... cool Britannia ...

... it only took a few years in the UK to give me a taste for malt vinegar, prawn flavored crisps and real ale ... I got hooked on a certain once-great football team, which doesn't warrant a namecheck this season, developed a liking for articulate, matter-of-fact news reporting and prurient page three exhibitionism ...

... my movements exposed me to a cross-section of Brit-society and there was plenty time to observe my pre-cognitive ambivalence to class privilege and monarchic imperative ...

... at a certain point "God Save The Queen" became more about Sex Pistols than the divine rights of centuries-old reigning houses ... but then again, there was always "Rule Britannia" with it's strident melody and the staccato refrain "Britons never, never, never shall be slaves" to stir the heart of empire, conjure high-seas perfidy and re-inflate an entrenched colonial dynamic ...

... I'm sure Prince Harry has to sing that line aloud from time to time, it's in his job description ... only Jah knows what goes through his mind when he does, but on this, his first official tour, for grandma's diamond jubilee, he's just as likely to bus' a Bob lyric ... "ev'ryting gonna be alright" (No Woman, No Cry) ...

... the late Lady Diana Spencer's "rebelution" (to co-opt the title of an excellent 2006 Tanya Stephens CD) shifted the throne so it now faces a bit more ... outward ... her legacy survives in her sons, not least in the younger who thankfully manifests his mother's spirited humanity ... it is this third-in-line heir who just might blend a bit of Anansi into the bloodline ...

... the world will focus on the training track tete-a-tete with legend-in-the-making sprint king Usain Bolt ... snaps of these royals, bigging up brands Jamaica and Puma, flew around the world faster than a Jamaican 4x100 relay team ... his good-humored, bent-kneed, grease-hipped bruk wine didn't go un-noticed either ...
Jiggy Royal, howzat for a stage name? ...

... but wait, a whaddat pon 'im foot? ... da' crepe deh a di lick! ...

... the Daily Telegraph called 'em blue suede shoes but Harry's Russell & Bromley kicks will remind yard-savvy fashionistas of England's iconic Clark's desert boots, a perennial fave of roots steppers and dapper dans in Jamaica ... in-demand dancehall DJ Popcaan can thank "Clarks" for his big break, it surely slayed Sloane Square and may even be on Harry's iPod ...

... Jamaica, with it's history of rebelliousness, is considering rebellion again lately with the concept of republic and severing of historic ties to the British Crown ... either this prince is au fait with generational signifiers that loosen the stiffness of that Anglo-Saxon upper-lip, or s'mady in Queen Majesty's employ is briefed on the power of cultural code ... yard colors an' a cris' track suit, a gun-mout' khaki,  new Clark's and a likkle samfie stylee ...

... so yes, now there's the residual matter of that photo-op Bolt race, set up so the mischievous maybe-monarch could run away with the spoils and have memories to look back on while blazin' chalice in da Palace with Wills an' Kate ... well, that's a stretch, but my mind tells me there is redress in the offing this summer, repatriation of bragging rights, payback ... reparations of a sort ... 

... "run for cover, run for cover, rebels takin' over" -The Wailers ...

 JAMAICAN GLOSSARY 

Anansi - a tricky, African derived, folkloric, spider character

"bruk wine" - (break out into) dance

"da' crepe deh a di lick!" - those (crepe soled) shoes are very cool!

"cris' " - crisp, sharp, brand new

"gun-mout' khaki" - straight legged khaki pants

"likkle" - little

a "samfie" man - a trickster

"s'mady" - somebody

... Attack The Block, aliens and allegory ...

... ok fam, so it's jus' a movie right, 'cept it's more' than tha', innit ... it's bere laffs for one fing, and it chucks right off th' screen at u, an' pawns u by the bollocks ... not just y' biggie smalls bruv, but them bollocks in y' brain as well ... f'real gangsta! ... an' you done know seh it's not jus' di man dem pon the ends got bollocks, the girls dem too, yeh ... trus' me! ...

... Red, Gold and Grey, the colorz of a new Rainbow Country ... don't fear if you're allergic to spoilers, the call whether to continue reading is entirely up to you, but I'm more likely to be looking at a bigger picture than specific plot-points in this fun indie flick ... Attack The Block is set in the same Britain that recently ruptured close to social seams that have been straining for some time ... when they call it "Blighty" you can picture the traditional imagery, 'cept now a swathe of pop-youth-culture is inflected with reggae-isms and hip-hop ... 

... aliens and allegory, right and wrong, cops and robbers, boys and girls, weed and wisdom, not to mention guns and guts ... this movie finds a balance between modest (in focus and means) and boasty (in characters and thematic riches) ...

... trash an' ready for the Leicester Square red carpet, the young cast of this entertaining little feature presents a reflection of an emerging generation of tenancy in UK inner-cities ... young, gifted and bored ... poly-racial little-big-men slinging yard slangs and attitudinal overtones of cockney-cool and bluster ...

... the allegorical story survives precocious characters, even daring to feature a leader named Moses, humanizing the very people historian David Starkey pointed to before invoking lurking memories of Enoch Powell's 1968 "rivers of blood" speech ... his statements read like cliche formula, race equals riots, but the big picture is more instructive, beginning with the historical veracity of expansion into lands considered claimable ... occupants therein deemed inferior and taught, indeed bred, behaviors of subservience, in deference to a lust for sweet lucre ...

... zzzzzp (the sound of scrolling through intervening years) ... to a world where Bolt and Becks are boss, Mavado matters more than Mountbatten and Yellowman is still known in some dances as King ... a one-time vortex of empire we know as Jamaica continues to resonate that very energy, only now it plays out in the wider world precisely because of the complicated psychologies associated with shedding shackles of any kind ... the pushback of life's pendulum is the riddim of Creation ...

... it doesn't escape my notice that Starkey and Bob Marley were born early in the same year ... I compare how relevant their respective legacies are to the youth on the block, who, like punks generations ago, get called-out publicly by people who just don't get it ... is like dey dealin' wit' aliens, blood ...

... and still, natural as change is, there's always friction at the intersection of past and present, with lessons to be learned and adjustments to be made by all concerned, assuring social advancement, even as variables continue to require adaptation ...

... writer/director Joe Cornish sends for extra-terrestrials in Attack The Block as foils for our heroes, effective dramatic counterweight, the blackest of avenging intruders ... ironically, their deep darkness actually illuminates common-ground above the socially stratified post-colonial Queendom ...

... British expediency, Tudor through Victorian, before and after, has woven itself into social DNA far beyond the ports of Bristol or Liverpool, and back ... that the hybrid language of the street should bristle is understandable, but the true "tell" is in the tone of the reaction it elicits ... Mr. Starkey's freestyle, on-air apoplexy over "Jamaican patois" was fed by troubling imagery of wanton looting, but the selective tack and torque of his commentary betrays fear and revulsion, two cornerstones of racist reaction, so often negative in intent and impact ...

... the economical, character-driven storytelling of Attack The Block ecourages viewers to calibrate private sensitivity to larger issues via developments that find truth in the personalities of the protagonists and their personal choices ... but, lest you get the impression it's a dry celluloid lecture, and use that as reason to delay, I assure you, this rollick's a real riot ...

... oops, I mean ...  it's a lark innit, bashment yeh?! ... the movie's boom! ... believe! ...

... sound Africa's trumpet ...

... the plastic replica souvenir cost eight Canadian dollars and I had no change in pocket so my friend Stevie picked it up for me until I could pay him back ... come to think of it, I'm not sure if I ever did ... so, I may have acquired my vuvuzela for free at Vancouver's home match against St.Louis back in April ... I've been blowing the plastic horn lustily from then on and particularly since the start of the World Cup in South Africa ...

... every four years I'm one of those who tries to watch all the matches, a fantastic way to see the world without the expense of travel ... there are no Caribbean teams among the thirty-two finalists this year, but we get six African outfits and the curious representation from North Korea - in the same tourney as South Korea, at a time of heightened geo-political tensions no less, threatening the mouthwatering possibility of a battle-by-ball, if the teams actually meet during the competition ...

... as always, there are the world's beautiful women in full regalia on show, and points-of-interest at each match-up, other than the game itself, are multiple and stimulating ...

... I can (and do) wax lyrical about African soil hosting sport's greatest extravaganza for the first time ... there are the South African Reconciliation and Mandela factors, patriotisms and post-colonial retributions, the wall-of-noise vuvuzela soundtrack in the stadia, the Jabulani-Ball aerodynamics too, but in the end it's the on-field exploits that are the real story ...

... watching the Argentinians strut their embarrassment of riches has been fulfilling so far and I for one appreciate the delicious spectacle of Messi-dona and supporting cast ... despite the absence of playmaker Riquelme, the Argentine bench could be the backbone of another complete team ... with Diego Maradona's son-in-law Sergio Aguero the prince-in-waiting ...

... it's too early at this stage (less than halfway through the roundrobin stage) to make definitive pronouncements, but certain storylines are clearly taking shape, like the familiar one of English great expectations ... ahh, those heirs to that '66 curse, you know, when Bobby Moore and his merry men won on home turf, forever causing England to rate itself among the world's best despite all indicators ... I write this after watching a 0-0 draw with Algeria, the least impressive display by the Brits in a long line of disappointing major competitions ...

... English hand-wringing has amped up several degrees ... only two matches into this tournament finds the blogosphere alive with the kind of acerbic witticisms no one does better than the British ... "at the risk of hyperbole, this is possibly the worst result since 1066," quoth one ...

... the pundits are blunt, spiking commentary with adjectives like "tossers," "wankers," and "shite"... so much so that one is inclined to believe any lay-expert could make team improvements without difficulty given the patchy results of the high-profile managerial appointments that are now the norm ...

... there's probably a restructuring formula that could work in the long run but I'd like to suggest English football take a leaf from the Scrabble playbook ... sometimes it's better to cut your losses ... return your cards to the jumble and draw a new hand ... hey, if it's good enough for the Brazilians ... ...

... while African sides cling to hopes of advancing further than ever before and usual suspects try to adapt to a leveling out of standards which can result in closer contests and more frequent upsets ... the public should try to stay in touch with the evolving nuances of the world game and the fine "art" of gamesmanship ... each successive Mondiale pulls the drawstrings of global community tighter, and somehow we emerge better for it ...

... the winds sweeping across Africa this summer, out over the oceans in every direction, carry the challenging sound of the vuvuzela ... like it or not we will all surely know it ... and knowledge is power...

... after the football finale, when all is said and done, there will be one World Champion, and whole world of winners ...

... and, likely, one or two whiners.