title, what title?

The boy with the thorn in his side, Behind the hatred there lies, A murderous desire for love, How can they look into my eyes And still they don't believe me ? How can they hear me say those words, Still they don't believe me ? And if they don't believe me now, Will they ever believe me ? And if they don't believe me now, Will they ever, they ever, believe me ? Just a write down a sudden, perhaps fleeting, association between two works of art that I particularly like.

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:

"-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 inc...

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?

Caravaggio is my favorite painter. Painting in the beginning of the era known as "Counter-reformation," Caravaggio is known for his realism, his use of light and shadow and the dynamic scenes he depicts in his pictures. He was definitely a contemporary artist, in the current sense of the word. Whereas his contemporaries were still painting angels and prophets in heaven in the Renaissance style, Caravaggio chose his models from the slums of Rome, and painted Biblical scenes in contemporary Rome. This struck a chord in the illiterate masses, whom the Catholic church were trying to "protect" from the influence of the Reformation coming from the Teutonic world. Not similar to contemporary artists of today, he was very popular among the masses. There was something very "modern" in Caravaggio's attitude and style, that I could feel and see in his paintings, and was not able to name. Yesterday, I started reading Michael Focault's review of Kant's sho...

I mean it metaphorically of course. I hope it will be a fair game on the pitch and on the streets of Berlin alike. Inanin Cocuklar, Cocuklar inanin, Güzel günler görecegiz, günesli günler, Almanyayi Baselde devirecegiz, Sampiyonluk sarkilari söyleyecegiz*! *This is a Besiktas chant which is derived from the great Turkish Poet Nazim Hikmet. My humble translation goes like: Believe in it Boys, believe in it, We will see beautiful days, sunny days, We will knock out Gemany in Basel, We will sing songs of championship!

I am not a vegetable fan. As a matter of fact the number of vegetables I eat is shorter then 10 items. They are either too soft, or too thick, or too tasteless or too grassy. Artichoke however stands out in my mind as one of the most elegant and delicious things that mother earth has given the mankind. Its as if it's firmness, consistency, juiciness, flavor and texture has been optimized both independently and jointly. My favorite way of eating it is the Turkish "Zeytinyagli Enginar" which can be translated dully as "Artichoke with Olive Oil": The quality and the taste of olive oil is a very important factor. So for an artichoke lover cooking it with another type of oil would be a serious insult. And some artichoke lovers can take it to extreme ends. Caravaggio, or Michalengelo Merissi da Carravagio, who is considered to be by some the father of modern painting, -and also my favorite painter, for rescuing the world of painting from the disturbing and artificia...