Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Photo of the Day: A Tribute to Greece in Hokkaido

Photo source: Dan Leung 

Hokkaido,Japan.
 The Parthenon Snow Sculpture
built to celebrate the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens 

When Konstantina F (Greece)  sent this to me, 
it also reminded me of my second favourite building in Athens,
the Academy of Athens, one of the three Athenian Trilogy buildings.
Built by Theofil Hansen, it was also modelled on the monuments of the Acropolis. 

Of course, it gave me a good excuse to post that photo too... 
Check out how similar the buildings are! 

Greece is the word around the world!

 Photo Source: Global Greek World

The Academy of Athens
Panepistimiou Street
Athens, Greece

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Participate! BE The Change You Want to See...


When TED Prize winner, JR, announced his wish to turn the world “Inside Out,” inviting people around the globe to share a photo portrait along with a statement about what they stand for, many countries, cities and individuals around the world responded.  Seeing the global response, the Inside Out Group Action leaders in Athens and Juarez decided to unite in a global action called BE THE CHANGE. 

During this time of accelerated globalization and rapid changes in our environment, people in countries around the world are being affected in different ways.  Now, more than ever, we have a responsibility to share the human stories that unite us as world citizens.   Via JR’s Inside Out Project, we are joining forces with countries around the world to bring awareness to the issues we want to change, as well as inspire creative solutions to make these changes possible. We believe this change must come from within each individual in order for us to move forward collectively and bring about positive change worldwide.

We invite the growing silent majority to be part of this “global ex-change” by becoming more globally conscious and proactive in their daily lives.  On September 21st (World Peace Day), and September 22nd, the world will unite through the exchange of portraits from country to country which will not only create a mosaic of faces, but an ongoing collaborative dialogue, using art and communication as catalysts for social change.

There are 20 participating cities and countries, including Athens (Greece), Austin (Texas), Aveiro (Portugal), Bandung (Indonesia), Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney & Woodford (Australia), Casablanca (Morocco), Hanian Province (China), Juarez and DF (Mexico), Lima (Peru), London (UK), Madrid (Spain), Mulhouse (France), Nicosia (Cyprus), Santiago (Chile), Tunis (Tunisia) and Wroclaw (Poland).

In the name of BE THE CHANGE, Athens, Greece will focus on greening the city.  As one of the least green cities in Europe, Athens has an opportunity to live by example by bringing awareness to agricultural and urban farming solutions on the ground, allowing each of us the opportunity to take control of our own life. 

The Inside Out Project is an extraordinary opportunity to join forces and engage with others around the world by adding their voices and faces to stand publicly for what they believe in. From India to New York, Japan to Tunisia, people are contributing to a global art movement.

Particpate!

BE The Change you want to see!

Send in your photos before June 30th.

For more information check out the following:




Saturday, June 23, 2012

Photo of the Day! Bravo Greece!

Greek football officials jump for joy in Gdansk...while others just sit...

 A photo is worth a thousand words 
and this photo says it all! 
Greece's Samaras scores the equaliser 
and the camera records the reactions! 

Just look at the range of emotion on those faces: from Michel Platini and Angela Merkel's Hope-it-goes-away look, to Lech Walesa's broad smirk and the Greeks' jubilation! 

Bravo Team Greece! We're so proud of you all!
You played with your hearts, with dignity and pride, and you fought to the end!

Thank you!

And because we, as Greeks who invented the concept, believe in the principles of 
'Ευ αγωνίζεσθαι' or Fair Play
congratulations to Germany, who played so well and won! 

We didn't see it, but in the interests of the same Fair Play, we hope that Chancellor Merkel at least had the courtesy to applaud the two goals Greece scored... anything less would have been small minded! 

Friday, June 22, 2012

Greece vs Germany: Καλή Επιτυχία Ελλάδα Μας! Good luck Greece!



Εθνική Ελλάδος -David, Greece's National team takes on Germany-Goliath, in today's Euro 2012 match and if it wins has every chance of pulling off a repeat of her historic Euro 2004!!! 


In every single corner of our Global Greek World, everyone is getting ready for the Game of Games, THE match of this years Euro 2012 championship! 


Even our daughter, little Miss 12, loves football and she is an avid collector of the Panini cards...




Hellas Pages in Little Miss 12's Panini Book



Only Tziolis and Charisteas missing here...


We all know that Germany hasn't been the best friend to Greece during the financial crisis, quite the opposite in many ways in fact.

In the last few days, the German press has done it's best to ridicule the Greek team, but that isn't what sport is all about. Thanks to our favourite German Otto Rekhaghel, the architect of the 2004 victory and Greece's coach, Fernando Santos, Ethniki Ellados can take on anyone, even with Chancellor Merkel is in the stand!

Greece's players have said they have nothing to lose and everything to gain and will put their heart and soul into this game. 



That's all we can ask for! 


Diego Maradona wrote the following in the Times of India

“Fernando Santos knows he has the game of his life in his hands, as he faces an uphill battle of gargantuan magnitude. But if 300 Greeks were able to hold off 10,000 Persians at Thermopylae, than 11 Greeks certainly will have a chance against 11 Germans,”

  «Ο Φερνάντο Σάντος ξέρει ότι το παιχνίδι της ζωής του είναι στο χέρι του, καθώς αντιμετωπίζει έναν γιγάντιο αντίπαλο. Αλλά, αν 300 Έλληνες ήταν ικανοί να απωθήσουν 10,000 Πέρσες στις Θερμοπύλες, τότε 11 Έλληνες έχουν ευκαιρία απέναντι σε 11 Γερμανούς».

Thank you Diego!

As for us, we'll be right behind our team and look forward to seeing moments like these again!  




Καλή Επιτυχία Ελλάδα Μας!  
 Good luck Greece! 


But just to be safe, we took all the necessary precautions to help Greece along, sending Greece's special envoy Konstantine Mitsotakis to wish Germany well...




despite this if we don't win, don't worry... 
you can always watch this match, where Greece DID win!
Thank you Monty Python!



Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Athens' New Acropolis Museum:3 Today and Still Waiting for the Parthenon Sculptures! Let's Bring them HOME!



  
Χρόνια Πολλά! 
 Athens' New Acropolis Museum 
inaugurated on 20 June 2009 turns 3 today
and is still waiting for the Parthenon Sculptures...


The magnificent marble sculptures plundered from the Parthenon by the infamous Lord Elgin and held hostage by the British Museum
 

 Let's join every single person around the world - Greek and non-Greek alike - working to bring them home...

Last week, British Actor Stephen Fry and MP Andrew George, speaking in favour of their return, won the debate hosted by Intelligence Squared in Cambridge by a large majority.

Yesterday and today, an
International colloquy in London on the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

  was held at London's Hellenic Centre

The momentum is growing...


There is no excuse anymore 

We have built the Museum...
 

Each missing sculpture has its own space...


Each space is a missing word in the story...
  
the beautiful story of the Parthenon

the temple dedicated to the Goddess Athena


The Caryatids are waiting for their long-lost sister...


Let's Bring them Home! 
  
It is the least we can do... 
we owe it to our children , the future
and to Melina, whose vision for the Parthenon Sculptures put the wheels in motion for their return!


If you ask me whether I will be alive when the Marbles return to Greece, 
I tell you, yes, I will be.

When the Sculptures come home to Athens, so will I,
But even if I'm not, 
I will be reborn. 
 
Melina Mercouri 




" Αν με ρωτησετε εάν θα ζω όταν 
τα Μάρμαρα του Παρθενωνα επιστρέψουν στην Ελλάδα, 
σας λέω πως ναι, θα ζω. 
Αλλά κι αν ακόμη δεν ζω πια,
 θα ξαναγεννηθώ!" 

Μελίνα Μερκούρη



Melina in front of the Parthenon
This magnificent photo which graces the Acropolis Metro Station in Athens
was taken by her personal photographer  Ilias Anagnostopoulos 

Dedicated to Melina Mercouri, 
a woman with vision,
who was born Greek and died Greek,
and left us so much poorer...

Γειά σου Μελίνα! 


Related posts: 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

17 June 2012: Elections, Fires, Father's Day and a Euro 2012 Victory in Greece


This is the Samaras who knows how to make Greece a winner... the other one? 
We don't know ..

Life in Greece is never boring... 
 Between politics, elections, forest fires,
Father's Day and Euro 2012 football, 
there's always something interesting going on in Greece,
positive or negative!




The depression of the past few weeks, the result of our poliical leaders behaving like spoilt children, unable to put the country's best interests above their own selfish, egotistical ones gave way to a feeling of jubilance, albeit temporary...

Last night we got the morale booster we needed!

Ethniki Ellados' 1-0 victory over Russia in the Euro 2012 Football Championship gave us an excuse for celebration and we took it with crowds pouring into Omonoia to rejoice - somthing that is done only if we win something outright, not just qualify for the next round! Imagine how much the people of Greece needed an excuse to celebrate!

In the irony to beat all ironies, Greece may end up facing Germany in the next round.

Today is also Father's Day, another good reason to forget our woes and tell our dads how much we love them! 

Tragically, forest fires made their debut yesterday around Greece, fuelled by irresponsible citizens and boosted by 8 beaufort winds. These winds made it hard to fight the fires effectively from the air. Greece waits for assistance from Italy and Croatia and the dispatch of additional fire-fighting planes as the high winds continue today slightly abated.

The main event which has the entire world focusing its attention on Greece, however, are today's repeat General Elections being held around the country. Nevermind that elections are being held in France too, it is the Greek elections which threaten to bring down the global economy single-handedly.

Spare a thought for the poor Greek voter as we go to the polls to elect a government after almost 6 weeks of dilly-dallying, scaremongering, blackmailing and innumerable barely disguised threats from our so-called allies and friends which culminated on Friday in a post written in Greek in Germany's FT, more or less telling us all, don't vote SYRIZA or else! 

Greeks will go to the polls in a dilemma: do we vote for the parties that got us into the mess we are in today, vote for the smaller parties who are untainted by corruption and cronyness but have no hope of becoming the government,  or vote for the party whose leader has made our allies lose their cool and react in the most inappropriate of manners but whose pre-election policies leave much to be desired, unless they change dramatically, post-election, tomorrow...

The undertainty and lack of any real choice, any real leadership, means that around 25% of the country's voters are undecided and will probably make their decision in the voting booth, not a particularly healthy state of affairs...

Democracy has rights and obligations and that means sharing responsibility. Whoever wins today will have to act in the best interests of the Greek people, acting quickly to reassure them that they do not risk becoming isolated from the world even if it does mean renegging on unrealistic pre-election promises.

Whatever the message that comes out of the polls today is, I hope it is heeded,unlike the elections of May 6 when the party leader's egotism flagrantly ignored the wish of the voters to create an all party - ecumenical - government.

I am confident that the Greek people will choose wisely.

Whoever wins needs our support and we should be there for them if Greece, our Greece, is to go forward.

Let's hope that from tomorrow we will have another good reason to celebrate - a viable government that will work for Greece and her people.

ΖΗΤΩ Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ!!!



Google's Doodle marking the Greek Elections



Saturday, June 16, 2012

Go Greece! Good Luck! Καλή Επιτυχία!


When it feels like the whole world is against you at least there are bright spots on the horizon... 

Εθνική Ελλάδος Greece's National team takes on Russia in today's Euro 2012 match and if it wins goes on to the next round - just the tonic we need in these difficult moments! 

From every single Hellene,
 in every single corner of our Global Greek World

Good luck Greece! 

Καλή Επιτυχία Ελλάδα Μας! 


18 Years On: Remembering Manos Hadjidakis



Eighteen years ago today, Greece sadly farewelled one of her most talented. Internationally acclaimed composer Manos Hadjidakis, passed into eternity leaving behind him a wealth of beautiful music, his legacy to Greece, his people and the world.

His most well known, Never on Sunday, the internationally acclaimed title song from the film starring Melina Mercouri and directed by Jules Dassin, became an instant success around the world and granted him an Academy Award in 1960. 

With the Greek elections in just a couple of days, this Hadjidakis song, with lyrics by the great Nikos Gatsos, which talks about Greece and the 1821 War of Independence and its heroes, seems to be particularly appropriate right now, at a time when our people and this beautiful and historic homeland is desperately seeking direction and leadership from non-existent leaders...


 

'Tsamikos' sung by Global Greek of the Year, Mario Frangoulis...

Στίχοι: Νίκος Γκάτσος
Μουσική: Μάνος Χατζιδάκις
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Μανώλης Μητσιάς

Στα κακοτράχαλα τα βουνά
με το σουράβλι και το ζουρνά
πάνω στην πέτρα την αγιασμένη
χορεύουν τώρα τρεις αντρειωμένοι.
Ο Νικηφόρος κι ο Διγενής
κι ο γιος της Άννας της Κομνηνής.

Δική τους είναι μια φλούδα γης
μα εσύ Χριστέ μου τους ευλογείς
για να γλυτώσουν αυτή τη φλούδα
απ' το τσακάλι και την αρκούδα.
Δες πώς χορεύει ο Νικηταράς
κι αηδόνι γίνεται ο ταμπουράς.

Από την Ήπειρο στο Μοριά
κι απ' το σκοτάδι στη λευτεριά
το πανηγύρι κρατάει χρόνια
στα μαρμαρένια του χάρου αλώνια.
Κριτής κι αφέντης είν' ο Θεός
και δραγουμάνος του ο λαός.

Source: Stixoi 

Just click on the arrow to listen to some more of Hadjidakis' unforgettable melodies in the playlist below.


Read more:
Manos Hadjidakis - Official Website
Manos Hadjidakis on Wikipedia

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