So I was sitting with my son the other day eating some Corn Flakes (still love ‘em) when I saw a blurb on the box:

Hmmm…

“Mom’s know best…” no need for an apostrophe there.
“Kelloggs Corn Flakes…” there is however a need for one here (it’s your own brand!).
“Childrens energy levels”  here too.

I don’t know what’s worse, that the mistakes appear at all, or that they appear in a sentence about improving your kid’s energy and concentration levels, “allowing them to perform at their best.”

Oh the irony…!

Thanks to a heads-up from @jasonzoopy, I just watched the new gameshow, The Moment of Truth. Eish.

Contestants are hooked up to a rigorous polygraph prior to the show and asked 50 (hectic) questions.

Some of those questions, and their answers are then revealed on the show, and the contestant has to answer truthfully. This time in front of friends and family, a live audience, and, well…us.

I tell you this, if you can go the full 50-minutes without cringing for the poor bastard in the chair, you’re a better person than me.

Catch it Friday nights on Mnet Series at 21h00 (with repeats Sat at 15h00).

Oh, and no amount of money could get me to take part …!

Thanks to a heads-up from @jasonzoopy, I just watched the new gameshow, The Moment of Truth. Eish.

Contestants are hooked up to a rigorous polygraph prior to the show and asked 50 (hectic) questions.

Some of those questions, and their answers are then revealed on the show, and the contestant has to answer truthfully. This time in front of friends and family, a live audience, and, well…us.

I tell you this, if you can go the full 50-minutes without cringing for the poor bastard in the chair, you’re a better person than me.

Catch it Friday nights on Mnet Series at 21h00 (with repeats Sat at 15h00).

Oh, and no amount of money could get me to take part …!

Fancy yourself a good local photographer? Just South African Photography are looking for awesome SA-only pics to add to their collection, with prizes up for grabs.

First Prize 900 x 600 print on canvas.

Second Prize 600 x400 canvas print.

Third Prize 400 x 300 print.

Above is one such entry, taken in the Western Cape.

If you have some pics worthy of winning, submit your goods here.

So I just got back from watching Jerusalema at Ster Kinekor in The Zone. Fuck me, what a film. The story was great, the acting was inspired, and the production is as good as anything you’ve seen.

I feel as a South African I should be talking about what an important film this is, and that we should all see it to understand what happens just a few kilometers from where we live – but bolloks to that. Sure it’s an eye-opener, but that’s not why you should watch it. You should watch it because it’s simply an epic film and a really great way to spend a few hours (the Isuzu Bakkie scene will have you in fits).

You’ll leave proud that it was made here, and yeah, a wee bit freaked out too…!

I attended the press thingamebob for Google South Africa earlier, along with fellow bloggers Paul, Scott, Alastair, Mathew, Mike, and his Mum.

The event, about Google’s local plans was presented by two very talented speakers, Douglas Merril, Google CTO, and Stafford “air-bracket” Masie – so all the right ingredients were there.

Alas, it was a load of wank.

Douglas flew half way around the world to eloquently deliver what was essentially The Google Story executive summary. And Stafford other than wobbling his fingers a lot and telling us that his goal was to “light up Africa” with search, didn’t have much to say of substance at all.

What irritated me the most though was what they did say. In a nutshell, they do not see any difference in rolling out Google’s search in a market like South Africa than they do elsewhere in the world. This is madness. They just have to look at their own Zeitgeist for proof.

While the world is searching for Britney’s tits, South Africans are searching for “Absa” and “Standard Bank” (sadly, I had to refer to old data, as contrary to what was said today, Google don’t consider us important enough to list on their international zeitgeist anymore).

What this means is that we are not a search driven market, but a delivery driven one, people want to be taken places they know, they don’t necessarily want to find things they don’t. Regardless, we’re a fundamentally different market to the States and other first world countries, and it is only arrogance that would lead someone to think otherwise.

That, and the fact that for the first time ever I realised that Google was actually just another big corporate – it was like the day I found out there was no Santa. Sad indeed.

I guess in this case “No news” is bad news. ..!

(posted now ‘cos Jo’blog was broken for ages)

A few weeks back Clive pointed Mike and I to a post he wrote on a guy called Richard Mulvey who’s climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money for the kids at Reach for a Dream.

He asked us if we could do anything to help, so we donated R5k and some of the Linkers put together this short vid:

Dig deep kids, or at the very least, spread the word for him, it’s a good cause…!

UPDATE: Please do not post your Christmas Wishes on this blog, click here for the 94.7 Christmas Wishlist website. Thanks.

Once again, the other morning saw us wiping our eyes after hearing another heartwarming story on 94.7’s Christmas Wishlist. This time it was for Adri Briel, whose 7-year old son sold his bicycle for R40 because she didn’t have money for bread.

He sold the bike, bought some bread and gave her all the change. What an amazing kid.

UPDATE: Please do not post your Christmas Wishes on this blog, click here for the 94.7 Christmas Wishlist website. Thanks.

If you listen to 94.7 in the morning you’ll know all about the Rude Awakening team’s Christmas Wishlist segment, where they grant one person/family/community their Christmas wish. But it’s not like ‘I’d like a Ferrari’, it’s simple things that mean so much to the parties concerned.

Jeremy Mansfield and his bunch act as a catalyst between the person asking the favour and the people that are willing to help. Awesome.

Last week they arranged school fees and school uniforms for one particular kid to continue his schooling right up to graduation. School fees, uniforms and sports equipment. Calculate all that up. Thanks to Spar for sponsoring it, and continuing to sponsor it all.

This morning they arranged for a lady’s son, a mentally handicapped 28 year old, to get his one biggest wish, to ride on a fire truck.

I have no shame in telling you that I sobbed, and I’m sure that not one single person listening in this morning, whether getting ready at home or driving to work, had a dry eye. Just when you thought it was over Jeremy told his mom that next week her son has been invited to the Christmas party at the Ekhuruleni Fire Station, so he can experience the whole vibe.

Dude.

Catch the 94.7 Christmas Wishlist every week-night on MNET at 19:30 to see just what goes on every day. Amazing.

Finally Celine Dion and Anne Geddes have gotten together to create the ultimate. Naked babies and revealing shots of Celine all rolled into one. A true miracle. That is so adorable – excuse me I have to hurl now.

That’s the last line on SARS’ new billboard advertising their move from Rissik Str to Carlton Centre. Very cool.

(Editors note: the pic of Fenner is completely gratuitous, included to give the perception that the Jo’bloggers are men of the world that know hot girls.)

One saggy boob said to the other saggy boob:

“If we don’t get some support soon, people will think we’re nuts.”

I laughed out loud…!

Straight from Coffee-shop Schmuck :

Looks like Roy and Brad enjoyed their time served at the Link today! We really enjoyed having them over. They walked in to our offices not quite knowing what to expect – or I suppose finding not quite what they expected. D’ave greeted them first and showed them around our offices. Then Don, D’ave and I sat down with them (Rich couldn’t make it as he had meetings the whole day) and showed them the Tim-Tam slam, which proceeded to be more than a little amusing.

The funniest thing though was seeing Roy shock the shit out of his lips with our shocking game (this has never been done by anyone in our offices before because everyone is too afraid – well done mate, that was something special to watch!). The picture BTW is of Roy (left) and Brad (right) in our reception.

Anyway, they have posted a great review of our place at their blog. Be sure to read it!

Just got a mail today from producer Linda de Jager. She is researching a story on blogging for Carte Blanche. She enjoyed our site and want’s to interview us regarding examples of South African blogging having real impact on people’s lives. Can’t wait to meet here… and a big boo-yaa to Arthur Goldstuck for referring her to our site.

Or as titled by Adam in his great link blog: Reason #3465 why soccer is fucking crazy

It boggles my mind that I read this local news on a blog written by a friend in New Jersey. Then again, I guess it’s because the coach wasn’t a rich, white, Sandton girl.

Low blow? Possibly.

Callous? Perhaps.

Sad but true? definitely…!

Found this here:

Sheesh! Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type watch out!

Sex sells, as, apparently, does a healthy offering of nipple.

Spotted these in YDE Sandton.

Hello indeed…!

Just got this,

Touché…!

It seems the some cellphone distributers are deliberately misleading the public in their ever lasting quest to leach as much money as possible from their wallets.

There is no doubt in my mind that advertisers try to be ambiguous so that they can “catch” as many people as possible. On one hand these companies are preaching customer service this, integrity that, blah blah etc. and on the other they are trying to unethically take money from their “customers”. Why not just trying to be open about your costs and try to price products at as low a cost as is affordable to you.

There is a local record company that I feel are going to be collapsing soon. And, I can’t say I’m upset about it.

If you take the attitude of ‘if you don’t like us, we’re not going to let you give us money anymore’, you’re going to crash. Obviously. Especially if there are many, many customers who leap willingly into that category.

These guys ostracise anybody who speaks out against their tactics, business ethics, managing skills or them as individuals. And I’m talking from experience. My band were signed to them for a lengthy period of time, because they are the biggest independent company in this country. Well, at least they were. Now we’re seeing the rise of groups such as Authentic Ideas, who are putting effort into looking after their artists, and the people who pay them: the fans. Nice. Fewer and fewer artist/consumers, including myself, will have anything to do with their prison rules, underhanded business, and vocally make our opinions known. Because of this, we are all banned from any show they put on, even as audience members. That’s a lot of money to lose. They are actively destroying all their support! Even international acts have complained about them.

Not only do they not appreciate being told how awful they are, but they also continue to get worse. I think MacDonalds tried something like this once, but they at least realised their gargantuan, glaring error.

Let’s look at the feasibility of this as a business plan…