I noticed this outside Wynberg Library recently. I wonder if they meant “barcode” migration?
I meet a Mysterious Stranger
30 Jul 2010 6 Comments
in Inspiration
I met a mysterious stranger while walking the dogs on the Rondebosch common today:
It was clearly digesting something, and allowed me to come quite close to take photos. It is a mole snake, which means it is not poisonous but can give a nasty bite. My dogs never noticed it, to my relief.
There was a much larger snake on the common until recently – my father saw it several times – but sadly, somebody killed it. I hope this one is luckier.
Butterfingers
13 Jul 2010 Leave a comment
in Inspiration
I made a promise a little while ago, to finish my exhibition and find a gallery. So anyway – I’m not sure the glass jars work, and I’m considering replacing them with big perspex display cases for each piece. Fairly expensive but worth it, I thought. I ordered one case, and went to pick it up.
As I came in the door, holding the case, fumbling with keys, and with dogs milling round my knees:
I dropped it.
It cracked.
Damn.
I Promise
01 Jul 2010 2 Comments
in Inspiration
Making promises to myself does not seem to work.
Maybe if I make them here, they will stick?
I promise that I will:
- Finish my show.
- Find a gallery to exhibit in.
And if possible:
- Before the end of this year.
End of a winter’s day
25 Jun 2010 3 Comments
in Inspiration
Went for a walk with my father, after the rain. Sunshine glittering off the wet world.
Buwaaaaaaaaap!
11 Jun 2010 2 Comments
in Inspiration
It’s day 1 of the World Cup, so we took the train into town and went walking down “fan’s walk” to the new stadium. It was pretty amazing. The train was packed with excited people, hooting and tooting, and we piled out at Cape Town station to an absolute roar of vuvuzela’s, trains hooting and people shouting and waving flags.
Because it was still relatively early, the crowd was fairly thin, but well draped with flags. Vuvuzelas were droning all around, a great buzzing hum all over the city: Buwaaaaaaap bwaaaaap buuwuwuwuuaaaaaaap!
We walked all the way down to the stadium, where people were starting to gather. The match between South Africa and Mexico was going on at the time. It was quite something to hear the entire city go “WHOOOOOOAAAAAAH” all around you, when there was a goal. Here is the stadium glinting in the setting sun: More
Got no money – but there are some advantages
08 Jun 2010 Leave a comment
in Inspiration
One of the best things about not having a full time job any more is that I can walk the dogs any time I like. So I was able to take advantage of a break in the clouds today, and have a quick, and rather damp walk on the Rondebosch Common:
My companions: Pippin the great – More
Full Moon Shower Songs at Richard’s
02 May 2010 2 Comments
in Inspiration Tags: acoustic, music, shower songs
Shower Songs just did another house concert, celebrating a full moon night at our friend Richard’s place. The audience was small – I think most people were still recovering from Africa Burns – but it went really well.
“Shower Songs” is Brendon on mandolin and myself doing vocals, performing the kind of songs we like to sing in the shower:
We do a really eclectic mix of everything from folk to punk with bits of jazz in between. Most of the songs are quite dark, and tend to feature coffins, prisons and guilt. For example, St James Infirmary…
I went down to St James Infirmary
And I saw my baby there
Lying on a white marble table
So cold, so sweet, so fair.
When I die, I want you all there to bury me
In my box top Stetson hat,
Put a gold piece on my watch chain,
So the boys will know I died standing pat.
Get six gamblers to carry my coffin;
And a pretty girl to sing me a song –
Put the three ball on my hearse wagon,
And we’ll raise hell as we roll along…
Or that fabulous song from the movie “The Triplets of Belleville”:
I won’t finish my life in Timbuktu
Cheeks so tight my lips are turning blue
I’d like to be wrinkled
Utterly wrinkled
Wrinkled like a Triplet from Belleville!
I won’t be an old woman in Singapore
Playing Scrabble and eating petits-fours
I want to be wicked,
Utterly wicked,
Wicked like the Triplets from Belleville!
The “house concert” idea works really well. The host invites a number of friends, and we show up and play right there in the lounge. It doesn’t need a lot of space – we’ve played in some pretty small rooms – and we don’t use a lot of equipment – just Brendon’s acoustic amp. It’s very informal and friendly. Richard and Catherine created a lovely cosy space (thanks guys! ❤ <3).
And thanks also to Niklas Zimmer for the excellent photographs – all photos in this post are by Niklas. You can see his Flickr portfolio here.
Wind Harps and Black Pigs
12 Apr 2010 10 Comments
in Inspiration, Myself Tags: wind harp
Yesterday morning Brendon and some friends set up a wind harp on Rondebosch common:
A wind harp is a long, long wire, stretched taut in the wind, and attached to some kind of resonating surface. The wind blows across the length of the wire and sets up a pattern of vibrations. These are amplified by the resonator so that a human ear can hear them more easily.
It’s quite magical. The harp itself is so simple and yet when it sings it connects you to a world of vibration and energy that is usually imperceptible. It’s like a small hole in reality with sounds leaking through from the other side 🙂 More
Misty Morning
02 Apr 2010 2 Comments
in Inspiration, Myself Tags: kloof nek, landscape, photo
I’ve been hitting deadlines, and neglecting my blog. Just a quick post to share this morning’s walk: the sun burning away the mist over Constantia Neck.
SpeakZA!
24 Mar 2010 Leave a comment
in Inspiration Tags: desktop activist, speakza
This article is by Sipho Hlongwane. It is a call for bloggers to raise their voices against the ANC Youth League’s attempts to erode freedom of the press in South Africa.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/comradesipho
Facebook: http://facebook.com/sipho.hlongwane
Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic
safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.
The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.
We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President.
We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.
Blog Roll
thoughtleader.co.za/siphohlongwane
rwrant.co.za
vocfm.co.za/blogs/munadia/
vocfm.co.za/blogs/shafiqmorton/
blogs.news24.com/needpoint
capetowngirl.co.za
thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo
thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith
letterdash.com/one-eye-only
boyuninterrupted.blogspot.com
amandasevasti.com
blog.empyrean.co.za/
letterdash.com/brencro
6000.co.za
chrisroper.co.za
pieftw.com
hamishpillay.wordpress.com
memoirs4kimya.blogspot.com
thoughtleader.co.za/azadessa
watkykjy.co.za
fredhatman.co.za
thelifeanddeathchronicles.blogspot.com/
blogs.timeslive.co.za/common-dialogue/
www.clivesimpkins.blogs.com/
mashadutoit.wordpress.com
nicharalambous.com
sarocks.co.za
blogs.timeslive.co.za/stompies/
helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
01universe.blogspot.com
groundwork.worpress.com
iwrotethisforyou.me
fionasnyckers.book.co.za
attentiontodetail.wordpress.com
blogs.women24.com/editor
www.missmillib.blogspot.com
snowgoose.co.za
dreamfoundry.co.za
www.vanoodle.blogspot.com
www.exmi.co.za
cat-dubai.blogspot.com
alistairfairweather.com
www.zanedickens.com
www.nickhuntdavis.com
guysa.blogspot.com
book.co.za
baldy.co.za
skinnylaminx.com
blogs.african-writing.com/zukiswa
www.mielie.wordpress.com
blogs.timeslive.co.za/gatherer/
thoughtleader.co.za/sarahbritten
stii.co.za
blogs.news24.com/FSB_AP
twistedkoeksuster.blogspot.com
whensmokegetsinyoureyes.blogspot.com/
trinklebean.wordpress.com
commentry.wordpress.com/
matthewbuckland.com
blogs.news24.com/colour-me-fran
gormendizer.co.za
www.exmi.co.za/
moralfibre.co.za/
gnatj.com/
synapses.co.za
fsi.org.za/
simon.co.za/speakza
khadijapatel.co.za/
ravingfans.co.za/
harassedmom.co.za/
Little dead kingfisher
07 Mar 2010 Leave a comment
in Inspiration Tags: drawing, pattern
I’ve nearly finished writing another short story so I’m allowed to play with patterns in Photoshop again. I used this scan I made of a little dead Kingfisher:
I found him lying on the side-walk, poor little thing. Being a heartless artist, I plopped him on my scanner and made use of his lovely feathers: More
Design Indaba 2010 – Alejandro Aravena
28 Feb 2010 6 Comments
in Design Indaba, Inspiration Tags: alejandro aravena, housing, social housing
One of the most thought-provoking speakers at Design Indaba 2010: Alejandro Aravena.
Alejandro is a Chilean architect who focuses on that most challenging of problems – social housing for the poor. His talk was rather like the projects he showed us: stark, harsh, and with no attempt to soften unpleasant realities.
The audience did not like everything he said. More
Rondebosch Common – Summer, Winter, Spring
27 Feb 2010 Leave a comment
in Inspiration Tags: rondebosch common
The common is hot and dry now. Its difficult to remember what it was like only a couple of months ago. This is what it looks like now, in summer:
In winter its all mud and water:
In spring it’s covered in flowers:
And now, in summer –
Design Indaba 2010 – Christien Meindertsma
27 Feb 2010 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration Tags: christien meindertsma, design indaba 2010
Christien Meindertsma spoke on the last day of the Design Indaba 2010. She has a quietly confident style and a subtle sense of humour. Her talk was thought provoking and intriguing.
Christien is fascinated by the link between products and the materials they are made out of. Even when we have some understanding of what something is made of – the emotional and physical link is lacking. Christien attempts to remind us of this link.
For example, the “One Sheep Cardigan” project, in which she knitted a cardigan made out of all the wool of one specific sheep.
The cardigan is accompanied by the sheep’s identity ear-tag (the small yellow object) a “passport” of the sheep in question, and a trophy ribbon: More
Masha du Toit 
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