#MCM Which OBFW character would Illrymz date in real life? We have the scoop!

Morning all,

I am sitting here while i watch the weather trying to decide if it wants to be really sunny or cool.

It's Monday so it's time to stalk, sorry, check in, on some of my favourite people ever. Today i want Illrymz to sit down and answer some questions.

Ill (as i like to call him) is, according to Wikipedia, " a Nigerian television host, radio personality, writer, producer, Event MC, artiste and former model. He is the Creator of the sensational daily Instagram news show #SELFIENEWS and CEO of Contagious Collective, A creative media content company that has produced hit syndicated radio shows such as: Radio Outloud with Nokia & ILL, The JUMIA WHAT AM I? Radio Show, Nunu Super Kids, and 0809ja_Radio, To name a few. Popularly known as the #GQmc, Illie's Television Credits include; The Host of Nigerian Idol, Co-Host of StarGist, Soundcity, and Nigezie. 'In 2016 he became the host of the Coke Studio Radio Hour produced out of Los Angeles USA. 'Nigerian Idol"

Na wa o!

Only him?

Ill also plays 'Charles', which by the way was his acting debut, on 'Our Best Friend's Wedding, Read my review of the show here.

TOSYN BUCKNOR: It's Monday and i know there are a lot of people that dislike Mondays. Do you?

ILLRYMZ: I Don't dislike Mondays! I don't dislike any day I make money! Lol 

TB: Lol, i feel you!

I have just watched the most recent 'selfie news' show which is honestly just laugh out loud funny. When did you think of it and where do you see it going in years to come?

ILL:  I created #SelfieNews on holiday last year, because we live in the social media age and I had to be more active on social. But I don't want to post cars and watches and money like everyone else. I want my posts to stay true to my brand. I'm an entertainer so I want people to follow me and get entertained. It's been great so far and I'm looking at #SelfieNews becoming a mobile service and fully functional website for news content. 

TB:  In 'Our Best Friend's Wedding', your character starts going through his black book to find 'the one'. First off, do YOU feel any pressure to, like him, get married and secondly, which of the exes or best friend in the series would you fall for in real life?

ILL: Lol I'm in no rush to get married in real life. I've got a lot to achieve still, but who knows... anything can happen. Hmmm what ex or best friend from the show could I fall in love with in real life? Ahh that's hard cos they are my friends in real life. Tooo awkward 😂😂

TB: (this is where i throw in a 'hian' and roll my eyes). Okay fine, let's talk advice. Who has given you the best advice ever and what did they say?

ILL: The best advice i ever got was from Jesus! Asides that, uhm my Parents... 

My mum said, " believe in yourself you are destined for greatness" and my dad said "money isn't everything".  I didn't understand this advice when I was younger, but now it's a little clearer. 

TB: What's one thing people don't know about you?

ILL: One thing about me people don't realize is that I'm a super shy guy! It's hard to believe but it's the truth. A lot of people perceive my private nature for arrogance. They can't be further from the truth. 

TB: I think i can see that. I may suffer from the same issue. Lol. Anyways Ill, thanks a lot for taking time out to chat with us!

ILL: Thanks for the interview! Let me be your MCM every week lol promise I'm going to the gym 😂

(Follow @illrymz on twitter and instagram and look out for selfie news and 'our best friend's wedding')

EVENT: asa Live in Lagos

Okay people, it's going down in just right days!

Just a few months after her concert in Lagos, asa is back! This time she will be performing at the Eko Convention Centre  on Saturday the 29th of April featuring the Vesta Violins 30 piece ensemble.


See flier for details

#Life101 Grief is a funny thing...

Grief is a funny thing. And when someone you know dies, the grief comes and goes.

The night my grandmum ('mama') passed on, I began to organise my wardrobe. I went to bed like 2am with a very organised life. Like if I stopped folding I would cry.

I couldn't write about them (my grandmums) for so long because writing would mean they were really gone.

Some days some thing happens and I think of them. Like how mama gave me snacks and grandma's hair.

Last year in December, my colleague passed and I remember I cried. But then I foolishly thought I was fine.
Then I was speaking about something yesterday and just started crying.

Because he wasn't just a colleague. Other than my immediate boss and the owner, he was my first contact at top. He actually taught me how to use the system at work. He was a superstar. 

And then he just died sha. And like that Ruby song, sun no stop to shine, rain no stop to fall, grass no stop growing...
Life sha kept going on.

So I cried, for him. And for life. Which is fleeting. And all we do, get and own? Vanity.
All is vanity.

Grief is a funny thing.

#ManCrushMonday Could Timi Dakolo ever make Fuji music?

Could he?

Would he?

Find out below

TOSYN BUCKNOR: "Hi Timi! I am excited that you are our Man Crush this week! I also like the new song, 'Medicine' a lot. I bet you listen to a lot of different genres but which genre would people be surprised you listen to?

TIMI DAKOLO: I think people might be surprised that i listen to fuji music!

(Are you surprised?)

TB: Your kids are beautiful and i love how you and Busola (his wife) spend time with them. Tell me, is raising a girl different from raising a boy?

TIMI DAKOLO: Yes i think so. I think with the male child, you have to be extra firm to teach him the responsibility that comes with being a male child.

TB: You always seem to be so happy and playful but have you ever dealt with depression?

TD: I have never been depressed; i am just a happy child!

And so he is!

His song, 'Medicine' is out now!

#MondayMotivation That conversation with Lamide Akintobi about purpose

This weekend i was blessed to spend time with my favourite ladies! I think i am so blessed to have friends who work in the same industry as i do but are not just colleagues or acquaintances but actually friends. Apart from personal stuff, we can also help one another get through professional hiccups.
So i love it.

With Lamide Akintobi and Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi... 

While kicking back and doing as we usually do- talking about everything, i randomly mentioned a tweet i had seen about two weeks ago that has left me a bit destabilised.

Someone on twitter had mentioned something along the lines of as the world gets more technologically advanced, a lot of jobs will be done by robots or will become redundant and so when human beings no longer have to work or no longer have jobs, how would we function?
I mean think about it. From birth to death, we seem to be conditioned to wake up (in the morning), go to school or work, close, have an hour of two of leisure, eat (healthy) during the day and then get home to sleep (at night).

It's like we have no choice in it. Right from primary school, it's wake up at 6 (or 5), and the routine only gets tougher and more solidified as you get older.
I mean, come on! What if you don't like getting up before 12pm (lazy they call you)
Or you don't want to eat thrice a day (unhealthy they say)
Or you like to work at night (unusual they taunt).

But think about what this twitter user has said. Think about if when you woke up, there was no need to go to school or work because a robot was doing the teaching or your job for you. Think about if you were getting paid without a traditional 9 to 5. HOW would you define yourself?

We tend to look to things like our jobs or degrees or some kind of status for purpose but is your purpose really, "to get an A1 in Maths"? Is it really, 'to be the best chiropractor in the land"? What if one day you get a B minus or no longer practise chiropractor?

And that is where my smart friend, Lamide comes in.

My friend Lamide is a pretty smart chick!

Lamide said to us, "i think your purpose is fulfilled through the things you do".
THROUGH.
The key.

Imagine the chiropractor i mentioned before. What if her purpose is 'to heal'? Her job helps fulfill her purpose, but that's not all. She can fulfill it in so many different ways.
Or maybe like i believe one of mine is, your purpose is to make people happy. I get to do that through my career (radio, this blog, television, youtube and more), but i also have to learn to fulfill it in my personal life too.
Which means whether you are a cleaner, a musician, a banker or a scientist, you should fulfill your purpose through the job itself, through your interactions with people, your social media account, whatever means you have.

Your purpose is not what you do, it is WHY you do it and things that come to you are things you can fulfill your purpose through.

#Life101 5 fun things I learnt about coffee..

As you reach for your cup of coffee this morning, i would love for you to think about the fact that it is National Coffee Week!

Yay!

Now coffee gets a lot of bad press and i myself ignored it for most of my life, preferring to go for my caffeine fix elsewhere. I have however become quite the quiet addict to it.

I stumbled on some interesting things about coffee recently so check out the Top 5ve!

5. Coffee is good for your liver! 2 or 3 cups a day are great, especially if you also like your alcohol as they appear to lower the risk of liver cirrhosis. Having said that, coffee can't sober you up sadly...

4. Coffee did Bach so much 'strong tin' that he had to write an opera about it. This opera was performed in the 1700s. O-kay

3. So our forefathers had this genius idea of mixing coffee beans with animal fat. Why? It gave them energy!

2. Personality tests claim people who drink cappuccinos are perfectionists (i drink cappucino) and people who drink their coffee black are quiet and moody... Identify 'yaselves!'

1. Women in Turkey in the 1500s could divorce their husbands based on one simple but crucial mistake- he did not provide enough coffee.

#TVBuzz 'Our Best Friend's Wedding is feel good tv... and i love it!

Last night i could not sleep so instead of watching television like i normally do, i decided to follow the link to 'Our Best Friend's Wedding' which airs on Red Tv online.

A guy, Charles, fears that his mother has cancer and because all she wants from him is a grandchild, he decides he needs to get married. He then calls on his two female best friends (played by Oreka Godis and Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi) to help him find the one.

I went for the premiere of the new series and watched the first two episodes but i stopped watching. Not because it was a bad series, but because i wanted to binge watch it instead. That wait a week thing would not have been great for my heart jare.

Giving dem 'smizing' at the premiere!

At the premiere with Toyosi Phillips and Koye

So i finally got to watch the full season and i really like the show. Caveat- most of the people involved with this series are my friends. Gbemi? Friend. Oreka? Friend. Illrymz? Friend. Tula? Friend. Lydia? Friend. B... You see where i am going with this right?

See, when you watch or listen to something your family or friends have done (like my cousin's cover of 'O Holy Night' and this one), you are very afraid. What. If. It. Sucks. And. I. Absolutely. Hate. It. But. I. Cannot. Tell. Them. Because. That. Would. Ruin. Our...

I would go on but typing like that gets tedious.

Boy am i glad it did not suck!

Phew! Relief!

So let's try this from the good, and could be better because there was no bad nor ugly.

The 'Could Be Betters'? The acting by one or two of the supporting cast. 

Then, I saw some people in the comments mention that it was predictable. Truth is, once you have girls and guys together, someone is going to, as we say, 'catch feelings'; whether those feelings were always there or developed over time so of course we knew that! Right?

So now, the writers just have to try really really hard to take a detour we could never have guessed. 

And the good?

See they had me at car running over Illrymz in Episode 1. Lol.

I also live for Oreka's style! Like! I am about to watch that show again just to note everything she wore and wear it too.

I loved Gbemi's scenes because that's Gbemi. See when she was holding Oreka's phone and Oreka was trying to jump to get it from her? GBEMI DOES THAT TO ME!!! That's how she teases, that is how she talks. Some roles you are born to play.

And of course, there is the music. 

They just went ahead and got all the great songs by Nigerian artistes that are not necessarily popular but fit the scenes and mood perfectly. Something 'Before 30' did as well by the way.

I really like this show and i think it has so much potential that i really really pray it gets picked up for a second season. Plus, i am with the people asking for it to be turned into a movie. 

Wait.

Remember when i said there was no bad. No o. There were two bad things. Very bad. Infact, terrible!

1. I AM NOT ON THE SHOW

2. SEE NUMBER 1

3. MY MUSIC IS NOT ON THE SHOW

4. SEE NUMBER 1 AND 3.

Fix it people! Fix it!

#StyleTo Life is a beach... Style It!

Heyyyy!

How is it going with you this lovely Wednesday afternoon?

I am just here, chilling with Wendy Williams and eating a doughnut.

Or five.

(Word i'm going to get fat!)

Lol.

So today i wanted to look at beach style.

I don't mind going to the beach. Infact, i think it is one of the best ways of healing your mind, catching up with friends and a book and just being serene.

And i am all about my serenity! Yes please!

Head on over to @SHOPTOSYN or my instagram page to get details

I think the beach is one of the easiest things to style for. Unless you are off for a video or photoshoot, fun fun and sand are key words and what's best for that?

My favourite thing to rock... SHORTS!

So grab your shorts or short skirt and remember to work with cotton and other light fabric because sand WILL get everywhere and wear you out!

Now they say black people don't swim but for the longest time i have known my friends and family to love the beach and safe waves. Emphasis on safe. No i will not be randomly surfing (even if it is on my bucket list), but i will stand by the water and let it come all the way to my ankles if i please.

And i usually please!

That is where the shorts come in. If you do plan to swim, whether in the sea or the pool (most beach houses have pools as well), throw on a bikini or suit under your clothes.

I tend to pair my shorts with teeshirts but chiffon dresses like the type in my pictures here are also a great addition. They cover up all that needs covering but still give room for movement. 

Shoes to wear give me a headache as most of my shoes are either flats that will 'eat' sand, or some not-water-friendly fabric. Luckily, my friend Preye gave me these sandals in my picture and i love them! Easy to walk in and safe for the beach.

To finish, throw on your best beach hat and protect your eyes with fabulous shades.

Simple

Chic

Good to go!

P.S, if you can get a handsome instagram husband to go with, even better!

I love this man! Lol

Mission: Take a million pictures before frolicking in the sand and messing things up!

SkincareSaturday: Get ready with me (My morning routine)

Hello,

Watch this video to see me take you through my morning skincare routine.
Remember, i had spoken earlier about why and how to get your skincare popping and you can check that out here.

In this video, i take you through my morning skincare routine, explaining the difference between when i have time (like weekends) and when i don't have time, and my stages.

It was fun doing this live via facebook, instagram, and snapchat stories... so do follow me to see more of my behind the scenes stuff.