Archive for category Life
I never thought it would happen to me…
Posted by Hans Haupt in Internet, Life, OMG, Seriously?!, WTF on February 26th, 2010
Last night I received a chilling phone call from Nedbank. Someone had attempted to make an online purchase using my credit card information.
I was, and still am, gob smacked.
I am no novice when it comes to shopping online. I have been doing it for years. I am quite a tech savvy person and I have a vested interest in computers, social media and the Internet. So I know all about the dangers of shopping online. Consequently, I always take the necessary precautions to prevent data theft. Nevertheless, this did not stop some random American douche bag, from stealing my credit card information and attempting to buy… wait for it… R3 000 worth of groceries from Wal-Mart. Huh?!
Why on Earth someone would go through all of the effort to steal someone’s credit card information online, just to buy groceries with, I cannot understand. Either the recession in the states is really still quite bad or Americans, as the stereotype goes, are legitimately stupid. Nevertheless, I hope this person gets persecuted to the full extent of the law and is ripped a new one while in prison.
So how did this all happen? How the heck did this mystery person obtain my information? Well, it was obviously via the internet but not because of some insecure site.
Happy Singles Awareness Day!
Posted by Hans Haupt in Entertainment, Life, Movies, Personal, The Red Carpet on February 14th, 2010
Today is Valentines day. A solitary day of the year reserved for promoting all things related to ‘love’.
Conventional wisdom, courtesy of intense commercialistation, would have you believe that this day is purely for celebrating with your significant other. You know, the person whose morning breathe, to you, smells like peaches and cream; the individual who will literally bend over backwards to please you; ‘your own personal brand of heroine’… etcetera!
There is no doubt that Valentines is great; if you have a significant other to share it with. Although Valentines is about love and may be celebrated with a sibling or parent, we all know that the end results are just not as rewarding.
What Valentines day succeeds in doing, however, is making everyone who is not in an active relationship, aware of how ‘single’ they are.
Truth be told, it is actually the perfect day for single people to get together and mingle, without much consequence, as most of the ‘relationship’ folk would be ‘occupied’. Consequently, there is no need to spend the day alone. Instead, you can go out and meet new people, all while having fun! Hence, ‘Singles Awareness Day’ (SAD) was born":
On Singles Awareness Day, single people gather to celebrate or to commiserate in their single status. Some want to remind romantic couples that they don’t need to be in a relationship to celebrate life. On this day many people wear green, as it is considered to be the ‘opposite’ of red. (Wikipedia, 2009)
So the next time Valentines Day comes around and you happen to be single, embrace it. Be happy with who you are and make the most of it; and do not forget to get together with a group of single people and party the night away!
I hope you all have an amazing day, filled with love and new experiences.
Until the next time “Milieunairs”!
Bite My Apple
Posted by Hans Haupt in Entertainment, Festivities, Get Together, Life, Movies on February 10th, 2010
On Friday the 5th of February 2010, I was privileged enough to obtain an illusive invitation to “The Twilight Saga: New Moon Exclusive VIP party”, courtesy of Sterkinekor and MiMoney.
Over the last several months, Sterkinekor Entertainment in association with MiMoney, have been teasing Twihard’s (fans of the Twilight saga movies and books) with the possibility of attending “the most exclusive party in 100 years”. Entering was easy. Simply watch New Moon and text your ticket number to a specified number. Each entry increased your chances of obtaining an invitation to the event.
Furthermore, upon entering the competition, fans would receive a text message notification with a specific code. This code could then be redeemed at the viral marketing inspired ‘Bite My Apple’ website; in order to unlock exclusive content from the movie in the form of wallpapers and screensavers.
After being psyched about the event for months, I was obviously excited to be able to attend. The anticipation factor was intoxicatingly high!
Music Monday: ‘Broken Open’
Posted by Hans Haupt in Entertainment, Life, Music Monday on February 8th, 2010
Hey Milieunairs,
It is Music Monday and thus time for another Vivaciously Varietal Vibe!
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Flavour: Pop
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Artist: Adam Lambert
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Album: For Your Entertainment
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Song: Broken Open
Rationale: I have, on many an occasion, written about songs which I have labelled as ‘hauntingly beautiful’. As it so happens, ‘Broken Open’ by Adam Lambert, is another song which fits into this category.
At first listen, one could be forgiven for thinking that ‘Broken Open’ is simply a mock rendition of ‘Mad World’ by Gary Jules; another of my favourite songs. Both songs share an eerily similar melodic pattern, one which is a pleasure to listen to. On a purely basic auditory level, Lambert’s ‘Broken Open’ is quite different to ‘Mad World’, offering more of an upbeat pop synth loop with spacey techno buzzes and pings added for good measure. Even so, the song has a beautiful sound made even better with Lambert’s sultry voice. Surprisingly, Adam co-wrote ‘Broken Open’ as well.
I must say, Adam Lambert has created a stellar debut album. He has managed to cater for almost every genre, proving his versatility as an artist. Even more impressive, is the amount of talent that was wired behind the scenes into helping him create his first album, from the likes of MUSE, Pink, Lady Gaga, Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic) and Sam Sparro, among others; all adding their own personal touches to each of Lambert’s songs. ‘For Your Entertainment’ is a brilliant pop album and is definitely worth listening to.
As always, whenever I post about Vivaciously Varietal Vibes on Music Monday’s, simply click on the name of the song to be taken to a web page that displays the songs lyrics.
New Years Resolutions for 2010
Posted by Hans Haupt in Hans' Milieu, Life, Personal on January 10th, 2010
Can you believe that it is 2010? We are already a decade into the ‘new’ millennium.
To mark this special year, which also happens to be divisible by 5 and you all know how much I love numbers, I have committed myself to 10 resolutions for this new year.
I actually had a grand plan of revealing each resolution on each new day of the first 10 days of the new year via Twitter. Unfortunately, this did not work out as planned. Nevertheless, this is the long awaited and eventual blog post to sum everything up. Without further ado, I present to you, my new years resolutions for 2010:
It’s Britney, Bitch!
Posted by Hans Haupt in Entertainment, Holidays, Life, Music Monday on November 28th, 2009
Even before we arrived in Australia, I knew that Britney Spears would be bringing her ‘The Circus’ tour to the land down under. However, I never thought I would actually get a chance to attend the concert.
For starters, Britney’s last show in Melbourne was on the 13th November and we were only set to arrive in Melbourne on the 16th. Furthermore, tickets to the event were not exactly cheap, ranging from stadium seating at $250 (R1700) per person to the insanely priced ‘Love Seats’ for $1500 (for two tickets –> R10 000 ). Consequently, chances of me attending Miss Spears’ performance were pretty thin.
Or so I thought.
Through a fortunate turn of events, Britney had actually extended her tour due to popular demand, adding three extra shows to her repertoire. One of those shows, as luck would have it, was in Melbourne.
I would be lying if I said that I was not excited at the possibility of watching the princess of pop perform in the flesh. After all, like the Queen (Madonna), it is not as if Britney would be making her way to South Africa. So it was pretty much a ‘This Is It’ kind of scenario.
Amazingly, my parents ascertained that this would be a fantastic experience and wholeheartedly agreed to buy tickets to the show. Not only that, but they even allowed me to opt for the ‘stool’ seating, which is directly behind the ‘Love Seats’ and, as it turned out, was literally a meter and a half away from the stage.
Without a doubt, ‘The Circus presenting Britney Spears’ was the best concert I have ever been to. I am unable to truly relay how awesome the experience was. The circus elements to the show, alone, were worth the price of admission; from acrobats, to martial artists, clowns, mimes, weapon artists, magicians… you name it and it was there (animals excluded). In addition to the circus element, I have never before been privy to a live performance with as much pyrotechnics and stage theatrics as this. The ‘wow’ factor was simply phenomenal. I do think that the experience was made just that much better courtesy of our seats which, as I have mentioned before, allowed us to be almost within two arm lengths of the pop princess.
Contrary to the controversy surrounding Britney’s performance in the land down under, I can honestly admit that I would watch it again. So what if she lip-synchs? Anyone who has heard of Britney Spears knows that she is infamous for lip-synching (along with many other famous artists). So this was really of no surprise. In my opinion, if you want to hear an artist sing, buy the album. If you want to watch them perform, go to a concert. Whether they sing ‘live’ or not is irrelevant. With that said, it is worth noting that Britney did sing at least one song live, the ballad ‘everytime’. To all the naysayers who think Britney Spears cannot sing, let me tell you, this chick has a good voice. As a matter of fact, she actually sounds better live than through her recordings. So it is a shame that she does not perform ‘live’ more often.
Considering how close I was able to get, I was quite surprised to realise how small Britney Spears actually is. She is tiny. Then again, I am 6’4”, so a lot of people are smaller than I am. After two kids, she does look very good. While I’m on the topic of her body, it is worth noting that she is rather fit. She has good muscle tone; most definitely what could be described as a dancers body. So she is not petit and does appear to have some extra junk in her trunk. I think the biggest surprise to me was how small her boobs were. For those who know we, I’m a boob man. Britney has a good handful, but not what one would expect after all of the boob job debates. Have a look for yourself, in the album below.
I am truly so thankful that I could have this opportunity and would like to send a huge ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’ to my loving parents who made it all possible.
Until the next time “Milieunairs”!
Becoming a Melbournian, one step at a time.
Posted by Hans Haupt in Holidays, Life, Personal, Travel on November 25th, 2009
It certainly has been ages since I last wrote a personal post. To be frank, I always find writing about myself to be the most difficult. Not because I do not have anything to write, as I often do, but because my most recent life events have been somewhat too personal in nature to share with the world. Now I know that those are the kind of stories that make blog’s thrive. However, I had to take a step back in order to protect those closest to me by abstaining from aggravating any and all gossipmongers. More out of respect than courtesy, mind you. One day I may reveal all that has happened, but only time will tell. For now though, I wish to focus on the future and what has been happening over the last week.
As I have mentioned before, I have been neglecting the personal posts with which my blog was originally built on. Believe me, I actually feel bad about it. I love sharing my experiences, whether good or bad, and listening to people’s opinions. Or lack thereof. Consequently I will attempt to revive the personal aspect of Hans’ Milieu.
Okay, a quick recap of the last week:
I am actually in Melbourne, Australia, at the moment. I arrived last week Monday. The flight was pleasant with a total travel time of around 16 hours (including transit and flight times from Sydney to Melbourne). Actually, I wonder why there are no direct flight to Melbourne? Considering that the flight has to fly over Melbourne anyway. Very odd. However I have heard that Virgin will be flying direct to Melbourne from next year. Thank heavens for that as it will make travelling just that much better.
For those who are unfamiliar with my families ‘Australian’ history, all you you really need to know is that we have been planning on immigrating for the last 8 years. Well not really ‘planning’ per se, more like procrastinating. This year, however, I finally had enough of all of the indecision and took matters into my own hands. Thus I kindly told my parents, in the nicest way possible, that, if we could afford it, I would like to continue my Masters and Doctoral studies at Monash University in Australia. A logical move, considering that I am a Monash University Alumnus and already paying exorbitant international student rates, since that was the only way for me to be able to do my Masters at Monash University in South Africa. As a result I am currently enrolled as a Master’s student at Monash University’s Clayton campus in Melbourne, via external candidature (which allows me to stay in South Africa). Unfortunately, it is as complicated as it sounds.
Considering my current academic situation and our continued, but never fruitful, desire to begin a new life in Australia, it makes perfect sense for me to spearhead our Australian move. However, it is proving to be quite a lot harder than we originally anticipated. More so in terms of finding a place to live than actually obtaining entrance to the country (for me anyway). Subsequently, the last week has been focussed on finding me a place to stay while I am in Australia pursuing my studies. Needless to say, ‘house hunting’ is incredibly tedious and rather tiring especially since options are rather limited, courtesy of the strengthening Australian dollar and constantly weak South African Rand. Regardless, I do have hope that we will find a moderate place in a respectable location.
In other news I spent some time with my cousin Terrence, who is currently in Australia via Monash University’s undergraduate study abroad program, I managed to watch New Moon (review coming soon), got tickets to Britney Spears’ Circus Tour for this coming Friday *school girl scream* and have generally been having a wonderful time in Melbourne; further experiences that I will continue to write about when I have the time.
Until the next time “Milieunairs”!
‘V’ – Where will you be? A first look.
Posted by Hans Haupt in Entertainment, Life, OMG, Television on October 24th, 2009
“V”is a classic. Anyone who enjoys science fiction will tell you that the groundbreaking, politically driven reptilian alien drama, was light years ahead of its time. Consequently, it was of no surprise, that I had a major geekasm when I caught wind of the fact that ABC television and Warner Brothers Entertainment had signed off to create a reboot of the original television series. A series which greatly influenced me as a child…
*cue flashback*
What an awesome scene! I remember watching it for the very first time, like it was yesterday. Bear in mind that for the 80’s, this was mind blowing stuff.
Truthfully, I was not even born when the series came out. However, my father is, and has always been, a huge fan of the science fiction genre. As a result he taped the mini-series and entire television show, waiting for me to reach the age at which I could appreciate this fine ‘work of art’. Throughout the years my father and I have spent countless hours together, enjoying many action and science fiction driven films and television shows. Good times!
The ABC ‘re-imagining’ of the 80’s classic is set to air in the US on Tuesday, the 3rd of November 2009 at 20:00 (8pm) Eastern/Pacific Time. Here is a synopsis of the show for those who are unfamiliar with lore of ‘V’:
Simultaneously appearing over every major city in the world, the Visitors (or V’s) promote a message of peace. Through their generous offer to share advanced technology, the V’s build a following that may actually hide a more malevolent agenda, one that twists a very deep component of human nature — devotion. While the world quickly becomes fascinated with the V’s and their link to wonders just beyond the reach of human understanding, FBI Counter Terrorist Agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) discovers a secret hidden beneath the skin of every V – a secret that may threaten the lives of everyone close to her. Yet for her teenage son, Tyler (Logan Huffman), the V’s are his ticket to something big and hopeful-a new chance for mankind to unite in common goals. To Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), a career-hungry news anchor, his exclusive interview with Anna (Morena Baccarin), the leader of the V’s, is crucial to his dominating the airwaves. Also unsure about the Visitors is Father Jack (Joel Gretsch), a priest questioning his faith in the wake of the Visitors’ arrival. Seeking answers outside the church, Father Jack discovers there are other dissidents who believe the Visitors are not who they say they are, including Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), who is faced with his own life-altering decision when the V’s show up. Never has there been more at stake — it truly is the dawning of a new day. “V” also stars Lourdes Benedicto as Ryan’s fianc’e, Valerie, and Laura Vandervoort as Lisa, an alluring Visitor who sets her sights on Tyler.
[Source: Geek Tyrant]
Has the show captured your attention? Are you interested to know more? If you are, check out the video below which features the first 8 minutes of the re-imagined ‘V’ premiere:
In terms of science fiction reboots, the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica far surpassed all expectations. Thus there is no reason why ‘V’ should offer any less of a thrilling adventure. Subsequently, I personally have very high hopes for this reboot since the production values appear to be very good and fans of the original series all know that the story is rich in content. Furthermore, not only do we get to watch ‘V’ in all its rat devouring glory again, but science fiction fans can finally look forward to filling the void left behind by Battlestar Galactica!
Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

United as One – Reginald & Cora Sarakis
Posted by Hans Haupt in Family, Festivities, Life, Seriously?! on September 28th, 2009
On Saturday the 26th of September 2009 we bore witness to the joining of Reginald George Sarakis and Cornellia Petronella Kuhn in holy matrimony.
Truth be told, it was actually a double wedding! Not only did my extended cousin get married, but so did his new brother-in-law. The adage, ‘two birds, one stone’ has never been more appropriate, nor have the humorous connotations with that maxim been more prevalent.
The wedding took place in the rustic city of Rustenburg at the NG Church West.
The ceremony was somewhat unorthodox, with two sessions of the wedding march being played for each respective bride. Thankfully there was only one main service for both couples. Unfortunately it was all in Afrikaans, so although I did not understand most of it I did, obviously, get the just of the proceedings.
After the ceremony we went to this quaint little hall near the Rustenburg ‘fair grounds’ for the wedding ‘after party’. It was there that we were greeted by a multitude of edible treats and sublimely succulent lamb on the spit. The most ludicrous part of the evening was when I was finally introduced to cousins of mine, whom I had been speaking to for most of the evening, without even realising that we were all related. Best part? They are all fluent in English! Ha ha!
Ultimately, a fantastic time was had by all and we are immensely happy for Reginald and his new bride.
Until the next time “Milieunairs”!
Monash South Africa Cultural Day
Posted by Hans Haupt in Entertainment, Festivities, Get Together, Life on September 19th, 2009
Yesterday Monash held a cultural day. A day in which students from various nations and nationalities may come together as one and explore the contrasts between differing cultures.
One of the major attractions of the day, was the pitting of the different faculties and administrative departments against one another in a cook off. A ‘potjie kos’ cook off, to be precise. Being an Alumni and a part of the South African charter of the Monash University Alumni Volunteer Committee, I was naturally a part of their team.
Unfortunately we did not win the ‘cook-off’. Even so our ‘smoked beef with a touch of apricot’ potjie was a ‘raving success’. Mainly because you had to be stark raving mad to eat it. Mind you, I did have two servings of the stuff.
Sadly we managed to burn our potjie and drop Blitz into it (fire lighters), hence the ‘smoked’ reference. We did attempt to salvage the meal with a helpful dollop, or three, of apricot jam. Although the jam did help, ever so slightly, there was no real way to lessen the burnt taste before the judges came around.
Thankfully, the judges were very graceful and were kind enough to not pull their faces when they tasted our dish as well as to label it as ‘nice’ – as in, it smells good, looks good but tastes off (synonymous with the descriptor ‘cute’).
All in all it was a fantastic day. One filled with side splitting laughter and the exuberant showing of latent talents. It was also especially good to mingle with the Alumni crew and to see how our University has grown over the last several years.
For pictures from the event, check out the following album:
By the way if you are wondering about the traffic ‘green’ leggings, our theme was ‘Spring Yellow’. Thus each member of the Alumni Volunteer Committee had to spruce up their Alumni shirts with a yellow item of some kind. Hence my yellow shorts. Additionally, the girls continue to maintain that their ‘green’ leggings, are in fact ‘yellow’. Needless to say, the Fashion Police had a field day!
Ultimately, I truly am proud to be a Monash Alumni and look forward to participating in many more University inspired events. Furthermore, I am heartily looking forward to continuing my Masters studies in Australia from early next year. It is going to be so much fun!
Until the next time “Milieunairs”!






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