Tips on How To Design The Perfect Event

A very grand event in my family is being held at the end of the month and since I'm not that part of it, i didn't get a say in things like the designs for invites, themes and things like that, although i really like doing those types of things. So i thought I should help others not make the same mistakes as my family member. Some tips on how to rock at design:

1. Stick to one font. Looking at an invite with Gigi, Times New Roman, Courier New, Earwig Factory, Elephant and Comic Sans is horrific. Find one you like and use sizes and boldness to bring out the more important things, although varying sizes are still edging on being gross.

2. Choose one theme. You can't have a Greek, black and red velvet, white lace, red rose, and blingy wedding. Unless you want to be put on someones hit list. One theme keeps it simple, elegant.

3. Now, wearing white. If this isn't your first wedding, please don't wear white. It's really insulting. We wear whites because we are virgins. If you have three kids, don't wear white (unless of course you can prove to me that they were brought to you by a flying hippo wearing ballet shoes and a Jack Parow hat). Also, don't let anyone else wear white unless you want every single person there to wear white.

4. Dancing into a chapel is fine if you and all your guests are open to it, and still kind of young. Dancing in if you are 50 and forcing your teenage, socially-awkward children to do it is really bad. And if you still want to do that, then don't do these gangster, Rihanna-wannabe type of moves. That is so 2008. Keep it simple and easy to do.

5. If you don't have money, don't pretend that you do.

6. Choose at the most three colours that you do things in and keep them all-over. Having too many colours is okay if they at least go together, but that is a risk that most people shouldn't take.

7. Make sure you give out the invites when they are exactly right. Don't change details later. It's confusing.

8. Make sure the spacing between letters is equal. As well as lines.

Anyway, if you know you are useless at this stuff, get someone else to do it. Please. For the sake of humanity and, more importantly, designers.

SA Horrorfest: Strigoi-Pre Halloween Movie

Haha Odette does so many posts this one cam almost be seen as a guest post but here goes:

On this past stormy, chilly, blustery (loving this weather btw) Odette and myself ventured into the depths of Johannesburg to join up with Stephan and Wemmel for the South African Horrorfest (http://www.horrorfest.info/) hosted at the wonderfully independant The Bioscope (www.thebioscope.co.za).

Stephan and Wemmel was there the previous night for the screening of Frankenstein, which apparently did not impress them too much (kids these days, so spoiled with all the CGI and stuff, smh).

We decided to remain ignorant about what film we are in for until the Title was on screen and therefore had no idea with regards to plot and reviews.

(Lol the guy sitting next to me in the library just made a chicken like noise??) 

Strigoi turned out to be a refreshing approach to the vampire horror genre and thankfully does not lend itself to the cliches of our current mainstream Vampire spectacle.
It fittingly plays out in rural Romania and is filled with the quaint characters  and personalities that is to be expected from Eastern European countries.
In Romanian mythology, strigoi (English: poltergeist) are the troubled souls of the dead rising from the grave. Some strigoi can be living people with certain magical properties
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigoi)

This post does not make itself out to be a filmreview so I'll skip further thoughts on the movie although I highly recommend it for lovers of the genre and those searching for a fresh take on an old myth.
Check it out: www.strigoimovie.com

Afterwards we spent a while reminiscing and catching up at neighbouring Chalkboard cafe and I enjoyed a great Buzzard Brew Craft beer that really has a beautiful label. 

Why is it so extremely tiring doing a blogpost from my iPad and impossible to upload photos?

Anyway
May the odd be ever in your favour (just joking), but really

Marthinus

Impromptu Poem For Marthinus

The sky
The sun
The boy
The burn
The Turn
The heart
The them
The Him
The me
The sound
The air
Te ground
The cute
The mute
The silence
&& the picture.

Diner a Minuit

A few weeks ago, we did a Midnight Dinner, inspired by The Night Circus - one of the best books ever. We had everyone dress in black and white with something red - although I must admit that I used a lot of red. Everyone came dressed, although we had mime make-up waiting and it was disappointed to be unused.

We let people come in at about ten, take a Sour Monkey shot, light a candle and put it in the Wishing Tree. They received a badge each, created by my mother and Lizanne's mother. Afterwards, I let them go into the garage, where the party was going to be held. Our neighbours are a bit on the Boksburg side of life and we didn't want the woman yelling at her children, spoiling our evening. I let them, also, choose one of 9 playing cards, each with a separate number on. I had them in suspense, asking, ''Are you sure you're ready?'' and then let them in eventually, Jasper having to stand alone for 20 minutes.

The garage was decorated by Lizanne and Lara, my two not-so-blond bombshells, who stood on the table sticking streamers to the roof while I delegated. Afterwards, we found a formal way to set the table, and I had made little circus tents and wonderful black candles - which smelled of candy - to be the centrepiece. We used black tablecloths, white plates, black and white streamers and tied red ribbons around the chairs and the doorhandles.The straws were also decorated with assorted moustaches, clown noses and pouting lips.

Table-placements were usually very boring, because usually one would want to sit next to everyone. So at first, the playing cards they had to choose was the decision-maker on that one. Their place mats, which we had also drew a few days in advance, also had names on. These were the second placements. The third placement was the most fun, Each place had a bottle, tiny with a cork in, that had a picture on it. Each picture was a symbol for a specific person. They had to find their symbol, and then that was the last of the seating arrangements. Inside the bottle, there was another reference to the book, a.k.a. the tent that had been small but full of little bottles. When you opened it, you would be swept away by the scent inside and it would transport you to another place or memory. The best being, everyone experienced a smell differently. Mine had been labelled Rainy Day, and smelled of pancakes. Marthinus's smelled of vanilla and was labelled Ouma se Kombuis. Everyone loved it, and loved that it was personal, for example, Michiel's reminded him of his time in India.

Before dinner was served, Marthinus was forced to do a speech, a punishment for skipping on his church duties. The speech was one of the funniest things that Lara and I had ever composed, and we were proud as he even did all the moves that Lara had made go with the words - although he did them quite awkwardly.

We tried to find black and white foods to add to the mystery. As an apetizer, we had bought sushi from a local sushi bar where we had also held a surprise party for Cindy in the fifth grade.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find any black pasta for dinner (which we later learnt could only be pre-ordered at certain shops, much to all Marthinus's efforts' spite). So we ate white pasta, with any black, white or red - olives, tomatoes etc. We also decided that everyone had to fill their own plates, as we had some very picky guests - one vegetarian and two boys who didn't eat tomatoes. This worked out quite well. For dessert, we had home-made Oreo ice cream. We also baked a rainbow cake that was the grande finale, if one could call it that. We covered it in white cream, which created a great surprise when we cut out the first piece.

The night was memorable, and now we can start thinking of other ideas for a December Dinner!

-Odette

Second Mensiversary

 For our second mensiversary, Marthinus took me out to eat lunch at The Honey Badger, where we ate a cheese platter and drank a big glass of wine each. The restaurant was quaint and very sweet, hiding in a busy Pretorian street. Afterwards, we went to the park across the street and created a Geocache, www.geocaching.com, which was stolen by hobos. Yes, stolen by hobos.

Two days later, on our three-months-holding-hands-day, it was my turn to spoil Marthinus. I sat him down on the grass, gave him a punch - the type that makes holes in paper, not the ouch type - and we started writing a story. Absurd story. And it was about a family on holiday, or something like that. Everyone dies in the end, or so one might suppose. The object of the game was to write one sentence on one paper, then make origami with each piece of paper and hang them around campus with yellow string. There was also one of them, folded into a scroll, and given to an Einstein-type who was walking around admiring the plants as if he was just visiting the planet. With big curly grey hair. We also tied one to a bicycle, and hoped that the owner might appreciate it. The rest we hung on trees, signs, chairs, etc.

Psychology

Retro...

Visual culture studies

In continuation of Odi's wondefull idea, I expose you to HEGEMONY.
Hegemony \hi-ˈje-mə-nē, -ˈge-; ˈhe-jə-ˌmō-nē\: the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.

Lyrics:
Chorus_
Why?… do we have a police protection service
When?… their duty is to snatch me and arrest my person
Who?… the usual suspect, verbal Kaiser Sose
What?… doing what I must to get by the whole day.
Verse 1_
Where – from Cape Town to J-Sect to Eastern Cape
I heat radio-active airwaves, transmits through deep space
We free-base beat breaks at least 3-days-a-week-basis
Other 4 for other chores, tug-o-wars – my mother’s poor
Cutting corners now a fact of life cause the chips are stacked so high against us
It’s like the greener grassy side is just a crime beyond those barbed wire fences
With mile-high defences, and armed response jobby-job carbon copy cops
In rental suits – burning and lootin’ more than Bob Marley uses herbs
When doing music events – enter Red Jackets frisking you
Mental antagonists with gun and badge taking a piss on you
Misogynist fags in blue who harassed that ass when the whistle blew
Taint my reputation in public places for a thrill or two –
It’s straight to the station, fingerprints in the ink plus interviews
But cynical tools and a little shrewd Jewish lawyer the rich been using
To elude criminal prosecution….
Chorus_
Why?… do we have a police protection service
When?… their duty is to snatch me and arrest my person
Who?… the usual suspect, verbal Kaiser Sose
What?… doing what I must to get by the whole day.
Verse 2_
How – by any possible means to jump obstacles means
I gotta do what I gotta for cream – stick you like Scorpion teams
They don’t care if he’s a hero like Steven Biko
Or high strung on a killing spree, like Asanda Baninzi
Cops all over the city ready lock you if you’re dark-skinned
Easy for the Boer to moer you if you look poor and got comments
I’m a hardcore hot-head – conform not to any pork chop
I mind control swine patrol in Jedi mode –
and bribe your whole ride with cold drinks
then flows that sink like Jose Cuervo raw shots
On the rocks or neat, everytime I walk the streets
Pigs wanna ‘bleep’, stop me, stomp my feet constantly
ADT, Securcorp, SAPS, Armageddon Security –
Come fe test – duel with me, Fuck you up with impunity
The purpose of the sirens is to pump fear in nervous systems
Circus clowns of society who police but deserve prison…
Chorus_
Why?… do we have a police protection service
When?… their duty is to snatch me and arrest my person
Who?… the usual suspect, verbal Kaiser Sose
What?… doing what I must to get by the whole day.

Biology

Daar's 'n basic biological motief maar dis 'n flippen cool liedjie, al is dit effens van die subject af.

Hierdie is net vir my baaaie oulik en het ook 'n biologie motief. Jammer, kan nie kies nie.

May you enjoy your holidays, my darling.

-Odette

Chemie

Mathematics

Net vir ingeval jy dalk die basics vergeet het,...

Fisika

"Since jy hierdie mense love, het ek gedink dit sal jou dag maak. Happy Physics Day! Check die ou links..." - Odette

MTL

"Marthinus, I decided to post a video every day to make you feel better about the subject you are writing. Hope you enjoy this one... " -Odette

The Weepies Be My Thrill

The Weepies - Be My Thrill

Free Strips of Paper

Marthinus did this a school once and I made my own versions for inside the residence and put one next to the elevator of each floor. It gets nice feedback, makes you feel like a ninja when you put them on and don't want to be seen and you might make someone smile.

Die misavonture van Odi en Pinkenolsie

She was just floating along, float,float,float. She floated, a bit bloated, and spotted a fuzzy pink goat(ed). She voted to float along to the goat. The goat was in a boat, eating oats, wearing an oddly shaped red coat. 
ANd then she saw it. The. The... The THING.

It was shiny and big and red and juicy and shiny. Odi's heart pumped blood when she spotted it, looking around to see if Lola was there, if Lola had seen it. The big and red and juicy and shiny thing stuck around the goat's neck. She floated over, quietly, running in mid-air as she went. Well, until she fell flat on her facev with a big, spiteful smack.

Giggles came from the nearby whispering whisperers. Among them was a man, rigid and shiny-eyed. He dared her with his eyes. Odi ran forward, pushing through the surrounding air, with the man on her tail, which was coming loose from the fuzzy lion suit she was wearing.

The man, moustached and top-hatted, was passing her. But Odi put her hand to his face and pushed him backwards, forcing the words, "Uh, uh! Mine!" from her drooling eyes.

Startled by Odi’s talking eyes the man took a second glance at the weird, floating, running, tailed form that was co-pursuing the red THING. She Surely does not realize its worth and is possibly only intrigued by its shininess, the rigid man thought and doubled his efforts of grabbing her tail, sure that he found her weakness. Odi, invigorated, float float floated forward, throwing of her tail. Incredulously the man stopped as his plan to get the THING was thwarted by Odi’s ingenuity. 

With a card or two to play and without wasting too much time, Mr Rigid tweaked his moustache and pulled of his top-hat. A sunflower he here from took and thrust it into Odi’s drooling, speaking eyes. Considering her affinity towards all things yellow Odi stopped mid-float, the THING completely forgotten.
Now, being confronted by each other, with the goat floating downriver and the whispering whisperers left upstream, Odi wondered as to the man’s quaint, mocking smile and daring eyes. 


Odi glances shyly to the side, her lips playing on her teeth awkwardly. She frowned at him, and he gave her a confident glance in return.

'He seems to be human.' she mumbled toherself. She couldn't tell. 

'Oh but I am.' He said surely.

'Pffffffffffffffffft.' she looked at him angrily. THen looked down at the yellow sunshine in her hands. The flower confirmed his notion.

The man stepped closer to her. 

"How can you be human and do magic?" she asked sceptically.

He looked at her, smiled withhis cheeks extending all the way back to his neck because of his lack of hair. "If you want to find out, you'll have to come find out over here."

She thought about his suggestion. "Only if you tell me this:"

"Yes?"

"Are you blonde?"

His eyes grew, "I hope so."

Without a second to spare, Odi jumped on Mr. Rigid, her lips attacking his, not even knowing his real name. (Which is supposed to be really symbolic or something)