Posted in You can't make this stuff up, tagged Frederick Chiluba, Imelda Marcos, You can't make this stuff up, Zambia on June 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The former Zambian President, who was a darling of the West and the Christian right, is in court for defrauding the state while in office. Details of his extravagant lifestyle include the following, are emerging in court: “Mr. Chiluba owned more than 100 pairs of size 6 shoes, many affixed with his initials in brass. He is just a little over five feet tall, and each pair has heels close to two inches high.
Posted in television, tagged American Idol, Fela Kuti, Music, Nigeria, reality television, Simon Cowell, vaudeville, West African Idol, You can't make this stuff up on June 12, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Posted in fashion, tagged Bantu, Ethiopia, fashion, swimsuits, Yodit Eklund, Yohannes Mekbebe, You can't make this stuff up on May 18, 2009 | 1 Comment »
More power to the designers of the swimsuit, Ethiopians Yodit Eklund and her brother, Yohannes Mekbebe, of the label, Bantu, but was this headline necessary in The New York Times “Sunday Style” feature on Memorial Day beach clothes?
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged Darfur, new humanitarianism, Save Darfur, Sudan, You can't make this stuff up on May 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Save Darfur Pet Bowl
Product Details
Perfect for the pet with a hearty appetite (or large thirst), this rugged, full-sized stoneware bowl overflows with charm. With a wide diameter of 7.25″ and standing a lofty 3″ tall, there’s more than enough room to satisfy even the biggest hunger.
* Measure s 3″ (h) x 7.25″ (diameter)
* Holds 40 oz.
* Stoneware
From the Designer
Please help educate people about the genocide going on in Darfur. If you let them know, most people will help. Be a voice for Darfur.
Link.
You can’t make this stuff up.
HT: Lara
Posted in You can't make this stuff up, tagged Cameroon, Chantal Biya, comedy, hair, humor, Paris Hilton, You can't make this stuff up on April 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It can’t get better than this.
US popular culture is discovering the Cameroonian first lady and her unique hairstyles in a big way.
The official reason for her visit to Los Angeles was an “African First Ladies Health Summit.”
Blogs here can’t get enough of her. And Biya can’t get enough of the cameras as this slideshow by The Daily Telegraph newspaper, show.
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged Africa and US media, piracy, reality television, Somali pirates, Somalia, US Navy, You can't make this stuff up on April 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
US TV network, Spike, has announced it had ordered up a reality series pilot in which the U.S. Navy hunts down pirates. The series has the working title “Pirate Hunters: USN.” For those who don’t know the network, its flagship programs include “C.O.P.S” and “Ultimate Fighter.”
The series is said to be jointly produced by 44 Blue Productions (a company behind series such as “Behind Bars” and “Cell Dogs”) and an independent producer Adam Friedman. In an article written by Washington Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes Friedman is quoted as saying:
“Let’s face it . . . it’s a win-win for everyone. It’s one thing to say we’re going into Iraq, and killing women and children sometimes, unfortunately. But with pirates it’s a clear black-and-white thing. They’re the bad guys.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Jane Kim of Columbia Journalism Review’s blog also reports on some of the other ignorant statements made about the crisis off the Somali coast. She links to an article by rightwing columnist Jonah Goldberg (in the LA Times) who suggests: “Well, that was simple. Shoot the pirates, problem solved.” Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post media columnist, and Bill Kristol (remember him?) make the predictable “terrorist” comparisons.
More from Jane Kim.
Posted in Africa is a Country, tagged BBC News, Books, Wilbur Smith, You can't make this stuff up on April 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I will not comment on the colonial fantasies about Africa in this exchange (both from pulp “novelist” Wilbur Smith and his questioner on this BBC News feature where writers answer listeners’ question), except to let the exchange speak for itself:
Ian McFadzean, Alloa: With the political unrest and violence in so many countries within Africa, can you see a way forward to regain the beautiful Africa that was there before?
Wlbur Smith: I’m not a prophet, I can only use historical reality to come to a view of the future, and my view is that Africa will return to being African and not European. The advent of colonialism was foreign to the country itself, but it will return to what it was before the Europeans arrived.
Posted in Not just about Africa, tagged colonialism, Congo, exhibitions, Henry Stanley, history, Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza, Why isn't CNN covering this, You can't make this stuff up on March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A new exhibition in New York City on the Italian-born, French “explorer,” Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza as a ‘good’ colonialist in contrast to Henry Stanley, because Brazza worked for the French. In 2009.
Link.
Posted in You can't make this stuff up, tagged Cameroon, Chantal Biya, la banane, Paul Biya, the banana, the Chantal Biya hair theory, tougher than Nigerian hair, You can't make this stuff up on March 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Blogger Texas African has a hilarious post about the Cameroonian first lady’s unique hairstyles. As Pope Benedict crisscrosses the continent contradicting himself (on AIDS and poverty), some people missed the other important story about his visit to Cameroon: Chantal Biya’s hair. You can’t miss it. The one in the picture, which is copied in Cameroon, is called “la banane” (the banana). It may sound trivial, but as Texas African reminds us academic articles have been written about it.
Link.
Posted in You can't make this stuff up, tagged Africa and the West, Namibia, tourism, travel writing, You can't make this stuff up on March 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One of the images that accompanies a travel feature in The San Francisco Gate.
You can’t make this stuff up.
