“Three Apples changed the world: One seduced Eve, One awakened Newton and One fell into the hands of Steve Jobs”

Steve Jobs has passed away.

My sincerest condolences to his family.

I may not have known Steve Jobs personally, although I wish I did, I am deeply, deeply, saddened by his death.

Steve was an inspiration to many, including myself, and his innovative vision and quest for perfection will be sorely missed.

Rest well Steve and suffer no more.

[I wrote a larger piece on Vamers if you are interested to read it]

If you do one thing today, do yourself a favour and watch this speech that Steve Jobs gave to graduates at Stanford University:

South Africans are a buzz.

That’s right folks U2 is here  and, believe it or not (I still cannot), I was privileged enough to crack an elusive invitation to an exclusive behind the scenes look at the inner workings of the U2 360° Tour.

“The Claw”, or as it is known locally “The Prawn”, is a magnificent structure. I have never seen a stage construction like it before. It is so big that it actually begins to make the FNB Stadium, previously known as Soccer City, feel small. Let me tell you, that is no easy feat. Check out the video I created below for an indication of the true immensity of this structure.

Here are a few more interesting facts about “The Claw” and the U2 360° Tour:

• Before reaching South Africa, over 4.5 million people would have seen U2 360°.
• The design can support up to 180 tonnes and was conceptually designed using forks over ‘dinner’ during the Vertigo Tour in 2006.
• The steel structure is 28 meters tall with the center pylon reaching a  height of 45 meters.
• The cylindrical video screen is made up of 1 million pieces, weighs 54 tonnes, is 4300 square feet when closed and opens to a size of 14 000 square feet.
• The steel structure takes four days to build with a further 12 hours to load the screen, stage and production equipment.

Behind the Scenes VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

In addition to getting all close and personal with “The Claw” while on the ‘behind the scenes tour’, we were also extremely lucky to have the chance to speak to Jake Berry (U2 360° Tour Production Director), Paul McGuiness (U2’s Manager) and John Langford (Chief Operating Officer of Big Concerts).

In order, from left to right: Jake Berry, Paul McGuiness and John Langford.

Whether you are a fan of U2 or not, this is most certainly a show you do not want to miss. I would even go so far as to fully agree with the U2 360° Tour Production Director Jake Berry, who exclaims how being able to attend this production would be “an opportunity of a lifetime”.

360° Panorama of the FNB Stadium and U2 360 Claw

I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to 94.7 Highveld Stereo, Primedia and everyone else who contributed towards allowing me to be a part of such a privileged and incredible “behind the scenes” experience. Thank you!

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Warner Brothers Pictures and Legendary Pictures confirmed the casting decision in a joint statement on the 30th January 2011. Zack Snyder of 300 is also said to be directing this umpteenth reboot of the Superman film franchise..

Seriously though, who saw that coming?

Like many, I thought the role would have gone to someone like Mad Men’s Jon Hamm or White Collar’s Matt Bomer. I would not have even minded if Brandon Routh was allowed to reprise the role after the ill fated Superman Returns; a movie which I, surprisingly, enjoyed (minus the terrible “Superman is a father now” scenario) but which the critics completely bashed. However, they cast Henry Cavill.

Personally I do not mind that he is the new Superman. He has the look and he can act, which is all that really matters. What I do find odd and interesting though, is that all three of America’s most iconic and truly American comic book characters are now being played by non-Americans. In fact, they are all British with Andrew Garfield as the new Spider-Man and Christian Bale as Batman.

Without a doubt, this is a perfectly prime example of globalisation!

Henry Cavill will be seen later this year playing Greek warrior Theseus in Immortals, and alongside Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver in the thriller The Cold Light of Day.

(Superman fan artwork is courtesy of RalphD)

To be precise, U2 will be performing to a sold out crown of sweaty palmed South Africans in exactly 300 hours from the time of this post (yes, I worked it out).

The best part? You could win a set of double tickets to either the Johannesburg or Cape Town shows as well as other incredible prizes.

The very cool folks over at 94.7 Highveld Stereo, who are also the main media partners for the tour, are giving anyone who was not lucky or adept enough to buy tickets to the U2 360° Tour (like myself) another chance at being able to say “I was there… and I made out with my steak out”!

The process is simple.

From now until Friday 11th February 2011, there will be a 94.7 Highveld Stereo branded stage touring Gauteng. To win awesome prizes all you need to do is find the stage, whip up the courage to get up on it, and belt out your favourite U2 song to the crowd. It is that easy!

For clues to the whereabouts of this nomadic stage you will need to follow 94.7 Highveld Stereo: on-air, through Facebook or via Twitter (#U2Highveld is the official Twitter hashtag).

Even better, those lucky enough to find the stage and sing to the world will have their 360 seconds of fame uploaded to 94.7 Highveld Stereo’s official YouTube.

With a cylindrical video system of interlocking LED panels, and a steel structure rising 45 meters from the floor over a massive stage with rotating bridges, the U2 360° tour will be a truly unmissable experience. Seriously, it is going to be spectacular!

So what are you waiting for? Start following, finding, singing & winning!

For those who are interested, here is a little bit more about the tour:

U2 will kick off their 360° tour in South Africa at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on Sunday 13th February 2011 before moving to Cape Town and performing on Friday 18th February 2011. U2 will be the first band to stage a live concert in both World Cup 2010 built stadia.

Some interesting facts about the U2 360° tour:

• Before reaching South Africa, over 4.5 million people would have seen U2 360°.
• The design can support up to 180 tonnes.
• The steel structure is 28 meters tall with the center pylon reaching 45 meters tall.
• The cylindrical video screen is made up of 1 million pieces.
• The steel structure takes four days to build with a further 12 hours to load the screen, stage and production equipment.

Anyone with a modern mobile device knows how much of a bane and a blessing the autocorrect feature can be when typing out text messages, emails, notes and so on.

Often the autocorrect feature will change perfect text, without rhyme or reason, and before you realise the error, you have already hit send.

These ‘corrections’ almost always result in a bevy of hilarious, if not mortifying, messages to friends, loved ones, strangers or colleagues.

Consequently, the Internet is a buzz with this latest meme.

In the vain of FailBook, a website which posts pictures of incredulous and hilarious Facebook status updates, Internet savvy users can now enjoy the latest meme to hit “the interwebz”, the trials and tribulations of ‘autocorrect’.

Courtesy of DamnYouAutocorrect.com, we are now able to catch a rare glimpse into how technology continues to influence the fabric of modern day communication. Usually with humour filled repercussions. Below are a few examples of some of the better postings available on DamnYouAutocorrect.com.

As much as I hope this post has brought a smile to your face, just remember that from now on, no autocorrect “fail” is safe. Thus, my advice to you is to treat messaging like you would crossing the road: always check twice before going forward.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Each Hans’ Milieu edition of Vocab101 will take place on Wordy Wednesdays and will usually contain words which I have tweeted over the course of one week from the previous Vocab101 session (7 days, 7 new words). Furthermore, each Hans’ Milieu edition of Vocab101 will contain additional new words which did not make the original cut, but are just as tantalising/disturbing!

Vocab101:

• Depone – To testify under oath.

• Cellfish – An individual who talks on his/her mobile phone, regardless of circumstance, thus being rude, inconsiderate or ‘selfish’.

• Meh – Indifference; to be used when one simply does not care.

• Limerance – An attempt at a scientific study into the nature of romantic love.

• Dingleberry – A particle of fecal matter attached to the anal hair of an animal or person.

• Nudiustertian – Simply, the day before yesterday.

• Craptacular – Descriptive word used to describe anything of exceptionally poor quality.

Vocab101-isms which missed the cut:

• Liptonite – A person with a sophisticated palate for black tea and who has all of the accoutrements for serving tea, yet only serves generic tea to guests.

• Techlaze – The lethargy which presents itself by having to much technology at ones disposal.

I do hope that you enjoyed this edition of Vocab101 and that you will return for some more Vocab101-isms in the near future!

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Time and time again I am asked how I managed to obtain access to a US iTunes store account. Well, the answer is fairly simple. I just created one.

I know what you are thinking: “How the heck did he do that”?

Any South African who owns an iDevice of some kind dreams of accessing the US music and application store. It is not hard to imagine why, considering the crippled and lackluster state of the content within the South African iTunes marketplace.

With that said, gone are the days of being unable to legally and easily purchase music online or fantasizing about the latest must have US only iDevice applications. Now everyone can join in on the fun!

These are the steps to take to gain a US iTunes account:

1. First, head over to http://www.maximuscards.com and purchase a US $10 iTunes voucher (the cheapest one available). By the way, I use Maximus Cards all the time for my Xbox 360/Zune Microsoft Points and iTunes/Mac AppStore vouchers. I have always found Maximus Cards to be efficient and reliable.
2. Once you have your voucher code, which will be e-mailed to you, open iTunes. If you already have an account, click on the drop down arrow next to your ‘Log-In’ name and click on ‘account’. If you do not have an account, just follow the prompts and skip to step 4 of this guide.
3. The next window will show your account information. Next to the country registered for the account will be an option to ‘change country’. Click on the ‘change country’ button.
4. Next, select the country you want your new iTunes account to be set in and follow the rest of the instructions. Once you reach the page which requests ‘credit card’ & ‘billing’ information, do the following:
   A: Ignore the credit card options, for now.
   B: Insert your pre-purchased iTunes voucher code into the available text box.
   C: Use your real name & e-mail address.
   D: Use a US physical address, including city, state & postal code (Preferably in California as that state does not charge tax on online purchases).
   E: Once you have entered all of the information, excluding any ‘credit card’ details, hit ‘continue’.
5. The next window should display all of your information again, but the area in which you inserted the iTunes voucher will now glow green. Additionally, there should now be a ‘none’ option under the credit card information section. Select ‘none’ before continuing with the rest of the registration process.

Please bear in mind that you modify your iTunes account at your own risk and that the above guide does not guarantee a user access to a US iTunes account. Furthermore this guide is only accurate as of the time of publication of this blog post (UPDATED: 24th June 2011).

There you go! Everything should work and you should now be the proud owner of a US iTunes account. Easy as pie!

It is important to note that your pre-purchased iTunes store voucher is not claimed during the registration process. It is merely used to indicate that you have a certain level of funds. As a result, you will still need to claim the voucher within iTunes. This is a simple process. You can either go into account settings and fund the account from there or merely select any item from the iTunes store and follow the prompts for adding a ‘payment method’ to your account (aka use the voucher option).

Happy shopping!

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Essentially people are cutting and dying the hair of poodles and other unfortunately fluffy dogs, to resemble other creatures, such as Panda’s, Pirates and Fairy’s. It is as crazy as it sounds and the results are just as mind numbingly hilarious.

Poodle Doodles: Endless Possibilities VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

(All photographs are © Ren Netherland/Barcroft Media)

My initial reaction to finding this was ‘what the frakk’! I immediately formed a rant about how stupid people can be… blah blah… animal cruelty… blah blah, you know the drill. So I checked it out again.

You know, it may not be conventional but as long as the animals are well looked after and have a good life, I do not think it is as bad as it could be. After all, it is only for one day of the year and it is just hair which will grow back. Besides, some of those dogs do look pretty cool. Come on, admit it! Who would not want a Pirate dog? Which brings me to the following question:

Should I give Chocolate, our beloved Bouvier, a funky once off makeover?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter as well as suggestions for what Chocolate could become.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Yes, I have been quite the slacker when it comes to updating my blog. I have no excuses this time though. Truth be told, I have just not felt like updating.

(Picture courtesy of AlaaShaker)

Granted I was abroad for over 5 glorious weeks but what people in the blogosphere do not tell you is that blogging is hard. It takes time & skill to write good posts worthy of garnering attention and building a ‘following’. I have found that it is much easier to simply update my social networks with information than to have to sit down and consciously write and edit stories about my life.

With that said, I cannot help but feel ‘guilty’ for neglecting you. Yes you, a member of the undeniable legions of readers I fool myself into believing are actually there. Thus, I will persevere. However, I will no longer fill your dreams and hopes with empty promises. I shall blog but I will do so randomly and without any form of predictability.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

It is Music Monday and thus time for another Vivaciously Varietal Vibe!  

• Flavour: Pop

• Artist: Shakira feat. Freshly Ground

• Album: CD Single

• Song: Waka Waka (This Time For Africa/The 2010 Official Fifa World Cup Song)

Rationale: For those who do not know, and unless you have been hovelled in some cave somewhere, South Africa will be hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Other than our beautiful country scrambling to get ready for the event, quite a process in patience for its citizens, FIFA have released the official 2010 FIFA World Cup song.

Although many South Africans were rather peeved that the song was not performed entirely by a South Africans, I do believe that FIFA did the right thing by approaching Shakira. Truth be told, and in my opinion, we needed a famously ‘international’ artist to carry the song. Granted, we do have a lot of talent in South Africa but the problem is, how much of that talent is really recognised by the rest of the world? Knowing FIFA, they wanted to make a big splash and there was no better way to do that then to associate their brand with an already popular and well known artist.

Besides, our very own Freshly Ground feature in the song. Take that, all you naysayers.  I still think they should have thrown in a few Vuvuzela’s for authenticity… *runs off to irritate the neighbours with his own Vuvu*.

Check the song out below and let me know what you think!

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.

Until the next time, “Milieunairs”!