Category: Earth (Arts and Literature)

I have an old analog scale, inherited from my parents. It sits in Dorje’s room, mostly gathering dust. I’ve never worried much about weighing myself, but in my own mind, I’ve been 80kg most of my adult life, and, more recently, since becoming “fat”, moved up to 85kg. The analog scale is not particularly accurate… Continue reading Swiss Precision

In 2009, I wrote about the sad state of South African Literary Awards online. While sites such as bookslive.co.za do great work keeping on top of things, the bodies administering the awards did not and, at the time, many did not even have up-to-date, or in some cases any, pages listing their award’s winners. Jumping… Continue reading South African Literary Awards Online – 6 Years Later

I’ve recently joined Mubi, a video on-demand site for film lovers. Netflix, which, in spite of users having to jump through DNS hoops as it’s not officially available in South Africa, is extremely popular, while Mubi is not well-known at all. Mubi has some advantages though. Firstly, it’s officially available to South Africans, so no… Continue reading Film heaven with Mubi

(Slightly more than) 30 days have raced by and the final choice is nigh. I settled down for a long night of searching, determined to make discovery number thirty a special love affair. I had multiple tabs open with possible candidates, but never got past the first one. It was ecstasy at first sight, and… Continue reading 30 Artists in 30 Days #30 – Gabby Young

The penultimate 30 Artists in 30 Days, artist number twenty-nine, is cellist-singer-songwriter Unwoman. The name was apparently inspired by the unwomen from Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, and refers to the label given to women who didn’t fit into that rigid society. Her music, described by Russian gothic label Shadowplay as “dark trip wave”,… Continue reading 30 Artists in 30 Days #29 – Unwoman

30 Artists in 30 Days number twenty-eight is violinst Taylor Davis. Starting out by performing video game covers, Taylor started doing originals as well in 2013, and has recently released her first original album. Currently Taylor has 370 patrons pledging $1,857.00 per performance video. See Talor Davis’ Patreon page. See all the 30 Artists in… Continue reading 30 Artists in 30 Days #28 – Taylor Davis

30 Artists in 30 Days number twenty-seven are one of the biggest artists on Patreon, Canadian band Walk Off the Earth. They began in 2006, and have mainly built their following on their Youtube channel, which has over two million subscribers. Their Wikipedia page describes them as an alternative rock, ska, and reggae rock band,… Continue reading 30 Artists in 30 Days #27 – Walk Off the Earth

30 Artists in 30 Days number twenty-six, Christopher Bill, reinvents an instrument that I associate with military bands and bad high school music. The trombone is made cool again as Christopher covers well-known songs with just his trombone and some creative looping. Currently Christopher has 48 patrons pledging $287.50 per video. See Christopher’s Patreon page.… Continue reading 30 Artists in 30 Days #26 – Christopher Bill

30 Artists in 30 Days number twenty-five, Tony Lucca was born into an extended musical family, spent time as an actor, and released his first album in 1997. A grizzled veteran of the music scene who’s been through the record label grinder, he was one of the early-adopters and started on Patreon in 2013. Currently… Continue reading 30 Artists in 30 Days #25 – Tony Lucca