Intelligence = Assembling flat pack furniture

Nothing quite tests your IQ like deciphering the instructions that come with flat pack furniture and successfully assembling the item. This is even more apparent when the items come from the Swedish giant, Ikea. It generally includes illustrations of funny looking but fearless cartoon men and series of pictures which all look identical but apparently tell you what to do and what not to do.
The whole Ikea experience is one that you approach with some trepidation to be fair; starting with the decision to enter the gigantic warehouse-style stores especially as it is a given that you will end up with a trolley full of relatively inexpensive things you had no idea you needed when you entered the store over two hours earlier. There is also the anxiety that comes with looking for the items you want in their flat pack form after seeing them nicely assembled on display and ensuring that you have each component needed. This is followed by the fear of pulling a muscle or breaking some part of your not so supple body as you struggle to place the heavy boxes on your cart and wheel them to the cash till.
Like me, you may also fall into the category of the 'brave and stupid' who decide to transform their ordinary car into a delivery van in order to avoid the £25 or £35 delivery charge. Under any other circumstance, the thought of logging an item that obstructs your rear view in your car or causes you to break into so much sweat as you try to secure it in the car, would not even cross your mind. Yet this seems like a relatively effortless exercise after the obstruction course you've already been through in the store.
The experience culminates in the assembly which is to be approached after either some Dutch courage or some form of mental preparation where you convince yourself that yes you can turn these 96 planks of wood and 173 screws and bolts into a bunk bed. I realise that men may scoff at this advice but I believe in reading and re-reading the instructions, checking all the components are there before approaching the exercise in small easily digestible actions, taking the items you need for each section and completing that section before approaching the remaining bits.

I may have underestimated what a challenge I was facing but 4 hours, and some mastery of using the allen key later, I achieved my goal.....a beautiful bunk bed that I would have been quite happy to enter into a competition as proof of my intelligence. It was a tough job but I think I proved my worth and was left feeling if I could achieve this, there was little else I couldn't do. Bring on the advanced Sudoku and the Times crossword puzzle.

For colored girls

First of all let me say this film is not going to be everyone's cup of tea...in fact it may only appeal to a select few who are happy to look beyond excruciatingly painful experiences to see the beauty and strength of the central characters. It may also help to read a synopsis of the play because if it’s a 'feel good' movie experience you're looking for....this ain't it. What it is is a reflection of the worst of our realities and an insight into how a group of nine women cope when faced with adversity.

It's tempting to dismiss this film as another 'Precious'....a depressing film that portrays a very grim African-American reality, where the men are rapists, cheats, liars, misogynists, where there is little evidence of hope. This would be an obvious message to take away, given that of the five male characters; only one of them was positive and likeable. The film though is not about the men; none of their characters are developed enough for us to really understand or want to empathise with them. Instead it is a film, as the play was, about the women, the colored girls who represent colours of the rainbow in Ntozake Shange's 1975 experimental play. It is about their weaknesses and passions, the mistakes they make in their lives, the emotional scars that they carry. The men are simply a backdrop, needed only to elucidate the women's stories.

The performances by Loretta Devine, Janet Jackson, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad were extremely powerful; newcomer Tessa Thomson held her own and delivered her poems compellingly. Kimberly Elise is an incredible actress; you get the sense that she has lived a life full of so many trials that when called upon to convey the emotions of a deeply troubled character, she delivers with absolute precision.

Tyler Perry did absolute justice to Shange's play; the poems are delivered beautifully by some very talented actresses who clearly thrived from this challenging yet brilliantly executed project. The film brings the play to life and provides storylines and character development which Perry clearly understood would be useful especially for those who may find the poetry difficult to grasp. I expected over-acting, farce, a lack of realism as the critics had suggested but instead I got beauty, depth, poetry, love, laughter, pain, sorrow and I think above all strength.
If it's a feel good movie that requires little thought you want then try 'Meet the Parents 3'; if however you want to be challenged, driven to extreme feelings of anger and frustration, even despair but then brought back to a point of hope and admiration then this is where you need to be.
For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf : a choreopoem