May 2006

Remember the Camel Trophy, well the Land Rover G4 Challenge is meant to be a lot harder and a true test of the toughest man in the world. South African hardman Martin Dreyer won the competion which ended in Bolivia a couple of days ago. I had been following his progress with interest over the past month but forgot to post about it.

The challenge began in Bangkok on April 20 and for the past month Dreyer has run, swum, mountain-biked, abseiled and kayaked in 86 different adventure challenges across Thailand, Laos, Brazil and, finally, Bolivia.

The man is a MACHINE! Not only has he won five Dusi canoe marathons, considered the most gruelling canoe race in the world, but he has also won countless other cycling, kayaking, sea-kayaking, swimming, running ultra endurance events. He considers one of his greatest achievement to be his win in the Millenium Big Five Challenge which consists of the Dusi Canoe Marathon (130km paddle), Midmar mile (1 mile swim), Argus Cycle race ( 105km cycle), Comrades Marathon (92km run) and the Kiliman (Summit kilimanjaro, cycle 200km, run 50km).

The world’s first $100 laptop has recently been unveiled by the OLPC - One Laptop Per Child non-profit organisation. I am not sure how subsidised this project actually is or whether these laptop actually do cost $100 in an unprotected market but when and if the project comes to succesful fruition it will be a major achievement which will have a significant impact on humanity even if the machines will mostly be used to “play” on myspace !

It looks fantastic and appears to be running Linux with the Fedora distro, I’m not an expert on Linux but it would have been great if they had chosen the Mark Shuttleworth funded Ubuntu distro. Those “horns” on the side probably double as wifi antennae as well as covers for USB ports etc.

I found this link through my use of Google personalised home. If you haven’t personalised your google home page yet then you are seriously missing out. I have amongst other feeds on my personalised home, a feed to Muti, a fantastic South African content site along the lines of Digg or Reddit, and that folks is how I found out about the $100 laptop!

UNBELIEVABLE, unbelievable, unbelievable!

I thought I’d seen some of the best performances and best bands in the world …… then I went to the PUSA gig at the Astoria on Saturday night!

I have loved the Presidents since the mid-nineties and when the chance to watch them live came around I was over the moon. It fully exceeded all my expectations, one of the best stage performances from a band EVER, loads of energy, plenty of fun and unforgetably charismatic!!

At the age of 28, I got crowd surfed all the way to the front of the stage, pulled over the barrier by the security staff and then let straight back in to join my mates. I didn’t do it voluntarily I must add, it was a plot developed very sneakily behind my back by Nils, Ryan and Phil.

We all left the concert pushing huge beads after jumping around non stop for almost 2 hours but every single person I spoke to afterward said it was the greatest stage performance by a band ever. The songs were spectacular considering they played at least 6 songs off an album they made over 10 years ago!

The manager of the band has confirmed that the concert was recorded live and there are strong rumours that it might be released. Please, please, please release it, “Presidents of the USA - Live in London” can’t wait!

Last night I went down to Highbury to watch the Arsenal v Barcelona game with Russ, Rob and Phil. I got there with about 45 minutes to go until kickoff which turned out to be a big mistake that ended up costing me £20. Walking down Blackstock Road towards the ground all the bars were rammed to capacity, there were police stationed outside each pub stopping entry to all the fans still left outside.

I found the pub everyone was in and greased the bouncers hand with a Read the rest of this entry »

Apple has just launched the new Macbook which effectively kills off their own iBook range and possibly the rest of their dumb PC based competitors! Seeing as my iBook is now a good 2 years old it might be time for an upgrade, those new machines sure do grab my fancy, I’ll let Engadget explain the rest:

As expected, Apple has launched its new consumer laptops, under the MacBook brand. The new models all share one case design, a 5.2-pound box available in black or white, with a 13.3-inch, 1280×800 display and full-size keyboard. All are based on Intel’s Core Duo processor, at speeds from 1.83 GHz to 2.0 GHz. Apple claims a six-hour battery life for the new models, though we imagine that’s reduced substantially if you spend that time watching DVDs. Like other recent models from Apple, the MacBook also includes an integrated iSight webcam, a remote control, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth. The new models are available immediately from Apple’s online store at prices from $1,099 to $1,499. If you want black, you’ll have to pay more: the $1,499 model is the only one one in the color scheme; other than the case color and an 80GB drive, its specs are identical to a $1,299 white model (the 80GB drive is available as a $50 upgrade for the white version, making the price for the black case $150). And, yes, you can now bid farewell to the iBook name. Now, what on Earth is Apple going to announce at Thursday’s press event?

Who are these guys? Only the best post grunge seatle band ever to smash their rythmic way through nonsensically superb lyrics! Notice that two string bass guitar and the three string lead guitar!

I remember reading a Rolling Stone article about these nutters back in the mid-nineties which mentioned something about them being one of the most fun bands you’ll ever see play and how they host a mock New Years eve party every night. Also they only like playing clubs instead of big venues, great seeing as I have 5 tickets in my possesion to be at the club they happen to be playing at in London on Saturday night.

Who are they, they are the Read the rest of this entry »

Having never been to a major music festival in the UK it looks like this might be the Summer that breaks my duck. I have got hold of a full 3 day ticket to the famous Reading festival which promises to be one of the best ever. The lineup so far looks amazing with Pearl Jam, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Placebo, Muse, Primal Scream, Maximo Park, Artic Monkeys and The Streets all confirmed alongside another 20 or so other acts.

I can’t believe those braindead Bulls have leapfrogged the Sharks into the semi-finals when they smashing the pathetic Stormers by over 33 points this weekend. I was so pumped up with the anticipation of a great weekend ahead watching the Sharks take on the Crusaders in the semis, that was until the result of the Bulls Stormers game came through from Cape Town.

The sad part about the result is not the magnificent Sharks exit from the competition but rather the disapointment of knowing the Bulls are going to get an embarrassing hiding from the Crusaders. They don’t have the self belief to win away from home and they certainly don’t really believe they can win in New Zealand. The Sharks on the hand do having only lost in the last minute to the ‘Saders in NZ earlier in the season. All the same I will begrudgingly support the Bulls this weekend, they do have a glimmer of hope.

I managed to obtain Kirk’s ebay login and password on Friday SO with a few minutes to go until I left for the city I decided to make a little purchase on his behalf. I used his ebay account, his credit card and his office address for delivery. This is what I bought him, check it out!

I then erased all evidence of the purchase and immediately left feedback hoping that he wouldn’t find any of the evidence before it arrived on his desk! I was hoping his email confirmation of purchase would go to an addres he seldom checks. Unfortunately it didn’t and he found it, humour prevailed and we had a good laugh about it. The item should arrive on his desk in a few days time!

PS: I have reimbursed him the £11 for the pleasure of knowing that everyone who looks at his bidding history will now know exactly what kind of character they’re dealing with! Guess I better sleep with one eye open from now on, expecting revenge in some way soon!

England have finally named Steve McClaren as the their new manager after the world cup. Good choice I think BUT I just don’t know if he has the charisma to win over the vitriolic UK press.

Wayne Rooney is out of the World Cup and with him goes Englands chances of winning, that is a FACT. The only thing that can possibly save their chances is Sven picking Michael Carrick in a 4-5-1 setup to allow Gerard and Lampard to push forward alongside Owen. If the team is not Robinson, Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Beckham, Carrick, Gerard, Lampard, Cole, Owen, then England are gonna be in a “cocoon of horror”.

In other news, my potential attendance at the world cup is being serverely hampered by the price of black market tickets. Check out this bulletin board, the ticket touts hangout, to see the prices. Try and sit down before you click the link if your brain still works in Rands!

Meant to post this earlier in the week, Grayskull’s ball and chain Oanita had her birthday party whilst I was away in Sardinia. Click on the thumbnail to go and see the outrageous fancy dress costumes that everyone arrived in. Rude-boy Russells nun’s outfit looked pretty scary, whilst Jason and Phillipa’s 70’s retro afro look suited them far too well. Grayskull’s starwars mask is a marked improvement over his usual party “mask”.

Australians, you’re going to love this article, its all about how you’ve bought sporting success.

If only South Africa, with an unarguably superior naturally talented population could throw that kind of money at developing sporting talent. Instead we are primarily concerned with fighting AIDS, building houses, developing infrastructure and smashing 436 runs in a one day cricket game.

So why does America care about the situation in Darfur when the rest of the world apparently doesn’t. The USA are always criticised heavily when they get involved with conflict outside of their own borders, but aren’t they custodians of world order and general peacekeepers for all of humanity, if they aren’t then who is. Why does the EU maintain silence about the injustice, genocide, corruption, oppression that is Africa today? Thankfully the USA has a conscience which the rest of the world doesn’t. As South Africans we certainly don’t as we continue to allow our neighbour Zimbabwe to self destruct under one mans oppressive regime to enrich himself and his cronies. No marching in the street, no lobbying the government to do anything about it. Why should America care about Darfur, we as South Africans have far more to worry about with Zimbabwe than Americans do with Darfur, Iraq, Iran, North Korea etc. Take a read of this article to see the light! Its well written and the opposing points of view in the comments section are just as enlightening, it makes you think, which is what most people I meet who say they hate americans, or “love” George Bush for that matter, generally don’t do! AND they probably wouldn’t bother even reading the piece.

I see today that a Jury in the trial of an accomplice to the 9/11 bombers have decided not to sentence the man to death but rather life imprisonment. How kind of them, I’m sure if the tables were turned Iran or any muslim fundamentalist state would have done the same thing. The man who would not have thought twice about murdering thousands of innocent american lives has been spared by the very victims he intended to kill! How wicked is the USA?

As if one proposal of marriage in one month was not enough the news just through is that Mike “Boat” Vacy Lyle has proposed to me Julie in Bali today. Congratulations guys, I’m looking forward to racking up a massive bar tab alongside the rest of the brewery boys at the wedding!

So Mark “the bat” Allewell has finally got his innovative Tourism Radio off the ground in Cape Town following the official launch last night. Congrats to Mark for pulling it off, you can read about the launch here, and the official website is here.

This is one of the prettiest Lancia Fulvias I have ever seen, and last night I saw it in the flesh. I have been fascinated by classic cars for many years now and although I have owned a few other classics the Lancia Fulvia has always occupied pride of place on my list of most desirable cars. I have seen many of these cars and driven a few, I have trawled through websites at least once a week for the last 3 years trying to find a good example of one but they’re really difficult to find. I’m convinced this one is a replica which has been made to look like a Monte Carlo/Safari, but hey, I’m not a purist so I haven’t ruled it out completely, and technically its impossible to tell.

Ultimately when I buy one it will be a big investment, and it requires storage and regular maintenance but whats the point in being a lover of classic cars if you don’t own one! This year is the 100th anniversary of the Lancia motor car and what better way to celebrate than buying a Fulvia and doing the London to Turin rally with the Lancia Motor club. It might take a few weeks and even a few months, but you never know, I might be a Lancisti very soon…..

Wow, what an amazing holiday we had this weekend. Myself, Carla, Bryony, Simon and James went to Sardinia for a weekend of fun, sun, beach, food, wine, scenery etc.

It started a little badly with Simon and James missing their flights. Myself, Carla and Bryony went through to Alghero on the west side of the Island and went exploring in the car for the day until the guys arrived that afternoon.

Alghero is a very attractive little coastal town with stunning beaches and a gorgeous historic old town centre. The old head walls with fortified defenses are still in place dating back to the era of Garibaldi.
Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a little comparisson between the lows of and the highs of , and a little story about how we came to get two free flights each AND NOW we get free accomodation when we take our free flight!

If you read my previous post Sardinia for FREE, you will see how helpful and delighful easyJet have been in arranging, free flights for us. You will also see that they had arranged a free chauffeur car to and from Stansted airport, well, that was where it went a bit wrong this weekend. Read the rest of this entry »