Trend Report: More GOT, all those dresses, and RIP Afeni Shakur

The Internet’s discussion boards were heard to start creaking last week under the sheer weight of talk on the season six premiere of Game of Thrones. One aspect that did not escape fan’s attention was that Jon Snow, played by Kit Harrington who really nailed being mopey, was still very much dead after being stabbed a number of times by his Night’s Watch brethren at the end of season five, thanks to Allisser #MakeTheWallGreatAgain Thorne and his merry band of mutineers (thanks to the RedTeamReview YouTube channel for that delightful hashtag).

Cue episode two, and after Trump/Thorne is stopped in his plans to kill those loyal to Snow, Davos Seaworth convinces a very mopey Melisandre to do a Thoros of Myr and try bring Snow back to life. A wash and haircut later, just as we think he is very much dead, Snow’s direwolf Ghost looks up and bam! Snow takes a breath, a cause of collective relief for those who have plotted endless plots about who his mother is, and where his destiny and that of Westeros might meet. If only the next episode were here already.

Tuesday morning saw Twitter abuzz with talk of the annual MET Gala. The snazzy event is basically the fashion event of the year, with celebs and designers pulling out all the stops to ensure they make headlines. This year they definitely didn’t hold back, with the “Manus X Machina; Fashion in the age of technology” theme, the possibilities were endless. Most celebs took the theme literally, with Claire Dane’s dress amazingly glowing in the dark, and Karolina Kurkova’s gown connected to social media and lit up each time someone tagged #MetGala and #CognitiveDress.

Solange Knowles, however, had other plans. We’re not exactly fashion experts, but her fluffy/tissue paper yellow dress spandex thing did not quuuuite fit the theme. Some people however, said it was a tribute to sister Beyonce’s Lemonade album. If that was the case, we would say she nailed it.

Back in our home land, there were too many incidents this week to write about them all. With the presidency budget and the EFF being kicked out of parliament (again), we could write essays. But for our Trend Report, we’ll be mentioning Matthew Theunissen. Not that we think he needs any more attention, but he can’t be ignored.

After being enraged by Sport’s Minister Fikile Mbalula’s decision to ban the country’s rugby, cricket, athletics and netball federations from bidding and hosting global events for not meeting transformation commitments, Theunissen posted the following status on Facebook: “So n% @#$% *&^& ^%  #%^& South Africa .. *&@ % bad word +*  %^& @!~  ( %$< swearword *($#^! expletive.” While this is not exactly what he said, his ignorant, bigoted, racist words really aren’t worth rewriting. 

The backlash was as expected, as was his generic apology. While we could write our opinions on this for days, we won’t. We will, however, keep wondering: “Will people never learn?” and "Can't we all just get along?"

Alas, it’s not all bad in our lovely country though. Home-grown rapper AKA’s Levels album reached platinum status on Thursday, which in South African terms means it sold 40 000 albums. There’s no doubt about it, AKA is on a level (sorry) of his own. His achievements set a standard for many musicians (new and old), and while we aren’t entirely sure what comes after platinum status in the music industry, we’re sure AKA will achieve it. And we wish him all the luck too. 

On Tuesday, rap legend Tupac Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, passed away. She was an American music businesswoman, philanthropist, and political activist. This coming Sunday, people across South Africa will be celebrating Mother’s Day, so we thought we’d end off this week’s report with a tribute to her, and all mothers, by quoting Tupac himself.

In his song, Dear Mama, Tupac says the following:

“There are no words that can express how I feel.

You never kept a secret, always stayed real.

And I appreciate, how you raised me

And all the extra love that you gave me,

And there's no way I can pay you back

But my plan is to show you that I understand.

You are appreciated.”

Lie on the floor, try not to cry, then cry a lot.