We at Live Mag SA have been fascinated by the year that’s been. From the Harlem Shake to the Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. Apple iPhone 5s battle, 2013 brought us more than enough banter to flirt over just before we go for the kill under the mistletoe on New Years night . So here it is festive boys & girls, the best & best of 2013!

Music

… Now Do The Harlem Shake!

Best of 2013? Maybe not, but it was certainly one of the most transcendent and wide-spread internet sensations EVER. The Harlem Shake was awesome.

The sensation took hold late in February 2013 after a group of Australian teenagers responded to a video by a vlogger called Filthy Frank in which only one of them dances solo to the first 15 seconds of Dutch House DJ Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” beat before all hell breaks loose at the tune’s DROP at 15 seconds. By early march the craze had  reached gangnam (word?) proportions with thousands of  30-second videos featuring the same routine being uploaded at the peak of its. Now do the Harlem Shake.

Daft Punk (and Pharell)

With an infectious beats that induced incessant clapping, chorus-chanting and the doing of the boogie, Daft Punk kept us up all night earlier this year with their mega-tune, Get Lucky. While lots of  kids are due to be born in 2014 thanks to this,  the tune is rivalled only by Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines as the year’s most popular song. The real story here however, may be that Singer-Producer Pharrell had a lot to do with both tunes. It’s no wonder why Pharrell was SO HAPPYYYY! at the end of the year that he produced the world’s very first 24-hour music video in Novermber for his solo anthem, Happy.

Visit http://24hoursofhappy.com/ to check out the 24-hr music video to Pharrell’s Happy.

OR check out the 4:03 minute-short Official Music Video here. It’s awesome.

Honorary mention: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist

Pop Culture

The Puma Social Club Braamfontein – for those in Jozi – made after-hours athletes of all of us. Though having begun in 2012, Puma blew the final whistle and closed the club’s doors in September this year, leaving many offside when looking for a good time on a Friday night.

Friday nights will never be the same again.

Petition anyone?

Read more on what the Puma Social Club Jozi was, here

Technology

iPhone 5s vs Samsung Galaxy S4

The Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Apple iPhone battle continued and all but relegated Blackberry to keen spectator in 2013. Uh, just to clarify, that “Samsung paid damages to Apple with 30-odd trucks full of 5 cent coins” after losing a lawsuit was a hoax.   Hoax. Hoax. Hoax. Hoax. Yeah. Crazy though – the sh*t people would believe, Eh? It’s OKAY I bought it too.

Read more.

Google Glass

No. It won’t tell you the power level of your FIFA 14 opponent, however much it should. Google’s Glass will, however, take your phone calls, record an HD video, take a picture at your voice command and make you look super geeky all in one go. Dragon Ball Z predicted all of it guys. Either that or the super geeks at Google watched DBZ too. Either way, those were afternoons well-spent. See mom?

Read more on Google Glass here

Politics

Wondering why DA politics had to feature? I’ll tell you the EFF why.

Well, Jacob Zuma is still President. The DA is still trying hard to be as white as they are black and Lindiwe Mazibuko is still in parliament. Hurray for Booreaucracy! Why BOOreaucracy? Well, because within the space of three months, both the leaders of our foremost political parties were booed in public. Eish. Ya neh. Helen AND Jacob have had a heck(le) of an end to the year it seems after Zille was booed at an IDZ event in Saldanha Bay just over a month before President Jacob was booed at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service on the 10th of December. Mayi’BOOye.

In the worst of it, our founding President Nelson Mandela passed away late in the evening on December 5 after a long battle with lung illness. RIP Tata Madiba.Ya, aaaaaand Jacob Zuma remains President. Oh, and the absolute worst? Nkandla and Red October. Read more on Google.

Thumbnail image from:  http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/urbanturfs_best_of_2013/7955

And that about wraps it up!

I, Lee Molefi, & Live Mag SA wish you a great festive season & a prosperous, awesome 2014!

Look out for Issue 9  of Live Mag SA in January 2014!

Follow Lee Molefi on Twitter!