virgin

From a WC door handle, in the ladies' locker room at the Virgin gym, hung a bold, round, red sign that said: This machine is out of order. Why not ask a fitness consultant about an alternative exercise? I was too scared, so I declined.

food for thought, in a manner of speaking

Bloggers always ramble off some sort of excuse after returning from a looong break. Sometimes they promise not repeat such "bad" behaviour again.

I, as could be expected, intend to do no such thing. I absolutely and explicitly refuse to be guilt-ridden and tormented amidst a search for, at the very least, half-inspirational material to write about or report on. Life, sometimes, is boring; it's sometimes uninspiring; but more often than not, in my case, it's very very busy. And as a challenged writer, being swamped is certainly no Muse.

During seasons of busyness, one must learn to prioritise. In now particular order, other than the order in which they appear in my mind and tip off onto the keys of my not-so-white keyboard, my highest priorities are listed here: Friends, family (for the love of alliteration), work, sleep, "quiet time", Izandla Zethemba art class... (I got bored with making the list, so I stopped. -Ed)

So, as an attempt to get back in the game... here is a Friday afternoon titbit for your amusement: Check this out.

Have a good one. 'Til Monday... maybe.

I'll be right back

This blog is taking a short break until I manage to figure out how to get it back on track as it has drifted off and started to become something that it wasn't intended to be when it was first conceived, sort of like this sentence...

When bored at work, engage in mildly funny email correspondence with a co-worker on the other side of the room.

James: Hellllooooo

Its the noise maker again just giving a friendly reminder about updating your decor files. I left the final files in my folder so I dunno if you need reference or whatever. Just trying to pull you out of the path of a beeeeg crap ball that might fall on your head from downstairs (yes, gravity is reversed).

That is all. You may go now.

....

Meeow.

Me: Thanks Mr. Cooke. Your reminder is both welcomed and much appreciated. I would gladly look at the files in your folder which you are making available to me so kindly. As for the generous gesture of pulling me "out of the path of a beeeeg crap ball"... kind sir, how will I ever repay you?

Yours in humble sincerity.

Woof, woof.

P.S. I'm going back to my padded cage this weekend where I'll be medicated, in case you were wondering.

J: Mr. eh?

Only my drug pushers and mafia enforcers call me Mr.
Please, call me Don James. As for your padded cage, where are you keeping this cage?
Can I get one? I often want somewhere to hide from updates, final PDFs and "the process we have here". A nice steel cage sounds perfect.

Oh and thanks for the link.

Meeow.

M: Dearest Don James,

I get taken to the cage. I don't know where it is. It's all such a blur... The agony... The voices in my head say they're slowly killing me. Will you help me?

Woof.

J: Dearest Miss Woof

That is what the Don is here for. He is concerned about his fellow citizens and you only need ask for help. Do you need somebody "taken care" of? If drugs are your thing then I have cousin in New Jersey who is always willing to help. My big Italian mafia ears are open.

Don Meeow

M: My Don,

It concerns me that you refer to yourself in the 3rd person... well, in the first sentence at least.

By the way, does your cousin owe you a favour?

Don't worry about me, my dearest Don, I don't think there is much anyone can do for me now. I think I will end it myself, before the others get to me. Shhh, I think they're listening...

Yours...
Virginia Woof

J: Dearest Virgina Woof
(nice one b.t.w)

The Don does refer to himself that way the Don does. Yes, I got my cousin out of a theft charge - he was stealing looks at my sister. Ha!

The others? The Don is worried. But he knows you are a strong lady. You will get through. And if the voices dont stop, just poke them again with an earbud.

Sincerly
Don Meeow.

M: Dear Donny (You don't mind my calling you that, do you? That's what your mother calls you, isn't it?)

Your wisdom never ceases to amaze me. I will go out for earbuds at once! Oh, but I fear I might be followed. Do you perhaps have a spare one? I could exchange it for some information I might have on a conversation I might have overheard between Capo Crimine and Picciotto... One inmate to another.

Virginia

P.S. As I have nothing better to do, could I blog this conversation?

J: Dear Miss Woof

With that kinda information you certainly are in,  mate. (snigger don snigger). I have some fine continental deli earbuds on offer: Prosciutto Cleano and Salame Caccia-Earo. Perfect for you Miss Virginia Woof.

You may indeed blog this conversation. But if I hear the Feds are making a case against me with it, well lets just say the mud from the ocean floor really helps drown out those voices.

Your business partner in crime,
Don Meeow.

for real?

Of all the wonderful comet Mc Naught pictures I've received courtesy of the email-rounds, this must be the most impressive. Almost doubt that it is real. Apparently, "the photo was taken just North of Hillary’s Marina, Australia."

Aan Maksideem

Hier was veronderstel om 'n foto van Roelof te wees. Blogger vra om verskoning vir ongerief.

Roelof het my uitgeneem om You've Got Mail en Shakespeare In Love, onderskeidelik, the gaan kyk en ons het saam na die 1998 Valentynsbal, deur ons skool gereël, gegaan. Maar arme, arme Roelof is afgesê nog voor daar iets was om oor huistoe te skryf. (Ai, ek's regtig jammer, Roelof!) Nou't ek 'n baie goeie vriend wat ek vreeslik gaan mis wanneer hy more na België vertrek... Toemaar, het reeds aan hom begin nag om ook 'n blog te begin, so ons sal wel weer van hom hoor. Dalk vermaak hy ons met episodes uit die wêreld van Dr. Evil...

(Terloops, verwys na kommentaar op vorige post, indien hierdie een se opskrif nie sin maak nie.)

Super M!

Soos deur Adam aanbeveel...

Hulk?! I've never heard anything as funny in my life! I was hoping for Wonder Woman... Sigh. That was fun.

Your results:
You are Hulk

Hulk 85% The Flash 70% Superman 65% Spider-Man 60% Supergirl 55% Wonder Woman 55% Iron Man 45% Green Lantern 45% Batman 40% Robin 40% Catwoman 20%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

untitled...

...for words escape me more often than they should. Hey, Linka? :)

Disclaimer: Let me start of by saying that this post does not in anyway reflect upon the commitment, loyalty and general willingness-to-lend-a helping-hand of my dear friends who will be reading this.

Last night I had the girls over. Mere seconds after the doorbell rang for the first time, my home was filed with warm laughter and exclamations, compliments were being passed back and forth and no-one had a smile missing. Ah, the good fortune of having friends for family.

When everyone had left and the house had quietened down the thought occurred to me: When your guests offer to help you clean before they leave, is it ever polite to accept? I'm sure you've heard the conversation many times:

"Jane/John, we'd better be off: Early start tomorrow. Thank you so much for a lovely evening!"

"Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you so much for coming... And for the wine."

"Gosh, look at the mess we've made! Can't we help you clean up a bit?"

"No, no, it's fine. Won't take me long. I'll do it tomorrow."

"Are you sure? We'll just give the plates a rinse."

(And now for my personal favourite... I heard this a few weeks ago.)
"No, don't be silly. Besides, you know me and my kitchen... I don't like other people messing around in it."

"Well, let's just help you clear the table."

"No, no, don't bother. I don't feel like doing it now anyway."

"Okay, well, if you're sure... Thank you again."

"My pleasure. Drive safely!"

"Bye!"

Polite wave. Front door slams shut.

"Sh!t, look at this mess. How did they manage this?"

But, think about it: What was the alternative?

"Cool guys, thanks! Bob, you get the wine glasses. Susan, could you see if you can get that stain out of the carpet? You'll find the cleaning products in the cupboard under the sink..."

I usually like to start cleaning immediately. There are few things as satisfying as going to bed knowing you have a clean kitchen.

Tomorrow I'm having people over again. Here we go again. My, my...

ingeval iemand wonder

Nota: Ek't my jonkste inskrywing uitgevee, deels omdat GM my bietjie bang gepraat het en deels om ander redes wat ek nie in kode kan wegsteek nie. Arcadia, jy't 'n punt beet gehad. Dankie vir julle kommentaar. :)

Honey, I’m home

The people I were whilst I was becoming myself, aren’t me. They’re friends and relatives, but they were never who I am now. They’ve lived and died and I knew them well. But all that remains of them now are memories, smells and photographs. I can’t deny they existed and I’m grateful to be able to forgive them for what they did wrong and that I can remember what they did right. Everyday and every night I become more of myself and less of them and I always like myself better. I judge better, I think longer before I speak, I know more and… I have more style. :)

And sometimes, not very often, I catch one of my old friends speaking through me again in that rebellious tone.

Hi everyone! I'm back from a lovely long holiday. Hope this finds you well.

Dontclick.it

If you're bored at work like me (or suffer from RSS), this site might keep you entertained for a while.

Happy clicking... NOT!

check(mate)

• Go to bank to get new access password for internet banking
• Update blog
• Get new gym attire
• Go to gym
• Get wrapping paper to wrap X'mas gift for office party
• Sign new lease
• Drop-off new lease
• Phone Claire and arrange to get funding for and buying X'mas gifts for Guguletu orphans
• Design new portfolio - digital, live and hard copy
• Update CV
• Design new business card
• Apply for new job
• Finish freelance work
• E-mail client re: freelance work
• Organise bakkie / trailer for big move
• Get friends together to help move
• Buy pots and pans
• Make X'mas gifts for family
• Find out about photography courses
• Call that guy about kayaking
• Back-up design files and photos to DVD
• Pack
• E-mail Dad
• Call Granny
• Pay bills

I felt inspired by the gift I got for X'mas from Pienk Zuit to share my to do list with you. It doubles as my excuse for not posting interestingly.

Merry X'mas, fellow bloggers, and God bless. (Check)

oil and water okay?

Earlier today one of my colleagues asked a very profound question: "Does anyone know what the petrol price is?" Not a single person in the studio could answer him. Guesses ranged from R6,50 to R7,50. Some tried to Google it. One girl offered: "I know it's going down again soon." Turns out, non of the above mentioned colleague's "digs mates" knew the answer either. Nor did the people he spoke to on the phone last night. Incredible. Engen and friends could be cheating us out of our money a cent at a time, and we wouldn't even know.

Does anyone know what the petrol price is?

arty farty...

The good people from What if the world..., a gallery I've mentioned before, has come up with the most delightful idea: A Neighbour Goods Market, held every Saturday at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, Cape Town. Fast becoming a trendy hangout in a previously dodgy area, the revamped mill is host to some very artsy (and touristy at times) shops. The market is held in a big ol' shed. PERFECT for X'mas shopping, if you're so inclined. (I won't be doing any X'mas shopping this year. I'm making all my own gifts. I say I do this because I want to boycott commercial overspending, but I'm just really broke.)

...featuring over 50 vendors selling 'all things nice.'

The weekly Saturday market will be housed in a beautiful old sky lit warehouse at the newly refurbished Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock.

Neighbour Goods is as much a source for organic foods and locally produced goods, as it is a meeting point to enjoy community, swap ideas and stories, and become educated about what we buy and eat by going directly to the source. The market has been created along ethical, eco-friendly and organic lines, to offer a wide range of wholesome delicious foods and products from the community of Cape Town.

A friend and I went last Saturday. All things really were very nice... So nice, in fact, that she went home to fetch her husband, so they could spend his money. :)

Some lovely collage pieces for sale at the What if the world... gallery's second space at the Old Biscuit Mill too.

A weekend in De Kelders

The girls and I spent this past weekend in De Kelders, a dorpie just outside Hermanus. It's about 250 km from Cape Town... and it's heaven!



That's a whale in the middle of the photograph. :)

Some recent photographs

Kids from an orphanage in Guguletu




Hiking at Slivermine, Noordhoek




My gorgeous friend, Mari-Lise, at Summerville, Camps Bay



More street art

Emotion Part 1:

Why do we take for granted the time we have, but when it has run out, we crave it so deeply that we cannot think of anything else and it gives us physical pain?

Today I will tell you of my experience with the greatest muse I know: Emotion. Real, physical emotion. The kind that makes you dream strange dreams and leaves you in the middle of the night to deal with anxiety by yourself in the morning. The kind that makes your heart beat so fast, you're afraid the people around you might hear it. The kind that sends eerie shivers down your spine, taking the blood from your head with it, until it has all drained, and you feel light headed. The kind that makes your heart contract so quickly that it stops and freezes for a moment too long. The kind that makes you pull at your clothes, or keeps you swaying from the one foot to the other. The kind that gets you so angry that you abuse the objects coming in your way as you hurry to nowhere in particular. The kind that makes you stare at something you do not see.

The polls

This is a logo I designed for a shop that sells children's stationery and educational toys. We (at the studio) can't decide which one to go with. They're all pretty much the same, except for the shadows. We also need some help with the colour palette. Please crit!

On rubbish and other cool things

My interest and street art has increased considerably lately. I've been noticing the coolest graffiti, murals, stencil art, sticker art and poster art all over Cape Town for quite some time now.




Probably the most conceptual in their thinking, are the guys from The CirusnNinja Collective. HERE and HERE. (You might remember seeing their yellow and black stickers plastered on stop signs, lamp posts, rubbish bins, cars and a lot more over the past few years.) The recent Red & Yellow Advertising School graduates have done themselves proud. At 105 Harrington Street, on the block squeezed between Fruit & Veg and Buitenkant Street (East City), is The Bin - Their Bin. (Situated in the newly dubbed “E-City”, the new zone in town beholding to musicians, artists, bergies and bars, a place buzzing with life and opportunity. The strategic positioning of the store is indicative of co-owners Blaise Janichon and Warren Lewis’ modus operandi – abandon the trendy, create a new category and shuffle the creative deck before anyone can work out just what makes it so appealing.) It's a delightful one-room shop (and gallery at times) aptly advertised by a row of garbage bins above the entrance marked with the letters T-H-E B-I-N. The store (there's also an online shop) stocks merchandise by local artists, musicians, fashion designers. (VOX, Dalley Muller's MEU, Fokofpolisiekar...) What's really great, though, is their unconventional approach to gallery administration. The 12th of November (11:00 - 16:00) sees the 2nd annual 100 Rand show. It runs until the 2nd of December. "ALL WORKS WILL BE GIVEN TO BUYER ON DAY OF PURCHASE." (They're donating R5 from each purchase to the Nazereth House.)

The Show provides a platform for new, up-and-coming and established graphic designers; graffiti and street artists, illustrators and fine artists to work within the limitations of producing work of a high quality yet knowingly retail it for a minimal amount.

The One Hundred rand concept aims at introducing and building the culture of collecting and buying artworks amongst the young art market, which is traditionally overlooked by regular gallery structures.

The Bin-sters, perhaps not so surprisingly, also use unique ways of advertising. Wooden blocks with bright graphics - pairs connected to each other by pieces of string - have been seen dangling from power lines around the city bowl. These suspended pairs are called chucks and make up a new street art collective World War Won (WWWon) between Senyol and Lewis. Some extracts from an online (on pun intended) article:

They’ve been contemplating evolving the chuck concept since New York street artist collective When Dogs Fly toured the globe with the purpose of documenting the suspension of as many pieces of wood, cut and painted to resemble Converse sneakers, as possible. Both collectives started their chucking careers uniting worn-out sneakers or takkies in holey matrimony by tying their shoelaces together and gleefully donating them to the sky, the intention being to loop the pairs of shoes around any high structure from which they could eternally dangle.

WWWon are setting out to redefine the urban skyline while stimulating the curiosity of the person in the street. They believe chucking “aesthetically enhances the environment” and sets the example that public spaces are there to be creatively enjoyed, considered from different angles and taken ownership of by the people they’re intended for.

Flickr pages and iconic websites, such as woostercollective, - very cool - Ed. are the means by which street artists connect. The sites also allow millions of people international access to artworks that may have had a limited lifespan in their hometown. - This gets me so excited: How we are now moving away from an information age and progressing towards an interactive age. Everyone now gets a fair chance to be seen and heard. Like I read somewhere earlier: The Internet is the first truly democratic medium -Ed.

WWWon have no qualms about using street art for commercial gain. “Ultimately, our campaigns will make street art more accessible,” says Lewis.

“Ad agencies will pay us to do what we love, and with big budgets we can take it to a new level,” adds Senyol.

Some flickr photos HERE.

WHAT IF THE WORLD... is an equally exciting venture and consists of two exhibition spaces:

where? 11 hope street (east city) cape town, 8001 RSA
hours? Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-2pm (or by appointment)
tel: +27 21 461 2573
cel: justin rhodes +27 84 414 4554
mail: info@whatiftheworld.com

and

where? E102 @ 'The Old Biscuit Mill' woodstock, cape town, 8000 RSA
hours? Mon-Fri 9.30am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-4pm (or by appointment)
tel: +27 21 448 1438
cel: justin rhodes +27 84 414 4554
mail: info@whatiftheworld.com

Mission: the whatiftheworld philosophy is centered around supporting and growing communities by adding visual and creative value to the environment.

*HOPE ST - is more of a project room focused on providing a platform and creative community for emerging contemporary artists + designers.
*THE OLD BISCUIT MILL - is a larger exhibition space intended as a step-up for the artists that start with us at Hope St. here we show mostly solo exhibitions by members of our creative community that we represent.

Read more at whatiftheworld.

The Paris Salon on at the moment at the Hope Street gallery comes highly recommended.

And FINALLY: Acclaimed South African photographer, David Goldblatt is showing at the Michael Stevenson in Greenpoint again. This time his earlier pictures from the 1960's and early 1970's are being displayed. It's entitled Some Afrikaners Revisited. 24 October - 25 November 2006.

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