My 24hrs Before London, England, UK, LOL

Ok, i just have a weird feeling this post might be of a extremely random nature, and will try and keep it short. Now, 1, I have to say the night before i was due to leave on the trip I've been going on about for quite some time now, I got sick, like seriouslyyy ill, fever of some sort, having never fully subscribed to modern medication (lol, or any medication for that matter) i didnt have anything else at home besides the Corenza C my friend in London had asked me to bring, so i popped some, now let me tell you this, I could be their spokesperson tomorrow, that stuff works, who knew, not me. Well now the day before arent I trying to pack my suitcase when i realised i have forgotten the combination lock on my suitcase cuz i hadnt used it for ages, this is what happens when you dont go on holiday for over 8 months, for reason please see recession. After asking a few friends who proved useless for assistance, i took to the net, it turns out there we multitudes of solutions, all time consuming and laborious, two things that i choose to stay clear off unless absolutely necessary.So I helped out with the recession and spent some money (feeding the financial market) on a locksmith to figure out my combo and reset it, but this made me late to leave work, waiting for the lovelz suitcase, when i got home it was 14h15 i need to drop mz bag off at the airport at 17h30, so it was clear at this point that i was running late, then we left the house i believe around 17h10, on a Friday, helloooo traaaaffic, instead of freaking out, i decided, if i miss it i miss it, there wasnt much i could do, it was bumper to bumper traffic and the road constructions closer to the airport werent gonna do me any favours so i just relaxed - me and mz friend who was taking me there, just spoke, got there miraculously at 17h49, the had just switched off the check-in lights, but they still allowed me in - wheewh. Then i get on the plane to realise we are on an relativelz older plane, no private monitors, i know some of you are gonna be like, 'yeah i dont even use the monitor' well I do, and even if i didnt, this is a 12 hour flight, i-would-like-to-have-the-option. So now i was very unhappy, my initially irritation with my booking started whenb i booked Virgin Atlantic and they didnt tell me until 2 days before that they dont fly from CT direct to London, only from JHB, so I will be operated by SAA, which i was ok with, now its a shit SAA flight, this was not doing well for me, so I've decided to never book Virgin Atlantic again, or any other airline that doesnt offer private monitors for a plus 8 hour flight. After getting over it and arriving in London, the worst was about to take place, at Border Control, guess who didnt print any of their itinerary and being it along with them as they have done for all their previous trips?...Yes. So the man, starts opening up his instructions booklet to show me that at this point he's meant to refuse mz visa, even thought alreadz granted, but the good thing is the state would pay for my 'return flight', which i corrected him by saying; 'Oh you mean my (air quotes) 'deportation flight'', somehow the man did not appreciate my snarkism and told me this was a serious matter, then i turned serious and said: would it make a difference if i told you why i didnt have the docs with me? he nodded, then i said, enerstly, with a slight tilt, 'i forgot', THIS he found funny, and began to ask me a million piercing questions about me and my 'intentions' then told me in future or if i had gotten a mean control guy i would have gone home - which would have sucked cuz I have all this info, its just not printed, which i should remember to do before Tues when we move to our next leg of the holiday, anyway so i thanked him profusely and bee lined for where i was meant to meet my friend so we could have champagne to start our holiday, at 8am sharp.

Gallery Invites Visitors To Deface Bible

Visitors to a gallery in Scotland have been defacing the Bible in the name of art. The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow has invited art lovers to write their thoughts down in an open Bible on display as part of its Made in God's Image exhibition. Next to the Bible lie several pens with a note saying: "If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it". Several visitors have already taken up the offer, choosing to leave messages of abuse and obscenity rather than support for the words of God. "This is all sexist pish, so disregard it all," one message read. Another scrawled over the first page of Genesis: "I am Bi, Female & Proud. I want no god who is disappointed in this". Others wrote: "The Gospel According to Luke Skywalker", "F*** the Bible" and "Facist God". The exhibition, which also includes a woman ripping pages from a Bible and stuffing them into her underwear, has outraged the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland. But the gallery's artist in residence, Anthony Schrag, is unrepentant. "Any offensive things that have been written are not the point of the work," Schrag told The Times newspaper. "It was an open gesture. Are those who say they are upset offended by the things that people write, or just by the very notion that someone should write on a Bible? "If we are to open up the Bible for discussion, surely we have to invite people to speak out." The Metropolitan Community Church originally proposed the exhibition as a way of reclaiming the Bible as a sacred text. However, some of its members have been shocked by the insults written in the Bible on display. "The Bible should never be used like that," church minister Jane Clarke said. "It was our intention to reclaim it as a sacred text." A Catholic Church spokesman said: "One wonders whether the organisers would have been quite as willing to have the Koran defaced". I personally completely agree with the last statement, I don't think the gallery would have found it as easy to put forward a book like the Koran for instance up for defacing, so the double standards are grossly unfair and show a great deal of transparency. Having been raised Catholic and all, this is a very iffy subject, and one i find hard to comment on, objectively.

As Sick As A Dog...*urf*

Ok so last night I made the mistake of falling asleep with the heater on, anyone who's ever done it will know, its not pleasant. So i woke up with the biggest headache, blocked nose and sore throat - and i'm just praying that's all that it is because i cannot afford to get sick, i leave tomorrow and it would suck if they quarantined me at the airport for suspicion of being an "incubus" of viral plague, Swine Flu anyone? But i hope I feel better later cuz there's a lot i still need to get done - like for instance need to go to Canal Walk to buy 2 pairs of shades & go to dinner etc

Song Of The Day: Amy Winehouse

My song of the day is a song that has been one of my favourites since it was released late 2007, (though my favourite song from the album is probably Wake Up Alone), and although the song didn’t chart very well has been one Amy Winehouse’s critically acclaimed songs. In 2008, final year English Literature students at Cambridge University were asked to analyse lyrics to this song, as well as lyrics by Sir Walter Raleigh, Bob Dylan and Billie Holiday, as part of their end of year examinations in 'Practical Criticism'. Last night while I listened to this song, between the crafty haunting lyrics and the heartbroken lilt I couldn’t help but launch into a pit of dark soul searching about love & relationships in my life so far. One of the album’s most sombre and short moments, ‘Love Is A Losing Game,’ for her came out at a time when Winehouse’s personal life had become more topical than her recording career. For me the solemnity …"Though I battled blind," she croons, tearfully. "Love is a fate resigned.” and the contemplative & soulful delivery of the song was a bitter-sweet reminder of all the charm and ultimately the gutting reality of relationships… sometimes. I had never had such a strong reaction to this song before, I took this as a sign I was perhaps feeling emotionally vulnerable - had I started opening myself up to the idea of a relationship? Was I investing too soon & perhaps was inviting heartache...whichever it was, it made me realise the song needed to be shared.

For you I was a flame - Love is a losing game
Five story fire as you came - Love is a losing game
One I wish I never played - Oh what a mess we made
And now the final frame - Love is a losing game
Played out by the band - Love is a losing hand
More than I could stand - Love is a losing hand
Self professed... profound - Till the chips were down
...know you're a gambling man - Love is a losing hand
Though I'm rather blind - Love is a fate resigned
Memories mar my mind - Love is a fate resigned
Over futile odds - And laughed at by the gods
And now the final frame - Love is a losing game

Love, Music, Mouille P, Pepenero & Dry-wall

Heya, ok I must admit I’ve been a lil preoccupied with my life lately, mainly cuz I go away on holiday on Friday – the reason why this holiday is such a big deal for me is cuz its my first holiday to Europe this year, from going there about every 3 months last year, this year has been a lil different, hello recession! So this is why I haven’t been as good with posting new stories and blogging, but here’s to hoping all of that will change, if I decide to take my laptop with me when I go travelling, I will be sure to write lil’ snippets of my experience every 2^nd day or so. Anyway today, I hope to blog a bit, I have a song in mind, which I want to make my song of the day. It’s a somewhat dark song and was inspired by thoughts I had last night as I lay in my bed before going to bed about love and matters of the heart, but more about what we as people are willing to put ourselves through just to be able to feel loved, or to love someone, even though we sometimes hurt ourselves in the process, or most commonly get hurt by others – and the topic of love, more especially relationships has always been a foreign one to me, not because I don’t date or have relationships but more because though I love easily, I’ve never been able to allow myself to fall in love easily, and I find its something I’m very weary of and will shut off completely at the first sign of the other seeming untrustworthy or at least more than capable of hurting me – anyway, oh almost forgot how awesome was the weather this weekend? Especially Sunday, I got to hang out outdoors, wear shorts and have lunch at Mouille Point again, it felt like summer, except we made the mistake to go eat at Pepenero, I don’t know how many chances I’ve given this place to try and redeem itself, and constantly it fails with flying colours. The sea food platter I had, had awesome prawns & mussels, but the calamari was like gum and the line fish of Yellowtail tasted like dry-wall, honestly, it’s a puzzler how they are still in business, I guess the location is THAT good!

Mariah Carey/Eminem Obsessed Music Video

Here's your first look Mariah Carey's music video directed by a frequent Carey collaborator Brett Ratner for her new song 'Obsessed', (lead single to album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel out Aug 25) a song that is packed with low blows at a certain someone, media assuming is a response to Eminem's recent diss on Mariah and her husband,Nick Cannon in his 'Bagpipes From Baghdad' song. In the video she gets to play two roles, herself and the obsessee, but the song ends in a somewhat abrupt and uncomfortable ending where the obsessee's fate is decided by the public transport system.

Most Awesome Pic: At 3000 frames per Sec

As an avid fan of the show Time Wrap, its obvious to pick up that I love detail, and being able to see things that we cant ordinarily see with the naked eye. This shot on the side is a pic of a bullet (I think) that looks like it just grazed or even bounced on the water surface and this pic was taken at that exact moment and reduced to something like 3000 frames per second. Hence able to reveal detail that ordinarily would be absolutely impossible to see with the human eye. I was so stoked when I found this pic because I remember not so long ago I was watching a show on Discovery where this droplet specialist, yes, its an actual job, with a title, he was a professor – and he was making these awesome droplet formations and they were using a 3000 frames per sec camera to view them, they were awe-some, I thought about them days after I had seen the show. I’m mostly taken by the colours, the detail and especially the droplet on top, but I’m still unsure which I love more, the actual droplet effect or the 3000 frame camera for being able to reveal to us what we can’t see with our natural eyes?

At The Movies: Bruno by Sasha Baron Cohen

So this weekend I went to JHB to visit one of my dearest friends, and while there I had the opportunity to go watch Bruno, we both love comedy and so decided to go see the movie. At first I was apprehensive because I felt like Sasha Cohen had just found something that works and will keep doing it, my feeling going to the movie was I’m going to see the 2nd of many more to come where he plays a different character trek king through America. Having loved Borat completely and still find myself laughing at some of the jokes from the movie, I found Bruno different, wholly unsuitable for children, yet propelled by a nagging puerility that will appeal only to those in the vortex of puberty, or to adults who have failed to progress beyond it. On the surface Bruno is a brilliantly rude, deliriously insane closeted sexual politics on steroids mockumentary that hails Bruno as the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler. Boasting as the anointed White Obama, bleached rectums, defence moves against multi-hued dildos, and in this bargain-basement narcissus' never-ending quest for "celebrity", Bruno attempts to seduce a onetime presidential hopeful, Ron Paul, adopts a black African baby and provokes a near riot at a caged boxing bout in Texas. While Cohen's taboo-breaking audacity remains in full force throughout Bruno, his ability to keep the big laughs on a roll seems to have waned a tad. So for those willing to endure the shocks and actually think about them afterwards, the film's jokes work on multiple levels, although it is hard not to feel that there is some diminishing return this time around.

News: Cape Town Stadium workers Striking

Cape Town - This mornign as I was making my way to work – already running a tad late as usual I was stunned to see the folks that work in the stadium toyi-toying (a strike of some sort), they were wielding heavy sticks and the cop cars were there to ensure they stuck to the one side of the road, Somerset road going towards the city center – that happened to be the same road I needed to get to work, so I just stood and waited for them to pass, I managed to squeeze a quick pic, scared for my life not knowing if they might attack me for finding their strike news worthy, but I didn’t seem to do too bad. The pic includes the Cape Town cops, the protesters and the Green Point stadium, which is the key project at risk of running over if the protest persist. The workers are seeking a minimum of 13% pay rise instead of the 10% promised.

World’s Strongest Vagina Sets Record Lifting 14kg

Am unsure why I find this so funny, but this just in, a Russian woman has set a new world record, lifting a 14-kg. glass ball with her vagina muscles. Tatiata Kozhevnikova of Novosibirsk, aged 42, has been exercising her intimate muscles for fifteen years, and has already made her entrance into the Guinness Book of Records as the possessor of the world’s strongest vagina, she proudly told Life.ru. “After I had a child, my intimate muscles got unbelievably weak. I read books on Dao and learned that ancient women used to deal with this problem using wooden balls,” she said. “I looked around, saw a Murano glass ball and inserted it in my vagina. It took me ages to get it out!” Personally I would have perhaps left the details to everyone’s imagination, but alas there felt it necessary to explain the intimate details, of doing a Priscilla Queen of the Desert, ‘shooting balls out of her twat’. The embarrassing first experience did not scare Tatiana off. She developed quite a taste for vagina fitness, and now she has her exercising balls custom-made. “You insert one of the balls in your vagina, and it has a string attached to it with a little hook at the very end. You fix a second ball onto this hook.” She makes it sound easy. The Russian recommends vaginal exercises to all women who want to improve their sex life. “It’s enough to exercise your vagina five minutes a day, ladies, and in just one week you’ll be able to give yourself and your man unforgettable pleasure in bed,” she says. Now you know ladies, Viva Russia!

Movies: Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love

Last night a friend of mine took me, against my will at first to see one of the movies showing at the 11th Encounters: South African International Documentary Festival. When I walked out I felt like I owed him an apology for my apprehension because the movie had actually enriched me, I didn’t regret the hour and a half I had just spent watching Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love, an uplifting, music-driven movie about the power of one man’s voice to inspire global change. The film unfolds an extraordinary moment in the life of Youssou N’dour -- the best selling and most influential African pop artist of all time, here in SA possibly most known for his 1994 hit song ‘7 Seconds (duet with Neneh Cherry)…It's not a second, 7 seconds away, Just as long as I stay, I'll be waiting, I’ll be waiting…everyone MUST remember that song, I was 8 or 9 and I remember it. The Grammy Award-winning cultural ambassador has long been renowned for bringing people of diverse nations and backgrounds together through his collaborations with such musical superstars as Bono, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel - and for rousing global audiences with his distinctive voice, electrifying rhythms and catchy melodies. But the film sees him releases his most daringly personal and spiritual album yet, N’dour rocks his Muslim fans in Africa. Now, even as he garners accolades in the West, N’dour must brave controversy and rejection at home as he sets out to win his audience back with the sheer transcendent optimism of his music, which moves hips and feet but also hearts and minds. As director Chai Vasarhelyi tracks N’dour’s emotional journey over 2 years - filming his ever-shifting life in Africa, Europe, and America - she reveals why he has become an inspiration for generations. He initially releases his album Egypt in the hopes of promoting a more tolerant face of Islam. Yet, when his fellow Senegalese rejected the album, and denounced it as blasphemous, he took this as a challenge to go deeper, to reach out to those who would attack him and to work even harder to use the storytelling impact and infectious beats of his songs to unite a divided world. The resulting portrait is not just of a musician turning his spiritual quest into art, but also that of a brave new world in which pop culture now has equal power to incite fury and invite new connections.

Scent Of The Moment: Dior Homme by Dior

Do you love the demurely cloying smell of iris? If you don’t, then you will half-justifiably find Dior Homme unbearably sweet and perhaps overtly feminine, which to me is usually a sigh the individual lacks self-confidence and poise. Touted by Dior as a “masculine iris, a skin fragrance with an addictive grace,” Dior Home was the 4th fragrance to be launched by Dior’s new artistic director for men’s fragrances, Hedi Slimane. Created by Olivier Polge, who’s work I love, and has notes of sage, bergamot, lavender, Italian iris concrete, cocoa, amber, vetiver, patchouli, and possibly leather and cardamom, Dior Homme is an embodiment of the sleek and sophisticated style unanimous with the Christian Dior house.. The bottle, see main pic, has a unique design, with a steel column housing the usual plastic spray tube, and beautifully crafted strong corners. The fragrance begins with a sweet blast of iris, cocoa and amber, perfectly blended and just the right strength, but then begins to fade into a slightly powdery amber accord with a mere hint of patchouli and lavender, the after effect leaves an off-white suede & a slightly smoky scent, with the amber and lavender reminiscent of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male. Dior Homme is a men’s gourmand fragrance so it comes off as a bit feminine, and doesn’t apologise for it, but then again this is Dior, much like Prada, Dior does not shy away from folding floral notes into their arrangement and embellishing them with sweet accents, and lets face it almost all gourmand fragrances smell a tiny bit feminine to evoke the comforting, warm, and addictive components we all love in gourmand fragrances. Because of its modest sillage this fragrance would most likely not go with a t-shirt and jeans or noisy, crowded clubs, instead better suited for more intimate, slightly chilly, "sweater" nights out on the town, or to a dinner. On the first whiff I was mostly taken by the coolness of the iris shimmering under the transparent top accord that is sweetly herbaceous and crisp that hastily unfolds fully with its metallic violets and cold roots tonality overtaking the composition like an opalescent mist. The dissonance between the chilly orris and the ambered leathery base is at first disconcerting, especially since the arrangement moves rapidly from the hazy coldness into the powdery sweetness accented by cocoa. Nevertheless, the supple leather underpinning the base of the composition provides an elegant backdrop against which the woody chilliness of iris is extended by the crisp earthiness of vetiver *sigh*. Barring the fact that Dior Homme doesn’t last very long on the skin, to me, this is a masterpiece.

50% Sale at @home

Everyone who’s ever hosted a house party or even a dinner party that turns into a raucous party will know that as the night progresses and people absolve themselves of their sobriety, reaction times tends to be more compromised and people start to break a few dishes. In my personal experience due to my love of wine & champagne, wine glasses and flutes tend to break in tens with each party I host. So I’ve been desperately looking to replace them for a while now, so the sale at @home couldn’t have come at a better time. @home is currently having a sale, where selected items are marked down by up to 50%. I know almost everyone loves @home but not everyone can afford it, so this is your moment to stock up.

I Have Tasted The Best Bolognaise Ever Made

Bolognese sauce (ragù alla bolognese in Italian, also known by its French name sauce bolognaise, which is also the spelling we use here in South Africa) is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy. Bolognese sauce is sometimes taken to be a tomato sauce but authentic recipes have only a small amount of tomato. The people of Bologna traditionally serve their famous ragù with freshly made tagliatelle (tagliatelle alla bolognese) and their traditionally green lasagne. Less traditionally, the sauce is served with macaroni or other durum wheat short pasta. The traditional recipe, registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina, confines the ingredients to beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, red wine, and (optionally) milk or cream. However, different recipes, even in the Bolognese tradition, make use of chopped pork or pork sausage, while chicken or goose liver may be added along with the beef or veal for special occasions, etc. "The Classic Italian Cookbook", claims that the longer Ragù alla Bolognese cooks the better, a 5 or 6 hour simmer is not unusual. Having never been a notable fan of bolognaise, last night I had what is potentially the best bolognaise I’ve ever had, almost felt wrong that I couldn’t share it with more people. It evoked the same feelings one gets when they are in a small village and taste the best meal and wish the restaurant was in a bigger place where it could be experienced by more. The last time something to this effect happened to me was when I was in a quaint restaurants, La Colombe d’Or, atop a hill in Saint Paul-de-Vance in the lower Provence area (South of France), and last night this spectacular bolognaise was made by a seemingly unassuming and simple cook, who poured all of his soul into making that dish, the effort paid off. The dish shone on all fronts, from the ground texture, the rich colour of a well simmered dish, the warm aroma probably made by the presence of some chilli (the cook’s creative call) and of course the taste were all nothing short of perfect and I even surprised myself by having seconds, I hope more people get to taste it in future.