Serendipity

Image: Crossed Flagpins I remember the first time Venezuela ever came to my consciousness in a significant way. It was during my teen years, following the Miss World pageants; there had been a lot of winners from South America generally but particularly Venezuela. Venezuela holds the Guinness world record for being the only country to win back to back titles in the Miss Universe pageants in 2008 and 2009. Venezuela also ranks right on top in terms of the number of International beauty pageants it has won. Here is a country that could legitimately lay claim to having the most beautiful women in the world. The former Spanish colony also boasts the largest oil reserves in the world, is a founding member of the global oil cartel, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has consistently been one of the world’s foremost oil exporters. I want that to really sink in, ‘largest proven oil reserves’, founding member of OPEC (and why not, it has the largest freaking oil reser...

Image: NY Times Usually when something, be it a product or a system works well, the desired effect of it working well is usually a positive one. My argument which I will attempt to establish here is that there can be a glitch when ‘it’ has become too efficient. Now, after that mildly convoluting intro, let me then unveil this ‘said thing’ in this particular instance as democracy, in particular, the United States’. I’m no historian, but from what I remember about American politics, U.S. democracy has had a pretty good stint thus far; one of the oldest and most efficiently run machines. Even if the argument can be made that some of their current and past policies, both internal and foreign have been less than ideal, only few would question their method of selecting their leaders. The selection process for the most part is a transparent and always keenly contested one; if you take away the mess with the Florida votes during Gore versus Bush and similar cases in her history, American ...

Image:Verywellmind Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever experienced it? When for the briefest of moments, you contemplate your own existence as a spectator, you appear out of ‘it’ for an instant and seem to have forgotten all that has brought you to where you are.  A very slight trepidation brews and you wonder how on earth you will proceed, now that you seem to have forgotten how. And then suddenly, it all comes flooding back, like water from a dam that has given way. In seconds, everything is as it was, seconds more and you may never even remember what happened or how you just felt.

Image: Daily Sabah The 2009 movie ‘Watchmen’ had characters with different super abilities, The intricate plot of the DC comics inspired adaptation culminated in the unlikely villain 'Adrian's' grand plan to foster global unity by putting an end to hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union, both at the brink of nuclear war. His plan was as atrocious as it was simple; give the two belligerent superpowers a common enemy to contend with. It merely required the sacrifice of the complete annihilation of major cosmopolitan cities, framing ‘Dr Manhattan’ for the despicable act and and then finally uniting the world against this perceived new and 'common' threat. The plot is one that I have come across quite a bit in movies and it usually plays out in a similar fashion. Some maniac decides to wipe out a few billion people, unite the world and then rebuild from the ashes. Other times it’s the establishment of a ‘new’ common enemy or threat, followed...

Image: Lifewater I was awoken in the middle of the night by hurried footsteps and muffled sounds It was people fleeing their homes; lives they had built with love and sweat I saw devastated towns and heard agonising shrieks Frail hopes and splintered dreams  The soil was drenched in crimson Which vile poison has consumed men’s hearts?  So potent, only a drop sullies the mind and skews right judgement. This has to be a bad dream, I thought to myself, this infernal scene unfolding could not be real But I could smell the fear in the air, I could feel the resentment that pervaded the land Young and old bewildered, in a frantic effort to gather fragments of our lost humanity This was no dream, this was youth being decimated, ideals trampled underfoot and ambition crushed haplessly   How have we become encumbered in this hateful cycle of malevolence? What will stem this unholy tide of wickedness? Is there solace for the grieving? On ...

Image: NY Times I feel like I'm the victim of a cosmic practical joke that singles out some random soul to torment every now and then. I am traumatised by my own mind, fears and compulsions. I feel like I am paralysed on the stairs of fate, immobilised by the prospect of my own success, too many ideas to move forward with any particular one. I feel like I am the happiest and unluckiest man alive. Doomed in a vicious cycle of regret and baited hope. I am unable to get anything done. I feel like I will wake up dead, not having lived, not having risked, not having lived. Such a pitiful existence, such wasted fodder. I feel weak, exhausted at the very cusp of ignition, with promise just on the horizon. Second guessing is a fatal flaw, it obliterates destiny by the second.  I feel like I know the way better than any and yet remain lost in a self imposed maze of hesitancy. Each second wasted ripples in lifetime consequences. What good is a blueprint, if it is cased i...

Image: Getty   It’s amazing the amount of talent we have in the Nigerian music scene, we've been telling our own stories through music for decades now and we've become a force to be reckoned with in Africa and gradually, even globally. It’s been a conduit for us to export our culture and enlighten the world about our travails and triumphs as Nigerians and Africans. Music is as much an expression of our struggles as it is of our achievements. I can reel out the names of a number of legends that have pioneered the music industry here in Nigeria but I’d like to focus on the contemporary scene for this article as there is a trend which I believe stifles the creativity of some of the most talented acts we have to offer. The inspiration for this article came to me as I read a couple of blog posts on Linda Ikeji’s blog. One where she mentioned two of the songs she was really into at the time and another by a fellow named Emmanuel, that was written as a reaction to Linda’s post...