August 20, 2012.

Dear diary,

 Yesterday wasn’t so good. Spent most of the day puking my guts out. I still don’t know what it was exactly I ate. It nearly turned out to be a very rotten day but the EPL drama spiced it up. Absolute thrillers all through. It’s nice to see Eden Hazard start his EPL career on a very bright note, even if he’s a Chelski man.  Two assists (yes, I call pks assists too) against Wigan in the opening 6 minutes must really do a lot for his already bloated ego.  He turned out to be the difference between the two sides, although he fizzled out as the game went on. Let’s see how he finishes this season sha. Victor Moses also put up a good showing. Though he was absent for most of the first half, he completely took control of the left flank in the second and Ivanovic eat the grass on more than one occasion. A pity Wigan couldn’t find a goal. They really deserved one.

 Man Shitty-Southhampton. Nice to see the noisy neighbors get a good run for their bottomless purse at their own home ground. That annoying vile frenchie just had to spoil the party again. He scored a beautiful goal to win the match for them. The oil money boys seem to have started the season exactly as they finished last season, doing what is required to win matches. They have begun to show signs of becoming champions- the will of fire to win. The title will stay at Manchester this season, though am not sure which half of Manchester will have bragging rights.

Went through my RSS filters today and got really bad news. Top director Tony Scott jumped off a bridge yesterday in Los Angeles in broad day light. Eye witness accounts say he parked his car and jumped without hesitating (talk about guts). I didn’t know until I read his bio this morning that he had directed a lot of my favorite films. During his career, Tony directed 16 feature films, and a lot more music videos and TV commercials. He was the man behind The Hunger (1983), Top Gun (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Revenge (1990), Days of Thunder (1990), The Last Boy Scout (1991), True Romance (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Fan (1996), Enemy of the State (1998), Spy Game (2001), Man on Fire (2004),Domino (2005), Déjà Vu (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009),Unstoppable (2010).  Tony’s films were action-packed blockbusters, and most of them were box office successes with Enemy of the State being the highest grossing movie in 1990s.

His works also included The Hunger (1 episode in 1997 and 1 in 1999), AFP: American Fighter Pilot, Executive producer (2002), Numb3rs, Executive producer (2009 to 2010), The Good Wife, Executive producer (2009–2012), Gettysburg, Executive producer (2011), and Labyrinth, Executive producer (2012) all for television. He also directed short films including Loving Memory (1969), One of the Missing (1971), The Hire: Beat the Devil (2002) and Agent Orange (2004). Commercials he directed include DIM Underwear (1979), Player, Achievements and Big Bang for Barclays Bank (2000), Telecom Italia (2000) (Starring Marlon Brando and Woody Allen), Ice Soldier for US Army (even the army advertises) in 2002 and One Man, One Land for Marlboro (2003).

For more info, read my last post.

Mr. Scott had a very successful career. Most of his films were successful box office hits. He had money, had a family (3 wives and two twin sons from wife number 3)  and his elder brother was also a director and am sure was loved, admired and respected by many in his chosen field yet he chose to end it all by jumping-off a bridge 185-feet high. Seems success is not all its made out to be.

Blockbuster Director jumps off bridge

English film director Anthony Scott is dead. He jumped off the off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the San Pedro port district of Los Angeles, California at about 12:30 pm local time on  August 19, 2012.

Scott, born in North Shields, Northumberland, in England, and frequently captured behind the camera in his signature faded red baseball cap, is credited with directing more than two dozen movies and television shows and producing nearly 50 titles.

Best known for muscular but stylish high-octane thrillers that showcased some of Hollywood's biggest stars in a career dated back to the 1980s and established him as one of the most successful action directors in the movie industry.

Tony Scott’s started out directing music videos and commercials. His first shot at directing a feature film was the direct adaptation of the Henry James story The Author of Beltraffio for French television in 1975, a project he landed by virtue of winning a coin-flip against his brother. His next film was the vampire film The Hunger, in 1982. The Hunger starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve and introduced Willem Dafoe in a small role. The Hunger had elaborate photography and sumptuous production design, but it failed to find an audience, received harsh reviews by critics, and had disappointing box office sales (though it later became a cult favourite).

In 1985, producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer approached Scott to direct Top Gun. Scott, though reluctant at first, agreed to direct Top Gun. Though the film received mixed critical review, it became one of the highest-grossing films of 1986, taking in more than US$176 million, and making a star of its young lead, Tom Cruise. Following Top Gun's success, Scott found himself on Hollywood's A list of action directors.  He reteamed with Simpson and Bruckheimer in 1987 to direct Eddie Murphy and Brigitte Nielsen in Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987 which also went on to become one of that year’s  highest  grosser. His next film, Revenge (1990), starred Kevin Costner, Madeleine Stowe and Anthony Quinn. Revenge was followed by Days of Thunder starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Other films he directed included The Last Boy Scout (1991) and True Romance (1993) from a script by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. The cast included Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Val Kilmer and in bit roles, James Gandolfini and Samuel L. Jackson. Scott's next film, Crimson Tide (1995), was a submarine thriller starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. The Fan (1996) came next and starred Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin and Benicio del Toro. Scott's 1998 film Enemy of the State, a conspiracy thriller, starred Will Smith and Gene Hackman, and was his highest-grossing film of the decade.

Spy Game was released during the Thanksgiving holiday of 2001. It starred Robert Redford and Brad Pitt and made about 60 million dollars at the U.S. box office. Man on Fire was released in April 2004 and made over 75 million dollars at the U.S. box office. It starred Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken, Dakota Fanning, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke. Next for Scott came Domino (2005) starring Keira Knightley. In autumn 2006, Scott reteamed with Denzel Washington for the futuristic action film Déjà Vu.  Scott once again teamed up with Denzel Washington on The Taking of Pelham 123, which also starred John Travolta and was released in theaters on 12 June 2009. The film was a remake of the 1974 film of the same title starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. His last feature film was Unstoppable, again starring Washington with Chris Pine.

According to Lieutenant Joe Bale, a watch commander for the Los Angeles coroner's office, onlookers saw Scott, 68, parking his car, a Black Toyota Prius on the bridge and then leap into the water below without hesitating. Investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department’s harbor division found contact information in his car and a suicide note in his office. Scott’s body was later recovered by law enforcement from the harbor shortly before 3 p.m. and was subsequently identified as being that of the filmmaker and younger brother of fellow movie director Ridley Scott.

Scott is survived by his wife, Donna Wilson Scott, and their twin sons, Frank and Max.

May his soul find peace.

Made in China: China accused of copying American sitcom "Friends"

China is world-famous for many things; Olympic medals, Chinese food, large population and their manufacturing prowess. And oh, before I forget, they are also world-famous for "copying". In the past, it used to be just manufactured stuff. Now, it seems like they are including tv shows to their list of made-in-china products.

A group of attractive young people living in adjacent apartments, who spent a lot of time hanging out in coffee shops and talking about their lives: the Chinese TV sitcom "Ipartment" is basically Friends in a different language. But viewers are complaining that Ipartment is crossing the line between homage and outright theft, with entire scenes and whole swaths of dialogue copied verbatim from the hit ’90s sitcom and other American TV shows.

China’s version follows the lives of seven friends and neighbors in Shanghai (Friends, for a refresher, focused on the inhabitants of two neighboring New York City walkups). Some of the characters have similar jobs to those in the American version, such as a computer programmer and university lecturer.

Ipartment, which debuted in 2009 from the Shanghai Film Group, has run long enough now that viewers have taken to message boards and Sina Weibo—China’s massive Twitter-like social media service—to allege that entire scenes have been lifted word for word right out of American sitcoms like Friends, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.

The mainland tabloid Global Times says that Ipartment’s producers admit to using jokes from “various sources,” according to The Telegraph, but deny that they full-on copy from other shows, although they have apologized to one joke writer and offered compensation for using the jokes without permission.

The show’s representative says “comedies have stereotypes, like the handsome man, the gorgeous woman, the cheap man and so on. They have that in many comedies. Our creation is not plagiarism, but more a homage to the American sitcom.”

Culled from The Times

Anyway sha. We know say China tin no dey last.

Social Engineering 101 Practicals

On a sultry Friday afternoon with absolutely nothing to do, I had a mad dash of inspiration from a friend that involved a little bit of social engineering.  For those of you who know what social engineering is, rest easy, am not a matchstick man about to regal you with tales of cons pulled off on unsuspecting albeit greedy ,yes, greedy people (No offense, freedom of speech, yada yada yada). And for those of you who don't, please ask Google.

This bit of “engineering” involved setting up an account on a social networking site and pretending to be a siren. A beautiful friend of mine was generous enough to provide photos me with pictures of all sorts (if u get my drift, say amen).

I’ve never been so inundated with requests in my life! Within thirty minutes I had lots of guys who wanted to see pictures of my slutty p@@@y, boobs and hot, wet, tight p****y . Within 3 hours, I must have had close to 100 requests. I*S*Y*N*.  See how guys were so desperate to set P.

In a way, you could call it my glimpse into the world of the average girl. Add that to the number of desperate looking guys who are so looking to hook up and get your number and I begin to realize why so many of them can afford to do shakara. Guys, some of you are trying too hard. Build your game.  Become a better you and the ladies will come. When you are fishing, u won’t catch anything by stirring the water. Set the right bait and wait for the fish. They will surely bite. And don’t be afraid to shut them in the friend zone before they zone you.

And another thing.

So many people are too quick to give out info on things like where they work, where they live, their telephone number, schools they went to, date of birth and family on social media. In these days of psychos, identity thieves and internet scamsters, such information in the wrong hands, could be very damaging.  While trying to impress people or sound cool, DO NOT JEOPARDIZE UR SAFETY and those of your loved ones. Remember, anybody can be anybody online.

Boot Camp Reloaded

The sun rose up beautifully this morning over the eastern horizon just as its always done for the past God knows how many years. I wonder why some people choose to open with these words. I guess its because it sort of lends a feeling of being at peace (yeah, I know its called serenity) to their readers. The air was cool this morning, which is not normal in Bida, and as I watched the sun rise, I couldn't help mulling over the events of the past few days. As those of you who I'm friends with on Facebook will know, I spent the weekend in Minna and Paiko. The distance is just about 10, 20 min drive so its so easy to dash between the two places. I came back to Bida early on Monday morning to resume back in the office and not risk the wrath of my boss.
I left for Minna around 10a.m on Saturday. Boarded a cab at Etsu Yahaya Motor Park. The journey lasted for nearly an hour and was uneventful. At Minna, I placed a call to someone (don't ask and you won't be told any lies) and we arranged to meet. We hung out at George's in F-Layout. The area was nice; clean wide roads, serene (damn! That word again) environment. I was there for a while, chit-chat, yada yada yada. Next, I took another cab for Paiko, the host town of the NYSC orientation camp in Niger State. I've not been to the camp since the day we passed out of there so it was kind of like a homecoming for me. Being there brought back all the memories, well some of them anyway and I couldn't but feel nostalgic about the place.
As soon as I got to camp, I set about locating Emmanuel. On camp, Imx and I were 5 and 6, where you find one, know that the other can't be too far behind. on this second coming, he was the camp coordinator for the Winners Corpers Fellowship (WCF). after wandering abit awhile, I was finally able to locate him at the WCF stand, with his cool afro and wolfish grin that sort of says I look nice, masking his I eat little girls for breakfast person. At the stand, I also met Tolu, buxom beauty, if there ever was one. She looked so much like Cynthia that I had actually did a double-take. Henry too, and a host of other nice people. The WCF crew were a nice bunch and I enjoyed my time with them. Period.
That evening, the Mr. and Ms. NYSC contests were held. Mr Ighalo was the MC, along with this other guy who was trying too hard to impress. The contestants for the Ms NYSC all looked lovely, and if I'd been a judge, I won't have been able to choose a winner. LIE!!! Bare-faced LIE!!! It wasn't as close a contest as that. There was even one contestant who, to put it mildly, was vertically challenged. In the end, the winner was obvious even before the judges announced the results. I've never been one to glorify blonde jokes but some there gave me a reason to believe them. She didn't know what her own surname meant. Imagine.
The Mr NYSC contest was no better. Dumb guys and a short one too. There was this particular guy i though was going to win but he didn't. He was tall, handsome, good diction, excellent answers and all. In the end, a beefy looking guy(not muscular o. Beefy. With a slight beer paunch) won. I wasn't too surprised though. The chief judge could hardly construct one English sentence without lading it with enough mines to make Angola and Sarajevo seem like a nursery school play pen.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. We slept in Paiko that night to the serenade of frogs and the kisses of mosquitoes. I had to wake up and wear my socks in the middle of the night when I could not take the sucking any longer. Service was held in one of the classes in the morning (don't ask me about baths and all). Saw Busayo for the first time that morning and her face with the Brandy-like smile stuck in my head (am saving her for later). The preacher was the immediate past president of WCF (G-Papiose) as they call him. He worked up quite a storm, figuratively speaking. At one point, I was fearful for the ground, such were the urgency and power in his steps that I feared that by the time he finished, the floor will have been cracked. After the message, the president came on and made the usual pitch about you-know-what (and I'm not talking about an altar call). Some felt obliged to come out after several calls. And I'm dropping the rest of it. After the service, we had a photo-shoot session then left for Minna.
Minna is a beautiful city. Has nice views too. Went with Imx to his crib. As usual, there was a power shut-out, outage, shortage or what ever. Imx slept off as soon as we got home but I watched a movie for a while before I also succumbed to the arms of lady sleep. After about 3 hours of deep sleep, I woke, had my bath and ate brunch. That day was coincidentally Ebere's birthday (He's a friend from school) and we went to his house. Sanmi Oro was also there and they regaled me with stories of Mr Orotic Aciduria. It was all fun and we later left for Paiko again.
Uneventful as usual. That Sunday also happened to be graduation for Peer Education and Training (PET) and they held a rally. The bonfire night was also held that night but we didn't stay. We just caught glimpses of it. We left for Minna about 10p.m and got home around 11p.m because we branched at Yahuza to get dinner. Imagine beef suya and Yoghurt for dinner. A flex gan o.
I'd planned on leaving early the next morning but I woke up late and didn't get to Bida at just about 8. Barely made it to work on time.
That Monday, pay rolling for NYSC opened and we had to head to the NYSC secretariat again. On my way to the secretariat from home, I happened to witness part of the last rites processions for an islamic burial ceremony. It made me pause for reflection about the ultimate end of every man. From the secretariat, I went back to FMC and witnessed another body just as I was closing. Small wonder I had nightmares that night.
Nuff said.
Check out my facebook profile for images on the camp and batch b hosting in Bida. www.avidmaverick.facebook.com

BOOT CAMP!!!

October 26. Ma first day of NYSC orientation camp. I really enjoyed the journey though it was crazily long. Imagine about 8 hours in a bus wiv zero leg room, no a.c, no dinning room, no bedspace...... Oh! Must have dozed off. Did I say bus? Anyway, apart from the terrible road, the journey was uneventful.
I saw the Niger for the first time and what a site it was!!! Simply beautiful to behold. Anyway, got to Minna, the Niger state capital around 3 o'clock. Emmanuel went for a haircut and we set about trying to find a cab to take us to the orientation camp in Paiko.
Paiko was interesting. Apart from the first day's mad rush with registration and stuff, it was ok. Wake up at 5:30, stand in a cold field till Nigeria wakes up at 6. Jog, do borin stuff, yada, yada yada.
Camp was fun sha and looking back now, I wished I had blogged it all. Mammy market, babes, guys, booze, MDGs training and all of it. Really had fun. Till next time.

Encore

Today's Sunday.
The first day of the week.
The last day of the weekend break.
It's also the last day of February.
It happens to also be my baby sister's birthday. She was born on a sunday, many winters ago on the last day of February. So today's her real birthday.
It's been quite awhile I blogged last; not because global warming has caused drought, nay, global warming hasn't toasted my neurons yet, although the heat of the past few days has often left me wan. Rather, a recent downturn in the economy, leading to a loss of projected earnings for the first quarter of the current year, necessitating corporate downsizing has impacted negatively on my ability to add new posts. In English, adsense hasn't responded to my application, so I'm on "strike", if you can say you are on strike when technically, you weren't appointed in the first place.
But since then, I've decided that even if adsense doesn't add me, I'm still gonna blog. I've spent the last several weeks scouring sites that offer free novels. I've devoured the creative commons policy, examined the gutenberg project. I've scouted wikihow, wonder-how-to and so many other sites dedicated to being human- stretching a helping hand everywhere.
I'm so overwhelmed by the sheer number of these site and the kind of advice you can get on these sites. I've learnt alot from these sites; things about school, how to be a better person, even how to be a gold digger, though I haven't found an avenue to turn that knowledge to power yet.
I know this post reeks of the same breath of my last post, that's why its titled encore.
But being a proper Yoruba boy, I believe you can never say thank you enough. I'd like to appreciate all the wonderful people in charge of these sites, the hosts, webmasters, authors and everyone connected to these sites. I'd like to also say a special thank you to people who contribute to these causes, people who give, no matter the amount to maintain these causes.