tansali paparazzi

smile gives the face a beautiful design,
grieve  gives the face an ugly design
laughter gives the face a broadened design
tears gives the face a wet, soddened design.
when happy, we tend to cherish those little things in our lives,
when sad, we tend to forget those big blessings that came our way.

                     For you that is homeless, knowing how it feels to sleep on the      
                     streets, exposed to the colds & whirl wind of the night, be rest
                     assured that a respite is coming your way, knowing that, the fact
                     you have breathe in you, you can still conquer, raising your head  
                     up in pride,  knowing that i care & feel your plight.
                      i say a prayer for you in my heart. TAKE HEART. 
                       

^There could be a crying soul, in the enfold of supposedly love fantasies. some marriages are emblems of burning fire. many women are suffering in the enfold of marriage, though they don't have the heart to pull out, they are being consumed by the flames. they hope for a new dawn  they can't find any where else, except in their hearts. I want to speak to you grieved heart, be positive minded. don't let the abusive words, the slandering you get from your spouse break down your defences. Don't be broken in the face of the torture. Refuse to be crushed, as long as your spirit is still strong, it can carry you to where you want to get to.

^The power of an individual is exibited by the refusal of the spirit to be crushed by any oppression whatsoever. Be strong, have faith, be hopeful & above all be prayerful. prayer has been known to be an antidote to the toughest situation any man had ever experienced in this life. Above all try & be happy, try to carry a smile on your face often. i know it's not easy but put it to practice & before long you'll  master it.
 TO ALL YOU LADIES WHO ARE SO MISERABLE IN YOUR  MARRIAGES.  SOME ONE FEELS YOUR PAINS & REACHES OUT TO YOU ALL. IT SHALL BE WELL OK?

i was going to work this morning, along the path i pass every morning,  i saw a child crying outside a black gate, i passed by, then i turned back & went up to the child, bent down to her level,  held her to myself, looked up to her face & wiped her tears without a word to her. as i stood up to straighten myself, she looked up to me & then gave me a subtle smile & i felt fulfilled that instant. as she waved her goobyes as i turned to leave, i felt proud of myself.
show a little care every now & then.

Nollywood A-list actress, Stephanie Onyekachi Okereke is soaring high at the moment, her flick "Through the glass" premieres at the silverbird galleria is a week and it would start showing on various cinemas in nigeria. She also launched her new website with stunning pictures, here are some of those captivating pictures.....big ups girl! Access the site on www.stephanieokereke.net and view more of the pictures.....

I wasnt sure if i wanted to see this movie, after going through the "Beyonce and Rihanna" trauma but i decided to give this one a shot afterall these days i have been on a jolly nollywood ride hoping for a smooth sail but so far, i just hope i dont sink with this boat oh....

Now back to the movie Shakira...

Written, produced and directed by: Pascal Amanfo

Starring: Mercy Johnson, Majid Michel, Kofi Adjorlolor


Synopsis:  Richie is completely heart broken when he finds his girlfriend in the arms of another man. Everything seems awry till Shakira comes into the picture and then he thought he had found love and they were ready to do everything to cement their love, everything including making huge sacrifices for each other or so he thought but he was in for a big shock.

My thoughts: The whole of part one was wasted on Richie (Majid) drinking himself and crying over heartbreak so the FF (fast forward) button on the remote would come in handy. But when Shakira came into the picture, things normalized a bit, i wasnt sure what did it for me, was it the sex scenes, it was too much, Majid and Mercy were on fire, they almost tore each other apart, and whats with Mercy being completely nasty in this role, i know she is one actress who likes to give her all in every role but sometimes it always seems a bit too much, and you know red wine is good when you have had a considerable dose but too much gets you drowsy and then drunk....

Majid is a fierce actor, that boy is pure talent, ghanawood your boy was on point in this one, he was terrific and i just want to see him in beautiful scripts that are well directed. The movie overall wasnt a bad watch, nollywood wise, it just was in that bracket where i would say it just couldnt be termed so good, yet couldnt pass for so bad either, would i recommend it? For a nollywood watcher, yes! Would i see it more than once? Seriously, except for those kissing scenes, NO!

Dbanj's after concert party on Monday the 31st of August at a posh night club called RSLOUNGE in South Woodford in Essex, United Kingdom (probably one of the few American styled night clubs in London) was very widely attended. People started queuing up at around 12:00 midnight and within an hour there were over 600 people waiting to get into the night club and party with the KOKO MASTER.  The management of the night club were overwhelmed by the number of young people waiting to get into the club and were asking the question WHO IS D'BANJ?

The crowd was a mixture of pretty, classy young Africans, Afro Caribbean’s, a few English and Italians etc all dressed to kill and from the music blasting from the numerous cars parked outside,  ready to party.

Unfortunately both the club management to include security personnel and the promoters were unprepared for the number of people who wanted to party with Dbanj. The promoters out of greed decided to introduce a two tier gate fee system, 30 and 50 pounds. For a VIP table which on normal nights were charged out at 500.00 pounds was now costing 600 and 1000 pounds respectively. To ensure that they clearly milked the tier system, people were left queuing outside for over two hours whilst the first class citizens who were paying up 1000 pounds for the privilege of partying with Dbanj were let in first.

Clearly Dbanj is one of the most talented entertainers in Africa in our time and it is not surprising that the African la crème de la crème in the UK were out in on mass to party with him.

At one point the crowd had enough of waiting and started trying to push their way into the club with only a handful of bouncers or security staff on hand (as the Club management clearly underestimated Dbanj's popularity after all he is African) and the whole thing started turning into a riot, the Police had to be called out.

Dbanj and his entourage drove past the night club took one look at the situation and decided that it was not worth attending as they would have clearly been at risk and rightly so.

So by 3 O’clock in the morning the situation was as follows; over 600 to 700 people trying to force their way into the Club, confirmation that Dbanj was no longer attending, latest Dbanj’s  and  Wande songs blaring from the different cars parked in the car park and the club management wondering what they had taken on.

Overall I think from the pictures below you can clearly see that people tried to enjoy themselves without Dbanj in attendance, the promoters and club management were the big winners on the night as they clearly made a lot of money.

The two lessons I believe should have been learnt are as follows;

1)      As African entertainment gets even more sophisticated and attracting even more talented individuals both in the west and in Africa; musicians, actors, models, comedians etc are now beginning to compete with their black American counterparts and should be afforded the same type of treatment or close.

African entertainers have come a long way and are probably more admired by Africans in Diaspora who don’t get to see enough of them.  Any time there is such an event the organisers should be prepared for the kind of crowd that may show up.

2) There is clearly a huge appetite possibly out of nostalgia for African type entertainment or entertainers, which will explain the numbers that turned out for this after concert party, but one, will hope that promoters and organisers of such events will not take advantage of the situation and be fair.

We live in a different society from Nigeria or other African countries and it would have been best to let people into the club on a first come first serve basis, instead of instituting a class system that ended up almost ruining what could have been one of the greatest after concert parties held in honour of an African Musician in the UK in more recent times and we could have all got the chance to party with Dbanj.

                                                Sylvia Tansali - August 31st 2009