Vida e Morte

Do to other people what you want them to do to you. That is what the law and the writings of the prophets say - Matthew 7:12

Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow.

A former schoolmate of mine recently passed away. He was my senior back in high school in Nigeria. I hadn't seen him in years but recently we were in regular contact on facebook. An avid photographer himself, he usually left comments on photographs I took.
So it came as a shock when last week a friend of mine in Sunderland (who through facebook had got to know my former schoolmate) texted me and told me she saw pictures of a memorial service which suggested he had passed away.
I hadn't heard anything from him since the new year began but I didn't view it as suspicious, many people's use of facebook varies according to their workload.
Shocked by this news, I went to his facebook page which by now was inundated with 'Rest in Peace' messages. I thought it was a recent event, "he must have passed away a few days ago" I thought, only to find out that the RIP messages stretched back to January 1. He had not lived to see the new year.
A student at the University of Pretoria, I later found out that he had gone to Durban to usher in the new year. He and his friends went to the sea, and he had ventured to far in, and for some reason unknown to me, he had drowned. Doctors tried to resuscitate him, but they were unsuccessful.

The next day, I told my friend, William Cunningham about the story of my former schoolmate. What he told me afterwards deeply saddened me, and made me think about our duty to our fellow human beings.

It turns out that William had heard the story of his death from one of his friends also studying at the University of Pretoria. She told William that people shunned my former classmate, a lot of people spoke ill of him behind his back. He was the subject of much derision. The topic of gossip.
When the news of his death had reached the campus, those who shunned him in life felt guilty, if only they had talked to him, if only they hadn't bad-mouthed him, if only...if only...

We shouldn't live life in retrospect, we should always remember to be courteous and kind to everyone, even if we know them or not. Not only was this the teaching of Jesus, but whether we subscribe to a religious faith, whether we are agnostic or atheist, it is our duty as humans to love each other, to treat one another with respect and dignity.

I pray he rests in peace.

My Silhouette

In Vivid Colour

After attending our first race and identity lecture, Marta and I decided to spend the day taking pictures at the beach.
Here's a few from the shoot.

My favourite movie of the history (it's a Nadalism)

You probably don't know, but William Cunningham and I go to the cinema every Wednesday, due to the coupon he has it costs just £2.15 each. We've seen some great movies and some not so great ones as well, but I felt I needed to write this blog because the last two movies I've seen have been particularly breathtaking, the movies are 'Seven Pounds' and 'Revolutionary Road'
You can't really deduce what the movies are about from the titles, Seven Pounds stars Will Smith and Revolutionary Road sees Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunite on screen for the first time since 1997's Titanic.
Regarding Seven Pounds, I have never felt so depressed and introspective after seeing a movie. The story centres around a man Tim Thomas (he goes by Ben Thomas for most of the movie) who through a fault of his caused the death of seven people; including his wife in a road accident. Overcome with guilt and remorse he decides to atone for his transgression by 'giving out' parts of himself, i.e. donating parts to people he feels deserve it, he thoroughly investigates the people to see if they are genuinely 'good' human beings. He starts off with the usual donatables, a part of his lung for his brother, a piece of his liver for a woman, bone marrow and a kidney. While researching his next recipient, a woman with a weak heart (a gripping performance from Rosario Dawson) he ends up falling in love with her, she needs a heart transplant to be able to survive and the audience is left guessing as to how he would provide that short of killing himself.
Well, kill himself is what he does, in one of the most heart-wrenching scenes I have ever experienced. I sat in my seat overcome with grief, tears rolling down my cheek. A great movie, a superb movie, a touching movie, so intense that the cinema gave a warning that the movie contained 'strong emotional scenes', after seeing it I know why we were forewarned, you can't leave that theatre in the same way you came.
Yesterday, we went to see Revolutionary Road, a movie about a couple disenchanted with suburban life in 1950's America. The wife, Winslet decides that modern American life is too drab and formulaic and that her husband's (DiCaprio) dreams were being stifled. In order to escape this societal trap they decide to move to Paris. She would work as a secretary in Paris while her husband will 'sit around' and find out what he really wants to do with his life. DiCaprio, at first agrees with his wife's plan, as he too decides he hates his job, however things are complicated when he gets promised a promotion and a great pay rise, and the plan is put into jeopardy upon finding out that his wife is pregnant with their third child.
Winslet is unbending, insisting she will undertake an abortion so they can leave for Paris, DiCaprio's character becomes all the more convinced that she is becoming unreasonable and running away from her responsibilities.
The movie ends with Winslet's death after trying to abort her child by herself, she loses a lot of blood, is rushed to the hospital and dies there.
There is a lot more to Revolutionary Road than I can put here, a lot of supporting characters that are very important to the story. Fine performances all the way, especially from DiCaprio, it baffles me how he was overlooked by the Oscars. Revolutionary Road is so good that it has now become my favourite movie of all time, or of the history as Rafa Nadal would say.
These movies are still showing in cinemas as of Feb 5 2009, so make sure you see em'....and get them on DVD when they come out as well!

Ambushed by the Weather

You probably already know, but it's snowing like mad in the UK today, some areas in the south have recorded 13 inches of snow!
Up here it's less of snow but more of wind, I can see the sea from my flat and I can see the waves rise so high the water flows unto the pier. The river is torrent. Every now and then it snows and hails and the winds just makes the event even fiercer than it should be.
I am dreading going to the library now, I don't want to be swept off to sea when crossing the bridge, or be cut of from my flat in case it gets worse while I'm away.
I hope it's better tomorrow...it better be