Technical stuff

Not interesting at all but I will try to be fast so that the harm is minimized.

1) Anonymous comments. I decided not to publish comments posted by Anonymous users. I have just noticed that I have published one but there are more waiting to be published and they will be not. No offense my friends, it is just that I am compiling this blog so that I support practically my belief and principle to stand for what I speak and to speak for what I stand, and this can not be anonymously. I am not saying you did it on purpose (of course not), I just grab the opportunity to underline a philosophical dimension of this activity of mine. Send your comments with a name (it might even be a nick name leading to another blog or web site or whatever) and your comments will be published.

2) Google advertisements. Internet offers hell of a lot of opportunities for gaining money. I am not interested in that at all, at least at the moment; anyway, I am satisfied with what I have although many times some "brilliant" ideas have popped up in my mind and I was like "why don't you jump into it Sakis?". Google gives the chance to bloggers to gain some money through advertisements. These are placed in some parts of the blog and provide links to web sites with - usually - relevant material to that of the blog. Anyway, it might be good for me to make some money that I can invest in my blog and exclusively in that (like buying a new camera for photos, purchasing interesting books, renting extra space or whatever) and also it's a way to feel less stupid when comparing my never-born-just-conceived ideas to projects like F****** or M****** through which its creators have made billions over billions. So, why not? But you will be the ones to decide anyway, so please feed me with your comments for the next month, and then decision will be taken; wise person said "there is time for discussion and there is time for decision"...

Promise a more interesting post soon.

Cheers.

S.

Pieces...

This is a post I have been thinking about for a long time. It's called "Pieces" as you can see and I have, simply, gathered pieces of interesting texts, either from books, lyrics, jokes or whatever that I just want to share with you cause they are inspiring, thought provoking and can even create a laughter...or maybe not. Hit it!

Piece No1. If seriousness means compromising in a way of life in which joy consists a luxury, the answer to the question that we often hear "When are you going to become serious" (or "when are you going to grow" in a way) is "Never"!
Life is too short to go through it being gloomy and full of agonies. We have given to seriousness attributes that it doesn't actually have and certainly doesn't deserve to have. The world of laugh, the spirit of play, not only they don't go against seriousness but highlight some of its specific characteristics. Seriousness means accountability and focus on a purpose with dignity. It doesn't mean stiffness, depression, ill-humored and gloomy style. We could say that seriousness constitutes a guide of behavior in life, in the tangible reality that every one of us lives within. Laughter, the comic, the hilarious are the elements that give to our daily life some other dimension and deduct something from the "weight in our shoulders".

Comments. That piece is from the latest book I read called "Laughing; the best cure". It's been a while that like a bee I have this thought in my mind "Sakis, page 144, 144, 144"...So, I went to this page and found this piece and then I realized why "page 144" stuck in my brain. The guy put things in their place, to say it simply. We (may I add, western civilized people, with some tone of irony) have forgotten to laugh; maybe we never knew how. If the latter is the case, then it is about time to give it a go and laid back a bit, take it easy and show our well preserved "colgated" white teeth to the world. Our seriousness will not be harmed; on the contrary, it will be enriched and delicate. I am sure that I will get back here with more fragments from this book.

Piece No2. Out of respect for Johnny Walker, Paul Oakenfold, Nikki Halloway, Dannie Rampling and all the people who gave us these times; and to the government I stick my middle finger up with regards to the Criminal Justice Bill; for all the heroes who came along the way...

Comments. This is a part from the "Weak become heroes" song from The Streets. It was out in 2002. I was listening to it back at that time; in fact I still remember this funny situation when my ex-boss at the time I was Djing was telling me "Sakis, this song sounds weird"; he was expecting softer stuff, more commercial and I wanted to give my history to the world...what a conflict! Anyway, I found this song again recently and I have it in my mp3 player since then. A perfect sound to wake me up in the morning and a great memory - refresher for these times, unforgettable ones. Don't really know if I want them to come back, but I hope with this little piece of text, I can pay the tribute they deserve...

Piece No3. Sportscaster 1 - "What is the name of the coach of the Spanish basketball team"
Sportscaster 2 - "Well, I don't actually know"
Sportcaster 3 - "It is Pedro Almodovar"!!!

Comments. How mean of me to put this joke here! Apologies in advance from all of my Spanish friends. But yeah, at some points during the games of the recent Eurocup the players of Spain were floating on the spectrum of playing drama to comedy! Admittedly though, at some points they were playing p****, hard stuff :) Congratulations to them, it's a great team. But honestly, and I still don't know why, I was so touched because the Greek team lost and even I was so furious that at the final match I was supporting Russia; needless to say that I didn't care at all about the fact that Greece lost from Lithuania. I was against Spain (in basketball, to repeat so I avoid misunderstandings) and only this. And I am worried now and wondering why I reached this state of emotional involvement; it was some basketball games, they should only be there for me to enjoy with my self not to drift (or sentimentalize, nice word :) ) into emotional streams part of them consisted of a sort of nationalistic waves; at that moment, honestly it was out of my powers, but now that I am thinking, it was just another incident to make me reconsider my attitude towards sports, especially in international level...

It seems that I will get back with a "Pieces - the return :) " post...Cause what is waiting to start is "Lost"...and it happens that from all series, I like it the most; and I could fly now to the place at any cost; just to save Jack and Kate and Soyer from the sinister host; don't get lost, come back and read my next post :) I stop now, or I make it worst!!!

G'night!

S.

I hate...

Elections. They are here, everywhere, all around us. Politicians are wearing again their bright smiles; some are not so good at pretending so watching them trying to laugh and be cool guarantees laughter! Millions of tones of paper for their silly, unnatural faces; while at the same time they are deeply touched by the wide ecological devastation that happened in the South of Greece...bla bla bla. Telephones ringing and polite voices invite you to join the next meeting of the "next" Perikles...How the f**k have they found my number? Meaningless speeches, empty statements, repetitive promises, "polemic" atmosphere (that's so silly to read in news feeds...grrrr), great expectations, dizzy faces, living their own delirium of contemporary political madness; elections are the time where actually freedom of expression is lost, not exercised...
Distances. Hard to go deeper in this; my blog would be transformed in a novel and I don't really want this. But the existence of a specific "distance" influences my life in a variety of ways the last weeks. It even makes my mind think weirdly "e.g. why teleportation hasn't been brought to the public so far" and stuff like that! Imagine...grrrr
Ithan. Ooooo, he took Claire away and he caused a great shock to the other guy, hmmmmmm what is his name, he was also playing one of the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings...But the team joined forces, and with the help of the guns found in the well protected case of Kate's guard (dead by that time...), they captured sinister Ithan...Ohhh, Charlie, yeah Charlie is his name, he appeared all of a sudden and jammed a bullet in the evil flesh of Ithan...It will take some more time for the castaways to learn where was Ithan coming from and what he really wanted from Claire...And by the way, the French lady's face creates absolutely no sense of trust; of course you will tell me, after 16 years of loneliness in this wicked island...
(Note. I know I know, it took me sometime to discover it, but now, I am really lost in it...

Inquisitor. His words made me sick; he was poisoning people's minds and hearts and with the blood of the tortured and killed innocent people, he was covering the places in the map of Spain he was willing to conquer... I don't know why, but I think he played a role to the death of the nice girl, the writer...Hmmm, I would say that the old lady also got into my nerves a couple of times...The man, devoted and committed to his task, overcoming all sorts of scientific rigidness and typicality, fighting to find or create the substance that would have saved his love and the rest of the world maybe...and this old lady, goshhhhhh, she was grouching even more than me, she couldn't see beyond her nose...Go get it, "The fountain".
Limits of language...or of our ability to use it. So many "juices" the brain produces, so little tongue - capacity to bring them out; and a general feeling of laziness time by time to externalize brilliant ideas, simply because of this gap... Ask an Eskimo to describe a whole summer day in the seaside or a Bedouin, the techniques of polar bear hunting...pfffff, hard! And it's not only about ideas, just to make my self clear; it is also about feelings and that's, ohhh, that's a big trouble. Feelings are expressed, you would correctly say, but in these little moments that need to be talked out, is like asking the Control Tower to give air space directions to a butterfly...Yeah, to a butterfly! They say that we become smarter and also better language users, the more languages we learn...Hit the road Sakis, come on...
Wires. Longing for the day, that all peripheral connections in my laptop will be wireless, internet in my little office will be wireless (soon, ufff...), electricity will be wireless (yeap, MIT is doing experiments already)...perfect perfect!
USB ports. Simply because I only have 3 and they are not enough; but this point is also connected to what I said above...
So I stop before I become boring; but hate session has surely not finished....aaaa, what was this thought in my mind...relax, it will come.

Hate but hate lovingly.

S.

There are 2 really difficult, sometimes discouraging aspects of blogging;or to say it better, of creating new posts in blogs; the one is to find a concise and smart title and the other is to find a meaningful photo...
Major issue of the last days in Greece is the destructive fires that burnt hundreds of square miles of woodlands, fields and inhabited places. For days I was thinking about writing something relevant. But it would have been way too boring and meaningless at the same time; media all over the world have extensive references/reportages about the fires and the pain and damage they have caused.
But today, I could not stand anymore the temptation to write something related to this unfortunate incident. And the inspiration came from the radio...So, along with this story connected to what I heard on the radio I will write something additionally, which is related to the fires as well but also, in a way, to the previous post of mine (see below the current article)

Story No 1. Some minutes after I got back from the camp; no TV there, no radio, no news...Just some pieces of information occassionally arriving to our ears profoundly amplified. I was at my home, doing nothing but watching TV. Things were already bad. Fires had already covered extensive parts of land;villages damaged with people running away in panic;the first information for deaths; unidentified; shocking; I've started to be really emotionally involved (physically not possible;fires were far...and anyway, not an intrinsic will, a real one, cause in my imagination I was already there and fighting against the "monster"). I got into a mood that the country where I live is attacked by unknown enemies/terrorists/conspirators...I got the feeling that we are left alone by the international community;the situation was really bad;the deaths' rate of the first days was equivalent to the ones of a civil war;irritation for me;where is Europe? my first question...I even didn't ask my self "where is the state?" cause maybe it's been a long time since I stopped counting at my state for situations like these and others...Where is Europe; sadness for me; no news about support; how is it possible, I kept wondering...aren't we one? At least, one formation for advanced cooperation in different fields...Angerness for me; where is Europe? People crying on TV, having lost what they have been creating for their whole lives; dead animals, sun was dissapeared as if someone has painted it black; the story of the mother that was found dead in her car, embracing her 4 children......................................
Where is fucking Europe? No logic at that moment to tell my brain that "maybe they are where they are because nobody actually informed them..." Indeed a naive thought, but possible...Or even to understand that "sending whatever type of support to a country, and especially a region, that is so far from "main Europe" takes some time and process...But logic can not prevail in moments like that.Well, moments...Hmmm, I was just lying on my sofa and following the news; but admittedly, in an emotional level, I was fully involved ...
And Europe arrived...Couldn't say it differently at that moment...Mr Sarkozy was the first to call the Greek Government (it's not a clear information if he called or the Greeks did, but this is what I know) and send support. A sense of relief for me..."Europe exists, I said". A simple incident, was enough to regain my belief in Europe. Naive I am again; it was maybe an action that someone can say it moves to the spectrum of "being human" until the "being the new President of France"...Which is no Europe-related in anyway...
Shit, why only France; why only Sarkozy...No no, I am not comfortable with that...It is not Europe ...pffff; there is no Europe...
Cyprus responded...well, our cultural links couldn't initiate any different action...
Israel responded...well, Israel is not Europe but who cares if it is or not at the end of the day. And anyway, in all European sport activities, Israel is involved...
Serbia responded...It seems that a country that has been devastated from war was more sensitive to incidents of disaster than our non-50-years-of-war "European colleagues"... Logically thinking, it is, geographically, closer to Greece.
Italy, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Germany, Switzerland (can't recall others at the moment) responded and I was relieved...It was really touching to hear that in a dialogue between 2 Ministers, from Greece and Turkey respectively it was heard "My brother, do you want our help?"...
Europe arrived; structural and institutional support has been already promised; European officials are visiting the dead lands; some hundreds of European fire fighters almost sacrified their lives to save the lands that should have been protected by the state and its people where they belonged...and that's for me and indication that the real union will only be achieved if the focus will be switched from politics and economy to people and their lives...
Australia, Kanada and dozens of other countries have initiated mechanisms of support; I couldn't but at least mention this here, cause it touches me, honestly...

Story No 2. Heard on the radio, a couple of hours ago. 12 people from Afganistan, living in a settlement for "illegal immigrants" and probably have arrived in Greece through the worst conditions a mind can think of, left their tents in the settlement and visited a branch of the Red Cross. They offered their services (better, their hands, heads and hearts) stating clearly "We don't want food! We don't want a house! We don't want money of course! We just want a car to take us to the fires....We can help in eliminating the fires, in building houses for the people that lost them... We can do whatever is needed as a sign of gratitude to these lands and its people that has offered to us a safe shelter"...For me, this is a reason to believe in a better future...this is a reason to keep hope alive...this is a reason to live my life...

May the people that lost their lives in this curse never be forgotten;may their souls rest in peace...

Dead Cities by Future Sound of London has been my Muse...

Europe is our playground...

It took some time, but it was needed. A lot of things happened since my previous announcement; things inspiring enough to be added to my post.

Stupid to speak about the weather, I hate it when people do, but weather is really not helpful at all for the mind, my mind, to be productive.

But now it's OK, I am in my balcony and there is some fresh air crossing my nose occassionally. And some good, trippy music in my ears...

And Suede's "Europe is our playground" is finally downloaded...

Honest as I am with you, the idea for this article came after my participation as a trainer in the European Youth Week held in Brussels, beginning of June.

Now that I am looking back it seems like it was a naive feeling; a feeling that I am "European"...Well, maybe this was the reason why we were all there; and it seemed to have worked on me...no, no past tense, it works even now. I am just trying to scrutinize if it is just a naive feeling. There were many things to make you feel "European" there; the big buildings, the celebrations, the "officials"...Artificial or superficial, you would correctly respond.

And there were people; many people; different people; again, different people. And the outcome was explosive; I mean the cognitive flow within my brain, was explosive. So many ideas and thoughts about us, people. About our role in Europe. About our voice in Europe. About our responsibilities and rights in and for Europe. All in all, I had a wonderful time there, because of people. And this is what made me feel "European" at the end. Or it simply made me feel a human being with a geographically (and a bit, politically) defined label, useful enough to the extend of being adequately general for my brain not to explode.

Practically speaking, I worked there with a wonderful group, participants and trainers/organizers. We made music. We discussed. And we blended music with what we discussed in a unique and creative way. Despite the outcome - that was impressive and incisive, at least - the process was the real achievement. And the people was the "chaotic" force; the creative determinants. Great great great to have been there...

Don't still know why I have chosen this particular song and although it is played for 4th time in a row, can't really get it's meaning. Another "chaos"; be patient Sakis, it will come...

Writing these lines now, my brain is more or less stuck to the memories of the near past but also to what is happening in Brussels today and tomorrow. Talking about the Summit. So many things going on there; or they better go on because it takes a lot of effort and work from everyone involved there for something good to occur; otherwise we are heading to a failure. At least, this is how I see it. Or, as I recently learnt, IMO.

And the contradiction; I have seen "Europe" working great and has a reason for existence (Youth Week but also all of my related experience) and at the same time there are forces (see Summit) trying somehow to dismantle "Europe" as if it was an atomic bomb. Because no one can convince me that what is demanded by those demanding it, is for the good of "Europe" and its people; no loves, it is for their own fucking good, or what they believe it's good for them...or they are just misleaded, confused, what to say...

"Europe is our playground" because, yeah, let's just play...let's just open up a little bit, and be curious, and let's just be scratched as well; we will never know if we don't try...

Pufff, it's getting late and I am gonna be camping tomorrow :)

Spent a day in the mountains recently. It was also somehow related to "Europe" (and somehow everyday I discover for my self how related I am to "Europe"). Organizing a training there soon and went to explore a bit. Wonderful places and an amazing discovery in the middle of the forest (seen in the photo) and one in the end of the forest (unfortunately no photo yet); six puppies. Abandoned puppies. In the size of the palm. Cruelty at its worst. Someone left them there. But destiny can not be avoided; so we caught up with the puppies. We took them away from cruelty and did our best to ensure a safe life for them in the future.

The singer just said "Europe, with my baby now"...Wise words...Practically, it's the only way to build a real "Europe"...to find our "babies" there...Think!

Another great way to build "Europe" is the so called couch surfing but this is a term coming from the States. Take a look at cafebabel.com and you will know what I am talking about.

Naive feeling I said in the beginning; maybe naive should be to be real and worthy...

Great to see many of my new friends blogging. New Democracy I would call it. Need to work on this thought a bit more to explain adequately...Or maybe Democracy 2.0 :)

7th time listening to the same song...

DON’T KNOW WHY I’M SAYING THIS
DON’T KNOW IF YOU DARE
JUST EMBRACE EACH OTHER
SHOW THAT YOU CARE

a piece from the song produced during our creative times in Youth Week...

Goodnight.

Europe is our playground...

This would be the title of my next article...And the question is: Why don't you write it now Sakis? Well, simply, because of 3 things: over tiredness (almost no sleep last night, long train traveling etc.) , not having the song with the same title with me (somewhere in my oooooold CDs, lyrically not something special but back in time, rather inspiring for some naive thoughts) and last but not least, being in Gouda in the Netherlands and still facing the "stupidly smart" ability of blogger.com to recognize the languages of the countries where my IP comes from...
Well, I ll be back home in few days...huhhhhhhh

Silly

My silly photo on the right doesn't match at all with the atmosphere created by my last texts and I would love to change it...but the stupid blogger.com (well, it is a great tool and I am thankful to its people for giving me this space, but at the moment it is stupid...) is smart enough to track my Belgian IP and change all of the menus into dutch/flemish language...So I don't really know how to do it and I felt like making this comment...
G'night...