Tuesday Broward Schools public meeting includes screening for Ed Marko's replacement; the Education story South Florida news media is ignoring is...

Goodbye Marko,
Goodbye Marko,
Goodbye Marko,
We're glad to see you go!

In case you forgot why...

http://www.browardbeat.com/more-reasons-why-school-atty-marko-should-go/
and
http://www.browardbeat.com/school-board-will-discuss-ed-markos-fate-big-money-legal-job-could-open/
and
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/related/to/Ed+Marko

Marko's disingenuous brand of incompetency and his lack of a working moral compass or backbone has un-necessarily cost this county's taxpayers millions of dollars, a subject I'll be posting about before heading to those public meetings tomorrow, to make sure "the fix" is not already in place for the current regime to continue their reign of ruin and error for taxpayers
and students.

When it comes time to vote in November, I won't forget who Marko's friends, supporters and sycophants were.
And neither should you.

The newspaper ad below was published in the Miami Herald on Sunday, 7/11/2010.
http://newspaperads.miami.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=1323719&adid=9576097&cat=3349#ixzz0tQKNhZpm

By the way, have you noticed, like me, what very big story involving someone prominent in South Florida education circles has been completely ignored by the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Channels 4, 6, 7 and 10 News in Miami?
It's more than a little curious don't you think?

This isn't 1971 West Texas.
Just because these editors and reporters consciously ignore reporting it doesn't mean it's not news, and a subject that thousands and thousands of people in Broward County are actively talking about.

In fact, many people have even sent me emails about what they think about it, which certainly proves that it's a subject on people's minds, even if all but one member of the South Florida news media completely ignores it.

Of course, typically, once they do actually report it and it's becomes common knowledge, these same reluctant reporters will act like they were always in the loop and knew what was going on, and really wanted to report it earlier, it was just those picky editors that wouldn't let them. Really?

I'll have something to say on this subject soon, complete with photos of the Broward County Schools HQ to show what their bunker looks like.
Having been there many times before, contrary to belief, there is no moat or drawbridge, but there is most definitely a siege mentality omnipresent.
http://www.browardschools.com/schoolboard/

2010 Summer swelter budget blues, NYC's ballooning pension costs and cutting-back elected officials perks

KNVB -Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond

Sunday July 11th, 2010
Just biding my time waiting for The Netherlands to beat Spain 4-2 in today's World Cup final.

Per the spot-on New York Post article below, City taxpayers foot 90% of municipal pensions, it'd be nice to see a South Florida news media organization that could produce a reliable chart indicating what those pension numbers are for South Florida's myriad cities and counties. Don't hold your breath!
It's summer after all.

In two weeks here in Hallandale Beach, the city's staff will have their public budget workshops with the City Commission that they could've actually conducted weeks ago when more of the city's populace was actually still here, and hadn't fled the summer swelter, so they'd have had more time to go over the staff's numbers and projections in devising questions of their own.

In case you forgot, that was yet another motion made by Comm. Keith London that lost 4-1.

But that's fine... now I and many other concerned residents just plan on spending more time asking LOTS of specific questions for Comm. Ross, Sanders and Julian to personally answer about what specific city programs they want to cut or pare-down, as well as explain why should the community trust their judgment given how reluctant they've been to fully carrying out their legal oversight role of the City Manager's Office and keep an eye on the the Depts of this city, almost all of whom believe they are princely kingdoms of which there can be no criticism.

Though I'm not opposed to it in the abstract, since there's something to be said for attending conventions, a very good place to start cutting the city's budget is the city's travel expense account.

Can you name another city in South Florida, much less, one as small as Hallandale Beach, that routinely sends ALL of its City Commissioners to the Florida League of Cities' convention in Orlando, usually noted for its anti-taxpayer agitprop and propaganda?
http://www.floridaleagueofcities.com/

But that's what happens here every year, as if it's an entitlement written in the city's charter.
Why do they ALL have to go at our expense?
It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

It's like rewarding people who don't pay attention to their own city, and telling them they can take a travel junket to a place where nobody knows what a truly abysmal job they do.
Actually, it's not "like" that, it's exactly our reality.

At least this year's event is at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, from August 19-21, right before the primary election, so there will doubtless be lots of statewide candidates milling about, eager to talk to anyone who will listen.

Can't be sure but I'm guessing that considering FLOC's bluster on this and so many other public policy issues, there will be at least a few hours of one day spent debating(!) the question,
Will Amendment 4 really destroy Florida like we said it will, or are we just angry that FL citizens will no longer defer to our infinite wisdom as elected officials?

And what about HB instituting a prohibition like many other South Florida cities on city taxpayers paying the hotel expenses for any city employee or elected official attending an event, forum or convention in Miami-Dade or Broward County -and something with real teeth?

I'd be in favor of forcing HB City Hall to put all taxpayer-paid travel expenses for city employees and elected officials on a designated page on the city's website within 72 hours, with name, title, total costs and description of event.

Why do I think this?
Perhaps you forgot about this telling story about HB Mayor Joy Cooper from 18 months ago:
My mayor went to the Inaugural but all I got was the bill and her imperious attitude!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-mayor-went-to-inaugural-but-all-i.html

New York Post
City taxpayers foot 90% of municipal pensions
By Susan Edelman
Last Updated: 10:31 AM, July 11, 2010
Posted: 2:10 AM, July 11, 2010

Taxpayers kick in an average $8.60 for every dollar that city employees contribute to their pensions, a sweet deal costing the Big Apple a bundle.

Even though their own retirements are less secure, as private businesses have shifted from traditional pensions to riskier savings plans like 401(k)s, taxpayers' support for rock-solid public employee pension plans is growing. That's because pension funds are guaranteed to grow 8 percent a year -- and taxpayers have to make up the difference if they don't.

Taxpayers' share of city pension costs has skyrocketed more than 900 percent in the last decade -- from $703.1 million in 2000 to $6.5 billion in 2009, according to the city comptroller's annual reports.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/you_pay_the_price_hNooJsBk9MtO67HvinglHP

Newt Gingrich on July 2nd On the Record with Greta van Sustern: Obama puts politics ahead of securing the borders

Newt Gingrich on 7/2/10 episode of On the Record with Greta Van Sustern (FOX News Channel): Obama puts politics ahead of securing the borders.


Transcript at http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/transcript/gingrich-obama039s-immigration-speech-was-039entirely-political039

See more on immigration at http://www.newt.org/issues/immigration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AWYVVJSL0o

First ever full-length ad-wrapped train run in New York City is for Target's promotion of new store in Harlem opening July 25th

First ever full-length ad-wrapped train run in New York City is for Target's promotion of new store opening in Harlem on July 25th. Ten cars decorated at a cost of $250,000.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W34Mc5KvDw



Read the entire story at: http://www.startribune.com/business/97445589.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

The answer to my question of last Friday re Lynda Robin Meier will be answered on Saturday morning

I've fielded quite a lot of emails and phone calls from people over the past week wanting to know what happened regarding my promised email and blog post of last Friday about what I and many other concerned Broward residents believe to be the very troubling and unprofessional situation with the Hallandale Beach Police Dept. and the case of missing Hallandale Beach resident Lynda Robin Meier, missing for exactly FIVE WEEKS today.

I will have the promised words and photos available for your perusal here on my blog Saturday morning.

For those of you who have become accustomed over the years to reading my blog posts as received emails before they ever appear in print here, you need to know that I've decided NOT to send it as an email, due to the number of photos involved, which would likely result in such an email bouncing back from many of your email accounts and rendering my efforts pointless, the last thing that I want.

The simple photos and my accompanying words -and your own natural curiosity and sense of expectations- will paint a very negative picture of the HBPD and some others in the community lo these many weeks.
So be it.

Last Friday I asked in my email and subsequent blog post:
What's THE worst possible thing you can do during an active search for a 'missing person'? Another tale of HB incompetency under Police Chief Magill 

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-worst-possible-thing-you-can-do.html

On Saturday morning, you will finally get your answer -and then some!

Even more troubling news for beleaguered Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino in Hallandale Beach and its owner, Frank Stronach

Above, May 25, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino sign facing towards south-bound U.S.-1/Federal Highway, off Hibiscus Street in Hallandale Beach.

I've noted previously on this blog with both dismay and incredulity the self-evident fact that Gulfstream Park/Magna Entertainment Corp. has consistently been so negligent about properly maintaining this valuable property that it has inspired well-deserved ridicule in the community.
For instance, as I've mentioned previously, the spotlights on the ground that are supposed to illuminate the sign above at night haven't worked since 2008, and the light on the left of the picture has not even had an actual bulb since 2009, which is why this sign on a major South Florida road is pitch black at night. Not exactly the smartest marketing decision, no?

Frankly, it's only been because I've been so busy writing about other matters, including the community fight against the Diplomat LAC proposal and the attempted shoe-horning of a Ben Gamla charter high school into a single-family neighborhood that I didn't run numerous posts here utilizing the dozens and dozens of photos I have that clearly illustrate how very poorly this so-called entertainment center has been operated and maintained.

Despite having the better part of an entire year, and knowing how crucial it was that they appear to be on top of things, Gulfstream/MEC couldn't even mange to have their own electronic message boards on both U.S.-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd. constructed and operating before the racing season opened in January, which made it look shabby and third-class.
This embarrassing snails pace of theirs, almost a sense of obliviousness, also meant that the message signs were NOT available to effectively promote the retail shops that were open over the holiday season, when they needed all the help they could get. It was weeks into the racing season before the electronic message signs were up and working properly.

To any reasonable observer, it was almost like they were considered an after-thought, and not a tool to be properly utilized, but then look how they waste the sign they already had?
This very unprofessional laissez-faire attitude towards aesthetics, maintenance and marketing raises serious questions in my mind and many others as to whether or not the people currently running Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino are fit for the job ahead.
Above and below, May 30, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of the monument signs and U.S.-1 entrance to both Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex.



I received a link to this very troubling Toronto Star story just before 10 p.m. Thursday night as a result of a my "Hallandale Beach" Google Alert.

This continues the long streak of bad financial news for Gulfstream Park owner Frank Stronach, some of which I've detailed on this blog, and this latest news is perhaps the most unsettling, though getting some firm financial numbers may prove quite elusive until the trial that's described below begins.

When the largest employer in the city is having severe financial problems, and some vocal shareholders want to go to court to force the sale of the main asset and element of the enterprise, the Racetrack, there's more than enough reason to be legitimately concerned.

Still, any legal action that intends to pursue, among other things, "a declaration that the company made “misleading” public statements" is not music to Hallandale Beach taxpayers ears, given the amount of city taxpayer's money that has walked across U.S.-1 from HB City Hall to the enterprises located over there.

It's time for someone at Gulfstream to publicly show some long overdue gumption and common sense and finally leave the PR histrionics behind for a change, and instead, be straight and address the HB community's reasonable concerns about its future as a viable racetrack, rather than continuing to engage in their current unsuccessful "no comment" routine, which satisfies nobody and just irritates people who are paying attention.

Hearing "no comment" too many more times in the near future will inevitably lead to even louder public doubts and media commentary, and a corresponding taxpayer/customer vote of "no confidence" with their feet and wallets & purses for both the racetrack and retail complex, even though they are, of course, legally separate entities.

Frankly, I was a little surprised that a newspaper as large as the Toronto Star is still using an artists rendering in their article so long after Gulfstream Park was re-done, and the initial stage of The Village at Gulfstream Park (VAGP) opened -in November.

Also, if you look carefully, most of the rendering below is not of Gulfstream, per se, that Stronach & Co. own, but rather of the VAGP retail area that Gulfstream is a partner to but NOT the owner of, per state law.

I may just have to send the Star some of my new photos of the complex for their records.

--------

Toronto Star
Shareholders sue MI Developments Group of U.S. investors claim Stronach and directors improperly used MID to prop up money-losing Magna Entertainment.
July 7, 2010

Tony Van Alphen Business Reporter

Big investors in MI Developments Inc. have sued the company, controlling shareholder Frank Stronach and numerous directors for their role in allegedly propping up his money-losing horse racing venture before and after its collapse last year.

In seeking millions of dollars in compensation, five U.S.-based investment firms say in a statement of claim that MI engaged in a “myriad of connected related party loans and other transactions” with racetrack and gambling operator Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC) to ensure its assets remained under Stronach’s control and not sold to third parties.

The sentence that really jumps out at you is this one towards the middle of the story:
Some of the investment firms have complained about MI’s continuing heavy support of MEC for years and pressed the board to divest the horse racing assets and make the company a pure real estate play.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/833230--shareholders-sue-mi-developments

See also:
http://www.thevillageatgulfstreampark.com/

Sayfie Review Meetup for Broward County on Thursday July 15th in Fort Laudedale at Big City Tavern at 6 p.m.

http://www.meetup.com/Sayfie-Summer-Meetup/12138/

When: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 6:00 PM,

Where:, Big City Tavern, 609 East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL,

Happy Hour until 7:00 p.m. We will have a section reserved for us.
Just ask for the Sayfie Review group.

Dear David, Last week, SayfieReview.com invited its readers to the Sayfie Summer Meetup on July 15th. Since the announcement, dozens of Sayfie Review readers and Florida politicos have signed up to attend get-togethers in 14 cities - from Niceville, Florida, to Nice, France! The Sayfie Summer Meetup is a chance for Sayfie Review readers everywhere to gather and connect with each other. Check out our webpage where you can sign up to attend or organize a Meetup near you on July 15th. We are also randomly giving away a brand new Apple iPad WiFi + 3G to one of the attendees at each of the two Meetups with the highest number of registered attendees on our Meetup page (as of 5 p.m. on July 14th). I hope you will be able to join us and connect with other readers of the Sayfie Review on July 15th. Click here to find or set up a Sayfie Summer Meetup near you! All the best, Justin p.s. Use the hashtag #SayfieMeetup on Twitter. email: justin@sayfiereview.com phone: 954-523-2427 web: www.sayfiereview.com

From Bergman's Sweden to Mod cotton fashions in the blink of an eye; BBC's 5 LIVE as a chaser; RFD Greenwich Village on TCM; Leona Lewis and Colbie Caillat's ads for Cotton Producers Institute

Today for your education and amusement comes this very interesting insight into late 1960's advertising and fashion and New York City living, in the form of a short ten-minute industrial film called RFD Greenwich Village.


https://archive.org/details/0574_RFD_Greenwich_Village_08_01_00_24
advertising, Manhattan, late-1960's fashion, New York City, travel, social life, consumerism, home design, Bleeker Street, NYC architecture, O. Henry's, The Village Gate, Village Purple Onion, Ye Waverly Inn, Circle in the Square theater

I first saw it on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) over the weekend as "filler" immediately following a showing of Ingmar Bergman's celebrated 1966 film, Persona.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060827/

It was produced by the industry group, Cotton Producers Institute, which the next year became Cotton Incorporated, which first made all those great feel-good TV ads in the 1970's for cotton clothing, emphasizing The Fabric of Our Lives.
"The touch/The feel of cotton/The fabric of our lives."
http://www.cottoninc.com/CottonGrowerArticles/

Here are their newest commercials from April for that famous advertising campaign featuring singers Leona Lewis and Colbie Caillat.

The Fabric of Leona's Life (High Quality): 30

http://youtu.be/ncFkelvp2ho

The Fabric of Colbie's Life (High Quality): 30

http://youtu.be/Eba_ofOU0LA

See also: Leona Lewis and Colbie Caillat talk FASHION
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd0jmd_leona-lewis-and-colbie-caillat-talk_shortfilms

See other commercials from the series at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CottonFabricOfMyLife

Because I hadn't seen Persona in many years and it was coming on after midnight, I chose to record it while I listened via the Internet to the BBC's 5 live programming while trying to fall asleep, something which I have become addicted to doing since the beginning of the year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two

Because of the five-hour time difference between South Florida and London, when I flip it on after watching ESPN's Baseball Tonight, it's their Breakfast show with Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty, or if it's a bit later, Victoria Derbyshire.

I'll actually be compiling and sharing my own personal "Best of" 5 live morning shows soon, along with links and podcast info to share some of the best programming I've heard in ages, and which makes listening to stolid NPR an even less-likely decision once you've gotten used to their style, verve and imagination -and honesty.
And it's all LIVE. 

That's why I used the word addictive earlier, since I now find myself going to sleep with lots of traffic updates on what's what on the M6 and where the lorries have flipped over like they always did on cue on the DC Beltway and I-270 in Maryland at the worst possible times -morning rush.

Take a listen for yourself: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live/

While taping Persona on the tube, from London I heard a series of news bites on a new study along with some compelling interviews with adults and kids on the affect of parental drinking in front of children. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sybc6#synopsis

I don't mind telling you that some of it nearly had me in tears, since I recognized the outline of so many of these stories and revelations from first-hand observations among my own family and circle of friends here in South Florida and while going to school at IU in Bloomington, where I sometimes went on weekend trips with friends back to their hometowns all across the Midwest.


(To the best of my knowledge, my alma mater, North Miami Beach High School, had no cheerleaders or high-achieving girls get pregnant by teachers while I was there from 1976-'79, but apparently, judging by what I heard on those weekend visits so many years ago, NMB's kind of normalcy was anything but the norm in some of the Midwestern towns I visited, which seemed more like David Lynch film sets, with high school Driver's Education instructors actually leaving their wives for 17-year old girls.
Turns out I was more right about NMB being very "square" than I ever knew when I lived there.)

Frankly, the consistent high-quality programming at 5 live makes the prospect of ever returning to listening to a regularly-scheduled NPR program high unlikely, especially since I can always go to the Diane Rehm Show archives or podcasts on weekends if an author or topic I'm interested in is on her popular show, which I listened to regularly for 21 years. But no more.


After I finally saw RFD Greenwich Village on Monday, I must've watched it 2-3 more times to capture all the nostalgia, kitsch and sharp writing, and snapped a few screen-shots to share with you here in the future as well.


Tuesday, I decided to look for it elsewhere, and I struck gold via this video at the Internet Archive.


Best phrase of the film, at 01:47, "Suburban living on an urban landscape."

At 05:55, tell me that doesn't look like a young Bill Clinton!Best line of the film at 09:56,

"Today, Greenwich Village is the postmark for many "countrified cosmopolitans," people who prefer small-town casualness to rigid metropolitan dress for men, and their suburban counterparts."

The parties depicted here, particularly the courtyard parties, reminded me of living in Bloomington and Chicago/Evanston in the '80's, and in the case of the latter, the fabulous parties my older friends in advertising or retail threw with relish and aplomb, as well as friends who were 20-something Junior League legacies on The North Shore, and who looked like they stepped straight out of the new 1986 J.G. Hook catalog or a 1985 issue of Town & Country magazine.

For the record, as anyone who knows me from that period of time can attest, I've always liked and been a sucker for that look, hence my particular fondness while at IU for sorority girls at Delta Gamma and over at Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Smart, sporty, practical and fun-loving personality to spare!

Image-wise for the above parties, picture 27-year old clones of Sela Ward or Janine Turner, to name two of my favorite actresses.
http://www.xyface.com/celeb-sela-ward
http://www.janineturner.com/ 
@JanineTurner https://twitter.com/JanineTurner

'Nuff said!

Sela Ward

More, December 2005/January 2006;
Sela Ward - "At 49, I've learned that beautiful word no."

Homesick: A Memoir by Sela Ward
http://www.selawardtv.com/homesick.html

I'll have a post pretty soon on Janine's very interesting and principled efforts of late to promote the lasting lessons from The Federalist Papers to young people, along with her daughter, Juliette.
Obviously, I support that effort 100%.

(I've previously written about Janine and Sela and her book over at my other blog, South Beach Hoosier, http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2008/03/janine-turner-on-c-span-2s-book-tv-sun.html and http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/search?q=sela+ward)


For more on 1960's advertising and fashion photos, see Found in Mama's Basement:
http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/

advertising, Manhattan, late-1960's fashion, New York City, travel, social life, consumerism, home design, Bleeker Street, NYC architecture, O. Henry's, The Village Gate, Village Purple Onion, Ye Waverly Inn, Circle in the Square theater

Ex-Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer's corruption trial looks to be the hurricane that Charlie Crist didn't anticipate -and Greer's going to sing!

Let the games begin!

Based on what I've read this afternoon in this post from the always-reliable Central Florida Political Pulse politics blog, ex-Florida GOP (RPOF) chairman Jim Greer's trial looks to be the hurricane that Charlie Crist didn't anticipate and the one that will cause him the most damage this summer.

What did the Governor and when did he know it?

When it comes out that Governor Crist was not only NOT the paragon of ethics and rectitude he styles himself as publicly, and was, in fact, as oblivious to the nefarious machinations of Greer & Co. at the RPOF -or did he just look the other way?- as he was with so many matters of state and public policy that he SHOULD'VE been paying attention to, the simple question will be, was Governor Crist oblivious or careless?
It's one of the other, but can't be neither.

For those of you who have been coming to this blog for a while or who have spoken to me over the past few years at one public policy gathering or another, you know that I'm not saying anything new here when I observe that I and many other Floridians are still greatly troubled by the fact that someone who has done such a remarkably crummy job as governor, someone whom I voted for 4 years ago, to my regret, would have the gall to want a promotion, rather than try to actually get some badly needed things done before it's too late.

Based on what I have observed in terms of how vast the differences are between what Crist ran on doing four years ago and what he's done -or in many cases, HASN'T DONE- for the future opf this state, the best place for Charlie Crist after his term ends is his wife's mansion in New York, the same place he'd be spending so much time at if he got elected to the U.S. Senate anyway.

After all, isn't that what he promised his wife when he convinced her to let him run for Senate? More time in NY with her and her family and not stuck in hot and humid Florida?

------

Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse politics blog
Greer lawyer: We’ll make people talk
Uncategorized — posted by Aaron Deslatte on July, 6 2010 4:54 AM
By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel

A criminal defense attorney for former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer on Monday promised to make defense witnesses of some of the most powerful people in Florida politics – Gov. Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and state Republican chief John Thrasher.

That’s one long-time ally – Crist – and two enemies.

J. Cheney Mason also said he’ll depose two other GOP power brokers who have become Greer adversaries – prospective Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, of Winter Park, and soon-to-be Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, of Merritt Island.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/07/greer-lawyer-well-make-people-talk.html

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/

IF you REALLY want insight into South Africa, see it thru the eyes of Hanli Prinsloo: Vit som blod (White as blood); @hanliprinsloo

IF you REALLY want insight into South Africa, see it thru the eyes of Hanli Prinsloo; @hanliprinsloo

For weeks I've been sitting on this little gold nugget, waiting for just the right time to bring it out for you all to finally see and admire.

Today, with the first Semifinal of the 2010 World Cup taking place in Cape Town with The Netherlands facing Uruguay -with me rooting for The Orange- I decided the time was right to share this fabulous documentary called Vit som blod (White as blood) by Hanli Prinsloo that first aired on Swedish Television (SVT) in Sweden a month ago, before the World Cup started or any of the fascinating kungliga bröllopet stuff with Crown Princess Victoria.

I've probably watched it now three or four times in the interim, and I have to tell you that there are some things in it that still get to me every time.

Just for the record, though they are both from southern Africa, South Africa-born Hanli Prinsloo is NOT the sister of fashion supermodel and Victoria's Secret angel Behati Prinsloo, who is from Namibia. I've had something interesting on Behati stored-up in Draft waiting for just the right time, which I guess I'll share right now. @BeePrinsloo



VS PINK - DRIVING LESSON FOR BEHATI from Rockville Pictures on Vimeo.
VS PINK - DRIVING LESSON FOR BEHATI

My first thought? This explains a lot of the traffic problems in South Beach... watching -and avoiding!- Behati Prinsloo

Some of you more astute readers of the blog may have first seen her when she was on CBS-TV promoting the December 2008 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at The Fontainbleau.

So back to the serious stuff... Once the film begins, you'll see that it's of a caliber and ambition far more serious than what the U.S. networks have shown over here in relation to the run-up to the 2010 World Cup.

Prinsloo's film is a great example of some very savvy and personal film-making, and while one can't hope for miracles, ESPN sure hasn't gone out of their way to do any of the sort of cultural, political or historical aspects of the South Africa story the way that Jim McKay would've done for ABC Sports. But then he was the gold standard

The film is just over 58 minutes long, in English with Swedish sub-titles -avec un peu de Afrikaans- but you'll understand 99% of it. 
Be sure to hit the full screen button in the bottom right to better view it. This film will be available at the SVT Play website until next Tuesday, July 13th.

Here's the premise of the film: After seven years of living in Sweden, Hanli Prinsloo is returning to South Africa. But before she moves home, she must first come to terms with her family's heritage. Hanli's grandfather was a political leader of the apartheid regime. It's finally time to confront the family over the issue that has caused so much conflict over the years. Hanli embarks on her journey from Sweden filled with deeply-felt emotions and personal conflicts to get an answer to the question: Kan jag bo här? Can I stay here?
http://svtplay.se/v/2031363/dokumentarfilm/vit_som_blod

For more on the amazing Hanli Prinsloo, go to her new website at 
http://hanliprinsloo.com/

Her old blog was at: http://hanlifreediver.blogspot.com
http://www.iamwater.co.za/

Hanli Prinsloo, @hanliprinsloo  https://twitter.com/hanliprinsloo

https://www.youtube.com/user/hanlifreediver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOCXjeroMcE