God is in a good story

What if I found more "God" in watching Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame last night than in attending church service today?

One almost takes for granted the magic of animation, and of a good story loved and retold over the decades.  My now 20-year-old brother really loved it when you read his Quasimodos and Esmeraldas to him from his Hunchback picture book.  After Curious George, that must have been his favourite.

Now I'm watching The Hunchback Part II.  This long Easter weekend, I've also seen Pocahontas and the sequel.  12 movies for 200 Naira - I'll never get over that magic!

Meanwhile, it's Easter Sunday 2013 and I've finally visited one of the megachurches in my neighbourhood. Here's the report:

Big place, shiny and organized, good choir.  

People dancing so it's better than the night-club where sometimes folks just spend money hanging out and don't really dance.  

Outing got me thinking about the black church (USA) and in particular Howard University's Rankin Chapel and the Gospel Choir.  

Howard chapel - elevating. This church - uninteresting.  My mind wasn't there. 

The Colours of Arabia, Gold

Two of my poems have joined the gorgeous selection at Cyclamens and Swords. I think they have great taste over at C&S, so I am in celebratory mode.

If you haven't the time for poetry, please visit the selected artwork on their site.
You really must.  See Current, and Previous issues.

Hilarious video: Hello professor

There's more...Now I know how I'm going to burn the rest of my internet allocation for the month.

Top movies and cutest actors

I'll try to name my best films.  In categories of course. 

Best Action 

Inception (winner) 

Alexander

Best Romance

Becoming Jane (winner)

Leap Year

Best Drama
Arven (winner)
The Devil Wears Prada

Cutest women in film 

Genevieve Nnaji (winner) 

Catherine Zeta-Jones 

Julianne Moore

Most adorable screen actors
Eric Bana (winner)
Wentworth Miller
Adrienne Grenier

So many other cool romances I can think of...Sense and Sensibility, A Single Man, The Breakup...  Like I said, love is sorta sad. 

Let's all go to the movies!

and then I decided to find my top 10 ever but that was so hard that I tried top 50 and got stuck because memory can't be so trusted until great idea to use categories - like the Oscars - which really helped.

Best Soundtrack: 

Dharam Veer (winner)

De-Lovely

Kissing Jessica Stein

Best Visual Presentation

Avatar (winner)

Bend it like Beckham

Best Storyline

Ratatouille (winner)

Saworoide

Surf's Up

Best Actress

Joke Silva (winner)

Rihanna

Best Actor
Leonardo di Caprio (winner)
Eddie Murphy

Tomorrow, I'll tell you my favourite movies and which actors I find most adorable. 

Iram's TEDxYouth@Caltech talk

By Iram Parveen Bilal, the director of Josh (Against the Grain).

She says:
0. Critics call me confused, I call myself well-rounded.
1. Find out who you are internally - the unique you.
2. Figure out the external world.
3. Putting yourself in "uncomfortable" situations helps you do these things: new experiences help you discover you, and travelling helps you know the world.
4. All this makes you a happier person that is more fitted to creating a happier world.  

I acted in her first demo/assignment of film school.  We really have to do something together again.