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Showing posts from January, 2011

Who Cares If you Listen? We did...

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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 wa

Kardesimsin Hrant

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

A Tribe Called Quest - Classical Hip Hop

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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

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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 far

Best of German Food - Vol. 1

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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 sausage