The Royal Museum of Fine Art in Antwerp, Belgium, has recently presented a masterpiece of the painter Peter Paul Rubens that was hidden under layers of dirt and coloured varnish but now is a piece of pride of the museum. It is Rubens’s prized painting The Prodigal Son, painted in 1618. It’s a modest-sized work […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Fresh design blogs
I’m always intensely jealous of people who can blog with pictures. Words come easily to me, but although I love beautiful images, they don’t flow naturally from my fingertips. Here are a few of my favourite (really lovely) design blogs of the moment: Notes by Naive (http://thisisnaive.com/) Beautiful photography of simple things, as well as […]
Posted inLifestyle
Shamefully homebound, the neighbours are having a field day
What is it about us black people that makes us enjoy each other’s failures so much? Maybe it is the human condition, but in my experience, which is limited to the predominantly black community (except for my Indian neighbour) in which I grew up, it seems that black people enjoy each other’s failures way more […]
Posted inLifestyle
The definition of fun
You think fun is only to be had by kids on merry-go-rounds, teenagers in dark, sweaty clubs and millionaires cruising the Caribbean in extremely long yachts? Think again! In the interests of scientific research (that just so happens to have no science attached) I spent the weekend uncovering the essential ingredients to fun. There are […]
Posted inLifestyle
‘Ubuntu’, the inherent goodness of blacks and (d)evil whites
If you grew up in dominantly black circumstances, like me, populated by oppressed Africans, especially in the townships or rural areas, then no doubt you will have heard many mythological stories about the inherent goodness and morality of blacks called “ubuntu”. Perhaps we should make one thing clear about MY definition or understanding of the […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Going, going, gone — a whole generation lost
The recent South African Human Rights Commission report on school-based violence should have us all worried. It shows that some Western Cape schools pose higher safety and security risks than the townships themselves. The public hearing also noted (with extreme concern) the upsurge in violence on educators by learners. I know someone is going to […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Teetering on the brink of collapse: Why Africa must prioritise food security
I do hope that in two decades’ time we will look back at scientist James Lovelock’s prediction that “it’s going to be 20 years before [climate change] hits the fan” as merely another example of bogus prophecy. Right now, we’d be fools to ignore it. For whether it’s talk of global recession, peak oil, runaway […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media, Tech
How to make millions online (part one)
You know you are behind in your financial achievements when Entrepreneur magazine starts running articles on how to make your first billion. Or when you see a property exhibition for apartments in Brooklyn, Pretoria, that cost up to R24-million. Each. Or when you read that there are more than 5 000 South Africans who became new […]
Posted inLifestyle
Do you want a pair of rose-tinted glasses?
I’m considering starting a business and selling them. While I’m often told I wear rose-tinted glasses (in a somewhat scornful manner, usually), it never bothers me. Why? Because I’m doing it on purpose. Here, then, a few of my favourite things about seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses: The world looks better than if you’re […]
Posted inLifestyle
Consequences indeed
Submitted by Gina de Villiers Last week, the mixed-race Margaret B Jones, who was raised in poverty and suffered an abusive childhood while running drugs for local gangs to survive, confessed to being white, to attending a private school and to enjoying a privileged upbringing in a suburb far from her fictitious home. As a […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Catholics modernise their mumbo-jumbo
In an honest and open effort to increase dwindling numbers in the confessional, the Vatican has released a new set of modern sins titled “The Seven Mortal Sins” to roundly complement and update the “Seven Deadly Sins” of old. The new list consists of the following: Environmental pollution Genetic manipulation Accumulating excessive wealth Inflicting poverty […]
Posted inLifestyle
My un-favourite things
Most of the time I write about things I really, really like. Today feels like an opposite day. So here are a few of my un-favourite things: (Before anyone takes offence, these are a few of my un-favourites. Not speaking for all of South Africa here). People who read blogs only to pick out the […]