Peace-be still

The coolest gadget that can change the way we work.

2006-10-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

Technological advancement is becoming faster and faster everyday. As technology advances, so is the need and sophistication of those who keep up with its changes. The faster the advancement in technology the higher the need for even more portable and easy to carry gadgetry. People, especially businessman are constantly on transit and this has necessitated at least now than ever before in the history of technology, the need for more sophisticated, portable and easy to use gadgets.
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) Gadgetry is just one among many. The USB devices connect people to more computers and peripherals. It has the power to connect computer users with a whole new world of PC experiences. According to the USB has many functions and it has revolutionarised the way we now communicate with the rest of the world. Among some of its very crucial functions is that the USB now affords people, especial the businessman on transit the ability to connect back to his/ her office by means of video conferencing from anyway in the world.
The has been defined as your instant connection to the fun of digital photography or the limitless creative possibilities of digital imaging. The USB is a very cool gadget that allows us to connect with other people through the power of PC-telephony and video conferencing. This device has several uses some of which are the following:
1. The USB card reader:
This is a small and portable (the size of a keychain really, this image works as a proof) USB2.0 card reader that has 2 versions compatible with the following memory cards:
• the old Memory Stick - launched in 1998 by Sony
• the Secure Digital card, best known as SD card – launched in 2000 by Panasonic, SanDisk and Toshiba, it was like direct competition between the two cards

To better suit the portability function, the USB plug is foldable – capable of being folded up and stored as you can see in this image.
It’s also very light and very small as previously mentioned. If you can’t imagine the real size of something with the following dimensions – 33×33x18mm – then check this site out: Sizeasy .With the assistance of SIzeasy the Card Reader is compared with a matchbox, check the image and get your own conclusion:

The USB Cube Card Reader can be a useful device to transfer files of your memory cards to/from your laptop since you can take it virtually anywhere, and

Then there is the magnetic LED scrolling badge.

There are a number of uses for this little magnetic LED scrolling badge. The magnetic back allows you to stick it to your PC case for example, allowing you to talk smack without actually talking. Cordless operation means it will look clean no matter where you put it. Battery life is claimed to be 12 hours with a full charge via your PC USB port. Both English and Japanese characters can be displayed on the badge as well. Up to 512 letters can be programmed into the device with eight different cases available (which I assume to mean something to the Japanese since we only have two cases in English). The price is set at 4580 Yen and it is available now. I think this would make a cool name badge for the office too.
USB Ghost Radar.

Japanese has always found ways to associate stuff in real-life with USB flash drive. The most notable examples are the USB Sushi and USB Dimsim. While the plastic food has no real correlation with functionality of the USB flash drive, it serves to jump-start sales. And now, they have come up with a GhostRadar USB flash memory that detects, well, ghosts.

USB Heating Seat Pad. check:

In olden times, Japanese life centered around tatami; pretty much most of daily activities take place in this tatami-carpeted rooms. Instead of sitting on sofa or armchairs, people sit or kneel down on soft seating pads. Now, you know what this doormat look-alike is all about, and this USB version is supposedly to keep us warm during winter times.

USB Noodle Strainer. check:

Preparing soumen with this "USB cookware" is quite a unique experience. Simply add cold or iced water to the oval-shaped plastic bowl, connect this strainer to a USB port, and the machine will create a water flow. Next, place the pre-cooked noodles into the water channel, and they will be carried along with the circulation of the water.

The "coolest person" I've meet.

2006-10-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as “a cool person”. However this does not mean that there aren’t some people I respect and hold at high esteem. For me the coolest person would definitely be a one whose ideals are beyond reproach in several if not in most cases.

To be cool for me means to be sensitive, to be respectful of other people and to be daring and caring about what is right and to live a life that counts. In other words I don’t find a lot of people who can live their lives to affect others in the most positive means possible. I find that a lot of people live a lifestyle that can best be defined as narcissistic and self-centred life-styles. Most people are self serving and selfish and that’s not cool at all.

A cool person, whatever being cool means for you would be a person who is willing to forgo their momentary pleasures for the good of their societies and those around them. I have met people who come close to having such ideals and such people deserve an accolade for their efforts. However, for most of the people I have encountered, living for the here and now seems to be the way to go. I believe that the day I really meet a cool person, then my life will never be there same again. I have meet a lot of people and I still find my life has not changed at least that much.

A cool person has something to offer, and something I will desire to either be a part of or something that would scaffold me into desiring to be a better person than I already am. Good and noble things are desirable and as far as I know there aren’t that much good and noble things and courses around to either emulate, to desire or to strive to be a part of. These are my findings and they can not be disputed you can try to argue with them but I bet you will find them truthful in many ways than not.

I find that at the heart of being cool is the ever demanding question of identity. How many people are truly stable in their identities? How many people love who they are without trying to be someone else, without trying to fit, without trying to impress? The positive articulation of the ideals and imperatives demanded by these questions will be for me the very litmus, indeed the acid-test by which I will measure what it is to be a “cool person”.

I have and I continue to encounter on a daily basis a people who are either struggling with moratoria identities or any other defective psychosocial personality disorders. I do not perceive such a trait as "cool" even though I am sometimes tempted to, for the mere fact that I truly desire to look at one person and say, “God they are cool.”

However, this seems to me more like a dream that one can never wake from. It is painful and at best disheartening. I say this fully aware and totally not oblivious of the fact that some people who will read this article will think I have completely lost it. I will definitely appreciate such people because this will for me be a true achievement: in the sense that at least I would have truly made a statement that gives people something to think about. For I believe one can not make judgement about something they have not thought about or something that have not challenged their comfort zones one way or the other.

In the post modernistic era in which we live, nothing seems to have any concrete meaning. Everything is either here and there or nowhere at all. Meaning has been reduced to a mere relativity for fear of being truly cool: a concept (coolness) I equate with pristine genuinity. Being truly genuine places certain demands and heightens the essence of what it truly means to be “cool”, and thus creates a much despised need for people to be true to themselves.

This means that for a minute we are made to face the real persons we are with all our flaws or those things we truly don’t like about ourselves. Faced with these demands we find it easier to withdraw and coil in the depth and gloom of an autistic cocoon we create for ourselves as a way of escaping reality. Thus I do not think there is or there will ever be anything cool about such a behaviour, and if this is what most people tend to do then it truly suffices to argue as I have already suggested that there is not such a thing as a “cool person” except of course in our dreams, somewhere deep down the recesses of our superficial hearts.

In our imaginary world, in the realm of fantasy “ cool persons” exist and I can not know about him because I am real, I am not phoney, I am wide awake, I see reality as it is.

What is Web 2.0 and does it advance Democratic ideals?

2006-10-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 is, according to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 “a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. According to Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle, web2.0 can rightly be defined as:

“a social phenomenon embracing an approach to generating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation”.

In other words, it is that form that moves away from static websites (i.e. the use of search engines and surfing the net from one website to the next) to “a more dynamic and interactive World Wide Web” (ibid). It is characterized by interactivity, by sharing and open communication or its tendency toward a decentralization of power, with regard the dissemination of information.

Web 2.0 thus has a huge tendency toward leaning toward building interactivity and rudimentary social-networkingsocial networks which are aimed at producing content and thus exploit

network effects available to its end-user.

In this sense web 2.0 encourages and advances democratic ideals among, firstly the consumers who benefit from the products produced by members and also it helps provide enough information and aids interactivity and discussions between the investor, the consumer and the media as regards what each expects in the relationships that they have with each other.

In this regard, access to consumer-generated content facilitated by Web 2.0 brings the web closer to Tim Berners-Lee's original concept of the web as a democratic, personal, and (Do It Your self) DIY medium of communication. In fact Paul Graham reckons Democracy is one of the greater ideals for which Web 2.0 was established. See for more.

To demonstrate this democratic ideal, Paul Graham href="http://www.paulgraham.com/bubble.html"> argues that examples of amateurs surpassing professionals in this business is a testimony to Web 2.0’s commitment to advancing democratic and providing equal opportunities for amateurs to channel their efforts in the right direction.

Wikipedia Wikipedia he argues may be the most famous form of such efforts, although ‘experts’ have given it middling reviews. It (Wikipedia) advances democratic ideals in that it is free for all to read. Most web based articles are for sale and even if one was willing to pay for them, they do not in most cases provide the option for one to link to them for future use.

For Paul with whom I concur this shows that such articles are not “part of the conversation”.Web 2.0 as an advancer and proponent of democratic ideals in information production and dissemination, has as one of its portal the involvement of the reader in deciding what counts as news. This is indeed one other place for which the democratic ideal it safe guards seems to win the race against its rivals.

News sites like Reddit Reddit. carry quality news and allow people the opportunity to choose not to be bothered with reading the front pages of newspapers or magazines anymore. Whereas Wikipedia's main appeal is that it is good enough and free, these sites suggest that voters do a significantly better job than human editors. Readers are participants in deciding what qualifies as news; they are actively involved in the process as democratic participants whose say is worth something.

According to Paul Graham the most dramatic example of Web 2.0 democracy is not in the selection of ideas, but their production. He further notes that the news we often read on individual people's sites is as good as or better than those we might read in newspapers and magazines. Thus such a realisation gives the reader independent evidence: besides, the top links on Reddit href="http://reddit.com">Reddit are generally links to individual people's sites rather than to magazine articles or news stories.

On the Web, people are free to write what they want and nearly all of it falls short of what Paul Graham calls “the editor-damped” writing common in print publications. Furthermore, Paul argues that because the pool of online writers is very, very large, then if it's large enough, then the lack of damping means the best writing online should surpass the best in print. He further claims that because the web has evolved mechanisms for selecting good stuff, it means therefore that its selection of stories beats the damping-down of print media, for the same reasons market economies beat centrally planned ones.

However, it must be noted that sceptics may see the term "Web 2.0" as little more than a buzzword; or they may suggest that it means whatever its proponents want it to mean in order to convince their customers, investors and the media that they have begun building something fundamentally new, rather than continuing to develop and use well-established technologies[2].

Whatever the case might be, it should be noted that Web 2.0 has brought a completely new spin to the information dissemination than ever before. And it should also be noted that not having a centrally directed editorial body or governor, predisposes Web 2.0 to a lot of vials. The ‘Free-flow’ of its information may not necessarily be such a good ideal in dispensing information.

The line that separates right and proper dissemination of information and its abuse thereof is quite faint to say the least. Thus it is with much faith in those that are involved in disseminating information through the use of Web 2.0 networking effects that I argue that Web 2.0 should be seen as a system that advances democratic ideals with regards information production and dissemination.

What is New Media and what is its impact on me as a journalist?

2006-09-26T05:17:00.000-07:00

Prince Monna

Personally, my definition for new media is just that: New Media. In other words new media is for me any new ways of dispensing information which are aided and influenced by the recent proliferation in technological advancements. The latest forms of which is Digital and electronic communications forms, particularly the internet and the World Wide Web.

According to newpeoplemedia.org, these new forms of mass communication developed by society always tend to be given the label “new”. To further substantiate their claim they further argue that in years past it was radio, television, cable TV, satellite TV, but nowadays the term tends to be used primarily to talk about emerging digital/electronic communications forms, particularly the internet and the World Wide Web.

Using digital media and computer technology to create innovative and interactive instructional and presentation materials for delivery via CD, DVD and the Internet is as far as I am concerned descriptive of “New Media”. Never before has such achievements been made in the history of the media and information dissemination than now.
www.cmp.unt.edu/glossary.htm

For me “New Media” is indeed symbolic and of course truly representitative of a new tidal wave of media and technological change that has and is still happening paralleled with the on going changes in technology. According to Martin Lister, the newness of new media is in part real, in the sense that these media did not exist before now.(New media: A critical introduction: ed. Martin Lister).

According to Lister some so-called critics of new media often, substantially deny that there have been some change at all, either in the media or in the culture to which they form a part. Such critical accounts, Lister further argues do frequently stress the continuity in economic interests, political imperatives, and cultural values that drive the new as much as the old. They seek to show that the preoccupation with media’s difference, with the way that it outstrips and parts company with our old, passive, analogue media is an ideological trick, a myth, writes Martin Lister.

They argue that new media can largely be revealed as the latest twist in capitalisms ruthless ingenuity for ripping us off with seductive commodities and the false promise of a better life.

Having out lined the definition of new media and of course the historical trends it took for new to change, it now becomes very crucial that I say how much of an impact these changes have on me as a journalist. New media and all the changes that have happened are very influential in how information will be disseminated from now on. However, for me to make it as a journalist in this era I must embrace the changes that new media has brought for the journalism trade and also make use of the advantages of provided by this changes in media.

Also it should be noted that with the advent of new media especially the internet and the World Wide Web, journalism will be affected and those that keeps up with the technology are the only ones who will make it in this trade.

Wireless Technologies - Economic Advantages for Africa

2006-09-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Prince T. Monna1

According to the term is generally used for mobile IT equipment. It encompasses cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), and wireless networking. In other words wireless technology comprises a network system that functions to connect people especially business people who do business while on the move to their offices and or customers and associates through Wireless Networking Network.

So, what are Wireless Networking Networks:

In order to understand the meaning of wireless networking and ultimately how they function, it is very important to first give a brief definition of <”/a> According to Computer networking is generally concerned with communication between computer systems. This communication can therefore be defined as “the scientific and engineering discipline used to make this happen”.

Furthermore it must be noted that this communication between computers or any other IT equipment capable of wireless communication involves in most cases, at the least, two computers separated by a short distance (e.g. via Bluetooth) or thousands of miles (e.g. via the Internet). Computer networking is therefore sometimes considered to be a form of telecommunications. Thus Wireless networks can therefore “be referred to as telephone or computer networks that use specific technology as their carrier or physical layer” .

Wireless networking is, according to a process of providing a connection to a DSL service through a wireless router so as to provide a convenient way to connect a small number of wired and any number of wireless computers. They further say that this process of routing information through a wireless router is beneficial because through it the integration of wireless connections to these computers, sharing or exchanging multimedia information and data can be done without the hassle or nuisance of cables. Thus ultimately Communication between these two mediums is further enabled by the use of “standard network protocols and any technology which does this perform wireless networking”.

According to Intoweb Wireless LANS are the most popular for wireless networking and has fuelled emerging industries such as IEEE 802.11 offering solutions and applications in the impossible event of wireless networking.
Now it becomes very crucial for easy understanding of wireless technology that I give a few types of wireless networking systems for illustration purposes. Two dominant types of wireless networking can be found. These include:

1. Ad-Hoc or Peer to Peer Networking:this type of network comprises a number of computers each with wireless networking interface cards that functions to aid with direct communication among every wireless enabled computer. Printers and files are shared this way. Access to wired LAN resources is not enabled unless one of the computers acts as a bridge to the wired LAN using special software for the process of "bridging" (see Intoweb

2. Access Points: some wireless networks use access points (also referred to as base stations). Access points act as hubs as they provide connectivity for wireless computers. According to Intoweb, Wireless LANS are connected to wired LANS and hereby allowing access to LAN resources by wireless computers and these LAN resources can include existing Internet connectivity or file servers. “Two kinds of access points exist namely dedicated hardware access points and software access points” (Intoweb).

Hardware access points include examples such as Apple's Airport Base Station and offers support for a number of wireless features. Software access points run according to the specifications of ad-hoc wireless networks and offer support for features not included in hardware solutions, but may also not include those wireless features required by the 802.11 standard (Intoweb).

"Roaming"

Communication between wireless enabled systems functions through a process called roaming. In other words through a process by which computers can send information from one access point to another through a wireless medium often a blue-tooth or through internet. A steady network is ensured with the incorporation of hardware and software. Communication through wireless technology is often very safe for the user, because it is initialized by passwords and secret pin code to function.

So, What does this mean for South Africa?

South Africa has a fast developing and a very stable and promising economy. With the advent of globalisation and in the interest of global markets accessibility, South African businesses and businessmen ought to be techno-literate and techno-savvy. Participation into global markets would often mean that business people are mostly on the move and scarcely in their offices. However, the office still has and must run efficiently or else the purpose for global business meetings is defeated. Now to be able to juggle these two balls at the same time, South Africa and African businesses needs wireless technology to aid their day to day running of their business from anywhere in the world.

Through internet connectivity this is then made possible but internet can be slow and information slippage can happen. Thus a better means of communication like broadband and other video conferencing systems becomes very useful to South African businessmen who do business on the road.

CENSORED!

2006-08-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Journalists gets censored in many different ways. Sometimes I wonder what has happened to the spirit of Ubuntu, especially if you are in Africa? People have this feeling that they can't help other people except there is something they stand to benefit from their gestures. But is this really 'helping?' I mean if it comes with strings attached? I personally dont think so.

I just got denied access to a story because I could not answer the question: "whats in it for us?" I was asked this question by a manager of an NGO. I could not be angry with her. I just felt sorry for journalists who have to grapple with issues like these. And I pitty you if as a journalist you will be brought as low as to accepting a 'bribe' of any sorts for the sake of having a story. Don't feel condemned just because your sources tell you "you journalists are the same, you make promises and you don't keep them". No! we never made them out of our own wills. We were coerced into making them. We are not even supposed to promise you anything. Don't ask for it. Don't make us make empty promises just because we want a story, because you will be blamed for that.

To you journalists out there...stop it! Don't pretend to be "The Messiahs" if its not in your power to. Just do your job and get the heck out of trouble. You are costing the credibility of our industry if this is how you are going to represent us.

Get me right. If you can help, please with all sicerity do, and do it because you want to, not out of obligation.. Prove yourself credible..let our generation of journalists be a force to be reckonned with.

The Truth: how should we present "The Gospel Truth"?

2006-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

The truth is something that most people are dying to tell but many can’t speak the truth in love. Truth without love is at most equivalent to a mere pronouncement of judgement but as we all know, not only are we not fit to pass judgement onto our brothers but we are above all else commanded not to judge others, because that task is reserved for the only one true judge, the Christ without any wrongs whatsoever. I have been chatting to some folks about such issues but it came to my attention that a lot of us don’t even know or do they see any wrong in doing what they do, as long as they think they are onto something…but wait a minute. Who are you to tell me what I should or should not do? This is quite a fitting question to ask. It should be one question that guides and governs our interactions and relations with other people regardless of what we think of them or how we have classified them according to the standards God knows where we get them… perhaps we ought to realise and be aware that all that we do whether good intentioned or bad will one day be judged for what it was worth. One thing I have realised is that through our love of truth we have destroyed a lot than we have actually preserved, so what’s the use? Shouldn’t we rather work on our methods then if these are the types of results we are getting after all the labour we put into it?

Of course we possess the truth! This is truly an undoubt-able fact. There is definitely no contesting its validity. However what is at stake is the packaging and ultimately the way we then present our truth to those that we think need it. As much as we want to give it to them we should also realise that these people also reserve the right to be heard and for their opinions to be respected no matter how skewed to our perceptions such views might seem. It is love beyond all else that straightens these perceptions other people have about certain things that we hold so dear to us and have such a conviction of, to the extent that we just want to shove all of it into their mouths even if they don’t want it or don’t understand why their views, but not ours are wrong. This is quite a psychological issue if you come to think about it…and the only way to win this battle is to go the psychological way and of course with God’s wisdom because whether you like it or not He created psychology and He wants it to be used to convict and to shed some light to His truth to those whose minds and thinking are shaped and bear an inclination towards psychological fact.

The Proverbial Woman

2006-08-12T03:36:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 31:10 simply asks: "who can find a virtuous woman,for her price is above rubies?" We don't have to look far away to find the "proverbial woman. The lady who makes it all worth your while everyday is indeed more precious than rubies. She needs to know that. You can't expect her to somehow osmotically (by osmosis) know that. She might think/imagine it, but she really need to hear it from your own mouth. This month in South Africa is a "Women's"month..guys please take time out to appreciate those women who put/add a smile to your faces, who lightens the burden off your shoulders.. I am talking about your mother, your sister your helper at home, your granny, your wife most especially...this is the time to overtly express your appreciation of her. Tell her how much she means to you and see her world light-up! We need to know how much other people value us in life do it to someone and see what I mean. Its a human instinct to feel loved and appreciated. Ladies, happy women's day to you all! especially my mother!

Pathetic!

2006-08-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

I recently came across the following quote on blogswana blogsite which I thought was so pathetic to say the least!:
"In a very significant way, we (the west) don’t consider people in the third-world to be real people. Their problems exist as abstractions, always behind the comfortable barrier of the TV screen or the printed page. We don’t empathise with their problems because we don’t know these people. They don’t seem real to us, so their suffering does not feel real. What we need to do is make these people seem more real. It’s the only way to affect our gut responses".

Never in my entire life have I been exposed to so much ignorance. This is really pathetic and if there is indeed some truth to this quote, then really, the west should be ashamed of themselves. This kind of ignorance cannot be excused! How can the west not consider people in the third world as real people? who is the west anyway to think that what they think of other people is what should be considered normal and right?

What can come out of a small rural village?

2006-08-09T03:51:00.000-07:00

I have been to this area for a number of times now.In fact I just got back from Hamburg last night. But everytime I go to Hamburg, I feel like I am visiting the place for the very first time. Hamburg is a unique place in South Africa. It is a place with a story to be told.It is a place rich in History and love. It is a place that brings you closely in touch with true nature. People here know how to love and care for one another. Hamburg resembles those places that we only hear about and read about in novels, it is too good to really accept its existence. But there is indeed such a place somewhere in South Africa. Such a place exists. I really fall shot in trying to describe this unique,indeed a very anthological village that welcomes all and offers more than just love and support to its dwellers but to all who care to visit. Hamburg a village of hope, of love, of sharing and a village full and well renoun for its creativity. It is the mother of the famousALTERPIECE which is touring the world as I write.A home of many colours.A home of everything. A home that woke-up and said to Africa and the rest of the world: "we can and we are alive with oppprtunity, and yes something can come out of our village, out of Africa. Hamburg defies the odds!

Heart Issues: Are you the Dating or Courting type?

2006-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

If you are the dating type, chances are your heart has been broken on several occassions already. If not, your chance is coming. If you are the courting type. Fact is you will (if not alread)battle with feeling about girls. But your restraint will be do you believe there is "the good and perfect one" for you?
Dealing with Heart Issues. I think the logical way to deal with heart issues is first to admit to yourself that indeed these things do exist and that they affect you personally. Don't and I repeat don't think you are any less a Christian or human for that matter if you find yourself battling the heart-battle. The only and gross impedance to healing is to pretend these issues don't exist and worse still to deny their existence or choose to ignore them. The best way to heal is always and it always begins with a humble and honourable heart. Honesty is the key to healing of any kind.

Now if your problem is falling for girls now and then. Check the pattern. How does it exist and how does it happen to you. Does it come when you are happy or when sad? Do you ever think of having a girlfriend when all other friendships are going fine and do you ever feel lonely? What do you think of yourself? Do you see the worth in you, in other words are you truly convinced that you are a worthy person. Do you believe that in creating you God wasn't just doing justice to the remaining piece of clay? Do you believe that He took His time, thought deeply about what He was making and why and how He was going to make it and for what reason He was going to?

If you have never thought or considered that thought then, there lies your problem and first step to your healing. Where do you look for answers for most of the things that happens to you or in your life? You see, a lot of the times we look for answers to our lives from other people who themselves are also looking for answers to their own questions about life. Get me right here. I am not saying we should not consult others. What I am saying is we should consult others after we have consulted ourselves first. It is us God created the way we are.

We are His original copy of ourselves. To Him we are a master piece. He created and wired us for the best of His plans, and its either we look to Him for the success of His plans through us or to others for the failure of His plans. Now, I really don't think that makes Him happy. But I want you to remember this, it is He who made us and the desire we have to consult other now and then when faced with problems or questions we cannot answer for ourselves. But again that need not be our first pot of protocol. He should. And by seeking for answers from Him we are implicitly consulting ourselves, we are in the process looking back at us and reflecting deeply at us.

Now, thats not easy there are certain things about ourselves that we don't want to see or consider looking at. Its fine for a start but not quite. We need to look at ourselves and know who we are and where we are destined apart from what people or circumstances dictates for us. We can only do this if we look to God first.

I have meet a number of people, some my very close friends who are dealing and battling with thoughts of lust for some and for some feelings for women. I deal with same issues myself, but only if i want to, or if I am distracted shortly but by the grace of God, I often find myself out. This is not to say I am any better than them but its because I know one thing for sure. God is always speaking to me, but how often do I listen to Him, then how can I not make silly mistakes if I don't listen to God speaking to me through my conscience? I constantly go back to God for checkup. That s the least i can do, because i know myself. I am my best enemy, i am no good to myself apart from God's watch over me. I know this sounds proud but it is the very truth that i try to live by through the grace of Christ.

I have realized one or two things in life and in love-life. You will have feelings for girls. Thats a fact. There is zero wrongs with that. Its normal. If you don't then may be you need to start getting worried. Most of the girls that you love or you think you do is because they simply, I say simply because thats just what it is, a simple fulfillment of a need or a void you have for attention. Note I say attention and not love. Its simply attention that you need. It could be you did not get that kind of attention from your parents when you were growing up or you were never really affirmed in love and so you are not sure you are loved. People can tell you how great a person you are, but the question is: do you believe what you hear. Chances are you don't and thats fine, really. Thats ok. I don't expect you to. At lest right now or there and then but you should. Renew your mind and believe it because God says it.

Child Soldiers

2006-08-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

Unlike Angola, this documentary was a direct eye-witness account chronicling a heartlessly inhumane,behaviour demonstrated by the “lord resistance army” on children. I really find it hard not to blame colonialism and its exploitative practices for this legacy of brutality and the consequent evils perpetrated agains children and other civilians in countries affected by civil wars. These wars are economic wars other than just political wars.

"Angola Saudades from the one who loves you”

2006-08-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

Angola is a documentary that tells the story of the people of Angola as they grapple with coming to terms with their new "peace" following years upon years of civil unrest. It is very clear and worth noting that the civil unrest that threatened to destroy this country, which is rich in natural resources were deliberately perpetrated by evil colonial forces:" Unlike Portugal's other African possessions, which had made relatively peaceful transitions to independence months earlier, by November 11, 1975, Angola was in chaos". See ANGOLA:INDEPENDENCE AND THE RISE OF THE MPLA GOVERNMENT for more on Angola.

In attempting to make sense of the events highlighted by this documentary, I find myself having to grapple with the question of meaning making. In other words what “truth” if any was the director trying to communicate to us the viewers when he set out to making this documentary? There are of course numerous compartments that ultimately make an “ideal” called “truth”. But over the years the notion “truth” has seen different debates reducing it to a mere relativity. “The truth” as a concept is now considered a relative concept. I don’t agree, but I will not deal with this phenomenon here. My basic endeavour here is to extrapolate themes running through or addressed by the director of this award-winning documentary which to the best of my convictions is indeed a brilliant documentation of such issues as the one here addressed.
The documentary "Angola Saudades from the one who loves you” is based on Angola’s struggle to recover from a 27 years of civil war. Angola is just one among many African countries which have just emerged from a devastating legacy of atrociously inhuman sufferings at the peril of civil wars. The documentary does extracts or represents in a kaleidoscopic way different strands of causative forces that can rightly be implicated in the face of these national atrocities. To capture and utilise this filmatographic art of story-telling, the director uses an anonymous voice that reads letters chronicling the events of the war, in a way that takes the viewer on a journey. These letters sample different realities of life in this oil producing country in ways that creates a dichotomy of livelihoods, between rich and poor, street kids and their squalor versus the duality of the lives that the fashion models of that country live under. Through this medium we encounter yet another kaleidoscope of aesthetics emanating from the juxtaposed differences in livelihoods.
For once we are transferred into a state of psychological engagement with the documentary. Our political, anthropological, economical and linguistic strands of reasoning are pulled into “excruciating” and laborious actions. We begin to reckon with the mechanisms of exploitation laid bare before our eyes by the documentary. We try to make sense of it in the “normal” way of making meaning of such activities but this one betrays in many ways our normalised ways of reading our world. Personally, I am stretched beyond what I have experienced before. I am forced to read the situation from a political point of view, but no, that is not entirely what it is. It’s an economical battle. But also not in its entirety. There are more forces to reckon with here than meets the eye, but I am only equipped with just a little knowledge to grapple with the aforementioned issues.
I feel a bit overwhelmed by circumstances these people had to grapple with. I want to make sense of these happenings in an objective way that journalists should approach their subject matters with. However, the pain these people had to go through, affects me so bad I can’t stand the colonial exploitation the African continent had to reckon with. I see clearly the devastating effects this system left on our poor continent. It’s painful to even think about it. Here is a country, rich in natural recourses but very poor in any other means possible. I see the poverty in the art and skill of leadership. I see the ignorance perpetrated by this lack. Black people against black people. Colonialism is over in theory but still deeply imbedded in the way things are run and systems articulated on the ground in most of Africa. For most of the black folk as was indicated by one of the characters, we have lost hope in not only our leaders but also in those systems: humanitarian systems that are supposed to be protecting us. The system is now bought and initiated into the western colonial patterns now unfortunately propagated by the leaders African people elect to represent them. Greed and exploitation is now a new definition of a truly democratic democracy in Africa. The only thing that remains to the people on the ground is to ‘act’. The fashion models carry this painful metaphoric re-enactment of life-after-colonialism with such fervency that betrays any kind of illusion by which the political and economic realities of the Angolan problems can be evaded.
It is so clear in this documentary that outside we appear happy and jovial, but the truth is: it’s just an act and the sad thing about it is this happiness is momentary and it keeps office hours, that’s it. Beyond the office it’s over—completely non-existent. The models who brings this reality to bear in our minds, after acting in the world that exploit and mines their talents for selfish gains do go back to the squalor to which they were born, after office hours. This is how I read the events of this documentary and to me it makes much sense that way. Meaning it is said is a re-enactment of our on socialisations and I think my social upbringing gave me such spectacles by which I read through the events chronicled in this documentary.
This collage of events is effectively presented rather descriptively through a clever and catchy usage of very symbolic sound tracks that make the thematic journey through the documentary one that hooks and engages the audience with almost the same convictions as the makers of the documentary themselves. Together, the film and the music create a vivid extrapolation of the enigma that is Angola. Coupled with the soothing poem and the soul piercing music and pictures that for once makes one’s heart skip a beat, the film is given a poetic and yet a very strong feel, that it almost speaks loudly to the reformer in each audience whose motivation is to do just that. The constant recitation of the phrase “He wrote” resounds with an air of determination and a vehement spirit, painting with the rigour of the strokes of a rough textured paint-brush in the hands of an amateur painter, the immediacy and accuracy of the events chronicled by the documentary. This anonymous voice reads or should I say recounts and rubs-in the question that is in everyone’s mind: “will Angola (or Africa) rise from the ashes and rebuilt again?”
Furthermore, by the beautifully sound-tracked journey through the documentary, the director seems to take us through a cul-de-sac of impossibilities. He paints descriptively quite a world of contrasts presented through a kaleidoscope of visuals sampling the diverse experiences of Angolans: from wealthy oil barons to street children, with mansions and malls juxtaposed against rubble and decay. By painting such a landscape of dichotomous events, the award-winning documentary seem to suggest that a prosperous future is still out of reach for the majority of Angolans in this theoretically rich but practically anguished land. And the politics and colonial exploitation re-lives yet again…

The Nuba People

2006-08-05T05:31:00.000-07:00

I recently watched a documentary on the Nuba people: The Nuba people are made up of ninety-nine black African tribes living in the Nuba Mountains situated in the Sudanese province of South Kordofan. Like most if not all of African people, these tribes have lived for decades as forgotten people.But it wasn't long before they became part of the political and economic concerns of their country, including the west. However, it is most amazing, in fact it is disheartning that these people only became important in as far as their natural resources could be exploited for the enrichment of the powerful west and the greedy leaders of the African continent.For 15 years the Nuba mountains which had for long been their (Nuba people) own were besieged by the regular Sudanese Army. However, "the genocide perpetrated on the Nuba people, which is obviously the result of the world powers’ struggle over Sudanese natural riches, remains concealed from the world public" See Nuba a pure people by Tomo Kriznar for more on the Nuba people.

My Work so far.

2006-07-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

Its up-coming, its promising and its exciting. All my works are motivated and inspired by purpose.Check a few of my random works on cuetv website if you have time. And continue watching this space for more up-coming projects I have lined up.

Oh! What a Vac that was !

2006-07-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

Hello and Shalom to you!
I just came from the june/july vacation. For me this vacation has been quite hectic but in many ways full of fun and quite fulfilling in some ways too. I worked for festival( cuetv) then went to Johannesburg where I worked for Green Door Pics, with the renoun videographer Grahm Holmes. He is such an inspiration and truly a resourcefull mentor for anyone wanting a professional glimpse into the T.V industry.

I was so privileged to be associated with him and more so that I caught him at a time where he was producing or filming for "Dekor" an Afrikaans versiion of a Top-Billing type of show for De Kyk Net on DSTV channel 35 on Fridays. Try it its fun and very exciting, for both audiences although it is mainly in Afrikaans.

I also had the privilege of working on a Sabc2's 3:16 spiritual show whose theme was "we will rock you" performed at the Johannesburg Civic theatre. The show was spectacular. It was based on the Elvis Prisley kind of style but it had a spiritual metaphor about it. I thought it was a great show and such a beautiful way to start spiritual conversations if you see what I mean.

Now I am back to Grahamstown and it is the first day of term and as I write this post I am waiting for a call from Africa Journal. I am going on a shoot with them in the Eastern cape. It seems like this term is gonna be the busiest of all my terms. I also have another shoot in johannesburg in around September where I am involved in filming, directing and producing a launch of a series of books and a show following from those books.

These magazine shows to be broadcast on broadband and DSTV via satellite will be focusing on the spiritual side of things. These programmes go by the name: "Applied Christianity". Its gonna be such a challenge and an honour for me to get involved in a project of such a magnitude and scope, but as a christian myself, I know I am not alone and that I should not worry for He will never leave nor forsake me, especially now. and I am truly convinced that "all things are possible for him who believes.

I also have another production shuduled for August where I will be producing and filming for the Hindu Student Society. Another which is my individual 6minutes mini-dicumentary and a 24minutes group documentary where I am working with a crew of three girls. I am looking forward to that too.

It sounds like a lot but I sure am gonna enjoy myself.

cheers.

meet my friend Eva Schaflein!

2006-06-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Eva in Germany.Modelling South Africa, her love.

She is German, but crazy in love with South Africa.She was here(at Rhodes University in 2003 as an exchange student). Then she just found South Africa irresitably lovely.In 2005/6 she was back in South Africa teaching primary school kids in a place called Eshowe..She is coming back this August,but this time just for a visit.

first post

2006-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just checkinng ya!