100 posts
Holiday lesson: mosquitos are evil, jellyfish are worse
I’m a mosquito magnet. As a child, while I was spending holidays in Camargue, in the South East of France, I once counted the mosquito bites on my body. I had 56 of them. Yes, 56… and in spite of my extensive use of all kinds of anti-mosq...
Today in a Haiku
(image, bizarrely from California State University Long Beach!) While English haiku tend to be 10-14 syllables, the classic Japanese haiku is 17 syllables. On Twitter earlier, I took up @MyWordWizard‘s haiku challenge: “Got haiku? We̵...
Erkan’s Field Diary: Top posts of the week and the month
found here:http://paperbullet.com/ VIA Top Posts for 7 days ending 2010-08-29 1- A video: Turkish Porn Star Şahin K’s comedy film trailer 2- Welcome to Beşiktaş, Guti! – 15 thousand attends the ceremony in İnönü 3- Elif: Aşk-ı Memnu: Forb...
Dylan and philosophy: special section from Philosophy & Social Criticism
check out the latest issue. Philosophy and the Habits of Critical Thinking by Reflection Cafe Interview with John Searle (California Univ.-Berkeley) … Is it hard to do philosophy? It’s murder, absolutely. I compare it … if you reall...
Erkan is back with his new toy: Sony Vaio
a few hours before my flight to Dublin, my old Sony Vaio had its last breath. I had to borrow Nurdan’s laptop. In Maynooth campus where I had stayed, IT stuff could not fix the connection problem so i had no connection for the last two days. I...
When Your Lover Has Gone – Maxine Sullivan
There’s a personal reason for remembering this particular song, but I won’t bore you with it. The music, however, is too good to keep secret: Maxine Sullivan is all but forgotten these days, but was a great singer of the thirties an...
Changing Trains, Nearing the Terminus
I wasn’t going to bother with Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens’s memoir, because I read some excerpts in the Sunday Times and they were all about him and Martin Amis, displaying the laddish side of Hitchens which I don’t like. I don’t like Am...
Starting an EU reading list
The first in what I hope will become a new series in which I'll start compiling an EU reading list...
‘Socialist Organiser’ on Reid and Scargill
“From a red to a rat” By John O’Mahony, in Socialist Organiser, 1984: The miners strike is now the great dividing line in Btitish society, in British politics, and in the labour movement. You are either with the miners or you are a...
Letter in the Guardian
Despite my post yesterday on the Guardian’s line on the future diection of the Labour Party, I was pleased to have this letter published today. BBC hits a cynical note on pay talks I read with dismay Tara Conlan’s article on the BBC storm...
Erkan’s TV career (!) begins tonight
I am an advisor to a weekly TV program on social media that will be launched tonight! It will be broadcasted in TRT Haber channel. If I could be in Turkey, I would probably be in the TV screen for a little while talking about the goodies of social me...
Death of the Italian stallion?
An August survey reports that the myth is dying, with Italian men becoming 'too feminised'. Whilst we make up our minds, a quick filmic tribute to Italian action hero Sylvester Stallone, who has long claimed the nickname and is back on the big screen...
A Busy Summer – Freaks N’Gleeks
I know this blog has been very quiet over the last few months. There are various reasons for this. Mainly I have been involved in a few things which have kept me busy and of course work is there also. One of the things that has kept me really busy in...
The Union Book Club: Finns! The Son of Kalev is Coming!
WE’RE NOW four chapters into Kalevipoeg – the Estonian national epic. I thought it might be helpful if I posted my thoughts on the story thus far (hopefully sparking off some sort of discussion). Firstly, though, here’s a short summ...
A Good Book worth reading: The Italian Secretary
If you’re a fellow Sherlock Holmes fan, then Caleb Carr’s “The Italian Secretary” will entertain. The central mystery itself, about murders in Queen Victoria’s residence in Holyroodhouse, is only so-so, but where the boo...
A video: One Track Mind – I Like You
Related posts:A funny video: Inside the mind of Mark Regev. Turkey's "'all-track' diplomacy" Related posts:A funny video: Inside the mind of Mark Regev. Turkey's "'all-track' diplomacy"...
The EU: Viable or friable?
I should know better. I should only, only read books that generate immediate research outputs, the life blood of contemporary academia and never, not ever succumb to the temptation to read things that are simply interesting, But somehow this is one N...
A little quiz
What do these performers have in common? No prize this time, I’m afraid: just the prestige of having got the right answer. You must explain your answer with reference to each one of the three.
Gypsies, Travellers, Roma: the Black Sheep of Europe
Many different names to actually talk about the same people. The difference between them? They live in various countries, from one end of the Old Continent to the other. The Roma, who arrived in Europe in the 16th century, speak the Romani language,...
Further dictionary explanations of European Integration
EU President (Noun):another term used for the position of the President of the European Council, especially when the user wishes to denote the awe-inspiring power and importance of the post. Best described as a modern day Holy Roman Emperor, the offi...
Recipe corner: Macedonian bean bonanza
Wondering what to cook this weekend? How about beans? If you like beans, Macedonia is the place to be. The small village of Sarchievo, with only four houses and nine inhabitants, last week welcomed ten thousand people who gathered to see the new Gu...
The Christian Origins of European Unity
PLATO WAS a bit of a fascist, really; his ideal society would have been a nightmare state to actually live in. Nevertheless, he inspired (on and off) two millennia of philosophers and thinkers, so he must have been doing something right. … Con...
EUSSR (Noun)
EUSSR (Noun):used as an alternative to the EU, usually as a means of depicting the European Union as a organisation that produces oppressive regulation, by drawing a comparison to the USSR, a communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe and Asia during t...
Frank Kermode, funky covers and the canon
As a young undergraduate in the 1970′s I desperately wanted to get to grips with literary theory, and especially “structuralism” and “deconstruction.” Don’t ask why. Anyway, no-one I knew could adequately explain t...
METALHEAD (Part 4)
since i am on a trip, i did not have much time to listen to music this week… so here comes a shorter bullettin… album of the week Witchkrieg ~ Witchery erkan’s best of- song 005 not available for this week new stuff . Frozen Tears o...
Rick Steves: Praying and partying in the streets of Istanbul
Levent/Istanbul. Big business district. via Praying and partying in the streets of Istanbul Seattle Times Istanbul is more than 90 percent Muslim. My most recent trip here happened to coincide with Ramadan. During this time, the Muslim faith seems ev...
Navigating Complexity
I try to read at least one work-related book every summer. Last year it was the disappointing Struck by Lightning and the slightly more satisfying and substantive Tipping Point. This year I have just finished reading Arthur Battram’s Navigat...
Culture Secretary rumoured to cut funding for the Paralympic Games
Are there no depths to which the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport will not sink? Hard on the heels of his decision to abolish the UK Film Council, rumours abound that Jeremy Hunt will cut funding to the Paralympic Games. Surely this...
Valley of the Wolves- Palestine. First scenes released.
It will definitely make some noise:) official site here. more here. Related posts:Americana scenes Related posts:Americana scenes...
Chessex’s Testament
Summer reading again. This time something much heavier, if shorter. Jacques Chessex won the Prix Goncourt in 1973 and was considered one of Switzerland’s greatest authors. He was variously a novelist, poet, essayist and won the French Litera...
Monday Open Thread
< the introduction to this thread is out of office and will return after the...
Roll call of drummers: Dagley, Drew and Parnell
Lance, at “bebop spoken here” writes about the recent deaths of three British jazz drummers: “First there was Chris Dagley, then Martin Drew and now, sadly, Jack Parnell who died on Aug 8 aged 87. Three great drummers from three e...
Ramadan. the 1st day report (!)
Muslim Jazz musicians will perform in Istanbul during Ramadan. But of course I have nothing to do with that. Muslim or not. I don’t like Jazz:) Fasting in this year’s Ramadan is a real challenge. The day is long – nearly 16 hours of...
Yakuza nostalgia
Over at Boing Boing one of the best PS3 reviews in history. A journalist who has covered the Japanese crime scene for 13 years gathers some Yakuza to review the new Yakuza 3 game. The game has as its hero a former yakuza driven back to mega violence...
Elif: Rihanna in Turkish Cyprus
Political Lobby or Hate speech? (Caution: Serious zone!) There was a sensational polemic, especially in Turkey, when Greek Cypriot people lobbied against Jennifer Lopez’s planned concert in Northern Cyprus where ‘pre-dominantly’ Turkish peopl...
Ideal Holmes at the BBC
The BBC can still do great, popular drama. Sherlock was fucking brilliant. Let’s hope the Tory philistines (in league, no doubt, with Moriarty) aren’t allowed to destroy the Beeb’s ability to go on producing stuff of this calibre...
French duo John & Jehn: 'in England, no-one cares about boundaries'
On 29 March a duo like none of the other new faces on the French music scene released their second album, 'Time For The Devil’. Fans of Joy Division and The Velvet Underground, the couple live and compose in London, which might be why their album e...
A Good Book Worth Reading: Death of a Politician.
It is always a thrill to come across a writer whose style really works for you. I’ve recently found that with the “political” novels of Richard Condon. I’ve posted briefly about his JFK based novel “Winter Kills”, and I’ve just finished...
A late thanks to Massive Attack
In addition to their quality show in Istanbul- though their music is not my style- their support for the Gaza Flotilla is much appreciated: Hürriyet Daily states: The penultimate song “safe from harm” was preceded by a dedication to the deceased...
Betty Boop and commodity fetishism
Un-fuckin’- believable! Fleischer Studios, 1932 “The simplicity of commodity fetishism makes it a starting point and example for analysing non-economic relations. It establishes a dichotomy between appearance and concealed reality (withou...
A video: Turkish Apaçis dancing in front of the White House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFrWmQ2qOu8 This has become viral. Apaçi is a kitsch lifestyle form developing among lower class urbanized male youths in Turkey. Particular wearing style, collective dancing, and music. Very kitsch though… Relat...
A video: cows & cows & cows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavUpD_IjVY surreal bovine choreography. No cows were harmed during the making of this video, though their future prospects probably aren’t as optimistic. Related posts:The Decade in 7 Minutes and a Friday video s...
Dünya TV- The first private Kurdish TV channel from Turkey
a rival to state’s Kurdish language channel: TRT 6 via Dunya TV is owned by Samanyolu Group, pro-Fethullah Gülen movement… ************** PKK sets disarmament conditions from BBC News | Europe | World Edition The leader of a...
Torrent edition from The Yes Men: Fix the World
click the photo for downloading information…Who is the Yes Men? “To date, the duo has produced two films: The Yes Men (2003) and The Yes Men Fix the World (2009)……” **************** CINEMA ROUNDUP Twilight: Eclipse from...
A video: Beach House – Walk in the Park
worth watching… Beach House Walk in the Park Teen Dream 2010 Sub Pop / Bella Union Director, Cinematographer, Editor – Allen Cordell Starring – Nick Krever, Isabelle Jusseaume, Robert Dolan, Laurie Isabella, Peter David and Pearl Pr...
Authors selling ebooks through Amazon…and an academic roundup
Celebrated authors bypass publishing houses to sell ebooks via Amazon Discontent over digital royalties prompts Roth, Amis and other leading names to enter into exclusive deal with Odyssey Editions E-books attracting more Turkish readers from Hurriye...
Cyberculture roundup: New Pew report: The Future of Millennials/ Online Dating lies…
Featured Report: The Future of Millennials Tech experts generally believe that today’s tech-savvy young people – the ‘digital natives‘ who are known for enthusiastically embracing social networking – will retain their wi...
Just imagine
A dissident theatre group from Belarus arrives in London...
Physicist unveils “Harbinger’s Moose with a Grenade” theory to rival “Schrodinger’s Cat”
Harvard physicist Edward Harbinger has unveiled a new theory to challenge the famous “Schrodinger’s Cat” hypothesis, by placing a moose with a grenade into a sealed steel box, and questioning whether the moose was both alive and dea...
Baksı Museum in Bayburt
Bayburt, my hometown is not known to be cultural center but this museum work has been ongoing for a while, and i believe it has certainly an ethnographic touch. Hopefully, next time I go back to Bayburt, I will stop by the museum, whose opening made...
Erkan’s field diary: Top posts of the week and month
Top Posts for 7 days ending 2010-07-18 1- A video: Turkish Porn Star Şahin K’s comedy film trailer 2- the Saka family 3- Milli Motor/ Milli Tüp 4- Erkan, Çetin and Sarah, on their way to Samsun 5- Sonisphere Istanbul 2010 aftermath, photos, vide...
The Karate Kid
Last night I stayed up to watch the last Jonathan Ross show on the BBC. The guests consisted of Mickey Rourke, David Beckham and Jackie Chan (and Roxy Music, I should add). Chan still can’t speak English properly, but he was nevertheless eloque...
The Union Book Club: Kalevipoeg – Introduction
THE FIRST BOOK to be read by the Union Book Club will be the Estonian national epic – Kalevipoeg. The book is online on Eurogoblin.eu here (in a digitally annotatable format). Only the introduction is online at the moment, but the first ̷...
Listening on a lazy Saturday afternoon: Rosey Chan
Piano performer Rosey Chan — “A day in the life…” (J S Bach).
Mayflower and the Pilgrims
This evening I drove down to a place near Spa to pick up N° 2 sprog from his camp. The trip gave me the chance to ‘read’ the first part of Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower. It’s an extraordinary story and very well told (the C...
The Union Book Club: Does Estonia Really Have No Culture?
YOU MAY not have noticed, but the Euro is going through something of a rocky patch at the moment. We are living in an age of unemployment and austerity, with some commentators already crowing about the end of the European … Continue reading ...
Thoughts on a woodchuck and a hero on a day when I’m worn out reading the headlines
It’s a thought-provoking film, The Book of Eli (Codice Genesis), not least because the reality of a bumbling human race reducing our planet to a barren, burnt out brown, sparsely populated, primitively violent place seems less and less a fantas...
Dervish House: A Sci-Fi novel that takes place in Istanbul
here is the Amazon link. I haven’t read it yet but I am looking forward to reading it… Ian McDonald’s DERVISH HOUSE, superb novel of the mystical nano future of Istanbul from Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow I’ve just finished Ian...
Elif: Why Kemal Sunal?
Why should we mention Kemal Sunal? In his 10th death anniversary, Kemal Sunal who is one of the best comedy actors in Turkish Cinema history and who is humorously nicknamed as “İnek Şaban” was alone with his family. Despite the common view th...
Beyond time and space
Sofi Oksanen's book "Purge" is our "essential reading" pick of the week...
Something new…
Quite recently, in the meantime of random EYP conversation, I was asked if I’ve heard about the singer named – “Soko,” obviously my answer was – no! Apparently, I’m quite conservative when it comes to music and alw...
Some spice for the weekend
A certain team member, Tayebot, he of the highbrow articles on various editorial models, could not be accused of not having his finger on the throbbing pulse of the internet. Yesterday, he shared with us the current viral internet sensation – t...
The Placebo effect : Brussels version
Isn't there something quite superb about the headliner for this event being Placebo?Or maybe this is more relevant. A Song to Say Goodbye...
The Arabs and the Holocaust
This evening I chaired a book-launch, hosted by the Council for Arab-British Understanding, Arab Media Watch and Independent Jewish Voices, at the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce in Mayfair. In the hotseat was my SOAS colleague Gilbert Achcar, Pr...
Concern as Belgian beer consumption declines
There has been alarm at the steep decline in the amount of beer drunk by Belgians. Ten years ago, an average of 121 litres of beer was consumed per person, each year. In 2009, that amount had shrunk to only 81 litres, a 30% drop. Brewers are quick to...
Antro roundup: “Why anthropology proves Toy Story 3 is not sexist” and more
Why anthropology proves Toy Story 3 is not sexist from An Eye on the Culture Wars by Dr. K A sad, strange little review of the new Toy Story movie in Ms. Magazine has kept me busy blogging on their site. You can see my responses to the conversation...
A good book worth reading: Winter Kills.
Just finished “Winter Kills“, by Richard Condon, who is most famous for writing the (twice filmed) thriller “The Manchurian Candidate.” The book is set and was written in 1974, and is the story of an investigation by the...
An Opportunity and a Threat
Via this gloriously strident piece from Laurie Penny, here’s a long article on the F Word about a fray that’s going to be reopened any time soon. Lisa Ansell brings fresh points to what often seems like an over-rehearsed debate. 1) Ra...
Sonisphere Istanbul 2010 aftermath, photos, videos…
will probably be updated;) Güneş, Ali and Burak are my concert buddies. A fine moment: Video: Manowar’s Joey Demaio speaks Turkish Video: an 8 minute high quality Metallica video can be found here. Radikal’s review of Rammstein… H...
“Yekpare” and an Istanbul roundup
“Yekpare” is a storyteller which narrates the 8500 year story of Istanbul. The story embraces symbols from Pagans to Roman Empire, from Byzantine Empire to Latin Empire, and finally from Ottoman Empire to Istanbul at the present day. Hayd...
A video: Turkish Porn Star Şahin K’s comedy film trailer
“Scapegoat” is the new movie’s title in English..Şahin K in Wikipedia… Related posts:Misc roundup: Interview with a Porn Star, Global Peace Index etc… A video: The Social Network (Facebook Movie) Official trailer A vide...
