I am flabbergasted that the last time I updated Hans’ Milieu was just under five months ago. In fact, I am appalled that I have neglected you – my fellow readers and the blog itself, which I regard as the online extension of my living entity – for so long.

So much has happened over the last several months that it would be almost impossible to detail it all in a single post. I will eventually get to updating my milieu, but until then here is a brief account of the major events that have transpired:

• I am another year older.
• I have almost finished my Masters – something I am both excited and anxious about.
• I am a now Mac user – who would have thought?!
• I have made wonderful new friends.
• I have grown stronger emotionally, mentally and, most importantly, spiritually.
• I am still single.
• The Upper Palatte is making a glorious return – beginning again in August.
• I have started a website for video games and technology: Vamers - officially launching in October.
• One of my Tweets went viral.
• I am committed to going from Flab to Fab by December this year – just in time for Summer.

I will attempt to update as often as possible, at least once a week from this day forward, but my education comes first. So until my Masters is complete I will be unable to update as frequently as I would like. Only a few months to go!

Until the next time Milieunairs!

In December I was fortunate enough to be blessed with an Apple MacBook Air. My very first Apple computer. All who know of Apple are aware that this is the brand synonymous with photo, video and sound production. Today, I decided to put the aforementioned stereotype to the test.

I am no stranger to video production. From a very early age, I have had the fortune of being both in front of and behind the lens of my fathers camera equipment. This allowed me, on numerous occasions, to dabble in the fine art of filmmaking. Of course I am by no means a Spielberg, Kubrick or Cameron, far from it in fact, and I am very much still an amateur. Never the less I do enjoy the process. I find it a lot of fun. So I took my new camera, a Canon EOS 7D which I still have to learn to use, I headed out into the garden and I began to film whatever caught my interest.

The result? A trailer for the purely fictional and wistfully thought out independent art house film called UMFANA: the story of a boy.

The two stars of this *cough* award winning *cough* film are the handsome little tyke Sibusiso Mahlangu and the beautifully shaggylicious Chocolate Faith. Sibusiso is a real little trooper and was pretty excited to be a part of the “movie”. Both his mom and his grand mother work for us which is how I had access to this little rising star. Chocolate Faith is our Bouvier. She loves having her tummy rubbed and drinking out of the pool.

Once I had completed the trailer, a feat I feel guilty about taking credit for since iMovie ‘11 pretty much puts the whole thing together – a click here and a click there and presto, you have a movie trailer, I hosted a mini ‘screening’ on our home theatre. I gathered up everyone on the property and reserved a special seat for our new star. Everyone enjoyed it, especially my mom… who cried. But that was to be expected because my mom always gets emotional for things.

That pretty much sums up my afternoon. Instead of doing my Masters research, I ended up making a trailer for a non-existent movie. I could be the poster child for procrastination. Regardless, I feel good about it. It was almost as if I needed it. I also inadvertently proved that Apple is still the ‘shiz niz’ when it comes to video editing and I would very much like to, one day, hone my fledgling filmmaking skills on a Mac with Final Cut Pro.

“If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed”
~ Stanley Kubrick

For the last several months I have been toying with the idea of truly making my blog, or should I say website, my own. That time has finally come.

From Hans’ Milieu’s humble beginnings with Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces back in 2005, all the way to the eventual progression of my blog to the WordPress platform last month, I have always wanted to make my blog my own. However, I did not have the courage to do so; no matter how many times my intuition whispered ‘relax, just do it’. That is, not until late last week when, in the spur of a radical moment, I did what I have been longing to do. With absolute confirmation having only arrived early yesterday morning, my envisioned plan for my website has finally become a reality.

Nike – Just do it!

I am immensely proud to announce that now, after almost four years, I officially and finally own Hans’ Milieu (© 2009 Hans Haupt, All rights reserved) as well as the domain www.HansHaupt.com. I still cannot get over the fact that I now have my own, self-maintained island of information, that anyone on the Internet can holiday on. It truly is an amazing feeling!

Consequently, I now have absolute freedom to do whatever I want with my website. That said, I do have a myriad of ideas bouncing within the confines of my cranium, waiting to be unleashed on the unsuspecting masses. However, I do have a lot of learning to do, both in terms of programming skills and my Masters, before I will be able to actually gain a comprehensive understanding of how to nurture my website into all that it can be. With that said, the first aspect on my new agenda is creating a logo and potential slogan for Hans’ Milieu. So stay tuned!

Lastly, I would just like to give a quick shout-out to my parents and our gracious Lord God. If it was not for their continued love and support, through both the good times and the bad, Hans’ Milieu would most probably have been shelved several years ago. They have given me the strength to ‘Relax and just do it’! Thank you for everything that you do, I love you!

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

Well, the website tentatively known as ‘Yearbook Yourself’, has a rather ingenious solution to his problem.

Using simple, yet effective, facial mapping techniques; ‘Yearbook Yourself’ allows you to take any forward facing photograph’s of your beautiful visage and turn them into time period specific yearbook portraits.

The specific time periods on offer currently range from the century splitting year 1950, all the way to the millennium bug ridden year 2000. You may view my ‘Blast from the Past’, courtesy of Yearbook Yourself, in the following album:

View Full Album

An interesting thing to do, is to compare your original High school photograph (you can see my real one at the top of this post *cringe*) to those of a potential yesteryear. Truth be told, I am incredibly glad to be a child of the ‘00 High school graduating generation. Some of those ‘founding’ styles were simply horrendous (1986, 1988 and 1990; I am looking at you)!

Unsurprisingly, we all have High school graduating photograph’s, including celebrities:

Celebrity Yearbook Pictures

I hope you all have fun with this post and I look forward to seeing your ‘creations’ *rolls eye’s at the multitude of new ‘old’ Facebook profile pictures*.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

I am now officially 24 years of age.

This year my birthday fell on a Friday. So, to celebrate, I went out with my parents, Aunt Magalie and Freddy, to the Butcher Shop in Nelson Mandela Square. We had a great time especially considering that there were these lovely pieces of jailbait sitting at the table next to us, also celebrating a birthday. Freddy eloquently tweeted about it citing “celebrating Hans’ birthday with him, while he’s staring at the rack behind me…”. Yes, good times! However, the real party only took place on Saturday.

For my 24th birthday I was privileged enough to be able to take close friends and family to watch Wayne Brady perform live in the Big Top Arena at Carnival City (all expenses paid). Hence the blog title Hans’ Brady Bunch 24th Birthday Bash.

To cut a long story short we all had an absolutely incredible time. It was legend… wait for it… dary! Wayne Brady must be one of the most talented people alive. This is not an over exaggeration. Honestly, I have never seen anyone perform with such a high degree of versatility. From singing to pure unadulterated adlibbing, he was spectacular. Even days after watching the show, friends and family who attended still cannot stop taking about it. If you have not seen Wayne Brady perform live, do yourself a favour and do so. Even if you are not a fan, it is, without a doubt, money well spent.

Wayne Brady: Making it up – Prince Impersonation & adlib lyrics

After the show, we all headed to Carnival Cities ‘Lotta Foods’ buffet area to continue the party. It was here that we were all able to eat and be merry! As always, my moms famous chocolate cake made an appearance, along with the gorgeous Charlize Theron!

Okay, Charlize was not physically there, perhaps only in spirit… and on my cake! To decorate my cake, my folks put together this pretty cool and totally geeky rice paper print, of a very sexy Charlize Theron who is, allegedly, thinking the following:

“Benoni boys are HOT! Happy Birthday Hans”! (Love it!)

Overall, this was one of my best and most memorable birthdays. Consequently, I would like to send out a great thank you to all those who managed to make my day just that much better by being there. You all know who you are! Additionally, I would like to give an extra special shout out to my parents. Thank you so much for everything mom and dad, without you both and the Lord above, none of this would have been possible. You both mean the world to me!

View Full Album

What about the presents you ask? Quite simply, I have been spoilt rotten, by my parents as well as by my fantastic friends and family. Some of my gifts from my folks are still on order. Do not worry, you will now what they are soon enough *wink wink*.

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!