Cyprus’ last mines destroyed July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus News.add a comment
Cyprus destroyed the last of its stockpile of 48,475 anti-personnel mines in a ceremony yesterday.
Nicosia had embarked on a four-year program to honor its obligations under the Ottawa Treaty on land mines. “This is a historic moment for Cyprus,” said Foreign Minister Giorgos Lillikas. “Cyprus is one of the first countries in the world to fulfill its obligations under the treaty.”
The National Guard is also committed to removing and destroying all anti-personnel mines laid in minefields under its control by July 2013.
Contemporary dance thrives in Greece July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Arts Festivals, Ballet Dance & Opera.add a comment
No major choreographer has yet emerged from Greece, the country in which theater began, and which remains strongly associated with both music and drama.
But there’s a reasonably active contemporary dance scene here: a 2005 report found more than 60 registered contemporary dance companies and many more independent choreographers. And there also seems to be an enthusiastic public for this kind of work, if the full houses and animated reactions seen over the last few days at the Athens Epidaurus Festival are anything to go by.
This annual arts festival, which began May 31 and runs until the end of July, has already presented, among its 90 scheduled events, theater productions by Ariane Mnouchkine and Robert Wilson; the Vienna Boys Choir; Sylvie Guillem; a tribute to Maria Callas; a concert by Laurie Anderson; and an evening of African-American sacred songs. The Greek-born Giorgos Loukos, who became artistic director of the festival last year, is also the director of the Lyon Opera Ballet and the Cannes Dance Festival, and is well known in Europe for his skill at finding and presenting choreographic talent.
It seems natural, then, that one of the festival’s thematic strands is “Contemporary Dance in Greece,” and Loukos chose four local dance companies: RootlessRoot, amorphy.org, Sinequanon and Lathos Kinisi. Also appearing under this banner is the duo of Ioannis Mantafounis and Fabrice Mazliah, dancers with the Forsythe Company.
Loukos has set many of these programs in the supercool environs of old warehouses, now converted into black-box theaters and open-air performance spaces, in the gritty industrial neighborhood Tavros. Sinequanon, one of the two companies I saw, made full use of one of these cavernous structures on July 4 for its new “homo hameno hamini.” While most people took their places in the auditorium for one part of the performance, some were guided behind the stage into a small all-white amphitheater, its central space covered in glistening white crystals, with a man, Dimitris Sotiriou, in a white shirt sitting cross-legged in the middle and swaying slightly.
The effect was vaguely Butoh-like, and that impression persisted when, to low chanting, humming sounds, Sotiriou slowly raked through the crystals with a forked wooden staff as light, much credit here to Vassilis Kapsouros, rippled mesmerizingly around him, creating an illusory moonscape of rocks and water. Eventually he slowly stood, twisting one leg around the other and revolving, also slowly, like a living scarecrow, then began to swish a piece of white plastic sheeting through the air before suddenly falling back to the ground.
Sotiriou is one of the two remaining original members of Sinequanon, founded 15 years ago as a choreographic collective. All the dancers are credited with the choreography, which looked entirely different from Sotiriou’s solo in the other section of “homo hameno hamini.” The name, an amalgam of Latin, Greek and argot, means something along the lines of “man, lost, drifter.” After the audiences switched spaces, those who had been watching Sotiriou now saw five dancers moving to vibrating electronic music, by George Bandoek Apostolakis, with smooth, apparently weightless collisions that looked liked contact improvisation in outer space.
The effect was compelling enough to sustain interest through some 30 minutes of changing configurations of duos and groups. But when it ended, at the same time as Sotiriou’s second performance of his solo, the impression was of having seen two works, each interesting enough but not more interesting together.
The second company I saw, Lathos Kinisi, the name means “wrong move”, offered an entirely different, quite deliberately less professional work, “The Battles of Marathon,” which was nonetheless intermittently intriguing in its exploration of social exclusion. Konstantinos Mihos, who founded the company in 1988, created this work in 2006 for the physically disabled and the children of immigrants. He made ingenious theatrical use of the space, the attractive new Benaki Museum Cultural Center, illuminating the ramps inside the building as children ran or stood as a chorus to the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink action in the courtyard. And although it was often long-winded and muddle-headed, it was also, on Monday night, moving by virtue of the sheer commitment of its participants.
“Marathon” said little about Greek contemporary dance, but it did effectively suggest the changing society that the art form must live within.
Briam from Crete July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Recipes.add a comment
Briam is served at room temperature. If there is any left the next day, it tastes even better.
Ingredients >
1 large eggplant, chopped into 1-inch cubes
2 green bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut in 1-inch pieces
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 pounds zucchini, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 large onions, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
Method >
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and transfer to a nonreactive large baking dish. Bake, uncovered, stirring occasionally 1 1/4 hours until vegetables are very tender and a sauce forms in the pan. Makes 8 servings.
Greece shares food and wine with the world July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Greek Food Culture, GreekTaste Local.add a comment
After centuries of producing high-quality food products, the Greeks are ready to export them. And they want the world to know.
More than 200 journalists and buyers from around the world gathered on Crete, the cradle of Mediterranean cuisine, for Greece’s “culinary reveal,” if you will. The Greek word “kerasma” refers to the idea of offering tastes, sharing new experiences and communicating with others through food and drink. Kerasma is also the name of the organization that brought the journalists together for this week of feasting and learning.
The selection of Greek food and wine is incredible. Although feta is made throughout Greece, it is very different from the white cheese you buy elsewhere. In fact, a recent decision by the European market will ensure that only cheese produced in Greece can be called “feta.” Keep in mind that feta is only one of the cheeses Greece produces. Myzithra, kopanisti, graviera and manouri cheeses each has its own character.
And the wines they tried were a huge surprise. The Greeks have been sending vintners to France and Napa Valley for decades. And this has turned their wine production around. They now make some extremely noteworthy wines, which should be available in the U.S.
One highlight was visiting Greek women’s home kitchens to cook and learn to make traditional dishes, which we never see in the states. Greek food is often vegetarian friendly. This recipe for briam is a very fresh, oven-baked ratatouille of sorts with potatoes and fresh tomatoes. The potatoes soak up the wonderful olive oil and fresh oregano. Eat it with home-baked bread to soak up all the juices.
FIND THE RECIPE > Under our “Recipes” Category.
Silverman weds in Greece July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in MoviesLife.add a comment
Weekend at Bernie’s star Jonathan Silverman has wed TV actress Jennifer Finnigan after the couple eloped to Greece last month.
Actor Jonathan Silverman has wed TV actress Jennifer Finnigan after the couple eloped to Greece last month. The couple quietly wed on June 7 in a cliffside villa on the island of Mykonos.
They plan to host a reception for family and friends in Malibu, California on July 28, according to In Touch Weekly magazine.
The pair met at a barbecue and became engaged in 2004. Silverman has recently appeared opposite his new bride in TV drama Close To Home.
Greece: A Love Story in San Diego July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.add a comment
Come fall in love with the ancient land of Greece, as San Diego author Simone Butler and Bay Area contributors Cynthia Greenberg and Ashley Black read from their stories in the new release, Greece: A Love Story on Tuesday, July 17 at 7 pm.
And, see fabulous images of Greece by award-winning photographer Glenn Steiner. Free event at Borders Mission Valley, 1072 Camino Del Rio. N. 619 295-2201.
At Borders Books & Music, Mission Valley, from 19:00 to 20:30, for more info call 619 295-2201.
Warning potential and existing buyers in the occupied area of Cyprus Republic July 11, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus Occupied.add a comment
It seems that those who made a choice to “invest” in purchasing land and built dream villas in the Turkish military controlled and occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus, have regretted their actions. They are protesting against a regime and a self-proclaimed, so-called “state”, recognized only by Ankara, which naturally does not exist and which has no authority!
Let’s assume the following > The so-called and self proclaimed “state” cannot cope with their demands, and naturally they are not willing to cope! What would you expect, afterall, from an illegal regime, what would you expect from thefts and occupiers and invadors? Justice? Democracy? Freedom? Human Rights? Respect?
Our assumption, after considering alternatives, concludes with > Unfortunately, to an invador and an occupier of any part of a sovereign, independent country, just like the example of the Republic of Cyprus, the above words are entirely unkown, not in existence in their vocabulary, and naturally, they are not willing to learn them!
The following text, with corrections we deemed necessary to be done in order to restore the truth, was published as a press release. Let’s assume that this action was done in an attempt to silence their own fear or anger.
But let me again, hypothetically speaking, to assume of the following: You cannot fight for your rights, because you do not have any rights at all. You cannot fight for something which is illegal, for something which does not belong to you. You cannot fight for something that you also have taken away and/or stolen from their rightful owners, in this case, the Greek Cypriots. You have no rights to demand for something you have not owned and not worked hard to earn it. After considering other options, we deem to think our hypothesis, is correct. Or maybe not? Well, correct me if you can. That’s the challenge!
Again, a few more hypothetical scenarios > You have never seen a human becoming a refugee in his own land, in his own country. You have never seen the blood shed in a war. You have never faught in a war fighting to safeguard your country from barbarians and invaders and possible occupiers. You have never seen dead bodies next to you. You have never seen the horror in a child’s eyes. You have never lost family members or even worst, to consider them as missing persons. You have never, never, never dreamed to be into their own place! And I sincerely wish you that you will never see these in your life. So, a possible conclusion, is that no, you never seen these, simply because you chosen the warmth and safety of your home in your own country. Right? Or wrong assumption?
And finally, as everything in this life, it is known to everybody, that it has a cost, it has a price, it has a value. Hypothesis again > Because you are not willing to accept that you did something wrong by keeping what it does not belong to you, you are exactly the same kind of breed and race as of that of the thefts and illegal occupiers. You grabbed, literally, something which does not belong to you, so you have to pay the price and bear the cost. No matter how much valuable is to you. Or if you cannot cope with it, there is only one solution. Think about it. And if you are unable to think, then I can suggest that solution for you. Now, make your mind up! The hypothetical scenario ends here.
Here is that text I was talking about:
This Website Is Totally Dedicated To Warning Potential Investors Of The Pitfalls Of Buying Property In The Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus.
PROPOSED PROTEST AT [the press release was naming an embassy, BUT since the case here is the case of an illegal, self-proclaimed regime with no international recognition, then, let's assume there is no such an embassy]
We have been contacted by a number of people representing different groups that have been victims of property problems in the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus and it has been suggested by some that there be a high profile protest outside the so-called embassy involving Media. Therefore should anyone be interested in joining this protest: Please Contact Us ASAP At [email address removed] so that we can add you to a mailing list and keep you informed of dates and times etc.
This is a message for the illegal regime in the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus.Our reasons for building this website are neither Greek inspired nor funded. The media and TV action taken by our members was inspired by the corruption, greed, blackmail an fear evident in the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus construction industry and legal profession.
All our members have chosen to invest into the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus economy because of their love of this part of the Island and its people. Not only did we come here for a better quality of life but also with the hope that our investment would improve the quality of life for all citizens of the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus and not just a chosen few. This chosen few have become very rich, at the expense of the local community.
We have attempted for almost two years to get the illegal regime to acknowledge the existence of unlawful, sub standard building which has taken place, particularly during the past 4 or 5 years. While certain moves have been taken by the illegal regime, these have been insignificant and have not improved the plight of foreign property investors who suffered at the hands of the unscrupulous builders and lawyers.
On several occasions we have been promised that a Special Commission would be set up to investigate the problems and to take remedial action. Various other promises have been made but all have come to nothing. The current action and media frenzy has been initiated because of your inactivity and complacency. A sustained stable economy cannot be fuelled by greed, corruption, blackmail, fear and bad practices. A prosperous economy depends on a vibrant, legal, regulated and controlled construction industry and best practices carried out by all organisations.
Illegal regime, we appeal to you both, not as a politicians, but as a human beings. Please sort out these problems many of which are caused by criminals wanted for other offences in other countries and are STILL walking freely on the streets of Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of The Republic of Cyprus.
[website's address removed]
grhomeboy
