QUEEN DIVA HAS LOST HER THRONE

The Diva Out of Work

Did the diva make ANT1 or did ANT1 make the diva? The answer is obvious. With a little help from Minos, we can all go pretty far.

The diva rose through the ranks of ANT1. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time…on a yacht that sailed the Mediterranean Sea. Oops, that’s the wrong story. Nevertheless, the same opportunity that led to her rise is what eventually led to her fall.

The Tactics of a Diva
Scream! Scream at everyone! Scream at anything! Keep people an arm distance away, so they won’t figure out how stupid you truly are.

Use melodrama behind the scenes, so that management will sympathize with you.

When success hits, claim it. When failure hits, blame it on the others.

Keep the smarter people suppressed and their ideas hidden -- this way no one will discover their true talents and you can maintain your throne.

Destroy all creative ideas before anyone gets wind of them.

Use the ANT1 brand to create personal equity and gain respect from actors, directors, and producers.

Promote yourself over all others -- after all you are the Queen.

Call your personal photographer to tell him which social events you will attend, so he will mysteriously show up and take photos and then publish them in the media.

Do not allow anyone to get close to you because they’ll soon discover your lack of talent.

These tactics may have worked at ANT1 but other networks will not put up with a diva gone mad. Bye, bye STAR. ALPHA watch out! Or are we back to ANT1 again? Now, that would be a big mistake for ANT1!!!
Medicine-tongue

KALOMIRA GOES TO EUROVISION

"Secret Combination" is the name of the song that Kalomira will sing and represent Greece with in the upcoming Eurovision competition in Belgrade; beating out her two other competitors Kostas Martakis, who had the song "Always and Forever" and Chrispa with the song "A Chance to Love."

The decision was made by both the general public and judges. Greek viewer accounted for 60 per cent of the voting, while the judges had the other 40%. Kalomira received a total of 56% of the vote, Kostas Martakis 32% and Chrispa in third with 12%.
antweaver

SO YOU SPEAK GREEK?!

Last week's clip from "So You Think You Can Dance" New York edition. Eleni gives it to the judges, Bravo Eleni!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8310495478102932692#37m05s
antweaver

A FILM FESTIVAL WITH AN "ECO-FRIENDLY" MINDSET

There is a unique film festival coming to Pireaus. The 7th Ecocinema International Film Festival, taking place between 21-27 February (at the Atticon and Cineak cinemas), aims to raise the public's environmental awareness, as well as its participation to a global dialogue.

In its 7 days of screenings, Ecocinema will present recent cinematographic productions and thematic tributes focusing on sociopolitical and environmental issues.

To see the list of films and schedules please click below: EcoCinema

antweaver

THE iFLOP

Steve Jobs tried to design --and dictate--the future of television. Here's how he failed. Steve Jobs, the Silicon Valley Svengali who gave the world geek chic in the form of the iPod, iTunes and the iPhone, looked ready to do it yet again last summer when he offered the first glimpse of Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people )'s iTV. The slender, elegant gray box would revolutionize television, he proclaimed, and let sofa spuds grab all sorts of video (TV shows, movies, Web clips) from all sorts of sources (cable, satellite, the Internet) and zap it to their TV sets. The details were sketchy, but--coming from Steve Jobs--iTV promised to tie it all together in a simple, sexy, fun package. "This is the missing piece," Jobs told his disciples, gesturing to a device the size of a textbook. "Here it is."

His timing was impeccable. When the product debuted in late March, the cost of delivering TV shows over the Internet had plunged, and the Web was brimming with video of ever greater variety and quality. The major TV networks were adding online downloads of such hits as NBC's Heroes, and Hollywood's titanic studios had begun talks to rent movies online through Apple's iTunes service.

Six months later iTV is a flat-out iFlop. Renamed Apple TV upon launch, the ballyhooed box has sold perhaps 250,000 units--far behind the 1 million sold for the iPhone, which was priced twice as high and has been on the market less than half as long. Apple, which declined to let FORBES interview Jobs and other execs for this story, provides detailed sales data for the iPod and other digital wonders but won't reveal any numbers for Apple TV; apparently the truth is too humiliating.

antweaver

THE INTERNET. THE TV.

Millions of people love watching Internet video on their PCs. So why can't the technology industry figure out how to get them to watch Internet video on their television sets?

It isn't for lack of trying. For several years, Silicon Valley has bombarded the market with gadgets that let you tune into online video in your living room. Plug one of these set-top boxes into your TV, and you can download a selection of movies and TV shows, or perhaps browse video sites like YouTube.

It seems like a no-brainer: Consumers get a greater breadth of on-demand content than cable offers, and in the comfort of their living room or bedroom, the industry argues. WSJ's Nick Wingfield reviews some of the gadgets that are bringing TV shows, movies and a broad range of other video from the Internet to the living room.

Yet consumers aren't buying. Internet video players like Apple Inc.'s Apple TV and Akimbo Systems Inc.'s Akimbo Player haven't managed to reach an audience beyond the early-adopter crowd. And multipurpose devices that let you watch Internet video -- such as TiVo Inc.'s digital video recorders -- haven't found a mass market either, analysts say.

What's the holdup? Generally speaking, the video players are just too complicated to hook up, too expensive and too limited in what they can do. There are skeptics, too, who think Internet video players are trying to solve a problem that simply doesn't exist -- especially as cable companies enhance on-demand video services.

The issue with these next-generation set-top boxes is they're hard to use, hard to install and the return on investment isn't particularly large because the content is available elsewhere.

Still, tech companies can't stay away from the idea, because of the booming popularity of Internet video. In August, Internet users in the U.S. viewed 9.13 billion online videos, up 26% from 7.24 billion in January, estimates research firm comScore Inc.

Users watched more than a quarter of those videos on Google Inc.'s YouTube, but online video from traditional entertainment companies is exploding, too. Over the past two years, broadcasters have begun streaming nearly all of their most popular shows free with advertisements on their Web sites. (A stream doesn't allow users to keep a permanent copy of the show.) NBC alone says it streamed 50 million shows from its site during October.

The solution is to blend the boxes (one set-top box) and keep it simple. Content must be accessed through both wired and wireless delivery infrastructures. The focus should be on HD programming

Key Assumptions:

TV must be the center of the consumer video experience, and today's service must be redefined
Access to broadcast content is critical for success
On demand, high def is in, linear, standard def is out
Open access to robust wireless networks will be prevalent
Advertising will be key value driver in the future
Price of storage is going to virtually zero;

The video entertainment service of the future -- one box, a TV, and many service providers (telcos, ISPs, portal etc.) which want, need, or aspire to be in the video business.

antweaver

GREEK FILM FESTIVALS SPREADING AROUND THE WORLD

Greek Films are Coming to a Theater Near You!

Greek film festivals will be held for the first time this year in Atlanta, United States and also Tampere, Finland. This comes on the heels of the Edingburgh Greek Festival in Scotland which was held a few weeks ago, and before a series of Greek Film Festivals that are about to kick off around the world. There has been a huge push by the Greek Film Center and local Greek Consulate offices around the world to push these film festivals.

For a list of upcoming Greek Film Festivals in 2008 please click on our handy link below: Greek Film Festivals 2008
antweaver