In loving memory of Nǃxau ǂToma (short: Nǃxau, alternative spelling Gcao Tekene Coma, ca. 1943 – 1 July 2003) a San tribesman of the Namibian bush, a farmer and an actor who was made famous by his roles in the 1980 movie The Gods Must Be Crazy and its sequels, in which he played the Kalahari San (Bushman) Xixo. The Namibian called him Namibias most famous actor. N!xau spoke Juǀʼhoan, Otjiherero and Tswana fluently, as well as some Afrikaans. He did not know his own exact age, and before his appearance in the films he had little experience of typical modern living: he had only ever seen three white people before being cast and was unaware of the value of paper money, allowing (according to legend) his first earnings for The Gods Must Be Crazy to literally blow away in the wind. He earned only a few hundred dollars for his work in The Gods Must Be Crazy, but by the time of the first sequel he was educated about the purpose and value of money within the modern world and negotiated a much larger sum for the film. Regardless, he did come from a culture that did not value the material things that money could buy and consequently had never before learned money management skills; he did not have the skills to manage his income, although he used some of it to build a brick house with running water and electricity for his family. In addition to The Gods Must Be Crazy, N!xau starred in a series of sequels: The Gods Must Be Crazy II, Crazy Safari, Crazy Hong Kong and The Gods Must Be Funny in China (these last three made in China and in Cantonese, and not yet yet distribited outside China) After his film career ended, he returned to Namibia, where he farmed maize, pumpkins and beans and kept several head of cattle (but no more than 20 at a time because, according to The Independent, without the complex farming systems of the modern world, he had trouble keeping track of more). The Namibian local daily New Era stated that he simply could not count further than 20. Nǃxau converted to Christianity. In July 2000, he was baptised as a Seventh-day Adventist. On 1 July 2003, he died from multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis while he was hunting guinea fowl. According to official estimates he was about 59 years old at the time. He was buried on 12 July in a semi-traditional ceremony at Tsumkwe, next to the grave of his second wife. He has six surviving children. On 1 July 2003, he died from multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis while he was hunting guinea fowl. According to official estimates he was about 59 years old at the time.[4] He was buried on 12 July in a semi-traditional ceremony at Tsumkwe, next to the grave of his second wife.[4] He has six surviving children. Now a quick contrafactual. I am making a Kubrik or Altman film in my mind, starring Nǃxau, and inspired by The Mind In The Cave: Consciousness And The Origins Of Art, Lewis-Williams, D.J., 2002, with touches of Quest for Fire, called Quest for Vision and a script by Jean Auel, and a final film, after mastering some English, by Tim Burton based on Michael Bishops Ancient of Days, published in 1985 by Arbor House. Its the story of Adam, one of the last surviving Homo habilis (make him one of the first moderns from a West African pygmy tribe) who is discovered in contemporary Georgia. Bishop tackles issues of racial and cultural prejudice, and explores the question of what it means to be human. Locus reviewer Debbie Notkin writes This is science fiction so precise and so well-thought-out that it reads like history, although little history is so well-written, or cares so much about its characters. Bernard Goodman of Fantasy Review believes that Bishops theme of evil inherent in humanity echoes William Golding, and that the novel in some ways…parallels Goldings Lord of the Flies. Author Samuel R. Delany writes A wonder-filled novel of ideas—ideas that include questions of race, science, art, and spirituality, among many others. A final documentary spoke of how wonderful the scientific viewpoint was, yet how it was compatible with his peoples deepest spiritual wisdom. These movies are credited with adding animist to pantheist, polytheist and pagan to acceptable religious affiliations on dog tags. youtube/watch?v=V5QPL757PPU
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 22:01:59 +0000
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