Give me my holiday back!
Last year before we all went on a break I bumped into Zodwa in Sandton and when she said she was going to the South Coast on an affordable backpackers holiday, I thought she was going to have the time of her life… endless days of sun soaking and bonding with her friends, little did we both know that it would turn out to be a disaster of note, (I must say the story is quite funny, sorry Zo’)… Click here for our South Coast holiday snaps! I’m back at work and not very happy about it! Not because I hate my job but because I was robbed of my summer holiday! My first mistake was booking me and five friends into X backpackers in Port St Johns (unaffectionately known as PSJ). Store this piece of advice in your memory banks people: Don’t visit PSJ over the festive season. My second mistake was choosing to stay when they told me they had no record of my booking. Funny that. We had paid a hefty deposit! They definitely had record of that. After I threw my toys they put us up in a dingy granny (literally) flat situated about a kilometer from where we were originally ‘booked’ into. The place smelled and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for months. And there were collage photos of someone’s family up on the bathroom and toilet walls. There were enlarged versions of the same photos pasted on the grimy kitchen floor. Tacky! It rained every time we had the vaguest inclination to take part in some adventure sports. And when it didn’t rain, we couldn’t get hold of anyone who was running the kayaking or the horse riding. *sigh*. On a more positive note – we did get to squeeze in two beach sessions when the weather held out. Some of PSJ is truly beautiful and serene (3rd beach), while other beaches (2nd beach) feels you’re on the Durban beachfront. There was not a fresh prawn to be had in the entire town either which was the most depressing part. You always hope that if you find yourself in a small shitty coastal town (like Ramsgate in Natal) at least you’ll be able to get some big cheap prawns! Well not in PSJ! Nevertheless one of my friends was determined to have prawns, so we had them at the last place where you’d expect to find anything fresh – at a local pub on the main road which shall remain nameless. Here we tucked in and tried to make the most of a rather dismal affair. I mean, how much worse could it get?...
The Cape of Good Fun!
Some Jozi girls decided on a roadtrip to ‘Slaapstad’ for their Xmas hols. Although after this review of the city, Cape Town doesn’t really deserve that name, but then again it was December, anything is possible, even in ‘Slaapstaad’. The girls thought the sixteen drive would wear them out (after they unsuccessfully tried staying awake all the way) but it was the buzz of the city that had them out partying almost every single day that wore them out… See the photos here. “Ke Dezemba Bouwss” We spent the festive season in Johannesburg last year, due to a lack of organisation on everyone’s part and even though we had a blast, we decided that when the happy festive ’06 crept in we would to jack up our acts and go somewhere different, preferably the beach.So me, my sister Gontse, and friends Lindi, Fulvia and Bantse decided to pack supposedly small tog bags and drive down to Cape Town.“Yes the Karoo is going to be hot, yes we will be changing driver’s every three hours, yes the passengers will not be falling asleep on the road (I think) and yes Cape Town is very far!” Shoo now that we were done with all of the lectures from everyone who kept advising us not to drive, we hit the Golden Highway on the way to the Mother City. Trying to organise a trip with a group of very opinionated women is not the easiest thing, so even though it took about three months to get people to come to an agreement on where to go, where to stay and what to do I was just glad that it was finally happening. One Blood! According to me The Game’s “One Blood” is the song of 2006, I know they say you should dig deeper to find your song of the year because you might just find songs that you’re forgetting, but then there’s also the fact that some songs are just hits no matter what and I just think the Junior Reid and Game combo was just too seductive, and then I flipped through Game’s CD sleeve after I got it as a Christmas gift and let’s just say I think The Game is ehem, hot. We stopped at the N1 Oasis to get the biltong, chips, drinks, water, sweets and other things that people felt would be necessary padkos, we filled up the tank and off we were. It was raining and we were all very tired because we didn’t get enough sleep but Gontse’s rendition of the old men singing “Take it slow” at the John Legend concert in Johannesburg earlier on in the year had...
AND 1 in SA!
Are you a baller? Well if you are then you will surely recognise the brand AND 1. AND 1 has embodied the sport of basketball for more than 10 years from the 20% of the NBA who wear AND 1’s performance basketball shoes to their worldwide AND 1 Mix Tape® Tour the AND 1 brand connects with every basketball player at every level. In South Africa, AND 1 is the #1 shoe chosen by basketball players and is now sought after by the netball communities due to their performance and technology driven designs. AND 1 South Africa provides a selected shoe and apparel range for the trendsetting yet performance conscious athlete and or consumer. AND 1 has been distributed officially in South Africa since 2004 but the first ever AND 1 Concept Store in South Africa was recently launched on 11 November 2006 at the Village Walk Shopping Centre in Johannesburg. AND 1 mostly concentrates on men’s shoe and apparel however there is a limited range of AND 1 women’s shoes too, the female brand that works with AND 1 is called Ryka and even though these aren’t AND 1’s they do the trick. So get down to Village Walk is located on the corner of Maude & Rivonia Road, Sandton if you want to get your hands on the hottest basketball gear whether it is shoes or clothing. Just for your interest here are some African Basketball Facts: Basketball is the 2nd largest sport in Africa (BMI) It is the 5th most popular sport amongst South African men Basketball is the fastest growing sport in South Africa since 1996 (BMI) NBA conducts their largest Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Camp in Johannesburg, South Africa every September (over $1 million per year invested), featuring the top 100 African prep players from 28 countries in Africa Africa has a history of producing student/ athletes and professional basketball players including Manute Bol, Dikembe Motumbo, Hakeem Olaijuwan, Reuben Bombje Bombje, Luel Deng, Obonna Ekezie, Desagana Diop, Mamadou Ndiaye, Bobacar Aw and Godwin Owinje Check out the tight website on...
Book of the Week: Rough Guide to MySpace
Seeing that we all live in a cyberworld, we thought this book appropriate to start with. Review courtesy of Exclusive Books. Book: The Rough Guide to MySpace and Online Communities Author: Peter Buckley Our price: R145.00 Availability: Approx. 10 – 15 Working days Paperback EAN: 9781843538424 240 pages Publication Date: 02 November 2006 Publisher: Rough Guides Ltd Country of publication: UK Synopsis Get beneath the hype to discover how to make the most of MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and other online communities. From Internet connection requirements and common misconceptions to the history of the site and it’s future in cyberspace, this is all you need. The guide looks at MySpace basics such as getting started and creating an account to making it your own by customising your profile. MySpace blogs, vlogs and podcasts are each looked at in detail, from finding and writing them to creating your own band sites and adding your favourite music to your personal space. Discover how to create and edit your own movie, take part in filmmaker forums and learn how to play it safe on the site, from blocking unwanted users to identity theft. The final chapter looks at the best and the worst of MySpace with details of websites and resources that will make you a true MySpace expert. What are you waiting for, it’s time to make your own space online....
Dance your way across Africa with Channel O
Channel O, the channel you helped make number one in 2006 is starting the New Year with a dance show designed to provide a platform for talented dancers called Dance Africa; a contest to find the most original freestyle dancer on the continent. The show kicks off with preliminary rounds in seven African cities. Two dancers from each city will be selected to compete in the finals in Johannesburg at a later stage where the 14 finalists will battle it out until only one remains to be crowned Africa’s ultimate freestyle dancer. All dance hopefuls will have to compete head to head at the seven cities in front of a panel of judges comprising of Angelo Collins the choreographer, local musicians and DJs. The seven cities where auditions will be held are Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Maputo, Nairobi, Lusaka and Lagos. The competition is open to amateurs only and all competitors are welcome to come to any of these cities for auditions. The winner will receive an all expense paid two weeks training at South Africa’s Dance Umbrella in Johannesburg. That’s not all; he or she will also feature in one of Chomee’s videos which will be filmed later in the year as well as a chance to perform at the 2007 Channel O African Music Video Awards. This show will see a variety of outstanding dancers from Africa vying for their place on the judges’ shortlist. Channel O will continue to re-enforcing their commitment to promoting the music of Africa as the dancers will be dancing to local as well as international tracks. Ultimately this is a series for anyone who enjoys watching the highs and lows, blood sweat and tears that are inevitable in this type of competition. The show will be hosted by Channel O’s hottie Lungile Radu who will be accompanied by Angelo Collins, the choreographer. Lungile currently hosts Kasi 101 and O-Boma on Channel O. Angelo hails from Cape Town and started dancing at the age of nine. His passion for dancing saw him grow in his career. Now a resident of Johannesburg, he has performed in many high profile events including, among others singing and acting in the musical Chicago for six months, a performance with Danny K at the “46664” concert in 2002 as well as choreography and performance with Danny K for Usher’s tour in the same year. For more information on dates and venues where auditions will be held watch Channel O or log onto the website http://www.channelo.co.za/ and catch the show on channel 87 on the DStv...
How to avoid becoming a gym bunny.
With the first Monday of December came the first authentic post-winter exercise… yes we know, rather lazy to only get the touche into action now. But you see, when your days are filled with words, web and wonder, there’s little time for sweat. And when the year moves at three times the speed of light it’s also difficult to keep up with the changing seasons. Talking of seasons, this must s… urely be hunting season for the gyms…. preying on vulnerable fatties all hoping to shed their skin before the year end holiday which is in approximately 15 days. It’s too late for summer quick-fixes darl, you should’a thought about that in about September aka Spring. But Sista (this is for the gels) it’s never too late to make sensible, long term changes to your life, just don’t expect the scale to go down magically – in fact stay away from the scale as much as possible. It’s evil. Use it at weekly or by-weekly intervals only. If you’ve left it too late, we’d say the best thing you can do today is to just LURVE yourself as you are. Right now. Look at your curves, your lines, your flow, your orange peel, your stretch marks, your c-section scar, your flab, your flavour…. and think about how unique, sexy and curvaceous you are. Then walk it babes, live it, breathe it and be it. It’s amazing what positive thinking around your body image can do. Let’s not be caught up in the skinny girl bulldust spewed out by western media – we’re African women and we don’t need to subscribe to what other people tell us looks good. But there’s nothing wrong with being slim either… we are each one of a kind. (PS: We’re horrified to see our Minky fading away into skinny mode – what happened to our curvy babe?) Well I nearly became a gym-bunny last week – gotta admit when i realised my summer-bunny deadline was about to expire on me I got desperate and arrived in the ‘Gym Zone’ where i realised the only way for me to save my flab was to join a gym as fast as possible. Got the boy interested or rather convinced that we needed saving and by only the most expensive of evangelicals. And then I went shopping and spent my gym subscription on a fabulous summer dress. Doh! So now what… broke, fat and listless. Year end fatigue. Year end blues. What to do? And then I remembered the wonderful Zoo Lake walk. Now it’s not just any walk, the Zoo Lake Walk has it’s appeal in...
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