Formula 1 has lost its charm, fix please!

It's all been pretty strange with F1 of late... I personally haven't watched most of this year because of lack of TV coverage where I am, weirdo timezones but ultimately because I haven't cared much.

From my perspective that's a strong statement (not caring about F1). I've been F1 crazy since around '96, I think my obsession peaked during varsity but I'm slowly falling out of love with F1. Why? Well I'd summarise it as follows; too much bullshit!!!

Let me try and explain:

F1 has always had its conspiracies, think Damon Hill vs Schumacher at Adelaide '94, think Villeneuve vs Schumacher at Jerez '97 think... ok screw this I'd go on forever if I have to continue like this. But during those times, I loved it. F1 had elements of excitement, intrigue and passion all rolled up into one.

What's changed in the past couple of years though is all this off-track political and espionage crap! As funny (and disturbing) as it was to watch Max go all Nazi S&M on us, we've witnessed too much politics in what is essentially a spectator sport. One or two I could handle but the combination of all of them (pick one: 2005 - Michelin fiasco /2006 - Renault Mass Dampers /2008 McLaren Stepney Gate/2009 - The double diffuser saga, Hamilton's Liar Gate, Flavio's Crash gate) makes me physically sick just thinking about it.

2009 really has been a low, no disrespect to Brawn, Button and Redbull Racing, but it's been hard to really care for F1 when I as a spectator feel so disillusioned by the sport. Some might say that because McLaren have sucked this year I've lost interest. I can promise you this isn't true, if you ask me, my favourite seasons of F1 have to be 2003, with the old memories of the '97 and '98 seasons coming in second and third (McLaren only had success in one of those three seasons - '98). Anyway, back to my point...

Now that I think about it, it's a combination of a few things that've made F1 suck:

• The off-track politics (detailed above)
• Tracks - Hands up, how many people would prefer Bernie's 20 races a year at 17 snoozefest exotic Hermann Tilke tracks at the expense of SpaFrancochamps, Suzuka, Hockenheim and the old Osterreichring in Austria which in my opinion epitomise the essence of F1. New locations like Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Singapore and Valencia have all been quite honestly horrible in terms of providing good racing. Dare I say it, but of Tilke's works, only Turkey and Malaysia has provided spectators with something worth watching (and with Malaysia, that's partly because of the storms we get there).
• Schumi - Was Schumi (not Ralf) that important for F1? I think so, judging by the excitment generated by his non-return to the grid to replace the injured Massa. But we really must try move on! Scrap this point - oh, now Kimi's gone too :(
• The FIA Stewards- what a lol! don't get me started
• The manufacturers - They really have stirred up more kak than providing us with something to cheer about. In fairness to them, they did try though. Atleast Honda and the departing BMW have set up some sort of continuity with takeovers (Brawn/Mercedes and Sauber). Same can't be said for Toyota, seems they've wasted both their time and ours since they joined F1... pity.
• Crazy yo-yo rule changes with qualifying, refuelling, penalites, etc...
• Certain cost cutting ventures - Sure you must cut costs in these times (I think the limited engine and gear box rules have been a success), but KERS for example has cost many millions in its development and is now scrapped after a solitary season.

Hope

Amid all this crap, there does seem to be some hope for the future of F1.

• The FIA has undergone a proper restructuring, Jean Todt at the top sounds alot better than Max Mosely. Together with running a better organisation, Todt should hopefully address the stewarding and rule change issues. Time will tell I guess.
• Contrary to what it sounds like, the exit of some manufacturers from the sport might not exactly be a disaster. The return of the era of private teams is back on the cards. The entrants for next year include Lotus, Campos, USF1, Manor, Force India, Redbull, Toro Roso and McLaren together with the manufacturer teams of Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault.
• Who knows, I might be back in GMT+2 :P

I don't know if the above will fix anything, but here's hoping...

To summarise, I wanna see is some good old fashioned racing, I wanna see drivers fighting each other after a crash, I wanna see last lap heroics. I don't want industrial espionage, I don't want teams telling their drivers to crash into a wall and I really don't wan't wanna see what FIA presidents do in their spare time.

Roll on 2010!

JUST BELIEF!

The title of this blog entry are two words I'd like to live by. Sure it's not always easy to be blindly optimistic when you see no avenues of hope but a little faith goes a hell of a long way!

Be it in your professional or personal lives, whether it's regarding religion, relationships, frie(n)dships, health, wealth or a combination of any of the mentioned, life throws you rotten naartjies all the time. You just gotta know that this will never change. The good inevitably comes with some bad, I think your attitude during the tough times plays a big part in the overall balance of what comes your way. Contrary to what it'll initially feel like, the bad will eventually help you grow (I believe it's called 'Life Experience' these days :) ).

Chin up, don't wallow or things will end up like a dark C&H strip (that you can't laugh at).

We've all had our fair share of the crap. You'll get through it, really you will! There's a bigger picture, a bigger plan. 'Don't forget our friend fate, it could disappear without a trace.' (Aren't The Parlotones awesome?!)

Just BELIEF... and it will be true!

p.s - I can't claim that phrase as my own, credit goes to White Rob - thanks :)

Bash.org

I thought I should share this gem from bash.org

http://bash.org/?904983 (link removed)

[ matteo_italia ]: sara i know you want my coc

[ matteo_italia ]: sara why do you kiss so much coc?

[ supersara ]: ...

[ bereco ]: why are u asking about coc?

[ supersara ]: ask him...

[ matteo_italia ]: sara

[ matteo_italia ]: u love large black cic

[ matteo_italia ]: coc

[ supersara ]: loser

[ matteo_italia ]: evreybody says u suck coc

[ bereco ]: wtf

[ matteo_italia ]: i don t care if u swallow

[ matteo_italia ]: ur life

[ matteo_italia ]: ur problem

[ bereco ]: i think matteo swallows

[ verseker ]: supersara sucks coc

[ verseker ]: she sucked mine

[ matteo_italia ]: yes she sucks coc

[ verseker ]: I have it on video

[ matteo_italia ]: really'''?????????''

[ verseker ]: I am a sleeper mod

[ bereco ]: i have matteo wanking on video

[ matteo_italia ]: SARA U R A BYTCH

[ matteo_italia ]: bereco she is ur fat mom

[ bereco ]: matteo sucks julius malema

[ verseker ]: yeah i sent it to bereco he saw it

[ matteo_italia ]: THAT FAT BYTCH MOM OF BERECO

[ matteo_italia ]: AND BLACK

[ bereco ]: i think matteo is sad cus of his teeny weeny

[ mørkeulv ]: now this conversation dosnt sound nice

[ matteo_italia ]: ASK UR MOM

[ matteo_italia ]: HE BEGANS

[ bereco ]: matteo, stop playing with yourself while on castlewars

[ matteo_italia ]: SHUT THE HELL UP

[ matteo_italia ]: U BEGAN

[ bereco ]: i know the cards get u randy

[ verseker ]: morkeulv bereco started this... he always is racist and

insulting

[ bereco ]: what?!

[ mørkeulv ]: do i have to ban u bereco

[ matteo_italia ]: YES

[ verseker ]: YES

[ matteo_italia ]: YES

[ bereco ]: excuse me?

[ verseker ]: please he always mocks my mom

[ matteo_italia ]: HE ALWAYS BEGAN

[ bereco ]: WHAT!

[ matteo_italia ]: YES

[ verseker ]: yes

[ verseker ]: BAN BERECO

[ matteo_italia ]: HE IS RACIST WITH ME COS I M ITALIAN WANKER

[ bereco ]: i do believe there was a discussion running b4 i arrived

[ matteo_italia ]: BAN BERECO

[ bereco ]: matteo was sexually harassing supersara

[ verseker ]: BAN BERECO

[ matteo_italia ]: LIER

[ mørkeulv ]: bereco yout comments has been quite rude

[ matteo_italia ]: BERECO PLEASE DON T SPEAK ME MORE

[ matteo_italia ]: I DON T LIKE U

[ matteo_italia ]: U R ALWAYS RUDE AND RACIST

[ verseker ]: neither do i

[ bereco ]: matteo please go jump off a cliff

[ bereco ]: you made fun of me for being black

[ verseker ]: he tried to harrass my girlfriend

[ matteo_italia ]: WHY R U RUDE

[ matteo_italia ]: LEAVE ME ALONE

[ verseker ]: lets all be friends

[ verseker ]: please

[ bereco ]: verseker i like you

[ matteo_italia ]: YES HE TRIED TO HARRASS VERSEKER S GF

[ matteo_italia ]: NOW LEAVE ME ALONE

[ verseker ]: castle wars is such a great game until he came along

[ mørkeulv ]: well ill make it simpe for you the next one that comes with a

rude comment is going to be banned.

[ matteo_italia ]: READ BERECO

[ verseker ]: yeah bereco

[ matteo_italia ]: YEAH READ

[ bereco ]: shame matteo, your maturity is beyond shocking

[ verseker ]: i think some reprimand should be in order for previous insults

[ matteo_italia ]: STOP INSULT ME BERECO

[ matteo_italia ]: LEAVE ME ALONE

[ bereco ]: i love copy and paste

[ matteo_italia ]: U WRITE U DON T COPY

[ matteo_italia ]: NOW LEAVE ME

[ matteo_italia ]: RACIST

[ matteo_italia ]: AND I DON T WANNA READ ANYTHING ABOUT MY HOOKER MOM

PLEASE. ITS NOT HER FAULT SHE'S A DIRTY WHORE

[ bereco ]: my poor poor matteo

[ matteo_italia ]: LEAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[ matteo_italia ]: RACIST NIGGER

[ bereco ]: allow me to post this history online

State of the nation...

(doesn't anyone else really miss good old 'W'?)

There have been vicious rumours circling the web regarding the locating of brotha and that whereisbrotha is now dead and obsolete... I'm here to tell you that NONE OF IT IS TRUE!

Yes it's true that Lacost thought he saw Brotha from behind at a party one night, but it turned out to be a VW Touareg. Yes it's true that Ice thought he saw Brotha at an IPL game, but thatn just turned out to be Dwayne Leverock. Yes it's true that Jedi hasn't visited this blog in over 3 months =/

But the hunt for brotha continues, so please keep those anonymous tips coming on 0800-789-BROTHA!!! We are counting on your assistance in the hunt for the infamous and ever allusive brotha.

In the meantime however, let us take stock of the first 5 months since the inception of whereisbrotha following the 2am miracle and the recent events that have befallen the whereisbrotha team.

Ice continues to follow the path of the nomad. After having been thrown out of Australia for not having a criminal record, Ice has migrated north to the USA for the summer. A week after he arrived stateside, all the US embassies in South Africa were closed, following a 'credible security threat'. It turns out that the threat came from long time ex-lover Maveli, who stated he 'couldn't bare to be separated from the Ice lovin for another minute'. When asked to comment, Ice merely licked his fingers and rubbed him nipples while humming I'm to sexy.

In other news, we feared the world was coming to an end when Lacost found a girl who actually thought all his costs were "cute". In what appeared to be a story straight out of Revelations, this poor misguided girl actually enjoys spending time with Lacost and says 'so what if he causes the Indian cricket team to lose every now and then, he's super cute'. Naturally, unwilling Lacost room-mate Nijella took this as a self-fulfilment of the prophecies regarding the 'end of days' and decided to throw caution to the wind, live dangerously and take advantage of every remaining moment. Nijella has since taken up golfing.

There has also been speculation regarding the creation of a new website to track down the location of our only female whereisbrotha contributor. I'm here to tell you that this rumour is in fact based of some truth and there is a possibility that whereisjedi will be up and operational by the end of October (Jedi has a birthday in October, so we're hoping to use presents as bait to lure her out of hiding).

Finally, your very own Wifi will be relocating to the crime capital of the world in December. So if I haven't posted here on whereisbrotha within a month of arriving in Gauteng, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm dead... but it might.

On a more festive note however, please join me in congratulating Nijella on his recent engagement. The wedding is in December in Kerala and all brown people (except Kulfi) are invited as long as they bring him presents. Strangely enough, Nijella agreed to get married before he thought the world was going to end. We wish Nijella all the best on this new life adventure.

Well it's been a fun spell here at whereisbrotha and plenty has happened over the past 5 months. The posts have become fewer and farther between, but that was always bound to happen. But please bear with us, we aren't going anywhere!

-wifi

Comebackability!

Been a while since I've blogged, think it was the combination of busyness and a lack of anything I really wanted to talk about till now...

Straight to the point then, Lance Armstrong made his sensational comeback at the Tour de France last month, and what a return it was! He was epic and 3445km later (after countless drug tests that ended up embarrasing the french authorities rather than him - yet again), Team Astana owned the field with a calculated and measured team performance with Armstrong finishing 3rd in the overall standings, awesomeness!

I've never really seen the worth of twitter till I followed him on it before the tour started, the insight you get first hand makes it instantly worth it! (i'm not gonna start following Ashton Kutcher tho)...

Armstrong has last week confirmed his participation in next years Tour de 'Lance through the all yank Team Radioshack. By then, the 'comeback' novelty would probably have worn off, but it'll definitely be great for the sport, livestrong!

Anyway, Armstrong has shown yet again that he's a legend! It's not about the bike...

Moving on to the more temporary (or not?) return of Der Regenmeister from outta nowhere!

Can't believe I of all people am excited about it, but it's true! When he retired I did say that despite all the controversy and the opinion I had of him, F1 wouldn't quite ever be the same again. It didn't really show in 2007 and 2008 because we had such epic back to back world championships decided by one point each year, but with 2009 in it's boredom I think we'll all be happy to see it. It's gonna be tough for him because he hasn't driven an F1 car since the big aero/tyre revamp this year, but I think his racing instinct will see him through it... It's actually a good time to get back in, the ferrari is looking alot better than it was, infact ferrari and mclaren are on a bit of a resurgence after the early season 2002'esque snoozefest, so no better time I think.

On a more humble note, poor Massa... If this is gonna be the end of his career it'll be a bummer, so much so that it might've been better for him to have won last year (can't believe I said that)... Btw, any Timo Glock conspiracy theorists can go suck it, he was on worn wet tyres for the F*&king umpteeth time!

As much as the Schumacher return overshadowing Massa's incident feels a bit insensitive, a friend of mine explained his 'lightning rod' theory with schumi now attracting all the attention and perhaps it's for the best. I think Massa needs to be outta the spot light as much as possible, him and his family can then recover better without the media continously in their faces. Bigger picture I guess...

Lastly to the football and the transfer rumour silly season. Rumours have surfaced over the past evening on the possible return of Paddy Viera to Arsenal! I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, at 33 Viera is a shadow of his old self, but that defensive midfield role is looking a bit thin at the moment. Viera with one leg is in my opinion better than Denilson and maybe he can teach his lookalike Diaby a thing or two. Regardless of his ability now, I think his experience and character might bring something to the dressingroom that we're currently lacking.

Arsenal have lost a lot of its african connection to the deep Saudi pockets of man city, both 'King Kolo' Toure and Adeoffside are gone now so I seriously hope le boss tries and fills the gaps. I dunno if Viera is a part of the answer, there are also strong links to the dutch pirate Klaas Jan HuntelAAR joining our attack but shrug... in Wenger we trust!

The power of sport

Last night I couldn't help but reflect on the feast of sport we've been indulged with over the past 3 months... First half of India landed unexpectedly on our shores, were welcomed with open arms and jam-packed stadiums and put on a great show. Then the circus moved to England where the T20 world cup saw Pakistan, a country with huge internal strife at the moment, rise above the odds and capture their first major sporting trophy in over a decade. All the while the Super 14 was drawing to a dramatic finish up in Loftus, with crazy dutch-saffers giving English soccer hooligans a run for their money. As I write, up in the mountains of France, a living legend is making his return to the Tour de France, adding another chapter to what is already an inspirational story of determination and courage. But there were three stories in particular that motivated me to blog today.

Last month, South Africa hosted what has become known as the 'dress rehearsal' for the soccer world cup, the Fifa Confederations Cup. To be modest... the event was a huge success. Finally South Africa was able to prove to the world what we saffers have known all along, that we are as capable of hosting and delivering a world class event as anyone else. Words cannot express my pride and my delight at being able to laugh in the face of those nay-sayers who insisted that the world cup would have to be moved because Africans couldn't possibly handle such a task. For those reading this from outside of Africa, you should know that there is a general buzz of excitement thoughout all of Africa, on the streets, in the offices, in the schools... The effect that this tournament is having is amazing to watch. Excuse the miserable cliché, but SA is truly emerging from its coccoon. The added bonus? The cherry on the cake? The performance of our Bafana Bafana! I will gladly put up with the heartache of a hundred last minute losses, just to see a country once again fully behind their team with a genuine belief that they can succeed.

Now on Saturday, the Lions tour to SA came to an end. This is an event that only takes place once every 12 years (I struggle to think of any sporting competition with such a gap between events) and therefore is looked forward to with great anticipation. But I for one was actually really glad to see it end. Now I know this is far from a popular opinion, but to me this rugby tour represented everything that is wrong with sport. From obnoxious foreign press, to arrogant and intolerant coaches, to foul play and accusations of foul play, ignorant and offensive comments from players, accusations of racism, bitching about referees... the list goes on. As an all round sport fan, it actually pained me to watch this tour unfold on and off the field. If I were absolutely ignorant and was forced to judge all professional sport based on the evidence of this series, I'd never watch sport again.

Lets end on a positive note (in fact my inspiration for blogging today). Yesterday I settled into what's left of my couch at 3pm to watch what I expected to be a 1h30min Federer festival. What I witnessed instead was an epic afternoon of tennis. As I sat through the 90-odd minutes that was the final set, I couldn't help but remember the 2008 Wimbledon final, a match that many call the finest of the modern era. Federer is now in my mind the greatest player that ever lived and barring Andre Agassi my favourite player of all time, but after seeing the determination to win, the courage to fight and the way he was gracious in defeat, I am now a Andy Roddick fan. Days such as these are few and far between, but yesterday I really wished we didn't have a need for a winner and a loser in professional sport.

But yesterday was more than a great game of tennis, it was a great display of sportsmanship. The players, the officials and particularly the crowd... there was just this emotion, this aura around that tennis court that was plain to see, even on a television set thousands of miles away. That's precisely what I love about sport, that's why I'll wake up at 6am on a Sunday to watch F1, that's why I'll go watch any live cricket at Newlands, that's why I pay a ridiculous monthly fee for satellite tv, for the magic and the power of sport. Nothing else on earth has the power to unite people of all races, cultures and creeds... Just you wait till next year, bring on 2010!

The Flying Donkeys

This post has been a long time coming but I finally managed some time to write about something that I find awesome in world sport, the sheer passion of supporters worldwide.

Whether you're in morocco, india, ecuador or soweto, you'll always find a small town that supports their local team, come rain or shine. It's those towns that live around their team, buying season tickets and living through the ups and downs with their teams... The team and the supporters are one. Sure this extends to larger clubs, but it's always heartening to see the unwavering love and passion that people show to their small town club.

Take for example a team I came to know about recently, Chievo Verona. A small town club in Italy whose main sponsor is the local town bakery. The team started off from nothing and are now are the proberbial underdog of the Serie A.

The local rival team Hellas Verona once said that Chievo would play in the Serie A when donkeys fly... Now Chievo are a regular Serie A team while Hellas suck in the third division. The nickname stuck btw, Chievo Verona are 'The Flying Donkeys'

The same sorta passion extends to bigger clubs. As we watch season after season of the big 4 in the premier league, bitching as our teams fail to win everything every season, there are those teams that fight the relegation battle year after year, and dare I say it, the supporters probably get a lot more satisfaction out of the relegation battle and the championship than a top four supporter would from winning the premier league...

It was sad to see the toons getting relegated, I so wished Shearer would just put on a team shirt during that last game to go show them all how it's done, alas... But if anyone caught the last few championship games, you'd be pretty harsh to deny Burnley and their fans premier league status after their performance in the championship and relative heroics in the FA cup.

The pic above shows the contrasting emotions for both teams, but more importantly, the passion of the teams and supporters...

You gotta love the small teams and their fans, maybe it's the underdog thing, but i'll always have a soft spot for the bolton wanderer, the minardi, the flying donkey...

Planet Earth Needs a Bodyguard, not Miley Cyrus!

This is a rant about a couple of things that I noticed in the news this morning that got me a bit riled up.

Firstly, India's Minister for the Environment has rejected any notion that it will cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future, or even consider any sort of emission caps. He also asserted that India's current priority is to focus on poverty alleviation and economic development. This was basically a message to developed nations not to expect any concessions when the major developed and developing countries meet in Copenhagen in December for negotiations on the follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol.

Now, while those are fine priorities to have, the thing that really irritates me is their refusal to realise that if climate change is not halted or at the very least seriously slowed, life will become infinitely harder for the very people they are currently trying to save! Farmers will lose crops to desertification, the monsoon will shift south leading to severe droughts and the sea levels will rise, causing the destruction of thousands of small fishing villages. These will all affect the poorest people disproportionally. How can these people not see this? Instead of investing in renewable energy, they are ramping up production of coal-fired power plants which will be in operation for the next 25-30 years at least! It makes me sick.

And on a semi-related-but-not-really note, just after reading the previous article I saw a headline (I didn't bother going further) that Hugh Jackman and Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus will be teaming up for a remake of "The Bodyguard". Now leaving aside my personal loathing of the insane, fabricated hype around Hannah Montana (I mean seriously, this is the most trite and clichéd character being sold to us as the second coming of Judy Garland or something!), the Bodyguard was not a bad movie - why remake it so soon?! Add to that the not insignificant age gap between Jackman and Cyrus which means that the entire love plot is out the window and you realise that this will be not so much a remake of "The Bodyguard" as a remake of "Man On Fire" with a slightly older girl. It's just stupid. And I swear I'll throw up if I ever hear Miley Cyrus sing "I Will Always Love You"!

That is all.

Love, Life and Loss in Simsville

For the past few days I've been following the tale of Alice and Kev, a pair of homeless Sims created in Sims 3 by Robin Burkinshaw, a student of games design in the UK. Robin has created an extremely dysfunctional father and daughter pair and has basically let them loose on the open world neighbourhood of the game and is running a daily picture-blog of what goes on in their lives. The premise is fairly novel, but what really stands out is the way the story takes such interesting twists and turns with a minimum of interference by Robin, following their own AI need and wants. It's an excellent experiment that is often surprises you with the poignancy of some of the moments.

The blog has become quite popular over the past couple of weeks, being featured on the official Sims web page as well as on BBC and various other blogs including Boing Boing. And this is where something I thought was quite interesting started happening - the story started getting some very strong emotional reactions from the readers. Most seem to have formed a very close attachment to the character of Alice (who has quite a rough time of it) and are rooting for and sympathizing with her, almost as if she were real. Some even marvel at the fact that a game makes them feel like that, for example:

Sara
OMG!!! This is SO sad!!! Now I’m afraid for my life…
saw
very nice comment, i am literally almost crying here, this is one of the saddest stories ive heard, even if it is from a computer game!
Sol Invictus
Good god, I feel so sorry for Alice. I know she’s a fictional Sim and everything but everything that’s happening to her is truly miserable. It makes one think of the similarly difficult lives that many among us live out here in the real world.

I think that this is an example of how modern games are really stretching the established boundaries of video games, and importantly how the general public views them. I'll be posting a more comprehensive discussion of why I think that video game worlds are actually becoming increasingly like our real one in a couple of days, but in the meanwhile I recommend you head on over to Robin's Alice and Kev blog and take a look for yourself. And be sure to read a few of the comments as well, it's half the fun!

The Smartphone War is Heating Up!

The past two weeks have been extremely eventful in the world of smartphones. New phones have been released or announced by most of the major cellphone vendors, all vying for a share of the fastest growing sector of the industry. In fact it is the only sector that managed to actually grow in the second half of 2008. You know, just about the time when the current worldwide recession began! Even this year, with the recession in full swing, the growth is still expected to be in the double-digits.

And one trend that seems to be emerging across the market is the rise of touchscreen phones. Those are always the ones that generate the most buzz before release, and are consequently in greatest demand. The manufacturers have certainly noticed this and are obliging us with a veritable feast this year! Every one of them has at least one high-end touch operated smartphone that is already in the market, or will be shortly.

Just as a note before I begin, since I'll be looking at fairly high-end phones, when I say "standard connectivity" I mean at least 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS. So with those facts giving some context to this discussion, allow me to introduce the contenders!

Apple iPhone 3G S

This "new" iPhone 3G S from Apple is, let's be honest, a faster iPhone 3G. There are some other hardware improvements like more storage space (16GB or 32GB), a digital compass and a better 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, but these - while welcome - are pretty much baseline features for high-end smartphones these days. In fact Apple isn't even trying to hide that fact by naming it the iPhone 3G S, where 'S' stands for speed. No really, it does. Even the marketing team that brought you the brilliant Mac vs. PC ads and those super slick iPhone ads could not come up with a better name than that.

Indeed, most of the improvements in the 3G S look like they are simply meant to bring the iPhone on par with its competitors in a checklist of features, thereby allowing the admittedly outstanding software and user interface to take centre stage. Previously missing software features such as cut/copy/paste and multitasking will be enabled for all iPhone users via a software update as well.

As pretty much every new smartphone being released is touted as an "iPhone killer", clearly this is the phone to beat. The iPhone 3G S will be released on the 19th of June in the USA and in July in South Africa from Vodacom.

Palm Pre

The Pre is the the latest phone from one of the earliest smartphone and PDA companies, Palm. The company has had a rough couple of years but they have come back with a bang. The new operating system, WebOS, leverages well known Internet standards such as javascript to produce an experience that is seamlessly integrated with the Web.

This is the phone that everyone hopes will finally begin to slow the iPhone's meteoric rise and challenge them to come up with more than simple iterative improvements. And with Palm being a Silicon Valley company well known for innovation, like Apple, it is quite possible. Feature-wise the Pre has all that the iPhone does, with the addition of a physical keyboard and the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously.

The Pre was released last Saturday, the 5th of June, and the reviews seem to indicate that the WebOS foundation is a worthy challenger to the iPhone's OSX, but some issues with the hardware and the dearth of 3rd party applications available at launch left some wanting more.

Nokia N97

The world's largest cellphone maker sure has a lot to prove with this new addition to their N-series multimedia smartphone lineup! With the other manufacturers nipping at its heels, Nokia has had to act fast to keep its position at the top. Released worldwide on the 9th of June, the N97 is a touchscreen enabled smartphone that runs the Symbian S60 v5 operating system.

It has the standard connectivity and comes with Nokia's response to the iPhone App Store installed - the Ovi Store. Since the store was launched only 2 weeks ago the selection of apps is limited at the moment, but will grow as more Symbian developers submit their apps for inclusion. The slide out landscape QWERTY keyboard with the angled screen is unique, and the widget based home screen and large amount of memory have been praised in early reviews.

However the relatively underpowered processor and resistive, non-multitouch screen are cited as holding the N97 back from achieving its full potential. Also there are some issues raised in reviews that seem to stem from the operating system not being fully optimised to utilise the touch based interface.

Samsung i8910 "Omnia HD"

The i8910 is a beast of a smartphone with all the features one has come to expect, plus it has the distinction of being the first smartphone to be able to record high definition video via its 8 megapixel camera! Running on a modified version of the same Symbian S60 v5 operating system that the N97 uses, it has a lot of things going for it - tons of Symbian apps, a fast processor, a beautiful 3.7" AMOLED (as opposed to a TFT LCD display) touchscreen and a polished 3D interface.

This phone was released about a month ago and is one of the least hyped, but most potent smartphones, in my opinion. However, it suffers from almost exactly the same usability issues as the N97, which can be attributed to the Symbian OS. Perhaps as more Symbian-based touchscreen devices released, the kinks will be worked out and the user experience will become more refined than it currently is.

HTC Touch Pro2

The Touch Pro2 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 (upgradeable to 6.5 when it is released) based smartphone that has a slide out QWERTY keypad similar to the one on the N97. It uses HTC's custom TouchFlo 3D interface which has received lots of praise. The Touch Pro2 can download applications via Microsoft's "Windows Marketplace for Mobile" and the selection of apps is good.

Apart from that it has the expected connectivity, but lacks in the media department since it doesn't have a separate 3.5mm audio jack and has limited video playback capabilities out of the box. Additionally the camera, while adequate, is hamstrung by the lack of a flash.

Other Unreleased Phones

Blackberry Storm 2

RIM's Blackberry line of business smartphones is well known for its vaunted push email service and last year saw the release of the first touchscreen device - the Storm. It was said to simulate the feel of pressing real buttons using its SurePress technology.

That, however, did not turn out to be the case as people found typing on the screen much more inconvenient than on other touchscreen phones. Additionally the lack of Wi-Fi capabilities severely limited it's connectivity options. It was back to the drawing board for RIM and now they have announced that a new Blackberry Storm is on the way, sans SurePress and with Wi-Fi!

Little more is known about this version, but you can bet that the lessons of the Storm have been learnt and that this will be a much more robust smartphone. The expected release is some time in the third quarter of this year.

Sony Ericsson Satio

This phone was announced earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress as the "Idou", but has been renamed "Satio", whatever that means. But naming aside, this looks like it could be an amazing smartphone. Again running on the Symbian S60 v5 platform, this phone has a ridiculous 12.1 megapixel camera with a xenon flash! That fact right there is enough for most fans of phone cameras to jump aboard, but add to that all the usual suspects for of connectivity and media playback and you have a recipe for a great all round smartphone.

Sony Ericsson desperately needs this phone to do well, since the Xperia X1 sold poorly and they haven't had a hit phone in quite a while. The Satio will be released around October of this year.

Samsung i7500 "Galaxy"

The Galaxy is Samsung's first smartphone powered by Google's Android operating system. It uses the updated 1.5 "cupcake" version and has an online app store called Market.

In addition to the standard connectivity, it has an external 3.5mm audio jack, unlike the Android powered HTC phones.It also uses a 3.2" AMOLED touchscreen which means that its battery life will be significantly better than that of some of its competitors. Add in a 5 megapixel camera and 8GB of storage and you have a very tempting cocktail! It's due out in July.

Wrap-Up

So there you have it. The latest and greatest smartphones from the biggest names in the business! There are a few I've left out, such as the HTC Touch Diamond2 and Touch HD, since they were too similar to the ones already included.

I'm sure you have noticed that almost all the phones discussed share a basic set of features and there's usually just one distinguishing feature that sets a particular model apart from the rest. This is how close the race has become! At the moment Apple is dominating this touchscreen market, but if it gets too comfortable any one of the contenders can dethrone it.

The Pre is, like the iPhone, backed by a small but innovative company and can offer a real viable alternative to it both in terms of features and the "cool" factor. RIM is trying to expand its user demographic for the Blackberry from purely business oriented people to the general public and the Storm 2 may be just the phone to do it with. Meanwhile other manufacturers are building on existing platforms such as Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android in the hope that a large enough user-base across multiple hardware providers will entice more developers to make applications for that ecosystem, since that is one of the major draws of the iPhone.

One thing is for sure, we live in interesting times. I'd like to hear what you think of all this so do comment!

It's all relative

It is isn't it? What different societies consider good/bad, or rather the standards that provide a benchmark wherever you are...

Having had a pretty long stay in Australia, it'd be a bit unfair to make a direct comparison with SA, SA is a developing country (albeit with pretty developed major cities) and I've been exposed to two highly rated cities in Sydney and Melbourne.

But anyway, it's funny to hear what people bitch about here in aus compared to our seemingly more fundamental problems:

• fek, the trains late by 2minitues
• the bikey gangs had a fist fight in public
• our suburb doesn't have google streetview yet
• i had to wait for a youtube video to buffer today

The initial feeling you have is that the aussies are spoilt and they shouldn't really be complaning but that's really a testament to the fact that Aus is way more developed... It's all relative.

But that's just it, SA has a long long way to go before we can complain about such 'petty' things. The problem of course is that there is a huge gap in SA between the rich and the poor, and really that's gotta be what needs to be addressed first. I've been lucky enough to be on the right end of the stick so far in SA and as much as I'd like to have the luxury of such high end bitching, I know that it can't be priority.

Or can it?

Well, the short answer is no... But I think SA's reaching that stage where there's going to be a lot of rapid development that could sway the answer to the question. We're already at that stage in many respects, drive around Jhb and you'll see, work everywhere! buildings, roads, gautrain, malls, commercial and residential complexes, telecomms. It's awesome!

2010 is a huge catalyst that's put pressure on everyone to deliver, we should never underestimate the effect that the world cup has had (and will have) on SA!

I hope that we keep pushing with this momentum over the next decade or so. If we do, I don't think it's overly optimistic to imagine that we'll be sitting pretty and we can identify ourselves as a world force rather than just Africa's shining light.

Maybe then we can get our own bikey gangs?

A BINGeing competition!

Before I start, I gotta say that I'm really surprised that a lot of brotha's blog topics so far have had a political flavour to them. I really never saw any of us contributors as people who cared about politics so much, flavour of the week maybe, or maybe we've become that mature (boring) all of a sudden =/

Anyway, back to topic. So I thought I'd use the word 'bingeing' before everyone got sick to their stomachs everytime they heard it (although I suspect the term would be - binging). I'm refering of course to bing, Microsoft's new search engine. A friend showed it to me the other day and as far as first impressions go, this one was pretty good. As pro google as I am (believe me, I am - I sound like a salesman sometimes and I'm currently eyeing an android phone), I'm also very pro-competition... So I'm all for it!

I'm not doing a review here, I lack the technical know how (oh ya, i'm lazy too) to do a search engine benchmark. But what I will say is that the interface is quite impressive in its simplicity. It seems that MS has taken a leaf outta google's book there, kudos. I don't quite get the background image but I strangely don't mind it.

Microsoft have been pretty busy it seems, project Natal (I'll pronounce it like Kwa-Zulu Natal) looks like taking on the wii in a big way, except I think (for now anyway) people will take some time to getting used to playing games without a controller. Windows 7 too apparently is pretty awesome from reviews I've heard, besides the cut down version that only lets you run 4 apps at once (fail!).

Anyway, it's about time MS stepped up to the plate. I guess they didn't have a choice with the competition slowly eating away at their share of the market.

As much as the internet's part of our daily lives, I think it'd be a bit more relevant to point out the parallels that I can see now with the above mentioned competition and telecomms in SA:

I hope this microsoft reaction is the sorta thing we can see in SA from Helkom now that Neotel's on the prowl... I know SEACOM is a big step in the impending revolution, it couldn't come sooner! By the by - for those that don't know, Neotel through Tata have a nice stake in SEACOM, so this could be the beginning of the end (touch wood) of the exploitation us Saffers have been subject to for years!

Exciting times with all this competition... B(r)ing it! -sorry, couldn't resist :)

Have we returned to the dark ages?

Remember when you were a kid and your mom would take you to the supermarket? There were always those moments when you'd throw your favourite candy or chocolate into the shopping basket, only for your mom to consistently put it back. The child's reaction in those moments always amused me. The well behaved child would just accept the mother's decision; the normal kid would beg and plead for a while before giving up and conceding defeat. But then there is the immature terror child who would throw an absolute fit and trash the entire store hoping to get their way. 

To me, this represents a proxy sliding scale for maturity in the world. 

Child 1) The SA government was adamant that South Africa would avoid recession until the last minute, but earlier this week when they were proven wrong, they gracefully admitted their fault and decided instead to focus on a solution. 

Child 2) During the recent Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona, Chelsea players spent 50% of the game yelling, begging and pleading the referee for a penalty on several separate occasions. It almost got ugly, but in the end the Chelsea players begrudgingly conceded defeat.

Child 3) Maphatsoe again threatened militant action: “Should Zille not immediately cease the racist tendencies that bring pain to all military veterans of SA, MKMVA will not hesitate to implement a militant programme of action to take back the streets and our communities.”

I must admit that I find that last bit slightly amusing and highly disturbing. When did we return to the dark ages where people would unrightfully demand to get their way and threaten with force in order to get it? Or has the American culture of acting like 10-year olds spread to SA? Have we not evolved at all? And you have to love the new catch phrase in SA politics, commonly used by groups such as the ANCYL, COSATU and MKMVA: 'we will render it ungovernable'. Can you imagine if everyone approached their problems this way?

Boss: Paul I want those reports completed by Friday please.

Paul: No, I refuse. And if you insist my mates and I will make this office ungovernable. Additionally, I require a raise and a car allowance.

Teacher: Greg please stop pulling Sarah's hair.

Greg: No, you can't make me. And if you try I'll make this class ungovernable.

I could go on... But then again, we should ask ourselves what do we really expect from leaders whose education is limited to this:

(a low blow I admit, but I just couldn't resist)

Fear and Distrust...

Allow me to spend one post on a fairly topical issue.

Many people don't seem to be aware of this, but the current global economic recession is as much a product of fear as it is of underlying macroeconomic issues. In fact, if we gaze through history, we can identify countless tragedies that were brought about by the fear of the unknown and distrust of people and things that were different and unfamiliar. The burning of witches, the persecution of scientists by the Catholic church, the holocaust, religious wars and holy crusades... one could go on forever. Even today, conflict (both physical and otherwise) continues in certain parts of the world because people fear each other and are unwilling to attempt to understand and trust people that are different. The metaphor extends to organizations and institutions as well, just look at the US banking sector and various governments' reactions to the global recession.

But I digress... the reason this topic came to mind is far more recent and hits closer to home. Over the last month, a South African trade union (COSATU) attempted to block the public listing of SA's most prominent mobile telecommunications provider (Vodacom). Their public reasoning for this action was to prevent British company Vodafone from acquiring a controlling stake in Vodacom, because they feared that a foreign company would have no reason to care about South African employment, concerning themselves with profit margins instead, and jobs would be lost as a result. In an environment when job losses are almost inevitable, they had no concern about South African controlled Vodacom shedding jobs, but once a foreign country had control they FEARED job losses.

It appears however, that the true reasons for COSATU's (who are firm political allies of the ANC) actions actually make even less sense. It turns out that prominent members of a rival political party (COPE) stood to gain substantially from the R22.6 billion deal's success. So the actual motivation for blocking the listing of Vodacom was to prevent these individuals from making money that could end up in the coffers of COPE. To me, this reasoning is astounding. They were so afraid of money flowing towards a rival political party that they tried to block a massive R22.6 billion deal. Not only that, but they managed to persuade the supposedly 'independent' regulatory body to reverse their earlier decision and object to the listing as well! 

The big issue here, is that if COSATU had succeeded, it would have been a significant blow to an economy already in recession. Without boring you with economic details, South Africa depends on foreign cash flows to finance a substantial deficit in our current account (imports minus exports). A successful action by COSATU would have resulted in significantly reduced investor confidence, most likely resulting in seriously diminished capital flows into SA. Something that would have hurt South African workers as a whole substantially more than most people realise. The same South African workers, whose interests COSATU claims to represent. 

The Times They Are a-Changin'

This blog post has been insipired by my sudden realisation of how quick things are changing around me, and my reluctancy to let go of some things I naively thought would never change. Ok, who am I kidding, I always knew life would change, just not so quickly.

Bob Dylan sang it in 1964, but it's one of those timeless songs that'll make sense in any one of our lives at some point or the other even to this day... The times they are-a changin'

Hmmm, where to start? 

It's wierd, I'd think the change from varsity to working life would be an immediate shock, but it wasn't, I settled in Ok, it's just now that I start to realise how things have progressed over a year and a half. But work is work, I'm actually more startled at coming to grips with the fact that I'm growing older, and so is everything else I'm familiar with.

A catalyst for this would be that a number of my close friends getting engaged/married (or planning to -you know who you are!). I never thought about it that hard, but when you see people you relate to do it, kinda puts it in perspective... The times they are-a changin'

But its not just that my generation is moving on thats hard to deal with, so are the other generations. Talking to some friends over the past week, the common feeling was how we're trying to resist the fact that our folks are getting older. Again, it's common sense, the circle of life, it's inevitable, but it hits you hard on the head and knocks you out cold when you realise it, to quote directly from the song, "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't crticize what you can't understand, your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, your old road is rapidly ageing. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand for the times they are-a changin'

Don't even get me started at the 'kids', we're all looking at the little pipsqeaks growing up with slightly jealous eyes, sigh...

There's hardly any point fighting it (although I've heard five unique requests for time machines to take us back to standard 6 and below over the past month from friends). I'm not fighting it, just maybe seeking some solace in that I'm not alone in this yearning for our lost youth.

That said, woot woot! we're growing older! Finally! 

Our future will be defined by our actions now. Somewhat daunting, but at the same time exhilarating, I've always seeked for approval from elders with regards to decisions I make, yet I've made plenty recently on my own, no worries... The added responsibility is sometimes scary but at most times (so far anyway) awesome.

And that really is the key. Now is our time, the changing of the guard if you will.

We really have to embrace the change because as hard as it is to move on, to quote from Bob Dylan one last time then, "you better start swimmin or you'll sink like a stone... for the times they are a-changin"

Indeed they are... I wonder what brotha thinks of it all

Brotha's IQ is 175! What's yours?

Brotha laughs in the face of these ridiculous IQ ads that have been popping up all over the internet like weeds. The modus operandi appears to require a well known person, a fictional IQ score and a tease line to make you want to prove that you are smarter than the person pictured. With ads like the one below, I can't decide if I should laugh or cry.

Now despite the fact that an IQ of 110 (which is regarded as above average) seems rather generous in this case, the more important point is... WHO THE HELL CARES? 

Sadly this IQ test 'idea' has turned out to be a rather profitable one for advertisers (no doubt due to individuals with sub-100 IQs who keep clicking on these ads hoping to improve their score... the irony of it all) and it appears we'll have to tolerate it for some time yet. These ads have made appearances in various languages, some are bizzare, some have been altered in sick attempts at humour, while others are just plain ridiculous (130? seriously? drop the 1 at least). 

Of course, knowing google ad's cruel sense of humour, there is probably an IQ ad flanking this post, no doubt with Britney's face attached. I can only hope that the readers resist the urge to prove that they have a higher intelligence quotient than a woman who shaved her head, was admitted to a mental institution and flashes her genetalia as a hobby. If you click on the ad, don't bother taking the test, I'll save you the trouble, she wins.

However, if you only take one thing away from this post, let it be this... Brotha's IQ is 175, can you beat that?

- wifi

PS: All the contributors here at 'Where is Brotha?!' have IQ scores of over 140. Can you beat them? Go on, Brotha dares you!

Fear the Cost!

For those of you non believers out there, who think that this whole Lacost thing is a joke, i give you the latest bit of proof that his force is indeed real:

"French fashion designer Pierre Cardin has been hospitalised with an undiagnosed ailment after falling ill at his home in the southern village of Lacoste."

It's no joke guys, Brotha fears Lacost!

The Cost

Thousands of years ago, a lazy young fellow (let's call him Timmy) decided that he'd had enough of foraging, fishing and hunting for his own food. This lad decided that he would instead take a nice shiny sea shell he'd found while he was lounging on the beach and exchange it with the guys next door for a share of the fruit of their hard labour. By doing so, though he didn't know it yet, Timmy had opened Pandora's Box.

For this innocent act set the ball rolling on the system we still use today of assigning some arbitrary value, or cost, to items and exchanging otherwise meaningless pieces of paper to effect a trade. One could extrapolate slightly and become convinced that his actions are directly responsible for the current economic crisis, pollution, global warming, swine flu and Britney Spears!

And yet I feel a special kinship with this ancestor of mine. He was simply trying to do as little as possible to get what he wanted. That is something I can fully appreciate. But I seem to have inherited not only Timmy's disposition, but also his knack for unintended consequences - usually involving some inconvenience to those around me.

A simple 15 minute drive from A to B might get me lost while trying a shortcut and take 45 minutes, while a friend who desperately needs to use the loo sits next to me; a friend doing me a favour by taking me to get my visa renewed spends 2 hours waiting for me to get to the front of the queue, only to then be told that it was the wrong queue; I spend all night preparing to give a seminar to my supervisor's class and then oversleep, making him talk for 45 minutes about something he really knows very little about. And these aren't isolated incidents. I think that if I were to ever meet Mr. Murphy - he of the eponymous Murphy's Law - he would marvel at the realisation of his philosophy in one individual.

So it is that I have come to be 'The Cost' or Lacost. And where my predecessor dealt in shells and copper, I deal in wasted time, pent up frustration and lost opportunities. And now it's time to take this show on the web!

- Lacost

PSA: Do you have swine flu?

Its official, animals are out to get us and have declared an outright war on humanity. It started as a pre-emtive strike with mad cow disease, evolved to something much more effective with bird flu and now the pigs are getting into the act with swine influenza (also referred to as SIV). For centuries mankind had thought that they could eat the flesh of animals without consequences, that there would be no response from their prey... well now the animal kingdom is pissed off and has decided to retaliate.

What's concerning, is the way the animals' tactics are evolving. The cows (not the smartest animals around) didn't fully understand the idea of an attack, engineering a disease that only spread through their dead flesh. Dumb idea; burgers taste way too good for us to care about a little mad cow. The birds had a much better idea, creating a contagious disease that spread easily for maximum effectiveness. Now the pigs have mutated two different flu strains together to create a 'super flu' that is fully airborne and released it in a country with high levels of tourism for maximum penetration into the human population. First beef, then poultry and now pork... how long until the sheep get tired of being violated by Australians and create an STD?

The key to victory in any given war is good intelligence and this war is no different. There are enemy spies amongst us and we mustn't be fooled by them! I speak of course of the evil vegetarians. These traitors have been turned by the animals (who utilized horrific methods to enlist them, such as their 'cuteness' and our sense of morality) and hide amongst us in plain sight, filling our heads with lies and propaganda. I'm sure at this point many of you are asking... what about vegans? Are they also spies? No, they are just retarded hippies.

Meanwhile, SIV spreads across the globe like wildfire, skittish investors are running scared and every Muslim and Jew I know is screaming 'I TOLD YOU SO!' But right now there is very little that we can do except exercise caution, as we wait for a vaccine to become available. Personally I'm convinced that the cure to SIV lies in the blood of vegetarians who appear magically immune to this latest barbaric attack. However one thing is clear, the animals are out for revenge, make no mistake about it.

My philosophy? If you can't beat them, eat 'em. In the words of the great Denny Crane: 'We're carnivores. When the pilgrims landed, first thing they did was eat a few Indians.'

First time voter!

On Wednesday I participated in my first ever election... OK maybe that isn't my ink stained thumb above (I am far too lazy to post a picture of my sexy digits), but rest assured that mine bears a similar mark of accomplishment.

Your first time is something you are not likely to ever forget. You know, you hear about it from those who have experienced it in the past, but they just can't prepare you for the emotions that wash over you the first time you are there yourself. Standing in line waiting to get in, the excitement and tension was palpable, I found myself jumping up and down on the spot uncontrollably. Then came the checking of credentials... a smile flickered across my face as the little machine beeped approvingly... everything was in order. The moment that I had been waiting for had almost arrived. Then, as it happened, something that had been welling up inside me seemed to explode and left this warm glowing feeling flowing throughout my body. Little did I know that Adam Gilchrist would hit a further four fabulous sixes on that magical Wednesday evening at Newlands and each time would feel almost as good as the first.

Oh the election? I had completed my duty as a citizen a couple hours earlier. It is said that after you vote in your country's national election, there is a sense of pride, joy and patriotism that overcomes you. A real feeling of accomplishment... yea I didn't feel any of that. The process was a completely soulless affair that took all of 20 minutes and left me feeling strangely empty inside. I'm sure that some of it had to do with the fact that the winner had been decided over a year before the election actually took place, at a location that most people can't even pronounce correctly, by a small group of politicians who may or may not have the best interests of the nation at heart.

Now I'm not into politics, not at all. I'll openly admit that some of my misgivings about our president elect are most likely based on prejudice (not all my misgivings however, that shower statement still cracks me up). I'll also congratulate the man on a victory well deserved (depending on your definition of the word), because I am honestly confident that he will do a decent job. I certainly do not feel any less patriotic towards this great country than I did on Tuesday. But that hollow feeling still remains...

I'll leave you with one last thought regarding these historical elections.

Were the elections free? Definitely. Were the elections fair? Sure. But was it a truly democratic process?

This is not London or Geneva—this is Africa!

"This is not London or Geneva - this is Africa!" - that's a quote from a Newsweek article I read in September about JZ and his inevitable rise to the presidency. 

I'm no expert on politics, I'm not gonna pretend to be but I think it's the first election I've ever bothered caring about (no, i wasn't a saffer hooked on obamamamamania) and decided that I must start paying more attention to SA politics.

Well election results are slowly coming in, the ANC's sitting at exactly 67% at the moment... 

We all knew that the ruling party was gonna do it again, it's just a  question of 2/3rds or not.

Anyway, I read the Newsweek article again and I think it's worth a read. The gist of it is that despite the negative perception of jz (for many reasons), chances are that he will be able to do a good job (and he's preparing pretty well for his new role). 

Now whoever reads this must understand, I'm not sitting on the fence on this one, I registered to vote and if I was in SA, I would have, and chances are that it wasn't gonna be ANC. 

But I'm one of those people who are always optimistic for SA. (I've met some haters who are not willing to give SA a chance, looking for the first door out, but c'mon! its home! I also keep meeting saffers in aus who cringe at even the thought of SA, this makes me sad, but alas, I guess everyone has their reasons...)

Regardless of what any of us stand for politically, we must embrace the fact that SA's come a long long way in 15 years (besides Juius, he's just speshul), and i think - no, i BELIEF! that things will get better and that future is in the hands of the ANC (this isn't blind faith, if u read the article and listen carefully u'll probably see that there's method to the perceived madness of jz). I hope he proves all the haters wrong, and justifies the faith his supporters (about 7 in every 10 south africans) have in him.

 

erm, viva! :P

So it begins...

Ah, the mandatory introductory post, are you excited?

Well of course you aren't. I mean, who the hell are we? What kinda stupid name is that for a blog? What in the heavens have we done to deserve your attention? Are we even good looking enough for you to give a shit about our opinions? Why is my English so bad? I for one have never blogged before in my life (this would be me losing my blog cherry) and I've never really cared for blogging in the past (more on that later). In fact, if more than a handful of people ever read this, I would be extremely surprised.

But those who agree with the above sentiments have missed the whole point! Contrary to popular opinion, the purpose of a blog shouldn't be to attract as many hits as possible, but rather to create something unique that at least, if all else fails, adds something small to the plethora of information and collective wisdom that is the internet.

The authors of this blog have known each other for a number of years, have been through thick and thin and shared a lifetime's worth of laughs together (and continue to do so). But more importantly, we are four highly ridiculous personalities (with numerous quirks) that could hardly be more dissimilar. Great intellectuals, fabulous senses of humour, fantastic writing skills, charming personalities and fantastic asses - all of these we have none :) However, if among the four of us you don't find someone who makes you laugh/mad/think/randy then there is no hope for you whatsoever. Please proceed to your nearest medical research institute and submit yourself for human experimentation, perhaps then future generations will derive use from you :P

This blog, born out of 2am boredom, is unlikely to rock your world, but my hope is that you will return from time to time for a laugh (or the inevitable politically incorrect rant by yours truly).

So it begins...

- wifi

confidence!

Those of you that know me know that I'm quite a big fan of sports, 3 in particular: soccer, cricket and f1. I also have a habit of shouting for teams in those respective sports that are particularly frustrating to support. Unbeatable on their day, mediocre on others - Arsenal, McLaren and India.

That said, perhaps the secret of my taste in teams is the fact that I like the underdog or as I sometimes put it, "I live on the pain".

Arsenal's had a strange season so far, horrible for the 1st 3rd, awesome in the middle, now looking slightly unstable on the home stretch... excuses on our countless injuries aside, I still have some hope for us, maybe something is still salvageable from the season. Atleast we've managed to get some respect and belief back tho... 3 games against man u (incl champs league SF) and one against chelsea are the remaining spotlight games of the season, so there'll be more to come from me on those games no doubt.

India's been doing well of late, so I can only assume there's gonna be a big downturn in form (touch wood) come when it's needed - ie WC 2011. lacost -DON'T COST!

McLaren, eish don't get me started. but its still looking like the best season of f1 in a long long time (even tho last two years were amazing with the WDC decided by 1 point, the unpredictability of it all in 2009 and the impending return of the big teams later in the season makes it an awesome prospect!)

Anyway I was up at 5am today to catch the Arsenal Liverpool game, hot daym! 4-4, i couldn't belief! you can read the match report wherever, but I honestly haven't enjoyed a soccer game or and individual performance (ARShavin!) so much in a long time! shite defence from both sides helped, but go check out the highlights, lotsa fun!

I'd probably say something about the IPL and the buzz, but I'll leave that to the others who're actually experiencing it live, in aus theres not much happening wrt IPL, aus is such a fail for live sports, GMT +10 means I miss pretty much everything besides live AFL (aussie football rules) and local rugby games... shmeh =/ (as i say that I see live coverage of aus vs pakistan starting now from dubai, shmeh I think I'd rather watch simpsons reruns on Fox 8 thanks)

anyway, with my usual optimism for all my teams- let em go and own!

I'm quite confidence ^_^

a 2AM miracle

It has been about 3 years since the blog title pic was drawn up (mad graffiti skillz! although lacost might disagree), all in the spirit of random inside jokes between friends.

Gone are those varsity days at UCT but we still manage to keep in touch, I’m proposing to change the term MTV-generation to Generation Google. As sad as it may seem that google and the interweb in general makes up our major form of comms these days, what can I say, it’s easy… It just works (to quote a certain Apple Mac lover i know).

I always felt the idea of blogging wouldn’t suit me, I read a couple of blogs daily, but in terms of me writing one, I always felt that I wouldn’t be capable of keeping it up. I’d get lazy and there’re only so many people that’d give a shit about the happenings in my life and how I choose to express them.

Er, back to google, so we set up a group chat on gtalk and we crossed the topic of blogging… whereisbrotha contributor lacost has a rotting blog last updated ages ago (I’d refer you to it, but I figure no one wants to see a personal movie preview for Beowulf).

Maybe it was the 2am pre-voting air that got everyone thinking that it’d be a good idea to get one going (mind you it wasn’t’ 2am for me, I was busy looking for reasons to procrastinate at the office here in Sydney -10am).

Anyway, we figure that it might be an interesting read.

The fact that we all wanna rant and rave about different things will add some variety to the mix. I think u'll find that between wifi, lacost, jedi and me, we'll cover quite a bit.

Plus, in my case atleast, because I’m not doing this for myself alone, maybe I’ll care and put some effort into keeping it going. (hmm, sounds a lot like the effort I put into cooking then). So here we go, enjoy!

Where is BROTHA?!

The fundamental question that this blog aims to address is "Where is BROTHA?". Now this might seem perplexing to some of you, but fear not, the above rendition by our very own Ice sheds much light on this issue. Further exploring the unpredictable turns of this moebius strip of a conumdrum are Wifi and Jedi. Now just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!

- Lacost