IMPORTANT NOTICE!
WELCOME, You are in the old website section up to 2011, please click HOME to view the website in the new 2012 design and system. THANK YOU!
The one about being an outsider
A few days ago, the lovely editor of SA PROMO Magazine sent me the blurb for this month’s article request. In a nutshell, 'What would it take for you to come home / what’s stopping you from coming home?'
Immediately, I started banging away on my keyboard for about 15 seconds before I came to a grinding halt. Whoa-f**ken-whoa… this is a heavy question and a hell of a hard one to answer. So I have been stewi ...
Tu Chicas (Wimbledon, London)
From the moment we entered, the atmosphere at Tu Chicas was homely. Soft Mexican background music and lovely interior Mexican décor, as well as five big paintings and SA flags, created a cosy feel.
A wide variety of cocktails were available, garnished with fresh fruit and we were surprised to see the selection of SA beverages including Windhoek Lager, Castle, Hunters Dry, Savanna and even Springbokkies!
F ...
Top SA musician takes a stand against FIFA World Cup op...
Top guitarist Vusi Mahlasela has reportedly pulled out of FIFA's controversial World Cup concert. He joins a host of local artists who are demanding that 80% of those performing at the June 10 concert should be from South Africa or Africa.
International performers Shakira, The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend and Alicia Keys will headline the event, which now features only two local acts- The Parlotones and B ...
The big one for the Bulls
The Chiefs were beaten finalists last year and the Reds beat them badly in Brisbane two years ago, but this weekend could be the big one of their Super 14 overseas tour for the Vodacom Bulls.
After opening their tour with a win that was perhaps more laboured than anticipated, the Bulls come up against a Blues team on Easter Saturday that will be on a finals footing. The Blues were impressive last week agai ...
The moai of Rapa Nui
I walked along the green and brown grassy plains, the wind wrapping around me. The view in front of me was magnificent, navy blue and aquamarine foamy waves constantly crashing into the rugged coastline. A coastline that seemed to go on forever! I guess I was on an island in the South Pacific afterall! Easter Island to be precise, one of the most remotely inhabited places on earth, approximately 2,000 miles ...
Thembi Seete - Free video
Free is a track by kwaito star and actress Thembi Seete, off her album Music is My Life.
Free is one of 20 songs nominated for the 2010 Record of the Year at the South African Music Awards. The SAMAs will be announced on 17 April 2010.
Thembi is a former member of kwaito super group Boom Shaka, who were together from 1994 - 2000.
Read more about Thembi...
The Crystal Experience - indoor festival of light, soun...
On Saturday 27 March, ATARI Project returns, in association with Israeli label Synthezion Records, to bring you The Crystal Experience, an event that will elevate the London progressive and pyschedelic trance scene to the next level. DJs Tobie Allen, Flow Theory, Divine Machine and Time on Time (Dino) are all from South Africa.
ATARI Project is a clandestine consortium of anonymous beings whose primary ...
Top three strengthen their hold
Two South African teams are safely ensconced at the top of the Vodacom Super 14 leg as the competition reaches the halfway mark this weekend – and the good news is that is how it will stay for at least the next fortnight.
The Stormers take their bye this coming weekend, but so do the third placed Crusaders, who have the same number of log points as the Cape team but lag significantly in the points differen ...
Teargas - Take U Out video
Hailing from Piet Retief and Soweto, Teargas is a hip-hop trio of guys, two of which are brothers. Take U Out is the third video single off Teargas' album Wafa Wafa, released in March 2009.
Teargas released the critically-acclaimed debut album, K’shubile K’bovu, a 14 track album filled with positive messages of hope, social awareness and party songs all strung together into one classic offering.
They've ...
Top SA DJs are going to Miami...
As part of the Winter Music Conference taking place in Miami, Florida at the end of March, some of South Africa's leading house DJs will set beaches ablaze with their sound.
DJs Fresh, Euphonik, Milkshake, Fistaz, Mahoota, Pepsi, Black Coffee and Culoe de Song from South Africa will hook up with their international counterparts such as Master Key, Nick Holder and Keith Thompson to wow music fans at the Mia ...
THEA SONNEKUS in Thailand
We’ve lived on Koh Samui since 2007 and I’ve come to learn that everyday on this island is a classroom. I’ve become more tolerant and accepting of people.
I live a simple life and earthly possessions became unimportant. I now know what it means to love thy neighbor as these people showed me that even if you have nothing, you still have something to give. I know that if you do not live in the future nor the ...
The People's Bus hits the road
World Cup fever has hit the road in the form of the People's Bus – a mobile hub of football trivia and fan gear that will bring the fun, excitement and spirit of the tournament to as many South African communities as possible.
The vehicle, a joint initiative between Brand South Africa and MAN Truck and Bus, set off on its nationwide journey on Friday, 19 February. It's due to visit more than 50 locations b ...
Table Mountain to observe Earth Hour
Table Mountain in Cape Town is among the world landmarks that will go dark from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on 27 March, as part of the Earth Hour initiative which calls on individuals, businesses, governments and communities to turn off their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.
The worldwide "switch off", a global initiative of the WWF, aims to get billions of people in cities acr ...
The making of Arno Carstens' new album
A five minute movie of the making of Arno Carstens' new album, Wonderful Wild.
This will be Arno's third solo album, to be released in April 2010. The single, Dreamer, will be released in February.
The Parlotones - Life Design video
The music video for Life Design, the second single from The Parlotones platinum-selling third album Stardust Galaxies. The song has been added to MTV Europe's rotation playlist.
The video was the result of collaboration between The Parlotones and KFC forming part of the ‘Be Inspired Campaign’.
Directed by veteran Eric van Wyk, 35 dancers were used to create the illusion of consistent movement in the vide ...
Telkom confirms mobile termination rate cut
Telkom will give its customers a 100 percent "pass through" of the 36 cent reduction in mobile termination rates (MTRs), the company confirmed in a letter to Parliament on Tuesday.
In the letter, Telkom's group executive for regulatory affairs Andrew Barendse said the cut would put back R1.3 billion "into the pockets" of its customers.
"Telkom has decided to give a 100 percent pass-through of the reductio ...
Tax free money in the land of sand
Tax free oil money. That’s what attracted me at first to come to the land of sand. Famous for its rigid religious rules, hot temperatures and of course, what seems to be unlimited oil riches!
I had been unemployed for three months when I applied for an English teaching position at a private academy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Needless to say, regardless of all the warnings I read on websites and forums about ...
The lunar new year is near
Part two of my quest to educate South Africans, and other readers, about this fantastic country which I now call home will be about the upcoming lunar new year (known to Westerners as the Chinese New Year). But first, I want to give a recent example of why teaching English can be a truly entertaining experience… You really can’t make this stuff up!
I said to a student, “Give me an example of something tha ...
The beginnings of The Big Mammal Year
Imagine trekking through remote Himalayan mountains in search of the near-mythical snow leopard. Or searching for one of the less than forty surviving Gilbert's Potoroo in Western Australia. Or how about tracking down the rare Nilgiri Marten and lion-tailed macaque in the jungles of India, before spotting a blue whale in the oceans around Sri Lanka. Or bundu-bashing through the dense forests of China's Sich ...
This will make you say O BLIKSEM
Photos of situations that are guaranteed to make you say O BLIKSEM. Our favourite is the lion peeping into the hunter's tent but the hunter is busy reading a book and his weapon is on the other side of the lion!
