Africa has been drawing a lot of attention over the past few years. Movies like Sahara, The Constant Gardener, and Blood Diamond hit theaters. Angelina Jolie and Madonn adopted children. Vanity Fair's July issue is devoted to Africa and it's fantastic. Celebrities, politicians and writers are trying to change public perception of Africa as a hopeless, poverty-stricken, chaotic continent and focus instead on solutions. Stories of optimism, adventure and incredible courage shine out of the pages of the magazine and make Africa seem like a place where anything--good or bad--is possible.
Alexander McCall Smith's wonderful, lowkey series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which is set in Botswana, offers a more peaceful view. I enjoyed the books' competent, wise, no-nonsense heroine.
Recently I've been looking at photos of exotic animals for quilt designs. A lot of them were taken on safaris, and that stirred my interest even more. I remember when Survivor was set in Africa, and how amazing it was that lions and elephants would pass close to the camp.
Over the weekend my husband and I watched Blood Diamond, an intense, sometimes painful movie that left us both wanting to know more. We decided to make this the month of the All-Africa Film Festival and I put several titles on hold at the library.
So over the next few weeks we'll be watching Out of Africa, Hotel Rwanda, Cry Freedom (which I saw years ago but can hardly remember) and The Last King of Scotland.
I'm looking forward to it!
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2 comments:
Sweet blog, interesting views, good read. If you get a chance check out my Ancient worldz blog:)love any comments feedback.
Thanks! How did you find it?
I like the Ancient Worldz blog. It's nice to see someone posting about ancient history. :-)
I have a friend who works for the people who make Warhammer and he says he's keeping that job until he retires.
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