South Africa

Southern California Swindler, An Ex-South African Special Forces Soldier, Gets Prison

A federal judge in Orange County has punished an ex-South African special-forces soldier for possessing an illegal cache of firearms and operating a $2.6 fraud scheme involving an ice-making business in Riverside. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney sentenced South African Johannes Verma ... More >>

[UPDATED with ASUCI Supporting Divestment:] UCI Student Panel Calls for Divesting from Firms Aiding Israeli "Apartheid"

See Update No. 3 at the end of page 3 of this post on leaders of UCI's Associated Students signing the resolution urging the university to divest from named companies for human rights abuses in Palestine. See Update Nos. 1-2 on ASUCI's legislative council unanimously passing the resolution urging di ... More >>

Sonar On Tour - Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall - November 10, 2012

Sonar On Tour Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall November 10, 2012 To test its international appeal, Sonar, one of the worlds most prestigious electronic music festival promoters, recently teamed up with Goldenvoice to debut its brand in North America with a highly-anticipated to ... More >>

The Five Best Food Categories For Control Freaks

We thought it was just us-- the satisfaction felt after explaining exactly how our entree should be prepared. It's the Sally Albright syndrome. Although we quickly learned that if you don't like the selection, order something else. Changing a chef's interpretation of a dish means you've messed with ... More >>

Chad Peter Smanjak Cops to Scam with Sports Drink Named After Notre Dame's Famous Rudy

A former Long Beach resident who fled to South Africa as a fugitive pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scam involving a sports drink named after Notre Dame's most famous football benchwarmer.Chad Peter Smanjak, 38, copped in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud ... More >>

An Anaheim of the Mind: Dorothy Bryant and the CR Novel, Pussy Riot, Chris Marker & Gore Vidal

Just returned from a weekend reunion of lifelong friends, political comrades and good eggs. We were young together once, and lived in tents on the lawn at UCLA, doing everybody's best to politicize other students and faculty, and talk the UC Regents into divesting from racist, apartheid So ... More >>

The Evil of Banality: YAF's 2013 Reagan Calendar, Tom Fuentes' Passing, and It's a Smelly World After All

It's not necessary to have an opinion about everything, but it sure is fun to try. And by "opinion" I mean analysis, critique, an arguable and defensible position and not that thing everybody's got one of and, boy, do they all smell bad. And, while I am at it, no, it's not a small world after all, f ... More >>

LA Riots Remembered

Two decades later, the world still burns

Newport Beach Film Festival's Sounds and Fury

Its music series makes more noise

Skateboard Benefit Art Show featuring Duane Peters

Long Beach Skate

Trevor Noah Talks About America, Accents and Audiences

​Trevor Noah is a big deal in South Africa, having starred on TV and worked with the best talents, but now he's taking his jokes to the States. He'll show the Irvine Improv how humor translates across the globe.

Mozambique Peri Peri Opens in Newport Beach

http://mozambiqueperiperi.com/​OC's only South African restaurant has begat OC's only South African fast-casual eatery. Mozambique Peri Peri, the take-out little sister of Mozambique in Laguna Beach, is now open for business in Newport Beach's The Bluffs, joining Pei Wei, Freshii and Islands.

Mozambique Brings South African Fast-Casual Concept to Newport Beach

Photo by JB​ Mozambique, the South African staple of Laguna Beach, is bringing its peri peri chile-spiced chicken and shrimp dishes to a fast-casual concept in Newport Beach. It will use the Mozambique name and the aforementioned chile as a subtitle. Reader JB gave us the scoop, as well as these p ... More >>

10 Songs About Police Brutality

Charles Moore / Black Star​It seems like you hear about the police more often than usual these days. Whether it's the death of Mark Duggan that's inciting the London riots or the killing of Kelly Thomas that's shaking up the Fullerton PD, the news is rife with reports of police misconduct, and it' ... More >>

Every Nerdy Reference in Goldfish's "We Come Together" Music Video

​Clearly inspired by classic gaming, artist Mike Scott animated the music video for the South African band Goldfish's song, "We Come Together." The video is saturated from beginning to end with video game and nerdy pop-culture references, and it's difficult to find a frame of animation that doesn' ... More >>

'Master Harold and the Boys'

Long Beach Playhouse

Doobie or not Doobie? Five (Possibly) Weed-Related Lines in Shakespeare's Work

tokeofthetown.com​Did William Shakespeare smoke pot? A team of paleontologists want to dig up the bard's bones in the name of that inquiry according to Toke of the Town. South African anthropologist Francis Thackeray first posited the theory that Shakespeare used cannabis years ago after finding m ... More >>

Report: Pasta the Most Popular Dish in the World

​Grand, overarching summations derived from research papers must always be viewed skeptically, but the global organization Oxfam is well-regarded for its research, and its only real agenda is feeding folks, something they've been working on since the 1940s. They know a bit about global food trends ... More >>

¡Ask a Comida Critic!: Is Irvine or Anaheim the County's Most Integrated Supermarket City?

​From Das Ubergeek himself:A white guy (not me) and an Asian guy in the El Super on Anaheim and Ball [in Anaheim] arguing about the merits of gorditas vs. tortillas. Total integration of Anaheim, or sure sign of the Reconquista?Let's use this introductory sentence for my required plug for my comin ... More >>

UCI Law Student-Run Conference Looks at Climate Justice

​UC Irvine law students are holding a first-ever, all-day conference today on climate justice. "A3 [Assemble. Advocate.Act]: A Conference on Climate Justice" examines "the social injustices faced by vulnerable populations who are disproportionately affected by climate change," according to organ ... More >>

Food Profiling: The Biltong Guy

Biltong is better...​ Let's set the record straight: "Biltong is different from beef jerky," said Larry Burnett, known locally as The Biltong Guy and perhaps the only Orange County resident to commercially produce the South African delight. It's air-dried, as opposed to cooked in ovens, making f ... More >>

Mozambique Offering 'Safe Ride' Service To Guests with Pimp-Worthy Cars

Decisions, decisions....​One Christmas, we received a gift card for Mozambique in Laguna Beach, that South African fine-dining restaurant/reggae bar that old-timers still remember as the original Tortilla Flats. We enjoyed the dinner, but I usually don't give the place much thought--and then I acc ... More >>

Big-Wave Surfing's Swell Guys

The monster swells can be big business, but for one group of OC surfers, it's still all about the ride

Naked Sashimi Shunned in South Africa

Flickr user Ko_An​ South Africa's ruling party has proclaimed that eating sashimi off a semi-nude model's body is officially offensive. Known in Japan as nyotaimori, the practice involves a nude female model lying supine, her lady-parts covered discreetly with leaves or other garnish on which raw ... More >>

Are Headliners Kings of Leon Going to Cancel Their Appearance at Coachella?

​The countdown has begun: 72 more days until Coachella. But, as CNN reported yesterday, drummer Nathan Followhill of Kings of Leon tore the bicep on his right arm. The group were forced to cancel a handful of March dates in Australia and South Africa. As you probably know, Kings of Leon are a head ... More >>

TGIF: Get Up Kids, Mott the Hoople, Railroad to Alaska and More

​The weekend starts Friday, with the Get Up Kids swinging through Pomona's Glass House. One of our featured artists in this week's music section, the quintet's members have long since passed any form of being kids in favor of having their own. Yet the band's ups, downs and all-arounds, combined wi ... More >>

[UPDATE: Never Mind!] Arizona Restaurant Serving Lion Meat Tacos

Flickr User etrusia_uk​UPDATE, TUES., JAN. 25, 10:13 A.M.: Never mind. The restaurant has scrapped its Mufasa tacos due to "safety concerns and death threats." ORIGINAL ITEM, JAN. 24, 5 P.M.: What is it about Arizona restaurants and lion meat? Last summer, around the time of the World Cup in South ... More >>

Wave of the Future

Surfer magazine's sometimes-wild, sometimes-mild 50-year ride

Feds Allege "Pump and Dump" Fraud Involving Panamanian Banks, Long Beach Fugitive and Sports Drink Named After Notre Dame's Rudy

Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger​A Long Beach man who is believed to have fled to his native South Africa has been charged with running a $5.2-million "pump and dump" investment fraud that involved a sports drink named after Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger of Notre Dame football and Rudy movie fame, money launde ... More >>

This Week in Food: Copyright Fight over Tacos, Dia de los Muertos, Blizzcon Eats, and Killer Pizza Dough!

Flickr user lol-ita​Such a busy week at this infernal, tasty blog, as usual. Click after the jump to read some of the highlights!

World Cup: Ghana vs. USA

The Olde Ship British Pub

This Week in Weird Meat News

Flickr User etrusia_uk​Didja hear about the hullaballo over a restaurateur in Arizona who thought it was good idea to offer lion meat burgers to commemorate the World Cup in South Africa? Turns out one of the e-mail addressees on his restaurant's newsletter announcing the special meal was an a ... More >>

Give 'Em Halos: World Cup Edition, Part One

​What a great time to be a sports fan. The world's best soccer players are battling in South Africa, the world's best basketball teams played an epic Game 7 for the NBA Championship and, here in Orange County, the Angels are back!After a long struggle that had many reaching for the panic button, t ... More >>

(100) Days of Summer Movies

[Summer Guide] Flicks to help you enjoy the great indoors

In Your Cups

[Summer Guide] At our local United Nations of bars and restaurants, every World Cup game can be a home game

"BoardHeads" Meet Homeboys in HB

A homeboy shares the stoke in BoardHeads.​Homeboy Industries, whose mission is to take former gang members off the streets and show them there is more to life than gang-bangin', brought young men and women from Los Angeles to Huntington Beach last summer for surf lessons.

Going to Extremes to Get the Shot

[Newport Beach Film Fest] You think action-sports athletes push the limit? Check out the people filming them

Nestlé Aero

Edwin Goei​Name: Nestlé Aero Origin: South Africa Found at: Garden Patch Market, Irvine Cost: $3.79 Ingredients: Cane sugar, full cream milk solids, cocoa mass, non-hydrogenated vegetable fat, whey powder (milk), cocoa butter, emulsifiers (soy lecithin E322, e476), flavourants.

Soweto Gospel Choir

Carpenter Performing Arts Center

Greg Long Fights Off Kelly Slater, Wins Another Big Wave Crown

The Billabong video above from last spring chronicles San Clemente's Greg Long catching one of the greatest big wave paddle-in tubes of all time during the Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest at Dungeons, Cape Town South Africa. It also earned him Ride of the Year honors and $50,000 at the 2009 Billabo ... More >>

Special Screenings

Movie of the week: Sahara

Pumped Up On Reading, Again

LAFF 2007: Lost Girls and Mighty Black Men

One of the ideas the festival is heavily pushing this year is that for every movie you attend that you planned on seeing, you should go to another one you don’t know anything about, or might not be inclined to go to normally. I tend to do this sometimes when I attend something simply because itâ ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Nov. 8 - Nov. 14

The Gabacho Blues

Mozambique in Laguna Beach is great once you pass the birds

Truth, Reconciliation and Lots of Speeches

John Boormans In My Country

The Gods Must Be Crazy

ShotPaks takes a good idea straight outta South Africa to a liquor store near you

Letters

Human Rights and Wrongs

UC Irvine fest exposes worldwide injustice

Ethnic Fare

Foreign films survive Newport festival shake-up