RIP to a great South African - Leon Botha. A true pioneer of the revolution.

TYLER B MURPHY

My tattoo artist and one of my favorite South Africans now has a blog. Add Tyler B Murphy to your bookmarks.  I did a little interview thing on him a while ago which you can check here.
He is a great artist and a brave warrior in the African revolution.

Umshini Wam - a movie starring Die Antwoord

DIE ANTWOORD - RICH BITCH

YO YO YO YOlandi Vi$$er - Tik is kak!

DIE ANTWOORD by DIE ANTWOORD

You are always going to be a little confused if you aren't from SA. But they explain it best.

New art by Faith 47 in Cape Town

EVERYBODY'S BACKYARD

"The project was sponsored by the British Council but, says Faith47, “The image now belongs to Cape Town, to its curse and its cure, to the variety of perception that makes up our complex city”.

FAITH 47

Read more over at INDABA

More next level from Die Antwoord ...HO$H

Fuck.  This new tune REEKS of Diplo...and I love it.  And he is looking MIGHTY dang fine in this video...seriously, I crave this man even though he has been given a Ninja haircut for it...ehrm, anyway.  I don't even know if I would like Die Antwoord if I wasn't South African ... I am still confused why anyone who isn't from SA is obsessed with these little fucking weirdo's but hey, I ain't gonna complain...it's about time that something else other than mindless racism and rape statistics put us on the map.  Actually, I think it's the swaying, unsupported cocks in jocks that we are becoming more known for.

This video is pretty increds though.  Trust Ninja and Yolandi to touch on the fucked sitch of unsafe ritual circumcision amongst our African brothers which often leads to death or puts men at a high risk of contracting HIV which is as common as a headache in my land.  I could go on and on about this, but this will explain it better than I ever could.

Seuns en Meisies, hier is 'Evil Boy' by Die Antwoord.  Ninja is rocking it with his Prawn arm, hahaha ...it's actually pretty dope.  Although I know dem dancers got those gold leggings from Edgars...I picked some up in Cape Town last year.  Now if only another 'owl like' South African and Diplo could collaborate...*sigh*

Did I mention Diplo takes his top off?  Mudda fukka.

MOTEL 7 - Artist

I am one lucky little Owlie, because I get to have Motel 7 design my banners. And let me tell you, she is one busy lass, so my appreciation is abundant.  But then again, she is South African AND female so her multi tasking skills will be off the hizzay.  How cute is my new banner?!  And furthermore, how talented and amazoid is this chick?!  She has been one of the best fem writers on the scene back in Rape Town for yonks, and now Europe get to have her.  But this ain't no Australia claiming Kiwi people kinda type thing, Motel represents Africa in all she does...even if it is just the drinking. I kid....she represents Africa with her originality, her tenacity and strength during tough times and quirkiness.  My favourite stuff are her girls...how fucking dope are they?  I interviewed her a year ago here when she did my original banner (miss you!) and I thought we'd do a bit of catch up with Ms Motel, Hotel Holiday iiiiiiiiiiiiin!  Fuck I love this bird...you will too, read more after the jump ...  

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TYLER B MURPHY - Tattoo Artist

I like to go back to Africa every so often and pay homage to the land that reared me. On my last trip I paid Sins of Style a visit and Tyler hooked me up with a tattoo of an anchor on my inner arm. I wanted something meaningful done in my home town and I felt it was appropriate, it is also a reminder to keep my shit together - prolly better I use that meaning actually. Tyler opened his own shop on Bree Street in Cape Town in 2008 after making a name for himself as one of Cape Towns best tattoo artists. I knew him from when we were teens and my then boyfriend used to skate with him ... it's a small world is little Kaapstad. I've always known him as a pretty dope graffiti artist, so when I heard he started picking up tattoo needles I knew he was gonna be increds. Like seriously, I only ever really want Tyler to put permanent shit on my skin. The boy has skills...everyone in Cape Town knows who Tyler B Murphy is, even Ninja from Die Antwoord hits him up. Ol' Murphy is also a bit of a chiller so he took his time getting back to me on these answers...no biggie..it's a chiller you want getting up close and personal with a sharp object and your skin anyway, you dig? Richly finished tattoos done by a hell of a man, look it up if you are ever lucky enough to visit the Mother City.

Ninja

I am happy ... that I live by the beach. I can catch a skate and watch the sun set a stones throw away from the waters edge.

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Mama Africa

Isaiah 51:1 Look to the rock from which
you were cut and to the quarry from which you were
hewn;

The world cup is about to kick off in a week. How could I forget with the 400 out of my 900 facebook friends being in South Africa and reminding me with countless status updates! Urgh. This is the fucking worst thing about travelling ... I don't mean international sporting events, I mean when something mega rad happens back home and you aren't there! You can't even claim it just because you are South African and the event is being held in South Africa. Nah...sozz buddy, doesn't count. You have to actually be on African soil to claim any kind of affiliation.

I have no kids but the pride I feel for my country is probably similar to that of a parents pride for their spawn, er I mean children. Like if they do real well at school or some shit, as a parent, you just feel like you have done something great too because you are connected to the little grommit. Meantime, it's the kid that did all the work and the folks actually didn't do shit. When I hear Die Antwoord are involved in some kind of zef style world domination, or Faith 47 has produced yet another work of beauty, when I see Nelson Mandela on the telly (I reckon old mate is gonna live forever hey) or when they advertise South African trips before the movie starts at the cinema, my little jaded heart swells with boastful pride. I wanna scream out, 'Hey! That's where I'm from! How fucking cool is it?!' But what good would it do? Does it even count?

The thing is, I don't even really FEEL South African anymore. I think I developed some kind of protective installation in my brain that stops me from becoming a nostalgic mess. I live by the saying, 'I live where ever I am' - and up until now, it has worked for me. Except when the place in which I was hewn going quite frankly "fucking berserk" I can't help but feeling that I might be missing all the fun.

Sterkte x

ZEF SIDE

First thing I thought of as soon as I heard Die Antwoord were receiving world recognition: "Does anyone who isn't South African understand what they're saying?" Generally us saffers are left shocked and amazed by the blatant ignorance concerning our fascinating country from outsiders. No we don't just get shot walking down the road, no we don't have slaves (we pay our slaves, so they not technically slaves...we even let them eat inside and use our toilets these days) and we aren't all arrogant. We just like to get shit done. Unfortunately, we don't come from a 'no worries' culture.

So enter the Ninja... They might seem like some fad to you or a joke. But these guys are basically the voice of the new South Africa. They are doing more good for the country and reuniting more classes and races than our bullshit current government could hope for. During tough times with possible civil wars hanging over our heads, Julius Malema (our ANC youth leader) just being alive in general and just the overall shit storm that comes with being a South African these days...Die Antwoord inject some much needed humour and glorifying the very unique and raw culture that comes from not only SA, but Cape Town - that no one else could ever really understand, no matter how much we try to explain. So many might think they are weird...and to you they are, but they make us remember why it's super fokkin kwaai to be from SA. Not that we needed reminding.

Jeremy Nell - Cartoonist

I'll be honest...I first added Jeremy as a friend on facebook because I thought he was someone I went to school with. However, his funny as hell/sarcastic status updates gave it away, because there was no fucking way that the person I thought he was could have thought of such hilarity. So after a bit of a lurk (come on, you know how it is) I discovered that he was the brains behind the nationally syndicated comic strip 'The Biggish Five' as well as the front page political cartoon in The Times in South Africa.

With South African politics being more unstable than a drunk teenage girl in heels, it's no wonder Jeremy (affectionately and wittily known as 'Jerm') seems to always manage to find inspiration. I love lateral thinkers, and this man is so lateral that he wears a knitted pink elephant on his head. Like...wow.

I live ... in the northern suburbs, where the okes work on their Nissan bakkies on Friday nights, play darts, listen to Kurt Darren, and wear mullets. And by "okes", I mean "chicks".

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FAITH 47

So I met Faith when I was 18 as she was a friend of my boyfriends at the time. Over the years I have watched her become one of South Africa's biggest artistic talents. One of the things I like to do whilst residing in Australia is to bring attention to the many facets of Africa and help break down the misconceptions that it is just a place about The Lion King and car jacking. I'm not sure I always succeed but it's peeps like Faith that make me proud to be not only a South African, but a Cape Tonian.

Check her latest offering - a short film called EPITAPH which was a collab with film maker Rowan Pybus and musician Inge Beckman which can be found @ http://www.acclaimmag.com/ - stay tuned for an interview with the lady conducted by yours truly ...

Thanks ACCLAIM for recognising Faith 47 and for giving the owl a little plug, you fella's make me feel excited. New issue is just about to hit the shelves. Get involved.

Let's take a breath...

Today I've been working on an interview on a much respected artist from my own country South Africa. I enjoy interviewing and I enjoy art. If I'm being honest, I just love to look at it. I love bright colours and anything that makes things beautiful. Like the icing on a cake, or a necklace on a striking woman...but her stuff is so thought provoking and not only lovely to look at, it also grips you and makes you think. It's almost like a trap...it's like you look at a wall, and think 'wow, look at that amazing graffiti' and you just peer with ignorance and innocence like a mouse would to the cheese in a mouse trap...then BAM it hits you. She is not just trying to show you something pretty, she is trying to lure you in with aesthetics and then grip you with it's message and leave you thinking and wondering what that was that you just felt. It's called emotion and this emotion is called panic. It's panic because you know things are happening and going on and this person is taking time out to create something to bring it to peoples attention and what are you doing?

I know I give a lot of tongue-in-cheek advice and pep talks like the obnoxious bird that I am. It's about boys and sex and fashion and drinking and partying and general living. After spending the day in the mind of this artist I kinda felt a little guilty for being so passionate about the mundane...but then I thought to myself, hang on, these issues are important. I call it 'Take my Advice...I don't Use it Anyway' not only because I enjoy the play on words but also because there is truth behind it. I have made mistakes, and I am still going to and sometimes, when you are in the middle of a'Fuck My Life' situation you often need to know that other people have experienced the same thing, so you aren't some kind of fucking weirdo. I also just try to say what everyone is thinking anyway.

So whilst my writing may be what I call 'whipped cream' on the dessert of life and may not make a massive dent in the world, I hope that some awkward twenty odd year old out there takes a bit of what I have to say and it makes her or him realise that 'hey, things ain't so bad'.

Spike Savage - Writer

Being a woman of no nonsense and a general 'dark' sense of humour, I tend to find that most of my friends are male. This is not a conscious decision but more of a natural development. One of my dearest and dare I say it, oldest friends, is from Cape Town where he still resides. We have a shared interest in the movie 'Mean Girls', Jack Daniels and books about women psyche. He is a talented writer who has yet to learn the art of self promotion. His work can be found in old editions of the South African skateboard and music magazine, 'Blunt'. He also runs a blog which will literally make you piss your pants with laughter. http://www.spikesavage.co.za/ He has an acute and funny take on pop culture and was pretty much my inspiration to start putting my writing out there. He would also never in a million fucking years agree to do an interview in order for me to give him a bit of a plug on Obnoxious Owl, so I asked him a couple of questions during one of our daily transatlantic emails with the intention of posting them. Here are a few tit bits of conversation, just so that you can capture the very essence that is SPIKE SAVAGE. Sorry Spike, you'll thank me later.

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THE LADY BEHIND OBNOXIOUS OWL'S NEW BANNER DESIGN - MOTEL7

Motel7 better known to me as Toyah is talent incarnate. We met 3 years ago in Cape Town, subsequently because she read one of my blogs where I was ignorantly bitching and whining about the lack of fashion sense in the Mother City and she jokingly reprimanded me and offered to take me to a new club where all the then 'cool kids' collected. I hadn't lived in South Africa for 6 years so in fact this magnificent 19 year old kid was reintroducing me to my home, and she didn't even know it. We've been tight ever since. I haven't seen her for the last two years but there has been no losing touch. Especially as she is now one of the freshest, abundantly talented and coolest fucking graffiti and fine artist that has left Africa. Rarely do you find such a humble soul underneath all this madness. Motel is young, beautiful and obviously gifted but along comes with it is a perseverance and maturity that makes her work just that much more intriguing.

I am honoured and fucking STOKED that she has taken time out between painting and preparing for a new exhibition to design my new banner for Obnoxious Owl.

OK, enough kissing her ass and let's ask this broad some questions.....

Q: SO TELL US WHERE YOU ARE CURRENTLY RESIDING AND WHY?

A: I am currently living in Oslo, Norway. Out of convenience more than anything else I guess. I have family here, and starting to get to know the people, so every day it becomes easier to live here. Next stop, Japan! (no family there mind you!)

Q: SO HOW DOES THE 'SCENE' DIFFER IN NORWAY COMPARED TO HOME?

A: The graffiti scene here in Norway is different for many reasons: Firstly, Oslo has a much older, developed understanding of graffiti. South Africa is still very divided and people struggle to get out of their bubble. Here in Oslo I can paint any style I want, and I don't get hate for it. In South Africa every piece someone does gets scrutinized on the web. I don't think they are painting enough that might be the problem....

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14 reasons why it sucked

OK so here's the deal. Me + men are a pathetic match. Yet again I have been part of a failed relationship, this time it only last 4 months and we only had sex once (it was long distance). If I'm being honest, I kinda knew it was doomed from the start, for several reasons:

1. He lived in Cape Town, and I reside in Western Australia. Great, already off to a superb start.
2. He was more jealous than that bird in Fatal Attraction - and we all know how that turned out.
3. I hated his surname. I wont mention it in respect of privacy, but seriously, it was bad.
4. He had no money, and this did not bother him. I don't have much neither, but it does bother me.
5. He was a stoner. And no, I don't mean having a sneaky joint with a beer on the weekend, I mean having a few tugs on his bong for breakfast, lunch and supper. Sometimes even a midnight snack.
6. Because of reason number 5 he had a very poor or maybe it was a 'selective' memory. i.e. "Really? Did we speak yesterday?" Yeah. I know.
7. I'm pretty sure he was cheating on me. This might explain the unreasonable jealousy.
8. I think if he went to see a shrink he would come out with 'sociopath' stamped on his report.
9. Not such a great kisser. Kinda did the pointy darty tongue thing. (OK, now I'm just being a bitch)
10. He never came to say goodbye on my last day in South Africa.
11. He didn't kiss me goodbye the morning after.
12. He never sent me a birthday card. I sent him some clothes and on my birthday he asked me for the tracking number for the parcel.
13. He asked for money, and when I was unable to give it he became nasty and petulant.
14. He was mean about my friends.

So yeah...he sounds like a winner. 'So why go out with him?' you ask....well dear readers for several reasons....ehrm...

1. I was on holiday in my home town and more bored than a student on study leave, so the night he took me out for a ride on the back of his bike and made sweet sweet love to me won me over from the start.
2. I kinda think me and him are cut from the same mould, except I have managed to see the error of my ways, and continuously try to correct them. This may sound arrogant, but blogs are meant to be honest.
3. He had some really great tattoo's.
4. In the beginning he made me feel like I was the only girl in the world.
5. When we first became 'official' he was extremely focused on sorting out visa's, passports and saving money for his plane ticket to Aus.
6. I found him incredibly alluring.
7. He was very good friends with my sister, and she never warned me. Well, she KIND of did, but it was a bit like getting a text message alert for a tornado.
8. I had someone who sent me wonderful text messages and it seriously added sparkle to my day.
9. I was desperate.

Well there you have it. 14 reasons why it was a bad idea and 9 reasons why it was swell. And lets be honest, those 9 reasons aren't even that good.

Even though he was a bit of a DICK to me, I still miss him. Yup, I'm a sucker for punishment evidently. But I'm 28 years old, by now you'd think I'd be able to get it right. *sigh*

So obviously this long distance thing came with rather large phone bills. I got my phone bill for last month and it was not nearly as humongous as I anticipated. Every cloud.....