Αν έχετε βαρεθεί, όπως και εγώ, την απίστευτη παπαρολογία τελευταία με την ψηφοφορία για τους 100 "Μεγαλύτερους" Έλληνες του (παλιότερα σχεδόν αξιόλογου) τηλεοπτικού καναλιού ΣΚΑΙ, τότε αυτό το blog είναι ό,τι χρειάζεστε.
Δεν συμφωνώ με τις απόψεις τους για όλους τους υποψήφιους, ακόμα και αν δεν είναι να πάρεις την λίστα στα σοβαρά. Όταν βέβαια από την άλλη, στη "σοβαρή" λίστα βρίσκουμε γνωστούς δικτάτορες, τότε τρέχα γύρευε.
TL;DR Version
Τι κόλλημα έχουν με το soundtrack του Street Fighter IV σε αυτόν τον ΣΚΑΙ τέλος πάντων?
Showing posts with label Greek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greek. Show all posts
Thursday, April 2
Thursday, July 10
[Basketball Thursday] The World Olympic Qualifiers
If there ever were a pointless tournament, the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament must be it.
Long story short, instead of having every single team qualify for the Olympic games from their respective tournaments (such as the EuroBasket ' 07 tournament), FIBA decided to make things complicated. As a result, only a handful of teams from each continent from said tournaments, while the rest are now forced to qualify through the WOQT (my own, unofficial abbreviation*).
The result is that the teams in the WOQT had to start their preparations much sooner than the rest of the teams that have already qualified for the Olympic Games, which means they'll be more fatigued. To make matters worse for the teams that will eventually qualify for the Olympic Games, they will have to play in two highly competible tournaments, and not just one. For that reason, I can't really see a team that qualified from the WOTQ to go very far in the Olympic tournament itself, fatigue will most likely be a huge factor. After all, most players are coming from full seasons, in which they got too little time to rest already. These extra games won't help one bit.
Realistically, out of the twelve teams in the tournament, only a few have decent chances of qualifying to begin with. Brazil, Greece, perhaps Germany if Dirk feels like it, Slovenia if they don't choke, perhaps Croatia and Puerto Rico too. It makes me feel like this tournament is pretty redundant, as quite a few games will probably be a blowout. Was there any real reason for twelve teams in this tournament and not eight, or perhaps less?
The obvious answer for this is the fact that then it wouldn't be considered a real tournament, and thus it couldn't be marketed as such, of course. I just can't help but feel a bit sorry for athletes when they're used like that for nothing more than money. They should be given at least one month every year to rest. I can think of players that haven't gotten more than a couple of weeks of free time in the last five years. That's borderline inhumane, in my book.
As far as the WOQT goes though, it's not all bad, at least for the Greek national team, and me as well. The good thing about this tournament is that Greece is going to host it (although I'd really like to hear what the cost for this will be), so at least our players won't have to travel to the end of the world to play these games, which should make for less fatigue. Also, a few extra games at a high level should be good for the team in general, as it's currently going through a transition.
Several players from the team that won the EuroBasket in '05 have left, with the shunning of former captain Michalis Kakiouzis standing out as particularly rude to me, so this new team will definitely need some time to adjust. The easier games in the WOQT should be of help, so long as we don't royally mess them up, in which case this whole thing will be a disaster. Most of the new players are highly talented though, so we should be fine. My only major concern is the lack of an experienced, reliable, center. Bourousis is a good player, but he's more of a tall power-forward than a real center, Big Sofo can't last for more than ten-fifteen minutes per game, and the rest of the guys are too inexperienced. A good center is almost a necessity when attacking a tight defense, 5 on 5, and that's Greece weakest point offensively, as shown in last year's EuroBasket.
We'll see, I guess. I'll definitely watch at least one or two games when the tournament starts next week, and if our level of play is high enough I might watch it all the way to the semis. You can't see me right now, but I'm crossing my fingers already.
*Isn't it funny how the word "abbreviation" is itself quite long?
TL;DR version:
Έλα μωρή Ελλαδαράααααααααα!
Long story short, instead of having every single team qualify for the Olympic games from their respective tournaments (such as the EuroBasket ' 07 tournament), FIBA decided to make things complicated. As a result, only a handful of teams from each continent from said tournaments, while the rest are now forced to qualify through the WOQT (my own, unofficial abbreviation*).
The result is that the teams in the WOQT had to start their preparations much sooner than the rest of the teams that have already qualified for the Olympic Games, which means they'll be more fatigued. To make matters worse for the teams that will eventually qualify for the Olympic Games, they will have to play in two highly competible tournaments, and not just one. For that reason, I can't really see a team that qualified from the WOTQ to go very far in the Olympic tournament itself, fatigue will most likely be a huge factor. After all, most players are coming from full seasons, in which they got too little time to rest already. These extra games won't help one bit.
Realistically, out of the twelve teams in the tournament, only a few have decent chances of qualifying to begin with. Brazil, Greece, perhaps Germany if Dirk feels like it, Slovenia if they don't choke, perhaps Croatia and Puerto Rico too. It makes me feel like this tournament is pretty redundant, as quite a few games will probably be a blowout. Was there any real reason for twelve teams in this tournament and not eight, or perhaps less?
The obvious answer for this is the fact that then it wouldn't be considered a real tournament, and thus it couldn't be marketed as such, of course. I just can't help but feel a bit sorry for athletes when they're used like that for nothing more than money. They should be given at least one month every year to rest. I can think of players that haven't gotten more than a couple of weeks of free time in the last five years. That's borderline inhumane, in my book.
As far as the WOQT goes though, it's not all bad, at least for the Greek national team, and me as well. The good thing about this tournament is that Greece is going to host it (although I'd really like to hear what the cost for this will be), so at least our players won't have to travel to the end of the world to play these games, which should make for less fatigue. Also, a few extra games at a high level should be good for the team in general, as it's currently going through a transition.
Several players from the team that won the EuroBasket in '05 have left, with the shunning of former captain Michalis Kakiouzis standing out as particularly rude to me, so this new team will definitely need some time to adjust. The easier games in the WOQT should be of help, so long as we don't royally mess them up, in which case this whole thing will be a disaster. Most of the new players are highly talented though, so we should be fine. My only major concern is the lack of an experienced, reliable, center. Bourousis is a good player, but he's more of a tall power-forward than a real center, Big Sofo can't last for more than ten-fifteen minutes per game, and the rest of the guys are too inexperienced. A good center is almost a necessity when attacking a tight defense, 5 on 5, and that's Greece weakest point offensively, as shown in last year's EuroBasket.
We'll see, I guess. I'll definitely watch at least one or two games when the tournament starts next week, and if our level of play is high enough I might watch it all the way to the semis. You can't see me right now, but I'm crossing my fingers already.
*Isn't it funny how the word "abbreviation" is itself quite long?
TL;DR version:
Έλα μωρή Ελλαδαράααααααααα!
Tuesday, April 8
Rejoice, ye faithfu... hey, wait a second.
The rumor has been going on for about a week. Rock Band will finally be released in Europe on May 23, though only for the Xbox360 at first, with a subsequent PS3 release in late Summer/early Autumn.
Earlier today, IGN reported that this is indeed the case. Being the happy owner of a X360, I was thinking to myself, "Haha, suckers!" To make things even better, and to make up for the huge delay, Rock Band EU will feature the following exclusive songs:
English
German
French
When I first laid eyes on the list, I could only see one thing:
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
WHAT.
GET THAT SHIT OUT OF HERE.
It almost ruined the game for me. Then I saw this:
-----> "Hysteria" by Muse <-----
And I felt better again. Little did I know that things would get much worse...
You see, despite the fact that the Euro has been gaining over the Dollar for a while now, games are still more expensive over here, and best case scenario is that there will be a 1:1 Euro/Dollar ratio when it comes to game prices.
However, in this case EA decided to keep a 1:1 English Pound/Dollar ratio. So that means that Rock Band European Edition will cost one hundred and eighty pounds. That translates to two hundred and fourty Euros, or three hundred and fifty three Dollars. Two hundred and fourty fucking Euros. For a game. Regardless of its undoubtedly great quality, that price is simply insane.
Hell, I'd buy a Wii with that money.
In fact, I'd go as far as to say that whoever buys the game at this price is a complete dumbass, as they're giving EA a carte blanche to price their future games whatever the fuck they want, since we'll still buy them.
I'm a self-proclaimed sheep, I own both the regular and the special editions of the LotR DVD's for example, but even I'm not that big an idiot.
TL;DR version:
EA reveals launch day (May 23) for the European version of Rock Band, with the pricetag being a pound of your flesh, a litre of your blood or half your immortal soul. George cries, curses anyone and everyone that would buy it at that price, loses faith in everything.
Ολοι θέλουν να επιστρέψουν στη φύση. Απλά κανείς δε θέλει να πάει με τα πόδια.
Earlier today, IGN reported that this is indeed the case. Being the happy owner of a X360, I was thinking to myself, "Haha, suckers!" To make things even better, and to make up for the huge delay, Rock Band EU will feature the following exclusive songs:
English
- "Beetlebum" by Blur
- "Rock 'n' Roll Star" by Oasis
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
- "Hysteria" by Muse
German
- "Hier Kommt Alex" by Die Toten Hosen
- "Perfekte Welle" by Juli
- "Countdown to Insanity" by H-Block X
French
- "Manu Chao" by Les Wampas
- "New Wave" by Playmo
When I first laid eyes on the list, I could only see one thing:
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
- "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
WHAT.
GET THAT SHIT OUT OF HERE.
It almost ruined the game for me. Then I saw this:
-----> "Hysteria" by Muse <-----
And I felt better again. Little did I know that things would get much worse...
You see, despite the fact that the Euro has been gaining over the Dollar for a while now, games are still more expensive over here, and best case scenario is that there will be a 1:1 Euro/Dollar ratio when it comes to game prices.
However, in this case EA decided to keep a 1:1 English Pound/Dollar ratio. So that means that Rock Band European Edition will cost one hundred and eighty pounds. That translates to two hundred and fourty Euros, or three hundred and fifty three Dollars. Two hundred and fourty fucking Euros. For a game. Regardless of its undoubtedly great quality, that price is simply insane.
Hell, I'd buy a Wii with that money.
In fact, I'd go as far as to say that whoever buys the game at this price is a complete dumbass, as they're giving EA a carte blanche to price their future games whatever the fuck they want, since we'll still buy them.
I'm a self-proclaimed sheep, I own both the regular and the special editions of the LotR DVD's for example, but even I'm not that big an idiot.
TL;DR version:
EA reveals launch day (May 23) for the European version of Rock Band, with the pricetag being a pound of your flesh, a litre of your blood or half your immortal soul. George cries, curses anyone and everyone that would buy it at that price, loses faith in everything.
Ολοι θέλουν να επιστρέψουν στη φύση. Απλά κανείς δε θέλει να πάει με τα πόδια.
Wednesday, April 2
[Greek] Ένα κλασσικό βίντεο
Βαρεμάρα ατελείωτη αυτές τις μέρες, τόσο πολύ που γράφω κάτι στα ελληνικά μετά από μήνες! Και το θέμα; O all-time classic (πρώην;) αντιπρόεδρος της Π.Α.Ε. Εδεσσαικός, Θωμάς Μάτσιος, σε όλο του το μεγαλείο:
Ναι, όλοι έχουν τρακ μπροστά στην κάμερα, και όλοι χάνουν τα λόγια τους μερικές φορές, αλλά ο Μάτσιος δίνει απλά ρεσιτάλ.
Ναι, όλοι έχουν τρακ μπροστά στην κάμερα, και όλοι χάνουν τα λόγια τους μερικές φορές, αλλά ο Μάτσιος δίνει απλά ρεσιτάλ.
Saturday, March 22
Things worth looking forward to
I'll start off today's post with a personal favorite of mine. Dreamfall, my favorite game of 2006, is going to become part of Xbox Live's "Xbox classics" line on March 24, i.e. this coming Monday. Great news, as this is a seriously underrated game, both by adventure game fans and people who don't care much about the genre. That's usually what happens when somebody tries to make something different, there's always the danger of alienating both fans and non-fans. Hi, season 3 of Veronica Mars!
Dreamfall definitely has its share of flaws, the worst offender being gameplay since there's too few puzzles in the game, and the ones that are there are very easy, for the most part. That's always a problem when you're trying to create an adventure game that contains puzzles that are brought about by the game's story, rather than just being there, arbitrarily. A sad fact that comes with the limitations of the genre, I guess. It has to be said though, others have done a much better job at it, the original two Monkey Island games come to mind.
Still, while not reaching the quality of the original game of the series, The Longest Journey, Dreamfall is nonetheless a great game. Beautifully designed graphics, even if they show their age nowadays, some of the best voice-acting in any videogame, and an excellent story, quite different than what gamers are used to seeing. Sadly, the storyline itself suffers from being the middle part in an apparent trilogy, but I for one was willing to oversee that.
Hopefully, with its release on the Live network for a price of 1200 Microsoft Points (about 15 euros) the game will manage to find a new audience. From what I've heard, it did quite well when it was released on Valve's Steam network, which is somewhat similar to Live, so here's hoping.
Even though I already own a copy of the game (the PC collector's edition in fact, thank you very much) I'd be tempted to buy one more, just for the heck of it. Turns out, Dreamfall will only be released on a few countries, which kind of sucks. For the whole story, including the list of countries, check this link.
In other news, there's only a few days left until the fourth, and final, season of Battlestar Galactica begins. Suffice to say, I am really hyped for it. I thought the season 3 finale was nothing short of epic, and I really want to see where the storyline will head after the positively cataclysmic revelations of that finale.
I understand that a lot of people weren't too keen on the previous season, but what I don't get is the hate for the latter part of season 3. I thought the early episodes were rather dull and took forever to go... nowhere, while most of the episodes near the end of the season were fast-paced and revealed a fuckton of lore/secret identities/prophecies/etc to us.
Oh, well. I'd like to think that even the most jaded of BSG viewers will at least like to know how the whole thing ends, even if it will be a while from now until we find out. I know I will.
And if stuff like finding out just who is that last member of the Original Five is doesn't appeal to you, here's ten more reasons why you should watch season 4 of BSG:
Ah, Tigh, you crack me up.
Lastly, this isn't something to look forward to, but it's funny nonetheless. Apparently, some dude got himself arrested for calling 911 over 27,000 times over the last 10 months. His excuse? "Because it's free."
See kids, if he had been playing videogames or watching TV shows, he'd probably wouldn't have enough free time to waste on stupid shit like that. If you're a parent, here's a reason for you to think twice before telling your kids videogames are a waste of time.
Υ.Γ.
Η ολυμπιακή φλόγα δεν αρχίζει το ταξίδι της τη Δευτέρα. Όχι, άρχισε το ταξίδι της από τον περασμένο Αύγουστο. Από δέντρο σε δέντρο... (κλεμμένο, από ακροατή του Supersport FM).
Dreamfall definitely has its share of flaws, the worst offender being gameplay since there's too few puzzles in the game, and the ones that are there are very easy, for the most part. That's always a problem when you're trying to create an adventure game that contains puzzles that are brought about by the game's story, rather than just being there, arbitrarily. A sad fact that comes with the limitations of the genre, I guess. It has to be said though, others have done a much better job at it, the original two Monkey Island games come to mind.
Still, while not reaching the quality of the original game of the series, The Longest Journey, Dreamfall is nonetheless a great game. Beautifully designed graphics, even if they show their age nowadays, some of the best voice-acting in any videogame, and an excellent story, quite different than what gamers are used to seeing. Sadly, the storyline itself suffers from being the middle part in an apparent trilogy, but I for one was willing to oversee that.
Hopefully, with its release on the Live network for a price of 1200 Microsoft Points (about 15 euros) the game will manage to find a new audience. From what I've heard, it did quite well when it was released on Valve's Steam network, which is somewhat similar to Live, so here's hoping.
Even though I already own a copy of the game (the PC collector's edition in fact, thank you very much) I'd be tempted to buy one more, just for the heck of it. Turns out, Dreamfall will only be released on a few countries, which kind of sucks. For the whole story, including the list of countries, check this link.
In other news, there's only a few days left until the fourth, and final, season of Battlestar Galactica begins. Suffice to say, I am really hyped for it. I thought the season 3 finale was nothing short of epic, and I really want to see where the storyline will head after the positively cataclysmic revelations of that finale.
I understand that a lot of people weren't too keen on the previous season, but what I don't get is the hate for the latter part of season 3. I thought the early episodes were rather dull and took forever to go... nowhere, while most of the episodes near the end of the season were fast-paced and revealed a fuckton of lore/secret identities/prophecies/etc to us.
Oh, well. I'd like to think that even the most jaded of BSG viewers will at least like to know how the whole thing ends, even if it will be a while from now until we find out. I know I will.
And if stuff like finding out just who is that last member of the Original Five is doesn't appeal to you, here's ten more reasons why you should watch season 4 of BSG:
Ah, Tigh, you crack me up.
Lastly, this isn't something to look forward to, but it's funny nonetheless. Apparently, some dude got himself arrested for calling 911 over 27,000 times over the last 10 months. His excuse? "Because it's free."
See kids, if he had been playing videogames or watching TV shows, he'd probably wouldn't have enough free time to waste on stupid shit like that. If you're a parent, here's a reason for you to think twice before telling your kids videogames are a waste of time.
Υ.Γ.
Η ολυμπιακή φλόγα δεν αρχίζει το ταξίδι της τη Δευτέρα. Όχι, άρχισε το ταξίδι της από τον περασμένο Αύγουστο. Από δέντρο σε δέντρο... (κλεμμένο, από ακροατή του Supersport FM).
Wednesday, October 31
[Greek] Imagine 89.7
(To my international readers [lol who?], this post is about shruberries. It's also official, I'm going straight to hell, I mispelled "shruberry" in my original post.)
Το σκεφτόμουνα από καιρό τώρα να κάνω ένα post καθαρά στα ελληνικά, αλλά γενικά προτιμώ την αγγλικήν ακόμα και όταν μιλάω για πράγματα που έχουν να κάνουν με την ελληνική πραγματικότητα. Ο λόγος; Εδώ στην Ελλάδα λίγο-πολύ ξέρουμε πως έχουν τα πράγματα (με την υγεία, την παιδεία, κ.λ.π.), νιώθω ότι θα έκανα αυτό που οι Αγγλοσάξονες λένε "preaching to the choir" -τελικά δεν τα αποφεύγω τα Αγγλικά όσο και να θέλω!
Από την άλλη, αν μέσω της αγγλικής γλώσσας κάποια από τα θέματα που ταλαιπωρούν την κακόμοιρη αυτή χώρα μας μαθευτούν και προς τα έξω, ίσως τελικά αναγκαστούμε να αφήσουμε την απάθεια που μας χαρακτηρίζει στην άκρη και κάνουμε κάτι, οτιδήποτε, τέλος πάντων. Φρούδες (φλούδες;!) ελπίδες θα μου πείτε, αλλά από το ολότελα...
Μετά από αυτή την υπέρ του δέοντος μεγάλη εισαγωγή, ας περάσουμε στο κύριο θέμα του post, το νέο ραδιοφωνικό σταθμό του Αντώνη Κανάκη και του Γιάννη Σερβετά, τον Imagine 89,7. Ο σταθμός ξεκίνησε την Κυριακή που μας πέρασε και πέραν των δύο πολύ γνωστών και αγαπημένων Α.Μ.Α.Ν, το πρόγραμμά του περιλαμβάνει και άλλες cult φυσιογνωμίες του ραδιοφώνου και της Θεσσαλονίκης γενικότερα όπως ο Στάθης "Σκύλος" Παναγιωτόπουλος. Ο σταθμός βρίσκεται βεβαίως στην αγαπημένη Θεσσαλονίκη, αλλά υπάρχει και live αναμετάδοση μέσω των Internets στο site του σταθμού, η οποία μάλιστα είναι εξαιρετικής ποιότητας.
Το μότο του σταθμού είναι "το ραδιόφωνο όπως το φαντάστηκες" και μέχρι τώρα πραγματοποιούν αυτή την υπόσχεση. Είμαστε σε μια εποχή (πω-πω με πιάνει η σοβαροφάνεια πάλι!) όπου το ελληνικό ραδιόφωνο έχει καταντήσει εντελώς άνευρο, ανέραστο, με ελάχιστους παραγωγούς με άποψη και πολλή, πάρα πολλή, playlist. Λέει πολλά το γεγονός ότι την καλύτερη μουσική παίζουν οι αθλητικοί ραδιοσταθμοί, όχι οι μουσικοί. Radio Nowhere που λέει και το Αφεντικό, ο Bruce.
Ακόμα και οι περίφημες έρευνες για το ραδιόφωνο που κάνουν οι εταιρίες φαντάζουν αστείες. Προσωπικά με είχαν ρωτήσει στο τηλέφωνο σε μια τέτοια έρευνα αν ακούω τρεις συγκεκριμένους σταθμούς, οι οποίοι παίζουν αποκλειστικά playlist. Τους απάντησα "όχι, ποτέ" με ευχαρίστησαν και μου το έκλεισαν στη μούρη. Ρώτα ρε γιατί ενώ μου αρέσει το είδος της μουσικής των σταθμών αυτών, προτιμώ να ακούω άλλους σταθμούς, ρώτα γιατί προτιμώ αυτούς που προτιμώ. Αλλά εδώ δεν κάνουμε έρευνες για να βρούμε την αλήθεια, κάνουμε έρευνες για να βρούμε την πλευρά της αλήθειας η οποία μας αρέσει και μας ταιριάζει.
(Φόρα πείρα ο αναθεματισμένος, δεν είναι να αρχίσω να γκρινιάζω.)
Από την άλλη, ο Imagine μέχρι τώρα (και μακάρι, μακάρι να παραμείνει έτσι) είναι όντως το ραδιόφωνο όπως θα έπρεπε να είναι. Ένας σταθμός καθαρά ροκ, αλλά στη νοοτροπία του, όχι με την όποια περιορισμένη άποψη έχει ο καθένας για το τι είναι πραγματικά ροκ στη μουσική. Ένας σταθμός καθαρά της παρέας, χαβαλεδιάρικος, με μουσική την οποία κατ' αρχάς γουστάρουν οι ίδιοι οι παραγωγοί του να παίζουν.
Και φαίνεται αυτό, βγαίνει στον αέρα. Χαίρεσαι να τους ακούς, ακόμα και όταν δεν μιλάνε για κάτι συγκεκριμένο, ακόμα και όταν βγαίνει ο κάθε ακροατής και απλά λέει τον πόνο του ή την καψούρα του. Και, για να το θέσω κομψά, άντε και γαμηθείτε εσείς οι κυνικοί, το ραδιόφωνο ήταν πάντα το πιο ανθρώπινο μέσο, τέτοια πράγματα είναι πάντα ευπρόσδεκτα σε αυτό το χώρο. Η εκπομπή ειδικά του Αντώνη Κανάκη χθες το βράδυ (δυστυχώς έχασα την εκπομπή της Δευτέρας...) η οποία ξεκίνησε στις 11 το βράδυ και τελείωσε μετά τις 3 το βράδυ ήταν συγκλονιστική. Από πλευρά μουσικής, από πλευρά καλής διασκέδασης, χαβαλέ, επικοινωνίας, τα πάντα. Δεν πρόλαβα ποτέ τις παλιές εποχές των πειρατικών σταθμών, λόγο ηλικίας, αλλά από ό,τι λένε όλοι, θύμισε πολύ τις εποχές εκείνες.
Μπράβο ρε παιδιά, πάντα είχατε το χάρισμα να ξεφεύγετε από τη μιζέρια που μας πιάνει συχνά-πυκνά σε αυτή τη χώρα, και χαίρομαι πραγματικά που καταφέρατε για μια ακόμα φορά το ίδιο. Πάντα τέτοια, και εις ανώτερα.
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