tansali paparazzi

                                         this year 2010 is not just an ordinary year, it is a year of diversities of great achievements. those dreams  of ours we set out to reach last year but couldn't,  this year those dreams will come to fruition. these days things are really tough all over the globe, the cost of living is skyrocketing each day, so many people can barely feed one square meal a day, people are dying, loved ones missing, especially in HAITI, that was hit by a natural disaster.

                                         in all these we can still be sure to survive, in the midst of starvation, in the midst of lack, in the midst of homelessness, in the midst of terrible pains & sorrows, in the midst of all kinds of diseaster, we can still survive, we can still lift up our heads & shout alleluia. for those of us who can afford to donate something to HAITI the victim of this new year 2010 diseaster should please try & donate towards their upkeep & welfare.

                                   whatever bad condition we could be going through at the moment, we should remember that tough times don't last but tough people do & i believe that this year is a good year & we can achieve our targeted dreams this 2010 & no body, no demon can stop that. for those haitians who are passing through a trying period presently, my heart reaches out to you. be rest assured that the lord will surely see you through & greatly too, different continents have united through this, to lend a helping hand.

                             the world is so scary, but we are assured of the protective shield of the most HIGH, all around us. may the good lord keep us, protect us & guard us through out our earthly journey in this world, AMEN!  

SE NA BY FORCE TO MARRY....... ..?

During a wedding reception; the groom was called upon to give his vote of thanks to his guests and this is what he came up with:

1. I want to first of all thank the Lord Almighty for creating my wife and to also thank the pastor and his wife for lending us their wedding rings.

2. Special appreciation to my landlord who lent us his car.

3. I am most grateful to my boss for approving the loan I used for my wedding suit.

4. Big thanks to the committee of friends for the appeal fund they raised on my behalf.

5. Also to my brother's wife, thank you for lending us your wedding gown and to my sister for lending her shoes to my wife.

)6. Am so grateful to the cake designer for the cake. I promised to return it tomorrow morning as agreed without cutting or eating out of it.

7. Special thanks to my friends who brought food from their homes to help me feed you all. Please for those who were served food good luck and for Those who didn't get any, well we will make it up to you during our child dedication ( hopefully next year.

8. Very big thanks to my parents for bringing the village cultural band to supply the music as well as entertain us all here, today.

9. Not forgetting the church marriage committee, thank you for persuading my wife to marry me.

10. Appreciation to the married men in the church for rushing me into this marriage.

11. The women are not left out, thanks a lot for teaching my wife how to cook and dance.

12. To the youths, thank you for sweeping and decorating this venue with palm fronds.

13. I am also grateful to my teenage friends for helping with the Zobo drinks.

14. Appreciation to my co-tenants for contributing money for the cameraman.

15. Well, I wish you all safe journey and I pray you don't experience what I suffered for this wedding.

Thank you
I TIRE OHH!!!!!

What a wonderful community wedding!!!
NA BY FORCE TO MARRY!!!!!?

PLEASE DONT BEG ME TO MARRY O ,I DONT WANT TO BE LIKE HIM.

If there is anyone that deserves an award for the Artiste-that-has-most-reinvented herself’ it has got to be Uche Jombo!  Uche has systematically worked her way up the hard, arduous road of fame and stardom, improving on her craft and losing a whole lot of weight in the process.  This multi-faceted actress is also a writer and has recently delved into producing films.  She is a Glo Ambassador and recently returned from Zimbabwe where she was a guest of the Zimbabwean Government.  www.nollywooduncut.com (NWU) tracked down this hard working star (where else?) on location and this was how it all went! Enjoy!

  NWU: Hi there Uche!

UJ:      Hi Bola! How’re you doing?

NWU: Very well thank you..let me first of all congratulate you on your weight loss!

(General laughter)

UJ:      Thank you!

NWU:  And youre looking va-va-voom! Care to spill the beans on why and how that happened?

UJ:  Well, I always knew I was a bit on the big side especially around the hips and when we would shoot I would look even bigger on screen so I took the decision to lose weight.  That apart, I also lost weight to be in character for a role in a movie where I play a cancer patient.

NWU: Oh really?  We’ll come to that later…. Word has gone out that you have been going behind the camera executive producing and co-producing movies..would you clear the air on that?

UJ:  Yes, I have executive-produced two movies to date..one is ‘Nollywood Hustler’ which we shot last year and is due for release very soon.  The other is the one we are shooting right now, ‘Holding Hope’ but Im doing that in collaboration with my colleagues, Emem Isong and Desmond Elliot.

NWU:  That’s the one where you play a cancer patient right?

UJ:   Yes.

NWU:  What’s the difference between producing and executive producing?

UJ: Executive producing merely means you are the one bankrolling the film and producing is when you actually get things done like hire the director, cast, crew and generally make sure the production is going on.

NWU:  There seems to be a new trend with actors and actresses these days executive producing films… first there was Stephanie Okereke with her film ‘Through the Glass’ Desmond Elliot co-producing ‘Reloaded’, ‘Before the Light’ and ‘Guilty Pleasures’ and even this film you’re shooting and Ini Edo producing her yet-unreleased film ‘Memories of my heart’.  What is going on?

(General laughter)

UJ:   Well, I can’t speak for my colleagues but I can say that it’s more about me evolving and wanting to empower myself.  Apart from being an actress, I also write scripts and when I would write and sell to some producers, may be due to financial constraints or plain not understanding the story they would end up spoiling it…at least my vision for it so I decided that the next time I have a story close to my heart, I would bank-roll and produce it.

NWU:  And what has the experience been like?

UJ:  Hectic as you can see!

NWU:  Tell us about this film you’re currently shooting… ‘Holding Hope’.

UJ:  It’s a beautiful story…a story about love, one’s faith, life and about cancer.

NWU:  Why cancer?

UJ:  Hmm… I was recently on a flight from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Harare (Zimbabwe) and I met a cancer survivor.  We got talking and she told me her story about surviving breast cancer.  Of all the things she said, what stood out for me was how she was able to live and face life with just one breast. She said she knew her husband loved her but she was apprehensive because he was a man that like physical beauty too but they were able to cope with that.

NWU:  So did you shoot the movie about her life?

UJ:  No..but it was part of the inspiration for the film.  I say this is a lucky script because all the elements that were favourable to it, came together. Coincidentally, when I got back to Lagos and was chatting with my friend (Producer) Emem Isong she said she had just read a sad story about a lady with cancer and wanted to combine it with a script she had had for ages on domestic violence. So I came over to her place and she, her sister Uduak Isong Oguamanam and I plotted the story for this film which we titled ‘Holding Hope’.  When we finished we knew we had a winner. Infact Emem said if people don’t scream, laugh and cry during this film that it is pointless.  You definately leave with something having touched you.

NWU:  So it’s a tear-jerker?

UJ: Absolutely!

For the rest of the interview go to www.nollywooduncut.com

 "The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose."  "What will your children remember? Moments spent listening, talking, playing and sharing together may be the most important times of all."I have never known a really successful man who deep in his heart did not understand the grind, the discipline it takes to win. "I love the man who can smile in trouble, gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. "A strong imagination begetteth opportunity."It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference. "It is dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities that oneself has prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it. "



JIMCOMB

A MUSLIM'S COMMENT 

The bloody Ekiti re-run , the Boko Haram, Hurricane Sanusi, the Eagles-inflicted national hypertension, the exit of Gani, a President-at-large, we thought we had seen it all and had started taking stock for the better-wished-away 2009, few days to its end.

But alas, we had not seen anything! Suddenly came the botched Fahrenheit 12/25, sparked by enfant terrible Farouk Umar AbdulMutallab, son of wealthy banker and immediate past Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Dr. Umaru AbdulMutallab FCA,FCCA.

For the wrongest of reasons, Farouk put Nigeria’s name in global limelight, the level of which only our football has been close to fetching us. Now being described as the ‘Nigerian terrorist’, ‘Nigerian failed bomber’, ‘Nigerian terror bomber’ and other nomenclatures, the 23-year-old Engineering graduate of the prestigious University College, London, suddenly became the 8th most searched name on google and overtook the likes of Kanu Nwankwo, JJ Okocha, Wole Soyinka as the most popular Nigerian ever. What a sad way to earn popularity.

Farouk Mutallab’s case is very saddening and as a Muslim myself, it beats my wildest imagination how such a young man could do that. From the internet postings of Farouk and what family members, friends, school mates in Lome and London, and people that know him in Kaduna have said of him, Farouk’s case is purely a case of misguidance and overzealousness.

Here is a young man that has everything one would crave for – wealthy family, best of education and above all, good looks. Most silverspoons have the tendency to misbehave, with womanizing and drug addiction their common transgressions. For this reason, I personally admire young children of the rich that try to toe the path of piety and religion in the face of intoxicating family affluence. Rather than flashing around his parent’s posh cars in the streets of Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and even London, as is common with silverspoons up there, Farouk took to religion at an early stage of his life, trying as much as possible to avoid women, partying, clubbing and socializing within limits. These are good deeds ordinarily untypical of wards of the super rich, but doing so without guidance, the young man easily fell prey of religious zealots and went into the extreme. What a pity!

I read ThisDay’s Yusuph Olaniyonu’s column this morning (01/01/2010) and these statements almost got me crying for Farouk: “….after reviewing the portrait of Abdulfarouk which has emerged from information so far pieced together about the young man, I became convinced that he is brilliant, well behaved, quiet and serious-minded……..he was interested in his religion but lacked proper guidance” After reading Farouk’s internet postings this is exactly my own thoughts too on Farouk. Unfortunately that misguidance has taken him to the peak of ignominy.

I am not an Islamic scholar, but I have read the whole Qur’an and authentic Islamic texts several times and I have never come across a place where killing innocent souls or oneself is sanctioned in Islam. If anything, both are strongly condemned in Qur’an and Hadiths. It therefore worries me when some of my Muslim brothers perpetrate such fiendish acts in the name of Islam.

Granted that the United States may not be the best of our friends in terms of policies and actions, especially with the support for Israel over Palestine and the unjust invasion of some Muslim territories, I honestly believe some of us Muslims overdo the resentment for United States. Yes, innocent lives may have been killed by American troops in Islamic nations, that, to me, is still not a justification for suicide bombing or any other form of exterminating innocent lives. In Islam, methodology is as important as intention. A well-intentioned action may be spoilt by wrong methodology. Pray, were the 278 Delta airliner passengers and the11 crew members the ones oppressing Muslims?

There are millions of Muslims in America, some citizens, some foreigners. Tens of Muslims have been elected or appointed into government positions in America. Current President Barack Obama has, through his actions and speeches, shown that he is also a friend of the Muslims, despite the risks that come with that in American politics. What more!

I congratulate the American government for the aversion of what could have been a sad reminder of Fahrenheit 9/11, I congratulate the 278 passengers and 11 crew members of the Detroit –bound Delta airliner for being alive to tell their story, I pity Farouk for being misled into such dastardly act, I sympathize with the Abdul Mutallab family, I sympathize with the government and good people of Nigeria for this global opprobrium we are currently facing courtesy of Farouk’s misguided act, and lastly, I sympathize with the good Muslims across the globe as we prepare for a renewed FYM(Flying While Muslim).