Saturday 26 July 2014

The Magna Carta & the significance of today

The Magna Carta & the significance of today


800 years ago, 27 July, 1214, on a Sunday like this, England lost a war -the war of the Bouvines

It was the decisive battle in the Anglo-French wars which started in 1202

In the Middle Ages, Empires expand their lands ( and importance) by waging wars

It was between King John of England & King Phillipe II of France

King John was trying to recover lost lands of the English Monarchy in France ( Falklands anyone? )

(His subjects, the Barons, weren't happy with him because of the excessive taxes he imposed on them to prosecute his wars)

King John was supported by : Emperor Otto IV of Germany, the Duke of Brabant ( Flanders, Holland), & Renaud of Boulogne ( Belgium)

King John & his Allies lost

Why is this loss important?

He was forced to sign the Magna Carta

The Magna Carta was the first document imposed upon a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights

It led to the rule of constitutional law & formed the basis for democracy in England and beyond.

If the English and their allies had won at Bouvines, King John would have had the plunder and the prestige. The baronial opposition would have melted away. This was that rare thing: a battle that was genuinely decisive."

If King Philippe-Auguste had lost, the west of France would have been English, the north would have been Flemish, and the east would have been German. France may have ceased to exist eventually!

Pix 2 shows France before and after the war. The yellow area & part of the green area were annexed due to their victory

This day is remembered in France. Unsurprisingly, it is not in England!

But the English can point to the Magna Carta as a positive outcome of this war

Read more about the fallouts of this war here

 

 

Monday 21 July 2014

Of MBGN, Iheoma Nnadi, Beauty & the Dark Skin

Of MBGN, Iheoma Nnadi, Beauty & the Dark Skin

Congrats to Iheoma Nnadi, Miss Akwa Ibom for winning the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria ( MBGN) Pageant a few days ago

Now to the more pertinent stuff:

MamaMia wrote: "..if we wanna take the Miss World/Universe crown at some point, this light skinned trend needs to be minimised. Do we wonder why after Agbani we’ve not been able to make it pass the 1st stage? Well, that’s the answer! ( referring to the winner, Iheoma Nnadi)

While she is gorgeous, the outside world are all about being unique/distinct

The look right there is common; every pretty girl looks like her.

Also, if we notice the Angolan winner ( Miss Universe 2011) kinda had a similar look to Agbani as well. Give 'em what they want!"

Can't agree with MamaMia more!!

Iheoma Nnadi: MBGN 2014 ( pixs 1&2)

Leila Lopes: Miss Angola 2011, Miss Universe 2011( pix 3 & 4)

Agbani Darego: MBGN 2001, Miss World 2001 ( pix 5 &6 )

Pixs 3,4,5 & 6 are what the outside world ( Whites! ) want a Black beauty queen to look like. This is what they accept. This is what flawless beauty means to them; this is why they both won the international Pageants

Lupita N'yongo - Oscar - best supporting actress ( pix 7) - Whites are fascinated with her flawless beauty & intelligence. ( the way they are with Agbani Darego & Leila Lopes)

They want to own her( it's almost like a fetish. It's not a bad thing for them to want to own her. The tragedy is actually allowing it to happen). Check out this article:link

So why do we keep crowning these 'yellow pawpaws' as our beauty queens when we are a black African country?

The answer is: Colorism!

-it is a practice of discrimination by which those with lighter skin are treated more favorably than those with darker skin

The white man who colonised us also colonised our culture.

That cultural colonisation has created a sense of beauty, identity and superiority that is White. People thought the Colonisers were superior. So you aspire to be them.

This leads to a tendency to prefer everything White- including skin colour

( it's not peculiar to blacks; even Latinas & dark Asians are affected)

Cue the popularity of bleaching & all forms of 'toning' creams

I urge you all to watch this documentary on YouTube to understand how bad this issue is: 'Dark Girl' (part 1 is below)

The last 2 candidates in the picture frame are the ones that should be winning MBGN or Miss Nigeria pageant -for the reasons above. ( obviously they've got to be intelligent and articulate too. Nobody wants to put a 'thick' person forward as a country's ambassador-no matter how beautiful they are ):

Miss Katsina- Adesola Adeyemi contestant MBGN 2014 ( pix 8)

Miss Kogi- Erica Nlewedim contestant MBGN 2014 ( pix 9 )

 

 

 

Wednesday 16 July 2014

World Cup: Germany's Victory Parade

World Cup: Germany's Victory Parade

Check out Germany's Victory Parade yesterday (in Berlin) in the YouTube clip below:

This is what it's all about!!

This is why you give it your all on that pitch!


Check out what it means to the fans ( ...and pix 4 )


"..Team Captain Phillip Lahm was first off the plane with the kind of hand luggage ( the World Cup) most footballers can only dream of bringing home!.."


Even Mercedes Benz, the manufacturers of the vehicle that brought the victorious team to the parade ground wasn't let out of the victory buzz. They replaced the 4th star in front of the vehicle for their logo

( the 4 stars were supposed to denote the 4 World Cup wins of Germany 1954, 1974, 1990 & 2014)


Hear the great Liverpool Manager, the late Bill Shankly: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that"

 

 

 

Tuesday 8 July 2014

Noah 2014

Noah 2014

-finally watched this biblically inspired film

-directed by Darren Aronofsky and based loosely on the story of Noah's Ark

It stars Russell Crowe as Noah, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Anthony Hopkins ( Methuselah)

I didn't really feel the early part of the film but I liked the latter parts, it did make me research a few biblical stuff too

It was critically acclaimed and a commercial success

Recommended!

Aronofsky had to work with only a few Bible chapters so there was a lot of improvisation ( which sparked controversy among some of the religious )

For example:

That 'thing' in pix 4 is called a Watcher- They are fallen angels confined on Earth as stone golems (nephilim) for helping humans banished from the Garden of Eden. They also helped Noah & his family built the Ark in pix 2

8 people were mentioned in the Bible as being in that Ark -Noah, his wife, their 3 sons ( Shem, Ham & Japhet) and wives. This isn't so in the flick

Pix 5- is Tubal-Cain ( Ray Winstone) ( go figure who that is in religious texts )

The film was banned in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Indonesia prior to its release because it is seen by the governments of those countries as contradicting the teachings of Islam

Ham saw his Dad's nakedness & was cursed. You'd not believe the volumes of religious writings on what 'saw his nakedness' means

By the way, blacks are supposed to be descendants of Ham