Pink Dawn

It’s 7:30AM. Me and Mordread are sitting in my futon couch, going though the last, epic stages of The Force Unleashed, watching the final twists and turns of its plot unfold. Outside it is raining. The gentle sound of the drops hitting the street outside is audible even through the soundproof aluminum windows. It manages to reach our ears, as well as the lightsaber hums, Darth Vader’s iconic scuba breathing and the sound of lightning coming out of Starkiller’s fingertips. The sky is not entirely grey; in fact, its colour would be best described as a kind of dim pink. Soon I would witness what should have been the tie-in between the original and the prequels, the old and the new, the successful and the perhaps disappointing. My drowzy mind, amidst all this, was thinking that the line had been crossed; a new blog entry was finally at hand.

More than 3 hours later, the time is now 11:05. October 3rd, 2008. Rain sporadically cheers my ears but the sun has decided that its no time for playing hide-and-seek. The result is a wonderful colour of the sky. A fantastically unusual bright cloudy grey. Isn’t it strange that I often choose to write when my mind is working in ambiguous ways, powered by the strength of overnight determination but deterred by sleepiness? This fact could mean many things, quite controversial in their own right. Is it because I deem blogging so important a task that only the special moments of sleeplessness can truly get it going? Is it because writing is a time-consuming activity, best left for when my time constraints are only limited by my fatigue? Is it just because I’m bored and feel somehow special that I want to share my thoughts with the world (surrounding me)? I digress…

It’s been almost 3 months since my last blog entry. 3 busy, important, fascinating months. My last entry was written just hours before our journey to Europe had begun. Now, in mere weeks 2 months will have gone by since we returned from our trip. I won’t go into much detail about how it was, what it meant to me/us, if it was interesting or if I have any pictures to share. Answer to last two questions is yes. To the first two it is… well. I just can’t do it now. When I first came back from the trip, I was eager to tell everyone about it! Trying to remember every little detail so that it doesn’t get lost somewhere in the mists of memory lest it isn’t readily available so as to tell anyone who might be interested or write right here in Cubimension. But my enthusiasm was quickly discouraged. Not all that many people, especially friends, were genuinely interested in what I had to tell or show (I might write something else on this subject one day. It’s a deep matter). A lot of them will never read these lines either but the sentiment remains. It does sound too self-important, (as much of this particular entry, forgive me!) but I think it does have some right to be. Anyway, to not sound too melodramatic about something that doesn’t deserve it, if anyone would really like to ask me anything about our experience out there, I’d really gladly discuss anything! YEAH! But as it is now, I just can’t bring myself to summarise 38 days of travel for a questionable audience. Alexandra says that if we write all that happened down (something we did try to do…) we’ll remember it much easier. I kind of agree but writing it down isn’t exactly easy in the first place (hell, visit this topic on MyAegean and maybe you’ll catch some of all the previous feeling: http://my.aegean.gr/web/ftopict-991.html.  But when it comes down to it, for whom do I opperate this site anyway, is it just to showcase what I do and am all about or is it too more like a personal dia… ANYWAY! My apologies for this nervous breakdown! 😀

OK after this last bit my post has lost the aethereal tone it had in the beginning. Fudge it, it was taking too long to think of all the difficult words anyway! What else has been going on? Well on August 23rd I first walked through the door of my current home. It was the week I was looking for my new place to stay. I was with Kira/George/Darthy. I’m not sure he had a good time, since I had to wake up early every morning just to take care of all the sudden obligations and do some new-home-hunting. We did have our very fair share of nargile and WoW discussions though (yes I was always the debunker! Sort of…) August 23rd was also Mordread’s 20th b-day. This can’t have been random cause now he’s my new neighbour! Walks in for gaming sessions, brings Pepsi along, takes care of the cat when I’m away — everything a good neighbour should do! Thanks Mordread, you’re a star! 🙂 After another week in Athens, IKEAing, meeting up with long lost friends and celebrating Alexandra’s nameday, it was time for me, her and mum to come back to Mytilini armed and ready! September 3rd-8th was the moving to brand-new home preperations. The two girls helped me a lot and I do so love them for it, even though one of them worked significantly more than the other, oops shouldn’t have let that one slip! 😀 It was a great time us being together, had some talks, some good breakfasts and stuff. And I can’t forget mention: whut!! We played Rock Band all together. Mum played a video game. As we say in greek, many bakeries fell in ruins on that day…

The real fun started when mum left, which was right on the day we moved! For another week, it was just me and Alex taking care of the brand new home. We painted every room in crazy happy colours, pondered on what should go where, watched sick and crazy funny movies, cooked some tasty food (I tell you, squeezing meatballs isn’t nearly as disgusting as it once seemed… nor is chopping turkey), quarreled for a little bit just to break all the happy tension, played lots of Geometry Wars (and Alexandra made a brave new footing into the world of Hexic! A round of applause for our would-be hardcore please), explored the new surrounding area, discovered that afternoons are sexy too (sometimes sexier than evenings), quarreled a bit more to keep things balanced, and had to keep Yuki’s teen sexual heat under contro as well. Shut windows, air-condition. Yeah. This is what brought that happy week to a close. I did something I will never forgive myself for doing which was nevertheless necessary… *read on*

I had to have Yuki neutered. I wasn’t happy that I had to keep windows shut to keep her tomcat-seeking skills at bay and neither was she. But having little Yukinos around wasn’t the problem here. The problem was that there’s the bloody busy road just down the street. One sexy night out for Yuki could be her last, as she made a perfect white contrast against the cold, hard pavement . They’d be one in their lifelessness… Nightmare inducing, I agree wholeheartedly. So for us to be both happy (or for me to be happy and at least hoping she will be happy rid of her sexual distractions or at least indifferent to their absence — pleasure or pain) it was a tough, not to mention costly decision. Seeing her dizzy from the anaesthesia was a cruel pleasure though, have to admit! She also bit her stitches out, had an open wound Mordread thankfully treated while I was away in Chios visiting good old Fanis, ignorant and blissful about Yuki. We had her second stitches removed yesterday. All is well with Yuki now. She’s as playful, active, cuddly, hungry (for “milk” and more serious food) as ever! Minus her uterus.

While Alexandra was here I tried another first. I pursued the foundations of some career as a waiter/barman at none other than Mousiko Kafeneio. Yes, the one and only! It took no less than 2 weeks of me trying to make coffees and other beverages, failing, drinking my concoctions and always looking somehow confused to realise that I was not entirely suitable for the job. Not because I wasn’t any good at all at it but due to new emergency weekend tactics by me and Alexandra that can’t allow any weekend work obligations. No less, of course because of Piscean inherent looking-for-excuses when being in situations I don’t particularly like, behaviour; that woman pulled no punches when it came to rookie training. She demanded I took full care of bar and service  within my second week! Negotiating unacceptable. Hey, at least now I have some experience. And hey, I did eat and drink for a few days for free. That’s something! And now I can set out for some less stressful work solution. English teaching here I come (?!).

If we undserstood something together with my little sugary crabby (believe me it sounds better in greek) these weeks, it’s that we cannot manage to be apart for more than a few days. Meaningless misunderstandings through MSN (which is the DEVIL!), general dysphoria and everything just proves that. We couldn’t not meet last weekend (even though there were more fights last week because I didn’t have any money, which by the way made me cook some truly good but thick chickpeas (name sucks in english, revythia all the way) but it was urgent so I could just find some but it doesn’t work that way and and and and it wasn’t hard for things to just settle right. Last weekend in Athens was just made in heaven. Everything was so great! We had such a great time within such few hours. If our emergency weekend plan ends up like this, it’s going to be grand.

Well. It’s 13:05 straight! Hah, I’ve been writing for 2 hours straight. And now again, it’s all stuff that only interests me in the end. Maybe Alex as well. But I feel very satisfied that I finally came down to writing something! If you’ve reached this end, dear reader, we should hang around more!

Next blog may be (but it may also not be) about all the new games, movies, music, books and cool stuff that has come to my attention recently. It’s going to be big! Don’t expect it soon! 😀

Heading out to the Old World

It’s been a strange and hectic 10 days of being back in Athens. But today, our plane leaves for Berlin and eventually Riga. And then, the grand adventure will begin… 37 days of relentless exploration and travel. O thee, old world, home of such part of humanity’s history, beware! And couch-hosts, be ready to enjoy the purest of couchsurfing experiences (that’s a personal warning as well?). Hello world!

*stares then turns around*

On studies

After reminiscing my days in Rodos, my exams are finally underway since Wednesday. Well actually since Tuesday but I decided to not sit for Globalization; I felt that I still haven’t studied it properly. My copper project was rushed but completed and my respective exam went well. Yesterday and today, though, I gave in two blank sheets. I hadn’t studied for these two subjects, namely Graphics & Animation and Introduction to Digital Audio and Video Editing. They were both subjects that require a more involved, deeper kind of studying. Since last year, I’ve been mostly putting off studying for subjects such as these; I already did it for the alleged Flash project, which turned out to be too much for everyone. Today, while my attention was hovering over my perfectly white sheet and the disappointingly incomprehensible questions on the much less white one sitting right next to it, I wondered.

The main reason I chose Cultural Technology as my theoretical career path somewhat less than 2 years ago was because I thought that it’d give me all the valuable knowledge and technical expertise for a job I would enjoy in the future. Isn’t that scandalous? I believe that in university, one has the perfect opportunity to explore themselves and their true interests and develop as a person, learn lots of new things about the world. Discovering that, in the end, it’s all there to throw another person in the job market is rather shocking. Where’s the real knowledge? Why do we receive 15 huge books every semester but only a tiny little fragment is ever taught or needed? Professors themselves only assign certain parts of books as study material as if the rest is irrelevant. And how can anything work when students and academics alike all know that there’s cheating going on? Why would anyone want to cheat in the first place? The prof today casually announced “If you’re gonna cheat, at least don’t make yourself obvious”. What?

Myself, I hate cheating for the reasons stated above. What’s the point? We’re in university to learn, not get a stupid essentially worthless piece of paper. If I feel like I haven’t had enough of a particular subject, I don’t even sit for it. Neither do I sit for it if I haven’t completed a difficult and experience-rich project or essay for it. Yet an alarmingly high percentage of people think it’s perfectly OK to pass subjects they have no idea about just by cheating. And what happens next? They get the same bachelor’s as me, perhaps even with a higher mark, and then proceed to discredit me and others that have the same degree by not having a single clue about their job.

Generally, I have this feeling that I’m not going to get really involved with Cultural Technology in my life. But only time will tell. I’m not really worried about my studies, the above were just thoughts I had today and have had for some time now. Maybe it’s because I’m LAZY and not a model student. Still, I do feel that I’m way more responsible than most of my fellow students but that can’t be good exactly. Maybe I should take a more focused approach, but I can’t NOT enjoy my time when Alexandra is here and when such a full and exciting summer is ahead of us…

2ο Μεσαιωνικό Φεστιβάλ Ρόδου

Πέρσι ήταν το 1ο Μεσαιωνικό Φεστιβάλ το οποίο διεξήχθη στην Παλιά Πόλη της Ρόδου. Ήταν μια προσπάθεια την οποία υπόδεχθηκαν με χαρά όλοι όσοι έχουν περπατήσει στα μαγευτικά δρομάκια και στις τέλεια συντηρημένες πολιτείες του κάποτε τρανού κάστρου των Ιωαννιτών Ιπποτών. Είχα την ευκαιρία να είμαι και εγώ κομμάτι της πρώτης αυτής προσπάθειας σαν εθελοντής: μοίραζα διαφημιστικά σε και είχα πόστο στο infodesk του φεστιβάλ. Η εντύπωση όλων, επισκεπτών και εθελοντών, ήταν ότι τελικά είχε αρχίσει κάτι το οποίο όχι μόνο έλειπε απο την παράδοση της Παλιάς Πόλης αλλά θα γινόταν και μέρος της για τα επόμενα χρόνια.

Έτσι κι έγινε! Το 2ο Μεσαιωνικό Φεστιβάλ ήταν γεγονός και φέτος, το τελευταίο σαββατοκύριακο του Μαϊου. Τελείωσε μόλις 2 μέρες πριν αρχίσει η Πολιτιστική Εβδομάδα, το οποίο είναι πραγματικά κρίμα γιατί είμαι σίγουρος πως κάπως θα μπορούσαν να συνδυαστούν οι δύο αυτές ευκαιρίες. Έφτασα στην Ρόδο απο τις 24 για να μην το χάσω, αυτήν την φορά όχι ως εθελοντής αλλά ως απλός επισκέπτης. Και οι εντυπώσεις μου ήταν θετικότατες!

Πρώτα απ’όλα: πέρσι, τα happenings γινόντουσαν όλα μπροστά απο το παλάτι του μαγίστρου. Φέτος δεν υπήρχαν εκδηλώσεις εκεί αλλά σε 3 άλλες πλατείες της πόλης ταυτόχρονα! Ακριβώς στην μπροστινή είσοδο της παλιάς πόλης, στην Πλατεία Σύμης, υπήρχε ένα αντίσκηνο των ιπποτών. Εκεί έγινε η τοξοβολία και ένα event εκμάθησης ξυλοπόδαρων και ξιφομαχίας. Λίγο πιο κάτω, στην Πλατεία Αργυροκάστρου, ήταν το “κέντρο” των εκδηλώσεων. Εκεί υπήρχαν όλα τα “περίπτερα” του φεστιβάλ όπου κανείς μπορούσε να αγοράσει χειροποίητα κοσμήματα (και να μιλήσει με τον κοσμηματοποιό την ώρα της δουλειάς του!), αγιογραφίες, παλιές ενδυμάσιες και άλλα. Φυσικά, δεν θα μπορούσε να λείψει το φαγητό και το ποτό! Στην ίδια πλατεία υπήρχε η ψησταριά και η κάβα. Στην ψησταρία μπορούσε κανείς να φάει διάφορα τα οποία παρασκευάζονταν μπροστά του, όπως χοιρινό με πλιγούρι, πατατόσουπες και άλλα, τα οποία σερβίρονταν όλα μέσα σε ένα στρογγυλό κομμάτι ψωμί σαν γαβάθα. Χωρίς μαχαιροπήρουνα εννοείται! Και €2 η μερίδα… Η κάβα προσέφερε τοπικα κρασιά και μπίρα Magnus Magister, με δώρο κάθε φορά συλλεκτικές κούπες που έγραφαν πάνω “Μεσαιωνικό Ρόδο”! Το τέλειο σουβενίρ για εμάς και τους φίλους μας! Και πάντα οι τιμές πολύ ικανοποιητικές. Εκεί κοντά υπήρχε και το Infodesk. Καμιά εκατοστή μέτρα πιο κάτω, την Πλατεία Μουσείου, υπήρχε το μαγαζάκι των αναμνηστικών με διάφορα μεσαιωνικά μπιχλιμπίδια: ιππότες, σπαθιά, πίνακες, καρτ-ποστάλ του Μεσαιωνικού Ρόδου και της Πόλης και άλλα παρόμοια.

Τώρα, τα δρώμενα. Σε αντίθεση με το Φεστιβάλ του 2007 όπου μόνο οι Wolgemut ήταν οι καλεσμένοι μουσικοί, φέτος υπήρχαν ούτε ένα ούτε δύο αλλά 4 (!) μουσικά σχήματα που έπαιζαν κάθε τόσο στις πλατείες Μουσείου και Αργυροκάστρου. Οι Wolgemut ήταν ένα απο αυτά: γερμανοί μουσικοί οι οποίοι παίζουν κυρίως δυτική μεσαιωνική μουσική (και οι οποίοι φέτος είχαν μαζί τους έναν contact juggler o οποίος έκανε τα πράγματα πολύ πιο εντυπωσιακά!). Οι υπόλοιπο: οι Al’Ibi, σχήμα της νότιας Γαλλίας οι οποίοι παίζουν μεσογειακή αλλά και αραβική μεσαιωνική μουσική, οι Κώδιξ, Θεσσαλονικείς που παίζουν “σεφαραδίτικη” (όποιος ξέρει τι σημαίνει αυτό να μου πει) μουσική και οι Los Mercatores, επίσης Γάλλοι, μια ομάδα των 7 η οποία είναι μουσικοί, ηθοποιοί και διασκεδαστές όλα σε ένα. Απο το πρόγραμμα: “Περιπλανώμενοι Έμποροι του Μεσαίωνα που πολούν την πραμάτεια τους φωνασκώντας σε φράγκικη μεσαιωνική διάλεκτο”. Βέβαια αυτή η περιγραφή δεν τους δικαιώνει αλλά είναι όσο πιο κοντά μπορούμε να φτάσουμε.

Εκτός της μουσικής, δεν έλειψαν δραστηριότητες όπως ξιφομαχίες, αναπαραστάσεις, μεσαιωνικά παραμύθια, και διάφορα άλλα πολλά. Ακόμα κι αν ήμουν εκεί και τις δύο μέρες, δεν τα είδα όλα οπότε δεν μπορώ να σχολιάσω για κάποια, αλλά σε γενικές γραμμές, το φετινό Μεσαιωνικό Φεστιβάλ ήταν σε πολύ αξιόλογο επίπεδο. Αν συνεχίσει την ίδια πορεία τα επόμενα χρόνια, πιστεύω πως σύντομα θα μιλάμε για ένα απο τα σημαντικότερα πολιτισικά δρώμενα της χώρας!

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgU4FwJBwa8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JJgjOuWqlE&

Hobo for a day! Also, Rodos.

I’m sitting at a net cafe in Rodos. The past 2 days I’ve slept a total of ~6 hours. I’m watching Eurovision and I wasn’t cheap about it; 6 hours cost 10 euros (that’s what I got ><) and LAN parties here cost around 3 times as much as they do in Mytilini. I mean, ****! (insert favourite 4-letter swear word here). 4 hours of LAN-partying cost  4 euros. And I plan on staying all night here. How did I get myself in such a position? Well, here goes.

I’m in Rodos for two reasons: First, today and tomorrow is the 2nd (now annual) Medieval Festival in the Old Castle Town. I was here last year as well for the very same reason and even wrote a little something for the occasion. Back then of course I hadn’t even thought of such a place as a “cubimension” but it’s on my MySpace blog if you want to read it that badly. Anyway, the second reason I’m here is because my uni’s cultural week (πολιτιστική εβδομάδα) starts on the 27th and goes on till the 31st. During it, groups from all over the uni islands present what they’ve prepared the past year and it’s generally considered a time of meetings, parties and Aegean University students getting together. Basically, what MyAegean stands for. And guess what: I’m taking part as a Mytilini MyAegean representative. That means that I’m staying for free and going home for free! Of course, the university isn’t paying for my fascination for castles and knights so basically till the 27th I have to find somewhere to stay.

Luckily, I’ve found a CouchHost. But he’ll only be able to host me starting tomorrow. And yes, I have no place to stay for tonight. I’m a hobo for a day! I’ve been walking aaaall day long around the town, looking for somewhere to spend the night and generally exploring. I’m exhausted, my legs and back hurt (good thing I’m only carrying around 3 bags… travelling light yes?) and I’m now wondering how I’m going to cope in a couple of months, when me and Alex will be walking this much close to every day! The first day of the Medieval Festival was really good – beer, food with no forks, great medieval music, happenings, swords ‘n’ stuff –  I ended up using Housemaster’s idea: I’m spending the night at a net cafe. But it’s EXPENSIVE!

So Eurovision ended and Greece didn’t win. Thankfully! The Russian song that did, however sucks just as bad as the greek one if not more. ICELAND should have won ;D. Anyway, I’ll try to go to sleep now. I hope the net cafe guys don’t have a problem with that…

Uncommon Ways: A Subjective Look At Rare’s Ventures On The Xbox 360

I got myself an Xbox 360 last Christmas. It was purely coincidential (or was it?) that I found the premium edition along with Perfect Dark Zero and NFS: Carbon for only 120 euros new. If it wasn’t for that super bargain I may not had been writing these lines about one of my most liked developers: Rare.

Up till then, I had been chiefly a Nintendo gamer; as such I had played and loved most Rare games after Donkey Kong Country, even the more obscure ones like Jet Force Gemini or Blast Corps. Classics like Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country 3 and GoldenEye all enjoy the view from the top of my favourite game list. Obviously, I was full of anticipation when the GameCube was just getting released, sure that Rare’s slew of great games would continue on Nintendo’s latest console. The announcement of Microsoft buying and Nintendo selling hit me hard. I knew I wouldn’t be playing Perfect Dark Zero or Donkey Kong Racing any time soon, if at all.

Things didn’t change much during last gen since Rare wasn’t all that active during that period. I didn’t even try Star Fox Adventures (though I’d like to try it now)… Games Rare designed for the original Xbox seemed heretical to my preteen eyes, as anything they made could only be associated with Nintendo in my book.

When I got that Xbox 360 with Perfect Dark Zero, again I didn’t expect much from the game. I remembered hearing a lot of criticism during X360’s launch… How the game had little to do with the original and how Rare had dropped the ball for its first major release since the buyout. Sceptical, I tried it for a few hours and indeed, the game was a total disappointment. I couldn’t understand how they could mess it up so much. But the worst had still to come.

Let’s have a look at Kameo: a new IP in Rare’s arsenal, Kameo was first shown along with Donkey Kong Racing as the games they were working on for GameCube’s launch window. When within that same window fell the company’s trade of hands Kameo was moved to Xbox and Donkey Kong Racing was, of course, cancelled. The former reappeared after a second delay as a launch title for Microsoft’s new console hand-in-hand with Perfect Dark Zero, heralding Rare’s supposed revival. Supposed… A friend of mine got me the game for Christmas shortly after I got the Xbox so I had the chance to play it only shortly after the mess that was Perfect Dark. What can I say about this game?

It wasn’t a TOTAL disaster. For instance, the graphics and sound production were of high quality all around, nicely showing off 360’s initial capabilities. The gameplay was fine too: transforming into different creatures and killing stuff with combos? Sounds great! And it did play decently. But as I progressed, more and more did I feel like something was wrong. Every time Kameo uttered so much as a word my face transformed into a mask of disgust, every time I had to play the SAME boss to gain a new Elemental Warrior I slowly shook my head, every time I flip-kicked a boulder using Kameo I’d wonder why it wouldn’t budge when just running into it would make it roll around as if it was a giant titanium ball filled with helium. Yes, every time I played the game I’d find more and more cringe-worthy characteristics: the story (ouch!), the characters (yuck!), the presentation (ewww!), how Kameo’s horse would be too scared to go anywhere near buildings but it’d run head first into huge crowds of identically modelled and animated trolls (what?? trolls are like orcs now?), how the game tried to be fantastically epic but failed so miserably it hurt. OK, as I said the gameplay was fun and enjoyable but picture this: it took me over 2 months of on and off play to get to the last boss of this weekend-filler game and I still haven’t defeated him. Even the respective (high scoring) achievement wasn’t enough of an incentive… To sum up, Kameo played kinda like a Rare game, that is unrivaled when it comes to fun and fulfilling gameplay, but it fell flat on its face concerning the other aspect that make Rare games great: the personality, the humour, the flair and vibrance that make them unique. Kameo felt like it was just trying to be all of these, trying to mimic something long lost… As if it was another company that made the game. Thankfully (?), there was something that reminded me who made this piece of perfumed crap: there’s a hidden radio somewhere within it that plays the Banjo theme remixed in metal! Oh joy! An island of hope in this sea of mediocrity…

That track proved to be much more than what met my eye at first. I liked it so much I looked all over the net to download (still haven’t found it). Meanwhile, I did some research and discovered that it was none other than Grant Kirkhope himself, composer of Banjo-Kazooie music (among many other Rare classics, not least GoldenEye and Perfect Dark) who was behind this remix, a heavy rocker himself. I found his profile on MySpace and asked him about his projects himself, while commenting on his work (add him guys and gals, he’s an open and down to earth guy!) Then I found out that he had made the music to Viva Piñata. Something clicked. Add to that I’d heard good words about it, and next thing I knew was that it had come to my posession for a mere €30.

It didn’t take me more than an hour to realise just why everybody was so hooked with the game: I was hooked myself! Several tens of hours later, more than a LVL50 of mad gardening skillz, 5 gardens filled with little, colourful and oh so childish piñatas and an intense addiction with the game that has thankfully relaxed recently — how else was I going to touch Lost Odyssey? — I can say with certainty that Rare has neither lost their talent nor their soul (although Microsoft may state otherwise). In fact, all the crappy games may have been an unfortunate break for the rest of the great games to come. Viva Piñata was the first game of theirs that I really enjoyed after almost 8 years and that’s 8 decades when it comes to the entertainment industry. Brilliant music, just as expected from Mr. Kirkhope, beautiful graphics and wacky artstyle, addictive-as-crack gameplay and more of our beloved Rare flair with just enough Microsoft casual undertones and direction to make it bearable and suitable for the kids but not without the innuendos that only we “adults” would understand. Definitely not without its flaws — why do I have to whack the entire garden every freaking time, and I’m-fine-thank-you-Miss-Costalot-yes-yes-bright-eyed-bushy-tailed-GET-ON-WITH-IT! AND STOP PUSHING THAT DAMN SLOT MACHINE LIKE A RETARD ALL THE TIME! Eat my melting chocolate coins. — and annoying moments, thankfully they’re not enought to deeply spoil the otherwise satisfying gameplay.

So details for the new Banjo were announced just a few days ago, with Grant Kirkhope perfecting that early metal remix that had appeared in Kameo. Most fans of the old games don’t like the direction of Nuts & Bolts and have erupted into riots about how Rare sucks now and how they’re ruled my M$, how they’re constantly taking wrong decisions and the like. I know that a good chunk of them are still Nintendo devotees like I would have been had I not got my Xbox 360 by the strange twists and turns of luck and may not have had the chance to play some recent Rare games. Viva Piñata is a good indication that the old Twycross chaps haven’t lost it all, even with all the staff changes that they have endured recently and before they became part of Microsoft. I have trust in the new Banjo game’s ambition and scope, how creativity is such a big part of it. I welcome the fact that they’re changing the feel of the series and are taking it to another, more personalised style of platforming. Some things may seem strange at first, like the removal of Kazooie’s moves, but that will only make her bitch and complain about it and how the game would have been better off with them, in-game! The guys know what they’re doing and the crew that is behind this is mostly the same as it was back in 1998, which wasn’t the case with Perfect Dark Zero. I’m now eagerly awaiting what looks like not another great Banjo game, but also another great, groundbreaking Rare game… The kind of groundbreaking and reinventing we had almost forgot they could manage and systematically deliver.

Rare managed within this generation alone to virtually burn its already dying self to ashes with its X360 launch games. Viva Piñata was the little baby phoenix that was born out of the ashes. It’s my belief that with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and to a lesser extent Viva Piñata 2 they will revive themselves into one of gaming’s great, brilliant phoenixes. And the gamers will be happy once again.

Rareware

Update if you May!

My last post was pretty sad and uncertain. Almost a whole month later, a lot of things have happened. First of all, Easter holidays have come and gone. 15 days that felt like 5. Seriously, time went by so fast. Back in January, the Christmas holidays, really did feel like 23 days. Now… I barely had any time at all to do anything, or so I felt. Alex, close friends and meetings (lots and lots of those two categories), a bit of Aegina and a bit of rural Larissa for the otherwise festive days… It was definitely the most unorthodox (pun intended) Easter I’ve had. I think it’s because I spent the really FESTIVE YEAH WE’RE GONNA EAT TILL WE GO NUCLEAR days away from my parents and close to my love.

Highlights of stuff in no particular order:

1. Improbable, by Adam Fawer. A mystery novel/action thriller/scientific manifesto/philosophical exploration that tells the tale of David Caine, an epileptic gambler that becomes Laplace’s Demon. It goes through various theories about probability, determinism, the idea of multiple dimensions (my favourite!) and the like, all the while maintaining a very tight plot and working on very interesting, distinct and memorable characters. Its scientific insight on mostly philosophical matters is great food for thought… A well-written but surprisingly unknown book, I recommend it to anyone who likes their science as well as their nail-biting suspense in one tight package.

Hold’em

2. Catan. My interest in unusual but exciting board-games sparked just a few months ago. The Settlers of Catan is a perfect example of the kind of board games I want to try and enjoy. I downloaded a demo of the Xbox Live Arcade version and liked it, so I looked out for it and spotted the greek version of Catan in Public (Athens). I think the 35 euros I gave for it were justified thus far, but my hopes of friends suddenly becoming just as excited as I am for board games are quickly being pissed on. I’ve only had one session of Catan since I bought it, and we didn’t finish it either. 🙁

3. Cats. During the Easter holidays I came across many a kitten. I even witnessed the birth of a kitten at Alex’s cousin’s house in the countryside. It was a beautiful moment, and I knew that since then, I’d never look at cats the same way. It wasn’t long before the first opportunity since then appeared; Oliva, everybody’s favourite Italian artistic spirit, whom I met at the street first day I was in Mytilini after Easter, was holding a beautiful kitten. Long story short, I’m now a proud parent of a little kitten. Her name is Yuki, and she’s snow white! I love her and I’m sure that my cat love is only just surfacing — I know we’re going to spend many happy times together… UNLESS SHE CONTINUES PESTERING ME WHEN I’M TRYING TO GO TO SLEEP AND HAVING DIARROEA ANYWHERE BUT IN HER SANDBOX!

YUKIYuki auf dem Regal.Yuki 3Me and yukiYuki tongue

Use new tabs to view enlarged images.

And here’s a pic from my secret Nazionalist Kätzchen Trainingsprogramm. Oops shouldn’t have shown that!

Sieg Heil!

4. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I read more than 3/4 of this book on my way back to Mytilini (the same trip I finished Improbable. I feel like a bookworm now! ^^). I couldn’t put it down. Simple as that. It certainly struck a chord with my animal lover part. “This story will make you believe in God” is a phrase often repeated within it and I heartily agree. Tender, brutal, religious and exotic at the same time, I can’t decide which shock was greater: the on that derived from my initial impression that the book was retelling a true story or my subsequent realisation that in fact it didn’t. Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet was chosen for the creation of the silver screen rendition and he eagerly accepted. That alone speaks wonders. Read Life of Pi.

Life of Pi

5. Projects. Yes my University projects are going very well. Kthxbi.

6. Planning Eurotrip. So this is the plan: Me and Alex are leaving on July 9th to go to Finland, where we’ll work at Koli National Park, shepherding sheep and preserving the habitat. We’re volunteering to enjoy Finland’s natural beauty and relax. After that, though (somewhere around July 20th-25th) our as-of-yet unbought InterRail ticket will be valid. And then, our month-long train journey will commence! We’ll take the train from Finland back to Greece, going from Helsinki to Copenhagen, traversing Scandinavia and from there just about anywhere in Central Europe. We’ll be going to Holland, Belgium, Germany, Czech, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia… But out schedule is wide-open and changes can of course be made. I want to stress this part: we DON’T plan on doing this just the two of us. Any participation from anyone that wants to travel with us is ENCOURAGED. We WANT company, we WANT to share the experience. Anyone that would like to join us can meet us anywhere along our trip. We’ve been stressing this for a few months now but nobody has been eager enough so now might be a bit too late. It won’t be a cheap ride, but we’re planning on making it cheaper by CouchSurfing and minimizing costs. If you are interested at all, please tell me and start making money. It’ll be either the two of us or >=4 of us, for obvious reasons. Anyway. WHILE THERE’S STILL TIME! HURRY! IT’S A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!

Interrail Map

7. GTA IV. It’s been a long time since ANY game received this much praise. Mordread and George bought it and I had the chance to play it and watch it — it’s one of the few games that’s actually fun to watch — at the former’s place several times. Well… It’s a great game, no doubt. The part of it that deserves 10/10 is not the actual gameplay though. The sandbox, go around shooting everyone, stealing cars, having fun with stupid (on purpose?) AI and laughing out loud many many times is notably better than GTA III & Co. but still not perfect. It’s more of the setting, story and atmosphere that are much more elaborate than previous renditions of the game. Since I’ve only played but a small part of the story, I can’t comment on how it unfolds. I can definitely say thought that if I had the €70 required to get my dirty hands on it, I’d gladly pay.

GTA IV

Dusty Low Spirits

I don’t really know how to begin. For one, these last days have been eventful and uneventful at the same time. For one, I haven’t really been going out. Since last wednesday when my finnish couchsurfer left (she was alright), I’ve been mostly indoors. I finished Heroes Season 1, which had too happy an ending I might say and I’m curious to see how the writers have made it go on, I watched The Big Lebowski with Garret and HM, Lola Rennt (AGAIN! What an awesome movie), The Nines (what a strange but also intriguing movie), I watched most of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (what an otaku fest this is), played some Lost Odyssey, more Boom Boom Rocket, more Viva Pinata, watched some more Blackadder, made some research at the uni library for me and my team’s project on copper and how to preserve items made of it, StumbledUpon pages and pages and pages (it definitely is the most complete time killer since the advent of the internet), read a very interesting article by National Geographic on memory, put up a couple of posters using BlockPoster (cheap and easy way of making posters out of any picture), and finally, made some arrangements for our summer eurotrip. This is a good point to start talking about what went wrong.

The past few days the weather’s been absolutely terrible. For one, there’s this dust cloud covering the sky. It makes sunny days almost look overcast… The stars aren’t visible at night and it generally feels humid, moreso than usual. Today the heat (probably in conjuction with the dust cloud) was sweltering. Spring’s upon us for sure, although the heat reminded of June… It was a deafboil as we greeks sometimes say. I used to like rain and moody weather once… Really like it, that is. Now, I tend to prefer warm, sunny and vibrant days. It makes me more cheerful… This sticky tropical kind of situation really gets on my nerves though. Another thing: I can’t seem to get anything done. Apart from going to the library, I’ve done little else for my other interests or obligations. I just sit around being lazy. I hate that, cause I feel like my lazy hours aren’t earned in any way. Even practising for my bass guitar lessons (yeah I finally found a teacher and he’s good to boot!) feels like a chore…

And that’s not all. Weird flylings have started appearing and getting on my nerves, my internet connection enjoys making me want to smash my modem (which by the way I have to return to HOL once I move out) and generally makes the Tower of Piza look like a masterpiece of stability in comparison… and today I was in bad spirits all afternoon. The arrangements about the eurotrip I talked about? Well, me and Alex tried to find the cheapest ticket to Finland for July. After a bit of looking around, we found what looked like a deal: easyjet from here to Berlin, then another flight to Riga and then another flight from there to Helsinki with AirBaltic. All for a grand total of €90 + LVL80-., LVLs being the Latvian local currency. When looking up the exchange rate for LVLs, I confused LTLs wtih LVLs. The LTL, the currency they have in Lithuania, is several times cheaper than the euro so 80 of that seemed a good deal. Well… I should have looked up my Baltic countries’ currency twice; the LVL is actually worth more than the euro, and that made what once looked like a good 20 euro bargain a horrible 120 euro rip-off, something we thought we had totally steered clear from. And I only realised that after buying the tickets… Luckily, I had deemed it a good idea to buy cancellation warranty but AirBaltic can’t decide whether they give refunds and how they go about it. Still, I can’t believe I was so careless, especially when we were in penny-pinching mode with Alex.

So, I’m off to do whatever I’m going to do. Probably watch another episode of Blackadder. Yeah. Or read His Dark Materials. What about german? Ohhh Ill just go to sleep. I only hope that the upcoming Easter holidays will help me take it easy and focus.

Περι σπατάλης

Δ εν είναι καθόλου σπάνιο για μένα κάθε φορά που είμαι μαζί με άλλους για φαγητό να τρώω ότι αφήνουν εκείνοι. Κάποιοι μπορεί να θεωρούν ότι είναι αγενές, κάποιοι άλλοι το βρίσκουν ένα ακόμη αστείο χαρακτηριστικό μου. Δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι μερικοί φίλοι μου στην Μυτιλήνη με φωνάζουν άλλωστε μεγαλοκαρχαρία. Σίγουρα, η αχαλίνωτη όρεξη μου είναι σημαντικός παράγοντας για αυτό. Υπάρχει όμως και κάτι άλλο το οποίο μου το προκαλεί: δεν θέλω να φανταστώ τον κύκλο τους να τελειώνει σε μια σακούλα σκουπιδιών.

Ας πάρουμε για παράδειγμα, μια μακαρονάδα μπολονέζ. Πώς φτιάχτηκε αυτή η μακαρονάδα; Απο πού προήλθαν τα υλικά για να μαγειρευτεί και τελικά να φτάσει στο τραπέζι μας; Τα ίδια τα μακαρόνια κάποτε ήταν σιτάρι σε κάποιο μεγάλο χωράφι. Για να μετατραπούν σε μακαρόνια και για να συσκευαστούν, χρειάστηκε μια κάποια συγκεκριμένη ποσότητα ενέργειας. Το ίδιο ισχύει και για την μεταφορά τους, συσκευασμένα πλέον, στο σούπερμάρκετ και στη συνέχεια σε εμάς. Ο κιμάς κάποτε ήταν αγελάδα. Και αυτή η αγελάδα σφάχτηκε, ανάμεσα σε εκατομμύρια άλλες γεννημένες και θρεμένες για αυτό τον σκοπό, και με έναν πλήρως βιομηχανοποιημένο τρόπο κατέληξε στην λίστα παραγγελιών του τοπικού μας χασάπικου. Και πάλι, η ενέργεια για το ψυγείο-φορτηγό που μετέφερε το κρέας της αγελάδας αλλά και ό,τι χρειάστηκε να γίνει για να γίνει η αγελάδα φέτες συγκαταλέγεται στο ίχνος άνθρακα του κιμά. (το ίχνος άνθρακα είναι το πόσος άνθρακας κάηκε και εκλύθηκε για οποιαδήποτε δυνατή πράξη — σε αυτήν την περίπτωση, για να φτάσει ένα προιόν στον καταναλωτή, συμπεριλαμβανομένων όλων των παραγωγικών σταδίων). Κάτι αντίστοιχο ισχύει και για το τυρί. Έχουμε όλα τα υλικά λοιπόν, τα μαγειρεύουμε και τρώμε. Ό,τι φάμε θα χωνευτεί και θα επιστρέψει στην φύση (με τον έναν ή με τον άλλον τρόπο) ως άνθρακας, ως η πρώτη ύλη όλων των ζωντανών οργανισμών στην γη, έτοιμος να ξαναγίνει χώμα, γρασίδι, σιτάρι, αγελάδα. Τι θα συμβεί όμως στα μακαρόνια που θα πεταχτούν στα σκουπίδια;

Όταν πετάμε κάτι στα σκουπίδια, ουσιαστικά το περικλείουμε με πλαστικό. Αυτό κάνει την αποσύνθεση του πολύ πιο δύσκολη. Στις χωματερές, όπου τελικά καταλήγουν όλα μας τα απορρίματα, οι συνθήκες δεν είναι καθόλου ευνοϊκές για τους αποικοδομητές. Ούτε το νερό, ούτε ο αέρας, ούτε ο ήλιος φτάνουν τα σκουπίδια, που παραμένουν μέσα στην πλαστική τους σαρκοφάγο. Το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των σακουλών παραμένουν θαμένες κάτω απο τόνους άλλων σακουλών ή στην γη, όπου τίποτα δεν μπορεί να τις αποσυνθέσει. Το χαρτί, το οποίο απαρτίζει το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των απορριμάτων μας (και γι’αυτό είναι μεγάλη παράλειψη που δεν υπάρχει μεθοδική ανακύκλωση χαρτιού στην Μυτιλήνη), μπορεί να μείνει άθικτο για χιλιάδες χρόνια αν δεν έρθει σε επαφή με τα στοιχεία της φύσης. Έχουμε βρει πανάρχαιους παπύρους κρυμμένους σε πυραμίδες και τάφους, μακριά απο τα πάντα, οι οποίοι εξακριβώνουν το παραπάνω, αλλά και πεταμένες εφημερίδες του ’30 οι οποίες είναι σε άριστη κατάσταση. Άλλα οργανικά σκουπίδια όπως τα μακαρόνια, φρούτα ή λαχανικά αποκόβονται επίσης απο τον κύκλο του άνθρακα. Όλα περιμένουν κάτι να τα απελευθερώσει. Ο ήλιος αρκετά συχνά τελεί αυτό το χρέος: με την φωτοδιάσπαση, όπου οι υπεριώδεις ακτίνες διασπούν τα πολυμερή των πλαστικών (συχνά βλέπουμε ξεφτισμένα πλαστικά αφημένα στον ήλιο), υπάρχει μερική φθορά των σακουλών. Οι γλάροι και άλλα ζώα βρίσκουν τροφή μέσα στις σακούλες και τις σκίζουν, επιστρέφοντας ξανά τα οργανικά και διασπάσιμα σκουπίδια στον κύκλο του άνθρακα. Τα πλαστικά τα οποία πετάμε, όπως και οι σακούλες, δεν πτοούνται.

not-a-plastic-bag400a072707.jpg

Το 20% των απορριμάτων μας είναι φτιαγμένα απο πλαστικά. Αυτά, στις δεδομένες συνθήκες, είναι ανυπολόγιστο για πόσο μπορούν να μείνουν ανέπαφα. Καθώς τα πολυμερή χρησιμοποιούνται στην βιομηχανία περίπου 50 χρόνια, κανένα πλαστικό το οποίο κατασκευάστηκε μέσα σε αυτό το χρονικό πλαίσιο δεν έχει βρει φυσικό θάνατο. Μπορεί να έχει διασπαστεί τόσο πολύ ώστε να είναι πλαστική σκόνη, αλλά παραμένει πλαστική σκόνη. Πλαστική σκόνη η οποία δεν μπορεί να αποδομηθεί και μπορεί να βρει τον δρόμο της μέχρι και στο πεπτικό σύστημα ενός ζωοπλαγκτού. Το παράδειγμα δεν είναι τυχαίο: ο λόγος που τα πλαστικά σκουπίδια δεν έχουν ήδη κατακλήσει την ξηρά είναι γιατί ένα σημαντικό ποσοστό φτάνει τελικά στην θάλασσα. Εκεί η διάσπαση τους είναι είναι πολύ πιο αργή επειδή το νερό κρατάει την υψηλή θερμοκρασία την οποία παίρνουν απο τις υπεριώδεις ακτίνες σε κανονικά επίπεδα αλλά και γιατί βρύα και άλλοι οργανισμοί αναπτύσονται πάνω τους, απορροφώντας την ηλιακή ακτινοβολία. Όλοι μας έχουμε ακούσει για περιστατικά θαλάσσιων χελωνών οι οποίες μπέρδεψαν ξεφτισμένο πλαστικό ή πλαστικές σακούλες με τροφή, ή ακόμα και θαλασσοπούλια τα οποία πνίγηκαν απο πλαστικά δαχτυλίδια. Η πλαστική σκόνη που ανέφερα πιο πριν μπορει να φτάσει αθροιστικά απο μικρές ποσότητες στα χαμηλά στρώματα του τροφικού πλέγματος σε μεγάλες και πιθανόν επικίνδυνες ποσότητες στους μεγάλους θηρευτές. Είναι αλήθεια ότι ακριβώς επειδή τα πλαστικά υπάρχουν για τόσο μικρό χρονικό διάστημα για τον βιολογικό χρόνο δεν μπορούμε με ακρίβεια να προβλέψουμε ούτε την εξελικτική πορεία που θα έχουν οι οργανισμοί ανα τον πλανήτη για να ανταπεξέλθουν με αυτό ούτε όμως και τις ίδιες τις συνέπειες που μπορεί να έχει ένας κατακλυσμός πλαστικού.

Απο την μία έχουμε την δέσμευση τεράστιου όγκου απορριμάτων απο οργανικές ουσίες και την μερική απομάκρυνση τους απο τον κύκλο του άνθρακα, απο την άλλη έχουμε την συνεχή αύξηση του όγκου πλαστικού ανα τον κόσμο με άγνωστες συνέπειες για το μεσοπρόθεσμο και μακρυπρόθεσμο μέλλον των βιοσυστημάτων του πλανήτη. Για το πρώτο εκ των δύο και επιστρέφοντας στο αρχικό μου θέμα, δεν είναι μόνο το οικολογικό ζήτημα της τεράστιας σπατάλης που βλέπω γύρω μου καθημερινά. Οι άνθρωποι έχουν μια ακόρεστη όρεξη για άλογη κατανάλωση, αγοράζουν πράγματα τα οποία δεν χρησιμοποιούν και πετάνε στα σκουπίδια, παραγγέλνουν φαγητό απο το οποίο δεν τρώνε ούτε το μισό… Μου φαίνεται αδιανόητο το πόσο το να έχεις κάτι είναι πολύ πιο σημαντικό απο το να το χρησιμοποιείς. Ή έστω η δυνατότητα να το έχεις. Μόνο με ανακύκλωση χαρτιού, λιγότερη χρήση πλαστικών στην βιομηχανία και ευρύτερη χρήση της κομποστοποίησης, όπου είναι δυνατό, μπορούμε να μειώσουμε τον όγκο τον σκουπιδιό μας ριζικά και αποτελεσματικά. Είναι πολύ να το ζητήσουμε αυτό απο τον Homo Volemenus; Μπορεί σε μερικές δεκάδες χιλιάδες χρόνια οι αποικοδομητές να έχουν εξελιχθεί ώστε να διασπούν τα πολυμερή, όμως το ανθρώπινο γένος θα έχει μείνει προ πολλού χωρίς πρώτες ύλες ώστε να συνεχίσει. Σίγουρα, το όλο σκηνικό του νεκρού πολιτισμού και των αιωνόβιων σκουπιδιών θα ήταν πολύ ενδιαφέρον για τον περαστικό εξωγήινο. Ας μην είναι όμως τουλάχιστον τα σκουπίδια μας και η υπερκατανάλωση αυτά που θα μας οδηγήσουν στην παρακμή.

Σκουπίδια

Ενδιαφέροντα links:

http://www.thestoryofstuff.com MUST WATCH!

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

http://ecofoot.org/

http://www.worldwithoutus.com

http://www.freecycle.org

Πηγή: The World Without Us, Alan Weisman, Thomas Dunne Books, Chapter 9 “Polymers Are Forever” σελ. 112-128

Yummers!

(I know I haven’t posted for a while. Great things are stirring!)

Relatively often, we all catch ourselves wondering:”Which is my favourite food after all? How could I possibly rate my favourite flavours and reward the ones that tantalize my taste buds the most? Respectively: “Which is the most horrible, attrocious taste ever, the tang that proves even my bravest of attempts to keep in my sudden regurgitation inadequate?” I’m sure everybody has these thoughts in mind every now and then, so, in association with Marioland, we present to you:

The Yummers Rating System!

What is it? A simple to perceive 1 to 10 rating system designed to rate flavours. The forks may be implying that only food is involved but actually any flavour is eligible to a Yummers rating, from food to drink and all the way back.
What exactly does it rate? Flavours concern texture as well as the aroma, oomph and aftertaste. It is everything relevant with food and drink that has nothing to do with satisfying needs.
Why does it exist? As I described above, it is often that we want to express how much we like or dislike something, but there is no proper gradation. With the advent of the Yummers Rating System and with using it properly it is possible for everyone to understand just how much we enjoyed that souvlaki (I’m not going to argue about what we’re going to call it.), milkshake, or that fasolakia with yoghurt.
How does it work? Each 4-pronged fork represents a single point while the 2-pronged fork represent half a point. In other words, even if the score goes up to 5, there are 10 scores.

Verbal representation of ratings:

Yummers2

I’d much rather eat my own feces.

Yummer1

If it is what it takes to survive…

Yummer1 Yummers2

Edible. Just.

Yummer1Yummer1

Bland, but won’t cause any stomach trouble.

Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2

The flavour goes pretty much unnoticed… Failure to impress either way.

Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1

Mildly enjoyable. Unsophisticated but fulfilling.

Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2

Things are getting interesting! While not memorable in its own right, when remembering the particular flavour my senses tingle. 1st level of Yummer!

Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1

4 squared! This denotes a flavour that is indeed among my favourites. I know it, like it and savour it!

Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2

Almost, but not quite! But that does not change the fact that I could probably live on this alone. Mentioned in any discussion concerning food and drink.

Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1

5 yummer forks. My taste buds are long screaming in nearly painful orgasm. If taste was a DnD skill, 5 yummers would be rank 100. Stuff of legends. I could cherish this every day and still never ever get bored of it. In fact, the perfect definition comes in 6 words: I could swim in this stuff.

You may use this scale to share with us your favourite flavours. Don’t be afraid: use it in your everyday life as well! Let it be known, the one and only true system for measuring yummers!

POSTSCRIPT: After reading some of your comments, I’d like to add that personally I haven’t, yet, had a food or drink that is pure 5 yummers good. 5 yummers denotes something you may even eat just once in your lifetime and remember the exact flavour for the entire rest of it. It’s something truly special, not just chocolate or pizza… That’s what I believe anyway. Here are some yummers scores for me (in their best renditions I remember):

Pumpkin Soup: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Chick Peas:Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Brocolli: Yummer1, Kinder Bars: Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2 , Shandy Rock: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Coca Cola: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Souvlaki: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Sushi: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Cauliflower: Yummer1, Kiwi: Yummer1 Yummers2, McChicken: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Singapore Sling: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Pina Colada: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Fasolakia with Yoghurt: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Lacta Chocolate: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Cherries: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Peaches: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, George’s Failed Rice: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Alexandra’s Fondue: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, The cod I ate today at Michalis’: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1, Domino’s Parmesana Pizza: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1 Yummers2, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk: Yummer1Yummer1, Caipirinha: Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1Yummer1