I love TV

This weekend was good, if only for one reason. On saturday, while browsing through a fellow traders wares, I noticed a folder titled '24', I've just finished watching season 4, and have recently discovered that Unlce Sam is already airing Season 5. With broadband recently introduced into my third world, why dont I have it yet?

So with much doubt and scepticism (yes I do consider these to be different) I double clicked... '24 s05e01' read the file, magic!! Season 5, the first 8 episodes. Right click, copy, click on my C:\, right click, paste, I've got it! Okay, thanks you can go now.

Out of all 97 episodes I've watched, I have to say that the first episode of Season 5 is mind blowing, Jack Bauer returns... obviously, to a far more exciting landscape than any of the previous seasons. I'm not going to say anymore as I hate it when people spoil things for me, but go watch it, its brilliant!

The Non-Fictional Jaws

This may be old news to any Australian reading this, but after the cyclone Larry appeared all over Sky news this morning, I googled Brisbane trying to find out if it had been affected, apparently not. But what I did find, was an interesting story about a recent shark attack in Brisbane.

In no way do I mean to be insensitive to the victim, but did you know that the site of the attack 'Amity point' shares its name with the fictional setting in Spielbergs epic Jaws? That’s just an accident waiting to happen.

The woman attacked, was savaged by not just one, but several bull sharks who during mating season are apparently extremely aggressive.

“If we found them I suppose we would try to retrieve them and see if they have any body parts," said Queensland police inspector Ray Harding
Do you think this guy’s watched Jaws one too many times?

Freaky Dreams

Havent had one of these far ages, but last night seemed to make up for the recent lack of bad dreams.

Please feel free to comment and gove your insight on this one.

I cant remember quite where this dream started, but what I do remember is this damn dog! It somewhat resembled a sausage dog, but was red, and I dont mean like a natural dog fur red, I mean like a burning flame in hell red! This dog was crimson, and instead of normal dog eyes, this things eyes were checkered, red and black, with figure 8 balls in the middle of each red block. To say this dog looked menacing would be an understatement, but apparently I was the only one who could see it! No one would look at its eyes, treating me as crazy, and the crimson red fure didtn seem to bug them either. I think it was more about the lack of belief in me than the actual weirdness of the dog that bugged me. If it was a normal dog and I was just looking for attention then sure, ignore me, I'd do the same thing. But this thing was oozing evil, and nobody could see it.

Ah, another memory just got released to me, I was trying to kill it too. I remember trying to rip its jaw open in the same way that King Kong makes easy work of the T-rex in that recent pile of CG trash by Peter Jackson.

If I had to analyse this thing, this is how I would see it: I saw a copy of King Kong on a friends HDD yesterday so theres the connection betweeen the jaw ripping. We recently got a puppy... with teeth like needles, and I tend to call this thing 'a little demon' more often than not, as it thinks biting the back of your ankles is going to put a smile on your face, so theres a possible connection to the object being a dog. As for the crimson fur? & black and red checkered eye balls? I have no idea.

You’re Crazy Mr Danger!

Now read that title again, but now say it the way Dayne would, ‘Craaazy’, yeah so anyways. Apparently Hugo Chavez, president and ‘liberator’ of Venezuela has nicknamed George Bush as Mr Danger. Is he far off the mark? I don’t think so, and as much as I sympathise with the battle Chavez has with the USA, I still find myself questioning his policies from time to time. Since taking up presidency in Venezuela a few years ago Chavez has made it his personal mission to antagonize the US, and not be bullied by Uncle George, but rather do the bullying himself. His most recent attack on the US government was to mock its foreign policy by calling it ‘Crazy!’ His cries do not go unjustified, as just days after making a diplomatic proposition to mend frayed ties, the US Secretary of State labelled his government as one of the region's biggest dangers. Typical, when will the US learn?

I know we’re supposed to think that any opposition to Georgy boy is a good thing, but there is still much internal conflict in Venezuela. Like always, the poor, or working class if you prefer have given Chavez their full support, while the rich, or upper class have opposed just about everything Chavez stands for. Both have their reasons, my opinion is that the rich don’t like him because he looks after the poor, which means that more money is spent on development than what they’re happy with. One of the first policies the former soldier introduced after being elected more than seven years ago, was to cut down on oil trading with the USA and use more of its own oil for itself. Chavez even threatened to cut off its oil supply to Mr Danger. But why should the US worry about Venezuela’s oil supply? Because they’re the worlds 4th largest oil provider, that’s why, and with Venezuela being practically on their doorstep surely it’s cheaper to transport?

Statistics show that Venezuela is exporting an estimated 3.3 million barrels of oil per day, and with an average price set around US$50 per barrel, you do the math.

Recently Chavez, an obvious leftist, has changed
the country’s national flag, or should I say made
minor adjustments, which have a major impact.
Chavez has changed the galloping white horse on
the coat of arms to face the left instead of the
right. With ideas like that, you have to love him.

Chavez is to South America what Thabo Mbeki is
to Africa, the only difference? Chavez is actually
getting things right. Keep an eye on this guy and
hope things keep going in the right direction for
Latin America.

Victory!

I'm not sure if its just me, or if most people take an active interest in their respective coutries politics. Recently South Africa had their local elections to decide who would control the different provinces. For the last few years the ANC (African National Congress) has had complete control of the country, not only at national but at local level as well. In my opinion theyve done nithing more than a rubbish job.

This wasnt always the case though, up until a few years ago the D.A. (Democratic Alliance) controlled the Western Cape (the province I live in) and the I.F.P. (Inkatha Freedom Party) controlled the Kwazulu Natal province (yes, as the name suggests, majority Zulu support), the other 7 provinces were controlled by the ANC.

The DA are considered the official opposition and a few years ago they noticed a clause in our constitution which they thought could be used to their benefit. They exploited this clause, but unfortunately it backfired. The clause was to do with the Floor crossing policy which hadnt been realised, what it meant was that even after I've casted my vote, there is a set time where members of parliament are allowed to 'cross the floor' to another party, and retain there seat. Hence increasing the size and power of the respective party. The DA thought that they could get more officials on their side, from a moral point of view, thereby increasing their fight for democracy. How naive, the ANC is the dominant party, the party that runs the state, and therefore the party with the most money to dish out. What were the DA thinking? Money talks fools!

So after storm settled, the DA had lost a significant number of its members, enought to make sure that the ANC were left with complete control of all 9 provinces. Until the next elections that is, after much 'politics', backstabbing, and new allegiances the DA have regained control of the Western Cape. The weeks political situation can almost be called a Coup d' tat.
For full details go to www.iol.co.za (please do, and follow the info on Helen Zille)

The reason why I think this is brilliant, is not only do I think the ANC are casuing more problems than doing good, but now we have something to compare their performance to. Perhaps they really have been doing the best they can, but the state of the country is in far worse a condition that thought, hence making the task a bit mroe difficult than the man on the street can comprehend.

We call ourselves a democracy, but when a political party has a two thirds majority vote over the country and the floor crossing policiy undermines the strength of my vote, you have to ask yourself how democratic are we? At least now with one province controlled by a different party we are moving in a positive direction.

For my Aussie friends

Wasnt it great? You'd just scored the highest ever runs for a one day game? Broken a record... and then we broke it again! The Protea's beat your new world record just hours after you had set it, as well as the record for most runs scored by an individual, and most sixes hit... and...and...and.

'World records were smashed like guitars as South Africa beat Australia by one wicket with one ball to spare before a sell-out crowd of 32,000 at Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium to clinch the series 3-2'

'Ponting just wants his team to move on and is confident the defeat won't greatly affect his team's psyche going into the Tests. "We've got to try and forget what's happened today as quickly as we can," said Ponting.'
- http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Proteas-beat-Aussies-in-oneday-thriller

I've never been the greatest of Cricket fans, its a game of repetition, throw ball, hit ball, fetch ball... throw ball again. You can only watch that kind of silliness for so long, but on Sunday, my hangover and I sat down on the couch and for the rest of the day, enjoyed, no wait, loved the silliness.

Its amazing how such a simple game can inspire patriotism, create a sense of pride, and cause an unquenchable thirst, or was that the Babbelas?

If any Australian reading this still doesnt understand that word that Gibbs used on Sunday evening, 'Babbelas' is the afrikaans slang for hangover, and no I have no idea about its origins. Pronounced: bubble-us

News Worthy?

I'm assuming that most people reading my blog are of some educated nature, and that being educated they have an interest in World news.

I read on the Front page of the weekend paper in an article about the size of a match box, that Slobodan Milosevic, ex-president of Yugoslovia was found dead in his cell. When a man of this nature has been accused of leading the regime which almost destroyed Serbia, before being ousted (October 2000), how come it gets reduced to almost 'non-news worthy'?

The former strongman died in a prison cell while being judged by the UN war crimes court in The Hague for his role in the Balkans conflicts, which killed more than 200 000 people
- www.iol.coza

On top of this, the now dead and forever infamous ex-president has been denied a state funeral, justice for the role he played?

Stepping Stones

Before continuing, I must apologize for my lack of posting over the last few weeks, I feel extremely guilty... whatever. That’s the beauty of blogging, there is no pre determined, or expected posting dates, as Steve Biko once said ‘I write what I like’, me? I write when I like.

Since the last post, there have been many developments in ‘The World of George’, from an almost perpetual state of unemployment I have managed to secure myself, not only one, but two forms of income.

The first came about by finding out that a friend of mine took over management at a rather fine establishment known as the 'The Forum', the best Belgian Beer Cafe in Cape Town (it is however also the only one). With taking over management, he was presented with a really up-market looking venue but, fortunately for me a rather depleted staff. With only the kitchen staff remaining (the kitchen has now been closed) there were no bar staff or waiters.

This is where I stepped in; I boldly offered my services, knowing full well that although having consumed the equivalent of a small nations production of beer, I still had never actually poured a pint of Stella. It looks easy enough, but trust me when I say that it is definitely an art form, one that can only be learned by an unfortunate wastage of a large amount of white foam and golden liquid. After two weeks, I have almost mastered the art.

So the first job title presented to me was that of 'Barman' or Executive Beverage Purveyor’ if you don’t like the term, I'm more than happy with being called a Barman. It attaches a label of freedom to you, almost releasing you from the grips of the corporate world… almost.

The second venture which saved me from an eternity of unemployment was trying to get myself into a rather large corporate firm where I would be employed to use my language skills. No, this job would not require swearing and shouting at random people whom I do not like. Instead, after many phone calls, a few interviews and a fair amount of miscommunication I had 'the' contract in my hands. This is what I spent all those years at University for, just when I was beginning to doubt the validity of my degree I read: 'Language Specialist' my new job title, although the line was in plain black text, simply put into bold format to differentiate it from the rest of the contract, my eyes saw something quite different. For the first time since graduating I was going to use my skills, this, after 3 years of sales, admin, and various other roles I choose not to go into. I felt good about what I was going to do. Did I mention that the salary was more than double anything I had ever earned previously?

The very next day, and I was walking through the doors to the first job that would be the stepping-stone to a hopefully promising and rewarding career and remembered that I had forgotten my security pass.