District 9

Just picking up from that lunch memory at the Troyeville Hotel I mentioned yesterday. The cold Castle lager I was happily sipping away that day should have been to celebrate my friend’s Hollywood breakthrough. But my friend James Taylor, fully present at that Portuguese lunch, didn’t mention then that he had worked on the now famous sci-fi thriller District 9 which was shot in South Africa.

Indeed James helped building some of the props and sets for that blockbuster. Made in South Africa by a South African with South Africans,.... and with little big help from a Kiwi brother (aka Peter Jackson). A down under partnership with little cash but an awesome result. 112 Minutes of it.

But James didn’t boast about it at all. He just mentioned it en passant a few days or weeks later when we were hanging out together again. For him that District 9 job seemed just another creative matter done. Done and dusted and moving on.

Anyway. Indeed we should have toasted that Castle for James’ District 9 artwork. Sadly James won’t participate in any follow up to District 9. He died earlier this month. Just like that. A matter of a missing heartbeat. Or maybe he was just taken away by those District 9 aliens? Maybe they loved his artwork and hijacked him to their home turf. Joburg style.

And as September slips further down history second by second, some life is gone while other life gets born. The proof is in this photo below. Just some baby pigeon in my garden getting ready to face the universe. Tough task ahead.



p.s. It’s Heritage Day today in South Africa. Remembrance of the past while building the future. In football/soccer terms (to get some 2010 fever inserted) it would be: remembering the early games while building a better, winning team.

SA publishing house Jacana Media released a few years ago their “Exploring our national days” series. 7 Books about South Africa’s national days (public holidays) written for the youth of the land. The one on Heritage Day is this one here below. Check it out....