About Life ... Sobre a vida ...

Blog Suspended

2006-09-08T21:22:00.000+02:00

This blog is being suspended presently until further notice. I will be around but unfortunately I won't be able to express my feelings here. A breakthrough happened in my insignificant life. I hope it's all for the best. Live your lives, responsibly and with honor.

Alximistis: children gifts or fobou toys Dannaoys dwra ferontes

2006-08-03T14:48:00.000+02:00

Alximistis: children gifts or fobou toys Dannaoys dwra ferontes

Summertiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime

2006-07-11T11:56:00.000+02:00

I'm going back home for the Summer!

KISSES!!!!!
I'll Be Around though :)

What an ASS, honestly

2006-07-10T19:29:00.000+02:00

fruit cake love: materazzi

ehmmmmm vai a farti fottere caro mio

ZIZOU, pour TOUJOURS!

Zizou

2006-07-09T23:50:00.000+02:00

ALLEZ LES BLEUS ! ! !

Faith

2006-07-09T12:36:00.000+02:00

I've seen this dog, a couple of years ago, on tv.

Black (2005)

2006-06-23T22:24:00.002+02:00

I've never watched an Indian movie before. At least I think so.

B.L.A.C.K. was the best way to start I guess. Tender, strong, full of emotion, moving in that very rare way that some movies are. It's been such a long time since I last saw a mesmerizing movie, enchanting me with its simplicity, yet strong in performances, nostalgic cinematography and much more.

Although time is not adequately expressed throughout the movie, the viewer has no problem in following the life of Michelle, a deaf-blind girl, that grows up to be a woman with the constant help of her teacher. Her struggles, her pain, her anger, him, trying to succeed, to make her happy, his total and altruistic devotion to making her independant and bring her back into light. In the end, the roles become inverted...

The story could be considered as simple and kind of usual. However, cinema, as I said many times before, is not the mere representation of a story, but art. And art it is. I could have watched this movie by another director, another male and female in the leading role. But it could never be like this.

I believe it's a must see. Just remember. If you're in a bad mood, you'd better leave it for another day. Art doesn't wear out...

Fade away

2006-06-13T13:38:00.000+02:00

There are stars that end their life with a big badaboom explosion. Distruction, frustration, mess, anger, violence.

There are stars that end their life silently, calmly, paying a last tribute to their glowing existence.

They just fade away. They fade into darkness. Into oblivion...

Time is up.

Everything comes to an end...
The "Game" is over my "friend".
My part of the "deal" is over... Now.
Yours, existed long ago ...

I'm in Love

2006-06-09T21:07:00.000+02:00

Fooled you huh? I'm in Love with this little pretty awesome gadget.

No I'm not advertising it, nor have I got any contract of any kind with them :) I'm not even mentioning its market name.

I just like the thing and in about a month's time from now, it's gonna be mmmmmmiiiine (mine, mine, miiiiiiine).

So I'll be able to listen to my favourite podcasts through it everywhere and anytime. Unfortunately in Greece my internet connection is a humble pstn but I'll find a way around this "problem" and I'll be enjoying Daily Source Code, Jersey Toddshow and other podcasts I'm discovering now.

I'll be a bit absent from blogging in the next days, due to my up-coming exams, for which I have to study. But I'll be around so stay tuned and update your feeds to my blog every once in a while.

There's a new feature on my blog. You can send me an audio comment through the ODEO banner on your left. You just need a microphone. Nothing more. No other software or any other kind of stuff.

Jersey Todd Show

2006-06-09T12:40:00.000+02:00

Maybe the Coolest guy in podcasting. The living proof that not all Americans are ... "Americans".

Funny, farsighted, mordacious, sarcastic, accurate, intelligent and millions of other things. I downloaded his latest show and now I'm just downloading them all.

A New Jersey lawyer that just happened to do a podcast show.
It's really worth hearing, even just for once. You'll end up loving it for sure.

Mind is like a parachute. It works better open.

Cheers.

Hearing English accurately

2006-06-05T02:49:00.000+02:00

During my last participation in a skypecast, someone introduced me to a skypecaster who actually gives English lessons online.

So I spotted his skypecast and participated just to listen to the guy. His nickname is heronstone, and as I listened to his skypecast I was amazed for yet another time about the vastness and the global information that the internet provides.

He actually does this, presently for free but he will charge in the future. In order to take up a student, the student must dedicate at least 10 hours a week to English learning.
It's not actually an English grammar course. It's learning to hear English accurately and thus reproduce it accurately as well.
He sends some audio files, quite a lot of them, in mp3, and the student is writing down in vocal alphabet what he hears. "Listen and write" is the system. The files consist of 2, 3, 5 or 8 phonemes each. The student could occupy 100 hours to correctly put them down in paper, or even 300 or 400. As much time as needed. He charges only for upload costs and that's it.

My point is that, Internet can offer enormous possibilities for someone to get informed, learn, create, share knowledge and all kinds of stuff. Let's hope that this kind of initiatives will grow up and mature in the future.

Almost approved by Heronstone :)

Podcasts, Vidcasts, Skypecasts

2006-06-03T19:46:00.000+02:00

I could have simply leave the title talk for itself. But I guess I'll become more concrete.

Podcasts. They are recorded emissions that are found scattered in the internet with subjects about anything that crosses your mind. From mere music (podsafe music) up to entire discussions and presentations of ideas, up to lectures of universities (Berkeley). The idea was created by ipods, sweet small Apple gagdets that play files mp3, aac etc etc. Thus you can download these podcasts files and listen to them at any moment of day/week that you wish. A good with these emissions is precisely their portability and it doesn't take an ipod for you to listen to them but you can hear them in your computer as simple files of sound or in mp3 players etc etc.

There are podcast managing clients. Then most well-known is iTunes but I use Juice. The choice is clearly personal. Such a program therefore provides you the facility to register in podcast feed (naturally free of charge) and then this program by itself searches looks for and downloads new podcasts whenever they are available in that feed. Practical, automatic, fast, carefree.

Vidcasts constitute audiovisual podcasts. Consequently they are small video files for the same use and with the same process of registration/downloading.

Recently as I was discovering about podcasts, I came across to Skypecasts. Maybe you already know Skype. It is a program for voice of over ip telephony that you gives the possibility to talk with a microphone from PC to PC (free of charge) or from PC to phone(small cost) or from phone to PC(small cost) and all these with voice encryption.
The company therefore made one more step and created small conferences with a usually determined subject where each one can say, live, his opinion. In other words persons from all over the world speak in realtime through their computer.
To test it, I tried it, creating a Skypast for LOST, the television show but the discussion went from the situation in Southern America up to the political changes in China, the European Union and everything else but LOST.

Some Podcasts/Videocasts I like (some in Greek, marked with GR):
Weekendgeeks (GR)
vrypan (GR)
LOSTcasts
Lost podcasting network
Irish n Celtic music
Wiggler (GR)
Chillcast

Get on board

2006-05-29T00:17:00.000+02:00

I must convince myself not to succumb to temptation... I have to be strong and realistic. I need to. It will hurt otherwise. And I'll loose a friend... I have to stop doing this. I have to stop hunting away people through my feelings....

Will & Grace

2006-05-21T05:33:00.000+02:00

"To Family...
Family that loves you and accepts you for exactly who you are..."

Bye Will, Grace, Karen and Jack.

Child Within

2006-05-13T17:46:00.000+02:00

How can we all see an Elephant eaten by a Boa instead of a mere Hat?
Sometimes I think I'm alone. Walking all by myself in this small planet of mine.

It's an Elephant inside a Boa...
Remember the innocence you once had? That child-scented innocence?
It's there. Inside you. You were once the child from which you grew up.
Always remember it... Never forget.

What about me? (for once!)

2006-05-08T16:23:00.000+02:00

I'm beginning to think that there are two options. Either I am too old to make new friends, or I have problems hence the age, to choose the appropriate ones.

I'm sick and tired of people that use me and then throw me away like an empty soda canister. When they need me-let me rephrase that-when they need company, I'm there, we have a good time, I try to cheer them up, to help them forget or even solve some of their problems and then, they find others, more "friendly" ones, to replace me.

The most annoying thing about this is the fact that they, themselves, were making fun of people that were doing the same things before. They were reproving the others' behavior. Big words. Without meaning.

I'm totally aware of the fact that I should sit down and talk to them. But unfortunately I'm also aware that I 'm impulsive and I'll loose my temper easily, without my wanting to... So I prefer for the time to wait and see. Naturally my attitude will comply with my growing sad feelings about them. I can't help it though. Maybe it's better this way. Sending a message that may, or may not be received.

"Them" is used at random.

Choices again

2006-05-06T13:06:00.000+02:00

Recently, I realized that, although I'd like to have children one day-a fact that is most improbable-I'm still not able to stand up to the responsibilities that a child's bringing up brings along. Not because I'm not smart enough, but merely because I didn't have to think seriously about it.

Let me put it this way. On the 1st of May, faithful to the Greek custom, I went out in the country to have a bbq and enjoy the nature (however I had a horrible soar throat). There came along a young couple, friends of my parents, with their two young boys, 4 and 2 years old.
As I was practicing my favorite sport, observing other people's reactions, attitudes and behaviors, I watched the father, instructing in the most simple of ways, the power of Choice (my favorite subject as you all know so far) to his kids.

Every child at that age, comes along with a toy. Just like a Kinder egg. Each child was holding a bow and a couple of toy arrows. At some point, the older one, wanted his ball which was left in the car. He started complaining, asking for it. The father, took him apart and told him a simple thing. "Give me your bow and arrows and I'll bring you the ball from the car". The boy thought about it a bit and then gave in. After a while, the boy asked for some orange juice. When it was brought to him, he asked for some soda as well. The father again, said "There is either juice or water. It's your choice".

I know it sounds kind of harsh to the kid. But it's a way to introduce him in the world of choices and build up his self-esteem. Make him know that what he enjoys in life, what he has, what he doesn't have, it's his choice. In the future this is likely to protect him from the difficult, more complicated burden of real-life choices.

Sicky

2006-05-01T22:02:00.000+02:00

I'm flying back to Italy tomorrow morning...
And I'm feeling that I'm gonna be ill in the next days... I have a soar throat and feel rather cold....

Had a great time in Greece though... I'll come back to you for details, cos right now I'm about to be like this cute puppy.

Mother's Heart

2006-04-30T22:07:00.000+02:00

A widowed mother was living with her only son; they were the best of
comrades, the most intimate of friends. But an adventuress got hold of the
young man. She took away his money, his health, his position, his
self-respect, and turned him into a vagabond. One day she told him that he
must give her a supreme example of his devotion. He must murder his mother
and bring to his mistress his mother's bleeding heart. Accordingly the young
man went to his mother, killed her, cut the heart from her body, and holding
it in his hand, hastened to the evil woman. In his haste he slipped on the
pavement and fell headlong. The heart rolled out of his hand. Then the heart 
spoke and said, "Did you hurt yourself, my dear son?"And wept...

Jean Richepin

Dedicated to my mother...

Old "friend's" quotes

2006-04-22T01:09:00.001+02:00

"Hi!"
"How are you?"
"When did you come back?"
"When will you leave?"
"Have you met anyone?"

I hate these formalities... However, I always find myself in the position to answer this kind of questions over and over again, responding to the same old "friends" that may or may not think that I don't have anything better to do than to spend valuable time to talk to them or even go out for a coffee along with other unwanted-annoying and boring people...

Quote of the Day
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
Emily Bronte

Syriana

2006-04-03T18:50:00.000+02:00

"'Syriana' is a very real term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical reshaping of the Middle East..."

I didn't like Middle East films. I thought of it like another one of them. And talk about judging a book by its cover huh?

Syriana is a film that depicts in a very plausible way the way really things work in the world. Who decides making wars, and why wars are actually being held. Everybody knows that, but watching it for about 2 hours being done in front of you, makes you have goosebumps.

Its initial slow plot may make you tired all too soon, but patience is a good advisor because the end of the film will compensate you. Instead of being bored try to find the tiny strings that hold the whole "theatrical play" together.

Unfortunately Syriana is not just a film. It's reality given in a film-making way. Although, actual reality is far more brutal and cruel than the one on the film.

And then we expect that Extraterrestrial Intelligence may be interested in us? Interested in what? Get serious will you...?

Keeping One's Word

2006-03-31T17:17:00.000+02:00

I sometimes wander what people are thinking when they make commitments or promises to people. Whether they intend to keep them or whether they make them simply because it suits them at that particular moment.

I was always brought up with the belief that if I gave my word to someone, I would attempt to honour it to the best of my abilities, and if I couldn’t, I would advise the person before breaking it. This belief applied to not only minor things like “doing coffee” but also to major events. Maybe its because my parents always taught me that “my word is my honour” and if I got in the habit of not keeping my word, then people would come to the conclusion that I was unreliable and untrustworthy.

Don’t get me wrong, circumstances do change which can cause one to not honour their word. But it’s not hard to turn to someone and say “hey, you know that promise I made? I won’t be able to honour it because …” and then provide the reasons. Whether the other person accepts them or not, is really irrelevant but it is the right thing to do.

Take for example a female friend of mine - Maria [not her real name]. She’ll organise a coffee session and then not meet up with her friends. This was not a single occurance, but a regular one, to the point that when she organised a coffee session, no-one bothered going. The sad thing is that on this particular occasion, she actually went, only to find no-one was there. As one would expect, she was annoyed at being let down by her friends. She rung to find out where they were, only to find a common reply “oh. you did come this time?” and “you never show so we didn’t bother as we didn’t expect you to make it”.

In Maria’s case, some serious friendship building was needed to re-establish that trust she had lost with her friends.

Another friend of mine Craig was in a similar situation with a friend of his. His mate would organise drinks after work, but would always arrive 2-3 hours late because “he met some hot chick” earlier. In the end Craig simply turned around and told him to piss off as he had better things to do, and more reliable friends to socialise with. I can sympathise with him as I am like Craig - hate waiting at pubs for friends. A simple call to say “hey, can’t make it at 5pm. Want to meet later?” would have not only given Craig the opportunity to to say “ok” or “we’ll leave it for another time as I have things to do”, but would also have kept the friendship going.

These kind of people only think about themselves, and assume that even if they don’t keep their word, their friends will always be around. It is not the case unfortunately. In both cases, if they had simply told their friends they would be late or couldn’t make it, then the damage to their friendships wouldn’t have been so bad. But both treated their friends as “stop gaps if nothing more important happened in the meantime”.

That kind of attitude is - in my opinion - one which can lead someone to have few, if any, close friends. I, like many others, have “lots of friends”, but the real close friends I can number on two hands. These are the friends that I trust, respect and value. The others are “social acquaintances” who I might catch up once in a blue moon or down the local pub, if they happen to be there.

If you happened to be a “Maria” or a “Craig” who tends to let your friends down, maybe you need to sit back and consider your actions. Friends will only put up with so much before they decide that “enough is enough”. What could have been a good solid lifetime friendship is simply ruined because of one placing their own self interest and lack of consideration of others ahead of their “word” and “honour”.

It’s never too late to try and rebuild a friendship that is dying. Reviving a dead friendship is near impossible.

James

Originally posted by James Bailey

And so very true I might add...

Totality

2006-03-29T21:20:00.001+02:00

I am proud of seeing the totality with the help of 3 fabulous persons. Dr. Timothy Young, Dr. Ronald Marsh and Tricia Johnson.

THANK YOU!
University of North Dakota

I'll see you some other time

2006-03-27T16:41:00.000+02:00

March 29 Solar Eclipse

2006-03-14T21:29:00.000+01:00

My dream since I was a kid, that never came true.
I was waiting this date for years.
The only Total Solar Eclpise close to my home, during my lifetime...
For various reasons unfortunately I will miss this unique event...