Unmasking the mystery of Mona Lisa’s smile
Straight black hair, flirtatious gaze, hands crossed in anticipation. Thewoman that is constantly staring at you. Is she the woman every mandreams to have?
Only if that man is into going out with a 500 year-old lady who goes by the name Mona Lisa. Yes, Mona Lisa, the famous Renaissance painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, painted between 1503 and 1505.
But is it her looks or her smile that brought the fame? Whichever it is, one thing is certain: something mysterious is going on with Mona Lisa and her famous smile.
On Mona Lisa’s 500 th birthday, we found out at last what it is. We know why her smile appears and disappears while our eyes concentrate on different parts… Continue reading
A Black Box full of Scripts, Fruits and the Importance of Being Ernest
It’s 6:15 p.m. on a Monday and the Deree Drama Club is gathered outside the Black Box Theater, getting ready for its regular rehearsal. “It’s time to go in guys,” shouts the director, and the production moves into the dark Box.
They kick off their shoes and start with their exercises, inhaling and exhaling always from the stomach. A couple of minutes later, they all take their up scripts and start reading their parts out loud. But this is no ordinary rehearsal. Along with the script, each actor has a piece fruit in his hand. The task is to learn how to talk and eat at the same time.
The Deree Drama Club decided in the spring of 2004 to… Continue reading
Drama Club actress bows out with fond memories
The Deree Drama Club has just taken its bows after the premier of Oscar Wilde’s play, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Nicole Kalogeropoulos, who played grumpy Lady Bracknell, the mother of Gwendolyn, stands outside the Black Box Theater cradling bouquets of flowers in her arms. Every time she starts walking towards the entrance of the Communication building, spectators who want to congratulate her on her performance stop her.
Nicole owns a room the minute she enters it. Several months after the last performance of the play and far away from the stage and applauding crowd, she sat in room 705 wearing a denim shirt and beige pants – and the aura of a star. But the Miami-born Nicole may end… Continue reading
Thanksgiving: A time to reflect on life’s blessings
Every year about 270 million turkeys, 572 million pounds of cranberries and 831 million pounds of pumpkins pass through supermarket checkout counters across America during the last week of November. They are destined for the Thanksgiving table, on a day when Americans express gratitude for their abundance of goods and blessings. The feast of Thanksgiving traces its roots to the 17 th century Pilgrims, who were grateful to have enough to survive.
In the harsh winter of 1620, many of the Pilgrims died of starvation and disease. They had no flour for baked goods and no cows for milk or butter. But they did manage to grow pumpkins and corn with guidance from the Native Americans of Plymouth. During the… Continue reading
Cinema Paradiso Lost
The buttery smell of freshly popped popcorn is still in the breeze. The jasmine wafts over from the near by gardens caresses my nostrils. The grin on my grandfather’s face while he smokes a cigarette and watches a movie still comes to my eyes sometimes. I can still hear the scratching sound of the old speakers. And the starlit sky comes back to me in my dreams.
As an adult, I go to the Ilioupolis open-air cinema to refresh my memories.
And I’m lucky I still can. In the 1960s Athens had over 1000 open-air cinemas. Now the number has fallen to 100. Huge television screens, VCRs and air-conditioned cinema giants have stolen the show from this fading part of… Continue reading