Movie: Miners Shot Down

Miners Shot Down (IMDB, website) is possibly the most important social documentary on South Africa in the past 20 years. As per the director's comments after the screening yesterday, this film is unequivocally about the miner's story - and it pulls no punches. 

It is actually mind numbing to realise that there is no re-enactment - that the videos; pulled from news organisations, Lonmin, the police and the commission of enquiry - is all real. And it does feature footage and interviews with most of the key players in the story - the miners, the mine bosses, the trade union leaders, the police and journalists. And it is an indictment on the failure of broad based economic transformation - in the words of one of the mining strike leaders - the sons of the miners continue to be relegated to mining, while the sons of the mining bosses continue to be their sons' bosses. It is a cycle of poverty and damnation that has not been addressed where it matters most.

Ultimately, what puzzle me most is, not the question of police brutality - images of Ferguson etc. shows that this seems to be an universal trait when the police are militarised. It is not the question of pressure from Lonmin either - after all, private citizens and corporates have every right to request for political intervention and support of their side of the story. It is rather, how the decision that was made by unnamed persons in the police hierarchy was arrived at. After all, it is clear that the police were instructed to disarm violently - but in the haze of the tear gas and gun smoke, it seems that there is no clear explanation on why and how the decision was arrived at.

The repercussions of the Marikana massacre have already started, and will continue for years to come. Sadly, as the 5 month strike this year has proven, the engagement between miners and the mining bosses continue to the toxic. And while Julius Malema's assertion that Cyril Rapamphosa is a murderer responsible for Marikana is difficult to directly justify - the moral culpability seems too strong to refute.

All in all, it is a great tragedy - for all of us.

Movie: Boyhood

Boyhood is one of the most critically acclaimed movies, ever. Artistically, as a project, there has been very few with such a grand vision, and even fewer that have pulled it off. 12 years in making, the movie follows the story of a boy as he grows up from age 6 to 18 - with all characters playing the same part, and growing up together. 

But it is not only the concept. The story is simple - the characters, are no superheroes or specifically special; but it manages to stitch together an amazing story, with effectively everyday events. It is a story of a modern family I suppose - divorced parents, remarriage, step siblings, moving homes, changing friends, changing environments (from cellphones that could only text to smartphones for example) and changing music. 

As an artistic endeavour, it is amazing and deserves all the accolades it has received.

Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy

I did not know anything about this Marvel franchise - and to be honest, I was not expecting much more than a standard superhero movie. It has all the trappings of superhero movies - heroes with difficult pasts, villains that want to destroy everything, and helpless innocents to protect in between. What I was not expecting was a comedic gem intertwined with 70s and 80s music hits. Guardians of the Galaxy is not an amazing movie - but it is different to other superhero movies, and great entertainment.

Movie: Lucy

I wanted to watch Lucy after the trailers, and expected the standard sci-fi plot line - a person gains super-human powers, and there is some ticking timebomb that the heroine needs to stop. That the powers come from ingesting a new synthetic super drug, and the timebomb is a set of a Korean gangsters makes this plotline a bit mundane. But where, the movie really fails is in the pseudo philosophy discussions it tries to disseminate as what holds the movie plotline together. It is scientifically dubious (to put it politely) and nowhere as compelling in other sci-fi plotlines that have tried similar tricks (Matrix comes to mind specifically). Even Morgan Freeman, as the aged genius scientist cannot really rescue this movie - the trailer is the only really good thing about it.

Initial Thoughts on Apple Pay

There is not much detail available on Apple Pay, announced at Apple's keynote yesterday - but my first thought, was that it resembles an update of Secure Electronic Transaction (SET). Like Apple Pay, SET theoretically allowed for a system where a payment transaction could be conducted without the merchant knowing the payment details and the bank knowing what was purchased. SET and other token based systems (such as a credential based payment system I developed in my PhD) haven't really taken off - although one can argue that Bitcoin is also an evolution of such a system.

The advantage Apple Pay does have, over all others before it, is the massive install base of iPhones and the Apple brand. As long as Apple itself does not fall prey to payment card breaches (and Apple Pay's design of keeping card data on the phone itself, mitigates this risk); Apple should have better success compared to previous attempts. Furthermore, if Apple Pay does work, extending the service to include non-credit card type transactions - such as integration with bank accounts - should not be a challenge either.

The Otter Trail - Day 5

In the various guides I have read about the Otter Trail, the details of Day 5 seems to be particularly brief. This is a great pity - while the walk itself is relaxed and relatively easy; it was some of the most scenic parts of the hike.

The walk starts off with crossing a gentle stream - Kilp River - that runs next to the rest stop. The biggest challenge in the day's walk is the steep climb up the gorge to the top; a strenuous walk in context of the previous days' efforts.

Most of the walk from here is on the top -  mostly flat with a few ups and downs - along the coast. There are absolutely gorgeous views of sea as it crashes into the rocks below at the bottom of the cliffs, lots of sea birds and the fynbos and proteas in bloom. It is a very scenic walk.

The hike ends with a very steep decent on to the beach of Nature's Valley - a long golden stretch of sand. It is still a bit of a walk to the car park, where we thoroughly enjoyed the hot showers on offer. We finished off our stay at Nature's Valley's (only?) Restaurant with some burgers for lunch - before starting the trek back home.

The Otter Trail - Day 4

Day 4 of the trail is the longest and most strenuous (so far at least). The day is complicated by the crossing of the Bloukrans river, and unfortunately low ride was around 07:30 this morning (or at 20:00). The river itself is a grueling 10km hike from the 3rd day rest-stop - which is itself longer than any of the other day's hikes.

We started at 04:00, and it was quite disconcerting  to hike in the dark, while hearing the waves crash into the rocks below. With a spotlight, it was easy to see the bottom of the cliffs, and the path was often quite high up. 

Although the trail is well marked, it is quite difficult, with rocks and mud; and I lost my footing quite a few times. I was also quite tired - although not in pain as such - and unfortunately ended up slowing my friends quite a bit.

We made it to the river by 09:00, and the tide was coming in. We further managed to miscount the number of survival bags (2 less), and although RS and D shared a survival bag, they had to come back with a bag to get me. By this time, the crossing was even more difficult, but we did manage to get across safely - although my bag managed to get wet (courtesy of a few holes from rocks) and I managed to loose my glasses courtesy of a wave that was well over my head.

After some coffee and rusks on the other side, and some rudimentary attempts at drying (I was not the only one with a wet bag) - the hike to the next stop started. The 4km was even more strenuous given the exertions already undertaken; carriage of wet items, and some fairly steep climbs. We arrived at the stop in dribs and drabs - but were having lunch by 14:00 ... And complaining of all the pains and aches.

The Otter Trail - Day 3

Day 3 was rather short in distance, and quite relaxed - we only started after 9:30 and made it to the next rest stop by 14:30. 

Unlike the previous two days where the hike was through forests, most of today's hike hugged the coast, through fynbos and grasslands. The coast is quite rugged, making for some amazing scenery.

The day starts by crossing the Geelhoutbos river, which flows right past the rest stop. The crossing is simple - just walk across a the river resembles more of a stream than a river. The next two rivers are harder - for the Elandsbos, we had to wade through at ankle height, and the beach was a good place to stop. The Lottering river, right next to the next rest stop, was a harder affair, with the water at thigh high (although there was deeper parts). 

Later in the afternoon, a large pod of dolphins swam past the river mouth - adding to the whale we saw earlier in the day to our marine mammal count for the day.

The Otter Trail - Day 2

I woke up this morning with, what I thought was the wind howling outside. It actually took a fee minutes to realise that it was just the waves crashing into the rocks below the cabin. Relieved that I didn't have to trek through wind and rain, I strode outside to try catch the sunrise. Unfortunately east was more behind a hill, spoiling the perfect sunrise on the water imagery!

I managed to get a cellphone signal on the edge of the rocks, where I managed to update my blog. But I also got unfortunate news of an attempted fraud on my credit card - and so spent the next few minutes of my flaky signal canceling the card!

After a decent breakfast of oats so easy and instant cuppachino (our standard breakfast for the hike) we finally got walking. The second day route features a number of climbs, and is hopefully the most strenuous day of hiking. 

The climbing starts immediately, and quite difficult at that - and is only the easiest of the three big climbs. After the first climb, there is an amazing rocky lookout point overlooking the area. 

As we were leaving the outcrop, we met some rangers who were doing trail maintenance who assured us that only the final climb was bad; and it was actually pretty easy going until then. Our experience was unfortunately the opposite - and I certainly feel that the section between the outcrop and the bottom of the last major climb was the most difficult stretch. 

Just over the 75% mark, at the bottom of the last climb, there is a well marked detour to an amazing sandy beach. We spent a good couple of hours; and even though I am not a big fan of beaches; I think. The beach itself was worth the hike.

The final climb was actually not too bad - and the final lookout point had some amazing views. The way down to te second night huts, once again on the beach, was a bit steep - but otherwise unremarkable (in otter trail standards I suppose).

We had dinner of Chinese instant noodles; with some biltong; and even had a visitor in two genets that seemed to be very friendly. They were pretty easy to photograph - and it seems that at least some of the hikers feed them.

The Otter Trail - Day 1

About 14 months ago, D and I were chatting, an I mentioned that we should do the Otter Trail. D took the initiative, and here we are. There are 6 of us in total, with R, RS, Ju and Je joining us.

The first day is pretty relaxed, walking down from the park gate, through some fairly dense forest,  until hitting the sea, with a small cave to the right. The rest of the route is pretty rocky, especially to a spectacular waterfall; which is the end of the day trail. The overnight trail continues through more forest, before ending at the first overnight huts; where we could spy two whales frolicking in the sea.

The scenery has been amazing, with the combination of sea and forest. The weather forecast was for clear skies and sun; but it has been a cloudy day so far.

Dinner was a combination of classic camping food (smash and baked beans) with lamb chops and boerewors on the braai. That's it for luxurious food though; carrying that much weight for two days was never on the cards.

Storms River Village

In 2007, when I was traveling from Cape Town; Storms River Village was my first overnight stop. Not much has changed in this rather quaint village, although it does seem to have more accommodation, including 2 backpackers, than what I remember it having. It is stil quiet, and sleepy town - a nice start to a holiday.

Port Elizabeth's Beachfront

It's my fourth time in PE, and this is the first time I have actually spent any time at the beach front area. There doesn't seem to be much really - a paved walkway, some restaurants facing the beach, and the beach off course.

The Broadwalk Casino is one of the better casino complexes; with a wide open promenade and a number of restaurants. It isn't much; but somehow it seems to be better than the beach.

JPO's Fundraising Concert

In collaboration with University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, the JPO held two fund raising concerts last week; featuring soloists Pinchas Zukerman and his South African born, Canadian wife Amanda Forsyth. The tickets were on the expensive side - this was after all a fund raising concert - but both nights were sold out; although it was not as full as the Joshua Bell concert from a couple of years back.

The evening started with Pinchas Zukerman conducting Beethoven's Egmont Overture. It's a lively piece to start off, especially as Beethoven manages to fill a rather short piece with great symphonic orchestra elements - and the performance was simply superb.

Amanda Forsyth strode on to the stage in a regal flourish, dedicating the performance to her late father - Pietermaritzburg born Malcolm Forsyth - the composer of the cello concerto; Electra Rising.  For the first 3 movements, the piece (to me at least) was the tantrum - of a irate queen for instance, aided by percussion; while the orchestra plays the part of someone desperately trying to calm her down. This scene was further added to, when Amanda Forsyth asked a mother and her small child to move, due to the child's distracting movements in the front row! The last movement is very different - it is as if the tantrum is over, and everyone is ready to sing in happiness together - the symphonic movements are so different, that it is hard to believe it is the same piece! Officially, the piece is meant to mirror the fight against apartheid culminating with the dawn of democracy - but I prefer my interpretation :) As a modern piece, it was actually quite brave for the JPO to put on a concerto of this nature - especially in the context of a fund raising concert - but this is something the JPO needs to do more to survive.

After the break, Stellenbosch University's Corvin Matei conducted Pinchas Zukerman's performance of Bruch's Violin Concerto No 1. It was one of the best violin concerto performances at the JPO, and hands down the best performance of Bruch's Violin Concerto No 1, that I have attended. The performance was simply mesmerising, and fully deserved the standing ovation. 

The fund raising concert had a bit of everything - a very popular piece, a piece from one of the most feted composers, and a modern piece - with very impressive soloists. Hopefully, the JPO has many more!

Buskaid Community Concert

Every year, Buskaid hosts a community concert at the Dutch Church in Diepkloof, 2/3 weeks before their annual concert at the Linder Auditorium. As I can't make it to this year's concert; I decided to go to the community concert instead. The program is the same; but the atmosphere is remarkably different. Unlike the Linder, the audience is far younger - with a lot of young kids; even babies. In fact, it was quite amusing to hear a few of them hum the recently played tunes during the interval, or to see them mime conducting together with the music. Unlike previous concerts, this year's program features complete pieces - which I think is a good move.

In keeping with Buskaid's tradition of playing lesser known composers, the concert started with Georg Muffat’s Passacaglia - a baroque piece from the 1680s. On YouTube, it seems that the piece is mostly played as an organ piece - and perhaps the richness of the sound is lost when converted to a string orchestra. Perhaps, it is also because the music seems to be background church music - something quite appropriate for the venue; but without the cavernous cathedral, it just didn't seem to fit.

Keeping with the time period, but a far better known composer, the following piece was JS Bach's Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins; except it was played with six soloists (two per movement). Buskaid performed this piece (with the same configuration) at the beginning of the year, and was once again a great performance. 

Completely different in mood, and somewhat appropriate given global events, was Elgar's Sospiri - composed 100 years ago at the start of World War 1. The piece featured a harp played by a young harpist, Jude van der Walt, and the intro is absolutely amazing. It is a somber piece, but the performance was quite magical - and received an enthusiastic applause.

The first half concluded, with a piece written for the Buskaid - Sancho’s Dance Suite by Julian Grant, who arranged a set of dance pieces by Ignatius Sancho - who is quite an interesting person in his own right. The music itself is contemporary of the period, although the start of the piece is quite interesting (and rough) - and it ends in quite a joyous note. I don't know whether the piece is meant to signify the trajectory of Sancho's life (born on a slave ship, emancipation and thereafter renown) - but I will keep that as my narrative of the piece  :)

The second half featured two virtuoso performances by three of the senior members of the Buskaid ensemble. Starting the half was Tiisetso Mashishi's performance of Max Bruch's Romance for Viola and Orchestra. His previous performance at the Buskaid concert at the beginning of the year, was the highlight of the concert, and once again he didn't disappoint.  

This was followed by  Pablo de Sarasate's Navarra for two violins and orchestra, played by Kabelo Monnathebe and Simiso Radebe. It was as much fun looking at them play, as it was to hear the piece - the communication between the two during the performance was amazing; and it is certainly a piece that commands the audience's attention on the soloists. It's a fun piece, reminiscent of a Spanish dance/song and a fitting finale for the "formal" part of the program. The encore for the formal part of the orchestra was a short, lively piece by Mussorgsky - but I am not sure of the title. 

Buskaid's informal part of the concert is probably what makes their performances so special. It also highlights the difference in audiences - here, as the gospel, kwela and afro-pop songs started, the audience joined in, dancing - and not the young members only - it was the mothers and perhaps even the grandmothers. But that was only in the front - the dancing was in the aisles, and at the back - it was a celebration. 

I am quite convinced, that it may even make sense for Buskaid to link up with one (or more) afro-pop bands - and produce an album; with Buskaid performing the music, and the singers singing. One of the great things about Buskaid, is the variety of types of music performed - today's performance spanned almost 350 years of music. Buskaid always manages to balance the classical with the contemporary; and looking at the packed hall, it works.

Buskaid's annual concert in on Saturday, 6 September at Linder Auditorium - and highly recommended.

Carlo Mombelli's Stories Quartet

I am not completely sure of how I came across The Orbit - a newish live music and restaurant venue; focusing mainly on Jazz. It has been a while since I last went to a live jazz performance, and Carlo Mombelli's Stories Quartet looked quite promising - both with the inclusion of prominent performers and the streaming music on the website.

The first experience at arrival was not great - they had managed to lose the dinner reservations - but they recovered quickly; finding us a good table. The menu was not extensive - but the food was good, with attentive but not overbearing service. 

The music was the highlight - a mixture of amazing energy, with many moments of individual brilliance - as well as slow and mournful. Mbusa Khosa, who sung almost entirely in Zulu, has an absolutely amazing voice - and was in itself an instrumental performance in its own right. It was captivating, and magical - fully deserving of a standing ovation at the end of the night.

City Press' African Women Feature

In a first for me, I went out and bought three different newspapers last Sunday. It was interesting to note the diverse range of coverage of news stories and opinion - but I didn't get through all of it on Sunday! 

City Press had a feature on African Women - a profile of 60-odd notable African women in diverse fields; as part of Women's Day commemorations. As a South African publication, there was the expected high proportion of South Africans on the list - but what was notable for me, was who was left out. There was, for example, not a single opposition party member from South Africa featured, neither were notable leaders of African countries like Joyce Banda or Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

It does seem a bit one sided in selection. I am not saying that those that were profiled were not warranted to be included in the profiles - just that the selection seems a bit odd.

FTL: Faster than Light

About 14/15 years ago, E, discovered this abandonware DOS based game that involved piloting a cargo ship between various ports of the world. It was part Transport Tycoon (build up a shipping empire) mixed with some slow manoeuvring as the "auto pilot" for docking didn't work every now and then.

I discovered FTL: Faster than Light, via a Kickstarter newsletter. The concept is deceptively simple. You are a pilot of a ship carrying sensitive information, across the galaxy pursued by rebels. Your mission is to hand over the sensitive information, and then defeat the "mothership". Along the way, there are pirates, rebel scouts, aliens who don't like you, lost civilians, storekeepers, mercenaries, abandoned planets etc. which you must help, fight, or flee. The right outcome will provide with opportunities to upgrade your ship; and the wrong outcomes could end the game.

The game is simple to play; and incredibly difficult to beat. Even on the easy mode, I have raked up over 15 hours to beat the boss just once. There are some tricks - but the game's random generator can be brutal. About 5 games before I finally won - I did get the boss to 1 health bar - but then a strike from the boss, caused a fire in my weapons room (when I still had about 40% health), and my weapons just couldn't recharge fast enough to finish the boss off. There are no save points to recover from - it's either finish it, or restart.

It is addictive, and an absolutely impressive strategy game. Like the shipping game from years past, the graphics aren't amazing. It is the gameplay and the strategy that makes it worth coming back to; over and over again.

Movie: Mr. Pip

The brief synopsis of the movie does not really capture the social tensions, the brutality, and the beauty of this movie - it is one of those that you walk in expecting something, but leave after watching something quite different.

Set in early 1990, in Papua New Guinea's Bougainville island/region - the movie, based on a novel of the same name, explores the civilian village life in a fairly brutal civil war for autonomy/independence. The story follows Matilda, and Mr Watts, who takes up teaching the village kids; primarily through Dickens' Great Expectations - but also weaving in other villagers who bring their own expertise in exchange for staying to listen to the story. Matilda's imagination leads her to reimagine Pip in the context of her own people (but strangely still in Victorian clothing) - but this leads to a rather disastrous end as the army captain decides that Pip is really an important rebel being hidden by the village.

In the end, Matilda's life runs parallel to that of Dickens' Pip - in that she is a person of which there are great expectations, and one that eventually is (partially?) fulfilled. But it is not so much the parallel - but the sheer beauty and innocence of village life that makes this a compelling movie. In the context of current world events in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere - it really captures the dichotomy of experiences and wishes of the fighters and the people caught in between.

Movie: Dawn of the Planet of Apes

The reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise has now got the possibility of tracing the full story of how the apes come to dominate a planet that was previously dominated by humans - a decade at a time. The movie is actually damn good - both from the perspective of story and effects; but it does degenerate to some clichés - the vengeful, backstabbing lieutenant, the good samaritan doctor, the great leader - but it is the packaging that makes it a good movie.

Missing ...

I think this was the first time that I saw a live performance by the legendary John Kani in his new play Missing ..., currently on at the Market Theatre. The story charts the story of a fictional (but quite believable) loyal, intellectual ANC activist who ends up in exile in Stockholm. There, he marries and raises a family - but when the new government arrives in 1994 he is apparently forgotten. But, with his daughter's upcoming wedding, and a longing for home - he decides to go back to South Africa and at least confront the ANC leadership on being forgotten.

It is funny, and poignant - and above all a critical dissection on some of the ails of the new political class. Quoting Orwell's classic "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", the second act is a stunning criticism of politicians in general - but the play is also a reminder of what political service and self sacrifice actually means.

The performances, especially that of John Kani, are impressive. It is a different angle to cover politics and the anti-apartheid struggle; and a performance that needs to be watched - and fully deserved the standing ovation.