trying to hold of my Saturday, i am wasting my time for sure. here is a cultural artifact. I have been exploring Lamb of God and its latest album (Wrath) – not particularly my type- metalcore- but still powerful and speedful enough to listen to. The album has just been released and it’s already a … Read more
Galatasaray fans light torches at Ali Sami Yen stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, during the UEFA Cup round of 32, second leg, soccer match between Galatasaray and Bordeaux. Galatasaray won 4-3 and advanced in the UEFA Cup.(AP Photo/Murad Sezer) We, Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe fans (basically Erkan and Çetin) were happily expecting a … Read more
………Legendary German thrash band, Kreator‘s new album, Hordes of Chaos, is a thrash masterpiece. It is a sign of God! A pure thrash sound. In more mainstream, Franz Ferdinand’s new album is also great: Tonight:Franz Ferdinand but of course, Turkish political scene never relaxes… more coming soon…
Rİ2 tries to be as vulgar, as kitsch, as obscene as possible and brutally teases our emerging urban consumption practices. It is a blow to now dominant social conservatism around here whose one consequence is, for instance, to accuse a documentary-film about Atatürk because it demonstrates he was a heavy drinker. This episode is even … Read more
Metal Hammer editors provide you top 10 song lists on Valentines Day…….
India?s Shri Ram Sene, a right-wing Hindu group, is responsible for violent attacks on women who wear attire that they claim ?violates Indian norms.? To counter the thuggery, Bangalore-based Alternative Law Forum (ALF) has launched a satirical campaign seen above, titled ?A Consortium of Pubgoing Loose and Forward Women?. Found in Pink Panties to Counter Violence Against Women
Just watched In the Valley of Elah (2007). A sound thriller. I see that more and more films critical about the Iraqi war hit the mainstream. Body of Lies (2008) was also an impressive move. And a wikipedia entry does it all: A list of Iraqi War Films. Not all films are necessarily critical. … Read more
Buy the tshirt here 🙂 I happened to stop by a tango club the day before yesterday. It is very unlikely for Erkan to do that but I was hanging out with a friend who dances there for a year now. She took me there for beer. Dear friends, there are at least two tango … Read more
Just finished watching up the Guardian’s 1000 films to see before you die list. Not exactly; I could not find 40-50 films to watch but i guess it is still all right. I can die in peace. As a movie buff, I started following IMDB lists with the IMDb Top 250 Then followed many other … Read more
I had subscribed Official Slayer Store mailing list ages ago. I receive band information from time to time. Since last Christmas, Slayer store’s email notifications are attracting my interest. How come such a band can market its products like the one I quote here. In fact, I am not too surprised. Commodification and commercialization is … Read more
Instead of watching inauguration live broadcasting, I watched When We Were Kings (1996) I didn’t know Muhammad Ali was such a talkative guy but an intelligent and talkative guy… A black man talking back and actually practicing what he preaches… Nearly all news channels broadcasted live coverage. Many Turks were very excited. I am just … Read more
Peter Watkins is a new find for me. The War Game is an excellent docu-drama. This DVD contains both the War Game and Culloden, another stunning take… He has this specific style that gives documentaries a fictional touch.
Other notable movies I have seen recently:
Salaire de la peur, Le (1953)
Fukushû suruwa wareniari (1979)
Body of Lies (2008): It is like a documentary. Intelligence wars in Middle East. Well done…
Zwartboek (2006) Hmm. Please click the titles to see the titles in English..
A cult band, Napalm Death, is playing in Istanbul tonight. However, I have a date and I am missing it. I hope I have made the right decision:)
I am leaving Houston tomorrow. I do not know when I can be here again, it became my second home for a while, probably the second most familiar city in my life and now I am leaving. I did not have much nostalgia really but when I was passing through Grad Apartments where I stayed … Read more
After all, what I do need is some rest and this is what I do after my first post-defense days. Now it sinks in well, that I finished up my long educational life and I achieved what I intended to do at the end of high school. I had secretly changed my study topic … Read more
Despite several attempts I could not go back to writing and I did not hear from my professors. Because there are sections that need more work, my readers’ feedback could be overwhelming. I have to do some preemptive work, but so far I could not do. I did some more reading. I did have a … Read more
…he produces one of the most humane portrayals of Atatürk.
The film Mustafa demonstrates once again that Kemalist clergy (intellectuals, opinion leaders, cultural producers), cannot accept Mustafa Kemal as a human being. It is a suprahuman heroic entity. He has prophetic qualities. Any other portrayal is blasphemy. Can Dündar is a well-intentioned Kemalist but he could not escape being accused by these people and their militant disciples. I have watched the movie/documentary with a girl who started blurbing against the director before the movie and continued afterwards. This good work of biography has no meaning for her and others.
I would recommend the movie. It is too personal, it might ignore some of the social aspects of the early Republican years but it certainly gives clues to understand. Oh boy, those men and women around him in his later years are so familiar. He was surrounded by sycophants. He lost his closest friends and allies in political trials and he ended up surrounded with these people who would be the base of later cult of Kemalism. The cult was the reason of their existence and so they fed them. This still continues today.
Mustafa Kemal is a heavy smoker and drinker. He cannot sleep at nights, lonely and he cannot seem to have long term relations. So what? I would not lose my respect because of these but today’s Kemalist clergy is socially conservative as much as Islamists are. So this portrayal hurts them….