Sims - the 3D dolls

My daughter loves to play with the Sims. Her Sims are PG rated Castaways and she is always saying "Look at what I am calling this one", and designing new outfits, makeup and even faces for them. They have families and surprisingly sophisticated castaway homes. I wouldn't mind being one of her Sims, but couldn't understand the fascination with the game. Then the penny dropped.

We used to play with dolls. There was Barbie, also with wardrobe accessories, sold separately (always losing her shoes) and some kids had Ken or Action Men. Kids played pretend with dolls and these dolls had lives and families or in the case of boys' action figures, attacked the other dolls and their families. So the Sims is kind of another way of playing dolls, while kids also learn the processes involved in day-to-day living.

Now all I have to figure out is why adults are still playing with their Sim-dolls...?

From Colonel to OB1

I watched "Bridge over the River Kwai" starring John Gielgud (later Sir) of which I had vague childhood memories. And for a cold, winter afternoon, became totally immersed in the steamy Burmese jungle - slapping away mosquitoes. So beautiful and yet so cruel.

What an amazing actor. To think that Gielgud would later become known to an entire younger generation only as OB1 (or Ben Kenobi) in the first Star Wars epic is ironic. He portrays the colonel of a captured British force so convincingly - courageous, eccentric and totally confounding. (Only matched perhaps by Peter Sellers as Major Bloodknock in the Goon Show.) The story is moving, frustrating and brilliantly filmed.

Run to Lady Antebellum's grindingly good country

A deep, velvet voice grinds out the words:

"I run from hate
I run from prejudice
I run from pessimists
But I run to thee (this?)"

Then the creamy, silken tones:

"I run my life
Or is it running me?
Run from my past
I run too fast
Or too slow it seems"

Then combine the two:

"When lies become the truth
That's when I run to you"

And it's magic.

"This world keeps spinning faster/To a new disaster" is perfect harmony.
"When it all starts coming undone
Baby you're the only one I run to
I run to you".

Anything better? Maybe another dose with "I need you now"? Lady Antebellum is grindingly good country.

Amazing art

From portraits of babies, to lions glowing on velvet and stunning murals, local artist Gareth Humphreys creates work full of life, light and beauty.

He is also a sculptor and created a beautiful dolphin for Amber's Path. This is a unique area of its own, designed by a grandmother as a creative, fun area for her granddaughter, but then contributed to by other children in the community.

Gareth is a self-taught artist and has built up a portfolio for the past nine years that includes portraits from photographs, murals, landscapes, bathroom designs and painted mosaics. The music playing in the background alters according to the mood of the painting. As Rachmaninov plays in the background, he looks out from his studio over the ocean and paints or chats to passers-by.

But it has to be one of those still, warm days, with the sun shining off the sea. A sleepy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Folk walking dogs, children riding bicycles and an artist, painting.
To see more of his work, visit http://www.southafricanartists.com/