Last Thursday At Movie Club The Film That Won The Poll For My Suggested Topic, 'Africa', Was One That

Last Thursday at movie club the film that won the poll for my suggested topic, 'Africa', was one that none of us had really heard of, Neptune Frost. An Afrofuturistic musical spanning a variety of themes and ideas and set in Burundi, this was a fascinating and thought-provoking watch.

The first half of this film was tougher to get into but once we move to 'Digitalia' and meet the full cast of characters suddenly everything began to truly click, brimming with bold, emotionally gripping themes of fitting societal expectations (on both an individual and broader cultural level), exploitation, economy, cultural identity, and the brutal realities and dualities of technological progress. Rap, folklore, music, colourful visuals and gorgeously creative costuming are used to bring to life a multi-layered plane of existence and characters quite literally acting as ciphers for a larger message.

During our movie club discussion it was interesting to compare my engagement and resonance with the film as someone who has spent 9 weeks volunteering in Namibia, interacting with the San tribe, compared to the rest of the group who didn't have an equivalent experience. I don't know much about Burundi and Rwanda specifically but my understanding and sense of authenticity and richness in the film was definitely impacted by my experiences in a different way. By the end I had a great appreciation for this ambitious and experimental film, and feel so glad that a project with a very African voice won (rather than one more heavily filtered through a Hollywood lens).

Plus as a huge jacket fan I got to add another great entry to my ongoing mental list of Awesome Jackets People Have Worn And I Now Covet!

Some men age like fine wine… 🍷

We had like 7 seasons of this palpable tension 😄

'Ice' || 1.8

I spent time with a pack of Painted Dogs that lived at the sanctuary in Namibia and as enrichment for both the dogs and us (in a manner of speaking!) every so often the volunteers would get to hoist a warthog carcass up on the outlook platform and throw it down to the pack.

The dogs would then be timed to see how quickly they could fully devour the entire thing leaving basically no trace. Their record was 12 or 13 minutes and it was fascinating, if somewhat gruesome, to watch. I have a great shot of the dogs in a near-perfect circle around a carcass, white-flecked tails aloft in the air as they got to work, and some shots of them washing themselves in dusty water after.

I cannot even *begin* to describe the smell - or the smell that these dogs just always have in general, a sort of stench of fleshy death that follows them around 😄

But they are beautiful, amazing creatures. When two pups were rescued we watched an adult male continually give up his food for them, to the point he had to be fed separately so he was also nourished. We saw a young female keep a sassy elder boy company till his last days when they would wind up any passing cheetahs for fun.

In Kruger we saw wild pups playing the cutest game of tug-of-war with a giant branch that I've ever seen!

And we learnt about how their hunting success rate absolutely wipes the floor with any of the African cats.

I hope their species continues to hang in there and build its numbers back up.

“What nice teeth you have”

Animal: African Wild Dog. Location of shot: Lion Sands Game Reserve, Kruger National Park, SA.

“I photographed this Painted Wolf at Lion Sands Game Reserve, a protected reserve with open borders next to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. It is wearing a tracker because, sadly, this species is endangered and is therefore being closely monitored by scientists. There may only be 1400 left in the wild, and 300 left in this part of Africa with one of the main reasons for this being persecution from humans. We need to learn to love our beaming neighbors!”

by Henry Keepin

2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

Is it just me or does a lot of this actually look worse? 🤔

UNTIL DAWN remaster trailer, 2024

This interviewer seems to have misinterpreted what Nomura said about 4 and I feel like Haley maybe kinda humours her in that moment bless him but from the 12 minute mark where they share an Accidental Sora voice clip and then Haley talks about how KH2 is his favourite this had me so emotional. KH2 is my favourite too, and my fave game in the world for multiple reasons that extend beyond the game itself.

When KH1 was released it was truly like someone had made a game directly for me and no matter how popular the games have become something I love about it is that every time I play them I feel like it's just me and that universe alone in the world together. It's something I can't quite describe and only truly happens with KH.

This chaotic, convoluted, weird little franchise is so deeply embedded in my heart - appropriately enough if you know the lore 😉

Will forever be happy that Haley loves being Sora as much as we love him being his voice 😊