tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113856472011-11-26T22:38:02.009+01:00... because life is elsewhere ...Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1117390330482009202005-05-28T20:05:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:36.036+02:00

I’m referring to two BBC online reports about bodies of war victims.1) 64 corpses will be transferred from Belgrade to Kosova. These are the corpses of Kosovar civilians who were probably killed by Serb security forces during the war between Milosevic’s Serbia and Kosova. The killers buried the corpses haphazardly on a site which catered for some police academy. Once transferred to Kosova, the

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1117282320030440232005-05-28T14:11:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.971+02:00

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1117282119861124452005-05-28T13:50:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.907+02:00

Friends and friends of friends,this is the online journal which Sharon blogged about a couple of days ago. I have very little to add to Sharon's post, but I'd like to renew her call to all those who would like to contribute. You can do that by sending an email.Many of us have been complaining about the Maltese media being controlled by powerful entities. Many have pointed out that journalists,

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1117028392263771252005-05-25T18:03:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.787+02:00

Got an email from a journalist writing for the Malta Independent asking for a comment about the Maltese blogosphere. It's the second invitation of this kind in a couple of weeks. Apparently the Maltese print media have become aware of this fairly 'recent' phenomenon and they got interested in the subject. Fair enough, especially when the print media in Malta is usually more absorbed in what the

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1116616670327836482005-05-20T21:17:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.727+02:00

I knew it!

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1116266063482845482005-05-16T21:28:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.665+02:00

Piano Man While reading the latest reports re the current violent crisis in Uzbekistan, I came across this story about a man in his twenties who was found wandering aimlessly by the sea on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, dressed in a black suit carrying music sheets in a plastic folder. Refusing to talk, the young man was taken to a hospital where by chance it was discovered that the man could or

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1116071530205021072005-05-14T13:28:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.605+02:00

I hardly know where Uzbekistan is but the bloody incidents which took place over these last couple of days can hardly go unnoticed. Whenever people take to the streets, protesting against their own government, it is always a sign of grievous problems. As is the case with the Uzbekistani crisis.What baffles me is that the people have defied all the state-inflicted fear and went out protesting

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1115249754639465432005-05-05T01:35:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.545+02:00

Jefferson Airplane 1967 On 2 May, www.jeffersonairplane.com announced the release of a double cd: Essential Jefferson Airplane, featuring 32 tracks penned by the legendary psychedelic band. Well, this afternoon I happened to be killing time before appearing in court (I was booked by some warden! ... it happens sometimes) and bought this compilation from exotique.Unfortunately I was too busy to

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1115235439874627402005-05-04T22:25:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.488+02:00

Ms Sara Sue SammutHaving read Toni Sant's blog re the vandalistic attacks on Portes des Bombes and the Catholic Institute, where reference is made to Ms Sara Sue Sammut, I feel dutybound to let readers know that this time Ms Sara Sue Sammut has had nothing to do with the vandalistic attacks on the CI.As her mentor and former lover I can vouch for her innocence. And so help me God!

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1115137654714499472005-05-03T18:21:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.416+02:00

KLABB KOTBA MALTIN is publishing Immanuel Mifsud's collection of travel poems, km. The book launch will be held at the Francis Ebejer Hall, University, on Thursday 19th May, at 7.30pmThis book was inspired by the kilometres I travelled through ten European countries: the Czech Republic, France, Finland, Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria. The poems range

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1114969692287166452005-05-02T04:39:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.197+02:00

Enrico Ghezzi's Fuori Orario - Cose Mai Viste opens with a clip from Jean Vigo's 1934 trancelike feature film L'Atalante, narrating the story of two young newly-weds' trip through the waterways of France. The track Ghezzi uses for his series' opening is none other than Patti Smith's fetching 1970s masterpiece Because the Night.Despite the hundreds of times I've watched this opening, I still find

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1113583977648803192005-04-15T18:52:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.116+02:00

soon out! KM, my collection of travel poems will be out by mid-May. I'll post more details in the very near future.My other book, the one which Toni Sant and Feltrinelli have blogged about, will be out much sooner than I imagined.Thanks to all those who have been waiting very patiently.

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1113581268679362702005-04-15T18:07:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:35.033+02:00

1979: four boys attending a Church school, in their blazer and tie, had this friend they had nicknamed Pizu. Pizu was their laughing stock, and their regular victim of foul pranks and macho bullying. Once they forced his head in a toilet bowl and flushed. They laughed their heart out; so did nerdy Pizu. Someone filed a report to the Rector who immediately excluded them from school for a whole

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1112624960037766022005-04-05T01:28:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:34.940+02:00

It's not my intention to blog about Wojtyla's death for the very simple reason that tv stations (in Malta that means RAI and Mediaset and their poor replicas broadcasting from Guardamangia and Marsa) have been broadcasting endless services since last Friday. Even the net is full of weblogs, pages and what have you focusing on the Polish Pope's death. But I found it really interesting how certain

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1111614004054602332005-03-24T08:52:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.623+02:00

White horse at Nadur Valley, Gozo I came across this picture I took last November while on a 12-hour holiday in Gozo. I was fascinated by the beautiful landscape. Actually I could hardly believe my eyes since in my country it is quite rare to find a spot with no streets, without cars parked on both sides of the road, etc etc. It almost struck me as surreal; especially the white horse which

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1111426029099061462005-03-22T03:15:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.563+02:00

Feltrinelli's most recent post got the attention of a number of people, motivating them to post their own response. These are my comments following the post itself and the replies to it:1) I am still uncertain whether to consider self analysis a positive exercise or not. At times I'm inclined to think that this is a 'natural' tendency of an inward looking small nation which tends to take itself

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1111224547387102672005-03-19T19:21:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.438+02:00

Feltrinelli's back on the Rock. While packing his things, or before that or after, he sends a post on his blog. He refers to the Spring, and makes a very intriguing comment:I am all the more believing that this phenomenon of Maltese blogs(particularly those written in Maltese or in a bilingual form) could prove to bethe precursor of radical changes in the Maltese cultural sphere. Whether it

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1111103951826716502005-03-18T22:04:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.379+02:00

no comments 2

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1111102418419035262005-03-18T09:33:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.317+02:00

no comments

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1111079376258954682005-03-18T02:55:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.259+02:00

Life it's a candyWith a red hot chilly pepperFilling inside- Nenad Jankovic (The No Smoking Orchestra)Spring is in the air. I'd say you can see it, feel it inside you. My balcony is full of fresias, and the fields next to the street where I live are green, with yellow spots of mimosa, corn sorrell and wood marigold.Since Mother Nature favoured me by not subjecting me to hay fever, I'm happily

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110746277379764992005-03-13T21:37:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.200+02:00

I was saddened with the news of the death of Guzè Cassar-Pullicino, a pioneer in Maltese folklore studies. His formidable academic credentials earned him the respect of the Maltese intelligentsia and others.Cassar-Pullicino, who was born in 1921, authored a number of studies on Maltese literature and folklore; his latest, published in 2003, dealing with riddle telling as a means of popular

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110592038946537302005-03-11T02:09:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.083+02:00

Today's Corriere della Sera, ran a short article about a recent discovery of an early 1960s documentary produced by Florida State University in which Jim Morrison appears as an 18 year old applying to study at the said university. The short video shows a docile-looking Jim Morrison acting the part of a disappointed student who has just received a refusal notice from FSU. The unsigned article

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110591839883556042005-03-06T02:13:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:28.022+02:00

The recent proliferation of Maltese blogs is an interesting social and intellectual phenomenon. While some of these blogs are merely diary-like posts fulfilling the owners' narcissitic and exhibitionist needs, others are creating a discourse which is not yet to be found anywhere in the local print. It seems that writing a blog gives one the freedom that the Maltese print is still denying to

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110591658733561572005-02-28T23:38:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.961+02:00

I get a kick reading Mark Vella Feltrinelli's blog. I've decided it is one of the best, if not *the* best weblogs by a fellow Maltese citizen. Like myself he is one of the 80s generation who is still trying to come to terms with the period when he came of age and one of the small group of one-time-hopefuls who is analysing the present through a very disillusioned pair of eyes. I cannot but share

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110591379500063642005-02-27T08:48:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.899+02:00

Twenty years ago, when the socialist regime in Malta was already preparing for its own funeral, the now defunct "ateatru" produced Ir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin (The Priests' Uprising) by Alfred Buttigieg, a Maltese playwright whose untimely decision to quit writing left a void in the political arts in Malta.Theatre scholar Marco Galea has welcomed the revival of this play, being once again produced

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110591225649549812005-01-16T04:32:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.837+02:00

Even today, the Times carried out reports on the current tense situation at Safi Barracks, following Thursday's peaceful protests which turned bloody when the Army intervened. Today's reports say that after the morning incidents the immigrants at Safi staged another protest, and the Army reported that a soldier was badly hurt after stones were thrown at armed personnel by the immigrants.I must

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110591078950134792005-01-15T02:28:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.774+02:00

Macbeth, Act2 Scene 3This morning The Times (Malta) published harrowing pictures of Maltese soldiers beating refuge seekers who were participating in a peaceful protest at the Safi Military Barracks where they are currently detained. The pictures speak for themselves: riot squad personnel surrounding a black immigrant lying helpless on the ground. The heavily armed soldiers do not look as if they

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110590822701768692005-01-03T06:51:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.715+02:00

2nd January 2005. 9pmI just returned from Slovakia. Been travelling since 8am: taxi from Jana's flat to Vrutky train station; train trip from Vrutky to Bratislava; taxi from Bratislava train station to bus station; coach trip from Bratislava to Vienna Airport; flight KM513 from Vienna to Gudja; car drive from Gudja to Tarxien, where I picked my Gelsomina and then drove home.One of the first

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110590650676439412004-12-12T08:22:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.656+02:00

Ok, so I've decided to keep my word and post another entry re my Brussels visit.The round table conference was a great experience. There were writers, journalists and literary critics from the Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, and Hungary. Together we discussed which step to take next in order to solidify the cultural dimension of the united Europe. The

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110590310785062892004-12-09T08:17:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.599+02:00

I'm posting this entry from the Metropole Hotel in Brussels. Outside it is freezing cold. Arrived late in the afternoon and after checking in at this hotel went straight to the Grande Place where the Christmas spirit is already at its best. I've been invited here for a round table conference hosted by the Vlaams Nederlands Huis, this being the closing month of the Netherlands' EU presidency.

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110590106525965922004-10-16T05:13:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.541+02:00

My country never ceases to amaze me. Over sixty years ago it was blitzed (and as we like adding but not beaten!) by Fascist and Nazi planes. During one heavy air raid, the opera house, which stood magnificently (or not, depending on one's architectural tastes) almost at the very entrance of the capital city, was demolished. Sixty years on, the site is still in ruins! (This is a poor country. It

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110589959109365362004-10-12T02:11:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.482+02:00

That's how I spent my weekend. Saturday morning I woke up planning to do one million things. It's like that with every end of the week. Not that I labour much during weekdays, I mean I spend it doing what I have been doing for the past ten years: talking about Maltese literature to young people who are most probably not interested in it. Anyhow, I have to make a living, right? It's not that I

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110589826072399932004-10-09T04:08:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.410+02:00

Those who know me well know I am the youngest in the family. I have four brothers, three sisters ... all older than me. What no one knows is that I have adopted a little brother I call Cornelius. He moved in with me on 11 September 2001. Can't really forget that date, can I?I think Cornelius is cute. He's my little brother after all. My fraternal instinct seems to be growing ever stronger and I

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110589663474252652004-10-03T06:05:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.306+02:00

There is this simpleton called Ivan, lost in the underground labyrinth somewhere beneath the surface of the earth. He asks his way to Yugoslavia and this soldier answers him: Nema Jugoslavia! For citizens of former Yugoslavia who proclaimed themselves as Yugoslavs, that line from Emir Kusturica's great film Underground, must have been the harshest yet most true.It does not exist anymore. But

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110589491538608812004-07-04T19:03:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.216+02:00

Last May, Emir Kusturica's most recent work started showing. Life is a Miracle is more than just a glance at the war in Bosnia. Born in Sarajevo in 1954, Kusturica is the mad poet par excellence projecting the beauty he sees in the background of the tragedy which his deceased country went through a decade ago. And in Kusturica's films - and definitely in this last one - tragedy encounters humour

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110589291702489702004-05-28T01:58:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.151+02:00

There are books and films which, for some reason or another, "change your life". Well, I wouldn't say they actually change your life, but definitely they leave a mark, and, perhaps, they set you to change your life. Before age 16 I never read a book, but when I was in my first year at high school studying Maltese, English and Philosophy I had to read Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams,

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110587409489240812004-03-06T03:27:00.000+01:002006-10-16T22:26:27.089+02:00

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by a journalist from the French magazine L'Express, who is currently conducting a series of interviews with writers hailing from the new EU member states. Among the many subjects we spoke about, the journalist was particularly interested in the Mediterranean character of the Maltese islands.The Mediterranean paradigm seems to be attracting not only journalists

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110587199722315362003-10-06T03:20:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:27.027+02:00

In one of a myriad of interviews he gave, the French philosopher Michel Fouault, once said that intellectuals do not exist. Obviously, those who know Foucault's work and the spirit driving it, will immediately comprehend that these words conceal a whole theory, and that is not just another slogan. Two Thursdays ago an intellectual died at 67. He was born in a country to a high class family, but

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110586089484086202003-09-20T01:03:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:26.968+02:00

This, I firmly believe, is the most wonderful piece of art. A lying lady who has been asleep for some three thousand - some even say four thousand - years. She is not dead, just sleeping. She may also be dreaming: a dream so beautiful that she has never woken up. The Sleeping Lady, of which I have a cheap replica on my writing desk at home, has always fascinated me. Measuring 7cmX12cmX6.89cm and

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11385647.post-1110585655554505872003-09-17T00:57:00.000+02:002006-10-16T22:26:26.903+02:00

A week ago I was in Parma, together with 24 other young authors from the so called New Europe. Gremese Editore published an anthology of short stories, one from each EU member states, Racconti Senza Dogana. This was an initiative of PEN Club Italia, on the occasion of Italy's EU presidency.I was there.Someone wrote a press release saying that I was "representing Malta", an expression which, I

Immanuel Mifsudnoreply@blogger.com0