WATCHING... AND RE-WATCHING TELENOVELAS

Can anyone resist the angst filled love stories surrounding a beautiful heroine and a handsome, dashing hero? No!

Telenovelas differ from soap operas; the main difference being the main coupe in the story, after overcoming misunderstandings and obstacles by the antagonists; have a guaranteed happy ending, which is how the story ends; unlike soap operas (also a guilty pleasure), you have the love, passion and angst as well but alas, the couple are split up, get back together and then split again and several storylines are brought in, some of them really exasperating.

Not that telenovelas don’t give out their own share of exasperation, most viewers get worked up when the story isn’t going the way they want- the best example being when the hero and heroine aren’t together no thanks to the scheming of their enemies or for some other reason. We forget it’s all fiction and feel connected to some of the characters- the main couple especially- try to guess the outcome and at the same time hoping the antagonists will end up in a deep dark hole!

Since the first one aired here in Nigeria back in 1993- The Rich Also Cry; I’ve counted telenovelas as one of my numerous guilty pleasures. The angst is one thing but the love and passion between the hero and heroine, plus the circumstances they find themselves in, makes you just want to re-watch them when after the story ends. The telenovelas I can honestly watch over and over again are: 

Tu O Nadie (No One But You): A greedy and disgruntled man decided to use his unsuspecting fiancée as a means of getting his hands on his stepbrother’s vast wealth. But Raquel and  his step brother Antonio fall in love instead and suddenly the battle between the two men becomes more intense. This telenovela actually has three remakes! 

Escrava Isaura( Enslaved Isaura or Isaura The Slave Girl): Set in slave era Brazil; an educated biracial slave girl began questioning her slave status after she and a plantation owner fall in love and their main obstacle is her master's brutish son who wants Isaura to be his concubine. Her lover is murdered and she flees to another town; after a period of healing falls in love again, this time with an abolitionist.

Cuando Seas Mia (When You Are Mine): The son of a wealthy family falls in love with one of the hacienda's workers. But Diego and Paloma's love is constantly threatened by some disapproving members of Diego's family and other people who would rather see Diego and Paloma apart than together where they belong. 

La hija del Jardinero (The Gardener's Daughter): A young doctor and the daughter of a gardener fall in love but a secret and a scheming rival keep them apart; the secret being Louisa Fernanda is actually the daughter of  the step father Carlos Eduardo despises. 

Mulheres De Areia (Sand Women or Secrets of The Sand): This Brazilian telenovela is about totally different twin sisters; Ruth and Raquel, the daughters of a fisherman. The scheming seductive Raquel manages to steal the rich and handsome Marcus away from her gentle sister but how long will Marcus continue to allow himself to be fooled by Raquel and realise his true love is Ruth? 

LA USURPADORA (The Usurper): In order to cover up an extra martial affair, Paola blackmails her recently discovered twin, Paulina, to pose as her. Drama and confusion unfolds after a baffled Carlos Daniel- Paola's husband- falls in love with his sister-in-law. 

ROSA SALVAJE (Wild Rose): The Rich Also Cry (Los Ricos Tambien Lloran) alumni- Veronica Castro and Guillermo Capetillo- play a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and a rich young man who at first married her for the sole reason of annoying his irritating and snobbish sisters but realises too late he was actually in love with his 'savage' wife after she finds out the truth. Now Ricardo has to prove his love to Rose at the same time shake off the possessive Leonora. 

SORTILEGIO (Love Spell): The third remake of Tu O Nadie(No One But You); the same story line as the original, only this time Alejandro and Bruno are half brothers and Bruno- the main villain- would go even against his own mother to get what he wanted- Alejandro's inheritance/position and Alejandro's wife, Maria Jose. 

LA MUJER DE LORENZO (Lorenzo's Wife or Lorenzo's Woman): Lorenzo is heartbroken when his wife Laura cheats on him with her personal trainer, Alex. His old flame hopes to get him back but to her dismay, Lorenzo finds himself falling in love with Alex's ex; Silvia. 

SHOWS FOR KIDS OR FROM CHILDHOOD

Most of us remain young at heart even when we get past 40. There are a few things from our childhood that it's very hard to let go of... particularly the stuff we watched when we were kids and to us can't be compared to what the kids of the new generation watch presently. Besides, with the way the world is right now- who wouldn't need a few  'kiddie' programmes to drive the stress and worries away, have a good laugh and for a few minutes go back to one's childhood? So some people will find this practice odd but personally I don't; inwardly we are all young forever and we always need to have some source of positivity in our lives. 

Mostly watched  are cancelled shows,  classic episodes of long running series, others are well loved classic animated movies; actually the list is endless based on people's preference. For me, it's the following...

CLASSIC  SESAME STREET

CLASSIC  LOONEY TOONS 

FRAGGLE ROCK 

THE MUPPET SHOW 

CLASSIC TOM & JERRY 

CLASSIC  SCOOBY DOO 

THE LITTLE MERMAID

BEAUTY & THE BEAST 

THE JUNGLE BOOK

CAPTAIN CAVEMAN & THE TEEN ANGELS 

THE FLINTSTONES 

Hey... life is too short! 

YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!

No matter the huge amount of calories, trans fat and whatever; we are prone to indulging in food that makes us fat; mostly those savoury spicy dishes and  sweet, creamy and sugary deserts and savoury foods  which smells so good and looks so eye catching that we simply can't resist them! But if they are going to make us fat; especially when eaten often, why do we eat them at all?
Well, why not? Food is there to eat for one thing and these days, especially in a country like mine where everyday is a struggle to out food on the table, coping with different kinds of people all the time, one just has to kick back and give oneself a culinary treat once in a while. What makes such  food fall under " guilty pleasures"... besides the amount of calories we're stuffing into our mouths , they are also pricey stuff we can barely afford. But all the same  in spite of  those two flaws, we do indulge them all the same. After all, who can resist!

Mostly indulged here:

SUYA: meat seasoned with various spices, groundnuts and onion; made an sold by Hausa street vendors or in fancy clubs or restaurants.

CHINESE FOOD: It's not to everyone's taste but it's a lot more popular these days as they are now included in most parties' menus and with more chinese restaurants being established.

DONUTS:  Unavoidable even with the sugar!

ISI EWU: The traditional Igbo dish made of goat's head and seasoned with  native spices, pepper & thick sauce (and yes spicy), you'll find this heavily indulged by patrons of beer joints!

ICE CREAM: (especially Blue Bunny) Pricey but what one cannot do without!

MEAT PIES: Next to donuts, the most bought snack in most fast food joints; more than enough to fill your stomach if you missed breakfast or lunch.

PEPPERED CHICKEN: The best of these are found at any branch of Tasty Fried Chicken; pricey... but oh so worth it!

BLACK FOREST CAKE: Chocolaty, Creamy and irresistible even to the  dieters among us!

SHAWARMA : Really Really popular here;  so much so that meatpies have somehow taken a back seat .Beef, chicken, sausage and even vegetarian... it's a guilty pleasure gladly bought often.

PRINGLES :

Ah... not only a guilty pleasure, but a very addictive one! No matter the flavor; you tell yourself just a few and save the rest later but you can't! You eat more and more of these delicious potato crisps, even though they are loaded with calories, and immediately long for more!

PORNOGRAPHY

 When I was a child, they were known as 'Blue' Films; later on they were called 'mojos', 'smut', 'porno'. My early sight of a porno film  was at age 7 (I sincerely maintain by accident- the actual viewers had no idea I was in the room; early than that I found a discarded smut magazine (It's amazing what children find no thanks to careless adults). Pornography's in many forms- erotic pics, erotic literature, magazines like Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse etc. and the movies themselves; Soft, Hardcore, Gay  and the more very  disgusting ones like  Child Porn, S&M and 'Snuff'. In Nigeria, there was Bubbles and Lolly ; sex cartoons and  some nude photos.These days, viewers don't even need to buy tapes or Dvds; when the Internet has more than enough porno websites  anyone can easily logged into (the side effect being vicious malaware creeping into the computers' hard disks)
Mind... this post is not to advocate  for Porn but  merely exploring how people see it.

In the view of  Feminists; it's demeaning to women. 'Snuff' porn especially is a serious threat to women as Snuff films include violence. According to Feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem (step mother of actor, Christian Bale), Porn is totally different from Erotica( which is merely any artistic work that deals with sexually simulating subject matter), ''just as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery and as pleasure is from pain." She further stated that besides the female demeaning; Porn- be it Heterosexual or Gay- one person is basically the dominant master/ conqueror; the other is the submissive victim/slave. (I wonder if the  porn viewers and addicts take the time in the middle of being sexually aroused to see it that way)
The general  religious view simply is that porn  depicts fornication, complete lack of morals  and  explicit acts of prostitution; therefore they are trash and sinful. It  promotes Lust and carnal desires, corrupts the mind, body and soul into doing things forbidden-  harboring impure thoughts, premarital sex, self stimulation (masturbation), adultery, rape, unhealthy obsession with sex  and is dangerously addictive. To cleanse the mind, body and spirit- the evils of porn must be avoided at all cost. Simply put; Don't watch it!
To some, and I mean those in the Porn Industry- be it magazines and films- it's a form of Free Speech. Okay... free speech, as in the right to express your yourself or opinions  in any form or impacting knowledge and info via different  forms. Does pornography portray the dos  and the don'ts of sexual intercourse or displays the height of  human sexuality- that we are capable of letting out our most hidden fantasies and carnal desires; or that we are simply human when doing what we never thought we were capable of doing in the bedroom? Desire, Intimacy  and Sex between two people is normal but perversion is not; BSM, Snuff  and Child Porn for example- it promotes sexual abuse, violence and human trafficking- so no.
As for the ' necessary evil' view- those who support that notion would say that it is like marijuana- good and useful when used right. In Hospitals , Fertility clinics and Sex Therapy institutes- it is uses as a tool to obtain 'specimens' for fertility testing, artificial insemination and to help people with sexual problems. As it is viewed in a controlled, sterile medical environment and for a good cause; the viewers would feel a lot less guilty watching or reading it- especially if it's not one of the more perverted types. And from what I heard, petitions are being made to add to the Sex Education curriculum ; which is a very bad idea as  while it would show them what sex is about,  it could also give the students the wrong  idea about intimacy and encourage early sexual activity or much worse.
What's your view?