Our Dearest Minister of Arts, Culture and Bigotry, Lulu Xingwana has finally been getting some deserved flack for her little freak out last year. The photo above, by artist Zanele Muholi, managed to switch our country bumpkin of a minister minister over into homophobe mode. Her last, lame defence is that it is inappropriate to display images like this at an exhibition where children are present.

I’d let any child view the image above. There’s nothing sexual about it. Sensual, maybe, but also gentle and loving, the way two sisters might be when they comfort each other at night.

Dear Minister, you might not be able to stop yourself from seeing tits and sex in every naked body, but please don’t assume that our children share this affliction.

Zanele Muholi’s bio at Artthrob.

So, there I was, dining at this fancy restaurant and who do you think walks in? None other than His Majesty, Prince Regent Julius S Malema, Duke of Gauteng and third in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Mzansi. His Majesty was here to eat, and eat he did. It was a marvellous spectacle to behold.

Note: No real politicians were harmed in the making of this parody.

PS. I’m not the only one laying into the bloke at the moment. Here’s Zapiro.

To let Wordpress know your theme supports thumbnails, add the following line to functions.php. This will add the functionality to posts and pages.

add_theme_support('post-thumbnails');

This will activate some new goodies in the admin back-end.

If you want the thumbnails active for only posts, or only pages, add the following. (Delete whichever you don’t want.)

add_theme_support('post-thumbnails', array('post'));
add_theme_support('post-thumbnails', array('page'));

Next, specify what size you want your thumbnails to be. The statement below will fit your thumbnail in a 60px by 60px box.

set_post_thumbnail_size(60, 60);

If you want your thumbnail to be cropped to the exact dimensions specified, add a third parameter like so:

set_post_thumbnail_size(60, 60, true);

Okay, that’s all the setup you’ll need for now. On to the template.

To check if the template has a thumbnail, use has_post_thumbnail(); like so:

if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
    // has a thumbnail
} else {
    // lacks a thumbnail
}

To show your thumbnail, use the_post_thumbnail() like so:

the_post_thumbnail();

That’s the basics.

If, however, you need multiple thumbnail sizes to use in different parts of your site, you can use the add_image_size()
function in functions.php:

add_theme_support('post-thumbnails');
set_post_thumbnail_size(60, 60, true);
add_image_size('new-size-name', 300, 200, true);

You can show this new thumbnail size with the_post_thumbnail(), like so:

the_post_thumbnail('new-size-name');

If you need your theme to be backwards compatible (with pre 2.9), then just use the following code wherever you want to use these new functions:

if ( function_exists('add_theme_support') ) {
    // do your stuff
}

That’s all folks. Happy thumbnailing.

So, I got to drink some of this stuff this weekend. Wowsers! It has quite a taste, and the back of the bottle is entirely accurate. It is not for everyone.

The taste is far stronger than gins like Tanqueray, even if you only take into consideration the traditional components such as the juniper, etc. The addition of a subtle rose and a slightly stronger cucumber is of course what makes this so unique.

The bottle and labelling as well as the elitist copy is, however, what first drew my attention. The glass is thick and heavy which feels really good.

I’m not really much of a gin connoisseur, so I’ll leave it at that.

Continuing my series on exposing the grossly unfair and corrupt practices by the ruling ANC, here is a quick but nasty comparison between what an ANC favourite gets handed on a plate, and what a normal poor South African can expect to get.

I think it’s past disgusting that such corrupt relationships are tolerated.

Here is a link to a PDF of the graphic above. Click the image above for a larger JPEG. The image and PDF may be used and distributed freely. (Please link back to me if you do.)

Interesting links:

• Mail & Guardian: Malema’s lifestyle sponsored by govt tenders
• The Daily Maveric: The Star steals lifestyle audit thunder. Oh, and destroys Malema too
• The Daily Maverick: ANC Youth League vs The Star, round one: League throws a girly punch
• The Star: Malema’s lifestyle sponsored by tenders

Previously in this series:

• The inequalities of ANC spending

So this week’s budget speech in Parliament interested me quite a bit. There was an accompanying infographic that showed the comparative sizes of the different parts of the budget, and listed the percentage increase or decrease from the previous year.

So, I thought I’d make a little graphic of my own to highlight the magnitude of the changes. As you can see, not many decreases were seen (decreases are a lighter shade and have a red percentage indicator), government is on a spending spree! (Weeeee!).

You can download a PDF version here. (details details details)

This last Tuesday as I made my way to Tings ‘an Times I was expecting to have my socks blown off, or at least tazed off with exquisite electronic beats. The occasion was the launch of Jacob Israel’s much anticipated third album, This Too Will Pass.

I had been listening to the handful of tracks available on Jacob Israel’s MySpazz page with growing excitement for most of the week, and I was ready. Very ready.

The set-up was incredible. For the first time ever (I think) Tings ‘an Times had – you won’t believe it – ((( surround sound ))). As the lights dimmed and the first chords from Glassface (from the new album, listen to it on MySpazz) started playing, strange sounds emanated from the rear of the venue, and the side, and the front

Delicate electronic glitches, heavy beats, a cello, a violin and a live drummer took us through a sometimes gentle, sometimes violent journey for most of an hour. I was enthralled and entranced. (Heck, I must be to write about it here. )

The album, there are only 250 copies being released at this stage, has a beautiful hand-sewn cover. Naturally it’s also full of some of the best electronica/idm from a South African musician, and indeed the world. Make sure you get a copy.

Jacob Israel’s first and second albums are available for free download off his website, here and here.

I bet Cristina’s going to kill me once she realises I put this shot online. She almost did just that when I took this. I really couldn’t resist then, and I can’t resist now either.

Sorry lady, your ass is now forever online.

One of the perks of shooting on film is that often things don’t work out as expected. The colours on this beach scene surprised me quite a bit. It almost looks cross processed, except it isn’t.

You’d think the beach was cold judging from what the photo looks like, but don’t be mistaken, the day was about 40 degrees when this was taken.

This is another one of those accidentally messed up shots that somehow make me feel great. Don’t ask me why, maybe someone else can explain it.