SA Rocks

What a fantastic advert that I just picked up from Jason.

The advert is a social experiment that was put together to illustrate how people in a community tolerate domestic violence but don’t tolerate noise abuse.

[if you can't view the video on SA Rocks, click here]

Popularity: 9% [?]

Yesterday I had a massive craving for good old, simple, fish and chips.

Good thing I live in Cape Town. I sent out a tweet to get some suggestions for places to go to get the best fish and chips in Cape Town.

I ended up choosing Snoekies in Hout Bay. This is a fish and chips shop that takes me way back to being a little kid. The fish was absolutely exquisite. I went with the Snoek and chips. Fresh with some of the best batter I’ve ever tasted.

Hopefully I’ll be trying out some of the other suggestions below and blogging about them too.

Here were the responses:

Popularity: 10% [?]

I am a bit slow on the uptake with this incredible campaign headed up by Primedia (Who are doing some amazingly pro-SA things).

Lead SA is a call to action for all South Africans to stand up and Lead South Africa by being a real part of the solution.

From the website:

… [Lead SA] aims to highlight the achievements of the nation and celebrate the efforts of ordinary South Africans who continually seek to do the right thing for themselves, for their families and for their country.
Lead SA encourages individuals to stand up and accept responsibility for the challenges they face. The Lead SA initiative is a long term project that is set to be rolled out over the next few years. Through the small steps of individuals the nation will improve and prosper.

How do they plan to do this?

As a South African, you have the resilience and passion needed to change the nation. It may seem like a huge responsibility and an impossible task, but it’s certainly achievable if you choose to simply do the right thing. Together we can achieve immeasurable success.
Here are a few simple ways to become a proactive leader:

1. Stand up for what’s right. If you’ve had a glass too many, let a designated driver take you home.
2. Stand up to corruption. Don’t bribe.
3. Stand up for morality. Report crime.
4. Stand up for your community. Get to know your neighbours.
5. Stand up against indifference. Take an interest in those around you.
6. Stand up for free speech. Listen to the other side.
7. Stand up for your future. Respect the environment.
8. Stand up for education. Read to your children.
9. Help instead of Hinder. Say yes when asked to do a favour, don’t look for excuses.
10. Acknowledge goodness. When you have something good to say, say it.

The above 10 instructions are things that I have been banging on about for years and it’s great to finally see a big media organisation jumping in to potential solutions and pushing an attempt at change.

This is the promotional video from the website:

Popularity: 12% [?]

I discovered Wozela through a tweet from Darren Gorton recently.

Wozela is a blog that attempts to discover what seems like an endless amount of uses for the infamous Vuvuzela. I think that the site is fantastic and love the concept of taking the hundreds of thousands of Vuvu’s sold across the globe and doing more with them.

Here are a few examples:

Vuvu Wickets

Vuvu Light

Vuvu Kitchen Utensils

Popularity: 8% [?]

It is official and officially out of the bag; I’ve moved to Cape Town.

Now there is no more of a concrete reason to this move than a lifestyle change and the beginnings of a new business.

The move to Cape Town was not a difficult decision to make, let’s be honest it’s Cape Town.

Have a look at some of the scenery that I am privileged to view almost every day now that I have moved down to the Slaapstad:

Images courtesy of Gregor Rohrig

I’m hoping to now be more inspired to take photographs, blog more often and begin to explore the Western Cape more intensely and diligently.

Popularity: 8% [?]

This video was filmed in 1962. What a fantastic find. I first watched it over at OpenCulture

So Don over at Joblog blogged about a very cool (however idealistic) concept that caught his eye. Reward-if-found is based on the thought/theory that humans might be inherently kind and giving and don’t want to find stuff and keep it (commonly known as theft).

Basically you put a Reward-if-found sticker on your possessions – as pictured below – and if you lose something the person that finds it can simply SMS the number on the sticker to locate the you, the rightful owner of the lost possession.

Here’s a little chat Don had with Steve English who developed the system:

Don: “This can’t obviously replace insurance, ‘cos not everyone is a good person.”

Steve: “RICA enforces all cellphone numbers to be attached to a specific person with all of their details. Should someone want to take a chance like that, the owner can contact us and we will go the legal route, bringing in lawyers and the Police, because we have their details and they can be found.”

So if you are interested in testing out humanity on the off chance that you lose a prizes possession, pop over to Reward-if-found for more information on how things work, what you can do and where to go to get started!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Not only did the 2010 FIFA World Cup rock my world, it rocked South Africa, Africa and the entire world. That might seem like a sweeping statement however last nights match was apparently viewed by close to 3bn people the world over. Massive, massive, massive.

The opening ceremony was incredible as was the closing ceremony last night. But before I climb in to the praise and ask for some public apologies let me run through my World Cup experience.

I went to 4 live games. I attend 4 different stadiums. I partook in 2 different fanparks and visited many, many pubs over the World Cup Month.

The matches I saw

My first game was Denmark vs Cameroon at Loftus. The tickets to that game were provided to me by Brand South Africa and they kicked off my World Cup in serious style. I parked at Hatfield square in Pretoria, devoured a MASSIVE pizza at Cheeky’s pub and then walked up to the stadium. This was also the first time I’d been to Loftus so I was really getting the full experience.

On arrival I kept asking where exactly I should be going until eventually i was pointed towards the closed of section that encased gate 5. Gate 5 provides the entrance and exit for the box seats at Loftus. Yes, you are correct. My first experience of the world cup was in the warmth, comfort and style of box Loftus seats.

Here are some photos:

The second game I went to was the match between Greece and Argentine in Polokwane. The stadium is fantastic, there is very, very little to do around the stadium and that was the day that South Africa beat France. We watched that game at the Fanpark in Polokwane which was jam-packed with supporters.

Alas Greece did not win but I was able to see the great Argentinian team play:

The third game was an incredible experience that I will never forget and it’s all with thanks to a fantastic friend of mine!

Soccer City – the most incredible stadium I went to with the most amazing crowd and vibe. I was fortunate enough to be given VIP tickets to the Argentina vs Mexico Round 16 game. What an experience; the food, the seats and the experience were second to none. On top of that I was able to see incredible football played by both Mexico and Argentina but ultimately Argentina went through.

The Soccer City experience:

And then there was trusty Ellis Park and the Brazil vs Chile Round 16 game. It’s always a pleasure watching the greatest football nation in the world kick around the leather (or Jabulani as it’s known these days).

Here’s a couple pics:

The Apologies

I want to know if the good Editors over in that lovely Island commonly known as England are forcing their staff (read: Naysayers) to throw together some quick apologies? I doubt it. The best revenge is to live well, I was told once. Let’s be honest as South Africans we need nothing more than to let the world see – as they have – how well we have done in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We ROCKED it, we were given the opportunity to show the world how fantastic our nation is and we grasped it with both hands and ran with it one foot in front of the next.

Personally I would like to see more people thanking Danny Jordaan and his incredible team for their hard work over a period of more than 6 years. They deserve as much credit as they can take in and they now deserve a break; A long and well-deserved vacation.

The Glory

Finally South Africa is not being seen the world over as the nation that overcame Apartheid. That is a great achievement to be known for and I am proud of my history but in the past 30 days (read: 6 years) we’ve been building towards changing the perception of the world. Hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup I truly feel that our nation can finally feel like we can bask in the glory of a job well done. We were great hosts as individuals, as towns, cities, provinces and as a nation. We partied hard, we played hard, we worked hard and we definitely supported this world cup like no event before it!

I am incredibly excited to see the nation finally jumping on the SA Rocks bandwagon, it’s taken about 3 years and over 1000 blog posts to get to where we are (Oh yes, and the World Cup!) but here we are. A proud nation. I am a proud South African yet again.

The Reality

The truth of this country is a simple one; We like to bitch, moan and look at the dark lining of silver clouds. And that’s where we’re headed. We’re headed in to the hangover period after one helluva party. It’s going to be tough and let me preempt the naysayers before they have the chance to chime in: There are many, many, many problems in this country that the world cup did not solve. There was a lot of money spent on the World Cup that could have been spent on building houses or hiring more police. That is all true. But nothing would have unified a nation like a World Cup. Nothing.

One foot in front of the next, that is how you walk down the road, one foot in front of the next. We start building a nation and the nation will help build itself.

Here are most of the photos from my World Cup experience. A big thanks to Brand South Africa and you-know-who for the tickets I was very fortunate to be given!

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The answer is a resounding “Yes”!

If you can’t view the video above click here to go directly to the video.

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This website: http://keepflyingtheflag.co.za has been shared a lot over the web in the last few days. So I thought it’s worth sharing with my readers.

Have a look at the nice little sentiments portrayed on the site and have a look at the logo they are asking people to spread:

You can download the pack of graphics from the site or HERE.

Popularity: 6% [?]