tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:28:46 +0000First blog on the MaltaMedia Online Network. http://www.tonisant.com/blog/index.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)Blogger528125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-6838582374755763954Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:25:00 +00002010-04-17T20:28:46.707+02:00MMIpodcastShow notes for the 208th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast:The Lesser Gods - IconoclastThis new band was scheduled to open for UK-band Paradise Lost along with Knockturn Alley tonight but the volcanic ash that has suspended most air travel across Europe this weekend has meant that the gig had to be postponed. Luckily they've release a couple of demo tracks ahead of the show and this is one of them. The http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/04/burn-baby-burn.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-7531074583104530519Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:37:00 +00002010-04-11T12:40:56.602+02:00MMIpodcastA couple of weeks ago I started thinking about the idea of changing the format of my weekly blog entries to match the basic show note page I also create for my weekly podcast feed. Last week I followed up on this but mostly because I was in Poland and had set things up to publish automatically. Now I'm back to a live routine so I think I should really give this idea some more thought to see if ithttp://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/04/i-put-my-ring-back-on.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-215232301748127232Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:52:00 +00002010-04-02T15:52:00.285+02:00MMIpodcastblogosphereThis month six years ago I started blogging. Throughout this time I've used Blogger to enable me to publish my new posts in my personal website. For the last several months, however, I've become a WordPress user for everything but my own blog. It's time to switch. I'm being shoved towards a faster switch by the simple fact that Blogger will no longer allow me to creat blog posts to my website in http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/04/april.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-6396026791295455876Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:55:00 +00002010-04-03T20:42:07.162+02:00MMIpodcastAs an experiment: I'm thinking of changing the format of my weekly blog entries to match the basic show note page I also create for  my weekly podcast feed. I'd still like to comment on the acts I pick for each podcast, but I'm thinking that a separate entry with bloggy type entries that are not necessarily related to my podcast would be a better way to communicate those thoughts. What you see http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/03/dont-know-much.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-6402922708858808832Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:27:00 +00002010-03-21T11:11:05.843+01:00MMIpodcastOne of the joys of academic life comes in the form of conferences and similar gatherings. The last couple of days I've been at the Inaugural Interdisciplinary Conference of the Virtual Communication, Collaboration and Conflict (VIRT3C) Research Group at the University of Hull. We heard a couple of inspirational keynotes, and it was quite pleasant to see Alex Grech present his PhD research http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/03/beside-you.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-4320171566778737727Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:54:00 +00002010-03-14T11:24:36.775+01:00travelMMIpodcastThese last couple of weeks I spent a substantial number of nights away from my cozy bed. It's great to sample various hotel chains and get a large city buzz from time to time but I certainly wouldn't enjoy living the rat race again full time. I enjoyed meeting people and going places in Malta, Glasgow and London, but now it's back to reality on the holodeck until the next adventure.Mużika Mod http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/03/this-charming-life.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-685047364163519318Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:34:00 +00002010-03-14T10:37:11.812+01:00m3pdeathmusicMaltaI'm saddened to hear of the demise of Maltese '70s pop singer Tony Gauci, who resurfaced on TV just last year thanks to Favourite Channel. I wasn't aware that his health had deteriorated to a life-threatening level as he was still in his mid-60s. Tony will undoubtedly be best remembered in time as one of the strongest links between traditional għana and modern Maltese pop songs. Back in his http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/03/qalb-ta-kampanjol.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-1807425177495661922Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:29:00 +00002010-03-07T17:08:43.779+01:00MMIpodcastMaltapoliticsHaving once again witnessed the devastation property development in Malta has leveled at green areas and small towns across the islands, I am glad to see that a group of environment NGOs are taking to the streets to raise awareness about various issues that have ruined the country's environment. Encroachment of urban areas, illegal hunting and trapping, illegal occupation of public land, loss of http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/03/i-dont-want-to-go-out.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-272938042418667576Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:55:00 +00002010-03-07T11:08:58.794+01:00tvMaltaEurovisionMy visits to Malta are almost always flavoured with a main theme, which dominates most of my activities in the days I spend visiting my country of birth. Often it's music. Sometimes it's family. This time it's TV. To be quite honest it feels a little odd, particularly because I thought I had shaken off the ghost of TV before the end of the 20th century.This round of TV-dominated activities http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/02/sun-always-shines-on-tv.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-7549938746984686685Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:02:00 +00002010-02-21T21:56:58.931+01:00MMIpodcastMaltaEurovisionMalta's entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest was selected last night. Newcomer Thea Garrett will sing My Dream by Jason Cassar and Sunny Aquilina this May in Oslo. It was a relatively easy selection for the expert panel of judges and the televoting public to pick this act from the 20 entries in the final round of Malta's selection for this year's Eurovision. The local pop scene is tired andhttp://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/02/dream-on.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-414855891680585080Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:27:00 +00002010-02-14T11:59:39.252+01:00m3pdeathMMItvpodcastautobiographyLooks like we've made it! The weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor series has reached the 200th podcast. Starting way back in November 2005, it has taken just over four years to get here. When the 100th podcast was released it was clearly time to celebrate but now I feel that every new podcast is a celebration in itself. The 200th MMI podcast is a special edition but last week's podcast was just as special, http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/02/long-hard-road.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-3970683311512222096Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:02:00 +00002010-02-07T12:13:30.694+01:00MMIpodcastAs I sat down to prepare the 199th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast this morning it dawned on me that next week's edition will be the 200th in the series. I recalled how the 100th edition was marked as a special occasion back in 2008, first by Michael Bugeja in The Sunday Times (of Malta) and then through the MMI podcast itself featuring a bunch of carefully picked tracks. Should I make the 200th MMI http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/02/almost-there.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-4720754628975320895Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:08:00 +00002010-02-03T21:23:07.802+01:00transliteracymediaMaltablogosphereA couple of weeks ago my friend Ariadne Massa, Chief Sub-Editor and long standing journalist with The Times (of Malta), asked me to answer some questions on "on how the changes in technology impact the media business in Malta" for an in-house diploma organised by her newspaper bosses.In the spirit of this blog and everything it has come to represent over the last 6 years, I asked Ariadne to http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/02/sign-o-times.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-4538293943022576783Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:34:00 +00002010-01-31T11:14:47.183+01:00MMIpodcastWhile we can safely assume that the newness of 2010 is behind us, some of us may not be back on the grind in full throttle quite yet. Speaking from a personal perspective, I'd say that it was only last week that I really got back into the swing to things properly, but this is not to say that the days before that were filled with hours of lounging around doing nothing.One way I gauge whether we'rehttp://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/01/dont-tell-me-that-its-over.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-439987065368783266Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:54:00 +00002010-01-24T13:01:29.162+01:00MMImusicpodcastMy ears are still buzzing from last night's concert by The Prodigy at the Bridlington Spa's Royal Hall. It's almost incredible that this band has been around for 20 years and it was simply amazing to see young people in the audience who weren't even born back when they started out. The Prodigy is simply a massive band and their music is undoubtedly anthemic for a whole generation. There's a http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/01/firestarter.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-8844043270705646612Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:43:00 +00002010-01-17T11:31:52.112+01:00MMIpodcastBetween the horrific events in Haiti and the banal nonsense emanating from Malta, I find myself considering what may actually be in store for us in 2010. More precisely I'm also thinking what's ahead for me personally as a continue with my AHRC sabbatical, which at the very least will yield a book I've written on Franklin Furnace.There was a time when I would have gone on to blog about these http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/01/empire-state-of-mind.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-371182062799901832Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:32:00 +00002010-01-10T11:24:36.641+01:00ReverbnationMMIpodcastMaltaI'm amazed at the recent developments on the case of young Mark Camilleri who is looking at the prospect of facing jail time because of Malta's outdated obscenity, censorship and blasphemy laws. Mona Farrugia (Malta's number one food writer) has published a very articulate reflection on the situation. She has also started circulating an online petition addressed to Malta's lawmakers asking for http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/01/i-like-it-rough.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-44294564677076558Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:53:00 +00002010-01-03T20:16:30.163+01:00FacebookritualMMImusicpodcastHappy New Year! Let's hope it's a good one.Now that the brief Christmas break is over, the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast returns with a special edition featuring music from the 2009 Listeners' Picks poll. Here are the entries voted as the listeners' top picks from the poll we conducted on Facebook throughout the month of December 2009. This year, the poll was facilitated by Kenneth J. Vella.2009 Top http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2010/01/shout-to-top.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-11037478196581950Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:36:00 +00002009-12-31T18:05:37.360+01:00ritualtimeautobiography2009 is history. For the last six years I've been blogging about the ups and downs at the end of every year. Although my blog has been taken over almost completely by show notes for my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast, I still manage to sneak in all sort of (seemingly) unrelated comments and entries on a regular basis. In any case, this whole exercise continues to simply be a collection of http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/12/see-saw.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-8271588824152002899Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:23:00 +00002009-12-24T12:25:23.395+01:00deathritualAt about this time of the year for the past 9 years, Mario Axiaq and I have been putting together a list of obituaries for people known for their public life in Malta. It is an exercise that works hand in glove with Mario's AboutMalta.com project to chronicle Malta day by day and MaltaMedia's round-up of the year gone by.While countless tributes will be made to Michael Jackson, Mike Bongiorno, http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/12/gone-gone-gone.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-1867895706168231583Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:57:00 +00002009-12-19T20:50:05.242+01:00ritualMMIpodcastChristmas is here once again. Don't you just love how the wheel goes round and round? I've just cracked open this year's dark rum, even if a nice bottle of Benromach Traditional Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whiskey I won in a local competition last summer has managed to beat it to the start line this year. What would life be like without the seasonal spirit?The steady flow of new Christmas music http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/12/christmas-is-just-around-corner.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-5755606286768568953Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:32:00 +00002009-12-13T11:38:55.193+01:00ritualMMItimepodcastLast week I wrote about the way things seem to come together at this time of the year. Ritual and routine help give us a sense of who we are and where we are. It's quite wonderful really, even for someone like me who celebrates chaos most of the rest of the year.This blog and my weekly podcast are a central part of that routine for me. As one of my teachers once told me, I prefer to promote chaoshttp://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/12/everything-in-its-right-place.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-994922126697864893Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:34:00 +00002009-12-06T12:01:52.644+01:00FacebookritualMMItimepodcastDecember brings with it a bunch of annual occurrences that mark the end of the year. The first of these is the Maltese song festival organized annually by the YTC known as L-Għanja tal-Poplu. A couple of music awards events follow it within just a few days. Meanwhile two of the three public holidays the Maltese enjoy during this month roll around and clearly it's time to share season's http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/12/time-to-pretend.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-1060723482955173160Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:58:00 +00002009-11-28T23:58:00.165+01:00FacebookMMItimepodcastTime is my greatest enemy. There's never enough time to do all the things I'd really like to do. I think I live a fairly simple life and yet I'm somehow caught up in doing all sorts of creative things that take more time than anyone can physically handle.To make things worse, certain things have deadlines or what you could call a shelf-life. This means that all the time in the world can never be http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/11/out-of-time.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6837030.post-1352378016043872652Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:05:00 +00002009-11-22T11:48:07.333+01:00MMIpodcastEurovisionVery recently I was asked about the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, more than once. Perhaps it's not inappropriate to air my position on this publicly, especially since I've never really done this before. There are very few children (i.e. under 15s) I'm particularly interested in hearing sing or watch perform. Shaheen Jafargholi is one recent notable exception, of course. While I think that it's http://www.tonisant.com/blog/2009/11/tomorrows-dream.shtmlnoreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant)0