please keep in touch with a part of me
the bestest news ever!BBale Francis, my 'media grandad ' is back!
he been missing in action for a while now coz he had an operation.
i know, i know
everyone i meet that knows i work at UBC is constantly hounding me on 'where BBale Francis is?' or 'if he has been fired?' (where in the world would a veteran like him go and why would a VETERAN like him be fired!)
so i meet him on the stairs in the hallway of our offices, hobbling (not really) along with a stack of papers in one hand, his head bobbing; crowned with the white grey-'ishness' of age and wisdom and my darling heart lunged in glee!
'grandad was back! '
i squealed happily and threw my arms around him whooping 'welcome back? are you feeling okay?" i was slightly scared i had mishandled him coz he looks so frail and fragile.
his warm sage old face relaxed in that smile that used to greet me every time i walked into his office caked thickly in the aroma of freshly smoked tobacco.
i remembered telling him i would pray for him to stop smoking, a comment he dismissed stubbornly.
a stubborn old man, i tell you.
now looking at him fondly, i could only think of buying him a 'welcome back' cake... but then again, would he appreciate it? i could not get him a cigar or a pipe... i would not contribute to his bad habit!
all of a sudden, i could remember riding back home with him and the rest of the television crew after the 'bull' (jargon for bulletin) and him teasing me like crazy on just about anything... then...
rewind,
rewind... to him firmly but gently scolding me on how 'stupid' the 'bull' was and what was i thinking to pronounce certain words like i was born and bred in Kitagata?
it had become a silly reference now 'that bull was stupid!'
oh! not forgetting his never ending stories of studying abroad and the interesting British teachers; his naughtiness as a student and also his children; all grown and living abroad.
i was amazed, last year, when he told me he had spent Christmas with his father!
geez! i was thinking, 'the old geezer is still alive? how do you two look together,'
i dint ask... naaah, i couldn't.
but i was sooo thrilled to see him anyhow, the gush of memory just clouded my mind as we chatted on how he was feeling now.
then i asked if he would still stay in his office and go home with us and critic me after the news but his grayish-white head swung delicately from right to left in a negative response. 'not too soon, yet, i am still recouping but i watch the news from home.' he assured me
and that wise old smile that used to greet me in his tobacco-drenched office lit up his face again!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
What English means.
I have this friend ‘Orlando’
Orlando is the most peculiar fellow I ever knew. The English language is the most essential thing in his life, more essential than the air he breathes… and I am serious about that bit. I mean what do you say for a guy who will try to explain to a mad- ganja-packed up conductor that he should not say ‘extend’ when he wants a guy to push up to allow some seating room for him but use the word ‘move up’ and this blazed conductor is just about to rough him up for holding up traffic tryna explain this in what he calls ‘simple plain English!’
I have asked him several times why he does not try to polish up his own native language instead of the English language which is a foreign language anyway! He does not realize he is one of the 700 million foreigners in the world speaking this language! Anyway, instead of getting worked up about my friend Orlando, let me relate to you his ordeals in trying to be a patriotic English speaker.
First of all, Orlando , never got below 90 percent in school in English for as far as I could recall, sitting next to him in class, that’s how come I got inspired to do this whole writing thing and become another ‘English speaking geek’.
His motto was… ‘Grammar is the most essential tool in the world… don’t misuse it’
fine .
Maybe simply coz about 2 billion people in the world speak English. What does that have to do with anything, Anyway?
So, Orlando recently lost a job he was just about to get as copy editor because of his incessant, madly manic need to correct just about everyone.
He was adored by the English teacher in school till he told him the word was pronounced ‘lorry’ not ‘rorry’. The teacher got hurt and quit our class. (I knew coz the head teacher told us we were getting a new English teacher and Mr Serugoddi had been transferred to another class that needed him badly!)
Orlando and I knew better.
So about his job
He ticked off the editor- in-chief by telling him that he had said ‘when you are getting to the park, you slope down after pioneer mall.’ (This was a conversation he overheard between his editor and a muzungu that had come by the office, right before Orlando had gotten in for his appointment letter!)
The editor in chief was polite at this pompous to be copy editor, prolly he was thinking ‘well, I have a bway here to keep a leash on them reporters and their lousily written scripts’ so he laughed it off and continued to tell him how it was great to know he could be relied on when it came to the Job coz he was truly analytical but… he did not have to impress so much since he had already passed the interview… then editor in chief slurred again… real bad this time… and Orlando, my dear Orlando who regards English above anyone, even the President (you should see him correct the president when we watch the news!) jumped at the opportunity to make it right… and lost the job.
All for the sake of the English Language.
So anyway, he is looking for another job now and I wish that could be all. Recently he called me up at 2 am in the night in a state of bewilderment to tell me his long time girlfriend, who is also my friend, had just chucked him.
Why?
Blame it on the English Language!
This bway decided to correct his girlfriend’s statements more than thrice while she was lamenting her heart out about something she was going through.
And instead of giving him her shoulder…even over the phone… in his groggy sleepy mind, the English language still held its strong grip, and Orlando my friend just went on correcting her slurred, sloppy mournful speech that before she switched him off amid another correction, she told him they were through coz he cared more for the English language than he did her, (it had been cute at first, now it just totally killed her)…amid tears by the way!
So, now, I must do the dirty work of trying to explain to Orlando about the importance of certain things above the English language!
You wonder why I still keep him as a friend even when he can be such a pain… well, I don’t know… he is just about the only person that can jump up at the idea of a scrabble game and a crossword puzzle!
In conclusion, I am still doing the work of reconciliation, Orlando and my friend/his ex girlfriend. And it being my birthday, Orlando has bought me the weirdest gift ‘an original thesaurus’ . I just don’t know where he got it from!
Orlando is the most peculiar fellow I ever knew. The English language is the most essential thing in his life, more essential than the air he breathes… and I am serious about that bit. I mean what do you say for a guy who will try to explain to a mad- ganja-packed up conductor that he should not say ‘extend’ when he wants a guy to push up to allow some seating room for him but use the word ‘move up’ and this blazed conductor is just about to rough him up for holding up traffic tryna explain this in what he calls ‘simple plain English!’
I have asked him several times why he does not try to polish up his own native language instead of the English language which is a foreign language anyway! He does not realize he is one of the 700 million foreigners in the world speaking this language! Anyway, instead of getting worked up about my friend Orlando, let me relate to you his ordeals in trying to be a patriotic English speaker.
First of all, Orlando , never got below 90 percent in school in English for as far as I could recall, sitting next to him in class, that’s how come I got inspired to do this whole writing thing and become another ‘English speaking geek’.
His motto was… ‘Grammar is the most essential tool in the world… don’t misuse it’
fine .
Maybe simply coz about 2 billion people in the world speak English. What does that have to do with anything, Anyway?
So, Orlando recently lost a job he was just about to get as copy editor because of his incessant, madly manic need to correct just about everyone.
He was adored by the English teacher in school till he told him the word was pronounced ‘lorry’ not ‘rorry’. The teacher got hurt and quit our class. (I knew coz the head teacher told us we were getting a new English teacher and Mr Serugoddi had been transferred to another class that needed him badly!)
Orlando and I knew better.
So about his job
He ticked off the editor- in-chief by telling him that he had said ‘when you are getting to the park, you slope down after pioneer mall.’ (This was a conversation he overheard between his editor and a muzungu that had come by the office, right before Orlando had gotten in for his appointment letter!)
The editor in chief was polite at this pompous to be copy editor, prolly he was thinking ‘well, I have a bway here to keep a leash on them reporters and their lousily written scripts’ so he laughed it off and continued to tell him how it was great to know he could be relied on when it came to the Job coz he was truly analytical but… he did not have to impress so much since he had already passed the interview… then editor in chief slurred again… real bad this time… and Orlando, my dear Orlando who regards English above anyone, even the President (you should see him correct the president when we watch the news!) jumped at the opportunity to make it right… and lost the job.
All for the sake of the English Language.
So anyway, he is looking for another job now and I wish that could be all. Recently he called me up at 2 am in the night in a state of bewilderment to tell me his long time girlfriend, who is also my friend, had just chucked him.
Why?
Blame it on the English Language!
This bway decided to correct his girlfriend’s statements more than thrice while she was lamenting her heart out about something she was going through.
And instead of giving him her shoulder…even over the phone… in his groggy sleepy mind, the English language still held its strong grip, and Orlando my friend just went on correcting her slurred, sloppy mournful speech that before she switched him off amid another correction, she told him they were through coz he cared more for the English language than he did her, (it had been cute at first, now it just totally killed her)…amid tears by the way!
So, now, I must do the dirty work of trying to explain to Orlando about the importance of certain things above the English language!
You wonder why I still keep him as a friend even when he can be such a pain… well, I don’t know… he is just about the only person that can jump up at the idea of a scrabble game and a crossword puzzle!
In conclusion, I am still doing the work of reconciliation, Orlando and my friend/his ex girlfriend. And it being my birthday, Orlando has bought me the weirdest gift ‘an original thesaurus’ . I just don’t know where he got it from!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
no country for old men and other stories
NO comment.
I will kill this movie, critics liked it...no, they swooned all over it coz it was DIFFERENT. that's a given, it is really different... for me not different-nice...maybe i should borrow it again...
i like different things , Like 'a series of unfortunate events, Sweeney Todd(my fave for the years 2007-2008!) but surely, no country for old men was no country for me!
okay if you haven't watched it, just know that the killer kills good and is never caught, he does his psychopathic stance real well, the sheriff is a dunce, and the almost, almost main-ish characters are killed by the killer who is never caught. no sound track, it is a silent melancholic sort of movie... not like dead man walking but...close ish, only the latter was better!
away from old men in the country
oh before that, they really stayed true to their word... there were like 3 or 4 , 2 were young, 2 old ladies in the whole movie about 5 young men and the rest were oooooooold men!
OKAY NOW... COME AWAY FROM OLD COUNTRY SIDE-KILLING -MEN.
someone actually told me it was about old men in the country killing each other...
why dont i seem to leave this topic... oh Lol!
okay...
now for other stories... you know the song 'ironic' by Alanis Morrisette?
yeah,
i have had a part of life described by that song
'you meet the man of your dreams and then meet his beautiful bride?!"
uh huh! but no , this bway aint married -yet.
but he is sooooooo the right everything! but soooooo dating and so committed... i cant deny we hit off real good, clicked and talked alot... then we realised it was not good for us coz... we were getting way too close, overly loving each other's company... and in my head of heads, i said 'this is platonic, he is dating and you dont get around dating, married or slighted hooked guys! nah! coz it is not you! you aint weak!'
yeah... but inspite of me he had won me over, i was falling head over feet! and running haaaaaaard and faaaar! i dint care if his girlfriend was 10,000 miles away, it was still plain wrong...
so we sort of threw each other out before we let anything get out of hand...
okay, i threw him out...
coz i so need to extract my whole being from icecream and chinese and movies! woah! and everything else...
smart move, huh?
(sob sniff, wail, bawl)do visit me with flowers, am smarting, i have insomnia and i can even watch secreto de amor! it is bad like that...
i dont want it said on my epitaph that' she stole another woman's man!"
and God knows i have praaaaaayed! 'get him far away from me, far, far far...'
he is answering and it makes me both mad and glad, bittersweet feeling...
but then again, the world aint short of Mr. right -in -everything
so
when i think i am sooooo completely fine over him, i will be able to see him again...
that was my other story...
plus somebody look up def jam poetry! it is soooooooo coooool!
I will kill this movie, critics liked it...no, they swooned all over it coz it was DIFFERENT. that's a given, it is really different... for me not different-nice...maybe i should borrow it again...
i like different things , Like 'a series of unfortunate events, Sweeney Todd(my fave for the years 2007-2008!) but surely, no country for old men was no country for me!
okay if you haven't watched it, just know that the killer kills good and is never caught, he does his psychopathic stance real well, the sheriff is a dunce, and the almost, almost main-ish characters are killed by the killer who is never caught. no sound track, it is a silent melancholic sort of movie... not like dead man walking but...close ish, only the latter was better!
away from old men in the country
oh before that, they really stayed true to their word... there were like 3 or 4 , 2 were young, 2 old ladies in the whole movie about 5 young men and the rest were oooooooold men!
OKAY NOW... COME AWAY FROM OLD COUNTRY SIDE-KILLING -MEN.
someone actually told me it was about old men in the country killing each other...
why dont i seem to leave this topic... oh Lol!
okay...
now for other stories... you know the song 'ironic' by Alanis Morrisette?
yeah,
i have had a part of life described by that song
'you meet the man of your dreams and then meet his beautiful bride?!"
uh huh! but no , this bway aint married -yet.
but he is sooooooo the right everything! but soooooo dating and so committed... i cant deny we hit off real good, clicked and talked alot... then we realised it was not good for us coz... we were getting way too close, overly loving each other's company... and in my head of heads, i said 'this is platonic, he is dating and you dont get around dating, married or slighted hooked guys! nah! coz it is not you! you aint weak!'
yeah... but inspite of me he had won me over, i was falling head over feet! and running haaaaaaard and faaaar! i dint care if his girlfriend was 10,000 miles away, it was still plain wrong...
so we sort of threw each other out before we let anything get out of hand...
okay, i threw him out...
coz i so need to extract my whole being from icecream and chinese and movies! woah! and everything else...
smart move, huh?
(sob sniff, wail, bawl)do visit me with flowers, am smarting, i have insomnia and i can even watch secreto de amor! it is bad like that...
i dont want it said on my epitaph that' she stole another woman's man!"
and God knows i have praaaaaayed! 'get him far away from me, far, far far...'
he is answering and it makes me both mad and glad, bittersweet feeling...
but then again, the world aint short of Mr. right -in -everything
so
when i think i am sooooo completely fine over him, i will be able to see him again...
that was my other story...
plus somebody look up def jam poetry! it is soooooooo coooool!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
trauma
blood and rain
blood and rain
all i see is blood and rain
tribute to the war victims of the LRA insurgency in the north
blood and rain
all i see is blood and rain
tribute to the war victims of the LRA insurgency in the north
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
10,000BC
I KNOW WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE SAID AND MOST HAVE TRASHED THIS MOVIE AND (YES I WOULD TOO...PARTIALLY ) EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT I WENT TO WATCH IT FOR THE LOVE OF EPIC MOVIES AND I REALLY WANTED TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!
sorry about the caps , somehow i forgot and got too lazy to change them...
so
ten thou BC!
ah! yes...
i sat in the cinema analysing just about everything in this movie and these songs came to my head...some you have heard, some...maybe not
i will cross the ocean for you, i will go and give you the moon...(something like that) a song done by a couple of ladies...
then there's some done by boy bands promising heaven on earth as proof of undying love...
another that struck me was a song by a gospel group calledT hird Day and the track "love song"
and the lyrics...
"I've heard it said,, that a man would climb a mountain, just to be with the one he loves....I've heard it said that a man would cross the ocean , just to be with the one he loves...how many times has he broken that promise...it can never be done!'
okay, hold it there Third Day coz i think on this day you have been completely disproved, this mammoth Hunter D'leh actually crosses an uncrossable desert, fights mammoths and a couple of overgrown looking ostriches, befriends a sabre toothed tiger...generally does the unimaginable to save his 'Evolet' beautiful girl, i will give you that!
it isn't a bad movie really. a raving review from someone who just walked out of the cinema with me was "best movie since apocalypto!" woah!
he is taking over Ebert and Roeper's cliche comments...apart from the common 'two thumbs way up' ones!
okay bottom line is
just as much as we have songs sung by crazed love struck wannabe romeos on their bravado heroics to rescue or be with their loved ones....some one simply put graphics into the phrase made it as Neanderthal as they could get to drive the love-you -till -death- do-me -part point home... why do it in the 21st century when the nonsensical brothers Solomon ( i hope that movie dint scoop nothing.. not even a bad review) did it using a plane....really!
but
its not a bad movie, the friendship between D'leh and Nakudu is what realy strikes me... (i think long ago, buddyship was serious bizness!) its got this whole cinematic ending with the two putting heads together and linking arms in that way...blood pact sorta thing but...it did send shivers down my spine... they did it well( i imagine how much they giggled at it befroe the final shoot.) anyway, am out...
got to go read news
i am going to watch this movie again by the way... this weekend... sorry dint leave a picture...
but got to go
go watch it...ten thou before christ!
sorry about the caps , somehow i forgot and got too lazy to change them...
so
ten thou BC!
ah! yes...
i sat in the cinema analysing just about everything in this movie and these songs came to my head...some you have heard, some...maybe not
i will cross the ocean for you, i will go and give you the moon...(something like that) a song done by a couple of ladies...
then there's some done by boy bands promising heaven on earth as proof of undying love...
another that struck me was a song by a gospel group calledT hird Day and the track "love song"
and the lyrics...
"I've heard it said,, that a man would climb a mountain, just to be with the one he loves....I've heard it said that a man would cross the ocean , just to be with the one he loves...how many times has he broken that promise...it can never be done!'
okay, hold it there Third Day coz i think on this day you have been completely disproved, this mammoth Hunter D'leh actually crosses an uncrossable desert, fights mammoths and a couple of overgrown looking ostriches, befriends a sabre toothed tiger...generally does the unimaginable to save his 'Evolet' beautiful girl, i will give you that!
it isn't a bad movie really. a raving review from someone who just walked out of the cinema with me was "best movie since apocalypto!" woah!
he is taking over Ebert and Roeper's cliche comments...apart from the common 'two thumbs way up' ones!
okay bottom line is
just as much as we have songs sung by crazed love struck wannabe romeos on their bravado heroics to rescue or be with their loved ones....some one simply put graphics into the phrase made it as Neanderthal as they could get to drive the love-you -till -death- do-me -part point home... why do it in the 21st century when the nonsensical brothers Solomon ( i hope that movie dint scoop nothing.. not even a bad review) did it using a plane....really!
but
its not a bad movie, the friendship between D'leh and Nakudu is what realy strikes me... (i think long ago, buddyship was serious bizness!) its got this whole cinematic ending with the two putting heads together and linking arms in that way...blood pact sorta thing but...it did send shivers down my spine... they did it well( i imagine how much they giggled at it befroe the final shoot.) anyway, am out...
got to go read news
i am going to watch this movie again by the way... this weekend... sorry dint leave a picture...
but got to go
go watch it...ten thou before christ!
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