Heading Art or Sport? Car spinning – a culture explored
Spina Guluva is a 13 part magazine documentary on the old age street culture of spinning cars, brand new on eKasi+ channel 105 on OpenView HD. Car spinning used to be synonymous with car theft and township gangsterism in the ‘90s. The stereotype is that drag racing and spinning stolen gusheshes (BMW 3 series) was commonly used to show respect at funerals of gangsters. The show is presented by actress, dancer, choreographer, singer and businesswoman Khabonina Qubheka who grew up watching this informal motorsport. The first episode interrogates the roots of spinning and the origins of the stereotypes by speaking to a group that were part of the spinning culture back when it started. Spinning has evidently experienced a major makeover as it is now recognised as an official, registered motor sport, but is still not completely legal. Spinners across the country are fighting to regulate their sport in an attempt to attract interest and sponsors. They still face hostility from authorities, hence spinning occurs on the streets and informal stadiums, mostly at night time. The show explores the multi-faceted culture in places such as Soweto, Witbank, Mpumalanga, Alberton, and a town dubbed the World Cup venue of spinning: the Vaal. Spinners come from across the Southern Hemisphere to pit themselves against the best in the region. Featured on the show is the 2nd event and there is an expected audience of 15 000 people. Host of Spina Guluva Khabonina Qubheka Catch Spina Guluva on the eKasi+ channel 105 on OpenView HD Sunday, 19 October 2014 at...
Gadget Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100M2
So I had the opportunity to take home the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III camera to test and try out. It is loved by photographers who value serious imaging and extreme portability, the popular Cyber-shot™ RX100 family has an exciting new addition. Crafted in tough, travel-friendly aluminium for lightness and looks, the Cyber-shot™ RX100 III builds on the acclaimed reputation of its predecessors. An uprated lens and speedy image processor are complemented by a retractable OLED Tru-Finder with ZEISS® T* coating, enhanced movie features and a 180-degree tilting LCD – all in a stylish fixed-lens camera that’s truly pocket-sized. The best thing about this camera is that it takes great quality photos, it’s very fast and it looks attractive and better than many of its competitors or any of the other Sony cameras similar to this one. I like the looks, speed and flexibility of the camera. I unfortunately did not explore all other options like the wifi connectivity as well as sending the pictures to my phone to easy uploading. The photo quality is by far the best and a great choice of camera for photography enthusiasts. The zoom lens is decent, with a tilting LCD and the video quality is awesome. I’d definitely recommend it once it hits the shelves. ...
A love song for our strange and wonderful country: My Mzansi Heart
My Mzansi Heart sweeps the reader along two equally entertaining narrative strands, one set in the present day, the other in the past, which together form the story of King Adz’s life. The book explores music, culture, food, urban youth culture in South Africa based on King Adz’s life. His writing style is rather gripping, engaging and conversational. Represents chats to him about his latest book. Firstly, I’d like to say congrats on such a relevant, easy yet engaging read and it’s also visually appealing, your advertising and creative background comes out in how the book is layed- out, was that a conscious decision to structure the book like this? Thanks. I had always wanted to write a graphic novel and this was my chance. I had been working on the idea of this book for many years, ever since leaving South Africa to work in New York, and everything fell into place when Jacana published by youth advertising book THE STUFF YOU CAN’T BOTTLE, which lead to a conversation about MY MZANSI HEART. I had many “AHA” moments while reading the book because you talk about things i can identify with while you’re telling your own story. Tell us more about My Mzansi heart? MMH is a piece of my soul distilled onto the page. I have never written anything so personal (it is my 5th book) or so artistic. My previous books were about advertising and street/youth culture but MMH is something else. I wanted to re-define what my work was really about, and this reflects how amazing South Africa is as a country that this book was born out of it. How was the writing process? I write everyday and by now I have the discipline to be able to sit there and work without having to go out and ‘enjoy’ myself, lol. I wrote two books last year as well as travelling and working as a brand consultant across Africa. The two seem to go hand in hand! One was MMH and the other was my next book about how brands have to behave if they want people to like them – so chalk and cheese. How long did it take you to finish the writing the whole book? The concept took a decade. From start to finish. But actually sat at my iMac actually typing and designing it took a year. What triggered the idea to write My Mzansi heart? Reading ‘My Traitors Heart’ by Rian Malan was the beginning of it all. I don’t want to give away too much as you need to read the book, but reading Rian’s amazing book got...
Visual storytelling from Fak’ugesi Digital Africa festival
As part of the Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Festival taking place during August and September this year, Hacks/Hackers Johannesburg will be hosting a workshop and hackathon exploring data and visual storytelling and how to make numbers look great. Co-organiser and Editor-in-Chief htxt.co.za and Hypertext Media, Adam Oxford, says that when looking for stories in data, analysing the raw numbers is only half the work: “The real magic comes when you present it. We need to research how leading websites like The Economist, The Financial Times and Quartz produce dozens of graphs a day without ever looking dull or being meaningless. That’s a skill anyone can learn.” From infographs to interactive charts, mobile applications to mapping tools, Oxford says there’s a wealth of options open for anyone who needs to put numbers in front of users or readers without putting them to sleep. “Whether you’re producing news, features, apps or games, presenting data is a vital skill for any communicator in the Internet age and we are extremely excited about presenting this workshop as part of the Fak’ugesi Digital Africa festival.” Working with top designers from the Praekelt Foundation at Jozihub, the format for the workshop will see attendees working in teams to analyse large datasets and present the stories they contain in imagery. “We’ll bring the data, you just bring a laptop and a willingness to produce vivid storytelling for a visual generation.” Prof Christo Doherty, co-founder of the Fak’ugesi Digital Africa festival is delighted with the visual storytelling angle: “It was our intention to use different events to turn the spotlight on some aspect of digital technology. This workshop will bring coders, journalists, designers, students and game developers together to collaborate and innovate with useful and relevant outcomes.”...
Work among like-minded creative types
Imagine being in an environment full of creative and innovative minds … The conversation, the ideas, the potential! Creatives at work: Our boardroom SoulProviders, a leading Joburg content-creation and marketing agency, has office space available that we would like to share with small businesses and hot-deskers. We’re looking specifically for creative, PR, marketing, internet, mobile, video, design and digital businesses to join our chilled-out and fun team at the Colony Centre on Jan Smuts Avenue. Our beautiful reception area The best part about the Colony is that it has great restaurants for lunch or dinner – perfect for business and pleasure. It’s centrally located near Sandton, the city, Rosebank and Parkhurst. There are doctors’ offices in case you think you might be coming down with something, as well as convenience stores for that 4pm blood-sugar drop. (Also: yoga classes, a book store, and a Steers!) Office space available We have a number of different packages available, and WiFi and other amenities are available. Email info@soulproviders.co.za or call us on 011 325 5816 for more info! And please share the love – you never know who might be looking to start-up their own game-changing enterprise. Boardroom1 Boardroom2 Services at The Colony The Colony Centre Reception...
Rich Mnisi on Building a Brand.
By Mariam Mahomed. 2014 AFI Fastrack winner, Rich Mnisi took the fashion world by storm with his S/S 14 collection, KOOL –AID. Magazine features, editorials and interviews sang praise to Rich’s work making him fashion’s rising star and an inspiration for young hopefuls. Now, months after his great win, Rich continues to spread the inspiration and blow minds with his label OATH. Represent caught up with Rich to find out more about OATH and his life as a fashion industry newbie. Where does the inspiration behind OATH come from? OATH is generally inspired by pop-culture, music being the main source. You’ve been out of college for less than a year but you have managed to successfully start a brand. Tell us more about that journey? OATH was more of a long-term goal but I was encouraged to nurture and develop this idea and fortunately, it was received well. What are some of the challenges that you have faced in terms of establishing your brand and how did you rise above it? I was slightly worried about the public reception of my aesthetic beyond my AFI Fastrack S/S 14 collection because this would ultimately reflect on the success of the brand. I ended up making crucial decisions to maintain aesthetic and explore its facets to strengthen the brand image despite everyone else’s expectations. If there is one lesson that you have learnt from this journey, what would it be? Being decisive in an industry that is so saturated with information. What are the opportunities and challenges facing a new comer in the South African fashion industry? People speak of loving and wanting ‘fresh’, ‘different’ and ‘high fashion’ but once they get it they find it hard to digest. It’s tough to find a room full of people nodding at your work but the greatest opportunity for anyone comes from within. If you take your craft seriously and present it authentically then people will respect it and will help take your product to the right market that will love it and would kill to own it. What advice would you give to fashion-design hopefuls? I’d like to think that I’m still one…. and advice I’d give to myself… Don’t Stop. What does a day in the life of Rich Mnisi entail I’m still doing my internship for AFI Fastrack at Egality so it’s that most of the time. But when I turn into a werewolf in the middle of the night I sketch, create mood boards, conceptualize shoots, make patterns etc. I try being cute about this design thing I have going on. What can we expect from OATH in...
We will be back!
