Americans always making a mountain out of a mole hill!…

Take for example the latest uproar about pictures of President Obama at the summit of Americas shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. 

Some Americans are outraged saying it shows a weakness smiling with a man who called President Bush “A devil”, At least he didn’t throw shoes at him, but lets get back to the point.

What did Americans expect Obama to do? snub Chavez and “cut he eye” at he? Or bound cross the table and lock off Chavez neck?

Some years ago, I was involved in one of my usual Crop Over battles with me as President of Batman tent managers association vs. NCF CEO Dr Allyson Leacock.

  I was criticised by one of my associates for having my picture taken hugging CEO Allyson at a social function, He thought it sent a bad message as I was seen as fraternizing with the opposition and setting a bad example.

I disagreed with that profusely; I believe as high profile people we have a responsibility to set a good example.

Who is to say because you and a person have opposing views that you can’t be friends or engage in amicable relations.

I must admit that after Allyson I never really had the inclination to hug another CEO, maybe because that post was taken over by a man, maybe because of who the man was.

I remember being at the Prime Minister’s office at the conclusion of another dispute some years later and when setting up a press conference the Minister requested to position the then NCF CEO to sit beside me in the photo and that CEO refused, so I suppose hugging was out of the question, I was so hurt then.

Back to Obama, I would like to commend the President in doing the right thing and not being myopic and puerile in his behavior, he shook hands with all the other leaders that attended the summit why shouldn’t he shake hands with Chavez?

P.S; I want to see a picture of Obama shaking hands with our Prime Minister David Thompson, I should have given our PM a book of Boyce Voice posts to give to Obama so my hits could shoot up too

My FaceBook friend Ian Walcott wrote this “Cock and Bull” review of the  2009 Laff it off production “Another Cock and Bull Story”, I thought it was a pretty excellent review, hence I am putting it here for you to read…

Unfortunately, the curtains finally came down on Laff-It-Off’s 2009 production “Another Cock and Bull Story,” that had one of its most successful runs in its 24 year history. For those who didn’t see this year’s production, let’s hope that there’s another weekend for the last minute stragglers for you certainly would have missed three hours of pure entertainment, intelligent comedy, good acting and belly laughs to make you fall out your seats. 

Cecily Spencer-Cross, in her role as director, brought a freshness to the script by modernizing our favorite Bajan rumshop, the Nook and Cranny Bar,” giving it a website, wireless Internet connection and taking us through the roller coaster ride of converting the bar into a strip joint. Now if that situation alone does not warrant a chuckle, watching Sue with two oversized bunny ears slide up and down a pole is the director’s guarantee that you will laugh. 

Sue, played by Carla Springer, was part of what I’d call the veterans, alongside Tony Thompson who plays Lemuel and Sybul Rice, and Peta Allenye who continues to play Wilhemina Herrassofat. It’s also refreshing that Miss Herrassofat has evolved from the passive-aggressive wife who tolerated the indiscretions of Lemuel, into a more liberated business woman who is willing to take new chances with love, lust and her profession. This new found freedom will allow her the space, as she rightly claims, to experiment with Internet dating and more liberal sexual adventures after being repressed by years of sexual frustration at the hands of her alcoholic-loser-husband. Sounds familiar?

If it rings a bell, it’s because since 1983 Laff-It-Off has always looked at problems and issues in the community and our daily struggles and held them up to our faces like a mural in which we can see ourselves, sometimes ridiculed, sometimes parodied but always truthful. It is this truth that makes the characters “sweet” and believable in their purest and most authentic form of Barbadiana. 

Sex sells but as a society we continue to be loath at the mention of the mere word so that we transfer our intellectual energy and ability to critique our society into polarized positions about politics, public personas and salacious newsbytes on issues like bestiality. This is precisely what makes Laff-It-Off so successful after all this time. The producers, director and actors all work as a team and decide each year to unabashedly turn these societal hypocrisies on their head and place them smack in our faces. 

It is hopeful, therefore, that the young talent in Barbados will take up the mantel and go forward with this rich tradition of Bajan comedy for which producer Ian Estwick must be given full credit. It was refreshing to see the young brilliant actor Chrispen Hackett as Woodall together with Jherad Alleyne as Panty Pollard, Ishiaka McNiel as Dolly and Toni-Ann Johnson as Allison. Though Alleyne can be charged a bit with hamming on stage, this young brigade brought a renewed sense of hope for the future of our theater. 

I will conclude that just as Daphne Joseph-Hackett in 1970 rightly predicted that Tony Thompson will be one of this region’s finest actors, as he has proven time and time again, I dare say that in 2009 we can make a similar prediction on Chrispen Hackett. He has already mastered the one ingredient that guarantees success on stage, he has perfect and precise timing and the lithe movements of his body together with mastering subtlety will take him into the top tier very quickly. A new star is born! 

Thanks again to Ian Walcott for that well written review, he dissected the plot and characters with impressive clarity and with some  fancy words too. Wasn’t it refreshing to reading something on Boyce Voice that is not proliferated with  dumb ass comments and cursing somebody? I can’t help, see I did it again, dumb ass me…..

Whats all this negative hullabaloo about Madonna adopting a Malawian girl? I am sorta freaking loss.

Here you have it that superstar Madonna wants to take a three Year old girl named “Mercy” from living in an orphanage in one of the most improvised nations in the world.
She wants take that Mercy to the United States of America to live the life of a privileged kid complete with MacDonald’s, IPod, education, health care, a nanny and all the perks that come with being a rich kid.

Would you believe people complaining??
Talking about the girl should be raised by her extended family; she is living in an orphanage for Christ’s sake, that’s where unwanted children end up.
All of a sudden some family member can be heard saying they want to raise the girl.
In other words they now want money from Madonna.

I tell you if I was that little girl when I grow up and I realise that Madonna wanted to adopt me to take me to the land of Barbie and Britney Spears and some member of my family keep me back to suffer and I now bout de place starve out fetching water and struggling to survive in one of the poorest places in the world I would be vex as hell.
Extended family my ass, I want to be Madonna’s baby!

In fact if those bad minded people were to truly think of the long term best interests of the child they would not oppose Madonna.

I want to applaud the laudable efforts of Madonna for attempting to “rescue” Mercy and give her a life every little  girl dreams of.

The adoption judge needs to have Mercy on Mercy and let her go.

Well to Madonna, if it doesn’t work out and you want to come down here and adopt me, Boyce would be gone

Like how I am right now gone because this post is dun!