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This Sunday Boca Juniors will be playing their arch rivals River Plate. They are lagging the leaders River Plate by 4 points and will have to win. I'll be in Turkey this weekend, and will catch this great game on TV. Last Sunday there was a similar derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, which Galatasaray won -and took the leadership with 2 weeks to go in the season. One of the big shots in the club administration had a version of Sos Cagon chant of the River Plate fans prepared for Galatasaray, which I have to admit was a good one. Too sad the Galatasaray fans could not sing it during the match. Here is the original one from River fans, which is amazing: But my heart beats for Boca and their fans: I will watch a Superclassico before I die. That is a must. On the home front Besiktas is having a relatively shitty end to the season, stuck at the 4. place, with no hope of a direct UEFA Cup place. All of this after having the championship within our reach 3 weeks ago. To make the m...

My only hope is some sick scientist making human cloning possible, a dictator who wants to rule do world making it legal, and me starting a career as a spy, capturing the cloning machine, obtaining a DNA of her, and cloning 1 sample of the finest sample of women, destroying the machine, saving the world, and getting me my own Gisele. How's that for a plan? Check this out.

I'm a city soul. I lived in big cities all my life, and hated my only camping adventure -though it might have had to do with the 2 drunk guys snoring in my tent. Still I feel the urge to leave it all behind go to somewhere secluded. Its not that I am having a bad time, I am lovin' it to live in a city. It's just that the idea of being alone, and feeling the utter beauty of nature, and act as if all of it were made for me is very very tempting. Just like Lou Reed, the poet of the post-modern metropolitan male, says in his song Modern Dance: So maybe I should go to Tanganyika where the rivers run, down mountains tall and steep or go to India to study chants and lose romance to a mantra's dance So if I had the chance to go right now, these would have been my choices: 1- Patagonia, Argentina 2- Shetland Islands, Scotland 3- Rural Iceland 4- Kamcahtka, Russia

David Bowie lived in Schöneberg with Iggy Pop in the late 70s. This is from the last of his Berlin Trilogy, Low-1977, Heroes-1977, Lodger-1979. He was reading the writings on the Wall, when he came across the merry word Yasasin! -Long live!-, which is used in political slogans like "Long Live Our Struggle For The Brotherhood of the Workers!" popular back then. He says he rang up the Turkish Embassy and learned what it meant. And wrote this great song: Modeselektor is an electronic music band from Berlin. They recently came to fame, after Thom Yorke started promoting them, after listening to them and liking the stuff. Here is a song dedicated to the biggest Döner chain in berlin, the Hasir :

My childhood dream was being an astronomer in the Arecibo Observatory : Unfortunately, I could not follow my dream. I still enjoy reading popular astronomy articles though. NASA has published amazing pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope , celebrating its 18th birthday, of colliding galaxies! It starts innocently like this: Ends brutally like this: Attraction is dangereous...

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the greatest visionary, leader and the transformer in the history of Turkey. Apart from pulling out the miracle of creating a modern state - more modern then European states back then, there were 15 women in the parliment when the women could not vote in Europe- from the mess of a theocratic Ottoman Empire, he was also a very humane leader, and put his belief in the children. It was in his presidency that the celebrations of the gathering of the first Turkish Grand Assembly were used to gather money for the orphans and other kids with disadvantages. It was then established as a tradition that all the seats of power would be replaced by a child for a few minutes on 23 April. This tradition evolved further, and now we celebrate 23 April as National Sovereignty and Childrens' Day in Turkey. Children -mostly dance groups- come from all over the world and stay with Turkish families. We hosted a girl from Finland and one from Thailand, which was so much fun when...

I guess it is the ultimate sign of recognition for an artist when a fellow artist makes a song about you. Dylan got two of such dedications. One from Syd Barret, one from David Bowie! This is a quite interesting topic, and here are the songs that I know which are dedicated to an artist. Let me know if you know others too! Song to Woody - From Bob Dylan to Woody Guthrie R.A.M.O.N.E.S - From Mötorhead to Ramones Song For Bob Dylan - From David Bowie to Dylan Bob Dylan Blues - From Syd Barret to Bob Dylan Buddy Holly - From Weezer to Buddy Holly Song to Bobby - From Cat Power to Bob Dylan (Thanks to Thuan for this one)

I am going to write about Battlestar Galactica again, because it really is the best thing I watched on TV. The last episode was simply great, and for those who watched it, I think it was the best episode finale of all. There is civil war, there is democracy, there is a benevolent tyrant, there is intermarriage tensions, there is alienation that makes a mother try to kill her own child, there are humans trusting humans, and Cylons distrusting Cylons. There are compromises in politics, there is a hidden agenda. All in one episode, but that’s not what I’m gonna write about. I simply want more people watching this great show if they are interested. I am going to write about walnuts, brain, evolution, and meaning of being alive. I was eating walnuts -with Grana Padano cheese, delicious combination- when watching the last episode, and noticed -again- how our brains, almost all brains for that sake, are like walnuts. Then it occurred to me what a great thinker was Darwin again. Similar evol...

Bugunku galibiyetten sonra Besiktas'li olmak ne demek diye kendime sorarken Vedat Ozdemiroglu'nun su siiri kafamdaki bir cok soruyu yanitladi: Malmö Tesellisi Için(Recep Cetin için) Takma Recep Mevzu değil ant olsun Canın sağolsun Unut Recep Kaleden çıkardığın sayısız Topu unutmayız Boş ver Recep Beşiktaşlıyız Halden anlarız Kendi kalesine gol atan da bizdendir Ve o efsanevi gol:

Here is the 3 day forecast for Berlin: Today Rain 7° | 2° Fri Chance of Rain 9° | 4° Sat Chance of Rain 11° | 5° But for me spring is already here. It is the season of an Anatolian native, and probably the weirdest of Turkish tastes, the Can Erik -literally the plumb of life. These young green plumbs are best eaten cold, after being soaked in cold water for a few minutes, and dipped in salt. Delicious!

Elbette de tertemiz degiliz, elbette basimizda Besiktas degerlerine ihanet eden bir yonetim var ve degistiremiyoruz, elbette yanlislarimiz var, ama eger bugunun kokusmus endustriyel futbolunda Seref Stadi'ndaki onbinler, televizyondaki milyonlar sampiyonluk yarisindaki takimlari sahada 10 kisi oynarken karsi takimin bir oyuncusu haksiz yere kirmizi kart gorunce hakemi protesto ediyor, oyundan atilan gencecik rakip oynucuyu alkisliyorsa bu Besiktas dedigimizde aklimizdan Baba Hakki'nin cikmamasindandir... Rahat Uyu Baba Hakki! Baba Hakki kimdir diye soranlar icin guzel bir yazi: http://www.zipistanbul.com/babahakki.htm

Modeselektor is the latest hotshot out of the Berlin dance music scene. Promoted by Thom Yorke I recommend their new album Happy Birthday. They are on tour, -I will miss their May show in Berlin but catch 'em up before the Radiohead show. They are coming to Istanbul and London, tour schedule can be found on their website . Here is a video from their previous album, which is a favorite of mine because the video was shot in Watergate, one of my favorite clubs in Berlin!

I don’t watch a lot of TV, so I cannot claim that Battlestar Galactica is the only show that deals with deep existential problems of the individual and societies. However I am sure that this is one of the reasons why Battlestar is gathering much attention from outside of your classical sci-fi fan community -see this entry from the Battlestar blog I contribute for law professors interviewing the producers of the show. After a somehow trivial and boring start to the season, the second episode of the final season had everything what this great show is about. You have Gaius transforming into a prophet, conflicting with his own rationality on the way, you have Cylon’s dealing with the perils of democracy when they have to take action on disobedient soldiers, and you have the final 4 Cylons and the humans questioning the meaning of being a human or a Cylon, or if it ever matters, you have personal conflicts between two struggling people of power -the president and the chief of staff,- you h...

As I received the happy news of the marriage of one of my best friends Umut Ozek , I have reconsidered the name I will give to my son. I'll name him, Bilgehan Kartal Toker, after the mighty and wise Gokturk khan Bilgehan and the symbol of my club the eagle. I am sure my son will thank his dad for giving him a cool name like this, which translates into "Wise Eagle Khan, the Content Warrior" with the surname!

Arguably the saddest voice alive, Beth Gibbons, and her partners in crime will be releasing their first album since 10 years on April 28. The first single, Machine Gun will be released on 14th of April. Before I indulge myself with the pleasures of musical masochism, I will be listening to the old songs. Here is my favorite, from their debut album Dummy, Roads:

My favorite female celebrities are Katee Sackhoff, who plays Kara Thrace in Battlestar Galactica, and Charyln Marshall a.k.a Cat Power , the American singer. I'd love to sit and get nerdy with Katee and talk about Dylan for hours with Charyln. Here is a song Cat Power wrote for Bob Dylan, from her latest album, the Jukebox:

Haftasonu hem sahada kaybettik, hem de tribünde. Kaybetmeyi de bilemedik. Beni her hareketleriyle sevindiren Inönü'deki renkdaslarim bu sefer Alex'e su sisesi atarak, Baki'yi isliklayarak beni utandirdilar, macin skorundan cok üzdüler. Halbuki Besiktas'li olmak Tottenham macinda, gecen yaridaki Sivas macinda oldugu gibi yenilirken rakibini alkislamak, Trabzon macinda oldugu gibi hakemin yanlis kararini isine gelse de isliklamaktir. Battlestar Galactica'da duydugum bir söz vardi, Besiktas'lilik ile bagdastirdigim, "Nasil kaybettigin, insanligin ile ilgi zaferlerinden daha cok sey söyler" diye. Ne yazik ki bu sefer kaybetmeyi bilemedik. Mac öncesi Ozan ile ortak fikrimiz Fener'in ilk dakikalarda atacagi golün büyük beklentilerle gelen taraftari senkronize olmadan, gazi almadan bozacagini konusmustuk. Uc senedir olan yine oldu. Dogrusunu soylemek gerekirse oyuna agirligimizi hic koyamadik. Sezon basindan beri defansimiza 1 tugla daha koyamayan Ertugr...