Excerpt from Newsvine:

Life is hard. We all know it and feel it through our work, our relationships and just figuring out what it is we want at the end of all of this. One thing that I know helps get me through the rough patches in life is music. The moment you play a song, that melody and those lyrics enchantingly carry you off to a place of a mutual understanding where you realize you aren’t alone in your thoughts, fears and aspirations. Music, is something that washes from the soul, the dust of our everyday life and it allows us to see a new perspective, start anew and realize we’re not alone in anything.

This past week, someone from my childhood left this world, sinking my heart to depths of unfathomable consciousness. Adam Yauch, also known as MCA and one-third of the Beastie Boys, died on May 4. While it may not come as a complete shock to many since he was battling cancer before, a loss of life, is still always a loss of life. The heart becomes heavy at any cost and I’ve realized those that heal me through music and laughter, can’t last forever in the physical but instead, have been immortalized for all of us and these generations to come. It is with great sadness that I write this whole piece…

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Excerpt from Newsvine:

What is it about film that captures our attention so well? Some may say it’s the story and how we best relate to it but most times, it’s the performances played by actors who we are enamoured by; who we choose to relate to in some sense of the characters they portray because deep down, they’re just like us. This morning I learned Elizabeth Taylor passed away and my heart sunk. Of course, death is inevitable and inescapable but watching someone throughout your years through a television screen and finding them to be of comfort to you, that’s hard to part from. Speaking to a friend earlier today, we came to the agreeable notion that these people — these actors, we sort of expect them to be around forever. Perhaps it’s because my generation grew up watching black and white films and anything from that golden era but it just feels weird with them not being around any longer. I remember I first experienced the pinch of an actor that I admired passing away when I was twelve years-old: James Stewart. I had been watching It’s A Wonderful Life since I was around eight or nine years-old and in some mentality of sorts, I always thought of him to be evergreen and always around.

Today was no different. My heart grew heavy at the news of Taylor’s passing. In my twenty-five years of existence, I have watched a ton of movies and always found an appreciation for film whether it be in colour or black and white. I often tell one of my best friends that film isn’t old if you haven’t seen it and try my best to encourage him to watch the Turner Classic Movies channel. I might be annoying in my feat to convert couch potatoes to TCM watchers but at least I’m persistent.

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