After a slow start to his writing and directing career, M. Night Shyamalan burst on to the Hollywood scene with his mind-bending blockbuster, The Sixth Sense. The cleverly written thriller shocked and wowed audiences around the world, resulting in veritable cult status and an enviable ranking of #128 on IMDb‘s list of the Top 250 [...]
In the hope that they will one day evolve into something of substance, I have recently been scribbling down notes on some of the ideas I have around marketing, advertising and communication in general. Bear in mind I share these thoughts purely in my capacity as a consumer – I am no marketing, branding or [...]
I’ll be updating live from the CSA Awards in Sandton. Just arrived and the venue looks great, I’m seated with Vincent Hofmann, Shaun Custers and no doubt one or two other cricket geeks. Ok so my hopes of being able to live blog the event were dashed by a lack of space on the table. [...]
I recently upgraded from a much-loved Audi A4 1.8T to my all-time dream car, a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. It’s not that I didn’t like the Audi, on the contrary on many levels it’s an easier, more comfortable car than the C63 – it has more headroom on the driver’s side, a softer ride and in [...]
What is normal? Two people walk past the same store, one stops and ogles a ‘gorgeous’ pair of jeans while the other sneers, “I’d never wear THAT!” He loves Slipknot and she loves Rihanna, both with the same intensity. A friend of mine eats bacon smothered in syrup… I can’t imagine anything worse. At the [...]
One of the more interesting people (and public speakers) I met at SXSW earlier this year was a chap by the name of Lane Becker (website and Twitter). Lane is one of the co-founders of Get Satisfaction – there’s plenty cool info on what Get Satisfaction does here. His presentation included a reference to a [...]
The Mother City’s very rad blogging community has rallied around the Cape Town City Ballet in it’s moment of dire need. Sue Rutherford and friends have put together a website and campaign to encourage people like you and I to give a little bit towards saving the arts in Cape Town. We are appealing to [...]
Yes, you heard me right. I am a racist. And I venture to suggest that you might be too, if you’re honest with yourself about it. Recent events in South Africa have, to borrow Jenny Crwys-Williams of Talk Radio 702′s phrase, “lanced a boil” filled with putrid racist muck, and the contents are spilling out [...]
Troy Duffy’s The Boondock Saints, a brainless but irresistably entertaining surprise, barely made it to video stores in 1999. That said, once it did word spread fast of the brothers MacManus – fast enough to turn it into a cult classic. Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus), cleverly blended with Billy Connolly, David [...]
I wonder if this is a South African thing, or just a South African boomer thing that is rubbing off on younger generations, but I just DON’T get why we all think we have to rush to the garage to fill up with fuel at the first sign of a petrol price increase. I mean, [...]
Invented in 1919, apparently by mistake, the Theremin is “an early electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player.” I stumbled across one for the first time while watching a Bill Bailey performance – I think it’s one of the oddest, funniest sounding instruments on the planet. It just looks weird too. Like an [...]
It is no surprise, given my love for Johannesburg and all it’s diverse craziness, that New York stole my heart. I’m certainly not the most well-travelled human on the planet but I’ll go a long way before I find another place that inspires me like NYC. Note, I said ‘inspires’ and not ‘invigorates’. New York’s [...]
After a marathon 30 hour transit from Jo’burg to Austin, the last few days have been spent acclimatising to a dry Austin that is starting to enjoy the first signs of Spring, and of course with it, the deluge of crazy people (70,000+) that descend on this small city for the SXSW music, film and [...]
It’s been a big four years. Cerebra has evolved from a one-man consulting show to a full-service social media agency boasting a client list that includes Samsung Mobile, Toyota, Vodacom, eBucks, GIBS, Microsoft, Touchline and Cell C (and those are just the brands we’re engaged with right now). Our team is comprised of a young, [...]
The news is finally out and I’m as excited as a 5 year-old on Christmas eve! I’ve just received a press release from the fine folks at Emerging Media informing me that their client WirelessG will soon be offering in-flight wi-fi to sub-Saharan Africa. No more boring flights for me! Here is the release in [...]
Not only has Dion Chang forged an enviable reputation as one of South Africa’s leading fashion authorities but since breaking away from that industry and into trend forecasting and commentary a few years back, he and the brilliant team at Flux have set the benchmark in strategic thinking for the future of and in South [...]
Earlier this year I wrote about how impressed I was with the RAMP foundation and their efforts regarding the 2009 Net Prophet conference. Considering that, and how blown away I was with the second annual Bookmark Awards evening held last night at Movida in Jozi, it’s clear that digital in South Africa is definitely growing [...]
Last night marked the 44th iteration of the 27dinner social networking movement, held at FTV in Village Walk. With the dinners reaching unparalleled popularity (numbers peaking at 170+ on the attendance list at 27dinner.com), it is becoming increasingly challenging to organise and execute an event that now has some pretty high expectations around it in [...]
Philips (and their PR company) are awesome. The consumer electronics brand has really rallied behind online advocates – fans of the brand – engaging them in innovative and exciting ways to promote positive brand sentiment. I have been invited to events ranging from an ‘iron-off’ (which I was pretty darn good at) to last night’s [...]
Over the past three years I have spent a great deal of time presenting to schools, church groups, NGO’s, government and more on the subjects of social and mobile media. Public speaking is a wonderful privilege and a fine art. I am not nearly the speaker I could be, but I have some thoughts I’d [...]
