THOWBACK: Classic Spiderman Animated Series

                             

Spider man, Spider Man, does whatever a spider can... 

NOSTALGIC 80s: Robin of Sherwood (Series 3)

Nothing is forgotten... nothing is ever forgotten...

On This Day: "HIStory"

On this day in 1995, Michael Jackson released his 9th studio album, "HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1".

On This Day: President Umaru Yar'adua

 

On this day, in 2010, Nigeria lost President Umaru Musa Yar'adua GCFR;   4 months after his return from Saudi Aradia where he recieved treatment for pericarditis. 

President Yar'dua served as Governor of Katsina state from 1999 to 2007 under the umbrella of the People's Democratic Party. 

On This Day: Arthur Ashe

NOSTALGIC 80s: Cockcrow At Dawn

 George Menta (1932-2012) as protagonist Bello and Tola Awobode Akinjobi Cattage (1957-2010)  as his daughter Lare, in 'Cockcrow at Dawn' 

Cockcrow At Dawn was a popular Nigerian drama series, which made its debut in NTA in 1980.  It was created as part of the then President, Shehu Shagari's 'Green Revolution' initiative, to promote Agriculture. Financed by UBA, it was produced by Peter Igho and directed by Matt Dadzie.

The cast  included late George Menta as Bello, late Tola Awobode Akinjobi Cattage as his daughter Lare,   late Karim Yero as Bello's uncle Gaga, Ene Oloja as Bello's wife Zemaye and the late Sadiq Daba as their son, Bitrus.  Besides, the outstanding performances by the actors and actresses, it is also best remembered for its main theme song, composed and sung by Bongos Ikwue.

NOSTALGIC 80s: HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR

For a long time, at least until the late 90s, Nigerian Television was under British invasion (Doctor Who, Mind Your Language, 'Allo 'Allo, Some Mothers Do 'Ave Them, Rent-A-Ghost, Robin Hood of Sherwood, The Invisible Man, Armchair Thriller etc.) and the German invasion (Derrick, The Investigator, Tele Match, Peter's Toy Box etc.), with a sprinkling of American T.V shows and cartoons. But I felt when it came to TV; British Television really ruled and now that we are bombarded with the Mexican and Indian invasion (Telenovelas), I find myself missing a lot of the British stuff we had on our screens a long time ago.
And this is a question mostly for Nigerian viewers... who actually remember the 80's British anthology series...  Hammer House of Horror? 

CAMERAS and PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography is a wonderful art I've dabbled in since I was twelve. It's another  trait I inherited from my father (the first being a voracious reader); most of the photos in our family albums are  courtesy of him. He was an avid photographer and would sometimes allow me to look through the viewer and click the button. In those days people used Nikons and Cannons mostly and get the photos developed by professionals in the darkrooms. There was of course the Polaroids, whose photos just slide out out the slot in front.

Daddy used a  Canon Canonet with a flash mounted on top; I think the film he used was usually enough for about 36 photographs and they always turned out clear, colourful and glossy. When he saw I had a genuine interest in photography, he let me use another model he had. It was small compared to the Canonet and its film was enough for 12 photos but a very camera still.

 It was a Boots 110 Teleflash and a very handy device; and I was really proud of my photographs after they were developed. But I still got to use the Canonet from time to time.

In 2002, I was given a little Canon as a birthday present; a Canon Prima BF-9S, with a built in flash, 32 mm lens, self timer and aiutomatic loading and rewind. I remember taking a lot of photographs at a friend's engagement and wedding with this camera and the photos turned out so great, I gave them all to her as a wedding gift.
In the present digital era, 'film' cameras are used less, at least among amateur photographers.Today's cameras double up as video cameras with zoom-in lens, plus the options of making it coloured, black and white, sepia, small, portait or landscape and merely hooking it to a printer... BAM! you get your photos... no, they are now called 'pics' in a heartbeat!
To me, photography's far more of an art using the 'film' cameras. True, developing them is work but work is fun when you are doing something you like very much. And the photographs made the subjects stand out and make them more realistic, while digital cameras while very handy and good and you get your pics fast, the wide selection of options has the tendency of making the subject cartoony at some point. I should know, I use my phone's camera to take pics these days (my Canon Prima sadly neglected for a very time)  and my computer's microsoft photo viewer does the editing should I decide to take it to a photo studio or cybercafe (I kid you not) to have them printed.
I want to believe there are still 'film' camera users out there who remember the time when photography was really an art. Today, it all so easy and... well digital.

MUSIC FROM WAY BACK THEN

These days we have P-Square, Davido, Timaya, D' Banj; and international stars like Beyonce, Rihanna, John Legend & several rappers including 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, The Game, Eminem and so on. But there are several old schoolers out there (including yours truly) who still have the music listened to on the old turnable and cassette tapes  in mp3 form in our smart phones and C.Ds. Music we grew up with and forever remain evergreen classics. Not that I have anything against what we have now, especially Nigeria (except for some tracks I don't understand a word) but if I had to choose between them; I would pick the classics any time.They've been a permanent fixture with me all my life and they are MANY of them ; which is why I can't list them all, except just list down a few.

                              

                             



                               

                             

                               

                              



                              

                             

                              

                             

                             

                              

                             

                              

                               



                               

                               
                              

                               

HOW IT BEGAN…

During my teens, I had a hobby besides reading and scribbling on paper, and that was collecting stuff for my scrapbook. It simply  started with collecting old birthday cards, stamps and some  postcards I received from a childhood friend living in Germany then my collection expanded to pictures at the back of match boxes, celebrities- both Nigerian and International- and then movie summaries from the MNET (Now DSTV) T.V guide and interesting articles on books, news and other stuff. I found my material anywhere- from newspapers to T.V guides, from Binta

Children’s Magazine to Harpers’. Lots of stuff went into that scrapbook because I was interested in a lot of things. And when that old notebook had no room after a while; I carefully moved them all into a thick old office diary, adding blank pages to it because I didn’t want to uproot my collection a second time; a bit of it got lost to my sorrow. I added more stuff eventually, some old family photos and funny lists- either with markers or a pen and more articles I could lay my hands on.

I wasn’t the most popular girl in school but I gradually got some attention because of my beloved battered old scrapbook; which was always in my school bag. I was reluctant to share its contents at first, for fear of what they would think of my curious hobby but to my amazement, they always begged me to show it to them and we would actually have long talks over it.

It’s thanks to this hobby that My Favorite Things- now in its eighth year- came to be in the first place. The first time I ever heard the word ‘blog’ was in 2007, when a friend of mine ( a truly wonderful person) started hers; and I was at a loss of what to write about when she suggested I created one of my own. What would I write about? I had the misguided impression at the time that blogs had one main topic but the only things I could write about were books and movies, maybe T.V. I wasn’t planning on making it a “telenovela blog” like my blog idol’s (Philomena Ojukutu) blog-  Telenovela Love Garden - initially but I got so few views that I thawed and wrote my first telenovela post… and received my first comments, all positive!

 Mrs. Ojukutu’s kind encouragement spurred me on to write telenovela recaps, striving to make the blog at least as good as hers. But after a while I realized… why should the blog have just telenovela posts? And that was after I happened to glance through my scrapbook one evening. I’d named the blog My Favorite Things, after my favorite song in The Sound Of Music but I saw that that’s exactly what I’ve been collecting over the years in the scrapbook , my favorite things! Why not make the blog just like the scrapbook, a whole series of posts of what interest me- instead of a main topic! The scrapbook probably wouldn’t have gotten so much attention if I’d stuck to old birthday cards, stamps and matchbox pictures, which would’ve been the same for My Favorite Things if I didn’t decide to add more topics. Structure is good but can be so boring too!

Hence, the real origin of this blog- my old scrapbook. Not only was it the inspiration behind it but it’s thanks to it I have material, for some of my blog posts are actually from it; for example, Best T.V Couples of All Time, Sabrina: Sabrina and Linus and The Six Faces of 007.

 My Favorite Things is still an unprofitable blog but since it started as a fun hobby evolved from another fun hobby, I’m more than glad it’s still here… and I’m very proud of it, for one thing it currently has over 300 thousand page views and

several positive comments. People have different reasons for starting up their own blog and in most cases, deals with a main topic… like Food, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Gossip, Travel and whatever. Mine… besides movies and Telenovela recaps, Bo and Carly (my favorite DAYS OF OUR LIVES couple) fan fiction, news (both show biz and informative), opinions on T.V shows and so on. I’m apt to express myself better on paper so this blog means a lot to me. It’s a means of fully expressing myself, to be myself and share both information and some of my favorite things to the world in this digital age.

Thanks to an old scrapbook!

THROW BACK: MY FIRST MOBILE

Compared to my current phone which has the usual smart phone features, my first mobile phone looks like a mere toy on sight. It was a Siemens A35 and I remember the day I got it clearly. My preference at the time was actually the Nokia 3310 but the Siemens was what was within the price range. I loved that phone, mostly because it was my very own and in those days, you get excited at the idea of having a phone you can carry around in your pocket or purse, choose your ringtone and phone settings, you can store your numbers in it without the hassle of looking them up from a little book and best of all… the novelty of “texting” if you don’t have enough money to make a call. Back then, a phone was simply a handy gadget one used to make calls and send texts and with some of the old models play games in; for example the Nokia 3310 had the classic ‘snake’ game.

My A35 didn’t have games, which pissed me off a bit but I was too excited at finally owning a cell that it didn’t bother me… at least until I came across the Siemens C-35 some time later; which not only had games in it but also a model you could compose ringtones, with it I was able to compose Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and Missy Elliot’s “Git Ya Freak On”. What made the next model different in those days was the size, the games in it and being able to compose your own ringtone using what you can get from “ringtone” websites. Camera phones  were yet to happen, at least in the mind of the unsuspecting public. Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson however… they had other ideas of course.

Several phones later, I now use a second hand Samsung Duos; camera, music player, e-book reader, Bluetooth, radio, video player- you name it. Smart phones have out sat the features phones and as more models are brought into the market, the more the older ones are cast aside.

My little Siemens A35 is still with me, and will stay with me for a long time- God Willing. Every time I see it, I look back at the day I first held it in my hand and feeling so proud I was finally a cell phone owner. And it reminds me of simpler times; when the only thing we had to worry about is having enough phone credit to make calls and keeping the battery full. 

DIGITAL ERA VS 'THE OLD DAYS' ERA

 

A friend came by the other day when I was in my room tidying up and on seeing my scattered tapes (most of them recorded movies)  asked how will I get rid of them. I said, 'I'm not; I have a VCR to watch them with.'  (pic of the model I'm currently using above)

 'Come on Amina, you still watch  video cassettes? You're so old school.' was her  reply. 'Nobody watches tapes these days.'

 Is that really true? 

 

The digital age has not only brought about radical changes in our gadgets and appliances but also the way we do things. I remember the times when I would buy blank audio tapes, record as many tracks as I could from my favorite radio station and listen to them for hours on my battery-run Walkman. Earlier memories of music listening are mostly listening to  my older brother's records on the turntable - New Edition, Michael Jackson, Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind & Fire, Atlantic Star etc. as well the ones my parents prefer-

King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and others... those were the days.

Along the line came CDs and CD Walkmans where one has the option of buying a CD of any artist or 'burn' a mixed one to listen at leisure and then was the introduction of the ipod and mp3 players which plays music files that are bought/found and  downloaded on the Internet and instead of bulky audio tape walkmans strapped to the belt or held in the hand, these little gadgets can be easily slipped into the pocket. Those who can't afford the luxury of ipods/mp3 players have the option of listening to them in their cell phones or their laptops if they wanted to just listen online.

From audio cassettes to mp3 music files; the same changes came to videos. When films came to the world, there was the projector. After TV, came the VCR where people watched movies via VHS cassettes (which I still do) before the advent of VCDS and now the DVD; plus video files that can be watched online on popular sites like Youtube and other sites where you have to pay for a subscription.
But the question, are there people like me who prefer the old days? I love the digital era, no question but my friend was wrong about people not listening to tapes any more.VCRs still exist and still sold by electronic companies; these days VCRs come with DVD compartments

and movies/T.V series, especially  those  that aren't  on  DVD  sold in VHS cassettes.Most radios these days too have both tape and CD compartments so I guess audio tapes are still used too.
While I love the picture and sound quality of today's DVDs; I still love (and prefer) my tapes. DVDs gets scratched when handled badly and the image ruined. There's the argument about  video tapes developing fungus  after some years  and making the VCR's head dirty but these days, tapes are treated with anti fungus during manufacturing. Like DVDS, you can continue from where you left off and let's face it... they last better. So with that last fact, I'm not old school at all; I know very well what lasts better and what does not. And people have the right to hold on to their preferences in general. My older brother and a cousin still listen
to music on the turnable; I asked why and they simply said the music they love just doesn't sound right on CD. I don't know how many people still use typewriters but I know I prefer my old laptop to Ipads; I tried using a female cousin's when I was visiting and I found it far too awkward. Just like I hold on to my hardback and paperback books in my bookcases instead of thinking about saving money to buy a kindle; I have nothing against ebooks exactly but I would rather read and own something I can physically hold in my hand.

The digital era has been kind to the world in terms of media, communication; even education. But when one tends to go 'old school' once in a while it's not up to people to judge. Preference is a person's right and it does feel good to slip into 'the old days' now and then.