I Mean Well

Some coats of arms

Theo Angelopoulos accident

The Greek film director Theo Angelopoulos has died following an accident. He was hit by a motorcyclist.

See an older posting on Angelopoulos in Zagori

It was only a few weeks ago that I was watching his great film "The Weeping Meadow".

I have followed his work since his first feature, "Reconstruction", but I haven't always enjoyed his films. I remember walking out of the overlong "Megalexandros", in spite of the superb compositions and cinematography, and his perspectives on modern Greek history. Viewers are not always in the right mood for the slow pace of his films. I will try again.

A tragic end to a unique cinematic talent.

Don't miss the film extract in this posting from Keep Talking Greece.

I know the feeling.

Luteolin: eat more of the flavonoid in fruit and vegetables

Research paper from BMC Gastroenterology

Popularisation in the tabloids (spotted while waiting for my car to be serviced this morning).

What I found interesting was the list of foods containing the cancer-slowing  flavonoid luteolin, which include

Thyme, oregano, rosemary, camomile tea, peppermint, olive oil, carrots and navel oranges.


Sounds like the typical Greek diet in most respects.

Another item that caught my eye at the garage, some research on the evolutionary differences between males and females regarding warfare!

Never on Sunday, In Memoriam Melina Mercouri

Don't look back: sorry, Melina, not quite a paidi tou Pirea!

I want my marbles back!




"To be born Greek is to be magnificently cursed. To a surprisingly large number of people, it means you personally built the Acropolis, you created Delphi, the theatre, and you sired the concept of democracy. The truth is that you're poor, many of your people can't read and the rare moments that you tasted of democracy and independence, foreign protectors or their Greek stooges snatched them away from you."


"I Was Born Greek", 1971

Song, The Mediterranean
Different images:
The Mediterranean (2)

The Rehearsal, I Epistoli, Dassin, Theodorakis, Mercouri

Duet with Mikis

Update, March 6 2012

Rime Improvvisate, Solomos' improvised poems in Italian

Letter (Zante, 1822) from Lodovico Strani(s) to Ugo Foscolo, published as the introduction to Solomos' first collection of poetry (Rime Improvvisate, 30 sonnets in Italian), published by Strani(s) in Corfu, 1822.

Solomos

The Greek National Anthem

From the poem:

Δυστυχής! Παρηγορία

μόνη σοῦ ἔμενε, νὰ λὲς

περασμένα μεγαλεῖα,

καὶ διηγῶντάς τα νὰ κλαῖς.

Two passports issued to Lodovico Stranis by the British Lord High Commissioner in the 1840s:

The Hill of Strani, Zakynthos

Panoramic View

The Hill of Strani, by Aglaia Papa

Solomos, Complete Works in Greek

Jungmannová Cultural Resource Centre Ceiling, Prague, Milan Ressel

Milan Ressel, Ceiling Dome Artwork, Prague Cultural Section Resource Centre, c. 1987,
on the theme of free and unfettered cultural exchange
between Britain and Czechoslovakia.

On Lute, Jim; Bagpipes, Milan; guitar, John Lennon!
(Milan's little joke: the three British cultural representatives were intended to be Shakespeare (or an Elizabethan lutenist), a Scottish bagpiper and John Lennon -with a nod to the significance of The Beatles and the John Lennon Wall in Prague; the less visible Czechoslovak cultural figures were Dvořák, Smetana and Janaček)

"Olga described how, every Friday, her husband would take the tram to the Cultural Section of the British Embassy, an unbelievably dingy first-floor office in the Jungmannova, to read the reviews in the English newspapers."
Robert McCrum, The Fabulous Englishman, 1984

The ceiling painting aroused the interest of the StB (Secret Police) of course.

    We tried to liven things up.                 
                                         

It's probably been whitewashed since then...

With Mark Fryars (on left)

from Riot Police by the Statue of Jungmann:

Let's be proud of our office

In Jungmannova Street,

Though British books have been long suppressed.

Just repeat after John:

"What though the field is lost ?

All is not lost......."

"Cot', ze pole ztraceno ?

po vsem veta neni......"

Josef Jungmann, defiant Czech,

By translating John Milton revived his own tongue;

In spite of the Austrian censors' office,

In spite of censors still to come:

Courage; th' unconquerable will !
***

NOT ALL IN VAIN!

Reading, 24 October, 1989