Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio June 2016

Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio
About Charles Siboto
Charles Siboto is a delightful, youngish man of 28. He is a feminist because the world currently needs
people who are. He believes that all lives matter but currently it seems the world needs a reminder
that people of colour's lives also matter. He firmly believes that kindness matters and cannot abide
people who are asshats. When he's not standing perfectly still in the hope that people will leave him
alone, he's reading something to do with horses and/or spaceships or blogging (goodbuddies inc.
and The Jot Book) about that sort of thing. Call cell +27 (0)84 891 1726, email csiboto@gmail.com or
connect on Facebook

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/427/145961.html
7 JUN 2016
#YouthMonth: Like kids these days say
Heita da! What's drugs my dealer? What's crack-a-lackin'? Umoja? Fo' shizzle my nizzle? It's all good
in the hood. You'd best keep your urban dictionary close by for this one.
Language, it’s something special isn’t it? In his song, Sing for the Moment, Eminem says: “I guess
words are a motherf*cker, they can be great / Or they can degrade, or even worse, they can teach
hate”. Words move us and have a magic about them, especially when you use them in ways that
defy the rules of grammar. Language is fluid and ever-changing and there is always a tug-of-war
between the powers that be in university ivory towers and everyday people who use language as a
tool to communicate as to what the rules of language are.
The beauty of slang
June sees us celebrating the school pupils who lost their lives during the 16 June 1976 uprising in
Soweto. Those kids stood up for the right to be educated in a language that they could understand.
The great thing about this is that once you understand your own language, you find appreciation for
the beauty of other languages. 40 years after those kids stood up for their right to understand what
they were being taught, we live in a multilingual South Africa that has become a unique place in the
world in terms of the amount of languages that are used in our interactions on a daily basis. This is
most evident in the slang we use. We have 11 official languages, and many others from other
regions of the world, spoken in our streets and the slang that has emerged is just typically South
African and a thing of beauty.
We all have this unique flavour of speaking to which the world at large cannot compare. Think of
how we confuse foreigners when we tell them to turn left at the second robot. Where else are you
in a taxi (like a proper South African taxi) and you shout “sho’t left” from the back and the driver
knows what you want? Nowhere else, pappa!
#VoiceForAll
We have the kids from koKasi with their township flow whose levels of cool you cannot even hope to
compete with. Libala tsotsi, just forget. The urban slang of my home, the dirty south of Jozi, with

okes chasing binnets for days, my china. The language that only my goons and I use when we get
together for some sips and my one friend always ends up being such a chop. I remember the days of
1337 (elite) speak when gamers thought replacing words with letters was the height of cool and
n00bs would be pwnd (owned). Eish, and then Twitter came with its hashtags and no community
took to it better than South Africans, especially our Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr Fikzo
Mbalula. The dude’s always #onfleek on Twitter. Even the way we discuss politics and serious
matters like students protesting the increase of fees has changed since 1976. Think of movements
like #feesmustfall, #zumamustfall or #blacklivesmatter. Only in Mzanzi do we have hunky politician
referred to as ‘The People’s Bae’. That being the EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Language is fun for days, you guys. Eish, mara it can be dangerous too, if we use it to break people
down instead of building them up. Racism, sexism, homophobia and all kinds of other prejudice have
their own slang. That’s the stuff we don’t need. As young people, we face many obstacles, but we
are ambitious, we are hungry for success and we can always push to be better. Every day we are
hustling, as the motto goes. There is a magic here, you guys, even when things get hectic. Slang is a
way to cross language boundaries and unite South Africans... and the youth is way ahead of the
curve in this movement.
As the kids say these days, “we are just out here living our best life”.

13 MAY 2016
Goldfish cruise through at Shimmy
I am a Joburg kid and I love those streets, but I must say that, aside from the wine farms and the
Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts, Goldfish's annual Submerged Sundays residency (which usually runs
for about ten weeks) at Shimmy Beach Club is a staple of mine since moving to Cape Town.
There are few things better in life than dancing barefoot in the sand, beer in hand, surrounded by
friends and jamming to the sweet sounds of Goldfish’s jazzy tunes. On Saturday, 7 May, the
Submerged event kicked off, but, because there was no way we were going home until Sunday
morning, it was definitely still a Submerged Sunday in my mind. Since it was the last one for the year,
before Goldfish head out to Dubai, everyone went big.
Forever exciting Goldfish
Goldfish’s duo is made up of Dominic Peters and David Poole. Both are Capetonian classically trained
Jazz musicians. The duo has been slaying the electronic music scene since 2005 when their debut
album, Caught in the Loop, launched. Four more albums, three compilations and a string of hit
singles later and they have won two South African Music Awards, an MTV Africa Music Award and
become well-known internationally, especially in Europe. I have been to more Goldfish shows than I
can remember, but I get excited every time I attend a show. Their brand of music is just so laid back
and catchy that you can’t get tired of it.
A Submerged session isn’t a Submerged session without an international guest artist lined up to add
more fuel to the party fire. This time we were graced by another Shimmy staple, German electronic
DJ, Wankelmut. The 28-year-old Berliner rose to worldwide fame with remix hits like "One Day /
Reckoning Song" and "My Head Is a Jungle" with Emma Louise. The rest of the line-up included X
Ray, Thank Me Later, JET and Minx. The event itself was sponsored by MINI and Heineken and they
had Shimmy Beach Club all decked out in its best party clothes.
Cruising the hits

Wankelmut warmed up the crowd, but Goldfish is what we all went to see and when they came on
stage the crowd went mental. At some point I was right in the thick of things and had a Cinderella
moment and lost my shoe. The duo just kept dropping banger after banger that lifted everyone’s
spirits. They hit us with jams like “Choose Your Own Adventure”, “Cruising Through”, “Hold Tight”,
“Heart Shaped Box” and “One Million Views”.
I don’t know about everyone else, but by the time the night came to an end I was standing there
with my beer in hand, feet in the sand and with some chums around me thinking that that was
pretty radical. It was another cool Submerged session and oh boy were we submerged in those
tunes! Until next year…

29 Apr 2016
Captain America: Civil War
I was sick for a week and on my return to the land of the living I found out that we were getting Civil
War on 27 April (Freedom Day). I just wasn't ready though, you guys. I was still working with that 7
May release date and I am still reeling from the first episode of Season 6 of Game of Thrones. Can
the old gods and the new please give a nerd a break out here? But it's all good, I got my game face
and Marvel fanboy underwear on and got ready for the biggest cinema spectacle of the year!
Civil War is the best Marvel movie to date
Captain America: Civil War is the third Captain America movie and the thirteenth entry in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. After the huge success of the second Captain America movie, The Winter
Soldier, the Russo brothers returned to the helm for Civil War and they made a movie that hits all
the right notes. I am going into full fanboy mode here. This movie is perfect and it seems that every
year I say this about a new Marvel movie, but it’s Odin’s honest truth every time. What especially
makes Civil War great is that it taps into all of the history and lore of the universe it takes place in.
This movie is not here to accommodate anyone by explaining too much. It is simply the culmination
of all Marvel’s Earth-based movies to date.
Plot overview
Civil War is set in a universe where all the actions of every hero in the Avengers team have led to this
point in time. The world owes the Avengers a great deal for the amount of times they have saved it,
but at the same time, who watches the watchmen? Who takes the Avengers to task when innocent
people die in the collateral damage of their battles? This is the overarching question that Civil War
poses and it is a fair question and difficult to deal with.
Civil War takes a lot of beats from Winter Soldier in that it is a political spy type of thriller, but it
borrows tonnes from other Marvel movies like Iron Man 3 that shows that superhero characters
don’t have to be in their suits the whole time - they can deliver powerful, emotional performances
just as themselves. After an incident gone wrong in Lagos, Nigeria the US Secretary of State, General
Thunderbolt Ross, calls the Avengers in to inform them that the world cannot tolerate them
operating unchecked and that the United Nations has come up with what they refer to as the

"Sokovia Accords", which will establish an international governing body to monitor and regulate all
enhanced individuals like the Avengers.
The battle lines are drawn in a response to this development. Captain America’s response is that he
does not agree to having the team effectively being run by the UN, which is a political entity and has
its own agenda. By signing the act, the Avengers would only be able to work according to the say-so
of the UN. Since waking up in the modern world, Captain America has had to deal with quite a lot.
The guy is Marvel’s ultimate boy scout and is usually the sort of team player who would never
question orders. Unfortunately politics is a messy business and the Cap has been burned on many
occasions dealing with organisations like SHIELD/HYDRA and he is loath to allow the team to become
puppets of such agendas. Cap thus rallies the members of Team Cap to his side, because they share
the same belief, or in Hawkeye’s case, because he called first.
Tony Stark is also carrying a huge load on his shoulders since the incident in New York and even
more with the incident with Ultron, which he was directly responsible for. The man has been having
panic attacks and sleepless nights, because he knows there are dangers outside of our planet that
the Avengers might not be able to deal with (we know that Thanos is lurking out there, after all.
Does that guy just sit in his space chair all day by the way? I digress though). Ultron rose from these
fears and Scarlett Witch didn’t help by giving him visions of a bleak future where everyone dies
either. Tony is almost on the opposite journey that Cap is on in the sense that he starts off as this
carefree character who doesn’t adhere to rules and picks up a lot more responsibility on the way to
the events in Civil War. It's difficult to decide whose stance is right.
This is just the simplistic view of the plot, because there are other forces at play and there is an
actual villain in the movie. Batman v Superman takes itself very seriously and Civil War finds a sweet
spot between the seriousness of everything that is happening with friends fighting each other, but
there are many moments where you can just laugh and have fun. The movie is long at 147 minutes,
but it never feels like it and it is cut in a beautifully economic way.
Enter new characters
All your favourite characters are back and are all running around punching, kicking and shooting
each other and the bad guys in super cool ways. All of them are there ... well, except for Thor,
because he is doing Asgardian things and Bruce Banner is doing hiding out things. The highlights in
terms of characterisation are the new people though. Chadwick Boseman makes his debut as
T'Challa / Black Panther, the prince of Wakanda, the technologically advanced African Nation that is
known for living in isolation and being the place where vibranium comes from. Marvel is pretty much
done with long and windy introductions, so they just throw Black Panther in there with a brief but

powerful introduction and the character then hits the ground running. The character is intriguing
and I can’t wait for his solo movie and to explore Wakanda where, interestingly enough, they seem
to speak Xhosa. I died of laughter in the cinema when T’Challa shares a moment with his father, King
T'Chaka (played by South African actor, John Kani) and they just kick it in Xhosa, but with an East
African accent.
Our favourite neighbourhood Spidy also gets a quick and punchy intro. Peter Parker is played by Tom
Holland and he is the witty, funny, awkward Peter Parker we love from the comics. The movie also
makes fun of the fact that his aunt, May, is so attractive (played by Marisa Tomei) in response to
people freaking out on social media last year, because Aunt May is “too hot”.
Marvel just keeps winning and Civil War is just great. I can find zero fault with this movie. It delivers
solidly on everything and all the characters are given their due in terms of screen time and
personality. The action sequences are a feast, but the times where there is no fighting are also
intense and while you’re still reeling from an emotional reveal they offset it with humour that
provides the comic relief you need while not taking away from the gravitas of the situation. The new
characters fit in and their roles aren’t just as cameos. All the Earth-based stories in the Marvel
universe have led to this movie and it draws from and builds on the history and lore from the
previous titles beautifully. Just go out and watch this one a few times. Just do it.

22 Apr 2016
SummerWaves at Shimmy
Shimmy Beach Club is the prefect venue to host a summer party, especially when the Cape Town
weather plays along.
In his poem, The Waste Land, TS Eliot wrote:
“April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”
Now, Eliot was very British and they have issues with weather in general, so we can forgive him. For
us, April is a time when we try to squeeze out as much fun of the last remaining sunshine days as we
can. The Shimmy Beach Club knows what’s what and they hosted the SummerWaves party on
Sunday, 17 April to bid summer adieu. With names like 15-year-old sensation Jasmine Thompson
from the UK (and their bad weather), James Hersey, FlicFlac (both from Austria) and awesome local
acts Pop Art Live, Jet Treger, Thank Me Later, Garteth Kenward and Blanka Mazimela on the
programme summer must feel mighty special to receive such a farewell.
SummerWaves at Shimmy
Shimmy Beach Club is the prefect venue to host a summer party, especially when the Cape Town
weather plays along. Think beautiful ocean scenery, gorgeous sunset vibes, sand between your toes,
a pool as blue as the following Monday, and sleek modern designs everywhere. The crowd was
pretty summery as well, with everyone in flip flops and short shorts and ready to party the day away.
YouTube sensation

Headlining the event was YouTube sensation Jasmine Thompson. This lovely lass is only 15, but her
voice is that of a seasoned diva. She started out her career performing covers of famous songs on
her YouTube channel and that just led to better things. She came out on that beautiful Shimmy
Beach Club stage to a huge crowd and she did not disappoint. When she performed her cover of
Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car I think everyone in the crowd died a bit from joy. Her voice is haunting on
that song. She played all the songs we know and love her for: Adore, Sun Goes Down, and Ain’t
Nobody Love Me Better.
James Hersey was another big hitter and played his set just before Jasmine Thompson. The Austrian
musician is known for his big tracks like Coming Over, How Hard I Try, and What I’ve Done. It was an
absolute pleasure to witness Hersey’s performance on stage and I just loved when he performed
Dreamcatcher. He was definitely a crowd pleaser. Hersey’s fellow Austrians, the producer duo
FlicFlac, also graced us with their presence with jams like their edits of Milky Chance’s Down By The
River, Vance Joy’s Riptide, Empire Of The Sun’s We Are The People and their own mix Hope (with
that moving Charlie Chaplin speech from The Dictator).
SA performers
The South African performers also came out with their musical guns blazing. I caught the tail end of
Blanka Mazimela’s set and the man’s music is just amazing. Pop Art Live, Jet Treger, Thank Me Later
(a favourite Shimmy staple of mine) and Garteth Kenward also absolutely killed their sets.
As I write this it’s grey and rainy outside, but I am glad I went to SummerWaves to see off summer in
style. A great time was had and the music, the venue and the people were just on point. Let’s do it
again next year.

1 Apr 2016
The Batman v Superman verdict
Okay, you guys, this is a toughie, but we are all friends here and can be honest with each other,
right? Good. Batman v Superman is difficult to review. I have seen it twice now to wrap my head
around it properly (I would have seen it twice anyway though, but that's neither here nor there). The
thing is that fans love it and critics hate it. In this case, I am both a fan and a critic - and that leaves
us all in an odd place, but let's work with what we have, shall we?
I will kick off by saying that I think BvS (as the cool kids call it) is a really fun movie to go to see if you
love amazing visuals, great action sequences, Batman, a pinch of Wonder Woman and just an all-
round nice action flick. If you like that stuff, BvS is the movie for you and Zack Snyder has got you
covered. If you like DC comic books and don’t mind plots that are haphazardly tied together you will
also still have somewhat of a good time because the movie is packed to the brim with comic book
Easter eggs. If you are a fan of coherent stories, though, you will be left out in the cold rain with an
umbrella nowhere in sight. The whole thing that’s wrong with BvS is the Dawn of Justice subtitle.
Too ambitious
The movie is simply too ambitious and tries to do what Marvel did in five movies leading up to The
Avengers in one movie (two movies with Man of Steel, I guess), which was just never going to work
out. Marvel is totally kicking ass with its cinematic universe and I understand that DC wants to catch
up as quickly as possible, but the movie suffers a lot for it. In a crazy way, though, DC did do what
they set out to do and you will want to see the Justice League movies and the other individual
superhero movies DC has planned after watching BvS. They killed it at the box office, so they are
pretty set for making the DC cinematic universe a big thing and I hope they succeed.
The trailers give away pretty much most of the plot so I won’t dwell on that since it will just ruin the
few surprises the movie does have. What I will say, though, is that BvS feels like at least four
separate movies happening at once - and if you aren’t that familiar with DC’s characters and stories
some of them will make no sense to you. There’s a sequence that I love that references a really big
Justice League villain, but it has nothing to do with the immediate storyline at all and they could
have shown it to us in another movie. Then there’s the manner in which they introduce the other
Justice League characters, which was just sloppy. BvS is nowhere near the mess that the Fantastic 4
movie was, but feels like it also suffered a lot from the postproduction editing process. There will an

R-rated Blu-ray/DVD release later in the year with 30 minutes of added footage and maybe that will
help join together scenes that feel disjointed.
The best Batman to date
Okay, the really great things about this movie. The very first thing is Batfleck! Can you remember
how worried we all were when Ben Affleck was cast as Batman? Those sad Batman memes were
everywhere. I am eating humble pie and enjoying it because Ben Affleck is the best Batman to date!
He plays both the Bruce Wayne and Batman characters to perfection. I love how physically imposing
and grim he is. This is straight up Frank Miller Batman. Jeremy Irons comes to the party as Alfred and
does a great job being the somewhat snarky butler. Both he and Bruce Wayne are older and their
relationship shows that they have been together for a long time in the way that they banter. Zack
Snyder should make a solo Batman movie, he is just great at the dark, broody stuff that makes up
Batman as a character. Gal Gadot is just kickass cool as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. I really wish
she had more time on screen, but every second she was it was fun and I am looking forward to the
Wonder Woman movie. I am also quite happy with Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. It takes a bit of
getting used to but it works.
Superman’s story was rather tedious on the other hand. Every time he and Lois were on screen I just
wished they would show us more Batman, Wonder Woman or Lex Luthor. The weird thing is that
Henry Cavill makes a great Clark Kent/Superman and Amy Adams is also great in her role as Lois
Lane. The problem is more the way in which the characters are written. There is hope (tried to make
a joke with whole symbol on Superman’s chest standing for hope but it doesn’t work) though as one
of the big surprises in the movie involves Superman and that was expertly handled.
A decent movie
Go out and give BvS a watch. It’s a decent movie with many problems, but a movie you can still
enjoy - and it does the job of laying the groundwork for DC’s next endeavours. It looks like it was
meant to be a visionary movie and maybe the Blu-ray/DVD release with the deleted material will
help reconcile that vision. For now, BvS may not be the movie we deserve, but it’s the movie we
need to get to the good stuff going forward.

31 Mar 2016
The infectious enthusiasm of Nora En Pure
In Game of Thrones Maester Aemon says: "The Starks are always right eventually; winter is coming!"
Last Saturday, Cape Town lived up to those words as it was cold, rainy and downright dreary. This
did not deter anyone from a night of great music at the Shimmy Beach Club, however, no ma'am,
not even a little bit. The Shimmy Beach Club played host to the Joburg-born and Zurich-based diva of
deep and indie house, Nora En Pure.
The infectious enthusiasm of Nora En PureThe popular DJ was on the second stop of her SA tour,
having already had the Joburg crowd dancing two nights before and moving on to Durban after Cape
Town. If you are into house or electronic music in general, this was the place to be. With a strong
support line-up consisting of: Strange Loving, Yeti, Thank Me Later, Tomorrow’s Will, Minx, B Soulful,
and Gareth Kenward the crowd was on its feet all night long.
Packed to bursting
A little bad weather never gets the guys over at the Shimmy Beach Club down as they set up indoors
and transformed the venue from a beach club to a super club with VIP area and an additional dance
floor. The place was packed to bursting and everyone was having a good time jamming to the
amazing music. Nora En Pure’s set consisted of all her well-known jams, like the song that catapulted
her onto the world stage Come With Me, the Salt Water 2015 rework, I Got To Do and Morning
Dew/Better Off That Way.
Nora En Pure was amazing to behold on stage and just loads of fun to be around. Her enthusiasm
while she was playing her set was simply infectious and you could see that she loves performing. She
was not ranked number 10 on Beatport’s Most Charted Artists in 2015 list for nothing.
The other outstanding performances for me were Strange Loving, who played before Nora En Pure,
and Minx who played after. It was a great night out and you can’t go wrong with good people, drinks
and even better music. This gig was well worth attending.

19 Jan 2016
JJ Abrams' love letter to Star Wars
Okay, by now we all know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is good. It is frighteningly good. We
have all watched it at least three times by now. I still have to see it in Imax and I am toying around
with the idea of seeing it in Nu Metro's 4DX format. The Force Awakens has broken a long list of box
office records, like being the highest grossing film of all time and, you know what, JJ Abrams and his
team deserve it. Abrams is the chosen one and has brought balance back to the Force in a way that
George Lucas failed to do with the prequels.
Do you guys remember Super 8, that movie Abrams did in 2011? That movie was really just a love
letter to our favourite childhood movies of the 80s and 90s, especially movies like ET and The
Goonies. The movie was also a love letter to the craft of filmmaking. That movie was great because
you could tell that a huge amount of love and attention to detail went into it. It was a huge dose of
nostalgia and for two hours you could just kick back and be a kid riding your BMX again. Super 8 was
basically fan fiction at its best. Abrams did the same with Star Trek reboots, with so-so results for
both films. With The Force Awakens he hit his stride and it truly is the best love letter anyone could
have written to the original Star Wars trilogy.
A labour of love
Do you know when the world began to believe that The Force Awakens could be good? It was at
Comic-Con last year when they released that making-of reel and you could tell that the movie was a
labour of love for everyone on the set. That was when we began to believe that this was going to be
great. The final result follows many of the beats of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and this
is its greatest strength, and also a bit of a weakness. The very first time I walked into the theatre on
the day of release last year I knew this is the Start Wars we know and love within the first five
minutes. It really felt like Mark Hamill describes in the Comic-Con reel: "You've been here but you
don't know this story. Nothing's changed, really. I mean, everything's changed but nothing's
changed. That's the way you want it to be, really." The Force Awakens manages to strike a balance
between paying homage to the old trilogy and telling a new story with the new characters. That can
be no easy task and I applaud the team's dedication.
The new characters are just perfect and the actors are great in their roles. R2-D2 will always be my
hero in the original trilogy, but BB-8 is the coolest character in The Force Awakens. He is cute, funny
and you can't help but love him. BB-8 is so great that I entirely forgot about R2 and C3-PO while I
was watching the movie. John Boyega as Finn and Daisy Ridley as Rey work well as leads. I love the
chemistry between them and how their interactions switch naturally from funny to sombre. Both are

badass in their own right and it will be great to see the direction in which their characters develop in
the sequels. Oscar Isaac plays the best damn pilot in the Resistance, Poe Dameron, and he does so
with style and enthusiasm. Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is rather menacing until you get under the mask
and you learn how emotionally unstable he is and it works. Kylo Ren is not a fully fledged villain yet
and still needs to learn to control himself and his powers. General Hux, played by Domhnall Gleeson,
is the other up-and-coming baddie and he commands the First Order's troops. Kylo Ren and General
Hux have a rivalry for who can impress the movies big bad the most. The big bad comes in the form
of Supreme Leader Snoke, played by the marvellous Andy Serkis. We don't know much about Snoke
for now other than that the Force is strong with him.
A poor man's Yoda
Maz Kenada may be a poor man's Yoda, but she is still very likeable and Lupita Nyongo delivers a
solid performance. Gwendoline Christie plays poor man's Boba Fett in the form of Captain Phasma.
She commands the Stormtroopers and I think she will have a bigger role in the sequels. She looks too
cool not to.
It's great to see the familiar faces too and that lends a lot to the nostalgia you feel watching The
Force Awakens. The first time you see Han Solo and Chewie you can't help but grin like an idiot and it
truly feels like home. But the film makes it clear that the new characters are the ones that will be
taking up the mantle in the struggle between the light and dark sides of the Force. Speaking of taking
up mantles, director Rian Johnson is picking where Abrams left off with Episode VIII, which is
scheduled for a 2017 release. Johnson is most known for 2012's Looper. He also directed three
episodes of Breaking Bad.
For now, as a huge fan of Star Wars, all I can say is thank you Mr JJ Abrams and team for the new
hope that you have brought to us that Star Wars can be fun again. The Force Awakens was well
worth the wait and we are looking forward to spending more time in that far far away galaxy over
the next few years.

15 Dec 2015
The movies in review: A look back at 2015
Looking back, it's safe to say that 2015 has been an exciting year at the movies, with the trends that
we've started to see carrying on into 2016 and beyond. The most surprising is that the small screen
has been no slouch either. Movies are tying in with TV series and platforms like HBO GO, Netflix,
DStv Drifta and ShowMax are making it almost seamless to stream content to your living room or
laptop and tablet if you don't like leaving bed on Sundays.
Let's look at some of the trends that stand out.
The nerds are still at the top of the heap
Marvel dominated at the movies yet again with Avengers: Age of Ultron and the surprisingly
charming Ant-Man. They acquired rights to Spider-Man and can now slot the web slinger into their
insane line-up that's planned all the way to 2019. Marvel is gunning for your TV as well. Agents of
SHIELD is still trudging along, but Marvel's partnership with Netflix is looking at making street-level
superheroes a thing on TV. The Avengers save the world from their lofty tower and heroes like
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist deal with the local baddies on the ground as The
Defenders. Daredevil was the first of these shows to land and it was amazing - and by the look of
things Jessica Jones is set to be too. Netflix shoots a whole season of these shows and just releases
all 13 episodes all at once to warm our binge-loving hearts.
DC's TV line-up has been strong. The Flash is by far the best thing on TV. Arrow is still going strong
and Gotham is a delight to watch. Supergirl has just landed and we will also be getting to see
Legends of Tomorrow soon. DC has also announced its long string of movies all the way up to 2020.
Another April, another season of Game of Thrones in which Jon Snow clearly still knows nothing and
which left us wondering how we will survive the wait till April 2016.
It was unexpectedly fun to get stuck on Mars with Matt Damon in The Martian as he scienced the
shit out of surviving out there.
Local is lekker

It's great to see that there was quite a lot of local content this year and that the industry is growing.
This is a trend that should continue in 2016. Neil Blomkamp's Chappie was the biggest of the local
titles in terms of budget and marketing, but it was not such a strong showing. Other local hits were
Leon van Nierop's Ballade vir 'n Enkelling and teen surf movie Die Pro, based on Leon de Villiers'
Sanlam Award-winning novel of the same name. We also got the comedies Stikdas, Tell Me
Something Sweet and the drama with Steve Hofmeyr, Treurgrond. Dis ek, Anna, based on Anchien
Troskie's two top-selling novels also made huge waves.
Name dropping
Here is just a list of movies that blew our minds and have huge hype: Birdman, 50 Shades of Grey,
Pitch Perfect 2, Jurassic World, Bridge of Spies, Goosebumps, Inside Out, Pan, Black Mass, Mad Max:
Fury Road, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and we only get
the new Bond movie, Spectre, towards the end of November here in SA, by which time we will be
sick of Sam Smith's brilliant theme song, Writing's On The Wall.
Star Wars
I have left the best for last. Star Wars falls into the nerd trend, but on so many levels it's just in a
league of its own. Star Wars is pretty much the biggest movie trend of 2015. A new Star Wars movie
will always be the biggest thing. The teaser trailer for The Force Awakens blew us away and the full
trailer is nothing short of magical. I think Christmas will be taking a back seat to Star Wars this year.
Here's to a happy 2016 at the movies.

2 Sep 2015
Not so Fantastic Four
The Bridgeburners, an elite military unit of the fictional Malazan Empire, have a saying that is very
apt for the situation that I find myself in. Going into something with eyes wide shut they say. In my
case I went to see the new Fantastic Four reboot with eyes wide shut. I knew I wasn't going to have a
good time, but I was morbidly curious to see the movie. No one likes writing bad movie reviews so I
will be as nice as I can be whilst remaining sincere and you can decide whether or not Fantastic Four
is worth your time from there. Well, let's jump right into it.
You have probably heard all the news doing the rounds on the interwebs concerning the squabbles
between director Josh Trent (Chronicle, 2012) and the executives over at 20th Century Fox regarding
the final cut of the movie that made it to screen. Trent maintains that the movie he made was ruined
in the cutting room and that his vision for the movie was very different from what the audience got
to see. To give Trent his due, the movie does feel a bit like something that was something else and
then was cut up along the way, but whatever happened internally between the parties involved
doesn't really help us much because we, the audience and fans of Marvel's long-time favourite
comic book family, got the short end of the stick once again.
Quite horrid
The 2005 Fantastic Four movie and its 2007 sequel were quite horrid, but one could at least argue
that they were fun and did not take themselves very seriously. This instalment feels like they were
trying to set up something quite epic and that would be part of a larger franchise going forward, but
somewhere along the line that vision just fell flat. The sad thing is that they really had the elements
they needed to make a great movie and, in the end, everything just didn't come together to make a
good product. The cast does a great job with what they are given and play their roles quite well, all
things considered.
This being a reboot, the plot is loosely the Fantastic Four origins story we all know and love. Instead
of getting their powers due to exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space they
get their powers from visiting a planet in another dimension that they discover and get to by means
of a Quantum Gate they build. It's the classic story of a 'sciency' group of people looking to advance
humanity, but things go awry and they end up with superpowers. The government also gets involved
and looks to abuse the group's powers for its own ends. You know what governments are like.
Another thing that was quite a let down is that at no point in the film does the team get their
superhero names. I guess they figured that they'll explore that in a sequel.

Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) is played by Miles Teller (Divergent, 2014) and he becomes the leader
of the group as well as the brains, growing up as a misunderstood science prodigy. His body acquires
elastic properties, which allows him to stretch his limbs to suit his needs. Kate Mara (House of Cards,
2013) plays Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), who can render herself invisible and later project powerful
force fields. Ben Grimm (the Thing) is played to perfection by Jamie Bell (Snowpiercer, 2013). I have
always liked the Thing in the comics because his powers are a bit more difficult for him to deal with
since he looks like a giant rock golem and they do quite good by him in this movie. Johnny Storm
(the Human Torch) rounds up the team as the hothead of the group, both literally and figuratively.
He can generate flames around himself and fly. Micheal B Jordan (That Awkward Moment, 2014) fits
right in as Johnny Storm.
The whole concept is quite awful
On the more evil and more lacklustre side of things we have Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes, 2014) in the difficult position of portraying a horribly envisioned Victor von Doom (Dr Doom).
Dr Doom is one of the greatest villains in comic books and this movie did him no justice. He looks
hideous as a nightmare and the whole concept is quite awful. Fantastic Four missed many beats in
that the story feels rushed, there is no real tension and everything is quite disjointed, but Dr Doom is
where they went wrong the most. They took a character that should be presented with a certain
gravitas and just stripped all of his personality.
Fantastic Four looks the part of a really fun and action-packed comic book movie, but sadly it is none
of those things. You can still go to see the movie, but don't expect it to be good. According to the
rumour mill a sequel is in the works and I honestly hope they do better with that. The world
deserves a good Fantastic Four movie. Hopefully 20th Century Fox also does well with the Deadpool
movie next year to keep things rolling.

24 Aug 2015
Hilarious Ant-Man
As a movie reviewer/blogger do you ever just wake up in the afternoon (that's when everyone wakes
up, right?) and just think how Marvel Studios possesses absolutely no chill? Can they just stop being
so amazing with their movies and series? I am a fan, for sure, but it just feels like I spend half my
time writing about some new great thing they did. After the sheer joy that was Avengers: Age of
Ultron I figured I'll tone down any and all excitement about Ant-Man. In fact, I'd just wait for it to
come out on DVD. Seriously, they can't just leave out Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne from the original
Avengers line-up and then hope to somehow make it work now, can they? They can't just give
Ultron, Pym's creation, to Tony Stark and just get away with it, can they? I finally went to see Ant-
Man and Marvel did all these things and made it work! Ant-Man is my favourite entry into the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I hate Marvel, damn it!
Ant-Man is reminiscent of the Daredevil series in terms of its scale in the MCU. It takes place after
the events of Age of Ultron and, whilst still quite a major event, it is more of a closed-in story about
characters that are a bit more accessible than the Avengers. While the Avengers are busy dropping
cities on people, characters like Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) are just trying to get by. The story kicks off
with Lang just being released from prison and trying to make amends with his daughter and keep
away from his former life as a thief. He then gets caught up in some superhero stuff with Dr Hank
Pym (Michael Douglas) and the brilliant man's daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and
eventually becomes Ant-Man. The villain of the piece is Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) who ends up
donning the Yellowjacket suit. Cross's motives are very much like those of Loki in Thor, which is to
say he is just a whiny child really. Loki has a certain charm so ends up working as a character people
are interested in, but Marvel still seems to struggle to create compelling villains. The Kingpin is the
only villain they have really done well to date. Pym and Janet's past story is merely hinted at, but
enough to let you know how they fit in with Howard Stark and Peggy Carter's SHIELD.
A heist film
Like Winter Soldier was a political spy thriller, Ant-Man is a heist film more than a superhero film and
a very funny one at that. This movie knows how to push all the right emotional buttons with the
audience. Scott Lang is the sort of character you can really root for and his misfit team of friends
provide a lot of very funny comic relief in the film. Michael Peña (Fury, 2014) as Lang's fast-talking
friend Luis, plays the role of the funny guy to perfection. David Dastmalchian (Animals, 2014) and
rapper TI appear as Lang's other wacky companions, Kurt and Dave and they also deliver a pretty
solid performance. Ant-Man sees Peyton Reed (Yes Man, 2008) in the director's chair and fan

favourite, Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs the World, 2010) as one of the screenwriters. Wright was
first signed up to direct Ant-Man in his popular zany style but got replaced with Reed later.
Do you guys remember how much fun old-school movies like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) were?
Ant-Man's action sequences are reminiscent of that in their hilarity. When Lang shrinks down to the
size of an ant he retains his strength as a normal sized adult male and can also control various ants
with the aid of a device behind his ear created by Pym. This allows some really fun action sequences
and also introduces us to one of the cooler characters in the movie, one of the ants that Lang
lovingly names Antony.
Ant-Man is a really great entry into the MCU and is well worth your time. The 3D effects are really
good and I imagine seeing it in Imax would be great as well. It's been on the local circuits for a while
now so if you haven't seen it yet I'd recommend you do so. Take your mum, dad, grandparents,
children and strangers in the street with you.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/120599468356/tedxtable-mountain
07 June 2015
TEDx Table Mountain
Africa is the continent that gave birth to the human race, it is a place of abundant natural wealth and
it is a place of great beauty. By rights Africa should be the Eden of our planet but, alas, it is not.
When the rest of the world thinks of Africa they think of war, poverty, laziness and people who are
late for appointments. The rest of the world either looks down on us or sees us as some sort of
charity case. South Africa, like many African states is a place of vast wealth and crippling poverty all
in one place. TEDxTableMountain, like all TEDx events all over the globe, is an independently
organised event that looks to get people together in the spirit of nurturing ideas worth spreading.
TED is a non-profit organisation devoted to spreading good ideas. It started as a four-day conference
in California some 26 years ago and has since spread to the rest of the word, even darkest Africa.
The idea is that thinkers and doers are asked to give a talk in 18 minutes that will share a great idea.
Independent events are organised under the TEDx name with support from TED. So although Africa
has many problems there are many individuals working hard and working smart to address our
problems. TEDx TableMountain hosted their second event on Monday night, 25 May and the theme
was: Journeys of Excellence. 25 May is also Africa Day so what better way to celebrate the continent
than listening to a great line-up of speakers explore ideas that can help ease some of our problems
or at least start a conversation that will pave the way to solutions.
This year’s TEDx TableMountain event took place at the Artscape Theatre and curator, Candice
Pelser (@CandicePelser) and her team did a great job organising the event. I’m a super nerd for any
event where people share ideas and dragged my ever suffering girlfriend with me to the event. We
were welcomed with a ‘passport’ to the talks each and some other cute freebies and it was all rather
cool. The crowd was massive and everyone looked excited to be there as they stood around
chatting. We had to wait a bit longer than expected to be seated because the previous Africa Day
event ran a bit longer than anticipated. Once everyone was inside the theatre and seated we were
ready to go. Some important and somewhat familiar looking people could be seen in the front rows,
the most recognizable being Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille. I made a mental note to take
a selfie with her later.
Our Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening was the beautiful, delightful and super enthusiastic Chi
Mhende (@chi_mhende). The evening saw some powerful performances by the Ikapa Youth Dance
Theatre (http://ikapadancetheatre.co.za/trai/youth-dance-theatre), Derek Gripper (@derekgripper)
translating great African composers whose music is passed down for generations but never written
down and the group, Whispers of Wisdom (@Whisperzofwiz) delivering a performance that inspires
Africans, especially the youth, to dream bigger than is expected of them. The overarching theme on
the evening was that even though South Africa and the rest of Africa are facing serious and very

large problems Africans can step up to the plate and through individual and collaborative journeys of
excellence we can rise above those problems.
The speakers were made up of Dr Gubela Mji who spoke about her experience working as a
researcher collecting data about how to improve the lives of disabled people but then seeing that
research just being stored up in shelves and never being used for anything. She formed a network
with other researchers and like-minded individuals to take all the data just sitting around and started
exploring ways to make the date accessible enough so as to actually be useful in improving the lives
of disable people. Paul Mesarcik (@paulmesarcik) showed a device that he and his team created to
detect shack fires before they spread and leave many people homeless. The device is called Lumkani,
which loosely translates from Xhosa to English as everyone beware. Dr Llewellyn Padayachy, a
paediatric neurosurgeon spoke about his research into non-invasive techniques to diagnose and
guide the treatment of critical conditions affecting the brain, especially in poor communities in
which many people can’t afford expensive surgeries for diagnosing such conditions. Dr Tindile Booi is
a qualified medical doctor and now works in a psychiatric context and helps children from difficult
backgrounds and teenagers affected by HIV cope with their situations and helps them believe that
life is worth living. One of the ways she does this is interactive storytelling. Dr Tindile Booi’s
talk/performance was my favourite of the evening and her way of telling stories, singing and dancing
is a thing of beauty to behold.
Shadreck Chirikure is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Archaeological
Materials Laboratory at the University of Cape Town and he addressed the negative view that people
have of Africa as never having produced any technology. He explored some old findings to the
contrary and showed that Africa has produced some advanced technology through its history.
Continuing with the technological trend Prof Robert van Zyl showcased the CubeSat he worked on
with his students. The CubeSat is a nanosatellite in the shape of a cube that can be sent into Space at
relatively low cost. Joseph Wamicha, a young man after my own heart, spoke about how the idea of
deeper space exploration and eventually colonisation is not just the stuff of science fiction but
something we can work on right now. The Earth’s resources are finite, as we know very well here in
Africa, but if we could look beyond the Earth and tap into the bountiful resources of the universe we
could solve many conflicts here on Earth.
What I took away from the evening is that Africa is more than just a place of darkness and backward
thinking. Yes, we have problems but Africans are more than capable of surmounting those problems
with the wealth of resources we have. Not resources in terms of gold of silver but rather our human
capital. Africans know hardship but this is also what makes us more resourceful and think outside of
the box. Africans can be excellent and be a force of good change in the world. Events like TEDx
TableMountain are very important because they provide us with the platform to get together and
discuss our problems and our ideas for solving them.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/120599709846/thecity-and-tholakele
07 June 2015
TheCITY and Tholakele
I like cool things as much as the next person . . . okay maybe a little more than the next person and
last week Thursday I got to go see a pretty cool thing. I was at The Waiting Room on Long Street to
see two bands that I’d never heard of before but sounded interesting so I gathered my entourage (I
have them just lying around) and with the promise of beer and good music we headed for The
Waiting Room to see TheCITY and Tholakele. I’m glad to report back that my promise of beer and
good music was fulfilled because both bands blew me away and I had a rocking good time. You
should check both bands out some time.
The Waiting Room is the sort of grungy and intimate place that draws in cool and artsy people and
the crowd consisted of these kinds of individuals. The setting was cosy with comfy chairs placed
facing the small stage and there was some space for people to dance it up should the music move
them. This was the sort of gig where people get to chatting with each other and the bands, making
friends and just having a good time jamming to some cool sounds.
Tholakele were first to grace the stage with their African Jazzy sound. Bronwen Clacherty is the
leading lady and vocalist of the band and her voice is just amazingly rich and with the band
performing songs like Ngqo Ngqo Ngqo, Nozimama and Nyemamusasa they really are an act that is
representative of South Africa’s linguistic and cultural diversity. Bronwen also showcased some
remarkable usage of traditional instruments like bows and something that I’m 93.4% sure is a mbira
in adding an African flavour to their music. Bronwen studied at The South African College of Music,
University of Cape Town and explored musical areas such as Jazz Vibraphone, Classical Percussion,
Cuban Percussion and African Instruments focusing on South African bows. You can catch some of
the songs Tholakele performed on the night on her Facebook page. You can also catch her hanging
out in the Twitter streets: @Bronwenclack.
TheCITY closed off the night on a very high note with their heart pumping Future Afro style. The
band is made up of Bonj Mpanza on vocals and her voice is powerful and downright haunting.
Clement Carr works magic on the keys, Ryan McArthur rocks out on bass and Ruby Crowie drives the
truck on drums. I was looking forward to this performance after I had their song, Long for You stuck
in my head from listening to it the previous evening on PopsicleTV.com. These guys are the epitome
of cool and every single song they played had me singing along, tapping my feet and bobbing my
head along to the music. My favourite three were Long for You, Nguwe and Something Sweet. You
can download their EP on iTunes and it’s pretty damn amazing!

TheCITY and Tholakele are two rocking bands and my entourage and I had a great time at their gig.
As I’d said before, if you have time and they are in the area it’s well worth your while to pop in and
listen to some good music.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/116908315506/stellenbosch-craft-beer-festival
20 April 2015
Stellenbosch Craft Beer Festival
Since moving to Cape Town about two years ago I have drank quite a lot of wine on some very pretty
wine farms. Wine tasting has become an enjoyable pastime for me but I’m a simple guy and lack the
sophistication to be a proper wine enthusiast. Deep down, in my heart of hearts I’m a beer guy. Beer
is one of the best things after a long day’s work. A beer with some friends makes for some very
enjoyable and magical moments. It’s no wonder Benjamin Franklin noted that beer is proof that God
loves us and wants us to be happy. The Stellenbosch Craft Beer Festival was even more proof that
God wants us to be happy. I woke up to the perfect sunshine day on Saturday morning, 18 April and
gathered all my friendlings in the vicinity and herded them to the train station (no poor sap wants to
be the designated driver on such an occasion) and off to beautiful Stellie we went!
After about an hour on the hot train we desperately needed beer and the first sip of beer from the
Drifter Brewing Company was heavenly. The festival was held at the Klein Libertas Theatre situated
in central Stellenbosch, which proved to be a rather charming setting. The venue was packed to
bursting with people hanging out on the lawn watching the bands on the stage, sitting at the
wooden tables that were laid out or just walking around and sampling beer and food from all the
stands. The vibe was very laid back and everyone was in good spirits . . . or would that be hops
rather? One of the brewing companies had a funny tagline on their stand: Beer makes me hoppy. I
can testify that everyone at the festival was very hoppy.
Many of the local craft beer breweries had their wares on sale and offered free tastings so you could
know what you were getting into. Some of the breweries there on the day were: Sir Thomas Brewing
Co., Beerfly Brewery, Red Sky Brew, Stickman Brewery, Wild Beast Brewing Co. (my personal
favourite), Mind The Gap Cider Company, Leopold7 – South Africa, Drifter Brewing Company,
Everson’s Cider, Die Biervrou (super cool name), Birkenhead Brewery, Fraser’s Folly and Red Crow
Cider.
The food wasn’t to be scoffed at either. After a few beers one works up a hearty appetite and I had
myself a bratwurst roll and tried to speak German to the lady at the stall, which didn’t work out too
well but was quite funny. If you came hungry to the festival you were covered, what with stalls
offering pulled pork sandwiches, boerewors rolls, slap chips and other greasy things to soak all that
beer in your belly up.

As far as firsts go the Stellenbosch Craft Beer Festival was quite good and I foresee it being a
something that people look forward to every year. The weather played along nicely, the beer was
flowing, there was lots to eat, the music was cool and the crowd was a rowdy and fun bunch. If you
missed out this year be sure to look out for this festival for next year. I will most definitely be there.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/116631895301/drones-drumloops
17 April 2015
Drones and Drumloops
If you know me you know that I have a soft spot in my heart . . . or would that be brain? Whatever. I
have a soft spot in one or both of those organs for all things nerdy so attending my first Tech Talk
Cape Town on Wednesday night was quite a wonderful experience. I love the idea of people from
different professional backgrounds coming together and sharing their expertise and helping each
other improve ideas. Those are the kinds of collaborations that drive innovation. KAT-O
(KickAssTech-Obviously) is all about collaboration with their monthly series of lectures. Wednesday
night’s talk was their second one and the title was a fun and quirky: Drones and Drumloops. This
monthly series of lectures aims to ‘bring attention to outstanding local science, technology and
innovation, presented by a specialist within a field, followed by food, drinks and networking. Topics
covered vary from "string theory & bitcoins" to "drones & drumloops"’. The wonderfully brilliant
Robyn Farah (@RobynFarah) is the brains and heart behind the operation and they are covering
some kickass tech in these talks, obviously.
The talk was held at 75 Harrington Street in Gardens, which is a co-working space that freelancers or
pretty much just anyone can use as an affordable office away from home. The venue looks very
industrial and looks like the sort of place where super amazing internet start-ups are born. By the
time I arrived the venue was already bustling with people talking, drinking and eating food from the
Wahine Food Truck. After grabbing a beer, walking around and looking at some drones lined up on
the tables I grabbed a seat next to a friendly group of people. The place was packed to bursting with
people and the atmosphere was just brilliant. Robyn Farah gave a little intro speech and then
handed the mic over to the first speaker of the evening, indie game developer, Peter Gardner
(@thefuntastic).
Peter developed a puzzle game called Cadence. The project is still in progress but he did give a demo
of the game at the talk. The basic principle is that the player needs to complete a set of puzzles that
result in a drumloop or several of them being created to progress to the next level. If you like puzzle
games and are a tad bit musically inclined this is for you. Peter spoke about his journey from turning
from a 9 – 5 lifestyle that stifled his creative output to going off on his own and the struggles he
faced with failure and fear and overcoming those. The title of his talk was Finding Greatness Slowly:
Harsh Lessons of a Long Term Creative Project and you can find the slides here:
http://www.slideshare.net/petercardwellgardner/finding-greatness-slowly. Peter is part of the
South African game dev scene and they are doing some brilliant things and I would recommend that
you look into some of the stuff they do. Check out the studio of which Peter is part, Made with
Monster Love: http://www.madewithmonsterlove.com. You can check out their Noodlestarter there
for Cadence and help them raise some funds.

You know that drones are the future, right? No, I don’t mean people mindlessly slaving away in
factories in some dystopian setting. I mean the cool kind of drones. The next and last talk was from
the guys over at Darkwing Aerials (@DarkwingAerials). They had a few of their drones on display and
discussed issues like the difficulty in obtaining the proper documentation for operating drones in
South Africa as almost no regulations exist. Another issue for drone operators is the classification of
whether the drones they use are classified as aerial craft or toys. Darkwing Aerials are at the
forefront of the drone revolution is South Africa to a large extent as they travelled to the UK to
obtain the proper documentation for operating their drones. They also adhere to those documented
standards of operation. Darkwing Aerials also looked at the usage of drones from commercial,
industrial, photography and for things like mapping out farms. They showed beautifully shot videos
of the shots they took using drones for National Geographic. The videos were breathtakingly
beautiful, showing shots of animals on land and some at sea.
Another group of cool people working with drones was also at the event. They are called Flying
Robot (@flyingrobotfpv) and they use their drones in a more fun way, they race them. They had a
video on-screen of the drones flying around in parking lots at amazing speeds. They also had some
drones on sale at the event.
Tech Talk Cape Town: Drones and Drumloops was very informative and lots of fun. The networking
after the talks was great and everyone I met was super friendly and more than willing to share ideas
or ask about what I have going on. Peter Gardner and the guys from Darkwing Aerials were happy to
answer any questions about their projects and allowed the crowd to play the demo of Cadence and
touch the drones. Look out for the next talk and come out and meet a group of intelligent and
collaborative individuals.

10 April 2015
The Furious 7
You have probably heard that Fast & Furious 7 or rather, Furious 7 made enough money to fill
Scrooge McDuck's vault three times over in its opening weekend. I think that one of the biggest
reasons for this is, because of all the movies in the franchise, Furious 7 has the most heart. To
paraphrase Vin Diesel's character, Dominic Toretto: This time around it's not just about being fast.
This was the first movie in the series that my girlfriend saw and she shed a tear in the cinema
because this is a beautiful movie about friendship, family and a farewell to a brother. Don't get me
wrong, it's also about fast cars, ridiculous action scenes and golden girls in bikinis (I kid you not).
Furious 7 looks good and is one of the coolest movies out this year.
Furious 7 sees Justin Lin, director of the franchise since Tokyo Drift, hand over the keys to James
Wan to have at it in the driver's seat. Wan sounds like an odd choice to direct, being known for his
horror movies like Saw (2004), Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013), but pulls it off
spectacularly. Furious 7 is a final goodbye to Paul Walker and that's something that had to be done
with love and Wan manages to convey that in the movie. The detail of the action sequences is
brilliant with camera zooms and slow mo used in very cool ways to create suspense that actually
leaves you on the edge of your seat, even though you knew the good guys would be okay all along.
Crazier than before
You know how they hire eight-year-olds to write the script for Transformers movies? The Fast and
The Furious does a similar thing, but they at least edit it a bit after the kid has written it. The car
chases/battles are crazier than before, which is saying a lot considering that a tank and, later, an
aeroplane on a never-ending runway were involved in car chases in the last movie. Roman (Tyrese
Gibson) has a funny rant in the movie about how of all the crazy things they've done, jumping out of
an aeroplane with their cars is the craziest. That's not even a spoiler because you can see some of
that scene in the trailer. The story is that Owen Shaw, the bad guy they put away in the last movie,
has a meaner older brother named Deckard Shaw. This guy is so bad ass that he doesn't even need a
team to mess with Dom's crew. He is basically like the bad guy in horror movies, he just keeps
coming and kicking ass. Deckard is played brilliantly by Jason Statham (Transporter) and fulfils all
sorts of dreams we've had of seeing him face off with The Rock and Vin Diesel. Deckard is as tough
as nails and seeing him fight it off with Dom, armed with tyre levers is just cool. The reason Deckard
wants to kill Dom and everyone in his crew is because they put his brother in hospital - his brother
who was a murderer and just a downright nasty dude. They didn't even kill the guy and Deckard is all
kinds of mad because, you know, family. I think it's a bit of an overreaction, but sure wish I had a
brother who would do that for me.

God's Eye
Deckard Shaw may be a bad-ass loner, but even he needs some help when Dom's crew proves to be
quite a handful. Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) is a mercenary whose team is after a device called
God's Eye because it can hack into any device with a camera on the planet and use facial recognition
to find anyone. These two team up as a matter of convenience. Dom's crew gets help from a
government spook, Mr Nobody (Kurt Russel) to take down the bad guys. Dom's team is made up of
Brian (Paul Walker), who serves as the heart of the movie and it's cool to see the CGI and body
doubles with his brothers they used to have Walker's character finish the movie after his death.
Michelle Rodriguez (Machete) is back as Letty and is still coping with her amnesia and getting to
grips with her relationship with Dom. Jordana Brewster (Annapolis) plays Mia, Dom's sister and
Brian's girlfriend. Tej (Ludacris) is back as the tech guy and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) as the comic
relief. The beautiful Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) plays hacker Ramsey. The Rock returns
as Luke Hobbs and he is still kicking ass and delivering cheesy one-liners that we all love, and by his
side is Elsa Pataky (Snakes on a Plane) as Elena. Han (Sung Kang) and Gisele (Gal Gadot) have cameos
and so do some people from the older movies. You'll also see Ronda Rousey (The Expendables 3)
kicking some ass in the movie. The casting is brilliant and everyone on the main cast knows each
other so well by now that it really feels like they are family.
It's not a Fast and Furious movie without some beautiful cars burning it up in some exotic locations.
Furious 7 transports viewers through places like Los Angeles, Tokyo, the Caucasus Mountains and
the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. This movie is ice-cold levels of cool and lots of fun to watch. It's the
perfect send off for Paul Walker. Because I know you guys are like Dom and don't have friends, you
have family I recommend you get together and pop into the cinema to see Furious 7. It doesn't
disappoint.

25 March 2015
DC and Marvel's plans for the future
We all love superheroes and, over the last few years, DC and Marvel have been showing us a lot of
comic book love on television and on the big screen.
DC is struggling at the box office at the moment with Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy being the
only venture that really worked out well for them. Green Lantern was a bit of a disaster and Man of
Steel didn't quite succeed in capturing what Superman is really about, what with the big blue Boy
Scout probably killing more innocent people in Metropolis than he saved in his fight against General
Zodd. While DC may be lagging behind on the big screen, it is dominating the small screen with
shows like Arrow, The Flash (which is just pure gold, you guys) and Gotham. Marvel has Agents of
SHIELD, which goes from annoying to really good and then back to annoying again. Agent Carter is
nice too, I guess. The Peggy Carter character is less tiresome than most of the people on the Agents
of SHIELD roster at any rate. Marvel had a great 2014 at the movies with Captain America: Winter
Soldier and The Guardians of the Galaxy being absolutely amazing. They are looking to do the same
in 2015 with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Marvel also has more things lined up for
television to compete with DC on that front.
Big things are happening for both DC and Marvel this year and going ahead, so let's dive into some of
the fun stuff from both of the studios, shall we? Let's kick off with Marvel's detailed plan for things
to come and then look at how DC responds.
Comic book goodness
Marvel is taking the Avengers out on their second outing on 1 May in Age of Ultron and geeks
everywhere can't wait to get some of that comic book goodness. Heck, people in general can't wait
to get hold of that comic book goodness. Then there is the bonus we South Africans have of seeing
Hulk smashing downtown Jozi. Move over New York! Marvel knows how to make movies that appeal
to everyone and they do it with such charm. Just to make sure that everyone knows that Marvel
knows what it is doing, it went ahead and announced its complete Phase 3 line-up. Just like that.
BOOM! Phase two closes off with Ant-Man on 17 July this year. Ant-Man is looking to be the sleeper
hit that The Guardians of the Galaxy was last year.

Phase 3 kicks off with Captain America: Civil War set for 6 May, 2016. Marvel Studios acquired the
rights to Spider-Man from Sony and this is great news as he is an important part of the Civil War
storyline and will finally get to play with the rest of the Avengers gang. I doubt that Spidy will be
getting his own movie before then, but let's see. Also, a black Spidy seems to be a thing with Donald
Glover's and other names being thrown around. On 4 November, 2016, Marvel taps into the magical
corner of the comic book universe by bringing in the Sorcerer Supreme in Doctor Strange. The
lovable Guardians of the Galaxy go on their second space adventure on 5 May, 2017, (so far away to
see more of Groot) and things get all sort of apocalyptic in Thor: Ragnarok on 3 November, 2017.
The Avengers (and probably the Guardians of the Galaxy) assemble again to face off with the big bad
Thanos in Infinity War Part 1 on 4 May, 2018. Black Panther makes his debut on 6 July, 2018 (I
imagine we will see him in some sort of cameo before this though). Captain Marvel gets her day in
the sun on 2 November, 2018. The Avengers continue their Infinity Gauntlet story in Infinity War
Part 2 on 3 May, 2019. The Inhumans are now a thing on Agents of SHIELD, but the royal family gets
its own movie on 12 July, 2019. I doubt we'll be seeing any of the royal family on TV before then.
A lot darker and grittier
Marvel is good at interconnections between all of its franchises and for all the flak I give Agents of
SHIELD it ties in nicely with the events in the films and will continue to do so if all the plans on the
table work out. 10 April will see the launch of Daredevil on Netflix and by the look of the trailer it's
set to be a lot darker and grittier than the other Marvel stuff. It will also tie into the bigger Marvel
universe like Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD. Later this year we'll also get A.K.A. Jessica Jones.
Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Defenders will also be getting some love on the small screen, but their
dates have not been announced yet.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... The Justice League is clearly still a thing for DC with Superman vs
Batman: Dawn of Justice scheduled for 25 March, 2016. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) will be a
principal character in the movie, so that's the big three in the Justice League right there. Jason
Momoa (Game of Thrones) has been cast as Aquaman and his character has been revealed in
costume on posters with the tagline: Unite the Seven. This could refer to the seven seas of which he
is king or the seven founding members of the Justice League. Cyborg (Ray Fisher) is also set to make
an appearance in the movie.
DC is playing catch up with Marvel and so it also announced its line-up for its DC Cinematic Universe.
DCU? DCU 52? Well, whatever they call it, here it is. After Dawn of Justice we get to see the Suicide
Squad in action on 5 August, 2015. Who doesn't like anti-heroes? Really. Look out for Jared Leto as
The Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney as Captain
Boomerang. Oprah Winfrey was one of the people being considered to play Amanda Waller, but

Viola Davis (Ender's Game) got it in the end. The Suicide Squad makes a regular appearance on
Arrow, so I guess the TV and cinema worlds won't be linked as the actors aren't the same. Gal Godot
returns as Wonder Woman on 23 June, 2017. 17 November, 2017 sees the biggie in the form of
Justice League Part One. The Flash zooms in on 23 March, 2018 and we take a look at what's going
on in Atlantis in Aquaman on 27 July, 2018. By the power and beard of Zeus we will be graced by
Shazam (Captain Marvel to some but Marvel has their Captain Marvel so yeah, that) on 5 April, 2019.
The Rock has been cast as Black Adam, so you know this will be fun. Justice League Part Two is set
for 14 June, 2019, Cyborg for 3 April, 2020 and DC will try again with Green Lantern on 19 June,
2020.
There's not much to say about DC's TV presence other than that it is having a good time. In addition
to shows like Arrow, The Flash and Gotham, it has Constantine exploring the magical realm. Supergirl
is getting her own show this year and Lucifer and Preacher are on the cards as well.
We have a lot of comic book movies and TV shows to look forward to over the next few years and
the name of the game from both studios is clearly shared cinematic universes, which we love. DC
seems not to be sharing on between its TV shows and movies, though, but, hey, it still looks like a lot
of big things going on. Feel free to get excited about all the cool things headed our way. See you at
the movies.

http://www.culturecrit.com/2014/09/kindness-and-information-age.html
18 September 2014
Kindness and the Information Age
In light of the recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge craze, Charles Siboto examines a new age of
kindness and how you can be effective in making the world a better place.
Recently a friend challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and this got me thinking about how
everyone can do something around them to make the world a brighter place. I won’t lie, I’d never
heard of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) before seeing all the videos of people pouring buckets of
ice-cold water over their heads on my social media feeds. You’d think I’d know that Stephen
Hawking suffers from ALS at least, but nope, total ignorance on my part. ALS is a disease very far
removed from my centre of attention.
The people behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALS Association, are looking to create a world
without ALS. This, of course, requires money for researching cures for the disease and supporting
people already living with it and affected by it. This is a noble cause and they used the power of
social media to come up with a fun way to raise the funds they need for this good work. I commend
this and it’s great to see a charitable drive gain so much momentum and create a stir. This is the sort
of cause that people should donate money to or invest some of their time in whether they do it with
a video or not. But you should always know exactly what it is that you are supporting.
The interwebs are a vibrant place where people vehemently share their opinions and very soon
memes were making the rounds that people are wasting water whilst many regions in the world
don’t have enough drinking water. Many celebrity personalities also declined the challenge on the
grounds that there are reports stating that the ALS Association is involved in animal testing. Both
these points are valid: wasting water is foolish and supporting an organisation that runs tests for
cures for diseases on animals is not something everyone can agree on (and that’s a whole different
and important argument).
The former issue made me think of my beloved mother warning me not to waste food as a child
because children in China are starving . . . but how would my not wasting the food ease their plight?
I always thought. We live in South Africa and there were children starving in our neighbourhood that
I could have given that food to. As far as animal testing is concerned, I don’t know whether the ALS
Association is involved in this or not but it highlights the point that people shouldn’t blindly donate
to organisations. As someone trying to ease the burden of other human beings, you must go a bit
further than just giving money to an organisation and invest some of your time finding out whether
it shares the same values as you. This is also another reason I like the idea of volunteering because it
gives you a first-hand experience of work being done by charities and other such institutes.
I took up the Ice Bucket Challenge but I did not support the ALS Association because I felt that there

are causes closer to me that I can focus on. The world is in dire need of a lot of cleverness to solve
many of its issues. Children should not be starving in China, South Africa or anywhere else when
there is more than enough food to go around. There are enough resources for everyone on our
planet but the problem is access. Clever minds are needed to enable such access but kindness is also
needed. I am intelligent but I doubt I will be figuring out how to solve the issue of a child in China’s
hunger anytime soon (sorry, mom) but I sure can give a hungry child who is right down the road
from me something to eat. I took up my Ice Bucket Challenge in a spirit of being kind to all my fellow
humans and helping where I can. I love food and I am the sort of person who packs a lot of it for
work and sport so I will pack just a few more sandwiches and fruit to give to people.
Giving sandwiches doesn’t solve the underlying problems though. I don’t have much money to give
but I also don’t think that would help as much as me giving of my time. I love books and when I was
growing up my family was poor (we’re only a little less so now) and stories were my refuge; they
comforted me and taught me some wisdom. In addition to my grandmother and mother I was raised
by stories and our local library was my second home. I can share that with children and will do so. I
am privileged to work at the Children and Youth editorial office of one of South Africa’s largest
publishing houses and to volunteer on the executive board (this is a whole lot less fancy than it
sounds) of an organisation that seeks to get rid of the problem of illiteracy in South Africa. These are
wonderful platforms from which to help nurture a hunger for learning in children and thus equip
them with knowledge to support themselves as they grow older. I pledge my efforts and time to
these ventures because that is a role I am most equipped to play in trying to make the world a better
place.
I think most people are looking for opportunities to be kind but miss them in their daily lives because
they think their acts of kindness may be too insignificant or they are daunted by the really large acts
they really want to be doing. Look at all the opportunities on social media that are wasted! People
will like and share the crap out of a status highlighting conflicts across the world and how we really
should be doing something. Sometimes people even emotionally blackmail each other with posts
about how you support something heinous like rape if you don’t share some picture. I hate stuff like
that but it shows that people want to be kind, there is a spark of it albeit somewhat misguided. This
whole Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon proves that social media can be a powerful tool to create
awareness of issues and even to raise money for them but you still have to go out and be kind and
generous in your daily life. Do small things for people and if you can, do big things. Just try and
extend a helping hand whenever you can. That is my challenge to you.
The world is full of injustices like undernourishment, rape, murder, sexism, racism, corruption, war
and many issues like disease and natural disasters. Lend your support wherever you can. You don’t
have to be Superman or Wonder Woman (unless you can, then totally do that) but your small acts of
kindness and even your cleverness can go a long way.

06 August 2014
Sci-fi space opera with Guardians of the Galaxy
Well, well, well - it would seem that Marvel Studios can do no wrong with its 2014 releases. Captain
America: The Winter Soldier was a surprisingly and thoroughly entertaining spy movie that does
what comic books have often done since their inception, using superhero figures that should be
absurd but seem to be the perfect vehicle to address issues our real world is facing. The Winter
Soldier turned the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that viewers are familiar with on its head with
the events that occur in it, which leaves us wondering how things will play out in The Avengers: Age
of Ultron next year. The events in The Winter Soldier also affected the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV
show's storyline, which is to say it gave some much-needed new life to a series that was rather
lacklustre up to that point.
This is all good and well, but it's not why we are here. Guardians of the Galaxy is why we are here
and boy is it a good romp to the side of the galaxy that has thus far only been hinted at in some of
the other movies. Again, Marvel Studios seems to have found the right, and somewhat unlikely,
people for the job of making a movie whose tones differ from the others in the MCU, but is also right
at home in it. With director James Gunn at its helm, Guardians of the Galaxy is an adventure, sci-fi,
space opera that is fun to watch without ever taking away from the depth of its characters. James
Gunn directed the wonderful 2006 B-grade movie Slither and he wrote screenplays for 2002's live-
action Scooby-Doo movie and 2004's Dawn of the Dead, so you know he's bringing some silliness to
this venture. That silliness endears the venture to audiences worldwide.
Good guys who are all a little messed up
The Avengers is a story of good guys who are all a little messed up and initially find it hard to work
together, but they all spring from the hero mould. The Guardians of the Galaxy is a group of
criminals, outcasts and misfits that all land up in prison together. Each character in this group bound
together by circumstance, greed and a lot of madness is highly flawed and works his way into your
heart from that perspective. They go from trying to steal from and kill each other to forming a pretty
badass team to stand in the way of some crazy villains, hell bent on destroying the galaxy.
Peter Quill, who also calls himself Star-Lord, is the leading man and possesses the charm that you
usually find in supporting characters. His character is a little bit Han Solo, some Tony Stark and a
measure of Captain Kirk from the recent Star Trek movies. He is abducted from Earth as a boy in
1988 by a group of space pirates known as the Ravagers, just after his mother dies. He is raised by
them and their leader Yondu (Michael Rooker) is a weird sort of father figure to him. Quill starts out
as a bit of a douche and becomes more of a leader and a hero throughout the movie. His character is
also formed by the death of his mother and how he has had to cope with that. Like all of the cast
members Chris Pratt (The Lego Movie) delivers a strong performance as Star-Lord.

The rest of the team consists of the assassin (and adopted daughter of Thanos) Gamora, played by
Zoe Saldana (Avatar) who looks just as good as a green alien as she did a blue one. Gamora is
dangerous, but is also just seeking to do some good and escape from under evil shadow of Marvel's
ultimate big bad, Thanos. Dave Bautistsa (The Man with the Iron Fists) plays Drax the Destroyer, the
muscle in the group. Drax's wife and child were killed by the main villain in the movie, Ronan the
Accuser, and he wants revenge. Drax's character is also funny and often provides as much comedy as
he does destruction of everything around him. Dave Bautista has a somewhat limited acting range,
but Gunn seems to have set up his scenes in such a way that they fit in with how a menacing
character like Drax would behave. The final members of the team, and the ones that cinema-goers
will probably love the most, are bounty hunters Rocket, the raccoon and Groot, the tree-like
humanoid. Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) is a genetically engineered raccoon
with a love for guns and some great, albeit quirky, battle tactics. Rocket is a fast-talking maniac and
he is also alone in the universe as there is no one like him and he survives by his wits. Groot is
adorable and is the one member in the team that's not crazy in any way, well other than in the fact
the he hangs with crazies. He is a tree-like creature who looks out for Rocket and, later, everyone
else. Groot is beast in battle, though, and not to be messed with. He only ever says one line in the
movie: "I am Groot." But with that line he portrays a wide spectrum of emotions and is just cute to
watch. Groot is voiced by Vin Diesel (Fast and the Furious), which seems an odd choice, but it works.
A radical fanatic
The main villain is Ronan the Accuser, a member of the Kree alien race. He is a radical fanatic whose
main goal is to destroy the planet Xandar, whose population he views as his mortal enemies. He is
not a great villain, but Lee Pace (The Hobbit) does a good job playing him and he does have some
truly menacing moments. He is ultimately just there to set up Thanos as the big bad for later though.
Characters like Nebula, Gomora's adopted sister and The Collector (Benicio del Toro) also make an
appearance and add to the adventure.
The Guardians of the Galaxy is the most fun you can have in a cinema at the moment. It's an
adventure driven by characters you can't help but falling in love with and you want them to succeed.
Everything in the movie oozes style. It's a visual feast, but the outstanding element is the music. The
soundtrack makes what is already a great movie a masterpiece. Songs like Hooked on a Feeling,
Cherry Bomb and Ain't No Mountain High Enough will be stuck in your head as you leave the cinema.
Move over Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy are in town and they are shooting things up with
style to spare.

21 May 2014
Throwing our storytelling toys
I went to go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier some time ago and it was the best movie I've
seen so far this year - and that made me think about toys and storytelling. Sitting in that dark
cinema, watching a remarkably good comic book movie, I realised that we are living in the best time
in terms of seeing things that you could only imagine translated into visual stories.
Growing up reading novels and comic books, many people of my generation are at home living in
their heads. All you needed to keep you busy for hours was a Lego set. Older generations can boast
that they only needed a stick and a stone and that's fine too. The point is that we were all happy
mucking around with sticks or Lego blocks and building these vast landscapes in our minds where
robots battled it out with monsters or whatever else. But then we grew up and our toys were
discarded and left to gather dust in a garage, but we didn't discard our imaginations.
The things we loved as children
Our movies, books, video games and even our toys are taken from the things we loved as children.
Michael Bay's Transformers movies may not have had good plots, but I absolutely adore them for
their visuals. Every single time I see an Autobot or Decepticon transform I smile. Those are the
visuals that I had in my head as a child every time I played with a Transformers action figure or
watched the cartoon. To this day I can't get over how CGI took images I could only see in my head
and plastered them onto screens. There's a little magic about it. It's like pizza, even if it's bad it's still
nice to have.
Stories and how we tell them has always been very fascinating to me. Movies are big business and
Hollywood has gone back to your childhood to dig up all your old toys and is telling those stories on
the big screen - and it works for the most part. Marvel has successfully translated many of its comic
franchises into film and it has many plans going forward. Guardians of the Galaxy is its next venture
and it sure is being adventurous because the characters aren't well known by general audiences.
Marvel is good at taking its quirkier franchises and making good films, though. When Iron Man came
out lots of people didn't know who he was.
Gritty, realistic superhero movies
DC is not having as good a time with its offerings, failing more often than not - but Christopher
Nolan's Batman trilogy sure did set the benchmark for gritty, realistic superhero movies. Everyone
and his dog loves Batman, but even as a kid reading the comics, watching the cartoons and playing
with the action figures, you know that the idea of a running around fighting crime dressed as a bat is
ridiculous. Batman is probably my favourite comic book character but I'm the first to admit that he is

the most ridiculous of the superheroes. You buy into it, though, because it's fun. Then Nolan sells it
to you in a straight-up serious setting and it works. If you didn't have a guy dressed as a bat the
movies could simply be good action/thriller stories. Marvel did a great job with placing Captain
America in a realistic setting in Winter Soldier too. Take away the star-spangled costume and Winter
Soldier is just a really good spy flick. It's an interesting dynamic, that, taking stories people think are
for children and selling them to adults (and children still) as fun shoot-'em-ups or taking them
seriously as stories that could be entirely plausible.
It's a great time to be alive and to see things you loved as a kid being reincarnated in ways that make
you love them again or make you want to hire a squad of ninja pirates to assassinate everyone
involved in ruining your favourite comic book (guys behind Green Lantern, I'm referring to you). You
even get charming things like The Lego Movie! We're throwing all our storytelling telling toys in the
sandpit and having a great time playing with or just peeing on them. Life's good.

07 April 2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Looking forward to a new instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCE) is quite nerve-
wracking because you never really get what you expect in the end. This works both ways in terms of
getting more than you bargained for and getting short-changed. Luckily, Captain America: The
Winter Soldier gives you more than you bargained for.
The first Cap movie was enjoyable, but it felt like Marvel really just made it for the sake of
establishing the Cap's role in The Avengers instead of really digging deep into the character. This
time around you get a better glimpse into what makes America's superhero golden boy tick. You also
get to know Nick Fury as an actual person for the first time in all the appearances he's made in the
MCE. Winter Soldier is a solid and thoroughly enjoyable movie and can both stand on its own and fits
into the MCE nicely.
Marvel has been playing around with the tone of its movies post-Avengers and it worked very well in
Iron Man 3 and not so much in Thor: Dark World. Winter Soldier goes more the way of Iron Man 3 in
that it's not so much a superhero movie as it is a spy flick or a thriller. This is a great thing and allows
the plot to centre more on heroes as people that we can relate to. This change in direction tends to
annoy comic book purists and, as much as I do understand that line of thinking, I like how accessible
Marvel's movies are to anyone who doesn't read comic books.
Out of place in the modern age
Two years after the alien invasion shenanigans that went down in New York the Cap's (Chris Evans)
still working for SHIELD because, unlike the rest of the Avengers gang, he doesn't have anything to
return to. He still feels out of place in the modern age, but he's a soldier and keeps going and is
largely fixated on doing what he does best: punch the snot out of bad guys. With the Russo Brothers
(You, Me and Dupree) at the helm, Winter Soldier plays out as a political thriller and the pace is
great. SHIELD itself is in danger in this outing and a lot of moral questions regarding world security
and the role of agencies like SHIELD (or the CIA in real-world terms) are explored. This wouldn't be a
Captain America story if the evil HYDRA (KGB in real-world terms) didn't make an appearance.
They're there in the shadows, working hard to rob the world of its freedoms.
The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), as a character, is actually more of a sub-plot in the movie. He is,
of course, the bad guy super soldier for the Cap to face off against and his origins are revealed, but
only to a small extent. It seems like they're actually hoping to do something with him further down
the line and this movie serves only to introduce him to the audience.
Winter Soldier also sees the introduction of the character of the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) as the
Cap's sidekick (very much like Iron Man's Rhodey). He is a cool enough character but Nick Fury
(Samuel L Jackson) does steal the show in this feature. Fury has always been the guy who shows up

and says some ridiculous things in other movies and just looks cool. His character's explored in some
depth this time around and you start learning why he has issues trusting people. Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson) makes a return and she is slick as usual. She is the moral contrast of Cap in that
she has no qualms about lying to get things done. Their dynamic throughout the movie is great to
see.
I highly recommend that you go to see The Winter Soldier; it's very good and just lots of fun to
watch. Look out for the Stan Lee cameo and wait for both end credit scenes and then proceed to get
excited for Guardians of the Galaxy later this year and Avengers: Age of Ultron next year.

http://blog.collectionary.com/daily-thoughts-on-action-figures/
26 February 2014
Daily thoughts on Action Figures
I remember an instance when I was five or so and playing with an assortment of action figures (I
think I was playing G.I. Joe vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and my mother commented on how
much fun I seemed to be having with my little dolls. She called my action figures dolls! The nerve of
some parents! I had to set her straight, because boys don’t play with dolls, we play with action
figures.
Thinking of that moment in my life made me wonder where the action figure trend started, and why
we are so obsessed with playing and collecting them. I’m a fan of all things geeky and it seems
action figures are deeply rooted in that culture. Think along the lines of dinosaurs, superheroes, Star
Trek and G.I. Joe; action figures have been made of all of these franchises and we love it. As a kid
you rip the figures out of their packaging and actually play with them but adults (who are just bigger,
more boring kids) collect the stuff and keep them in mint condition. Action figures, my furry friends,
are a serious business.
The term “action figure” was coined by some people at Hasbro in 1964 when they released their G.I.
Joe merchandise and couldn’t really call them dolls because, you know, boys had to play with them.
Society back then was only a little more sexist than we are now. The whole action figure/doll thing is
just quite sexist to be frank. Anyone can play with or collect them but we are still pretty much
conditioned to see them as boys’ or girls’ toys. You’ll be interested to know that without the success
of the Barbie range of dolls that G.I. Joe action figures might not exist as we know them now. We
should all take a moment and thank Stan Weston for realizing that Barbie-sized dolls with a military
theme are something that the world needs. Stan’s the guy who brought the G.I. Joe idea to Hasbro
in 1963 (known as Hassenfeld Brothers then).
They kicked things off with just three ‘dolls’ in their line-up: Rocky the Marine, Skip the Sailor and
Ace the Pilot. By 1965 they’d added an african american soldier and even tried a female Joe two
years later in the role of . . . wait for it . . . a nurse! That, of course, didn’t really work out too well.
Over the years life got weird and G.I. Joes like Atomic Man and Bulletman got added to the line-up.
This is the point where genres like fantasy and sci-fi were gaining prominence and people were open
to new and strange ideas. The latter half of 20th century was a great time for action figures! Star
Wars and Star Trek were big, comic book characters were just begging for action figures to be made
of them and franchises like Indiana Jones were appearing all over the show. Everyone was just

licensing everything: Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Gundam and almost everything else that
you love.
When I was a kid I wanted to join the military when I grew up — thankfully I didn’t grow up. I spent
hours playing with those little green soldier action figures that we almost as cool as Lego. What
were they called…? Ah, yes! Army Men. I conquered so much of the world with those guys. Are
they even proper action figures? I’m not sure but they are even proper cool.
People who collect and/or play with action figures are nerds or geeks of some sort and that’s fine.
We all love playing or love the stories from things like Star Wars so much that we collect some sort
of memento to remind of exactly how cool Boba Fett is. To think that pieces of plastic so
painstakingly and artfully moulded can make us so happy! Imagination is truly a wonderful thing.
Now you know that action figures are totally rad-ical. And knowing is half the battle! I really never
got around to figuring out what the other half is; you can just make that one up as you go along.

14 February 2014
Haunting beauty in The Book Thief
One of The Book Thief's promotional campaigns was a series of images and teasers posted on its
Facebook page related to words and their meaning. One of the themes throughout the story is
words and what they mean to people; how beautiful words are and how ugly they are. Words are
more powerful weapons than guns and bombs after all.
One of the words that were used on the Facebook campaign is wonder: {won•der} n. surprise
mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, or inexplicable.
This is the reaction you get from watching this film. The Book Thief will make you smile, cry, laugh
and then leave your heart broken with its haunting beauty. As a high-ranking member of the Book
Snob Society I can find reasons why the film adaptation of this story does not do it justice, but those
reasons are ultimately shallow because this adaptation is really good and captures the important
themes of the book.
Set in Nazi Germany
The story is narrated by Death (Roger Allam), who is surprisingly pleasant given the nature of his job,
which he seems to dislike. Set in Nazi Germany from April 1938 the plot follows the life of Liesel
Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) as she adjusts to a new life on Himmel Street in the fictional town of
Molching with her foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson). This
is the story of a German girl trying to make sense of her small, fragile life amidst the horrors of Nazi
Germany leading up to World War 2. Liesel finds a solace of sorts in books and words, and tries to
make sense of her circumstances through them. She doesn't understand all the hate going around
and no one really knows how to answer why so much hate can spread like a disease.
Many stories of this terrible era in humanity's history are told from the viewpoint of Jewish people
or others who were affected by the atrocities committed by the Nazis, but this is the story of a small
German town just trying to survive when the world has gone mad. Sophie Nélisse is wonderful as
Liesel Meminger; she plays the role with the utmost grace. The rest of the cast also deliver stellar
performances. Geoffrey Rush's portrayal of Hans is sincere and makes you love the man who teaches
Liesel to read, to love and to be courageous, albeit seemingly foolish in the dreadful time they live in.
Rosa is stern and rules the Hubermann household with an iron fist, but you can tell she loves them
all. Max (Ben Schnetzer), the young Jewish man that the Hubermanns hide in their basement

manages to convey a lot of sadness and joy in that cramped space, and is one of the characters that
steals the show. My personal favourite character is Liesel's best friend, Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch).
This lemon-haired boy is all heart and you can't help but love him.
A slightly different perspective
This is a great movie. It's not the best movie depicting the period, but it does offer a slightly different
perspective into it and it is beautifully shot. The oppressive Nazi propaganda is a constant backdrop
to the story and it constantly reminds you of the bleakness of the place the story is set in. The music
by John Williams adds quite a lot to the tone if this film and is moving.
Some people feel that it's too sad. I don't think so. It is sad, but it also shows how normal people
overcome terrible situations and how kind and selfless they can be. I think the story, like all good
stories, is what JRR Tolkien called eucatastrophe - the good tale that breaks your heart.
Put some tissues in your pocket or handbag and give The Book Thief a viewing. It's a good movie.
That is all.

Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio June 2016

Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio June 2016

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Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio June 2016