My BirthDay: "The Post Mortem" R.I.P. May 27

Well it has dawned on me now that I am 23 and very very very old, hmmm and what have I accomplished with my life... not much it would seem, so I've invented this wonderful concept where, no longer will I remember, count, nor keep track of my age, as of this very moment May 27 is dead. The new modus operandi will be... Press on, hussle hard, worry not and mi must bust soon... don't??? Anyway me feel so... So here is to 23 in 2004,(enter Bounty Killer song: Big Tings a Gwaan 2004) the last Birthday hurrah... *sob* *sob* *sniff* *sniff*... May 27 used to be such a good day.

MOVIE REVIEW: TROY

Oh well... here we go, Troy to say the least is a decent movie, watchable and all but it is noway comparable to epics such as THE LAST SAMURAI, LORD OF THE RINGS or GLADIATOR. As the show opens there is paraphrasing, almost practically pirating of a line in GLADIATOR where Maximus says some thing about "Elysium" and "Echoing in infinity"... major turn off there. Then there is a lifting of the line where Maximus says "I'll have my vengence in this life or the next," Orlando Bloom cops the line and professes to Helen "I'll have you my love in this life or the next." Gee, master piece of scripting right there. Beyond that, the movie starts off with Brad Pitt(one of my fave actors), who plays the arrogant Achilles, missing in battle or more like the start of the battle. His opening scene sets the pace for his antagonistic role throughout the entire film.

The movie strays from the actual tale in several regards and if you are a stickler on accuracy etc. then you'll have to look beyond the time change(in the tale it's ten years in the movie it's two), Achilles in the Trojan Horse, and Hector killing Menelaus and Ajax to appreciate the movie.

Hector (the character with whom I most sympathize), portrayed by Eric Bana, is divided amongst his piety, his family, and his country. When he first learns that he is leading a ship back from Menelaus to Troy carrying Helen, he considers returning her, but then caves in to the wishes of his brother. When Paris grabs his leg during the single combat between Menelaus and Paris, Hector in a sapsy scene kills Menelaus to protect his brother. Hector kills Achilles' cousin who is sort of like a son to Achilles, then tries to console his wife, and then goes off even when he knows he will die because Achilles is a superior fighter.

Brad Pitt's Achilles is a dead on portrayal. His arrogance, showy fighting style, impulsiveness, petulance, defiance of Agamemnon, and love of Briseis all seem to fit the Achilles Homer described. Achilles is motivated by glory and is aware of the fact that he will die young if he pursues it(gee, Mommy did warn him), but his legend is what matters most to him, because all he believes himself to be, is the best warrior, whom even the gods envy. Brad Pitt was a delight to watch in the fight scenes and the nude scene are probably what will drive the ladies.

The walls of Troy and the fleet of ships dotting the sea as far as you could see were well done. The large battle scenes use real people, instead of relying only on animation techniques, although Brad Pitt's leaping looked like a cross/mix of Matrix and Gladiator in terms of cinematography and special effects.

Orlando Bloom(Legolas) relives his Lord of the Rings role, particularly as an archer (at the end with his triumph over Achilles). Paris is not an especially sympathetic character(I hate him, really I do, more than I did in LOTR). Helen wasn't particularly beautiful( but if your into that Barbie Doll white girl look) and that's probably what she ought to have been, and can anyone explain to me why she is with a real coward and loser.

Briseis (Achilles' main squeeze), was pretty much suped up for the movie, as it deviates her role by a far turn. Briseis was the name of Achilles' one of Achilles' spoils from the war, who was stolen by Agamemnon to spite Achilles' and then returned, when he later needed to appease Achilles. Beyond that and the fact that Achilles and Briseis seem to have loved each other, her character is pretty much baked by the writer and director. In the original story she was married and not the virgin (by any stretch of the imagination) priestess of Apollo. She is also not the cousin of Hector.

The movie is a decent watch especially if your a epic, hero, glory type junkie.

Final Musings on The "Ever" Grand Cayman

Well lets see on final days of travel... Cayman proved a little just a little better. Hmmm I walked around Gun Bay and East End and hmm Rum Point I think it is... Oh well, yah Gun Bay is a small coastal settlement... filled with lots and lots of Caucasians, who ride around in convertables etc... not my scene, while there I stopped off at a heritage stop... aaah Shipwreck of ten or something like that, I know I'm not doing justice to the place eh... it was a scenic enough spot but the sea there was scary... it was deep dark and solemn yup, as compared to the beaches in JA, which for the most part always seem full of wonder, adventure, amazement, etc... yup the sea there also struck me as unforgiving. Oh well let me stop personifying the sea eh... Later down I end up back at mi amigo Donovan's church stint and there I stumbled upon.... drum roll a chatty trini woman (I swear Trinidadians are the most talkative people on the face of this planet) hmmmm well at least she was pretty (she was a dark Indian, taller than I, aaah fat and pleasant eh!!!) aaah of course when I met her she was in the middle of sermon, where she was lamenting the greatness of Trini women, after which someone informed her that me mister mister had a trini woman... after which she says, "once yuh go trini yuh cyan go back eh!!! Just ask ma husban, just ask he." We chatted alittle after about Arouca and the name Ganess yadda yadda yadda... Next up, our weary(more like bored) traveller finds himself in the lovely seaside town(no intended sarcasm) of East End... now even though Cayman is not my speed, I could see myself there if forced to live in Cayman. It had a bar, seaside restaurants, nice little rural sketsish looking girl etc... much like home eh but not exactly it seemed layed back in a lively sort of way eh (don't comment on the paradox there all you literature majors) However the ever pervasive sense of apathy managed to linger there too... aaaaaaaaaaarrrgggh!!! Oh well there was something odd I had noted, they bury their dead on the beach eh... in the sand laaawwd!!! But small thing really... So after dips in pool, beach, more driving around... I pretty much ended my trip in Caymania and the very next day was on my way back to JA...

More on "The" ever Grand Cayman

Well as I continue to ingest the ever mundane life that is Grand Cayman, I see really that there is no real work to do here, mostly Cayman is an island of routines. It's like no one has any real thing to do so they entertain themselves by tying up themselves with set routines, hmm like a "I go to work at 8 eat lunch at such and such..." and you ought to get my drift. Then there is a terrible sense of apathy amongst the people, they seem droned into existence, must be the easy acquisition of material gains, the people have no real ambitions or dreams of anything just cars, girls, party, etc. Hopes of a black movement or any type of social upheaval here would be far fetched, if not impossible. Hmmm colour is an issue here too, much like Jamaica, brown is the esteemed colour, and if such a thing is possible, its the colour of choice. "Shadism" is the order of the day here, lots of half breeds, beasts and that sort of thing... oh well they hate Jamaicans... whats new... they refer to us mostly as the expatriates (expatriate SYLLABICATION: ex·pa·tri·ate, NOUN: (-t, -t)1. One who has taken up residence in a foreign country. 2. One who has renounced one's native land. definition taken from Bartleby.com) ... (I like to think X-patriots{black ppl spreading the cause, like X-men eh.}) but not all expatriates are Jamaican, though the majority is, some are from Canada, Honduras, Cuba etc.

The fundamental difference with here and Jamaica is that I really see much more scope to change the plight of the Caribbean from Jamaica than here. Here I feel there is much more social ratification to be made, though I think they have lots to contribute, granted they maybe small and all, they have managed to create an economy out of off-shore banking and tourism, that's still some feat.

Caribbean Exploration: Cayman

Well its official... I don't know what's to see in Cayman, but its not my place to live or anything else of the sort... its pretty mundane... it has no real texture of life, no colour, no dynamism... its a real culture of materialism and brown people, beasts, hondurans and then some materialistic niggaz... Jah... not me. But I guess when I take over the Caribbean it will have to fall in line eh... thats alot of work right here. At least it shows some things, like for instance the 2 high schools in the island which are all the high schools by the way, have wireless internet, A.C. in every class and yadda yadda yadda 15 students at most to a teacher and they don't have 100% literacy yet, aaah and the have the most troubled, suicidal students ever... come on now really money nuh solve nutten then...