Tidbits: The Cops

There are some parts of Africa that I have gotten used to (read: experience without thinking to blog about.) The police force is one of these.

The cops in Africa are generally terrible people. Their number one activity is standing on the edge of roads and checking paperwork in (white people's) cars. In the city, the the middle of the month, if you have your papers in order, they let you on their way. Outside the city, especially near the end of the month when the rent is due, if you're papers are in order, they will find some absurd reason so give you a ticket.

Today they said we didn't stop at the sign to look for a train crossing when the sign was 20 feet in front of the tracks, making it impossible to actually see down them. Maybe it's too many people in a car. Maybe they say your car is overloaded with baggage-- in a city where this is a pretty common sight.

(Not my picture, but you get the idea)

If you get a ticket, they confiscate your driver's license, and you have to find some small building, in some random town on the highway, wait in line for a long time, pay them, get another ticket, and return to the cop that gave you the first one in exchange for the license. Of course, the friendly neighborhood cops could help you out by collecting the fine there, and putting it in his pocket.

If you've actually done something wrong, then it really hits the fan. It's the kind of situation where one might reasonably decide to just take the jail time instead of trying to reason with the African judicial system in any way, shape, or form.

There may be a single lone ranger, tame-the-Wild-West kind of a guy going through the city and cracking down on crime. But no one's ever seen him.

And this is in a good African country.


-Will


"Don't take no for an answer?! He was gonna call the fuzz."

Every Time a Bell Rings

Here's a review of "It's a Wonderful Life I did for the school newspaper, which ended up not coming out because of all the power cuts. Hopefully I did this movie some justice.

Since it never snows here, and this year it’s not even pleasant out, I’ve really appreciated the other, less weather-dependant events that signal the arrival of Christmas. Setting up the plastic tree is entertaining, as is making sure every branch is bent to reach maximum realism. Christmas cookies are delicious. Who can help belting “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” at some point in December? Near the top of the list, though, come the Christmas movies, and reigning supreme among those has to be “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Starring Donna Reed, and Jimmy Stewart’s in arguably his best and most famous role, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is about the life of a truly selfless man (Stewart) and a fateful night where his world seemingly comes crashing down and he contemplates suicide. Hopefully most have seen it, but if you haven’t, I’ll leave it at that.

Every character from Mr. Gower to Zuzu is well-played, but Jimmy Stewart goes from bliss to depression to insanity and back again in a convincing way that you can watch year after year and still be amazed by.

Even the bad guy is excellent. Mr. Potter is less iconic but more evil than Vader. It’s rare that any villain be portrayed as so thoroughly rotten, but Potter is one that you abhor more by the year.

And to cap it all off—it’s funny. Really funny. Normally humor has the shelf life of bread, but somehow a film made in 1946 makes me annually laugh out loud. I know exactly what they’re going to say, yet the situations (pool under the gym floor, anyone?), the endearing (seriously—Jimmy Stewart is incredible), and the lines themselves (“No man is a failure who has friends”), prove timeless.

However, it has a tendency to fall into one of those book cover judging deals—it’s in black and white (don’t bother with the colorized version), and the sound quality is less than stellar, but let me assure you that has nothing to do with the quality of the movie. Don’t write it off because it wasn’t ever converted into 3D.

The movie is not only entertaining but filled to the brim with moral values. Right from the beginning of the movie George Bailey is shown willing to sacrifice for the good of others, and the value placed on human life as a God-given gift has rarely been seen, if ever, in a movie this popular since then.

It’s really got everything: a loveable protagonist, a truly evil villain, romance, comedy, and a whole heap of wholesome. As far as movies go, and especially at Christmas, you can’t go wrong with “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Merry Christmas!!

-Will


"Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."