(Continued from here) What I know is this: on January 12 2015 my friend the Diplomat left his iPhone unattended for five minutes, someone nicked the phone and a week later the “new owner” replaced the phone’s cloud data with his own phone book. Whoever is now in the possession of the phone has a […]
Lifestyle
Posted inEnvironment, Lifestyle, News/Politics, Tech
Mum and the stolen iPhone
Over the weekend I met up with my friend the Diplomat and he presented me with an opportunity that I could not resist. We had not chatted since December when he spent his holidays in Cape Town and it was time to catch up. Although his time in the Mother city delivered on all the […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, General, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
In 76 countries, love is still a crime
Where are the gay couples in Valentine’s Day advertising? February 14 is another reminder that even the most intimate aspects of our lives continue to be controlled by enduring social, religious and political forces that are reticent to fully embrace sexual and gender diversity. While most criticism is against the commercialisation of love this time […]
Posted inGeneral, Health, Lifestyle
How to survive dinner party small talk
If you or anyone close to you has ever made the big move of relocating between the Cape and Gauteng you are probably aware of the stereotypes around their divergent social cultures. Residents of the northern twin cities, after moving south, often describe the social scene in their new home town as clique, and the […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, Media
The dream of Jormungand – Japanese anime and wish-fulfilment
The more I see of Japanese anime, the more I am impressed by, and the better I understand the way that many of these popular movies address serious issues. A while ago I wrote on the anime series Psycho-Pass and its pertinence for the question of societal control, and I have just finished watching another […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Lifestyle
Harfield Village: The bold and the befok
I moved to Harfield Village in April last year. For a little village that basically lies between two roads (Imam Haron and Kenilworth Road) this place has a lot of issues. During the time I’ve lived here I’ve witnessed two domestic violence assaults in the street while others walked by. The first, described here, was […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
An open letter to 2014
Dear 2014, I know a lot of people can’t wait to the see the back of you. They say they hated you, you were horrible and they’d rather forget you. Quite frankly, they say (and they don’t even bother to whisper) you were crap. So I wanted you to know that not everyone feels that […]
Posted inLifestyle
The December great trek
By Janet Lopes As the December holiday approaches every year South Africans across the country begin to prepare for the new great trek. The pack-up and leave-home drive is almost primeval in its urgency — a ritual of pilgrimage embedded in our subconscious since we were children. In South Africa, the first and probably the […]
Posted inEnvironment, Lifestyle
Economy of luxury: We’re like rabbits caught in the headlights
Many readers will be familiar with Watership Down, Richard Adams’ wonderful, albeit sometimes terrifying, allegorical tale of a band of rabbits fleeing from a doomed warren (at the instigation of Fiver, a clairvoyant rabbit, who “saw” the imminent destruction of the warren by humans to make way for a building construction development). In the novel […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Let’s enjoy freedom from electricity
By Kyle Allan In light (apologies for the ironic use of the word in this context) of the current Eskom shortage, and due to the great impact this is having on our national trauma levels, I have humbly submitted the following succinct guide to surviving, making it through, and even thriving under the current load […]
Posted inLifestyle
When a boy becomes a man
I am proud to have met and known a youth who has consciously chosen to become a man, a son who, in his own right, has become a father and a head of a family. I feel that becoming a man, a father, a husband and a head of the family at the age of […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Ray-Ban, Sea Point, you didn’t make nice, man
By Charlotte Johnson I work in public art. I take public art personally. I also believe in its relevance and importance in shaping our cities. And so, I cannot muffle the offence that Perceived Freedom has caused me. And many others, for a number of different reasons. Firstly, public art costs money. A fair amount […]