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Showing posts from December, 2007

Welcome New Year, Welcome Euro (Ewro)

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After so many adverts, press conferences and so many postal shoots that if you tend to use them as fuel for your fireplace you will have enough quantity to keep you warm for your next 25years, finally the E day is here. As from 1st January 2008 Malta will join the Euro Zone. I'm not saying this because I'm Maltese but I do think that our coins are some of the nicest around and I do believe that this is another positive step for my country. In Maltese the new currency will be called and written ewro whereas the cents will be centezmu for a single cent and centezmi when it is in plural form. The one and two-euro coins have the cross of the Knights of Malta, also known as the Maltese Cross. The Maltese cross is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the or Knights of Malta. The cross is eight-pointed and has the form of four "V"-shaped arms joined together at their bases, so that each arm has two points. Its design is based on crosses used

Malta Alive...12 months in pictures of some interesting activities that happened in 2007

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Notte Magica-Valletta-06/01/07 The night lived up to it's name. A magical full night of music, concerts and food turned Valletta into an enchanted City, with something to enjoy for all the family on the feast of The Three Kings. Malta Cu p Snooker Championship-Hilton St.Julians-28/01/07 to 04/02/07 The annual world ranking Snooker tournament offers entertainment on a different level the ever increasingly popular marathon saw the participation of both foreign and local participants The Carnival Celebrations-15/02/07 to 20/02/07 Thousands of persons flocked to Malta’s capital city Valletta to celebrate Carnival 2007. The sunny, warm weather allowed Carnival organizers to parade their floats around the streets, as adults and children showed off their costumes while watching the spectacle unfold. The BMW Malta Marathon-25/02/07- the ever increasingly popular marathon saw the particiapation of both foreigners and local athletes. The Silent Warriors Chinese Terracotta Soldiers

My Tops of 2007-Movies

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RATATOUILLE "Ratatouille" is, quite simply, the perfect family film ... and so much more. It tells the charming story of a rat who wants to be a chef but can't because, well, he's a health-code violation. And they say originality is dead in Hollywood. No, this computer-generated masterpiece from Pixar Animation Studios is the best so far and more specifically, writer/director/oh, or the living genius Brad Bird. When Disney said no one could make a family movie about creatures as disgusting as rats (let alone one involving cooking), with a difficult to pronounce French title no less, he did it anyway. Bless him. Bird also directed the criminally unsuccessful The Iron Giant as well as Pixar's The Incredibles and with Ratatouille, we can start calling him the new king of animation. The film connects on many levels. For kids, it teaches an important lesson of acceptance through cute and appealing characters. For adults, it wrestles with far deeper concerns: Is the act

My tops for 2007- Albums

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Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss He brings the arena rock, she brings the integrity. Is it mutual exploitation? Yes 100%. But it's also a lovely little mixture in which two voices flirt and harmonize over a set of should have been classics. The moments when Krauss abandons her precision soprano and lets loose are breathtaking, but it's Plant, toned down to a delicate mountain strum, who's the real surprise. An amazing experiment by producer T-Bone Burnett who deserves a lot of credit for making all the right instrument choices and then shaking his record collection for obscurities and all together they make them so good they make you wonder why they were ever obscure. In Rainbows by Radiohead The most surprising thing about Radiohead's seventh album turned out to be neither the method of distribution (email) nor the suggested retail price (whatever you want) but the fact that when the thing finally materialized... it speaks elegance! Alright, it's no

L-Istrina- A Feast of Solidarity...

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A big well done to the maltese people...more then Lm600,000 equivalent to more than €1,400,000 were collected in little more then 12 hours and will be donated to the following Maltese charities... Malta Community Chest Fund Eden Foundation Old People Homes Children’s Homes CCU Gozo Putinu Cares Arka Foundation Gozo Augustine Sisters YMCA Deaf People Dar Surit il Bniedem

My tops for 2007- Pop Songs

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Welcome to the first CODama Top Things of the year 2007. (No budget homepage advert or Euro 154 I’m sorry) Even if I’m not as good as the critics of the Times, In-Nazzjon or L-Orrizont, and not so much people will read this I still want to put my opinion online. It’s up to you to agree or not! Let me start with The Top Pop songs for 2007 Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's There've been thousands of heartbroken men reaching out to distant girl with a recorded song throughout the years, and it's a credit to the Plain White T's that this one manages to feel fresh. Singer Tom Higgenson has an imperfect voice, but his nasal delivery makes the nearly-comic sincerity of his lyrics “Delilah I can promise you/ That by the time we get through/ The world will never ever be the same” seem completely genuine. Backed by a warm acoustic guitar and a hint of viola, Delilah is an intimate love song that’s complete. Jigsaw Falling Into Place by Radiohead I find this song like a journey

L-Istrina- All together for a feast of solidarity...

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Io son la vita...I am life, io son l' amore...I am love

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Surfing thru you tube this morning(I'm having too many sleepless nights lately)I came across this beautiful and very touching excerpt from the opera Andrea Chenier which is performed wonderfully by Maria Callas as she plays the part of Madalena, which tends to always moves me and affects me in a distinct manner and made me reflect that during times of despair and misery every so often I get encouraged and inspired 'from above' to keep up hope and faith and I keep believing that something better will come my way (I don’t think that this happens just to me!) these are part of the lyrics: "Fu in quel dolore che a me venne l'amor! Voce piena d'armonia e dice: "Vivi ancora! Io son la vita! Ne' miei occhi e il tuo cielo! Tu non sei sola! Le lacrime tue io le raccolgo! Io sto sul tuo cammino e ti sorreggo! Sorridi ...e spera! Io son l'amore! Tutto intorno e sangue e fango? Io son divino! Io son l'oblio! Io sono il dio che sovra il mondo scendo da l

The Food of Love...a real treat

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Take three characters; a handsome charmer Tommaso Massi, who’s a humble waiter, Bruno, a fantastic chef and friend of Tommaso and Laura a beautiful American girl who’s studying architecture in Italy. Add the beautiful sights and sensations of Rome blend together until mixed thoroughly. Add to these, humor, spice and romance and you are left with a sensational book from the author Anthony Capella that will draw you in from the first page and leaving you wanting more on the last page. I absolutely loved this book; it would be easy to devour this in a single sitting, as I did just when I got my hands on it on my way home on the bus (something which usually I hate doing) and I did not put it down until the last page in the next two hours, but then I recommend that on your second or third ‘serving’, read about twenty pages a day because the descriptions of Bruno's cooking really should be savored. Trust me when I say that you can almost taste the food that Bruno prepares in the story, y

Merry Christmas...

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Wishing you and all your dearest an OVERDOSE of LOVE and HAPPINESS, leave some space and time for Baby Jesus to live within your hearts...that's the real meaning of Christmas after all... Afrikaans: Gesëende Kersfees Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees African/ Eritrean/: Tigrinja Rehus-Beal-Ledeats Albanian: Gezur Krislinjden Arabic: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah Argentine: Feliz Navidad Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou! Chile: Feliz Navidad Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo Cornish: Nadelik l

First 7 kilos gone...livin la vida low-carb...

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well I said that this diet does miracles...