Monthly Archives: April 2018

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#FOMOFridays

So last week went great. At least I think it did. I was afraid it was gonna be that awkward sitch when a singer puts the mic out to the crowd and it’s crickets all around! Thanks for singing back y’all! I think a few people got to check out what others were doing and get involved. Judging from my friends ‘Wild Wild Country’ sure got a bit more views over the week, and I think people who didn’t know about the ‘Winnie’ doccie certainly went looking for it. Cardi B is still on rotation for me.

So next week I wont be around as I will be out in the karoo for Afrika Burn!! I know! Madness! Hopefully I’ll come back with tons of stories and beautiful pictures to share. I can finally put my DLSR camera to use. Whoop whoop!

Let’s get it POPPIN!

Watching:

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during 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field on April 14, 2018 in Indio, California.
during 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field on April 14, 2018 in Indio, California.
Beyonce performs during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Beyonce performs during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, in Indio, Calif. on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

There is only one thing that really mattered this past week and that was Beyonce shutting the entire world down at Coechella. Thank heavens for YouTube live. I screamed, I cried a little and I certainly flipped my non-existent hair while watching this spectacular woman tear it up with a live band, 100+ dancers and all the outfit changes from Balmain! Just wow. Find the link if you missed it! She’s back on this weekend!

Listening:

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I didn’t listen to anything new this past week. Like I said Ms cardio Cardi is still reigning supreme on my Spotify. Obviously post Beychella I was all up in Beyonce’s and Destiny’s Child‘s discography. That 2001 ‘Survivor’ album is the business! Worth a mention is Shekhinah‘s “Suited Synx Remix” featuring Mr. Eazi from Nigeria. It’s sexy, airy and deelish! Oh!! How could I forget the baddest and my personal fave, Onika aka Nicki Minaj released two tracks last week! “Barbie Tingz” and the clear winner “Chun-Li”. I know she’s not the most likable, but give them a go.

Reading:

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I recently bought Ghana Must Go, a novel by Taiye Selasi. I’m probably gonna take that along to the desert when I decide to have some downtime. Lord knows I cannot be all up in people’s faces all day.

Doing (Weekend Tingz):

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This weekend is less active than last. I have 2 birthday shindigs on Saturday and that’s it! The rest of it will be spent packing and sorting out my tasty lewks for Afrika Burn! But just so you’re in the loop there is a great opening happening in Braam for the new interior design hub in 99 Juta. The Argentinian Film Fest is at Bioscope this weekend if you’re looking for something different to watch.

Next week Kamers handcrafted market is back in Jozi. I went last year and it was a ton of fun; from handcrafted gin to clothes and accessories. Well worth it. It’s my late friends birthday next week and there will be an event on th 27th at ConHill for Karissa’s Legacy where you can help those in need by donating whatever you can. This will all go to the 100+ orphans that have lost loved ones that she always so graciously gave so much to.

You know what to do. Comment below with anything you’re up to this weekend or got up to this past week.

xo

ALN.

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Corona Sunsets Are The Bestest

With two stages, a ridiculously good line-up of local and international acts – Corona Sunsets Music Fest has definitely become a fave! I went to the first one last year and had THE best time. This year may have been even better. First of all the festival was moved from Muldersdrift to Val Bonne Country Estate in Modderfontein which honestly was a win for everyone. Who even knew this place existed, but it was an easy breezy Uber ride away from most places in Jozi. It also helped to have a special Uber drop off and pickup zone into the fest. Parking looked like a total mission. Second of all cashless bars rule, I’m so glad every festival is now adopting this and saving us from crazy queues, paper bills and card machines that are eternally “attempting to connect”.

Even with all this efficiency in place, there almost wasn’t a sunset to speak of thanks to the heavy afternoon rainfall. I spent a good 20+ minutes camped out at a food truck for shelter while stuffing my face with dim sum. Great trade off tbh. But true to Joburg rain, it moved away quickly and the sun came out in all it’s glory. DJ Maphorisa was doing his thing on the Griffin Stage welcoming the sun with his hits. Between him and Jullian Gomes on the Crown Stage, I naturally opted for him in particula. See what I did there. *wink* This man had us doing ALL the voshos! They are only enjoyable when you know you can spring back up. Somehow my knees are still intact right now.

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There were plenty of food options that kept peeps going into the night. If you were into spirits there were bars just for that and a bar that just stocked coronas and corona cocktails. I don’t think I cared to find out what those were about, if you had some lemme know. At some point a friend mentioned that they actually liked corona now – mission accomplished for them I guess. I think they incepted me last year already. I’m very much into it.

Shekhinah got us swaying to all our favourites from her into the sunset. After her most people moved over to the other stage which was a fun dose of dance electro. During the sunset the main Griffin stage started spewing out fireworks from the stage with what was said to be a dance performances from the Corona goddesses. I don’t think I missed anything. The fireworks looks really cool though. The highlights of the night came through consecutively starting with Masters At Work who had everyone letting loose, DJ Fresh who played all the old and new house jams accompanied by a drummer who gave his set an exciting performative feel and Euphonik who mixed up electro with house perfectly.

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Running up and down between the stages sounds like it would be a bit of a nightmare, but I really enjoyed it. It was even more fun in a skirt. Camelphat played out the last performance on the Crown Stage and whoever was around at that point ended off the night to an amazing and thumping set from French DJ/Producer Kungs. This certainly isn’t the music I listen to on a day to day basis, but it makes for a great party on an large estate.

There were thousands of people who came to enjoy themselves and did exactly that.  Corona outdid themselves with this one and the organisers planned everything to the t. Not even the rain could stop the music. You know what to do next year folks! Also I wonder how many times I used the word corona in this post?! Whew!

 

 

 

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Weekend Mirror Style

God. The instagram “camera” is actually quite shite. Or is it the mirror? Uhh… whatever. Let’s just go with “it adds effect”. I wanted to do this post yesterday, you know… for consistency sake. But my Monday had other plans. Mostly eye-rolling my life away at the office, groceries, a quick 20-minute meal and making silly instastory videos of me singing to Destiny’s Child’s “Sexy Daddy”. But in short… I totes forgot.

So Friday: A razzle at the office. Lord knows a full productive day on Friday isn’t a real thing. I wore black pretty much all week because we were in mourning. Obvs kept it cute and edgy with an #IAmWinnieMandela t-shirt I got at ConHill last Tuesday. Worked around the tee with cropped black pants showing my “beetlejuice” socks for colour, black leather ankle boots and a biker jacket. Apparently the jacket is very Michael Jackson? Maybe more ‘I’m Bad’ than ‘Thriller’? Anywho… it was fun to do a bit of a punk-esque vibe.

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Friday

Saturday was a a full day! After passing out early with the lights on and blinds up while trying to finish ‘Wild Wild Country’ I woke up at 6am to get ready for Mam Winnie’s funeral. I didn’t take a mirror snap but I did a black polo neck, black coat and black brogue styled ankle boots. I think I was thinking more traditional funeral vibes. Really glad I went. What a phenomenal woman. Her send off was historic. And yes… Cape Town International we’re coming for you!

Second part of the day was spent at Corona Sunsets Festival out in Modderfontein. Which sounds like it’s hella far, but it’s just off Marlboro! Threw this lewk together around a vintage tartan skirt I got at ivintageyakho in WorkShopNewtown. The pattern popped around the black and grey. I also have way too many of these Adidas trefoil tees. I initially was gonna go without anything under the skirt, but then figured I could use the skirt as like a shawl situation when it got cold. I hate carrying jackets if I’m not driving. Needless to say I forgot to use that idea and froze my tits off when the temperature suddenly dropped just before midnight. Super fun times, I think I’ll do a post on it tomorrow.

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Saturday (After Tears)

Sunday I kept it a little preppy for brunch with the house-husband. A white tee with a patterned elephant, cropped navy pants and tan woven sandals did the trick. You’d swear I had a full day ahead with the tote bag and everything. I literally came home  straight after and vegged on the couch until kingdom come. I just had no energy for anything. Bummed I missed Nirox Picnic Day. Oh snap! Beychella happened on this day. Zero wigs to speak of. That woman is something else. Praise bey.

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Sunday

Have a fab week. Smile at a stranger.

xo

ALN

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#FOMOFridays

Ever seen someone’s instastory or snap and thought “Oooh! Where is that? What show is that? Who is that artist or band?” I do ALL the time! Mostly because I consume a s*#t ton of content and like nice things.

Lord knows if this will take off, but I’m all for trying something out at least once. Also I don’t do any posts on weekends so wanted to create something that will be continuous week on week. It will obvs need you to make it a thing though. *wink*

So the idea behind #FOMOFridays is to share what I’m listening to, watching and going to. Which is cute and all, but I really would like to also know what you’re doing. Then hopefully eventually we keep the FOMO low by finding new places, hot events, cool musicians and anything else that could be missed out on.

Let’s get it POPPIN!

Watching:

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This week I went to go see the local new release ‘Five Fingers for Marseilles‘ at The Bioscope. I’ve never been a fan of westerns, nor do I get their plots – but Five Fingers was an enjoyable watch. It was beautifully shot with an amazing cast and gripping story. I was stressed half the time because you just didn’t know who was the real villain. It’s out nationally so go watch and boost sales!
On Netflix I GAGGED on ‘Wild Wild Country’! I still have two more episodes to go, but I couldn’t stop watching. I basically skipped gym to gobble up 4 eps in one sitting on Monday.
I haven’t started any new shows because the commitment of it all is a lot so I tend to watch easy reality shows. The rebooted America’s Next Top Model Cycle 24 ended this week with a new champ… it was cute. Ru Paul’s Drag Race Season 10 is amazing as always. If you’ve never seen this show, now is a good time to start. Never thought I’d be a VH1 gal, but they are doing it with their shows. The ‘Winnie‘ documentary is currently airing on eNCA and hopefully will be available at independent cinemas and online. It has everyone shook and well… pissed off. I still haven’t seen it yet but the reviews are in and they are hot! Some would say the timing may be a bit off to push this film, but this last week with the country in mourning has highlighted the almost uncelebrated life of a true South African hero. It’s a shame really, but it’s up to us to rectify it.

Listening:

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#FOMOFridays

I always feel like I’m missing out on music, new and old. There is just too much happening. But as of right now I’m still living for ‘You Will Not Die‘ from Nakhane. It’s one of those start to finish, no skipped tracks albums. Definitely how you do a sophomore album after an award-winning first release. Yaass!
My boo thang LEON just released his EP ‘To Be Continued‘ which is sooo good. I didn’t even know about his voice until I went to support him at The Orbit in January. He’s one to watch. His voice has such universal appeal and can translate in jazz, pop and urban R&B. Your homegirl Cardi B dropped ‘Invasion of Privacy‘ last Friday and it is a SMASH! She came with all the right ingredients for a first serving; an ode to her haters, calling out trashy men, booty shaking caliente beats with mad features. Can’t help but love this girl.

Doing (Weekend Tingz):

nirox-picnic
corona-fest

Tomorrow I’ll be at the Corona Sunsets Music Festival out in Modderfontein. Last years fest was magical, so I’m hoping they bring it again this year. The line-up is outrageous I hope I can keep up. It’s 90% sold out so if this is the first time you’re hearing about it, it’s worth a razzle.
Sunday is Nirox Picnic Day! Nirox Sculpture Park is one of the most beautiful spots around and has started a Picnic series for the winter. My girl Banesa Tseki will be holding it down with a distressing Kundalini Yoga session under the trees from 11am. There will also be performances and picnic baskets for order. It’ll be a nice chilled end to the weekend.

Please comment below with whatever you’re doing, jamming to and watching. Share any self-made playlists and events we may not of heard about that are interesting. Don’t forget to #FOMOFridays on social media.

xo

ALN.

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iStarring Cinemas THUD Launch

 

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Last Friday I was invited to take a seat at The Hookup Dinner (THUD) hosted at OPEN in Maboneng. Simply put, THUD is a networking community of entrepreneurs which provides a platform for exchanging great business ideas and opportunities through engaging and contributing to their successes. This particular event focused on the launch of iStarring Cinemas, a business that allows us regular folk to own a piece of  an independent cinema and possibly the whole franchise.

Before we got to talking about iStarring Cinemas, the night kicked off with the #JustPitch180 Competition were 4 budding entrepreneurs gave a pitch of their idea or current project in 180 seconds. In this time they had to explain what problem their idea was solving, how they are going to achieve this, the resources required and how their opportunity will generate profit. Audience members were given a score sheet where we were asked to give points to each presenter. This exercise was great because some audience members could actually  be investors who are interested in provided assistance or capital. Not sure if that ended up happening, but this was the spirit of the evening.

After all the pitching teams were done the score sheets were collected and we moved right onto the ‘Networking mixer’ portion of the evening. A fave for me. The host encouraged guests to get into groups of 10 and avoid being in a group with someone you came with. I instantly ditched my friend Sunni for a partially formed group with people with friendly faces. I’m naturally an introvert (don’t get me started) so these type of things are terrifying for me, but for whatever reason I was quite comfortable with the situation. The objective of the mixer was for everyone to introduce themselves; what they do, what product or service or organisation they are with and what value proposition they had, if any. My group was super diverse. It had me, the engineer-blogger who was there to cover the event, a guy from the Eastern Cape (who actually knows my younger brother – small world I swear) who works with renewable energy, a branding expert, a paediatrician, a young lady working on a skills development app, a media person from BrownSense Market and a young female farmer who is using amazing methods in organic farming. There were a few connections that were made from that 10 minute session which was excellent considering this may not have happened if we were not forced to interact with each other in that way.

The moment of the night was the introduction of the iStarring Cinemas. I love the name so much! It’s a play on what we used to call the lead star of a film or show growing up (and I guess still today?) as their name came up right after the “Starring” title. Y’all know what I’m talking about. Essentially the idea behind this is to have pop-up cinemas across the country with local content for every day people to have access to their own stories. The best part is that anyone can invest as little as R150 in the making of more cinemas and earn a percentage of the ticket sales. The People’s Fund collective have already raised R180k for their first cinema which launches in two weeks on Freedom Day at BrownSense Market in Glen Austin. Premiere night will screen the much anticipated ‘Five Fingers for Marseilles’ and musical feature ‘She Is King’.

A master class from industry greats was held at the end of the night. Thandeka Zwane and Helen Kuun from Indigenous Films, and Dumi Gumbi from Ergo Company were part of a panel which gave guests the lowdown on the film industry and the realities of working and creating in such a wonderful but sometimes difficult space. Indigenous Films is South Africa’s biggest independent film distributor and will be supplying iStarring with it’s films. Ergo Company is a film studio which has produced local films such as ‘Five Fingers’ and ‘Mrs Right Guy’. They were not playing around with this launch. These people understand the industry and are committed in bringing film closer to people who don’t necessarily have access. Don’t ever say I don’t tell you nothing!

There are so many people doing such incredible things and THUD really allows for honest collaborations and fruitful networking especially for entrepreneurial South African’s who have the need to create their own opportunities. I obviously bought a small share into iStarring Cinemas, because #SupportBlackBusiness. Felt great!

Follow THUD for the next networking event (especially if you have a great business idea or project) and iStarring for more info on how to contribute.

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Weekend Style

Am I the only one who is bummed Easter is over?! Also… I don’t know what titles to give these weekend style posts. The last one worked because it was a “themed” weekend. And by “themed” I mean Jesus died and moved that massive stone out of the way to rise and do the things. Love it!

So I really need to get better at remembering to save my insta mirror style snaps to use on here. O.M.G. I just gave myself the title for these posts! Mirror Style! Unless it’s another themed weekend you know.

Friday was work. Bleh. So natch I forgot to take a mirror style selfie. I’ll do better, promise. Only if you care of course. But for the purpose of this post I’ve used a mirror selfie from Thursday night with some of my faves (Siya and Zweli). It’s basically the same look sans the hat and jacket… and different sneakers. Lol, I’m explaining too much. Go with it. I think it was a bit chills, so it was basically a grey polo-neck (going to be so essensh for winter – stock up!), dark grey tailored ankle length pants and the paint splashed Aisics sneaks. Nice and basic. Went to a networking event that night which I will share in my next post.

Update: Thanks to Miss Randi Va, I found ALL my archived instastories on the app. Rejoice! Thanks for looking out girl.

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Thursday (which was basically my Friday lewk)

Saturday was spent partly at gym (hate that place, but it does the things), partly at home helping a friend with their filming assignment and mostly at Zoo Lake for a birthday party. I obvs only got dressed for the party with a navy basic tee, comfy AF navy and white capri pants and insanely bright Adidas NMD sneakers. Added in a pineapple and question mark pin because, why not. I just felt like I need some quirk. I was into it.

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Saturday

Sunday was ME, ME, ME. Lazed in bed all morning then got up and posted a video of me dancing to Cardi B’s ‘Bartier Cardi’ on my instagram stories. Mess! The weather was begging for legs to be out, so I obliged with a white linen button up, ripped denim short-shorts and these rad (allow me, a lot of people use this word) tan leather tie ups. The shorts caused a bit of stir when I went to Rosebank Mall for a young toiletry shopping sessh. Probably too short for a holy day? Lol.

 

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Sunday

Hope you all had a good weekend. Go forth and smash this week! ❤

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Remembering Karissa

Karissa Samuel

25 April 1984 – 06 April 2017

It’s been a year today since my friend Karissa passed. I only have the fondest memories of our time together. She is one of the fiercest women I have ever known, and I’m sure she would be in all black today commemorating Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, another relentless powerful force.

As you may have read in my previous post Karissa was the reason I finally started this very blog. She was always a source of inspiration for me and many others. The way she lived her life and always made a point to give back was so tremendous that I truly believe she was an angel among us.

We met back in February 2009 on Valentines Day. We dubbed it ‘Anti-Valentines Day’ because we hated the whole idea of the day and the commercialised Western mess it was. I knew we’d be besties from that alone. Never mind the fact that she was there with her boyfriend Fazlur and I was rolling solo. Still am. I didn’t mention this in the last post, but she gave me a massage regarding finding love and not to bother with people who don’t deserve me. She said this often in the living too. I know better now.

I spent part of this morning looking at her Facebook page, reading her posts and laughing at memories captured in photos. I LOL’d at the pics from her 25th or 26th birthday where she hung out the sunroof of a friends car with a bottle of champagne in her hand. I was obviously terrified, but this daring girl always acted on her feelings and at that moment she wanted to feel the wind.

Our friendship consisted of a lot of laughter because we were complete dorks and were obsessed with comedy and silly things. We’d spend hours on YouTube and if weren’t watching it together, we’d be sending each other BBM’s (I know right!) on what we needed to watch. We danced, and danced, and danced! Karissa didn’t care for my love of pop music, but we clicked when it came to Hip-Hop. She and Lerato (her housemate and bestie – a very unlikely trio) had their own dance moves which were HI-LARIOUS. The KSam and the Lamz dance. I wish you could’ve seen these two shimmying to the “This Is Why I’m Hot” reggae remix, amazing!

She saw so much in me and my hidden talents that she asked me to join the board of her brain child, The Ntshulisa Foundation, helping out with Marketing and Social. A non-profit organisation that started as orphanage Christmas parties which grew to prominence in Gauteng and Cape Town with it’s many projects helping underprivileged youth with dental care, self-esteem workshops and sanitation drives for girls, annual winter drives and many more. Karissa would stay up at night dreaming up and actually implementing the best ways to help those in need. Her name is popular in Alex and Hillbrow because she impacted those communities so much that they really knew her as a Godsend with the hugest heart. Features in the South African O magazine, covers of Destiny Magazine, this lady was unstoppable. She is the true example of walking and living in your purpose to such an extent that the universe (as an energy and being) will walk right beside you.

I remember the day she called me to tell me of her breast cancer diagnosis. I was in Aachen, Germany for on-the-job training with my previous employer, Ericsson. It was a bright sunny day that suddenly turned dark gray. “How?” “You’re so young!” “No, my friend. No.” I was in complete disbelief. It was particularly hard because my mother had shared the same news. Twilight zone. True to Karissa, she was so positive and made something so awful sound like some sort of opportunity. She was wild like that. Her and my mom got in touch with each other and supported each other through that time. Only they could fully understand what they were going through. The mood swings, the chemo, the hair loss, trying to remain strong and unaffected in the face of a cruel disease. I really appreciate the comfort and advice she gave my mom.

A couple of years on, my mother was late and on that very week of her passing I was at Karissa’s bedside at Mill Park Hospital. She was weak. Her bones were basically paper-mache from the cancer, but her eyes were bright with strength. Her soul could not be broken, but mine as. After that period I became distant and destructive. Seeing Karissa only highlighted the grief I was carrying and reminded me of what I had lost. I never got to speak about this with her, but I know she understands and forgives me.

KSam turned what seemed to be a curse into a beacon of hope, love, light, discovery and fearlessness. She was a conqueror and did everything she need to do on this earth. I am so proud of her mom for continuing her legacy and sharing her memory with the world so as to spread the kindness her daughter so generously did. I am so grateful to have known someone so special who only added to everything that I was.

I love and miss you so much my friend. This ones for you.

xo
ALN.

Karissa Samel

Follow Karissa’s Legacy on Facebook to find out ways you can help those in need at various orphanages through donations, volunteering or just seeing her amazing legacy and the lives she’s touched.

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