Category: English

If It Was Your Home…

There has been relatively little talk about the BP oil spill. For such a big disaster, I’m surprised there haven’t been many people calling BP out on the matter. Especially here in Greece, the matter seems to be getting little attention. Hopelessly little when it’s the largest natural disaster to hit the US we’re talking about. One could say that Greece has its own problems at this time, but even like that, people just don’t seem to care unless it’s their home.

So, what if it was YOUR home?

This is what the people behind www.ifitwasmyhome.com must have thought… It’s a site trying to raise awareness about the BP oil spill. It has live streaming video of the spill (yes there’s a camera thousands of meters below the surface) but most importantly, they have a Google Map with a representation of the oil spill layered on it, at the location of the actual spill. This is a great way to comprehend the extent of the damage done, but for anyone who’s not from New Orleans or the southern coast of the US it means little. What’s best about the site is that you can move this layered spill anywhere you want in the world and see what it would look like over your home. I put in my post code in Nea Smyrni and this is what came up.

(please click it. Screenshot taken June 7th 2010)

And what about the creatures whose home was the Gulf of Mexico? The photographs speak of themselves. I’m warning you, they’re not easy to swollow…

I am lost for words… There’s nothing that has not been said anymore. Things will only change if people unplug their ears and, most importantly, their minds…

source: StrangeMaps

Porcupine Tree live in Athens!

It was a special moment when I heard the radio announcer on 105.5fm I was listening to with Neni utter the magic words… “Porcupine Tree will be playing together with Anathema in Gazi Technopolis [incredible selection of venue!] on September 9th. Pre-ordering of tickets has begun”. It was an almost… orgasmic experience.

That was about 3 weeks ago. Back then, I had no money and could do nothing about it. The minute I got my monthly allowance though, I immediately ordered one ticket for me and one for Neni (it was her nameday present… I was a bad boyfriend and hadn’t bought anything for her. I think this little gift did nicely!), so we, as ticket numbers 157/158, will know where we’re going to be come September 9th. It’s going to be exam period, we know… But come now, honestly, what’s more important?

Good chance to get to know Anathema’s music as well…

Αφιερωμένο

We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again

Change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fall that’s all
But the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!

I’ll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?

There’s nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Volcanic Ashes

You claim I don’t know you, but I know you well
I read in those ash eyes we’ve been through hell
I’ve walked with the weakest just to feel strong
You’ve given your body just to belong

Let’s burn together
Let’s burn together

This pain will never end
These scars will never mend

I taste your sorrow and you taste my pain
Drawn to each other for every stain
Licking the layers of soot from your skin
Your tears work my crust to let yourself in

Touching you harder
Touching you harder now

As we walk through the ashes
I whisper your name
A taste of pain to cling to
As we walk through the ashes
You whisper my name
Who’s the one with the sickest mind…
now?

This pain will never end
Our scars will never mend
Cleansing sweat
We are just using each other
Too depraved to stay alive
But too young to die
And we hurt
Thus we hurt

Scrubbing it harder
Too late to back out now
Scrubbing it even harder
As these two broken barren desolate disordered words collide

As we walk through the ashes
I whisper your name
A taste of pain to cling to
As we walk through the ashes
You whisper my name
Who’s the one with the sickest mind…
now?

This pain will never end
These scars will never mend
Damn this dirty bed
Damn this dirty head

… but what makes this song sad? Its lyrics? I guess. But think again, because “It’s all in the mind”. A simple change of perspective, just looking at things differently, a paradigm shift of sorts, might give you something like this:

Volcanic ash makes some of the most fertile soil in the world.



Between a rock and a dutch place.

Είμαι στην Αθήνα, λίγες μόνο ώρες πριν ξεκινήσουμε το ταξίδι μας  με την Ελένη για την Ολλανδία. Είναι η μόνη νύχτα που θα μείνω στην πόλη και δεν μπορώ να πω ότι είναι αρκετή!

Οι προηγούμενες εβδομάδες ήταν πάρα πολύ γεμάτες σε κάθε επίπεδο. Εργασιακά, συναισθηματικά, από άποψης φίλων, ασχολιών, ομάδων, παιχνιδιών (reviews, όπως βλέπετε και παρακάτω…) Απ’όλα έχει ο μπαξές. Όμως κυριάρχησε το άγχος του υποτιτλισμού που είχα τις τρεις τελευταίες εβδομάδες, της δουλίτσας αυτής για την Ελληνική Εταιρεία και μερικά φιλμάκια. 5 οικολογικές ταινίες, 5 υποτιτλισμοί και μεταφράσεις, 4 έτοιμα transcripts (κανένα με σωστούς χρόνους και ένα με λάθη!), 3 εβδομάδες δουλειάς, αρκετά χρήματα αλλά πολλές ώρες μακριά από την Ελένη, η οποία με στήριξε με την υπομονή της καθ’όλη την διάρκεια (thanks ψιψίνα μου! ^^), αλλά και μακριά από φίλους, οι οποίοι όλοι σχεδόν βρίσκονται στα δικά τους turning points της ζωής τους, αλλά και από τον ίδιο μου τον εαυτό.

Πόσος καιρός να έχει περάσει από τότε που είχα λίγο χρόνο για τον εαυτό μου; Λίγο διάβασμα, λίγη ηρεμία, λίγο τεμπέλιασμα, χαλαρότητα, κανένα παιχνίδι (και το Perfect Dark HD μόλις βγήκε!!); Με την θεατρική και την φωτογραφική μαζί ήδη να μου παίρνουν 6 νύχτες την εβδομάδα, το πρόγραμμα φαίνεται στενόκωλο. Και δεν βάζω τις πανεπιστημιακές υποχρεώσεις πουθενά στην εξίσωση αυτή. Όμως θα προσπαθήσω να σταματήσω αυτή την “γκρίνια” εδώ. Εκτός από το τι ακριβώς ήταν οι ταινίες που υποτίτλησα – οι οποίες ήταν όλες εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρουσες, διαλεγμένες θα έλεγε κανείς, και για τις οποίες θα ήθελα να γράψω – δεν μπορώ να φανταστώ κάτι άλλο από αυτά που γράφω να ενδιαφέρουν κανέναν άλλον εκτός από εμένα και τον inner blogging freak μου!

Οπότε, αύριο φεύγουμε για Ολλανδία… Η τρίτη μου φορά σε αυτή την χώρα. Νέες εκπλήξεις περιμένουν εμένα και την Ελένη. Θα ταξιδέψουμε αυτή την φορά στο Leiden, όπου η φίλη της Νένης, η Βικτωρία θα μας φιλοξενήσει για μερικές μέρες. Ποιος ξέρει σε τι περιπέτειες θα μπλέξουμε! Δεν θα υποσχεθώ ότι θα γράψω για αυτές με το που γυρίσουμε, ήδη φαίνονται να υπάρχουν άλλα γεμάτα σχέδια στον ορίζονται για μετά την επιστροφή μας και για τις διακοπές! Το μόνο σίγουρο: ΘΑ ΡΙΞΟΥΜΕ ΤΑΧΥΤΗΤΕΣ! Και θα ανεβάσουμε και καμιά φωτογραφία στο flickr! 😛

So, if you do something worth writing, but you don’t actually write it, where does that leave you?


Second Life Syndrome

Riverside… I’ve begun liking them more and more. Not that I didn’t like them mindja, they’re, just you know, growing on me. The opening melody is almost haunting in its dreaminess…The lyrics are nice but they don’t reflect what I’m feeling right now. The title however, is nothing short than cool. Second Life Syndrome? Chills!

Part Two I couldn’t care to include. It pays being a fan of music  in which a typical track is more often than not incompatible with YouTube’s opinion on how long a video should be.

Perfect Dark HD Trailer

800 MS points? I had this game set in my scopes for months now thinking it would cost 1200 points, fully planning to get it on Day 1 anyway. Now I am going to give my money to Mircrosoft even more readily, if that is even possible. I am very, very hyped up about this. It is too bad that I will probably have no-one to play it with online cause all of my friends hate Rare like that… unless…
Kira, I’m counting on you…

Locked Within A Significant Other

The music video was uber-cheesy so I decided I preferred the real song… Thanks Neni for introducing me to Blackmore’s Night and this song! OK, Mordread too! 🙂 Incredibly happy song!

Silly yet cool video depicting Porcupine Tree while this song is from Steven Wilson’s “Insurgentes” solo album (just like Harmony Korine)… The female vocals are astounding in this song… So powerful yet so mellow.

These two songs have been playing in my head for days on end, my little earworms…