Last week, someone retweeted some ridiculousness into my Twitter feed. No need for me to set it up, take a look at the nonsense: THIS CAN’T BE LIFE.
Category Archives: Identity
Please Help Save ACLT
The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) is in trouble. You can read all about them and the work that they do here, but what is even more important is that you help if you can. You can do so in a number of ways, but the easiest methods are to: Text ‘ACLT’ to 70300 to [...]
Also posted in Health & Fitness Tagged ACLT Charity, Best Of British, Black People, Charity Leave a comment
Black Fridays: What’s Race Got To Do With It?
I read a fantastic piece on Jezebel several months back, written by Danielle Belton of The Black Snob. The article was about the tiers of commercial celebrity gossip which exist within mainstream media. Citing the then-recent Alicia Keys/Swizz Beats nuptials, Belton explained why the mainstream media did not mention the controversy surrounding their union – [...]
Also posted in America, Black Fridays, Music Tagged Black People, Childhood, Labels, Music, Music Videos, R&B, Race, The Opposite of Joy, WTF 6 Comments
Another plug…
Excuse the giant French horn I’m tooting, but I wrote a thing for The Guardian about Nigeria being the most optimistic place on earth. No, seriously. You can read it here, chums.
Also posted in Nigeria, Work Tagged Africa, Nigeria, The African Experience, The Guardian, Writing 4 Comments
On Being A Bit Poor…
For all the things that life can be, what it ultimately is, is relative. Whatever you are and whatever you have can only be measured by what somebody else is, what somebody else has. So, if you have £100 in your pocket, there’s somebody out there with £101, and there’s another with £99. Your position [...]
Pretty Is As Pretty Does
As seems to be the custom nowadays, I find myself watching telly with Twitter by my side. Last Wednesday, I settled in to watch Ugly Betty – which totes re-hit its stride just as they cancelled it – and watched as Betty met and eventually dated a very handsome playwright, Zachary Boule (Aaron Tveit). After [...]
Also posted in Society, Television Tagged Beautiful People, Comedy, Feminism, Men and Women, Telly, Women 4 Comments
Virgin Territory
After a lifetime of taking my life lessons from the big screen, I’ve learned that losing your virginity is fun. On the metaphorical journey of losing one’s innocence, you get to bond with your friends, perhaps even go on a road trip. A lot of the time ‘crazy’ misunderstandings happen, leaving you in embarrassing situations, [...]
Also posted in America, Movies, Society Tagged 'Lady Things', Film, Men and Women, Movies, Sex, Virginity on Film 5 Comments
A Quick Thought on The Royal Engagement
In the run up to and even after the wedding of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson, my sister and I would put white pillowcases on our heads and pretend to walk down the aisle, taking turns to be each other’s bridesmaid. It was 1986, and we lived in unenlightened times. Amidst the frenzy that overtook [...]
First Night: The Family
I loved The Family. Seriously, check my Twitter feed – I live-blogged the whole thing. The first episode centred around the 60th birthday of dad Sunday and all the things that revolve around such a momentous occasion. In this case, there was the baking and icing of several cakes, preparing for a special church outing [...]
Also posted in Family, Humour, London, Nigeria, Television Tagged Best Of British, Black People, Family, London, Nigeria, Telly 3 Comments
Black Girls Rock!
On Saturday night(!), I watched Black Girls Rock. I have my issues with BET – this network consistently commissions/buys/broadcasts ig’nant ish, and for that alone, I cannot fully get behind them. But with this, BET did good. Black Girls Rock is a non-profit organisation set up by former model and celebrity DJ Beverly Bond, to [...]
Also posted in America, Love, Review, Society, Television Tagged Black Girls Rock, Black People, Feminism, Race, Telly, Women 4 Comments
Meet The (Nigerian) Family
Returning tonight on Channel 4 is the third series of their documentary, The Family. This one follows the adventures of the Adesinas from Hackney (insert postcode whoop here). I’ve only seen a few episodes of previous series (series 1 had a white British family, season 2 a British Asian one), but I really enjoyed what [...]
Also posted in Family, Humour, London, Nigeria, Society, Television Tagged Best Of British, Black People, Family, London, Nigeria, Telly 2 Comments
The H-Factor
One word in the name of this blog flummoxes many non-Nigerians. What does Yoruba mean? I’ll tell you. It’s the name of a tribe in Nigeria (which presents the highest dizygotic twinning rate in the world, FYI) and it also a language. To my ears, the comedy ‘Nigerian accent’ so many non-Nigerian comics aim for [...]
Hit It Or Quit It?
A couple of weeks back, singer P!nk came out firmly on the side on spanking during an interview with Access Hollywood. She said: “I think parents need to beat the crap outta their kids… I think the whole spanking thing and how it’s gotten all PC is for the birds. (My dad) put me through [...]
Also posted in America, Family, Home, Society Tagged Black People, Childhood, Discipline?, Smacking, Spanking, The African Experience 10 Comments
Dressing Up
Who doesn’t love a fancy dress party? Well, um, me. I wouldn’t say I loathe them, but I really, really don’t like them. All my life I’ve been to precisely two such events – they were both university summer balls, where I was in the company of dear friends and we were all dressed the [...]
Also posted in Love, Society, Style Tagged Fancy Dress, Feminism, Halloween, Rosie The Riveter 4 Comments
The Do-Over
Walking around the John Lewis school uniform department last Sunday, my sister and I got to talking about what we would change about our school years. There were lots on my part – much as I loved my boarding school experience in Nigeria, I would’ve left earlier if it meant easier integration into an east [...]
Also posted in Career, Education, London, Work Tagged Getting started, Joy, School, The Opposite of Joy, Writing 8 Comments
