Anastasia

Cinema vs Theatre

If you ask me which I prefer, I'd definitely say the theatre. No matter how often I go to the cinema, a visit to the theatre is still something special.  Seeing a play is something quite different from popping into the local cinema for a couple of hours. It's a matter of  direct communication between the audience and the actors. 

Theatro Skala - The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco

Photo Credit

Most cinemas nowadays surpass a theatre in luxury. Even in small villages, cinemas are spacious, well-lit and well-ventilated places where one can sit in comfort. The lights are dimmed slowly to give the audience time to prepare themselves for the film they are to see.  Talk drops to a whisper and then fades out altogether.  However much the cinema tries to simulate the conditions in a theatre - and it does it very well - it's never the same effect!  Nothing can really equal the awe and sense of hushed expectation which is felt by a theatre audience as the curtain is slowly raised.

 
Theatro Scala - Confidences Trop Intimes (Intimate Strangers)  by Jerôme Tonnerre 

Photo Credit

 A poor film is often far better than a bad play. The actors on the screen are always celluloid, remote and a bit unreal.. In a theatre, however, the actors  have direct contact with their audience. Each performance they give is unique and it is this that, in the final count,, makes the theatre so superior to the cinema. 

Have you seen an interesting play, recently?

 

Cinephiles

The cinema is one of my greatest passions. In my childhood, I loved comedies and musicals such as "The Sound of Music", which I still love today, "Mary Poppins", "My Fair Lady", "Funny Girl", "Breakfast at Tiffany's". In my teens, I loved "The Godfather",. "Ryan's Daughter", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and as an adult I fell in love with The Love Story,  "Gone With the Wind", "The Silence of the Lamb", "Home Alone", "Dancing with Wolves", "Pretty Woman", "Wild at Heart" and so many other great movies.  I also loved the Greek cinema and never missed one single film of Aliki Vouyiouglaki.

Aliki Vouyiouglaki

The cinema is an art form that is accessible to most people., and it is one that most people enjoy.  Are you one of them? Do you follow the movie world?

The Island by Victoria Hislop

via www.youtube.com

l  am profoundly touched and grateful to Victoria Hislop who decided to trust the TV series based on her book "The Island" to a Greek TV channel - Mega Channel. I had read the book while on holiday in Kefallonia 2 years ago and was hooked on it. I finished it in two days. As Louise France says in her review in The Observer: "Her message seems as relevant today as it would have been a century ago. Same prejudice, different disease."  The first episode of the TV series on Monday filled me with awe. Excellent casting and amazing photography. More importantly, I felt that the series conveys all those wonderful messages of love, strength and encouragement that Victoria Hislop communicates through her book. "The Island" is not just another beach book. It's a masterpiece!

Photo Credit

TV Ratings were impressive: 45% in Cyprus and about 72% in Greece. No other TV show or series has ever beaten these ratings before in Greece and Cyprus.

Have you read Victoria Hislop's "The Island?"  Your opinion matters.

Pottery in Cyprus

Photo by Anastasia - A jar  (pythari) where wine used to be kept.

The art of pottery-making was developed in Cyprus since prehistoric times. It was one of the most creative fields of ancient Cypriot art with potters of the time leaving us with a heritage of significant work which are the envy of even the best modern artists of this kind.The revealing of pottery during excavations from ancient times is the primary means through which we are assisted in indicating the periods of human mental development and progress. The fame of the pottery and pitharia (jars) of old Cyprus reached Europe as early as 1934. As Gloria London quotes in her book “Traditional Pottery of Cyprus” one traveler of that period wrote that “sweet wine was kept in big pitharia because they did not have any cracks in them.” Elsewhere in the same book, Ms London says that Giovani Mariti, an Italian priest, traveled to Cyprus in 1772 to learn the technique of pithari-making and storing of wine. During the medieval period pottery flourished in Cyprus. Glazed pots were created not only for the local market but also for the neighboring countries of the Middle East.

via Embassy of Cyprus in Washington D.C.

 

Soufli - The Silk City

Soufli is built by the banks of River Evros in the form of an amphitheatre on the slopes of the hill of Ai-Lias, just below Rodopi Mountains. It is located in Thrace (Northern Greece) at about 65km from Alexandroupolis. Soufli became internationally renowned at the end of the 19th century due to its ideal location on the crossroads of east and west - the Silk Road as it was called. At that time, Soufli experienced great economic growth. It was the trading and administrative centre of 60 villages on both sides of River Evros.

To this day, the town is reputed all over Greece for its unique silk embroidery. This is why sericulture is what defines the architecture of Soufli.  The cocooneries are well ventilated and built of brick and stone thus ensuring the right conditions for the breeding of the silk worms. In the various silk shops, most of which are located in the town centre, you can find a wide range of silk garments,scarves,napkins, tablecloths all entirely handmade. On my last visit to Soufli, I purchased this lovely tablecloth which decorates nicely my dining table and brings back memories of the Silk City.

Duchamp's Fountain

La Fontaine is the most famous of Duchamp's ready-mades. It has given rise to a great number of interpretations AND controversy and incited the specialists of the esthetic to redefine the art this object implies. In the first place, Duchamp bought this object - an ordinary urinal - to send it to a certain art exhibition committee whose organisers were involved in exhibiting any kind of artwork. La Fontaine was rejected by the committee.

According to Duchamp, the artist is not a handyman. In art, he claims, the idea prevails over creation. I'm not an art expert, but to my mind La Fontaine - the object chosen by Duchamp - has none of the intrinsic qualities one would look for in a work of art - such as harmony or elegance. Also, the best of ready-mades cannot equal the creative spirit of an artist.