jump.

Great, fun viral video for the launch of Am I Collective illustration crew's Muti T-shirts. The music rounds it off perfectly.

Video: Rob Nicholls; music: Remy Gold.


Muti t-shirt launch from Robert Nicholls on Vimeo.

it's gypsy music time

Ever since my 'balkanology' experience in cape town, I've really enjoyed balkan-gypsy-ish music. it seems like australia-land does too. I went to a Cat Empire concert a while ago, and their support band was Paprika Balkanicus. Combine Balkan sounds with big band jazz and a DJ and you get a very fun night out!

In just over a fortnight's time, there's another Melbourne act coming to town - The Woohoo Revue - and they are combining with Canberra's Mr Fibby for a night of story-telling and musical goodness.

Apparently I should "Expect a big, brassy and very sweaty show from them and a theatrical performance from Mr Fibby that combines Eastern melodies with preposterous stories." Sounds like fun. More about the event here.

my alternative sports wishlist

If, for some obscure reason, i was unable to play ultimate frisbee anymore, I have a mental list of a few other alternative sports I'd like to try my hand at:

parkour
adventure racing
moutain biking
rock climbing (my last climb was 3 years ago)

Capoeria is not on the list, as I'm already doing it. Extreme ironing never really excited me. Sports involving being underwater, or in the sky, seem to scare me. [Kudos therefore to my braver friends: Lu-dogg who has recently taken up kite-surfing, Nic who is a very experienced sky diver, and Dan the scuba man]

Anyway, I've just discovered a new sport that has some potential: Extreme kayaking.
Take a look at this BBC report of some clowns brave people who kayaked down a 300ft dam wall.

Phenomenal or phenomenally stupid? Here's the BBC's full picture and caption:

James Davies captured this image of extreme kayaking
at Llyn Brianne reservoir in Carmarthenshire. The activity
over the 300ft overspill has been condemned by Welsh Water,
which has threatened action. Photo: James Davies Photography, Swansea

Any other alternative sports out there that you have tried/want to try?
[rhetorical question to my non-existent blog readers ;)]

Images from the BBC/James Davies

happy valentines!

Jules and I are going to miss the Valentines day rush and go for dinner and a show tonight rather than tomorrow. Apparently it gets rather hectic here in CT. V-day seems a big thing.
Our early bird plans? Dinner = Carlyle's on Derry - a site of one of our first 'dates'; and Show = Swan Lake on ice at the Artscape. I've never seen a ballet on an ice rink, so it should be good. Gotta go!

New music. It’s good. This friday.

Hooray! Harris Tweed have a couple of new songs up on their mypacings space! Go have a listen to “dearheart” and “what we want”. The latter starts out Yann Tiersen-like, then moves into a more anthemic sound. "Dearheart" is a more sombre piano-strings minor-key sound - which I like very much. “Nonsense live” is a bit more poppy and jazzy and reminds me a lot of Erin Mckeown with a band. The ‘jingle’ will get stuck in your head! It's all really, really good local indie-folk stuff so take a listen.

Anyways, Cheri and Daryl are down here in Cape Town this weekend and Julie and I are going to try see them on Friday at The Assembly - a brand new venue in District 6. Come along - you won’t regret it! (discounted tickets here)

The Tweeds also recommend the music of Zebra & Giraffe . I concur. Greg (Z&G) is a childhood friend of mine (we grew up as neighbours) who is making some awesome noises! Think prodigy-moby-incubus kind of vibe. Enjoy.

graphic downloaded from their website

Spring tide, sun set, moon rise

Last night Julie and I joined most of Cape Town’s young crowd in climbing/hiking up to the top of Lion’s Head to watch the sun set and moon rise. I’ve never been up there before, and it seemed as if last night was the night to do it. The panoramic views of the city, Table Mountain, beaches and the ocean were spectacular, and I had a hard time keeping my eyes on both the path at my feet and the spectacle all around me. I almost fell of the mountain once!

Julie and Dan with Table Mountain in the background; and the city from Lions Head.

We made it to the top at 7ish after an hour’s hike, met Dan and his gang and settled down for a lite picnic. As the crowds poured on to the mountain, I managed to see a Frisbee team mate with a telescope, and Julie found a work colleague and two school friends of hers enjoying the evening too. The sun set at 8pm over the ocean in the West (as it is wont to do) and was as good as sunsets over the ocean get. But wait, there was more. Last night was spring tide, and 10 minutes after sunset, in the East over the Stellenbosch mountains a full moon rose. Now that was impressive! For a while I didn’t know where to look - at the big yellow full moon over the city lights, or at the receding pink and red clouds and ocean in the other direction. A most worthwhile experience! "Day and Night" as ever chirpy Dan said.

The Twelve Apostles (mountains) and the Atlantic Ocean

The Moon over Cape Town city and Table Bay.

Thinking the show was over, we joined the multitude of people making our way back down to the car at about 8:30. Because it was dark, and there are some ladders and chains to climb down, there was quite a queue down the mountain. Thankfully we had the entertaining conversation of Nic Marais (a work colleague of Julies, and the host of SA’s biggest breakfast radio show) all the way down. So, laughing and admiring the city lights, we made our way down slowly, getting to the car at 10pm. A great night out! See you next year.

Oh no! Bad news bear.

No, I’m not talking about this bad news bear, but rather the bad news that Terry Pratchett has Alzheimers. I’m a huge fan of the Discworld series (trying to collect them all), and am actually currently reading Good Omens which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman. Pratchett’s humour, satire and insights into the peculiarities of human nature always keep me entertained. This is terrible news, and I’m sure all the Discworld fans will be sad.

With his usual humour, Pratchett has said
“PS ... This should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else.”

If you haven’t come across the series (shame on you!) you really should try find one at a bookstore and get hooked. The series starts with The Light Fantastic, and The Colour of Magic, but you can jump in anywhere in the 30+ books. For those of you with theological inclinations, Small Gods is fantastic and spot on in some senses. Unfortunately you won’t find many books at second hand stores as fans don’t seem to let the books go, so it will have to be a full price investment!

Here's a map of the disc if you want to see what it's all about:

No. 3

Number 3.
It is coming ... soon!
I'm going to watch it tomorrow, at 23h59, at an IMAX theatre!
Sneak peek?

UPDATE:
Number 3.
It came.
Despite all the efforts of fandango.com and the cinema trying to stall the program, it happened.
'Twas fun (and long and large and loud and late).
Adam has a better story here.
Over and out.

Baseball Birthday

Today was Sarah's 26th birthday. We had a 'lekker bring&braai' (or as they say here - a cookout) for her on Sat, because she is an uber-cool housemate and other people like her too! But, what is a birthday without a Brave's Baseball game? So, today a few of us trekked off in Phil and Kara's very nice new Subaru Outback to Turner field. We learnt on the way there that the Grand Master of the KKKlan lives in Harrison - the town Sarah's dad works in. There was a very humorous conversation between her and her dad. We also learnt that Subarus were called "Lesbarus" in the NY Times. Apparently a certain orientation of people find them aesthetically pleasing. So did most of us in the car.
We parked at the Holiday Inn and walked to Turner Field. Sarah, as the ever prepared travel warrior princess had our tickets ready, so we went inside, climbed too many stairs and sat down to 9 innings of Braves vs the Phillies. And guess what? At the bottom of the ninth it was 2-2, Braves to bat. 1 out, 2 bases full. Andruw Jones steps up and hits a home-run! Game over, Braves win. Happy Birthday! Woohooo!
I sound like a local! Haha, good times. I even bought some boiled peanuts. Tasty. The seats were high up and the sunset was cool. All in all a good evening.

On a side note, i still think that cricket is cooler and more entertaining. I kept on feeling sorry for the batters who try so hard but hardly ever get a run. The excitement felt with the homerun is similar to when someone hits a six in cricket, except that in a good ODI game, there are plenty of sixes. Anyhow, i guess the sport you grow up with you tend to appreciate more. Phil does want me to explain cricket to him sometime. Will do!

the gospel according to ... LEGO!

(again - some random reading because i won't be posting for a while)

Here is a great site that shows just how foreign some of the Bible can seem. The Bible in Lego! It is really funny! The section on the Law makes me shudder, and shows how foreign some of it seems. Do we still read all of it, and believe all of it? Is the bible really all true? If so, why don't we still listen to it (and do the crazy things it says). Really crazy things!

John 19:16-17, Luke 23:32
So they took Jesus and, carrying his own cross, he went out to the place called the Place of the Skull. Two other criminals were also led away to be executed with him.

Other cool websites: there are some very clever T-shirt sites around too. The beauty of being in the States is that i can actually order and get shirts delivered! Have a look at these sites, and hey, if you want a T, get them to mail it to me, and I'll ship it over:
Threadless Tees
Glarkware
Random shirts

friends

Maggie Leonard is a good friend of mine, who just so happens to have been giving me serious uphill about who and what I blog about. So, to appease her anger, and rescue our friendship, this post will have absolutely NO mention of Ultimate Frisbee, Frisbees, Flying discs, Atlanta Flying Disc Club, Jo'burg Ultimate or anything associated with that sport. The frisbee one. A sport she rather enjoys actually!
To show where my allegiance lies, and that i actually have a life and friends and stuff, this post will also have NO mention of 'silly Christmas lights in bottles', artistic flair, ambient lighting, photographs, the decor of my room etc. No mention whatsoever. Not even a little description of how the lights make cool shadows on the wall next to my bed, or give the room a pretty glow, or bring a smile to my heart when i turn them on. Not even a tiny footnote mention.
Instead - I will fill this post with recollections of the wonderful Christmas banquet we had at CTS on Friday, the game of Battleships at Thinking Man's afterwards, and the plans to go booty dancing this Friday. So, now that the ground rules have been set, here is the post:

Maggie Leonard is a wonderful person, who has a mom and a dad, and a brother and a sister. They all lived in Wilmington. Now she lives here. She is very good at putting petrol in her car, and drives around Atlanta in the 3am traffic very well. She was at this banquet on Friday. So was I, and all the CTS students, because it was the CTS Christmas banquet. There was dancing - mainly with Kendall (my date for the evening), and Maggie danced too. There were no frisbee games or cool christmas lights at the dance though. I'm sure of that. Afterward many students went to Thinking Man's tavern and drank Miller lite, and i played Battleships with Cathy (who i learnt actually prefers the name Catherine) and we beat Kendall and Kathy (another one). Then i spoke some to Csaba from Hungary, to Kyle (from California and Florida) and then I went home. To my room with a frisbee on the wall, and these cool light installations in a bottle that i can't mention. Oh, and we made plans to go dancing on Friday - not clubbing though, only booty dancing - it's different. The only similarity is that there are no frisbees involved. Though there may be christmas lights this time of year, and there certainly are bottles.

All in all, it was great fun, and neat to see everyone dressed up. And dancing and eating and being merry. So, this proves that i have a life and friends and do blog about things other than frisbee and lights. Tadaah!

(oh yes, for pics of the banquet, go here. Taken by resident photo champ Adam again.)

Music!!!

YES! finally - some proper dance music!"Electronic dance music from South Africa and around the world."
DTB - (Derek The Bandit) is podcasting! I grew up listening to his "World of Dance" on 5fm, and i guess I owe my love of all things house/dance/electronic etc to him. Here hip-hop and booty dancing is all the rage, but there is still nothing better that real dance music (even though I get laughed at when i mention it). I've just downloaded his latest podcast (an hour long mix), and am dancing around the room gleefully! Hooray for our very own DTB!

More on music - just seen the Harris Tweed Tour details on the 5fm website. Have a look here, and make sure you see Cheri and the gang when they come to your part of the country. Looks like they are starting in CT and moving up the coast. Good-on-yer Tweedies!

biltong anyone?

Atlanta has just got a new South African restaurant!SAGA opened in Midtown last month. I'm not sure if i will go visit just yet, but it is nice to know the SA community is doing things. I actually heard about SAGA's chef from a Frisbee friend who lives in Midtown. The menu seems rather pricey, and not too South African actually. There is biltong and kingklip and a potjie of the day, but that is about it. Not even a melktert for dessert! Maybe I'll take some peeps over to try Amarula or a Springbok shot before we explore the nightlife of Midtown. Exploring Midtown really is something still to do - it is a great part of town, and the architect in me loves all the tall modern buildings.

Atlanta's original SA restaurant is 10degrees South. I went to look there on a Sunday. It was closed, but there was a Lamborghini and a Beemer parked outside. Pricey!
On more SA things, there is a store in town that sells Ouma Rusks, rooibos, koo, biltong, wines etc. If i feel home sick I'll pop in. So far I'm doing okay - coke, chocolate and microwave meals! yeah! ;)
There is also a jeweller/art gallery in Decatur whose owner is South African. She has been here 40 years, and still sounds foreign.
Proudly Seffrican!

truth's last chance

Pilate asked Jesus 'what is truth?' and he got no answer. Who is able to say what is true or not? I was reminded on a comment on this blog that 'i am not God', so i am not able to. So who can? I have found some people who claim to have that power - the Wikipedia editors!

I'm a big fan of Wikipedia, but what happens to the entries that don't make the cut? That aren't 'true' enough? They get dumped! They are moved to the great big wikicememetry of the blogsphere. Luckily a few manage to survive and tell the tale. Here then are the Wikicemetry survivors: chilling out at the Wikipedia Knowledge Dump.

My favourite 'not true' entry is Kiwi!: (watch the YouTube here)
It's amazing what one will go to, to break the rules and pretend we can fly! According to the creator, the film has many similarites to the human condition. Do you believe him? The Wiki editors didn't. Off to the Wikidump with you!

shuffling G

I finally gave in and am now the proud new owner of a teeny-tiny music machine:

There aren't any Mugg&Beans, N1 traffic, Cinema Nouveaus or familiar skylines here to run to when i'm feeling displaced, so... i listen to music instead. The music i have here i brought from home, so it comes with comforting memories from South Africa. The support structures i associate with the songs help me feel more at home in this strange place.

Last night i lay listening to Damien Rice and it transported me back to winter mornings at Jono's house - 62 Sauvignon, Bromhof: the site of early morning squash games with Vaughn; Young Adult braais; fresh paninis with basil, mozarella and tomato; and my rocking chair in the afternoon sun.

The ipod shuffle is great! It is really small and holds 250 songs. The palylist i've filled it up with for now has:

Arno Carstens, The Avett Bros, Ben Folds Five, Collective Soul, Counting Crows, The Cranberries, Damien Rice, David Gray, Freshlyground, Jack Johnson, Jamie Cullum, Jose Gonzalez, Matt Allison, The Narrow, REM, Simphiwe Dana, Sufjan Stevens, U2, White Lie and Yann Tiersen.

Yay for music!

my hands are bananas

It's Friday night in Decatur, and a bunch of students are hanging out at our house. I think they are off to watch Stranger than Fiction later, but for now we are all decorating cookies. As light entertainment, we watched a few YouTube clips on Elizabeth's computer:

No 1. My hands are bananas
Really funny arb German music video - Criss you will love this. Beware the milky pirate! (just watched it again - it is rather disturbing actually - you have to love ze germans)

No 2. Charlie and the candy mountain.
"Candy mountain Charlie! Shun the non-believer."
I couldn't really see this, but it sounded funny (and disturbing again). I'll put it up here for the fun of it. Marc says he hated it the first time, but it is growing on him now. Sort of like Naploean Dynamite i guess.

Maybe my sense of humour has changed somewhat, and you are thinking - Gareth, are you crazy? I find them funny, though a bit wierd. Maybe i've been reading too much Terry Pratchett. The people here seem to enjoy them.
Now you can too!

procrastinators are the leaders of tomorrow

As you may have seen (i hope), i spent a LOT of time fiddling around with the intricacies of Blogger Beta and editing pictures and changing fonts etc. It is great when it works, but a real fristration when it doesn't. I'm still having issues trying to comment on friends posts, but I seem to have a plan worked out.
Technology is great at keeping us entertained and in touch.

But - i found another very useful role it can play: procrastination accomplice! I skipped church to write a sermon due for today. I sat down to write and 4 hours later had nothing. What happened? The (dumdumdum...) internet (eeeeek) sucked me in and didn't let me go.
I read all the latest news on Ted Haggard's fall, Africa-China relations, updated my facebook, cleared out my email inbox, and made this site more user-friendly and appealing.
Constructive? I don't think my prof will buy that - so let me get to that sermon again!

The last king of Scotland

I've just returned from watching The Last King of Scotland - a movie about Idi Amin and his reign in Uganda.

Wow. It's movies and experiences like this that make me wonder if there is hope. I'm still trying to work out who to be angry at; why the richest continent is the poorest; and why Africa seems to be shackled and unable to stand?

It is a harrowing film - but, as learnt in Men in Ministry yesterday: harrowing comes from harrow - plough, and is a positive word associated with harvest. Hopefully telling these dark stories can be cathartic for Africa and humanity in some way. Hopefully.

Have a look at the website, and watch it when it gets to SA.


~ it was good to see the sights and sounds of dancing, veld, dark skins, kids running and waving again. The movie also made me realise the racism I carry inside (and might never get rid of) and that i just don't like Empires and their leaders, no matter which colour.

some fun quizzes...

Sarah found this cool little site full of quizzes. This is how to make a Gareth - is it true?

How to make a Gareth

Ingredients: 5 parts competetiveness 1 part silliness 3 parts beauty

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Top it off with a sprinkle of caring and enjoy!

Personality
cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

"Jesus is Coming" and bluegrass

Just in case i had forgotten (and it does sometimes slip my mind) i was reminded of this important fact by... a large pink billboard last night!

I'm sorry i didn't get a picture of it, but it was very funny. We were on our way to Athens, GA to listen to some bluegrass bands. Athens (not the one in Greece) is about 1.5 hours from Atlanta. The car in front of us (Sarah, David and Steven) had a walkie-talkie and we were playing 20 questions on the way. Our car (Maggie, Katherine, Whitney and I) couldn't get 'Michael Jackson' because they said the person was black. They didn't guess our object either - the ever popular 'mullet'.

They radioed to us to look at the sign on the left and above the trees was a huge pink billboard with the name 'JESUS' on it. I made some remark about there being a Jesus shop nearby, and they are advertising. We laughed and drove on. When we looked back we saw that the other side of the billboard said, in equally large pink letters 'IS COMING'. Always good to know! We laughed some more.


The evening was great! Athens is a big student town, so even Thursday night, 2am when the gig finished, the streets were busy. The music was awesome and we had so much fun. The first act was The Everybodyfields - chilled emo blue grass stuff. Then we heard The Avett Brothers. Two brothers - banjo and guitar with a high hat drum and a base drum at their feet - and a double-bassist. They had loads of energy, hilarious clothes and a great time was had! Not being a bluegrass expert, i was told this was not typical bluegrass. Whitney says it is "System-of-a-Down Bluegrass" because they screamed now and then. Katherine says it is Rockabilly. I say it was great!
We got back late, and i slept in.


This is the crowd that went (l to r) - Steven, Katherine, Sarah, David, Whitney, Maggie, Gareth. I'm beginning (i typed 'begging' but Mat pointed it out - shot!) to make some friends. 3 hours in a car helps a lot.