The Bucket Babe

POST WAS REMOVED AS PER REQUEST OF THE MODEL

Intro: Bucket Babe

Since FHM Fridays was such a big success and brought me much delight after learning that one of my underdog choices for the FHM 100 actually made the list I feel the need to continue the legacy to get those aspiring models more exposure. Like I said, South Africa has a wealth of good looking female specimens and many of them are trying their utmost to crack it into the industry. I would like to help them in what ever way possible to get noticed.

Samantha Laura Kaye: Photographed by Neal Tosefsky

From now on, the Bucket will have a fornight feature called "The Bucket Babe", where I will feature model on that given Friday. The Feature will have a brief write up on the featured model as well as the most important part PICTURES for you to drool at.

Now besides me featuring girls that I find, if you are a model looking for more exposure or know of someone that is, feel free to nominate them via the comments section and we will see what we can do. Bottom line is to feature local talent. So look out for this weeks first 'Bucket Babe' on Friday!

#TBD

You've seen the hash tag, you've seen tweets about it but what exactly is #TBD? Everyone uses twitter for a purpose, whether its to vent your frustrations, share your thoughts or just as a pass time chatting to like minded folks, so with everything there is a chance to give something back. Since I spend most of my life time on twitter, I decided to get involved with this cause. Basically the Twitter Blanket Drive is a yearly event, which was started by @melanieminnaar last year and gives users the chance to go to specified locations around the country and donate a blanket for the less fortunate before the winter months roll in, this years being on the 4th of June. In exchange for the blanket one was rewarded with a cup of coffee and the chance to mix and mingle with other twitter users.

I was approached last year by @NevinSP to help photograph the event that was being hosted at Vida E, in Gateway, unfortunately due to family commitments I couldn't make it hence this year I'm throwing my weight (which is alot) behind the campaign, along with fellow Durban tweeters @waewest, @askashe, @lizlaughalot, @madammichelle & @coaxel. Although last years turn out was great, this year we're aiming to make it bigger and better with more venues, more sponsors and more importantly more time for you to make your drop off, meet and great with people doing the same.

The event will be held nationally so for more keep visting the website and search for the #TBD hashtag on twitter. That way if you want to get involved you can easily find more info on where your nearest venue is. As usual the 3 main cities have a little competition going on to see who can collect the most blankets but essentially the main winner is people who get these blankets. South African winters can get harsh as I found out last year during my visit to Joburg while the World Cup was on, so I cant imagine how the less fortunate survive with hardly much.


The venues for Durban are as follows:

1. 9am-12pm : I Heart Market - DLI Hall, Marriot Road, Greyville.
2. 11am-4pm : Luna Rossa - Gateway, Outside fountain food court (next to Primi)
3. 4.30pm - 8pm: Livingstons Gastro Pub - Glenore Center, Glenashley (Join us to watch the rugby)
   

How can one help?

• look out for tweets marked with the #TBD tag and RT.
• spread the word to anyone you know that wants to help out.
• come to any of the venues around the country on the 4th of June with a blanket.

At the end of the day its all about giving something back to the less fortunate, we're aiming to make this the biggest #TBD event to date, so help achieve this by popping down to any of the given venues with a blanket and join in on the fun of giving.

A big thank you to our sponsors that have come in so far: Williams Hunt, ABSA, SAPPI, CAR Magazine, FHM Magazine, TBWA, Paton Tupper, CarsSA.co.za and all of the tweeters that are helping spread the word.

Hope to see you on the 4th! and if you are participating, don't forget to use the #TBD hash tag!

An ode to the LFA

 Okay so its not an"ode" but more of a dedication if you may. If you follow me on twitter then it wouldn't come much as a surprise to you of how much I love this car. Why you may ask? Its expensive, not the best looking car out there, its a Toyota and if given the cash one would rather go for its Italian counter parts. Yes its all that but theres so much more to this car than its price tag. I've always been a massive fan of Toyota since my family have been driving various models through out my life so the affiliation to Lexus wasn't that hard for me. To say that they are just "a luxury version of Toyota" is unfounded now as they've grown into a brand them self as have Audi from VW.

 
When I first heard of Lexus were thinking of building a supercar, I was extremely excited seeing as Toyota have a fair amount of knowledge in the racing world with the WRC, Nascar and most recently their stint in Formula One. Work began on the concept in February 2000 and all kinds of rumours were flying around the internet on what we can expect from the car, from various engines, to the type of body it would have, etc... It took them 10 years to produce what we see today and boy have they left no stone unturned in making it. The engineers at Toyota worked with guys at Yahama to create a V10 engine that produces 552bhp but weighs less than their LS460 V6 engine! Not only that, but Lexus also asked Yahama to tune the engine acoustics so that each gear has a certain tone to it! Most of which resemble the high pitch screech of an F1 car.

That's just some of the details that went into making this car, not forgetting how they scrapped the entire aluminium body to rebuild it in carbon fiber. Everything about the car was to be as light and strong as possible. The stats itself are mind blowing with the car redlining at 9000 rpm, the rev's were so high that they had to install a digital rev counter as normal analogue ones couldn't give you an accurate reading.

That essentially is what sets this car apart from others. Sure you want brut force and muscle, go for an American supercar, like the Corvette, you want pure engineering with a bit of flair, go for the Ferrari or Lamborghini but if you want precise engineering added to that a whole lot of electronic gizmo's, look no further than the Lexus because its loaded with them. Apart from the extremely cool LCD instrument panel, the car is has a fully on board PC with Mark Levinson entertainment system, not sure if you going to make much use of the sound system with your engine sounding like an F1 car but that's what makes this car special. Its not as cheap and tacky as the Merc's SLR, the inside is built to perfection, Everything meticulous placed for the drivers pleasure. Don't worry about reliability, yes Toyota has had their fair share of call backs and so has Lexus but with each of the 500 units produced being hand built in London, I think you're more safe in this than a Koenningsegg.

 I know people that work at Toyota and they only speak highly of the guys at Japan, so if they took 10 years to build this car, be sure they weren't slacking. They were perfecting it! True car enthusiasts know this hence most orders of the 500 are sold, with orders in the US being held back due to production time, as they only produce 20 units a month.

Only 3 units of the LFA have been brought to South Africa which was selling at R5.1 million, I say "was" because all of them are sold and one has already hit the roads of Johannesburg with some tweeters spotting it at Melrose Arch last week. The owner, none other than Bidvests Brian Joffe. Wise choice Mr Joffe, even if it was just to spend a bit of cash. This is one of those cars that you know you're never gonna have, so my wish? To one of the 3 owners in South Africa, all I want is a ride in the car, to sit inside and see the magic it has to offer.

The fire that unites

Sharks subs warming up

A few weeks back  about a month ago, I was invited by the man, the legend, the braai master him self Jan Braai to come braai with him at Mr Price Kings Park after the Super 15 game between the Sharks & Lions. It was a previlage and an honor to be invited to braai with the very man that started whats become a sort of a culture for us South Africans on the 24th of September every year, which is Heritage day but better known now as "National Braai Day". In essence it is about celebrating our heritage, as its the one thing that is common for all races and it brings us together as one. Black, White, Indian or Coloured, we all love making a fire and throwing some meat on it, add some beer to wash the food down and you've got yourself a perfect day.

Jean Deysel and Jan Braai

Jan was busy at the time with his Braai For Heritage tour, traveling the country in his quest to braai for 40 days on the road at various locations in South Africa. You can read more about his firery journey here at Braai4heritage. Durban was his 28th stop on the road and where better to braai than at the Shark Tank after a Sharks victory? The 5 point win over the Lions was more than a suitabale reason to party the night away around a fire. Sadly though and much to Jan's disappointment, we were provided with gas braai's, one of Jan's arch nemisis but there was meat and it wasnt going to get braai'd by itself.

The Beast and Jan

After quenching our thirsts with the various liquids  the Natal Rugby Union had provided for us, it was time to light the fire and start braai'ing some meat because sooner than we knew it we were being circled by a bunch of hungry Sharks. Thankfully not the kind you find in the waters of the ocean but rather the ones that play rugby. One by one they exited the tank and made their way to the braai area due to the smell of the food. Well it was their parking lot we hijacked for the braai so they would have came any way.

The Hoff and Jan

First up was the injured Jean Deysel, the human wrecking ball as they call him, to my surprise he wasnt as big as I expected him to be but fat chance I'd tell him that to his face, even if he was injured! A few kebabs down and the ever friendly Beast popped along to have a chat, since the series Jan was shooting was in Afrikaans, the Zimbabwean born prop tride his best to converse in the language, but I think we were just making him more hungry.

Willem Alberts and Jan

Player after player we interviewed and asked who they thought was the best braai-er from the team and each time we got the same answer. "Willem Alberts" they said, so without hestitation ... okay they might have been hestiation in calling one of  the most biggest, toughest and scariest players in the squad up but he was rather happy to join us. After spending some time with the BigVic we learnt that he was the total opposite to what one would think he is. No doubt one of the nicest guys a person can meet, and he knows how to braai a good chop!

John Plumtree grabbing a roll

As the night wore on, the food pile got less but the fun never stopped. From John Plumtree poking fun at the DuPlessis brothers, to Pat Lambie playing touch rugby with the little kids. It was an experience I'll never forget. The night I got to braai with the Sharks!

Me and Jan

Keep an eye out for the series that will be a documentary televised on DSTV, the channel: Kyknet,due to begin at the end of July.