title, what title?

Literary critics cannot agree how to read Kafka after all these years. There are many different readings of his masterpiece "The Castle", ranging from Marxism to magical realism. Being a big Gabriel Garcia Marquez fan, I tend to agree with the magical realist reading. However there is a crucial point to make. If the magician in Marquez's magical realism is the sort of the magician that Gandalf is in Lord of The Rings, entertaining the young Hobits with his tricks, than the magician of Kafka is a dark one, a dark Voodo sorcerer jailing his victims to the depths of their inner fears. Still the Castle pulls me this moment from the side of my bed...

Now he thinks he is the "leader of the team." Great way to go Lewis, I am sure you have all the experience needed to lead a top Formula 1 team after your maiden year in F1, which ended disastrously when you accidentally put your car on third gear, sitting a superior car, built on stolen Ferrari information. http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_3005402,00.html

Besiktas ended the first half of the Turkish Super League in a relatively promising position, only 3 points off the leader. We have a slight fixture advantage -we play all our derbies home, though we are not very good at home derbies except against Galatasaray- and we are going to make some changes in the squad. For the first time in4 years I am looking forward to the second half. Sivasspor, an Anatolian club, has done what Lanus has done this year in Argentina, they finished the league in the leadership. Fenerbahce has built up momentum, but their Champions League occupation may slow them down. The early performers Galatasaray iare playing very bad football, and their 73 year old trainer Karl-Heinz Feldkamp was absent for the last two games and is currently in Germany. He might pull up the same trick he pulled on us and leave mid-season, which would exacerbate the troubles at Galatasaray. In the meanwhile the Turkish Basketball League has been experiencing the toughest and most intere...

I recently downloaded Bjork's recent album, Volta . After a series of emotionally loaded albums, Bjork was quoted "having fun" as the primary objective of making Volta. This is very apparent in the songs, as well as the Timbaland influence in few of them. Yes you hear right, after making Justin a world superstar, he contributed with Bjork too. Here are my two favorite songs from the album: Earth Intruders is a song Bjork wrote after visiting the Tsunami struck Indonesian province of Aceh, which has a flag very close to Turkish flag , promoting her Army of Me Remixes album, which was an beneficary for the tsunami survivors: Declare Independence is dedicate to Gronland and Faroe Islands, who are dominons of the Danish Crown. Here is a live version from Later with Joos Holland:

Otherwise an economic libertarian, I still believe in limited market disruptive interventions in the pharmaceutical industry, especially for those high risk groups. One sad example of such a high risk group is the population in northern Turkey, in the Black Sea region, who are experiencing increased rate of cancer, possibly due to the effects of Chernobyl. Recently a young member of Besiktas Supporters Group Marmarali Kartallar from the Black Sea town of Rize died of cancer. This comes after some of the cancer treatment drugs were taken out of the mandatory health insurance coverage. The government should push for some cheap version agreement for those drugs to be administered to the high risk group only. Furthermore steps should be taken on preventative medicine practices, by setting up laboratories and conducting regular cancer checks on the population. I am sure there is some money somewhere in the world for this purpose...

Gecen haftalarda Economist dergisi yukselen temel besin fiyatlari ile ilgili 6 sayfalik ozel bir rapor hazirladi -verdigim baglanti uyelik gerektirebilir, ilgilenenlere mail olarak raporu yollayabilirim. Raporda -real fiyatlarla 1974 seviyelerinin altinda kalsa da- rekor kiran temel besin fiyatlarindaki artis, uzun donemli olarak gelismekte olan -Cin, Hindistan basta olmak uzere- ulkelerin daha cok et ve benzeri daha karmasik besinler tuketmesi, kisa donemli olarak da ozellikle Amreika’daki etanol desteklerine baglaniyor. Sonuc olarak da dunya temel besin piyasasinda bir arz talep dengesizliginin bulundugu, ve eger dogru politikalar kullanilirsa bu fiyat artisinin dunya yoksullarinin cogunun yasasdigi tarim ile gecinen kesimin hayat kalitesi seviyesinin arttirilmasinda ve gelismekte olan ulkelerde derinlesen sehir kirsal gelir adaletsizliginin giderilmesinde kullanilabilecegi idda ediliyordu. Ayni gunlerde Turk basininda hedeflerin altinda kalan buyume oranlari ile ilgili haberleri ok...

We play Porto tonight. If we beat them, qualify for the second round in the champions league. It is for this exactly this hope, and the excitement that send shivers up and down my spine that I love Besiktas... And nothing can describe my feelings better than the Besiktas chant we wrote from a poem by one of the greatest Turkish poets, Nazim Hikmet . Believe in it children, believe in it! We will see beautiful days, sunny days... We will beat Porto, and sing chants of glory... Do open http://forum.forzabesiktas.com in an Internet Explorer window to hear the song based on the poem.

One of the most prominent members of the post WW2 avantgarde classical music scene, Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) passed away on Friday . He was the composer that got me interested in the exciting world of non-traditional classical music. I would like to pay my tributes to this visionary with one of his most influential compositions, the Helicopter Stringquartet, with the hope that it will inspire others, like it inspired me. Those interested might try spotting him on one of the most well-known album covers of all time:

While Nicolas Sarkozy spends his nights with nightmares about having one day to explain the children of France that Europe is neighbor to Iraq and Syria, the scientists at the Ankara University and University of Texas have found the first Homo Erectus , an early ancestor of human species -Homo sapiens sapiens-, skull in Anatolia, strengthening the hypothesis that human species migrated from Africa to Europe through Anatolia. The skull is also remarkable, as it shows signs of Tuberculosis, which is a disease thought to have infected mankind a few thousands year old. This skull is remarkable 500 000 years old. Yes that is 500 millenniums... Here are Turkish and English reports on the findings.

I am listening to Blur's 1995 Album The Great Escape, which brought me good memories after all these years. Good music, and funny videos. Here's two of my favorites: Charmless Man The Country House

Fr., 30. Nov. – Rufus Wainwright I was not familiar with Rufus Wainwright's own songs before the concert. I knew hom from his Leonard Cohen songs. As a result, my expectations were not high. I am not sure if it was a result of my low expectations, or just the pure fact that Rufus is a great entertainer, the concert goes down on my personal music history as the "most entertaining" concert. Rufus sang from jazz, to folk, from 20's inspired revue music to very modern pop songs. The peak of the concert was when he sang an traditional Irish song, which he learned from his mother. He and his band did not use any electronic amplifiers, just their breaths. It was simply amazing. His communication with the audience was also very warm. He interrupted his songs on more then one occasion, when he made mistakes. So natural... Watching this concert in Berlin added another dimension. He produced his last album in Berlin. There are two obvious references to Berlin in his song titles,...

I'll start with a question, a very basic question. How many basic tastes are there? Until last week I could come up with 4: Salty Sour Sweet Hot Which was not complete and also wrong. Hotness associated with chili is not a basic taste by definition. The complete taste list looks like this. Salty Sour Sweet Bitter Umami I am not joking. Umami is a relatively newly discovered tasting capability with humans, and associated with the amino acid glutamic acid, which is the building block of many proteins. however taste comes from the free form or the salt of glutamic acids. It literally means the "delicious taste" in Japanese. It is associated with fermented protein containing products, such as cheese, ham, East Asian Fish Sauce, and as well as vegetables like aspargus, sea weed and tomatoes. I came across this flavor, when I got interested in Old Roman Cooking. Back in the days, the Romans stored fish in salt, to prevent them from roting. After 4 months the fermenting bacte...

The most successful "entertainer" in Rock'n'Roll, at least I have ever seen, died 17 years ago on this day. I would like to pay my respects to this great artist with the video of one of his great performances from Live Aid, which I mentioned in my blog earlier.

Advantage of being a supporter of a club like Besiktas is to find something to make you happy every time you are down. These are moments from our victory against Efes Pilsen, der rekordmeister, from last week. During the week we beat Zeleznik Beograd in Belgrade in ULEB Cup. I am waiting for Saturday to come to watch Besiktas, probably to deliver another miserable performance- when I think about it I don't remember a game we played inspiring football. In the mean time I listen to old chants, like this one we sang in 2003 against Lazio Rome, being 2-0 down, and out of the competition... I fell in love with you already, And therefore I cannot love another, They are calling me mad, Let them call me mad, I cannot change, Let them call me mad, I cannot change, ooooo...

Brian May, one of my childhood heroes, and the guitar player of my childhood band Queen was elected anonymously as the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. He had finished his Bsc in astrophysics before his success with Queen, and luckily his undergraduate research topic was not a hot one, allowing him to obtain his PHD in 2007 with his thesis titled "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud" which is about the interplanetary dust, that is crucial to understanding of the formation of the solar system.

Bu yaz okudugum, bir Italyan gazetesinin seküler ve vahiy kaynakli ahlak anlayislarinin benzer ve catisan yönlerini irdelemek amaci ile ünlü Italyan yazar ve dusunadami Umberto Eco ile Milan Kardinali Carlo Martinelli arasinda baslattigi mektup alisverisinden olusan “Inanmayan Neye Inanir- Inanc ya da Inanmamk*” adli kitabin en ilginc kismi Carlo Martinelli’nin sekuler ahlak anlayisinin dayanak noktalarini sorguladigi mektubu, ve Umberto Eco’nun “Öteki sahneye cikinca…” adli cevabiydi. Eco insanlarin kendilerinden sonrakiler icin bir ornek olmak, ve kendilerinden sonrakilerin hayatlarinda iyi bir iz birakmak adina hayatlarini ahlakli gecireceklerini, ve kisisel cikarlarin otesinde hareket edebileceklerini idda ediyordu. Yani bir insanin erdemi ve tüm insanlik icin degeri gelecek nesillerde biraktigi hatiralar, ve sansli birkaci icin de kendilerinden sonrakilerin hayatlarinda ön ayak olduklari degisiklikler ile ölcülebilirdi… Beni 31 Ekim 2007’de kaybettigimiz Erdal Inönü’nün arkasindan...

are happening in Turkey and in Germany... Turkey is recovering slowly from the trauma caused by the surge of attacks by the Kurdish-separatist terrorist who call themselves, PKK, Kurdistan Workers Party. For those outside Turkey, and following the news from international news conglomerates, the name is an intended oxymoron. PKK is a "party" in the same sense that Nazis were a National Socialist party. In the very last attack, in which they killed 16 Turkish soldiers -in their spare time they stop village buses and kill dozens of civilians just because they do not support them -, PKK took 8 Turkish soldiers as hostage. They were freed after involvement of certain members of the Parliament who have active links to this terrorist organization. In an unexpected move the 8 soldiers were arrested by the Military Court... The events are rich with speculation possibilities, and have to be clarified to the public. 8 Soldiers were used as a justification for a possible incursion to the...

penche.com'dan bir Besiktaslinin yazisi benim dusuncelerime tercuman oldu: Utanmışlarmış... Bugün bütün medya, ağız birliği etmişçesine, utanmaktan sözediyor. Size ne oluyor? İster 10-0 yeneriz, ister 8-0 yeniliriz. Biz seviniriz, biz üzülürüz. Rahat bırakın bizi. Acımızı demlendirelim, kavgamızı edelim. Aşkımızı tazeliyelim. Sınavda, 8 notunu "kendisi alan"; ama notu 3 olunca, "hocanın verdiğini" söyleyen sorumsuz talebe anlayışı vardır. Aynı o talebeler gibi, -ama mâsum olmayan- medyacılar da, 2 hafta önce "Liverpool''u yendik" diyordu. Bugün, "kahrettiler", "utanmazlar", "utandırdılar" vb. başlıkları attılar. Dün maçtan sonra yorum yapan Mehmet Aslan, bugün "İkitelli''nin en bi utangaçı" E.Özkök''ün Hürriyet gastesinde ne yazmış diye baktım. Yazısını şöyle bitirmiş: "Shankly Gates... Liverpool’un kurucusu... O, "Futbol hayat memat meselesi değildir, ondan çok, çok daha önemli...

I have recently moved out. Germany being the service desert that it is I will need about 2 weeks to get internet at home. That's why I cannot contribute to my blog as much as I would have liked. I would like to write an Obituary on late Erdal Inonu, the physicist turned politician turned physicists, who passed away las week, and had a deep influence on my intellectual development. I would like to write about my trip to London and Liverpool. I would like to write about my altered views about football. But I need time for all that. Until I find time I want to entertain the blog readers with my favorite Elliot Smith song Son of Sam: which is, though denied by Smith himself, based on David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, who terrorized New York City in the summer of 77. Those interested can refer to this great Crime Library article , or the movie by Spike Lee called the Summer of Sam . The movie is definitely worth watching, especially for the performances of John Leguizamo and ...

In the third of Turkish Football Chants series I want to talk about Göztepe, and their loyal fans. Goztepe is from the third largest city of Turkey, Izmir. Along with Karsiyaka and Altay, it is one of the 3 Izmir giants. It was one of the few Turkish clubs to play semi final in major European cups. In 2003, they were turned into a corporation, and this was the spark for the fastest fall in the Turkish football history. After 4 years, they are playing the lowest level, the Amateur league. Their fans, however, are still following them and singing chants like the "March of Rebellion", which in my opinion the best Turkish football chant. It goes: We are walking on the streets of Izmir, with our shirts on our backs Our numbers reached 100s of thousands, with your yellow and your red May your yellow be the sun, and your red be the blood in my vein So that not a single day of my life goes without you, this is what all my struggle is for Our glorious Goztepe was born on 1925, May thi...