I first met Deon du Plessis at the Sunday Tribune offices in Field Street during the early 1980s where he was deputy editor. He was a giant of a man – I stand close to 6 feet tall, but he towered over me and was almost twice as broad as I am. By the time […]
Media
Posted inMedia
What is the fascination with Riaan Cruywagen?
As I type, Riaan Cruywagen is one of the top ten trending topics on Twitter in South Africa. He’s climbing fast, and will probably soon overtake Gareth Cliff, #BlackParentsQuotes and #SteveBiko (Twitterville isn’t completely shallow you know). It’s all because he stars in this ad for this weekend’s Loerie Awards*, conceptualised by Loeries CEO Andrew […]
Posted inMedia
‘Good’ girls, sex and Gareth Cliff
The Independent Online reported today that Gareth Cliff has been reported to the BCCSA for sexist comments while interviewing Angela Larkan, a young female philanthropist. To begin the interview, Cliff praised her for starting her work at 22, saying it was unusual because most 22-year-olds “do nothing but lie on their backs with their legs […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Darren: A new word for our dictionaries
Darr-en Transitive verb 1 To use racial epithets to refer to a member of another racial group. 2 To racially abuse another individual. 3 To explain the repeated use of verboten racist epithets on the grounds of anger, stress and/or drunkenness. 4 (Possible future use) To beg forgiveness for the use of racist language. Noun […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Nonhle and the Saab
So Nonhle Thema drives a Saab. We know this because she tweeted about it today, twice. To whit: “My SAAB was custom made for me.No one else has it General Motors did this for me a gift ” and “And my car was half a mill…thank u General Motors”. 75 627 people follow Nonhle, ready to […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
How much do CVs still matter?
When was the last time somebody asked you for your CV? I’m not talking about the notion of a CV in the broader sense, the what-I-did-when — that will always be relevant when you need to send off a profile to, say, the conference organizer who wants you as a speaker. What I mean is […]
Posted inMedia
Why does everyone hate Crocs?
Over the weekend, I did something completely out of character. I bought a pair of Crocs. Yes, really. I don’t care if you unfollow me or stop reading this blog. It’s best you know the truth: I spotted them in the shoe shop near my gym, and my mother has a pair and swears by […]
Posted inMedia
Why ideas are terrifying
“To come up with a great idea you’ve got to come up with a lot of stupid ones,” said FNB CEO Michael Jordaan at the YFM event I attended the other night. His comment struck a chord with me because as it happens, I’d been thinking about ideas all day. Not so much ideas themselves, […]
Posted inMedia
Donkeys and dragons: Facing extinction?
So KFC in Australia will no longer provide free toys with their kids’ meals. Three years ago the company committed itself to putting a stop to “pester power” and this is a major signal of the seriousness of its intention. My sense is that this is part of a broader trend. Given South Africa’s appetite […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Look but you can’t listen
On several occasions in the recent past I’ve bitched and moaned at the poor staff of Look & Listen, complaining about the sheer hopelessness of their jazz selection: very few of the great classics, for instance, or very spotty representation of even very-well-known artists. Sometimes a staff member says “I’ll tell the buyer,” which seems […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
See ya, Mr Jobs
I have never really used PCs. Except in an internet café in Thailand or India or some other place. So what I am going to say about them comes from a place of ignorance. They suck. They don’t work. They are ugly. They make computing feel like something that only accountants do. No disrespect to […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The loyalty of African journalism
My interest was piqued on reading the deliberate distortion of the thrust of Eric Miyeni’s views on the role of African journalists in corporate media. The question is not how Miyeni said what he said, but the substance of the point he failed to make. Despite the rage of the machine against his hate speech, […]