ARTiculate

Has 2024 Been The Best Year For Video Game Adaptations?

Has 2024 Been The Best Year For Video Game Adaptations?

  The gaming industry is one that is always seeing change each and every year. Trends will come and go, and franchises will either make it or break it. Rapid changes in technology also play that part in shaping and moulding this industry. It also shapes the way...

Opinion: Why Work Doesn’t Work, Or Industrious Insanity

Opinion: Why Work Doesn’t Work, Or Industrious Insanity

By CHANTAL HERMAN So a few years back, Leonardo DiCaprio interviewed Elon Musk in his movie Before The Flood, and Musk said just 100 of his clean-energy factories could power the planet. THE PLANET. I was so excited by the news, but now I realise South Africa would be...

Opinion: Advertise Your Ethics, Or Just Do IP

Opinion: Advertise Your Ethics, Or Just Do IP

By ZAMA BUTHELEZI Zama Buthelezi is a Partner at Spoor & Fisher South Africa. For more information, go to spoor.com.   Advertising is all about communicating a message in order to sell a product or service. The most successful advertisements are those that...

Opinion: Streaming Consciousness, Or Listening Re-Learned

Opinion: Streaming Consciousness, Or Listening Re-Learned

By JOHN MCKNIGHT Professor John McKnight is a partner at Spoor & Fisher.   I have never been a fan of music streaming services. I should perhaps begin by saying that when it comes to listening to music, I consider it to be a multi-sensory experience. Not only...

Writing: Motivated By Fear, Or Just Plane Thrilling

Writing: Motivated By Fear, Or Just Plane Thrilling

By DJ WILLIAMS   My wife and I were vacationing in Hawaii when one morning she woke and said, “I want to go skydiving.” Being the seasoned husband that I am, I replied, “Yes, dear.” Now what you should know about my wife is that she’s afraid to fly. So, you can...

Opinion: Live-Action Remakes – Nostalgia Or Nous?

Opinion: Live-Action Remakes – Nostalgia Or Nous?

  By JESS ROBUS   It is often remarked that there are not enough hours in the day to do all of the things that need doing. While that's probably intended as a light-hearted bemoaning of busyness, this phrase has since become the grumbled mantra of doctors,...

What is the Role of Online Gambling Regulators?

What is the Role of Online Gambling Regulators?

  The South African online gambling regulation is undergoing changes as we speak. The so-called ”Remote Gambling Bill” initiated by the Democratic Alliance aims to end the blanket ban on online casinos, bringing this segment of the market out of the grey zone and...

Statement: TADA!, Or When A Sector Goes Unministered

Statement: TADA!, Or When A Sector Goes Unministered

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] The most recent statement from the Theatre And Dance Alliance:   If you are not with us, Minister Mthethwa, you are against us It is with a renewed sense of shock and dismay that the Theatre and Dance sector...

Opinion: Lies Of The Land, Or Country Connection

Opinion: Lies Of The Land, Or Country Connection

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN The realisation came when I least expected it. We had been out of South Africa for five years when we met my parents, siblings and their families for a family holiday. Our children by then had gained...

Policy: Charter Of Rights For South African Artists

Policy: Charter Of Rights For South African Artists

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] CHARTER OF RIGHTS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS Definition For the purpose of this Charter, and based on UNESCO’s 1980 Recommendation Concerning the Status of the Artist, an “Artist” is someone who a. creates, or gives...

Funding: Following The Money, Or TADA Goes Forensic

Funding: Following The Money, Or TADA Goes Forensic

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] The newly formed Theatre and Dance Alliance (TADA) has established a team to investigate the PESP funding debacle that has compromised many in the creative sector, including numerous TADA members. The intention of the...

Opinion: Feeding Your Fears, Or A Knead For Bread

Opinion: Feeding Your Fears, Or A Knead For Bread

  By HOWARD FELDMAN Much like Gwyneth Paltrow, I am not sure if I will be able to cope with another lockdown. If government statistics are to be believed, South Africa will shortly be entering the third Covid wave, which might well mean increased restrictions. An...

SAGA Memorandum To Petition: Remember Our Legends

SAGA Memorandum To Petition: Remember Our Legends

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By JACK DEVNARAIN Jack Devnarain is the chairman of the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA). If interested in responding to the below appeal, please sign this petition.     Since the inception of the South...

Opinion: Paint Your Fence, Even If You’re Sitting On It

Opinion: Paint Your Fence, Even If You’re Sitting On It

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN It’s that time of the year when we are asked to consider the past 12 months, and then look towards the next. It is never easy to do so, but this year, given its complexity, presents us with challenges...

Opinion: Handle Me With Care, Or Covid Coffee Context

Opinion: Handle Me With Care, Or Covid Coffee Context

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN This morning, I realised why the world needed COVID and why we most likely still do. The backstory is this: early on in lockdown it became clear that my father was seriously ill and that he would have a...

Opinion: Cutting Remarks, Or Vis-A-Bris Trolls

Opinion: Cutting Remarks, Or Vis-A-Bris Trolls

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN It started, perhaps as it always does, fairly innocently. Sunday was the bris (circumcision) of my great nephew and because of COVID rules we could not be there. I had travelled to Israel in the past...

Opinion: Logging Off, Or Stung By Blue Bottles

Opinion: Logging Off, Or Stung By Blue Bottles

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN First they came for the Tempo, and I did not speak out, because I wasn’t crazy about Tempo. Then they came for the Lays Salt and Vinegar chips, and I did not speak out, because I was always more of a...

Opinion: Avoid A Grave Mistake, Or Dead Good Prices

Opinion: Avoid A Grave Mistake, Or Dead Good Prices

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Because 2020 wasn’t weird enough, South Africans are apparently now able to purchase coffins on popular retail site Takealot. The items sell for just under R5 000 per box and the company has stipulated...

Opinion: Problems And Perspective, Or Favoured By Fortune

Opinion: Problems And Perspective, Or Favoured By Fortune

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN Monday morning June 1 was the day that South Africa stumbled into Level 3 Lockdown. Although eagerly anticipated, there were many aspects of this milestone that seemed to catch us by surprise. Parents...

Opinion: Zoom Out, Or Screening Your Symposium

Opinion: Zoom Out, Or Screening Your Symposium

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN With governments around the world getting involved in almost every aspect of our lives, from when we are allowed to exercise to what clothes to buy, it is somewhat disappointing that they have not...

Opinion: Be Still, Or Sick Of The Sibilation

Opinion: Be Still, Or Sick Of The Sibilation

By HOWARD FELDMAN   Whereas I am not a coronavirus expert, I have been a hypochondriac for some years. I am also am a radio talk show host, author and a social commentator, which perhaps qualifies me in some way to speak of social impact of this illness. There have...

Opinion: Operation Optimism, Or Preparing A Perspective

Opinion: Operation Optimism, Or Preparing A Perspective

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN On first blush there is ample reason to be miserable. The economic data released recently once again confirmed that South Africa is in a recession. An investment downgrade is more likely to happen than...

Opinion: Educate With Art, Or Investing In EQ

Opinion: Educate With Art, Or Investing In EQ

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By DAVID LIMBERT The arts are vital for personal and academic growth, but there is a lack of time, money and resources dedicated to the area in schools. Sport is highly prevalent in South Africa, and everyone understands...

Opinion: Just Do It – Cause And Reject, Or As You Like It

Opinion: Just Do It – Cause And Reject, Or As You Like It

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN   Courage! The conversation went something like this. “I really want to climb Kilimanjaro. Do you know any good causes?” “I know plenty of causes”, I answered, “but why would you need one to climb...

Opinion: Level-14 Craziness, Or Daughter Available, Voetstoots

Opinion: Level-14 Craziness, Or Daughter Available, Voetstoots

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN   “Would you consider adopting Abby?” I messaged two friends. “We will continue to pay the cost of her tuition and will also cover her hair products." I didn’t want to blindside anyone, especially...

Opinion: Trumped By A Danish, Or Buy The Beloved Country

Opinion: Trumped By A Danish, Or Buy The Beloved Country

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By HOWARD FELDMAN   Recently, if American media was to be believed, Donald Trump was apparently considering buying the island of Greenland. This was not the first time that Greenland was on the market and not the...

Opinion: Exercising Exclusivity, Or Of Finance And FOMO

Opinion: Exercising Exclusivity, Or Of Finance And FOMO

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL   Exclusivity. “The practice of excluding or not admitting other things.” Or, “Restriction to a particular person, group, or area.” So the opposite of woke, then. The opposite of #MeToo. Kind of...

Writing: Clothed In Conversation, Or Improvised, Then Revised

Writing: Clothed In Conversation, Or Improvised, Then Revised

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By CST HARDING I have been asked how I set about writing a novel, and there is no easy answer.  I have to write. It is a compulsion, sometimes a joy, and when it goes well it’s a relief to have a means to express my...

Writing: Teenage Trials, Or Imaginings Beyond Experience

Writing: Teenage Trials, Or Imaginings Beyond Experience

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By LOHAN SL WIJERATHNE   At just 14 years old, Sri Lanka's Lohan SL Wijerathne's is an experienced writer and published author.     I began writing when I was nine. My head was teeming with ideas all the...

Short Story: Is It Too Late To Be Human Again?

Short Story: Is It Too Late To Be Human Again?

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By MIKE JOSLIN   James Walker was finding the reality of his impending death hard to cope with. He sat in his study reflecting on his life. He was dubious about the subject of religion, but tried to remain open to...

Writing: Publishing Perspectives, Or You Can Go Your Own Way

Writing: Publishing Perspectives, Or You Can Go Your Own Way

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By MIKE JOSLIN   I think it’s fair to assume that although writing is thought of as an ‘art’, in general the written word is used only as a means of communicating ideas and substance. This isn’t to say that writing...

Opinion: The Future Of Festivals, Or Sensible Is Sexy

Opinion: The Future Of Festivals, Or Sensible Is Sexy

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL   Parklife / Marks Park, Johannesburg   “You know what I really like about this festival? You can go home after the set. Have some real comfort. No trying to find your tent in the mud and then...

Essay: Writing It Out, Or After The Alcohol

Essay: Writing It Out, Or After The Alcohol

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By DEAN LILLEYMAN   It’s gone midnight. I’m sat at a table. I have a blanket draped over my head and the laptop I am typing on. I am shivering as I type. Under the blanket it is too warm, but the sweat on my face...

Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2017

Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2017

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL   The below music, literature, film and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2017, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or...

Opinion: Good, Better, Blogger

Opinion: Good, Better, Blogger

By BRUCE DENNILL   Blogger. It’s a term that’s almost spat out, like a condition you might catch if you discuss it for too long. As media platforms go, blogs are often classed somewhere between penis enlargement flyers pasted onto suburban dustbins and first-time...

Opinion: Before We Disappear: Chris Cornell – In Memoriam

Opinion: Before We Disappear: Chris Cornell – In Memoriam

[vc_row][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text] By BRUCE DENNILL I had two interactions with Chris Cornell. The first was after his set at the My Coke Fest music festival in Johannesburg in 2008, perhaps the most exciting reason ever to go to a racetrack in Alberton....

Opinion: Going Around A-Goon, Or Show Me The Funny

Opinion: Going Around A-Goon, Or Show Me The Funny

By JOHN ELLIS   It’s a sign of our ever-deepening cultural poverty that I’d have to explain what I mean by ‘The Goons’. I’m talking, of course, of the one-and-only, groundbreaking, anarchic, pioneering, standard-setting Goon Show. The BBC radio comedy of the...

Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2016

Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2016

By BRUCE DENNILL   The below music, literature, film, TV and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2016, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or read it. In all cases, I count myself lucky to...

Writing: How To Remain Anonymous, Or Covert In Glory

Writing: How To Remain Anonymous, Or Covert In Glory

By JM SHORNEY   Until today, in my sheltered writer's existence, I had not encountered any reference to the group who call themselves Anonymous. The members don Guy Fawkes masks, which I suppose lends an eerie but historic message, as Guy and his co-conspirators...

Opinion: Fantastic Mr Foxes, Or Of Leicester And Longinquity

Opinion: Fantastic Mr Foxes, Or Of Leicester And Longinquity

By BEN WRIGHT   In the late 1970s, my uncle wanted to go to Filbert St. My Grandmother said no. Like the stadiums of many a middling football club at the time, the home of Leicester City could be a rough place. English hooliganism was enjoying its dark hey day...

Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2015

Seen And Heard: The Best Of 2015

By BRUCE DENNILL   The below music, literature, film, TV and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2015, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or read it. In all cases, I count myself lucky to...

Opinion: Back To The Future Imperfect, Or Caught In A Fox Trap

Opinion: Back To The Future Imperfect, Or Caught In A Fox Trap

By JOHN ELLIS   The costume designers of Back To The Future II were asked to imagine, from the viewpoint of 1988, how we’d all be dressing in 2015. As can be expected, they got it hilariously, entertainingly wrong. It’s 27 years later, and we still don’t have...

Opinion: First Week In Stewart’s Seat, Or Yes Or Noah?

Opinion: First Week In Stewart’s Seat, Or Yes Or Noah?

By BEN WRIGHT   Over the course of my ten years in the US, I’ve met numerous families who have adopted kids from overseas. While any adoption is ostensibly noble, I’ve always been somewhat troubled by the fact that there are so many children in the US waiting to...

Opinion: Pierneef Posers, Or Painting Over The Past

Opinion: Pierneef Posers, Or Painting Over The Past

By GABRIEL CROUSE   There is a taste war being waged in South Africa. On one side, a distaste for shame dominates. Let me put it this way: if your grandfather was sympathetic to evil social experiments, please don’t take me up to the attic and show me how nicely...

Writing: Scripting Tradition, Or Show And (William) Tell

Writing: Scripting Tradition, Or Show And (William) Tell

By ALBRECHT BEHMEL   What really fascinates me as a writer is the question why some stories enter tradition and others don’t. There is plenty of good stuff out there that nobody reads anymore. Material that is totally forgotten but once was really en vogue, like...

Opinion: The Gong Remains The Same, Or Getting Star-Stuck

Opinion: The Gong Remains The Same, Or Getting Star-Stuck

By BRUCE DENNILL   Before this year’s Naledi Awards, there was a Facebook kerfuffle about the nominations, and during and after the show, there was more of the same sort of chatter – verbally, this time – in the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City and in the lobby...

Awards: Seen And Heard – The Best Of 2014

Awards: Seen And Heard – The Best Of 2014

By BRUCE DENNILL   The below music, literature, film and theatre may not have been created or originally released during 2014, but it was only at some point during this year that I was able to see it, hear it or read it. In all cases, I count myself lucky to have...

Opinion: The Death And Resurrection Of Live Music

Opinion: The Death And Resurrection Of Live Music

By SIBUSISO MKWANAZI   Those who have been infatuated with their tunes for extended periods of time will let you know that there are fewer live music venues than there were in the good old days. And they would be correct. Names of once great venues such as The...

Theatre: Soweto Theatre Expenditure – Steven Sack Responds

Theatre: Soweto Theatre Expenditure – Steven Sack Responds

Former City of Joburg official Steven Sack was concerned about what he perceived to be inaccuracies in the story below (italics), which appeared recently in The Times. He has submitted his response for consideration (below the original story).   Ninety percent of...

Tribute: If Barry Is Ronge, I Don’t Want To Be Right

Tribute: If Barry Is Ronge, I Don’t Want To Be Right

By BRUCE DENNILL   Barry Ronge was recently recognised for his work as a writer, critic, columnist and commentator at the Sunday Times Literary Awards. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award further honoured by the renaming of the Sunday Times Fiction...

Opinion: Does Brazil Win, Or Panem-onium And Perspective

Opinion: Does Brazil Win, Or Panem-onium And Perspective

By JO-ANNE GARLAND As I sat with eyes glued to the festivities of the World Cup opening ceremony, I struggled to remove the contrasting images of rioting crowds outside the stadium from my mind. The scene bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Suzanne Collins’ dystopian...

Music: Five Things U2 Got Right On Pop

Music: Five Things U2 Got Right On Pop

By JOHN ELLIS There were a zillion reasons why U2’s 1997 album Pop was considered to be the band’s nadir. Today, three studio albums and a billion dollars later, U2-watchers remain fiercely divided over the glitterball-y, Warholian K-Mart of an album that The Edge...

Books: Serving A Short Sentence In Franschhoek

Books: Serving A Short Sentence In Franschhoek

By BRUCE DENNILL   This weekend, I’m a FLFer. It’s pronounced like that word, but it’s not nearly so hard on the knees. The Franschhoek Literary Festival is, as I write, half-way done, and it’s been its usual melange of the entertaining, intellectual, naïve,...

Opinion: Bye-Bye Book Day

Opinion: Bye-Bye Book Day

By TAMSYN LUNT   Today marks the annual celebration of World Book Day! We can all band together and bask in the glory of the classics. Of crime novels and fantasies. We can think fondly of the distinct smell of fresh chapters or of yellow-stained pages handled...

Opinion: The Survivors Of MH370

Opinion: The Survivors Of MH370

By CHRISTOPHER LEACH   On March 8th, contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER en route from Kuala Lampur to Beijing. The absence of facts as to the fate of the flight at first left a vacuum swiftly filled by speculation, guesswork...

Appeal: Be A Benevolent

Appeal: Be A Benevolent

By BRUCE DENNILL   Worrying about finance is for accountants. Think about how many situations you’ve observed, onscreen or elsewhere, where an actor asks a director: “What is my motivation for this role?” How many times has that director said: “What you need to...

Opinion: No Defence Is The Best Defence

Opinion: No Defence Is The Best Defence

By BRUCE DENNILL   At the time of writing, the top four teams in the English Premier League – Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool – have goal differences of, respectively, 24, 38, 23 and 25.That is to say, each of those squads have scored that many...