JPO's 2nd 2013 Season 1st Concert

There was a noticeable influx of youth (well anyone under 50 would be young right?) at yesterday's JPO concert - in the audience, in the orchestra, which was also led by the relatively young conductor Daniel Boico. Daniel Boico brought some amazing energy to the orchestra - especially in the opening piece; Rossini's William Tell Overture. I have heard this piece performed before, but this JPO performance was something special.

Luis Magalhaes played Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 4 next, which was sadly not at the same level. It was a strange piece - and it just didn't have the wow of Rachmaninov's earlier concertos. 

The evening ended with  Dvořák's Symphonny No 8. While it is not as recognisable as his 9th, it was a good mixture of emotional mood and was once again energetically conducted and performed. 

For an orchestra that flirted with its demise due to funding problems, this was the exact statement of revival that was needed. It's a pity that the hall wasn't sold out ...

Sport Development and Diversity

Business Day has a great article exploring why black rugby players who seem to succeed on the field in junior rugby do not succeed as they go up the age brackets.

It is an argument I have made before, in my experience with badminton in Cape Town. Sports development is not only about training and coaches - it is about nutrition, about emotional support, about family support, and a whole lot else. If kids are going to spend hours to get to training, development is not sustainable. If kids are not going to get good nutrition at home, they will physically not develop regardless of the hours they spend in gym as part of their training. If they do not get support in their education and family life (which may be in non traditional family structures) they will have other things to worry about.

That said, I am not sure that boarding school, as advocated, is the solution. In my own experience in Cape Town, the fact that top players (including national players) stayed an played in the community was in itself a promoter of the sport. Ultimately, I think a balance is required and it required support from multiple spheres of government and civil society.

Trevor Noah: It's My Culture

I bought my tickets to the show in August, and already most of the tickets had been sold out for the 3 week show. Trevor Noah has had a fairly meteoric rise as a comedian - I first saw him as a support act at a comedy club about 5 years ago, and now he has 2 hour shows across the world. 

The content of his act varied widely, and he is a great story teller (and writer); managing to get laughs from even difficult topics. The story about his meeting with Julius Malema was particularly impressive, as was the brilliant story of the arrival of the escalator in Zambia (which is not too say that Zambia is technologically backward). 

Earlier, the show opened with a drummer and a puppeteer with 2 dancing puppets (who put Miley's twerking to shame). It was followed by short act by Dusty Rich; which comprised of commentary on his name and blaming his parents for (in his opinion) various genetic defects. The puppeteer was amazing; Dusty was just ok.

I am not sure that the show itself lived up to its name; but that doesn't really matter. It was a great show that definitely lived up to Trevor Noah's well earned reputation.

The Price of Prepaid Mobile Data

The Economist has an analysis of mobile data prices (prepaid), with some surprising results. When the average prices are measured against the country's average income levels, SA prices do not come across as too bad - especially when compared to the US prices; and most of BRICS seem to be on par. With the recent announcement of even further cuts to mobile prices due to reduction in termination rates, the mobile data price should get better!

And Then Steve Said, ‘Let There Be an iPhone’

The NYTimes has a great article on the design and engineering challenges of building the iPhone, particularly leading up to its unveiling. It's particularly interesting how rough the initial demo units were, and how much improvement was actually done in the 6 months before the actual public availability. But best of all, it is a fantastic discussion on what it takes to deliver a brand new product; and the bets that Apple effectively took to deliver the iPhone (effectively stopping development of all other products to focus on the iPhone). 

There are a lot of articles on Steve Jobs today, and this is probably the best of the lot.

Carnivore

For a number of years, I have heard about the meat-lover's paradise called Carnivore. While discussing the rodizio concept with a Argentine-Brazzilian business-partner, I proposed that we go check out Carnivore.

Te restaurant is very much a rodizio, with the major difference being the variety of game meats, and the lack of a salad bar (some small amount of salad is brought to the table, but none of us had any). The decor in the restaurant is definitely geared for the tourists with iron statues of great African chiefs (Shaka, Moshoeshoe etc); some elaborate wood carvings an other curios. The service was very friendly, although quite slow.

The food (or rather the meat) was good; though some of the game was a bit tough. For meat lovers, it is certainly good value for money; and the variety of the type of meat is impressive. Unfortunately, unlike Brazilian rodizios, there wasn't too much variety in te type of preparation. It was a good evening, an certainly a great place to take meat loving tourists.

Buskaid Recital

Arcadia House in the Hollard Campus is a grand, but intimate location. It was a pity that there were still a number of empty chairs for the event. Instead of an orchestra, senior students performed a solo recital of their pieces, usually accompanied by Jill Richards on the piano.The program ranged from the well known (e.g. Beethoven's Romanze in F Major or Brahms' Scherzo for Violin and Piano) to the really obscure (Paul Patterson's Tides of Mananan). 

As usual the performances were of high quality - but a few performances did stand out - Cecilia Manyama's performance of the Dvorak's Sonatina for Violin and Piano; Pule Lekarapa's performance of  Faure's Sicilenne and Tisetso Mashini's performance of Tides of Mananan was the definite highlight of the evening.

At R50 a ticket, it was great value for money and an event that should have been supported more!

Movie: The Conjuring

As horror movies go, this one has a decent story, with good acting and some really scary moments. It is a ghost/poltergeist/demon story based around a large family (husband, wife, 5 daughters) that buys a dilapidated house which ends up being haunted with ghosts of a witch. In most ways its a straight forward story - well executed. I am not a fan of the genre, but I did like the fact that the horror was based on the actions of the demons/ghosts instead of gore of body parts flying around.

Naked and Afraid

Survivor made reality tv big, and Fear Factor exploited the viewer's fears (often of creepy crawlies and other gross things) and others have taken the viewers to exotic locations around the world. And in all examples of reality tv, it is a bunch of people competing for a prize. There are a lot of safety nets (in shows such as Fear Factor), and most reality tv shows are driven by the competition between the participants.

National Geographic's Naked and Afraid series (not sure if it is screening in SA yet) somewhat turns most of this up side down. There is no prize money. There is no competition between participants. For 6 episodes, 1 man and 1 woman, both supposed expert survivalists, are placed naked (as in absolutely no clothes) in some inhospitable location, with 2 survival tools (usually from the group of cutting implement, fire starting implement and pot) and live for 21 days. Yes there is a camera crew - but only during the day. The participants have to do everything for survival - get water, get food, make shelter and survive the local inhabitants, ranging from snakes, to bugs to hyenas. 

What is most interesting, is what it really takes to survive in remote locations with no real help. All participants loose weight - some with drastic weight loss. Many almost give up - and 2 actually do. Making fire, with 2 sticks can take hours. Making fire, even with a lighter, can fail when there is nothing to burn. Despite being experienced hunters, all participants go for days without food. Almost every participant falls sick or gets injured in some manner. And the nudity - you don't see much, this being an American production - makes it difficult when temperature drops, or sun leads to bad sunburn.

 

Should a post-apocalyptic scenario painted by novels or movies ever take place - humanity won't be only wiped out by the event - but by the thirst for water, lack of food, lack of good tools and microbes. It also means that while we were once equipped to survive on primitive conditions, we have also lost those natural defences long ago. Progress has its downsides ...

NSA and Cryptography Attacks

There have been a few excellent articles on the NSA "breaking encryption", as reported in The Guardian and New York Times. In the talk 2 weeks ago Vint Cerf commented that we should use stronger keys - but as per the articles, key length may not be the issue at all. To summarise there are a few ways encryption can be broken:

1. Brute force the keys
2. Bugs in the software/hardware implementation
3. Bugs in the algorithm
4. Interception before encryption (in the case of network encryption specifically)
5. Steal the key

For point 1,  I think the maths of brute forcing the keys still hold out, we may be close - but I don't think we are there yet. But still, the advice of stronger keys always helps.

For point 2, there have been bugs in encryption libraries before and there are potentially still bugs in these libraries. Both Bruce Shneier and Matthew Green comment on the possibility that there are bugs in the Microsoft crypto library (which is closed source) and even Open SSL. Another possible attack vector, as noted by Ed Felten, is buggy components that make up crypto components, such as bad random number generators - which can then lead to weak keys etc. Faulty hardware (including deliberate backdoors) is also a possibility explored by Ed Felten.

For point 3, in most cases the maths in encryption algorithms seem to be right, and strong. But there have been cases were crypto algorithms have been broken (sometimes after years in operation) and cases where weak algorithms have been submitted for consideration in standards. I think most of the modern algorithms, such as AES are strong - but perhaps there are flaws that just haven't been published.

Point 4 raises an interesting attack vector, which I have seen being carried out by pentesters - basically a proxy service where a network call is intercepted at the initiation of a network session, and then network encryption is easily eavesdropped by the middle party. If the NSA is intercepting huge amount of traffic, it is possible to create such an attack - but automating this in a large scale is surely difficult?

The last point, of stealing keys - or rather forcing companies to hand over their keys under Prism is probably the easiest way for the NSA. There is some commentary on the possibility that the NSA had access to compromised keys at certificate authorities - which would assist this type.

Overall, I don't think there has been fundamental break in cryptography - but there has certainly been weak implementations followed by exploitation by the NSA.

 

The best form of defence is active defence

Over the past couple of years, Dave and I have had numerous discussions on various legal concepts around IT. As a noted privacy expert, and a IT professor at UNISA, the topics have been varied, and often straying to the esoteric.

Over the weekend, Dave and I recorded a podcast with Tony Olivier for the DiscussIT Pubcast on IT Security, covering the concept of active defence/hacking back. Dave and I previously presented the topic at a closed forum? And thought it would make it interesting to make it available to a wider audience. Tony is an excellent host, and managed to steer the discussion to additional points we had previously not covered. The podcast is a bit rough - it picks up a bit of the ambient noise, and is mostly unedited so all the umms and stutters are included for special effect :)

Car Guard Insights

When M & I got to my car after lunch at 44 Stanley, we noticed that the car behind us was parked funny; which I commented to the car guard. To that he replied, that the driver ran out of petrol, and thus had to park it as best as he could. 

But it was the ensuing short conversation, that made me think. The guard proceeded to comment  - "Us black brothers just don't seem to plan ahead - after all the petrol station is just there" (pointing to the other end of Stanley road). "He and another guy went to get petrol some time ago - no idea where they are".

"Have you heard about our president and his fight with the media" (pronounced as Med-ia) he continued - "and it's not the media's fault that they are talking about bad things. If Zuma had done good things, they would be talking about good things; instead he fights the media".

Auckland Park is the centre of two of SA's biggest media organisations - SABC and Media24 - so the comment is not completely out of place. But what made me think is, that even the ANC's traditional supporters - such as the car guard - are not accepting the spin. The question is, as with service delivery protests, are the disaffected going to vote for opposition; or are they just going to not bother voting. 

Interesting times ...

Movie: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

M wanted to watch the movie based on the trailer - neither of us had read the books, nor did we expect much. Based on a similar premise as Harry Porter and the excellent Night Watch series - there is a hidden world where the supernatural exists, and similar to Night Watch, this is constant fight between good and evil. 

In this particular series, the good is represented by Shadow Hunters (assisted by werewolves), while the evil is represented by demons (with vampires and a few others). The shadow hunters are constantly hunting demons - thought their ranks are small and dwindling further; and the main plot in the movie revolves around internal conflicts within the shadow hunters; with a character similar to that of Voldemort in Harry Potter.

The movie starts of promisingly; but devolves into cliches, predictability, and illogical plot development. It is visually great, with ok acting, but is not really as compelling a story as Harry Potter or as complex as Night Watch. It's a fun movie - just not a stimulating one; and I doubt I will watch any other future adaptations.

Movie: Elysium

Elysium is effectively set in a world where the current economic and political policies are taken to their extreme, logical conclusion. A world where there is an effective two-class economy - the very rich, and everyone else (extrapolation of the current discrepancies in countries such as South Africa, Brazil and India), where immigration of the poor is controlled with a degree of viciousness (Australia's new immigration policies?), where even basic health care is difficult to get (almost everywhere except Europe), dependence on warlords for safety and security (Hamas in Palestine, Somalia?), over-population leading to vast slums (India, Brazil, South Africa) and a scenario of factories working off effectively slave labour (China). It is a dystopian future that has been on screen and books before - but I just don't think it has been shown in such extreme brutality.

In this setting, the story of Max (Matt Damon) who inadvertently starts a fight against the system is compelling, but ultimately looses out of steam about 70% of the way in - but by then the movie needs to finish a story, and not provide a philosophical parable. Perhaps the most telling point is that ultimately, in the future, it is the android robots that are more humane than the humans.

It is visually stunning, backed up with some great acting - especially by Sharlto Copley as the renegade mercenary Kruger. It is definitely worth watching, on a big screen.

Buskaid 2013

It was yet another sold out event for the annual Buskaid concert at Linder Auditorium last night; which presented yet again an eclectic compilation of music; most of which has probably not been presented on South African stages before. Two pieces also featured German musician Uwe Grosser playing the chitarrone; a strange plucking instrument descendant from the lute - probably another first in South Africa. 

The classical ensemble pieces included selections from Rameau's Suite from Les Indes Galantes, Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte: Simfonia and selections from Johannes Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer. Of the three, the Vivaldi piece was the closest to a standard symphonic piece; while the others are shorter works which were often meant to be accompanied by dances (in the case of Rameau) or singing (in the case of the Brahms). Perhaps, for future concerts it would be worthwhile for Buskaid to consider such accompaniments - as it would certainly make the concerts a richer experience.

There seemed to be fewer individual pieces (i.e. featuring soloists), but they were certainly the highlights of the evening for me. Recent graduates from the Royal Academy of Music in London - Kabelo Monnathabe and Tiisetso Mashishi played the first two solo pieces - Nigel Hess' Theme from Ladies in Lavendar (from movie of the same name) and John Woolrich's Ulysses Awakes. Of these two, Ulysses Awakes was the surprising piece - a very somber moving piece for the viola.

The highlight piece was certainly Simiso Radebe (also a current student at the Royal Academy of Music) performing Jenő Hubay's Hejre Kati. In previous concerts, Simiso has often performed the virtuoso violin pieces, and this concert was no difference - this was the flashy piece, showcasing a wide range of what the violin can perform, and Simiso delivered a brilliant performance.

As per other Buskaid performances, the concert ended with a selection of kwela pieces; after a vocal solo piece - Hoagy Carmichael's Lazybones. The kwela pieces were new arrangements, and both the vocal pieces and the kwela pieces differentiate the Buskaid concerts from run of the mill classical concerts with more energy and fun - for both the performers and the audience. 

It was once again, a brilliant Buskaid concert and a great showcase of musical talent. Buskaid is a great initiative that deserves more support and has the potential to be a cultural institution for South Africa.

Vinton Cerf and Re-Imagining the Internet in the 21st Century

WITS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adam  Habib opened the proceedings of the 62^nd Bernard Price Memorial Lecture, with reflections on Dr Bernard Price - a notable engineer and scientist who straddled a number of scientific disciplines and also had significant input into the development of South Africa's electrical infrastructure. In that sense, Prof. Habib concluded that, Vinton Cerf was similar; as someone who has straddled the development in science, most notably in the sphere of Internet protocols; but has also had a profound impact on the development of the world through his contributions.

 Vinton Cerf's talk definitely paid homage to that theme; where he charted the development of the Internet, from the initiation of ARPANET itself, all the way to the modern Internet of things, and inter-planetary Internet. His insights into the development of ARPANET itself was interesting - from the considerations that were needed for satellite and radio inter-connectivity, and to more humourous commentary on how the address-space allocation in IP was derived.

He covered some of the coming challenges of the Internet including privacy concerns (something, he believes will only be addressed through trial and error), the promise of Google glass (which will go on sale next year, apparently) and the policy battle for the control of the Internet. 

It is the first time, I have heard a clear and succinct explanation on why ICANN is better than the ITU - ICANN is a multi-stakeholder body that includes corporations, private persons and governments; whereas ITU is purely a government organisation. Thus, ICANN, being more participatory is more likely to uphold the tenets of the Internet, as opposed to ITU which may make it a political football. He did think that ICANN requires more government engagement, especially with regards to cross-border disputes and crimes - but ultimately it should be run without political interference.

He finished with commentary on the challenges of inter-planetary Internet. I had not considered the challenges to be that difficult, beyond the physical constraints - and the actual deployment of relay points via orbiters, probes etc. is something fairly logical IMO. However, when he threw the discussion to inter-stellar Internet, and the challenges posed by the bending of light via gravity, it did make the challenges far more interesting - although the approach was seemingly still similar.

Vint Cerf is an amazing speaker, and it was a great memorial lecture by one of the great scientists of today. You can see the full video on YouTube, though apparently the slides aren't shown.

Mass Hysteria

At over 3 hours, with 8 stand-up comedians, and ticket prices for only R180, Mass Hysteria was definitely one of the best value-for-money shows I have been to in the recent past. And when you consider the line-up, it was an absolute bargain. Themed around government minister (each comedian was a minster of something), it was a brilliant showcase of South African comedy touching all the usual points - race, sex, money, love, politics and general South African life.

The young, Mpho Pops (Minister of Da Youth), started of proceedings with one of the best routines of the evening - with some of the best jokes centred around the early integration of race in Model C schools, and township life. After Mpho, Joey Rashdien (Minister of Religion) was quite flat; and I think was the weakest set of the evening. Ndumiso Lindi (Roosta in Chief) continued the cultural focus, starting with the requirement of jackets for a traditional Xhosa gathering and ending with the complexities of kids with multi-racial friends. 

The best act of the evening was definitely John Vlismas (Minister of Offence, naturally); who did not care much about the line that can't be crossed in comedy. He announced that he was a vegetarian (and still a leather pants wearing hypocrite), took real exception to Gautengers' opposition to e-tolls after they were built (and not protesting during construction) and ended his set on why most miracles are actually rather mundane and not very fortunate in the first place. 

Despite attending many comedy shows over the past 10 plus years, I had not attended a live show featuring the soft spoken, and colourful Casper de Vries (Minister of Mini-series, Internet and other media). His take on the ANN7 bloopers while comparing it to early years of SABC was impressive, as was his various takes on TV shows. 

I have seen Conrad Koch and Chester Missing a few times in the past few months; and sadly there was no new material. While still a laugh, it just wasn't as impressive the first few times. Nik Rabinowitz, the Xhosa Jew (or is it the other way round?) used his multi-lingual skills to great effect - though for whatever reason, I didn't find his performance very memorable. For the final act, Tumi Morake (Minister of Women, Disabilities, Midgets, Aliens etc) showed Miley Cyrus how to twerk, explained the different interpretations of "getting a Brazilian" and explored the impact of non functioning contraceptives. 

It was a long show, and definitely one of the best comedy shows I have been to. Hoping that there are future iterations - with new content off course!

Amazing Biography of Marissa Mayer

It's not often that new media does really in-depth investigative style articles. Business Insider was probably the last place I would have seen such an article - often they just summarise and link to the story. Instead, the unauthorised biography of Marissa Mayer is well written, with sources to boot; and gives some interesting insight to one of the most powerful tech leaders. It's well worth a read!

Cirque de la Symphonie

After a few acts, the conductor of the evening, Theodore Kuchar, turned to the audience to say a few words - most of which were difficult to hear, given that he spoke without a microphone. The gist, I gathered, was that about 7 years ago, he was approached to create a spectacle combining circus acts and a Symphony orchestra playing classical music. He didn't think it would work, but was proven wrong, as orchestras that took on the concept had sell-out shows; and became a vital way to bolster orchestra's finances. And thus, Cirque de la Symphonie, came to become a global touring phenomenon featuring local orchestras. Last night, it was the turn of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra to host the show at the Teatro, followed by Cape Town next week.

The circus acts feature a combination of acrobatics, a clown juggler and a short magic skit - and some of the acrobatics were spectacular - especially the last act featuring two bronzed men, doing some gymnastics requiring impressive amount of strength, coordination and balance. The accompanying musical pieces were all popular pieces (although I couldn't name them all - and the lack of a program was disappointing in this regard).

Although the event was billed as a combination of circus and orchestra; in most cases it was the circus acts that took precedence in terms of applause and appreciation. But a full house, featuring an audience that was most unlike a regular JPO concert, did support Theodore Kuchar's statement that this was a great means to get new audiences. 

And it is in that regard that the JPO missed an important opportunity to do some simple market research. I would have been most interested in asking the audience some of the following questions:

• Did the audience members know that there was a JPO?
• Did the audience members know when the JPO concerts were?
• Were they more interested in the music or the circus acts?
• Were they more likely to go to a pure musical event?
• What type of music were they more likely to want to hear?
• What day of the week would they more likely want to attend a concert?
• Where would it be a more convinient place to attend a concert?

 I think it is the latter questions that are necessary to be answered before the JPO can truly become sustainable. A show like Cirque de la Symphonie suggests that there are people, of all ages, who would attend a musical concert featuring classical music. And that there is a market for classical music - but without actually tapping this market the JPO is bound to remain in the current financial quagmire.

Beethoven Flash Mob

Partly an advertising campaign, but still a very cool flashmob; where a lone musician (double bass) introduces the choral part of Beethoven's 9^th Symphony, and slowly an entire orchestra and choir joins in. The expression of the crowd, especially the kids, is fun to watch.

Odd Spam Mail

I usually go through my spam folder to check for incorrect identification; and once in a while I come across really weird emails. Weird in that, there is no obvious phishing attempt, attempt at selling me something or just plain malware. 

A few days ago, I came across this one - allegedly from the United Nations, looking for potential employees. At best it would be a CV harvest, which I suppose could be used for identity theft - but given the proliferation of job sites, this seems to be a strange way to harvest CVs. There are no attachments, and apart from being sent from a non UN email address (sent from a university in Bangladesh - possibly from a botnet); there isn't much going for this. Still rather strange ...

The Human Resources!

The United Nations Secretariat is looking for competent and motivated persons in all
fields of human studies and career, with a strong belief in its purpose and mandates,
who are willing to dedicate themselves to a rewarding international career in different
locations around the world.  The United Nations provides an opportunity to serve in a
dynamic, multicultural environment in a variety of jobs in the support of global
causes.

United Nations staff uphold the principles and core values of the Organization,
including integrity, professionalism, efficiency and respect for diversity.  The United
Nations welcomes applications from nationals of all Member States and strongly
encourages women to apply. Applicants with disabilities are considered by the United
Nations for employment under all types of contracts in full compliance with the United
Nations Charter. The United Nations offers a variety of ways to join its workforce. It
also offers university students opportunities to serve as interns.

We want people with integrity from all works of life. People who are fair, impartial,
honest and truthful. We want dynamic and adaptable persons who are not afraid to think
creatively, to be proactive, flexible and responsive. If you think you embody these
values then this is the place for you and your career. The UN Jobs is open to all
varieties of your human careers, so anyone can apply, but not anyone will be selected!
Applicants with satisfactory requirement as outlined in their curriculum Vitae will be
contacted directly by the relevant divisions for deployment.

In Global Service!

Mr. Steiner Cobla
Executive Director: United Nations Employment Unit
Email: dfid@careceo.com
Phone/fax: +44-7010-051-797
+44-703-187-7882

Movie: Of Good Report

Already famous for being banned, and then unbanned; the local movie definitely has an uncomfortable storyline. Parker Sithole, a quiet (save for laughing, grunting and screaming - he doesn't speak a word), but apparently quite bright and well qualified English teacher, inadvertently starts an affair with a young schoolgirl. Initially, the story has a generous portrayal of his good side - be it his shock when he finds the truth about his sexual partner's age, or his caring of his sickly grandmother. But as the story continues, it becomes increasingly darker and more sinister - concluding in some very violent murders.

The performances are amazing - from every key member of the cast. Mothusi Magano's performance as the silent protagonist is particularly impressive; and is well supported by the rest of the cast members. Stylistically, a modern movie filmed entirely in black in white provides an interesting set of contrasts; especially when the blood starts flowing. The bleakness, in some respects, is also a commentary on the subject matter - the pervasiveness of sexual predators and violence in SA; the education system; the family constructs headed up by grandmothers; the lack of decent living conditions and the criminal justice system.

It's a modern South African movie, warts and everything - a drama that does not have throwback to apartheid or racial politics. It is a clever story; where the lead character manages to communicate a lot, without saying anything; and certainly worthy of the attention it has received. And it is not a pornographic movie condoning or promoting child pornography that should have been banned.

JPO's Tchaikovsky Celebration

After almost a year of financial turmoil, the JPO did get new funding from the Lotteries board, which has allowed it to get back on its feet. The funding does not solve the JPO's debt problem - but at least it gives an opportunity to get back to a functioning organisation. 

Given the time of the year, the JPO has sensibly decided to put on a proper symphony season in October. In the meantime, there are a few one off shows - with the Tchaikovsky Celebration being one of them; and the only one that just features the JPO. 

The program started with Capriccio Italien, which is described in the program as ".. the Russian has written us a postcard from Italy". It is a fairly long piece - more of a letter than a postcard - with quite a few easily identifiable Italian themes, but still a piece that one could identify as being a  Tchaikovsky piece.

Pallavi Mahidhara returned to play with the JPO once again, this time Piano Concerto 1, one of my favourites.  It is quite interesting (and sometimes amusing) to see how different soloists behave during the orchestral only parts of the performances. Some stare into the crowd, some into their instrument - but Pallavi is one of the rare soloists I have seen that just close their eyes and sway to the music; as if playing along with the orchestra in their heads - and seemingly just in time, open their eyes, nod at the conductor and carry on!

The Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture after the break, felt too long for an overture - and more of a summary of the whole story instead of an opening introduction to the story. It seems from Wikipedia, that it is supposed to cover the whole play - but it did feel weird when listening to it - to go from peace, to fun, to sadness and finally the dramatic end - but at the same time, unlike many other pieces, it did capture the essence of the story so well.

The 1812 Overture, finished off the evening. It is a very popular piece, and this is the first time I have heard it live. It is famous for its boisterous ending, but it is great piece throughout; and was superbly timed and played by the orchestra and conductor Robert Maxym.

All in all, one of the most enjoyable JPO concerts I have been to.

Movie: The Wolverine

I had gone to see The Wolverine, thoroughly expecting a bad movie - and was pleasantly surprised. The movie features the usual superhero movie requirements - a reluctant hero with "issues", the beautiful lady that requires protection, the sidekick who pitches up in time, betrayal, twists on who the villain is, and off course amazing fight sequences. 

The storyline hangs together (most of the time at least), and Hugh Jackman's acting as the lone, reluctant superhero is superb. It was a thoroughly enjoyable movie, and far better than I expected - even if it is due to low expectations in the first place.

Movie: Pacific Rim

Visually, Pacific Rim is absolutely amazing. But the 3D movie, has very one dimensional plot, character development, acting, script, dialogue, and almost every other aspect of movie making. All the comments in support talk about the fact that this is supposed to be a movie about monsters vs robots - but that does not make it a movie. If the purpose was simply to showcase fights between large monsters and large robots, in different settings - shorts would have been far more effective.

In fact, almost every morsel of good ideas that could have made this a great movie was seemingly spurned. The backstory of why the monsters want to attack earth - a short snippet by perhaps the most irritating character on any super-hero movie - and then left to rot. The back story on why building a wall is a better way - never explored. The political machinations on the closure of the giant robot fighting apparatus - mostly ignored. Instead, what you have left with is substandard acting, really horrible scripts and plot holes larger than the monsters and robots that are the subject matter.

Ultimately this is a disaster movie, and has the expected ending of the saving of the human race. It played a lot like Armageddon (so much so, I think there are direct parallels that can be drawn between the various characters) - less the brilliant sound track. Armageddon was just far better.

Great Phishing Email (target - Standard Bank)

I love great phishing emails - the ones where the phishers have made the effort to make the email look legitimate. Earlier this week, I got this one from Standard Bank - an email that actually strikes the right notes in many ways. In fact, it is very difficult to state that it is illegitimate, and I doubt most normal users would be able to spot it as a phishing email.

Firstly, I am ex-customer - so asking details for further screening is not a "bad" message. The grammar, the notes on the opening times of the customer contact centre, the disclaimers are all perfect. I did open the HTML attachment, but not on a browser - and even the stylesheets are perfect (using a legitimate Standard Bank stylesheet). They even have the right anti-phishing messages

"Important security alert! Standard Bank will never ask you to access internet banking through a link in an email. Don't fall victim to fraud!"

And lastly, all the HTML code seems to point to Standard Bank website - unless a domain itself is compromised, I couldn't spot an incorrect domain. But perhaps, I didn't look hard enough.

So, why do I think it is a phishing email?

1. The attachment asks for your ATM pin and Internet Banking password (to be reset)
2. Asks for "Zip Code"
3. Asks for other personal data, such as ID numbers
4. Asks for email password
5. And lastly, the email headers give it away

Received: from exchange.szlonghao.com ([113.98.251.13])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id q66si27264684yhl.395.2013.07.29.03. 

48.06
        for 
        (version=TLSv1 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128/128);
        Mon, 29 Jul 2013 03:48:47 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning 

ibsupport@standardbank.co.za does not designate 113.98.251.13 as permitted 

sender) client-ip=113.98.251.13;

Happy End

This is the first crowdsourced initiative that I have backed, and got all the rewards. A 96 page hardcover photo book, covering remote plane crashes where all on board survived. Some of the stories of the miraculous landings are impressive - the photos of crahsed planes, where nature has reclaimed them, even more so. His website has many more abandoned initiatives - the Olympic Spirit covering abandoned Olympic games venues is particularly poignant - especially the ones covering Athens.

Turbine Art Fair

Set in Johannesburg's iconic Turbine Hall, the 1^st Turbine Art Fair, was a show case of young artists and gallery art in a single location. There was a wide variety of art, most for sale - and probably the best way to see a wide variety in a single location. A very nice way to spend an afternoon in the city ...

Big Top Burlesque

According to the Wikipedia article, Burlesque is a musical or theatrical parody, although it later morphed into more of a variety show, and in American settings, with a tilt towards featuring strip-tease. I have been to two burlesque shows before - and both featured a significant amount of parody - mostly with sexual innuendo. 

Big Top Burlesque is a South African production, featuring an amazing singer (singing a variety of pop hits), and dancers effectively exhibiting wares from one of the sponsors - Lola Montez. That is not to say that the show was bad - the individual performances were actually quite good, including a great acrobatic show. But, I don't really think it should be called burlesque ...

However the disappointment was not the show - but the food. One of the selling points of the show, is the 3 course meal from the restaurant The Blue Feather, on whose grounds the show takes place. Considering that the restaurant features a R500 per person tasting-menu one would have thought that the food would be of the quality of a fine dining restaurant. Instead, it was, at best, the same quality as a chain restaurant at a shopping mall (and I am not referring to Tashas) - hardly the advertisement for a fine dining venue.

Individually the components of the show were not bad - but the overall package just didn't live up to the billing, and I wouldn't really call it value for money.

Movie: The Great Gatsby

The movie has been out for over 2 months now - and I was quite surprised that there are theatres that are still showing it. I started reading the book a few weeks ago, but for various reasons I just haven't progressed to the finish.

The movie seems to be a very close adaptation of the book - but I did find the movie portrayal to be a far more elaborate and over the top - and perhaps captures the flamboyance and grandeur far better than I imagined while reading the book. And thus, it really is a great adaptation of a classic story.

Credo

The Freedom Charter is quite an amazing document - and given the time it was draft, and the circumstances in which it was drafted, it certainly made for a very forward thinking goal in the struggle against apartheid. It is actually quite a short document, and fairly succinct in what the aims should be for not only political freedom, but also economic freedom.

As a celebration of 140 years of existence, UNISA commissioned, what it is described as a multimedia oratorio, celebrating the Freedom Charter. The work, Credo, is based on a poem by Brent Meersman, with orchestral composition by Bongani Ndodana-Breen and a multi-media projection piece by Andrew Peter Black. The work premiered on Thursday followed by public performances on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

It is quite an impressive piece of work . The full orchestral score, seemingly in 4 movements (but that wasn't too clear) starts of quite somber but ends with the expected pomp of hopefulness. The music doesn't overpower either the choir (the Gauteng Choristers) or the solo performances (Sibongible Khumalo, Monika Wassung and Otto Maidi), and there are some absolutely stunning pieces of photography that plays in the background of the performances. 

However, individually it all feels a bit muddled. The performance is certainly longer than that of the Freedom Charter - but there is neither criticism, nor praise, or even any real level of commentary on the charter itself. The charter off course has a lot of politically difficult points - such as nationalisation - and the delivery of the less difficult points (access to health care, security, education etc) post democracy makes it seem more like a hopeful target rather than a real one.

But for me, the sticky discussion point is why is this so intricately tied to Nelson Mandela - the show debuts on his birthday (Nelson Mandela Day) and is 67 minutes long. Yes, Madiba was an instrumental part of the drafting of the Freedom Charter - but does the focus of conducting a tribute to one specific individual not lessen the role of the others in the drafting of this document? Should this work not paid tribute to all the contributors - instead of singling out one?

Gmail's Inbox Tabs Suck

I love tags in Gmail - they are a brilliant way to organise and manage emails. This past week, Gmail introduced a new feature - inbox tabs - some sort of an automate sort of emails based on sender/content. 

Normally, I don't have issues with most changes in Gmail - but inbox tabs just didn't work for me. During the week, I mostly use the Gmail app on my phone - and I kept getting notification of emails that I couldn't see - because they were automatically moved to a different tab; unless I went and changed my view. And there were quite a few inconsistencies in how emails popped up in different tabs - some LinkedIn emails went under "social" while others went to "promotional". 

Perhaps I use my Gmail differently - I minimise the number of active emails on my Inbox, and archive and tag everything else. What really annoyed me - unlike tags, in the tabs view, I could only ever have an email in one view; so I ended up trying to find emails across multiple tabs. Eventually, I just switched it off.

Jo'burg CBD's Integrated Transport Map

Last week, as I got out of the Gautrain's Park Station, I got a pamphlet "Integrated Transport Map", covering most of the Jo'burg CBD. There are two things that stand out immediately - the lack of minibus-taxi routes depicted in the map, and how sparsely official transport lines actually cover the city.

The map covers Reya Vaya, Gautrain Busses and Metro Busses - but these seem to be confined to a very narrow area within Jo'burg CBD. The lack of minibus taxi routes mean that the map is hardly integrated, and it seems that most of Jo'burg is inaccessible.

No wonder the taxi drivers get pissed off ...

Oh, and there doesn't seem to be an online version either!

Leafy greens Cafe

Set amongst a working farm in Muldersdrift, Leafy Greens Cafe is a vegan restaurant focused on organic food and products. It's part of the Casalinga restaurant, which is well known for both its food and also as a wedding venue. 

I am not a fan of dairy substitutes, and I was quite impressed that the majority of the food on offer didn't pretend to be something else. The restaurant is set amongst a grove of trees, with birds chirping (and not to mention chickens running about), it has an atmosphere that is quite unique in Gauteng.

The food courses on the weekend is a plate-based buffet, and the pricing is fairly reasonable. Definitely worth a revisit.

kidofdoom

They burst on the scene a few years ago, and after some notable hype, they disappeared - seemingly another good band lost. While I had never seen their performances live, their music certainly appealed - instrumental rock.

They have re-formed, and are currently on a national tour, though not playing a lot of gigs. Last night, they had a great performance at The Town Hall in Newtown (who were also celebrating their 3^rd birthday). An annoying thing about venues like Town Hall, is that there isn't much else around - thus, given that the opening band, Gateway Drugs, was starting about 2 hours after the advertised start, M and I decided to go have coffee and dessert at Cats Pyjamas instead of hanging about. We caught the tail end of Gateway Drugs performance, which features a great vocalist, especially the cover of Yvonne Chaka Chaka's "I'm Gonna Stop Loving You".

Instrumental rock is weird - often you expect lyrics to kick in, but it never does. But it gives the band space to do so much more interesting things with the music, and cross boundaries with musical genres. With a 90 minute set, and kidofdoom probably played through all their published songs. Often the boundary between songs was blurry, but their on-stage energy and the music itself was amazing. 

It has been a while since I went to a proper gig in a night club - and kidofdoom was certainly a great band to go see live!

Movie: Iron Man 3

I haven't bean to a "bean bag" cinema before - and must say it was disconcerting (is this hygienic?) while being possibly the most comfortable way to watch a movie. Although I had been meaning to go watch Iron Man 3 for a while, something (usually better) always came up. 

The movie itself was notable for some fine acting from Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, but was off course dominated by technical gizmos, big explosions and corny jokes; and ultimately the good guy (as always) wins; and the bad guy is not necessarily who you think it is. But ultimately, it seems to have been a farewell to Iron Man, at least as a solo character. 

While the bean bag cinema experience was nice, the theatre decided to cut the credits scene, and not show the after credits scene. Oh well - there is at least YouTube for that :)

20 Years of Cricinfo

Cricinfo (or now, known as ESPN Cricinfo) is one of the oldest websites, still operational. It started as a community driven initiative, and as far as I know, it is the largest dedicated single-sports website on the net. It has become the defacto repository for cricket knowledge, opinion and journalism. I blogged previously on the facinating history, and as it celebrates 20 years, some of the back story is now being published online.

10 years ago, a lecturer at UCT posed the question - would anyone pay for news content, when there are so many alternative sources for free. I replied then, that I would pay for Cricinfo and Autosport.com. My Autosport subscription has since lapsed - more due to my waning interest in F1 than the content; and Cricinfo has never asked for subscriptions - but yes, I would still pay for Cricinfo. And there is really, no alternative out there.

Movie: Seven Psychopaths

It has been on the Ster-Kinekor Nouveau circuit for a while, so I was quite glad that I finally got round to actually watching it. It is a movie featuring great acting and a hilarious script - that pokes fun at both established Hollywood story narratives and for that fact what the movie is supposed to be about. 

It is a movie about an alcoholic Irish scriptwriter (played by Colin Farrel), wanting to write a more complex story about seven psychopaths - but without the classic shootouts and standard Hollywood fare. The movie is both about the struggle for him to write the story and the plot that he writes, which is intertwined in the movie - featuring a Buddhist monk, a Quaker, a mafia boss amongst other characters. 

It's a comedic gem that manages to combine insane characters and plot lines.

Song for Sekoto @ WITS Arts Museum

Gerard Sekoto is one of the most prominent South African painters, and would have turned 100 this year. In commemoration, the WITS Arts Museum is hosting an exhibition covering his full career - from Sophiatown, to District Six, back to Gauteng and finally exile to Paris in 1947.

Covering art that is held by museum collections across the country, corporates and private individuals, it is an amazing exhibition that covers all his famous paintings, and other aspects of his life, including letters, books, photos and a whole lot more. I don't frequent art galleries often, and it is quite amazing to see such an extensive collection and showcase of a single artist.

I particularly liked the vibrant oil paintings that seem to shine even from a distance, but the exhibition has everything, including drawings on seemingly scrap paper, charcoal, and water colours. It is an amazing collection, and the exhibition is on until only next weekend (2 June).

Last Night of the Proms

It is an annual event in Jo'burg, hosted and conducted by Richard Cock, with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg; to raise funds for Lifeline. Unlike most classical concerts, there was a lot of colour and general fun (with balloons, streamers, clanging keys from the audience as part of the performance etc), and the general demographics of the concert attendees was younger also.

There was a good mix of popular classical pieces, though my personal favorites were the less well known/often played pieces - Popper's Hungarian Rhapsody (which showed that the cello can actually make lively music) and the Highland Cathedral (where the bagpiper was awesome).

It was a fun evening for a great cause. There is one more concert this afternoon, but it may be sold out.

The Music of Korngold

For the past month, Classic FM has been inundated with adverts for a chamber concert featuring the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold - and the ads were annoyingly bad too. As noted in the program (and for that matter in the Wikipedia article also), although he had very notable success with film scores, his work is largely forgotten, and not often performed. South African based pianist,  Luis Magalhães together with Priya Mitchell (Violin from UK), Daniel Rowland (Violin from UK/Netherlands) and Julian Arp (Cello from Germany) have started the Korngold Project - to record (and perform) the music of Korngold. The first performance was in Johannesburg last night, and will be followed by performances in Cape Town and Stellenbosch this weekend.

The show was supposed to start with Schubert's String Trio in B Flat Major, but that was scrapped as the musicians felt that they were not prepared enough. Given the overall length of the concert, it was not exactly being short-changed. The concert started instead with Mahler's (unfinished, as narrated by Daniel Rowland) Piano Quartet in A Minor. It is a sad, but beautiful piece - of something lost that was greatly treasured - something unexpected from a teenage composer; and to be honest, it didn't feel unfinished.

Korngold's Piano Trio in D Major, was the first Korngold piece of the evening. It is a fairly long piece (over 45 minutes IIRC), and quite a fun piece - in complete contrast to the Mahler. It was also written by a young prodigy (program notes state, Korngold was 13 years old), and it does have the childlike enthusiasm and energy. Korngold's Suite for Two Violins, Cello and Piano Left Hand, was at least as long as the Piano Trio, performed after the interval. It was a collection of 5 pieces, with contrasting styles. The last two pieces of the suit were particularly impressive and my favourite of the Korngold pieces. 

I have been to many classical concerts, but they generally tend to be large productions. A chamber concert, with four performers at times looked lonely in the large Linder stage. But the concert was somehow more intimate than the orchestral performances, and each musician was more expressive and more energetic than even most soloists in orchestral performances. As to the composer - the music is certainly interesting; and having heard some of the film scores (on radio) this week - I think a larger Korngold project encompassing the various styles of music he created would certainly be worthwhile.

Body Worlds - The Cycle of Life

I have seen the Body Worlds display before in Barcelona, and the display is now in Johannesburg. The displays were not all the same, but the overall theme and content was. Starting with conception, ending with death, well actually the act of conception; it is a celebration of the complex machine of the human body. In a short span of time and space, the exhibition manages to teach the visitor a lot about the human body, with some jaw dropping displays, and some not so pleasant displays (that still gets the point across).

In the section on lungs, there was a display on the differences between a non-smoker and a smoker's lung - what I found interesting, was a number of models used, especially in the athletic poses, seemed to have been smokers!

Even though M and I went in the afternoon, it was very busy, and it took us a good 2 hours to go through the full exhibition. There were a lot of kids, and at least one parent was a doctor, giving her kids a more detailed discussion on the various displays. There is only one "adult" section, featuring a couple in coitus, and most of it is rather medical in nature - just a lot more accessible than a cadaver in medschool.

Mind Games @ SciBono

Most of the exhibits at SciBono are geared for kids; with a lot of hands-on exhibits demonstrating concepts of electricity, physics etc. 

Mindball is different; reading the alpha-brainwaves from the participants, the object is to relax more than the other player, and the person with the lower value moves the ball. It is quite eerie in how it works; especially as the only way to win, is not to think of winning ...

House of Baobab

Located in the Maboneng precinct, House of Baobab is an African restaurant featuring food from across Africa. On Sundays, they have a buffet with some absolutely delicious food. At R80 a person, it is great value too!

Movie: Stoker

It starts of slowly, with a big emphasis on style, almost over substance. India, looses her father on her 18th birthday, and a mysterious uncle appears during the funeral, and stays a while. Set on the grounds of a large mansion, the movie seamlessly incorporates the beautiful house and gardens in a very sinister plot. The cinematography is very stylish, and although it is clear that the family is very wealthy - wealth itself is not a central plot component, except perhaps for the scene with "Aunt Julie".

The movie spans a few days, and the plot unravels slowly; but the movie is strangely gripping. It has shades of "The Talented Mr Ripley", but the plot is not as complex with regards to motive and means. 

The Chester Missing Roadshow

Conrad Koch has taken Chester Missing as a standalone act - together with two new puppets, Hillary and Ronnie, in a 90 minute set. Unfortunately, most of the Chester Missing act is the same material as presented at Blacks Only (with some passing commentary on the Guptas); which is a great pity, since there was so much potential for more fresh, topical political satire (perhaps a more South African Daily Show style?)

The addition of new puppets to the show certainly adds more dimension, and the final act, of converting an audience member into a puppet was not only fun, but has incredible potential in political commentary.

The show runs at the Market Theatre until the end of the month, before moving to Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.

Blackberry

I got a Blackberry Curve for work - and have been using it for about 3 weeks. As a smartphone it is horrible - screen is small, navigation within the screen is horrid, and in general doesn't have much going for it. And the famed keyboard - I find it too small, and tend to make a lot more mistakes than with my iPhone while typing. 

But it's not all bad - the battery life is amazing; it is quite responsive, and the enterprise integration for email and contacts work very well; and viewing office documents is easy. That doesn't mean that the iPhone doesn't do these things well (except for the battery life); but the Blackberry does show what focused purpose devices can do.

Regardless, I am not giving up my iPhone - maybe the Z10 would have changed my mind - the iPhone remains the superior platform.

Winter Sculpture Fair

I saw the advert for the Winter Sculpture Fair, by accident on a billboard at Hyde Park Corner - accident, because I took a wrong turn. I was intrigued enough to Google for it, when I got out of the car - and the attraction of good food in an interesting location was too good to pass up.

Unfortunately the good food part didn't turn up completely. By the time, M and I got there (about 1pm), most of the food was sold out - and the remaining stalls had long lines waiting for food. There was also a lack of parking - since all parking was on the side of the road, outside the venue - and the parking easily stretched 1.5 km! This is the first such event, and should there be future events, it could do with a bit more organisation in these regards.

All that said, the Nirox Foundation's Sculpture Park is an amazing venue. Rolling green lawns, with amazing landscaped gardens and ponds, make perfect spot for picnics - although picnics are usually not allowed! There is a warning regarding a stray hippopotamus, on the outside fence - but that was nowhere to be seen. 

It is a large park, which takes quite a while to walk around. Unfortunately, there are no labels as to the title of the work, the artist or any other information. Some sculptures - such as the bakkie made of plastic clothes hangars were easy to identify - the more abstract pieces less so.

One of the cool things about sculptures, is that is very tactile - and whether allowed or note - some of the larger installations led young children to use them as their playground. That alone brought some extra life to installations.

Some of the abstract pieces were at least cool to look at - such as the fractal heads - I counted 8 - but perhaps there were more I couldn't see.

The hunter and her dogs was my favourite installation - it is quite simple in some respects - but at the same time, the complexity of balancing the dogs on one or two legs is more impressive - and the level of detail up close is amazing!

The head of a doll, in a mattress (stripped of all the foam) was weird (and there are a line of such doll heads). Quite a few of the installations featured skulls (human and animal) - and it seemed to be strong theme.

There were a few installations which leveraged off the water features. I particularly liked the reflection of the dog in the pond water.

Noam Chomsky on Worker's Rights

Dave's Worker's Day post had a link to a very interesting (but dated) video of Noam Chomsky speaking about worker's rights, specifically related to the contribution of trade union movement to human rights - and the suppression of trade unions in the US; and its impact on human rights. You need to skip about 30 minutes for the Noam Chomsky part of the presentation (which is actually the only bit I watched).

The part that stood out for me was the discussion on trade unions contribution to human rights - specifically in the context of keeping the government honest, and businesses focused on things other than profit.

In the South African context, the contribution of the trade union movement in challenging apartheid is well known, and acknowledged. But post-1994, apart from Vavi, the trade union movement - specifically COSATU  - has often faded into the background. In fact, as demonstrated last year at Marikana, it seems that COSATU has specifically shirked its responsibility regarding human rights. Vavi actually stands out like a sore thumb - continually asking questions about corruption, and whether you like his economic positions - he has held principled stance.

Even if you don't agree with Noam Chomsky's positions on worker rights - the discussion itself is enlightening; especially with regards to the "non business world" view. That alone is a reason to watch it - and it certainly makes one think - should worker's movements (like COSATU) even consider joining political movements in the first place?

Amazing Phishing Email

I got this email, this morning - perfectly formed and almost indistinguisable (click for a larger size). Pity, I am not a customer ...

The headers, and specifically Gmail's processing makes interesting reading (highlight my own). I wonder why it is a classified as a "Softfail" when the rule is clearly violated ...

Return-Path: 
Received: from dc1.DFMCASTROL.com ([58.48.109.18])
      by mx.google.com with ESMTP id iv6si3639532pac.241.2013.05.01.15.45.30
      for ;
      Wed, 01 May 2013 15:45:36 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning  

ibsupport@standardbank.co.za does not designate 58.48.109.18 as permitted 
sender) 
client-ip=58.48.109.18; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=softfail 

(google.com: domain of transitioning 

ibsupport@standardbank.co.za does not designate 58.48.109.18 as permitted 

sender) smtp.mail=ibsupport@standardbank.co.za
Received: from User ([74.93.82.193]) by dc1.DFMCASTROL.com with Microsoft 

SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
  Thu, 2 May 2013 06:28:03 +0800
From: "Standard Bank"

Worker's Day Irony

May 1 is celebrated as Worker's Day in South Africa, and in various other guises across the world. Worker's Day specifically is about the celebration of "the role played by trade unions, the Communist Party and other labour movements in the struggle against apartheid". Like most public holidays in South Africa, it is also used by most middle class households for shopping, and consequently the shops and shopping centres are usually full. It is therefore ironic, that a holiday that celebrates and commemorates the struggles of the working class, means that a significant port of the working class ends up working. At least they get paid more for working on a public holiday.

Muizenberg Catwalk

One of the popular walking paths in Cape Town, the Muizenberg Catwalk stretches from Surfer's Corner to St James. It offers some stunning views, and is a fairly easy and accessible path.