Category: this is south africa

Riding to New York

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We are freshly returned from the Passenger concert at Kirstenbosch, and it turns out that Mike Rosenberg (for he is it) is a great raconteur as well as a fantastic singer/songwriter. He kept the sold out audience entertained for 90 minutes with jokes, stories and music. A really great show.

Song of the concert was this one though – sung to 5 minutes of utter silence from the 6,000 people present; that’s a massive ask for the generally very disrespectful South African crowds and something I’ve only ever seen once before in SA with James Blunt’s No Bravery. Mike tells the story of meeting a guy near a gas station in Minnesota at 3am one morning, while heading out to buy cigarettes. They strike up a conversation after the man tells him that

This is best cigarette I’ve ever smoked

and from there it transpires that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer, doesn’t know how long he has left and has sold up on the West Coast, bought a motorcycle and is heading to New York to go and spend his remaining days – however many there may be – with his family. Riding to New York is the song that Mike wrote about that meeting and the man’s journey:

It was one of several thoroughly depressing numbers, for which Mike apologised. There were many upbeat moments as well though, some really good banter with the crowd, some singing along and a whole heap of swearing.

Great evening. Make a plan to go and see him (although, as so many Cape Town gigs do, this marked the end of his current tour, so, sorry for you).

A bit weird

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This is mildly creepy.

Step forward the new Dialdirect TVC: “The Notebook”, filmed in Kalk Bay (at least some of it) and currently airing on SA TV right now. Have a look. And curse those darn onions that someone is cutting nearby and which are making your eyes water. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Lovely. I’m almost ready to buy some insurance. Almost.

But now, look at this:
We have an ironing board, and a kitchen. We live in a house. We have a blonde-haired son. And we also have a beagle which bays at the vacuum cleaner. Big wow.

But here’s the odd bit: in the ad, their beagle is called “Mr Tiger”.

Our beagle is called Colin Tigger.

And our blonde-haired son was also recently in a school play. Now, based on the fact that in the ad, little Noah played the role of a tree in his school play, and being aware that there must be literally tens and tens of thousands of different roles available in school plays, guess what our boy was…?

  996192_10151652577802863_1605674476_n     DSC_0094
Yep. And by all accounts, they were both absolutely brilliant: a triumph, dahlink!

Anyway, I liked the ad, and I thought the striking similarities were strikingly similar.

That lovely music, by the way, is the acoustic version of Woodkid’s I Love You. You’ll be wanting the youtube link, won’t you? Yeah, we’ve got that sorted for you, obvs: click here.

Be kind to one another…

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Wise words from wise wordsmith Jacques Rousseau on his synapses blog this morning, as he admonished some (or more) atheists for exploiting the death of SA author Andre Brink

to score political points for atheism

I can actually think of very few occasions when it’s acceptable to use the death of anyone to score political points for anything. Much like those “No Fly-Tipping” signs you see at the side of the road, this is one of those things that I don’t even think should need saying.

Evidently, I’m incorrect. (Yes, it happens.) (As does the fly-tipping).

It was the choice of words used when expressing condolence that apparently upset some atheists. “RIP” obviously doesn’t fit with their (or my) view of what actually happens when someone dies. But as Jacques points out, it’s also:

a shorthand for extending commiserations, for demonstrating shared membership of a community of caring, and for marking the passing of someone who was considered valuable to that community.

It’s not that the semantics aren’t important here. They are.
It’s more that being judgmental about people using words and phrases which are – in your view – technically incorrect, and more especially, being judgmental about them at a time when emotions are already running high, is not going to change anyone’s mind – certainly not the way you would like it changed anyway.

Yes, I’d prefer for us to use alternatives. But for any alternatives to gain traction takes time. And motivating for them, and gaining consensus for their usage, won’t be easy if you approach that task by being an ass.

Yep. There’s a time and a place for this. Neither of which were ‘the immediate period after Brink’s death’ and ‘on the internet’. Get a grip.

Personally, I’m less inclined to chase people down because of the words and phrases that they use in this context. Live and let live, and yes, educate (but do try to choose your moment more sensibly).
In fact, I even used a quote from Ephesians 4:32 for the title of this post. Just because something comes from what you consider to be a work of fiction doesn’t mean that it has to necessarily be a bad idea.
You only have to look at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate River for evidence of that.

Art of the Brick

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We left it (quite) late to go and see this, and it’s in no way a cheap day out. In fact, it’s neither cheap, nor a day out – but it IS definitely worth your time and money to go and see it.

We went down at 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning (this one, in fact) and despite struggling to get into the actual building it was being staged in, which didn’t open til later, had a fantastic time.
It’s one of those things where you can spend as much or as little time as you want on the way around, but each and every exhibit you see is more breathtaking than the last. The time, effort, patience and detail that’s gone into the sculptures is incredible. Each of the pieces has a short description next to it, which includes the number of bricks used. Most are well into 5 figures. Wow.

Parthenon: 30,201 bricks

The short video introduction by the artist, Nathan Sawaya, was a little ‘American motivational chat show’ for my liking, but when you see the work he has created, you almost want to know exactly how or why he does it. The exhibition is beautifully laid out, cleverly lit (although it does make for difficult photography conditions) and, as I said above, awe-inspiring. It’s fun, it’s serious, it’s whatever you want to make of it – much like Lego – there are no rules.

At the end, there’s even a couple of rooms and an outside area where you can build and create from Lego yourself.
I made a little Table Mountain. It was amazing.

FAQ:
> Tickets are R95 for kids, R140 for Adults, R395 for a family of four. [Computicket]
> It’s worth it, yes.
> It’s in Cape Town til 28th February, then Joburg 13th May – 12th August.
> You don’t need to have kids to enjoy it, but kids will enjoy it too.
> Early mornings seem to be quiet.
> This is not a sponsored post.

Photos are on my Flickr, but don’t really do it justice (in any way, shape or form).
Go, see, enjoy.
#6000Recommends

Scrappy rugby at the Stadium

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I took the boy along to the rugby at the stadium today. It was a friendly/exhibition match between Boland Kavaliers and the Stormers, ahead of their Super 15 season which starts next week.
The rugby was, at best, scrappy. The stadium was, as always, stunning. And perfectly suited for rugby.

imageThat said, beagle-eyed readers will note that the Kavaliers were the home side. That’s because WPRU could never play a(nother) home game away from Newlands: that would send out all the wrong messages like logic, common sense and progressiveness.

The team they sent was devoid of any big names and although they coasted home 45 points to 7 against the local version of the Tractor Boys, it was untidy and unconvincing throughout.
Still, it was a belter of a day and there was cold beer on offer, so all’s well that ends well, right?