About sitcoms...

My favorite shows on TV are often American sitcoms. I like this main stream shows like Scrubs, King of Queens, How I met your Mother etc. .

But today I want to tell you something about the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory; released 2007. This sitcom is centered on five main characters: Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter ( they are flat mates and both are physics but with different focuses),  Penny ( their good looking, not nerdy neighbor), Howard Wolowitz ( an Engineer) and Rajesh Koothrappali ( an Astrophysics from India who still speaks with a strong accent).

The four guys are close friends and similar passions like comics, science fiction films, video- or computer games. All of them are working at the same institute.

The intellect and nerdy behaving of the four guys is contrasted for a funny effect with Penny's social skills and common sense. While this sitcom Penny and Leonard become a couple at least two times. This is one actuality which is continued through all seasons and always commented by the other characters. Not only this five characters but also Amy Farraf Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowiski are important for the new seasons. At the beginning males were the majority, yet also the female part became more intellectual, funny and rose ( I mean the number of “main” characters). I forgot to tell you neither Bernadette nor Amy are simple girls both are working at a physical faculty and have studied before. Amy: neurobiologist ; Bernadette: microbiologist.

In the end the sitcom is not only about science but also about fantasy and comic fandom, Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship, after a while Sheldon’s and Amy’s relationship, about religion and how the characters grow up; and of course how it influenced on them and their behavior.

For me it’s fun to see the sitcom and maybe someday if you will see one episode I hope my description helps you to understand it better!

Istanbul Modern

Istanbul Modern is a museum of contemporary art in Istanbul.  Its opening was on 11^th December, 2004. By opening this kind of museum Istanbul associates with European and International developments.

The museum prominently features work of Turkish artists what makes it very interesting for Europeans.

The museum is located on the Bosporus in a converted warehouse. The exhibition is outspread on two floors. Work from the museum's permanent collection, as well a shop and restaurant, are located on the top floor, while temporary exhibitions are located on the lower floor. On the lower floor you can also find a cinema and arts library, which is really nice!

It is not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibition area. Currently there is also a part of the Bienale located, for which you have to pay extra ( Bienale is a contemporarily art exhibition; it is every two years held in Istanbul and it is organised by the “Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts” . By the way, I forgot to tell you about the entrace price; it’s 5 TL (for students)! Really an adorable price for this kind of exhibition!!! However even if non students have to pay more; it is good invested chips!

I really enjoyed to see so many new artist and a lot of them were Turkish or from other eastern countries. I completely felt like in a different world because I’ve been out of this noisy area, no hectic, not that crowded and so much nice pieces of art. I saw installations, traditional painting, concept art, mixed media and different materials which were used.

I put a picture of one of my favorite installation here. It is the one with the books; I don’t know what you think when you see it on a picture but I was impressed by the effect.

Maybe you also have been there once?

What was your favorite?

Here is a video and the artist (she is femal ) who is shown  from Minute 4:20 (she is taking all the scarfs down) is quite popular in germany. She is half german half turkish.

I brain ODTÜ ( + other slogan)

When I came to ODTÜ I felt like in an American Film about students and their life. I met a lot of people who are in a sport team here at ODTÜ and they are very proud of their “Team-Shirts”. I have to admit that I was jealous about these cool ODTÜ shirts. Of course I fall in love with this mainstream “I  _(fill in with, brain, love, smile…)  _(fill in with ODTÜ, Hamburg, NY, London…) ” – slogan.  Even after some discussions with natives about that slogan I still wanted this shirt.  By the way, my Turkish friends told me that they really don’t like this campaign; it doesn’t express the spirit of ODTÜ…

Well, after reading this text I am so peeved at this people who made this spot! They named all the good habits of ODTÜ students  but then they transmit, to my mind (!), that ODTÜ students are better humans and that people who are not graduated (at ODTÜ) are not that successful in their life’s.

“What makes him/her a METU person is the culture of success and "making a difference" that is special to METU.”

“His/Her sphere of responsibility is not limited to his/her immediate environment”

These are just two quotations, which I picked out to show how they discriminate people who chose (or simply had no other chance because of different factors) another way of live/education and are mechanics, nurse, caretaker or whatever!

I’m not angry about the slogan itself but about this spot. The slogan is mainstream, hip and young.

My idea for an ODTÜ shirt/ slogan would be:

Open-mindedness

Devrim

Tolerance

Üniversite

I’m not sure if it is creative enough but the important thing for me is NOT to have a spot like they did. I don’t like the idea of making everybody notice that “ODTÜs are something better”. Actually I don’t think that the first ODTÜ alumni generation wouldn’t be happy when today’s students would think like that.

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Another slogan who is worth to be discussed is:

Mc Donalds -  I'm lovin' it

Mc Donald’s published this slogan in 17 languages and in more than 40 countries. The slogans literal meaning is sometimes a little bit different “I am loving it; I just like (China, Malaysia, Singapore,…); of course I love it (Egypt, Kuwait); It is everything that I love ( France); I love this ( Philippines ); I love all of that (Chile); I love all this a lot (Brazil); This is what I love (Turkey); I like it (Latvia); …” but on the whole it always describes a positive and emotional connection to this fast food restaurant.

We know that language is always changing, even from generation to generation, and that’s why I am scared of this slogan; it uses a word with a strong meaning. What is love? I have a lot of associations when I hear this word but actually no one of them has something to do with food! Is it possible to have such strong feelings for a franchise restaurant? I don’t think so; or at least I don’t hope so. Because of this campaign we can see how the account of the word LOVE has changed. Or did it changed because of the campaign? That is something that we can think about; do slogans modify our understanding of words? If it would work like that, than Mc Donald’s  relativises the meaning of the word LOVE. How does slogans influence on us? Why does everybody enjoy a slogan from a fast food restaurant with this pregnant word?

Finally I still think about if the meaning of the word, love, has changed before the slogan or after? I think especially our generation should think about how to use such pregnant words and if we are ok with it that suddenly people love cheeseburger, fries and milkshakes instead of their grandparents, sisters, brothers, parents and environment.

Well, maybe I am too radical and there is no influence on the meaning of the word but I guess it has changed and I think it is worth to talk about it.