Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!

I  wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Enjoy the Greek Sweets Calendar 2013 that I made for you. I hope you like it. Don't drool on the keyboard, your computer won't be happy. There are other calendars in the Free Stuff Section also: Cute Cats and Dogs and Greek Modern Painters. 
See you next year!:) 

Zorba the Greek - Sirtaki

It had been a surprise for me to find out that Sirtaki, the world known dance form Zorba the Greek, with Anthony Queen, is Greek inspired but not really Greek.
The choreography of the dance was created in 1964 for the movie and it is based on various Greek traditional dances. The name of the dance comes from the verb "serno"(σερνω) which means "to drag". It comes from the fact that during the dance the feet are almost always close to the ground, seaming they are dragged. The "aki" at the end of the word implies a diminutive.  

According to Guinness World Record Book the biggest Sirtaki dance took place in Volos, Greece on the 31st of august 2012. It united 5.614 people aged between 14 and 89 that danced for 5 minutes.  

Greek-Romanian Cold Treatment

And now, along with this exquisite cold weather with 92% humidity in the air and real feel of minus god knows how much, guess what... totally unsurprisingly, everyone is sick. Even my teacher from school called in sick yesterday. 

That's not me but it could as well be

This Monday my boyfriend came home feeling sick. You know, the usual: head ache, throught ache, chest pain, a bit of fever. I considered myself lucky because for a couple of days I didn't get any symptoms and I even started fantasizing that I won't at all. 

That happened till yesterday when it all started with a slight throught pain. And then I remembered something I read on Facebook a few days ago and I found very funny:

"Insanity does not run in our family, it strolls taking the time to get to know each and every one of us personally".

It was the same with this cold. I couldn't pass over to me so quick..it had to first dedicate all its time and effort to by boyfriend(who brought it home in the first place!!) and only then it could pass its gracious self to me. 

But no worries, tonight we're gonna treat it in the traditional Greek-Romanian manner with boiled țuica and τσιπουρο. Hic!

Tomorrow we'll still have a headache but from a different reason:))

Greece Frozen

There is this very popular song in Greece that says "It's never cold in Greece. Here, the weather had never been cold" (Δεν Κανει Κρυο στη Ελλαδα). Well, that's not exactly true. I just came from outside and I'm still in de-freeze mode.

If you look outside you don't really expect it to be cold. It's nice and sunny but there are 0 Celsius degrees at this time and a real feel of -6 plus a really "refreshing" wind.

I must admin I have been warned so it was not that much of a shock when i went out of the house but, the real shock was when I got to the street market. There was something wrong, something missing but I couldn't put my finger on it from the beginning. The market was quiet! I have never in my life went into a quiet Greek street market.

There are always people shouting their offers, asking you to come check their products, arguing...Now, nothing, just silence!

Not that many people in the market either. The few brave ones that had the courage to get out of their houses were in a great hurry to buy what they need and go home. No long talks in the middle of the road while cars are honking, no old ladies hitting and pushing you because you are in their way, no long negotiations or discussions with the sellers...nothing.. Everyone was frozen, moving and talking as little as possible, thing that in Greece is unimaginable. I had never happened before.

It was a "refreshing" alternative though from the daily hassle. I'm starting to wish there was cold weather more often in Greece.

PS
Here is the song I was telling you about.

The Bouzouki in Pulp Fiction

Yesterday at school we had a lesson about Greek traditional music, or at least one of the traditional kinds of music that are in Greece, called "ρεμπετικο"        [rebetiko]. The main instrument used in accompanieg the songs is called "μπουζουκι" [bouzouki] and it looks like this:  

The music was, for a lot of years, outlawed because it was talking subjects that were sensitive to the political system of that time and/or because the people singing it were themselves outlaws.  Probably the most known "rebetiko" song "Mousourloum" end even you know it. You just don't know it yet:)
The original Mousourloum has no known writer and it goes like this:


Doesn't ring any bells, does it? Well, listen to it again and them compare with this:


The main theme from Pulp Fiction is made after the Mousourloum and the name of the song is Misirlou which is a slightly Americanized version of Mousourloum.

When Hollywood Meets Ancient Greece

 

Here is what happens when you have a lot of imagination but not that much common sense and an architect who does exactly what the client says no matter how kitschy.

Hollywood stars on the ceiling, caryatids, archaic representations on the pillars, renaissance angels, informative tables with names exiled philosophers at the entrance and-most important-smooth integration into the architectural style of the neighborhood.

As for the colors? Dark blue, dark red and gold "join" forces to produce the momentum needed.








 



No, it's not the same building, although the similarities are more than obvious. Again we have Hollywood stars in balconies and caryatids (constant values these days) while on the top of the building Zeus with his spear stands proud on top of the ... Olympic Games symbol. 





 






A mini pantheon with busts of ancient philosophers gracing the entrance, where there is also a marble sign explaining the ignorant visitor or passerby subversive concept of the house. 

According to exclusive information, on the ground floor there is a construction shop. It's obvious that the owner found the best way to advertise his business.






And last but not least ...The Parthenon of Rhodes

Completely loyal to the ancient architectural ideals, a real ode to antiquity, this house is to remember. Ancient representations, columns, ancient style decorations and of course the temple. No, no, the house doesn't have a temple. The house IS a temple.

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