This Week: AVARITIA (avarice/greed)

From wiki: Greed is, like Lust and Gluttony, a sin of excess. However, Greed (as seen by the Church) applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular. Thomas Aquinas wrote that Greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were forced to kneel on hard stone and recite the examples of avarice and its opposing virtue. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of sinful behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason, especially for personal gain, as the case when someone lets oneself be bribed. Scavenging and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include Simony, where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual confines of a church.

HIT ON 12 March, 2007

This is NOT Sparta

This is...




Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.

I took this picture a couple of months ago. This is the burial mound of the Spartans at Thermopylae, the place of the last stand. A very, very large amount of persian arrowheads was found here.

ΟΤΙΝΑΝΑΙ #1

'Δεν έχω έμπνευση, παππούλη!’

Το ξανθό αγόρι κοίταξε τον γέρο με μάτια τόσο μεγάλα
που όλος ο κόσμος θαρρούσες ότι χωράει μέσα τους.
Τα μικροσκοπικά του δάκτυλα, τόσο πιο μικρά και μαλακά
από εκείνα του παππού του, που ήταν όλο κάλους και
γρατσουνιές από το πολύ κέντημα, έψαχναν κάτι μέσα
στις τσέπες του.

‘Παππού, σε βλέπω ασπρόμαυρο. Γιατί;’

Ο γέρος χαμογέλασε πλατιά κι έγνεψε καταφατικά το
αρχαίο του κεφάλι. ‘Δεν είναι τίποτα παιδί μου, κοιμήσου.’

Το κολοκύθι από την άλλη μεριά, φούσκωνε ολοένα και
περισσότερο. Η γυαλιστερή του επιφάνεια έκανε περίεργα
παιχνίδια με το πορτοκαλί φως της πινακίδας από το
γκαράζ. Ο μικρός κοιτούσε μια το τεράστιο κολοκύθι,
μία τον παππού του και μία τα κορδόνια του.

Δεν μπορούσε να κρύψει την αμηχανία του και το κέρατο
στην πλάτη του άλλαζε χρώμα σαν τρελό…μια καφετί
σαν την πουτίγκα της θείας Αμαλίας, μια μπλε και μια
χρυσωπό. Τίποτα στο δωμάτιο δεν είχε μείνει το ίδιο: το ταβάνι
ήταν ο ουρανός σήμερα…βαμμένο μπλε, με μικρά
αστεράκια που φωσφόριζαν κι ένα πλαστικό φεγγάρι που
είχε κουρνιάσει στην γωνίτσα του. Οι τοίχοι είχαν φυτρώσει
φυλλαράκια και δεν μπορούσες να δεις πώς κάτω από την τεράστια
πράσινη μάζα τους ήταν κρυμμένο το γκρίζο χρώμα των τσιμεντόλιθων.
Το πιο περίεργο από όλα όμως ήταν το πάτωμα, που μέχρι
εχθές ήταν καλυμμένο στα χώματα και σήμερα ήταν μια
λίμνη από πηκτό, σκούρο αίμα.
‘Περίεργο,’ αναλογίστηκε ο νεκρός
άνθρωπος- σκιάχτρο ενώ ένα βαριεστημένο κοράκι του
ξερίζωνε ένα από τα μάτια του. ‘Δεν θυμάμαι από
πού ήρθε όλο αυτό το αίμα. Θεούλη μου! Τι απαίσιο
θέαμα! Θα πάω να το πω στη μαμά και δεν θα με
πιστεύει…’



Όταν το ρολόι χτύπησε τρεις, ο σάπιος κούκος βγήκε από
το σπιτάκι του και άρχισε να τραγουδάει χαρωπά το
αγαπημένο του τετράστιχο- εκείνο που είχε απαγγείλει
τόσες άλλες φορές σαν επικήδειο μπροστά από άπειρα
κατακρεουργημένα πτώματα.

Γαλάζιος ο Ουρανός, τι καθαρός που είναι!
Ο Βοράς τον ευλογεί και τον δροσοφιλάει
Ο Ήλιος μοιάζει κίτρινος, λευκός, πορτοκαλής.
Κλείνω τα μάτια μου σφικτά, μα ακόμα εκεί είναι!
Πράσινα φύλα παίζουν, χαζεύουν, ψιθυρίζουν
Και οι μαύρες μύγες οι αλλήθωρες, τρελά θε να
τσιρίζουν.

(Αύγουστος, 2002)

This Week: LUXURIA (Lust)

Lust is usually thought of as involving obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature. Unfulfilled lusts can lead to sexual or sociological compulsions and/or transgressions including (but obviously not limited to) sexual addiction, adultery, bestiality, and rape.

Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary. However, lust and love are two different things; while a genuine, selfless love can represent the highest degree of development and feeling of community with others in a human relationship, Lust can be described as the excessive desire for sexual release. The other person can be therefore seen as a "means to an end" for the fulfillment of the subject's desires, and becomes thus objectified in the process. In Purgatorio, the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful thoughts.

HIT ON 1st of March, 2007
So, until the next tattoo, we're on Luxuria week (or tenday, depending on the healing process). That means no sex, of any kind. At this point i would like to apologize to my understanding, perfect girl for supporting me, through this completely dumb idea :) I'll make it up, hon, i promise.

Ghost Rider, Go Home

So I watched Ghost Rider last night.

Christ, what a mess.

Who the fuck casted Wes Bentley for Blackheart? Please be removed from the gene pool. Also: what’s with those terrible, terrible one-liners? Not to mention the naïve, child-like direction and script. My god, what a complete and utter waste. Cool effects aside, this one sucked big time.

It got me thinking though, about the heaps of super-hero movies we’ve seen these last years. I also wondered if I had caught all, or most, of them so I made myself another list, complete with ranking and comments for my viewing pleasure. This list includes only mainstream movies and/or blockbusters (mainly from DC and Marvel works), as there’s a lot of unknown and obscure adaptations out there. As an exception, I chose some independent heroes as well (from Dark Horse lines for example) and I also decided to exclude older (pre-2000) movies, which takes out the Batman trilogy, the first Superman movies and a few more.


Batman Begins (9/10) Captures perfectly the unique atmosphere and setting of the comic. Overall, the best super-hero film out there.
Blade (6/10) Not bad- but it set off an unpleasant streak of Goth-wannabes.
Blade II (6/10) A sequel on par with the first movie is commendable.
Blade Trinity (5/10) Strike three! This one had a much looser script and felt all wobbly.
Bloodrayne (4/10) Uwe Boll strikes again. Caution: a hot vampire as a protagonist never guarantees success.
Cat-woman (4/10) If it wasn’t for Hale Berry, this one would be even worse. Non-engaging script and extremely slow paced.
Constantine (6/10) Wrong man there- it’s a universal truth: Keanu Reeves just can’t act. Rest of the film was decent enough.
Daredevil (5/10) Decent attempt, again wrong protagonist.
Elektra (3/10) Extremely unfocused script, naïve storytelling. Great abs though.
Fantastic Four (4/10) Close, but no cigar. Wrong cast, wrong script.
Ghost Rider (2/10) Wrong everything, nice FX though.
Hellboy (7/10) There’s a case of correct casting. The unique personality of the setting was great on film.
Hulk (6/10) A great effort to see into the hero (in this case, the struggle of man vs beast) and some intelligent ideas. Relied heavily on FX though and that was its greatest mistake.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (7/10) That one got some bad reviews, but I liked it. It’s a very special and unique, wacky idea. If you don’t get it, you don’t get the film either.
Men in Black (5/10) Nice try at the time. You can’t watch it now.
Men in Black 2 (6/10) More solid script there, more polished character development.
Punisher (5/10) Decent try I think. It could have been better with a more dark and gritty approach.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (6/10) Correct adaptation of the era’s mood- excellent cinematography. Angelina should never, ever try accents.
Sin City (8/10) Excellent cinematography and FX, marvelous adaptation of Frank Miller art. There were some slow points when everything grew slow and tedious, but the art direction single-handedly wins the day.
Spiderman (7/10) Very good pacing, great effects, near-perfect casting. It’s a classic.
Spiderman II (8/10) More polished than the first one.
Superman Returns (6/10) It could have been much better. Based on a smart idea, but on film, it feels fake and plastic.
V for Vendetta (8/10) Alternative and political, as it should be. Bad blood effects are my only beef here.
X-Men (7/10) My favorite franchise here, this one made many heads to turn. Best casting ever.
X-Men II (8/10) Even more political and thought-provoking, excellent cast.
X-Men III The Last Stand(7/10) This one took a dive, unfortunately, as the director changed on the way. Still a great film though.

It seems I have missed some (Ultraviolet, Aeon Flux) but I’m not really sure I want to watch those… maybe only if I wanted to complete my list :P

Comments? Feel free.