Cryptic

Mosquitoes and other things

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Hurray, its world malaria day again and the organisation which i work for in their usual sense of social responsibility have once again rolled out the banners and organised seminars to warn us about those pesky insects. I joked with a colleague that i didn't make the seminar since i already had more than bites to teach me the harms of the things. After ignoring the warning signs for some weeks i finally bowed to reason and started myself on some malaria treatment (self medication again). But come to think of it i cant imagine malaria being wiped out of my street talkless of Lagos with the various piles of trash waiting for LAWMAs pickup, stagnant pools of water and poor hygiene by people who are more worried about getting a next meal than basic sanitation(not on my street though). For me i am trying not to watch TV and get the latest installment in Nigerian political tomfoolery - Ekiti 2, and also the usual dose of the ironic and comedic from the great SAN Ando.... who's tripping around in the hunt for buried treasure in Switzerland and the Americas. And to make matters more interesting after the reappearance of the V-brothers years after their initial persecution they've been expelled from Naija on tax issues midway into a trial on related events. As if we did not have enough to deal with Malaria

Back again and underayted

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:16:00 +0000

Whenever i don't blog for a while, the feeling i get is that there goes another dead blog. Its not that my life is incredibly boring (just a bit), or i have nothing else to blog about, its just that i am honestly lazy about it. True i have work and all, to deal with but it only takes a short while to get the thoughts of my head to this page.

Underayted
Ever since i heard the 'carry dey go' track sometime last year i have been looking out to hear the new Darey album and 'not that girl' didn't do much to quell my impatience for the entire package.
For some weeks now, i have been chasing around street hawkers and my personal CD suppliers, (Previously i used to go to the New metro stores before they disappeared and silverbird took over) trying to get the CD , and this picked up added importance when i heard the album had finally been released. I managed to get a copy from some road side hawker on Allen and rushed home to listen to it. After listening to the CD, i felt like an addict who didn't purchase enough crack to get a high (i am a Darey fan) . I don't think the album measures up to the pre- release hype and about from the earlier mentioned songs only two others met the same standards.
Not to take away from the other songs but they didn't have the wow effect and they reminded me of a comment made about Darey some years ago on the Project fame competition by some judge, about him sounding like a bar/lounge singer and him having to do a lot more to move his talent to that A-level.I agreed with part of the comment then, but i thought it was just a matter of time. In some of the song(carry dey go for instance) he portrays his extensive vocal range and musical talents- highs, lows, musicals which puts him miles ahead of most artistes locally and internationally, but i didn't this this is successfully replicated throughout the album.
I really think he needs to find a balance between the R&B/soul flavour and hip-hop to hit that album of the year levels and be a bit more adventurous with his choice of artistes for collaborations.

Ahhhhh....

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:57:00 +0000

The days not over yet, but i already feel a sense of despondency and loss.Don't worry, its not human life, its only football. I actually had another theme up for discussion for today but after the game, i am all worn out and dumpy like a used up tea bag. I am already beginning to feel the heat as my phone hasn't stopped buzzing since the referee ending 90+minutes of torture. I am probably going to use the opportunity to wash my Jerseys as for once i cant find the courage to wear them out. It's just like someone put a buzzer to my joy when i saw the scoreboard Manutd1- Liverpool4.

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.”- Bill Shankly

Remember the movie with Mel Gibson about what do women really want and a guy who could hear the thoughts of people with a flair for women. Some times,i really wish i was that gifted. I've had my share of misses and near misses, chicks i liked that i didn't have, chicks who liked me but didn't tell, chicks who liked me and expected i liked them back as well as all sorts of relationship crap. It's a test of skill trying to keep this up as well as an emotional quagmire as it seems to get more complex with each dip. I can only think of dont's while the do's,don't ever seem to walk. You want them to be interested but not too interested. you want them to show some care but not overwhelm you with it and all that.
Then there's that stupid question part even when you are not dating them 'where are you?' . Like its any of their business. It's not the question itself, but the tone in which it is delivered, as if you own them some explanation or had some prior engagement with them. Its a mix of a guilt trip and trick question. Then there comes the lack of communication.They assume you are generally clairvoyant and you are forever tuned to their channel, meanwhile they have a bunch of back up plans. Its just plain confusing. The really pitiful part is that it adds some variety to life

Music and me....verse 2 (or something else)

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:21:00 +0000

One of the beautiful things about working in Lagos , is how time goes by quickly especially when you spend a chunk of it in traffic commuting from the Island to the mainland and even within the island. The flip side is that if you are like me who uses the staff bus or catches a ride with colleagues occasionally you do not have a choice than to listen to some program or the other on the radio. A popular choice these days is the Lagos Wazobia fm . I have to confess that though it is fun to listen to i tend to worry about some of the flipsides of an all pidgin radio station. For one while it's nobodies business apart from your own when adults spend the entire day listen to bad/pidgin English, for a primary/secondary school student it would have its repercussions in a society that has accepted English as its lingua franca.
My other major concern with this station and some others is that it encourages some mediocrity within the music industry. While i have enjoyed listening to music which would not have gotten airplay on conventional radio stations,the majority of the local content music is especially on the chart show (this has a particularly unique concept- There's no climbing, you can only be on it once and then you're out) is characterised by poor production, poor lyrics and poor content.
While understanding that these happens everywhere on the face of the earth, i would hope that local musicians aspire for more than the underground beat and do something that just wows everybody.

About 3-4 years ago, a friend of mine bought some tickets to a comedy concert where a dreadlocked Nigerian female guitar playing musician graced the audience as one of several artistes sidelining the show. The audience was largely non-committal on the music and my friend wasn't left with much of an impression. Fast forward 2 years and the artiste is revealed as Asa, one of Nigeria's better known musical exports.I must confess that i am a FAN, and that i had to chase up some Alaba based sales people to monitor the market for a copy of her CD, which i finally got one lucky sunday morning. At my last check Asa has two CDs in the market one released by her former Nigerian label- Questionmark (There's a story to her exit) and the other by her current label( remarkably both contain some of the same tracks). I must confess i have both locked on in my ipod and have spent hours listening to them side by side. While the Questionmark effort is gritty and could pass for a pseudo acoustic recording with attempts to sell Asa as a reggae com artiste, the other one is more refined and has it's great sides with the studio feel, all the instruments in shape and all that for me its been challenging picking a winner between both efforts. The telling point for me is that even the locally made first effort by an almost defunct label was good because of the lyrics, attention to detail, rhythms as opposed to the largely video generation.

PS: The nominations for the hip hop awards 2009 are out you can catch it on http://www.bellanaija.com/2009/03/10/hiphop-world-awards-2009-nominees-announced/

Music and me, Verse 1

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:18:00 +0000

For as long as i can remember, i have spent all my life listening and enjoying music. Music of all languages rhythm's and genres. Without a doubt, i think Man's ability to capture life's experiences, ambitions and hopes in the form of lyrics and sound is one of his defining factors.
I live in Lagos which is definitely one of the busiest cities you can come by in the world, and daily i get replenished and assaulted in due measure by various sounds recognised by its inhabitants as music. But i always ask the question which has defined a unanimous answer; 'what passes as good music?'.
In some fashion, i have followed the music industry in Nigeria and have noticed what appears to be a growth in the last 5 years. We now have the multi-millionaire artistes with the bling, expensive vehicles, beautiful chicks and all the other trappings, but the musical content in itself has remained a mixed bag, In the early to mid 90's and before we generally had poor videos, poor studio quality but good/ great lyrics and good artistry, now we largely have good videos (lots of soft/hard porn), better studio quality, poorer lyrics and poorer artistry.
While this is not a comment on the entire industry, it is what prevails as how can you defend a song like 'fokasibe','konga', 'enter the place' and the likes in comparison to 'rat race', send down the rain','one love', 'ozigizaga' etc. While some of these songs were made by the artistes who defined the era the comparisons with some of the present day chart busters is just to highlight that indeed it is not so much that the music of today is bad, but songs of that type would not have made airplay then as they do today. Which begs the question is it us the listeners or them the artistes who have declined in quality. Do we prefer the lewd/empty and non-artistic 'fokasibes' or do we want to be transported to a level close to perfection when we search and listen to artistes who will attempt that journey too.

2009 and counting

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:50:00 +0000

Its officially my first post this year and its born put of a wish to scream and yap at someone.
I've officially become a movie goer and its become the highlight of my personal social calender. I have also started frequenting one of the movie theatres in Lagos, close home and it doubles (almost literally) as an entertainment center.
I had a go at the movie 'Notorious' today. Its a biography of the late Christopher"Biggie" Wallace and is supposed to show his life (all 24 years of it), his love(s), music and death.
The producer did great work, kept it short, emotionally transfixing, funny as well as revealling the late biggy as a mix between a victim of events and an unwilling bystander to events. The movie brought back pictures of the mid to late 90's when the east-west rap wars where alive and the stars of the wars both brutally lost their lives at the ages of 25 and 24 right in the middle of it, leaving loved ones behind and ,making a lot of money for producers and label owners as well as their heirs.
A catching part for me was the clash in trying to be a responsible man as well as being overwhelmed by trappings of fame and wealth as experienced by Biggie and how his friendship with Tupac was ruined by an unfortunate series of events. Its a nice one to see, especially if you listened to the music.

PS: My enjoyment of this movie was almost ruined by the sight of several kids in the hall, for a movie with several adult scenes. I think parents should take responsibility to check the ratings of movies to prevent their kids from viewing this type of content and cinema owners should state the ratings clearing close to the purchase points to help

Back Again

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:17:00 +0000

It's been a while since I hit this page, it's really not been the absence of a creative need to express myself, but i'd rather blame it on the phenomenon called facebook. FB as we like to refer to it has moved from being one of those sites to something that reflects the entire essence of the internet.

I'd leave this topic till another time and reflect on what has and has not changed since my last post. PHCN obviously hasn't, the house of reps and its partner in probes, the senate haven't either. Neither has the state of our roads the state of our education, etc. So I guess, everything is all right.

The latest thing is the teachers strike, drawing attention to our already battered education system. I watched with amusement as the ministers of education and works , repeatedly directed the NUT to call off the strike and dialogue with the different state governments. This statements for me reflect the insincerity of the government to solve this problem that definitely goes beyond wages and salaries.

Although i am a supporter of keeping to the tenets of democracy, we already have an idea of what the states will do, i.e. cry about their inability to meet the financial demands of the unified teachers salary scheme, which will result in a delay in resolving this ongoing impasse.

Most times we dwell in our apparent inability to change anything as individuals and dwell in self pity and engage in helpless banter to find others whose situations are as bad as ours.

The challenge is then to think about it , plan it and do it.

Jobs jobs jobs 1

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:29:00 +0000

If you've ever asked yourself what the perfect job was, it would probably be one with little work and plenty pay, preferably. In my neck of the woods this would literaly translate to some oil and gas job.
Some weeks ago i asked myself after a days work, 'if the shoes were on the other feet and i was my employer, would i pay myself what i presently earned as a salary'. This was a difficult one to answer, so i decided to throw it open to some colleague's. I got some interesting anwers to the question as one or two stated immediately that they could not, another actually stated that he could only pay a third of his current salaryand put the rest to better use. This answers were a result of self examination based on daily input and exercetions on the job as against their impact on the actual job.
Some days back i watched a snippet from Fela Durotoye (speakers corner, VIP consulting) where he spoke on the difference between earning a salary and making a difference daily by adding value and why the latter was more important for the nation to develop. I agree strongly with that principle as many of us today have fallen into the trap of appearing at the office and not actually attempting to improve our quality of work or add value to our jobs.

Hello it's another weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:48:00 +0000

Woke up this morning feeling the usual urge to spend more time with Georgie.. (By the way i'm male and Georgie is actually my bed,Yes it has a name) unfortunately i had to resist the urge as i had an appoinment for 8am.
Sadly i do not have a vehicle and have to navigate Lagos using the okada's, danfo buses and now the newly introduced BRT's. This has left me dreading Ikorodu road whenever i have to go out. Despite the unmistakable dangers (and exhilirating feelings), i usually employ Okada's as my preferred transport means, but alas this are a red flag on major roads and over very long distances.
Over the last two weekends, i've had to face the body and mind numbing experience of spending several hours in traffic, reason being that all vehicles have been restricted to using only two lanes instead of three since a single lane has been restricted to the BRT's and more most exchanges its like pushing large balls of pounded yam through a straw,it will eventually go through but it takes time and lots of patience.
This is not totally condeming the BRT's, they are rather nice to look at presently and its good seeing lagosians observe the 'normal' rule of queing for service instead of rushing like demented individuals from an apocalyptic movie but it also has several pitfalls too.
I have decided not to dwell on the problems, (i guess a simulation was never carried out before introducing this or the governor might have had nightmares about this). but will attempt to suggest some improvements.
1. For vehicles plying the Estate -V.I stretch and other commercial routes, the buses should move at scheduled times, wether or not they are filled up. This will encourage workers on the to employ this instead of having to drive to work, as they know that if they get to the bus before 6am, it will depart at that time and they will arrive at their offices on time too.
2. Insisting on stringent employment rules for drivers to prevent the program becoming a rehabilitation tool for unemployeable danfo and molue drivers.
3. Insisting on regular inspections and maintanance of the vehicles to prevent a repititon of the City bus, Labour bus and LSTC bus models
4.Exploring other transport channels to reduce the impact on Lagos roads.

Our democratic journey

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:58:00 +0000

The bell has tolled again on the regime of one of the (s)elected governors. The silver man himself has been removed from office joining his counterparts from Rivers,Kogi etal electing him as the 12th member of the disputed governor club.
Thumbs up to the Nigerian judiciary for another removal; on the flipside we still have the Professor still presiding over INEC and judjing from the happenings at the abuja bye election and others, the man, his team and the politicians have not learnt a thing yet and its still aluta continua as they attempt to impose their chosen candidates on the people.
Providing an addition twist to the unfolding story, some members of the Bayelsa house claimed to have impeached both the senate president, who was supposed to replace the governor in an acting capacity, and his deputy who would have taken over from him in the instance when he is unable tio assume the position and instead elected their own candidate as speaker cum acting governor.
While this scene acts itself out, our brothers in Zimbabwe with the worst rate of inflation in the world still await their election results days after the election which reportedly resulted in the incumbent Bob Mugabe being beaten by the opposition after over 20 years in power.

All's well...not really

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:41:00 +0000

Had a dissapointing day really, but had to embark on a self motivational trip after lapsing into hours of self depression.
Its funny how difficult it is to swallow your own bul****t especially when its close home.
Back to my Malthusian quandry when i am gone and buried, will my descendants be able to cope under the pressure of the teeming masses. It's an uphill task as i think about it.
Any way our president has set out for Germany to see his doc again as he appears to be suffering from an allergy. I hope he turns a more critical eye to the health sytem when he gets back as even i ( Lagos big boy) will find it difficult to go to communist cuba for a heart sugery.
Some months back i recieved what was referred to as a performance bonus which was made possible due to the financial growth of my organisation within the financial year, so i was a little bemused when i heard about the Health ministry's bonus payment to top officials as it would be hard to imagine the criteria for such, because like most of my compatriots i am racking my head to remember any noticeable growth within the last decade in the sector

All's well that ends well............

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:50:00 +0000

In a good mood this night, although i have to catch the bus again in some hours, reason being that we( in this i refer to Manchester United) beat arsenal once again to get a step closer to the title.
On a more serious note however, while thinking about my classes (also for tommorow), i was pondering the malthusean theorem.For non-economists this simply relates population growth to resource management and implies that while population grows at a geometric rate.
i.e a * b*c * ...., resources to take care of the population will grow at an arithmentic progression a+b+c+.....; this eventually will bring us to a point at which the population will outgrow resources. Although eventually technological advancement has gladly reduced the impact of this theory, it brought me to another theory which unfortunately concerns myself and many of those who i mix with.
Imagine this scenario, thirty or fourty years from now, my children and yours whom due to our levels of exposure and our desire to provide them with the best of opportunities we have kept to two or three (in extreme cases) are all grown up and on the other hand the children of the present low income and poorly educated whom in the absence of leisurely holidays and other distractions have continued to produce offspring in droves are also living side by side in the same communities. Keeping the present poor states of social infrastructure and support systems, there will be serious pressure on the educated ellite to provide sustainability for the poor uneducated mass(the vicous cycle).
This is akin to the story of the wealthy man who wakes up one morning in his well guarded mansion only to find his neighbours from the community fetching water from his swimming pool.
Scary aint it.

Weekend Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:16:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Its quite representative of the situation in Nigeria, that the background of my blog is black as there is rarely any hope of getting electricity these days from the infamous PHCN.
As much as i'd rather not have the power situation as a recurring topic, its rather hard to ignore.
Well to happier things, i was at what appeared to be a societal wedding in which some guests could not gain entry to the hall as it was overcrowded and one haughty lady actually suggested that some guests in the hall be asked to vacate the hall to allow her and her mates entry.
However its a pointer to the fact that at most weddings the bride and groom really have no idea about most of the guests who have gathered to have a nice meal and probably feast their eyes and in some cases do not care a hoot about the health of the couple.
No apologies for not being the most accomodating but id rather prefer the presence of my closest pals and family to the entire neighbourhood at that moment; while i long for the sweet escape afterwards of my dream honeymoon.
Talking about marriages i always wonder if we dont forget its a lifetime agreement thing and the wedding day is just day one. Theres the pots and pans to think about the house, the thought of having to compulsory share your bed, thoughts, space and life with one individual even when you dont want to do so.
The many nights of not being able to hang out with your pals without having to explain to anyone why, the annoying where are you questions that become commonplace, in this arrangement and all the other little pleasures of life (the hot akara from the joint at the street junction, the quick bites at friends places).
All these have to be sacrificed for the "old ball and chain"( literally the gold band) at that point and the mockery of half the world having a ball at your translation from boy to hopefully a man of some sort.

I need power

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:40:00 +0000

इट्स late friday night, i am home and on my latest distraction blogging.

I am actually a twice failed blogger and hope to keep this up longer than my earlier attempts.

Unfortunately i cant spend as much time as i would like due to the fact that PHCN refuses to supply myself and my fellow countrymen electricity and due to the public holidays last week, there appears to be a fuel shortage in Lagos, which implies i'll have to shutdown my generator set any moment from now.

Its actually been an eventful week, with two worldbank vice presidents flying into the country to give testimonies at a senate judicial sitting which has overtaken even the south american tele novellas in viewing audience sizes over the past weeks. In what is reminiscent of the Oputa panel sittings, we have once again been enlightened on the rot in our political and economic systems and the disregard for procedures and processes, ironically by those who have championed them.
Though the current speakers have been entertaining enough,we wait hopefully on the panel to call upon the great Baba for further insight into the drainpipe that is the power sector as i am racking my brains at how to record the proceedings and package them in vcds for sale as they already make interesting watching.
I can only smack my lips in anticipation of the verbal salvos that will ensure if the panel attempts to do this and the ensuring drama if they do succeed.
Till then happy viewing as they say in the cinemas

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 14:29:00 +0000

I'm back

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 13:04:00 +0000

its 9 months gone and my heart goes out to all the NYSC corp members who have to serve their father land in this bad weather.Its been raining cats and dogs, but the rest of us have the Obasanjo and Atiku debacle to keep us warm. Its nice to know where taxpayers money goes to, and how Baba and some of our "elected"officials cool off after a hard day at work. My tot is why doesnt Baba just do like the Swazi King, who marries them all and has in fact lost track of the number of wives he has. Next time you are apprehended by the police or any authorities for commitiing any crime your standard defence should be you are not alone as there are others also doing it, it would be a good measure to name one or two names too. Its cold, im single and i live with my parents. What a way to spend the weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Chimanu) — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:59:00 +0000

It took a while before i finally settled on the name for this blog.My previous attempt at being blogger was rather tame as i ended up running out of steam at a point. I was tempted to rub my ego once more by choosing a name quite close to me but finally agreed on "KILONSELE" which when spelt and pronounced rightly in the Yoruba language means what is happening, which is a question i seem to be asking myself especially these days. I doubt that question will ever be answered comprehensively, so i hope in that vain that this blog will never run out of content and off course readership