Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Stop the Gravy Train
by Joe Grima - maltaman@maltanet.net
Opinion -- 23 May 2008 -- 00:05CEST
Is there going to be a feeling of sour grapes in my comments
about the Eurovision Song Contest this year? Yes, some of that too.
First, well done Morena, A faultless interpretation that did Malta proud. Presentation was good. The ensemble was good. The song was good, better than most of those I heard on the second night. So what went wrong for us?
Technically nothing did. It was just that some of the worst songs, some of the crudest gimmicks, and one song that conveniently happened to have its recording halted for a second, just enough to be noted, made it to the finals when , with a much better song and a much better interpretation than most, we did not.
The show itself was pleasant to watch but some of the songs that were performed before and after Morena were just for my rubbish bin. We have no one to blame : certainly not Morena , not the composer or the lyric writer, not the Malta Song Board . No one.
Malta's performance was not only creditable but definitely better than most of its competitors -much more pleasant on the ear, vibrant in its execution , well backed both vocally and visually, good choreography –altogether just a good , good show by Malta. But we still did not make it.
In the early seventies , when I was Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Authority, we entered Joe Grech and then Joe Cutajar and Helen Micallef and Renato for the Eurovision Song Contest.
It was the time when the record companies ruled the roost and , if you were not into the record group that negotiated the deals as to who would win one year and who would win the following year , you were simply out.
Our placings of the time, either last or close to last showed precisely that our connections with the record companies were zilch.
I was active within the European Broadcasting Union at the time. In our meetings in Geneva I protested until I was hoarse about the corrupt practices that were going on year after year.
We got a lot of sympathy but nothing else. The rules were not changed and we were quietly advised not to pursue the issue because the likelihood of change was next to nothing.
That was when I advised the Broadcasting Authority not to waste more time, money and effort with the Eurovision song contest and we pulled out.
Now it is said that it is neighboring countries that determine the Eurovision final list – voting for each other , making a farce of the competition , sidelining both music and lyrics as well as vocalists and deciding on results by sheer numbers. If that's it , then we don't stand a hope in hell of getting back in.
But, on the other hand, there were recent times when we almost won, even under the same conditions as today. So I , for one, don't know the reason why and probably the Malta Song Board has no more of a handle on the situation than I have. I am beginning to follow the trend of thought that maybe we should pull out again, as we did years ago and as the Italians did years later.
Maybe it's time to kick the Eurovision Song Contest in the butt and move on. We may have reached the point when this gravy train is stopped in its tracks.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Jenna Bush says 'I do'
From Elaine Quijano
CNN White House Correspondent
CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- First daughter Jenna Bush and Henry Hager, the son of a well-connected Virginia Republican, said "I do" Saturday on President Bush's 1,600-acre ranch near Crawford, Texas.
The president and the bride picked "You Are So Beautiful" for their father-daughter dance, band leader Tyrone Smith of Nashville, Tenn. told The Associated Press. Smith and his 10-piece party band, The Tyrone Smith Revue, was asked to do "Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes" by Taj Mahal for the newlyweds' first dance.
Smith, who witnessed the wedding ceremony, told AP afterward the groom was dressed in a dark blue suit with powder-blue tie and the bride wore a "very simple and elegant" white dress, but did not wear a veil. Smith said Jenna Bush's paternal grandparents, President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, spoke during the wedding, though he could not hear their comments.
The AP reported the festivities began Friday with a bridal lunch, rehearsal dinner and post-rehearsal dinner celebration in Salado, a tiny tourist village, which used to be a stagecoach stop. Jenna, her sister and the first lady were in Salado, more than an hour's drive south of Crawford, all day Friday and the president arrived in the evening by motorcade.
"I had to face some very difficult spending decisions, and I've had to conduct sensitive diplomacy. That's called planning for a wedding," Bush told the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on March 12.
The plans had been largely under wraps, but they called for gathering by a lake in front of an altar and 4-foot-high cross made from Texas limestone.
"This is the time when the wildflowers are all blooming. And I think it will be a very, very lovely wedding, and it will be very like Jenna and Henry," first lady Laura Bush recently said.
Jenna Bush told CNN's Larry King on April 24 that the wedding would include "all relatives, our families, really, kind of big. So it's half-family and then half very close friends." More wedding details »
Not all of her friends were expected to be on hand though.
"The only information that I've received is that there are a number of Jenna's close friends who are not being invited to this wedding because, according to them, she would be afraid of their behavior," Doug Wead said.
Wead is a former aide to President George H.W. Bush and author of "All the Presidents' Children."
He says that unlike the pageantry of White House weddings past, such as Tricia Nixon's in 1971, the Texas ceremony would take place away from the media spotlight.
"The Bushes are very private. It's a time of war; it's at a time of economic struggle. ... And this president has high negatives right now. ... It's much more of a low-key event," Wead said. Listen to President Bush's radio address on his daughter's wedding »
Wead said another consideration for the wedding's location is "they know that they don't own the White House, that they can't go back.
"It will belong to Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or John McCain. ... But [Jenna and Henry] will always have Crawford. They won't even maybe have Kennebunkport; that hasn't been decided yet. ... But Crawford, Jenna and Henry can walk through the moonlight and hold hands and say, 'This is where we were married,' and it will always be theirs," Wead added.
The first lady's office kept a tight lid on specifics. But the bride did reveal dress details to Vogue magazine, describing her gown as an Oscar de la Renta creation made of organza with embroidery and beading. Watch as the first lady details the wedding plans »
"I'm very, very excited. It's a very interesting passage of life when you get to that time in your life when your child, first child is getting married -- and we're getting, for us, our first son," Laura Bush said May 5.
And already, the first lady is joking about names for possible grandchildren down the road.
"George or Georgia ... Georgina. Georgette," she said.
As for the event itself, the ceremony took place in the evening hours in order to spare guests from the searing Texas heat. Watch more on the wedding details »
Wedding facts
- Bride: Jenna Welch Bush
- Groom: Henry Chase Hager
- Place: President Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford, Texas
- Guests: More than 200 friends and relatives
- Attendants: 14 women known as members of the "house party," not bridesmaids
- Bride's gown designer: Oscar de la Renta
- Ring: The diamond, a Hager family heirloom, reset in a ring that also features sapphires
- Maid of Honor: Jenna's twin sister, Barbara
- Ceremony site: At a cross made of beige Texas limestone erected near a lake on the ranch
- Engagement: August 15, 2007, at Acadia National Park in Maine
Source: The Associated Press
cnn.com
Pics: White House
White House full story
WORST father in the world
AMSTETTEN, Austria (CNN) -- A man who previously rented an apartment from a now-73-year-old man accused of holding his daughter captive in his cellar for 24 years said Thursday that he saw the man's son enter the off-limits basement.
Josef Fritzl admits raping his daughter and fathering her seven children.
1 of 2more photos » Alfred Dubanowsky said he rented a ground-floor apartment at Josef Fritzl's home from 1995 through 2007. He said there was a verbal agreement between Fritzl and the house's tenants that they were not to enter the cellar or the garden or photograph the premises, or they would be kicked out.
Police said Monday that Fritzl also made clear to his wife and children that they were not allowed to go into the basement.
Fritzl has confessed to keeping his daughter Elisabeth in the basement for more than two decades, where he repeatedly raped her and fathered seven children with her, six of whom survived, police say.
Dubanowsky said he saw Fritzl's son, also named Josef Fritzl, enter the cellar. He also saw the elder Fritzl enter the basement frequently at night.
Once, when he asked to talk to the younger Fritzl, the older man said his son was working and "not to distract him," Dubanowsky told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.
It was not clear whether the younger Fritzl went into the secret section of the cellar where police said the woman and children were kept or whether he knew of their captivity.
Dubanowsky said he heard strange noises coming from the cellar sometimes, but Fritzl told him it was coming from the heater in the home's boiler room.
The police investigation will examine whether any accomplices were involved in the case, but police spokesman Franz Polzer said there were "neither technical nor biological traces of any other person in cellar" other than Fritzl.
Meanwhile, Fritzl's sister-in-law said in an interview published Thursday that the man often spent many hours in the cellar and would sometimes stay there all night.
"He said he was drawing engineering plans that he would sell to companies," said the woman, the sister of Fritzl's wife. "Often, he would stay there all night." She said his wife was not even allowed to bring him coffee.
Fritzl is alleged to have threatened to gas his prisoners if they harmed him or tried to escape, The Associated Press reported.
Austrian authorities said the imprisoned children, who for years had not seen the light of day, were slowly adapting to sunlight. Officials also debunked reports in a few British newspapers that some of the children could not walk or speak in sentences.
Timeline
1977: Elisabeth Fritzl claims she was first abused by her father Josef when aged 11.
1984: Elisabeth is allegedly lured into house cellar, drugged and handcuffed by her father. She is forced to write letters saying she has run away.
1988: Her first child, Kerstin, is born.
1989: Elisabeth gives birth to her first son, Stefan.
1993: Nine-month-old Lisa is left on the doorstep of the Fritzl house.
1994: Another child, Monika, arrives and is adopted by the Fritzls.
1996: Elisabeth gives birth to twins, but one dies after three days. Josef allegedly burned the body.
1997: Alexander, the surviving twin, joins the children upstairs.
2003: A letter from Elisabeth arrives saying she had a second son, Felix, the previous year. He is raised in the cellar.
2008:
April 19: Kerstin is taken to that hospital after falling serious ill. Doctors discover that her grandfather is her father.
April 20-27: Josef releases Elisabeth, Stefan and Felix and tells his wife they are returning.
April 26: Police pick up Josef and Elisabeth near the hospital where Kerstin is being treated.
April 27: Josef admits his guilt after Elisabeth's statement.
April 28: Police search house and discover cramped cellar with special security door.
April 29: Josef appears in court.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Finally the Winner (proud to say)...MY COUSIN Morena - Vodka (Official Video)
(Na zdarovye!)
(Hey hey hey hey hey hey)
(Na zdarovye!)
(Hey hey hey hey hey)
The hunt is still on
Here in Gorky Park
I’m in a danger zone
Everywhere is pitch dark
I’m running away
To a blanket of snow
Spy One to Spy Four
I’ve deciphered the code, yeah…
[CHORUS]
Vodka – that’s the secret word
Vodka – and they want it so bad
Vodka – I’ve deciphered the code
Got a rush in the head
Vodka – a transparent word
(Na zdarovye!)
(Hey hey hey hey hey hey)
(Na zdarovye!)
(Hey hey hey hey hey)
Cold blood drums within
They breathe down my neck
Spy One to Spy Four
We just have to connect
Their footsteps are near
Closing in for the kill
My pulse has gone dead
With a heart-racing chill, yeah…
[CHORUS]
Vodka – that’s the secret word
Vodka – and they want it so bad, so bad, so bad
Vodka – I’ve deciphered the code
Got a rush in the head, yeah…
Vodka – a transparent word…
(Vodka – that’s the secret word)
(Na zdarovye!) Yeah…
(Vodka – and they want it so bad) So bad, yeah
(Hey hey hey hey hey hey)
Vodka, yeah… (That’s the secret word)
(Na zdarovye!)
Vodka – a transparent word
(Hey hey hey hey hey hey)
*Na zdarovye! = Russian for cheers
GO COUSIN, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET'S VODKA THE SHOW
Saturday, April 12, 2008
MaltaSong for Europe 2008
Malta keeps trying to compete, even though haing the best songs doesn't help you win, you have to have neighbours. But one thing Malta knows....never give up!!!!!!! This year I realy loved watching the MaltaSong more than ever.......my mum's youngest cousin, Morena won with a song written by Gerard James Borg, and composed by Philip Vella. Those two have written more than one song together for the Eurovision, and we always saw success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Morena - Vodka live fuq il-palk il-ġurnata tal-Finali 26/01/2008 / live on stage on the Finals day 26/01/2008
Morena's Moment of Zen
