I rushed to the DVD shop tonight, thinking that I was too late. I had ‘2 days in Paris’ in mind. I made it and had a quick look at the ‘new release’ shelf. The Hurt Locker was out! I have been waiting for this film for months. It scores 97% on Rotten …
words
o gats
I did not blog on the 29th and the 30th! My excuse? I was having a glorious weekend with my wife. I think that is a good enough excuse. If, after 12 years of being together, your wife is enough of a distraction to prevent you from switching on your laptop, I count myself as fortunate. BUT …
‘Hellboy II’ as the new ‘art film’ (Written for www.litnet.co.za)
Many moons ago, as the manager of a photographic gallery, I naively thought if I opened both of the gallery doors and put up the “Open” sign it would be obvious to the general public that they would be welcome. Still, they hovered at the entrance and asked permission to come in! They were intimidated …
waar was my kamera?
Op pad gym toe, siek ek voor in die pad dobber ‘n spikkel aan die linkerkant. Van nader af sien ek eers die grys hare, toe die maroen elektriese aangedrewe stoel/fietsie/rolstoel ding. En ek weet die antie gaan Pick n Pay toe. Ons moet albei regs in die parkering indraai. Ek hou stil agter haar en …
sondag
Vandag is ‘n goeie dag want my ernstig gestremde broer, R.B, lê nie in die hospitaal nie. Die 4 paramedics wat gisteraand na 21:00 om sy bed gestaan het, het besluit hy is okay dié keer. Sy pap lyf en uitdrukkinglose oë is nie genoeg rede om hom te ontwrig met ‘n ambulans rit hospitaal …
Adventureland (Film)
Have to sleep now… Will write more about this very cool film tomorrow.
Goede Hoop Merlot/Cab Sav 2001
Wanneer dit by wyn koop kom, het ek drie reëls. 1. Dit moet ‘n 4ster John Platter wees. 2. Dit moet nie meer as R55 kos nie. 3. Ek probeer om nie dieselfde wyn twee keer te koop nie. Glo my, hierdie goeie, goedkoop wyne bestaan. Makro en ek ken mekaar al intiem, en alhoewel …
the nerdy bookclub
‘On Chesil Beach’ by Ian McEwan, was not an easy read, but certainly a brilliantly crafted book. The relationship between Edward and Camilla stays on a knife’s edge throughout – at any given moment, and there are plenty of those, things could go horribly wrong or surprisingly well. I will not reveal which way it went. …
Into Great Silence (FILM)
Voor ek wagval en my opinie lig oor hierdie dokkie, moet ek twee dinge noem:
die gemors wat ek maak…
. . . as ek wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free pannekoek bak. Om op ‘n Dinsdagmiddag, sommer vir die lekker, vir jou vrou blueberry pancakes te bak wat sy in die kombuis moet kom eet oor jou tweede pannekoek nog in die pan braai, en jy bietjie wil gesels, is nogal awesome. Hier is die resep …
Die blou oog man in my familiefoto’s
Hy lê, in die hospitaalbed, met die laken opgetrek tot onder sy ken. En dit oor ek gespot het om hom te kielie tot hy hoes. Hy het longontsteking, maar hy kan nie hoes nie. Ook nie praat of skryf of loop nie. Hy is 67 jaar oud.
die volgende insetsel in die kortverhaal…
Die beginpunt van die hartseer, en gevolglike agterdog teenoor die mensdom, lê ek voor my suster se deur, voor haar gevolgtrekking dat ek haar kinders, wat vir my die wêreld beteken, gaan aansteek met my abnormale, perverse voorliefde vir vrouens. Ja, ek is, soos die vrou by Binnelandse Sake gesê het toe sy ons …
bietjie rof, maar ongelooflik mooi
Nou net Import/Export klaar gekyk. Dit is 23.57. Geez, baie eksplisiet, baie baie, eksplisiet. Beautifully shot. Beautiful integrity. Rotten Tomatoes gee dit 85%.
die begin van ‘n kortverhaal…
Dit is vroeg skemer op die plaaswerf. Die bye drom om die honde se waterbak en die rose blom vreemd wit in die spreilig. Ed hou dit so los en wild. Jy moet daardeur skuur om in die huis te kom. Ek hou ook van die verwelkoming.
more about the veggies…
Little Afrikanertjies (Marigold) keep the bugs away from the veggies… So we are growing them in masses.
Mini and Max tomatoes
I bought these pre-prepared organic tomato ‘parcels’ at Keith Kirsten in Rosebank. (I did however see them at Cape Town International Airport too.)
‘Departures’ (FILM)
Only the Japanese can make a film that is both heartbreaking and uplifting, without it turning soppy. ‘Departures’ moved me to tears, but was always authentic. It celebrates life through showing a deep respect for death.
veggies
Today was the first day in our journey towards growing our own organic, non-gm veggies. Whoohoo! We (the wife and I) planted tomatoes, basil, gooseberries, basil, strawberries, butternut, baby marrows, basil, green peppers, celery, rocket, basil, chicory, basil and chillies. Okay, so the wife did all the planting, but I searched the …
Waltz with Bashir (FILM)
Sadly not a lot of people will see this beautiful film. ‘Waltz with Bashir’ is on at Nouveau, it is a subtitled animated documentary that deals with war.
playing nurse
Jan 1st What made my day today? I surprised my sniffling, feverish, bedridden wife with little treats such as Lindt dark chocolate, red grapes and ice cold watermelon. I watched the compelling, haunting ‘Waltz with Bashir’ alongside her. I am listening to her, as I am typing this post, chuckling away …
E.T. en die Silwerhaar
E.T. en die Silwerhaar (Gepubliseer op www.litnet.co.za op 19/5/2009) In ʼn poging om ons winterpense van twee winters terug af te skud voor ons dié winter ʼn derde winterpens optel, stap ek en Vrou om die grootste groenigheid in Joburg, Zoo Lake. As die flou wintersonnetjie so deur die bome trek en die grasperke …
Ou mense kan mos nie slaap nie
Ou mense kan mos nie slaap nie (Gepubliseer op www.litnet.co.za op 17/3/2009) Die wekker gaan af. Dis 05:30. Ek moet my ouma Kroonstad toe vat en sy wil 7uur al ry. Ou mense kan mos nie slaap nie, is wat sy gisteraand vir my oor die telefoon gesê het.
39
39 (Gepubliseer op www.litnet.co.za op 6/1/2009) Vrydag Dit is ten minste 40°C. Wie trou nou in November?! Ek draai my venster oop en soek ongeduldig vir die ingang van een of ander kunsmatige “French countryside venue” met laventel voor die kapel en Tuscan-afdop-verf-tegnieke op die mure. Die naam kan ek nie uitspreek nie, maar …
die storie van phomudzo
Die storie van Phomudzo (Gepubliseer op www.litnet.co.za op 21/1/2009) My kuite is vandag seer. Dis oor ek ʼn half uur lank op my hurke gesit het om vir die paramedics lig te gooi met ʼn gaslamp. My storie begin egter drie jaar gelede.
District 9 (FILM)
District 9 – 2009 (Written in English 31/08/2009) Given the runaway success of ‘District 9’, the film might just start a new trend worldwide – using the f-word with a distinctive Afrikaans/Benoni accent. Met die kappie op die ‘o’.
Melody Gardot – ‘My One and Only Thrill’ (MUSIC)
Yes, she does look like Anastacia. She is blonde and wears glasses. That is where the comparison ends. Abruptly.
Lizz Wright – ‘The Orchard’ (MUSIC)
If feeling content sounded like something, that something would be the 29-yeard old Lizz Wright.
Allen Toussaint – ‘The Bright Mississippi’ (MUSIC)
I have not been to New Orleans, but I imagine this is the music that drifts through the streets on a warm summer’s night.
Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince (FILM)
Ten minutes into The Halfblood Prince I had the vague feeling that I had seen this movie before. And of course I had, because I had seen the previous five Harry Potter films. Still I hoped to be surprised, to be blown away.
The Dead Weather – ‘Horehound’ (MUSIC)
The New Music Express describes ‘Horehound’ as “music of ill-repute”. It is damn marvellous!
Kristen Scott Thomas (RANTS)
Kristin Scott Thomas is fluent in French, lives in Paris, sees herself as French and has a thriving French film career. Who knew?
Coraline 3D (FILM)
I don’t do horror. Prison Break scares me. So did Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m a real sissy, I know. It is surprising, then, that I went to see Coraline when the mere trailer had me petrified. It just looked so damn incredible that I couldn’t miss it.
Gran Tarino (FILM)
Before calling Gran Tarino an endearing, incredibly funny and refreshingly un-schmaltzy film, I have to state up front that I am not at all objective when it comes to Clint Eastwood as a director. No, I simply love his movies – from Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our …
Rachel Getting Married (FILM)
What a beautifully crafted, intelligent, complicated, perfectly cast masterpiece of a film. Yes, it deserves all of that.
Lucia de Lammermoor, Anna die Rus en ek (RANTS)
Lucia de Lammermoor, Anna die Rus en ek… (Geskryf in Afrikaans 17/03/2009) My vroegste herinnering aan opera, kan ek self nie onthou nie. My ma vertel dit wel graag. Rondom 1978 het sy en my pa sommige Sondae oggende, in Kroonstad, wakker geword met die klanke van opera wat deur die huis weergalm. Die …
Doubt (FILM)
Nah, Meryl, Philip and Amy were playing it up for the Oscars. (Sorry Meryl.) Don’t get me wrong, they’re all outstanding actors, but in this film, I felt them aiming for that little statue.
Patti Smith – Original Album Classics (RANTS)
In 2005 the wife and I walked into a gallery in Rome and quite by accident saw an exhibition of Polaroids by Patti Smith. The beautiful white frames were not hung on a straight wall. No, they were installed at waist level, horizontally, facing up along a curved wall. In other words you looked down …
Watchmen (FILM)
Watching ‘Watchmen’ is like going on holiday. You come out of the dark cinema, step into sunny Joburg and it feels like you’ve been away for a week. ‘Watchmen’ suspends your reality and sucks you into a strangely dated, 80’s world with some awesome music.
Ghost Town (FILM)
Tori Amos once said, Everything has been said, what is important is the way you say it. Ghost Town says it with intelligence, wit and well acted performances from Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and the gorgeous Téa Leoni. They all shine in this toned down, authentic film about regret, setting things right and being courageous.
RT and the Videspot (RANTS)
I can still tap my foot to the odd Britney or Christina single. I can’t however watch crap films any longer. Even if Penelope is in them. I blame it on www.rottentomatoes.com and The Video Spot in Craighall. Rotten Tomatoes prints an annual list of top rated movies and The Video Spot insists on having …
Pink – Funhouse (MUSIC)
Pink’s new album is like the Mugg&Bean. Standard issue. No surprises. What you get, is what you got two weeks ago. Or in Pink’s case, a year ago.
Ray Lamontagne – Gossip in Grain (MUSIC)
If you have the guts to write a song about the inimitable Meg White and call it ‘Meg White’, then you’re alright. (If you don’t know who Meg White is, you’re not alright.)
Yael Naïm (and David Donatien) – Yael Naïm (MUSIC)
Morne was the first person to play me Portishead, The Pixies, The Cure, Damian Rice, Violent Femmes and the early Kate Bush. Obviously Morne was a man of great taste. I won’t mention the fact that the two of us single-handedly destroyed a lamppost in the Alberton Boulevard late one Friday night. For more details …
Antony and the Johnsons – I am a bird now (MUSIC)
Don’t go on to Youtube and look for Antony. Trust me. He looks like a middle aged woman with bad hair in a caftan, although he sounds like a young man with a broken heart and a gentle soul.
Gone, baby, gone (FILM)
One line at the beginning of the movie sets the tone for this incredible film. The aunt of the missing little 3-year old is trying to convince two private detectives to take the case.
Hellboy I and II (FILM)
It is all about having fun and pretends to be nothing else but a movie about a cartoon character. Hellboy is a blood red, cigar smoking, cat loving, superhero whose destiny is to ultimately open the gates of hell and destroy the earth. But for the meanwhile he kills the baddies and grinds his horns …
PJ Harvey – The ‘rooi rokkie’ performance (RANTS)
PJ Harvey – The ‘rooi rokkie’ performance (Written in English 22/10/2008) Google PJ Harvey, Rid of Me and Big Day Out together on Youtube. You will find a performance that my sister in law calls the ‘Rooi Rokkie’ Performance. Watch it. Over and over. PJ is skinny, with long arms and legs, a …
The Kills (MUSIC)
Is it the vocals? Nah, the chick can carry a tune, but she’s no PJ Harvey or Ella Fitzgerald.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (FILM)
Slow, melancholy, haunting, beautiful, powerful.
The Jane Austen Book Club (FILM)
Maria Bello will get me into hot water. Focus, focus.
Lucinda Williams en Pick ‘n Pay se kragopwekker (MUSIC)
Die dominee druk sy kop by die venster uit. Ja, sê hy dikbek, Pick ʼn Pay se generator gor-gor deur die dorp. Dit beteken dit is Eskom ‘load shedding’. Vir ʼn halfuur sit ons dikbek in die voorkamer en wyn proe. Ek het egter ʼn blink idee en die twee van ons sluip in die …
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Raising Sand (MUSIC)
Every now and again a record comes along that gets everything right. A record that is just so well crafted and has so much heart it inspires everyone that listens to it. ‘Raising Sand’ is such a record. It is a gentle album, with subtle nuances and a chemistry that you would not have expected …
Black Snake Moan (FILM)
Imagine a blonde, skinny, big eyed nymph. Go ahead, close your eyes and imagine it. Does that in any way sound like Christina Ricci? Little Wednesday from The Addams Family? No, I hear all of you say. Go watch Black Snake Moan and forever hold your peace.
Pan’s Labyrinth (FILM)
The haunting Pans Labyrinth is definitively not for the fainthearted or those with small children. It is as cruel and dark as it is beautiful. It deserves the 100% Cream of the Crop ‘tomatometer’ rating. The story is set in post-war Spain and begins with the young Ofelia and her delicately pregnant mother being …
The Transformers (FILM)
The Transformers – 2007 (Written in English 24/07/2007) Transformers? Two hot chicks and a yellow Camaro. Nice. The movie was quite funny, the special effects awesome and the soppy element bearable. The lead guy was a wimp, but we don’t care because the lead girl was tough, flawed, beautiful and did I mention hot?
Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band – Live in Dublin (MUSIC)
So I had this boyfriend at age 13 who used to ‘borrow’ his mom’s car and drive around the streets of the mining town that is Newcastle. I would leave the window of the sitting room (reserved for the dominee) open and wait to hear the engine of the old Mercedes and the sound of …
Overturned (RANTS)
Overturned (Written in English 12/07/2007) So last night I am driving home from Alberton to find another truck overturned on a specific circle onramp where trucks overturn regularly. The only thing that still surprised me was the support from the Ekurhuleni Police. There were three bystanders, probably including the driver of the truck, …
Wat is lekker? (RANTS)
Wat is lekker? (Geskryf in Afrikaans 05/07/2007) Om vir jouself te werk en op ʼn Woensdag oggend bloot te besluit jy ry nou Carletonville toe vir jou goeie vriend, Bertus, se verjaarsdag. Om ʼn bottel organiese rooiwyn uit te soek en jou bydrae te maak teenoor die omgewing. Om in Afrikaans te …
Grindhouse (FILM)
Grindhouse – 2007????? (Written in English 29/06/2007) Ah! Can someone, Nu Metro or Ster Kinekor or Sol Kersner, please buy Grindhouse and release it in South Africa some time soon! I have to see Rose McGowan sporting a machine gun for a leg after the zombies chewed off the original limb! There is no …
Terra Naomi (MUSIC)
The woman has not released an album! That is the source of my frustration today. I can’t pre-order it, download it or rush over to the local music shop. Sure, I can download the single, or an acoustic version of the single (that’s being launched today, June 11th) from Island Records. That just won’t do. …
Tori Amos – American Doll Posse (MUSIC)
When it comes to Tori Amos we should all accept the fact that compared to her we are all morons. For a courageous moment I even attempted reading the semi-autobiographical book she published in 2005. Even though it is titled, Piece by piece, I found it too overwhelming to read and only managed Chapter One……
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (MUSIC)
Amy Winehouse certainly is as curious as she looks. With long, curly pitch black hair, an even longer face, tattoos of pin up girls, Cleopatra-like eyeliner, skinny legs and a pair of serous silicone implants she looks the part of an almost goth rock n roller. She certainly plays the part with a reputed drug …
Driving Lessons (FILM)
‘Driving Lessons’, 2006 (Written in English 06/2007) This is an intelligent and incredibly funny film. It had me in hysterics from the moment Dame Evie appeared. The film refrains from becoming clichéd or soppy by not falling into certain potholes that I can’t mention without revealing the plot. Rupert Grint, a.k.a. Ron Weasley …
(Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance (FILM)
(Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance – 2005 (Written in English 04/06/2007) Lady Vengeance is a Japanese film with English subtitles and it stars no one I have ever heard of. As it scored 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, and we are working our way through their top 100, we decided to get it. It is not …