aiden choles

... to the once very active online playground of Aiden Choles. Once very active? Since opening The Narrative Lab my online persuits have become focussed and consolidated within the confines of my blog there.

This site and it's wealth of ingenuis thinking, novel ideas and general muck will remain alive, but only at a sputter.

Feel free to click through to The Narrative Lab to see what I'm up to.

As I write this, Zimbabwe is on the verge of a political miracle. All signs are that Mugabe will be democraticaly ousted as president after 28 years in power. Thabo Mbeki, as a neighbouring president who could actually do somehting about the regime, has recieved much criticism for his "quiet" approach to Mugabe. I now wonder if Mbeki may actually have been right?  read more »

Helen Zille's faction/embittered approach to politics normally grinds my turkey, but a paragraph in her most recent weekly newsletter stood out as being congruent with my stance on Zuma's ascension to power:  read more »

Over the last few months you might have noticed how I'm writing fewer business posts on this blog. That's because my business has moved from being solo-preneur Aiden Choles to being a partner in The Narrative Lab. Anyway, we're a finalist in the SA Blog Awards 2008.

You can vote for us here.

I couldn't give a stuff who John McCain is nor what he stands for in redeeming the USA ... I'm just punting for the potential 1st woman or 1st black man ever to take office in the White House.

You know your online reputation is in a mess when a blog entry I've written about you appears on the highest ranked Google search results for your name. You may be thankful that this applies to only one person on the face of the planet - eTV's infamous Debora Patta.

I discovered this tonight as I recieved yet another comment from an adoring Debora fan who somehow thinks this site, and a posting I wrote about her (read it here), is really her personal site and thus a dumping ground for all the bad pubilicity she so easily attracts.

Now look, of late I am happy to indulge in my mean side, and I will publish the comments willingly. Although I suspect that it may also stem from some bitterness at being snubbed by the woman when I offered to help make her new 24-hour news channel a narrative-based news star!

I have a growing sense that as a nation, South Africa is heading towards a knife edge. In just a few months Zuma goes to trail (in which the prosecutors are calling over 200 witnesses). A few months thereafter, we go to the polls to vote for a new president (during which the president-elect will still be standing trial for corruption). As recipes go, this does not bode well for a peaceful transition between power regimes.  read more »

My wife and I were sitting at he cricket the other day when we heard a resounding "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" ring out across the crowd. It was then that I knew the most recent Coke advertising campaign had permeated social culture as the cold drink vendor advertised his product (Coke) to the crowd and the crowd responded with appreciative Brrrrrrr's in return.

An old school mate, Symone, passed away suddenly yesterday. I would not have known about her death had it not been for Facebook and other friends writing about the death in their status updates. In fact, if it were not for Facebook I would not have had any contact with this old school mate as we lost contact after we matriculated.

I've always wondered what happens to your account on Facebook, or any other Web 2.0 site for that matter, when you die? The beauty of Web 2.0 (as I understand the phenomenon) is that it allows you to have a personal presence on the web - a virtual "second life" if you like, that is a real-time life-like representation of your state of being, moods, actions and thoughts. It pretty much mirrors your real life (if you're as obsessed with it as I am:)). Unlike your life though, your web presence does not dissapear like your last breath does.

This hit home today, barely 24 hours after Symone's death, when I noticed that she had a stauts update. It reads ...  read more »

Mike thankfully recorded Dave's song yesterday morning with his cell phone ...