Archive for category crime
Detoxing from ze pirates
Arrr
When the zompocalypse arrives, staying alive requires supplies, a shotgun and this guy, L.Cass. A PhD at zombiecology (the study of over 9000 ways to kill a zombie), L.Cass is no stranger to all things alternative, strange and just plain wierd. His blog (Zombies in Zen) is a collection of said strange things, drawings, musings, and whatnot. Today, he guest blogs with us, and has something to get off his chest. (Insert zombie moan).
So I read today that one of Fiji’s biggest pirate movie chains is asking the authorities to give them more time to clean out their stock of pirated DVDs, and replace them with new ones.
Their argument is that original DVDs cost too much, and that they need to secure funds to acquire original DVDs to replace their ‘copies.’
I have but one question…
“Whose fault?”
Starting a home video business with a tag line that is “A commitment to quality” and then filling out their 14 branches across Fiji with Pirate DVDs could only have ended one way…
…Badly
What did they expect to happen?
Cause no matter how you may try to defend it, pirating is basically… at the very heart of it… a very naughty thing to do.
And like cheating, it’s so easy to do. That is why video pirates came in and literally took over the home video market…
We can’t really blame them though. They saw an opportunity to make money and like any good businessmen, they cashed in on our tolerance for cheating.
In fact, they cashed in on our tolerance for a lot of things.
Do you remember how many times you’ve taken a pirate DVD home and found it to be a cinema copy? What do you do with it? You will either take it back the next time you visit the pirates and ask for a replacement, or you would say to your self “meh… it’s just a dollar” and then toss the DVD into some deep, dark drawer and pretend it never happened.
It is after all only a pirate copy… you’d have to be idiotic to complain to someone about the pirate DVD you bought from them.
“It’s just a dollar.”
Would you throw away a dollar?
We even went as far as acquiring a fancy new set of skills when it came to purchasing said pirate DVDs.
We’d walk into the store and see a movie listed on the wall, and if the movie came out last week… it would have to be a cinema copy.
“Wait… this movie was out a month ago. That should be sufficient time for them to acquire an ‘original copy’.”
Look at all the terms we had to learn.
Now there is an entire generation of youths out there who have never rented a legit movie in their life. The idea of renting is so foreign to them, it’s like we’re talking crazy.
“You want me to bring this movie back? WTF… I just gave you five bucks!”
Pirate DVDs took off… They spread so far and so wide that you couldn’t turn a corner in your neighborhood without walking into a pirate store.
So far the people who seem to be openly suffering from pirates, are the legit retailers. Sure you can argue we are depriving our selves of quality… but if we’re fine with it… why not leave us to it?
I buy originals for DVDs I like.
But I guess it involves the ethics of it…
But we saw what was happening. If anything, this should have been stamped out a long time ago. It’s all very unfair on us… It’s like a bunch of cops watching some guy sell crack to kids and not doing anything about it. Now that we’re all addicted, the authorities are like: ‘Stop buying that crack… here rent this weed’
Wait… I’m loosing the point…
It never really bothered me at a moral level until I watched a good friend of mine close off his legitimate video store.
He had a video store that operated out of Samabula, and it had the maddest collection of movies from the classics to the recent hits. I’d be over there every Friday to grab movies that the pirates wouldn’t copy. That’s one of the many down sides to these pirate outlets; they only stock the recent movies that are popular at the time. Their back catalogue is all but non- existent. But even my friends collection of classic movies didn’t save his shop from going under.
Like other legitimate dealers, these guys spent heaps of money investing in originals, which wasn’t worth it when they couldn’t recover the cost…
Because sadly it’s just so much easier to forego renting a movie, and to simply buy it… watch it… and then make a huge pile of cheap DVDs behind our DVD player.
But is there hope for us?
Can we switch back to renting? Can we pump out the pirate venom from our movie hungry brains?
Well… to put it bluntly: We’d better.
I’m sure the change won’t be too harsh if the legitimate suppliers make it worth our while. A decent costing of DVD rentals would be a start. I like the good old days when I’d rent a movie for a dollar if it’s an old flick or two dollars if it’s brand new. I could live with that.
Paying five bucks for a three night rental would be something I’d have to get used to. But I only feel this way because currently I have cheaper alternatives… Once the pirates are out of the picture, I’m sure we’ll have lines of people bitching and moaning on their way to the legitimate video store.
No more going home with 50 different movies you don’t know shit about. Now people we have to get back to carefully selecting their evening viewing. No more drawers full of those damn plastic DVD covers. No more ‘four for one dollar’ deals.
Look out for ‘over due fines’ and penalties for scratched disks.
It will be a painful process, but like all bad habits; we’ll soon overcome it.
I hope.
Wanted: Fiji Style
image: www.ebayimg.comI’ve always wanted to see what a wanted sign looks like, the kind that heralds back to the dark, hi-ho silver days of the wild west. Granted you could always start the trusty google and fire up those search engines, but nothing beats having the real thing in front of you for that up close and personal scrutiny.
Modern day wanted notices, heralding to the more simple rule of “people remember mug shots, not posed studio images”, present a more grim picture, where the ‘wanted’ and the ‘why’ both come into play at the top, so that people will know whats the notice for, and why some random ugly poser is gracing their walls.
Fiji’s versions of wanted posters are somewhat of a more simple affair, and in this instance, not even sanctioned by the local authorities. Though it does bring to question whether all ‘wanted’ notices are to be sanctioned by a governing body, say for example, the police or lawyers. Are lawyers even interested in wanted signs? And for that matter, do lawyers send out movie-esquire bounty hunters who score the landscape, looking for those people who’ve missed out on their jury duty/bail payment/court visit?
This sign sits on the door entrance of Comsol Fiji Ltd, and is almost easy to miss if the office door is open (which it usually is), and you’re more interested in seeing whats the latest movies Comsol has to offer (which is probably why you’re there in the first place) then to notice some badly photocopied notice hastily stuck on the front door.
Why does Comsol have a wanted poster on their front door? Why because Comsol has a stake in it after all.
When someone walks away from your store with items worth more than six grand, you’d be pissed too. I’m pretty curious as to the circumstances of how said con man walked away with those items (and I’m still trying to figure out whether the six grand was in dvd movie costs…that’s alot of dvds…), though I doubt Comsol would want to reveal just how they were made a tomfoolery by the mysterious “above person”.
Needless to say, the photo is of poor quality,thanks in part to my somewhat lacking mobile phone camera. However, the photo/printout was lackluster in itself, and did not help with the process of photography on my part. It’s a pity that a wanted poster such as this fails in its duty to inform not because of its basic design, but rather on the main draw card that may bring said con man to ‘justice’, the actual photo.
People looking to claim the $200 award will be sorely disappointed when their only source of description of “above person” will be restricted to ‘Indian man with mustache’. And trust me, there’s quite a few of them around. Indian men with mustaches, not con men…although there’s plenty of con men to go around as well.
Good luck with that.
The Death of a local Franchise
Posted by Wilson in advertising, crime, history, news on May 13th, 2008
At times, living in Fiji reminds me that we’re still way behind in getting first world goodies, such as fast Internet, Superhighways, IMAX Cinemas, and the most recognizable of them all…big name merchandise. Generally, the sign of progress for most third world countries is seeing exactly how many franchise names they have. The bigger and more well known, the more chances of seeing clues of civilization.
Fiji’s no exception. While I can’t exactly speak for the 70s and 80s period (and library research doesn’t sit well with me…something about those book cases…), I can recall a major franchise to hit Fiji back in the early 90s. They say the quickest way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. The same could be said about impressing the locals with the ways of the infamous fastfood label industry.
Mcdonald’s opening in Nadi didn’t go too well with me, and grumblings from fellow suva mates as to why that ‘town in the west’ got the major upgrade, leaving Suva in dark were shared across the city. But hey, Fiji in general was now a certified First World Poser! Tourists can now come to Fiji, despair at the lack of support for credit cards, cable TV and bums who clean your car windows for money, but then feel almost at home again with the familiar rounded M gleaming in the distance.
You have to love the power of Franchise.
Following the opening of Mcdonalds, other franchises, some albit unknown, made their presence known. It was to be the golden age of business franchise branch opening here in Fiji, and at first, nothing could go wrong. When KFC played their ads on TV, you could close your eyes and imagine yourself watching television in Sydney, auzzie accents and all. When Eagle Boys Pizza announced their home delivery pizza system, it was just like in the movies even. Life was great.
However, all good things must come to an end, albit in this case, with somewhat of a whimper. When Eagle Boys Pizza opened, not in the heart of the main city of Suva, but rather on the outskirts, in a suburb called Valelevu, I was slightly taken back. Somehow, I just couldn’t see a snazzy jazzy pizza parlour such as Eagle Boys Pizza survive in an area that isn’t known for its spending power compared to say, a more upper class region such as Tamavua. My gut told me this was all wrong. The boss for the branch didn’t seem to think so.
“Valelevu has quite a large population,” he said in a tv interview, “There should be no problem operating in an area such as this.”
Last month, without so much as a notice, they closed down. Edit: Apparently the pizza boys closed down a lot earlier then previously mentioned (thanx for the tip Picky Eater (: ), almost 18 months ago infact. Ouch.
And the bigger irony is that the video store beside them, another (auzzie?) franchise was also in dire straits.
Apparently, being Ezy wasn’t enough to keep the franchise afloat. While they too opened with a flurry of activity and branches fiji-wide, slowly but surely, they came under fire from the one form of competition that holds a special place in alot of locals. Piracy. That, and trying to go up against Rowell, who weren’t really pirates per say, but their VCD prices were of pirate quality, with some movies going as low as a dollar. Compare that to Video Ezy’s $4.99 a night rental fee, and you can see why they struggled to hold up against the ever resourceful Rowell.
In Video Ezy’s defense, they were doing Fiji a favour by bringing in movies that most video stores, with the exception of IMDVD, would shy away from, the ones with little or no action, indie flicks etc. Sadly enough, like indie flicks, artistry doesn’t quite mean popular.
Last month Video Ezy had to close down their Lautoka Branch, with their Tamavua and Ellery Street branches already shutdown. While the company director Uday Singh has already written to the relevant authorities on the piracy issue, somehow, something tells me that not much is going to be done about it unless:
(a) Comsol is silly enough to try its hands at distributing rugby matches that were shown on Fiji TV, and attrach police/Fiji TV/media’s attention resulting in a great hullabaloo that’ll resonate for say…oh I don’t know…less then a week before everything reverts back to normal.
(b) Certain pirate movie stalls will be closed down swiftly at a Show/Festival/Gathering by FAVIA, resulting in a great hullabaloo that’ll resonate for say…oh I don’t know…a few days before everything reverts back to normal.
Does this mean that overseas franchises are doomed here in peaceful, coup-happy Fiji? Nonsense! Mcdonalds is alive and well, with its steady supply of teenage obese diet of burgers and coke, and a few blocks away, KFC clucks away merrily, although they seem to be less popular then the magic M. We’ll have to see how this goes.
Is there any other overseas franchise that has opened here in Fiji, and is thriving/failing?
PS: Maya Dabha not taken into account, since they’ve only just opened…and Rizwan doesn’t take too lightly to their lack of door opening attendees, dry roti, oily rice and orange/red chicken ;P
Car Jacking 101
Dramatization of carjacking. Miniguns, flamethrowers and black americans not included in actual story.The first thing I noticed when I got into the mini-van was how dark the interior was. Don’t get me wrong, usually mini-vans were dark by default, but usually they had a few LCD lights sparkling and hanging from the ceiling, lending a quasi-festive mood to the ride. Apparently, this particular ride was sorely lacking anything remotely festive. Even the driver, who got in just as I sat in the van, seemed sully and quiet.
After telling him the destination, he looked at me for a second, as if he made an attempt to commit my face to memory or something, then started up the engine and we were on our way. The driver was a young indian guy, probably mid-twenties, and was lacking flip-flops, which is most common amongst van drivers. Now and then he would slowly rub his chin, as if to muse on something.
A half a minute of silent driving, and I slowly realised something else. There wasn’t any music. Most van drivers strive to ‘pimp’ their ride, opting to go with either ear-shattering loud music via someone’s borrowed sound system or by placing a huge amount of LCD lights to brighten up the interior until it resembles more Traps then anything. If they’re extremely money-happy, the lucky ones go both ways one go, and you end up with spots in your eyes and a high-pitched whine in your ears by the time you’ve reached your destination.
This guy had neither music nor lights. Interesting, but not unusual.
“Long day today?”
I usually don’t start conversations, since by the time I get off the mini-bus, the last ride home drains me of anything verbal. But this guy looked like he’d just been given the short end of a deal with life.
“Areh man, yesterday was a bad day for me man. I got robbed.”
“Sa! Really? Shit man, you ok?”
Again, he rubbed his chin slowly.
“Yeah, I’m alive eh? Can’t complain that much.”
“Crap that sucks. What happened?”
The driver motioned towards the area where the car stereo system usually sits, which now was a huge gaping hole.
“I had one set stereo system there. Thing gone.” He pointed up at the ceiling. “The CD Player, thing hang up there, gone. They took everything.”
There was a moment of awkward silence that followed, usually after a stranger has just said something that may or may not elicit a sympathetic response, depending on whether said stranger had AIDS or a broken leg.
“When was this again?”
“Yesterday ga. I been pick two gang, one man and I think his girlfriend from the main road. The gang been say they want to *Forgot the name of the damn place* -”
“What time was this?”
“Boy thing early in the night. Maybe 8 o’clock 9 o’clock? Plenty jobs was going, people just coming back from church eh? So these gang got on, they been say where they want to go, I took them.”
“You remember their faces?”
He waved his hand in frustration. “Areh man, I take hundreds of people everyday, you think I remember their faces too? Thing dark, I never look in the mirror, I just drive. Mind my own business eh?”
“True true.”
“So I just driving till we reach the house. Thing was far inside, far from the main road, plenty grass and little houses. No streetlight too, thing just dark when I was driving in. The falla tell me ‘here, turn here’ so I turn into this house. When I stop, they get out, and then I see some more gang come out from the house. The falla I drop off, he been come around the van and stand next to my window to pay. But he was talking to his friends, the ones who came from the house. The gang talk talk talk, then the falla who stand next to me reached into the van and switched off the engine. He been pull out the key, then boo, those gang whack me up.”
“Sa! How many gang?”
“Boy dunno saraga. I just put my hands up to cover my face, they pull me out of the van and smack me up. Punch me here, punch me in the side -” He lifted his shirt to reveal a nasty set of bruises on his ribs, “…and they kick me in the face. Boy, I nearly knock out saraga. They throw me in the back of the van, and then they all got in and drive around. The gang at the back they been tie me up and put one shirt in my mouth.”
“Where’d they take you?”
“They drive drive for awhile, then stop at another house in the bush. I thought they gonna kill me. But they just get out of the van, and start to take all the stuff out. My radio, my speakers, even the lights, they took it all out. The gang just take their time, and they laugh and joke when they take out all the things. When they finish, they drive the van again, and this time they been go to the service station.”
“This the service station ga at the main road?”
“Io that one. They were very brave to do that. They just go and park the van at the pump, and when the bowser falla ask to open the side, the driver been look at me and ask me where the switch was. All the gang been laugh. I try to make noise but the gang at the back been punch me up again.”
“…shit…”
“Yeah. After that they drive around again for sometime, then they stop off in the bush again, and then they been leave me there. They just turn the engine off, got out, and disappear. I wait like 2 minutes, then I try to get out of the rope they been tie me with.”
He rubbed his wrists slowly, wincing slightly.
“As soon as I got out of the ropes, I ran saraga. Ran and ran. I thought maybe those gang were waiting outside to beat me up for fun. Can’t really tell with these criminal gang eh?”
“Went straight to the police station?”
“Areh man they been drop me in the middle of nowhere. I been walk for a long time before I been catch one taxi. I went straight home. Told my family, then I been call the police.”
“Got any of your stuff back?”
“No man. Not yet. The police, they been say they still investigating. But I don’t believe them. How they gonna find the robbers when I don’t even know their faces? No hope bro.”
“Man thats slack. I hope the police find those gang.”
“Same,” he said, unconsciously touching his apparently still sore jaw, “same.”
We sat in silence for the rest of the trip home.
Home Invasion 101
Yeah, we’ve all read about it. Of course, we all can’t help but feel a tad detached from the event, since we weren’t there to witness the tragedy unfold before our very eyes. I mean sure, rage at how such a thing could continue to happen unabated while the police take their sweet time arriving at the crime scene is normal, even a given, but there’s always this small part of us that would shrug and continue with our lives.
Until it happens to you.
And your whole perspective of the world does a backflip, and nothing ever is the same again.
Yes fellow readers (thats right, all 3 of you!) your fellow blogger-wannabe not only saw a bloody home invasion/robbery happen, but actually got involved in a showdown of bottle throwing, lovo stone tossing and all out swearing and yelling.
It was a slow Saturday night so I decided to have a few drinks at my kai’s house in Raiwaqa.
For those of you who are not quite clear on the reputation of Raiwaqa, let me explain.
Raiwaqa is the ‘bronx’ of Suva. Well come to think of it, there are actually several suburbs that you could categorize as ‘bronx’, but we’ll just go with Raiwaqa right now. Cramped living conditions, housing estates, and low income earners are all general indicators of a high crime rate in the area. Due to the closeness of the families living together, everyone knows everyone else. If you’re not from Raiwaqa, everyone will know for sure.
As will the criminal elements.
Next to my kai’s house is a home that’s usually up for either rent or sale. This house was formerly owned by an indian family. I’m not sure if they moved places for private reasons, or the incessant attempted robberies. Apparently quite a number of families/individuals have shifted into and out of the house because of its popularity with the local thugs. Heck even a policeman had the place to himself for two weeks till he gave up and moved on. Must be bad feng shui.
At the moment a chinese couple bought the house and had moved in, and have stayed there for about 3 weeks. Thats 3 weeks of non-house-robbery-attempts mind you. Last Saturday, that lucky streak came to an end.
It was around 8:30pm, which, when I look back, was quite early for anything crime related. My mates and I had settled into a relaxed evening with a jug of vodka and orange juice. There were my mates and I, my kai, his sister and her boyfriend, and an uncle. The conversation was centered around whether Superbad would be worth the 1:30pm screening. I recall being half half towards the movie, since a part of me felt at ease, cross-legged on the floor, yarning about nothing in particular, while the other half had recalled good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
It was at moment when I heard yelling and shouting coming from outside. For the most part, I ignored it. Most of this sort of screaming and such was usually the result of a family dispute that had spilled outside and in the open for everyone else to hear/watch. Hell, it could have been a rowdy group of guys who had one drink to many and were embroiled in some sort of macho display.
We kinda just sat there and ignored the yelling, till my kai’s sister decided to go and check out what all the fuss was about. She stood up and went beside the window, peeping through the curtains. I had ignored her watching, and was about to call for another round when she screamed “BOYS!”
Suddenly, it was apparent that the yelling wasn’t just a few people arguing. Amongst the muddle of shouts there was a clear and distinct “HELP! HELP US!” and I went numb. We all leaped to our feet, with kai leading the way to the back door, yelling “OI! OI MAGACHINANA DOLA DOLA NA KATUBA!” <oi oi! fuck man open open the door!>
When we all burst out from the back door, immediately infront of us it was clear just what exactly was going on. The Neighbour’s front door had about 8 guys gathered around it, all fully clothed in black and wearing balaclavas. They were all engrossed with attempting to open the front door, and were ignoring both the screaming from the house’s occupants, as well as our own yelling. It was obvious that they knew that their only hope at getting anywhere with the now public robbery was to get the front door open.
The above video was captured by good ol’ manumanu’s phone, so the picture quality obviously sucks. But if you strain your ears, you can hear the thieves yelling for the owner of the house to open his door. Yeah right. As if that was going to happen. Oh, and the very distinct screaming is my kai’s sister. She’s got quite the voice for situations like this…
My kai ran up to the fence that divided the properties and was shouting “OI! WHAT THE FUCK YOU DOING? OI! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” When the robbers didn’t pay attention, he turned at us and called for stuff to throw. What was I doing? Standing right there and attempting to call 911. In the middle of all the ruckus. Not a very wise thing, I was about to find out.
One of my friends had fetched the empty bottles of beer that were piled up next to the house, and pretty soon those bottles were flying over the fence and right onto the criminals. Soon, one of the criminals got hit, and he ducked, while yelling in fijian, “hey! hey! Watch it! Someone might get hurt!” Later one of the guys who was drinking with us said he laughed when he heard that. “Well Duh!” he grinned.
At that moment I wasn’t grinning. While the whole group of thugs was still trying to get the door open, two of them had broke off, and in between the yelling and swearing, proceeded to pick up whatever was in that yard and toss it back at us. That was when shit was really starting to get scary. Bottles, the yard chair, lovo stones, heck, even a bloody bucket filled with water was seen flying over the fence. I pulled my kai back behind the car, but he resisted, and tried to look for other stuff to throw over. He had a hammer in his hand, but according to him, “…it was brand new…I thought twice about throwing it…”
One of the hugh cinder blocks thrown from the other side made its way into the home’s kitchen window. Another one landed squarely on kai’s nuts. Yes. Thats right. His chuckles. That score knocked the wind out of him, and this time I successfully pulled him behind the car as more lovo stones and the lawn chair made their way across the yard. As he knelt on the ground holding his nuts in his left hand, I was like “Oh shit, we’re fucked.”
Eventually, the yelling subsided, and after checking to see that no more objects were being tossed our way, I came out to see what had happened. The robbers, unsuccessful, had left the scene as quietly as they had come, and an eerie silence had settled upon the compound. Kai stood up, albit painfully, and limped his way to the fence, checking to see if his neighbour was alright.
“Hey, you alright my man?” A weak voice could be heard from behind the grill doors. “Yes, yes I am fine, thank you.” “You did good man, you did good.”
Ironically, a dog appeared out from underneath the stairs of the neighbour’s house, walked onto the porch, and started to bark at us. We all looked at each other incredulously. Where was this dog when all that shit was happening? Lame.
About 2 minutes later, the police arrived upon the scene, and a crowd gathered at the streets. The police took a few notes about which way the thieves left, how many were there, and then took off quickly. I later learnt that this was how the police dealt with such a situation. They speed around the district, keeping an eye out for people who are running or in groups. If you’re innocent, but happen to fit the description of what the police are after, then you’re pretty much in for a free ride to the police post.
After the police left, we all made our way back inside, observing the damage done to the window. Obviously we were all shook up, and thankfully there was a bottle of vodka to calm the spirits. But my hands were still slightly shaky after a few minutes, and I sat in silence as the rest of the guys swore, joked and drank while discussing the event that had just occurred. The uncle was smiling and recounting how, while everyone was screaming at each other, he was right at the fence, smiling and coaxing one of the nearby robbers, “Hey, boy. Come over this side of the fence. I teach you one quick lesson in boxing. Mai boy climb over!” He is one crazy guy 
Looking back, I realized how I was relatively frozen and numb to the whole situation. Because I’m not really familiar with these sort of things, I found myself standing in the midst of the whole event while the other guys were running around looking for things to throw. Stupid I know. Hopefully I’ll learn to move abit quicker next time, and search for the object that can be thrown with maximum effect.
PS: A few weeks later, my kai was sick with fever at home, when the neighbour called him out.
“Hey, I heard you sick?”
“Yeah, feeling abit under the weather you know? Wassup?”
The neighbour reached into his jacket and pulled out a Johnny Walker bottle. “Well, I’ve got just the cure. This should fix things up abit” he replied with a wink.
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