Stick to bird-shooting, Mark

Published: July 4, 2009 at 1:47pm
Damn, it's 5pm already. Time to design the entrance to the city.

Damn, it's 5pm already. Time to design the entrance to the city.

timesofmalta.com – MARK MIFSUD BONNICI
The general perception of the whole concept according to The Times opinion poll stands at 43% of the respondents saying they like nothing of the proposed. I believe these facts speak for themselves. As for my designing this project, I believe the intention was to employ somebody that would charge exorbitant fees and return home laughing about the fact that anything as long as its branded can be sold. (excrement included).

I can assure you that there are several competent people in Malta and other foreign renowned architects that could have offered a far more pleasant proposal but were never asked. As for Enzo Piano, this being his second attempt, after an acceptable first, it is also his second commission paid for from our taxes. Have you bothered to find out how much this has cost the taxpayer. I am quite sure Malta would be proud of Having one of Mr. Piano’s souvenirs in years to come but if this is what we are lumped with, I would rather leave the ruins as is and have Parliament transferred to one of the many historical buildings crying out to be restored and used.




9 Comments Comment

  1. Tonio Farrugia says:

    Here’s an expert in everything, excrement included.

  2. jomar says:

    Ezo, Renzo – what’s in a name?

    “I can assure you that there are several competent people in Malta and other foreign renowned architects that could have offered a far more pleasant proposal but were never asked”. Where has MarK been living the last 20 years? If he is so right, why did those ‘as qualified’ people not come forward and protested their exclusion from the process?

    Leave the ruins ‘as-is’? That’s a solution for Mark?

    Some people are destructive, be it in avian matters or visions for the future!

  3. john says:

    I’ve been twice to the exhibition of Piano’s plans, and was most impressed, both by the plans as well as with the quality of their presentation.
    The scheme for the opera house site brought to my mind a phalanx of ancient soldiers shoulder to shoulder, shields before them with lances erect, standing guard over some yet more ancient sacred site, where a ceremony is about to unfold.

    The only problem I have with city gate are the double slits – which remind me of a case of double vagina. It’s pointless having two – one’s more than enough. The smaller of the slits appears to have something to do with access via the lift. It’s a jarring, asymmetrical and “unhistorical” breach in the bastions, whose solidity Piano himself is attempting to emphasize in the main gate. I’m sure he could devise a way of getting rid of it.

    The presentation was first class. I particularly enjoyed the section dedicated to the history of the development of the bridge, with original plans, maps and photographs. Piano has clearly done his homework this time, and come up with far more acceptable solutions. In his own words, he has developed and improved, and, above all, he has listened.

  4. tony pace says:

    There am I relaxed whiling away a couple of hours before I take off to what I hope will be a great evening and then this idiot comes along to remind me of ”The PEOPLE” we are lumbered with. Who IS he? Details please D.

    [Daphne – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090608/letters/anti-hunting-tactics-1
    http://www.illum.com.mt/2009/01/11/interview.html
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQncd1D1z6M ]

  5. John Azzopardi says:

    Well, what can I say! Calling MMB a bird-brain would be an insult to birds. But as the saying goes…empty vessels make most noise.

    [Daphne – Well, I think the real problem is that he’s teed off against GoNZipN!!!! because of hunting restrictions and is projecting his anger onto everything that GoNZipN!!!!! says and does.]

  6. Chris II says:

    This week I picked up a book from my father’s library that I used to read in my early teens and by coincidence there was a passage that describes the “People”. This is written by Giovanni Guareschi and is one of Don Camillo’s books – Don Camillo’s Dilemma. I thought that it would be interesting to share these two passages.

    ‘”People?” What does that mean? “People” as a whole are never going to get into Heaven. God judges “people” individually and not in the mass. There are no “group” sins, but only personal ones, and there is no collective soul. Every man’s birth and death is a personal affair, and God gives each one of us separate consideration. It’s all wrong for a man to let his personal conscience be swallowed up by collective responsibility.’
    Don Camillo lowered his head. ‘But, Lord, public opinion has some value….’
    ‘I know that, Don Camillo. Public opinion nailed Me to the Cross’.

    And a few paragraphs further along:

    “From the ‘Hosannas!’ of the acclaiming crowd to the same crowd’s cry of: ‘Crucify him!’ there isn’t so very far to go. Do you see that, now, Don Camillo?”

    • Roger Vella Bonavita says:

      Chris II …if I might be a little irreverent: don’t Christians believe that God judged unborn humanity in its entirety when he imposed original sin on us all? Then he sent his Son to redeem us all.

      Verily it is very difficult to work that one out.

      Didn’t he wipe out entire tribes of Israel in the desert and similarly the entire first-born sons of Egyptians so that all the Israelites could be led out of Egypt and march into another country that belonged to another nation. He did this because, the Bible tells us, he wanted to favour his chosen people. I could go on.

      When I raised these issues as a schoolboy, I was told that we mere mortals cannot understand God’s plan.

      It is healthier by far to accept the thesis that the people forming the nation have the individual and collective right to work out what they want and to say so without fear or favour.

  7. Karl says:

    Now the Marsa Menqa is to be changed from one of the dirtiest sights into a prime commercial and residential zone including a yacht marina and a promenade. Piano isn’t involved this time so I suspect that it will be hard for those who worry about foreign interference to criticise the plan designed mill-Maltin ghall-Maltin u l-barrannin, when considering that the majority of those mooring their super yachts are mostly from overseas.

    Will FAA be protesting because of the site’s historical importance? Hemmhekk konnha nesportaw il-patata ghal hafna snien. Is-skenetri ta’ tined tal-patata ghadhom hemm. In-nies tax-xatt hallew l-gharaq ta’ xbinhom ghall-patata. Forsi xi barkun nofsu mghereq tal-injam jista jitpogga bhala monument f’nofs ir-rowndabawt biex il-gmiel tal-patata ma tintnesa qatt u ta’ bil-haqq is-soqfa ta’ tined tal-pjanci imsaddin jistghu jintuzaw bies jghattu dawk ic-cucati ta Pjanu bhala tinda tal-opera house biex ma nixxarbux u niqbghu dejjem fuq l-antik.

    And by the way, Gonzi is most probably rewarding the residents of Marsa with such a beauty because of all the sufferings the illegal immigrants caused. This is the truth.

    A quotation from I M Beck’s article in today’s The Times: ”To be fair, which I really shouldn’t, because it doesn’t make for provocative writing, most people seem to like most bits of the concept, though that doesn’t stop certain types from misconceiving the fact that they have an opinion as a validation of that opinion simply because they have a right to it.”

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