John Updike’s new novel is dividing the critics. He spoke to Joanna Coles Waiting for the lift with John Updike at his Park Avenue hotel, he catches sight of himself in the chrome doors, his face a beige pancake from an earlier television appearance. “Oh dear,” he giggles brightly, his jaunty green eyes staring back […]
Janet Smith Since the 1950s in the United States, television has defined generations, with some programmes becoming objects of special public attention, even fanaticism. It’s no wonder a channel devoted to popular and cult series has finally been created, capitalising on the nostalgia of the television age before the digital generation overtakes it in the […]
Mercedes Sayagues It used to be that every morning when Zimbabwe’s only English-language daily, The Herald, was delivered to my home, I would read it at leisure over coffee, or take it to the office for a mid-morning perusal. A quick read was enough, since the government-owned Herald served a bland porridge of watered-down local […]
Victoria Brittain The fourth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda will be marked this week at Bisesero, where new evidence shows Tutsi survivors fought hand-to-hand battles against Hutu extremists led by local officials and businesspeople for 10 weeks. The survivors’ testimony also reveals how French soldiers drove away, leaving wounded and starving Tutsis at the […]
Herman Lategan: On stage in Cape Town Pick-Ups is the first play in Australian Alex Broun’s trilogy on the current state of easy sex, dysfunctional relationships and the fragility of the human condition. So what’s new? For years these clichs seem to have been the universal leitmotif in most of the world’s literary genres. But […]
Alex Sudheim: On stage in Durban On a boating trip in the English summer of 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson held three children spellbound with the fantastical tales of a young girl in an imaginary land, all the while making hundreds of impromptu illustrations with a pencil. Upon returning home, he wrote down for Alice Liddell […]
In the early 1990s, analysts had few problems in assessing the South African leisure industry. The SABC ruled the airwaves from television to radio. In 1990, M-Net took a large slice of the top sector of entertainment viewership from the SABC. The film industry was ruled by NuMetro (part of the Gallo group, which was […]
Does conservatism lurk at the heart of the Klein Karoo festival?Lauren Shantall was there ‘Wat gaan die Afrik aner aan sy beeld doen? [What is the Afrikaner going to do about his image?]” a poster campaign asked provocatively at this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunsfees (KKNK) in Oudtshoorn. “Hy gaan hom lees [He’ll read it]” […]
Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Another Sunday, another hot Highveld afternoon, another match in the seemingly endless Castle Premiership programme. Fixture number 270 to be precise. Mid-table Moroka Swallows versus relegation candidates African Wanderers. The setting last weekend was George Goch Stadium, a modest, homely stadium one long goal kick from the M1 highway that, like so […]
Brenda Atkinson: Corporate art When Cecile Loedolff enthusiastically mentioned “totem poles” over a glass of wine and spinach phyllo tartlett in the Absa Towers foyer, I bit my tongue. Loedolff is Absa’s arts and function consultant, and the occasion was the announcement that the banking group will use a percentage of the building costs for […]