Ramblings of a 70-year old: Greece

Sunday, October 16, 2022

This year’s London Film Festival closed with ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a sequel to the 2019 movie “Knives Out” starring Daniel Craig. He was in the role of detective Benoit Blanc. On the closing day of this year's London Film Festival, the stars expressed happiness at seeing the film industry return to form after the pandemic. While interacting with a section of the media Daniel Craig said – "It's just wonderful to be here at the London Film Festival on the closing night. Especially with the standard of film this year, which has been so amazing - to be in that number is just exceptional." Apart from Daniel, others in the cast include Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae. Incidentally, Greece was one of the locations chosen for the shooting. That helped the actors to bond better. In the words of Craig - "I mean, it was an amazing experience. We were under lockdown, so we were kind of restricted in our movements so we couldn't really go very many places. It was about 150 degrees in the shade, but, you know, those are high class problems." Daniel Craig tells of filming new Knives Out movie in Greece during lockdown at London Film Festival. Kate Hudson, who portrays the role of a former supermodel turned designer, said the cast got on brilliantly. In her words - "It was good fun, with a lot of hard work in between, you know?" However, we were a good work-hard, play-hard cast, so we were very well suited for each other, we had really good times. It was COVID, so it kind of forced us to have to play with each other for three months, so we ended up getting really close and it was really fun."

Writer and director Rian Johnson had brought out the first “Knives Out” to the London Film Festival three years ago. About working with Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, he said, “it's absolutely kind of a director's dream, made my job very easy." Early reviews for the film are very positive and the attention now turns to the third. In 2021, Netflix concluded a deal for two Knives Out sequels. It was reportedly worth almost £400m. Rian Johnson says he and Craig are very happy to keep going. Audiences in the UK will have to wait a little longer for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” It will not hit the cinemas in the UK until November, and will come on Netflix the following month.

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Greece depended entirely on renewable energy for five hours on a single day and used solar, wind and hydroelectric power

It was a fantastic achievement for Greece when it depended entirely on renewable energy like solar, wind and hydroelectric power for five hours on a single day. IPTO, the country's independent power transmission operator, confirmed production of adequate electricity for five hours beginning at 9am local time (7am UK time). It was a first in the history of the Greek electricity system when renewable energy sources covered 100 percent of the demand. The country has ambitious plans to more than double its green energy capacity and hopes renewables will account for at least 70 percent of its energy mix by 2030. Tilos, part of the Dodecanese group of islands, is also progressing on similar lines. It plans to run entirely on renewable energy under a project funded by the European Union and private investment. For five hours last week Greece ran entirely on electricity from solar, wind and water. Nikos Mantzaris is a partner at think tank the Green Tank. He says the performance was important. This was because "it shows that a 100% renewable electricity system is within reach in Greece, a concept that was considered impossible by most opinion and decision makers in Greece before."

Nikos Mantzaris goes on to add that the road for the deployment of renewables in Greece during the last decade has not been smooth. However, it is possible to have an electricity system with increasing shares of renewables. Only, it has to get the support of an infrastructure comprising energy storage technologies and adequate grids. Moreover, it is economically preferable when compared to electricity produced by lignite or gas, even if one includes the cost of storage. Incidentally, Greece is serious about reining in renewable energy in place of fossil fuels. According to electricity data from Ember, an independent think tank, Greece generated 39.4 percent of its electricity from renewables last year, including 19.8 percent from wind, 9.9 percent from hydro and 8.9 percent from solar. The Renewable Target for 2030 is 70 percent renewable electricity for the whole year. The aim of Portugal by 2030 is 100 percent, the Netherlands 97 percent and Germany 80 percent.