Utter Rubbish

I just realised I've been in Birmingham for 4 years now. A lot has changed since I first came here -

• Bus 44 became bus 46, then changed back to bus 44. Then they split the routes.
• Maximum bus fare (single) was £1.10, now £1.50, u might as well get a day saver.
  
• Just 15 (Chiltern Railways) scheme started in '04, got scrapped this year. Imagine my surprise when I saw the sign, am guessing "Just 18" doesn't sound good.
• Omega Sketor opened in August '07 on the former Virgin Megastore site.
• Music zone & eplay died.
• Loads of shops opened & closed in Selly Oak.
• Hawes & Curtis appeared out of nowhere.
• Bully's been vandalised twice
• The Birmingham Super Hospital commenced construction, it looks massive.
• Aston Uni's building new accomodation.
• UCE (University of Central England in Birmingham) became BCU (Birmingham City University). For a uni that opened in 1971 as Birmingham Polytechnic
• Birmingham uni changed its logo, introduced that crap Y&O and UB thing (if u own UoB clothes, u know wat I mean.).
• Aston changed its logo.
• Birmingham City got relegated, then promoted, then relegated again.
• West Bromwich Albion got relegated, then promoted.
• Will Smith set the world record for movie premieres (he attended 3 in 24hrs, Manchester, Birmingham & London, yup in that order.) with Hitch. We all missed that lecture & I saw the Willster. Alas it was thru d jumbotron & I had broken my glasses prior to the event. Plus it kinda snowed, I missed all d free stuff & it was the 1st movie premiere in Birmingham. My 1st & only movie premiere, I left when he startd rappin', I got tired & went to Tesco.
• Virgin Megastores r now zavii & it's now bloody hard to find the PS2 section - window shoppd yesterday, all I found was 1 tiny section of 360 games, loads of dvds, clothes, accessories & of course virgin mobile.
• Minimum wage has increased.
• I am 3yrs older & still none the wiser. Huh?! I was born in November & I came to Bham in September '04, u do d math.
• Tesco (5ways) got rearranged & they now sell Krispy Kreme donuts.
• Cinema ticket prices have increased, from £3.00 to £3.75 (Student/Adult b4 6pm, AMC), it may hv been less than £3.
• Train prices r up too, duh.
• HSBC closed their Aston uni branch. Won't be surprised if they closed their UB branch.
• And other random stuff. Random comment - If d congestion charge ever lands in Bham & I'm still here, that means I'll never learn how to drive.
  

I am going home on Sunday..............go me, Mego. Now if I cud just pack................

For someone who blogs at an average of once a month, I seem very very chatty for the last three days. Anyhoo, I just found out the first Nigerian animated movie, Lifespan, had already been released. Yes people, it was released on March 19, 2008 (according to their website). I still can't find a trailer of it online. Plus, was it ever released?? Cause I can't find any reviews of any sort online, not even at nairaland or any of the other forums. Looks like I've gotta start a thread on nairaland. Oh well, there goes the blog.



Hmm.....I'm hungry. I need some organisation in my life, could I have yours? It'll go great with my fries. I've really got to take off that randy cab driver's number at some point.....

Oh well after my [mostly] coherent blog yesterday, I decided to talk 'bout Naija music duh......like d title doesn't say that already. Anyhoo, I was watching the 3 first minutes of Fringe (yes, that $10m pilot), with all the melting people (cool. I was waitin' 4 d plane to nose dive, then I rememberd d dude had it auto-pilot. So it will run out gas, and THEN nosedive), then I got distracted by the wikipedia page on pilots. Then I got distracted by the Asa's page on wikipedia, then I watched Naija music videos on utube. Which in turn lead to this blog. Yes people, sometimes I've the attention span of a gold fish.
Anyhoo, I read a review of Asa's Fire on the Mountain and the last paragraph - "She could be one of the stars of this year, or she could be an underground voice that only gets recognition in fleeting moments, either way if you like soul, funk or reggae you need to get on this girl now." - [especially those two phrases] got me thinking. I realised she could be actually really big. C'mon d media's always going on 'bout Duffy, I finally listened to Mercy & I went "Is that it?", then I tried to justify it - "It actually a good song, but I have an issue with her voice" - then I remembered why I have issues with Miley Cyrus - I can't stand her speaking voice, but never stopped me from screeching out "The Best of Both Worlds" @ random times. Yes, all my thoughts r actually this disorganised. Now back to the topic, Asa should be big. If she was some American, she would be called the new Dylan. Don't worry Dylians, I'm just makin' an example. Anyhoo, I think she is one of the few Nigerian artistes who can get moderate to crazy success in the international mainstream market.
Lyrically, sometimes she sounds like a goody two shoes activist envisions Fela with baked cookies, a smile, waving a flower & saying peace & love, sometimes like a woman in love, but always gearing towards hope. Asa's best when she's live, especially when it's only her & her guitar.

I'm sure your wondering who the others are, **breathes in**well here we go **breathes out**:

• D'banj - The self appointed koko master, with his producer buddy Don Jazzy make a very formidable team. D'banj yells mainstream to a fault, his catchy singles almost always tops the Nigerian charts. Plus his music videos are almost always on point, lets just say some Naij music videos would win a Razzie for "Worst All-Time Music Video Fullstop". His hooks are all always catchy, think T-Pain with a harmonica minus autotune. While his lyrics can be border line nonsensical, raunchyish (since koko seems to mean a lot of things) and more or less about women. Gosh, he sounds like R. Kelly minus the over the top bumping & grinding & chestering.
  

• 2face Idibia - Everyone expected African Queen to be his international breakthrough single, well it kinda worked, it bagged him a MTV Award (Best African Act). He is still a talented brother tho. Now if only Kennis Music/his manager could step their game up.
  

Honourable mentions

• P-Square - Naija's own twin Ushers. They could be big, if they don't get sued for copyright infringement 1st.
  
• Styl-Plus - Naija's own Boyz II Men. kinda
  
• Modenine - One of Naij's best rappers no question. For those Arsenal fans, you can hear his "Arsenal Anthem" here.
• Dare Art-Alade - Former radio presenter turned singer, he went on the first Project Fame came third. More or less the Lamar story. Plus being the son of Art Alade, a late great Nigerian singer, has its perks.
  

Some videos
Close to You - Mo Hits All Stars (i.e D'banj, Wande Coal, Sid & D'Prince for d ignorant kiddies out there.)
Jailer - Asa
Fair on the Mountain - Asa (love the colours in this video)
2step - 4th Republic (actually like d video, but have a few issues.)
Jailer (cover) - Soji (not an official video, but I like the cover.)
Baraje - Ruggedman (Em loves this song with a passion, this's the only video available on utube)
Move Your Body - D'banj ft. Wande Coal
Why Me - D'banj
Fuji - Dare Art-Alade ft. Ikechukwu, Dekunle Fuji
Young Man (Skillz) - Dare ft. Tyrbesmen
Bizzy Body - P-Square
Get Squared - P-Square (This video has d case of extra bassness, while this has the lower quality issues.)
Omoge Mi - P-Square
Do Me - P-Square ft. Waj
Imagine That - Styl-Plus
Drive Me Crazy (Remix) - Styl-Plus ft. 2-Shotz & Big-Lo. ("What hell did Zeal do to his hair?!" said the woman with the jacked up afro.)
Olufunmi - Styl-Plus
Runaway - Styl-Plus (cheezy as hell, plus d dance scene always cracks me up.)
Cry - Modenine ft. Nnena
Carry Dey Go - Dare ft. 2face Idibia (Dare sounds like Cameo in d begining)

I know I forgot a lot of 'em, but little old me only makes this stuff as she goes along.

I still have Fringe on pause. Counting the seconds to The Stolen Earth, best next time trailer of the season.

No, I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Nigeria. It dawned on me a couple of years ago, that there are so many business routes that Nigeria hasn't taken.

Let's see:

• Tourism - With all those Rocks (e.g Olumo Rock), Waterfalls (e.g Erin-Ijesa/Erin-Ijesha waterfalls, u knw where d hot & cold water meet, that was cool), d slavery house/depots/snatch centrals, d museums (family actually went there once, those bullets holes in Murtala's car were crazy), the Game Reserves (Yankari). All those excursions I took in Fowler (yes people, I was a VFMC girl, now get over it.) , they were good for something. To be sincere, I really don't know much about Nigerian wild life, since I grew up in Lagos, but we sure as hell have loads of livestock. We have the Atlantic Ocean & absolutely no surfers (I blame those worshippers, who are always at the beach), there's Takwa Bay. Anyhoo, I just mentioned those places from the top of my head, there are many more that I haven't covered. We same to have loads of foreign immigrants (you should see the nautrialization section in the paper, it's like a mini phone book) with the Lebanese as the highest foreign minority. Plus everything's organic, except when you go to the posh supermarkets of course.
• Movies - We are already the third largest film producing country. Movies are churned out faster than Paris Hilton's brainwaves (bad analogy since anything's faster than.........). I'm still waiting for an addition to the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. C'mon, I settle for the long list. There could seriously take their time and actually produce, edit the movie and actually have a big budget. We seriously need a big Harmattan movie (err.. people, we only have 2 seasons - Rainy & Dry/Harmattan seasons), honestly, I would be at the front line at the cinema. Maybe, more sci-fi, less supernatural, romance and drama. Remember,sometimes quality is better than quantity.
• Comics: It's no secret, that I'm a comic fiend. I'm an X-Woman, Wolverine, Storm & Rouge till I die. Anyhoo, the only Nigerian comics I know are the comic strips. It's been a while since I read Captain Africa, a brillant detective who obviously wore tights. Adam & Eve, a comical take on the World's first humans. Cain & Abel (for some absurd reason, I'm now having doubts about A&E. Ahh...my memory's such a fickle creature). Then there was a strip about an independent woman - which actually ended during my time - that for the life of me, I cannot remember its/her name. Anyhoo, there are loads of talented Nigerian artists (an uncle & a cousin of mine are outter this world, who only draw as a hobby). Sidebar: I actually have an idea for a comic/graphic novel to pass the time, you could draw for me. **queue nice voice & begging** Apparently, we had our first Nigeria Comic-Con in 2004. The first comic book shop opened in 2006, Planet Comics in Kaduna (darn, I ain't driving there!). Although, a lot of us have been reading comics longer than that. Plus, why am I never around?? Anyhoo, I'm kinda surprised there havn't done a comic about NIgerian gods, Biafra, IBB, Abacha & the whole military regime, so much material. C'mon, Frederick Forsyth pratically gave you Ojukwu (the General) in The Dogs of War. Oh well, here's to hoping.
• Animation: The Nigerian animation industry is almost non-existant, even though there are probably Nigerian animators working in the animation industry. Hey, I could be very wrong, just found out they are going to be releasing the first Nigerian animated movie. Someone was actually paying attention, with a budget of 80 million naira (way smaller than most, but definately higher than your average nigerian movie). Anyhoo, it's called Lifespan, a story of a royal clan of mosquitoes, situated in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, over 4000 years ago, who are looking for a magical cure for ......wait for it........malaria. They want to co-exisit with the human race, since they are tired of killing them. Unfortunately, that's the only article, I've found and it's a year old, but here's to hoping.
• Medicine: Being a country plagued by mosquitoes (yup, they just keep coming!), and being the Mother of Africa and all you'd expect, malaria to be a thing of the past. Although, I haven't had malaria in 6 years now (since I became an International Student, they've kinda grown some prejudice. Apparently, they don't like the junk food). Unfortunately, the medicine sector aludes since I'm chicken, when it comes to all things medicine-related. Let's just say, I'm never donating blood, since I never complete my medication.
• Business: Dandote is King, since he's now officially the richest African and second richest black person in the world behind Mohammed Al Amoudi. Dude is richer than Oprah. Anyhoo, I don't actually have the energy to go into this, cause it would be a very long essay and I have forgotten what I was going to type. It had something to do with crops, you know the whole organic angle. The whole fact that Nigeria used to make millions with palm oil, groundnuts and other what what-nots. Plus a whole lot of business babble, that I kinda zoned out on.
  
• Music: The Nigerian music scene is thriving locally, but not internationally. Although, we throw some kick ass music festivals/concerts that bring the big cats. We still need to project ourselves to the international sector, where all the money's at, since the big wig labels will only be distributing. All the old hands have a niche in the World Music (which i still say is over simplified) - Fela Kuti's music lives on, Femi's still a second and less crazy to his father, King Sunny Ade still rocking, Lagbaja still intrigues people. Where are the young'ns? Why should the [United States of] Americans be the only ones, who are famous locally and internationally. C'mon, there are two American continents, seriously. 2Face almost made it stateside, but Kennis Music/his manager did not captitalise it as much as they could have. Asa is making some waves in Europe, she was on Jools in April[?]. Look music is universal. Comment - Does she actually play the guitar? Cause she always has it on her televised performances, but she's never actually playing it. There's always this dude on the background doing the killer acoustics. Hmmm......she was also on Trevor Nelson's Sessions. Okay young'ns sign up to Asa management now! Hope Agbaya's music kick up a storm, but I can now safely say I know people in the Nigerian music industry. 4th republic and fastbreak music fan by association. Free advertising for you kiddies.
  

At the end of the it all boils down to leadership and management. With corrupt bastards (no offence to their children, but you know your pops are assholes, some of you even inherited their assholiness) scheming through to make their trillions (in naira, of course. If I decided to say it in pounds, you'd drop), all you tend to get is stagnation. So much for serving and protecting your country. Imagine, my dad got a phone call informing him that Lamidi Adedibu had died that morning, my dad replied "Thank God". After the call, he ponders for a minute, looks at me and says "How can you say "Thank God" and celebrate when someone has died?" I remind him that people were throwing parties, when Abacha died. With a sad look on his face, he repeats his question and then sighs.

wow, I didn't use text/net speak, this must be serious. Now, I am going to watch Donna and Rose turning left.

Could sm1 pls tell these unsignd bands 2 stop playin their ratha crap music, I live 8mins away from d Carling Academy & Bar Academy, nxt door 2 pubs, 8mins away from Aston Uni, 1 of 'em's gotta b producin' these awful sounds. Seriously, some metal band or wateva was yellin' a few mins ago. Then I rememba, hearing' some Bhangra (I cud b wrong) music, an hour or so, then more metal crap, 1.5-2hrs (yes, while I was typin' my previous blog). D probelm is d instrumentals r great, till d chickens open their mouths. Oh well, I want a Galaxy Caramalised Hazelnuts & Cookie Crumble [Thank God, Tesco's stoppd their 2 4 £1.50 offer. Almost gave myself, a chocolate induced carpel tunnel].



Mmm....my poor poor health, teeth, body. There goes my GDA.


Update: some dude, just wrote smthin in japanese/chinese on my previous (d 20 things 1, didn't notice till now) 死者已逝去 生者当惊醒 欢迎访问 保平安 according 2 google translate, in japanese it means "d death of d livin' dead", while d link says "keeper of peace". Ratha morbid that dude. + I'm now kinda lost & it didn't translate sm characters. In chinese, it means "The deceased had been awakened when the passing away of Health, welcomed the visit for security and peace". Still a tad bit morbid, still confusin'. Now d kiddies r singin "The Boys r Back in Town". Now I want chicken. Now d fire alarm's gone off, goody.

Update 2: Now, there's fireworks!OOOOhhh....now I rememba 2day's Astonbury. Wit all d daily e-mails, I actually 4got [time's now 22:50:52 7/6/07]. Startd @ noon 2day endin' @ 1am 2mrw. 13hrs of gd/crappy music. Damn fireworks. As 4 d fire alarm, it went on for 45mins, thnx to flat 205 & their cookin'. @ least it wasn't me, this time. Damn fireworks. The firemen came, UNITE operator was a tad stupid, she kept sayin' d firemen were comin', when THEY were d 1s makin' d call. + d asian dude/dudette, left more of d same random comments on 2 of my blogs.