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After a stormy Friday I'll be leaving for the Three Valleys in few minutes. I want to ski until I can't ski anymore. Ill be away from the net for a week, I am looking forward to that. While I was surfing the web not to fall asleep last night I found this great Battlestar Galactica Tribute Video: What I've learned from this video? Tom Zarek used to play Apollo, and the blond guy in A-Team was Starbuck, and Starbuck is so cute. The new one of course...

It is common for people living in two of the three major cities in Turkey that are on the cost, Izmir and Istanbul, to mock the other one, Ankara, just because the biggest body of water nearby is a 2km long 200 meter wide lake. From silly comments like "I can't imagine how it would be like to wake up without seeing the sea" to absurd arguments like it is impossible to "fall in love without being next to the sea", I've heard it all... I think they're all bullshit. I compare their situation with that of those people working in fragrance shops. Surrounded by stimulating scents of all sorts, I doubt if they can enjoy those fragrances when they go back home and smell them on their loved ones... Similarly, I can enjoy the mossy smell of the sea to the full extent, because I long for it for a year. It has some drawbacks too. This morning I woke up with this sweet smell in my mind, in another capital far far away from the sea, and I can't do anything about i...

Best training so far. I did 40 minutes on the cross trainer (it's sad that Cross Trainer is almost never free when I go), worked out my abs, shoulders, chest. I had more energy so I added my back to the exercise. Definitely it's gotta do with my excitement for the Skiing trip in 4 days. I will ski from the minute when the pistes open till sun goes down. I listened to Ramones almost exclusively. My favorite, Teenage Lobotomy. Somehow fits me perfectly: Slugs and snails are after me DDT keeps me happy Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em That I got no cerebellum. Gonna get my ph.d. I'm a teenage lobotomy.

Shouting from Austin, the Texan post-rock group Explosions in the Sky have released a new album titled "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone" and they are going on a world tour. Pitchfork magazine have released a great review about their last album, and almost stole my feelings about the band: "While alphabetized post-rock record collections find Explosions in the Sky slotted neatly between Do Make Say Think and Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and although the music is suited to the same contemplative mood, these Texans are more workmanlike than their Canadian peers, more like artisans than artists." Anyway, if you are interested they have a free mp3 from the album here . BBC Radio 3's " Tchaikovsky Experience " ended with a great performance of the composer's 1812 Overture at the Imperial War Museum. They are airing the whole performance online until 5th of March here . I was never really into pre-1900's classical music but this performance change...

I am pretty motivated for the skiing trip next week to the Three Valleys. So I went to the gym on both Saturday and on Sunday. On Saturday I decided to jog outside, benefiting the spring weather in Berlin. I could manage 20 minutes, I just hate jogging. Sunday was not different either, I tried my luck on the fitness bike, and managed 15 minutes. I dunno what to do. I plan running for the remaining 5 days to build up more stamina. Apart from that I concentrated on shoulders, chest, triceps and abs. I watched 3 episodes of Battlestar Galactica over the weekend. Lieutenant Thrace, a.k.a Starbuck is becoming my favorite character slowly. I'd like to dedicate the great Flaming Lips Song "Yoshimi Battles Pink Robots Pt. 1" to Starbuck, who is working her motherfrackin ass to save the humanity from the evil Cylons... "Her name is yoshimi She's a black belt in karate Working for the city She has to discipline her body 'Cause she knows that It's demanding To def...

Argentine football giants River Plate's , a.k.a Los Millionares, legendary stadium El Monumental , where 1978 World Cup Final took place, was shut down for five games after a crowd trouble between River Plate fans led to the injury of 5 supporters. This reminded me of a similar accident that took place in Fenerbahce Stadium on Valentines Day 2007, before a UEFA game against AZ Alkmaar. Allegedly started after a dispute over the distribution of free tickets to fan groups, something that Fenerbahce claimed to have stopped doing, 5 supporters were injured, one of them being serious as a result of a knife wound to the chest. The incident was simply overseen in the Turkish Media, who choose printing rather kitschy metaphors related to the Valentines Day (my friend Ozan's blog has a nice post about it). A year ago a Besiktas fan was stabbed to death in Besiktas Stadium. Besiktas' Stadium was closed for 4 games, and "The Stadium of Death" read the banners on the fi...

I was lucky last year. I had no online tickets, I did not reserved or anything. But I found 2 tickets for " Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man "'s European premiere (and watched it with Blixa Bargeld and Wim Wenders, yes I am trying to show off) during Berlinale. I thought my luck would be with me again, and we would find 4 tickets for the last screening of 300 . Unfortunately, the cinema we went to was also the venue for the Honorary Awards, and the screening was sold out. I am not disappointed, its coming to cinemas in April. We waited outside the cinema, with the hope that we would catch some celebrities. But the only people who came out of the cinema were a bunch of old people who were actually carrying some awards, and no screaming and crying fans or anything of that sort. There was actually one artist-wannabe guy, who was wore an all white suit complete with white leather shoes and a white fur jacket. He unfortunately did not get any contacts with the film industry, but...

My motivation was pretty good. I did 30 minutes on the bike with a hight tempo, and worked on my chest, abs and shoulders. I arrived at the gym around 830 pm. It was full of guys working out hard. I said, I am not the only guy with the great idea of spending the Valantine's day at the gym. Strangely the gym emptied out almost completely around 930pm, I guess these guys were just working out to look pumped for their date for the day. I find that idea very silly. I went back to the roots with the music and listened to the first two albums of Chemical Brothers. I hate to repeat the cliché, but their early break beat work is obviously better then their later work which are watered down with techno. Here is a great song with a great video: Director: Spike Jonze. The Gymnast: Sofia Copolla (the actress, director and aparently amateur gymnast daughter of Francis Ford Copolla). They were married at the time of this video. Who is this doing this synthetic type of alpha beta psychedelic funk...

Things started out bad right from the start. I missed the bus, which cost me 20 minutes under the rain. Then I went in the gym, only to notice that I've forgotten my sport socks at home. I had to go back to the locker room three times because I forgot my magazine, towel and water bottle respectively. It was clear I had no concentration or motivation whatsoever. I stepped on the bike and could only manage 10 minutes. I tried my luck at the weight room, did some abs but I was just not in the mood. So I gave up, went back home and watched two episodes of Battlestar Galactica. I can't get enough of the series, I need a game to go with it. Here is the opening scene which excites me every time: I'll go today instead. I am pretty motivated. Besides, it's a great way to spend the Valantine's Day. (*)Bu kliseyi dillendirmeden duramayacagim "Sevgililerimizi yalniz sevgililer gununde degil, hergun hatirlamaliyiz."

An entry in my sisters blog reminded me of an urban legend about the Japanese language. I've hear in many places that the Japanese language does not have any swear words in it. It's a total lie, and is a result of Western ignorance, which tend to mock everything that it does not understand. As a follower of Myth Busters, I feel it's my duty to fight against this myth. There are two reasons behind this myth. First of all, there are complex levels of respect that is built in the Japanese language. Almost every word has versions of varying respect levels. Take the pronoun "you" for example, "Anata" is a very respectful way of saying "you", where as "Teme" is a form of "you", so rude, that is almost equivalent to saying fuck you every time you address a particular person [1] . They have different versions of numbers, so the two in "two people" is not same as the two in "two dogs". If you refer two fell...

According to this International Herald Tribune article, Boca Juniors have loaned Juan Roman Riquelme from Villareal for the Argentinian Closure Championship. After failing to clinch the title on 3 of the last games of the Opening championship, and loosing in a championship game (despite taking the early lead in the game), Boca seems to be doing everything necessary not to repeat the mistakes of the last season. Riquelme will hopefully fill the hole left by Fernando Gago, who left for Real Madrid.

Reached my goal of 3 sessions per week. I hope I can keep up this pace. Overall I am still not satisfied with my aerobic performance, thought it is improving, I did 35 mins on the bike. Got a new strategy, to do 20 minutes aim for 10, to do 30 aim for 25 and to do 35 aim for 30. Still it's the part of my exercise I like the least. Apart from that I worked out abs, chest and triceps. My companion for this session was Venetian Snares. Venetian Snares is the nickname of Canadian electronic music artist Aaron Funk. He is a weird guy, though his surname is too funky to be real, he strongly rejects that he changed his surname. He is from Winnipeg, Canada, and he is quite bored there, a fact that he made known to the whole world with his 2005 album titled "Winnipeg Is a Frozen Shithole". He was discovered by chance by the legendary producer, and mate of Aphex Twin, Mike Paradinas. His music is best fit into the "Drill'n'Bass" genre, which is an augmentation of ...

I watch Besiktas games in a locale for Besiktas supporters in Berlin. They are not your ordinary supporters either, they are a part of the Carsi group of Besiktas supporters, who are known for their unconditional support under all circumstances. So the number of games they did not see is maximum 3 or 4 in last 3.5 years, when the things were going down down and even further down. My feelings were shared by most of the people in the crowd, I felt that there was light at the end and not just the supporters but the whole club believe that we can reach this light out of the bad times. For the first time in 3 years,the chants were sung in celebration, in hope, not to shout out the love for the club, which was not shared by the players. This year, this love is shared by them... This season started as usual, we were excited for the first two games, and then faced the bitter reality that something was not functioning in our team. The passes were going uncompleted, players did not know where t...

Listened to Ramones the whole session. I found out that Ramones with their simple but brilliant approach to music, called punk for those music illiterates, goes great with workout. A fast drum beat, loud guitars with a simple melody, short songs and simpla but funny lyrics. Anyway, heres the summary. 15 minutes on the bike. The shitty machine did not have a resume workout option, so when I stepped off the bike to pick-up my water bottle, it stopped the workout. I was so angry to continue. I should stip using stupid excuses to escape from the aerobic part. Abs. Biceps. Upper Leg.

European Commission released the results of its study on reducing emissions from cars after long negotiations between the environmentalist lobby and the mighty auto industry. Result was another classical European policy which promised a lot but delivered a compromise which did not satisfy both of the parties. European commission proposed 130 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometer, as opposed to 140 grams of the voluntary target set by the industry and 120 which was proposed by the Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. The industry is playing their best card in hand, i.e. employment. Their argument is the following, more research on fuel efficiency costs more, which would increase the cost of the cars, and in order to compensate for this increase they would have to shift their production to lower employment cost countries (this is what an average European fears most, and will play good in the elections). But they are wrong. It is what I exactly mean when I say that the solution of gl...

Second day of my new program. I am dead tired the day after. But that means a thing, I was not pushing enough in my old program. So the results: 35 Minutes on the bike. This is good, my aerobic performance is getting better. I am quite motivated for the skiing trip that I will make at the end of the month. Abs. First time I got a cramp on my abs. Breast and Shoulders. My shoulders are aching so bad that I have to sit properly. Lost 2 kilos. After all, a very encouraging second day. The fitness song is from Aphex Twin , called Come to Daddy. Chris Cunningham 's video is one of the best music videos I've ever watched. Other interesting videos form Chris Cunningham: Windowlicker by Aphex Twin Second Bad Vilbel by Autechre

For those who are not familiar with him, John Peel was a legendary British radio broadcaster, who with his Peel Sessions which he ran unstopped between 1967 until his death 2004, helped so many bands from all sorts of genres. I I came across Peel Sessions site on BBC Radio 1, which reminded me his favorite song Teenage Kicks by the Undertones. It is the only song that he played two times in a row in a show. On a time when most of us asking serious questions about the meaning of dreams and the realities in life, it is a good song to sing to... "I can't listen to it now without getting all dewy-eyed. And if I play it on the radio, I have to segue it into the front of another record because I can't speak after I've heard it." John Peel on Teenage Kicks

I visited Mehmet Yagli in Amberg, my uni-mate. Okan, my toprak, joined from Stuttgart. I joined them actually, as Okan arrived in Nürnberg earlier. Here is a small illustrated report. Started off in a Mexican Restaurant, which was owned by a Greek, but run by a Slovenian, with Turkish bar keepers. The drinks were pretty cheap. I told a girl that she had an nice accent in German, and asked where she came from. Answer? A village 30 minutes away. Got to know the Frenkish accent better... (For those who don't know which one is who, Yagli is the one with the more girlie drink.) Then for some reason, I have serious reasons to think that it had to do with alcohol, spent rest of the evening asking literally everyone on the street what to do in Nürnberg on a Friday night. I did not give up even if everyone answered with Mach 1. Well we ended up going there, only to find out that it is another crappy multi floor multi genre club for people with exceptional music tastes. Sadly, I could not e...

Pablo Neruda called it "Novia del Océano" - the Sweetheart of the Ocean. Salvador Allende and Agustor Pinochet, the two most important figures in modern Chilean history were born and raised in it. It carried the nickname "the Pearl of Pacific" before the Panama Canal was opened. A UNESCO World heritage city, Valaparaiso's old town was devastated by a fire. Experiencing a recovery after years of gentrification, Valaparasio was recently tittled the cultural capital of Chile. I hope that the damage is not as extensive as it is seen on these pictures .

Flying to Nürnberg for the weekend to meet Memo Yagli and Okan Tiritoglan. We promised to get drunk on both days. I am also looking forward to good Bavarian food. Nürnberger Bratwurst, Leberkäse, good beer...

Again it took a week for me to go to gym. I've changed my program this time, concentrating more on aerobic and doing more condensed training. I hope I will somehow get a 3 days per week program going. Summary: 20 minutes on the bike 10 minutes on the treadmill (I hate running on the treadmill. I am not any better outside either. I am seriously thinking about buying some inline skates and trying that out.) Chest Part I Triceps I guess I've lost a kilo or two. My suggestion for a gym song this time is from Orbital: Yes. The name of the song is Satan...

If you haven't been living in a nuclear fallout bunker for the last 10 years, term global warming should be familiar to you (as a matter of fact, if you haven't heard about it, you better go back to the bunker). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , an intergovernmental council composed of about 2500 scientists put the blame of rising temperatures on us, the human kind. The report published today in Paris, uses the harshest wording that a international organization can use, and indicates: "The rise in global temperatures are more than likely to be caused by human activity" Let's contemplate on what human activity means. Please don't go blaming the evil gas companies, the auto industry, the global scapegoat Bush presidency, or the energy thirsty China who does not care about the environment at all. They sure are guilty to some extent. But it is only when we come into terms with the fact that we, ourselves are also guilty, and have to do something about ...