eurocentrique

Architecture in Brussels | Leon LePage, Danseart Area, Art Deco...

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:55:00 +0200

Architecture in Brussels | Leon LePage, Danseart Area, Art Deco at its best. What a name for an architect to have, my translation says ‘malfait’ = done badly! Oh the irony……….. :D

Architecture in Brussels | In a little side street off the Grand...

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:51:59 +0200

Architecture in Brussels | In a little side street off the Grand Place, sitting there since the 1400s. Beauty

Homage, plus signature on Rue de La Loi near Arts Loi.

Tue, 01 May 2012 22:02:00 +0200

Homage, plus signature on Rue de La Loi near Arts Loi.

Wishing you and yours, all the best for Easter See you at the...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:10:51 +0200

Wishing you and yours, all the best for Easter

See you at the Egg Hunt this Sunday at Parc Cinquaintenaire? If you’re not in Brussels you’re going to be missing out on 550,000 sustainable chocolate eggs that the City of Brussels is putting into an egg hunt in three main parks. Ours is the Cinquaintenaire. A partir de 15:00.

Eat well and have some lovely days off,

Looking forward to catching up with you soon after the break!

Alia Papageorgiou | @eurocentrique

My favourite house and Architect’s signature, gorgeous, on...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:15:17 +0100

My favourite house and Architect’s signature, gorgeous, on a lovely street. Rue Du Marteau 71A, Brussels 1000

For a while now I’ve been noticing how the architects,...

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:06:00 +0100

For a while now I’ve been noticing how the architects, mainly of old, would sign and mark their workmanship. I’ve been wanting to start documenting this for a while so there’ll probably be many more to come… Let me know what you think.

Architects In Brussels | Rue Du Cornet 113, Brussels 1040

Never waste a good (media) crisis

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:17:26 +0100

How I learned to start reading every George, Nick’s and Harry’s blog and stopped worrying about the closure of newspapers

The first time I saw any posts from the bloggingportal, was not online but in print. Suprisingly and by no movements of my own either. The then Editor of New Europe Newspaper Alexandros Coronakis had decided that what we needed was a page for blogs focusing on Europe in the newspaper.
I agreed, and would proofread them meticulously for want of any askew posts by extreme anti European supposed ‘Think Tanks’, to the bloggingportal’s usual, great quality, highly researched pieces by those working in the fields we were covering.
Since 2008 I have been overly worried about the demise of the media profession. I was in the newspaper business and it was difficult, times were tough and it was obvious to everyone.
Even in ‘the land that capitalism forgot’ as @antigonakee so colorfully puts her finger on it, our competition had almost halved its staff, and our online competition had taken a very long summer break in 2009, the others too in Brussels showing signs of strain by giving into other funding streams and business models, things were unsettled and the news was only becoming more technical and upsetting, for Europe, for Greece for everyone.
Social media and incorporating blogs were a necessity to push through the myre and see the facts.
I remember we at New Europe even tried blogs ourselves, for the columnists, at an initial re-fresh of the site in 2009, that didn’t last long for me, some others like Andy Carling used it greatly.
As I’m reminded often by Mathew Lowry – Euractiv’s blogactiv.eu has increased in scope greatly since he was there for the launch.
The traditional media’s (FT, The Economist and The Guardian’s fantastic live feeds as major events happen) blogs also seem to now be benefitting from this four year old shift in new media.
The demise and restructuring towards the digital of print media and shifts in funding I am sure are not news to you any longer, this has been a much publicised downsizing that only leads to few avenues for those that still need to tell the stories/truth out there.
My focus was to bring forth what I could from the Greek bloggosphere, since 2010 when I became an editor, as I understood that language and could. I havent’ been as proficient in that as I would have liked, in part as it invariably became daunting.
I believe the Greek media has suffered so greatly that so many articulate and easily expressive citizens, writers, out of work journalists have found recourse in Blogs. I am convinced I have probably clicked on only five percent of what is online from Greece and am constantly overwhelmed by the calibre of the blogs posted for example on my twitter feed or Facebook wall on a daily basis.
Some like Troktiko.gr have become legendary as the blogger/journo who started it was shot and killed in 2010 causing a mass outcry (the reasons are not solely the blog, they remain mirky).
Others like Pitsirikos.gr or Nikos blog just as well received, but thousands more sprouted and continue to daily, till now.
The power of the blogger in Greece has grown fiercly as the newspapers increasingly became biased, as well as the media channels, leaving the public to wonder about where objectivity was to come from. The ‘truth’ had become a dream of the past as all felt distrust towards the status quo, not only of the media but the powers that be, that had in loose terms, squandered their money or let their society arrive at such huge indebtedness.
Greece has caught up with the online European political sphere, especially since 2008 with an amazing outpouring of emotion in response to all of the above. Suffering a public flogging over the economical strength of the country has affected every part of society, and those with internet access and the willingness to write have been prolific; there are many of those.
Just before Christmas I was asked my an Athenian Journalist Dimitris Perakis to join their network and new media portal whose purpose is to bring fact based news to the fore, in a not-for-profit paradigm. I was swayed, said yes but have to organise the details this year, for Greece it really is a brand new model, staying outside of Trade Unions’ or large Media blocks and keeping the news independent.
Bloggingportal should see more Greek blogs in 2012, I feel they will be even more powerful in this fourth year of the economic crisis and the bailouts hang in the balance.
They are not only informative and factual but have now become necessary.

Happy Third Birthday Blogginportal.eu as the Greeks say, ‘may you live to be 1000′!

http://eurocentrique.com/2012/01/25/never-waste-a-good-media-crisis/

stoweboyd: Stats are astonishing, and I’ve been informed by...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:30:46 +0100

stoweboyd:

Stats are astonishing, and I’ve been informed by @nik (Nick Halstead) that Twitter is now moving 1B messages every three days.

(via Every 60 Seconds 175,000 Tweets Are Sent [INFOGRAPHIC] | Twitter Tips And Updates From Buffer)

Tis the Season! Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year Alia...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:39:48 +0100

Tis the Season!

Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year

Alia Papageorgiou

OSCE delves into South European Medias self censorship

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:28:24 +0200

OSCE delves into South European Medias self censorship

World's Press come together in Austria

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:26:15 +0200

World's Press come together in Austria

papadimitriou: — Tokyo

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:36:22 +0200

papadimitriou:

— Tokyo

In significant policy shift, Saudi Arabia gives women right to vote, run for elections

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:37:42 +0200

In significant policy shift, Saudi Arabia gives women right to vote, run for elections

Photo

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:26:25 +0200

Photo

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:34:44 +0200

Gorgeous track

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:01:49 +0200

Gorgeous track

THE MOURNERSGEORGIA METAXAS The Mourners is a series of...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:05:00 +0200

THE MOURNERS
GEORGIA METAXAS

The Mourners is a series of portraits documenting the ritual of wearing black as a signifier of perpetual mourning. In remembrance of those they have lost, all that sit for a portrait in the series wear black everyday for the rest of their lives.

The controlled environment of a traveling studio replaces existing backdrops of nursing home corridors, living rooms and church halls. Stripped back to the point where only the faintest trace of the sitter’s surroundings remain, the portrait brings the viewer to the periphery of an ultimately private space.

Deflecting the unflinching eye of the camera with an averted gaze, the women are absorbed by the void that is black, living mementos – vessels for mourning, fixed by a photograph, which in turn alludes to a double death.

The show goes through till August 7, 2011 at the Melbourne Centre for Contemporary Photography - Australia

A homage to writers. Everywhere (click me)

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:32:00 +0200

A homage to writers. Everywhere (click me):

The Typewriter

Starbucks | Opening at Gare Central June 22

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:14:00 +0200

When I first got to Brussels it was following a six month stint in Athens, Greece where there are Starbucks coffee shops everywhere and most of my peers not only preferred them but tended to meet up at them for a coffee and a chat.

Previous to that I had been in Australia for 4 years and due to the closest Starbuck’s being in the city centre and far from my house it wasn’t a usual hang out.

But, whenever my sister would be in Athens we would just go and write or read or talk at Starbucks down the street from my parents apartment, it was like a couch away from your lounge room, and although that particular one isn’t the most plush Starbucks i’ve been in, it was a lounge room outside of the home, with better coffee than home, coffee I like.

So, when I first arrived in Brussels, I was in an office building (you know the one, New Europe over on Tervuren) with about 5-6 Greeks sprinkled around the office amongst the other wonderful nationalities one finds here, most, like me, missing their Starbucks Mocha Frappucinos or just a normal latte, one that didnt’ taste like paper.

As soon as I got here talk of how ‘American’ the brand was and how it was a Belgian competition policy to try and keep them out as long as possible was rife. Many would repeat the same idiom to me mentioning it as the source of our woes being coffee-less in a city where if anything you need coffee in great quantities to get through all the work, networking, Bubble speak and not to mention the conferences.

Approximately a year later movement began, Starbucks was opening up at Zaventem at the Brussels Airport, a must have coffee run was initiated whenever any of us (from the office) had to pick up or drop off anyone from the airport.

At that stage I sincerely believed the hype and did not expect much more. But following the ouvreture of this initial franchise two more Starbucks opened up within the airport itself on its second and third floor lounges.

Then with the opening of the store in the Central Station of Antwerp I received a press invite from AutoGrill and an announcement that the store was ready to go.

Many a time passing through Antwerp to visit family and friends has meant a stroll down the diamond shops across the street and eventually a take away coffee to drink all the way home.

I took the opportunity of the then press contact and asked AutoGrill, the franchise holders in Belgium, is there any truth to the ultra competitiveness, ‘over Americanised’ type of selling that has been keeping Starbucks out of the Belgian market?

“There has been a difficulty with both locations and franchisee funds for further expansion, that is all,” AutoGrill’s spokesperson assured me. Conspiracy was irrelevant. It was all ‘timing’ and money.

Well, if it was all about timing then all we would have to do is wait longer alors.

The next chapter in this voyage, (mine personally also involves many Grande Decaf Soy White Mocha Lattes which were delivered almost daily to my 9.2 month heavily pregnant sister at the beginning of the year and our continuing personal view of the place as our second lounge room whenever I am in Bristol, England where the whole city is dotted with the Seattle Franchised mega brand), is now about to open, as Brussels’ Gare Central gets itself a new Starbucks Coffee shop on June 22.

Initially it was meant to be Wednesday 1 June where a national Flemish paper reported the opening to be imminent as much commotion and personnel were obvious within the store.

Then this was postponed.

Hype was increasing with friends using the #StarbucksBrussels link to communicate on progress of the opening.

On June 7 I asked Karsmakers, a fine Belgian coffee shop admitedly inspired by the fine blend of the roast Starbucks uses (and amongst expats considered along with Blomqvist at Place St Boniface one of two great coffee shops), but with much better bagels, across the road form another Train station Gare Du Luxembourg if they had heard of the openign of the store and the barristas responded “oh yes, we have heard.”

One of them said that competition was always great

Another responded by saying “what competition? There is no competition.”

And the third said “Let’s hope they don’t come to Gare Du Luxembourg, but really we’re a different product, home grown and better tasting it’s a completely different store.”

In Gare Central where I passed by on the same afternoon the store owner of AMT Coffee - 100% Fair Trade Coffee 100% Organic Milk - a UK company said that it was June 22 that they had been told the Starbucks was opening. He also said they do completely different things in their business and that comparing them would be like “comparing David to Goliath” but still I couldn’t help but see some similarities in the cup size and latte aspirations of a corner shop much better positioned than where the new Starbucks will be but at a slight disadvantage. Unless you only drink organic milk and fair trade coffee?

Starbucks Belgium has officially posted on their Facebook page that 22 June is definitely the day and is building up the hype by waiting to reveal the opening time.

If you’re around Gare Central after 22 June stop by - i’ll probably be there writing my masters thesis till September 1 when it’s due. Probably after that too… quite often…

Final confirmations Radio Nostalgie announced the opening on the 22nd and I have been invited to a press event on the 21st. That’s pretty final for me, but will let you know how it goes.

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micasaessucasa: (via Top 10 beautiful nursery design ideas)

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:56:10 +0200

micasaessucasa:

(via Top 10 beautiful nursery design ideas)