Thought For The Day

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."

Nelson Mandela

Help Me Understand

Sometimes I’m really amazed at how the human mind works. As soon as a crisis or natural disaster hits a country we are so quick to offer assistance yet we fail to assist our own people who are suffering just as much.

Fundraising concerts are organized with artists even agreeing to perform for free just so they can build a house and send a food parcel to Hung-Tung in China. What about Sipho, who you drive past everyday at the traffic lights, who hasn’t eaten in days? Or Maria whose shack leaks every time it rains? And what about Kobus who sleeps under a bridge and forages for food in the nearest dustbin? Surely their welfare should be considered a priority before even glancing in Hung-Tung’s direction.

How does this even make sense? What the hell happened to charity beginning at home? I really am baffled.

Thought for the day

“To be the ultimate team, you must use your body and mind. Draw up on the resources of your teammates. Choose your steps wisely and you will win. Remember only teams succeed”

Jose Mourinho

The Ultimate F**king Irritation

I woke up this morning next to the love of my life who also happens to be a gorgeous something *giggles*, birds chirping outside my window, a plan for the day and a big ass smile on my face.  This, I had decided, was going to be one of my most productive days yet.

Oh man did that change as soon as I grabbed my phone to check my emails, something I do every morning without fail. I literally froze as my brain processed this email. At that moment I wanted to throw myself on the ground, look up towards the heavens and scream “WHY ME?” as a single tear rolled down my cheek.

“FROM: THE RED CARPET

SUBJECT: Word up

I want a qoutation 4 a promo banner. tankiso gat me 2 u 4 dat.aai ryde bk”

Opening this email really pissed me the hell of. I wasn’t at all sure if this idiot was serious or if this was some kind of joke. I mean anyone who knows me will certainly know that I have zero tolerance for bad grammar and punctuation. I don’t care if you are Barack freaking Obama, you send me this garbage and I will pray that your crotch gets infested with fleas from a rabid village dog.

Thanks to this email I feel compelled to touch on the ins and outs of email etiquette so bare with me please.

1. Your name is extremely important. Be careful what you chose to call yourself. Am I supposed to smell who on God’s green earth “The Red Carpet” is? It doesn’t help that the dunderhead didn’t bother to include his/her/its name somewhere in the body of this email.

2. Use a meaningful subject, one that will give the recipient an idea of what the email is about.  ‘Word up” doesn’t bloody well tell me what you want from me. In fact I almost deleted it, something I regret not doing

3. Answer all questions and pre-empt further questions. For instance, the sender of this email wants a banner. Last I checked they came in different sizes, how about telling me which one you’re interested in hmmm?. A back and forth Q&A session is a waste of my time; I do have better things to do.

4. Use of prper spellin, grama & pnctuatn is so NB.... MY GAWD am I the only one that was taught the importance of this in school?!

5. Use proper structure and layout. “Hi, Hello, Dear ....” go at the top and “Sincerely/Regards” go at the bottom. If not for the mere reason that emails are generally written that way then perhaps just to show that you weren’t birthed by an Afghan donkey. Common courtesy clearly is hard to find in 2011.

6. DO NOT WRITE IN CAPITALS. do not write in lower case.

7. Spell names properly. tankiso is not a name however, Tankiso is.

8. Lastly read the email before you send it. If this idiot had done that, he wouldn’t have bothered sending it and I wouldn’t wake up having to decide whether to burst into tears or laughter.

Incase your wondering, I did make it a point to highlight said person’s errors and the reply I got:

 “Good day hellen, sorry for the previous informal  email I sent to you didn’t mean no disrespect.new ways I did be glad if you could please send me a quotation for an artist promo banner.thanks much kofi Akwabi”

Excuse me while I hang myself naked from a tree and beg to be stoned. This cannot be life.

Dear ETV

Dear ETV

I am a reality television show enthusiast. I am an even bigger fan of the “talent search” show format Whether it’s looking for the best chef, dancer, singer or air freshener sprayer I WILL watch it. I especially love dance competitions. Perhaps my love for show s of this nature stems from the fact that if I had to dance to save my life, I would most definitely be killed.

With that being said, can you imagine my excitement when I found out about a new dance show set to air on your channel? “Oh yes” I said to myself, my Sunday nights will never be boring again. Sadly, I was left terribly disappointed by Step Up or Step Out. My heart was shattered at this below par production for a number of reasons. I’m no expert but I do watch television so I’d like to think that I know what works and what doesn’t.  On that note allow me to list a few of my grievances.

While the judges should be looking for the best dance talent South Africa has to offer, a sense of humour and a bit of a controversial nature should be a prerequisite when selecting judges. The combination of Arthur, Emile and Penny does absolutely nothing for me. What a bloody boring bunch! And when the hell did Arthur become the master of dance? There is a difference between King of Dance and King of Kwaito. I’m not sure if he is king of either.

While the dance show genre is not unique, there are numerous ways in which to ensure that Step Up or Step Out can hold its own against other shows of its kind. I believe that the X-Factor for Step Up or Step Out was meant to be the battle in which the bottom two team compete against each other. It is undoubtedly a refreshing idea however, it just doesn’t seem to hit the mark. Groups come across as ill prepared and one is left wondering how they made it to the final 8 in the first place. I actually cringed watching 8 oh 8 battle the Spar10ns (however the hell you spell those names). It was embarrassing to say the least.

The show itself requires a good publicist. When one logs onto Twitter on a Sunday night, it’s evident that the majority of the South African Twitter population is watching Idols. This tells me that Step Up or Step Out is not adequately hyped up. Where are the television, radio, magazine and newspaper interviews? Where are the riveting promos? Even a simple advertisement would suffice.

What is the purpose of the “Flip Side” episodes that airs during the week? If an “extra” episode is to air then show us the drama. Do I look like i care about the star drawn on a contestants face with liquid liner?!  I want to see the drama and the bitching. Penny and Arthur can’t stand each other surely there have been heated exchanges, show us dammit.

Lastly,  can we discuss the crowd? If that doesn’t scream rent a crowd then I must be an idiot. Do the producers think the audience is so stupid that they can’t tell a rent a crowd from a genuine one? They look like they are there by force and told when they can and cannot clap their little hands.  

As I said before I am no expert when it comes to television production and I am sure that there are more qualified people out there to guide this production.  If this show is coming back for a second season, a visit to the drawing board is needed.

Regards

Helen Unrestricted

The Inhumanity of Humans

Not so long ago there was a spate of xenophobic attacks taking place all over South Africa. During this time foreign shop owners had their shops looted or burnt down, still other foreign nationals were beaten and some even killed.

It’s understandable that with such a large unemployment rate in South Africa, its jobless citizens may be unhappy. They may also feel like foreign nationals receive preference when it comes to jobs and perhaps they even feel threatened by the amount of foreign owned spaza and tuckshops popping up in their neighbourhoods. But instead of getting angry and going on a rampage why not see this as healthy competition and better themselves? Why not start their own spazas to compete and find ways to develop their skills? If not that then surely there has to be a more suitable platform to voice their dissatisfaction.

How different is this to what was experienced during Apartheid? These people may not be discriminated against because of their race this time around but they certainly are being picked on based on where they are from. How can this be condoned? “They are taking our jobs” is just not a good enough excuse.

How many South Africans live and work in other African countries? Yet I have not heard of anyone complaining about South Africans taking their jobs. This behaviour is completely barbaric and something needs to be done to end this. It just cannot be ignored. Where is that ubuntu that people so proudly speak of? How can people beat and kill their fellow Africans for trying to better their lives, for providing for their families?

It saddens me so much because these attacks not result in bad publicity for South Africa but they just serve to show just how inhumane we as people really are. These are people’s mothers, fathers and children being assaulted and killed. Please Jesus intervene.

Our Deepest Fear

This is my favourite poem. It resonates so much to me. Just thought I’d share it.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

We ask ourselves, who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually who are you not to be?

You are a child of God

Your playing small does not serve the world

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us

It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other permission to do the same

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others

Marianne Williamson