BasBasBas.com

Category: media

  • Dawn in Istanbul

    click on the photo for alternate version

    Just before dawn, Istanbul’s fishermen get in their boats and move onto the Bosphorus or the Marmara sea. If you walk or sit along the coastline, you can hear them talking or listening to music. A great place to visit in Istanbul, if you want to sit along the coast, is Kadıköy, which is also where this picture was taken. Inspired by the work of Michael Kenna.

    Tell me, which is better, the above or the alternate version?

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  • Blogger/Blogspot unblocked in Turkey while court awaits missing evidence

    Right now, Blogger and *.blogspot.com domains are available again while courts await further evidence backing Digiturk’s claims. Great. Let’s hope it stays that way. After YouTube got unbanned, it got banned again, so who knows what will happen.

    The ban has been lifted by the Turkish court that previously blocked Blogger last Friday. They have requested “missing evidence” but made it clear that the ban could be reintroduced after the legal procedure is completed by the prosecutor.

    Digiturk, Turkish license holder for the broadcasts of Turkish football league games, asked for blogs with links to pirated streams to be removed. Blogger did not reply and Digiturk went to court, getting millions of innocent blogs blocked. The statement that “Blogger did not reply” makes me think all Digiturk did was send out an email – and as some of us know, if you email Google services, be prepared to wait two weeks. They should have called.

    The law that allows for the blocking of domain names still stands. Many popular sites are still blocked. Blogger can be blocked again. It’s not over, but at least Blogger’s available again. Yet still we can expect to see more of this:

    And the protest banner posted on Turkish (as well as international) blogs hosted at blogspot.com:

    Thanks to Hans for his useful tip!
    Thanks to the Istanbulian for further information.

    Help get the news out. Stumble, Digg, Slashdot, Reddit or Tweet it!


    Stay updated. Follow my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

  • Georgia affected by Turkey’s ban on Blogger

    Apparently Caucasus Online, an internet provider in Georgia, uses Turkey’s service network, as it is reported that internet users in Georgia are now also unable to visit sites from Blogger and *.blogspot.com domains.

    A solution for Windows users to “unblock” Blogger and YouTube has been posted here:

    Find the file named “hosts” under windows/system32/drivers/etc/
    folder.
    Open this file with Notepad

    Append those lines

    72.14.207.191 blogger.com
    209.85.165.191 www.blogger.com
    208.117.236.69 youtube.com www.youtube.com
    208.117.236.70 youtube.com www.youtube.com

    Save and close it.

    This solved my problems, I posted as if there is no ban.

    More about this solution can be read by clicking here.

    So, no more this:

    This is bad though. It’s one thing that Turkey decides to ban a whole domain based on poor logic, but it affecting people in another country makes it a lot worse.

    Some useful links to unblock YouTube/Blogger (blogspot)/other blocked pages in Turkey (and Georgia):

    Help get the news out. Stumble, Digg, Slashdot, Reddit or Tweet it!

    Stay updated. Follow my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

  • DJ Food in Istanbul (Video)

    Last Saturday DJ Food‘s Strictly Kev was playing in a place called Babylon, here in Istanbul, as part of the Akbank Jazz Festival. DJ Food is a project by several turntablists (including Coldcut) creating jazzy breaks and is one of the best projects to come from the Ninja Tune label. Strictly Kev is the public face of DJ Food and travels the world playing their music. Below, a video I made with some of the highlights of the gig.

    It was a nice night, with breakbeats blended with jazz, hiphop, balkan beats, latin house, classic britpop, oldies and more. The 1.5 hour set left many hungry for more, but a local DJ playing afterwards was able to satisfy most visitors’ appetites.

    Stictly Kev played a phenomenal set. He used a computer with two digital turntables. Meaning he wasn’t playing with actual records, but loading tracks from the computer onto the turntables and then using those for his mixing. He easily switched from style to style, without anyone really noticing the difference. As I have some DJ experience myself, I was in awe at this guy’s skill and ease, although it’s possible he’s playing the same set throughout his whole tour.

    A very funky, danceable night, which I’m sure you’re able to see in the video. The Turkish music fans are an ecstatic bunch, their dancing and hopping around being accompanied by frequent shouts and flailing arms.

    Want to stay up-to-date on my adventures in Istanbul? Subscribe by email or RSS feed.

  • Bosphorus Nighttrip (Video)

    Yesterday I posted a daytime Bosphorus trip video… Now it’s time for the nighttime… a video of the famous Golden Horn in Istanbul (including the Sultan’s Palace, Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque), Sultan’s Palace). And remember, if the video playback is iffy, just click on play, pause the video and let it load for a while.

    Sorry for the shakiness 😉

  • A Bosphorus Trip (Video)

    Right down Istanbul’s European and Asian side, runs the Bosphorus, which connects the Mediteraenean and the Black Sea. As I recently had a job on the European side, but live on the Asian side, I was crossing the Bosphorus a few times per week. The best way to see Istanbul is from the water, but what’s also great about these boatrides is the birds that accompany your boat. I tried to capture this in the video below and hope I succeeded. 🙂

    If the video playback is iffy, just click on play, pause the video and let it load for a few minutes.

  • Happy Birthday! 🙂

    Click to enlarge

    Today’s my girlfriend’s birthday. Look what I made for her! Since I live in Istanbul, and she lives in Sofia, Bulgaria, and we couldn’t be together for her birthday, I still wanted to make something special. So I gathered up some friends and acquaintances at my university and made this! 🙂

    There’s many nationalities in there also… Italian, Dutch, Romanian, American, Turkish, Canadian, Greek, German and Czech. I thanked them for their help afterwards.

    Hope you all like it as much as my girlfriend did. A little bit less is also okay also. 😉

  • Who Gives A Duck!?

    My girlfriend Tsvety and I proudly present the launch of our new blog Who Gives A Duck? with this rubber duckie video!

    Who Gives A Duck? We give a duck!

    First person to guess which city this video was shot in gets 200 Entrecard credits! (regular readers should have no problem with this)

  • My Holiday Flat in Sofia

    This is the apartment I’ve rented for a few days here in Sofia, Bulgaria for just 35 euros per night. It’s a normal price for a double room in some shabby hotel in the outskirts of most European capitals. Even in Sofia, most of the double rooms in hotels are around 20 euros per person. However, do a little searching and you’ll find yourself something way more awesome for a lot less money! 🙂

    Oh and it’s not in the outskirts, it’s right in the center, just between Popa and NDK for those of you who are familiar. 😉

    If you’re ever planning a trip to Sofia, I strongly advise you to find an apartment, as hotels are mostly overpriced. If you’re interested in the apartment in this video, you can call Ms. Georgieva on +359 888 502 981 (mobile number).

    Tonight I’m hopping in the bus back to Istanbul, so new Istanbul updates very soon!

  • Crossing The Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul

    Last night I was relaxing a bit, since that’s the main reason why I came to Sofia, and I was looking for some documentaries on Istanbul. Hoping to learn about some interesting things I didn’t know yet in my current hometown, I came across a famous 2005 documentary called Crossing The Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul. It shows a lot of the music and culture that Istanbul has to offer, but also captures the daily life quite well. From rock to gypsie to Turkish traditional to rap to the whirling dervishes… It’s all in there! Without further ado… the documentary. (some commentary below)

    Press CC to turn subtitles on. The subtitling is decent and sometimes inaccurate (both for the German as well as the Turkish parts). However it doesn’t prevent one from enjoying and understanding the documentary. So don’t let it hold you back. If you prefer to watch the video on Google Video’s site, click here.

    My commentary
    Ok, so most of the sights seem really special, right?     That’s what I see every day. The sunsets, the Bosphorus… If I want to go to the European side, I go on one of the ferries displayed in the documentary.

    At some point the video shows a group of rappers walking the street (one of them stops to say hi to a girl that’s on the phone)… I walk that street every day. It’s the street that goes from the main Kadıköy busstation to my neighbourhood, Moda. The next shot shows them walking down a street and it has the Bosphorus in the background… I walk down that street every day too. 🙂

    I thought this documentary shows the daily life and the cultural life in Istanbul quite well. Some I have experienced, some I will experience, and some I will probably not experience. Having seen this documentary, I’m more inspired than ever to make the best out of my time… living in Istanbul!

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