Flashback.
The year was 1995 and  the Sony Playstation was just released, this in a time when I was still saving to buy a Famicom TV Game (a Nintendo knockoff that came with those 100 in 1 cartridges). Oh how I lusted at the sight of the Playstation. Our local video store then got some in and started hiring them out, my heart yearned to take one home with me. One afternoon while cruising the magazine section at CNA I saw it, a PCFormat magazine with the Metal Gear Solid Ninja on its cover. I read the entire article right there and then and was convinced that I needed to play that game! My sanity depended on it. So I saved up some coin and hired MGS and a playstation early one saturday morning, then proceeded to play the game for as much of the  24 hours I had it as possible. Well, actually I was kinda forced to, seeing as how they did not hire memory cards making me have to finish the game in one go.

Epic Ninja picture that started it all

So where am I going with this? From that day I was hooked. Let me tell you this, I have never owned a Playstation, but I started religiously buying Playstation magazines. Leaving me with a pile of Game Previews and Ratings but yet no actual Playstation.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Fast forward to 2009 and I was now one year into my  two year Vodacom contract with a despicable HTC S740. Only other owners of S740′s know of the pain I speak of. I choose it because I was unsure, unsure whether I would like a fully touch screen cellphone and would not miss a Qwerty pad. Biggest mistake ever! You might know that the S740 runs with Windows Mobile 6.1, probably the worst phone OS I have ever had the displeasure using. I even dropped the HTC a few times (accidentally) and cracked the screen, didn’t even bother me. Now the outside matched the software inside. My desparation got so bad that I started entering competitions such as WebAddiCTs “Win a Google phone” competition. I started already looking at what my next phone would be. It was around this time that I started noticing people around me having iPhones, and they seemed very happy about their little mini-Mac phone, sometimes even obsessively so. I looked at them and thought “wow, they such Apple Fanboys” but then wondered where this intense patriotism came from. Soon after that I wandered into an iStore and played around with the demo model. It just felt right. I was hooked.

2010
2010 came around and Apple lust started consuming me, I subscribed to RSS Feeds with ipad and iPhone content. I questioned my strange excitement when Gizmodo ran a series for post detailing the iphone 4 that they had “bought”. Then the inevitable, I installed iTunes and started downloading Free iphone Apps from the US Store (Marc Forrest has a nice Tut showing you how). I now have 73 Apps that I have not yet used, all in anticipation to the soon to be released “iPhone 4″. So once again I have media but no actual device. Even scarier is that I am already looking in the mirror and seeing th Apple Fanboy I once mocked. Perhaps only Google with their Android platform can save me from becoming a Steve Jobs slave (but I could wear a black Turtle neck and make it work…).
Below you can see an iTunes Screenshot of the Apps I have downloaded. The iTunes Appstore has a great selection of Games, Social networking and reference Apps but it is an area Google with the Andriod Appstore will start aggresively tackling in months to come. At the moment I still feel that Apple Quality over Andriod Quantity is better, but time will tell as to how this pans out. What makes it hard for me to get a better sense of a Andriod phone is that I cant walk into a Google “iStore” and play with the device. This is an area where Apple is doing well to convert sceptics, like I once was.

Click on the image above to view the larger image

With a week and a half to Steve Job WWDC 2010 announcement where he will show the world the latest incarnation of the iphone I’m looking forward to the following features:
- The new design
- Video Recording at 720p
- Improved display “960×640″?
- Flash for the Camera
-  The Game Centre

The soon to be released iPhone 4th Generation

Oh, I’m sure your noticed the hint in the blog title to a particular Jay-Z song. If you didnt click the link below to watch the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etl9kkIGaHo Jay Z 99
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post and come back in a few months when I have cleansed myself from the HTC S740 and will be basking in iPhone awesomeness
-A-

What is totally amazing is that this 3 day Festival is open to the public for free!
As usual, the venue will be the Company’s Gardens in Queen Victoria Road in the city centre

Cape Town Festival 2010 Artist Schedule:

Friday 5 – 10pm
17.00 – 17.45 Hilton Schilder
18.00 – 18.45 Hip Hop Collective
19.00 – 19.45 Good Luck
20.00 – 20.45 Kings of Vegas
21.00 – 21.45 South Paw

Saturday 1 – 10pm
13.00 – 13.30 Country Conquerors
14.00 – 14.45 Keeno Lee
15.15 – 16.00 Under Kontrol – 2009 World Beatbox Champs
16.30 – 17.15 Claire Phillips
18.45 – 19.30 Zaki Ibrahim
20.00 – 20.45 Loading Zone & Allou April
21.15 – 22.00 Napalma

Sunday 1 – 10 pm
13.00 – 13.30 Gugulethu Tenors
14.00 – 14.45 Community Artists
15.15 – 16.00 Cultural Program
16.30 – 17.15 LOUD – Disabled Band
18.45 – 19.30 Emo Adams
20.00 – 20.45 Anselmo Ralph
21.15 – 22.00 Rudimentals

Emo Adams Performs on the Sunday

See you all there
-A-

Below are some images that I took on the day:

The Hot Water Band providing pre-match festivities

CTT Team, Living it LOUDER!

Cape Town flags flying at Cape Town Stadium

Helen Zille enters Cape Town Stadium

The Stormers warming up

The Ball Boy looking on, aspiration in his eyes...

40 000 Fans!

Go Stormers!!!

On the 25th of January the doors will open to this stunning Hotel.
I was Part of the Cape Town Tourism team that went on a Preview Tour today. The variety of Restaurants, conference venues and exquisite suites are highlighted by the fact that our tour lasted 2 Hours. Leanne, our guide for the day was extremely courteous and proffesional while being approachable and humorous. All of the staff had a similar demeanor and made it an awesome experience.
This five-star hotel is ideally located in the centre of historic Cape Town at the entrance to the famous pedestrian precinct, St George’s Mall. The Main entrance however is on Wale Street just before the bend into Adderly.

Taj Cape Town Lobby

Some information from the Official Taj Cape Town website:

Restaurants:

The Taj Cape Town offers an eclectic variety of cuisine and culinary experiences including an Indian specialty restaurant, a relaxed all-day dining restaurant, a champagne and oyster bar and a cigar lounge.

Some Pictures of the Taj Cape Town:

5 Star bathroom

Taj Bombay Brasserie Restaurant

Taj Presidential Suite View of Table Mountain

I’m sure to visit again, once the Hotel is officially opened. Perhaps a Proper review is in order?
-A-

Click on the image to view at Full Size

For a behind the scenes view of the Final Draw see my inside scoop here.

-A-

The FIFA World Cup 2010 Final Draw will happen at the CTICC at 7pm on December 4th and stream video from the Long Street party at the Final draw. The Long Street Party will be pumping all day long.
For more info on the Free Party in long street that will have huge screens streaming the draw live from CTICC, check the Facebook page here.

Below are a few snaps I took with my Camera phone. The image quality is not the best but it gives a sense of the magnitude of the event.

Powerpoint slide at the Media Briefing

The Main Stage where the draw will take place

The Stage has a Baobab Tree Theme

The SABC Outside Broadcasting Unit worth Approx. $10 million

The Sony HD Production Suite

Note the HD television Feeds

Some More info on Final Draw:
- 135 Million people will watch the broadcast
- It will be live in 200 Countries and territories
- Brazil have been in every FIFA World Cup Draw

See YOU there,
-A-

See the article here: http://www.travelwires.com/wp/2009/11/interview-with-aslam-levy-emarketing-co-ordinator-at-cape-town-tourism/

Snippet from the about Travelwires page:

“My name is Muzi Mohale, your host on this blog through the love of travelling and the internet. Through Travelwires.com I aim to highlight the latest trends available to effectively running a profitable small tourism business.

Though only started blogging full-time in March 2009, this blog has been in operation since 11 October 2006.

I aim to grow Travelwires.com and be able to delegate most of the work that comes with managing a growing blog to also venture into other sectors of tourism.”

Please Diarise the Cape Town Tourism 200 Days to Kickoff details:

Venue:                                 V&A Waterfront, Ampitheatre

Date:                                     Sunday, 22 November 2009

Time:                                    14h00 – 16h00pm

In celebration of 200 days to kick-off, Cape Town Tourism will be teaching the famous diski dance at the Ampitheatre, V&A Waterfront. Enjoy an afternoon of great Cape Town entertainment and stand a chance to win some CTT memorabilia in the diski dance contest. We are on the look-out for the best diski-dancer on the day! No entrance fee required.

Program:

14h00 – 14h30pm:            Diski dance – teaching the diski dance and great CTT memorabilia to be won!

14h30 – 15h15pm:            CODA performance

15h15 – 16h00pm:            Chad Saaiman performance

I think people where afraid to classify themselves as gay friendly and then be swamped by bus loads of gay travellers. Isn’t any business good business? As with my Sex Tourism post a while back, I would like to highlight that Gay Tourism is a valuable market segment too. Gay Couples tend to have more disposable income; this can be attributed to a number of reasons, though a primary factor being that they tend not to have children.

I think all accommodations should be classified as Gay friendly, and those with gay themed tours be filed as “Gay oriented”. Cape Town is known as the gay capital of South Arica, isn’t it time to embrace that? Perhaps the more conservative amongst us are afraid of the exaggerated gay sterotypes such as Hardo Gay. See Below

Hardo Gay CD Cover

For a 100% straight guy, I laughed my socks off at Hardo Gay. You like it too?
-A-

1. Bart in Africa Statue
2. Waterkant Street
3. St. Andrews Square
4. Corner of Chiappini & Somerset Rd
5. Somerset Rd
6. Gallows Hill
7. Greenpoint Stadium

For a larger version of this map click here.

The day was actually an historic one as the walk was done as a partnership between Cape Town Tourism and CTRU as the Provincial Marketing Organisation.

1.  The start of the Fan walk at the Bart in Africa statue. This is a great start point as it will tie in well with Cape Town Station which is currently undergoing a major facelift.

Bulelwa from Cape Town Partnership with Calvyn, CEO of CTRU

2. Waterkant Street is a great example of why Cape Town is a walk-able City, the lively stalls along this section of route make for some unique capetonian snacks . For those looking for affordable lunches, you can’t beat the stalls on Waterkant street.

Waterkant Street Food Stalls

3. St. Andrews Square is a forgotten piece of land. It has deep roots in the history of slave trading in Cape Town. The Church on the square was the first church that allowed slaves to freely enter and pray. During the 2010 World cup it will be the staging area for post match chill out lounges.

CTRU and CTT Teams stop for a break

4. The Corner of Chiapinni & Somerset Road is where the fun begins, Someset Rd is lined with many bustling Night Clubs and Bars. Bronx, perhaps the more notorious amongst them.

Chiapinni Street starts just after St. Andrews Square

5. Further developments on Somerset Rd will ensure that the Fan walk will be an engaging experience from start to finish. During the 2010 World Cup it is proposed that some of the roads feeding into Someset Rd have restricted vehicular access.

Somerset Rd developments in preparation for 2010

6. Gallows Hill is currently a non-descript Parking situated next to the Cape Town Traffic Dept. In 2010 however it will be developed into public space along the Fan walk

Gallows Hill with Somerset Rd along the right

Upgrading of the Fanwalk in progress

7. Greenpoint Stadium  the focal point of soccer in Cape Town during the Fifa soccer world cup.

From Left - Leanne Pohlman, Simon Obholzer, Aslam Levy, Shelton Hlongwane

Have you been to the Greenpoint Stadium Visitor Information Centre? It’s awesome, I’ll cover it in more detail in the later post but enjoy the pics below of Cape Town Routes Unlimited  and Cape Town Tourism learning the diski dance.

Livin it! Loving it! LOUDER!

Greenpoint VIC outside seating with stadium in background

Greenpoint VIC Entrance

Lianne Burton (Middle) doing the Diski Dance

Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited Teams in front of our banners

I would encourage every capetonian to walk the fanwalk, visit the Greenpoint VIC and learn the Diski Dance.
2010, we are ready to welcome the world!
-A-