This week I watched Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s latest invitation to an hour or so of light pseudo-intellectual engagement, and enjoyed every bit of the movie. Gil Pender, the protagonist played by Owen Wilson in this modern fable, is a Hollywood scriptwriter who happens to be in Paris with his fiancée while struggling to write his first novel. We witness Pender’s attempt to write his novel while trying to satisfy the needs of his rather shallow and socialite fiancée. There is no real depth to Woody Allen’s characters in the movie but this is probably because he is busy eagerly exploring psychological themes. “Midnight’s”...

Is this the real life? Or is it just fantasy?I think I’ve mentioned before the popular Chinese curse that involves wishing someone: “May you live in interesting times”. Well, it does not get any more interesting than this. French intellectual Jacques Attali (listed in the top 100 by Foreign Policy Magazine) has been quoted as saying that the euro might not survive Christmas – the common currency will drown sometime between Black Friday (that’s last Friday) and St. Stephen’s Day.Here is this week’s leader in “The Economist”: “The chances of the euro zone being smashed apart have risen alarmingly, thanks to financial...

It’s been ages. If a week in politics is long then almost a month getting married, going on a mini-moon (that’s the trendy half honeymoon while waiting for the real thing) and becoming an uncle immediately after that, while also marking your 36th year of existence, is not only a mouthful but a googleplex of eternities. When the celebrations and tsunami of emotions had subsided, I half expected to look at the papers and find a changed world armed with a strong euro abroad and a Labour government that took over from GonziPN after the latter had imploded. “Hożż fl-ilma.” Which is a much better expression than “Yeah right!”and...

This missive comes to you from the fair city of Frankfurt. I’m here with a troop of Maltese expats to visit the International Book Fair that is being held over the weekend. Last night was mostly dedicated to savouring local foods. In this case “local” meant a variety of pieces of meat served boiled on a bed of sauerkraut. It’s no surprise that this country is never short of money. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is wasted − even when it comes down to eating bits of animal. We ordered a mixed plate of Frankfurt specialities that is supposed to be washed down with Apfelwein. The mixed platter came after our mandatory goulash as a first...

According to a possibly apocryphal story that is doing the rounds on the Internet, Steve Jobs watched the launch of the iPhone 4S from his favourite sofa in his home in Palo Alto. The man hailed as a visionary by the world’s press purportedly snacked on apples and rice pudding throughout the performance of Tim Cook: the man who had been the new anointed presenter of Apple’s latest breakthrough. The “source” claims that at the end of the show Jobs smiled as if to say “all things are in good hands” but did not utter a word. The story is not exactly “Acts of the Apostles” material but you can see where the cult of Jobs is...

In case you were wondering, yes, I did survive my bachelor’s weekend in Italy. There’s nothing like spending some quality time with close friends who can second guess your every whim and fancy without batting an eyelid. It would indeed be a great world to live in if we all managed to live together like bosom buddies without feeling the need to justify our existence by highlighting our differences. I only bought one book in Bologna − “Costruire il nemico” − a series of essays by Umberto Eco. In the first essay, Eco speaks of the need that has always existed in society of “constructing the enemy” and of the different manners in...