Nick Brandt's magnificent animal portraits often look like paintings, so why not go a step further and make an actual painting of one of them? You can't charge what he's charging, of course, but it seems you can get at least half.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Turning heads
Nick Brandt's magnificent animal portraits often look like paintings, so why not go a step further and make an actual painting of one of them? You can't charge what he's charging, of course, but it seems you can get at least half.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Köszönöm szépen, Sunday Times people!
I bought the South African Sunday Times while I was on holiday there recently, and noticed a competition in the Travel section called Been There, Done That. Readers were asked to send interesting photos of their travels, and each published pic would get £50. I sent this shot of my brother, Rudi, doing (Palinka-induced) cartwheels on Budapest's Heroes' Square (Hősök tere) just after midnight, and was obviously delighted to hear the photo was published - mainly because I'd already spent the money.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Jack Parow - dik heavy uitgeskollie
I recently discovered Jack Parow, a new South African parody-rapper. Everybody in South Africa was talking about him (and new zep-rap trio "Die Antwoord", which got rave reviews at Coachella this year), so you couldn't really miss it. Parow’s popularity was mainly fueled by the cult success of his song "Cooler as Ekke". You don't have to be a fan to enjoy the very entertaining lyrics; but you definitely have to be Afrikaans.
(Something along the lines of: You think you're cooler than me/because I drink Klipdrift, you drink Peroni/You have friends in Sweden, I have friends in Benoni/I’m original, you’re a copy; I’m a flashdrive, you’re a floppy/Jack Parow, the life of the party/You only wear fucking Issey Miyake, etc.)
I was quite keen to find out what the fuss was about, so went to see him at one of the Stellenbosch Woordfees Events at Beyerskloof, at the beginning of March.
And this is basically the effect he has on most people - something between hilarity and disbelief:
The Black Cat Bones did a cover of a Valiant Swart song, which made them really, really angry.
But Andries (Roof) Bezuidenhout was probably my favourite act as I'm a big fan of the man, and his music.
(Something along the lines of: You think you're cooler than me/because I drink Klipdrift, you drink Peroni/You have friends in Sweden, I have friends in Benoni/I’m original, you’re a copy; I’m a flashdrive, you’re a floppy/Jack Parow, the life of the party/You only wear fucking Issey Miyake, etc.)
I was quite keen to find out what the fuss was about, so went to see him at one of the Stellenbosch Woordfees Events at Beyerskloof, at the beginning of March.
And this is basically the effect he has on most people - something between hilarity and disbelief:
The Black Cat Bones did a cover of a Valiant Swart song, which made them really, really angry.
But Andries (Roof) Bezuidenhout was probably my favourite act as I'm a big fan of the man, and his music.
Blood, sweat and beers at the London Marathon
I did the London Marathon in about four hours last Sunday. Not bad, eh? It was my second one, and I didn't really train very hard at all. No excuses, I should've known what I let myself in for. But despite the very real risk of getting lens and gear envy, it's always a fun day out. Next year, I'll probably aim to get there earlier, and leave a bit later: I'd like to get to a better spot in time to catch the wheelchair guys, and stay at least until a rhino comes past.
About 10mins after I arrived in Canary Wharf, David Weir came past.
At that point he was well ahead of Josh Cassidy, who took the title in the end. Unfortunately, I heard afterwards, Weir had a double puncture. And after the second one, at the 20-mile mark, he just couldn't keep his lead. (I suppose it's like running with a cramp.) I was really hoping to see the legendary South African athlete Ernst van Dyk win the title. Ernst was a contemporary of mine at Stellenbosch University, and a well-known sight on campus - almost always out training. Apparently he often raced time trials in the hallways of his student hostel, Helshoogte. But it was obvious that he wasn't going to win the London Marathon. Not this year, anyway. Perhaps he had not yet fully recovered from the Boston Marathon which he won for a record ninth time a week earlier.
Shortly after that the elite women came past. Britain's Mara Yamauchi, last year's runner-up and one of the favourites to win this year, had a disappointing race and eventually finished in tenth place.
But, as the Telegraph tells us, at least she won the travel marathon (aka a "six-day journey from hell") to make it to the capital on time.
I then headed over to South Quay to meet up with friends. Among the masses, we managed to spot a friend, as well as Richard Branson, Natalie Imbruglia, the Royal caterpillar, a few leprechauns, a giraffe and the gingerbread man. But after about 90mins of watching waves of people coming past, I felt so dizzy and exhausted, we had to abandon the race.
About 10mins after I arrived in Canary Wharf, David Weir came past.
At that point he was well ahead of Josh Cassidy, who took the title in the end. Unfortunately, I heard afterwards, Weir had a double puncture. And after the second one, at the 20-mile mark, he just couldn't keep his lead. (I suppose it's like running with a cramp.) I was really hoping to see the legendary South African athlete Ernst van Dyk win the title. Ernst was a contemporary of mine at Stellenbosch University, and a well-known sight on campus - almost always out training. Apparently he often raced time trials in the hallways of his student hostel, Helshoogte. But it was obvious that he wasn't going to win the London Marathon. Not this year, anyway. Perhaps he had not yet fully recovered from the Boston Marathon which he won for a record ninth time a week earlier.
Shortly after that the elite women came past. Britain's Mara Yamauchi, last year's runner-up and one of the favourites to win this year, had a disappointing race and eventually finished in tenth place.
But, as the Telegraph tells us, at least she won the travel marathon (aka a "six-day journey from hell") to make it to the capital on time.
I then headed over to South Quay to meet up with friends. Among the masses, we managed to spot a friend, as well as Richard Branson, Natalie Imbruglia, the Royal caterpillar, a few leprechauns, a giraffe and the gingerbread man. But after about 90mins of watching waves of people coming past, I felt so dizzy and exhausted, we had to abandon the race.
Hanging with Hawking
On Thursday, I went to a preview screening of Stephen Hawking's Universe, on behalf of a friend who had to write an article for Rapport, South Africa's national Afrikaans Sunday paper, about Hawking's recent revelations regarding aliens.
Executive Producer John Smithson told the audience how they went to Cambridge three years ago to pitch the series (which starts on 9 May) to Hawking. And how intimidating it was to wait (for the longest ten minutes ever) for his reply. Fortunately he loved the idea.
It's quite fascinating watching him compose a response with the slightest movement of his eyes. When he's not talking, the screen resembles something from the Matrix. Yes, I sneaked up on him for this one...
It's extremely unlikely that life could spontaneously create itself, Hawking said, but it's like winning a lottery. "Though the odds are astronomical, most weeks someone wins the jackpot."
I think it's safe to assume I will see plenty of aliens before I ever win the lottery! In fact, I saw plenty at the O2 on Friday evening. Alien life is common, as Hawking said; intelligent life less so.
Executive Producer John Smithson told the audience how they went to Cambridge three years ago to pitch the series (which starts on 9 May) to Hawking. And how intimidating it was to wait (for the longest ten minutes ever) for his reply. Fortunately he loved the idea.
It's quite fascinating watching him compose a response with the slightest movement of his eyes. When he's not talking, the screen resembles something from the Matrix. Yes, I sneaked up on him for this one...
It's extremely unlikely that life could spontaneously create itself, Hawking said, but it's like winning a lottery. "Though the odds are astronomical, most weeks someone wins the jackpot."
I think it's safe to assume I will see plenty of aliens before I ever win the lottery! In fact, I saw plenty at the O2 on Friday evening. Alien life is common, as Hawking said; intelligent life less so.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Stalking Lance
Just before I went on holiday to South Africa, I heard Lance Armstrong was going to ride the Cape Argus Cycle Tour while I was in the country. This was very exciting news because my mum is also a big Tour de France fan (it's a Phil Liggett thing, really), so I thought it would be fun to see him in action. Less exciting was the prospect of having to get up at 4am, in order to get to a good spot in time.
Then I discovered he was actually visiting Cape Town in support of the JAG Foundation - a South African charity that runs community-based sporting and educational programmes - and that his schedule would include a fund-raising ride from Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West to the Arabella resort near Kleinmond. This was much closer to home and, more importantly, would start at a very decent 11am! So I phoned the JAG people and asked if the riders would take the coastal road (through Gordon's Bay, where Phil Liggett has a holiday home), or go over Sir Lowry's Pass.
Why? they asked.
Cos!, I said
No, they said, we can't tell you. People are paying a lot of money [approximately £16,000] to take part in the ride, so we want to keep it low profile. If we tell you, we have to tell everybody.
Uhm. The ride was in the middle of the week; there were only two possible routes; and ALL cyclists like to be cheered on... Doesn't make sense.
Anyway - I thought if they really want it to be low profile, they'll cycle over Sir Lowry's Pass. So we drove that way first, and figured if we couldn't spot them within 30mins, we should take the other route - which, in hindsight, was the obvious, more scenic, choice. We started driving towards the coastal route, but then my mum decided we needed to fill up the car first. Then she thought we'd better get the tyres checked as well. And the oil. Maybe the water too. And, of course, there would never be a better time to clean the windows.
Approximately three years later, we drove through Gordon's Bay, and at the t-junction where we had to turn onto the coastal road, a traffic cop pulled us over. They're coming, I said, and jumped out. My mum got out too. And just in time - seconds later they were gone.
(Hope I haven't lost my only reader with this fascinating story!)
Then I discovered he was actually visiting Cape Town in support of the JAG Foundation - a South African charity that runs community-based sporting and educational programmes - and that his schedule would include a fund-raising ride from Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West to the Arabella resort near Kleinmond. This was much closer to home and, more importantly, would start at a very decent 11am! So I phoned the JAG people and asked if the riders would take the coastal road (through Gordon's Bay, where Phil Liggett has a holiday home), or go over Sir Lowry's Pass.
Why? they asked.
Cos!, I said
No, they said, we can't tell you. People are paying a lot of money [approximately £16,000] to take part in the ride, so we want to keep it low profile. If we tell you, we have to tell everybody.
Uhm. The ride was in the middle of the week; there were only two possible routes; and ALL cyclists like to be cheered on... Doesn't make sense.
Anyway - I thought if they really want it to be low profile, they'll cycle over Sir Lowry's Pass. So we drove that way first, and figured if we couldn't spot them within 30mins, we should take the other route - which, in hindsight, was the obvious, more scenic, choice. We started driving towards the coastal route, but then my mum decided we needed to fill up the car first. Then she thought we'd better get the tyres checked as well. And the oil. Maybe the water too. And, of course, there would never be a better time to clean the windows.
Approximately three years later, we drove through Gordon's Bay, and at the t-junction where we had to turn onto the coastal road, a traffic cop pulled us over. They're coming, I said, and jumped out. My mum got out too. And just in time - seconds later they were gone.
(Hope I haven't lost my only reader with this fascinating story!)
Where were we?
Yes, it's been a while. But I have a good excuse - pick one!
- The dog ate my blog
- I was on a top secret assignment in
AfricaAntarctica, and had no Internet access - I forgot my password (and, in fact, that I even had a blog)
- It's all been said before, and better
- I couldn't blog because I was too busy thinking of excuses not to
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