/ 15 November 2016

#CulturePop: Who is responsible for the orange-tinged disaster that is 2016?

Meltdown – what Time magazine believes the future will hold.
Meltdown – what Time magazine believes the future will hold.

Someone asked, quite bleakly, whether 2016 was directed by Quentin Tarantino. Does anyone remember the opening sequence of Natural Born Killers (written by Tarantino and directed by Oliver Stone) and the immediate feeling of strangeness and utter doom at the hands of criminal couple, Mickey and Mallory Knox? Mallory’s cavalier devil-may-care traipsing across the diner like a toddler and Mickey, cool as a knife’s edge with a sweet tooth and glass of non-fat milk as an attempt at dousing a bad habit.

As a fan of Tarantino’s stories – Natural Born Killers an ultimate fave – I should be a fan of 2016. But the very bizarreness, gore and violence that makes us addicts of Tarantino is the same reason we’re categorcally bewildered by this year. In reality it’s simply one eerie thing after the next. You will have heard ad nauseam by now about the White House’s newest addition, celebrity and president-elect Donald Trump. As is often said in increasing fear of one’s own life, what a time to be alive! It dawned on many that, like seeing a bad tattoo, the United States is not who Hollywood and social media thinks it is. Television lied.

The swollen multibillionaire took to the stage at the Hilton Hotel in New York for his victory speech.

Opponent Hillary Clinton had, moments earlier, called to congratulate him on winning and becoming number 45 after Barack Obama. It must have been the toughest phone call of her life. Though many might have seen her campaign as opportunistic, surely she was the lesser of two evils?

Perhaps we can help the US be GOAT (Greatest of all Time) again in 2020 and campaign for Kanye West to be the next black president. That will probably recover a chunk of those who boycotted the elections.

We could also, of course, mind our own business and scandalous president. Ntsiki Mazwai posted online amid a sea of Trump tears: “We don’t even want him as president!” The shade queen of our time tweeted this in response to President Jacob Zuma’s congrats message to Trump. Hands up if you couldn’t agree more?

One more thing from Zuma’s house, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, whom we know as MaNtuli, is now an official suspect after being accused of having a hand in a plot to poison her husband. The president’s second wife was kicked out of her home in January last year when the attempted murder case was opened. There were also rumours of infidelity on her part a few years ago. It doesn’t get any more wicked than the president’s second wife allegedly cheating or even allegedly poisoning him.

There was more good news from the Mazwai sisters, with Thandiswa Mazwai announcing the release of her latest album and a new signing with Universal Music Group. The album, Belede, is her mother’s namesake. It pays tribute to the rebellious spirit who was her mother, the musicians she references in her work and, most ardently, who she is. Thandiswa was certainly part of the soundtrack to my coming of age. She continues to inspire self-determination. Seven years after Ibokwe and 10 after Zabalaza, I can’t wait to dig in. Belede comes out on November 25.

The water crisis we’re facing took a peculiar and dangerous turn last week. After willing the rain to come as drought becomes a real-life threat, it did us a favour and poured. But did it pour or what? First water rationing in some areas and then being swept away by flash floods in the very same areas. Cars drowned in the middle of the N3 and yet there’s still a shortage of water.

And finally, how is 702 going to survive without John Robbie? More than 30 years with the radio station and 15 on his breakfast show is no small feat. The veteran radio host’s retirement was met with #JohnRobbieRetirementParty on Twitter as some viewed it as long overdue. Perhaps his opinion has lost its appeal with the station’s new listeners. Perhaps #OpenUpTheIndustry is becoming more than a hashtag, albeit slowly. His invite to the retirement party must have been misplaced in the virtual streamers and confetti.