Friday, December 31, 2010

And where it went....

The logic speaks for itself logically.

A 2010 diary stops when 2010 is dead and gone. As 2010 moves from reality into history, this related diary follows that same path. It’s over. It will only be referred to as a relic from the past. Days gone by. Another year bites the dust. That’s the logic of life’s journey. Tick tock. And where it went....

And as this truth is as solid as logic itself, there is no turning back nor manipulation of time. This is it. Enjoy what follows. 2011 ... It’s your turn now. Switch your stage lights on.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The odds

Looking for some (real) news these days is nearly a mission from hell. Every media outlet on any platform is overloaded with Year Reviews and Best Of 2010 lists. They are as useful as an arctic Northface jacket in the sandpit of Darfur.

But just to add to the meaningless waste of time and space,... here’s what comes to my mind when 2010 kicks the bucket.

We had of course our headline magnet Julius Malema. We won’t forget that bloody agent moment. Staying in the same downtown corridors. The ANC remains (only) focused on internal power struggles ahead of the 2012 Bloemfontein party conference (which – the way it’s going - seems will make the backstabbing of Polokwane look like a tea party). JZ wasn’t much around it seems. He has been collecting airmiles (didn’t we criticise Mbeki for being on the road too much??). He seemed a bit MIA most of the time, but then hit back with a cabinet reshuffle that looked more a pre-Bloemfontein positioning tactic than a delivery-based assesment.

Then of course we had the toilet sage in the Western Cape. How a load of crap can turn nasty and beyond ridiculousness.

And for sure we had our headline grabbing honeymoon killing. The Dewani mystery. This will be without a doubt a very juice tale for 2011. And Hollywood's scriptwriters are probably hard at work with it too. Maybe new public relations spin for SA. Cheap SAA offers. Fly in for the weekend, stay at a nice hotel or lodge, and we’ll add a hit man if requested. A gap in the market!

There was also this little saga about Gupta and his helicopter and Zoo Lake.

And of course the second half of 2010 had plenty of sushi stories and semi-naked bodies as serving trays. Eish.

Zapiro kept kicking around. Cartoons with a Christian touch pissed off the Christians. When a bearded Muslim was drawn, the Muslims screamed and shouted insults. When a reference to Israel was depicted, the Jewish community cried foul. When JZ was fitted a showerhead (again) the ANC spindoctors went on the attack. Like a merry go round and round. And 2011 will be the same selective anger and outrage.
Across the Limpopo and beyond, 2010 really had only 1 big hitter and that was/is the ongoing WikiLeaks thriller. Great stuff. More to come for sure.

So that’s that for 2010,.... oh I forgot. Some months ago we went into delirium for the worldcup. South Africa was another country for those few weeks,.... but soon after we fell back to reality (crime, dirty politics, strikes,...). Well done to Spain for taking the cup to Madrid. Shame on the French. And Bafana Bafana shouldn’t worry too much about being the first host to be kicked out in the first round. In 2022 when the football circus (and FIFA’s money making racket) moves to Qatar, our boys won’t be alone anymore in that category.

So 2011 is getting ready to come and tease us. Besides the Dewani saga, we’ll have guaranteed more and more Sarah Palin nonsense as the US is moving slowly into election fever (first primaries kick off early 2012). SA will happily host U2 for 2 gigs. The ANC will continue on its dark slope of internal fights and gravy train ticketing. I hope I’m wrong, but the odds are against me.

And probably Man Utd will be England’s champion again despite attempts by Arsenal and Man City to take the crown. Chelsea will fire its coach. Barcelona will make Madrid bite the dust once again.

And probably nature will scream and shout again with floods, blizzards, earthquakes and droughts in parts of the globe. The pattern of increased freak weather will make the globe warming doubters hang their heads in shame. Wake up and get real!

Stay sane!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Condoms!!

When on Friday night we tick tock into 2011, there will be 6.934.196.000 humans roaming planet earth.

That's 80 million more than when we started 2010.

A German population organisation has done these new calculations. 80 Million more in 1 year. That's a frightening rhythm. It is expected that by mid next year we will cross the 7 billion mark. Overcrowded or what?????

Every second, an average of 2.6 people are being born. It's a thundering train to too many on a too small planet.

Scary.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Daniel Balsam

This is a story about the little man fighting the evil empires.

American Daniel Balsam had enough of spam and ad emails filling up his inbox every day. So he took the senders to court.... and won. And won, and won, and won,...

8 Years ago Daniel had enough of the crap filling his emails and went on a revenge trip. He launched www.danhatesspam.com, resigned from his marketing job and went on to study law.

And his hit-back campaign had great success. His lawsuits won him more than 1 million US$ so far, and fighting illicit email senders has become his full time job.

Kick that. Keep it up Daniel!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Aubergine

Just like that. We got invited to lunch in Cape Town. Short notice but no worries.

After some options were checked, we ended up at Aubergine in Gardens. And that was just perfect!

A little gastronomic haven tucked away in Barnet Street (number 39). Fantastic setting. Fantastic food (and we had fantastic company too). A real gastronomic pearl discovered.


Check it out (urgently!!): www.aubergine.co.za

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The 12th month so far

Slightly hectic. 10 Flights since Nov 29. 3 Countries.

Ipod Nano-Touch. Tusker. From 43 to 44. Mines. John West. Good behavior and bad behavior. Pre-2006 rejection. The Nile. Aubergine. Birth. The slowness of speed. Vredehoek. Newlands. Pinelands. Blouberg. V&A. Observatory. Camps Bay. Peninsula. Rosebank here and Rosebank there. Avis. Sun and rain. Hyndai. Toyota. Boeing. Adidas. Puma. La Senza. Cape Union Mart. Spur madness. Old Khaki. Exclusive Books. Primi. Ipad. Randclub. La Motte Sauvignon Blanc. Snow and more snow (but far away). Trojan. Customer copy. Cheque in the mail. Zambia. Standard Bank. Green pool. WikiLeaks. 50.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Stupidity Unltd.

And there he drove by this morning. A bakkie with a sticker on the back that read All White Men Are Racist.

As simple as that! A Monday morning statement from a caveman. How racist is he himself who put such a sticker on ones car? It's about the kettle and the pot.....

Simplicity of mind is stupidity. Stay in your cave!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

BrusselsLeaks

In the slipstream of WikiLeaks comes BrusselsLeaks.com.

A anonymous group have set up the site to spread information about what happens in the corridors of power of the European Union institutions. Especially the power and spin of the many lobbygroups will be exposed.

The site owners better get good lawyers too and speak to WikiLeaks founder Asange about the revenge of the powers that be.

All in the name of freedom of information. The Babylon Towers of the EU has many dark corners and secret corridors....

Sunday, December 12, 2010