Museum Africa

I love going to museums, and have been to many museums, in many different cities. Most museums have the same approach to presenting to the public, and it is usually the content that draws the public - like the Space Shuttle or Concorde (or many other original aeroplanes) at the Air and Space Museums in Washington DC, or the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Museum Africa, in Newtown, has one of the most interesting ideas, that is certainly unique amongst the museums I have visited. One of the main displays, is about the Treason Trial - a fore runner to the Rivonia Trial (see here for more details), where over 150 people, including well known figures such as Nelson Mandela, Albert Luthuli and Walter Sisulu, were charged with treason; and no one was convicted.

In the first part, (as far as I know), every defendant has a portrait (either photograph or drawn) and a small plaque giving some brief biographic details. But, here is the really interesting part - under each portrait, is a little red book, and the public is invited to write down comments and facts about that person. For some well known figures, there is actually no real information - just a lot of praise from the public - a sort of public, buut anonymous, thanks giving. But it is for some really lesser known figures, that commentary shines through. Even minute details, such as the name of the family dog, or how the person lived in their daily life. Some of the accounts are truly mesmerising. There are other parts to the display also - a discussion of what is meant by treason, a collage of press reports, photography from journalists, profiles on the lawyers and judges involved; etc. But it is the first part that truly shines.

The other parts of the museum are also interesting - there is a display of Gandhi's time in Johannesburg; a small display of South Africa's human past (Taung child etc) - a display I think should be really expanded; a display on the history of some of Gauteng's townships, a display of music in South Africa (no actual music played unfortunately) and then an amazing collection and display of photography and history of photography.

Museum Africa is a definite visit, if you have time in Gauteng - and since it is free entry, I don't see why there should be a reason not to.

Newtown and Downtown Johannesburg

So, I finally got to exploring downtown Johannesburg for a while on Saturday. I parked at a parkade on Rissik Street, and then walked to Newtown and back. as I have noted before, Jo'burg is quite a lively place, and although the traffic levels were low, there were still a lot of people around.

There are some really beautiful old colonial style buildings around - but, as can be expected from a city that is barely 100 odd years old, there aren't too many of them around. While, some buildings like the City Hall are restored and still functioning, one of the buildings on the corner is as good as demolished, while the Old Post Office is being restored.

Perhaps, the most interesting part of the Jo'burg trip, was the small, but vocal, demonstration against the recent xenophobic attacks. I am however a bit confused by the demonstration itself. I picked up one of the flyers which criticise the government for doing nothing (and in some ways, of flaming the attacks); while the songs being sung by the guys on the truck praised the ANC and the freedom movement. In the morning, the demonstration was being held outside the Beyers Naude square, outside the library (another grand old building - should go inside sometime) and later on in the afternoon, it moved to outside the Home Affairs offices. The crowd numbers didn't seem to have grown in the meantime though.

Newtown, one of the oldest parts of Jo'burg, has been recently redeveloped as a cultural area. There are a number of theatres, and cultural activities - and is quite a beautiful area with parks and statues (such as one of Brenda Fassie outside Bassline) littering area. For example, streets in the Newtown area have funky decorations like the one below.

One thing that did strike me as odd, was that there weren't as many people as I thought there should be. And perhaps, it is to do with the fact that it is not really a family area - after all, while there are museums, it is not really a place where kids can hang out - it is almost too much focus on the adults (theatres, clubs). That said, Newtown is fascinating, and I think more people should visit it.

Movie: 21

21 is based on a fairly famous story of card-counting teams based at MIT, who went to Las Vegas on weekends and play blackjack. While it is based on a true story, the fiction just goes overboard. While it is entertaining, it is hardly brilliant.

Movie: City of Men (Cidade dos Homens)

City of God (Cidade de Deus) was an amazing movie, and any follow up would have a lot to live up to. City of Men, does not really live up to those lofty heights (although it is not really a sequel) - but then, the movie is very different. City of Men is slower paced, and concentrates more on the struggles of two young men (who turn 18 over the course of the movie) and their struggle to make something, out of nothing.

Still set in the favelas (shanty towns) of Rio de Janeiro (although parts of it seems to be filmed in Santa Teresa, where as far as I know, there are no favelas); it is a story about the friendship of two young men, who are caught up in a gang war. There is also a touch of Romeo and Juliet (one of the guys, who happens to be the cousin of one of the gang leaders, is in love with the sister of the opposing gang leader), a commentary on the difficulty of leaving the known environment, regardless of the dangers.

Rio naturally lends itself for beautiful cinematography, and while the movie is good, it is not in the same league as City of God.

F1 Future Directions

After the demise of Super Aguri, Mark Gallagher has written an interesting article on Pitpass.com. This is my take on what needs to be done (and an email I sent to the author).

Fundamentally, I think F1 has lost its "purpose". When I first started to follow F1 back in the 90's (I am only in my 20s), F1 was branded as the toughest and most technologically advanced motorsport series. It was where drivers raced cutting edge motor cars. Sure, technology in F1 cars do not always get to the road car; but it was more than bragging rights for the R&D teams. The cars were tough because they were the most advanced (because they were the fastest, hardest etc).

But due to F1's cost cutting moves, a lot of technology has been "standardised". Sure, there is a lot less electronic gizmos, but it has also meant that there is nothing really that distinguishes one team from another. We are steadily moving to a one make series; and in that case, why not jump ship to A1 GP racing Ferrari F2004s?

In my opinion, there are a number of factors where this situation can be salvaged:
1. KERS is ok, but it is not really what we need
Yes, engine development was one of the major costs in F1 teams. But unlike chassis, there are a lot less engine developers. I think the longevity of engines (2 races, 4 races etc) should be maintained, but freezing engine development for 10 years make no sense. Rather, than focus environmental issues through KERS, why not force development of more efficient engines. And it is far easier to mandate and police.
For example, if FIA mandated that a team could use a maximum of 10 000 litres of fuel (or equivalent energy capacity) per year, and then steadily decrease the maximum; it will force more efficient engines, and thus ultimately cheaper running costs. On top of that, the car buying public will see the effects on the streets. You know - Toyota
brings you the car that can run the equivalent of 18 GPs on one tank of fuel - that is what the car makers want after all.

2. Bring back the tyre war
The car package includes the bit of rubber that keep the car on the road. There is no point on appointing one (or even two) tyre manufacturers. Rather let any interested tyre manufacturer compete openly - and to keep costs down; mandate a maximum number of tyres that can be used over an entire season.

3. Allow chassis sales
If car companies can sell engines, why can design studios not sell chasis? After all, they might also want to sell their expertise to other motorsport series, car manufacturers etc. Chassis sales = lower costs = more teams. And more teams usually equal better show, esp if there is actual competition in qualifying (other than a good grid spot).

4. Better revenue sharing
Instead of sharing revenue between teams according to team's performance on the track, why not modularise? As discussed in the last three points, there are three major components of a car - engines, chassis and tyres. And there are teams that assemble the components and race them. Why not divide the TV revenues into four parts - engine manufacturers, chassis designers, tyre manufacturers and teams. Like teams earn points for finishing in a certain position, points should be earned for engine manufacturers, chassis designers and tyre manufacturers. This means if a team makes their own chassis (9 of them currently), they would make more money than the one or two that didn't. Similarly, engine manufacturers who supply more teams have an incentive to develop and supply engines fairly. Similarly, tyre manufacturers have something more than just bragging rights, and have a reason to focus on all their teams.

Ultimately F1 will still need a better show - but the show is not everything. F1 needs to mean something to the general public - slogans are not just marketing exercises - they define what the product is.

WTF Mother's Day Ads

So it is Mother's Day on Sunday, and like every other "event", especially in an economic downturn, are trying whatever they can to make sure you buy presents (or whatever) in their store.

On the radio yesterday, I heard an ad from "Temptations", a lingerie store, asking you to buy your mother "something special". Sorry, but buying lingerie for your mom?

And over in Sandton City, there is a big stand in the foyer, from a beauty clinic asking you to buy your mum a consultation - so that she can get a wax. The poster, featuring a stylised naked woman, talks about bikini waxes, intimate waxes and some other stuff ...

Movie: Deathproof

This movie came out last year, while I was in Germany; and I only got round to seeing it this past weekend. It is a Quentin Tarantino movie, filmed in old 70's and 80's style, featuring old American muscle cars, set in the backwater towns of America, in the modern day - about a psyco stuntman who has a thing for killing beautiful women in car crashes.

The psycho, Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russel, is not really developed as a character - but instead each of the women characters are developed in great detail. While, there does not seem to be much of a story - it is a brilliant movie about some really impressive stuntwork (apparently no CGI was involved).

Movie: Shoot 'Em Up

The movie really features three main actors: a mysterious lone ranger (Smith, played by Clive Owen), a lactating prostitute (Donna played my Monica Belluci) and the baddie (Hertz, played by Paul Giamatti). There is also a heavy metal loving new born baby, who is the main attraction for the story.

This movie, while having a storyline, is all about body count - the number of people that get killed, and the manner in which (Smith for the vast majority) they get killed. In fact, trying to keep a count of the number of people killed is the challenge in itself. It is an art movie about people getting killed - thoroughly entertaining and very impressive.

Movie: Iron Man

I had not heard of the comic book - so I was not expecting much - this is a movie, I wanted to watch simply because the trailer promised a lot of action, and the hero was Robert Downey Jr - more unlikely than Tobey Maguire as Spiderman.

But it works brilliantly - and the movie, while still a cliche of superhero scripts, is well produced, and features some really impressive stunts and action sequences. And above all, the baddies are easily identifiable, and not not powered by mutants or aliens. And I think that is what is really interesting about this hero - it raises the idea, however briefly (because the physics are frankly next to impossible), that given enough money, it can be possible to be your own superhero. In short, Iron Man is the advanced version of Batman. :p

Movie: U23D

3D movies are awkward for me - especially because they require me to wear 3D glasses (over my existing glasses). And, for the most part, I think they are just gimmicks. In fact, the trailer for a 3D movie, ripping off a Jules Verne novel starring Brendan Fraser (Journey to the Centre of the World) seems absolutely rubbish. But, this is not a movie - it is a music concert; featuring one of my favourite bands, U2.

And it is awesome - combined with the cinema sound, you actually feel like you are at the concert - be it in the crowd (when the shots are from crowd level), to standing beside Bono or the Edge or as a fly on the stage, observing Larry's incredible drumming. The 3D format works brilliantly, and if you like U2, you must go watch this movie.

Movie: More than Just A Game

It is billed as a drama - but it is really a documentary. Like most South African movies, it deals with the past - specifically - the contribution of games - specifically football (or soccer) to the life of the political prisoners on Robben Island.

It is certainly a well told story - and is a solid contribution to the history of football in South Africa. However, I think the directors and producers should not have tried mixing the dramatic recreation and documentary aspects (recollections from the surviving prisoners) in a single movie - as a concept I find it too jarring and just did not work for me. It would have been better to have it either completely narrated, or completely dramatised.

Movie: Avalon

I have been meaning to watch this movie for almost a year, and I finally got round to it this past weekend. It is a trully eclectic mix: Japanese writers, director and producers; Polish actors, location and language; storyline loosely connected to a a British/Norse myth - and it is quite literally what a "gamers" movie should be about.

The movie revolves around an "illegal" MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the near future (a bleak near future of drought and misery) called Avalon. Games have evolved to where VR is quite realistic, and people play in padded VR rooms (on hire, because the equipment is too expensive). Avalon is a WW2 like sim, where individual players and parties (groups of players who have joined up for a common cause) earn experience points, which can be used to amongst other things converted to real currency. But there are also dangers to the game - and a virtual death could translate to real life vegetative state. The movie tracks one of the top solo players of this game (Ash) and her quest for redemption (due to an earlier online incident which led to her going solo) and for a hidden level that literally separates the elite from the rest.

Avalon is billed as the "future of gaming" - and considering it was released in 2001; it is very much a forward thinking movie and concept. Avalon is a beautiful movie - highky stylised. If you have ever player RPGs, then the storyline will be quite engrossing - but it is very much a gamer's movie - full with hidden references. If you like games, you must watch this movie.

Telecommunication Prices

MyBroadband has an article on the proposed Neotoel consumer pricing info, and in my opinion, it is very competitive. But, as Phathu loves to say, South Africans love to complain.

Reading the forum discussion, it seems what Neotel (or for that matter Telkom) needs to provide is fibre to the premises, uncapped, high speed broadband, and all for less than R500! Sorry - but that is not only unrealistic in the short term - but it is also clear that many people just do not know how expensive it is to roll out telecommunication infrastructure.

As I work for a ICT company in South Africa, I have first hand knowledge of how expensive it is to build infrastructure. Just some raw figures - it costs approximately 1 million rand (if you are lucky) to lay one Km of fibre. That does not even include the costs it will take to process the admin required to dig across numerous roads and pavements. Fibre to the home ... forget it anytime soon. And don't forget the switches ... a low end switch for fibre networks easily costs a few hundred thousand rands. Then, one should not forget the emergency power supplies (always important in South Africa), the security measures and the costs start multiplying very quickly.

I have done the calculations (as part of my job) ... if a company is to roll out telecommunication infrastructure, across all the major cities in South Africa, charge about R1000 per month for a 1 Mbps link, they will need 30 000 subscribers on average over 5 years to just break even. And this would be for a wireless network (like WiMax or iBurst or something similar).

As for international bandwidth - it costs a lot because there is scarcity. Until the new cables come into operation, do not expect Internet prices to drop. And even with new cables, it will take time for prices to drop - under sea cables are expensive to lay and even more expensive to run and maintain.

In one of his early books, the late Arthur C Clarke argued that once there are enough satellites in space covering the globe, global communication would become almost free. What he did not obviously take into account was the price of maintaining global connectivity, and the bandwidth required for YouTube, HD Video or even Web 2.0.

Movie: Street Kings

I am not too sure how to treat this movie - at its core, it is an action movie about cops and bad guys; but it could also be seen as a commentary on police brutality and police corruption. In the words of Capt. Wander (Forest Whitaker), "We are all bad" - and the movie is basically about how much. And because we are all bad, it does not matter how bad guys are taken down - and the question is posed from the very beginning. In the opening scene where the lead character "L.A.'s deadliest white boy", Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) rescues two girls from a child prostitution ring, and in the process kills all the thugs involved, and frames it as a defensive encounter. Should protocol have been followed? Should the suspects have been apprehended and brought to trial instead of being killed off?

This is a non-stop action thriller, and although it is quite predictable (particularly because of the trailer), it is still a very enjoyable movie. Forest Whitaker's acting is particularly impressive - and Keanu even manages some emotional expressions! But like in the Matrix, Keanu is particularly suited for this role, because it needed a cold, calculating person without expressing too many emotions.

Back on the court

I had not played badminton since I left Cape Town, and it was great to play once again. Yesterday, I went to the Wanderers Club (next to the cricket staidum), and they have nice facilities and the people are quite friendly. It is quite far for me though - about 25 Km drive in each direction ... so need to see if I can find an alternate venue.

Digital Lifestyle Expo

Digital lifestyle - one would think that would encompass lots of cool gadgets, lots of funky electronics and all those things that would make Eskom start another round of load shedding and your bank manager tearing his hair out on another potential bad debt. Unless you are the organisers of Digital Lifestyle Expo (that's ITWeb it looks like).

The expo distinctly lacked gadgets and presence from gadget makers. For starters, there was no display from Apple. Nor from Nintendo. Or from any camera maker. There were no funky gadgets that made you want to spend money. Even major household brands in South Africa - such as Samsung and LG did not have stalls.

As for the stalls that were there - I encountered some of the most incompetent people manning the stalls. For example, at the Iomega stall, the salesperson tried to sell me a NAS that supports "all versions of RAID 1 to 4". The salesperson for Netgear did not know where I could get his product. And over at the Asus stand (which did feature some cool motherboards), the AMD representatives walking around pointed out that the specs for the motherboards seemed to be wrong (apparently the motherboards featured ATI chipsets and not nVidia chipsets).

As an expo - this was a massive disappointment.

Photos from Saturday

Looks like composer function in Blogger is working in Windows (but still not in OS X). Anyway .. here are a couple of pics from Saturday.

Cycling Again

It has been a long time since I cycled ... the last was in Nuremberg, and before that sometime in Cape Town, before I left. As for using my bike for its intended purpose - off road - it has been a seriously long time. Anyway, after dragging my bike from Durban, getting it serviced (quite cheaply too), Reinhardt introduced me to real off road mountain biking (i.e. not going up and down the block house on Devil's Peak).

As you enter Pretoria (from Johannesburg), there is a large nature reserve - Groenkloof Nature Reserve - which is very popular for cycling, 4x4 trails and hiking; and there are numerous trails around the reserve that cater for these activities. Most of the cycling options are not difficult - though I did manage to fall once (when my front wheel got stuck between two bog rocks) and had to walk a few times when I just could not find any traction going uphill on a sandy/rocky type of soil.

But what is really amazing about the reserve is that it is a proper nature reserve, complete with wild animals like Zebra and Wildebeest. There are also elands and giraffes, but we didn't see any. It really makes for a great cycling event; and I hope to come back often!

I would post pictures, but my image upload function has disappeared ...

Sandton City Parking Bug

Sandton City has a nice parking fee structure - during office hours, fees are charged at hourly rates (and are quite steep). However during off peak hours (including weekends, and after 7pm on weekdays), it is a flat fee, regardless of how long you park.

The bug crops up when you enter the parking lot before 7pm and leave after 7pm. Instead of charging the higher of the after hour fees (R 8 currently) and the hourly rate (it is R 6 for the 1st hour), it just charges from the time of entry to 7pm.

So, if you enter the parking lot after 6pm, you actually get a cheaper flat rate than if you entered at 7pm! Ok, it is only R2 ... which is not even an ice-cream at Sandton City ... but still. And off course, it also means that if you enter before 6pm and leave after 7pm, you will probably pay a lot more than the flat rate!

Movie: Vantage Point

It has been some time since I watched a movie on the big screen - in fact since I left Cape Town (when I was watching a movie almost once a week), this is only my fourth visit to the movie theatre. Anyway, it was a good opportunity to activate my Vitality card - although the overall selection of movies at Sandton City was quite poor ...

As for the movie itself - it tries too hard to be "artistic", and fails miserably. The idea of telling a story from different perspective really worked in Crash - in Vantage Point it doesn't - because the roll backs become very irritating. In fact a number of people watching started swearing after the third or fourth vantage point. The subject itself is quite amusing in some ways - an more "friendly" version of Americans - the president does not want to bomb the terrorists, the bumbling tourist saves the young girl and it is not only muslims who want to kill Americans.

All said, Vantage Point is a really good action film - the car chase is brilliant, and the storyline does have quite a few nice ideas. It is above all, entertaining.