Friday, November 30, 2007
Demonstration
I'm ashamed of this picture as it was the only one I took during a demonstration outside the central court in Thessaloniki. I was in there filing suit against the riot police who'd beat me in September. Just as I finished with all the bureaucratic stuff I heard the familiar chants of a demonstration.I rushed out to see people protesting , and as usual pulled out my camera and walked into the crowd.
This time it was different. Those there immediately warned me not to take their picture and gave look that would make a corpse freeze. I moved on and then saw that on the other side was the riot police and the local media hiding behind them. I wanted to capture the scene but I couldn't without ensuring the wrath of those on both sides who hate the media.
I failed and I hid.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Suing the police
Today I finally entered that most Kafkaesque of world; the Greek judicial system. I filed a suit against the riot police who attacked me without reason on 8th September this year (see here for more details). The interesting thing about this whole procedure are the details. For example to file suit the court clerk used at least ten stamps and I lost count after the 30th time she used them to stamp the documents I and my lawyer had brought with us.
Another fascinating detail is that in order to sue somebody you need to have a tax number (ΑΦΜ) so making it impossible for large swathes of the population such as immigrants and those working in unregistered jobs to use the system. We wouldn't to lower the tone of the place by letting in riff - raff now, would we?
I know my chances of achieving anything with this action are somewhere between slight and non-existent but I felt I had to make the gesture if only because I'm in the privileged position to do something. That is a luxury many victims of police violence here do not have.
Another fascinating detail is that in order to sue somebody you need to have a tax number (ΑΦΜ) so making it impossible for large swathes of the population such as immigrants and those working in unregistered jobs to use the system. We wouldn't to lower the tone of the place by letting in riff - raff now, would we?
I know my chances of achieving anything with this action are somewhere between slight and non-existent but I felt I had to make the gesture if only because I'm in the privileged position to do something. That is a luxury many victims of police violence here do not have.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The power of lists
This is something I've been doing recently with my private students as a way of getting them to use their blogs. Basically, I ask them to write a down a list of their favourite cars/songs/film/musicals etc with a picture/video to illustrate them. The idea is that they write a paragraph for each of their choices and add an appropriate link. However, to make things more interesting I then ask them to use this material as the basis of a short video in which they discuss their lists.
With either Windows Movie Maker or Photostory 3 they use photos and/or video to narrate a short clip explaining their choices complete with music and titles.
Sympathy for the Devil
Panagiotis Psomiadis (Παναγιωτης Ψωμιαδης) talking to a journalist at the PAOK/ΠΑΟΚ FC protest rally, just before he got booed off stage.
"Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah"
Lyrics from Lyricsfreak.com
"Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah"
Lyrics from Lyricsfreak.com
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Teachers protesting changes in the state pension scheme
"MPs get a pension in four years. Us? In how many years?"
PAOK protest rally - part two.
Supporters of PAOK football club demonstrating against what they see as unfair treatment of the club by the government concerning its debts.
The kids being handed back to his dad in the crowd had just got to meet one of PAOK's legend, Zagorakis.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Teaching through pop videos
OK. This teaching idea is particularly off the wall but I just think it might work given enough encouragement by the teacher. I've just seen Placebo's video for Running Up that Hill. It consists almost entirely of their fans lip syncing to the song and in a strange way, it is really effective. It got me thinking if maybe we could do something similar on our EFL/ESL classes.
Lesson plan
1 Ask students to write down five English language songs they have listened to recently.
2 Students then work in groups of four and choose three songs they all like.
3 The groups then get together and come up with a song that is acceptable to all the class. A time limit on discussion might help focus minds.
4 For the next lesson print out lyrics for the song and make sure you know where it is on Youtube or Radio Blog so you can post it on the class blog.
4 Hand out the lyrics and deal with any possible vocabulary issues. Ask student what the song might mean or if it has a message of some kind.
5 Show the Placebo video.
6 Ask them what they think of it (lyric can be found here).
7 Now explain to the students that they are going to make their own video using the song they chose. For the sake of practicality it might be best to divide the class into two/three groups and assign each group part of the song.
8 Students can use the use the song off the blog to lip sync to and can record themselves using mobile phones, digital camera, video cameras or web cams. They then give you the raw material and you use it to make a CD which each member of the the class uses to make their own version of the video using Windows Movie maker or imovie.
9 The class then posts their videos on their class blog and the class votes on the top three.
Lesson plan
1 Ask students to write down five English language songs they have listened to recently.
2 Students then work in groups of four and choose three songs they all like.
3 The groups then get together and come up with a song that is acceptable to all the class. A time limit on discussion might help focus minds.
4 For the next lesson print out lyrics for the song and make sure you know where it is on Youtube or Radio Blog so you can post it on the class blog.
4 Hand out the lyrics and deal with any possible vocabulary issues. Ask student what the song might mean or if it has a message of some kind.
5 Show the Placebo video.
6 Ask them what they think of it (lyric can be found here).
7 Now explain to the students that they are going to make their own video using the song they chose. For the sake of practicality it might be best to divide the class into two/three groups and assign each group part of the song.
8 Students can use the use the song off the blog to lip sync to and can record themselves using mobile phones, digital camera, video cameras or web cams. They then give you the raw material and you use it to make a CD which each member of the the class uses to make their own version of the video using Windows Movie maker or imovie.
9 The class then posts their videos on their class blog and the class votes on the top three.
Latest news
It seems the excitement never stops in this place. I just got back from a PAOK protest rally in the centre. I can't think of a better opportunity to some street photography,. It doesn't get more dramatic than this, at least on Sundays. Fans were protesting what they consider unfair treatment by the government over the issue of the club's debts. To see more photos click here.
Busy week
What a week. Over the last seven day I've seen protester storm the port, gatecrashed a press conference and taken pictures of a Hollywood star, spent hours in the emergency room with a serially vomiting daughter and been interviewed by a film crew for a forthcoming TV documentary. Oh, and did my normal work stuff.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Stars falling on Sykies
My daughter grabbed my camera and my tripod and told me she wanted to take some pictures. This is what she produced. I'm in awe.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Museum of photography and cinematography - Thessaloniki
There is a great exhibition by the French photographer, Bernard Plossu at the photography museum here in Thessaloniki.
"The Thessaloniki Museum of Photography and the 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, with the support of the French Institute of Thessaloniki, present the first retrospective exhibition of the french master of photography Bernard Plossu from November the 13th until January the 4th 2008 at the T.M.P. - The opening of the exhibition will be on Sunday, November 18th-.Τhe works of this exhibition, the first retrospective ever to be held in Greece, invite us to become fellow travelers on his journeys to Europe, Mexico, Africa, India, California, New Mexico, and Latin America (1963 – 2006). Yet all these travels seem to be a scenery-in-motion for the artist who manages to depict in his works fleeing images and emotions, such as absence. In this manner Βernard Plossu succeeds in creating his own lyrical “immaterial writing”.
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