The Freedom to Blog

According to a recent news report I saw on BBC World, the bloggers in Egypt are having a really hard time. The goverment which is extremely conservative and despotic, is even putting some bloggers who publish pro-democratic views and their critisations about the system.

For the last couple years, the current goverment in Egypt has been completely conservative and anti-democratic, and it's a shame for a country who sells exotic-touristic-dreamy tour packages for the Western people with democratic values. They are treating their own people extremely uneven.

As I feel sorry for many other cruelties in many parts of the world, I feel very sad for the man who is jailed for 4 years by the Egyptian Goverment, JUST FOR HIS IDEAS, published on his blog. This is such a dictatorial and should be condemned by the international community.

FREE Abdel Kareem Soliman !..
NOW

MY ANCESTORS

I just happened to find out who my ancestors were! My grand grand father appears to be a local trademan living in late 1800's in Istanbul. He was a popular person name in the Turkish-Greek community. He is also one of the founders of the chain of electronic appliances shops in Greece, "Kotsovolos". There he is, Kiriye* Safakis Kotsovolos:

Of course I am kidding, I got this picture through a website where you can produce "older" versions of your pictures, and made up the whole story :) I chose to be a true Istanbouliot** Gentleman, so that's how I got it. If you wanna give it a shot, click here (website in Turkish)

*: "Mr." in Greek

**: A person who is born/residing in Istanbul, a word used rarely by French and English speakers.

That's probably why they call her Gloria Gaynor

I knew that concert was gonna be held, from a month ago, but I never thought of going. OK, Gloria Gaynor is one of the living legends of disco-pop music, but still, I wasn't that interested. Though it would be interesting to see her singing with Ajda Pekkan, the guest act ot that night, who is also known for her brilliant Turkish cover for "I will survive". Couple days before the gig, a friend of mine came up with some invitations so we decided to go there.

The organization was really lousy, we couldn't believe it! Actually in the first place, it was supposed to be held in a rather classy concert arena in a big entertainment complex called "Parkorman", but with a two days notice, it was moved to some made-at-the-last-minute concert arena at the University of Bahçeşehir campus in Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The only good thing was that this new place was more central. The open-air concert area was way too simple: plastic chairs and almost no order. The programme of Gloria started with a delay of almost an hour and half. Though, she was so sweet when she got on the stage and she told the audience that there was a technical problem, and that's why they were late. I haven't been a fan of Gloria before, but I seemed to know most of the songs she sang: I am what I am, I will survive, Can't take my eyes off, Killing me softly, My first my last my everything...

When it was the time for the Ajda-Gloria duet for I will survive, the attention of the audience was at its peak. Ajda appeared in a fabulous white dress after the announcement of Gloria. By the way, it was the first time ever that Gloria was sharing her stage with another top artist, as the official concert announcement said, so that was a very important moment. Then the band started to play the anthem, I will survive. After the first verse in English by Gloria, Ajda started to sing its Turkish version with almost the same meaning. There was a huge cheer in the area. But right after the song, Ajda has left, taking the place by her storm. Then unfortunately, almost the half of the audience left (what a shame) and then we had the chance to know the "Real Gloria". She kept singing, we got closer to the stage, we fell in love with her charm, and that how it went. I say, long live Gloria Gaynor.

MY "MODELLING" CAREER

First of all, how I got involved in this advertising thing: I met a very talented and unique person (actress and advertisment producer) Setenay Yener and at the beginning of summer 2006, she invited me to Istanbul. I arranged my accomodation and started my days of advertisement photography production and got a lot of unique experinence at the company where I still work, RPresenter.

My short modelling career started that summer, when they needed a "foot-cast" for a shooting. It was a shooting for a sports shop; they were planning to use the big pictures of two feet on a skate, on public buses around the country. The wheels of the skate were gonna overlap the wheels of the bus, so technically it would look like a huge skate, getting around the city :) YKM, one of the oldest Turkish retailers, is known for their creative advertisement ideas around the world. Check one of the most-known ones here:

Anyways, I modelled as a result of a sudden need for a model and the results were damn good :) Well, what to do, I was born talented, LOL.

But unfortunately, I still don't have the final pics myself. I saw the public bus couple times around Ankara and it looked nice, thought to myself: "Dude, you are becoming famous from head to toe; it's just it's happening in reverse".

I once happened to take a photo of it, as you can see here, but it has a poor quality and a wrong angle:

Another time, it was a shooting for a clothing company called Mara Margo, and I was there, assisting. It was the shooting of talented photopgrapher Zafer Kaptanoğlu and was definitely fun cause we had two gorgeous models; one from Finland and other one from Hungary. During the break times we were making some photos for fun, one of which you can see below:

In this one I wasn't even posing actually. And I was hardly keeping myself from laughing. Still I like it, looks good enough. I am open to modelling offers though :)

SERBIA WINS EUROVISION: RESULTS DISAPPOINT SOME!

The 52nd edition of Europe-wide kitsch festival, The Eurovision Song Contest has its winner finally. The next year's event will be held in Belgrade, Serbia; due to the first-ever victory of the sole nation (they had a previous victory as a united state under the name of Yugoslavia). The winner song Molitva (meaning "prayer" in Serbian), performed by Marija Serifovic (a young girl with "unique" looks) was totally unpredictable for me. I didn't really think of seeing a rather old-fashioned ethnic ballad to win ever again, after the start of the "televoting" (the system where every individual votes through sms's, instead of national jury). Anyhow, since Serbia is a quite affordable country to go (especially for us, Turks :) I am not deeply sad about the victory :) Though I would like Ukraine to win once again, with their very sweet, controversial singer Verka Serduchka; so that I could go and see the country again! I love Ukraine, seriously.

By the way I have been to 3 Eurovisions before, and saw them live (Istanbul 2004, Kyiv 2005 and Athens 2006). This year I couldn't go due to the overlapping in my schedule (and to be honest, that I was short of cash :) but next year, I am probably gonna go again. Except I call it kitsch, I still love ESC (Eurovision Song Contest) and I call myself as a fan of it (of course I am a member to the official Eurovision Fan Club, OGAE). Here you can check out the top three performances:


Serbia - Marija Serifovic - Molitva: eh!



Ukraine - Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai: full of energy! Cute weirdos :)



Russia - Serebro - Song Number One: girl power :) they need a boost though :)



Turkish representative Kenan Doğulu has always been one of my favourite performers in Turkish Music but his Eurovision entry was quite dull. Though he had an excellent performance which led him to become the fourth runner-up.


Türkiye - Kenan Doğulu - Shake it up Şekerim
Keep shaking it up Kenan!

Gosh, I hate my weakness for drinking!

It was another home-party-kind-of-gathering at the flat which has actually not much difference from the one in the L’Auberge Espagnole movie; and this time the main reason was the visit of Karolina (Polish), best friend of Ewa who had come from Norway, where she lives and studies. It wasn't the first time we were meeting since couple days ago, we had met for a coffee at the campus (Kurtuluş Campus of Ankara University). So this time we had a bigger crowd of people, and great Polish vodka called "Zubrowka". It was great and I already had 3 "mugs" of it :) Then I went with some Turkish wine (cheap one :) provided by Pietro, roommate of Ewa's). We had people from Norway, Poland, France, Italy and Turkey; and it was pretty much of an international community. Karolina, it was great meeting you, I hope to meet again in Poland or somewhere else, who knows... French guys, it was also great meeting you, ma je ne peux pas me rappeler vos noms malheureusement, maybe it's that I was already drunk when u arrived :) Anyway, good luck with the play at the French Cultural Institut. And thanks for making me practising some French, after a long time. Italian fellas, you guys were great hosts, and the pasta was yummy. At the end of the night, I don't really know how I made it to home... Thanks to Hale though, cause she gave me a ride to somewhere really close to where I live. Anyway... Hope to catch up soon again guys, cheers! Şerefe :)

SPLENDID! Silvia Night's new attempt: Thank You Baby
This weirdo is so cute, isn't she?
She simply sucked at Eurovision Song Contest in 2006, but now there she is, stronger than before! Great video, great idea! Iceland must be proud of you babe...

My New Official Music Video For Thank You Baby

Add to My Profile More Videos

A QUICKIE :)

Once again I am headed to Greece (4th time in last 2 years), to catch up with my folks and enjoy myself. This time, I am not alone. I got my dearest Hale and Ms. Pain-in-the-ass (lol) Ewa :)

- "Abla, Rus musun?" :P

She is the newest import of Poland to Turkey and she (thinks she) is learning Turkish in Ankara. She will be studying here for a while, along with the Erasmus programme of EU.

Our plan had to be changed various times. First we were a group of 4 (Hale, me and moms), then it turned to 2 (just Hale and me) and now 3.

We will depart from Istanbul on 14th of April, Saturday, and we will arrive in Salonika (been there before but it will be the first time for the guys). After 3 days, we will visit Skopje, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of) and discover around. From Skopje, our next town will be Athens where we will hit the clubs and hang out with Athenian friends of ours. On 22nd of April, we will fly to Alexandroupolis of Greece, a nice town located next to Turkish border. It will be our first time there... The very same day, we will come back to Istanbul. It will be fun!

APRIL
14, 15, 16 - THESSALONIKI, GREECE
17, 18 - SKOPJE, MACEDONIA
19, 20, 21 - ATHENS, GREECE
22 - ALEXANDROUPOLIS, GREECE

After a worth-to-mention long break, I salute all those who were somehow wondering where I was.

I have lots to tell.

In my personal life, I have almost everthing going good.
I just finished the final exams of the term, and looking forward to the next term.
During the one month break, I will be relocated in Istanbul, working at the same advertising photography agency, where I worked as a production assistant last summer. Advertising is a world, full of great opportunities. So I'll go for it, as much as I can.

I love being in Istanbul. I have several reasons.

Coming up next: my attemps in music scene

Life passes by so quickly!
Before you know, things end and deadlines arrive.
So to enjoy it at a maximum level, we have to do the things we would like to, at the right time and according to our values (as long as they are not offending others').
Lately I had a lot of stuff to tell here, which I'm not gonna tell, but a feeling deep inside me always tells me that I am doing it just right. So I feel so peaceful.
Anyway... Here are the highlights from my life:

* 3rd of September, Ajda Pekkan gave an outstanding concert in Istanbul. I was present there, with my 3 Greeks fellas who fell in love with the chick on the stage.
* After almost 3 exhausting but nice months in Istanbul, I am about to go back to Ankara, back to my studies. I have to say, I really enjoyed being at the heart of Istanbul work life.
* My sister just moved to town as well, hence I moved in her place. She is sharing with a common friend of ours, whom we know almost for 16 years now! A friend of childhood. Cool!
* I was asked to write Greek lyrics for Demet Akalin's "Afedersin" song (smash hit of the summer in Turkey) and I did it. I met the artist and the co. and they loved it. Now we are looking for ways to make a release in Greece.
* Last month it was announced that I am one of the winners of the "Anti-Smoking Youth Festival", which will be held in Athens at the end of september, and organized by "Hellenic Act Against Cancer". I will be there and I will perform my song which helped me win the contest and get a free trip to Greece. I am soooo looking forward to it.

I am not in the mood for a longer post, so I'll keep it short and end with my fav top 10 songs of the recent times. Best regards to my subscribers!


1. Coldplay - The Hardest Part
2. Jamiroquai - Love Philosophy
3. Anna Vissi - Everything
4. Akcent - Jokero
5. Ajda Pekkan - Senden Sonra Tufan
6. Spandau Ballet - Gold
7. Whitesnake - Is This Love
8. Pat McGee Band - Shine
9. Redd - Falan Filan
10. Mor ve Ötesi - Kis Geliyor