DJ Shadow definitely took the right path by doing something different on his albums in comparison to all the other popular mainstream albums out there. I think that what he did was very creative and unique. All of the music that is sampled on his album came from some other type of music and beat, which was considered music before he cut and chopped them and put it on his album. This is one of the reasons why I still consider this music. To me, music is anything I can dance to. It is any form of sound, beat, rhythm, or tune that expresses or triggers an emotion. More so, what I really find to be interesting is that each song on the album is different from the other. One of the songs has a jazzy- funk feel to it while the next song is more of a classic beat flow. It’s definitely a different sound and feeling compared to the type of music I listen to, but it has something so catchy about it that it makes you wonder who did the instrumentals! I have to say I was quite surprised after listening to a couple of his songs that he had sampled from random pieces and put them together. The music sounds very coherent and fun.
Over all, I believe that DJ Shadows album is considered music. Even though there aren’t “original” instrumentals on it, it doesn’t mean that it lacks the ability to be music. Music is universal and encompasses so many different forms of sounds that are either created in a studio or from nature. I don’t think anyone has the right to say what is and isn’t considered music. It depends on the individual and how that individual perceives music.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
My Cave and Phil's Journey
After watching Groundhog Day I was able to witness how Phil’s process of self discovery and enlightenment resembled my journey in the cave. I was able to distinguish some similarities that I had gone through as well as differences that I had overlooked in my own experience.
First, and what I believe to be most important, is that Phil had to learn that he was the one who had to change to make him happier. The way that Phil acted was that everyone around him was in the wrong. They never met his standards as a friend, co worker or even a partner. Because never seemed satisfied with people he turned bitter and took his frustration out on everyone he surrounded himself with. What Phil really had to learn was that those people weren’t going to change. They weren’t necessarily the ones who needed to change. It was he who needed to change his attitude about life and relationships. Over coming denial is one of the hardest things human’s have to face and often times it takes years and years for someone to finally realize that they have been in the wrong. I think that Phil desperately wanted his friends and coworkers to change so that he would be happy but in reality, he needed to change himself to accept others for who they truly were.
It was important for Phil to understand that the people in his life weren’t going to change. He needed to stop trying to change them and to live his own life. I believe that in my similar situation I wanted so bad to change my boyfriend. I kept lying to myself and telling myself that one day he would change. I never took the responsibility upon myself to say “why don’t I change? Why don’t I face the reality of this problem and walk away?” For some reason I kept expecting everyone else to change around me who had the problem. It took Phil and I to finally be hit hard by a crisis to realize that we had to change our way of living in order to survive and to make ourselves happy again. More so, it took many trial and error episodes for me to see the light and see the problem clearly. It wasn’t until I had seen the light and had a wake up call that made me consciously aware of my own actions and responsibilities. I knew what I had to do and I was determined to make that change and take that large leap in my life because I knew it would better me and my future.
First, and what I believe to be most important, is that Phil had to learn that he was the one who had to change to make him happier. The way that Phil acted was that everyone around him was in the wrong. They never met his standards as a friend, co worker or even a partner. Because never seemed satisfied with people he turned bitter and took his frustration out on everyone he surrounded himself with. What Phil really had to learn was that those people weren’t going to change. They weren’t necessarily the ones who needed to change. It was he who needed to change his attitude about life and relationships. Over coming denial is one of the hardest things human’s have to face and often times it takes years and years for someone to finally realize that they have been in the wrong. I think that Phil desperately wanted his friends and coworkers to change so that he would be happy but in reality, he needed to change himself to accept others for who they truly were.
It was important for Phil to understand that the people in his life weren’t going to change. He needed to stop trying to change them and to live his own life. I believe that in my similar situation I wanted so bad to change my boyfriend. I kept lying to myself and telling myself that one day he would change. I never took the responsibility upon myself to say “why don’t I change? Why don’t I face the reality of this problem and walk away?” For some reason I kept expecting everyone else to change around me who had the problem. It took Phil and I to finally be hit hard by a crisis to realize that we had to change our way of living in order to survive and to make ourselves happy again. More so, it took many trial and error episodes for me to see the light and see the problem clearly. It wasn’t until I had seen the light and had a wake up call that made me consciously aware of my own actions and responsibilities. I knew what I had to do and I was determined to make that change and take that large leap in my life because I knew it would better me and my future.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
My Truth in Plato's Cave
I had been working on the Embarcadero in Morro Bay for about six years and I had worked my way up from cashier, assistant manager, manager and bookkeeper. To say the least there were many un expected events that made me doubt my ability to be successful and question whether or not my decisions in the work place were true to myself and ethical.
My boss had gone on a month long vacation to Mexico for her husband’s retirement and had left me in charge with full responsibility over the store. Since my boss was leaving for such a long time she had asked her best friend, Annie from college to come and help run the store. I was relived to know that I would have reliable help and gladly accepted her offer.
It was about a week into the month and I began receiving comments from a couple of my coworkers that Annie wanted to be in charge of all the sales on the register during her shift and also that they noticed that she had been seen with large amounts of cash in her wallet. This to me did not sound in the least bit of the way weird or even anything to be concerned about. I shrugged their comments off because after all, I was the manager and the person in charge of everyone in the store and I had everything in control. Or so I thought. One night I was working on the books and noticed that everyday we were either short or over in the last week or so. I took brief note of this and didn’t think anything of it until a week later we were missing over two hundred dollars. This is where my fear came in. My mind was so jumbled that I couldn’t think straight. I was completely responsible for everything that happened in the store and of all the money we made. I clenched my teeth thinking about the reaction my boss would have if I had told her we were short that much money.
SHADOWS-FEAR:
It didn’t even dawn on me that Annie could possibly be stealing money. She was a sixty five year old lady who was so gentle and sweet. All the customers loved her and my boss had obviously trusted her. I felt afraid to question my boss’s judgment. My mind was torn and my ability to decipher what was really going on and what people were telling me seemed hazy. More so, I wasn’t looking forward to telling my boss that her best friend was taking money from our store. What if I was wrong? What if this whole thing was a mistake and I had made a mistake while doing the books? I full heartedly wanted to impress my boss by showing her that I was capable of running the store by myself and now I had failed miserably.
ADJUSTMENT OF SELF:
I made a plan to try to catch Annie in her act, this was the only way I could prove that the money missing wasn’t my fault. After catching her with the exact amount of money in her wallet I decided to make a phone call to my boss and tell her exactly what was going on. I swallowed my pride and did the thing I had been dreading. I realized after this experience that people aren’t whom they always seem to be. When you really look closely you begin to see their true properties, personality and truth. After I had done some serious thinking it dawned on me that by looking deep into the situation I had gone through a learning process. I was a prisoner of my own mind because I had convinced myself that what I was afraid of being true actually wasn’t. I had made the best decision by telling my boss everything that I knew about the situation and with all honesty I also explained how I hadn’t actually seen her literally take the money and put it in her pocket.
RETURN TO THE CAVE:
My boss and Annie never spoke after that day and I felt partially responsible for this outcome. In the end my boss commended me for taking the initiative in doing what I thought was right even though it wasn’t a sure thing. In addition, she told me that that was one of the reason’s she had hired me and kept me part of the team so long because I had a strong mind and I wasn’t afraid to use it. She said that no one else she had hired seemed capable of doing as efficient job as I did. I was the chosen one. I was the one who was qualified and most prepared for whatever task I was given.
My boss had gone on a month long vacation to Mexico for her husband’s retirement and had left me in charge with full responsibility over the store. Since my boss was leaving for such a long time she had asked her best friend, Annie from college to come and help run the store. I was relived to know that I would have reliable help and gladly accepted her offer.
It was about a week into the month and I began receiving comments from a couple of my coworkers that Annie wanted to be in charge of all the sales on the register during her shift and also that they noticed that she had been seen with large amounts of cash in her wallet. This to me did not sound in the least bit of the way weird or even anything to be concerned about. I shrugged their comments off because after all, I was the manager and the person in charge of everyone in the store and I had everything in control. Or so I thought. One night I was working on the books and noticed that everyday we were either short or over in the last week or so. I took brief note of this and didn’t think anything of it until a week later we were missing over two hundred dollars. This is where my fear came in. My mind was so jumbled that I couldn’t think straight. I was completely responsible for everything that happened in the store and of all the money we made. I clenched my teeth thinking about the reaction my boss would have if I had told her we were short that much money.
SHADOWS-FEAR:
It didn’t even dawn on me that Annie could possibly be stealing money. She was a sixty five year old lady who was so gentle and sweet. All the customers loved her and my boss had obviously trusted her. I felt afraid to question my boss’s judgment. My mind was torn and my ability to decipher what was really going on and what people were telling me seemed hazy. More so, I wasn’t looking forward to telling my boss that her best friend was taking money from our store. What if I was wrong? What if this whole thing was a mistake and I had made a mistake while doing the books? I full heartedly wanted to impress my boss by showing her that I was capable of running the store by myself and now I had failed miserably.
ADJUSTMENT OF SELF:
I made a plan to try to catch Annie in her act, this was the only way I could prove that the money missing wasn’t my fault. After catching her with the exact amount of money in her wallet I decided to make a phone call to my boss and tell her exactly what was going on. I swallowed my pride and did the thing I had been dreading. I realized after this experience that people aren’t whom they always seem to be. When you really look closely you begin to see their true properties, personality and truth. After I had done some serious thinking it dawned on me that by looking deep into the situation I had gone through a learning process. I was a prisoner of my own mind because I had convinced myself that what I was afraid of being true actually wasn’t. I had made the best decision by telling my boss everything that I knew about the situation and with all honesty I also explained how I hadn’t actually seen her literally take the money and put it in her pocket.
RETURN TO THE CAVE:
My boss and Annie never spoke after that day and I felt partially responsible for this outcome. In the end my boss commended me for taking the initiative in doing what I thought was right even though it wasn’t a sure thing. In addition, she told me that that was one of the reason’s she had hired me and kept me part of the team so long because I had a strong mind and I wasn’t afraid to use it. She said that no one else she had hired seemed capable of doing as efficient job as I did. I was the chosen one. I was the one who was qualified and most prepared for whatever task I was given.
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