Day: October 18, 2013

Source: Dailymail

As Her Majesty’s goddaughter, she was  once tipped as a bride for Prince William. Now Princess Theodora is a star in the world’s most popular soap

Picture the scene: Her Majesty the Queen settling in for the afternoon, shoes off, TV on, chocolate biscuits at the ready, watching her goddaughter Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark on the popular American soap The Bold And The Beautiful.

‘It’s a very nice image,’ admits Theodora, ‘although somehow I don’t think the Queen is a big Bold And The Beautiful fan.

I should get some DVDs to her as it doesn’t air in the UK, but I think she’s probably too busy to watch.’

The Queen’s goddaughter Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark stars on the popular American soap The Bold And The Beautiful

The Queen may not have time to keep up with the most-watched soap opera in the world, but viewers in America have been treated to the sight of her goddaughter, an actress who goes by the stage name Theodora Greece, stalking the offices of the show’s resident baddie Bill Spencer (played by Don Diamont) as his trusted secretary, Alison.

The ups and downs of the Royal Family have often been likened to those of a soap opera; now one of their member has actually gone and joined one.

The daughter of the former King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, Theodora was born in 1983, ten years after the Greek monarchy was abolished and exiled.

The fourth of five children, she was raised in London and speaks with a perfect English accent. She made headlines as a baby when, after bursting into tears during her christening, Theodora was only quieted when her godmother calmed her down by stroking her forehead.

‘And ever since then she’s been a very hands-on godparent,’ says Theodora. ‘She’s always very interested in what I’m doing and encouraging. She has a great sense of humour too, and is a great personal inspiration to me because she’s such a tireless worker.

The Danish Royal Family and their guests arrive for a Galadinner at Christiansborg Palace

‘I don’t get to see her very much at all, maybe once a year, because I live in LA now and she’s so busy, but she’s very involved and full of good advice. And like all godparents, of course, she always gives great presents!’

Theodora grew up in Hampstead with Princes William and Harry as her playmates. ‘My father is William’s godfather and Princess Diana was my younger brother Philippos’ godmother, so we were all pretty close. We had lots of fun during the summer holidays and I just remember running around Highgrove and playing in the tree houses with them.’

She boarded at the all-girls Woldingham School in Surrey, and it was there that her passion for acting first flourished. ‘I was very shy when I was young,’ she says, ‘and so I started acting in school plays because I thought it might bring me out of my shell.

‘In my first play, I was Bugsy Malone and I loved it, I just never stopped. My parents loved coming to see me in things, especially my dad.’ The Queen, too, has always encouraged Theodora’s acting aspirations, which are coming to fruition after a series of small parts in independent films such as The Lightkeepers, with Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother Blythe Danner.

Pretty, blonde and bubbly, 29-year-old Theodora appears to have wandered in from Hollywood central casting and, given her royal lineage, directors must be falling over themselves to hire her. ‘Well, I’ve always gone to auditions as Theodora Greece, I try to stay anonymous. I’ll sometimes try and pass myself off as American too, just because I want to get parts because of my ability.’

Theodora went for the role of Alison last year thinking it would be a one-off part, ‘but they must have liked me because I’ve been there ever since.

She couldn’t make the Royal Wedding but watched it with her friends until 4am

Bill Spencer is the villain of the show and Alison gets to see what he’s up to. They have a sort of Bond-Moneypenny relationship and his evil ways rub off on Alison, so that’s fun to play.’

Having lived in Los Angeles for the past three years, Theodora missed this year’s Jubilee celebrations, ‘although I watched it all on BBC America’, she says.

But she did get back to watch the Olympics and says, ‘I absolutely loved the Bond sketch with the Queen. I thought it would have been a lookalike actress, so when she turned around I was shocked. She was a good sport and it’s a great example of her sense of humour.’

She only sees her godmother once a year but says she buys great Christmas presents

Of course, the Queen could have ended up as more than just a godmother to Theodora. As royalty (albeit exiled), the young girl was touted as a possible match for Prince William, something which amuses her even now. ‘I grew up knowing him, so I don’t think that was on the cards,’ she says.

‘My parents and elder brother [Crown Prince Pavlos] went to his wedding last year, but because I was in LA  I couldn’t go. But I did have one of my best friends over and we sat there at 4am watching it on TV.’

Theodora is currently single, but dating. And sounds far too busy for all that anyway, what with her soap work and an upcoming part in the big screen re-make of the 60s TV series The Big Valley, opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Lee Majors.

‘I was cast about a year and a half ago, so I hope the film finally gets made. I’d love to carry on doing what I’m doing and hopefully move on to making movies and getting leading roles. I may as well admit it,’ she says, ‘I’d love to win an Oscar one day. That’s my ultimate ambition.’

And as busy as she is, no doubt even Princess Theodora’s godmother would stay in to watch that particular event on TV.

The movie Kostas (1979, 90″), directed by Dutch-born filmmaker Paul Cox, will be screened at the Greek Film Society Sydney (GFSS).

Kostas (Takis Emmanuel) is an exiled journalist from Greece in the 1970s, and Carol (Wendy Hughes) a middle-class divorcee.

They meet by chance in Melbourne in Kostas’ taxi.

Despite the cultural and social divide, they fall in love.

The movie is an early feature from the Australian film revival that deals with a postwar cross-cultural story.
Filmed in Melbourne, Kostas is a love story in which a Greek and an Australian struggle with the barriers of their cultural differences.

It is set against a background of Melbourne’s Greek community and the lifestyle of an Anglo-Saxon divorcee.
When: Wednesday 16 October at 8.00 pm.
Where: The Greek Atlas Community and Cultural Centre, 96 Illawarra Road, Marrickville (Sydney).
For more information and a detailed program, check Greek Film Society Sydney’s blog http://greekfilmsocietysydney.com, or contact 0402 564 722 and 0450 155 194.

Melbourne’s Lonsdale Street is not much of a Greek precinct anymore, some say. It has become a pocket of Greek-themed shops, without the same soul of yesteryear when it was a thriving hub.
Still, for me, it’s the only place where – as if you were in Melbourne’s sister city Thessaloniki – you’ll have your most memorable night out with the sounds of rembetika. The sum of ten tables gather around musicians at Tsindos tavern and the night begins.
For the last three years, Tsindos tavern has been featuring unconventional and spontaneous rembetika nights, every Wednesday. 

The day is set, yes, but the spontaneity and unstaged feel with which the Rembetika Quartet play is inevitable.
Their audience is those in love with rembetika. Without a doubt, it is a niche one; everyone can listen to rembetika, but not everyone can live its lyrics.
Sometimes it’s just random tourists who pass the tavern and wish to be a part of the warm atmosphere taking place behind Tsindos’ windows that face Lonsdale street.
With a limited number of tables – or at least the tables in the close proximity of the bouzouki, baglama, oud and guitar, and mesmerizing voice of Jenny Theologidis – you can expect to be turned away from the door if you don’t come early.
If you come to a Rembetika Quartet show more than once, and then they don’t see you for a while, be prepared to answer the unpleasant question – where have you been for so long? It is a kind of loyalty that runs between the musicians and the faithful audience. It is not talked about; it’s implied. And once you hear Con Kalamaras, Jenny Theologidis, Wayne Simmons and ‘Borsta’, the current members of Rembetika Quartet, playing, you just want to stay loyal to them.
Just as those who wrote and sang rembetika songs in 1920s Greece stayed loyal to their burnt homes and uprooted past in Asia Minor.
“It’s a really good parea,” Con Kalamaras tells Neos Kosmos about the group he has been playing with the last three years.
“We play rembetika from the 1920s to 1950s. We share the same interests, and YouTube links and new songs as well. The number of songs that we have learnt together is incredible,” Con says, with the excitement of a child in his voice.
With some members of the quartet having full-time jobs, it is after hours that they pursue their musical passion through rembetika. Their rehearsals consist of learning how to play new songs through YouTube links they send to each other. The songs are ones they have a special bond with, or songs that their fans – as far away as the UK – ask them to play. The practice comes to fruition every Wednesday – as the performance is, as Con says, worth ten rehearsals.
“We try to practice, but normally we just send each other the links, and we just decide what key we are going to play the song in, and that’s it. And every time when we play – it’s a premiere, even for us.”
Though he works at a radio station as a marketing and events manager, Con says it is the passion that gets you out of bed in the morning. In the case of Rembetika Quartet – it’s rembetika in its purest form.
It comes as a surprise once you witness their impeccable performance, to find out that it was given by Melbourne-born Con, Jenny and Borsta; and one Aussie, Wayne Simmons, who is, as Con puts it, more Greek than Greeks.
“I just think the music and lyrics are so beautiful, and it’s far beyond anything coming out now. Even the recordings from the ’20s and ’30s, they almost make you want to cry. Maybe it reflects the hardships that people who wrote or performed the songs went through.”
The Greek urban music, that grew out of particular urban circumstances, rembetika resonates with the crowd. Its lyrics reflect the harsh realities – crime, drink, drugs, poverty, prostitution as well as death, displacement, exile and nostalgia.
“When you have people that have been ripped out of their homes, and they are singing about it – then I believe it. With any art form, if I’m not convinced, I’m just not interested. And that’s what I like about rembetika,” Con says.
Three things have been consistent in the quartet’s career at Tsindos – their love for rembetika, their faithful audience and the choice of rembetika song they play. Alongside celebrated rembetika songs, the quartet tends to play the more rare and less known ones. That’s their way, Con says, not only to bring back ’20s and ’30s rembetika but also to, very importantly, strike a balance.
“You can introduce people to music they wouldn’t have heard of. We get to play the music that suits the audience, but on the other hand you don’t want to play just cheesy music to make everybody happy.”
“You never know who is going to be in the audience; even if it’s only one person, you have to make sure you play as for 20,000 people.”
Rembetika Quartet performs live at Tsindos tavern (197 Lonsdale Street) every Wednesday from 7.30 pm. To watch them perform on YouTube, visit their YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/rebetikamusicmelb/videos

Source: cbsnews

Diana Costarakis

MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – Diana Costarakis, a 70-year-old Florida woman, was arrested after soliciting an undercover detective to kill her daughter-in-law, authorities said.

Costarakis, of Middleburg, was being held without bond in the Duval County Jail on Saturday on charges of criminal solicitation and criminal conspiracy, both capital felony crimes, jail records show. She is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 31. The records did not list any attorney for her.

According to a police report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Costarakis offered an undercover detective $5,000 on Wednesday when they first met at a Home Depot. She gave him $500 as the first payment as well as a photo of the daughter-in-law, her address, and a description of her car, the report said. Costarakis gave the detective another $1,000 on Thursday and told him her daughter-in-law wore diamonds and other expensive jewelry that could be stolen and sold, with the proceeds being used toward the final payment. The diamonds could not be traced, she told the detective, according to the report.

When asked if Costarakis wanted her daughter-in-law dead, she said, “If you don’t, I will,” according to the police report.

She was later taken into custody.

Costarakis told police that her daughter-in-law was a drunk and a bad mother to her 6-year-old granddaughter, the police report said.

Angela Costarakis told CBS affiliate WTEV that she had no idea her mother-in-law wanted her dead.

“She just told me three weeks ago, gave me a big old hug and said, ‘I’m glad we’re great friends,'” Angela Costarakis said.

She said the incident has disrupted her whole world and she feels sorry that her daughter will be the one that is affected most.

“She loves her grandmother,” she said.

The police report said Diana Costarakis claimed her daughter-in-law was leaving her son and moving to Denver with her granddaughter. Angela Costarakis told another station, WJXT, that wasn’t true.