RIP Paul

World cup blues ends in tragedy. Paul the octopus has died!

Paul surprised the whole world time after time by rightly predicting matchwinners - including finalist Spain- throughout the worldcup. But maybe it stressed him out because Paul passed away peacefully in his sleep today in his German aquarium.

The world is grieving. Within an hour of his death, more than 150 messages of condolence were posted on Paul's "official" Facebook page. Paul was connected!

Joao

Damn. Friend got seriously injured in Afghanistan. Joao Silva. Portuguese lad but living in SA, with many years of experience (Balkans, MEast, pre-1994 SA township violence,...). Works for the NY Times.

He was one of the 4 lads of the so called Bang Bang Club. He was co-author of a book with same name about covering SA's township violence pre-1994. The book has just been turned into a movie.

Joao stepped on a mine in Kandahar province, after US mine clearance dogs passed over the area. He is receiving treatment at a US military field hospital, and will then be flown to the large, top-of-the-range US army hospital in Rammstein, Germany. Fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!

The pirate from Soweto

Pirates confusion. The Mpumalanga SAPS has confirmed it has arrested an Orlando Pirates player for possessing an unlicensed gun. Eish! Was it for defensive use or counter attack?

The men in blue confirmed that the player and 5 others were arrested in Mbombela and that they found a gun and 13 bullets in the player’s BMW during a regular stop and search police operation.

BMW, gun, bullets. Sounds like a rap video. In Mbombela... was the player going on target practising in Kruger park?

Or just a confused local pirate with Somali aspirations? It’s the admiration for the Soweto’s team’s flag that got the player confused with the pirates from the high seas. Education remains a challenge in SA!

Ups and Oeps

Up they go. The worldcup is done and dusted, and now Bafana Bafana start climbing the FIFA rankings. We gotta teach them timing!!

The new list reveals our boys jumped 6 spots and are now 52nd. I think we were somewhere near 82nd when the worldcup kick off. But I might be a bit wrong cuz the football showcase seems looooooong gone.

World champions Spain are still number one. The Dutch are 2nd and Brazil 3rd. Russia jumped from 25th to number 10. They were not even in South Africa. First African team is Egypt on the 11th spot. Ghana is 17th and Drogba's boys 2 spots lower. Papa New Guinea is 203rd and last.

From Up to Oeps! Earlier this month Germany beat Turkey 3-0 in a Euro 2012 qualifier. All fine. But then German Chancellor Angela Merkel rushed into the dressing room to congratulate the lads. Angela appologized afterwards. Hope there were enough beach towels!

Bands and pants

It's downhill for Rooney. From pants troubles to footy troubles.

Before getting married it was generally known that Man Utd striker Wayne Rooney liked to pay for sex. Then he got married and started a family. But it seems this didn't stop his moonlighting. And his private troubles started to rock his performances on the pitch of the famous Red Devils. And thus his manager started to get nervous and had a talk to his wild child. But as these things go (ask Tiger Woods) it's hard to stop a downhill train. So Rooney's performance started to get worse. And just at a moment where Man Utd really needed its striker to be in full swing. And thus at the bottom of the hill comes the hard reality and thus a breakdown in dealings between Rooney and his club, and thus a breakdown in contract renewal negotiations,... and thus much talk of Rooney leaving Man Utd very soon. There's only 1 person to blame!

From pants to bands. Irish superband U2 is coming to SA next February it seems. 2 Gigs, 1 in the FNB stadium in Jozi and 1 in Cape Town. At least the world cup stadiums will be full again for once.

The week that was

One of those 7 days that passed like it was just a flash.... An extremely brief moment in history.

33 Miners. Body guards and apologies. Liverpool FC court- and boardroom drama. Led Zeppelin remasters. Kalk Bay. Book launch. House by the Scottish lake/dam. Phonecall at 930pm. Fashion. Township rugby. Rhinos and lions. London. The Times didn't arrive. Community patrols. Dogs. Malta. Bees in the shark tank on Saturday. Sudan. Crowded House. Bridge School benefit. C To C, Steenberg, Norwood, Auckland Park, Cresta. Dirty car (and every car guard reminding me of it). Visa. Heita and 8ta. The return of Mbeki (every TV or paper last week had Thabo in it). Thabo-overdose!

That fly

It's seriously annoying! A super slow, arrogant, semi-suicidal, fat fly near one's laptop's keyboard. Just crawling slowly and ever closer without respect, boundaries, nor pre-warning.

A slight movement of the left hand makes her/him move - slowly again - a few centimeters away. But then he/she comes back within seconds. Back and closer. Without any excuses. Just moving on as slow as it can get. A handicapped, old-aged ant is 100 times faster.

To kill or not to kill?!?

New left hand movement. Slow reaction from that damn fly. But he/she just crawls back like there is no issue.

So a wider, faster move from my left hand and off he/she finally goes. Damn slow, fat, ugly fly. Know your territory!

Up!!

Chile is worldnews for sure. It's gripping reality TV with real people, real emotions, real hopes and fears. Humanity at its best. United for once. Equipment from South Africa and Austria. Advice from the US. Army specialists from Chile on stand-by. Worldwide media. It's amazing.

ETV is not eTV

Sights & Sounds

This must be South Africa. You wake up with an SMS from your Community Forum that says there has been an armed robbery in your 'hood. Then you listen to the radio while having a shower and a zebra is on the loose, and 25% of cops in Tshwane are under investigation for corrupt activities.

At least there was the lovely smell of ther first (light) rain....

Red

Merseyside and Boston. 1 Struggle. 1 Fight. 1 Goal. United in arms! You will never walk alone...

Liverpool FC is in a mess on the field, and in the boardroom. At least the boardroom stalemate might see the end of the tunnel soon. I said might.

The Reds' board has agreed to sell the club to the owners of US baseball legends Boston Red Sox. United in colour!

Price: US$477 million.

But - there is always a but - the current American owners of Liverpool FC are not keen to sell to the Boston baseball champs. So the board might have to take the Liverpool fans' much hated Tom Hicks and George Gilett to court to force them to sell. It ain't over till it's over. The Yanks duo owners want much more cash.

If the deal happens it will be an historic handshake of two clubs with a rich history of pride and glory.

BCC

SA's music producer Kevin Shirley is kicking it once more in the international rock scene.

Kevin's the brainchild behind Black Country Communion, a new supergroup that hit the UK's rockcharts like a thunderstorm.

The 4 lads that form BCC come with some titanic rock credentials: Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath,...), bluesrock master guitarist Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham (son of legendary Led Zep's John Bonham, Foreigner,...., Jason played for Led Zeppelin during their 2007 reunion gigs), and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Alice Cooper,...). And the result of this massive cocktail is the selftitled debut album by BCC that was released end September. The band's name is a reference to England's industrial (broken) heartland where Hughes and Bonham come from.