MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Part of the problem with sequels is that audiences want more of the same, and then some. Shrek II sort of fulfils that brief. It is a fun movie — at least as funny as the first one. Matthew Burbidge picks up some popcorn and heads to the preview.
MOVIE MONTHLY: <i>Bright Young Things</i>, <i>Ripley’s Game</i>, <i>Mean Girls</i> and more … Dave Chislett gives us the heads-up on what’s hot and what’s not this chilly month on the big screen.
Tobey Maguire’s impetuous behaviour nearly cost him his job and a $17-million pay cheque in the sequel to Spider-Man — and he knows it. The contrite 27-year-old actor is again playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but he got the role back only through the intervention of his girlfriend’s father — who heads Universal Studios — and a heartfelt apology. Robin Marchbank reports.
Most people see paramedics as angels of mercy — but some have been accused of racing like tow-truck drivers to get to an accident scene before the competition.
One paramedic has already died on the way to an accident, with observers alleging that she was racing another company to get to the scene first. This has raised concern over what appears to be increased competition between the two main private ambulance companies.
When Bongani Mbonani matriculated in 1998, he enrolled on a catering course, convinced he was equipping himself with marketable skills. After completing the one-year course, he spent the next two years filling in job application forms, faxing his CV and knocking on prospective employers’ doors.
It is a typical day in the middle of Cape Town: two brothers from Côte d’Ivoire sit in a patch of sun in a garden while a Dutch couple take photographs of a squirrel climbing an oak tree. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, Europeans and North Americans tourists have been buying up some of the city’s most valuable properties. But Cape Town is also becoming home to many African immigrants.
In one of its most contentious findings, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) questions whether the government will be able to meet President Thabo Mbeki’s commitment to complete the land restitution process by the end of next year. The HRC, tasked by the Constitution to advance social and economic rights, released its Economic and Social Rights 5th Report 2002/2003 last week.
The government of Japan will extend a grant of about -million for the construction of primary schools in Lesotho, the Japanese Embassy said on Thursday. Through the collaboration between the two countries, a total of 229 classrooms in 17 new schools and water supply facilities would be introduced in Berea and Maseru.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday said he would not allow ”former imperialists” to monitor parliamentary elections in his country next year, a declaration which drew a sympathetic response from a summit of 79 poor and developing countries.
The number of South African retail websites has exploded to more than 700 at the end of last year from 215 in 2001, defying a slow-down in growth of online retail sales, according to a survey. The survey also says the market is dominated by the top eight online retailers, who account for about 80% of all online retail sales.