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...

The Carnival and The Capoeiras

A bunch of us visited Ξάνθη (Ksanthi) for the carnival.
The carnival took place during this past long weekend. It was a cool excursion. An event attended mainly by youths. Lots of craziness going on.

The highlights of the trip?
Witnessing stoned Patricks......befuddled Happy Hippos,


and something more... The Capoeiras.
A wonderfully sober bunch performing something bordering martial arts and dancing.

manamanah: Original vs Spoof

Most of us are probably familiar with the Muppet Show.
Some of us grew up watching it.
Few of us actually know the significance of the manamanah song.
A handful of us have had the privilege to watch both the original clip of the song as well as a very funny spoof of it... up until now!

A little bird has informed me that the spoof is now available on Google Video. I'm proud to present both the original and the spoof for your enjoyment. Please vote as to which is the funniest.

As always, patience is well rewarded... Wait till the end of both videos!

The Original:


The Spoof:


P.S. The availability of this video on the net has triggered my desire to find movies that we've filmed with friends back in the old days. Some of the video-tapes have been lost, others await to be found. Hopefully by Easter some of the long-lost videos will have been unearthed and subsequently posted online.

Panathlitikos News

We won 3-0 against Bergina.
The game was relatively easy.

I understand that my blog is becoming kind of monotonous, being dominated by Panathlitikos posts. As such I've decided to create a blog dedicated to Panathlitikos.
That way the goose that understands will remain more personal and less collective.
From now on, expect to find team news at the Panathlitikos Blog.

Panathlitikos News

Panathlitikos won again.
It was a solid 3-0 without any big surprises. This time the match was not a derby although we were playing against Eukarpia, a team that up until yesterday held first place in our league.
The win bumped us into first place and we will definitely fight to stay there.

Merry Christmas and a real treat

The benefit of living in a timezone that's ahead of someone else's: You get to wish them happy holidays first.

Merry Christmas to all souls reading this blog.
And to the subset who are also volleyball lovers, enjoy some volleyball but with a twist.

Panathlitikos News

I know you've all been waiting to hear news about what could be considered as the most important game in our league.
Wait no more. My Christmas gift to you arrived slightly early. So please enjoy, but do so responsibly. The last thing I want is crazed groupies posting comments non-stop.

The match with Polygiros was a true derby!
It was a war!
It was the culmination of months of training.

We lost the first set. Our game was sloppy and our defense on the serve was U.G.L.Y. No alibi...



We won the second set.
Lost the third set.
Won the fourth set.
Cliffhanger...

Cliffhanger still...

Y.A.C.F ...

We won the fifth and final set.
Kudos to the team, we were losing 4-9 in this last set and then came back to win 15-13.

It was a good 3-2 match...
We made lots of mistakes, were stricken by several injuries, but we delivered.

Why all the rant for a game? How can it be so important, you ask?
Our win sort of guaranteed at least second place in the B Regional league. The best two teams advance to the next level. So next year we should be playing in the best regional league, A Regional.
Above that, there's B National, A2 National, A1 National. The A Nationals consist entirely of professionals and indeed they are quite far away. Even B National is very tough to get into.

We are now aiming for first place in B Regional. It will be tough, but it's possible.


Disclaimer:
Polygiros has nothing to do with gyro, the food.
In case you were wondering, it's a place, a small city to be more precise...

Panathlitikos News

Panthlitikos won 3-0.
The opponents were not very good. I believe their team was formed this year and it kind of showed. I'm sure they'll present a better face next season.

After the match we all went for food as the game marked the end of the first round.

The second round begins next week, and we are playing a good team. It's the only team we've lost to so far... It was the game where we were winning 0-2 and then lost 3-2.
This time we have the home-advantage. Also, continous training has brought our players very close. We've each learned our roles much better and we work together now.
The only downside: A few recent injuries have fallen upon our middles. Can we pull this off without them?

Stay tuned for next week's results...

Panathlitikos Wins Once More

Panathlitkos won again, this time against Nestor.
We lost the first set and then came back to win 3-1.
Our first set was very sloppy and that explains the loss.
I didn't get to play this time.

Panathltikos' win comes with some extra good news. Our championship has officially been extended. There were supposed to be 2 rounds of 6 matches, but now there will be 3.
More volleyball, now that's what I'm talking about!

What say you?

Would cars have two headlights if we didn't have two eyes?

Let's Celebrate

A celebration is in order!
The PostgreSQL community has released a new version (8.2) of their amazing DBMS.
A press release describing the new features can be found here.
Bravo to the world's most advanced open source database (and in my opinion the world's most advanced database, period).

Lego Boy

Yesterday marked yet another win for Panathlitikos. We got a solid 3-0 with all sets finishing near the 25-15 range.

I couldn't play cause of some weird small pain in my knee. The pain surfaced two days ago but it's slowly going away.

I certainly hope my rate of injuries (Injuries/Month) decreases, lest I get assigned the nigh-hilarious nickname "Lego Boy".

Top Ten Girl Geeks

Of particular importance is number 10 on the list.
Who would have thought that others agree with me?

Go Panathlitikos!

With the risk of sounding boring, congrads to our volleyball team.
We won 3-0. Detailed scores: 25-05, 25-15, 26-24.
Yeah, it's kind of a downhill, but hey, we won (we were actually losing 15-19 in the third set, but came back with a vengeance).
The win should bump us into second position.

Panathlitikos' First Win and a Gigolo?

Today marks our first win in the volleyball championship.
We beat what was considered the best team. The match was kind of a derby. We won the first set, lost the next two and then came back to win 3-2. We are dangerous!

And cause i'm feeling amaZING now, check out this catchy song i like a lot.
A third of a song is in greek and the next two thirds are in english, so be patient.
Gigolo by Helena Paparizou.

Paris, you go girl!

That Paris girl never ceases to amaze me. She is truly exceptional, and I mean it!
After breaking up with Paris Latsis (rich greek shipping heir), she goes with Stavros Niarchos (richer greek shipping heir) and then some guy whose name i don't know (poor greek magician?).
But this isn't big news, and certainly not post-worthy in itself. When coupled with the following though, things change...
Paris has expressed interest in becoming a space tourist!
I concur, you go girl!