THE GIDEON TRILOGY : A MUST READ!

When I first found The Gideon Trilogy, I kept wondering why I never heard of the franchise until now. I'd actually gone looking for a different book entirely at the book shop but once I saw this collection, I knew I had to have it.

THE RICH ALSO CRY: THE REST OF THE STORY SNIPPET 5

Marianna reminded herself she'll always go back to the place she'd encountered the ticket vendor and get back her son, Beto. Meanwhile Marisabel is anxious for the bicycle Daddy promised her ; Marianna said they would go shopping together for it.
Luis Alberto returned home from work and is reminded by Marianna about the bike he promised to buy for their daughter. However, he's exasperated when Marianna said she was also going to go to 'the usual place'- more than tired of her obsession over their lost son. Marianna pleaded for his understanding; she had to find their son. Luis Alberto was more than happy with Marisabel but Marianna apparently needed a son more. If she wanted a son, they could have another baby. But Marianna doesn't want a new son, she wanted their lost one back; stubbornly refusing to give up on him. Softened by his wife's emotional words, Luis Alberto drew her into his arms.

Beto is still with the ticket woman-Cleo- whom he thinks is his mother. He's a resourceful boy who bags groceries at the market after school as Chloe was currently affected with rheumatism. As they eat, he suddenly asked Chloe why their complexions were different in colour, some of his friends were saying he wasn't her son. She merely said she would tell him when he's older and he should simply ignore. He leaves for the market and a shadow passed over her face.

Twist of fate, Beto encountered Marisabel at the mall! She was admiring her new bike when he walked up to her, asking if he could help  her wheel it outside. Marianna smiled down at the boy when he asked her permission; taken in with him immediately. 'What's your name?' she asked.
'Alberto,' was the reply and Marianna is stunned. Could this be him???
'Alberto?' she managed to say.
'Yes but my Mum and everyone else calls me Betito.'
So close... Marianna is disappointed. (If only she knew this was the boy she'd been looking for for 7 years!)

Not noticing the expression on her face, the cheery boy told her he worked in the market, his mother was ill and they needed the money. Marianna smiled again and promised to come every week, he'll help her with her purchases. At that point, Luis Alberto came up, telling Marianna it was time to go home but she wanted to talk to the boy a bit longer. Luis Alberto is exasperated again; after all she had promised the boy she would come back every week.
Marisabel is friendly towards Beto, she told him her birthday was yesterday and the bike was her birthday present. Beto is slightly envious; he had no father and never got birthday presents... his birthday was in 3 months. Feeling sorry for him, Marisabel repeated what he told her to her parents. Marianna noted that the little boy was of the same age as their missing son. She asked Beto was he wanted most and the boy replied, a pair of shoes for school and skates. Marianna was prepared to buy both for him, plus a new shirt and pants- much to his astonishment and delight.
Luis Alberto isn't pleased at Marianna's interest in a boy she just met but Marianna pleaded with him to let her treat the nice boy, she will meet him and Marisabel at home. Luis Alberto grudgingly left with their daughter. True to her promise, she bought the things for him, plus giving him money to take to his mother.
Chloe is dismayed at the shopping bags and Beto had to swear on the Holy Virgin that he didn't steal them, a rich lady had befriended him and bought them all for him, including giving him a wad of money to give to her. He commented that the lady had the face of a saint and she'd kissed him on the cheek before she left. Chloe is relieved.
Marianna found Luis Alberto in his study, apologising for coming home late. Luis Alberto commented at how Marianna seemed to be more interested in other kids and their missing son than him and Marisabel. She always seemed indifferent and distant towards their daughter even though she professed to love her. Marianna accused him of being unfair to her.
He was just being honest, and he was afraid Marisabel will notice Marianna's attitude towards her when she's older. He urged his wife to show more enthusiasm with Marisabel, just like she showed with the little boy at the mall. Feeling sorry, Marianna asked Luis Alberto to forgive her.
Luis Alberto leaned down to kiss Marianna passionately; while Sarah- Marisabel's nanny, who wanted

Luis Alberto for herself- watched them balefully.

All this time Marianna's been searching for Beto, she finally encountered him! But while she thought he was the wrong boy still found herself drawn to him. But Luis Alberto got me puzzled, one would think something about the boy would draw him too. How could he be so dense?! 
And now there's a new schemer in their house...

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!

OREKOYA BOYS FOUND; "OLX NANNY" BEHIND BARS

Image courtesy of: newspunch.org

I was very glad to read in The Punch this morning that the three Orekoya boys kidnapped by their nanny were found alive and reunited with their parents. After found abandoned at Shasha area of Lagos, the children were immediately taken to the hospital for a thorough check up and treatment. On hearing about their kidnapping last week, my heart immediately went out to the boys’ parents who were no doubt out of their minds with worry, especially after the kidnappers’ demand of 15 million naira for the safe return of their little boys. Just to show we should be more than careful about the hired help we bring into our houses! And what’s worse, the nanny was hired via olx.com; a popular online trading website.   No one could have possibly foreseen such a thing like this to happen and lord knows how olx.com’s owner or owners will get over this stain in its reputation.

Image courtesy of : newspunch.org

And even more good news; the “ Olx nanny”; who called herself Mary Akinloye when she was hired by the unsuspecting family was arrested last night; according to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti; thanks to the police investigators'  smart move of tracing her through the cell phone used to contact the children’s parents. Her accomplices, however, are still at large but hopefully the police will get them eventually; before they go after other children.

The Orekoya boys are safely back with their parents now and time and love will help them get over their 8 day ordeal. All’s well that ends well. But in the meantime it would be best to stick to buying and selling online; not hiring a stranger online to look after your kids.  

THE BOSTON BOMBER FOUND GUILTY

#Tsarnaev found #GUILTY on all 30 counts. LIVE COVERAGE now on FOX25 or in app. #FOX25 pic.twitter.com/Pd0GdpjLYw
— FOX 25 News Boston (@fox25news) April 8, 2015

Two years ago, on the 13th of April,  two young horrors, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev  planted bombs at the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring several people. Today, a verdict was reached and the surviving of the two  who caused so much pain and chaos- has been found guilty on 30 charges; making him eligible for the death penalty.
It still baffles me how anyone could have such a low regard for human life. It's  heartrending to see Islam's teachings blackened and misunderstood  and used as a reason to cause mass destruction. For those two to do what they did, one cannot imagine exactly what was in their heads when they planted those bombs- nothing except the intention to cause a major tragedy and for what? 
The Tsarnev boys chose to throw their lives away; Tamerlan's now dead and Dzhokhar, at 21, will probably be given the death penalty. He's probably not afraid of death since he regards his brother as a martyr in paradise, one wonders if the thought of being executed would  even terrify him.
Looking at his pic on the internet, I'm filled with nothing but disgust for him. When I think of the people who were killed and injured on that fateful day, I'm reminded of how he and his brother showed no regard for human life and causing  Muslims to be likened to terrorists. Killing and bombing is not way to win God's favour!
Whatever punishment that awaits this young man, he more than deserves it. I can say no more than that.

FRESH : FURIOUS 7 (FAST AND FURIOUS 7)

Latest in "The Fast & Furious" franchise;  FURIOUS 7  has additional cast members; Jason Statham (The Transporter), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) and veteran actor, Kurt Russell.  Sadly (As we all know) this is the final movie of original cast member Paul Walker who died in a car crash on November 30th, 2013.
Spoiler: Look out for a fight between Jason Statham and The Rock!
When I watched the first FAST & FURIOUS so long ago; I never imagined it would go this far- six sequels! 
Rest in peace Paul Walker.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC's GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

Image: www.movieguide.org

If anybody asked me the first time I watched THE SOUND OF MUSIC; I wouldn't know. This movie was an "often watched" one when I was a child; mostly on weekends. Dad would pop in the tape in the VCR and my brothers and I would watch the beautiful woman (Julie Andrews) appearing on the mountain and burst into song- a sight we were never tired of! The nuns didn't have to give their differing opinions about Maria- the main one being "Maria is not an asset to the abbey"- it was obvious to us even then that Maria stood out, despite her protests the abbey was her home and life. So we were rather glad the Reverend Mother (Peggy Wood) sent her off "only for a little while" to experience the world by being a governess to the Von Trapp children (Lisel, Fredrich, Louisa, Brigitta, Kurt, Marta and Gretl). Little did Maria know her life would be changed forever after meeting their handsome and initially forbidding father, Captain Von Trapp( Christopher Plummer).

Image: www.theguardian.com

Maria proved to be the family's guardian angel as she made some positive changes in the household, befriending and earning the trust of the children, teaching them to sing and there's the epic scene where she stood up to Captain Von Trapp and accused him of shutting out the children; drawing him back to their arms. I think the  part where  he realised she was right and apologised to her afterwards was when I started liking him; I couldn't see why any father would treat his children the way he did, even if he was still grieving their mother (how I hated that whistle he initially used to summon them). Hence it was wonderful watching the change from a cold man to a warm father.
Even a heart warming story like this wouldn't be complete without a little conflict, the conflict was in the shape of the elegant Baroness (Eleanor Parker) who immediately saw what the Captain felt for Maria before he even realised it himself and her subtle move of keeping them apart only brought them closer and I must say, the woman showed maturity by gracefully admitting defeat and leaving them to be together.

 To this day, the scene where Captain Von Trapp admitted his love to Maria at the gazebo is my favorite and the song 'My Favorite Things' was actually the inspiration behind this blog's title.
And there's the other conflict, the Nazis occupying Austria and the Captain, refusing to be one of them- "and joining them... unthinkable"- hence their flight from Austria to Switzerland and the beginning of a new life. As this is a true story, to the uninitiated fans; the Von Trapp family became professional singers, their legacy still continuing to this very day; one of which includes a music institute.

I have The Sound of Music on DVD presently and I rejoice with the cast as they celebrate its 50th Anniversary. I remember its last anniversary where Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews appeared on OPRAH (still handsome, still beautiful) but was more enthralled when the children were summoned, via whistle! It's so great to see them all together again to celebrate this wonderful classic's anniversary. The Sound of Music is a tale of faith, unexpected turns of life and importance of family. It will always be a delight to me and millions of fans over the world and I wish it a very happy golden anniversary.





The Lonely Goatherd - The Sound Of Music, Sung by Julie Andrews as Wonderful Original Maria from Isaac Sarayiah on Vimeo.