DAEMONS AND MULTIVERSES
By Peter Wilhelm
Whether The Golden Compass will be realised as a full fantasy trilogy - based on Philip Pullman's award-winning novel, His Dark Materials - depends on its initial financial impact. Despite its forerunners, Lord of th...

HILLBROW AFRICANA
By Sue Grant-Marshall
Satire, a particularly difficult form of writing, has to be biting if the author is to pull it off. Richard Poplak, award-winning film maker and journalist, grew up in 1980s Johannesburg but now lives with his emigrated family in Canad...

'DOWNS IN THE DUMPS
By Mark Gleeson
Such is the unpredictable form of this season's title-chasing candidates that the identity of the "Christmas champions" is likely to remain uncertain until the conclusion of next weekend's final flurry of fixtures. The Premier Socce...

RANDALL ABRAHAMS' PICKS

GRACE POTTER AND THE NOCTURNALS: This is Somewhere (Hollywood Records) Every time you hear about a super-talented über-rock chick, you catch your breath and expect a younger version of Sheryl C...

CAUGHT NAPPING

Malick Sidibé is one of the grand ees of world photography. Born in Soloba, Mali, in 1936, he is also one of only two African photographers to be awarded the prestigious Hasselblad Award. The other is Randfontein-born David Goldblatt...

MUST SEE: MESCHAC GABA

There is a charming reciprocity underlying Beninese artist Meschac Gaba's solo exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. As we look north, to the rest of Africa, so the continent looks back at us. The encounter is not without amuse...

PRAWN-AGAIN CONVERT
By JUSTICE MALALA
We were young and we were beautiful (well, actually, my lovely wife still is). So we found ourselves in Barcelona, Spain, and we had time on our hands. "How about," said my lovely wife, her face deep in a travel guide, "we g...