Travelogue… with Bob Nicolaides

 

Foreign Office: Be careful, Mombasa is not safe for tourists

 

The Foreign Office is warning of unrest and increased tension in the Mombasa area of Kenya following the death of a prominent cleric. It warned British visitors of the possibility of further disturbances in the seaside city, where several people have been killed in recent months. It said Britons in Mombasa should follow local news, look out for further updates to the FCO travel advice and "remain vigilant at all times".

The warning came after explosions in a suburb of the capital Nairobi on Monday, which caused a number of deaths and many injuries. A number of worshippers were killed during an attack on a church in Likoni, Mombasa on Sunday March 23. "There is a possibility of further disturbances in the Mombasa area," said the Foreign Office. " Likoni is the area where the ferry runs from Mombasa to Southern beach and tourist resorts".

On March 17, a large Improvised Explosive Device, together with some weapons, were found in a car impounded by police in Mombasa. Local media are reporting that Kenyan police believe there may be additional similar bombs in the wider region and are pursuing these threats. On February 2, police raided the Musa mosque in Majengo district of Mombasa, resulting in several deaths. A small explosion took place at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on January 16. There were no reported casualties. Airport services were not affected. On 12 December 2013 a failed grenade attack on a vehicle took place in the Likoni area of Mombasa. On January 1 a number of people were injured in a grenade attack on a nightclub in Diani, near Mombasa.

 

 

Travel company asks Danes for more sex and more babies

 

Danish travel company wants Danes to have more sex, make more babies. A hilarious commercial created by a travel company encouraging locals to help turn around the falling birth rate in Denmark in a unusual competition. Courtesy: Spies Travel. Perhaps you conjure images of new age foodies wandering the forests in search of organic fennel and wild boar they’ll wrestle to the death with their bare hands. Or maybe you think of one of those chilling Nordic murder series.

Well, it seems the Danes aren’t thinking about sex enough either. Birth rates in the northern European country are plummeting, despite all that delicious, creamy Lurpak butter. But one company wants to change all that. Denmark’s biggest travel company Spies has made an ad which encourages Danes to get down and dirty and devilishly Danish.

Here’s the deal. The travel company obviously wants Danes to travel. So they’ve come up with an ad which argues you’re far more likely to feel sexy on a quick getaway than in the dreary routine of Danish daily life. The TV ad includes a couple of bogus stats which would surely be impossible to verify. For example, it says Danes have 46 per cent more sex when they’re away from home. It also says 10 per cent of Danish babies are conceived on holiday.

Accurate or not, the sell is still a good one. Danes who watch the ad are bound to go ‘yes, a quick jaunt to Paris would definitely put me in the mood more than a dreary rainy weekend in Aarhus’, which for the record is Denmark’s second biggest city.

There’s a bonus too. If you can prove you conceived on your trip away with Spies, you get a three-year supply of nappies. But no Lurpak. That you have to pay for.

 

 

 

Events in Ukraine rings SOS alarms for European tourism

 

Growth of tourism within Europe is expected to slow this year due to recent political upheaval in Ukraine and Crimea. Tourism within Europe grew faster than the world average in 2013, but that rate of growth is not expected to continue in 2014. "For 2014 we expect the region to consolidate growth," said John Kester, acting director of the United Nations World Tourism Organization Tourism Market Trends Program.

"Most source markets show good prospects, but due to the recent events growth might soften from the Russian Federation, one of the fastest growing markets for many ETC member destinations recently". He was speaking at the recent annual meeting of the Marketing Intelligence Group (MIG), which is part of the European Travel Commission.

During the meeting, Visit Flanders research manager Vincent Nijs was elected as the new chairman of MIG. Emöke Halassy and Tünde Mester from Hungarian Tourism and Peter Nash from Tourism Ireland were elected as vice-chairpersons. "Improving knowledge transfer, by which I mean the process that goes from eliciting information needs into research projects and actionable findings, is the key objective of my term," said Nijs.

Strangest restaurants: Where to eat dinner in the sky   Going to a restaurant tends to be roughly the same experience whatever you do, right? A table for two, a nice bottle of wine, an overpriced main course and some polite conversation in a modern setting full of discreet lighting and tasteful décor. Well apparently not. When it comes to eating out, some restaurants veer wildly from the blueprint – taking in everything from ‘alien’furnishings, meals served up in haunted caves and dining events where the experience is literally out of this world. Or, at least, above it. That’s H.R. Giger Museum Bar, Gruyères, Switzerland. Swiss surrealist painter Hans Rudolf Giger is a relatively off-the-wall chap. Some of his art is a little on the odd side, and his vision has carried through into the movies – he was part of the special effects team that created the dark world seen in the 1979 classic Alien. So it should be no surprise that the top floor bar-eatery in the museum that salutes his work in the Swiss town of Gruyères looks like it has escaped from a science fiction set. Effectively, it has. But that isn’t the case on the coast of Tyne and Wear, where the Marsden Grotto does a roaring trade just outside South Shields. Legend has it that it was first used in the 18th century –by smugglers, sailors and assorted seafaring folk who wanted to avoid the eye of the law for their import-export schemes. Three centuries on, the cave has been fully excavated and put to proper culinary use, and even has an upstairs chamber with sea views for more distinguished dining. Local myth also has it that the cave is haunted. Think about that as you make your way below in the cliff-side lift that carries diners down from the car park above. Some restaurants are great institutions that stay in situ for many decades. Others turn up one month, stay opem for a few weeks, and vanish shortly after. This is certainly the case with the Electrolux Cube. An on-going project staged by the Swedish appliances company, this moveable structure of transparent glass tends to pop up for four-month stints at the heart of major European cities. So far, it has dropped into position in Milan (on a rooftop overlooking the Piazza del Duomo), in Stockholm (atop the Swedish capital’s Royal Opera House) and in London (where it took up residence on the Royal Festival Hall). It has also landed in Brussels. Focus is always on haut cuisine, with Michelin-starred chefs from the city in question making guest appearances in the Cube. The next port of call is still to be confirmed. It is a common complaint that service in some modern restaurants can be too impersonal, with waiters barely pausing to scribble your order as they dash to assist another table. This is never likely to be the case at the Italian eatery that takes its focus on its guests to extreme lengths. How and why? Because it only has one table.  Skyhigh Dinner The clue is in the name at Solo Per Due (Just for Two) –which can be found some 50 miles north of Rome in the small town of Vacone. The smallest restaurant in the world nestles in a 19th century house – which is supposedly in the grounds of a Roman villa that once belonged to the first century BC classical poet Horace. The menu changes daily depending on the season, and reservations are only taken by e-mail – interested parties should write to info@soloperdue.it. With the restaurant supplying such a personal service, the price is – not unexpectedly – not cheap. Dinner costs €250 (£209) per person, not including champagne. Dinner In The Sky, various cities. Restaurants set up on the top floors of skyscrapers tend to proffer fine views. But the people behind Dinner In The Sky take this idea one step further, doing away with those old-fashioned concepts of walls, windows, doors and lifts – then simply hoisting their guests into the air by attaching a special portable table to a crane. Generally, their tables can seat up to 22 people, and are raised 100ft into the atmosphere for gastronomic grub that, if not quite among the stars, certainly has its feet off the ground. Diners are strapped into their seats, and can watch as a chef and assistance produce their meal at a preparation space in the centre of the table. And if you are staging a special event, a second table – for violinists or DJs – can be elevated alongside. This high-wire act has been performed in 40 cities, including London, Rio and Sydney.

Is Porto tour to be the worst in the world   Forget the ornate cathedrals, the glitzy bars or gourmet restaurants. On what is billed as “The Worst Tours” of Portugal's second city Porto, the highlights are decrepit homes and crumbling shops. Three out-of-work architects have concocted the tours to show visitors the impact of Portugal's debilitating economic crisis on the city that was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. “Porto is not just a postcard or some streets where tourists do their shopping. My city is also all this,” said tour guide Margarida Castro Felga, 31, gesturing at the dilapidated facades in the city's Fontainhas district. Also on the itinerary are empty stores whose owners have long gone bankrupt and dozens of houses with boarded windows and doors, even at the upper end of the Porto's main shopping thoroughfare Santa Catarina street. In short, what they are offering is a walking tour of “the alleys, the abandoned buildings, the square, the mean streets, the old markets ... the stories behind them all, and great discussions on very partial points of view”. Disbelieving local youngsters watch the group led by Castro Felga pass by and stop outside the crumbling buildings. “It's sad to let such a beautiful city get run down,” said Dean Watson, who had signed up for the tour with his wife Louise. For the American-English couple in their 50s, the tour brings to life the economic malaise plaguing the eurozone nation, which only managed to shake off two-and-a-half years of recession in the second quarter of 2013. “This kind of visit helps us understand what's happening in Europe today,” said Louise who has lived in Germany with her husband for the last 30 years. “People in Germany prefer not to think too much about it,” she said. Faced with looming bankruptcy after decades of ballooning wages and state spending led to a massive build up of debt, Portugal was forced to seek an international bailout worth 78 billion euros ($119.68 billion) in May 2011. In exchange however, it was forced to undertake sweeping job, pay and pension cuts which deepened a recession and spawned poverty and unemployment that stood at 15.3 per cent during the last three months of 2013. “The city has been losing people for more than 10 years but austerity policies have made things worse,” said Castro Felga, who added that she has stopped counting the number of friends who have left to work overseas. Other morose titbits of life in Portugal dispensed during the visit: not all workers are entitled to unemployment benefits and minimum wage is only 500 euros per month — as compared to a heftier 750 euros in Spain, which has also just emerged from a drawn-out recession, and some 1300 euros in France, both fellow eurozone nations. Official data show that some 18.7 per cent of apartments in the city were empty in 2011, while in capital Lisbon, non-occupancy rate is at 15.5 per cent. But the guides of The Worst Tours reject any suggestion they are flaunting Porto's misery — a criticism directed by some at tour guides who specialise in slums, such as Brazil's favelas. Pedestrians walk past the closed Finance Ministry office in central Porto. Pedestrians walk past the closed Finance Ministry office in central Porto. Source: AFP For Helena Goncalves from the Porto tourism board, such tours only serve to hurt the city's reputation at a time when it badly needs tourist dollars, and when the city is actually gaining popularity. “The city is finally figuring on the international tourism map” thanks to the arrival of low-cost airlines, she said. Overnight stays by foreigners in Porto, which gave its name to one of Portugal's internationally famous exports, port wine, surged 15.2 per cent in 2013. Tunisia: To win tourists with image makeover, Star Wars   Tunisia style Star Wars TUNIS - Tunisia is working against the clock to salvage its 2014 tourist season after three turbulent years, by revamping the country's image—with the help of online media and a few Star Wars characters. "To change a country from one that is relatively inexpensive to a top-end tourist destination will take 10 or 15 years," said Amel Karboul, Tunisia's new tourism minister. "But to change the image of a country from one that's cheap to one that is 'fun' can be done much more quickly, and that's a priority for us," she said, referring to perceptions of Tunisia as a budget holiday destination. The North African country hopes to welcome seven million tourists this year, a slight increase on the 6.9 million who visited in 2010 before the revolution that ousted a decades-old dictatorship and unleashed outbreaks of Islamist violence that damaged Tunisia's reputation. The number of tourists fell to just 4.7 million in 2011, and has only recovered slowly, affecting the estimated 400,000 people working in the key sector that accounts for around seven percent of Gross Domestic Product. To reverse this trend, the ministry decided to exploit the desert settings used for many scenes in the Star Wars films, in a Tunisian version of the music video hit "Happy" by US star Pharrell Williams, replicated on YouTube by people around the world dancing to the tune. "Happy (We are from Tatooine)," commissioned by the ministry, features a range of characters from Star Wars boogying in and around the city of Tataouine, including the iconic droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, a stormtrooper and Darth Vader himself. The southern desert city gave its name to the fictional home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker— key figures in the cult The “Star Wars Tunisia" edition of the Pharrell Williams video has already received nearly 1.5 million hits. "There are fans [of the sci-fi films] in the United States, in Scandinavia, in Asia, in South America, where Tunisia is barely known," the minister told a group of journalists last week. "It will raise awareness of Tunisia," she said of her strategy to harness social media as a way of publicizing the country. Already it has had to deal with the fallout from an incident involving a group of Israeli tourists on a cruise ship who were barred from disembarking at Tunis, with the US-based cruise operator saying it would no longer call at Tunisian ports in protest. Karboul insisted the case had nothing to do with discrimination, saying merely that there was a problem with the Israelis' visas. Before the revolution, Tunisia managed to project an image of itself as an attractive holiday destination in the southern Mediterranean, concealing the ruthlessness of the regime in power that was finally overthrown in the first Arab Spring uprising in 2011. Many had hoped to see tourism rebound last year, but those hopes were dashed with the separate assassinations of two secular politicians in attacks that sparked political upheaval and fears of further jihadist violence. Even so, tourism receipts rose by a modest 1.7 percent to 3.23 billion dinars (€1.5 billion/$2.1 billion) from 2012, although they were 8.3 percent off the figure of 2013.

The Pomace Olive Oil: Pour It

In Your Salad, for Your Health

 

A caricature that went with an opinion article in the New York Times by Nicholas Blechman not long ago, depicts an olive in a black circle with the traditional  crossbones underneath, and another one with an olive holding a gun to its head, all of which pointing to the conclusion that pomace olive oil is ‘poisonous’ if not suicidal. This, of course, and another article written about this type of oil in Olive Oil Times reveal a kind of journalism which is irresponsible and far from factual!

In its New York section of Opinion, the New York Times on January 26 2014 printed this series of caricatures by Blechman dubbing the purchase of olive oil from Italy as ‘Extra Virgin Suicide’ and cautioned that “while Olives that are used in substandard oil are typically taken to mills days, weeks or even months after being picked — not “within hours.”

“The graphic “continues the item in the NY Times, “conflated two dubious practices that can be found in parts of the olive oil industry. Some producers  mix olive oil with soybean or other cheap oils, while others mix vegetable oils with beta carotene and chlorophyll to produce fake olive oil; the two practices are not usually combined.”

“Olive oil bottled in Italy and sold in the United States may be labeled “packed in Italy” or “imported from Italy” — not “produced in Italy” — even if the oil does not come from Italy. (However, the source countries are supposed to be listed on the label.)”

“A 2010 study by researchers” concludes the article “at the University of California, Davis, found that 69 percent of imported olive oil labeled “extra virgin” did not meet, in an expert taste and smell test, the standard for that label. The study suggested that the substandard samples had been oxidized; had been adulterated with cheaper refined olive oil; or were of poor quality because they were made from damaged or overripe olives, or olives that had been improperly stored or processed — or some combination of these flaws. It did not conclude that 69 percent of olive oil for sale in the United States was doctored.”

We wonder where the New York Times got hold of this information as late as this year, when in 2012, the executive order of the European Committee looking into irregularities in the trade presented its findings and set the rules by which the Trade must abide by, a seven-page document signed in Brussels by the president of the committee, none other than Jose Manuel Barroso and strictly enforced. 

But what is the reason behind this vicious campaign against the process called Pomace, a process employed not only in the production of every type of oil in existence, but which offers benefits which are hardly present in Virgin and Extra Virgin Olive oil.  To begin with, the word impostor referring to the pomace olive oil is unfair and downright libelous and these publications who dared write such inaccuracies should be held responsible for their erroneous ‘facts.’

Also outrageous is the claim of Olive Oil Times that ‘although human exposure to PAHs is something of the quotidian-as they also created with the combustion of fossil fuels, burning trash, agricultural fires industrial processes, tobacco smoke and vehicle exhaust emissions-our exposure to PAHs should be as limited as much as possible, especially when ingesting food.’ In the same sentence however, Olive Oil Times explains how ‘specific standards have been set in various regions of the world limiting the allowable amount of benzoperenes in pomace olive oil. ‘ And continuing, the article itself states that ‘within the European Union and in member states of the IOC, the limit is 2 parts per billion, or 2 micrograms per kilogram, as decided in Resolution RES-1/93-IV /05 Madrid in November of 2005, [6].’

Which in few words is self-explanatory providing proof that even if there were sporadic problems perpetrated by some unscrupulous merchants and manufacturers, the resolution of 2005 has eliminated them once and for all! So far as the quotidian, everyone knows that these hazards will be with us as long as there is humanity. 

If the public was aware of how do you process corn, sunflower, soy, cottonseed  and canola to produce the oil that put on your dinner table, they would not give the ‘reports’ by newspapers, magazines and newsletters a second look , since they’d know how bogus these ‘accounts about pomace Olive oil are.

Is this a shocking revelation? Not really. Everyone knows that in order to extract oil from these products you must use the pomace Process. So if you buy corn, sunflower, soy, cottonseed or canola oil for your salad, why won’t you buy the olive oil which is produced by the same method? How can possibly olive oil extracted in this fashion be dangerous when every other kind of FDA-approved oil in the market is good for consumption? There’s only one kind of pomace Process and the leading European producers of this type olive oil, Spain, Italy and Greece, adhere to the strict rules imposed by the European Union.

In fact, instead of downgrading talk about pomace olive oil by some adversaries who call it unfit for the kitchen table, they should be writing about the many benefits one can derive from this oil as long as the rules of its production are strictly observed. And it is widely known that the Mediterranean countries that grow the olive and process it into oil are very well versed in its production and distribution. One only has to listen to one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject to be convinced of the very good qualities of the product and the benefits it provides to the consumer provides, health-wise and otherwise.

The worldwide authority on such matters is Nikos Katsaros, former president of the Hellenic Food Authority and current Scientific Collaborator of NCRS Demokritos. He can explain better than anyone the entire production of the oil, from the gathering of the fruit to the production of the initial oil extracted in the first process which assumes the name Virgin (0.8% < acidity < 2.0%) or Extra Virgin oil, (acidity  < 0.8%) or as Lampante (acidity > 2.0%.)

It has been scientifically proven that since the pomace olive oil has been extracted in the very same process as the cooking oils mentioned in the preceding sentence, it is advantageous to rather use the olive oil of the same process since it features benefits over the other oils. It is a fact that pomace olive oil retains the olive oil’s basic lipid profile and therefore can boast high levels of oleanolic acid, an agent proven to relieve states of hypertension and high blood pressure, advantages absent in the rest of the oils.

In order however to remove its high acidity  (neutralization,) its color (decoloration,) and its odor (deodorization,) and call it Refined Olive Oil, we must follow the pomace process, the same  process followed in any refineries that process corn, sunflower, soy, cottonseed  and canola oils.

What then are the critics of pomace-processed olive oil are talking about? Why are they so vehemently criticizing a method of processing, knowing fully well that the solid residue that remains after the extraction of the Virgin and Extra Virgin oils contains contains as much as 10% of the very oil which has been extracted.

To briefly describe the process called pomace, we must illustrate how refineries dry the solid residue that contains the rest of the oil in high temperatures to remove the remaining water and following this step, they carry out a solvent extraction method by which they obtain the rest of the oil. The product that emerges from this process is called crude pomace olive oil. Then comes the process to make the crude olive oil fit for consumption, which is the process by which the high acidity is eliminated, its coloring is also removed and it is deodorized. This is the product that assumes the name pomace olive oil.

It is then obvious that, if this is a product that derives from the olive fruit, (its flesh, kernel and skin as in the case of the Virgin or Lampante oil) it is nothing else but olive oil, produced by the process called pomace. But let’s find out once and for all what is the pomace method. It is a method by which the solid remains of the olive, including the skin, pulp, seed and stem are first extracted by a solvent (hexane) following which the product is heated so the solvent evaporates totally and cleanly, without leaving any traces or harmful residue. The hitch here is that the heating method employed does not ever exceed 90 degrees Celcius (or 194 degrees Farenheit.) The use of this system assures that the final product does not contain any polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs.

The risk of benzopyrene (PAH) contamination occurs only when the heating method used to evaporate the solvent (hexane) exceeds 300 degrees Celcius (572 degrees Farenheit) which is almost unthinkable in the controlled conditions under which the pomace method is undertaken. But theoretically speaking, if that happens and temperatures rise to such degree, it can cause a rapid accumulation of PAHs, which could possibly be mutagenic and carcinogenic substances.

However, as we explained earlier, the European Union along with the International Oil Council (IOC) anticipating such improbable situations by their olive oil-producing member nations, have set standards, with limits set to two parts per billion  or two micrograms per kilogram, as decided by the resolution  RES 1/93-IV/05 Madrid on November 2005.

Apropos, let’s examine some of the myths surrounding olive oil of any kind, vs. seed oil.

1)       Olive oil of any kind contains more calories compared to seed oil.

Not true! Olive oil and seed oil of any kind contain almost the same number of calories.

2)        Olive oil of any kind is not so easily digested as seed oil.

Not true! Olive oil of any kind is digested than seed oil. Also, olive oil of any kind is digested almost to an extent of 98% and, as a result of that, the fatty acids absorbed stimulate the secretion of bile from the gall bladder among other benefits

3)       Seed oil of any kind is better for frying than any kind of Olive oil.

Not true! In olive oil of any kind, the presence of more monounsaturated fatty acids  makes them more stable to heat as opposed to polyunsaturated fatty acids present in seed oil. In addition, olive oil of any kind contains more antioxidants and vitamin E that increase their resistance to oxidation as opposed to seed oil that is oxidized upon heating to produce oxidized compounds responsible for arterial, heart problems, high blood pressure etc.

Olive oil contains more monounsaturated fatty acids, more antioxidants, more vitamin E and vitamin K and more trace metals needed for our body as opposed to seed oil of any kind. The above-mentioned substances present in olive oil of any kind assist in:

 

·         The reduction of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the blood.

·         Stabilize the levels of good cholesterol (HDL) in the blood.

·         Reducing the triglyceride level in the blood.

·         Preventing arteriosclerosis and heart problems.

·         Regulating blood sugar level in diabetic people.

·         The therapy of people with ulcers of the stomach and the duodenum.

·         The prevention of cancer.

 

Finally, olive oil of any kind is not genetically modified neither is contaminated with genetically modified residues. In Greece, not even one acre of land is used to produce GMOs.

To repeat one more time, the above are not only the property of Virgin or Extra Virgin olive oil. The include oil processed in the pomace method which proves that all olive oils are equally fit for consumption without any fear.

 

 

As The World Churns

 

By Bob Nicolaides-bobn2919@gmail.com

 

A rare wooden coffin dating to the Archaic period (610-490/480 BC) was found during excavations to build the new Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre in the Delta Falirou area south of Athens, the Central Archaeological Council said . The coffin was found during works in September 2013 and measures 1.61 metres in length by 0.77 m in width, with sides between 3 and 9 cm thick. Archaeologists said the wood was preserved because of the humidity and the lack of oxygen where it was found, including the presence of clay around it. The find belongs in an area where an Archaic-era cemetery has been found, and is currently in conservation to remove the earth around it. Besides its state of preservation, what they said was unusual was the fact it was carved out of a single piece of wood instead of the usual combination of pieces of wood. According to preliminary assessments, it is possible the coffin was reused, being carved first as a boat, for example.



Did you hear? Former NYC mayor and presidential aspirant Rudy Giuliani endorsed George Demos for Congress….There’s a new Consul General of Cyprus in New York replacing the ever so popular Koula Sophianou. His name is Vasilis Philippou. Wasn’t there a predecessor by the name of Philip Philippou once?



Stamos: Conhead?



Melina with Dassin

Milioti: Dying as 'Mother?'

The Greek Film Archive (Tainiothiki tis Ellados) paid tribute to Melina Mercouri twenty years after her death with ten movies by the late actress and two-time minister of culture. The tribute began on Thursday, March 6 with the film "Los pianos Mecanicos" (1965) by Juan Antonio Bardem and until March 12 the audience will be able to watch the film "He Who Must Die" (1957) by Jules Dassin and landmark films from the filmography of Melina during the 60s: "Never on Sunday",  "Phaedra", "The Victors", "10:30 p.m. summer" and the lesser-known "Gaily Gaily". The film shows will conclude with a screening of "Lilly's Story" (2002) by Roviros Manthoulis with tragic Melina & Dassin70s. The Archive  also held round-table discussions about Mercouri on March 6 and 8…What was that? Necessary Roughness actor John Stamos minus his hair? Yes, the artist appeared recently in an instagram picture in a red robe, gold chain and minus his lush locks-in other words, completely bold. Relax! Though John, 50, never explained what the mug was for, he nevertheless sent out a picture later with his full head of hair…The March 3 episode of How I met Your Mother starring Cristin Milioti in the role of the mother, one of the more seemingly outlandish theories may have been confirmed: The show’s titular mother is dying or perhaps has already died by the time Ted Mosby (playing Josh Radnor) starts telling this story to his kids….  Award-winning director Maria Iliou (Smyrna: The Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City; Alexandria) returns to New York City’s Quad Cinema with her new documentary film,  From Both Sides Of The Aegean, for a two-week run. Inspired by the belief that the moment has arrived, in Iliou’s words, “for us to recognize that the children and grandchildren of the Greek Orthodox and Muslim refugees can now tell their stories in common, that the moment has arrived to tell the whole story from both sides of the Aegean,” Iliou and Kitroeff focus on the descendants of the displaced populations and their cultures that were forcibly uprooted.  Kalliopi Georgiadou the daughter of Greek-Orthodox refugees originally from Cappadocia, and Husnu Karaman, the son of Muslims from Crete tell the stories of their families that were settled in Greece and Turkey respectively. Kalliopi and Husnu recount how their families retained the memory of their native lands in defiance of the nationalist logic of ethnic cleansing and displacement.

“Always On, Always Connected” was the moniker for SMW2014, which kicked off the last week in February in New York City. 600+ social networkers came together for the opening ceremony party at Highline Stages in the Meatpacking District with a Greek wine in one hand and a smart phone in the other, tweeting away. Social Media Week is a world-wide event that takes place in roughly 26 major cities every year with New York as the flagship and New Wines of Greece providing the social lubricant for this outgoing group of social media hounds. According to founder, Toby Daniels, SMW  is all about bringing people together from all industries to explore how social media and technology are impacting society, business and culture. …

Comedian Markos Seferlis kicks off his North American tour with lots of laughs through Laughter..Greek Style in April with appearances in  Chicago, IL at the Pickwick Theater  on 4/25,  New York on 4/26, Union City, NJ 4/27, and Philadelphian on 5/4…The special event in our town was the Greek Media Club’s co-hosting "1821," a celebration of Greek Independence Day Saturday March 22 at the National Hellenic Museum, 333 S. Halsted St. Appetizers were served and the Music treats came by way of the Global Sounds Entertainment. All proceeds will benefit the 501c3 Museum. As many as 200 engraved marble paperweights were given away at the door on a first-come basis. These unique gifts commemorate 1821, the year Greece gained her independence from the Ottoman Empire. Also, most people got to snap their shot with Strength N' Honor, Michael and Karen Cowleck, who were there with a third Spartan warrior dressed in authentic battle attire and with armor. The event co-hosts were the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois, the National Hellenic Society, the Hellenic American Dental Society, the Hellenic Professional Society of Illinois, the 2014 Greek Parade committee-Enosis, the Pan-Arcadian Federation of America, the Museum and the GMC…..  Greek Music Journey 2014 is a tribute to the Nisiotika (folk songs of the Greek islands) and Rembetika (Greek blues) executed by the renowned artists Nasia Konitopoulou (Nisiotika) and Dimitris Kontogiannis  (Rebetika.) they will be accompanied by their musicians, including Michalis Gampierakis, violin, vocals and Nicolas Sarantis, bouzouki. The event takes place June 6, 2014 at 8:30pm, at The Kay Playhouse at Hunter College, (E. 68^th St. Bet. Park & Lexington Aves, NYC.) Aktina is the producer of this event…

Word of the month: Emphasis-Εμφασις