Book Review: Mavi Evdekiler

Title: Mavi Evdekiler Frida,Stalin ve Trocki'nin Romani
Writer: Maeghan Delahunt
Year: 2003
Pages: 370

This is a very interesting book,not just in terms of its story but in terms of the way how the story is told. In fact I can not clearly say that the books is a story on x.At some point you find your self as Trocki between your wife Natali and lover Frida Kahlo.At some point you are Stalin feeling anger for Trocki.At some point you are Nadejda Allilueva(Stalin's second wife) considering suicide.At some point you are Svetlana Allilueva(Stalin's sister) observing your father's death.
I bought the book from Kitap Yurdu, online book seller.

I ordered Svetlana Allilueva'nin mektuplari from gittigidiyor.com and I guess it is a Turkish translation of Twenty Letter's to a friend.I wonder how it will be.

Few words on Bucharest

Bucharest, the capital city of a European Union member state, Romania. Nothing much to mention about, it is a small city.City is still covered with the dust and gray shared of communist regime.There are nice and historic buildings but all in bad conditions.All the exreriors are dirty and gray.



This year they host the largest christmast tree of Europe in the Unirea Square. Also a statue of Ataturk is present in one of the squares.

More Moscow Clubs

I have written reviews about Moscow clubs in the previous blog entries but after my visit to Bucharest I realised and remembered how great the nightlife was in Moscow so decided to add more club revies.

Club XIII: Class place with strict face control.The club is localed in a nice bouilding.Nice music, nice athmosphere.
Zona: This 4floored club hs 2 entrances with one 300RUB fee and other called VIP entrance where you pay 600RUB and get a ticket valid for the VIP floor inside.Difference concept and music on all floors,the 3rd floor is a chill out cafe and to access 4th floor you need to go on the VIP lift where you need to show your VIP ticket.
Opera: I did not like the music but the place was big and people were nice.
Bourgeois Cafe: This nice cafe turns to a club after 12 on Friday and Saturdays.
Aero-Cafe : Small place with nice music.

Bucharest Nightlife

On my first weekend at Bucharest I had a chance to visit a few Bucharest clubs.Generally Bucharest clubs can not be compared to the ones in Moscow,in terms of fun,people,quality....
As far as I can see there is no face control in the clubs which is a bad thing....
God bless Moscow! Below I give little info about each club i visited and the prices.Note that 1USD~2.4LEI,or you can think like 1LEI=0.5YTL

Twice: I have been here on a Wednesday night, there were few people and nearly no one was dancnig,music was not bad.This is a cheap club with 5LEI entrance fee and you pay 8 LEI for whisky-redbull.
Club-A: The worst club i have ever ever seen.The place was soo small but they let everyone who as willing to pay 5LEI cover inside.The place was extemely overcrowed and you could not even move!.Everywhere was full of smoke.I could only stay there one hour and left.
Bamboo: After I left Club-A,I jumped to a taxi and asked for The Office club but the driver suggested that Bamboo was better,and he was right.Bambook at least look like the ones in Moscow.Place was big and classy, people looked nicer than the ones in the two other clubs that i mentioned above.The dancers were good.People were having fun...Nice place, bit expensive,30LEI cover and whisky-redbull is 35LEI.
The Office: Nice place,nice music,not bad.But one can not compare to a club in Moscow.20LEI enrance fee and you pay 30LEI for whisky-redbull.
Downtown: Dancers are good,50LEI for cover but you get a ticket which buys you 50LIE drink from the bar.Nice music.

Book Review: Kirmizi Bisiklet

Title: Kizmizi Bisiklet
Writer: Can Dundar
Year: 2005
Pages: 200

This book,full of emotions,is consisted of articles from Can Dundar about being a father,his relationships with this father and his relationships with his son was a father, his thoughts and worried about rising his son and his future.Nice to read,short book.
The Ideefixe link to the book is here.

My recent experiences with online booksellers

Ideefixe used to be my first stop when I deciced to buy a book or search for a topic, recently I had problems finding books that I wanted on that site, so I experienced a few.Here are my first impressions

Ilke Kitap: I was looking for Ahmet Sel's Moskova Insanlari photograph book and none of the other online sellers had this book in their stocks, i saw the book listed on that site and i decided to email them whether to place an order or not.They replied very quicky stating that the book is available and order can be submitted.Great! I placed the order on Friday afternoon and I had the book on Tuesday morning,very fast service. http://www.ilkekitap.com

Pandora: I had similar experience with Pandora,I was looking for Elde var Moskova by Suat Taspinar,another book out of stock from all retailers. The book was listed as available but it was missing in the Beyoglu shop's online stock inquiry so I emailed them also.In one week I got an email message sayin "We supplied the book you are asking,you can not order it".I emailed back that I wanted to buy the book from Bogazici shop and they replied we are sending the book to Bogazici branch,you can gather from the shop in 3 hours.Great service.! Thanks to pandora. http://www.pandora.com.tr

Kitap Yurdu: I placed an order for 3 books and a VCD, all were listed as available and estimated suppy period was listed as 4 days.I submitted the order on Tuesday and when I checked my order on next Monday the status of all items were:Supplied but status of my order was pending for shipment.I emailed them and asked why my order is not shipped for 6 days.One day later they replied that my order is 'Ready to be shipped' and only Wednesday I got my books,so it took 8 days not 4 for the order to be arrived. http://www.kitapyurdu.com

Conclusion: After the great customer satisfaction that Pandora provided,they are my first destinaton for books from now on.I will also consider IlkeKitap if I can not find what I am looking for at Pandora.

5th time in Moscow

At last,on my 5th visit to Moscow, I had a chance to visit Kremlin.

Book Review: Anastasya

Title: Anastasya, Son Granduses
Writer: Caroly Meyer
Year: 2003
Pages: 208 (Hardcover)

The book is the diary of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia who was murdered when she was 17 together with her whole family.

I bought the book from kitapyurdu.

The book is not so exciting if you are not into history or Romanovs, but what happened after her death is very interesting,see the below wikipedia entries for more info.

Here is the Ideefixe link to the book.

• Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
• Anna Anderson
• The Anastasia movie by Ingrid Bergman
  

Book Review: Moskova Insanlari

Title: Moskova Insanlari
Writer: Ahmet Sel
Year: 2003
Pages: 112

I searched soo hard for this book and could not find it from even the publisher of the book.
Mailed to several online bookstores and all replied :out of stock
I mailed the book author and he said the books is sold out in Turkey long time ago and directed me to the French original from amazon.fr.At last I found it at ilkekitap.com and mailed them hopelessly asking if the book exists in their stock and YES! they mailed me the book in two days.


This is a collection of photographs with a paragraph-length story of the people.If you are into photograph-arts it may be more valuable for you.The stories of post-soviet people are also nice to read.

Here is the Ilke Kitap link to the book,buy it when you still can.

Book Review: Merhaba Rusya

Title: Merhaba Rusya
Writer: Hakan Aksay
Year: 2005
Pages: ~150
This great book is written by journalist Hakan Aksay who has been living in Moscow for 22 years.During my 5th visit to Moscow, I stayed at Credit Europe Bank's flat for 16 days and my housemate had this book.This is a short book(nearly 150 pages) but contains most necessary and introductory information about Russia.
The books is sponsored by Yapi Kredi Bank Moscow and unfortunately, i could not find it in Turkey.

Book Review: Rusya Tarihi Baslangictan 1917'ye Kadar

Title: Rusya Tarihi Baslangictan 1917'ye Kadar
Writer: Akdes Nimet KURAT (Prof. Dr.)
Year: 1999
Pages: ~1000

I bought this book from Turk Tarih Kurumu sales office when I was in Ankara.The has a nice price(nearly 10YTL for this thick book).
The book starts around year 800 and describes the nation formation phase of the Russians.Gives states established by Russians and the wars, the emperors...etc till the October Revolution.Nice to read if you are interested in details of Russian History.Here is the Pandora link to the book to buy online.

Two boring books

I bought and read two more books from Ideefixe but they were so boring,now i will start 'Mavi Evdekiler' hope this one is good.You may click on the images to go to product pages on Ideefixe.

Those were the days

It's been more than a year since I interrailed.Nice to look at pics,I wish I can do it again.

Book Review: Buyuk Geri Sicrama

Title: Buyuk Geri Sicrama Yikinti ve Umut Rusyasinda Roportaj
Writer: Henri Alleg
Year: 1998
Pages: 192

The book says that this is an interview book but there is not any inside.The book was written in '98, Russia was passing through hard times.The author supports the idea that the old USSR days were better.Now the book is outdated and Russia is not in a bad situation as the book describes.The Ideefixe link is here.

Book Review: Sovyet Rusya'da Devlet Teroru

Title: Sovyet Rusya'da Devlet Teroru
Writer: Necip Hablemitoglu
Year: 1974(1st edition),2004(2nd edition)
Pages: 224

Although the back cover claims that the books is a well written research material,it is not.In fact it should not be a book, is it just a paragraph saying that the lots people were forces to work in labor camps with extremely hard conditions and many died.That's all the books says but it says it over and over again with no new interesting stories.
Waste of time.You can find it ad Ideefixe.

Back in Russia

This time Moscow was sunny (at least in the first few days).On my previous visits I got the idea that Moscow was a gray city,now I realized that it is a green and beautiful city.This time i had time to visit Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts which has Rembrandt,Durer,Peter Bruegel the Elder and many more.Too bad that the explanations under the paintings were in Russian and the audioguide covered only a few.After the visit my friends said that most of those Russian explanations were stating that the art piece was in fact a copy :)

Just opposite the museum there exists a huge chuch named 'Christ the Saviour'

Amasra

Here are the photos taken from my bedroom's window at Amasra

I am on facebook

I also joined facebook.You can see my profile here.

TNT Express campaign for book collection

If you dial 444 0 868,TNT Express will come to your adress and gather books that you don't need,for free.And these books are distributed to the schools and children in need.
The campaign is held in cooperation with CYDD.
Here is the information in TNT website about the campaign.

I donated 70 books including university text books,novels,test books...

Book Review: Bir Siyah Sacli Kadinin Gezi Notlari

Title: Bir Siyah Sacli Kadinin Gezi Notlari
Writer: ABuket Uzuner
Year: 1989(1st edition),2004(14th edition)
Pages: 116

Although the books title is 'travel notes' the book is not on cities or places but people Buket Uzuner has met during her several visits to several countries.She was a university student in Norway when she performed her first travel with interrail.She met several people from several nationalities and colors.Nice to read.I bought it from Dost Kitapevi Ankara but it is available on ideefixe.
I am planning to read her two other journey books since I liked this one.
New York Sehir Rehberi and Bir Sehir Romantiginin Gunlugu.

Use Your Illusion II

It's been 15 years and I am still listening the same album over and over and over.

The 14 songs album is playing on my winamp while I am writing this and many other times.

Am I Just conservative or the album is great,which one is true ? IMHO second.

God bless Axl Rose!

Book Review: Shadow of God

Title: Shadow of god
Writer: Anthony Goodman
Year: 2003
Pages: 464

The title 'Shadow of God' is one of the many Ottoman Sultans used for many years and this book is a story about one of the greatest among them: Kanuni Sultan Suleyman,Souleyman the Magnificient.
The book is about the siege and surrender of Rhodoes island and exile of Rhodos nights to Malta.
It is a fastmoving,exciting historic novel.I liked it very much. I bought it from Kadikoy Alkim but it is available on amazon.

After one week in Justiniano Wish

We spent the first week of July at Justiniano Wish Side.We booked the hotel from touristica which I liked the quality.But the same does not apply for justiniano, although the rooms were nice and pool was big there were few animations shows. In fact the animation team and the DJ were disastorous.The food quality was also low. I do not recommend Justiniano to anyone.God bless Magic Life!.

IEEE Computer Society

I applied for membership to IEEE Computer Society, I got member number 87071885.

Once upon a time I was a member of ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN) but I don't remember any membership number.

Book Review: Imparatorluklarin Baskenti Istanbul

Title: Imparatorluklarin Baskenti Istanbul Gezginler icin Iznik-Bursa-Edirne Rehberi ile birlikte
Writer: Jane Taylor
Year: 2000
Pages: 460

I bought this book from Imge Bookstore in Ankara bur it is available on online bookstore ideefixe also.
The book is composed of 18 chapters.The last three are on Iznik,Bursa and Edirne while the first 15 are on beauties of Istanbul.
Chapters are on city walls of Istanbul, Early and Late era Byzantium churches.Seperate chapters are devoted to Hagia Spohia,Chora Church and Topkapi Palace.Mentions the Ottoman era churches and ends with seperate chapters for Pera,Uskudar and Bogazici.
The books gives detailed descriptions and maps of places also very useful history information is presented regarding those places.

Linked in

Russian language classes completed

Six months of Russian language at Ankara Doruk is completed.Now I can say "Я понимаю по-русский".

Book Review: 1000 Masterpieces of European Painting: From 1300 to 1850

Title: 1000 Masterpieces of European Painting: From 1300 to 1850
Writer: Christiane Stukenbrock , Barbara Topper
Year: 2005
Pages: 1008

As the book title already describe, the book presents the pictures and information of a thousand wonderful European paintings from Van Dyck to Leonardo and many more... . I bought it from Sevda Cenap And Music Foundation Book Store at Tunali/Ankara but the the amazon.com link is here. I absolutely recommend the book to anyone interested in arts and painting. The paper and picture qualities are high but the book is heavy as a brick:)

International Association of Engineers

I became a member of International Association of Engineers with membership number 62777 .

Websphere hanging problem during start

I am using IBM WSAD/RAD 6.0 but I had some problems with the integrated WAS 6 server within.
After an sometime the WAS server hangs at Starting... state.
Sometimes the server starts neither in debug mode nor start mode. It just says Starting...
In one case the server starts in debug mode but when you try to start in normal mode it hangs.

The solution: Just remove all the files in the preload folder typically located in the %installation_root%/runtimes/base_v6/profiles/default/logs/preload folder.