Warner Brothers studio executives were camped out at The Mount Nelson in Cape Town this summer. They sipped Castle Lager from frosted glasses and name-dropped to the pretty girls at the bar. “Clint, Morgan, Matt? Great guys. Solid. Sure, I could arrange for you to meet Matt Damon, he’s in the room next to mine.” […]
2009
Posted inNews/Politics
Is Cope imploding?
Caiphus Kgosana in an article which may be found on IOL suggests that the Congress of the People party may be in danger of travelling the same path to relative political obscurity as that of the UDM and the ID. The prognosis is based upon a document, a copy of which is in the newspaper’s […]
Posted inGeneral
What technology do you have?
See here, get it right. We don’t need your charity. We don’t need your business and custom. In fact we don’t even need your tourism. What we need is for you, your people and their businesses to stop destroying our lives, our communities and our environment; to stop ripping us off on the sale of […]
Posted inGeneral
Dale Williams under the mistletoe … smiling expectantly?
Anton smiled bitterly, shaking his head, cleaning his pub counter. “Ja, me and my boet, we bought the land out near Kommetjie, got builders and sub-contractors in to build a sweet house for the family. Most of the construction was finished … ” sighs, ” … and one day my boet went to have a […]
Posted inGeneral
To be young, free and without a care in SA
It would seem the historical significance of June 16 is fast fading away. I am not too sure if the dawn of freedom and democracy in 1994 contributed to the prevalent negative meaning of the day that supposedly changed the course of history. I guess we all know that the attainment of freedom can make […]
Posted inGeneral
Challenged by Nokia
So … The new Nokia still pulses its white light, but it works! I have just sweated and peddled my way through a spinning class, yelling instructions and desperately aware that I cannot cheat as my heart rate monitor is measuring my every beat. I looked dead impressive with my phone strapped to my arm […]
Posted inMedia
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist … but it helps
I wish I had an astronomy telescope powerful enough to spot a minor planet barely visible near Jupiter. It’s called Siyaxuza and is named after a young rocket scientist from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. ‘Stroesnyannies! This bombshell is contained in the revered Clem Sunter’s column “The X Factor” on News24’s website. Despite the fact […]
Posted inGeneral
China, a country of contradictions
Having supervised a number of Chinese media students’ work at master’s level, most of which involved a reflection of some kind on certain aspects of their own culture — for example the effect of globalisation on the attitude of young Chinese people to traditional Chinese values — I was glad to be able to visit […]
Posted inGeneral
Of chequebook politicking
I remember the first time a colleague suggested throwing money at a problem. The same colleague then went on to suggest that if those in the opposing caucus did not tow our line, then they must be made to remember who wielded the chequebook. I rejected both of these suggestions at the time, as the […]
Posted inGeneral
Your life is awash with oil
By Roger Diamond Oil is filthy old stuff that causes nothing but pollution all the way through our use of it, but why, oh why do we keep going back for more. Pretty simply, we’re addicted. Whether it is good for us or not, and in the long term it undoubtedly is not, we are […]
Posted inBusiness
Billions lost in SA’s largest ‘Ponzi’ scheme?
Many South African and overseas investors will soon be realising what many of them have probably been dreading for a while now, namely that the Frankel Investment Scheme, into which billions were poured, is nothing more or less than a vehicle designed to defraud them. Whether this turns out to be a classic “Ponzi”, along […]
Posted inGeneral
2010: Now for the final countdown
Five years have passed since that extraordinary moment in Zurich when Fifa President Sepp Blatter declared that South Africa had earned the rights to host the biggest party on the planet. And with exactly one year remaining before the kick-off of the quadrennial showpiece of international soccer, South Africa can rightfully stake its claim as […]