The receptionist looks me up and down. I see her nose tilt up slightly. She’s taking an inventory: tattoos, asymmetrical haircut, body jewellery … she sits back, confident that her sums round off. I see the smug recession of her chins into a generous neck. She will come down from the mountain. “Can I help […]
2010
Posted inMedia
Spam — not just a scary type of ham
You won’t believe what I’ve won this week. I’ve never been so lucky. I couldn’t believe it. My Karma cow finally moo’d into the pasture outside my house bringing with it a host of winnings and good fortune. This week I have simultaneously won the American Green Card Lotto, the Coca-Cola Lotto, the UK National […]
Posted inGeneral
Tovey a victim of boardroom battle
By Siphiwe Hlongwane There seems to be a big problem brewing between technical directors and head coaches in South African football. With the new PSL season looming on the horizon, a number of coaces have lost their jobs and are seemingly being replaced by the very same technical directors who were appointed to assist them. […]
Posted inGeneral
Immensah leadership could yet see the Black Stars make history…
The biggest game of the tournament is upon us. Every World Cup has a game such this — a final outside of the final so to speak. When the two teams that are probably the best — or, at least, the most effective and on-form — meet. Brazil vs Holland in PE this afternoon. Spain […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
I’ve got two words for ineffective government…
Zuma’s performance agreements with government ministers are a toothless tiger. What’s needed to drive performance and service delivery is bite. What’s needed to drive performance is variable pay.
Posted inGeneral
Fed Express no longer the fastest train in town
What should we make of Roger Federer’s loss in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to Tomas Berdych? The facts say that the Swiss maestro has won 16 Grand Slams, participated in every Wimbledon final between 2003 and 2009, and perhaps the most important of all given the context of his loss to Berdych: he is turning 29 […]
Posted inGeneral
Ten years on, would you forgive Hansie?
I was surfing the internet and found an interesting article by Telford Vice on cricinfo.com about this year being the tenth anniversary of one of the sorriest affairs to have ever gripped South African sport, let alone cricket. On April 11, 2000, a country that had once been labelled alongside England and Australia as incorruptible […]
Posted inGeneral
Soccer and technology – another bad romance
By Dave Harris Fifa’s ambivalent stance on adopting technology is understandable, since the increasing reliance on technology has several ramifications, much of which is not easily discernible especially when we frantically seek quick fixes to the age-old question of what constitutes fair play — a multifaceted topic that’s only further complicated by technology. I’m no […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Man enough to change?
What does it actually mean to be a man? My job in the publishing industry often bumps up against this question since a lot of what we do is about creating content for men. What I find most interesting is how so much of what we create is informed by a particular idea of masculinity […]
Posted inLifestyle
0,0km/h
I am sinking into my chair, my head is floppy and my eyes are at half-mast. I have succumbed to chronic Durban-ness. I can barely tap the keyboard. I would pay someone to tap it for me, but that would mean going indoors to make a phone call or something, and I can’t be arsed. […]
Posted inGeneral
The thing with my mother-in-law (and other conspiracy theories)
There is no such thing as unbiased media, as the thing with my mother-in-law proved. Well, actually, it’s not strictly necessary to draw my mother-in-law into this debate: anyone who had the misfortune of watching Sky News after the Germany vs England match would be able to tell you just HOW hysterically biased the media […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Propagandist media houses and the misfortunes of Cope
I have known for a long time that the SABC continues to function as a well-oiled propaganda machine on taxpayer money — despite the fall of apartheid. However, it was recently confirmed that the so-called “Paper for the People”, the Sunday Times, has its fair share of misrepresenting and twisting the facts. Whether intentionally or […]