The day after

Thank God we are past CHOGM without a scratch.

At the end of their meetings the Commonwealth leaders issued the so-called Malta Declaration. It looks good on paper and maybe not so good for the Maltese coffers.

Read the full entry in Wired Temples.

I thank Toni Sant for getting me hooked on blogging and Robert for giving me the space to take my first steps. I will now continue in this personal blog.

CHOGM ‘exposed’

CHOGM is synonymous with pomp, circumstance and bla bla. But there’s another important connection: naked women. CHOGM is not just a good time to expose other countries’ misbehaviour, as in the case of Uganda this year or Pakistan in the past. You may also get a woman ending up showing her breast in true Janet Jackson style.

Read the full entry in Wired Temples.

Simply the Best

George Best was simply the best explosive mixture you can get. He scored fantastic goals on the pitch but made one crucial own-goal away from it that cost him his life a few hours ago.

George Best was already in the nadir of his footballing career when I was born. I can only appreciate what he did from footage shown now and then.

Read my full entry on Wired Temples.

Chewing the CHOGM

I tried to stay out of CHOGM as far as possible. My interest starts and ends with each journalistic piece I have to churn out on the subject. I had a difficult decision to make but I could not help it. After some thinking I found the escape hatch: a piece inspired by CHOGM but not about CHOGM.

I am a confessed supporter of English football and Manchester United, yet I did not brave the weather to wave to Queen Elizabeth. I think Italian food is the best in the world, yet nothing will take the place of the ‘hobz biz-zejt, bicca gbejna u bigilla’ (bread with tomato paste, a cheeselet and bean pate’) I have for a snack. My favourite music is by Vangelis, Sting and Pink Floyd, yet I think there’s place for a song in Maltese in the Eurovision. My family tree goes back to Ireland, but my grandfather, a veteran officer in the Royal Navy who served during World War II, was an ardent Mintoffian.

What does this have to do with CHOGM? It simply leads to one question: with all those head of states coming to Malta, what makes me Maltese and different from the peoples of rest of the former British colonies?

The answer, or an attempt at it, is a guest entry in Wired Temples. Thanks to Robert Micallef for providing valuable space in his much sought-after blog.

Welcome to my blog

A real welcome to my blog. Or should I say a real virtual welcome? Or just welcome?

In any case, Toni Sant pestered me for real to get this blog published (excuse my poor jargon in blogosphere. I am still on a learning curve). Pierre Mejlak's win of the e-journalism category of the Malta Journalism Awards spurred me to jot down a few thoughts in a blog. And Robert Micallef gave me some real space in his Wired Temples to start my virtual rendez-vous, which, I hope will be on a regular basis.

This is virtually my first foray in cyberspace in my personal capacity. I have written loads of articles on technology and internet in the last ten years, but this is the first time I am making an effort to write what I really think. I could not do that in the name of balance, fairness, independence, call it what you want, when writing a journalistic piece. Facts are sacred, comment is now free to flow, virtually unopposed.

"Real Virtuality" is a play on words. A serious play on words, for the fine line between the virtual world and the real world is becoming more elusive. The virtual world is a direct consequence of the real world. Then again, what's reality? This is a philosopher's job to answer ...

I will raise issues related to the world of media and internet. Real issues involving real people entangled in their own versions of the real world, complemented by the virtual world they have created. For the computer, the software, the cable, are just the tools to create and not the virtual world in itself, which is located in the most important network node in the universe: our mind.

A really warm welcome to my blog. I promise this is the first and last time I will play with the name of this blog.