Nickelodeon Turns 30

Feb 22, 2010 |

With a toddler in my house, what is shown on television is extremely important. Over the last two and a half years, I’ve been figuring out how it all works, what the best channels are, programmes, etc. I have always been fascinated by the psychology that goes into creating children’s programming. In his book, the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell gives us a peek into how Sesame Street was created and the amount of creativity, research and testing that went into producing Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues. It is not about merely finding something that is perceived to be funny or educational for...

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The Red Bulletin

Feb 10, 2010 | ,

a man on a bike hops over a fountain machine in full rev in mid-air he lands at the feet of those watching, to their delight doing the seemingly impossible in a courtyard outside a nightclub in the day time a b-boy defies the pull of the planet’s natural forces and hovers for a brief second as if suspended by the thinnest of wires before moulding himself into the ground’s crevices a deejay dances with 2 turntables he and the music are in intricate dialogue as his fingers manipulate word, rhythm, sound head half-cocked to the side balancing the headphones between ear and shoulder between...

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The Flüds Are Coming

Jan 26, 2010 | ,

It had a black strap, white face with a picture of Mickey Mouse, his arms the hands to tell time. I was still trying to figure out the whole time thing but had practically begged my father to pick me up a Mickey Mouse watch on his travels. I was more into Disney characters than actually telling time but that was my first watch. Later, the in-thing was a watch with the calculator. It had tiny little rubber buttons, was a bit of a mission to work with and wasn’t allowed in tests or exams, but it was straight out of the future. It was also the last watch my father would buy me because I was...

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Beyond borders – Free Air Tickets

Jan 1, 2010 |

Opportunity exists in abundance. The problem lies in exposure or awareness. Some pass us by because we operate with blinders; others because we are not exposed to them. I randomly came across a great opportunity for small to medium-sized businesses in South Africa. British Airways is offering 50 South African companies the opportunity to win a Business Opportunity Grant with each Grant consisting of “10 return Business Class flights anywhere on the British Airways network (valid for a year and excluding taxes, fees and charges). Every winning company will also receive valuable business...

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Nokia’s Mobile Doctor

Dec 20, 2009 |

A couple of months ago, I did a little write-up on Nokia’s Calling All Innovators competition which was to give Application Developers the opportunity to create mobile and web applications relevant to the South African market. At a small, intimate event at Primi Piatti at Melrose Arch, Nokia announced the Top 10 submissions and the overall winner. Nokia received over 125 submissions primarily from South Africa, followed by Kenya, but also including Pakistan, Germany, US, India and Bahrain. The Top 10 are: 1st – Afridoctor by 20fourlabs Afridoctor is a personall mobile health clinic, which...

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Tumi Traverses Whole Worlds

Dec 15, 2009 |

Many moons ago, I frequented a spot in Doornfontein, Johannesburg called Jungle Connection, a place I have mentioned in previous posts. One of the people I met on these poetic excursions was Boitumelo Molekane. He was at the heart of a creative, artistic collective called P.E.R.M. and would come through to Jungle infrequently, but always with words to provoke the mind and inspire the heart. Everyone drifted out of Jungle Connection after a while. While we would bump into each other infrequently, Tumi the Poet-Emcee started carving a place for himself in South Africa and beyond both as an...

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