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In February of 2017, I very bravely wrote an article on how I stopped smoking. I use the word ‘bravely’ because at the time I claimed to have been 3 months off the old coffin nails when in fact my math sucked and it was only 2 months and one week. I was sharing my words of wisdom and all the methods that I could think of for supposedly beating or planning to beat the dirty habit. I was already in the process so it was brave (perhaps stupid is a better word?) to make the assumption that I had already triumphed over cigarettes in a measly two months. Two months prior to this I had been smoking more than 20 (very strong) cigarettes per day for over 25 years. And I can’t even count the times that I tried to quit and subsequently failed.

By the way, this time around I did check the math and I have been 100% off cigarettes for  three months and one week short of three years! I will do a follow-up article on it, but the short version is that vaping got me off the smokes. By the way, I only sucked robot dick for 6 months before I kicked that habit square in the balls as well.
A hectic story in the news earlier this week made me think about that article and my smoking days  again. Jissis, smoking is actually such a fokken (literal) drag. Imagine the industry? On Wednesday, the millionaire tobacco boss, Simon Rudland was critically injured in a shooting in Orchards, Johannesburg. This dude is the co-owner of Gold Leaf Tobacco Corporation and member of Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA). As Rudland and his lawyer arrived for a FITA meeting, a white Golf pulled up behind his Porsche at the security entrance to his offices and  a man from the Golf’s passenger seat fired nine (!!!) shots with a handgun to Rudland’s head area. He got struck in the neck by one of the bullets and has since been in intensive care. Chcek the video. It was clearly a hit in broad fokken daylight! You can see Rudland speeding off after the hit. This could be from shock and hopefully he realised that he got shot and sped off to the hospital in stead of chasing after the hit men/gangsters.

According to some IPSOS research last year, it was claimed that about 26.8% of all cigarettes sold in South Africa were “illicit” and that this trade was dominated by one local company: that of Rudman’s – Gold Leaf Tobacco. By “illicit” it means cigarettes sold for less than R17.85 per pack of 20 – the total of sin tax and VAT payable on a pack of smokes. So if cigarettes are sold for less than the tax they pay, then the tax was most probably not paid. This still doesn’t explain why the dude got shot, but the manner in which whoever attempted to gun him down, suggests that it is industry related, perhaps.

All this heavy kak going on behind the scenes of the product people voluntarily fill their lungs up with. Smoking is more dangerous than we initially thought, it seems. Since I stopped, a lot of my friends or acquaintances also gave up the old stinky habit. I am pretty sure that I see less and less people smoking, but that could be because I stopped smoking and that my mind is just plying tricks on me. So maybe I can ask you guys: Is smoking really still a thing?

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Rather feed your other bad habit, TV, with
our Plumlist’s top 10 pick for the weekend:

# This is not based on a true story From its opening with a quote from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species to its closing credits rolling over Rodriguez’s Crucify Your Mind, American Animals is a work of art in itself.	On DStv Now (read more)
#9 Hunter Schafer on playing Jules in Euphoria Hunter Schafer is not only seen as one of TV’s most promising young stars of 2019, but she’s also become a beacon of hope for many aspiring actresses just like herself.	On Showmax (read more)
#8 Eddie Murphy to return to our screens with Dolemite biopic It’s been three years since stand-up comedian Eddie Murphy starred in a movie, but thanks to Netflix and its reportedly $70-million deal with the actor, Murphy is back!	On  Netflix (read more)
#7 Khulubuse is running out of options in Impilo: The Scam Reformed convict Khulubuse Mtshali (Desmond Dube) returned to Alexandra township with a clear vision after serving his 10-year prison sentence for robbing a jewellery store. He’s going to turn his life around on drama show Impilo: The Scam	On DStv Now (read more)
#6 Die Byl’s second season forces the detective to face not only serial killers, but his own demons too It’s an artform getting into the mind of a serial killer, to understand their thought process while they’re committing their gruesome crimes, to get to grips with their drive, their motivation … their pleasure.	On Showmax (read more)
#5 In GLOW, body slams make way for bolder character arcs Having made its debut in 2017, the first season of GLOW focused on sleazy deadbeat director-of-failures Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) and how he created GLOW by enlisting out-of-work actresses and other assorted misfits and hopefuls, and shaping them into wrestling characters.	On Netflix  (read more)
#4 STROOP nabs double nominations at the “Oscars” of wildlife film making The hard-hitting SA doccie about the rhino horn war will be showcased on DStv Now and Showmax in September.	On DStv Now & Showmax (read more)
#3 Who really killed Garrett Phillips? We may never know The question asked in the title of the lengthy two-part HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? might never be answered, but film maker Liz Garbus focuses all her energy on the man who stood accused of the crime, Oral “Nick” Hillary, mainly because for the longest time he was the only suspect.	On Showmax (read more)
#2 See the Julia Donaldson picture book Zog brought to life Animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish for Magic Light Pictures, Zog premiered on BBC last Christmas to five-star reviews and has since been named Best Animation at Shanghai International TV Festival and taken home the Audience Award for ages 3-6 at New York International Children’s Film Festival.	On Showmax (read more)
#1 Jim Carrey’s new dark comedy series is no laughing matter Jim Carrey is best known for his slapstick humour, over-the-top facial expressions and ability to find a joke in any situation. But when you watch his dark comedy series Kidding (2018-current, now streaming on Showmax and DStv Now, with a new episode added every Friday at 22:30), you’re getting a very different Jim.	DStv Now & Showmax (read more)

[feature_headline type=”left, center, right” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ icon=”lightbulb-o”] Our randomized trailer pick of the week [/feature_headline]

Each week we take a number from 1 to 10 from our list of suggestions and put it through a randomizer to choose a trailer to show you. This week it landed on our number 3 spot, Who Killed Garrett Phillips? which examines the 2011 murder of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips and the subsequent trial of Clarkson University soccer coach Oral “Nick” Hillary.