Music: Rocking the Gardens

I came to know about the concert quite late (Friday night actually), and I am glad I went. Similar in concept to the Kirstenbosch concerts, Rocking the Garden was at the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens at Emmarentia Dam. It was certainly not as scenic as Kirstenbosch, but it did have a very cool family day atmosphere with an absolutely fantastic lineup of bands. They also did not have a restriction on cameras (which is quite rare for concert these days) and thus I took the opportunity to take a lot of photos.

Overall, I think the band timing could have been better. This was effectively a family day out; and thus one would expect the really popular family bands such as Freshlyground to play earlier; before all the kids nod off to sleep and people start leaving. Given the band line-up, I think it may have been better to have a band such as Freshlyground earlier in the day before getting into the more "Adult Rock" bands.

Ashtray Electric


I arrived about 10 minutes into Ashtray Electric's set, and to be honest, they didn't really make an impression. I honestly cannot remember much about their set. Going back on my blog looking for another band, I see that I did actually see them live when they were starting out, and they didn't make an impression back then either :(

Bed on Bricks



I think I first saw Bed on Bricks at Obz Fest, and I have always rated their live performances. They combine good music with great stage performance and are a pleasure to watch. However, I don't think I have heard a single new song since 2005, and although their website claims that they were working on a new album, I don't remember any evidence of that.

Gang of Instrumentals



Gang of Instrumentals are an awesome crossover act - fusing afro-pop/Kwaito sound with Rock backing band. And it really helps that the musicians and the singers are really talented and take the opportunity to show off. Unlike other pop bands, the backing band is not just for support, but are allowed to really showcase their solo playing skills. The lead singer has a really great voice, and they are really a great band to watch live. And this performance was better than their last performance I attended at the Jo'burg Easter Festival.

340 ml


The Mozambican band, based in South Africa has been around for quite a long time, and plays a combination of Jazz, Pop-Rock, Funk, cross-over music - and is actually great as a chill/laid back music. I haven;t really followed them for a long time, and except their last song, none of the songs were familiar to me.

Freshlyground




I haven't really seen Freshlyground too many times since they exploded in the South African public consciousness and became globetrotters. Their music and on stage performances has definitely not deteriorated with all their fame, and the saddest part of the show was actually their rather short set - it was over too quickly! A great mix of old, and some (I think) new songs and overall a great stage performance.

Just Jinjer




I wasn't too sure of what to expect from Just Jinjer - they have after all been out of SA shores for the last few years, and although they have had a number of SA top singles, they haven;t toured since they started their US adventures. They are back in SA (and now back to being based in SA), and they really did a performance showing why they are one of the biggest SA bands, and why they did manage to break out into the International market. It was a mixture of great songs, great music and a great stage performance.

Hog Hoggidy Hog, Death Valley Blues Band and Rambling Bones

Wow - what a pumped up gig. It has been a long time since I was last in a really packed club, for some great local bands. Back 2 Basix was packed, and except for the obvious lack of good ventilation, it's fairly intimate size made a great gig atmosphere.

When I arrived, a band had just started but I missed their name. One of the other people at the gig said they were "Acoustic Fuzzygish", and some quick Google search got me the name: Rambling Bones. What was really impressive about the band, was their variety of musical styles, and the ability to merge different musical styles into a somewhat rambling ska style - with some really hilarious lyrics. And it does help that all the band members are really talented musicians too! Highlight was definitely "Stevie Wonder vs Slayer" (I think it was Slayer at least), taking lyrics of the heavy metal band, and singing it in the style of Stevie Wonder!

I watched Death Valley Blues Band once a while ago, and was very impressed. Tonight was no exception - and in fact, in my personal opinion; they were even better than Hog Hoggidy Hog! An 8 piece band, they were a tight fit on the stage; but it was a trully rocking performance - and the fact that most people were rocking out despite never having been to one of their gigs before is a really good testament to the quality of their music. I really think this band has what it takes to be one of the foremost bands in the country - great music, great stage precence, great musicians and rounding it all up, brilliant performance.

It has been a long time since I last saw the Hogs play live - probably in early 2007, or more likely in 2006 (I do have a blog post from 2005 ...). They have definitely not lost their touch, and they put up a really impressive 75 minute set, with great energy and getting the entire club moving! There were quite a lot of new songs, but while their sound has changed slightly (matured?), their style hasn't - and it was a great show.

Movie: Dsitrict 9

District 9 is almost what a dream South African movie should be: starring South Africans, written by South Africans, directed by a South African and set in South Africa. That's not to say that it is an entirely South African production - the CGI is largely by WETA (of the Lord of the Rings Fame), music is not entirely South African (although Zola stars quite a bit) and it is produced by Peter Jackson.

And it should be; it has all the fundamental parts right: story, acting and production. A brilliant storyline (although it has lots of apartheid parallels, I think it rings closer to last year's xenophobic attacks than on apartheid) about an alien ship stranded in Johannesburg, and how they are put into slums and kept apart from the "humans". And the movie raises a number of very uncomfortable philosophical questions (which have been raised before in science fiction literature, but not in this manner) regarding the basic concept of human rights and would these extend to other "intelligent" species (or for that matter to non intelligent species.

The acting, many by new actors, is equally impressive with very believable performances. It is a South African movie starring South Africans - not Americans with fake accents. The dialogue and mannerisms are utterly believable making this movie very "authentic".

And lastly, the production values are superb; especially the CGI for the aliens and their technology. The aliens feature one of the best animations I have seen, and the scenes of alien weapons being utilised are spectacular.

I have seen a lot of comments on how well the movie can become a serial - I sincerely hope not. I think District 9 had a story to tell, and it told it well. Like the first Matrix movie, it may not close all the plot lines, but it is actually better that way.

Airlines and Airports

• Silver status on British Airways is hard to get (I got mine through asking nicely to be upgraded) but it really compares to "Gold" status within One World.
• Airport lounges are a great way to get away from the general crowd at airports. Except maybe when dealing with SAA Lounge at OR Tambo, which seems to be overcrowded all the time.
  
• Priority lugage handling is not what it is promised to be ... except at OR Tambo, where my BA priority tag was read as belonging to SAA :)
• SAA is far better than Lufthansa, at least on the long haul between South Africa and Germany.
• Lufthansa however gives more frequent flyer miles than SAA on cheaper economy class tickets
  
• Finnair has an ad on TV (at least in Europe) on how different they are ... it is a lot of hogwash.
• Frankfurt airport is usually a pain; but Terminal E is quite nicel and it is possible to travel between a few terminals without requiring a visit through the (thorough) security checks.
• Berlin's Tegel is probably the worst airport I have been to in Europe when it comes to ease of use and facilities.
• Helsinki's airport is rather uninspiring.
• Finnair's lounge in Helsinki however is very cool with lots of funky seats.
  

Virtual Goods 2009

This was my 3rd Virtual Goods Workshop, and my first as program chair. Without blowing my own horn too much, I think that although the number of papers in the workshop was not as high as I would have liked it to be, the quality of the papers was amazing.

The highlight for me was the keynote talk by Bill Rosenblatt, on the past, current and future of DRM. Like many in the DRM research community, it is well accepted that the biggest fundamental problem with DRM was not necessarily the technology, but the economics and the marketing that went in. More and more, DRM is being proposed as a means to enforce privacy legislation, one of the original use cases of DRM, that was overlooked in favour of pushing for a very small control set of copyright regulation enforcement. Bill Rosenblatt has been in the field of DRM for a long time, and the presentation was insightful on the many aspects that led to the current outlook on DRM.

Another interesting talk was Mario Kubek and Jürgen Nützel's paper on "Novel Interactive Music Search Techniques", which takes a number of different search techniques including text analysis, melody analysis, frequency analaysis and much more to derive the various genres that correspond to a musical item; and also look for similarities between musical pieces using sources such as Google and Wikipedia. It is certainly an interesting way for powering future media exploration.

Next year's Virtual Goods Workshop will take place in Namur, Belgium.

Nancy

I was in Nancy for the ODRL WG and Virtual Goods 2009 conference (where I was the Program Chair). Getting to Nancy from outside France, without a car is difficult. There is no direct air link, and the only trains are from Paris, Starsbourg or Luxembourg. It took me 4 trains and some running to get there from Frankfurt. Luckily the way out was to share a car with a friend from Fraunhofer traveling to the same city in Germany, so that was easier.

Nancy's old town is stunningly beautiful, and mostly well maintained. Apart from the public buildings mostly shown on the photos, the private buildings are also well maintained and stunning. And at night, under various lighting effects, the city is even more stunning - especially Place Stanislas, seemingly the main square in the old town.

My hotel was orignially a mansion belonging to the "favourite" of a King or Duke of the region in the 1700s. Even though it was under refurbishment, the decor and general atmosphere was absolutely amazing, and fairly cheap too.

But for me the highlight was the food - and especially the food at "La petite Cuillere", a small restaurant near the hotel. The food was amazing and presentation and service was amazing. Now I really understand what good French food is all about.









Oh, frogs dont taste that bad either.

Music: Apocalyptica and Nightwish

The reason I was in Helsinki, was actually to go to the last Nightwish concert on their "Dark Passion Play" tour. This tour was almost 2 years long, with close to 200 shows - and this was actually the only occasion where I had the possibility to attend a concert. Symphonic metal is my current favourite music genre, and Nightwish is, in my opinion, the best exponent of this genre. Getting tickets was in some respects fortuitious - the concert was sold out and I only found one offer for double tickets on eBay (for which I was surprisingly the only bidder). So I had double tickets, btu no one to share with - and there were no takers for the second ticket (although I did not try eBay).

Apocalyptica, the band best known for playing cellos to the music of Metalica, and a recent Eurovision entry, was the support band; playing a combination of covers (opening with Enter Sandman IIRC), classical music (their take of Greig's Hall of the Mountain King is amazing) and some of their own music. Apocalyptica were a great support band, and played a highly enjoyable 1 hour set.

Nightwish played the longest uninterupted set I have ever attended by any musical performance - close to 2 and half hours! They played most of their songs from their last album (Dark Passion Play) as well some of their older songs. What is most interesting in this regard, is the change of lead singers from Tarja (who gave Nightwish a very distinctive, operatic sound) to Anette (whose voice in my opinion is a lot closer to pop music) - and it is the old Nightwish songs where this really becomes aparent. The difference is not necessarily bad - but very diffferent.

The show itself was amazing - great stage show, brilliant lighting, nice set design, a big audience, fire with the usual smoke and a finale of fireworks inside an enclosed stadium! It was a great show and I really enjoyed it. Seats in a concert like this just does not make sense, and next time I hope to get better tickets. The organisation was slick and efficient and overall was a great experience, and definitely worth the effort (and money) expended! The only negative I have is that Nightwish didn't play "Eva", even after a big chant in the stadium ... but the encore was an equally special (but older) song.

Bear Steak and Reindeer - Reflections of Helsinki

I remember an ad by Investec, asking "Who goes to Helsinki" ... and while my motivations for visiting Helsinki for a weekend was fairly arbitary, it seems that the majority of visitors to Helsinki are Russians, Latvians, Estonians and a smattering of the older American globe-trotters.



Helsinki is a rather compact city, and to be honest not very exciting. While there are certainly a number of impressive architectural specimens with the highlight being Suomenlinna, an old fort built by the Swedish in mid 1700s to protect the city against the Russians, but which did not seem to stop the Russians in 1808 without much resistance.




There are however quite a few interesting cultural points - that were surprising to me. Firstly, fur, is openly traded in the market - not only in clothing, but also as blankets and scarves (one scarf made of a small fox still had the fox head ornamental as part of the scarf).



There is also the language - Suomi (the language of Finland) is very different to every other European language except for Hungarian, but the Finns are very multilingual and almost all speak Swedish (all signs have at least Suomi and Swedish) and English and many other languages.

And then there is the food, specifically the availability of rather exotic meats as part of the menu. Reindeer meat is available in many menus (and is rather indefferent to mutton in my opinion) - but one restaurant I came across also offered Bear steak - for a princely sum of 50 odd Euros for the plate.

Overall, I think Finland has a lot to offer, but more for hiking and wilderness exploration rather than Helsinki itself. And next time, I should save more to afford Bear steak :)

T5 and the Mountain Sanctuary Park

I sort of had a vague idea where I wanted to go (or thought I wanted to go) - a nature reserve in the Magaliesberg. I ended up taking a scenic back road - the T5, a small dirt road that goes up from the town of Magaliesberg (near Krugersdorp) and over the mountain towards Buffelspoort (near Rustenberg). It was certainly not a road that I would drive after rains, and I was glad I had 4 wheel drive. But the scenery on top of the pass was well worth it.



The lack of rains made much of the park uninteresting - the landscape was largely yellow, and the rivers were mostly dry. That said, there are some awesome rock formations, and I could have spent a lot longer in the various nooks and cranies. The reserve also has camping and cabin facilities, and it was only when you reach the rest camp area, that you realise that this is actually quite a popular place; and there is a reason why the brochure (from the reserve) says you should book.

Model Exhibition at Sci-Bono

I heard an ad snippet on the radio about a model exhbition somewhere in Newtown - models being model trains, cars and aeroplanes. I decided to investigate yesterday, and found the exhibition at Sci-Bono.

Sci-Bono is a facinating science and engineering museum/activity centre with some really impressive hands on displays on all sorts of funky things. Supported by a number of corporate sponsors, displays such as details on how a car works (from BMW) featuring not only cut outs and detailed information but also great exhibitions on fundamental engineering concepts such as pulleys and gears. Other displays include a section on electricty, lasers, magents and radios. It's a hands on exploration centre, and the kids definitely seem to enjoy it. It is also danm cheap - free after 2pm on weekdays, free on weekends and public holidays and a nominal charge of R10 (IIRC) otherwise.

As for the exhibition, the stand out display was the Model Train section by the N-Gauge Guild of South Africa. The landscape modeling was spectacular featuring cliffs, glaciers and even a crashed train in a tunnel - and there was also a great variety of trains on show.

Standard Bank Joy of Jazz

I missed last year's Joy of Jazz for some reason or another, and after a reminder through both inflight magazines of BA and SAA, decided to try and attend at least one "session". I was a bit surprised at the high prices of the tickets, but the festival was well organised with good parking options, lots of signage and cops.

Sterling Electric Quartet (or Sterling EQ for short), was my main motivation to go the Saturday evening session at the historic Market Theatre. Sterling EQ is a band comprising of 4 hot female artists - Carina Bruwer on the electric flute, Eriel Huang and Magdalene Minnaar on electric violins and Ariella Caira on the electric cello.

It's a bit difficult to really rate Stirling EQ. Their classical works are only slightly different to Vanessa Mae and bands like Bond, and that is mainly through the use of the electric flute. And while Vanessae Mae makes use of a live backing band (at least in all the live recordings I have seen), Stirling EQ makes use of a pre-recorded, pre-mixed drum and bass mix - limiting the flexibility of their music playback. But at the same time their interpretation of non-classical musical pieces such as Nkalakatha (their producer also worked with Mandoza) and Mbube as well as their original pieces such as Nova and Bach's Kitten at Play show what they can really do (and do it very well). None the less, it was a great show and very enjoyable (and I even bought their CD).

Arlee Leonard was a more traditional singer and poet helped with a back up pianist (who also did a brilliant beatboxing routine for an entire song) and for a short while by a saxophonist and trumpeteer Brian Thusi. Her songs were some times racy (the second song was titled "Self Pleasure"), some times humourous and mostly thought provoking.

It seems most of the audience was there for the last act, Phil Perry, and although it was not really my genre of music; it is easy to see why. Phil Perry has an amazing vocal range, and he uses it to amazing effect. As the MC put it, Stirling EQ was for the guys, and Phil Perry was for the ladies - and he had seemingly every lady in the audence swooning to his love songs.

What I really like about Jazz is its variety, and on that last night was amazing. It could have been worthwhile going to some other stages in the future - as it seems that there was some rocking shows elsewhere in the festival.

Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

Although I had heard of the gardens, I did not know much about it. It is probably most famous for its nesting Black Eagles at the Witpoortjie Falls, close to the source of the Crocodile river. I found out through my hiing book that there is a nice hike inside the park - and it is actually quite a facinating area.




The hike itself is basically uphill and downhill on the one side of the gardens - and covers a lot of ancient geological history - not only of the area but the world at large. The area (which includes all of Johannesburg and most of Tshwane) is one of the oldest geologically speaking - with rocks dating back to almost the formation of the earth. Thus markers along the trail give some facinating insight into the formation of the world as we know it - and together with a display later in the main gardens itself - a history of how gold, platinum and other precious minerals came to be in such abundance in this area of South Africa.



Although it is almost Spring, the landscape was largely very yellow. I suppose it is the general nature of the African savannah - but at least there was some colourful areas in the main gardens.



What is also nice is to have a protected place of nature and greenery in the middle of ever increasing development in Gauteng. Although there will be always pressure given the lack of any buffer zone (this lucky guy has a house right against the boundary of the park) - it is better than nothing; and given the power of Walter Sisulu's name, I doubt the park will be buldozed in the name of development. I just wish there were more of these areas in Gauteng.

Tswaing Meteorite Crater

Not too far from Pretoria, I heard about the Tswaing Crater (SAInfo, Wikipedia) via a book on hiking trails in South Africa. In an effort to get more physically active (Gauteng is just not condusive to doing things outside in my opinion), I am trying to see how many different day hiking places I can get through - especially in Gauteng.

The crater site is facinating - massively large, quite untouched, and quite empty. The site can definitely do with a lot more marketing (more signs from the N1 would help), but the quietness within 100KM of Jo'burg-Tshwane megapolis is refreshing. And even with the dull winter colours, it is a facinating landscape.



The hike itself is fairly easy - not too much up and down; although the route down to the crater is fairly steep. It is 7.2 km in length, and nothing too taxing. I hope I can continue and find other places as interesting.

West Coast National Park

It is flower season again, and together with my sister and her friends (many of them involved in the restaurant walkout), we went to the West Coast National Park, a short drive from Cape Town.

It did take a longer time to get there - particularly because I drove for a bit longer than I intended to on the N7 and thus overshot. The scenery along the N7 was spectacular though, and we did drive through an interesting small town (whereupon its closeness in resemblance to Zeerust was debated thoroughly in the car).

West Coast National Park is beautiful and provides a stunning combination of sea side sand dunes, the fybos vegetation and the Langebaan lagoon.

Walking Out

Friday night, a whole bunch of us (mostly friends of my sister) went to Chai Yo, a Thai restaurant in lower Mowbray. It started well - they found a table that could seat 8 people, drinks orders were taken, and soon thereafter starters and mains were ordered. The starters arrived, and were particularly tasty - which indicated that the mains should be good too.

However, close to 90 minutes after the starters had arrived, there was still no sign of the mains. In fact we started counting down - initially 5 more minutes and then we would leave. After 5 minutes, there was no food - but the waitress came with a jug of water. One of the girls decided to tell her that if there is no food within 2 minutes, we would walk without paying the bill.

After the two minutes, we got up (well two of us got up, and the rest followed, some more reluctently than others); and it was another 2 - 3 minutes before we all assembled by the exit, where we informed the manager that we were leaving. At this point, the food was more or less ready; but most of the party had enough - and had already decided to leave even if the food was free.

I have never walked out of a restaurant before - and maybe it was unethical given the number of starving people around the world. It was not the fact that the food itself was late; but rather that no one told us that the food was delayed and why it was delayed - especially as tables around us seemed to be getting their food.

It was strange, and quite liberating in some respects. And we ended up going to Bruegels nearby - where the food was ready within 30 minutes of walking in; and ultimately proved to be a great place to have a meal with a group of people.

Bruegels Pizza

Went to Bruegels Pizza restaurant last night, in Little Mowbray (part of the little strip with Fat Cactus and the Thai restaurant). The prices were a bit high, but definitely one the best pizzas I have had. Except for the Margherita, the pizzas are named after artists and have very interesting combinations of ingredients. You can also have 1/2 + 1/2 where you can combine two different pizzas into one pizza. Highly recommended.

ID Numbers, ID theft and Privacy

There has been a lot of talk recently on the rise of identity theft in South Africa. Popular press has recently jumped on the bandwagon, and there are articles talking about how ID numbers should not be disclosed to anyone and that there is a need to keep the ID numbers secret.

In addition, there is the new privacy bill (which I still haven't read) - but since it is based on the EU privacy directives, I am very confident that it will list the ID number as private information and ask that it should be protected.

The problem is, we are trying to shut the gate once the horse has already bolted. The need to supply ID numbers is ubiquitous - and in many cases it does not make sense. Some buildings require you to provide a number (not any supporting documentation, just the number) to enter. Interact with a bank or any personal business relationships (credit applications, phone applications, post box etc.) you need an ID number. Need a job - you need an ID book. The numbers are everywhere, in multitude of systems, and they are also published online with no regards to data sanitisation. For example, here is a PDF I found detailing ID numbers of restaurant owners who applied for liquor licenses in Gauteng. I was looking for the address of one of the listed restaurants ... Oh, and Government gazettes are public documents, and the bylaws require that the information should be published.

The problem is that we use ID numbers for things we are not supposed to be using it for; namely authentication of persons. To illustrate, let's examine the definition of authentication (as a process) in RFC 2828.

An authentication process consists of two steps:

1. Identification step: Presenting an identifier to the security system. (Identifiers should be assigned carefully, because authenticated identities are the basis for other security services, such as access control service.)


2. Verification step: Presenting or generating authentication information that corroborates the binding between the entity and the identifier.

The ID number is an identifier. It is a 13 digit numeric string that is unique to all legal South African permanent residents (citizens and non-citizens). The verification step rests solely with the Department of Home Affairs. However, companies never make that leap - the Identity number and the associated Identity book has become a one stop authentication solution which it was not designed to be (or it would have other built in verification steps). Since business rely solely on the ID book and the ID number, the verification step is incomplete and thus ID fraud takes place.

The ID number does not necessarily need to be private. it is after all an unique identifier for persons - a more unique name. What is required is an easier, usable and secure verification service. That is the answer to identity theft resulting from "stolen" identity numbers. As for privacy of identity numbers - the number itself does not need to be private - it is after all an identifier. However, that does not mean that every one should collect the numbers. There should still be a reason to collect information, and should it be collected, there needs to be secure storage of the data. In these regards the EU privacy directive is absolutely correct.

Music: Chromium and The Frail

It's another thing I have not realy got used to in Johannesburg - gigs start a lot earlier and finish mostly around 12. Maybe it's bylaws - so while there were quite a few bands at Roxy's last night - I only got round to seeing two.

Chromium, is an ex PE based, currently Johannesburg based, metal band. I am impressed that they even have a Wikipedia page! A 4-piece band - they have great music, and well written songs. And they seem to have a fairly large following - it was really packed for their gig, and it wasn't all friends and family.

The Frail, are a band from Secunda - and are a testament to the possibility of great music being produced by bands from obscure towns. Great songs, and great stage presence (from the vocalist at least). The crowd was not as big as Chromium's, but I think the mosh pit was a lot bigger.

Neotel's Neoconnect Service is Kak

I got a Neotel account in April, and it has been a big waste of money. Yes, price wise they are very competitive - but if only they would deliver a service that they are offering. This is supposed to be broadband, but I have never got download speeds exceeding 100 KBps (or 800 kbps). The normal speeds I do get on a good day, is usually half that - averaging between 40 and 50 KBps.

But it is not the speed that is the most frustrating thing - it is the latency. And coupled with that - the failure to really deliver true broadband usage. Streaming video - forget it; unless you are willing to buffer it all and then play it back (so not useful for any live streaming). Streaming audio - if you must, at very patchy and unusable rates. File downloads ... hope it does not cut out - but sometimes it is so bad that even download agents give up because they exhaust the number of retries!

As for their phone service - I don't really use it to give real input. But the speaker phone functionality (on the hardware side) is awful and the voice quality is not exactly crystal clear. It has come to the stage that I am seriously considering cancelling the contract and going with Telkom - because I have no faith that Neotel will actually manage to fix all these issues with their service.

So far, in my experience, the 3G services from Vodacom has been the most reliable and the only service that offers reliable and usable broadband. However, it is just too expensive to really use it for everything - but Neotel is certainly not competing on quality.

Music: Sun to Moon Festival

Jo'burg clubs seem to have a lot of "festivals" - days where a number of bands come togetehr and play for more or less the whole day. The prices are very cheap (usually around R50) but the bands are usually not much to sing about; and hence I only go in the evenings and catch the final few bands. This time around (last Saturday), the bands had decent 45 minute sets, and the mixing was of a much higher quality - definitely increasing listening pleasure.

I only saw the last couple of songs from Laconia - a Pretoria (sorry Tswane) based metal band - and they seemed quite interesting; although none of the songs seemed anything particularly special.

Soil 7t7 was a wierd addition to the playlist at this point - as their music has quite a bit of reggae/ska influences. They also try the Linkin Park idea of combining rap and rock - but not very well. The guitarist is very good though - and they have excellent variety in music - so they are worth checking out just for that.

Runica, a goth/metal (of some label or other) band, had a great performance - and had some good music; although I cannot say that there was something that stood out. I quite liked their show, and would like to see them again sometime.

The interestingly named Mrs B, was the last band of the night. Playing mostly classic rock, they were definitely the standout performance of the night - with an amazing stage presence. They really combine well on stage, and look like they are all having a lot of fun. The music is very lively, and combines well with their stage antics.

Nothing to Hide

Air New Zealand's new ad campaign has gone viral on YouTube, and is certainly a lot more interesting when compared to other viral videos. The ad features pilots, air hosts/hostesses and ground staff in nothing body paint, with a tag line that they have nothing to hide - especially in their pricing.



They have also redone their safety video (Bare Essentials of Safety) - and what struck me as a fairly frequent flier; is that is actually a lot more effective in conveying information - even if the staff were to be dressed normally. The information on different brace positions, how to correctly inflate a life jacket (and not just telling you to pull tags) or what the indication lights at the floor level actually look like, is a lot more effective than safety videos of any airline I have flown in the past two years.

No fences for the neighbours

My business meeting in Sweden was in a town called Norrköping, about 150 Km south of Stockholm. The train ride was through a very picturesque country-side - very much picture perfect of forest and rivers. After the meeting, I was given a short tour of the area, and one very striking thing was the almost complete lack of fences between properties. Coming from South Africa, it is a very weird sight indeed!

Summer, Finally

It has been a strange week so far, weather-wise. Darmstadt and Frankfurt was cold - with almost no difference to the temperatures in SA. Berlin was warmer, but misty, overcast and mostly not too much fun (today at least, yesterday was not too bad). But finally in Stockholm, there is glorious sunshine and no forecast of rain for the foreseeable future. And it is in the mid 20s!

The SAS flight from Berlin was interesting - and unfortunately did not feature any hot blond hostesses :( The plane had three classes: business class which was basically the first two rows on the plane, economy seats and some legroom; economy plus (where I was) and economy. It was only when we got on air, that the differences became clear - business got food and drinks on nice cutlery; economy plus got food and drinks in the standard plastic/polystyrene packaging and economy had to pay for their food and drinks! It's the first time I have seen this kind of distinction on a plane - and in many respects it makes sense. I wonder who else will copy them ...

Awesome World Cup Ad

While flipping channels, saw this awesome World Cup ad. It starts with a young boy juggling an imaginary football, and slowly getting a lot more people juggling footballs, with a great tag "Rhythm like you you've never seen before".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMlKb1npzQ0



I have seen quite a few ads by Tourism South Africa, and they are generally very impressive, and many of them are available on YouTube. What is interesting however is the comments that are usually attached - especially the highly negative ones along the lines of South Africa is a den of evil and everyone who goes will step into a warzone to the defensive.

Many of the comments are by ex-South Africans (or from neighbouring countries) such as one I have seen calling himself "ex-Rhodie-racer". In those terms, the labelling of comments as racist is justified - but the fact is, many of the comments have some seeds of truth. After all, there are not that many places in the world where people live behind electric fences - although in other parts of the world, security guards for complexes wield machine guns ... so not exactly too different.

Ultimately, the success of the world cup will depend on visitor's overcoming the negative imagery of South Africa's security. Transport problems - people at some level expect them. I have been to sporting events outside South Africa, where it took hours to get to the gate because of traffic ... and I started at dawn; or where people had to queue for the next train or the one after that, because there was no space. And stories of players and supporters getting robbed (even if the players might be the ones to blame) does not help the image of South Africa's security. But in the same vein, the success of the IPL does give us hope - but how do we combat the negative image?

Co-incidence

While queueing for the flight to Frankfurt last night, I met an old friend I had last seen at UCT about 4 years ago. He was on his way to Dusseldorf, and was seated in the row behind me. Furthermore, he actually lives in Centurion, not too far from me (last I heard, he was in a different province altogether)... it's a small world.

I arrived in Darmstadt early in the morning, and the hotel allowed early checkin. I had originally planned to travel to Stuttgart, but the journey times was not attractive (or I had to pay a lot of money for the fast train tickets) - I should have planned better. Instead, I took the opportunity offered by the hotel, and rested :) 10 hour flights on board Lufthansa economy class are quite tiring.

Although it is supposedly summer in Europe, it does not really feel like it. It is in fact only a few degrees warmer than it was in Johannesburg. And there is a slight drizzle - so exploring Darmstadt is not much of an option either. Well, at least Berlin is a lot more promising.

Vodacom Funny Festival

The Vodacom Funny Festival kicked off for the 3rd edition last night, starring a number of highly regarded local comics and two international acts. Of the local acts (3 dedicated acts excluding Marc Lottering himself), Trevor Noah was my personal favourite. I have seen him before at the Blues Room in Sandton, and he has an amazing ability with languages and makes full use of it. Tumi Morake, the opening act, and the only lady, brought a fairly different set of jokes to the stage; while Nik Rabinowitz was very much a comic taking the maximum advantage of Western Cape politics.

Of the international acts, John Lenahan's magic show was certainly very different to standard comic performances - although, as he himself commented, the magic itself is not the focus of the act.

But by far the best act on show, was the crazy Japanese duo called Gamarjobat. Part mime, part slapstick and very clever - they managed to get the audience laughing (in fact it probably ranked as a ROFL and not a LOL :D) without a single spoken word. Their act is theatre and comedy at its very best, and somewhat similar to the comics of the silent screen. They are not playing for the whole festival - only until 1 July, and if nothing else, they are the reason to go attend the festival.

Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra - Again ...

After my first visit to the JPO, 2 weeks ago; I was hooked. Hooked enough to be contemplating a "season" ticket for the next season, starting in August. This time around, it was a Russian evening once again, with a young American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara, as the soloist.

The first short piece was the overture to Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla Opera followed by Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor a very impressive musical piece, and Mahidhara's performance was brilliant, richly deserving the standing ovation at the end. The last piece, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4 in F Minor was really a celebration of what an orchestra is all about - a lot of different musical instruments combining with perfect timing. Particularly humourous for me, were the guys standing up to play the triangle and cymbals (after sitting down for about 90% of the piece).

Wonderboom

Wonderboom are old hands on the rock scene in South Africa. With numerous hits, and a long time on the South African scene; they are one of the most professional bands - and their gigs show it. They have their own crew, mixing was perfect and guitars and equipment were all set up before the gig. But most of all, the band has chracters and great on stage performance - from the drunk and essentric drummer (Danny), the subdued lead guitarist, Martin to a very energetic bass guitarist, Wade and great vocalist in Cito - they combine well, and give a great show.

Back 2 Basix is a strange venue in many respects - it used to be a house - and so it feels quite intimate. But despite the great band, the crowd was quite small - about 30 to 40 - and not the 100 odd expected (as per the barman). But despite the small crowd, it was a rocking show, and definitely one of the best rock shows I have been to in Jo'burg.

Security and Liberty

According to the Mail and Guardian, the founder of Auto and General (a South African short term insurance company) has offered the government R1 Billion to fund a new approach to crime fighting.

Essentially his plan is to provide a lot more technology tools - satellites, helicopter patrols, computers etc. While the motivation is certainly noble, as is the business motivation (less crime leads to less theft leading to less payouts for A&G), two questions need to be asked.

1) Is funding the main cause of South Africa's, so far, unsuccessful battle against crime. And,

2) Are high tech solutions such as satelites and CCTV cameras worth it.

On the first question - I don't think money itself is an issue. The South African police need better pay, better training, more motivation, better tools. I somehow doubt R1 billion is what the government has been missing and thus could not implement. That said, every little bit helps.

In terms of high tech solutions, I am reminded of the quote:
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." --- Benjamin Franklin
that is often brought up in privacy papers (and in Civ 4). There is always a trade-off between security and indiviual liberty. The tighter the security controls, the less individual liberty and vice-versa. It would be good for the police to all have computer systems that can efficiently capture reports (crime, accidents etc) and provide correlation of different crimes in terms of time and location. However, linking police solutions to high end monitoring solutions such as CCTV cameras with facial recognition would start to erode liberty that South Africa struggled to achieve.

Ultimately, the root causes of crime in South Africa, including the lack-lusture justice system need to be addressed. Better policing will help, but not necessary solve the problem.

Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra

I don't know the technicalities and the jargon of music - especially classical music. However, I really like listening to classical music - it is very different to rock, metal, jazz and hip=hop - there is a certain grandeur and complexity that is just not present in most modern music. There is also a certain air of "class" - performers are all dressed up and the audience is all dressed up in smart/formal wear. And although most of the audience is old grey haired pensioners, there are more than a few young people.

I came across the listing of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra by chance - and the lineu-up of russian composers was intriguing (not that I recognised any of the names). The first piece - Overture to Prince Igor (Alexander Borodin) - was comparatively short, and an excellent warm-up to the rest of the concert. The second piece, Piano Concerto No 3 in C Major (Sergei Prokofiev) featured Japanese soloist Ayano Shimada, and had a amazing conclusion. While the first parts were seemingly simple, the latter parts featured amazingly complex musical performance - both from the soloist and the supporting orchestra. The last piece was my favourite for the evening - Scheherazade, Opus 35 (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) - a trully grand masterpiece involving a mix of a number of differenct musical instruments and sounds.

Apart from the music - two other thoughts: watching the conductor do his thing is quite a lot of fun and the guy who plays the cymbals had impecable timing, but looked quite bored most of the time. I am still not sure why the conductor is so valued, but his direction of various performers was quite amusing to watch.

Orchestral music is amazing in its complexity - the number of different parts and the timing of the various actors. I am really keen to go again - esp in two weeks time for the last concert of the current season featuring a few more Russian composers, only this time I know of them :)

ITWeb Security Summit

I have been to many conferences, but this is the first time I have been to an industry only focussed conference. Apart from the product placements, the key difference between academic and industry conferences is in the level of detail and the practical application of the knowledge. In academic conferences, there is real in-depth knowledge and discussions while most presentations at industry seem to be at the glossy level - and stop just as things were getting really interesting. Conversely, the practicality of issues dealt with at this conference was much more tangible than that at academic conferences.

There were some great talks in the past three days - Phil Zimmerman's keynote on VoIP security, Tyler Moore's talk on economics of security, Fransisco Artes' talk on security of MMO games and really interesting talk by "The Grugq" on why there are criminal hackers.

What was ultimately annoying, was the short time spans of some of the really interesting technical talks (20 minutes) - hardly much time to discuss complex topics such as internet telescopes, privacy from data correlation across multiple online sources or even seemingly simpler topics such as security of IPv6.

I was also involved in a "pubcast" (which has yet to be released) - seemingly out of the blue. And I won a bottle of French Champagne at a product launch - although lost out on the Russian vodka, personalised golf clubs, the portable hard-drives, blackberries and numerous other lucky draws from vendors.

Melodic Mayhem @ Tempo's

Although I have known about Tempo's since I have been in Gauteng, I have only gone there a few times. Tempos frequently organises "festivals" comprising of a lineup of a number of bands - although whether there is a theme to the bands is questionable. While the festival started early in the afternoon, I only went through in the evening, so I did not catch all the acts. This post only covers the notable bands IMO. I was quite surprised at the small crowd, and most of them were family and friends of the bands.

By far the best band of the evening was Soul Picnic. They are a new band, playing largely "old school" rock - similar to Perez in a way, and despite the small, non-interactive crowd - they put on a great show. Their songs are great, and their combination of different musical styles is a good breath of fresh air. I am definitely keen to see them again.

Only Forever and Holly and the Woods were the best supported bands of the evening - although, it was a pity that most of the supporters only pitched up during the performance, and left soon after. Only Forever had a dynamic performance on the stage, although I thought they were rather ordinary musically. Holly and the Woods do not feature any band member called Holly, but their lead singer Melissa is not exactly the stereotypical rock star wannabe. She does have a great voice, and a great collection of songs. Furthermore, the combination of cover songs by bands such as Skunk Anansie and their own made a great lineup. Of the two, I definitely found Holly and the Woods more entertaining.

Autumn Sun was the band I was really interested in seeing. While the music was definitely interesting (the keyboard element of the bands makes it more symphonic - but it has not really translated into the performance itself), the mixing was horrible. I would really like to see them again, and hopefully with better mixing.

World Superbike Championship

The 6th round of World Superbike Championship for 2009 took place this weekend in Kyalami. I am not a big fan of Superbikes, and apart from Moto GP I don't really follow any bike racing (I follow Moto GP mainly through weekly columns in the Autosport Magazine). And apart from Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa, I haven't heard of most of the riders. That said, bike racing is usually very exciting with lots of action (both crashes and passing). And it was not disappointing - lots of passing, a few crashes (especially the big one in front of my grandstand) and great racing. The event was dominated by the Ducatti team though, with 1-2 finish in the both races.





The event was very well organised - park and ride facilities worked very well (esp in placement - one was 15 minutes walk from my flat) and very good crowd co-ordination and information booths etc. There was also other entertainment dotted around the circuit - from live music (though the "biker gang" musicians playing cover songs weren't that good) to a small amusement park for kids. The one thing to complain about however is the lack of food facilities - queue lines were usually over 1 hour in waiting time, and there was very little variety. While I can understand alcohol sales being controlled - there should have been more people selling cooldrinks and water. For a full day event, I think these are crucial components for a sucessful event.



My other gripe was the small viewing screens and the limited number of them. Kyalami is an oddly shaped circuit, and viewing screens are essential to follow the race. That said, the race commentary was excellent, and did not require a radio.

Jazz at the Lincoln Centre Presents ...

The Lincoln Centre is one of the major cultural patrons in New York, and hosts all the "high" culture events like operas, ballet and Shakespeare performances. Together with the US government, their Jazz foundatin takes prominent Jazz musicians to other parts of the world. At the Bassline last night (and for that matter tonight) the program presented two artists.

I like Jazz, but I don't really follow it. I have been to a few Jazz gigs at Kennedy's in Cape Town - but nothing seriously. There were not that many options last night on the live music front, so decided to see what it was like.

Salim Washington is a saxophonist and was supported by a number of South African band members - playing a number of fairly long Jazz numbers. The music was quite somber, almost blues-like, and the collaboration with the band members was quite impressive. He is due to perform in Durban and Grahamstown Arts Festival in the next few weeks.

Helen Sung is a pianist, and was supported by her own band. The music was far more lively, and a lot more varied - including jazz interwoven with poetry. It was a really impressive performance and very entertaining. She will be playing at the Baxter next week, with the UCT Big Band.

So overall, it was definitely a good idea to go to the Jazz ... should go more often in fact.

Reasons to take business trips to South Africa

From Alex Cartoon, Telegraph UK

IPL: KKR vs DD

So, I finally went to an IPL game. Incidentally, it was also the first game I watched start to finish. It was an impromptu decision, so had to buy tickets from a scalper at inflated prices. Although the cricket itself was not the great (a lot of bad shot selection for KKR, some really bad fielding, and not that great bowling from some pace bowlers), it was really an amazing atmosphere and very entertaining. It's not just the cricket - but the whole package of the cheerleaders, music, live bands (Prime Circle for today) and the fireworks. It is a very well packaged, entertainment show - and the ground was packed by people of all ages: from babies to grannies.

It was also a smooth operation from the organisers, police etc - well controlled and this definitely bodes well for the football later. One point of concern though - could there not be more park and ride areas? It is a lot easier to have safe parking away from the ground and then a bus/shuttle to the ground than trying to navigate car guards along the streets!

Sharkcage

My first visit to the Shark cage in Durban (ABSA Stadium, formerly known as Kingspark) was a bit underwhelming. The rugby was rather patchy, with handling errors galore. And despite the limited choices in getting a ticket, the stadium was not at all full ... and the atmosphere could not be compared to a full Newlands for example.

It is however very easy to see how the stadium can be overwhelming - the stands are very steep and even down a few rows, there is a feeling of being in the spotlight, surrounded by people - I wonder how the players feel.

Hopefully, next time I go there, the stadium will be full, and the game will be a lot better.

Oh, the new stadium for 2010 next door is quite stunning!

So, what do you think of the elections?

The shuttle driver, Steve, from the airport this evening was particularly chatty, and he asked me the question after passing the first big elections poster (Vote for Hope, Vote for Cope) on the R24. When I answered, that I was surprised that there was a substantial number (about 23%) of registered voters who did not vote - we ended up with a very lively, and interesting discussion.

Steve was not suprised with the lack of turnout - in fact he could name a number of areas that apparently had low turnouts. The reason is apparently, a large number of people did not want to vote - because the past governments did not deliver services they expected. Apparently, in Alexandra people refused to vote because they did not get (free) houses. The driver was not very impressed with this - his view was that people cannot expect to get the government to do something if the people themselves do not participate. This also brought up other topics - the gravy train and corruption with the issuing of housing construction tenders (the winning bidders prefer to buy new cars and chase women instead of building houses and paying their workers), his own long wait on the waiting list for housing (he still does not have one) and what he are the focus areas for the new government (1. education 2. safety 3. health 4. housing) and even a stimulating discussion on job creation (basic idea: why does the government not have a system in place to suport people with ideas for new businesses? answer: they do - but it clearly is not as accessible ...).

We did not discuss who we voted for - but I think almost everyone really wants the same thing ... who we think can effectively deliver is another matter entirely.

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Conversation with taxi drivers from Hamburg and Amsterdam.

One Person, One Vote - The Great Equaliser

Leading up to the elections, I think Zapiro got the gist of my voting conundrum - and Madam and Eve surmarised the opposition position beautifully.





I am still registered to vote in Mowbray (Cape Town). During the voter registration weekends for these elections, I was out of town on all these occasions. And I was too lazy to go and find out where the local electoral office was to reregister after the registration weekends.

This did have one great benefit - it meant that I was not necessarily tied down to a particular voting station - and could actually cast my vote anywhere. After seeing the long lines near my home, I drove to Centurion - initially to buy a book I wanted. There was also a voting station nearby, so decided to cast my vote there. After 2 hours (and finished 220 pages of my 300 page book) I got to actually cast my vote. I must say, I was quite impressed with the efficiency - it did not take 2 hours because the officials were slow; it was slow because there were many people. The process was smooth, and despite the long lines - people from all walks of life - the old money, the new money, the maid, the shop cashier, the taxi driver, the old and the young - were all patiently in the queue. One man did try to charm his way to the front, but was sent packing - by everyone.

I remember 1994 and the long lines then. The lines were not longer this time round - but people seemed to be just as keen.

Death Valley Blues Band and LA Cobra

I have been to a few gigs since I came back from my holiday, but last nights gig at Roxy was one of the liveliest I have been to. Much of that can be ascribed to the Death Valley Blues Band, who certainly don't play sad blues - but rather a combination of Ska, Rock, Metal and Blues. A really impressive combination, and some really great songs.

LA Cobra, describe themselves as "glam rockers" styling their music and looks after 80's bands like Guns n Roses (complete with the whiney voice). Unfortunatley, both lyrically and musically, I don't think they really make the cut.

The crap part was the sound mixing - absolutely terrible. There was another band (Havoc Vultures), but the sound mixing had degenerated even further (maybe it had to do something with it being behind the bad) and decided to head home. But, I would really like to see the Death Valley Blues Band again.

Cassette, Gang of Instrumentals and an Art Auction

After seeing the advertised musical lineup for the Johannesburg Easter Festival (the rebranded Rand Show), I was quite pissed off that I did not bother to check it out earlier. Great bands/Artists such as Karen Zoid, Chris Chameleon, Watershed, Loyiso and Arno Carstens had already played. So Saturday's Rock/Adult Contemporary line-up was very enticing.

The exhibition space is massive and extremely varied - showing everything from mops to houses. One can not only buy a house, but also furnish it, equip it will all the gadgets and electronics that you can think of and everything in between. But the only thing that really grabbed my attention was an art auction (apparently not the only one in the exhibition). While certainly not a Sotheby's or anything really special - there were some amazing painting that were being sold at quite low prices.

It was quite fun to watch, and then I ended up buying a few myself ... although most of the auction was bought up by gallery owners/managers. Talking to them, I learnt that most of the art on display in galleries are bought at auctions and then sold at 100% mark up. On that basis, apparently I had a few good deals. But then, I bought on the basis of that looks nice and nothing else :)

As for the music, Cassette are an amazing band; and Gang of Instrumentals, with the combination of Afro-pop and Rock are really amazing live act. I would like to watch either again.

Very busy ... and a new toy

So the plan of backdating posts never worked out ... after a few days of doing not much at work, I have been plunged into a very busy cycle ... with long days, and even some weekends. So, I did not have time to write backdated posts; and I have decided not to bother.

In the meantime, I finally bought myself a new PC; primarily geared for gaming and multimedia use. It has been a long time coming; I first thought of buying one around June last year, but postponed that to buy a car - but I finally took the plunge.

So once again, I have a fairly bleeding age machine - some very good components (first time I have actually bought a separate powersupply for example), quad core Phenom II processor (the i7 was way too expensive, and bang for bucks, the Phenom II delivers); and for the first time - windows as my main OS (I am considering installing Linux - but seeing that I want to primarily use this to play games and watch movies etc. not sure of that path yet).

Installing Vista is a pain, installing Vista 64 is a bigger pain. Microsoft definitely has the stupidest OS installation system - I have installed numerous flavours of Linux, Free BSD and even OS X - and nothing comes close to the stupidity and unusability of Vista - seemingly the most advanced OS Microsoft has to offer commercially (there is Windows Server 2008 I suppose in contention). For starters, Vista installation takes an age to actually start up ... but there is no real feedback - no twirling cursor or even product ads - just a blank screen with the cursor. Secondly, modern Linux installations manage to show an installation screen with the highest possible resolution - Microsoft can only show 800x600 even if the default drivers for my graphics card can actually do much migher resolutions. And then there is the bug (IMO at least) that has been caried out since Windows 95 - first it asks you for your location setting, and then it asks you for the timezone ... surely the default timezones should correspond to at least somewhere in the location you have chosen previously?

I have installed every windows consumer operating system, as well as windows 3.x; I have installed Windows 2000 and Windows 2003; and Vista is by far the worst installation of the lot. As for the OS itself - so far it is quite stable and seems to work nicely. Aero is overrated - and I don't really like the new look; but I suppose I will get used to it (or revert to classic). And maybe, if I have some time, I will try to expoeriment in installing OS X Leopard ... I do have the installation disks afterall.


New "study" desk


The glow of cooling fans in the dark