Jumanji and jungle laws

The spring semester has been utterly exhausting so far. I found out a little too late that the department scheduled the two sections of my "Intro to Film" class back to back, which means that I have to teach 8 hours straight for two days a week till the end of June. With course preparation, writing and grading assignments, and working on my upcoming conference presentation, I have no time left for myself. Meanwhile the spring has come but my only contact with it (being locked up inside my apartment the whole time) is through the wild ivy that has covered most parts of my windows and the entire building in no time. The apartment is beginning to look like Jumanji, really. Yesterday, I noticed that a small branch managed to make its way into the bathroom from beneath the tightly shut window and started growing upwards in an incredible paste. I probably should cut it off but am rather impressed with its Nietzschean "will to power" so might let it take over for a few days. By the way, read a funny story on the news today. Apparently, the alumni of my high school in Adana had a gathering, in which the wooden staff ("kizilcik sopasi") that the now retired director of the school used to beat and intimidate students with was sold in an auction. The money has been used to buy and donate computers for the school lab. How creative is that? I remember that staff too (and that jungle laws applied in my rather obscure school) but never thought it would make national news one day.

Little Mr. Fancy Pants

No, seriously. I think my little nephew Daghan has the coolest jeans! He apparently began to walk too, which means that I'll have to do a lot of exercising this summer, chasing him around the house.

Back from Chicago

Decided to stay in for the weekend and do a movie marathon to select films for the "Intro to Film" course that I will be teaching in the spring semester (starting next week). That led me to watch Solaris (The Tarkovsky version), Last Year at Marienbad, The Conversation, The World of Apu, Zodiac, and The Lives of Others back to back, which was probably a bad idea since almost all of these are slow paced films. That said, spending the whole day today (and last night) on my comfy chair and seeing films that I like (drinking cans of coke, and eating an obnoxious amount of pretzels and noodles) gave me the sense of being on vacation, even if just for a day. My Chicago trip went well, by the way, and everyone was remarkably nice. Carole and I took the megabus (they have double-deckers now!) and the bus driver cracked us up throughout the trip with announcements like: "We'll get to Chicago in 5 hours unless we have a natural disaster, an artificial disaster, a traffic accident on the road, or someone who goes nuts in the bus." and "The speed limit is 70 miles an hour. Don't think I cannot drive faster, because I can and I would prefer to but that's the speed limit. So 70 miles it is." The paraphrasing is mine, of course, he was actually much funnier. Anyway, we stayed at the Inn of Chicago, which has the most comfortable beds in the world and a little coffee shop with the nicest people working in it. We instantly became friends with the girls working there and each time we walked in, they either gave us bigger sized cups and some extra cream or brought our hot chocolates to our table. The visit to the consulate was also another pleasant experience. After the officers heard about how I lost my documents, they processed everything in the speed of light and gave me both my ID and passport in 2 hours!! Mind you, renewing the passport usually takes a few weeks since the correspondence between Turkey and the US takes some time. However, the soft voiced passport officer told me that it was his principle to help at least one person a day and it was my turn on tuesday :-)

Spring Fever

I was writing a comment to Emrah's blog when I decided to convert the message into a short post here. It's finally springtime in Michigan and the nice weather found me pondering about the possibility of having any free time at all for myself this summer. The winter semester ended this week and my preface for the qualifying exam has been approved, yet I still have an overwhelming list of things to do till next fall. The first item in the list is to go to Chicago next week and apply for a new passport at the Turkish consulate, of course, but that just signals the beginning of a toilsome process in which I'll have to renew all kinds of travel documents. Meanwhile, have two conferences coming up, two sections of "Intro to Film" to teach in spring, a mini festival to help organize, a paper to expand (to send for publication), and a qualifying exam to prepare for all summer (not to mention my 5 week long trip to London, Glasgow, and Istanbul). That said, I bought my tickets to England and Turkey so mark the dates on your calendars dear Londoners and Istanbulliots: I'm flying to London on the 30th of June, will take the bus to Glasgow on the 2nd or 3rd (Carole, Ryan, and I are presenting at the Screen Conference between July 4-6 and will arrive in Glasgow at least a day early to see the highlands), go back to London for 3 days, and fly to Istanbul on the 10th of July (to stay there for 4 weeks).

The Perpetual Academic

Carole and I received the news tonight that our paper "The Perpetual Bachelorette: Seduction and Simulation in Michel Gondry's Bjork Videos" (which we presented at NYU's "Music and the Moving Image" conference last year) has been accepted for publication by POIESIS: A Journal of the Arts & Communication! Poiesis is a peer reviewed journal of the European Graduate School and features articles by prominent scholars like jean Luc Nancy, as well as poetry and artwork by exceptional artists. After switching departments and stepping onto a never-ending academic path, I thought that I'd spend the rest of my life writing an obscure dissertation and not see a single article of mine published. So you can imagine how satisfying this is for me (I hereby thank Lok, who shared my happiness on the phone, in all his drunk glory) . Now if I can only write the preface for my qualifying exam in two weeks (found out about the deadline two days ago)! *faints"

Tea and Tilogy

Here is a short tea anthology inspired by the two new cafes I found yesterday (and Yin's post): I went to MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) to see Rei Kawakubo's exhibition "ReFusing Fashion" with a friend yesterday and found out that they have just opened a nice little cafe there. This is remarkable news since I wasn't expecting to discover any nearby cafes after the closure of Amsterdam coffee shop. MOCAD is in 10 minutes walking distance from my new place and is a perfect spot to spend a few afternoons at. Their tea menu is not extensive but you still get a couple of choices. Rei Kawakubo's work, by the way, is interesting. I watched Wim Wender's documentary Notebook on Cities and Clothes on Yohji Yamamoto last week and Kawakubo's anti-fashion designs based on deforming and reassembling the human figure seem to be in a stark contrast with his elegant collections; yet their styles also feel strangely familiar. It is as if they have the same influences but develop their ideas on different ends of the spectrum (of beauty and ugliness). Ah well, as Wenders says at the beginning of his film ""Fashion. I'll have nothing of it."; so I better not comment further on this. After MOCAD, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and did a little excursion to the Guardian Building downtown. I had been meaning to visit it for quite a while since my friend Heather who collects Pewabic tiles have told me so much about its architecture. One of the most striking features of the building (which is actually a skyscraper) is its beautiful interior decorated with glass mosaics, Native American themed murals, Italian marble and a colorful mix of Pewabic and Rookwood tile. Once you step inside, you find yourself in a cathedral-like lobby (and even the elevator doors are encrusted with tiles!), which leads to a nice cafe in the banking hall. And I dare say that this one does have a pretty decent collection of teas for enthusiasts like me, though I only tried the traditional chamomille blend. Sitting at the cafe, I regretted not having explored the building before, since it is these kinds of things that change one's experiences of a city. Can't wait to go back!!

Requiem for a Tea Set

A beautiful post about the fire from Yin the great. Thanks Yin, I can't believe that you found an image of the tea set, now I can remember it forever :-) By the way, I am a fire snake in the Chinese zodiac, I wonder if that's why losing everything in the fire felt natural to me (a la our dear Japanese-Korean-Chinese-Dutch-Turkish-American tea set)! "Born of clay and fire in Japan and travelled to a small Korean shop in Amsterdam. Brought by this Chinese guy to his Turkish friend, a true tea spirit, in Detroit. Came to the full circle in blistering flames. Seen half of the world, appreciated, served the full purpose to the ill-fated end." --- Yin