Romance Meets Life

What Omotola Got Wrong About Gender Equality And Why I Believe In It
Meet The Writers Including Yewande Omotosho in Accra Next Friday
Couple Love - Chris Attoh and Damilola Adegbite Set to Get Married
#Oscars2014 - Full Winners List For The 86th Academy Awards
Video - Lupita Nyongo’o Wins Oscar For Best Supporting Actress!
Couple Love - The Oscar Red Carpet

What Omotola Got Wrong About Gender Equality And Why I Believe In It

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 04:05 PM PST

I just posted OMOTOLA JOLADE EKEINDE's interview where she talks about not believing in Gender Equality. She said "I don't believe in gender equality. I do not believe that God made man and woman to be equal in any way", and then goes on to explain how allowing her husband to be the head of their home had made her marriage successful. There is something very wrong in that answer.

What I think is that Omotola does not know what Gender Equality means. In marriage, you do not compete with your husband, true, but gender equality is a general society thing, not an individual marriage thing. It means, in society, girls and women are given just the same opportunities as their male counterparts and regarded as moral and intellectual equals in every way.

I'm happy for Omotola at the husband and marriage God has blessed her with, but those who like her shun Feminism and Gender Equality, forget the little ones, those who are not as fortunate as they are. You cannot with one mouth reject gender equality and then show surprise when a man batters a woman in private, or harasses her in public, he does it not just because he is physically stronger, but because he believes he is superior to her.

For those downtrodden women, abused by their men, and oppressed under patriarchy, for the women who have gone before, some of who spoke out, fought and died that I might be educated and have a voice, for my daughters and for the little girls yet to come, I will always and forever be a champion of gender equality.

__________

I posted a version of the above on my Facebook page and it generated a ton of discussion so I decided to share it here too. Let's discuss. What do you see as gender equality?

Meet The Writers Including Yewande Omotosho in Accra Next Friday

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 04:01 PM PST

If you're in Accra and want something to do next Friday evening, Meet the Writers is a cozy event where you can find out the creative process of the writers featured above and the inspiration behind their books. Yewande Omotosho, author of Bomboy, who was recently shortlisted for the Etisalat fiction prize will be present.

Couple Love - Chris Attoh and Damilola Adegbite Set to Get Married

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 11:32 AM PST

Ghanaian actor Chris Attoh and actress Damilola Adegbite have been dating for a while, about the time the co-starred on the set of Flower Girl, and now, they are about to tie the knot. According to Linda Ikeji, the wedding will take place in Lagos on April 12th. Damilola has confirmed the news via her social media. Wishing them all the best!

#Oscars2014 - Full Winners List For The 86th Academy Awards

Posted: 02 Mar 2014 11:09 PM PST

It was a tight race as so many amazing films were nominated in the various award categories at the Oscars. Atala and I have this game we play, we print out the nominees and vote for our favorites, and then as we watch the show, we tick off who gets it right.

We both did well in our predictions but lost out for best picture. 12 Years a Slave got the ultimate prize of Best Picture, telling the story of Solomon Northup, a free man who is sold into slavery and has to find his way back to his family. Steve Mcqueen in his speech said something from the movie which has stuck with me since we saw it, "Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live."

Still, "Gravity", my favorite proved to be a big winner garnering seven academy awards in total - Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Score, etc. I was disappointed though that Sandra Bullock lost out on the Best Actress category to Cate Blanchett who won for "Blue Jasmine."

Atala and I both predicted right for Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor but lost out to Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor both in "Dallas Buyers Club" in which they were simply brilliant.

See the full list below...

Best Picture - 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature - Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography - Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design - The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing - Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature - 20 Feet from Stardom (Nominees to be determined)
Best Documentary Short - The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing - Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film - The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling - Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score - Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song - Let It Go - Frozen
Best Production Design - The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film - Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film - Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing - Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing - Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects - Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay - 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay - Her (Spike Jonze)

Video - Lupita Nyongo’o Wins Oscar For Best Supporting Actress!

Posted: 02 Mar 2014 10:35 PM PST

Lupita Nyong'o was amazing in 12 years a Slave and has been promoting it with her various appearances on magazine covers and red carpets all over. To cap up all her great work, she was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which is a kind of belated birthday present, she turned 31 yesterday. Lupita gave a very touching speech, the best line is shown in the pic above. See the video and more pictures below..

Couple Love - The Oscar Red Carpet

Posted: 02 Mar 2014 10:13 PM PST

Chiwetel Ejoifor and Sari Mercer

It was a stunning Oscar celebrations today, Ellen was a wacky and wonderful host and my favorite films and actors got recognized. And on the red carpet, several couples came with their better halves...