better.
So this is it. I have never really been one for new years resolutions, it being my belief that the power to change your life is yours at any given time and a new calendar year isn't going to give you the motivation to drop those 20kg you've been carrying around for 5 years. I however have made a resolution for myself this year. In 2014 I am not going to allow negative influences to weigh me down. I am going to recognise the good and the bad in my life. I am going to appreciate the good, and allow it to know that it is appreciated, and expel the negative. I am going to be braver and stronger than ever this year. I am going to grasp positivity by the proverbial neck and I encourage you to do the same. Here's to a stronger 2014. None of us deserve to be weighed down by negativity because we are afraid of getting hurt or hurting someone else. Sometimes, as I experienced in last years cull, it will hurt and you will wonder if it was the right thing to do but in the end removing yourself from negativity opens you up for more good in your life. It is worth it, you are worth it.

End cliche motivational speech 

 

Happy New Year/Getting back on top of things

Happy 2014, look around you, it's going to be a beautiful year.

Over the exam period and holidays I lacked in my posted and that is something that will end with the coming of the new year. I know every casual blogger/vlogger says that but we're going to do it. 52 posts for 52 weeks. So, roughly 5pm every Sunday I'm going to make it happen. Perhaps some sort of punishment should be inflicted if I fail to meet this deadline. A journalist has to be use to deadlines after all.
For now that won't be a problem because I have so much to tell. I've taken a break, thought about my life and the world, traveled a little and now I'm back with more ponderings than ever. Furthermore this year is going to be another one filled with adventures as I grow up and face the adult world. Sometime in the next two months I'll be moving into my very first apartment with my good friend Emily, I'll be getting my first job in Brisbane and for the first time in my life I will be taking care of myself like an adult. I'm sure this won't be without it's trials and there will almost certainly be errors but that's what growing up is all about and I will be sharing all my confusion and bewilderment with you, dear reader.

As an aside I would like to share with you a fun little thing I'll be doing this year. In my new apartment I will be setting up a jar in which I plan to fill with notes on which I will write all the great things that happen in 2014/all the things that make me happy. On NYE next year I'll go through the jar and hopefully it will be filled with things that make me smile.

Again, happy new year and good luck in 2014.