God's Greatest Creation

I was pondering upon the question, What is God's greatest creation. Now, I know each of his creations from the mundane mushroom to the wondrous whale are all marvellous, and of course us humans, made in HIS own image. However which of his creation affects us humans in the most positive way? is it the mountains, the trees, the rivers, is it man's so called best friend: the dog, or man's so called 'other' best friend: the horse, what creature, mobile or immobile, living or non-living gives immearsurable pleasure to humans. I thought, I pondered, and I wondered, and I came up with the answer: THE CHICKEN!
Yes, the chicken, or domesticated fowl, fondly known to zoologists as 'gallus gallus' no other animal was universally accepted as edible. Not the cow, oh No, for the Hindu will not eat it, not the humble Boar, No Sir, for the Jew will not touch it. Could it be the Stupid Sheep, which features prominently in the three main faiths, well it's distribution is limited. What animal is the universal code for food, what animal can be found from Cape Town to Cairo, from San Francisco to Ulan Bator, it is the noble Chicken.
Accepted worldwide, known to the Germans as Huhn, to the French as poulet, the Spanish call it Pollo, so do the Italians, known in Zulu as inkuku, the chicken has been putting smiles on people's faces for centuries. Eaten at Christmas, New Year, Birthdays, Marriages, the chicken graces every occassion with its tender succulent flesh (depending on cooking technique)
The chicken also provides man with the famous EGG, the EGG has grown each and every one of us up. Found on school Nutrition charts under Protein. The egg is found in cakes, biscuits, chin-chin, Scotch eggs (obviously)...the egg has been pivotal to human survival!
The chicken, the great chicken, in it's different shapes and sizes, breeds and varieties, with it's famous crow, that even Jesus had to remark about. The chicken, we are eternally indebted to God for Him providing us with this bird, this flightless food factory. Imagine a world without chicken.....what would be be eating?....Turkey, and you know how ugly they are.

The Chicken: God's Greatest Creation

Farewell to Arms

Yesterday me and Vishal went boxing...we were going to box on Monday but we decided to cook instead, so Wednesday we decided to get our Muhammad Ali on. It was intense. I also had American Football practice later on that night, so I was overusing my arms throughout the day.
Awoke this morning to severe ache in both arms, and a blister on my right hand, my upper torso aches a bit, but it's all worth it. Body ache is worth it when the result is the body of a Greek God (I hope) lol.
I am going to be reading George Orwell's 1984 soon. (for PR related reasons)

Meet the Browns

I was actually enjoying the trailer of Tyler Perry's new movie Meet the Browns, although it had strange looking African American men...I actually felt it had potential, seeing that Angela Bassett was in the lead...then....just at the end of the trailer, my hopes came crashing down when 'she' appeared again...MADEA, a.k.a Tyler Perry dressed up as an old woman...and I can bet you that's what is going to bring the movie down, adding outrageous comedy into real life situations....I dunno why no one just sits him down and tells him that it's not funny anymore, seriously, is he that vain that he must pop up at odd times in all his movies....I dunno, but I'm not gonna see it, its gonna be one of those old rags to riches story, and by rags I mean, no house, no food, no clothes to riches popping out of every corner. I hope Angela can save this movie...I hope

Food for the soul

It's almost an Obubo thing to be into poetry, either the writing or the consumption of it.

Poem of the week

I have rejected my kinsmen
I have traded tradition for "fun"
I am no longer 'ethnic', I'm urban
I have dropped my robes, but zipped my jeans
I have picked up the proper utensils
I have dotted my Is and crossed my Ts
I have sipped my tea
I have sipped the drink of perpetual freedom
I have wrangled free of the manacles of "culture"
I....I am one of them
I belong
My skin is darker
But I'm one of them
My hair is different
But I'm one of them
My speech is different
But I'm one of them
They cannot pronounce my name
But, by God, I am one of them


Laura has asked me to purchase poetry compilations for her birthday...which is actually in just over 2 weeks. She also wants a book by Ken-Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian Civil-Rights Leader who was executed by Gen. Sani Abacha... We'll see...we'll see.

La Pasta Africano

Yesterday, my flatmate Vishal and I, while shopping at ASDA decided to have a cooking competition. We were to go head to head and create an original recipe, cook it and present it, and an independent judge will taste and assess the food and declare the winner.
Well, being the Cook that I am (if I wasn't doing PR, I'll be doing Theology or Culinary Arts) I created my second original dish, aptly named: 'La Pasta Africano'(pasta is a running theme in my cooking)
The Recipe is as follows:

1 Tin of Sardines
1 fruit of avocado
Dried carrot and Swede
Canned rings of pineapples
White sauce
Small fry-able parts of chicken breasts
2 chicken breast fillets
Pack of salted peanuts
Stir fry vegetables
Mateus Rose wine
Mushrooms
Fusilli Pasta

Procedure

1- Grind the peanuts in a grinder
2- Chop and fry the mushrooms, and add the ground peanuts
3- Fry one breast in the mixture
4- Fry the other breast in the mashed flesh of avocado
5- Boil the pasta
6- Mash the sardines and add to the white sauce, add a dash of Rose wine
7- Bring the sardine sauce to boil
8- Stir fry the stir fry vegetables, add a healthy dash of Rose wine
9- Mix the stir fry vegetables, the carrots and swede with the boiled pasta
10- Serve in a large plate, generously apply the sardine sauce over the pasta
11- Fry three rings of pineapples for about 2 minutes in low heat, with some pepper
12- Garnish the dish with the pineapples
13- The chickens are also on the plate...

After all that, your dish should resemble this:


If it does not look like that then you have done something wrong. Eat your mistake (if edible) and start over again

I am Photographer

Check out my other hobby (besides poetry and blogging..and listening to vast quantities of music)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianobubo/

Feel free to leave comments.

Truth and Reconciliation

Liberia has followed the steps of South Africa, they also have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) With the TRC, all you have to do is admit your crimes or activities, and express remorse and ask for forgiveness, after the perpetrtor has recanted his activities and previous ideals, he/she is forgiven by the committee (who speak on behalf of the country) TRC is often used in situations where using the usual judicial channels will be to taxing on resources and will only alleviate tensions rather than abate them. So instead of having prolonged murder/genocide/arson/vandalism/aggravated battery trials, the victims and victimizers are brought together in hope that they will reconcile for the betterment of the nation at large. My problem with TRCs is that it is during turbulent times that people commit the worst atrocities, and it is unfortunate that these people get to go 'Scot-free' after delibrately committing henious crimes, albeit in the heat of battle. Drug pushers get jailed for a long time, yet people who kill and rape women and children are let off. I am sure the drug pusher is just as remorseful for his actions. Moreover most times, criminals are not sorry for their actions, they are only saddened that they were caught, or in the case of conflicts, they are sorry that the war was ended.
Take the case of Milton Blahyi, a former feared rebel commander in Liberia's brutal civil war, who has admitted to taking part in human sacrifices as part of traditional ceremonies intended to ensure victory in battle. He said the sacrifices "included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat." Now as the father of a child who was diced up by cannibals, I will not be willing to sacrifice my emotions for the betterment of the 'nation' Individual responsibilty has been thrown to the dogs, everyone hides behind the curtain of 'it was a war, so I'm not responsible for my actions' And often, as in the case of Milton Blahyi, hide behind Jesus Christ, Milton is now an evangelical preacher, a former cannibal, who ate the hearts of innocent children is now an evangelical preacher. The question is now, how can we mete out harsh justice on such a man who has confessed his sins and is now a man of God.
Well, the Bible warns against judging, so I will not, but Jesus also told us to respect law, and in such cases I think the full measure of the law should be meted out to people like Milton Blahyi, he should be punished for murder and cannibalism. Justice should be a prerequisite for reconciliation rather than an alternative to it.
We will never know who was acting on orders, and who delibrately committed atrocities with the hope that records of their crimes will be lost within the volumes of killings during the time.
Africa has experienced and is currently experiencing so much pain, and letting savages like Milton Blahyi go away un-punished, further reduces the already low value of an African life.

The Great Debaters

I watched the movie 'The Great Debaters' the other day. Directed by Denzel Washington, it brings together arguably the two best Black actors today: Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker (and yes they interact in the movie- classic scene)The movie also sees, Denzel in his third movie with Kimberly Elise (see John Q & The Manchurian Candidate) The movie is about the first black college to debate and defeat major white universities. Denzel stars as Melvin Tolson (you may know about his poetry)a teacher at Wiley college in racist 1930s Texas, who leads a small group of students to national recognition (and hatred) culminating in a victory over Harvard. Beautifully directed, acted and with a wonderful musical score, it is a definate must-see.

Laptop Woes

My laptop has been acting up lately, they keyboard refuses to work, or at least work properly, I have to rely on the on-screen keyboard, and typing long articles isn't particularly easy. I am currently at the computer in our state-of-the-art library, while my laptop defragments. Thank God it happened during the off-week, coz if this occured during the essay week, I would have thrown a fit, or given Acer an angry phonecall. My keyboard being on the fritz has been responsible for my absence or at least reduced presence in the blogosphere (and facebook)

Rest in Peace Heath

I am deeply saddened by the death of Australian actor Heath Ledger, he died on January 22. He was 28. It is thought that he accidentally overdosed on prescription pills. He was found dead by his masseuse, after she couldn't wake him up for his massage. Heath Ledger leaves behind a two year old daughter, Matilda.
Meanwhile, the deranged members of Westboro Baptist Church have decided to picket his funeral/memorial services because Heath once played a gay character. They insist he has begun spending eternity in Hell.
Heath plays the role of the Joker in the next Batman film which comes out in July.
May his soul rest in peace!

Weekly poem

Each week I'll write a weekly poem (not your conspiracy theories Laura) starting with "Father & Son"

P.S. My keyboard isn't functioning properly.

Father & Son

A poem I wrote a few months ago

"Teach Me, Dear Father, to be like you"
"Tomorrow, my son, I have much to do"

"Teach Me, Dear Father, to work like you"
"I'm busy my son, but you can join too"

"Teach Me, Dear Father, to walk in your way"
"Not now, my son, not today"

"Come now, my son, it's time to learn
I have time, I'll teach you what you yearn"

"Not now, Dear Father, for I'm now a man
and my life in this world has began"

"But Son, Dear Son, I had no time,
to sit and tell you of my plan"

Dear Father:
"your hands lectured me"
"your silence tutored me"
"your eyes scolded me"
"your presence nurtured me"

For many fathers talk, but do not teach
Many sons walk, but do not follow

What to do?

With no uni work for a whole week, I dunno what to do? I have American Football, but that's only on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday (for 2 hours) I thinking of photography, but Sunderland's weather is really bad, it all depends, if the weather is good, I'll hop out of bed and go and take pics, and if the weather is bad, I'll attempt to read Malcolm X's autobiography again, or go to the library and get Fredrick Douglass' autobiography, but William (Cunningham) told me it's a difficult read because of the style of language, but we'll see.
Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Kirk Franklin

Don't get me wrong, I like Kirk and his music, but what I don't get is that, all he does is prodcuce the music, probably write some songs, and repeat the end of every line. The majority of the vocals are done by his group, but it is KIRK that appears on the album cover. As if that's not bad enough, he does not just sit down and smile, he has covers like a photo of his wet head, looking like a swimmer who lost a race. The best and probably vaniest one is the cover of his new album: The Fight of My Life. The album cover shows Kirk as a boxer who just knocked his opponent to the ground, and he stands menacingly over, while the ref prevents Kirk from probably landing a few more blows.
I wonder how the singers feel
Kirk: That's guys, that's the last song, the album is done!
Singers: Hallelujah!!
Kirk: The album cover shoot is next week, I won't be available much, I need to go to the gym
Singers: How is the cover going to look like?
Kirk: We are still deciding, but right now, all I know is that I'm shirtless
Singers: On the cover?
Kirk: Yeah, and the back as well. Okay, gym time. Thanks again

Military Style

With my new military jacket, I need a beret and military patches to complete my look. There is an Army and Navy surplus store in Newcastle, I'm gonna go and get a black beret, because I also have a black military jacket. If they have any British Army patches, I'll get em too.
Say Hello to El Capitan.

Loo of the Year

Yesterday when Cunningham, Buff and I went shopping in Newcastle, we went into a plaza called 'The Gate', when we went to the toilet for our oddly synchronized peeing patterns (actually Buff had to do a Number 2) we noticed a sign on the wall, it read that the Toilets had been named 'Loo of the Year' for two years running. That's right, LOO OF THE YEAR. We were expecting to see something special, like bidets, or gold plated seats, but it was just your average toilet, save for the motion sensitive taps...
The funny thing was who judges the quality of toilets, and whoever that is, it must be a very sorry job. Going around England, seating on toilet seats and scribbling on a notepad. What are the criteria? Comfort of the seats, urinal heights? Size of mirror?
As William and I rested by the sinks and spoke to Buff who was in a cubicle, some people came in to use the facilities, they must have found it quite intimidating to see two men just relaxing and having a conversation in the toilet.
When one young man came inside to use the urinals, Buff started making funny noises from the cubicle, like he was pushing out a brick, the man tried to remain civil and not laugh, but the sounds became more like childbirth than toilet use. As he left the toilet, I asked "Buff, you alright in there?" the man couldn't help it, he laughed and left.
Yep, that's our adventure in toiletville. As we left we asked a cleaner who gives the awards for Loo of the Year...she had a confused look on her face. Enough said

Shopping Therapy

Wednesday night was amazing, I had handed in my last essay, I had every single reason to celebrate, every single reason. Went out with William and his friend Buff. Let's just say it was a classic night! Suddenly all the beautiful ladies who had been hiding away emerged on the club scene, much to our delight. Went back to William's (partly coz there is a murderer on the lose in Sunderland, and the polcie helicopters are searching for him..Sunderland is turning into Compton)woke up today, chilled and went shopping. Shopping at outlet stores. Basically they sell top Brands, Next, Puma, Reebok, Nike for reduced prices, and not cheap quality stuff, No, basically what you'd see on the high street.
We went into the Reebok store and Cunningham showed me this pair of G-Unit's, I was not impressed with the shoes, nor the brand, he'll no I'm I gonna promote Fiddy. As I talked to William, I glanced behind him and spotted a pair of Reebok Derrty One's, Nelly's shoe. I could not believe it, a big Nelly fan that I am, I ran toward them, grabbed them and admired them, basically I had to buy them, trouble was there were none in size 13. Highest was size 12. I tried a size 12 and it was hell to wear, I nearly cried, I was this close to getting Nelly's sneakers for £19.99 and they were too tight. I had to concede, I decided to get Lupe Fiasco's sneakers instead...not dissing Lu' by the way.
But something in me said I should try a different pair of size 12s, my inner mind said it might just be a bit lose. So I picked up a box and voila it fit perfectly!!!! Yes, yes, some Nelly merchandise!! I rushed to the till and told him how much I wanted to get them. For 19.99, it's a great deal. Buff got some G-Units.
I then decided to keep up with my Military look, by getting a Green Army jacket from NEXT. It feels just like the ones in World War II in the museums. A reduction from £79.99 to £30...I could not resist.
Next thing Buff went to the Nike store to get some Jordan's for 35 pounds, a great deal, on the high street it'll cost you more than a hundred. Anyway, we go to the till thinking it's £35, only for the cashier to scan it and say it was SEVEN..TEEN Fifty..at first we heard SEVENTY pounds, we were like excuse me, a pair of Fresh Jordan's for £17.50 God is to be praised!!!
Basically it was a great shopping experience, will definately be going back many more times. This has actually motivated me to get a job!! at Nando's restaurant, Hell Yeah!! We went home, grabbed a whole chicken from my crib, went over to William's and devoured it.

Pics of my items below. Laura, you can expect something, come Spring, what's your shoe size?

(Click on pictures for a bigger size)

Africa Aid...too funny

Baby Making

Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera give birth to their children just hours apart at (and in fact Aguilera was just a couple rooms away from Richie) the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Richie's child born January 11 and Aguigui Jan 12. Congrats to them both. Agui-gui hasn't named her kid yet, but Richie has decided to go with Harlow Winter Kate Madden...Wierd names if you ask me, but pretty darn normal in celebrity world, what happened to tried and tested names like Laura, Jessica, Kelly....I hope Agui-gui goes for a more normal name.
Uncle Lionel is now a Grandpa!

Two Legends

Common and Uncle Lionel Richie

Vanity

Not even gonna say anything.
Nah actually I am, a Nigerian named Chidi Ogbuta has a wedding cake in her exact likeness...wow! 10 Points for Originality but 20 Points for Wierdness..Imagine having a piece of ear at the reception dinner. Or a toe and champagne. C'mon now. William better not see it, or else he'll do it in his wedding, Afro and all!

Radio Show

Very soon me and Vishal will be hosting a Hip-Hop show on Utopia FM. Along with a guy called Rob, we will join Rob Davies on 'Urban Legends' a daily Hip Hop Show. And my Radio name is 'Mack Daddy Julez'...seriously!! Speaking of Radio, I had a good radio interview with Rotimi Kuforiji..it should be available on podcast soon. It's basically about me talking about my life in relation to songs. I talk about my poetry and love of hip-hop. Anyway the four songs I chose that define my life were

Mos Def- Sex Love and Money (The Party Life)
Common- The People (Normal life, Interpersonal relationhips, Affecting others)
Kanye West- Heard Em' Say (Troubles, Challenges and Problems)
Jay-Z- Anything [sampling Oliver! not Kingdom Come song] (Total Life, Highs and Lows, Moving beyond present barriers)

Look out for more to come from Julian!

Julian-1 Murphy-2

Been working very very hard lately, group projects to be done. Murphy has been on my back. We had to produce a newsletter for a school, and we had to do it on a program known as Adobe InDesign. Well the program is only on the school computers, and worse still, only on the Apple MACs (with their annoyin disability to right click) and the program costs like 500 dollars so..eh buying it was way out of the question. Which meant that students had to come all the way to Uni to work on their projects.
Well this boy here wasn't having non of that, Apple was not going to ruin his life, No Sir. Trusting good old Bill Gates (he gives money to Africa, does Steve Jobs?? huh..Steve, haven't seen you on Vanity Fair cover)..I decided to forget about inDesign, i was going to use trusty old Microsoft (I love that name Microsoft...it's small and it's soft...Microsoft...) I used Microsoft Publisher..tried and tested.
On Monday we decided to meet up to see our progress, we met up and they were expecting to see some grand design from me, I was like people: "You haven't given me any words, I cannot conjure up a newsletter like that"...anyway, by the next day, I Publishered the work and it was looking sweet. Sweet as can be.
Went to Uni to print it out..guess what, the computers didn't have Publisher (how stupid)...so we decided to convert it to PDF..did that, but the file started tripping and closing randomly. Man, we went around university campuses (how come th plural of locus is loci, but campus is not campi)..lookin for an A3 printer..basically our 'great' uni has one A3 printer connected to an Apple computer that does not have Microsoft Publisher...Wow!!
Anyway, my group mates were despairing, because we had been strongly advised to use InDesign, we feared we might be reprimanded for using Publisher. Group mates considered confessing our sins, but anyone who knows Julian, knows that I never back down, I never accept defeat until it's spelt out, even when it's obvious, I still doubt. I insisted that we could work it out. So off I went to the technician, and asked him if we could print out a PDF file on A3...he said it would be difficult, but he could try...and try he did. Voila....our newsletter was done! and we got a darn good grade for it too.
I had defeated Mr. Murphy..but he was not done. Oh No! I bought stamps to post my passport pics home, went shopping, and I think somewhere the stamps fell out. How pissed was I when I felt my pocket only to reveal cotton....but Murphy will be defeated soon...very soon!

Some funny stuff!

New Year, New Julez

Yes Yes Yes, Guess who's back in the town, Me. I just spent Christmas over at my cousins in London, spent most of it: waking up at midday, eating chocolate, turkey,chicken, and beating Christopher in PS2 boxing...till my thumb couldn't move. Christmas was lovely. New Years Eve wasn't!
Mos Def William was over in London and we were supposed to meet up at the London Eye to watch the great fireworks. Well lets just say I've never seen so many people in my life, the streets of London were packed with people walking in different directions, mostly going toward Big Ben or The Eye. I was on the tube, hoping to connect and meet up my friends, only for the driver to announce that the following stations were closed due to overcrowding. Dammit!! Damn you Murphy, Damn You!! So I get out, it's about 23:30, I start walking towards the Eye, thinking I'll just stroll through, Oh how wrong was I, all of a sudden I was met with a sea of a thousand heads, English, American, French, Nigerian, Japanese, all of the world had gathered in different parts of central London to welcome the New Year. But I don't wanna see a darn clock, I wanna see fireworks!! There I am, unable to move any further, it's 23:50 now..I am by Big Ben, If I attempt to go toward the eye, I'll be welcoming the New Year while walking down a lonely street.
I had to concede, I texted William, told him I couldn't make it. I brought up my weary head and watched as the Hand struck twelve. Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008. The crowd were jubilant, champagne and beer were sprayed. Children and infants were in the crowd, they got their first taste of alcohol.
As expected the police presence was heavy, but fights erupted. Crowd + Alcohol = Fighting.
The fireworks started, I could only hear sounds and see a bit of light. I brought out 'Sophie' (my camera, I changed her name, since 'Shaniqua' was too 'ethnic') and took a few shots of Big Ben.
After that disappointment, I walked back to Victoria to get a bus back home, long story short, I waited for 2 hours to get a bus. Finally got home at 4.00am.

That was my New Year. The next day I met Mos Def and his friends and we went to an Italian restaurant, after much debate whether to go Italian or Indian...see the two restaurants were side by side, and we stood outside, debating if Rajeev or Antonio had better food. We settled for Antonio, and it was Goooood!! Run by real Italians, not British counterfeits (and they had accents!!..lol) anyway the food was great, my starter was a bunch of small dead fishes....I'll post the pics when I get my hands on it.

And here I am, back in the North East, back in cold Sun-derland. My laptop cord is acting up, have to get a new one tomorrow.....work begins again!