July 23, 2010

a woman running barefoot

There was a scene in the movie Salt, in which Angelina Jolie's character was running barefoot on the streets of Washington.

So this is an action movie and Jolie does all sorts of incredible stuff, so running barefoot is really not a big deal. But however, she runs in front of people, and they all seem to mind their own business, never ever look at Angelina Jolie.

What would you do if you see a woman in a fancy suit but barefoot running on the street? I mean, isn't this something which would grasp your attention? Would you keep waiting for your bus? In fact, it doesn't even matter if she is barefoot or not, or even if she is a she or not. I would definitely turn my head and look at anybody who is running in a sitution when it is obvious that she/he is not supposed to.

But again, this is an action movie, and after all those stunts i saw Jolie's character is doing through out the movie, perhaps this is the last thing the audience would care about.

July 18, 2010

kill bill, romantik and the foreign factor

Romantik was one of the movies i watched as a part of my 4 Nights 4 Turkish Films project i mentioned in the previous post. After watching it, i got online to see the reivews about the film and saw that there is a wide range of responses as it is always.

Some liked it, and some hated it.

For me, this particular movie can be a perfect study case to prove that a movie is nothing without a proper script. If you watch it, you will see that almost all the scenes are shot with an artistic approach. The music is great, the angles are great, some may not like it but the acing is great, too, and the acting reflects just exactly what it should reflect.

But the story is horrible. I don't even consider some very crude flaws in the script regarding calendar. The events are supposed to happen 20 years after a spesific incident happened, meaning that the main guys must be older than 30, but yet, they were still students. But just never mind about that.

The story is cheesy, and i really think this is what the director Sinan Çetin intented in the first place. Considering how well the scenes are crafted, i am pretty sure that this not a case of bad script choice but a deliberate attempt.

You may find this stupid or may be even offending, but i really think that there is a resemblance between the movie Romantik and Kill Bill, directed by Tarantino. Some may suggest that the two has nothing in common other than the fact that they both are a story of vengeance. And this doesnt mean anything because there are tons of movies based on vengeance. Maybe half of the movies in the world are based on vengeance somehow.

But, it is not the vengeance i am referring to. I think these two movies are alike because of the same style they have adpoted. They both have a very cheesy story, and they have no problem with that. Instead, they try to make the best of the visual treat at each scene no matter how stuid the story is.



But, now im thinking local, if you ask people in Turkey who loved the movie Kill Bill whether they liked the movie Romantik or not, I am sure that there will be a significant percentage who will say they hated the latter. Why is that?

I think that is the foreign factor. The story in Kill Bill is already a foreign one for the Turkish audience, so they can more easily accept the pecularities in the movie, not really differentiating what is realistic and what is bullshit. But when they watch a Turkish movie which is supposed to tell a Turkish story, they know what is realistic and what is bullshit, and it is harder for them to buy it.

It is funny though, there are a lot Hollywood films I have watched and said "If we made this movie we would curse the director for the crap. But somehow we watch and enjoy this American movie." I belive that's the foreign factor.

July 15, 2010

4 Nights 4 Turkish Films

While I am still trying to recover my accidentaly stupidly mistakenly deleted files, I also have a project at hand which includes watching 4 Turkish films. So this is a great project because they don't last too long, meaning that i can watch one movie with my wife every night. Of course, after watching the film i have to do what i have to do, but this is really going to be a fun job.

Last night I watched the film Whatever You Wish.  It was an interesting movie. I just hope the rest of the movies are as good as this one or even better.

July 14, 2010

losing my hard drive aka fail big time

i really enjoy windows 7 as an end user, however it is far from satisfying my demands when it comes to doing some serious work. that's unless of course i don't begin buying some very expensive softwares right from the beginning.

and why should i do that? i had already built a perfectly working system in my windows xp. i already had all the softwares and tools i needed to do my job, and i learnt how to work with them to get the best they can give me.

the compability options in windows 7 are pretty good when it comes to playing games, so i installed and played some of my good old games, but when it comes to video editing: it sucks big time. well, i managed to find a way to work with some of my softwares, but it pretty much looks like pushing a car on the neutral gear to try to make it work rather than stepping on it. this is no way doing a business.

so, i was planning to find a second hand pc with a working xp on it. perhaps that would be the best solution but then it occured to me that i could use a dual boot. this means, installing my windows xp in my new box, next to my windows 7. so i will not have to buy another pc and morever, i will be able to use my softwares on a much faster computer. wow, that would be great.

not so easy.

after a lot of try and errors, i figured that installing xp next to windows7 is not as easy as it is told on the internet. now, in a nutshell, when you open your computer, one of the first things it does is to look for an operating system to run. and this is done by a small file generally named a bootloader.  if you have two operating systems, the bootloader is supposed to ask you which one you are willing to run. but the problem is, windows 7 uses a completely different bootlader system. it is not a big deal if you install xp first and then windows 7. the new bootlader can handle that. but if you try to install xp after the windows 7, then you have a problem.

after lots of long hours, i finally figured a way and managed to run the two operating systems. good for me. but the thing is, now i had two fresh starters, meaning that all my documents and configurations were lost in windows 7. never mind about the configurations,  can do that any time but i really needed some of the docs in my c drive where all these installings and re-installings took place.

but, before i started all this, i took an image of my c drive. i knew that it would be handy if things get worse. simply put, an image means the exact copy of your computer, or  a part of your computer which you choose. so, if things get irreversible, you can always use that copy to go back to the exact point when you made the copy.

in a typical computer there are usually 2 hard drives. and in fact this a logically partitioned one physcial hard disc. there are many benefits of cutting your hard disc into 2 virtual parts. first of all, since the area your computer has to run in that hard disc is lowered, it runs faster. but more importantly, the part you install your operating system might be very unstable as in my case so it is a good practice to keep your archive in the other hard drive which is supposed to be intact.

i keep most of my files in my d drive. this drive is essential for me. and doing so, i can play with my c drive as much as i can, knowing that my sensitive data will not get any harm.

and therefore, there is no need to make an image of my d drive. becuse it is supposed to be immune from the instabilities of my c drive. also, the bulk of my files are in d drive and it is sort of impracticble to make an image of it.

so you see, i managed to run 2 operating systems just as i needed, but they were fresh and i needed some of the files which happened to be in my former sytesm which already had an image. trusting that i know how to do it now,  i decided to copy back my image one more last time to get those documents and then repeat the entire process once again. so i copied back my image file.

remember that i never made an image of my d drive. and i didnt intend to touch it anyway. but the thing is, the whole drive blew up because somehow, the system thought my d drive was an empty one and erased everything on it. amd this is a true disaster because the files in my d drive are far more important than the ones in my c drive. they are vital. and they dont have an updated back up. and i cant even retrieve the ones i already have, because i lost the directory too.

it is good thing that there are ways of restoring deleted files. but it was already too late and i just couldnt find the right tool at the time, but i am hoping to restore a lot deal of my lost files back.

July 13, 2010

another pyramid scheme with no online activity involved

My cousin from second degree, if not third, mentioed me about this pyramid shopping thing last Friday in which you are supposed to make lots of money when you convince just 4 people to buy this plan for €150 or more. And they have to finf 4 other people and so and so. No thanks, not for me. It may turn out to be the next geat business opportunity, but still it is not for me. And I just couldn't explain this to him.

So we met after work hours today. And he and his friend tried to explain me how this system works. The more they explained the more I lost my interest. And I was just too gentle to stop them right in the middle, so they kept talking. Well, in the end I had to apologize anyway for making them talk for like 1,5 hours and not buying the thing.

There was a reason why I agreed the meeting, though. I offered them the only thing I could do, and I thought we were going to talk about it, instead of 1,5 hours of their lecture. If this is such a great program, why not sell it online? I proposed them a social media plan, and it turned out that this great company who invented this pyramid was about to launch its own ad campaign and any internet activity was forbidden. That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. They want a pyramid, they want people to recruit other people but they don't allow it online for whatever the reason might be.  I mean, you encoruage me to spread the word, but with a catch: no online activity involved. 

I will respect their rules anyway and won't mention the name of this pyramid, in case my cousin might get into some trouble because of it. Well, wait, he might already be in trouble because he first mentioned me about this on MSN.   

So it turned out to be a complete loss of time. I wasn't going to buy the plan ayway but at least I could have run a social media campaign to help them recruit other people. Or better, I could have skipped the whole thing and came home earlier and pay attention to some other things which matters.

July 08, 2010

kissing with eyes wide open or shut?

I haven't watched the movie Going the Distance yet, but I just finished translating the trailer. Seems like another romantic comedy which may attract you if you are into the genre.

Anyway, somewhere in the trailer, two guys hug because one of the guys have an emotional issue and the other guy, probably his best friend, is trying to comfort him. And a third guy asks: "Why do you close your eyes", suggesting that this other guy might have a thing for him. Sort of funny.

Well now, even though the line is pretty much self-explanatory, it can only be funny if you aware of the suggestion that closing your eyes while kissing / hugging / etc.  is an indication of true love. Is that really so? I mean, maybe I want to keep my eyes open to see her more, right? Or otherwise, I might be fantasizing about another woman when I close my eyes while kissing.

They wouldn't really use it if they doubted this joke wouldn't be clearly understood, at least not in a trailer in which there is no space to explain things. At least not in the international version. But you see, they made the joke and I am pretty sure everybody will catch it.
But I wonder, is this just another bullshit from the silly women magazines, or is there any truth in it. I personally don't think so.  

July 06, 2010

trapped in one dimensional thinking

at this very moment, i am witnessing the most stupid debate about turks, arabs, and jews, and i decided to share my pain with you in case you missed the action in turkish.

i call this one dimensional thinking disorder. i dont have the guts to say that im completely immune from it, but at least, i try. i really hate it when people take sides on serious matters as if this is a football game and make their stand completely based on their political preferences.

now, as a historical fact here, the arab nation chose their own independence as opposed to continue being subjected to the ottoman empire. this whole event has been perceived as treachery, and it is completely understandable for the time. arabs had reasons to uprise and turks had reasons to see it as a treachery. that was 100 years ago.

today, though, there are some people who say that they should not care about palestine because arabs betrayed turks. holy shit. i totaly understand what a big treachery this must have been 100 years ago, but is this really going to be how you react to a humanitarian crisis? or can this really be your excuse to ignore how people suffer there? i can relate if you say turkey should have more important priorities before poking the middle east. that makes perfect sense. but are you really going to make your stand with this betrayal thing?

there are also another group of people who totally reject this treachery concept and claim that the arabs were deceived and they were victimized and blah blah blah. but the thing is, they did choose their own independence and they did uprise the ottomans at the time. just because it didnt turn out as they were hoping does not mean they are victims.

they did what they did. and whatever it was, it was 100 years ago. it is the most silly thing to use it as an excuse to make a policy for today. this is not a football game. you cannot take sides when people are dying, or living in the most miserable conditions. you make a stand with your moral values, with rights and wrongs and what feels right to you. and honestly, it feels completely wrong to me when people say we should ignore palestine becaue whatever shit arabs did 100 years ago.

further on, it doesnt even matter if the ASALA terrorists were trained in palestine camps as it has always been alleged so. or it doesnt matter even if it is hard to find interntional events where the arabs backed turkey, nor they backed each other. vengeance is not the best virtue you should choose as a guideline in life.

July 05, 2010

the dark movies we like

i just finished a pretty dark turkish film, a losers gig, if you will. i plan to write a review about it and i will let you know under the appropriatly named page "movies you will probably never watch.", if i ever write it. but, i can't stop thinking about what really attracts me about this movie in particular, and all the dark movies in general.

it must probably have something to do with the losers these movies show us. the more realistic the characters are the more we seem to enjoy it. because they sort of makes us think: "oh, thank god, this is not my life." interestingly, we all have things in our lives, and if captured from the right perspective, our lives  might also be presented as a great dark movie. at least, i know i have. so it must some kind of a relief to see the pains of others.

July 01, 2010

butterfly effect in istanbul

we are having very weird days here in istanbul regarding the weather. it is cloudy and rainy most of the time and it is not normal. what's worse is, it is not stable and can change very quickly. i mean, i heard the thunders yesterday at noon time, and i think it rained a bit, but when i left the office in the evening, it was hot and shiny. and this is really very abnormal.


personally, i really enjoy rainy weather. it is far better than the sweaty summer days but i fear that this will have some serious consequences. for example, take the butterflies. there are a lot turkish tweets around about the butterflies indoors. everybody's guess is, they are trying to save themselves from the rain and the cooler weather coming with that. we have a butterfly in our apartment too. i dont touch her, trying to help her survive as much as i can in my kind of way. but now i wonder, how many of them couldn't find a secure shelter and just died?

and you don't really need to be an ecosystem expert to figure that dead butterflies are going to have some negative effects on the overall survival of the planet.