Win two complementary tickets! NOW GONE!
LOL Productions is kindly offering two lucky Malta Inside Out users complementary tickets. Just ‘Like us’ on Facebook and email us here or via Facebook messages – first come first served and one comp only per person entering. We’ll email the winners and post on Facebook when they’ve been allocated. Winners will need to collect tickets one hour before, on the door (doors open 19.30 and show starts 20.30).

The Line-up

Tim Fitzhigham – Nominated for the Perrier best newcomer award in 1999, Tim has since embarked on an increasingly eccentric series of adventures, making Edinburgh shows out of his exploits. In 2003, he broke 383 year-old World Record by paddling an 85 per cent paper boat 160 miles down the River Thames to raise money for Comic Relief, which earned him the freedom of the City of London. In 2005, he crossed the Channel in a bathtub successfully arriving at Tower Bridge after a 130-mile row.
“You can’t help but be swept up in the delights of his adventure” ***** Chortle

Junior Simpson – With his infectious energy and huge stage presence it is easy to see why Junior Simpson is a circuit favourite. Simpson has a boundless joy and exuberance that has audiences hooked with hilarity. A true observational comic Simpson finds his humour in the everyday and humdrum with anecdotes of his world travels as a comedian adding a personal originality to his set. Although mischievous and daring, Simpson is never crass or crude and can tailor his set to suit any audience making him a favourite.
“Simpson’s irresistible energy and evangelical delivery can engage the most jaded of room.” Chortle

Tony Law – Like a rolling ball of funny with bits flying out of it, Tony Law’s infectious comedy will leave you stranded in a hilarious field of ideas. Half Canadian, half Trinidadian, Tony has been busy working hard on the circuit and creating a buzz for himself as one of the most exciting new comedy propositions around. His laid back acid casualty approach, combined with scorching jokes and incisive remarks, have endeared him to both live and TV audiences in the UK and overseas. He is a regular face at the UK’s biggest comedy clubs such as The Comedy Store and Jongleurs.
“To see Tony Law is to inhale deep breaths of comedy oxygen.” The Herald

Ticket Info

For more information please visit www.laughoutloud.com.mt or call hotline 9946 5816. You can buy tickets from selected outlets or online via PayPal in which case you need to collect tickets 1 hour prior to the show. Transport is also available at €4 return. Don’t miss it; tickets for this event sell out fast!

Doors open 19.30 and show starts 20.30. 

If you’re at all into prehistory, mysticism or ancient cults or just fancy a more unusual start to your Christmas week – well armed with a flask of hot coffee – then do try to make Heritage Malta’s guided tours of Mnajdra, Thursday 22nd December, meeting at Hagar Qim temple at 06.00.

But, you’ll have to be quick, numbers are limited in order to ‘enhance the visitor experience’.

A bit of background from the experts
The unique setting of the Mnajdra Temples at Qrendi, overlooking the coast, gives them a special charm not to be found in any other of the large-scale megalithic buildings of the Maltese Islands, many of which lie in more urban areas or inland.

Sunrise on the first day of each season underlines the relationship between the temples and celestial bodies. Although it is not known for certain whether these orientations were intentional, they are so systematic that this is very probable. In prehistoric agricultural societies, observation of the motion of the stars, the moon and sun could have been related to the changing seasons and times of planting and harvesting crops.

On these days, the first rays of the sun light up the edge of a megalith found to the right of the central doorway connecting the first pair of chamber to the inner chamber of the Lower Mnajdra Temple.

Event Tickets & Further Info
Experience the Winter Solstice from Mnajdra Temples on the 22nd of December. Tickets can be purchased from all HM sites/museums for the price of €15 per person and €10 for HM members and will include a tour of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples and access to the Visitor Centre. Meeting time is 6.00am at Hagar Qim Temples. Limited places. For further information contact 21424231.

For further information, see the Heritage Malta website. Tickets available also at the HM Head Office, Ex-Royal Naval Hospital, Marina Street, Bighi, Kalkara.

It’s putting some micro detail and real flesh on areas that have been mooted for a long time. And it fits in with gearing up to see Valletta as European Capital of Culture in 2018. It may just kick-start a new wave of cultural regeneration and inspire us to explore creative, entrepreneurial ideas as day jobs. Let’s hope so. On the basis of this list, all credit to Toni and his counterparts.

1. An increase of 1 million Euro to public cultural organisations

2. Income from copyright is tax exempt.

3. Authors can claim public lending rights

4. Living and working in Valletta will have a tax deduction for artists

5. Government property in Valletta will be transformed into a creative cluster

6. The ‘Create‘ scheme is extended to all Valletta

7. New companies setting up in the cultural sector will be exempt from registration tax for 3 years.

8. Malta Game Fund set up

9. Tax credits to companies who commission games

10. Tax rebate for restoration works on scheduled properties

11. Cultural Diplomacy fund established

12. Fine Arts Museum to move to larger venue and better location

13. 100 Euro income tax deduction for cultural education.

14. 15% income tax for international professionals in digital games who move to Malta.

Photo: courtesy Nigel Bewley

The overarching theme for the event is, “All Things ‘W.’” Perhaps “W” is an overlooked letter, but it’s one that weaves together so many of the foremost issues of society, culture, and the world that we live in.

For example, Marco Cremona, Malta’s leading researcher and activist on water and water treatment who is currently in the running for the Stockholm Water Prize 2012 (the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in the water sector),will share some of his research results in his talk titled “Water.”

Brigette Baumann, who serves on committees in Europe including the World Economic Forum’s Tech Pioneers and the Swiss Commission for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, will be flying in from Zurich for her Talk, “Wealth on Wings,” where she will share insights into the world of Angel Investing on both the local and global level.

TEDxValletta Curator and Organizer, Deborah Webster will be speaking on the topic of “What We Want.”  Through her journeys she will take us to the corporate offices of the global north and juxtapose them with the simple villages of the global south to reveal new meanings of fulfillment, happiness, and success.

The line-up of speakers includes Stephen Chetcuti Bonavita, Director of Marketing for GFI; Alex Grech, Strategist & Social Media Researcher; Rebecca Sweetman, Founding Director of The Paradigm Shift Project; Justin Tonna, Wordsmith; and Deborah Marshall-Warren, Hypnotherapy Consultant and Trainer.

Tickets for the event are still available and must be purchased online prior to the event. Registration begins at 8am and the first speaker takes the stage at 8:30am.  Brunch will be served, and there will be plenty of opportunities for networking with the TEDxValletta community and speakers.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

Heather Cooper is the Co-Organizer of  TEDxValletta.

To anyone reading leading UK newspapers, Dr John Briffa needs little introduction.  He’s a former columnist for the Daily Mail and the Observer, and former contributing editor for Men’s Health magazine. He has authored for dozens of newspaper and magazine titles internationally, and is a previous recipient of the Health Journalist of the Year award in the UK.

His latest book ‘Escape the Diet Trap – lose weight for good without calorie counting, extensive exercise or hunger’ will be published in January in the UK. Dr Briffa is proud of his heritage and has chosen Malta as the first place in the world to reveal the ground-breaking concepts contained in the book. We’ve an exclusive Dr Briffa article here, based on insights from the book.

In partnership with Bryn Kennard of Body Works in Spinola Bay, he will be revealing the secret to lasting weight loss in the ‘Escape the Diet Trap’ workshop, 12 November, at the Hotel Juliani, St Julians.  (Details & Booking info below.) See the Dr Briffa Bodyworks Workshop Programme (pdf download).

The Insights, the Theories, the Practice

Time and time again the conventional approach to weight loss, ‘eat less, exercise more’, has been shown to be a dismal failure for those looking for long-term sustainable weight loss. It is normally put down to lack of will power or discipline when many fail to control their weight following endless cycles of eating less and exercising more. However, there is good reason to believe that it is not so much that diets don’t work, it’s that they can’t work.

Dr John’s premise is that eating less and exercising more goes against the fundamental design of the body. If calorie intake is cut, it can stall the metabolism as the body seeks to conserve energy. Not only that, when a cycle of eating less ends and normal eating patterns are resumed it can take three months or more for the metabolism to boot up to normal levels.

Studies have also shown that people who tend to eat less also tend to move less making the exercise part of the equation a much harder to sustain. The role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated. In fact, studies clearly show that exercise is quite ineffective when it comes to weight loss. This is not to say that exercise is not important, on the contrary, it still plays a massive role in both aesthetics and health, it just means that it needs to work more intelligently as part of our overall wellness routines.

We asked Dr Briffa to explain a bit more about what’s going on here. 

Q. The logic behind ‘Escape the Diet Trap’ seems so sound and such common sense why has it eluded us for so long? 

Dr Briffa: Some of the misinformation regarding weight loss has come because the calorie principle – the idea that weight loss is an inevitable consequence of ‘eating less and exercising more’ is so persuasive. It makes so much sense. And when it doesn’t work (as is almost always the case in the long term), the tendency is to blame would-be slimmers rather than take another look at the theory and see if it stands up.

On top of this we have a food industry that has been able to peddle ‘slimming’ foods on faulty premises such as ‘low-calorie’, ‘low-fat’ or ‘lite’. This has further reinforced the idea that it’s only calories that count, and further led us down a path to failure.”

‘Rolling’

David as an Iraqi soldier

From day one, the extras were advised not to approach the film director, Lee Tamahori, apparently because he’s renowned as not being too easy to deal with. One day after lunch, while the extras were walking back towards the set, I tested the crowd marshals’ instructions and went close to Tamahori, asking for a picture. He firmly replied, “No way!”

A friend of mine, who was working at the hotel where the film crew was staying, shared some impressions. The film crew were overly authoritative and quite pretentious at times. Lee Tamahori seemed a very quiet and shy person to talk to. The director, on his arrival, told the hotel staff: “My next job will be producing a film, so, if I need extras, I’ll be sure to let you know”.

‘Background action’
On set, one of the extras who is an avid film enthusiast told me that Lee Tamahori is the son of a Māori. Another interesting fact is that the director started his career working his way up from the bottom as a boom operator, then as a photographer, before gaining a foothold on the ladder in the film industry.

Tamahori is notoriously regarded by several film critics as the director with a bizarre behaviour who possesses “two personalities”. A murky affair in 2006 in a Santa Monica Boulevard and a resulting court case seem to surface when one Googles him. Nevertheless, on set, observing the film maker was really inspiring. He is one of the most creative film directors I have ever seen during my “extra” experiences. Tamahori is so hands-on, and his energy is outstanding and he really managed to pull all the crew together.

‘Quiet Please’
I got to know Latif Yahia, the real life body double of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday whose life was turned into a Hollywood film. When Latif returned to Malta, he brought me a signed copy of his autobiographical novel. Latif and I talked about the issue of how his birth land Iraq is portrayed in the media which gives a picture of an exaggerated hell on earth. Latif is very proud of where he comes from and of his origins. I enjoyed listening to him when he spoke to me about Iraq, which in ancient times was known as Mesopotamia, with its magnificent capital, Babylon. Latif Yahia emphasised that Iraq was once the cradle of civilisation.

‘Action’
Why is Dominic Cooper, who plays both Uday Hussein and Latif Yahia in the film famous? He rose to fame playing the character, Sky, in the film version of Mamma Mia! The Greenwich born actor, on set, was so down to earth, and his pleasant personality was prominent. What struck me most in Dominic Cooper was that stereotypical British sense of humour. Many times, between shots, he played sarcastic and funny jokes with his fellow actors and the film crew. Once, I asked Dominic Cooper for an autograph, and he ironically replied, “I’m not humble all the time but I’m not conceited, either.” Even though he was undoubtedly the star of the film, Cooper was always approachable.

‘Cut’
Having a male actor being portrayed as a sex object, even though male sex symbolism has been around since the beginning of the 20th century during the silent film era is not the norm. Generally, Hollywood’s films are characterised by sexual images of appealing women. Though, Dominic Cooper is somehow subverting this trend.

On several occasions I hung out with Cooper’s younger brother James and some other crew. Whenever we met Dominic Cooper, girls chased him wherever he went. Cooper will surely remember Malta for its vivid nightlife, and for the sun and the sea.

‘Coming Soon’
Working as an extra broadens the mind, in the sense that you meet people of different cultures, you are outside and not glued to a laptop, and it may open new doors….. Hence, I cannot wait until I get the next call: “Hello David, are you available to work as an extra on xxxxx film”? (Yes please!)

The author wishes to thank Jean Pierre Borg, Nigel Micallef and Keith Preble for helping with queries and proof reading.
Photos: courtesy of David Carabott. Top photo was taken on set in Pembroke.

The Rolex Middle Sea Race is up their with its two namesakes in world-class, offshore classics – the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Rolex Sydney to Hobart. It is a race that sorts out the pack so to speak, as it is renowned for its grueling 606-nautical-mile course that makes a loose triangle round Sicily, passing the Aeolian Islands, dropping down to Pantelleria and Lampedusa and back to Malta. Ted Turner is widely reported to have said that this race has the most beautiful course in the world. Passing Stromboli at night and catching its volcanic glow is always a highlight, if crews have time to cast a glance that is.

Some 81 boats are registered to take part this year, in various classes, and about 18 nationalities are represented on the list. Many crews have already had more than a taste of things to come having sailed more than the 606 nautical miles just getting to Malta for the start. A past British competitor said that while he knew how to read the Atlantic with its fairly understandable fronts, the mid-Med was something else, as weather was unpredictable at best.

So, perhaps the home teams, knowing these waters as well as they do, have an advantage? Well, only eight of the fleet give Malta as their country, although Maltese sailors are found as crew on others. As the Rolex Middle Sea Race site says: ‘The foreign contingent is substantial and remarkable. Few other races around the world could match such statistics. Equally interesting is that for so many of the outsiders this is not their first time competing. Even more intriguing, many are serial returnees’. Expect stiff competition then.

This year sees 2010 overall winner Andres Soriano on the 21-metre mini-maxi Alegre (GBR) (photo above); 2010 line honours winner, Igor Simcic’s 30-metre Esimit Europa 2 (SLO); and two-time Rolex Fastnet winner, the 21–metre Rán 2 (GBR), owned by Niklas Zennstrom. Each year’s Rolex Middle Sea is up for grabs as no one can really predict the winning combination of weather, crew, crewmanship and yacht even if there are some firm favourites at the bookies.

If you’re keen to see the staggered start, head to St Barbara Bastions, Valletta, or thereabouts for 11am on Saturday 22nd for a bird’s eye view (earlier in fact, as parking and pole viewing positions will be scarce). If you’d like to see the first boats back, the fastest makes it in around just under three days. Check the Race Tracker for up-to-the-minute info.

Photo: courtesy Royal Malta Yacht Club

How you may ask?

The answer is simple, by taking a trip to The Point shopping centre, Tigne’ Point, Sliema on Saturday 21 October and visiting level -2 and level -3 where you will find Sharklab-Malta and fellow Shark Alliance members Greenhouse and Nature Trust holding a full day shark awareness activity.

Sharks are facing massive problems globally and especially in the Mediterranean from the problems of overfishing and the huge demand for fins to feed the Asian demand for “sharkfin soup”. The barbaric act of finning (the removal of the sharks fins while the shark is still alive and then thrown back to the water to drown) does not occur in Maltese waters but is a common practise throughout many European fleets and is having a catastrophic effect on populations of many species. This year as part of European Shark Week you can add your name to the petition to make your voice heard that it is time for change.

Your voice can make a difference to the survival of many species of Sharks, some of which used to call the waters around Malta home and are now facing crisis point within the Mediterranean.

By visiting the event this Saturday you be able to not only sign the petition (also online here), but also have the opportunity to learn the real facts about sharks. Contrary to popular belief the probability of encountering a shark around the Maltese Islands is almost zero, although we know and have evidence that 36 different species have inhabited or travelled through our waters, most of these have not been sighted for many years. The majority of species which still inhabit our waters are less than a metre in length and live at depths greater than 50 metres. Larger species are a rarity and although occasional sightings are reported they are often difficult to verify.

Sharks are an essential component to the balance of the marine ecosystem and by removing them at the rate we are is only going to have major negative effects. Control of the marine ecosystem is a role they have been playing out for the last 460 million years, yet in the last 30 years there numbers have spiralled down. Blue Sharks were once a common sight all over the Mediterranean, including around Malta and their numbers in the last 10 years have dropped 90%. If we do not step up and begin to be responsible for the oceans and seas, then the situation is only going to get worse. We need sharks to maintain balance.

Sharks on our menus in Malta
When it comes to eating sharks, many people in Malta include shark within their normal diet. Shark can regularly be purchased from the high-street fish van or the local supermarket. “Mazzola” is commonly sold and the name is generically used to describe 7 different species of sharks. Unfortunately, some of these species are endangered and face the real possibility of not being there much longer in our waters, but as they are simply sold as “Mazzola” how can you tell which is endangered and which is not? And did you know that “Mazzola” is shark anyway?

So when it comes to awareness and making a difference here in Malta. We have to start with ourselves, we need to understand the importance of sharks and the roles they play in keeping the marine eco-systems balanced. If we do not care for our waters, by promoting better management and enforcing protection where needed, then we will see many species simply disappear.

We cannot let that happen, human beings caused this situation but we can turn it around, through education and action we can all play our part in not only the survival of sharks, but in making the balance within the seas as it should be.

So, play your part, make your voice heard and come see us at The Point’, sign your name and learn a little about what is under the surface of our magnificent waters.

About the Author
Greg Nowell is Founder of Sharklab-Malta, a registered NGO in Malta and non-profit voluntary organisation dedicated to research, education and raising greater awareness about all Elasmobranch (Sharks, Rays, Skates and Chimaeras) around Malta and within the Mediterranean.

For further information, check out the websites:
www.sharklab-malta.org
www.sharklab.tk
www.sharkalliance.org
www.eulasmo.org

Malta Air Show is for kids of all ages

Photo: Aron Mifsud Bonnici

When I was a young child, I wanted to be was an airman, like my father. Every year, there seemed to be a reason to hang around on some rooftop, eyes skywards, waiting for a plane to plummet out of the sky and skim a church spire. My father always made more noise than us kids. Years later, he found an ally in my father-in-law, a former RAF and BA pilot – in the rare occasions that they meet, they get all smug and giggle about young airmen’s antics at RAF Luqa in the 1950s.

Malta’s love affair with flying machines did not stop with the closure of the British forces military base in 1979.
The annual Malta International Air Show weekend is 24 & 25 September at the Malta International Airport in Luqa (Hal-Farrug road entrance). For €12 an adult (less if you pre-book and free for kids under 14), you get a great family day out: there’s always a static and flying display (details here).  The planes start arriving from Thursday 22nd, so if you’ve keen to spot them flying in, see the arrivals schedule.

All editions of the show see a static display of aircraft and helicopters, from tiny ultra-light aircraft to the giants like the KC-10 from the Royal Netherlands Air Force and a US Air Force KC135 of previous years. This time, sizes range from the Tiger Moth to the Hercules.  Air forces taking part include Poland, Ireland, France, the UK, Switzerland, the USA and Italy.  Interestingly, Libya is participating in the static display. Those Mirages that arrived unannounced last February are still here, so why not include them?!

Heading up the aerial display is the Italian formation team, the Frecce Tricolori.  The aerial displays usually kick off around lunchtime.  You can access the full programme and how to get to the venue from the Air show website.

Events like the air show also bring out the picnic crowd. Summer is officially over, the kids are about to go back to school and parents with cameras and videos can get to munch ftiras, meet old friends and scream louder than their kids. So even if you do end up hanging around for the next fly-past, the airshow is a great opportunity to do some serious people watching and catch up on all the gossip against a soundscape of jet engines.

Do note the quite precise and strict entrance details and advice about parking and using public transport. The event draws the crowds, so to ensure you have a smooth ride there and back, do check the Airshow website info.

Main Photo (featured on homepage): courtesy of Susan Attard.

Cedric Vella is a name you’ll be hearing more of in years, if not months to come.  I first heard of Cedric when I saw a tweet about his short film called “YouTube, My Facebook” (watch it below).  I was immediately mesmerised by the charm and clever wickedness of the piece.   The two-minute clip went quickly viral on social media and has just won an award at the Palo Alto International Film Festival.  Cedric is proof that living on a small island doesn’t have to be about limitations.  So long as you’ve the belief to see your dreams through. 

We caught up with Cedric recently over a beer in the garden to chat about his craft as a visual creative artist. 

I always wanted to work in the music industry.  I talked myself into a job at Temple Studios without any clear job description.  But I was prepared to do whatever was needed.   I’d make tea for the bands and hoover the dust off the equipment; more often than not, you’d find me retrieving lost knobs from the vacuum bag the following day! Talk about getting your hands dirty and working your way up from the bottom.

I am the product of a DIY culture.  Much of what I know about design, technology, music, video and 3D animation I learnt by doing.  Sure, I still went to university and got a communications degree.  In fact, I’d started out on a science degree first but decided I didn’t want to spend my life in a lab coat. There’s nothing wrong with formal education, except that it doesn’t necessarily help you think or be creative.  Or know how to execute a project.  In Malta, we do education by rote – there is little to prepare you for being streetwise.  Take Facebook – you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise that it offers great opportunities for networking, but that it’s not OK to share everything with everyone.

Sometimes you need to push the envelope a little bit.  In 2010 I tried  a video prank in the style of Remi Galliard. Simple stuff, just me on a deckchair sunbathing in a public space.  We just chose unlikely places – the airport concourse, the Sliema front and finally we went to Valletta. In the airport, this guy drove into the back of another car to have a good gawp. Just our luck, the trip to Valletta coincided with a festa, so I got jostled a bit by the police when they spotted me in my deckchair putting on the suntan lotion in front of Cafe Cordina, right on the festa procession route. You learn a lot about the fabric of your society when you set up in front of the law courts and tune into the comments of the passers-by. The majority of bystanders assumed I was foreign.  Many told me to go back home to ‘my country’.  Perhaps it was the white socks that did it. You can see the end result in this link.

I filmed ‘YouTube, my Facebook’ over one and a half months.  That’s the time to script, write some music around a sample, press-gang my friends into the project and film.  Most of the production work was done in my bedroom. I bought realms of green cloth which I draped on a metal rod for the backdrop.   It was a race against time, as my laptop was dying on me.  None of my friends had any idea of what I was up to, until they saw the final piece.  They just trusted me and went along with it without asking any questions.

I’d posted the clip on a couple of blogs, including Talent House, and then forgot all about it.  Were it not for a friend seeing a Google Alert on the winning entry, I wouldn’t have known about the award.  I’m off to San Francisco for the award ceremony on the 29th September.

I’m a typical product of Maltese society in some ways.  I’m only now moving out into my own place.  On the other hand, we’re a practical bunch deep down, with a survivor instinct.

In my case, that one short film has opened up creative opportunities for me that I could only have dreamt of a couple of years ago.  I’ve just finished another project for a bike company and haven’t slept in two weeks.  We were working with 47 kilos of bikes all shipped to Malta for us to play around with creatively.  It was total mayhem but I’m really happy with the end product.  There’s something edgy about it – the soundscape, the editing  of the moving parts, an alternative way of looking at everyday technology.

YouTube and Facebook are tools that have opened many doors for me.  I wake up in the morning and I go and do what I love.  I still cannot understand why people let themselves drift into or remain in jobs that clearly make them unhappy when we spend so much of our lives working.   I know people put you down when you have dreams.   I just always knew mine weren’t about suits and ties and the nine to five.  I get my creative kick from doing what I do every day.