Category: Thoughts Put Into Words

Πάσχα στην Αίγινα και άλλες ιστορίες

Είμαι στο καράβι της επιστροφής απο την Αίγινα. Χρόνια είχα να περάσω Πάσχα με τον Dad και την Βάσω στην Αίγινα. Είχα ξεχάσει πόσο μεγάλο χάπενινγκ μπορεί να είναι. Όλοι οι γνωστοί και γείτονες να φέρνουν τα δικά τους φαγητά και τα δικά τους ταψιά, όλοι να τρώνε στην αυλή. Μου άρεσε, αν εξαιρέσεις ότι όλη χτεσινή μέρα, δηλαδή την Κυριακή του Πάσχα, την ξόδεψα να εξηγώ σε ανθρώπους το τι σημαίνει «Πολιτισμική Τεχνολογία και Επικοινωνία», αν έχει λεφτά στο μέλλον, πόσο ωραία είναι η Μυτιλήνη κτλ.

Αλήθεια, όταν οι άνθρωποι σε ρωτάνε τι σπουδάζεις, το κάνουν επειδή νομίζουν ότι δεν υπάρχει τίποτα σπουδαιότερο να σε ρωτήσουν ή επειδή πολύ απλά δεν έχουν τίποτα καλύτερο να πουν; Στις στιγμές αμηχανίας, όταν δύο άνθρωποι δεν γνωρίζονται, είναι κοινό να χρησιμοποιούνται οι «γνωστές», πεπατημένες τακτικές γνωριμίας. “What do you do for a living?”, «Τι σπουδάζεις;», «Από πού είσαι;»… Αξίζει να αναρωτηθούμε πώς ακριβώς έγιναν αποδεκτές αυτού του είδους οι κοινοτυπίες όταν γνωρίζεις κάποιον, και όχι μόνο αυτό, πώς έχουμε αποδεχτεί όλοι ότι όταν γνωρίζεις κάποιον είναι το πιο ενδιαφέρον να μάθεις την ακαδημαϊκή/επαγγελματική καριέρα. Δεν θα ήταν πολύ ομορφότερο αν ήμασταν λίγο πιο δημιουργικοί στις εισαγωγικές μας συζητήσεις; «Τι σας αρέσει να κάνετε στον ελεύθερο σας χρόνο;», «Σας αρέσει η ζωή σας, αν όχι, γιατί;», «Αντιμετωπίζετε κάποιο πρόβλημα τελευταία;» Ειδικά τα δύο τελευταία θα ήταν μάλλον πολύ δύσκολο να χρησιμοποιηθούν σε κοινωνίες όπου στην ερώτηση «τι κάνεις;» η αυτόματη, συχνά ασυνείδητη απάντηση είναι «καλά»… Ο φόβος της παραδοχής της αδυναμίας σε αγνώστους, ή μήπως ένδειξη πως δεν έχουμε μάθει να νοιαζόμαστε για τους άλλους παρα μόνο για την εικόνα μας προς τους άλλους;

Ευτυχώς, η χτεσινή ημέρα δεν περιειχέ μόνο σχεδόν ανούσιους διαλόγους με άτομα τα οποία μετα βίας γνωρίζω. Πήγαμε με τους μοναδικούς άλλους νέους της παρέας στο ΕΚΠΑΖ, δηλαδή του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Περίθαλψης Άγριων Ζώων και Πουλιών (το τελευταίο Π φαντάζομαι παραλείπεται για λόγους ευηχείας). Ακόμα και αν παλιότερα είχαμε αρκετές σχέσεις με τους ανθρώπους που το διαχειρίζονταν – συγκεκριμένα με τον Φίλιππο Δραγούμη και την Μαρία Γανωτή, τους οποίους γνώριζα μέσω της Βάσως – και θυμάμαι ακόμα και το πρώτο κέντρο που είχαν σε ένα σπίτι έξω απο την Αίγινα και αργότερα στις Φυλακές (ήμουν-δεν ήμουν τότε 5 χρονών), η χτεσινή εμπειρία ήταν συγκλονιστική. Υπήρξαμε μάρτυρες του απαγορευμένο έρωτα μεταξύ του Οβελίξ και του Κεφάλα — ενός αγριογούρουνου και ενός πόνι, και τα δύο αρσενικά – Τα δύο ζώα φιλιόντουσαν μέσα απο τα κάγκελα. Το πόνι φαινόταν πολύ… ενθουσιασμένο με την κατάσταση! 😉 Αργότερα, είδαμε έναν αετό ο οποίος ήταν με το κέντρο ήδη σχεδόν 25 χρόνια… Ο αετός αυτός ήταν τυφλός από το ένα μάτι και έτσι ποτέ δεν θα μπορούσε να απελευθερωθεί. Ήταν γεράκος, είχαν αρχίσει να του βγαίνουν λευκά φτερά στην ράχη. Όταν ο υπεύθυνος (γαμάτος τύπος btw, τον θυμάμαι από παλιά με ένα cockatoo στον ώμο) μπήκε μέσα στον χώρο του για να του δώσει έναν μεζέ, ο αετός έκανε φωνούλες σαν κοτοπουλάκι. Τόσο χαρούμενος ήταν που είχε επιστρέψει ο άφτερος γίγαντας παλιόφιλός του… Στην λίμνη με τους πελεκάνους, αυτός που μου έκανε μεγαλύτερη εντύπωση ήταν ένας ο οποίος δεν θα ξαναστόλιζε ποτέ τους υγρότοπους με το μεγαλόπρεπο πέταγμα του, γιατί πολύ απλά του είχαν ακρωτηριάσει το αριστερό φτερό. Είχε πυροβοληθεί, και το φτερό του είχε αρχίσει να σαπίζει, δεν υπήρχε σωτηρία… Ο πελεκάνος αυτός, παρά την αναπηρία, ήταν ο αρχηγός στην λίμνη. Τσαμπουκάς με τα όλα του! Φαινόταν ότι δεν τον πείραζε η αναπηρία του πια. Ή τουλάχιστον, είχε μάθει να ζει και με αυτή.

Γενικά, η δουλειά των ανθρώπων του ΕΚΠΑΖ είναι συγκλονιστική. Χωρίς ουσιαστικούς πόρους, βασιζόμενοι στην εθελοντική εργασία, κάνουν κάτι τόσο σπουδαίο. Για όλα, λένε, φταίει το λαθραίο κυνήγι. Χωρίς αυτό θα είχαν μέχρι και 70% λιγότερα περιστατικά. Τι μπορείς να πεις για μερικούς ανθρώπους που χρησιμοποιούν την καραμπίνα τους σαν προέκταση της «κυριαρχίας τους πάνω στην φύση», του «ανδρισμού» τους…

Επίσης αυτές τις μέρες μου στην Αίγινα ασχολήθηκα και με αυτά τα νέα ιντερνετικά:

Neptune’s Pride

Η αγάπη μου για τα παιχνίδια στρατηγικής γνωστή… Αυτό είναι ένα web-based RTS το οποίο διαδραματίζεται στο διάστημα. Σκοπός είναι η κατάκτηση των μισών τουλάχιστον πλανητικών συστημάτων του χάρτη. Εφόσον το παιχνίδι δεν το παίζω μόνος αλλά online, η διπλωματία, οι συμμαχίες και οι πόλεμοι παίζουν πολύ. Γενικά, είναι πολύ απλό παιχνίδι με εύκολα κατανοητούς κανονές και θα έλεγα πως μοιάζει με ένα μίγμα του Risk, του Diplomacy (του οποίου επίσης βρήκα ένα web-based site για να παίξω και περιμένω να βρω χρόνο για την πρώτη μου παρτίδα) και φυσικά του Galactic Civilizations. Το ιδιαίτερο είναι πως κάθε κίνηση παίρνει πολλές ώρες για να πραγματοποιηθεί, εξομοιώνοντας εν μέρει την μακροσκοπικότητα του όλου εγχειρήματος. Η κίνηση ενός αστροστόλου από το ένα σύστημα στο άλλο, π.χ, μετριέται με δεκάδες ώρες, και το revenue της παραγωγής από κάθε αστέρι έρχεται κάθε 24 ώρες. Το προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα, μόνο και μόνο για την εμπειρία!

BookCrossing

Σας αρέσουν τα βιβλία; Κι εμένα! Θεωρείτε πως δεν χρειάζεται να σας ανήκει ένα βιβλίο για να το ευχαριστηθείτε; Κι εγώ! Θέλετε να μοιράζεστε τα βιβλία σας και να παρακαλουθείτε το πού φτάνουν τελικά; …

ΟΚ, ούτε εγώ ήμουν σίγουρος για την ιδέα, όσο ενδιαφέρουσα και στο παγκόσμιο πνεύμα του web που γουστάρω και αν ακούγεται, για τον απλούστατο λόγο του ότι εμείς οι έλληνες γενικότερα δεν κινούμαστε και τόσο πολύ μακριά από την πεπατημένη. Παρ’όλα αυτά, ανακάλυψα πως το Book Crossing έχει δυνατή παρουσία στην Ελλάδα, μάλιστα προετοιμάζεται και το 5ο Συνέδριο Βοοκ Crossing στην Θεσσαλονίκη. Η Νέα Σμύρνη είναι το πιο δυνατό κέντρο Book Crossing στην Αθήνα και το Ethnique ένα από τα Official Crossing Zones! Πού να το φανταζόμουν… Βλέπω πως στην Μυτιλήνη δεν υπάρχει κίνηση ή Crossing Zones, οπότε καλώ όποιον θέλει να φτιάξουμε ένα Crossing Zone και να απελευθερώσουμε την ιδέα και στην Μυτιλήνη. Σίγουρα θα βρούμε υποστηρικτές. Ήδη ο Mordread και η Νένη ψήνονται! ^^D

My shelf: http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Cubilone

Post Crossing

Στο πνεύμα του Book Crossing, υπάρχει και το Post Crossing! Φτιάχνεις ένα προφίλ, δίνεις την διεύθυνση σου, και ζητάς να σου δωθεί μια τυχαία διεύθυνση από την βάση δεδομένων του site. Σε αυτή την διεύθυνση καλείσαι να στείλεις μια carte postale! Και όσες carte-postale στείλεις, τόσες φορές θα εμφανιστεί η δική σου διεύθυνση στην τυχαία αναζήτηση κάποιου άλλου… Ήδη περιμένω να στείλω δύο κάρτες που αγόρασα από το ΕΚΠΑΖ σε έναν 54-χρονο Φινλανδό και σε έναν Κινέζο αγνώστου ταυτότητας… Η ιδέα μου αρέσει πάρα πολύ!

—

Σχετικά με το ΕΚΠΑΖ, ρίξτε και μια ματιά στο http://pcsi.tripod.com/roz Είναι το πρώτο site που έφτιαξα, σχεδόν 8 χρόνια πριν. Είναι η αγγλική μετάφραση του «Ροζ ο Πελεκάνος και άλλες ιστορίες» του Φίλιππου Δραγούμη με ιστορίες από το ΕΚΠΑΖ. Μερικές, όπως η ιστορία του ίδιου του Ροζ, καταπληκτικές. Δείτε το!

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?


Έχετε αναρωτηθεί ποτέ πώς φτιάχτηκε η Τουρκική σημαία;

http://politikiprotasi.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post_5400.html

Δεν ξέρω αν πρέπει να γελάσω ή να κλάψω με τα παρακάτω…

Από http://media-gate.blogspot.com
Αν ξέραμε την ιστορία μας, τουλάχιστον δεν θα ανεχόμασταν τα σημερινά ξεφτιλίκια…
Αν δεν ξέρετε, ορίστε η απάντηση:
Η Τούρκικη σημαία, και το αντίστοιχο “εθνικό σύμβολο” των Τούρκων, προέρχεται από ένα σύμβολο του Βυζαντίου, αλλά της αρχαιοελληνικής πόλης Βυζάντιον, που υπήρχε στην θέση της Κωνσταντινούπολης….

Αυτό το σήμα, που είναι πανάρχαιο και απαντάται ως λατρευτικό σύμβολο της θεάς Εκάβης, έγινε σύμβολο της πόλης του Βυζαντίου όταν ο Φίλιππος, πατέρας του Μεγαλέξανδρου, προσπάθησε να καταλάβει αυτή την πόλη, και μια νύχτα με συννεφιά, έστειλε πολεμιστές (σαν καταδρομική επιχείρηση) να περάσουν τα τείχη, για να αλώσουν την πόλη.
Ξαφνικά, εμφανίστηκε το φεγγάρι, οι εισβολείς έγιναν αντιληπτοί, και αποκρούστηκε η επίθεση…. Από τότε, και επειδή θεωρήθηκε ως θεϊκή βοήθεια προς την πόλη, έγινε σύμβολο της πόλης του Βυζαντίου.
Από εκεί έμεινε ως σύμβολο παραδοσιακά και στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, το βρήκε και ο Μωχάμεντ ο πορθητής (και οι επόμενοί του), και όπως χρησιμοποίησε τα πάντα που βρήκε από τη Βυζαντινή Αυτοκρατορία, για να δώσει αυτοκρατορική χροιά στην πλιατσικολογική Οθωμανική κατάκτηση, το έκανε ένα σύμβολο της Οθωμανικής κυριαρχίας, και έτσι έμεινε ως μουσουλμανικό σύμβολο….

Διαβάστε περισσότερα: http://politikiprotasi.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post_5400.html#ixzz0bUjUAgys

Για αποφυγή παρεξηγήσεων, για αυτούς που ενδέχεται να νομίζουν ότι με το να παραθέτω τα απο πάνω συμφωνώ μαζί τους ή κατα κάποιο τρόπο τα επικροτώ:

Ο συγγραφέας του απο πάνω, αν δεν έχει βγάλει αυτή την ιστορία κατευθείαν απο τα έγκατα της κοιλιάς του, το οποίο βρίσκω πολύ πιθανό απο μόνο του, καλά θα κάνει να βγει απο το εθνικοαυνανιστικό μικρόκοσμο του και να αναρωτηθεί ο ίδιος πώς ακριβώς φτιάχτηκε η ελληνική σημαία και τι συμβολίζει.

Ίσως εκπλαγεί, αν και πολύ αμφιβάλλω ότι θα επιτρέψει στον εαυτό του τέτοια διαφώτιση. Το σίγουρο είναι ότι το θέμα δεν είναι όσο ξεκάθαρο όσο το παρουσιάζει.

Μερικά links για προσωπική έρευνα και συμπεράσματα:

http://islam.about.com/od/history/a/crescent_moon.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_and_crescent

Blue Moon

Last December had two full moons. Popularly, a second full moon in a single month is called a blue moon, even if that is not the correct definition (check here for more details). This moon rose on December 31st and set on January 1st. It was a full moon that connected two years. Or should I say, it connected two decades? I find it strangely symbolic that the last day of the year and decade just happened to be a full moon day… It was surreal going out to see the fireworks and having the huge light in the sky illuminating everything.

Somewhat obscure gaming reference FTW!

I will not treat the turn of the decade as time to contemplate change, look back or act as if starting today the world’s going to be different in some sort of way. It is still too early for us to even be able to say what the decade we just left behind us will be remembered for, let alone compare it with the fresh new one that’s just a signle day old. I will thus spare with the retrospective craze about how the past decade changed our lives. All I have to say on that is that every change made during this decade was sort of transitional… We ain’t seen nothing yet (sic).

My refusal to look back in sets of tens does not mean that I do not want to see what last year brought, however. It was certainly a full and interesting year for me. I’d like to take you to a sort of new year’s resolution I wrote last year, “More and Less of 2009”. This year’s “More and Less” will consist of all that I did not manage to do during 2009. I’ll give it a go:

More movies, more games, more languages, more activities, more biking, more photography, more people, more travelling, more new experiences, more love, more animals, more beauty, more cooking, more reading, more knowledge, more stars, more planets, more cleaning, more housekeeping, more real working, more specialisation, more subtitles, more cubimension, more music, more peace, more awareness, more spirituality, more science, more history, more dreams, more thoughts, more tea, more vegetables, more cake, more e-mails, more writing, more art, more friendliness, more phone calls, more letters, more enjoying the moment in the right way.

Less procrastinating, less shyness, less lazyness, less internet idleness, less msn, less stupid spending, less sleeping till the afternoon, less caffeine, less absent-mindedness.

These are my personal wishes for 2009.

Alex: You forgot more sex. And more anime. You forgot less facebook too. Less flies too! Yiek!Enloying the moment in a right way eh?..Dunno if you wishing this to yourself ooor you’re trying to tell me something… :P

More movies: I guess this is kind of a pass. I’m doing the whole kinimatografiki thing together with Garret, I’ve watched my fair share of movies in the past year… There’s definitely a lot more in my”want to see” list on Flixster, but is there anything out there really for which this can’t be said? I mean… not on my “want to see” list on Flixster, generally speaking…

Honourable mentions: Kubrick Month, District 9, Dogtooth, Some Like It Hot, The Shawshank Redemption, Inglourious Basterds

More games: Hmmm… my overall “games played” meter in 2009 is fairly similar to, if not lower than 2008’s. I did sign up for Game 2.0, which is good, but I feel that I haven’t played enough games that I’ve been aching to play. I’m up to the neck in music games, if that’s any development. I even  got more of an acquired taste in strategies!

Honourable mentions: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts, Victoria, The Longest Journey, Modern Warfare 2, Peggle Nights, Luxor, StarCraft

More languages: My go at learning Japanese crashed and burned and I’ve made little progress with German…next question!! :/

More activities: That’s a check in many different ways.Theatriki, Kinimatografiki, Fotografiki, being out a lot, I have the distinct impression I’ve been pretty active, thank you!

More biking: um… R.I.P.

More photography: That’s a check as well! Just have a look at my Flickr for the results! :}

More people: Yes, met many new people this year but got to know few. This one’s up in the air as is always has and always will be I guess.

More travelling: Turkey, Peloponnese, Kerkyra, Rodos… Good, but I don’t think it can compare to 2008 in any way, many plans died out or haven’t been realised yet. But there’s much hope for 2010, I’ll tell you that.

More new experiences: Always on the lookout! Many experiences I shall cherish forever.

More love: That’s a tough one. I’ll say check, even though I’m not sure if everything I have in mind is aspects of love or something else entirely.

More animals: Does the army of cats on the watch outside my apartment count? 😛

More beauty: Just like new experiences, always looking for more!

More cooking: FAIL UNLIMITED! 🙁

More reading: Hmmm… I give this one a hearty check. In the past 12 months I read many books that I’ll remember for years to come. Coming in contact with Saramago, Gaarder and Mazower are no small matters.

More knowledge: Yes! I I owe this largely to Despina Catapoti for being the best prof ever and leading me to planes of gnosis I always wanted to visit but I wasn’t aware of. Cultural studies, postmodernism, philosophy were all redefined in my head.  I feel like my mind has opened even more.

More stars: I don’t have a telescope… yet… but it’s been a fine astronomical year with many a starry sky and gazing alone or in good company.

More planets: If this is astrology (I don’t remember), I’m now feeling a bit mixed on the issue.

More cleaning/housekeeping: This has reached an all time low… For shame.

More real working: I made my first real money in 2009, which is great. Game 2.0 or my EAA Museum and other uni projects also count and I stand proud!

More specialisation: …hm… nah.

More subtitles: Yes indeed, I did some and I was paid for it. Moar plz.

More cubimension: Another healthy check and it’s getting better!

More music: Not many new bands came into my attention this year, but I’ve been listening to music, yay! 😛 Buying The Incident in Special Edition is something I’m not sure I regret yet.

More peace: No, I wasn’t in peace for much of last year. Good or bad? I cannot tell.

More awareness: Not very successsful, many a time did I let my wandering thoughts cloud my perception of the present. Not a good thing.

More spirituality: I’ve been trying to delve into the secrets of eastern philosophy… Tao and Physics is an excellent book on the subject, but Tao is so deep and mistifying I’m confused and left in awe at the same time. Somewhat healthy.

More science: Web Science Conference?! Hehe, well I’ve been reading some pop science books, if that counts…

More history: Yes yes! Playing Victoria, reading Mazower and looking into alternate histories, listening to Despina talk…

More dreams: After “Counting Sheep”, my take on sleep was briefly something completely different and new. Now I’ve somewhat subconsciously returned to my bad old take of “sleep cuts away from your waking time”… I must make it a point to follow some online lucid dreaming classes.

More thoughts: I’ve been thinking…

More tea: I got this huge bag of tea from Ayvalik (which cops mistook for half a kilo of weed…) and I still haven’t made any of it. Maybe I’m still recovering from the tea overload in Turkey. Or maybe my boiler is kaput. No wait, it is.

More vegetables: uh, I don’t think I’ve been eating any more or any less… I shoud make a habit of making salads a la mama though, they’re downright awesome.

More cake: fail. Or is it?

More e-mails: And all to the same handful of special someones as last year. Pah, no good. 😛

More writing: Judging from my surge of cubimension interest, that’s a positive.

More art: I’ve done my part. That collage for Alex and a lot of digital art tidbits… I know I can do better though.

More friendliness: I think I might be going well with this. Might.

More phone calls: and to whom, I wonder… But you know that I dislike phones!

More letters: I don’t think I wrote a signle one.

More enjoying the moment in the right way: I… think I got that one. Or maybe not. Or maybe both. Or maybe it’s too hard to tell as a rule. Or maybe I’m still trying to do it.

Less procrastinating: No one ever entirely gets away from this one… But it is the goal.

Less shyness: I’ve seen myself be very shy and very not shy. Soooo…

Less lazyness: I think I’m less lazy than usual. Yes.

Less internet idleness: Working on that one but I think I’ve made some progress.

Less MSN: Considerably.

Less stupid spending: …yes, but I still turn out with less money than I calculated. Maybe the definition of stupid has simply jumped around.

Less sleeping till the afternoon: …to which I’ll add: less going to sleep after dawn!

Less caffeine: HAH! Good one!

Less absent-mindedness: Hmmm. Yes.

More sex: Quantity-wise or quality-wise? It makes all the difference in the world.

Less Facebook: I managed to deactivate it. TOTAL SUCCESS!

More anime: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of One Piece. But where’s my Cowboy Bebop?

Less flies: Less flies, I agree. And less cockroaches please!

~~


Is it really Christmas?

fuck christmas

So here I am, sitting in my room at my place in Nea Smyrni, stealing someone’s WiFi (together with 6 other people… Logging in to routers with default WEP settings and changing the keys is soo tempting… but I am not that evil), blogging when I should be working on my projects. I’ve been here for a few days already and I’m not feeling like it is Christmas at all. I look at all the constructed, fake festivities around me and I am feeling nothing but disgust for this joke of a festival centered around “love”. Just sneaking a peak at all the advertisements targeted at children, the true targets of this consumeristic parody, is borderline depressing. It’s no wonder we all have a sort of nostalgic aftertaste of Christmas which really stems from our childhood, when it all seemed so magical, so true, so happy… Is it the presents, the holidays, the sweets, the music? Maybe it is the sheer fakeness of it all, the same thing that draws children to Disneyland, that manages to enchant them so. What can indeed be said about the “holiday season”, a cultural curiosity which is one of the best examples of globalization today? I feel that if I let myself loose I’m going to fill pages upon pages of ranting about something that everybody knows is true yet decides to turn a blind eye to, preferring to drown their sorrows in ethical and guiltless super-consuming.

The fact, then, that I’m not feeling as if it’s Christmas is probably a good sign.

Maybe it is because so much has happened in my life in so little time. Maybe it’s because I have been consciously looking away from the very strong build-up that typically leads to an all-encompassing “Christmas spirit”. Maybe it is because I’ve grown mature enough to be able to appreciate being close to my loved ones and having some free time without associating the holidays with consumption, fake feelings of love for the world and this hideous “spirit”. It may be all, it may be none, it may be just one of these things, but whatever the reason, I am happy that I can see past the worryingly ultra-happy social appearances…

OK, Christmas flaming over. :] I started writing this post wanting to share what I’ve been doing the past few days and how I’m going to spend my holidays. Interesting much? It’s the fatal compulsion of blogging…

University Projects

One of the slighter reasons I’m not feeling too Christmas-y and/or relaxed is that I have a serious amount of work to get done for university. Four projects. It was going to be five originally but I decided to drop the project for Virtual Worlds and Digital Animation — my well of inspiration was looking a bit too dry for me to realise my relatively ambitious plans.

1. PHP. My project for WWW Technologies is to build a complete computer hardware online shop. That is much harder to do than it sounds, at least for someone who has little to no knowledge of dynamic website developing. This project is supposedly for two people but Garret doesn’t look like he might be a lot of help; he still needs to get his HTML sorted out. Anyway, it’s online tutorial and lab note time!

2. Cultural Representation. I chose to represent my top 5 favourite cities in the world for this one. I will have to make the workflow chart for an interactive application. I won’t fully develop it, but just designing a workable and attractive User Interface, as well as making it have the distinct Cubi style will take some full hours.

3 & 4. These are secret projects… ^^D

I promise impressive things… It’s not that I’m too bored to write about them or anything like that, no! It’s because I want to surprise everyone!

Flickr, Facebook and Online Identities

It’s been a a few weeks now that I deactivated my Facebook account. After a point, it felt downright hypocritic posting bad stuff about it but having a perfectly healthy account. Nevermind the less than impressive number of pictures I had on it.

Tell you what, I haven’t missed it a bit. A lot of people seem to find it strange that I’ve done so and have tried to persuade me to re-activate it. They say: “We miss you!”, just like Facebook said they would (and I thought it was being ridiculous…) To them, all I have to say is this. Sorry, but I will indulge in pathetic spying and “maintaining expired relationships” no longer!

Some other people, mostly from the Theatre and Photography groups, have told me that I should re-activate my FB so that I can upload photographs for all to see. I have a different reply for them: Flickr! Maybe you’ve noticed, maybe you haven’t, but I’m uploading more and more of my photographs there. It’s a very good image site, well-made, professional, respectful to the applying web laws as far as content protection goes. That is where you can head for my full lowdown of pictures! Look at that: it’s even got integrated support for WordPress (the sidebar pics are from my Flickr photostream, also have a look at my previous post). What else can one possibly ask for?!

To sum up:
Facebook sucks,
Flickr rules,
if you want to see my pics,
you surely oughta choose!

Windows 7 for free! Legally! How?

Casually browsing the web, a few days ago I stumbled upon MSDN Academic Alliance through my.aegean. What’s this, you say? It is a Microsoft service that allows students to download some of their software for free, all in the name of academia. Amazing eh? I was excited to discover that the University of the Aegean is eligible for this service. Why hasn’t anybody, ever, told us anything about it?

I really did download Windows 7 Professional, as well as a valid license key, for free, just by putting in my CT user name and pass. I burnt it on a DVD and now it’s waiting for me to tidy up my laptop HDDs before I format. This might take a while actually… heh.

Check it our for yourself!

Three Sequels and a Classic.

My gaming activity in the past few weeks has centered around four games: Modern Warfare 2, Banjo-Tooie, Half-Life 2 and StarCraft. Let me tell you a few things about these games.

Modern Warfare 2 is a great game in multiplayer, haven’t touched SP yet, as “controversial” as it may be. Enough said, I believe.

banjo-tooie christmas

Banjo-Tooie. Oh, Banjo-Tooie. I am very aware that about 2 years ago I placed it #20 in my 20 Favourite N64 games. I did not remember it very well back then, having only played it once before, when I was only 11. Not long ago I downloaded it from XBLA and decided to give it another spin, especially when I had so much fun downloading, replaying and 100%ing Banjo-Kazooie this time last year from the same service.

Tooie must be one of  the deepest, most innovative platformers in the history of the genre, not to mention one of the most expanding sequels ever. The level architecture is brilliant, how each world connects with a few others is something that hasn’t been used in other games since, even though it was such a good idea. The game is truly massive — getting 100% might take me 20+ hours when Banjo-Kazooie took me around 6. It’s definitely because I remember Kazooie almost perfectly even from my early years while now with Tooie it’s like playing it for the first time… Yes, the game is massive. TOO massive and time-consuming at times, when the original was a lot tighter and pure. I just have to comment on some of the humour displayed in Tooie; there are a lot more sexual references than in the original, and that can only be a good thing.

It doesn’t feel like I’m replaying it so it all feels fresh. If remade it could easily stand next to contemporary platformers and surpass them in many ways. Still, even if I have redeemed it a bit, the original still stands proud of its proximity to platforming perfection even when it obviously offers less, is shorter, much easier and has a fraction of the content of its sequel. I guess that is what separates a very good game from a classic. And talking about classics…

StarCraft. Yes, Blizzard’s other franchise that is about to see its full revival in a few months (and then we’re going to talk about sequels, period. Any new IPs please? :P) Even though I’m a strategy game fan, I’ve never shown great interest for Blizzard games. I’ve tried to like the WarCraft universe but I find it bores me. I still cannot exactly say why I like StarCraft and even worse, explain the on-and-off relationship I’ve had with it for years. Now, this Christmas, I’ve decided  to follow its story and see why it’s a game celebrated like few. So far I’m loving it! Haven’t had this much fun with a Single Player RTS campaign in years.

Want another game I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with for even longer? That’s none other than Half-Life 2 for you. I downloaded and tried it when it was released more than 5 years ago and was blown away by its atmosphere. For some weird reason I lost interest somewhere along the way. I tried to pick it up three times since, once after I bought the Orange Box, another time sometime last Autumn and another shortly thereafter… again and again, I kept losing interest a bit further along the road. My last save was two hours or so before the end of the game, in the City 17 streetfights. I had reached this point last time I’d felt like playing, that is last February. The morning before I left Mytilini and after a good dose of  caffeine, I finally took the bold step, closing a 5-year circle: I finished Half-Life 2.


I had been thinking that the game would have a tedious ending. How wrong I was. Getting rid of the Striders, climbing up the Citadel and then… *spoilers* was just so EPIC! Not only wasn’t it tedious, it was awe-inspiring. The rest of the game was like this, what in the name of Valve made me think the end would disappoint? Silly Cubi… Now, if only I could get Episode I to run on this laptop. Oh, don’t we wish…

That’s it for now! I have more things to share but they’re still being digested. Hey, there’s still lots of happenings left for the rest of the holidays anyway, they’ve only just begun! Soon it’s going to be the turn of the decade as well. Now that’s going to be awesome…

Είναι όντως οι μπάτσοι τα γουρούνια;

Το γνωστό σύνθημα (δεν χρειάζεται σε -όνοι να τελειώνει, μπάτσοι-γουρούνια δολοφόνοι) μου φαίνεται εδώ και καιρό κάπως άκυρο. Βασικά, απο τότε που διάβασα την Φάρμα των Ζώων, του George Orwell. Το βιβλίο, όπως μπορεί ή και όχι να ξέρετε, είναι μία ευθύς αλληγορία στην Οκτωβριανή Επανάσταση και στο τι επακολούθησε, μέχρι τον Στάλιν: τα ζώα της φάρμας, καθοδηγούμενα απο τα γουρούνια, πατάσσουν την κακιά εξουσία των ανθρώπων για μία αυτοδιαχειριζόμενη φάρμα, απο τα ζώα για τα ζώα! Μόνο που σύντομα, τα γουρούνια γίνονται χειρότεροι απο τους ανθρώπους…

Τα γουρούνια ΔΕΝ είναι οι μπάτσοι. Τα γουρούνια είναι οι άνθρωποι οι όποιοι ελέγχουν τους μπάτσους σαν μαριονέτες. Και πέρσι, που ένας μπάτσος πυροβόλησε τον Αλέξη Γρηγορόπουλο, αυτό δεν ήταν κίνηση γουρουνιού, αλλά ηλιθιότητα του μπάτσου… Δεν φταίει η δημοκρατία, ή το σύστημα, για τον τυχαίο ανθρώπινο παράγοντα ο οποίος μπορεί να πονοκεφαλιάσει τα γουρούνια και να δώσει ακόμα περισσότερη τροφή σε όσους στρέφουν τα πυρά τους προς αυτούς και ΟΧΙ στα γουρούνια.

Στην Φάρμα των Ζώων, τα σκυλιά είναι αυτά τα οποία προστατεύουν τα γουρούνια, θα μπορούσαμε να πούμε ότι οι μπάτσοι είναι τα σκυλιά. Τα ίδια όμως είναι εκπαιδεύμενα για να κάνουν ακριβώς αυτό. Ποιό είναι το παράπτωμα τους; Απο την άλλη, ποιός είναι ο καλύτερος τρόπος να στοχεύσεις τα πραγματικά γουρούνια, τα οποία πλέον δεν ήταν όσο εμφανή όσο ήταν ο Στάλιν; Είναι οι μεγαλοεπιχειρηματίες, οι μεγαλομέτοχοι, οι άνθρωποι που ελέγχουν τα μέσα… Άνθρωποι αφανείς, οι οποίοι κάνουν ακόμα και τους τάχα πολιτικούς “ηγέτες” ό,τι θέλουν πίσω απο τα παρασκήνια.

Οι μπάτσοι δεν είναι παρα το χέρι, το εκτελεστικό όργανο της εξουσίας… Είναι εκεί για να μισούμε αυτούς και όχι την πραγματική εξουσία. Ποιά όμως είναι, εν τέλει, η πραγματική εξουσία;

ΠΟΙΟΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΤΑ ΓΟΥΡΟΥΝΙΑ;

Pink Floyd – Echoes (Three Parts)

Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.

And no-one called us to the land
And no-one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can

And no-one calls us to move on
And no-one forces down our eyes
And no-one speaks and no-one tries
And no-one flies around the sun

Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no-one sings me lullabies
And no-one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky

November

eyes-wide-shut

It all began when They realised Their time together meant less and less. They loved eachother, that much was obvious. But was it enough? Could it be that their passion was in danger? “I love you” was so easy to say, so truthful, it meant so much but implied so little. Even when they bridged Their physical distance and met again, armed with what They thought were new experiences that would bring balance to everything, it made matters worse; nothing had changed. They could not let Their relationship rot away due to routine and perfectly fulfilled expectations… Something had to be done to stir things up a bit. And when, after they separated, each headed to their own little island She told him of how She had already taken the step. She had mentioned it while They were Together, but He had not managed  to feel it into His skin at the time. But then She told him of the step that had left everything behind and at the same time preluded infinity. From now on They were truly free to do as They wished with anyone, as long as They kept Their own relationship intact. And this is how It started.

tt0049406_largecover2

Before learning of Her step he had observed and contemplated, but the new developments had made the plan clear in His head and had blown confidence, power and decisiveness into Him. Decisiveness to execute the plan and get the girl, despite all odds. He thought that if he went according to his honest wishes, everything would go according to this plan. And thus He set it into action and He did carry it out flawlessly. Or at least everything pointed towards that at first. Little did He or anyone know that The Killing would be the result of this grand scheme… And he was happy and satisfied in His success, just as He would love the thrill of rushing down a speeding river right before the waterfall.

clockwork-orange

Even before all of this had even begun to form, He had promised to visit Her in Her new life. And so He did. Together They practiced ultra-romance, bringing a supposedly known type of human interaction to unknown extremes. Many thought of what They did Together as sick, inhuman, not the result of pure love but a twisted, self-conscious kind of thing. But how can an act of pure feeling survive in a society where the sick, inhuman and twisted acts are frowned upon unless done underground? Under “special occasion”? When anybody indulges in these acts out in the open, it is natural for them to become a target, a scapegoat… This ultra-romance was not, consequently, a stable situation. Warnings had been given by the rest of society about how it would ultimately bring Them down. Twice They survived almost-fatal internal strife, which in turn brought Their peak of ultra-romance. He, in the end, would end up getting caught in the devastating whirlpool of social reconciliation, easily influenced as He is. Now everybody else was to teach Him a lesson and teach it to Him for good.

DrStrangelove4

It is always the unpredictable factor that takes anything stable to brutal instability. Just as it takes only the push of a single button for two huge nuclear arsenals to destroy the world. His new-found love interest did not enjoy this ultra-romance bullshit, nor did she like the fact that she was part of a grander scheme or a plot, even when she was cherished through it. “I’m never going to get used to it! I don’t want to hear a single thing about Her!” With a single move of breaking ties and flipping the finger, she would set up the scene for the End War to take place. He would not let go, He did not want to let go; it could not be that His plan had gone so awfully wrong, His ultra-romance been this misguided and worse still, misguiding. It could not be that society had been right… but right about what? He could not make it out. He decided to end it with a bang, to take the chance, to go all out for what He desired. Just like taking a chance with a nuclear war… like saying: “Is MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) really the only possible outcome”? Could it be possible that He might win something by making the move? Surely, it’d be true that he would not have faltered, he would not have cowered in fear when the time to take the risk did come. He took the seemingly brave step. He took the plunge riding His proud atom bomb all the way to hell. The result?

We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when,
But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through, just like you always do,
‘Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.

What did He expect? To win a nuclear war just because He struck first? He lost everything, He won nothing. Everything lay in ruins, nuclear fallout everywhere. The idea of the goal, of Vicktory, so forcefully spitting in His face, and His image of Her just as destroyed in His eyes as His own in Hers. He had ridden the bomb, taking the chance and risking the world… And He was shot down in a million mushroom clouds. The idiocy of such a war, the whimsical, spontaneous decision to consciously destroy everything that matters… Yet…

Can it be true that He won nothing?

2001_space_odyssey_fg2b

To create is to destroy. But what you create is, thankfully, not dependent on what you destroy… Sometimes, radical changes have to be made for something new, productive, better to emerge. This fact is what all revolutions are based on. The initial result might have been devastating, heart-breaking… but, as it goes:

Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won’t know for twenty years. And you may never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it’s what you create. And even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but it doesn’t really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope that something good will come along. Something to make you feel connected, something to make you feel whole, something to make you feel loved. And the truth is I feel so angry, and the truth is I feel so fucking sad, and the truth is I’ve felt so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long I’ve been pretending I’m OK, just to get along, just for, I don’t know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own. Well, fuck everybody. Amen.”

Source (note: He played this monologue last week for the uni Theatre Group).

He has seen the possibilities of the blank canvas.This canvas is not white though. It is a radioactive shade of gray. It’s still blank, however. Blank and ready to draw on. His memories of the time when the world was beautiful, the things that really count, are all intact. He can recreate it, if He wishes. He can make it even better now, the experience having made Him richer. He can make a whole different kind of world. It all depends on Him now. What woeful glee!

What are the chances of a post-apocalyptic world reaching a transgressive state of being?
They can’t be too slim.

http://www2.aegean.gr/kinimatografiki/?p=3