Who makes the judgement call about what resources to deploy in a police investigation, and then whether to pursue a prosecution? Because whoever did so in the case of the Sunday Times leadership, who are now apparently facing prosecution, seems to have been motivated by reasons that go beyond sheer law enforcement. And sheer logic. […]
Media
Posted inMedia, Sport
Real men don’t watch sport
My God, is it just me or is this crushing, pervasive near-religious rugby fervour downright depressing? I know, it’s just me. I don’t get sport. I mean, I get why people play it. Out there on the field in the sun. Breathe in some fresh air, kick a ball around, whack one with a racquet […]
Posted inMedia
My brush with the law
It felt like I was back at school and in the headmaster’s office. I checked to see that my top button was fastened. It wasn’t. It wasn’t the headmaster’s office, but it was close enough. It was the office of the Eastern Cape deputy director of public prosecutions (DDPP) — and although we were sipping […]
Posted inMedia
Poena’s money: update
Ster-Kinekor’s Helen Kuun informs me that Poena Is Koning has so far taken R1,7-million at the South African box office — and that’s in 17 days. (See my previous post on the topic.) So it is indeed doing well. How that stacks up against what it cost we don’t know: filmmaker Willie Esterhuizen tells me: […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
What’s the frequency, Zuckerberg?
On Friday I read a rumour that Facebook would be launching a possible iTunes competitor. Since then the rumour has evolved and claims a more realistic scenario that Facebook will simply be implementing musician-friendly profiles — a feature that will compete directly with MySpace’s Artist platform (responsible for a huge part of their growth). Rafat […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Subscription rage
Whenever I see a certain former editor of the Mail & Guardian (who may or may not have a missing tooth), a small shiver of guilt shoots up my spine. If, from a karma perspective, one’s bad behaviour comes back to bite one in the ass, then my ass has teeth marks. It started with […]
Posted inMedia
Gat is koning
On October 3, Ster-Kinekor released the good news about what I described in my review as the crassest comedy I’d ever seen: POENA IS KONING TICKLES SA AUDIENCES’ FUNNY BONE Laughing all the way to box-office success, Afrikaans teen comedy Poena is Koning, starring Robbie Wessels and directed by Willie Esterhuizen, is shooting the lights […]
Posted inMedia
Adding and subtracting value
Cinema attendances are down in South Africa (as they are in the US), but retail DVD has taken off in the most extraordinary manner. Whether or not these two things are connected, retail DVD in South Africa is now worth about R800-million per year, with an estimated further R100-million being spent on pirated products. And […]
Posted inMedia
Hiring: Hail hoaxer
10.45am — “Baby, apparently there is a big storm coming! So please drive safely! Love you lots.” 1.25pm — “Storm warning has been issued in the JHB area — Hail & lightning predicted pls take necessary precautions.” 4pm — The mildest storm I have personally experienced took place for a mere 30 minutes. I don’t […]
Posted inMedia
Are privacy and dignity only for the powerful?
I am incandescent with rage this Monday morning! (Now, my colleagues may claim this is not an unusual occurrence, but my theory is that if you’re not outraged, then you’re probably not paying attention!) The source of my ire is the front page of this morning’s Daily Sun. I’ve never really considered it a proper […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
eBay: How big can you go?
eBay is a notoriously dominant property in the online auction/marketplaces space, where the market value of an item is uncertain. The most significant element of this dominance is attributed to network effects in its marketplace business. In eBay’s business, the money side of the platform is the marketplace sellers and the subsidy side is the […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Google’s cash machine: How sustainable is it really?
Barriers to entry have typically been used by traditional offline players to deter entry into an industry. This has the effect of creating a business environment where healthy profits and sometimes even monopolistic (economic) profits are possible. In the online space, there are few of these barriers to entry, but there is something else that […]