Identity: Hipster, Geek, Nerdfighter?

Hey guys!

Today I'd like to talk about some thoughts that were stemmed from this cool video right here because it really got me thinking in a way I've never really thought or considered before.

We use ourselves and the image that we think of ourselves as as the way of knowing who we are and what kind of person we are. This is often through labels and identifying with a certain image of person. For example, I've been told before that my normal Tumblr blog is quite hipster which I can then identify with through the content that I put up and in this way, I feel more secure in some ways because I know who I am through looking at the other blogs that have been similarly labelled. You can be called a geek or nerd if you're clever or are expressedly interested in something or other and this can explain your characteristics. Similarly, you can create an image of yourself by choosing to not associate yourself with a label. For example, some people don't like to be seen as feminists or chavs for example and this is because of the image of themselves that they believe that they would create by using that label. But what is the real point that I'm trying to get to here?

There is an awesome truth in realising that we are not the labels that we identify with or don't identify with because are much more complex than the labels that we give ourselves. We're so much more than a few words with connotations, we're unique people with entire universes inside of ourselves that can't be encompassed by words alone. For example, my blog may seem like it's hipster but it's full of content that could be classed as verticle, or grunge or to do with YouTube. There's very little way in which we can try and understand ourselves through limiting ourselves to a few words. 

As human beings, we expressly love labels - they make us feel like we understand and that we're in control but in reality, there's so much to know and so much more to understand that labels aren't really worthy of us. You'll never find two people who identify with the same label who are exactly the same.

I think that summarises what I got from the video - we're so different and we're so complex that using labels doesn't do us justice. We should always strive to delve into the depths of ourselves which is pretty scary but there's so much to discover!

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post! Please do feel free to leave me your comments below and I do hope to speak to you guys soon! God Bless!<2

p.s. I tried to find a picture to go with this post but nothing really fitted ;)

There's Always a First :/

Hey guys!

Today I wanted to talk about something I haven't really been affected by before and it's not really something I have any advice on or really any experience at all; it's a first and I really hope it doesn't happen to you guys or anyone you care about.

My good friends on the internet were attacked for using the same hashtag as another organisation on Twitter. I'm part of this organisation however I wasn't present when the harassment kicked off. We're completely different groups with completely different reputations and agendas and yet the other team who used the same hashtag felt as though they had to make our lives miseries rather than be polite and try and talk through the problem they had with us using their hashtag.

The problem started when the figurehead of our group started getting aggressive tweets from the members of the other group. This also then spread to trolls on one of the members of our group who had used the hashtag in reference to our group and they attacked. Around 3 people were attacked and though at first they fed the trolls, they soon realised that the trolls would only keep going if they kept fighting them. So they did what they had to, stayed quiet, made their accounts private where possible and blocked those who had harassed them. Not only did the harassment happen on Twitter but the tweet that the friend used when tweeting contained a YouNow link which then led to the other team flooding in and spamming the chat which meant that the show was ruined.

I'm writing this a day later and we were hoping as a group, that by laying low and blocking anyone who appeared to be malicious, that we'd be able to return back to normal usage asap. We haven't used the hashtag and otherwise, things were looking good. Then it got worse - our figurehead received death threats and one of the main leaders of these trolls revealed our figurehead's number and home address as well as that of his mother and it was outrageous. On top of that, some of the blocked people found ways of refollowing those who had blocked them and right now, we have no idea what to do but to keep reporting and blocking.

As this has never happened to me before, I don't know how to react to this nor do I know how it will play out though from other people's experiences, they should move onto other people if we lay low and keep reporting. What I hate is that we can't do anything but report and hopefully wait for Twitter to respond. I didn't realise how hard it is to wait when you want justice to happen, that's something I'll definitely take from this experience; hopefully it should be sorted out soon! I also hate how they're parasites, how they take goodness away from their victims and how the victim must simply wait out the disease until it leaves and finds a new victim. It's a horribly vicious cycle, even if you do get their account suspended because it's far too easy just to create another account and restart again.

Anyways, if I have any updates for you guys before this goes live, I'll definitely add them in here so you can learn from my experience with trolls.

I hope that you guys can take something from my experience, even if it's just to make sure you don't feed trolls but also to make sure that you don't underestimate the power of keeping your full name out there.

I hope to speak to you guys soon on a happier topic but thank you for listening and God Bless!<2

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby - My Thoughts

Hey guys!

I was recommended these two films (Him & Her) by Marie who I recently wrote a blog post about here (I would highly recommend watching her videos!) and I literally fell in love with the concept and the way it's portrayed.

For the majority of you guys, you probably haven't heard of it so here's the description from the IMDb page:

'One couple's story as they try to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.'

See the awesome thing I picked up from this film was the fact that you can never quite know the whole truth because everyone's perspectives mean that you can all remember the truth differently and this is prevalent in the way that the two sides of the story are portrayed from the two films. For example in two pivotal moments, they both remember what is said differently and this reflects what view of themselves they have and the way that they wanted or believed they acted in those situations. The beauty comes from the fact that we don't actually know what the truth is but in watching the two films, we can gain a much deeper understanding of what they're both like as people, without intertwining them and without influences apart from what they understand of themselves.

We can see the influence of their relationships and learn more about themselves and how they view their significant other. But the amazing part is, it feels so much more personal because it's not mixing the both of their stories so you can appreciate them separately and this means that you can be more objective in the way that you understand and experience their stories.

I love the way that each interaction has a different dynamic and has it's own different influences and I found it so organic because you can really draw parallels with your own life and this I find so cool and so important. There's quiet in important places and the speed of scenes often happens with the speed at which it would happen in real life and with the same sounds and this just makes it all the more real. For example, walking down the street, there are shots where the camera doesn't shift at all from one viewpoint and it's so much more organic.

I don't really think I want to give away the story because it doesn't really have a definite ending but just the way we touch each other's lives and how we weave in and out of each other's stories is something I really appreciated here. Please, do go ahead and check them both out if you get the time! Also James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain as well as Viola Davis. The characters are so unique and the way that you don't know everything about them makes it so like real life that I loved it so much :) It's not an outer person telling the story, it's their perspective and that's what I love the most. It's as if you're getting to know them :)

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post! If you did, please feel free to leave a comment or even if you didn't or if you have a different view about the film :)

I hope that you guys have a wonderful time doing whatever you're doing and I hope to speak to you guys soon! God Bless!<2

p.s. It's so quotable and the feelings are so raw argh I love it so much!

Enjoy the Silence

Hey guys!

I was reading the lyrics to a song a friend of mine had posted to his channel a while back and it really struck a chord with me. The link to the video is here if you'd like to check it out.

The lyrics in general just hit me hard but one of the parts that really hit was the part of the chorus which says

'Words are very unnecessary/ 

They can only do harm' 

because after having said so much about communication, it is so so so important sometimes, just to enjoy the quiet. Our lives are full of noise, whether that be from our work or our school but also from the noise we add from social media as well as things that we watch and listen which get our minds whirring. Sometimes it is so important to just simply be.


Also, sometimes when you're with a person, it is very unnecessary to say anything. Often, you can gain more from just being with a person then almost degrading the moment by adding trivial, unnecessary matters to the moment. That time is probably more precious in reflection and in just being and just letting that be the definition of the moment instead of trying to add something to it which doesn't mean as much at all.

I hope that you guys liked this post and that you too can take something from the song and its lyrics which can be found in the description of the video. If you do have any thoughts you'd like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments below!

I hope that I can speak to you guys soon and God Bless!<2

p.s. the pictures may seem rather out of place but my friend filmed some beautiful shots of where he was staying when he uploaded the video so enjoy them!

No Obligations

Hey guys!

Today I wanted to talk to you about something I've recently realised which both liberated and constrained me so here goes!

With your opinion or even just your being, the value that you give to other people and their opinions and vice versa is entirely personal and entirely your choice. You choose what has value in your life and what you want to keep and also what you want to get rid of or keep at a distance. This is amazing because of the amount of possibilities you have in the way you choose to view things in your life and where you want to go.

Where for me, this becomes more problematic is when you attach more value to someone than they attach to you or at least it feels that way and then you can't really do much about it because it's their choice what they think of you and the value they ascribe to your friendship. This is also then hard because you don't really know what to do - do you wait and see if their attachment to you increases or do you try and read into what they do and gauge based on that.

The hardest thing in these sorts of situations is that you don't really want to say anything either because it doesn't feel like your friendship is at that open enough level. It just feels like you're left in a limbo just waiting to see what happens next. The thing I want to realise is that they're not obligated to you in the slightest so they will do what they wish and perhaps just going on what happens next is the best policy.

Thank you guys for listening! If you have any thoughts about this topic, feel free to leave them in the comments and I hope to speak to you soon!<2

Thoughts on 'What If'

Hey guys!

So today I watched the 2013 film 'What If' starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan and I have to say overall, I absolutely loved the film and there were many things I adored though equally, some things less so. Before I get started into what I thought, here's the synopsis from the IMDb page :)

'Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life.'

For me, I instantly fell in love with their chemistry and their relationship, their frankness and the way that they interacted as two people and also the other characters and the layers that they formed around them. I also loved the way that it wasn't necessarily an outright comedy because the most comedic moments were also quite inherently serious in the way that they could also represent something deeper or were intrinsically bad. 

For example, one of the first that comes to mind is when Wallace (the main character) tries to help Chantry (the girl he's in love with)'s boyfriend when he gets jalapeno in his eye. What ends up happening is that in opening the door from the bathroom, Wallace manages to push Ben (the boyfriend) out of the window which Wallace then accidentally follows by his phone. This is incredible because Ben ends up alright but you end up so afraid for everyone and for the chances of Wallace and Chantry's friendship after that that it's a gripping film as well as anything else.

Having said that, there are some wonderful moments of comedy and I would still thoroughly recommend this film in spite of the more tense moments that you might not expect though for me, this might be because of my lack of experience in rom-coms and their workings. For me though, the analytics between Wallace and his room mate Allan as to which option Wallace should follow in his pursuit of Chantry clearly demonstrate how we as a society classically judge and one of my most treasured moments is when Allan says 'You should tell her with 100% honesty, exactly how you feel, like a real man.' to which Wallace replies 'Isn't that the opposite of what a real man would do? A real man is supposed to hide his feelings etc.' and this discussion of what society would say and judge is so stimulating in a film which could be a giant cliche. This discussion also helps to fuel other boundaries and views and I think the grey and the opinions really make it very interesting to watch as well as how the relationships vary and work through different people and their personalities.

The only part I didn't feel really worked was perhaps just the way of the film. The film itself didn't always feel like the scenes were organic, not necessarily how you'd picture something turning out but that's the beauty of film I guess and as a film, I loved it to pieces. It just felt like there were some moments that were clearly very orchestrated to serve the purpose of showing certain sentiments or to make something happen that might not necessarily have happened in real life, though that is very clearly probably a matter of my opinion!

Anyways, I would definitely recommend the film on the basis of the film and what you can take from it as a story and the beauty of the moments that are created and the relationship that blossoms. 

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post and that you have a wonderful day and that I can hopefully speak to you soon! God Bless!<2

Blowing Up - Or Nah?

Hey guys!

Today I just wanted to talk about the importance of patience and waiting out the storm. This can be especially hard when the storm is inside you but nevertheless, that doesn't make it any less important!

Today, I was in the middle of writing up an important document and my sister called me down to do a chore which I knew I'd have to do. I finished the document before I did the chore and that chore also held up my sister from doing her chore so it was quite a selfish thing to do already. So I go down to do the chore and I felt like I was seething because it was a simple chore and it wouldn't have hurt if she'd done it. No, past me. NO.

What dawned on me as I got the job done was
a) She didn't know I was in the middle of typing up a document and even then, why should she have to do my chore? Would I have even necessarily done the same for her without some level of resentment?
b) It was my responsibility and this is exactly what's going to happen in life, but on a much larger scale than right now. If I can't grow up and do what I'm supposed to do without suddenly wanting to punch someone for the wrong reasons, what sort of a person am I going to end up being? Certainly not the sort of person I have in mind!
c) I am so glad I realised that I was in the wrong because really, my document could've waited and this took literally 5 minutes. Face palm.

What I'd like us all to learn from this is to get into the habit of accepting your responsibilities and knowing when you need to calm down and just get on with things. Life is a lot easier if you don't get caught up with things that aren't a big part of the whole picture.

All in all, I hope that you're all fine and dandy after so long and that you have a wonderful time, whatever you're doing and wherever you are! Please do feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below as I don't think this is my normal style of writing so I'd love to hear what you guys think! I hope I'll speak to you soon! God Bless!<2