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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JANUARY 2025 4 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. I ran my own design studio for 20 years servicing the advertising and publishing industry and now I 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. Books 2. Film 3. Internet/TV 4. Music 5. Place AT the moment I'm into Trom- bone Shorty, an American mu- sician from New Orleans. It is a nice mix of R&B/Soul and psy- chedelic funk. Albums: definitely Sergeant Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles and Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hen- drix. The experimentation and innovation that was going on in pop music in the 60s and 70s is all their combined with the mas- tery of sound engineers like Ed- die Kramer, Geoff Emerick etc. Then there is Mozart's Requiem 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 countryside the idyllic place for my holidays. Perhaps it's the lack of coun- tryside in Malta. I find great solace and respite when I'm out rolling in the green, espe- cially in the long summer days and WH Davies' poem Leisure always comes to mind. Win- dermere in the Lake District is magical, so is my in-law's extensive back garden in Kent. JAMES Joyce's Ulysses. I love books that elide short periods 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 rever- berations 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 lit- erary 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 exceptional use of tonal and intellectual montage and long sequence shots with- out breaks, shows the combined talent of director Inarritu and the capability of Lubezki's cine- matography that make it a mas- terpiece 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. I love TED Talks, BBC documentaries, David At- tenborough Life on Earth series, the Waldemar Januszczak art documen- taries and anything to do with astronomy. I love the Rick Beato blog for guitar playing and his analysis of rock music. On TV, noth- ing beats the British sit- coms, especially the ones produced in the 70s and 80s such as Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder, Faulty Towers… they are great laughs… even when you re- view them time and again. Compiled by Laura Calleja suggestions by email lcalleja@mediatoday.com MaltaToday is supported by Arts Council Malta 4 5 1 2 3