See-saw

It's finally the last day of 2004. I say that with some desire to see the year end sooner rather than later. All in all it was a good year, but it was also quite an emotional rollercoaster of a year.

This blog has helped me keep track of some of the ups and downs, even if Matthew Vella's Where Are They Now? did quite an OK job in itself as a souvenier of some of things that dominated 2004 for me.

Anyway, here's a partial, most subjective, list of blog entries from 2004:

UPPERS
• Life in Scarborough after leaving New York
  
• Malta joins the EU
  
• Souad Massi in Central Park
  
• Toni Sant's Blog hits the web
  
• My red bicycle gets a new life
  
  DOWNERS
• Atrioventricular Reentrant Tachycardia
  
• Goodbyes to Mario Ellul, Maggie Borg, Louis Naudi, & Publius Micallef
  
• MaltaMedia hit by DoS attack
  
• The sudden demise of John Peel
  
• The price of war
  

As for things that happened in Malta during 2004, I believe that the round-up feature from the MaltaMedia Online Network covers most of the memorable moments. Have a look at the final version of 2004: A Year in Review, which was made available to the public earlier today. This year the people who worked with me on the annual round-up feature are (in alphabetical order): Mario Axiaq, Antoine Busuttil, Ruth Davies, Martin Debattista, Joe Meilak, Pierre J. Mejlak, Roseanne Sammut, and Mark Vella Gera. Life is not perfect, but with work companions such as these we can almost turn water into wine online. If you don't believe me just subscribe to the aboutmalta.com newsletter.

Bottom line for the end of 2004: Many thanks for reading my blog...I wish you a very happy new year!

It ain't over till it's over

2004 is still with us, but unfortunately Susan Sontag is not. I heard about her death on NPR this morning. She was one of the important voices I listened to in my formative years in academia, yet she was so much more than an academic.

Her position on the 9/11 attacks was very refreshing, especially since she was an American. Claiming that what happened on 9/11 was not a "cowardly attack" on civilization but "an act undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions" made a lot of sense to me and anyone else who was not willing to buy into the nonsense that the Bush administration fed (and continue to feed) to the masses.

Thanks to Susan Sontag I came to appreciate the works of Antonin Artaud better. Her introduction to the anthology of Artaud works she edited explained the complex mind of that amazing Frenchman in ways that no one else was able to do for me before her.

To say that she will be missed is to state the obvious. What a pity she will not be equally missed by many of the people who should really take what she had to say more seriously.

With her gone, there's now one more reason for not wanting to live in New York City anymore.

Save a prayer

Work on the 2004 year in review feature is almost complete. We've been working quite hard this year to produce what has become an annual affair for the MaltaMedia Online Network. More about all that when it's been officially launched for public viewing.

Meanwhile, like most other people, I'm recovering from post-Christmas celebrations. Well, they're not actually over yet...and it'll be at least another week before things start coming back to "normal" again. I must say though that this year has been one of the most laid back festive seasons I've had in quite a while. Truth be told, I like it better this way.

I was never one to celebrate the end of year merriment as if it was something extraordinary. As a child my parents always worked harder on holidays, so I never really spent any quality time with them during the festive season until my mid-teenage years. As a teenager I was active in the local music scene and so most of my time was spent with my band or some sort of related environment. Then later, with the theatre and club DJing, I too started to work (harder) during the holidays. So for me staying at home with a loved one, or going for a quiet stroll on the beach, makes for an interesting way to spend the holidays.

Oh well, I suppose it will all be over soon enough! Once things get back to "normal" I'm sure something else will come up that will make things as all over the place as I expect them to be at about this time of the year.