Category Archives: South Africa

District 9 — is the hype warranted?

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District 9 opened this weekend in the States and it is of interest to South Africa .. if I have read correctly it takes place on our shores. From what I have read, it was a real low budget movie in terms of what movies cost.  It costed around $30million to make and took around $36million during the first weekend … not bad going.

I quote from Slashdot:

“Slashdot covered “District 9” back in July. I was originally excited to see this movie for its exhibition of exoskeleton robot “mechs” (see images and video at Hizook.com ). After watching the film this opening weekend, I can honestly say that it was an amazing science fiction movie! Everything was spot-on: the plot, the human elements, the alien elements, the technology, and the seamless blend of special effects with real camera capture. This film should vault Neill Blomkamp into sci-fi stardom, on par with George Lucas and the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix fame). This is certainly a must-see movie — easily the best movie of the year.”

That is saying a lot and if it true then it is sure one movie not to be missed.  Cannot wait for the 28th to go and watch it.

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Drives of a Lifetime

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National Geographic put together a list of what they reckon is drives one should take. Quoting from them:

 Sometimes it’s the journey, sometimes it’s the destination—and sometimes, it’s both. National Geographic Traveler has scoured the globe for the world’s most beautiful, interesting, and off-beat road trips. Dive in to get drive directions, quizzes, photos, and more.

They included drives in Italy, Canada, Hawai, America and much more.  However I could not find any from South Africa.  Here I immediately think of paces like the Sani Pass.  Are there any that you think should be on this list?

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SA Elections 2009 — done my part

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I got the mark to prove 🙂

Went voting at Kido Kids in Van Riebeeckshof at around 9:15 and was done in about 20 minutes.  Everything went as smooth as clock work, even for voters from other districts and provinces (they could only vote national). The only party I saw at the station I voted at was the DA as shown in this picture.

For those that has not voted yet, use your constitutional right and go and vote.  Remember by not voting you also loose the right to criticise and/or comment about anything South African. 

More photos here:  My Photo Gallery

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Are we seeing the start of Winter in the Cape?

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This is the mist and clouds that came rolling over the hill this morning.  Are this the end of Cape Summer and start of Winter.

These photos were taken with my new Canon PowerShot SX10 IS with no editing at all. All that I did was to re-size the images.

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Cricket — how good to wip the Aussies!!

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Came across this on a Aussie blog:

One must now come to terms with the fact that they are now a member of the 2nd best cricketing nation in the world. Some marketing slogans may have to change.

He was obviously talking about the Australian cricket team. Eat your hearts out Australia and in a couple of weeks you will also be number 2 in the 5 day game.  And I loved one of the comments to the post.

Haha. Let’s face it, Australia got walked over.

The obvious solution is to ban RSA from international cricket again.

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DTP #13: Roadtrip – Cape Town to Hermanus and back

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As I am still on holiday, my son and I decided to explore some of the Western Cape’s beauty. It was an overcast day and a perfect day for a road trip. We decided to explore the area up to Hermanus.  We drove through the Strand and Gordonsbay.

After Gordonsbay, it was onto Rooiels, PringleBay, Bettysbay and Kleinmond. At Kleimond we stopped and grabbed some cooldrinks and strolled through the town.  Then it was onto Hermanus, past Arrabella Golf Estate and Onrus onto Hermanus.

We again stopped in Hermanus and strolled through the town.  It was packed and we battled to get parking.  This must be one of the restaurants that is the closest I have ever seen to the water edge.

For all you Harley lovers,

This was one of about 15 Harleys and all of them exactly the same.

On the way back from Hermanus we took the N2 and turned off at Grabou.  Just before Velliersdorp we took the Franschoek turnoff and got this view of Franschoek.

Now tell me that we do not have some of the most beautyful countryside here in the Cape.  This view is just amazing.

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Makro service (good) and Canon Powershot SX10 IS

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We as South African complain so much about the bad service that we receive in this country but when we get good service we tend to keep quiet about it.  Today I want to talk about the good (actually great) service I received from Makro.

I receive Makro’s catalogs via email and they advertised a Vodacom Weekender contract for R135.00 plus a Canon Powershot SX119 camera for free. Knowing that you do not get a SX119 camera, I send an email mentioning the mistake and asked whether this free camera is the Canon Powershot SX110 or the Canon Powershot SX10.  Makro responded that it is the SX10.  Knowing that the SX10 cost R2000.00 more than the SX110, I double checked with them and they confirmed that I will receive the SX10.  Now if you make the calculation of R135.00 for 24 months plus connection fee of R202.00 means that I can get a R5000.00 camera for about R3500.00.

I went down to my closest Makro (Milnerton) and showed them the email with the confirmation that I can get a SX10 with the Vodacom Weekender contract.  Not surprising, they said that it is the SX110 and not the SX10 as mentioned in the email.  Not wanting to argue with the lady behind the counter, she was just doing her job, I just left and then send a complaint email via Makro’s website explaining the situation.

The next day I received a telephone call from Makro Milnerton enquiring what my complaint was about.  After explaining the situation, Makro decided to honour the commitment made in the email to me.

Yesterday I again visited the Milnerton store and am now the proud owner of:

and a Vodacom Weekender contract.

Just goes to show that sometimes when one does the effort, you can still find businesses that is true to their word.  Thanks Makro for doing the right thing and I will surely do more business with you.

As you can see the camera is still in its wrapping.  So you might wonder why I did not play with it yet.  I actually want a Canon Powershot SX1 IS and ORMS has agreed to swap the SX10 for a SX1 and I only need to pay the difference of about R2500.00.  The SX1 should be available in SA by mid January so I cannot wait to get it swapped.

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