This weekend I saw DJ Spooky take one for the team. It was an ugly but necessary procedure, and the kind of thing you never — but never — see happening to an artist at an exhibition opening. Especially an American one. We have a troubled relationship with all things international, we South Africans. On […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
Reasons to love freelancing
OK, so there’s no regular pay cheque; that’s pretty hard to deny. And there are no perks, like a free phone and internet connection, and endless supplies of tea and milk. BUT (and this is a big but), there are many, many things to love about freelancing … Although I’m pretty disciplined and like to […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Is there a coloured identity?
Some media forms work better than others for different things. For instance, it is difficult to describe a song in writing because one can only appreciate its nuances when one is listening to it. In the same way, it is probably impossible to try to have a debate about something as complex as “coloured identity” […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Atonement and astonishment
I was in dire need of a leak the other day just after seeing Atonement at the Nu Metro at Canal Walk, the shopping centre near Cape Town which, in design, sits uncomfortably between Nataniël’s boeredoir and the visual riot going on in Sol Kerzner’s head at any one time. The gents’ loo at this […]
Posted inLifestyle
If you could change one thing about your religion, what would it be?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: If you could change one thing about your religion, what would it be?
Posted inLifestyle
More design genius
Just a quickie before I pop back to the Design Indaba. Here are a few stands that caught my eye yesterday … they stood out for their beauty or innovation, or just because they were downright cool. Tintown (www.tintown.co.za) is Andre Serfontein’s creation of metalworked decorative homeware. Whether “seriously sophisticated or wildly whimsical”, he’s doing […]
Posted inLifestyle
Counting riches
Eyes that once turned green with envy now turn jaundiced at the flaunting of wealth in an increasingly superficial consumer society; the way success is measured by the sports car you drive and your designer sunglasses, loft apartment and chic choice of pretentious restaurant or coolest possible bar. South African urbanites are visiting New York […]
Posted inLifestyle
Design Indaba favourites
I’ve spent the past two days wandering around the Design Indaba at the Cape Town ICC, amazed by the ingenuity of South African designers. There is some seriously interesting stuff on display. Here are a few that stood out for me: Egg Design (www.eggandmilk.co.za) makes things of beauty. Its stand is an interlocking wooden puzzle […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Sex, morality and mortality
I don’t care how famous or infamous somebody is, what they do in the privacy of their or other people’s bedrooms, or for that matter on beaches, kitchen tables or in the loos on jumbo jets, ought to have no bearing on their ability to star in a movie or run a country. But it does make for great reading.
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
e-Filing is e-driving me e-mad
You can file your tax returns on the internet! What a good idea, I thought. (I think we should be able to vote on the net as well.) But we should have been given some vital information. We should have been told: you can file your tax returns on the internet if, and only if, […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Unexpected websites (with a splash of innovation)
I was lucky enough to find an über-cool website the other day, which in turn led me on to a whole discovery path of other unexpectedly cool websites. And all South African! Isn’t the internet funny that way? It’s almost like tapping into a vein — once you find one site that fascinates you, there’s […]
Posted inLifestyle
Dancers in the dark
Last weekend the lights went out. The music stopped, and for a moment we all stood in complete silence in the dark, wondering if it would only last a moment or whether it was a cue to go home. Then the lighters came out and everyone started muttering about Eskom. People dragged themselves off the […]