Champions of Our Time DVD Out On December 17

Champions of Our Time DVD will be released nationwide on December 17, 2012 and also on Amazon.com for USA and Canada where millions of Nigerians and other Africans in the Diaspora have been demanding for the DVD version.

Champions of Our Time is the family movie for this Christmas season and a collector’s item in every home. It will be sold nationwide by Denziot Integrated and logistics limited of 7B Fatai Kaffo Crescent, Off Agungi Agirun Road, Lekki, Lagos.

The multiple awards winning movie sponsored by the Lagos state government became the first and the only Nollywood movie to win the major ECOWAS Special Prize and the Prix spécial du jury pour une œuvre de fiction TV/Vidéo (Special Jury Prize for TV/Video fiction) with a value of one million CFA francs at the highly competitive Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou ( FESPACO) in 2011. Champions of Our Time with screenplay by the award winning screenwriter Chidi Nwokeabia and directed by award winning filmmaker Mak Kusare and Charles Inojie is the second Nigerian movie to have been so honoured since Newton Aduaka won the most coveted First Prize, Étalon de Yenenga for his Ezra in 2007.

Champions of Our Time won the Best Film award at the 2010 Zafaa International Film Festival, Best Film at 2010 Abuja International Film Festival, Golden Mboni  Award at 2010 Lola Kenya Screen Festival, Kenya, two awards at the 2010 Terracotta Awards, Official Selection of the African Movies Academy Awards (AMAA 2010) and Official Selection of the 2010 Zanzibar International Film Festival. Outside Africa, Champions of Our Time was finalist at the 2011 16th International Family Film Festival in Hollywood, USA, Official Selection of Deep Fried International Film Festival, U.K and Official Selection of Lucasfilm International Film Festival in  Germany.

Champions of Our Time tells the extraordinary story of two exceptionally brilliant young girls from opposing ends of the social spectrum. They both nurse ambitions of becoming the next winner of the prestigious St. Flairs Foundation Quiz Competition. However, their quest unravels a web of intrigue, high-stakes politicking, corruption in high places, and a culture of neglect and discrimination against the physically challenged amongst us. Suspense-wrapped scenes in the movie showed how far the players went to achieve their dreams in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The movie is a production of Macnuel Productions Limited in Nigeria and starring top Nollywood stars Segun Arinze, Joke Silva-Jacob, Ngozi Ezeonu, Ejike Asiegbu, Ayo Adesanya, Charles Inojie, (Introducing) Treasure Obasi and Feyisola Ewulomi, Paul Adams, Ejike Metu and others.

DIRECTOR --- Mak Kusare
PRODUCERS --- Chidi Nwokeabia & Emeka Enyiocha
SCREENPLAY --- Chidi Nwokeabia

MUSIC --- Muhammed Musulumi

D.O.P --- Pindem Lot

EDITOR --- Eric Obinwa & Idi Nasiru

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER --- Macnuel Productions

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR --- Charles Inojie

CONTINUITY --- Ikechukwu Omenaihe

MAKE-UP --- Yemisi Ikotun

CUSTOMIER --- Chioma Okafor

LOCATION --- Macnuel Productions Ltd. & Simeone Owest


For more details on DVD copies, call Tel: 234 8035005391, 08023424770.

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Let's Party!

Kisses & Roses - - - - Four Thoughts for Valentine

The same lips we use in kissing we also use in cursing and kisses also come with bruises and roses also come with their thorns in the romance of life. But many people behave like dogs who always return to their vomit.

Unfaithful and ungrateful people often live in denial until when they are paid in their own coin. Have you noticed that the most jealous husbands are the most unfaithful ones?

Unfaithfulness comes in different ways and cheating on someone is not always about sex. Too much lust for sex in a relationship is like too much salt in a pot of soup.

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CNN Names Jessie Rees "Young Wonder"

3 Dec 2012 15:02 Africa/Lagos

CNN Names Jessie Rees "Young Wonder"
Network recognizes Foundation Founder for her work



RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CNN named Jessie Rees one of their "Young Wonders" and recognized her work as part of their Heroes of the Year celebration on Sunday, December 2 at the Shrine Auditorium. The ceremony, hosted by Anderson Cooper, was attended by the Rees Family.

"Jessie's life work has now impacted the lives of 50,000 kids in her same fight against cancer and the way it can make otherwise outstanding kids lonely, labeled, and limited," said Erik Rees, Jessie's Dad and Chief Encouragement Officer of the Jessie Rees Foundation.

During the opening days of her fight against brain cancer, Jessie realizing that many children fighting cancer have long hospital stays took it upon herself to start to bring them toys and joy. Her effort soon grew into JoyJars and given her own motto of 'Never Ever Give Up' she completed over 3,000 of them personally.

"During her fight, Jessie taught us many things, one of the most important was what 'Never Ever Give Up' truly meant. She never gave up caring for courageous kids with cancer, and her work has only expanded because of her NEGU spirit," said Rees. "We are honored to have her life recognized by CNN and know that she will continue to be an inspiration for caring."

Each JoyJar carries 15-20 new, age appropriate, toys within its brightly covered sealed jar for courageous kids with cancer. Jessie started distributing JoyJars herself in 2011 during her fight against inoperable brain cancer. She passed away in January of this year and the foundation she started now serves 196 children's hospitals and every Ronald McDonald House in America. The foundation has over 1,000 volunteers and partners nationally with UPS, Life Technologies, Anthem Blue Cross of California, youtheory and others to make sure every courageous kid fighting cancer Never Ever Gives Up.

CONTACT: Jeff Gibson
(949) 851-8511
Jessie Rees Foundation
http://www.negu.org/

This press release was issued through eReleases® Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Jessie Rees Foundation

Web Site: http://www.negu.org

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Why Alpha Girls Continue To Dominate Even After High School

In high school, the alpha girls dominate. They rule fashion, set the lexicon, and make the ironfisted judgments about who is in and who is out. The beta girls, by contrast and in as equally gross a generalization, are accomplished. They get the grades. They excel in sports. They play instruments. They run the student council. But while they are known, they are not generally revered. Science has proven these categorizations are lasting:

~ Dr. Peggy Drexler, Author, research psychologist and gender scholar.

Read the full article on HUFFPOST WOMEN.

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West Of Memphis: Voices For Justice

30 Nov 2012 17:18 Africa/Lagos



Legacy Recordings Set To Release West Of Memphis: Voices For Justice - Music From & Inspired By New Film Documenting The Case Of The Memphis Three
West of Memphis: Voices For Justice - Featuring Music From Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines, Patti Smith, Lucinda Williams and More - Available Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The purchase of this album will in part directly benefit the West Memphis Three
"West of Memphis," A Sony Pictures Classics Release, Opening In Los Angeles & New York On Christmas Day (December 25, 2012)

NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Legacy Recordings will release West of Memphis: Voices For Justice , an album of music and songs inspired by the new Sony Pictures Classics film, "West of Memphis," which chronicles the case of the West Memphis Three. The album serves to raise awareness for the continuing fight for exoneration of the West Memphis Three.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060130/LEGACYLOGO )

"West of Memphis" is a new documentary film produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (the Lord of the Rings trilogy), Amy Berg (Best Documentary Oscar nominee Deliver Us From Evil), with first-time producers Damien Echols (of the West Memphis Three) and Lorri Davis. Directed by Amy Berg, the film reveals the untold story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to bring the truth to light; a fight to stop the State of Arkansas from killing an innocent man.

Starting with a searing examination of the police investigation into the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, the film goes on to uncover new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of the other three victims of this shocking crime--Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. All three were teenagers when they became the target of the police investigation for crimes they did not commit. Each of the West Memphis Three spent more than 18 years in prison while outside the gates, mounting evidence

and testimony pointing to their innocence led to an outpouring of support, particularly from the music community and artists featured on this album such as Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Natalie Maines, Marilyn Manson, Dave Navarro, and Patti Smith.

"Music has always played a huge role in my life. In my early years, it allowed me to escape the crushing poverty I was born into. Music took me out of myself and into a thousand other worlds. Then, when I was put on trial, it was music they used against me. My love of heavy metal was considered 'proof' that I was evil and a satanic murderer. And then, ultimately, it was music that helped to free me when friends and supporters came together to put on the Voices for Justice concert in Little Rock," said Damien Echols.

"West of Memphis" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2012 and was an official selection at the Deauville American Film Festival 2012 and the Toronto International Film Festival 2012.

Much of the music heard in "West of Memphis" comes from an original score written and performed for the film by the Australian compositional team of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (The Dirty Three, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds). "It was an honor to have made a contribution to the film and to have played a part in raising awareness of the case of the West Memphis Three," said Cave.

Strains of the Cave-Ellis film score may be heard in the Henry Rollins track, "Damien Death Row Letter (Year 9)" in which Rollins reads a letter Damien has written him in 2003. One of the WM3's most vocal proponents over the years, Rollins was the producer and prime creative force behind the 2002 compilation album Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three.

Natalie Maines, a staunch backer of the West Memphis Three, performed the Pink Floyd song "Mother" live with Ben Harper in the summer of 2012 and decided to record it for West of Memphis: Voices For Justice . Maines and Harper produced this studio recording of the song, which features Ben on steel lap guitar.

Lucinda Williams re-recorded her 2006 song "Joy" exclusively for this soundtrack after playing it at Neil Young's "Bridge School Benefit.

The supergroup cover-band Camp Freddy--lead guitarist, Dave Navarro, is a friend and supporter of Damien Echols--recorded this version of "The Jean Genie," originally by David Bowie, one of Damien's favorite artists to listen to while on death row.

Tonto's Giant Nuts featuring Johnny Depp and Bruce Witkin recorded their version of "Little Lion Man," a Mumford & Sons cover, or this album. The song was an inspiration to Echols at the end of his prison term.

Marilyn Manson contributed his cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain," featuring Johnny Depp on guitar. Manson weighed in on the WM3 case on April 8, 2010 and said, "....I wish that I had the strength that this guy (Damien Echols) had, because he's gone to trial and gone to prison for just looking and thinking the things he did, and that's pretty much what all of us as a music community believe in and what we need to finally get behind. So I'm standing up today to say let's all get behind the West Memphis Three and fix it."

Band of Horses contributed a spectacular live version of "Dumpster World," from their acclaimed album, Mirage Rock, to West of Memphis: Voices For Justice .

Clarence Greenwood, aka Citizen Cope, has been following the West Memphis Three case for years and volunteered his song, "DFW," for the film after seeing an early cut and being moved by the story of Lorri Davis and Damien Echols.

Eddie Vedder wrote the song "Satellite" for Lorri Davis as a gift in a collection of songs he recorded for Lorri and Damien around 2000. Director Amy Berg makes beautiful use of the track over the final scene in "West of Memphis."

Bill Carter and his wife, Ruth Carter, wrote "Anything Made of Paper" to run as the end titles for "West of Memphis." The song's origins come from when Carter asked Echols what he could bring to him on death row and Damien answered, "anything made of paper, that's all."

The White Buffalo, aka Jake Smith, covers Faster Pussycat's 1989 hit "House of Pain," one of the songs Damien listened to on death row.

Bob Dylan contributed his liberation anthem, "Ring Them Bells," from 1989's Oh Mercy.

Tonto's Giant Nuts featuring Johnny Depp recite "Damien Death Row Letter (Year 17)" along with the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis score.

Patti Smith was one of the key artists who volunteered to perform at the Voices For Freedom benefit concert in West Memphis, Arkansas in August 2010. Patti's recording of "Wing" on the West of Memphis: Voices For Justice album is her live performance from that event, which had a major impact in pressuring the state for the release of the WM3.

Digital versions of West of Memphis: Voices For Justice will include the bonus track "Road to Nowhere" an Ozzy Osbourne cover recorded by Bill Carter. Ozzy's original was one of Damien's favorite songs to pass the time on death row.

West of Memphis: Voices For Justice - track listing

1. Henry Rollins (feat. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis original score) - Damien Echols Death Row Letter Year 9

2. Natalie Maines - Mother

3. Lucinda Williams - Joy

4. Camp Freddy - The Jean Genie

5. Tonto's Giant Nuts feat. Johnny Depp & Bruce Witkin - Little Lion Man

6. Marilyn Manson - You're So Vain

7. Band of Horses - Dumpster World (Live)

8. Citizen Cope - DFW

9. Eddie Vedder - Satellite

10. Bill Carter - Anything Made of Paper

11. The White Buffalo - House of Pain

12. Bob Dylan - Ring Them Bells

13. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - West of Memphis Score Suite

14. Tonto's Giant Nuts feat. Johnny Depp (feat. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis original score) - Damien Echols Death Row Letter Year 16

BONUS TRACK

15. Patti Smith - Wing (Recorded Live at Voices For Justice Benefit Concert - August 28, 2010)

DIGITAL ONLY BONUS TRACK

16. Bill Carter - Road to Nowhere

West of Memphis: Voices For Justice was co-produced by the film's music supervisor and movie soundtrack veteran Jonathan McHugh, whose credits include "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," "Rush Hour," "The Wedding Singer," Morgan Spurlock's "Greatest Movie Ever Sold" and many more.

For more information, please visit:

www.VoicesForJusticeMusic.com

www.WestofMemphisFilm.com


SOURCE Legacy Recordings

CONTACT: Tom Cording, Legacy Recordings, +1-212-833-4448, tom.cording@sonymusic.com

Web Site: http://www.legacyrecordings.com

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I Started Writing Professionally at 18

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.

~ By Bisi Daniels of THIS DAY Newspapers.

Writer and Blogger, Ekenyerengozi Chima, Speaks of his Motivation and Dreams

It is interesting to know all the things you do. A Jack of all trades?

No. I am not a Jack of all trades. I am only a visionary artist and writer, humanist and satirist using the mass media for mass communication for the benefit of humankind.

Let’s know your background.

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, aka Orikinla Osinachi, was born on January 30, 1963 on the Lagos Island in Nigeria. He is the second son and third child of Mr. Sunday Eke and Mrs. Gladys Eke, who migrated to Lagos from Umuahia in South-Eastern Nigeria. A writer of many books he is also a popular blogger. He has been one of the most published illustrators in Nigeria, commissioned by Johns Hopkins University’s Population Communications Services (JHU/PCS) and Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) for the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) and National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwifes (NANNM). He later became an IEC Officer for the Centre for Education on Population, AIDS and Drug Abuse (CEPADA) and a program consultant for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which he combined with his occupation as an artist, independent scriptwriter and production manager for TV. He has worked for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and DBN TV in Lagos. Presently, he works as a literary and media consultant in Lagos as well as also running his own companies as the Publisher/CEO of International Digital Post Network (IDPN) Limited, the largest Nigerian online news and information media network and the founder of the annual Eko International Film Festival and Screen Outdoor Open Air Cinema’s “One Village, One Cinema” Project to take cinemas to the urban and rural communities in Nigeria. Michael Chima is committed to his Christian faith and charity for the benefit of humanity.

So much; what would you say is your gift?

Sharing important information and charity. I am addicted to helping people- rich or poor. My pastor calls it the Ministry of Helps.

Can we talk about your books first? How many have you written?

I won my first prize when I was only 13 in 1976, an essay on What I Like Best About Nigeria. Then I started writing professionally at 18 and my first book “Children of Heaven”, a collection of poems was published in 1987 by Krystal Publications Limited in Lagos. In all I have written six books.

They don’t seem to be very visible locally. What is your marketing strategy?

My first book “Children of Heaven” was well publicized and reviewed in The Guardian, The Punch, Radio Nigeria and made the prime time Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) news read by Siene Allwell-Brown in 1988. It made me a national celebrity. And The Guardian reviewed “In the House of Dogs” prominently on January 1, 2012, for the New Year and actually addressed the critical issues that caused the nationwide protests against the government’s removal of the fuel subsidy on petrol. “The Language of True Love”, sold out on Bonny Island and the copies at Glendora sold out as well and copies were sold by roadside book sellers in Lagos.

Which of your books is your favourite?

I love “Bye, Bye Mugabe” and I am revising it for a new edition. The new book will be titled “The Prophet Lied” and I know it is going to become an international best seller for original contemporary poetry. The subjects are gripping as the book addresses all the issues of life on earth from the classic temporal to the spiritual in all existential circumstances with provocative thoughts and evocative figures of speech on every facet and aspect of what transpires in our contemporary world.

How do your book ideas drop, and how do you write?

First and foremost, I am inspired by God, as He gives me the Rhema as an eye witness of what is going on the planet He created. My books are my testimonies of life on earth as God gives me the grace to write.

Now, let’s talk about your blogs. Your name doesn’t seem to come up among the popular bloggers in town. Is it because you blog mostly foreign stuff?

I am one of the most popular and most prolific African bloggers, but many people in Nigeria don’t know this, because they don’t know the leading bloggers of note in the world. In fact, I was even unfairly banned from the award winning Global Voices when someone falsely accused me of inciting Igbos reprisal attacks against Hausas that could be an indication of some popularity.

I am also a member of the most popular bloggers networks where you hardly see Nigerian bloggers, like Technorati the leading blogs network in the world where I am also an author and on Blog Critics. My blogs are participating in The Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) hosted by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a research center founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. And my flagship news blog Nigerians Report is studied at some universities in the US. My blogs are among the only few Nigerian blogs with international contributors. Nigerian Times is the highest ranked African blog on film by Technorati that is indexing over 112.8 million blogs on the internet with my Nigerian Times ranked 143 for film news and information. I don’t make noise, I make news and I make history.

How many blogs do you run? Why so many?

I have 30 blogs and still counting. I did not set out to have so many blogs, but Google’s Blogger unlike Wordpress does not have features for many categories so I have to create different blogs for different subjects and interests on Blogger which is the most popular, because it is very easy to use like Facebook.
You do so much, what is your private life like?

My private life is doing charity work without making noise about it; like being part of the fund raising efforts to save the Blue Mouse Cinema. It is the oldest cinema in the state of Washington in the U.S.

You are into films too: Tell us about it.

My passion for film goes way back to going to watch movies at the cinemas like Kings Cinema in Lafiaji and Sheila Cinema on Broad Street in Lagos, where my father took us in the 1970s. That was how I got the motivation for the appreciation of motion pictures. I later became a script writer for NTA Channel 10 Lagos in TV puppet drama. I acted in one Nollywood movie in 1996 and made the casts of two other movies before I left to concentrate on office work and later returned to work on a documentary in 2004 on the first museum in Nigeria located on Esie, Kwara State, where we have the largest single collection of soapstone figurines in the world. But I am now working on my first feature after four years of research on Bonny Island in Rivers State, exploring the beauty of the Niger Delta that is more than the crude oil. The screenplay was co-written with Chika Onu, the prize winning prolific Nollywood filmmaker.

What are your views about standards in Nollywood?

Film making is an Art and video is not film. Nollywood is a child of circumstance. Nollywood addressed an important need among majority of Nigerians, the masses who needed to be entertained and these Nollywood home videos told their stories in the language they understood without elitist airs and graces. So, the quality of the art and craft of motion pictures was not the priority of the Nollywood producers. But we have learnt our lessons and now improving the standards to produce better movies that can be compared to the world class films in Hollywood.

And your comments about literature in Nigeria generally?

The new writers are actually better than the older generation, because of the emergence of modern tools of mass communication which we are now using to improve the literary standards of contemporary literature in Nigeria. But we don’t have the readers that the older generation had in the post colonial period when pupils and students enjoyed reading both their recommended text books and other books like novels and children’s books. Nigerians are not reading novels, because of the dysfunctional system of education and poor intellectual development in schools where examination malpractices have made pupils and students lazy and less competitive for intellectual scholarship.

So much you have done, you must be a rich man?

I am successful by the grace of God, but success is not measured by personal wealth, but by how many people you can share your success with. Only a foolish rich man has poor brothers and sisters.

I don’t measure success by how much good and ill-gotten riches someone has got, but by how many lives you have touched and transformed positively in your home, neighbourhood, community and society. I believe more in building lives than building houses.

What is likely to be your focus in future?

My mission is to use the social media for mass communication for the nation building of a New Nigeria.

Anything you want to excel in?

Charity. Charity. Charity for the benefit of every member of our society.

What are you working on presently?

My next book is on President Barack Obama, and completing my first feature film next year by the infinite grace of God who alone makes all dreams and wishes possible.

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