The week that was(n't) in beloved South Africa. Seriously. By JOHN VLISMAS & DUNCAN HARLING.

The race between West and East has inspired a new genre of best-selling non-fiction, and is making celebrity names out of a growing number of writers and academics. From the perspective of both sides, the race is as real as it is hard-run, but the “winner” is not as obvious as most seem to think. What are the latest stats that shed light on the matter? Where does Africa feature? By KEVIN BLOOM.

Coverage of Syria's civil war has been polarised by competing narratives. Relying as we are on sources like activists and opposition politicians, a more moderate approach ought to have been adopted, but instead news channels like Al-Jazeera Arabic have adopted a decidedly opposition-friendly stance. By KHADIJA PATEL.

Hear Me Alone is cast entirely in the form of a first-person narrative by Epher, a young Nazarene, tormented by his awareness that every existing account of the conception of The Lamb has it wrong. His book and his alone will set the record straight, especially through revealing what happened one evening between him and his childhood friend, Bellewa Miriam. Reviewed by Chris Dunton.

I watched the Invisible Children video online – sat through all 26 minutes of it. I spent some of that time feeling grumpy that some Captain America-jawed, foppish-haired American was getting me to wipe tears from under my specs. The truth of the matter is that the tragedy of Joseph Kony's monstrosity needs to be told, and if it hasn’t been the traditional media’s stolid ways that have sparked action, then let it be the energised youth of the USA. By GREG MARINOVICH.

The world on the other side of your computer screen might as well not exist. In the battles waged between governments, WikiLeakers and computer hackers, the real world doesn’t count for much. Now, the FBI and its international partners have struck the notorious hacking collective Anonymous a potentially fatal blow. But how many lives does a hacker have in a universe of bits and bytes? By RICHARD POPLAK.

Digital marketing thinker Dave Duarte says businesses should pay at least as much attention to the culture of an organisation as to technological developments. By REBECCA DAVIS.

2012 shall go on record as the Year of the Geek. Consider the following: a third instalment in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman franchise. A Spiderman reboot. A live-action Pixar rendering of Edgar Rice Burrough’s Princess of Mars, titled John Carter. But for the mega-geek, nothing will match the religious ecstasy of Marvel’s Avengers, perhaps the most anticipated film of all time, assuming you have your mom on speed dial. By RICHARD POPLAK.

A US Senate investigation into the sinking of Italian ship Costa Concordia is bringing an industry accused of under-regulation into the spotlight. REBECCA DAVIS takes a look at the world of cruise ships.

Facial aesthetics understandably do not feature prominently in the list of priorities of the department of health but the problems of cleft lips and palates is a common one in Africa. The Smile Foundation has successfully partnered with academic hospitals to help underprivileged children with facial conditions. By KHADIJA PATEL.

There’s something quite lovely about the cut and thrust of witty repartee in a classic old piece of theatre. Plays where words are everything, and movements confined to a raised eyebrow or the dismissive flick of a haughty fan. By LESLEY STONES.

Sometimes there is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider by Zakes Mda, Johannesburg: Penguin, 2011. Review by CHRIS DUNTON.

If you don’t already have tickets for the new Nik Rabinowitz show, you’re going to battle to get them, writes LESLEY STONES, who didn’t laugh all the time, but thinks the sold-out audiences will.

Hard core critics might have a knife in for crime writing, which doesn’t have the literary appeal of a Franzen or a Vladislavic, but with heavyweight work coming from northern Europe and SA, it’s a little early to dismiss the genre just yet. MANDY DE WAAL looks at the realism of local thrillers and speaks to the first lady of crime lit, Margie Orford.

Chardon High School in Ohio this week became the latest school to suffer a multiple fatal shooting and the predictable media storm has ensued. Why does this type of violence fascinate us so? By REBECCA DAVIS.

The American political scene has just become a little tamer. Just kidding. By RICHARD POPLAK.

Boet, you’re not gonna smaak this kak. Listen Chines – the boffins are now telling us that chicks – cherries, bru! – invent all the words that make us different from the Australians. What’s a bru to do? Eish. By RICHARD POPLAK.

The week that was(n't) in beloved South Africa. Seriously. By JOHN VLISMAS & DUNCAN HARLING.

The vast, multivolume Dictionary of American Regional English (Dare) has finally been wrapped up after a half century of effort from a team of linguists and lexicographers based at the University of Wisconsin. The fifth and final volume of this compendium, published by the Harvard University Press, comes out in print in March and there are plans to issue the whole thing in digital format thereafter as well. Gigantic effort it is. By J. BROOKS SPECTOR.

Book Review by BILL NASSON: Cape Lives of the Eighteenth Century by Karel Schoeman (Protea, 2011).

Rich people getting awards. You know the drill. By RICHARD POPLAK.

For about a decade former stage magician-cum-sceptic, James Randi, has offered a $1-million prize to anyone who can successfully prove they’re psychic. Or can speak to the dead. Or move objects by shooting energy from their eyes. To date many have taken up the challenge. But none has claimed the prize. Does a “mystic” maiden from Peddie stand any chance of taking the purse? By MANDY DE WAAL.

Former president Nelson Mandela went into hospital during the past weekend, prompting renewed media interest in his wellbeing. Unlike the last time this happened, the presidency and the ANC were better prepared this time around, and though the news did make headlines around the world, it wasn’t laced with as much panic as January 2011. Someone in government learnt a lesson. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.

Some incredibly slick musical tribute shows have been playing in our theatres recently. American Anthems isn’t one of them. By LESLEY STONES.

Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech contained few surprises. He sparked outrage by announcing e-tolls in Gauteng will start on 30 April but we all knew that was coming. So who better to explain things properly than comedians? We asked John Vlismas, David Kibuuka, Joey Yusuf Rasdien and Evita Bezuidenhout what they thought of South Africa’s 2012/13 financial outlook. By GREG NICOLSON.

She was one of the most experienced war correspondents on Earth, a woman who’d given invaluable advice on how to handle conflict zones to some of the biggest names in journalism. But not even Marie Colvin, veteran correspondent for The Sunday Times, could have avoided what appears to have been a deliberate attack on a press centre in Syria. Will the West now finally be moved to bring about the end of Assad? By KEVIN BLOOM.

Ronnie Apteker is no stranger to entrepreneurship. The real kind, mind you. The kind with rollercoaster highs unrivalled by any chemically induced trip and lows to match. Early success in the form of Internet Solutions allowed Apteker to follow his true passion. Daily Maverick’s STYLI CHARALAMBOUS asked him about the funny business of movie making.

Audi’s status as a premium automotive brand has been beyond question for many years now. But one could argue that the A5 coupé put the Four Rings on the map as far as desirability and sheer aesthetic appeal are concerned. Mixing gorgeous styling with sports car dynamics, the sleek two-door has just been spruced up. DEON SCHOEMAN drives the fiery S5 version to find out if it still has the right stuff.

Had he not committed suicide in 2008, David Foster Wallace would have celebrated his 50th birthday on Tuesday, 21 February. The message he has left from his writings is that we’d do better to take heed of how he tried to live than of how he died. By KEVIN BLOOM.