We’re out partying this evening. It’s going to be great. I know this because we’ve spent a lot of time, effort (and cold, hard cash) on making sure that it will be great.
And in the same way that tonight will be great, tomorrow will be messy.
I’m only looking forward to one of them.
A moment of calm. A moment of thought.
Ludovico Einaudi is the man for the job.
This could be a video about man striving to find God. It might be a portrayal of one individual desperate to rise above the clamour and chaos. Perhaps it’s both.
For me today, it merely represents the opportunity to stop and be at peace for 3 minutes.
Thank you, Ludovico.
Busy day, busy evening ahead, so just a quick recommendation which I recently found on The Twitter:
Described as:
Fragments of life in real messages on postcards from the past. Delivered to you every day. Wish you were here?
It does exactly what it says on the tin. The fragments of life come as single line quotes from the postcards in question and range from the rather mundane, through to the altogether intriguing, and include several of the bewildering and bizarre. Of course, many of these snippets can be attributed to the actual holiday experience, but then there are some that provoke further interrogation.
If you’re in the right mood, you can become quite involved. Who is Martin, how big is his picture framing business now (clue: it’s bigger than before), and what does that have to do with a visit to Robin Hood’s Bay?
When was the last time you sent a postcard?
With WhatsApp, email and Facebook, postcards are surely dying the death, aren’t they?
Discuss [5 marks]
As I said – just a quick recommendation today, but do go along and have a look.
Look out! Naughty language below!
The SA weather was all over the place yesterday. Floods in KZN, snow in the Eastern Cape and the Free State and a postponed 5-a-side game here in Cape Town.
I know. Tragic, ne?
Tembisa took the gold medal though, with a tornado – much shared on social media – which… er… damaged the local mall. In fact, it was actually a bit worse than that. Let me hand you over to spokesperson Godfrey Mashakgomo to give you the full synopsis:
Best. Spokesperson. Ever.
Not “There’s some damage that we’ll need to assess”, not “We’ve lost some roof panels on the western side of the building, but fortunately no-one was seriously injured”.
No. Godfrey went with: “The whole mall is fucked up.”
All of it.
Five stars for Godfrey telling it like it is. And please, more of this blunt honesty from spokespeople in the future.
Here’s a Facebook ad for an upcoming show at the musical theatre beyond the Boerewors Gordyn.
Let me help you out with the (not so) small print:
Get ready to party to the ultimate 1 Hit Wonders!
Sounds good.
Enjoy songs like Do You Love Me, Play That Funky Music, Kung Fu Fighting, You Spin Me Round, Take On Me, 99 Red Balloons & more
u wot m8?
Remember those songs? Of course you do. The Contours, Wild Cherry, Carl Douglas, Dead or Alive. They gave us such memories, and then they disappeared without trace. Likewise Nena and her red balloons (if you ignore her MASSIVE success in Germany) (which they clearly have).
Hast du etwas Zeit für mich?
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont.
Indeed.
But “Take On Me”? No. Just no. That wasn’t a “1 Hit Wonder’.
And I’m not even annoyed because I’m an a-ha fan. I’m annoyed because it’s plainly incorrect. How can a song which wasn’t even their biggest hit be a “1 Hit Wonder”?
Let’s compare: Carl Douglas hit the top of the charts with Kung Fu Fighting back in 1974. He was NEVER heard of EVER. AGAIN. He disappeared as fast as lightning. In fact, the way he vanished was actually a little bit frightening.
But I digress. Often.
Now, I’ve nothing against Carl. His name will live on in the Hall of Fame through cheesy discos and pub quizzes forever more. And fair play to him. But…
Let’s have a look at a-ha: Take On Me was a number 2 hit for them in October 1985.
Just two months later, they released The Sun Always Shines On TV.
It went to number 1, clearly making it a bigger hit than Take On Me.
But whether it was bigger or not is actually beside the point. It was also a hit. A second hit.
This ridiculous success immediately ruined a-ha’s “1 Hit Wonder” status, a status which had only lasted for about 60 days. The further 7 Top 10 hits which they then went on to have over the next 30-odd years also kind of cemented their reputation as clearly not being 1 Hit Wonders. For me, at least. And everyone else with any sort of rudimentary intelligence.
And yet they’ve been dumped in with Wild Cherry and The Contours.
Incorrectly.
Look, I’ve been to a show there before and it was slick, professional and fun. I’m sure that this one will be as well. But underlying the whole production is the sickening inaccuracy I have described above. If you’re going along, I suggest that you try to overlook the invalid and plainly false information on which the entire show is based.
Because any other approach would surely ruin your experience.