The weekend and more
We’ll get back to the usual entertainment news updates after this because there have been a number of interesting pop culture announcements in the past few days – in the world of film particularly. More about that soon…
As for the weekend, it was a pretty mellow to somber one. On Friday evening we heard the full story of Paul and his family’s robbery experience. I’m not going to repeat the whole thing here but here are some interesting facts:
It took Blue Security 40 minutes to arrive after a Panic Button was hit.
It took the police 1 hour to get to Paul’s house, after 3 attempts to contact them via the 10111 number (South Africa’s 911).
After the alarm was set off the robbers hung around for ages, probably 20 minutes, walking around the house because they knew how long it would take before anyone arrived.
The gang of 20somethings had hit 2 other houses on Paul’s road that night. The night of the storm was a bonanza for criminals – Blue received 3000 calls, telephone lines to the Montclair Police Station were down, and with the storm noise and chaos, people ignored their barking dogs thinking they were just frightened by thunder.
The robbery is case number 286 for the month of March in the Yellowwood Park suburb alone.
On Friday I read at least 2 South African stories on News24 where the same criminal modus operandi – brick through window to gain entry – resulted in home owners shot and killed for ridiculous things, like a single cell phone.
So yeah, our European holiday planned for the latter half of this year will most likely fall away and become an emigration scout mission instead. We have some serious research to do.
Hell, this trauma didn’t even happen to my personally, and I’ve been in tears over it. I suppose it’s typical of all trauma, but afterwards you’re still able to laugh and smile, even though an emotional part of you feels ‘odd’ as if something is missing.
I do think I need to clarify something about out-of-control crime in South Africa, for international readers at least. It’s not anything new. What it has done is spread from the townships (Apartheid’s urban containment areas that fucked people up mentally and emotionally) to permeate the whole of South African society. And it seems to be getting only worse.
In Bloke Modisane’s autobiography, Blame Me on History, set in the Johannesburg townships on the 1910s-1920s, Modisane has to contend with growing up in an environment where crime is a legitimate career option: on New Year’s, his friend, walking to a party, is stabbed to death by gangsters. His own father is murdered for no reason.
In Cry The Beloved Country, set in post-WW2 Johannesburg, author Alan Paton captures the sense of destructive fear South Africans live with as a result of crime. His comments are relevant even today.
In Zakes Mda’s brilliant magic-realist Ways of Dying, his post-Apartheid South Africa is a place where it is unusual to die of old age. In South Africa, our ways of dying reflect our ways of living… and we live in an environment of violence and degradation.
Anyway, on Friday evening after Paul headed home to sleep badly, I watched Jar Head, and on Saturday in the afternoon we headed to a very pleasant St Patrick’s Day themed wedding in Umhlanga. The dinner and dessert buffet at the Oyster Box Hotel was awesome, although the same horribly tired party songs meant we didn’t dance at all.
Sunday was the first really chilly day of the year in Durbs, with an icy gale blowing from Saturday evening… until now actually. We abandoned plans for a game of tennis and instead lazed on the couch eating popcorn and watching dud movies.
The first was Ridley Scott’s Legend, a fantasy film from 1985 starring an exceptionally young Tom Cruise (his teeth hadn’t even been straightened yet). Most of it was an awful, flat cliché – farm boy Jack must rescue his true love Princess Lilly, and the world’s last remaining unicorn, from the evil Darkness. Of course, Jack teams up with a ragtag assortment of elves and dwarves along the way.
Ironically, the only bright spot in the whole movie was Tim Curry’s Darkness, who clearly played some role in inspiring the Bullfrog Development team who made Dungeon Keeper. Curry’s Darkness is Horny! And his lair is similarly Dungeon Keeper-ish. Princess Lilly even succumbs to the dark side at one point and ends up, plunging neckline and all, at Darkness’s side, just like DK’s Mistress.
The second film was the laughably bad Stealth, brought to you by the same geniuses behind The Fast and the Furious and XXX. Self aware, talking fighter jets who complete missions while listening to nu-metal and stalking Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas and Jamie Foxx… I’m not kidding.
Anyway, I hope this week will be more happy. At least Wednesday is a public holiday. And we want to escape to the mountains this coming weekend for some much needed R&R.
As for the weekend, it was a pretty mellow to somber one. On Friday evening we heard the full story of Paul and his family’s robbery experience. I’m not going to repeat the whole thing here but here are some interesting facts:
It took Blue Security 40 minutes to arrive after a Panic Button was hit.
It took the police 1 hour to get to Paul’s house, after 3 attempts to contact them via the 10111 number (South Africa’s 911).
After the alarm was set off the robbers hung around for ages, probably 20 minutes, walking around the house because they knew how long it would take before anyone arrived.
The gang of 20somethings had hit 2 other houses on Paul’s road that night. The night of the storm was a bonanza for criminals – Blue received 3000 calls, telephone lines to the Montclair Police Station were down, and with the storm noise and chaos, people ignored their barking dogs thinking they were just frightened by thunder.
The robbery is case number 286 for the month of March in the Yellowwood Park suburb alone.
On Friday I read at least 2 South African stories on News24 where the same criminal modus operandi – brick through window to gain entry – resulted in home owners shot and killed for ridiculous things, like a single cell phone.
So yeah, our European holiday planned for the latter half of this year will most likely fall away and become an emigration scout mission instead. We have some serious research to do.
Hell, this trauma didn’t even happen to my personally, and I’ve been in tears over it. I suppose it’s typical of all trauma, but afterwards you’re still able to laugh and smile, even though an emotional part of you feels ‘odd’ as if something is missing.
I do think I need to clarify something about out-of-control crime in South Africa, for international readers at least. It’s not anything new. What it has done is spread from the townships (Apartheid’s urban containment areas that fucked people up mentally and emotionally) to permeate the whole of South African society. And it seems to be getting only worse.
In Bloke Modisane’s autobiography, Blame Me on History, set in the Johannesburg townships on the 1910s-1920s, Modisane has to contend with growing up in an environment where crime is a legitimate career option: on New Year’s, his friend, walking to a party, is stabbed to death by gangsters. His own father is murdered for no reason.
In Cry The Beloved Country, set in post-WW2 Johannesburg, author Alan Paton captures the sense of destructive fear South Africans live with as a result of crime. His comments are relevant even today.
In Zakes Mda’s brilliant magic-realist Ways of Dying, his post-Apartheid South Africa is a place where it is unusual to die of old age. In South Africa, our ways of dying reflect our ways of living… and we live in an environment of violence and degradation.
Anyway, on Friday evening after Paul headed home to sleep badly, I watched Jar Head, and on Saturday in the afternoon we headed to a very pleasant St Patrick’s Day themed wedding in Umhlanga. The dinner and dessert buffet at the Oyster Box Hotel was awesome, although the same horribly tired party songs meant we didn’t dance at all.
Sunday was the first really chilly day of the year in Durbs, with an icy gale blowing from Saturday evening… until now actually. We abandoned plans for a game of tennis and instead lazed on the couch eating popcorn and watching dud movies.
The first was Ridley Scott’s Legend, a fantasy film from 1985 starring an exceptionally young Tom Cruise (his teeth hadn’t even been straightened yet). Most of it was an awful, flat cliché – farm boy Jack must rescue his true love Princess Lilly, and the world’s last remaining unicorn, from the evil Darkness. Of course, Jack teams up with a ragtag assortment of elves and dwarves along the way.
Ironically, the only bright spot in the whole movie was Tim Curry’s Darkness, who clearly played some role in inspiring the Bullfrog Development team who made Dungeon Keeper. Curry’s Darkness is Horny! And his lair is similarly Dungeon Keeper-ish. Princess Lilly even succumbs to the dark side at one point and ends up, plunging neckline and all, at Darkness’s side, just like DK’s Mistress.
The second film was the laughably bad Stealth, brought to you by the same geniuses behind The Fast and the Furious and XXX. Self aware, talking fighter jets who complete missions while listening to nu-metal and stalking Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas and Jamie Foxx… I’m not kidding.
Anyway, I hope this week will be more happy. At least Wednesday is a public holiday. And we want to escape to the mountains this coming weekend for some much needed R&R.
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