SA Rocks

I love the idea of MG’s list of 300 young South Africans you must take to lunch.

Mail & Guardian have, for some reason, taken it upon themselves to create a list of 300 young South Africans you have to take for lunch.

It is not an enviable task by any means. Someone is always going to point out that you missed some or other person out, it’s the nature of a list! I think MG does a sterling job and I think Elan also composed himself a great little list of people who should be considered for the list next year.

But this year I was fortunate enough to be added to the list of 300. Initially I paged through the Media section of the list and realised that I wasn’t there. I found myself buried in the Technology section. I think this depicts the progress of my career and illustrates the choices I’ve made in a very accessible way. I am no longer a man working to be heard in the media.

My insert read as follows:

Nic Haralambous; project manager; social media; Vodacom

From the get go, it’s obvious that Nic Haralambous is deeply in love with multimedia. The 24-year old attributes his preference for online over print media to his view of the internet as the more “democratic communication” medium.
Proactive is probably the best word to describe him. “Don’t bitch and moan, give solutions,” he says. It appears to be his mantra.
After hearing a speech by Bob Geldof on television in 2005, he booked a ticket to Edinburgh for the next day, where he rocked up with his film camera to photograph the G8 summit and he was beaten by riot police.
Haralambous has written and shot for the Sunday Times, designed websites for Financial Mail and managed blogspots for the Mail & Guardian. He also started up the website SA Rocks and recently moved from general manager of the social media website, Zoopy, to Vodacom. — Ilham Rawoot

Lunch spot: Plaka, Illovo, Johannesburg

I am joined on the list by Saul, Vincent, Vinny, Jason, Mike, Charl and many more deserving people. The youth in this country are here to stay and make a difference.

The list of categories is extensive and ranges from Technology to Media and Law to Sport amongst other great categories. So head over to Mail&Guardian and read the entire list, take your pick, call them up and set up a lunch meeting with one of the incredible 300 young South Africans on the list. Do it. I dare you.

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I actually watched almost all of the Bafana Bafana vs New Zealand Confederations Cup match last night.

I was impressed (which is why I watched most of the game) with the skill of the players on our team. I was impressed that we could score goals. Scoring goals has been a major issue of ours over the past few years. It seems we have found the net, eventually.

I was incredibly impressed with our defensive line. Booth, the man is massive and a towering figure (who occasionally needs to get in to the box and head the ball a bit more often) who holds up the defense brilliantly. Our midfield came to the party and fed brilliant ball to the striker and star of the evening, Bernard Parker, who put away two great goals and should’ve had more.

Personally I felt that Steven Pienaar was the man of the match (and also a member of my team, Everton, in the English Premier League). He played out of his boots, was aggressive and practical when feeding and holding on to the ball.

All in all a great performance rewarded with a 2-0 victory. Sadly the All Whites were yet again beaten and will probably be knocked out of the Confederations cup. Oh well.

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It is official; the 2010 World Cup will be in South Africa is a few days less than 1 year. The biggest sporting event in the world is on its way to SA and President Zuma helped kick off the countdown.

Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town was the venue and all the relevant dignitries were in attendance:

This is a great Zille-Zuma moment after a very aggressive election campaign from both parties. Nice to see the two top politicians in SA doing their professional bit in front of the press.

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Picked up on a great campaign that Zoopy is supporting. Anti-Piracy.

Have a look at the video:

And there are a couple of others that you can see here too:

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I attended an event yesterday that was celebratory in nature. It was celebrating 300 young South Africans, hosted by Mail&Guardian.

It started off well enough until the keynote speaker stood up to talk.

Prince Mashele stood up and looked relatively unassuming. Little did we know we were in for a shock. His talk was well timed, well delivered and was perfectly placed for the right target market sitting in front of him.

This was his overbearing message:

Where were you and what did you do when South Africa began to degenerate?

So I ask you this question: Where were you and what did you do when South Africa began to degenerate?

I know where I am and what I’m doing. How about you?

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This is the sort of comment that I get on a daily basis on this blog:

You’re a self-hating k***** lover, and I hope you enjoy watching your grandmother getting raped by a black AIDS-infested beast you Communist piece of shit..

Yes, this sort of person still exists in society.

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I am not sure what the origin of the below passage is, however it is interesting to consider. This is not the reality for many, many South Africans, I know. And I am also quite sure I am going to be blasted for posting this but I think it’s an interesting way to look at things:

We have spoken on many an occasion of the fact that violent crime in South Africa (or certainly a very high percentage of it), occurs between people who know each other. Rowing spouses, drunken siblings, jilted lovers, angry teenagers, disgruntled staff, unhappy colleagues. Murders between people who know each other account for 82% of all our countries murders. 18% of our nation’s murders happen as a result of hijacking, or broadly speaking, ‘robbery’.

So, here’s the good news. If we live in peace, good-will, charity, fairness, generosity and in a way that resolves conflict speedily and satisfactorily with our staff, family and those we know, we have roughly a 0.007% chance of being murdered in a ‘random’ attack by a stranger.

Let’s put this in context so we can appreciate comparatively how small our chances are of being murdered:

– You are 300 times more likely to die in a car accident
– You are 15000 times more likely to die of smoking related disorders (if you smoke)

But get this….you are over twice as likely to commit suicide.

So much rather stop smoking than emigrate – we are safer living here than puffing in Perth – if we live right.

If you do know where this came from, please let me know so I can add in the correct references.

PS: I’m a smoker.

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Yesterday I decided to take Rich Mulholland and Don Packett up on a trip to somewhere in Krugersdorp to go Freeboarding. Basically you mimic snowboarding on a skateboard, on tar. It was a blast.

It was a blast, up until a plane crashed about 200m from where I was freeboarding. The plane narrowly missed Mike Stopforth and Craig Rodney but freakishly did not miss the Toyota Hilux being driven by Monica Braganca. Monica did incredibly well to keep the Hilux on the road and make sure that everyone in the car was almost completely unharmed. Anna Vaulina was also inside the car and was unharmed.

Those of us who saw it happen ran toward the plane. It had caught fire so we decided to go in to the wreckage and help the pilot and passenger out.

The full story is over at The Times. Read it for more detail.

There are photos and tweets all over the show. You can head over to Craig, Mike, Rich, Ricc, Don, PureRush, Nick, Monica or Anna for their tweets and photos.

I am so incredibly proud of the friends I have that were there. Monica needs a personal mention for keeping her head and doing an incredible job of reacting effectively to a head-on collision with a plane.

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It’s been ten years in the making but South Africa have finally won the IRB Sevens Series.

The final pool standings looked as follows:

South Africa finished on 132 points, Fiji were second on 102, England ended with 98, fourth-placed New Zealand had 88, Argentina 68, and sixth-placed Kenya 64.

South Africa finished the season with victories in Dubai, George, and Adelaide, while England won in Wellington and London, Fiji took victory in Hong Kong and Edinburgh, and Argentina won in San Diego.

SA also reached the final of the Cup in Hong Kong and Edinburgh, the semi-finals of the Cup competitions in San Diego and London, and won the Plate competition in Wellington.

South Africa have played consistent rugby and took the overall points championship in the tournament. This off the back of the Bulls victory in the Super 14 Final.

Hat-tip to southafrica.info and SA Rugby for the photo. for the heads up.

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I am a big fan of local brands, that’s no secret. But My friends and I are dedicated Hansa fans. Our golf tours feature golf shirts with Hansa promises and Hansa joy. We love us a good Hansa.

We still aren’t particularly convinced by Marzen Gold, the newly added Hansa. However Hansa Marzen Gold is winning prizes that will surely convert the doubtful.

The beer has officially won high acclaim in the International Taste and Quality Institute’s prestigious International Taste Quality Awards. The beer was awarded a three star Superior Taste Award for 2009, the highest rating available to any given brand, indicative of ‘Exceptional products with 90% and more of the total marks’. Hansa Marzen Gold is the only South African product to have won a Superior Taste Award at this year’s ITQI’s.

The ITQI’s are wholly unbiased, and products are tested blindly, with no packaging or identification so they are judged fairly without any preconceptions. Judges are selected from the foremost European culinary and sommeliers associations and, according to the Taste Institute, products are evaluated ‘on their individual merits and don’t compete against each other’.

Fantastic news for South African beer and Hansa in particular.

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