Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1529157
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 NOVEMBER 2024 4 ALMANAC My essentials MARCO GALEA I'm 56, and I like to think of myself as a theatre historian. I live with my wife, Simone, our two adult children, Andrew and Amy, and four cats. I teach in the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Malta. 1. Books 2. Film 3. Internet/TV 4. Music 5. Place I'VE realised that because of Spotify (and in spite it being an almost endless library of music) I tend to listen to a very limited range of music. However, some- thing that has happened in the last few years is that I get to lis- ten to music with my children. Our tastes seem to have grown closer. I like some of the con- temporary artists they listen to, and they listen to a lot of music I grew up with and loved. Recent- ly my daughter started listening to Fleetwood Mac, a band I nev- er really cared about, except for their Albatross, but now I can- not understand why I never lis- tened to them before. I love cities, and I have never visited a city I did not like. I visited Istanbul a couple of years ago and it really made an impression on me. It is probably due to the diversi- ty of experiences you come across while trying to take in the city; every street corner you turn seems to take you somewhere else. ACADEMIC books aside, I tend to pick up books on my travels, as I still love to browse bookshop shelves. One of these recent encounters was with The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. It's a novel about a man and his adopted cat, or more spe- cifically about the long road- trip the two make while the man is trying to find someone that both he and the cat can trust to take care of the cat he has to give up, for reasons that only become clear late in the book. It's a book about the beautiful things in life, includ- ing cats. I love simple European films which try to tell relatable stories. I've recently watched Live Twice, Love Once, a Spanish film made in 2019, on Netflix. It is one of many recent films that tackle dementia. Iris and The Father were great films, but I loved the way this film looked at Alzheim- er's as one of life's problems and not the problem. The main plot revolves around the main char- acter's quest to visit a woman he was in love with as a very young man. It's not a perfect film by any means, but I loved how the rela- tionship between the old man and his grand-daughter is por- trayed. I cannot really recommend any content from the internet. I don't follow any influencers (I only vaguely know what the term means) and I tend to use the internet in a very old-fash- ioned way, as a substitute for newspapers and television. On the rare occasions I watch television (watching football matches does not count, does it?) I try to find something on RAI or BBC that offers some mental stimulation. I recently stumbled upon Riserva In- diana on Rai 3 and enjoyed it. It vaguely reminded me of some of the Gianni Minà programmes I used to watch many years ago. Compiled by Laura Calleja suggestions by email lcalleja@mediatoday.com This page is supported by Arts Council Malta 4 5 1 2 3