Coming on Studio 53

Face of Africa Launch (Ghana and Uganda)
FACE of Africa is back and the winner will take home 50,000 US dollars (about 60m/-) plus a modeling contract with O Model Africa. This year's search promises more of the excitement, drama and glamour that Face of Africa is well known for. The legendary search has changed as well, from a four-part special into a dynamic 14-episode television series, and the finale will be held in Nigeria, in February 2010.

Anita in Ghana also headed to the Face of Africa launch in Ghana which was held at the Artist Alliance Gallery in Accra and featured the display of clothes by Nonterah, RenéeQ Bespoke Kiki Clothing, Honey Bee Couture and Christie Brown.

Studio 53 also headed to the launch of Face of Africa in Uganda. .

Tinsel 100th Birthday Bash (Nigeria)
Studio 53 and IK attended Tinsel's 100th Birthday Bash. This showed to be a bash that true celebrated the TV series that has been on air for a long time. We met up with Chris Attoh and other cast and crew of Tinsel as well as the “who is who” of Nigeria.

Tinsel has a compelling storyline of romance, passion and intrigue in a world of glamour. TINSEL is MNET AFRICA's first ever Nigerian soap-opera, originally created as localized content for international cast on MultiChoice's premium DStv formats. Shot on location in Lagos, Nigeria, with the most sublime filming/programming artistry, TINSEL is that thought-provoking daily soap-opera that the Nigerian film industry can be proud of. Tinsel looks like a soapie that will be there in many years to come.

African Mosaic Ethiopia(Arise Fashion week.)
According to many, the most exciting of Africa's new fashion arrivals has to be the African Mosaique label, headed up by the stunning beauty, Anna Getaneh. This Ethiopian pioneer is paving the catwalks of the world for the continents couture contingent, while acting as a platform for, and raising funds for, disadvantaged children. She now has a shop in South Africa and exports to the United States of America. Anna is a fashion-cultural enthusiast, humanitarian, and an acclaimed former international model. From her base in Paris and New York City , her modeling career spanned close to 10 years, working with renowned designers such as Christian Lacroix, Ungaro, Yves St. Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Escada, and Donna Karan. She has featured in numerous fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Amina , and has hosted various events, such as the Soul Train music show, the BBC documentary "African Footsteps" , the KORA All Africa Music Awards and Miss Malaika Beauty Pageant in South Africa.

Goat Race (Tanzania)
Studio 53 and Thembi attended the Goat Race, which took place in Tanzania, 3,500 people attended this years' Annual Goat Races which were held at the Leaders Club in Dar es Salaam on Saturday 11th August. That's 500 more than attended the event in 2006. Karen Stanley, Co-Chair of the organizing committee said "We are delighted that more and more people are bringing their families to the Goat Races every year to have a fun day out while also raising money to help those less fortunate. The day went very successfully. The goats raced well and people seemed to be enjoying themselves." So far, it has been confirmed that around 45 million shillings of the 50 million shillings raised this year has been allocated to charities in Tanzania. That's up from 42.8 million shillings given to a variety of causes last year. The remaining five million shillings will be distributed after other proposals, already submitted by charities, have been considered. Debra McCreedy, Co-Chair of the organizing committee said "It is fantastic news that this year we are able to give more money away to those in need than ever before. I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our sponsors and everybody who attended the event for helping us to achieve this."

GI Premiere
GI Joe movie Premier, which was held at the Andrews airforce base, Maryland. We got to speak to the cast of GI Joe, some of them being Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje starring as heavy Duty , Marlon Wayans as Ripcord and Channing Tatum as Duke. GI Joe is a movie Directed by Stephen Sommers, screenplay by both Stuart Beattie and David Elliot. G.I. JOE is a highly trained, classified special operations unit composed of men and women from around the globe. Officially, these warriors don't even exist. Few know the truth – that G.I. JOE fights a secret war, as the first and last line of defense against forces that seek to plunge our world into chaos. Wherever there's trouble, G.I. JOE is there. This is definitely a movie to watch.

Oriental/Eastern cuisine in Lagos
IK and studio 53 visited three Nigerian Asian Restaurants. Although many traditional eastern ingredients aren't readily available in Nigeria, there are restaurants in town that have no problem in making sure the taste of their oriental cuisine is as good as 'back home' Japanese cuisine is full of different textures that are new to the African tongue. As with most things in life though, it's probably best to leave it to the professionals. But there's no reason that one can't enjoy all the fruits of ones labours. IK firstly visited Mongolian Restaurant, where he got a chance to sit one on one with the manager, he then chose his favorite foods and watched as the chef grilled everything for him. He then moved on to Prime Chinese Restaurant, where he had a chance to witness Asian cooking on fire. Lastly he visited Bungalows Restaurant, where he got the real deal on lobsters.

Soweto Drift Movie
Soweto Drift will take everyone to the wonderland and ignite the already existing love for the box shape BMW 325is when it's dragging. Studio 53 and Ndaka visited one of the biggest townships in the continent if not the world, Soweto, where the movie Soweto Drift is being shot. Soweto may sound like an African name, but the word was originally an acronym for "South Western Townships". We sneaked our cameras into the behind the scenes of the movie. The speeding cars and the crowds takes the energy of this movie to another level. The film is written by two young talented writers, Tumelo Phali who has written a lots of scripts and under his quests there is When We Were Black and many others under the mentorship of Clarence Hamilton, Alby James, Mtutuzeli Matshoba, and Fezile Nyeki who has written most of Emzini Wezinsiswa's Series under the mentorship of Prexly Shabangu and the acclaimed Director Nyembezi Kunene. The film is Directed by Pule M, a talented young film director who got most of his creativity experience on the job after shadowing the likes of Khalo Matabane, Vincent Moloi and many others and the formal training he got at Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking after attending a Protege course that was running for 4 months and graduated with his student film "Thesis Of Love".

Acoustic Africa
Studio 53 and Grace attended the Acoustic Africa, which featured Habib Koite of Mali, Vusi Mahlasela from South Africa and Dobet Gnahore of the Ivory Coast. This show was launched on CD by Putumayo World Music in 2006 before they embarked on a mammoth 40-city US and European tour –eventually to return home to Mother Africa to enthrall us with their rhythms. Mamelodi-born guitarist, poet, percussionist, composer and multi-octave singer, Vusi Mahlasela - 'The Voice' , as he is known – is revered as a creative force in South Africa's freedom struggle, and his powerful lyrics and beautiful melodies have made him a leading figure in contemporary South African music too. This acoustic revolution is in stark contrast to the studio-based, synthesized dance music that became the standard for African pop-stars of the 80's and 90's - and Dobet Gnahore has brought it all back with her thrilling vocals and stage charisma. In Africa we have a lot of languages, which can make communicating tricky! But as with most music – a common language - 'Acoustic Africa' is a chance to meet and discover."