The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I was really excited after I saw the trailer for 'I sing of a well (ISOAW)' . It looked like a great movie with some awesome actors. The Ghanaian movie industry had become so exciting that arguably Ghana's best actress of all-time, Akofa Edjeani Asiedu, wanted to make a comeback into the industry. It looked like one of those movies set in the village with English lines, but the movie had a little more oomph. When I was in Ghana during Christmas, I tried to catch a premiere or buy the VCD/DVD. The premieres had already been done and the producers hadn't committed the knee-jerk reaction to selling the VCDs, they were continuing to premiere in other countries and showing the movie in film festivals around the world. Ghanaian movie producers, take note. I believe this movie would do well in film festivals because it's awesome! How do I know? I watched it. I know people who know people who work with people who made the movie. Ghana's too small anyway :-) The movie be...

Oh so close! That's what I said when it dawned on me we had lost the game. The lady sitting near me seemed to agree with my assertion. I had been watching it with a couple of friends, two of which were Ghanaian. We watched as the 'boys' battled, stayed aggressive, created chances, foiled their opponents' chances, oohing and aahing through an edgy 90 minutes of football. I had predicted, 'whoever would score first' would win the game and the tournament. After all, we had had 3 consecutive lone goal victories. When that first goal came in the 85th minute and it wasn't for Mother Ghana, it seemed the game had been decided. How cruel! We didn't have enough time to respond. Football is like that. Sometimes it is not dictated by luck, karma, form, reputation, paper, prophecies, superstition or jersey colours. It is dictated by grabbing opportunities and utilizing them. People hardly remember the team that won silver, but even fewer remember the team that won ...

So I am back with another review of Sparrow Productions' "A Sting In A Tale" (ASIAT). After my first review, many people wondered how I was able to give 'this movie' such a great review . I dunno. Maybe I look for different things when watching Ghanaian movies. I am not too impressed by the overdramatized scenes, big English and the other features of 'Gollywood' movies today. I am a big fan of soundtracks. Music in Ghana has come a long way and I think Ghanaian movies should lean on its popularity and versatility to improve. I love how Shirley Frimpong-Manso and her crew have been making use of Ghanaian music in their movies, right from ' Life and Living it' . I must commend Shirley, Chris Attoh (yes, him) and my Odadee friend, Elom Adablah for a great job on ASIAT's soundtrack. The first scene with the lorry/bus breaking down had me smiling. I'm not sure what song they were playing for this 'Monsi mpia' scene. 'Monsi mpia' ...

Ever since my brother sent me that text saying ' A Sting In a Tale ' was a bomb, I had been waiting to see it myself. On the second day of my latest Ghana trip, I saw the movie being sold on the streets of Accra. I was caught in two minds. The movie was premiered in November and VCD copies are already being sold? Well, I really want to see this movie, so it's great that now I could buy a copy . A lot of movies were being sold by different hawkers, in fact those selling ASIAT were everywhere. A few other interesting movies were being sold too. If you doubted whether making movies in Ghana was a 'bad' business, doubt no more. It still may be a home video business, but it pays. For some, it pays handsomely. There are a few things that have to be checked to sustain the industry so it doesn't enter the doldrums again in the near future. Take Agya Koo for instance. He appeared on the scene a few years ago and is one of the biggest movie stars in Ghana. Do a quick sea...

Kwaku Sintim-Misa's Thank God It's Friday show is the best show in Ghana. I always try to catch that show everytime I am in Ghana. It's set like a talk show with a few other segments. He sometimes interviews 'interesting', entrepreneurial Ghanaians. Late last year, he interviewed Eyram Akofa Tawia, founder of LETI games, who was profiled on this blog . I've seen interview some other Ghanaians who are doing very innovative things that many people did not know about. He also interviews major Ghanaian celebrities and statesmen. Here he interviews Mordechai Kwaku Nyamekye, the youngest delegate ever at the UN (and best delegate in Ghana). He has a ball with which he explains the Millennium Development Goals, for those of you who didn't know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vKckJkA28 Here, former president John Agyekum Kufuor talks about how he won the elections. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1KUVpxo76Y The 3 wise men serve as a think tank for TGIF. Here, the...

"I don't believe in ghost stories, but I like this one". I could not hide my excitement when I heard that Sparrow Productions had a fourth movie out called ' A Sting In A Tale' . Following the success of Life and Living it , Scorned , and The Perfect Picture , I was hoping for the best. People had been complaining that Shirley Frimpong-Manso's movies were stories of romantic relationships amongst urban/rich class Ghanaians. So she decided to do something different, and I really appreciated this. The results have been mixed, more people thought "A Sting In A Tale" was the worst of her movies. Some loved the story, others just loved the end, others didn't like how the movie ended, etc, etc. I think this movie was great but not as good as the Perfect Picture. I think the first hour of the movie was superb and fantastic and then the 'quality' dropped off in the last hour. Let's dig deeper into the issues at play. Maybe we'll get the ...

Yes, I'm back. Like they'll say in Ghana, wɔabɔga bio. Well, I've been back to Yankee for more than two weeks but this is my first post of the new decade. Had too much fun chillaxing and chilluping in Ghana to blog, so I saved most of my thoughts as texts on my Nokia phone. In fact, na Borga nso ayɛ loose to afford the costs of slow Ghanaian internet. It's not always easy for us Borgas. Even when we have 'returned' to Ghana on holidays to visit families and do other things, we find the costs of living not much different from 'Aburokyire'. Ghana's fastest and hottest rapper at the moment, Sarkodie knows this too. He composed a song about Ghanaians in the Diaspora and it is quickly becoming a cult classic. In fact, in the years to come, we shall all remember Sarkodie's Borga as one of the legendary hiplife songs. Let me tell you why. Michael Owusu, known to many fans as Sarkodie , is a hiplife artist. He had spent the last few years freestyling a...