title, what title?

The Enthusiastic Larry in Starbucks

2012-02-13T08:59:00.001+01:00

This is very good by the way, thank you. It's a coffee latte? What is that, milk and coffee? Milk and coffee! Who would have thought? Milk and coffee, oh my god! What a drink! It's milk and coffee mixed together. We gotta go there, sit down, have a donut, have a bagel!!

After the first two seasons I can say with confidence that this is almost as good as the real thing.

Kim looking at Döner

2012-01-24T09:17:00.001+01:00

Chicken döner from the look of it. For more hilarious pictures of the Great Leader looking at things:

http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/

Dört Kıta, Üç Ülke, Onlarca Şehir'de Aynı Nakarat

2011-12-19T09:32:00.001+01:00

Geçen Cumartesi bir aile büyüğünden şu kısa hikayeyi dinledim:

Tanrı'ya şeytan ile insanı sormuşlar:
İkisini de ben yarattım, Şeytan'dan değil İnsan'dan korkarım demiş.

Şans eseri bir gün sonra yayınlanan Behzat Ç'nin yaratılanların en canisi, en vahşisi insanların ülkemizdeki vukuatlarından 80li yıllara denk gelenlerini konu etmişti. Kurtlar Vadisi, Yıldız Masalı, Kuzey Güney, Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne gibi "gerçekçi" ve "değerli" dizilerin yapımcıları alınmasın ama Türk televizyonlarında belki de sinemalarında görmeye alışmadığımız gerçeklikte işkence görüntülerinin arasında insan doğasının vahşet kadar ayrılmaz parçası olan evlat sevgisi üzerinden ilerledi hikaye.

Aklıma U2 İstanbul konseri sonrası blog'a eklediğim ve U2'nun beni en çok etkileyen şarkısı geldi: Kaybolanların Anneleri.

Kaybolanlarin Anneleri
U2
Geceyarisi,
Ogullarimizi, kizlarimizi kopardilar aldilar bizden.
Hala kalp atislarini duyariz,
Kalp atislarini...

Rüzgar getirir bize gülüslerini,
Ve yagmur da gözyaslarini.
Kalp atislarini duyariz,
Kalp atislarini...

Gece asilmistir, bir tutsak gibi,
Kapkara ve masmavi.
Kalp atislarini duyariz,
Kalp atislarini...

Agaclarda ciplak ve asilidir ogullarimiz,
Duvarlar ardindan aglar kizlarimiz,
Yagmur getiri bize gözyaslarini...

Behzat Ç o blog girdisinde sorduğum soruyu yeniden hatırlattı bana:

"Söyle ey Başbakan: Nerede bu annelerin oğulları?"

Ve de Bandista'nın 4 kıta'nın annelerine yazdığı şu şarkıyı tanıttı:

Emeği geçenlere teşekkürler.

Im Memoriam ...

2011-12-16T07:50:00.000+01:00

Christopher Hitchens
1949–2011

He did not go gently into the that good night...

Together we stand, divided we fall

2011-12-13T10:38:00.000+01:00

Things are about to get even rougher for Europe. And no, I do not feel any Schadenfreude. Just feeling sad as my cynicism about politics grows and grows and grows.

Meat Is Murder Vol.2

2011-12-05T09:35:00.000+01:00

Avrupa Futbol Şampiyonası öncesi canlı canlı ateşe atılan ya da yavrularını emzirirken başından vurulan köpeklerin fotoğraflarını görmüşsünüzdür. Ülkeye para akıtacak Batı Avrupalı turistçikler korkmasın diye yaşanan bu vahşeti önlemek için dinleyecekleri her ne kadar şaibeli olsa da Ukrayna hükümetinin dikkatine açılan bu imza kampanyasını destekleyebilirsiniz.

Eğer köpeklerin öldürülmesi sizi üzüyorsa, bir seferliğine de neden köpeklere misal kuzulardan, tavuklardan ya da buzağılardan daha fazla değer verdiğinizi sorgulamanızı rica ederim.

Süt kuzusu demişken etin nerden geldiğini de unutmamak gerek.

Beşiktaş - Galatasaray maçının ardından aklımda kalan

2011-11-20T20:33:00.000+01:00

Seanpennnevagio

2011-11-19T17:21:00.001+01:00

Being the geek I am, I insisted on our library to be arranged alphabetically. Randomly, two books about Sean Penn and Caravaggio landed next to each other.

So to celebrate two great artists, here is my favorite Carravagio painting:

And my favorite Sean Penn film:

How to fit 22 players in the penalty area

2011-11-04T09:19:00.005+01:00

"Bana hep insanın akli bir varlık olduğu ögretildi,
Ama bundan hep kuşku duydum,
Çünkü aşk var hayatta, özveri var, feragat var,
Acı çekmek var, kısacası nedensizlik var,
Ve bunların en iyi ifadesi akıl dışılıktır,
Beşiktaş,
Futbolun akıldışı yanlarıyla övünmek,
Bunlarla gurur duymaktır."

"I was taught that man is a rational creation,
But I was always skeptical,
Since there are things in life like
Love, devotion, sacrifice, pain
All without a reason,
And all of these things are best expressed as irrationality,
Beşiktaş is to praise the irrationality in football,
Beşiktaş is to be proud of the irrationality in football."

Zeki Demirkubuz - Director

Link to the video.

A Belated Happy Birthday to El D10S

2011-10-31T13:03:00.000+01:00

... who replied my prayers yesterday...

If you watch this without a tear in your eyes, you gotta reconsider your love for football...

Savaş Ustaları

2011-10-21T08:29:00.004+02:00

Haddim olmayan, bilmediğim sularda spekülasyon yapıyor olacağım. Televizyon seyretmediğim için geceleri o kanal senin bu kanal benim dolaşan eski subayların belki de değindikleri noktaya değiniyor olacağım belki de.

Radikal kaynaklı, gazetenin çatışmaya katılan uzman çavuş bir jandarma ile yaptığı röportajdan bir alıntı (haber kaynağı):

"Bu esnada korucuların bulunduğu mevzilerden karakola yoğun bir ateş açıldığını gördük. Bize gelen ilk bilgiye göre, mevzilerden ateş açanların terörist değil, korucu olduğuydu. Fakat daha sonra öğrendik ki, korucular iki gün önce kendi mevzilerini bırakıp yukarıda bulunan üs bölgesine geçmişler.”

Askeri bilgim olduğundan değil, düz bir mantıkla Şu sonuca varıyorum: kalesini savunmak için işbirliği yaptığı bir grubun yerini değiştirdiğini bir kaç gün sonra öğreniyorsa Türk ordusu, sorun bugünün, sorun Dağlıca'nın sorunu değildir. Sorun sistematiktir.

Politika ve askeriye, her saldırıdan sonra gelen toplumsal omur ilik tepkilerinin ötesinde, bu sistematik soruna, sistematik bir çözüm önerisinin uygulaması ile cevap vermez ise gelecek son bahar yine benzer bir baskın yaşanabilir. Bu da zaten kaplumbağa hızıyla ilerleyen barış sürecinin yeniden sekteye uğramasına neden olacaktır.

Tüm bunlar olurken unutmamak gereken nokta, iki tarafta da gençler ölürken yine birilerinin para kazanıyor olduğudur. Taraflar arasında empatinin sıfır olduğu böyle bir ortamda bunu söylemek bile tepki çekebiliyor. İşte tam bu anlarda Masters of War'ı dinlemek içimdeki öfkeye tercüman oluyor. Bir gün hep bir ağızdan silah tüccarlarının ve bu silahları kullandırtanların, yani Savaş Ustaları'nın yüzüne bakıp bu sözleri haykırdığımızı hayal etmek istiyorum. Ne yazık ki bu günler çok uzak gözüküyor bana.

Bob Dylan ile çok sıkmış olabilirim, Pearl Jam coverını paylaştım yukarıda. Gençlerin kanlarının toprağı sulamadığı günler umuduyla Sözlerinin bir kısmını da çevirmeye çalıştım:

Çıkın karşıma, Savaş Ustaları,
Ölüm tüfeklerinin,
Ölüm uçaklarının,
Koca bombaların,
Kalın duvarların,
Büyük masaların,
Ardında saklanan Ustaları,
Bilin istiyorum ki,
Görüyorum maskelerinizin ardını.

...

Başkaları çeksin diye,
Kurarsınız tetiği,
Çekilip geri,
İzlersiniz ölü sayılarının artışını,
Saraylarınıza saklanırken,
Genç insanların kanı,
Boşalır vücutlarından,
Sular toprakları.

...

Umarım ölürsünüz,
Ve yakın olur ölümünüz,
Solgun bir akşamüstü,
İndirilirken mezarınıza doğru,
Takip edeceğim tabutunuzu,
Öldüğünüze inana kadar,
Ezeceğim ölü toprağınızı.

Like a Zombie

2011-10-04T10:06:00.000+02:00

I am devouring the pages of the book like a newly risen undead devours human flesh. Seriously, if you are remotely interested in post apocalypse and/or zombie genres, get a hold of this book.

Bir Sıfatın Önlenemez Yükselişi: "Keyifli"

2011-09-16T12:05:00.002+02:00

Özellikle ikinci grafiğe dikkat etmek gerek. İçinde keyif ve keyifli kelimesi bulunan haberlerin sayısını gösteren bir Google trends grafiği. Artık midemi bulandıran keyifli sıfatının son yılların bir ürünü olduğuna dair kanımı güçlendiriyor. Adını unuttuğum bir Türk müzik eleştirmeninin dediği gibi "hiç kimse iyi şeyler yapmak peşinde değil, herkes keyifli şeyler yapmak peşinde." Muhafazakar Şovenist Hedonist Cumhuriyetine hoşgeldiniz.

Valerie Solanas ne güzel yazmış:

Unable to relate or to love, the male must work. Females crave absorbing, emotionally satisfying, meaningful activity, but lacking the opportunity or ability for this, they prefer to idle and waste away their time in ways of their own choosing — sleeping, shopping, bowling, shooting pool, playing cards and other games, breeding, reading, walking around, daydreaming, eating, playing with themselves, popping pills, going to the movies, getting analyzed, traveling, raising dogs and cats, lolling about on the beach, swimming, watching TV, listening to music, decorating their houses, gardening, sewing, nightclubbing, dancing, visiting, `improving their minds' (taking courses), and absorbing `culture' (lectures, plays, concerts, `arty' movies). Therefore, many females would, even assuming complete economic equality between the sexes, prefer living with males or peddling their asses on the street, thus having most of their time for themselves, to spending many hours of their days doing boring, stultifying, non-creative work for someone else, functioning as less than animals, as machines, or, at best — if able to get a `good' job — co-managing the shitpile.

Solanas'ınki kadın/erkek ayrımı kısmı dışında çok yerinde bir tespit. Kadın erkek ayrımı derken kasıt hem erkeklere hem kadınlara atfettiği özellikler iki cins tarafından da paylaşılan özellikler bnk.

3 Vegetarian Anthems

2011-09-07T12:03:00.003+02:00

The Smiths - Meat is Murder

"this beautiful creature must die,
this beautiful creature must die,
a death for no reason,
and death for no reason is murder."

A Tribe Called Quest - Ham'n'Eggs

"Asparagus tips look yummy, yummy, yummy
Candied yams inside my tummy
A collage of good eats, some snacks or nice treats
Apple sauce and some nice red beets
This is what we snack on when we're Questin'"

Call Any Vegetable - Frank Zappa

"This is a song about vegetables

They keep you regular,

And they are really good for you"

Happy Birthday Freddie Mercury, and thank you Google!

2011-09-05T07:42:00.001+02:00

Go to google.com, and watch the best doodle animation ever. And then read this post by Dr. Brian May on Freddie Mercury.

I Don't Want To Be Human

2011-09-04T19:44:00.000+02:00

Here is a video of supersonic streams of hot gas coming out of young stars, as observed by Hubble:

And here is the video of NASA's Cassini probe approaching Saturn:

These terrific videos remind me of the memorable passage in Battlestar Galactica, where the most intellectual of the different Cylons - robots in form of humans- resents his creators for giving him a human body and human soul:

Ellen: The five of us designed you to be as human as possible.
John: I DON'T WANT TO BE HUMAN! I want to see gamma rays! I want to hear X-rays, and I -- I want to -- I want to smell dark matter! Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can't even express these things properly because I have to -- I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language! But I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me! I'm a machine, and I could know much more, I could experience so much more, BUT I'M TRAPPED IN THIS ABSURD BODY! AND WHY? Because my five creators thought that Godwanted it that way!

By the way, I guess I wouldn't be mistaken, if I read the conceptualization of ideas in spoken language part as a nod to Wittgenstein. Damn, that series was so good!

Gute Deutsche Musik

2011-08-17T18:12:00.002+02:00

Meine ABF beklagt sich über meine sich verschlimmernde Deutsch. Um meine Deutschkenntnisse fit zu halten, versuche ich mehr Musik auf Deutsch zu hören. Und jedes mal merke ich wieder, wie weltklassig Die Toten Hosen eigentlich ist. Es ist sehr schade, dass sie auf der internationalen Bühne nicht den Ruf genießen, den sie eigentlich verdienen. Hier ist ein sehr witziges Lied, das die Geschichte eines normalen Abends bei einer Hausparty erzählt, wie eine Live Fußball Übertragung.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

2011-08-09T12:09:00.002+02:00

No other poem describes the dismal state that the world is in right now:

"TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

from the legendary poem Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.

Mixed-Up Confusion: How I solved Mac Book Air's Wireless Disconnection Problem

2011-08-08T12:23:00.005+02:00

That the world is screwed should not be news for you. People are dying of hunger in Somalia, riots break out in London, political fringe groups in the USA set the agenda for the whole wide world and the we-know-it-all politicans in Europe are driving the contient to bankrupcy. People are looking for safeheavens.

If there is a safeheaven, speaking financially, it must be Apple Inc. You've probably read already, that it has more cash than the American government. Yet, even with Apple there is something that is not right...

When I was coding for a research project back in the old days of my PHD, we were working with a modified Mobile IP stack. Not only the code itself was in development phase, but also we were modifying the code here and there to match our needs. For sometime we observed a weird phenomenon. Everything worked fine as long as there was some traffic between the clients and the server. As soon as the traffic died out, we had to restart everything from scracth.

As it was customary for such R&D projects, there was a demo coming in a few days, so we had to come up with a quick and dirty solution. We wrote a shell script that pinged the server every now and then to solve the problem. We knew it was a lousy solution and we had to solve the actual problem. And thats what we did eventually.

My girlfriend bought a shiny Mac Book Air recently. Everything worked fine, except the one thing that has to work bullet proof in Mac Book Airs: Wi-Fi. See, Mac Book Airs don't have ethernet connections, they work on Wi-Fi only. No Wi-Fi no internet. No internet, to system updates...

For some reason, our Mac Book disconnected and searched for an alternative access point at random intervals, even though there was nothing wrong with the signal quality.

The first entry on Apple forums on this issue is dated March 18 2008 [link to the entry]. Come 2011, there is still no official fix [link to the current questions]. I tried everyhing in this troubleshooting webpage[link] (not by Apple), from giving a static IP address to flushing DNS cache without any success.

So I tried out keeping the connection alive solution (called a heartbeat in geek talk), and the problem melted away. I wrote a simple shell script:

#!/bin/bash
ping -i 5 -n 192.168.1.1

and saved it as a shell file (pinger.sh). If you run this file with the terminal application, it pings the wireless AP every five seconds.

I still can't believe how Apple can let a bug go unfixed this long, that resembles the bugs I had when I was a PHD student, and be the richest organization in the world. Surely there are millions of annoying bugs that goe unfixed. There is definetely a Mixed-Up Confusion somewhere!

I am a teenage lobotomy

2011-08-05T14:29:00.000+02:00

Guess I'll have to break the news
That I got no mind to lose.
Gonna get my Ph.D.
I'm a Teenage Lobotomy!

R.I.P. Dee Dee, Johhny, Joey Ramone...

Life as a series of dreams

2011-08-01T09:22:00.001+02:00

I am aware of the danger, that my blog will look like a Dylan fundamentalist website, to someone who's only read the last 2 months posts. Maybe I am a Dylan fundamentalist, but as anyone who's listened to Dylan, or read good poetry, his songs act more as a medium in which one can find not the answers, but other questions that put the original question in a broader perspective.

I had written about a peculiar Dylan song, which did not make it to any "studio" albums, called "The Series of Dreams" earlier [link to the earlier post]. To this day I am not sure, what kind of dreams Dylan is referring to. The key question is, how does one know that one is not dreaming? I am not trying to go down the Matrix path. How do we know that our perception is different when we are dreaming? Maybe, a series of dreams are not just series of dreams, but a metaphor for life itself? Or even one step further, life IS a series of dreams? Or what do our dreams say of our experience of the "real world"?

These are the questions I am currently pondering on, after reading the review of Eric Schwitzgebel's new book "Perplexities of Consciousness" on New York Times [link to the review]. Asked if you dream in color or in black and white, you would probably reply color. Amazingly in 1950's people were reporting that they were dreaming in black and white. They were simply looking for an analogue to classify their dreams, and the only available ones were black and white films they were watching. This is incredible. Because it leads to the central question of the book:

"What exactly is my experience?" If exactly means simply, this question is one to which there's no good answer.

There are many more questions in my mind than answers. I am eager to get a hold of this book, and read it with Dylan in the background.

Kalıcı olan herşey buharlaşırken...

2011-07-14T12:28:00.003+02:00

Alman Punk grubu Die Toten Hosen'ın futbol sevgisi has bir futbol sevgisidir. Taraftarı oldukları Fortuna Düsseldorf'un kötü günlerinde takıma kendi ceplerinden yabancı oyuncu almışlıkları vardır.Yaptıkları en güzel şarkılardan biri Almanya'nın en sevilmeyen klübü Bayern Münich'e saydırdıkları Bayerndir BNK. Kapısını çalan Uli Hoeness'e kapıyı açmayan 20 yaşında süper yetenekli bir futbolcunun hikayesini anlatan bu şarkı esasen futbolun ya da taraftarlığın hayattaki yerini felsefi olarak irdeler:

Bu dünyada tutanacak,
Bir şey yoktur çok fazla,
Bazıları aşk derler,
belki biraz haklı olarak,
En sonunda Tanrı vardır,
yoksa hiçbirşeye inanacak.

Beşiktaş'ı ben tam da buraya konumlandırıyordum, tıpkı Fenerli, Galatasaraylı, Trabzonlu arkadaşlarım gibi: Tutunalacak çok şeyin olmadığı dünyada benden öte nedensiz sevebildiğim bir olgu olarak. Senelerdir görmezden gelmeye çalıştığım bir gelişme ise dün gelen haber ile önüme kondu. Benim gibi milyonlarca insanın bir araya gelip oluşturdukları bu sevgi çoktan -başka her sevgimiz gibi- ticaret nesnesi olmuş ve ticaretin her dalında olduğu gibi birileri bu nesneleri haksız kazançları için kullanmışlardı. Bunun böyle olacağını/olduğunu biliyordum. Çünkü bir zamanlar Komünist Manifesto'yu okumuştum:

"Temel ve kalıcı olan herşey buharlaşıyor, kutsal olan herşey lekeleniyor, ve insanlar en sonunda hayattaki yerlerini, karşılıklı ilişkilerini ayık gözlerle görmeye zorlanıyorlar."

"Alles Ständische und Stehende verdampft, alles Heilige wird entweiht, und die Menschen sind endlich gezwungen, ihre Lebensstellung, ihre gegenseitigen Beziehungen mit nüchternen Augen anzusehen."

Artık futbolun hayatımızdaki yerini, bu yerin başkalarınca kullanılmasına ne kadar izin vereceğimizi yeniden gözden geçirme zamanıdır. Bu açıdan Forzabeşiktaş'ın açılışına koyduğu açıklamayı sonuna kadar destekliyorum (resmin uzerine basarsanız daha buyuk goruntuleyebilirsiniz):

Sabahtan beri blogları okuyorum. Hangi blogda gördüğümü hatırlayamıyorum. Sahibi cümlemi kullanmamı bağışlasın. 8-0'da bile utanmamıştık, şimdi utanıyoruz demiş. 8-0'ı Liverpool'da yaşamıştım. En ufak utanma dahi duymamış, havaalanında futbolculara moral vermeye çalışmıştım. Sahaya çıkıp oynarsın, 6 da yersin, 8 de. Ama karşı tarafın oyuncusunu oynatmamaya çalışmak en kibar tabir ile küçük beyinlilik olur. Ibrahim Akın itiraf etmiş, teknik takip delilleri var deniliyor medyada. Iddaname'de herşey açığa çıkacak. O nedenle Adalı ve Tayfur için söyleyeceklerimi sonraya saklıyorum.

Beşiktaş'lı blogların başlattığı bir kampanyaya da destek veriyor, sizi de bekliyorum. Bu iddalar altında Süper Kupa oynamak tüm futbol taraftarlarının duyguları ile dalga geçmek olur. Bu maçı seyretmiyorum siz de seyretmeyin.

Bu arada iki senedir blogumdan indirmediğim şu resmi yeniden sizlerle paylaşmak isterim:

An odyssey begins...

2011-07-11T09:42:00.001+02:00

Let's see if the book will captivate me as much as Marilyn Monroe.

İstanbul tarihindeki spor ayaklanmaları

2011-07-10T20:09:00.000+02:00

günün anlam ve önemi üzerine:

http://actoker.blogspot.com/2010/03/kitlelerin-anfetamini-dogu-romada.html

Ekonomiye bak, saftirik!

2011-06-13T09:30:00.000+02:00

Bill Clinton'un Baba Bush'u devirdiği seçim öncesi dünyanın değiştiği günler yaşanıyordu. Sovyetler Birliği yıkılmış, Irak-İran savaşı bitmiş Amerika şu günlerde yavaş yavaş el çekmek zorunda kaldığı dünya polisçiliği oyununa iyice dalmıştı.

Bill Clinton'un stratejistlerinden James Carville Arkansas Little Rock'daki seçim merkezinin beyaz tahtasına artık klişeleşmiş şu sözleri yazdı:

"It's the economy stupid!"

Dış sorunlarla halkı oyalayan baba Bush'a karşı altın ok'un resesyona giren ekonomi oluğunu, bunu görmemenin aptallık olacağını söylemek istiyordu. Aynı dönemde Positivist Amerikan siyaset biliminin bazı önde gelenleri iktidar partilerinin seçim performansları ile seçimden hemen önceki ekonomik başarı algısı arasında bir korelasyon kuruyorlardı.

Seçmenin ekonomik başarı algısını değiştirmek iktidar partisinin yapabilecekleri arasında olduğu için muhalefet partilerinin işini zorlaştıran bir durum bu. Bu açıdan CHP'nin aldığı sonuç kötü bir sonuç değil kanımca. Ama CHP bir sonraki seçimde oyunu arttırmak istiyorsa Carrvile'in sözünü aklında tutmalı.

Seçim öncesi en büyük ekonomik açılımı aile sigortasıydı. Bence Türk toplumunun şu anki psikolojisi ile örtüşen bir öneri değildi. Artık seçmenler fakir kaldığında kendine ödenecek parayı değil, zengin olunca cebine girecek parayı önemsiyor. CHP doğaya saygılı uzun vadeli alternatif bir kalkınma modeli bulmalı ve bunu seçmene iyi anlatmalı. Çünkü bir sonraki seçime "yeni" Kılıçdaroğlu "yeni" CHP kartıyla çıkamayacaklar.

Happy Towel Day

2011-05-25T15:03:00.000+02:00

Festivities continue

2011-05-25T10:03:00.000+02:00

A bright side of being a Dylan fan is his tremendous artistic output means you can always make new discoveries. Here is a song that appeared in the soundtrack of Wonder Boys, which was awarded an Oscar in 2000. Not that he cared...

Dylan turns 70

2011-05-24T08:25:00.001+02:00

Let us celebrate our modern p(r)o(ph)ets 70th birthday with the songs of two of his admirers, David Bowie and Syd Barrett. Though Syd Barret might have pulled a Dylan on Dylan.

You gave your heart to every bedsit room
At least a picture on my wall
And you sat behind a million pair of eyes
And told them how they saw
Then we lost your train of thought
The paintings are all your own
While troubles are rising
We'd rather be scared
Together than alone

I'm a poet,
Don't you know it?
And the wind you can blow it.
Cause I am Mr. Dylan, the King,
And I am free as a bird on the wing.

Meanwhile in another part of the galaxy...Habemus Philosophiae Doctor!

2011-05-23T11:49:00.000+02:00

After waiting 4 Months for my defense, and another 2 months for the University to issue my Urkunde, I may declare with joy:

Habemus Philosophiae Doctor!

Those interested, may read the abstract on:
http://opus.kobv.de/tuberlin/volltexte/2011/3000/pdf/toker_ahmet.pdf

Hunched over a typewriter, you'd call it painting in a cave

2011-04-14T23:00:00.001+02:00

When a great musician saw the potential of vinyl long plays in distributing music cheaply and efficiently, he remarked something in the line of "I can't imagine all the crap that will be produced and sold under the name of music." Unfortunately, I cannot recall who made this remark. But history proved he was right.

However, the technological improvements that started with LPs had an effect not only on the quality of the music. Even timeless compositions such as Mahler's Sixth or Stravinsky's Agon had to suffer.

Trying to get rid of the musical Whiggist in me, I sometimes imagine myself listening to the compositions as someone who lived around the time they were first composed. This Gedankenexperiment showed me that LPs and mp3s stole from us something that I call the "wow efect."

Imagine your favorite composition, or the song. Imagine you heard it for the first time, when a orchestra or the band came to your town, and you were struck by the composition or the song. The melody, the rhythm, the vocals, the solos were stuck in your mind. But you had to wait a year, or travel miles to find the opportunity to listen to the composition again... This would have definitely driven me crazy.

Last Monday, I was fortunate enough to have a similar experience. We watched Werner Herzog's -imho- life changing documentary "Cave of ForgottenDreams" in 3D, during Istanbul Film Festival. Let me try to explain a little more.

The documentary is about the Chauvet Cave in France. This cave hosts the oldest cave paintings known to modern humans, dating back to 30 000 (30 thousand years) ago. It was shut of from the outside world after a rock collapse few thousand years ago. It was discovered by brave cave explorers who were curious enough to descent into a black unknown through a shaft that is just wide enough for a human to pass.Thats how the paintings were preserved until this day.

Understandably, the entrance to the cave is limited only to scientist. Werner Herzog obtained a rare permit to film in the cave, and may have produced the one and only documentary on the cave available to a large audience. He was very well aware of his "duty" to his fellow human companions, who cannot go in the caves and experience the timeless art.

He shot in 3D. He had to, and he did it. It was the first time that I was glad that the movie was in 3D. I guess its not even right to call this work of art and science a movie. It is more of an experience, the best tour available of the cave and the incredible paintings. It is also the best way of trying to experience the true vastness of time.

Like someone attended a Mahler premiere in Wien at the turn of the 20th century, I am struck by the beauty and timelessness of the paintings and the documentary. I am willing to wait another year to see the documentary again, or to travel to watch it once more.

The painting above is the first abstract painting in human history. Its the painting of a bison, made entirely by red human hands. Just like Bright Eyes said:

Painting in a cave, guess you would call it typing over a laptop in modern days...

The Curious Case of Sogus

2011-03-31T16:20:00.004+02:00

Our search for locating the ultimate Turkish street food, söğüş (read soe -gh -ues) in Istanbul started online after reading this post on Istanbuleats. The address given there is Kalyoncu Kulluk caddesi. Don't start typing it in your GPS software now. Cause the municipalities in Istanbul change names of the streets faster than any software. The name of the street on which Muammer Usta's sogus stand is located has a new name now. Don't ask me what the new name is, since it's relatively hard to find your way by looking at street names around Taksim.

Best way to find it is to look for the entrance of the Balık Pazarı (Fishermans Market) on Istiklal caddesi.

Then walk to the end of the end of the street, asking where Asmaaltı cafe is in case you -like us- are not able to follow a straight line. Left of the cafe, there is a very modest stand, which ,according to its owner Muammer Usta, is the mother of all sogus stands.

Sogus is served on paper towels. Don't forget that in Istanbul - maybe in Turkey- the taste of the food is inversely proportional to how splendid it is served. Unlike Izmir, there are no sandwich breads involved, meaning you get more of the good stuff. Brain is also not normally included. We were lucky to find 2 pieces. Head meat, Parsley, onions, cumin and chili promises you bliss.

According to Muammer Usta, kelle sogus comes from the remote Anatolian city of Nigde. His family have been preparing kelle sogus in Istanbul since 1890. After a family argument one of his great uncle moved to Izmir, and starting the sogus craze there.

From Queen to Japan

2011-03-16T18:01:00.002+01:00

This one goes out to all the Japanese people who've lost loved ones to the black daemon of the ocean, who are now shivering in the cold under radioactive clouds. And those around us who will take some lessons..

"Shizukana yo ini,
Hikario tomoshi,
Itoshiki oshieo idaki...

In the quiet of the night
Let our candles always burn,
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned."

Democracy is coming ...

2011-02-24T11:08:00.000+01:00

Democracy is the mother of all buzzwords. From totalitarian regimes calling themselves the real democrats (German Democratic Republic, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) to the so called advanced democracies such as US, where the wealthy are simply rewriting rules for themselves (1), or Germany, where the state recklessly lets the police attack peaceful protesters who are protesting the construction in their own city(2), the word democracy is used to whitewash practices that are directly contrary to what the democracy supposed to mean.

Add to this the dangerous Western (mostly American) international relations rhetoric, that democracy is a panacea that would magically cure all the worlds problems. Although it is not logical, and perhaps not ethical, to choose any other form of government over democracy, it is certainly not realistic to believe democracy is a solution to any problem. In my humble opinion, it is only a tool, or a mere set of practices, that lets people solve problems. It is also a slow tool, yet the most respectful to humans and their rights.

The media frenzy over the overthrowing of the dictators in the Arabic states is in full blow. I have no way of judging if the protesters share the western conception of "democracy as a solution". But if they do, I fear we might be in for a ride, and the ride might not be a pleasant one.

As Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed (3) summarizes, the real cause of the problems affecting the Arabian countries are not the dictatorships, although they certainly make it feel worse for a larger portion of the population. Increasing -young- population, global warming and accompanying water shortages and a possible end to cheap oil exploration era pose a triple crisis.

My fear is that if the population sees democracy as the solution, and the politicians use this conception of the population to cover up the more fundamental problems, the democracy attempts may fail, and end up in a turmoil and bloodshed, similar to what happened to Weirmar republic.

As Cohen said, democracy is still on its way (to the U. S. A. ...)

Links in this post:
(1) Rolling Stone article: Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?print=true
(2) Iconic photo of Police violence in Stuttgart: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-60015-7.html
(3) Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's article: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nmahmed1/English

Deli İbrahim'in Ardından

2011-02-15T16:20:00.000+01:00

Adına yaraşır bir hareket yapmış Deli İbrahim. 40 Yaşına değin oynar derken, bir maç sonrası ikinci kez İbrahim Toraman ile didiştiği, kavgaya giriştiği için erken veda etti sol kanatta terlettiği o güzelim formaya. Yolu açık olsun, ve şu naçizane dizeler kendini bana sonradan sevdiren bu büyük Beşiktaş'lıya gelsin:

Padisah Deli Ibrahim

Dün gece siir gibiydin Ibrahim,
Birak biz seni yine de DELI bilelim.
Barcelona, Cimbom ve Fener,
Bu uc mac bize yetsin.
Cünkü ben seni basini kaldirmadan,
Sol kanatta kosarken sevdim.

actoker - 23 Kasım 2009

Who Cares If you Listen? We did...

2011-01-30T12:51:00.000+01:00

Milton Babbit would have been a perfect hate figure for the Tee Party supporters in USA, had he published his famous essay "Who cares if you listen?" today. He was arguing that the lack of laymen listeners appreciation of advanced music which was -quoting Babbitt- "made by/for/to specialists," something inevitable, even welcome. He refuted the populistic call for truce between popular and specialist music "There is no such thing as 'serious' and 'popular' music." There is only 'good' and 'bad' music." with this:

As a public service, let me offer those who still patiently await the revelation of the criteria of Absolute Good an alternative criterion which possesses, at least, the virtue of immediate and irrefutable applicability: "There is no such thing as 'serious' and 'popular' music. There is only music whose title begins with the letter 'X,' and music whose title does not."

He was an so-called "elitist", demanding that universities should fund this specialists' music.

Well, listening to the popular music I completely agree with him.

Born 10 May 1916 -yes we share the same birthday- in Philadelphia, he was already studying philosophy and mathematics when he was 16. He was also a music student, who was fascinated by the works of Arnold Schoenberg, which his uncle brought from Europe. He developed independently from Messiaen the composition approach Total Serialism, which can be considered the continuation or the finalization of Schoenebergs revolution. Three Compositions for Piano is his most famous piece from this era:

He was also influential in the establishment of the first electronic music center in USA, Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. His most famous electronic piece is Philomel:

He was productive until his last days. He passed away yesterday aged 94.

Links in this post:

Who cares if you listen? http://www.palestrant.com/babbitt.html
New York Times obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/arts/music/30babbitt.html?_r=1&ref=miltonbabbitt

Kardesimsin Hrant

2011-01-19T12:05:00.000+01:00

Katillerin ve azmettiricilerin aramizda dolastigi bu acili günde izleyin, izlettirin:

A Tribe Called Quest - Classical Hip Hop

2011-01-14T09:51:00.001+01:00

I am a late comer to the hip hop music. I am not talking about the over-commercialized, and in some sense travesty of a music modern hip hop. I am talking about hip hop back in the days when music was used to carry a message and the aesthetic understanding of a culture. My favorite these days is "A Tribe Called Quest". Just like I expect from a true classic, their debut album "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" sounds as if was made a few years back. This is IMHO due to its timeless qualities. Here are two of my favorites:

The Luck of Lucien (The Frenchman)

Youthful Expression

Hepimiz Emenike'yiz ya da Türkiye'de Irkcilik Yoktur Vol. 7

2011-01-12T15:05:00.002+01:00

Okan Bayülgen son programinda Afrika'li futbol emekcisi Emenike'yi deri rengi yüzünden daha iyi bir hayat bulmak icin göcmek zorunda kalan diger Afrika'li kardeslerine benzeterek, bununla da yetinmeyerek Emenike'ye bir esya gibi "bu" diyerek hem Emenike'ye hem Afrikali göcmenlere igrenc irkci bir saldirida bulunmus. Olayin videosunu en asagidaki baglantidan seyredebilirsiniz.

Her iki ucu da bildiginiz maddeye batmis bir soz etmis Okan Bayülgen. Deri rengi yüzünden isini yapan bir insani yaftalayip asagilamak degnegin bir yani. Yaftalarken kullandigi terim ise esasinda kafasindaki irkciligi aciga cikaran diger bir diskili yani. Insan'in dogdugu kenti, topraklari, arkadaslarini, ailesini, evini, sevgilisini, cocuklarini onlara daha iyi bir hayat verebilmek icin terk etmesinde asagilanacak birsey olmadigi gibi, bu insanlari asagilamak goc yollarinda cok cileler ceken insanlarin acilarina duyarsizligi gösteriyor. Umarim biran önce bu saygisizliginin farkina varir ve özür diler Okan Bayülgen.

Aklima Manu Chao'nin en sevdigim sarkilarindan biri geldi. Clandestino. Okan Bayülgen'e ve onu savunmaya gececeklere tavsiyemdir.

Bu da benim nacizane cevirim:

Tek basimayim,

Acilarim ve cezam ile.

"Kanun"lardan kacmak,

Benim kaderim,

"Yasa Disi"yim,

Cünkü yok bir kac kagidim.

Calismak icin yola ciktim,

Kuzeyde bir sehirde,

Cebelitarik ile Ceuta arasinda bir yerde,

Yüzer cesedim.

Denizde bir cizgi,

Sehirde bir hayaletim.

Yasamim yasaktir,

Öyle der "kanun".

Cezayirli: Yasa Disi!

Nijeryali: Yasa Disi!

Bolivyali: Yasa Disi!

Unutmadan ekleyeyim, "HICBIR INSAN YASADISI DEGILDIR!.

Bu Girdi ile ilgili Baglantilar:

http://www.ajansspor.com/video/v/20110110/emenike_icin_sok_sozler.html#yorumlaroku

Best of German Food - Vol. 1

2011-01-10T10:42:00.002+01:00

It is a terrible and wrong cliché to wrap up the entire German cuisine within the combination of "sauerkraut, potatoes and bratwurst". It is as accurate as the idea that all that Italians eat are pizza and pasta.

After spending 5 years in the gastronomic capital of Germany, I'll try to write about some German delicacies when I find the time.

First I will start by attacking the cliché itself. "Leber- und Blutwurst mit Rotkohl und Bratkartoffeln" is a dish that demonstrates how good the wurst-kraut-potato combination can be.

!!WARNING:

Otto von Bismarck famously likened sausage-making to law-making. If you like sausages or the laws, you better stay away from the actual making process. Skip to the end of the WARNING if you like sausages.

Leberwurst is a cooked sausage of bacon-liver-pork, flavored with spices. The one pictured above has other offal parts as well. German blood sausage - Blutwurst- is made out of blood and pork skin. Spanish blood sausages are far superior to the German versions IMHO, but the the German version is also pretty good.

!! End of WARNING

Rotkohl is my favorite German cooked/slightly pickled cabbage recipe from the family known as the kraut. Red cabbage is boiled with the addition apple, clove, and muscat and wine. It is than pickled in the cooking liquid for a short time. The mixture of sweet and sour flavors make it the perfect side dish to dishes with meat or sausages.

Bratkartoffeln are potatoes roasted with onions and bacon. I mix them with hot mustard to reach potato heaven.

You can eat this perfect quintessentially German dish in my favorite German Delikatessen in Berlin, The Rogacki.

Links in this post:
Rogacki

Wilmersdorfer Straße 145
10585 Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany
U-Bhf Bismarckstr. (U2, U7)
030 343825-0
http://rogacki.de/ro/roga.htm

Astrology is...

2010-12-23T13:44:00.002+01:00

... bullshit. And Susan Miller is a charlatan.

Meet Susan Miller. According to the one of the most serious Turkish news portal -arguably-, she's a world famous astrologist. She visited Turkey, and made the prophecy that something incredible was to happen on 21. December 2010.

Considering the rate with which big news stories are fabricated/happen in Turkey, a more interesting prophecy would have been that there would be nothing serious on that day. But lets leave this aside.

This vague prophecy, that something big will happen in Turkey on 21. December made the mainstream news. Result? I guess you knew, just as I did, what the result would be on the day she made the prophecy.

I still didn't want this to go unnoticed.

Links to this post:
http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/25159026/

Best commentary on Wikileaks so far

2010-12-10T14:12:00.000+01:00

A Taiwanese TV station is famous for producing video animations of the top news almost instantly. This one about the Wikileaks is among the best commentaries on Wikileaks I came across:

Those who doubt and those who believe

2010-12-08T12:42:00.001+01:00

"-You unbeliever,
You, who dared to doubt the Son of God,
You are sentenced,
You must now feel his blood,
His flesh and his gut."

He, who dared to doubt the Son of God,
Has his fingers in that sacred cut,
And the unbeliever, the doubter,
At this holy sight,he cannot look at.

"-Their eyes, their eyes,
Of those without the courage to doubt,
Are so vicious, and are filled with doubt,
My trembling fingers,
It's what they are looking at,
And not the Son of God
"

I went to the Gemäldegalerie 2 weeks ago. I was lucky to experience four more Caravaggio paintings, since there was a Caravvagio exhibition. The painting that touched me the most was "The Incredulity of Saint Thomas."

The story is like this:After the resurrection of the Christ, Thomas the Apostle doubts that Christ was raised from the death. Christ makes him touch his still open crucification wounds, to convince him.

For me what is shining out of this painting is not the incredulity of Thomas, or the reality of the Christ story. It is rather the eager and rather cruel observers, two other Apostles.

Links in this post:

Kinski der Große

2010-12-02T01:42:00.000+01:00

Die deutsche Sprache hat einen schlechten Ruf unter deren, die die nicht verstehen oder sprechen können. Während Französisch als die Sprache der Liebe gilt, gilt Deutsch in der türkischen Popkultur als die Sprache der Pornofilmen. "Hans, Du bist meine Lokomotive" ist ein Witz unter den türkischen Männern, die ihre sexuelle Aufklärung den deutschen Softpornofilmen schulden. Und die, die diese Filmen nicht gesehen haben, meinen, Deutsch sei sehr schreiend.

Dank meiner ziemlich vorzeitigen Begegnung mit der deutschen Sprache durch Die Toten Hosen teilte ich diese Meinungen nie. Als ich nach Deutschland kam und versuchte diese Sprache zu lernen, merkte ich wie lebendig und spielerisch ich sie fand. Ich beneidete damals die kleine Kinder um ihre rollende R's. Dann habe ich die deutsche Hörbücher entdeckt, die mich faszinierten. Aber nichts hätte mich auf das Gedicht "Lästerzungen," gelesen von Klaus Kinski, vorbereiten können...

Meine Interesse an Klaus Kinski hatte schon mit dem grandiosen Film Fitzcarraldo angefangen. Ich habe neulich den Dokumentar "Mein Liebster Feind", der die Beziehung zwischen Werner Herzog und Klaus Kinski thematisiert. Nach der Legende hat der damals 27 jährige Regisseur Werner Herzog den tobenden Klaus Kinski nur mit einem Waffen davon abhalten können, den im tiefen Amazonas liegenden Drehort zu verlassen. "Mein Liebster Feind" erzählt wie sie nach dieser ersten ereignisreichen Zusammenarbeit doch 4 weitere großartige Filmen gedreht haben.

Ich habe erstmals einen kleinen Ausschnitt vom "Lästerzungen" in "Mein Liebster Feind" gehört. Ich war fast hypnotisiert. Ich habe dann erfahren, dass Klaus Kinski vor seiner Zeit als ein Kinostar ein ziemlich erfolgreicher Theaterdarsteller war. Während dieser Zeiten hat er eine Menge von deutschen literarischen Texten auf Tonband gelesen. Ich habe eine Auswahl von diesen Lesungen gekauft, und ich kann nur sagen, die sind vielleicht nicht die schönste aber bestimmt die faszinierendste Lesungen auf Deutsch, die ich gehört habe.

Kinski ist sehr bekannt als ein internationaler Kinostar. Wer seinen Theaterhintergrund entdecken will, sollte ein Hörbuch von seinen Lesungen kaufen. Es lohnt sich.

Hier ist eine Youtube version von "Lästerzungen," gelesen von Kinski:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-cfjMOkRjY

Erster Schneefall

2010-11-25T14:16:00.006+01:00

Nein, dies ist nicht das Bild meines Autos. Dies ist das Bild des ersten Schneefalls in Berlin, etwas das ich jedes Jahr in großer Aufregung erwarte. Dieses Jahr kam er früh. Ich bin hoffnungsvoll auf einen weißen Dezember!

I want the world to stop

2010-11-15T12:14:00.000+01:00

Glasgow is one of the favorite cities I've visited. Certainly it is the city with the most polite and helpful inhabitants.

Another reason behind my fondness for Glasgow is its vibrant music scene. Mogwai and Belle and Sebastian are my favorites, while other Glasgowian acts include Travis, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys.

I think Belle and Sebastian holds a special place in contemporary pop music, at least as far as I can follow. Their music for me represents a balanced mix of Dylanesque/Reedian song-writing and minimal pop music sensibilities. Furthermore, I get the feeling that they belong to a small group of bands who respect their fans, by respecting their music.

They recently published a new album, whose live performance can be watched in its entirety in the following online video:

The first song they perform in the video, "I want the world to stop" is the strongest song in the album. My first impression of the album is that it represents a mediocre album in the groups discography.

For those wanting to get familiar to Belle and Sebastian, I suggest my favorite song of theirs, from one of their early albums, "Like Dylan in the Movies":

Links in this post:

My humble guide to Glasgow: http://actoker.blogspot.com/search/label/glasgow

Let the festivities begin

2010-11-01T20:09:00.001+01:00

Turkey lifted a 2.5 year ban on Youtube. Around the same time, NBC lifted a 6 month ban on the most funny TV personality in the states -this is a exaggeration of course. Good things happen in the world from time to time! Of course, if one fools oneself into forgetting the fact that these good things were preceded by the bad judgement or plain stupidity of some people. I mean, its great that Conan had to promote his new show and came up with the idea of live streaming 24 hours of absurdities. But, why does it have to come after a 6 month leave. Anyway, enjoy the hilarious clip without too much philosophizing.

Seinfeld on Facebook

2010-10-27T17:58:00.001+02:00

Have you ever called someone up, and you're disappointed when they answer the phone? You wanted the machine. You know, and you're always kind of thrown off, you go "Oh, I eh, I - I didn't know you were there, I ah - just wanted to leave a message saying, sorry I missed you."

So here what we have is two people who hate each other, don't really ever want to talk, but the phone machine is like this relationship respirator keeping these marginal brain dead relationships alive.And we all do it -- Why? So that when we come home, you can see that little flashing red light; You go "all right, messages." You see, people need that. It's very important for human beings to feel they are popular and well liked amongst a large group of people that we don't care for.

From legendary The Bubble Boy Episode. Just replace answering machine with Facebook.

Of course there was no Facebook in the eighties. But the people were, well..., people if you know what I mean. At least this was true for me. Thats why I quit Facebook. Those who care about me, still can reach me via email, call me or see me.

No Incoming Video in Skype in Ubuntu 10.10: How to solve it?

2010-10-19T12:24:00.001+02:00

Here is what I did:

Create a script with the contents:

#!/bin/bash

export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so

/usr/bin/skype

Make this script executable with chmod u+x scriptname.

Go to System -> Preferences -> Main Menu. Find the launcher of Skype and press the properties. Paste the location of your script.

It looks like Skype doesn't cannot find the shared object files (similar to dlls in Windows) associated with video for linux (v4l) this command pre-loads these libraries for Skype, before launching it.

Links for this entry:

mve-lamb's post on ubuntu forums for this solution: http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=294787
mve-lamb's profile on ubuntu forumes: http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=294787.

Intrusive Harassment Strategy of WinEdit

2010-10-14T11:55:00.002+02:00

Dear WinEdit,

I really liked you when I first met you. True, I knew you were not for free, and sooner or later I would have to pay. True, you've literally made my thesis writing really easy. I would have delightedly made a contribution to you via PayPal, as I usually do to open source projects that help me. I would have, but I won't.

It's all because of your outdated - in my humble opinion at least- marketing, or shall I say harassment strategy. You write it yourself in your message:

"You can continue to use this unregistered shareware copy of the program. However, as the time goes on, WinEdt will be issuing (annoying) registration reminders with increasing frequency ..."

When I first read that, I underestimated how low you can get, to get annoying. And no, those annoying messages didn't send me the most positive messages, or created what your average marketing guru would name "brand loyalty" Especially when I was trying frantically to finish up my thesis 3 am in the morning.

So before I leave you forever, I'll say, as Dylan put it so well 47 years ago:

"Goodbye's to good of a word babe, so I say: fare thee well"

Wuchernder Fremdenhass, ersehnte Diktatur

2010-10-13T18:19:00.000+02:00

Hier sind zwei beunruhigenden Artikeln von der Süddeutsche Zeitung:

Wuchernder Fremdenhass, ersehnte Diktatur
Die unbeliebten Türken

Und hier ist ein passendes Lied von Die Toten Hosen:

Dies ist das Land, in dem man nicht versteht,
dass FREMD kein Wort für FEINDLICH ist,
in dem Besucher nur geduldet sind,
wenn sie versprechen, dass sie bald wieder gehen.
Es ist auch mein Zuhaus, selbst wenn's ein Zufall ist
und irgendwann fällt es auch auf mich zurück,
wenn ein Mensch aus einem anderen Land
ohne Angst hier nicht mehr leben kann.
Weil täglich immer mehr passiert,
weil der Hass auf Fremde eskaliert
und keiner weiß, wie und wann man diesen Schwachsinn stoppen wird.
...
...
Es ist auch mein Land,
und ich will nicht, dass ein viertes Reich draus wird.
Es ist auch dein Land,
steh auf und hilf, dass blinder Hass es nicht zerstört.
Es ist auch mein Land,
und sein Ruf ist sowieso schon ruiniert.
Es ist auch dein Land,
komm wir zeigen, es leben auch andere Menschen hier.

Mehr über Integration, am Wochenende wenn ich mehr Zeit habe...

A treasure lies in this picture

2010-10-09T19:43:00.000+02:00

Click to enlarge. I am so glad, I recognize most of the objects from a Seinfeld episode. And I am so eager to revisit the treasures.

Almanya Oynadi, Türkiye Kazandi - 17 Haziran 1951

2010-10-08T15:01:00.000+02:00

Almanya ve Türkiye Futbol Milli Takimlari arasindaki ilk mac 17 Haziran 1951 yilinda bugünkü gibi Berlin Olimpiyat Stadinda oynanmis. Savas sonrasi Berlin'inin belini dogrultmaya calistigi yillardaki ilk milli mac olmasindan da kaynakli 90.000 seyirciye oynanan maci Türkiye milli takimi 2-1 kazanmis. 47 yil sonra Bursa'daki zafere kadar bir daha bu sansi elde edememis Türk milli takimi. Ayni Alman milli takiminin 3 sene sonra Dünya Sampiyonu olmasi bu zaferin degerini bir kat daha arttiriyor. Alman Futbol Federasyonu'nun websitesinden aldigim gazete basligi "Büyük Hayalkirikliginin Milli Maci."

Besiktas maclari ile karsilastirinca sifira yakin bir heyecan var icimde. Yine de eski maclari seyrederek biraz havaya soktum kendimi. Mac baska türlü cekilmeyecek cünkü. 1998 galibiyeti'nin videosu Ligtv.com.tr'den izlenebilir. Rustu'nün deli cikislari yine yüzümü güldürdü. Tugay, Sergen, Hakan, Oktay. Iyi takimmisiz.

Bu postayla ilgili baglantilar:
http://www.ligtv.com.tr/VideoHaber/Default.aspx?lgn=1&r=1&hid=79723
http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500014&tx_dfbnews_pi1[showUid]=24985&tx_dfbnews_pi4[cat]=56

Rucola - Rucola - Arugula - Rocket - Roka

2010-09-28T14:23:00.003+02:00

In the days before Linnaeus things were easy for herb enthusiasts. If two herbs or spices looked and/or tasted the same, one would just add an adjective in front to make the distinction. It looks like radish, but it taste different? Call it horse radish. It tastes like Marjoram, but grows in the wild? Call it wild marjoram.

This naming convention leads to many confusions to the modern food enthusiast, who suddenly, can taste items from across the globe in the convenience of their supermarket alleys. One of my biggest confusions regards the bitter leaves of what I grew to know as "Roka" in Turkey. I'll try to clean this confusion with the help of Wikipedia and the great Carl Linnaeus.

This is what I know as Roka in Turkish. Its species name is Eruca Satvia, and is known as Arugula or Rocket in the English-speaking world. In Italian its called the Rucola comune, i.e. the common rucola. I guess both Germans and Turks have taken the word from Italians.

This on the other hand is the plant that is sold in Germany under the name Rucola. Its botanic name is
diplotaxis tenuifolia. Its known in in English world as wild rocket, and as far I know is not known in Turkey.

Germans name the Eruca Satvia the Senf-Rauke, mustard rocket, and the Diplotaxis the Stinkrauke, stinking rocket. But commercially both are sold under the name Rukola, with the "stinking" version dominating the market, precisely because it doesn't stink and is milder than the "mustard version".

Next time you're confused about the types of Rucola, you know where you'll look.

Links in this post:
English Wiki Entry for Arugula/Rocket/Roka/Senf-Rauke.
English Wiki Entry for Diplotaxis tenuifolia/Wild Rocket/-/Stink-rauke.
Wiki Entry for the great Carl Linnaeus.

Besiktas Günlügü 2010-2011: BJK 2 - Antalya 1

2010-09-26T14:12:00.000+02:00

Bir hata yapmissiniz, arkadaslarinizin emegini bir anda sonucsuz kilmissiniz. Dakikalar birer birer geciyor, arkadaslariniz sizden 80 metre otede gol atmak icin cirpiniyor. Futbol'un spor oldugundan habersiz bazi ekseni kaymislar size küfrediyorlar, geri kalanlar alkisliyor size destek olmak icin. 90 dakikada koskaca yari sahada yapayalnizsiniz. Sanirim bir kalecinin dramini daha yogun bir sekilde yasayamaz bir insan.

90+1 oluyor, normal isi sizin kalenize gol atmayi engellemek olan kel bir arkadasiniz harika bir pas cikariyor... Ve yikiliyorsunuz. Agliyorsunuz. Ne oldugunu anlayamadan iki eli sariliyor size, yediginiz goldeki hatanin diger oyuncusu arkadasiniz size sariliyor. Kalk diyor, ve alninizdan öpüyor sizi. Daha cikarilacak cok pozisyon, yenecek cok gol, kaciralacak cok pozisyon, atilacak cok gol var önümüzde diyor.

Hilbert'in Hakan'i alnindan öptügü o fotograf, yukarida Baba Hakki'nin Süleyman Seba'yi alnindan öptügü fotograftan sonra bana benim Besiktas anlayisimi en iyi anlatan ikinci fotograf olacak.

90 dakika boyunca topu kontrol ettigimiz, gol üzerine gol kacirdigimiz Antalya macindan, seneler sonra bu girdiyi okudugumda futbolu degil bu fotografi hatirlamak istiyorum. Bu yüzden kim gol atti, kim nasil oynadiya girmiyorum. Gecenlerde de kullandigim, kendisi de bir kaleci olan, ve eminim Hakan'in durumunu benden cok iyi anlayan Albert Camus'un sözüyle bitiriyorum:

"Ahlak ve yükümlülükler hakkinda ne ögrendiysem bunu futbola borcluyum"

Bin ich gut Zugedeckt? Bin, Ich, Gut, Zu-Ge-Deckt?

2010-09-24T23:20:00.006+02:00

Heutzutage verbringe ich viel Zeit vor dem Computer. Ich meine nicht die Zeit, während der ich etwas produktiv mache. Ich meine die Zeit, während der ich darauf warte, dass die Ergebnisse der Tests für meine Dissertation-Software fertig sind. Ich habe mir vorgenommen, diese Zeit für einen guten Zweck zu benutzen.

Wie Ihr in diesen Zeilen bemerken werdet, hat sich mein Deutsch in letzter Zeit verschlechtert. Ich werde versuchen, minimal ein mal pro Woche einen Eintrag auf Deutsch zu schreiben, mit der Hoffnung auf eine Verbesserung.

Dies Mal geht es um meinen Lieblings-deutschsprachigen Schriftsteller Franz Kafka. Zufälligerweise habe ich vorgestern in einem Buchladen ein Hörbuch mit zwei Novellen von Kafka entdeckt. Dies schien Mir es eine gute Methode zu sein, meine Deutsch-Aussprache zu verbessern. Ich kaufte das Hörbuch sofort.

Mich täuschte die Aussprache in diesem Hörbuch tatsächlich nicht. Es war mein erstes Hörbuch - nein, die Hörbücher sind nicht so beliebt in der Türkei-, und die theatralische Sprache gefiel mir sehr. Ich habe das erste Teil des Novelle Kafkas namens "Das Urteil" auf den Weg nach der Arbeit gelesen. Als ich zu meinem Bahnhof ankam, bereute ich, die U-Bahn nicht verpasst zu haben. Mit diese Lehre ging ich an dem selben Abend mit langsamen Schritten nach Hause. Ich war einfach hypnotisiert von der Erzählung. Die Wörter des Vaters vom "Das Urteil" klingen immer noch in meinen Ohren:

"Bin ich gut zugedeckt?
Bin ich, GUT, zugedeckt?
Bin, Ich, gut, ZU-GE-DECKT?"

Ich wusste nicht, dass Kafka diese Erzählung in der selben Nacht, also vom 22. zum 23. September 1912 in acht Stunden geschrieben hat. Ich wusste auch nicht, dass diese Nacht Kafka jahrelang heimsuchte, als er ohne Erfolg die Wiederholung einer solchen Nacht suchte, in der er den Akt des Schreibens so intensiv erlebte. In seiner Wörter erklärte er:

"Nur so kann geschrieben werden, nur in einem solchen Zusammenhang, mit solcher vollständigen Öffnung des Leibes und der Seele"

Ich weiß immer noch nicht, was dieses Rätsel-schreiben wirklich bedeuten soll. Ich weiß nicht, ob es überhaupt möglich ist, zu sagen, dass "Das Urteil" diese oder jene Bedeutung hat. Laut Wikipedia ist "Das Urteil" das am meisten interpretierte Buch auf Deutsch. Deshalb proklamiere ich September 22 mein persönlicher "Das Urteil"-Lesen Tag.

Bevor ich Kafka entdeckte, war für mich Gabriel Garcia Marquez der Schriftsteller, der die beste Endsätze schreibt. Nachdem ich "Das Urteil" und "Der Prozess"gelesen habe, gehört diese Ehre zum Kafka. Ich bin sicher, dass nach dem Lesen vom "Das Urteil" Ihr der gleichen Meinung sein werdet...

Fabian Ernst im 11 Freunde

2010-09-24T10:36:00.000+02:00

Von seinem 11 Freunde-Gesprach. Dieses Teil gefällt mir besonders:

Guti und Quaresma sind bekannte Kreativspieler, Sie kennt man als zuverlässigen Arbeiter im defensiven Mittelfeld. Woher kommt Ihre Popularität?

Viele Besiktas-Fans rekrutieren sich aus der Arbeiterklasse, die Leute schätzen es einfach, wenn sich jemand 90 Minuten lang auf dem Platz zerreißt. Vielleicht ist das eine Erklärung.

Die türkische Übersetzung lautet:

Guti ve Quaresma ünlü yaratici oyunculardir. Sizi ise defansiv orta sahadaki güvenilir bir oyuncu olarak biliriz. Populariteniz nereden geliyor?

Bir cok Besiktas taraftari calisan siniftan geliyor. Bu insanlar 90 dakika sahada YIRTINAN bir oyuncuya deger veriyorlar. Bu bir aciklama olabilir.

Links zu diesem Beitrag:
http://www.11freunde.de/international/132831?page=1

Besiktas Günlügü: FB1- BJK1 (Karanliktan aydinliga)

2010-09-19T21:36:00.001+02:00

Hakan'nin hediyelerinden biriyle acildi mac. Golu yiyene kadar sahayi iyi kullanan, ne yaptigini bilen takim bizdik. Gol'den ikinci yariya kadar ne yaptigimizi bilmeden oynamamizda Ekrem ve Hakan'nin sakatliklari da etkendi. Sakatliklar olsun, hakemle ve birbirleriyle didisen futbolcular olsun, ilk yarida topun oyunda kaldigi dakika 20'yi gecmedi. Bu sirada Fenerbahce %100'lük bir sürü pozisyonu harcadi. Cenk'in kurtardigi bir Alex sutu bence macin donum noktasiydi.

Ikinci yarida hamle ustunlugu elinde olan Aykut Kocaman bence yapilabilecek en kotu degisiklikleri yapti. Once Fenerbahce'nin en dirisi Emre'yi sonra top yapan adami Alex'i oyundan aldi. Bu degisiklile bir ara topla oynama yuzdemiz %70lere kadar cikti. Ancak topla oynamaya puan vermiyorlar, bu dakikalarda bir pozisyona girdigimizi soyleyemem. Kurdugumuz baskinin sonucunu Schuster'in risk alarak Nobre yerine degil ikinci ortasaha savunmacimiz -hatta 5. defansimiz- Aurelio'nun yerine aldigi Bobo'nun yaptirdigi penalti ile aldik. Gecen sezon asker ocaginda ikinci elden duydugum penalti kabusundan son penaltiyi seyretmedim. Penaltidan sonra gol pozisyonu olmadi.

Basladigimiz kadro belki en iyi kadromuz degildi. Iki sakatlik ile oyuna mudahele sansi azalan Schuster yine de en iyi mudaheleyi yapti. Topa sahip olmayi seviyoruz, ve topa sahipken heyecanlanmadan oyun yapabiliyoruz. Dunya capinda iki futbolcumuzdan Quaresma'nin hirsi Guti'nin paslari beni aglatiyor. Besiktas'lilarin kufur etmeden 90 dakika tezahurati ile birlesince karanlik baslayan gecenin aydinliga ciktigini soyleyebiliriz.

Karanlik taraflara gelince, buraya bir ara ayagi dolasarak duserken bulundugu durumun resmini cektiren Nihat'i yazmak gerek. Bir tane olumlu hareketini hatirlamiyorum. Hakan'nin yerini iyiden iyiye Cenk'e birakmasi gerekli gibime geliyor. Nobre tek forvet olur mu sorusuna cevabim hala hayir. Son olarak Ibrahim Toraman'nin anasina topluca kufur eden Turkiye'nin en ust duzey taraftarina hic sasirmiyorum. Fenerbahce Klübünün baskani ayaga kalkip el kol hareketleriyle kufur ederse, eski Genel Kurmay Baskani da Baskanin arkasindan ayaga firlarsa, Fenerbahce tribunleri küfürlü tezahürat ederler.

Fenerbahce'ye gelmisken macin ikinci yarisi tirnaklarini yiyen Aykut Kocaman bence Fenerbahce'deki en buyuk sorun. Fenerbahce'nin kadrosunu yonetecek teknik bilgiye sahip oldugu kanisinda degilim. Takima karsi bir guvensizlik oldugu ikinci yari ya heyecandan cit cikartamayan ya da Ibrahim Toraman'a küfür eden taraftarinin tepkilerinden belli. Inonu'de Fener'e yenildigimiz maclarda cok yasadigimiz biz durumdur, ondan biliyorum.

Velhasil kelam, Kadikoy'de 3 puan muhtesem, 1 puan hedeflenen, 0 puan uzulunen bir skor olurdu. Ikincisini aldik, umutluyuz.

Besiktas Günlügü: BJK 1 - CSKA Sofya 0 (Kelini Öpeyim)

2010-09-17T12:04:00.001+02:00

Adanan Aybaba'nin sacmalamalarinin naifligini seviyorum. Yukarida Aybaba'nin Türkiye'ye Meksika Lucha Libre maskelerini Türkiye'ye tanitirken goruyorsunuz. Dunku mactan sonra tüm basin Ernst'in Alman olusuyla ilgili baslik arama yarisindayken kendisi benim de icimden gecen hislere tercuman olarak basligini secmis:

Kelinden Öpeyim!

2 Sene önceki sampiyonlugumuzu geldigi andan itibaren takimin durusunu degistiren Ernst'e borcluyuz desem yanilmis olmam. Gecen seneki ileri savunma performansimizda da Fink ile olusturdugu ikilinin rolu buyuktur. Bu sene Necip ile Guti'nin arkasinda daha parlak parildamaya baslamisti. 90. dakikada Guti'nin ortasina koydugu kafa Besiktas'taki daha guzel gunlerinin habercisi olur umarim.

Geldigi gunden beri parlayan Ernst'in yaninda, geldigi gunden beri patlama yapmasi beklenen ama bir turlu patlayamayan Holosko var bir de. Geldigi gunden beri bir macini hatirlamiyorum, soyle sagdan kaptirip defansi yardigini. Sagda da hala kumasi iyi mi kotu mu anlayamadigim Hilbert olunca haftasonundaki Ankaragücü maci performansindan uzak kaldik.

Son dakika gelen golun yasattigi öfori patlamasinin yaninda son dakikaya kadar kendini kaybetmeden idmanda calisilanlarini uygulamaya calisan bir Besiktas gormek, keci boynuzu tadindaki maci benim icin katlanilir kildi. Onumuzdeki maca bakiyoruz artik. Ozledik Fenerbahce'mizi.

Besiktas Günlügü: BJK 4 - MKE Ankaragücü 0

2010-09-16T17:55:00.000+02:00

Inonu stadinin zemininin rezalet hali devam ediyor. Schuster bile zemin düzelene degin baska bir stadda mi oynasak sorusunu sorarken, sahasi bakimda bulunan Kasimpasa ile sahayi paylasiyor olmamiz gerceten bir skandal.
Nobre geldiginden beri en iyi macini cikardi. Calim atti, orta yapti, her macta yaptiginin aksine bizim defansin oralarda cok zaman harcamadi ve yine bir duran yan toptan iyi yukselip golunu atti. Ayni gelismeyi yine sahada yoklari oynayan Godot Nihat'in da gostermesi umuduyla bekliyoruz.
Ilk golde Ismail'in ortasi, Bobo'nun kafasi cok sikti. Ikinci yarinin basinda ceza sahasinin disindan cikardigi direkten donen bir top var, insanin icinin yaglarini eritir. Tekrar soyleyeyim, Besiktasin golcusu, Besiktasin cocugu Bobo'dur.
Kac senedir ilk defa 2-0 hatta 1-0 olduktan sonra durmayan, son dakikalarda Cem Yilmaz'in harika degimiyle kicimizdaki killari kadayif yaptirmayan saldiran bir takim izledim. Tanrilar nazardan saklasin.
Ucuncu gol oncesinde Bobo, Ernst, Tabata, Guti'nin katildigi uc tane ucgen paslasmasi da takimin iyi antrenman yaptiginin isaretiydi. Guti'nin ayak bilegine kurban kesmek istiyorum.
Ankaragücü'nün basindaki Umit Özat'in daha cok firin ekmek yemesi gerekli.

U2'nun Ardindan

2010-09-09T00:14:00.000+02:00

Kaybolanlarin Anneleri
U2
Geceyarisi,
Ogullarimizi, kizlarimizi kopardilar aldilar bizden.
Hala kalp atislarini duyariz,
Kalp atislarini...

Rüzgar getirir bize gülüslerini,
Ve yagmur da gözyaslarini.
Kalp atislarini duyariz,
Kalp atislarini...

Gece asilmistir, bir tutsak gibi,
Kapkara ve masmavi.
Kalp atislarini duyariz,
Kalp atislarini...

Agaclarda ciplak ve asilidir ogullarimiz,
Duvarlar ardindan aglar kizlarimiz,
Yagmur getiri bize gözyaslarini...

Demokrasi dersi veren bir Basbakan, Cumartesi Annelerinin birilerinin oyuncagi oldugunu söylüyor.

Muzik videosunun sonunda insanlari kolilere doldurup Pasifik'e attiran Devlet baskani konusuyor:

"Hukumet özgürlükler icin vardir. Insanlarin özgürlügü, paranin özgürlügü. Ve bu hükümet özgürlükleri saglamak icin otoriter olmalidir."

Ne güzel özgürlük, kuslar, böcekler falan.

Ülkemize demokrasi getirmeye and icmis, halktan aldigi gücle ülkenin yönetiminden sorumlu olan hükümete, Bono'nun Pinochet'e sordugu gibi soruyorum:

"Söyle bu annelere Basbakan, cocuklari nerede?"

2010-2011 Besiktas Gunlugu: Karabuk 1 - Besiktas 4

2010-09-06T21:15:00.001+02:00

Karabük gecen sene 1. lige cikmayi garantileyince yukardaki pankart acilmisti. Bu pankartin baslattigi dostluk rüzgari macin basindan sonuna degin sürdü. 4-1'ken skor Karabük-Besiktas karsilikli tezahurat yapiyordu. Bir ara sevgili ezeli rakibimize PAOK'lularin Türkce tezahürati ile dokundururken bagiran yalnizca Besiktas tribünü degildi.

Maci seyretmeye 5 dakika gec gidebildim. Iceri girer girmez 1-0 ile karsilasinca sicak tanidik bir yere geldigimi fark ettim. Heyecanla kosulup gec kalinan bir maca 1-0 geride baslamak Besiktas'lilarin asina oldugu bir durumdur. Genelde bu maclar kanser edici bir oyunla en fazla 1-1 biterdi, ama bu sene farkli oldugumuzu ust uste iki duran toptan attigimiz gol gösterdi. Gecen senenin en fazla korner atip, en az korner golu atan takimi icin iyiye dogru atilmis bir adimdir bu.
Defans blogumuz yine onde kurulmus olmanin saskinligi ile pozisyon uzerine pozisyon verdi. Kaleci Cenk'in kurtarislari 2-1'lik skor avantajimizi devreye sokmamizi sagladi.
Sonrasinda Quaresma yine aldi maci kopardi. Ilk olarak defansin arasina cesurca girerek bir penalti kazandirdi, daha sonra orta sahada kaptigi top ile 40 metre dribling yapip golunu yazdi. Ilk pozisyonun aynisini Deli Ibrahim Pasamiz Quaresma'dan birkac dakika once yasatmisti. Olgun starimiza da bu yakisirdi zaten.
Hazreti Guti biraz durgun gibiydi. Ilk yarida cok basit bir top kaybi ile Karabük'e gol attiriyordu. Quaresma'nin kazandirdigi penaltiyi gole cevirerek ilk lig golunu atmis oldu. Arada cikardigi bir iki pas var, sadece bu paslari izlemek bile insanin icinin yagini eritiyor yine de.
Necip'e naza degmesin. Tahtaya vurun. Dilinizi isirin.

Bu Girdi Ile Ilgili Linkler

A belated Happy Birthday

2010-09-06T11:00:00.002+02:00

Freddie (Farokh) Bulsara Mercury was born in Zanzibar on 5th of September 1946. Time to Turn It On!

Links to this post:

Photo is originally from http://sprucebringsteen-.tumblr.com

PAOK-Besiktas and Turkey-Greece

2010-09-03T09:45:00.000+02:00

Our rivals Fenerbahce played PAOK in the European League Playoffs. Partly because of the rivalry with Fenerbahce, and partly because of the story that I've been hearing -but not able to confirm- that PAOK's founders included Greek Besiktas supporters from Istanbul there was a growing solidarity among fans of the two clubs. To the delight of PAOK and some Besiktas fans, PAOK eliminated Fenerbahce out of the Cup. I feel it was important to see that the passion for the colors or the emblem of the club -both clubs share Eagle as their emblem- could transcend nationalistic fervor kindled by the media on the both sides of the border.

A similar feeling was to be felt in Ankara, where a handful of Greek supporters opened the banner above, in the Turkey-Greece game of the Basketball World Cup. This time to the delight of all Fenerbahce and Besiktas fans it was the red and white jerseys that came out victorious.

A Must Read Article

2010-09-02T12:40:00.001+02:00

There are some languages in which green and blue are considered the shades of the same color.

There are some cultures who don't know of egocentric directions such as behind front or left or right.

There are cultures where epistemology is a constant struggle of life.

These are few of the really interesting facts that I can remember from the article " Does Your Language Shape How You Think?" by Guy Deutscher. I think it is worth reading this article, which I hope will lead to criticizing the notions about human existence that one holds natural.

Links for this post:

Guy Deutscher's Article

Walking in Dylanapatawpha

2010-08-30T17:26:00.001+02:00

Dylan is a child of the north. He was born in the northernmost end of the Highway 61, Duluth Minnesota. Raised in Hibing, Minesota, he attended University of Minnesota for a few semesters. He went to join the Village in the Big City, and the rest is history.

Yet, he has a thing for the American South(West). Romance In Durango, Senor, Stuck in Mobile with Memphis Blues, and If You Ever Go to Houston from his most recent album all carry a certain feeling of a hot and moist mystery with them.

But in all of his Southern songs, Brownsville Girl is the most perplexing and addictive. It is a 11 minute southern saga, a real jewel out of what some call the worst album in Dylan's discography. It is a mix of three different stories: a Gregory Peck western, the story of the narrator's old love affair with a modern day Bonnie, a.k.a the Brownsville Girl, and the road story of the narrator and his current love. The stories mix seamlessly in this lovely song, in which characters of the different seem to melt into each other. It also contains few really striking philosophical observations from Dylan...

I had written recently about how I discovered the gist of Inception in another Dylan song (link to my previous pos t). It seems like I am not the only one who thinks Dylan's songs sometimes can contain enough material for a feature film. There are rumors about the pre-production efforts to make a movie out of Brownsville Girl (link to the article), with the cast including Brad Pitt. I was very excited when I heard the news of the pre-production Dylan movie "I am not there", and even more so when it actually played in theaters across the globe. I really hope this project becomes a reality.

I suggest you listen to the song online (Grooveshark link), or read the lyrics (links to the lyrics)

The Natural Born Twins: The Boss and the Il Capo

2010-08-27T11:06:00.000+02:00

Bruce Springsteen, a.k.a. The Boss:

Alessandro del Piero, a.k.a Il Capo:

Besiktas Günlügü 2010-2011: HJK 0 - BJK 4

2010-08-27T10:11:00.000+02:00

Bakmayin tur Istanbul'da bitmisti dediklerine. Helsinki haldur huldur geldi. Bir toplari direkten dondu, Cenk kalesinde devlesti. Defansta Ferrar'nin cok yavas kaldigi bariz. Gecen seneki performansi iyi olmasina iyiydi, ama ilk geldigi gunlerde Roma'li bir arkadasima kendisini sordugumda aldigim yanit aynen suydu "Butun mac harika oynar, sonra 85'de bir adam kacirir bitirir takimi." Umarim kendine biraz ceki duzen verir.

Quaresma'yi sezon sonuna kadar keyifle seyredelim, boyle giderse sezon sonunda alirlar elimizden.

Guti ve Necip'in Besiktas'taki ilk golleri bu maca nasipmis. Necip'in kendi kalesine bir golu vardi yanilmiyorsam, ama onu saymiyoruz. Guti'nin biraz daha kondisyon toplamaya ve guzel bir cim zemine ihtiyaci var gibi gozuktu.

Mehmet Aurelio'ya karsi Fenerbahce günlerinden antipatim olsa da rotasyona faydasi dokunacak, Turk statüsü nedeniyle. Ernst disarida kalirsa Necip'in yaninda patlamayan bomba Ugur Inceman'i seyretmek zorunda kalmayacagiz.

Takimin Bobo'nun alternatifi bir golcuye ihtiyaci var.

Erhan Güven bu macla yerini Ekrem'e kaptirmis gibi gozuktu.

Cenk iyi kaleci. Rustu'nun secip Besiktas'a getirdigi bu kardesimiz Rustu gibi heyecan yaratan aksiyonlari seviyor. Umarim Rustu'nun Avrupa kariyerini bitiren bu aliskanligini kapmaz. Bu arada kaleci antrenorumuz Zafer'i de kutlamak gerekli.

Kisaca 4-0'in rahatlatmamasi gereken bir mac oldu. Haftasonu Karabük maci direncli takimlara ne yapacagimiz konusunda bir fikir verecektir. Hafizamdaki en son Karabük deplasmanimiz 95 ya da 96 yilinndaydi. Berbat bir futbol ve kaybedilen puanlari hatirliyorum. Umarim tarihi tekerrur ettirmeyiz.

Atesini yolla bana!

2010-08-26T13:53:00.001+02:00

Fenerli dostlarim yanlis anlamasin. Bu aksam siyah ve beyaz ve Kartal askim one gecti. Bu aksam Istanbullu Selanikliler Atletizm cemiyetini destekliyor olacagim. Keske Young Boys'u elemis olsalar, beni bu pozisyona sokmasalardi.

Esas heyecan Helsinki'de tabi. Mac oldugu gun konsantre olmak imkansiz. Tum Besiktaslilar icin Pinar'in deyimile Türkiye'nin Vampiri Hakan Peker'den gelsin: Atesini yolla bana, sak sak sak! Daha daha sokul bana sak sak sak !

My new Facebook Profile Picture

2010-08-25T15:33:00.000+02:00

Me and my friends were on our way to King Hekataios' banquet.

Except that I don't have a Facebook account, and its not my picture. This is from one of the newest archaeological finding in South Western Turkey. Do have a look at the pictures of the findings (link to the gallery)

2010-2011 Besiktas Gunlugü: Besiktas 0 - IBB 2

2010-08-24T09:51:00.000+02:00

Macin ilk 20 dakikasindaki baskimizdan gol cikarabilsek bu maci alirdik. Ilk yirmi dakikadaki baski sonüp IBB dengeyi saglayinca Besiktasli dostlarima mail attim, biz böyle giderse golu yeriz diye. Nitekim cok da beklemedik golu yemek icin. Golu yedikten sonra da top bizde olsa da kaleci Cenk, Ferrari, Ersan, sisirme topu asmayan taktiksel variyasyonda kanserojen bir oyun oynadik. Hak ede ede yenildik, Super Lig'e ciktiklarindan beri belalimiz olan IBB'yi tebrik etmek lazim. Mactan aklima kalanlar sunlar:

Schuster ileride Holosko'yu, orta sahada Delgado'yu deneyerek belki kafasindaki sorulari cevaplamak istedi. Ilk cevabini almis olacak ki kalbimde Arjantin'li kontenjanindan yer alan, kac senedir Zurih macinda yaptigi patlamanin devamini bekledigim Delgado'yu yolladi. Bu kadar insiyatif almayan bir topcu'yu Besiktas'imda gormek istemiyorum. Cakma Brezilya'li Japon'umuzdan medet umacagiz bu gidisle Guti'nin dinlendirildigi maclarda. Onu da kalbimdeki Tsubasa kontenjanina yazmam gerekecek artik.
Nihat'in bittiginin resmi oyundan cikarken onu isliklayanlara laf sokar gibi alkis tutmasiydi. Kendiyle sorunlari oldugu besbelli. Bu kadar kotu oynadiktan sonra ne bekliyordu? Kaldi ki isliklardan rahatsiz olan Kutu'nun baslattigi "Besiktas'in cocuguu Nihat Kahveci" tezahurati hemen akabinde geldi. Besiktas'in cocuguysan taraftara laf sokar gibi hareketlerde bulunmayacaksin.
Kaleci Cenk iyi ama Rustu'yu kendine cok ornek almis. Kan Parasi diye adlandirdigimiz ani ve gereksiz heyecan yukseltici olaylara cok giriyor.
Ferrari'nin neden Schuster'in istenmeyen adami oldugunu yavas yavas anliyorum. Yeni transfer Ersan iyi bir mac cikardi. Eger devre arasina Sivok'un donme durumu olursa, Zapo Ersan Sivok karsisinda ona da yol gozukebilir.
Schuster ofsayt taktigini cok seviyor. Iyi de isledi. Ancak burada kendi takimindan baska birinin performansina da guvenmen gerekiyor. O adam ise yan hakem. Umarim canimiz cok yanmaz.
Nobre-Holosko bir kabus bence. Resimde ayni topa heyecanla vurduktan sonra verdikleri degisik tepkiler var.

Ruhumuzda olmeyen optimist bu macin Ispanya'nin Dünya Kupasi'nda yasadigi Isvicre yenilgisine benzedigini dusunmek istiyor. Bazi dogrularin anlasilmasi icin belki de gerekliydi. Nedir bu dogrular? Besiktas'in golcusu Bobo, orta sahadasi Necip-Ernst-Guti'dir.

IconoClash

2010-08-23T18:57:00.001+02:00

Bob Dylan has this great radio show called Theme Time Radio Hour. Every week he chooses a theme,such as Coffee, Devil, Trains, and plays a wide collection of songs about the theme. Interested can download almost all the episodes from the following website (link to the website).

I was listening to the Weather episode the other day. He played De Niro's famous "Someday a real rain will come and wash away this scum" sample from Taxi Driver. Apparently Dylan likes this movie. So I googled De Niro and Dylan, and here is what I found:

Brad Elderman (link to his website) took this photo in 1976 in a New York City backstage, where Dylan called the young and new actor to meet him in person. Apparently he tried a lot to get it back. I am happy he didn't get his way.

Then I came across a similar picture in the Galatasaray blog I follow Kalendar Libero(link to the blog):

When Queen met the God. This picture of Maradona with Queen is from Queen's epic 81 South American tour. Note the Union Flag Maradona is wearing. Apparently this was not the first time Maradona wore another flag:

Robinho cilginligi

2010-08-20T17:47:00.000+02:00

http://eksibesiktas.blogspot.com/2010/08/cldr.html 'dan alintidir. Resmen bu duruma dustuk. Bence Medical Park'in sponsorlugunu yutturmak icin ayak yapiyorlar.

Besiktas Günlügü 2010-2011: Uefa Playoff BJK-Helsinki

2010-08-18T09:15:00.001+02:00

Macin Besiktas'lilar icin en önemli karesi. 10'larca yillik Besiktas Emekcisi takimdaki en yakin arkadasin golü sonrasi sariliyor. En yakin arkadasi dünya'nin en yetenekli ayaklarindan biri. Endüstriyel futbol diye seytan tasliyoruz cogu zaman, ama arada böyle güzellikleri de beraberinde getiriyor. Bir Besiktas blogunda okudugum gibi, Süreyya Abi'ye sarilinca hepimize sarilmis oldun.
Quaresma bana Les Ferdinand'i ve Carew'i hatirlatiyor. Besiktas'lilarin anilarinda kisa ama harika anilar birakan sevgililerdi ikisi de. Quaresma ve Besiktas'in yarattigi bu sinerji devam ederse gelecek sene elimizde tutamayiz Quaresma'yi.
Süreyya Abi'nin bir yakin dostu da Les Ferdinand'mis. Futbolsuz Yapamam Blog'undaki videolari kesin izlemek gerekli (link).

Fubol'un güzelligi su resimdeki cocuklarin suratlarindaki sevinctir.
Mac Notlari:

Goller: 35 Hilbert - Quaresma'nin fizik üstü trivela ortasini yere sektirerek iceri ceviren Tabata'nin kafasini Hilbert tamamladi. 66 Quaresma Guti'nin pasini once havaya kaldirdi sonra bir kez sektirdi, sonra ceza sahasi disindan yarim vole ile iceri soktu. Tsubasavari bir gol.
90. dakikada kaleci cenk %100luk bir arkaya sarkma pozisyonunu engelledi.
Hilbert Holoskonun iki senedir yapamadigi capraz kosulari yapti.
Mac sonu rakibin siyahi futbolcusu Quaresma ya da Guti'nin pesinden kosmak yerine eski aciga firlatti formasini. Kendisini alip a2 takiminda oynatsak olmaz mi?

Street Food mas grande: Kelle Sogus

2010-08-16T09:45:00.000+02:00

Turkey is a paradise for offal lovers. From very late night drinker's remedy Tripe soup to street vendor's cleaned intestine specialty Kokorec (wiki entry link) there is literally no part of the animal that is not eaten.

The westernmost metropolis of Turkey, Izmir, has a very special offal delicacy to offer. It's name is Kelle Sögüs, and it is not well known outside of Izmir. Thanks to my lovely offal aficionado girlfriend from Izmir, I got to taste and fall in love with Sogus.

Kelle means "head" in Turkish, and kelle sogus includes all the edible parts of the head of a lamb. I will not list you the ingredients, instead I will remind you of Von Bismarck's quote about sausages and laws (link to the quote). The meat is marinated, boiled and served cold in pita-like bread with minced onions, parsley and cumin. Enjoyed with a cold ayran, it may be my favorite street food, as the picture of me crying when I am eating sogus above demonstrates.

Even though it can be found in Istanbul (link to the article) if one searches for it, the place to eat sogus is Izmir. I've eaten one in Kizlaragasi Han a touristic destination in Izmir, and fell in love. I tried it again in the seaside resort of Cesme and was not disappointed. You may find the addresses on my Culinary Tips Map (link to the map).

Besiktas Günlügü 2010-2011: Bucaspor - Besiktas

2010-08-15T13:11:00.001+02:00

Gol sevincinin oncesi:

Ve sonrasi:

Beni en cok mutlu eden Necip'in abilerinin arasinda olmasi. Besiktas'ta yuzler guluyor diyebiliriz. Takim icinde bir hava yakalanmis gibi. Hemen tahtaya vurmak gerek.

Cok da havaya girmeden, 10 kisi kalan Bucaspor'un buldugu pozisyonlar dusunulmeli ve onlemler alinmali. Sali günkü HJK Helsinki maci daha zor olacak.

Ugly, uglier, the ugliest

2010-08-13T13:58:00.000+02:00

The only reason why this hotel in Mecca (link to the hotel website) is not the ugliest hotel I've ever seen is because I've seen photos of this joke of a Hotel in Pyongyang (link to the official tourism agency of the Republic of Northern Korea):

Evet - Hayir

2010-08-12T09:13:00.002+02:00

Yurtdisinda yasadigim icin Anayasa Referandum'unda oy kullandim. Ayse Arman'in dile getirdigi Evet/Hayir secenekli bir oy pusulasina "Evet" mührü basmanin kafa karisikligini ben de yasadim.

Dün saglik bakani Recep Akdag'in aciklamasinda belirttigi gibi (haber'e baglanti) Hükümet'imiz bizim icin neyin iyi neyin kotu olacagini iyi bilir. Bu acidan oy pusulalarinda gereken degisikligi yapacaklarindan en ufak kuskum yok.

Ornek olarak yukaridaki referandum pusulasi kullanilabilir. Evet ya da Hayir cok rahat bir sekilde seciliyor.

Referandumlarin ne gibi onemli konulari gonul rahatligiyla cozdugu de bu pusuladan gorulebilir. Alman Anavatani'na katilmak icin can atan Avusturya vatandaslarinin ne istedigini cok iyi bilen Alman Hükümeti bu konuyu bir referandumla hemen acikliga kavusturmus.

Weird things going on

2010-08-11T10:24:00.000+02:00

The weirdest email I got in my life. No Sender, No Subject, No Content, sent on 1.1.1970. Surely this is a message from the Gods.

The worst kind of publicity for a watch making company like Tissot. The time this picture taken in Istanbul Ataturk Airport was 14:50.

A series of dreams as the Inception O.S.T

2010-08-06T01:44:00.002+02:00

[SPOILER ALERT]

It is a nice coincidence that I watched this good movie around the same time I discovered this great song. I really wanna watch the movie once again with this song in my head. Of course the longer version found in Tell Tale Signs.

A Series of Dreams
Bob Dylan

I was thinking of a series of dreams
Where nothing comes up to the top
Everything stays down where it’s wounded
And comes to a permanent stop
Wasn’t thinking of anything specific
Like in a dream, where someone wakes up and screams
Nothing too very scientific
Just thinking of a series of dreams

Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the middle and the botton drop out
And youre walking out of the darkness
Into the shadows of doubt
Wasn't going to any great trouble
You believe in its whatever it seems
Nothing to heavy to burst the buble
Just thinking of a series of derams

Thinking of a series of dreams
Where time and tempo drag
Suddenly the gate is thrown open
And you're left there, holding the bag
Wasn’t making any great connection
Wasn’t falling for any intricate scheme
Nothing that would pass inspection
Just thinking of a series of dreams

Dreams where the umbrella is folded
Into the path you are hurled
And the cards are no good that you’re holding
Unless they’re from another world

In one, the surface was frozen
In another, I witnessed a crime
In one, I was running, and in another
All I seemed to be doing was climb
Wasn’t looking for any special assistance
Not going to any great extremes
I’d already gone the distance
Just thinking of a series of dreams

Joy of rediscovering a Bob Dylan discovery

2010-08-04T17:07:00.001+02:00

I guess I won't be wrong if I say that Bob Dylan's artistic output is perhaps one of the largest in the contemporary music history. Thus one shouldn't be surprised to find interesting Dylan selections such as "Favorite Dylan Songs Starting with C" in the Internet. His website (link to the website), which has an incredible list of his songs, might give you an idea of about the sheer volume of his output.

So from time to time I discover new favorites out of this collection. The song Series of Dreams is a voyage through well you know what, in which Dylan has no intention of telling anything specific, but just wants to paint the walls of a long and winding cave with the images.

This beautiful song did not make it to any albums. I first heard it on his Greatest Hits collection a month or so ago, and was struck by it. Recently I came across an alternate version in his latest Bootleg Series Releases Tell Tale Signs. I have to say the alternate version is even better than the one in the Greatest Hits collection.

I found this video on Google Video, which is one also one of the best Dylan videos I've watched.

Nevin Yanit Mucizesi

2010-08-01T12:27:00.001+02:00

Moskova'da Pinar'la deli gibi bir heyecan icinde seyrettigimiz Berlin'de kosulan 2009 Dunya Atletizm Sampiyonasi'nda en sevdigim dallardan biri 100 metre engelliydi. Hem teknik, hem guc, hem de hiza dayali olan bu dali sakatligi nedeniyle yarislara katilamayan favorilerden Lo Lo Jones'un (resim) yorumlariyla takip etmistik.

Bu harika dalda dün gece bir Avrupa Sampiyonu cikardik. 2 sene sonra Nevin Yanit Lo Lo Jones ile belki final kosucak. Bu buyuk basarida 2008den beri Nevin Yanit'a destek olan sporcusu oldugu Fenerbahce camiasinin da payini unutmamak gerekli. Kendilerini kutluyorum.

Türkiye'nin ilk atletizm ve jimnastik klübü'nün baskaninin Robinho'ya verecegi 10 milyon uzerindeki dolari 10'da birini yetenekli bir atletimiz ya da atletlerimize vermesini isterdim. Ama bu hayalcilikten de oteye gitmek olur, zira Quaresma ve Guti'nin mensubu oldugu klubümüzün Türkiye Lig ve Kupa Sampiyonu Hentbol takimi 1 senedir maas almadan oynamak zorundalar.

Cooking Dostoyevsky

2010-07-28T19:21:00.002+02:00

Two of my recent passions are Dostoevsky and food. What a better way to celebrate them, by enjoying them together. That's why I bought the larger book on the left to accompany Crime and Punishment. I will try to cook the dishes mentioned in the book.

The first dish that gets mentioned in the book is boiled beef with horseradish. Or as they call it in the fabulous language of Russian Otvarnaya govyadina v khrene (link to the recipe).

Did you know that horseradish (acirga or bostan turpu in Turkish) is the same species as Wasabi? I didn't know that. I'm eager to test the recipe...

Güzel Insan'la ilgili en güzel satirlar

2010-07-20T21:36:00.001+02:00

Gecen sene kaybettigmiz Besiktas büyügü Vedat Okyar'la ilgili en guzel yaziyi ve resimi EksiBesiktas Blog'undan Jokond paylasmis (orijinal baglanti). Kendisinin affina siginarak burada paylasiyorum...

tam soruyordum
“madem ölecektin
niçin bu kadar güzeldin?”
peçetedeki balığı gördüm
ağlıyordu
niçin ağlar peçetedeki balık diye sordum
bir mendil niye kanarsa ondan
dedi Gürdal.

Yılmaz Erdoğan

Pesto to die for...

2010-07-19T10:14:00.003+02:00

Sure, the title is an exaggeration. But the pesto I prepared by experimenting two great recipes by two great cooks comes close. As Marx said, great ideas come out when one takes other great ideas and rub them against each other.

I was never a great fan of Pestos, simply because I ate them in internationalized "Italian" restaurants, where they put a lot of fat, most of which is not olive oil. Not a great option for hot weather like these...

But then I came across Mark Bittman's article (link to the article) about the importance of ingredients rather the method when it comes to Pesto. And it is Basil season, so I thought I might give it a try.

Then I remembered The Wednesday Chef's recipe for oven baked tomato sauce (link to the article). Then I decided to mix them, and the result was great. I don't like bragging about recipes, but I do want every reader of this blog to enjoy this taste.

Since I believe that cooking should be more about experimenting and repeating the essence of recipes over and over again, I will not give a step by step recipe. If I were a poet, I would write the recipe as a poem, but I am not. So I'll try free prose:

Take a fistful of walnuts, roast them shortly in a pan or in the oven, until they're brown. Cut two fistfuls of cherry tomatoes in halve, drizzle it with olive oil salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven until they lose most of their juice. Put two fistfuls of basil, roasted walnuts and tomatoes, one clove of garlic, lots of Parmesan-type of cheese, lots of good olive oil in the food processor and mix. Add some of the cooking water of pasta to dilute -I am assuming you won't be using the pesto as sunscreen or a face mask, which one may really consider doing- and enjoy.

His Time Has Come

2010-07-12T23:50:00.000+02:00

A very important date has slipped my mind during the World Cup. 7th of July was the 150th birthday of one of the three classical music composers that have captured my imagination the most. Gustav Mahler was born 150 years ago in a small Bohemian town - in the original meaning of the word- to Jewish parents. His incredible journey filled with personal tragedies, anti-Semitic hostilities and a constant struggle with himself about the worth of his work ended 61 years later in Vienna. He left the world 10 Symphonies, and many symphonic Songs. It was him, who brought the etiquette to the Opera experience during his stints at the Vienna and New York Opera Houses. He was perhaps the first Opera producer, in the real sense of the word, working closely with the stunning fin de siècle artists of Vienna. His music is seen by authorities as a key transition from the Romantic era to the 20th century contemporary classical music. After fierce censoring during Nazi years, his music made a comeback in the 50s to be considered as classics. Today, we can celebrate Mahler's music, with the joy of knowing his own premonition has realized: his time has come.

Here are few of my personal favourites:

The brutal opening from Symphony 6:

Third movement from Symphony No. 7, Scherzo, one of the most fluid and dynamic pieces of music I've listened to:

Here is Lorin Maazel on the 7th Symphony:

And here is Rattle on 9th Symphony:

What Homeopathy is good for:

2010-07-12T12:08:00.000+02:00

Finally a good use for the quackery that goes under the name homeopathy:

Birth control! Link to the xkcd comic.

People of Rio de la Plata, Unite!

2010-07-09T12:55:00.004+02:00

... or A proposal for South American dominance in the next world cup:

Yes, it still hurts. Those four goals, that involve perfectionism in attacking football on the German side, and complete failure of the defensive skills on the Argentinian side. And God's sad sad face.

So I have a proposal for the next World Cup. We all seen how good the Uruguay defensive line was. Just think about adding the dream forward line of Argentina with a 2 good defensive midfielders together. It would be a dream team from the Rio De La Plata.

After all, Uruguay has its roots in the Liga Federal, which was a federalist state aspiring to control whole Viceroyality of Rio De Plata, which includes today's Argentina, after gaining independence from Spain...

If this doesn't work, they should at least bring together a team of chefs from both countries and tour the world:

Montevideo:

Buenos Aires:

The meat quality in Germany is comparable with the quality of Chinese toys. So I cannot even dream how do these South American meats taste, which in the same line of reasoning would be like German cars. In the meantime, I will have to be satisfied with Spanish Chorizo and home-made Chimichurri:

You don't wanna be human? Now you can!

2010-07-06T11:26:00.001+02:00

I don't wanna be human. I want to see Gamma Rays. I want to hear X-Rays and I wanna smell Dark Matter. I wanna reach out with something other than these paws. And feel the solar wind of a Super Nova.

So lamented Brother Cavil in Battlestar Galactica, to his creator.

Now, thanks to University of Cardiff, you will at least be able to see Gamma Rays and X-Rays. In their new site (link to the site) you can see the result of the brand new Planck Satellite' (link to the site) full sky scans in different wavelengths. They are gorgeous!

Life is a lottery...

2010-07-06T08:50:00.000+02:00

God is Argentinan, and you?

I know I was for the last month. Unfortunately, sometimes even the God himself has to make mistakes and suffer...

Thanks for everything Diego. To dream you and Messi lifting the World Cup was almost as good as the real thing.

Life is a lottery,
Night and day,
Life is a lottery,
Just walk and walk...

If I were Maradona,
I'd live like him,
Not a single mistake in front of the goal,
But mistakes everywhere else...

Big day no 1

2010-07-03T11:48:00.000+02:00

It feels like the day of a Besiktas - Fenerbahce game. Three more games and than we can celebrate the Kingdom of God with his holiness and his MESSIah.

There has been much said about the tactics and managerial style (or the lack thereof) of El D10S. Much of of it has got to do with the fact that his style is unorthodox. I am not sure if these two fine articles (link to The Guardian article, link to the Süddeutsche Zeitung article) I read today are plain contrarian or have some substance to them. Both articles underline the unorthodox human-management style of D10S, and speculate that it might be the right way to treat high class players who have already achieved a lot in their careers. Unlike European trainers, and wanna-be European trainers like Dunga, D10S gives a lot of personal freedom to the players. Carlos Tevez is allowed to stay in a single room, since he likes to walk around naked in his room. D10S replies "Free running chickens are the happiest." Both articles also highlight the technical team behind D10S. We will have to wait and see. But my dream is a Rio La Plata Derby in the final.

Finally, I hope Pele takes his soulless team and his wanna-be European coach with him to the museum where he belongs.

My Dilemma

2010-07-01T19:50:00.000+02:00

My plan for my next Dostoyevsky novel was "Crime and Punishment." Then when I was killing time in the airport by window shopping for books, I came across "The Possessed":

Both are from Dostoyevsky's mature period and are equally attractive to me. Crime and Punishment appears to be more about the human nature and ones struggle with coming in terms with its nature. The Possessed on the other side is a political novel. And in my uneducated opinion Dostoyevsky is the only writer I've read so far, who can give this specific human pursuit, i.e. politics, its right place and importance in the overall human condition.

I am really in a dilemma, which one to start?

Orhan Pamuk is convincing me to start with The Possessed. Asked of political novels he answers(link to the interview):

"Pamuk: I wrote one (political novel), right, but I don’t think it is a great genre that produces masterpieces. It’s rather a limited genre, despite the fact that Dostoyevsky, Conrad, Stendhal and a few others produced the best examples of it. Still, it’s troubled by some inner contradictions. By that I mean when a novelist or an artist has heartfelt political agendas about prior political tension in some corner of the world where there is a highly dramatized and unstable political situation, he or she tends to interiorize these problems and desires to express them on a political level. But once the author commits himself or herself to those problems, he or she is not a good novelist, because they takes sides. They can’t identify with everyone. They often have clear-cut good guys and bad guys, white guys and black guys, and so on. Once someone is morally committed to a political stance, it is almost impossible, or it is very problematic, to produce a satisfying, aesthetically convincing and “beautiful,” so to speak, novel. However, a few have managed to do that. Dostoyevsky’s The Possessed, sometimes translated as The Demons, is a great political novel in this sense. On the one hand, Dostoyevsky had in him the quality of believing angrily, with energy, in a social cause, getting angry about everyone; he had a nasty side to his spirit. He also had the unique ability, even in his anger, to identify with the bad guys. So it’s hard to be politically motivated and committed and write a novel that will not be damaged by the natural consequences of moral commitment, that is, inability to understand the “bad guy.” That is the fragile moment of the political novel. Although there have been a few classics, I think it can never be a major genre."

There is also this Turkish comment on the Possessed by Orhan Pamuk, which is very convincing (link to the article):

"Cinler, insanoğlunun yazabildiği en sarsıcı yedi-sekiz romandan biri, hiç şüphesiz, gelmiş geçmiş en büyük siyasal romandır. İlk okuduğumda, yirmi yaşımdayken kitabın üzerimdeki etkisini, sarsılmak, hayret etmek, inanmak ve korkmak kelimeleriyle özetleyebilirim. O zamana kadar okuduğum hiçbir roman beni böylesine derinden sarsmamış, hiçbir hikâye insan ruhu ve şahsiyeti hakkında bana bu kadar sarsıcı bir bilgi vermemişti. Sarsıcı olan şey insanın iktidar isteğinin ve affetme gücünün, kendini ve başkalarını kandırma yeteneğinin ve bir inanç bulma azminin, sevmenin ve nefretin, en kutsal olana ilgiyle en bayağı olana düşkünlüğün boyutlarının genişliğini görmek, bu özelliklerin aslında hep yanyana bulunduğunu kavramak ve bütün bu duygu ve ruh durumlarını kitabın ölüm, siyaset ve aldatmacanın şiddetiyle yüklü olay örgüsüyle birlikte yaşamaktı. "

In between two Dostoyevskys, I guess I will smile a little with this lovely new book about Russian Novels and People Who Read them by Elif Batuman (amazon link):

All Whites, All Blacks!

2010-06-20T17:57:00.004+02:00

I have a second team in the World Cup. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

Another Side of South Africa

2010-06-20T16:09:00.001+02:00

The world cup is running smoothly in South Africa, annulling the security concerns that some observers had. This is great news, not because I did not believe that this young country was not capable of hosting a global event, but because through this World Cup, South Africa will have the chance to erase this belief in the minds of the outsiders. I think they deserve this after all this years after overthrowing the last major racist regime in the civilized world.

Incidentally, I was fortunate enough to read Disgrace ,one of the best books I've read in the last 5 years, just before the World Cup. It is by the South African Nobel Literature Prize Laureate Coetzee. This great book came at a time when I was about to reach the conclusion that two different persons of comparable intelligence and manners can reach completely opposite conclusions on a divisive subject solely based on their upbringings and the culture they belong to. This book about "white" intellectuals, "black" rapists, colourless men submitting to their lust, dogs, "white" farmers, "black" entrepreneurs has lead me to once again question the validity and universality of our most basic concepts of good and bad. Set in rural South Africa, this book will definitely give you an idea about the life in South Africa that is not captured by the cameras. Furthermore, I believe one will appreciate the complexity of building a consensus between two cultures with very different philosophical/ethical axioms, especially after one of the cultures have enslaved the others for hundreds of years.

If you want to celebrate the culture of the host of the World Cup without paying the multi-nationals selling the same products with an "African " flavoe or playing the Vuvuzela, I recommend this book.

In a galaxy far far away

2010-06-16T09:11:00.003+02:00

This is insanely funny.

Dies mal eine sehr kluge Frage von Ihnen...

2010-06-13T22:57:00.003+02:00

The German efficiency is still working. No matter how strong/weak Australia was, the performance of this young and new team is remarkable, or as the Germans would put it "bemerkenswert".

However, I couldn't enjoy the game, rather the post-game as much as I could. In Germany, World Cup is broadcast on two channels alternatively. ZDF and ARD. In ARD, there is the cult football commentary duo Gerhard Delling and Günther Netzer. They are by far the most hilarious thing I watched on German TV. In ZDF, a serious old lady and Oliver Kahn, whose nickname was the Gorilla. No wonder I prefer ARD.

Netzter was the first super-star of German football. A Porsche driving, night-club owning player from the small German town Mönchengladbach, lead his team to trophies in Germany and Europe. He was transferred to Real Madrid as the first German player in the Spanish side. He went on to become a media entrepreneur, marketing sports tournaments to media companies. He's a clever guy with a great sense of humour. Netzer and Dellinger are friends in real-life, but make fun of each other on TV. This is a mix of their best moments:

Bem-vindo Ricardo

2010-06-13T14:37:00.001+02:00

I was watching Besiktas-Porto CL game on first row, thanks to my friend Ozan. Quaresma was playing with tremendous pace and technique. When the ball went out for a throw in, I shouted at Quaresma, and told him "Slow down Quaresma, you are too good for our players!" He replied by kissing his Porto jersey, and laughing. Well, this superb player will be running in Inonu and kissing Besiktas jersey this year. I am very excited.

By the way, wouldn't he be a perfect Caravaggio model?

This time, let the history repeat

2010-06-11T11:01:00.000+02:00

And do watch the goal of the century in original Argentinan commentary (link to video). I almost cried.

Wilkommen Herr Schuster

2010-06-10T15:32:00.002+02:00

If you are reading this, be thankful to Alan Turing

2010-06-07T14:15:00.000+02:00

56 years ago, one of the brightest minds in human history committed suicide.

He was chemically castrated according to the laws of the leading democracy in the Western World.

An avid athlete, he died as an obese man, as a side effect of oestrogen injections he received.

He died, because he was doing, what makes everyone happy. Loving another human being.

It took 55 years for this "leading democracy" to apoligise.

His name was Alan Turing, and if you are reading these sentences, you should be thankful to him.

Power of positive thinking, no sorry, positive drinking

2010-06-07T00:52:00.001+02:00

My latest posts have not been cheerful, to say the least. Over at Pharyngula there is a BBC short of Caribbean Monkeys -yes, the ones that populate the legendary Monkey Island, which have acquired a taste for alcohol. It is both relieving and sad to see how similar the mankind is to monkeys. It is relieving from the perspective of mankind. At least I can explain some of our foolish behaviour with the Stone-Age brains we have and share with apes. It is sad from the monkeys' perspective, that I use their species to explain the low-intelligence behaviour of their ape cousins Homo Sapiens. The video I added above is a must-watch.

So, if the monkeys got a taste for it, maybe Lou Reed was right. There is a power in positive drinking:

Talking of Lou Reed and animals, if you happen to be in Sydney, and have a house pet, make sure you don't miss the Vivid festival curated by Lou Reed and his wife. They will be giving a concert just for the pets. Here is the (link to the article).