MY FAVORITE THINGS

Oscars' Report

This year's Oscar awards was a good one for one of my favorite Hollywood actors-Matthew McConaughey- (The Wedding Planner, Sahara, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days) as he won the Best Actor Oscar for his dramatic and moving portrayal of Ron Woodroof in the biographical film THE DALLAS BUYERS CLUB about an AIDS patient who had to smuggle unapproved medication to curb his symptoms as well as of his fellow sufferers of the deadly disease. Since McConaughey lost about 47 pounds to play his role authentically (far more than I'm YET to do), topped with his brilliant acting, he really deserved this honor; I liked him especially as the adventurous/humorous Dirk Pitt in SAHARA, so I'm saying a hearty congratulations to him.

I'm also happy that 12 YEARS A SLAVE earned a nomination for Nigerian British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, for his portrayal of Solomon Northup; who by the way really existed. He was a free slave who was kidnapped and sold into slavery and he spent several years away from his family until he was found. I didn't watch it but I did watch an earlier version of Solomon's story as a child, a 1984 television movie starring Avery Brooks - SOLOMON NORTHUP'S ODYSSEY. Ejiofor may not have won the Best Actor Oscar but he did win the BAFTA award so congratulations to him and the people behind the making of 12 YEARS A SLAVE too and let me not forget his co-star, Lupita Nyong'o, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Patsey (and it was her acting debut!). If SOLOMON NORTHUP'S ODYSSEY could make me cry, I can imagine how tearful 12 YEARS A SLAVE must have been to the audience.

Other winners include.. .

FROZEN- Best Animated Picture

JARED LETO- Best Supporting Actor (The Dallas Buyers Club)

CATE BLACHETT- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Blue Jasmine)

GRAVITY- Best Visual Effects

CATHERINE MARTIN - Best Costume (The Great Gastby)

TOP MOVIES TO WATCH ON VALENTINE'S DAY

The best kind of love stories, my personal belief, is the one that contains a good amount of angst and my selection below contains just that. Check them out!

SABRINA (1954)

My favorite movie of all time and cannot stop re-watching; about a love triangle between two wealthy brothers and Sabrina, the beautiful and very sweet daughter of their chauffeur. There's a 1995 remake and that's one worth watching too. (Humphrey Bogart & Audrey Hepburn) (1995: Harrison Ford & Julia Ormond)

Memorable line:
Sabrina: It's so strange to think of you being touched by a woman. I always thought you walked alone.
Linus: No man walks alone by choice.

(remake)
Linus to Sabrina: I think you know I love you

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER(1957)

I first heard of this film while watching Sleepless in Seattle and after seeing it on TCM, I understood why! Two people meet and fall in love on a cruise, promising to meet each other on top of the Empire State building in 6 months but alas... only one of them made it to the rendevous... (Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr)

Memorable line:

Nicky to Terry: There must be something between us; even if it's only an ocean

JANE EYRE (1983)

Charlotte Bronte's story about a governess who falls in love with her employer and vice versa is a popular watch and read on Val's day. It has many adaptations but I recommend the 1983 version starring Timothy Dalton & Zelah Clarke

Memorable line:
Edward to Jane: Jane, you strange, almost unearthly thing... I love you!

THE NOTEBOOK (2004)

The very moving story of two people of different classes who fall in love in the 1940's is definitely a must watch! (Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams)

Memorable Line:

Allie: Do you think our love can take us away together?

Duke/Noah: I think our love can do anything we want it to do.

THE PROMISE(1979)

Another story about a couple of different classes; the main antagonist being a snobbish and evil mother who succeeds in separating the couple after a car accident that ruins the heroine's face. I'm not talking about the Bollywood remake Yeh Vaada Raha starring Rishi Kappor & Poonam Dhillon but the original starring Stephen Collins & Kathleen Quilan and later novelized by Danielle Steel.

Memorable line:

Michael: How can I believe such a thing as beauty could die?

Nancy/Marie: Michael... (they kiss)

HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK(2001)

A business woman in her 40s meets a 20 something young man while on holiday. A fling or is he the one??? (Angela Bassett & Taye Diggs)

Memorable line:

Stella to Winston, in reply to his earlier marriage proposal: Yes... Yes!

(They hug and kiss)

GHOST(1990)

Keep the tissues handy for this moving story. A man is murdered during a robbery but his ghost keeps watch over his beloved girlfriend as the man responsible for his death is still very much around.
(Patrick Swayze & Demi Moore)

Memorable line:
Sam to Molly (as he's about to go to heaven): It's amazing Molly... the love inside, you take it with you.

SOMETHING NEW(2006)

An interracial couple meet on a blind date and fall in love afterwards but the heroine has to listen to her heart and decide what she really wants; not listen to the opinions of her friends and society. (Saan Lathan & Simon Baker)

Memorable Line:
Kenya: You're the one I want Brian, I love you.

Brian: I love you too Kenya, I never stopped loving you. (kisses her)

TIM (1979)

Starring Mel Gibson in one of his earliest roles and Piper Laurie, it's the story about a 20 something rather mentally challenged young man who falls in love with his employer/mother figure; a businesswoman in her 40s; much to the dismay of his older sister.

Memorable moment: Tim and Mary walking along the beach after affirming their love.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE

Jane's Austen's tale of a spirited young woman who falls for a rich snob after an initial dislike for him is always a must watch for Val's day. I recommend the 1995 version starring Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle.

Memorable Line:
Liz: Perhaps I didn't always love him as well as I do now but in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE(1999)

A columnist finds a message in a bottle and tracks down the writer, a widower. They fall in love but he still has trouble letting go of the memory of his late wife. (Kevin Costner & Robin Wright Penn). Adapted from the best selling novel of the same name, written by Nicholas Sparks

Memorable Line:
Garret: Teresa, I don't want to lose you.

Teresa: Then don't.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL(1998)

Two business rivals reluctantly and gradually fall in love with each other, at the same time unaware they are each other's online penpal. (Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan)

Memorable Line:

Joe: Don't cry ShopGirl, Don't cry...

Kathleen: I wanted it to be you, I wanted it to be you so badly! (They kiss)

NOTTING HILL(1999)

A simple, unassuming travel bookstore owner falls in love with a movie actress. Will their love overcome the obstacles between them? (Hugh Grant & Julia Roberts)

Memorable Line:
Anna to William: I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy... asking him to love her.

THE THORN BIRDS(1983)

A forbidden but long lasting love between the only daughter of a sheep station manager and the parish priest who later became a cardinal. (Richard Chamberlain & Rachel Ward)

Memorable Line:

Meggie: Do you know how terrifying it is, that power you have over me?
Ralph: How could I fail to know? (kisses her)

50 FIRST DATES(2004)

An aquarium vet falls for a lovely girl who has short term memory so he goes out of his way to make her fall in love with him and remind her of their past encounters... every day. (Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore)

Memorable Line:

Henry to Lucy: You're the girl of my dreams and apparently, I'm the man of yours.

SWAN PRINCESS(1994)

A prince goes in search of his fiancee- believed dead- not knowing she is under a spell.

Memorable Line:

Odette: Will you love me Derek, till the day I die?
Derek: No, much longer than that Odette, much longer. (they kiss)

PRETTY WOMAN(1990)

A hooker and a cynical business man unexpectedly find love with each other (Richard Gere & Julia Roberts)

Memorable Line:
Edward: So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back (They kiss)

BEST T.V COUPLES OF ALL TIME II

This is my first blog post of 2014 and I bid my kind visitors a belated happy New Year and my profound apologies. I DO try to update this blog as much as possible but the current power problem in the country and lack of enough funds for my Internet subscription are the main obstacles to my task. But I'm praying that this year will be my year of triumph by God's grace and I promise to do better. To my visitors who have been leaving comments; thank you so much for the encouragement. Also, it's NOT definite yet but I hope to post recaps of a very popular telenovela soon, so please stay tuned.

Last year I posted pics of my favorite T.V Couples: BEST T.V COUPLES OF ALL TIME. Now that particular post wasn't easy because I really had to narrow the choices down; I'm T.V/Movie buff so I like a LOT of couples. After posting it, I saw that there were several I missed out so here's the next "batch"!

Sydney Bristow & Michael Vaughn Alias

Gary & Valene Ewing Knots Landing/Dallas

Alex & Maria Jose Lombardo Sortilegio Amor

Dwayne Wayne & Whitley Gilbert A Different World

Paul Williams & Christine Blair The Young & The Restless

Tom Cudahy & Livia Frye Cudahy All My Children

Snow White & Prince Charming Once Upon A Time

Shane & Kimberly Donovan Days of Our Lives

Farewell To A Great Man: NELSON MANDELA

I wasn’t born when Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. I got to know a lot about this great man via news reports, photographs of him in the newspapers, songs demanding for his release, documentaries and Social Studies classes at school. It was Dad who answered my earlier questions: “Who is Mandela?” “Why is he in prison?” “What is the meaning of apartheid?”

I clearly remember that night in February 11, 1990; when my father excitedly calling Mum from the kitchen and we all saw him on T.V, a suited grey-haired gentleman triumphantly holding his fist in the air as he finally walked out to freedom after 27 years in prison. The whole world not only celebrated his long awaited release but the end of the immoral regime of apartheid; where black South Africans were treated as third class citizens in their own country. A documentary followed by the musical SARAFINA! told me a lot of things about that terrible time (including the massacre of protesting workers and students); years later I learnt even more after reading Alan Paton’s CRY; THE BELOVED COUNTRY and Athol Fugard’s SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD. The latter in particular made me cringe; black Africans having to carry identity books and work-seekers’ permits, the racial inequality and other things they had to put up with at the time e.g. “Whites Only” signs really sickened me, that and the fact that apartheid in South Africa was actually legal.

This is what Nelson “Madiba” Mandela fought against and in the end, his (and his supporters in South Africa and other countries) paid off big time; independence, end of apartheid, freedom and in 1994, he became the first democratically elected black president of South Africa. What I liked best about him was his efforts in bringing about racial reconciliation in South Africa after that; wanting both the blacks and Afrikaans to get along from then on and let go of the past- not an easy thing of course, especially if one looks at how long apartheid reigned in that country; from 1948 to 1990. His commitment to World Peace and willingness to forgive the people who had put him in prison in the first place really moved me. He said, “As I walked out the door toward the gate of freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

When he was sentenced, Mandela was 45; when he was released, he was 72, over two decades in incarceration. Yet, his defiant spirit remained unbroken all those long years and he was a symbol of hope to those who abhorred racism and apartheid and motivated them to continue fighting. While in prison, he recited William Ernest Henley’s poem- INVICTUS ("Unconquered" in Latin) - to other prisoners, influenced by the poem’s message:

INVICTUS

“Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquered soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeoning of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scrolls,

Iam the master of my fate:

Iam the captain of my soul.”

The world is now in mourning of a great man but we must not be sad, even though naturally we all are right now. Like Gandhi before him, Madiba cared about his people and fought for the end of tyranny and inequality. He did and achieved a lot of things; including influencing thousands. Now he has gone to rest. As we say goodbye to Nelson Mandela; we pray to Almighty God to grant his soul eternal rest, to give his family and South Africa the fortitude to bear this loss. And the rest of the world, particularly world leaders to remember what Madiba fought and stood for and do their best to emulate him. REST IN PEACE MADIBA.

"I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying"- Nelson Mandela

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." ~ Nelson Mandela: http://t.co/Kuu63FHZsM
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 5, 2013

President Obama remembers Nelson Mandela: "A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 5, 2013

I was not a messiah but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances-Nelson Mandela http://t.co/1XS5juxab6
— NAACP (@NAACP) December 5, 2013

Carbo Fan Fiction- Return Journey Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The song selected for the newlyweds’ first dance as man and wife was Ella Fitzgerald’s At Last. Darcy Jonas felt it was more than fitting as she watched her parents on the dance floor; her handsome papa’s eyes on his wife, his arm round her waist. She smiled at the matching look of love on her mother’s face. If there was a couple who deserved a life time together, it was those two.

Chapter 26

Vivian had neglected to tell Hope about the botched task so she was unable to hide her shock on seeing Bo waiting for her.

Bo stared at her hard. After the drugging/almost burning him alive episode, not to mention her outburst in court; he wasn’t surprised she’d tried to kill him again. But to actually conspire with Vivian- that was the real bombshell.

BEING STRESS FREE: POSSIBLE?

*First, my sincere and heartfelt apologises to my visitors for the long gap between updates. I am currently unemployed hence unable to afford regular internet, so please bear with me*

"STRESS IS AN IGNORANT STATE. IT BELIEVES THAT EVERYTHING IS AN EMERGENCY. NOTHING IS THAT IMPORTANT" - Natalie Goldberg

No matter how we keep believing that, there is no way we can escape getting stressed out on several occasions. I should know; worry and anxiety over my writing, finding work, battling with my part time studies and lords knows what ends up with me feeling ill- pains on the back of my neck, stomach aches, a few panic attacks and don't get me started on the hideous migraines. I'm too lazy to learn yoga so these days I rely on herbal tea to ease the stress. It's a lot better than two years back- I was so stressed and depressed that, to my horror- I lost half of my hair. I didn't even know until I went to get my hair washed and my hair dresser was like, 'Amina, have you been thinking too much?'
There is always something to worry about, sorry to say. We humans just can't help it- especially in the workplace. One puts in their best at the job then it comes the time when they are given a lot to do (more than they can handle but too proud to say so), when they are told they are not doing enough hence do too much or the meaner bosses who make them feel after everything, there's still something lacking! The brain gets the biggest hit, one would feel rather disoriented and unable to function properly for a while and it leads to fatigue and early aging.
There are other reasons outside the workplace; personal problems, worry about money, worry about security, pressure from family members- the list is endless as anything or anyone could be a stressor.
Of course there are ways of treating it, proper ways of course like lying down and listening to slow music, yoga (which is pretty much non existent here in Nigeria), exercise, taking up a relaxing hobby. I do all I can to reduce any form of anxiety but afterwards it's back to square one.
Just how can one be absolutely free from Stress? Is it even possible to be free of it?