Happy Hindi Day! Yesterday...

Yeah, so you people make fun of my country on Thanksgiving (huh huh, do you have a lot of turkeys in Turkey?) so I'll pass on the favor and make fun of India because in Turkish, Hindi means turkey. Oh how clever of me.

I joined my boyfriend and his family for Thanksgiving this year. The joy of having an American boyfriend and friends; their families are always so generous and absolutely insist on inviting me over too. In high school, my best friend Kit's mom would cook a whole Thanksgiving feast in her apartment in Istanbul and she always had the best food so I've been kind of spoiled for all others but yesterday was delicious. We went over to Elliot's aunt's house and I'd met them on several earlier occasions so his cousins and I were already pretty comfortable around each other. Kung Fu Panda was on TV and we managed to get some quality viewing time as we waited for food. I did get to meet his uncle and grandmother for the first time, though. They were equally pleasant and welcoming and when we picked up his grandma and she came to the car carrying a pecan pie, well then. I followed her around much like cats at the fish market in Istanbul. I love pecan pie. It's my favorite. I just love pie. And cheesecake. Those are my top desserts and they had both. Elliot's cousin had made this delicious pumpkin spiced cheesecake with caramel and walnuts and there were cocoa cookies with white chocolate chips. But that was dessert. For food we had turkey, of course and it was delicious and I had a little bit of the white meat too even though I'm a dark meat girl through and through. You have my permission to lewd that up in any way you like. We also had a rib roast and stuffing (my favorite) and sweet potato puree and asparagus wrapped in bacon.

Miraculously, I didn't quite eat myself stupid. I was okay by the end of the day because today Elliot is taking me to the Afghan restaurant we went to the first time I came to visit his family and it has the best saffron chicken I've ever had in my life. Shh, don't tell my dad or my fellow Iranians.

Tonight I think we're meeting up with his old high school buddy for food (again) and at some point today I think I might coax him to drive me to an H&M. As my fashion blogger friends know the Lanvin and H&M collection premieres today and I've been really looking forward to it because all the pieces look amazing. Especially the Chanel-esque furry coat.



If the crowd look too daunting, since it is Black Friday, we'll avoid it but I'm going to take a peek at some point. I know every girl worth her weight in couture and online fashion will have a piece from the collection but I never buy anything that's "in fashion," just because it is, anyway. If I like something, I'll get it. Not because everyone has it. Like those Jeffrey Campbell Lita boots. They're not at all my style but I know at least three people who have them. Good for them, I admire people who can clomp around in heels all day. I'm good with my Converse sneakers and Iron Maiden Vans. Though I did recently switch it up and get a purple pair since my Maidens are falling apart and I always get black or grey shoes.

Other than that, I was just in New York visiting with my mommy and sister. My cousin and her family were also there (as well as another cousin who also attends NYU with my sister. Yes, I have a large family and we're together constantly). Now I know I've always come back from NY spewing vengeance and hate and crying out for the blood of the city, especially cab drivers. But I am allowed to change my mind. It was the best trip. Not only did I get to see family and have a long, fun lunch with them at this little Mexican place (La Rosa Mexicana by Colombus Circle. They had really good guacamole and my cousin expressed her wishes to have one of their succulent avocados. So I sneakily hi-jacked one as we were leaving. No one saw. I am a master thief) where we talked and I showed off my most prized "possession," my kitty (in pictures. I didn't actually bring her though I know some wouldn't put it past me. I mean, she's here in Virginia right now... yeah we drove 9 hours from Boston with the cat), but my mom and I met up with Carlito Dalceggio who I've talked about here. He's become sort of like a foster son to my mom because she has this bright, wonderful energy that draws people to her. Plus, he was just in Istanbul with her and got sick and stayed at our house. He has converted to Zeynepism. We went with him to an art gallery where he kind of had an "audition," and the owner really loved his stuff so hopefully that wiill come to some sort of fruition.



We also met up with my dad's cousin (I told you, large family) who hadn't seen us in 15 years. She had an art show too, which I unfortunately couldn't attend, but she came to lunch with us and Carlito the day I left.

My mother and I had dinner with Carlito and his girlfriend at some point. I was there from Thursday to Monday but the days kind of blur into each other. She's the sweetest, kindest girl ever and we all had the most, well I don't want to say profound because that sounds dumb and pretentious, so pretend I didn't say it but an evening along those lines. We went for drinks in Brooklyn at this cute little bar and then to dinner at a Vietnamese place which of course I loved as it is my favorite. I had pho. Surpirse. We just talked about EVERYTHING. From travel to dreams to food ("Our food had no taste in Poland, it's all potatoes!"), to weird connections between people. I was wearing my peacock print coat and they brought me a single peacock feather that Carlito had decorated with his signature acrylic, bright red dot.


His girlfriend had written a poem in beautiful calligraphy in her native language, Polish, for my mom (my mom gave her an evil eye bracelet the day before and she'd loved it) and Carlito had presented her with a small picture with a key attached. My mom collects keys. He had no idea, he just said he felt like the portrait needed something extra and the key seemed right. It was such a lovely night and won't get into too much detail because I'm saving the conversations for my novel. Man, I'm just filled with pretention with this post. But I was at a block and our night will translate so well into it. It was kismet. Oh, you might have actually seen his girlfriend. Her name is Magdalena Frackowiak. She's a pretty amazing model. Her modeling ice queen shots are the polar opposite of her personality.





My mom is actually off to Montreal today to see Mercan who I've also talked about in the same post with Carlito and more so here. He and Carlito did the opening of the Music House and he's another "spiritual" friend of my mom's now. I swear, when she's 90 she'll have reached guru status.

I also met up with a few friends. People might raise their eyebrows at the concept of an, "Internet friend," but in this day and age, when so many of us have blogs and websites and rely on connections through them, why is it still weird? I mean sure, watch out for them pedophiles, but I think a few of my closest friends now are those I've met through reading about their lives and vice versa. Three of these ladies came to stay with me last year for a couple days and I hadn't seen them since. So, last Friday two, Beth and Chelsey, came by to my mom's hotel where we met up at the bar where we treated ourselves to Bellinis (Proseco and peach juice. Let's send this into pretension over-drive because though it was good, I prefer them in Venice. Hey, I can be picky, I'm not a sweet alcoholic drink person anyway) before heading out to an improv show and a few other places. I love how my friends identify me with liking metal. I do, it's true, but rather than laughing at me, most support me and want to show me a good time by taking it into consideration. Like my best friends treating me to Kuma's corner, the heavy metal buger place, in Chicago. I love this. Chelsey said there was a metal bar in Brooklyn so we ended up in Williamsburg at 12 at night in this most excellent little basement bar, Duff's. It was absolutely wall-papered in posters and fliers and had a nice little back room with booths. It was so empty. We definitely got stared at by the few patrons but the friendly bar lady offered us free shots on the house because, "we looked cold." The night may have been disappointing on some counts (for my friend) but for me it was so fun just getting to hang out with the girls and even getting to know them a bit better. No more awkwardness for us.


There was a third lady in the group that visited me last year and she and I met up for drinks on anther night. I think my family and the way we function amused Hilary to no end. We were in the hotel bar again because it's comfy and hey, charge it to the room! But my sister came by, my cousin came by, then she came by again with her boyfriend and another friend, then my sister came by once more and Hilary basically met half my immediate family and their acquaintances right there.

I did some shopping too because I'm a girl and we have to. But I mostly got books and make-up. So my intellectual side and my superficial side were pretty balanced I'd say. I got Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil because I always thought I'd read it but my friend actually had and told me about it and I'd seen the movie so I figured it was time to go through it myself. I also got Modoc, it's about this boy and an elephant and it's the true story of how they went from Germany to India to a circus in New York in the '40s and all about their adventures and friendship. I'm sure it'll make me cry but it was written by one of the first Hollywood trainers to use love and care when handling animals (so hopefully I won't get all upset by animal cruelty. Yes, I like fur and leather and I eat meat but you kick a dog and I will stomp on your testicles till kingdom come) it'll be something interesting to read on the 16 hour flight to Hong Kong.

Oh yeah, Elliot and I are off to Hong Kong this coming Wednesday. Wacky adventures to follow. But seriously, I'm looking forward to another weird trip with him (we went to Japan a couple years ago and we're still boring our friends to death with stories), pissing him off by quoting Cassandra from Wayne's World every time we catch sight of Kowloon Bay, ("Oh my GOD! I WAS BORN IN KOWLOON BAY,"), meeting up with my first RA Nikki (who I haven't seen since freshman year), and eating in one of the foremost food capitals of the world. Yeah, everything comes back to food doesn't it?

Music House Opening Feb. 2010

I found this on my camera when I was uploading pictures. It's the opening of the Borusan Music House with Carlito Dalceggio painting to Mercan Dede's music. I've uploaded it to Youtube and added tags so now the world will be able to see it too. Except Turkey and China and Iran. If I may paraphrase the Soup Nazi, "NO YOUTUBE FOR YOU!"

Task 7 & Task 17: Music Inferno

Day 7: Along with sucking at being in pictures I'm also crap behind the camera. But I want to be better. I've had this idea kicking around in my head forever and I want to just get out and do it. A complete photo-book called Heavy Metal Istanbul documenting, guess what, heavy metal in Istanbul.

Changed my mind. I am not a photographer nor do I want to be. There are enough pseudo photographic artistes out there anyway, taking pictures of their shoes and feet and calling it "unique." See? I'm more of a poet, and I know it.
...

Moving along then, I'm quite happy not attempting to be a photographer, so new task. It kind of goes in with Task 17, working with my mom and our company, Borusan's, Arts and Culture Foundation to create a concept to display at the newly opened Music House.

I've already begun that.

The Music House is a house (yes thank you captain obvious) that works to promote music and art in Turkey, you can look it up online! Shameless family promotion. We recently had an art exhibit for emerging young artists in Turkey and there have been quite a few performances there already like the Borusan Chamber Quartet and Kerem Gorsev, a jazz musician. I missed the opening because I was still under the delusion I was going to LA and had returned to Boston at the time, but I watched the DVD and it was amazing. It completely set the tone for this huge undertaking. You know, being the go-to people when it comes to arts and culture in Turkey. First we start at home, then we take over the world. Anyway, we had re-known DJ and Sufi Mercan Dede along with the Quartet play music while a male and female dervish danced the sema and artist Carlito Dalceggio painted on a huge canvass. I met Carlito and Mercan Dede before I left and they were truly some of the most kind and inspirational people I've had the joy of talking to. They're basically on another plane because they get so lost in their art. It's hippie-dippie crap but none of the kind that makes me roll my eyes. You can tell they have talent and that they're humble about it, but you also want to match them, creativity to creativity. Here are links to their websites and some pictures from that night.

http://www.mercandede.com/EN/
http://www.carlitodalceggio.com/






It quite clearly was an unforgettable night and my family, though our name is already sort ofrecognized here, is now at the forefront of innovation in the arts. We could've have been prouder of my mom who heads the department. As well as the entire Borusan Art and Culture staff whom I love and spend more time with when I'm home than anyone else.

So it's been a good year for my family work-wise. We also had a concert conducted by a really well-known Turkish comedian, Cem Yilmaz, to raise money to provide scholarships to talented musicians who want to further their craft abroad. We've held this concert every year for the past four years but because Cem Yilmaz is so beloved, this year's concert created sort of an uproar. Instead of one, we raised enough money to sponsor 5 people and the entire night got written about and reported in every major news outlet. I would love to be a part of my family's growing projects and endeavors and I want to be able to do so in the future but based on my own innovation and creativity, not because I'm someone's granddaughter. Like A Muse is also my first steps into doing something I could be good at, writing and making stuff happen from the writing therein.

I was asked to come up with a new concept to put on in the Music House. My taste is, as you might know, not quite on par with everyone else's (I mean, I can match any of their classical music knowledge too. Ahem, I did take History of Classical Music in college and minored in Music. I also threw a fit when they changed said minor to Music Appreciation rather than plain Music therefore making it sound about as useful as a philosophy degree. Not that I don't appreciate music but nevertheless, the resume reads a minor in music, period. ) so it could be an interesting project. I thought of a few pieces that could happen relating to metal and to my delight some people at the office seemed to respond really positively. That's when I re-imagined Task 7. Instead of photographing Istanbul's music, I could contribute to it. Plus, Heavy Metal Istanbul would've probably ended up as five pictures of the one metal bar in town, a couple long-haired dudes walking about in Slayer shirts, and angry men in the midst of breaking my camera because I was photographing the black market metal t-shirt shops.

Along with the art pieces I thought up I needed something directly music related as it is the MUSIC House. So I thought of bands I could contact and maybe convince to play for a fee. The building is not equipped to deal with a full-out metal show, but maybe a different re-imagining of the chosen band's songs? And maybe showcase a local band too like an opening act? I used my old music-writing contacts to get in touch with a couple managers and sent off my emails to the world. Including my current favorite band, Hardcore Superstar. I interviewed their drummer so I still had their manager's email and he was kind enough to forward me to their European contact. I wrote my typical flowery email, beseeching them and sucking up like there was no tomorrow. But I might add, sucking up sincerely because I am a fan and man alive, I want to meet them and have them here working with me! They're so good. Oh my God. So. Good.

But, it's been a couple weeks and still no response. I'm going to try again soon because I think this could be a great project. We could even print up t-shirts and have them for the people coming to see like at a concert! And have an Iron Maiden retrospective in a corner with all my stuff! Heh, I wish we could get them buuuut I doubt we have the budget.

Now if they'd hurry up and respond, I can sign off on this task. Until then, I'll just sit here, in the Borusan BMW lot and listen to the orchestra rehearse Mahler. It's kind of peaceful having a 100+ person orchestra play as I type. God, that sounded spoiled, I'm going to go do my internship reading and coverage for which I work too hard and receive no pay. That'll bring me back down to Earth.