Category: Entertainment
King Kandoro Prodigal Son Review: e-passports, Nick Mangwana & more
UK-based Zimbabwean comedian Mukudzei Kandoro Majoni aka King Kandoro returned home for his Prodigal Son Tour which concluded in Harare on Christmas Eve. This was my first time attending stand up comedy locally and I can’t say I was disappointed. The opening act, Munya was pretty funny, I particularly liked the bucket bathing jokes and […]
ZBC’s new channels: Great for local content but DStv & OpenView have a sizable gap
Last week we reported on the six new channels that were operational in the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s (ZBC) digital television migration. This, for whatever reason, was something the ZBC was oddly quiet about. One would assume that a landmark moment like this, which was long overdue, was something that the national broadcasting authority would shout […]
@pablozw1, 23K followers on TikTok in 4 months. The man is an entertainer
Today I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Michael Sibanda or you might know him by his TikTok handle @PabloZW1. He is one of the funniest guys online and it’s no surprise that he has garnered 23.5K followers on TikTok since his first post in August. You can listen to or download the […]
So… ZBC was serious about digital TV channels, six are already on the air
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has for the longest time promised a digital television migration, stretching back to the days when Supa Mandiwanzira was Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services. Digital TV was not a Zimbabwean ambition alone, many other countries in SADC and across the globe made the pledge to move from […]
142 million households watched Netflix’s Squid Game
In a report by Bloomberg, Netflix’s Korean series Squid Game was watched by around 142 million households. That number made Squid Game the most-watched new show on Netflix of all time. This information was revealed in a pre-recorded call to shareholders that gleaned over the streaming service’s Q3 2021 results. What is doubly impressive is […]
Netflix is getting really serious about games
A few months ago Netflix made a rather startling revelation when it announced that it was going to diversify its business by venturing into the gaming market. They have since unveiled a couple of games in a few countries in Europe and initial results seem to suggest that they are not faring badly in the […]
Racism and cancel culture: Should R Kelly’s music be banned?
If you missed it, famous American singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, whom you probably know as R Kelly has added a new label to his name. He is now a convicted sex offender after being found guilty by a jury of his peers of numerous sex-related offences. Thanks to the world we live in, that’s probably […]
Apple’s Foundation is Game of Thrones lite in space
Will anyone ever make an epic series as riveting and enthralling as Game of Thrones? Perhaps but Apple TV’s new show Foundation is not that series. That’s not to say it’s bad. It’s just different, entertaining sure, but it’s not just as captivating as the early seasons of Game of Thrones were. It is comparable […]
DStv doubles down on its local content strategy with two new exciting shows
Faced with a deluge of streaming services eager to take slices of its territory, DStv has been banking on two Aces up its sleeve. First, there is the usual indomitable exclusive access to Sports card that worked so well against Kwese TV (may it continue to rest in peace). Then there is the local content […]
Apple and Netflix prove that streaming is the future at Emmys
I have to admit the Emmys and other such award events often take me by surprise. I often hear of them after the event and for some reason, I have never watched an award event live. Also, given the ungodly hours these events take place thanks to time differences has anyone in this country ever? […]
Xiaomi’s soundbar is amazing, affordable but not perfect
This week my beloved Mi Box S passed away thanks to a buggy OTA update from Xiaomi. I needed a replacement so I visited the local Mi Store at Eastgate to get one and see what other stuff Xiaomi has selling locally. Naturally, they have quite the haul and that’s not surprising given how Xiaomi […]
This is how streaming is going to kill DStv
You have probably heard this before but it’s worth repeating: Streaming is going to bring about the end of satellite providers like DStv. I know what your reaction is going to be: That’s never happening in Africa because here internet is limited to urban areas and even then it’s so expensive most households would find […]
Multichoice is still testing DStv Flex, there is no launch date yet
At the end of June, we learnt that DStv was on the brink of doing something that they had staunchly refused to do for a long time. They would be introducing something called DStv Flex, a new way of packaging their channels that would see customers have more control over which channels they wanted to […]
BBC’s Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business is a must watch
Yesterday BBC One aired an intriguing and riveting documentary called Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business which explores the sordid underbelly of the tobacco and cigarette business. While, to most of us Zimbabweans, tobacco just happens to be one of our biggest foreign currency earners, it turns out there is a whole dark world out […]
How to watch YouTube without ads on your Phone and Android TV
I am an avid user of YouTube. In fact, at my house, about 60% of our data goes to YouTube usage. It’s the most used app on all our devices. We follow dozens of channels as a family including tech channels, cooking channels as well as local drama channels. Over the past few months, I […]
How to unblock US Netflix & BBC iPlayer using Openwrt 21.02 and SmartDNS
Not so long ago I wrote a guide on how to unblock U.S Netflix and other services such as BBC iPlayer using an Openwrt router and SmartDNS. That guide is still valid but ever since I wrote that guide there has been a big development. The OpenWrt team released the latest stable version of OpenWrt-version […]
The BBC’s 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room is a gripping must-watch Documentary
It’s hard to explain the world before 9/11 to bright-eyed ama-2000s but believe it was a different world when the new Millenium started. Even then, Iike now, I was a keen student of history and global events. There was so much hope, so much goodwill and it seemed like the world was on the mend. […]
How to watch US Netflix using static routing on OpenWrt and SmartDNSProxy
It is well known in the movie and TV Shows community that US subscribers tend to get the best Netflix goodies. It is also well known that Netflix presents its catalogue based on what they detect your IP address to be. This presents opportunities for the tech-savvy among us. You can pay for Zimbabwe, South […]
Zimbabwean Pirates rejoice as simultaneous movie releases become more common
COVID-19 has been a boon and bane to various industries. To the movie and entertainment industry, it has proved to be a bit of both. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way movies are now being released. Generally, movie the movie industry has always adhered to the so-called region and 3-month release cycle […]
Showmax ups the ante with a new original: Temptations Island South Africa
I am not a fan of reality TV shows mostly because when it’s all said and done the cynic within me refuses to believe there is anything real about them. I have always had this sneaking suspicion deep down that the flow of things is too contrived to be a coincidence. This is why I […]
Multichoice still locked in a bitter tax battle with Nigerian authorities
Last month we learnt that Nigerian authorities had either frozen or were attempting to freeze the bank accounts of several big companies over tax issues. By far the biggest name on the list was the South African entertainment giant Multichoice. The company is now involved in a heated battle over ₦1.8-trillion (US$4.3 billion) tax bill. […]
It’s the end of an era as popular Usenet platform Newzbin shuts down
In the beginning, when there was only Unix, there was the internet and Usenet. Most people are only familiar with the web part of the internet. In fact, a lot of people think the web and the internet are one and the same thing. This is mentality is going to become even more pervasive and […]
Netflix has started delivering on its mobile games promises
It was not so long ago that we learnt that Netflix was going to be pivoting into the mobile games market. Netflix seems to have hit the ground running after the announcement. The company has now started to deliver on its word. Those in Poland were recently invited to play two new mobile games whose […]
SABC is planning to launch its own VOD platform
South Africa’s state broadcaster might be struggling to make people pay for the licence fees just like ZBC but it seems this is where the similarities end. While our own broadcaster has been a perennial disappointment that makes promises that it cannot keep, SABC has made some noteworthy achievements. Not only are they on track […]
Netflix’s featured film, Monster Hunter, is totally, unwatchable
These days chances are if you open your Netflix app you are either confronted with Monster Hunter or the latest instalment of Tomb Raider-the one without Angelina Jolie. Neither films are particularly new. Monster Hunter is a forgettable film from last year that was an unlikely Box Office success while Tomb Raider is an unremarkable […]
Another Disney Channel is set to leave the DStv platform
If you have children you might have noticed that the Disney XD the channel is no longer available on DStv. It hasn’t been available since September last year. The eagle-eyed will also notice that Fox Life also left DStv about the same time. Now it’s happening again. Fox channel, another Disney owned channel will no […]
Does OpenView HD really have the capacity to block Zim decoders?
Ever since we heard that OpenView was planning on blocking those of their decoders that are being used outside South Africa a lot of Zimbos who rely on this platform for entertainment have been on edge. Most are worried that they will just wake up one day to a black screen. This has led to […]
Wadiwa Wepamoyo S2 coming September!
You know something is good…or bad when memes are made out of it. I mean who can forget the iconing ‘Ndeipi’ line. And thats the sort of treatment Wadiwa Wepamoyo got in it’s season debut. Well this local drama is bringing us an encore next month!
Showmax Pro to stream EPL, La Liga & more but only SA will get UCL
After the successful live streaming of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Showmax Pro will be bringing the world’s best football to its subscribers. Showmax Pro is the only streaming service in Africa to stream all matches of the English Premier League (EPL), La Liga and Serie A and the DStv Premiership, courtesy of SuperSport. The new […]
Can free satellite TV services like OpenView get an operating licence in Zim?
Free-to-air satellite service OpenView yesterday said that it would start blocking decoders that are outside of South Africa. The reason they cited was that they are only licenced to operate in SA. OpenView also said that it would be expanding to other African countries at a later date which we assume will mean that it […]