African Creatives & Societal Expectations

In a world where success stories often echo the triumphs of athletes who have soared beyond the confines of their African roots, it's time to shine a spotlight on a different arena of excellence - the realm of artistry. As an African visual artist hailing from Nigeria, I've grappled with the societal perceptions that often belittle the pursuit of artistic endeavors, painting them as frivolous or impractical. Yet, in this narrative lies a profound misconception that deserves to be challenged.Take, for instance, the awe-inspiring journey of Israel Adesanya, a testament to the unyielding spirit of...

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Dangote Petroleum Refinery ~ Millions of Nigerians Last Hope

The $19 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery marked a significant stride towards full-scale production with the delivery of an additional one million barrels of crude oil, bringing the total to two million barrels. This development holds the promise of not only boosting the nation's economy but also alleviating the hardships caused by the soaring cost of petrol in Nigeria.The refinery's recent purchase of one million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited underscores its commitment to kickstarting operations. This marks the initial phase...

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Nairaland Shutdown ~ Why we shouldn't burn it down

In the wake of recent events, it's hard to ignore the controversies surrounding Nairaland Forum. The temporary takedown has brought to light the need to appreciate the unique aspects that set Nairaland apart, even in the face of its imperfections.Nairaland, often criticized for its occasional descent into negative tribalism, presents a distinct advantage over platforms like Reddit. While some may find the discussions here discomforting, we must acknowledge the platform's commitment to free speech—a value that often takes precedence over political correctness.One undeniable truth about Nairaland...

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Twitter X Downtime: A Glitch, Hack, or Psychological Experiment?

In recent hours, users of Twitter X, now under the ownership of Elon Musk, have been experiencing an unexpected and perplexing issue – the platform is down, hacked, or simply malfunctioning. As users eagerly navigate to their timelines, they are met with an eerie silence as the feed fails to display the usual stream of tweets. Instead, a peculiar phenomenon unfolds: the platform automatically suggests new profiles to follow.Speculation runs rampant among users as they grapple with the mystery behind this unusual behavior. Is Twitter X the victim of a malicious hack, or is this an orchestrated...

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Artist Packaging themselves for the Art World with Limited Resources: An African Artist's Journey

In the bustling city of Bauchi (Nigeria), I find myself juggling between my passion for art and the need for a day job to sustain myself. Balancing these two worlds poses a unique challenge, especially when it comes to marketing and presenting my art.My trusty laptop, albeit fairly effective, faces a significant hurdle – no battery. On the other hand, I have an ancient laptop, so slow that I playfully renamed it 'typewriter' because it struggles even with basic internet tasks. Despite its slowness, it comes with a battery. However, the catch is, I can't work online with it.Complicating matters...

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Grok and ChatGPT Face Off ~ AI Chat that is not politically correct

Elon Musk's introduce Ai ChatElon Musk recently unveiled his latest AI chat, Grok, under his Venture XAI initiative. Grok boasts noticeably fewer restrictions compared to its competitors and is promoted as capable of answering questions with a touch of wit and a rebellious streak. The company's website humorously warns against using it if you hate humor, claiming Grok can respond to spicy questions typically rejected by other AI systems.While the announcement doesn't clarify the exact meaning of "spicy" or "rebellious" in the context of commercial AI, concerns arise about potential risks. Most...

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Simple drawing but took an hour to draw

 Here is a rough sketch I just made.It ought to be a quick drawing however, it took an hour to draw. The pen wasn't discharging ink the way I wanted, It was very uncomfortable to use.I might attempt the drawing again with a different pen of even different medium.&nb...

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Qualified for YPP after 12 Years on YouTube

YPP means; YouTube Partnership Program   I have an art YouTube Channel that would be 13 years old this month. The issue is that the channel just wouldn’t grow. This partly due to the infrastructural challenges I have as a citizen of a third world country. I can’t have clear camera and when I manage to get a meritocratic HD video shut with my phone, it is hard and expensive to upload GB video. I just can’t produce a quality visual on YouTube which is my shortcoming. I also procrastinated and wasn’t consistent.   I have another YouTube art Channel that had zero followers until I...

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Upcoming Nigerian artist should ignore trying to get into big galleries.

 For the past few years, I have come to the conclusion that it is fruitless chasing the big galleries in Nigeria (if and only if) you are an upcoming Nigerian artist without an art degree.It is better to just grind online and identify yourself as a so called "outsider artist". Ignore the big galleries because they would reject you except you have started making waves on your own. They would come to you when you don't need them anymore, and has already started making a name for yourself independently.Change is the only constant and those old "gate keeper" are getting obsolete. The traditional...

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My failing art blog – Is Blogging Dead?

 My failing art blog – Is Blogging Dead? Look at the statistics for my blog. This is discouraging. I would like to boost my traffic. Only 17 views for the whole month? The first thing that came to my mind is that; I must ride trending topics… I might use my intuition to try and figure out how I can do this. Of cause I would document what I do here. Every time I work (when I work), I would make sure I put in a years’ worth of work on that day (that means I dive in)… Right now I don't know if blogging is still a thing or it has really been over shadowed by SOCIAL MEDIA. With only 17...

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AdSense unit display ads after entering PIN

I finally got my AdSense PIN delivered to me via mail. This is after 5 months of my first request and being demonetised in the first week of February. Coincidentally, a few left-wing political channels on YouTube were kick out of the YPP (YouTube Partnership Program). Guys like Graham Elwood were hit and I am sure if he is patient and smart about it, he would get back in next month.   It was distressing and I made my second request for the PIN on February 6th 2021. I got the mail yesterday 25th. I thought it was stolen during the #EndSARS civil unrest in Nigeria back in October because...

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Challenging myself daily and trying to apply the philosophy of winning daily

There was a motivational speech I heard but never saw the speaker. I thought it was Jocko Willink but the speaker cuss a lot and I suspect it isn’t him. The speaker taught that to be a winner, you must try to win daily and if you win every-day (little by little), you would eventually just be a ‘winner’. Basically ‘incremental progress’ explained in a way I have never hear it explained before. It also remains me of Dr Aziz on YouTube who once taught about accepting challenges with a phrase of “Bring it on”. Today: I intend on making personal list of things (that if I do, I would consider that...

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Cultivating artistic discipline by sketching daily

Ballpoint pen drawing on recycled paper (daily drawing goals). I am an artist who procrastinates a lot. My first attempt at vlogging on YouTube was centred on the habit of procrastination and my struggle to overcome it. I have an overwhelming amount of “great ideas” which unfortunately, can never be fulfilled completely. At the time I published my first vlog, I thought I would make the next episode within one or at most two weeks, but that didn’t happen. 2 years later and I am yet to publish a follow up. In my quest to reinvent myself as an artist, I am convinced that sketching every day...

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ArtMajeur.com ~ Finally got an eCommerce after a decade

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE It sound unbelievable but it’s been 10 years since I last had a functional eCommerce online (where prospective buyers can just purchase my art without contacting me first). Back in 2008, after less than a year online, I found an online art gallery where I was a paid member and showed my art there for about 2 years before it closed. Since it closed around 2009 I haven’t look at that direction until today when I...

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How to copy your Google plus Story after April 2, 2019

To access your full profile information after the April 2 deadline, go to aboutme.google.com  Your information are still intact the exact way they were once displayed on Google+ so you could copy and paste vital information that might have taken you a long time to compose. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});     Accessing my Google Plus profile after the April 2nd Deadline You can also download contact, picture, contacts and many more. Just go the Google page for dowloading your Google+ data. How to copy...

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Can't post on Nairaland ~ Banned?

I tried to help someone with an answer to a question (I don’t know why I didn’t mind my business) and I got banned by the antispam bot from posting anything on Nairaland. Right now, I can NOT reply to any thread on Nairaland neither can I start a topic for the next hour. However they have kicked me out of the Art, Graphics & Video section of the forum for the next 3 days. I hail my Nigerian countrymen for stumping on me. After I did a search to find out what was going on, I learnt that I could view the reasons for the ban by going to my profile page. That was when I saw...

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