Mark Anderson Writes

1976 2006                                                                 One of my all time favourite horror films is The Omen 1976 together with The Others. I thought The Omen was masterfully written, well acted and didnt waste time. I watched the Exorcist and Nightmare of Elm Street and  I was bored out of my mind. Unlike The Omen, The Exorcist relies on shock, awe and disgusting vomit inducing scenes. The Omen does not need spinning heads and vomiting demon possessed kids to arouse fear. It just relies on the telling a narrative in such a way that the viewer feels terrified. The black dog in The Omen gave me chills. 30 years after the iconic movie came out they did a remake. To compare The Omen 1976 to the The Omen 2006 is like comparing a cat to a lion. One is ferocious, roars and makes you tremble. The ot...

                        1995                                                                                             2001                                                                                       Othello is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. I remember fondly memorising the lines "making the beast with two backs" and "circumcised dog". Iago was and still is one of the worst villains to ever be written down and Othello is the noble savage undone by his passions....

  2009                                                    2011 I had heard about the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and had never bothered to watch it. Back in the 2000s I was a good for nothing drunk who had no time for movies. Now that I have more time on my hands I took time to watch it to see what was all the fuss about. I first watched the 2011 film with Daniel Craig. The film drags for almost an hour without anything interesting happening. There is no hook that gets you into the film. Only when the girl with dragon tattoo gets sodomised then gets her revenge did the movie begin to interest me. From that moment the story becomes exciting and there are many twists until the duo find out what happened to the missing girl. It was a good movie, a bit long but not too bad. My favourite line from the movie is, 'People should trust their instincts....

  Tsumo is a book written, translated and explained by the great Mordechai Hamutyinei and Albert Plangger. Hamutyinei was a giant in Shona literature. He wrote timeless classics such as Maidei and China manenji hachifambisi and the great poem Kana wamutanga musikana. In a sane world there would be statues of Hamutyinei all over Zimbabwe and schools and streets named after him. The Mount Rushmore of Zimbabwean writers in my opinion would have Mordechai Hamutyinei, Aaron Chiunduramoyo, Tsitsi Dangarembga and the late Dambudzo Marechera. I cannot believe that Hamutyinei does not have a Wikipedia page.  Anyway back to the book Tsumo. This book is sensational. It is 484 pages long and contains 1900 Shona proverbs divided thematically into eleven chapters. It should be in the home of every Shona person and its contents should be memorised and recited like Muslims do to the Koran and Jews to the Torah. It should be as sacred as the Holy Bible to the Shona nation. And why? Because i...

  Idiocracy is a 2006 film produced by Mike Judge. It is about an average Joe who undergoes an experiment that goes wrong. The average wakes up 500 years later in a world full of stupid people where he is the smartest man and must either lead, follow or get out of the way. Idiocracy did well commercially and gained a cult following and critical acclaim. This is all not surprising because it is a great film. It is funny and sad at the same time. It is a comedy because it pokes fun at corporate America but it may be a tragedy if it proves prophetic. There is no need to go on and on about how great the movie was, the proof is in the pudding. Idiocracy got me thinking. I saw parallels between the movie and what happened in the Third World after decolonisation. After Europeans left their former colonies, everything fell apart. Take Zimbabwe for example. After chasing away the white farmers, the colony formerly known as Rhodesia experienced the same problems as in the movie Idiocracy. ...

  To read biographies of great men of the past is like stepping into a time machine. And to read Long Walk to Freedom and Tutu, Voice of the Voiceless is like walking on the shoulders of giants. Let me start with Long Walk to Freedom. It was a magnificent read. It is a very book but I finished it in three days. Buy it and read it, you will not be sorry. The book is vivid, detailed and well written. You feel Mandela's pain, joy and fears as he fights against the apartheid system that humiliates and oppresses his people. Mandela has secured his place amongst the greatest pan Africanists. He stands in the company of greats like Martin Luther King, Gandhi and to some he is the black equivalent of Jesus. However, like great leaders he remains controversial. He is beloved around the world and to many he stands in contrast to devils like Mugabe and Mobutu. Mandela was one of the few African leaders to voluntarily leave power when he didnt have to. He was not your typical African dictator...

  For thousands of years, women were treated like second class citizens. They were marginalised from politics. Their place was in the kitchen and the bedroom. Myths and religions were used to justify the suppression of women. From the pulpit, religious leaders blamed women for the fall of mankind, the banishment of man from Paradise. Then in the 20th century women were given the vote and treated as equal citizens.  Now about a hundred years after the success of feminism many are starting to regret giving women the vote and a voice in politics. Was it a mistake to give women freedom? Were the ancients who wrote about Pandora and Eve right along? Let's discuss and look at both sides. The misogynist stance goes something like this feminism has brought about high divorce rates which leads to broken homes which leads to dysfunctional and wayward children which leads to a broken society.  They say women's sexual liberation has brought about millions of abortion, low birth rates...

  1984 is a book that is often referenced when discussing politics. If someone wants to sound intelligent they used phrased like Orwellian, newspeak and memory hole. As someone who had never read 1984, I got tired of hearing about Big Brother and not knowing what it meant. So I decided to read 1984.  After reading it in a few days I had mixed feelings. It is a great story, there is no doubt about that. The twist where Winston gets arrested was jaw dropping. The ending was breath taking, no pun intended. The final scene of 1984 was very similar to the ending scene of The Sopranos. So much so that I feel David Chase must have been inspired by 1984.  However, the writing style of 1984 was not that great. It was a bit of a struggle to continue reading the book. It was not the most enjoyable read. The prose felt disjointed and forced. But other than that it was a great read. I don't think 1984 is overrated. It is pertinent today more than ever. With the advanced technology a...

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a book that needs no introduction. It is a parable on par with Jesus' parables. It is a masterpiece that stands apart from other fiction. It is a light hearted look at the terrifying Soviet regime. In 2000 years people will still be reading Animal Farm. But why does the tale of the animal revolt remain relevant decades after the Soviet Union it was based upon has collapsed? Communism has been vanquished yet Animal Farm still echoes. Why do people resonate with Animal Farm so much? I think that it speaks to the fundamental truth of human nature and politics. And the truth is that humans are animals. No matter how hard we try to make ourselves in the image of the gods we are nothing more than apes. So the ancients invented religions and laws to restrain our animal impulses. But in the end nature prevails. Human civilisation is a veneer that soon wears off. In the end all humans reveal themselves to be wild animals and civilisation collapses. The Ro...

  Sike! No such book exists although I wish it did. Ridvan Aydemir also known as the Apostate Prophet is the most popular ex Muslim on Youtube and possibly in the whole world. He has over half a million subscribers on Youtube and thousands of followers on X. He is a funny and intelligent ex-Muslim who has led the charge against Islam with his catchy phrase, 'Stay Away from Islam'. So why has he not penned a book about his life story and his journey into apostasy. Many other ex-Muslims like Harris Sultan and Armin Navabi have put their ideas to paper but still the Apostate Prophet hasn't. But hopefully one day he will. Islam has been the greatest threat to western civilisation since its inception. Islam's whole purpose is anti-Christian. Islam began as a Nestorian anti-trinitarian sect. Its very essence is about opposition to the Trinitarian west. For 1400 years Islam has been a thorn in the side of Europe. They took Constantinople in 1453, they ruled Spain for 700 years...

  What would a biography about Andrew Tate be called. In my mind it would be named Escaping the Matrix. I know he has written a few books such as The Tate Bible etc but Escaping the Matrix sounds way better.  To some Tate is a rapist and pimp. To others is the Moses of the manosphere, leading men from a world that emasculates toward the Promised Land of ultra masculinity. Maybe he is both. All I know is that he is one of the few people I can listen to talk for more than an hour without falling asleep. He is charismatic and intelligent. A book about Tate's famous quotes would make interesting reading. I have learnt many things from Andrew Tate. Such as : Hate always comes from the bottom not from the top. 85% of being a man is saying no.  You dont have to hit your children but they should know you can hit them. Children should know that the threat of violence is there and violence can be used, just like people obey the police because they know the threat of violence is p...