Their Own Me

We all saw the Prime Minister of Iraq, telling the world how grateful the people were that Saddam was gone for good. I have no doubts that life without Saddam is a lot better, but I never the less think that life with the USA watching over them is a no better trade.

These people need to find their own identity. Find their own way in the world. It might not be easy at first, but then change is always hard in the beginning.

At the moment with all the foreign solders around, it's just making things worse. How is one suppose to know where you fit in, if your always being watched over by somebody with a big gun looking down on you as if your a naughty child. Won't all the military in these cities just breed more fear? And we all know that hate is born out of fear.

As for the Prime Minister trying to convince everyone that everything is just honky- dory, of course he won't say it's as bad as it is. This little war placed him in power. His not about to say that it's going badly, if he did he might not be around for much longer.

When Beslan Became "Bristol"

MacDara send me the URL to this article by Andrew O'Hagan posted at Submit Response. Which is as just plain sad. (The views of right wingers that is, not the article)

Popstar Ovaries

If I see one more silly actress become a popstar wannabe, I might have too hunt them down, strap them to a metal table and remove their ovaries with a rusty spoon and replace those reproductive organs with barbed wire!

Things I hate About Afrikaans Radio And TV. Part 1

While SABC 2 is still celebrating Emmy nominations of such great shows like the sitcom Stokvel and crime series Zero Tolerance, a thunderstorm of bad Afrikaans sitcoms are looming on the horizon to upset everything.

Up to a year ago I was as happy as a seashore clam with the Afrikaans sitcoms on SABC 2. They were fun to watch, gave one a good laugh in the evenings and were filled with wacky off the wall characters. Their plot lines, weren't highly sophisticated but were still well enough written so that one kept watching.

But the new wave of shows are disgusting me, to the point of wanting to take a boiling hot shower in holy water in order to get myself clean again. Afrikaans slapstick comedy reached new all times lows when the show Gauteng-Aleng-Aleng aired.

G-A-A, is one of the worst examples of slapstick comedy, ever! The plot uses many of the old Vetkoek Paleis gimicks. We have the dumb blond in E minor squeak, some trailer park trash, and of course our beloved cape coloured, with cape flats brogue. Using the lowest forms of toilet gags, to ever be heard on prime time, and some equally bad sex jokes, this show aspires to be no more then a Vetkoek squeal, in a different setting, with the funny bits edited out.

I feel truly sorry for talented actors like Frank Opperman and Alvin Bruinders who have to say some of the mind boggling dialogue which is spoken in this show. I was shocked to discover that this show was made by well known director Willie Esterhuisen who not only wrote, but also directed, and starred in the smash hit "Vetlkoek Paleis". It's a sad day when a great director turns from doing it because he loves it, to doing it for the perks of having your name on the credits at the end of a show.

So why post a long rant about it? Because I have a bad feeling that this is soon going to become the kind of show people think Afrikaans speakers like to watch. It plummets the public opinion on all Afrikaans people to places it has never been before. Really people, do we need anymore bad press? Wasn't the apartheid era bad enough for our image?

It's time we set the bar a bit higher and try to see if maybe an Afrikaans show can get nominated for the most respected comedy show next year.

Footnote: These are not the ramblings of some old, out of touch "tannie", so lets please not even go there when trying to defend this trash.

Bloggers: Media Watchdog

"Bloggers are holding journalist accountable" claims Poynter Online's Kelly McBride in her article "Journalism in the Age of Blogs".

I could not agree more with the above quote, bloggers are teaching the media that they are no longer the only dogs in the news yard anymore. The public can now find thousands of different angles on a story with one click of the left mouse button. No longer is the official media the only oasis of information in the desert, bloggers have opened fast food news cafe's along that desert route.

For the first time in decades there is a community of people that are not only revealing the problems with the media, but are doing so with authority and are not willing to be swept under the carpet like some electronic nuisance.

My questions are whether this new sense of responsibility is placing more pressure on bloggers to write about current events and politics, rather than about more everyday activities? And if bloggers are being considered media watch dogs, who then is watching the bloggers?

Hatfield In Crisis

Pretoria university students have given up their student drinking and partying rights, opting instead to stay home during weekends and avoid Hatfield square and party spots which are fast becoming dangerous hangouts late at night.

After the last attack on a university student we were promised that the local police would be out in full force at night, keeping an eye on the nightclub and bar areas where the crime and violence seems to be most prominent. For the first few nights there was a noticeable increase in the police force monitoring the area, but then as the hype about the attack died down so did dedication of the police force.

Now one can understand that there might be more dangerous areas in Pretoria, which are considered more important to patrol, but are any of these areas as densely populated with young people as Hatfield or more importantly with young female students whom mostly have to walk home after a night of parting since they don't have cars?

I think the town counsel is slacking off in the area of student protection. If you can't spare the police force then at least try to start a safety awareness campaign to try and tone down the violence. Start thinking of ways to cull the high amount of alcohol assumed in this area, which only makes the possibility of anything happening so much worse.

I believe the council never bothered to put up a fight for Hatfield's neighboring suburb Sunnyside when it started on its downward spiral and I'm seeing them take the same indifferent attitude with Hatfield.

Networks Vote Yes On Bush

If the news networks were asked whom they would like to have win in the US election, the answer would most likely be a resounding cooperate vote for Bush.

When your in the business of selling news, the first rule is: The more exciting and controversial, the more newspapers are sold and the more viewers tune in. Sensationalism and scandal unfortunately sell better then everyday honesty and goodwill.

News networks are pro-Bush since they are more likely to make stacks of cash while his in power. It's not about whether his a good president or not, (even though it should be) but rather how much he brings into the bank account at the end of the financial year. Networks are definitely going to make more money from Bush invading oil soaked countries then from Kerry shaken hands and making friends

Its all about who guarantees you the better headline at the end of the day.

We shouldn't fool ourselves into believing that network executives are truth seeking saints. These are businessmen, not journalist, they didn't promise the public honesty and integrity at any stage. But they did promise interesting news 24 hours a day, and interesting news isn't always the proper news.

No, It's Not A Bird. Just Bad Journalism

Sky news showed us Batman standing on the ledge, Batman getting off the ledge. They even followed Batman on his journey to the police station, street for street, traffic light to traffic light. All this, but little else.

What about the story behind the mask man?

The whole story was handle with little real journalistic flare. Most of the news channels just pointed a camera at some guy in a superhero outfit for almost three hours and tried to fool the world into thinking that was good journalism. This isn’t professional journalism, its lazy journalism.

What about his ex-wife and kids? One would’ve thought they would be central to this story. Why didn’t anyone try getting an interview with her? Or at least try to obtain a statement of some sort. No, the ex-wife was ignored, the details of the custody battle, that Batman was involved in, was ignored and almost any other angle to this story.

Basic questions were never asked. Why did he loose his children? What does he think was unfair about his case. What happened between him and his wife that she now considers him not fit to see his offspring. These aren’t superhuman questions. but the corner stones of this story.

So why didn’t anyone look up these tiny important details? Very simple, cause the image of lone father figure fighting for his rights are far more appealing to the viewers at home then a trespasser that might have done something wrong.

Viewers love a underdog and the news networks know this.

OK so you want to keep this guy clean as a whistle. You don’t want everybody tuning to HBO or Fox. I can understand that. but why not try to find an even more unique angle to this story.

How about how comic giants, Marvel and DC comics. feel about having their benevolent icons involved with such behavior?

Did we every hear that story or any other? No, cause we were too busy focusing on Batman shivering on a ledge.

Hells Fire, Holy Water And Physiologists

The physiologist lady said I had to talk about and express my feelings about my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Express my emotions?! What does she want me to say? That it's like totally cool? Not! She wants me to deal with it as a show and tell project.

I have my doubts about her. She once told me that my OCD might be due to the loss of my unborn twin sibling during my mother's pregnancy. Losing my twin somehow placed me in a state of constant anxiety. She suggested a session of hypnotic therapy to heal this void in my life. Yes, she said the word heal to someone with OCD.

I'd love to see the book she got this bit of genius out off, so that I can rip it up, throw some holy water on it, and burn it in righteous hells fire.

Project List

I thought that it would be a good idea to post a list of all the pieces I'm working on. This way I can tick them off one by one and feel like I accomplished something. Since the list will be on the site there's no way I can "accidentally" loose it when I get lazy.

The List so far goes something like this:

Shattered Glass Essay And Review

The College Of The Blind Article

A Closer Look At Dreams Essay

Sites And Sounds Of Pretoria

The Life And Times of The Teletubbies

I like My Politics With A Side Order Of Decency

The remembrance ceremonies today was a triumph for US politics and showed that there is still some common decency remaining in their politicians.

I rummaged around internet news sites and was pleasantly surprised. What I had expected to find was a long list of speeches by politicians, with the occasional campaign slogan thrown in the mix, reminding the grieving masses that there was still an election to focus on. Instead I found that most politicians opted to stay out of the lime light and give the day the respect it deserved.

I believe the Republicans deserve a special mention. Not one rant or rave about terrorism that was worthy of the frontpages?! I'm impressed. The speech writers must have taken the day off.

But I'm cynical, and it's still morning in the US, they might have saved their speeches for the evening.

When Hurricanes Attack

Earlier tonight hurricane Ivan, a category 4 hurricane out of a scale of 5, made its present felt on the eastern shore of Jamaica, claiming 33 lives. This death toll will most certainly rise, since many of the islanders have refused to be evacuated to nearby shelters, claiming that they cannot leave, for fear of having their houses robbed in their absence.

The citizens of Jamaica are stuck at this moment between a rock and a hurricane. They are being forced to choose between loosing their lives or losing what little they have to live from. That these citizens even have to consider making such a decision is appalling. Should the Jamaican government not be able to assure that in a case of emergency one can go to a place of safety without fearing you'll loose everything? These are tax paying citizens. One of the benefits of paying ones taxes is the assurance that you will be protected and safe in a time of crisis. These people do not sound safe or protected by anyone, least of all their government.

Hopefully events tonight will spur on the the Jamaican government to improve the current sate of security and the force them to sit down and draw up a proper plan in cases of nation wide emergency.

Green

I found this writing exercise in a book I bought a while ago. The suggestion was that one should try to convey an image from ones past in words. It's suppose to aid one in being able to write from memory. I tried it and I must say not only was it a good memory exercise, but it also help in venting some old feelings I had about my grandma.

The Green Living Room

There was green everywhere. It was a never ending field of green furniture. The curtains were to blame. As sunlight shone through their layers it spill over into the room, gluing the color to

everything within.

On the balcony of the green living room was a old bench swing that would squeak and creek as it moved in the wind. We never swung on it, the adults claimed it was dangerous and that the worn iron chains would break under our weight. But we knew the real reason: Grandma did not like children marching through her living room.

Nobody entered the living room, nobody swung on the swing, cause grandma no longer could make it up those thirty odd stairs and the children had been sent away to play.

Beyers Naude 1915-2004

As a country we bid farewell to Beyers Naude.

Once described as a "shining beacon" by former President Nelson Mandela, he was a man that had the courage to face and stand in the path of the raging storm that was known as apartheid. He fought for the freedom of a people that were not his and by doing so became an outcast in his own community, and within the church which he had served for years.

Beyers Naude was more then just a freedom fighter, but a mirror that showed many of the Afrikaans community what they could become it they only gave change a chance.

He will be missed not only by his family and friends, but by a whole nation.

Of Vikings And Jellyfish

There is not a part of my body that's not aching right now. I'm all tired out after a day of sitting in front of the PC, trying to give the site a new and improved look.

I don't even want to imagine how it must have felt for a Viking coming home after a long day of fighting, pillaging and burning. One must have felt like death warmed up. And all there was to come home too, was your wife, the kids and a warm meal. No TV. No warm bath. No caffeine fix.

No luxury.

Modern day living has made us soft and spineless, like jellyfish swimming in a big global ocean. We complain about having to sit at desks, typing our lives away in temperature controlled office buildings. What hard lives we lead.

I think none of us would really like to go back to the time of sword and fable. No matter how romantic it might seem. For we were just not constructed to be part of that world.

The Mission

I keep on asking myself why I'm doing this?

Maybe I have some strange fear of the blank white page, that has manifested itself in the unexplainable urge to blog or maybe I just want to fill more valuable web space with whimsical ramblings.

Unfortunately it's nothing as dramatic as that. Wish is was though, would've made this post a whole lot more exciting.

Truthfully I just need a place where I can practice my writing in a format that forces me to keep on writing and not go through those lazy stages where I don't write anything for weeks. I've also noticed an almost artificial quality to my writing which I hope daily or weekly posting will improve.

The mission therefore is to: improve writing at all costs and take no prisoners while doing it.