#Greece's Former FinMin Yanis Varoufakis Strikes Again...FT Style!

The man they love to hate ...

 Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's Controversial Former FinMin strikes again! 

 We all know how much the Financial Times (FT) 'loves' Greece's controversial former FinMin Yanis Varoufakis, so it came as a bit of a surprise to see their 'interview' with him this morning. With the exception of Peter Spiegel, guess they realised that Yanis...sells!

When he was young he wanted to be a train driver and on a scale of 1-10 he rates satisfaction with his life at 11... not bad for a guy who has been vilified as much as he's been glorified in the last 10 months; a man declared by Business Insider as the most interesting guy on the planet in February this year! 

Judge for yourself, read the whole thing here on FT.com 

In fact it reminded us of our very own 20 Question Time... Global Greek Style Interview that we feature with some of our Global Greeks from time to time...  think it's time we asked Yanis to answer our questions too! After all he too is one of our Global Greeks!

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

© GlobalGreekWorld 2009-2017 All Rights Reserved

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style: Conversation with Thaao Penghlis - Hollywood actor, writer and traveller!

His favourite Greek word is 'Matia mou'  
and the person who brings the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece 
would be his nomination for a Nobel Prize...

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style 

with one of our wonderfully accomplished and talented - and good looking - Global Greek Ambassadors in the World, 
Hollywood actor, writer, traveller

Thaao Penghlis
Emmy nominated star of so many of our favourite TV series,
Mission Impossible, Days of our Lives, 
Santa Barbara and General Hospital

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20 Question Time... Global Greek Style

Hellenism is…

The Classical age of Greece and the immortal work contributed to all aspects of life that escaped all human limits.

Did your Hellenism help get you where you are? How?

At first it was a hindrance but because it lay at my core, perseverance won out and surfaced at the right time and found its true path.

Being Greek: Best Part…

Passion.

Being Greek: Worst part…

Pride

Greeks who inspire(d) you…

Cavafy, 
Seferis, 

Melina Mercouri 
and 

the Greeks who freed us from the bloody Ottomans.

Greeks you like...

Those who fight corruption and Greed.

Greeks you don’t like…

The ones with deep pockets 
and 
cab drivers.

Your favourite Greek word…

Matia mou.

Your favourite Greek spot in the world…

Santorini and the Acropolis.

Your favourite Greek song…

Thalasaki mou.

Your favourite Greek meal… Who cooked it?

Moussaka. 

Me.

Your favourite Greek book…

Homer’s Odyssey.

Your happiest Greek memory …

Having succeeded in Hollywood and my father with tears in his eyes calling me “His Levendi.”

Your saddest Greek memory…

My parents dying in the same week.

Global Greeks at the Nobels  - Who would you nominate? Why?

The one who brings back the Parthenon Marbles.

You meet the Prime Minister of Greece on the beach this summer… What would you tell him?

Get rid of corruption 
and 
listen to the cries of the poor.

You are the Prime Minister of Greece …for a week!

What three things would you do first?

Start bringing back the tourists, by re-creating a huge ad campaign for Greece as the great hot spot of the world thereby helping the job market.

Expose those Greeks with deep pockets and have them use the money to feed the poor and support low rent housing.

Have the rich pay the taxes they have evaded for years with big fines and spread education.

You’re one of our several million Global Greeks who are Greece’s Ambassadors in the World. Public Diplomacy at its best!  Have you done something to help Greece today?

My book  ‘PLACES’ comes out this summer where I argue about the Parthenon Marbles and their rightful place and using my platform as an actor, to always elaborate the influence of my Greek heritage.

Who would you include in a ‘Global Greeks for Greece’ Dream Team?

The memory of Melina Mercouri and what she stood for. 
Elisabeth Fotiadou (Greek Consul in Los Angeles) 
and 
members of the rebellious youth that want to bring Greece into the 21^st Century.

And now for the best part… 
Create a picture of YOUR Greece … 
what would you put in it?

All the looted art that was stolen by the Germans, French and the English since the 19thC and house them in the new Archaeological Museum in Athens.


Get rid of those illegal immigrants who are changing the face of Greece and bringing their illegal forms of life back where they found them.

Clean up the drugs on the streets that have created so many crimes I never experienced in my youth.

Open schools for orphans to educate and nourish what is not at their disposal.

 Equality.
 

Thank you Thaao - It has been a real pleasure to talk to you! Good luck with the book sales!
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ!

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 More about Thaao 

We first spotted Thaao as the dark, good-looking and very flexible member of the newly remade Mission Impossible team, the debonair Nicholas Black who sported something rather unusual for Hollywood, a light Australian accent!

Not surprising really, since Thaao was born to Greek immigrant parents and raised in one of the furthest corners of our Global Greek World, Sydney, Australia. Thaao spent his early days as a young career diplomat, working with the immigration service to help Greek immigrants who were seeking Australian citizenship. He trained for three years to become involved in the Diplomatic Corps, but gradually realized that his whole life centered around Greek happenings, so he took a leave of absence to find his own identity and went to work for the UN in New York. There he met another Global Greek, teacher and director Milton Katselas who inspired him to pursue an acting career. Thaao quit his job at the UN, worked as an apprentice art dealer during the day and studied acting at night and when Milton  moved to Los Angeles to set up his studio and school at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, Thaao went too, appearing in many productions in Los Angeles and in New York and built up an impressive filmography over the coming years. 

The world got to know him in many TV roles - among the most notable as Nicholas Black in Mission Impossible, as Victor Cassadine on General Hospital and Count Anthony DiMera on Days Of Our Lives  -  roles which kept him on the popularity charts for many years. In 2014, his many fans got the chance to see Victor Cassadine again on General Hospital after 30 years, when he was finally called back by ABC.

In addition to his busy acting career, Thaao continues to be the traveller and adventurer he has always been. He has taken many tours through his ancestral Greece - the photo above is from a recent trip to the Meteora monastery -  and to one of his favourite spots - Mt. Sinai in Egypt. He has investigated some of the world’s most sacred sites, travelled through the jungles of the Amazon, and throughout the Middle East.  His book,
‘Places, Journeys of My Days, My Lives.’ published in July this year, recalls some of those perilous journeys for us.

One of his recent starring roles was in the film ‘TheGreen Story,’  about the life and  success story of another of our Global Greeks, Greek American Van Vlahakis and his mission to transform not only HIS life but also the lives of those around him, as the owner and CEO of Earth Friendly Products. He also continues to star in many stage and television shows as well as performing his one-man show called ‘Journeys' a great backdrop for his book.

Thaao has made his permanent home in the hills of Los Angeles, California. Like many of our Global Greeks, Thaao is equally at home in Australia, Greece or the USA and comfortable anywhere life takes him - a real citizen of the world.

Update 1 December 2014:
Delighted to announce that Thaao has generously offered us a couple of copies of his latest book 'Places: The Journey of My Days, My Lives' as prizes! To qualify for one of the copies which will be drawn on New Year's Eve, please leave a comment on this 20 Question Time...Global Greek Style Conversation with Thaao post. 
Oh and don't forget to 'like' Places: The Journey of My Days, My Lives by Thaao Penghlis and Global Greek World on Facebook too!

Ευχαριστούμε Πολύ, Thaao! 

 Buy Thaao's latest book 'Places:The Journey of my Days, my Lives' on Amazon 

About Thaao from his Official Website   

 Follow Thaao on Twitter 

Thaao on IMDB 

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

© GlobalGreekWorld 2014 - 2019
 All Rights Reserved

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style: Conversation with Vicky Yiannoutsos

Hellenism for her is a  Greek life-force and she made it her mission to get Socrates Now to tour Downunder... which she did!  

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style 

with one of our very talented and accomplished Global Greek Ambassadors in the World, 

Film maker, director and acting coach

  Vicky Yiannoutsos
Auckland, New Zealand

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20 Question Time... Global Greek Style
Hellenism is…

 Greek life-force transmitted through language, food, music, story and dance, delivered in the spirit of  Zorba  - “to be alive is to take off your belt and look for trouble”.

Did your Hellenism help get you where you are? How?

My Hellenism informs me emotionally, aesthetically, and creatively, affecting the way I think, feel and function in the world. It not only helped get me where I am, it fundamentally designed it.

Being Greek: Best Part….

being born into, informed by and deeply connected to the most complex nation in the world which birthed western civilisation

Being Greek: Worst part….

being born into, informed by and deeply connected to the most complex nation in the world which birthed western civilisation

Greeks who inspire(d) you…

Socrates, 

Kazantsakis, 

Kavafy, 

Mercouri, 

Callas, 

Mouskouri

Greeks you like…

genuine and sincere Hellenes who strive to connect with the complexities of being Greek, and the inherent struggle we all share.

Greeks you don’t like…

insincere poseurs who strut their stuff intent on proving they’re someone they’re not.

Your favourite Greek word…

kefi

Your favourite Greek spot in the world…

Kastos

Your favourite Greek song…

Strose to Stroma sou yia Dyo. 
Embodies all my childhood memories.

Your favourite Greek meal… Who cooked it?

Avgolemono. 

Everytime I go home, my mother makes it for me. 

It represents security, love, family. 

In turn, I like to cook it for my close friends.

Your favourite Greek book…

Zorba the Greek, 
the poetry of Kavafy

Your happiest Greek memory….

The first 6 months I spent in Greece as a young girl, staying on Kastos (my dad’s birthplace) and travelling around the rest of Greece. 

A light switched on. 

Nothing was to ever to be the same again!!

Your saddest Greek memory…

Locking up the family home on Kastos and taking my aunty Olga to the mainland.

Global Greeks at the Nobels  - Who would you nominate? Why?

Yannis Simonides

John Psathas

For their current day contribution to the Arts

You meet the Prime Minister of Greece on the beach this summer…What would you tell him?

You’re fired!!

You are the Prime Minister of Greece… for a week!

What three things would you do first? 

I’d fire the EU, declare national bankruptcy and re-introduce the  drachma. Then I’d introduce a minimum livable wage for all adults, with free health care, and begin funding businesses and communities developing sustainable living opportunities. I’d return the marbles. (see below for more)

You’re one of our several million Global Greeks who are Greece’s Ambassadors in the World. Public Diplomacy at its best!  Have you done something to help Greece today?

An email was sent this morning to the Greek community in Australia towards bringing the wonderful Yannis Simonides with Socrates Now to the Antipodes in 2014. Fingers crossed (GGW note: it worked, Yannis Simonides toured New Zealand and Australia with Socrates Now earlier this year, the cover shot is from the promotion!)

Who would you include in a ‘Global Greeks for Greece’ Dream Team?

The Global Greeks for Greece Think Tank (see below) would be made up of international Greeks top in their fields. Economists, Businessmen, Artists, IT experts, Visionaries etc whose modus operandum is growth, not greed.

And now for the best part… 
Create a picture of YOUR Greece … what would you put in it?

As above, I’d remove the ridiculous notion that the people of Greece can pay the country’s debt and go back to the drachma. 
Then I’d create a national fast broadband system, give every rate paying household an IPad, and set up a global online Pledge Greece fund as a central agency receiving contributions from Greeks living out of Greece. 
From that fund a Global Greeks for Greece think tank (see above) would consult with central agencies (not controlled by the government or the church) in Greece to invest in creativity, innovation and sustainable living operations with a long-term vision to heal and re-build a new Greece. I reckon the 9 million odd Greeks out of Greece would come on board such an online revolution!!  
In fact, I know they would. 
PledgeGreece -  
I pledge the first 1000 drachma!!!

Thank you Vicky - let's start working on it! 
Great Talking to you!
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ!

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Talented and multi-awarded Greek New Zealand filmmaker Vicky Yiannoutsos was born and grew up in New Zealand.  Since first visiting Greece as a young girl with her parents, Vicky has identified the myth of Demeter and Persephone as a metaphor for the migrant experience and she went on to make a film that depicted it beautifully...

More about Vicky Yiannoutsos

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

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style: Conversation with Dena Kouremetis - Writer, Columnist and Very Proud Mum!

Her Hellenism made her feel unique 

and Brand Strategist Peter Economides would be her nomination for a Nobel Prize

20 Question Time... Global Greek Style

with the talented

Dena Kouremetis

 Global Greek writer and Forbes Columnist who took a break from her writing
to hold this conversation with us...

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Hellenism is…

The idea of being Greek and what that meant to me was established through my Greek-American parents.It told us we were special, we were unique and we had a pedigree unlike anyone else on earth – something to be cherished and perpetuated despite the fact that we lived in the U.S. 

During my most formative years, I did not live in a place where there were many other hyphenated Greeks. My parents were not college educated and none of their immigrant parents made it past the 4th grade, so my siblings and I had a very sketchy representation of ancient Greek history. It was not until my father took us to Greece when I was 13 that I began to appreciate the true depth of my heritage. It lives and breathes within me -- part of both the way I think of myself as well as the legacy I leave behind.

Did your Hellenism help get you where you are?

From the standpoint of feeling “different” – yes, it did. 

As a child, one would rather “blend in” and be one of the pack.  But my parents made it clear that we would never be like everyone else BECAUSE we were of Greek descent.So while immigrants in this country may have been considered lowly at a certain point in history, my siblings and I felt elevated in a way that was difficult to describe to others. 

Being Greek: Best Part….

How can you single just one thing out?  
It’s just FUN to be Greek! 
 It’s the food, the holidays, speaking Greek with your mom while trying on clothes and KNOWING the sales lady doesn’t know what you’re saying, the dancing, the jokes, the laughter – and being part of something much bigger than all of it put together. 

Being Greek: Worst part…. 

Trying to watch your weight at Easter time… 

Greeks who inspire(d) you…

Socrates, 
Plato, 
Hippocrates, 
Archimedes, 
Aristotle, 
Pericles, 
Homer, 
Alexander the Great 
and so many others, 
I would take you well beyond your word count for this article…  

Greeks you like…

 
I can’t answer this question… I admire so many.

Greeks you don’t like…

 
I am dumbfounded by those who take their proud heritage for granted.

Your favourite Greek word…

Philotimo. 

Wikipedia defines it this way, Philotimo is almost impossible to translate sufficiently as it describes a complex array of virtues. Philotimo is considered to be the highest of all Greek virtues which determines and regulates how someone should behave in their family and social groups. In its simplest form, it means “doing good”, and it ensures your behavior will make you stand out from others. It will tell others what kind of a person you are and about the way you were raised by your family. Philotimo to a Greek is essentially a way of life. Children are said to have philotimo when they display unconditional love and respect towards their parents, grandparents, friends. It can mean gratitude for a small gift someone might have given you, or a small random act of kindness someone may have shown you. It is an appreciation and admiration for heritage, ancestors, pride. 
All that in one word.

 I ask you: Does any other language have a word that encompasses all that?

Your favourite Greek spot in the world…

While my magical “everything’s-a-photo-op” place on earth is Santorini, my favorite place has to be the balcony of my grandfather’s lofty house at the end of a cobbled goat path in the tiny Pelopponesian village of Isari. Even now I can close my eyes and hear donkey and goat bells, the faint wafting/wailing of bouzoukia and lyra during the “apoyevma” (afternoon siesta time),  the aroma of a well-cooked meal, and a vista of grape vines and olive trees. In this image, I dream of what life must have been like for those who came before me but were determined to make better lives for their families. 

I remember my first trip to Greece, when my father took us to someone’s house in the village our relatives wanted us to meet.  It was an old woman who was very poor. She offered us cold artesian water to drink and mint leaves to breathe in because she had no food to offer.  Hanging prominently on the wall of her sparse one-room house was a huge transistor radio, as if it were a piece of artwork. She explained that her cousin in the U.S. had given it to her so she could listen to music.  She heaved a big sigh and looked out her window to the valley below and said, “I am not poor. I have the mountains, the delicious cold water that comes from the earth, and loving people around me. I am a wealthy woman.”  I have never forgotten the simplicity of this woman’s outlook on life.

Your favourite Greek song…

Believe it or not, “Fengari Mou”
I first heard it on a Nana Mouskouri album in my teens.

Your favourite Greek meal… Who cooked it?

My mom’s oregano/lemon chicken, roasted potatoes, tiropita and pastitsio. Love was the main ingredient.

Your favourite Greek book…

Aesop’s Fables. 
The lessons are timeless.

Your happiest Greek memory….

The college year I spent in Athens at the American college, 
chronicled in my eBook, “Climbing St. Friday”… 
It was a year that changed my life.

Your saddest Greek memory…

Losing an older relative the year I spent in Athens and being too stupid and insensitive to visit him before he passed away.

Global Greeks at the Nobels  - Who would you nominate? Why?

Peter Economides
As the person who helped re-brand Apple computers, this remarkable man is doing everything he possibly can to help the Greeks renew faith in themselves.  He is a brand strategist with a global perspective, working hard to bring Greece into step with the rest of Europe while making sure the things that make Greece unique and special are not lost.

You meet the Prime Minister of Greece on the beach this summer…What would you tell him?

To begin a campaign to educate everyone in government in how to recognize and attack corruption when they see it, and to make Greek government the ideal and leader in a world that so desperately needs a role model.

You are the Prime Minister of Greece… for a week!

What three things would you do first? 

I am not astute enough about the current situation in Greece to answer this question…

You’re one of our several million Global Greeks who are Greece’s Ambassadors in the World. Public Diplomacy at its best!  Have you done something to help Greece today?

I wish I were a “mover and shaker” but alas – I am only a writer. I often write about Greece and the experiences I have had as “one of the tribe”… but I suppose my biggest claim to fame is having produced a non-college-educated (by choice) daughter who emulates the ideals of the hard-working immigrant who sees no limits to what he or she can do in life.  

I come from a long line of business owners and self-determined types. My daughter was never really close to people who earned wages. And while there is certainly no shame in the seeking out the predictability of a paycheck, I think people often let go of their dreams while strapping themselves to having to have what others do in life. They live their entire lives not knowing the thrill of creating something that comes from deep within them.
Each day is such a gift. 
Not honoring that gift – to me – is tantamount to a travesty.

Who would you include in a ‘Global Greeks for Greece’ Dream Team? 

Peter Economides, 
Gregory Pappas, 
Rita Wilson Hanks, 
Billy Zane, 
Sid Ganis, 
Alexander Payne, 
and many, many others who are in the public eye and make no secret of their roots.

And now for the best part… 
Create a picture of YOUR Greece … 
what would you put in it? 

Seeing Greece through the simplicity and awe of my first time in the “old country”;  the glowing love of my gracious, generous relatives; the blue, blue sea against whitewashed dwellings; the bray of a donkey, the gravelly voice of a toothless yiayia dressed in black; a Greece that welcomes progressive ideas to get its people working again and capitalizes on its beauty without compromising its pristine appeal. And most of all, the pride Greeks take in just being Greek – no matter what trials and tribulations they have suffered.

If we’ve missed something you would like to share with us in this 20 Question Global Greek Style interview, 
please tell us …

I firmly believe that you don’t have to have Greek blood to be a Hellene. 
The many gifts Greeks have given to the world – mathematics, architecture, philosophy, philotimo, poetry, athletics, science and on and on – these are gifts being celebrated by and improved upon all over the modern world. 
It is the spirit of Greece that lives in us all.

Thank you Dena - It's been a pleasure!
Ευχαριστούμε πολύ!

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More about Dena

Since her debut as a newspaper columnist back in 1997, Dena Kouremetis has been tapping the keys as a journalist, author, and freelance writer for publications all across the country, including providing blog content for the prestigious Forbes.  

She is the national Greek-American culture examiner for Examiner.com, as well as a regular blogger for her site, Communic8or.com, and regularly contributes to anthologies, web sites, and journals on topics ranging from love to pets to just being... Greek.

Dena published her own coming-of-age eBook memoir, Climbing St.Friday in 2010, chronicling her life-changing year as a student in Athens’ American College of Greece during the military junta,  Climbing St Friday is a story that most of us who have grown up abroad can identify with readily, its many references to situations and experiences which we  have 'lived' shall we say, will make you smile, if not laugh outright!
  
A talented and accomplished musician, she and her soul-mate George are regular members of a Sacramento, CA-based jazz/pops chorale and are at present preparing for  upcoming performances in Barcelona.

Talent and business acumen run in the family... so it is only natural that the next generation is doing well too... the Greek beat goes on.

Dena's daughter, Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, recently won the coveted GABBY (Greek America’s Best and Brightest, similar to the Oscars but for accomplished Greeks) award for entrepreneurial excellence beating out well-known challengers, and is now a New York Times best-selling author with her memoir/business book #Girlboss. This comes after a whirlwind press and book tour, accompanied by none other than her justifiably proud Global Greek Mum! 

As we Greeks say, the apple is sure to fall under the apple tree!

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

© GlobalGreekWorld 2014 All Rights Reserved