Television/radio

The first time I saw her act on television, I knew she had talent; and when I said so in this column, she sent me a nice letter of thanks, c/o this newspaper. Young Valentina Rossi, of 26th Frame Pupi fame, has now been selected for a part in The Colossus of Rhodes, a story set in Roman times.

I caught the 13-year-old actress on her way to Bulgaria, where filming is now under way, and this is what she had to say: "I am Mendusa, a blind slave girl from Jerusalem. I am in this film together with other children, whose characters have typical names like Flavia and Nubia and Lupus. Filming will continue in Malta in November. This is a lovely experience and I am enjoying every minute of it, meeting lots of other actors. I also have a schoolteacher with me so I am not missing out on school work..." Go, girl.

There is a particular disc jockey on PBS whose attitude resembles those of listeners who switch stations the moment a song they don't like goes on air. This particular person rarely introduces tracks, giving the impression that he just presses a button and takes pot luck. Moreover, sometimes, he cuts records off abruptly, after about two minutes' play - and when he does manage to tolerate a record to the end, the chances are that it's because he wants to sing along to it. I wish he would stop.

Another disc jockey, on Bay Radio this time, seems to have a particular liking for the song Suicidal. Seeing that this radio station is piped into many shops, as well as being a favourite of many, I would think that the lyrics make it unsuitable for playing so often.

Pandora goes out on One Television every Sunday at 10 p.m. I may not approve of some of the issues in it, yet I find it intriguing. I caught up with presenter Ruth Frendo and asked her about the concept behind it. She told me: "The introductory sequence clip to Pandora says it all: An explosion (not the 'curiosity' of the legend) causes Pandora's Box to burst open. I grab the key - to the Box itself as well as to wisdom and knowledge and awareness - and suddenly I notice that things are not as they appear to be. Winter beckons me from one side - Autumn calls me from another. I choose the latter, and on the way to what Keats called "the Season of Mists and Mellow fruitfulness" I come across things that rather perturb me, or intrigue me, or leave me unmoved... all wrought in symbolism such as a body of water an apple, a Moon, a leaf wafting in the breeze... In the end, I touch a tree-trunk lightly with the key; it adheres there, and opens... the programme.

"With this in mind, I have been researching topics correlated to the supernatural, the paranormal, and the unknown. This means I shall be talking about fairies and goblins, but also about UFOs, clairvoyance, ghosts, and other phenomena."

BBC radio reminded us of the story about Heathrow Airport staff member Nadia Ewedia this week when a rather similar incident happened at Manchester Airport.

Gareth Langmead, a car parks supervisor, was suspended from his job for three days after hanging an image of Jesus on a staff room wall. A Muslim colleague intimated that he had done that as an act of provocation, whereas Mr Langmead had merely been clearing out a desk drawer and could not bring himself to chuck the image of the Sacred Heart into the bin.

Several foreign television and radio news bulletins, but as far as I am aware, none of the local ones, reported other suspensions from work; these take us back to the collision, on September 21, wherein George Clooney and passenger Sarah Larson had been taken to Palisades Medical Centre in North Bergen, New Jersey, after their motorcycle accident. Members of the hospital staff who had no connection with his treatment looked at his confidential medical records, and this violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

The upshot was that 27 employees involved were suspended for four weeks without pay. This ought to be a benchmark for all those who go boast about documents they have in their possession, that ought not to have been divulged - especially when the people using them do so for any particular agenda. I would say that the blame must be given primarily to them for using these reports, rather than to the people who squirreled them out of offices, or hacked computers to obtain them.

The short Sahhtek l-Ewwel, now in its fifth series, has a new format. It is now covering one topic in a full feature, and airs from Monday to Friday on PBS at 6.40 p.m. It is worth following because its brevity makes it easy to fit into one's schedule.

The MLP and the PN often accuse PBS of favouring the 'other side' - and ironically, they did this simultaneously.

Now Alleanza Nazzjonali has added its two cents' worth to the cacophony created by the two major political parties, and of course we all know that even Alternattiva Demokratika thinks that PBS discriminates against it. The mind boggles.

If I paid around Lm400 for a television advertisement, only to be duped into accepting a second-class product, I would be very irritated indeed.

One of those new, interminable Saturday afternoon television shows has adverts where people's faces, and certain products, all appear blue on air. This indicates an utter lack of professionalism, and a disregard for viewers and the backers of the programme.

A woman who goes around in a baseball cap, T-shirt, jeans, and Doc Martens, and tries to fade into the background is (generally) called butch. A man who dolls himself up in drag and struts his stuff on television is supposed to be funny.

Yet another show, which has been advertised elsewhere as having 'major' changes that include "The set itself which has taken on an ultra-modern design that includes elements of the 1970s", whatever that means, has one of these persons in the presentation team.

Now that's not entertainment.

television@timesofmalta.com