The Invisible War - Sundance

In the past week or so the Sundance Film Festival has announced the films and documentaries that will be screened in Utah in January 2012. I have kept a keen eye out on movies or documentaries that I have high hopes for. In the documentary competition section The Invisible War stood out to me.

The Invisible War is directed by Oscar nominee Kirby Dick and deals with the epidemic of rape of soldiers in the U.S. military. Just from the preview I can see that this film will be shedding light on some shocking information that I am sure the powers that be would rather have been kept hidden.

I am disgusted to say the least and hope that this film will help bring the necessary change.

"I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose."

John F. Kennedy would not be so pleased with the "moral restraint" his military seems unable to possess.

Holidays.Deamau5.Allergic to Work

So its that time of year; that time of year when i really get see how broke I am. During the term I don't really have time to spend money, or at least its easier to find an excuse to do nothing. But now it is holiday time, and its summer, and its almost new years. So I decided it was time to make some cash money, and unfortunately this means I need to get a job (I am almost certain I am allergic). So far my holiday has been pretty good, starting with free tickets to a Balkanology party in Stellenbosch which was amazing. It was like nothing I have experienced before, all I can describe it as is pure happiness because that is what I felt from the time I got there to the time I left. It really was something magical. A few days later I went to a Bacardi Masterclass in Cape Town where they taught us a thing or two about Bacardi. What they taught us about the legacy of Bacardi, its history and all that was really quite interesting. They then fed us booze. Lots and lots of Bacardi. We even got to try a Heston Blumenthal inspired strawberry daiquiri which was pretty cool. For those who don't know, Heston is a british chef famous for taking a scientific approach to cooking. He creates amazing food like you have never seen before and his restaurant, The Fat Duck, has been awarded three Michelin stars. The daiquiri was served on a spoon and looked like pink spaghetti bolognese. It was interesting to say the least.

But free tickets to events are few and far between so the idea of getting a job became a reality. The first bit of work I did was as a bartender for an event at Marimba at the CTICC. People were spending loads of cash on expensive drinks and not tipping. I'm talking R118 on two drinks and then waiting for their R2 rand change. By 2 in the morning I was taking it no more. I came to the realization that it was late on a Sunday evening/early Monday morning and not many places would still be open so I did what any poor student would do (I think), and demanded that I get tipped before I would serve the drinks. People seemed to realize the power shift, I mean think about it, I was the person standing between them and their drinks. I made a nice amount tips by the end of the night. I woke up the next morning sick; like I said, I am allergic to jobs. My second job was for a private "Welcome to Summer Party" which was something else. I won't go in to to much detail, or any at all really, as I am still trying to forget about it. I will say though that the food I was serving was great, and I got to try a scallop which I had only ever seen on TV (I had to find a highlight for the evening and this very expensive little piece of fish was all I could come up with). 

My most recent job I would say was the most exciting. I worked at the Deadmau5 concert at the CTICC in Cape Town. I got to work the VIP section which was relatively chilled, this was understandable as the bar was behind the stage. This fact makes no sense to me, I mean if I had paid extra for VIP I would want to be able to see the stage; but each to his own I guess. Deadmau5 was awesome, and the crowd were all extremely excited with almost everyone wearing some kind of Deadmau5 paraphernalia. Also by the end of the night half the people buying drinks from me were grinding their teeth, hmmm. There was one guy who bought two double vodka and cokes from me and then proceeded to take the bottle from over the bar and poor himself some more. This, I told him, was not  his best idea. By the end of the conversation he was extremely angry, then sorry, then angry again, on the verge of tears and angry all over again. He then gave me a tip and asked how I would feel if i was in this situation. I told him I wouldn't get into that situation to which he replied rather dramatically "you are always in this situation", luckily some other guy intervened by nudging him out the way and ordering a drink. The good samaritan ended up getting one of the vodka and cokes because the other guy left without it. I had to laugh. I would say the concert was a huge success and I felt quite lucky to be paid to be there.

I am still slightly sick. But the money outweighs my need to not have to blow my nose every five minutes (possible exaggeration). I know money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you a whole lot of other stuff, and I like stuff.

       

Bizweni Centre for Disabled Children

Bizweni Centre is a school for children with a wide range of disabilities. A few months ago my mom got offered a job to run the centre, officially starting next year. The people who started it have decided it is time to move on from this beautiful and inspiring place, a decision I know was not easy to make. They have the most incredible story and have given their lives to helping the children that many are willing to ignore. 


Here is a quick summary of their story, taken from the Bizweni Centre website.


"Izak and Alta Nieuwoudt had been married for 16 years without having children of their own, when they decided to adopt a child. The little girl Stephanie, born after 26 weeks of pregnancy, was cerebral palsy and severely disabled with poor eyesight. When Stephanie was 5 years old they decided to put her in a play school for disabled children. Alta saw the lack of facilities for severely disabled children and decided to start a centre. Bizweni Centre opened in May 1998.  Although the centre started small, it rendered a quality service to children with various disabilities, as well as to their parents, under one roof from the beginning." 


Here is a link to the website: http://bizwenicentre.co.za/html/history.html


Myself and a friend from college, Tina Piliya, went with my mother to watch the schools final year concert. It was truly awe inspiring. Many of these children can not talk, have no control over there limbs and struggle to do basic tasks; yet the amount of joy and love they radiate was almost overwhelming. The amount of love the staff have for the children is humbling, they have devoted themselves to caring for these children and you can see that they love what they do. The success stories are amazing.


Unfortunately the place struggles with funding as many NGO's do. Their needs list is huge and they need funds so that they can carry on their selfless work. So we decided to shoot a short documentary that we will send to possible funders. The first thing we did was to shoot a short clip showing the kids in the reading and prayer circles they attend before they start class each day. We want this to be watched as much as possible so that people can become aware of this haven and their interest will be peaked so that when we release the longer version we will have an audience. We need people to see this if we are to raise funds. We will be releasing the full version soon which will include interviews with Izak and Alta, the staff, and one or two parents. We will show what they do with the children everyday and what they need to continue their blessing.


The video was shot by Tina and edited by myself. Please share it with family and friends!
     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz4BkOCEh9A


Have a great day :)

Fearing Failure

I read an article a few months ago about a man named Hideaki Akaiwa. The article blew my mind!
Heres a quick summary. On the 11th of March when the earthquake hit Ishinomaki in Japan a 43 year old man, Hideaki, was at work a few miles away from his home. What followed the HUGE earthquake was the tsunami; things really do not get worse. Now what made this situation worse was that his wife and mother where in the city at the time. Somehow Hideaki managed to find scuba gear and into the water he went, dodging floating cars and debris. He found his wife under water and proceeded to save his mother as well.

Heres a link for the full article:
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/akaiwa.html

And for those who want a cleaner version:
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/17/world/la-fg-japan-quake-scuba-20110317

The thing that stood out to me the most was how brave this man was. He obviously knew that the consequences of his action could be death, but that did not stop him. He went out there and did everything in his power to do what he felt he needed to do, and he succeeded! The reason it blew my mind is because most of the time I am so afraid of failure that I miss out on so much that life has to offer. He knew failure meant that he would die, but he would rather die then live his life without his wife.
My fear of failure keeps me from experiencing new things, and the "same old same old" is getting rather boring. I find myself passing up awesome opportunities, because you can't fail if you do not try. But I am starting to learn that failure is not completely negative, by this i mean that there are so many lessons to be learnt in failure. A person that can get up and try again, again and again, is a person who is not going to loose out on the gift that is life.
I do not want to miss out on what life has to offer me. From now on Hideaki is my role model, if he had not just gone out there and been a badass he would have lost what he holds most dear. So thanks Hideaki for being one madman.  

Japan Japan Japan I Plan

So. My oldest sister and her husband let me know a few weeks ago that they are moving to Osaka, Japan next year with there two kids! This really is some exciting news for them and I know they are going to be on an amazing journey. There is one problem though, I am used to seeing them at least 3 days a week. At least. So it will take some getting used to and I have to admit i will miss them very much. And to add to the melodrama that is this situation their two kids Alexander and Bibi are probably two of my favorite people in the whole world (I should note they are 1 and 2). But do not despair, I have a plan. Japan. I plan to make some money and go visit them next year July! Now this plan will actually have to be put into action, this is a struggle of mine (putting plans into action), so I am going to get myself excited. I have a sneaky suspicion that Osaka could be an inspiring city!

Heres some pics of Osaka :)
Heres to hoping!

    A pretty amazing pic by Stephanie Jung titled "Exploring Osaka"

Street Art in Osaka by Titifreak

Floating fish. It Does not get better

Procrastination

So i decided to start a blog. Why? Well, it is because I have things I really should be doing but can not find the drive to do them. So instead I will devote my time and energy to "Castle Made of Sand" and not have have to feel guilty about procrastinating. VICTORY.

Do not worry, I am not deluded, I do realize that this is probably the greatest form of procrastination. At least I am doing the greatest form of something.... make sense? No? Get used to it!