Virtual Postcard from İstanbul...

Merhaba from the old Ottoman capıital. Very hot today....Also the city is quite crowded.....whew! We ate kofte and yogurt for dinner... Miss the cat Gizmo.......Would write more but mom would get ticked...gotta catch the night boat back to Buyukada....may actually have a latte a Turkish Starbucks tomorrow....saw The Other Boylen Gırl last night....sorry to see natalie portman lose her head!

Take care....TG

Is There a Cure for Jet Lag, Yet?

This will be a short and sweet entry as I need to somehow get some rest and relaxation before taking the 36-hour flight (slight exaggeration) to Istanbul tomorrow.

I have no idea when I will be back on this blog, but I will leave you with Turkish pop diva Ajda Pekkan's cover of the Helen Reddy pop feminist anthem "I Will Survive" in Turkish no less!

 In Turkish, the song has been translated to "Bambaska Biri/The Special One" (hmm...doesn't that title seem more appropriate for a song from The Pretenders).

Alas, I did not get around to seeing "Get Smart" at the Grandin Theatre nor did I get to see the Mill Mountain play production of "Into the Woods" here in Roanoke, Va.

But, when I get back, hopefully, I will see some of my friends in Virginia and North Carolina again. And, perhaps, there will actually be a woman who wants to go out with me. Hopefully, it will be someone who looks a lot like Ashley Judd.

Of course, I could get discovered by the Turkish Martin Scorsese and become the Turkish Harvey Keitel while I'm there, and come back to America six years later as a movie star. I just hope I don't take off all my clothes for the camera like Harvey did in "Bad Lieutenant." Well, then again, I suppose there would be a price for fame.........!

Useful Links:

http://www.grandintheatre.com

http://www.millmountain.org

Tags: Istanbul, Roanoke, Ajda Pekkan, Harvey Keitel

It's a Starbucks World After All

I was reading an article in a travel/business magazine called "Condo Neste Portfolio" until my mom yelled at me for something. I am going to Turkey with her tomorrow. Where are the nerve pills when you need them?
The article was about Howard Schultz, the  founder and CEO of Starbucks. He is one of the few politically-progressive kazillionaires in the world, and for that one must profoundly admire him.
But, Starbucks is taking over the world quicker than Ming the Merciless took over the universe in "Flash Gordon" though somehow the small town I live in North Carolina does not have a Starbucks. (We did get a cool coffee shop a few months ago, though!)
Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and New Delhi are always without a Starbucks (I forgot to look up Baghdad.)
However, that is not the case with most towns!
I posted an entry last year that there were some 39 Starbucks in the greater Istanbul area. Well, that number has gone up!
Here is a list of Starbucks locations in various cities in America and around the world. If we left out your town, our sincere apologies. In the meantime, kick back and enjoy a cold frappucino.
Oh in case anyone was wondering that is Britney Spears in this photo.

USA-Starbucks

Athens, Ga.-5
Austin, Tex.-10
Bethesda, Md-14
Boulder, Col.-9
Greensboro, NC- 12
Los Angeles-17 (yeah, I thought it would be more too!)
New York-31
Seattle-44 (the home of Starbucks)
Springfield, Mass.-7

Starbucks-The World

Amsterdam-1
Athens (Greece)-32
Beijing-55
Berlin-11
Istanbul-53 (up from 39 last year)
Mexico City-76
Singapore-21
Sydney-10
Tokyo- 205 (wow!)
Toronto-27

http://www.starbucks.com

Tags: Starbucks, coffee, Britnet Spears, Seattle, Istanbul, globalization

Don't Slow Down in Maryland

Glenn Conrad of Columbia, Md., recounted a real-life 'Twilight Zone' experience he had while venturing on I-95 as he was going to BWI Airport between Baltimore and Washington, DC, to pick up his wife.

Conrad is one of many Americans who has decided to make amends so he can save gas, or as he puts it in the commentary piece he wrote for Sunday (June 22) edition of "The Washington Post":
"Slowing down is touted as thrifty, patriotic and eco-friendly. Too bad it's also 'criminal.'"

Yes. Amazingly enough, Conrad was pulled over by a Maryland state trooper for driving 50 miles per hour in the far right lane of the highway with little traffic on the road.

Conrad contends that he goes 65 mph downhill, and he starts to press the gas pedal again when he drops to 50 miles per hour.

But, the cop told Conrad that he was a danger to other motorists, and hence he actually wrote him a traffic violation warning.

When Conrad protested, the police officer trumped the fact that he catches a lot of drunk drivers by scouting out slow drivers. When Conrad said he had not been drinking, the cop allegedly snorted before going back to his patrol car.

Thus Conrad is left to conclude that: "It seems to be a good American, I have to drive faster. I need to use more gas. Go figure."

Conrad emailed the Maryland State Police about laws concerning minimum speed limits. As one might expect, he got no response.

Useful Links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.thedctraveler.com

PS_ The image is of a crab shack somewhere in Maryland. I thought it might make for a more interesting visual than a cop car or a picture of someone driving on a freeway.

Tags: Maryland, gas prices, police officers, highways, airports

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Odd Careers_ Executioners (Entry 6 of 6) with Video of Jane Fonda Hanging

Since I expect a fair number of fringe right wingers visit this blog from time to time (one of them actually defended Dick Cheney!), I thought I would post this video clip from the 1970 western "Cat Ballou," which features a hanging of Jane Fonda. Perhaps, it will give me 300 hits by the time I fly to Istanbul tomorrow.

On a more serious matter, my home state of Virginia executed its 100th person last night. I have always been opposed to capital punishment, but I fully sympathize with Gov. Tim Kaine (D). He is also an opponent of capital punishment, but political realities are what they are. At least, Virginia is a distant second to Texas in this regard. And, Kaine has been criticized for stopping several of the more controversial executions, including one just last week.

I certainly feel for the family members of people who have been murdered. And, except for the likes of Sister Helen Prejean and other members of the clergy, I wish some death penalty opponents would not try to contact people on death row. It only helps the other side politically, and in most instances it certainly seems to show a sense of disregard to the victims' families.

Even though we have a fairer system of justice than most places, I am vehemently concerned that way too many people have been wrongfully executed for murder. And, there is the moral question of how can a state take a person's life if they have sentenced someone to die for the exact same action.

I have certainly questioned myself many times over my view, including most recently the brutal shooting murder of University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson in Chapel Hill back in March, but people exonerated from death row like Earl Washington of Virginia are quickly forgotten. In fact, most states rarely offers them any form of monetary compensation for a wrongful conviction.

And, of course, there are people whose actual job is to devise and later implement a lethal injection. I have to agree with "Inside the Actor's Studio" host James Lipton who said that the job he would least one to have is that of an executioner.
 
I suppose cleaningtoilets would have to be a close second.

Useful Links:

http://www.vadp.org

http://www.ncadp.org

Tags: Death Penalty, Hangings, Executions, Sister Helen Prejean, Jane Fonda, westerns, Tim Kaine, Virginia, politics

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Who Knew Communism Was So Much Fun?

I must profess one of the main reasons I love Youtube is that in addition to nostalgia, it graves my addiction to kitsch. I may be one of the very few heterosexual males who partakes in something that is perhaps better-suited for John Waters.

And, I hope the Baltimore filmmaking legend would agree with me that few things in life could possibly be kitschier than a Bulgarian pop medley recorded during a New Year's Eve program circa 1985. Where did they get that disco ball?

It's a good thing Youtube wasn't around when Ronald Reagan was president. If we knew people in a communist country were having this much fun, we may have wanted to actually end the cold war sooner, and then we wouldn't have had "Red Dawn!"

Useful Links:

http://www.dreamlandnews.com

Tags: Bulgaria, Ronald Reagan, Red Dawn, John Waters, Baltimore, kitsch, Youtube, pop music

To Congratulate the Germans (sniff, sniff) Nena's "99 Luft Baloons"

I guess everyone in Munich and Bursa (but few people in Greensboro) knows the result of today's EuroCup 2008 soccer match between Germany and Turkey, which was played in Switzerland.

Alas, in the 90th minute of play Germany scored to win the game 3-2.

But, to show that we are not sore losers (well, I can't speak for other Turkish-Americans), I am posting German pop star Nena's highly political 1983  pop song about the need for nuclear disarmament. I gather it is a personal favorite of Nancy Reagan's (that is a joke).

The Turkish team made a great run to get to the semi-finals though and it helped my friend Bahadir Acuner who roots for Fenerbahce (I root for their rival GalataSaray) bond as we are not used to pulling for the same team.

Perhaps, we can pull it off in Euro 2012...........insallah (that's the Turkish word for hopefully).

Note: This is the original German version of the song. I looked for German beer-drinking songs on Youtube, but few seemed available.

UPDATE: I just saw that there is a NEWer version of this song on Youtube. It came out in 2002. Nena still looks great as she struts barefoot down a sandy beach, but the remake is a disappointment. And, there is no reference to 'Captain Kirk,' but for the sake of nostalgia, you might want to check it out if you like........I'm too lazy to post it here!

I also found out that Nena is now 48, and the mother of four. She released an album of Rolling Stones and David Bowie covers last year. And, interestingly enough, she is still politically active as she helped form a free form alternative school in her native Hamburg. Her own kids take classes there. Nena said she felt there was a need for a more inspiring educational system than the one she grew up with.

Useful Links:

http://freeweb.com/nenafan99

Tags: Nena, soccer, EuroCup 2008, Turkey, Germany, Nancy Reagan, GalataSaray