The Saturday Star (South Africa) back issues from July 2008:
king of kings; How the walls came tumbling down.(Travel)
Jul 05, 2008 ... Persepolis is rarely mentioned in ancient records. Archaeologists speculate that the existence of the city was kept secret. It was initially known as Parsa. But in the records that remain, the first reference to it is as Persepolis - meaning both the "city of Parsa" and ...
Make; A barge one please.(Travel)
Jul 05, 2008 ... I am pretending to fish. I've borrowed a rod that seems to stretch halfway across the canal where I'm sitting and the fisherman who lent it to me while he went to the bar for an aperitif said that I might catch "une carpe", a carp. I hope I don't, and I'm doing my best not to. ...
Flower power; Along the Cape's Groot Toren 4X4 Trail.(Travel)
Jul 05, 2008 ... When Jacie Oosthuizen, co-owner of the Groot Toren private nature reserve near McGregor said the 4x4 trail was for nature lovers, we had our doubts. But then we are hikers and amateur botanists and our discussion about 4x4 trails the previous evening were still fresh in our minds. The next ...
Easter; An extraordinary place.(Travel)
Jul 05, 2008 ... As you enter the arrivals hall in Easter Island's tiny airport a garland of flowers is draped around your neck, a welcome more fitting of Polynesia than Chile. Santiago, Chile's capital city lies some 3 700km to the east, Tahiti is 4 000km west while Easter Island's nearest inhabited ...
Hangin' out; at the Praca Olimpio Campos.(Travel)
Jul 05, 2008 ... Journeying up from the south by bus or plane, the first truly north-eastern city you'll stumble upon is Aracaju, a city with a startling modern feeling about it. Lying on the Sergipe River, the city's pavements are neat and clean, while the crowds that mill around the pedestrian ways of ...
A Paradise; with brass knobs on!(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... The word "paradise" cops a hiding these days. A few swooning coconut palms, a scrap of sand and a lurid sunset, and that word "paradise" limps into view. Tired, overworked and underachieving, "paradise" has lost its punch, and so it is that I am left with no single word for Lord Howe ...
Cloud forests; Quebradas and Llamas.(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... Local tourist authorities in Argentina try hard to promote their towns by using epithets: Mendoza is described as the cleanest city in Argentina; Tupungato and Londres vie for the title of the capital of the walnut; while El Bolson is the undisputed capital of the youngberry. Normally ...
Bustling Brazil; to the beat of DAILY DOWNPOURS.(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... On a peninsula jutting out into the brown waters of the Amazon River lies Belem, one of the hottest and rainiest cities in the world. With almost daily showers it is easy to see why the city was once famed as the "Paris of the tropics". Old Parisian-looking statues and bronze ...
Pangong; deep in the Himalayas.(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... The road to Pangong Tso is a single-lane dirt track that zigzags across the mountains in a ribbon of dust. Sometimes you only know you are on the road, as indistinguishable as it is from the surrounding barren, stony ground, because the dust is more compressed on the "road", and thus ...
Game; FOR YOUNG AND OLD.(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... Game viewing with young children is often just not any fun at all. The animals are too far away and don't do much; sharing binoculars leads to sibling rivalry and bodily harm; the game vehicle is uncomfortable and air-conditioning absent; whispering to avoid scaring the rhino swiftly loses ...
The Door; of No Return.(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... The door banged, leaving us in darkness with no ventilation. Racing pulse, sweat trickling down my spine, I imagined being closed in the tiny cell with 60 others. "But Africans are strong," said guide Philip Amoa-Mensah, speaking of the slaves who had attempted to escape. "Those who ...
Lying; in lovely limpopo.(Travel)
Jul 12, 2008 ... It is common for people like me who live on the Garden Route to imagine that the beauty we enjoy at home is the best in the country. It has its points, of course, but a visit to Limpopo recently was a pleasant reminder that we don't have a complete monopoly on natural beauty. ...
ARIES.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... Mar 21-Apr 21 (086-7133-501) Today: You are reminded that daily physical activity is vitally necessary, preferably taken outdoors, for the attainment and maintenance of good wellbeing. Assuming you have lost shapeliness and conditioning, start a new exercise routine now. ...
TEEN VIEWWanted.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... FFFFG In this comic book adaptation, a mousy loser who's used to being trampled on by his boss and his mates finds he's an A-grade assassin in his genes, and is transformed into a killing machine. The ...
Wanted.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... It's time for another graphic novel to find the big screen, and with greater success than was the case with Sin City. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a mild-mannered fellow who allows himself to be shabbily treated by employers and peers alike, discovers the truth about his largely absent ...
Engagement leaves romance at the altar.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... A Mediterranean rendezvous sets the stage for a whole mess of frantic behaviour in A Previous Engagement, a forced farce that fails to showcase its normally talented cast members to engaging effect. This interminable international co-production is an intended sun-drenched, ...
Builder finds 'priceless' Tolkien postcard.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... A demolition man stripping a fireplace from the former home of The Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien stumbled across a postcard to the writer dated 1968, and hopes to sell it for a small fortune. Stephen Malton, who runs Prodem Demolition in Bournemouth on the south English ...
LEILA blooms; Bewitching album marks comeback.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... Leila Arab fled Iran in 1979 and - drawing on influences that include Salvador Dali and Bjork - is now one of the most distinctive forces in pop music. Those who arrived in good time for Bjork's spectacular recent British live shows were rewarded with another kind of performance ...
Bellissimo! Kung-fu panda; It may look like a toy, but it's well made, reliable,cheeky and packs a punch, writes Brendan Seery.(Life)
Jul 12, 2008 ... If I have one real complaint about Fiat's Panda 100Hp, it's the name. Panda implies something cute and cuddly (which the car undoubtedly is) but also toy-like, childish and not serious. And this little Panda is anything but ... After a few months with the Panda as a long-term ...
Suzuki's Boulevard is a bit like Charles Atlas at a nerds' convention.(Life)
Jul 12, 2008 ... BYLINE: Greg Baxter How to describe the Suzuki VZR 1800 Boulevard? At The Star's Snowball Run earlier this year, the Suzy was like some Charles Atlas bodybuilder-type pitching up at a nerds' convention and finding himself surrounded by 50kg weaklings, their pockets full of pens ...
From intriguing to hilarious.(Entertainment)
Jul 12, 2008 ... The South African stage production of Disney's Beauty and The Beast, which is gearing up to open at Montecasino's Teatro in October, is all cast and set to go. Except, that is, for a cup called Chip. Producers Pieter Toerien and Hazel Feldman are looking for a plucky boy aged 8 ...
Lovely; No garden should be without a lemon tree and now is the time to plant them.(Life)(Recipe)
Jul 12, 2008 ... A lemon tree is the ultimate Mediterranean decor asset in every garden. The yellow fruit is highly ornamental, the glossy evergreen foliage is attractive all year round and the blossoms are highly fragrant. In addition, it is very handy to have lemons instantly available for use in ...
The humble sweet thorn has a lot going for it.(Life)
Jul 12, 2008 ... BYLINE: Beverley Ballard-Tremeer What characteristics make the sweet thorn (Acacia karroo) so remarkable? Gardeners find it an attractive shade tree, with its massed display of sweetly scented, golden-yellow blooms on show from late spring onwards, while its ability to survive ...
Give the garden a designer look.(Life)
Jul 12, 2008 ... BYLINE: Kay Montgomery Would you like to create an inspired townhouse garden? The 40 show gardens created at the Chelsea Flower Show in London each year are about the size of a local townhouse garden. As cutting-edge small gardens, they provide inspiration for many landscapers ...
Family murders surging; A new study investigates the reasons. Mbali Kubheka reports.(News)
Jul 12, 2008 ... On a Saturday night, around 8pm, while you sit down to a meal with your family or catch a movie; something goes off in the mind of a killer. Something unknown, something fatal, something that eats at him so much that it perhaps is what drives him to kill those he holds dear to him. ...
It's Cold; On Top of the World.(Travel)
Jul 19, 2008 ... 'No scared?" asks my Inuit guide, Sam. Truth is, I was terrified. We'd just climbed a 5 000 foot (1 524m), snow-covered mountain peak on Nunavut's Bylot Island, our snowmobile just barely making it to the zenith. Perched at the top and about to begin a frightening, 75-degree ...
Final Countdown; To the olympic games on a personal 'bucket list'.(Travel)
Jul 19, 2008 ... When I let slip to my family over pasta one evening that China was on my immediate peripatetic radar, I got the collective "look". My children searched expectantly for the fun-in-the-sun brochures I normally prime them with and my husband Michael gave me the raised eyebrow as if to say; ...
desert; syria, an ancient land.(Travel)
Jul 19, 2008 ... I am standing in a tiny stone church at the monastery of St Serge in western Syria, surrounded by Byzantine icons that would take all my attention but for a woman trussed in scarves who is praying out loud. The altar where she prays is a semicircular slab of marble, a remnant from the ...
Rising; IN the mother city.(Travel)
Jul 19, 2008 ... The days are getting longer and many people are wondering how they will spend their Christmas holidays. Those with bucks may be contemplating the Far East, Mauritius, Alaska, or the Cape Grace. At the other end of the scale many who have been severely whacked by the rise in interest rates, ...
Coming to you in 3-D, tattooed and in heels.(Entertainment)(Theater review)
Jul 19, 2008 ... The Real-D 3D digital cinemas at The Zone in Rosebank and Gateway in Durban proved so successful with audiences that NuMetro has opened one up at their Cineplex at Montecasino. And now Ster-Kinekor Theatres has extended this immersive movie experience to other major centres. ...
Indulge in some engineering; It's a sublime piece of machinery, writes Brendan Seery.(Life)
Jul 19, 2008 ... I imagine that American lawyers would rub their hands in greedy anticipation at the arrival of the new Jaguar XF sports saloon. Not that the car's faulty or badly made, but Jaguar's schizophrenic attitude towards its product leaves, I would think, a nice little legal loophole for litigious ...
ARIES.(Entertainment)
Jul 19, 2008 ... Mar 21-Apr 21 (086-7133-501) Today: If you are not posting notable progress, you can probably attribute your predicament to a negative mindset. You must snap out of it before it renders you impotent in the mental sense. Invite suggestions in order to get operational again. ...
TODAY.(Entertainment)
Jul 19, 2008 ... Youth Show Jumping Extravaganza and Young Riders Championships of SA: Today and tomorrow at Maple Ridge Equestrian Farm, 40 minutes from Sandton in the Cradle of Humankind. Show jumping, spot prizes, food, pony rides, craft market. Call Vivienne Tothill on 082-606-0794. 150 ...
Woo kicks Chinese film back into shape with Red Cliff.(Entertainment)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Min Lee A true epic needs more than the grandeur of its landscapes, the lavishness of its sets and the sheer manpower of its battle scenes: It needs a truly epic story. John Woo displays the crucial distinction in the magnificently told Red Cliff, the Hong ...
Throw us a curve ball Hollywood plot twists that made the movies.(Entertainment)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: David Germain A Will Smith movie packs in millions of people. No surprises there. Yet Smith's Hancock, the tale of an anti-social boozer who happens to be a superhero, comes with an abrupt plot twist, one that has divided critics and the moviegoing public in ...
Lust, Caution.(Entertainment)
Jul 19, 2008 ... There's been a lot of buzz around this movie, but, sadly most of it hasn't been around the fact that it's the latest Ang Lee film, but rather, that its sex scenes are the real McCoy. I pity the viewer who's dragged him or herself into the theatre for a sexy romp-fest, as these scenes ...
Wife abuse is rife in SA, and knows no barriers.(Life)
Jul 19, 2008 ... During the normal course of my work I regularly treat people who are victims of violence. These are ordinary South Africans who have survived hijackings, muggings and robberies. Some have endured terrible beatings and torture, and most inevitably end up suffering from post-traumatic stress ...
Lowering SA's moral threshold to accommodate the ANC is a no-no.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... It has taken me time, but I am becoming fond of the leaders of the ANC alliance. The fresh thinking they have brought to our political and socio-economic discourse and the simple, yet innovative, solutions they propose to some of South Africa's intractable problems have convinced me that ...
Rest now, Madiba.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... The world's most famous living statesman has been hogging the headlines these last few weeks, and perfectly rightly too. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela turned 90 yesterday, and the celebrations still haven't ended as the world, without exception, doffs its cap in recognition and respect of a ...
Hidden agenda behind court merger? Constitutional law expert believes move will put ANC in position to control judiciary.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Candice Bailey A merger of the country's two top courts is politically motivated and would put the ANC in a perfect position to control the judiciary, a top constitutional law expert has warned. Marinus Wiechers, a former professor of public law and ...
Caught in chain mail, but they can't fool me!(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... For a virus or infection to spread rapidly, and far and wide, it requires a vector, a medium through which it is easily transmitted. The internet is the vector for humanity's stupidity and gullibility. Every week, sometimes every day, our e-mail inboxes are invaded by "serious" ...
Squabble over Mandela art in London gallery; Close the exhibition, say his trademark lawyers.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Justine Gerardy Nelson Mandela's lawyers have instructed London attorneys to act against a prominent art gallery for opening a 90th birthday exhibition of disputed artworks. The Belgravia Gallery in Mayfair opened the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Exhibition ...
Not a patch on Polyfilla when it comes to seeing an advertising gap.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... There hasn't been much to smile about recently - and for some, the collapse of Oxford Road in Joburg (just above the Gautrain drilling) was another indication of wider collapse. Fortunately, Joburg hasn't lost its sense of humour completely. Last week a simple print ad was a ...
Final fling crowning glory for top schools.(Sports)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Theo Garrun The local schools rugby season resumes today when the final in the various leagues will be played. The final of the Golden Lions Macro Schools takes place at Hoerskool Roodepoort, while the big, small and medium schools all play at Florida ...
The Stars and Stripes of success; Why does the US lead in terms of top branding? They believe in themselves.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Adelle Wapnick The most recent Interbrand Top 100 Brand Survey revealed that out of the top 10 brands in the world, seven are American. On a recent trip to the United States, this got me wondering what it is that enables the country, or its people, to achieve the success ...
Housing market is down but far from out.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: David Pincus While pessimists claim the property market is in freefall and on the verge of grinding to a halt, people are still buying, and entrepreneurs are still developing properties for sale. Jacques du Toit, Absa's senior property analyst, says: ...
Founders KEEPERS.(Life)
Jul 19, 2008 ... In what seems like the bat of an eyelid, the annual Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank Wine Festival comes around again next week. Compared with larger wine expos, it's fair to call Juliet's jamboree a boutique showcase. Running since 1992, it presents only about 60 producers in a venue that ...
Sex in space is a weighty issue.(Life)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Tim Shipman America must begin preparing astronauts for sex in space if it is serious about sending people to Mars, according to one of the government's advisers. Dr Jason Kring said astronauts might have to emulate polar explorers and take a colleague as a ...
Different strokes for different fruit.(Life)
Jul 19, 2008 ... Did you know that different fruit types have different pruning requirements, and that some should never be heavily pruned from their third year of growth onwards? The basics of pruning never change. When you remove a branch, cut it right back to the larger stem from which it is ...
Hijack syndicates link Gauteng, Cape Town.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Candice Bailey Police are investigating links between Cape Town hijacking syndicates and licensing authorities within the Gauteng Traffic Department after several luxury vehicles hijacked in the city were found to have Gauteng-based licences. Police believe ...
Ronaldo and Real: match made in hell.(Sports)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: James Lawton There is not much point in lecturing Cristiano Ronaldo on the meaning of slavery or loyalty or reasons why he might be grateful for being young and beautiful and receiving a huge weekly wage from a great football club who invested in his talent and sang his ...
Playmaker a slave? Well he is to his ...(Sports)
Jul 19, 2008 ... [pounds sterling]150000 silver Bentley With its red leather interior and remote control soft-top. But he will occasionally drag himself away to his newer, black Porsche. Or else the BMW he bought as a Manchester runaround for his sisters, who kept scraping his Jeep. There are ...
'Poor' Frank Lampard has lost the plot.(Sports)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Jeff Powell David Beckham was required to spend only half his weekly wage on the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe in which he took one of his sons out to dinner in Los Angeles this week. The biggest earner on Planet Football - [pounds sterling]492000 ...
Winter's looking Bleak; Few can now afford to live off the fat of the land, writes Justine Gerardy.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... When the first no-meat meals arrived, the residents of the Frederic Place Old Age Home made sure that management knew they didn't approve. "Macaroni cheese? They hate it," recalls director Denise Foley. "They live from meal to meal - it's the highlight of their day - and the ...
6 tips on how to cope with debt stress.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... Seek help and not more credit. Know what you spend and shock yourself into cutting back on luxuries. That's the advice for coping with debt stress as economists put forward mixed forecasts of whether South Africans are facing a pending recession. "Consumers are ...
Unaffordability means people resort to stealing for survival.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Heidi Kingstone Sitting in the narrow strip of shade provided from a tin roof, Mary sells her chapatis for 10 shillings each. She needs to sell 30 a day, but business isn't good. While her prices haven't gone up, the size of the chapati has grown smaller. Just in front ...
Gauteng told it must grow or else face decline.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Thabiso Thakali Gauteng's economic growth must be driven at a faster pace if the province hopes to deal with its development challenges and become a competitive global city region. This is the critical role the new chief executive of the Gauteng Economic Development ...
New champion trees for the record books.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Sheree Bega An awe-inspiring collection of trees - including some record-breakers that would tower above a 15-storey building - are set to become South Africa's next generation of "champion" trees. The r24 new contenders up for proclamation as champions by ...
Surviving a tragedy, only to be faced by a crisis.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Helen Bamford Cape Town's Debbie Adlington, who lost her three children in a brutal family murder six years ago, loves being a mom again. Kylie-Ann (2), with her long blonde curls and wide smile, has given her a reason to live. "I sometimes think if it hadn't ...
False ads lure girls into prostitution.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Helen Bamford Cape Town teenagers, some from top southern suburbs schools, are being duped into prostitution by misleading advertisements offering huge salaries and incentive bonuses. The advertisements, run in daily newspapers, offer posts for "masseuse/ ...
THE GREAT Biofuels BLUFF; Growing crops for oilwas supposed to solveglobal warming. Now, asfood prices soar, biofuels stand condemned as a crime against humanity.Christopher Booker andRichard North report.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... Rarely in political history can there have been such a rapid and dramatic reversal of a received wisdom as we have seen in the past 18 months over biofuels - the cropping of living plants, such as soya beans, wheat and sugarcane, to generate energy. Two years ago biofuels were ...
Tutu decries billions spent on weapons as millions go hungry.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Sheree Bega and Kashiefa Ajam Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu has lashed out against the "war on terror", declaring that trillions of dollars were being spent on instruments of death while people were going hungry. Tutu was speaking this week on the global ...
Big match for Sharks, Cheetahs.(Sports)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Kevin McCallum Shortly after Coca-Cola threw loads and loads of money at Ellis Park until they said "I do", the Lions coach Eugene Eloff was asked if any of that cash was coming his way. If it was, what would he spend it on? "If I did get some money, I would ...
Cosatu to bring Joburg to standstill.(News)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Thabiso Thakali Gauteng can expect a total shutdown of businesses, transport and other services on Wednesday when Cosatu members embark on a protest action over rising costs of food, fuel and electricity. The trade union federation and taxi operators warned ...
Peter's Gold-en boys have Muir fun.(Sports)
Jul 19, 2008 ... BYLINE: Jacques van der Westhuyzen Perth South African rugby teams - be they the Springboks or Super 14 outfits - have generally struggled in the past to maintain focus in the latter stages of a long overseas tour. But Bok coach Peter de Villiers believes his charges ...