Wednesday 25 November 2015

Things said in Anger...


Time

You’re seething with anger, and you aren’t thinking clearly, so there you go and say something so cruel you don’t even recognise yourself...

It happens, and it is something that you have to learn to deal with – no matter what side of the argument you find yourself on.

I became very interested in this “Things said in Anger” topic following a big argument that I had with my mother.

I won’t get into the details but following the argument, my mother then not only launched the dustpan, but she also aimed and threw her ceramic bowl, which had been half-filled with cereal, at me.

It didn't hit me, but the point was to intimidate me.

I left shortly thereafter to go to work, but needless to say that it was a day that I don’t want to experience again.

The whole day I felt this knot in my stomach, and I had also gotten stuck on this notion of things said in anger.

Some people get aggressive when angry, not just physically but verbally too.

Swear words are quickly thrown at you, and things are said with the intent to hurt you.

What I found interesting about it, well interesting is bad word but it was something that caught my attention, was how issues from years ago suddenly reared its head.

Things that you thought had been dealt with were once again laid bare, all with the intent to cause guilt and hurt.

It just goes show that sometimes we say we’re past an issue, but sometimes that is a lie.

I never get angry, and a large part is that I am scared of what I might do or say...

I have this huge fear of getting violent, but more so of hurting someone with words – of saying something so full of vitriol and malice that you just want hurt this other person's feelings as much as you can.

It is frightening, and people sometimes underestimate just how much damaged can be done with words.

Sure, you can argue that things said in anger are not thoughts of a sober mind, but they are things that you feel without any filtering or editing because they are purely instinctive.

Some can forgive, but if you are someone like me, you will always be aware of those things somewhere in your mind. Even if things were said in anger, they came from a place within the person where they thought or felt like that at a particular point.

However not all things said in anger can be a bad thing...

Sometimes things said in anger reveal a hidden part of ourselves that we didn’t want to deal with. By revealing that hidden part, it may lead us to processing things that we weren’t aware of.

Not all anger is a bad thing, because sometimes anger gives us courage to say the things we may be afraid to say.

Things said in anger sometimes reveal more than what we would like to. It puts us at our most vulnerable but also at our most volatile.

It reveals all the baggage that we carry with us, moments and experiences we've collected - all of which have left an indelible mark on us - and then depending on which person we are angry at, these moments and experiences come bubbling up. Sometimes when they do come up, we may choose to use it as a weapon.

Weaponised aggression.

Anger is a valid emotion, but it a dangerous one. People have committed murders in anger because they were consumed by the emotion.

You have every right to feel angry, because it is a natural human emotion that you will feel at some point, but you have to be careful of what you do with that anger. The words you say when angry may cause irreparable harm, and the physical manifestations of that anger present a greater hazard.

There is no tried and tested method to deal with anger but we all have to find our own quirks because if we don’t that very anger may just consume you from the inside out.


Schindlers List

Theo. Over and Out.


PS - What the whole experience with my mother had also revealed to me about myself was that all I wanted to do was speak to one specific person, but it was someone who I couldn’t speak to. It proved to be an informative experience of how to do deal with a matter when you can’t speak to the person you would like to.

Thursday 12 November 2015

The Lion's Tunes #9



Welcome to another edition of The Lion’s Tunes.

At the suggestion of a close friend, I decided to put my love of music to good use.

She pointed out to me that since I love music and listen to so much of it, I should share what songs I’m currently jamming to at the moment.

I was expecting this to be up sooner, especially given how very active I was over the October month. I had no idea where all of those emotions and opinions came from but hey, clearly I felt inspired and writing was the best way to get it out.

Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand. I have come across a lot of music while I will share below so I hope you enjoy.

I’m by no means a music expert and I won’t pretend to be. Most of what will be written here is information I’ve learned on the net and just my personal opinions on the songs.

I have been listening to a lot of local radio so today's is a mix of radio songs and tunes that I have discovered across the interweb.

So have at it...

·         Song: Soap
Artist: Melanie Martinez

This song is just fucking awesome. I love how fun, badass and so full of eccentric attitude that it is. I heard this first on local radio before I searched for it on youtube. It is just super cool. I groove for days on this song...and my grooving gets very grimey and nasty ;)



In all seriousness though, what I love about this is just how it also speaks back to parent's washing out your mouth with soap when you said something wrong (not that that happened to me because the weapon of choice when I misbehaved happen to be a belt). This song is just so cool.

What I love even more is that she sounds nearly identical to the record when performed live. Yassss.



I have no clue why I said "Yassss" I actually hate the word, but that is another blogpost for another day.

·         Song: WTF (Where They From)
Artist: Missy Elliot ft Pharrell Williams

She is back, and showing why we fell in love with her all those year ago. It is so nice to finally have another black female MC back on the scene. Nicki Minaj has been killing it but Missy is just that awesome and it feels awesome to have her back. Also this music video is fire! Excuse me while I'll try learning the words to this jam.



·      
   Song: Till I Found
Artist: Josef Salvat

I  came across Josef Salvat after hearing his vocals on the Tourist "Holding On" song. His voice captured me and I wanted to discover if his other music was just as good. I went throguh some of his songs on youtube but couldn't help but become obsessed with "Till I Found You". Given that I am a romantic at heart, I love romance songs but there is something haunting about this song that just gives me chills. Also, it hurt that he is gorgeous to look at. Yummy.




·      
   Song: Talk Me Down
Artist: Troye Sivan
Album: Blue Neighbourhood

It was to be expected that I would include the final song in the "Blue Neighbourhood" music video trilogy from Troye Sivan given that I have covered it before. What should be noted is that while the first two songs in the trilogy are from his "Wild" EP, the final song in the music video trilogy, "Talk Me Down" is actually the first single of his forthcoming album in December.




I have Youtube'd some of his live performance of songs from the forthcoming album, and boy does his album sound like it is goes to be a banger.

·      
   Song: Never Forget You
Artist: Zara Larrson ft MNEK

This is the song that has my mother annoyed. It has her annoyed because it is the only damn song that whenever it plays, I sing it as loud as possible. I am just so  OBSESSED. I dance and dance and dance and just let the sick beat crash over me.

Firstly, the vocals of this song are on point.
Secondly, the beat is a monster.
Thirdly, If you aren't dancing to this then you must be dead.
Fourthly, the message is something I connected with deeply. We all have that one person we will never forget.



Also, another pair that when performed lived, just absolutely destroy it. #ThankTheMusicGods. Though I was bit worried when she first started, the worry turned out to be for nought.



·      
   Song: Novocaine (Remix / Audio)
Artist: Fall Out Boy ft Uzi

I like Fall Out Boy, they are not on the list of groups that I obsess about, but they are just so awesome. They also are willing to mess around with their sound and let it be changed to make it work for other genres. No better example can be given than this version of their song Novocaine.



·      
   Song: Dance Again
Artist: Black Coffee ft Nakhane Toure
Album: Pieces of Me

DJ Black Coffee recent won the ‘Breakthrough In Association with Mixcloud Award at the 2015 Ibiza DJ Awards which is a pretty big, but cooler than that, he also released one fucking amazing song from his new album "Pieces of Me". It is currently the biggest song in South Africa at the moment and once you hear it, you will understand why. It is just a really really great song.



·      
   Song: In My Head
Artist: Galantis

I have been a fan of Galantis following the release of their song Runaway (You & I). While their song "Peanut Jelly" is currently soaring up the charts, I don't like it as much. However, regardless of that I still like their originality and how peculiar they are. Their latest offering "In my Head" is definitely proof of their craziness but also how they just love making music.



·      
   Song: When We Were Young
Artist: Break D Law ft Matthew Gold  

Love love love this tune. Matthew Gold has always had a very unique voice and one distinct enough that you can pick it out when it plays on the radio. He just supplied his vocals to Break D Law for this track and I'm glad because it delivered quite the banger. This is a local track and it is doing very well on the 5FM charts. While initially I wasn't captured by the song, the more I heard it, the more I liked it.



·      
   Song: Tripswitch
Artist: Nothing But Thieves

I love this song. I love the rocker vibe to it, it has a bit of that Muse thing going on which is hardly a bad thing. That aside, I just love the whole video of the song...also who doesn't love a guy pole dancing naked?? (it must have hurt quite a bit though). That aside, it is groovy and makes me want to air guitar which is a horrific sight to say the least.



·      
   Song: Automatic
Artist: Zhu ft AlunaGeorge

I have been liking the stuff that Zhu has been putting out. He has a cool vibe about his stuff. I am not the biggest EDM fan but I really really love a good beat that I can dance to.



Additional Mention:

Song: To Ü 
Artist: Jack Ü ft AlunaGeorge

I seem to be on a AlunaGeorge vibe of sorts. Hahaha. Also I do love me some Jack Ü because I am all about that Skrillex and Diplo making love with their music :P



·      
   Song: BURNITUP!
Artist: Janet Jackson ft Missy Elliot

My reaction to Ms Jackson's comeback has been varied. What I love about this next song is that it also features an artist I love, Miss Elliot. She was just pure awesome-sauce and I am really glad that she is also returning to music. I am really excited.



· Song: Stressed Out
Artist: Twenty One Pilots

I am all about that Twenty One Pilots vibe. They are hip hop but doing it on their own terms. It really is just them doing what they want and I love the deeper meaning that can be found in their lyrics. It's all about substance and you can hear it in every song that has such a clear message.


Additional Mention: Lane Boy



BONUS:

Florence + The Machine covers Skrillex and Diplo's "Where Are Ü Now"

I am including this cover by Florence and the Machine because she is just damn amazing. Some people may not like her style of singing but regardless I love it.




Theo.  Over and Out.


PS - Hope you enjoyed it. I didn't include a radio section because this was such a mix for me so yeah...

Thursday 5 November 2015

Fuck your masculinity - I will cry when I want



I don't like crying....

But not for the usual reasons.

The reason I dislike crying is not because it makes me look weak, but because of the way I feel when I cry.
Everything seems to hit me from every direction and I feel overwhelmed, alone and like i'm in a dark pool which no one but me understands.

Recently however, I have been feeling particularly emotional given how life decided to just wallop me with situations that have struck a cord with me.

I am the type of person who speaks freely about emotions and crying because to me, it's natural.

I don't feel ashamed about my feelings because  feelings are what makes me human, and sometimes it's only natural to cry.

Recently however when I mentioned to someone that something was making me a bit emotional, and that I almost cried, they looked at me like I was stupid and like I was not a proper man because of it.

I  didn't care about it in the moment, but in retrospect it made me somewhat angry.

It made me angry because we live in a society where gender roles cause more harm than good, and the idiotic notion of a "real man" (which is the notion of what a man is supposed to be) creates unrealistic expectations and beliefs of what a man should be.

In reality, a man should be who the fuck he wants to be.

I am not here to fill someone's stereotype and role of what you believe a man should be. I am me, I will not be apologetic for admitting that things make me sad. I will not feel bad about crying over stuff when I feel like shit because sometimes crying is necessary and it actually makes you feel better afterwards.

Fuck your masculinity.

It's these societal ideals of "real men" or some crap about how guys are not meant to cry (because it is a sign of weakness) that ends up doing so much damage because people become scared to express how they really feel.

How narrow-minded is your notion of masculinity that crying is seen as weak??

Crying is natural. It's society that tells us it's not.

 It is done to express feelings of happiness, sadness. frustration and anger but men seem to be taught that crying makes you weak. It has become this sign of weakness that people will manipulate and try to use against you.

If the society we live in wants to continue to spread this notion of some fucked up rules of masculinity that stops people from truly expressing their feelings without being shamed for it, then it is a society that I want nothing to do with.

I will cry when I want. Your notion of masculinity and "real men" be damned.

I repeat - Fuck your masculinity.



Theolin. Over and Out


PS- Here is a really cool photo series that shows soldiers crying.

Neringa Rekasiute and Beata Tiskevic-Hasanova’s photo project They Won the Lottery is a reaction to the new law (in which Lithuanian government reintroduced military conscription) ; it depicts young men in military uniform, crying, alongside their comments about masculinity. (see more here)

We wanted to show how dangerous gender expectations are: A man is expected to be rational, emotionless and aggressive. It is very important that we, as a society, allow men to express their emotions and not force a stereotypical archaic role onto them.” 
– Neringa Rekasiute

So powerful