Celebrities and their headgears

Hats and face caps are part of our casual fashion wardrobe. There are so many types of them out there but can you tell the difference?

I’ll name a few celebrities that can help you identify the trendy hats and face caps that you can rock with your casual outfits. You ready? Let’s go:

Lil wayne and P-square – flat brimmed baseball cap (worn snap-back)

Chris Brown and Mo'Cheddah – flat brimmed baseball cap

Paul I.K. Dairo and Brad Pitt – Newsboy cap

Ruggedman and David Beckham – Beanies

Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie – Panama hat

Bez and Bruno Mars - Fedora with rolled up brim

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Indiana Jones – classic Fedora

Adams Oshiomole and Rihanna – Military style cap for the Army.

Now you know, choose the one that best suits you and go do your thing!

VALENTINES DAY CELEBRATION ALL AROUND THE WORLD!

Don’t you just love holidays? From all the goodies of Christmas, we are right back to another mega season of worldwide celebration, the celebration of love (popularly known as Valentine). As a Christian, showing and celebrating love is or should be our daily lifestyle but generally, love is the reason behind every celebration in any year. But the world has chosen Feb. 14th as the perfect time to do this because of the sacrifice of martyr St. Valentines, a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269. But let’s not bore ourselves with his story; I’m sure you’ll be hearing about it all over the radio that day. I’m more interested in how its celebrated all over the world. Now let’s globe trot and see how it’s done around the world.

In Europe particularly in Norfolk, a character called 'Jack' Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses leaving sweets and presents for children. While in Finland Valentine's Day is called Ystävänpäivä which translates into "Friend's day". As the name indicates, this day is more about remembering all your friends, not only your loved ones. The same goes for Valentine's Day in Guatemala, which is known as "Día del Amor y la Amistad" (Day of Love and Friendship) where people do "acts of appreciation" for their friends. In some places St. Valentine marks the beginning of spring. For instance in Slovenia, Valentine's Day has been celebrated as the day when the first works in the vineyards and on the fields commence. Also in Asia particularly in Japan, it has become an obligation for many women to give chocolates to all male co-workers. This is known as giri-choko. Friends, especially girls, may exchange chocolate referred to as tomo-choko; from tomo meaning "friend". The men are expected to return the favour to those who gave them chocolate on March 14 which is called "White Day". Originally, the return gift was supposed to be white chocolate or marshmallows; however, lingerie and jewelry have become common gifts.

In China, the common situation is the man gives chocolate, flowers or both to the woman that he loves. In South Korea, women give chocolate to men on February 14, and men give non-chocolate candy to women on March 14. On April 14 (Black Day), those who did not receive anything on the 14th of Feb or March, go to a Chinese restaurant to eat black noodles and "mourn" their single life. Poor we *sniff sniff*. Anyway, can u believe that Valentine's Day is currently celebrated in Iran despite some restrictions made by government? Young Iranian boys and girls are seen on this day going out and buying gifts and celebrating. And in Saudi Arabia in 2008, religious police banned the sale of all Valentine's Day items, telling shop workers to remove any red items, as the day is considered an un-Islamic holiday. This ban created a black market of roses and wrapping paper. Hey, you can’t stop love. Enough talk. That’s a whole lot of information don’t you think?

So how should we make this day special in Nigeria? Let’s see. I know the conventional move is to hang out in an eatery joint but come on you’ve got to be more imaginative than that. The beauty of love is it goes to extraordinary limits in its expression (like Jesus hanging on the cross for you). So try to go out of your way and do something really special that says, “I love you”. Material gifts are not the only things you can give, there could be better options. And it mustn’t be for someone you know, could be for a stranger, a homeless person better yet give at-least half of the money you would spend for the gifts, to missionaries, or for the poor. You will have the best of feelings inside you. Many people have different ways they respond to love so get to know what it is and speak their love language in a way they can understand. It doesn’t have to be expensive just look for the person’s love language and speak it!

Ps.
That day is my boo's birthday so... you don't need to know how I'll be celebrating him, that's my secret. *wink* Happy birthday b***. muah!

My first Movie Review for 2014

So in 2013, my last review made mention of some films I just couldn’t write a one line summary about but between then and now, so many new movies have been released like the Hobbit2, Blue Jasmine, Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, Frozen, Cloudy with a chance of Meatball 2, Inception 2, etc. I’ll try to do my best incorporating current movies into my list. So, here it goes:

1. Great Gatsby - I love everything about this movie – the ambiance, the plot, the couture, the choice of cast – especially the soundtracks which I heard long before the movie came out. This film is the fifth movie adaptation of the 1925 novel written by American novelist Scott Fitzgerald. It did so well in the box office as it ranked second to Iron Man 3 in its opening week. It’s such a powerful story that ballets, opera, graphic novels and even computer games have been made from it over the years. Kudos to the cast, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Amitabh Bachchan and Elizabeth Debicki, for an excellent performance. I hoped Leonardo Dicaprio would actually win a Golden Globe Award for this movie after numerous nominations in the past but it turns out he won Best lead actor for AACTA Award from the Australian Film Institute for this movie instead. At least he was able to secure an 2014 Golden Globe for the black comedy Wolf of Wall Street, a true life story which was released on the 25th of December 2013.

2. The Conjuring – I don’t know why I’m drawn to movies made from real life events experienced by real people. This movie is captivating from the first supernatural manifestation to the last. Movie review sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritics rated it highly as a well done horror movie which was in the same category with originals like Exorcists and Poltergeist. It was produced by New Line cinemas and distributed by Warner Bros. This movie is one among others (e.g. Amityville Horror and Insidious) which is based on the lives of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Ed passed away on August 23rd, 2006 but Lorraine is still alive). Their paranormal investigations of Demons led them to prominent cases of haunting.

3. Now you see me – This movie is one in a long line of movies that explore the actual concept of illusions rather than the dramatic. As some critics described it, it’s the modern day Robin Hood story. The characters were simply amazing in their performance, the storyline and its twists were perfect and the magical effects were taught to the actors by the great David Copperfield, the world’s greatest illusionist. Many critics claimed it was a terrible movie, citing change in camera positions by certain actors as seen during one or two scenes but for me, if the movie was produced in May 2013 at an estimated $75million and by September it had grossed over $117million in USA only, I call it a success and a must watch.

4. Las Vegas – The veterans of Hollywood finally came together to make a light hearted comedy movie that explored the subjects of how older citizens deal with old age and romance. The dialogue was hilarious and believable and just thinking of this film makes me smile. This film reminded me of how I felt when I heard my grandmother - who has been a great grandma for almost a decade now - had a crush on a Doctor she met in the UK during a medical appointment and it gave me a realistic picture of how that was remotely possible. It was such a pleasure to have the likes of Michael Douglas, Robert Di Nero, Morgan Freeman and Kelvin Kline star in a movie directed by Jon Turteltaub (also the Director of National Treasure & A Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and even though it felt like an older version of The Hangover franchise, it’s still a must watch.

5. Runner Runner – This crime thriller started out very mundane and kinda stretched out till towards the end. Once the film was done, I could see why Leonardo DiCaprio opted to be one of the producers of this movie. Sometimes in the face of seeming truth, people choose to believe what seats best with their consciences. Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake put up quite a performance and the beauty of using intellectual knowledge in every day occupation was well highlighted. I usually don’t like sharing the plots of movies so as not to discourage anyone from watching it but it’s necessary for me to mention here that the lead character, Richie, was a former worker on Wall Street whose history of a lucrative career there, hindered his ability to get funds/tuition assistance at Princeton University where he set out to do his Masters degree. That’s how his journey into the world of crime and police bullying begins. Too bad there wasn’t any real running as the title suggested.

6. Captain Philips - Once again, Tom Hanks delivers an award winning performance as he showed us the emotions of the character in this movie. Beyond being a true life story for which the man in question is truly grateful for having his life spared, it was the first movie in a long while that made me shed tears. In the face of a death threat, all Captain Philip could think of was his family and how to save lives even that of his enemy. A straight forward plot but as with all good dramas, we get to see reality in a different light because the actors brought more to light by their understanding of the roles they played. This movie I would watch again any other day.

That’s all for now folks. Till our next review, do make out time to relax at the cinema or at home with a great movie.