Selling arms and flying kites
The weekend really started for me around 1pm on Friday. All the ‘creatives’, the designers, copywriters, DTP, web and multimedia developers were taken out to Taco Zulu for lunch on the company. Long Island Ice Teas were downed, there was plenty of gossip and crap talking, and my steak enchiladas were delicious. Afterwards we all loaded into the head of production’s minibus and rolled downhill back to the office, bouncing on the suspension and listening to 50 Cent all the way. No more work was done for the remaining 1 and a half hours of the day.
In the evening, I just chilled at Paul’s place, watching Lord of War, an excellent, eye opening take on the arms trade (part filmed in South Africa), starring Nicholas Cage, Jared Leto and Ethan Hawke. I have something of a hate-like relationship with Nicholas Cage, but here he didn’t phone in his usual deadpan performance. His character’s driven entrepreneurial spirit actually brings some much needed humour to subject matter that could otherwise be overwhelmingly depressing.
If you like to be appalled by governmental hypocrisy, Lord of War is well worth seeing. Just beware that Africa is portrayed as a continent of psychopathic warlords, limbless or AK-47 wielding children, AIDS infected hookers, shack dwellers and thieves.
Saturday
The morning was spent driving to and back from Paul’s sister’s farm, where we were given the unexpected task of ferrying a lecturer and her family (who had been conducting a horse-related course on Megan’s farm) to Durban airport. Paul was not amused. I think his fondness for the farm has faded entirely. About bloody time!
Back in Durban, we picked up our booked tickets for Tuesday’s Andre the Hypnotist show at the Pavillion branch of Computicket, devoured a wrap at Kauai and then headed to the Hobby X expo at the exhibition centre. That was a royal waste of the R30 entrance fee.
Nearly the entire expo was about flogging crap to bored housewives wanting to make or save some extra money by stringing together their own beaded jewellery, fabric painting, quilting or making amateurish-looking stamped cards. Oh, and scrapbooking stuff was everywhere.
I don’t mean to be dismissive of crafters and their pursuits, but Paul and I were very disappointed. So much for the promised archery, radio control, drawing, video editing, photography, or even cookery stalls. You’d think an expo would be about introducing people to new things, with assorted clubs and guilds in attendance. Nope, this one was just about financial gain. People were even hard-selling the usual infomercial crap like twisty graters, multi-purpose cutting tools and dirt-resistant rugs.
In the evening at Paul’s we made a pasta dish for dinner and lay on the couch, watching Allo Allo, and (sleeping through) So I Married An Axe Murderer on ETV.
Sunday
Once a blue moon, I do suffer from sinus, and on Sunday I work up with runny nose and sneezed through most of the day. I mixed some sinus medication and was a bit dozy for most of the day as a result
In the morning, Paul and I headed down to the beach to try out our stunt kite for the first time in the breeze. It was very impressive the amount of damage it took, being flown into the ground, sea and bushes on several occasions. Of course, that was partially our fault as we attempted some fancy manoeuvres beyond our experience. The kite really flew beautifully though. But getting it into the air, especially after a crash, is a 2 person job, so it’s unlikely we’ll have 2 kites anytime soon, although it would be great.
In the afternoon, we drove down to Ashley in Toti where I modelled for one of her photography projects. Sooner or later I’m sure you’ll see the results online, but I’ll leave the debut of the pics to Ashley. Just... brace yourselves ;)
Paul and I rounded off the weekend watching some more episodes from season 4 of The Family Guy, as well as the Loaded Weapon spoof on SABC1.
In the evening, I just chilled at Paul’s place, watching Lord of War, an excellent, eye opening take on the arms trade (part filmed in South Africa), starring Nicholas Cage, Jared Leto and Ethan Hawke. I have something of a hate-like relationship with Nicholas Cage, but here he didn’t phone in his usual deadpan performance. His character’s driven entrepreneurial spirit actually brings some much needed humour to subject matter that could otherwise be overwhelmingly depressing.
If you like to be appalled by governmental hypocrisy, Lord of War is well worth seeing. Just beware that Africa is portrayed as a continent of psychopathic warlords, limbless or AK-47 wielding children, AIDS infected hookers, shack dwellers and thieves.
Saturday
The morning was spent driving to and back from Paul’s sister’s farm, where we were given the unexpected task of ferrying a lecturer and her family (who had been conducting a horse-related course on Megan’s farm) to Durban airport. Paul was not amused. I think his fondness for the farm has faded entirely. About bloody time!
Back in Durban, we picked up our booked tickets for Tuesday’s Andre the Hypnotist show at the Pavillion branch of Computicket, devoured a wrap at Kauai and then headed to the Hobby X expo at the exhibition centre. That was a royal waste of the R30 entrance fee.
Nearly the entire expo was about flogging crap to bored housewives wanting to make or save some extra money by stringing together their own beaded jewellery, fabric painting, quilting or making amateurish-looking stamped cards. Oh, and scrapbooking stuff was everywhere.
I don’t mean to be dismissive of crafters and their pursuits, but Paul and I were very disappointed. So much for the promised archery, radio control, drawing, video editing, photography, or even cookery stalls. You’d think an expo would be about introducing people to new things, with assorted clubs and guilds in attendance. Nope, this one was just about financial gain. People were even hard-selling the usual infomercial crap like twisty graters, multi-purpose cutting tools and dirt-resistant rugs.
In the evening at Paul’s we made a pasta dish for dinner and lay on the couch, watching Allo Allo, and (sleeping through) So I Married An Axe Murderer on ETV.
Sunday
Once a blue moon, I do suffer from sinus, and on Sunday I work up with runny nose and sneezed through most of the day. I mixed some sinus medication and was a bit dozy for most of the day as a result
In the morning, Paul and I headed down to the beach to try out our stunt kite for the first time in the breeze. It was very impressive the amount of damage it took, being flown into the ground, sea and bushes on several occasions. Of course, that was partially our fault as we attempted some fancy manoeuvres beyond our experience. The kite really flew beautifully though. But getting it into the air, especially after a crash, is a 2 person job, so it’s unlikely we’ll have 2 kites anytime soon, although it would be great.
In the afternoon, we drove down to Ashley in Toti where I modelled for one of her photography projects. Sooner or later I’m sure you’ll see the results online, but I’ll leave the debut of the pics to Ashley. Just... brace yourselves ;)
Paul and I rounded off the weekend watching some more episodes from season 4 of The Family Guy, as well as the Loaded Weapon spoof on SABC1.
Comments
OOO!, please let me know if I can enter that other one!
Thanks again! :D
Saw the pics, they are cool. Love the colours that were used.