Crying for the moon is something for which broadcasters and indeed media personalities are famous for.
For some, it means having no need to use a surname, which often comes with a cult following. For others, it’s a personal (Kristopher@sounbyteradio) rather than a generic (blues@spikesoundtv) e-mail address on the server of their particular medium.
For others, higher up on the scale, it means being given a petrol allowance or a company car, a cellular telephone, an expense account and other perks – with never an audit’s Damoclean sword in sight.
For Conan O’Brien, the moon’s a balloon. Since he moved house, one of the perks of his new job is a big moon over a background seascape. O’Brien can move the moon by remote control, necessitating the throwaway line: “It cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars and we’re using up a lot of fossil fuel”.
And as the storm was raging outside, our man said ‘It-temp xejn ma huwa wieħed idejali’. Should we be thankful that he did not say ‘biex ngħidu hekk’, an expression that appears to be acquiring roots as thick as those of ‘familjari’?
• The standards of television and radio are deteriorating the world over, apparently. The Parents Television Council has just issued the results of a study entitled ‘A Habitat for Profanity: Broadcast TV’s Sharp Increase in Foul Language’.
It reports a 69 per cent increase in the use of profanity during peak primetime viewing hours between 2005 and 2010. Not only is the profanity more frequent; it is also more egregious, and sometimes, used before the watershed.
The fact that it is bleeped or muted is neither here nor there. Just for the record, Fox was the worst offender at a 269 (not a mistake) per cent increase.
Indeed, I often wonder why local broadcasters are hauled over the coals for their transgression, and smoking clips are edited from Stingray episodes, when sometimes, what comes through is so devoid of any value whatsoever. But whereas local stations can (and sometimes do) censor local or imported products, we cannot expect the BA to do the same with what comes across on other channels.
Take, for instance the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs), hosted by actress Eva Longoria-Parker, at the La Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain, on last Sunday.
It was not enough for Longoria-Parker to wear at least 10 different outfits. She thought she would increase her audience appeal by using crude language that would make a fishwife blanch.
Unfortunately, she is not the only celebrity with this attitude. Some skits depend on double entendres for what passes as humour; others depend upon men in drag; others have to rely on magnifying physical defects or handicaps to raise a cheap laugh.
• Qalbinnies on November 27 will deal with the topic of different abilities and different needs; the strong playlet that will be included will open some people’s eyes for sure.
And while on the subject of music, please note that the Go Malta Music Awards will be broadcast on TVM on December 4.
• One of my best friends at school was Sister Catherine Seychell, today Mother General of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Herat.
One of the projects in which these nuns are involved is the building of a girls’ secondary boarding school in Mpeketoni, Kenya, work upon which began about five years ago.
This marvellous congregation also cares for abused and orphaned children, and have other missions in India and South Korea. Sr Catherine is now going to the Philippines, to continue the sterling work she began in Malta.
The cast and crew of KC will be holding an open day on December 4, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. as a fund-raising activity at the Generalate Convent dedicated to Saint Therese at 100 Ġorġ Borġ Olivier Street, Mellieħa.
When I contacted her to ask about this happening, Eileen Montesin told me in no uncertain terms this will not be a limousine and red carpet event; fun will be the order of the day. The meeting between Montesin and Sr Catherine had been one of those serendipitous encounters; the former had gone to film some scenes for her series at the latter’s convent.
“People are cordially invited to come over and meet the team. They will be selling poinsettias kindly donated by Doris and Wiġi of Green Supplier Ltd, and, of course, coffee and some of the luscious cakes and biscuits made by the nuns themselves.
“People can make their donations there and then. The occasion will begin with a celebration of Mass. Curtain Raiser are sending over Disney mascots to entertain the children. Proceeds will be in aid of Sr Catherine,” she said.
If Mellieħa is ‘too far away’ for you, and/or you cannot stand Montesin or any of the actors or technical staff connected with KC, and/or you do not want/need one of the poinsettia plants that will be sold at special prices, you still have no excuse not to dig deep inside your pockets and offer a donation, given that I am hereby providing the APS Bank account number: 102 2451 3044.
• As if one rumanż with questionable values were not enough, this time we have two of them, broadcast alternatively on Radio Malta. Apart from the fact that Twanny Scalpello reading anything from this century sounds like an anachronism, I am sure we don’t want our children to learn certain things before they have to.
• I wish people who call themselves journalists would brush up on basic skills. It only takes a minute to check spellings and pronunciations of names these days; so why don’t they do it?
television@timesofmalta.com