I’m sorry. This is not about the fractious Malema, Zuma’s ever-growing brood or Eugene Terre’Blanche’s horse. My bone picking is of a different nature, and not as busy as JZ’s. My face-off is at odds with issues of corruption, feminism and accounting. My general apathy towards things that don’t have a direct influence on my […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
Dear white liberalist person,
I get it. I totally understand. The whole “white in a post-colonial, post-apartheid South Africa” thing. The terribleness of carrying the burden of your racist ancestors, for no other reason than being the wrong colour in the wrong place. The irony of having to prove your non-racist views at every turn thanks to things that […]
Posted inLifestyle
Gender-bending and other titbits on holiday in China
In the railway station Marion goes off for a smoke and I cover her seat with her jacket and mine to book her spot. A Chinese woman promptly comes over and sits on the jackets, clearly relieved to find a seat. “Zheli you ren, xiaojie“. This seat is taken, ma’am, I say. She stares at […]
Posted inLifestyle
To the cat-basket born
Let me tell you of two cats that I have come to know quite well over the last year or so. Doctor Poo and Mister Hanky of Oud Zuid, Amsterdam. Doctor Poo is an academic. A feline entomologist. Softly spoken and reserved, he shies from the public eye and spends most days working on his […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Simply Slim, sibutramine and synephrine
With tens of thousands of unregistered complementary medicines on the market, it’s interesting and surprising that the Medicines Control Council (MCC) recently ordered one product, Simply Slim, to suspend all sales and marketing until the MCC had had an opportunity to assess the product in terms of its safety, quality and efficacy. The decision was […]
Posted inLifestyle
Avatar’s message is clear…stop the destruction
By Roger Diamond A few nights ago I went out with a friend to the Labia Theatre, the only independent cinema in Cape Town, where we typically watch depressing environmental documentaries, the seats filled with liberal, erudite and pensive types. A few nights ago, however, my friend Rob suggested we see Avatar, which I keenly […]
Posted inLifestyle
I blame your mother
Why do women in Johannesburg have to be so lazy?! To say that I am a traditionalist would be a wild inaccuracy. Yes, I am a proud Zulu man. Yes, I do actually count Zulu royalty among my ancestors. Yes, I believe there should be a clear head of the household and it should wear […]
Posted inLifestyle
Hollywood’s golden pick…noticed the xenophobia yet?
By Suntosh Pillay James Cameron was named 2009’s best director for his movie Avatar at the recent Golden Globe Awards. The other nominations that had already opened on local screens were Inglourious Basterds and Invictus. Though each of these movies had a distinct cinematic style and belonged to different genres, a common, important thread ran […]
Posted inLifestyle
What will it take to save the world?
By Roger Diamond Well, let’s just first check that the world needs saving: is this a valid question and one that we should be asking? Let’s each do this ourselves and not just take my word for it. Take a look around you. To do this, you may have to open your eyes wider than […]
Posted inLifestyle
Remembrance of cringes past
All of us have had experiences in our lifetimes that we would very much prefer never to have happened. Who has never wished it was possible to go back in time and, as it were, push the delete button, erasing certain unwanted episodes as if they had never been? Here, I am thinking specifically of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Is Afrikaans cooler as Engels?
If you grew up in Durban you had little time for Afrikaans. We thought it was dumb, intellectually inferior. A blunt language with no creative value. Too limited in its diction to produce anything of worth. It was what the Vaalies spoke when they invaded our beaches. It was the language the SAUK dubbed TV […]
Posted inLifestyle
‘Don’t worry, my friend owns a shop’
Generally, this would sound like a good thing if you’re a cheapskate or skint, but when an event organiser tells you this — after you’ve set up all your gear at a venue — it’s a bit disturbing. Now, we all like a bit of professionalism when we do our jobs. That’s why contracts and […]