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My Random Thoughts

August 17, 2008
17:36
When the table doesn't tell the full story...
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The Premiership started yesterday after its summer break and after the first games the top five are Chelsea, Aston Villa, Bolton, Blackburn and Hull City.

Three of the top four of last season are eighth, ninth and tenth (Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd). Anyone want to wager the table won't be radically different in April?

And after 4 surprise Gold Medals today, Great Britain are third in a different table... Like someone said, if Michael Phelps were a Country he'd be in the top ten of the tables...
July 14, 2008
18:18
So...where are you from?
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I disguise my temptation to burst out into full giggle mode every time I hear that question asked by an English man I've met for the first time in some social setting. We could have been talking in a group for a while but on hearing my foriegn sounding first name they feel the need to ask the question: So where are you from? Dependent on my mood I could launch into a monologue about living in South London and the advantages of being 'Sauf' of the Thames. Its rare that after a couple of minutes of this that they are able to summon the courage to really define what they really meant.

I read Aba Boy's Lost Nationality with interest. I was in a training group recently where there were a couple of Asians who expressed similar views to Aba Boy and they had lived all their lives in the UK (basically they identified themselves as being from Pakistan and Kenya - an Indian kenyan). Is it about lineage or where you identify with?

When you hear the name "Mario Balotelli" what image comes to mind? And what if you were told he is a 17 year old soon to be playing for the Italian under 21 national team, would you think for a moment that he is the black kid in the picture? Or that he would speak Italian as fluently as in this youtube video?

Mario was born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents Thomas and Rose Barwuah. He was adopted from the age of 3 by the Balotelli family and will be given an Italian passport on his 18th birthday next month. He recently refused a call up to the Ghanaian National Team that went to the Nations Cup and has been touted as a future Italian full international.

Aba Boy I beg to submit that the issue is more complex than you outline. My football mad cousin is married to a Brazilian and their 10 year old son is showing promising signs of developing real skills. If he were good enough, does he play for the Super Eagles (upset mom), Brazil (break dads heart) or hold out for England the only country he really knows?
June 26, 2008
5:24
The Blower's Daughter
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The Blower's Daughter - One of my favourite songs, also features in one of my favourite films "Closer" featuring Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.
...Oh, did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you...
June 22, 2008
13:26
Congratulations Paul Ince...
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Paul Ince has today been named the first black English manager of a premiership side (the only other 2 managers of premiership sides Jean Tigana of Fulham and Ruud Gullit of Chelsea, weren't 'English'). Considering that probably about 20% of the players in the premiership are black, in my opinion Ince's appointment is long overdue.

Ince's appointment brings to 4 the number of ex Alex Ferguson players currently managing teams in the top division (Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and Mark Hughes are the other 3). If we were to include ex Fergie deputies like Steve Mclaren, then ole Fergie has probably been single handedly responsible for training half of the English Premiership managers. LOL!

Anyway Congratulations Ince (the Guv'nor)! Lets hope you get a fair chance to prove yourself at Blackburn.
May 24, 2008
19:47
Obama's Cross
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May 03, 2008
14:26
On Boston Legal
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While I can't say that Boston Legal is one of my favourite shows, I will admit it has its flashes of sheer brilliance. Wednesday night was one of them.

For those who aren't familiar with the show it features James Spader (Stargate) as Alan Shore, a Boston Lawyer who is the conscience of the irreverent law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt. William Shatner (formerly the first captain of the Star ship, Enterprise in Star trek - to boldly go where no one has gone before) acts as Danny Crane, lead partner and mad cow disease sufferer.

The episode on Wednesday evening featured an analysis of the 'democratic' process of the candidate selection in the primaries for the Democrats. I've included a clip below where partner Shirley Schmidt discusses her preference for Hilary Clinton while Alan Shore stumps for Barack Obama. Its quite current, topical and educational. Catch it if you can.

I love its political discussions, its moral debates and how it sometimes breaks the fourth wall, (the first 30 seconds of the Wednesday show actually uses the characters to publicise the schedule change from Tuesdays to Wednesdays). Danny Crane and partners are startled to learn that the weekly firm meeting is shifting from Tuesdays at 10 to Wednesdays at 10 (clip below).
May 01, 2008
20:16
On Nigerian Names
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I've been having an ongoing debate with my girlfriend over the last few weeks about Nigerian names. It started out when I commented that there were more Nigerians in the UK with 'English' first names than there were with their 'Original' ethnic first names. She disagreed as she explained that the majority of her friends use their Nigerian names at work not reverting to any English names. I wonder what percentage of Nigerians retain a Nigerian first name (like Ngozi, Ade and Tosin as opposed to Jane, Kate and Fred) in the working place in the west.
At my very first job interview in the UK, the interviewer had my CV in front of him and seeing Morountodun (well I am an anonymous blogger after all) he then proceeded to ask what my 'Christian' name is. Studies have proven that recruiters tend to prefer to favour applicants with names they can easily pronounce, against applicants that have 'foriegn sounding names'.
Our conversation has since proceeded to discussing potential child names, where I would prefer 'Christian' names for my children, but my girlfriend favours only Yoruba/African ones. I think the compromise will be somewhere in the middle where we choose yoruba names with 'english' sounding abbreviations ie Fara (Oluwafaratimi), Kenny (Kehinde) etc. I wonder if we are compromising...
7:19
Paulagate on American Idol
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Paula Abdul's bizarre behaviour has made her an object of ridicule on American idol for a while now. Visit Youtube and type in Paula Abdul to get a taster of what I'm talking about. Simon and Randy regularly have to bail her out when she gets incoherent, and things got so bad a couple of seasons ago that there were rife rumours that she was being replaced by Jennifer Lopez.

A couple of nights ago Paula did what the likes of Uri Geller and other false prophets have tried to do, she saw the future. On being asked to critique the first round of performances of the artistes, Paula commented on the second performance of Jastro Castro too, a performance that hadn't taken place yet. Paula has offered two conflicting excuses, after being informed of her error during the show she explained that she mixed up her notes and had meant to comment on David Cook. But during a radio interview the following morning she revealed that she had seen part of the dress rehearsal, which takes place about two hours before the live broadcast, and had mixed up the rehearsal and the live performances. Hmn.

See the clip of Paula's gaffe below, its rather funny.

UK viewers can catch it on ITV2 at 8pm tonight.

Paula's eccentric behaviour aside doesn't this remind you of the phone in fixing controversies from the last year?

And if you live in London don't forget to vote today!!!
April 28, 2008
21:15
Naij, A History of Nigeria
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It seems that the Naija Documentary I blogged about last year here is back and its bigger and better. For those who didn't get to see it, it was a three hour film of original footage from Nigeria's history featuring archival footage from Fela (he exposed his buttocks to camera to prove police brutality), Abiola - being interviewed while he was being arrested in the imprisonment that preceded his death, Major Nzeogwu - the day after the 1966 coup where he talks about killing the senior officers while they hid behind women and children. If you have the Saturday to spare, try and catch it on Saturday 10 May from 12.30pm-5.15pm -yes its now 4 and a half hours long, when I watched it last year they supplied free drinks and snacks too!

Film: Naij, A History of Nigeria plus Q & A with Jide Olanrewaju
Museum in Docklands, West India Quay (Docklands Light Railway)
Free entry: first come, first served

For more information see
[www.museumindocklands.org.uk]
[www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk]

Corruption, Mismanagement, Fraud,War are the stereotypical views of Nigeria and indeed Africa as a whole.This block-busting film explodes the mis-education and stereotypes and puts the country we now call Nigeria into context. This is the best film on African history and politics you will see this year. If you've ever asked yourself "why is Africa the way it is?" the answers are here.

Topics covered...
How the British fixed the elections, "Nigeria" does not exist, How Europeans encouraged civil war, The Role and Rise of the Army, The City of London = Corruption Head Office, Creating poverty as a means of control
April 20, 2008
15:23
London Elects
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London braces itself for the elections for Mayor and the London Assembly on the 1st May. While there are officially 10 candidates for London Mayor (including one representing the vile BNP), realistically its really a straight head to head between the incumbent Ken Livingstone and the comedian that is Boris Johnson.

When Boris first announced his candidacy it was a bit like your mate in the pub saying he was going to compete in X-Factor or American Idol, in other words a bit of a joke. In my view this joke has gone a bit too far as all of a sudden his candidacy is being taken seriously as there is a significant percentage of Londoners who have pledged to vote for him as he has a certain 'laddish' coolness.

While I am not the greatest of fans of 'red' Ken, I think he has a genuine passion for making London a world class city. However the congestion charge has impacted upon our lives, it has significantly reduced congestion in central london and is now being used as a model to emulate in major cities across the world. London buses have improved a lot from the days when you had to wait half an hour and 4 would arrive at the same time. And its no great coincidence that London won the race for the 2012 Olympics under Ken.

I used to laugh at Boris's buffoonery myself, as he is irreverent of authority and undoubtedly very intelligent but his style of idiocy I don't need in a mayor. His comments dismissing the Macpherson report, his referal to Tory leadership disputes as like "Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing" and the "piccaninnies" comment makes him completely unelectable for anyone of colour in my book (lets also not forget he had to apologise for condoning an article that claimed black people have a lower IQ).

Make sure you vote on 1 May and enjoy the American style dig at Boris Johnson's candidacy from Youtube below.

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