I learnt how to solve the Rubik's Cube in 2022, just a small personal goal as I found the puzzle intriguing. I didn't know what I was in for, especially after seeing videos online that claim it can be solved with a single move. After practice and getting familiar with the cube, I've finally memorised the algorithms and can now solve it in under 2 mins. It's challenging to learn, but great when you get it.
I found many of the videos online quite long-winded, so I created a document of each step to solve the Rubik's Cube that can be printed and followed, accompanied by this video for visual reference of the moves and algorithms, which I think is an easier way to learn how to solve it.
It is highly recommended that you watch this video with headphones or at a time when you can crank the sound, it's not loud music, but rather for the intensity of the action. This one is remarkable, 28 year old Valentin Delluc flies through a French ski resort called Avorias. Grinding the ski lift cables, doing rolls, blackflips, scraping rooftops, pulling the kite through a tunnel, it is just beautiful to watch.
If you've enjoyed any of Ken Block's previous gymkhana videos, you'll enjoy this one too. This time instead of the Ford, Travis Pastrana is driving a Subaru WRX STI packing 862hp. The video was recorded in his home town and it's the same brilliant camera angles and action packed driving as always, with some huge and fast jumps. Travis certainly looks a bucket load more tense than Ken while driving, but he did drop a tyre of the edge and drive away. High speed, precision, thumbs up!
Please click the video headline and watch it on YouTube, so you can use the timeline chapters.
This is a Royal Caribbean cruise compilation combining five cruises together in one video. This is by far the most ambitious video I have edited to date, but after our 2020 Royal Caribbean cruise from Barcelona to Copenhagen was cancelled, I started going through our video footage from previous cruises and decided to start pulling out all the clips that aren't included in our shorter cruise videos, all those extended scenes that had to be cut short can now be seen, and many hours later the footage now has a place to live on YouTube, which makes me very happy, even though it's almost an hour long.
Please use the chapeters in the timeline, by watching this video on YouTube rather than this website, to navigate to certain Royal Caribbean cruise ships, cities or cruise entertainment highlights.
We pondered over "five cruises in five years", because 2014 to 2019 is actually six years if you count 2014 as 1, but if you minus 5 years from 2019, you get to 2014... 5 year plan successfully completed either way :)
Royal Caribbean cruise summary:
Liberty of the Seas
Barcelona, Marseille, MOnte Carlo, Pisa, Rome, Naples
Vision of the Seas
Venice, Kotor, Corfu, Athens, Mykonos, Kefalonia
Quantum of the Seas
Shanghai, Sakaiminato, Fukuoka, Kumamoto
Symphony of the Seas
Naples, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, Florence
Serenade of the Seas
Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Tallinn, Visby
As Royal Caribbean say, I guess we are 'loyal to royal', We worked hard, saved hard and travelled hard, which is not that easy using South African currency, we're both very grateful for these experiences and love cruising, as we get to see multiple places in one overseas trip. Cruising is also pretty stress free, if you get the drinks package, everything is basically bottomless onboard in terms of food and drink, plus the only thing you need to carry is a small plastic card (Seapass card), no wallet, no cell phone and everything you need is around you.
The general vibe onboard is a safe space, so swimming and leaving the camera and bag on the lounger is no sweat and people are generatlly awesome - you meet people from all over the world and we've met South Africans on every cruise. Hopefully one day, the world and travel industry will return to normal.
Shorter cruise videos of this compilation per ship:
This is one of the best Rube Goldberg machines I have ever seen. Trickshot expert (since 2014) Cree took one month to build this at his home, and another month to get it to work - that is a bucket load of dedication for the shot. The video was filmed in one take without any cuts or edits. I think it's incredibly smooth, especially with the aerial and fast moving shots of the course. Very fun to watch.
This is a few weeks late with level 3 lockdown restrictions announced this week, allowing the sale of alcohol from 1 June in South Africa, but I wanted to document this anyway as it tasted pretty good and it's my first attempt speaking to the camera. When my booz started depleting during lockdown, I went on YouTube to learn how to brew my own 'beer', this is obviously after I had conquered banana bread and all the other lockdown must-dos. I took what I thought were the best tips from multiple people and created my own recipe. Seven days later, the end result was fantastic. So much so, that we immediately started the next batch, the very next day. I'm no expert, but this recipe and method worked, plus it definitely had a kick, so it's worth trying, even if just to learn about brewing basics.
Pineapple beer making has increased massively in South Africa since lockdown restrictions banned the sale of alcohol. After the first batch of pineapple beer, we replaced the pineapples with apples and raisins with the exact same method and it produced a very pleasing cider drink.
The recipe:
4x pineapples (or apples and raisins for cider)
2kgs of brown sugar
2x 10g sachets of instant/brewers yeast
23-24L of water
The method:
Clean everything (scrub the pineapples with a brush)
Chop pineapples with skins and place in the brewing vessle
Pour sugar into the brewing vessle
Fill with warm water - only half way so you can dissolve the sugar (stir)
Fill the rest of the brewing vessle with cold water
You want the overall temperature of your mixture to be about 26 degrees celcius
Add both sachets of yeast (if the water is too hot, you will kill the yeast and prevent fermentation)
Stir well and seal the container, leave it alone for two days
Thereafter stir it once a day for five days
On day seven, you're ready, strain the mixture into another container to remove the pineapple chunks and then bottle - you can drink it immediately.
DIY airlock
The airlock is essential, I read you can use a glove, but it might give your mixture a rubbery taste, I tried this initially and it popped off my container, so I quickly made the airlock, details in the video.
For our December holiday we decided to break away from the norm and spend 4 nights on our own in the country. We chose Elgin and Greyton as our destinations for their proximity to Cape Town, but mostly for their small town, good wine and good vibes feel. Quality surroundings with tranquility.
We visited the Elgin Railway Market, which was nice and over New Years we stayed 8kms outside of Greyton at Oewerzicht, which was amazing and is perfectly suited to couples, groups and families.
Danny MacAskill has released his first video of 2020, he gets creative on his BMX in a personalised gymnasium playground, to show that staying in shape doesn't have to be daunting. Respect good sir!
The legend, Ken Block, is back with his gymkhana series, but this time climbing the most dangerous road in China, Tianmen Mountain. Not his usual hatcback, this time he is seated in a 914 horsepower Ford F-150 and although the road is narrow, he still manages to entertain in true Ken Block style.
Finally! After all these years, I've ridden a race track on my weekly commute. The freedom to ride without worrying about busses, potholes or oil spills on the road. I think two things - I'm glad to have thoroughly enjoyed it slightly past the usual comfort zone and lived to tell the story, and also because it's pretty much as others say, you learn from it and come out a more knowledgable rider.
The groups are fast, medium and slow - all first timers go in the slow group (only one with lessons).
4x 20 minute track sessions. Between each session, there is an advanced driving school lesson.
Groups are paced at different times in 20 minute per hour intervals, so it's like clockwork.
Overtaking is restricted to straights and the outside of corners, so you can hug the inside in peace.
As locals, it was lekker to experience the Wine Tram in Franschhoek on our minibreak. Along the way we visited Rickety Bridge, Moreson, Eikehof, Paserene and Le Lude the next day. We love Franschhoek, go there often and really enjoyed our first wine tram, bus and tractor rides.
The Redbull Airforce wingsuit team recently visited the Drakensberg mountain range in Lesothu, South Africa. The video is a documentary style, taking you on the epic journey of their time in SA.
We embarked Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas in Rome and set-off on a 7 day cruise in the Mediterranean. We traveled to Italy, Spain and France - visiting: Naples and the island of Capri, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Marseille and finally Florence.
This is not only the biggest cruise ship in the world at present, but also has the highest diving platform and dry slide at sea. She is new, having had her maiden voyage on the 7th of April 2018. The ship is divided into seven neighborhoods, one being Central Park which has over 20 000 live plants and trees. It takes 2200 crew members in addition to it's 5518 passengers (up to 6680 passengers at double occupancy). It cost $1.35 billion to build, has 18 decks and is 72.5m high.
A funny Netflix ad featuring local comedian Jason Goliath as an installation technician, takes the piss out of DSTV's laborious process for connection. The ad launched shortly after MultiChoice announced their disapproval of Netflix not being regulated like other TV stations in South Africa.
An incredible piece of long-form branded content from Mercedez-Benz - telling the remarkable story of Christopher White's return to Chapman's Peak after his crash in 1988. They rewrite it to introduce the Mercedes Benz S-Class with autonomous driving. Five minutes entertained, high five!
