Thought Leader » David J Smith

Oscar and Chekhov’s Gun

David J Smith — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:03:56 +0000

There is a rule in screenwriting that if you introduce a gun into a scene, at some point you must use it. The rule applies to real life too. That’s how Reeva Steenkamp lost her life. A gun appeared in her story, and she got shot dead. Regardless of the circumstances, when guns are near...

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Twitter won’t give you Aids but…

David J Smith — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:29:47 +0000

Twitter is not the healthiest of habits. It sucks hours. It sucks days. It requires dedication. It requires long stretches of inactivity. It makes you lie to yourself. It makes you tell yourself that you are learning something by continuously refreshing your feed to read the latest article or tweet from such and such opinion...

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Finding rainbows in the gutter

David J Smith — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:22:50 +0000

Why are South Africans so good at doing bad things together, but not good things? A lot of people like to say “the rainbow nation is dead, we can never get on”. But every day people are proving that fact wrong. White and black policemen working together, manning the machine guns like brothers, mowing down...

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The Africans are coming

David J Smith — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:22:22 +0000

No matter your feelings on it, South Africa has been obsessed with the Spear. Many see it as a slur on the dignity of black people in South Africa. While others have held it up as an icon of freedom. It has consumed our media space and been on everyone’s minds. The whole issue has...

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How can we see from this high horse?

David J Smith — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:32:49 +0000

There are too many high horses in South Africa. Too many haughty opinions. And not enough people admitting to their faults. We need to all climb down and roll around in the muck for a bit. Act like pigs and love it. Admit that we are shit and get on with it. I will not...

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Roll like your ancestors

David J Smith — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:54:23 +0000

We are a nation of bitches. I mean bitches in the sniveling dog sense, not in the be-nasty-to-ladies sense. We are constantly moaning and whinging. You can’t do this, you can’t do that, stop it, or I’ll throw you with stone. Yes, we whine a lot. I’m even whining now, about us whining. Oh god,...

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“Refugee”: a dirty word in South Africa

David J Smith — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:37:07 +0000

We hate refugees. We burn them out of their homes. We chase them away. We burn down their businesses. We tell them go back to where you came from. Bloody refugees. We really don’t like them. So when Helen Zille comes here and tells us that kids from the Eastern Cape are refugees, we get...

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Outdoor stoving

David J Smith — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:28:09 +0000

The Australian likes the outdoors. He likes a bit of time in the garden, down the beach, out in the bush. So it stands to reason that he should make a good braai. But to be blunt, he doesn’t. There is no art to the Aussie braai. In fact, you can hardly even call it...

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The weight of fatherhood

David J Smith — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:11:05 +0000

No, this won’t be some swollen tome on the gravity of parenthood. It won’t be some heavy words, wrung from worried hands, on the seriousness of fatherly duty. That stuff is all fine, a walk in the park, the kids are gonna be fine. The weight I want to speak of is the ounces and...

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See ya, Mr Jobs

David J Smith — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:01:51 +0000

I have never really used PCs. Except in an internet café in Thailand or India or some other place. So what I am going to say about them comes from a place of ignorance. They suck. They don’t work. They are ugly. They make computing feel like something that only accountants do. No disrespect to...

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