Around where we live there used to be a real “China Town”. That is to say, wonderful bric-a-brac of small shops selling everything from toilet seats to services such as getting new keys cut, shoe repairs and tailors, from the Chinese version of take-away omelettes wrapped around a stick of dough for breakfast to tiny […]
2009
Posted inGeneral
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a shit… Nativity as we’ve never seen it.
It took a very special kind of mind to conjure up the idea of introducing a scatological theme into the nativity scene. Somewhere, sometime in the distant past, an anonymous Spaniard said to his mates, “I know how to brighten up our display. Let’s put the queen around the side of the stable.” Somebody else […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma versus Shaik is just not chess
Nic Dawes fabulous article in the Mail & Guardian entitled Schabir’s gambit got me thinking that perhaps many of our readers don’t understand the chess terms being referred to in the discussions regarding President Jacob Zuma and Schabir Shaik. What many of you don’t know is that just hours after paying tribute to former health […]
Posted inGeneral
The sadness Christmas can sometimes bring
I was lying on a bed in a physiotherapist’s ward in Randburg with an ankle injury and listened to an elderly female voice querying another woman: ‘So what are you doing for Easter?’ I had seen the two slowly hobbling into the ward and they were definitely old hands at being “senior citizens”. “Oh… I […]
Posted inGeneral
A cinematic treasure: Reggio’s Qatsi-trilogy
I know, I know. I’m on about film again. It’s sort of inevitable, if one happens to be sharing some of one’s film treasures on DVD with one’s friends in an intimate holiday atmosphere, and in a place as beautiful as the little village of Greyton into the bargain. Here, exploring the indescribably majestic mountains […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The trouble with Cope
My high school “piece job” entailed being an interpreter of maladies. It was my job was to find which tooth or teeth were loose, painful, rotten or all of the above at a dental surgery in Bree Street, Johannesburg. The resulting information would then be captured by yours truly on a piece of paper according […]
Posted inGeneral
Test cricket is very much alive and kicking
This year has been a tumultuous one for Test cricket. Many scribes have begun writing obituaries for the game that has formed the cornerstone of cricket competition for over a century. In relation to the ever-constant changes different sports have undergone recently, especially within the last 20 years where the iron grip of professionalism has […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Screw the Ugandan gays, Gareth Cliff, Schabir Shaik, WC2010…
…and any other issue that may get you riled up. Because it is all irrelevant if we don’t have a planet to live on. Yup, that’s right, all our problems, all our high points, all our crimes, all our achievements will be for nothing if we don’t get an agreement on climate change. The summit […]
Posted inGeneral
A how-to on considerate cinema-going
Yesterday I went to see Invictus (good, not great, bring tissues) with my usually sufferable parents but was promptly reminded of why I have not seen been to the cinema with the pair of them since the disastrous Liar Liar (circa 97) incident — which saw an embarrassed younger brother and I seeking refuge in […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
How I wish we could postpone the Soccer World Cup
It is rather late in the day but methinks the matter is important enough to warrant a last-minute mention, if you will indulge me for a page or half. This thought has hitherto existed in the form of a stone-like lump at the bottom of my gut. From time to time it rises up to […]
Posted inGeneral
It’s been a nauseating year
South Africans are an intolerant bunch of people who often look down on others and themselves. Take the stupid political rally that the welcome of hero Caster Semenya was turned into by Julius Malema earlier this year — only to find that our own Pinocchio Leornard Chuene was the fool making us all look like […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Can Cope stand the test of tough times?
A year on, a lot has been written about Cope’s fortunes. Without wanting to sound like an oracle ensconced in some seat of better wisdom, I want to argue that at the heart of the deferred dream of an alternative government is the failure of visionary, pragmatic and organised leadership within Cope. This failure is […]