Brussels Blog
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
La vraie pollution c'est votre style de vie
"La vraie pollution c'est votre style de vie"
(Graffiti spotted next to Place Fernand Coq, Brussels)
Newspaper articles and blogs often compare life in Malta to life on the continent. 'Here' or 'there' (depending on where you're standing), politics is done differently, travel is easier and cheaper, 'mentalities' aren't the same. The word 'liberty' as opposed to 'libertarian' comes to mind, although these two concepts often converge, overlap or become confused. Recently 'Europe' was once again described as "marida moralment u spiritwalment" (morally and spiritually sick) by the top Church authorities in the land of honey. I often wonder what they have in mind exactly when they diagnose this sickness. Ok, you've got the usual evils trotted out to prove the point - divorce, cohabitation, abortion and homosexual relationships. But what about the less obvious stuff like erotic literature? One would imagine that this would tally with this blueprint of "l-ghadu ta’ zmienna" (the enemy of our time) which takes on the form of "l-ideat, l-imgibiet, l-istili ta’ hajja li jwarrbu apposta lil Alla fil-genb" (ideas, behaviour and lifestyles which intentionally banish God to the sidelines)? And now for the real question: has Malta created enough erotic literature to fill a small collection which could be published? I doubt there's that much material. I can think of Albert Marshall's phallically illustrated Diaspora, some Victor Fenech and Maria Grech Ganado poems and that's it. In Immanuel Mifsud's literature, sex is associated with a traumatic experience (and I think he was intentionally making a point here). I stand to be corrected, of course. But if I'm right, examining why there isn't any frank, confident and guilt-free erotica in Malta might reveal more than we expect about the nation.
¶ 3:26 AM 2 comments
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Back to the Middle Ages (at least the beer's good)
This has been quite a medieval weekend, in keeping with recent developments on the Huntington front. After all, it's not every day that 'our' Pope is accused by a top Muslim politician (Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of Turkey's ruling AKP party) of having " una mentalita' oscurantista che viene dai tempi bui del Medio Evo". What's going on here? Isn't Islam meant to be the backward religion? And isn't secularism meant to be the terrible scourge of our times?
In Gent, I finally got to taste what is reputed to be the best beer in the world - the strong and aromatic Westvleteren which is brewed in the St. Sixtus Trappist Monastery in the North of Belgium. Later that evening, at my friend Steve 'Samba' Verhulst's flat, I spotted Amin Maalouf's Les croisades vues par les Arabes which starts with this quote from Saladin:
* A term used in the Arab world to denote the Francs and used more generally to denote Westerners.
If it weren't so late, I'd be tempted to pick up The Name of the Rose from the DVD shop down the road. That would round things off nicely.
A presto!
¶ 12:09 PM 1 comments
This has been quite a medieval weekend, in keeping with recent developments on the Huntington front. After all, it's not every day that 'our' Pope is accused by a top Muslim politician (Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of Turkey's ruling AKP party) of having " una mentalita' oscurantista che viene dai tempi bui del Medio Evo". What's going on here? Isn't Islam meant to be the backward religion? And isn't secularism meant to be the terrible scourge of our times?
In Gent, I finally got to taste what is reputed to be the best beer in the world - the strong and aromatic Westvleteren which is brewed in the St. Sixtus Trappist Monastery in the North of Belgium. Later that evening, at my friend Steve 'Samba' Verhulst's flat, I spotted Amin Maalouf's Les croisades vues par les Arabes which starts with this quote from Saladin:
Regardez les Franj*! Voyez avec quel acharnement ils se battent pour leur religion, alors que nous, les musulmans, nous ne montrons aucune ardeur a mener la guerre sainte.
* A term used in the Arab world to denote the Francs and used more generally to denote Westerners.
If it weren't so late, I'd be tempted to pick up The Name of the Rose from the DVD shop down the road. That would round things off nicely.
A presto!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Books and Popes
Brussels woke up in a summer haze this morning. The smell of water particles in the air is a pleasant one. People go about their shopping, stroll along, show off their latest shoes and skirts, sit down for a long chat in one of the many cafes between Place Chatelain and Place Stephanie. Nothing lofty or spiritual - just a normal city offering its inhabitants the little pleasures of life. In the Libreria Roma, they dip into books and magazines. A woman discusses the latest Marc Levy novel with the owner. I ask whether they've got any books by Dantec on sale. I've never read anything by Dantec but my former flatmate Thibault who was a bit of a mad scientist had recommended him to me. Yesterday after enjoying the St.Gery open air party with a darkly moody PJM, I watched an interview with the scruffy, badly-shaven author (Dantec not PJM) and thought I'd delve into his world. But any book which is as thick as a Bible generally puts me off. So I postponed my close encounter with Maurice G. Talking of Holy Books, finally we might all start to see the light after Benedict XVI's big slip. Religion is very very dangerous territory - dialogue is necessarily limited to a minimum. And the distinction between 'moderates' and 'hotheads' in matters of faith can become terribly blurred when there's a perceived attack on 'fundamentals' from outside. If Allah or Jesus is the only way, dialogue becomes painfully difficult beyond the 'we are all sons of Abraham' mantra. For what is real faith if not absolutism, conversion, universalism. I'm curious to see how Ranier Fsadni will react to the latest earthquake. No doubt, he won't say anything too Fallaciesque. But what about Roamer? So instead of Dantec, I bought a copy of Jesus lave plus blanc which praises the Catholic Church for actually inventing marketing. It's by Bruno Ballardini. On the film front, I kept sleeping in front of the absurd and quintessentially Belgian road-movie Aaltra (which is excellent) and I had a pleasant solitary trip to the UGC on Toison d'Or to watch Les Particules Elementaires (which I thought worked well in German). Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu who were both excellent in Run, Lola, Run star in this adaptation of MH's novel Atomised. On the music front, my collection needed some replenishment so I picked Primal Scream's latest album and Nouvelle Vague's Bande a Part. They'll accopmany me on my trip to Gent tonight. And by the way, who is JJ Zammit?
¶ 8:58 AM 0 comments
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Prima spiaggia (a meno 16 gradi)
Football's back. Angelo, the man with a passion for all things calcio, should be happy. And what a pleasant rentree it's been too. Giuventus, the team which Lanzarote wrote an almost prophetic piece about before the calciopoli floodgates came crashing down, got off to a slow start in what the Italians call il campionato cadetto. Actually, La Repubblica described Giuve's disappointing (but historic) debut against seaside resort team Rimini as "un Flop", using the original English word in that endearing Italian manner: lo smoking, il night club, la showgirl. And il flop. Great! To make things even better it seems that the 'victimised' Giuve players and staff, having been stripped of their ill-gotten scudetto, have taken to wearing the tricolore on specially designed sweatbands. You can't blame them for their little act of defiance - their gruelling task to regain their long-lost credibility is bound to make them perspire profusely. At 18hrs the real league kicked off and the giallorossi got off to a good start with a convincing 2-0 win over Livorno. Totti's little tot Christian was carried by his dad into the warm stadio Olimpico before the game. A good start then.
¶ 9:21 AM 0 comments
29'****** PAREGGIA IL RIMINI! RICCHIUTI! ******
Football's back. Angelo, the man with a passion for all things calcio, should be happy. And what a pleasant rentree it's been too. Giuventus, the team which Lanzarote wrote an almost prophetic piece about before the calciopoli floodgates came crashing down, got off to a slow start in what the Italians call il campionato cadetto. Actually, La Repubblica described Giuve's disappointing (but historic) debut against seaside resort team Rimini as "un Flop", using the original English word in that endearing Italian manner: lo smoking, il night club, la showgirl. And il flop. Great! To make things even better it seems that the 'victimised' Giuve players and staff, having been stripped of their ill-gotten scudetto, have taken to wearing the tricolore on specially designed sweatbands. You can't blame them for their little act of defiance - their gruelling task to regain their long-lost credibility is bound to make them perspire profusely. At 18hrs the real league kicked off and the giallorossi got off to a good start with a convincing 2-0 win over Livorno. Totti's little tot Christian was carried by his dad into the warm stadio Olimpico before the game. A good start then.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Kan't Travel
Over the next few months the caged Maltese population will slowly but surely be let out of its captivity and isolation thanks to the advent of the Low Cost Revolution, which is being seen in some quarters as primarily an educational experience for the confined populace. Which it probably will be, to an extent. Reliable sources have informed us that Ryanair's 'outspoken' Michael O'Leary may soon be appointed Malta's new Education Minister. Louis Galea, move over.
As the revolution kicks off, it's worth contemplating the life of a great, if slightly boring, philosopher who came up with some rigid ideas, the most notable of which being the "Categorical Imperative" - "act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." Maybe that's what a life of being rooted to the same few square miles does to you. Who knows?
He died in Konigsburg on February 12, 1804 near the end of his 80th year. Little more than five feet tall, deformed in his right shoulder, his chest almost concave, Kant had a weak constitution. He never married, and followed an unchanging program of activities from youth to old age. For example, he never failed to rise at 5 o'clock, studied for 2 hours, lectured for 2 more, and spent the rest of the morning at his desk. He dined at a restaurant and spent the afternoon in conversation with friends. He then walked for about an hour -- a walk which for years followed exactly the same course, studied for 2 hours more, and retired between 9 and 10. He was a prolific reader, especially in history, science, travel, and philosophy. He knew English history and literature intimately, especially in the period of Queen Anne. He read little of Goethe or Schiller, but often re-read Voltaire and Rousseau. He had little interest in nature, and in 80 years never traveled more than 40 miles from his native Konigsburg.
¶ 2:14 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Census
Qu'une religion nouvelle puisse naitre en Occident etait deja en soi une surprise, tant l'histoire europeenne des trente dernieres annees avait ete marque par l'effondrement massif, d'une rapidite stupefiante, des croyances religieuses traditionnelles. Dans des pays comme l'Espagne, la Pologne, l'Irlande, une foi catholique profonde, unanime, massive strucurait la vie sociale et l'ensemble des comportements depuis des siecles, elle determinait la morale comme les relations familiales, conditionnait l'ensemble des productions culturelles et artistiques, des hierarchies sociales, des conventions, des regles de vie. En l'espace de quelques annees, en moins d'une generation, en un temps incroyablement bref, tout cela avait disparu, s'etait evapore dans le neant. Dans ces pays aujourd'hui plus personne ne croyait en Dieu, n'en tenait la moindre compte, ne se souvenait meme d'avoir cru; et cela s'etait fait sans difficulte, sans conflit, sans violence ni protestation d'aucune sorte, sans meme une discussion veritable, aussi aisement qu'un objet lourd, un temps maintenu par une entrave exterieure, revient des qu'on le lache a sa position d'equilibre. Les croyances spirituelles humaines etaient peut-etre loin d'etre ce bloc massif, solide, irrefutable qu'on se represente habituellement; elles etaient peut-etre au contraire ce qu'il y avait en l'homme de plus fugace, de plus fragile, de plus prompt a naitre et a mourir.
¶ 3:53 PM 0 comments
Qu'une religion nouvelle puisse naitre en Occident etait deja en soi une surprise, tant l'histoire europeenne des trente dernieres annees avait ete marque par l'effondrement massif, d'une rapidite stupefiante, des croyances religieuses traditionnelles. Dans des pays comme l'Espagne, la Pologne, l'Irlande, une foi catholique profonde, unanime, massive strucurait la vie sociale et l'ensemble des comportements depuis des siecles, elle determinait la morale comme les relations familiales, conditionnait l'ensemble des productions culturelles et artistiques, des hierarchies sociales, des conventions, des regles de vie. En l'espace de quelques annees, en moins d'une generation, en un temps incroyablement bref, tout cela avait disparu, s'etait evapore dans le neant. Dans ces pays aujourd'hui plus personne ne croyait en Dieu, n'en tenait la moindre compte, ne se souvenait meme d'avoir cru; et cela s'etait fait sans difficulte, sans conflit, sans violence ni protestation d'aucune sorte, sans meme une discussion veritable, aussi aisement qu'un objet lourd, un temps maintenu par une entrave exterieure, revient des qu'on le lache a sa position d'equilibre. Les croyances spirituelles humaines etaient peut-etre loin d'etre ce bloc massif, solide, irrefutable qu'on se represente habituellement; elles etaient peut-etre au contraire ce qu'il y avait en l'homme de plus fugace, de plus fragile, de plus prompt a naitre et a mourir.
