Archive for July, 2008

We should all cook!

Posted in City Life, Debates, Ideas, etc., Restaurants, Drinks & Food on July 20, 2008 by Sinan

It is a worldwide-known fact: Woman in general are the best cooks in the world (although most of the word famous chefs are guys). Maybe we have never been given the opportunity. Maybe we got lost in the traffic of office works and the stress of providing for a family. As the ordinary, not-even-close-to-being-a-chef guys, we have skipped one of the most essential classes in health and sustainability: “Knowing enough cooking to avoid fast and junk food”.

I am tired of calling my friends at Domino’s every time a friend comes by dinner. The desperate attempts to become full with a bag of chips or pretzels now annoy me more than ever. I try to feel satisfied with a few slices of fruit or raw broccoli, thinking I am finally eating something healthy. This is not the way it should be.

I have to diversity. In a perfect world, I should be able to buy different types of vegetables, spices and know how to turn them into a delicious meal. In a perfect world I should even go further and blend vegetables, fruits with meat or seafood. In a perfect world I should make the time to buy the grocery, not wait long enough for them to go bad and cook them for a nutritious dinner. In a perfect world, I should be able to cook to skip fast food and junk food.

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Fethiye Hillside

Posted in Restaurants, Drinks & Food, South of Turkey, Travel on July 20, 2008 by Sinan

Most of the people who are aware of my addictiveness to this place ask me the same question: “Why do you like Hillside so much when there are hundreds of other places you can go?” Critics insist that “Hillside is not for young and single people.” It may be true but it is not enough to make me change my opinion about this place.

We have so much freedom in this life. Yet with freedom comes decisions. It is as if our freedom is our prison. We are constantly driven to make a decision about every single thing. What jobs to apply, what clothes to wear, what food to eat, what restaurant to eat at, what highways to avoid when driving somewhere? Hillside gives me the opportunity to get away from all those decision. It somehow gives me the best possible constraint and narrows down my options to a minimum while maximizing the pleasure I get from taking a break.

My biggest worry here is to decide when to wakeboard, how many crepes I should get for breakfast, when I should switch to the silent beach for a quick afternoon nap and if I should stop by the ultra-casual, usually comfortably empty, but rather fun Pasha nightclub. No worries about how much cash I should get every time I step out the room as the village is all inclusive. No worries about what I should be wearing as the closest person I know here is the tourist from the middle of nowhere. I let go of worries in one of the best spas in the world.

One shouldn’t compare hillside to Bodrum, Mykonos, St-Tropez-type getaways where every decision-made depends on multiple friends, multiple must-be-seen-at scenes and a lot of bouncers. You will not feel like you are missing out on other plans once you set foot inside this heaven tucked in one of the most beautiful bays in the south of Turkey. You should have no expectations other than relaxing and being your own boss. Yet be aware that Hillside is also full of activities if you are looking for a few thrills to pump up the blood flow. You can pay a visit to the undersea with diving lessons, learn how to navigate the wind while windsurfing or take a shot at one of the numerous water ski facilities on the tip of the bay.

The only thing you could yearn for in this piece of paradise is a companion to share it with. You will try the limits of your imagination while you watch the sunsets, eat the freshest seafood dinners, drink amazing summer cocktails on the white pillows of Pasha, work your way through a scoop of ice cream on a fresh hot waffle cone from Nice Cream and appreciate the view from the terrace of your room.

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Art gone wild

Posted in Art, Debates, Ideas, etc. on July 20, 2008 by Sinan

The media has been crying out from the rooftops, alerting us of a huge global economic downturn. The increasing fuel prices, decreasing consumer spending, the scarcity of rice (one of the most important sources of nutrition of third world countries), the fattening trade deficits and the stronger than ever tropical storms. None of them are foreign to us, but when all get together on the stage big question marks about the future of our bank accounts start to appear on top of our heads. It is in the human nature to always come up with a good survival plan whatever the threat is. Yet what makes this long lasting threat so grave is its unpredictability. The current economic downturn has widened the gap between the rich and the middle class by more than anyone could have imagined and it seems the art market is the biggest evidence to this. Asian, Irish and American contemporary artworks have been flying off the charts in auctions in the past couple of months. Christie’s and Sotheby’s have been posting sales that beat expectations, while the newspapers print the gloomy articles on skyrocketing fuel prices, the banks that caught their pants on fire and increasing number of bankruptcy cases. Something does not add up in this current mist we are in. On one side we have people paying millions to decorate their walls and on the other we have people selling their cars and switching to public transportation. I look forward to days of serenity and balance.

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Give it a rest

Posted in City Life, Debates, Ideas, etc. on July 18, 2008 by Sinan

Why why why why oh why do we push the poor elevator button more than once? The light is there to let us know that the button and the elevator are working on our request, trying to climb multiple floors to greet us at our current floor. It doesn’t matter if we hit the button once or 50 times. The button will not turn into a portal device nor the elevator will decide to move faster. We built the high rises, we built the elevators and the buttons. We should know better! There are no emotions. We can’t expect human behavior. It is mechanics. You make a request, you get the same result every time unless you play with the programming. So next time, give it a rest. Hit the thing once and try to find other things to play with while the elevator works its way up or down to you.

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Borrow or Steal?

Posted in Art, Debates, Ideas, etc. on July 15, 2008 by Sinan

A very interesting article in New York Times titled “The Image is familiar; the pitch isn’t” caught my attention today. The article is about the artists’ accusing advertisement agencies and global brands for stealing the ideas behind their original artworks. The difficulty of protecting the whole creation behind art is revealed in the argument. The conclusion, which in my opinion is the best section, touched a very important point. None of us actually steal anymore. We borrow to make the previous better and let the future generation take on from there.

A professor at Purchase College revealed “Culture is about ongoing borrowing. It is about taking images, ideas and motifs and opening them up to new users.” I completely agree with this argument. With all the technology that surrounds our lives today we have entered into an era of mass absorption and consumption. We came to a point where we can no longer accuse anyone for stealing, borrowing or misusing an idea (especially the idea behind an artwork) unless that person confesses the crime.

If the artist starts questioning the agency that is claimed to steal his/her idea, couldn’t the whole society accuse the artist for stealing from its unique culture? Unless the artist succeeds in creating a trademark for his/her own work and directly represents his/her point of view in an idea borrowed from the society at large, it becomes almost impossible to claim rights for something that was never owned by anyone in the first place. There is not much left, but to accept the fact that we are all borrowers of ideas. If there is no ownership there are no thieves.

I guess the only safe way for an artist to make sure he/she gets credit for everything that relates to his/her creativity is to make the work visible and easily accessible by the public on the internet and the media. Only than can we remember and acknowledge the original founder of a borrowed idea.

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Let’s go to the movies…in New York

Posted in City Life, Debates, Ideas, etc., New York City, Relationships on July 15, 2008 by Sinan

Going to the movies is supposed to be a pleasant activity. It should be easy and stress-free. It could even be a second or third date plan for the new couples. The warm conversation before the movies while waiting in line for popcorn…The peaceful comfort of having numbered seats waiting for you while you make a quick stop at the restroom…The 15-minute break to assure you that you can comfortably drink a gallon of water to ease the thirst fattened by your salty popcorn without holding you pee for two hours. New York movie theaters make me miss the peaceful movie nights.

As if all the stress the poor New Yorkers endure during the week is not enough, they have plan whats supposed to be a carefree viewing occasion hours ahead. Delegate responsibilities…One goes online to buy the tickets (if there are any left), one buys the popcorn, one waits in the long line with numerous extra garments to save a few seats next to him/her. Drinking is allowed only in small amounts as there is no intermission. If you are lucky you will get a good seat and if you are blessed with a sixth sense you will get a short, small-headed person in front of you. All these wishes for a single movie…I would rather stay home and watch On Demand.

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tons

Posted in Debates, Ideas, etc., Long Island, NY, Travel on July 8, 2008 by Sinan

Just a few hours away from New York City this place pulls a curtain to all the stress, noise and energy the small island of high rises releases. Once we lose sight of the overcrowded Penn Station Train that brought us to peace we completely leave behind Manhattan. We are overwhelmed by the tons of peacefulness and luxury here. Tons of green, tons of crispy clean convertible classic cars, tons of sunglasses, tons of million dollar houses, tons of summer dresses, tons of tiny weekend bags, tons of bugs and tons of no worries until that Sunday when we expect to go back fully recharged.

I kept asking myself why the Hamptons have been this expensive and popular among New Yorkers all along. I came up with a few answers of my own. It is surely the closest getaway a hardworking, fast-living, completely stressed out New Yorker can have. It has access to maybe not the best, but the best possible beaches around New York. If you can take the cold and the men-size waves, swimming in the dark ocean water can be one of the best natural thrills you have ever experienced in the state of men-power and capitalism. If you consider the amount of money and stress a hardworking New Yorker earns while sweating in the high rise offices of Manhattan, Hamptons surely becomes a cheap access to the best possible summer vacation.

It is a different world here. You see a lot more of the chilled young crowd you expect to see around the Mediterranean Beaches. Yet the restaurants, bars, clubs and beaches still cry out “no matter what you think this is still America”. The restaurants are mostly laid back, but they lack all the pleasures you find in a waterside Mediterranean Restaurant. The tables are tacked indoors while the nice weather outside knocks on the windows. Our ears beg for some slow summer music but instead they get the brutal noises from the other tables around. Unlike our ears, our appetite is fulfilled with great lobsters. Most of the bars have great  locations and terraces, but the lack of music still prevails in these “could-be-great-if-only” sources of amusement.

The best getaway for us seems to be at home where we can cook tons of food we like, drink tons of drinks we want and listen to tons of music we can dance to. If we are lucky next time we might get tons of sunny weather we have been praying for to go along with the tons of expensive peace we wish to get in the Hamptons.

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Why we need religion

Posted in Debates, Ideas, etc. on July 1, 2008 by Sinan

Humankind has been through numerous revelations and crises over the centuries. Some helped to solidify its strength over nature and what it came to call “destiny” and some have shattered its very existence as the smartest and thus, the strongest creature on Earth. No matter how much we tried to deny the facts of life, the truth (whether we liked it or not) has always found a way to get through our sneaky intelligence. The truth behind the shape and location of the Earth, the creation of the universe, the plagues, the origin of species, the rights of men and women, the weapons of mass destruction…All of them represent drops of stones in a calm water, leading to big waves that echo the question “who has the control?” in our heads. Who has the control? If not us who has it? At the end of the day that is the only question that matters. We spent centuries trying to figure it out and we will spend many more to come up with the best possible answer. Yet no matter how many different angles we approach the question from, we have to tie its answer to something or someone supernatural. Something or someone better, stronger and smarter than us. That is the point we let religion into our small and completely private worlds. We need it for all the things that we believe are out of our control, out of our extraordinary strength, confidence and intelligence. It is there when earthquakes shatter our cement, it there when a baby is born and it is there when we have no one else to turn to.

Religion or as I put it “believing in something or someone supernatural” gives the humankind the ability to justify anything that can not be interlinked to its ability. It gives us the greatest comfort and will whether we go up or down in our ventures. That is why although religion can not be explained in today’s scientific terms, from Christianity to Islam, it is one of the most common and pouplar concepts in our daily lives. When times are better than we could have ever expected we turn to religion to justify and insure our fortunes. The same goes for the exact opposite. When times are bad we turn to supernatural strength to keep us going and give us hope. In one of the articles I read on Newsweek today, I came across a great evidence to this hypothesis. In the article titled “Lincoln vs. Darwin” the author reveals that even though Abraham Lincoln was believed to be an atheist, he address a speech based on the will of God during the civil war and assured his supporters that God was in control of what was to come.

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