Off to Hydra for the weekend

Life in oblivion

climate simulation image by NASA

I can't help but wonder why most people are still totally oblivious to the irreversible damage we are bringing on to this gorgeous place in the universe...I'm writing this post with the occasion of another "unfortunate" event that occured yesterday in Greece, a major fire in a solvent manufacturing company.

The Perry Bible Fellowship

The PBF is one of my favorite weekly comic strips, by Nicholas Gurewitch. It first appeared in Syracuse University's Daily Orange and now has several publishers including The Portland Mercury, The Rochester Insider, The Birmingham Black and White, and The New York Press. Check the PBF archive for more!

Neverending stories

I was going through some of my really old CD's and I stumbled upon Buffalo Springfield's first album. It felt kind of weird listening to the classic "For What It's Worth" because despite the fact that this song was written way back in 1966, during the Sunset Strip riots, it could be written for times like ours, see Israel - Lebanon conflict:

"There's somethin' happenin' here; what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there tellin' me I got to beware
Think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's goin' down..."

Just click on the title and download for your listening pleasure - and remember to rock on.

Thirsty Rita

Hello again

As some of you may have noticed, I've been following the steps of this lovely dyke all over town, and yesterday I saw her again on Skoufa street in Kolonaki.

For my father

One of my closest friends happened to send me this beautiful song by José González a few days ago and the moment I heard it I realized why Chloe send it. So here goes, I uploaded it, for all of us who have lost someone truly wonderful.

Hints
while the crowd is waiting for the final kiss
the one which allows them to sleep well
we walk along the wrong path
the one which leed us to our own blessed

we need hints
before we get tired
but we need hints
before we get tired
now we need hints
before we loose pace
now we need a hint to know we´re on the right track

we need hints
before we get tired
but we need hints
before we get tired
now we need speed
before we loose pace
now we need a hint to know we´re on the right track

Cats that look like Hitler!

Check them all out at http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Thanks for the laughs Tina xxx

Greek Telecommunications 2006

And I was wondering why I couldn't get online this morning...

The Quiet Revolution

This is Qr5, a vertical axis - 6kW wind turbine, suitable for urban environments, that is virtually silent and vibration free – critical for use on or near buildings. This beautiful new turbine, designed by the UK's XCO2 - a very progressive environmental engineering consultancy, can produce 10,000 kWh annually, if we consider an average wind speed of 5,8 m/s. The first commercial installation will be on London Road in the London Borough of Croydon. The developers plan to install 7 turbines in order to achieve the required 10% of their energy requirements from a renewable source on site. There are several additional sites that already have planning approval in the UK and more than 20 are awaiting planning decisions and include schools, local council buildings and the headquarters of several FTSE100 companies. Managing to harness wind in a city for power generation I believe is a huge step in emissions reductions, something that up until now was considered to have many environmental and technical impacts, and was more suitable for rural environments. It would be great if we managed to get something like this going in Greek cities too, especially those lying close to the coast. That is a long shot however, since we are still in the process of revising the basic framework for renewable energy developments in this country, which is very messed up.

Mouse on Mars @ Synch

Synch Part II

Spatial Sounds

Mouse on Mars
The Chap
Boogying @ Afrika's set
Afrika Bambaataa
Synch's football squad

Dutch Colony: Edwin van der Heide's LSP1 show

Later today I'm gonna post the video from Marnix de Nijs & Edwin van der Heide's engine-powered installation: a speaker mounted on a rotating arm, scanning the surrounding space for visitors via a high-speed distance-measuring sensor, creating a spatial depiction of the space, continuously changing, rather similar to traditional radar. Spatial Sounds (100dB at 100km/h) detected visitors immediately. The installation reacts in both a musical and a gestural way. When the speaker is pointing at someone, it will generate a specific sound. Different locations in the space represent different sounds, as does the distance of the visitors to the rotating arm.The rotating arm itself can move up to a speed of 100km/h, making it difficult for the viewer to come too close.

Very interesting stuff.

K. Bhta - Transformations performance @ Synch

Mai Ueda - Neen Demo performance @ Synch

Synch 2006 Part I

Neenstars Angelo Plessas & Rafael Rozendaal getting cozy on Angelidakis' wonderful pillows
Neen Demo - Angelidakis' piece
Neenstars Mai Ueda & Rafael Rozendaal
Angelo Plessas & Antonakis Christodoulou under the rainbow
Mai Ueda performing at the Demo
Journalist Lily Papagianni, Rafael Rozendaal & me super-comfy
Biosphere
More Biosphere
Antonakis Christodoulou & me
Super chill at the Demo
Curator Chloe Vaitsos, Antonakis Christodoulou & Lily Papagianni
Architect-Neenstar Andreas Angelidakis & Antonakis Christodoulou
OK, it was impossible for us to go out and not find oursleves in some sort of situation, we managed to get stuck in the Benaki Museum elevator!
I think it was his fault!

Devendra Banhart @ Underworld

Devendra and his crew gave us a pretty good rockin' show last night in Athens.

Loved the hippy ticket (plus it was much cheaper than Anthony & The Johnsons!)

Athens Metropolitan Park - a dream come true?

Site of the proposed development

SW to NE boundary of the area

As some of you may already know, the Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works, and more specifically its agency Organization of Athens for Planning and Environmental Protection, announced the winners of the competition for the long-awaited proposed development, the French/US, DZO Architecture team. The Organization in turn asked us dudes over here at the Center for Renewable Energy Sources to contribute ideas for the Master Plan regarding environmental and energy issues. So, finally after some time filled mostly with boring projects, I have this really challenging one to work for!