Movie: Hidden Figures

In a time where exclusion or special treatment, based on nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation, is a easily highlighted problem - especially with politicians promoting such exclusions - Hidden Figures manages to portray the power of inclusiveness; and what that can contribute to monumental achievements. 

Based on the true story of how a group of brilliant black women mathematicians and engineers were instrumental in NASA's space program - this is a super-charged tale of the fight against racial discrimination and gender discrimination to achieve some of the biggest achievements of humanity. 

There are some embellishments to the story - in the name of dramatisation I am sure - but it is an achievement on its own to weave the various elements into a comprehensive tale. The performance as impressive - perfectly showcasing the grit and determination required to survive, as well as the impact of the humiliation and obstacles in the way. 

In the time we live, this is what we need to remind ourselves on what diversity brings to the table; to remind ourselves what the forgotten and the disenfranchised could potentially contribute to our society if they were able to.

Movie: Denial

The central plot of the movie is the libel case brought by noted holocaust denier David Irving, against American historian Deborah Lipstadt; which ends up being a great court room drama on defending the idea that the holocaust happened. 

But in the modern day news environment it highlights a larger issue - how difficult it is for truth to overcome deliberate falsehood; and how difficult it is for the lay person to identify the nuances between fake and real events. This is not about the easily overturned items that populated the tabloid press - but rather the nuanced ideas from otherwise reputable persons (as in the case of David Irving - who, according to Wikipedia still has notable biographies and historical studies to his name). We see this often with climate science denial, and previously in research into effects of smoking - deliberate misdirection and misinformation is difficult to identify, and ultimately leads to mass confusion.

Overall, Denial is an ok movie; and a great primer to the key issues of the court case. The long slog to prove something that is so well documented and researched as the Holocaust proves that the fight against fake news has a long road ahead.

Movie: La La Land

I am not sure why there is such a buzz around this movie - in fact, one of the scathing reviews on IMDB manages to capture the movie in one word - insipid. The opening scene was annoying, with wooden dancing performance, and adding no value to the plot or other redeeming features. It doesn't really get better - and although Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone provide strong acting performances, their singing and dancing hardly light up the screen.

 

In fact, the movie is somewhat Bollywoodish as opposed to a musical - given than songs and dancing are a relatively small part of the movie - and perhaps they should have taken a leaf out of Bollywood and dubbed the singing! It's a movie about Hollywood, so, perhaps like Argo, that is the reason for all the rage. I found it uninspiring and mostly boring - I would recommend avoiding.

Movie: Lion

Some times the truth is stranger than fiction - Lion traces the remarkable story of a poor young boy in rural India who gets separated from his older brother, and ends up in Kolkata (then Calcutta). For a while he lives on the streets, but is later placed in an orphanage and thereafter adopted by an Australian couple. Years later, he starts looking for his home - now enabled by technology (Google Earth and Google in general), and is memories. 

It is a beautiful film with some really strong performances - not only by the adult lead in Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire fame) but also the performance of Sunny Pawar as the 5 year old Saroo. The story is itself moving but it more than just the story - it is the performance of the ensemble cast, the locations and finally capturing both the joys and hardships. It's somewhat strange that this move doesn't have a stronger billing ...

Buskaid at the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival

For their fourth consecutive appearance at the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, there were some substantial diversion from a traditional Buskaid recital - no Rameau for instance; and all the composers were pretty mainstream. That is not a criticism of the program; although I did think the sequencing could be enhanced.

The first piece, appropriately given the name of the festival, was Mozart's Divertimento in D Major. As in recent concerts, Buskaid are now playing more complete works, and the piece was an excellent choice in highlighting the prowess of the orchestra in general.

The next two pieces, in my mind, were the highlights of the performance - and should have been used to bring the concert to a close as the highlight performances. Mzwandile Twala, who I first saw perform with the orchestra while he was barely taller than his violin, delivered an amazing performance of Fritz Kreisler's Preludium and Allegro. I have only heard one other performance - Itzhak Perlman's on YouTube, and the experience of hearing the performance at Buskaid was better! It was followed up by Kabelo Monnathebe's performance of Ralph Vaughn William's The Lark Ascending - yet another amazing solo performance.

The first half closed with Shostakovich's "Five Pieces", a selection of joyful pieces from his vast collection of compositions, which were re-arranged for string performances with dual soloists from the ensemble. 

The second half started off with yet another full work - Grieg's Holberg Suite, before moving to some vocal and kwela pieces. As part of the kwela, was a lovely orchestral hymn dedicated to the recently deceased driver for the Buskaid - which I think should have been featured as part of the main program itself. 

The kwela section often introduces new members to the ensemble, and this occasion was no different.  It does raise the question though - should Buskaid members not consider building their own professional orchestra? It is the 20^th anniversary of the Buskaid, and perhaps the right legacy is building an orchestra that not only teaches music but also performs music for the masses on a regular basis - and one that can not only bring western classical music to Africa; but that can take African music to the world.

Movie: Manchester by the Sea

While there are movies that explore heartache and grief, Manchester by the Sea manages to explore it in such an intense set of layers, that it is good that the story is fictional - one man surely does not deserve that much bad luck. But more than grief, it also explores the intractability of a community that is just not able to forgive - even when it is a mistake - something that comes up again and again with released prisoners who have served their time. It is slow and sad - but somewhat surprisingly a great cinematic experience.

Viennese New Year's Concert

It's a few weeks into the new year, but the Viennese New Year's Concert is slowly becoming a tradition in Joburg's classical music calendar as part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival. It was a rather empty Linder Auditorium, but the concert had a great line up of mostly Strauss featuring a few waltzes, a few dances by Joburg Ballet and two amazing (vocal) soloists. It was a good selection of classical music to kick off the year.

Rate of Global Warming

This is a few months old, but it remains so relevant. Direct link to xkcd - manages to deliver the succinct history of mankind, and change in temperature in one amazingly long graphic!

Tree Communities and Collaboration

Trees collaborate actively for resources (carbon, nitrogen, etc.) and even communicate on dangers ... it's quite mind blowing. 

Ted Page: https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other 

Dark City

The shuttle from the Gautrain Park Station to work every (week)day goes past a number of "bad buildings" in Johannesburg. Some have been abandoned, some have been hijacked - and many have slowly turned into squatter camps.

Dark City is a graduate architecture project by Hariwe, and probably the most impressive thesis document I have come across - together with an art exhibition by a number of collaborators on one particular bad building, known as "Dark City". I found out about the exhibition almost by accident - reading an old news article, and it just finished its run of 2 months today.

The photos and presentation is depressing - stories of police brutality, people living without water, electricity or sewerage services, crime, xenophobia, dangerous environments and an overwhelming amount of garbage. Through all of this, Hariwe documents the building using architecture blueprints familiar to anyone who has considered investing into a new development - except the size is far more depressing. 

The thesis itself holds out for hope - that instead of demolishing the buildings, it is possible to convert them to more usable, humane, low cost housing; and that they can provide sustainability (for example through roof top gardens) and bring back hope. In a country with a shortage of housing; with massive housing back logs, this is not a bad proposition. It has after all been done before - and in Johannesburg too - but are there investors willing to do this; and are the owners who have abandoned buildings willing to participate?

Musée Léon Dierx

Housed in the old mansion of the bishop, the museum is the foremost art gallery of Reunion. A large portion of the collection is from the estate of notable art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who is credited with managing a number of prominent turn of 20th century artists including van Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugin and Picasso. 

The current exhibition doesn't feature many Reunion artists, since there is a joint exhibition with Johannesburg Art Gallery on their shared collection of art from approx. 1860-1935; and is almost entirely comprised of French artists. There are interesting pieces such as Picasso's before his cubist period, but I would have personally preferred to have also been able to see works from Reunion and the wider collection of the gallery.

l'Etang Salé les Bains

There are a few beaches in Reunion with black sand - a mixture of volcanic rock and normal sea sand. The beach at l'Etang Salé les Bains is probably the best known, and also one of the best beaches around. 

Kélonia

Just outside the town of St Leu, Kélonia is a turtle aquarium, research and rehabilitation centre. An old turtle breeding initiative (for meat and shells) it has turned around to an amazing aquarium and rehabilitation centre. The visitor centres includes sections on turtles across a number of spheres, including their biology, their migration patterns and various cultural views and practices.

Waterfalls of Grand Galet, Langevin

The waterfall of Grand Galet is one of the highlight pictures of Reunion - multiple streams rushing through the jungle into a clear water pool. The entire river from the waterfall through to the river mouth a few km away is filled with pools and small waterfalls, and seems to be the leisure spot for the locals, with picnics everywhere.

2007 Lava Fields

The eruption in 2007 added some acreage to the eastern part of the island, and aside from tourists and travelers, there isn't much. The lava fields are impressive in how it cuts through the wooded hill side, but off course no match for the volcano itself.

Anse des Cascades

This small picnic spot was not on my radar while going to Ste Rose, but saw it on the road sign. A short drive out from the main road, there is a nice waterfall from the lush jungle, together with a nice view of the ocean. There is no beach, but there were a few people bathing under the waterfall, and a few more sunbathing on the lush lawns.

Notre Dame des Laves

It is one of the amazing stories in the guide book - in 1977, the volcanic eruption destroys most of the town/village of Piton Ste Rose, and the building that survives is the church. Restored and renamed, the church is quite amazing with the remains of the lava and the interior is filled with references to the volcano.

Plantation Vanille Reunion

Reunion is famous for its vanilla, and the much of the processes surrounding the commercialising vanilla production was developed by Reunionites. There are a few plantations around the island that offer tours, and this particular one does not have any English tours but does have a pamphlet with information. 

Vanilla production takes time (6 years from germination to the first saleable product), and there are similarities with wine farms in this regard. The production size is smaller - not surprising given that fertilization of flowers is by hand. September seems to be the time to see more of the process, but the plantation does everything and has demonstrations on most of the process; and off course the obligatory shop.

Eglise Sainte Anne

The striking external architecture draws you in as you pass through the small town of Ste Anne. At first the main hall is a disappointment after the amazing external design and decoration, but step to the left, there is an amazing baroque chapel, seemingly a convergence of a hindu temple and catholic church.

Le Volcan

The volcano was really what swayed the decision to come to Reunion. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great - so no commanding views of the island from the top, and not even a clear picture of the summit. On the plus side, it did make the hiking easier.

The route is very well signposted and with a trail of people, it's not difficult to travel. There are two ways to access the site - from a car park that deposits you about 5mins out, or from the gîte that's about 15-20 mins hike away. 

We started at the gîte, so it's a small uphill first followed by a very steep downhill. The hike up the volcano is itself not that steep; but the terrain is very difficult. The main volcano crater is somewhat hidden from the highest point in the outer crater which was interesting, although without any clear views, this was not immediately noticeable. 

We started early - we left the gîte around 06:40, and yet by the time we got to the entrance people were already finished!

The gate at the start gives an ominous notice.

It's a very steep path down, and a very annoying climb up. The guard rails are a bit weak - a few more tugs and pulls may lead to some dangerous results. the landscape is very alien while the flora is very similar to fynbos. The fynbos like flora makes sense - this is a landscape with very little water. 

Probably my clearest picture of the volcano summit and the path there. The part in the foreground is Formica Leo - not sure what it is other than a ochre coloured heap of interesting rocks of gravel like consistency. It's fun to see - unfortunately the colors didn't come out as well as I would have liked.

There are many nooks and cracks and other strange rock formations. At the base of the outer crater climb is Chapelle de Rosemont, which from the distance does look like a chapel, and could be a handy shelter in the rain.

This is an active volcano, and there are numerous observance zones and measuring devices (I assume) around the place. The place is mostly barren past Formica Leo, but sometimes there are a few plants trying to take over!

As you go further up the crater, there are far more interesting rock formations. Some are very colourful, and surprisingly light.

Despite the bad weather, the crater was fully visible and well worth the hike. The colours of the rock were amazing, and you can even see the evidence of the most recent eruption from this crater at least. There was however, no visible lava flows.

This was one of my most interesting hiking experiences, and is certainly a highlight of Reunion.