Tag: video

EARWORM GARDEN // DREAM THEATER — PANIC ATTACK

Πρόσφατα καθόμασταν σπίτι μου με τον Φάνη στη Νέα Σμύρνη, είχαμε βάλει Youtube στην τηλεόραση και βάζαμε τραγούδια εναλλάξ. Κάποια στιγμή ο Φάνης πρότεινε να βάλουμε το Misunderstood («ωχ ρε, πού το θυμήθηκες αυτό;») και αναπόφευκτα μου έγινε το earworm of choice για αρκετές ημέρες – “if I seem superhuman I have been misunderstoooood”.

Καμιά 10αριά μέρες αργότερα, στο Ηράκλειο, τη μέρα που η Μαριλένα έλειπε το πρωί και μπορούσα να απολαύσω μέταλ χωρίς να της πάρω τ’ αυτιά, έβαλα να παίζει στην τηλεόραση του Airbnb της ξαδέρφης της όπου μέναμε (thanks Athiná!) ένα Dream Theater mix για soundtrack στα morning pages μου – τις καθημερινές, υποτίθεται, σελίδες ελεύθερης γραφής που ξαναέπιασα εδώ και κανέναν μήνα τώρα μετά από έναν χρόνο περίπου που τα πρωινά μου ήταν χωρίς ενδοσκόπηση γραμμένη με στιλό. 5-6 τραγούδια μετά, ο αλγόριθμος του Youtube μου σέρβιρε το Panic Attack.

Το Panic Attack και το ότι μου έχει κολλήσει στο μυαλό 5 μέρες τώρα ήταν ο λόγος που κούνησα τον κώλο μου (και τα δάχτυλα γιατί δεν μπορώ να πληκτρολογήσω με τον κώλο ακόμα δυστυχώς) να γράψω το παρόν ποστίο.

Καιρό είχα να ακούσω Dream Theater, νόμιζα ότι τους είχα αφήσει στην εφηβεία μου, ότι «είναι πολύ φλύαροι για τα γούστα μου τελικά» κτλ. Κι όμως, The Spirit Carries On.

Είχα πάει στη συναυλία τους στο ολυμπιακό γήπεδο του beach volleyball το ’05. Τότε που ακόμα έπαιρνα φωτογραφίες και βίντεο οτιδήποτε πέρναγε από μπροστά μου.

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Τότε που ακόμα τα εισιτήρια δεν στα δίναν σε μια φωτοτυπία με ένα barcode.

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Κι απ’ τη συναυλία:


This one’s called PANIC ATTACK — ντάμπαντα ντάμπαντα ντάμπαντα ντάμπαντα ντάμπα ντάμπα κ.ο.κ. Αυτή είναι η πρώτη φορά που άκουσα το κομμάτι. Ναι, το Octavarium δεν το είχα ακούσει πριν πάνω στη συναυλία… 11+ χρόνια μετά μου έγινε earworm.


Μια γεύση του Fatal Tragedy.

Ο Σταύρος, με τα γυαλιά στη φωτογραφία πάνω, είναι που με κόλλησε περισσότερο με τους Dream Theater τότε στη Β’ Λυκείου. Εκείνος μου έπαιξε πρώτη φορά το Misunderstood σπίτι του, και μετά το έμαθα με τη σειρά μου στους φίλους μου – και στον Φάνη. Και ο Φάνης με τη σειρά του, μου το θύμισε τώρα. «Ωχ ρε, πού το θυμήθηκες αυτό!» Το μόνο που μπορώ να κάνω εγώ με τη σειρά μου είναι να το θυμίσω στον Σταύρο. Αν δει αυτό το ποστ ποτέ.

Αν κι αυτό ρυθμίζεται…

EARWORM GARDEN // KOVACS — FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK

This one was a Life in Technicolor II-level earworm that had infested my mind for absolute months. Couldn’t find it anywhere and looking for “Amy Winehouse-sounding voice” or “black-sounding voice”, or downloading Adele’s discography didn’t take me very far.

How I solved the problem? I took the situation apart and thought that, if anywhere, I would have probably heard the song on En Lefko, one of the best radio stations in Athens and the only one I keep having on while driving important military people around. I found the collection they published with the songs they allegedly popularised in Greece. I found Kovacs and Diggin’ and the rest was easy. After I found it, I could clearly remember listening to it once while running sometime in Summer 2015. That’s when, you know, Greece was apparently ready to collapse. Honestly, I’m gonna have to dedicate another couple of posts to the songs that became my earworms thanks to En Lefko.

Sweet relief. This woman is jaw-dropping, and I’m not just talking about her voice.

EARWORM GARDEN // WOLFSHEIM — KEIN ZURÜCK

I tried to write something in German here; wasn’t sure if it was correct so I just ditched it. Schade.

Fact of the matter is I’m going through a kind of mini-“this is the first day of the rest of my life” feeling, as if the loose ends that had been hanging low were unexpectedly and simultaneously tied up—or rather, cut off.

Not “as if”, actually. One nagging little piece of emotional baggage in particular had been bothering me for absolutely yeeears (or did it  just feel long?), and I never expected internal resolution to come that easy, so suddenly, that it would smack me up the head so hard and definitively and completely in its obviousness when it did so just a couple of days ago, so… yeah. I’m proud and happy about it. Take that, Skalomann (like Skallamann only for skalomata).

Kein Weg Zurück now then, but in a good way, perfect for what’s coming up next, i.e. having to wake up super early, follow questionable orders, enjoy rations of even more questionable quality and so on and so forth.

RIGHTS4WATER URUGUAY INTERVIEW #1 — CARMEN SOSA

My first sample of work from Montevideo. I’ve been here three weeks already and all I have to show is this, but the Uruguay team is not really a team, it’s just me.

In fact, I wrote the questions, shot, cut, transcribed, translated and subtitled this all by myself (with the help of Roberto who asked the questions is arranging most of the interviews, so THANK YOU ROBERTO!), so I kinda feel proud about it, as a token of “I can do all these things!”

EARWORM GARDEN // MAYBESHEWILL – NOT FOR WANT OF TRYING

Post-rock + apocalyptic images + Network (1976) = Ein Hit!

EDIT: I realised I’ve posted this track before in this post (A Collection of Great Depressing Music).

ME, MYSELF AND FULFILLMENT // CUBILONIA

Thought you knew the real origin of the name Cubilone? Well, you thought wrong, because in the following video I reveal all for the first time.

Jokes aside, I prepared this video as part of the online preparation for the upcoming training in Olde Vechte in the Netherlands, the same place I did I SEE GREEN in February-March 2013 and REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE in November of the same year, for which I never wrote anything of note as far as I can recall, so clicking on the words will do nothing particularly significant.

Supposedly, this video is for presenting myself to the rest of the international group and what fulfills me in life. That was the mission. Do you think I managed to do it? I set off with high expectations but the impressions I’ve got from other people (apart from you Daphne and Mario!) have left me wondering. I can certainly say I had high expectations from the idea, and still do (the things I can write about Cubilonia! I could fill books with interesting things about that place) but I’m disappointed in, you know… why should I do it?

Looking for inspiration; maybe find it, proceed to let other people influence outcome too much; idea that felt awesome looks ridiculous in the space of a single hour when faced with awkward reception and blank stares. Artists shouldn’t listen to what other people think. Right? Artists and creatives don’t create for anyone but themselves. Right? Self-expression is of top importance. Right?

VICTORIA COMPLETE FOR €4,49!

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Sintang, Borneo, is only populated by immigrants from Asia Minor, which happen to be aristocrats.

I was casually browsing /r/gamedeals (yeah, as if I don’t already own enough games!), inspired by the latest Humble Bundle to look for a good price for chronically expensive Crusader Kings II plus expansions, when I stumbled upon this great offer by previously unknown to me BundleStars: Victoria 1 + 2, together with all expansions and DLC, for only €4,49! Steam keys and all! I only had vanilla Vicky 2 on GamersGate, where I received the review key, so I was itching to get it on Steam somehow. I got it and spent 6 hours non-stop trying to get the Netherlands into Club Great Eight. Alas, my warmongering and trying to take advantage of a surprisingly weak Prussia alerted the bouncers.

Once upon a time, I was writing here about how excited I was that Vicky 2 was announced… “Looks like it could be the best Paradox game yet”, I wrote. Heh, it was still two years too early for Crusader Kings II and three years too early for Europa Universalis IV. Paradox Development Studio has come a long way. Proud of you Swedes. ^^J

Wow. I just realised I’ve reviewed all of these games; that’s where the links go. The reviews are in Greek though. Here’s the one for Vicky 2 also.

In that last review, four years ago, I wrote that Vicky 2 was still a little bit unpolished. Two expansions and lots of patches later, it’s still not perfect, but it’s much more playable. If you also consider all of the mods that inevitably emerged, which I can’t comment on because I haven’t tried them yet, there’s a lot of stuff to discover.

Consider this, from the description of Episode 217 of podcast Three Moves Ahead:

3MA Producer Michael Hermes and GWJ editor Erik Hanson joins Rob and Tom to talk about Victoria II: Heart of Darkness. Rob is reconsidering some of his earlier, harsher views on Victoria while Tom argues that it is a towering achievement of game design that speaks to real-world politics in a way few others have ever attempted.

Victoria 2 might be a more polished gem nowadays, but it’s still notoriously difficult to understand and play, even compared to other Paradox games. Definitely one of the most complex games out there.

But don’t worry. If you buy it at this incredible discount, and I would strongly encourage you to do so if you can see yourself remotely enjoying such a game, here are a couple of videos to help you get started. Let’s play together then and carve Europe between ourselves. }:}

EVS AT SOFIA CITY LIBRARY: GREEN LIBRARY 2014

Originally posted on our EVS at Sofia City Library blog.

We made this video with all our love for the event that was made of love. Library’s a giving tree. Enjoy!We were also on Bulgarian National TV. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have to click on the link and watch it there. Here’s another reportage done by TV Evropa – I speak Bulgarian on that one! 😀

The theme song:


Download .mp3

Again, many thanks to Zanda, Maria, Valya and Boryana. You should write something about it too, girls! Post it on the comments and I’ll make it part of the post.