Apprentice in failure and apprentice in hope #equalparts

Saturday enjoyment with my people @seunonigbinde @id49ja @kukuyoku.

The only champions we know

The only reason we recognize this shot is because the Matrix has emotional resonance with us. We know Neo. We know Agent Smith. Without the story of the Matrix, or the brand elements that we recognize, this is just two dudes fighting, and no one cares about that. Hollywood isn't cooked because of AI, just like Hollywood wasn't cooked because of VFX. The bottlenecks will always be ideas and distribution. Can you tell a story and build characters people will care about? Can you get this story in front of the most people and make enough of a return to keep investing?

Why is it that, as a people, we rarely prioritize investing in art? Books, films etc, yet we have no hesitation putting significant money into cars, etc? I genuinely admire how the French take art seriously, how it’s treated not as a luxury but as a necessity, something worth preserving, funding, and passing on. It makes me wonder what it would look like if we valued and invested in our stories the same way.

Why don’t we talk about Wale in Afrobeats? 🤔 I’ve been a fan forever and super proud of how he repped his Nigerian roots. But I've often felt he hasn’t gotten credit for helping to push Afrobeats. With his album dropping Friday, I dove deep into his journey and his role...

This has happened to me TWICE! First time my boss resigned and blessed me to replace her. Only for me to put my hat in the ring and be told another former boss was coming back. Her tenure as my boss was crazy for me but that’s a story for another day. The second time was even more painful. That boss was fired and I was informally told I’d replace her. I again put my hat in the ring and did the interview. They picked my colleague whom I trained on the job to be my boss. Here’s the lesson. Having the right attitude pays. I wasn’t bitter. I went to find out why I’d failed the interview and the feedback I got enabled me make senior management in my next role. The reason I wasn’t picked was because even though I was the more experienced and skilled candidate with a track record of results, I used to like to show up at my own time and hadn’t proven I could take instructions as well as the other guy. That experience matured me faster than any mentorship class could. I say this because if I had become bitter and entitled I wouldn’t have learnt the lesson. I would’ve walked around feeling cheated, hated everyone and they hate me back too and still gone on to repeat the same mistakes. Today all the people involved in that process are still good friends and help each other out till tomorrow. Attitude matters a little more than skill the higher you go in corporate environments. The skills that gets you promoted into middle management are different from what you need to be senior management or to engage at very high levels. Today I can walk into offices of some of the most important people in this world and come out with a deal. It’s a skill, not nepotism. And it is learnt in the most unexpected of ways. If you want to be successful in this life, always keep an open mind. Choose to learn even when it’s hard to focus because of your emotions. It’s easy to point fingers externally and hard to introspect. Looking out for yourself means that you also have to introspect regularly so you’re not your own enemy.

“Oh my god… I have no words.” Listen to the emotional moment this year’s laureate Maria Corina Machado finds out she has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Kristian Berg Harpviken, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, shared the news with her directly before it was announced to the world. #NobelPrize #NobelPeacePrize

A lot of final-year research projects in Nigeria go unpublished, regardless of quality or merit. This means poor representation in research and scientific documentation. We want to change that. Do you still have a digital copy of your final-year research project, and would you be willing to share it for our online repository for African research? Please retweet for others.

Owen Cooper is a first-time #EMMY winning actor at the age of 15.

Freeze Frame : open.substack.com/pub/id49ja… Some thoughts on capturing memories as they happen

Seeing The Signs open.substack.com/pub/id49ja…

Its often due to "Empire Building''. Let me explain. This Halloween, Jeff Bezos dressed up as Batman and his fiancée as Catwoman. This is costume play. Everyone knows that Jeff Bezos is not Batman, and more importantly, Jeff Bezos knows that he is not Batman.

the secret to life is deceptively simple: it's having something to look forward to, always, doesn't even matter how small or mundane

“Someone made a video of me while pregnant, posted it on social media and captioned it in Yoruba, ‘ta lo fun afin loyun?’ — ‘who impregnated an albino?’” 😥 Being born different shouldn’t come with a lifetime subscription to cruelty. #InternationalAlbinismAwarenessDay

If you do one thing today, make sure you watch this.

When cities are too expensive, the only people that can afford to practice the arts are the wealthy. The only people who can learn the arts are the children of the wealthy. The only people who can enjoy the arts are the wealthy. And that... that is a tragedy.

The absolute scenes !!

Same, Ruben. #MUFC || #UEL

Celebrating the support that’s better than any tech team or IT department - the support that only Mom can give. Happy Mother’s Day!