The Drama continues

I'm a lazy blogger, which will do my brand more harm in the future than not. Although I like to think that if you don't have anything good to say, rather shut the fuck up!  

The last few months have reinforced to me and to my universe that I am not destined for a space of mediocrity in this world of infinite possibility. I got retrenched from my 9 to 5 at the end of September. There was no mincing of words, just 'we regret to inform you that we can longer fund your project so we have been forced to let you go blah, blah, blah...' Our whole department was let go. I don't blame them, these are hard times and everyone seems to be feeling the pinch from the recession. This of course doesn't put me in a great position or it does... I have two choice 'sink' or 'swim'. Actually I have a third choice too. I could choose to thrive. Thrive like the honey bees in spring. Thrive like the prize fighter. Thrive like my life depends on it. Thrive like nothing else matters in the world. The dire need for a salary or the security trap as I like to look at it has taught me a number of valuable lessons. A salary does not put you in a position of power. Your choices are limited to your means and your boss will always  be a bigger dick than you realise.  

No more bitching and moaning... In July I shot my second feature film since 'uMalusi' which is now out on DVD.  The film is called 'A Small Town Called Descent'. Written and directed by Jahmil XT. Qubeka, my long childhood brother from another mother, the feature tackles some important South African issues like racism, xenophobia and greed all while taking you on an entertaining dramatic journey into the dynamics of small backward towns. Three Scorpion Detectives are sent to the Karoo to a small town called Descent to investigate a tragic killing during the 2008 xenophobic attacks. What they find there proves to be more than theyvbargained for and it takes their combined expertise and guile to overcome the real enemy in Descent. I star as Smilo, a young rugby player whose team also happens to be the resident evil in Descent. The movie is set for release at the beginning if 2010. 

I recently also featured in an ad for White Star Super Maize Meal. Not the most aspiring of jobs, I keep wondering whether it will benefit or crutch my career. On one had the brand appeals to the mass market and could start to grow a nice following in the township what with uMalusi being raw like that, but on the other it could result in the high end brands not particularly hiring me for bigger paying jobs at the risk of associating themselves with that.  Oh well, we'll have to wait and see. Breaking down stereotypes might have to become my new forte. 

Shortly after that I shot a print ad for Buondi Coffee where a bunch of us are painting our new apartment in the colour of love... We end up splashing paint all over ourselves which turned out to be a gang load of fun. 

I'm currently working on a short film which is headed for the Berlin Film festival called "And Last Night Was Her Name" and looking for a new job.  

Outside of that, I've been Honchoing it around... I went to Jozi last Thursday for the launch of the Mash Up which featured head honcho collaborated work with DJ Milkshake, Teboho Mahlatsi and the IVY League boys. Head honcho turned the Joburg house upside your head and i was there to capture the fun and games. There were number of beautiful snooty look-at-me-types and the cream of satellite TV and radio celebrity crop dropped in to give the event a nod of approval. The Head Honcho sponsored bubbly featured in a number of scenes making sure to leave the right impression on the sterling reputation the Honcho boys have been leaving all over the country. The baby's gone from a toddler to a teen on just about no time at all. This is the power of living progressively.  

Nobo the Filmstar!

Some time ago I starred in the soon to-be released, Mzansi-spectacular, no budget film uMalusi. It was one of the most surreal experiences that I've ever warped into in my entire life, and those who know me will tell you that I warp into some real crazy shit from time to time. My childhood friend Mlandu Sikwebu called me up one day and said "Tyke!" the name those who grew up with me know me by. "I've written a film which I want you to play the lead role in." Having never acted in a film before, heck having hardly acted in my life before I was honoured and somewhat suprized that he was asking me to play the lead role in a piece that would see him fulfilling his dreams. But without even hesitating I agreed. At the time I had no idea how he was going to pull it off - but I assured him that when he was ready to shoot, I'd be ready to perform. It took a couple of months before he got back to me with anything tangible, but by then I was ready to follow one of my most trusted friends in any direction his finger pointed. He told me that he'd been talking to Jahmil XT. Qubeka another Childhood friend who was living part of his dream, as a producer/director in Johannesburg and he'd agreed to produce the film. Not only was Jahmil down for the project, but he'd managed to draw an entire cast which included the likes of bra Lucas Sithole amongst other well-known people to walk this walk with us. By now I was convinced that a film was going to be made and there was no turning back. At the time he called me - the first time, I was a avid runner, preparing to run the 2 Ocean's Marathon. I was as fit as a olympian on steriods so committing to perform in a film about a runner was something I imagined would be as easy as jerking off to FHM calendar spread (okay maybe that's a little dramatic), but you get the idea. It wasn't long after this conversation that I was involved in a soccer accident, more like an crippling incident, which put me in crutches and forced me to have my knees operated on. At the back of my mind, thoughts of whether I'd be ready for the film or whether I'd ever be able to run again started to torture my mind. I recall that I embraced my cripple status so much that at some point I travelled the country to the Loerie Awards (The Most Prestigious Advertising Awards in Margate) where I partied for 3 days straight, on copulous bottles of tequila and other afrodisiacs - climbing hills, dancing from midday till sunrise in crutches, without as much as thread of worry about my forthcoming project. Soon after I got of the crutches I contcated Mlandu, to tell him that all was well and that he could look forward to seeing me on the shoot date later that year in December. What I didn't tell him was that the doctor had said that it would take anything from 1 to 2 years to recover from my type of surgery which mean that I wouldn't be able to run for sometime - but I decided that nothing including my wobbly ass knees was going to prevent me from doing this and doing it well. I arrived in East London on the 1st December with my my knees strapped in protective straps to Timbaktu. I figured I would find a way to cheat the entire process since in advertising whenever you reach a hurdle you can't beat - you cheat the shot using sometype of technological solution or another. To my suprize the DOP who was also the producer and my mate,Jahmil refused to shoot me with what he called crap on my legs. As far as he was concerned it wouldn't help with the realistic approach the film intended to take and unlike advertising ads, we didn't have a budget to bring in the latest technological cheat mechanisms to this set. So I would have to actually really run... on miles and miles of beach, gravel road, bush, uneven loxion streets and sports fields with holes the size of volcanic dongas in them. I won't lie or exaggerate. Every step I took was like being thrown into a gauntlet of gladiators using metal poles instead of padded batons. Never in my life had a ever hurt the way that I did, but at the risk of letting my friends down and at the risk of failing in my goal I sucked it in a moaned every step of the way. I was like a whining little girl begging for her piece of the candy. F U this, and screw u that became the on set language. It was bad enough that every scene had to be done in the grimiest, grittiest most annoying circumstances, but there was no way they weren't going to know that this was altogether F'd up. Added to that, although the first shoot date was supposed to be on the 01 December - we only statrted shooting on the 12th or so and the first I saw of the all english script was very late on the 11th. At which point I was advised that I would have to do the entire film in vernacular (xhosa). As we were all friends you would have expected that there would have been some level of respect within the ranks. It would be totally unfair for me to say that we totally disrespected each other, but when the project began, we were all rather patient with each other, but very soon into the first week - the big cuss words arrived. And when I say big cuss words, I'm talking about the disrespect of mother's, mother's mother's grandmothers... and not in the kind english way white people swear at each other - i'm talking about the harsh aggressive taxi violent way that you would only expect to hear from Jozi truck and taxi drivers. If it wasn't the director cutting down the producer, it was the producer on the extras or the director on the Make-up ladies who were also the production team and the caterers! So you can only imagine how many people must have had peas with ghob or other lude products in their food. The thing about a production like this is that you have to be patient and sensitive to everyones needs because the temperaments can be an injustice to everyone, especially since everyone either ae at my house or where sleeping at the producers rented digs. At any given moment someone might have to find another bed for the night or go hungry because they were unnecessarily foul to someone else.

The Intro

The last 24 months have been all but easy, in fact it's fair to say I have been on the grind, like course salt in a peppergrinder. It's feels like little pieces of my life have been flaking away as a sacrifice to bigger things and quite frankly I'm not ashamed of the hard work that I've put in. And yet when I look back at the last few months I see alot of post-dated checks signed with my fabulous name on them, but with no amount....

Everyone who knows me will tell you that I'm the guy to know and I have the experience to prove it. I won't say 'No' to a great idea - i like to unleash each beast to its fullest potential, because only then can you really say whether or not it was worth it or not... and I don't like to spread myself to thin. Call me Jack of All Trades, call me finder-finder, but the fact of the matter is I'm always trying to do and try new things that other people are either too scared or not creative enough to take the risk.

The point of this blog is to introduce you to Sivu the man, the icon, the grinder and to let you into the fabulous life that I live. My journey is one of joy, pain, achievement, disappointment, flick-flacks and broken backs. I don't discriminate - I live and love life to the last drop.