Archive for the ‘Meanderings’ Category
Irapada
I am not a total snub when it comes to Nigerian movies. Most are balderdash. Occasionally one good one slips by and it gives you hope that, like most things Nigerian, there is great untapped potential nestled somewhere in the deep crevice of the seeming half-hearted attempts of Nollywood movies that always falls just short of average.
I found myself drawn to Irapada (Redemption), mostly because of the hype. We were made to believe it’s the greatest thing fresh out of the Nigerian movie industry. We would be totally blown away because it was filmed in several states and featured the three major tribes of Nigeria.
Needless to say it was another dissapointment. What killed it for me was like twenty minutes into the movie when the wife announced she was pregnant. Lets not even talk about plot, which was good, what really stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb was the bad acting. Most of the actors were either over acting or under acting. The protagonist was so wooden I kept expecting to see strings behind his back whenever he turned around.
It was also more or less around that time that they started speaking English. Maybe that was what really did it in. There’s something about acting in the English language that strips Nigerian actors of their ability to act. As though the borrowed tongue robs them of the ability to plumb the recesses of and truly personify the character. The same actor can act in say, a Yoruba movie, and an English movie and you wonder if it’s the same person. That’s why I mostly watch Yoruba movies, or any other movies whose medium is other than English. Having to contend with the subtitles is a minor inconvinience. The characters are more relatable, and realistic and you can’t help but think, if it were in real life, this is exactly how the scene would play out.
On top of the bad acting they managed to thrown in a few cultural cliches as well, i.e., Igbos are rogues out suck the last kobo out of you.
Really, I give them three out of ten!
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Neck deep!
I’ve been neck deep in my sewing lately that I hardly have time for anything else. I’ve thrown myself into it. I’m the best in my class, even then I still feel I’m not good enough. I want to be better. Every little imperfection on a finished work reminds me of how much more I need to do. But I’m getting there. We’re through with beginners… advanced classes start tomorrow. There we’ll learn how to make bustiers, ball gowns, wedding gowns, costume outfits and kiddy clothes. I can’t wati!
A lot of things have been happening that haven’t escaped my attention though they nearly escaped being blogged about due to my schedule. Firstly, the case of the bloggers that were arrested by the State Secret Service aka Nigerian Gestapo. Jonathan Elendu, Emeka Asiwe and Adamu Gwarzo were picked up for making ‘seditious remarks’ against the presidency and accused of ‘actions that could endanger the country and it’s citizens’.
Who would have thought our SSS are sophisticated enough to track down bloggers yet can’t locate the whereabout of ten files of various state governors that mysteriously dissapeared from the office of the EFCC? What’s even scarier is the following excerpt from Sahara Reporters:
Presidency sources confirmed to SaharaReporters that the regime has compiled names of “problematic” websites and their publishers as well as critical online writers and commentators and placed them at points of entry with dedicated secret service agents to pick up Nigerian citizens engaged in critical online publications.
In other words sites that have a huge readership whose writers seek to expose the ugly underbelly of the Yar’adua regime and whose ‘accusations’ are mostly based on ‘facts’ none of which have been rebutted or denied by the said administration.
Well, I hope they do arrest me for saying I hope they all suffer humiliating deaths and burn in hell for their crimes against the citizens of Nigeria!
Secondly, the case of Bolanle Olulari, a pregnant mother of two desperately fighting her deportation order from the Swansea on the grounds that she escaped ‘flogging’ from Zamfara State and will face the punishment if she returned home. As the story goes from this site
Bolanle came to the UK in 2005 after fleeing Nigeria. She is from the state of Zamfara which was the first state in Nigeria to introduce strict Islamic Sharia Law in 2000. Bolanle’s father had arranged for her to be married. However, she was forced to escape from Nigeria after she became pregnant by a different man and was threatened with punishment as she was not married.
What a load of crap!!!
What struck my mind after reading her story was the fact that the name Bolanle Olulari is a Yoruba name. The average Nigerian knows that a name like Zainab Abdullah or Talatu Khalid would have made more sense. Hence, it is highly unlikely for a Bolanle Olulari to be an indigene of Zamfara state.
If this is the case of a drowning woman hanging unto to straw then I’m ashamed of her and for her. I would rather she established her case on medical grounds which is more fitting for her situation.
Why do people have to lie and trash their home countries just to get assylum? What’s so great about living in the West that they have to make the rest of us look like animals?
Even if she returned to Nigeria, I doubt the ‘sharia police’ have a warrant out for her arrest – really, they’re not that competent. There are a million other places in the country where she can live peacefully with her children. Perhaps she feels if she claims to be a victim of the ‘evil and barbaric sharia law’ people will rally to her aid and make sure she stays put.
Well, good luck to her and all the suckers she’s hoodwinking. I’m just angry they have to drag the name of my beloved country through the mud on her account.
And finally…. shit, I’ve forgotten what else I wanted to say.
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Speaking of Fashion Sense
In one glance my overall fashion sense can be summed up as conservative. My first impression on a stranger might be something like, ‘okay, she’s definitely not the kind to include clubbing in her itinerary of fun and entertainment’. Conservatism, in this particular instance is really just complimentary to my interoverted/reclusive nature. Even before the religious aspect of dressing calcified in my psyche, I couldn’t bare to ‘throw it all out there’.
Today in class my teacher said she had a client (just like me) who only wore long skirts, and loose long sleeved tops with high-cut neck lines. She said that she hated sewing for the lady because she couldn’t bring out the best in any design, and consequently, the lady wouldn’t be an ideal person to advertise her work. Although, she confessed, she was surprised when the lady’s colleagues called on her for patronage.
If you’re reading my mind right now, you’ll see that all that she did was to express her aversion for conservatism, because at the end of the day, the client actually brought her more customers. Which I like to think is the bottom line for any businessperson. Unattractive as she thought the clothes appeared in style, people were still drawn to other aspects of it. Where I’m going with this is that we can’t divorce our values from who we are. Never mind that being covered does not equate looking frumpy all the time. A lot of people think you have to be ‘out there’ to be ‘in’.
My own belief is you don’t have to look like a sack of beans just because you’re conservative. You can be stylish, keep in vogue (if that’s your thing) and express your individual preferences without stepping out of that line you’ve drawn for yourself. My fashion sense can be summed up as elegance couched in simplicity. In other words looks simple enough at first glance, but when you get a bit closer you realize how intricate it really is.
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Speaking of which, I’ve decided my first personal project (excluding the kick ass wrap top, which was part of an assignment) will have to be an Ao Dai. It’s the traditional Vietnamese dressing that consists of a loose fitting pant and a long tunic with slits running down the sides. I’ve always admired the way it drapes over their lithe frames.
The tunic is fitted… I can do fitted, except the slit won’t be that high. If you look closely at an Ao Dai, you’ll notice why it’s known as the dress that ‘covers everything and hides nothing.’
What I love about tunics is there is so much potential for embelishments… you can do some needle work, beeding, hand embroidery or whatever else suits your fancy. You can turn something so plainly sewn into an extraordinary, eye-catching design. With the right touc you can be shrouded in rags and still pull off a dinstinct (not disgusting!) look.
I can totally see myself rocking something similar in a pair of 4” heels or higher!!!
[Images taken from www.aodaivinh.com]
PS… I’m thinking of starting a fashion blog. Seems that’s all I rant about lately
Ankaralizations!
So I’ve been scouring the internet for ideas as well as to keep abreast with the latest fashion trends. Never knew people have started ankaralizing their fasion accessories, especially purses and shoes. I came across this on Facebook and I must say; I WANT ONE!!!!
Wicked!
Simply Ankaralicious!
I Love My Country – HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIGERIA!!
I love this country… it’s a more of a love hate relationship though.. I may hate what she has become… but I love that she IS.
I love my country… I love her her beautiful landscapes, her clear blue skies, even when it rains everyday I still love her.
I love the soil I walk upon… I love the sun that kisses my face… even on a very hot afternoon when the heat from the asphalt rises up as if to brew my face, I still lover her. I love her star lit skies.
I love the different seasons… I love how mangoes and fresh corn trail the wet season. I love how the nights are very cool during harmattan and I love seeing little kids playing around in the sand with skins that seemed to have been coated with ash. I love how they sometimes don’t bother to clean their wet noses on those cold mornings.
I love her vibrant people, how versatile they are… I love our diverse cultures, and how you can’t go from here to there without encountering, at least, two different languages.
My people, I love their strenght and endurance. Uncoutable burdens their shoulders have carried… and continue to carry. I hope to be there the day they unload their burdens and stand tall, proud, as Nigerians.
HAPPY 48TH BIRTHDAY NAIJA!
Too Many Bad Apples
Browsing through the WordPress blog entries tagged ‘Nigeria’ one can’t help but be inundated by all the negative reportings. Tales abound from the ludicrious to the downright bizarre. Whether it be about Nigerian scam artists, the ongoing crisis in the Niger Delta, Nigerians and their fondness for dog meat or claims that (some) Nigerians are proposing to buy the defunct Newcastle football club. If that last one doesn’t prove that we have our priorities messed up, I don’t know what else will.
When it comes to Nigeria, it would seem that good news is no news.
Recently the ThisDay newspaper organized a music festival purpotedly to ‘improve the image of Nigeria abroad and promote tourism. The event held in a choice location and promiment African American and Nigerian artists were paid millions invited to grace the event. It was all fun and fanfare, but I doubt it did much to improve the image of Nigerians overseas. If anything, it showed that Nigerians love to party! After all the merry making ended things were back to the way they were.
With all the negative press, on one hand you want to defend your Motherland, on the other hand you can’t help but acknowledge the truth in these happenings and the stark reality of a country whose innards are twisted and mangled almost beyond salvation. But there is salvation in the persons of individuals who are not swept away with the grandoise, but are focused on getting the little things right.
Getting the little things right, that should be our motto!
I’ll take Lagos state where I’m currently residing in as an example. The newly elected governor has embarked on a beautification project. Green lawns, water fountains and well trimmed lawns are springing up all over the place. People are praising him because of the tangible results they’re seeing within a short period of time. Personally I think what he’s doing can be likened to someone without feet admiring the array of beautiful shoes displayed through a shop window.
What I’m trying to say is I’ll take functionality over aestheticism any time. What Lagos needs is massive restructuring. It is massively overly populated. I read somewhere that it’s infrastructure was initially built to cater for less than half a million. It’s currently supporting over 10million! The traffic situation is one of the worst in the world. The only solutions are to either build new roads or reduce the number of cars and people.
I propose the government start building low cost housing estates in the outer parts of the state to seduce the masses and encourage emigration thus reducing the sheer number of people clamouring the scanty resources. The issue of taxation has to be fully explored as well. Once upon a time people paid tax at the toll gate upon entering Lagos. Then the roads were something to boast about. Now it’s not so. In saner parts of the world you pay your taxes in exchange for a comfortable living.
These are just a few of my grievances. People are singing Babatunda Fashola’s praises up and down, but I can only praise someone for doing a good job by the quality and consistency of their reformations. By now Nigerians should know better than to be suckered in by the shock and awe techniques of our politicians.
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By the way has anyone else heard about the Daily Trust African of the Year award which according to the newspaper is going to “be conferred on an African who has made impact on the lives of Africans positively or negatively through his/her decisions, ideas or inventions”
Conventionally, conferring an award on someone is a mark of recognition in honour of their efforts and achievements in expressing their independent faculty of reasoning. Oftentimes to a constructive end. So, can someone please explain to me why they are inviting nominations for people who have impacted the lives of Africans in a ‘negative’ sense? Imagine giving an award to the likes of Robert Mugabe (who single-handedly destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy. You’d be lucky to buy a loaf of bread there for 10million Zimbabwean dollars!) or Omar Al Bashir (the presideng who stood by and watched hundreds and thousands of Sudanese slaughtered).
If they want to spark debates and discussions about the sorts of leaders not to have, they ought to have come up with another name. Why must we acknowledge much less celebrate mediocrity and outright impotence when we should be naming and shaming.
As we near independence day on October 1st, my feelings are numbed, as always, I ask myself, do I mourn or celebrate or remain indifferent?
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Praying for Nigeria???!
Whenever I discuss politics with fellow Nigerians, majority of them are in the habit of saying things like ‘we need prayers’ or ‘we should pray to God to improve the situation’. And other stupid things along that line.
I get very angry when I hear asinine statements like that, because first and foremost, the individual has relinquished the responsibility of physical involvement in the process of betterment to God. As if God Himself will come down and undo the evil we ourselves have perpetuated. As if God Himself will come down and re-structure our social, economic and political circumstances.
Secondly, I’m even more angry by how easily Nigerians are carried away by blind spiritualism. They feel prayers cures EVERYTHING. Like, if you’re hungry, prayer will fill your stomach. We have religious leaders promising miracles left right and center. Rather than work hard, the average person is expecting a miracle. He/she is hoping some God sent good samaritan will show up and be the answer to all their problems. Only in Nigeria will religious institutions be packed full on a working day! When people are supposed to be at their more productive, they’re busy praying. Yet they expect things to get better!
People think I’m odd, or not ‘religious enough’ when I say it’s not prayers this country needs. Well, I insist that when over two hundred million people are praying everyday, years on, and their prayers are not being answered, clearly there’s a missing piece in the puzzle.
Untill we figure that out, all our prayers are going down in the gutter!
The Ferret 