I have to confess that the highlight for me of Saturday’s World Cup game was the steak. We braaied, of course, and it being a special occasion, I got in some prime rump from the nearby Famous Butcher’s Grill. It is not cheap, but with a teriyaki marinade tends to evoke the sort of eyeball-rolling […]
2007
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Oy! It’s OIA time again
The Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (OIA) is, this year, in fact two festivals, or is happening in two halves. This is partly a result of the shift from Ster-Kinekor’s Cinema Nouveau to Nu Metro, and to do with conflicts of time with other festivals. The first part took place earlier this […]
Posted inSport
Time to call it quits, Jake
I thought I was going to let my fellow bloggers run with the ball on this great rugby debate, but I just have to claim my pound of flesh. So, here goes! I think Jake White should do more than pee on the ashtrays on the desks of his bosses (as fellow blogger Chris Moerdyk […]
Posted inMedia
Mashabane coverage prompts culture clash
Weekend coverage critiqued ANC political factions for expressing their conflict over the grave of former diplomat Norman Mashabane. Interestingly, there were also clashes over coverage of the man’s death, raised at last Friday’s conference that was convened by the SABC and the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef). I myself grew up in a detribalised […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Media dignitaries debating dignity
Racial dignity was a hot theme during the 2001 Human Rights Commission inquiry into media racism, and it emerged again at the SABC-South African National Editors’ Forum conference last week. Responding to my speech there, SABC CEO Dali Mpofu raised racial dignity as part of his opposition to the Sunday Times’s stories on Health Minister […]
Posted inLifestyle
My very own private ‘lang-arm’ adventure
I have a morbid fear of “lang-arming”, that traditional Afrikaans dancing synonymous with certain folk music. For the life of me, I’ve never been able to figure out the moves. The town that I live in has a lang-arm club as its biggest night-time attraction. The venue, next to an Epol factory in the industrial […]
Posted inSport
Bread and circuses
Lo, Sunday morning dawned and strangely enough the world was unchanged! The fact that some beefy boys with cauliflower ears and bloodied eyes had spent 80 minutes throwing themselves on top of each other and shoving their heads up each other’s bums to win a shiny beaker the previous evening seems — oddly enough — […]
Posted inSport
Dear Jake: Go pee on your bosses’ desks
We could feel the politics even at the final. For example, when the team hoisted President Mbeki onto their shoulders, I swear I could hear Jacob Zuma yelling “drop, drop, drop !”
Posted inLifestyle
Update: The Sumo, all cut up!
I published a blog called “The Sumo, all cut up!” two weeks ago where I took you through the horrible ordeal I experienced called a tonsillectomy, or “the worst pain I’ve ever felt”, as I fondly referred to it. On that piece I went through my emotional states before and after the ordeal: the physical […]
Posted inGeneral
We’re all in this together … not
I’m tired of hearing how I need to play a role in fighting crime. In the wake of Lucky Dube’s shooting last week, President Mbeki said we should “act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime”. The Ministry of Arts and Culture said in a statement that “crime is a South […]
Posted inSport
Springboks the class of 1995 and 2007
One of the greatest moments of my life was watching a packed Newlands rugby stadium, comprising almost entirely white fans, thundering “Nelson, Nelson, Nelson” as Madiba made his way to commence his opening address for the 1995 World Cup. Madiba magic was born, and how the rainbow nation responded to it. Yet rugby was and […]
Posted inGeneral
A vision of today’s students
Here is proof that most education systems are not adequately keeping up or preparing students to deal with tomorrow today. That’s almost OK, because students are eventually going to adapt their experience and their educational choice accordingly, so something will have to give. But in the meantime, today’s students are in a major transition stage, […]