Hello.
My name is Sam, Sam Cook.
I am 28 years young, a musician and I am currently in a band called L.A.W with my girlfriend @thisisjordan. I have had an often difficult and sometimes unusual experience on this planet but one that I would say, so far, at least, has been memorable.
This is my story of how I grew up in London to a single parent, I suffered with a speech impediment, and went on to play and sing in bands to thousands of people and travel, working for film companies such as Warner Brothers and Marvel as an assistant director, on films such as The Avengers - Age of Ultron, 007 - Spectre. And to finally arrive here in the now, writing this.
Sometimes it is the challenges in life we overcome that help shape who we are. This process of writing and documenting my own journey has helped me uncover and get to know myself a bit more, so I hope it offers a window into my journey.
Where to begin? Perhaps, at the beginning.
I was born in London on July, 21st 1989.
Here is the evidence! This is me on the day I was born.
So! To bring you up to date on my life and introduce myself. This is a picture of my parents on their wedding day. Before I was even born. Look how happy!
This is the last and only picture of the family spending Christmas together (thats me pulling a face in the background). My parents divorced when I was about four years old - My father left and moved back to his hometown in Cornwall, south west England. As you can probably see, although we didn't have a great deal of money, we were brought up in a liberal and creative household - something I am now very grateful for.
(This process is actually turning out to be really helpful in retracing my steps and uncovering exactly how it is I got to this very moment. Retracing our steps and working through our childhood is something that can be difficult, emotional but rewarding.)
Still my mum did an incredible job of bringing two kids up by herself.
Supposedly the trauma around the separation of my parents is what lead to me developing a stutter. Something that plagued and interrupted most of my childhood, but in hindsight taught me to speak less and to listen more. I would only go through the painful process of trying to spit words out if I really had something to say.
My brother and I spent our holidays in Cornwall with my father. Which in hindsight was a blessing. To be able to experience the polar opposing ways of life. The city and the country. To finish the school term in busy London and run off somewhere in the countryside.
This, on the left, is my brother Dan (he, as am I, is into his Crypto, he is a Neo holder - probably because he loves the Matrix)
At the age of 15, my brother had left to live with my father in Cornwall. I found myself in a precarious place, in with the wrong crowd, delivering and handling drugs for older gangs. It wasn't long before I too followed suite and headed for Cornwall.
This is me and my pal Beau, waltzing around town like gangsters.
When I moved to Cornwall, for a start, my stutter disappeared. I found it was an opportunity to reimagine who I was, who I wanted to be and who I could be - without the restraints of all of my friends and surroundings in London.
It was at this time I started pursuing photography. In particular portrait photography. I liked the idea of being able to mix with all parts of society and being able to photograph and portray them in a simple and honest way. Centre heavy compositions looking straight at the camera.
Photography was a passion until I started studying at university. Which is when I moved back to London at 19. It wasn't long before I chucked in the course and started a band with my school friend Jake, we called the band The Mockingbirds.
Only love. This is one of our songs played live at Proud Galleries in Camden.
This is me. Age 21.
We played a gig to 5,000 people in a small town in Georgia (the Georgia next to, and at war with Russia - it was super wierd)
Before the gig I had a fight with George (pictured) which marked the end of the band, though we still had to play the gig! I left and via the Ukraine I made it home.
I arrived home with no direction and no plan. The band was finished. I was at a loss.
I spent a year moping around before I joined another band, and a new chapter of the journey begun. We quickly got management and a small record deal, and we were supporting bands I had been a fan of as a kid such as Razorlight.
Fractures - Ride
We released a single, had press and national radio play. We were tipped as a top new band. Before I knew it - I was in the same place. We were offered an album deal by a record label, but our management didn't tell us about it because there wasn't enough money in it for them (just one of the pitfalls of the industry) So before I knew it - the band was over and I had no idea what I was doing with my life. Again.
Perhaps the law of attraction really does work because I asked the universe for a job on a film for £100 a day and later that day, having sent a text message to someone I had met at a festival and I got a call asking me, for exactly what I had asked the universe for.
I started as a runner and that set off the next part of my journey through my 20's.
Below is my IMDB of films I have worked on.
I spent the whole of the summer 2015 working on the Avengers which was a surreal experience.
See if you can spot my name in the credits.
Scarlet Johanson's prosthetic head
On set at Shepperton Studios with Chris Hemsworth (Thor)
I worked my way up to a third assistant director. Travelled to Morrocco, Italy and Wales working on films.
It was at this point, likely due to exhaustion, I started suffering from the beginnings of either A. a spiritual awakening or B. mental illness. My direction and beliefs started changing, quietly and internally. I started to question everything.
I decided I no longer wanted to work in the film industry. I felt as if I was making decisions on behalf of other people and not myself. Instead, I decided, I wanted to draw. Revisiting the basics and perhaps my first introduction into creativity.
This is what came of it.
Salvador Dali
David Bowie
David Lynch
John Lennon
It was through drawing and continually challenging my perceptions that I had a profound realisation. Darkness and the light, black and white, good and bad, day and night, light and dark are parts and tools of the necessary spectrum through which we experience life. You cannot fully escape the darkness for it is from the darkness that we are able to see light.
It took me a long time to come to terms with the experience, I eventually (nearly two years later) wrote a poem as a reminder to myself.
So here I am, I have updated you, and myself with my journey. So where from here?
Now. This is me and @thisisjordan, we are both living in London and working on a new project called L.A.W (love at war)
For anyone following I will be updating this page with songs, poetry, pictures, drawings, live videos and other forms of content that might be of interest.
Below is a song Jordan and I wrote, that I think is in theme with this post.
I hope you enjoy it.
This is me today.
and just to prove I am who I say I am. Looking more and more like Jesus by the day.
Really good post. I wil follow along ..
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Cheers buddy. Rock and roll.
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Welcome to Steem Community @samcook! As a gentle reminder, please keep your master password safe. The best practise is to use your private posting key to login to Steemit when posting; and the private active key for wallet related transactions.
In the New Steemians project, we help new members of steem by education and resteeeming their articles. Get your articles resteemed too for maximum exposure. You can learn more about it here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gaman/new-steemians-project-launch
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Sam sometimes failure brought us to the top, this is so inspiring it only means that even if you failed many times as you long as you're willing to stand up and pursue you can reach your goal. Welcome to steemit and wish you all the best.
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Life is a succession of lessons! Im here for the ride!
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Very very cool story man. Looking forward to more.
Hey! Welcome to Steemit! This community is amazing but does take some getting use to since it’s a bit different than the other social media platforms.
I joined Steemit December 30th, 2017 and have had a blast networking, learning and earning (actually made some pretty good money so far)!
I'd suggest signing up for these free applications for Steemit that gets you upvotes and followers. The first thing you need to do as a new user is to increase your STEEM POWER (SP), which increases your visibility and voting power. These were a huge help for me.
Feel free to follow me @entrepreneur916, as I continue to post content to help make the Steemit community better and to help new members!
Respectfully yours,
Jacob A. Billett, M.B.A
CEO Billett Enterprises, Inc.
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Im not sure I totally understand how that works, though I am investing time in learning. Do I just follow those guys?
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You need to sign up for the applications, and vote/follow through the application. It increases your voting power and visibility to be followed by other users.
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welcome to steemit
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#introduceyourself is quickly becoming my favourite tag on steemit, it is absolute chockfull of amazing people with amazinger life stories and I was reading yours in one breath. Your portrait series are extremely captivating and I actually read your poem word by word, really drinking in the genuineness and realness behind it. Big big welcome to steemit, Sam, thank you for sharing your story and taking time to write these inspiring words. All the best to you, brother and I am sure our paths will meet on here again! Cheers!
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Glad you enjoyed the poem. i think it was the first piece of art i genuinely believed in. A conversation with the self.
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It is evident that it came out of a place of self-reflection, self-love and self-wisdom! I have actually done that in the past, where I wrote little words of encouragement to my future self and saved it in Gmail drafts for the days when I need it the most.
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Hey dude, thought I would send you this. at 1.51 in the song I read the poem https://dsound.audio/#/@samcook/l-a-w-silver-screen
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Thanks for sharing, bro, really digging it.
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I feel you brosef
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legend
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Welcome to the Steem World!
I have recently made an orientation video that will help you in your journey here - and will hopefully answer all the questions that took me months to figure out.
https://steemit.com/dtube/@maneki-neko/rlfwsqlj
I wish you all the best here on Steem!
I will also use the tag : @originalworks for this post, this will summon a robot that, if you wrote this original article, will give you an additional upvote. :)
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The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @samcook to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
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Great drawings, family, and love the Scarlett mask. Love her. Love music. WWJD.
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Thanks. She was lovely, I spent some time talking with her she spoke about her grandmother and her love for battenberg cake, weird or what!
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Love the movie where Scarlet used her whole brain.
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your story is a bit like mine! I have also have taken some hits!
This was when I was 17 I got jumped by a gang.
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ouch!
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Wow! What an introduction! What a life! Good luck on Steemit and everywhere. Follow you.
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Why not both? :P
You've had an interesting life. Welcome to Steemit. Hope you can share some of it with us here.
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Well I think the symptoms, in the modern world are misunderstood. A lot of what we experience on this planet is internal. That is where the dragons are slew. Im still learning how the platform works. I have some songs videos, poems to post so stay tuned. x
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Looks like you already figured out one part, worthwhile discussion.
Of course a lot of what we experience is internal.
As Rene Descarte said "I think, therefore I am.", or the equivalent in French. Our entire reality is created by us. Even if you don't go so far as to consider reality an illusion, our perception of it often is. We read into things, interpret what happens, to react to it. It's how we survive. But it's not perfect, and occasionally can fuck up. Maybe you think some friend is mad at you, but they're really just going through their own shit.
It's a common occurrence in life. If you can pull yourself back, and try to be more of an observer, you'll start to see how much people are really reacting to their own narrative, rather than the actual story.
And people are fucking crazy. Like, a lot of them.
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Yeah, the learning that all of this experience is internal, is both liberating and limiting. I came to the conclusion that it was all an illusion, but in that moment I learnt that we should appreciate the mirage and the chaos offered to us, for it is a gift! The struggles are often where the treasure lies.
Its hard not to try and make sense of 'it' and project our stories outwards.
"Maybe you think some friend is mad at you, but they're really just going through their own shit."
Its funny we when we begin to think about that, we are all just running around lost in our own shit. Even when you think you've got it all sussed out - Your still in your own shit. x
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https://dsound.audio/#/@samcook/l-a-w-silver-screen
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Awesome legit story man ! I feel you about "A. a spiritual awakening or B. mental illness" . It's all about the pineal gland my friend and perception of life.
Ps : Love the Dali drawing !
Anyway welcome on Steemit and good luck on your quest ! I am musician too let's jam!
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It's a fine line my friend. Strength comes from within. Perception is all there is.
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Nice to meet you man , I look forward for more !
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Welcome! There are some nice memories there. All the best to you!
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Cheers buddy, loving the tunes
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Great article!
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Hey Sam, welcome on board.
This is an awesome introduction post.
I would recommend you using Dtube for music videos or whatever kind of stuff you want to publish.
Wish you a great time on here! :)
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Hey dude,
yeah i just uploaded a song to @dsound - which is like soundcloud but decentralised.
Im going to upload something tomorrow.
Thanks for the advice,
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