Archive for category Samoa

Post – Hong Kong Sevens Match + Earth Hour

Posted by Wilson in Samoa, rugby on March 28, 2009

Image source: www.irb.com
So what was different this year about Earth Hour and the Hong Kong Sevens compared to say, last year? Hmm, not much.
Lets do a checklist shall we?
(1) Earth Hour and Fiji playing in the hong kong sevens to be around the same day, same time? …check.
(2) Some enterprising soul at the FEA powerplant deciding to honour Earth Hour and forceline a couple of neighbourhoods into it as well by shutting off their power for about 40 minutes? …check.
(3) My immediate neighbourhood not giving two hoots about Earth Hour and all its hype? …check.
(4) My immediate self not giving three hoots about Earth Hour, instead resigning myself to the more urgent situation that was our country versus Samoa? …sorry Greenpeace…but Fiji pride before the conservation of the world. Slightly guilty check.
(5) The more urgent situation of our country versus Samoa resulting in us coming to a 12-all draw? Not a check on this one, though that doesn’t make the pain any more bearable ><
(6) The increased stress and worry now that Fiji is finally into the Quarter Finals? Check.
Coming up next tomorrow for the Cup Quater Finals, Fiji vs England. To be honest I have no idea how this game will go…

,

No Comments

Youtube Video of the Month – Cannibals Incorporated

Posted by Wilson in ...ofthemonth, Samoa, annoying, fiji, history, travel on January 7, 2009

Ah Fiji. Home to the king of rugby sevens, smiling locals, white, sandy beaches, and seasonal coups. It’s quick to get washed up in the hype that is living in today’s fast paced society, but one mustn’t forget one’s origins and what humble beginnings they had before Mcdonalds and company rolled in.

Sure you could visit the city library and catch up on your reading, but with today’s more visual-oriented society, who cares about stuffy old books and cramped up libraries when you can watch old videos of the Fiji of the past?
And what better to showcase Fiji’s past then this delightful video courtesy of James A. Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks: The Voice of the Globe called Fiji and Samoa: The Cannibal Isles. Since this video isn’t time stamped, I’ll take a wild guess and place the making of the video around the 1940s, when stern, near patriotic voice overs where the common practice. Why the time stamp?
If you’ve ever wanted to see and find out what Fiji was like ‘back in the day’, this video has it all layed out for you. See the ‘savages’ in their natural surroundings of houses built from grass and topped with thatched roofs. Witness the spectacle of the natives indulging in what is ‘their only form of amusement, the mekimeki’. Marvel at the ‘bushy haired members of the Fijian Band’ as they play ‘the white man’s music’ on instruments that are ‘no longer strange to them’.
And that’s not all! Samoa is included in this accurate doco, and doesn’t miss much in way of detail. With Samoa’s fales being described as ‘mere cirlces of pillars, roofed by cones of thatch’, Samoa is certainly the picture of simple living, with ‘no gods swift to anger and strong to punish’ to disturb the tempo of life. Cute.
I have to admit, I do miss the old days. Thank God the gods for technology.
PS: Still trying to figure out why only Fiji and Samoa were singled out as the ‘Cannibal Isles’, since other Pacific Islands indulged in the diet of the ‘long pig‘. Perhaps it was something to do with our appetites.

, , , , ,

1 Comment