SOYINKA and the Quest for the Ori Olokun

 SOYINKA and the Quest for the Ori Olokun

The first African Nobel Laureate in Literature Prof. Wole Soyinka is 80 years old today, born on July 13, 1934. And the enigmatic and phenomenal genius is famous for his dare devil exploits including the one that landed him in jail. 

In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections. In 1967 during the Nigerian Civil War, he was arrested by the federal government of General Yakubu Gowon and put in solitary confinement for two years after he secretly and unofficially met with the military governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in the Southeastern town of Enugu (August 1967), to try to avert civil war. Go and read his "The Man Died" for his prison notes.

In 1978, Wole Soyinka was made aware of the existence of a bronze head in a private collection in Brazil – similar to the disputed one discovered by the famous German archaeologist Leo Frobenius (29 June 1873 – 9 August 1938) in 1910, which now stood in the Ife Museum, but of far greater quality. In his memoir "You Must Set Forth at Dawn" (2007), Soyinka recalls how, in a spirit of cultural duty, and with the knowledge of the Nigerian authorities, he mounted a kind of guerrilla raid with a group of friends, stealing the object from the apartment in question in near-farcical circumstances, and removing it to the Senegalese capital Dakar, where experts proclaimed it genuine. Suspicious, however, of the lightness of the object, Soyinka examined it further to find the letters “BM” stamped on the back: it was a British Museum replica, once sold in the museum’s shop. Soyinka then declared the British Museum’s head to be the real 'Ori Olokun", even though it was excavated 18 years after Frobenius’s original discovery.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, aka Orikinla Osinachi, prize winning Nigerian writer since age 13, author of Children of Heaven, Sleepless Night, Scarlet Tears of London, Bye, Bye Mugabe (now being revised with the new title of Bye, Bye Zimbabwe and other books.

"Mr. Pink" A Hot Film For Global Universal

May 19, 2011 11:42 ET


"Mr. Pink" A Hot Film For Global Universal

LOS ANGELES, May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB/BB: GBHL) announced today that its US Production subsidiary, Global Universal Entertainment, Inc. has optioned the motion picture and television rights to the recently published book, "Mr. Pink".

"Mr. Pink is one hot property,"stated Daniel Sherkow, COO of Global Universal Entertainment. "Mr. Pink" is the true story of four well off college students who pulled off one of the largest heists in the art world. The valuable art books are worth over twelve million dollars!"

Former Paramount Executive Sherkow continued, "The 'Mr. Pink' project is an exciting and compelling true story, which is featured on Google under The Transy Book Heist , and more info is at: http://www.whoismrpink.com/. It is timely, teen driven, yet bears a strong moral lesson."

Veteran writer and film producer Jackie Giroux has adapted the screenplay from Blake Allen and Allen Brothers Publishing. Giroux will produce the picture, along with Blake Allen, Sydney Allen, and Mike Markwell, as Executive Producers. "I read the book in one sitting," exclaimed Giroux. "It is very similar to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. If these four very different personalities had not met in college, the ingenious heist idea would have never come to fruition. They fed upon each other's talents. This will be the fascination for a great Hollywood cast, and a hit film!"

Global Universal expects to shoot a portion of the picture in Kentucky and has begun evaluating locations within that State. In addition, Global Universal is also in conversations with distributors as it explores various distribution options.

Gary Rasmussen, CEO of Global Universal, stated that "the 'Mr. Pink' project has the potential to add significant value to the company due to its potential 'box office appeal' and our ability to produce the picture at a comparatively reasonable cost." Mr. Rasmussen continued, "As an additional revenue stream, Global Universal will share in the proceeds of the book in addition to its participation in the motion picture".

About Global Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (OTC: GBHL) is a publicly-held entertainment company. The Company's goal is to build a worldwide entertainment organization with a multitude of domestic and foreign production affiliates. GBHL, operating through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Global Universal Film Group, Inc., Global Universal Entertainment, Inc., and its partially-owned Canadian subsidiary Global Universal Pictures, is in the process of developing and producing a slate of motion pictures in Canada and the U.S., employing recognizable-named talent, for worldwide release. GBHL is focused on the financing and marketing of these feature-length films. GBHL, through another wholly owned subsidiary, You've Got The Part, Inc. (www.youvegotthepart.com), will attempt to capitalize on the current popularity of Hollywood and reality based programming by casting small roles online that anyone with a digital camera can apply for.

Safe Harbor: Pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21B of the Exchange Act of 1934, any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, goals and assumptions of future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward looking statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Forward-looking statements in this release may be identified through the use of words such as "expects," "will," "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," or statements indicating certain actions such as "may," "could," or "might" occur. Such statements reflect the current views of GBHL and its affiliated companies with respect to future events and are subject to certain assumptions, including those described in this release. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance and commercial appeal of its feature-length films, its film production services, competitive market conditions in the motion picture industry (both in the US and foreign markets), successful sale of the rights to film content produced, the ability to secure additional sources of financing, the ability to reduce operating expenses and other factors. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. Neither Global Entertainment Holdings, nor its affiliated or subsidiary entities undertakes any responsibility to update the "forward-looking" statements contained in this news release.

For more information, please visit us at: WWW.GLOBAL-GBHL.COM , or contact the Company by email at: contact@globaluniversal.com or 818-527-5251.

SOURCE Global Entertainment Holdings, Inc.


Web Site: http://www.whoismrpink.com