Tornado!

Say the word 'Tornado', and I have visions of the many movies set in the USA with giant funnels of air ripping through southern towns and causing chaos.
Needless to say, I have spent most my life being thankful that I live in a country where the threat of tornados is not high on my list of concerns.

Except this weekend SABC news reports that the Free State was hit by a Tornado, leaving hundreds homeless and killing at least two people in its wake.

So not cool mother nature!!!

Man climbs Kilamanjaro using only his hands...

I am guilty of uttering all of those, but then I read an article today that made me blush in shame for all the 'I cant's' I have ever uttered.

I'm sure we have all had one of those days. "My back hurts, I cant go to gym!" "I had such a hectic work day, I cant even think about playing squash" and, my personal favourite, "I cant possibly swim now, Ive just washed my hair!"

Spencer West, a double amputee, having both of his legs removed from his pelvis when he was five, has successfully summited Mount Kilimanjaro. Using only his hands.

For those of you who don't know, that's about 19,300 feet and about 20 000 steps.

ABC News quotes Spencer as saying "To use myself as an example – that if I enter life without legs and climb the largest mountain in Africa and overcome that challenge, what more can you do in your daily lives to define what's possible for you?" he asked. "We all have the ability to redefine what is possible -- whether you're missing your legs or not. Everyone has challenges and challenges can be overcome."

 So whats your excuse?

FIGHT AT TOP GEAR FESTIVAL UPDATE

Hello again la tricks, many of you will have read my previous post regarding the fight at the Top Gear Festival, involving two Durban MMA Fighters.

2oceansvibe has the version of Lee Dyer, one of the fighters caught on tape. It is always important to get the full facts / versions before passing judgement or commenting on the behavior of others, so I suggest that you give it a read below. 

However, lets also remember that there are at least three versions of any story : his side, her side and the truth. (postmodernists will argue that there are many versions of the truth, but this is not the time for a philosophical debate...).

ANYWAY, here is what I think :

Yes the video does not show the entire fight. Yes we don't see the whole 'story'. BUT I still believe that at that moment where the chair was thrown, he should have walked away. The retaliation was delayed, and an (apparently) innocent person was hurt in the cross-fire (Is cross-fire appropriate? I don't know what the appropriate term for being caught in a chair-throwing-fight would be? Cross-chair? Mid-seat?).

I also don't actually think that there is any excuse for anyone who gets involved in a physical altercation like that, unless it is TRUE self-defense.

What do you think?

 Below is Dyer's version, which can be found at 2oceansvibe:

There have been a lot stupid comments. And what gets me is that 90% of people commenting weren’t even there.
I’m a family man. I have a wife and two beautiful daughters. I’m a pro boxer, I don’t need to fight people.

Yes, I’ve been in trouble before, but a simple reading of news reports shows that I was found not guilty [on the 2009 charges of assault]. I was targeted because I’m a professional fighter, and CCTV footage showed that steel chairs were actually thrown at us in that incident, not the other way around.

Trouble always seems to find me, but I never go out anywhere to fight.
At the Top Gear Festival I was walking with my wife, and Trevor [white vest, black cap] and his wife. The three gents you see lying on the floor in the video were walking towards us, and they were clearly drunk, I walked around them on the left, and my wife went to my right.

As we passed them, they turned and said, ‘I’d love to grab a piece of this arse!’, and they grabbed my wife’s buttocks. So I tried to throw my beer on one of them, but I was carrying a can so very little came out.

At that point one of the three guys squared up at me and threw a punch. I ducked his punch and turned, and as I turned someone else started hitting the guy. I did retaliate, to defend myself after that man took a swing at me. Then the whole scurry broke out, and my back was turned to the tent. There was such a scene I honestly don’t know who else got involved besides those three guys and myself.

I tried to pick a guy up, because he was lying in a foetal position. As I tried to pick him up, I ripped his shirt a bit. Then a man hit me on the head with a steel chair.
I turned around and he was just saying, ‘Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!’
If you watch that video again, you’ll see when I turn my face, the left side of face is covered in blood.

That man [in the blue shirt, to the right of the frame] hit me over the head with a chair after the fracas had ended.
That’s when I lost it, which is what you see on the video. Unfortunately that woman was standing there.

I did go off my head, and I did throw the chair. That man cracked me a solid shot over the head with that chair. But no one sees that on the video. What you see on the video is such a totally narrow view. You don’t see the drunk guys start it, you don’t see any of the actual fight, and you don’t see that guy, who wasn’t involved in the original fight as far as I can see, smack me with a bar stool once the fight was over while my back was turned.

I’m not the animal that people are saying I am.
I’ve got the cut on my head. I needed stitches in my head, but didn’t get any because I was locked up. I got arrested at the stadium right then and there.
I’ve laid a charge against him, but I don’t know who he is. If I find out who is, he’ll be charged with gross bodily harm.

Something a lot of people have said is that they hope those three guys who were lying on the floor are okay, and so on. They’re perfectly fine. When I was in the cell and the police were taking statements, a police officer informed me that the three guys were perfectly fine. They only have soft tissue injuries, and nothing else. I suffer worse injuries every day in sparring. And in fact, out of everyone I have the worst injuries. My head is badly cut, and my back is killing me.

They reason they look like that in the video is because of how drunk they were! If you’re that drunk, and you get in a fight, you’ll probably pass out.
I understand that people probably think Trevor looks terrifying because he has tattoos and weighs 118 kilograms, but he’s a lovely man. But is that your only reason for judging someone? I mean, how narrow minded are people?
Out I’m sorry about everything and happened, this is not what I go out and do.

At Liberty Café (Windermere Rd, Durban)

Durban deserves something fantastical after the recent drama at the Top Gear Festival, and I have found it in the form of At Liberty Café in Windermere Rd.

This gorgeous little gem is nestled behind a very cool décor shop off Windermere in Durban.

Besides having the world's most amazing Red Cappucinos, At Liberty, is possibly the most relaxed space in Durban.

Try their homemade soup and beer-bread combo, under the warm winter-sun, with the strains of techno-swing in the background.

Or sit in one of the very cute side-booths, read your morning paper and sip one of DC's creamy cappucinos, with the words of John Lennon behind you.



Not only is the food and atmosphere rated ten-out-of-ten by your own Miss La Trick, but the owners, Jamie and Chris, are awesome company and delight in their patron's enthusiasm for their venture. Feel free to take your mom's group, business coffee meeting, book-club or significant other and spend the day!!

Not only that, but At Liberty is available for function hire, and I predict that it is soon to become Durban's most sought after wedding venue.

Top Gear Festival Drama (VIDEO) (UPDATED)

UPDATE : Have a look at my most recent post for the version of Lee Dyer, one of the men seen on the video.

The awesome Top Gear Festival, held this past weekend, was meant to be a weekend full of family fun. Durban was crowded and it was truly awesome to show off our stunning coastline and sunny weather.

However, there is always one bad apple (in the words of my granny). 2oceansvibe reported on a fight that occurred at the Festival after they got their hands on some footage. It didn't take long to recognize the protagonists, and soon enough more details, including names, were published.

Click on the link to read the details. I am not publishing them here because I cant verify the actual events of the day.

Without knowing the facts of who started what and who punched who first, I WILL say this, which applies to ANY such situation:

It doesn't matter who starts a fight like this. Unless you are actually protecting yourself against actual, imminent or immediate harm, I don't feel you can make the 'self defense' argument. Just be the bigger man and walk away.

My honest view is that there are many points in that video where these two could and should have walked away. But they didn't, and it resulted in a WOMAN being hit by a chair.

With the massive amount of violence against woman and children that we face in South Africa on a daily basis, it is beyond reprehensible that grown men of clear strength should behave in any way at all that results in harm to a woman.

I truly feel that a formal complaint should be made with the relevant professional bodies, so that a proper investigation can be made into the incident.

So la tricks, lets respect each other, and learn to walk away from stupid fights. Throwing a chair does not a man make.

Proudly South African...SA Model millionaire!

Candice Swanepoel, super-gorgeous, and apparently super-rich, has made it onto Forbes Top Ten Models List 2012.

The Forbes Top 10 models list are as follows:1. Gisele Bündchen ($45m)2. Kate Moss ($9.2m)3. Natalia Vodianova ($8.6m)4. Adriana Lima ($7.3m)5. Doutzen Kroes ($6.9m)6. Alessandra Ambrosio ($6.6m)7. Miranda Kerr ($4m) 8. Lara Stone ($3.8m) 9. Carolyn Murphy ($3.5m)10. Candice Swanepoel ($3.1m)

It is estimated that she made earnings of about R26 million rand for the year!! Not bad for a local girl spotted at a Durban Flea-Market!!

Now some of you out there may scoff and say that clearly having a pretty face is more important than Science and Maths, but let me say this : No one makes that amount of money without some business acumen!!

So from me, the great and all powerful cookie la trick, a GIANT well-done to our own home-grown honey!!!

Oh my, little monsters...

Yip folks the rumours are true indeed! The Queen of Weird, Wacky and, well, Weird is coming to our shores!!

Lady Gaga (the artist formerly known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ) has decided to grace us with her awesome presence here in South Africa!!

Whether you love her, hate her, or are slightly afraid of her (and yes I fall into all three categories!), I think we can all agree that this will be a concert like no other!!

So get in line Little Monsters...

Insanity...

Zapiro makes me laugh, even in the worst of times. Welcome to SA's new 'Top Cop'!

Happy Friday!

Lesson of the Day : Climb the Stairs

Ok. I love kids. I really do. I love their sweet chubby little hands and their innocent view of the world. That said, sometimes I like to have some adult-time, with a glass of wine and some QUIET. Which I think I deserve.

Mainly because I have made the choice to not have children yet, I do not feel that, as an innocent bystander, I should be subject to the temper-tantrums of naughty children whose parents are too lazy to discipline. Yes - I said it - just because you can drown out your horrid spawn's screams doesn't mean I have. (This sentiment extends to children pulling my hair over the chairs in an airplane).

ANYWHOO. My lesson of the day is...when in a restaurant surrounded by children, always choose to sit on the mezzanine / second floor, for the simple reason that parents of young children will avoid stairs like the plague!!

So climb the stairs and enjoy that wine...

Kim K's Derriere (NSFW) (UPDATED)

Well well well!!

Cell phones are not only a great way to keep in contact, but also a GREAT way to make a rather embarrassing faux pas. The story goes like this :

Kanye West supposedly, and accidentally, tweeted a rather personal pic of Miss. Kim K. 2oceansvibe reports that the pic was sent and then immediately deleted. (Please see right for the pic in all its glory)

THEN KW's reps get on the line saying that he never even posted the photo, and that the 'ghost post' was not from his account.

So why the drama? It's not like Kim hasn't been seen in all her *ahem* glory before. Well...the plot thickens...da da daaaaaaa.

A lovely young porn star has come out saying that the pic is in fact of HER derriere and not the fabulous Kim K.

Quite frankly I am not sure whats worse for ol' Kanye : accidentally showing the whole world his naked girlfriend OR accidentally showing the whole world, including his girlfriend, the naked porn star. Because one would need to conjecture why he has those pics...

So, not that we la tricks really care about what happens in Hollywood, but lets take a lesson from this shall we?

THINK BEFORE YOU TWEET!!!!

UPDATE 14 June 2012 :
It now appears that the entire thing was 'prank' as part of some weird #wanksterwednesday, where people try get stupid rumours started. (yes I have never heard of this either). TRUTH or some PR stunt on behalf KW? You decide...

Techies Unite!!

I, myself, am not much of a fan of the most up-to-date techno gadgets. I think my interest may only peak when I can control the lights with my thoughts, and have wine poured into my glass with a blink of my eye-lashes. Yes, those would be exciting times...but I digress!!

I am very much in love with a new blog entitled 'Bit Republic' (please see the cute red star ;0). Written and created by a 'techie' this blog manages to cover all gadget related news and views, with some interesting legal aspects thrown in!!

It is worth a look!!!!

I've got the blues...the Monday Blues...

Comrades in arms ( or in this case, on feet!)...

A giant well-done to the winner of the 2012 Comrades Marathon, Ludwick Mamabolo!!! If you haven't heard of the Comrades Marathon, it is a grueling 90km run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, held every year in South Africa.


Zapiro adds his congratulations the only way he knows how:

Proudly South African!!!!!!!!

The road less taken...

Often in our lives we find ourselves in 'comfort-zone' of sorts. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, we only live once and we should feel somewhat comfortable in our own lives. Work starts going well, friendships blossom, you start noticing how gorgeous the sun-sets are and you take the time to smell the proverbial roses.

Then... chance, Murphy's Law or LIFE happens...and we find that a new option has arisen. It's new. It's scary. It's a risk. Did I mention that is it scary?

So what do we do? Do we jump into the unknown? Do we stay in the comfort-zone? (Yes, I just rhymed) Well I say that we regret more the things we did not do, than the things that we have done. And in times like these I often thing of the writings of Robert Frost, which I share with you now.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,       

And sorry I could not travel both      

And be one traveler, long I stood      

And looked down one as far as I could        

To where it bent in the undergrowth;        

Then took the other, as just as fair,    

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;       

Though as for that the passing there  

Had worn them really about the same,                 

And both that morning equally lay    

In leaves no step had trodden black. 

Oh, I kept the first for another day!  

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,       

I doubted if I should ever come back.                   

I shall be telling this with a sigh        

Somewhere ages and ages hence:      

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—       

I took the one less traveled by,          

And that has made all the difference

So when we look back on our life-stories, and we tell them with a sigh, let that sigh be one of contentment, joy and an ache for the times that have passed. Never let that sigh be one of regret.

Happy Tuesday la tricks...

Just another manic Monday...

12:38pm on Monday and all I have to say is this :

Sadly for me I have decided that June is the month of 'time to lose the holiday flab', so there will be no wine until the weekend arrives!!

Happy Monday la tricks...