• Sean Henry Jacobs

Commercials tied to the 2010 World Cup sell brands through a tired global template of African-ness: poverty as texture, hardship as atmosphere, resilience as spectacle.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

Has Bono made what is the best TV (you can also watch it on Youtube) commercial in the history of the World Cup?

• Herman Wasserman

The UK Observer, despite its best attempts, does not have its finger on the pulse of the South African literary scene. The World Cup didn't help.

• Sonja Sugira

A brand of football trickery and showmanship have only reaped bad results on the field for South African teams, but is also a great dance.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

There's a lot of hype around Didier Drogba, including that he stopped a civil war in Cote d'Ivoire. How much truth is there to that story?

• Sonja Sugira

Hugh Masekela and his son, Sal, together explore the people, culture, landscapes and history of South Africa.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

If the metric is how many African players are on the pitch, then your team in the 2010 UEFA Champions League final is Inter Milan.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

Here for your reading list: 10 things I have read quickly, seen or watched, listened to, been forwarded, did not really have the time to think about properly.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

FIFA and the South African organizers of the World Cup have unveiled the 2010 World Cup "official" song: It's a rip-off of a Cameroonian military song.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

Coca-Cola’s ad trivializes Cameroon’s 1990 World Cup breakthrough, ignoring its transformative global impact.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

Binyavanga Wainaina and Teju Cole are among those on a panel discussing the historic 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa; the first time on the continent.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

For those doubting South African can host a successful World Cup, the country has a long history of successfully hosting big tournaments.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

There is something tail-swishingly devilish about the way Lionel Messi runs with a football.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

The Senegalese-American crooner's uninspiring "Oh Africa" reminds of bubblegum South African pop from the 1980s.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

Wiley, known for painting black men as figures from Renaissance art, now does the same with Africa's best football talents.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

How a political song about the aftermath of the Cold War, refugees and statelessness was defanged, first for FIFA and then for Coca Cola.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

No one mixes nationalism, tourism and sport in a feel-good cocktail quite like the South African advertising industry.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

Samuel Eto'o is the official face of the 2010 World Cup. He is also the most impressive African footballer of the last decade.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

The fantasy that local people - small businesspeople, informal traders, especially black people - will make money or get jobs during the 2010 World Cup.

• Sean Henry Jacobs

It's no accident that so many South Africans watch and support English Premier League football teams.