An unromantic discomedy

Sunday evenings are always a tricky time. Exhaustion after the weekend sets in and the impending reality of a Monday morning in the office starts to bear down as a heavy, heavy reality. Standing in the movie rental store last night (Sunday night) my flatmate and I decided that we’d rather opt for something light-hearted and less intelligent to wile our Sunday night away with relative ease. Our selection: “The Break-up” starring Jenifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. A light-hearted romantic comedy, right? Wrong…

If anything, this film is best described as a romantic comedy turned inside-out. It’s an unromantic discomedy!

Now, I’m perfectly ready to admit that my reaction may have more to do with my current emotional state than much else, but that movie, was one of the most harrowing cinematic experiences I have ever endured.

I have to give it full credit. It moved me, and Jenifer Aniston was amazing.

Without giving away the plot, the movie kicks off with a couple who clearly have a few little problems. They fight; it’s actually kind of funny. They start to play the kinds of silly games people play in those situations, and it’s still funny. Then there comes a point where the constant fighting starts to really break you down. It gets quite serious and really exhausting to witness.

At the end of the movie you’re just left with this overwhelming notion that all human relationships, particularly romantic ones, will always disappoint you. That ultimately, these ideas and dreams we have about these loves we will find, and have, are just that: ideas and dreams. It’s so depressing.

Their relationship ends (that’s no major plot reveal: the movie is titled “the breakup”) and it ends for the right reasons. They love each other but they can’t satisfy each other or lead full lives together, so it ends.

The worst thing is how sad and ephemeral love is. How the shadow of a love can linger with you, but the actual occurrence of love between two people can fade so fast. There’s a scene at the end where the two of them run into each other on the street after some time has passed. They agree that it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other, that they have so much to catch up on, but the truth is they don’t. They actually have nothing to really say to each other at all. It’s horrible, and so depressing. Oy…

Right! A Challenge

I’ve been challenged by Carly to share five things about myself that very few people know. The challenge has been issued because I haven’t blogged since November, which is true and admittedly, disgusting.

1. I have (had) a huge phobia of public locker rooms, like the ones at the gym. The nudity makes me feel very uncomfortable. I’ve systematically been desensitising myself to be able to cope with it. I’m getting along fine at the moment…

2. Although I am not a twin, I share my birthday (which is soon, hint hint) with my beloved younger sister. That’s right, the present my parents gave me on my second birthday was indeed, a little sister.

3. I’m am actually pretty darn good at ‘boy things’. I can build stuff, fix cars and electrics, change tyres, drive tractors and motorbikes, even climb trees and build fires… things like that.

4. I used to be a c cup (at least). That’s right, I know the plight of the fat man! In my younger days, there was a point when I would have been classified as morbidly obese. Thanks to weigh-less I lost over 30kg in the space of about a year and have (mostly) managed to keep it off since then. I still LOVE me some cake.

5. I am deathly allergic to Peaches and anything related to peaches including apricots and nectarines. I swell up. If I get too close to them the effect is an instant Glodie Hawn look circa the first few scenes in “The First Wives Club” where her plastic surgeon overdoes the collagen in her lips. Of course the big threat is that my throat will swell and I will die…

There you go! Five things about me that few people know!

Two of my Idols

I saw Billy Joel! It was amazing! On Wednesday night this week my family all came down to Cape Town and the four of us made the trek beyond the proverbial “boerewors curtain” to the Bellville Velodrome where Billy Performed.

Billy Joel formed a large part of the soundtrack to my childhood. My mom has always been a big fan and her enthusiasm for his music definitely found it’s way down to me. Seeing Billy live has always been a big ambition of mine. When I moved to New York for a year I found myself living on Long Island, which is where Billy Joel grew up. Loved by Long Islanders and heralded as a working-class hero, I thought my chances of seeing him live were looking pretty good.

Until September 11th that is. A few months after my arrival, and before I’d had an opportunity to hunt down a Billy concert the 911 attacks happened. In the aftermath a number of artists, especially those who originated from New York, did benefit concerts to raise money for the victims of the attacks. Billy took to the stage with Elton John and whisperings abounded about how shocking Billy looked. A few days later the news landed that Billy Joel had booked himself into Rehab for alcoholism. As a result, he took a bit of a break and there were just no live shows to go to.

Until that he decided to come to Cape Town that is! The concert was amazing! It was so great to be there with my mom and the two of us danced and sang along to every single song. Billy didn’t disappoint either, entertaining the crowd with jokes between numbers and giving his all to his performance. He looked great and at the age of 50-something he kept it going through a long set. The sound was great, the crowd was wild and the lighting was spectacular. It wasn’t a cheap concert, but it was worth every cent.

He played all the greats, “Honesty”, “River of Dreams”, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, “The Entertainer” and “New York State of Mind” to name just a few. The latter being the veritable theme track to my life. His grand finale was his famous track “Piano Man” which was so incredible! Live piano music has been having a huge emotional effect on me lately, but hearing Billy play that famous riff while the whole crowd sang the chorus was something I won’t forget anytime soon. My only regret is that Carlz and Bec couldn’t have been there two, because I know how much they both also enjoy his music.

Then, in a fortunate twist of fate, I found myself at another concert last night (Friday night.) Thanks to some kind dealing on the part of Mike’s friend Ryan, Amanda and I secured over selves a couple of tickets to “Unite of the Stars 2006”. The setup and crowd was a little different to Billy but we had a really great time as we drank our bodyweights in sickly sweet alco-pops. There was an unusual but really great line-up of acts including BananaRama (“I’m your Venus, I’m your Fire”), Patrizo Buanne (shittin’ sexy Italian dude who sings like a freakin’ canary), Shane Ward (“No Promises”) and Marcos Hernandez. But the headliner, the one we were really there to see, was Will Young.

Willy, like Billy, was wonderful. His show was incredible and like Billy he didn’t disappoint. The show was great and he came across as a really nice person. There were bits of chatter and absolutely no pretensions. He’s a little more camp than I anticipated, which isn’t so say that he’s very camp, and devilishly good looking.
All in all, several great performers, two amazing concert experiences. Eat your heart out Rihanna!

Such Great Heights

I just can't get enough of this song at the moment. I think the lyrics are so beautiful.

Such Great Heights
-The Postal Service
I am thinking it's a sign
that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images
and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
that God himself did make
us into corresponding shapes
like puzzle pieces from the clay

It's true, it may seem like a stretch
but its thoughts like this that catch
my troubled head when you're away
when I am missing you to death
when you are out there on the road
for several weeks of shows
and when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home

they will see us waving from such great heights,
"come down now", they'll say
but everything looks perfect from far away,
"come down now", but we'll stay...

I tried my best to leave
this all on your machine
but the persistent beat it sounded thin
upon listening
and that frankly will not fly
you will hear the shrillest highs
and lowest lows with the windows down
when this is guiding you home

they will see us waving from such great
heights,
"come down now", they'll say
but everything looks perfect from far away
"come down now", but we'll stay..

A band called Iron and Wine did a slow remake of it for the Garden State soundtrack with is also amazing. You can listen The Postal Service version here.

The story of the butterflies in your tummy!

Love, love, loved this movie! An absolute must see! The inspirinig story of a guy just trying to make his dream come true, but also a really beautiful glimpse into the amazing friendships he has. The whole movie was shot, researched, edited and produced by his friends all trying to help him, a self-described nice Jewish boy, who's trying to get a date with Drew Barrymore.
They're all really endearing characters, least of all Drew herself. A definate feel-good, there where moments where I was biting my fist, my excitement was so great. Anyone who's ever known that nervous excitement when you get a positive response from someone you really like will love this film. It's the story of the butterflies in your tummy!

No Rocawear skirt?

As promised, a post on the Jay Zee and Rhinana concert, albeit some while after the actual event. I’ve wanted to post on this because it was just such an incredibly interesting experience.

Paula and Carly (a.k.a. Pimp and Schnitz) called me to say that they’d be coming down for the concert from Grahamstown and to ask if I’d like to come along. I had absolutely no idea what either artist actually sang, but I knew the names, and figured it’d be fun just to hang with my gal pals if nothing else. So off I went to book a ticket.

Like a real nerd I set about doing some research before the actual concert. I managed to pinpoint a few familiar songs that each artist sings, discovered that Jay Z has a fashion label called Rocawear and that Rhinana was born in 1988 in Barbados. All very interesting, so off I go to the concert armed with my knowledge, my lingo (for shizzle my nizzle) and my friends.

What I found astounded me. The crowd was an interesting mix, quite young and fairly representative in terms of racial mix. Heineken is sponsoring the tour and the branding was by no means subversive. This is interesting because as up-and-coming marketers we’re constantly told to speak to the youth using clever and non-obvious tactics. This was not the case at this particular concert. Everything down to the predominantly green lighting on stage smacked of Heineken, which was of course the only beer available. Smirnoff Spin (another RGBC label) was available but was served in Heineken cups. The artists themselves also had no skaam in terms of self-promotion. Rhinana walked on stage to lip-sync her songs looking as if she’d forgotten to put her skirt on. Interestingly she didn’t seem to notice her little blunder despite the fact that she kept looking at her rump every thirteen seconds and she shook the shit out of it while precariously balancing in her thirteen-inch stilettos. She then unabashedly told everyone to go out and buy her new album. Very subversive.

Jay-Z on the other hand was incredible. The man commanded that stage like few performers can. So much so in fact that the crowd took to literally praising him with a hand gesture of flat palms with the thumbs and forefingers of each handing touching. The gesture was eerily reminiscent of a religious gesture, but everyone was doing it…

Again though the overt commercialism was astounding. I couldn’t really make out many of his lyrics but references to the R – O – C were abounding and peppered the lyrics of almost every number. I wonder if there’s a link to Rocawear there somewhere? He really drove his message home though when he came out on stage at the end of the night to do a few shout-outs to the audience before shacking up with girlfriend Beyoncé at the Cape Grace. The shout-outs went a little like this:
“I see you over there with the limited edition Rocawear jacket. Very cool. And you there in the Rocawear Velour Full Zip. You’re pimpin’ tonight. And my honey over there in the Rocawear Studded Roc Vest. Mmmmm!” I think you get the picture.

The narrative behind the whole thing was also very interesting. Talk of the hood, the struggle and all those lost along the way. The whole experience gave me the feeling that my favourite academic bell hooks might have been onto something when she wrote about the replacement of a racial divide with a class one when blackness is marketed back to the impoverished black masses by the minority that manage to break away. Don’t even get me started on a feminist perspective on the event, you don’t want to know!

In all, a very enjoyable and interesting experience. Can’t say I’ll rush to put my cash in their coffers again in the near future or ever. But I do feel a little richer for the experience.

First drubken post onn this blog

Well, i'm skrunk... a very familiar space... hence this'll be brief.
Just wanted to let you all know that i am still alive despite my sporadic blogging. Will be back with a post on the Jay Z concert i attended earliet this week, most fascinating. Watch this space.
Not gonna happen right now though!
Be well (wow - that's a Bammin' statement)
K

MarBs

This last weekend I lost a friend. Rita, pictured on the right, was one of my oldest friend's mom. Sam (said friend) is the other babe in the picture.
Rita passed on Friday 22nd of September after a long struggle with a heart condition that had her waiting for a transplant.
Gathering with Rita's friends is a true testament to the amazing woman she was. She really touched so many of us.
Seldom do you meet someone who approaches life (and it's many, many challenges) with such inspirational strength, spirit and resolve.
It's a very hard time for us all, especially Sam and her dad, but MarB's warm spirit makes it hard not to beam at the thought of her, despite a heavy spirit.
We shared a love for Annie Lennox and I've always loved that someone a good 30+ years my senior could always make me "feel like I'm seventeen again." But that was our MarBs