End of year 2009 November 23, 2009
Posted by Mutongoria in self.add a comment
its that time of the year when it ends!
Granted- we still have another 40 or so days can’t help wonder how its goona end – really.
I have to thank the good Lord that we are here now and pary for his greatnes and goodness in every passing minute.
It’s gonna be awesome!
home | shags | gichagi March 7, 2009
Posted by Mutongoria in self, Uncategorized, work.Tags: connect, gichagi, home, seacom, shags
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I am writing this under my mother’s roof. Somewhere between the Aberdares Ranges and Mount Kenya. My safaricom modem has been super-behaving and am quite pleased at the service am getting. Its actually performing much better than it does back in Nairobi city.
This is where I was born – and part of where I grew up twenty-something-odd years ago. That anniversary is coming around towards the end of next week. This is, therefore, a time for reflection, thanksgiving and planning. Gishagi is Kikuyu for village. but usually it is meant to mean home- as in home where you come from. This is especially the case where one works far from home. If you hear some one saying they are going to gichagi – it doesn’t mean that they are going to visit a village – it means its time to go to That village.
This is my ‘That Village’. I like this place – I know a lot of people here. Some have known my parents longer than I’ve known my parents.
My parents were not born here. There moved here working to develop their careers. Working in the civil service for several decades teaching at te local school. That government money has taken me n me siblings through school and campus. Gave us a roof over our heads and food on our table.
I have countless things to thank the Lord for as I reach this othe milestone in my life.
Am glad that that EDGE is working like this here, it means that the possibilities for using this technology are quite enormous! But its means a lot to me today in this place. Am a programmer who soon wants to become an internet entrepreneur. This is what i need.
In other news, the seacom cable reached the east african coast today. it means a lot to east african content developers. perhaps one day speed will not be a factor in developing web applications
its been a long time February 26, 2009
Posted by Mutongoria in IT, self.add a comment
Its almost the third month and i have barely done anything on my blog! bad bad bad
Not that I’ve been doig nothing on the contrary perhaps its the busy-ness that has been keeping me away from this blog.
Jus t noticed that ht e hits have been going up and am quit eglad about that. I, however think that I can do much better – perhaps get up to 500 users per day … Dont ask how many am getting now!
I’ve been working with drupal, building the main application for our organization. I love drupal. its easy and its powerful; two things that you ususallay dont find together.
I’ve also been checking out google’ s Youtube API and loving it lots.
Next I hope to makke a video sharing website that rides on Youtube resources – Mtapenda.
Gotta go now – gotta run some emails on PHP in IIS. Yes its possible.
UB 40 – Ali Campbell-Yes, you are officially my favouritest singer – band! November 30, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in music, news, self.Tags: ali campbell, carnivore, concert, kenya, nairobi, reggae, ub 4o
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UB 40
A little bit of history first:
The multi-platinum selling reggae group UB40 will stage its maiden Kenyan concert on November 15 in Nairobi. The show comes after the group released its 24th album, 24-7, and the departure of Robin Campbell, who steered the band to the top.
UB 40 rose to fame with the 1983 release of the Labour of Love album, which topped charts in the UK and ruled Billboard’s top 200 in the US, with hits such as Red Red Wine making it a household name. Its debut album, Signing Off (1980), went platinum and spent 72 weeks on the international music charts.
Equally popular was their most successful worldwide single, Falling in Love with You (1993) — a cover version of Elvis Presley ballad’s, I Can’t Help. Other UB40 popular hits include Rat in My Kitchen, Kingston Town, I Think It’s Going to Rain and Tell It As It Is.
After almost a decade of silence the band, which comprises James Brown, Earl Falconer, Norman Lamont and Brian, made a comeback with the 2007 release of Reasons.
“We have everything set for Nairobi. Kenya is a great country and we would love to perform there as part of our world tour,” James said at the Kampala gig in February. “We will come and thrill Nairobi when everything is alright,” he had added, alluding that their planned February Nairobi tour had been halted due to the post-election violence.
Campell’s exit fanned speculation that the group was headed for a split. “Campbell was our lead and we are sad he had to leave. But a band is never about a fellow and this is not the last you are hearing of UB40,” James was quoted as saying on the day the group bid farewell to their vocalist.
Even though the band said Campbell was leaving to concentrate on solo projects, the lead singer later alluded to internal disputes when he said he left due to ‘management difficulties’.
But even after the big hype and great expectations, the 17-track album has failed to go top 75 in the UK. The launch four months ago coincided with a UK tour, which climaxed in the recording of their next album Labour of Love IV.
UB40 is one of the most successful reggae bands of all times. They have sold more than 70 million albums and hosted memorable world tour concerts, spreading reggae to South America and Russia, besides bagging some of the most coveted music awards.
<— the history ends here —>
Now, somehow, someway, the UB40 bashment was cancelled – postponed and soon forgotten about.
Then Ali campbel was announced to be coming.
Ali was not only lead singer of UB40, but the creative mind and key songwriter for the band. The show is organised by Rani Productions which has in the past brought to Kenya Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder, Raghav, Rishi Rich inconjuction with and CentreStage Experiential Marketing who brought Femi Kuti and TOK.
Ali was the lead singer at UB 40 and is voice leas such great ballads as Cherio cherio baby [you should at least have seen him perform that one; It was Awesome!!], Red red wine, homely girl, Reasons and countless others.
<— The action starts here — >
Wednesday i was at Tamambo westlands buying tickets. Two. one for me and one for my swits. No need to listen to UB 4 sing homely gal without a nice person to sing it to!
Thursday – Meet with me swits to tell her that the band whose lyrics I borrowed heavily from when we were getting close was coming to town. She was skeptical at first as kenyan reggae shows are known to get messed up pretty bad. Some convincing on my part and the date was set.
Friday – at work prepared my laptof for a wedding where I was due to dj for a friend.
Saturday – the wedding was late [aren't they all?] ut went well too. the bride was extremely beautiful.
Saturday night – We were late – arrived at Carnivore stage at around 8;30 pm with my swits.
Was surprised there were no queues and Carnivore and went right in. First some food at the stalls that I found to be quite competitively priced.
On stage was Boda boda band that was curtain raising for UB40. They did a great performance but there was an issue. Carnivore management refused to power-up the system for them. Boda boda band could not hear the music they were playing as there were no monitor speakers! Despite kidum asking for it countless times Carnivore totally refused to give the monitor sound. Imagine not hearing the music oyu are playing n from of a a capacity crowd!
Shame on carnivore.
The security was great. There were dark men in black suits, white shirts and bow ties all over the place. There was also supplementar security provided by RADAR security ltd. Good job to whoever organised that.
And then Ali Campbell showed up and gave what must be the greatest performance I have ever seen. I loved every minute! The band was amazingly cordinated and brought out a performance I will be remembering for a long time to come.
ALI CAMPBELL – THANK YOU!!
Dj kalonje Reviewed – the youngest dj in kenya November 28, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in humour, IT, self.Tags: dj kalonje, mc, mixing, music, selection, transitions, videos
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Confession – I have never met this guy, actually never seen him play but since I have been made to listen to him – I may just as well make a post about it.
I have been following the work of this dj for some time now and think it appropriate since I lend him my ear at least thrice every week. I hear him in matatus as i head home in the evenings or as I come to work in the morning – apparently the drivers and conductors of public transport where I come from consider him a guru in arts of public entertainment.
I beg to differ – over the last year – I think I have seen DJ kalonje transform from a kid who has nothing to his name but borrowed vcds to a fairly … acceptable .. mixmaster.
Mixing skills [7 out of 10]
there has been great improvement in the quality of his mixes. At least the beats dont clash anymore! I still hold one of his mixes in my archives on examples of how-not-to-mix! But this morning I heard his mix of Jah Watchman’s club anthem and R Kelly’s Burn it up - I had to admit that his fingers are not quite as shaky! You can always tell a real dj by his ability to cue a single, remixing it on the fly and something little I call re-beating where the dj remixes the whole sample by juggling a single beat. DJ Lastborn is perfect at this. Dj kalonje is learning nicely.
Music selection [6 out of 10]
Not much to write home about his selection of music. Not much to complain either. It is just there!
MC [5 out of 10]
Saying that you are the “youngest dj in East Africa” doesn’t sound very attractive for anyone who has been more than a year out of high school! I doubt it sounds good even to those who are currently in primary school. I love dj Adrian’s ‘your favourite dj’s favourite dj!’ that is one smasher of a line! I hope dj kalonje reads this so if you have any suggestions please post them here.
Video [5 out of 10]
The five point are only for they syncing that has been attempted [with some success] in recent releases. Other wise, like all Kenyan video mixers [except blackstar entertainment @ citizen tv] the video is wack to say the least and the mixing has have been done with scissors or a hacksaw. Video editors know what I mean.
Part of it is not his fault – videos available in the Kenyan market are Wack! But is that an excuse to …. can’t you try some creativity. Words that don’t keep popping! remove the adverts and please please please do not make a video transition last more than five seconds. Your transitions are torture!!!
Anyhow, Dj kalonje – I believe you can.
If you grow by another 150% in the next six months I promise to like you!
catch up November 24, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in IT, self, web, work.Tags: asp, odbc, php, wordpress
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So I’ve been away for a week!
its been that long?
yes it has.
Sorry bwana – niliwakosa sana. Mpo vipi?
Actually, i never left
been online all this time but tied with assignments projects and idling on facebook.
that is solved now.
I have suspended my facebook account.
yes I have!
Instead of always watching my back at the office … facebook should be illegal anyway …
so I’ve left facebook tou join … YOU!
Isn’t that nice?
by the way I have been working on wordpress – crazy sh*t if there ever was.
But it was great and i should be doing very well very soon. – financialy.
Yaani, tear wordpress apart and put it back together- wiht exceptional user features – with an additional custom-made content management system integrated.
Also did some work with SMF [simple machines forums] – setting up a custom template to go with a matching wordpress magazine theme.
So you see, I’ve been quite busy – by my love for my peeps is there still.
nest i wat to creat a directory with coursers. different institutions – similar and same and different courses. then ratings, searches, advertising, subscriptions and some nice profits!!
i’ll make some wordpress tutorials soon – when there is time.
I’m loving it more and more each time.
I am thinking I should change my biz website to wordpress! yes I know we work great together. I wanted to redo it full flash but after seeing the whale hunt i thought … who has the time? But if I get one hot client I promise to do one for the fans.
i am now having an ongoing affair with ASP. yes I know she is bad but sice 90% of computers inthe world run windows … please understand. But I’ve set up all our servers to also run PHP. Connecting to ms sql erver is more sh*t but i hacked it with ODBC!
gotta go now.
nawapenda wo!
the kikuyu in me October 31, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in self.Tags: family, humour, kikuyu, relaives
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this is from the Kikuyu in me
I met my uncle jana and he was at pain to describe how his nieces were disregareding his status as their father. Where i come from a person should call his father’s elder brother as something which loosely translates to: my older father. that, according to my uncle is not to be translated to something as shallow and inconsequential as ‘my uncle’.
Luckily for me, my mother is the older sister of the said uncle and i don’t have the obligation that my cousins have.
Welcome to Africa, don’t just marry that girl – she could be your relative: her uncles grandmother on his maternal side was once married to your aunt’s step sister who …. who was i talking about?
Enjoy your weekend
Kenyatta day; Coast by bus October 21, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in self, travel, Uncategorized.Tags: holiday, kenyatta day, mombassa
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Friday ten pm found me on a bus heading towards Mombasa. It was great and slow too. I didn’t know that the Chinese had been doing such a bad job though they already have done a nice job. Yaani that part between South C and Mlolongo is terrible. But most of the rest – all the way had mwambao is perfect! Not a single pothole just open skies and endless road.
Arrived at Mtitio Andei to find that all of Nairobi was going to coasto. Even met some people from way … way back.
But that was just the beginning.
Turns out that local tourism is the big thing. Big Time! There were Kenyans all over the place just having fun, touring everywhere. For me it was all the more exciting because it was the first time I’ve taken myself on such a long journey without there being some relatives involved! I think I love it!
So it was that we arrived at Mombassa just as the sun was coming up and booked ourselves to a nice little guest house. Then there was this conversation.
Person 1: I just want to take a shower and sleep for just two hours
Person 2: Sleeping. We aint come here for no sleeping
Person 3: Sleeping? Couldn’t you have done that in Nairobi?
Activity matrix:
Arrival > Shower > Streets > food > swimming > food > drink > streets > a little bit more of the same in no defined order.
There are those who literally passed out on the bus on the way back!
First was some biashara for me during which I got lost and found myself in Bamburi. Many kilometers away from Buxton here I was originally supposed to be. Buxton pronounced bastani … or something like that.
Lambada
Lambada is a drink and dance club in Mtwapa and if you have the right company it can be the bomb of your trip to coast.
Life in Mombasa is generally slow. There are always people seated on the streets chatting, chewing miraa. There is always a lost tourist etc.
Food
So me and me swits go to this place to buy ice cream strawberry na vanilla kama kawaida. Sasa there is no strawberry plain – kuna strawberry with three different sub-flavors. Not seen that in Nairobi yet. Also three different vanilla creams. It was soooo sweeet!
Swimming
I almost ended up not swimming. That would have been quite unfortunate. Thank God it didn’t happen. The first day – I lost my friends hooking up with another old friend at her place of employment. Had the offer to swim one of coast’s best swimming places but bila company I’d better be on the public side with me peeps.
That reminds me to reschedule my swimming classes. Mmhmhm
Full Federation
Full federation can be found at the café near Coast Bus booking office. Its best to go upstairs. Full federation is a platter of rice, beef, stew, spaghetti and chips. One serves two but the plate is so big as to be easily embarrassing! But I should tell you at this point that there was no left overs on our table. No pointing fingers but the guilty ones – tunajijua.
Then its back to work and people are talking standards. That is my on my desk this morning. IT standards.
Geek food anyone?
Conscious Reggae October 9, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in music, reggae, self.Tags: conscious, luciano, music, regae, reggae
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Perhaps I should start this pos y saying that am a Christian. I know am not perfect but if I was there would be no need for Christ . . . would there? I love reggae; Yaani, there is a way that reggae music makes me feel like it is just the thing for me.
Like this mornig, when I woke up and was on company transport surfing the channels looking for something to inspire my day.
Tried a few songs and until I landed on Serve Jah, by Luciano. So I did some back grounds on him and also on other inspirational reggae artists. The fist thing that came to my mind was the Old school hit by Morgan heritage. Don’t haffi Dread that have the line. ‘This is not a dreadlocks things, it’s a divine conception of the heart’. Actually I think I should put on some dreadlocks! But no … when the heart is rightly conscious there is no need for dreadlocks.
There’s a widespread belief that ‘conscious’ reggae had its heyday in the 1970s and barely survived the death of Bob Marley. Whereas it’s true that bump ‘n’ grind dancehall and ragga did take over in the ’80s and ’90s, just as cocaine took over from weed as the Jamaican drug of choice, there were a handful of artists who managed to keep singing and writing songs about society, race, identity and spirituality whilst all around just chatted about guns and gals.
One of these artistes was Lucky Dube who died violently in the hands of thugs in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville on the evening of 18 October 2007. His music against racism in South Africa inspired millions of people around the globe.
With the release of his first heart-wrenchingly soulful hit ‘It’s Me Again Jah’ in 1995, 30 year old Jephter McClymount , an upholsterer from Manchester parish, JA, became Luciano, redeemer of the reggae massive and the Moses who would lead reggae back to the land of the conscious. His success wasn’t entirely ‘overnight’. It rarely is. Luciano had already spent several years struggling to gain a foothold in the ruff ‘n’ tuff showbiz world of Kingston, but once he made his mark, hits followed in quick succession: ‘Lord Give Me Strength’, ‘Your World and Mine’ and ‘Heaven Help Us All’.
Island Records released his records internationally and his fame became worldwide. Luciano’s soulful, spiritual voice and musical approach seem to answer a deep need in reggae fans who haven’t found the sustenance they need in the new era of gunshot dancehall music. A succession of successful albums and a collaboration with Senegalese sensation Baaba Maal set Luciano apart from your average latter day reggae star. Live, with help from the legendary Firehouse Band, Luciano exudes the spiritual and joyous intensity of a latter day Bob Marley. So don’t fear, conscious reggae’s still ridin’ high Luciano style!
At a recent concert in Nairobi [October 3, 2008] The ‘Jah Messenger’, as he has christened himself, got onto the stage and proceeded to deliver his message to an extremely anticipating crowd. Luciano should have been a priest as all his songs were inspiring and encouraging. He talked in the language best understood by hustlers, which many related to.
His message was crystal clear, “No matter what you go through, don’t give up; mighty Jah will see you through,” he said. Among the songs he performed were ‘Woman of Israel’ and the song that saw him gain popularity in Kenya ‘It’s Me Again Jah’.
telkom, Cobra squad and kplc October 6, 2008
Posted by Mutongoria in news, politics, self.add a comment
Well, i have been quiet for the last few days as I settled in to my new job.
The going is very nice.
Welll, more about that later.
My beef right now is with One Telkom kenya of address telposta Towers, moi avenue nairobi kenya.
Their new advert- very nice, very african but TOTALLY UNKENYAN.
The idea of building a kite from different pieces of cloth is very unique and bring about the sense of ‘Together we can do more’. That is very relevant to Telkm Kenyas idea of bringing different solutins under one brand. According to the CEO, ‘Something like a supermarket’. There is nothing uniquely kenyan about people in a field flying a kite.
With this telkom kneya is setting itself up as an alien to the kenyan people.
How many kenyans own kites?
What is a kite?
What on earth is ‘bongolelas, bongolelas zungu zungukane’?? This is africa not some european audience who can be cheated that that is some african dialect!!!
okay … i know what a kite is but that advert does not reach us. but may be am wrong. Maybe.
The Communication commison of kenya has a new Publicity manager. Congrats to him.
I have been checking out your chukua hatua adverts and they are slammin! i have always been an advocate for consumer rights and i love your advocacy. we have been rippedoff too wrong.
kenya Power and lighting has a new graphics designer and I love him. Your yellow-blue advert in today’s nation was slammin!
i have a score card for you:
Font – 100%
Colours – 100%
photography – 85%
Relevance – 100%
Cash advantage – 75%
keep up the good work.
COBRA SQUAD.
Mr. Alfred Mutua Governemnt spokesman aka media entreprenuer i salute you for bring the genre of action series to Kenyan television. This is one of many things you have done to make kenya a better place.
Now Cobra Squad, inaboo! The story has huge gaps, the speed is inconsistent and the action scenes could do with a makeover and I think I have a located for you.
The problem is in the first credits page:
Written, produced and directed by Dr. Alfred N Mutua.
Seriously daktari, you need to get some people to work with and it will help you avoid some glaring mistakes that are making some people start swithing channels.
You have set a standard and therefore whoever comes after you has to do at least twice better. That ‘twice better’ person can be you if you get someone to work with you and sort you out in some rough edges. No one can be perfect but you efforts have not gone unnoticed.
