Coincidences

Yesterday, while buying electricity at a petrol station (which I don't usually use), I ran into a friend from varsity, who is briefly visiting SA on holiday. Coincidences are wierd - the perfect blend of being at the right place, at the right time - no wonder it's considered to be some sort of a miracle.

Mozart's Requiem

Mozart's Requiem (Mass in D minor (K. 626)) is one of the most famous choral and orchestral pieces, even though it is not completely written by Mozart (he died, leaving the piece unfinished). That said, it is still a very strange piece to play on his birthday anniversary.

The Johannesburg International Mozart Festival is back, although, this year I have far fewer chances to go to concerts due to other commitments. The theme this year is "One Wings of Songs", and the majority of the concerts feature vocal pieces. What is also nice, is that a number of concerts feature music and songs from South Africa.

The opening concert featured 2 pieces by by the "resident composer" Mokale Koapeng, and Mozart's Requiem. The performance was given by three choral groups - Schleswig-Holstein Festival Choir from Germany, Chanticleer Singers and the Chamber Choir of South Africa; supported by the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra.

The opening concert featured a new piece specifically written by Mokale Koapeng for the festival. I was not too sure of what to expect, other than choral gospel piecese (it is based on biblical passages). It was stunning - with the music perfectly matching the vocals, and the use of plucking strings and percussion beats gave it a more "African" vibe, and a really nice pace.

Mozart's Requiem itself, while great, did not seem to have the oomph that Verdi's Requiem from last year. Perhaps it is due to the smaller choir, but it just didn't seem to have the awesome power that certain passages (such as Dias irae) has in other productions I have heard. That said, the soloists were great, and it was certainly an enjoyable performance.

Facebook Valuation

Facebook's recent valuation of 50 Billion USD, has created quite a lot of commentary - mostly centred around it being way too high (from most commentary I have read). The valuation is based on what Russian (and part South African) venture capitalist firm Digital Sky Technologies and Goldman Sachs were willing to pay for a share in Facebook. In essence, most commentators have argued, that they paid too much.

In terms of classical economics, that is true, or at least based on given information. Afterall, Facebook is a private company, and thus its financial results are not public information.

However, valuations can also be based on the net worth of Facebook's assets. And its biggest assets have currently no real means of being objectively evaluated - personal information. Facebook has over 500 million active members; which in turn translates to personal information including likes, dislikes, freinds, connections, activities, photos, and a whole lot more of 500 million people on the planet.

If one ignores Facebooks' traditional assets (servers, datacentres, offices etc) and liabilities, it means that the personal information of 500 million people is worth 50 billion dollars - or 100 dollars an individual.

The resultant question is simple - is the personal information of you, or any other person worth more or less than 100 dollars? In fact, if someone would offer you 101 dollars, would you give them more information than what you have willingly published in Facebook for free?

50 billion dollars? I think Facebook is undervalued ...

Taraf de Haïdouks

The lead 1st violinist of the orchestra in the movie, The Concert, (Gheorghe Anghel) is a member of a Romanian band, Taraf de Haïdouks. This is a bit of trivia I found on IMDB, but the Gypsy music of Taraf de Haïdouks is just brilliant, and well worth listening to. See some of their YouTube videos or their MySpace page for samples.

Movie: The Concert

Every now and then, a movie trailer actually makes you look forward to a movie. Even though the story itself is predictable (genius forced out, in this case because of political reasons, intercepts an invitation, reassembles his orchestra, overcomes numerous hurdles including temperamental soloist to perform hugely successful show), the acting, the humour and most of all, the music, makes this a highly enjoyable movie.

The story centres around a celebrated conductor, whose concert of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, is cut short dramatically mid-performance due to political reasons (in Soviet Russia). So when he intercepts an invitation to perform at Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet, he decides to re-assemble his old orchestra, and put his demons to bed. There is off course a complicated side story involving the soloist, oligarchs who "sponsor" the trip, Russian orchestra members who are thinking of using this as an opportunity to get out of their dreary life and ex-KGB communist party official who reminisces on the glory days of communism.

The opening concert of last year's fourth season of Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, featured Daniel Rowland playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. It is a stunning piece and unlike many movies of similar type (be it rousing speeches, novels or other works of art), the movie pays full homage to the music with a full performance. The emotion, the music and the story telling is worth the ticket.

German Inefficiency

Every now and then, you encounter German inefficiency, which sort of pulls them back to normalcy. But the strange thing about inefficiencies that I have come across - they know about it, they are very apologetic about it; and they don't seem to do anything about correcting it.

Two recent events give rise to this post, and both happened within hours of each other. The first, happened in Mainz, where I was meant to change trains (to the airport). Ariving at the platform, there was an electronic and verbal announcement (in German, but fairly easy to translate), that the train was cancelled. For me, that is a minor inconvenience - Mainz is very well connected to Frankfurt, and the airport, so an alternate is easily found. Not so fortunate for others, who were going to places beyond the airport - and there was no ready help at hand to assist in determining the best way forward. One passenger I met had particular trouble - this train was a connecting train to yet another train. This cancellation had a massive impact on his travel plans. The inefficiency comes in, not that the train was cancelled, but how it was handled afterwards. Furthermore, the cancelled train was an Intercity Express - which run from one end of Germany to another - surely, such information should have filtered through to the booking systems?

The second instance, relates to "Tax Free" services at Frankfurt Airport. In most European countries, you can claim back a certain percentage of the VAT, if your non-perishable purchases are made through "Tax Free" affiliated stores. The store provides you with a stamped form (with the amount) and then you need to first get a customs stamp, before you can claim back the money (either cash at the office in the airport, or by credit card or bank deposit through post). The process itself is well documented and easy. however, the customs office, once you are past passport control is in Departure B only, after security. The customs office in Departure C, which is where many of the large long haul planes leave, is closed (under further notice). So, to get the custom stamp, one has to go all the way to Departure B and clear security. Those of you who have made this trip, will know that this quite a long walk - about 15 - 20 minutes, depending on how many people you share this journey with! So taking account of clearing security, the round trip was almost an hour; and luckily I was able to leave my bags in the locker in the lounge ... otherwise, I don't think the effort would have been worth the refund!

Bi-lingual schools

I discovered on Saturday, a fairly recent innovation in Germany, bi-lingual schools. The intent, I am told, is to encourage mor fluency in English. Thus, a certain percentage of subjects (in the case of my friend's children, all the sciences) are taught in English, often with native English speakers. Other subjects, are taught in German.

The thinking is obvious, the learners get fluency in two languages as they are forced to use two, with a degree of regularity, but is not forced to learn everything in the foreign language, as would be the case with English medium schools. Given the number of official languages in South Africa, maybe this is also a viable way of encouraging bilingualism? Personally, while I was taught Afrikaans at school, there was no motivation for gaining any level of fluency, since it was only one subject, and a minor one at that. Being forced to learn Afrikaans, for another subject, would have certainly provided greater practice and motivation to learn.

German Expressionism Exhibition at Mathildenhöhe

The Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt sits above a hill, close to the city centre, and is the highest point in Darmstadt. It is a purpose built exhibition hall from late 1800s built by Darmstadt's Grand Duke, as part of a wider artist colony. It also features a Russian chapel built for the Tsar, and a wedding tower. Although, the artist colony is now gone, the beautiful houses remain, and many have been maintained by their current owners, either private citizens or various organizations.

I was not too aware of Expressionism, so I went in with an open mind. The exhibition had a wide range of exhibits, from all the various forms, painting, sculptures, movie clips, music clips, architecture models and drawings and stage costumes. The exhibits are largely chronological, tracing from the founding of the movement, through world war 1 to the end in the beginning of Nazi Germany. The exhibition itself ends with Mein Kampf, where the audio guide explains that Nazism's rigid control of everything was what brought the movement to the halt.

There was an array of interesting art works, where the whole motivation was "total art", which sounded very much like other similar labels, total football or total politics. Some of the ideas have persisted, such as glass architecture and weird and wonderful stage costumes. But there was also some very weird motivations for the artists, for example a number wanted world war 1 to happen, so that they could experience war first hand, and because they believed only a war would be able to reshape the worked to their point of view. After the horrors of war, which they often depicted in their works, they were left broken and it similarly impacted on their subsequent works.

It was an enlightening experience, and sheds some interesting perspective on at least a part of German life between the wars. That in itself makes it worthwhile.

It's Spring ...

Before continuing to Bonn, I went to visit a friend/collaborator/colleague in Darmstadt. We have been trying to meet every time I lass through Frankfurt, and this is the first time we actually made it happen! While looking at his garden, I commented on how green the grass was, and he said, "for the last two days, it has been spring. I did not expect such good weather for another few months after the snow".

The weather has been quite good, daily temperature of approximately 10 degrees, and even some rays of sunshine. But the heavy winter snow has taken it's toll. Many roads have potholes, has a result of the snow, while there is flooding in quite a few towns. In fact, the Rhine river in Bonn has broken its banks in a number of places, submerging paths, trees and in quite a funny way, completely isolated a Chinese restaurant (on a boat) because the path to the boarding point is completely submerged. But the remnants of the winter are still visible - uncleared snow still lies in it's dirty, brown mush in some corners, while many of the lakes are still iced. And despite the comfortable air temperature, the wind means that many layers of clothing is still warranted. And Frankfurt airport is still prepared for more snow, with cots for stranded passengers still stacked up in the hallways.

A380

Now that there are two daily fights out of Johannesburg on the A380, a lot more South Africans can fly on it. Has it brought back the romantiscm of flying? No. But that is probably because cattle class on Lufthansa's A380 is like cattle class on it's other planes, just a few more ameneties. But it does have a few nice touches. It is really quiet for example, although my noise canceling headphones were still useful in drowning out people's conversations and the aircon. The flight map uses Google Earth bringing a more lifelike perspective on the flight details. And you can now sit in the front row and still not fly business class :)

But the romantiscm is not all gone. I sat next two young guys, who were taking their second flights ever. The first was earlier in the day,when they flew from Maputo. They are 4th year computer science students, who are taking part in an exchange program with an University in Finland. It wasqute an interesting conversation, on their interests and their wish to pursue Masters and higher, with the constraints of funding and the lack of opportunities in Maputo. But they have already turned down part time job offers In order to pursue the exchange program, and I wish them all the best.

Movie: You'll meet a tall dark stranger

I don't think I have ever watched a Woody Allen movie end-to-end, and on this evidence I am not missing much. The movie follows a family, with each person having some kind of marital problem. Alfie (played by Anthony Hopkins) leaves his wife, and then subsequently marries a prostitute. The wife, Helena, takes up the advice of a fortune teller, but does not meet her tall dark stranger. The daughter, Sally (played by Naomi Watts), wants to divorce her struggling-author husband, for her boss (played by Antonio Banderas); while the husband falls for the neighbour (and decides that she is his muse).

At the end of it all, I am left asking - was that even a story worth telling, and why did I waste 2 hours on that. The latter, was more due to the fact that there was nothing else that seemed interesting on at the movies.

Movie: El secreto de sus ojos

El secreto de sus ojos (The secret in their eyes) is an Argentine movie which won best foreign movie at the 2010 Oscars. It is a fairly complex movie with a number of interweaving threads; centered around a retired legal counselor (Benjamin) attempting to write a book on a brutal rape and murder of a young woman (Liliana).

So in part this is a murder mystery, as we follow Benjamin and his sidekick Pablo in trying to solve the crime. In part it is a love story - Benjamin's infatuation with the judge he works for; and the love of Ricardo for his now dead wife (Liliana). It is a story of corruption in the justice system, as we find out how the perpetrator is released and then hired as an official hitman. But it is the ending, when all the various strands of the story are brought together; it becomes a story about crime and punishment; it is not what you expect; and I don't think any Hollywood movie could have dared to put that ending in - and you are left wondering - what does punishment entail?

It is a brilliant story, supported by exceptional acting, editing, costumes, scenery and make-up. The story span approximately 25 years, and the characters age with appropriate changes to scenery and props. It is a well made movie, and definitely worth watching.

Body Fluids Division

Driving back from Pretoria this morning, I drove past a police vehicle which had the words "Body Fluids" written on it (in the area where the divisioin is usually stated). It's a strange name for a division, although it does make sense. Online, the only reference I could find is a SAPS training course on Body Fluids.

Just wondering if there is better terminology out there ...

Closed for Christmas

Given the rampant consumerism around Christmas, and South Africa's general tradition of making public holidays into retail therapy sessions, the number of establishments that close down during Christmas is very surprising.

As I noted last year, while travelling down the northern towns of South Africa, all types of commercial establishments - from guest houses to restaurants to shops close down; and this is also the case in Johannesburg itself. Apart from petrol stations (and the associated shops), I do not recall seeing any shop that was open during Christmas (although I did not check every mall). What was equally surprising, is the number of establishments that were closed on boxing day ...

Biker Clans

At a luncheon with M's neighbours yesterday, I met two old bikers - E and W. Both are fanatical about superbikes, and both have owned a number of such bikes in their lives. Apart from stories about speed traps (and the related fines off course), the standout conversation was on Harley Davidsons, or as E called them, "Hardly bikes".

It seems that there are at least three types of biker clans - the super bikers, the harley riders and the off road riders. W belongs to two camps - the super bikers and the off road riders; but he can't stand the Harley Davidson either. Both E and W tried to define why Harleys make no sense - they are not fast, they vibrate a lot (and are therefore not comfortable) and they are not much fun. According to E & W, the only reason that Harley has such big fan clubs, is that they have no one else to mix with ...

Doubtless, there was a lot of banter about Harleys with E & W, and E often gave long passionate defence of the super bikes and ran down the Harleys as often as possible. As a non-biker, it is the first time I have really noticed the sub clans within the biker culture. An ex colleague of mine is a passionate member of the BMW bikers group, and another colleague rides a Harley - but as E & W demonstrated yesterday; I have never really seen the various sub cultures interact (besides the toy run etc).

Just interesting ...

Songs of Migration

I missed Songs of Migration in its original run earlier in the year, but managed to get to the second last performance for the year at the Market Theatre on Saturday night. The show itself is a bit difficult to categorise - it is not a theatre performance, and although it is billed as a musical; there is no overarching story or dramatic performance. It is really a collection of musical pieces, collated with a single theme (migration) - but at the same time is devoid of the audience interaction and banter that goes with musical performances.

Songs of Migration feature a huge number of songs (about 40 IIRC), mostly written or adapted by Hugh Masekela. The show is mostly focused on black South Africa - from the arrival of colonialism, through apartheid to the modern era; although there is one song on Jewish migration, a short snippet in Afrikaans and a few African American songs focused on cotton picking.

The range of languages is amazing - almost every South African language and then some more! And this leads to my only real gripe about the show - there should really be a longer translation of all the songs, because, due to the variety of languages, there is always someone in the crowd who is not going to understand the song - even though the overall meaning is pretty clear.

In terms of the performances themselves - for me Sibongile Khumalo and Hugh Masekela stole the show. Sibongile Khumalo has a wonderful stage presence, and takes an almost matriarchal command of the performance; gluing all the various performances into some sort of an overarching tale of migration. And Hugh Masekela, for a 70 year old, he outdanced, outsang all his younger colleagues and then some more. He is just an absolutely brilliant performer. The other members of the cast also bring various talents to the fore; especially in the choral pieces.

The show is very slick and highly entertaining. I think it is back sometime early next year - so if you haven't seen it; go see it.

Gautrain Maths

The Gautrain is a really awesome way to get to the airport. And parking at Sandton and then taking the train takes away the lottery of the roads, especially in the current mix of rain and construction.

But the parking rates are way too high; and in some respects just doesn't make sense. For the airport, the first 24 hours costs R29, the second 24 hours cost an additional R29.50 and then for the third day onwards costs R97.50 a day. While the parking charge is less than the parkade costs at OR Tambo (R130 a day), it becomes much higher when the train ticket is taken into account. Only for the 2 day trip, is the Gautrain a cheaper option than driving to OR Tambo and parking at the parkade.

With the bus routes being rather limited (which I suspect is one of the reasons they are often empty) - the prospect of just jumping on to the Gautrain system is still a long way off. And until then, the economics of using the train if you don't live in and around Sandton, for anyhting more than a 2 day trip is going to be hard to justify.

AVA Expo in Sandton

Teh AVA Expo in Sandton City was billed as the largest expo for audio-video appliances in South Africa. While it was true, that a wide range of brands were represented - overall, it was a rather dull affair in my opinion. I have been building a specification for a full blown entertainment system in my head, and thus my interest in the expo - although I have learnt more through visiting individual shops than at the expo itself.

For starters, while there were live demos; most stands did not bother with demonstrations of various components and systems. Thus, for many, it was more of a paper exercise of what their systems can do instead of really showcasing what the systems can do. I do understand the constraints placed by the environment, but then the organisers and exhibitors should have thought better ways to do demonstrations.

Secondly, if the purpose was not to showcase, then the retail aspect was not that great either. Almost every system on the floor (from a AV perspective at least), had the same price as the that in the retail stores. The manufacturer reps, although fairly knowledgable on the products, did not have suffcient knowledge of all the retailers that stock their products (or were not allowed to divulge this information due to conflicts with exhibitors).

For me, the worst part of the show however was the lack of knowledge, coupled with some really bad service from some of the exhibitors. At the SONY stand (which incidentally had won the stand of the year award), the guys manning the stands had neither the product specifications, nor the pricing of the various TVs on show. Likewise, at the Mede8tor stand (a product, I am quite keen to look at) the attendant started to have a chat with a friend that walked by, leaving myself and another prospective customer alone - even though he was actually mid sentence describing the product!

Movie: RED

Although the cast was promising, I wasn't expecting much from this movie - just a standard shoot-em-up action movie. Instead, it was possibly one of the best written and well acted action movie I have seen.

The plot is fairly simple - Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a retired (and extremely dangerous, hence RED) black ops CIA agent manages to thwart an assassination attempt; and then assembles a team to get to the bottom of who is trying to kill him (and why). His elite team is played by acting royalty - Helen Miren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman - all retired, all itching to "kill people again".

It is a fast paced story, very well acted and very enjoyable. Certainly worth watching, especially for entertainment.

ITWeb's Misleading Reporting on Mobile Data Charges

ITWeb's comparison on mobile data charges is so misleading, I wonder how it even got through editorial review. And to top it off, the calculations are also wrong!



Lets start with the calculation error - Cell C's 2 GB rate is R149 per month, which translates to R0.07 per MB and not R0.08. It seems the journalist divided by R1000 and not 1024! The price per MB for 5GB bundle is actually 5.6c so 6c is forgivable, but the same mistake was made. I didn't make sure of the other calculations, but I assume they are equally wrong (and when you calculate it back, it makes sense too).

But the misleading part of the article is to focus only on out of bundle rates. Sure Cell C and 8ta have higher out of bundle rates, but the key question with out of bundle rates, is what was the total cost. Thus, it only makes sense to compare out of bundle charges if the total bundle cost is considered.



And then, if you consider the effective per Mb price, the real value will be shown, with Cell C and 8-ta coming out ahead.

Lastly, Cell C's pricing includes the modem which, as far as I know is not included in the other offers (I can confirm Vodacom, since I have used it). Once you take account of that, the pricing is even more competitive from Cell C!

I wonder who paid the journalist to write such crap ...