konstantinos’ blog

yes, I am going to Berlin… my first trip outside UK … at last! any information about Berlin from people who have been, lived, born, fed, studied there is more than welcome! and I know many of you fit in that category… people who have studied at Galatsi Schule and other who speak German better than English! …maybe it’s time to learn more that the one word I know in German: “mandarinenbaum”!

I started writing this post in order to discuss the changes that take place in my life this period. So I thought, lets make the post look nicer by adding a nice photo from London. Then I searched my archive of unpublished photos (sic) and found the photo you see above (click on the photo for an exuberant view). It’s taken from the balcony of the house where my friends Panos & Alkistis live. And it’s a photo that reminds me of how beautiful London’s skyline is! So I decided not to write about the new things in my life but about the skylines of the three cities of my life…

Actually nothing special is happening in my life apart from the fact that I am not longer a student. Who would expect that after 21 years (when I first started going to primary school, lol) a day would come when I would not be a student any more. Seriously speaking, after almost ten years of studying at a graduate/postgraduate level, my status has changed and I don’t think that I have really realized that. No more student discounts, no more lazy daily schedules, no more late night outs… The thing that worries me more is that I still have the feeling that a coursework or a project should be finished or that I should study from now in order to go well at the exams on January (or May or September or …). Of course, the latter has always been a thought and nothing more! The good thing is that I already keep myself occupied with what I really enjoy and if this something happens to be the field of my future job I will be even more excited. For the curious (and I don’t think there are any… only 2-3 of my close friends read this blog …) I am talking about Web and interactive design. Anyway, enough with this info… I have reasons that make me happy lately and they don’t fit in the “I finished my masters degree” reason, but let’s leave that for future posts.

Back to the skylines, I believe that I had always been impressed by skylines. In the thought of what makes an amazing skyline the classical answer would obviously be: skyscrapers, historical buildings, interesting ground morphology etc. Cities like London, NYC, Tokio, Hong Kong are undoubtedly the most famous regarding their skyline. However, in my opinion a skyline can be very interesting if its view reminds us of the city/place in which it belongs and further more of all the beautiful moments that someone can recall after having lived there for a reasonable amount of time. Ok, compared to Athens, Patras and London - the cities where I have spent 99% of my lifetime (born/raised in Athens, studied in Patras for 7 years and living the last 13 months in London) - London’s skyline has undoubtedly the wow factor but I still consider Athens’ and Patras’ skylines magnetic. And that’s mainly because I love these cities and I am always looking forward to experiencing things regarding them… even a static photo skyline!

To avoid misunderstandings, I love London too and I am very happy to have lived and still living here. Life here is a powerful experience and varies a lot from what I have been used to until now. I just hope that after a while, when my experiences from being a Londoner will be equally compared in quantity and quality with my experiences as an Athenian and a Patrinian (lol… who knows what the resident of Patras are called???), London will not have dominated in my mind as the place with the best and only good memories! …because it sure has the potential for that.

It’s one of these times that you watch or listen to something and immediately that something catches your attention! The prologue is for the new Vodafone commercial called “Time Theft” which I just saw on the telly. I think that almost all TV commercials in the UK are amazing and this one is not excluded. Before you wonder, the song heard is from Nancy Sinatra and it’s called “The End”…

At the end of the rainbow
You’ll find a pot of gold
At the end of a story
You’ll find it’s all been told
But our love has a treasure
Our hearts can always spend
And it has a story without any end

At the end of a river
The water stops it’s flow
At the end of a highway
There’s no place you can go
But just tell me you love me
And you are only mine
And our love will go on
Till the end of time
Till the end of time

Let’s cheer up! I introduce you to Foals (if you haven’t already heard of them)

“Combining poly-rhythmic casio guitars, pulsing analogue synth, vocal melodies and chopping drum-lines, Foals create organic agitated dance-pop. This is accessible techno for kids who hate techno but love guitars” (from the description on last.fm). The five-piece dance-punk band from Oxford has another interesting characteristic (for me): a Greek vocalist/guitarist named Yannis Philippakis.

Enjoy the clips of their two debut singles (after having signed to Transgressive Records): Hummer and Mathletics(!)

Thanx a lot Darren for this suggestion

A little gift from all the readers of this blog (if there is anyone!)

Tada… a collection of wallpapers! All made from photos I shot during my vacations in Skiathos, Greece. Each wallpaper is available in two screen resolutions: 1280×1024 (common desktop TFT resolution) and 1280×800 (common laptop TFT resolution). If, I say if, you can’t leave without one of them and your screen resolution is bigger or stranger (mac users again!) just ask me to send you a bigger file.

Hope you like them… c&c always accepted.

1280×1024 - 1280×800

1280×1024 - 1280×800

1280×1024 - 1280×800

1280×1024 - 1280×800

1280×1024 - 1280×800

1280×1024 - 1280×800

It doesn’t hurt me.
You want to feel, how it feels?
You want to know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?
You want to hear about the deal I’m making.
You, (If I only could, be running up that hill)
You and me (If I only could, be running up that hill)

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
Get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could

You don’t want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I’m tearing you asunder.
There’s a thunder in our hearts, baby

So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don’t we?
You, (If I only could, be running up that hill)
You and me (If I only could, be running up that hill)
You and me, won’t be unhappy

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could

Come on, baby, come on, come on, darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
Come on angel, come on, come on, darling,
Let’s exchange the experience

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems.

And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And I’d get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
With no problems.

If I only could, be running up that hill