Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio January 2016

Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio
About Charles Siboto
Charles Siboto is a delightful, youngish man of 28. He is a feminist because the world currently needs
people who are. He believes that all lives matter but currently it seems the world needs a reminder
that people of colour's lives also matter. He firmly believes that kindness matters and cannot abide
people who are asshats. When he's not standing perfectly still in the hope that people will leave him
alone, he's reading something to do with horses and/or spaceships or blogging (goodbuddies inc.
and The Jot Book) about that sort of thing. Call cell +27 (0)84 891 1726, email csiboto@gmail.com or
connect on Facebook

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/482/136989.html
15 Dec 2015
The movies in review: A look back at 2015
Looking back, it's safe to say that 2015 has been an exciting year at the movies, with the trends that
we've started to see carrying on into 2016 and beyond. The most surprising is that the small screen
has been no slouch either. Movies are tying in with TV series and platforms like HBO GO, Netflix,
DStv Drifta and ShowMax are making it almost seamless to stream content to your living room or
laptop and tablet if you don't like leaving bed on Sundays.
Let's look at some of the trends that stand out.
The nerds are still at the top of the heap
Marvel dominated at the movies yet again with Avengers: Age of Ultron and the surprisingly
charming Ant-Man. They acquired rights to Spider-Man and can now slot the web slinger into their
insane line-up that's planned all the way to 2019. Marvel is gunning for your TV as well. Agents of
SHIELD is still trudging along, but Marvel's partnership with Netflix is looking at making street-level
superheroes a thing on TV. The Avengers save the world from their lofty tower and heroes like
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist deal with the local baddies on the ground as The
Defenders. Daredevil was the first of these shows to land and it was amazing - and by the look of
things Jessica Jones is set to be too. Netflix shoots a whole season of these shows and just releases
all 13 episodes all at once to warm our binge-loving hearts.
DC's TV line-up has been strong. The Flash is by far the best thing on TV. Arrow is still going strong
and Gotham is a delight to watch. Supergirl has just landed and we will also be getting to see
Legends of Tomorrow soon. DC has also announced its long string of movies all the way up to 2020.
Another April, another season of Game of Thrones in which Jon Snow clearly still knows nothing and
which left us wondering how we will survive the wait till April 2016.
It was unexpectedly fun to get stuck on Mars with Matt Damon in The Martian as he scienced the
shit out of surviving out there.
Local is lekker

It's great to see that there was quite a lot of local content this year and that the industry is growing.
This is a trend that should continue in 2016. Neil Blomkamp's Chappie was the biggest of the local
titles in terms of budget and marketing, but it was not such a strong showing. Other local hits were
Leon van Nierop's Ballade vir 'n Enkelling and teen surf movie Die Pro, based on Leon de Villiers'
Sanlam Award-winning novel of the same name. We also got the comedies Stikdas, Tell Me
Something Sweet and the drama with Steve Hofmeyr, Treurgrond. Dis ek, Anna, based on Anchien
Troskie's two top-selling novels also made huge waves.
Name dropping
Here is just a list of movies that blew our minds and have huge hype: Birdman, 50 Shades of Grey,
Pitch Perfect 2, Jurassic World, Bridge of Spies, Goosebumps, Inside Out, Pan, Black Mass, Mad Max:
Fury Road, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and we only get
the new Bond movie, Spectre, towards the end of November here in SA, by which time we will be
sick of Sam Smith's brilliant theme song, Writing's On The Wall.
Star Wars
I have left the best for last. Star Wars falls into the nerd trend, but on so many levels it's just in a
league of its own. Star Wars is pretty much the biggest movie trend of 2015. A new Star Wars movie
will always be the biggest thing. The teaser trailer for The Force Awakens blew us away and the full
trailer is nothing short of magical. I think Christmas will be taking a back seat to Star Wars this year.
Here's to a happy 2016 at the movies.

2 Sep 2015
Not so Fantastic Four
The Bridgeburners, an elite military unit of the fictional Malazan Empire, have a saying that is very
apt for the situation that I find myself in. Going into something with eyes wide shut they say. In my
case I went to see the new Fantastic Four reboot with eyes wide shut. I knew I wasn't going to have a
good time, but I was morbidly curious to see the movie. No one likes writing bad movie reviews so I
will be as nice as I can be whilst remaining sincere and you can decide whether or not Fantastic Four
is worth your time from there. Well, let's jump right into it.
You have probably heard all the news doing the rounds on the interwebs concerning the squabbles
between director Josh Trent (Chronicle, 2012) and the executives over at 20th Century Fox regarding
the final cut of the movie that made it to screen. Trent maintains that the movie he made was ruined
in the cutting room and that his vision for the movie was very different from what the audience got
to see. To give Trent his due, the movie does feel a bit like something that was something else and
then was cut up along the way, but whatever happened internally between the parties involved
doesn't really help us much because we, the audience and fans of Marvel's long-time favourite
comic book family, got the short end of the stick once again.
Quite horrid
The 2005 Fantastic Four movie and its 2007 sequel were quite horrid, but one could at least argue
that they were fun and did not take themselves very seriously. This instalment feels like they were
trying to set up something quite epic and that would be part of a larger franchise going forward, but
somewhere along the line that vision just fell flat. The sad thing is that they really had the elements
they needed to make a great movie and, in the end, everything just didn't come together to make a
good product. The cast does a great job with what they are given and play their roles quite well, all
things considered.
This being a reboot, the plot is loosely the Fantastic Four origins story we all know and love. Instead
of getting their powers due to exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space they
get their powers from visiting a planet in another dimension that they discover and get to by means
of a Quantum Gate they build. It's the classic story of a 'sciency' group of people looking to advance
humanity, but things go awry and they end up with superpowers. The government also gets involved
and looks to abuse the group's powers for its own ends. You know what governments are like.
Another thing that was quite a let down is that at no point in the film does the team get their
superhero names. I guess they figured that they'll explore that in a sequel.

Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) is played by Miles Teller (Divergent, 2014) and he becomes the leader
of the group as well as the brains, growing up as a misunderstood science prodigy. His body acquires
elastic properties, which allows him to stretch his limbs to suit his needs. Kate Mara (House of Cards,
2013) plays Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), who can render herself invisible and later project powerful
force fields. Ben Grimm (the Thing) is played to perfection by Jamie Bell (Snowpiercer, 2013). I have
always liked the Thing in the comics because his powers are a bit more difficult for him to deal with
since he looks like a giant rock golem and they do quite good by him in this movie. Johnny Storm
(the Human Torch) rounds up the team as the hothead of the group, both literally and figuratively.
He can generate flames around himself and fly. Micheal B Jordan (That Awkward Moment, 2014) fits
right in as Johnny Storm.
The whole concept is quite awful
On the more evil and more lacklustre side of things we have Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes, 2014) in the difficult position of portraying a horribly envisioned Victor von Doom (Dr Doom).
Dr Doom is one of the greatest villains in comic books and this movie did him no justice. He looks
hideous as a nightmare and the whole concept is quite awful. Fantastic Four missed many beats in
that the story feels rushed, there is no real tension and everything is quite disjointed, but Dr Doom is
where they went wrong the most. They took a character that should be presented with a certain
gravitas and just stripped all of his personality.
Fantastic Four looks the part of a really fun and action-packed comic book movie, but sadly it is none
of those things. You can still go to see the movie, but don't expect it to be good. According to the
rumour mill a sequel is in the works and I honestly hope they do better with that. The world
deserves a good Fantastic Four movie. Hopefully 20th Century Fox also does well with the Deadpool
movie next year to keep things rolling.

24 Aug 2015
Hilarious Ant-Man
As a movie reviewer/blogger do you ever just wake up in the afternoon (that's when everyone wakes
up, right?) and just think how Marvel Studios possesses absolutely no chill? Can they just stop being
so amazing with their movies and series? I am a fan, for sure, but it just feels like I spend half my
time writing about some new great thing they did. After the sheer joy that was Avengers: Age of
Ultron I figured I'll tone down any and all excitement about Ant-Man. In fact, I'd just wait for it to
come out on DVD. Seriously, they can't just leave out Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne from the original
Avengers line-up and then hope to somehow make it work now, can they? They can't just give
Ultron, Pym's creation, to Tony Stark and just get away with it, can they? I finally went to see Ant-
Man and Marvel did all these things and made it work! Ant-Man is my favourite entry into the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I hate Marvel, damn it!
Ant-Man is reminiscent of the Daredevil series in terms of its scale in the MCU. It takes place after
the events of Age of Ultron and, whilst still quite a major event, it is more of a closed-in story about
characters that are a bit more accessible than the Avengers. While the Avengers are busy dropping
cities on people, characters like Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) are just trying to get by. The story kicks off
with Lang just being released from prison and trying to make amends with his daughter and keep
away from his former life as a thief. He then gets caught up in some superhero stuff with Dr Hank
Pym (Michael Douglas) and the brilliant man's daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and
eventually becomes Ant-Man. The villain of the piece is Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) who ends up
donning the Yellowjacket suit. Cross's motives are very much like those of Loki in Thor, which is to
say he is just a whiny child really. Loki has a certain charm so ends up working as a character people
are interested in, but Marvel still seems to struggle to create compelling villains. The Kingpin is the
only villain they have really done well to date. Pym and Janet's past story is merely hinted at, but
enough to let you know how they fit in with Howard Stark and Peggy Carter's SHIELD.
A heist film
Like Winter Soldier was a political spy thriller, Ant-Man is a heist film more than a superhero film and
a very funny one at that. This movie knows how to push all the right emotional buttons with the
audience. Scott Lang is the sort of character you can really root for and his misfit team of friends
provide a lot of very funny comic relief in the film. Michael Peña (Fury, 2014) as Lang's fast-talking
friend Luis, plays the role of the funny guy to perfection. David Dastmalchian (Animals, 2014) and
rapper TI appear as Lang's other wacky companions, Kurt and Dave and they also deliver a pretty
solid performance. Ant-Man sees Peyton Reed (Yes Man, 2008) in the director's chair and fan

favourite, Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs the World, 2010) as one of the screenwriters. Wright was
first signed up to direct Ant-Man in his popular zany style but got replaced with Reed later.
Do you guys remember how much fun old-school movies like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) were?
Ant-Man's action sequences are reminiscent of that in their hilarity. When Lang shrinks down to the
size of an ant he retains his strength as a normal sized adult male and can also control various ants
with the aid of a device behind his ear created by Pym. This allows some really fun action sequences
and also introduces us to one of the cooler characters in the movie, one of the ants that Lang
lovingly names Antony.
Ant-Man is a really great entry into the MCU and is well worth your time. The 3D effects are really
good and I imagine seeing it in Imax would be great as well. It's been on the local circuits for a while
now so if you haven't seen it yet I'd recommend you do so. Take your mum, dad, grandparents,
children and strangers in the street with you.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/120599468356/tedxtable-mountain
07 June 2015
TEDx Table Mountain
Africa is the continent that gave birth to the human race, it is a place of abundant natural wealth and
it is a place of great beauty. By rights Africa should be the Eden of our planet but, alas, it is not.
When the rest of the world thinks of Africa they think of war, poverty, laziness and people who are
late for appointments. The rest of the world either looks down on us or sees us as some sort of
charity case. South Africa, like many African states is a place of vast wealth and crippling poverty all
in one place. TEDxTableMountain, like all TEDx events all over the globe, is an independently
organised event that looks to get people together in the spirit of nurturing ideas worth spreading.
TED is a non-profit organisation devoted to spreading good ideas. It started as a four-day conference
in California some 26 years ago and has since spread to the rest of the word, even darkest Africa.
The idea is that thinkers and doers are asked to give a talk in 18 minutes that will share a great idea.
Independent events are organised under the TEDx name with support from TED. So although Africa
has many problems there are many individuals working hard and working smart to address our
problems. TEDx TableMountain hosted their second event on Monday night, 25 May and the theme
was: Journeys of Excellence. 25 May is also Africa Day so what better way to celebrate the continent
than listening to a great line-up of speakers explore ideas that can help ease some of our problems
or at least start a conversation that will pave the way to solutions.
This year’s TEDx TableMountain event took place at the Artscape Theatre and curator, Candice
Pelser (@CandicePelser) and her team did a great job organising the event. I’m a super nerd for any
event where people share ideas and dragged my ever suffering girlfriend with me to the event. We
were welcomed with a ‘passport’ to the talks each and some other cute freebies and it was all rather
cool. The crowd was massive and everyone looked excited to be there as they stood around
chatting. We had to wait a bit longer than expected to be seated because the previous Africa Day
event ran a bit longer than anticipated. Once everyone was inside the theatre and seated we were
ready to go. Some important and somewhat familiar looking people could be seen in the front rows,
the most recognizable being Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille. I made a mental note to take
a selfie with her later.
Our Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening was the beautiful, delightful and super enthusiastic Chi
Mhende (@chi_mhende). The evening saw some powerful performances by the Ikapa Youth Dance
Theatre (http://ikapadancetheatre.co.za/trai/youth-dance-theatre), Derek Gripper (@derekgripper)
translating great African composers whose music is passed down for generations but never written
down and the group, Whispers of Wisdom (@Whisperzofwiz) delivering a performance that inspires
Africans, especially the youth, to dream bigger than is expected of them. The overarching theme on
the evening was that even though South Africa and the rest of Africa are facing serious and very

large problems Africans can step up to the plate and through individual and collaborative journeys of
excellence we can rise above those problems.
The speakers were made up of Dr Gubela Mji who spoke about her experience working as a
researcher collecting data about how to improve the lives of disabled people but then seeing that
research just being stored up in shelves and never being used for anything. She formed a network
with other researchers and like-minded individuals to take all the data just sitting around and started
exploring ways to make the date accessible enough so as to actually be useful in improving the lives
of disable people. Paul Mesarcik (@paulmesarcik) showed a device that he and his team created to
detect shack fires before they spread and leave many people homeless. The device is called Lumkani,
which loosely translates from Xhosa to English as everyone beware. Dr Llewellyn Padayachy, a
paediatric neurosurgeon spoke about his research into non-invasive techniques to diagnose and
guide the treatment of critical conditions affecting the brain, especially in poor communities in
which many people can’t afford expensive surgeries for diagnosing such conditions. Dr Tindile Booi is
a qualified medical doctor and now works in a psychiatric context and helps children from difficult
backgrounds and teenagers affected by HIV cope with their situations and helps them believe that
life is worth living. One of the ways she does this is interactive storytelling. Dr Tindile Booi’s
talk/performance was my favourite of the evening and her way of telling stories, singing and dancing
is a thing of beauty to behold.
Shadreck Chirikure is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Archaeological
Materials Laboratory at the University of Cape Town and he addressed the negative view that people
have of Africa as never having produced any technology. He explored some old findings to the
contrary and showed that Africa has produced some advanced technology through its history.
Continuing with the technological trend Prof Robert van Zyl showcased the CubeSat he worked on
with his students. The CubeSat is a nanosatellite in the shape of a cube that can be sent into Space at
relatively low cost. Joseph Wamicha, a young man after my own heart, spoke about how the idea of
deeper space exploration and eventually colonisation is not just the stuff of science fiction but
something we can work on right now. The Earth’s resources are finite, as we know very well here in
Africa, but if we could look beyond the Earth and tap into the bountiful resources of the universe we
could solve many conflicts here on Earth.
What I took away from the evening is that Africa is more than just a place of darkness and backward
thinking. Yes, we have problems but Africans are more than capable of surmounting those problems
with the wealth of resources we have. Not resources in terms of gold of silver but rather our human
capital. Africans know hardship but this is also what makes us more resourceful and think outside of
the box. Africans can be excellent and be a force of good change in the world. Events like TEDx
TableMountain are very important because they provide us with the platform to get together and
discuss our problems and our ideas for solving them.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/120599709846/thecity-and-tholakele
07 June 2015
TheCITY and Tholakele
I like cool things as much as the next person . . . okay maybe a little more than the next person and
last week Thursday I got to go see a pretty cool thing. I was at The Waiting Room on Long Street to
see two bands that I’d never heard of before but sounded interesting so I gathered my entourage (I
have them just lying around) and with the promise of beer and good music we headed for The
Waiting Room to see TheCITY and Tholakele. I’m glad to report back that my promise of beer and
good music was fulfilled because both bands blew me away and I had a rocking good time. You
should check both bands out some time.
The Waiting Room is the sort of grungy and intimate place that draws in cool and artsy people and
the crowd consisted of these kinds of individuals. The setting was cosy with comfy chairs placed
facing the small stage and there was some space for people to dance it up should the music move
them. This was the sort of gig where people get to chatting with each other and the bands, making
friends and just having a good time jamming to some cool sounds.
Tholakele were first to grace the stage with their African Jazzy sound. Bronwen Clacherty is the
leading lady and vocalist of the band and her voice is just amazingly rich and with the band
performing songs like Ngqo Ngqo Ngqo, Nozimama and Nyemamusasa they really are an act that is
representative of South Africa’s linguistic and cultural diversity. Bronwen also showcased some
remarkable usage of traditional instruments like bows and something that I’m 93.4% sure is a mbira
in adding an African flavour to their music. Bronwen studied at The South African College of Music,
University of Cape Town and explored musical areas such as Jazz Vibraphone, Classical Percussion,
Cuban Percussion and African Instruments focusing on South African bows. You can catch some of
the songs Tholakele performed on the night on her Facebook page. You can also catch her hanging
out in the Twitter streets: @Bronwenclack.
TheCITY closed off the night on a very high note with their heart pumping Future Afro style. The
band is made up of Bonj Mpanza on vocals and her voice is powerful and downright haunting.
Clement Carr works magic on the keys, Ryan McArthur rocks out on bass and Ruby Crowie drives the
truck on drums. I was looking forward to this performance after I had their song, Long for You stuck
in my head from listening to it the previous evening on PopsicleTV.com. These guys are the epitome
of cool and every single song they played had me singing along, tapping my feet and bobbing my
head along to the music. My favourite three were Long for You, Nguwe and Something Sweet. You
can download their EP on iTunes and it’s pretty damn amazing!

TheCITY and Tholakele are two rocking bands and my entourage and I had a great time at their gig.
As I’d said before, if you have time and they are in the area it’s well worth your while to pop in and
listen to some good music.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/116908315506/stellenbosch-craft-beer-festival
20 April 2015
Stellenbosch Craft Beer Festival
Since moving to Cape Town about two years ago I have drank quite a lot of wine on some very pretty
wine farms. Wine tasting has become an enjoyable pastime for me but I’m a simple guy and lack the
sophistication to be a proper wine enthusiast. Deep down, in my heart of hearts I’m a beer guy. Beer
is one of the best things after a long day’s work. A beer with some friends makes for some very
enjoyable and magical moments. It’s no wonder Benjamin Franklin noted that beer is proof that God
loves us and wants us to be happy. The Stellenbosch Craft Beer Festival was even more proof that
God wants us to be happy. I woke up to the perfect sunshine day on Saturday morning, 18 April and
gathered all my friendlings in the vicinity and herded them to the train station (no poor sap wants to
be the designated driver on such an occasion) and off to beautiful Stellie we went!
After about an hour on the hot train we desperately needed beer and the first sip of beer from the
Drifter Brewing Company was heavenly. The festival was held at the Klein Libertas Theatre situated
in central Stellenbosch, which proved to be a rather charming setting. The venue was packed to
bursting with people hanging out on the lawn watching the bands on the stage, sitting at the
wooden tables that were laid out or just walking around and sampling beer and food from all the
stands. The vibe was very laid back and everyone was in good spirits . . . or would that be hops
rather? One of the brewing companies had a funny tagline on their stand: Beer makes me hoppy. I
can testify that everyone at the festival was very hoppy.
Many of the local craft beer breweries had their wares on sale and offered free tastings so you could
know what you were getting into. Some of the breweries there on the day were: Sir Thomas Brewing
Co., Beerfly Brewery, Red Sky Brew, Stickman Brewery, Wild Beast Brewing Co. (my personal
favourite), Mind The Gap Cider Company, Leopold7 – South Africa, Drifter Brewing Company,
Everson’s Cider, Die Biervrou (super cool name), Birkenhead Brewery, Fraser’s Folly and Red Crow
Cider.
The food wasn’t to be scoffed at either. After a few beers one works up a hearty appetite and I had
myself a bratwurst roll and tried to speak German to the lady at the stall, which didn’t work out too
well but was quite funny. If you came hungry to the festival you were covered, what with stalls
offering pulled pork sandwiches, boerewors rolls, slap chips and other greasy things to soak all that
beer in your belly up.

As far as firsts go the Stellenbosch Craft Beer Festival was quite good and I foresee it being a
something that people look forward to every year. The weather played along nicely, the beer was
flowing, there was lots to eat, the music was cool and the crowd was a rowdy and fun bunch. If you
missed out this year be sure to look out for this festival for next year. I will most definitely be there.

http://blog.quicket.co.za/post/116631895301/drones-drumloops
17 April 2015
Drones and Drumloops
If you know me you know that I have a soft spot in my heart . . . or would that be brain? Whatever. I
have a soft spot in one or both of those organs for all things nerdy so attending my first Tech Talk
Cape Town on Wednesday night was quite a wonderful experience. I love the idea of people from
different professional backgrounds coming together and sharing their expertise and helping each
other improve ideas. Those are the kinds of collaborations that drive innovation. KAT-O
(KickAssTech-Obviously) is all about collaboration with their monthly series of lectures. Wednesday
night’s talk was their second one and the title was a fun and quirky: Drones and Drumloops. This
monthly series of lectures aims to ‘bring attention to outstanding local science, technology and
innovation, presented by a specialist within a field, followed by food, drinks and networking. Topics
covered vary from "string theory & bitcoins" to "drones & drumloops"’. The wonderfully brilliant
Robyn Farah (@RobynFarah) is the brains and heart behind the operation and they are covering
some kickass tech in these talks, obviously.
The talk was held at 75 Harrington Street in Gardens, which is a co-working space that freelancers or
pretty much just anyone can use as an affordable office away from home. The venue looks very
industrial and looks like the sort of place where super amazing internet start-ups are born. By the
time I arrived the venue was already bustling with people talking, drinking and eating food from the
Wahine Food Truck. After grabbing a beer, walking around and looking at some drones lined up on
the tables I grabbed a seat next to a friendly group of people. The place was packed to bursting with
people and the atmosphere was just brilliant. Robyn Farah gave a little intro speech and then
handed the mic over to the first speaker of the evening, indie game developer, Peter Gardner
(@thefuntastic).
Peter developed a puzzle game called Cadence. The project is still in progress but he did give a demo
of the game at the talk. The basic principle is that the player needs to complete a set of puzzles that
result in a drumloop or several of them being created to progress to the next level. If you like puzzle
games and are a tad bit musically inclined this is for you. Peter spoke about his journey from turning
from a 9 – 5 lifestyle that stifled his creative output to going off on his own and the struggles he
faced with failure and fear and overcoming those. The title of his talk was Finding Greatness Slowly:
Harsh Lessons of a Long Term Creative Project and you can find the slides here:
http://www.slideshare.net/petercardwellgardner/finding-greatness-slowly. Peter is part of the
South African game dev scene and they are doing some brilliant things and I would recommend that
you look into some of the stuff they do. Check out the studio of which Peter is part, Made with
Monster Love: http://www.madewithmonsterlove.com. You can check out their Noodlestarter there
for Cadence and help them raise some funds.

You know that drones are the future, right? No, I don’t mean people mindlessly slaving away in
factories in some dystopian setting. I mean the cool kind of drones. The next and last talk was from
the guys over at Darkwing Aerials (@DarkwingAerials). They had a few of their drones on display and
discussed issues like the difficulty in obtaining the proper documentation for operating drones in
South Africa as almost no regulations exist. Another issue for drone operators is the classification of
whether the drones they use are classified as aerial craft or toys. Darkwing Aerials are at the
forefront of the drone revolution is South Africa to a large extent as they travelled to the UK to
obtain the proper documentation for operating their drones. They also adhere to those documented
standards of operation. Darkwing Aerials also looked at the usage of drones from commercial,
industrial, photography and for things like mapping out farms. They showed beautifully shot videos
of the shots they took using drones for National Geographic. The videos were breathtakingly
beautiful, showing shots of animals on land and some at sea.
Another group of cool people working with drones was also at the event. They are called Flying
Robot (@flyingrobotfpv) and they use their drones in a more fun way, they race them. They had a
video on-screen of the drones flying around in parking lots at amazing speeds. They also had some
drones on sale at the event.
Tech Talk Cape Town: Drones and Drumloops was very informative and lots of fun. The networking
after the talks was great and everyone I met was super friendly and more than willing to share ideas
or ask about what I have going on. Peter Gardner and the guys from Darkwing Aerials were happy to
answer any questions about their projects and allowed the crowd to play the demo of Cadence and
touch the drones. Look out for the next talk and come out and meet a group of intelligent and
collaborative individuals.

10 April 2015
The Furious 7
You have probably heard that Fast & Furious 7 or rather, Furious 7 made enough money to fill
Scrooge McDuck's vault three times over in its opening weekend. I think that one of the biggest
reasons for this is, because of all the movies in the franchise, Furious 7 has the most heart. To
paraphrase Vin Diesel's character, Dominic Toretto: This time around it's not just about being fast.
This was the first movie in the series that my girlfriend saw and she shed a tear in the cinema
because this is a beautiful movie about friendship, family and a farewell to a brother. Don't get me
wrong, it's also about fast cars, ridiculous action scenes and golden girls in bikinis (I kid you not).
Furious 7 looks good and is one of the coolest movies out this year.
Furious 7 sees Justin Lin, director of the franchise since Tokyo Drift, hand over the keys to James
Wan to have at it in the driver's seat. Wan sounds like an odd choice to direct, being known for his
horror movies like Saw (2004), Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013), but pulls it off
spectacularly. Furious 7 is a final goodbye to Paul Walker and that's something that had to be done
with love and Wan manages to convey that in the movie. The detail of the action sequences is
brilliant with camera zooms and slow mo used in very cool ways to create suspense that actually
leaves you on the edge of your seat, even though you knew the good guys would be okay all along.
Crazier than before
You know how they hire eight-year-olds to write the script for Transformers movies? The Fast and
The Furious does a similar thing, but they at least edit it a bit after the kid has written it. The car
chases/battles are crazier than before, which is saying a lot considering that a tank and, later, an
aeroplane on a never-ending runway were involved in car chases in the last movie. Roman (Tyrese
Gibson) has a funny rant in the movie about how of all the crazy things they've done, jumping out of
an aeroplane with their cars is the craziest. That's not even a spoiler because you can see some of
that scene in the trailer. The story is that Owen Shaw, the bad guy they put away in the last movie,
has a meaner older brother named Deckard Shaw. This guy is so bad ass that he doesn't even need a
team to mess with Dom's crew. He is basically like the bad guy in horror movies, he just keeps
coming and kicking ass. Deckard is played brilliantly by Jason Statham (Transporter) and fulfils all
sorts of dreams we've had of seeing him face off with The Rock and Vin Diesel. Deckard is as tough
as nails and seeing him fight it off with Dom, armed with tyre levers is just cool. The reason Deckard
wants to kill Dom and everyone in his crew is because they put his brother in hospital - his brother
who was a murderer and just a downright nasty dude. They didn't even kill the guy and Deckard is all
kinds of mad because, you know, family. I think it's a bit of an overreaction, but sure wish I had a
brother who would do that for me.

God's Eye
Deckard Shaw may be a bad-ass loner, but even he needs some help when Dom's crew proves to be
quite a handful. Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) is a mercenary whose team is after a device called
God's Eye because it can hack into any device with a camera on the planet and use facial recognition
to find anyone. These two team up as a matter of convenience. Dom's crew gets help from a
government spook, Mr Nobody (Kurt Russel) to take down the bad guys. Dom's team is made up of
Brian (Paul Walker), who serves as the heart of the movie and it's cool to see the CGI and body
doubles with his brothers they used to have Walker's character finish the movie after his death.
Michelle Rodriguez (Machete) is back as Letty and is still coping with her amnesia and getting to
grips with her relationship with Dom. Jordana Brewster (Annapolis) plays Mia, Dom's sister and
Brian's girlfriend. Tej (Ludacris) is back as the tech guy and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) as the comic
relief. The beautiful Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) plays hacker Ramsey. The Rock returns
as Luke Hobbs and he is still kicking ass and delivering cheesy one-liners that we all love, and by his
side is Elsa Pataky (Snakes on a Plane) as Elena. Han (Sung Kang) and Gisele (Gal Gadot) have cameos
and so do some people from the older movies. You'll also see Ronda Rousey (The Expendables 3)
kicking some ass in the movie. The casting is brilliant and everyone on the main cast knows each
other so well by now that it really feels like they are family.
It's not a Fast and Furious movie without some beautiful cars burning it up in some exotic locations.
Furious 7 transports viewers through places like Los Angeles, Tokyo, the Caucasus Mountains and
the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. This movie is ice-cold levels of cool and lots of fun to watch. It's the
perfect send off for Paul Walker. Because I know you guys are like Dom and don't have friends, you
have family I recommend you get together and pop into the cinema to see Furious 7. It doesn't
disappoint.

25 March 2015
DC and Marvel's plans for the future
We all love superheroes and, over the last few years, DC and Marvel have been showing us a lot of
comic book love on television and on the big screen.
DC is struggling at the box office at the moment with Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy being the
only venture that really worked out well for them. Green Lantern was a bit of a disaster and Man of
Steel didn't quite succeed in capturing what Superman is really about, what with the big blue Boy
Scout probably killing more innocent people in Metropolis than he saved in his fight against General
Zodd. While DC may be lagging behind on the big screen, it is dominating the small screen with
shows like Arrow, The Flash (which is just pure gold, you guys) and Gotham. Marvel has Agents of
SHIELD, which goes from annoying to really good and then back to annoying again. Agent Carter is
nice too, I guess. The Peggy Carter character is less tiresome than most of the people on the Agents
of SHIELD roster at any rate. Marvel had a great 2014 at the movies with Captain America: Winter
Soldier and The Guardians of the Galaxy being absolutely amazing. They are looking to do the same
in 2015 with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Marvel also has more things lined up for
television to compete with DC on that front.
Big things are happening for both DC and Marvel this year and going ahead, so let's dive into some of
the fun stuff from both of the studios, shall we? Let's kick off with Marvel's detailed plan for things
to come and then look at how DC responds.
Comic book goodness
Marvel is taking the Avengers out on their second outing on 1 May in Age of Ultron and geeks
everywhere can't wait to get some of that comic book goodness. Heck, people in general can't wait
to get hold of that comic book goodness. Then there is the bonus we South Africans have of seeing
Hulk smashing downtown Jozi. Move over New York! Marvel knows how to make movies that appeal
to everyone and they do it with such charm. Just to make sure that everyone knows that Marvel
knows what it is doing, it went ahead and announced its complete Phase 3 line-up. Just like that.
BOOM! Phase two closes off with Ant-Man on 17 July this year. Ant-Man is looking to be the sleeper
hit that The Guardians of the Galaxy was last year.

Phase 3 kicks off with Captain America: Civil War set for 6 May, 2016. Marvel Studios acquired the
rights to Spider-Man from Sony and this is great news as he is an important part of the Civil War
storyline and will finally get to play with the rest of the Avengers gang. I doubt that Spidy will be
getting his own movie before then, but let's see. Also, a black Spidy seems to be a thing with Donald
Glover's and other names being thrown around. On 4 November, 2016, Marvel taps into the magical
corner of the comic book universe by bringing in the Sorcerer Supreme in Doctor Strange. The
lovable Guardians of the Galaxy go on their second space adventure on 5 May, 2017, (so far away to
see more of Groot) and things get all sort of apocalyptic in Thor: Ragnarok on 3 November, 2017.
The Avengers (and probably the Guardians of the Galaxy) assemble again to face off with the big bad
Thanos in Infinity War Part 1 on 4 May, 2018. Black Panther makes his debut on 6 July, 2018 (I
imagine we will see him in some sort of cameo before this though). Captain Marvel gets her day in
the sun on 2 November, 2018. The Avengers continue their Infinity Gauntlet story in Infinity War
Part 2 on 3 May, 2019. The Inhumans are now a thing on Agents of SHIELD, but the royal family gets
its own movie on 12 July, 2019. I doubt we'll be seeing any of the royal family on TV before then.
A lot darker and grittier
Marvel is good at interconnections between all of its franchises and for all the flak I give Agents of
SHIELD it ties in nicely with the events in the films and will continue to do so if all the plans on the
table work out. 10 April will see the launch of Daredevil on Netflix and by the look of the trailer it's
set to be a lot darker and grittier than the other Marvel stuff. It will also tie into the bigger Marvel
universe like Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD. Later this year we'll also get A.K.A. Jessica Jones.
Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Defenders will also be getting some love on the small screen, but their
dates have not been announced yet.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... The Justice League is clearly still a thing for DC with Superman vs
Batman: Dawn of Justice scheduled for 25 March, 2016. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) will be a
principal character in the movie, so that's the big three in the Justice League right there. Jason
Momoa (Game of Thrones) has been cast as Aquaman and his character has been revealed in
costume on posters with the tagline: Unite the Seven. This could refer to the seven seas of which he
is king or the seven founding members of the Justice League. Cyborg (Ray Fisher) is also set to make
an appearance in the movie.
DC is playing catch up with Marvel and so it also announced its line-up for its DC Cinematic Universe.
DCU? DCU 52? Well, whatever they call it, here it is. After Dawn of Justice we get to see the Suicide
Squad in action on 5 August, 2015. Who doesn't like anti-heroes? Really. Look out for Jared Leto as
The Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney as Captain
Boomerang. Oprah Winfrey was one of the people being considered to play Amanda Waller, but

Viola Davis (Ender's Game) got it in the end. The Suicide Squad makes a regular appearance on
Arrow, so I guess the TV and cinema worlds won't be linked as the actors aren't the same. Gal Godot
returns as Wonder Woman on 23 June, 2017. 17 November, 2017 sees the biggie in the form of
Justice League Part One. The Flash zooms in on 23 March, 2018 and we take a look at what's going
on in Atlantis in Aquaman on 27 July, 2018. By the power and beard of Zeus we will be graced by
Shazam (Captain Marvel to some but Marvel has their Captain Marvel so yeah, that) on 5 April, 2019.
The Rock has been cast as Black Adam, so you know this will be fun. Justice League Part Two is set
for 14 June, 2019, Cyborg for 3 April, 2020 and DC will try again with Green Lantern on 19 June,
2020.
There's not much to say about DC's TV presence other than that it is having a good time. In addition
to shows like Arrow, The Flash and Gotham, it has Constantine exploring the magical realm. Supergirl
is getting her own show this year and Lucifer and Preacher are on the cards as well.
We have a lot of comic book movies and TV shows to look forward to over the next few years and
the name of the game from both studios is clearly shared cinematic universes, which we love. DC
seems not to be sharing on between its TV shows and movies, though, but, hey, it still looks like a lot
of big things going on. Feel free to get excited about all the cool things headed our way. See you at
the movies.

http://www.culturecrit.com/2014/09/kindness-and-information-age.html
18 September 2014
Kindness and the Information Age
In light of the recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge craze, Charles Siboto examines a new age of
kindness and how you can be effective in making the world a better place.
Recently a friend challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and this got me thinking about how
everyone can do something around them to make the world a brighter place. I won’t lie, I’d never
heard of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) before seeing all the videos of people pouring buckets of
ice-cold water over their heads on my social media feeds. You’d think I’d know that Stephen
Hawking suffers from ALS at least, but nope, total ignorance on my part. ALS is a disease very far
removed from my centre of attention.
The people behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALS Association, are looking to create a world
without ALS. This, of course, requires money for researching cures for the disease and supporting
people already living with it and affected by it. This is a noble cause and they used the power of
social media to come up with a fun way to raise the funds they need for this good work. I commend
this and it’s great to see a charitable drive gain so much momentum and create a stir. This is the sort
of cause that people should donate money to or invest some of their time in whether they do it with
a video or not. But you should always know exactly what it is that you are supporting.
The interwebs are a vibrant place where people vehemently share their opinions and very soon
memes were making the rounds that people are wasting water whilst many regions in the world
don’t have enough drinking water. Many celebrity personalities also declined the challenge on the
grounds that there are reports stating that the ALS Association is involved in animal testing. Both
these points are valid: wasting water is foolish and supporting an organisation that runs tests for
cures for diseases on animals is not something everyone can agree on (and that’s a whole different
and important argument).
The former issue made me think of my beloved mother warning me not to waste food as a child
because children in China are starving . . . but how would my not wasting the food ease their plight?
I always thought. We live in South Africa and there were children starving in our neighbourhood that
I could have given that food to. As far as animal testing is concerned, I don’t know whether the ALS
Association is involved in this or not but it highlights the point that people shouldn’t blindly donate
to organisations. As someone trying to ease the burden of other human beings, you must go a bit
further than just giving money to an organisation and invest some of your time finding out whether
it shares the same values as you. This is also another reason I like the idea of volunteering because it
gives you a first-hand experience of work being done by charities and other such institutes.
I took up the Ice Bucket Challenge but I did not support the ALS Association because I felt that there

are causes closer to me that I can focus on. The world is in dire need of a lot of cleverness to solve
many of its issues. Children should not be starving in China, South Africa or anywhere else when
there is more than enough food to go around. There are enough resources for everyone on our
planet but the problem is access. Clever minds are needed to enable such access but kindness is also
needed. I am intelligent but I doubt I will be figuring out how to solve the issue of a child in China’s
hunger anytime soon (sorry, mom) but I sure can give a hungry child who is right down the road
from me something to eat. I took up my Ice Bucket Challenge in a spirit of being kind to all my fellow
humans and helping where I can. I love food and I am the sort of person who packs a lot of it for
work and sport so I will pack just a few more sandwiches and fruit to give to people.
Giving sandwiches doesn’t solve the underlying problems though. I don’t have much money to give
but I also don’t think that would help as much as me giving of my time. I love books and when I was
growing up my family was poor (we’re only a little less so now) and stories were my refuge; they
comforted me and taught me some wisdom. In addition to my grandmother and mother I was raised
by stories and our local library was my second home. I can share that with children and will do so. I
am privileged to work at the Children and Youth editorial office of one of South Africa’s largest
publishing houses and to volunteer on the executive board (this is a whole lot less fancy than it
sounds) of an organisation that seeks to get rid of the problem of illiteracy in South Africa. These are
wonderful platforms from which to help nurture a hunger for learning in children and thus equip
them with knowledge to support themselves as they grow older. I pledge my efforts and time to
these ventures because that is a role I am most equipped to play in trying to make the world a better
place.
I think most people are looking for opportunities to be kind but miss them in their daily lives because
they think their acts of kindness may be too insignificant or they are daunted by the really large acts
they really want to be doing. Look at all the opportunities on social media that are wasted! People
will like and share the crap out of a status highlighting conflicts across the world and how we really
should be doing something. Sometimes people even emotionally blackmail each other with posts
about how you support something heinous like rape if you don’t share some picture. I hate stuff like
that but it shows that people want to be kind, there is a spark of it albeit somewhat misguided. This
whole Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon proves that social media can be a powerful tool to create
awareness of issues and even to raise money for them but you still have to go out and be kind and
generous in your daily life. Do small things for people and if you can, do big things. Just try and
extend a helping hand whenever you can. That is my challenge to you.
The world is full of injustices like undernourishment, rape, murder, sexism, racism, corruption, war
and many issues like disease and natural disasters. Lend your support wherever you can. You don’t
have to be Superman or Wonder Woman (unless you can, then totally do that) but your small acts of
kindness and even your cleverness can go a long way.

06 August 2014
Sci-fi space opera with Guardians of the Galaxy
Well, well, well - it would seem that Marvel Studios can do no wrong with its 2014 releases. Captain
America: The Winter Soldier was a surprisingly and thoroughly entertaining spy movie that does
what comic books have often done since their inception, using superhero figures that should be
absurd but seem to be the perfect vehicle to address issues our real world is facing. The Winter
Soldier turned the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that viewers are familiar with on its head with
the events that occur in it, which leaves us wondering how things will play out in The Avengers: Age
of Ultron next year. The events in The Winter Soldier also affected the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV
show's storyline, which is to say it gave some much-needed new life to a series that was rather
lacklustre up to that point.
This is all good and well, but it's not why we are here. Guardians of the Galaxy is why we are here
and boy is it a good romp to the side of the galaxy that has thus far only been hinted at in some of
the other movies. Again, Marvel Studios seems to have found the right, and somewhat unlikely,
people for the job of making a movie whose tones differ from the others in the MCU, but is also right
at home in it. With director James Gunn at its helm, Guardians of the Galaxy is an adventure, sci-fi,
space opera that is fun to watch without ever taking away from the depth of its characters. James
Gunn directed the wonderful 2006 B-grade movie Slither and he wrote screenplays for 2002's live-
action Scooby-Doo movie and 2004's Dawn of the Dead, so you know he's bringing some silliness to
this venture. That silliness endears the venture to audiences worldwide.
Good guys who are all a little messed up
The Avengers is a story of good guys who are all a little messed up and initially find it hard to work
together, but they all spring from the hero mould. The Guardians of the Galaxy is a group of
criminals, outcasts and misfits that all land up in prison together. Each character in this group bound
together by circumstance, greed and a lot of madness is highly flawed and works his way into your
heart from that perspective. They go from trying to steal from and kill each other to forming a pretty
badass team to stand in the way of some crazy villains, hell bent on destroying the galaxy.
Peter Quill, who also calls himself Star-Lord, is the leading man and possesses the charm that you
usually find in supporting characters. His character is a little bit Han Solo, some Tony Stark and a
measure of Captain Kirk from the recent Star Trek movies. He is abducted from Earth as a boy in
1988 by a group of space pirates known as the Ravagers, just after his mother dies. He is raised by
them and their leader Yondu (Michael Rooker) is a weird sort of father figure to him. Quill starts out
as a bit of a douche and becomes more of a leader and a hero throughout the movie. His character is
also formed by the death of his mother and how he has had to cope with that. Like all of the cast
members Chris Pratt (The Lego Movie) delivers a strong performance as Star-Lord.

The rest of the team consists of the assassin (and adopted daughter of Thanos) Gamora, played by
Zoe Saldana (Avatar) who looks just as good as a green alien as she did a blue one. Gamora is
dangerous, but is also just seeking to do some good and escape from under evil shadow of Marvel's
ultimate big bad, Thanos. Dave Bautistsa (The Man with the Iron Fists) plays Drax the Destroyer, the
muscle in the group. Drax's wife and child were killed by the main villain in the movie, Ronan the
Accuser, and he wants revenge. Drax's character is also funny and often provides as much comedy as
he does destruction of everything around him. Dave Bautista has a somewhat limited acting range,
but Gunn seems to have set up his scenes in such a way that they fit in with how a menacing
character like Drax would behave. The final members of the team, and the ones that cinema-goers
will probably love the most, are bounty hunters Rocket, the raccoon and Groot, the tree-like
humanoid. Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) is a genetically engineered raccoon
with a love for guns and some great, albeit quirky, battle tactics. Rocket is a fast-talking maniac and
he is also alone in the universe as there is no one like him and he survives by his wits. Groot is
adorable and is the one member in the team that's not crazy in any way, well other than in the fact
the he hangs with crazies. He is a tree-like creature who looks out for Rocket and, later, everyone
else. Groot is beast in battle, though, and not to be messed with. He only ever says one line in the
movie: "I am Groot." But with that line he portrays a wide spectrum of emotions and is just cute to
watch. Groot is voiced by Vin Diesel (Fast and the Furious), which seems an odd choice, but it works.
A radical fanatic
The main villain is Ronan the Accuser, a member of the Kree alien race. He is a radical fanatic whose
main goal is to destroy the planet Xandar, whose population he views as his mortal enemies. He is
not a great villain, but Lee Pace (The Hobbit) does a good job playing him and he does have some
truly menacing moments. He is ultimately just there to set up Thanos as the big bad for later though.
Characters like Nebula, Gomora's adopted sister and The Collector (Benicio del Toro) also make an
appearance and add to the adventure.
The Guardians of the Galaxy is the most fun you can have in a cinema at the moment. It's an
adventure driven by characters you can't help but falling in love with and you want them to succeed.
Everything in the movie oozes style. It's a visual feast, but the outstanding element is the music. The
soundtrack makes what is already a great movie a masterpiece. Songs like Hooked on a Feeling,
Cherry Bomb and Ain't No Mountain High Enough will be stuck in your head as you leave the cinema.
Move over Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy are in town and they are shooting things up with
style to spare.

21 May 2014
Throwing our storytelling toys
I went to go see Captain America: The Winter Soldier some time ago and it was the best movie I've
seen so far this year - and that made me think about toys and storytelling. Sitting in that dark
cinema, watching a remarkably good comic book movie, I realised that we are living in the best time
in terms of seeing things that you could only imagine translated into visual stories.
Growing up reading novels and comic books, many people of my generation are at home living in
their heads. All you needed to keep you busy for hours was a Lego set. Older generations can boast
that they only needed a stick and a stone and that's fine too. The point is that we were all happy
mucking around with sticks or Lego blocks and building these vast landscapes in our minds where
robots battled it out with monsters or whatever else. But then we grew up and our toys were
discarded and left to gather dust in a garage, but we didn't discard our imaginations.
The things we loved as children
Our movies, books, video games and even our toys are taken from the things we loved as children.
Michael Bay's Transformers movies may not have had good plots, but I absolutely adore them for
their visuals. Every single time I see an Autobot or Decepticon transform I smile. Those are the
visuals that I had in my head as a child every time I played with a Transformers action figure or
watched the cartoon. To this day I can't get over how CGI took images I could only see in my head
and plastered them onto screens. There's a little magic about it. It's like pizza, even if it's bad it's still
nice to have.
Stories and how we tell them has always been very fascinating to me. Movies are big business and
Hollywood has gone back to your childhood to dig up all your old toys and is telling those stories on
the big screen - and it works for the most part. Marvel has successfully translated many of its comic
franchises into film and it has many plans going forward. Guardians of the Galaxy is its next venture
and it sure is being adventurous because the characters aren't well known by general audiences.
Marvel is good at taking its quirkier franchises and making good films, though. When Iron Man came
out lots of people didn't know who he was.
Gritty, realistic superhero movies
DC is not having as good a time with its offerings, failing more often than not - but Christopher
Nolan's Batman trilogy sure did set the benchmark for gritty, realistic superhero movies. Everyone
and his dog loves Batman, but even as a kid reading the comics, watching the cartoons and playing
with the action figures, you know that the idea of a running around fighting crime dressed as a bat is
ridiculous. Batman is probably my favourite comic book character but I'm the first to admit that he is

the most ridiculous of the superheroes. You buy into it, though, because it's fun. Then Nolan sells it
to you in a straight-up serious setting and it works. If you didn't have a guy dressed as a bat the
movies could simply be good action/thriller stories. Marvel did a great job with placing Captain
America in a realistic setting in Winter Soldier too. Take away the star-spangled costume and Winter
Soldier is just a really good spy flick. It's an interesting dynamic, that, taking stories people think are
for children and selling them to adults (and children still) as fun shoot-'em-ups or taking them
seriously as stories that could be entirely plausible.
It's a great time to be alive and to see things you loved as a kid being reincarnated in ways that make
you love them again or make you want to hire a squad of ninja pirates to assassinate everyone
involved in ruining your favourite comic book (guys behind Green Lantern, I'm referring to you). You
even get charming things like The Lego Movie! We're throwing all our storytelling telling toys in the
sandpit and having a great time playing with or just peeing on them. Life's good.

07 April 2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Looking forward to a new instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCE) is quite nerve-
wracking because you never really get what you expect in the end. This works both ways in terms of
getting more than you bargained for and getting short-changed. Luckily, Captain America: The
Winter Soldier gives you more than you bargained for.
The first Cap movie was enjoyable, but it felt like Marvel really just made it for the sake of
establishing the Cap's role in The Avengers instead of really digging deep into the character. This
time around you get a better glimpse into what makes America's superhero golden boy tick. You also
get to know Nick Fury as an actual person for the first time in all the appearances he's made in the
MCE. Winter Soldier is a solid and thoroughly enjoyable movie and can both stand on its own and fits
into the MCE nicely.
Marvel has been playing around with the tone of its movies post-Avengers and it worked very well in
Iron Man 3 and not so much in Thor: Dark World. Winter Soldier goes more the way of Iron Man 3 in
that it's not so much a superhero movie as it is a spy flick or a thriller. This is a great thing and allows
the plot to centre more on heroes as people that we can relate to. This change in direction tends to
annoy comic book purists and, as much as I do understand that line of thinking, I like how accessible
Marvel's movies are to anyone who doesn't read comic books.
Out of place in the modern age
Two years after the alien invasion shenanigans that went down in New York the Cap's (Chris Evans)
still working for SHIELD because, unlike the rest of the Avengers gang, he doesn't have anything to
return to. He still feels out of place in the modern age, but he's a soldier and keeps going and is
largely fixated on doing what he does best: punch the snot out of bad guys. With the Russo Brothers
(You, Me and Dupree) at the helm, Winter Soldier plays out as a political thriller and the pace is
great. SHIELD itself is in danger in this outing and a lot of moral questions regarding world security
and the role of agencies like SHIELD (or the CIA in real-world terms) are explored. This wouldn't be a
Captain America story if the evil HYDRA (KGB in real-world terms) didn't make an appearance.
They're there in the shadows, working hard to rob the world of its freedoms.
The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), as a character, is actually more of a sub-plot in the movie. He is,
of course, the bad guy super soldier for the Cap to face off against and his origins are revealed, but
only to a small extent. It seems like they're actually hoping to do something with him further down
the line and this movie serves only to introduce him to the audience.
Winter Soldier also sees the introduction of the character of the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) as the
Cap's sidekick (very much like Iron Man's Rhodey). He is a cool enough character but Nick Fury
(Samuel L Jackson) does steal the show in this feature. Fury has always been the guy who shows up

and says some ridiculous things in other movies and just looks cool. His character's explored in some
depth this time around and you start learning why he has issues trusting people. Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson) makes a return and she is slick as usual. She is the moral contrast of Cap in that
she has no qualms about lying to get things done. Their dynamic throughout the movie is great to
see.
I highly recommend that you go to see The Winter Soldier; it's very good and just lots of fun to
watch. Look out for the Stan Lee cameo and wait for both end credit scenes and then proceed to get
excited for Guardians of the Galaxy later this year and Avengers: Age of Ultron next year.

http://blog.collectionary.com/daily-thoughts-on-action-figures/
26 February 2014
Daily thoughts on Action Figures
I remember an instance when I was five or so and playing with an assortment of action figures (I
think I was playing G.I. Joe vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and my mother commented on how
much fun I seemed to be having with my little dolls. She called my action figures dolls! The nerve of
some parents! I had to set her straight, because boys don’t play with dolls, we play with action
figures.
Thinking of that moment in my life made me wonder where the action figure trend started, and why
we are so obsessed with playing and collecting them. I’m a fan of all things geeky and it seems
action figures are deeply rooted in that culture. Think along the lines of dinosaurs, superheroes, Star
Trek and G.I. Joe; action figures have been made of all of these franchises and we love it. As a kid
you rip the figures out of their packaging and actually play with them but adults (who are just bigger,
more boring kids) collect the stuff and keep them in mint condition. Action figures, my furry friends,
are a serious business.
The term “action figure” was coined by some people at Hasbro in 1964 when they released their G.I.
Joe merchandise and couldn’t really call them dolls because, you know, boys had to play with them.
Society back then was only a little more sexist than we are now. The whole action figure/doll thing is
just quite sexist to be frank. Anyone can play with or collect them but we are still pretty much
conditioned to see them as boys’ or girls’ toys. You’ll be interested to know that without the success
of the Barbie range of dolls that G.I. Joe action figures might not exist as we know them now. We
should all take a moment and thank Stan Weston for realizing that Barbie-sized dolls with a military
theme are something that the world needs. Stan’s the guy who brought the G.I. Joe idea to Hasbro
in 1963 (known as Hassenfeld Brothers then).
They kicked things off with just three ‘dolls’ in their line-up: Rocky the Marine, Skip the Sailor and
Ace the Pilot. By 1965 they’d added an african american soldier and even tried a female Joe two
years later in the role of . . . wait for it . . . a nurse! That, of course, didn’t really work out too well.
Over the years life got weird and G.I. Joes like Atomic Man and Bulletman got added to the line-up.
This is the point where genres like fantasy and sci-fi were gaining prominence and people were open
to new and strange ideas. The latter half of 20th century was a great time for action figures! Star
Wars and Star Trek were big, comic book characters were just begging for action figures to be made
of them and franchises like Indiana Jones were appearing all over the show. Everyone was just

licensing everything: Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Gundam and almost everything else that
you love.
When I was a kid I wanted to join the military when I grew up — thankfully I didn’t grow up. I spent
hours playing with those little green soldier action figures that we almost as cool as Lego. What
were they called…? Ah, yes! Army Men. I conquered so much of the world with those guys. Are
they even proper action figures? I’m not sure but they are even proper cool.
People who collect and/or play with action figures are nerds or geeks of some sort and that’s fine.
We all love playing or love the stories from things like Star Wars so much that we collect some sort
of memento to remind of exactly how cool Boba Fett is. To think that pieces of plastic so
painstakingly and artfully moulded can make us so happy! Imagination is truly a wonderful thing.
Now you know that action figures are totally rad-ical. And knowing is half the battle! I really never
got around to figuring out what the other half is; you can just make that one up as you go along.

14 February 2014
Haunting beauty in The Book Thief
One of The Book Thief's promotional campaigns was a series of images and teasers posted on its
Facebook page related to words and their meaning. One of the themes throughout the story is
words and what they mean to people; how beautiful words are and how ugly they are. Words are
more powerful weapons than guns and bombs after all.
One of the words that were used on the Facebook campaign is wonder: {won•der} n. surprise
mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, or inexplicable.
This is the reaction you get from watching this film. The Book Thief will make you smile, cry, laugh
and then leave your heart broken with its haunting beauty. As a high-ranking member of the Book
Snob Society I can find reasons why the film adaptation of this story does not do it justice, but those
reasons are ultimately shallow because this adaptation is really good and captures the important
themes of the book.
Set in Nazi Germany
The story is narrated by Death (Roger Allam), who is surprisingly pleasant given the nature of his job,
which he seems to dislike. Set in Nazi Germany from April 1938 the plot follows the life of Liesel
Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) as she adjusts to a new life on Himmel Street in the fictional town of
Molching with her foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson). This
is the story of a German girl trying to make sense of her small, fragile life amidst the horrors of Nazi
Germany leading up to World War 2. Liesel finds a solace of sorts in books and words, and tries to
make sense of her circumstances through them. She doesn't understand all the hate going around
and no one really knows how to answer why so much hate can spread like a disease.
Many stories of this terrible era in humanity's history are told from the viewpoint of Jewish people
or others who were affected by the atrocities committed by the Nazis, but this is the story of a small
German town just trying to survive when the world has gone mad. Sophie Nélisse is wonderful as
Liesel Meminger; she plays the role with the utmost grace. The rest of the cast also deliver stellar
performances. Geoffrey Rush's portrayal of Hans is sincere and makes you love the man who teaches
Liesel to read, to love and to be courageous, albeit seemingly foolish in the dreadful time they live in.
Rosa is stern and rules the Hubermann household with an iron fist, but you can tell she loves them
all. Max (Ben Schnetzer), the young Jewish man that the Hubermanns hide in their basement

manages to convey a lot of sadness and joy in that cramped space, and is one of the characters that
steals the show. My personal favourite character is Liesel's best friend, Rudy Steiner (Nico Liersch).
This lemon-haired boy is all heart and you can't help but love him.
A slightly different perspective
This is a great movie. It's not the best movie depicting the period, but it does offer a slightly different
perspective into it and it is beautifully shot. The oppressive Nazi propaganda is a constant backdrop
to the story and it constantly reminds you of the bleakness of the place the story is set in. The music
by John Williams adds quite a lot to the tone if this film and is moving.
Some people feel that it's too sad. I don't think so. It is sad, but it also shows how normal people
overcome terrible situations and how kind and selfless they can be. I think the story, like all good
stories, is what JRR Tolkien called eucatastrophe - the good tale that breaks your heart.
Put some tissues in your pocket or handbag and give The Book Thief a viewing. It's a good movie.
That is all.

16 January 2014
47 Ronin fails to excite
From the outset of this review, you need to know that this is a terrible movie. Save yourself some
money and just wait for it on DVD. Even then do not buy it, just hire it from the video store. Look, we
can't really have high expectations of a movie starring Keanu Reeves. He seems to be the guy
directors call when they want to take really good stories like the Constantine comic books and turn
them into movies people don't really know how to react to. I mean, Reeves was even weird as Neo
in The Matrix; he is just a strange actor.
I digress though; let's just get back into why 47 Ronin is 118 minutes (Nu Metro's and Ster-Kinekor's
ridiculous amount of trailers and ads aside) of your precious life given to a ridiculous venture.
The problem with this movie, strangely enough, is that it tries too hard to sell its weak plot to you
and it tries to make you care about its shallow characters. I have no problem with the lack of a solid
plot or weak character development in a movie about a fictionalised feudal Japan inhabited by
honourable Samurai, witches, demons and other shady characters. In fact, both those weaknesses
usually make such a venture much better because you expect it to be cheesy and crammed to
bursting with well-choreographed fight scenes accompanied by mind-bending CGI.
47 Ronin doesn't do this! There are only a handful of fight sequences and they are pretty much
average and the CGI, though quite good, is not that great or rather it isn't used that effectively.
Director, Carl Erik Rinsch tried to tell the story of the real 47 Ronin and make it very fantastical at the
same time and failed on both counts. This movie, then, does not reward the viewer in any way other
than it being very pretty. The scenery takes your breath away and the costumes the characters wear
are amazing.
The story centres on Lord Asono's kingdom of Ako preparing to host a tournament in honour of a
visit from the Shogun, the ruler of all of Japan. His beautiful daughter, Miko is in charge of all the
ceremonial preparations and we learn that she is in love with Keanu Reeves' character, the half-
breed, Kai. He is an outcast because he is half Japanese and half British and was raised by the
demons of the forest, the Tengu and was trained by them to fight and also learned some of their
magical abilities, which he uses only once in the movie. He was adopted by Lord Asona but can never
be a Samurai and everyone in the kingdom pretty much hates him. So much so that he lives in a hut
in the outskirts of the kingdom. He is continuously beaten and humiliated throughout the movie for
trying to help everyone.

Oishi, the leader of the Samurai and later the 47 Ronin is the main protagonist even though he is
dumb enough not to believe Kai when he warns them of the witch, Mizuki. Oishi is your usual
honourable-to-the-death type of guy - a lot like Ned Stark from Game of Thrones. Lord Kira, ruler of
the neighbouring kingdom, Nagato is the villain of the piece. He is your usual power hungry
megalomaniac who seeks to rule all of Japan. He is a decent villain but his companion, Mizuki is the
one that truly steals the show. She oozes sexy creepiness as a witch. What follows is a story of
deception and revenge by 47 guys you really don't care about.
Another thing that irked me is the misleading posters of the movie, mainly the heavily tattooed
pirate guy displayed on all the material as the Renegade. He looks cool and you think he's a
prominent character till you find out he's in the movie for less than five minutes. What the hell,
man?
To conclude, this is a very bad movie. It is deadly dull and in no way captures the spirit of the real-life
47 Ronin who set out to avenge their master in 18th-century Japan. It has some interesting moments
and in the few instances when the action kicks in it is done rather well but leaves you hungry for
more. The story tries to engage you but doesn't get it right. Save yourself some time and money and
give this one a miss.

01 August 2013
There's a Disconnect
If there is one thing you should learn in this digital day and age (albeit not as digital as science and
science fiction speculated in the 20th century) it's that social networks will undo you in a matter of
seconds if you are not careful. Look at what happened to model Jessica Leandra dos Santos on
Twitter last year - two racist tweets out of anger and her modelling career went down in flames.
Disconnect looks at how our online activities affect our everyday lives over time. The film is centred
around the idea of how people's online lives spill over into their "real" lives and how, ironically, in
being connected via the Internet, people have actually become disconnected from each other.
The plot follows the stories of four different sets of characters and contains a number of
interconnections between the different story arcs. Disconnect is not the movie I expected from what
was revealed in the trailer and I am glad it isn't. I was expecting a feature with a strong focus on
cybercrime in terms of fraud and paedophiles preying on children by means of social media and
sinister chat rooms. The latter issue is a very important to address, but usually movies deal with it in
a manner that freaks viewers out in the same way that slasher movies do.
A dramatic climactic point
Disconnect deals with all these issues in a very human way. The story is simply about people who are
drifting further and further apart as a result of being too connected to the communication platforms
that the Internet and the technology surrounding it affords. Henry Alex Rubin's (Girl, Interrupted,
1999) direction is brilliant in terms of how the story is paced and how it develops. Many of the
scenes are very quiet and all you can hear is the sound of people typing away on keyboards, and
when they do talk it's usually over the phone or via a webcam. All these methods of communication
feel very natural to the viewer because that's how we communicate on a daily basis. Reading a fairly
large portion of the movie's dialogue onscreen as people text each other becomes second nature.
The film reaches a dramatic climactic point that you just don't expect and blows you away for a few
seconds - especially after how calm everything has been more or less up to that point.
Andrew Stern (Nurses, 2007) wrote a good story that will stay with you for a while after seeing the
movie and the ensemble cast delivers some good performances. The initial story is that of Kyle
(brilliantly played by Max Thierot), an underage chat room worker who meets a reporter, Nina
Dunham (Andrea Riseborough), in one of his chat room sessions, who wants to help him leave that
world behind by sharing his story. The question, though, is does he need her help? There is the story
of teenagers, Jason (Colin Ford) and Frye, which deals with the issue of cyber-bullying and its
outcomes. Ben Boyd (Jonah Bobo) is the victim of the cyber-bullying by the two boys and the plot

also centres on the fragmented lives that he and his family lead. This arc of the story deals a lot with
loneliness as one of its major themes. Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses, 2011) and Hope Davis (About
Schmidt, 2002) play Ben's parents and Frank Grillo (End of Watch, 2012) plays Jason's father.
The last story is that of a couple, Cindy (Paula Patton) and Derek (Alexander Skarsgård) who have
become distant from each other as the result of having lost a child and how they cope with having
their credit card details stolen online as a result of them spending so much time on the Internet in an
attempt to find refuge from their problems. These stories are all cleverly and subtly interweaved
throughout the movie and, at times, you are given glimpses of how things could have gone in
another direction instead of the one the plot follows. Things could go horribly wrong or they can go
right.
I enjoyed Disconnect a lot. It's a very apt story in our digital age and hits home with its message. I
highly recommend that you go to see it.

http://www.xbox-360.co.za/2013/05/26/xbox-one-reveal-a-summary/
26 May 2013-10-11
Xbox One Reveal – A Summary
After Tuesday night’s reveal of the Xbox One (no one wanted an Xbox 720 anyway) at Microsoft’s
conference, held at their headquarters in the city of Redmond in Washington, it’s safe to say that the
next generation of consoles is pretty much a current generation premise now. Some speculations
can be set aside and new speculations can be made regarding the final versions of the PlayStation 4
and the Xbox One. The Nintendo WiiU has been out for a while and doing okayish in terms of both
sales and availability of games — and there’s the news that EA is ditching the platform to take into
consideration. Even though we still don’t know what the PlayStation 4 looks like (even after
Tuesday’s attempt to steal Microsoft’s shine by showing us a video of a close up of the system that
actually shows us nothing) we have a fairly good idea of what it’s capable of. Microsoft’s reveal of its
mean machine gave us a good idea of what their battle tactics are entering the fray.
The first thing you want to know is what’s under the hood of the Xbox One and how it looks in terms
of raw power. The console sports an 8-core x86 AMD CPU, a GPU roughly equal to AMD’s Radeon
7790, 8GB of DDR3 RAM (shared between the CPU and GPU), 32MB of SRAM on the graphics die and
200GB of memory bandwidth. The console also comes with a Blu-ray drive, 500GB hard drive,
802.11n WiFi, HDMI in and out, Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0 ports. At a quick glance it’s more or
less what the PlayStation 4 is offering and this is not a bad thing as such. I’ve heard many gamers say
that they don’t just want a new powerhouse console but rather something different from Microsoft
in terms of ingenuity. Microsoft has listened and promised that Kinect will feature in clever ways in
terms of creating new gaming experiences. Cleary Microsoft is trying to capture the casual gamer
market with its aproach. As much as we hardcore gamers always whine we have to admit that the
casual market is where the money comes from to make gaming the huge phenomenon it is today.
The reveal showed that the Xbox One is looking to be more than just a gaming console, it wants to
be the one solution to all your media needs with features like Instant Switch and Snap Mode, which
allow seamless shifting between media like games, movies, music and even services like Skype using
voice commands. Nifty, but whether it will actually be useful remains to be seen. The idea is to do
away with the clutter in the living room space. The console also looks the multimedia device part
and looks like something you’d find as part of an entertainment system instead of a gaming device.
Personally the new look has grown on me after a few days of taking it in. The Kinekt camera also
receives an upgrade and can pick up even slight gestures like facial twitches and ‘slight changes to
your skin pigment’.

Gamers needn’t fret though, the list of games isn’t all that skimpy, what with Call of Duty: Ghost
taking a spotlight (with added killing of dogs…). Forza Motorsport 5 also looks very pretty. EA Sports
anounced a new gaming engine they’re calling Sports Ignite. Fans of sports titles like the FIFA series
can drool at more realistic and natural gameplay. Remedy, the guys behind the brilliant Alan Wake,
announced a new IP, Quantum Break, which looks like it’s a TV show with gaming elements and
looks to blur the lines between the two media. Alan Wake played like a Stephen King book and that
was great so this could be the next big thing. Quantum Break looks like it will be the title to compete
with the PlayStation 4 exclusive, Beyond: Two Souls. We’ll have to wait for more news as time goes.
In fact, we pretty much have to wait for more news on all the games that were announced. E3 will
obviously the bigger platform for everyone to put their best foot forward next month. You can’t
have a new Xbox without Halo making an appearance, even if it’s not a game. It was announced that
legendary director, Steven Spielberg’s producing a live-action Halo TV show along with 343 Studios,
which will be an Xbox Live exclusive. Microsoft’s taking multimedia very seriously as you can see.
The Xbox One reveal was very similar to Sony’s conference in February in terms of revealing just
enough to whet our appetites for what’s to come and to make more of our own speculations. At
least we know what the console looks like though and that’s a point to Microsoft. The PlayStation 4′s
still leading in terms of the number of launch titles we know about but that could change at E3. See
you guys there.

07 May 2013
Go see Iron Man 3
1 May was Worker's Day and that's all well and good. What's more important is that it was also Iron
Man 3 day and because there was no work to go to (thanks Worker's Day, you're awesome) we got
to enjoy Tony Stark's new adventure all day long! Okay, I'm lying; we got to enjoy it for the 130
minutes we would have on any other day.
Iron Man 3 is the first of the post-Avengers Marvel movies to hit our screens this year and we've all
been waiting to see how it would turn out after last year's team up. Tony Stark's previous solo
adventures have been the most successful of the Marvel movies and cinema-goers really like the
character. Iron Man 3 lives up to the hype in most ways and misses the mark in one critical way
that's bound to upset the comic book fans, but casual fans won't notice at all. But hey, it's Robert
Downey Jnr as Tony Stark; he's a nutcase and he's Iron Man so, of course, the movie's awesome.
The movie focuses more on Tony Stark as a person instead of just the suit and this is great because it
give us a good story and a better understanding of the man. Tony is suffering from Post-traumatic
Stress Disorder after the events of The Avengers, which took place in New York. The world has
changed significantly now that people know that aliens exist and that there are other worlds out
there; some that Earth can ally with, like Asgard, but most that are probably hostile. This frightens
Tony and he experiences anxiety attacks whenever New York or wormholes are mentioned.
Tony's past is also catching up with him
Tony feels helpless knowing that the safety of those he loves can be threatened at any moment and
does the one thing he knows best: spend all his time working on improving his Iron Man armour in
his hi-tech workshop. It's not like the nightmares that he has allow him any sleep anyway. His manic
demeanour causes tensions between him and his girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Tony's
past is also catching up with him in the form of the appearance of an ex-fling who heralds the
surfacing of the villain, who Tony spurned in the past. You know how these intelligent, socially
awkward people are - you play one cruel trick on them and they spend years plotting revenge. The
villain of the piece is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pierce), a megalomaniac with a creepy grin and
superpowers that he developed in his lab. He immediately puts those to use in becoming a terrorist
of sorts. Guy Pearce (Prometheus) plays a good villain; he's creepy, crazy and sports cool tattoos.
As a fan of the comics, I enjoyed the movie but it's hard to overlook the liberties that were taken
with the classic Iron Man villain, Mandarin, played by the excellent Sir Ben Kingsley (Schindler's List)
in what could've been a great role, but turned out to be rather demeaning instead. In a movie that

does everything right this is a huge flaw. Again, only those familiar with Iron Man's stories will pick
this up and be bothered by it, as the movie is still good regardless. Speaking of villains, I have no clue
what Maya Hansen's (Rebecca Hall) role in the movie is other than being Tony's ex-fling. Her story
pretty much doesn't matter at all. Villains have always been the Iron Man franchise's weak point and
that doesn't change too much in this instalment.
In some ways this isn't an Iron Man movie at all - much like last year's Skyfall wasn't really a Bond
movie. This is actually a good thing because it shows us a Marvel world in which Tony is just a dude
with a boatload of problems, people he cares for and fights to fight. You can spot Shane Black's (Kiss
Kiss Bang Bang) directorial signature all over this feature. The tone is definitely darker than Jon
Favreau's (who reprises his role as the lummox chief of security, Happy Hogan) take on the Iron Man
universe. You can spot moments of Lethal Weapon-style buddy cop chemistry between Tony and
Rhodey (Don Cheadle). The action sequences are also from the era of excessive explosions. Shane
Black's directorial style works well for a movie about a Tony Stark who has to rely more on his wits
than his mechanical suits without skimping on any of the action.
A solid supporting actor
Don Cheadle (Crash) is a solid supporting actor as Tony's best friend, Colonel James Rhodes. He
should never be the lead in anything because he's that really great guy every hero needs at his side.
His Iron Patron armour is an eyesore though. It's super ugly and annoyingly American. Gwyneth
Paltrow is more than just a pretty face and business brain in this instalment as Pepper Pots. She's the
damsel in distress who acquires her own shiny armour, as it were, instead of relying on Tony in his
armour to save her. Ty Simpkins (Insidious) steals the show as 10-year-old Harley Keener, who Tony
encounters when he's stranded whilst investigating the people who want to kill him. The banter
between the two is hilarious and both characters are amazingly snarky and witty. I always have to
give a nod to Paul Bettany (Priest) as the voice of Tony's AI system, Jarvis.
3D technology is lost on most filmmakers. Iron Man 3 is another example that slapping a few 3D
effects on a movie in post-production is a terrible move. If you can see this one in 2D go for it and
save yourself some money.
This is Tony Stark's best outing so far and is just great to see. Iron Man 3 is an amazing movie and
heralds more good things to come from Marvel this year. Go see it today if you haven't yet. Go see it
again if you have already.

http://www.xbox-360.co.za/2013/04/15/review-bioshock-inifinite-a-masterpiece/
15 April 2013
Review: Bioshock Inifinite “a masterpiece”
A new BioShock title is something that makes gamers stop and think back to the first game in the
series in 2007. The game added a thread of magic to the first-person shooter genre that had not
been there before. It’s with fondness and a little shiver down the spine that we remember being in
Jack’s shoes exploring Rapture, Andrew Ryan’s dystopian underwater city. Rapture was the sort of
place gamers had never visited before because the technology didn’t allow it up to that point in
time. Rapture was gorgeous in its ugliness. Rapture was a utopian dream turned into a nightmare.
BioShock was great to look at and fun to play but it also made gamers think about human progress,
hubris, elitism and morality. BioShock is the Atlas Shrugged and 1984 of gaming. Ken Levine and his
team at Irrational Games are back with a third instalment in the series and this time we’re taken to
Columbia, a city in the sky. BioShock Infinite is here and it writes one of the great chapters in
gaming.
Gone is the claustrophobic underwater dystopia that was Rapture. No more are the crazy Splicers
that were out to kill you. Forget all about plasmids, ADAM, EVE, Big Daddies and Little Sisters.
BioShock Infinite places gamers in the shoes of Booker DeWitt, a former private investigator who’s
been hired to rescue a girl. Everything concerning the girl and why she needs to be rescued is very
hush-hush. Her name is Elizabeth and she is trapped in a tower in Columbia, where she is protected
or held captive (one can’t be too sure) by a giant mechanical bird referred to as Songbird. Elizabeth
and Songbird’s relationship is reminiscent of that of the Little Sisters with the Big Daddies in
BioShock – it’s complicated. Unlike Rapture Booker finds Columbia at its peak and only beginning to
crumble. It’s a dream city starting to turn into a nightmare. Columbia is a super American 1912 city
with fanatic ideals in the form of white supremacy and religious extremism. Columbia is old America
and such a dream cannot endure. Booker arrives at the city at a time of change and, of course, plays
a part in those events. The resistance faction, the Vox Populi is active in fighting for liberation and
equality. The storyline is very mysterious and the player cannot take anything at face value. What is
the brand on Booker’s hand that sets him apart as an antichrist figure? These are the sort of
questions that make up BioShock Infinite’s story. Most things aren’t as they seem. Much like Andrew
Ryan’s dream of a city populated by only the world’s most gifted individuals Columbia is Father
Comstock’s dream of a ‘pure’ America with ‘pure’ American ideals. Father Comstock is Columbia’s
over-zealous leader and his misguided ideals are what bring the city to its soaring heights and what
causes its fall from grace, as it were. BioShock Infinite’s plot deals with the uncomfortable themes of
racism, ideals of supremacy and religious extremism. Irrational Games handles these themes deftly
and in many instances you find yourself outraged at how cruel human beings are and at other
instances you are saddened. BioShock tells a story that matters to players and lingers in your mind.
This game proves that video games can be a platform to tell great stories.

Powered by a modified Unreal Engine 3, the game’s visuals are beautiful and leave gamers in awe.
Columbia’s old America aesthetic is infused with steampunk elements and that blend works well.
Being a city in the sky and an open playing space your surroundings make you feel like you’re really
flying but also add an element of fear, like you might fall at any moment. The game’s graphics look
their best on a powerful PC but the Xbox 360’s no slouch and you can see the painstaking attention
to detail that went into crafting BioShock Infinite. The game is a visual feast. I’m not one to pay any
special attention to a game’s soundtrack but BioShock Infinite’s score accompanies and
complements its light and dark moments perfectly. The last time a score made me feel this way in a
game was in the Halo series. All these elements come together and create an atmosphere you won’t
forget any time soon.
As lofty as BioShock Infinite’s ideals are playing the game is outright fun. It’s a first-person shooter
and as such it’s all about guns and it has these in abundance: pistols, shotguns, machine guns and
the rest of the usual artillery. What really makes combat fun though is the usage of vigors, which are
very much like BioShock’s plasmids. Vigors allow you to throw bolts of electricity at enemies, use fire
to set them alight, attack them with super speed, unleash crows upon them or turn enemies against
each other. Coupled with your guns and a melee weapon you pick up early on in the game vigors
make for fun and creative combat situations. You can loot enemy corpses for money to purchase
upgrades for your weapons and salts (which power vigors). These upgrades make your life easier
against enemies like the mechanical George Washingtons – who, much like BioShock’s Big Daddies,
are the heavies in the game. Armed with chainguns these foes aren’t to be sneered at and I must say
that the George Washington motif is unnerving. Once you free Elizabeth she accompanies you as a
friendly A.I. She has the ability to create tears in space-time, which allows her to materialise
weapons such as turrets in a fight or health kits and salts to help you stay alive. Elizabeth is a
wonderful companion and you can’t help but like her. Then there’s the Skyline railway system that
connects all of Columbia, which you can latch onto using your melee weapon as a hook. This allows
you to travel around the city easily but also makes combat interesting. You can rain death upon
enemies from the Skyline and jump in and out of fights.
BioShock Infinite is a great game all-round and it’s well worth your time. There’s no multiplayer
campaign but the astounding ending will have you playing this game again. This is a AAA title and
you can get your grubby paws on it for roughly R600.00. If you have more money jingling in your
pockets and you don’t know what to do with it get hold of the Songbird Collector’s Edition for
around R1600.00 (check availability), which comes with awesome goodies to warm your gaming
heart.
If you enjoyed the first BioShock title this game is for you and if you’re human this game is for you.
The only faults I can find with it are some bugs that tarnish the gameplay slightly but other than that
BioShock Infinite is a masterpiece.

BioShock Infinite is pie in the gaming sky and it tastes really good. Grab a slice.

11 April 2013
Underwhelming GI Joe
Expectation and hype are killers. After approximately two years of waiting GI Joe: Retaliation hits the
screens and it's underwhelming to say the least. I'm not too proud to admit that I fell headfirst into
the hype machine.
It's a case of last year's Ghost Rider: Vengeance again where my faith was misplaced. GI Joe: The Rise
of Cobra (2009) was utter rubbish, but Hollywood's hype machine made sure that they got the
marketing strategy right second time around: throw in all the best bits of the movie in the trailer,
add The Rock (whom everyone and their dog loves) as Roadblock, pretend that Channing Tatum is
actually in the movie for more than two minutes to draw the ladies and find a place for Bruce Willis
because old-school is relevant again. This strategy worked. This movie has been on my to-watch list
since last year and my ass was in that cinema seat as soon as it stared the screening.
GI Joe: Retaliation is a rubbish movie, you guys. I'm sad to say it's a fun movie too. You really can't
help but like it. I see a trend here. It's as if a bunch of the top Hollywood people got together in a
dark room and decided that 2013 is the year of rubbish movies that people will love and to try to
sneak Bruce Willis into as many of them as possible. It's a strange tactic but it works.
Ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever
Retaliation's storyline is ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever. The world's elite covert fighting
force (that everyone seems to know about so clearly that they aren't good at being covert), the GI
Joes are sent on a mission to Pakistan to stop some sort of nuclear standoff and end up being
framed for trying to steal the nuclear weapon they were sent in to confiscate. The President of the
United States orders an airstrike to eliminate the team. This is where the filmmakers take the
opportunity to kill off Channing Tatum's character, Duke, and have The Rock's character take charge
of what's left of the team. By now all the women who wanted to see Channing Tatum are in their
seats and can't leave.
Well played, Hollywood, well played.
It turns out that the President isn't actually the President; he's the sinister Zartan in clever disguise.
The casting for Zartan is confusing because this movie's hell bent on not making sense. Zartan is
played by Arnold Vosloo, but as he spends most of his time as the President he is really played by
Jonathan Pryce and you only see Arnold Vosloo's face once in a flashback.

Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio January 2016

Charles Siboto Articles & Reviews Portfolio January 2016

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