Thursday, September 25, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Character study # 1
I swung my collection of cellphone chargers between the stream of trucks, bakkies, Kia's and mercs - waiting for the the hiss of that one particular Peugeot to find its stop at my feet. It was almost like every other day, except today there were no pigeons... and she was pregnant. We exchanged our usual glances - her's with lusty mascara what-whats and lips pursed around that fucking e-cigarette. I said my usual thing; "howzit, madam?" and curled my finger round the charger chord like i had a lock of her hair in my hand. "Piss off!" she'd always say with the flick of her chin and smirk in the rearview mirror.
I looked at her rounded mass of new life and felt my jeans tighten at the thought of my flesh inside hers - growing into something together. "I said, get your kak out my window" she teased.
I stared - blessed with her attention.
"I see you're pregnant. How about something for the baby?" I suggest.
She rolls up the window. I see my reflection and a pigeon fly past.
Oh, but it is just like every other day i think.
The Peugeot pulls off with a screech and i'm left standing in the invisible smog of parenthood.
How could it be this elusive?
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Because we're homofabula
Yet, despite our limiting attention spans and hyper activity – books remain and writers still write.
On the 24th of May at the Kingsmead book fair in Johannesburg, the multi- award winning Israeli novelist Shifra Horn shed some light on why and how she continues to write.
Jokingly, Shifra says that writing stops her from seeing a psychologist. But inherently, Shifra says that the act of writing and reading a book gives you perspective on your life – allowing you the time and space to digest your own lived experience via story. Shifra draws her inspiration from being an ardent lifetime student of Hebrew and the Bible. Shifra’s legacy includes a dynamic collection of both fiction and non-fiction but has recently begun exploring the delicate art of writing children’s books. “It’s like eating sorbet after a heavy meal” Shifra says smiling - contentedly.
A large part of why Shifra writes is hidden within how she writes. It’s about solving a riddle – putting together the pieces to present you a whole – it’s to uncover a particular message. “I begin writing from the senses. I focus on a smell, or a sound or a particular sight and grow the story from there”. Shifra writes intuitively, allowing her imagination to create bits of chapters, endings and beginnings before stitching it all together into one coherent story. According to how Shifra writes, writing is about making sense of the world.
Why we write also has to do with what we write. Shifra’s modus operandi is fiction writing and says that fiction can sometimes present you with a better representation of the truth than non-fiction can. Where non-fiction can sometimes distance a reader emotionally by the hard cold nature of factual recall – fiction encourages the reader to believe and feel from the depths of their imagination, their lived experience – from the depths of their own personal truth.
We are homofabula; meaning half human, half story. The power of writing allows us to connect the two halves. In South Africa where our national identity is threatened by the diaspora of dialect, class and culture, Shifra believes that the power of story is the only thing that will, and can, bind us all. Having her novels successfully translated into eight international languages – this is particularly true. For the writer and the reader, even though we’re distracted by cheap and quick stories fed to us by the information age, books will never stop being written and should never stop being read so long as we call ourselves human.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
25 ways the Internet has made you, you.
1. You’ve got mail!
You can send and
receive messages instantaneously
2. It’s your humour
Where would the
world be without Chuck Norris Memes, GIFS, Vine compilations and 10 reasons
your cat wants to kill you?
3. It’s your travels
See, hear and
explore what China is like from the comfort of your home in Johannesburg. Your
travel itinerary is but a click away
4. It’s your news
Nothing beats the
live streaming of a murder trial.
5.It’s your music
Find and listen to
mixed tapes, album launches, new artists and all the latest news about your
favourite musician.
6. It’s your art
Share your
tutorials, upload your work and become your own style guide.
7. It’s your stories
Blog, tweet and
facebook about your day. There’s always someone listening.
8. It’s your interest
Find and share your
interest with people who also like pinna colada’s and long walks in the rain
9. It’s your shopping
Spend hours
trawling shops for the perfect purchase without leaving the comfort of your
bed.
10. It’s your finances
Manage and get
access to your finances straightaway.
11. It’s your politics
Say what you want
to say. Follow who you want to follow. Starting a revolution is easier than you
think.
12. It’s your connections
Everyone you want
to know can be found, followed and networked into your realm of contact.
13. It’s your business
The world knows
about your business.
14. It’s your marketing
Measure, optimize
and advertise through social media at little to no cost.
15. It’s your library
Everything you need
to know about anything is somewhere on the net. Google it.
16. It’s your god
Spend more than an
hour without Internet and you’ll start feeling lost and without purpose.
17. It’s your friends
Keep in touch every
second of the day with people who really matter.
18. It’s your lover
Fall in love and
share your life with them.
19. It’s your missing link
Analyze Big Data
and connect the dots.
20. It’s your discovery
Research the reams
of information online and come up with your own conspiracy theories.
21. It’s your voice
Finally, there’s a
place that allows you to express yourself however you want to.
22. It’s your world
Find your exact
geographical location from space.
23. It’s your moments
Share and search
for photos that mean something to you.
24. It’s your body
Be your own doctor
and diagnose yourself with a rare disease.
25. It’s your life
You’re immortal -
your digital footprint lasts forever
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Year of the horse.
On Saturday the 1st of February 2014 - China celebrated the start of it's new calendar year.
While fireworks painted the sky with sulphur, charcoal and nitrate, my head was bobbing in a basin full water. My moans echoed down the drain and that's when i heard it again - you know, that still, small, inner voice? Funny thing is, mine isn't still or small - it's a big neanderthal man who offers me wisdom as bad rhyming couplets and puns. Standing with a rock above his head and bone through his nose i heard him say:
"Fireworks in sky not in eye"
Yes... yes, i realise.
I enjoyed the whole event despite having one teary, burning swollen eye with which to view the world.
"red-eyed rookie must eat fortune cookie"
I also bought a red balloon so i was easy to find. Turns out being almost 6-foot amongst a crowd of 5- footers is enough of a clue that i'm alive.
Commissioner street is not for ants. That place is recklessly alive with every kind of gangsta, thug and crime syndicate Quintin Tarintino could imagine. Navigating down town Joburg takes some skill - although i've seen most people just close their eyes, put their foot down and drive. After making my way successfully through the gauntlet of car guards cart wheeling in front of my car for attention i tried ramping the pavement a few times but to no avail. Turns out no matter what button i press, or dial i turn, or what choke i pull, my fox jetta just wont kick into diff lock.
I digress to impress.
Point is, we managed to park in a fairly well lit side street close to the festivities. Little did we know however, that all a well lit street on Commissioner provides is a chance for people to actually see you get hijacked.
But we braved the street anyway and it was worth it.
Commissioner street transformed into little China and highlighted the booming Chinese market of downtown Joburg. It was a melting pot of sound, smell and person. The fireworks were some of the best i'd ever seen and left us all a little more than blinded. Shell shocked and full of ash i stood standing with my big red ol balloon smiling and tearing at the the fire in the sky, the bravery of those around me and the dodgy heartbeat of an infamous street full celebration rather than desperation.
Once the dancing lion had made its way to the end of the street, the event was over and people just seemed to scatter in a matter of minutes. The remnants of the happy go lucky rainbow national crowd we stood in five minutes earlier were now just skittish shadows across abandoned buildings. No matter who you are, there are parts of Joburg that'll first steal your courage before anything else.
Sensing imminent danger - we approached two policeman getting into their vehicle and asked if they'd escort us. The reply was simple - "no, we're not going that way". I knew commissioner street was dangerous but damn, it's so dangerous that even the coppers refuse to go in it's direction.
So Gabrielle and I took a deep breathe and ran. Yes, we ran. Upon arrival we slowed as the sight of a foreign body standing at the car... no wait, he's at the door... no wait... he's getting into the car and bam. Just like that - he sits in my car - casual like. We had two options. The one was to run toward the vehicle screaming or to run away - screaming.
We took the third option. We just screamed.
The intruder who was by now so confused at what there was to steal in my car, eventually realised that our screams where in his honour. Seeing the disparity of my vehicle, I'm sure he contemplated leaving behind a few rands for me, but a good criming is all about the timing and so he casually slipped back out the vehicle as quickly as he had entered. Our screams had roused a fleet of men that bolted after nothing but a wispy footprint of man. We didn't hang around to see what had happened.
So we got in the car -grateful to still have it. I closed my eyes, put my foot down and drove. I don't know how we made it actually - what with my blindness, our shell shockednes and the horror of how blatantly incompetent the police force is.
Anyway,
I digress.
The point is - gratefulness. It's the year of the horse right - so no long faces?
While fireworks painted the sky with sulphur, charcoal and nitrate, my head was bobbing in a basin full water. My moans echoed down the drain and that's when i heard it again - you know, that still, small, inner voice? Funny thing is, mine isn't still or small - it's a big neanderthal man who offers me wisdom as bad rhyming couplets and puns. Standing with a rock above his head and bone through his nose i heard him say:
"Fireworks in sky not in eye"
Yes... yes, i realise.
I enjoyed the whole event despite having one teary, burning swollen eye with which to view the world.
"red-eyed rookie must eat fortune cookie"
I also bought a red balloon so i was easy to find. Turns out being almost 6-foot amongst a crowd of 5- footers is enough of a clue that i'm alive.
I digress to impress.
Point is, we managed to park in a fairly well lit side street close to the festivities. Little did we know however, that all a well lit street on Commissioner provides is a chance for people to actually see you get hijacked.
But we braved the street anyway and it was worth it.
Commissioner street transformed into little China and highlighted the booming Chinese market of downtown Joburg. It was a melting pot of sound, smell and person. The fireworks were some of the best i'd ever seen and left us all a little more than blinded. Shell shocked and full of ash i stood standing with my big red ol balloon smiling and tearing at the the fire in the sky, the bravery of those around me and the dodgy heartbeat of an infamous street full celebration rather than desperation.
Once the dancing lion had made its way to the end of the street, the event was over and people just seemed to scatter in a matter of minutes. The remnants of the happy go lucky rainbow national crowd we stood in five minutes earlier were now just skittish shadows across abandoned buildings. No matter who you are, there are parts of Joburg that'll first steal your courage before anything else.
Sensing imminent danger - we approached two policeman getting into their vehicle and asked if they'd escort us. The reply was simple - "no, we're not going that way". I knew commissioner street was dangerous but damn, it's so dangerous that even the coppers refuse to go in it's direction.
So Gabrielle and I took a deep breathe and ran. Yes, we ran. Upon arrival we slowed as the sight of a foreign body standing at the car... no wait, he's at the door... no wait... he's getting into the car and bam. Just like that - he sits in my car - casual like. We had two options. The one was to run toward the vehicle screaming or to run away - screaming.
We took the third option. We just screamed.
The intruder who was by now so confused at what there was to steal in my car, eventually realised that our screams where in his honour. Seeing the disparity of my vehicle, I'm sure he contemplated leaving behind a few rands for me, but a good criming is all about the timing and so he casually slipped back out the vehicle as quickly as he had entered. Our screams had roused a fleet of men that bolted after nothing but a wispy footprint of man. We didn't hang around to see what had happened.
So we got in the car -grateful to still have it. I closed my eyes, put my foot down and drove. I don't know how we made it actually - what with my blindness, our shell shockednes and the horror of how blatantly incompetent the police force is.
Anyway,
I digress.
The point is - gratefulness. It's the year of the horse right - so no long faces?
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