Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1472276
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JULY 2022 10 ALMANAC My essentials PATRICK FENECH Visual artist, photographer and educator I graduated in photography and design via an Italian Scholarship and later on obtained an MFA in Digital Arts. Ran my own design studio for 20 years servicing the advertising and publishing industry and now mainly concentrate on my own artistic vision. I am also a visiting lecturer of photography at the University of Malta and served on the board of governors of Spazju Kreattiv for seven years. 1 4 5 1. Book 3 2. Film 3. Internet/TV 4. Music 5. Place TWO years of COVID an- chored me to my screen more than ever before. I love TED Talks, BBC documentaries, David Attenborough Life on Earth series, the Waldemar Januszczak art documenta- ries and anything to do with astronomy. I love the Rick Beato blog for guitar playing and his analysis of rock mu- sic. AS for TV, nothing beats the British sitcoms, especial- ly the ones produced in the 70s and 80s: Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, etc… great laughs… even when you review them time and again. AT the moment I'm into Trom- bone Shorty, an American musician from New Orleans, nice mix of R&B/Soul and psy- chedelic funk. Albums: defi- nitely Sergeant Peppers' Lone- ly Hearts Club Band by The Beatles and Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix. The experi- mentation and innovation that was going on in pop music in the 60s and 70s is all their combined with the mastery of sound engineers like Eddie Kramer, Geoff Emerick etc. Then there is Mozart's Req- uiem in D minor… makes my hairs stand on end. I think from all the places I've been to, and so far, I've touched all the continents, I still find the British country- side the idyllic place for my holidays. Perhaps it's the lack of countryside in Malta. I find great solace and respite when I'm out in that rolling green landscape, especially in the long summer days and WH Davies' poem 'Leisure' always comes to mind. Windermere in the Lake District is magi- cal, so is my in-law's extensive back garden in Kent. JAMES Joyce's 'Ulysses'. I love books that elide short peri- ods of time. It takes place in a single 24-hour period and depicts a day in the life of an ordinary man of Jewish origin in Dublin city. The book has reverberations to the sections of Homer's 'The Odyssey' but this time it concerns Dub- lin in detailed and intimate ways. His use of the 'stream of consciousness' in this literary work is perhaps what makes this book a great novel. I watched The Revenant, (2015) again recently on home movie screen and it really stands out as one of the best films ever produced. It's excep- tional use of tonal and intel- lectual montage and long se- quence shots without breaks, shows the combined talent of director Inarritu and the capa- bility of Lubezki's cinematog- raphy that make it a master- piece film. Dress in layers as the visual impact of the harsh reality of nature will chill you to the bone. Next on the list is Birdman. 2