Ghost in the Fourie

Ghost in the Fourie

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Everything’s on Fire, and the Music is Beautiful

Everything’s on Fire, and the Music is Beautiful

I first heard Godspeed You! Black Emperor while watching 28 Days Later. There’s a moment, quiet and eerie, where the music creeps in like fog. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it had teeth. There was no Shazam. No easy way to look it up.

Listening to Anathema the Long Way Round

Listening to Anathema the Long Way Round

I found Anathema in a magazine. Thin pages. Glossy cover. Kerrang! or maybe Metal Hammer. Pre-internet. Pre-search bar. It was the My Dying Bride days, and if a band sat close to that sound, heavy, slow, aching, I wrote their name down. Anathema was one of those names. The music

Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion – A Book Review

Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion – A Book Review

Harry Sword’s Monolithic Undertow is a pilgrimage through the deep, vibrating heart of drone music. It is a book about sound, but more than that, it is about the human pull toward immersion, repetition, and transcendence through noise. Sword traces the lineage of drone from ancient sacred rituals to

An imperfect photographer seeking perfection in an imperfect world

An imperfect photographer seeking perfection in an imperfect world

I became a professional photographer in 2005, but following the financial crisis of 2007–2008 I had to find a new career by the end of 2009, and by 2010 photography had sadly been relegated to a hobby. It hurt immensely that something I loved doing so much had become

Gran Turismo: The Game That Shaped My Formative Years

Gran Turismo: The Game That Shaped My Formative Years

Growing up, video games were more than a pastime. They were a portal. A means of discovery. A teacher. No game shaped me more than Gran Turismo. It was not just about racing. It was about learning. It was about patience. It was about precision and the beauty of machines.

Growing Up a Gamer in 80s and 90s South Africa

Growing Up a Gamer in 80s and 90s South Africa

The world felt bigger then. Or maybe it was just harder to reach. Growing up in South Africa in the 80s and 90s, gaming was not as easy as walking into a shop and picking up the latest release. It was a world of grey imports, borrowed cartridges, and bootleg

The Art of Video Game Collecting: Nostalgia, Preservation, and the Value of Physical Media

The Art of Video Game Collecting: Nostalgia, Preservation, and the Value of Physical Media

For me, video game collecting is more than a hobby. It is a passion. I chase the thrill of finding a rare game. I build a library of classics. It is my love for history, for design, for the craft of making games. Nostalgia and the Emotional Connection Nostalgia drives

Is the Internet Already Dead? How AI-Generated Content Is Drowning Out Real Voices

Is the Internet Already Dead? How AI-Generated Content Is Drowning Out Real Voices

The internet was once an adventure. It was a place where you could stumble upon strange blogs, niche forums, and websites built by people who cared more about their ideas than their traffic. It was chaotic, unpredictable, and deeply human. Now it feels different. It feels predictable. The same articles,

Beyond Google: The Rise of a Fragmented Search Landscape

Beyond Google: The Rise of a Fragmented Search Landscape

Search advertising is shifting. AI-powered search engines like Perplexity AI are changing the game, and social platforms like TikTok are rolling out search ads. More are coming. Marketers whisper about Reddit, Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus, and other new players. Google, the old king, fights its legal battles, forced to

The Great Marketing Reset: Why Brands Are Ditching Quick Wins for Lasting Impact

The Great Marketing Reset: Why Brands Are Ditching Quick Wins for Lasting Impact

Performance marketers in Africa and Europe face a hard truth. For years, they chased return on investment. Every ad had to convert. Now, costs are rising. Privacy laws tighten. Competition grows. They must change. Brand building is back. A strong name matters. A lasting impression beats a quick sale. Companies

The Zero Moment of Truth in 2025: More Relevant Than Ever

The Zero Moment of Truth in 2025: More Relevant Than Ever

In 2011, Jim Lecinski and Google introduced the world to the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). It was a wake-up call. Consumers were no longer passive. They researched, compared, and decided before stepping into a store or clicking 'buy now'. Brands that ignored this shift lost customers before

Common Media Buying Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Common Media Buying Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Media buying is part science, part art, and-let’s be honest-part luck. If you’re throwing money into the digital ether and seeing little return, you might be making some classic mistakes. Let’s break them down (and fix them). 1. Blindly Trusting the Algorithm AI is great. Until it’

Drone Music: The Ultimate Sonic Art Form

Drone Music: The Ultimate Sonic Art Form

Drone music is not just sound. It is an experience. It stretches time, fills space, and demands patience. It does not ask for attention, but it rewards those who listen. I have spent years lost in it. Some find it dull. I find it endless. What Drone Music Is Drone

AI in Media Buying: Hype vs Reality

AI in Media Buying: Hype vs Reality

AI is everywhere in marketing. Every platform, tool, and agency is now “AI-powered.” But if you’ve been in performance media for a while, you know AI isn’t new. Machine learning (ML) has been driving bidding, targeting, and optimisation for years. The real question isn’t whether AI is