Sinanation

Roberto Bolle is known to be one of the youngest masters of Ballet. This Italian genius has danced all over the world, in any climate and on any stage possible and is currently the principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. So it is no wonder that when Bolle set foot in our hometown, the only wise thing  for us to do was be to watch his performance.

Roberto Bolle & Friends, a no-intermission 2-hour performance consisting of multiple short plays, took the stage for the first time for an exclusive gala last night at the Harbiye Açık Hava Amphitheater. It could have been Bolle’s mediocre performance in L’Arlesienne, the +30 degrees, the absence of any refreshing breeze and/or the heavy humidity, but there was certainly a missing link between the audience and the stage. Desperate fanning, inescapable tissuing, unlimited wiping, crabby hoping and undeniable thirst and hunger: we were in a chaos and had to escape. So, it took me any my friends 20 min. to leave the performance and trade art for some crispy Chinese duck and fried ice cream.

Cooled off and satisfied with great taste we made it back to the gala’s after-party. Regret was the first to slap us in the face after hearing all the others’ awe with Bolle & his friends (even though we knew we wouldn’t certainly make the whole two hours). Sweat was the second the knock on our door (again) and this time we no longer had the energy to fight back. We pulled up the sleeves, got into the music and the funk and surrendered to salty drops.

and when it was time to leave the party fate had one more surprise for us: a cab with a plate number that read “sweat”. The exhausting reminder of a unexpectedly fun night out in Istanbul.

I get deeper in a vortex of doubt and desperation as I read more into the news. The latest tabloid that makes me feel this way is obviously the hit on the Murdochs and the News Corp. This massive publicly traded media empire has been around for years. It has gone through continual continental expansion and successfully blocked fatal damages. Yet on the brink of its offer to buy out British Sky Broadcasting Group, British officials pulled the carpet right out of its feet and pushed the media empire into an inescapable collision. Phone hacking, geo-locating, bribing were all flushed out of the sink as if nobody was aware of their existence before. We all already knew they have been the media’s favorite sins since the humans got a taste of the gossip.

I am not saying I support all the illegal transactions that make the media work (I am obviously against all and agree that they be punished), but I am asking why all these skeletons that have been around for years are dug out on the brink of a major change among the big players in the media?

I can’t do without reading the news, but everytime I read blow-ups such as News Corp I can’t help, but accept the fact that I am among the puppets reading about the actions of our puppeteers. Sheepish, perplexed, doubtful and always delayed, I force myself not to get too much into the conspiracy and make myself believe the dull reasons behind the news of the day. And I find comfort in one unquestionable fact: obviously News Corp’s offer for BSkyB, Britain’s largest pay-TV broadcaster, is cancelled.

2manydjs is one of the numerous and in my opinion the most intriguing music projects run by the Dewaele brothers. I have never seen them perform live, but this recording I found on YouTube is worth an awe. 2manydjs was last scheduled to play at Lovebox on 17 July 2011 in East London.

I hope I can make it to one of their future appearances. Until then…

I think I have never been into lesbians until this video. Laetitia out from an amazing classic 1960 Mercedes 190SL flirting with Rihanna all around a gothic castle all the way…What more can I say?

Better early than late. Here is the new mix to welcome the sizzling summer of 2011. You can DOWNLOAD HERE.

I decided to avoid the sizzling Istanbul midday during the weekend and found myself in line at the movie theatre. With nobody else accompanying me, I was completely free to choose the French movie and catch up on my currently numb French. La Chance de Ma Vie is a romantic comedy based on a couple’s therapist who has been a bad luck to all the women he dated since childhood. We enter into Julien’s life right when he meets the love of his live and is completely discouraged at giving dating another try. Destiny finds a way to bring the two together and makes it impossible for them to resist the attraction. It is the series of unfortunate events that unfolds throughout Julien and Johanna’s fast-paced relationship that leaves a constant smirk on the viewer’s face.

I always have a thing for French movies and have never gotten tired of putting them on given the opportunity. Cap ou pas cap, Amelie, La Doublure, La Reine Margot, Le Placard, Mon Meilleur Ami are a few of the ones that are considered a must in my book. So, I might be a little biased when I reccomend La Chance de Ma Vie, but then again…Go see it.

A friend recently forwarded me the winners of the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity that took place in June. I was greatly impressed with the numerous campaigns that received recognition. Yet, there is one website in the list that I couldn’t wait to share. Walloffame is basically an endless digital white board that allows its visitors to draw, write, scratch anything they want on it. You sign up with a username or your Facebook profile, are given 10 board-markers to choose from and then just go at it. You have the option to take snapshots of the piece that is coming together (by hundreds or users from around the world) and share it with anybody you want.

I am amazed by the possibilities we have on the internet today. I am also curious to see what kind of a server walloffame runs on. Don’t wait any longer, start drawing.

Just when Banu Alkan and Ajdar’s effect on the Turkish society was diminishing, a new breed of supposedly naive, utterly inviting and daring barbie doll hits the twittees and the newspapers. She is no other than Hilal Cebeci. A struggling singer out with 3 albums, a mediocre actress with a role in one independent Turkish movie and finally a voluptuous teaser knowing way too well how to expand on her limited media exposure.

It is hard to admit but as a society we have a fetish to see struggling entertainers with nothing to lose come out in the media with the stupidest remarks, display lots of flesh and get into daring bets with their viewers. Like America’s Kendra Wilkinson, Kardashians and Jersey Shore crew, we have our very own absurd entertainers. The Turkish Survivor on TV is a great example to where our credentials lie when it comes to some local living-room entertainment: team players on a tropical island in swimwear fighting with one another for food, fame, love and care. Yemekteyiz (We are at dinner) is another one: 5-6 people who can’t cook at all, but have the worst gourmet caprice, cook for one another and bad mouth each other.

Watching others make a fool out of themselves gives us an incomparable relief and satisfaction because we are immune from all the blame and protected from the judgmental public eye. In return for this no strings attached entertainment, we make the entertainers rich, providing them the fame to qualify for commercials, public appearances and paparazzi chases.

Similar to Ms. Cebebi, Ms. Alkan was also an actress (quite famous in her younger years) turned pop singer with a hit song called “Kaldıramassan Kaldırırlar Gülüm” (others will erect it for you if you can’t my sweetheart). Her erotic song sang with her perky over-glazed lips and massive boobs squeezed in a tiny bikini dipped in cool waters had all the means necessary to climb up the radio charts. Her love and marriage to a mean casanova where she would get slapped once in a while was also a great opportunity to zoom into her personal life on live TV. She was a vulnerable love victim covered with a gifted sex goddess look. She was our entertainment superhero; so close yet so far away from our reserved lives, sucking out all the personal issues from our brains and filling them with her unimaginable character.

After Ms. Alkan made enough money to buy her a lifetime supply of tiny bikinis, we have sent her off with good thoughts and invited in Ajdar Anık. Ajdar was the supernova of entertainers. One of the ugliest singers you could ever see on TV, he became famous after his failed appearance as a contestant at Popstar Turkey. No voice, no looks, no musical background, an engineer turned singer, this guy glued us to TV and YouTube with his bad mouth and humiliating, no rhyme erotic songs such as “Çikita Muz”. Mr. Anık was everything we did not want to be, especially on TV. He was the ever so popular entertainer we wished we never let out of the closet.

It is now Cebeci’s turn to drool us with her unearthly remarks, sexy tweet pics and hilarious nicknames. She calls us “Pampiş” (“Pumpish” a word created by her just for her current fame) and we tease her as our “goddess”. I haven’t listened to a single song of hers and have never seen her on TV, but I am currently following her Pampişizm tweets with much appreciation.

I am a sucker for laughs. I am a victim of naked tweet pics. I am a silent supporter of the ridiculous. There isn’t a single day I yearn for abstinence, but I haven’t been able to help it so far. It is just too good to stare at the screen and ask “is this really happening?”

Pampiş confesses “Guilty as charged.”

That is what the Farelly brothers brought onto the screen with their most recent movie Hall Pass. We decided to give it a try last night in search for a refreshing flick after a heavy meal. The movie is basically based on two married guys constantly obsessed with sex and their “charm” before tying the knot, getting a no strings attached one week break from their wives. Owen Wilson plays Rick and Jason Sudeikis is Fred.

Unexpectedly Hall Pass turned out to be one of the most entertaining movies for me since Wedding Crashers. True that there are multiple corny moments and scenes that could be easily shortened, this comedy is still packed with a few minutes of uninterrupted, genuine and unlimited awkwardness that pushes the audience into a laughing frenzy. For the Crashers, that break point was the dinner scene where Gloria jerks off Jeremy from under the table and for the Pass it is the scene where Fred takes a potential hook up back to his hotel room. I am not going to say any more and just share a teaser for the scene with you. Trust me when I say that it should be more than enough for you to watch the whole movie.