The Mute Herald

I finally get to post the pictures I snapped in Malta.  This took so long because in the process of this “holiday” I lost, among other things, my Nexus One. Yes that gadget which made me Android crazy and write up all those heart-felt blog posts. Sigh.

There will be a sense of continuation to the pictures and suddenly nothing, the reason for this being that both my wife and me fell sick – bronchitis with fever sick – for the last five days.  We even had to delay our departure by two days.  Without further ado:

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Last Friday a friend asked me about Malta’s entry into the contest, how come we hadn’t sent a fat lady, and what was with us and fat ladies.  I went on to explain to her how the fat lady figures in our history.

I asked my wife who was our entry, and she said a name but it didn’t really register.  Later I heard that Germany won.

And that was exactly the ideal level of exposure I had this year to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Bliss.

Last Wednesday we were invited by the Consulate of Malta to a reception at the Monarch to commemorate our Independence Day.  The holiday itself is in September, but who am I to bemoan free drinks? I look forward to these events because they always serve Maltese foods & sweets that you don’t find here in Dubai.

The event was tied in with the opening of an office in Dubai by the Malta Tourism Authority, who want to capitalise on the availability of daily flights by Emirates.  The MTA website is nice and functional, but I would have preferred more immediate access to imagery from Malta.  There is so much more to offer.

As happens in such events the Consul gave a speech about the deepening ties between the two countries, and lauded the investment by TECOM in Smart City.  Poses for the cameras, smiles, handshakes.  They even made a special cake for the occasion, in the shape of a traditional Maltese luzzu. It was a pretty big one, and was ceremoniously cut by a sword.  I didn’t check on this, but I assume the sword was traditional Emirati.

Imagine this as a cake (image via Wikepedia)

We got to meet other Maltese expats, and also the artist Stephanie Borg who is based in Oman but dropped by.  She was showcasing some beautiful work.

They were also presenting work by the Maltese photographer Kurt Arrigo, who I’m sure contributed to MTA at some point.

Hopefully the exercise will prove fruitful for the national tourist industry.  From our part I hope we bag a good deal for our upcoming holiday trip.

I was led to a 3G / EDGE coverage map while browsing through Amazon Kindle’s pages, and when I zoomed in on Malta (which according to them has no coverage), the map looked thus:

Which is kind of funny.  Usually you get the capital city or the airport name, but this is a first.  For the non-residents, Gzira is where the oldest profession used to be most prolific back in the days.

No other choice, I will be joining the plethora of voices around the media in heaping praise upon this movie, its makers and of course the actors.  It is always refreshing being treated to something other than what comes out of Hollywood’s mill.

The movie’s theme of alien immigration and the burdens on existing social structures of course runs parallel to the same situation in many locations worldwide.  You may have different opinions on the matter, but there are few enough mainstream movies that actually tell you something other than that chicks are hot, cars are fast, etc.  This issue touches a personal note because illegal immigration is a very hot situation in my home (is)land of Malta, where boatloads of refugees headed to Europe from Africa get a crash course in geography and learn there’s a very small island in the way.

Malta controls a disproportionate amount of sea in relation to its land size, so we end up intercepting quite a number of trips.  Refugees are then placed in camps, nobody knowing what their future holds.  Some of them find work, mostly illegally, and crime rates seem to escalate, creating friction with the locals.  Voices are split: they should be sent back home / but they will be killed there / they should be integrated into our society / but they would dilute our values / the burden should be bourne by Europe  / but nobody there wants to help us, it’s our problem / etc.  There’s no easy solution in sight.

Back to District 9, now I need to get my hands on the short film, by same director Neill Blomkamp, on which it was based – Alive in Joburg.  The same lead actor stars in this short, Sharlto Copley.  Apparently he had no acting experience and had no intention of pursuing an acting career (source: imdb).  I’m sure he is not regretting it now.