The world wondered whyNorth Koreans were weeping, crying, sobbing and mourning the late dictator Kim Jong Il‘s death on 17 December 2011. After all, he had oppressed and starved them for 17 years.
See for yourself how North Koreans were crying their eyes out:
(It’s really hard to watch all 3 minutes of it, isn’t it?)
With the help of a very elaborate psychological and scientific process, I have been able to learn what North Koreans really thought:
“It was so embarrassing to lose 0-7 to Portugal in the last World Cup.”
“The whole world will ridicule us for this show.”
“The Arab countries have a real spring. We don’t even have spring rolls.”
“Oh no, not another chubby Kim. How will we be able to tell them apart in history class?”
(On a different note: Watching the above video, it seems that the days after Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011 would have been the perfect window of opportunity for South Korea to liberate North Korea. It looks as if all the North’s soldiers were so overwhelmed by grief that they could not have put up an organised defence. A missed opportunity.)
In the film, the earth’s core heats up, volcanoes erupt, millions die in earthquakes, floods consume whole countries, glaciers melt, tsunamis kill almost everybody who is still alive. All countries and continents are affected and destroyed, except for a small part of Africa. It is complete annihilation, an orgy of disasters, explosions and death.
And how did the British Board of Film Classification rate this film? The BBFC warns: “Contains sustained moderate threat and one use of strong language.”
“Moderate threat”? The earth is destroyed and 7 billion people die.
One just has to love British understatement! I wish the people at the BBFC were responsible for the terrorism threat warnings.
After the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, I am sure many people in Japan included “no more earthquakes” in their lists of resolutions for 2012.
It’s this time of the year again: people are making resolutions about what to do in 2012: eat less, exercise more, quit smoking, learn a new language, find a girlfriend/boyfriend, become a millionaire.
My resolutions for 2012? None. Absolutely nothing.
That’s not because I think that I and my life are perfect already. They are not, and they probably never will be.
But if there is something that I want to change or improve, I don’t see why I have to wait for the arbitrarily set date of 31 December or 1 January. When I want to change something, I will do it right away. As I did in 2011:
In March I read “Into the Wild” which inspired me to go on outdoor adventures again. Already in June I walked across England, all the way from the East to the West coast.
I wanted to prioritize my studies, so I reduced my work to part-time.
For my birthday in July, I went to the Channel Islands for more hiking and discovered paradise.
As I became tired of life in London after two years there, I quit my job, terminated my lease and spontaneously moved to Malta.
For none of these things did I say “I’ll do that next year” or “I need to plan it more before I can do it.” I just did them. And I am happy that I did.
Why should I have waited with this until next year?
Whether it’s resolutions, long-term plans or to-do lists, it’s all just procrastination. If there is something in your life that you want to change, the time is now.
If you want to quit smoking, throw away all the cigarettes in your house now. Don’t buy new ones. It’s easy. (If you have cigars, you can give them to me.)
If you want to learn a new language, start today. No, you don’t need to wait until a course starts or the books arrive. For almost any language, you will find the first few lessons online.
If you want to exercise more, you don’t need to register with a gym. Put on your running shoes and go for a run now. If you don’t have running shoes, go for a long and fast walk. If you can’t go outside, do push-ups at home.
If you want to quit your job, write the resignation letter today and e-mail it to your employer. (In some jurisdictions, a signed resignation letter may be required in addition to that.)
If you want to end a relationship, tell your boyfriend/girlfriend that you never want to see them again. (But get your stuff back first.)
If you want to visit me in Malta, buy the ticket. (Maybe after asking me when I will be available.)
If you want to visit any other country, buy the ticket.
If you want to become more intellectual, buy or borrow a good book today and start reading it tonight. (Ask me for recommendations.) If you can’t get access to books that quickly, start with my blog.
If you want to give more to the poor, go out and help a homeless person today.
If you want to be more creative, start drawing, painting or taking photographs.
If you want to live healthier, buy or pick fruits.
If you want to become more adventurous, pack your sleeping bag and spend a night in the forest. (I might even join you.)
Do not under any circumstances use words like “tomorrow”, “later” or “one day”.
After receiving the 25th e-mail from a friend that included the question “Where is Malta, actually?”, I decided to devote a blog post to this recurring question. I cannot do so however, without voicing my despair about people’s lack of geographical knowledge. After all, Malta is a member state of the European Union, so it’s not as if I moved to Guadalcanal or Onotoa. (I had also attempted to describe Malta’s location in my first blog post about moving to Malta.)
So, here is the map of Europe. Malta is within the red circle towards the bottom, in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily (Italy) and Libya (North Africa). Yes, it’s quite small.
For those who don’t know where Europe is, there is a map of the world in the bottom right corner.
And why is Malta part of Europe instead of Africa?
That’s easy. A British law of 1801 (“Malta Act”, 41 Geo 3, c103) settles this question: “… the said island of Malta and dependencies thereof shall be deemed taken, and construed to be part of Europe for all purposes, and as to all matters and things whatever; any law or laws, usage or custom, or Act or Acts …”
Living in a predominantly Catholic country (like Malta), I feel more compelled to mock Christianity. I wonder how this urge will play out when I move to Saudi Arabia or Iran.
A few weeks ago, when I first was in Malta’s capital to take some photos of Valletta for you, the scenery and atmosphere reminded me of the film “Munich” by Steven Spielberg (2005).
The film, staying close to real events, describes the Israeli effort to track down and kill the Palestinian terrorists who were responsible for the Munich massacre, when Palestinians attacked the Israeli team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany and took them hostage. The Palestinian terrorists killed 11 of the Israeli sportsmen and one German police officer.
I remember thinking, as I was lingering through the narrow and steep streets of Valletta: “This would have been a perfect place to shoot parts of ‘Munich’ “. It turned out that someone else had exactly the same idea.
Large parts of “Munich” were actually filmed at various locations in Malta, standing in for scenes that play in Tel Aviv, the West Bank, Beirut, Cyprus, Spain, Athens and Rome in the film.
The hotel explosion that you see on the DVD cover above and in the short trailer above was filmed in Bugibba, just a few hundred meters from where I live now. In the film, the hotel is in Cyprus.
I am especially proud because I discovered and recognised this hotel by accident during my evening stroll around Bugibba tonight. I waited with taking a photo until it was dark, to increase the resemblance to what it looks like in the film.
Primera Hotel, Bugibba, Malta – 25 December 2011 – (C) Andreas Moser
The same hotel being blown up in “Munich”.
The following photo from the film also must have been shot somewhere in Malta.
the Israeli agents in “Munich”
And this one most definitely, as you can see from the typical Maltese yellow bus in the background.
“Damn, the bus gives it away. We should have blown it up as well.”
When Avner (Eric Bana) and Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush [“The King’s Speech“]) walk along the promenade in Tel Aviv, Israel, they are really in Sliema, Malta.
I will try to find this exact spot in Sliema and take a photo to post it here.
The following outdoor café scene takes place in Rome, Italy but was filmed in Rabat, Malta.
IMDB says that other scenes were filmed in Cospicua, at Malta International Airport at Luqa, Marsaxlokk (representing Athens), at Republic Square in Valletta (for the outdoor café meeting between Avner, Andreas and Tony) and in Valletta again (for the hotel in Athens).
I will try to find all these locations and document them with photographs. If you live in Malta and you know one of the locations’ exact whereabouts, please let me know. And if you are Hollywood and looking for a location scout in Malta, please do the same.
By the way, “Munich” is a good film. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it and then come to Malta!
One of my first tasks after arriving in Malta was to find an office space where I can work and focus on my studies. Luckily, I found the perfect spot in my new home town of Bugibba/Qawra: Salini National Park, only a short walk away from where I live.
Here I can study in the midst of nature, largely undisturbed, except for the occasional dog that smells the food in my bag.
After a tough day at work, it is also a nice place to relax.
I want to learn Italian because it can save lives and prevent espionage plots from being uncovered:
A scene from “Inglourious Basterds” in which three US soldiers posing as Italians are introduced by a German actress to a Colonel of the SS who catches everyone by surprise with his fluent Italian.
If you haven’t seen “Inglourious Basterds” yet, watch it! It is one of the best films of the last years. It is worth to watch it for the performance of Christoph Waltz alone, and then one more time just for the film music.
On the subject of this post, I actually had Italian at school for one semester and therefore know the basics, but I would love to learn it again and much more in-depth. Maybe I will move to Italy next.
The Happy Hermit 