Camera Lucida

Meta jasal nofs April, jien inħobb nagħmel il-monologi. Jekk intom ma tħobbuwhomx, mel’allura taqrawx aktar u għalqu din it-tieqa immedjatament (jaf tisplodi wara xi ħames minuti wkoll).

1982 - twelid. Michael Jackson tħajjar isir abjad u Spielberg ivvinta l-ET. Kont nara ħafna nies jilbsu mitt elf kulur u jmorru għand il-barbier biex itellgħu xagħarhom bħal mixtla fil-ġnien tal-Argotti. Apparti Charles Arrigo (Alla jaħfirlu) jirrakkonta r-rumanzi tax-xabla u t-turban fuq Xandir Malta, it-televiżjoni kienet għanqbuda ta’ stazzjonijiet Sqallin – minn Roberto il Baffo sas-saqqijiet tal-Eminflex sa’ Mike bongiorno bir-rota tal-fortuna tiegħu. Qbiżna fin-disgħinijiet u Cobain deffes xi arma f’ħalqu… li probabilment ħalla effett fuq dak il-ġgant (metaforikament u litteralment) ta’ Quentin Tarantino għax ħlief jordna glalen ta’ demm ma bediex jagħmel (għall-films, s’intendi). Ħallietna Diana, ħallietna Tereża (is-soru) u dorna għall-2000 (għal xi raġuni kulħadd jiftakar x’kien qed jagħmel meta qalbet is-sena 2000! Jien niftakar ukoll… imma mhux ħa ngħid… għax hekk.). Fl-2004 bdiet l-avventura tiegħi fiċ-ċivil. Fl-2007 bagħatu għalija Kastilja u dak li kellu jkellimni ma setgħux isibuh. Ġie ieħor li ma tantx deher ħa gost bija u qalli li rrid nitla’ ġirone ieħor. Minn dakinhar għadda ftit aktar minn sena.

Nista’ nkompli nitħaddet x’se jiġri imma m’għandix flus għall-qarrejja tax-xorti.

Min qal li l-blogs addictive? Wara xi 3 xhur erġajt ġejt s’hawn inlaħħam lil dal-blog megħlub.

U min qal li l-materjaliżmu ħażin u jwittilek t-triq għal ħruq tal-infern (u ta’ Sant’Antnin)? Dan l-aħħar persuna b’qalb twajba u kbira daqs il-ħofra ta’ Guatemala għoġobha tirregalali l-kbir iPhone. Ma nista’ ngħid xejn fuqu li diġa ma ntqalx - biċċa inġinerija li kważi kważi timbuttalek demgħa bil-kommozzjoni.

Mhux ħażin għal xi ħadd li ma jafx li jeżistu image consultants.

Wishing you a blissful Christmas.

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” - Charles Dickens

A virtual trip around the recent blooming of the social networking websites (predominantly facebook, hi5 and wayn) can sometimes really crack you up. I am particularly referring to those comments on the right hand side of the screen which users can post on other users’ profiles and which are usually machine-generated, all the more eating out the social concept on which those websites are based. I have reproduced some of them hereunder, with the intent of lifting your spirits high up beyond the sky’s limits:

- 97% of u wont send this:When Jesus died on the cross he was thinking of u.If u’re a part of the 3% that care send to 10 ppl and c wat He does 2nite;

- Looks like it’s a HUGS WAR

- YOU BETTER HUG ME NOW!
Pass this hug to all of
your FRIENDS and back
to me, see how many
you get back!
~~~***HUGGGGG***~~~;

- ♥●♥ Xanna dolorr ?? kolloxx il-fuqq ghandek hiqhiq .. ♥●♥

- (This is for girls only, otherwise delet it)IF YOU HAD ME ALONE… LOCKED UP IN YOUR ROOM FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS & I HAD TO DO WHAT EVER YOU WANTED ME TO, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH ME? TELL ME IN MY INBOX .. CUZ ITS A SECRET… THEN SEND THIS TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS… YOU MIGHT BE SUPRISED WITH THE RESPONSES YOU GET. THEY COULD MAKE YOU LAUGH OR EVEN SMILE .. LOL.IF YOU DONT REPOST THIS YOU ARE A COWARD AND ARE TOO AFRAID TO SEE WHO ACTUALLY LIKES YOU.SEND THIS TO EVERYONE….

- THE HOLIDAY MOON WAR HAS STARTED, MOON EVERONE U CAN EXCEPT THE ONE WHO GOT U. KISS MY ASS I GOT U FIRST! :-]

- Believe me I’ll follow this could be easy I’ll be the help whenever you need me I see you hustle wit my hustle I Can keep you Focused on yo focus I can feed you.

- …u hekk hu…zvergnajtlek il-hajt

And there’s also Mortimer the travelling bear in disguise.

It’s been more than a year since I last altered the layout of my website and I thought maybe the time has come to give it a new face lift by actually including some lighter colours. The thought of reconstructing everything got me lethargic everytime I executed flash. Last summer I started making some initial drafts which looked crap compared to this one and which eventually kept pulling me back to the drawing board.

I also kept on learning new commands in actionscript (the loadMovie command is a real bitch – avoid using the _root thingie for your own sake) which had me confirming how powerful this programming language is compared to html for example.

Go on now, please yourself!

Taking pictures of people is probably the thing I love doing most but I’m terribly edgy when I’m at the other side of the lens (even though my posed self-portraits do not seem to suggest so);

I adore a wide array of chocolate varieties but my taste buds despise with a passion chocolate ice cream;

I love everything about Italy; culture, nature, the people’s attitude towards life, cuisine, their way of putting words but can’t stand the national Italian soccer team (I don’t support the British one either, I’m all for Germany!);

I consider the Bible as one of the best books ever written with all its metaphors, parables and teachings. I’m also a proud owner of Marilyn Manson’s Last Tour On Earth, Mechanical Animals and Portrait of An American Family.

Raw milk would undeniably make me shit my guts out if not puke like a drunkard teen. But my intestines seem to accept and greet with a warm welcome an endless list of dairy products like mayonnaise, mozzarella, cheese, cheeselets, ice cream, cream and ricotta.

My skin is pretty allergic to wool, the sun, and some types of plants. However I am usually told that dark skin is the most resistant type of skin in hot climates such as the Mediterranean one.

Iċċekkjat il-ħin - 07.24am. Qaħbeċ, qiegħda tard! Niżlet qisha miġnuna it-tlieta u għoxrin tarġa qisha waħda qiegħda taħrab minn ġiex tużżani lpup imġewwħin u kienet se titfixkel fl-aħħar waħda. Startjat u peresli r-roti ma kienux minfuħin sew, inħassdu mill-ħeffa li bihom kellhom jgħaqqdu fuqhom innfushom. Werżqu tnejn bħala protesta u neħħew l-għażż bla rażan li nxteħet fuqhom matul il-lejl.

Traffiku. Eżatt bħalma kien erbgħa u għoxrin siegħa ilu, u bħalma probabbli se jkun erbgħa u għoxrin siegħa oħra. Intefgħet tgħodd waħda waħda s-siġar tal-ġenb tat-triq - dsatax. Dejjem l-istess tgħodd, qatt ma ħarbitilha waħda (darba minnhom qabel ma laħqet is-sbatax-il waħda daħlet ġo vann toyota li kien hemm quddiemha). Issa se jkollha tibda tgħodd aktar pero, għax fil-ġenb tat-triq lemħet sitt ħaddiema tal-gvern b’ilbies kulur jgħajjat iħawwlu ħamsa oħra.

Waslet qrib il-post tax-xogħol u qagħdet tipparkja bil-galbu (għax dejjem ftakret meta l-pulizija kien weħħilha mit-test għax qalbet tank hi u ssuq b’lura). Qabel daħlet fl-ispazju kbir li kellhom għall-parking, il-park attendant kien diġà taha ħarsa biex tiftakar fih hi u ħierġa. Is-soltu dejjem tnewwillu ħames xelini, imma illum tagħtu tnejn tal-lampuka, u erba’ tal-ballotra… jekk tiftakar sew. Stennietu ħa jqarras wiċċu imma ma għamel l-ebda reazzjoni.

Fetħet il-bieb tal-uffiċċju u rat li kienu 08.39am, aktar minn nofs siegħa tard, imma mbagħad ftakret li dak kellu kwarta eżatt ‘il quddiem aktar mill-arloġġ tagħha. Probabilment mexxieh il-messaġġier li dejjem moħħu biex jiskarta u miegħu igawdu l-bqija tal-ħaddiema l-oħra.

Ma ħlietx aktar ħin, xegħelet il-kompjuter u bdiet tara l-e-mails wieħed, wieħed. Ħdax minnhom kienu fuq prezzijiet diversi tal-viagra, ħamsa fuq it-tkabbir tal-ġenitali maskili, tnejn mingħand l-imgħallem u ħamsa oħra mingħand sħabha tax-xogħol fuq suġġetti varji; minn kwotazzjonijiet mill-bibbja sa preżentazzjoni bil-powerpoint b’ritratti ta’ inżul ix-xemx f’Rio de Janeiro. Innuttat ukoll li wieħed minnhom mar direttament fit-trash can - mossa ġenjali li tgħallmitha mingħand iż-żagħżugħ il-ġdid fis-sezzjoni tal-IT.

Wara ftit minuti ġie jlebbet warajha Ġorġ in-nittien (kienu jgħidulu hekk għax darba ġie sospiż fuq xi ħaġa li ħadd eżatt ma jaf x’kienet imma li probabbli kienet sexual harassment) li dejjem kien isib xi ħaġa fuq xiex joħloq argument.

“Ara din, kif tissaportih il-ħin hekk? Bl-AM u l-PM jisirqulek nofs taskbar?! Taf li dak tista’ tbiddlu għat-24 hour format?”

“Ħallini fil-paċi Ġorġ, għadu qas sebaħ!”

Deher li nkiser, u dabbar rasu ‘l hemm b’denbu bejn saqajh.

Wara ftit irċeviet messaġġ fuq il-mobajl mingħand xi ħadd. Ġorġ is-soltu kien jaqbeż u jsaqsiha jekk kienx xi ‘lover‘ ġdid imma did-darba ma qal xejn. Il-messaġġ kien jaqra hekk:

“happy lucky bday swt! ure 24 on d 24th!”

‘Idjota’, qalet f’qalbha u dlonk ħassret il-messaġġ. Ġorġ qisha bdiet tieklu l-kurżità u mil-bogħod saqsiha minn kien biex reġa’ ħa r-risposta tas-soltu; “mhux affarik!”. Reġa’ inkiser u għaddas rasu ġol-iskrin itaptap fuq tastiera storbjuża.

Imbagħad bħal qisu intebaħ b’xi ħaġa. “Int daqt se jkollok il-birthday hux?” u taha ħarsa li jagħti tifel ta’ 8 snin lil ommu wara li jkun għadu kif mar jaqdiha mingħand tal-grocer.

“Iva… għada suppost” qaltlu nofs qalb.

Spot on, if you ask me…

Film as a word conjures up something special. A unique feeling. Almost a different texture than words like movie or video. When someone asks you to go see a movie on the weekend you think, “Oh cool, that’ll be fun,” but if someone asks you to go to a film festival the feeling you get is entirely different. It feels like an investment of your time, one for which you want to plan accordingly and enjoy thoroughly.

Immaġinak wasalt f’punt fejn se tbiddel id-dar li kellek ħdejn il-baħar mimlija hena u sliem. Ħabba raġunijiet li m’għandekx kontroll fuqhom kellek tabbandunaha u tmur toqgħod aktar lejn iċ-ċentru. Ftit qabel ma titlaq tinduna li tkun ordnajt xi affarijiet u nsejt tagħti istruzzjonijiet ċari lil bejjiegħa bl-indirizz il-ġdid tiegħek. Tiġik idea. Peresli jkunu qorbu l-festi tal-Milied u l-ewwel tas-sena, fil-kaxxa tal-ittri tad-dar ta’ ħdejn il-baħar tħalli kartolina lis-sid il-ġdid u fil-ġewwieni tagħha tikteb hekk:

“17 ta’ Diċembru 1999

Għażiż sid ġdid tad-dar,

L-ewwelnett nixtieq nawguralek Milied mill-isbah u sena mimlija riżq. Nilqgħek f’din id-dar il-ġdida u nispera li tkun ta’ benevolenza għalik daqskemm kienet għalija. Nixtieq nżid ukoll biex jekk tirċievi xi ittri jew kotba indirizzati lili jekk jogħġbok ibagħthom f’dan l-indirizz t’hawn taħt.

Grazzi u milied hieni mill-ġdid

PS. Dawk il-marki tas-saqajn tal-kelb li hemm fl-intrata sibthom hemm qabel ma dħalt id-dar. Ippruvajt inneħħihom imma ma rnexxilix.“

Tibda toqgħod fil-post il-ġdid fiċ-ċentru u dlonk tibda tħoss in-nuqqas ta’ dik id-dar maġika li kellek. Ftit jiem jilħqu jgħaddu u fl-aħħar tirċievi mingħand sid id-dar il-ġdida:

“22 ta’ Diċembru 1997

Għażiża sinjorina,

Grazzi tax-xewqat sbieħ tiegħek. Ħalli f’idejja rigward l-ittri u l-kotba. Kif appena jaslu dlonk nibagħthom fl-indirizz li tajtni. Pero naħseb ħadt żball fid-data. Sa fejn naf jien għadna fin-1997! Rigward il-marki tal-kelb, emminni, m’għandix idea fuq xiex qed titkellem għax jien s’issa għadni ma rajtx il-marki li semmejtli fl-ittra tiegħek.“

Ittra hekk thallik perplessa u t-tnejn li intom tibqgħu tinsistu li qed tgħixu sentejn bogħod minn xulxin. L-istorja ma tiqafx hemm… tkompli… tkompli…