Melbourne’s Greek Film Festival September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Oceania, MoviesLife.add a comment
GREEK FILM FESTIVAL
Como Cinema, September 20 to October 8
Any film that encourages its audience to “embrace life” is going to be difficult to argue with. Similarly, it seems churlish to rain on the parade of Melbourne’s Greek Film Festival, a long-running community event that, judging from the titles available for preview, offers limited rewards to audiences seeking new and exciting cinema.
Grigoris Karantinakis’ Chariton’s Choir, for example, is the most retrograde kind of feelgood movie imaginable, a 1960s coming-of-age story starring George Corraface as a grizzled but potent headmaster who taunts the village military authorities, charms the pants off the local ladies, and generally acts as a roguish, irrepressible life force.
Seen through the uncritical eyes of a 14-year-old schoolboy (Stefanos Karantinakis), this is essentially Cinema Paradiso (1989) without the cinema, its dramaturgy is as quaint as its nostalgic indulgence of its hero’s chauvinism.
More engaging is Thodoros Marangos’ Black Baaa . . . which looks to the past in a more literal but genuinely open-minded sense. This meandering essay-documentary follows its director from Greece to Italy, where he visits the ruins of Herculaneum and investigates one of the most stunning archaeological discoveries of recent times, the sole library to come to us from the classical era, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius about 2000 years ago, and reconstituted, thanks to new technologies, from lumps of volcanic ash.
Chiefly, the rediscovered works are treatises by the poet and Epicurean philosopher Philodemos, but Marangos is less interested in critical exegesis than in mounting an argument, illustrated by cartoons and anecdotes, against the surprising lack of interest in this material shown by his homeland. In a variant of an old joke, he keeps showing us the cover of a book entitled What Modern Greeks Know About Ancient Greece, and of course, all the pages are blank.
In partial contradiction of this thesis, the retrospective side of the festival offers a trilogy of Euripides adaptations by Michael Cacoyannis, best-known for Zorba the Greek (1964). The Trojan Women (1971), performed in English, is possibly the liveliest of the bunch, with an all-star female cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave, Cacoyannis’ spitfire muse Irene Papas, and Katharine Hepburn in the lead role of Hecuba, standing on her dignity as a quavery grand dame.
Clearly inspired in part by the contemporary significance of Euripides’ despairing pacifist message, Cacoyannis sets the formal declamations and choral laments of his source material on a collision course with breathless, on-the-spot “realism”, such as the brutal killing of a sacred deer in Iphigenia (1977).
Perversely, each movie is conceived as an historical spectacle in which hardly anything happens on screen. Hundreds of Greek soldiers scurry about the beach for the duration of Iphigenia, longing for the winds that will send them to battle; The Trojan Women takes up the other end of the story, with the end of the war leaving the central group of prisoners stranded on a virtually identical coast. As their city burns in the distance, Cacoyannis’ divas continue to battle tooth and nail for supremacy, but essentially it’s all over bar the shouting.
Related Links > www.greekfilmfestival.com.au
Loeb wins Cyprus Rally September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Racing Motors.add a comment
Sebastien Loeb of France won the Cyprus Rally on Sunday, earning a record 28th win in the World Rally Championship.
Loeb, who has now won eight of the 12 rounds in the series, maintained the lead throughout Sunday’s special stages to prevail by 21.2 seconds.
“It’s my third win in a row in Cyprus. It doesn’t get much better,” Loeb told Eurosport’s Web site.
The Frenchman, who started the third leg 21.8 seconds ahead of Marcus Gronholm of Finland, took the first stage of the day and at the same time extended his lead.
But the Finn dispelled any suggestions that he had given up, winning the rest of the day’s stages.
“I was trying to push a little bit … hoping for something,” Gronholm said. “I was still driving. Even the last stage I was driving.”
Loeb is now a step closer to his third successive world title with four rounds remaining in the championship.
“It was another difficult challenge here in Cyprus and Marcus pushed me very hard for two days,” Loeb said. “
The Citroen driver came into the race leading the drivers’ standings with 102 points, 33 more than Gronholm.
Mikko Hirvonen, Gronholm’s Ford teammate, finished third.
Guardian of Star fields September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Greece Mainland, Nature, Science.add a comment
STEPHANION OBSERVATORY
The sky’s scenery and the mysteries of the universe have enchanted mankind since ancient times. At Stephani our ancestors used to explain the reason for day and night, the ongoing seasons, the origin of the stars and other wondrous phenomena of our night sky, with myths, legends and folktales. But for the last four decades now, we have been turning to scientists to lead us through the dark infinity of the firmament. Their theories and discoveries have opened our imagination to space through the village’s gate to man’s final frontier: The Stephanion Observatory situated on Dragatoura Hill (trans. Field guard’s outlook).
The Foundation of the Stephanion Observatory
In spite of Greece’s blue skies, a fact that contributed considerably to the development of the science of the Heavens by the ancient Greek philosophers, no observatory properly equipped for modern astrophysical observations was in operation in the country until the beginning of the 1960s. Although preparatory work for the selection of sites which could be suitable for the installation of an astrophysical observatory had been realised by the Greek National Committee for Astronomy, further progress was stalled due to the lack of necessary funding.
At that time foreign astronomers had an interest in Greece as well. In the beginning of 1964 a group of Dutch astronomers visited Greece in order to examine the possibility of installing in Greece a small reflector belonging to the Utrecht Observatory, which would then be used by astronomers of all astronomical institutions of the Netherlands. The group consisting of Adrian Blaauw and Jan Borgman of the Sterrenkundig Laboratorium Kapteyn in Groningen, S.J. de Kort, of the Astronomical Laboratory, Catholic University of Nijmegen and Anne B. Underhill, of the Astronomical Observatory “Sonnenborgh” in Utrecht, attended a meeting of the Greek National Committee for Astronomy in Athens during which the existing climatological data for various sites in Greece was examined.
On the basis of these discussions it was decided to investigate more closely the regions of Argolis and Corinthia situated on the Peloponnese in Southern Greece. In the spring of 1964 the Dutch Group accompanied by Greek professor Lyssimachos N. Mavridis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, visited for the first time the area of the village of Stephani. After also visiting several other locations in Argolis and Corinthia the Dutch astronomers returned to the Netherlands for further consultations with the relevant Dutch authorities.
It wasn’t until February 1966 that the plans for the new Observatory took shape, when the NATO Science Committee granted to professor Lyssimachos N. Mavridis and German professor Heinz Neckel of the Hamburg Observatory a research grant of 14.000 US$, for the installation of a 38 cm reflector belonging to the Hamburg Observatory and the execution of photoelectric observations in Greece. Based on the experience gained by the visits of 1964, Mavridis and Neckel decided to install the telescope on a hilltop nearby the village of Stephani at an altitude of 800 m. Thus the Stephanion Observatory was born and Hellenic Astronomy entered a new age.
The 30-inch Cassegrain reflector of the AUTH
The photoelectric observations carried out with the 38 cm reflector of the Hamburg Observatory and the 40cm van Straaten reflector of the Utrecht Observatory confirmed the suitability of the site of Stephani for the installation of a modern Greek astrophysical observatory. For this reason the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki decided to install a 30-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope with asymmetric mount on the grounds of the Stephanion Observatory.
Known as a “light collector”, the telescope started observations in July 1971 and has over the past 35 years proved its excellent suitability in the observation of variable stars. The telescope has been used mainly by astronomers of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, but also by scientists of the Democritus University of Thrace, the University of Ioannina as well as by numerous astronomical institutions outside Greece for carrying out photoelectric observations of variable stars.
Important observational research in the field of stellar activity (flare stars, RS CVn stars) was carried out with the Stephanion telescope, over 100 original papers containing results of the research were published until today in leading astronomical journals, which makes the Stephanion Observatory and its telescope one of the leading astrophysical observatories worldwide in the field of stellar activity. Due to its long tradition in observation programs the Stephanion Observatory is a very welcome partner in international campaigns of coordinated simultaneous multiwavelength observations of flare stars.
Related Links > http://www.stephanion.gr/observatory.htm
More about Stephanion village (history, customs, local architecture, activities, etc) > http://www.stephanion.gr/eng_home.htm
Books > Pi, the world’s most mysterious number September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in BooksLife.add a comment
Pi: A Biography of the World’s Most Mysterious Number
By Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann
Prometheus Books
ISBN 1-59102-200-2
AUD$52.95 324 pages
Good old pi. The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. According to this book, pi’s been known, in an approximate form, since about 2000bc. And, of course, because the thing is ‘irrational’ (a number which can’t be expressed as a finite decimal number) we will never have anything but approximations. It’s just that nowadays that approximation goes to 1.24 trillion decimal places!
This book has chapters on the history of pi (an exhaustive chronicle of the increasing accuracy of the approximation of pi across many cultures, including Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians, Ancient Greeks, Chinese and Romans, right up to the present) as well as chapters about the paradoxes, curiosities and the applications of pi. It has proofs and ways of calculating the value of pi. It also touches on some of the greatest mathematical minds because they were fascinated by pi. And to top it all off, Posamentier and Lehmann provide us with a lovely 27 pages filled with nothing more than pi to one hundred thousand decimal places.
This is a book for enthusiasts, trivial pursuit addicts or wannabe nerds. It has too many equations and too much mathematical notation to attract a general lay readership and it’s too basic and flippant to interest professional mathematicians. As well, it doesn’t come anywhere close to approaching the beauty or scope of books such as Mario Livio’s The Golden Ratio, John McLeish’s Number, or John Barrow’s The Book of Nothing.
I suppose you can learn something from almost anything. From this book, I learned that International Pi Day is March 14, not because this is Einstein’s birthday, which it is, but because this date can be written as 3.14, which is pi to two decimal places.
If you like that kind of stuff, you’ll find something to enjoy in this book.
Pi chart
Pi first became known as such in 1706 when mathematician William Jones used it in his own method of relating the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Why did he opt for Π rather than some other symbol? Phonetics: pi sounds like ‘p’ (for ‘perimeter’). The rough numerical value of pi was known as long ago at 1650bc, as demonstrated on a surviving papyrus scroll.
Books > A fresh look at ‘Trojan War’ September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in BooksLife.1 comment so far
Homer first wrote of the Trojan war in The Iliad, a story filled with enduring characters: Helen, Paris, Achilles, Hector and Odysseus, to name but a few. And it ends with one of the great misdirection moves in the annals of martial affairs.
How much of this fabled conflict is true and how much is myth?
Author Barry Strauss, who previously impressed the critics with his book Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece and Western Civilization, revisits the classic material in The Trojan War: A New History.
Click here to read more (an Excerpt: ‘The Trojan War A New History’) as well as other books > Strauss Offers Fresh Look at ‘Trojan War’
Minsk girl named Mini Miss Universe in Thessaloniki September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Lifestyle.add a comment
A 14-year-old Minsk girl, Anastasiya Nikiforova, was named Mini Miss Universe 2006 at a pageant whose final stage was held in the Greek city of Thesalonniki from September 15 through 22.
Anastasiya was reportedly selected from among contestants representing 20 countries. She was also awarded the titles of Mini Miss Talent, Mini Miss Perfection and Face of the Year, and was crowned with a diadem of gold and gems.
“Nastya has been participating in international contests since 2004 and has since won several titles and prizes,” Irina Savchenko, public relations manager with the Vodoleya Image Design Studio, which works with the young beauty, said.
A1 Grand Prix expands with Greece September 24, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Racing Motors.add a comment
The A1 Grand Prix Series kicks off at Zandvoort in Holland on October 1, with a second race planned a week later at Brno in the Czech Republic.
The series has had some changes over the winter with the withdrawal of the Austrian, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian teams but has signed by Greece, Turkey and Singapore as replacements. The Greeks have yet to name its drivers but are expected to use locals Stelios Nousias, Takis Kaitatzis, Vasilis Papafilippou and Nikos Zahos.
There are now 24 countries signed up for the A1 Series this winter.
grhomeboy
