Gather round and turn up the volume
Published:
June 10, 2008 at 3:30pm
Here’s the famous video-clip of Joseph! Joseph! singing the Innu Malti with his hand on his heart, his eyes closed, a scintillating tie, and Lil Din (as he referred to his wife) at his side. Fabulous.
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Joseph, like Eddie, Alfred and Lawrence before him, needs an image and marketing consultant. Reminds me of the days when Eddie would wave to the crowds in that limp wristed fly swatting motion. As for Jason, needs to look focused. Stefan looked like a bit of a haxxu. Michelle was about the only one who got it right.
I half expect Joseph to take off, he feels so ecstatic. Now just focus on Jason: he gives the impression of being bored to tears. Are there any body language experts here?
Joseph uses a lot of nice words and admittedly is not scary in the same way that KMB and AS were. However he really needs to stop overacting! Did he really have to close his eyes and hold his heart when singing the national anthem? Who does he hope to impress aside from his blinkered fans?
The best part of this video though has to be Smiley! Doesn’t he know the words to the national anthem? Was he embarassed by Joseph’s theatrics? Or were the wheels of his brain grinding slowly as he deliberates his future? He must be worried that fawning up to the new great leader may not be enough.
Those of us who expected to be entertained have certainly not been let down till now! More to come…?
Our flaccid national anthem isn’t one to make you close your eyes and hold your hand to your heart. So anyone doing this is definitely acting.
Uncle Fester, you think that Joseph needs an image and marketing consultant. Don’t you know that he’s married to one? She runs her own marketing and communications consultancy, or at least she used to do before she had twins. She’s probably been working on her husband for years, though I can’t say I rate her skills too highly, given her track record. By her own admission – see her interview in KullHadd last Sunday – she spent years working ’24 hours a day’ on the public image of Alfred Sant and the Labour Party. She can’t be very bright if she thinks that job looks great in her portfolio. But then if she were bright….no, I won’t say it. The girl has enough problems as it is.
We surely are judging him by his deeds! I think Smiley knows the innu (tal-partit) which starts like the”Black Adder Tune”. I don’t know how to hand it over to the Moderator.
[Moderator – Do you mean this:
?]
It`s a pity we didn`t have u-tube, Daphne and internet when Mintoff and KMB were at their peak.
Also I wish she had started this blog some 10 years ago.
@ Daphne. I didn’t know that about Michelle Muscat. However, Joseph Muscat unlike Alfred Sant, is a natural performer. Note how he talks in a very paced way, uses a neutral accent that sounds educated but not specific to any region. His facial expressions are correct and appropriate to what he is saying. His eyes look into the camera. His hands are used sparingly but emphatically to give dramatic effect to a point. He simply needs a little bit of help with his clothes and needs to tone down the smile just a notch. Otherwise he has what it takes. He’ll take a few hard knocks but will come out the better for them. Michelle needs a little bit of a hair makeover (get rid of that fringe) and needs to dress in more female executive fashion but not bad for a novice. Not bad at all – she is likeable. Jason is very easy on the eyes and speaks well, he just appears off guard in that clip. He comes across as a bit of a narcissist but can be forgiven because of his youth. Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi has a nerdy look about him. Shoulders back and to the side not limply hanging forward crouching at the shoulders. They needs some people with grey hair in that lineup though.
Ah! So I was not the only one who noticed that Jason wasn’t so ‘smiley’. Somehow he lloks really worried.
OMG as my four year old would say………I though he was going to burst into tears. Two good laughs in one day is more than enough.
Did anyone see the statue of St.George tumbling down, it reminded me very much of DrAlfredSand`s government.Look at people`s reaction ishom tal lajber.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080610/local/statue-of-st-george-falls-during-procession
@ Mod :The tune is the same , when one hears the first part with the same type of ‘orchestration’
This is what I could find:
http://silvioschembri.com/Innu_Partit_Laburista%20-%20MLP.mp3
[Moderator – I think we’ve established that the Innu Partit Laburista was ripped from Black Adder.]
Daphne you have to get hold of JM and wife singing the Labour’s anthem on stage last Sunday!!! And JM explaining the lyrics to the deaf.
@Uncle Fester – I live in Bidnija. Joseph Muscat is from Burmarrad, down the road. His accent is, contrary to what you think, specific to this area – albeit a very moderated and modulated version. An example: in ‘naghtuhom’, there is strong emphasis on the middle syllable, nagh-TU-hom. This is just an observation, nothing more.
@Uncle Fester again – now you’ve made me curious. How can you say that Joseph comes across well? He comes across as artificial and every movement is self-conscious, like a teenager trying to impress a grown-up. And more so, how can you say that Jason comes across well? He comes across as somebody whose lights are on with nobody home, with that blank expression. And there are moments when he just hovers on the edge of coming across as a tantrum-prone, flouncing queen. When I saw the television footage of him clapping with his hands in the air as Joseph’s victory was announced, I had a sudden flash of footage of a fashion show, when the designer walks down the catwalk and all the camp-followers (that was camp-followers, hyphenated, and not camp followers; the meanings are different) jump up and clap and cheer in that affected manner. It’s actually hysterically funny.
@Fleur Hlli (strange surname isn’t it…how do you pronounce it?)
Where you referring to these?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOaCqJmbDJM&feature=related
@ john i thnk that the mlp anthem came before black adder… does that mean that they ripped them off?
Daphne, I wanted to ask you a little question. Somewhat unrelated and yet related to your choice of topic above.
Do you envisage censoring any opinion even if such might be opposing to the general trend of thought here?
I trust that you would not.
Though obviously censorship has its limits, I certainly wouldn’t expect some comment to be published were it to be void of argument but full of swear words and obscenities obviously. I’m just curious whether you’d disable a comment from being published just because it differs from your personal views. I’m sure that’s not the case, but would appreciate an answer.
I’m sending this message as a personal query. Feel free to reply on my email [email protected]
So Jayson Tal-Qsari doesn’t know the words to the Maltese National Anthem. He looks like a constipated chicken, trying to remember the next line to the Innu Nazzjonali while the flamboyant turkeys are doing their drama. Ara veru tal-fares.
Please let’s not make a fuss from where the party hymns were actually “ripped”
[Moderator – We’re just joking – as though Mary Spiteri has ever heard of Black Adder.]
SB: Maybe he was looking for a mirror.
@Uncle Fester
I agree that JM is easier on the eye but there is something about his eyes that is not convincing. He appears to be acting out the part. As for Jason, well all I can say is that most people feel that he is “tad-daqqiet ta’ harta”. Actually he was easy on the eye when he was a TV presenter, but when he started talking about things other than plants and trees, he became a real antipatiku.
I think this is the actual Black Adder theme.. or another version anyway:
And these are the black adder back and forth theme lyrics, they are really funny if you apply them to Joseph…:
Let joy fill every Briton’s heart, for now our country’s going to make it.
At last a king who looks the part. At last a queen who looks good naked.
Blackadder, Blackadder, a monarch with panache. Blackadder, Blackadder, he’s got a nice moustache.
Everything he wants he’ll get, the world is now Blackadder’s oyster.
Some Prime Ministers are wet, but Baldrick he is even moister.
Blackadder, Blackadder, a dog who’s got his bone. Blackadder, Blackadder, a bastard on the throne.
Blackadder, Blackadder, his beard is neatly curled. Blackadder, Blackadder, he’s going to rule the world.
[Moderator – Excellent!]
@Galea – I don’t have anything to do with the comment section. I post comments in the same way that everyone else does. Your query about swear-word and obscenities: the comment-board is moderated precisely to avoid that sort of thing. No comments are censored because opinions differ to the general trend. All you have to do is read through the comments to see that.
Has anybody ever compared the MLP and PN anthems. They too are very similar. This type of tune is usually used when you want to gather followers or a mob as the case may be. I’m not saying that MLP copied PN or vice versa, but anyone who has studied music and how its used would have noticed what I’m saying.
As for JM putting his hand on his heart when singing the national anthem, I personally don’t like it, but anyone who supports italian football knows that Italians tend to use that posture when singing their anthem. Why did he close his eyes – he knows it by heart!
So you don’t like Michelle’s style, I don’t like Mary Fenech Adami’s style and she is the first lady. Now when we had Iris Demarco she was really a first Lady. I dont like Giovana’s style, and I’m not very impressed by Kate’s style either. So what. Smiley it seems the only smile you like is Gonzi’s well many people like smiles better than Fenech Adami or Alfred Sant, I don’t remember them smiling.
@ Daphne How did you want JM to refer to his wife – maybe you just did not want him to refer to her at all. If you want to laugh at the way politician talk especially when you literaly translate what they said – translate this. Some years back Dr.E Fenech Adami then Prime minister of Malta said “Ahna lill-Unions invitajnihom….” Since your Maltese is not that good “invitajnihom is something you do with a screw driver and has nothing to do with an invitation. I wonder if he said it intentionally, cause that is exactly what the PN did to the unioins “invithom” (pls translate to English.
Thank you for your kind reply. I have read your blog since it started now and you’ve always played fair. However when I posted a reply to Andrew Borg Cardona’s blog…. it just never appeared, long hours after posting. Even though my reply just voiced out my opinion and didn’t consist in any type of comments worth ‘censoring’.
I hope for heaven’s sake the PN isn’t using the ways we have always been accusing the MLP of using. That’d be really sad. :(
@Albert Farrugia If you cannot pronunce it ……..your problem.
I will not post an other link to you tube because I do not know which one to attach, whether the one with swearing old man at a lejber meeting or the one were everyone including DrAlfredSant were encouraging a certain Mr Wood at the Lejber Glass House. With Lejber I am spoilt for choice.
Well, maybe the MLP anthem was rippd from Blackadder and maybe not. What is sure is that the PN anthem is an almost note-for note copy of Mussolini’s “Giovinezza”. And the reason is obvious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6x9ZRlrjxw&feature=related
I always had a feeling that JM is acting a part. This feeling is now a certainty, after seeing the Nat anthem clip where he is acting the American patriot.
Thre is a quotation from Hamlet, that I will corrupt with your leave, which springs to mind whenever I see Joseph. The gentleman doth smilet too much methinks, but as somebody pointed out, his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. The coarse expression is that “jidher li qed jiprova jitnejjek bik”. It seems that he is reading from a script, and the script is peppered with “Smile Now” and “Repeat Smile”. I am sure that most of il-popolin will swallow his gimmicks, his vacuos smile, and his showmanship. Mark my words, he will make it to PM come next election, not because he is a born again hippy, with his protestations of love and peace, or because he has any worth (I said it before, it is presumptuos of somebody to come up with a 15 yr plan whilst on a plane from Brussels) but because he will be perceived as a new fad.
Joseph, the time for theatrics and superficialities is over. Now we judge you by what you do not what you say. It is time to deliver your promises so I suggest you get on with it. It is insulting that as Leader of the MLP you are delaying your full involvement in position just becasue you have to write an EU report which can be written by any half baked secretary.
The more I see the more i get convinced that the PN have chosen Joseph as Labour’s leader and that DCG was an integral part of this project.
For goodness sake could you for once put the nation’s interest before that of the party? Spiccajna partit immexxi mit-tfal. L-ezempju ta’ l-inkompetenza ta Jason bhala segretarju generali mhux talli ma hadimx talli issa ghamlu aghar.
Nies genwini laburisti bhali spiccajna politikament spaesati ( don’t know its equivalent in Maltese or english!)
@ Daphne. I did not pick up on Joseph’s accent at all – it is not obvious. I think that he comes across well. He’s a young man so he needs to grow into the job. He will mature as he gets knocked about a bit. As for Jason, I think that you are falling into the trap of assuming that just because he is physically attractive then he must be a little light on his feet. Very unfair on him. I know someone who worked with him for years and says that he is an extremely nice person, very down to earth, gets on with people of all backgrounds and is 100% heterosexual. Whether he has what it takes intellectually to be Secretary General is another matter altogether – he may be out of his depth.
I’ll tell you this much though. I can see myself sitting down with Joseph and his wife and Jason Micallef and enjoying a beer and a good meal with them. I can’t imagine doing that with Gonzi much less Fenech Adami. They are not of “the people” in the same way as Jason and Joseph. They are definitely up there somewhere high above the rest of us ordinary mortals.
@P Portelli – how does “Genuine Labourites like me have ended up as strangers in their own land” – not perfect, I know.
OK since you are fine with it here’s what I posted on Dr Borg Cardona’s Blog, as a reply to a guy who ‘accused’ ABC of becoming like DCG.
Honestly I love your blogging Daphne, I can’t fathom why it irked Andrew Borg Cardona so much as to censor the following from view. I’m honestly much more entertained reading your writings than Andrew’s, and no I am not meaning so sarcastically, you have a flair for writing stuff which makes it interesting for Nationalists and Labourites alike. That had been my point all along.
Here’s what I had posted, hope you give it deserved space and prove yourself to be more democratic than Andrew Borg Cardona- apparently he chooses only the replies he is comfortable enough to reply to.
Here are my opinions which Andrew saw fit to censor and do without:
“ABC takes writing seriously and professionally. True he appears to misunderstand the topic, but I don’t expect him to really analyse JM’s speeches in depth given that JM is the new Labour leader. He watched it on youtube only once he said himself. Could be the misinterpretation is intentional, otherwise where would one be finding the topics to churn out negative (as opposed to constructive) criticism on a guy like JM? I fully understand and respect ABC’s opinions though, he’s just doing the job expected from him. Everyone knows ABC will never praise any labour leader, not even if DrGonzi crosses the room and becomes MLP leader…
DCG on the other hand, she’s plain entertainment. She writes good intelligent stuff yet is funny while maintaining a safe distance and possibly without lying even though most of her statements might be considered frivolous.
Going through her blog, here are some of the reasons why JM isn’t a good leader:
-he’s got curly hair;
-wears a pink tie;
-wears a blue tie with red dots;
-wears a multi-coloured tie;
-puts hand on heart while singing national anthem;
-has got short legs; (really?)
-his face-shape resembles a clown;
-has trouser hems too long;
-his smile looks artificial (DCG must be confusing leaders at this point!)
-applies hair-styling gel
Personally I’d be definitely preferring to go through DCG’s personal, lively and humourous opinion rather than some sombre one.
Xewka, you’re exasperating. Why, in the list of people in the public eye whose style you don’t like, did you mention only women? I don’t see a single Gianni Agnelli in the ranks of the men.
What do you mean, how did I expect Joseph Muscat to refer to his wife, if not with the words ‘lil din’? Were you born in the gutter? Do you honestly believe that this is the way men allude to their wives on a public stage – or for that matter, anywhere else? He should have said: ‘My wife, Michelle..’ (but certainly not Mrs Muscat, because that would imply that he was talking to social inferiors). Lil din! And I suppose she would have to call him ‘lil dan’. Clueless.
Now I get it – He thinks that he’s a cross between Jesus Christ and (tenor) Joseph Calleja …
… and shame on a would-be prime minister not to know that he should have been standing with his arms STRAIGHT DOWN by his sides THROUGHOUT (UNTIL THE END OF) the national anthem.
With everybody concentrating on Joseph Mucat, NOBODY seems to have noticed that the peacock is looking very ill-at-ease because he clearly DOES NOT KNOW the words of the national anthem!
He looks very much like a little child trying to move his lips to mimic the adults around him when saying prayers during mass. (Press “play” again now, and see what I mean.)
Shame on you too, Jase!
Sorry, Adrian Borg and others – I just realised that you DID notice Jasey-Wasey after all
Uncle Fester!!!! Do you really consider Jason Micallef to be physically attractive?? Are you sure you don’t need an appointment with the eye specialist?
One other thing, what gives you the impression that Gonzi is not ‘of the people’ From what you said it’s obvious that you prefer pompous prats as company for dinner.
Uncle Fester – It’s not “just some grey hair” that they need “in that line-up”. What about a little bit more grey matter?
@ Xewka – you say the MLP and PN anthems are simlar.
I don’t think so.
The MLP anthem is based on the Internationale (tas-socjalisti), while the PN anthem is based on Mussolini’s (I’m not joking – Tal-Balilla, they used to call it).
Also, playing both anthems at once on a piano (the internationale and the fascist anthem) one notes that each hand moves diametrically opposite the other. It’s amazing!
(BTW, you must be the same Xewka of Maltafly fame, right? The one who was obsessively anti-EU before the 2003 election, defended Sant in his U-turn and now drivel over little Joseph. A true follower, Xewka, congrats.)
@ Uncle Fester. To say that JM does not speak with an accent is sheer idiocy. I happen to be fascinated by accents and can smell one from miles away. Incidentally that’s one of the things I commented about upon hearing JM’s faith-healer speech on Sunday – how prominent his accent is. As Daphne said he puts too much emphasis on the second syllable. To give the same example as Daphne – the word naghtuhom he pronounces as natuwwom. Mind you, he’s free to do so, but let facts be facts pls u tmerix is-sewwa maghruf!
@P Portelli
Rest assured that the PN’s project was to have George Abela elected. Of course the character assasination of Joseph Muscat has to begin at once, has already begun, and the Nats are trying to use the weapons which they honed so perfectly during Alfred Sant’s tenure. But, as clearly seen yesterday on Bondi+, the old familiar weapons do not have the same effect.
What defines a “genuine Labourite” at this juncture is that of not doing the PN’s work in the character assassination of the LAbour Leader.
To all the hardline PN supporters on this blog: Give the new guy at the head of the MLP a chance. Lay off him for a while. Have the decency to give him some space.
@eve. Compared to your average politico Jason is easy on the eye. Look at the lineup on the other side of the aisle. You have Gonzi who reminds me of one of the muppet characters – the one with the square head. Tonio Borg looks like a cartoon character from the Toffs comic strip in Beano comic book. Mary Fenech Adami looks like the bewildered cleaning lady who walked onto the stage at the Manoel by accident right in the middle of a performance.
Furthermore I don’t see Joseph Muscat and Jason as pompous. Pompous would be someone like Guido DeMarco. Those facial expressions, puffed up chest and downturned mouth not to mention the titles – Professor, President Emeritus, President of the UN General Assembly etc etc. – I think that he takes the cake in the pomposity department.
You see it is just so easy to poke fun at people unjustly.
Do you really, Uncle Fester?
(Incidentally, nobody could vouch about him – or anyone else – being “100% heterosexual”. Surely you’ve heard of at least one case where not even a wife of several years had the slightest suspicion of her husband being gay? I’m not saying that Jays is, but I just wanted to point out that you cannot vouch for anyone.)
@Xewka
You may be a xewka, but as regards musical diatribe you’re no better than a damp squib!
Anyone with a modicum of tunefulness in his ears can surely tell you that the ‘Giovinezza’ and ‘Sbejha Patria’ tunes have absolutely nothing to do with each other. The only common factor is that both must have been written in roughly the same period (Giovinezza was surely written in 1909; I can’t find when the PN anthem was written), and that there rythmical style is similar (but even the MLP anthem is similar in the same way)
@uncle fester
I you do not get JM’s Burnarrad accent you must be tone deaf. Be as it may his accent is probably a strength not a weakness. The weakness is that he feels out of his depth. He is clearly a child trying to do a man’s job.
As Jason fell flat in a similar attempt so will JM fail when it matters. So you think that Gonzi is not the type you can have a beer with eh? So if he were how many thousands of votes they would have beaten us at last elections which was practically wrapped up for Labour saving AS?
Ooops sorry, my previous comment was directed to Ganni Borg not Xewka… skuzani Xewk!
Daphne, thank you for editing my post a bit because that makes it understood better.
I would like my original words to get through though. Please I know ABC censored it all because it wasn’t to his liking, but my post still does you justice even uncensored and all? So here is it, please respect my opinion:
It’s a lot shorter and less trouble, my original post had stated:
“DCG on the other hand, she’s plain entertaining fiction perfect for my mid-afternoon chuckle.”
Rather than YOUR elaboration of added words…. “DCG on the other hand, she’s plain entertainment. She writes good intelligent stuff yet is funny while maintaining a safe distance and possibly without lying even though most of her statements might be considered frivolous.”
[Leave this following part out if you desire — you’re already great enough as you are, let people speak their stuff because censorship might remind some that people in glass houses shouldn’t be throwing stones… you’re not worth of that]
[Moderator – Your post was published exactly as you sent it. What are you on about?]
@ Mod
Can’t watch it. there’s a message saying clip no longer available. did the elfs hack you tube too?
[Moderator – Which clip?]
Zgur li kuntent Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Licari li tela’ l-Poodle, I am sure Drrrr Licari is already strategically positioning himself for some morsel or other from the Loved Up One.
What’s with the tie? DId he get it from some Gay Pride parade?
@So Uncle Fester finds Jason physically attractive. Relatively speaking as explained above. It is the only reason I can think for Daphne trying to make out that Jason is that way inclined. She certainly has no objective basis for her aspersions. As far as I’m concerned to each his own. If he is gay, which he is not, who cares? If he isin’t then why make up these stories? And who knows what some married men do? My guess is as much as they can get away with whether it is with the ladies or with their own sex. It’s the nature of the male beast – monogamy is not in our genes!
@ P Portelli. Gonzi has too much of the overgrown altar boy about him. People may trust him in the same way they trusted EFA – he is the good Catholic boy we were all brought up to believe we should aspire to be. Can’t see Gonzi or his mentor knocking back a couple of cisks with the boys. Joseph and Jason I can see doing that. They just seem more down to earth that way. Notice how people refer to Jason and JM by their first names but never do the same with the PM – he is always Gonzi or Lawrence Gonzi. Not someone people feel comfortable with in a one on one situation.
JM is a Ken look-alike with a goatee, a receeding hairline and a very noticable Burmarrad accent.
@ Amrio – Xewka is saying that the MLP and PN anthems are similar. I’m saying that the PN anthem is similar to Mussolini’s Giovinezza (and thanks for reminding me of the name; my maternal grandfather used to love it).
You cannot say the PN tune wasn’t a ripp-off.
@ Uncle Fester – I can’t follow your reasoning. You seem to judge the worthiness of somebody to be prime minister and party secretary-general on the basis of whether you would feel comfortable having a beer with them. I, on the other hand, judge them on whether they’re up to running the country well. I have no wish or inclination to have a beer with either Fenech Adami or Gonzi, but I voted for both because they made exceptional prime ministers. On the other hand, those of my friends with whom I am comfortable having a beer I would never choose as prime minister.
Thank you for the information that Jason is 100% heterosexual. This will make me sleep easier, given that I am a noted and notorious homophobe who campaigns to have gay men locked up.
And given that I come from a family of people who are both intelligent and good-looking (sorry, but you really asked for it there) I am the last person to assume that just because a person is good-looking, then he must be brainless.
Amrio, let’s leave the rest of the posters to judge for themselves, shall we?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCeB1TaEm5Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6x9ZRlrjxw&feature=related
But if Mussolini was still alive, he could probably sue for breach of copyright.
[Moderator – Your post was published exactly as you sent it. What are you on about?]
Nothing — I just copy and paste my posts on wordpad or MS office just before I click the submit button.
That way was also how I retrieved the reply to ABC’s blog which he chose not to publish.
Listen, i am as nationalist as anyone here but i will admit one thing my grandfather and his father before him, both avid nationalists “minn guf ommom”, said about the PN anthem. It is one note removed from the Giovinezza anthem, Mussolini’s fascist one. Not exact;y a heritage to be proud of. But its ours, and believe me, it sends us running to the party when the time comes. Its in the blood you see….when you hear the words Malta Taghna, meta int issejhilna, demmna ncarcru, ghal liberta. Fine words today, and brave words when they were written. Malta being a colony at the time, they were considered seditious and traitorous. So the tune may be suspect, but none of the words are. They resonate with something deep inside every true Nationalist. The PN is not perfect, and i will the the first to say so. But it’s mine.
@Daphne. I agree with your theoretical reasoning – we should vote for the most competent person however likeability is a factor when voting. It worked against AS because he was a ‘stramb’. It works for JM because he is an extrovert.
Glad that you don’t agree that good looks and brains are mutually exclusive qualities in an individual. Both LG and JM are blessed with good brains. I’m blessed with both and apparently you think that you are too! Cheers!
Uncle Fester: Monogamy is not genetic. It’s behavioural. Some people just don’t know how to behave or just believe they can play differently at home and when away.