South Africa Rocks

Nelson Mandela’s First Television interview [video]

Nic Haralambous — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:47:16 +0000

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

Mandela always commanded respect with the way he spoke, the authority he spoke with and the determination on his face. It is incredible to think how far things have progressed in the 48 years since the above interview.

On an aside, it is quite startling to me to note how little journalistic filming techniques have developed in the past 48 years.Similar Posts:

67 Minutes and Joburg Child Welfare

Nic Haralambous — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:53:05 +0000

I decided that to honour Nelson Mandela’s 92nd Birthday I would use my 67 minutes to continue building my door for Joburg Child Welfare. What began as 67 minutes turned in to an entire day affair that involved absolutely no television, absolutely no laptop, movies, internet browsing or anything distracting that involved a screen and isolation.

Instead, I turned on the radio, listened to music and sat and did my door.

Basically on completion, the door will be taken back by Joburg Child Welfare and auctioned off to raise money for them. I’ve joined 100 other people who were selected to create artwork from doors!

I’ve had a significant amount of help from Jennifer Wynne so she definitely needs to receive specific mention here. She has done much of the grunt work, design work and assistance in making sure I stick to my guns and get what I need done.

Here are a few photos:

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Reward-if-found

Nic Haralambous — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:06:44 +0000

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: “It’s not an insurance replacement, it’s relying on the goodwill of your fellow South Africans. Insurance companies are interested in this because they see their customers’ claims being reduced significantly.”

Don: “So can’t I just stick something I made myself on my possessions and hope people will phone me?”

Steve: “Of course you could, people do already (like on their luggage), but the service which is easy to use by sending one SMS or logging on to the site is a guarantee to get the original owner in contact with you, and the name suggests you’ll be rewarded, which is only fair.”

Don: “But what if someone holds my laptop ransom and demands a lot more than the reward I want to offer them?”

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!

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Soccer World Cup Final Fireworks

Nic Haralambous — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:15:20 +0000

Found this video on Youtube from a fans perspective at Soccer City at the final game after Spain were crowned champions of the world.

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BBC’s 2010 World Cup Closing Montage

Nic Haralambous — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:22:43 +0000

This video gives me insane nostalgia and fantastic goosebumps. The memories are still fresh in my mind but will definitely last a lifetime for me as I am sure they will for many South Africans.

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South Africa ROCKED The 2010 FIFA World Cup

Nic Haralambous — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:35:46 +0000

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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Isochronous – Oxygen [Music Video]

Nic Haralambous — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:26:16 +0000

Local SA band, Isochronous has just released a new music video. The video is directed by a good friend of mine, Fausto Becatti. Loving the Cinematography and the sound this band produces is surprising at first and then incredibly listenable. Great work to all involved.

If you want to know more about Fausto and his mad directing skills, drop me an e-mail and I’ll put you in touch!

Click here to go directly to the video if you can’t see the above video.Similar Posts:

The Vuvuzela – Will it blend?

Nic Haralambous — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:37:36 +0000

The answer is a resounding “Yes”!

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

Play that Vuvuzela now!

Jack Parow’s single – I Miss [Video + Lyrics]

Nic Haralambous — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:15:23 +0000

Jack Parow really seems to have a knack for getting in the head of society (my society/generation at least) and exploiting what’s on their minds.

Here’s the new Parow song:

I particularly like the references to Teenage Ninja Turtles, Dinoryders and Freddy and Jason.

And now here are the lyrics:

I miss two tone clothes from Andre Carl
I miss fokken early monday morning skoolsaal
I miss the parties when my parents where gone
I miss the days when the booze was still strong

I miss those hip high fullsuite bikinis
I miss mickey mouse shirts and polkadot minis
I miss the original indiana jones merch
I miss the duck from fokken telefun quiz
I miss early morning kaalvoet rugby
I miss kfc when it was still called kentucky
I miss days when i thought movies were real
I miss my ouma sitting reading danielle steel
I miss the first childs play and jurassic park
I miss jake the snake, gold dust and owen heart
I miss it and freddy and jason volies
I miss sneaking down the to tv and watching late night movies

bad old pussycat
whole day long
by the power of greyskull
ghostbusters

I miss the students seats at newlands rugby park
I miss sleeping with the lights on because im scared at the dark
I miss leon schuster when he was still taking the piss
I miss screaming province with my hand in a fist
I miss doing cut and paste projects for school
I miss pollyotters and having braais by the pool
I miss Dinoryders, Bravestar and Bionic Six
I miss Cheers, Arende, Who’s the Boss and Wings
I miss puzzles with mom and playing with play dough
tell me “where in the world is carmen sandiego”
I miss giving girls lifts home on my poegie
I miss the days in Marc’s car of just smoking and cruising
I miss the A Team and Murder She Wrote
I miss the days when I was still kak scared to smoke
I miss the days when special effects were hand made
when Francios Pienaar still played rugby and didn’t eat Lays

There’s so much I miss from the old days
There’s so much that I learnt from the old ways
Another kid fokken raised by the 80′s
Kytie Kytie, jy was nie net n mytie
I was raise by girls in outfits and kop doeke
kaal bolyf, kla oortyd en kaal fokken voete
Dallas, Dynasty en Agter elke man
Kringe innie bos en Ballade vir n enkeling
Voortrekker camps and CSV kampe
Mufasa, Aladin, Bambi and Thumper
Klei lat, Swart Kat and self-built tree houses
no shoes, no worries, play holes in my trousers
there’s a lot of good things that happened back then
but I cant keep going on about way back when
so that’s enough of that, no way no how..
Cause I’ll miss all the shit that im doing right now

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Gillooly’s Interchange construction and completion

Nic Haralambous — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:58:31 +0000

It is quite phenomenal to see that the bridge was assembled and then sort of slid over to connect with the other side of the road. Wow. Gillooly’s is apparently known to be the busiest interchange in the Southern Hemisphere so this is quite an achievement for the engineers and teams involved.

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