Toni Sant's Blog

Power to the People

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:18:52 -0600

It's finally time for all my Mużika Mod Ieħor listeners to vote for their top picks out of all the Maltese releases from 2008. This year's poll is once again being carried out via Facebook. James Attard has reactivated the Facebook app we created last year for yet another round of voting. The categories remain the same as last year, with the slight difference that singles and EPs are now

Amid the Falling Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:09:48 -0600

Having spent about 12 of the last 48 hours traveling on trains between Scarborough and Coventry I can't really say that my body has completely settled down by now. I still hadn't shaken the road off when I woke up this morning to see that a veritable winter wonderland awaited me outside. I expected this to happen because I watched the weather forecast on TV last night but it still made me change

Miles Away

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:37:28 -0600

I love living in Scarborough. It's a beautiful place to live. The only thing I'd change about it is not the weather but the fact that it's miles away from any good or bad distraction from the peace and quiet we enjoy here. This paradox makes it more rather than less appealing to me. I think about this whenever there's something going on in Malta or New York that I'd like to attend. The latest

Sing the Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:24:15 -0600

Change has come...or so it would seem. Hopes are high, and so they should be. Things are looking up, but when things have looked down for so long it's just about time that things start looking up. I don't want to sound cynical and I hate to be as much of a realist as Ralph Nader. Barak Obama will help make the world a better place. He will also inevitably disappoint many who now believe that he

Another Way To Die

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:44:43 -0500

Although I know that it's silly to think so, I have the feeling that most of the things happening around me right now have already happened before. I'm not surprised by much and yet it's fairly obvious that this only really make sense (or nonsense) in my head. It's probably just that I have a lot on my mind. Thankfully most of it is quite positive; I've recovered almost completely from last

Don't Let Me Down

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:04:37 -0500

When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around. That's some of the best advice I've ever heard, and yet if what's still around is also going down the crapper then it's likely that being optimistic becomes a harder task. This is how I feel right now. I'm sure the negative global vibes aren't helping, but most of it is personal. Not too personal that I don't want to even

Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:46:28 -0500

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've been interviewed by Marlene Galea from SBS Radio in Australia about my interest in music and broadcasting. An edited version of the interview was aired this morning in Australia. I will be appearing on SBS Radio again soon in a special feature they're preparing on the Maltese music scene. More about that when it airs. Click here to listen to the interview.

Subdivisions

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:52:12 -0500

Just before I started writing this blog entry, Andrew Lloyd-Webber appeared on my screen announcing that he was writing next year's UK Eurovision Song Contest entry. This is not a wacky story that will go away, like Morrisey's bid from a couple of years ago. Lord Lloyd-Webber will be mounting a talent contest to find the right act or singer for the song he's taking to Moscow next May. Even if you

Big Money

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:09:48 -0500

Two memories from my pre-adult life crept across my line of sight this week. While I'm certainly not the nostalgic type, I thoroughly enjoyed a brief exchange with a former teenage girlfriend on Facebook, even if the bottom line was just a realization that we only really knew each other before either one of had grown up. And news of a St Gregory's Church Children's Choir reunion took me back even

Finding My Way

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:31:20 -0500

As expected, this past week has left me physically and mentally exhausted. My wife and I had hoped to celebrate our wedding anniversary by going to a nice restaurant on Friday evening but we were both simply too worn out to even think about making a reservation. We'll have to leave it for another day...probably Monday. Meanwhile, the first week of the academic year went quite smoothly, even if

Space Oddity

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:56:35 -0500

MySpace have just changed the interface for the music player that appears on pages where musicians, bands and singers upload their tracks for all to hear. This in itself may appear to be just another attempt to change the way MySpace looks, but there's some bad news in it for people like me. The previous MySpace music player displayed the year for the track you were listening to (if it was

So Far, So Good...So What!

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:09:03 -0500

I've compiled a list of alternative music from Maltese recording artists released so far in 2008. This is the third year that I'll be polling my blog readers and Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast listeners towards establishing the top favourite releases of 2008. The number of new releases is as healthy as it was in 2006 and 2007. As ever, I have a feeling my list is not complete. Please let me know if

Starlings

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:43:15 -0500

Having finished the chapter on performance I was writing for a book on Learning and Teaching in Second Life (to be published early next year by a Norwegian academic press) I am now able to apply myself to other things. This may be as close as I'm getting to a break before the new academic year. I plan to make the best of it and stay away from the sort of things that have kept me extra busy this

Trying To Pull Myself Away

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:51:27 -0500

Things should be better by this time next week. Right now I'm just fighting against the clock to make a Monday deadline on submitting a chapter I'm writing about performance in Second Life for a book on learning and teaching in this virtual world. The book will be published by an academic press in Norway within the next few months. On top of this, life goes on and my "to do" list keeps getting

Black Hole Sun

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:51:45 -0500

Yesterday I got back from being on the road for almost a whole week. After a couple of days in Bournemouth for the inaugural Media Education Summit I spent three days in Leeds for the 4th Theatre and Performance Research Association annual conference. Such events are excellent opportunities for academic networking. Add to this several high quality presentations and you have yourself a great

Granpa's Grave

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:02:27 -0500

I've been having very unusual dreams lately. Maybe it's because there a sense of change in the air, particularly from the American political circus, which almost merits its own blog entry. Or perhaps it's because I've been spending way too much time doing my research in Second Life. More simply, it could be that I haven't really had a break this summer. Last night I had a dream about the remains

We Carry On

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:38:34 -0500

I don't really have much to say this week because I'm just too busy to think properly. Nothing new there. The only really new thing, other than the fact that the kitchen is now (almost) done and some other work-related news (to be announced soon), is the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page. The number of people who have added the page on their Facebook profile has now more than doubled since last

Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:08:26 -0500

I've just set up a fan page for my weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast on Facebook. Within the first twenty four hours, about fifty Facebook users have added the page to their profile. The main goal for this new Facebook page is to serve as an easy way to communicate with all my podcast listeners who are also Facebook users. This is not to say that all the listeners are on Facebook, but I have a

Rock 'n Roll

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:28:48 -0500

This past week I've been attending the Beached Academy, as a student. This is an annual opportunity for budding talent in Scarborough to work with professional tutors on song-writing skills and music performance. There's also training for people who want to work on the technical side. While some would think that I don't qualify to be a student within such a setting, I was pleasantly surprised by

Rat in Mi Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:28:23 -0500

I'm in the middle of kitchen remodeling at home right now. This sort of thing must be up there on the list with the most stress inducing experiences in life: divorce, house moves, personal loss, etc. Although it's not cheap to put in a new kitchen these days (has it ever been?) living without the comforts of home-cooked food and putting up with all the skilled labourers can be even more stressful

Electric Barbarella

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:39:20 -0500

Duran Duran have finally performed live in Malta. It's about 20 years too late, if you ask me. Then again not everyone is as allergic to nostalgia as I am. To be fair Duran Duran have remained active and released some interesting material since they were the huge pop sensation we remember from the 1980s. Back then I didn't really like the band but eventually I came to appreciate some of their

Magic Bus

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:27:52 -0500

Now that the public transport system in Malta is back to "normal" it's good to start thinking about what will really come from the shambles created on the roads of Malta and Gozo throughout most of this past week? Will the liberalization of mass transport on the Maltese Islands really improve in the coming months. Perhaps it'll take a couple of years or more. Will the characteristic authentically

The Windmills of Your Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:20:09 -0500

When Kilin died earlier this week I paused to focus on my obsession with death and everything Maltese. I resisted temptation to blog about Kilin's passing when it happened, not just because I only met the man a couple of times and knew him only marginally through his writings, but more so because I felt the need to shake off the obsessive impulse I mentioned in the first sentence of today's blog

Doctorin' the Tardis

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:23:08 -0500

Just as most of us thought that Doctor Who was about to regenerate into a new actor, the current series came to a close, in what has arguably been the best season for the show ever, bar none. Yes, gentle readers, I am a Dr Who fan. I'm a little sad to see the Doctor go away (until next Christmas) but the knowledge of a Cybermen return gives me just one more reason to live. On a different note,

The Boys are Back in Town

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Sant) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:58:56 -0500

Xtruppaw Lajv Is-Sibt 12 ta Lulju 2008.