The Galileo – Competition

It’s a scene i’ve often seen in movies – people camped out on picnic blankets with glasses of wine and awesome food spreads, watching an awesome movie on a screen under the stars at some amazing venue. There’s something about watching a movie under the stars that just makes it a little more special.

The Galileo Open Air Cinema, has brought the concept to Cape Town, and with great success. They’ve used one of the most spectacular natural backdrops we have in our beautiful city – Kirstenbosch Gardens.

Running once a week (usually on Wednesday evenings), from November to April, The Galileo brings you a diversity of film genres in its magical open air setting:

1st week of the month: Documentaries

2nd week of the month: Best Foreign

3rd week of the month: Adventure Sports

4th week of the month: All-Time Classics

Gain free access into Kirstenbosch Gardens (Gate 2) from 6pm on presentation of your movie ticket and enter the Marquee Lawn area where movies are shown. They have a great selection of local food vendors, who offer everything from sandwiches to salads, pies and paellas, there is something for everyone.

You are, of course, welcome to bring your own food and drinks, as well as blankets (which i would recommend having a multitude of, as it’s getting quite cold in the evenings). You can also “rent” blankets and chairs at the venue, which saves you schlepping yours from the car

NOW, this brings me to this Wednesday’s movie: LOCK, STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS! I am too freaking excited!

WIN!

All right, son: roll them guns up, count the money, and put your seat belt on! If you would like to win 2 x tickets to the screening of this Wednesday’s showing of Lock Stock, all you have to do is the following:

Step 1: Make sure you are following @Galileo_Cinema

Step 2: Tweet the following -

WIN tickets to see Lock, Stock & two smoking barrels at @Galileo_Cinema this Wed. Details here: wp.me/p17Wkg-PQ via @StephanieBe

Next Wednesday’s film is: Searching For Sugarman, and tickets are already on sale! 

For more information on Galileo, and to buy tickets:

• Facebook Page: HERE
• Twitter: HERE
• Website: HERE

WIN! A Signed Bafana Bafana Jersey & 5 Tickets!

Bafana Bafana v Central African Republic, this Saturday, 23 March 2013 at Cape Town Stadium!

Ajax v Sundowns @ Cape Town Stadium – Pic taken by Stephanie Be

This game marks 2013’s first step towards *HOPEFULLY* qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil next year. The tickets are between R50 and R100, and are available at Computicket and Shoprite Checkers stores (as well as the Cape Town Tourism Visitor Information centers).

In January Cape Town hosted Bafana Bafana when they took on Norway in an international friendly as part of their African Cup of Nations preparations. I couldn’t make that game, because i was in the UK, but most of my friends went and they had a blast! The vibe was the closest it has gotten to the World Cup – and it’s sure to be repeated this weekend too!

To get you excited i have a pretty freaking awesome prize to give away, courtesy of the good guys at Absa! A signed Bafana Bafana jersey (signed by the ENTIRE team) as well as 5… yes, FIVE tickets to give away to one lucky mother f… ahem… person!

This is what you have to tweet to enter:

Win a signed #Bafana jersey & 5 tickets to the game at Cape Town Stadium this Sat with @Absa & @StephanieBe! Details http://bit.ly/ZcQoOe

Ts&Cs:

• Tweet the above tweet, exactly, to qualify.
• Winners need to be able to collect their prize from the SABC Building in Sea Point on Friday after 6pm or Saturday before the game starts.
• You will need to provide a form of identification on collection of the prize.
• Competition closes on Fri at 13:00.
• Results are final.

RAMfestivities!

The weekend before last, I was lucky enough to head through to one of South Africa’s most awesomest music festivals, RAMfest, and not only was the vibe amazing and the bands brilliant, but there were Sheffielders there too!

For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Stephanie Be’s lucky boyfriend. I also happen to be a legal alien in Mzansi having moved here from Sheffield, England, in 2011. While it’s not that rare for me to hear an English accent now and again, something that doesn’t happen often is to hear the familiar Yorkshire twang with which I was brought up. It’s music to my ears.

After a hectic Saturday morning of Steph being on air and me trying to get my arse in gear we finally made it through to RAMfest with no hassles. It was a nice drive and there was no queue to get in. Beautiful. I spent the first couple of hours there monitoring the Soweto Derby. With that it was time to get my festival on!

We bumped into the lovely Rick from Facing the Gallows, who had performed on the Metal stage the night before. I went for a wander with him and his girlfriend while my other half got some work done.

Look, when it comes to be music my taste is rather eclectic. With the music on my iPod I have the capabilities to please everyone from a 12-year-old boy to a 120-year-old grandma, it’s pretty all over the place, but I’m an indie kid at heart. I love my Arctic Monkeys, my Strokes, my Kooks, that’s my cup of tea. Although, I’m always open to new stuff. A few years back drum ‘n’ bass caught my attention and I fell in love, the same thing happened when dubstep dropped onto the scene with force.

I’ve never been a fan of metal music though. While I understand that fans of the genre are fanatical and that to be in a metal band takes some serious talent, it’s just never tickled my eardrums. That was until this weekend. Rick and Indiana took me to see some of the metal bands that were on offer and, while I won’t say that I fell in love with it, I certainly found a new appreciation. Then it was time for Bring Me The Horizon. The boys from Sheffield that I’d been waiting to see. The band whose music I wasn’t completely sold on but was excited to see live, again.

I saw BMTH in Brisbane, Australia, also on a random occurrence in a scenario that came about by chance. On that occasion I ended up with my pants around my ankles, above the stage, with one hand around my John Thomas and the other raised in jubilation, but that’s another story.

Bring Me The Horizon – Stephanie B

This time it was Steph and I. This time we were in the crowd. This time they properly put on a show. Oli Sykes, the lead singer of BMTH, is a Sheffield lad born and bred. He talks like me, his attitude is similar to mine and it just felt lovely and homely. There I was, 14,000 kilometres from home, with my South African girlfriend, listening to a voice saying, “Ahh, you’re a reight good crowd you lot.” It’s a small world innit?

Bring Me were awesome. They were flawless, Oli’s voice was unfaltering and his interaction with the crowd rallied them into a frenzy. It was an incredible site to behold, especially when they formed what seemed to be a black hole sized circle pit after Blessed With A Curse.

Anyway, from then things took a turn for the worse. Steph rolled her ankle and was put out of action for a little while. We’d later find out that her ankle had taken on the circumference of a tennis ball, however she soldiered on like a proper trooper. We watched Sibot from the VIP stand at the electronic tent. Jeez, can that guy play or what?! He was awesome, again, and it’s really good to see him finally getting the kudos that he deserves.

Then it was time for Pendulum. I’ve seen them before, twice actually, and they’d been impeccable both times. On this occasion it was slightly different as it was just a DJ set and not the full band, but still, what a show. The first time I was Pendulum live was in Sheffield, in a little venue called the 02 Academy, they were awesome, then I saw them at Leeds Festival and they were incredible, full band and all.

Pendulum – Stephanie B

Funny, people have been raving about Swedish House Mafia, about how awesome they were. Since seeing them I’ve watched Skrillex and Pendulum, both in 2013.

Best electronic act I’ve ever seen? SHM aren’t even the best electronic act I’ve seen in 2013…

- Joe Crann

RAMfest Cape Town – Competition!

It’s been a couple of weeks of FREAKING SICK events in Cape Town, we really are so blessed! It isn’t anywhere near done yet… RAMfest, South Africa`s only Touring Festival kicks off at Riviersonderend, Cape Town this coming weekend!

Permission to squeal! *EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

RAMfest Cape Town will be held at Circle of Dreams, Riviersonderend from 7 – 10 March. For those that can be there on Thursday night, the BOOM! stage will kick start the weekend.

For details of the other cities (Johannesburg, Durban and PE) and the full line-up times go to www.ramfest.co.za.

TIME TO WIN!

I have 2 SINGLE full-weekend camping tickets to give to 2 lucky people! Here’s how to enter: 

Step 1:

Make sure you’re following @RAMfest on Twitter, and have liked their Facebook page.

Step 2:

Tweet – WIN a full weekend ticket & camping pass to @RAMfest Cape Town with @StephanieBe, here’s how: http://bit.ly/Y8DtfS

AND/OR

Comment – Simply comment on this post, and tell me which band/artist you are most looking forward to seeing.

*I’m going to give 1 ticket to a Twitter entrant, and the other to someone who comments on this post.

For All Things Holi…

This weekend South Africa’s most beautiful city, Cape Town, took the idea of a Rainbow Nation to a whole new level…

CREDIT: JOE CRANN @YesWeCrann

Steph (@StephanieBe) told me about the Holi One festival months ago, and after looking at pictures of what it could possibly look like, I was hooked right in. However, with me being the forgetful Yorkshireman that I am, I buggered up and forgot to buy a ticket, it was only the day before, thanks to Dylan, or @MrCPT as you may know him, that I got sorted out.

The colours, the vibe, the sheer idea of the event had me wishing away the months hoping for the event to arrive early from the moment Steph brought it to my attention, and boy, when the time came for us to get involved it certainly delivered.

I’m not sure that there any backdrops in the world as beautiful as Table Mountain. Add to that 100s, maybe 1000s, of smiling Capetonians dressed in their all white PEP specials, a beautiful sunny day and impeccable organisation, it gives you a winning combination.

As Steph and I walked in it took around 37 seconds before a complete random took it upon themselves to don us in our first colour, orange if I remember rightly, and within the hour we looked like Elmer the Elephant.

The event, MC’d by the ever charming Peter Sserwanga, is inspired by India’s original Holi, a celebration of the coming of spring, which sees its participants layer themselves with 10-tonne of coloured powder and basically just let their inhibitions bugger off. If any of you have been lucky to watch the first season of Idiot Abroad then you’ll have had the pleasure of watching Karl Pilkington take part in one of India’s Holis. The one in Cape Town was a bit like that, just with more drink and less clothes.

The music was great, the drinks reasonably priced and the people happy, it all made for a great day out. In all seriousness I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it in my life, and I’ve done my fair share of travelling. On the hour, every hour, each person involved grabs a handful of a coloured powder of their choice and lobs it up into the air.

CREDIT: Steph B @StephanieBe

If you’re on the inside it engulfs you like a sandstorm, a ridiculously colourful sandstorm. If you’re not careful it also manages to get in your drinks, your mouth and any other crevice that you may have unfortunate enough to have left open at the wrong time…

If you’re on the outside however, it’s far more beautiful. The view goes from nothing, to a flurry of coloured patches, to your whole field of vision being engulfed by tiny particles of rainbow as the many different powders merge into one in mid-air. They linger there for a while and then disappear, either dropping back to earth or floating off elsewhere.

The beauty and originality of the event was one thing, but for me, and maybe even more impressive, was the fact that it’s been a long time since I’ve been somewhere in Cape Town where so many people seemed so at peace with each other.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t sure how well the festival would go down in the Mother City. Usually, if a random who’s not known to a certain ‘clique’, pelted someone with enough blue powder to make them look like Papa Smurf, I think they’d probably be in a bit of bother. However, this weekend nobody seemed to care. People were sharing out their different colours, planting handprints on boobs, bums and other body parts and just letting loose as they revelled in what could possibly be a once in a lifetime gig for many of them.

There was even a pregnant woman there, who was apparently due in about three days time, and honestly, she looked as though she may well have ended up giving birth to a very confused, multi-coloured baby. I’m not sure her doctors would have approved…

Steph and I got home having wandered the streets of Cape Town looking like we’d been dressed by a survivor of Woodstock Music Festival and dove into the shower to see if any lasting damage had been done to our skin. Luckily it does all wash off, although the water that comes off you is a similar colour to the Green Lantern’s suit and you have to wash your hair around 476 times in order to make sure that you don’t resemble Jeff Hardy.

One last thing. There was an awesome mix of people there. Folks of all ages, shapes, races and religions, and do you know what? When you’re covered head to toe in every colour under the sun, everyone looks the same.

It’s another big middle finger to those cretins out there that still believe that race is an issue. If you cover us all in cornflour we’re all pretty damn similar.

It was amazing, you couldn’t see white people, you couldn’t see black people, you couldn’t even tell that I was the pale Englishman who has failed to pick up any form of tan yet. Actually, come to think about it, everyone was coloured…

- Joe Crann @YesWeCrann

CREDIT: JOE CRANN @YesWeCrann

Holi ONE Festival – Competition

“WE ARE ALL ONE”

Inspired by the original Holi Festival in India, Colour Festivals have travelled around the world to Germany, the USA and Singapore – and now HOLI ONE launches in South Africa for the first time!

If you’re still not quite sure what everyone is going on about – i’ve seen a couple of people on Facebook a little confused. Check the video out below:

CAPE TOWN kicks off the HOLI ONE tour on Sat 2 March, it then moves on to JHB on 6 April, Durban – your date is still to be confirmed! After the South African leg of the journey – these guys follow the Sun and head off to: Berlin, Munich, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Lubeck, and Munster… After that, who knows. They’ve already taken the festival to Ibiza, and Barcelona before!

Holi is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus as a festival of colours. It is primarily observed in India and Nepal but also in Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is also known as Phagwah and Festival of Colours.

PLEASE NOTE RE: THE POWDER:

The powder used at the HOLI ONE Colour Festival is completely safe, non-toxic, water soluble and environmentally friendly and is made from corn flour and food colouring. Only certified 100% natural HOLI ONE powder may be used at the festival. No powder bought outside the festival can be permitted. However, people with allergies, asthma or contact lens wearers should use mouth and/or eye protection.

Personal Advice:

- Wear sunglasses (the bigger the better)

- Keep a handy pack of baby wipes on your person

- Buy a cheap white t-shirt at Pep or wherever

COMPETITION TIME!

You can win yourself 2 tickets to the Holi ONE Festival in Cape Town – 2 March 2013! All you have to do is make sure you follow @HOLIONESA and decide which colour you are! Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, or Pink.

Then tweet:

Hey @StephanieBe & @HOLIONESA i’d love 2 tickets to the CT festival on 2 March at the Grand Parade. I am [whatever colour you picked]! http://bit.ly/WeoUYC

HOLI ONE Colour Festival South Africa is brought to you by award-winning agency Seed Experiences – the company behind the hugely successful Rocking the Daisies Music & Lifestyle Festival.

Holi ONE Comes To Cape Town

KEEP an eye out for a competition coming to a blog near you! And by “a blog near you” i mean this blog. 

Seriously, though… how amazing does this look?

The Holi One festival is a series of open-air festivals that use eco-friendly, safe, coloured powders, thrown in the air to express freedom and the colour of everyday life.

The SA festival is not linked with the religious aspects of the original festival from India, but shares the same values. All festival-goers wear white and end up covered in crazy colour.

This is the first time this festival will take place in Africa!

LINE UP:

12pm: Sadhu Sensi

1pm: DJ Mighty

2pm: Richard the Third

3pm: Ma’original

4pm: Kid Fonque

5pm: Super Flu (Germany)

6pm: Toby2shoes

7pm: GoodLuck

8pm: Mix n Blend

9pm: Niskerone

TICKETS:

Available online from Webtickets:

General Admission R190

General Admission incl powder (5 colours) R290

PLEASE NOTE – powder and a whole lot of other stuff will be sold at the event!

Holi One is for over 18s only. Even if accompanied by an adult, there will still be no under 18s admitted into the event.

RAMfest 2013

Three international bands are to headline at RAMfest this year; Rise Against, Bring Me The Horizon, as well as Paul Harding and Ben Verse from Pendulum. Unlike any other festival in South Africa, RAMfest takes their glorious music festival to Cape Town, Joburg, PE and Durban!

Rise Against and Bring Me The Horizon’s performances include Ramfest Cape Town, Joburg and Durban, and Pendulum DJ Set and Verse will be performing in all four cities. There are two different concerts in Durban, so make sure that you know the exact line-up before you purchase your ticket. The internationals, except for Pendulum DJ Set and Verse, will not be performing in PE.

Michael Ellis Photography – RAMfest 2012

Because i’m Capetonian, and i’m a little biased, the Cape Town leg of the tour is going to be AMAZING! It’s being held at “Circle Of Dreams” in Riviersonderend. How could you go wrong hosting an event at a place with that name?! All the info you could possibly need about the Cape Town festival is here: Cape Town

Circle Of Dreams, Riviersonderend

There are still tickets available, so get cracking!

Ticket prices:
• Cape Town: R550 pre-sold, R650 at the gate.
• Joburg: R550 pre-sold, R650 at the gate.
• Durban, 15 March: R350 pre-sold, R450 at the gate.
• Durban, 8 March: R150 presales and R100 early bird.
• PE: R150 presales and R100 early bird.

Ticket sales:
• Tickets at www.ticketbreak.co.za/ramfest
• Cape Town: www.ticketbreak.co.za/event_details/1468
• Joburg: www.ticketbreak.co.za/event_details/1467
• Durban Wavehouse: www.ticketbreak.co.za/event_details/1506
• Durban: www.ticketbreak.co.za/event_details/1584
• Port Elizabeth: www.ticketbreak.co.za/event_details/1529

Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ramfest
Twitter: @ramfest
Website: www.ramfest.co.za

PS: Keep an eye out on my blog this coming week – i may have a few tickets to give away I lie, i definitely do have tickets to give away… i was just trying to sound all mysterious.

Capetonian Kid Gets “Lift” To School

This was, at first, quite entertaining – as kids my cousins and i used to do stupid stuff like this by hanging off the back of the farm bakkie while it sped down dirt roads… but then when the guys filming this show how fast they’re driving, my heart sank.

You have to admire the kids determination to get to school – which i assume he’s trying to do as he has a backpack on his back and he’s wearing a school shirt. How does he know the truck is even going near his school though? I’m not really sure – but this is honestly insane.

The guys filming could do very little, they’re driving at 100km/h and so is the truck. The video is also really short, so i’m not sure if they tried to flag the truck down afterwards. Not sure what else to say – take a look for yourself and let me know what you think:

Ultimate X Competition

I’m sure you’ve seen a more than a couple of tweets referencing Ultimate X, and if you are one of those people that actually likes to step away from the internet for a couple of hours and go outside – this is where you need to be this Saturday!

Over 70 riders will be competing for a sweet prize of nearly R90 000, across these eXtreme sports; wake, skate, FMX and BMX. As is the usual with Cape Town events, some awesome sponsors are on board and you can best believe they are going to be throwing shit your way.

If you like balls & beer, there will be a beer pong competition held again this year. Last year, Dylan Moore & Joe Crann were the “victors” after there opposition knocked pretty much all of their cups over (they were not pleased). I say “victors” because neither Joe nor Dylan could really walk or talk afterwards, but at least they have the title as 2012 Ultimate X Beer Pong CHAMPIONS, and no one can take that away

IT’S COMPETITION TIME! AWWW YISS, FREE SHIT!

WIN a R2500 Hamper including 2x TICKETS to Ultimate X this Saturday.

Choose which aspect of the event you are most looking forward to, and include that hashtag AT THE END OF YOUR TWEET: #FMX #BMX #WAKE #SKATE or #LIFESTYLEand then:

Tweet: Hey @StephanieBe, i’d dig that R2500 hamper & those tickets to @Ultimate_x_ with @Hunters_eXtreme [#FMX or #BMX or #WAKE or #SKATE or #LIFESTYLE]

MORE INFO:

If you buy your tickets from @Computicket, you get a R20 discount AND free entry into the after party at Dragon Room (which has a pretty effing awesome line up on Saturday).

Facebook: www.facebook.com/HuntersEXtremeUltimateX

All info available on: www.ultimatex.co.za

UPDATE:

The competition will run until tomorrow, and the winner will be picked around midday. I’ll choose 5 random entries and then tweet all of the finalists at the same time – the first person to replies, wins!