Staying on the Dark Side

So on Saturday I bit the bullet, I got the new BlackBerry Z10 smart phone. My cellphone contract was due for upgrade since December and I delayed my renewal, pondering which mobile device I should get. Studying the various deals and devices, seeing which fitted my profile the most and I made my decision. Now one would think after having a BlackBerry for little over 2 years, I would not make the same mistake again but I beg to differ. I had the BlackBerry Bold 9700, which in my honest opinion is one of the best devices made by the company. It was the perfect size, it looked stunning, its features were great but it lacked processing speed big time! The first year I had it, it was fine and worked perfectly, then the dreaded clock started showing up and the general crap followed, phone freezing, restarts on its own and eventually the battery gave in. By the end I was so frustrated with it, I wanted to throw it far away from me.

Now after hearing that you'd think I'd never go for a BlackBerry again right? Well, I'm that guy who decided to give them a second chance, you see like I said in my post a few years ago, I'm not taking sides. To me there is no "Team BlackBerry" or "Team Apple", I like good devices irrespective of whom makes them. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is one of the best devices on the market but apart from is bulky design, I know alot of people who have it and it just seems too delicate for my line of work. The last thing I want is for me to drop the phone and the screen stops working, then having to send it in for 2 weeks to repair. Yes that happened to someone at work. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is probably the best phone out at the moment but have you seen the size of that thing?! it will never fit into your pocket!

So realistically I only had 2 options, the iPhone 5 or the BlackBerry Z10. Just a quick look up at the specs and you'll see that the BB edges the iPhone in most departments but there is a risk involved. Over the years there have been hardly any complaints from iPhone users but BB's have had endless, so it hasn't got the best of reputations but it has a chance to prove us wrong. When I got the phone, the first thing I noticed there was no home button, in fact there are no buttons on the screen. Apart from the power button and volume controls, there isn't anything else. Everything is touch orientated, so that did take a while to get used to (when I say a while, I mean about an hour). Different way of swiping the screen triggers different things. The screen itself is a beauty, boasting 768 x 1280 resolution and clarity to rival the Samsung S3 it really is a joy to look at. The touch screen is very responsive and quite a pleasure to use,  even typing can be done with ease. Once you master the hub and the menu's the phone is a breeze to use.

Z10's interface is very user friendly, its the layout is very similar to the iPhone but has its own uniqueness with the BlackBerry Hub. The App Store, or "BlackBerry World" is being populated on a daily basis with new and exciting applications. I've downloaded about 15 so far which are great. The phone came preloaded with a few which included your key social media ones such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare. All apps work well but I have picked up a few glitches on the Twitter App which Im sure will be rectified. 

The disappointing thing for now is that I have to wait till March for WhatsApp as their developers haven't released a version for the Z10 as yet. Also just like iTunes you can now purchase music from BB World, the prices are very similar to iTunes, with a single costing R8.99 and an album R94.99. The Camera, finally a decent one for BlackBerry! I'll be honest I haven't played around with it alot but the quality is brilliant, the features are great and 1080 recording! yes please!

Now with the new BlackBerry 10 range it was announced that BIS will fall away seeing that the OS needed a faster network to operate on, thus making you buy data for it. The package I took was the TopUp 200 from MTN which costs R409 per month for 24 months. It includes R200 airtime and 250mb data. I'm new to this data thing so I have no idea if 250mb will be sufficient for me, I will however be making use of Wifi where ever possible as I don't want to take the risk. BIS in general is rumoured to be being shut down permanently in June after BlackBerry purchased RIM and made the decision, this will affect ALL BlackBerry users. Now I'm not quite sure whats going to happen to all those who have taken out contracts which included BIS but I know MTN will be releasing custom BlackBerry deals for their customers. Its yet to be seen if BBM will remain as unlimited data since hardly much gets used by the service. To end off, BlackBerry has an certain future going forward, they were slack in the past but with the 10 series its looking bright but will it be enough to convince everyone else?

Monday Choon: Zedd ft Foxes - Clarity (W and W Remix)

Its not often you hear a song and it sends you into a pure sense of ecstasy, this song does that for me. Its one of those when you hear it for the first time, you either love it or hate it. The original track from Zedd is not bad but was a bit slow from my liking, Tiesto did a remix and a few other DJ's as well but W&W's remix is just on another level. The production and build ups are just amazing, one really has to appreciate what they've done to the track. It was played at ASOT600 in Mexico and the crowd went wild for it.

Recipe: Tandoor Roast Leg of Lamb

 

Ingredients

 

1 leg of lamb (between 800g-1kg)

2 bulbs of garlic

whole black pepper corns

fresh rosemary

fresh thyme

2 tsp olive oil

3 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

6 minced red chilli's

5 tsp Tandoor spice chili powder or ordinary chili power.

1/2 cup yoghurt.

2 onions

2 potatoes

 

marinated lamb before roasted

Method

 

Wash and rinse the leg of lamb thoroughly, make deep slits into the meat, clean the garlic and stuff the cloves into these slits made in the leg. Also stuff the whole pepper corns, rosemary and thyme into the slits. In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, minced ginger, minced garlic, minced red chili's, tandoor spice and yoghurt. Once everything is mixed properly, rub the mixture onto the leg of lamb, make sure you massage the mixture into the meat as you want the flavours to soak in. Cover the leg and place in the fridge to marinate over night. After a nights rest in the fridge, place the leg in a deep oven tray and preheat the oven to 180 degrees. 

 

Roast with potato and onions on the side

Peel and wash the onions and potatoes and cut into chunky wedges and place into the tray along with the leg to roast, turn after 15 minutes and allow the other side to roast there after repeating the process.Turn the leg only twice then allow it to roast on 140 degrees. It depends on the individual on how well done they want their roast, I liked mine well done with the meat falling off the bone so it took just under 2 hours to roast.

 

adding the stock to make the gravy

You can make a simple gravy for it like I did if you find the meat might be dry. You'll need two onions and two tomato's, both must be minced fine and added to a pot with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp minced garlic. When turning the leg of leg, scoop some of the excess water and add to the pot as this will serve as the stock. Allow the gravy to thicken and use this to have with the meat.

 

tomato gravy

 bon appetit!

 

 

 

AXE Harlem Shake

By now many of you have heard of the "Harlem Shake", the global Internet video phenomenon. Its been redone by many and taken YouTube by storm with the various renditions. One can literally spend hours watching the videos and not tire of them. Now locally they have been many ad marketing agencies that have done their own version of the Harlem Shake but the guys down at AXE SA have stepped it up a level. Using their current promo of AXE Apollo "Nothing beats an Astronaut", they did their version of the Harlem Shake on Durban's uShaka Beach this past weekend. Here is the result.

Oh and if you haven't heard, AXE is giving you a chance to win a trip to SPACE! Yeah you heard me, a journey to the great beyond! All you got to do is grab a can of AXE Apollo and follow the instruction on the side of the can, alternatively check their Facebook page.

And remember, nothing beats an astronaut. Ever

Monday Choon: Chris Lake - Sundown

Chris Lake is house music DK/ Producer from Scotland but now resides in London and L.A. He first shot onto to the scene with his bootleg remixes, none more famous than "Sweet Dreams" but the Eurythmics. He is well known in SA for his hit single "Changes" featuring Laura V. Today's choon is something different but follows his line of chilled house music vibes.

Bucket Babe: Tracy-Lee Hufkie

model has asked for this post to be taken down

RIP Reeva

It was a morning of great sadness as we heard of the tragic passing of former Bucket Babe Reeva Steenkamp. Reeva was one of the kindest and down to earth people I've gotten to know and was always willing to help in any way possible.

Although she had difficulties in her past, her future was looking bright as she shot to fame in her modeling career by being cover girl for FHM's Dec 2011 magazine, her studies in law and her other ventures which included the reality TV show Tropika Island of treasure. Its a great pity I never got to meet you in person. You will be greatly missed Reeva, may you rest in peace.

Click here to read Reeva Steenkamp's full interview as Bucket Babe.

#RIPReeva

Transition

tran·si·tion  (trn-zshn, -ssh-)n.

1. Passage from one form, state, style, or place to another.

It seems that some of my fellow Liverpool supporters as they like to call themselves need to learn the meaning of this word. Why? Well its simple, when FSG appointed Brendan Rodgers as manager of Liverpool Football Club, they made it clear to the world that this was part of a long term plan they had for the club. It would see the club go through a transitional period whereby the team will be rebuilt to challenge for glory. What this essentially means is we shouldn't expect our team to be fighting for titles from the word go. When Kenny Dalglish took over the reigns for a second term at the club, he was brought in to steady the ship and he did that. He restored faith in the team, gave them belief and most importantly made them remember who they're playing for. 

I don't expect supporters/ fans/ glory hunters of other teams to understand this as they're having a ball mocking our current predicament but if you call yourself a Liverpool supporter and you bemoan the team and manager, you should rather switch sports to badminton or something. I watch every game religiously and if you do as well you would notice the change in style of play of our team. Yes our finishing has been poor, yes we haven't been getting the results and yes we've had a lot of bad luck but this is just BR's first season in charge yet his got us playing at times, some of the most beautiful passing game you'll ever see. The players understand each other (most of the time), the fluidity is there and vision of many is getting better. 

Our captain is showing glimpses of him returning to his greatness, our youngsters that we cursed are beginning to shine and others are stepping up when asked to. So I ask you, if we seeing such a dramatic change in less than a season, why are you writing him off from now? The players believe in him, why cant the fans? I'm not saying we're going to win the Premier League next season but if we can start fixing the problems we have now, theres no telling what this team can achieve. Let the others mock and laugh, half of them haven't got a clue about football, if you love your team you'll stick with them through thick and thin.

Just on a side note, Jamie Carragher announced recently that he will be hanging up his boots at the end of the season. He has been a remarkable player for the team, there is no amount of words that one can say or write to show the gratitude towards such a player. He put his body on the line every time he played for Liverpool, yes he's made mistakes but show me a player that hasn't. For me he is one the best defenders to put on the red for Liverpool and I am glad I got to see him play in my life time. We all dream of a team of Carraghers.

Monday Choon: CLMD - Black eyes and blue

CLMD or Carl Louis and Martin Danielle are a Norwegian Dance DJ Duo, little is known about them but they were picked up by Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello and signed to his label so he see's potential. I instantly became a fan of this song when I heard it, the song it self starts with of chilled out vibes and the vocals but has a steady build up to the main which is pretty sick. The music video isn't the best you going to see but it has all the elements of your typical dance video...which means it doesn't make sense but there's hot chicks.