Why do I attract these people?

[Andrew Timm] Do you attract the bewildered, the eccentric, the psychotic, the mentally ill and the socially challenged? Well, if you don’t, open a production company, install one-way glass and then just sit and wait.

Comments [6] [26 Jan 10:57]

Relentless in the face of impossibility

[Abey Mokgwatsane] I want to tell you about an experience I had post our production of the Confederations Cup opening and closing ceremonies last year. Approximately 800 kids from eight Gauteng schools volunteered their time to perform at the ceremonies, and to thank them for being such an important part of our history, we went on a ‘thank you’ road-trip visiting the pupils at each of their schools.

Comments [2] [15 Jan 13:33]

Let’s stop letting people say, “I’m going to Africa”

[Dr Graeme Codrington] I have been living and working in the UK for nearly two years now, and there’s something that really irritates me. I notice it in the media, in TV reports and in everyday conversations. It’s people referring to “Africa” as if it was a single country. Over and over, I hear people talking about something that has happened in an African country, and simply referring to it as “Africa”. This would never happen with other regions in the world.

Comments [13] [05 Jan 10:57]

A Tale of Two Banking Crises

[Dr Graeme Codrington] For the past few months I’ve been trying to explain why looking at the past is so important for understanding the future. Here is a practical example of why this is so important, and how practical the outcomes can be if you do it properly.

[08 Dec 10:21]

Festive cheers!

[Terry Levin] In pursuit of inspiration about what to do about the annual festive deadline/card/mailing/donation quandry, I decided to see what they're up to in Japan - one of the bastions of global design, typography, food etc. I thought. So next I tried Googling "all natural enlightened treehugging festive season" instead, which yielded much more inspiring results.

[07 Dec 10:55]

Dis' content

[Terry Levin] Do you remember how just a few years ago we were worried about the effects of info overload due to the Internet? Since then we have unwittingly been invaded by the virtually infinite number of platforms that enable us to access everyone's breakfast habits, cute pets and other permutations of the self-expressed 24/7. How stupid are we?

[01 Dec 12:16]

Are reality shows safe for the mentally fragile?

[Andrew Timm] No, I don’t mean the viewers! The contestants! Like poor old Susan Boyle who rose to fame in the UK thanks to Simon Cowell’s “Britain’s Got Talent” talent show; then conquered world fame thanks to YouTube; and then hit the ground unibrow-first when she came only second and had to accept that she wasn’t what all the media hype led her to believe! Did no-one see this coming?

Comments [5] [24 Nov 08:38]

The PM’s misspelt letter – a parable of modern Britain?

[Dr Graeme Codrington] The first few entries of this blog have focused on trying to understand the future by tracking the trends that are shaping the world around us. This is something I do everyday – watching the world, and looking for the defining moments and shaping stories. One such story from the world of British politics, military and the media caught my eye this week.

Comments [2] [12 Nov 11:17]

Toilet humour

[Andrew Timm] Okay, toilet humour is probably the lowest form of humour, besides sarcasm, puns, and possibly SABC 3’s “Font”. But this is a true story loosely linking a toilet “situation” and television and me, so dammit, I’m going to tell it!

Comments [10] [12 Nov 11:06]

Another ‘lucky’ feline tale

[Louise Marsland] Remember how we all went gaga over the story of Lucky, the one-legged cheetah in the VW Golf ad by Ogilvy Cape Town earlier this year? Well, how about this tale of a one-eyed kitten surviving a journey across Jozi in an Opel engine?

Comments [3] [10 Nov 11:43]