Whiplash Movie - What does it take to be the best?

How far is too far when pushing someone to reach their full potential? What are the consequences of trying to find the line? Is it self-righteous to push someone too hard...or is it an act of compassion? Or maybe it's something different all together? We explore some of these questions and many more as we dive into discussion about a Drummer who was pushed by his music teacher to play to the best of his abilities.

Day 272: Whiplash the Movie: Opening a can of Whiplash

 

Watch the movie first before reading this, Spoiler Alert.

The first scene that shows us what kind of person the conductor is is when he kicks out one of players. From there we can see this guy is an extreme perfectionist.

When Andrew Neimann sits on the drums for a first practice session with the band, it becomes apparent that the conductor is not your everyday average conductor. Terrence Fletcher (the conductor) first utters the words “That’s not quite my tempo” (still give me chills) and we know that shit is about to hit the fan – and man, did the shit hit the fan.

If you already watched this movie you will agree with me that saying the Conductor is a Motivational Speaker is a gross understatement. The guy is borderline Psychotic, but in the end it did give results.

What I did notice about the drummer is that he has a passion for jazz drumming. You can see his room full of posters of famous drummers and his goal in life is to become “one of the greats”. And as the movie goes on you can see that he will do anything to get there. But there is line here, When does passion become obsession? The Kid was actually obsessed to become the greatest and pushed himself (with help from the psychotic conductor) trying to get there.

Also looking at all the players in the band – nobody there actually enjoyed themselves. They will fearful and worried and anxious – obviously stressed, because if they make one mistake they are out of the band. The reason why they are there is because playing in that band ( one of the top notch bands) they can get recognized and go places in life.

For me what does it matter if judges and people say you are good. What is the point of being able to play the drums faster than anybody else? Sure, if it is a point of doing it for yourself and not for the approval of others it’s fine. But pushing yourself to the limits just for the approval is really limiting to what Music actually is.

Unfortunately in this world competition comes in the way of that. Often times people have a talent, and the only to make money off that talent is to push yourself to the limits to become better than others so that you can be recognized and make a living off music. And that can take the passion right out of Music. In those cases there is not time passion, but in all the others remember: Music should be an expression of yourself. You do it, because you enjoy doing it.

Basic Income Guaranteed is BIG enough for Animals - Animal Rights

A Solution for Animal rights

There are Charities that focus on caring for animals. They also take animals out of abusive situations like for example in the news the other day there were horses found starving on a farm and some found dead so they took them out of that situation to take of them. This is cool that they were able to assist those horses. There are many such situations out there and many animals suffer. 

Unfortunately the reason Charities exist is not cool. The reason why charities exist is because there is a problem with this world and system we live in. People cannot afford food and so charities are there to feed them. People cannot afford to take care of animals and so th

ere are charities to take care of the animals. There is a pattern here – charities are band aids, the cleanup crew. It is like having a bucket that is overflowing with water and all you do is mop up the water – you keep mopping up the water, but the water keeps on coming – instead of getting to the root of the problem which is closing the tap to stop the water.

You will find countless animals that are neglected in poor countries/areas which makes sense, because how are you going to feed a dog when you can’t even feed yourself? The problem with animal rights is that human rights do not exist. Food and water should be a human right – effective housing should be a human right, but it is not. People basic needs are not met and the animals suffer along with the humans. 

That is why Basic Income Guaranteed would benefit not only the humans, but the animals as well. There are people who would really like and have a passion to work with animals, but they can’t support themselves. If they had their basic needs met then they would go for it, go work with animals. Human rights and animal rights are linked. Then you will see an increase in people that work with animals. 

So, if you support animals and would like to end their suffering and help them then the Basic Income Guaranteed is the solution for this.  

I am a Musician

 

Forgive me listeners for I have sinned - It has been a while since I released a song...

I have been involved with music my whole life. From playing the piano to playing bands to forming Robot Virgins and producing/writing songs with various other Artists. It has been an enjoyable journey thus far.

It takes allot of time and patience and dedication to write and produce a song - Some songs took me days and most took weeks and even months. It is very satisfying when A song is done. These days I mostly listen to my own songs and songs I have produced. Lately is has become increasingly difficult to write music. I have a few songs that I wrote, but they are not good enough. So I write this blog to find the reasons why I am struggling to write music these days.

My first question to myself is why am I a musician? Why do I write songs? Why Am I doing it?

My first reason was that my mother introduced me to music by teaching me the piano. As a young child playing the piano I noticed that people were amazed by me playing it - I was being appreciated and got attention for doing it and so that was my reason. As I got older and learnt other instruments and played with friends they appreciated me and I got attention and was fitting in. Which became my drive to improve my skills and become better at the instruments I was playing. I started writing songs and formed bands all the while getting attention and being appreciated. In a Nutshell - I was a musician to be appreciated and get attention and to fit in - got good at being a musician and simply continued doing it. All this was sub-couscous - I was not aware of it until much later after I became a part of the Desteni Process.

Before We started Robot Virgins I had a collection of songs I wrote through out the years - most not particularly good, but I enjoyed the process of writing music. It is creating something out of seemingly nothing. Using sounds and notes, shaping and structuring into a flow and you have a song. I mostly did music only - always had a difficult time with placing words to music. That was the one part of music I really enjoy - writing music and then listening to my own music.

Robot Virgins formed. I learnt how to produce music on a computer by myself which was awesome, because now I can write songs, record songs and produce songs. The first official song I recorded and produced  was Robot Virgins - Your Truth which turned out to be an All time favorite. As I was writing the song with help from Cerise I wrote it with other people in mind - meaning I was writing it for people who experience was the song is about. Only later after a few months of release did I realize The words are specific to me - I wrote the song for myself. It was interesting.

So Why Am I a Musician now. It is something that I am good at. It is a method to get a message across to assist and support people to realize something about themselves they have not yet realized. My starting Point within All this was still writing for others and not doing it for myself as well. I used to play guitar and drums and piano for the sake of simply playing because I enjoy it, but I have not done that in a long time - to play for myself. I started a few days ago to once again just play on instruments for myself.

I will continue this on the morrow as I go into more detail how I looked for my Muse and realized my Muse was me all along.....