i want to, but it is hard, or rather, i want not to but it is even harder, why am i bothered, i havent got any stakes in the industry so why are i thinking that i have the capability to comment on them.
honestly, i must confess that many attimes i prefer seeing them to my beloved ibo compatriots; (let me quickly add that i am yoruba by origin although married to edo, but that was only recently). what i feel recently is that it seems that many a producer or director are bereft of ideas or ideology when it comes to moving the industry forward in terms of production and even more annoyingly, story line. to make matter worse, the critics and so called regulators are putting undue pressure on them to do what is not.
one thing i was thinking was one of the comments i read on the movie by iyabo oshodi oke (ede mi) i think the movie was beautifully played by almost all parties involved, the cast and production was ok, at least it was good fun (a little less than the much loved jenifa); in the comment, the critic was asking what the lesson learnt from that movie ... i thought the lines were merging into one another, again and again i read it and i was like, why should a movie be compelled to teach us anything, for crying out loud, this industry is entertainment industry, what did gongo aso, or street credibility teach us, ask me the meaning of lori le or konga. it is pure entertainment as pasuma and dbang will call it. my message to those critics is that they should leave this movie guys alone, they are there to stimulate our moods and make us feel good, if u need to learn stuffs, go to schools or betterstill if you need to learn morals, i will say go to church or mosque or temple.
Nevertheless though, there are some good stuff coming from there, my uncritical conclusion is that if you want to really enjoy this movies, watch the advertisements, cos it seems to me that the adverts for some movies are even more interesting than the actual movies themselves.
Monday, 27 July 2009
Friday, 17 July 2009
a reply to titi
Titi, everyone's Titi,
Excellent spirit you have gotten, i must say, its so interesting to see that there are still some deep thinkers among us these days.
i read with some babyish smiles your opening statements on this day's blog, 'celebration of womanhood' through the monthly period, it reminds me of some women that celebrate theres too but all for the wrong reasons, i believe that womanhood should be celebrated and that the monthly cycle is a sign of rejuventation and reinvigouration of the woman mind, but for some, after 21 or more days of (un)protected sex, if it eventually comes, it is news, if it doesnt, it will be sought by whichever means available. many through the services of people that are not qualified enough to even be butchers, they call themselves doctors (or abortionists), conducting road side surgeries for the many unsuspecting omoges of lagos. Irony of life, for some other women, especcially where we come from, it is a sign of barreness and fruitlessness; they have been married for x number of years and still month after month, again and again, it shows and they cry. our society does not even make it any better, stereopification, name calling and expert demeaning eyeing ... God save us.
woman, mother of man, listen not to the voices of distraction, arise and shine, be fly and happy for you are blessed and not the forces of human environment can bring you down
Excellent spirit you have gotten, i must say, its so interesting to see that there are still some deep thinkers among us these days.
i read with some babyish smiles your opening statements on this day's blog, 'celebration of womanhood' through the monthly period, it reminds me of some women that celebrate theres too but all for the wrong reasons, i believe that womanhood should be celebrated and that the monthly cycle is a sign of rejuventation and reinvigouration of the woman mind, but for some, after 21 or more days of (un)protected sex, if it eventually comes, it is news, if it doesnt, it will be sought by whichever means available. many through the services of people that are not qualified enough to even be butchers, they call themselves doctors (or abortionists), conducting road side surgeries for the many unsuspecting omoges of lagos. Irony of life, for some other women, especcially where we come from, it is a sign of barreness and fruitlessness; they have been married for x number of years and still month after month, again and again, it shows and they cry. our society does not even make it any better, stereopification, name calling and expert demeaning eyeing ... God save us.
woman, mother of man, listen not to the voices of distraction, arise and shine, be fly and happy for you are blessed and not the forces of human environment can bring you down
a piece from titi
I don't even know where to begin today. let's start with the fact that i started my period AGAIN! yeah, that's right. my river flooded over with nutrient rich tissue detaching itself from my uterus. odd. just oh say eight days again this wonderful experience ended. last night it started fresh. and i do mean freshly oxygenated blood. imagine that.
that documentary new muslim cool was about the flyest thing i've seen on pbs in a trillion years. talk about starting a revolution. puerto rican convert to islam living in a black community married to a black muslim american teaching tolerance in prison, trying to spark changes in his physical community, and keeping hip hop alive. you can't get no fresher than that.
had some pretty interesting dreams. no one was entrusting a dark skinned little girl who turned albino to my care this time, but there was some 'miss lady you better hold on to you hat because its about to get windy up in here'. got to love those people i don't know who keep telling me what to do when i'm asleep and when i'm awake.
had the realization that spiritual is as much genetic as it is a state of mind which can affect your state of mind. its tricky. like watching a good video on youtube that refuses to buffer correctly.
started reading this child will be great memoir of president ellen johnson sirleaf!
femi kuti was on tavis smiley last night. he asked him how are things in lagos. he said "we still don't have electricity, running water, and vast poverty in most places. it is about the same as it always has been." straight faced.
you can't beat that with a stick. these cramps on the other hand. not enough tylenol in the all the stores on the northside. wish facebook wasn't acting up i need to settle a curiosity about something traditional. speaking of which the parental units needs to be consulted. oh well at least i can check update blog off my to do list.
peace
that documentary new muslim cool was about the flyest thing i've seen on pbs in a trillion years. talk about starting a revolution. puerto rican convert to islam living in a black community married to a black muslim american teaching tolerance in prison, trying to spark changes in his physical community, and keeping hip hop alive. you can't get no fresher than that.
had some pretty interesting dreams. no one was entrusting a dark skinned little girl who turned albino to my care this time, but there was some 'miss lady you better hold on to you hat because its about to get windy up in here'. got to love those people i don't know who keep telling me what to do when i'm asleep and when i'm awake.
had the realization that spiritual is as much genetic as it is a state of mind which can affect your state of mind. its tricky. like watching a good video on youtube that refuses to buffer correctly.
started reading this child will be great memoir of president ellen johnson sirleaf!
femi kuti was on tavis smiley last night. he asked him how are things in lagos. he said "we still don't have electricity, running water, and vast poverty in most places. it is about the same as it always has been." straight faced.
you can't beat that with a stick. these cramps on the other hand. not enough tylenol in the all the stores on the northside. wish facebook wasn't acting up i need to settle a curiosity about something traditional. speaking of which the parental units needs to be consulted. oh well at least i can check update blog off my to do list.
peace
unthoughtful thots
I agree to the notion that 'it is the man behind the desk that matters, not the name of the office'. Regarding the issue of state police within the Nigerian polity, I strongly feel it is an issue that needs careful consideration; in fact the only thing needed more than the careful considerations are more careful reconsiderations. Democracy is expensive, freedom is not free, agreed; but do we as a nation have what it takes to embark on such herculean gestures such as the monumental task of establishing states police? I have read some excellent pieces from a number of outstanding minds of great erudition, one of such ingenious essays was by Mobolaji Aluko PhD. what he did was put the concept of states police in Nigeria into perspective, he opines that that is the next and appropriate line of action in the ever so elusive task of securing security of at least lives and with more luck, property, excellent mode of social analysis, I must even confess that to a large extent, I agree with him, just as a summary to what he said, imagine in our present day Nigeria, the government of the past 20 years does next to nothing for the citizenry. Households have to provide security for themselves, mayguards and mopos are the orders of the day. For these households that employ personal security is in straight terms protecting themselves aren’t they? If it was a hotel with a higher need of security, aren’t they providing their own policing? If it was now a case of many houses say for instance a mesh of say 5 street within a housing estate, wouldn’t that be private security? It is if you ask me. Well let’s now put it into a wider perspective, if it was to cover the whole of Festac estate, say the tenants form a vigilante group that monitors security activities in the area, does that mean that the area is forming its own police? Still, I will say it is something like that. To that extent the government of the federal republic of Nigeria would not have a problem with sectional policing, but when it comes to all of Lagosians saying they want to be able to protect themselves, the government of the day would not want to hear a word of it.
They (the FGN) to me have their own basis for the rejection, one of which is that there would be too much power in the hands of the incumbent governor of the state and so it will be difficult to change power fairly. Excellent point. Another issue is the matter of funding, where would the states get their funds from, as it stands, some states are still struggling to pay their basic workforce, if they add police to their budget, it will be unbearable.
From my own point of view, the whole of Nigeria is very volatile at the moment; there is no state that can boast of a standard level of any basic human need, so any states that can achieve close to bearable level of minimum requirements will reap massive investment drive towards itself. If a state is judged as the safest in the country, that state will reap the benefits of that even inward investments wise. Why can’t we be allowed to provide security for ourselves, let the governors appoint their own commissioners of police, that to me will be the full democracy, why would the governor of Ogun have to have a Warri man on his cabinet as commissioner for police? In that case, every other commissioner has state agenda, but the police commissioner would be on federal agenda. If a state recruits and manages its police, the local residents will have more voice in the stakes in the state, the locals will know who their chief police officer is, his or past achievements and record will speak for him or her and posterity will remember them in a different kind of way. Firstly, I don’t think a state police chief will be able to steal as much as N19 Billion and get just 6 months in jail for it, also I don’t think my friend’s uncle who happen to be from my home town will be so confident to collect N20 from me as a taxi driver just because I am driving my car on government road. The police will be more accountable to the people, because of their relatively smaller sizes; it will be much easier for them to be monitored and managed. The performing states will be named so is the least performing states. In that way, there will be a sense of benchmarking between all the states in the federation, lives will at least be safer, pressure will be put on the governors to make every move to drive down the crime figures in their states. A good example will the UK government, every now and again, the department for communities and local government (former office of the deputy prime minister) publishes the crime figures and so everyone know the no go areas of the nation. Community policing like any other kinds of policing is not cheap but at least it has been proven to be effective. This does not in any way mean that I propose an undermining of the federal police idea, what I believe in is that there should still be some of the much needed mobile police squad (although, I keep thinking that is there a kind of police that shouldn’t be mobile) and some other elite squads as needed. At least these elite squads will cut across state boundaries and they will serve as the binding force between all the state police sections in the country. Without the elite squads, it will be impractical to manage the state squads, I can only imagine a situation whereby a gang of robbers escapes a chase from ogun state police force into lagos, in that scenario, the ogun police will have to retreat because they haven’t got jurisdiction to enter into lagos and even if they manage to radio the force in lagos, they wouldn’t really be obliged to continue the pursuit because it is not so much of their immediate problem… more to come
They (the FGN) to me have their own basis for the rejection, one of which is that there would be too much power in the hands of the incumbent governor of the state and so it will be difficult to change power fairly. Excellent point. Another issue is the matter of funding, where would the states get their funds from, as it stands, some states are still struggling to pay their basic workforce, if they add police to their budget, it will be unbearable.
From my own point of view, the whole of Nigeria is very volatile at the moment; there is no state that can boast of a standard level of any basic human need, so any states that can achieve close to bearable level of minimum requirements will reap massive investment drive towards itself. If a state is judged as the safest in the country, that state will reap the benefits of that even inward investments wise. Why can’t we be allowed to provide security for ourselves, let the governors appoint their own commissioners of police, that to me will be the full democracy, why would the governor of Ogun have to have a Warri man on his cabinet as commissioner for police? In that case, every other commissioner has state agenda, but the police commissioner would be on federal agenda. If a state recruits and manages its police, the local residents will have more voice in the stakes in the state, the locals will know who their chief police officer is, his or past achievements and record will speak for him or her and posterity will remember them in a different kind of way. Firstly, I don’t think a state police chief will be able to steal as much as N19 Billion and get just 6 months in jail for it, also I don’t think my friend’s uncle who happen to be from my home town will be so confident to collect N20 from me as a taxi driver just because I am driving my car on government road. The police will be more accountable to the people, because of their relatively smaller sizes; it will be much easier for them to be monitored and managed. The performing states will be named so is the least performing states. In that way, there will be a sense of benchmarking between all the states in the federation, lives will at least be safer, pressure will be put on the governors to make every move to drive down the crime figures in their states. A good example will the UK government, every now and again, the department for communities and local government (former office of the deputy prime minister) publishes the crime figures and so everyone know the no go areas of the nation. Community policing like any other kinds of policing is not cheap but at least it has been proven to be effective. This does not in any way mean that I propose an undermining of the federal police idea, what I believe in is that there should still be some of the much needed mobile police squad (although, I keep thinking that is there a kind of police that shouldn’t be mobile) and some other elite squads as needed. At least these elite squads will cut across state boundaries and they will serve as the binding force between all the state police sections in the country. Without the elite squads, it will be impractical to manage the state squads, I can only imagine a situation whereby a gang of robbers escapes a chase from ogun state police force into lagos, in that scenario, the ogun police will have to retreat because they haven’t got jurisdiction to enter into lagos and even if they manage to radio the force in lagos, they wouldn’t really be obliged to continue the pursuit because it is not so much of their immediate problem… more to come
Monday, 6 July 2009
My thots are mine
My thots are mine; I think I speak the mind of millions of Nigerians, but with a voice of just a man. Many people have said it, those who know what they are talking about, and many who simply know what they are feeling. Some who have access to the media, many more just like me, blogging about it. Poverty among plenty, what can be done, the poor are crying, so loud they are wailing, but they even haven’t gotten a voice, so who hears their vociferation? All the world hears about us is the loud hubbubs of our over fed politicians who if asked cannot confidently spell the name of the country they represent. They remember nothing but their overseas accounts; they represent no one but their demonic interests.
They rig our votes, steal our heritage, loot our vaults, maim our minds, kill our hopes, rape our consciences, and worst still undevelop our faculties. Yes, that’s what they do, we know and have already come to acceptance of the fact that corruption is inevitable within our leaders, it is hereditary and since it has been the same group of 100 or so people ruling us since after independence, what do we expect. But sad is the notion that a ruling government can actually be bribed to make infrastructures not to work. I can understand if you are bribed to give a contract to a firm that is incompetent enough o execute it afterall, I am Nigerian what I can’t understand is the possibility of the fact that one oyinbo man can walk into your office, you being one of our many shameless leaders in the land and be bribed to make sure that the refineries don’t work so that some foreign firms that employ a handful of your citizens can smile. That to me is the height of it.
We are so complacent people, everyone knows that, we should be in the history books for that, they have all our hopes killed, if not why is it that we as Nigerians, we don’t ask for 24 hours electricity, all we demand is at around 6 hours of power a day and lets know when it will be, for where we go get am, instead we turn to our ultramodern rechargeable lanterns and the I better pass my neighbour generators, we don’t ask for modern schools with meaning libraries for our children, all we are saying is please put some benches under a roof and appoint some untrained school drop out to give our leaders of tomorrow any kind of foundation in education they can get. We don’t ask to have water running in our bathrooms and kitchens that will be asking for our leaders’ heads all we want are functional community water tanks we know how to get it to our houses ourselves. People are dying from bad water by the minute; all we do is develop some inefficacious concoctions to remedy it. When the roads are bad, all filled with pot and bashier holes big enough to swallow whole molues and 1414s, all the people say is call on the government to fill those holes up with anything but glass. Accidents are happening on the roads every day, all we do about it is pray to God for His protection.
Who dares ask for broadband internet technology in a country without functional land line telephone? Who can bring a bill for the provision of total health care for the prisoners in our communities before the House of Representatives when free citizens are even dying from pure water aka poor water? There is no water in the swimming pool at the Abuja national stadium and all you talk of is provision of sports material for secondary schools, is that priority? The senate president has not won his much sought after automatic ticket to run second term in office and you honestly expect him to care if all the beds in a wards in an hospital in his constituency are infested with bugs… you make me laugh.
The elites of Halliburton group are smiling to their banks with billions of Niger Delta petro dollars; does it matter if millions of Niger Deltans are crying for a cleaner environment? All our senators have automatic tickets to recontest the next election their jobs are safe for the next 4 or so years, does it matter if millions of Nigerian graduates are jobless and roaming the street. Our president can afford to go to the best hospitals in the world to get world-class health care, so who cares if fake drips or other intravenous fluids are killing the helpless children in Enugu.
One of our talented artistes sang a song but too bad, our politicians don’t listen to those, he said one day, the bush meat will catch the hunter more like one day the rabbit will catch the hunter, one day you will look into the overcrowded cells of Nigeria prisons and it will be filled with former heads of states, governors, senate presidents, members of both the judicial houses, and plenty of their police contemporaries, the prisons will be too full to find space for pickpockets, maggi, fanta and livestock thieves. That day, as many as those who wants education will get it, not just education as we used to know it, but education as our fathers used to have it. Our youths will be gainfully employed, not just as electoral thugs once every four years during votes or as Motor Park touts. That day, our mothers will no longer die from child birth, there will be needles in hospitals, malaria will no longer kill as it wishes, there will no longer be individual boreholes and without any personal generators, we will be able to confidently say, ‘I am going home to watch my favourite TV programme’ without fear of NEPA. When the time comes, Nigeria will be able to feed itself; we won’t be importing anything, not even chocolates. We will have a sincere and responsive police force that protects the people; no one will have to buy paper to write statements in our police stations, and of a truth, bail will be free. That day, we will have ultra modern highways with speed cameras and traffic calming lights.
Even with all these hopes and aspirations, the words of the great Awo comes to mind, he could see the future and according to him, it is ominous. God we are in the palm of your hands, deliver us for we know no other God but thee …
They rig our votes, steal our heritage, loot our vaults, maim our minds, kill our hopes, rape our consciences, and worst still undevelop our faculties. Yes, that’s what they do, we know and have already come to acceptance of the fact that corruption is inevitable within our leaders, it is hereditary and since it has been the same group of 100 or so people ruling us since after independence, what do we expect. But sad is the notion that a ruling government can actually be bribed to make infrastructures not to work. I can understand if you are bribed to give a contract to a firm that is incompetent enough o execute it afterall, I am Nigerian what I can’t understand is the possibility of the fact that one oyinbo man can walk into your office, you being one of our many shameless leaders in the land and be bribed to make sure that the refineries don’t work so that some foreign firms that employ a handful of your citizens can smile. That to me is the height of it.
We are so complacent people, everyone knows that, we should be in the history books for that, they have all our hopes killed, if not why is it that we as Nigerians, we don’t ask for 24 hours electricity, all we demand is at around 6 hours of power a day and lets know when it will be, for where we go get am, instead we turn to our ultramodern rechargeable lanterns and the I better pass my neighbour generators, we don’t ask for modern schools with meaning libraries for our children, all we are saying is please put some benches under a roof and appoint some untrained school drop out to give our leaders of tomorrow any kind of foundation in education they can get. We don’t ask to have water running in our bathrooms and kitchens that will be asking for our leaders’ heads all we want are functional community water tanks we know how to get it to our houses ourselves. People are dying from bad water by the minute; all we do is develop some inefficacious concoctions to remedy it. When the roads are bad, all filled with pot and bashier holes big enough to swallow whole molues and 1414s, all the people say is call on the government to fill those holes up with anything but glass. Accidents are happening on the roads every day, all we do about it is pray to God for His protection.
Who dares ask for broadband internet technology in a country without functional land line telephone? Who can bring a bill for the provision of total health care for the prisoners in our communities before the House of Representatives when free citizens are even dying from pure water aka poor water? There is no water in the swimming pool at the Abuja national stadium and all you talk of is provision of sports material for secondary schools, is that priority? The senate president has not won his much sought after automatic ticket to run second term in office and you honestly expect him to care if all the beds in a wards in an hospital in his constituency are infested with bugs… you make me laugh.
The elites of Halliburton group are smiling to their banks with billions of Niger Delta petro dollars; does it matter if millions of Niger Deltans are crying for a cleaner environment? All our senators have automatic tickets to recontest the next election their jobs are safe for the next 4 or so years, does it matter if millions of Nigerian graduates are jobless and roaming the street. Our president can afford to go to the best hospitals in the world to get world-class health care, so who cares if fake drips or other intravenous fluids are killing the helpless children in Enugu.
One of our talented artistes sang a song but too bad, our politicians don’t listen to those, he said one day, the bush meat will catch the hunter more like one day the rabbit will catch the hunter, one day you will look into the overcrowded cells of Nigeria prisons and it will be filled with former heads of states, governors, senate presidents, members of both the judicial houses, and plenty of their police contemporaries, the prisons will be too full to find space for pickpockets, maggi, fanta and livestock thieves. That day, as many as those who wants education will get it, not just education as we used to know it, but education as our fathers used to have it. Our youths will be gainfully employed, not just as electoral thugs once every four years during votes or as Motor Park touts. That day, our mothers will no longer die from child birth, there will be needles in hospitals, malaria will no longer kill as it wishes, there will no longer be individual boreholes and without any personal generators, we will be able to confidently say, ‘I am going home to watch my favourite TV programme’ without fear of NEPA. When the time comes, Nigeria will be able to feed itself; we won’t be importing anything, not even chocolates. We will have a sincere and responsive police force that protects the people; no one will have to buy paper to write statements in our police stations, and of a truth, bail will be free. That day, we will have ultra modern highways with speed cameras and traffic calming lights.
Even with all these hopes and aspirations, the words of the great Awo comes to mind, he could see the future and according to him, it is ominous. God we are in the palm of your hands, deliver us for we know no other God but thee …
something to look forward to
I feel good today because there are stuffs to look forward to, an old adage says 'when there is life there is hope', I reckon it goes backwards as well and it can be said 'when there is hope, there is life' cos what use is life when there is nothing to look forward to.
Looking back at my still young life, when we were younger and we were writing entrance examinations to either colleges or universities, as long as you have an exam that you are yet to see the results of, there is hope, cos once the results are out and you failed or put more subtly, you don’t meet the required marks, that’s all hopes dashed, you have to write more exams. When I was applying for jobs, I was looking for a job, as long as there are my applications and CVs out there, I feel like there is hope, there is something to look forward to, you expect news, that makes you more alive I know my religious folks will say that’s not the way of God, I am not writing this to the religious audience though. For my PhD place, I made loads and tons of applications some acknowledged but rejected, even more completely ignored and though I feel down once I receive one of those seemingly never ending 'sorry we can’t offer you a place' letters, it was made easier because for every rejection letter, there are 3 or more applications out there awaiting decisions.
Now I have a place the one chosen by God, it has come to that time during the journey when expert interviews has to be conducted, like all times in life, rejections and sorrys’ are rolling in, but thank God, there is something to look forward to, I just wrote some emails to prospective interviewees and I pray they reply 'yes', not 'sorry', but not withstanding, I am happy bcos, I have some work out there.
I feel the key is that, it is the works on your hands that God will bless, that to me means you have to work at least so that God will see something to bless. Do’ve a nice week ahead
k
Looking back at my still young life, when we were younger and we were writing entrance examinations to either colleges or universities, as long as you have an exam that you are yet to see the results of, there is hope, cos once the results are out and you failed or put more subtly, you don’t meet the required marks, that’s all hopes dashed, you have to write more exams. When I was applying for jobs, I was looking for a job, as long as there are my applications and CVs out there, I feel like there is hope, there is something to look forward to, you expect news, that makes you more alive I know my religious folks will say that’s not the way of God, I am not writing this to the religious audience though. For my PhD place, I made loads and tons of applications some acknowledged but rejected, even more completely ignored and though I feel down once I receive one of those seemingly never ending 'sorry we can’t offer you a place' letters, it was made easier because for every rejection letter, there are 3 or more applications out there awaiting decisions.
Now I have a place the one chosen by God, it has come to that time during the journey when expert interviews has to be conducted, like all times in life, rejections and sorrys’ are rolling in, but thank God, there is something to look forward to, I just wrote some emails to prospective interviewees and I pray they reply 'yes', not 'sorry', but not withstanding, I am happy bcos, I have some work out there.
I feel the key is that, it is the works on your hands that God will bless, that to me means you have to work at least so that God will see something to bless. Do’ve a nice week ahead
k
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