My comments on my friend’s posts;
For Ahmet
For Hale
For Elif
For Orhan
23 Ocak 2013 Çarşamba
MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 3
Here is the trailer of Harold and Maude. It is really
nice and at the background a Cat Stevens song “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing
out” plays. When meeting each other, Harold and Maude are really having fun;
they are so happy. In some scenes, we can see that Harold kills himself. That
is because he is obsessed with death. He always pretends to commit suicide.
Also, in some scenes, there are girls sitting and chatting with Harold’s mother.
These girls are arranged by Harold’s mother to date with Harold because she
wants her son to be married. However, by making jokes in front of girls, Harold
frightens them and makes them all escape. As you can understand, he is not a
normal boy. The movie is not normal, either. After you watch it, you will be
full of happiness. That is why I strongly recommend you to watch it. Watch it,
and come to me to talk about the movie. If you do not like it, I swear I will
give up watching movies!
A STRANGE
MOVIE – HAROLD AND MAUDE
I watched a movie named Harold and Maude 2 days before
I wrote this article and I still feel its influence on me! It is an absurd film,
characters and the plot are really interesting, not common ones. It says on the
screen that the movie consists of only Cat Stevens songs, which really makes me
happy as I love Cat Stevens. At the very beginning of the film, a happy Cat
Stevens song plays and a boy named Harold hang himself to ceiling with rope. I
am really shocked at seeing it but a minute later, his mother enters the room
and I infer from her talk that he just pretends to commit a suicide. The boy is
really strange. He always pretends to commit suicide; he is obsessed with
death. He rarely talks. He does not like people and talking to them. His only
social activity is going to funerals with an old car he restored. At one
funeral, he meets an old lady named Maude.
Maude is an interesting character, too. She lives alone, goes to
funerals just like Harold. She is a free-spirited character. She says when she
was young she attended political meetings and protests. As for now, she still
emancipates herself from mental slavery, the society’s norms and clichés, which
really impresses me. Another striking feature of Maude is that she steals other
people’s cars, and sometimes hearses, after funerals, when going home. Harold
and Maude become good friends and start going to funerals together. As the time
goes by, they, Harold, a boy obsessed with death in his puberty, and Maude, a
lady living joyfully in her 80, fall in love each other. Afterwards, the story
goes on interestingly and the end of the movie is unforgettable. I really
recommend this wonderful movie because it breaks the limit of concepts of love
and friendship; it criticizes some features of society. It is such a nice and
interesting story that everyone should do watch it.
MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 2
The introduction part of the video is really important
and beautiful for me as I love flamenco and Spanish music. As I mentioned
above, and as you see in the video, Spanish people are fond of their fun. There
are so many festivals that you can enjoy, there are also football teams that
play really good such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. In
the video, we can also see movie stars Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas,
Penelope Cruz and the greatest Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. I really love
this quadruplet and I am very delighted to see them in the video. As a
conclusion, I can sum up Spain and the Spanish in three sentences: have fun, have fun, and have
fun!
SPAIN – THE
MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
I want to talk
about Spain and my experiences about it. July of 2011, I went to Spain and
stayed there for one week. It was definitely my most wonderful week I have ever
lived. When we got off the bus and met our partners we were prejudiced and cold
against them but they were really hot-blooded and the first thing they said was
‘kanka naber ya? Hoşgeldiniz!’ According to me, Tourism is not only the natural
beauties and good places of country I visit. I also give importance to the
people of that country. Because I’m a linguist, I need to talk to people there!
By this point, I really liked Spain and had wonderful time there. People were
so friendly, hot-blooded, jokey and talkative, which was great. They really made us at home. Their features consisted of not
only their being nice against us. They were also hospitable and knew how to
enjoy the moment! Before we go, we had been said there was an economic crisis
in Spain and we might not have good time there because of it. However, we
experienced that The Spanish did not care of economic crisis or their problems.
On the contrary, they just thought of having fun, which was very nice! I made
really good friends there. For example, my partner -Ignacio- was the best of
the Spanish group, which consisted of 19 people. I know that I have a home in
Spain and whenever I go there, they will make me at home again! As for Spain,
its culture and language were really marvelous. For example, I cannot forget
watching flamenco show at my last day there! There were great places and I
really enjoyed visiting. The architecture, especially of
the churches, is really fascinating. There are so many festivals that people
can enjoy. The only thing I did not like was Spain’s eating habit and meals.
Even, they do not have breakfast properly! However, it was not a big problem at
all. As a conclusion, I really love Spain, its people, its language, its
culture, everything about it! I still miss it and I recommend you to have a
visit there definitely before you die, at least for once!
MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 1
I really liked the video as it thoroughly tells the
story without an addition or deduction. I really appreciated the music at the
beginning and at the end of the movie. Another striking point that draws my
attention is that the whole movie was performed by puppets, which is highly
intelligent. Dubbing artists are really successful and it is so obvious that the movie was made by professional producers, which can
explain the high quality of the content of the movie.
TARANTINO’S REFLECTION IN
LITERATURE: JOHN COLLIER
Here is a story, The Chaser, by John Collier.
I would like to evaluate my opinions about The Chaser.
I have quite strange opinions about the writer of it, John Collier. At first, he
reminded me of Quentin Tarantino, a great director from Hollywood, who has
created a completely new and peculiar style of his own in last two decades. His
movies always consist of long and nice dialogs, a complicated montage, a pretty
interesting topic and one more thing which is more important than all other
things: at the end of his movies, the events and problems are left unsolved and
the spectators are made to think over the rest of the movie. Therefore, I see
John Collier as the representative of Quentin Tarantino in the field of
literature and this story as a written version of any Tarantino movie because
after I read this story I cannot help
thinking over it and really wonder what could have been if the story had gone
on more! It is quite attractive. As for the content of the story, I can say
that I enjoyed reading long ‘Tarantinalist’ dialogues.
The old man speaks very convincingly and presents very promising things.
However, we cannot be sure whether what he tells is true or not. Also, he has a
plain room and uses a polite and confidential language against customers. There
are striking couple of sentences in the text: “Young people who need a love
potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a
love potion”, by which I was fascinated. There is another mystery: au revoir,
meaning ‘goodbye, until we meet again.’ This phrase, along with the old man’s
saying “Please a customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs
another.” might indicate his potion, that is to say, he himself is
something/someone tricky and will make Alan come back again.
JOURNAL ENTRY 6
VIDEO REFLECTION
STEVE VAI - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
VIDEO REFLECTION
STEVE VAI - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
Steve Vai is a guitar virtuoso. Most of his songs have
no lyrics at all. He is a complete talent and has wonderful songs. When he was
in 20’s, he worked with Frank Zappa, another great guitarist, for 2 years.
Above is the song of him, named For the Love of God. It is Steve Vai’s best
known work. I think it is a great song. Although it has no lyrics, it
absolutely tells something through its clip because it is a work of art. Works
of art have an aim; always tell something. As it is a work of art, everybody
can comment on it however they want. Now, I will comment on it and video. Nature
and love of nature are at the background of the clip, which is striking.
Religious figures, rituals and temples such as Adam and Eve, Buddha temples,
Jesus, Christians, Jews and pray of Muslims are shown. Afterwards, the
disasters caused by human race, such as launching of atomic bombs and war
missiles, cruel wars, killings, funerals held for those who died at war, global
warming and desperate animals in Polar Regions, are shown while the bitter
melody goes on playing. Why is that? Is Steve Vai stupid? Absolutely, he is
not. He strikingly asks the humanity: What have you done to deserve the love of
God? What have you done for the love of God? Have you
done these cruel things to make God love you? There is also an irony in the
video. While the bitter melody plays, the good
ones, such as Martin Luther King, a racism fighter, Mohandas Gandhi and
desperate war victims, and the bad ones, such as Adolf Hitler and liar
politics, are shown together. The most striking part is the end of the video.
The sentence “We may be human… But we are still animals” summarizes the plot of
the song. I think that Steve Vai harshly spills out hatred against human race
with this song of contrasts, For the Love of God.
JOURNAL ENTRY 5
REFLECTION
ON MUSIC
Music is one of the most important things in my life.
Whenever I feel alone, happy or depressed, I listen to some pieces of good
music. It does not have to make me feel happy, nor sad. Both can happen. The
topic is that: It affects my soul, greets it! That is the main thing to
consider. Is it important what type of music I listen to? I think the answer to
this question is definitely yes. I want to talk about the historical eras of
music. The very first music genre was Classical Music which was done through
very big instruments varying from violin to piano. It was produced by some
great and, undoubtedly, slightly mad genius’, such as Mozart, Dvorak, Vivaldi,
Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Chopin and Listz. In Classical Music, there were
even no lyrics at all. Afterwards, Opera followed. Different from Classical
Music, it had lyrics which generally stressed some issues of that time. When we
look at 20th century, we can see dramatic changes in the progress of music.
Different cultures met and new genres emerged. For example, in 20’s and 30’s,
African people brought Jazz to United States of America. In 50’s and 60’s, new
bands emerged and music went on evolving. The bands such as The Beatles, The
Rolling Stones and The Doors dominated music industry. Within 70’s and 80’s,
the history saw maybe the greatest bands and musicians ever such as Led
Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Guns N’ Roses, Queen, AC/DC,
Bon Jovi, Cream, Def Leppard, Dio, Rainbow, Iron Maiden, Jefferson Airplane,
Iron Butterfly, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, The Who, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Cat
Stevens, James Brown, Frank Zappa, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper and
Janis Joplin. When we look at 90’s, we can clearly see that music started to
deteriorate dramatically. The most important thing in the music is the length of
instrumental solos, which have always been shortening since the dawn of music
history. When we look at today’s music, I can say that the music is dead. There
is no guitar or drum solo! There are not even instruments! There are just
machines, which is very sad!! Machines do not show a dj’s
talent but an instrument does show its player’s talent! For example, I can no
longer listen to a great guitar solo; I just listen to machine sound! I am
really disgusted and feel like vomiting when listening to today’s music! As a
conclusion, I strongly think that the music must be done through instruments,
not by machines and feel sorry for those enjoy listening to machine music. I
feel very lucky for I am aware of this situation and listening to the music of oldies.
Even, while writing this passage at the very moment, I enjoy listening to
Chopin’s Grand Valse Brillante!
JOURNAL ENTRY 3 REVISED VERSION
AN IDEAL UNIVERSITY
I think an ideal university should have many facilities. Firstly,
it should have well-equipped classes, intellectual academic staff and a good
education program. This is a must in most aspects because, otherwise, the
students studying in that university will not be qualified ones. For example,
when studying in bad conditions, that is, filthy and untidy classes, the
students will not be able to focus on the lessons or when academic staff is not
qualified enough to teach the necessary knowledge to the students, the students
will be having hard time to understand the
subjects and improve themselves with more knowledge. Even, education program
must be well-organized because when the students learn gradually, they will
understand the subjects better. That is why an ideal university should have well-equipped
classes, intellectual academic staff and a good education program.
An ideal university is to have a good campus, a well-organized
constructional plan for buildings of departments, sufficient roads and
transportation system for students so that students can have a chance to go
wherever they want in a short time and to have fun when they get bored. Then, having fun or good time will not be a
big deal for students. Also, if a university has a well-organized
constructional plan, the students will not get confused while trying to find
out where any department is. University must, before everything else, make
students feel relieved and comfortable within campus.
Finally, an ideal university should have many social facilities with
which students can improve themselves freely such as sport teams, social clubs,
night parties spring festivals, concerts, conferences, seminars etc. If a
student’s attention is drawn into some social clubs he becomes a
socially-integrated person to society and breaks some social phobias he has within.
I think METU fits all the criteria I have set for my ideal university. Of
course it has some problems like expensive living and high prices or being away
from city center but they are just exceptions; it is mostly wonderful and
peaceful to live here. Therefore, METU is pretty much an ideal university for
me.
JOURNAL ENTRY 2 REVISED VERSION
BEING A METU STUDENT
First of all, to be honest, I have never dreamed
of being a METU student. I have always dreamed of being in the Bosphorus.
However, I am in Metu now and I am happy.
There
are many advantages of being here. I stay in the eighth dormitory and this
dormitory has fame for being funny all through Turkey. There are funny guys,
strange habits and creative jokes in my dormitory. It is close to shopping
malls, restaurants, cafeteria, gymnasium which is very beneficial for me. I
think our campus is one of the best ones in Turkey. Ring buses take students to
the Faculty of Education before and after classes for free. They are pretty
much useful. If they didn't exist, it would take too long time to go to the
Faculty of Education. There are great and variable social clubs that we can
attend whenever we want. For example, I am attending the Ultimate Frisbee Team,
The Photography Club, The Radio Club and IEEE. Apart from such things related
with campus or social opportunities, we have wonderful and sophisticated
teachers who are pretty much good at their job.
As
can be guessed, there are some challenges that we have to cope with. Firstly,
life is expensive here. For instance, I go to a shopping mall, like one piece
of t-shirt but unfortunately I cannot afford it! Eating outside is expensive,
too. If you want to eat something tasty, you have to pay at least ten boxes. We
are just students who are dependent on our families for financial support! As I
am away from my hometown, I sometimes become homesick and miss my family and
friends. The distance between places is another problem for me. When rings do
not work, I may have to walk too much.
By
most aspects, I love METU and I think being a student of it is privileged. I
assume that as the time goes by I will get accustomed to live here and be
familiar with its every square meter.
21 Ocak 2013 Pazartesi
FOOD PRODUCT
TAURUS SALAD DISH GOES WELL WITH FISH
‘Taurus Salad’ is a
local product unique to Mediterranean region in Turkey. Even if it is called as
salad, it is an appetizing product which you can eat even at breakfast. We, as
‘The Mediterranean Group’, have decided to export this salad to ‘Scandnavian
Countries’ since they are unfamiliar with Mediterranean culture and taste. As
for the eating habits of these countries, they usually use easy cooking methods
and pass of lunch with a sandwich while they give importance to dinner.
Moreover, they frequently consume fish, especially solmon. As company, we think
that ‘Taurus Salad’ will go well with fish species, especially solmon. Our
basic aim is to meet different cuisines with one another. In fact, ‘Scandnavian
Countries’ are not accustomed to Mediterranean cuisine as a result of their
climatic conditions. Therefore, we aim at introducing Scandnavian people to
Mediterranean culture by exporting ‘Taurus Salad’. Additionally, our product
will appeal to not only adults but also youngsters. We decide to serve this
special product as portions. A portion will be equal to 250 gram and it will
cost 2 Euro. Actually, it is hard for us to decide price since we want every
person to be able to taste it. Therefore, we try to keep it cheap as much as
possible without disregarding all expenditure.
Ingredients of Taurus
Salad are;
3 aubergines, 3 cayenne peppers, mint, parsley, basil,
a clove of garlic, a cup of vinegar, lime juice, 2 cups of olive oil, onion and
salt. In the cooking stage, aubergines are cooked on the ember, by peeling away
they are put a vessel with olive oil and lime juice. Baked peppers are
sanitised, they are cut into pieces and then they are put together aubergines. The
same process is done to onions. Vinegar, garlic and a cup of water are mixed in
a vessel and poured out aubergines. After keeping in a fridge till it cools
down, mint, parsley and basil are added. Finally, it is ready to be served. Its
taste is really delicious and sourish because of its ingredients. You should
try it, be sure that you won’t regret.
ERROR ANALYSIS
WORKSHEET
1) The characteristics of an
ideal university are offering opportunities for qualified education,
settlement, free transportation, low-cost living conditions, employment
opportunities after graduation, chance to socialize and being a barrier-free
campus.
2) I am happy, because being a student at METU means learning how to
survive in a society as an individual. Since METU gives its students a sense of
responsibility in every field by letting them do everything on their own such
as registration, taking courses or following assignments, everybody in METU
learns the meaning of responsibility for all the things they do from the
courses they take to various activities they engage in.
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