DAY TWO HUNDRED AND ONE

almost forgot to post for the day. almost! but i did not! record fast blog entry coming your way!

reading a lot about operation c (confrontation), in addition to watching videos about bull connor. other facts: tarring and feathering doesn't use the kind of tar that we're used to (black, asphalt kind).  tarring and feathering used pine tar, the kind that was apparently used on ship ropes and needed to be liquid at way lower temperatures, more like room temperature. so it was basically a humiliation tactic, not a torture tactic. for turture, you'd move to the horrible scalping things that involved super hot liquids being poured on a cone on the head. ick.

and otherwise on the gah turkey front, passenger refused entry onto ferry because she had closed bottle of wine in her bag. 

and OH MY GOD OBAMA WAS HOLDING A BASEBALL BAT WHILE ON THE PHONE THAT MUST SIGNIFY SOMETHING RIGHT?

Carney however gave no direct response to such claims, and simply told reporters that all he could say was that the president was a baseball fan and an avid Chicago White Sox supporter. Carney also added that he would further study the photo for any other details. 

Well, nothing to fear here: no, school history books books did not use 'betrayed their country' to describe Armenians and Syriacs. Just 'problematic descriptions':

The offensive terms to be removed include descriptions of these groups as “back-stabbing rebels,” “puppets of European states,” and “stooges.” 

Turkey's newspapers kinda suck. For instance, here is a completely incomprehensible stream of consciousness article that is about on par with my blog, but has been published in one of the largest English newspapers in the country. Scary.

DAY TWO HUNDRED

WOOOOOOOO! day 200!!!

Earl Scruggs is awesome to listen to. Band includes Steve Martin and Paul Schaffer.

I got into an argument with a very strange girl at a wedding recently who told me that I was an evil person for being fascinated by military strategy. Kind of like this.

Wag Dodge is a strange name. The depiction of what he did to escape the fire is really different in the Wiki article than it is in the New Yorker article (another journalist fired!).

Hotshots and smokejumpers and helitack oh my!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE

US Nuns formulate response to Vatican.

Turkish film festivals, totally awesome! Especially the violence against women part!

Irish immigrants in NY.

Remember the 1904 Olympics? No? How could you forget them?  Hosted in Missouri, the decisively first place winner was Frederick Lorz, who had actually been driven for a significant portion of the race.  Second place was Thomas Hicks, who had taken the poison strychnine and had to be supported by his coaches in order to cross the finish line.  He wasn't the only one to use it - so did the person who came in after him. One who wasn't quite near death was the person who came in fourth, who had eaten some rotten apples along the race, felt ill, fell asleep, and still came in fourth. The marathon also featured the first two black people to enter the modern Olympics - one of whom may have done better had he not been chased a mile off course by dogs.  Start at 2.50 to see Stephen Fry and the QI folks discussing the race.  Also, the rest of that about cheating at Tour de France is fantastic!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT

Kiyikoy two weekends in a row? Insanity! But Bodrum and Kiyikoy two weekends in a row? Amazing!

The Imposter: totally interesting.  I want to see it.  Willfully deceived to get what they wanted, the family of a lost child ignored that when their boy reappeared, he was several years older than he should have been, had different coloured eyes, and spoke with a French accent.  And was half Algerian. And now, reading those reviews, I want to watch Capturing the Friedmans as well.

The film is as an instructive lesson about the elusiveness of facts, especially in a legal context. Sometimes guilt and innocence are discovered in court, but sometimes, we gather, only truths about the law are demonstrated.

Tonight, I get to showcase the BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. Previously, I had been made fun of for my pizza declarations, until people ate them.  Cherry-Roka-Balsamic pizza what what?! Walnut-goat cheese-(roka?)-carmelized onions?  BAM. SHIT WILL GET REAL TONIGHT. although to be fair right now i'm the only contender. everyone else just wants to create their own pizza. little do they know about the battle that will rage tonight! WHO WILL END UP ON TOP?

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN

yesterday was a first. with bacteria spreading throughout my body from my deep puncture wounds from a tiger-like cat, i was unable to write a blog post.  i was, however, able to play with a pit bull and later kittens. they turn one month old tomorrow! in other news, shortbus ran away. again.

today the kittens explored the house on their own, tumbling out to meet hatice.  she is afraid of them.  she also yet again asked me fairly intrusive questions about myself and my two housemates.  it kind of makes me want to carry a kitten around, waving it at her and freaking her out, but i'd do that anyway just to hold them.

i don't really understand why befriending albert speer is a contradiction in wiesenthal's life, though i guess it's a subject of 'continuing debate' how much speer knew.

greece trip planning continues, with an ever-changing slate of islands to hop amongs. rhodes, crete, santorini, oh my!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX

As it turns out, if your small cat who has mothered 5 kittens in your house has a big, big problem with a chihuahua, it's unlikely that she'll somehow do better with a pitbull, no matter how cute the dog is or how good of friends he is with various street cats.  In other news, puncture wounds (even those accidentally given by a kitten seeking reassurance) really hurt. Also, the fascination I have for these make me think that maybe I should go back and study medicine.

Human baiting, it seems, is real. Or was real. Other types of baiting: lots.

I have a restaurant crush and I want everyone to know about it.  There's a new Italian place by the green grocier on Susam sokak - it used to be a little fish restaurant.  I am now in love with the owners, an adorable married Italian couple, the place (it's cute!) and the food which is *fantastic*.  And I'm also in love with the server who chased us down the street telling us we overpaid after we left a tip. FOOD CRUSHHHHHHHH.

Kinda like the Kissing Bandit, but not nearly as cute.

Small town America and the impact of immigration and raids, and the changing nature of the employees who fill the worst of the worst jobs.

Seriously, screw this. One of the worst things to come out of this Presidency.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE

I watched It Might Get Loud for the second time last night and thought it was just as cute as it was before. Watching the director's cut of Live at Pompeii was a perfect way to round out the music documentary evening.

The kittens are eating grown up food and one bit me last weekend because she was mad that I was cleaning her paws. They have tempers now! And they want to explore our apartment, the stairwell, and meet other cats.  Tigger and Nicholas Cage have reported back that their lives are fine without any whippersnappers running around.

I've come to the conclusion that I will never, ever make injeera, and that's too bad considering that there are no Ethiopian food places here in Istanbul.  Although I guess if I could figure out how to make it that would be a very useful skill (for here) and a very useless one at home.