Some Music and a Podcast Interview: Cybersix, Buja Praise, and Alexander Roth

I really need to decompress with the stress in my life as well as finding out about atrocities not talked about in the history books that I was unaware about. This doesn’t mean I’m apathetic. I can only take so much morbidity at a time. Come on, people. I’m a human being, you know. I thought I would switch this up with some interesting videos involving a theme song, a Burundian band, and an interview.

Those of you who follow one of my other blogs where I cover film, documentary, and anime reviews, I recently covered the Canadian/Japanese/Argentinean series Cybersix on there. I remember watching that show on Fox Kids when I was in elementary school (wow, does that give away my age or what?). The theme song was something I remembered back then and I re-discovered this show on RetroCrush of all places! I was gobsmacked that this obscure cartoon can be streamed for free legally online and that they would play all 13 episodes there. The theme song was handled by Canadian jazz/pop singer Coral Egan and this song really gets stuck in your head. I think they should give Cybersix a remake with a longer storyline. It’s also a breath of fresh air seeing a superheroine who ISN’T Marvel or DC for a change.

I know gospel isn’t everyone’s thing. I respect that. Recently, I got into Bukuru Celestin who is a Burundian musician who’s currently based in America. I first heard of him due to his collab EP with jazz band Snarky Puppy. Apparently, he also has a gospel band side project called Buja Praise. They incorporate songs in English, Kirundi, and Swahili with some African rhythms mixed with Western instrumentation. They have a great sound and certainly don’t sound like the typical K-Love fair. Of course, the title of this song got my attention for obvious reasons (don’t lie, you were thinking the same thing), but it is a completely different song. I also got to message them the other day. Yes, I brought up THAT controversy and they think a certain mouse trademarking that phrase is so stupid and they’re going to keep on singing this song. Good on you, Buja Praise! Way to do your best to preserve the Swahili-phone cultures even if that language isn’t the main one in Burundi (Kirundi is the #1 language there). I wonder how fans of that particular movie franchise would feel knowing this song exists…

I usually don’t put podcast interviews on here, but this snippet was very fascinating. David Francisco is a Portuguese wrestler currently living in England and he interviews Alexander Roth who is a Black British wrestler. They discuss the Everything Patterned show at Wrestling Resurgence. Some of you may remember me talking about this show a couple of years ago which was a Black History Month event in England (context: October is BHM in the UK and not February like in America). Alexander Roth and David Francisco talk about the impact of this indie BritWres show and what it meant for positive representation in the wrestling scene. It was very insightful with Roth talking about being in that show in tag team action and how it inspired others in ways he would’ve never expected. I did like his experience in this event and how he was floored with the social media response as well as getting a message from America of all places. His comment about humans being the only creatures who “beef over” skin color unlike snakes, lions, leopards, etc. with his analogy. This form of entertainment and athleticism isn’t for everyone obviously, but give this a listen. Also, Everything Patterned was SO much better than anything I’ve seen in WWE or AEW. Just saying.

Pushing the Sunshine: Sunshine Blogger Award!

Yes, I resorted to using a Lovedrug reference. Congrats to all two of you who got it. Anyways, I was nominated by K at the Movies very recently. K is a blogger I discovered recently and I find his take on reviewing anime, short films, and movies to be quite fascinating. We’ve had good conversations on his blog when I checked out his reviews. He’s also one of the few film reviewers I follow who covers mainstream movies which is a rarity especially if you know about my taste in films. I appreciate how K covers multiple genres and styles.

Here are the rules for the award:

The Rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
  List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

Now here are the questions K gave me…

1. What would be the subject of your TED Talk? Wow, leading a TED Talk would be sweet. If I did a topic, there are two topics I’d want to talk about. One would be talking about the inventors that you never hear about in school or dealing with film plagiarism controversies. Both talks would be quite strong if you know my feelings about originality and those two subjects.
2. What is your preferred mode of transportation: Plane, Train, or Automobile?I guess automobile because I drive way more than I go on trains or planes. I’m not against the other forms of transportation, but I just rarely get a chance to travel in those vehicles.
3. What is one of your post that you wished got more love or would recommend people to go check out?That’s a tough question. I’m going to cheat and mention posts from three of my active blogs. I thought these posts didn’t get much attention and I’ll leave it at that.
4. Ospreyshire: Dave Hawkins reviewing my first EP.
   C. M. B. Bell Fiction: I’ve recently had times where I wondered if my own stories can still be good.
   Iridium Eye Reviews: Namibian Genocide and the Second Reich Review
5. You get “free tickets” to an event of your choosing, where or what are you going to?I would probably pick the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.
6.  
7. WordPress is creating a theme park like Disneyland, they want to turn your blog into one of it’s attractions. What would your attraction be like?
   
   If the Ospreyshire blog became some kind of attraction, I could see it as an art exhibit with loads of avant-garde works in multiple disciplines: film, paintings, sound art, installations, and performance art that involves audience participation. Despite the experimental aesthetics, there will also be activities where people can make things and take them home. They could also be a part of a collaborative process like a mural or gigantic canvas. I guess it’s too artsy of an idea for a theme park. Sorry. Haha! 
8. A restaurant is basing its signature dish off you! Describe what that dish is?An order of fufu with olive tapenade hummus alongside Snapea crisps on the side.
9. What is one word you have difficulty spelling?Crazy enough, I’ve had trouble typing the word privilege. There have been times where I get the spelling confused which is weird because I can spell bigger and more complex words with ease or even foreign names or words.
10. What is your favorite children’s book?I was a huge reader when I was a kid. Nowadays, I write more than I read when it comes to fiction and or film reviews. I liked a lot of Shel Silverstein’s books which may have gotten me into poetry. The Giving Tree was a big one. Besides that, I would read a flag book a ton because I liked and still like geography.
11. If you could take any school subject at this point in your life for free, what class would you learn?Coding.
12. Who is the actor (that isn’t already known for portraying this character) would you like to see portray your favorite fictional character?So many tough choices out there. Yugo Beppu from Yugo the Negotiator would be a fascinating character if he were remade. If he were racebent in an American setting (we can rename this version Yannick Benton), I think Nate Parker would work in that context. That would be an interesting form of revenge against the media who slandered him.

11. If you have a pet, would you rather have 100 of them or one really big version of your pet?
I think one big iguana would be fine. It would sort of like having my own dinosaur if you want to think of it that way.
My nominees are as follows:

1. Khaya Ronkainen
2. Kreb
3. Swo8
4. Shelby Courtland
5. Sawa Minori
6. Little Fears
7. Canadian Art Junkie
8. Rodrovich
9. The Alchemist’s Studio
10. Justice4Survivors
11. Raistlin0903

Here are my questions for you.

1. Which three countries would you visit if you had the opportunity to travel for free?

2. If you can turn any of your favorite books into movies, who would you cast as the main characters?

3. What are the things that give you peace and solace in your life?

4. If you could learn any language, what would it be, why, and how would you best use it?

5. If you could meet your ancestors, what would you do when you meet them and what would you tell them?

6. What are your thoughts on experimental art and the avant-garde?

7. What is the most original creative project you’ve experienced? It can be music, a movie, a book, piece of artwork, etc.

8. What are your greatest fears as a creator and/or blogger?

9. Which famous person would you like to hang out with for an entire day and why?

10. What was the biggest thing that made you jaded when it came to media?

11. How do you think humanity can be the most constructive when it comes to helping others?