I’m living in a weird country.

I remember that, 2 or 3 years ago, I was asking my brother living in France if he was interested by buying an iPhone here in Madagascar. He thought it was a joke, Apple was only going to release it 3 months later there. I can easily understand his reaction: we are one of the poorest countries in the world, Apple’s products available way before developed areas aren’t necessarily the first thing you have in mind when thinking about us !

Some may not know it but the situation down here just got worse. It’s been more than a year that we’re living in an endless f*cking crisis, nobody has an idea of what tomorrow is going to look like. Malagasy people are struggling to the fullest but y’all know what? Since a week you can find the iPad for about $950 ! Hahahaaa… It may not be that funny but I can’t resist laughing nervously at how stupid those kinds of situations are to me, as I find that it just doesn’t really make sense: that’s around 2 years of the average monthly income in Madagascar, for God’s sake !

I’m pretty sure there are the same scenes in many other countries, but the ratio between suffering poor people and fancy expensive luxury (sigh) products in my country has always been a thing that amazed me and remains a mystery. With the amount of Range Rover or Porsche Cayenne rolling all over the city, trust me, the day Ferrari is going to put out a 4×4 model, you’ll find it in every corner here !

Even if it ain’t a luxury one, I’m daily riding in a car myself. I guess the average family father who tries hard to feed his kids with a meal a day doesn’t give a sh*t about how much did my whip cost. Knowing if it was 2 grand or a mill wouldn’t stop him think I’m a privileged dude and he probably would be right. I could agree with those saying it has been like that for ages and everywhere, what’s fair or unfair is not even the point. But one can understand that seeing a $150.000 car passing by a starving homeless mother, sleeping in the street at 10:00 pm with a baby in her arms (you can’t make that up) is goddamn surreal !

I’m far for pretending I want to change the world. Anticipating what I’m going to do past the next 10 minutes is already a tough stuff for me. Plus I am obviously no super hero, and even if I was, I would be for sure a more f*cked up version of… Hancock ! But one thing I know, every single day I try hard, truly hard TO NOT GET USED to those types of senseless situations. That sh*t ain’t normal.

I met Albert Einstein lately ! Naaaah… in fact, Loutre introduced me to this cool dude who, every single moment he speaks, has to quote the physicist since he found out they were sharing the same b-day ! Hahahaaaa… he made my day ! Anyway, Rado is a young 3D designer (he built the Renault car you’re seeing higher), part of the big brains behind Telo Vongany (the definitive name will eventually turn into CG Dago soon). It’s a community platform dedicated to malagasy graphic creators. Thumbs up ! It’s mainly 3D-oriented by now, but I’ve been told they’re willing to extend it to 2D (graphics, photography, I don’t know…) in a near future.

Okay they are expressing themselves 99% in malagasy and it’s just still a forum (as they’re starting) but hey… do not let that stops you showing some love and supporting talent, people ! Again, pay them a visit here.

Since we’re talking about people repping the flag hard, for those who didn’t catch it yet, my man TreLou is featured on Africa Digital and guess what ?!? So is Livelys ! Hahaaa… I love that ! This two will definitely always be the  #1 malagasy youngsters anywhere images matter !!! I hope some will be smart enough to get inspired by them instead of… wasting time hating.

This is not gonna help to squash the gloomy feeling in this blog. True sad thing.

I was on my Facebook page the other day, and noticed that the request I send to this friend I knew when I was living in Paris was still unanswered. I send it for a while so I thought she just didn’t want to reply. I found out it’s not that she necessarily didn’t want to, she only couldn’t. Julie died of leukemia last October ! Damn, such a young one, once AGAIN. I was speechless. Still. No need to talk about it. I’ma say this, though, I’m fed up with those kind of news coming from phone texts or e-mails ! R.I.P girl, I truly remember the time we shared.

This doesn’t really make sense but this situation made me wondering myself : like for that young journalist they shot during last year’s riot, and as hers is still on, how do you delete your Facebook account when you passed away ?!?

‘…Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, when I was dead broke, man I couldn’t picture this…’

Hahaa… Can’t say I was a huge fan but I used to like Biggie, a lot. I confess I was late on it, West Coast was ruling heavy in my life at that time (ain’t nuthin’ but a G. thang babaayyyy… !). Then the first East Coast cats that really hit me were the Clan and Nas (don’t panic, I’ve studied my classics since !). But damn, the moment I heard that Juicy track ! Arghh… In my All-Time favs list ! One of the many reasons I couldn’t, and still can’t, find anything negative to say about Diddy or his talent (I can’t count all those craps I heard them say about him in my adolescence !). The production was ill, period. Plus those Notorious’ ridiculous lyrics ! (luckily, there were english lessons in school to help me try to understand it !)

I’m not on those tribute-type of things (or I don’t know what) here, I was just chilling at home this afternoon, listening to Rap Game Crack Game and thought ‘yep, let’s reminisce a little, I’ma listen to some B.I.G’s songs on this kinda special day’, since I haven’t for a while… Still, Christopher Wallace was a great dope-a$$ rapper !

P.S : I thought about posting the Juicy music vid but was too lazy. YouTube it people !

Yep, it has been quiet calm around here lately. Blame that Vikings-era type of fake broadband Internet connexion (sigh) ! Besides, living the real life is actually a fultime job too. A goddam month ! I got 3-4 posts a day in my mind, could not put it together. SMH… I apologize to the people that come here regularly (I see you miss Vln !). Glad to be back though. Even for a sh*tty reason.

Pissed-off time. Sorry. Parental advisory, very explicit content. I suspect a full cussing post in the making here, long as hell (I promise I’ll try hard not to). I didn’t necessarily want to discuss this topic because finding the right words to express my thoughts and not looking like a shady hater was impossible. But hey, I’ve been kind of a no-brainer dude since day one, some know I just don’t give a f*ck. Plus I found THE reason to live with it. So… go !

I saw this ad in the newspaper few days ago. ‘Soyez un vrai professionnel, [BIP] vous offre cette opportunité ! ’ (free-translation : Be a real pro, [BEEP] gives you that opporunity !) It was for a mobile phone (!) store expanding their business surfing on the digital cameras wave. Aight, so now buying a DSLR is just what needed to be a professional photographer ?! Damn what a moron I was, spending all those years trying to perfect my craft !!! Haaa… Come on, this can’t be serious ! I could care less about this shop doing its stuff (all money is legal), my point is on the reason why they chose that sentence : be a real professional ! You can’t actually be mad at them thinking that. LTR was right, everybody wants to be a photographer, professional for that matter. I personaly got a problem with that.

Don’t get me wrong. IN NO WAY I’m trying to generalize anything here, my point of view ONLY concerns people that I know. And trust me, I’m more than happy seeing photography going democratic. But I’m surrounded by a bunch of no-lifers that seems to think photography just come down to the word… COOL ! Let me explain. They started thinking it was cool seeing us working back then, when they didn’t even have a clue on how to spell photography. Since those days, they find it cool to hold a camera even to take a sh*t. It’s cool to take dumb-a$$ kama-sutra-style positions when they take pictures. It’s cool to buy a Flickr professional account even though they’ve never got a penny for their works. It’s cool to download a bunch of Photoshop scripts to hide the fact that… they just suck. It’s cool that the only (and endless) conversation that matters is Nikon beats the sh*t out of Canon ! or vice-versa. Obviously spending a sh*tload of money on gears they don’t know what the f*ck to do with is the ultimate cool (that the bigger, the better-type of mentality) ! Anyway, just a list of stupid things to justify an obsession : saying the magic words I am a photographer ! Whoopeeeee !!! Believe it or not, some even think hard those words are a hypothetical p*ssy opener !

Aight then, let me tell few things I find… un-cool. I know a significant number of real photographers struggling (but still not complaining) in this country. I’m specifying real because photography is actually their life, period. Like walking every single day all over the city or beeing at 4:00 a.m at the airport, looking for somebody wanting a souvenir picture. Constantly caring about never missing a shot because films (yes, I said films !) are not that affordable. Some are even patiently waiting to Christmas time to see the end of the road… Hats off ! So when this dude with a so well-paid job which has nothing to do with photography told me ‘we MASTER photography, man !’, because he got blurs (!) on the shot he took with the 3 grands camera he just bought… it breaks my balls. At least BE HUMBLE for God’s sake ! Never heard Anna-Lou saying she’s goddam good ! At some point, taking photography as a trend made it become a matter of money, leading to a disrespectful manner that gets on my nerve. Those guys are supposed to already have a job, I’m just wondering how can they think being a photographer is such an easy move to make because their pockets are deep. One thing I know, though, it doesn’t make sense to be mad at wealthy people, never will. That IS NOT the point here. I’m only talking about the little shred of respect they can pay for people that got no other choices like they do. But hey, as they say, everybody have to live with their own sh*t. I can understand. Those jerks can still go to hell !

Ok. Now that they’re thinking photography is just about buying cameras and strobes, learning the owner’s manual, pushing a button and getting depth of fields (with that theory, my 65 years old mother is a photographer !), it’s time for them to take the professional path ! Hahaahaaaa… It’s aight, I’m good with competition. Otherwise how you gonna improve your skills if nobody’s smacking your face with their productions ? But… question : how do they dare asking us some tips to help them if they are openly our opponent (job-wise I’m saying) ? Isn’t it finally that easy ?! Assume your position d*ckhead !!! I was talking about choices, we don’t have any either. Can’t they just understand that we living off this thing and that it is not a game ? I’ma make it clear, sharing has never been a problem for us. A kind of way to grow and learn. But people taking advantage of you willing to share, to fill the void their pathetic life is and then showing-off like they invented the wheel IS NOT RIGHT. When that (other) dude asked a buddy of mine for some (free !) post-production stuffs just to take credit of it like it was granted, jerking-off on his Flickr comments, and then could not even have a single word of gratitude for the guy who really did the job… damn, I was speechless !

Passion, they say. Photography is a passion for them. Hahaahaaaa… I got passions too. Like Formula One. I guess it doesn’t mean I can drive that race car ! I love Hip Hop. Can I grab a mic and spit 16 bars ?! Nope. Reading books is my main hobby but there’s no way I can write a novel… So please, we do respect your DAILY job, can’t you SHOW SOME RESPECT for ours ! (this will probably fall in deaf ears !) It’s ok, I only had to give my point. I did, I’m feeling lighter. Trust me, even if it doesn’t look that way, I’m less bitter for a while now. We’re living in a free world, everybody can do whatever they want to. Fortunately there’s this word in malagasy called FANAHY. It barely means faith, we mixed it with dedication. You can’t do sh*t without having fanahy. Like when they supposely loved taking pictures before even appreciating pictures, it’s a complete funny nonsense. Having that fanahy would have help them see things differently. Beside that, that faith and dedication thing enhances talent. I’m not proud of it but I had an evil smile a couple of weeks ago. I witnessed a moment where I knew the lack of fanahy and talent can’t be compensated by any checks on this Earth !!! Run, Forrest, run, catch me if you can ! Hahaahaaaa… This is gonna sound cocky (those who know me good know I’m not a showing-off dude) but if they want to grab softboxes, shoot with film cameras, I don’t know, just a lot of things we’ve already been into (… in a word, live their life like a bunch of followers), at the end of the day it just means that we’re ahead of them. F.A.N.A.H.Y. No reason to be pissed-off then, smiling is enough.

*Literally ‘turning into a bear’. An expression to define the fact you are getting… a little more than nervous !

My sister’s right. My knowledge is like strawberry jam or orange marmalade : the less I got, the more I spread ! I looked at my yesterday post. Damn I got myself bored !!! All that talk just to say I love Pulp Fiction and wear Bape !?! Definitely a waste of time. In the meantime I guess that’s what personal blogs are about.

Writing alcohol-free may be a good idea.

Culture time !!! Hahaaa… (wanna try some new stuffs on the appearance of this one) So…

I read Hov’s conversation with Elvis Mitchell in the Interview mag february issue. He loves Pulp Fiction (it influenced his writing of Meet The Parents) ! Yep… Well I guess it’s hard not to, Google it and you’ll see those millions of fans out there.

I re-watched the movie. Again. For the 687th time ! Can’t help, IT IS still my favorite flick ever. Period. Of course there were Black Cat White Cat, Beijing Bicycle, The Taste of Others, Kikujiro, The Crime of Padre Amaro, Old Boy… anyway, just a bunch of other movies I like very much. But in my list, only Fargo may come close to this classic. From the story to the dialogues to the soundtrack to the framing to the calibration to the casting to… whatever ! I mean, all Tarantino’s joints are damn good, this one is BANANA !!! Pulp Fiction became my… bedside book !

I remember I couldn’t see it in theatre cause I was too young, so Sitraka gave me that pirate VHS tape he brought from Canada. The movie kicked my a$$ so hard I wrote my first screenplay right after I saw it ! Hahahaaa… A so-called screenplay I should say. It was titled Une Journée De Merde and my buddy Thibault should have played the leading character !! I never finished it though. Unfortunately (or luckily, it depends !) I lost the 3.5inches 120 Mb floppy disk (!) in which I saved it. It was in 1996, USB key wasn’t even a fantasy back then. In short, Pulp Fiction just marked the beginning of  my relationship with… images.

I’m seeing Tarantino’s work like a good old 90s Hip Hop track. He samples as good as DJ Premier. The way he picks references here and there and put them together to make something on his own is insanely brilliant. The travelling shot at Jack Rabbit Slim reminds me of Ray Liotta bringing Lorraine Bracco through a restaurant’s kitchen in Goodfellas. And I’m pretty sure the drug dealing scene came from Iceberg Slim’s Pimp novel… That’s exactly what Tarantino’s haters blame him for. Plagiarism. Eternal debate. That’s not true to me.

Like many, I think they can’t stand the fact that his (mostly cinematographic) culture is so huge that it ultimately defines his vision. Simple as that. Once you assume you’re inspired, sorry but you can’t be accused of plagiarism anymore. It’s in the dictionary ! This has nothing to do with movies but I feel Nigo faces the same unfair controversy. People who diss him don’t see that A Bathing Ape’s DNA is based on pop art and pop culture combined with Hip Hop roots, and it’s his own knowledge and sense of style that allow him to appropriate those cultures  in a way it makes his brand so unique. Even if a pair of Bapestas looks exactly the same than a pair of Nike Air Force One, it’s not.

I relate to that. Getting inspiration from Issermann to Aagaard and everyone in between (I know, that’s large) to humbly build my own creative identity is what’s defining my life’s trip. Sample and twist, that’s what it is. Quentin Tarantino is a genius, Nigo the same, I’m still a idiot…

By the way, you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in France ?!…

P.S : I just noticed this is my first post not full of cusswords ! That’s the reason why I love culture ! Hahahaaa… SH*T !!!

BASE went mob-style yesterday, cufflinks and sh*t. Funny how people stared at us. I wonder if there’s a place for us somewhere. Hahaahaaa… When you’re dressed in your everyday AF1s, loose pants, hoodies and beanies, they judge you. When you try to get a little more serious on your sartorial game, they judge you. Sorry people, one thing is sure, like mr. Carter I can’t wear skinny jeans. Looks like testicle homicide to me !

So we attended Yves’s wedding. One of the weirdest I’ve seen so far. Me, my girl and my pal ‘Tu veux voir Loutre en costard ?!’ arrived at the church and when the ceremony started, the i-am-looking-so-depressed father (the religious one) announced that it was… not a wedding !!! Due to some ‘technical’ problem in the couple’s life (sic), he couldn’t marry them, so all he would do is bless the civil one. Crazy ! Then at the moment to congratulate the bride and groom, this last told me that I was in fact the only one invited, my girl not. It was so surreal, I thought it was a joke. The thing is I never saw the invitation because mine was given to Haseem and I just never asked to see it. But I’ve been told it was for two. What an awkward moment ! We brought my baby to Princess V. I felt bad for her. Sorry lesy zazà an. To end it, conflict time (again!) or Maputo time as Trelou said, I heard the usual bullsh*ts from suckers that shouldn’t even bother me anymore but I’ma say it once though : F*CK Y’ALL, GO GET A LIFE AND LEAVE ME ALONE !!! End of story.

Except all that, everything was cool. Correct food, nice wines, good mood, unlimited alcohols, cigars offered. High-times : Bloody Man Chewbacca fighting with Saïd, then going crazy after he saw a Windows 7 background wallpaper on Befa’s iPhone. And Ranto explaining that Macs don’t have viruses because… there aren’t anti-virus programm installed on them to warn you that there are actually viruses !!! LMAO !

As usual, we went home f*cked-up. BASE style : cruising drinking champagne in a water bottle !

I was watching my blog stats the other day. 37 views !!! Hahaaa… My record was 6 views a day, I’ll pop champagne the day there will be 10 visits in one day !!! ;-)

As I’m kinda an alien on all those Internet stuffs (social networking, weblogging etc…) and only told a couple of persons about this blog, I don’t get how I could have 37 views ! I know, the number is just plain ridiculous (I can easily be the most unviewed blog all over the net) ! Plus most of those people were problably lead here by accident, so they didn’t read any of my posts. It could even be the same person coming back and back ! But hey… at least 30 seconds of their time were spent on this blah blah spot !

So for y’all that came back reading this, BIG THANX ! Holler !

The Ambohidratimo Times is definitely not a daily paper ! Hahaa… But things are meant to change, aren’t they ? I really got to be more constant on this thing, otherwise why having created it (I think when I started the blog it was bad-timing. To much whiskies in the body lately, couldn’t get focused ! ) It could also help to shorten my posts which could be a good thing as I got the bad feeling I’m typing 100 000 (meanless) words a post !

So a little more than a week ago, it was still 2009. At the Eve, everybody was kissing everybody, welcoming the new year by wishing each other the best… just to be huffy two days later ! Funny how people have short memories. I clearly remember last year. Same situation, just like them, I was happy-faced like mu’f*cker and at the end… baam, the sh*tiest year I’ve personaly seen in Madagascar !

A former DJ who probably never opened a book other than the instruction manual of the CDJ-2000 decided to run the country, countless people had been shot to death at the Presidential palace, riots everywhere, endless curfews, my people getting more and more poor… and to finish in style Barack kicked us out of the AGOA ! So Happy New Year my a$$, the next is gonna be worse ! Of course I’m wishing everybody a BEAUTIFUL NEW YEAR ! I just got no faith that we’re gonna have a nice one down here.

Resolutions suck. I made some every new year. Never stuck to it. Maybe because they’re meanless most of the time. 6 years I’m trying to quit smoking ! What’s the point ? I love smoking. So last year for 2009 I made a resolution. Of course. Me and my partner in crime were just gonna be on the top spot. Hahaaa… The riots I was talking about started on the second time our studio worked ! In the middle of a shooting session, we heard explosions and detonations like we were in Bagdad (I suppose so, never been in Iraq !) From that point I knew MY year was gonna be f*ked up, it was in… January 2009 ! Fortunately for my man, he had a daily job so at least one of us was OK.

I stopped making resolutions. Decisions are better (not sure there’s actually a difference ! what a moron !) So… Decicions. I like the term. Right ones preferably and job-wise mostly as I’m mad broke right now ! I only found 3 to make this far. Ouch !

First constantly creating. Love that. If there is one positive thing about 2009, it’s the tons of time I could spend in front of my computer and sketch book filling blank pages. Plus few shots I took here and there…

Then putting portfolios online. Yep I really got to. As all my works are stuck at home, it doesn’t really make sense, just flattering my ego. I must admit, I wasn’t (and am still not) especially thrilled about it. With all those malagasy talents out there… LTR, Rado, Teza, Livelys, Ridha, Chochol and so… the level is stupidly high !!! I was telling myself : ‘I will post the day I get close to their level’. I think that day is Friday the 10th, 2042 !!! Hahahaaa… Plus, and I’m not really proud of it cause I hate acting like that, my motivation is boosted by those no-lifers eating on our plate and thinking that this job is just a game. They really start to get on my nerve but… this is an other subject and probably a post.

And last but not least, focusing on the studio. Focusing on the studio. Focusing on the studio. FOCUSING ON THE STUDIO !!!

Aight I’m done. I got to go… focus on the studio. Brown And Sexy Eyes peeps, please stand up for 2010 !

Siks e, dia bonané daholo foana na dia mbola misavoritaka aza ny tanana ! ;-)