I am by no means an E. E. Cummings, Maya Angelou or William Shakespeare, but I do enjoy the word play and literary expression of emotion.

As alluded to in the above Tweet, my latest poem was inspired by the music of Ulrich Schnauss, which I find to be beautifully dream worthy. With that said, the poem is not about anyone in particular.

If you are interested, my latest poem is featured right after the jump.

In this Place

I am in a strangely isolated Place,
on this clear Day,
away from your beautiful Embrace.

I miss what you have to Say,
and the clarity of your insatiable Grace.

Emotions have etched permanent pieces of you on my forlorn Face,
lines which my fingers will always be able to Trace.

You are never forgotten, in my world, in my Space.
For you live on this Way, in my heart, in this Place.

~ Hans Haupt

It has been quite a while since I have added anything to the Milieu Exclusive ‘Literature in Verse’ category, even though I often spurt out a rhyme or two via my Twitter feed. I do hope to write more and when I do, Hans’ Milieu will be the place to find it.

Until the next time Milieunairs.

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”!

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.

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”!

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”!

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:

#1: Obtain the infamous "6 pack" by my 25th birthday.

#2: Sleep more. Try to get at least eight hours of sleep a night.

#3: Blog more. I would like to try and output a minimum of three quality posts a week.

#4: Procrastinate less. Whenever possible, do today what could be left for tomorrow.

#5: Maintain a good posture. Breaking my arm threw everything out of whack. Time to get it all back!

#6: Learn to play the piano. A new means of emotional expression.

#7: Go on a long road trip. Life is about creating memorable moments and experiences.

#8: Adhere to the speed limit and attempt to avoid reckless road rage driven drivers.

#9: Letting go. Stay close to those who add value to your life, discard those who only cause pain.

#10: Make the move. It is no longer if, but when.

All I have to do now, is actually stick to this list of resolutions *eek*. Far easier said than done, but it is not impossible.

I certainly am looking forward to this new year. I do believe that it has a lot to offer and I plan to make the most of it!

God speed to you all and may you all succeed within whatever it is you put your minds to!

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

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.

View Full Album

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”!

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

• Flavour: Rock 

• Artist: MUSE

• Album: Origin of Symmetry

• Song: Feeling Good

Rationale: MUSE are truly an amazing band. They have such a unique sound, one which I have dubbed as ‘hauntingly beautiful’. They are, without a doubt, one of my favourite artists. A title which I do not bestow likely.

Although they have released a new album entitled ‘The Resistance’, I felt it would be good to dedicate a post to a song which has been ‘covered’ more times than one can count.

The song, ‘I am Feeling Good’, was originally written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd. The MUSE rendition of ‘Feeling Good’ is one of the most unusual versions of the song that I am currently aware of, but one that is equally as beautiful as the rest.

With that said, I wish that you all ‘Feel Good’, no matter the day or the circumstance. Life is too short for regrets and grudges. So, ‘cheers’ to a new dawn, a new day, and one day soon, a new life!

– Muse Lyrics

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”!

A quick Google search informed me that the legitimate winner of the last season of American Idol was actually Kris Allen. Who would have thought, considering that Adam “media-whore-and-loving-it” Lambert is the one stealing all of the spotlight!

Truth be told, the last time I actually watched any variant of the show was when local Anke Pietrangeli beat out Pussy Poseletso Sejosingoe for the top spot, back in 2003 on the South African version of the show. Since then, I have pretty much lost all interest in anything Idols related.

However, what I do care about is when I have to begin pulling out facial recognition software to correctly identify artists. Case in point: Rihanna VS Adam Lambert.

Molly good golly do these two look alike!

Even though we all know that Rihanna had some unwilling and unconventional ‘remodeling done’, one would be hard pressed to deny the similarities between everyone’s favourite Jamaican princess and American’s latest flamboyant Queen. That said, would it not be delicious if it was uncovered that one of these two ‘stars’ was, in fact, an illegitimate love child?

I can already picture the headline on the next cover of Heat - “Exclusive: Lambert is Rihanna’s brother, but he was too ‘White’ to keep”. Alternatively, and of course the most likely scenario, is that someone at Lambert’s record label got a little too excited with Photoshop – 21st century technologies, “making you look like everybody else”!

As if the two stars looking alike was not enough, both are releasing their new albums on the same day, Monday the 23rd of November 2009.

To ensure that you do not accidentally buy the wrong album, which you would be forgiven for given the ‘twin’ factor, Lambert’s debut album is entitled For Your Entertainment, which is also blue and sparkly, whereas Rihanna’s latest album is called Rated R, which is all dark and ‘emo’.

Since both albums are hitting the streets on the same day, which are you going to “buy” first?

Until the next time “Milieunairs”!

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

• 

  Flavour: Alternative Rock

• Artist: Placebo

• Album: Meds

• Song: Running Up That Hill

Rationale: I am a great fan of MUSE, especially songs such as Ruled By Secrecy and Sing For Absolution, which I have dubbed as ‘hauntingly beautiful’. Thus, when I heard this song during the screening of The Human Contract, I knew that it would become one of my favourite songs.

I absolutely adore the rhythmic beat of this song. I find it strangely hypnotic, akin to listening to your lovers heartbeat when your ear is pressed against their chest. As a result, I felt I needed to share it with you all. Perhaps this song may take you to another place, like it did with me.

‘Running Up That Hill’ by Placebo

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”!