Ok, we haven’t done this for a while, and I know you really want to: I need me some assvice. Should I, or should I not give up our midday naps? The Background: The get home from school at 12:30,...
So I got nibbed. As in my 'beautifully written' story from yesterday got turned into a 'News In Brief'. Here it is the original. Sudan accused Chad of masterminding a shock rebel attack on Khartoum and said it would use... ... (read more)
11 May 2008 - 6th of Iyyar, 5768 Compare this post. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil (Prov 31:11). Today, as I was doing my groceries and thinking about this verse, I figured that since I’m pretty much clueless about men, then if I cannot [...] ... (read more)
Brand new! Mo hits record star IKECHUKWU's video featuring Wande Coal and Dbanj. Not bad if I may say so! You saw it first here on Naijagal. Expect great news this week readers!
... (read more)
Darfur is fighting back ... (read more)
Earlier today the French media outlet .................. ... (read more)
Jesus told them this parable: “This guy’s work did really well and he prospered. And he thought: ‘Now what do I do? This house is too small for me and all my stuff.’ So he decided: ‘I know – I’ll... ... (read more)
Trio Craft "...produces a line of handwoven, handknit and crocheted products using organically grown cotton. Trio’s looms are much wider than most, enabling them to custom weave curtains, tablecloths and carpets, and offer a broad array of beautifully textured products for the home. Trio was established to create employment and preserve artisanal skills, to bring Ethiopian textile art to the ... (read more)
My friend and I were in town today in Bristol after we went to Mass at the University Catholic Chaplaincy. It felt good going to mass. Anyroad, we then decided to go random pub/bar for coffe/hot chocolate. On our way there, we walked past the Waterfront. The Waterfront in Bristol is this street filled with [...] ... (read more)
Forced to pick from the cesspool of Azanian decay the one single social service or infrastructure element which has been most properly fucked up by the jungle-bunny cadres of the ANC would be difficult. But rejoice, for this is about to be made much, much easier!
Descending from the pioneering frontiers of heart transplantation to filthy wards soaked in the stench of human excrement, TB sputum and death has been no easy journey. But Dr Tshabalala-Msimang has been equal to this task. And what a thoroughly brilliant job she has done too. In comparison, our fucked roads and dysfunctional home affairs department are mere trivia. But most would argue that the crime spiral probably still eclipses the utter breakdown of public hospitals by a good amount.
That's about to change, if Cunto Babelas-Motherfucker has anything to say about it. Not content to rest on her laurels, retardo has conceived of a plan to disembowel private healthcare also.
Enter the National Health Amendment Bill, currently inviting public opinion and due to come before parliament in a few weeks. It aims to control the spiralling costs of private healthcare by determining prices in law. On the face of it this is good, no? No. Definitely not.
If Azania was the lekker plek it used to be, half out doctors, nurses and assorted support staff would not be residing overseas. Fewer bodies and greater demand means higher salaries and increased training costs. Paying for expensive imported equipment with 8:1 funny-money doesn't help. Neither does a shit-load of AIDS-infested leeches who may no longer be excluded from medical aid schemes based on pre-existing illness.
Which is to say (to the informed, intelligent reader) that by far most of the inflationary effects on healthcare costs cannot be controlled by service providers. They are the consequence of ill-conceived decisions by the sub-prime IQ's of our government and can only be passed on to end users.
By this newest wunderkind of SA legislative imagination however, all costs arising within the medical sphere can be controlled by our beetroot-touting minister Cunto.
Now there are already thousands of SA doctors residing beyond our borders who left for all sorts of reasons. But these have never before included a direct threat to earnings. Add this to our remaining doctors' existing concerns for their children's futures and families' safety and you have a recipe for a fuck-up.
A poll of over 1000 doctors was conducted last week, regarding the proposed new legislation. Bearing in mind that many have not yet grasped the full potential consequences of this act, check out these results:
Mazisi Raymond Kunene was born in Durban, South Africa, in 1930 [12th of May]. He graduated from the University of Natal with a paper on traditional and modern Zulu poetry. In 1959 he obtained a grant to complete his doctoral dissertation in London. From this point on Kunene dedicated himself to the struggle [...] ... (read more)
read and listen to the man
you will understand
... (read more)
So I was at Somerset House in London yesterday for the live Pangea Day screening. Yay! It was pretty amazing, with intense short films, live bands, celebs and lots of great people. Here are some pictures from the event. My phone is crappy at night shots, here are only a few shots from earlier in [...] ... (read more)
702 Talk Radio (South Africa) are doing a two hour special on Zimbabwe on Monday 12th May 6am to 9am. Zimbabweans who have DSTV can tune in on DSTV audio. Talk Radio 702 is available on both 106 FM and 92.7 FM and on the Internet at this link. Please spread the word and ask as [...] ... (read more)
Kindchenschema:
He’s so cute!
Only thing
Leo can’t do:
Paint a young man
Like a man.
Though he surely could
Paint those hands.
Notice how
In this great work
The beloved
Is being a jerk!
Leaning not …
On Jesus’ chest.
Leo’s John is …
Not like the rest.
Leo chose
To deviate
From the story
And create
Not anyone
Leaning on Jesus,
But to make this code,
You see, to please us.
That big gap
‘Tween Jesus and
The son of thunder
Was Leo’s plan:
You see the “V”?
You see the “M”?
One means “vagina” …
The other “Magdalene.”
Sure, these changes
Challenge intellect;
From such genius …
What would you expect?
Though he failed
At painting men
None could touch
His “V’s” and “M’s.”
More dramatic,
More aesthetic
Sloppy, though.
That’s so pathetic:
Painting frescoes
On dry walls.
All that work
Cracks, peels and falls.
But, you see,
‘Twas his intention —
Great symbolism …
In this invention!
Here, disintegration
Is meant to mimic
Creation’s fall,
To test the cynic.
Anyone can
Sling some paint.
Leo’s goal with
John the saint,
Was to paint
John, a young man,
As a woman
With delicate hands. …
Though John was
A fisherman,
A son of thunder …
That was Leo’s plan.
And kindchenschema
Was so appealing …
Nearly as his love …
Of frescoes peeling!
He couldn’t help
From making cute
That John, divine,
Carefree, aloof.
But wasn’t Mary
His intention?
Hence the “V” and “M”
Invention?
If Leo tried
But failed with John
Where’s the “J”
That stands for Johannes?
And why is there
A “V” for vaginia
If Leo couldn’t
Resist kindchenschema?
Either John is Mary,
So says the code …
But then what answer
Comes from those
Who say poor Leo
Can’t paint young men?
But didn’t his code call
For a “V” and “M”?
Go with Brown
And say he’s Mary
Whom Jesus couldn’t
Wait to marry
As soon as he faked
His death, you see,
He’d be free
To marry Mary
But if Mary is
John all along
Throw out the drawn out
Dance and song!
And don’t defend
With kindchenschema —
The cuteness flaw —
To hide the scheme!
If it’s Mary
With the “V” and “M”
There are not twelve
But eleven men!
And the one who’s missing
Among the men
Is Jesus’
Beloved friend!
Can’t we say
Mary was beloved
And leaned toward Peter
When he nudged her
To tell her to
Make Jesus say
The name of him
Who would betray?
We could … except
Peter says “this man”
To describe Jesus’
Beloved friend.
So now we’re back
To Mary being John.
The “V” and “M”
Therefore are gone.
And John’s is not
Reclining toward
Jesus, that
Rascally Lord,
Whom people say
Was sweet on John.
Is this a code
To base films on?
Aye, there’s the rub,
The simple truth:
Surely Leo
Could paint youths.
Surely he would
Not leave out
The focal point
Of this scene, no doubt.
Was it John,
Who was “this man”
To whom Jesus spoke?
Was John his friend?
“One of the twelve,”
Is what Jesus said —
Implying there was
A thirteenth head!
Well who might this
Thirteenth have been?
Who really was
Jesus’ beloved friend?
What other man
Would be around
This hospitable home
Who might be found?
Well, whose home hosted
This special event?
Might the thirteenth be
A resident?
So who lived here,
Who’s the one who carried
The pitcher of water …
Someone named John or Mary?
Quite right, codebreaker!
You didn’t fall
For the coverup
Of the mural,
Ordered by
An African:
“The Moor,”
Duke of Milan.
He knew this supper
Was held and planned
In the home
Of Africans.
Mary, the owner,
John, her son,
Who’s known as Mark
To everyone.
John Mark was
The thirteenth man —
Painted out
By some great plan,
Launched in the
First century!
To hide the skills
And scholarly deeds …
Of John Mark who
Wrote Mark and John,
Not needing help
From a fisherman —
Peter, the rock,
From Galilee,
Not a man of books …
But one of the sea.
If there is no
“V” or “M,”
If there were
No women …
But a thirteenth man
An African …
Who hatched this long,
Enduring plan?
What ancient figure
From then to now
Could pull this off
And use Dan Brown
To be his minion
To do his bidding
Who lies to us
And thinks that’s winning?
Could be that Brown
Is just a fool
Or one of them
To deceive you,
To deceive me,
To hide the plan …
To hide John Mark
The thirteenth man.
That’s pretty good …
He’s filthy rich.
We played along …
Became his bitch.
He sold us out.
And lied to us.
And we’ve called him …
A genius!
Well, no code
But a coverup …
But much we’ve learned:
How far corrupt …
The ancient plan …
Meant to deceive us …
And all this time …
We’ve been bashing Jesus.
— rcg
... (read more)The Khartoum government has an iron grip on its capital. Machine gun emplacements guard every bridge, major artery and government building. So how did rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement drive into Omdurman, no more than a stone’s throw across the Nile from the capital itself? One of my good contacts in Khartoum said the idea of a strong military centre was nothing but an urban myth. And something about this rings true. In toe-to-toe contests in Darfur the Sudanese armed forces have often come off worst. And probably not all the fighters came from Darfur (or Chad). Some were probably already in Omdurman, according to John Prendergast of the Enough Project: “There were more soldiers on the inside than there were soldiers who ventured all the way from Darfur, which should be very worrisome for the government.” Not just soldiers either. Khartoum is filled with southerners and Darfuri students making up a ready enemy within. But still no-one really thought anything like this could happen - a rebel army simply pitched up in the historic capital and started fighting. As Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square points out: It is scary how quickly this happened. Look at any map and you’ll see that the Chadian border is a long way away from Khartoum. Two days ago, the Sudanese army put out a statement saying that a body of rebels was heading towards North Kordofan – a vast open region in between Darfur and Khartoum. Most people scoffed at the announcement saying it was a clear propaganda ploy to distract attention from the recent bombing of a Darfur school. But two days later, the guns were blazing in our back yard. Over at Sudanese Thinker, Drima reckons he smells a conspiracy… The government knew the rebels were advancing towards the capital days before the attack and yet they did nothing much about it. Seems to me that they might have wanted it to happen because the clear winner in this episode is the government but at this point it’s all just mere speculation. The other rumour doing to rounds in Khartoum is not just that the government turned a blind eye, but that senior officers in the Sudanese armed forces may have colluded with the rebels. That’s a big jump to make but the army relies heavily on Darfuris for its muscle so it is not inconceivable. Whatever the truth, Khartoum no longer seems the impregnable fortress it once was. ... (read more)
Taking regional investments a step further - how are various local listed companies doing on the regional front? January 2008 showed that having a focus on Kenya alone could be an Achilles heel despite it being considered one of the strongest economies in the region. Various listed companies are making pushes in East and Central Africa – however many of these countries are all dependent on Kenyan ... (read more)
This is going to be very awkward for someone. Sudan's state news agency SUNA put out this statement earlier today, offering a multi million reward for the capture of Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) -... ... (read more)
Yesterday I did scarcely anything apart from watch 6 episodes of series one of The Wire (the remaining of the series) back to back. As I watched, it struck me that the show's broader canvas is to convey both the decline of the American Empire and explore the tragedy of African American /white American working class life. The tragic aspect seemed partly Shakespearean, partly Greek (what else of course?). There's definitely a sense of both the insight and blindness each character has about their role in "the Game" - an uncanny blurring between the sense of pre-destined fate and utter ignorance of what might happen next.
Moreover, to add to the texture, the show is not averse to comic counterpoint digressions - witness Herc and Ellis' routines, and the scene where McNulty and Bunk investigate an old crime scene and communicate using only variations of the word 'fuck'. Perhaps best of all however is the language of the show - a whole world of Baltimore slang emerges which creates both a strong sense of place as well as an almost complicit intimacy between the Barksdale crew and Daniel's "detail".
It was gratifying to read the show's creator, David Simon, being quoted in similar fashion (here):
In creating “The Wire,” Simon said, he and his colleagues had “ripped off the Greeks: Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides. Not funny boy—not Aristophanes. We’ve basically taken the idea of Greek tragedy and applied it to the modern city-state.” He went on, “What we were trying to do was take the notion of Greek tragedy, of fated and doomed people, and instead of these Olympian gods, indifferent, venal, selfish, hurling lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no reason—instead of those guys whipping it on Oedipus or Achilles, it’s the postmodern institutions . . . those are the indifferent gods.”
There is more analysis of the show here, including analysis of its form as a 'visual novel'.
... (read more)