Learning not to forgive

March 31^st. It is my least favorite day of the year. It is the day of the year I dread the most. It was on this date in 1991 that I experienced the worst day of my life. Since that date happened to fall on Easter that year, Easter has become a holiday I despise. A holiday I resent. It is a holiday that brings so much hope to so many. Christ was resurrected. Nevermind the fact that I don’t believe it, the general focus of this holiday – faith, hope, rebirth – fills me with seething anger. All because I lost someone I loved on Easter. All because fate brought a drunk teenager barreling down the wrong side of the interstate, ending three lives including his own.

Last year, on this date, I talked about my inability to forgive. How I felt that despite it all, I should try to find a way to forgive. I know now not only that I can’t forgive, but I won’t. Only two weeks ago, I learned that a good friend of mine from high school and college, who I had unfortunately lost touch with, had been killed by a drunk driver four years ago. A drunk driver with a blood alcohol level of .38. A drunk driver who already had two DUI convictions before he found his drunken way onto the road and slammed into my friend. Luckily, this man is serving the maximum sentence of fifteen years for killing Sherri, and he was denied his first parole, thanks to a phalanx of family and friends, along with the support of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Still, it doesn’t seem like enough. No one has to drive drunk. And to think that there are people out there who have imbibed enough alcohol they can probably barely walk getting into their cars and driving away as if they are invincible. To think that there are people who do this repeatedly, get punished for it, and still don’t change their ways. I can’t forgive these people. I won’t. They don’t deserve my forgiveness. They have robbed the world of three young lives that were worth something, and for what? Simply because they have no common sense. I don’t judge them for being alcoholics. I judge them for driving while intoxicated. I wonder, would they change their ways if it was their son or daughter they had to identify, cold and dead on a metal table?

Perhaps I preach too much about this subject, but it is something that has permanently changed my life. It has changed my personality. Sixteen years have passed, and still it can seem like yesterday. The pain feels the same. The loss feels the same. Does the memory fade as the years pass? Of course. But I know I will never forget exactly what I felt on March 31^st, 1991.

This Easter, if you intend to give a little more, consider donating time and/or money to the efforts of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. They are a tireless organization dedicated to eliminating drunk driving, and they assist grieving families in their fight to prosecute the drunk drivers who killed their loved ones.

In which I am getting the hang of vegan cooking

Thanks for everyone's wishes to get better, I am doing a bit better today. I still can't hear worth a damn but my tissue usage has been dramatically reduced.

Since we all know good food can make you feel better, I decided to make this vegan lasagna recipe today. It wasn't anywhere near as complicated as I thought it would be, and despite the fact that my husband thought the tofu looked like a big blob of goo, the lasagna was absolutely delicious. We still haven't found any nutritional yeast around these parts, so we just added some shredded soy cheese to the filling mixture. Our lasagna ended up not completely vegan, however, as we discovered that the brand of lasagna noodles we always use (Barilla) contains egg. Ah well. I'll be sure to find a non-eggy brand next time.

The presentation isn't so great, but I'm not as worried about how the food looks as how it tastes. And it tasted gooooood. I am totally in love with SusanV's Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blog. It has made this fasting period much better, that's for sure! Special thanks to DeviousDiva for turning me on to it!

You know you are having a bad day when...

You go into the kitchen to get a paper towel and find the roll is empty (my fault)

You go into the bathroom and are stranded without toilet paper (hubby’s fault)

You turn off the washing machine because you don’t hear it running anymore, and then you realize it hadn't finished the cycle – you just couldn’t hear it because your ears are too full of crap to hear anything

You cough for ten minutes without any relief and you still have that damn tickle in your throat

The outside of your nose is scratched and bleeding from blowing your nose 576 times a day for the past 4 days

The weather, despite it now being spring, is dreadful – cold and cloudy

You get your first mosquito bite of the season on your wrist

You realize they aren’t releasing the Region 2 version of Season 2 of Twin Peaks in one week. While you can buy and watch and enjoy the Region 1 version, you really don’t want the annoyance of too many Region 1 DVDs in your library

You realize that your bad day is nothing compared to the bad days of millions of people around the world who are sick, hungry, homeless, terrorized, brutalized and all the other bad crap that goes on in the world

Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day. One can hope.

Cultural heritage

The Acropolis has been named the first site of the brand spanking new European Cultural Heritage list, to the glee of many Greeks wearing suits. To its credit, I don't know if the Acropolis actually needs such acknowledgment, because it seems sort of obvious to me that it is an important part of European cultural heritage.

It is quite ironic that such a celebration would just now be held for the Acropolis, because it just so happens that the Parthenon in Nashville was recently named the first site of the brand spanking new Best Backdrop for Frisbee Golf list.

And thus, all was right with the world.

P.S. Remind me not to post when I'm jacked up on cold medicine

Ellas, you devil

Since I'm sick and can't think much or do much, I thought I'd put together the meme EllasDevil tagged me with. I'm far too out of it to think provocatively about TooManyTribbles' tag, so I'll stick with this one for now.

10 FAVORITES

Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Food: Pizza (yes, I’m sad like that)
Favorite Month: October
Favorite Song: It is too hard to pick just one favorite. I love so many different kinds of music, and play according to my mood. If I use my mood today, my favorite song would be River by Joni Mitchell.
Favorite Movie: Again, one favorite? I can’t even narrow down a decent top ten. But I’ll say Annie Hall and make it simple
Favorite Sport: Baseball
Favorite Season: Autumn
Favorite Day: Thursday. Don’t ask me why. It could be ingrained from “Must See TV” Thursday nights on American television.
Favorite Ice Cream: Mint Chocolate Chip (its been a LONG time since I’ve had it though, since you can’t find it here)
Favorite Time of Day: In the spring, when the swallows start their evening play. In the summer, when the sun goes down and it isn’t quite as hot out. In the fall and winter, the hour leading up to twilight time. So basically, right around when it gets dark.

9 CURRENTS

Current Mood: Sickly
Current Taste: Coughing up phlegm. You do the math.
Current Clothes: Purple housedress
Current Desktop: Hubby’s pic of Olympus from our house on Hortiati
Current Toenail Color: I don’t color my toenails or my fingernails
Current Time: 17:27
Current Surroundings: a room filled with multimedia
Current Thoughts: how much longer will I be coughing and blowing my nose

8 FIRSTS

First Best Friend: So sad, I don’t remember. The first best friend I do remember was a girl named Amy from 4^th to 6^th grade, before I moved to Nashville.
First Kiss: I was five or six years old, I took my school friend Craig around to the side of the school and planted a big one on him, to his dismay.
First Screen Name: melusina, always has been, always will be
First Pet: a goldfish named Punkin. That damn fish lived way too long, and survived a move from North Carolina to Tennessee.
First Piercings: have never, will never. I don’t like the idea of infection.
First Crush: I’ve had so many crushes, going so far back, I’m not really sure. It was probably Tony Randall or Peter Sellers, I can’t remember which one came first.
First CD: I have no clue. Once I got a CD player I started buying them in droves.

7 LASTS

Last Cigarette: A clove cigarette, probably two years ago
Last Drink: If you mean alcohol, I had a little bit of wine a couple of weeks ago
Last Car Ride: A month ago? Hell, I don’t remember. We walk everywhere here in the city.
Last Kiss: Uh, my husband. Today.
Last Movie Seen: Jesus Camp
Last Phone Call: My mother-in-law
Last CD Played: The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

6 HAVE YOU EVERS

Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Friends: Nope
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Uh, yea. But not lately, unfortunately.
Have You Ever Been Arrested: Nope. But I once had a lot of cop friends.
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Nope. I don’t swim. Drowning naked doesn’t appeal to me.
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yea, on a couple of occasions. When I was little they did a news story on living with Lupus.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Ewww, no.

5 THINGS

Thing You're Wearing: my celtic runes wedding ring
Thing You've Done Today: coughed up an enormous amount of phlegm
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: the garbage men
Thing You Can't Live Without: my computer
Thing You Do When You're Bored: watch a favorite series on DVD

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY

The kitchen
The bathroom
The bedroom
The front room

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO

My husband

My best friend Risa

My friend Allen

2 CHOICES

Black or White: Black
Hot or Cold: Neither, in between!

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE

See the aurora borealis

Playground of the gods

I'm sick with the flu today, so I thought I'd share with you the view from our house outside Thessaloniki. That is Mt. Olympus, across the bay. I hope everyone has a better weekend than I am having!

9th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival: Jesus Camp

Today we saw the Academy Award nominated film Jesus Camp at the documentary festival. I’d been wanting to see it for months, so I was quite pleased when I saw it listed in the program schedule. The movie follows a group of kids as they attend the “Kids on Fire Summer Camp” as well as providing insight into the world of evangelical Christians in America, and how they are recruiting children.

The Greek audience seemed to appreciate some ironies in the film (the area where the camp is held is called Devil’s Lake, for example), and at first I was afraid that it would come across as another “look at the crazy Americans” movie to European eyes. But the documentary was surprisingly fair, not only to the evangelicals portrayed but to the Americans who don’t agree with such extremist ideologies. I suppose the most disturbing thing about the movie was the acknowledgment by the adults involved that they were shaping the minds of children intentionally – that children up to nine years old were the best to indoctrinate with the evangelical “cause” – hoping to imprint their doctrines on them forever. My brother-in-law acknowledged that such fundamentalism exists all over the world, among all religions and in many ways (he mentioned Hitler’s youth, by example). It seems to be very easy for the world to exploit its youth for whatever purpose adults desire, and I feel very fortunate to have been raised by parents who insisted on teaching me all points of view and letting me decide for myself what to believe. But I don’t think the adults in this movie meant to do harm to the children they were teaching, I honestly feel like they felt they were doing the right thing in the eyes of God, other evangelicals, and the world.

The tragedy here is that the kids the film focused on were all very bright, thoughtful individuals who no doubt could offer the world any number of things if given the opportunity. I suppose it is a boon to the evangelicals to have such children among them, although I can’t help but hope that the future opens their eyes beyond the small world they were brought up in.

Jesus Camp is showing again at the Olympion Theatre on Aristotelous Friday night, so if you are in town, I recommend it.

Peace, love, and Pepsi

My husband and I had the pleasure of seeing another Barbara Kopple film at the 9^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival today. It was entitled My Generation, a documentary focusing on the three Woodstocks of 1969, 1994, and 1999. It was an honest look at the differences between the generations of Woodstockers, and the inner workings (from promotion, advertising, corporate sponsorship, etc.) of the 1994 festival. Unfortunately, the film hasn’t been screened by audiences at large, because Kopple could not find distribution for it, and aside from a few film festivals and the Starz Encore cable channel, the film has hardly been seen at all.

It is a terrible shame that this documentary hasn’t found an audience, because it deserves one. Kopple is very good at honest filmmaking, and she does a brilliant job at portraying the sense of community at each Woodstock. Yet the picture she paints is clear: we can never relive the first Woodstock, each festival belongs to its own generation. There is a lot of exploration in the film about why and how Generation X is so different, mostly from the youth themselves. While watching the movie one can’t help but think of the burdens capitalism has placed on society – Woodstock ’94 was bursting with corporate sponsorship and marketing tools, something that I think couldn’t have happened in ’69 without a lot of backlash. Woodstock isn’t just peace and love anymore – it is peace, love, and Pepsi, among other things. Corporate America is so full of brand names it has branded its own nostalgia. Is that one of the reasons the Woodstockers of ’99 were so full of rage? Yet we all allow it, as consumers we embrace it. We fit their demography, we fall in line, worshipping under the temple of the golden arches (or put your favorite corporate symbol here) as if it were some kind of god. We are addicted to Coke, mesmerized by Sony, titillated by Starbucks. We love it, we hate it, we want to rebel, but it owns us. And as one Italian audience member said in the question and answer session after the show – she doesn’t want corporate America to overtake Europe. Yet she can’t escape it - she finds herself drinking Coke and eating at McDonald’s.

Kopple beautifully splices together some performances from the same people in ’69 and ’94, and uses modern music (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails) to help tell the story. In the end it seems to be more than just another documentary about Woodstock – it is a film about my generation, the generation before me, and what is left for the generations to come.

And when Dubya spoke, they all laughed

My husband and I had the pleasure of attending the Opening Ceremony of the 9^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival at the Olympion Theatre last night. We were lucky we could get an invitation at the last minute, because it was the only screening of Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing we would be able to go to. There were a few dignitaries present, including the American Consul (otherwise known as the woman who didn’t want to speak to me in English), the guy who hosts Cinemania on ET3, the mayor of Thessaloniki, and Barbara Kopple, the woman responsible for Shut Up and Sing (and also one of the documentary film makers being honored at the festival).

We were first entertained by a host of humdrum public speakers, people responsible for the festival who did not seem comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. The mayor of Thessaloniki dared to speak, to the jeers of the Greek audience, which was surprising considering he was recently re-elected by the good people of this city. His speech was met with much rudeness among the crowd – people talking, quite loudly, and one person who thought it would be a good moment to cycle through all their ringtones. It might have been better had they had the civility to shut up and listen. I understand perfectly the resentment of a public official who was elected despite my own wishes, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to behave rudely in their presence. If anything, I prefer to listen to what they have to say, lest they declare themselves king, or something.

Finally, Ms. Kopple gave us a brief introduction to her movie, and all I can say is she really looks good for 60. The movie was entertaining, interesting, and presented with a light edge, but far more fascinating than the picture itself was the reaction of the Greek and European audience. In the early part of the movie, when they showed Bush briefly, talking about going to war with Iraq, the crowd broke out in insane laughter. When Natalie Maines turned to the camera and called Bush a dumb fuck, the entire theatre erupted into cheers and applause.

Such movies cause antipodal reactions for me. On the one hand, it is a factual account of the backlash and ridiculousness of the reaction against Maines’ “anti-Bush” comment, and I appreciate such documentaries. On the other hand, it helps to feed the foreign stereotype about America and Americans - what we believe, how we feel about what is going on, our hatred, our ignorance, whatever. While obviously the film did give a true representation of some Americans, it certainly didn’t represent the whole. Europeans seem to see Americans as simply pro-Bush, completely and unequivocally devoted to the government – and even for pro-Bush Americans, this isn’t what their lives are all about. America, and Americans, are a lot more than the sum of their government. We love, we have pain, we struggle to make ends meet, we worry, we live our lives as best as we can. We may be right, we may be wrong, but we believe in what we believe. Some agree with Bush, some support the war in Iraq, and some don’t.

By the end of the movie it was clear that many opinions had changed about Maines’ comment (and the war in Iraq), but I think the stigma was still there, at least in the minds of any foreigners watching the movie. These movies that so brilliantly point out to Americans what is wrong with their country also present that side of America to the world. While the problems in America might be overwhelming and real, there are still bright spots in America’s present, and hopefully, the future. At least there is still hope.

Temptations in the forest

While wandering around the city yesterday, hubby and I discovered that the promised T.G.I. Friday's had opened on Aristotelous Square. Despite the extreme temptation (and the fact that it would be the perfect place to have dinner before going to the Film Festival tonight) we are resigned to our fasting. But on April 10th, we are there, baby!

It is nice that we now have a real variety of "American" cuisine to choose from when I am really missing home, with T.G.I. Friday's, Ruby Tuesday, and Applebee's all in our neighborhood.

The vegan cornbread acid test

I’m a southern girl, and in true southern girl fashion, I loves me some cornbread. One problem I’ve always had with cornbread recipes is they are either too salty or too sweet, and the search for vegan cornbread recipes has pretty much turned up the same results. So I took a recipe that had the general consistency I liked, and modified it slightly to my own taste. It turned out to be the perfect cornbread recipe for me (a blend of salty and sweet), but if you like sweet cornbread, you might want to try the original recipe.

Vegan Cornbread (not too salty, not too sweet)

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 ¼ cup corn meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups soy milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 F (around 200 C). Grease square pan, 8x8. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, blend milk and vegetable oil in another bowl and add to dry ingredients. Stir until moist, pour into pan and bake about 25 mins, until knife or toothpick inserted in center comes out dry.

Sadly, I think I like this vegan recipe better than the "regular" recipe I've been using all this time!

Passing exams is hard, so hard, you shouldn't have to

While going through my daily news sites today, I found this gem from Kathimerini:

Some 20 students at the Athens Law School staged a sit-in protest at the offices of the Athens Bar Association, demanding that graduates should not be forced to pass exams to become members. The students argued that it was unfair that 40 graduates failed the latest round of exams.

You know, I really want a lawyer who didn't pass his exams to represent me, because I think in order to aim high you really gotta go low. But really, what kind of expectations does the Athens Bar Association have when they require law school graduates to pass the bar? I think a simple requirement of breathing should be enough, although that might be difficult, since most lawyers are undead.

Because if you can't buy alcohol on Sunday, you can't sin

I used to have friends that worked at the Circle K (a convenience store, sort of the American version of a periptero only bigger) on Belmont Boulevard, and I was a frequent customer there myself. One thing you could guarantee was a rush of beer sales around 1am Sunday morning - an hour before all alcoholic beverages were forbidden, by archaic Bible Belt law, to be sold.

Now I would have expected as a sign of new, improved, modern times, that the bill presented in the Tennessee State Legislature to allow alcohol sales on Sunday might have passed. But it didn't. It didn't even make it past the Senate. Thank goodness the Tennessee Senate has the perspicacity to keep people from buying alcohol on Sundays. Otherwise the state would devolve into some sort of modern day Sodom and Gomoroh.

Spicy black bean goodness

One thing you must understand about me is I don’t take a fancy to cooking dishes that require more than a couple of steps to make. If we get down to cooking, dicing, slicing, grinding, and mashing different ingredients to make the whole I get bored real quick (not to mention, I get turned off by all the dishes dirtied in the process, since we don’t have a dishwasher besides my own two hands). I don’t just get bored, I usually end up screwing up along the way somewhere, because I’ll look at a recipe once before I start and then hold on to a tenuous belief that my memory is a lot better than it actually is. Sure, there are some recipes that are correctly burned into my memory, but these are recipes that I’ve been making since I was an inch high to a june bug so they don’t really count.

So imagine my surprise when I attempted this totally vegan, totally nistisimo Black Bean Burger recipe, and did not get bored. Yea, I was busy. Yea, there were a ton of dishes to be washed, and yea, there was a brown rice explosion that required pulling out the vacuum (never a good sign when you are cooking). But I ground, mashed, cooked, sautéed, and reattached a spinal cord without blinking an eye. And at the end of it all I discovered a yummy new recipe to make brighter these days of fasting.

(Yes, that black bean burger is resting on a Winnie the Pooh plate)

9th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival

The 9th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival will be held March 16th through 25th at various venues in the city center. The opening night includes a screening of Dixie Chicks: Shut up and Sing which I have been dying to see, and there will also be a couple of screenings of Jesus Camp, what appears to be a disturbing look at young "soldiers for Christ" in America, which was up against An Inconvenient Truth for best documentary at the Academy Awards.

Interesting documentaries from a variety of countries abound at the festival - for a complete schedule, follow the link.

Leonidas

For the first time ever*, a U.S. motion picture is opening in Greece before it opens in the U.S. Ok, a day before, but still before. Usually, we have to wait months before U.S. movies hit Greek screens. 300 has gotten a lot of buzz here in Greece for obvious reasons, and I hope it isn’t as much of a disappointment to Greeks as Troy and Alexander ended up being. Of course, it is a very different kind of movie, so it might be hard to be disappointed.

There was a special Greek premiere of it in Sparta last night, but I haven’t heard anything about it. It may just be the impetus to send my husband and I to the movie theater in the next week. We shall see.

*Ok, I realize this probably isn’t the first time ever, but still…

Update: Reaction from the mayor of Sparta, who claims the film has no historical inaccuracies.

Photo from Kathimerini

Nistisimi brownies, or how I found the love of my Lent

We are now just over two weeks into the six week Lenten fasting period, and hubby and I are doing fairly well. We have experimented with vegan recipes, scoured the city for vegan ingredients (flax seed, soy products, tofu, black beans) and been fairly satisfied with our new all-vegan nistisimi (fasting) diet.

One big problem, however, is that my husband is a confirmed chocoholic, and while I don't consider myself as such, I do have my chocolate cravings now and then, especially for brownies. Alas, my super special Betty Crocker Brownie Mix is far from vegan, so I searched the net to find an acceptable brownie recipe. I found one that I endeavored to change a bit to my taste, and thus have found the vegan brownie of my dreams.

Nistisimi Brownies

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water 1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (for gooey and less cake-like brownies, omit the milk and use 1 cup oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° (175° C). Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan with a light vegetable oil spray or other vegetable based shortening (like Crisco).
In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Pour in water, soy milk, oil and vanilla; mix until well blended.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until top springs back and toothpick or knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Sure, it isn't quite as good as a non vegan brownie, but it is pretty delicious for a vegan delicacy. It will certainly serve the cravings for now.

Big pimpin'

I realize the show Extreme Makeover has been on and off the air in America for some time now. It hadn't yet made it on air before I moved to Greece, so when it started coming on late nights on one of the local Greek channels, my husband and I have had occasion to watch it now and then.

Being a doctor, my husband is more interested in the surgery part, which doesn't get much airplay on this show (unlike Dr. 90210, which is more surgery than I want to see, thankyouverymuch). Still, we both have a fascination with the reveal and the before and after pictures. Some of these people get MAJOR work done, and look like totally different people in the end. And that seems weird to me, especially the people who have children. If my mom or dad had gone through major face-altering surgery I don't think I could have accepted it - I wouldn't even let my dad shave his beard for goodness' sake.

After last night's episode, which showed some extremely extreme makeovers, my husband turned to me and said "You know what? This show is just like Pimp My Ride!"

Indeed. But I think we need to quit watching so many reality shows.

You got your explosives in my peanut butter!

In the realm of what appears to be recently declassified information, a Greek newspaper has disclosed that Greek and U.S. authorities discovered and seized a large cache of explosives from the basement of the Iraqi Embassy in Athens in March 2003. Among the items found were car bombs, detonators, guns and several rounds of ammunition. To their credit, I don’t think a certain number of guns and ammo is that unusual for the protection of an embassy, however, I certainly question the presence of explosive devices. Apparently, this was all done discreetly prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and a suggestion has been made that there might have been plans to stage some sort of attacks during the 2004 Olympics.

Ironically, this occurred at the same time as the deportation of the number two Iraqi diplomat from Greece. The two incidents are surely connected.

In no way do I think this could even in part help to justify the war against Iraq, however, the incident is of course quite suspicious. No embassy needs a cache of explosives for its own protection. Guns and ammo, yes. Explosives, no. Yet most diplomats have their own agendas, whether they represent their home country or not, so it is entirely possible that this had nothing to do with the Iraqi government, and only the diplomat that was expelled, otherwise I would think the whole embassy might have been closed.

Who knows. All I can say is I am glad they discovered it when they did and prevented something awful from happening on Greek soil.

Oddities abound in advertising

As my husband and I enjoyed our new found supply of Dr. Pepper, we noticed the can contained what appeared to be the U.K. slogan for Dr. Pepper. There have been a lot of famous slogans for this popular soft drink over the years, including the one closest to my heart - "wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?" - but this one takes the cake. It is even weirder than the past Mr. Pibb slogan of "put it in your head".


Honestly, if the best they can come up with is "what's the worst that could happen?" they either need a new advertising agency or they've simply decided they don't need catchy phrases to sell Dr. Pepper anymore. Because the worst that can happen can range from being eaten by a roving pack of wild pigs to global nuclear war to finding maggots in your can of Dr. Pepper, so I really don't think they want to go there. Perhaps next year the slogan can be something along the lines of "better than getting rug burn on your bum".

Dr. Pepper. Indeed, it makes the world taste better.

Blood moon

Should Saturday night prove to have clear skies, a total lunar eclipse will be visible to Greece, along with the rest of Europe, Africa, and Western Asia.

The eclipsian (ok, that's not a word) time table from NASA is as follows (UT is the same as GMT):

• Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 20:18:11 UT

• Partial Eclipse Begins:  21:30:22 UT
  

• Total Eclipse Begins:  22:44:13 UT
  

• Greatest Eclipse:  23:20:56 UT
  

• Total Eclipse Ends:      23:57:37 UT
  

• Partial Eclipse Ends:  01:11:28 UT

• Penumbral Eclipse Ends:  02:23:44 UT
  

For Greeks, the eclipse will pass between 2230 and 0430, with the peak of the eclipse between 0100 - 0200. North and South America will be able to view part of the eclipse at moon rise, and Eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand at moon set.

We can expect some cool color changes on the shadowed moon, but don't be too superstitious, because lunar eclipses happen up to three times a year.