SOPHIA LOVE: SIZWE VENA

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A South African love story.

This is a tale, carefully woven from one track to the next, of a love journey that a young man takes. In this journey he faces challenges of male identity in modern S.A and he has to remind himself of the essence of a man, heartbreak, or the potential of it, falling in love and respecting love.

For his first album, Sizwe Vena has drawn his beats and lyrics from a cultural place and then delivered them in vernacular. At a time where globalization is devouring our country, identity is lost, in music and in art, Sizwe brings home sounds from the core of our country. His music is from the roots, from the home soil, sounds so familiar to the ear and brilliantly delivered.

Among S.A’s undiscovered talents, Sizwe will be a force to be reckoned with once the country wakes up to his originality and creativity. It is almost too hard to cage this sound into a genre box, but it is a sound heard through out S.A’s different ages. It is a homebrewed sound that transcends generations and brings them to one point.

Sophia Love is a soul filled love letter that uses instruments as it’s ink, lyrics as it’s paper and pure voices as it’s words. Beauty.

WOULD YOU LISTEN TO IT AGAIN? HELL YEAH!!!These are songs of home, songs of old!!!

SEX AND THE CITY- THE MOVIE

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CAST: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon

At the core of it all, love presides. Love is the thing you know? This is a tale of journeys traveled, fears revealed, friendships harnessed, love lost, restored, and found again.

After six splendid seasons of Sex and the City the series, came this movie. Four years later, still focusing on the lives of the four women. Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). Based in New York City, one is immediately alert to the colour, fashion, and speed of the city. Where it is important to fit in with society, find love, be a label freak and if you must age, do so with style and grace.

These four have been friends for about twenty years now. Charlotte has a husband – Harry, and together they feared they couldn’t have children, so they adopted a Chinese girl – Lilly. Charlotte is the uptight, yet childlike friend, well off and generally has no other problems in life. And as if to seal her fairytale, she falls pregnant and gives birth to a girl – Rose.

Miranda is the stressed-out friend. Always making sure that it’s known that she is both mother and lawyer, and to top it off she is married and therefore life is EVER so hard. Married to Steve, Miranda has moved to Brooklyn to build a family with husband and son – Brady. Because of her devotion to her work and stressful life, Miranda has not made time to be intimate with Steve in six months and when it finally happens, she’s in a rush to tick off the next thing on her list. Steve later confesses that he cheated; Miranda doesn’t handle the news too well and the two separate, causing Brady to travel between parents. Miranda finds it extremely difficult to forgive Steve.

Samantha (now 50 years old) has been with Smith for FIVE YEARS!!!! To everyone who has watched the series, you’d understand why this is such a shocker. Smith is the model turned Hollywood star that stuck by Samantha through her battle with cancer. Together they moved to Los Angeles, to build Smith’s career. As manager, Samantha turned him into a brand that she could not tame. Lately, her devotion to one man, her nostalgia, not only for NYC, but for her past life starts to consume her, and what with her new neighbour, Dante, who embodies everything Samantha used to be. Having been a good girl all these years, Samantha is at the crossroads of this chapter and she must decide.

Carrie, now every girl has always wanted Carrie’s love story with Big. Well…almost, take away all the break-ups and heartaches, and it was a fairytale. So once again, Carrie and Big are the cherry on top. When the movie begins, we are alerted to the fact that the two are looking for an apartment to share. After ten years of this roller coaster ride, this is a moment that has been long coming. Carrie is now 40 and isn’t married. There is no other man for her but Big. Eventually Big does propose, the coldest, emptiest, non-romantic proposal ever seen on TV. Either way, Carrie obliges and the wedding plans begin.

Spreads on Vogue, page six announcements, wedding planers, guest lists, the works. All the while Big is aloof, what with this being his third marriage and all. Tension starts to rage in the relationship and Big mentions that if it were up to him he would have simply gone to the City Hall, because all he wants is Carrie, not the glitz and glam that comes with a wedding in NYC.

Even so, one can tell the unspoken understanding between the couple. It’s a thing that comes with knowing someone, these two knew each other. Carrie is doing research for her fourth book about what happens after one finds love. She has a library book titled, ‘Love letters of Great Men”, and both she and Big get stuck on one by Beethoven, actually six words of that letter: “ever thine, ever mine, ever ours…”

Carrie moves out of her apartment of twenty years, this is a momentous event as most of life happened in this apartment. Now it’s as though it’s the start of a brand new book. She does a little fashion parade for her friends of some of the clothes in her closet. Highlighting again the need to be up to date with fashion in this city, “great style at every age”. What was in last fall may be out this year…and so we see.

The night before the wedding, at the rehearsal diner, Miranda (after talking to Steve) tells Big that he is crazy to get married, that it ruins everything. And as though Big was not having a difficult time with his own thoughts of two failed marriages and an attempt at a third, his cold feet come to life and he begins to pull away. He calls Carrie to share his fears and she puts them all to sleep, telling him if he doesn’t know what to write for his vows he should simply say “I will love you”.

By the next morning, Big has made a decision and he doesn’t pitch for the wedding, they meet on the streets as Carrie leaves the venue, and the display of pain echoes Miranda’s words to Steve the night before “you broke us, what we had is broken. I changed who I was for you.” This sends Carrie into a morbid spell of heartache, where her friends have to be there once again for her, and all four of them go on her honeymoon, and there the healing begins.

Upon returning, Carrie revamps her life, faces the city after almost finding love only to loose it. Five months go by and she does not make contact with Big. She hires an assistant, Louise, who also came to the city to find love….and labels. She recently had her heart broken, but later finds love in the same man and she gets engaged. Reigniting hope, restoring faith.

However this is a movie about happy endings, Carrie and Ben do work things out on their own terms, so does Miranda and Steve. Though it is not a fairytale movie, it teaches that sometimes love requires more than one try, at times even more than two tries, however, eventually, with the right mate, you learn to work it out. It is a cycle of sorrys and a lesson of forgiveness. But it is the love that prevails, wiping clean all the heartaches, now this love, that’s the love worth looking for. Someone to love forever. Someone who will love you forever. And surprisingly, it can be found in the city, in a man or in friendships!

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN? OFCOZ I OWN IT. IT IS A STORY OF HOPE AND HEALING…LOVE STORIES ARE TIMELESS.

THE WAY I SEE IT: RAPHAEL SAADIQ

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FRESH!

It is a lost sound, pretty different from Raphael’s other albums, but the familiarity is an instant drawing card.

You can almost place it in the age of blues discovery, but there is a modern tinge to it, made clear by the last track which features Jay-Z. You can almost envision the setting of each song in your head, dress the artist and choreograph the audience.

It’s almost both easy and difficult to deliver the essence of the album, it is an excellently woven tale of love through music. Surely it has increased Raphael’s fan base, though he seems to be a niche artist, those who loved him before, fall even deeper in love with him now. It leaves one wondering what he will come up with next. That’s the thing with talent, it’s consumers always want more.

WOULD YOU LISTEN TO IT AGAIN? EVERYTIME I LONG FOR A MATROMONY OF MUSIC AND LYRICS – IT’S AN ALBUM FOR THE SENSES, A PERFECT PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC, LYRICS, AND IMAGINATION – SIMPLY DIVINE!

BATMAN-THE DARK KNIGHT

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CAST: CHRISTIAN BALE, MICHEAL CAINE, HEATH LEDGER, GARY OLDMAN, AARON ECKHART, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, MORGAN FREEMAN

It’s a war between good and evil, the battle is complex because good is dressed as evil. The fight is for the soul of Gotham City, the soldiers are, Batman (Christian Bale), the Joker (Heath Ledger), the District Attorney (Aaron Eckhart), and GCPD, headed by LT James Gordon (Gary Oldman). The streets of Gotham are the battle field and it’s inhabitants the props.

Much emphasis is put on faces and masks. It would seem, even the unmasked are hidding behind their faces. The ultimate issue is that Gotham has a faceless vigilante as a hero. The Joker is out to prove that Batman is not such a stainless hero, that he too derives pleasure from killing. Batman however, seeks to give Gotham it’s ‘White Knight’, the DA, Harvey Dent, with a face and a zeal for justice.

Backstage, away from the battlefields, a love triange is insuing between Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) – an attorney & Batman’s ex – the DA and Batman. The Joker plays on this information which inevitably leads to Rachel’s death, leaving both men believing her heart belonged to each of them exclusively.

On the streets there is an allience between GCPD and Batman, and later the DA, all are fighting to capture the Joker and restore peace to Gotham. However the Joker is of a deranged mindset, forward thinking, disturbed, witty and seldom out-smarted. He says, “Upset the established order and everything becomes chaos, I am an agent of chaos”. In his pursuit to unmask the hero, he turns the city over on its head – and for what? Pleasure?

The intricate detail in faces, masks, make-up, costume, scars and wounds plays like a golden thread throughout the movie. First the Joker, scars enlarging his smile are enhanced by the white powder he wears, a mask, make-up, that he puts on daily, but it is never too clear what he is hidding from, but except for the permanent smile on his face and the habitual laughter, he never seems to smile.
Batman, an ordinary man, put aside his great wealth as Bruce Wayne, no special powers like regular super heroes, is never seen out of costume. His costume is a symbol, the Dark Knight, a bat, it is a signature that allows an ordinary man to do extra-ordinary things, however it does not protect the flesh from wounds extracted from the battles.
Then there is the DA, as decent a man as Gotham could hope for. He starts off as an ordinary unmasked protagonist, but with loss, he looses half his face, wounds, a mask, they call him ‘Two Face’, and he lives up to the name when he is fueled by revenge for a lost love. He says to Batman, “You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time”. The loss of hope, good becomes evil.

The conflict plays out, good dies, though not entirely, evil is captured, yet not killed, and only towo men are left standing. Batman and Gordon. Gordon, after all has played out, says to Batman, “The Joker took the best of us and tore them down, people will loose hope”. At this point the hero evolves, Batman lays himself down, the sacrificial lamb, to restore hope to Gotham, he decides to become whatever the City needs him to be – right now, the bad guy. He goes on a run, carrying the sins of the city on his mask and costume, the GCPD chases after him. It is the City that defines the hero, and a true hero adopts.

Brilliant casting, Heath Ledger’s last work – I think it is safe to say that this was his masterpiece. Riveting talent!

Would you watch it again? Over and over! Brilliantly told!

TESTIMONY VOLUME 2 – LOVE & POLITICS: INDIA.ARIE

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After Voyage to India, Acoustic Soul and Testimony Volume 1 – Life and Relationships, I honestly did not expect to be blown away by the same artist for the fourth time! When India sings, she speaks reality. It may be her reality, but the words transcend and start to have meaning in your own life. She sings truth. Her music is devoid of time in that she tells life long stories through her voice. She tells the stories of the marginal, rich and ordinary. She speaks of the injustices of life, love, countries and regimes. She alerts you of the strength that is reaped from affliction and growth.

Pity I never reviewed the past three, but this album is like nothing she has done before. If you swa growth in Testimony Volume 1, WOW, then you are about to peel into a tale more elevating than that! This one is an album of both mind and heart.

WILL YOU LISTEN TO IT AGAIN? OF COURSE! I OWN IT! It’s the kind of album that’s craved by the soul before the ears miss it…

He’s just NOT that into you

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CAST: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlet Johanson, Justin Long

Having read and enjoyed the book, I wondered how they planned to make a movie out of it. It wasn’t exactly a typical fiction and it had no specific characters to frame a movie around. But the clever use of the make and female actors showed aspects of what the book intended.

The stars of the movie are by far the young, clumpsy and clueless journalist who falls inlove with every guy who looks her way, and her hard-hearted, once-beaten-twice-shy potential boyfriend. Their story is easier to relate to. However, all in all, just as the book, this movie is a mirror on how the dating scene plays out in our generation, but more especially on how women view their roles in that scene. it makes one laugh at how common their heartbreak is.

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN? OF COURSE!!! I OWN IT!

IN MY SISTER’S SHOES – SINEAD MORIARTY

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It is a story about life, well written, easy to read. The fourth novel by the Dublin, Ireland based author, but the first that I have read. It focuses on the life of Kate O’Brien, who seems to loose all in order to gain all. It enhances and emphasises the importance of family and the will to follow a dream, come what may.

It is a novel on patience, on suffering, on ambition, on desire, on love, on reputation, on hope, on loyalty and secrets. Worlds fall apart to be brought back to life by things and people that matter. And through it all it is a journey of  self-discovery and selfless love.

WOULD YOU READ IT AGAIN? I OWN IT! I would most probably read it again, but I’d definately recommend it to anyone who is in the valley of their life and overcome by confusion.

WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW? The Dancer Upstairs by Nicholas Shakespeare