So its sunday night and am seating on my desk, and am watching Monsoon Wedding (yes, I do have a small obsession with bollywood) lol, and writing my paper and studying for Geology...yes, MUlti Tasking...such a new concept you know...
but anyways, all this is happening on the screen on the new iMac that Pete so graciously carried to my room....and I had an epiphany. What an old concept yet it sticks now. Those who know me well know am a cynic when it comes to love...yes, especially when its in the American society when people get married at age 18-20 and by the time they are 30, they have gone through 3 divorces...Wat a Joke on marriage...and Love? hello! if you fall in love, how the bloody snorts do you fall out of love so quickly? ANYWAYS!
I was watching this movie, and arranged marriages, and then I was taken back to a call I received from my father yester morning...too early when i was supposed to be sleeping. he claims to have found a man that would be good for me, if I only would get to know him. While I would never dream of being rude to my father especially on the phone, in my mind, I was like the old man has gone crazy. But then after talking it over with a friend, I saw in his sense that he was worried. Here I am, 21, and not any prospects of marriage. The man wants his cows now, so off course hes worried am gonna get married to some poor american and he wont get his cows, so hes gotta act fast...LOL
back to the movie, so as all this is going through my head, am thinking, wow...this is true love. Not the true love in the movies, but Love as we see it alive and breathing. Be able to set aside one's past, and marry a stranger? Oh the very idea gives me chills. Or should I say, am scared. I would like to know what am geetting myself into...but then if I did, i would prolly carry the baggage of he is never gonna change cause hes' always been so and so.
My second epiphany was the idea of family. While am not into kids (love kids to death, but my own...dont think so) I am not so inclined to have my legacy passed from one generation to another. I think am okay in just investing in those children whose parents left them or were just too stupid to take care of their kids.....
but the idea of family...not Hollywood style but bollywood style. I like it better, because blood is thicker than Water...and that is a concept that never dies. The family that goes throught thick and thin for you....I mean its a pain, but a beautiful pain...anyways, I am still chewin on this one, so give me time and i will post on this again

Love Vs Stupidity

Now, I am not a cynic...not really. I could be at times especially when it comes to people who are corny with the mushy feelings...Some of my friends think that I dont have a heart because I dont get all giggly and chatty when a new guy comes into the scene or if the Bf buys them flowers or surprises them. I enjoy buyin flowers for my friends at times, especially when they are down....I do like to throw surprise parties for my friends too...which is crazy for someone who hates surprises...lol. Now dont get all hyped out...this is not a personal blog, but more of my life with some interesting intellectual observations.
So as I promised earlier, I am going to elaborate on the issue of sex and money...sex and media, sex and Africa. Better yet, sex and love. I come from a very different background where, I grew up in middle class Burundi. Then moved to the same in Kenya. When I read books about african women and some socialeconomic issues that make it impossible for women to be independent, I feel a pang of pain and sorrow. At the same time, I feel so blessed because I am bloody independent...prolly explains why I am still single. Back home, I've seen this....yea, women who get into relationships and then in the name of love are abused and even raped by their significant others. they become slaves to that man and off course they are always suspected of cheating so they are beaten even more. Then the absurdity of it all...the men are unfaithful to them and the women know it. Oh Lord have mercy...I will castrate a man faster than he can Say Amen if I ever found him cheating on me, and then expecting me to be okay with it...and then the bastard tries to lay hands on me...yea...not gonna happen.
So its in this independance that I find it necessary to keep my virginity...off course this is faith aside. I am not going to sleep with someone just because they need to be assured of my love for them....I mean, if you cant see it in my eyes and daily actions...then take a hike.
All being said and done, I do believe in the beauty and complexity of love. I do believe that sex is a gift that can be beautiful if its not being used for abuse...I believe in flowers(what woman doesnt?), the chocolates and sweet words...I am a sucker for good romance, but not stupidity.
By now, I have watched enough of Sex and the City, to know that one night stands are not that easy to get over...the media makes it so easy...so easy to sleep with someone and just move on emotionless....haha, RIGHT! please, maybe men are like that, but most women I've met, they are always crying and agonizing about what went wrong and what could have been.
So yea, while my friends to testify to the fact that I lack a romantic heart...I can honestly say, I love it that I have been blessed with a strong back and really hard head...lol
So here is something cute....which moved me really
Gaze into my eyes.
Let me know you'd fight thousands, for my love.
Slip your hand in mine ask me to dance with you tonigh.
Just ask me, for my Love.
I am the "nice" girl you never knew you were looking for....
So yea, I was moved

AIDS vs Women Abuse

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/516sPtW1XdL._SS500_.jpg

I am seating right now in my room holding a book in my hands. For the last five months, I have decided to do two desertations...just for the fun of it, (but off course I end up turning them into my graduate entrace papers). However, as am seating here at 1 in the AM, I feel like I need some sleep, but for the life of me, I cant bloody sleep! So am angry at my inability to sleep...and angry because I feel so taxed already. My inability to sleep is because I keep thinking of the book that I just read. Or parts of it atleast.
AIDS...killer disease, is what they call it in Africa. Being that I am from there, I have made this a personal journey to figure a way out of this mess. So am writing a paper about it, but now I am really mad, because I stumbled upon a disturbing occurence. Women getting abused by men, because they are "in love". ( I will tackle this topic at a later time)...I am not a cynic and I truly believe in love, but when that love is one of the roots of AIDS, then I have a big problem with that. When women are selling their bodies so that they can have a good life, then that is a problem. When a woman is getting beaten by her bf or whoever sugar daddy, then I pity the fool who dares lay a hand on me or my sisters...because this has becomes a health hazard and a big injustice to human rights, then I bloody have a big problem with it. You see, I wasnt surprised as the abuse women get, but the idea that a man can be unfaithful, and expect the woman to be faithful is just not kosher with me...but who cares right? I mean, AIDS is rampant, and it okay?
Drug companies want to develop vaccines. Condom makers want to sell condoms. Churches want to preach sexual abstinence. Politicians want to ignore the frequency of rape, casual sex, and cheating among married people. Individuals want to believe they are safe because they know the people they have sex with...this is the vicious cycle now. However, all these people, want to "help"....maybe its time that Africa stood for Africa.....
"As a woman living with HIV," says Beatrice Were of Uganda, "I am often asked whether there will ever be a cure for HIV/AIDS, and my answer is that there is already a cure. It lies in the strength of women, families and communities who support and empower each other to break the silence around AIDS and take control of their sexual lives." With a vaccine against HIV far off in the distant future (if at all), and with treatment of AIDS in the two-thirds world difficult, expensive, and limited in effect, the name of the game in HIV-AIDS is prevention.

Back!

So it has been a while since I posted. That is probably because I am too busy and I dont have time to catch up with everything that is going on around in my life.
That being said and done, I have been inspired by a friend I met recently to start blogging again, because after reading my previous posts, I find this to be really satisfying after all. Ranting is not wat i do best, but I have my share of rants.
Since the last time I posted, I have changed a lot...in a good way. There is a lot of media descrepancies that i can rant on... plus I might be more informed this time.
Anyways....this is my first blog for the year 2007,,hehe, pathetic but I will try to keep this up

Code (part two)

So after reading and reading that book, I am still not sure that Brown was in his right mind. Now, I am speaking from a perspective of a reader, the book was a bad read. There was no specific theme, there was just confusion everywhere. Seriously, someone needs to tell him that ppple shouldn't play back and forth with pple's emotions like dat. ...(tb continued)

THE DeVInci Code

Ok...this book seriously pisses me off. I mean, publicity and wanting to sell a book has led Brown to deceive pple and in the process destroying pple's faiths. I mean, not only is he a bad author, he is also a liar. What the heck? did he make a pact with the devil so dat he could fool so many pple? well, for now, I will let it go as dat

Film festival

So this is a late post but o well here goes. The Film fest was quiet enlightening. Out of all the films, I liked four particularly. The Chamber, Roommates, Face to Face, The Missing Window. It was so weird watching these films with all the effects and stunts. For example, The Roommates, since I knew the people in it, I was just blown away. I guess having watched Star Wars; I became more appreciative of the movies and the whole visual effects that went into the movie making. Seeing those stunts being done by people that I see and talk to everyday was an eye opener. The sound quality in that film was not very good but overall, I liked the effects and stunts.
I think that editing in films is just one of the greatest things in film making. The fact that in the process of story telling, you can twist and mix, to make a film longer yet be able to make sense out of it. Each film created its own diegetic world, drawing me as a viewer in its form of story telling. Then there was The Chamber where I recognized a myth. The coming of the messiah was suggested when the main character, became the only one, or the two. I was confused until someone pointed out that this was a funny remake of the Matrix (which I haven’t seen)
Face to Face was my favorite movie, not because it had great film making or great stunts but because of the content. I found that this was the case with many of my friends who I talked to. They liked the film because of the content. I however talked to a few who didn’t think that it was that great. We all see different things in a film and what we like about it might be very different. My knowing most of the actors in the film might have also influenced the balance to tilt toward them.
The Missing Window being the best film was creatively made. Albeit it has similar storylines as most war movies I’ve seen but the whole mise en scene attracted me to the characters and the story. The change from present and past, keeping your suspense drew me in wanting to know exactly what happened.

I am not one of them

Retract...third person effect. Romance. Love. Chick flicks....three words that should be associated with my name. I love them. Love reading books, love watching chick flicks. But somehow, I think that it has affected everybody but me. Or maybe I think that my small group of friends who love these romance movies and books are exceptionally different. WEll, what can I say, there is a whole lot in those books that I really don't buy into. Infact, I think they are ridiculous, but the fun of it is that I like reading or watching them to make fun of people and see how ridiculous they can act. LOL yeah for real. I would like to see what happens in my own love life persay, but that is yet to be seen since I don't have an existin one yet. Back to third person affect. I think that I am exceptional from this rule but as we all kno, that aint true. I am not. I just want to believe that I am. Those books affect me as much as media affects other people.
Well, this is my two cents on that and this

Let it be known

Labels have been given to people according to the media they take part in. I could be labeled as a book worm..because I simply luv to read books. I could also be labeled as a soccer fanatic because when it comes to soccer, well I am there with my eyes wide open. so, given that we all give people labels, there is no escape from it. We tend to categorize pple according to who and what they engage in.

Be a Christian...and a Fan?

Today in class matt braught the topic of being a Christian and a fan at the same time. people did bring up some very interesting issues. YEs God IS to be the top of everything. He should not be compromised or be collaborated with anything. As Andrew said in class, the world is God's and everything that is in reflects to Him and Him alone. As I said, I love soccer and I enjoy watching it every opportunity I get. it's very hard for me to pass up a game of soccer especially when i have some time to seat and shout at the TV or the field...GO FIGURE. Oh can't forget, I love Beckham too and enjoy mosly seeing him play. Yes I will collect anything when i get the chance to, but so far, I haven't been deprived in my spiritual life. I believe that worship is in everything I do. meaning that In everything that I do, I do it to my best ability. So if it is being a fan, I am going to do it well. If God so it best for me not to be a fan, and I was straying away, I am very sure, He will find a way to knock me down and bring me to my senses. You know, thinking about God, 24/7 doesn't mean that you are a christian. It's like standing in a garage all day thinking u r gonna be a car. WOn't happen. Being a Christian is about finding a balance. i don't think we should be so obsessive about something that God becomes a one week acquaintance. We should become healthy fans...what that means? I am reading about it

WOW...Slow down Trekkies

Ok...shoot me in the head, atleast that is what was going in my head when i was watching the film. I mean, I thought I was a fan, but I discovered otherwise. Ok, maybe I am fan, but just another kind of fan. Cause that was crazy. I know, I know...third person effect. Yes, I admit it, I think that star trek has messed up those people's minds. Something I can say that beckham and soccer hasn't done yet. I haven't gotten to the stage where I have tons of posters of the rich and the famous soccer players or Beckham's virus(if indeed he has one). haven't gone and designed a website, although...I have my xanga background with his picture. I baught his book, have pictures,( not all over the room tho). Ok...lemme see, I joined an on-line forum on Beckham and Manchester united...and I think that's as far as my craziness goes. Although I would love nothing better than to fly to spain and have a chat with beckham plus go to Manchester and watch my favorite team play. I know there are some fans who have died because of soccer but I don't see that happening to me. I would like to think of myself as a sensible fan who keeps things in perspective...sometimes. I mean, i did get upset when the team that I wanted to win lost and happened couple of times....but nothing serious I am sure

SOCCER...I shall have none other

In class we talked about how a certain text that you are interested in can restrict your identiy with other texts. I find that to be true when it comes to soccer. When it come to sports...there is only three...track and field, Basketball and Soccer( the real football if you will) Soccer being the top of the three. All the other sports are nothing to me, infact I am not very fond of these sports at all. Well for starters, I think that football is for sissies (maybe very dogmatic there) not everybody in the team has to be very fit so...yeah. baseball, i totally don't get and just don't waste my time watching it. I think since like the four years I've been in the US, i've gone to only one game...in Canada ( the blue Jays against Red sox) That was the end of my baseball watching. I don't understand it at all. I mean, I will go to school football games and because I am big on school spirit, i will shout and yell like every football lover, but honestly, don't get it. Same goes for baseball. Tennis, golf, and other sports are just not my thing...and I don't honestly care about them. YES YES...I am dogmatic when it comes to soccer. I think it is the greatest sport in the world...tht's why everybody is good at it..but well that is another story. but then, even in this same text, i am closed minded. For example, the Brazil national team will always be my favorite team. And in my eyes they might as well win all the world cups, then Manchester United and Euro football is my second fav. but I totally do not like American soccer...for reasons that will not be discussed here. IF you want my discussions on Soccer, you will have to go to my other website. cause there is a whole lot of...this and that on football( I mean the real football)

The best or just a market? part two

I like beckham because he can really bend the ball. Some of the best shots that were ever made, can be traced back to him first. Yes, I love soccer, other than maybe basketball, soccer is my first passion. Albeit i don't follow it as much as I used to, but I love it. So the first thing I love about Becks comes from my love of the game. Then off course don't deny the fact that he looks good. Yes, he is very cute. I mean i don't envy Victoria or anything but he is a good looking man, who plays soccer, doesn't drink (prefers water), passionate about what he does, definately dances...what more could a gal want.
He is also a soccer Icon. Even though Pele is the best playa of all time, it's Becks that people recognize first. Dare I say it? Yes David Beckham is a little exergerated. He is over dramatized and his publicist does a wonderful job on advitising him. I mean getting married to a spice gal made him even more popular. I have seen Beckham in all types of label jeans, in suits, his shirt off, yes in even basketball jerseys...American jerseys for goodness sake. What looks good on beckham will look good on you and as faithful fans, we will rush out there and buy it.
So other than that, my para social relationship with Beckham grows stronger as i interact with more fans. We get blogs about him and our friends read them, out of curiosity they want to hear about this Beckham guy and off course being the fan iam, I freak out at first because :who hasn't heard of becks/" but then I get over it and explain to them who Beckham is and then another fan is born. The circle then goes on and on, before you know it, you have a lot of people liking Becks too.

The best, or just a market?

Just the other day I baught the new book of David Beckham. I am so excited about this cause it's Becks. I mean it's Beckham..come on. By just a mere glance at my website <http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=africanqueen78> you will be able to recognize that Manchester United with beckham in it is like my perfect team. He been my favorite playa for a long time. can't remember when I started liking him so much. So then there is the Manchester united fan site, and the many beckham forums that I am involved with. But the funny thing is, beckham is not the best playa out there. I mean, Pele was so much better and right now...I can still count a few playas who are so better that Becks. take Ronaldinho for example, I will wear his jersey proudly because he is really one of the best playas out there. then there is Ronaldi, Ronaldo, Zidane, figo....all these players are good, but the funny thing is, you never really hear or them or have movies about them. "Bend it like Beckham" was a revolutionary film for soccer playas in America, atleast in my opinion. It made beckham an icon, not only in soccer and so many commercials, but in the movie industries. Soccer became a sport that could be talked about in the mainstream media. now back to beckham, you might be really wondering by now where all this is going to. I mean, if Becks is not the best, and he is not really an American, then why the heck do I like him?

The great Pop Culture Arrrrrgggh

Well, thinking that maybe I have underestimated my knowledge of the pop culture...so I took the quiz given by the "entertainment weekly" magazine and thought I had a good chance of atleast getting maybe half or the questions. Well let's just say, if I was trying to get a job in the media industry, I would need to go from scratch. I got like one question right, out of a hundred. Pathetic huh? yeah I know. Now I know why I watch media, and my primary motivation...entertainment. I mean how else would u explain my lack of knowledge? I watch a movie, and if it makes a big impression on me, i might remember a line or two or maybe watch the movie again and again. For example, if there was a question about the NEWSIES, I can pretty much quote the movie. Too bad there weren't any. So how can I move from just being media illeterate to media literacy, (wait...just movies), maybe I should start applying the things we learn in class like having the double consiousness, emerging myself into some semiotic domain/affinity group and make it my business to know what is going on. also be aware of the diagetic world in these groups...wow too much to do? It will take a while

The great Pop Culture Arrrrrgggh

Well, thinking that maybe I have underestimated my knowledge of the pop culture...so I took the quiz given by the "entertainment weekly" magazine and thought I had a good chance of atleast getting maybe half or the questions. Well let's just say, if I was trying to get a job in the media industry, I would need to go from scratch. I got like one question right, out of a hundred. Pathetic huh? yeah I know. Now I know why I watch media, and my primary motivation...entertainment. I mean how else would u explain my lack of knowledge? I watch a movie, and if it makes a big impression on me, i might remember a line or two or maybe watch the movie again and again. For example, if there was a question about the NEWSIES, I can pretty much quote the movie. Too bad there weren't any. So how can I move from just being media illeterate to media literacy, (wait...just movies), maybe I should start applying the things we learn in class like having the double consiousness, emerging myself into some semiotic domain/affinity group and make it my business to know what is going on. also be aware of the diagetic world in these groups...wow too much to do? It will take a while

US??? U sure about that?

So I am at work( in the admissions) and I sport US WEEKLY...and off course being nosy I jump to it and start scrolling through the pages. Then the Dean comes in and he is like what are you reading...aand I am like hmmm Us weekly? He makes a comment that goes in the lines of..So you are becoming like us Americans who are obsessed with Holliwood. Then one of my co-workers makes a comment that hasn't left me to this day..she was like.."you know because as American citizens we absuletly need to know that Demi Moore is having Ashton Kutcher's baby, we need to know that Charlie Sheen and Denise Richardson are separating, and that Jen and Brad are separating" I was like WOW...so these people don't have a life and if they do then it's for the public to see and scrutinize. WHy do we admire them so much? are their lives our business? DO we really have to know what is going on with their lives, and if we do why? I mean they become the heroes and everything in movies and stuff, and the public tries to identify with them. Otherwise, why do we have tabloids? who ever is the publisher knows that celebrities are really looked to..so they will try and give the public all the gossip they can. Media has an influence on us, more directly than we would wnat to admit.

Conglomeration terror- part two

On the other hand, I can't just be so close-minded not to see that there might another side of this story. These media coglomerates might be good for something after all. Although the growth might be unwelcome at first, conglomeration might bring a new experience to these countries. In class, the issue of economy was braught up. I might have to agree to a certain point that this might boost the poor economy in most of the third world countries. It might bring new opportunities that might be otherwise unavailable to these people. Maybe if this conglomeration takes place, we might actually have some of the Ideals discussed in class. For example, there might be a more awareness of international news coverage. Who knows, good does come from evil and this might not be so different. But again, at what cost? What will have to be lost for all this to take place?

Conglomeration terror- part one

Conglometion brings one word to mind..dictactorship, only it's not really of people but of the media industry. Let me take that back, the media is influencing how we think so I gues that it could be some kind of terror there. Being and African, can't help but worry about my ol' continent there. If conglometion comes to an upper scale that it is right now, Africa is going to be taken over. The simplist of media which we enjoy so much there will be gone. Infact, there is signs of that already. Go to S. Africa and the media industries in America are taking over slowly. AOL is already being used by the teens who are becoming obsessed with cyber space. Africa needs a chance to be creative, and if these monopoly companies take over, then it will crush many Ashleys (if you know what I mean) There are those Ashleys who are doing well and putting out their ideas in Africa, but if the companies takes over, that little flame is going to be blown away. The American Conglomerates are becoming a monopoly for the world. This is going to cost the people..it will be forcing them to have values that might end up not being so good. No offence to Americanism, but what will be the point if everyone becomes like American. WHere will the individuality play a role? The issues of abortion, homosexuality and all these conflict issues will become an acceptable thing just because the media accepts it. In my opinion. somethings are to stay where they belong.

usher and the Cross

So its' like 12 and usher's one night concert is on... he is in Puerto Rico and off course any sensible hip-hop lover would sit down and watch it..if only for his moves..sleek. Anyways, I notice that usher's shirt has a cross neatly done on the back of his shirt. ok, call me naive but I was like hmm so he still acknowledges God, however for two minutes, he becomes micheal jackson and the question is which God is he acknowledging. What message is he sending out? cause the next minute he comes out singing " he reminds of a gal" with the dancers almost naked.
He sings the songs and pauses enjoying the power he has on the growd. His body moves and the crowd shouts, he pauses and they breathe waiting for what is next. He is technically selling two of his greatest assets; his body and voice. He takes his shirt off enjoying the shouts he gets from ther women.
Derives the power from crowd.
Then my favorite part, his outfits, especially when he comes out with the Cavaliers jersey, shoes and cap. Then adresses Lebron James. Convergence at best. Wonder how much the Cavs paid for that. Right ther he approves the cavs and off course he likes the cavs everyone likes the cavs. Sometimes we think that we enjoy a certain sport, but in reality, we have been sold that sport without our knowledge. The " I was born in church, here is my cross that artists seel is not very attractive anymore. Sadly, people are buying it.