mirror mirror on the wall

this is an old one, that makes me feel rich:

Not-so-bad Things About Kadikoy

Everyday I live a different life. Music is different, weather is slightly different, the apple tastes different, the same people are different, the smell is almost always different, complete layout is totally different. One day feels like a film noir and the next, it's The Lord of the Flies... My whole comprehension is so different from one day to another that I sometimes have doubts about whether it is OK to have so many epiphanies in a row. An enlightening sentence I read, a tune I hear... they all change the scene. And there are some places where this scene-changing-stimuli are in abundance. One in Istanbul is Kadıköy, the Camden Town of Turkey. It's an Anatolian beauty that people overlooked until the last few months, and it means a lot to me. I had another visit there yesterday:

It's on the other side of the bosphorus, so I needed to get on a boat first.

"The boats are taking off from the other terminal now" said the officer.
"Really? since when?"
"January"

January?! I haven't been to my favorite place for almost a year? It was hard to believe it had been that long. What was I busy with? I stepped on the good-old boat and was shocked once more: the boat was a new one with wide seats and a shiny deck. In line with the new technology, the trip was much shorter, less than 15 minutes. I landed right at the entrance of the main street and walked upwards as I always do.

Surprise. Kadıköy was transformed in the last few months, dramatically. It's now publicised and crowded with people that clearly don't belong. It's full of cafes with catcy names, orderly streets... There is something "made" about it. It's not really dead but it has too much make up on.

I've been going there almost every month for the last six years and as I know it, Kadiköy has been an amateur intellect hub. It's never been glamorous or attractive. It's not a place for the rich artist. It's a place for Bukowski, Cocteau or Camus. Rough & Tough. Full of scattered bookstores, movie houses, designer stores, lots of underground bars, lots of wannabe teenagers and lots of tattooed & red-haired middle aged people who are here since they were lame teenagers. Kadıköy has a slight touch of the dark side or an imitation of it. It's the place for confusion and constant deviation. And if you believe that "confusion is the highest state of mind" or if you want to feel something different for a day, maybe something deeper, Kadıköy is the place to be.

funniest Turkish movie ever

Below is my favorite Turkish movie Kadın Severse (1955) from Atıf Yılmaz. It's supposed to be a drama but it's more of a comedy nowadays. Spare some time and watch it with a few friends:

Istanbul Biennial 2009

I remember my first biennial six years ago. It was the first week of my first year at university, my first week in Istanbul and my first activity with a now-very-close-friend of mine. I remember that despite the newborn cluelessness, it all came easy to me, and nothing in the city or the exhibition surprised me. (advantages of a comprehensive prior education and a speedy adaptation...)

Concept of this year is "What keeps mankind alive?"

This is my third biennial since then and is by far the best one. Only %50 of it is crap.

And you might ask: what gives anyone the right to call an art piece crap if the artist is content with the end result? Well, the act of exhibiting does. Moreover, %50 is actually a very good ratio when it comes to creating. Being quite agnostic about art, I will be talking about the crap half with people who defend the whole thing and I'll be talking about the astonishing half with people who defy it all together. The definition of art is just too broad to have a single approach to it; but I strongly recommend that you see Biennial 09 and enrich your gestalt. Ah, and stop by the Alexander Berg portraits in Taksim metro station, there's something extremely captivating about them.

the third party - interaction solidified

I've been observing individuals and groups for a long time just for sports; watching how people interact, digging into specific characters, speculating on group dynamics... etc. I just noticed that I've been missing a big deal by not paying attention to "the interaction" as an entity in itself.

Imagine you come across two of your friends. There is your dear friend A, talking to your other dear friend B. While they say hi and start talking to you, you suddenly notice their interaction C facing you as solid as your friends are. Somehow you don't like C. There is no animosity in between and their welcome ceremony is warm enough but it's just that you don't like how they effect each other or how their relationship is effecting other people. That C makes you walk away despite your easy friendship with A and similarly easy friendship with B.

Let's take on a more positive example and say you are sort of OK with having A around and you think B is a freak (yes, this is what I call a positive example). Somehow, when they are together, they rock! Being together makes them a fabulous company and the interaction C shines bright. B becomes less of a freak and A becomes more fun to be with. C changes how you perceive their personality eventhough it doesn't in reality. Not that I like Woody Allen but that's the point of the Vicky Christina Barcelona where a couple finds out that the missing part in their relationship is another person. Having mentioned the movie, I have to post its cute soundtrack below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEt1H9hkHvE

Kurt Vonnegut Explains Drama

I want to dedicate my 200. blog post to a brilliant explanation of life from Kurt Vonnegut, taken directly from Derek Sivers blog:

"I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything.

He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life.

He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let's look at a few examples.”

He drew an empty grid on the board, like this:

Time moves from left to right. Happiness from bottom to top.

He said, “Let's look at a very common story arc. The story of Cinderella.”

It starts with her awful life with evil stepsisters, scrubbing the fireplace. Then she get an invitation to the ball! Things look up. Then the fairy godmother makes her a dress and a coach. Even better! Then she goes to the ball, and dances with the prince! This is great! But then it's midnight. She has to go. Oh no. Sadness. Back to her humdrum life scrubbing the fireplace. But it's not as bad as before, because she's had this encouraging experience. Then, the prince finds her, and the happiness factor is off the chart! Happily ever after.

“People LOVE that story! This story arc has been written a thousand times in a thousand tales. And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this.”

He wiped the board clean and said, “Now let's look at another popular story arc: the disaster.”

It's an ordinary day in an ordinary town. But something horrible happens! A child falls down a well! The whole town gathers to save her. Old grudges surface, but are belittled in the light of this tragedy. Rifts are bonded as people work together. The child is saved, and all is well. But notice it's a little better than it was before, now that this incident has brought them all closer together.

“People LOVE that story! This story arc has been written a thousand times in a thousand tales. And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this.”

But the problem is, life is really like this...

Our lives drifts along with normal things happening. Some ups, some downs, but nothing to go down in history about. Nothing so fantastic or terrible that it'll be told for a thousand years.

“But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

That's why people invent fights. That's why we're drawn to sports. That's why we act like everything that happens to us is such a big deal.

We're trying to make our life into a fairy tale."

Feathers

After overcoming my exaggerated-rage-against-Istanbul, I became a content person. My spiky longings faded, leaving a sweet taste behind instead of a bitter one. Involuntarily, I stopped rushing between goals and wills and wishes. My heart started beating at a normal rate. Minor panic attacks and anxiety blindness dissipated. I got a stronger grip on my life-course when I didn't try to do it in a rush. My eyes are not locked to an imagined-aim anymore. With all dues paid, I began thinking in present tense. Tsunami tides melted into the rainy shore and somehow I don't mind rain now. I don't want hot weather and things feel more stabile... Wind is a better choice. Wind howls, holds and flows. Fills the matrix so delicately without cutting into the skin like sun or snow. Makes you feel like an airplane lifted up in the sky. Less gravity, and a supported body. Gears shift to right brain. Freshess guaranteed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw1weml0-r0