Saturday, 30 June 2007

BEST NAIJA MUSIC VIDEOS

Okay, I tried posting clips from the BET awards, but the videos were not showing for some reason. Since I now know how to post videos from youtube and other sources(so easy all along), I have decided to post a compilation of the best naija music videos(in my opinion). And I'm sorry chicala and y'all who couldn't view the clips. Yeah, could you guys comment on this post.

Fight to win


Femi kuti the undisputed speaker of the people(hmmmn) and the flag bearer of nigerian music has fought to win the spot of no 1 video. It's a classic video which I can show to anyone

cRY by Modenine

This video tells the saddening story of the song. It's well put together and has an international appeal

Weird MC - Ijoya

Wierd MC makes animation lool cool and hip in this video. Ijoya awan lan ni joya lol

Why me - Dbanj

What will a video chart be without the very enigmatic d banj. The Koko master and his crew did a good job in this video.

olori oko - infinity

I remember when I was about to leave Naija, and this video came out. It's not a very sharp or cutting edge video. But, the sound and the ethnicity of the video makes it smashing

Friday, 29 June 2007

Forever

tight video no doubt, and the video tech. used is advanced

Never Far Away

This video is on point. The location Abeokuta is jaw dropping with the vivid colours. The vocals from Ego matches with sharpness of this video. It's a clear example of fusing Nigerian culture with western culture.

p-square temptation

This video is a cool video,that personifies p square and their sampling antics. Still, it's cool to watch.

STYL PLUS- OLUFUNMI (Nigerian Music)

When I saw this video and heard the song, I felt naija music was changing for the better. And it's videos like this took the bar higher for the Naija music scene.

2FACE : African Queen

This video which is quite unrecent and not so technologically advanced looks crisp and will meet any standard whether mtv or soundcity. And not forgetting, its african queen awesome song (mtv music video award...tired of hearing this though)

Lee lee

Monday, 25 June 2007

When Abiku met Zeus

Ok, I'm going to be jobless through out this week. I don't have anything to do, just been chillin in my room all day. So, I decided to post the peom I read out during a short story and peoetry reading event. I got the inspiration thinking about Nigeria, and how we would be, if we fused our Nigerian values with western values. It's unarguable that the world is now controlled by the West. The world now runs in a system that is western oriented. You cannot achieve most goals, until you have gone through the system. You have to go through western styled education, gather knowledge on innovations and so on. Nigeria has values which I believe are great, and values can also be borrowed from the west that will be beneficial to Nigeria. Hence, I used Abiku(goddess or spirits known for preying on children if not appeased) to represent nigerian values, and Zeus (mythical greek god, leader of Mount Olympus) to represent western values.


When Abiku met Zeus

The brown grass shriveled in fear as her feet thumped on it
It has lost its essence. Its greenness is now hidden in the dry and grey pelt of pain
Her eyes roll in pride as she is oblivious to the curse she leaves behind
Even the cold and skin sucking wind becomes a storm on trying to caress her legs
Legs longer and straighter than the stream that meanders through our homeland, move in unison to the clump of her hair bundled like compressed black wool.
The sounds of the bronze anklets precariously tied to her ankles and the sobs of the children
Serve as music that inspire her rhythmic moves
Yes, her hips sway moving to the strands of coral beads
Picked from the shores of the sea, where childrens’ tears flow
Yet, her eyes do not loose focus of staring at her reflection on the scarlet sea
Taking glances at the tear impregnated eyes of the children
Leaving a quick impression of captivity in their heads.
"This is our chance" won’t even trickle out from the splintered lips of the children
Their mothers will stand helpless behind the mahogany tree
Even their fathers will be held still, as their spears get blunted by Abiku’s palms
Their gun powder will not burn to propel the wooden sticks that mere mortals dread
They should have known better.
The trees were wiser as they let their branches sway to Abiku’s call
The sea had foresight, as to pour libations at the feet of Abiku
The sea even cast its harvest of fingerlings
Abiku dances casting pain at the enlarged belly’s of the mothers
Waiting patiently for their unborn,
The mothers tighten their hands to their talismans, reciting their prayers
Still dreading the inevitable.
The sound echoes through the dark walls of the chambers
Pillars that hold the slate roof tremble
The foundation lying majestically on the smoky and fluffy clouds
shake as it tries to call out Zeus’s name.
His roar conquers all ears that fail to be covered
His horses pace swiftly, trying to lessen the pain from Zeus’s whip
The steel wheels held to the chariots sculptured by Persian gods
Move over huge clumps of cloud that pass for rocks
His voice startles the eagles that have come to revere him
Thunder bolts tear through the clouds as he roars in anger
All who have failed him are now stemmed to ground as they are lifeless
Like the rocky facade they now possess
Yet, she failed him, The thought intesifies his anger
His eyes gleam in red as he hurries to the traitor who dare defies his wife
His hay-like silver hair shines through the paths that have been darkened
By the ashes from the thunder bolts
The sun starved roses that now creep around Mount Olympus,
Twirl in pity for the traitor
But, Zeus rides ahead, with revenge in his eyes
Soon the wrath of his anger shall befall he that deserves it,
The smell of the traitor clings his nose.
The deed shall soon be done
Suddenly, the rattling of the anklet
The clapping of flesh and singing of beads draw his ears.
He halts, bringing the horses to a rest
He peers through the shrubs on the mahagony tree
Surprise sculpts the face anger had tampered with
Her coal black skin that glimmered, stole his eyes
Beauty like this had eluded him through out his timeless existence
He leaps off his chariot still not seizing her attention
He held her hands and she turned to him, not even venerating his presence
She breaks loose from his hands, and disappears into the woods
He chases her leaving all behind
Finally, he grabbed her and she submits to his powers
A union they formed as they vanished from all of existence

I was watching videos on youtube and came across these short films. I guess they were shown on mnet, and I found them quite interesting and real.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2LlrHpiPZn4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lYa2PS1itIo

Thursday, 21 June 2007

Sneak preview 4




My week has come and gone so fast. Did well in my exam, with an A. Relieved I did well. Today was quite exciting. I went hiking for the first time. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if it was going to be boring or hectic. But, on getting there, it was cool. Felt like I was on survivor or even ultimate search. The hiking was organized by the outdoor group. We were not so many who went summer, guess everyone wants to chill in their house. I made sure I had y sandwich, water, pop, choc bar for hunger. The journey to the cove took about 1 and half hours. As soon, as we arrived cedar cove, the view was already beautiful. The atlantic ocean chanelled through mountains. It was beautiful. The hiking started proper when we all had to climd a fairly easy hill. We then walked through a trail. It wasn't all that exciting, until we got to this spot that had a lake and the atlantic ocean. It was beautiful!!!!. The atlantic channelled through massive rocks and the shores had little rocks that were visible through the clear and transparent sea. We all ate lunch on the rocks, and I daered myself to walk in the water even on hearing that it sometimes is shark infested and freezing. But what the hell, few minutes in the water won't give me hypothermia. I stepped my feet in the freezing water, while the other guys watched me probably thinkin wat this black guy from nigeria is doing. But all the same, I came out alive and we decided to climb the rocky hill. Lucky enough, the hills, had trees and shrubs on it, to make climbing easy. After hiking on the mountain for up to an hour, due to different breaks, thank to the girl who kept getting exhausted. On getting to the top, I had the feeling that everything was worth it. I felt like I was in a scene from lord of the rings. The view of the atlantic from the mountain which was about 4000m from the ground was breathtaking. And a movie was shot in this location starring Jim Caviezel http: outlander . The interaction while hiking was fun also. Especially, with this hilarious guy and chick. The hilariousness starts when she starts talking about a show on discovery about the 40(i think) sex accidents. First, was a man caught humping his old vacuum cleaner and had his jnr cut. Then, this guy caught humping a donkey and got kicked by the animal, and the perverted guy who let a horse hump and got his insides destroyed. And the organiser of the event had this funny name Rich HARD Butt. u but it wasn't spelt like this o!!!. This girl made fun of him for having a name like dick butt. I didn't get the joke until I called out Rich HARD. LOL. Anyway, hiking was great and an unforgettable experience for me. The next day, I performed my peotry and short story at an event. It was okay, but expected better.

Monday, 18 June 2007

Sneak Preview

WOOHOOO: Exams are over and I'm excited about that. No more studying, at least till september. My exam was good anyway. Can't wait to see my result. Now I'm wondering what to do through out my summer. I'm planning on going to Toronto, that's if all goes well. Probably going to chill there for some few weeks. I wish I knew alot of Nigerians there. Anyway, I'll see how everything goes.
Here is news on Nigeria





Omg, I can't believe this road is still in a terrible state. When my parents are being tight fisted, and don't agree to pay my flight ticket. I usually don't have any option but to jump into Abc. A journey that is just 6 hours takes up to 12 hours. And this happened like last year. So Obassonjo and his cohorts didn't do anything about the bad state of roads. But he was quick to increase fuel price.






Read in one of the Nigerian newspaper website that during Obassonjo's tenure, comedians were asked not to make jokes on the president. Here is a funny clip http://youtube.com/watch?v=r6io2A5rTC4&mode=related&search=I read that the SSS contacted Opa Williams the guy in charge of nite of a thousand laugh warning him of comedians making fun of the president. Nawa O! Where is the freedom of speech. Certainly, I know this isn't libel or slander. Where is it, that you can't make unharmful fun of the president. Here is president Bush being made fun right in front of him http://youtube.com/watch?v=X-oMlBSiX3g&mode=related&search=.


The 2nd edition of the Thisday music festival is holding this year in Lagos. It's going to be held in a 15,000 seater venue. Artists like Shakira (ye!! why am i not there), John legend(cool) UB 40 ( who are they), P square, 2 Face(notin dey happen), asa(really want to see her perform), and a bunch of other artists are set to be on stage.





















Here is an interview of p square in Thisday newspaper.


It’s interesting how far you guys have come; do you have to pinch yourselves sometimes? Paul: Yeah we do. But everything is too fast. Sometimes successes like ours takes a long time to happen, ‘it happens gradually.’ In our case, it’s totally different, everything is happening with speed. Each week we travel to like three countries; it’s amazing, it’s something that should happen but it’s happening fast. Too fast.Peter: We expected it to take longer, but it’s all so fast. We go to a country, and we’re like no, this can’t be happening, the name PSquare is heavier than we are. At times we wonder if we’re the ones called PSquare. It’s amazing how far our songs have gone. In Sierra Leone we had 68,000 full capacity stadium.Many people want to take the credit for discovering you, who would you say gave you your breakthrough?Howie T. He discovered PSquare. He did a lot for us. He discovered us. A lot of people saw us, and left us, we can’t deny the fact that he helped us a lot. He saw us and liked us ...we never knew anyone, he heard our song, it doesn’t take him up to a minute to know if you’re good. Then of course, our family members.What if you didn’t make it in music, what was the back-up plan?Peter: Football. We were supposed to be footballers. We used to play football. Paul was a goalkeeper. We were in the same team (Pepsi junior team) with Mikel Obi. Football was our back up. We don’t play football anymore, if we play football, we can’t dance as easily as we dance because of injuries and all that.What would you say has brought you this far, is it talent, good luck or hard work?Hard work! That’s the simple answer. The talent has been there. The thing is if you have talent and you don’t work on it, you lose it. The luck was there too. But what worked for us is hard work. In our videos and songs, we always try to bring out our best. People say we do everything ourselves. Why not? We believe we can do it ourselves and we always come out with the best.Do you still hear people complaining about your interpolations?Peter: They used to but no more. They are now convinced that we are here to stay. They say we’re sampling and we’re still selling records. Everyone samples. Even P Diddy, R Kelly. We used to hear that before but not anymore. People like what we bring out. That’s the most important thing. So, at the end it’s about doing what you do well.And then, to think that they compare you guys with Usher!Peter: That question is for me. People say I look more like Usher. They want to say we are copying Usher because we look like him and we dance like him too. But there are dancers all over the world. They don’t say they’re copying anyone. Who’s Chris Brown copying? Who’s MC Hammer copying? We’ve just kept our fingers crossed because even when we travel abroad, they still say we look like usher.From ‘Temptation’ to ‘Senorita, ‘Best Friend’ and ‘Last Nite, you talk about romantic experiences are any of these personal?Paul: most of them are personal. Sometimes in relationships,... When we started, like me, I was dating a girl and music was rough then, she left and when things were ok, she wanted to come back. And then we started seeing other girls. Temptation will come because of the nature of our work. As an entertainer, you’ll see girls all around and you’ll be tempted.Peter: In every song we do, you’ll see about 25 to 30 percent of what has happened.But Peter, you’re in a serious relationship, how’s it like being in love?I will say having a relationship doesn’t stop anyone from being with me, playing with me, talking with me. I’m involved with someone who knows showbiz. If the person I’m dating doesn’t like it then there’s no point being with me. There are a lot of distractions but my music comes first. My career is No 1. My relationship doesn’t prevent me from being with my fans. I’m not married. I’m still single. The fact that I’m with someone doesn’t mean I’m married, I’m still very single.Are your folks okay with your dating a Yoruba girl?Of course my parents don’t have any problems with that. I can marry anyone I like. I can marry a Muslim tomorrow. It doesn’t matter. It’s my own choice. We made up our mind to be musicians and we are successful. So any other thing we make up our mind to do, it’ll be okay with them.Is marriage on the cards?No, not yet. We’re still young. We’re going to be 27, so marriage is not on the cards for now. It’s not even close because, I don’t think I want to get married now. It’ll make us lose 50 percent of our female fans. Even in five years. I’m not thinking about that yet.Do you see marriage breaking you up?Paul: It’s very possible. Maybe someone like me. I may decide to get married just because I think I’ve seen life, then I settle down to avoid some temptations. By doing that it’ll definitely affect the music. How you relate to people, if you look at most of our colleagues that are married, they’re different.Peter: If we get married now, it can bring some kind of confusion to us. We may have to be at the airport, he might say his wife is sick, or he has to see his son, if one is married, they’ll say the person is a snob. It will bring a lot of misunderstanding. That’s why we’re not thinking about it right now.You think nothing can come between both of you that to separate you?Paul: We’re not God, we can not predict’ even though there’s going to be anything, it’s going to be an understanding, we’re equal partners and we’re twin brothers.But you find cause to quarrel, don’t you?Peter: We argue, we fight, but it makes us better. Arguments bring better songs, better videos. We are humans. I remember when we were recording ‘Get Squared’ we quarrelled for over three months. We were living in the same house, and we didn’t talk. I didn’t like ‘Bizzy Body,’ Paul didn’t like ‘Get Squared.’ And those two songs blew us up.What happens when you quarrel over some things, who has the final say?Peter: I give Paul more respect when it comes to studio production and when we are working on a song. But when it comes to stage craft, he leaves it to me. Musically, Paul handles 60, I handle 40. But on stage, I handle 60 while he handles 40. And at times, our manager, Jude steps in.Paul, looking at Lola Omotayo and Peter, do you at times feel left out? Or you have a partner we don’t know about?I don’t see it that way. It’s a normal thing. I don’t feel somehow about it. The person I’m dating, we go out together when she’s around. It’s the same thing, unless you’ve never seen me with my girlfriend... I’m not that outgoing, I’m an indoor person.So tell me about your girlfriend?She’s a great person. She understands the difference between Paul and Psquare, and at times she doesn’t. We met when I was about to graduate from the University. Her name is Anita. She’s so beautiful. You know I won’t go out with someone that’s not beautiful. And because I’m not outgoing person, most people don’t know herIs PSquare getting married on the same day?Paul: I don’t like it. We are different people. If we do it, it’s just for the public. Even dressing the same, I do not like it, there should still be individuality.By the way, who gets the most attention from the ladies?Peter: For me, I get more attention because I’m a very crazy person. There’s no time I perform that I don’t take off my shirt. When people talk about PSquare, they talk more about Peter. I kiss ladies when I’m on stage, I love playing with people, so I get more attention because I give freely. During one show, I pulled out my jeans and gave it out, it was crazy. The love they showed me was too much. A guy was crying that I must give him something, so I gave him my jeans and ran backstage with my boxers, before then I had given them my earrings, my necklace, everything.Paul: It depends on the ladies. Some of the girls are crazy about the rough guy. They say I’m the quiet guy. Fans are crazy, so they believe its Peter. But when they come closer they believe I’m the right person. Peter gives great vibe. But when they come closer, they find out it’s me.Has there ever been a time when you both had to compete for a particular girl?Peter: There’s never been a time like that. We’ve never had any argument on a particular girl. We don’t do that. Maybe one way or the other we find out that a girl walks up to us... about 65percent of the girls we know walk up to us.How do they even know who’s who? Most people can’t differentiate you?Paul: They know now. Then, they didn’t know because we used to have the same shape, but now, Peter is built so they know. I want my people to love the real me and not what I’ve formed myself to be. That’s why I do not gym. I love when people scream at Snoop more than when they scream at Usher.’ Snoop, why would a lady like him? It’s only for the music, not that he’s fine, or sexy' I want to be loved for my music, if I had a way to look uglier I would do it.Peter: They know the difference now. I used to braid my hair and he had low cut.Tell me the truth, growing up, did you guys ever think you were going to be such big stars? Was it something you thought about?Paul: Personally I always knew. I knew something was going to make us great. It could be music, or football, or anything we’ll do that will be popular even if not me. When I was younger I loved creating things, but all of a sudden those things were fading away. I realised that the product and the person have to be popular.Peter: Yeah we knew. Even when we were little, we started selling some of our stuff just to be in entertainment. We once sold our Xmas clothes to buy a radio, or exchange some of our things for music gadgets when we were as young as 14. Up till now, we risk everything we have for music.Didn’t your parents try to discourage you from doing music, especially since your elder brother Jude, had failed to make in with music?Paul: Using Jude’s example, he was doing music, but no one supported him. He thought maybe what happened to him was going to happen to us, but we were stubborn. Our parents said we should choose between music and school. Later, our dad stopped paying our fees in the University. Our mom was always there. At times she’ll get tired, she just wanted to see where it’ll all lead to... I’m happy she’s reaping the dividends now.And now that you’ve just invested a fortune in your family bakery, they’d surely be proud of you?Peter: They are really proud of us.Paul: They used to think musicians make money and chase girls but they see that we don’t want to go back to where they came from, we don’t want to go back to those days in Jos. It was rough. Hustling and gambling just to make money to eat and all that. We don’t want to go back to that kind of life. It was rough. We’ve invested in music and other areas that we can run back to even if music stops working.You reportedly bought some plots of land in Jos too... tell us about it?Paul: It’s in Port Harcourt. We finished a bakery; “Twins Bread.” We’re hoping to move to Abuja. The land in Anambra is there too but we’re looking at all that. We bought 20 plots of land in Jos. We donĂ­t even know what to do with it. It’s so large!And the ones in Lagos?Yeah! like our house in Lagos now.. It’s our property. It’s not easy to pay for a house like this automatically. Even if you are paying for it gradually, it’s yours already. We’ve got a plot of land in Lekki too. We’re just investing in these things.After all the hype and drama, a lot of stars are usually boring and lonely people, do you still keep in touch with your childhood friends?Paul: Yeah, we keep them all.Peter: We were in Jos last week and we invited everyone home to be with us, everyone.. We had a party in the hotel, when the bodyguards were pushing them, we were like no, these are our people, everyone... we were close to tears, even those that had problems we solved as much as we could, we did it and we were happy about it, we can’t solve all but it’s just to show how much we appreciate them.What fond memories of childhood do you have? How was it like growing up?Peter: Growing up was hell.Peter, there was this particular rock behind our house... we’ll climb the rock, sing and disturb everyone... then a woman used to sell “akara,” we’ll buy from her...we were doing that because someone said if we wanted to sing, you have to climb a very high place and sing so people can know you can sing.Peter: When we went home last week we went back to every where we grew up in. I remember growing up, my mom was a tailor and my pop was trying to run a bakery. It wasn’t easy.Now you’re working on a new album, do you think it’ll be better than ‘Get Squared’?Paul: There’s always fear that you can never do better than your best album... it’s like MJ doing better than Thriller... but we do not have any fear, we know people will just say: These boys again! It’s all about making people happy now, music that’ll make you happy.Peter: Our fans, those that love PSquare. Even those that do not like us, they’ll see that we’ve come to stay that we’re here to stay. We are bringing a serious revolution to the music industry, look at our house, someone came here and said, why are you guys always trying to show others how things should be done? We’re bringing out good music because we live in a comfortable environment.You sold your two cars to finance the first videos for “Get Squared’ what if the album had failed?Peter: If the album had failed I would have been somewhere hustling, trying to get myself back to football. Even my dad was like, ‘so you sold your cars because of video?’ But we did it, we knew what it meant, even after that. We took another risk when we were shooting Temptation...we emptied our account, we rented camera alone for £300 per day and we shot for two weeks, we paid for insurance... over £4000 it was a great risk, but we are happy it worked out.What are you thinking of selling now, to execute your new project, or you’ve saved up enough?We don’t have to sell anything now, we have everything we need, we can afford anything we want to do now... there’s a risk but we can afford the risk now, what we’re about to do will shock everyone, we have to do better than what we’ve done before.What’s the greatest thing about being twins?Peter: Twins always have luck... they’re always lucky... two different brains working together.And what are the downsides?If one is wicked or totally different from the others, like if one is a criminal, he can put the other person in trouble, if Peter is a bad person, they’ll always point fingers at Paul.You run your business as a family thing, your brother directs your videos... Another one makes your costumes, one manages you, what are the advantages?Peter: We’ve always worked with different people. They keep disappointing you... but working with your family... you work with one mind, knowing that if you fail, you fail the whole family, then they see you as younger ones, you can always rely on your brothers..And the disadvantages?Peter: When you have your senior one who is working for you, you try to talk to him. And you remember he’s your senior brother... you shouldn’t talk to him, that way, your manager does something wrong, you want to talk to him and you remember he's your elder brother.Your mother has a pastoral ministry?Paul: It’s all about healing and miracles... they see dreams, vision... she has an orphanage home, free people that are disabled and all that, whatever is happening to us today, she had seen the vision, we consult her before doing anything.Peter: She doesn’t mind that we do secular music, we believe in God... we pray always, it’s not wrong to do music, this is what God told us to do.Do you see yourselves taking up her work someday?If God says so. If it’s His will. But for now, we’re still doing what we do best.You make a lot of money, say the truth, when was the last time you paid tithe?Paul: This last Easter. I paid in Lagos and in Jos.Peter: Same thing. We do it for PSquare, we even do more than that. When we were in Ilupeju, there were kids that we were paying their school fees... their father rides an Okada... we bought it for him. We’ve taken up paying the kids’ fees even after secondary school. These are not Christians they are Moslems... About 12 of them. These are things we do for God more than paying tithe. We like to give back and pray that God remembers us for ‘not for putting off our clothes on stage.’ You felt very bad when you didn’t win the MOBO for best African act in 2006, do you really think you were cheated?Peter: We were cheated. We were used. Even at a point in that hall the person that won, let him come and play a show in Nigeria and let’s go and play a show in Ghana, even if it was Lebo that won, we wont mind, but not Batman, we were used, he had been in London before us, the whole thing was a set up.. But the best award one can win is the one from our country. Not the one outside... That’s why we cherish the hip hop world awards... It’s authentic, first and second year, not because we won, but it’s good when we won NMA again, even though we couldn’t go, it was great.And then you shunned MTV Europe Music Awards in Denmark, what were you protesting?Paul: Two things happened and we got the visa late and again when we were supposed to travel was when there was a plane crash, we got our visa and had to return the next day, if we had travelled that day, the weather was bad.. We just thought let’s not go again but the time was gone... we would have arrived the evening of the award, then we saw a mail they sent to the media suggesting that Freshlyground was going to win, so we were like, it’s not worth it, it was painful because we cancelled three concerts because of the awards.Your marketer TJOE keeps giving you brand new cars and SUVs’ what do you think he’ll give you next, a house?Paul: It’s possible. He has done a lot, people used to say a lot of things about him. But they’re wrong. Except he decides to disappoint us tomorrow. He’s been good to us and I believe we deserve it.


Taken from Thisday newspaper interview.

Tuesday, 12 June 2007

SNEAK PREVIEW 2

This week has being going well so far, except that I'm pissed at myself for making silly mistakes in my test. In fact, I need to start working hard since my exam's on monday. I don't want to get a low score, since I'm trying to improve my gp. Oh my God! I'm sitting in my room wishing I could be in Toronto for the Nigerian canadian reunion. But, my exams fall close to the date. I have decided to stop blogging till next week, cos of my exams o!! Immediately my exam is finished, blogging starts full force. Anyway, I'm going to write about my weekend. I hang out with a bunch of people. But lately they've been cold to me. At first, I didn't get it. But when I went over to my friends" place on saturday, they gave me the low down of what was on their mind. Firstly, they talked about self respect which is very prominent in their culture here. I don't really mean dobaleing (prostrating lol) or greeting your elders, but just plain respecting other people's ideas, privacy and stuff like that. Ok, the player syndrome that is high in naija is detested here. Shocked and embarrased to know that guys could be called sluts here. They cautioned me on things they didn't fancy about me, and what they said really got to me. So I've decided to change some (not all) of my ways. Later guys..get back to you guys on Monday night...hopefully...WATCH OUT FOR PART 3

Saturday, 9 June 2007

My night with David



I was supposed to post this yester night, but just couldn't, went to this random party. Ok, before anyone starts putting ideas in their head. The title shouldn't be taken directly. I'm just trying to be an attention seeker . Wondering if anyone knows David Suzuki (writer, broadcaster, environmental activist). Anyway, you might have come in contact with any of his works if you study in Canada. Well, it was an honour to listen to the 4th most important person in Canada speak. The guy was 71, and was still very active. The night which I expected to be filled with environmental talk, was exciting. I expected to hear about global warming, ozone depletion and stuff like that. But, I went to the centre where the show was being held. I got two free little tree plants, which I left at the ticket stand. Went into the very huge auditorium. I almost went 360 degrees round hoping to see anyone I know. Finally, I found someone I know. She was sitting with her friend. I was happy to see them, and she offered me to seat with them. I agreed to that and in a few minutes three girls walk up to the stage. They sang folk music which sounded like country(not a fan of that). After their rendition, a guy came out on stage. He talked about when he first met David Suzuki and how he was blown away by his speech. My friend and I went to the front seats so we could have a very good view. Then, David Suzuki smartly walks up to the stage. Everyone stood up to give him a standing ovation. He jokingly said that the audience shouldn't do that yet, but after his speech. He said he was going to talk more about his personal life, wich some people really didn't like. He started the speech by talking about his background living as a Canadian japanese boy with parents who were of Japanese descent but where born in Canada. He talked about the struggles they faced for not being white. They had to move from camps to another, lost their property, lived very poorly. Slides of his early life where shown. He made me laugh my head off when he told the joke of him reaching puberty. According to him he was so horny and wanted a girlfriend desperately. But, his father wanted him to get a Japanese girl, but David said there were only 10 Japanese girls in the camp and three were his sisters. His father recommended chinese, but David couln't get a Chinese girl. His fahter also recommended a Native American(red Indian) girl, but that couldn't work since the natives stayed in another reserve. His father told him to get a black girl then, but there was only one black girl, which David was sure didn't like him. Then his dad recommended a Jewish girl and didn't want any white english girl. But finally he got married to an asian woman (chinese I think). Soon, he "knocked her up"lol. He went on to talk about how he was an assistant professor and was so engrossed in his work, that his marriage crumbled. He shared complete custody of his children. After narrating on his family, he talked about his show "nature of things" . Also, he spoke on how he met his second wife. This time she was a white woman who made him make a good speech. After dating and everything, he got married to her. They both were actively involved in protesting against environmental degradation. They went to Brazil, where the natives were fighting against logging of the amazon trees. He narrated the story of how the natives had gathered to protest against logging and where told by the leader of the loggers that they were going to cut the trees and destroy their houses, but money would be given to them. One of the protesters who was native on hearing this, rebuked the native men as not being warriors they claim they were. She was so angry that she slapped the leader with a machet. The soldiers who were there suddenly corked their guns and aimed at everyone. David Suzuki said he was extremely petrified. After all the fiasco, the native people won and the trees which existed even before Columbus arrived the new world were saved. The woman in particular was wanted and was going to be killed. And it wasn't an issue to kill a native Indian in Brazil at that time. After much delibrations by David Suzuki and his crew, the woman and her children were takken to Canada, where they were promised that a plane will be hired to take them back to their home. The native woman and David Suzuki's family formed a bond together. It was the relationship between these families that inspired David Suzuki's daughter to set up a foundation called ECO (environmental childrens association). Severn Suzuki, David's daughter, through her foundation raised 14,000$ and these were just 13-14 year old children. Here is a clip on her speech in rio de janerio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g8cmWZOX8Q . It was very thought provoking. David Suzuki's speech was hilarious, yet, he spoke about his personal life infusing it with issues on the environment.




in the hippie phase of his life. lol GUYS LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS. ANY

Friday, 1 June 2007

Sneak Preview

I never thought I'll be sharing my personal life to other bloggers. But, I am kind off becoming more comfortable to share things happening to me. I'm sitting in my little office(first job) and surprisingly jobless. But that doesn't matter, as long as I get paid my $7.50 per hour. The muscles in my arms are in excruciating pain. I guess this is what I get for trying to attain a fit physique. If you know me, I might be the skiniest person you've ever met in your life that eats 4 times a day. To worsen matters, I consume processed food and typical western fat-filled diets. Yet, I am still this scrunny dude. I am now on a quest to gain weight and mass. I spent $20 just for a small sized protein shake and increased the amount of money I spend on groceries. Those things taste good anyway. And for the first time in my life, I did 20 "real" sit ups. The muscles in my arms and arm pit are aching. The problem is that I haven't even started yet. I have to go to the gym tonight. Just can't imagine the pain I'm going to face. Anyway. it's all good, afterall, no pain no gain. I'm just doing this to get a new image for the next semester. So all these white chicks will know the big stereotype black guy just stepped in. At least, I don't have to give the impression that I'm like this, because, I come from malnourished Nigeria.