Point-by-Point by Tom Cat: Volume 4 (A pimping session)

Three Points to today’s Point-By-Point by Tom Cat – all pimp either me (heehee) or someone else.

1) Pimp Represent. omg omg omg I just LOVE this blogzine. It’s fresh, it’s crispy, it’s funky, and to me it represents everything that is FANTABULOUS about Joburg and South Africa in general. It should be a required stop everyday for any South-African-consciencious South Africaner.

From their website…

“Represent is a specialized one-stop, all inclusive information portal. It’s a lifestyle blogazine that has an eclectic mix of entertaining and enriching content ranging from the arts to technology. Because it is updated frequently like a blog and carries varying content like a magazine we have coined the term blogazine to best explain what Represent is.

The Represent community is made up of different citizens residing in various areas all over the world and our content is driven by the people who subscribe to it. Even though the Represent team supplies the content, the subscribers often generate some of the content on the blogazine making us all one big happy family!

Represent has been operating since February 2005 and has grown in leaps and bounds since then and by using word- of- mouth viral methodologies we have spread the word and continue to do so every single day.”

2) Pimp Putumayo. I’m sure you’ve all heard them or at least have seen them in Exclusive Books or CD stores. They are a collection of CDs from around the world – each CD comprising a collection of music from a specific part of this lovely globe. I have decided that I simply have to start collecting them, and my first CD is French Cafe which, surprise surprise, plays music that one would normally expect at a French Cafe. It makes me feel all soulful and mooooody, and very.. er.. Marie Curie mixed with Brigette Bardot and a twinge of Charles de Gaule (gasp!).

My favourite song on the CD is one by Sanseverino, who sings Mal o Mains. I have no fuggly clue what he’s singing about, but the combination of jazzy rhythms and French flair is enough to get me jumping about my room in drag. eish.

3) Pimp MYSELF. No, alas Kevallion Stallion and I did not get through to the finals for Moot, but I was placed (with four other people – shhhh) as 3rd best oralist, with 78% – which, for our friends from over the seas, is a distinction in SA. I was also happy today because I received my Competition Law assignment back, and also received a distinction there.

Alas – I still am in perpetual worry about my future, and I find myself in these periods of worry where I develop a good ol’ Victim Attitude (VA) to life and I think WHAT TO DO WHAT TO DO. But then I snap out of it and continue with life in the present. But still – sigh – these periods bug me. Intensely. Perhaps I should go see a Clairvoyant who will tell me (hopefully) that this time next year I will be married to a rich dark handsome man with lots of money.

Oh yah… Hope you liked my use of colour in this post. The hospital-green of my blog is simply TOO terrible. But alas, I cannot change it.

Whacky Stuff #5 (People, are you happy?)

I think this takes the cake for ‘Whacky Stuff.’

Saw it on the road I take to get from Wits to Kevallion’s house in Brixton. It’s a very interesting road, particularly since ‘Thomas’ Building,’ built in 1918, is located on this road. It also has many other odd buildings on it:

• Beautiful old buildings that are neglected yet somehow retain a fantastic charm about them;
• One of the first cementary’s in Joburg;
• The Hindu crematorium that Gandhi himself commissioned;
• Huge council estates that were built by the apartheid government to house poor whites; and
• One the tallest structures in the country – the Sentech Tower.

This sign was located opposite Thomas’ Building. There is seeminlgy no reason for it being there – no advertising, no branding, it’s in the middle of some field - some plonker just decided to stick it up. Just for just.

And it’s so ARBITRARY.

Well… Are you?

My Lords, if it pleases this court…

I don’t know if ya’ll remember from last year, but one of my goals for this year was to win the Bram Fischer Moot Competition and represent Wits University at the All Africa Moot in Dakar, Senegal, with maai kevallion stallion?

Well…. *drum roll*

Today we had the first round robin. Kev and I acted on behalf of the applicants, who were suing the Minister of Safety and Security for constitutional damages arising out of the state’s failure to take positive steps in protecting the freedom and security of residents of Naledi and Imali (two fictional towns), as well as contravening their right to protest, petition, assembly and demonstration by not following procedures set out in the Protests and Assemblies Act (which mimics the real Regulations of Gatherings Act) and also by using force to disperse the protestors when other methods should have used. Shew. Mouthful.

The case was particularly interesting given the high levels of crime in this country, as it opened up the question as to whether the state could be constitutionally liable in failing to take positive steps to protect these rights. It was also interesting because it brought up issues of what police should do in protests, and how they conduct themselves. s 9 (2) (d) of the Regulations of Gatherings Act states that the use of force may be used where there is a threat of potential violence or potential damage to public or private interests… We argued that this provision was quite vague, because any irrational policeman could use deadly force which would negate the criminal justice system and the principle of innocent before proven guilty.

I don’t really know what the answers to all these questions… or, rather, I can tell you what the applicants would say, and what the respondents would say, but I’m too lazy to post that and I wish to post other stuff that is far more meaningless. hee hee.

Like… it was quite fun addressing the court as ‘My Lords’ (even though there was one female) and saying “If it so pleases the court…” It was all very tra la la, and I felt as though I should be wearing a wig. Instead, I looked terribly corporate with my navy pin-striped suit and my pink carducci tie.

But just know that we have gone the first step towards going to Dakar. And I don’t know if we’ll get through, but I are hoping.

Blood & Belonging

I was alerted to this article through checking out this person’s blog. Oh – and the title has nothing to do with what I am about to write. It is just the title of a book I am reading. And it was on my desk.

David Bullard says:

“Most blog sites are the air guitars of journalism. They’re cobbled together by people who wouldn’t stand a hope in hell of getting a job in journalism, mainly because they have very little to say. It’s rather sad how many people think the tedious minutiae of their lives will be of any interest to anyone else.

It’s even sadder when someone reads them.”

Have you evah?

I dunno why he felt the need to blog-bash us all. Blogging can be an intensely thereupeutic exercise, and whilst for many it can be rather a bit of a fad, for others it is a meaningful way of communication. Of venting. Of exercising one’s voyeur side. Whatever it may be, it’s a friggin blog. And they rock.

I thought perhaps that maybe he’s jealous of us? That we’re kewler and stuff. Or maybe it’s simply a misunderstanding of what blogging really is? Or maybe there was something strange in that cigar he was smoking.

Or maybe he’s just trying to get a reaction out of all of us bloggers.

In which case, my reaction is as follows (and if I could, I would provide an audio version of my reaction).

It is… *drum roll*

“hee hee”

Candy Floss makes me happy

I was tagged!!! I love being tagged by people.

I tag Luke, Sarah, Athena, Aaron and Sven. Pot along, and do it for yerselves.  

First Add a direct link to you below the name of the person who tagged you (I edited mine after I posted. . . it was weird to link to myself, heh heh)! Include the city (or state) and the country you live in (a great way to score links and find new reads).

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
Velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
Tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [Ish], Texas, United States)
Lulu (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Chris (Boyne City, Michigan, United States)
AB (Cave Creek, Arizona, United States)
Johnny Yen (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Bubs (Mt Prospect, Illinois, USA)
Jintrinsique (Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA)
Dino Aka Katy (Newport News, Virginia, USA)
Angel (Gauteng, South Africa)
Tom Cat (Joburg, South Africa)

Second List your 5 top eateries where you live! Here’s my list. . .
1. Soi, in Melville. The best restaurant in Joburg IMO. The food is a fusion of Thai and Vietnamese, and combined with an excellent ambience and funky decor, it has received numerous 20 out of 20’s from the Joburgboy
2. Antz, in Melville. Quite a rustic little Italian eatery on Melville’s 7th Avenue. The venue is intimate, creating a relaxed and warm vibe. The food is magnificent too (Pasta with black mushrooms in a creamy sauce with garlic and chilli is a face), and combine this with a good glass of red wine and GREAT company, results in Antz also getting numerous 20 out of 20’s from the Joburgboy.
3. The Loft, in Melville. Also on Melville’s 7th Avenue. Decor is particularly fantastic, with a magnficent chandelier dominating the room. Food is a bit pricey, but is delicious when it arrives.
4. Service Station, in Melville. Not on 7th Avenue, but in ‘New Melville’ a few blocks away. An old converted petrol service station, this eatery provides a great place to come especially for breakfasts. The food is fresh, and the crowd is gawwrgeous.
5. Moyo’s, Zoo Lake, Parkview. The best of all the Moyo’s. And one of Joburg’s best restaurants. Perhaps a little touristy, but the experience is amazing. Food is magnificent, and the decor gives Afro chic a whole new meaning.

Third tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.I picked the following five bloggers because they’re all over the place! Sarah, Luke, Aaron (toypetfishes), Athena, and Sven. (don’t panic- I won’t hold it against you if you don’t wanna do it).

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And my other tag came from my Angel, who tagged me with the “Seven Things” meme. I have to list seven random facts about li’l ol’ me, and then I must tag 7 people and list their names. I can’t remember doing the seven things list before, so don’t shoot me if I have. Here goes!

1. I have a problem with over sleeping.
2. I facebook far too much
3. I am screwed with the amount of work I have to do over the next 7 weeks
4. I don’t know what I’m going to do next year.
5. I had a BAD day yesterday (Tuesday).
6. I had a lovely day today that was semi-productive.
7. I am a rock. I have my poetry to protect. I am shielded in my armour. I have no need for friendship, friendship causes pain. I touch no one, and no one touches me.Ha Ha.