LOUD /// 'CONVERSATIONS ON SILENCE' HOSTED BY CHIMURENGA

I got home a little late after work on Wednesday evening. I caught a little bit of the 7 o'clock news, it was something about protests in Ermelo. It really looked rather intense. If you've kept up with the news for the last couple of years you'll know that there's been a lot of service delivery related protest action. The worst affected being the poor of course, it's fucked up and honestly quite frustrating, the poor in our country are getting poorer, yho. Don't freak out skat i'm not getting all political on you, i know you don't roll like that, well unless protest inspired gear is in vogue  again. Okay, from the working classes to the intellectual classes. I left after the news to go the Pan African Market on Long street where the Chimurenga magazine hosted three editors from a Swedish literary magazine. The editors gave a "multi-layered talk investigating the poetics of silence". Okay. The presentations were followed by a Q & A session and there were a lot of questions about silence as a form of protest...i kept quiet.  The event started at 6pm, I got there at 7.35pm. Not out of disrespect for anyone's work but rather because i have the attention span of a goldfish and i am comfortably shallow. If i get even the slightest whiff of an academic paper i break into a rash, and then one being read in public to an audience, yoh skattie i just have to close my eyes and think 'happy place happy thoughts happy place happy thoughts Dolce & Gabbana Givenchy Jil Sander Suzaan Heyns Clive Rundle Black Coffee Victoria Beckham David Tlale  Christian Dior Kate Moss Naomi Campbell Shala Monroque Thula Sindi Anna Wintour Tommy Ton Gareth Pugh Karl Lagerfeld Christopher Strong Andre Leon Talley Prada bloody Prada Rei Kawafuckingkubo Carine Roitfeld Anna Dello Russo Missibaba Alibaba Fuck whateva, is it over yet?' Phew!

IMAGES FROM SATURDAY AND A POST ABOUT A MAN WHO HAS NO RESPECT FOR WOMEN'S BODIES

I started writing this post on Sunday the 13th, the day before valentine's. We were chilling on the beach and it was one of those typically beautiful summer weekends in Cape Town. I'd taken these snaps on Saturday the 12th and i wanted to put down a few words to accompany them, maybe some cheesy shit about Valentine's. However I couldn't think of much else  besides a rather disturbing incident that took place in the early hours of that morning. Actually skat, to call it disturbing is a serious understatement. It shook, shocked and infuriated me. I'd had a bit of a night which started with dinner in the company of friends at home, then we hit the city streets and eventually ended up at a friend's place in the early hours of the morning. In addition to my friends i was also in the company of a guy i'd met earlier that evening when he came to dinner at my place as a friend's guest. I can't really remember his name, so we'll call him Cunt for now. Cunt was a pleasant guest and made for entertaining company throughout the evening. Anyway, back to the early hours of the morning bit; we were relaxing and chatting when Cunt saw it fit to grab my friend's crotch, without any sort of provocation or invitation.  What the fuck skattie? Now my friend is no shrinking violet so she let him have it and we were all obviously extremely upset and we all let him have it. Upon confrontation, Cunt denied it then claimed "the slut wanted it" (yes Mr Cunt's hand also moonlights as The Pussy Whisperer) and then he denied it again, whateva.  Now skattie we  all know there are major issues in this country when it comes to how men view women's bodies and a woman's place in society. The rape statistics alone tell a bleak fucking story, but sometimes we forget just how prevalent these fucked up attitudes/actions are. It's easy for sexual crimes to become something that happens over 'there' or to 'them'. This incident however was a reminder that it's not just some freaky easily identifiable criminal type who disrespects and abuses women's bodies. These are also people we know, people we invite into our homes, people we break bread with, people we have amazing conversations with. That my skat is just the freakiest part about the ills of our society. Oh and did i mention that Cunt has a wife and a child, and whilst walking through the gorgeous new Greenpoint park on the very same Sunday we spotted him having a wholesome picnic in the company of friends and family. Just 14hrs later skat, breaking bread with those very same enquiring hands, and laughing loudly with that very same mouth that told us that 'the slut wanted it'.

FRIDAY @ YOUNGBLACKMAN AND LATER AT CLUB VOOM VOOM (YES, REALLY)

ON SUNDAYS WE PLAY /// STYLE JAM INTRODUCING THE PERSONAL STYLE OF SMANGALISO KHUMALO

These stylejams i do occasionally always make me feel like such a lucky shit. Lucky because a lot of my friends have interesting personal style. Yes, i am expressing gratitude and bragging at the same time. Thank gawd for them skat coz if i had to do one of those blogs where the blogger is the model/stylist...well, let's just be thankful it's not so skat. Anyway, my friend Smanga was in town this weekend and he is a truly committed aesthete, and you mos know skattebol, my lens and i just can't resist. Enjoy.

SATURDAY /// AFTERNOON IN KHAYELITSHA AND MIDNIGHT AT ASSEMBLY FOR SPOEK MATHAMBO SHOW

 I've been hearing a lot of that 'Cape Town is the place to be' noise lately, I personally don't like to make such grand generalizations, it really depends on what you want from a city, what works for one person might not work for another. I moved to Cape Town in 1999 and i'm still here, so obviously for me it is the place to be. Whateva, that's besides the point and quite honestly has little to do with the rest of the post , let's get to Saturday. It was awesome obviously, my only regret is that i didn't charge my camera battery in the morning and it died on me an hour before i went home, that was the best hour and we spent it dancing at Club La Reference. First time i went to club La Ref was back in Dec 2008 and back then it was mostly frequented by brothers from various parts our African continent and ladies of...well..easy virtue, to be fair skattie the spot used to be a stripper joint before it became La Ref,  so where else would the go to strut their glass heels? Personally i love ho's and i've been friends with a few in my time. Sticky fingers aside, ho's have the biggest hearts. The music was and still is a groovy mix of kwaito, house, hip-hop and r&b. We used to frequent the club quite a bit in early 09, then in August 2009 Athi-Patra Ruga hosted the afterparty for his exhibition opening there and it was a fucking blast. I don't recall going to the club in 2010 for some odd reason. Anyway, fast-forward to last Saturday after the Spoek Mathambo show at Assembly, which by the way was fucking amazing. Let me be the first one to say it skat; these pics whilst obviously skattieliscious do not nearly capture the brilliant energy at the show. After Assembly we decided to visit our old haunt. Slight difference in the crowd mix tho, same clientele profile but mixed in with the scenester types that were at Assembly earlier and they brought the energy with. The mirrored dance floor area was on fire if i may use an old and tired cliche, if you have been with us for a while you might know that Sundays and Mondays are not particulary eloquent days for me and you will therefore forgive me. It's a bit of a trend in cities when it comes to similar scenester crowds (and they are similar skat), this sort of exploration of spaces previously far outside the 'hip' radar. I like it tho, i don't think we want a Cape Town that's frozen in time.

A SNEAK PEEK AT LINDIWE SUTTLE'S DEBUT VIDEO "MAN MADE MOON"

This one's personal skat, I am soooo proud of my girl Lindi. Cannot wait to see the full-length video. Hot!

MID-WEEK DISTRACTION /// 3 IMAGES FROM DANIELLA MOONEY'S EXHIBITION OPENING ACCOMPANIED BY 7 COMPLETELY UNRELATED IMAGES

Admittedly not the strongest post in terms of what people are wearing, don't get me wrong there are some gems and i'll leave it to you to identify those of your liking (of course if you feature in one of the pics you must know that is my favourite pic, you look effing amazing), but hey i haven't been out in 5 days, so deal skat. Now on to the real reason for this post; I've sealed my identity as being truly common this week. I bought a copy of the YOU magazine, yes the one with a freakish looking Elton John, his baby daddy and his baba, I also joined Weigh-less (yes things are that desperate and yes there are gonna be a lot of housewives at my weigh-in sessions), welcome to day 3. Skattie i know i always go on about weight and booze but you're just gonna have to bear with me a little longer, well actually a lot longer, can't think of any other topics, a bit like that cartoon strip in the Sunday Times, Cathy i think it's called. Anyway, just be fucking grateful i'm not posting pics of my weekly progress/regress. The weigh-less thing also means i can't drink for a bit. Shit.