My Random Thoughts

When the table doesn't tell the full story...

2008-08-17T22:36:00.008+01:00

The Premiership started yesterday after its summer break and after the first games the top five are Chelsea, Aston Villa, Bolton, Blackburn and Hull City.

Three of the top four of last season are eighth, ninth and tenth (Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd). Anyone want to wager the table won't be radically different in April?

And after 4 surprise Gold Medals today, Great Britain are third in a different table...

Like someone said, if Michael Phelps were a Country he'd be in the top ten of the tables...

So...where are you from?

2008-07-14T23:18:00.007+01:00

I disguise my temptation to burst out into full giggle mode every time I hear that question asked by an English man I've met for the first time in some social setting. We could have been talking in a group for a while but on hearing my foriegn sounding first name they feel the need to ask the question: So where are you from? Dependent on my mood I could launch into a monologue about living in South London and the advantages of being 'Sauf' of the Thames. Its rare that after a couple of minutes of this that they are able to summon the courage to really define what they really meant.

I read Aba Boy's Lost Nationality with interest. I was in a training group recently where there were a couple of Asians who expressed similar views to Aba Boy and they had lived all their lives in the UK (basically they identified themselves as being from Pakistan and Kenya - an Indian kenyan). Is it about lineage or where you identify with?

When you hear the name "Mario Balotelli" what image comes to mind? And what if you were told he is a 17 year old soon to be playing for the Italian under 21 national team, would you think for a moment that he is the black kid in the picture? Or that he would speak Italian as fluently as in this youtube video?

Mario was born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents Thomas and Rose Barwuah. He was adopted from the age of 3 by the Balotelli family and will be given an Italian passport on his 18th birthday next month. He recently refused a call up to the Ghanaian National Team that went to the Nations Cup and has been touted as a future Italian full international.

Aba Boy I beg to submit that the issue is more complex than you outline. My football mad cousin is married to a Brazilian and their 10 year old son is showing promising signs of developing real skills. If he were good enough, does he play for the Super Eagles (upset mom), Brazil (break dads heart) or hold out for England the only country he really knows?

The Blower's Daughter

2008-06-26T10:24:00.002+01:00

The Blower's Daughter - One of my favourite songs, also features in one of my favourite films "Closer" featuring Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.

...Oh, did I say that I loathe you?

Did I say that I want to leave it all behind?

I can't take my mind off of you...

Congratulations Paul Ince...

2008-06-22T18:26:00.006+01:00

Paul Ince has today been named the first black English manager of a premiership side (the only other 2 managers of premiership sides Jean Tigana of Fulham and Ruud Gullit of Chelsea, weren't 'English'). Considering that probably about 20% of the players in the premiership are black, in my opinion Ince's appointment is long overdue.

Ince's appointment brings to 4 the number of ex Alex Ferguson players currently managing teams in the top division (Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and Mark Hughes are the other 3). If we were to include ex Fergie deputies like Steve Mclaren, then ole Fergie has probably been single handedly responsible for training half of the English Premiership managers. LOL!

Anyway Congratulations Ince (the Guv'nor)! Lets hope you get a fair chance to prove yourself at Blackburn.

Obama's Cross

2008-05-25T00:47:00.001+01:00

On Boston Legal

2008-05-03T19:26:00.006+01:00

While I can't say that Boston Legal is one of my favourite shows, I will admit it has its flashes of sheer brilliance. Wednesday night was one of them.

For those who aren't familiar with the show it features James Spader (Stargate) as Alan Shore, a Boston Lawyer who is the conscience of the irreverent law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt. William Shatner (formerly the first captain of the Star ship, Enterprise in Star trek - to boldly go where no one has gone before) acts as Danny Crane, lead partner and mad cow disease sufferer.

The episode on Wednesday evening featured an analysis of the 'democratic' process of the candidate selection in the primaries for the Democrats. I've included a clip below where partner Shirley Schmidt discusses her preference for Hilary Clinton while Alan Shore stumps for Barack Obama. Its quite current, topical and educational. Catch it if you can.

I love its political discussions, its moral debates and how it sometimes breaks the fourth wall, (the first 30 seconds of the Wednesday show actually uses the characters to publicise the schedule change from Tuesdays to Wednesdays). Danny Crane and partners are startled to learn that the weekly firm meeting is shifting from Tuesdays at 10 to Wednesdays at 10 (clip below).

On Nigerian Names

2008-05-02T01:16:00.009+01:00

I've been having an ongoing debate with my girlfriend over the last few weeks about Nigerian names. It started out when I commented that there were more Nigerians in the UK with 'English' first names than there were with their 'Original' ethnic first names. She disagreed as she explained that the majority of her friends use their Nigerian names at work not reverting to any English names. I wonder what percentage of Nigerians retain a Nigerian first name (like Ngozi, Ade and Tosin as opposed to Jane, Kate and Fred) in the working place in the west.

At my very first job interview in the UK, the interviewer had my CV in front of him and seeing Morountodun (well I am an anonymous blogger after all) he then proceeded to ask what my 'Christian' name is. Studies have proven that recruiters tend to prefer to favour applicants with names they can easily pronounce, against applicants that have 'foriegn sounding names'.

Our conversation has since proceeded to discussing potential child names, where I would prefer 'Christian' names for my children, but my girlfriend favours only Yoruba/African ones. I think the compromise will be somewhere in the middle where we choose yoruba names with 'english' sounding abbreviations ie Fara (Oluwafaratimi), Kenny (Kehinde) etc. I wonder if we are compromising...

Paulagate on American Idol

2008-05-01T12:19:00.005+01:00

Paula Abdul's bizarre behaviour has made her an object of ridicule on American idol for a while now. Visit Youtube and type in Paula Abdul to get a taster of what I'm talking about. Simon and Randy regularly have to bail her out when she gets incoherent, and things got so bad a couple of seasons ago that there were rife rumours that she was being replaced by Jennifer Lopez.

A couple of nights ago Paula did what the likes of Uri Geller and other false prophets have tried to do, she saw the future. On being asked to critique the first round of performances of the artistes, Paula commented on the second performance of Jastro Castro too, a performance that hadn't taken place yet. Paula has offered two conflicting excuses, after being informed of her error during the show she explained that she mixed up her notes and had meant to comment on David Cook. But during a radio interview the following morning she revealed that she had seen part of the dress rehearsal, which takes place about two hours before the live broadcast, and had mixed up the rehearsal and the live performances. Hmn.

See the clip of Paula's gaffe below, its rather funny.

UK viewers can catch it on ITV2 at 8pm tonight.

Paula's eccentric behaviour aside doesn't this remind you of the phone in fixing controversies from the last year?

And if you live in London don't forget to vote today!!!

Naij, A History of Nigeria

2008-04-29T02:15:00.004+01:00

It seems that the Naija Documentary I blogged about last year here is back and its bigger and better. For those who didn't get to see it, it was a three hour film of original footage from Nigeria's history featuring archival footage from Fela (he exposed his buttocks to camera to prove police brutality), Abiola - being interviewed while he was being arrested in the imprisonment that preceded his death, Major Nzeogwu - the day after the 1966 coup where he talks about killing the senior officers while they hid behind women and children. If you have the Saturday to spare, try and catch it on Saturday 10 May from 12.30pm-5.15pm -yes its now 4 and a half hours long, when I watched it last year they supplied free drinks and snacks too!

Film: Naij, A History of Nigeria plus Q & A with Jide Olanrewaju
Museum in Docklands, West India Quay (Docklands Light Railway)
Free entry: first come, first served

For more information see
http://www.museumindocklands.org.uk/
http://www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk/

Corruption, Mismanagement, Fraud,War are the stereotypical views of Nigeria and indeed Africa as a whole.This block-busting film explodes the mis-education and stereotypes and puts the country we now call Nigeria into context. This is the best film on African history and politics you will see this year. If you've ever asked yourself "why is Africa the way it is?" the answers are here.

Topics covered...
How the British fixed the elections, "Nigeria" does not exist, How Europeans encouraged civil war, The Role and Rise of the Army, The City of London = Corruption Head Office, Creating poverty as a means of control

London Elects

2008-04-20T20:23:00.007+01:00

London braces itself for the elections for Mayor and the London Assembly on the 1st May. While there are officially 10 candidates for London Mayor (including one representing the vile BNP), realistically its really a straight head to head between the incumbent Ken Livingstone and the comedian that is Boris Johnson.

When Boris first announced his candidacy it was a bit like your mate in the pub saying he was going to compete in X-Factor or American Idol, in other words a bit of a joke. In my view this joke has gone a bit too far as all of a sudden his candidacy is being taken seriously as there is a significant percentage of Londoners who have pledged to vote for him as he has a certain 'laddish' coolness.

While I am not the greatest of fans of 'red' Ken, I think he has a genuine passion for making London a world class city. However the congestion charge has impacted upon our lives, it has significantly reduced congestion in central london and is now being used as a model to emulate in major cities across the world. London buses have improved a lot from the days when you had to wait half an hour and 4 would arrive at the same time. And its no great coincidence that London won the race for the 2012 Olympics under Ken.

I used to laugh at Boris's buffoonery myself, as he is irreverent of authority and undoubtedly very intelligent but his style of idiocy I don't need in a mayor. His comments dismissing the Macpherson report, his referal to Tory leadership disputes as like "Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing" and the "piccaninnies" comment makes him completely unelectable for anyone of colour in my book (lets also not forget he had to apologise for condoning an article that claimed black people have a lower IQ).

Make sure you vote on 1 May and enjoy the American style dig at Boris Johnson's candidacy from Youtube below.

The Culture of Hypocrisy...

2008-04-02T10:22:00.008+01:00

Chimamanda has written a piece in the UK Guardian today, about the bill to stop women dressing ‘indecently’ currently being discussed by the Nigerian Senate. The piece speaks of the culture of hypocrisy prevailing in Nigeria where there is endemic institutional corruption, but the ‘morality’ that is flavour of the day is women’s dressing choices. To an extent the piece touches on the issue of Gender affiliations that have been discussed by bloggers such as Nneoma and Ebele.

I was slightly confused at the point where she mentions that the bill will particularly discriminate by class but I assume she was using the term ‘class’ in Nigeria interchangeably with economic status (class in other parts of the world particularly the UK or India is more a social stratification. Jeremy of Naijablog discusses class in Nigeria here).

At this point in history when Democratic voting African American women are torn between the fight to remain loyal to their gender or race (even the candidates Hilary and Obama will admit that there is little difference in their policy approaches), perhaps its time to discuss gender affiliation and particularly gender roles…

PS: Alice Walker has written a poignant piece about being an African American woman who will vote for Obama (see here).

Lets celebrate our sistas...

2008-03-28T07:06:00.009Z

Amid all the media frenzy this week on the visit of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni (see here, here and here), two sistas making headlines almost got lost in the stories.

The French State Secretary in charge of foreign affairs and human rights, Rama Yade accompanied President Sarkozy on his visit. 31-year-old Senegalese-born Rama is refered to by Mr. Sarkozy as his "Condi Rice." She is beautiful, young and smart. Sista has got it going on!

The other highlight of the trip was that Sarkozy met one of my favourite Frenchmen - Arsene Wenger - in a visit to the Emirates Stadium.

Leona Lewis has become the first British woman to top the US pop chart for more than 20 years with her single Bleeding Love. Hackney born Leona won the X Factor in 2006 and became the first person of colour to win a major phone-in TV competition in the UK that I can remember. Lets hope she blows up stateside as she really deserves to.

This Election Campaign is not about Race (or is it?)

2008-03-13T07:20:00.003Z

The Hilary Clinton Campaign have repeatedly reminded America about Obama's blackness (I think the fear is that Americans being fickle could forget?). The leaked pictures of Obama in Kenyan robes to the drudge report, Obama's features being darkened in a Clinton ad and Orlando Patterson, a professor of sociology at Harvard argues that the Clinton "3am in the White House" advert has racial under-tones. Now probably the most unlikely, the claim from Geraldine Ferraro of the Hilary Clinton Campaign that Obama wouldn't be leading the democratic nomiation if he were white. I don't even know where to start with this one.

I particularly like the parody below about the issue.

Obama's response

...and who would you vote for?

2008-02-18T14:24:00.007Z

There is a Scenario at the start of Kwame Kwei Armah's play 'Statement of Regret' where one of the characters asks his business partner "if Hilary Clinton was running for US president against Condoleeza Rice, who would you vote for?" (I guess the UK equivalent would be Cherie Blair vs a black Female Tory - someone like the former mayor of Wandsworth, the fiery Lola Ayorinde).

The dilemma is supposed to represent the classic conscience versus own culture or race. I suppose it also assumes the respondent is ideologically left-wing. The question is particularly topical at this time where Obama is running for politcal office and millions of African Americans are being asked to support the charismatic Barack whether or not his policies appeal to them.

In Chris Rock's recent UK stand up tour he had a particularly relevant routine where he says the majority of the Italian Americans are voting for Rudy Giuliani and all the Jews are voting for Liebermann and he ain't even running! He goes on to complain that a notable amount of African Americans are choosing to vote for Hilary because she 'understands black people' and can she understand black people more than Obama? he exclaims.

In the mid Nineties I rejoiced when I heard OJ got off. Not because I thought he was innocent or because I didn't sympathize with Nicole's family, but because the case trancended OJ's guilt or innocence, representing more the inequalities of the American legal system as it applied to the different races.

So faced with Kwame's dilemma who would you vote for Condi or Clinton?

Yes we Can

2008-02-15T23:57:00.004Z

What do Jesse Dylan, Will.i.am, Common, Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Amber Valetta, Eric Balfour, Aisha Tyler, Nicole Scherzinger and Nick Cannon have in common? They are all supporters of Barack Obama.

These celebrities have come together to feature in a video shot by Jesse Dylan (son of Bob Dylan) to promote the vote in the United States. The video features real words from a moving Obama speech calling for change in America. Its almost like listening to MLK again...

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

Call it the Nigerian author scam

2007-12-12T06:09:00.000Z

I haven't blogged for a long while as I struggle to deal with the constant pressures on my time work, social life, family etc In this time there have been a number of issues that have inspired me to 'blog' once again and sometimes on my journey home I would even develop the content in my head only to get caught up with some other pressing thing once I arrived home. So I guess with the passing of time I almost got to the point of considering giving up the blog altogether. I wondered what happens to a dead blog whether it just remains on the web with dated content to gather electronic dust or should the blogger take it down. Anyway I digress.

This morning before I started my customary getting ready for work I powered on my PC to catch up with some blogs I hadn't read for a while and I came across the article below.

The article doesn't refer to any Nigerians, doesn't imply that the Conman was calling from outside the United States or indeed even sounded foriegn. But the Con has been labelled the Nigerian Author Scam.

Lazy writing from an "award-winning online journal devoted to independent reporting" or an
attempt to forever link any scam/confidence trick with Nigerians?
Are you incensed? Email the editor (who also happens to have written the article) at editor@laobserved.com.

Call it the Nigerian author scam
by Kevin Roderick

John Evans, co-owner of Diesel: A Bookstore out in Malibu, told the newsletter Shelf Awareness about a strange come-on at his Oakland store. I guess with everything else they face, indy booksellers need to even be wary of authors.

It started a week ago Saturday morning when the store received a call from Eric Gower, author of *The Breakaway Cook*, who was appearing at a multi-author event at Diesel's Oakland store that afternoon.

"My car has been stolen and I need you to help me," he told Evans. "I've found a rent-a-car company that will rent to me, but I need you to send me $150 by Western Union. I can give you the address and information to send it. I'll give you $400 when I get up there, for helping me out."

Evans declined the $400, and Gower said, "Yeah, you don't need the money." So Evans asked what happened and where he was, thinking that if he were in the Bay Area, someone from the store could pick him up.

But Gower said he was in Los Angeles, explaining, "I locked my keys in my car, with all of my credit cards, and my computer with all the photos I have of my mother in it. I went to get something to open the car, and when I came back, there was just broken glass and my car was gone with everything in it." To Evans, he sounded desperate and a bit dramatic, both over the top and honestly anxious.

Evans noted: "It sounded strange though, calling us and not someone else, when there was no way to make the event in any case."

Evans suggested Gower forget traveling to Oakland, but Gower pleaded, "I have two other appointments up there and need to get back today. I'll bring in $400 tomorrow after I get up there. Let me give you the information for wiring the money."

Evans told Gower to call back when the events person Gower had been dealing with would be in the store. But Gower did not call back, so Diesel staff set up for the event without space for Gower. Evans continued: "Everything looked great for the event and at start time, in walks Eric! We asked him what happened and he didn't know what we were talking about."

Evans called it the "Nigerian author scam, the latest in an endlessly inventive series of attempts to hustle and shakedown unwitting booksellers of their hard-earned cash."

Yellow Yellow

2007-07-24T20:08:00.000+01:00

I bought Kaine Agary's Yellow Yellow while in Lagos recently and only got to start reading it on the tube this evening. Other bloggers who have read it have reacted in varying ways from rave reviews to the downright rude. Purchased at 500 Naira (£2) I bought the book because I understand it explores the issues around the oil industry's devastation of the environment in the Niger Delta. The first chapter certainly delivers on this.

While I will reserve my thoughts about the book as a whole till I've finished reading it, I certainly think the first chapter deserves a read. Its two pages are about 500 words and can be read at the Amazon site here. I'd previously read various articles about the Niger Delta on the bbc site that deliver an impersonal somewhat antiseptic view, with her first chapter Kaine immediately parachutes you head first into the issues from the point of view of a local resident. I strongly urge you check it out, perhaps even buy the book if you then want to see how it ends...

Is Originality dead?

2007-07-19T21:42:00.000+01:00

Parental Advisory, Explicit Song Lyrics

2007-07-07T07:29:00.001+01:00

Just like chocolate melts all over ice cream babe, I wanna pour myself all over you.

Ray Parker Jr

I remember hearing the lyrics of the Ray Parker Jr song above when I was younger and being horified about how explicit the lyrics were. Snoop came along and by this time I was desensitized enough that while I lamented the loss of innocence of pop to also appreciate the innovative nature of the music. Roll on to 2007 and having heard Eminem intimate that he wants to rape his own mother in a song, it is difiicult for music to shock me anymore.

Do song lyrics really matter at all? Does it matter what the artiste is saying if its got a good beat to it? Seal once said one of the reasons he never put the lyrics of his songs in the album cover was so that people could interpret a song in a personal way.

Are the lyrics in contemporary music stealing the innocence of our children or am I thinking this way just cause I'm now seriously considering taking a step that will bring little Morountodun's into the world and thus being forced to look at the world we live in?

For those of you who are Tupac fans like I am, you will recognise the name of the late Delores Tucker who was a critic of Mr Shakur's lyrics so much so that he chose to rap about her in 'How do you want it?' "Delores Tucker you's a motherf**ker / Instead of trying to help a n***a you destroy your brother".

R. Kelly in his song 'I Wish' sings "Radio, please don't take the N***a out of this song..." Should profanity have a place in popular music? (Come on Guys you know Hip Hop is not alone in being to blame for this either) .

Isn't there something else Akon could have sung about in his song "I wanna love you"? Or at least been subtle about his intentions? I don't have the answers, I am just asking the questions.

Ill advised Kidnapping...

2007-07-05T15:46:00.000+01:00

The three-year-old daughter of a British expatriate worker has been kidnapped by gunmen in the Niger Delta, the BBC have reported. While the article reads that this is the third kidnapping of a child in the area in the last few weeks, it is the first for a young foriegn national.

Methinks this will just focus unwelcome foriegn attention on the area, however one possible positive outcome of the sadening news is the international attention may force the hand of Yar'Adua to follow up on his inauguration day promise to resolve the issues in the area...

Irreplaceable Henry and my American Idol top 10

2007-06-24T14:07:00.001+01:00

Ok I will just go ahead and admit it. My heart wants me to blog about the irreplaceable Henry but its still too painful. Perhaps in the days to come I will be able to put the hurt aside and try to analyze the last 8 years that Thierry has been with us. He has left in search of Champions League success and I wish him well. Henry you were supposed to be our Captain, Player Manager then Director of Football. Even though you haven't left yet we miss you like crazy already. I'm sure we will see you again soon, so for now I say "a bientôt".

To take my mind off Henry's exit, I've decided to blog about my favourite show of all time (behind West Wing of course) American Idol. When AI is on top form it really delivers but admittedly it disappoints regularly (I'm still trying to get over the disaster that was Mr Soul Patrol). Season six just finished recently and now we have to wait seven months till our next dose (how will I survive?).

I've compiled below some of my most memorable performances. Here's the small print - just cause these are my favourite performances from the show doesn't mean they are the best. Oh and you will probably notice there isn't anything from seasons one and two as I never watched it those years.

Number 10 - Melinda Doolittle sings Home - American Idol 6
This one had it all, the Simon and Ryan banter (Simon tells Ryan to come out of the closet) the incoherent babbling of Paula and the typical AI glitz. Not to mention that this song was a childhood favourite of mine from the Motown production of the Wizard of Oz (called Wiz) which featured Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. Enjoy!

Number 9 - Constantine Maroulis sings Bohemian Rhapsody - American Idol 4
Not my favourite artiste or genre but homeboy worked it out on the night (with the help of the lighting guys )

Number 8 - Lisa Tucker sings I am Changing - American Idol 5

The song has since been made popular for our generation by Jennifer Hudson on the soundtrack of the Dreamgirls. Originally sung by Jennifer Holiday in the sixties, I heard this song for the first time on AI. Admittedly Lisa's performance was initially 'pitchy' but by the end it blew me away.

Number 7 - Elliot Yamin sings Moodys Mood for Love - American Idol 5
Now this is what the show is about, geeky looking white boy comes out with this amazing soulful voice, damn! One of my favourite songs (I really love the Brian Mcknight version on the Quincy Jones album) this song is a classic . "Am I insane or do I really see Heaven in your eyes.." Now that reminds me I've got to get his album...

Number 6 - Paris Bennett sings Work it Out American Idol 5
Musically "Princess P" had much better nights during that season but this performance I liked cause it reminds me of my little cousins and all those high school talent competitions. Precocious Paris Bennett, though young has much talent.

Number 5 - Scott Savol sings Against all odds - American Idol 4
Another big suprise. If I saw this dude on an album cover I'd drop the CD in an instant. But I love his voice and he made American Idol 4 a bit more fun.

Number 4 - Fantasia sings "I Believe" American Idol 3

In the final of AI3 Fantasia eliminates the opposition with what Simon called her "acceptance speech" with the song composed by Tamyra Grey (a contestant in Season 1). Call her Ghetto cause she didn't have much of an education, call her a bad role model cause she had a child out of wedlock, say she sounds like Donald Duck on Helium (Simon's words not mine), whatever you want to call her just remember she is a trouper and a winner! And maybe she shouldn't have shared that kiss with Jamie Foxx but who cares? This performance gave me goosebumps.

Number 3 - Lakisha Jones sings "And I am telling you" from the Dreamgirls Soundtrack, American Idol 6

This girl never lived up to her potential on the show. She threw down the gaunlet became the front runner and then just let it go. What happened Kiki? This should have been your year!

Number 2 - Jennifer Hudson sings "Weekend in New England" American Idol 3

Almost a different song to the Barry Manilow original I wish I could lay my hands on her singing the whole song not just this 90 second version for AI. Does the Oscar prove that America was wrong for kicking JHud out of the contest before the 'one genre' John Stevens?

Number 1 - Fantasia Barrino sings "Summertime" American Idol 3

The evergreen song from the Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess, "Summertime". Like Randy said the single best performance from any Idol season. And Simon at his most suggestive best "Fantasia I don't think you have ever put those lips to better use...".

Other notable performances include Anwar Robinson's Moon River and What a Wonderful World, Chris Daughtry's Hemorrage, Bo Bice's I don't wanna be, Camile Velasco's "Yellow Brick Road"and One last cry, Elliot Yamin's "A Song for you" and anything by Jennifer Hudson. In fact if I had to do this over it would probably be all different apart from the top three...

I got a Crush on Obama

2007-06-14T08:14:00.000+01:00

I'm sure you guys knew this already, but before you start to think I've crossed over to the other side "I've got a crush on Obama" is the title of the pop video below.

Apparently the Video was shot by Democratic supporters of Obama and has no connection to his official campaign office (who apart from denying responsibility have chosen not to comment on the Video).

Like the 1984 Video critics have started to debate whether it could help or hinder the Obama Campaign and whether the candidate should distance himself further from it. I personally liked it and thought its a bit of fun and may potentially help increase his profile amongst young female voters (I know that very few of this set are as shallow as Jenna from 30 Rock), but he certainly needs to do something to cut the lead Hilary has that critics have claimed to be predominantly due to her support from women.

Anyway apart from attempting to support the Obama campaign, the Wharton school of business graduate who produced the video has started selling "I got a crush on Obama" T-Shirts. Talk about enterprenurial spirit!

Letter of Protest to Spanish Authorities

2007-06-13T01:34:00.001+01:00

I received this in my email box this evening...

Dear Friends,

Please find below, the link to a letter of protest to Spanish Authorities by concerned Nigerians living in Diaspora on the needless, brutal and dehumanisig death visited on Mr. Osamuyia Aikpitanhi, a Nigerian Citizen in Spain.

In a bid to deport Mr. Aikpitanhi from Spain to Nigeria , We understand that Spanish law enforcement agents employed measures that were unreasonable, inhumane, illegal, and, ultimately, fatal. According to reports, Spanish law enforcement agents arrested Mr. Aikpitanhi, beat him, bound his hands and legs firmly with ropes, and put a gag over his mouth. The Spanish Officials then loaded him like an animal onto an Iberia aircraft bound for Lagos , Nigeria . Finally, the law enforcement agents covered him with a sack in order to prevent other passengers traveling on the aircraft from observing the undignified and inhumane manner in which Mr. Aikpitanhi was restrained. Mr. Aikpitanhi, a human being, was treated worse than an animal. Shortly after the aircraft became air borne, Mr. Aikpitanhi died. He died an inhuman death, bound, gagged and soiled in his own waste.

The time has come for us as Nigerians to say out loud to the whole world that we would no longer accept these types of treatments that has now become commonplace against our fellow citizens.

Please click on the following link to append your signature.

Nigeria Village Square

Furthermore, kindly help give this issue the publicity it deserves by forwarding this email to all your friends.

We look forward to your kind cooperation on this matter.
Read more.

Posted By Concerned Nigerians Worldwide

I've tried doing an independent search on google to verify this and the articles that come up are in Spanish, but the Nigerian Village Square site is very credible so please give this article the attention it deserves...

Vanity Fair - the Africa Edition

2007-06-11T07:46:00.001+01:00

Vanity Fair has chosen for its July 07 magazine to feature 20 celebrities on 20 different covers having a 'conversation' about Africa. I must admit that Vanity Fair is hardly my regular reading material but a combination of Africa and Annie Leibovitz made it catch my attention in Smithies today.

Annie Leibovitz first caught my attention many years ago when she took the portrait of Whoopi in a bathtub filled with milk below (I used to love Whoopi Goldberg!). Since she joined the staff team of Vanity Fair, Leibovitz has made many memorable covers, including two of Demi Moore naked and her various portraits of celebrity holders of American Express cards. Leibovitz also took a famous portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the morning of the day on which he was shot and murdered.

Back to Africa and the VF magazine features world leaders and politicians including George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama and Queen Rania of Jordan, musicians Jay-Z and Bono, entertainers and artists Chris Rock, Madonna, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle and Maya Angelou, philanthropists Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates and the boxing icon that is Muhammad Ali.

All the celebrities are featured due to their 'passion' about Africa(the inclusion of George Bush did actually leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth). The premise of the photographs is a visual chain-letter, a photographic discussion between these people about Africa.

Each person is featured on one cover but appears in a supporting role on the next in the series, the message being passed from one personality to the next. Obama listens to Cheadle, Ali to Obama, Queen Rania to Ali and so on.

"It's a visual chain letter," says Leibovitz, "spreading the message from person to person to person." Of the participants each has a personal connection with the continent, Iman: the supermodel who fled Somalia with her family 37 years ago, Senator Barack Obama whose grandfather and father are buried in Africa, Djimon Hounsou an actor who makes an annual return to a tiny village in Benin to see his family, Madonna the music superstar who adopted a child from Malawi, Ali who visited Ghana when no American sports figure had gone there before (I wonder what Dubya's personal link is).

Leibovitz put together the subjects in what was, she says, "a little like having a dinner party and trying to seat people next to certain people." She adds, "These are incredible people of our time, involved in this effort to make Africa better, to get Africa self-sufficient, and to try to get rid of aids on the continent."

What I found intriguing about the pictures was that the majority of the subjects seen together never actually posed together. For example Bush was photographed April 13 in Washington while Tutu was photographed April 28 in Kobe, Japan. But their photgraph features them in dialogue. The power of Photoshop aye!

Anyway, long may the conversation about Africa continue...

Congratulations Lewis Hamilton...

2007-06-10T12:38:00.001+01:00

22 year old Lewis Hamilton won his first F1 Grand Prix race today - the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreaul. Hamilton is like the Tiger Woods of F1, being the first black driver to compete in the sport. For those of us who have been watching his races since the beginning of the season with bated breath, its no big suprise he has finally won a Grand Prix race (he lead in Canada from start to finish).

At the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix, he became the first F1 driver to finish in the top three in his first three races. After he finished second at the 2007 Spanish Grand Prix, he became the youngest driver ever to lead the drivers' championship (he jointly led with Fernando Alonso his team mate). That was the race that we thought he would win and indeed some comments he made after the race suggested he was asked by his team to remain in second place behind his team-mate who is their 'lead' driver.

Anyway today he has 48 points on the board compared to the 40 of second placed Fernando Alonso. Hopefully in two weeks time when Wimbledon starts England we will be focusing their support on a homegrown talent that can win something...

The Christ of Coldharbour Lane

2007-06-09T01:16:00.000+01:00

I took advantage if the Metro readers offer of tickets for ten quid to watch "The Christ of Coldharbour Lane" earlier this week. Continuing a tradition of Nigerian Writers who choose to use the vibrant and colourful happenings of Brixton as a backdrop to their plays, Oladipo Agboluaje's play is a comedy that follows a former mental patient who declares himself the Messiah to a Brixton audience that are more interested in KFC and recharging their 'Pay as you Go' mobile phones.

As with Biyi Bandele's "Brixton Stories", there was almost too much going on and the multitude of characters who walked on and off stage all seemed to have their own story to tell. Also one of the things that slightly irked me was the verbosity of the main character, the Black Jesus 'Omotunde' (played by Jimmy Akingbola of Holby Blue). By mid point in the play everytime he opened his mouth to preach I was tempted to switch off. However the play was saved by the many random moments of comedy created by its multitude ensemble of characters.

One of the highlights for me was the performance of Dona Croll (Eastenders, Casualty) as the tragic Maria Maudlin a stripper/prostitute who Omotunde sees as his Mary Magdalene. Her pole dancing routine was almost worth the 10 quid entry by itself (lech that I am!). Its really difficult to believe that the woman is almost 50!

By the end of the play it appears that some of the biblical rhetoric was an attempt to wake the poor brixton from their oppression and seek an armed revolution against the state (I think...).

Anyway the all black cast, an intimate west end venue and the classic moments of comedy ('never trust a man who is still on Pay as you Go!'), make The Christ of Coldharbour Lane a worthwhile way to spend an evening.

Tickets can be purchased through the box office - Soho Theatre 0870 429 6883

Season Finale - The Sopranos

2007-06-08T23:15:00.001+01:00

Sunday brings an end to the Soprano's Saga. It will not only be the seasons finale it will also be the last episode of the series. So now no "The West Wing" and no "Sopranos"? My two favourite shows now off the air? And some clowns want CBS to bring back Jericho? Who really cares? I never really understand why the cool American Shows go on hiatus during the summer anyway. With no Footie this summer and no reasonable shows I might actually have to get myself a life!

With Bobby reaching an untimely end in the penultimate episode and Tony Soprano going into hiding it is rumoured that another character will be 'whacked' in the Finale on Sunday. Not too many guys left with Silvio in hospital it probably leaves just Tony and Paulie (and Tony's family of course).

Here are some of my favourites who got 'whacked' in dramatic episodes during the six seasons of the show (pictures are courtesy of yahoo).

Big Pussy

Sal "Big Pussy" Bonponsiero was executed for being an FBI informant. Silvio, Tony and Paulie gunned him down then dropped him to the bottom of the ocean.

Adriana (Christopher's ex fiancee)

Adriana La Cerva was whacked after it was found out she was an informant for the FBI. Silvio gunned her down in the woods as she tried to crawl away to safety. Christopher suffered from a case divided loyalties and almost got shot himself too, in one of my best episodes of the show.

Christopher (Tony's Nephew)Christopher Moltisanti was done in by Tony after a car accident left him with massive internal injuries. Tony suffocated him instead of calling for help. I think Tony was always strangely jealous of Chris.

Vito

Vito Spatafore was brutally murdered by Phil Leotardo and his men after it was revealed that Vito was gay. Vito had run off but resurfaced to meet an untimely demise after he couldn't stay away from his family.

Tony Blundetto

Tony Blundetto (played by Steve Buscemi who has a reputation for being one of the ugliest guys in Hollywood) got shot in the face as retaliation for taking out Billy Leotardo, Phil's younger brother. Tony Soprano was forced into killing his cousin to spare him being tortured by Phil.

She won!

2007-06-07T07:43:00.000+01:00

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 29, wins the Orange prize for fiction for her novel about the Nigerian Biafra war, Half of a Yellow Sun.

The Orange Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction written by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible. The prize is awarded to the best novel of the year written in English by a woman. Previous winners of this prize are Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006), Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005), Andrea Levy for Small Island (2004), Valerie Martin for Property (2003), Ann Patchett for Bel Canto (2002), Kate Grenville for The Idea of Perfection (2001), Linda Grant for When I Lived in Modern Times (2000), Suzanne Berne for A Crime in the Neighbourhood (1999), Carol Shields for Larry's Party (1998), Anne Michaels for Fugitive Pieces (1997), and Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter (1996).

Icarus Girl and Naij a Documentary

2007-04-30T22:15:00.000+01:00

The weekend was pretty busy with me trying to immerse myself in Nigerian Cultural delicacies to balance my week of hanging with my European Colleagues (there were two "leaving dos" at work this week) and speaking in my best "fone".

Saturday evening saw me heading to Hackney's Arcola Theatre to watch a play of Helen Oyeyemi's Icarus Girl. When Helen received a publishing deal and an advance to write two novels it was with a figure rumoured to be about £400,000 which was one of the largest in the UK by an unpublished writer and the largest for a teenager - she was just 19 and studying for her A Levels at the time.

Icarus girl is the story of bi-racial Jessamy Harrison who is troubled by the spirit of her dead twin (I really hope you guys have read the book!). It lightly explores the issues of children growing up in two cultures (tell me about it) and the Yoruba folklore of Ibeji and Abiku.

While I had watched "the Gods are not to blame" at the Arcola a couple of years ago, Icarus Girl was hosted in a basement room that is hardly much larger than most front rooms in Naija. The intimate setting meant that you could almost reach out and touch the actors and thus the haunting performance of Natalie Best as the spirit Titiola was all the more spooky. Helen's second novel The Opposite House will be published in June. Like UKNaija, I chose to go to Suya Express - convieniently located round the corner from the theatre - after the performance and invested in their Burantashi (its orishirishi beef grilled, try it out guys its superb!) before heading home.

So it was off to "Naij a Documentary" on Sunday at the Cine Lumiere in London's South Kensington just round the corner from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Naij is a documentary that was put together by a young Nigerian Investment Banker at his own personal expense, that comprises of original archival footage from Nigeria's history Colonial times through to present day. While Naij obviously reflected his personal politics through slick voice overs (like my girl says what is the point of having a voice if you don't have an opinion) it featured enough video footage of historical events, Western news media footage and interviews to enable one to form their own conclusions about the events. At almost three hours I am amazed at how it captured the invited audiences attention all the way through and remained entertaining.

Highlights of the documentary for me included

the interview with one of the 1966 coup plotters (I think it was Major Nzeogwu) who spoke calmly to camera - less than 24 hours after the event - about chasing down and executing Tafawa Balewa, he explained that the Sardauna - a man that Time Magazine had refered to as the perfect Victorian - had been found hiding amongst the women and children (who wan die?),
Emeka Ojukwu as he stonily smoked a cigar amidst the fanfare that circled the apparent 'resolution' of the Igbo discontent in Aburi, Ghana in January 1967 - Gowon can be seen in the background of the shot backslapping, drinking while all smiles, unaware of the unresolved restlessness of the Igbo officers,
Fela Anikulapo Kuti's interview where he reveals his welted buttocks to camera as proof of flogging by Obasanjo's henchmen and finally
the BBC interview with MKO Abiola (audio only) in 1994 while he was being arrested by armed police led by the Commissioner of Police (when asked by the BBC how he could be conducting an interview while he was being arrested by armed guard he retorted "they have come to arrest me and not my mouth"

Well done Actualize Productions you may have started a Nigerian cultural and intellectual revolution, through the young Nigerians in diaspora who now better understand the journey that the Country has made through its 47 years of Independence. Its certainly whet my appetite to try and fill in some of the gaps....

Finally a Real Gooner.

2007-04-18T00:13:00.000+01:00

I've claimed to be an Arsenal Fan since Nov/Dec 97. It was the last season Ian Wright kicked a ball in anger for the club, when we won the first of the Wenger doubles, Overmars, Anelka and Petit shone on the Pitch and the Prof (Wenger) started his revolution. I've since avidly followed the progress of the team via Match of the Day and the inimitable commentary of Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson, read Fever Pitch, been insufferable on the many occasions the team have lost games to the likes of Bolton, committed the ultimate social faux pas in wearing my Arsenal T-Shirt to meet my ex girlfriend's mum (she wasn't actually an ex at the time...) and watched the team play twice at Highbury.

A good friend of mine has always argued I'm an armchair supporter and can't really call myself a real fan till I've seen the team play at least 3 times. So I finally went to watch my third game last night, Arsenal Vs Manchester City almost ten years later. It was my first at the Emirates and I was acting so much like a tourist I was afraid I'd look suspicious and get arrested. The new stadium looks great and I am in awe. I've never been a great fan of watching live games in Stadia, because its a completely different experience to watching football on TV (and yes I am stating the obvious here), but the Emirates Stadium might have made a fan of me. Anyway Fabregas scored again and the team won. It looks like we are almost guaranteed at least the 4th spot (anything more will be a bonus), so all in all I've got to say it was a good day...

The Last Slave

2007-03-11T21:10:00.000Z

If like me, you have a large number of "socially conscious" friends who forward you email messages that they think you will benefit from ie what to do to claim money from Microsoft, avoid going to the west end this weekend for fear of terrorist attacks etc - you would have received an email in the last couple of months asking you to watch "The Last Slave" on Channel 4 (I got the email about 4 times). If you received the email and missed the show, don't worry you are probably better off for it.

The email read -
To mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, Channel 4 have made a programme called The Last Slave which follows a young, black Londoner called David Monteith as he traces the story of his ancestor, Archibald Monteith. Archibald was one of the few slaves to leave an account of his life, giving his descendent an opportunity to understand his ancestry and his experience of slavery. The programme follows David on a powerful and moving journey to Jamaica and then to Nigeria as he confronts the reality of Archibald's life.

The Last Slave will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 8pm on Sunday March 11th. You can really help us by emailing friends and contacts and spreading the word about this documentary. It's important to us that this programme , which is an inspiring and important story marking a major anniversary, reaches as many viewers as possible.

Thanks for your help and I hope you enjoy the programme and continue to engage with and support our factual output on Channel4.

Ralph Lee Commissioning Editor, History Channel 4 Television Tel. 020 7306 6960 Fax. 020 7306 5539

I sat infront of my TV set promptly at 8pm hoping for some kind of exploration of the nature of slavery and its lasting effects in the world today. I expected some kind of objectivity, I sought to be educated on the nature of this blight in world history, I wondered if channel 4 had a fresh new perspective that could help the healing for this wound which 200 years later still festers and causes pain. Instead Channel 4 choose to outline its own perspective to Slavery by painting it as an ill that pre-existed the European slave traders who purely exploited it for financial reasons and further how Britons were unaware of the horrors of Slavery and once enlightened, campaigned vociferously to end the lucrative slave trade.

While David says in the Last Slave that "the truth is seldom black and white", the documentary seemed too much like the "white" version to me. If this is the first salvo on british TV in the commemoration of 200 years since the Abolition of the Slave Trade on March 25th 1807 (This was NOT the abolition of slavery itself which was not ended until 1838) then I worry about what is to come.

In a world where across the Atlantic Barack Obama is feeling the effects of being discriminated against by other blacks in the USA, as he isn't a direct descendant of Slaves, where Al Sharpton is coming to terms with being a direct descendant of the prominent segregationist politician Strom Thurmond, where Tony Blair is still unable to apologise for Britains role in slavery, where some of our greatest academics argue that Europe is responsible for "underdeveloped" Africa, it is disappointing that that Channel 4 couldn't come up with a whole lot more to stimulate debate.

See what BlackBritain.co.uk had to say about the last slave here. Or click here for a preview of the documentary.

30 Rock, Barack Obama and American Idol

2007-02-24T00:39:00.000Z

I've recently fallen in love new NBC comedy series 30 Rock. The show features Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan of Saturday Night Live and it deals with issues relating to the cast and production team of fictional TV show, 'The Girlie Show.' I first started appreciating the show when it dealt with a new twist tothe issue of sensitivity to the N-Word, when one black character took offence when another black character refered to him as his N****. The clip below shows Toofer (who is Harvard educated) calling Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) his N****. The difference in social class of the actors appears to distort the playing field and thus the term was perceived as derogatory from one black male to another.

Personally I have never appreciated the attempt to reclaim the word by the black community using it as a term of endearment, as all it seems to be doing is causing confusion for white people who don't seem to understand why they can't use it when its used in most gangsta rap songs nowadays. (The argument is that its alright to diss your own family but if people from outside try this mess, "they going down"). Chris Rock recently expressed similar sentiment when he recanted his Niggas vs. Black People Sketch in an interview on 60 Minutes before his Oscar hosting in 05. Anyhoo, 30 Rock this week dealt with Politics and Barack Obama.

I guess this bit focuses on the challenge Obama faces in his race for 08. Barack Obama is not the first black candidate to run for the white house. Jesse Jackson, Rev Al Sharpton and former Democratic Senator Carol Mosely-Braun have all been there. Obama is clearly making waves as he has endeared himself to White America, its Black America he is struggling with. When civil rights activist Jesse Jackson launched his attempt to seek the democratic nomination in 1984, it was clear what platform he choose to stand on, where he thought his votes would come from.

It is undeniable that Race Matters when it comes to politics. There is an unwritten rule that Blacks are expected to vote Democrat/Labour (dependent on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you live on). I guess this is based on the assumption that these parties in general are based on the principles of establishing a more equitable society and this is seen as being to the benefit of black people as we are generally less affluent compared to white people in the West. It is assumed that a black candidate will better understand the difficulties that black people face in western society, discrimination in employment etc. I guess this is one of the problems Obama faces, he has himself admitted that his upbringing is not typical of an African American.

I'm sure the Obama team is curently asking itself if a Black Candidate can win election to high office in the USA without the Black vote. Obama won election as Senator against another black candidate, Republican Alan Keyes. While the Obama camp has recently been seeking to woo the black vote, Black people need to believe that by electing him it will change their lot. Is it enough for black america just to have a black man in the white house or does his politics have to be black as well. Critics of Obama point out that 10years of having Clarence Thomas on the bench haven't done a damn thing for Black America. It says creating a symbol is no longer enough. I personally think its a shame that the USA in the 21st Century has only seen 5 black senators in its history and I think only one black govenor. Al Sharpton argues that America cannot afford to look beyond race in a climate that is still populated by inequalities that are inherently due to racial prejudice and historical inequalities. I agree.

Should Obama succeed in wooing the black vote he will still have problems with Black females who are experiencing a case of divided loyalties over voting for a woman or a black male!

Obama has joked that he worried his political career was over after 9/11 because his name sounded too much like Osama bin Laden. (the reason for Jenna's confusion in the 30 Rock sketch below). Named after his father, his full name is Barack Hussein Obama Jr. Some of his opponents have taken to using his full name Senator Obama Barack Hussein Obama to repeatedly attempt to link Obama with two of America's hated enemies - Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussain.

As a study of how race matters in a voting system one needs look no further than American Idol. Viewers of the show cross race, age and social backgrounds. I happened to be in New York a few years ago when the final of the show featured a head to head between Fantasia and Diana Degarmo. I was amazed at how many white people were rooting for Diana. I thought any neutral observer just assessing singing talent would clearly see that Fantasia's singing voice was a million times better than Diana. Alas I was wrong. For anyone who doubts how polarising race can be in a voting system, visit the American Idol Discussion Board. One guy posted a rant seeking support for a ban on all votes for Sanjaya Malakar cause he is too 'Indian looking'. Fortunately that post didn't stay up too long.

For what its worth, I think the only remaining superpower needs to elect a minority to the White House in 08 (Woman, Black Male, Mormon) to prove to the world it is truly embracing its diversity and dreams can come true in the ole US of A. My vote goes to Barack Obama.

J.Hud, the Oscar Nominations and American Idol

2007-01-23T20:31:00.000Z

Oscar Nominations are out today and Jennifer Hudson has been nominated for best supporting female! Congratulations Jennifer. I guess this is vindication for her, after supposedly not being good enough for the top five in American Idol Season Three (come on guys who was voting for John 'Red' Stevens?). Sadly Beyonce wasn't nominated in any category. I wonder if this means the dopes who have been promoting the movie in the UK for its February 2nd release will now feature Jennifer on the Posters (So far its only shown Eddie Murphy, Beyonce and Jamie Foxx).

Anyhoo, Listen to Jennifer sing "And I am telling you" from the soundtrack of the movie below, its awesome really...

'Black Movies' Coming Soon

2006-12-24T11:17:00.000Z

Daddy's Little Girls

Comment: Gabrielle Union is back!

Directed by Tyler Perry of the Madea titled movies fame, this romantic comedy features Idris Elba, Tracee Ellis Ross (Girlfriends) and Lou Gossett Jr.

Plot Summary: A single father, Monty (Elba) is a garage mechanic who lives in a poor neighbourhood and struggles to make ends meet as he raises his three young daughters on his own. But when the courts award custody of his daughters to his corrupt, drug-dealing ex-wife, Monty desperately tries to win them back, enlisting the help of Julia (Gabrielle Union), a beautiful attorney he meets during his stint as a chauffeur. While Monty and the Ivy-League-educated Julia couldn't be less alike, an unexpected romance blossom and it soon begins to feel like true love. But in order for their relationship to survive, the couple must reconcile their two very different worlds – and overcome the forces that threaten to tear Monty's family apart.

Are We Done Yet?

Comment: Yes its another frigging Ice Cube Comedy!

Plot Summary: Ice Cube reprises his role as Nick Parsons from the movie 'Are we there yet' - yes its a 'sequel' - with his on screen wife Nia Long, and her two kids who leave the city behind for a fixer-upper in the 'burbs -- an investment which quickly turns from a dream into a nightmare for Nick, as the contractor (John McGinley of Scrubs with that dumb season six hair style, Come on dude work it out!).

Pride

Comment: Sounds like a tearjerker...

Plot Summary: It features Terrence Howard (The Best Man), Bernie Mac and Kimberly Elise. Inspired by the true story of Jim Ellis an African-American swim coach who resurrected an inner-city Philadelphia public pool in the 1970s and recruited troubled neighborhood teens to join his swim team.

Dreamgirls

2006-12-22T17:33:00.000Z

Dreamgirls opens to the American Public next week. Since its the 'black movie' of the year, the question I'm asking is when is it going to be showing in the UK? Dreamgirls features Eddie Murphy (Babyfather for Scary Spice?), Jennifer Hudson (American idol), Beyonce (she needs no introduction right?) and Jamie Foxx. (On a quick aside while typing this my brother looked over my shoulder and asked me what constitutes a 'black movie'? since the guy who directed Dreamgirls is a white guy. Is it a film with a couple of black characters in the leading roles? ie was Bad Boys - Martin Lawrence & Will Smith - a black movie? Even my little brother just said 'hell no' with some venom. Or a film with lots of black characters? Showing black culture - Boys in the hood? Or does it need to be set in Africa? I guess we would know it when we see it right? The Best Man anyone? Anyway I digress...)

Formerly a broadway musical with the same name, Dreamgirls is loosely based on the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes and it is directed by Bill Condon, the dude who the screenplay for Chicago. Its already tipped to feature heavily in the Oscars next year (yes high praise indeed) and is expected to make Jennifer Hudson hot property in Hollywood (she really deserves it after she was robbed of the chance to get to the AI finals a few years back.

Anyway guys if you are looking for a movie to go see after Xmas...

Reality TV Shows...

2006-12-02T11:55:00.000Z

Reality TV has really exploded since the advent of Big Brother in 1999. "Big Brother" and now "Who wants to be a Millionaire" have shows in almost all parts of the world (did anyone watch Big Brother Nigeria?, see a clip from the Croatian " Who wants to be a Millionaire" show). I've not watched Big Brother since it got trashy, Jade Goody took all her clothes off and subsequently became a Millionaire (I tell a lie, I did watch a bit of the gorgeous Makosi...). Jade is one of the fortunate ones, she has since become quite succesfull even starring in her own reality TV show on LivingTV - Jade's Salon - and also appearing in Celebrity Stars in their eyes, Celebrity Wife Swap, Celebrity Mastermind and 60 Minute makeover. She even attempted the London Marathon for charity and is regularly featured in UK glossy magazines. Others have not been so successful (does anyone remember Sunita Sharma or Sandy Cumming?).

One notable thing about UK reality TV is how the winners are rarely the ones who are most successful. Jade has arguably achieved more success than the winner of BB3, Kate Lawler. And Lemar came third in Fame Academy but has since gone on to win Brit awards and have 6 UK top ten singles while the winner of the show David Sneddon (David who?) has almost disappeared without a trace.

Since the Genre has proven successful, TV producers have just gone crazy and its gone from the immoral (Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?, The Batchelor, Temptation Island) to the ridiculous (Lil Kim: Countdown to Lockdown) and the Controversial (Who's Your Daddy?).

The Clip below is from the UK's X-Factor. It features the immensely talented Leona. Perhaps she will be the first person of colour to win a reality TV show in the UK (oh and Tim Campbell in The Apprentice doesn't count as that show doesn't depend on the public vote).

When its too hard to say sorry...

2006-11-27T08:09:00.002Z

Next year marks the 2nd Centenary of the abolition of slavery in the UK. In anticipation of the advance publicity of this event, Tony Blair has expressed deep sorrow for the UK's involvement in Slavery but he has stopped short of issuing an apology. His statement seems to have satisfied no one, as there appears to be a school of thought that claims that he has no business apologising for an event that took place over two hundred years ago, while the counter argument is that a full apology is what is required. Should he apologise? Perhaps Tony should express "deep sorrow" over his personal involvement in starting the Iraq war...

Read more about inadequate historical apologies here

Outrage over Seinfeld Actor's racist outburst..

2006-11-21T22:38:00.000Z

The actor who played Kramer in the hit TV series Seinfeld stunned a comedy club audience when he launched a tirade of racial slurs at hecklers during a stand-up routine. Michael Richards' outburst at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood reportedly began after two black audience members shouted that he was not funny.

A video of the Friday night incident posted on entertainment news website TMZ.com shows the 57-year-old comedian retorting: 'Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your a**.'

Then, to the audible shock of the audience, the comedian, best known for playing Jerry Seinfeld's eccentric neighbour, is shown pacing across the stage swearing and repeatedly uttering a racially offensive term. Read the complete article here.

The video is below and its quite shocking. I guess like Ron Atkinson he will expect to say he is sorry and all will be forgiven...

Jay Z launches "Water for Life" Project in Kwara State

2006-10-13T13:58:00.000+01:00

For more Pictures click here.

Jay Z in Lagos

2006-10-06T13:05:00.000+01:00

I guess its old news now that Jay Z will be playing in Lagos at Oceanview tomorrow. What I find saddening though is the ticket prices, I understand that it ranges from 25,000 to 100,000 Naira (between £100-£400). Even when he played Wembley a couple of weeks ago the maximum ticket price was about £60. Why are Nigerians being ripped off in this way? I guess the CEO of hip hop needs to get paid?

Give Christine a break...

2006-09-18T08:47:00.000+01:00

The Poster girl for London's 2012 Olympics bid, Christine Ohurogu was given a one year ban from competing in athletics in the UK. The 22 year old 400m athlete was given the ban for missing three out of competition drugs tests which is given the same penalty as if she had failed a test. Christine won a Commonwealth gold in the 400m in the 2006 games. There have been no allegations of actual drug usage against her and it appears that a talented but inexperienced young athlete may be denied the opportunity to compete in the olympics because she has been naive.

The International Association of Athletics Federations' rules on drug testing demand that all athletes alert the testers to their whereabouts for one hour a day, five days a week.

Even the statement from the UK Athletics announcing her ban, appeared to absolve her of any guilt or wrongdoing: "Following a disciplinary hearing held on 11 September 2006, the independent disciplinary committee, chaired by Charles Flint QC, has decided unanimously that Christine Ohuruogu has committed a doping violation under Rule 32.2 (d) of the IAAF Rules which stipulates that the violation is 'the evaluation of three missed out-of-competition tests (as defined in Rule 35.17)'.
"The Independent Disciplinary Committee imposed the sanction prescribed under Rule 40.1(c) of the IAAF Rules that Christine Ohuruogu is ineligible to take part in athletics events for one year. This period of ineligibility runs from 6 August 2006, the date Christine Ohuruogu was suspended.
"In the decision the independent disciplinary committee made clear its view as to the limited degree of fault to be attributed to Christine Ohuruogu. The Committee stated that this was a minor unintentional infraction of the regime due only to forgetfulness. It made clear that there is no suggestion, nor any grounds for suspicion, that the offence may have been deliberate in order to prevent testing.
"The Independent Disciplinary Committee also made clear its view that 'this is undoubtedly a very harsh sanction for the minor degree of fault attributed to a talented young athlete who had no intention of infringing the anti-doping rules'."

Come on guys lets give this girl a break!

Please Shoot the Messenger...

2006-08-31T19:20:00.000+01:00

I watched the Drama 'Shoot the Messenger' on BBC2 yesterday. I missed the pre showing hype and had only been told a few hours previously to watch the show by a friend. The programme is an attempt to illustrate the ills of the black community by using the point of view of a self hating bigot who also suffered from mental illness. The drama was initially titled "Fuck Black People" but this title was changed by the BBC before the Show was aired. Since the protagonist himself is black it attempts in this way to deflect calls of implied racism due to his own self hatred. The writer Sharon Foster (a black woman) was also the writer of the screenplay for "Baby father" (nuff said!).

For me "Shoot the Messenger" feeds fuel to all the negative stereotypes of black people as Joe Pascal, the protagonist holds the black community responsible for the transgressions of all the grotesquely caricatured characters in the play. It features David Oyelowo (formerly of Spooks, one of our own no less) who plays a black teacher who is falsely accused of assault by a student and subsequently practically turns into a card carrying member of the British National Party. His hatred of black people then leads him to watch a black shooting victim die when he could have called an ambulance to save him. He goes on to utter such reprehensible and memorable statements like "bring back slavery we were good at that and at least they took us somewhere sunny".

I really objected to the portrayal of a collection of extremely negative stereotypes of black people and attitudes including the baby mother with four children from four fathers who then leaves all the children for her mum to take care of and Heather who hates her kinky hair cause it 'doesn't make her feel good about herself'. Since the writer seeks to stoke controversy the characters discuss the issues such as a biblical curse placed upon Canaan (being interpreted as the curse of the black race) and the 'blame culture' in the black community where all black failure is ascribed to the 'white man' or slavery.

A friend who is a published writer is constantly complaining about the state of the publishing industry in the UK and what 'ethnic' writers are forced to write in order to get publishing deals. 'Shoot the Messenger' is proof of this, but I think if this is the kind of self hatred we need to write then they can stuff their publishing contracts and awards (Shoot the messenger won the Dennis Potter ScreenWriters Award). Personally I would have expected a more balanced exploration of the issue by the BBC without producing a recruitment video for the BNP. If this is the kind of entertainment to expect from terrestrial UK TV, I might as well just cancel my TV licence again!

Merci Les Bleus

2006-07-11T21:28:00.000+01:00

Just got back from a trip to Paris. I guess since I'd spent the last couple of weeks identifying with the French, the trip was an optimistic attempt to rejoice with them 'when' they'd won the World Cup. But alas, it wasn't to be. Zidane's moment of madness robbed the French of an almost guaranteed Penalty kicker and the rest like they say is history. Everyone I spoke to about the match was very philosophical, composed and gracious in defeat. The guys at the Concierge service of our Hotel advised that there would probably be trouble at the Champs Elysees so we choose not to go. Well at least we got a relaxing holiday.

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!! They made us all proud.

Nigeria leads the world!

2006-07-02T10:46:00.000+01:00

On Religion
A survey of people's religious beliefs carried out suggests that Nigeria is the most religious nation in the world. Over 90% of Nigerians said they believed in God, prayed regularly and would die for their belief. All the survey respondents in Nigeria (100%) expressed a belief in God or a higher power. The figure was in 91% the US with the UK scoring lowest at 67%.
Over 91% of Nigerians said they regularly attended a religious service, contrasting with 21% in the UK and only 7% of Russians.

All these statistics lead me to wonder, what are the advantages of the religious fervour of Nigerians?

On Happiness
A study of more than 65 countries published in the UK's New Scientist magazine suggests that the happiest people in the world live in Nigeria - and the least happy, in Romania. So I guess that we are having some rewards for our supplication to God. One side of me however wonders whether the survey respondents are actually replying to the questions in faith (the bible states that whatsoever you profess you receive). My Grandmother (God bless her soul) would always reply to a question about money by saying "Owo po lowo mi" - there is loads of money with me - whether she was broke or not. Its just like Luther said money doesn't buy happiness as using GDP per capita Nigeria is the 19th Poorest Country in the World and 60% of the population are living below the poverty line.

On Corruption
A couple of years ago while still the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI) strongly criticised a survey by Transparency International which ranked Nigeria as the most corrupt country in Africa saying it was "fundamentally flawed". NOI said the survey failed to take into account government efforts to fight corruption. I guess this means we have a problem but are working on a cure?

So Nigerians are the worlds most religious but yet also among the most corrupt? Well at least we are the happiest! How else does Nigeria lead the world?

CCTV in England, ID Cards and the Big Brother State

2006-07-01T22:30:00.000+01:00

In 1949, George Orwell released his novel called "Nineteen Eighty-Four". The novel told the story of Winston Smith, a minor bureaucrat in the totalitarian state of Oceania where privacy has vanished and all Party members are observed by two-way telescreens and there are posters everywhere proclaiming; BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU (the book actually coined the phrase 'Big Brother'). Over 50 years after the publication of 1984, Britain has started to imitate the State of Oceania.

If you live and work in London chances are you are being caught over 300 times a day on Camera . Britain has the highest number - per person - of CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras in the world including countries with a much higher crime rates such as the USA. There are CCTV cameras on the Underground, buses, shopping malls and our high streets. It is estimated that there are over four million CCTV cameras in the UK, one for every 14 residents. Since 1994, the Home Office has spent a staggering 78% of its crime prevention budget on CCTV cameras.

On Identity Cards
The Blair Government recently introduced the Identity Cards Act 2006. This means the government has the power to introduce identity cards in stages.The first phase will include biometrically updating passports and driving licences - including fingerprints, eye or facial scans. A voluntary ID card will then be introduced in 2008 and people applying for passports will have their details put on the national identity register. From 2010 people applying for passports will also be issued with an ID card. The Civil liberties group Liberty have argued that these measures will worsen harassment of ethnic minorities and provide another pretext for stop-and-search (reintroduction of the old 'suss' measures) often directed at black people in particular. The original pretext for introducing the ID cards was the war against Terror. The Home Secretary argued that Identity cards would make it harder for terrorists to enter the UK and adopt false and multiple identities. All the four suicide bombers killed on the Public Transport system last year on 7 July were British Citizens.

Are these measures actually going to make us safer or are we just giving up our civil liberties in an effort to 'feel' safer?

Ghana to pay the price of beating the USA at the world cup...

2006-06-30T22:52:00.000+01:00

Nationality and Sport

2006-06-29T08:24:00.000+01:00

The Identity of French World Cup Team
Aba boy has written an excellent piece on why black people and immigrants would identify with the success of the French Team. The French team that started the match against Spain on Monday had seven black players in its starting line up. Of the eleven players who started, nine had parents who were not born on the French Mainland and were either first or second generation immigrants. Thierry Henry & William Gallas have parents that come from Guadeloupe while Lilian Thuram was actually born in Guadeloupe, Patrick Vieira's roots are Senegalese and is a naturalized Frenchman, Sidney Govou's parents come from the Republic of Benin, Florent Malouda was born in French Guiana, and Claude Makelele was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The French Manager has also stoked controversy by claiming that his team were subject to racist chants by Spanish fans before the match. This in addition to the awful comments the Spanish Manager Luis Aragones made in relation to Thierry Henry. Nkem at African Shirts said we are all Ghanian now, and yes early on Monday evening I was Ghanian, but from 8pm I became French.

On representing "your country" in Sporting Tournaments
Many Africans move to Europe and North America in search of a better life and many settle down in these places to raise families. The children of these immigrants then grow up as indigenes and for those who turn to sport may then end up representing these countries in whatever field they specialise in. An example of this is Freddy Adu, the teenage football prodigy who moved to the USA from Ghana at the age of eight. Barring injury or a totally unexpected dip in form, this teenager will probably be the Star of the 2010 world cup in South Africa while he represents the USA. (imagine my suprise in typing 'Adu' into google and the first entry is relating to Freddy? What happened to the global phenomena that is Sade?).

Other sportspeople face more complex decisions when choosing which country to represent as they may have moved to another country as an adult professional in search active support and development. Emmanuel Olisadebe represented Poland at the 2002 World Cup scoring for his adopted country while Nigeria failed to qualify for the second round of the tournament as we stuggled to cope with the aging talent of Nwankwo Kanu.

Francis Obikwelu born in Nigeria and after representing his country of birth in a couple of World Championships made a decision to run for Portugal because of neglect by Nigerian sports officials when he was injured while representing Nigeria. In the 2004 Olympic Games he won the silver medal in the 100m final for Portugal. When I watched that final I experienced complex emotions, pride for his acheivement, shame that he wasn't able to represent Nigeria and embarassment that I was 'claiming' a success that now belonged to Portugal.

In 2003 the BBC asked Does the Flag Matter? as many African athletes were representing and winning medals for other countries during the World Championships; Wilson Kipketer (800m) representing Denmark, Nigeria's Gloria Alozie (100m hurdles) for Spain and Sierra Leone lost silver medal winning heptathlete Eunice Barber to France.

Salomon Kalou was born in Cote d'Ivoire and moved to the Netherlands at age 17. Earlier this year he sought accelerated naturalization as a Dutch Citizen in order to play for Holland at this World Cup. This bid failed and he never got to play. Strangely enough the Netherlands and Côte d'Ivoire were allocated to the same group in the first round. If Kalou had become a Dutch citizen and was selected for the Netherlands, he could have played against his native country. Meanwhile in a case where reality is almost stranger than fiction his older brother, Bonaventure featured for Côte d'Ivoire in Germany. If the Côte d'Ivoire had the striking talent of the young Salomon perhaps they would have been the second African team in the Second round.

What is the future of African Sport when its best and most talented stars now choose to represent European and North American Countries? Should they retain a sense of patriotism despite the odds and continue to wave the flag of their countries of origin?

Quick Post: Promiscuity and Nigerian Society

2006-06-21T22:54:00.000+01:00

Promiscuity (definition courtesy of Wikipedia) is the practice of making relatively unselective, casual and indiscriminate choices. The term is most commonly applied to sexual behavior, where it refers to sex that is not in the framework of a steady sexual relationship, or occurs in multiple, simultaneous sexual relationships.

I came across a random piece of research into sexual behavior in Nigerian Society. In a study of 1000 young people in higher education institutions in Ilorin, Nigeria, it found casual sex to be more than 5 times more common among males than among females. What does this research actually tell us? I would probably infer that the Guys are being more truthful than the Girls. I showed it to my girlfriend who thinks that it means that there are a minority of girls who are letting the side down. Well methinks they are doing a good job of it as if the statistics are to be believed it means promiscuous girls are having five times as much sex as promiscuous guys (actually does 'promiscuous guys' qualify as tautology?).

Spirituality and Soccer

2006-06-20T09:54:00.000+01:00

In the 1999 European Cup final featuring Manchester United Vs Bayern Munich in Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium, Man Utd chaplain Rev John Boyers prayed to God for a miracle so his team could win. Anyone who has been watching the World Cup over the last couple of weeks will also be familiar with the joint squad prayers before games, the hands clenched and the look towards the heavens when shots are saved or go wayward and players who cross themselves before taking penalties.

Other avid watchers of the game will remember the stunned silence from German television commentators after the Brazilians knelt down together in a circle and prayed after winning the Confederations Cup. Fellow Nigerians will remember 'Brother' Taribo leading the Eagles in prayer before games in the 1998 World Cup. It has become a recognisable part of the sport with South American and African countries being particularly involved in collective prayer before and after games. Other football players have regularly attributed their success to prayer, while some when interviewed have admitted to praying before important matches.

In our everyday lives we pray to seek divine intervention in our human endeavour be it seeking good health, wealth, success in exams, improvement in the circumstances of an individual, group, country etc. In the majority of cases these interventions are for the advancement of an individual or group and not at the expense of another. The issue of prayer in Football is one that baffles me as if both teams are praying to the same God then surely one side will end up saying their prayers were not answered?. Isn't this selfish? I guess it would be okay if the prayers are seeking that the individuals involved perform to the best of their potential but when it comes to sport most of us believe its the success that counts and thus pray for the win.

The issue of prayer in sports was such a significant one that it was refered to the United States Supreme Court a few years ago where the Justices had to decide whether public school students should be allowed to lead prayers over the public-address system before football games.

UK residents will also be familiar with the antics of its tabloid newspapers regularly asking the nation to pray for intervention in the many football games or for the quick healing of someones metatarsal. In Mexico, Churches are leading their parishes to pray for the success of its team in the World Cup. Are we right to pray for success in football games? Surely God has more important issues to deal with.

Anyway I've blogged enough for one day, I'm off to bed now but must remember to pray for Ghana to beat USA on Thursday first though.

The Brazilian Wax

2006-06-16T23:05:00.000+01:00

Brazilian waxing (definition courtesy of Wikipedia) is a type of waxing involving the bikini area. This procedure involves the complete removal of hair from the buttocks and adjacent to the anus, perineum and vulva (labia majora and mons pubis). It can be thought of as an extreme form of bikini waxing. Most forms of Brazilian waxing leave a small line of pubic hair above the vulva, commonly known as the "landing strip". Waxes that completely remove the pubic hair are either termed 'Hollywood' or 'Sphynx' depending on the salon visited. Sometimes the term Full Bikini Wax or FBW is used. While mainly associated with females, the practice is engaged in by males as well (though less often). It is named for Brazil, the country with which it is most often associated with.

I had a not completely unwelcome suprise last night (well it was actually a very pleasant suprise if I'm honest). I won't go into the details but I'm sure you can guess from the topic what I'm talking about. I'm touched (and slightly worried) that my girlfriend went to these lengths to spice things up between us (I guess she needed to do something to take my mind off the football now I have a TV set and have paid the licence fee). But I've certainly started looking at her in a different light as having it done sounds like one of the most painful things on earth not to mention the obvious embarassment factor of exposing your bits to a stranger that isn't a doctor.

How to do the 'Brazilian'

It takes about 30 minutes for a thorough job to be done. There are quite a few beauty salons who do this 'procedure' in London but it may be pricey. An alternative is to go for the private waxers but you may have to find them through references from friends etc.

You will need to remove all clothing including underwear and lie on a table with clean paper or sheets. It is possible that you could be provided with a paper thong, but chances are you won't.

Because only about a quarter-inch of hair is needed for the wax to grab onto, your waxer will start by trimming your pubic (and anal) hair to the right length.

The best waxers are fast, which means less discomfort for you. The waxer will dip a waxing stick into a pot of hot wax & then spread it onto your skin & hair. She will then apply a cloth strip over the still-warm wax, pressing firmly so the cloth, hair and wax adhere to one another. When the wax has cooled, she will pull the strip off, in the opposite direction of your hair growth, pulling the hairs out by the root.

Most likely, your waxer will tweeze any stray hairs.

Waxing usually starts in the front & moves toward the back. Be prepared to move around in all sorts of odd positions in order for the waxer to do her job (would you rather have some random bloke do this?).

Once the waxing is over, the waxer will spread soothing lotion over the waxed areas. You should ask what to do in case of bumps, redness or ingrown hairs. Your waxer should be trained in this.
Don't forget to get the name of the waxer so when you make another appointment you can get the same person so you don't have to bare all for another complete stranger.

The procedure, like any waxing, can be very painful at first, but I understand frequent visits can cut down on the pain factor. I suggest taking a couple Ibuprofen at least 15 minutes before your procedure. You might want to take a shower first before going in order to ensure all the bits are clean and 'long hard day' funk free.

The major attractions of the full brazilian is that you won't have those clumps of hair sticking out of your bikini when on holiday (we all know Nigerians can be very hairy) and it can also be a major aphrodisiac.

The downside of a Brazilian wax while it lasts as much as 3 weeks, the hair will grow back & you'll have to do it again.

Another downside... hair has to be a certain length before it can sucessfully waxed.
Another down side... you might experience bumps or ingrown hairs.

Anyone interested?

Church Attendance & Football

2006-06-15T00:40:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday my girlfriend dragged my lazy ass to church. I moved a couple of years ago and haven't bothered to find a church I'm comfortable with worshipping in, and since then Sunday mornings have just been me time. So Saturday night my girlfriend decides we'll be going to church in the morning (yep I'm whipped and I know it!). Since we didn't know where the closest Pentecostal church was we decided to go to an Anglican Church (Church of England) just down the street. Now I pray for forgiveness if this is blasphemy, but that was one of the most boring services I've attended in my life. I haven't felt so much like falling asleep in church since my pre teens. The sermon was uninspiring and the songs sounded like they were just a biology textbook being recited over music. I really need to find me a Church that has service I can feel. You know with the praise and worship sessions that even if you don't know the songs you can just close your eyes and feel the spirit moving.

The second thing that struck me though was how empty that space was. I'm convinced the church could seat over a thousand people, but I doubt if there were more than 70-80 people in the service. I suppose the only way they could afford to pay the Reverend would be through central church funds. No big suprise that Churches are being converted to housing across the country.

Christian Country
In the 2001 Census, 72% of the population of Great Britain claimed to be Christians. This contrasts greatly with the reported only 8% of the population who attend regular church services. Indeed it is claimed that without the rise of Black Pentecostal Churches, attendance at church in the UK would be actually be falling.

Some Random thoughts & observations
Every week during the football season about 700,000 attend live football games in England (just the Premiership, Championship and leagues one and two) and another 1.25 million also watch the live games transmitted by Sky. This doesn't include the reported 4.5 million who watch Match of the Day. Some may remember World Cup 2002 where some churches put up screens for their attendees to watch the World Cup games on Sunday morning, others shifted their service times altogether to ensure they wouldn't clash with the football!. For those who live in the UK, I guess it will prove no big suprise that the figures suggest that Football is more popular in this country than the Church.

TV Licensing, Superstitions and Football

2006-06-14T20:38:00.000+01:00

I have a confession to make. Much as I make noise about Football and Arsenal Football Club, I am only an Armchair Supporter. I have only been to Highbury once in the last couple of years and that was for a Carling Cup game (which we ended up losing by the way).

Any follower of the game will know that last season was a poor one for Arsenal domestically. By the end of November last year, the team had lost more games than my blood pressure could handle. By Christmas when the losing trend hadn't abated I decided I couldn't handle the heat anymore so I gave my TV to my little cousin for his bedroom room and I cancelled my TV license. I'd convinced myself that by doing away with the TV I would no longer have to sit through Match of the Day and the frustrating action replays of our back four conceeding needless goals. I could also make positive use of my leisure time and enhance my social life.

The World Cup and TV Licensing
When I gave up my TV in Dec 05, it had always been my intention to acquire another one however temporarily to watch the World Cup. I also didn't know whether I would be able to handle not having a TV (imagine all those episodes of EastEnders I'd be missing!). Anyway the loss of a TV over the last few months has been cathartic and enabled me to wake up more alert as I no longer stay up till 1am watching re-runs of the Terminator on channel 4.

By the beginning of this month I had contacted my mate Steve to loan his extra TV for a month and I called TV licensing in a routine call to acquire a TV licence for a month to watch the World Cup. Imagine my suprise to find out the minimum period I can purchase a license for is a year! Awon Ole! After having a go at the Customer services rep at length I decided I wouldn't be exploited and chose to watch the games at my local pub. This obviously hasn't worked as my natural inclination to watch as many games as posible live has now meant I am on first name terms with the 7 bar staff, the manager and about 10-12 of the bar regulars. So today I relented and have called up TV licensing to set up a direct debit.

I have always been against the idea of a TV license on principle as I cannot understand why I should be forced to pay £130 odd just because the BBC can't be bothered to carry adverts and compete with the other commercial channels. One of my friends used to work for the BBC and her stories of the excesses of the senior staff and their charge accounts sets my blood boiling every time I think about it.

Lady Superstition
When watching football especially games I have an emotional attachment to, I have this strange irrational belief that my actions on my sofa can actually impact upon the results of the game. For the Champions league final vs Barcelona it was my fault Lehmann was sent off. I was hungry and Steve's beautiful wife offered me some aromatic and delicious J-Rice, what could a man do? I had to say yes, but I should have known better. I haven't eaten J-Rice during a game since 1998 when my J-Rice eating antics caused Nigeria to lose 4-1 to Denmark. I used to think this was a strange eccentricity of mine but one of my friends, an Arsenal mad Ghanian chick refuses to leave the country when Arsenal have home games as if she does so the team always loses.

Since relenting and buying the TV licence this afternoon (I swear once the World Cup is over I will cancel that Direct Debit and return the TV to Steve, those thieves at the BBC will not get more than the £26 first instalment from me), I went to Steve's place to pick up the spare TV and set it up and within 2 minutes of turning it on saw Tunisia equalise against Saudi Arabia. Now all I have to do is go root out my lucky Nike T-Shirt (which I haven't worn since December by the way) and settle down to watch the remaining 47 games. Perhaps the African countries will do better now as I have also sworn off J-Rice till 10th July.

Six Degrees of Separation

2006-06-10T23:44:00.000+01:00

On Blogging
I discovered blogging less than three weeks ago. For those of you who have been at it for a few months/years now go on and say it a la Dr Cox, I am a "newbie". I discovered a couple of blogs, I liked the articles and thought to put up some random observations of my own. My parents are Nigerians who choose to settle in the UK in the seventies and have since reared myself and my siblings in London. I have had the fortune to also spend about 8 years in Nigeria and thus identify myself primarily as a Nigerian. Eva Hoffman once said "Every immigrant becomes a kind of amateur anthropologist" and it is with this dual viewpoint I observe the world around me.

One of the things that has intrigued me in the last few weeks is how similar my views are to some of the bloggers I have chosen to repeatedly visit their sites (I'm not stalking you guys, I promise). In the main the articles have been very well written by amateurs to this trade (apart from a couple of notable exemptions) and I am impressed at how articulate, humourous and intellectual my fellow Nigerians are. So far I have limited myself to blogs from people of the Nigerian Community, but I must admit that in the next few weeks I'm looking forward to exploring other options with blogs around my interests as opposed to just my background (any ideas for how to seek these blogs are welcome guys).

Degrees of Separation
I'm sure most of us have heard of the theory of Six degrees of Separation where everyone on the planet can be connected to another random person through six social acquantances. Its also called the small world phenomenon and there is a hollywood game named after this where you have to go from Denzel Washington to say Tom Cruise in the least amount of steps (Denzel acted in 'Philadelphia' with Tom Hanks who acted in 'The Terminal' with Chi Mcbride who once acted in 'The Practice' with Steve Harris who acted in 'Minority Report' with Tom Cruise - anyone got a shorter connection?).

I would argue that with the Nigerian community the number of steps required to jump from one Nigerian to another halves the number to about three despite the fact that there are over 150million of us. One of the things I've found interesting is how on visiting these blogs I've seen people who will know people I know (in 3 cases I've found my girlfriend or I know actually know the blogger, you might chose to ostensibly remain anonymous but its interesting how much you can reveal the more you say). We all go to the same schools (Buckingham, South Bank Uni etc) we go to the same parties/clubs and visit the same restaurants. Hell one of you guys reading this might have even been at the barbeque I was at in North London yesterday!

My Dilemma
I have spent nine years of my life in Universities in both the UK and in Nigeria. If I am going to include other Higher education such as A levels, Short courses etc I dread to think how high that number could go to. Its interesting that my current job doesn't necessarily require a University degree more my years of experience in the field, but thats another story. The reason I bring up University is that during my first degree, I met one of my closest friends lets call her 'Bola' (who ever said that men and women can't be friends lied). I've known her for over ten years and our 'relationship' has become a bit of a support system. Sometimes we don't see each other for months, other times she's in my place every other day and I'm in hers.

A couple of years ago Bola started dating 'David'. It so happens I knew David tangetially from my masters but wasn't involved in them getting together. Unfortunately Bola and David broke up a few months later and I heard all sorts of awful things about David from Bola that I never previously knew about. I bumped into David at the Bar-b-que yesterday and he practically blanked me. Chei? Wetin concern me inside? I asked one of my homeboys about it later and he reckons David holds me responsible for their break-up. How far? So right about now I'm in a bit of a dillema as whether to pick up the phone and call David (I'm sure I could get his number somewhere) or just leave it all alone. Man life hard O!

Identity Pt3: Language and Accents

2006-06-08T08:35:00.000+01:00

A-Z Meme and My Fair Lady
In reading blogs of the Nigerian Community in the last couple of weeks I've come across quite a few A-Z Meme articles. From what I understand its one line questions A to Z which the respondent has to reply to in order to get some insight into their likes, dislikes and nature. Apparently when you have written yours you also need to 'tag' someone else (and no I'm not going to whinge right now about how I haven't been tagged and am feeling unloved, sob). The first item on the list is Accent. What I've found interesting is the amount of people who have either described their accent as 'Nigerian/British' or 'None' (how can you have no accent? none at all?).

An important element of personal identity is the way we speak, what language we speak in, any dialects and our accent. Anyone who has watched 'My Fair Lady' will know that most of us have regional inflections in our speech that may not be obvious to the 'neutral' observer but a trained professional would be able to pick out. It is argued that the 'Upper-class' have regionless accents but my counter arguement would be class in addition to region is another element of accent.Some of us are able to change the way we speak, especially we have had reason to move around from one region or country to the next, but most of us carry at least some trace of our accent and dialect origins with us all of our lives (some of us more than others).

On Faking the funk, Switching and Conc Naija Accents
On my first visit to New York in 1998, I stayed with a friend who had just moved to the states two years earlier. One of the things I noticed was how in speaking to me he would adopt a 'Naija' mode and when we went to shops etc and he had to interact with Americans he would 'switch' to an American accent that I couldn't distinguish from that of a native New Yorker. I asked him why he did this and his answer was he wanted to 'blend' and not stick out. Hmn.

I'm sure we have all come across 'Broda Kenny' who arrived in London last month for the first time and has already started spicing his every statement with 'init though' and 'yer know what I mean'. Why Broda Kenny is trying to 'blend' I have no idea as the Ibadan tribal marks on his face will always ensure that we know where he comes from. I call the Broda Kenny example 'faking the funk'.

In the last year I've taken to Naija Hip-Hop in a big way mainly on the back of the influence of my two favorite Nigerian bands Styl-Plus and PSquare. I must admit howver to prefering the music of PSquare as they are unpretentious and don't feel the need to 'blow Fhonee' on their songs (this is obviously my main gripe with some of the new naija hip-hop bands but thats another story).

I once worked for three months for the Employment agency and I worked with a guy called 'Ade'. This guy had one of the strongest Yoruba Accents I've heard on this side of the Atlantic. What impressed me about this dude is that he stuck to his guns and refused to fake the funk. Only ignorant people chose to act like they couldn't understand his English, but I found it no more convoluted than that of a 'Scouser' or a Mancunian. Fortunately he didn't do the Oyo thing where they stick the H in where there wasn't one and take it out where there was one, as in the "Enry, 'elp me 'ook my bra. 'Ook it. Ook it" fashion. Anyway Egbon Ade reminds me of the MC Lyte lyrics "...you can't be what you're not, so you better start living with what you got..." Nuff Respect!

Hoaxes, Satire and Confidence Tricks

2006-06-07T00:55:00.000+01:00

In October 1938, a young and at that point relatively unknown theatre director Orson Welles deceived a nation into thinking that Martians were invading the United States. Whether this was something he did intentionally or not we will never know as in the subsequent furore he did conflicting news interviews relating to his original intentions. The radio play was "The War of the Worlds" a H. G. Wells novel that has recently been made into a film by Steven Spielburg featuring Tom Cruise. The show was presented as a series of news bulletins in a style which perpetuated the resultant confusion. In the climate of fear of the late 1930s in the lead up to the Second world war many listeners were taken in and in the hours following the broadcast there was confusion and panic in parts of the USA particularly the New York area.

I was listening to the radio last night and was fortunate to tune into Down the Line on BBC Radio between 11 and 11:30pm. The show was presented as a real life talk radio, with listeners able to call in to discuss the issues the host raised at the beginning of the show. As the show wore on it became clear to me that something funny was going on. The discussion was about equality and it touched on the issues of female drinking to excess and their ability to give consent when drunk. It finally dawned on me that the whole show was probably a wind up when Felix Dexter (formerly of the Real McCoy) came on in his Nigerian alter ego and asked for all women to be locked up indoors by their spouses. While the host dealt with him as an insane caller the spell was finally broken. Looking at the message board for the show there were loads of people who had similarly been initially taken in and thus felt the need to write in to complain about this act of deception by the BBC. Bill and Grace wrote in to say "This is just dreadful! I have signed up to the message board just to express my consternation. It was clear within two minutes of listening to this new programme that it is a spoof - (not sure of what). It is just very very boring. Have googled it, and it seems the BBC press department have promoted it as real live phone in - which it is absolutely not. I am flabbergasted at its awfulness! What ARE they trying to achieve? Sorry - I'll shut up now. But it really is bad."

Anyway this leads me to Osuofia's "I go chop your Dollar" that I commented about a few days ago. After putting up the article I got a response from Kunle stating the video was part of the publicity for a film called "The Master". This caused me to see if I could find out more information about it and have since realised that the video is an attempt at spoofing the issue of Confidence fraud. Since I came across the piece out of context, I think I should be excused for not realising that its a spoof that was done as part of the promotion for a film . However I suppose a simple google search for "I go chop your dollar would have lead me here. So I apologise, I obviously need to do more research in the future before I form and publish certain opinions. I think my zeal to ensure that Nigeria is promoted in a positive light by Nigerians caused me to lash out. Yes, our beloved country has problems that still need sorting out but if all we do to continue to focus all the negatives - and they are aplenty - then it will become increasingly difficult to attract external investment. Oh and by the way I find I'm not the only one who misinterpreted the video's intentions. See an article from the Chicage Tribune here.

Zadie Smith & the Orange Prize

2006-06-07T00:24:00.000+01:00

Its third time lucky for Zadie Smith winning the Orange Prize for her novel "On Beauty". She had previously been shortlisted for her novels "the Autograph man" in 2003 and "White Teeth" in 2000. White Teeth was made into a TV mini series in 2002. The prize is for female writers and is accompanied by £30, 000. Our own Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was on the Shortlist in 2004 and missed out to the excellent book Small Island by Andrea Levy, one of my most recent favourites. I wish Chimamanda all the best with her next novel "Half of a Yellow Sun" which I have already pre ordered on Amazon - its out on September 12.

On Beauty is a very well written story of two academics who are bitter rivals, one the white, English and liberal Howard Belsey, the other Trinidadian right wing academic Monty Kipps. The book is about family relationships, dealing with spousal infidelity, an exploration of affirmative action and academia. Its not as funny as White Teeth but I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for an exploration of the issues of class, race and relationships.

There ain't no black in the Union Jack...

2006-06-06T07:56:00.000+01:00

If you live in London then its unlikely that you have missed the Cross of St George that has been hanging out of about 5% of the Cars on the Roads since the beginning of the week (my estimate based on a sample of made up of all the cars going down Streatham High Road last night in a fifteen minute period, yep I'm officially crazy!). By Saturday evening some of these cars will have an accompanying soundtrack (the Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land chant of the football supporter) hopefully celebrating a win over Paraguay in that tournament that will shortly be starting in Germany (my girlfriend says I should try to reduce the amount of times I mention its name) .

There has been a lot of writing about the ubiquitous nature of the flag in the last few weeks, Asda alone expect to sell a quarter of a million flags by the end of the tournament and Tesco recently had to do a U-Turn after previously banning their delivery drivers from displaying England Flags in their Cabs. Meanwhile in a recent survey of adults in England aged 18+, a whopping 80% did not know when St Georges Day is (April 23). Imagine this happening in Nigeria, this many people not knowing when independence day is? Uncle Sege would personally take out all the failed respondents and flog them himself. What Nonsense. However perhaps a more useful test for me should be to stop all the white van men and ask them when St Georges Day is. Will the percentage increase I ask myself?

Anyway I raised the issue of buying a flag to put on my car (as a sign of solidarity of the efforts of the English lads in Germany) with my girlfriend and she was dead set against it. Her feeling is that the flag has been too closely associated with the BNP for her to ever feel comfortable with flying it. I however pointed out that this was the Union Jack (the UK flag) and not the St George's Cross (the English flag) but she refused to accept the distinction. Now in 2002, I purchased a Nigerian flag (Bedsheet size) and draped it in my living room during the world cup -oops sorry darling it just slipped out - I only stopped short of putting it in my window as I feared getting my windows smashed (if you remember England played Nigeria that year). So I definitely consider myself patriotic. Unfortunately the Super Green Eagles are not in the tournament this year so I am having to realign my affiliations.

During my sojourn on Streatham High Road yesterday I only saw one black man with the England Flag and even he had his white girlfriend sitting next to him. So I guess it got me thinking how many Nigerians will be flying the England Flag over the next few weeks?

Oh and yes I know I've cheated with my title. The article is predominantly about the St Georges Cross and I've stuck up a title that refers to the Union Jack but I just couldn't resist it. "There ain't no black in the Union Jack" is the title of a Paul Gilroy book into race relations in the UK in the eighties, but before that it was used in a racist chant of the National Front in the 1970's.

Timothy Garton Ash of the Guardian in an article titled In our search for Britishness, we should put out more flags - or none argues that the Union Jack left him feeling cold and he discusses his resentment of what it represents to him but then goes on to argue for increased use of flags in the UK. So what is it like for Nigerians living in the UK? Should we feel unpatriotic for wanting to support England or if we are choosing to stay here for a long while should we be playing a part in reclaiming the flag from those that resent our very presence on these shores?

PS: I've just heard on Radio 4 that even Tessa Jowell (British Minister for Sport) has just put out a flag on her official car.

Identity Pt2: Race and Religion

2006-06-03T21:56:00.000+01:00

I once attended a training course where the ice breaker asked all the delegates to describe themselves in seven words or phrases ie fun-loving, creative. Of the ten delegates all three black delegates chose to mention 'black'. None of the white delegates used their race to define themselves in the exercise. The one asian female in the room included 'muslim' in her description. Everyone mentioned their gender. Of course people said party-animal, mother-of-three etc but thats not really the area I'd like to focus on here. It was interesting discussing the results with the group and finding out why each of the elements was important to each of the individuals and why all the elements that make us minorities came up. I subsequently discussed this with a friend who is from eastern Nigeria and studied in the University of Lagos in the nineties. He said while in University he thought of himself as 'Igbo' but since living in the UK he has increasingly considered himself black.

In response to the first article, Sola Baale said "the Jews, over the years and centuries have lived in several places (Russia, Germany, Britain, everywhere in short), yet they tag themselves as Jews and perhaps prefixing with the place they live in e.g (Russian jew) to reflect influences and sense of belonging". Thus it seems they are Jews first and Russians, Britons etc second. Malcolm X opined in his autobiography how from visiting Mecca he had a sense of brotherhood with Muslims irrespective of their colour or place of origin. These sentiments have been echoed by some of my friends who are muslims who have stated they think of themselves as Muslims first before their nationality be it Pakistani, Indian or British.

The one-drop rule was developed in the American Southern States where even a single drop of "black blood" makes a person "black". It was initially conceived as a racist means of classification and also to ensure that the children of slaves by Slave owners would still be slaves. For African Americans, the one-drop system of racial classification became a tool for ethnic solidarity uniting blacks and people of mixed race background under the umbrella of Black. In South Africa during apartheid the population was classified into four groups: Black, White, Indian, and "Coloured". The coloured group was for people of mixed racial parentage and due to the flawed system of classification members of the same family could find themselves in different race groups. The term 'coloured' continues to be used in South Africa in the post-apartheid era. Over here in the UK some British people consider the term Coloured to be pejorative or, at least, out-moded (everytime I've been called coloured its been by someone over seventy who still believes they are being liberal). There is a collection of writing on some of the internal conflicts that take place within people of a multi-racial background who are more prone to being asked to choose which aspect of their cultural history they would mostly like to identify with. The term "identity crisis" was also coined to describe this internal conflict.

In the midst of the madness of my last 100 words I've been trying to explore how we think of our selves and how the world we live in perceives us. I remember recently when the BBC were exploring the results of the Macpherson report they were seeking an images that would portray black people as a visual with the narative as a backdrop and they used visuals of various club events. That really worried me as I'm sure if the researchers had even tried they could have come up with more positive images of black people (come on doesn't anyone go to church as much as black people!). Any Nigerian male that has been to clubs in Northern UK will be familiar with being asked if they have any weed for sale, Nigerian females tourists in Spain will probably be familiar with being followed in stores by the store detectives or being taken for prostitutes on the streets. We are probably all familiar with being expected to know all Bob Marley song lyrics 'jus cause we is black'.

To what extent is our appreciation of ourselves impacted upon by social stereotypes, how do the media depictions of 'black' culture impact upon our desire for equity, what is the effect of the corporate packaging of black culture as being hip, what image do we see when we look at ourselves in the mirror and would this image be different if we lived in a different country? All these questions and more are just running round my head right now and I just don't have enough time to put them all down.

Osuofia

2006-06-02T08:50:00.000+01:00

I got up early this morning and chose to use the time before I had to depart for work looking at some videos on You Tube. I came across the Osuofia video above called "I go chop your Dollar". A friend tells me the video has been doing the rounds by email for a while so forgive me if you have seen it before. Osuofia for those who aren't that acquainted with him is the stage name for Nkem Owoh a Nollywood actor, reportedly one of the Nollywood crowd with the biggest profile outside of Nigeria, mainly due to the success of Osuofia in London which has been shown repeatedly on BEN TV and other external Nigerian TV stations.

The Video is attempting to be a hilarious look at 419 scams (Confidence fraud) from the point of view of the fraudster recognising that in the main people who are taken in are the greedy and the stupid. Personally I think its socially irresponsible for such a high profile Nigerian Celebrity to wade into this debate on the side of the fraudsters. At this critical time in our nations march towards progress and remarketing itself as a place to do business, its really the last thing that is needed. The scams are called 419 after the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code that covers Fraud. I'm suprised that Uncle Sege (alias Baba Iyabo) hasn't had him picked up already.

Identity Part1: Nationality

2006-05-31T19:12:00.000+01:00

For most of us Africans living in the UK the question "So, where are you from?" gives us reason to pause. Are we being asked what part of the UK we live in or is this someone with secret National Front affiliations trying to find out which African country this immigrant needs to sent back to?. I once watched a play at the Theatre Royal Stratford which had the thought provoking title of 'Urban Afro Saxons'. It explored the nature of personal identity within a community of recent immigrants and second generation immigrants and was interesting food for thought.

As Nigerian immigrants, first, second and in some cases third generation how do we choose to identify ourselves when asked the question "Where are you from?". Would you say Brixton, Manchester, Streatham or will you say Nigeria? And should you decide to have children here and bring them up in the UK, what answer would you expect them to give?

Sociologists would describe our identity as relating to an individual's comprehension of him or herself as a discrete and separate entity and which habits or customs that individual would choose to form a part of their instinctive behavior, and furthermore what customs he/she would adopt. Our Cultural identity relates to our belief systems, art appreciation, morals, the laws we abide to, our religion and what societal norms we hold dear. As long as we live our ideologies will continue to evolve, does this mean our cultural identity could change or perhaps just shift slightly?

Norman Tebbit a former Conservative minister once suggested that there should be a 'Cricket Test' for ethnic minorites who wanted to become British Citizens. The test requires that you can't truly be 'British' until you can support the English Cricket team as opposed to that of your ancestral home country. Now since Nigeria are unlikely to be successful in Cricket in my lifetime perhaps we can use the 'Football' test. In the 2002 world cup Nigeria Vs England who were you cheering on?

In 1966, as part of a protest against the Vietnam War and to illustrate the effect of racism in his home nation, Mohammed Ali famously declared "No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger" and allied himself with his new religion of Islam rather than the USA. There are a number of cases of high profile sports people who have chosen to publically declare their affilliation with a particular country or cause, notably Cathy Freeman waving the aboriginal flag after winning the 1994 Commonwealth Games and Linford Christie draping himself in the Union Jack (the union jack had become a symbol of the racist right organisation National Front and this thus displeased quite a few Black Britons).

One of my Uncles has been here since the 1960s and his children were all born and bred in Birmingham down to having the Brummie accents. Short of spending short holidays in Lagos, the UK is their home. They have never even been to Abeokuta, their Dad's ancestral home. Those children are likely to live and die in the UK. Strangely they all have Yoruba names that they can't pronounce properly and hang out with West Indians. Are they Nigerians or Black Britons? And should we really be forcing these children to choose?

Bank Holidays & the South Bank

2006-05-29T20:54:00.000+01:00

Ah, the end of another Bank Holiday weekend. I'm seriously considering writing to my local MP to ask if he would like to present to the House of Commons a Bill to increase the number of bank Holidays in the UK along the lines of those in other countries in the EU (Workers in the UK enjoy only eight bank holidays a year compared to 12 in Italy, 13 in Austria and up to 14 in Spain and Portugal).

Anyway, three days gives me enough time to recover from a hard week, get out and then recover from going out before the new week starts. Yesterday I choose to experience music at the South Bank.

First it was off to the Royal Festival Hall where the Out of Africa event was holding. I missed most of the music since I only got there about 6pm but I was able to walk around the stalls and sample some J rice (first time I've experienced it being cooked with basmati rice!) cooked Ghanian style. Apparently its an annual event so I will need to remember to check it out next year and get there early.

In the Royal Festival Hall Foyer, there was music from Pianist Gboyega Adelaja (see pic) and I was suitably impressed to see a good scattering of Naija folk (I'm saddened when I attend Nigerian art showcases to see it being predominately attended by white folk. Imagine my amazement when I tried to encourage a couple of Nigerian friends to attend an art exhibition in memory of Fela Kuti only to be told 'I was trying too hard to be Nigerian' WTF?!?!) . The only thing missing was some rice from Iya Basira and some Gulder to wash it down with and I would have felt at home. Some dude even had some T-shirts with yoruba proverbs on them for sale (wish I had taken his details). Salawa Abeni was in concert later but had to give it a miss cause I had an appointment with poetry just across the river at Embankment.

A couple of hours later and a five minute walk across the river at the Motion Bar it was a night of poetry and music from up and coming British and American artistes at the monthly Poetry n Motion events. The only thing that ruined it slightly for me (apart from the fact that the show started over an hour late - Black people lets get out shit tight!) was the loud music which drowned out some of the lyrics from the poets (I just love performance Poetry). We even got a surprise performance from Raheem Devaughn and it was an experience seeing the ladies swoon (lawd God, I hope I'm not being ungrateful but I could have done with a beautiful voice). Anyway the poetry and live music ended at midnight and after waiting a few minutes for the staff to clear the chairs and tables it was time to par-tay to R&B and Hip-Hop for a couple of hours.

What I would give for more Bank Holidays...

X-Men3 and its Symbolism

2006-05-26T09:42:00.000+01:00

X-men3 was released today at the start of Bank Holiday Weekend. For those who have seen the first two films in the trilogy, you will recognise that the central theme of the movies is that of the intolerance shown towards the mutants by humans and the vastly different approaches by the two mutant leaders towards the problem. If while you have been watching the trilogy you have seen parallels with the civil rights movement in America in the 1960s you are not alone. There are obvious clues strewn throughout the three movies to keep this undercurrent alive.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, are the two African American leaders whose perspectives are mirrored by that of Professor Xavier and Magneto. Where MLK thought that integration would lead to freedom; Malcolm X preached that separation was the way to emancipation of the black race. In the film Professor Xavier and the X-men want to live with humans, they want integration and thus fight for peace. Magneto and his followers, like the NOI under Brother Malcolm, have lost faith in the justice system of the dominant racial class and seek to take the situation into their own hands.

Some of the obvious clues thrown in as eye candy include:
X1: The film ends with Xavier playing chess with Magneto in a plastic jail cell. Magneto tells the Professor that he will continue fighting the humans 'by any means necessary' (A phrase commonly associated with Malcolm X in the 1960s).
X3: At one point in the film when Mystique is called upon to testify, she repiles, “I don’t answer to my slave name.” (Anyone remember Kunta Kinte?). When Kelsey Grammer’s Beast recalled a time when things were different, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, retorted, “Did you just call me boy?”

Those who believe the parallels are not purely coincidental may have taken heart from the opening scene of X3 where the two leaders are working together to resolve societal ills and hoped for a happy ending. Sadly it wasn't to be and X3 falls flat on its face with the portrayal of Magneto as an evil man who lets his ambition lead his desire to progress his race.

Personally I would have prefered a greater level of respect for the need for a spectrum of views and the necessity of a Malcolm X character to balance out the non-violent MLK, with that perhaps X-men the movie might have proven more than just a comical parody of real life events and become an education into what the civil rights movement could have been.

Remembering the first time...

2006-05-25T13:43:00.000+01:00

I was recently listening to some old school stuff that I had on tape. Before you ask, the answer is Yes, Homeboy still has a tape deck. Its useful for when I want to go down memory lane and bring out those old compilations from Samaco Records (remember them?). Anyway I came across the song ‘Tonight is the Night’ by Betty Wright. The song is an intimate and humorous take on her first real life sexual encounter when she was a teenager (click here to listen to a clip of the song from amazon.com).

I’ve also recently come across a blog where in the replies section some dude out of the blue shares information about his first sexual encounter with the house help when he was 15 and she was 20 (talk about child abuse!). Anyways my point is some people will have painful memories of their first time, others embarrassing and some have the kind that they still treasure many years later. Its not uncommon to bring up this topic and people start getting those dreamy eyes (almost like JD from Scrubs!) when they are reminiscing.

Most of us will remember the full name of our first sexual partner and dependent on how long ago it was, probably still refer to them with their full name (I find it interesting how we always refer to certain people using their full name – has anyone come across a reference to Paul McCartney that didn’t include his full name?). I think our first partners are a bit like that, the Toyin Adebayos, Jonathan Adams and Kemi Ojos.

So how does your first encounter shape up ? Fond memories or best forgotten?

I'll leave you with some lyrics from Betty Wright:
........Tonight is the night, That you make me a woman, mmm...You said you’ll be gentle with me, And I-I hope you will, hmm...mmm...I’m nervous and I’m tremblin’, Waitin’ for you to walk in, Tryin’ hard to relax, But I just can’t keep still.....

Purple Hibiscus

2006-05-24T13:23:00.000+01:00

If you live in the UK you can buy own Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book Purple Hibiscus for only 99p (yes I know Naijas like to claim but on this occasion we can!). The book is a good read and I bought it for a few friends for Christmas, (I should have waited, saved some money, damn). Anyway, come on get off your asses lets support our sister.

Some blurb about the book from the Times website: Kambili, a 15-year-old girl, lives in fear of her father, a charismatic yet violent Catholic patriarch. Escape and the discovery of a new, liberated life come when Nigeria is shaken by a military coup, and Kambili and her brother go to live at their aunt’s home, a noisy place full of laughter.
Read more about the book here.

So whats your number? Part1

2006-05-24T12:46:00.000+01:00

I inadvertently rubbed another blogger the wrong way recently by offering some unsolicited 'advice'. I won't go into any detail cause that really isn't what this story is about (why men gotta be so insensitive sometimes? Mo work on your shit man!) but what I found interesting was how in letting off steam she felt she had to reiterate that she had only had two sexual partners in her lifetime. Now I had already said that point wasn't relevant for me but it obviously was for her. It reminds me of the Christina Aguilera song where she says '...sorry I'm not a virgin and sorry I'm not a slut...'. Its obviously a sensitive spot. Homeboy then put two and two together and before I end up with 4 (or maybe even 7) I just thot it'd be useful to seek some other views.

Now tight as me and my girl be, this kind of shit I can't even consider bringing up with her. Why? Cause it was the source of some major friction when we first hooked up. She had only ever been with one sexual partner before me and since my intentions are honourable with her I kind of worried that it might mean that 10 years down the line she might wonder if she was missing out by only ever being with two men. Now that was another occasion when I should have kept my damn mouth shut. She basically tore me a new one (fortunately the only time where she has let off on me like that......well almost only) . Me being the man that I am I had been upfront with her about where I had been when we were first getting close just so we were all clear (I'm ashamed to say my number was well into the double digits). So I guess that she took it that I was questioning her morality, decency, why did I want to date her if I didn't trust her etc , I think you get the gist. She also was unhappy that I was judging her using my own yardstick. So you can see its not really something I can bring up with my baby.

There's the background and now here I am wondering what people think are respectable numbers. Whats too low and whats too high? Should it differ dependent on whether you are male or female? How is it related to age? ie are you excused having a 'high' number if you over 30 and still single? How many people are comfortable with saying what their number is cause we all anonymous here (and would you say the same thing if we met at a party face to face?).

Sticks and Stones can break my bones…

2006-05-23T10:32:00.000+01:00

I’ve been having friction at work with our team administrator for the last couple of months. Her job exists solely to service the administrative needs of my team ie typing, minute taking, filing, franking mail etc. She seems to get on well enough with my oyibo colleagues, but seems to save her bile specially for me. The embarrasing thing for me is that we are two of only three black people in an organisation of almost 70 people. She is of Jamaican heritage and I Nigerian. Yesterday the problems came to a head where after a team meeting she implied that I was adopting an 'Uncle Tom' attitude in order to advance in the company. I choose to walk away rather than let her see how much her comments had riled me.

Originally the central character that featured in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', the label has become one all progressive black men have come to fear. It is one that is thrown out to discredit, ridicule and depict men of African origin in a negative light. It implies that the individual is servile and has feelings of inferiority to Caucasians. It has often been used by black men who have ideological differences as to how to approach the civil rights movement/ advancement of the race (dependent on which side of the Atlantic you are). Malcolm X followers looked at the civil disobedience of Martin Luther King and labelled him an Uncle Tom. Malcolm's infamous "House and Field Negro" speech has retrospectively been used to refer to MLK's non violent approach (Even though he never refered to MLK in the speech).

Marcus Garvey used the term for the lighter skinned WEB Dubois due to their differences in approach for uniting people of African Ancestry in USA in the 1920s. Closer to home Frank Bruno cried in the ring when he beat Oliver McCall to win the heavyweight championship belt, while he repeated into his gloves, tears streaming down his eyes 'I'm not an Uncle Tom, I'm not an Uncle Tom'. He was reacting to Lennox Lewis's taunts due to his public persona of being the smiling black face, the jester to entertain the 'whites'.

In recent times the label has been bandied about very liberally once a black man engages in activities not considered 'black' such as skiing and listening to any music that isn't Hip-Hop or African (Whats wrong with liking music by Sting or Green day?). Black teenagers have also blamed a fear of being labelled as a reason for underacheivement in schools and even in more extremely surreal instances have complained that they were scared of eating with a knife and fork in the school canteen as it would be 'white' or 'Gay'. Clarence Thomas, OJ Simpson, Celebrities that have been tagged are aplenty. The worry is that the more widespread and liberally used the term is, the more likely it is to slide down the slippery slope towards insignificance. When a brother is truely deserving (why the hell would a black man stand as a candidate for UKIP? They want to send us all back to Africa! I was born here!!) similar to the child who cried wolf it might just be ignored.

In its original sense it has the power of evoking images of Aunt Jemima and yelps of 'Yes Massar', individuals who believe they are inferior and white race need to be respected and feared. This is the Uncle Tom that exists in the midst of us, his/her existence threatens the progress that the rest of us seek to acheive as he may be trumped up by the far right as the way a minority should be. This person is not me, I'm taking my four acres and a mule but I'm not going back to Africa with it, you all will need to put up with me a while longer. But since I've just spent the last hour exorcising this from my spirit perhaps words can harm me afterall.