Mandy J Watson
Mandy studied multimedia design and then landed up being a freelance journalist and copy editor based in Cape Town, South Africa. (It's a long story.) She specialises in technology journalism, which includes monthly gadget and technology pages for COSMO South Africa and Elle Decoration. She has also written for many other South African magazines, including Hip2B2, SA Computer Magazine, Home / Tuis, Pulse, and Woman's Value / dit and has worked on even more as a copy editor.
In her spare time she used to go to the movies quite often but now that most people have forgotten how to make good films and everyone expects her to pay for parking she has taken her disappointment elsewhere and now (semi) regularly goes to the theatre, where she can mentally analyse performances on the fly, complete with occasional running commentary in her head, and marvel at magnificent lighting design. She has also been religiously working on a Xena drinking game for the past few months, oblivious to the fact that she's about 15 years too late.
Her favourite thing to do is dream, preferably while asleep, but daydreams will also suffice. Recently she has taken to checking things off The (life) List, not due to any sense of foreboding but rather because she has realised she's running out of time to do all the things she keeps daydreaming about... which may be a sense of foreboding after all.
Some of her favourite things include stones from exotic places (not that exotic), maps, and foreign money. Although that's not an invitation to give her cheap gifts. (LEGO is always appreciated, and never inappropriate.)
City: Cape Town, South Africa
Email: mandyw at (this domain)
Areas Of Expertise: Film & TV, Technology
Web Site: Mandy J Watson | Digital Portfolio
It's a little out of date because a new site is on its way. At some point...
Blog: Cape Town > South Africa > Africa > Earth
Complete insanity and randomnity primarily focussed on Cape Town (and the deluge of bizarre experiences that I constantly seem to have in the city).
Flickr: Photos from Mandy J Watson | (also:
Photos from Mandy J Watson in the brainwavez.org Flickr stream)
A portfolio, of sorts. I say that because many of my best photos are not there.
Twitter: Updates from Mandy J Watson
When blogging fails me while on the road I have resolved to impart randomnity here. (I refuse to say "tweet". I mean, seriously? No!)
YouTube: Videos from brainwavezwatman
Miscellaneous uploads for the blog and other things.
Zoopy: Photos and videos from watman
Photo-upload experiments and example shots taken with test gadgets (ie work), as well as video uploads for various sites.
Features
Interview: Lauren Beukes, South African Author Of Moxyland
Your phone is your lifeline but it can also be used to control you, art is (partly) alive, and corporations control (almost) everyone in
Moxyland, Lauren Beukes' debut novel in which the lives of four characters intersect in an imagining of Cape Town, 2018, that will make most very uneasy. In this exclusive interview the author talks about her influences, her writing process, and exciting projects that were birthed as the book's release gained momentum.
Category: Books > Features |
Posted: 31 July 2009
Photo Essay: Panel Discussions At The 2009 Cape Town Book Fair
In the last in our series of photo essays on the 2009 Cape Town Book Fair we highlight some of the interesting discussions that took place during various panel sessions with authors and academics. Visitors to the fair can attend almost all the panel discussions for free, which makes them a popular feature of the fair every year. As a special bonus for this essay we have included video clips from two of the most popular sessions.
Category: Books > Features |
Posted: 15 July 2009
Photo Essay: Authors At The 2009 Cape Town Book Fair
The opportunity to meet authors - both local and international - and hear them talk about their writing processes and experiences is one of the most exciting aspects of the Cape Town Book Fair. Here is a selection of some of the authors that were manning stands, launching books, and signing autographs for fans at the 2009 fair.
Category: Books > Features |
Posted: 30 June 2009
Photo Essay And Report: The 2009 Cape Town Book Fair
Thousands of people braved crazy winter weather over four days to attend the fourth Cape Town Book Fair, which was held earlier this month at the convention centre in Cape Town, South Africa. Here is a showcase of some of the highlights from the stands and exhibition areas, in the first of a few reports we have compiled.
Category: Books > Features |
Posted: 26 June 2009
A Look At Earth - The Comprehensive World Atlas
In 500 years' time what will the legacy be that we have left on this planet? With wars, clashing religious ideologies, and climate change threatening to decimate the world as we know it
Earth - The Comprehensive World Atlas, with its detailed descriptions of countries and cultures as they stand today may become one of the few remaining published records of the time we spent here during one of this planet's most tumultuous periods.
Category: Books > Features |
Posted: 15 June 2009
Tomb Raider: Underworld Wii - How To Deal With The Thailand Lever Bug
If you're stuck in Thailand with Lara Croft, with no lever in sight, follow our as-complete-as-it's-ever-going-to-be guide to getting her out of this very fine mess. After all, you still have about eight (less buggy?) levels to go before you finally finish this Wii game.
Category: Games > Wii > Features |
Posted: 11 February 2009
Cast & Crew: An Interview With South African Artist Alex Hamilton About His Exhibition Of Pop-Culture Icons
In an era of all-consuming mass media that craves and divides our attention, reality TV that increasingly scrapes the bottom of the barrel for shock value and ratings, and suspect role models made famous by the Internet, what is truly important to us? What gives us meaning? What do we relate to? How do we now define ourselves? Alex Hamilton's Cast & Crew exhibition presents 1000 icons of our modern times, from artists and musicians to politicians, media stars, and religious figures, and asks us to decide for ourselves.
Category: Culture > Features |
Posted: 18 November 2008
The Anti-Connoisseur's Guide To A Walk In The African Bush
Africa. Continent of mystery and charging wildlife. Stay in your cars, people, you don't want to get mauled! However, should someone give you the opportunity to go for a stroll with a ranger (make sure he has a big gun), well, you can't really turn something such as that down, can you? It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience... assuming you return with your life. It's pretty much guaranteed you'll return with an experience.
Category: Travel > South Africa > KwaZulu-Natal > Activities |
Posted: 15 August 2008
An Interview With Tim Richman, South African Co-Author Of Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Kak?
Now that we're over this year's Valentine's euphoria (you know, the five of you that were actually experiencing it) and sugar highs from Easter chocolate, it's back to the business of cynicism. Although most of us at brainwavez.org are skilled practitioners of the art, we're not the only masters. Recently Two Dogs published
Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Kak? The Whinger's Guide To South Africa From AA To JZ. We spoke to co-author Tim Richman about aspects of the South African experience that unite us all in a way that even Nelson Mandela couldn't.
Category: Books > Features |
Posted: 11 April 2008
Chicago - The Musical At Artscape In Cape Town, South Africa
Murder! Treachery! Deceit! Lies! Thrills! Although that's technically all in a day's work for some of South Africa's parliamentary ministers and their associates, in this case we're talking about
Chicago - The Musical, which has returned to Cape Town and is at Artscape until 13 April. You still have two weeks, so if you missed it in 2005 you have no excuse now.
Category: Culture > Theatre |
Posted: 28 March 2008
Skydive Cape Town
If the weather's good but you've run out of things to do in Cape Town (though hard to imagine, one presumes that could be possible) why not jump out a plane? Experience our attempt at defying gravity, strapped to the crotch of a complete stranger, at 9000 feet.
Category: Travel > South Africa > Western Cape > Activities |
Posted: 31 January 2008
An Interview With Kerry Rogers, South African Author Of Women's Bodies: A User's Manual
To acknowledge Valentine's Day we thought we'd skip all the boring mushy stuff and head straight for the sex, and what better way than with a manual designed to answer all your pressing questions? We recently sat down with Kerry Rogers, author of
Women's Bodies: A User's Manual, and asked pressing questions about her new-found career as a sex-manual writer.
Please note: the content in this article is not suitable for minors.
Category: Books |
Posted: 14 February 2007
Art Decko 2: A South African Exhibition Of Skateboard Decks
Take some blank skateboard decks, invite a few South African artists to create artworks out of them, repeat for the second year and you have the exhibition Art Decko 2, which has been touring the major centres in South Africa and is now in Durban until next Friday.
Category: Culture > Exhibitions |
Posted: 12 December 2006
Bodies...The Exhibition: An Exhibition At The Earls Court Exhibition Centre In London, England
One might consider paying GBP17.50 to have a close-up look at preserved cadavers slightly macabre (and expensive), especially while on vacation, but I did it anyway. You can, too, until the end of the month.
Category: Culture > Exhibitions |
Posted: 25 August 2006
Star Wars L'Expo: An Exhibition at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris, France
If you're in Paris at the moment you owe it to yourself to visit the Star Wars exhibition being held at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in the 19e. Whether you're a fan of science, science fiction, or movie making, there is sure to be something in this exhibition for you.
Category: Culture > Exhibitions |
Posted: 22 August 2006
Missy Higgins Live At The Independent Armchair Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa, 7 July 2006
Missy Higgins in Cape Town! Oh my! Here are most of the important adjectives from the article: enigmatic, quirky, odd, endearing, charming, powerful, and infectious. However, you should probably read what Mandy J Watson had to say for the context.
Category: Music > Features |
Posted: 12 July 2006
Picasso And Africa: An Exhibition At The Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Picasso And Africa exhibition has finally opened at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town after a highly successful six-week run in Johannesburg that drew over 56 000 visitors. Cape Town always has to wait for everything, but at least it was worth it, as Mandy J Watson discovered.
Category: Culture > Exhibitions |
Posted: 20 April 2006
DStv PVR Decoder
Fast forward, rewind, and replay all TV ever in real time. DStv finally debuts a gadget that the rest of the TV-watching world has had for years. Mandy J Watson was invited to the Cape Town launch extravaganza.
Category: Technology |
Posted: 11 November 2005
Reviews
Cappuccino Quest
Obz Café [entry page pending]
Caffè Nero (Oxford Street 1 Branch) [entry page pending]
Knights Table Rotisserie - Knights Kingdom, LEGOLAND Windsor [entry page pending]
CFEA (Centre For The Easily Amused)
Music To Note
CFEA Widget
pookie: Alive since mid 2006 (a miracle!):
Read more about Bunnyhero Labs Adopt A Pet.
(By the way it was a random name I picked because I suck at naming things. I was only much later that I became a huge (as opposed to minor (long story that primarily involves not being in New York))
Rent fan and then began to fear my ability to have my past miraculously reflect my future. Uh...nevermind. Just go read
the pet article.)
