Mark Anderson Writes

I just watched the 8 episodes of the Rhodes series that was created in 1996. I encourage everyone to watch it. It looks at the life and career of Cecil John Rhodes, the mining magnate and imperialist. Cecil John Rhodes is often painted as an oppressor, racist and evil man. But Rhodes makes the viewer sympathise with Cecil Rhodes. It humanises him. I would give Rhodes a 9/10. Every episode is well written. The script is impeccable. The acting is realistic. The costumes are flawless and are an accurate portrayal of the 19th century. The cinematography is breathtaking and the soundtracks heighten the sense of adventure. You feel like you are a part of the journey with Cecil John Rhodes. Do watch Rhodes. It is free on Youtube. With that being said, it is amazing what Rhodes achieved in such a short life. He died at only 43 years old on 26 March 1902. Was he a racist? Yes. Was he an ambitious imperialist? Yes. But he was also a man of his time. If he was alive today Cecil Rhodes would pro...

  A few shows are able to remain interesting and consistent. Sopranos, the Shield, Breaking Bad and the Wire were fun and intriguing from beginning to end. On there other hand there are tv shows that started out great and somewhere in the middle they lost their way and the story got stale. Vikings Vikings was and is one of the greatest shows I have ever seen. The opening music theme set the tone and got me at the edge of my seat. Ragnar Lothbrok was one of the most charismatic characters I have ever seen. The actor that played the part did an amazing job. The first three seasons of Vikings were enthralling. There was action, battle scenes, romance, comedy and drama.  However, after Ragnar dies in a pit of snakes, the series went downhill. The whole story of his three sons looking to avenge the death of their father started well but became nonsensical. I doubt the real Ivar the Boneless crawled on his belly. Looking at the character who played Ivar moving on all fours was un...

I am tired of the Cleopatra films and American slave movies. Every few years they churn out these movies and people are tired of it. I speak on behalf of the whole world when I say we are sick of Cleopatra and slave movies. I will never understand why the following events haven't been depicted on the film. If I had a billion dollars or a magic wand I would turn these historical events into movies. The Maccabean Revolt 160 BCE A group of Jewish zealots fight and defeat the Seleucid Greeks. Judah Maccabbee is the Jewish Braveheart. The Roman Jewish War and the fall of Jerusalem 66-73 CE A great historical event that still has ramifications to this very day. The destruction of the Jewish temple was a moment that haunted Jews for thousands of years and yet no movie has been made about it.  The Bar Kokhba rebellion and the third Roman Jewish War 132 CE Another moment in history that had great consequences. It led to the exile of Jews from their homeland for thousands of years and the re...

 It seems like the American gangster genre is dead and buried. In the past few years we have gotten a few films about the gangster and they were all lackluster. The Irishman was overrated and garbage. It was too long and the CGI was not very realistic. People only pretended to like it because it was Scorsese and Pacino and Robert De Niro and Pesci.  Gone are the days in the 90s when we had Scarface, Goodfellas and Casino. Gone are the early 2000s when we had the Wire, Breaking Bad and the Sopranos. Maybe Hollywood is too obsessed with super hero movies and don't care about the gangster genre anymore. Nevertheless, there are still many stories to be told in the gangster genre. There is still a fascination with the outlaw who lives by his own rules. One of the few series that I appreciate is Narcos. It does not glorify crime and paints the mobsters as the vicious bandits that they really are. Gomorra was also another television show that was very realistic and did not sugar coat...

 A multitude of movies have been made about Mandela. A few series have been made about Shaka the Zulu. But I hope one day we get to see the story of precolonial African leaders who fought against colonialism and were great and capable rulers. Below are books about the men.  Sekhukune king of the Pedi He fought and defeated the Dutch and deserves to be put on screen. Mzilikazi king of the Ndebeles He was brave and intelligent. Fought the Zulus, Boers and Griquas and survived.  Dingane king of the Zulus Brother of Shaka and king slayer. He resisted the Boers and fought them at Blood River.  Maqoma legendary Xhosa warrior He fought against colonialism and participated in the Cape Frontier Wars against the British. Moshoeshoe king of the Sotho Founder of the Lesotho nation and bulwark against imperialism, Moshoeshoe deserves to have his life put on screen.

 It's unbelievable to me how these three books haven't been put on the cinema. Hollywood makes movies about everything but Africans fail to honour their greatest books by depicting them on film. Hopefully one day one of these books will be put on television. God's case no appeal by Dan Fulani. Read it when I was a kid and I will never forget it. Awesome story. Mpho's Search by Sandra Braude Read it in Literature class in high school. It's a sin that noone made a movie about it. Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta This book brought me to tears they way it ended.

  A Song of Ice and Fire could have been one of the greatest stories ever told. It found its way onto television via HBO and the world got to witness great story telling in the form of Game of Thrones . For four seasons the world was captivated by the world that George RR Martin had built. We felt like we knew the characters on our screens. We cried for Rob at the Red Wedding and grieved when Ned Stark got beheaded. We felt a mixture of joy and sadness when the wicked Joffrey choked to death. And when David Benioff and Dan Weiss ran out of book material the show became a parody of itself and lost its way. Game of Thrones became all about "subverting expectations" just like George Martin had done to the fantasy genre. George Martin did not want to have heroes in white and villains in black. He wanted morally ambiguous characters where good does not triumph over evil. And thus Game of Thrones became a caricature of that staple. From season 5 to the horrid finale it was all ab...

  In 2007 the controversial last episode of the Sopranos, Made in America aired and was the last chapter of the Sopranos universe. Personally, I didn't like how it ended. I think Tony died and there are many signs that Tony got clipped in front of his family as revenge for Phil getting killed in front of his wife and grandkids. Signs like 3 o'clock, the bathroom homage to the Godfather, the orange tiger behind Tony are signs he got killed and the waitress pointing to her head are all signs Tony got shot in the head. If it was up to me, I would have liked to see either the trial of Tony Soprano and ending the series with Tony of a bus going to jail as Woke up this morning played in the background. Or I would have preferred the same ending but with a gun shot right before the black screen and the member's only jacket man wearing a NY hat showing it was New York behind the hit. I doubt anyone really liked the ending. Perhaps, David Chase wanted an ending that would have people...

 Just finished reading Chaminuka Prophet of Zimbabwe by Solomon Mutswairo. It was written in 1983. It is about Chaminuka, the spirit medium who  It's a good enough read but I had a few problems with the novel. It should not be read as a historical text and thus there are some historical inacurracies.  Chaminuka seems like a minor character. He appears in less than half of the book. Most of the novel is about other characters and their trials and tribulations. You finish the book without knowing or understanding who Chaminuka was. The writer does not delve into Chaminuka's thoughts and feelings. I did not get a sense of what Chaminuka's motivations were. He just appears on the page like a ghost or an otherworldly figure. Solomon Mutswairo simply writes what was already known about Chaminuka's life and does not really add anything new. My second criticism is that the writer stuffs a lot of politics and tribalism into the book. Prophet of Zimbabwe seems like an anti-whit...

  Team America : World Police might seem like a silly comedy about puppets at first glance but it isn't. Team America is a movie that transcends comedy. It is a critic about Hollywood, politics and makes fun of everything American. I enjoyed the movie and implore anyone who hasn't watched it to give it a look. It is funny and while you are laughing the truth is injected into your subconscious.  The best part of the movie is about assholes, pussies and dicks. Dicks just want to fuck all the time. Pussies think everyone can get along. Assholes just want to shit all over everything. Sometimes the pussies get mad at dicks for fucking them but dicks also fuck assholes and if they didn't everyone would be covered in shit.  The final speech is also a goldmine. Gary explains how the pussies keep dicks in line but sometimes pussies are so full of shit they become assholes. It is an analogy that is apt and can be used to relate to everything from dealing with noisy neighbours to g...

 Animal Farm by George Orwell aka Eric Blair is one the greatest books ever written. It is a parable about farm animals driving off the farm owner and taking control of the farm. The pigs lead the animal revolution but soon turn on the animals and become the new oppressors. The book ends with the animals failing to see the difference between the pigs and the humans. Animal Farm was really a jab at the Soviet Union and their revolution. The Bolsheviks led the revolution against the Romanov dynasty then turned around and became the new oppressors who may have been worse than the old oppressor. But the theme of new boss same as the old boss is not only relevant to the Soviet Union and the Bolshevik revolution. The freedom fighter turning into an oppressor is a story as old as the hills. It happened when Napoleon became an emperor. It happened when the American founding fathers continued the slave trade and stealing land from the Native Americans. It happened when the Maccabeans becam...

 This is a fantastic read that should be turned into a movie. It is about Mzilikazi son Mashobane, king of the Matabele nation. Mzilikazi is one of the handful of African warriors who emerge from the Mfecane wars of the early 1800s that saw the wars of Shaka cause havoc across pre-colonial South Africa. Mzilikazi is born to a small chiefdom and is caught between the conflict between Zwide of the Ndwandwe and Dingiswayo of the Mthetwa. Dingiswayo is beheaded and Mzilikazi picks a side and becomes a trusted friend and general of Shaka who later becomes king of the Zulu. For whatever reason, Mzilikazi rebels from Shaka's rule and heads north to create his own kingdom but he will have to fight against Boers, Griquas and Zulus as he journeys. Path of Blood is action packed and paints a picture of a highly intelligent, ambitious, brave and yet cruel African warrior and king. Peter Becker is a natural writer. Every sentence holds the reader captive and the mind does not wander as you tur...

 Jesus of Nazareth is one of the most compelling figures in history. A simple carpenter from a one horse town became the son of God, king of the universe and the redeemer of mankind. Not according to Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of America. It is very fitting that a man named Thomas would be a Doubting Thomas. Jefferson clearly does not believe in miracles and works of wonder that defy the laws of the universe. In the Jefferson Bible Jefferson cuts out all the miracles and supernatural occurrences. Jesus is stripped bare of his super powers. In the gospel according to Thomas Jefferson he was not born of a virgin. He was not the son of God. He did not walk on water and he most definitely did not rise from the dead.  I found the Jefferson Bible to be more interesting than the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. As an agnostic, I feel the Jefferson Bible paints a more realistic picture of who Yeshua really was. He was most likely, the bastard son of a Jew...

 Ian Smith was the Prime Minister of Rhodesia during the war of liberation known as Chimurenga. He was the man who broke ties with United Kingdom in 1965 under UDI. To some he is a hero and and a vanguard against communism and barbarism. To others he was vicious racist whose hands drip with blood. So it is fair to say he was and still is a controversial figure. To this day, his name is still alive and well amongst both black Zimbabweans and ex-Rhodies. The ruling government Zanu pf continues to blame all the failings on Smith and the Rhodesians whilst some of the younger Zimbabweans feel Smith was right all along and was a prophet who predicted the disaster that black rule would bring.  Smith seems to have been right about a lot of things but his prophecy about a 1000 year Rhodesia was not fulfilled. After the war that lasted from about 1966 to 1979, Zimbabwe was born and Mugabe and his comrades did not waste time in getting their hands bloody and their pockets full of ill got...

One of the most prominent Shona prophets is Chaminuka aka Pasipamire Tsuro. He was born circa 1808 and was killed in April 1883 by Ndebeles on the orders of King Lobengula. It is said that he was a man of peace and a miracle worker who could make rain. Chaminuka was a healer who cured people's sicknesses and it is said he was a prophet who predicted the coming of colonialism and the downfall of King Lobengula. He is venerated today by Shona people in song and poetry. Chaminuka has many things in common with Jesus of Nazareth. Both were spirit mediums in a sense. Pasipamire Tsuro is said to have been possessed by the spirit of Chaminuka. Jesus was possessed by the Holy Spirit. Chaminuka was a healer of sickness and so was Jesus. Chaminuka was a miracle worker who could command the rain to fall. He could speak to wild animals. Jesus was also a wonder worker who could stop storms and he also spoke to pigs. Chaminuka was a man of peace and Jesus was a man of peace. Chaminuka foresaw th...

Tovera is the ancestor of the Shona people. He is like the Abraham to Shonas. My grandfather used to tell me about this Tovera. He came from the north, somewhere in the land of Tanzania and settled in present day Zimbabwe. He is known for three things: Totems It is he who had many children and gave them the totem names such as Shumba lion, Nzou elephant and Shava Eland. Perhaps Tovera understood evolution, and the idea that men evolved from animals and that is why he called his children after animals. Maybe, he understood that man is one with nature and the animals world and wanted his descendants to appreciate the natural world and have reverence and respect for animals. It is also possible Tovera understood the stars, the zodiac and gave out the animal names as a form of cosmology. Whatever the reason, the totem system is still alive and well amongst the Shonas. They use it know who their relatives are and to know where they came from.  Tsumo proverbs My grandfather told me Tover...

 Snowfall was one of the greatest tv series about the drug trade and inner city crime dramas I had ever seen. Every episode for six seasons was a cliff hanger, with twists and turns that furthered the plot. Viewers saw Franklin Saint go from an innocent kid working in a grocery store to becoming a major narcotics trafficker. Even after the show creator John Singleton passed away, the show continued and did not skip a beat. However, for some reason Snowfall has failed to garner the same respect as the Wire. Even though Franklin Saint is every bit as intelligent and as ruthless as Marlo Stanfield and Avon Barksdale. I feel that Snowfall dropped the ball in the finale. A few things did not make sense in the ending.  Why did Franklin Saint bring his mother to the safe house where he was torturing Teddy Mcdonald? Franklin was an intelligent guy, there was no reason to have his mother in there. What purpose did it serve? Obviously the writers had to get his mother in place to sho...

 The book the Shona and their Neighbours by DN Beach is almost like a sequel to his other book the Shona and Zimbabwe 900-1850. Shona and their Neighbours   summarises most of the things covered in the first book but it does look at the history of the Shona after colonisation and post colonisation. What I learnt from this book is that the rivalry between the Shona and the Ndebele has been exaggerated. DN Beach believes Rhodesian propagandists embellished the Ndebele raids on the Shona. It was in the Rhodesians interests to portray the Shona as helpless cowards who were saved from extinction at the hands of the brutal Ndebele by the white colonialists. DN Beach illustrates that many Shona chose to be independent from Ndebele and refused to pay tribute. The Muzhuzha village is one example of Shona people who were successful at beating back the Ndebele warriors. The book shows that the Shona were not peaceful people who happened to be victims of the violent Ndebele. The Sho...

 So I finally got my hands on the book The   Shona and Zimbabwe by DN Beach. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Shona history. In fact, the book should be mandatory reading to school children. I learnt a lot of things that had never been taught to me in school.  I do not know much about DN Beach but the footnotes at the end of the book, show he undertook thorough research before writing the book. He uses archaeology, written history and a bit of oral tradition to weave together the historical narrative of the Shona people. As a white person, he did somehow remain fair and neutral. There was no patronising and biased approach to African history. He writes about Shona people with respect and the book is devoid of a condescending tone that is prevalent in many books about Africans written by Europeans. What I learnt about the Shona people is that they actually did not enter the plateau now called Zimbabwe from the north. Beach believes that the ancestors o...