Toni Sant's Blog

Master Blaster

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:52:24 PDT

In all the years I've lived in the UK I don't ever remember nicer summer weather than what we're heaving this year. I'm very amused whenever any of my British friends or work colleagues complains about the heat. How would they survive anywhere south of the Alps during the summer? I wouldn't even dream of going to that part of the world in July and August unless I really had to.Sadly, Scarborough

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:15:20 PDT

I haven't seen anything like this since Elvis Presley or John Lennon died. I'm referring, of course, to public reaction in the wake of Michael Jackson's unexpected demise. From the perspective of media coverage, we haven't seen anything like this since 9/11. The two events are clearly very different, but the way new technologies (particularly mobile devices and the internet) are being used is

Little Green

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:46:16 PDT

Goings on in Teheran right now are quite sad and very disturbing. There is very little people like me can do from afar. I've been following the protests and the violent reactions mostly through Twitter. My main source is @TehranBureau but @kvella has also introduced me to @StopAhmadi. Between tweets about the clashes I've also been interested about the media talk around the power of Twitter and

Waiting for the Miracle

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:57:29 PDT

Whenever an academic year draws to a close, my brain is always flooded with ideas for things I'd like to do over the summer months. Many of them have been with me for several years, and yet I never seem to manage to make time for them. From time to time I dedicate countless hours to something or other that stays with me for many years to follow. My weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast started out as

You're My Number One

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:01:45 PDT

With the European parliament elections underway there's far more political campaigning in the air than most other times of the year. Local council elections make things more exciting for all involved, but also alienate those like me who are not really very interested in governments, local, national, or whatever. I was very amused to read Mrs Maltagirl's tweet this morning after she voted: "...if

Always Coming Back to You

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:05:11 PDT

A couple of days ago I found out that Brooks McNamara, one the most influential and supportive professors I had during my graduate studies at NYU, has died. I was saddened not only by the fact that he had been sick and passed away, but also because it took me a couple of weeks to hear that he died just a few days after Augusto Boal. Brooks retired about a year after I started working on my PhD,

After the Love is Gone

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 24 May 2009 06:30:33 PDT

I can't believe it's already been a week since I left Moscow. It all seems like a blur. I guess this is partly, if not mostly, because I'm so busy with all sorts of things. Unfortunately some of the things that keep me busy are not very productive. It's really about time I learned to take the raw with the cooked, and yet it's getting better all the time.Two deaths broke up this week's humdrum

Love Reign O'er Me

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Fri, 22 May 2009 03:55:39 PDT

I'm on the train from London going up north back home to Scarborough right now. I published the 162nd Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast but I didn't have time to blog about it because I was in Moscow. I also had other plans for Sunday and today which made it next to impossible for me to blog any sooner.I know I owe my faithful podcast listeners a decent blog entry about the most recent podcast. I also owe

Love Shine a Light

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:18:09 PDT

Malta's name is once again to be heard as a contender in the Eurovision Song Contest finals. Many believe that if Chiara couldn't do this for Malta no one else could. This has put immense pressure on the singer, even though she has participated in this pan-European contest twice before. I can understand what she meant last night after the semifinal when she said that she was more concerned about

Is This Love

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:05:38 PDT

I'm in Moscow this week for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. If you follow this blog regularly (or at least you've followed it around previous months of May) you'll know that this event is one I'm interested in for various reasons. Although there's lots of pop-trash and kitsch galore, as someone with a performance studies-related day job, I feel professionally compelled to follow this annual

For Those About To Rock

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:28:54 PDT

I'm writing this on the National Express train between York and London King's Cross on my way to Heathrow Airport. I'm on my way to Moscow for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. I wanted to test the free on-board wi-fi by publishing my weekly MMI podcast from the train. So far so good...or better still: it looks like everything is falling into place nicely. Wireless internet really is an essential

May It Be

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:44:05 PDT

I was just getting ready to blog about the fact that Wired Malta (formerly known as Wired Temples) is now active again with postings by Gattaldo when I received the very sad news that Augusto Boal has died. I have very fond memories of the summer weeks we spent together in 1999, when he gave a 3-week intensive workshop in the Theatre of the Oppressed at New York University. Assisting him during

Beyond Here Lies Nothin’

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:58:35 PDT

Twitter has taken over as my social networking utility of choice. Facebook has been reduced to an alternative email/messaging system and a must-visit for playing Knighthood. MySpace is still alive and essential source for new music. This blog has now entered its 6th year of existence. And that's the current state of things with me and Web 2.0, as we used to call it.The weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor

Never Before

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:23:29 PDT

Ever since I started this blog way back in April 2004 I made it a point to post something at least once a week. I had never broken that promise, until last week. As you may have gathered from my previous two posts, I was on a two week visit to Malta. Unlike all other visits since April 2004, I didn't feel compelled to blog much about anything. I did post two entries while in Malta, both

You Know I'm No Good

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:46:13 PDT

I'm still in Malta. I don't feeling like blogging much but, as promised, I have re-released a podcast from the Mużika Mod Ieħor archives. I selected the 58th podcast in the series, which was originally released on Saturday, March 10, 2007. I pick this particular podcast since it takes us back exactly 100 episodes in the series from where we left things last week.Meanwhile, I've also managed to

Walk the Line

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 05:29:34 PDT

I'm now in Malta. Another brief visit for the usual reasons. I'm sure I'll find time to blog a little about that from time to time over the next couple of weeks, so there's no real need to say much else just yet about any of that.I wanted to make sure to produce the 157th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast earlier this week to release during the weekend. All went well except that I got caught up in

No More Heroes

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:39:30 PDT

The expression "jumped the shark" means absolutely nothing to most people who are not American and even less to anyone who is not a Happy Days fan. In our household we have one of each, so "jumped the shark" features in conversations from time to time. It popped up this week as a definite reaction to the hitherto brilliant TV series Heroes.It certainly feels like MySpace may have jumped the shark

It's Alright

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:08:29 PDT

I'm still thinking about whether MySpace has lost the allure it greatly enjoyed over the last couple of years. Following last week's initial thoughts, this week's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast addresses this issue directly. I'm now asking my podcast listeners, blog readers, and MySpace users at large to chime in with your point of view on all this. To put things into a broader perspective, this comes

Shining Light

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:58:44 PDT

This afternoon I read an interesting article about the declining popularity of MySpace. It appears that MySpace is loosing out to Facebook. From my own perspective, the two networks serve a very different purpose. I've always seen MySpace as a music network, even if it has always been used for other types of social networking too. At the same time, Facebook has now gone beyond critical mass in

Come Inside

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:51:17 PST

From time to time popular culture icons die, as you'd expect in the circle of life, and in doing so bring up memories of things that were once significant in some way or other. Wendy Richard died a couple of days ago. She loved Malta. So much so that she picked to have her honeymoon there just a few months ago, after getting married for the fourth time. My fond memories of her come from years of

Underneath the Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:49:45 PST

The Cure were the guest band on Jonathan Ross' chat show last night. They released an album towards the end of last year. I was quite amazed to see that Robert Smith still wears the same hairstyle and make-up as he did almost 30 years ago, and yet he didn't seem like a nostalgic throwback to the 1980s. Perhaps I was very tired after a long week at work, but I saw him as unusual and unlike

My Funny Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:34:18 PST

Valentine's Day is one of those things that, to me, are synonymous with capitalist fat cats cashing in on people who think love shouldn't be equally intense on all days. I know that anyone who thinks V Day is "romantic" or "wonderful" will not only disagree with my humbug mindset but also plays beautifully into the hands and pockets of said commercial beasts.Having said this, I hasten to add that

Express Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:32:40 PST

Pierre J. Mejlak has just published a collection of short stories entitled Qed Nistenniek Nieżla max-Xita. If you understand Maltese you can hear me read one of these short stories by clicking on the clip below.

Let It Shine

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:50:11 PST

A few days ago I was interviewed by SBS Radio in Australia about the process by which Malta is selecting this year's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, taking place this May in Moscow. I spoke candidly and at length about the 20 songs that made it to the Malta Euro Song 2009 final round; as well as some that didn't make it. Truthfully, most of what I said is simply personal opinion, but it

And We Bid You Goodnight

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:25:48 PST

As January draws to a close we find that Malta has already lost two iconic figures in the field of arts and entertainment. The month opened with the demise of Charles Camilleri on the third day of the new year and came to an end with the passing away of Charles Clews the day before yesterday. Camilleri was 77, Clews was 89.I've produced two special podcast to mark each of these prominent figures