First things first, read this comic AFTER you watch the movie.

I found this during my surfing expeditions and thought I’d share it :) It will make sense after you watch the movie because it gives some context to the job they get into at the beginning of the movie and also more background to the Cobol Engineering company.

Only flaw I picked up was that the “South African” mercenaries don’t use the word “mate” by any stretch of the imagination. I think the writer mixed them up with Aussies. Blame it on the researchers.

Leave a comment about what you thought of the movie. Christopher Nolan is a GENIUS.

Enjoy :)

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Up until this point far I’ve read two novels by Haruki Murakami (The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and After Dark) and one by Ryu Murakami (Piercing) and I’m beginning to notice a sinister underlying theme with these Japanese authors.

Firstly, you cannot doubt the dark angle and twist of the stories involved. There is some sick twisted element to all of it which makes it both enticing but revolting at the same time. Secondly, the characters are always normal people with some deep flaw or tortured soul or whatever else it is which makes them 1) act really weird and 2) have some crazy, CRAZY thoughts.

After reading Haruki’s work and all the reviews, etc. I was intrigued and thought the books were ‘cool’ in that underbelly-of-society type of way… but after that, when all the books I’m reading by them tend to be about generally some sort of excessively deviant behaviour and just plain weird shit, I’m starting to question what the point of it all really is.

I do want a point, a moral, a lesson… something I can learn from it apart from being thoroughly freaked out by these crazy motherfuckers these authors seem to come up with.

I think I’ll try one more by Haruki before trying some other sub-cultural authors for different countries. Stieg Larsson (Swedish) also had some crazy elements but at least his work had a golden thread of a story to follow through to the end.

One thing I have to admit is the breadth of imagination these guys seem to have, albeit towards the fringes of darkness and insanity, I’m wondering if a similar movement of authors are available focusing on the more… positive side of life. The search begins.

I Love this. How absolutely honest. So enough bitching on Facebook and Twitter about the nauseating sparkly vampires and how your wife/Significant Other has forced you to watch yet another one of the barrage of chick flick which have flooded the scene.

It’s time you got off your ass and put your money where your mouth is. Prove you’re a man!

Gentlemen, it’s time we get out a bit more. By its 2nd week Rambo was beaten by 27 Dresses and Hanna Montana. Stallone ripped a man’s throat out with his bare hands! We can’t let this happen again.

One thing you have to keep in mind when watching movies is that they are very similar to products. They have a specific target market. So to be true to any particular movie you will have to judge it not only from a “movie buff” perspective but also from the perspective of “is it good for the target market”.

So when it comes to Eclipse… let’s face it, The movie (and the franchise) is an amazing success. It’s not secret who the target market is either (the throng of giggling teenage girls at the cinema when it premièred is testament to this).

So my likes and dislikes about the movie?

1) Rosalie’s story about how she became a vampire could’ve been done much MUCH better. From reading the book, I was expecting Kill Bill style action around the story of revenge. I think an entire movie can be made around this one.

2) Anyone else notice Bella has Buckteeth? Damn those incisors were huge.

3) Bella is a ho. No other girl would be tolerated running around kissing two boys and getting away with it. Also, you can notice Stephenie Meyer’s mormon beliefs coming through with all the sexual tension and Edward’s view of getting married first, etc. To me it’s all just very confusing.

4) The Cullen’s look AWESOME when they stand together in all their vampire paleness awaiting a vampire army onslaught. I really liked the beauty of that picture.

5) The Werewolve/Vampire Fight was pretty good. But then again, we had to wade through a lot of soppy lovey-dovey stuff and a LOT of sexual tension before we got there.

Okay so after this… what do you have to look forward to from the next set… Well, from what I heard from all the conversations after the flick… “I can’t wait to see the wedding!”

That should give you enough insight into who the target market is and it all can get very nauseating.

Enjoy.

Just looking at the current survivors of the World cup and after yesterday’s semifinal between Spain and Germany, you wouldnb’t be the first to notice just how funny Nike’s (most successful viral ever) “Write the Future” ad looks at the moment. It may even be prophetic,what with the vision of Wayne Rooney in some trailer park with a huge beard, but obviously he won’t be looking at Franck Ribery’s poster, but rather one of the never-seen-in-a-world-cup-final-before Dutch or Spanish players.

After yesterday’s final, Nike has come out with their new “All Dutch” Ad supporting the holland team in the final. Personally, I hope the Spanish win. Here’s Nike’s new ad… “Orange is the colour of Insanity”

There was a spoof of the ad which came out talking about how Nike’s ad’s are the curse of the World Cup where all the players it features seem to mess up/disappoint/fail… and here it is…

And here’s a japanese Spoof which was pretty funny. Reminded me of Kung Fu Hustle in a way :)

Looks like Google Earth also has World Cup Fever. It’s integrated an awesome 3D look at every single World Cup Stadium in South Africa into its mapping system. Brilliant mix of Football Fanatic and Tech Junkie. I like it.

The World Cup Concert last night was disappointing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my country but that Shakira’s Waka Waka song is absolutely KAK for a World Cup song held in South Africa.

Firstly, there’s not a single Zulu/Xhosa word in the song, which should definitely have been included… but they do use words from west africa. I can understand the whole “Africa” tie-in and everything… but not a single word? Come on. Besides it is a shit song, people only watch it for Shakira.

Reviving Dr.Alban’s “Hello Africa” would’ve been a much better song. And whose brilliant Idea was it to have Alicia Keys? “New York” is a nice city and the song is brilliant, but wrong bloody context don’t you think? and throwing in “Joburg” at the end of the song was just cheap.

Did anyone even notice Freshly Ground? showing up for three seconds at the end. Come on man…

But Enough of that… SA Drew against Mexico in the first match and their First goal was AWESOME! Bloody Hell. What a rush. The boys played well, they did not disappoint.

All the naysayers about SA hosting the World Cup can have a nice supper of their words right about now.

Go SA! ===<() *PAAARP!*

I can’t understand why the media, the west and everyone else who engaged in the “Let’s Draw Muhammad” contest recently couldn’t, in all their secular intelligence, attempt to first UNDERSTAND and then to act instead of the other way round.  I am also extremely disappointed with Zapiro for simply “jumping on the bandwagon” which is very unlike him.  The Zapiro I’m used to has deep insight, sharp wit and gets to the heart of the issue at hand.  Zapiro’s cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) shows only deep ignorance… but I’ll analyse that later.

First, let’s get to the heart of the matter.  Why are Muslims going crazy when this happens?  Well, at the essence, we do not draw the Prophet Muhammad or represent him in any way or form even though we do have detailed, verified and ratified descriptions of him because it is mentioned in the Quraan not to fall into the trap of our Christian Brethren and end up worshipping the Prophet instead of God.  Secondly, Muslims believe in ALL of the prophet’s of God – Moses, Jesus, Noah, Jonah, Adam, etc. (peace be upon them all) and we don’t DRAW any of them.

But still… why is there so much passion in this issue? well look at the content.  The depictions are ignorant and horrible. There is no mistaking the intent behind them.  It more represents some Hard-line Iranian ‘Terrorist’ Mullah than have any insight into the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).  Muslims LOVE the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), I mean truly love. For Muslims he is the ultimate example of what a human being is supposed to be.  We actually implement the idea that whenever we’re faced with any situation in life the question is automatically… “Well, what did the Prophet (pbuh) do?” You can’t underestimate this point, it leads to the next point in this issue.

Let’s make it personal.  Take someone you truly love and would do anything for… say it’s your mother.  Now, if someone was talking badly (or drawing nasty pictures) of your mother but did it amongst themselves and, obviously, they have a right to say what they want. It’s all absolutely fine.  But when someone comes up to you and waves it about in your face and swears your mother to your face, what would you do?  Yes, it is the ultimate example we need to follow to hold our peace and deal with it in an intelligent and civilised manner (in fact this is what the Prophet (pbuh) himself would have done. But being realistic…  Your first move would be a punch in the gut of the offending perpetrator.  This is the line between having the freedom  to say what you want, but respecting the people around you.

Personally, this is the first time I’m writing about this because I can’t believe people’s stupidity and ignorance. In this day and age! For God’s sake (no pun intended) is everyone getting Stupider?  Why can’t anyone else see this?  Regarding the drawings themselves, I refuse to join any action AGAINST them on Facebook and shout out slogans, etc. because that only fuels the fire of the same idiots who created the group in the first place.  I’ve IGNORED them from the beginning and I implore all other Muslims to do the same, or even better, start telling these people who the Prophet (pbuh) was, his example and what he means to them.  This is the perfect opportunity.

Finally, I pray… that intelligence dawns on both sides of this conflict.  It’s a shame on humanity that BOTH sides are acting like this.  Let’s grow up.

Link to original Photo of Zapiro at launch of his book ‘Pirates of Polokwane’

The more I think about it, the more I see the future as being driven by citizen journalists, the news of on-the-ground local citizens taking precedent over the ‘professional’ journalism which has been the vanguard of all news since the dawn of the media age.

The structure of technology has changed, become more social and more “share-able” and this has made the dissemination of media far easier and quicker than any major news organisation could ever hope to accomplish with correspondents and all the logistics which go with it.

I’m sure journalists will have their place but I think their role will be much eroded in the coming age. I have no doubt of that, in fact it has already begun where bloggers and citizen news sources are becoming the norm in terms of reporting and gaining media footage. Professional journalists using citizen media for their news stories simply because there is no other footage or access to material covering that particular bit of news.

The only flaw in the plan lies in the question of ‘Access’. Not everyone can afford the modern miracle of simple communication technologies, let alone having any training of using a computer much less using and gaining access to the internet. There are MANY endeavours to close this gap but we are still a long way away from it being anywhere near acceptable levels.

Then there’s the question of priorities. Yes, the news should be reported and people on the ground should have all the resources available to them to make them a part of our global community. But, most of these people are having trouble getting basics like food, water and shelter. Here’s where correspondents will serve a greater purpose of reporting the situation in those areas.

This does, however, open up a bigger opportunity for charity organisations and NGO’s to begin fully utilising Digital Media in order to not only help the people on the ground but to spread information and knowledge world-wide. The platforms are there.

Citizen Media may be the home of the amateur writer, photographer, cameraman but information is information… and a badly taken photograph or video is much better than none at all. People are everywhere, news organisations are not. This us why citizen Media is the future and will most likely make up at least 80% of content from news organisations in the future.

I say this from the current context of cost-cutting by these news organisations (and many corporations in general) as well the rise in citizen journalists who do not ask for anything in reward, only satisfying the impulse to share and have their voices heard.

The more time I spend in this Santiago the more I see the resemblance of so many disaffected developing countries with parts of town in urban decay and others in great development. I get images of Johannesburg town, Pretoria – specifically Marabastad, Durban town. Specifically South African Urban centres come to mind since that is my experience. Not so much London because London is first-world very clean and tidy urban settings. Even the decaying parts just don’t have the same feeling I get in South African and now in Santiago.

Pictures speak louder than words… I will need to find time to upload them. Right now the ‘official’ summit is over but the Global Voices meetings and breakaways are going to continue throughout the weekend. I’ve made a lot of new lifetime friends and am grateful to just be here.

Here’s the Flickr SlideShow for the GV Summit 2010…