I’m just sitting here cutting out business cards from this old Rice Krispies box. Last night was my first real networking experience at Cape Town’s One of Many & Only. Didn’t go too well. I pitched up at the event carrying a tent and a backpack; sweating profusely after a long walk from the waterfront’s […]
Lifestyle
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media, Tech
Dear Telkom
By Danny Glenwright Dear Telkom, You dirty old monopoly, you. You really got me. I’m actually writing to congratulate you. You were in the running for a few weeks but today I made it official. You have taken the prize for the poorest service I’ve ever received. And considering I’m a journalist who has lived, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
My greatest fear
There’s a new author that started publishing stuff in America recently. His name is spelt almost exactly like mine, but with the “u” and “i” in a different order: instead of “Koos Kombuis” he calls himself “Koos Kombius”. This is not where the similarities end. He also looks a bit like me: overweight, greying, bald. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Why only Cape Town?
I think I speak for all Capetonians when I say wtf is up with tighter restrictions on the Mother City’s drinking time?! If you haven’t heard of this I suggest you put your mid-morning margarita down and give the following a read. The new by-laws stipulate that from January the new drinking hours for pubs, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
What the report on SA violence overlooked
A new study, reported on yesterday by the M&G, looks at the nature of violent crime in South Africa. Although the report attributes our high levels of violence to a number of factors, the core problem being a “subculture of violence and criminality”, it seems to have missed what I would argue is the most […]
Posted inLifestyle
Beggars in shopping malls — facing our guilt
By Suntosh Pillay Beggars confront us every day. What do you do when a person arrives, looking pitifully desperate, begging for a handout? Perhaps we’ve developed routine methods of response: quickly search our pockets and flick a rand; shrug sympathetically; squirm uneasily in the car looking to our side compartments, or, perhaps because suffering has […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Twitter movie cuts to core of nerd psyche
Hot on the heels of the movie about how Facebook started comes 140 characters or less — the movie about how Twitter started. This is only the second successful production in the social networking genre surpassing straight-to-DVD offerings You’re in MySpace and Dude, where’s my MXit. In keeping with the title, director David Fincher used […]
Posted inLifestyle
Can women parallel park?
Cape Town has the mountain. But Joburg has parking. Ja, ja, scenic splendour and all that, but do not underestimate the significance of the fact that living in Joburg generally does not require the ability to parallel park. Sure, there are suburbs like Greenside and Parkhurst (why is there never parking in Parkhurst?) where parallel […]
Posted inLifestyle, Sport
Charlie Sheen and Herschelle Gibbs walk into a bar
One is fresh from a two-hour book signing and the other just shagged three hookers senseless. Both need a drink. Barry Hilton is behind the bar. Gives them one look and pours five tequilas. When you’re Charlie Sheen and Herschelle Gibbs you don’t fuck around. When you’re Barry Hilton watching Charlie Sheen and Herschelle Gibbs […]
Posted inLifestyle, Sport
Sharks vs Province vs God
It’s 5.29pm, Saturday, October 30 2010. Willem de Waal indicates to his forwards he’s about to kick off when 600 000 locusts descend on Kings Park Stadium. They are of the big, green variety. The locusts blow in from the north and settle on the grandstand like a blanket. There’s mild panic amidst reassurance from the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
The digital hall of mirrors
The other morning I discovered that I no longer had 590 Facebook friends. I had 589. As you can imagine, I was devastated. Who had unfriended me? And why? What dreadful thing had I done to prompt such a drastic move? My thoughts circled through a range of possible explanations. Had somebody deleted their profile? […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
To find life, experience death
This year three friends have died and one was murdered. The day after Keith died this week, a friend told me of a member of his congregation who had given up his battle at the same time as Keith, except that he had shot himself after shooting his wife, leaving their two sons. Thank God […]