Died by the star

The Prawns are back in town, this past weekends thunderstorms were extremely violent and in certain areas uprooting trees.In the spirit of halloween I was paid a visit by a rather unexpected trick or treater. I got home late this evening, I left my windows open all day . After entering my place, I saw him slowly walk from under the L Shape sofa toward the kitchen, this was a big guy and  he knew it, thats why he had a slow and arrogant walk. Prawns mostly come in after the rains, looking for warm wooden places to take refuge from the wet weather. His chitinous exoskeleton looked greasy, with his long antenaes making tiny circles as he felt his way around my caramel carpet like it was his own. Its been a while since I've seen a prawn almost a whole year, seeing them whenever you do though is always too soon and always comes with the same shock factor.

2nd prawn siting

Any sudden movement would have attracted his attention to me, his ovipositer was huge and very threatening the only weapon I had close was a ninja star, I aligned all of my ninja senses and threw it at him, I missed, he jumped, I jumped onto the granite kitchen top, in a state of panic he squirted out some brownish prawn juice onto the carpet, by this time I made into the kitchen and grabbed a broom, when I looked over into the tv area, he disappeared. The next 39 minutes were extremely long, scouring my place looking for him in corners and under beds, Kate Turkington on 702 wasn't making it any easier playing ghostbusters and talking about ghost stories.

3rd Prawn siting

Eventually, I heard a shuffle, it was coming from the flower arrangement next to the tv, he was there all the time nicely disguised amongst the reddish bronzes. I carefully tapped him off, when he landed he hopped up against the white wall and tried to make a run for it, when prawns run they look like they are running in stop animation, very unrealistic. I whacked him with the broom about 5 times, then another 3 times afterward,s and he was still alive, so I picked him up with the kitchen spade, took him outside and threw him into the neighbours yard.

This is my fourth encounter with the prawn and my experiences with them have only made me more paranoid to want to always toss my bed properly before I sleep, survey the floors, check under the bed and always check inside my shoes before putting them on.

Click here to read about my previous encounter.

Read more about the prawn here

Our number one passion is soccer. So what is wrong with South Africa’s number one passion?

 We speak passionately about soccer at schools; at the bus/taxi depots; at the sport’s bar; at religious gatherings and every other conceivable place and yet since South African has become a democratic country we are very, very far from this passion and rate very poorly in the soccer rankings in both Africa and in the world rankings. So what are the reasons for our poor showing?

In the last three years, Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana and every other selected South African team which included the Under 23 and Under 17 bombed out in world competitions in the first round. Bafana Bafana recently did us all a disservice when they actually celebrated a draw with Sierra Leone with the anticipation that they had qualified for the 2013 African Nations Cup. The coach Pitso Mosimane actually had the gall and arrogance to tell the South African public that he had instructed his players to play for a draw. Which coach in his right sense would tell his team to play for a draw when soccer is about winning games? Some newspapers were so ironical in their reports that they said that Bafana Bafana were far better in the skills of dancing and celebrating than showing off their football skills.

Our Under 23 South African side and Banyana Banyana will shortly be competing in the World Olympic Games. They would definitely have all South Africans waving the flag and supporting them passionately. However, on a more realistic note, they would be going into these tournaments with the same failed formula as the national teams of the past three years which makes success in these games a distant second.

SO WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG ABOUT OUR FOOTBALL? 

On a very positive note, South African players are very highly skilled hence we find a number of these gifted players plying their trade overseas with world class players. There has also been a vast improvement in the fitness of local players. Another key factor of improvement has been the inter-change of passes which has seen much more fluidity especially in the mid-field area which is often regarded as the engine room. It is also noteworthy that players do not hang onto the ball with the idea of showing off although there are still a few players who play to the gallery rather than for their teams.

On the negative side, however, there are a number of factors which coaches are disregarding and not making mental or written notes because players are making the same mistakes week in and week out.

Majority of the passes in the matches are “hospital passes”; “suicidal passes” or “accidental passes” resulting in passes moving to and from the opposition in quick succession. Very rarely will spectators see three or four well executed passes being strung together by one side.

Players are clearly ignorant of the purpose of the arc at the 18 yard box and because of their ignorance of this very important area; no set pieces are really executed.

Deep squares from the bye-line are non existent and when they do occur, they are done so accidentally. Players from the flanks are continuously placing their crosses in “busy traffic” area instead of playing the ball diagonally across the goal mouth where there is hardly any “traffic”. These passes are   seen regularly in overseas football with a number of goals being resulted.

While players do not hang onto the ball, they still take a while before they release the ball to fellow players. The player without the ball is far more important than the player with the ball because he is the one creating space. Every time a player gets the ball, he should have a choice of at least three players to pass the ball.  

The ball should only be played into the air if a player is under pressure from the opposition. Goalkeepers also play the ball into the air and the same applies to players taking corners or free kicks. Other than the above the ball must be played on the “carpet”. When a player kicks the ball into the sky, he hopes and prays that the ball reaches his team-mate. There is a 50/50 chance that the ball would reach his team-mate and a mine magnate like Mr. Motesepe would definitely not like to see his R100 being halved because of the stupidity of someone else.

There are some brilliant local players who possess outstanding skills to play in top flight overseas football but are being ignored because of their selfishness. One example of such a talented player is Teko Modise who can shoot powerfully and with great accuracy. He is swift off his feet and has a knack of being at the right place at the right time. This was clearly evident in his earlier days at Orlando Pirates. The problem with this player is that Teko plays for Teko and not for the jersey on his back and it is clear no one in the management is advising him of what a great player he can be. 

Remember the great goal scored by Siphiwe Tshabalala for Bafana Bafana against Mexico in the World Cup opening match. Take a look at the video again and notice the following. When he picked up the pass, he was running in his favourite left flank of the ground .He did what any world class player would do and that was to get his upper body over the ball so that when he kicks the ball it would not rise and fly over the goalmouth.

 He thereafter unleashed a tremendous left foot into the far end of the goalmouth and out of the reach of the Mexican keeper to record one of the best goals of the tournament.

In the match between Bafana Bafana and Sierra Leone. You would notice that “Shabba” was again on his favourite left flank but this time on the edge of the arc and with ample time to do exactly what he did in the World Cup against Mexico. Alas and to the disappointment of all our fans, “Shabba” does not get his upper body over the ball and does not kick the ball to the far end of the goalmouth as he so brilliantly had done against Mexico. Instead, he kicks the ball to the near post and over the goalmouth. Maybe, this would explain why overseas coaches are ignoring this very talented player.

Consider the crowds at local matches and you would notice that with the exception of Kaizer Chiefs and to a lesser extent, Orlando Pirates and Celtic you would not find more than 3 000 to 5 000 spectators in huge stadiums when other teams meet each other and what is the reason for the dismal turnout -- poor quality football week in and week out.

Consider all the facts above and let me know what are your feelings about our number one passion – football.

Diwali in Pietermaritzburg used to be such a special time, my mum or gran would wake us up early in the morning, massaging oil into our heads.The smell of sweet meats and diwali condiments would flood into our rooms just before we did our morning Diwali prayer. A few days before, mum would thoroughly spring clean the house.Furniture, doors and windows were are all obsessively polished.

Most people that lived in Truro Road where already up by 8am in a festive mood talking about plans for the evening. Neighbours of Truro road were so tightly bound that everybody participated in religious holidays whether you were Muslim during Diwali, Hindu during Christmas or Christian during Eid. Kids were deployed in a military fashion to deliver carefully packaged sweet meats to neighbours. These sweet meat boxes were meticulosly compared by them in the process and while most kids cherished the day for the opportunity to traditionally dress themselves up and  gleefully deliver their sweet packages of diwali delight, my brother and I were mostly reluctant and refused because our mum always wanted us to dress us alike, which we thought was very dorky.

Almost every store in Pietermaritzburg tried to cash in on Diwali. From Ice Cream stores to clothing stores,from Supermarkets to Hairdressers, if they weren't selling fireworks, everybody had some kind of Diwali special trying to make the most out of the day. (if they weren't selling fireworks!) Gift stores in the Raisethorpe area, which is the thriving CBD of the Indian community in Pietermaritzburg, converted their stores into complete fireworks wholesale businesses. There was something for everyone :- sparkles and pop ups for the kids or fountains and roman candles that shoot screaming fireballs into the air for the modest family that just wanted to do their bit to light up the Diwali night sky. Then there were the more grandiose fireworks from Mr. Suklall, a retired Policeman who lived next to the sport field. He bought his fireworks from a specialist specialist dealer and had an armoury that would make George W and his Weapons of Mass Destruction blush. Our old man was the Grinch who stole Diwali. He  never believed in buying fireworks. He believes that there are better ways of burning your money.

Easels or flying ants as they are known, usually meant it was Diwali. They came out in their thousands and the morning after, the pavements were littered with their wings. I remember Diwali being usually very hot and every year the heatwave brought with it a nagging drizzle that usually started at about 5pm and persisted till about 8pm.  Everyone had to strategically place their clay lamps out of harms way so that they could remain alight for the duration of the passing drizzle.

Having not celebrated in years I look back at my years in Pietermaritzburg during the festival of light with growing fondness. As sweets are exchanged on this occasion, Diwali usually means an increase in mutual love among friends and relatives.  To all those who I haven't seen in years that are wishing me today, have a joyous and safe celebration.

Happy Diwali 

One of the many reasons we celebrate is Diwali is the return of Rama after 14 years of banishment. On his return he was welcomed with a mighty display of fireworks. The video in this blog is an animated version of the epic Indian tale of Ramayana about Rams banishment set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, it has a sympathetic perspective towards Sita.

 I've just returned from this years HCC Diwali Festival that took place at the Lenasia Stadium. This is the first year for me attending this event, I got to hear about it through a close friend living in Lenasia. The event, like the Newtown Diwali event I attended last week, started early in the afternoon at 2pm, I only got there a few minutes after 7pm armed with my point and shoot digital camera I was eagerly anticipating the much hyped firework spectacular.


 The event was organised by the Hindu Coordinating Committee and is a staple Diwali event of the community now going onto its 19th year. The entrance fee was R5 and parking around the Lenasia Stadium was a premium. When we entered shortly after 7pm there was a power failure and none of the stalls had any electricity but this only lasted for about 5 minutes, a minor hiccup. For the rest of the 3 hours that I was there, I was treated to great music, excellent performances by local dance schools and plenty of opportunities to fine tune my event photography skills,

I heard that the Milans firework display is a spectacle of immeasurable proportions that will keep you awe struck for its duration, that description may just be a little bit over the top but I think it deserves a mention, it was however an amazing marathon display that gave me lower back pains from looking up into the sky as it was being lit with luminous fountains of giant light whose sound traveled through the warm quiet night of lens south 


There was plenty of traditional Indian food and sweet meats sold at the stalls, I think most of the stalls were consistently overpriced, something I speculate may be caused by the rent stall holders are paying to secure their spot. Speaking from what I saw, I think the audience was more than satisfied and came out in numbers to support this local event which has ingratiated itself into there lives.

Diwali Festivals are always very colouful and entertaining and todays event was just that, a really big difference and definitely more lively than last weeks event at Newtown, I think more so because you can feel the pulse of the community.

Next weeks event takes place in Sandton on Saturday the 29th October 2011 between 2pm and 10pm at George Lea park, entrance is free, click here to visit the official event page.

About two years ago I read about Pranav Mistrys intriguing new sixth sense device, a device that augments reality and fuses it with a digital world allowing you to interact with the internet in a way never imagined, his talk at TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) captured the imaginations of the audience and was received with thunderous applause.
Yesterday I read about Microsoft's OmniTouch that turns any surface into a touch screen, Similar in design to the Microsoft Kinect for the Xbox 360, the OmniTouch device uses a camera that senses short-range depth, a small pico projector and a 3D modeling system to understand where the user is touching. The projector and the camera have to be calibrated to the user in order for the touch system to accurately match up to the user’s actions. The device can sense when a user’s hand if hovering over the surface as well as understand the depth when a user taps a button on the main surface.

Microsoft are also in the process of developing the Holodesk, Microsoft uses a Kinect to help create a holographic desk that it is calling, the HoloDesk, it allows users to interact with 3D holographic objects and they can even operate a holographic touchscreen phone, one very similar to Pranav Mistrys device developed 2 years ago, technology is evolving rapidly, with the web becoming more interactive researchers and developers are looking at more intuitive and dynamic ways of delivering information to the end user.



As technology is becoming more accessible and more affordable, the internet is becoming far more interactive than it ever was, people are consuming more information, sharing ideas and actually communicating more in the real world. There is limitless potential to this new technology and where we will be in the next years with mobile technology is going to be both exciting and interesting.

The Long awaited Avengers trailer is finally, filled with  explosives, tight costumes and cheesy one liners. Well worth the wait? I'm not sure just yet, the trailer is still very vague but at least we have a better of what to expect, I'm not very happy with Captain Americas new costume design and I think Thors Armor looks too campy a bit on the cartoony side of things.

With so many super heroes in one movie its going to be interesting to see how their collective efforts help the movie to its big pay day, but i think this franchise of superheroes is in safe and capable hands, particularly if they stick to the plot of Earths Mightiest Heroes. This being the first of marvels movies released through Walt Disney im sure in the months to come if the trailer debut is anything to go by we can expect to see a massive marketing campaign that will be the beginning of a new era of toys and cartoons.

Check out the Newest Avengers Trailer, definitely cant wait for it to hit the big screens. 

Those wise enough to stay through the credits of Captain America: The First Avenger were treated to the first ever teaser trailer for Joss Whedon's ultimate superhero sequel The Avengers.Marvel Studios have announced that the trailer for "Marvel's The Avengers" will be released next Tuesday (October 11). That's right, at long last, our first full look at Iron Man, Captain America and Thor fighting side by side is just days away.


Very little has been divulged about the plot that they are using in this movie, will it follow the lines of Earths Mightiest Heroes or will it just be a new perennial.  What will the hulk look like this time around? Either way, the Avengers has been a long time in the making and fanboys like myself cant wait to get a first look.

The Trailer releases on 11th October 2011, in the meantime if you one of the few people who haven't yet seen the First teaser trailer at the end of Captain America, check it out now.

This morning the world wakes up to sad news that the co-founder of Apple Inc. the visionary mastermind who escorted technology into the 21st century and father of the iPhone, Steve Jobs has died at age 56. After a long struggle with pancreatic cancer, his family said he died peacefully surrounded by family.

STARTED FROM SCRATCH: Jobs started Apple with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later and returned in 1997 to rescue the company. Apple grew into the most valuable technology company in the world with a market value of $351 billion. It was a digital renaissance, he changed the way movies are made, the way music is sold, the way stories are told, the very way we interact with the world around us. He helped us work, and gave us new ways to play. He was a myth made man.

Prior to Steve Jobs, computers were alien to most of us. They were accessible to few people without an engineering degree. Not merely because of their complex operating procedures, but also because they were so cold and so inhuman. Jobs understood that they could be something more than that. That while computers would never be people, he could endow them with humanity. He could transform them into machines that not only anyone could use, but that everyday people would enjoy using thanks to the art of great design. He made them something that would be part of our lives an extension of our personalities. And he did that again and again. Steve Jobs has left a big void in the world of Technology and will be sorely missed by the world.

 FAMILY MEMBERS: Jobs is survived by his biological mother; his sister Mona Simpson; Lisa Brennan-Jobs, his daughter with Brennan; wife Laurene, and their three children, Erin, Reed and Eve.

It is sad that our Governments allegiances are to money and not to the integrity of our constitution, the ANC is a disgrace to the principles it was founded upon. The Chinese who consider the Dalai Lama to be a seperatist do so in the same way the apartheid regime considered ANC members to be terrorists. Im sure that some time in the future there will be some kind of China Gate scandal investigation where all our greasy hand puppet politicians will be exposed.

Our consitiution is founded on the principles of Human rights (read the preamble of our constitution, (We the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past.....) Somewhere along the line Jay Zed and his bras forgot about this. Recognising the ANC and their corrupt practices is a good start toward realising that this nationalist government is no different from its predecessor but how do we uninstall the ANC from power and elect the correct people when the ANC's dishonest policies ensure that the masses remain uneducated to keep them in power.

Imagine putting up a "Right Of Admission Reserved" for a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, its as if our government are hellbent on making arses of themselves and all of us the world over, the rest of the free world should sanction against the ANC government and their Jackass International Relation Policies.

Check out the Video above of a visibly shaken Archbishop and click here to download and listen to an Interview with Redi Thlabi and the Archbishops reaction to his statement at the above press conference

I woke up yesterday morning  to a new interface on Androids Market, the new design boasts easier navigation and more categories, every category when clicked on, has a mosaic tile feature page with a staffs choice and an editors choice with each tile populated with the apps icon, looks very much like windows 7. Android have dropped their playful green for a  serious combination of dark colours and vignette blends that works really well .

The start page has a trending section where it highlights the more prominently downloaded apps for the day, The details page about the app your about to purchase has a nice horizontal scrollable space unlike the previous market that had single images that you could only navigate if you clicked on them

The loading time is slightly longer than its previous version. In many parts the app lags a bit  and hardly responds when you are in a area where the connection speeds are relatively slow. The graphic intensive app also relies very heavily on your smartphones processor, nothing substantive that contributes to your batteries depletion but enough to make you aware that you're in the market too long.
  
It would be nice if there was a built in option to change the way you view the market, something like the way you can choose different views on windows. It would also be cooler if there was some kind of cache that could store and monitor elements so that your next use can be a faster more fluid experience. Unlike the Iphone that has a single design for its handset, Android has many different smartphone handsets that have to be considered and compensated for by the market designers, it will be very interesting to see Android Market on lower end smartphones particularly if the market has the ability to differentiate between handsets for users who want to download compatible versions of their favourite software.

Still to come to South Africa will be the Android Markets Books and Movies, a feature similar to Netflix and Amazon, with the Kindle fire coming out of its shell, integration of Multimedia web services are set to be the next big thing on tablets and smartphones.

This is the Fanuel Motsepe Building in the Joburg CBD,  Its a stunning building that looks like its built from lego bricks and is on the corner of Fox and Von Brandis streets. I enjoyed playing with the colours in this photo and its part of set where in several of the photos the Carlton centre is trying to sneak into the shot.

Fanuel Motsepe's building
Architect Fanuel Motsepe of Motsepe Architects, who owns the building on the corner of Fox and Von Brandis streets, has given the exterior of his building an imaginative look.


He says the building is of heritage value, dating back to the 1930s, and was owned by Boustred building suppliers. The unusual and colourful shapes on the exterior are a copy of a 1950s Johnson & Johnson mosaic tile on the sixth floor of the building.

"We were looking for an iconic, authentic treatment," says Motsepe. "In view of the historical value of the building, we have taken [its] earliest remaining fabric and layered it on to the existing environment, and created a new and vibrant environment."

He is also revamping the ground floor restaurant, to be called Traffic Café, which will serve traditional, indigenous food. It will spill out on to the pavement, and is expected to open in about a month. The basement will act as a lounge, extending the opening hours into the evenings.

Read more: http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4337&Itemid=254#ixzz1ZeMgotNK

So its official Kevin Tanchroens persistent creativity with MK Legacy has paid off. New Line Cinema, the production company that brought us the original Mortal kombat have decided that its become way too difiicult to ignore him after his viral web campaign and going forward with the Mortal Kombat reboot, which will be directed by Tancharoen off a screenplay to be written by Oren Uziel, who also wrote Rebirth.


At the time of writing this, nothing has been confirmed yet as to the cast or the budget, I'm really hoping to see the idea of the alternate MK world from the rebirth trailer expanded into a full movie. The idea of Mk was shockingly violent and disturbing when it first came out, with its new grittier (Seven the movie) makeover it has the potential to find its way back to its roots. Mortal kombat Legacy as a standalone web series was good but did seem very much like an extension of the modern MK, where it feels more like a novelty.

Liu Kang wasn't used in any of the new web episodes and rightfully so I think, his character in the mortal kombat universe as pivotal as it is seems exhausted and really overdone. Will Michael Jai Whites roles as Jackson Briggs be the new driving force in the new movie? Only time will tell.

For those of you who haven't yet seen the Rebirth trailer, the trailer that kick started the whole web series, check it out here. This trailer is an action fest with a different taste of martial arts that contain characters from a dark underworld who are evil to the core.