tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36892435423265279462024-03-13T07:42:35.608+03:00sinefila blog of (extremely) short film reviews. and other things.melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-11217935416292005342016-08-20T23:42:00.002+03:002016-08-20T23:42:55.369+03:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hollywood Is Everywhere: Global Directors in the Blockbuster Era</span></span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqaOWn9vZsRDvvxq7IVBQEuOw3tcabU9QjNRDfRRLIfk5X9Uad1AsmLs-3B3sm5vF09k0u-gF_F0vg_CKFRhLdEHygnMCFYOcz4KsMnNO1J3s_CXAu4xgSFXC2X_6gisdtTDSYqzTvPYgL/s1600/Behlil+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqaOWn9vZsRDvvxq7IVBQEuOw3tcabU9QjNRDfRRLIfk5X9Uad1AsmLs-3B3sm5vF09k0u-gF_F0vg_CKFRhLdEHygnMCFYOcz4KsMnNO1J3s_CXAu4xgSFXC2X_6gisdtTDSYqzTvPYgL/s320/Behlil+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My book came out last month from AUP, and among (or rather, right before) all the craziness in Turkey, this is what I wrote on my Facebook wall:</span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, I guess time for shameless promotion has finally arrived. The book is now available, and yes, sadly it's expensive, but maybe you could get your library to buy a copy? (And if enough copies are sold, maybe we'll get a paperback version!)</span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back to the blog post.</span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the official blurb:</span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 22.4px;">"Hollywood has a long tradition of bringing in emigre directors from around the world, dating back to the silent era. And today, as the film industry is ever more global, the people who make blockbuster movies reflect that, hailing from many countries across the world. But that fact hides a fundamental difference, one that Melis Behlil examines in </span><i style="color: #333333; line-height: 22.4px;">Hollywood is Everywhere</i><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 22.4px;">: today’s Hollywood studios are themselves transnational, with ownership structures and financial arrangements that stretch far beyond the borders of the United States. Seen in that context, today’s international directors are less analogous to the emigre talent of the past than to ordinary transnational employees of other major global corporations."</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can go <a href="http://en.aup.nl/books/9789089647399-hollywood-is-everywhere.html">t</a>o the <a href="http://en.aup.nl/books/9789089647399-hollywood-is-everywhere.html">AUP website</a> for further information and ordering, or to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Everywhere-Directors-Blockbuster-Transition/dp/9089647392/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468476980&sr=8-2&keywords=behlil">Amazon</a>. The book is available in hardcover and ebook for now (again, if it sells enough copies, we'll get a paperback edition). </span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is pretty exciting news, even though it has been somewhat overshadowed with the attempted coup, state of emergency, and what not... </span></span></span><br />
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; line-height: 18px; outline: none; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My book (my actual copy now) at NECS conference in Potsdam (photo by Ger Zielinski)</span></span></span><br />
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melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-12514153090548514792014-11-25T03:56:00.000+02:002014-11-25T03:57:04.168+02:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.09em;">I realized I haven't written here in a year and a half. Here's one of the things I did in the meantime; the original is on: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; letter-spacing: 1.44000005722046px;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://www.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2013/mar_del_plata/mbehlil.htm</span></span></div>
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Elegies from Latin America<br />By Melis Behlil</h2>
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<tr><td width="269"><img alt="Penumbra" src="http://www.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2013/mar_del_plata/photos/penumbra2.jpg" height="141" width="250" /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="caption" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif, Verdana; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 0.07em; line-height: 12.5px;">"Penumbra" (Eduardo Villanueva)</td></tr>
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Argentina's Mar del Plata Film Festival is known as a showcase for Latin American cinema. Now in its 28th edition, the festival has three main competitions: International, Latin American and Argentinian. Within the Latin American section, the main jury awarded its Best Film prize to <em>The Amazing Catfish</em>(Los insólitos peces gato) by Claudia Sainte-Luce from Mexico, with a special mention for <em>The Quispe Girls</em> (Las niñas Quispe), a Chile-France-Argentina co-production by Sebastián Sepúlveda. The International Film Critics' Prize in the same competition went to Mexico's <em>Penumbra </em>by Eduardo Villanueva.</div>
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<em>The Amazing Catfish</em>, while telling the story of a family's transformation through the mother's battle with a terminal illness, was the more cheerful film among the three. Energetic performances by its young cast and a penchant for bright daytime shots built a clear contrast with what could have easily become a sob story that exploited the emotions of the audience. Instead, what we have is a first feature that is distanced yet heartwarming.</div>
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The other two films that have been recognized at the festival share quite a lot, both in terms of theme and style. In their own ways, both are elegies to disappearing lifestyles. <em>The Quispe Girls</em> is adapted from a play set in the remoteAndean plateaus of Chile during the Pinochet regime. Three goat-farming sisters, mourning a fourth who is no longer with them,live isolated lives, oblivious to the political turmoil in the country. The daily routines they seem to fulfill with vigor and pleasure have been beautifully shot, with excellent acting by a mix of professional and non-professional actors. It is only when the sisters notice that all other farmers in the region have sold their flocks under the threat of government confiscation that they become aware this may be the end of the only way of life that they know.</div>
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True to its title, <em>Penumbra </em>was shot mostly in twilight hours, providing the film with a darker feel. It tells the story of a hunter and his wife on the remote border region between the states of Jalisco and Colima in Mexico. The characters are portrayingtheir own lives, placing the film somewhere between documentary and fiction. The couple is alone, haunted by the absence of a son they have lost and the animals who are no longer there to be hunted. From its impressive opening shot, <em>Penumbra </em>is a beautifully crafted film that invites the viewer into the world of its characters, yet refuses to provide an easy way in.</div>
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melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-78919921766768039412013-07-03T02:03:00.000+03:002013-08-06T14:04:18.193+03:00Living in Taksim - Report June 15-16, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's been over two weeks. It's still hard to write, and we still cannot enter the park, so I'll try to tell this mostly through pictures and videos. <br />
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Saturday, June 15th. We thought negotiations had just started and were ongoing. Yet, there were rumors that the PM wanted things finished - he did not plan on talking to any other "representatives." Beautiful day, park full of people, "tourists," elderly and kids. I spent some of the morning there, and some of the late afternoon. The PM held a rally in Ankara, where he made clear that he wanted the park emptied. We suspected he'd want it done before his rally in Istanbul the next day, but didn't really expect it so soon - not before sundown anyway.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June 15, moments before the police entered the park</td></tr>
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I went to my mom's for dinner. At some point before we sat down to eat, we decided to check out the square and saw that the police had started their formation. This was at around 20:20, they started giving warning, and entered the park within 15 minutes. Not an hour, like some press reported. It was barely time to empty the thousands of people in the park. <br />
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What was good to see was that people in the park (who were actually debating leaving the park gradually, although the official response was to stay) did not put up a fight endangering their lives - they were not marginal terrorists as the PM would have everyone believe, but people with a common sense. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151668076451907&set=vb.590561906&type=2&theater">Here is a video</a> of the police in the park - you can see our "tent" at around 54''. <br />
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The rest of the night and the next day was barely reported in the international news. I tried keeping in touch with my friends in, around, and away trying to reach Taksim all night. A group of people, including many injured, took shelter at Divan Hotel around the corner from me and across the park. They were repeatedly attacked and gassed, despite the MPs who were situated there (not from AKP, obviously). <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeQFl0i2QAg">Here is another video</a>, starting with the attack on the park and very clear footage of subsequent events. A friend who was at the hotel informed me frantically that the police was trying to get in - ultimately, they didn't. On twitter and elsewhere, we got pictures of huge crowds trying to get to Taksim - from the Asian side, from Gazi, Nişantaşı, Beşiktaş, all over. Obviously, the metro and other forms of public transportation towards the square were shut off, as usual. People still walked - but they were gassed and dispersed at different points. This went all the way into Sunday evening. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisREnTPrTgAJDR3rrjfn8xI6NtJS4Ya6ENjQhiW5zDpyPsJke8D903mcw3P7ABFOiSfMd9fHqmpAMF8pw5tesFo1FBRAJxeisnILQwxZOqY9Mcuzyl5Y3Ylt2fnX4TnVsjEb78P7d2dLjv/s320/akp-mitingine-otobus-10.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisREnTPrTgAJDR3rrjfn8xI6NtJS4Ya6ENjQhiW5zDpyPsJke8D903mcw3P7ABFOiSfMd9fHqmpAMF8pw5tesFo1FBRAJxeisnILQwxZOqY9Mcuzyl5Y3Ylt2fnX4TnVsjEb78P7d2dLjv/s320/akp-mitingine-otobus-10.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buses to carry supporters to AKP rally</td></tr>
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All of this was even more annoying and frustrating, because as anti-government protest attempts were being squelched, AKP was using public resources and transport to carry supporters to their rally. A bill sent from the municipality to AKP headquarters about the expense for the buses was produced after a day or two, but did not seem convincing. This may stem from other lies at the rally. Banners of "Çarşı," the left-wing supporter group of Beşiktaş, crucial to the resistance, were raised - only they were fake. Everyone (save for whoever made the banners) knows that Çarşı has a distinctive logo, with the Anarchist "A." One last note about the rally - it was not "organized" by AKP supporters like CNN and BBC suggested, but by AKP itself, using public resources. It's an important distinction. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgSrGazZZFpavL-37RdHAArJawpSZsFrZj-Sc9yboaTo5KqBseRP4h1zimhE_X4Wnbpesd6XpwK18tDSoScRokVYOX-AhsT9-2X8w5h4xq_rfyft6_Ll5nLPCBhvPy4e2iihLEEBTbr0B/s1600/2013-06-16+12.00.07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMgSrGazZZFpavL-37RdHAArJawpSZsFrZj-Sc9yboaTo5KqBseRP4h1zimhE_X4Wnbpesd6XpwK18tDSoScRokVYOX-AhsT9-2X8w5h4xq_rfyft6_Ll5nLPCBhvPy4e2iihLEEBTbr0B/s320/2013-06-16+12.00.07.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taksim on Sunday - no one but the police, gardeners, and us</td></tr>
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I spent most of the day at my mom's, where I had to spend the night. When I got out to go back home, the whole square was empty save for the police and park gardeners. I felt invisible - no one asked me anything. I guess they thought I was "safe" since I'd already entered the square. My own place was within the police circle as well, so it was eerily silent - we were in the eye of the storm, and from what I gathered from friends' messages and Tweets, it was still a true storm around the square. Many were injured on Sunday, including many of my best students. At some point in the late evening, small crowds of men emerged from Kasımpaşa (PM's own neighborhood), carrying sticks (beating at least one tourist according to a friend who was an eye witness to the event) and <em>not </em>being gassed by the police. Their chants of "God is great" only made them more intimidating. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSHotUWDQ-s">In this video</a>, you can see a police vehicle warning them, and taking absolutely no action. <br />
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So the park utopia ended on June 15th. We are waiting for Gezi park to re-open, probably in time for Ramadan. In the meantime, people started gathering at different parks and holding public forums. There is some kind of protest at some point of the city any given day. Other events have been going on, and a large debate has started. These few weeks have had a massive impact on the social fabric of the country. Previously apolitical generations have hit the streets for the first time. Groups that never before talked to one another fought side by side; Kemalists and Kurds, Anticapitalist Muslims and the LGBTT community. <a href="http://vimeo.com/69478597">The gay pride march</a> on June 30th was the largest ever. For the first time, the urban "white Turks" have realized that they have been following the Kurdish conflict from this (biased) media for the last 30 years. Paradigms are shifting, metanarratives collapsing. We'll see where it all leads, but this has been the most memorable and exciting June for anyone involved...<br />
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melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-87845833692515576612013-06-17T02:14:00.000+03:002013-06-17T02:14:47.721+03:00Living in Taksim – Report June 12-14, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First, an addendum to June 11. over 70 lawyers defending the
park were taken into custody at the courthouse yesterday. They were later released,
but another perfect example of trying to strike fear in people’s hearts.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6nWDCNH4RM">This footage</a> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
is around 2 AM June 12 at the park, very soon after I had left. Following the
gas attack, it started to rain. While that’s good for clearing the air, it’s
difficult for people sleeping in the open air. I went back to the park in the
morning, people were trying to re-group and re-establish an order. All the
while, they were also trying to keep themselves dry and their belongings from
flying away in the storm. Honestly, it looked a little depressing. But after a short
nap at home and an afternoon at the office, a much drier and cheerful park
awaited me. The evening was crowned by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/arts/music/music-in-istanbul-is-intermission-for-a-protest.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1&">a concert</a> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>first by the statue, then in the
middle of the square, and finally almost inside the park, above the steps. The
piano was moved around by a bunch of guys who picked it up and carried it up and
down. After the stress of Tuesday, sitting on the ground in the middle of the
square and listening to “Imagine” (a few times too many perhaps, but still)
with friends around me was priceless. At this point, people had gotten gas
masks and hard hats. My mom bought my hat, and a friend lent me her mask. It
was surreal – several thousand people hanging out in a park with gas masks,
goggles and hard hats. One thing I heard over and over again was the anger and
discontent about even having to own - and wear - this equipment. We’re regular
citizens, not militants. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The news of the day were the negotiations in Ankara in the
evening. The PM had called several people from the park and a group of artists.
None were chosen by the park protestors, and they said so before going in. From
what we heard, it was a long, emotional and ultimately fruitless meeting. When
they came out, the spokesperson announced a possible referendum, which was
never discussed in the meeting. We also later found out that there is no legal
infrastructure for a referendum to be held. One of the negotiators, who
declared he’d never been to the park and would refuse to go, gave a speech
after the meeting which entertained everyone. I could only follow it from
social media, but <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn6rQrOxVCc">here it is</a> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
– he’s not making much sense. This is the star of the famous “Valley of the
Wolves” series and films; I have no idea why he was invited. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was able to go home fairly early at night, and got the
longest sleep of the last few weeks. It felt good…</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Thursday (June 13), the fear campaign continued. There
were rumors (perhaps a few real cases) of people being searched, and those with
hard hats and / or gas masks being detained. No confirmation though. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A second set of negotiations were called for 11 PM – this time,
the list included members of the Taksim Solidarity, and the artists had
actually been to the park. But again, it was called by the PM’s office with no
proper representation. Waiting for the negotiations, the filmmakers issued a
press statement, and I was busy trying to help with its translation. Hence, I
missed the highlight of the day: human chain formed by the mothers. The previous
evening, the mayor had called out to the mothers of the “young” protestors in
the park, telling them to pull their kids back, essentially. The mothers
responded by showing up themselves and forming a human chain around the park </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC12hhSmRPI"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC12hhSmRPI</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
. Very touching…</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I felt that we were approaching the end of things, one way
or another (how very prescient of me…). So I went for a walk with a friend
around the park. Not so much inside, because it was really crowded again, but
along the edges, in the darker areas that are forgotten. In retrospect, I guess
I wanted to etch the memories of this utopian space in my brain before it was
gone forever. At some point, I went back home and wrote my report for June
10-11. </span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7K7NEkHrCF8LghdCCaS6kPlTz3lZh3hCMKwtytQiVrARLnAZ5q-QxIwxxuTBUlF2H-FVBZQO6VVAPgPfuMb6Y7IFili2AnM4tjsAs1MScHzOn4NjrUETg7fiS0TgfBhpYTbZ7kTzNh9tQ/s1600/2013-06-14+06.44.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7K7NEkHrCF8LghdCCaS6kPlTz3lZh3hCMKwtytQiVrARLnAZ5q-QxIwxxuTBUlF2H-FVBZQO6VVAPgPfuMb6Y7IFili2AnM4tjsAs1MScHzOn4NjrUETg7fiS0TgfBhpYTbZ7kTzNh9tQ/s200/2013-06-14+06.44.30.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police and the people</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ked6Bs1QtUi8YGq__yBejRA8Ruqe66twOOGdmMi78LJaVIjnizpPgu4jhu1j-Qq0o5RZzFe_vAy8BGsChPAuPzX8cDFY5kx7VH78CVoZNCNugSLqhInQA41skL7pJYqYTg4ZOZmzseZE/s1600/2013-06-14+06.51.02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ked6Bs1QtUi8YGq__yBejRA8Ruqe66twOOGdmMi78LJaVIjnizpPgu4jhu1j-Qq0o5RZzFe_vAy8BGsChPAuPzX8cDFY5kx7VH78CVoZNCNugSLqhInQA41skL7pJYqYTg4ZOZmzseZE/s200/2013-06-14+06.51.02.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morning concert</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Friday morning, I had signed up for the 6-10 shift again. It
was a nice and cool morning; we cleaned out the tent and I headed to the
square, where I heard the piano concert was on again. Davide was playing by the
statue, with a small audience that included a few drunk people and more than
your usul share of the crazy. Around the statue, young police officers were in
dialogue with protestors who surrounded them (pic below). It was a heartwarming
sight, but the officers’ superiors soon replaced them with older, more
experienced, and more distant colleagues…</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I headed back to the park, it started to rain. Soon it
was a heavy rain and we were trying to keep everything dry. Soon, the summery
shoes I was wearing were wet and I was cold. Not long after the rain stopped,
there was an announcement that dry mats and blankets were available in the
headquarters. And someone showed up at the tent, offering us new, dry pairs of
socks – an offer I truly appreciated and picked up immediately. I ended up
staying there until the afternoon, and when I went to the radio for my weekly
show, all we could talk about was the park again. And having played the film
version of “Do you hear the people sing,” the week before, this time we played
this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FctAww-4p9k. And cried, of course. </span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5ZH_Ig0-dwSKJ_quCenOUBl7jqRfz4O6ORGf2qosXj23MbmlFKvzhvYZf3Ar-Xj7T7_P1yQka5r2HKn0IHxPrQslz_FqKHxtwuZW-zdQCfJwW4AzCRPiKj_ptsEU8vaEnczJc15w5kiC/s1600/2013-06-14+12.15.41-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5ZH_Ig0-dwSKJ_quCenOUBl7jqRfz4O6ORGf2qosXj23MbmlFKvzhvYZf3Ar-Xj7T7_P1yQka5r2HKn0IHxPrQslz_FqKHxtwuZW-zdQCfJwW4AzCRPiKj_ptsEU8vaEnczJc15w5kiC/s200/2013-06-14+12.15.41-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rain in the park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the (again fruitless) negotiations of the previous
night, the park had organized seven forums in various locations to discuss the
options. This is an ultra-democratic system, but of course, not very practical.
Taksim Solidarity held a meeting later, with all the input from the forums. It
apparently went on from 8 PM until 4:30 AM, with no clear outcome. They
announced the next morning that people intended to stay, but there was also
talk of converging some of the smaller groups into larger tents and leaving the
decision to individual groups. It was seen as the beginning of a negotiation
process, to be continued for some time…</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-61944909044379458992013-06-16T13:03:00.001+03:002013-06-16T13:05:55.053+03:00What now?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I took notes for June 12-15, but it's very difficult for me to write anything right now. After the police attacked and took over the park, tens of thousands took to the roads, trying to get to Taksim. They came from all over the city, but were all dispersed with gas - the police has taken over the city. There are still clashes near Taksim. They're not letting anyone on the square, ferries and metro do not work. On the other hand, they are scheduling free busses to the AKP demonstration to be held this evening. Pure fascism. </div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-35934864349921674252013-06-14T18:36:00.001+03:002013-08-06T14:04:57.636+03:00Living in Taksim – Report June 10-11, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Long time, no report. It has been a tough week… Monday was
fairly relaxed, I was in the park 6-10 AM again, it was a continuation of the
previous two weeks: peaceful, green, full of life. In the evening, it was
announced that the PM would meet with a group of people on Wednesday to discuss
the park. It was the first announcement about negotiations, but the problem was
that these people were not representatives chosen by the protestors, but some
people related to the park and a random group of artists. Nevertheless, I
thought it was good that some steps were taken. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tuesday morning, looking forward to the forthcoming
negotiations on Wednesday and certain the police would hold back until then, I
put on a light make-up, wore a skirt and high-heeled suede boots (first time for all these since the beginning of the events). The park was
gorgeous again at 6 AM. At around 6:50, there was a short bout of panic-
apparently, the number of police down the hill had surged. The panic quelled
shortly, although everyone had already gotten up. At 7:30, news arrived that
the police was demolishing some of the barricades and entering the square. They
made an announcement that they were there only to clean up the façade of the
cultural center from the banners (the most popular of which was a giant “Shut
up Tayyip”), and the statue of Ataturk (which was covered with banners and
graffiti). The governor tweeted that they had no intention of entering the
park. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The rest of the morning was a long wait. Some of the groups
that wanted to keep the barricades started clashes with the police at certain
locations. Some of these were apparently police in civilian clothing, as our
friends who had access to TVs informed us via Twitter. They were wearing
standard-issue gas masks and carrying walkie-talkies. The general impression
was that it was a charade staged by the police and broadcast live by all the
channels that had been absent the first few days. I tried to go home to change,
but was told that my neighborhood was not safe at the moment. At some point, a
human chain was formed around the park. Most of us walked out to see what was
going on, but no one was attacking the police. That’s when we got hit by the first
gas. We all rushed back to the park, trying not to panic and not to run. It
turns out my swimming goggles are really good at keeping the gas away from my
eyes, and my makeshift gas mask -which is essentially a filter with extra paper
towel tucked inside - also worked pretty well. It’s still a pretty unpleasant
and painful affair. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At 1 PM, the Taksim Solidarity was supposed to read out
their press release. A large group of people gathered on the steps. The police
made an announcement saying they did not intend to attack and of course, soon
gas bomb pellets were flying in our direction. We retreated back into the park.
This whole thing repeated itself once again, and it was pretty clear the
press release was not going to get read. The press that had broadcast the
charade in the morning was not around to show any of this. I went back to our
tent, where I spent most of the rest of the day. Luckily, at some point I was
able to go home and change into jeans and sneakers. </span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzE2fbSrrBqNvVnnyPGTiS7EvZrMDGTuCwWG5x68ce4XOxDeTeaSZp5oMpLTxj_RZLsy0md954by7-DlM5ScUag2w8KzgwlyWO23TF4x_5ql2Sk0LfsYNwG7nq9Ez-_DnnEIsl_8CHWvm/s1600/IMG_3350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzE2fbSrrBqNvVnnyPGTiS7EvZrMDGTuCwWG5x68ce4XOxDeTeaSZp5oMpLTxj_RZLsy0md954by7-DlM5ScUag2w8KzgwlyWO23TF4x_5ql2Sk0LfsYNwG7nq9Ez-_DnnEIsl_8CHWvm/s320/IMG_3350.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blasting away the Anticapitalist Muslims</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the announcement of not entering the park, the
police did enter parts, and kept on throwing gas bombs inside. Our side of the
park was largely unaffected, but the Western side was often covered with gas.
Later in the evening, many people showed up in solidarity, but the general feeling
was quite tense, the police having been literally pushed out once. They were
able to destroy a portion of the tents, those closest to the square.
Ironically, one of the first to go was the masjid (prayer space) put up by the
Anticapitalist Muslims group (pic above). Throughout the evening, both TV channels and some
people on Twitter kept on talking about how the police was entering the park,
beating people and burning the tents. I got curious, as none of that was within
my vision from the tent. A midnight stroll through the park<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>resulted in confirming that there was nothing
really terrifying going on in the park – tense, but quiet waiting. Apparently,
this was a way of intimidating people into not coming to the park. When I
posted a picture of the quiet park, I received quite a few mentions calling me
a liar. So we (or I) realized that Twitter was not simply a useful tool for
communication, but also a weapon of disinformation. </span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUEFnKL2VPY8Yx5gKq_rp3sUR4-X-EhY90kqkjn8P-xEh19MapXLARfZYPeYLV7ACBOTTTZbXzuLRxh7ycLWY9w6wIOQsPBP-H4Jn_k1aFRyOVljhJZVl7JVXvm6z7seLeRw3DUBi4u5-/s1600/IMG_3509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUEFnKL2VPY8Yx5gKq_rp3sUR4-X-EhY90kqkjn8P-xEh19MapXLARfZYPeYLV7ACBOTTTZbXzuLRxh7ycLWY9w6wIOQsPBP-H4Jn_k1aFRyOVljhJZVl7JVXvm6z7seLeRw3DUBi4u5-/s320/IMG_3509.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view on the edge of the park - it was much more peaceful inside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wasn’t sure how I would go home, since there were clashes
on and off en route. My mother’s was also out of the question since the police
was situated exactly between her place and the park (pic below). Luckily, I ran into some
friends and ended up staying with them – it also felt really good to be in the
company of others, and not by myself after a long day of waiting in fear. (Soon
to come: Things did get better the next d</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ay, although it was a long night for those who stayed in the park...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(Pictures copyright: Ulaş Tosun)</span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOUPZYXMN26nFe4EYlJeX0wUFxlEr-hHevnbDm9h0SjWuffQmvBA8xnynOzRW9Ndhmg-ef9xIGvt856qXF3uaQRXqsDZrq0vi8-bIJtDgPPhoWyrN8lFXI2n2CIhvAxCdPUh1zau_B2AgY/s1600/IMG_3377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOUPZYXMN26nFe4EYlJeX0wUFxlEr-hHevnbDm9h0SjWuffQmvBA8xnynOzRW9Ndhmg-ef9xIGvt856qXF3uaQRXqsDZrq0vi8-bIJtDgPPhoWyrN8lFXI2n2CIhvAxCdPUh1zau_B2AgY/s320/IMG_3377.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The police at the entrance to my mom's street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-86865173559554114312013-06-09T23:03:00.002+03:002013-06-09T23:07:17.024+03:00Living in Taksim – Weekend Report June 8-9, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The police has announced that they would not intervene at
the park until Monday. So the weekend in Istanbul was peaceful, the park full
of “tourists,” people who come from all over town to see what’s going on. We even
had visits from various family members…</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The big event of Saturday was the walk by soccer fans
towards Taksim, especially by Be<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">şiktaş
</span>supporters. <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">Çarşı</span>, a
particular group of fans, has been very active in the resistance since the
beginning and they have amassed an enormous number of fans – not necessarily
the club, but the fan group. They walked from <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">Beşiktaş up the h</span>ill through N<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">işantaşı. We intercepted a small portion at Elmadağ, a very enthusiastic
and diverse group. They were joined by Fenerbahçe </span>fans crossing over
from the Asian side, and a smaller number of Galatasaray fans walking along <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">İstiklal</span>. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151963404378356">This was what it looked like when they all arrived on the square</a>. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I skipped all that and went to meet some friends at Asmal<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">ı</span>mescit, and area full of bars and
suffering heavily since the ban of tables outdoors last year. People were
standing around, breaking into chants and songs every few minutes. The whole
area around <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">İstiklal </span>is truly
unbelievable, everyone’s smiling. I hear that people are singing on the
ferries, in the metro, all around. <a href="http://www.radikal.com.tr/yazarlar/dr_alper_hasanoglu/direnisin_psikolojisi-1136841">A psychiatrist wrote about this </a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.radikal.com.tr/yazarlar/dr_alper_hasanoglu/direnisin_psikolojisi-1136841">today</a>, saying people have overcome their fears and have a different stand now.
We were talking about this a lot yesterday, especially those who have been on
the barricades are full of energy and life. These are not “looters” as our PM
likes to say, but lawyers, engineers, bankers with advanced degrees,
international careers. The transnational capitalist class become
revolutionaries…</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But still, my age group appears to be more apprehensive than
the younger generation, who are seen as the engine leading this movement. I
feel truly “middle-aged” for the first time. Maybe it’s the experience of
having lived through a coup d’etat, maybe it’s having seen too many films; I
(and most of my friends) cannot be as optimistically hopeful as the young. It
is an amazing thing that is happening, no doubt, and things are changing – or beginning
to. But we often say this is great “even if nothing comes out of it” or “even if
they build the barracks.” Defeatist, perhaps; or simply realistic. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRbClwEXsrmTrXKnKWqZO0_7Q82JuKpJ5uSZtFwGJxjnOb4LSaKFooTznZ8zz_ZkJZaNrmQg3XsHuUQpOWzVci9VcULeOeTSyFiqewxqYuhMinUHXjgUVkCyRUqYmVbu_1K6MtlBtBOKU/s1600/ERDOAN%257E2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRbClwEXsrmTrXKnKWqZO0_7Q82JuKpJ5uSZtFwGJxjnOb4LSaKFooTznZ8zz_ZkJZaNrmQg3XsHuUQpOWzVci9VcULeOeTSyFiqewxqYuhMinUHXjgUVkCyRUqYmVbu_1K6MtlBtBOKU/s200/ERDOAN%257E2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The jacket"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sunday was a day full of RTE speeches. He gave 6 speeches I
believe, stopping every few miles from the airport into the city in Ankara. He
wore the same horrid checkered jacket, and said more or less the same lies at
every stop. It’s amazing how blatantly and full of hatred he can lie. Some
examples: he claims protestors entered a mosque with their shoes and drank
alcohol inside. Truth: they did enter with their shoes, but cleaned up afterwards
– they were running in because they were being chased by the police, with gas.
The imam of the mosque himself gave interviews saying the mosque was only used
as a makeshift hospital and no one drank inside. There are extensive videos of what
was going on inside. Another example: his government is apparently
pro-environment, because they planted 2,800,000,000 trees. Never mind the
environmental disasters they are causing (hydroelectric centrals, nuclear plant
planned, cutting down forests everywhere – <a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_the_Massacre_of_200000_Trees/?aYjzrcb">one petition here</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)
but 2,800,000,000???? People tried to make the calculations, it seems
impossible. He maintains his divisive language of “my people” and “my police”
versus “those looters.” He also keeps on talking about an “interest lobby” that’s
behind all this. No one’s sure what that is, we’re suspecting his advisors may
have mistranslated “special interest lobbies” (the sense he uses the word in is
the interest in finance, with percentages and all). What makes me truly sick is
that he kept on using the policeman who died. He made a martyr of the poor man,
as if he was murdered by protestors. The police had accidentally fallen off a
construction whole he was pursuing protestors – his own colleague testified
that he was overworked and tired. While the PM gave his speeches around Ankara,
thousands gathered at K<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">ızılay </span>(the
main square there), and were gassed/watered/beaten by the police without
showing the slightest sign of violent protest. So the police violence remains,
it’s just not in Taksim anymore because Taksim is too much in the spotlight. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJz_SUbL6Qgxr9nS2WAqiAli6HOdbKtPwampZ2WiTtE_HneOs-h9xafJLSFP6n6kgDtUKs3gzkAJUFPhZKpiUJ8mpiBcy0sk1M0Ln4CSXlUNas8-k5bHDHwNHp8ActSw7Gf9dzd3M_lae/s1600/emek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJz_SUbL6Qgxr9nS2WAqiAli6HOdbKtPwampZ2WiTtE_HneOs-h9xafJLSFP6n6kgDtUKs3gzkAJUFPhZKpiUJ8mpiBcy0sk1M0Ln4CSXlUNas8-k5bHDHwNHp8ActSw7Gf9dzd3M_lae/s200/emek.jpg" width="125" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emek protest - <br />
photo Janet Barış</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I spent the Sunday morning at the park, which was fairly
quiet. This has got to be the best-documented resistance movement in history.
In addition to all the protestors shooting videos and taking pictures, the
filmmakers in the park had organized six different groups shooting around the
park and the activities throughout the day. This is not just the documentarians,
but award-winning fiction directors. It looks like we’re going to have a whole
batch of films coming out of all this. One of the activities was the protest at
the historic Emek theater, the oldest movie theater in the city that was torn
down about two weeks ago. We had protested for about three years to stop the
construction of -guess what?- another shopping mall (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/15/turkey-historic-emek-theatre-final-curtain">here's an article in The Guardian about it</a>). Again, a very personal
cause for me, as it was my favorite theater (as it was for many cinephiles),
and my father used to live in the adjoining beautiful Circle d’Orient building
as a teenager – that has also been demolished. They’re supposed to keep the fa<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">çade</span>, but everything else is gone.
A huge banner was hung on Circle d’Orient, carrying the lines of a beloved Turkish
poet. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We walked from there back to Taksim. There were multiple
protesting groups walking in opposite directions. Every time we came across
another group, we stood, chanted a few lines together, and moved on. This is
a truly surreal experience. I know, I’m repeating myself, but I cannot stress
enough how amazing/weird/unbelievable this is. It feels like we’re all in a
dream, hoping it won’t turn into a nightmare. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-15160459813552679172013-06-08T17:02:00.001+03:002013-06-08T17:03:19.159+03:00Living in Taksim - Daily Report June 7, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Long, long day. And not just one, but two speeches by RTE
(the PM). Luckily, I managed to miss them both. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">His first speech was at the airport, upon his arrival from
Algiers via Ankara. First the AKP announced that they didn’t want an audience
then I guess they changed their mind. Thousands of SMSs were sent inviting
people to the airport, free bus services were arranged from all around the
city, and the metro line to the airport was kept open until 4 AM. Normally, the
metro shuts down at midnight. During the first few days of the protests, metro
service to Taksim was stopped altogether. Let alone free bus rides, traffic was
diverted away from Taksim. People came anyway. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At his airport speech, RTE was apparently as enraged as
ever, declaring that the construction will not stop. His speech will be good
material for discourse analysis classes in the years to come. Even the language
he employs is divisive and inflammatory. The press was given pictures of the “huge”
crowds, which were apparently photoshopped (see below). I’m not arguing that Erdogan
is not supported by many, but the need to do this shows a certain desperation… His
second speech was in the afternoon, while we were live on radio (more on this
later). Apparently, it was softer and milder, and ended with a promise to tear
down the Ataturk Cultural Center on Taksim (currently being renovated by the
Sabanci Holding) and build “a baroque-style opera building” in its place.
Someone needs to remind him that a. AKM (cultural center) is indeed an opera
building and b. he announced plans to shut down all cultural activities (opera,
theater, ballet, symphony) by the state. </span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6I_B4of-3qM1AtmPC06YpYuJ3plvh2W9SqIoyc4att3uayntpYycweZaonqA3c3ImSclsQvpeJMIZ1dNJ9vDzV5nHUV4TzDvKM4JfDcWrLQ4Q5Qs989kBgno28tdn7twooIGEJVtfNjLC/s1600/BMLC43qCEAIEG_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6I_B4of-3qM1AtmPC06YpYuJ3plvh2W9SqIoyc4att3uayntpYycweZaonqA3c3ImSclsQvpeJMIZ1dNJ9vDzV5nHUV4TzDvKM4JfDcWrLQ4Q5Qs989kBgno28tdn7twooIGEJVtfNjLC/s320/BMLC43qCEAIEG_6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greeting RTE at the airport - check out the arm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I started out with a shift at the cinema tent 6-10 AM. The
park is beautiful at that hour; not empty at all, but peaceful. Apparently people
were up until the first lights of the day, making sure the police don’t appear
again after the airport speech. 6-10 is the cleanup time, it’s when some are
asleep in their tents, others start getting ready for the day. There were some “leftovers,”
still somewhat drunk, babbling on. Park is getting somewhat stricter on
alcohol, there are signs around to “remain sober,” especially at night, when
the previous attacks happened. But the police have now agreed not to take any
action until Monday. What happens on Monday, we do not know. </span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBSySJIWvGeQCPt0c7qzqNqnMawCQ1DPCRQolu338hIstlgRwkOtqjZ2xf_q2esluodhqExqhT-uTM_2I4Jdohdti5aifN6qSWkVUnH6uMTamV5uk-PTOiSWst1RHR29aLEP4W2T-8mpn/s1600/2013-06-07+09.09.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBSySJIWvGeQCPt0c7qzqNqnMawCQ1DPCRQolu338hIstlgRwkOtqjZ2xf_q2esluodhqExqhT-uTM_2I4Jdohdti5aifN6qSWkVUnH6uMTamV5uk-PTOiSWst1RHR29aLEP4W2T-8mpn/s320/2013-06-07+09.09.40.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morning in the cinema tent - with my basil</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the afternoon, I did my usual weekly radio program on <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">Açık Radyo</span>, with my co-programmer Ye<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">şim Burul and guest İrem İnceoğlu. </span>We
talked about the representation of the protests in the media, the role of
social media, and connected to two activists from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Videoccupy">Videoccupy</a>, who are
documenting the entire process. For those who can understand Turkish, here’s
<a href="http://www.acikradyo.com.tr/default.aspx?_mv=a&aid=31544&cat=100">the link to the show</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After an evening stroll in the park, I decided I needed
something else and went to N<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">işantaşı
for the even</span>ing. Life goes on normally elsewhere in the city (even
though I have to walk there because there are barricades on the way). It was
really nice to be with friends and somewhere without signs and graffiti, even
though we could not talk about anything else than the events and what might
happen, and kept on checking our Twitter accounts. While we were there Red Hack
representatives gave an interview on TV, expressing all the frustrations that
are shared by all who joined the protests. (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkF-MXxyPn8">Interview here, in Turkish</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This whole process has made us all somewhat sensitive and
emotional. We hug more, we say “I love you” more, we tend to get teary-eyed unusually
often. With me, it’s even more personal, because that was, thankfully still is,
“my park.” I was born and raised in Taksim, Gezi is where my parents took me to
play – as my friends take their children now. We’ve been protesting for nearly
two years, come rain or come snow, often in discouragingly small numbers. But I
always had an intuition that something would happen if they tried to touch the
park. I always thought “it’s not that easy.” No matter what happens now, it’s
clear that it’s not that easy. I feel like the entire country has come out to
support “my park;” I feel grateful and proud at the same time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here I go with the teary eyes again…</span></div>
</div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-60088068299183449712013-06-06T23:47:00.001+03:002013-06-06T23:59:49.490+03:00Living in Taksim - Daily Report June 6, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Highlight of the day,rather, frustration of the day: PM declared
in Algiers that they “will build the barracks.” No understanding, no empathy,
no reason. Luckily, the stock market went downhill after his declarations; that’s
the only thing left that might convince him that he’s doing something wrong. He’s
back in Ankara as of tonight, was supposed to land in Istanbul by 11 PM, but
they keep on delaying it. The Interior Minister gave a speech full of blatant
lies. Claimed no police attacked the Swan Park in Ankara, and when people
pointed out that was untrue, he claimed that they had it wrong. OK… He also
claimed that the injured young man who fell off the construction site of the
cultural center the other day was pushed by the protestors. If he could only
come to Taksim, he would see how people apologie to one another even if they
push each other by mistake – this isn’t just a lie, it’s slander in its worst
form. But this is the man who was the head of Istanbul Police Force when Hrant Dink
was murdered. Enough said. </div>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As far as my personal observations go, it was yet another
peaceful and happy day. Morning walk through Cihangir, site of many gassings
over the weekend: not even any graffiti on the walls, all seems normal. Protest
march with academics from Tunel to Taksim: big crowd, very supportive
onlookers, all in all a good experience. Taksim is the same, too many party
flags around the square and on the cultural center I think, but the park remains
a party-free zone. I mentioned the main food and medic center, there are many
more at this point, and a well-drawn plan of the whole area. More organized
than anything this government has ever done. I didn’t stay very long, it was
getting even more crowded than last night. I was afraid people would lose
interest after the weekend, but I’m (happily) proven wrong. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In other news, one of the AKP members (may be a minister,
sorry, not sure) declared that CHP (the main opposition party) should apologize
for organizing the protests. We’ll say it again and again – this is a
grassroots movement, not connected to any political organization. If CHP were
strong enough to organize such an event, we wouldn’t even need to have these
protests. It is amazıng how much they don’t/can’t/won’t understand the nature
of what is going on. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And on a sad note, a police officer died today, falling off
a construction while pursuing some protestors. I’m no fan of the police, but this
is a pointless way to die (if there ever were a non-pointless way…). My only
hope is that it will be a sign of how nonsensical the whole situation is. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Things seem to be pretty calm in Istanbul and most of the
country, with some tension in Ankara. The creativity boost continues with
tweets and slogans, and most significant input for today comes from Karde<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">ş Türküler. PM made a statement about the
noise protests held around the cities, where people bang on pots and pans. This
song is a reaction to that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/o-kbuS-anD4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We do realize
that we are living in very different times. History is being written. Nothing
may change directly at the end of these protests, they might even still re-build
the barracks, but I want to believe that something has already changed in the
way we look at each other and in out faith in ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
</div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-44136669138486832013-06-06T01:28:00.001+03:002013-06-06T02:30:23.002+03:00Çapuling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I cannot let this
day go by without a little post about çapuling. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1AeHhwNGfTib3bnfFdxliCIyYk55biFjW7SI7vXY7twBuftT-S6omYoCDH9vPpNuXpRiyOMDVLNFSQUtjnIQlD4qYzwJF98ILEZVgUQMBsIWsYEvsvNREBtSBeglIBUWTaqjZFqDLc4q/s1600/capuling_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH1AeHhwNGfTib3bnfFdxliCIyYk55biFjW7SI7vXY7twBuftT-S6omYoCDH9vPpNuXpRiyOMDVLNFSQUtjnIQlD4qYzwJF98ILEZVgUQMBsIWsYEvsvNREBtSBeglIBUWTaqjZFqDLc4q/s200/capuling_0.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Tumblr / @SilaVarlik</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">Ç</span>apuling
(eng. chapulling, deu. tschapullieren) comes from <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">“çapulcu,” </span>the term our PM has used to
describe the protesters (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OA5YAI6CXQ">here in Turkish</a>).
It basically means marauder, looter, pillager, bum, etc. People have taken this
to heart, and we all started calling ourselves “<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">çapulcu</span>.<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">” Çapuling </span>is
the act of being a <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">ç</span>apulcu,
as can be seen on <a href="http://zargan.com/sozluk.asp?Sozcuk=chapulling">Zargan</a> translation site </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
in Turkish, or in this Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapulling).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The verb was made popular by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64q2GIqH7S8">this viral video</a> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
and even <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2OnCd95AGE">Chomsky declared himself to be a <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">ç</span>apulcu </a>today</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s amazing how much humor there is out there these days –
signs, slogans, songs, videos… Sorry, they’re mostly untranslateable!</span></div>
</div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-37021318974414694132013-06-06T00:45:00.001+03:002013-06-06T02:29:34.846+03:00Living in Taksim, Daily Report June 5, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First off: Do not believe the reports in the media saying
that Deputy PM Arınç has apologized. His words were directed to a very small
group (the activists attacked in the park on the first night of the events),
completely disregarding those killed and the thousands injured by police
violence since the beginning; and his “apology” sounded more like a f*** you.
Some people have a way of making anything sound that way… (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Q90SwJTk8">Here’s a Turkish video of the “apology”</a>)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For me, it was an exciting day as I was fully out and about
for the first time since my cold. After doing some work in the morning, a few
colleagues and I joined the tens of thousands with the unions walking from the
Golden Horn up to Taksim Square (pic below). It was all peaceful, with a lot of chants.
Sorry to say, socialist chants are not as much fun, or not nearly as energetic
as those by the young crowds in the park. Another group, probably as large, had
come in from the direction of <span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">Şişli.</span>
Remember how the police didn’t let the unions march to Taksim on May Day, and
blocked the entire city to prevent them from doing so because it wasn’t “safe”?
Well, apparently it’s perfectly safe when the police is not around. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprwORoGnClY87aedh_obZRHJljuQowtYdMRCC-19h7SNe8IhgAcyuty80QYP_gUd8OhYUjVRQ1duitw7ZRpy_UkOL7nvFxgJqvzog6YFahhQN-cCIY6roFn2KhgiTWvPlPgXybQIN4Jqz/s1600/2013-06-05+13.45.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprwORoGnClY87aedh_obZRHJljuQowtYdMRCC-19h7SNe8IhgAcyuty80QYP_gUd8OhYUjVRQ1duitw7ZRpy_UkOL7nvFxgJqvzog6YFahhQN-cCIY6roFn2KhgiTWvPlPgXybQIN4Jqz/s320/2013-06-05+13.45.34.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I went on and off to the park, but when I arrived at 9 PM,
it was more crowded than it had ever been. More crowded than a football game, a
rock concert, a rush hour train… Today was a Muslim holiday, so there were
calls to avoid alcohol, and it seemed that all abided by this. Prayers were
held for believers, and this is important to show the 50% that does vote for
AKP that it’s not a bunch of infidels in the park with no respect for any
religion… There are now representative tents in the park, in addition to the
developed kitchen and field hospital. I hung out around the tent of the cinema
crowd, handing out free “simit” special for the holiday. All kinds of people,
old and young, were walking by, again, everyone friendly and excited. Fireworks.
Literally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So the news from Taksim are as joyous as the last few days. They
even managed to build an outdoor movie theater to show some films. But the
police attacked the people again in Ankara with full force, and there were
other incidents in Rize. So it’s impossible to say that all is well; and the
screenings were cancelled because of this. As I write these, police is watering
people in Ankara – now for a change, CNN Turk is showing it live. If anyone is
wondering how strong this water is, <a href="http://www.59saniye.com/tomaya-kafa-tutan-eylemci-taksim-gezi-parki/">here is a video of an old friend of mine</a>,
who is literally blown away by the force of the water; thankfully, he’s safe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Representatives from Taksim have visited Deputy PM A<span lang="TR" style="mso-ansi-language: TR;">rınç today</span>. From what I can gather,
nothing really came out of it. RTE comes back from his trip tomorrow. I am
somewhat worried. I feel like we’re the children of an abusive father, and he’s
about to come back home to beat the hell out of us. It wouldn’t make sense, but
nothing he does makes sense. I saw an old friend today (all these old friends I
see around the protests!), and when I admitted I was a little worried, he said
that only people who are abroad or over 50 are worrying. Granted, I just recently
came back, and I spent most of the day with my mother, but that doesn’t make
the source of our fears any less real. We are not dealing with a rational man
here. Taksim makes me think of the Paris Commune, let’s just leave it at that…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">P.S.: I came across <a href="http://notesfromjecko.tumblr.com/post/52052135034/bravo-muthis-bir-calisma-ellerinize-saglik">this video</a> just after I finished this post. Apparently, I'm not the only one... </span></div>
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melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-20548603084306347762013-06-06T00:10:00.001+03:002013-06-06T02:30:01.620+03:00Living in Taksim - Daily Report June 4, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spent most of the day indoors again, my cold is receding
though. When I went out to the park at around 20:30, it was even more crowded
than the previous days. people are celebrating, singing. There's a field
hospital, the kitchen is running, and now there's a small library as well.
Everyone is kind towards one another - apparently even on the subway. We went
to eat something at Kitchenette on the square, the service, which is usually
polite but slow, was kind, fast, and as odd as it sounds, gentle. They let
people (and there are tens of thousands on the square) use their bathrooms, let
them charge their phones and access free wifi. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu1VMvMbQubMAHHb4-Ie0K9AkL9qvGnH87uV1aNOd5LafUWndR6ES79ieV38mlre-_i_oh6tCjhzr9qz5crExhMGnCj9EsE3XFnXcwKPdQG0ANnIdRIkTuhyiJub5dRotN_wbmfpe55Y-F/s1600/2013-06-04+21.14.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu1VMvMbQubMAHHb4-Ie0K9AkL9qvGnH87uV1aNOd5LafUWndR6ES79ieV38mlre-_i_oh6tCjhzr9qz5crExhMGnCj9EsE3XFnXcwKPdQG0ANnIdRIkTuhyiJub5dRotN_wbmfpe55Y-F/s320/2013-06-04+21.14.27.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The facade of Ataturk Cultural Center is now covered with
banners (see pic), which is a little worrying because this movement started
from no particular political position, and I think it's important to keep it
that way. With the PM out of the country, the media is now discussing the
events, but they are still not reporting the ongoing violence in other towns
such as Antakya and Dersim. A young man was killed in Antakya the other day,
and following his funeral today, the protestors were attacked again. More
recent and also very troubling news is that people have been detained for what
they have written on Twitter – for “inciting crowds to violence.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another important issue is that the parliament was supposed
to discuss the new Law on Nature, which was postponed. This law allows vast
forest areas to be opened to construction – if it passes, the damage will
grossly surpass the damage planned in the park. Granted, the park has a
symbolic position, but this would be a disaster. You may know of the existing
plans to destroy the environment in Turkey: 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> bridge over
Bosphorus, 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> airport (to be the largest in the world), a channel
parallel to Bosphorus, Hydro-electric centrals in ecologically sensitive areas,
a nuclear plant on a fault line… Needless to say, public opinion is being
absolutely disregarded in any of these projects. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">That’s it for now, we’re hoping some kind of agreement can
be reached before the PM comes back, his speeches do not help the situation at
all…</span></div>
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melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-19196883035731371722013-06-06T00:07:00.001+03:002013-06-06T02:30:12.895+03:00Living in Taksim - Daily Report June 3, 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">
I've been away from my blog for far too long. This may be a good time to come back, to post my daily experiences during the most unusual times Istanbul has seen in my lifetime. These are just brief notes, nothing too exciting possibly, but as a resident of Taksim, I have a closer view on the park than most people...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I spent most of the day at home, trying to recover from the
cold. The good thing about being at home is that I can give support by
connecting people, posting news and translating when necessary. Internet/phone
connection at the park is almost impossible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But I really wanted to go out, so I went to the square for a
bit in the evening. I walked around the park - some friends were going to bring
supplies for the makeshift soup kitchen in the park, but the kitchen was so
overloaded with everything, they asked me not to send anything. It was truly
beautiful: everyone helping each other, not even a crowd, despite free food and
beverages! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As I slowly made my way back home, we were hit by teargas. It
was either the wind that brought it, or it was thrown from a helicopter as
there was no cloud. I was wearing swim goggles and a scarf around my face, but
it still burned. people were still chanting, each time a little more determined
after being gassed... a young woman standing in the middle of the street
sprayed my eyes with talcid and water, warned me against rubbing my face, and
moved on to the next person. I was surrounded by "marginal
extremists," among them a young man who was pissed off because he had come
to have fun, and it was his luck to be gassed. Also an 8-year-old boy wearing a
soccer jersey, with his mom (who was, incidentally, wearing a headscarf). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For those of you who don't know, the prime minister left for
a 4-day trip to North Africa today. As soon as he left, all other politicians
started making reasonable statements, and the mainstream media is reporting
from the square. So we hope he'll never come back. I was worried last night,
not sure what today would bring. I thought people might go back to work and not
support the park anymore. But today I hear songs and chants from my window,
people are happy and hopeful. We’ll see what tomorrow brings – I have more
faith now.</span></div>
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melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-6675731503050069552012-09-10T19:03:00.001+03:002013-08-06T14:18:40.278+03:00Kindle and Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I love books. I’ve loved books for as long as I can
remember. Novels, especially. I’ve loved looking at them, smelling them,
flipping through them, and eventually, reading them. I have also believed in
reading books as books, and while the whole notion of e-books seemed attractive
for practical as well as geeky purposes, I thought it would take me a while to
make the (ultimately unavoidable) transition. Until, that is, right before my
summer vacation, when I realized that half my suitcase was filled with books
and there was no room for any clothing or toiletries (nerds like to dress up
too, you know). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, I decided to take along the Kindle my brother had
generously lent me (and by lent, I mean pretty much given away). It’s a Kindle
Keyboard 3G (I believe <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003DZ1Y72/ref=kin3_ddp_alsoavail_kinw_kinkey3g">this one</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">),
very compact and light (and those will be the keywords for this review).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found some sites to download the books I had
in mind for my vacation. Let’s leave it at that. Then I found a pouch to use as
a cover, and voila! I was set. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To keep things from getting overly long: I loved it. Kindle
was light, it was easy to navigate, it told me how much of the book I’ve read
so far (I used to calculate that as I went along with ‘regular’ books). My
concern about dropping it in the sand and/or water proved to be ungrounded with
only the slightest amount of attention. Visibility was extremely clear, and the
E-ink felt like it was printed on paper. But I experienced the benefits only
when I started reading a paperback after my return: it was difficult to keep
the pages open, I couldn’t prop it up anywhere, I constantly needed at least
one hand to be able to read... It was clear that I had been converted. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After having read two books on Kindle, and with the
comparison I was able to make; there are only two possible drawbacks I could
think of. One is about the actual physical feel of a book: the content of a
book is etched in my memory along with its size and cover, it’s a rounded
experience. Maybe I can say more about this when I read a few more books on
Kindle, but this may prove to be another unnecessary concern. The second weakness,
I realized when I forgot a paperback I was reading in a friend’s bag. If you leave
your Kindle somewhere, or lose it, or break it, etc., you lose all your books.
So maybe it’s safe to still keep a paperback with you, just in case...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6L86QLrekKCO4LZDo9bhzluu_i8m5KePqTfuQayqEkQ-KuhsNlnUcLIQcpecNWuUpHa_QwRHpNyJUkcR0I4_Z_cDKsjzpcj2ULBcBUcYlXy7wGICScDWGgLpIcMGR_G1enpVhV-dNHare/s1600/UNBEARAB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6L86QLrekKCO4LZDo9bhzluu_i8m5KePqTfuQayqEkQ-KuhsNlnUcLIQcpecNWuUpHa_QwRHpNyJUkcR0I4_Z_cDKsjzpcj2ULBcBUcYlXy7wGICScDWGgLpIcMGR_G1enpVhV-dNHare/s1600/UNBEARAB.gif" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Kundera's <em>The Unbearable Lightness of Being</em> was the first book I read on Kindle - a book from a time when books came only on paper! (and I still haven't seen the movie...)</span></div>
melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-67046764609448184542012-01-08T17:34:00.002+02:002012-01-08T17:44:15.336+02:00The Iron Lady<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJlSkpHvDeWsfIMKInhIB6VLpdcQwXQQycyjVKj14FaFDyFDITnKQ3EFA6Fdq4GryuGmxyQSLvduZv6xSj2gsyteq8cKuvZza7zUmmJUzNl5ZZewfG93kbO71CcgsALJ8P1lHyQxDnHdd9/s1600/meryl_streep_thatcher.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 320px; height: 159px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695287393173409410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJlSkpHvDeWsfIMKInhIB6VLpdcQwXQQycyjVKj14FaFDyFDITnKQ3EFA6Fdq4GryuGmxyQSLvduZv6xSj2gsyteq8cKuvZza7zUmmJUzNl5ZZewfG93kbO71CcgsALJ8P1lHyQxDnHdd9/s320/meryl_streep_thatcher.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Long time, no blog...</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>If I were young enough to know 1980s only through films, Phyllida Lloyd's portrait of Thatcher would probably convince me that 'Maggie' was a sweet, if on occasion tough -for the right reasons of course- lady. The film stands at a very conservative point, takes forever to get into action, and swiftly avoids any political commentary over the entire Thatcher era. But all of that is easy to miss, thanks to Meryl Streep's amazing performance. She is indeed likely to receive her third Oscar next month. </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>For a Turkish summary of all this, let it suffice to boil the film down to one sentence: "Ne güzel başbakanımızdın sen Maggie Abla..."</div>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-86661007161063703522011-02-02T22:59:00.008+02:002011-02-02T23:38:21.730+02:00Outrage<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2TOY_z0GvXLg6QhfDldRYp9KN9Ecjz_liVqSSLwg9hvyYz5nsALvA_C4wvQqY26qfxtsgVFF01OZB9nsCACetnMppvUIq7dSd0Ye6YZOjJ-OMhnhV3Y9jpZr-LOZZgo0HK0BtmoDv7Z_/s1600/Outrage.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 227px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569206675454779186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2TOY_z0GvXLg6QhfDldRYp9KN9Ecjz_liVqSSLwg9hvyYz5nsALvA_C4wvQqY26qfxtsgVFF01OZB9nsCACetnMppvUIq7dSd0Ye6YZOjJ-OMhnhV3Y9jpZr-LOZZgo0HK0BtmoDv7Z_/s320/Outrage.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>There is nothing outrageous in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462667/">Takeshi Kitano’s return to Yakuza territory</a>. In fact, it’s surprisingly straight-forward and verging on boring. Several major and minor players scheme to get rid of one another, and nearly everyone dies by the end.<br /><br />One thing to possibly note is an odd choice of editing. The first third of the film connects different locations through editing and sound bridges. The second third continually uses fade-outs, I’m not really sure to which end. The last third is fairly straight-forward invisible editing, except for maybe one conversation. I’d love to have the old Kitano back, but alas, this is not it. </div><br /><br /><div>On a different note, Tetta Sugimoto and Nuri Bilge Ceylan look eerily alike.</div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpOnHRTFOWN9JC9L73zRnmQ6b5iUyiBa4WjMvqAjXdAPxJoTME-lOZRLOHBky5Yx6s_1RhI8-g-Nx-DCH6xUIrbgbb6K8mNlUuWOh4jFtKP3VKn0opXqTyEkprisrEg9oMkIYcAW6mVm7/s1600/250px-Tetta_Sugimoto-p2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 283px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569208712802654706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpOnHRTFOWN9JC9L73zRnmQ6b5iUyiBa4WjMvqAjXdAPxJoTME-lOZRLOHBky5Yx6s_1RhI8-g-Nx-DCH6xUIrbgbb6K8mNlUuWOh4jFtKP3VKn0opXqTyEkprisrEg9oMkIYcAW6mVm7/s320/250px-Tetta_Sugimoto-p2.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTpz3fZYNCH_nO4RJSGQPKcaAasedNYEE5_ZvBqPyy-56jjzR0HiDqL0V4N2YKj_nTlqeEyM0LbzYbPXCqxT3QoLx-Z5PQxLXc_-zOhgyQ-4FsJmoiMDC0pN7rqec5f1Iv6xRcat3OYPw/s1600/Nuri_bilge_ceylan.png"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 285px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569208151941934530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTpz3fZYNCH_nO4RJSGQPKcaAasedNYEE5_ZvBqPyy-56jjzR0HiDqL0V4N2YKj_nTlqeEyM0LbzYbPXCqxT3QoLx-Z5PQxLXc_-zOhgyQ-4FsJmoiMDC0pN7rqec5f1Iv6xRcat3OYPw/s320/Nuri_bilge_ceylan.png" /></a> </div></div>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-63402908259685569062011-02-02T11:52:00.004+02:002011-02-02T12:18:26.598+02:00Ljubljana report<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilbpU_UeGY_UlgihR2_3erLQ4atUj_LZ40c5qT33SIfPpBX4KDv-LLQqWVwLNM08520ayagQVfKjBf5y7P2e8FNcji0RGTVR6lW9B7m539d_CEhd4KBzlvTIrmAUuQhpY6usMpj39S7oF/s1600/liffe.bmp"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 182px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 182px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569034524361379970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilbpU_UeGY_UlgihR2_3erLQ4atUj_LZ40c5qT33SIfPpBX4KDv-LLQqWVwLNM08520ayagQVfKjBf5y7P2e8FNcji0RGTVR6lW9B7m539d_CEhd4KBzlvTIrmAUuQhpY6usMpj39S7oF/s320/liffe.bmp" /></a><br /><div>I have been way too busy to update the blog lately. But I promise to feature a whole new batch of notes, fresh from Rotterdam. Really, really soon!<br /><br />In the meantime, here's a brief report I wrote after the FIPRESCI Jury duty. It should also appear on the <a href="http://www.fipresci.org/">FIPRESCI</a> web site at some point.<br /><br /><strong>Of Children and Parents</strong><br /><br />The Perspectives section at the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/en.liffe.si/">21st Ljubljana International Film Festival </a>offered eleven films of different styles, on different themes. Initially, one would think that the only common denominator is that all of these are the first or second feature films of their directors, according to the festival guidelines. But watching all eleven, I noticed another thread that appeared to be dominant among this year’s crop: children and parents. I think what struck me the most was the neat parallel that appeared among four of the films in particular. Two were about boys, two were about girls. Boys’ films were all about father and son bonding, and the girls… Well, the less father, the better.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1823285/">Vlado Škafar</a>’s <em>Oča</em> (Dad) from the host country and Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio’s <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502396/">Alamar</a></em> (To the Sea) from Mexico were little stories of divorced fathers spending time with their sons. Both films shared a strong atmosphere and a lingering camera that appeared to be simply witnessing the warm relationship these men were trying to preserve. The girls were having a much tougher time. Samantha Morton’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268989/"><em>The Unloved</em></a> from Great Britain (the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize) tells the story of Lucy, an eleven-year-old who is placed in a care home after being beaten by her father. She is unwanted (and unloved) by either parent, but finds a way to survive among all the chaos that reigns not only in the care home, but also in the British social system. Debra Granik’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/"><em>Winter’s Bone</em></a> from the US has a slightly older female character at its core – at seventeen, Ree Dolly takes care of her younger siblings and her mentally ill mother, who is all but absent from their lives. She is searching for her father, who has put up their house for his jail bond and promptly disappeared. It is telling that both of these films are directed by women.<br /><br />Among the other films in the competition, the theme of children kept recurring. Hector Galvez’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1500741/"><em>Paraiso</em></a> (Paradise) was about five teenager friends who strive for a better life in Peru. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1426374/"><em>Los Viajes del Viento</em></a> (The Wind Journeys) by Ciro Guerra from Colombia followed a troubadour across the country, joined by a young man who saw him as a father figure. In Rigoberto Perezcano’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1331320/"><em>Norteado</em></a> (Northless) from Mexico, the children are absent – leaving them behind is the greatest sacrifice the film’s protagonist Andres has to make as he is trying to go north across the border, into the US. But the ultimate children-parent relationship among the festival films belonged to the winner of the main prize. In Yorgos Lathimos’ <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1379182/"><em>Kynodontas</em></a> (Dogtooth) from Greece (now a -very- surprising Oscar nominee), we witness a family where the parents desperately try to “protect” their three children from external influences – even if it means potentially destroying their lives. </div>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-2918337127967519102010-11-08T23:11:00.008+02:002010-11-08T23:36:18.911+02:00Hum Tum<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qfZoqdtD5VNyUxcD57K2OL-TYulWwtxvXvs9YYvgYC-6p8m1nKxC6mbdQEreclb0xPoO8CNKKVGTyBPbJUA14hC8ca9be1I4p3UY7uMPPAYkLJCUkw3Rc-ZtqRxSX7Kj2GTe553syrJw/s1600/hum+tum.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qfZoqdtD5VNyUxcD57K2OL-TYulWwtxvXvs9YYvgYC-6p8m1nKxC6mbdQEreclb0xPoO8CNKKVGTyBPbJUA14hC8ca9be1I4p3UY7uMPPAYkLJCUkw3Rc-ZtqRxSX7Kj2GTe553syrJw/s320/hum+tum.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537294785566491282" /></a><br /><br />Saif Ali Khan is no Shahrukh, that we know. We just saw <em>Salaam Namaste</em> last week too, but I've been very lazy about the blogging. In any case, it's very difficult to focus on a Bollywood movie when one keeps on wishing it were a different male lead. <br /><br />Just like Saif Ali Khan is a poor substitute for SRK, Amsterdam is a poor substitute for New York. And Paris. This is the story of a couple that meet on the plane flying from Delhi to New York with a stop over in Amsterdam, which they spend together. Their paths keep on crossing, until (guess what) they realize they're in love with each other, blah blah blah. They spend time in Amsterdam, New York, Paris, Delhi and Mumbai, but all non-Indian locations are shot in Amsterdam. That could be less conspicuous if they avoided landmarks like the Rijksmuseum or the Concertgebouw, but hey, anything goes when they're singing and dancing with cheerleaders in the park. <br /><br />Also interesting take on a kiss, a widow finding love again and marriage out of wedlock - or not so interesting if you've seen enough Bollywood films: this only seems to happen if the couple is living outside of India. <br /><br />As a final note, I'd like to remark once again (or maybe for the first time on this blog) that as beautiful as Aishwarya Rai is, Rani Mukherjee has by far the coolest (or hottest) voice in Bollywood.melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-25266783196057741942010-08-09T23:07:00.004+03:002010-08-09T23:30:02.721+03:00The Expendables<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxLqOhS5JG45GRvEO2KVYd9Vyqe1FCzXlPiw0zlRtFW_I8upno5v1sru4xn3_hWxr92RLB9Do8P7mKn8pLhkHKUIiU9SKDps-eYdMP-hvrlZdLc7M0m9sKlKorWxDhFfnQ0-CFNhQybe2/s1600/expendables_ver3_xlg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxLqOhS5JG45GRvEO2KVYd9Vyqe1FCzXlPiw0zlRtFW_I8upno5v1sru4xn3_hWxr92RLB9Do8P7mKn8pLhkHKUIiU9SKDps-eYdMP-hvrlZdLc7M0m9sKlKorWxDhFfnQ0-CFNhQybe2/s320/expendables_ver3_xlg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503508184959573362" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320253/"><em>The Expendables</em></a> has a lot of fighting, killing, running around and explosions. Unfortunately, it has much less plot, character development, and dialogue that makes sense. At 103 minutes, it feels very extended. <br /><br />Director (of gang and movie) Stallone leads a group of mercenaries to some Caribbean island that's ruled by a mean general (David Zayas from <em>Dexter</em>) and an even meaner American (Eric Roberts). General also has a hot daughter. Stallone is offered $5 mil by Bruce Willis, but eventually goes and blows up the whole place (meaning the presidential palace, and likely, the nation's entire cultural heritage hosted inside it) for "personal" reasons. Schwarzenegger shows up for no reason, other than he's friendly with Stallone. There is even a scene involving the '80s action trifecta (Stallone-Willis-Schwarzenegger), which alone would be worth the price of the ticket; unfortunately, it is pretty clear that Arnie and Willis couldn't make it to the set on the same day, so the whole scene is completely fragmented and feels like some fanboy's montage sticking the three stars together. And the dialogue is simply inane, moving haltingly rather than smart-assedly. I'm not even going to go into the whole set of ideological problems related to a bunch of muscled guys going into random countries to blow things up. <br /><br /><em>The Expendables</em> feels like a movie you'd run into on late-night network TV, only enjoyed (but then really enjoyed) if you're drunk. Or maybe stoned. Which is what Mickey Rourke looks like in the movie.melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-85522788746821721822010-07-30T11:51:00.003+03:002010-07-30T12:19:55.053+03:00Splice<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aD6rPiuP_3Ced9wmmhQcF8YS8LpNtwMu-KfjxMUArEmSbmRFmITxlCVugubH8498QY1qKad3OrXv4cM5u1C7FU7QpgdjIcbp5gMFbK_U6Pm_LDVPg4jgAGi6hN74D286Bi0p3djch8Ni/s1600/SPLICE-Poster.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aD6rPiuP_3Ced9wmmhQcF8YS8LpNtwMu-KfjxMUArEmSbmRFmITxlCVugubH8498QY1qKad3OrXv4cM5u1C7FU7QpgdjIcbp5gMFbK_U6Pm_LDVPg4jgAGi6hN74D286Bi0p3djch8Ni/s320/SPLICE-Poster.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499626462817400274" /></a><br />Vincenzo Natali's film about "two young rebellious scientists" who "defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism" received very good reviews (75% on <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1208173-splice/">rottentomatoes</a>). Why, I don't know. <br /><br />First off, as the summary suggests, the film features every imaginable (and unimaginatively used) cliché about "science gone wrong." Starting of course, with the improbably attractive and young scintist couple. It is then smothered by all the possible clichés involving psychoanalysis (I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers). I do not look forward to read scores of student essays in the forthcoming years on "A Psychoanalytical Analysis of <em>Splice</em>."<br /><br />But what really enraged me about the movie is its claims to universality. This human/animal splice named "Dren" grows up superfast so we get to see all of its developmental phases. And without a TV to look at, or humans to talk to, it adopts all the typical "Western" attitudes towards gender, clothing, behavior, etc. Because that's how "natural" people act surely.melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-75613893071408912002010-07-22T09:58:00.004+03:002010-07-22T10:55:54.928+03:00Chloe<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lI8wTq-pIzu5AifXKJ-NtJjrXI7RZ10C_AgGNJLoFT1hrIvFrDIRKq-n8JQTiLKc1GjVmICQ1F0HL68A8jUe4sbm3wugXEJtL-B7WOjd3-j2BiqIv3o7q-btTXZJFr4GWDtS3iZYwAbQ/s1600/chloe_poster.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lI8wTq-pIzu5AifXKJ-NtJjrXI7RZ10C_AgGNJLoFT1hrIvFrDIRKq-n8JQTiLKc1GjVmICQ1F0HL68A8jUe4sbm3wugXEJtL-B7WOjd3-j2BiqIv3o7q-btTXZJFr4GWDtS3iZYwAbQ/s320/chloe_poster.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496633738954593554" /></a><br />There was a time when Atom Egoyan made beautiful, subtle films. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109759/"><em>Exotica</em></a> tops my list, followed closely by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120255/"><em>The Sweet Hereafter</em></a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165773/"><em>Felicia's Journey</em></a>. Then I somehow skipped a few and saw <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074929/"><em>Adoration</em></a> last year. I thought it was a fluke, he'd get back to his senses. But now with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1352824/"><em>Chloe</em></a>, I'm getting worried. <br /><br />A middle aged couple (Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson) in Toronto is growing apart from one another (or she thinks so). The wife hires a prostitute (Amanda Seyfried) to see if the husband will go astray. There is also a teenage son (Max Thieriot). Things get complicated. That he is a music professor and the plot seems to have jumped out of <em>Così fan tutte</em> is probably not a coincidence, but doesn't save the film. <br /><br />Everything in <em>Chloe</em> looks beautiful. People (Moore! Neeson! Seyfried! Thieriot not so much.), clothes, houses, hotel rooms, even the doctor's office are all gorgeous. But everyone is so devoid of any humanity (maybe precisely because they are always so well-kept) that I found it impossible to care about any of them. And maybe I watch too many movies, but the narrative twist that is (presumably) supposed to give us the 'wow' effect is clearly visible from miles away. <br /><br />One thing that's been on my mind: at the very beginning of the film, Moore's character (an ob-gyn specialist) explains to a patient how an orgasm works ("it's a series of muscle contractions, nothing mysterious about it"). If Egoyan is then trying to show that desire is not that simple and is in fact mysterious, he's comparing apples and oranges. Or so I thought.melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-56122536625153291512010-07-20T09:48:00.005+03:002010-07-20T10:30:29.917+03:00Despicable Me<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdXds-5PSxOnCAn5MlOePvZHysM5Fu1TyIF8y4cVrERqIZ24NMwDym9Rm8QzC4G7gIXG68YWIBOxYrA-iKZMl9GNBqOuWlHKM35go5mDxn05RU3afUzlyfqgfRN5YESJLITZVwuG_UHZl/s1600/DespicableMe_wallpaper_16_md.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdXds-5PSxOnCAn5MlOePvZHysM5Fu1TyIF8y4cVrERqIZ24NMwDym9Rm8QzC4G7gIXG68YWIBOxYrA-iKZMl9GNBqOuWlHKM35go5mDxn05RU3afUzlyfqgfRN5YESJLITZVwuG_UHZl/s320/DespicableMe_wallpaper_16_md.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495885328897068978" /></a><br /><br />Cute, and not overly sweet. The plot summary on IMDB actually makes it sound a lot more sappy than it is: "When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds himself profoundly changed by the growing love between them." Luckily, Gru (the "criminal mastermind") is a villain of the same calibre as Dr. Horrible, thanks mostly to Steve Carell. I have to admit that while I found the adoption of certain 'suspicious' accents by Gru and his mom suspect, they were funny nonetheless.<br /><br />What really makes the movie, more than anything else, are Gru's yellow minions. I want them. All of them. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfIoihFLoNZYhzUKP6XWknurHY1263yT3n89fwcMJbKPhyphenhyphenC6OlcTkDb0o85URCau_VBBMU21B8XD6mUx2dasZyhvO0o8NuM69vqNyWUmFVNwAFGPv4ZxoFM1KxEX-hnv6-kuCXaSnCv2fT/s1600/dme-2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfIoihFLoNZYhzUKP6XWknurHY1263yT3n89fwcMJbKPhyphenhyphenC6OlcTkDb0o85URCau_VBBMU21B8XD6mUx2dasZyhvO0o8NuM69vqNyWUmFVNwAFGPv4ZxoFM1KxEX-hnv6-kuCXaSnCv2fT/s320/dme-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495885428455537394" /></a>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-84015166551887946842010-07-01T18:21:00.001+03:002010-07-01T18:21:16.534+03:00Public media<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXpRgnJ221kpejF92t8hvtXuwkrDwiKZcpDfMSoHA9HByqs5j7EQDk4_W2rM0f3anPFSVL6I-3HaR4i71ttPRLCpqZyVS-RnJN5AGL3Sri7mKTbGF4g0ZP7_vOzy5m2v6PVpSWsE0clcJ/s1600/image-upload-10-772522.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXpRgnJ221kpejF92t8hvtXuwkrDwiKZcpDfMSoHA9HByqs5j7EQDk4_W2rM0f3anPFSVL6I-3HaR4i71ttPRLCpqZyVS-RnJN5AGL3Sri7mKTbGF4g0ZP7_vOzy5m2v6PVpSWsE0clcJ/s320/image-upload-10-772522.jpg"/></a><br /><span>This is a breakfast place on my street. For the world cup, they mounted a tv on the wooden 'wall' surrounding the demolition next door. They move the tv inside every night. Ingenious!</span><br /></div>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-31532022820931748012010-06-29T14:44:00.009+03:002010-06-29T15:36:10.051+03:00Twilight: Eclipse<em>Eclipse</em> followed by <em>True Blood</em>. It was a day of werewolves, vampires, and the (slightly irritating) women who love them.<br /><br />I never got into <em>Twilight</em>, as I <a href="http://sinefilmelisb.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-moon.html">previously explained</a>. <em>Eclipse</em> is slightly better in the sense that at a few (very few) points in the film, it becomes self-reflexive and makes a few jokes. The whole thing seems so silly to me that without any jokes, it becomes unbearable. And the chasteness of all involved has become truly annoying. <br /><br /><em><a href="www.hbo.com/true-blood/index.html ">True Blood</a></em>, on the other hand, is anything but chaste. The homoerotic scene between Billy and Sam in S03E01 reminded me of the wonderful phrase "the subtext is quickly becoming the text" from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/">my all-time favorite vampire story</a>. Wouldn't mind seeing something like that in the next installment of <em>Twilight</em>!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipm8jb4tzRxIqtTjveouikbvVTUO8LjN4goLOzrC7xovOn9BT3qCXdbjnSNvrZB5Wod1CAUxiwjRoIK0uwb_Sh0ZF-jznf2vw2WbCM1xv2yG3kVqiY1reb0mR6DKpGoCeAChDckl3lMlxu/s1600/jacob-vs-edward-new-moon-6420656-560-8341.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipm8jb4tzRxIqtTjveouikbvVTUO8LjN4goLOzrC7xovOn9BT3qCXdbjnSNvrZB5Wod1CAUxiwjRoIK0uwb_Sh0ZF-jznf2vw2WbCM1xv2yG3kVqiY1reb0mR6DKpGoCeAChDckl3lMlxu/s320/jacob-vs-edward-new-moon-6420656-560-8341.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488163973770037538" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOW94ogHuQV5jiT77xqGcaGipwUE_4lJ94TSyu-sNAdVjMRECPP3qy_g8FrUgRa7Y6XmToItpPIQzixaUooOTSw2ln_jpmqoHLF9iU85nuJ55ntLn1yswPTYa6tfCas83UdyQoslbaQZYD/s1600/663393_01814_jj_ep_106.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOW94ogHuQV5jiT77xqGcaGipwUE_4lJ94TSyu-sNAdVjMRECPP3qy_g8FrUgRa7Y6XmToItpPIQzixaUooOTSw2ln_jpmqoHLF9iU85nuJ55ntLn1yswPTYa6tfCas83UdyQoslbaQZYD/s320/663393_01814_jj_ep_106.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488163592946765746" /></a>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3689243542326527946.post-57304334995014240562010-06-21T22:28:00.002+03:002010-06-21T22:43:18.449+03:00The entire building for rent<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ64em0YUS3TmDfSZIHuHwWDmOjKFyK-Mvmf2YxFdZd-Wu0TwHaB7zJHtlxZYD0-zxaJrW9tG4P8F4r4-DOwnVAJXo4hoBWpmGCRWUqIyyLoys6zlt3sHO_Uxvkx4TAhR5qfW5tu63K7e0/s1600/image-upload-9-705805.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ64em0YUS3TmDfSZIHuHwWDmOjKFyK-Mvmf2YxFdZd-Wu0TwHaB7zJHtlxZYD0-zxaJrW9tG4P8F4r4-DOwnVAJXo4hoBWpmGCRWUqIyyLoys6zlt3sHO_Uxvkx4TAhR5qfW5tu63K7e0/s320/image-upload-9-705805.jpg"/></a><br /><span>Ayse told me to document these old buildings, and so I do. </span><br /></div>melisbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990046506460800277noreply@blogger.com0