Some call burning flesh a `rite of passage’. Others say it’s an ugly throwback to slavery. But it’s a hot fashion statement, writes Lonnae O’Neal Parker Imagine a carefully fashioned coat-hanger, slow-roasted over the blue-green flame of a Magic Chef range, heading for the fleshy expanse of your upper arm, your chest or the side […]
Carlton Centre in downtown Johannesburg is flooded by hundreds of young people during weekends. They file around the circular ring at the entrance on the first floor where they peer admiringly at displays of shiny new BMWs two floors below. Others mill around the corridors, visiting shop windows and restaurants. The scene is repeated in […]
Our young sport stars have become role models for their fans, writes Bongani Siqoko They may not be big stars and big names in the league of Ronaldo, Mike Tyson or Tiger Woods yet, but they are certainly riding the crest of the wave in their chosen sports. They are still young and have a […]
Alex Sudheim On show in Durban As a storyteller, Alson Ntshangase is more of a Dostoevsky than a Wordsworth. His darkly glowing paintings betray the workings of a mind far more interested in the skull beneath than the skin above. “If I start painting a rose I feel I am wasting my paint because I […]
Phillip Kakaza Rock In black jeans and fuzzy T-shirts, four- piece band Metal Orizon could easily be mistaken for an Afro-pop band. Yet even before you see them perform, the name Metal Orizon gives you a clue as to what these funky Tswana dudes are up to. Unusually for black people, they are into heavy […]
Bongani Siqoko Drunken men and women’s voices rise from the beer hall in Monyakeng township, Wesselbron, about 45km from Kroonstad in the Free State. Life seems normal, but the truth is the exact opposite. This community is grief-stricken and angry over the death of Lethusang Mohloane – whose only sin was to shoot birds on […]
After Jackie Brown and Get Shorty he’s hot in Hollywood and hailed as a literary genius by writers like Amis and Bellow. But few realise that the king of crime fiction thinks most filmed versions of his novels have been junk. Lawrence Donegan reports In the Squad Seven room at 1300 Beaubein beats the dark […]
Wonder Hlongwa While thousands of South African youths are lingering in jails, on street corners or at home, hundreds of others are putting their skills and talents to work to improve the lives of their communities. “Social responsibility” has become the catchphrase for dozens of grassroots projects started by small groups of youths, many of […]
code Nick Hopkins and Keith Devlin When The Bible Code was published, even the most grudging cynics had to admit something astonishing was afoot. The book claimed to have discovered hidden messages within the scriptures which predicted major events in world history. References to World War II, the Gulf conflict, the assassination of John F […]
Film-maker Wong Kar-Wai tells Rob Yates about his gay road movie, Happy Together, and about his other life It can get to be a bind, being the “most fashionable film director on the planet” (The Face magazine). Seriousness intrudes. People demand explanations, want to talk art. Why can’t they see that this movie- making lark […]