An Ode to Creative Work

Behance recently released a GREAT mini film about the opportunity, hardship and responsibility creative work. And all I can say after watching is… Oh Yeah, no other way to put it!

Well done, as laways, Behance :)

International Black Music Exhibition

International Black Music Exhibition by Mondomix - opening in Johannesburg from crunk on Vimeo.

A OUTSTANDING EXPLORATION OF SOUNDS & RHYTHMS OF AFRICA & THE DIASPORA Bob Marley – Celia Cruz – Fela Kuti – Nina Simone - Miles Davis – Jay-Z - Miriam Makeba – John Coltrane – Public Enemy – Ali Farka Touré – Etta James – Gilberto Gil – Mahalia Jackson – Nas – Billie Holiday…. 

Each one a giant, an icon who represents sheer excellence in musical expression, creators of music that lasts a lifetime. It is these artists, and many, many more, who will be celebrated at the International Exhibition of Black Music, a groundbreaking digital experience that pays homage to artists and music of Africa and the African diaspora. Musicians across the ages from the Caribbean, the America’s, and the African continent will form part of the exhibition, set to be held in Museum Africa, Newtown – Jo’burg, over a 4 month period. Brought to South Africa as part of the French Season in South Africa 2012, it is the first tribute to black artists of it’s kind. The exhibition uses state-of-the-art technology, with over 100 interactive audiovisual setups transmitting the sights, sounds and rhythms of artists from all over the world.

Opened 1st of September to the 12th of December 2012 at the Museum Africa in Johannesburg before it will be transferred to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil where it will become a permanent exhibition. This unique multimedia project is the first initiative showcasing black music as a full concept from African roots to blues, jazz, soul, funk, Caribbean and Latin American music.

Cost: R30 | R40 per person | Sundays Free

Museum Africa

t	011 833 5624
e	webmaster@museumafrica.org
a	121 Bree Street, Newtown, Johannesburg.

There will also be black music available for sale at the end of the exhibition.

Contact Eddie Mudau - Justed@mweb.co.za or go to 23 Jorissen Street, Braamfontein Center, Shop No.7

Just love being a part of this wonderful event.

Wrong Maths on cover of SA Census 2011

Attention to Detail and the important role it plays in the design process.

Attention to detail makes for a better experience in any industry. A mint sweet on your pillow at the hotel or a mint with your cheque at a restaurant makes for a more enjoyable travelling experience. Detectives and law officials know that it is in the details of a crime scene that they find success. Engineers and architects know that the stability of the most enormous structure depends on the integrity of its smallest element.

Why then, should it be any surprise that the integrity and success of your design depends heavily on the attention you give to the details therein? Paying close attention to detail simply makes your design more professional.

Even simple maths need attention, moreso if the are going to be on the cover of a document, that is going to be use for research and important knowledge gathering tasks. I had a brief moment of questioning my understanding of maths, when I saw the front cover of Census 2011 statiscal release say 21÷7=6.


The agency that did this for Statistics South Africa and the communication team at Statistics South Africa, need to be taught about the importance of attention to detail and maybe go for some elementary maths.

They might know South Africa, all it's statistics and understand that it's our home, but I doubt they pay attetion to detail and may be they don't understand simple Maths. 21÷7=3, not 21÷7=6

Such mistakes teach the wrong kind of maths, are bad for PR and should not happen. But I guess that's why it's called a mistake.

The Scale of Human Skin in Pantone.

For her latest project, Brazil based designer Angelica Dass is in the process of compiling a skin color chart of human skin tones. As a reference point for all the different skin colors, Dass has adapted a system in which she samples an 11 x 11 pixel space on the face of the subject, blends those colors, and finds the match with the PANTONE color scheme.  The color found is then placed, in numerals, at the base of the headshot.

Angelica Dass studied Fashion Design and graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Worked in the fashion industry in Brasil, moved to Spain where she has mastered in Fashion Journalism at the UNED and Photography Concept and Creation by the renown EFTI Photography School.

The aim of her photographic work is to achieve the public’s direct involvement in photography as a whole concept, as a non-passive communication between people. All her projects deepen in an important issue: social, cultural and racial identity and masks.

Human skin tone is a complex and very deep topic.  Dass’ website states the project is still a work in progress.  See the full range of human skin tones that have been collected thus far.

Copywriter & Art Director have this in common.

 So, what do Copywriters and Art Directors have in common? My copywriter friends always ask – Besides having to deal with Account Executives on a daily basis of course :) Copywriter vs Art Director is a fun illustrated series created by Caio Pena, Henrique Parada and Letícia Hanower featuring the differences between both when it comes to applications, hobbies, tools and pet peeves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During 2009 and 2010 photographer Brent Stirton spent a month in total documenting life in Timbuktu, Mali for National Geographic magazine.

“This is a modern essay on a legendary city, historically one of the wealthiest in Africa and for centuries strictly forbidden to non-Muslims. Strategically situated at the northern apex of the Niger River and the southern shore of the Sahara Desert, for hundreds of years Timbuktu dominated the trade for gold, ivory, and slaves from the African interior as well as spices, cloth, and books brought by caravan from the Mediterranean coast. It was a city of considerable scholarly endeavor. In the tenth century Timbuktu contained one of the greatest universities in the world. It was home to hundreds of learned tutors, who maintained extensive libraries of manuscripts concerning history, science, religion, literature and the study of the Koran. . As its wealth grew, the city erected grand mosques, attracting scholars who, in turn, formed academies and imported books from throughout the Islamic world. As a result, fragments of the Arabian Nights, Moorish love poetry, and Koranic commentaries from Mecca mingled with narratives of court intrigues and military adventures of mighty African kingdoms.

Today’s Timbuktu is a very different place, a dusty footnote in northern Mali, the last major settlement on the edge of a vast Saharan wasteland. But amid claybrick buildings, Timbuktu scholars are once again piecing together the African history that once filled vast libraries in the city’s heyday. There is also a darker side to modern city,  drug cartels, which smuggle cocaine through the desert to the Mediterranean coast and on to Europe. According to Interpol, some $2.2 billion worth of cocaine is funneled annually through the region. At the center of this tumult are the Tuareg, the turbaned nomads who have inhabited this part of the Sahara for centuries. For much of the last three years, Tuareg groups in Mali and Niger waged violent rebellions against their respective governments, seeking a greater voice in how their lands and resources are administered. Though a peace deal was brokered earlier this year, the conflict has left much of the region impoverished and awash in weapons and unemployed former fighters. Observers in the region worry that many of these young men could fall under the sway of AQIM and the cartels.” via reportagebygettyimages.com

Also read: Malians seethe over desecration  http://mg.co.za/article/2012-07-05-malians-seethe-over-desecration/

Botswana commemorative stamps

I hope Botswana's postal service exhibits these one of the good days.

The runner post between Mafeking and Gubulawayo is commemorated with this minisheet issued in 1972 to mark the 84th anniversary of the post in Botswana.
The sheet was redrawn and a souvenir sheet was issued in 1988 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary. Both issues show the same map.
The original was drawn by Mike Bryan, and it was redrawn by Lucy Phalaagae.

 

Virunga National Park logo – Congo

The Virunga National Park lies from the Virunga Mountains, to the Rwenzori Mountains, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori Mountains National Park in Uganda. Covering 7,800 square kilometres it was established in 1925 as Africa‘s first national park. It was classified as a World Heritage Site in 1979. In later years it has become known for its mountain gorillas.

How to Write About Africa

 Well many of us, have probably seen him on television, his face & writing on publication or even heard him speak. Who is this, he is Binyavanga Wainaina.
He is the founding editor of the literary magazine Kwani? and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and National Geographic. He is the director of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College. He divides his time between Nairobi, Kenya and upstate New York. 

How to Write About Africa is a classic satirical essay in which he pokes fun at those who recycle the same well-worn clichés about Africa, especially the portrayal of Africans as uncomplicated stock characters .

Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title. Subtitles may include the words ‘Zanzibar’, ‘Masai’, ‘Zulu’, ‘Zambezi’, ‘Congo’, ‘Nile’, ‘Big’, ‘Sky’, ‘Shadow’, ‘Drum’, ‘Sun’ or ‘Bygone’. Also useful are words such as ‘Guerrillas’, ‘Timeless’, ‘Primordial’ and ‘Tribal’. Note that ‘People’ means Africans who are not black, while ‘The People’ means black Africans.

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.

In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn’t care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.

Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it—because you care.

Taboo subjects: ordinary domestic scenes, love between Africans (unless a death is involved), references to African writers or intellectuals, mention of school-going children who are not suffering from yaws or Ebola fever or female genital mutilation.

Throughout the book, adopt a sotto voice, in conspiracy with the reader, and a sad I-expected-so-much tone. Establish early on that your liberalism is impeccable, and mention near the beginning how much you love Africa, how you fell in love with the place and can’t live without her. Africa is the only continent you can love—take advantage of this. If you are a man, thrust yourself into her warm virgin forests. If you are a woman, treat Africa as a man who wears a bush jacket and disappears off into the sunset. Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.

Your African characters may include naked warriors, loyal servants, diviners and seers, ancient wise men living in hermitic splendour. Or corrupt politicians, inept polygamous travel-guides, and prostitutes you have slept with. The Loyal Servant always behaves like a seven-year-old and needs a firm hand; he is scared of snakes, good with children, and always involving you in his complex domestic dramas. The Ancient Wise Man always comes from a noble tribe (not the money-grubbing tribes like the Gikuyu, the Igbo or the Shona). He has rheumy eyes and is close to the Earth. The Modern African is a fat man who steals and works in the visa office, refusing to give work permits to qualified Westerners who really care about Africa. He is an enemy of development, always using his government job to make it difficult for pragmatic and good-hearted expats to set up NGOs or Legal Conservation Areas. Or he is an Oxford-educated intellectual turned serial-killing politician in a Savile Row suit. He is a cannibal who likes Cristal champagne, and his mother is a rich witch-doctor who really runs the country.

Among your characters you must always include The Starving African, who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked, and waits for the benevolence of the West. Her children have flies on their eyelids and pot bellies, and her breasts are flat and empty. She must look utterly helpless. She can have no past, no history; such diversions ruin the dramatic moment. Moans are good. She must never say anything about herself in the dialogue except to speak of her (unspeakable) suffering. Also be sure to include a warm and motherly woman who has a rolling laugh and who is concerned for your well-being. Just call her Mama. Her children are all delinquent. These characters should buzz around your main hero, making him look good. Your hero can teach them, bathe them, feed them; he carries lots of babies and has seen Death. Your hero is you (if reportage), or a beautiful, tragic international celebrity/aristocrat who now cares for animals (if fiction).

Bad Western characters may include children of Tory cabinet ministers, Afrikaners, employees of the World Bank. When talking about exploitation by foreigners mention the Chinese and Indian traders. Blame the West for Africa's situation. But do not be too specific.

Broad brushstrokes throughout are good. Avoid having the African characters laugh, or struggle to educate their kids, or just make do in mundane circumstances. Have them illuminate something about Europe or America in Africa. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than life—but empty inside, with no dialogue, no conflicts or resolutions in their stories, no depth or quirks to confuse the cause.

Describe, in detail, naked breasts (young, old, conservative, recently raped, big, small) or mutilated genitals, or enhanced genitals. Or any kind of genitals. And dead bodies. Or, better, naked dead bodies. And especially rotting naked dead bodies. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the ‘real Africa’, and you want that on your dust jacket. Do not feel queasy about this: you are trying to help them to get aid from the West. The biggest taboo in writing about Africa is to describe or show dead or suffering white people.

Animals, on the other hand, must be treated as well rounded, complex characters. They speak (or grunt while tossing their manes proudly) and have names, ambitions and desires. They also have family values: see how lions teach their children? Elephants are caring, and are good feminists or dignified patriarchs. So are gorillas. Never, ever say anything negative about an elephant or a gorilla. Elephants may attack people’s property, destroy their crops, and even kill them. Always take the side of the elephant. Big cats have public-school accents. Hyenas are fair game and have vaguely Middle Eastern accents. Any short Africans who live in the jungle or desert may be portrayed with good humour (unless they are in conflict with an elephant or chimpanzee or gorilla, in which case they are pure evil).

After celebrity activists and aid workers, conservationists are Africa’s most important people. Do not offend them. You need them to invite you to their 30,000-acre game ranch or ‘conservation area’, and this is the only way you will get to interview the celebrity activist. Often a book cover with a heroic-looking conservationist on it works magic for sales. Anybody white, tanned and wearing khaki who once had a pet antelope or a farm is a conservationist, one who is preserving Africa’s rich heritage. When interviewing him or her, do not ask how much funding they have; do not ask how much money they make off their game. Never ask how much they pay their employees.

Readers will be put off if you don’t mention the light in Africa. And sunsets, the African sunset is a must. It is always big and red. There is always a big sky. Wide empty spaces and game are critical—Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces. When writing about the plight of flora and fauna, make sure you mention that Africa is overpopulated. When your main character is in a desert or jungle living with indigenous peoples (anybody short) it is okay to mention that Africa has been severely depopulated by Aids and War (use caps).

You’ll also need a nightclub called Tropicana, where mercenaries, evil nouveau riche Africans and prostitutes and guerrillas and expats hang out.

Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances. Because you care.

by Binyavanga Wainain 
originally published in the literary magazine Granta.

Another Perspective.

This video is not about racism, but rather seeing South Africa from another perspective....

Disoriented in a Most Entertaining Way

Mental health break. This recent TED talk by comedian and musician Reggie Watts is completely out of left field. Watts mixes music, language, comedy, satire and at times plain gibberish to create a 10 minute performance unlike anything I’ve seen before.

182 Superhero Movie in a 5 Minutes Supercut

When three of the four big superhero blockbusters released last year turned out to be total box office flops, I wondered if perhaps cinema goers had finally tired of the genre. Nearly a year later, with The Avengers already setting records and The Dark Knight Rises practically breaking the Internet every time a new snippet of video surfaces online, I think the ambivalence about the genre was just a natural part of a decades-long popularity cycle — and the fact that we were dealing with some extremely crappy comic book adaptations.
(Ryan Reynolds playing Hal Jordan? Seriously?!)

Need proof that these popcorn flicks differ wildly in their quality? Watch this supercut of 182 different clips from the genre, and make note of which movie moments bring an instant smile to your face, and which ones make you grimace.

Bringing back Datsun

It’s great news, isn’t it? Seeing a relic coming back to life isn’t something we expect in these days of perpetual recession and capital blackouts.

Recently Nissan said Datsun is coming back, I was happy about it.
This the auto mobile company that introduced me to the first club cab, my uncle owned a sky blue. Wait a minute, he still does and it roars like a lion through the grass plains of Borolong and it even survived the liberation riots of Bophutatswana. Datsun is a name that saw two World Wars and everything in between, so you realise that conjecture and legend are naturally infused into the company’s history. Around 1911, Musujiro Hashimoto created Kwaishinsha Motors with the help of three investors and in 1914, he created the DAT model 31, taking the initial of the investors’ surnames - Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. DAT, roughly translated to Japanese means “hare” or “very fast”.

First sold in 1931 by DAT Motorcar and purchased by Nissan in 1933, Datsun is a brand of cars that was discontinued in 1981 in both Asian and American markets. With some quirky models in its history, Datsun has sort of a cult, hipsterish following. This week Nissan announced that it would be reviving the brand in India, Indonesia, and Russia starting in 2014 and it will be “a green car, affordable car, small displacement, high local content.”

After 21 years off the market, it needed a new logo. The previous Datsun logo is quite iconic and has a vintage charm that is hard to resist. Except for the new people in charge and whoever designed it, because they completely annihilated any semblance to it. Instead, the new logo is the most generic kind of car logo out there. Rendered cheaply and poorly, the only redeeming quality is that underneath all of that chrome is a half-decent wordmark. Too bad it sits in of the strangest holding shapes I’ve seen in a while. Here is to hoping the cars look better.

Below are image of cars made by Datsun in the past, last but not least is the famous Datsun Laurel. I am certain you have seen one or two of them on the road.

 Respect to Japan.

Where books come to life…

WOW! If you have not yet seen this little number from the New Zealand Book Council then you are in for a treat. Colenso BBDO and Andersen M Studios made this beautiful video to promote books and reading. I think it’s such a clever yet very straight forward way of getting their point across. When you read a book the story really does come alive using you own imagination and I think this movie portrays that perfectly.

What is South Africa’s global competitive advantage?

China makes stuff, America exports it’s culture, Italy specialises in style, Israel seems to have cornered the market of innovation and India are hedging their bets on solving the world’s call centre needs.

But what’s South Africa’s global business ‘thing‘?

Mining, global events, Mandela, tourism, crime? What’s our thing?

If we had a clear understanding of that, we’d be able to focus a lot more on making it even better. At the moment it feels like we do a bit of everything reasonably well rather than kicking-ass in one thing.

Movies of the 2000s

I recently received a parcel collection slip in my postbox, am always excited by these slip. They have me wondering what's in the box. Managed to miss place the slip, however I managed to find it in between the page pages of To See The Mountain & Other Stories. Went to collect the box from the other side of the world and in it. I found a book all you film-lovers will enjoy. “Movies of the 2000s” by Jürgen Müller is TASCHEN’s latest book and it is a collection of over 140 films like Inception, Avatar, Harry Potter series, Babel, City of God, Brokeback Mountain, Mulholland Drive, No Country for Old Men, and Black Swan, complete with film stills and great production photos, movie synopsis and analysis, and interesting trivia. Learn more and check out some photos after the jump! Think I watched 60 of the movies mentioned in the book.


The most interesting and important films made in the decade since the turn of the millennium. A decade characterized the rise of a new era in global politics and technology, the 2000s were most notably marked by September 11, 2001 and the ensuing wars in the Middle East, as well as the explosion of social networking and mobile computing.
This comprehensive volume covers an inspiringly broad range of titles made during a unique period in history, from the fantastical special effects masterpieces Lord of the Rings, Inception, and the 3D film Avatar; to entertaining fare such as the Bourne action films, the Harry Potter series, Moulin Rouge, Borat, and Inglourious Basterds; socially and politically conscious cinema including Hurt Locker, Babel, Bowling for Columbine, and City of God; and art-house standouts such as Brokeback Mountain, Mulholland Drive, Dogville, Talk to Her, No Country for Old Men, and Black Swan. If indeed we are approaching the end of cinema—it can be argued that the 2000s were the last decade of cinema as we knew it, before technology altered it beyond recognition and the movie theater was superseded by the computer screen—then this study is both a celebration of moviemaking and an elegy for a soon-to-be-lost art.

Featuring approximately 140 film entries complete with film stills and production photos, movie synopsis and analysis, and interesting trivia. Cast and crew listings and useful technical information are provided for each film Includes actor and director biographies.

How many films have you watched since  2000 and how many left a lasting impression in your life?

There is no such thing as privacy online.

How to delete your Google Browsing History before new policy

With just a several das to go before Google changes to its new privacy policy that allows it to gather, store and use personal information, users have a last chance to delete their Google Browsing History, along with any damning information therein.

Tech News Daily reports that once Google's new unified privacy policy takes effect all data already collected about you, including search queries, sites visited, age, gender and location will be gathered and assigned to your online identity represented by your Gmail and YouTube accounts. After the policy takes effect you are not allowed to opt out without abandoning Google altogether. But now before the policy takes effect, you have the option of deleting your Google Web History by modifying your settings so that Google is unable to associate data collected about you with your Gmail or YouTube accounts.

Tech News Daily reports that Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that advocates for online privacy, says: "Search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more."

EFF advises all Google users to delete their web history.

Meanwhile, Center for Digital Democracy has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asking the Commission to sue Google to stop the policy change. Tech News Daily reports FTC can impose fines up to $16,000 per day for violation.

Daily Mail reports that deleting your browsing history before March 1 when Google's new privacy policy comes into effect will limit Google's ability to track and record your every move online.

The process is simple. Follow the steps below:

1. Go to the google homepage and sign into your account.

2. Click the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper-right hand corner of your screen.

3. Click accounts settings

4. Find the "Services section"

5. Under "Services" there is a sub-section that reads "View, enable, disable web history." Click the link next to it that reads: "Go to Web History." (Note: When you click "Go to Web History" you may be taken to a page which gives you the options "Turn Web History On"/"No Thanks": Click "Turn Web History On" and you will finally be taken to step 6 below)

6. Click on "Remove all Web History"

When you click on "Remove all Web History," a message appears that says " Web History is Paused." What this means is that while Google will continue gathering and storing information about your web history it will make all data anonymous, that is, Google will not associate your Web History information with your online accounts and will therefore be unable to send you customized search results.

Google's ability to gather personalized information about you by assigning data to your Gmail and YouTube accounts will remain "Paused" till you click "Resume."

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/320137#ixzz1nVBVS1kc