A Modest Proposal - By Stephen Fry

I just read a wonderful piece of compassionate writing. Written by the wonderful Stephen Fry. 

 It almost made me cry. 

Read this if you are Greek, like Greece, have ever visited Greece or plan to do so in the future, have Greek friends/ relatives/ lovers/ business partners or are simply curious about what Greece has ever given the world. In our time of struggle, kind words of encouragement such as this fine English gentleman's, mean a lot. 

There is hope, as long as there are people who hope. 

I will never lose hope. 

 Here it is:

A Modest Proposal

By Stephen Fry

Jonny McGovern - Dickmatized

One of the funniest music videos I've ever seen :-)

I cried watching this.

 

I am not scared of ghosts or monsters or aliens. I'm scared (and ashamed) of what humans do/say to other humans. I often feel we are the worst species on this planet. But most of the time, I hope we are truly capable for the very best too.

Maybe someday soon there will be less people hurting like Jonah is right now out there. If only we can all remember to try and be better people, things might change. It takes one word at time. One day at a time. And it's a constant struggle to be a good human being.

A better human being, encompassed by Love.

Jonah, you are NOT alone.

No-one truly is, though we often feel like we are.

We all have each-other.

Eva Cassidy - Time After Time

The Other

I am always surprised/amazed at the human race's capacity for segregation and fear towards the "Other", be it race, sex, gender, religion, education, mental or physical ability etc.

After thousands of years of a evolution, as a species we have managed to figure out infinitely more ways to differentiate between ourselves, than to unite.

Thankfully, every now and then, I meet someone who reminds me that not ALL humans are like that, some of us are ever-ready and open to embrace "Others" and accept them into our lives as friends, lovers, partners and/or family.

And when I do meet someone like that, I start to feel less "alone"... *soft smile*

Penguin - Christina Perri, John Andersson

A Global Shift Is Happening

Enough is enough.

The entire consciousness of humanity is radically shifting all around us.

What is currently happening on the planet has never happened before (as far as "we" can "remember") and people don't know what to make of it.

The planet will continue with or without us. It is up to us to gratefully (and gracefully) ride on this train of change, or to simply be left behind and suffer the consequences of "mental/emotional/physical" extinction.


There is only one ticket valid for this "train ride", and that ticket is LOVE.

Deal with it. Accept it. Embrace it. Or simply wither away. It's your choice.

We will NOT stay behind, no matter how hard you try to scare u.

 ♥

Our Thoughts Become Our Destiny

What Makes You Happy?

Suspended Animation

Sometimes, the ability to linger motionless in total silence and being able to listen to your own thoughts and the beating of your own heart is a divine gift of supreme energy and peace. Confrontation and violence are not my way, Love is my only "weapon", even if it means I will forever be a "victim". The world is full of warriors, I'm pretty sure they don't need me in their ranks. Peace be with them and good luck on their journey. My path is different.  I'll simply spread love & compassion around instead, every chance I get & for as long as people allow me to. Until one of those warriors does away with me. I'll go happily too. This life here, this incarnation, isn't a battle. It's a flight :-)

California Dreaming... No More

Well I am in California. True story.

It feels strange, yet nice. Exciting and soothing at the same time.

Guess I needed the time out after all.

Too early to make any assumptions yet, and I wouldn't want to anyway. The important thing is that I am here and all is well.

Here's to a new beginning :-)

Happy Feet - Happy Birthday Türkce

Happy birthday to me :-D

My Director's Reel

Bette Midler - Shiver Me Timbers (Live Version)

Well, I'm leavin' my family, I'm leavin' all my friends.
My body's at home, but my heart's in the wind
where the clouds are like headlines upon a new front page sky.
My tears are salt water. The moon's full and high.

And I know Joe Conrad is gonna be proud of me.
Many before me been called by the sea
to be up in the crows nest singin' by saying:
Shiver me timbers. Let's all sail away.

And the fog's lifting, the sand's shifting, I'm drifting on out.
Old Captain Ahab's got nothin' on me.
Swallow me, don't follow me. I'm travelling alone.
The water's my daughter. I shall skip like a stone.

And the fog's lifting, the sand's shifting, I'm drifting on out.
Old Captain Ahab got nothing on me,
"Swallow me, don't follow me. I travel alone.
The water, she's my daughter. I'll skip like a stone."

Won't you please call my family. Tell 'em not to cry.
My goodbyes are written by the moon in the sky.
Say, nobody knows me. I got no reason to stay.
Shiver me timbers. I'm sailing away.

la, la, la, la, la, la.
la, la, la, la.
la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la-a, la.

kappa MYSTA - [I AM U]

“I AM U”
This song is a part of “Love needs a trio”, a musical staged show by kappa MYSTA. The video is taken from the act : “A story of a drag-queen”, featuring Elia Ioannidou as the “drag-queen”.
More information on the musical: kappamysta.com/​trio

Music - Lyrics: kappa MYSTA
Orchestration, Programming and Mixing, Audio Production: kappa MYSTA
Vocals: kappa MYSTA & Andreanne Athanasiou.
Mastering: Mazen Murad - Metropolis Studios London

VIDEO:
Directed by: Yannis Zafeiriou
Written by: kappa MYSTA & Yannis Zafeiriou.
Director of photography: Christos Tsekouras
Editing & post-production by: Alexios “μoufis” Panou
Make-Up: Litsa Ioannidou
Backstage photographer, logo and graphic designer: George Kazanakis
Fashion design: Ntia Antoniou
Production: Veramand Ltd © 2011 - veramand.com

Lullaby - LA REINE MARGOT

Ofra Haza & Goran Bregovic - Elo Hi

No Human Trafficking & Modern Day Slavery

Anti-Human Trafficking Installation @ the June 2011 Athens Fringe Festival.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, here's 44,000 words for ya.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

www.thenoproject.org

Global Smurf Day

Woke up feeling rather blue today...

Smurf long & prosper.

:-)

Mari's Affirmation

‎"Kindness:

In order to be kind you must open your heart to the gentle qualities of caring and compassion.

Be kind to yourself. Have reasonable expectations and give yourself the praise. In order to nurture the gentle quality of kindness, cherish yourself.

When you do something for yourself, you automatically extend that same energy to others.

Kindness melts barriers of ice around people and re-empowers those who are afraid (even if they don't show it immediately!). So reach out to the lonely, draw out the shy, include those who feel isolated and comfort the sad.

Your rewards will be a sense of inner peace, warmth and love.

AFFIRMATION

I am kind to myself and others.

At the end of the day, the journey is about being true to ourselves."

Thank you Mari for the wonderful words that came to you (and to me) right when they should.

Hot

I am hot.

Not HOT as in "wow you're HOT! Please donate me your genes!" - hot.

Temperature-wise hot.

And no, I'm not sick.

And by sick I mean ill, not sick as in "cool" or as in "this dance routine is sick!"

I'm neither sick nor "sick".

Or HOT!

Ahem.

This is getting complicated.

*sigh*
.
.
.
And by *sigh* I mean *sigh*

"Part of Your World" - Cover by Darren Criss

Just A Kiss, Dear Glee...?

"There is a moment, when you say to yourself, Oh there you are! I've been looking for you forever!"...

THE WATERBOYS - Don't Bang The Drum

well here we are,
in a special place,
what are you gonna do here?

now we stand
in a special place,
what will you do here?

but if I know you,
you'll bang the drum
like monkeys do.

Περιμένοντας τους Bαρβάρους/ Κ. Π. Καβάφης - Waiting for the Barbarians/C.P.Cavafy

Περιμένοντας τους Bαρβάρους

 — Τι περιμένουμε στην αγορά συναθροισμένοι;

        Είναι οι βάρβαροι να φθάσουν σήμερα.

— Γιατί μέσα στην Σύγκλητο μια τέτοια απραξία;
  Τι κάθοντ’ οι Συγκλητικοί και δεν νομοθετούνε;

        Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα.
        Τι νόμους πια θα κάμουν οι Συγκλητικοί;
        Οι βάρβαροι σαν έλθουν θα νομοθετήσουν.

—Γιατί ο αυτοκράτωρ μας τόσο πρωί σηκώθη,
 και κάθεται στης πόλεως την πιο μεγάλη πύλη
 στον θρόνο επάνω, επίσημος, φορώντας την κορώνα;

        Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα.
        Κι ο αυτοκράτωρ περιμένει να δεχθεί
        τον αρχηγό τους. Μάλιστα ετοίμασε
        για να τον δώσει μια περγαμηνή. Εκεί
        τον έγραψε τίτλους πολλούς κι ονόματα.

— Γιατί οι δυο μας ύπατοι κ’ οι πραίτορες εβγήκαν
 σήμερα με τες κόκκινες, τες κεντημένες τόγες·
 γιατί βραχιόλια φόρεσαν με τόσους αμεθύστους,
 και δαχτυλίδια με λαμπρά, γυαλιστερά σμαράγδια·
 γιατί να πιάσουν σήμερα πολύτιμα μπαστούνια
 μ’ ασήμια και μαλάματα έκτακτα σκαλιγμένα;

        Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα·
        και τέτοια πράγματα θαμπώνουν τους βαρβάρους.

 —Γιατί κ’ οι άξιοι ρήτορες δεν έρχονται σαν πάντα
 να βγάλουνε τους λόγους τους, να πούνε τα δικά τους;

        Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα·
        κι αυτοί βαρυούντ’ ευφράδειες και δημηγορίες.

— Γιατί ν’ αρχίσει μονομιάς αυτή η ανησυχία
 κ’ η σύγχυσις. (Τα πρόσωπα τι σοβαρά που εγίναν).
 Γιατί αδειάζουν γρήγορα οι δρόμοι κ’ η πλατέες,
 κι όλοι γυρνούν στα σπίτια τους πολύ συλλογισμένοι;

        Γιατί ενύχτωσε κ’ οι βάρβαροι δεν ήλθαν.
        Και μερικοί έφθασαν απ’ τα σύνορα,
        και είπανε πως βάρβαροι πια δεν υπάρχουν.
                                __

 Και τώρα τι θα γένουμε χωρίς βαρβάρους.
 Οι άνθρωποι αυτοί ήσαν μια κάποια λύσις.

(Από τα Ποιήματα 1897-1933, Ίκαρος 1984)


Waiting for the Barbarians

By Constantine Cavafy (1864-1933), translated by Edmund Keeley

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?

The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn't anything happening in the senate?
Why do the senators sit there without legislating?

Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city's main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.
He has even prepared a scroll to give him,
replete with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don't our distinguished orators come forward as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?

Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?

Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians?

They were, those people, a kind of solution.

εσένα σε ξέρω. εμένα; (official HD trailer)

This is a trailer I directed for a a theatrical-play. The play is all about a guy who comes into a violent conflict with his brain/mind and they fight until one of them commits suicide. Pretty pleasant stuff :-)



And this is the alternate version (colour-wise).

Galt MacDermot - Coffee Cold

There is a sensual river oozing out of this song, so humid and ethereal, that turns every dirty thought into a blazing solitary pilgrimage on bodily sights unseen. Goodnight.

The Duel - Electric Dreams Movie

This scene from a very old movie (I was around 8 or so when it came out) is one of my favourites. The flirtation between the two characters (Madeline & Edgar), incorporates so much "electricity" (pardon the pun), much like the sparks that flash between two people, moments before, during and right after their first ever kiss :-)

I adore it.

Adele - I Found A Boy

Wow

How can you describe that which you cannot even define?

A sense of warped deja vu, where everything falls into familiar place, yet everything seems strangely fresh and as if like seen from an original perspective.

The furniture in that old childhood room that you revisit, where you can obviously accept the passing of time, yet your gut screams out loud in favour of that same old familiarity that has transformed the essence of your memory, into something new, which only now do you begin to accept and appreciate as innovative. To you, everything (though slightly changed) is still in place. Where it should be.

I doubt if I am making any sense, again.

Where I'm getting at, is the question of how you manage to recognise whether a beautiful sentiment is only just that, or whether it stands guard in front of a deeper path unfolding before your very eyes, enveloping your whole being as it does so, and convincing you to look away, while it's preparing its onslaught towards rendering you defenceless in a matter of days...

Beautiful.

Nuff said.

Baby Penguin Tickled

I could die just watching this :-)))

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,

I am in the graceful rush

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,

I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave bereft

I am not there. I have not left.

by Mary E. Frye

 

Whoop for Elizabeth! Farewell gorgeous heart ♥

Awesome

This photo I found on the internet has obviously been tampered with (creatively and ingeniously if I may say so), and was instantly transformed from a message of hate, into a message of peace.

Respect.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark,

Finally, I can see you crystal clear,
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare,
See how I'll leave with every piece of you,
Don't underestimate the things that I will do,

There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark,

The scars of your love remind me of us,
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all,
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,
I can't help feeling,

We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
And you played it to the beat,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

Baby, I have no story to be told,
But I've heard one on you and I'm gonna make your head burn,
Think of me in the depths of your despair,
Make a home down there as mine sure won't be shared,

The scars of your love remind me of us,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
I can't help feeling,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
And you played it to the beat,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

Could have had it all,
Rolling in the deep,
You had my heart inside of your hands,
But you played it with a beating,

Throw your soul through every open door,
Count your blessings to find what you look for,
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold,
You'll pay me back in kind and reap just what you've sown,

(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
We could have had it all,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
It all, it all, it all,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

We could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
And you played it to the beat,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),

Could have had it all,
(You're gonna wish you never had met me),
Rolling in the deep,
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep),
You had my heart inside of your hands,

But you played it,
You played it,
You played it,
You played it to the beat.

Creep - Karen Souza

Sometimes my own skin makes me cry too.
.
.
I am, as ever, unsure why that is, or how come some random sweet-sadness engulfs me and envelops me and swallows me and chews me up and spits me out, like nothing at all has actually taken place and as if I imagined the whole darned thing.
.
.
It must be a hormonal imbalance of some sort.
.
.
Maybe I am cursed to be eternally pregnant. Seriously.
.
.
This song is almost as psychotically peculiar as I am, methinks.

Especially this cover version, that always leaves me bewildered.
.
.
Which might actually explain why I love it so much.

-.

Goodnight little Martians.

Divine

Happy Carnival Season!