The Barna Blog

RIP Alexander McQueen

2010-02-11T17:12:00.002+01:00

"There's beauty in anger, and anger for me is passion"

Alexander McQueen

A tribute to his work narrated by Colin McDowell

The View From Outside.

2010-02-11T13:03:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time, I know. Let's just say I've been otherwise occupied. No sign of anything that could be classified as a proper job yet, but some progress has been made, and I've been getting involved in a few projects - some of which could eventually bear fruit. To be seen.

The little time I have spent online has been catching up with the goings on of my native island - including, yes - THAT blog. WTF guys? I thought that things had hit rock bottom with that whole Ir-Realta saga. Talk about tip of the iceberg!! I mean, seriously.

I don't know what it's really like living on the island and the moment, because I've not done so for some time now. But believe me, the view from outside ain't pretty. Never have I wanted to move back home less than I do now.

Perhaps rather than squabble about which political holiday is to be declared National Day, the Maltese should face the cruel facts, and agree that the most suited is perhaps the coming Carnival weekend, and - while they're at - they should really consider John Bundy's Pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse as the new national anthem!

Love, soft as an easy chair ....

2009-12-29T08:50:00.000+01:00

It started with this ...

Seeing as I'm in a post-Christmas holiday mode, and kinda broke, I've not been out much since my return. I came back a bit traumatised by the festive season back home, and have decided to stay in and be a bit proactive about the job thing, spending most of my day sending out CV's, even if down deep inside I know that little will come out of it. Honestly. Good as everyone says it is, my CV has never lead to one single job. But I won't not go down that route... things have a way of falling into place, and I'm making sure they will. Nothing, but NOTHING is going to make me leave this city.

But what has that got to do with the 'A Star is Born' poster pasted above? Well nothing really, except for the fact that being home alone usually brings about the digging out of some long forgotten album or other (I say 'digging out an album', but what I really mean is looking into the mother of all musical hard drives and copying music which was created way before mp3s were ever dreamt of onto my iTunes), and only a few hours ago that album happened to be the soundtrack to one of my big growing-up movies, which I've had playing on a loop since. Right now, as La Streisand sings in the background of lethal black widows, I can just see myself as a nine or ten year old, waiting for his parents to leave the house so that I could put the (real) record on to what then used to be called a 'three-in-one' and singing my heart out to every single one of Esther Hoffman Howard's (Babs' character) songs. Gay? Moi? No kidding!!

There's a story to this. As a child, one of the highlights of my Saturday morning was going to the KRS offices on Zachary Street in Valletta (they were - and still are - the island's main film distributors) to look at posters of forthcoming movies. Whilst the cinemas displayed posters for current and pending releases, KRS would have the ones for films that would have been released a couple of months later. It kept me ahead of the game, you see, so since very few people knew about it, I could boast to all my friends that I'd already seen the poster for the big, upcoming movie ... not that any of them cared. But still, it made me feel smug and up-to-date ... ahead even. I really must have been a nightmare of a child!

Anyway, when I saw this poster, it was a case of love at first sight: a massive, jam packed stadium, topped by a Francesco Scavullo (this I found out later) shot of Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand, naked, looking into each other's eyes ... in sepia tones. Jesus did it blow my mind!

Within a week or so, I had bought the LP - that's a Long Play for those who were born in the days of CD - well, it was more of a case of "Mummy, mummy, you have to buy it for me!!"- and knew all of the lyrics to Babs' songs by heart. I was good like that as a kid. Our then next door neighbour, who was like a second mother to me, always reminds me that I knew all the lyrics to Evita by heart age 7 or 8. Again, me gay??

When the film did finally make it to the screens, it was "Mummy, mummy, I want to go see it", which of course created a bit of a drama. The film was classified suitable for those over the age of sixteen and all my mother's friends advised her not to take me. But I was crafty. Having already been taken to see 'Hello Dolly' and 'Funny Girl', I pulled out the 'But you like Barbra Streisand' card, putting the onus on her. Being the angel then that she still is, she took no heed of her friends' warnings of eternal damntation if she took me to see it, and did. It was a Saturday afternoon, I remember that, and she took me only on the premise that I wouldn't tell anyone she'd taken me. Bless her!

Don't ask me how she got me into the cinema (it was the Embassy in Valletta) - she must have said that she didn't have anyone to leave me with or something like that - but she did, and it was heaven. The outfits (Barbra's white suit, her Navajo poncho, the baby's breathe in her hair), the music, the candle lit bubble bath, the everything ... oh, and probably, I must add, the hunk of man that was Kris Kristofferson, though I have to say, I don''t remember any particular, ehrm, shall we call them 'stirrings' then.

Anyway, it was all hunky dory throughout most of the film, until the unimaginable happened. The couple argued and KK drove off into his jeep, never to return again. That's the last Esther ( gets to see of him, with so much unsaid. Next thing I know, she's in her white suit, bathed in red light, singing his songs, tears rolling down her cheeks ... and even more on mine. You see I was a bit of a cry baby as a child, and would cry at anything, including the opening sequence of 'Little House on the Prairie' (because of the episode in which they had a baby brother who died).

And so my poor mother took me home all red-eyed and still sobbing (honest) only to find my father there, who of course wanted to know what the hell it was it was that had reduced me to that blubbering state. It seems like I wasn't very good at keeping promises then, (I'm a lot better now) because I proceeded to explain the whole film to him, landing my poor mother into a bit of a situation.

Needless to say, she was not very amused!

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-27T09:20:00.000+01:00

After a week of too much food, drink and lazing about on the sofa feeling as if I'm about to give birth to overweight sextuplets, I'm back in Barcelona. All will return to normal within a few hours, once I've gotten into the groove of being back home. Bliss!

This Time, It's Sack The Make-Up Artist

2009-12-17T17:25:00.001+01:00

Nicole has a powder problem at the NYC premiere of Nine.

You would think that with her quality of skin, Nicole Kidman would be the least likely candidate for a Major Make-Up Fuckup, and yet there she was, on the red carpet for the premiere of Nine in New York earlier this week, looking like she'd just done a Scarface.

Madonna a la Magnani

2009-12-17T13:15:00.000+01:00

Madonna for Dolce & Gabbana, ss 2010

Italian Vanity Fair has published a preview of Dolce & Gabban's ss2010 advertising campaign photographed by Stephen Klein, featuring Madonna - who the Dolce boys make no big secret of being huge fans of. It's all very Italain neo-realist cinema, with Madonna channelling Anna Magnani at the kitchen table, peeling tomatoes, eating pasta and washing dishes.

I like the campaign. It reminds me of their earlier ones with Steven Meisel starring Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Tony Ward in similar settings. As for M? Well, she looks a lot more real than she did in the Vuitton campaigns, though I'm sure the images have been touched up a tad. But, all in all, it gets a thumbs up from me.

This Year's Christmas Card

2009-12-17T12:18:00.000+01:00

Happy Holidays!

This year's Christmas mail out comes courtesy of our friend Zahara who took this picture of our Christmas tree last Sunday.

Postcards from Barcelona

2009-12-16T10:17:00.001+01:00

When Christian Schallert first came to Barcelona, he couldn’t find the kind of postcards that he wanted to send. So he started making his own. Seven years later, with not a hint of Gaudi, his postcards are available all over the city.

Wish you were here in ...

Two ladies take a stroll down the Rambla

JF: Let’s get the basics out of the way, how long have you been in Barcelona, and how did you end up here?

CS: On the 15th of January, I celebrate 7 years in this city. I can’t believe it! I always wanted to live close to the Mediterranean . The sea is far away from Austria, so from there it’s a big illusion, a holiday dream. I thought it would be great to not just have a holiday at a beach city, but actually work and live there … and I had an incredible desire to speak this sexy Spanish language!

JF: That’s understandable, the language was a big part of my love affair with Spain too. I loved it the minute I heard it. It’s such a happy language, even when they’re saying something sad, it sounds funny.

CS: Yes, and it’s direct and quite rough sometimes. But I love it. In Austria the woman in the bakery always asks politely: "How can I help you?" and "There we go, here’s your bread". Here its "DIME!!!" or "TOMA".

JF: Yes. I still feel bad when picking up the phone and answering “Si?”. But on the other hand, I like that. It goes with the 'roughness' of the city.

CS: If you want rough just go to the bocadillo stand at Encants market. It’s the roughest and most funny place: “Oye reina: que te pongo? Dime, chato….

JF: I have actually been there. For me it’s not that bad because it’s very similar to Malta, but coming from Austria .. .That’s different!

CS: Oh yes! Austria is very clean cut. Especially coming from a village of 8,000 inhabitants. There is not so much surprise. There it’s all about working, working, working … and building a house, getting married, having kids. And of course, the dog! I am different. I realized that after finishing my studies in Austria when I was 23. Then I got an opportunity to work for Sesame Street in New York …. and that was the beginning of the rest of my life! Big city, crazy people, adventure, lifestyle …

JF: Wow! You worked on Sesame Street!! What did you do?

I wasn’t Big Beard, no. I worked in marketing and merchandising. Basically I corrected designs from producers of toys, textile or even shower curtains. I had to tell them which Pantone colour to use for Ernie’s orange head. Or I had to be sure the size of Cookie Monsters mouth is big enough. It was fun work. But I was actually more excited about my time outside the office. Strolling around in the streets of the Big Apple, brunch in the East Village and dancing in Alphabet City.

JF: So it doesn’t look like there’s much chance of you moving back to Austria?

CS: I admire Austria. I grew up next to mountains, near Lake Constance. My family is brilliant. They run a successful pastry house and ice cream parlour. I love visiting and eating like a crazy bastard. But I am more of a city person, and my Austrian village is too “classy”. So, no, I am not planning to move back in a looong time.

JF: Barcelona beats Austria then …

CF: Barcelona is a city for survivors. You either you make it or you leave it. It’s not a career city like London or New York. Even an art director of a big agency doesn’t make great money here. I had studied economics but didn’t want to focus on a career as a financial consultant or anything similar. Coming here straight from New York, I was inspired by art, design, photography, so I changed my focus from economy and jumped right into the art scene here, exhibitions, museums, courses, a degree in design at Elisava design school …. I love to be creative, and very visual

JF: Yeah, Barcelona does that to you ... There's something about it that tends to kick off the creative bug. So is that how Urbarna come along?

CS: I had the postcard idea when I wanted to tell my friends far away from where I lived now, how I was doing, how this city really is, how people live here. I always loved to send postcards because it’s a quick message - a sort of vintage SMS - but so much more personal and stronger because you know that the person who is sending the postcard actually picked a special image, took time to writing something, stamped it and dumped it into a mailbox. I think it’s a big thing to receive a postcard. So anyway, I had problems to find a postcard here that reflected the city’s lifestyle … it was just the Sagrada Familia, or La Pedrera. So I picked up twelve of my favourite photos, went to a printer and printed 30.000 postcards so that the calculation of making some business with this works out (there we go, my economist skills being put to use!!!). I lived in a small room in a shared flat. My room was just full of postcards and no client yet.

Designer clad butts in Sitges

JF: Did you think at that point, what the hell have I done?

CS: I believed in it. So I set up a stall at a little market at the Convento de San Agusti and presented my stuff "to the world". I had moments of doubts but the feedback of the people and friends was amazing and really motivating to move on!

JF: It was a very good idea. I must say, whenever I did send postcards from here, it was always (unknowingly) yours I picked. They’re a lot more interesting that the usual Gaudi ones …

CS: Wow. I love to hear that. It makes me really happy to get such great feedback …

JF: Well they show Barcelona as it is ... warts and all

CS: It’s the real Barcelona and not just this bubblegum design Barcelona

JF: Exactly. Washing hanging out in the streets, that sort of thing

CS: Yes. And menu cards with sun eaten, crazy photographs of the bocadillo menus just in front of the restaurant. I think it’s so funny because it kills off any desire wanting to eat there. So anyway, I kept believing in the postcards, and went from one store to the other, selling, selling, selling. It was really hard at some point. And I didn’t make much money in the beginning. But I went from a self-made wooden box as a postcard display, to floor and desk spinners and wall racks. And I started with my little bike, going from Montjuic to Parque Guell. Now I have a distributor, an employee, a motorbike and my own apartment. : And I keep growing. Now I’m doing notebooks, T-shirts, street bags and beach bags, and I started in Mallorca and Madrid with the same concept

JF: That’s not bad in seven years is it? How do you work? Do you set out with camera in hand looking out for things to photograph or is it more spontaneous?

CS: I walk around with my camera a lot. I wish I had more time, but things have changed now. Often I have a very clear idea of what I want, and try to watch out for it. Let’s say I need a pic of pan con tomate in a tapas bar. So I check specific places and go crazy with the camera. But the best pics come along spontaneously. Special moments: two old ladies with their flowered dresses holding on to each other walking down Gran Via, boys showing off their fashion brand swimmers at the gay beach. Or a sunburnt woman trying to achieve a leather tan. I love that shit

JF: Do you find that now that the business has grown you have less time to do that?

CS: Yes!!! 100 %. There was a time where I didn’t have time to be creative and productive in terms of taking pictures. But since I hired a person to do all the administration for me six months ago, I have more time to be creative, and that’s important. I need to be doing things constantly, and renovating. The competition doesn’t sleep. Since I launched, there’s about 7 new little postcard companies with a similar approach.

JF: Is there a particular barrio that produces better images?

CS: I love Barceloneta. It seems as if time stood still there

JF: Yes, and there are some wonderful characters. In fact I think the whole city is full of wonderful characters to photograph. Do people ever object to being photographed? I was in Santa Caterina market the other day and a guy kicked off a big fuss because someone took a picture of him

CS: I have had problems sometimes, yes which is why I had stopped asking and just took pics. But I’ve learned my lesson because someone sued me for being on a postcard. A man from Madrid, on my Madrid postcards

JF: Oh no!

CS: Now, I have to deal with a lawyer and shit. I’ll see how I can get out of that one. But yes, I’ve learnt, so I prefer to ask from now on, and go run around with model releases and getting the papers signed

JF: What a pain, everything has become so official now! Is there anything you dislike about being in BCN?

CS: That you have to be patient. Very patient. And don’t expect things to happen when you want them to happen. You always have to add a couple more days and weeks to due dates and you are fine

JF: That's the first lesson I learnt! I moved here with a London frame of mind, and I was going crazy. I had to shed all of that. Mañana, mañana is a fact of life here, not a myth.

CS: I also dislike false promises and major delays in payments. My Swiss friend Raphi always loves when he gets his money paid on time by his Swiss clients. And I’m struggling, and calling clients to remind them to pay...

JF: We're running out of time of time here, so here’s a final question: What's the one place that foreigners visiting wouldn’t know about that you think they should absolutely see or do?

CS: Here are some places and things that I love in this city: I think the Encants market is quite an experience. Delicious tapas at Bar Mut on Pau Claris for very special occasions, lunch or dinner at Candela on Plaza Sant Pere; a walk up on Tibidabo; tennis on Montjuic with all the birds singing; Sitges in winter…. I think what’s most important is to not run around with a tourist map. To just keep discovering, and watch out for great music and dance events at the Apollo or the Mercat de les Flors.

View more of Christian Schallert’s work at www.urbarna.com and the webshop www.icecreamsocialweb.com

Shouldn't the menu make you want to eat?

No Way, Hathaway

2009-12-15T10:07:00.002+01:00

Hathaway, Callas, Cruz (from El Pais)

According to last Sunday's Observer it has been announced that there are 2 biopics of Maria Callas is in the making. Eva Mendes has been confirmed for one, but both Anne Hathaway and Penelope Cruz are being considered for the other. It's not that I don't like Hathaway, she was brilliant in Rachel Getting Married, but I'm rooting for Cruz BIG TIME!!! Go Pe!!!!!

No comment (4)

2009-12-15T09:32:00.000+01:00

This is Maluca ...

2009-12-14T09:35:00.000+01:00

Maluca

... and I've not stopped playing her video since a friend showed it to me yesterday.

Living in a Material World

2009-12-11T10:19:00.004+01:00

Miriam Giuliana

Miriam Giuliana’s Milan atelier is a bit of an Aladdin’s Cave. Wherever you look there are piles of exquisite vintage fabrics, trims and other bits and pieces which she transforms into one-off pieces that could be anything from cushions to bags. Whilst preparing for an open—studio day, she spoke to The Barna Blog about her work, and her love of all things textile.

JF: Come vanno le preparazioni per la vendita?

MG: Benone, siamo quasi alla fine, abbiamo finito di allestire lo spazio

JF: Tutto pronto allora ... come lo avete allestito?

MG: Abbiamo creato continuità tra la zona vetrina e quella laboratorio dove lavoro. il tendone-parete che divide le due zone è raccolto morbidamente di lato con una embrasse e si vede tutta la zona lavoro con i tessuti ecc. messi in ordine per l'occasione. All'ingresso c'è un angolo retrò con una lampada a stelo anni 50 dal cappello rosso ricamato, e poi abbiamo usato i bauli in alluminio per creare delle zone seduta.

JF: Ah che bello ... cosi la gente potrà vedere tutti i pezzi di materiali ecc. che hai li dietro. È come il covo di Aladino! Come è venuta l’idea di questa giornata di vendite, diciamo, tra amici? Che tu, Arcangelo e Gianantonio siete amici da molti anni…

MG: Si, Arcangelo sino a qualche anno fa aveva lo studio accanto al mio. Con lui abbiamo fatto spesso degli eventi, per Natale o durante il Salone del Mobile. Il suo era all'interno, quindi la gente entrava da me, passava da lui e usciva dal portone, una specie di percorso guidato molto divertente. Non essendo il mio propriamente un negozio, abbiamo cercato di ricreare la situazione di spazio privato che si apre per un evento, quindi molto informale. È una vendita ma anche un’occasione per salutare gli amici offrendo un bicchiere di prosecco.

JF: È sempre meglio che entrare in un negozio, pieno di commessi che ti saltano addosso...

MG: Esattamente!

Inside L'Atelier di Miriam Giuliana

JF: C'é qualcosa in quello spazio che ti fa immediatamente sentire comodo - una cosa rara a Milano! Spiegami un po’ la filosofia dell’atelier di Miriam.

MG: Prima di tutto ha probabilmente l'energia di uno spazio di lavoro creativo, e poi mi piace un ambiente accogliente, il mio lavoro riguarda gli spazi delle persone.

Spesso devo interpretare quali sono le esigenze di un cliente, anche mantenendo il mio stile. Il concetto dello show room è comunque rivolto ad un tipo di cliente che è attirato da quello che è esposto…

JF: I clienti, quindi, vengono da te già sapendo quello che fai ...

MG: Direi di si, il mio spazio non è in una zona di passaggio.

Leggono un articolo o vedono un oggetto pubblicato, ma funziona molto con il passaparola.

JF: Noto che questo tipo di negozio adesso é piu cercato - il piccolo segreto che ti offre qualcosa di nuovo, non ‘mass produced’… c’é come un’overdose delle grandi marche...

MG: Anch’io credo che sia questo, il desiderio di avere qualcosa di personale, quasi affettivo. Lo noto molto, ad esempio, per quanto riguarda la produzione di borse.

JF: Perché tu fai anche borse...

MG: Si, ho iniziato perchè me lo richiedevano. In realtà sino a qualche tempo fa facevo soprattutto tintura e stampa di tessuti, quindi sciarpe, stole … Poi hanno iniziato a chiedermi le borse, quindi mi sono detta... proviamo, così hanno qualcosa che portano in giro.

JF : Che lusso, no? Poter lavorare cosi... Intendo dire, creare le cose che ti piacciono, senza restrizioni di “sono un disegnatore di sciarpe, o solamente borse ... o tessuti.”

MG: Si, sono comunque un'artigiana. Ha i pro e i contro…

JF: Che sono?

MG: La libertà di fare un lavoro che piace, ma anche la precarietà, tendendo presente i tempi correnti.

JF: Si immagino ... che la situazione in Italia - come in molti paesi Europei - non é esattamente fantastica in questi tempi.

MG: Direi proprio di no, a Milano poi, c'è un clima di chiusura culturale che non aiuta certo. Sai, è una città basata prevalentemente su lavoro, e se è in crisi quello...

A chair gets a Miriam Giuliana makeover

JF: Tu originariamente di dove sei?

MG: Sono metà siciliana e metà ligure, puro Mediterraneo

JF: È da molto tempo che sei li?

MG: Si, ormai più di venti anni! Sono venuta per studiare Pittura all'Accademia di Brera e poi ho iniziato a lavorare. Sino ad oggi mi ha offerto molto, anche se non è una città facile…

JF: In questo tipo di lavoro, è essenziale essere in una città come Milano. Dunque hai studiato pittura?

MG: Si, mi sono diplomata in Pittura, poi ho lavorato in pubblicità - a quei tempi tutti lavoravano in pubblicità a Milano. E poi ho iniziato questa avventura con i tessuti.

JF: Che, alla fine, è quello con cui ti associo di piu ... i tessuti ... Cos’é dei tessuti che ti affascina?

MG: Mi viene in mente un'immagine. Io da piccola ho vissuto qualche anno con mia nonna materna, dolcissima - la nonna Rosa. Aveva un armadio in una camera dove cuciva anche, con una di quelle vecchie Singer a pedale. E quell'armadio era zeppo di ritagli di tessuto, scatole con piume, nastri e nastrini, fili... Scatole che io passavo interi pomeriggi ad aprire per curiosare …

JF: Allora il tuo atelier è come una riproduzione di quello.

Quando sono venuto nel tuo studio, volevo fare esattamente quello che facevi tu con le scatole della nonna. C'e un negozio qui a Barcelona dove ti devo portare. É una vecchia tienda di passameteria dove trovi di tutto.

MG: Bello, quando vengo a Barcellona ci andiamo di sicuro.

Ce n'è anche uno, non ricordo in quale via, che vende filati di lino di tutti i colori. L'ultima volta ne ho presi diversi e Moreno (Miriam’s partner) ha fatto le foto degli scaffali per avere il campionario colori...Non si sa mai..

JF: E si ... è meglio averle sotto mano quelle cose perche non si sa mai quando ti colpisce l’ispirazione. A te, cosa ispira di piu? Hai un metodo particolare di lavorare?

MG: Dipende, a volte è un'immagine, ad esempio avevo fatto delle borsette ispirate ai collages su carta degli anni 20…

oppure direttamente dal tessuto che incontro. Il massimo è quando riesco ad entrare nelle grazie di qualche tessutaio che mi mostra vecchie stoffe che ha in magazzino, a Milano ce n'è qualcuno che mi conosce da anni…

JF: Quelli sono i migliori no?

MG: Eccome no! Anche se spesso non sono così disponibili.

JF: Si quello è lo svantaggio. Però, non so, c’é sempre qualcosa di bello nei tessuti vecchi, o diciamo con un po’ di storia ...

MG: Si, si torna sempre al discorso di prima di avere dei pezzi unici. Una mia cliente mi ha portato ultimamente un tessuto da materasso a cui era affezionata, da assemblare con altri miei..e le ho confezionato un copriletto.

JF: Fantastico! Mi piace che la gente tiene ancora a queste cose. È come i bambini con le coperte, danno quasi un senso di sicurezza.

MG: Si, é anche la percezione che ho io. Il bisogno di essere unici.

Atelier Miriam Giuliana, via Guglielmo Pepe 20, 20159, Milano will be holding a Special Christmas Sale on Saturday 12 December. To see more of Miriam’s work visit www.miriamgiuliana.com

Sack the Stylist (3)

2009-12-10T09:47:00.000+01:00

Sarah Brown at the British Fashion Awards

Why would anyone put the wife of Britain's prime minister in THAT for what is essentially the British Fashion Industry's most glamorous night out?

Trying to work my head round this one ...

2009-12-09T23:38:00.000+01:00

A Comme des Garcons Barbie? Coming to a CDG boutique near you soon.

The Great Galliano

2009-12-09T22:42:00.001+01:00

At the British Fashion Awards tonight, John Galliano will be an awarded for outstanding achievement in fashion design, which, let's face it, he deserves - and then some.

As a little tribute to Mr Galliano, I wanted to post a 'top ten Galliano moments' list, but getting hold of pictures of the early collections was proving to be a bit of a headache. Instead, I'm posting this interview with Galliano by Tim Blanks which I came across on youtube, and which gives a pretty good account of the Galliano story, and how he developed from genius student to one of the most influential designers in fashion today, with a few hiccups along the way. The picture's not fantastic, but it's still lots of fun to watch. It's about an hour long in total.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

My 100th Posting!!

2009-12-09T16:20:00.000+01:00

Yay! a celebration is in order. This is my hundredth posting!! Didn't seriously think I'd get this far, but looks like it's happened!

Poor Vicky!

2009-12-08T10:43:00.000+01:00

According to vogue.co.uk, Victoria Beckham is 'distraught' after 75 pieces from her ss2010 collection were stolen in London whilst on their way to Neiman Marcus in New York. Apparently the poor driver was held at knifepoint during the heist, which Vogue estimates is worth around £350,000. That - according to my calculator - makes it an average of £4,666.6667 per piece!!!!

Two studios, two cities ...

2009-12-08T10:06:00.003+01:00

If you're in Barcelona or Milan this weekend, make sure to visit these two open studios that are taking place:

At CAMP!!! in Barcelona you can get your hands on one-off reassembled pieces by underground labels neyney and 41158, whilst at Miriam Giuliana's atlier in Milan there are beautiful bags, jewellery and other bits and pieces by Giuliana herself, Arcangelo Bungaro, and Gianantonio Allievi. If you're looking for clothes and gifts made by hand, with lots of love, rather than the usual mass-produced, everybody's-got-one kind of things, then these should be right up your street ... or calle ... or strada.

Looks Like I'm Not So Hot On Predictions

2009-12-04T10:44:00.000+01:00

Susan Boyle's album, I Dreamed a Dream has gone on to become the fastest selling female debut album on both sides of the Atlantic.

Those who used to read my London Calling column might remember that I had predicted that very soon after the whole Britain’s Got Talent thing was over, we’d all be thinking: Susan who? if the name ever came up again in conversation. Ehrm, it looks like I got that one very wrong didn’t I?

Amy Winehouse for My Fair Lady. PLEASE!!!!

2009-12-04T10:27:00.000+01:00

"I'm a good girl I am"

I’ve decided to start a campaign – triggered of by a comment on perezhilton.com earlier this week – in response to his question: who else could play Eliza Doolittle in the upcoming remake of My Fair Lady instead of (yawn) Keira Knightley, who is rumoured to be up for the part. Whilst most suggested (yawn) Natalie Portman or (bigger yawn) Anne Hathaway, one genius came up with what could potentially be the one of the most perfect pieces of casting in film history: Amy Winehouse!

Think about it! She can sing (it is, after all, a musical), she wouldn’t need much work as early Eliza, and she scrubs up quite well, so would look amazing in the end. The nightmare, of course, would be getting her to turn up on set every day! Oh, and to remember her lines!!

The Evil Box Is In Da House.

2009-12-03T11:44:00.000+01:00

That's it there, in operation ... and a small bit of Donatella.

Halfway through dinner last Thursday, a friend phoned up to announce that he had just bought himself a new fuckoff flat screen telly, and inform us that if we wanted, we could take the old one off him. “Let me pass you on to Joseph,” said the boyfriend, not wanting to be the one to be seen committing himself to something that I have spent all summer saying is very low on my list of priorities. (As a purchase, I meant, not a freebie. I never say no to a freebie, me).

Having only hours before come across the bubble wrapped DVD player in one of the boxes I unpacked during my shifting room frenzy last week, I immediately said yes, thinking that now that the newly acquired (though not at all new) sofa had transformed what was formerly the bedroom into a living room, we needn’t sit crouched on folding chairs at the desk watching movies online any more, but sit comfortably on the bright yellow, slightly House and Garden c 1986, piece of furniture that the boyfriend has nicknamed Donatella, and watch DVDs instead.

Within less than twenty four hours, we were at our friend’s picking up what is by today’s standards a huge big dinasour of a TV, which to me seems perfectly fine. Not to the taxi driver who took us home, it wasn’t! “I have three television sets in the house,” he boasted. “What are you doing with that?” he asked, before embarking on a monologue about his HD flayscreen – one of three sets in his home - which cost him €1200, the other one which cost this and the third blah blah blah … that’s me not giving a shit about what he was on about. I was too busy signalling to the boyfriend, warning him not to tip the stupid git. That’s what you get for acting all superior with your passengers!

Back home, and in its designated location, all was plugged and connected, and going. The original plan to limit viewing to DVD lasted all of two days, after which, we were at the electrics shop buying the eight metres of cable required to connect the evil box in the living room to the aerial socket in the dining room (remember, in this household things are very basic). So much for principles, the boyfriend hasn’t stopped reminding me.

This principles thing goes back to my saying that buying a television set was not high on list of priorities. I said so because, from my experience, the output of most Spanish TV stations consists largely of over-coiffed and over made up men (as I type, there’s a guy sporting pink gloss on his bottom lip) and women – Big Brother contestants turned z-list celebrities, gossip columnists and “friends” of whoever’s private life it is they are dissecting – screaming at each other, (those of you who have access to it, think Canale 5 in Italy, and then think a lot worse ) which doesn’t exactly make you want to go out and spend the same amount of money that you would something more useful, like a wardrobe, or shelves to put the books that have been sat there on the floor for ages on.

Anyway principles or no principles, the grey piece of Phillips history has already become part of our daily lives, and we are now spending most evenings in front of it. Hours previously spent at our desks or at the dining table have now been replaced by watching the the above mentioned programmes, all of which currently seem to talk of nobody but a folclorica who goes by the name of Isabel Pantoja, whose relationship with the ex-mayor of Marbella has come to a very nasty end and who’s way of dealing with it, of course, is by appearing in a ten-page spread on Hola in which she opens up about what really happened with her man.

Knowing that my level of tolerance for trash TV is quite high (my line is drawn at Malta’s Top Model, imagine), my big worry is of course that I will become a couch potato and get more and more embroiled in the dramas of the likes of la Pantoja, so if you start seeing postings on this blog that seem to indicate that this is happening, please, I beg of you, warn me, or arrange for someone to shoot me. Otherwise, before you know it, I’ll be buying myself a subscription to Hola!

Galliano's Christmas at Claridge's - the real thing.

2009-12-03T08:07:00.000+01:00

What a way to start the day! In my inbox this morning, I found these shots of John Galliano's Christmas tree at Claridges, which, let's be honest here, makes you never want to look at a traditional Christmas tree ever again!

With Love, Lanvin.

2009-12-03T07:50:00.000+01:00

Lanvin stamps designed by Alber Elbaz, for 2010

I have a prediction to announce. Next year, the use of snail mail in France will soar to unheard of heights, and post offices and Tabacs (I’m sure you can get stamps there) will be mobbed by throngs of soignée fashion girls fighting to get their perfectly manicured nails on …. stamps? Yep! Stamps. Featuring drawings by none other than Monsieur Alber Elbaz himself to celebrate 120 years of the house that he now runs with such genius.

No More Couture at Lacroix, Sweety!

2009-12-02T12:31:00.000+01:00

Christian Lacroix takes a bow at what turned out to be his last couture show in July

There's got to be someone with enough money to not let the house of Christian Lacroix become just a perfume and accessories company! I mean, what will couture be without pieces like the one in the picture above?

Project Matryoshka Update: Two done. Five to go.

2009-12-02T11:07:00.002+01:00

I had some Tord Boontje for Habitat metal bit laying around doing nothing and I thought it would work for the second doll to cover. My hands are covered in scratches, but it was worth it because I like it very much. The snag is I can't open it ...

Rocks (and Metals) of Fun

2009-12-01T20:44:00.008+01:00

The man himself, with one of his beloved French bulldogs, and two pieces from his new collection, 4 Letters 4 Love

Arcangelo Bungaro left his native Puglia for the excitement of Milan, where he worked in fashion, industrial design and then advertising, before starting to design jewellery. As well as working for an important Italian company, he designs his own range of one off pieces, in fact, The Barna Blog caught up with him a couple of days after the launch of his new collection, called 4 Letters 4 Love (with apologies to those who can't read Italian)

AB: Hai visto il filmato? (click to watch video)

JF: Si ho visto foto e filmato. Mi piace moltissimo!

AB: Gooddd! Si capisce il senso?

JF: Si, a me pare che hai voluto fare qualcosa di leggero, piu … quasi giocoso

AB: Si infatti, hai colto nel segno. Sono partito dai cameo, quelli tutti in argento con le faccie, l'occhio e quello con il capricorno e la figura umana (che io non ho mai fatto prima nei miei gioielli). Quindi pulizia, essenzialità e semplicità … anzi anche un po freddi per dare uno stacco con la mia produzione precedente.

JF: Che da quello che conosco io, prima era molto piu elaborato, ricco.

AB: Si, ispirato alla natura ma mai troppo chiaro, e comunque carico di elementi e ricco.

JF: E perche hai voluto questo rompere con il precedente?

AB: Perchè dopo tre anni mi sono rimesso a lavorare su una collezione mia e l'ho fatto in un momento in cui ho avuto il bisogno di esprimere il mio bisogno di leggerezza.

JF: Ah, questa e la prima in tre anni?

AB: Si, con il mio nome si … ho lavorato sulla rottura e nella ricerca della semplicità ho trovato anche l'ironia.

JF: ... infatti anche l’invito e molto 'leggero' ... quasi infantile ... mi piace.

AB: Si appunto. Un momento storico, pesante e angosciante mi ha spinto ad attingere a me stesso piuttosto che all'esterno, e ho trovato l'ironia e la voglia di scherzare con le pietre, i colori e le forme in un certo tipo di gioiello scultura e pezzo unico. Il mio filone di lavoro.

JF: Che nel gioeillo e una cosa 'inaspettata' diciamo. Historicamente, i gioeilli sono "seri”.

AB: Si, direi di si. Sono emblema di affermazione sociale. Si, definiamoli "qualcosa di serio".

JF: All’ inaugurazione la gente come ha reagito?

AB: Pavia è un posto particolare, vicina a Milano è abituata a vedere e poter comprare tutto ciò che il mercato del lusso può proporre. Invece ricerca oggetti nuovi e unici ... Insomma mi aspettavano ed erano entusiasti. Hanno condiviso il mio punto di vista e hanno capito il senso della collezione. Infatti i primi pezzi venduti sono stati le bamboline con le murrine e le pietre preziose, i pesci, le piastre di argento con i profili … Tutti i pezzi nuovi.

JF: Buonissimo! Dunque questo cambio di direzione e stata una buona idea...

AB: ...Mmmmh direi che hanno confermato la mia impressione. La gente ha voglia di leggerezza e di sorridere, e naturalmente di sognare.

JF: Che per un creativo é una cosa importante ... Il fatto di prendere il rischio, e poi vedere che andato giu bene.

AB: Si, infatti mi ha stupito il fatto di non aver dovuto spiegare molto. Tutti hanno capito la mia intenzione. Il rischio c'era, ma sui miei gioielli sono istintivo

e per me non è mercato ma un modo di esprimere me stesso senza aspettarmi nulla. Faccio quello che sento come uno scultore farebbe una sua opera, o un pittore un quadro o un musicista un disco

JF: Come hai comminciato a disegnare gioelli?

AB: Prima la moda ,poi il design, poi l'art direction in agenzie di pubblicità. E poi il bisogno di esprimere la mia creatività in modo diverso. É Milano che me lo ha fatto cominciare questo lavoro. Non ci avevo mai pensato prima

JF: Che tu sei originariamente di …?

AB: Puglia nel sud d’Italia. Tanta storia, tanta cultura, tante emozioni. Ma poche occasioni di esprimerlo, e allora sono venuto a Milano.

JF: Pero difficile immagino per un creativo …

AB: Si, all'epoca non mi consideravo nulla, ero un proiettile carico , pronto ad esplodere. E poi ho scoperto che il proiettile in realtà era un fuoco d'artificio

JF: E milano ti ha dato l oportunita di esplodere ...

AB: Milano mi ha dato il pubblico capace di capire la mia lingua e mi ha spinto a continuare e a sviluppare il mio lavoro in direzioni che non pensavo

JF: Dunque un bel percorso ….

AB: Si. Entusiasmante.

JF: Hai un processo particolare con il quale lavori? Voglio dire, hai una rutina o sei uno spontaneo?

AB: Aspetto il momento giusto. Le mie idee migliori mi vengono nei momenti di crisi. Alzo la voce, e mi viene qualcosa di speciale. La creatività comunque è un fiume che scorre. E un processo continuo.

JF: Mi piace questa di alzare la voce - che tu sei uno a che piace alzar la voce ....

AB: Non in maniera arrogante

JF: Dico, metaforicamente ...

AB: Si appunto. No, non lo sono. Quando però sento solo il brusio della folla, beh, devo dire la mia

JF: Ho visto stamattina una foto di un paio di orecchini in forma di French bulldog, i tuoi cari cani. Parliamo di cani. So che ne hai parecchi, pero non riesco a ricordarmi quanti ne hai?

AB: Ne ho 4 a casa con me, e due da amici, quindi 6 …. Tanti!

JF: Che questa dei cani e una cosa seria con te …

AB: Diciamo che è una passione come quella dei gioielli, un po più privata

JF: Infatti stavo per chiederti se dedichi tanto tempo ai cani quanto ai gioielli.

AB: Con loro divido la mia vita, ma per alcuni aspetti ci sono delle similitudini. I cani restano con te, i gioielli si vendono e se ne vanno ... mi ha sempre affascinato il lavoro estetico negli esseri viventi.

JF: Ti dispiace quando i gioelli ti lasciano?

AB: No, anzi sono felice che qualcuno se li porti via perchè vuol dire che chi li sceglie ha capito e vuole possedere una parte di me.

JF: Dunque il piacere e nel creare, non nel vedere li pronti e fatti…

AB: Diciamo che il mio piacere profondo è il processo creativo. Che il piacere superficiale è quello di raccontarli e venderli e la soddisfazione è vedere che la mia creatura ha un suo posto nel mondo ... anche al collo di qualcuno ... Perchè no? :-)

JF: Quando crea i gioeilli, devi pensare che si devono indossare ...

AB: Certo, è fondamentale che siano comodi che siano indossabili.

JF: Trovi che questo ristringe la creativita?

AB: No, non credo. Viene con l'esperienza, e viene naturale creare qualcosa che sia anche indossabile. Un tempo ero meno esperto, e allora facevo dei gioielli pazzeschi, anche impossibili da indossare. Ma si trattava di sculture e basta.

JF: Tu fai anche scultura? So che dipingi ...

AB: Si, qualcosa. Ma è un lavoro complesso. La pittura è un mondo a se, e la scultura invece è molto più vicina a me e al mondo dei gioielli.

JF: Dato il successo di questa collezzione allora, cosa potremo aspettare da te nel futuro?

AB: Oddio, in questo momento sono come un po svuotato, ma basta poco e mi ricarico.

JF: Eh, lo immagino, avendo appena 'partorito' questa collezione...

AB: Credo che lavorerò sul corpo umano.

JF: Come?

AB: Mmmhhh hehehe ….sarà una sorpresa. Ci sto già pensando in realtà. Il fiume scorre sempre, te l'ho detto, a volte lento e in secca ma è sempre li.

JF: Quando disegni hai in mente una persona particolare, o u tipo di donna?

AB: La mia donna, si

JF: E chi e? O come e?

AB: La mia donna è una sorta di creatura sfocata, si allunga, si dilata, si illumina e si rabbuia.

JF: Che descrizione fantastica!

AB: Si, è una creatura fantastica infatti. Non ci avevo mai pensato chi fosse, me lo hai fatto venire tu.

Some Food For Thought

2009-12-01T14:04:00.002+01:00

I was led to this piece by Peter Tatchell in today's Guardian. It's quite shocking to hear that even in the UK, gay men were still not allowed to donate blood - even if HIV negative.

2009-12-01T08:41:00.001+01:00

Apologies for not being so productive over the last few days but have been reorganising the flat which is now slightly less sparsely furnished thanks to a very fruitful visit to Encants last Wednesday, from which I came back with a sofa, and half the contents of a gynaecologist's clinic. As a result, we had to change everything around, which was basically just like moving again. All is back to normal now - in fact better, because the office now sits in the best room in the flat - so the blog should be running as normal within the next 24 hours.

Woody's new first lady

2009-11-26T11:09:00.000+01:00

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Model, singer, First Lady ... now actress! Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will be starring in Woody Allen's next film. Let's see how she fares at that one.

No Comment (3)

2009-11-25T08:07:00.000+01:00

A Royal Visit ...

2009-11-24T12:53:00.000+01:00

King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain

The joke at this end is that the King and Queen of Spain are visiting Malta to discuss my marriage to one of their citizens ... which - much as I love my partner - is highly unlikely. The true reason for the royal couple's visit - according to The Times of Malta - is to sign six agreements between the two countries.

Best behaviour please, otherwise I'll never hear the end of it.

No Retouching on Pirelli

2009-11-24T10:19:00.001+01:00

Terry Richardson photographs Marloes Horst for Pirelli 2010

Even better news than the one that Terry Richardson (one of the coolest men existing, in my eyes) has photographed the Pirelli calendar is that the photographs will not be retouched, so those who are lucky enough to lay their hands on a copy (not yours truly, unfortunately) will be able to see the likes of Marloes Horst, Daisy Lowe, Lily Cole and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as raw (and as sexy) as they come. The Telegraph has published a selection of pics, though they have been cropped for "family safe viewing!!

So Faye ...

2009-11-24T10:05:00.000+01:00

Faye Dunaway, 1977, by Terry O'Neill

Someone mentioned Faye Dunaway on Facebook this morning and I can never hear her name without thinking of the fabulous photograph shot by Terry O'Neill (who was later to become her husband) at the Beverly Hills Hotel the morning after she won her Best Actress Award at the Oscars for her role in Network. As far as morning after pics go, you can't really get any better!

Where Marc Goes ...

2009-11-23T10:55:00.000+01:00

Marc Jacobs

Has Marc Jacobs finally succeeded in setting a trend which many have tried to push, but failed? H&M's ss2010 lookbook features skirts for men. Enough said.

At the AMA's

2009-11-23T07:14:00.000+01:00

Lady Gaga at the American Music Awards

Gaga rocked
Lambert shocked
and J-Lo had a little tumble

Am I Going Gaga for the Lady?

2009-11-22T22:04:00.002+01:00

A couple of days ago, the blogger Tavi asked: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LADY GAGA? It’s a question I’ve been pondering a lot lately, ever since I saw her video for Bad Romance - the first track from the album The Fame Monster - in fact. It’s been a long time since I watched a music video three times in a row – which is exactly what I did with this one - and then found myself going back onto YouTube and watching over and over again. And I’m a 42 year-old man, which technically puts me way out of her target demographic.

I admit: I hated her at first sight. It was about a year - possibly two - ago, and I saw a picture of her on one of the freebies you pick up outside the tube station in London. She was photographed stepping out of a recording studio in the bitterest of winters wearing a skimpy outfit, and I thought, Oh Christ, another one!

I take it back! This much time later, she has grown on me to the point where I think that we possibly could have found the 21^st century version of that other Italo-American icon we love to hate and hate to love, Madonna. She’s definitely got the energy, the balls and the ability to create a visual persona that sets apart the mediocre from the ones who will be there for a long time. It is perhaps a disadvantage to her that these comparisons are made, but inevitable. If, as is the case with La Ciccone, gay boys hyperventilating at the very mention of your name are a measure of success, then it seems like the lady born as Stefani Germanotta has far to go.

And the music? Because it is, after all, all about the music? Again, at first I thought she would be yet another one of those one hit wonders but the last couple of singles are making me change my mind. I definitely think that Bad Romance is a great song. It’s dark, it’s sexy, and it makes you – or at least it made me – want to dance – which is always a plus. And she writes – or co-writes – a lot of the stuff herself, another point to her advantage.

I suppose what will determine how she fares with me is the upcoming Monster Ball tour which kicks off in Chicago this week, and hits Europe early next year. Unfortunately she won’t be visiting Spain, so I won’t be able to see her, but I’m sure I’ll be watching clips online. Possibly over and over again!

The Fame Monster is released tomorrow 23 November.

This Sounds Interesting ...

2009-11-22T18:29:00.000+01:00

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry

I hadn't planned it, but ended up having a BBC Radio 4 day today. Instead of clearing up the room that will one day act as our wardrobe, and cook lunch for a couple of friends (which was cancelled due to a hangover - theirs, not mine), I ended up spending most of my Sunday researching some pieces I have to write, and listening to the likes of The Archers, Desert Island Discs and, ehrm, Gardener's Question Time, with occasional peeps into Facebook and Twitter to catch up with what is going on in the world. At about 4pm I went in for a nap, from which I woke up about half an hour later to that fabulous - if a bit overexposed - two-packs-a-day (actually I don't know if she smokes or not) voice of Mariella Frostrup on Open Book.

Frostrup's guest author today was Leanne Shapton, an American author, illustrator, art director and publisher (this is from her website) who in February published what looks like an interesting book called Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. The book, which comes in the form of an auction catalogue, deals with the failed relationship of the couple in the title, with each item in the sale - ranging from Post-its to fine art - having a particular significance to the couple's affair. It seems to have done well, and the film rights have already been acquired, with Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman being rumoured to play the lead roles.

I'm quite intrigued by this, so will order it at the first opportunity. Has anybody read it? Please comment

The Unsolved Mystery of Madonna's Hat

2009-11-22T10:16:00.000+01:00

The news this morning that Michael Jackson's glove sold for $350,000 makes me want to cry. No, no, not because of Michael - sorry as I was to hear of his untimely passing - but for me! Years ago, it must have been 1991 - at the peak of my Madonna phase - a friend of an Italian friend who was living with me at the time, moved to London and I put him up at mine for a few weeks until he found a job and settled in. I can't even remember his name, or what he looked like, but I do remember that his claim to fame was that he had picked up the hat Madonna had thrown during the Turin Who's That Girl gig. (Which was released on video then as Ciao Italia - see Madonna throw the hat at end of this clip http://www.youtube.com/user/xXazdesertboyXx#p/u/30/eBuPt88a7KY)

A few weeks later, he returned to Italy to pick up the rest stuff, including the hat, which he very sweetly gave to me as a gift for putting him up! As you can imagine, for years, the hat was like a piece of the Turin Shroud to me. Then, when I moved to London in 2001, I left it at my mother's house! Big mistake.

The hat has now disappeared, and nobody seems to know where it ended. I suspect that during one of the recent moves, my mum - never a big fan of Madonna, who she considers a bit of a floozy - must have thrown it out with the rest of the 'junk', as she once did with years worth of The Face, i-D and Blitz. To think that someday that hat could be worth lots of money breaks my heart . Not that I would have ever dreamt of getting rid of it, of course ....

Lopez and her Louboutins

2009-11-21T06:42:00.000+01:00

Jennifer Lopez, at the MTV awards, in a ghastly dress, and Christian Louboutins.

No wonder shoe designer Christian Louboutin recently issued a statement saying that he would never stoop as low as doing a cheap range for the likes of H&M! Why would he, when his name is about to go even more global than H&M could ever take it thanks to J-Lo, whose next single - the first from her upcoming album Love - which she will premiere next Sunday at the American Music Awards - is called Louboutins?

Just to give you an idea of how big this is going to get, when J-Lo unofficially sanctioned Manolo Blahnik's sexed-up Timberland boots in her Jenny From The Block video in 2003, the style, which had been designed almost a decade earlier, had to be reissued, and supply couldn't meet up with demand.

Expect to see even more red soles, like, everywhere, which, unfortunately, could also be the kiss of death in terms of fashion credibility.

Someone's Pooping in My Crib

2009-11-20T20:47:00.001+01:00

El caganer (front)

Here’s a festive question for you to ponder: what character would you least expect to find in a Christmas crib, alongside the new born baby Jesus, his virgin mother Mary, Joseph, the cow - or ox or whatever it is whose breathe kept them warm on that cold night in December- and the donkey, the three Magi, and perhaps a few shepherds? OK, don't think too much about it. How about Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, or Cristiano Ronaldo. Hello Kitty? Homer Simpson? The Michelin Man? Tin Tin? And if that wasn't incongruent enough, just to make it that a little bit weirder, why not have them squatting, with their pants down, as they excrete – or have just done so - a perfectly formed ring of poop. Actually, let’s cut the, ehrm, crap, and be straight about it, and call it ‘shit’, now that we're being scatological.

el caganer (back)

I’m not kidding! What I have just described is a modern take on a Catalan tradition that, according to Robert Hughes (in Barcelona, The Harvill Press, 1992, p 27, to be precise) dates back to the 16^th century and has been as much part of a Catalan crib as the manger since the 19^th century (as a portant of good luck, no less): the caganer (shitter). Originally, (as pictured) the caganer was always a man in Catalan costume, but he has now been replaced by representations of figures of politics, sports and entertainment, as well as pop icons, as the whole thing has acquired a bit of a satirical edge.

Since new figures are added annually according to has been in the headlines, this year’s star caganer , reports La Vanguardia, is Felix Millet, the ex-Director of The Palau de la Musica Catalana, who has been in the news since last July, following his involvement in a scandal at the Palau that involves the disappearance involves millions of euros.

It's definitely a lot more fun than the Christmas fairy!

Updated caganers on sale in a Barcelona shop (excluding Mary, Joseph and The Three Magi)

See more handmade caganers at http://www.caganer.com

RIP Daul Kim.

2009-11-19T22:19:00.000+01:00

Daul Kim in a recent i-D spread.

Sad news: model agency Next have confirmed that model Daul Kim was found dead in Paris this morning. The cause of the 20 year old model's death is not yet confirmed but there is talk of suicide. A statement issued by the agency says: "She was a top model and a great friend to all of us at Next. Please respect her family’s privacy at this time of sadness. We will all miss her very much."

Don't forget ...

2009-11-19T11:41:00.001+01:00

Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) will be signing copies of his book tonight between 6.45pm and 8pm at:

Pasarela Restaurant
AP-7/Salida 12 "Cardedeu"
La Roca Village

A Call For Unity Against Censorship

2009-11-19T10:24:00.000+01:00

The Realta' Collective is calling for all organizations, groups and all citizens to join the Front Against Censorship which will start lobbying to remove outdated laws, abolish censorship once and for all and bring about artistic freedom. The Collective believes that the limitations to freedom of speech which are being set up with moralistic and religious justifications are unacceptable in a time and age where the freedom of speech and artistic freedom are values, widely accepted in the European Union. 2009 is ironically the Year of Creativity and Innovation of the EU but for Malta, 2009 is the year of censorship and suppression of the arts. The Collective is here linking the official Proposals which will in the end abolish the censorship regime and is urging all of civil society to back them up so as to exert, strong pressure on Parliament to adopt them.

http://www.facebook.com/l/2693f;realtamadwarek.org/ir-realta/Front%20Against%20Censorship.doc

The Proposals mentioned in the document are necessary to abolish censorship but the organizations and citizens who join the Front have the liberty to discuss it with the other members and also propose other Proposals in order to improve the document.

When a considerable number of organizations and citizens join the Front, a press conference would be called to announce the beginning of a progressive movement which will be a stalwart defender of freedom of speech and artistic freedom.

In the meantime the Collective has asked for the University Ombudsman to condemn the banning of Ir-Realta’ Issue 8 by the Rector and the University Authorities with an official letter. The letter clearly states that their actions breached the Student Charter.

What modern architecture is all about.

2009-11-19T10:17:00.000+01:00

Work in progress: Hadid's MAXXI will open in April 2010

Here are links to a articles on The Guardian and The Times about Zaha Hadid's MAXXI museum in Rome:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/nov/16/zaha-hadid-maxxi-rome

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/architecture_and_design/article6918875.ece

Objects of total lust and desire

2009-11-19T09:44:00.000+01:00

If I had a regular income, some of it would surely be going on these

Honestly, if you could hear the noises coming out of me at the sight of these little beauties you would have thought there was a porno movie being shot in this room, honestly. How badly do I want them to replace my beaten Adidas Stan Smiths? (which I still love btw). They're Pierre Hardy's s/s2010 Coloramas which come in a limited edition of 500 and are available to buy for €350 at Colette in Paris. They almost make me want to go back to have a well-paid full time job.

Buy them - and risk my hatred for the rest of your life - here http://www.colette.fr/#/eshop/article/275723/pierre-hardy/89/

Is it possible to not fall in love with Penelope Cruz?

2009-11-18T22:33:00.000+01:00

Penelope on the night of her appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman

I can't help it! I'm head over heels in love with Penelope Cruz. It started off as a small crush when I first saw her in Bigas Luna's Jamon Jamon, slowly gathering momentum so that by the time she was Raimunda in Volver - which I have watched a squillion times, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life - it was a full-blown I-get-butterflies-in-my stomach-every-time-I-see-her kind of thing. She's now doing tons of press for Nine, the Rob Marshall musical in which she stars alongside Sofia Loren and Nicole Kidman and which should be opening very soon (watch trailer her http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/nine/)

Yesterday, the lovely Pe appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman in the US. Here are two links from the show - unfortunately I can't find the whole thing on YouTube. In the second clip, watch her dodge Letterman's questions about her relationship with Javier Bardem. All I can say is: Lucky Man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgaA-wR9OfY

http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/

Will the SATC money mill EVER stop?

2009-11-17T19:37:00.001+01:00

Brace yourselves for even more Sex and the City

Oh dear, here we go again. As if the prospect of yet another Sex and The City movie wasn't enough, Perez Hilton has reported that Candace Bushnell, the author of the column that became a never-ending series that became two movies is now publishing a prequel to it all: The Carrie Diaries - "written" during Ms. Bradshaw's high school days. According to Hilton, the book will be released on 27 April, 2010, just before the new movie hits the theatres.

Is this not taking it a bit too far?

Oh, and please, when the film version of that comes along, which I'm sure is bound to happen, DON'T let SJP play CB! Look at the picture below ...

SJP in Elle USA, December issue

Gigs I'd Like To Go To.

2009-11-17T13:48:00.000+01:00

Estrella Morente

Estrella Morente at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, 08.01.10

Morente, next door, two days before my birthday ... It's got to happen! I've already seen her twice, but wouldn't mind a third helping.

https://www.telentrada.com/Telentrada/Compra+on-line/ci.Espectaculo+Estrella+Morente.compra

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys at Sant Jordi Club, 06.02.10

I've been a fan of the Sheffield boys since the first album.

http://www.ticktackticket.com/entradas/goto.do?claves=.24662

Mika

Mika at Palau Sant Jordi, 18.04.10

I might be the oldest one there, but he does make me feel like I want to be a teenager again, so not that big a deal!

http://www.ticktackticket.com/entradas/goto.do?claves=.25568

An Addition To My Christmas Wishlist

2009-11-17T13:19:00.001+01:00

Prada, the book

706 pages covering 30 years of Miuccia. Please! Pretty please!

http://www.prada.com/pradabook/index.html

Who is this woman?

2009-11-17T13:12:00.000+01:00

Do you recognise this woman? If you do, please have her vocal chords pulled out

So there I was minding my own business (actually trying to work out whether one Maltese civil servant's inability to access this blog from her office was due to a general ban on blogs, or on this one for the use of Maltese vernacular for penis and vagina - it turned out to be the former) when I heard this female voice booming from outside. Now bear in mind that, being Maltese, I am used to booming voices, but this one was something else. Enough of a something else to make me rush to the balcony to see what was going on outside. Well, wouldn't you know, there's a deranged woman in a white shirt, tie and high heels chasing people round the square followed by a TV crew. Spanish TV is full of deranged women with booming voices, and they're usually getting hysterical about something or other, usually the private life of someone they've never even met. Honestly, TV here really does take crap TV to another level.

One hour later, she's still there, and the voice is still booming round the square, and any minute now, I'm going to pee into a bucket and empty it onto her.

The Man Making Merlin’s Magic.

2009-11-16T22:19:00.000+01:00

Chris Gruppetta has his moment on stage with Ms. Turner.

There are two very important things in Chris Gruppetta’s life – apart from his wife, and his son of course. Books, and Tina Turner. In fact, the first time we met was over lunch in London, when he was on his way to watch her perform live, and was so excited, he could hardly sit and eat. Much as I’d like to discuss his obsession with Ms. Turner, it’s his other favourite subject we’re here to talk about. Chris is the brain behind Merlin library, Malta’s leading publishing house, which publishes leading Maltese authors like Guze Stagno and Pierre Mejlak, as well as the phenomenally successful Fiddien trilogy. Straight out of the Malta Book Fair, I caught up with him to discuss Tsek-Tsik – his latest venture in promoting books and reading, censorship, and male genitalia in Maltese literature.

JF: Now that it's all over, how did it go at the Book Fair?

CG: Insofar as attendance and sales are concerned, it must have been one of the best years. Do keep in mind, however - that the Malta Book Fair is not a book fair as, for example, the London or Frankfurt ones are.

JF: In what way?

CG: The focus here is on sales: it's a family outing, and publishers and bookshops set up stalls to sell books. Which is fine, of course, but somewhat limiting. What interests me most - as a publisher - is having a showcase of my most interesting work.

JF: And you always have interesting work ... and interesting ways to promote it. This year you had Tsek-tsik, (note: a play on the Maltese word for “gossip”) which from what I hear was the highlight of the fair. Tell me about it.

CG: Actually it originated from the "bookstall" limitations. I wanted something that would allow me to showcase creativity in a fun way, without the constraints of a 3m x 21m stand with shelves and cash points etc. It's probably the first time that a book event was not linked to any particular book - ie. There was no direct commercial 'purpose' to it; we were in no way launching a book or promoting a particular title.Speakers were given total freedom, in fact they could - and some did - mention books by other publishers, and authors not published by us.

JF: So it's more about promoting literature, books and the creative process than a particular book...

CG: Exactly. I adapted the format - with permission, of course - from the UK Society of Young Publishers Canon Tales, which I'd seen live last April at the London Book Fair. The concept of Tsek-tsik is: 10 speakers, each chose 15 images and spoke about each image for exactly 20 seconds. The slides were pre-programmed to turn over after 20 seconds, so there's no leeway - the idea being that no speaker would go on and on about one point, but move on, keeping it fast and varying.

JF: I take it that with that time span, no politicians were involved ;O)

CG: LOL. No, they weren't! It was actually very challenging but instructive, even as a speaker (I was one of the 10 1/2 speakers). I realized when preparing my tsek-tsika, just how short 20 seconds are. I ended up editing and throwing out lots of superfluous bla bla

JF: Which is never a bad thing. My impression of Merlin is that of it being publishers of Maltese schoolbooks, but you seem to have changed all of that and brought it up to the 21st century, publishing established authors like Trevor Zahra and Mario Azzopardi as well as more groundbreaking authors, like Guze Stagno and Pierre Mejlak. How did that come about?

CG: Traditionally, yes, we've been publishers since 1972 and focused on schoolbooks, but I've always thought it useless to complain that people don't read in Maltese, if we don't give them cutting-edge fiction with cutting-edge presentation and packaging on a par with foreign books. Authors like Pierre Mejlak and Clare Azzopardi began publishing with us when they were still very young and their careers were still on the launching pad, so to speak. If anything, I hope I've given them the creative freedom to experiment and find their own voice. The standing joke here at the office is that when faced with a choice between a 'good' project and a 'way out' one, we generally choose the 'way out' one

JF: A bold step, given the current publishing situation in Malta. I am referring of course to the Ir-Realta/Alex Vella Gera palaver.

CG: Don't even get me started on that. Thing is, things changed very late, very fast, in Malta. Stagno's Inbid ta' Kuljum, which was the first Maltese book to feature an abundance of explicit language and situations, wasn't published until 2001. I don't need to tell you how late that is, by European (and worldwide) standards. But since then, in only 8 years, we've moved forward at a very fast pace, so much so that I now refuse some manuscripts that are just about being explicit for the "shock effect" because frankly I find them boring and passé and gia visto (already seen). Obviously, some people in authority are not comfortable with this fast pace of change (not only in publishing of course, but more generally in the creative industries) and idiotic gestures such as the banning of Ir- Realta are the result. I'm upset not so much as by the Rector banning it on campus (stupid, of course, but ultimately I guess that's his jurisdiction), but by the fact that the police deemed fit to intervene and actually threaten the author and editor with criminal (!) proceedings for obscene libel. Incidentally, during Tsek-tsik, 3 speakers actually changed one of their slides at the last moment to screen a part of the text of AVG's story. That for me was cool as it made it a live, up-to-date event

JF: At least there was a lot of support about that. As a publisher do you find the current climate frustrating, or does it make you want to push the envelope even further?

CG: Definitely frustrating. Most of my friends and people in my age group have moved or are moving abroad, and I can't say I blame them. The worrying thing about the police involvement is that technically (as in, legally) of course they're right - the obscenity law is still on the statute books, as is the law making it a criminal offence to insult the RC religion. So where does that leave me as a publisher? There are no benchmarks. I mean, how many zbub (cocks) in a page does it take to make the 'grade' from simply 'vulgar' to 'obscene'? It's ridiculous, of course, but I'm not about to go back to publishing nice cozy stories about children frolicking in the countryside and having high tea with mum, while dad is off working.

JF: God that would be terrible ... I'd like to see as many zbub and ghoxux (cunts) as possible.

CG: LOL

JF: That’s why I loved Stagno's Ramon u iz-Zerbinotti! I hadn't read a Maltese book in years and here suddenly was this book in which the characters spoke exactly as people in Malta speak

CG: Exactly. Ramon and his friends speak just like we used to speak at school, and do and think and watch the things boys all over the world do at that age.

JF: It was very refreshing to read …

CG: Even the AVG story merely portrays the language and mentality of many guys - I've heard those exact same descriptions from people I know, many times - as I'm sure everyone else has.

JF: I told AVG that in my conversation with him ... I've come across so many men who think like that character; it came as no shock whatsoever

CG: Last Saturday at the Book Fair there was a talk/seminar about censorship and I was one of the speakers, and that's exactly what I was saying: it's sad that in 2009 we're actually still having these conversations, about whether adults should be allowed to read explicit language

JF: ... and women! I’m completely driven insane by the fact that they’re saying that it’s offensive to women. It’s so archaic and patronizing.

CG: Especially since no woman seems to have complained about it! But it's equally sad that many people haven't spoken up in public. Everyone grumbles privately, of course, but how many 'official' persons have you seen writing to the papers denouncing it?

JF: To me that was even more shocking ... The fact that student bodies like KSU eventually issued a statement that they didn't want to be involved in the debate or something along those lines.

CG: I believe the KSU president said he refused to even read the story! I know it's obvious, but where do you draw the line? If we allow this episode to pass, what happens when next time someone censors a story that's critical of, say, the government?

JF: Yes, that's what it was. It's good that at least the issue of censorship was brought up in the Book Fair, rather than not even address it

CG: Yes, to their credit the Book Fair organisers dedicated the Saturday evening to it. But the turnout for the event was 25 people!

JF: That’s sad

CG: And of course almost everyone in the audience was involved in the arts, so not really 'general public'

JF: Yes, the general public is quite apathetic ... that's one of the frustrations about Malta ... it’s complain, complain, complain but no action

CG: That's why I brought it up on the Thursday night because I knew there'd be a good-sized audience.

JF: You’re very good at promoting your books. There's always an event tied up to them. You’re good at creating a buzz.

CG: Thing is, it's not easy to justify the spend when marketing budgets on books are minuscule, so that forces you to be creative. But yes, I disagree with the purists who want books to feel 'elitist' and above 'marketing gimmicks'. I'm often accused of 'cheapening' literature by associating books and launches to fun. The truth is that in Malta the typical book launch will consist of a panel of 'experts' reading pre-written speeches of 6-7 pages, to a yawning audience. I refuse to do that. Apart from the fact that even from a practical point of view, it's preaching to the converted and financially useless. I want people who haven't read a Maltese book in years, to come to the launches and have fun -then, they might say 'ah, perhaps this isn't so boring. Let's give it a go'

JF: I totally agree with that. That's what happened to me with Stagno. It was the pencil case that did it!

CG: Exactly. I mean, the pencil case was a gimmick, obviously. But it got you to want to have a look at the book. Obviously, then it's up to the text to be up-to-scratch. Even at the Book Fair, we got people talking of marketing as if it were some 4-letter word. I admit it's marketing, obviously, but what on earth is wrong with that? I mean, at Mejlak's launch, we had 4 artists in the background doodling onto an overhead projector - one of them, Austin Camilleri was actually burning plastic on the projector!

JF: The notion, as you say, is that books and literature are only for the elite ... I suppose it helps keep the establishment comfortable on its pedestal

CG: Yes, yes and yes. In fact it's been parts of the establishment who didn't come out publicly against the AVG censorship. The funny thing of course, is that now some of them are approaching me to publish one of their books and give it the 'Merlin' treatment (marketing-wise). The irony...

JF: Typical ... you should force them to include zbub in their texts

CG: Haha, probably they'd argue that their zbub are acceptable, because they’re "literature"

JF: Of course, they're clean zbub that do not degrade women and are only used for procreation! Is there a text that you would really like to lay your hands on? What’s the book you dream of publishing?

CG: Nice question ... I wouldn't mind publishing Alfred Sant, actually. I loved his last-but-one book, L-Ghalqa tal-Iskarjota and I got totally upset that it hadn't been edited come si deve. And I've been dreaming for years of a serialisation project, but the distribution and retail-chains situation being what it is in Malta, I wouldn't stand a chance in hell of selling it.

JF: Why is that?

CG: Because in Malta, excluding the Agenda chain and literally 2 other bookshops, the rest are not so much bookshops as stationers-cum-haberdasheries-cum-corner-shops that stock some books on a couple of shelves. So you can't have something like a serialisation going on (entailing weekly or monthly nationwide distributions) when you have to rely on your main competitor for that. Keep in mind that the importation, distribution and retail of around 90-95% of all trade (ie. non-children's) books and of practically 100% of magazines and part-works, are in the hands of the same company.

JF: Well I hope you'll find your way around that one. It sounds like it could be an interesting project. But in the meantime, what's up next at Merlin?

CG: Well of course 11th December is THE date everyone's been waiting for - the final installment in the Fiddien trilogy (of Sqaq l-Infern fame) - it's been the fastest-selling series ever in Malta, and though technically a children's book has become a genuine crossover title. We're having 2 separate launches, one for kids (with animation and stuff) and one for adults - a cool nightclub vibe in a vault at Birgu Waterfront.

JF: I know many grown-ups who are addicted to that

CG: Then, next year we're publishing our first thriller in Maltese - I'm very excited about that. Plus of course people are asking about a Tsek-tsik sequel, and I'm rather partial to that, seeing as it was my baby ... We'll see, I think an "expat” Tsek-tsika would be cool, but of course it'll be a logistic nightmare to organize it when everyone is in Malta. Maybe it’ll be some time over Christmas.

JF: That would be interesting ... all the 'exiles' can have their say.

CG: exactly. Would you be interested? Lol

JF: Sure, if I'm there.... Keep me posted

The Merlin website is currently undergoing construction, but you can find more info at http://www.facebook.com/merlinlibrary?ref=ts

No 'crisis' when it comes to Choos.

2009-11-14T14:45:00.000+01:00

Given the chaos, I didn't think standing there with a camera taking pictures would have been appreciated!

Whilst sales assistants in designer shops on Paseo de Gracia sat twiddling their thumbs at cash registers, the poor staff at H&M on the same street, and further down in Puerta del Angel were having a hard time handling the chaos caused by the crazed crowd wanting to get their hands on items from the H&M/Jimmy Choo collaboration. I popped in to have a peak and it was MAYHEM with very little items left on the shelves. During the five minutes I was in there for, I saw sales assistants bringing more stock in though, so I'm assuming the shelves were being restocked to keep up with the demand.

Kerching!

http://www.hm.com

Ready, steady, go...

2009-11-13T20:48:00.000+01:00

Kate Moss poses for Top Shop Christmas collection, 2009

Get ready for some serious stone throwing going in Kate Moss's direction for telling a WWD interview that: "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."

Bicing Bloody Bicing!

2009-11-13T20:03:00.000+01:00

Now that I am just about mastering the art of cycling, bicing has become my preferred mode of transport in the city. However, the amount of faulty bikes is getting a bit irritating. This morning, like most mornings, I had to change my bicycle twice. One had no chain, and the brakes on the second one felt d-o-d-g-y. And let's not mention trying to park the damn thing! I practically had to fight to put mine in the station at Barceloneta this morning. About six of the slots weren't taking it. An Italian (wouldn't you know) try to beat me to the only functioning space with five minutes to go to my yoga class. As you can imagine, any feelings of zen that I'd built up on my way to the class flew straight out the window.

If you live in Barcelona, don't let the above you put you off joining bicing. Find out more at www.bicing.com

Hey there Candy girl!

2009-11-13T19:42:00.000+01:00

Candy, issue 1

Wahay! A fashion magazine for transvestites! Limited edition run of 1,000. Lypsinka, Joey Arias, Tim Walker, Terry Richardson (both behind the lens, I'm assuming)and many, many, more. Launch party (guest list only) next Thursday at the George and Dragon, London.

Become a fan on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/CANDY-MAGAZINE/172695980966?ref=mf&v=wall

And if someone wants to send me a copy, it'd be most welcome

Daphne Rocks the (Shoe) Boots

2009-11-13T19:18:00.000+01:00

Daphne Guinness in ss2010 McQueen in New York, yesterday

(Aherm) High five to Daphne Guinness for being the first to be seen in public wearing McQueen's fuckoff footwear at last night's Nars party in NYC, which she hosted together with Marc Jacobs. It seems like McQueen has been inundated with requests from women (and I'd imagine a few men, too) wanting to buy the shoes - which are also getting a worldwide airing on Lady Gaga's new video - and they are now going into production. I like. Alot.

More Lots of Love

2009-11-13T09:49:00.000+01:00

Audrey Hepburn in How To Steal A Million

Kerry Taylor Auctions has announced that it will be selling off pieces worn by Audrey Hepburn in a sale to be held in London on December 8. Among the items going for sale are: a Givenchy black cloque silk designed for Ms Hepburn in Paris When It Sizzles (estimated to fetch between £10K to 15K), a Chantilly lace cocktail number from How To Steal a Million (£15K-20k) and a Sorelle Fontana wedding dress that Hepburn had ordered for the marriage to James Hanson which she called off a few weeks later (£8K - £12K). After the cancellation, Ms. Hepburn asked for the dress to be given to someone less fortunate - "someone who couldn't ever afford a dress like mine, the most beautiful, poor Italian girl you could find." The lucky girl turned out to be one Amabile Altobella, a girl from Latina, who wore it to her wedding to farmer Adelino Solda, with whom she remained married, producing three children. "I have had a happy marriage, so the dress has brought me good luck," Mrs. Solda has said.

I'm sure there are many brides to be who would just love to share some of that luck on their big day!

50% of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.

http://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com

Never say never ...

2009-11-13T09:10:00.000+01:00

Robbie Williams with Take That at the Royal Albert Hall, last night

Now that it's almost a dead cert that he will be rejoining the band in some way or other, will Robbie Williams lose all the credibility gained from leaving and become "the very irritating one from Take That" again?

Galliano's Christmas at Claridge's

2009-11-11T18:52:00.000+01:00

Sketch for John Galliano's Christmas tree at Claridge's

I'm not really one who is know to ever get excited about Christmas trees, or anything Christmassy really, but I do adore John Galliano's sketch for the tree that will adorn the fabulous art deco lobby of Claridge's in London this year. It's all ice-y and frozen and as far away from your traditional tree as you can get - which is why I like it of course.

The tree goes on display on December 1 at Claridge's, Brook Street, London W1K 4HR

http://www.claridges.co.uk

Li Lo gets dumped

2009-11-11T18:25:00.000+01:00

Estrella Archs and Lindsay Lohan take a bow at Emanuel Ungaro's SS2010 show

It's being tweeted that Lindsay Lohan's tenure as, aherm, "artistic adviser" at Emanuel Ungaro, where she worked together with Spanish designer Estrella Archs, has been brought to an end after only one not very impressive season. This will come as a surprise to nobody. In fact, the question on our minds has always been why the hell she was given the position in the first place!

For your Diary (Barcelona)

2009-11-11T15:10:00.000+01:00

This one looks like it could be lots of fun - or a complete nightmare, depends on how you see things. A night out during which you have to change an item of clothing you're wearing with someone every time a horn blows (which I'm told is quite often). The event is called Swap-a-rama, and takes place every month, with the next one being next Friday 13th (which apparently is not unlucky in Spain). It goes without saying that you don't wear your best frocks to this one.

Check out the Facebook group for more details: www.facebook.com/swap.a.rama

Swap-a-rama is at Bar Lempika, C/Carrettes 18, Raval, 10pm onwards.

Project Matryoshka Update: One (almost) done. Six to go.

2009-11-11T14:59:00.000+01:00

Those of you who have been around since the early days of this blog (ie, last month!) may remember me embarking on a project to decorate 7 plain Matryoshka dolls. Last week I had a couple of full on sessions with the first one, and covered it with coloured paper spots. To be honest I'm not sure whether I'm mad for it or not. Granted, it still needs cleaning up, and varnishing ... we'l see what happens, and how it looks with the other six - all of which have to be completely different, by the way.

Yves-il Saint Laurent?

2009-11-11T08:53:00.001+01:00

The Old (above) vs The New (below)

Take one hugely influential but slightly past his prime ageing French-Algerian fashion designer, reputed to have been born with a nervous breakdown, and his business and romantic partner, a man with a huge superiority complex. Then add a hugely influential, handsome young control freak, who has already taken one previously forgotten fashion house to stellar heights and is not about to do the same to the house that you've been forced to sell. Whaddaya get? Schoolgirl behaviour at the house of YSL, of course. Tom Ford spills the beans on the December/January The Advocate, in which he says:

"Being at Yves Saint Laurent was such a negative experience for me even though the business boomed while I was there. Yves and his partner Pierre Berge were so difficult and so evil and made my life such misery. I've never talked about this on the record before, but it was such an awful time for me ... I have letters from Yves Saint Laurent that are so mean you cannot believe such vitriol is possible. I just think he was jealous, and Yves and I were friends before I took over the company. But then when we began to move the company forward and were very successful .... he just became so insanely jealous. Pierre and Yves were just evil. So Yves Saint Laurent doesn't exist for me ..."

Watch the old guard jump in YSL's defense and at TF's throat any day now

Restaurants to avoid in Barcelona: El Gran Cafe

2009-11-10T20:01:00.000+01:00

For your own safety, remember this shopfront

Here is a piece of advice that could quite possibly even save your life: If you ever happen to be passing through the Calle Avignon in the Gothic Quarter, and are tempted by a corner restaurant that looks like it would have once been the setting for grandiose lunches, teas and dinners - hence, i"m assuming the name - RUN. Get your ass over to the nearest Pans & Co and get yourself a boccadillo, or to a supermarket and buy yourself a bag of crisps, or even to McDonalds. Pick food out of a bin, if necessary. Whatever you do, resist any urge to go through the El Gran Cafe's doors.

I ended up having lunch there last Friday because a friend who I'd been meaning to see since I got here did exactly what many visitors to the city would do in the same situation. He fell for the fancy shopfront bait hook, line and sinker, and booked a table for three – himself, me, and another Maltese guy who had also been on my list of people to see since I got here, thinking that the setting would have been perfect for a pre-weekend reunion lunch.

The Tourist Trap alarm should have set off when we sat at a table laid out with Gaudi pattern plates, but since we were too busy catching up, it didn’t. There were other signs: the waiter’s insistence on talking to us in English, even though we were talking to him in Spanish, the over-zealous maitre de … Have I put you off yet? Hold on, I haven’t even started with the food.

El Gran Cafe's interior

OK, the food. It was a lunchtime menu, so we had a choice of three starters, three mains and desserts. I went for a spinach, prawn and something else layered thing, with a gooey sauce that could have been wallpaper paste. The other two opted for pasta – never a good idea in Spain – with a sauce that had the same consistency as mine, though it looked a little more lifeless. In fact, it was the same colour as the pasta. Still, deep in conversation – or maybe not to appear rude – none of us commented on the quality of the food, and chewed our way through it politely.

For mains, two of us were intrigued by the idea of steak tartar a la plancha – a culinary oxymoron if there ever was one – which turned out to be something that looked like a charred burger with a raw inside. And we were the lucky ones. The other member of the party ordered grilled chicken breasts – difficult to get wrong one would think – which he had to return TWICE because it was seriously undercooked, like RAW uncercooked!

To end it all, we had tiramisu ice-cream, which tasted like, well, soap was the only thing I could think of. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the washing up water was being frozen and served with a sprinkling of chocolate flakes.

Needless to say, neither of us will be going through the Gran Café’s doors again, and I thought it was my duty to inform any potential visitors to avoid it like the plague. Actually, coming to think of it, even the plague might be a more pleasant experience.

It's closing time for Luella

2009-11-10T17:52:00.002+01:00

Luella Bartley of Luella

Sad to hear the news just in from vogue.com that Luella is to cease trading after license holders Club 21 have pulled out. One would have thought that the income from all those bags sold at big big prices would have seen them through these tough times.

Obviously not! ... and I still want a Daddy I Want A Pony t-shirt.

dull dull dull, dull, dull .... and again, dull

2009-11-10T15:01:00.002+01:00

Cate Blanchett in a satin, bias cut dress on the cover of US Vogue, Dec 2009

You would think that with all they have access to, the people at Vogue US could come up with a more exciting cover for the December issue. I mean, putting Cate Blanchett in a shiny bias cut gown is not exactly breaking new grounds now, is it!

CB in another satin bias-cut dress on the cover of US Vogue in 2004

... and on Vanity Fair, in what could be another shiny bias cut dress

Caravaggio: master 'photographer'

2009-11-10T09:48:00.000+01:00

Jarman's John The Baptist in Caravaggio

Caravaggio's St. John The Baptist c.1604

The other day, when looking up pictures of Matthew Stone's work (see The Sunday Times most influential under 30's post from Sunday 8) I thought how easily Caravaggio's work adapts itself to photography and film (Derek Jarman's masterpiece - an important milestone in my life - being one of them). This morning I came across this short piece in The Guardian, so I thought I'd share it with you.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/nov/09/caravaggio-photography

For your Diary (Barcelona)

2009-11-09T11:25:00.000+01:00

Scott Schuman, he of The Sartorialist fame (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) will be signing copies of his book on Thursday 19 November between 6.45pm and 8pm at:

Pasarela Restaurant

AP-7/Salida 12 "Cardedeu"

La Roca Village

... a bit of a trek methinks.

Pedro Almodavar interview on Il Fatto Quotidiano

2009-11-09T11:05:00.000+01:00

http://antefatto.ilcannocchiale.it/glamware/blogs/blog.aspxid_blog=96578&id_blogdoc=2375267&title=2375267

An Italian friend sent me this link to an interview with Don Pedro, in which he speaks of Los Abrazos Rotos, his career, and the state of Italy at the moment.

Anna's selling up.

2009-11-08T10:21:00.000+01:00

Anna Piaggi, the last of the great fashion mavericks, is making space in what has got to be one of the world's biggest and most desirable wardrobes (which apparently, is more of a warehouse!!). 37 pieces - including designs by Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, (vintage) Lanvin, Paul Poiret and Ossie Clark - all of which were displayed at the V&A's Fashion-ology show in 2006, will be going under the hammer at Christies, South Kensington Fashion Through the Ages sale on December 3. "Vorrei che, dopo essere stati parte della mia vita, communicassero ad altri il loro significato, magari all' interno di un museo" she is quoted saying in November's Italian Vogue.

I'd be happier if they were bought by someone who could wear them with as much love as Ms. Piaggi did.

Displays from Fashion-ology, V&A, London, 2006

http://www.christies.com

The Sunday Times (UK) most influential under-30s list.

2009-11-08T09:42:00.001+01:00

Todays' (UK) Sunday Times published a list of Britain's most influential under-30's. Here Goes:

Entertainment:

1. Amy Winehouse

2. Lily Allen

3. Keira Knightley

4. Emma Watson

5. Robert Pattison

Runners up: Dizzie Rascal, Cheryl Cole

Fashion:

1. Agyness Deyn

2. Daisy Lowe

3. Lily Cole

4. Christopher Kane

5. Gareth Pugh

Runner up: Lizzy Jagger

Arts:

Matthew Stone, 'David and Goliath (After Caravaggio)', 2006.

1. Matthew Stone

2. Katherine Jenkins

3. Sean Adams

4. Melissa Hamilton

5. Lucy Prebble

Runner up: Polly Stenham

Business, Media, Politics:

1. Chloe Smith

2. Dominic McVey

3. Blaise Bellville

4. Kirsty McNeill (political adviser)

5. Tamsin Omond (campaginer)

Runners up: Krissi Murison, Ameet Gill

Sport:

1. Lewis Hamilton

2. Andy Murray

3. Wayne Rooney

4. Ashley Cole

5. Jenson Button

Runner up: Kevin Pietersen

Society:

1. Prince WIlliam

2. Alexa Chung

3. Kate Middleton

4. Peaches Geldof

5. Tyrone Wood

Runner up: Chloe Green

View the detailed list at http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article6900887.ece

The Author Speaks

2009-11-07T04:00:00.003+01:00

This week, Mark Camilleri, editor of the university publication Ir-Realta was questioned by the Maltese police for publishing Li Tkisser Sewwi, a piece by author Alex Vella Gera which was deemed obscene and resulted in all copies of the publication being destroyed. The Barna Blog caught up with the AVG to find out what the fuss was all about.

JF: What a ruckus you've caused! Mark Camilleri gets called in by the police ... and the University Chaplain deems it "vulgar and degrading". Were you expecting this?

AVG: I know this sounds crazy, but no i wasn't expecting this.

JF: Really? No idea whatsoever? On a campus where the distribution of condoms caused mayhem?

AVG: Yes i know. The thing is, I live abroad, and perhaps you could accuse me of not thinking things through. I was also convinced - or deluded myself would be more accurate - that the story would be taken for what it is: a story, admittedly with a strong content, but which could be perceived as simply an exercise in immersing oneself in a particular character's psyche.

JF: I suppose, as well, what happened is that the character's thoughts were taken as yours, and in the eyes of the public you became a sex crazed chauvinist ...

AVG: Yes that's true, but i'm not bothered about that. Things will die down. And i know what i am. That's what counts. My conscience is clean.

I guess, there may have been a misunderstanding. Some people thought the story was an article.

JF: According to The Times your two previous works were not in the same style as this ... How did this story come along?

AVG: Actually, Li Tkisser Sewwi dates from over ten years ago. It's been in my drawer for while. When Ir-Realta asked me to contribute a work of fiction, that story came to mind. Not that i used to write like that and now i don't. It's not that. That story just came out. i am not discounting writing something similar in the future, but the one thing i don't want, and don't need, is to be labelled "that guy who writes about dirty sex, or whatever". That's not me at all. But having said that,sex is important in my writing sometimes. Not often directly as in Li Tkisser Sewwi, but as a prime mover of character.

JF: Because ultimately, it's how a lot of Maltese men think ... I know a list this long of people who think like the character in Li Tkisser Sewwi ... and i've heard alot of them speak exactly like that ... in a way that's why I didn't find it that shocking.

AVG: Exactly. I can't understand what's so shocking about a story based on real life. If i had made the character fuck a goat, or kill his girl, etc. then yes. Also, the story's tone, the monologue, is actually based on a real life character i knew cursorily once upon a time. I was still about 15, and one day i was stuck with him playing pool and he went on and on almost just like in the story.

JF: What I found more shocking than anything in this whole incident is that - to date - none of the official student bodies at university have commented about this incident. How do you feel about that?

AVG: I'm not surprised really. I don't expect much from them. Even the fact that university lecturers haven't said anything. It's to be expected. People live in their tiny little worlds and are not about to have them disturbed. They have alot to lose I guess. It may also be that they genuinely think my story is pile of shit and does not deserve their support, freedom of speech or otherwise, and i can live with that.The only thing that annoys me in all this is when people say my story has no redeeming features whatsoever, because there my artist's ego is hurt :0).I truly believe my story is more than meets the eye. It is not the best thing since sliced bread,and it's not even anywhere close to the best thing i've written, but it's an honest story, perhaps too honest

JF: At least a lot of people seem to have jumped to your - and Mark Camilleri's defense - on the Times Online comments section ... I'm particularly pleased that a female reader wrote in to say that she found it patronising that it was being said that women were going to find this degrading.

AVG: Most of the people who told me directly that they liked the story, or found it "instructive", were, in fact, women. Perhaps many men found it too close to the bone. Maybe they got a boner...

JF: ... I'm sure some of them did ... probably the ones who complained loudest even.

AVG: Those who said the story is pornographic need to get tested. The narrator has a pornographic mind, no doubt about that, but the story itself is nowhere near pornography, i think. And even if it was porn, so what? But that's an argument we'd better not get into. Malta is way too backward to broach that subject!

JF: Yes, it seems that the situation in Malta seems to be getting worse and worse: plays being banned; a brouhaha when condoms are distributed to university students, a shop owner told to remove naked mannequins from shopwindows ... and now this gets banned - on a university campus of all places. Do you find that as worrying as I do?

AVG: I'm not sure what to think. I grew up in Malta, so it's nothing new to me. It's business as usual. Many maltese go about their business, probably writing stuff like Li Tkisser Sewwi, and get on with their lives. You'll probably find that the whole ruckus will die down soon enough, even if there is a court case, and people will just move on. To be an agent for change is perhaps an impossibility on that island. Having said that, the way Malta is is very interesting, from a novelist's perspective. lots to write about.

JF: Too fuckin' right ... and movies. I always think that Malta could produce the next Pedro Almodovar ... or a handful of them

AVG: hehe perhaps.

JF: Although the work would probably be censored in his own country whilst celebrated all over the world! Talking of censorship, it's a bit fresh for Archbishop Cremona to be complaining that this new crucifix ban in schools is censorship don't you think?

AVG: It's funny. But to be expected. The church is like this big bully, a protective bully, who's suddenly finding himself at the receiving end of bullying, and obviously it's a bit of a shock. The church also believes it has a God given right to be the big fish in the pond. So i understand their reactions, both towards material they deem wrong and in the case of them being "censored". it's just the way it goes. we all see things through our particular lens.

JF: What next now? Has this inspired you to write more of the same?

AVG: No. I did think for a while yesterday to write a short novel, with the first chapter being the infamous short story, and then move on from there. Somehow i must redeem this guy. but i'm not sure I feel like it. I am working on a novel right now, that should be out by the end of the summer, which is sort of a development of the first story in Zewg.

JF: And will you be publishing the story online? Lots of people have been asking where they can read it.

AVG: No I will not, Not for now at least. Because there's too much of a fuss about it. Whoever really wants to read it will find a way. Malta zghira! (Malta is small)

- Alex Vella Gera is the author of Lil Hinn mill-Jien (May 2009) and Zewg (September 2009) available at all good Maltese bookshops, and online at http://www.ilovebooks.com.mt/shbooks/index.php?manufacturers_id=5632&osCsid=58daf0f6f9177f1dcc3ba8dc33554572

the book i really really really really want

2009-11-06T16:49:00.000+01:00

Three Hundred and Seventeen and Counting is the title of the new book celebrating more than two decades' worth of covers by Steven Meisel for Italian Vogue. Meisel has had an unofficial residency at the magazine since 1988 and has photographed every cover.

This book officially opens my Christmas wish list. There's a limited edition version, but i'd be happy with the softback.

www.mallard-janvier.com

sorry ...

2009-11-06T08:24:00.002+01:00

have been a bit crazy busy these last few days and not really had time to write much ... should have some more time over the next couple of days so promise to catch up.

... but we love Perez

2009-11-01T18:11:00.000+01:00

... for dressing up as Lady Gaga ... though I did think it was Bette Midler at first!

No comment (2)

2009-11-01T18:05:00.000+01:00

Sack the Stylist (2)

2009-11-01T17:54:00.000+01:00

Woops, she´s done it again! She´s spending 200 grand a year to look like this??

What a twat!

2009-11-01T16:03:00.000+01:00

Can you believe it? The clown that Italians chose as Prime Minister last year, aka Silvio Berlusconi, has said that even if he was found guilty of corruption in the two cases he has coming up this month, he will not resign from his position. The 73 year old, known better for his ridiculous appearance, his gaffes and his penchant for teenage soubrettes, even has the cheek to claim being "the most persecuted person by the judiciary in all history" (I mean, puhlease!!!) after Italy´s Constitutional Court overturned a law he pushed through Parliament after he his re-election last year, which gave him immunity as long as he was in his position.

Food: Woki it to me!

2009-11-01T15:40:00.000+01:00

Last night I was desperate for some Vietnamese soup brought to my door. I´d had a lazy day and since I was alone I couldn´t be bothered to cook. Could I find one? Could I fuck!! I managed to locate two Vietnamese restaurants, but none of them delivered, and furthermore, none of them made Pho, which makes me question their authenticity as Vietnamese restaurants. I ended up in McDonald´s instead, but let´s not get into that one.

This afternoon, whilst wandering around my barrio looking for a place to have some food and read the newspapers, I came across a noodle bar called Woki. OK, so it´s not Vietnamese, but it set off last night´s craving again, and I thought better to try this and see what happens than traipse around El Borne for nothing. So I did, and I have to say, my egg noodles with beef, spinach, broccoli and green beans was quite delicious. Yes, it´s a chain (but a small one) and one of those ´concept´places, the idea being that you choose your base (rice noodles, egg noodles or rice), the ingredients (too many to list here) and the sauce (I opted for the ´House Secret¨which was an oyster sauce - dunno why they had to keep that secret!!). Not quite the most groundbreaking of ideas, but hey, it works.

The food was good, and definitely worth going for again. And what´s better, they do take away, and deliver, so next time I couldn´t be arsed with cooking, I know who I´ll be calling. They even sell Asian ingredients, so at some point, I might even have a go at it myself.

Woki, C/Carders 6, 08003 tel: 93 315 27 95
(there are other branches in Gracia and Barceloneta)

www.wokimarket.com

This morning´s cleaning playlist.

2009-11-01T12:54:00.000+01:00

I woke up to a bit of a cleaning frenzy this morning. After two days in Alicante, and a lazy day yesterday recovering from being around two infants, I needed something to do (the boyfriend is away working). So I woke up early, rolled up my sleeves, and off i went, accompanied by this rather unbutch selection of songs:

Charlene: I´ve Been To Paradise (But I´ve Never Been to Me)
Jennifer Holliday: And I´m Telling You (I´m Not Going)
Vikki Carr: It Must Be Him
Donna Summer: Four Seasons of Love - the whole album
Whitney Houston: I Have Nothing
Estrella Morente: Volver
Mina: Parole, Parole; Grande, Grande, Grande

I might as well have worn leggings, put rollers in my hair (tied with a scarf, naturally) and put on a dozen fili (gold bracelets much loved by women in Valletta) throughout the whole thing, but boy was it fun!

Gookie by Gookie!! Please James!!

2009-10-28T12:57:00.001+01:00

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6e3825a523/james-franco-gucci-commercial-outtakes?rel=player

Now I quite like James Franco ... but this?!?!! You would think that he´d remember how to pronounce the name of the company paying him ALOT of money!! (click on link above). It could, of course, be a big piss take.

Notes on Kapoor´s fantasies - Laurent Muller visits AK at the RA, London

2009-10-27T10:20:00.000+01:00

He is internationally acclaimed, winner of the 1991 Turner Prize and a leading sculptor of our time. The Royal Academy of Arts is presenting one of his most subtly extravagant and poetic show. Glad I´m in London to see a part of you!

If nowadays video and images travel for us, we’re still missing the in-situ experience. So this time, no pics from me, just words instead, ones I heard during my visit, the ones felt deep down… it’s also that art, a moment of delight and proximity!

Watching ‘Svayambh’ (‘self-generated’ in Sanskrit) on a bench of one of the halls…
‘What is it made of?’
‘It’s wax I heard’
‘Oh it’s cheaper that way’
‘I hope he pays to have a cleanup after’
‘Mind you if you buy one if his works it costs millions so…’
‘Oh my, it’s so long!’
‘It’s on tracks’
‘He says the whole thing weigh 3 tons’
‘3, oh my god!’
‘And the wax on the arches was put by his technicians’
‘Oh I thought it was on the floor because it was pushed through the breach’
‘I think I prefer the funhouse mirror room’
‘Oh I love the mirrors’
‘It’s like a Xmas tree all that!’
‘And you see it’s moving all the time’
‘I don’t know how long more I can watch this. I want to go home and watch the news’
‘It’s from 6 to 6.30 on BBC1’
‘I am going to write down that, our concierge is off at the moment’

Staring at ‘Non-objects’
What do I like the most here, when I stay distant my non-reflection in the steel yoyo, the fact that my aging body is transformed into rays of blues and pinks, or is it the smell of this young man next too me…
‘It works at any time’
‘Yeah but it’s a bit disturbing no?’
‘Why am I upside down?’
‘It’s crazy!’

Going around ‘Slug’
I caress the curve of your back, there where it’s becoming a valley, where lies my pleasure. I observe the rose petal, purple-crimson alive and breathing so slowly, so deep. It’s rare to see that and I find the same music on a square foot of ‘Slug’, this giant resin monster, there only where the shinny sparkling paint covers the upmost desired curve. There resides the glory of ‘Slug’. Look for it, and indulge!

About ‘Shooting into the Corner’
‘Bang!’ and confusion…no comment from me.

About ‘Greyman cries, Shaman dies, Billowing smoke. Beauty evokes’
Towers of excrement, architectures of a lost age, mounts of cement, mixes of greys, creams blacks and red ochre… Kapoor has done it! A room filed with our own ego, fragility and simple condition. Origins!

About ‘Hive’
‘But it’s enormous, how did they get that in!!!’

Anish Kapoor is at the Royal Academy, London until December 11
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/anish-kapoor/about/

... and then the heavens opened

2009-10-23T13:06:00.000+02:00

The view from Montjuic castle, 22.10.09, 2.30pm

There´s no such thing as a light drizzle in Barcelona, I´m beginning to find out. It doesn´t rain that often, but when it does, ¡joder! how it does it. Talk about rain drops the size of golf balls!! Honestly, they were lethal. And of course, I had to get the big downpour on my way up to Montjuic castle with no shelter. By the time I got up to the top, I was soaking wet. I mean SOAKING wet!

Of course, if I die of pneumonia or bronchitis over the next couple of days it´ll be nobody else´s fault but mine. An umbrella would have helped, but I stubbornly continue to insist on not carrying one.

No comment (1)

2009-10-23T09:48:00.000+02:00

It matters if it´s black or white

2009-10-22T20:51:00.000+02:00

Lara Stone gets ¨blackfaced" for French Vogue

Lara Stone get blacked and whitened in French Vogue

Lara Stone gets whitened in French Vogue

The truth is this: there is very little in fashion that is new. It´s the usual merry-go-round of rehashed ideas that need to be made desirable, because, as Roland Barthes wrote, the idea of fashion needs to be kept going in order for the industry to survive. If fashion didn´t exist, we would buy clothes less frequently, with catastrophic effects. Think of the billions of pounds, dollars, euros, yen or whatever that exchange hands every year because of fashion. Without it there would be only clothes. There would be no must-haves, no pieces to die for .. just plain old clothes.

With so little that is new around, it is now - more than it has ever been - up to the image makers to create some excitement about what is essentially unexciting. Bored of showing the same old dress on a different model? Yes!! So, let´s turn the shirt into a skirt, or make the model a man, or a child ... Anything to make it look new.

Now let´s for a minute imagine ourselves in the Vogue headquarters in Paris. There´s a brainstorming session going on, and the brains are storming to see how they´re going to make some essentially same-old clothes look interesting. "Eureka" cries the editor Mme. Roitfield - the woman responsible for making French Vogue the Vogue of Vogues (formerly it was Franca Sozzani at Vogue Italia, but that´s gone downhill of late), "why don't we use Lara (Stone, the dutch model to who Roitfield recently dedicated a whole issue!), and paint her black, or white, or black or white? .... We can get Steven (Klein) to photograph it". Pens and notepads fall onto the floor, jaws drop. The excitment is palpable. "Mais c'est genial!" the rest of the table cries in unison. "Cést cool, non?" Madame L'editrix has come up trumps again.

Fast forward to October, the pictures are published, and Roitfield is caught in a maelstrom. The World Wide Web is in overdrive and she is branded a racist for allegedly 'blackfacing' Stone and reinforcing a negative stereotype.

But is that really so? To be honest, if I´d seen the spread with no knowledge of the uproar, the idea of racism wouldn´t have entered my mind, and I´m usually quite up for calling someone a racist/bigot/homophobe/xenophobe/whateverist-otophobe when necessary. In fact, my only thought was, "Ok, they're doing Keith Haring/Jean Paul Goude/Grace Jones again"(which to my knowledge never ended up in any race debates)

Jean Paul Goude whitens Grace

Keith Haring whitens Grace

It seems like I´m in the minority on this one.

Sack the Stylist (1)

2009-10-22T11:47:00.000+02:00

Cheryl Cole performs at X-Factor

Unfortunately (or maybe not so) I didn´t manage to find a picture of the whole ensemble, but close your eyes for a second and imagine this get-up with a pair of black low-cut, side-split harem pants, then open them, and ask for the stylist´s head on a plate.

Laurent Muller parties with les artistes after Frieze

2009-10-22T11:33:00.000+02:00

And yet another edition of Frieze comes to an end. Now in it´s seventh edition, the art fair welcomed more than 150 galleries, evolving between a taste of neo-arte povera, glam-pop and the strong ‘classic values’.

Where do the emerging artists go? To fight the credit crunch or refuse to go thinner, this year a whole section was dedicated to them: Frame. Unframed would have been appropriate, with its un-carpeted cheap raw floor and its lot of free spirited explorations. I value the very high quality video installations that, in my opinion, led the show, creating an actual bridge between our complex consciousnesses.

On one of the evenings of this past week, I embarked in a crazy journey with friends and ended up at Dreams, 2dreams or maybe more… not sure of the club’s address at this point. I hadn’t take part in such a conglomerate of fizz-bubble-thickEyeglass personas in a long time.

Was it the London art scene or Friezeland Underground Avenue? All ages mixed and finally the pseudo-archetypal-artist-look was destroyed: is freedom back?

Not sure if we all found our fairy on the night but the electric voice performance transported me to a festive neon-blue village square.

Hmm, Human after all!

No naked mannequins please, we´re Maltese!

2009-10-19T18:52:00.000+02:00

(Please note: Mannequin pictured is not the actual offending article)

It´s a bit like playing snakes and ladders is Malta. One day - as was the case last Friday when I read about univeristy students being pro-gay marriage, divorce etc - you think, "oh good, things aren´t as bad as they used to be", and see a feint glimmer of hope coming through. Then, having taken a weekend off from your computer, you turn it on on a Monday morning to be confronted by a a piece such as this on The Times website (http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091018/local/police-get-shirty-over-nude-mannequins) which makes you think, "then again, maybe not!" and also want to cry and wail and pull your hair out in despair at the sheer pig-ignorance (no offence to pigs intended) of some of the people who hold authority on that little rock in the Mediterranean we call home.

So a shop owner with a conscience decides to use the windows of his Mosta shop as a means to get a message across, and highlight the plight of millions of sex slaves all over the world who are in their situation as a result of sex traficking. He does this by placing two naked mannequins - one male, and one female (and if I remember correctly, mannequins have no genitals, so there isn´t even a case for "obscenity" here) tied together together by a chain. This is no kinky S&M set-up, please note, but a symbolic scenario in which the female slave is tied to the male (though I have to ask the question here: is the man a fellow slave, or the trafficker? If it´s the latter, then why is he naked? But that´s not really relevant to this argument, so I won´t bring it up).

Now if someone would have told me that the guy´s shopwindows had paint splattered over them at night, or perhaps someone had thrown a stone at them and shattered them, I would have thought, "OK, so someone involved in sex-trafficking is not happy with what this guy´s doing, and is sending him a not-so-subtle message to back off". Which, let´s face it, would be a pretty much predictable situation. But no, it was no seedy trafficker who objected to the windows, but "someone influential" who found the naked mannequins so "explicit" (a mannequin? explicit?), that he or she actually wasted the little energy left from being so influential (or perhaps being so influential, he or she might have got a secretary to do it) to report the display to the police, who - seemingly having so little to do with their time - promptly marched to the shop to instruct the owner to cover-up the offending display.

Scary isn´t it? Is this a country that claims to be living in 2009?

There is a happy ending to this story (or so I hope). According to The Times report, the owner doesn´t seem like a man who takes what influential people with serious sexual issues object to very seriously , and has decided to stick his middle finger up to the authorities and leave his display. I´m sure that this "someone influential" will persist in his or her attempt to remove the offending articles (perhaps he or she might try using another street) but it seems like this shopowner is not one to bow down easily to authority, and I´m hoping that he´s not going to let this one pass easily.

The revolution has to start somewhere!

To find out more about the campaign against sex trafficking visit http://www.dnaemporium.com/en/sex-trafficking .

Home, Sunday 18 October 2009

2009-10-19T11:33:00.002+02:00

Laurent Muller visits Miroslaw Balka´s ´How It Is' at Tate Modern

2009-10-19T10:58:00.000+02:00

For its 10^th annual commission, the Tate Modern is presenting Miroslaw Balka’s sculpture, How It Is.
But what is it I wonder? It’s an enormous mass of black steel, an enormous container far away. It’s an oppressive belly as you walk underneath of its surface, perched on thin fragile legs. And there is life all around it. As I observe the laughter and amusement of strangers around me I must know more about it.
Is it alive? Is it sad and serious?

Unconsciously, I follow the voices. Unconsciously, an awful taste of horror comes deep within my guts. History is right there and this container leads to its atrocious memory.
The access ramp is facing the thin elongated windows of the Turbine hall. I turn my back to them as I walk in as if a story is coming to an end. I fear the moment. The dimensions are eloquent but the presence of people around me makes me forget them. What is there to see, feel and remember? I hesitate a second and forget about my camera. I want to experience alone, without any safety net.
Maybe the hope of being shaken has been built up too high. I walk to the black end of the container and don’t realize its limit. The wall of flesh, standing up facing its entrance is actually pushed to the spatial frontier of the space. I touch the steel of blackness and understand.

What is there to understand? So much and so little really. I will never be one of these deported souls of WW2, I will never be Balka either. And if my experience was not so dramatic today, maybe I should be grateful and embracing light with more desire of life…

http://www.tate.org.uk/

A horrible, unkind, vile woman

2009-10-16T17:52:00.002+02:00

The Daily Mail´s Jan Moir

I wanted to keep out of the whole Stephen Gately debate, until this was brought to my attention. Wouldn´t you know, it was published in The Daily Mail!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html

Update: an article published in response in www.guardian.co.uk:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir

Last update: MOnday 19, 10.33am

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-boyzone

Who will go to the ball?

2009-10-15T17:45:00.000+02:00

One of these films will be representing Spain at the Oscars this year (I haven´t seen any of them, so can´t comment):

Isabel Coixet´s Mapa de los Sonidos de Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoZvFsBZLuc

Fernando Trueba´s The Dancer and The Thief http://www.azmovies.net/the-dancer-and-the-thief.html

Daniel Sanchez-Arevalo´s Gordos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch2aqVeFzXw

I´m a bit gutted that Almodovar´s Los Abrazos Rotos did not qualify, but hey, some you win, some you don´t.

Another regular in the square

2009-10-15T17:30:00.000+02:00

The benches in the square downstairs seem to be a magnet for some weird and wonderful characters. No sooner had I blogged about the old man in the hat, that this lady appeared, wearing loads of clothes, flip flops and carrying all her belongings in a trolley. She´s been spending whole days, smoking a seemingly endless supply of cigarettes and watching the world and his brother go by.

Memories of Barcelona

2009-10-15T17:18:00.000+02:00

(Xavier Miserachs Ribalta, untitled, 1967)

(Colita, La Place Real, undated)

(Colita, untitled, 1965)

(Colita, Montjuic, 1963)

Being a bit of a lover of photography, I was super-thrilled when a friend turned up for dinner last week with a book of photos by the Barcelona born photographers Xavier Miserachs Ribalta (1937 - 1998) and Colita (1940 - ) whose work I was not familiar with.

Called Memories de Barcelona (Lupita Books, Barcelona, 2008), the book is an anthology of Miserachs Ribalta and Colita´s work, featuring photographs taken between 1964 and 1975, when Barcelona was an altogether different city than it is now.

www.lupitabooks.com

SHOCK HORROR: Liberal Students found on University of Malta campus!!

2009-10-14T13:22:00.001+02:00

(apologies for the dreadful picture)

OMG! It´s unbeleivable. According to a piece in yesterday´s (Malta) Times, a survey carried out by the new progressive student movement MOVE, students at the Univeristy of Malta - those poor innocent lambs who had - shock horror - condoms!!, forced upon them by those evil marketing men at Vodafone during fresher week - are actually, surprise, surprise, not as ignorant and narrow minded as everyone thought they were. In fact, - among other results which will be launched today on campus - 49 % actually agree with the idea of gay marriage (39% are against, 16% undecided).

In another survey carried out by the university´s chaplaincy, (and here I´m quoting The Times) "the overwhelming majority" of students disagreed with the church´s teachings on divorce, contraception and, ooh the thought of it, pre-marital sex! Like, DUH!!!! What did you expect? I´d be very worried if they agreed.

What I can´t stomach is how commentators on the Times website refuse to accept the truth and are now arguing against the methodology used by MOVE to come up with the figures, whilst one commentator is going on about the fact that crosses (crucifixes, I imagine, he means) have been removed from lecture rooms. I mean, people, get your asses over to the nearest supermarket and buy yourselves a life, for Chrissakes!! It´s 2009!!

I´ll be looking out for the rest of the results

Links.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091013/local/half-of-university-students-agree-with-gay-marriage-survey)
http://www.move.org.mt/

14.51 More news just in
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091014/local/university-students-in-heated-debate-on-sexual-health

My Favourite Altar Boy

2009-10-12T15:50:00.000+02:00

Ever since I was a child roaming the streets of Valletta, the plaster altar boy asking for donations to help him become a priest ("ghinni insir qassis") has stood outside the door of 227, Merchants Street. I even had a little crush on him at one point, in fact I keep a framed photo of him in the flat to this very day.

According to today´s (Malta) Times (http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091012/local/the-50-year-old-altar-boy) the statue has been there since the late 1950s and originally came from Spain. Funnily enough, a couple of days ago I came across a similar one, made as a prop for a movie, in an antiques shop in El Borne. I would have bought it there and then, only it had a price tag of 1,800€. I suppose I´ll have to make do with the photograph!