Chocorello

Every now and then comes an amaZING commercial.
Sometimes it's funny.
Sometimes it's witty.
Sometimes it's sophisticated.
And sometimes it's something else, but always amaZING!

That's the case for the Chocorello ad by Dodoni.
The ad is of the "then" (~ 8 years ago) and "funny" varieties.

I immediately loved it, and a couple of years ago was able to find a video file of it. However when recently trying to view the file it either appeared corrupted or I was lacking the proper codec. Heck, even the amazing VLC wasn't able to play it. Uploading it to Google Video a couple of months ago didn't help either. Its status was 'Failed'. Finding the video online was now impossible. Too many years had passed, it seemed.

To my great surprise, after accidentally updating its meta data on Google Video two days ago (because i was playing with other recently uploaded video files), the file went 'Live'. I can only guess that Google augmented its list of supported formats and my modifications of its meta data triggered a re-evaluation.

Enjoy the video and by all means make your opinion heard: Please, rate Chocorello!!!

Celibacy, Truth and Video Files

As promised, I've uploaded one of the movies we've created.
The movie has no subtitles yet (English or otherwise) and as such non Greek-speakers will not be able to enjoy it just yet.
For the greek-speakers, enjoy responsibly:

Το κουτί του Θεού [To kouti tou Theou] (God's box)

300's Historical Elements

'Η ταν ή επί τας. [I tan i epi tas]. (Either with this or on it).
The words a Spartan woman would utter to her child when it left for battle. The words refer to the child's shield and a good translation would be "Either come back with the shield, or (dead) on it".

Μολών Λαβέ! [Molon labe]. (Come and take them).
A very elaborate explanation exists in the linked wikipedia article. I can only add that this is a phrase that carries lots of pride.

Οι Αθάνατοι. [I Athanatoi]. (The Immortals).
A bunch of Xerxes' soldiers, that were truly immortal, no joke. They were immortal in a collective sense, not individually.
Each time an "Immortal" soldier died in battle, another one was immediately sent in it, keeping their total number constant.

Ἐφιάλτης. [Ephialtis]. (Ephialtis).
The traitor who showed the Persians a way around the Greek's defenses (effectively surrounding and decimating them).
The treachery was so deeply engraved as a wound in our spirit that the word "Ephialtes", once simply a name, since then literally means "nightmare".

Ω ξείν, αγγέλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις, ότι τήδε κείμεθα, τοις κείνων ρήμασι πειθόμενοι. [O ksein aggelein Lakedemoniois, oti tide keimetha, tois keinon rimasi peithomenoi]. (Stranger, go tell the Spartans that here we lie, obedient to their laws.)
The Simonidean epigram. Very moving.
I believe the "laws" refer to protection of freedom and no retreat, but I am not certain.


For more historical elements of 300, check out a very good article: 300 and History.

My secret fantasy, revealed...

Ok, with a juicy title like that, I ought to get your attention...

Here is a fantasy i've had for a while now:
I'd like to participate in a volleyball tournament where three criteria are met.

• There exists a team named "Versus".
• There exists a team named "Referred by".
• There exists a spokesman announcing the matches.

Some Team vs Versus refereed by Referred by.

Obligatory...

- I've acquired a TV-Tuner card...
- "Yeah, but does it run Linux?"
- Well, it doesn't run linux, but testing so far indicates it works fine under Linux.
- "But what does that meeeeaaan?"
- In itself, admittedly not much... However, we've also unearthed one of the promised videotapes (the ones containing movies we created during highschool).

The videotape was inspired by The Blair Witch Project.
My plan is to digitize the videotape, add English subtitles and make it available on YouTube/Google video.
You 'll know more details about the movie when it's publicly available...