Month: May 2026

Sweeney Todd

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Sweeney Todd

At the Centurion Teater for the murderous, bloody Sweeney Todd. A dark twisted, methodical, sadistic, blood spraying, cannibalistic musical masterpiece by Scenario Productions. The first couple of rows and splashing zones, people are dying, blood will be spilled, put on your plastic body suit provided by the theatre. A lot of people perished, one after another, music in the background, singing dialogue, spotlight on that dreaded seat, a barber in the guise of providing a service slits your throat. Nonchalance, a pleasure to dispose of you.

Sweeney Todd is a barber in Victorian London who murders his customers with a straight razor. He works above Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop, and together they dispose of the bodies by baking them into meat pies sold to unsuspecting customers. His motive is often revenge — usually against a corrupt judge or official who wronged him and destroyed his family. The lighting dark and spooky. It was raining in real life, the theatre was wet, it enhanced the experience, what a day for theatre!

Music Director Luigia Casaleggio held the show, the conductor, her presence was felt.

The performers were amazing, the choruses, the show had a opera influence. They were singing dialogue, dancing and simultaneously acting. The costumes creative and scary. In and out, the performers walked in and out the auditorium, creating a sense of unpredictability. No one knew what to expect, it was a hell of a ride!

The performers:

Brett Kruger – Sweeney Todd
Ashleigh Hilton – Mrs. Lovett
Kyle Cronje – Anthony
Mbali Hlomela – Johanna
Ntsikeng Matooane – Beggar Woman
Tiaane Kirsten-Lubbe – Adolfo Pirelli
Erish Jordaan – Tobias Ragg
Christian Martinez – Judge Turpin
Wilf Mahne – Beadle Bamford

A truly wonderful show with a lot of imagination, enthusiasm and creativity.

Congratulations Tiaan Kirsten-Lubbe and Lian Sachse for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.

📸: SamSays

Snowball

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Snowball

Buffet had Kay and I have Sam, sure I am not Buffet but boy am I lucky! Always dreamed of a Kay Graham when I was reading through the pages of “Snowball”. Kay was great, she was powerful, she had influence and everybody loved her – Buffet was impressionable, eager, bright and destined for greatness. His teachings are right, thank God I idolized him.

Operate with a margin of safety,
have an inner scorecard,
stay within your circle of competence,
read books – any type of books,
boring is good,

you’ll never be rich if you’re normal
and always think long-term.

I am not exactly a millionaire but he was not one till 32. To my credit, I am surrounded by millionaires, I just have to put two and two together and stay on that wavelength and then I’ll get my first million. He had Benjamin Graham, that speeds things up. I am not Buffet, he was good with numbers, rational and an MBA graduate. I was horrible at maths, I lost a lot of money on Forex (pure speculation) and a University dropout. Still, facts are facts, Berkshire Hathaway was a mistake, he was emotional, he screwed the other guy because the other guy was trying to screw him, leading to a bad business decision. Berkshire was still a fading and failing textile business, he got played. Lemons to lemonade, he stripped Berkshire of its assets and kept it, altering its business model and practice.

Buffet had Kay and I have Sam, even the names roll easy on the tongue, I am blessed. Sam introduced me to high society and the best people in the world. I dreamed and fantasized about this when I was reading through the pages of Snowball. I am not Buffet, he had a great wife, two wonderful children and an established home. Yes, they stayed at his parents for a while but they eventually moved out. I just have “antakalipa”. There’s still a lot I have to get right, I am well behind. My Snowball is accumulating speed and mass.

Buffet had Kay and I have Sam, I love Sam like how Buffet loved Kay. I dreamed of this when I was paging through the pages of Snowball. Taught me “with great power comes great responsibility” a simple one, Ben Parker, a quote you take for granted when you are Peter Parker and one you never forget as “Spider-Man”!

As you turn 30, you lose confidence in yourself and ideas. The world even pushes you to the side, your spirit gets sucked out of your body, you become the labels society assigns, you become the accumulation of your past years. I worked hard to be the person that I wanted. I worked hard to be an individual. I chose my path, I walked alone. I never wanted to fit in a construct. I want my fate in my hands. I chose “antakalipa” to be what defines me. I will serve millions of people around the world, it’s my destiny. I’ve been following the teachings of Buffet since my 20’s and now my Snowball is a rolling boulder, gaining traction and momentum, becoming bigger in the process. It took a while, I am a value investor. There will come a time when I’ll be unstoppable. This has always been the plan.

Buffet had Kay and I have Sam, I dreamed about her as I was paging through Snowball. Warren Buffet by far, the biggest influence of my life.

Teacher Gertrude

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Teacher Gertrude

When I was in school, I used to collect “full attendance” certificates. I came to school every day even on the day’s when I wasn’t writing. Marking the register was always priority. Exam season, we would be like 4 or 5 in the classroom, I didn’t care, it was cool. We didn’t have classwork, the teachers were liberated and you basically got a free pass to go anywhere. In the 3rd grade my teacher got pregnant and was replaced by a substitute teacher “Miss Gertrude”. Teacher Gertrude didn’t like me at all. She thought I was ‘stout’, mischievous and loud. I did all my classwork and homework but that was not enough. She used to weaponize the prize giving ceremony against me. “Do this or you won’t go to prize giving. Shut up or you won’t go to prize giving”, it got stale and lost all potency. Her threats stopped being credible, they weren’t based on anything real so they didn’t change my conduct. She would scold and shout at me. Prize giving season came and legible students got invitations, true to her word, I didn’t get an invitation, I was not going to prize giving. It didn’t hit me too hard because I knew I’d get a “full attendance” certificate. I’d been perfect all year, no missed day. Teacher Gertrude took that away from me too. She said I’d been absent for 1 day, I pleaded my case and advised her she was mistaken but she said the register doesn’t lie. I was fully present under Mrs. Bosman for three terms and I happen to miss one day under Miss Gertrude? How nice. A stain on my record. She didn’t mark me on the register. I was fuming. The first time I had ever felt injustice. That year I attended every day of school for nothing! No certificate, no recognition, just nothing! There were days when I could have missed school but I didn’t because I wanted that certificate. I went to school every day only for the substitute teacher to void my year. Teacher Gertrude took away my full attendance certificate! There was no ways of telling too because you only got that certificate on the last day of the school year. I was genuinely thunderstruck when I saw that 1 day absent on my report card. Mrs. Bosman why did you have to get pregnant and leave me with Teacher Gertrude? Everything was great, you introduced me to poetry but then you were pregnant and everything changed! Teacher Gertrude was the first person to teach me human nature. You can take prize giving away from me but don’t deny me of my full attendance certificate. Denying me of full attendance is diabolical because it’s blatant, you see me every day, it’s a lie, it’s unprofessional. If it weren’t for poetry, I never would have gotten anything that year. You didn’t win Teacher Gertrude, poetry exonerated me.

I was always disappointed with Teacher Gertrude but I forgive you. I have always been a bit of a perfectionist, Mr. Hyperacheiver, only now I see that it can be used against me just like how Teacher Gertrude once did.

When I was class captain, I strived to do things the right way. My numbers were always perfect and I made sure teachers signed the register after every period. I was exemplary, the administration side of the office loved me. I still went to school every day and I never cheated anybody out of a “full attendance” because I know how it feels. You didn’t win Teacher Gertrude.

That’s Entertainment

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That’s Entertainment

Folie a deux is actually a masterpiece. It’s all in the name, a delusion shared by two people. Arthur Flecks life is a mess, he knows he messed up, he knows he is going away for a long time. He disassociates, he doesn’t live in the real world anymore. He is cooped up in his own world, he is disillusioned with the real world. No one treats him like a human being in the real world. He finds an escape in a girl who idolize’s “Joker”. His shadow finds an outlet and expresses itself. “Joker” manifests himself in the real world, he finds a stage and for the first time in a while, Arthur feels alive again. His “Joker” persona makes him feel alive and it makes sense too, when he is Arthur, he is dark and disillusioned with life but as “Joker”, he has on a colorful costume and make-up. “Joker” is who he wishes he can be but he doesn’t acknowledge that he is “Joker”, it’s all an act for him – entertainment. He doesn’t see and understand “Jokers” darkness, this makes him a stranger to himself. For him being “Joker” is an escape, he is stuck in a rut, he is depressed, he still hates himself because that doesn’t go away and “Joker” makes him daydream about life. When he puts on his costume and make-up, he can put on a show, the world is a stage, he can do anything, he can be anyone but that’s a delusion because we still live in a real world and he is trialed for murdering 5 people, 1 on live TV and 6 if you add his mother. When he fires his lawyer and defends himself as “Joker”, he doesn’t see the gravity of the situation, he puts on a show, the world is a stage, he is so delusional. Who could blame him? His love interest perpetuates and enhances this delusion, she enables Arthur, she gives him an escape, an avenue for “Joker” to express himself, she also dons her costume and make-up so she too can be “Joker”. Arthur thinks this girl is there for him but she is only there for “Joker”. When Arthur denounces “Joker”, the delusion stops and she goes away. She was never real. Arthur denies his shadow and it ends up murdering him because he can’t see it. It’s a delusion of two, Folie a deux but this is also a sequel.

The biggest criticism of the movie is that it’s a musical but that’s entertainment. It’s a creative decision and it’s still a psychological thriller. How else are you going to depict Arthur’s delusion and state of mind. He is literally locked-up, he is disillusioned with the world and it wants to kill him. He can only daydream about a better existence. A musical shows us his frame of mind. “Critically acclaimed” is usually jargon for realistic and accurate – the first movie was that in abundance. It chronicled Arthur’s life in a way that was believable and his dissent to hell made sense observing his character arc. The sequel explores his state of mind, his shadow is not something that is hidden anymore, it’s in the open and Arthur gives it a platform. The shadow is not logical, that’s why a musical is perfect. Musicals have illogical time frames and they are delusional in nature because they don’t happen in real life. Folie a deux = delusion shared by two people, it’s also a sequel (2) and Arthur is murdered by his shadow (his second self). This was clearly thought out, if this is not genius, I don’t know what is. Maybe the sequel was a money grab, you could certainly make a point and say it didn’t warrant one but that’s entertainment, the world demanded it! I do understand the backlash because I was initially one of the guys who pushed back. I didn’t understand, I needed to suspend my judgment and finish the damn movie but I was scared they would tarnish the legacy of the first movie and they didn’t. This is definitely a polarizing movie but as a student of Jung, I will defend this sequel to my last breath.

The box office and awards are not always everything, the product must have soul and integrity. It cannot pander to widespread perceptions about what it should be. The vision is the vision. The Director is also the writer and producer, he understands the source material better than anyone, he created it. It’s literally his story-world, to think it could have been done better is arrogant. Sometimes the media catches on and the audience loves it garnering you acclaim, awards and fortune and sometimes its a miss. Win or lose, the product still has to have soul and integrity. The story continues on Folie a deux and it is told in the best possible way. If you don’t see it, you don’t understand the premise of the movie. This was always shadow work that’s why Joker has mass appeal.