Bosphorus Chronıcle Bosphorus Chronıcle

IN THIS ISSUE
One Last Time In The Hague • 3
Have You Ever Visited Palandöken?
Flip Let Us Take You There! • 3
Mightier than The Sword:
“The Jane Page Writing Contest”• 4
A Brand New Library, and A Brand
New Celebratory Week! • 5
New to MUN? Here is an Admin’s
Experience with RCIMUN • 6
The Millennial Clash: A Real Book vs.
A Kindle E-Reader • 7
How Smart is Your Watch? Read our
Reviews • 8
Learn Why and How You Should
Learn Programming • 9
Flash News From Outer Space • 10
The Nobel Prizes of 2014 • 10
Senior Play 2015:
The Glass Menagerie • 11
Kiss and Tell: RC Edition • 12
Travel Talks: Russia • 13
All About Dreams • 14
Third Wave Coffee in Istanbul • 14
87th Academy Awards:
The Oscars Special • 15 - 17
The !f Istanbul Independent Film
Festival • 18
and...
STATE OF SOUND • 19
Bosphorus Chronıcle
JANUARY
March
2015
2010
Issue
Issue
Bosphorus Chronicle is the quarterly newspaper of Robert College
Guests of Can Yücel
Leyla Ok
Can Yücel once wrote, “Akdeniz
yaraşıyor sana / Yıldızlar terler ya
sen de terliyorsun” (the Mediterranean suits you/ You sweat as
the stars sweat), which almost
describes the Datça Canevi Community Involvement Project members. These dedicated students
worked long hours every single
day without a break for the love of
literature. Between February 2nd
and 8th, a group of Robert College
students went to Datça to organize
Can Yücel’s Can Evi Library and to
convert it into electronic media.
ware with the help of the IT office.” On November 24th, the group
visited the studio of Su Yücel (Can
Yücel’s daughter) in Tarlabaşı to
find out about the library in Datça.
The Robert College team learned
that their project was going to be
filmed as a documentary for Iz TV.
Su Yücel and Güler Yücel (Can Yücel’s wife) wanted Yücel to be better known so that his legacy could
inspire other Can Yücels of Turkey.
Can Yucel’s line “Vakitsiz yatırmayın
beni/ Daha çok erken” (Do not lay
me down untimely/ It is too early)
made us notice how he too is full
of life, just like his name Can (“life”
in Turkish). The word Can also gives
the library its name “Canevi” (life
house and also a periphrasis for the
word “heart” in Turkish). In other
words, these lucky people from RC
A Group Photo of the CIP members
However, the preparation started
much earlier, on October 10, 2014.
Atakan Aydın, the library officer of
Robert College, was the perfect advisor for this project with his love of
libraries and books and the writer
Can Yücel - he named his son Can
after Can Yücel.
Before going to Datça, the CIP
group had meetings about how
to organize the books, what kind
of program it should be, how to
form the budget, etc. Kutay Serova (RC’16) developed a unique
program that provided the team
with a way to convert five thousand books into electronic media.
Serova describes his compelling
process of programming: “For two
months, besides my responsibilities to school and my family, I
worked nights and spent breaks in
the IT office to create this program,
and the process was quite tedious
at times. However, after long and
hard studies, I finished the soft-
took a trip to Can Yücel’s heart. Vera
Can (RC’16) described this experience as “There are memories in life
that deep inside you know will stay
alive in your heart like a treasure.
This project was like that for me.”
Semester break finally came and
it was time to go to Datça to start
experiencing the best part of the
project. The CIP leader Gökçe Özer
(RC’16) and Kutay Serova went
there two days ahead of the group
and organized the library a bit
to make the work easier for their
friends; they also prepared the
computers. However, the group
faced its first challenge when
their flight to Datça was cancelled.
“Alone, the project was tiring, but
we knew that that was only the beginning,” recalls İdil Naz Tandoğan
(RC’16) The 14 hour flight delay
was probably the foreshadowing of
the challenge they were about to
face in Datça.
December
March 2015
2009Issue
Issue
Robert College Students Working in Can Evi
However, by the time they entered
Canevi, the team forgot about the
challenges and shed their stress at
the sight of the incredible, warm
home of books. “We were living the joy of a child who spent a
snowy night out until the morning, then entered a warm house
and ate steamy soup,” Atakan
Aydın describes. “The books had
a strong magnetism. With the effect of this spell, we worked for
many hours each day,” explains
Vera Can. There were nearly five
thousand books waiting to be organized and logged online. Atakan
Aydın described the experience:
“Students had the opportunity to
‘meet’ important people from Turkish and world literature, to feel the
happiness of touching works from
important writers, to take part in
the adventure of establishing a library, to see how group dynamics
can result in an outstanding success, to experience a professional
documentary shoot and to act with
extraordinary motivation.” Gökçe
Özer added: “Motivation was the
key aspect of this project.” Zeynep
Naz Türkmen (RC’16) confessed:
“Frankly, I had not been sure that
the time would be enough to finish the organizing job along with
the documentary shoots. However,
I learned in this CIP that I can succeed by pushing the limits.”
Students who were more interested in science, such as Ali Emre Çelik
(RC’16), stated in the documentary
that they realized this project revealed their literature-loving side.
It’s not even necessary to mention
the ones who were already interested in literature, because clearly
it was a great opportunity for
them. Atakan Aydın highlights the
literary conversations the students
got into during the project. The last
day was the toughest, of course,
because there were so many books
still to process; the team extended
their working hours past midnight
and eliminated breaks. They all
wanted Canevi to be ready to show
Güler and Su Yücel on the final day.
With the help of Datça High School
students, they did a great job organizing five thousand books, creating a place to be proud of.
“I want to thank my students who
were a part of this project: Gökçe
Özer, İdil Naz Tandoğan, Vera Can,
Ali Emre Çelik, Kutay Serova, Sarp
Kavalcıoğlu, Timothy Levent Yurdum and Zeynep Naz Türkmen.
Datça CIP would not have been
able to run without the support of
Jennifer Sertel, Elif Sönmez, İzzet
Sengel, Metin Ferhatoğlu, Serhat
Pehlivanoğlu, Uygar Bursalıoğlu
and Gamze Özer. I also want to
thank the students’ parents, my
colleague Cara Keyman, and İz TV
who shot the documentary. Can
Yücel’s dear wife Güler Yücel was
there for us from the start of the
project and motivated us with
her energy and nice conversation,
and Su Yücel made a huge effort
to carry her father’s legacy to the
next generation. Finally, thanks to
the Robert College administration
who allowed this project to happen
professionally and to all the people
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
who worked on this project for
the devotion and importance they
dedicated to this project,” Atakan
Aydın stated.
Güler Yücel said that there were
many people who visited and
wanted to support Canevi, but it
was the first time that anyone had
provided such meaningful work.
“I think this project taught us that
we can achieve anything with focus and teamwork,” said Gökçe
Özer (RC’16). “Canevi was the
milestone for us and I hope that it
will continue to be for many other
people,” added Vera Can (RC’16).
“The project was how I thought
it would be: hard but precious,”
says İdil Naz Tandoğan (RC’16).
Canevi CIP was different from
all other CIPs. It changed many
people’s lives, including the ones
who participated in this project, as
well as Can Yücel’s family and the
new generations that will get to
know him better and be inspired
by him. Canevi and similar libraries
should be viewed and protected as
cultural legacies. Can Evi will be a
literary inspiration for Turkey.
Iz TV Shooting for their Documentary
1
NEWS&OPINIONBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS&OPINION
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
Permaculture in RC: Community Garden
Rabia İdil
Demirelli
İrem Deyneli
Permanent-agriculture (permaculture) is one of the words that the
Robert College family obtained
during the recent years. The name
may sound extremely unfamiliar,
however it basically means finding
permanent ways to maintain agriculture.
Permaculture aims to bring new
sustainable ways to keep agriculture alive even though it seems
difficult. It is a new concept in the
world, including Turkey, because it
resulted from new global problems
such as pollution in all its forms,
and our biggest nightmare: Global
Warming. Permaculture introduces
modern and innovative ways to
improve old-fashioned agriculture
skills. For example, it introduces
the idea of diversity to the fields
instead of mass production. Permaculture also supports the individual’s effort to make the world a
better place to live.
During April 2014, last year, Aydan
Erdin and Hatice Becker started to
work on a ‘Community Garden’, to
start seeding the ideas of permaculture in Robert College.
At first sight, the Community Garden aims to build a community of
people who care about the environment that each of us is a part
of. Volunteer teachers work in the
garden and they literally work like
farmers. The only common ground
about the volunteer teachers is
that every individual cares about
the environment and they are willing to take a role in this change.
Both Turkish and English teachers
volunteer, but the major role rests
upon Ms. Erdin, Ms. Becker and
the geography teachers. It is easier
for the teachers who live on the
campus to help with this garden
because most of the time teachers
meet on weekends. The same goes
THE BC STAFF
edıtors-ın-chıef
Ece Selin Timur
M. Miraç Süzgün
for the residential students but actually the garden is open to everyone who is willing to help.
Since the garden was planted by
teachers, there has already been
one harvest. Due to the work of
volunteer teachers, tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins grew in the
Community Garden. Last fall these
tomatoes and pumpkins were put
on public display by the cafeteria.
In this way people who didn’t know
anything about the Community
Garden learned about our natural
garden and people had a chance to
taste the delicious vegetables. This
year the geography department
started a Yearly Homework Project about researching the concept
of permaculture and helping Ms.
Aydan and Ms. Becker about the
implementation. Weekly, two students help to make compost for the
Community Garden with organic
waste from the cafeteria.
To introduce people to the idea
of permaculture, the geography
department organized a symposium with Taner Aksel (RC’86) in
December. Students and teachers
Deniz Şahintürk
Berk Eroğlu
Tuvana Kankallı Göksu Kalaycı (Guest Editor)
Ayşe Leyla Ok
Ezgi Yazıcı
layout edıtor
advısors
M. Miraç Süzgün
Carolyn Callaghan
Robin Carnegy
layout Assistants
wrıters
Mert Akan
Tunahan Ekincikli
İdil Kara
Tuvana Kankallı
Ezgi Yazıcı
Cover Photographs: Alex Downs
***
Publisher: Birmat Matbaacılık
***
RC adına sahibi ve yazı işlerinden
sorumlu müdürü: Güler Erdur
***
Bosphorus Chronicle is published
quarterly during the academic year by
Robert College students. We welcome
letters to the editor, feedback, and
articles by students. However, we reserve the right to edit all materials for
reasons of appropriateness of length.
Give your submissions to the advisor or
one of the editors or send it to us via
e-mail. All photographs published are
taken by the writer unless otherwise
credited.
How to contact us:
By mail: Robert College, Arnavutkoy
34345 Istanbul, Turkey.
By e-mail:
bosphoruseditor@gmail.com
Yerel Süreli Yayın
2
Ali Berk Eroğlu
Ali Çataltepe
Arda Başaran
Ayşe Leyla Ok
Ayşe Esin Gezer
Bilge Tatar
Burak Tunahan Ekincikli
Deniz Şahintürk
Ece Selin Timur
Ece Toprak
Ege Ersü
Ege İşkesen
Ekin Vardar
Ezgi Yazıcı
İdil Çetin
İdil Korkut
İrem Deyneli
Mehmetcan Özhan
Melis Şingin
Melisa Saygın
M. Miraç Süzgün
Oğuz Ceylan
Oktay Şen
Özsu Rişvanoğlu
Rabia İdil Demirelli
Roza Sürme Mızrak
Sinem Meydanlı
Şeyda Zeynep Ünsal
Tuvana Beliz Kankallı
Umut Deniz Dinç
Zeynep Karababa
Zeynep Naz Türkmen
Zeynep Nehir Türkarslan
Zeynep Sabuncu
Taner Aksel (RC’86) Visiting the RC Community Garden
from 12 different schools came to
listen Taner Aksel’s presentation.
He talked about the importance
of permaculture and his own permaculture farm, and then he gave
organic seeds from his farm to the
schools to initiate other Community Gardens in different schools.
We are living in a world where, in
some places, when you plant the
seed of an apple, nothing grows
out of it, not even a single leaf. With
many alterations to the genetics of
the food that we are eating, permaculture is getting more useful
and therefore more popular among
us. Our Community Garden is open
to everyone who is willing to take
a step into a greener future. If you
are interested in helping out with
RC’s Community Garden, please see
Ms. Becker or Ms. Aydan.
RC Boys Basketball Team
sectıon edıtors
Tunahan Ekincikli
Taner Aksel next to the Community Garden (Photo ourtesy of Robert College Webportal)
Melis Şingin
It’s not easy to play basketball if you
are not passionate about it, because
it is not like football, where you can
create football goalposts with a
pair of shoes on any open field. A
basketball player must be passionate enough to go to a basketball
court and practice. The students of
Robert College who have this passion, formed the RC Boys Basketball
Team. This year, they competed in 2
tournaments: the Uskudar American
Academy (UAA) Tournament and
the Istanbul International Community School (IICS) Tournament. In the
UAA Tournament, the RC Boys Basketball Team came fourth among
four teams, with one win. However,
even though they were last at the
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
standings, with their fighting spirit
at the tournament and with a memorable win against UAA, it would not
be fair to say that RC Team really lost
the competition. In the IICS Tournament, the RC Boys Basketball Team
came second among four teams,
which shows that the team developed a lot and began to enjoy better
standings.
With the exception of three or four
main players of the squad, the RC
Boys Basketball Team consists of
new players. In addition, this is
the first year that Gregory Pinto is
coaching the team. With the new
coach and players, the team is trying to create team spirit. The team
captains Doğukan Berk Yucel (RC’16)
and Kaan Kaya (RC’16), who have
played on the basketball team for
four years, take extra responsibility
for this. Doğukan says “I don’t care
if I play well or not in a match, if the
team together can not show an efficient performance, I feel like I am
responsible for that.” Also his cocaptain Kaan thinks that since they
play more as the matches go on, in
each match, the team gets used to
RC Boys Basketball Team
playing with each other more. Also
both captains emphasize the role
of Coach Pinto in creating the team
spirit. Coach Pinto supports the
players in terms of morale and motivation, and helps them stay calm
and motivated. That’s why the team
is able to keep improving.
Neither captain can forget about
the match that they played against
ENKA last year. ENKA had two players from the Turkish national team,
and they were leading the match.
But the RC Boys didn’t give up, and
they were sure that if they played
their game, no one could stop them
from winning. With this confidence,
they played better, the score tied and
eventually they won in overtime.
The captains knew that they had
to take great responsibility in order
to win the match. They both played
spectacularly and they helped the
team win against ENKA.
Serdar Yalvaç (RC‘16) who is one
of the main players on the team,
also mentioned the match against
Üsküdar American Academy. Neither of the teams could dominate
the other, and the scores were very
close throughout the match. Also
there was great support in favor of
UAA and the RC Boys played wonderfully in spite of the ovations and
the crowd. In the end, they won the
match. Having an important victory
against a major rival was good motivation for the RC Boys Basketball
Team.
Now, they anticipate playing at the
Bilkent and Özyegin tournaments.
They came first in Bilkent and second in Özyeğin last year, and they
are looking forward to play at these
tournaments again. We, as the
RC community, believe that they
will do their best in the upcoming
matches and they will win these
tournaments.
JUNE 2012
March
2015Issue
Issue
January 2008 Issue
NEWS&OPINION
NEWSNEWSNEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS
BOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS&OPINION
One Last Time In The Hague
Fulya Idil
Keskin
On Monday, January 26, The Hague
International Model United Nations
(THIMUN) was officially opened for
the 47th time in the World Forum
Convention Center in The Hague,
Netherlands. Each year approximately 3500 high school students
who originate from more than a
hundred different countries participate in THIMUN. So far, the World
Forum has hosted events such as
the Nuclear Security Summit, the
Science and Technology Summit,
the International Conference on Afghanistan, the Eurovision Song Contest, and various local jazz festivals.
The theme of this year’s conference
was Evaluation of Millennium Development Goals, previously set to
be achieved by 2015. In the opening ceremony, we listened to the
keynote speech delivered by Frances
Laughlin from the THIMUN Foundation Board of Directors regarding
this topic. Her speech was followed
by the flag parade, giving an opportunity for student ambassadors
to carry and wave the flags alongside of the actual ambassador of
the country to which they were assigned.
The Robert College crew consisted of seventeen students, varying from 9th graders to seniors. Besides a delegation, Robert College
was appointed two student officers, Atakan Baltacı (RC’15), who
served as the chair of the Disarmament Commission, and myself, who
served as the chair of the Legal Committee. Our team represented Croatia, and the ambassador was our
club’s Vice President Ayhan Okçal
(RC’16). Ayhan was particularly captivated by the flag parade he took
part in, commenting, “It was an utterly enthralling experience to meet
the person whose shoes I was to fill.
I had the opportunity to chat with
her about the daily routine of a real
ambassador, which differed each
day, but predominantly included European Union issues.”
The first day of the conference was
allocated to lobbying and merging
of resolutions. The following day
several of our delegates presented
opening speeches in their respective committees, while Kaan Ertaş
(RC’17) and Selin Deldağ (RC’17)
successfully submitted resolutions
on the agenda items they had previously researched. Given the competitiveness of the lobbying process at
THIMUN--there have been occasions
where some delegates have intense
Closing Ceremony
arguments and some leave the room
crying--they performed very well.
Selin’s resolution was about evaluating the environmental impact of
hydroelectric projects in LEDCs, and
Kaan specialized in the legal status
of the Kashmir region. Kaan said of
the event, “Having the opportunity
to support your cause among hundreds from all around the globe is
surely something to look forward
to.” Wednesday and Thursday sessions were entirely dedicated to debate. On the final day, plenary sessions of each commission were held.
During the General Assembly, where
six GA committees met altogether,
Emre Kanlı (RC’16) was recognized
Official Delegation Photo
for a point of information regarding
the question of Tokelau. The flag parade took place again in the official
closing ceremony, this time accompanied with dancers and a band.
During our stay in The Hague, we
were delighted to find out that Vermeer’s phenomenal masterpiece
Girl With a Pearl Earring had returned to its home museum Mauritshuis, which was only a couple
of blocks away from our hotel. So
we visited the museum after the
conference on a half-day, with the
guidance of our lovely and enthusiastic chaperon Ms. Hope Brown.
The refurbished Mauritshuis was a
very small yet inspiring place, located near the Dutch parliament buildings. As you simultaneously witness
the interior of the museum, reflecting 17th century scenes, and the
present-day Dutch cyclers passing
by gracefully outside, you may get
the feeling that you have entered
into a continuum.
Apart from the debates and museum visits, our trip was embellished
with the unconventional dinners we
had throughout the week. In almost
every restaurant we went to, we selected the unlimited menus without
any hesitation, making the meals
worth every cent we paid. The traditional THIMUN delegation dinner is always held in Los Argentinos
Steakhouse, but this year, there was
something that wasn’t a part of the
tradition: the meat challenge. The
rules were as follows:
1. No one was allowed to say the
type and quantity of meat they ordered out loud.
2. The tab of the pair who had eaten
the greatest quantity of meat was to
be covered by the rest of the group.
As the challenge continued and
our hotel curfew approached, participants were not only fighting
against their stomachs but also
against time. In the end, there was
so much food left over that we could
literally feed a family of three for a
month. Can Yeşildere (RC’18), however, managed to eat 1100 grams of
meat all by himself. We left the restaurant with a bill of 791.50 Euros in
total and stomachs on the verge of
bursting.
On Saturday, we left The Hague for
Amsterdam. Our hotel was only a
five-minute walk from the Museum Quarter, where Rijksmuseum,
Van Gogh Museum, and Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art are located. Although we spent our time
there to the fullest, the capital had
so much to offer that we needed at
least one more week to make the
most of the city. When we finally
landed in Istanbul, the younger students were already planning where
to go and what to eat in the coming
years, while we seniors were bittersweet, having returned from the last
international trip of our high school
years.
A Road to Palandöken
Zeynep
Sabuncu
On the way to Erzurum, one can
see many summits surrounded by
snow, yet the most famous one is
Palandöken, just south of the town.
The snow level in Palandöken can
reach up to 2.00-3.50 meters high
in winter under typical weather
conditions. Even in summer, there
remains some snow on the summit;
thus, there is a long ski trail to its ski
center. In winter many people visit
Erzurum in order to ski and snowboard. They enjoy sledding with
their families or their friends on a
special sled trail.
Actually, there are many ski trails
in Palandöken, which differ according to a person’s skiing level. For
instance, someone who has been
skiing since she was really young
might prefer the “black trail,” which
is the hardest trail, 12 km long. Professional ski races take place on this
black trail, too. Every winter, national and international races are
hosted in Palandöken, organized by
different foundations. Many professional skiers between the ages of
12-70 can join these national and
international races. As you may
know, this year Robert College provided students the opportunity to
attend these races. Between December 23-28 2014, Robert College
students went to Palandöken and
improved their skiing and snowboarding skills.
JUNE 2012
March
2015Issue
Issue
Furthermore, it has very comfortable and developed thermal pools
which make you feel like you are
in heaven. There are a few a clubs
nearby Palandöken, which are open
twenty-four hours. Even if you continue skiing until after midnight,
you can go and have fun there
whenever you want. I consider this
place a heaven and go there every
year to have fun skiing and snowboarding.
So, this is Palandöken, one of the
most famous ski centers in Turkey.
You can spend your winter holiday
there enjoying many opportunities.
If you have the good fortune to go
to Palandöken, you should know
that you are visiting one of the wonders of Turkey.
Mountain Palandöken Ski Center (Photo Courtesy of htrskiingturkey.com)
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
3
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
NEWS&OPINIONBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS&OPINION
Mightier than The Sword: The Jane Page Writing Contest
Ali Çataltepe
M. Miraç
Süzgün
An important date for Robert College students is coming up. The
yearly clash among the works of
many aspiring poets, writers and
playwrights, a battle that can leave
only a few standing to claim their
prizes, draws ever closer. March
17th 2015, the deadline for submissions for the Jane Page Writing
Contest, is nigh. While there are
undoubtedly those in the school
who are familiar with the ins and
outs of this competition, there exist just as many, if not more, who
will be submitting an entry for the
first time, and being aware of this,
the Bosphorus Chronicle has interviewed Maura Kelly of the English
Department (one of the teachers
overseeing the competition) for
insights regarding it. This article
is mainly geared toward first time
competitors, but even experienced
contestants may benefit from it.
There may be those amongst the
readership of this publication who
know of the existence of the Jane
Page Teaching Award, perhaps
from the placard mounted on the
wall opposite Gould 119. There
may also be those who suspect a
connection between this award
and the competition. Mrs. Kelly
confirmed those suspicions, stating that the way the whole thing
started was because of the Jane
Page Teaching Award. The award
is in honor of Jane Nichols Page,
who served as a trustee of Robert College for 55 years, and Mrs.
еπі = -1
Kelly received this award about
eight years ago. She said, “With the
award came monies, so when I won
the award, I thought ‘Oh, what can
I do with this money?’ and I decided, ‘Why not use it for something
that could get kids writing more?’,
which is what I love –and I think it
helps us anyway, as a school and as
a student body– and so I put the
original winnings toward the prize
money.”
Mrs. Kelly went on to explain how
funding the contest was still possible after the money from the
teaching award ran out. “It was
very lucky that the school supported the prize money thereafter, because that money finished
in a matter of, I think, two years
or something. And now we get
money through the alumni office;
sometimes parents donate money
towards the prize, and sometimes
we get funding through a club
budget.”
Going from the how to the why of
the contest’s founding, Mrs. Kelly
had the following to say on the
matter:
“The aim is, well, first of all, to
encourage students to write, especially creative writing, so we have
really tried to encourage and promote that with the student body.
Also, in a very kind of selfish way,
we really need the submissions for
the Kaleidoscope literary magazine because we don’t get enough
submissions for that. But when
there’s a competition involved, unfortunately a lot of Robert students
are willing to do that if they think
there’s a result like a prize versus
just ‘I’m going to submit my poetry or my short story’ so, anyway, I
think the result is still for the good.
It’s getting kids to write, and it’s
promoting the publishing of students’ writing, so I think there are
two positives.”
A goal is, undoubtedly, quite high
on any competitor’s “needs” list.
Coming straight after that is the
organization needed to achieve it.
Mrs. Kelly describes the Jane Page
Writing Contest’s judging system as
follows:
“We have 3 judges per category
(Poetry, Short Story and Short
Script). All judges read all the entries, and there is a rubric or criteria
that we look for (actually I’m not
a judge), and then they decide on
their top pieces. Then they meet,
and they discuss, and then they decide on the winner. There is always
a winner, but sometimes we have
had two winners, because there
were two pieces that stood out,
and were excellent, and then there
are sometimes honorable mentions selected.”
But enough of the competition itself; what about the people participating? When asked about the distribution by grade of competition
participants, Mrs. Kelly replied,
“I would probably say the most
represented levels are 9 and 10. We
have had more prep entries in recent years, I think because teachers
are promoting it, which is wonderful. We had an honorable mention
for poetry from a prep girl last year,
and that was fabulous to see. Tenth
grade seems to be the top year,
with some 11s, but 12s are very
few (sometimes we get dramatic
scripts from Modern Drama students because they have already
written it for class). But sometimes
we do get poetry from them. Kutay
Onaylı (RC’13) was an example of
someone who entered every year
and was always an impressive entrant.”
The participants seem to be moderately diverse. Can the same be
said for what they submit? Mrs.
Kelly commented on the distribu-
Jane Page Writing Competition Poster (Photo Courtesy of Kaleidoscope Magazine)
tion by genre of submissions over
the years, describing “a nice variety
of genres. We tend to get science
fiction and there are always some
which deal with relationships and
love issues.” She also mentioned
that she feels elated and excited
to see an increased number of submissions and improvement in the
quality of writing for the contest
over the years:
“First of all, the first year we had
fewer entries - for example, we
used to get one or two scripts,
but now we tend to get five or six
entries. I know it does not sound
like a lot but writing a script is a
Math Puzzles #2
very long process, so honestly I am
happy to get five. Secondly, I have
noticed improved writing in terms
of technical aspects, story-telling
skills, especially for the short stories. In the Poetry category, we’ve
always had extremely talented
students who are just naturally talented and actually like to do this on
their own.”
“The pen is mightier than the
sword,” and while handwritten
entries to the competition are not
accepted, the Jane Page Writing
Competition is sure to be more
awe-inspiring than any gladiator
match.
v - e + f = 2
Chance of Meeting
Two RC students who have unpredictable lunch hours agree to meet for lunch at the Robert College
Cafeteria whenever possible. Neither wishes to eat alone and each dislikes waiting for the other, so they
agree that each will arrive at a random time between 12.00 noon and 2.00PM, and each will wait for the
other for 10 minutes or until 2.00 PM after 1.50 PM.
What is the probability that the students will meet for lunch on a given day?
This question is taken from: “Lunch Meeting Probability for Two Person to Meet in given 1 Hour Slot and None Would Wait More Then 15 Minute.” Stack Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
"Mathematics Moderne." Flickr. Yahoo!, 25 June 2009. Web. 05 Jan. 2015.
4
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
MARCH
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
Issue
January 2008 Issue
NEWS&OPINION
NEWSNEWSNEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS
BOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS&OPINION
Brace Yourselves: RC Library Week is Coming
Rabia İdil
Demirelli
It has been only a couple of
months since the library reopened its doors for students,
but already the new and improved library is surprising
students with its new technological and handy features.
Even though some have been
discovered by students, there
are still many mysteries to be
revealed. In the name of this
brand new library, Robert College will celebrate the official
Turkish Library Week between
30th of March and 3rd of April.
The main purpose of this celebratory week is to introduce
the benefits of reading to students and to improve libraries throughout Turkey. In our
refurbished library, librarians
Ms.Keyman and Mr.Aydın are
planning to hold a variety of
activities to engage and entertain RC readers throughout the
week.
In past years, the RC community celebrated Library Day
instead of Library Week by
dressing up as their favorite
book characters. This activity
brought fictional characters to
life through the imaginations
of their readers. In addition,
last year Sherlock Holmes visited our school to investigate a
classified case, and several Hazels passed through the lunch
line searching for their oxygen
tanks.
This year’s celebrations will be
even more exciting with bonus
activities to be introduced. For
example, every library book
has a black and white ex-libris
sticker inside stating “Robert
College of Istanbul/Library,”
signifying that the book is RC
property. However, this year
our librarians are planning to
hold an ex-libris design contest. Students will be able to
design their own ex-libris forms
for a book of their choice. Of
course, students will have certain boundaries such as size,
logo, and shape. At the end of
the week,the librarians will examine the submissions, and the
winning designs will be placed
in the books that they were
designed for. During the week,
blank ex-libris templates will
be available in the library for
students to pick up and design.
After the contest, many colorful
designs by RC students will replace the old stickers. Another
brilliant part of this activity is
that the art department and
the librarians are planning to
host an ‘Ex-libris Workshop’ to
inspire students.
Another planned activity involves fond library memories.
For centuries, libraries have
not only held books for avid
readers, but also were home
to many warm memories imprinted in readers’ minds.
Sometimes the first visit to a
library can stay forever in one’s
memory. For Library Week,
Ms.Keyman is planning to ask
teachers and students to write
down their best-kept memories
related to reading and libraries,
so that students can glimpse
their teachers’ and peers’ recollections. This activity will also
let students get to know their
teachers outside of the formal
classroom environment.
The Library Week will end on
Friday, April 3rd with the biggest event of the week: Dress
as Your Favourite Book Character Day. Students, teachers, and
staff members will be encouraged to dress up as their favorite fictional character, free from
dress code. As a new addition
to this fun day, students will be
also be encouraged to take selfies in the library with their book
for a future display.
In addition to Library Week,
other exciting plans are in the
works. Even though Haiku is
usually used for class assignments and homework, it can
also be used for sharing information. For instance, Ms. Keyman and Mr. Aydın are planning
to create a Library Haiku page,
available to all students; its
aim will be to give information
about the resources the library
offers. It will also be interactive;
the ability to make suggestions
about books that should be in
the library will be just a click
away through the Library Haiku
page. The Honor Code Haiku
Ex-libris of “Collected Poems”, Allen Ginsberg (Photo Courtesy of Ferhat Karademir (RC’16)
page created by Ms.Keyman
will be linked to it. It will make
looking up the details of MLA
formatting and document citing
easier for students.
At Robert College, the library
means much more than a set
of shelves filled with books. It
is a place for students to relax
amidst their busy schedules.
That’s precisely why it is so
precious to students, teachers,
and staff members. Therefore,
Library Week will be really important for all of us. The Bosphorus Chronicle encourages
every student to take part in
the activities and to have fun
in this amazing facility. Happy
Library Week!
Literature Characters Group Photo
MARCH
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
Issue
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
5
NEWS&OPINIONBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS&OPINION
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
RCIMUN: We the People! We the Admins!
Ezgi Okutan
Have you ever checked out rcimun hashtag on Instagram? One
of the greatest Model United Nations (MUN) conferences in Turkey is the Robert College International Model United Nations
(RCIMUN). Celebrated last April,
it will be held again this April.
Although the name reads long, it
is a short week filled with excitement and with plenty of memories shared all over social media.
What has made past RCIMUN this
memorable is, of course, the admins who gave up all their spring
breaks and sank their teeth into
preparing the conferences. Interested in becoming admins for
this year’s April conference? RCIMUN is a conference that ought
to be magnificent; therefore, this
article’s aim is to help newcomers survive their admins week in
the best way.
First of all, try to be bright-eyed
and bushy-tailed; show your
eagerness! The Executive Board
seeks enthusiastic admins. They
want to see people who are motivated to work because they
want to be a part of the conference. You will be given lots of
tasks to do throughout the conference such as carrying stuff,
setting up banners, picking up
guests from airports, etc. Never
complain about the tasks that
the Executive Board has given.
Indeed, always seek new tasks.
If there isn’t any task you can do
while you are available at that
moment, don’t just sit there and
gossip about how much you are
tired. Why don’t you create new
tasks yourself that will help the
conference? In addition, you
may gain your executive team’s
appreciation which is very important. My first day in RCIMUN
Robert College International Model United Nations (RCIMUN) 2014
RCIMUN 2013
(Photo Courtesy of RCIMUN Twitter Page)
RCIMUN 2014 (Photo Courtesy of robcol.k12.tr)
as an admin wasn’t a busy one;
my committee hadn’t started yet,
so I was available. Guess what I
did? I filled plastic cups with water and served them to the delegates who were sitting in the
forum under the scorching sun
of the hottest week of April. All
cups were gratefully drained in
the blink of an eye.
There is, however, a further point
to be considered: If you want to
be active during the conference,
you must stay healthy. Unfortunately, your time schedule won’t
be very consistent, which is challenging. You may have to wake
up very early and leave late at
night, but don’t let this get your
knickers in a twist. The key point
is to be organized. Try to finish all
your homework before this week
so that when you reach home,
you can spend your time resting. Also, you don’t want to stay
up late, but instead get a good
night’s sleep for the next week.
Furthermore, give importance to
your nutrition. Never ignore the
fact that that you will need lots
of energy. You may want to suppress your hunger with snacks
from coffee tables or with delicious cupcakes and Pinkberry
stands, but that is a big mistake.
Last of all, drink at least two liters of water a day because trust
me, you will sweat in an uncontrollable way.
Finally, be aware that MUN is a
big family where people share
thousands of memories which
will all become stories one day.
Let this experience be an unforgettable story. In order to achieve
that, you should push yourself
out of your comfort zone. Go and
meet with people every second,
make friends, get people’s opinions, learn about different traditions, feel like you have a place
in this family. Remember the slo-
gan of RCIMUN: “We the People!”
Once you get that feeling in your
heart, nobody can stop you.
Imagine that one week has
passed. You open your Instagram
and start to upload some of the
photos you took in front of the
gigantic RCIMUN banner with
your new best friends forever.
Your hands carefully jump from
word to word to write #rcimun.
You all gave up your spring break,
which was certainly the toughest
decision. Some of you gave up on
your spring break CIP’s just like I
did. Some of you cancelled your
plane tickets to your beloved
home and instead bought hotel
tickets, but now you have gained
your certificate of participation.
Upload your memories that will
become stories someday, with
a warm grin on your face that
shouts it was worth it. It was totally worth it.
Mills: Hi, Hamlin!
02.03 √√
Hamlin: What’s up?
02.03 √√
Mills: I would like to write
an article for the school
newspaper Bosphorus Chronicle.
02.05 √√
Hamlin: Wow, that is great!
02.05 √√
Mills: But I am not in the
club. What should I do? 02.05
√√
Hamlin: E-mail bosphoruseditor@gmail.com and they’ll send
you more information!
02.07 √√
6
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
march
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
ISSUE
January 2008 Issue
NEWSNEWSNEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS
TECHNOLOGY&SPORTSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLE
Hardcopy vs. Digital: The Kindle or a Book?
Arda Başaran
Tunahan Ekincikli
For the first time after the invention of writing, the idea of
the “paper-printed book” is challenged. The headliner is a company called Amazon and their barn
burner device is called the Kindle.
Some believe that this product is
revolutionary and will change the
way we read books, while others
say that no technology will ever
replace printed books. The Bosphorus Chronicle searched for and
found numerous reasons to prefer
one over the other.
The Kindle is really compact.
According to the known online
book seller Alibris.com, the average weight of a paper book is
about 340 grams; in comparison,
the weight of the Kindle Paperwhite (one of the latest Kindle
models) is about 200 grams. This
difference might seem slight to
most, yet if one is trying to read
a book on public transit, it’s a lot
more significant than it sounds.
The Kindle Paperwhite is also easy
to hold in one hand with a length
of 6.7 inches, nearly that of an ordinary pen. Even though the Kindle Paperwhite is really small, it
can store a lot, about 1100 books,
and it is definitely an advantage
to be able to carry your book collection in the palm of your hands
wherever you go. Also, caring for
and securing books is much easier
on Kindle. If not preserved properly, hardcopies of books are likely
to deteriorate; however, this is not
a problem with the Kindle. Even
if something goes wrong with
the operating system, or the Kindle gets stolen, one can reach the
books he/she reads at any time,
since the Kindle automatically uploads the user’s books into his/her
Amazon Cloud account.
The Kindle is a really good device for studying. The operating
system of the Kindle has a builtin dictionary, so a user can simply
look at the definition of any word
while reading a book, magazine
or article. In addition to this dictionary feature, the operating system makes a list of the words that
the user looks up in the dictionary most frequently and prepares
flashcards for those words. Thus,
it becomes much easier to memorize and learn new English words.
The Kindle also allows users to
take notes and highlight texts in
any part of a book. Once a person highlights a part of a book, or
takes a note, that part gets added
into a document called “My Clippings.” In this document, readers
can have a look at all the sentences and words they have highlighted and also view the notes that
they took.
Kindle has an e-ink screen.
One of the arguments against ebooks has been the harm that LCD
screens do to eyes. Even though it
is a valid concern, it only applies to
devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablet computers.
The screen on the Kindle works using technology called e-ink. Since
the material inside the screen acts
as real ink does, a page on a Kindle
is indistinguishable from a printed
page. Therefore, unlike most other electronic devices, the Kindle’s
screen does not strain eyes, and
is really adequate for a nice reading experience. The e-ink screen
also stands as the reason for the
long battery life of the Kindle. Eink screens are commonly referred
to as “bistable.” This means that
the device only consumes energy
if something on the screen changes. Since reading a book does not
induce continuous changes in the
screen, a single charge lasts up to
8 weeks. The Kindle is not a device
like a smartphone that users need
to charge every night.
Kindle books are much easier to access. Every reader has
probably at least once had a
time they wanted to buy a book,
but could not find it in a nearby
store. This problem does not affect Kindle readers, since there is
no such thing as a stock limit with
e-books. It is certainly an advantage to be able to download any
book from the Internet and directly read it without having to
wait. Also, since publishers do not
spend money printing the book,
most of the e-books have 50% of
the price of printed ones. With the
same amount of money, a Kindle
user can buy twice as many books.
Furthermore, there are many ebook sites that provide classics
for free. These facts show that,
contrary to what people believe,
being an e-book reader is much
more economical.
Technology alters habits very
rapidly. Manoush Zomorodi, who
is the editor of New Tech City, recalls a conversation with Washington Post’s Miken Rosenwald, who
researched the effects of reading on a screen. “He found, like
I did, that when he sat down to
read a book his brain was jumping
around on the page. He was skimming and he couldn’t just settle
down. He was treating a book like
he was treating his Twitter feed.”
There is no doubt that most people use electronic devices to mainly access social media. As a result,
the human brain simply associates
every single electronic device with
a big screen with social media like
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This distracts the person who tries
to read an e-book.. Even though
this supports the case against Kindles, it will not be permanent. It
should not be forgotten that habits tend to change really fast with
technology. Only 2-3 years ago,
most people would prefer a discrete camera to photograph important moments as opposed to a
smartphone. However, today humans not only use smartphones
to take amazing pictures, but they
also use them for listening to mu-
march
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
ISSUE
sic and to the radio, sending and Kindle can’t replace the ob- all habits that have become a part
receiving e-mails, browsing the ject-based relationship that of our reading process. We can’t
Internet, reading the news, and you have with certain books. just toss them out; it would make
so forth. It is highly possible that Think about the books that affect- book-reading a robotic action.
once technology users try Kindles ed you most, that changed your E-book technology is very new
to read novels, they will get used life and made you a different per- compared to the paper books
to them and start reading on Kin- son. Don’t they hold an important we’ve been reading for hundreds
place in your heart? Don’t they of years. Maybe in the next few
dles instead of paper books.
There is no reason to worry have a special place on your book- centuries paper books will be litabout technical issues with shelf? Now, maybe a Kindle can tle more than ancient museum
paper books. Let’s face it, most store a thousand books or so, but pieces. Maybe e-book readers will
electronic devices are problemat- those digital books will never have be remembered as nothing but
ic. They all become dysfunctional the same impact on you compared failures. Maybe the race between
after some point. Fifty years from to your small private library. There the two will keep going. In the
now, you probably won’t have a is a reason why books are called end, it all comes down to personal
Kindle from 2015, but it’s highly friends. Carrying your relation- choice. There is no doubt that both
reasonable to think that the pa- ship with books into digital media
perback copy of your favorite book
would remain readable. Don’t we
have copies of books that are older than 50 years in libraries? True,
technology improves with high
speed and becomes an even bigger part of our lives day after day,
but let me ask you: have you ever
seen a book running out of power?
Yes, the Kindle has a long battery
life, but why even bother with a
battery at all? Dropping the device
or hitting it with something hard
may permanently break it, whereas a curled page is the worst that
can happen to a paper book. So
for the Kindle it means another
$79 at least -$119 for the Kindle
Paperwhite and $199 for th Kin- Photo Courtesy of Independent .co.uk
dle Voyage- and this is only one of
the possibilities. Let’s say you are is like carrying your relationship paper books and theKindle have
a very careful reader and you are with your friends to smartphones. their own advantages and flaws.
sure that you won’t have any ac- Does chatting through phones re- It should not be forgotten that no
cidents, but what about stability? place your face-to-face conversa- matter which side is chosen, bibKindle could store more than 1000 tions? Then, why should we do the liophages will always be aiming
books, but there are complaints same thing to our reticent friends, beyond the horizon.
that the device becomes slower our books?
Works Cited:
after storing a few hundred books.
Electronic
devices
aren’t
good
Electronic devices can’t remain as
Flood, Alison. “Readers Absorb
stable, fast and easy to use as the enough to suit our reading Less on Kindles than on Paper,
first day they are bought. How- habits. Reading isn’t just about Study Finds.” The
ever, paper books will keep their skimming the words with our
eyes. It is a combination of differ- Guardian. N.p., 19 Aug. 2014.
shape very well if not abused.
ent activities. Some people un- Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
You comprehend more when derline, some take notes or draw
reading a paper book com- things. Some people do a few Jabr, Ferris. “The Reading Brain in
pared to a Kindle. Research of these at once, some do none the Digital Age: The Science of Padone in 2014 at Stavenger Univer- and some even do all. The point per versus Screens.”
sity of Norway showed that peo- is, whatever is read, everyone Scientificamerican.com. N.p., 11
ple who read paper books under- has a different way of interpret- Apr. 2013. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
stand and remember better than ing it, both mentally and physithose who read from a Kindle. In cally. Even though the Kindle has Keim, Brandon. “Why the Smart
the project, readers were given a features such as taking notes or Reading Device of the Future May
28 page short story to read. Twen- highlighting, it doesn’t make the Be … Paper.” Wired.com.
ty-five of them got it on a Kin- reader feel the same. Typing on N.p., 1 May 2014. Web. 14 Feb.
dle, and 25 others got it in a pa- a Kindle is not at all like taking 2015.
perback copy. The readers were notes in your own handwriting.
then tested on the story and were Even if you buy a stylus to simu- Raphael, T. J., ed. “Your paper
asked about things such as the or- late old-school note-taking, it still brain and your Kindle brain aren’t
der of the plot. The results showed isn’t as good as a real pencil. Hold- the same thing.” Pri.org. N.p.,
that the Kindle readers couldn’t ing the book, curling some pag- 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Feb.
catch up with the paperback read- es, using a highlighter-- these are 2015.
ers in reconstructing the plot. This
tells us that something about paper books helps our comprehension. This might be because we
are used to reading paper books
or because paper books are much
more connected to our visual
memory than Kindle is. Think back
to times when you couldn’t remember something but remembered where it was in the book.
That would be an example of a paper book’s advantages in aiding
comprehension. With the Kindle,
on the other hand, all we have is
a page-turning animation and a
number telling us which page we
are on.
Photo Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
7
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
BOSPHORUSCHRONICLE
TECHNOLOGY&SPORTS
Smart Watches: Are They Ready To Hit The Market?
Arda Başaran
Tunahan Ekincikli
Watches have always had a special place in people’s lives. Since
the 16th century, having a watch
- or a pocket watch - symbolized
punctuality, discipline, class, and
sometimes luxury.
Watches were also one of the
most expressive gifts one could
possibly get; they were legated
by fathers and mothers to next
generations. Today, the technology industry that dominates the
market with revolutionary devices like smartphones and tablet
computers has developed an idea
that may replace the mechanical watches: smart watches. The
Bosphorus Chronicle reviewed
the top four smart watches to see
if smart watches could indeed
dominate the tech market.
Apple Watch
Coming in two different sizes, 38
and 42 mm, three editions, six
cases, and more than 40 different
brands, one could argue that Apple Watch has the most options
and the most elegant looks. In
design language, it has a square
screen with a curved finish at the
edges. On the right side, there
is a scroll-wheel digital crown
and a button. By scrolling, the
crown lets you zoom in apps such
as photos, messages, maps, and
many more. It also acts as a home
button; by a single push you can
close any application. The button, on the other hand, also
opens up the contacts.
The screen on Apple Watch is
multi-touch; therefore you can
navigate between the apps with
your fingers very easily. The
watch generally displays SMS
notifications and allows you to
reply to them without taking
out your phone. It also tracks
your motion and with the help
of a built in heart sensor, keeps
a record of your fitness. With an
NFC chip, Apple Watch also allows you to make payments in
many stores and restaurants. In
the press release, the company
proclaimed that it expects many
developers to take advantage of
Apple Watch and create amazing
apps.
Pebble
Pebble is one of the first smart
watches in the industry, originally released in 2012, and since
that time they have sold more
than 1 million Pebbles. What
customers love about Pebble is
its simplicity. The smart watch
has a simple, easy to navigate
user face. However, the operating system used in the watch is
sophisticated. Using a Pebble,
one can check e-mails, receive
and send text messages, read
the latest tweets, listen to music
and the radio, and receive any
notification from a smartphone.
The watch is also preferred for its
long battery life. The other competitors mentioned in this article
can run for only two, or at most
three days with a single charge.
However, Pebble has a weeklong
battery life. The reason for such
a feature is the e-ink display.
Even though they consume less
energy, it is easier to read things
on e-ink displays because of their
anti-glare feature. Besides these
features, Pebble is much more
durable; it is waterproof to 50m
under water. The last reason for
people to buy Pebble is its reasonable price at $99, whereas
the other smart watches start at
$249.
Samsung Galaxy Gear
Samsung is also one of the companies that is seeking its share
on this new market.
Coming out as a bundle with
the Galaxy Note series, Samsung
Galaxy Gear has gained a decent
share of the market. It has a rectangular screen with 1.63 inches
and 320*320 resolution. It has an
integrated 1.9 megapixel camera
placed on its band. You can customize the watch with sixcolor
options. The band is metallic,
so you can’t customize the band
material. It has built-in apps
like S Voice. You can sync the
watch with your phone and get
Photo Courtesy of techhive.de
your notifications, you can make
calls, and you can record voices
and videos. It has a storage of
4GB, convenient for a watch.
The necessity and the placing
of the camera is open to discussion, since one might argue that
you don’t need a 1.9 megapixels
camera on your watch, and especially on the band, when, assuming that you are using it with a
synced Samsung Galaxy phone,
you would therefore have a lot
better one on your phone.
Moto360
Moto360 by Motorola, probably
has the most similar look to notso-smart watches. In contrast to
most of its rivals on the market,
Moto360 has a circular screen
(although there are complaints
about fitting applications) and
wristwatch like design. It has 1.5
inch LCD screen that has 320*290
resolution. There are different
customization choices including the color and the material
of the band (leather or steel)Its
operating system is Android,
which means there are a vast
variety of apps for the watch.
The watch can be synced with
Android smartphones (4.3 or
higher). This would let you to
get certain notifications through
your smart watch. There are useful built-in apps like Moto-Body
which help you to keep track of
things like your heart rate or the
number of steps that you took.
There is also voice control function, letting you send texts, ask
for an address or directions etc.
Of course, the usefulness of the
voice control would be open to
discussion as with other smart
devices. The watch has a builtin microphone and it is water
resistant. Its battery lasts for a
day, which means that you need
to charge it everyday. The biggest issue about smart watches
is probably their battery life. The
shortest acceptable battery life
for a smartwatch would be one
day, since you expect to use the
watch during the day without
being concerned about its battery. Moto360 certainly doesn’t
provide the longest battery life
but its design might compensate
for it.
There are a variety of other smart
watches on the market. Just like
smartphones, different smart
watches are designed for different users. The question is are we
ready for this technology?
Considering the problems that
we have with our smart phones,
how well will these smart watches work? The answer depends
on expectations. If you are looking for highly functional smart
watches that have no glitches or
other problems, you might want
to wait a little bit longer.
If you want to experience the
evolution of smart devices taking place in our lives and if you
are able to tolerate the problems
that you might face, then you
might want to consider buying
one.
Just be sure to choose the one
that would suit your needs.
Works Cited:
Honig, Zach. “Pebble smartwatch review.” Engadget.com.
N.p., 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Feb.
2015. <http://www.engadget.
com/2013/01/25/pebble-smartwatch-review/>.
Stein, Scott. “Apple Watch coming this April: What you need
to know about Apple’s first
smartwatch.” Cnet.com. N.p., 6
Feb. 2015. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-watch/>.
Molen, Brad. “Samsung Galaxy Gear Review.” Engadget.
N.p., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Feb.
2015. <http://www.engadget.
com/2013/10/01/samsung-galaxy-gear-review/>.
Lee, Nicole. “Moto 360 Review:
It’s the Best Android Wear Watch,
but That Isn’t Saying Much.” Engadget. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web.
19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/12/moto360-review/>.
“Moto 360 by Motorola.” Motorola_US. N.p., n.d. Web. 19
Feb. 2015. <https://moto360.
motorola.com/>.
“Galaxy Gear.” Samsung TR. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://
www.samsung.com/tr/consumer/mobile-phone/galaxy-gear/
galaxy-gear/SM-V7000ZKATUR>.
Photo Courtesy of pcworld.com.tr (Right), Photo Courtesy of androidadvices.com (Left)
8
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
MARCH
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
Issue
January 2008 Issue
NEWSNEWSNEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS
TECHNOLOGY&SPORTSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLE
Why You Should Learn Programming and How to Get Started
Oktay Şen
It is no surprise that computers
are an integral part of our lives.
Most people’s interaction with
the digital world is through apps
that are designed by other people. So why learn programming
when so many programs are out
there ready to accomplish almost
any task one might need from a
computer? Here are some reasons you might want to consider
learning to program.
Programming is not something to
be associated only with Computer Science anymore. Many areas
such as engineering and business
now require a certain level of
programming to complete complicated tasks. Programming can
be used to run big experiments,
process large amounts of data,
do repetitive tasks and so much
more. That is precisely why it
is so frequently resorted to in a
variety of work fields. If you are
considering a career in science
or any other area that involves
mathematics, you will most likely have to learn programming in
university, so getting the hang
of programming earlier can help
you quite a lot.
Programming is not as difficult
as it seems. There is a common
misunderstanding that programming requires advanced
knowledge of math and sciences. To learn programming, a
basic understanding of algebra
is more than sufficient. A program mostly consists of a list of
sentences, telling the computer
what to do from start to end. It
is just like writing an essay in a
foreign language. Luckily, there
are not as many words to memorize when learning a programming language. It is a matter of
learning some fundamental concepts that are mostly the same
for all programming languages,
so learning one language means
getting a solid understanding of
all of them.
Programming is like magic. It
lets you create whatever you can
imagine and make it appear on
A JavaScript course from Codecademy.com
the screen. You can make your
own games, apps, websites and
so on by learning to program. This
means that when you need a program for a specific purpose, you
can write that program yourself
and be independent of any software made by others. Programming increases the usefulness of
computers and lets people use
them to their full potential.
Now that you are (hopefully)
convinced to learn computer
programming, it is time to pick
a language to begin with. To be
honest, the language to begin
with does not have much significance, since they pretty much
all work the same way. However,
these languages have different areas of use and the choice
should depend on what you want
to do with the skills you will
learn. Here are some languages I
suggest to be your first.
Java is probably the most versatile language out there in terms
of the platforms in which it can
be used. Due to its nature, it is
not only used on computers, but
mobile devices (especially Android) and web as well. Java is
the language people often learn
because of its wide range of uses
and its use of the fundamental
concept of Object Oriented Pro-
Photo Courtesy of telegraph.co.uk
MARCH
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
Issue
gramming (OOP), which is a concept that makes programming
more dynamic, efficient and
easier to work with. This is one
of the reasons why it is taught in
many schools, including Robert
College. Java might be harder to
learn initially, but if you decide
to take up the challenge, it will
definitely be worthwhile.
Python is a simpler language
compared to Java and is mostly
used for research purposes. It
also features OOP like Java does.
With Python, you’ll have an
easier time learning and making
things appear on screen. If you’re
planning to study engineering or
something similar, you’ll most
likely learn Python in the university, so learning it now might
help you out in the future. (Diakopoulos)
The languages I’ve mentioned
so far primarily work on console, meaning that while learning, you’ll only get text outputs
for a while. If you’re looking for
something more visual, Visual
Basic is the way to go. Visual Basic is about as simple as Python
and works with windows and
pop-ups. It is the language that
was taught until this year in the
Intro to Programming class, but
starting next year, the class will
switch to Java instead. If you’re
looking for a very easy language
that is more relatable, you should
consider learning Visual Basic.
Javascript is a language that
looks similar to Java, but is intended for web programming.
With Javascript, you can make
dynamic web pages that change
while the user is viewing it. You’ll
need to learn some HTML and CSS
along with it, languages that are
used to design webpages, but it
shouldn’t be much of a problem
since they’re all simple languages that are easy to learn. Note
that if you’re interested in making apps for Google services, this
is the language to pick up.
Now you know about some programming languages. When it
comes to learning them, probably the best way to learn them
from start to finish is through
books, but why would you even
bother with a piece of brick while
there is the internet, right? Here
are some resources you can use to
learn programming.
Code.org is a great website to
start. While it won’t teach you
programming itself, it’ll help
you find other websites and resources that teach programming.
It has an event called “Hour of
Code” every year that encourages
people to spend only one hour
to learn programming. In Robert
College, Android Studio Academy, iPhone & iPad Programming
and Makers Clubs collaborated
to implement this event as “Code
Week” this year. If you’re still unsure about whether you should
learn programming or not, or
look for a website that teaches
programming, I encourage you to
visit this website.
Codecademy.com is a website
that’s mentioned in Code.org as
well. It has courses for some of
the languages I’ve mentioned,
along with other languages.
What’s best about this website is
that along with every part of the
lesson, there’s some space for you
to write some code to complete a
specific task, in order to advance
to the next part. This way, you
get to practice immediately after
learning and you don’t have to
install any additional programs
on your computer either. It’s also
completely free! Codecademy.
com is a great website to get
started.
If you’re looking for something
more advanced, Coursera.org is
the way to go. This website has
courses in many subjects outside
Computer Science as well and is
a very useful website to get university level lessons from professors in various universities for
free! You can even get a certifi-
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
cate at the end of the course. One
of their courses, called Computer
Science 101, is a very educative
introductory course that teaches
how computers and programming work. Although there’s very
little programming involved and
the course currently doesn’t give
a certificate at the end, it’s still
worth taking. (“Stanford”)
If these websites don’t work for
you, Google is your friend. There
are several excellent tutorials
online, either in video or in text
format. If you’re looking for an
introductory tutorial for any programming language, you’ll most
likely be able to find a decent one
on YouTube or similar sites.
Lastly, there are ways to learn
programming at Robert College as well. There are the Intro
to Programming and Advanced
Programming courses, which
both teach Java. Also, there are
currently four clubs that teach
programming: Android Studio
Academy, iPhone & iPad Programming, Makers Club and
Tübitak Computer Team (“rcoders”). These clubs all start from
scratch, so you do not have to
know any programming to begin
with. Programming is an important skill and should be learned
for many reasons. If you would
like to learn programming, there
are great places to start on the
internet and in Robert College as
well. I hope you found this article
helpful, and happy coding!
Works Cited:
Diakopoulos, Nick. “Top 10 Programming Languages to Learn.”
Code for Geek. 16 Sept. 2014.
Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Sine, Richard. “Program or Perish: Why Everyone Should Learn
to Code. “The Coca-Cola Company. 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Feb.
2015.
“Stanford Computer Science 101.”
Coursera. Stanford, n.d. Web. 18
Feb. 2015.
9
NEWS&OPINIONBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS&OPINION
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
Latest Discoveries in the Universe
Uzay Macar
Mankind has been curious about the
cosmos, endlessly surrounding our little blue planet which we call “home”,
since the beginning of time. This infinite space has sometimes been an
object of fear, and other times it has
been an object of hope and survival.
Nevertheless, mankind’s pursuit of
the universe will continue as long
as people exist and no matter what
they come against in the universe.
It is somewhat disheartening that,
after hundreds of years of research
and spending astronomical amounts
of money, we have not come close to
getting even a small sense of the universe knowing that there are still tens
of billions of unanswered questions
and countless undiscovered locations.
Yet one cannot neglect the fact that
mankind has progressed tremendously in space discoveries - thanks to
new ideas and new technology particularly in the last few years. Here are
some of these discoveries that have
taken place in the last few years.
Gaia
Did you know that the European
Space Agency (ESA) launched a space
observatory telescope in December
2013? For more than twenty years,
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has
been sending information and pictures about the planets and stars
to Earth, and recently he has a new
friend in space: Gaia. Its primary mission is to study our Milky Way in depth
and to create a three-dimensional
space catalogue of billions of stars
and other celestial objects. Hopefully
we will get a better understanding of
our galaxy and explore thousands of
planets within a few years with the
help of Gaia.
“The Planet That Shouldn’t Exist”
Discovered by the Kepler Space
Telescope in 2013, Kepler-78b (also
known as The Hell Planet) is very similar to Earth in terms of mass, radius
and density. However, contrary to
what these data suggest, Kepler-78b
is incredibly close to its parent star.
The planet is covered with lava and
fire. In modern physics, there is no
explanation as to how a planet of this
size ended up so close to its parent
star. Physicists suggest that Kepler-
78b is getting closer to its inevitable
destruction by the heat of its star each
second.
Titan, Saturn’s Moon
Discovered in 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, Titan
is the first known moon of Saturn.
In 2004, the Huygens lander probe
was sent to Titan aboard NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft by the ESA. When the
probe landed on the surface of Titan, it revealed amazing facts. Titan
is primarily composed of water, ice,
and rocky material, but what makes
Titan popular is that it has lakes and
seas just like on Earth. Instead of
water, however, these lakes and seas
are composed of methane. Because
methane exists as a liquid on Titan,
methane also evaporates and forms
clouds, which occasionally cause
“methane rains”. It is truly astonishing to see that water on Earth corresponds to methane on Titan. These
two seemingly dissimilar substances,
water and methane, play the exact
same roles and go through the exact
same cycles. Additionally, Titan is the
only world other than Earth in the solar system that has stable liquids on
its surfaces.
Enceladus, Saturn’s Moon
In 2014, NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft
reported that there was a very large
body of liquid water (an ocean) beneath the surface of Enceladus, another of Saturn’s interesting moons.
Although Enceladus is not the only
moon in the solar system to have a
subsurface ocean, the vapor plumes
from Enceladus’ South Pole are known
to contain organic molecules. This
discovery has led scientists to think
that Enceladus’ deep saltwater ocean
is the most likely place in the solar
system for extraterrestrial life to be
found.
Kepler 438b, The Most Earth-like
Planet
On 6 January 2015, NASA confirmed
the discovery of Kepler-438b. Kepler438b has a radius 1.12 times that of
Earth, and is located within the habitable zone where liquid water could
exist on the surface of the planet.
This discovery excited everyone since
it has the potential to have life on its
surface. But then again, the questions
arise: what if Kepler-438b is a planet
that shouldn’t exist or what if it is too
cold or too hot unlike the data suggests? In order to answer these questions, we will possibly have to wait
for another hundred years or even
more...
Works Cited:
“10 Bizarre and Unexpected Space Discoveries - Listverse.” Listverse. N.p., n.d.
Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
“Eight Recent Space Discoveries to Blow
Your Mind - World - NZ Herald News.” The
New Zealand Herald. N.p., n.d. Web. 18
Feb. 2015.
“Kepler 438b: Does Fear, Not Curiosity,
Drive Our Obsession with Alien Life?” The
Guardian. The Guardian, n.d. Web. 18
Feb. 2015.
“Ocean Discovered on Enceladus May
Be Best Place to Look for Alien Life.” The
Guardian. The Guardian, n.d. Web. 18
Feb. 2015. NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 11 Feb.
2015.
“The Planet Shouldn’t Exist” (Photo Courtesy of Dailymail.co.uk)
The Nobel Prizes of 2014
Melisa
Saygın
The Nobel Prize is seen as the most
prestigious and reputable award
in the fields of physics, chemistry,
physiology/medicine, literature and
peace. Nobel Prizes are given on
December tenth--the anniversary
of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel’s
death in 1896--by the Swedish
Academy, Nobel committee of Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences, Nobel
committee of Karolinska Institutet,
Norwegian Nobel Committee (Wikipedia). Here are the Nobel Prize 2014
winners:
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014
Japanese physicists Isamu Akasaki,
Photo Courtesy of nobelprize.org
10
Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura
were awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physics for their invention of blue
LEDs that enable humankind to use
efficient, low-energy consuming,
bright and also colorful LED screens.
Even though professors Akasaki,
Amano and Nakamura had already
invented the first blue LEDs in 1990,
the Japanese professors waited 24
years for the award because the
Nobel Prize Jury wanted to observe
blue LEDs’ long term benefits. Even
though red and green LEDs have
been around for many years, many
professors, doctors and companies
who tried to invent blue LEDs failed.
Thanks to professors Akasaki, Amano
and Nakamura, we can now produce
the color white on our screens with
the mixture of red, green and blue
LEDs.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2014
Chemists Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell
and William E. Moerner were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for
the development of super-resolved
fluorescence microscopy. For years,
biologists, chemists and biochemists
worked hard to see what is inside the
cell. To see in greater detail, they
needed to go deeper and deeper to
make the classic microscope’s view
clearer. Now scientists can observe
what every single part of the cell
is doing, and they have a more accurate understanding of subatomic
particles.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology/
Medicine 2014
John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and
Edvard Moser proved that our brains
keep track of the places we go and
see, acting like GPS devices within
our bodies. John O’Keefe placed
record signals into rats’ brains, and
he discovered that when rats reach
some specific point in a room, such
as a corner, their brains give a signal
and record this place, producing a
general map of the room.
The Nobel Prize in Literature
2014
French writer Patrick Modiano won
the Nobel Prize in Literature for
“the art of memory with which he
has evoked the most ungraspable
human destinies and uncovered
the life-world of the occupation”
(Wikipedia). His novels are generally based on the realities of recent
French history; he enriched this
theme with the moods forgetting
the past, the need of confrontation
with past, shadows and traces of
dark yesterdays (Oztokat).
The Nobel Peace Prize 2014
Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were awarded the Nobel Peace
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
Malala Yousafzai (Photo Courtesy of cdn.urbantimes.co)
Prize. Malala Yousafzai and Kailash
Satyarthi both fought for childrens’
rights, including the right to an education. Before then, Malala Yousafzai
was a Pakistani blogger, independent of classification or pressure.
She wrote her thoughts about children’s rights and nearly lost her life
because of her beliefs. In spite of the
horrible events she experienced, she
pursued her work without any egotism. Malala Yousafzai, at the age of
17, is now the youngest Nobel Prize
winner. Kailash Satyarthi is an activist who fights against child labor
and who founded Bachpan Bachao
Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement).
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics: Jean Tirole
Jean Tirole, an economics professor and MIT graduate, was awarded
the Nobel Prize in economics for “his
analysis of market power and regulation” (“Nobel Prize Nominations”).
Work Cited:
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.
Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
“Nobel Prize Nominations.” Nobelprize.
org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
Öztokat, Nedret Taçyolat. “2014 Nobel
Edebiyat Ödülü Sahibi Patrick Modiano
üzerine...” Cumhuriyet Gazetesi -. Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
March
JUNE 2012
2015Issue
Issue
January 2008 Issue
FEATURESBOSPHORUSCHRONICLEFEATURES
Senior Play 2015: The Glass Menagerie
Bilge Tatar
“Blue is wrong--for roses.” The Glass
Menagerie is a very tragic but also
an intriguing play. It can make you
laugh hysterically and shed tears
quietly. The enthusiasm and the
experience of the RC Seniors combined with this well-written and
symbolic play resulted in a wellacted, natural performance.
Two actors, Ali Sarılgan (RC’15) and
Umutcan Gölbaşı (RC’15), and two
actresses, Deniz Vural (RC’15) and
Selin Özülkülü (RC’15), were the
main and only characters of the
play. Ali Sarılgan, as Tom Wingfield,
was also the narrator, introducing
and ending the play with his storytelling. The audience could clearly
observe the relationships among
family members and recognize
their characteristics instantly: the
dominant mother from the south of
US, Amanda Wingfield; her fragile
daughter Laura; and her adventur-
The plot revolves around the mother’s idea to find a groom for her shy
daughter Laura. She urges her son
Tom to find someone from his office, which Tom eventually does.
Jim O’Connor, the potential groom,
and Laura, have met before in high
school. Laura has been in love with
him since those days; however, Jim,
a popular student, had spoken to
Laura only once in school. Because
of a misunderstanding, he started
to call her Blue Roses, referring to
Laura’s unusual qualities and character. When Jim is invited to dinner
at the Wingfield’s house, the scene
becomes more romantic and continues with a kiss; Jim quickly apologies, explains that he is engaged
to another woman, and leaves,
making the story more tragic. A big
fight between the mother and Tom
follows, and the play finishes with
the characters blowing out candles,
giving a sense of closure.
The Glass Menagerie is considered to
be the most autobiographical play
of Tennessee Williams as well as a
turning point in his writing career.
Williams’ own mother was known
to be insensitive and dominant to-
Laura and Jim looking at the unicorn
ous and daydreamer son, Tom Wingfield. The father had left them years
before the play takes place, which
makes the mother more dominant
in the play.Laura’s delicate nature
highlights the contrast between
inferiority-superiority among the
family members.
ward him and his sister, Rose. She
was also a Southern beauty with
a neurotic and sometimes snobbish attitude. His father was a shoe
salesman, and he was away from
home most of the time. His sister
Rose was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which led to the lobotomy
her father demanded. She was in-
The Cast on Stage
March 2015 Issue
Amanda (right) and Laura (left)
stitutionalized after the lobotomy;
however, Williams often visited her
and helped her with money. This
relationship of Williams and his sister can be clearly seen in the play.
Williams also worked in a shoe company, a job that he hated, just like
Tom. All the unhappy family background and incidents in the play are
based on Williams’ real life. These
unhappy moments from his childhood helped him tremendously to
create this play and to become one
of the foremost playwrights of 20th
century American drama.
There are a lot of striking, flashy and
bold scenes in the play. One of Ali’s
favorite moments is when he and
his mother were having a little discussion. Amanda was telling him to
sit up straight, to stop eating with
his hands and to give up smoking.
These little discussions provide humorous relief from the tragic story
and also show the communication
mistakes among family members.
Another significant moment, maybe the most important one in the
play, was the crashing of the glass
unicorn. Laura shares her most
valuable ornament with Jim, giving the audience the sense of how
Jim himself is valuable to Laura. She
says quietly, “I shouldn’t be partial,
but he is my favorite one.” She has
a lot of horses in her glass collection
but only one unicorn, which makes
it so special. But when Jim accidently breaks off the unicorn’s horn,
the unicorn seems similar to other
horses. This little “operation,” this
removal of the horn bothers Laura
at first, but then she thinks that the
unicorn will feel more at home with
the other horses. The desire of Laura
to be like others is at its peak in
this moment. But Jim can’t see this
change in Laura, instead perceiving
Laura’s words as a joke.
Jake Becker, director and advisor
of the RC Theater Senior Company,
summarizes the overall process. “It
was very a long and a tiring process. But I’m impressed that the
seniors came over the break, came
over the snow days, and dedicated
themselves to it.” Dedication and
hard work were apparent since
all the actors did a very good job
performing this challenging play.
The characters and the background
were complicated but successfully
performed on the stage.
Mr. Becker also talks about how the
actors were the right fit for the play.
He mentioned that Selin Özülkülü
is also a chatty type of person in
real life and Deniz Vural was determined to play the role of a shy person and find her inner self. Ali has
played a lot of roles here at Robert
College, so Mr. Becker knew that
he could handle his character very
well. And as for Umutcan Gölbaşı,
even though he has spent only two
years in RC Theater Company, he
performed well. “They never could
have performed such a difficult play
without great dedication,” finalizes
Mr. Becker. Ali states that because
they are close friends and because
everyone is so experienced, it was
easier for them to share their ideas
about how to make the play their
own.
A warm congratulations to all of the
actors, Mr. Becker, Murat Abi and
Burak Abi, the make-up crew, Ms.
Sertel and the backstage help for
collaborating on such a remarkable
performance of a tragic story.
Works Cited:
“Tennessee Williams.” Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.
15 Mar. 2015.
“Tennessee Williams.” Bio. A&E
Television Networks, 2015. Web. 15
Mar. 2015.
The Narrator of the Play
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
11
FEATURESBOSPHORUSCHRONICLEFEATURES
Kiss and Tell: Robert College Edition
Nisan Şele
Robert College is one of the most
popular schools in Turkey. It represents mystery, with its majestic
buildings, culturally enlightened
and hardworking students. Because
of its popularity and the mystery
factor surrounding it, there are a lot
of rumors going around Istanbul and
the rest of the country about what’s
happening inside the well-protected gates of the school. Some are
pretty outrageous and impossible,
and some, well, all I can say that we
would really like it if they happened.
Today, we’re going to talk about all
the dish going around about RC.
Rumor #1- Hairdresser on Campus
It is a known fact that RC students
care about their hair. Also, we have
additional amounts of time in a day,
it’s not like we wake up at 6 am to
get to school every morning. We
don’t have to do hours of homework
after we come home, study for our
exams, and run from class to class to
hand in homework on time either.
So, what do we do with that time?
We go to the hairdresser of course!
If you missed the announcement,
the hairdresser opened this month
and I have no idea how everybody in
Istanbul learned about it so quickly.
The spa on the other hand has existed for years and I haven’t heard a
single soul outside the school talking about it.
Personally, I’m a library kind of girl,
on second thought you don’t see
anyone talk about the huge library
either, but if you need a last moment dye before asking someone
out on a date, why not?
Rumor #2- Mandatory American
Football Sessions: For Two Hours
A Day!
Health, of course, is very important,
and sports are good and everything
but I personally don’t understand
why it has to be American Football.
Is it because it’s American? Why
can’t we play soccer or volleyball?
Not that I’m complaining. It could’ve
been billiards or some sport like
that.
Every student loves running through
the green plateaus and chasing
some classmate who always has the
ball first and scores the point before
you can even start running. No hard
feelings, right? It’s not like we lose
every day.
If I were to respond to the rumors,
why do you think service buses leave
later than most schools? Two hours a
day later. Don’t you think that’s a little bit - well, short? As students we
decided that the training sessions
after school should be increased to
four hours a day.
Rumor #3- RC students talk to
each other in English for fun
Photo Courtesy of Selin Çapan
No. That’s not true. It’s not like we
have conversations in English, tweet
in English, snap in English, write in
English, youtube in English or do
everything in English. To make this
completely clear, I can promise you
that I have never looked up any
translations online because I first
thought of the word in English and
couldn’t find the Turkish counterpart
myself. That never happened.
This one is a complete lie; even I
can’t find anything to say about it.
Just, no.
No.
Rumor#4 -- No, wait.
I mean even if it was true, it would
be our fault. We would be doing it
for fun. I mean, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. It’s just for fun.
IT’S JUST FOR FUN!
Rumor #5- Russian Waiters In
Line To Make Your All Wishes
Come True
This one, sadly, isn’t true anymore.
Probably, this one caused RC students the biggest heartbreak:
there used to be Russian waiters in
the cafeteria, standing still in their
white tuxedos, until an RC student
asked them to bring a glass of water
or a sophisticated dish.
We loved the Russian waiters, they
were so nice and sweet, and not
to mention they were pretty good
looking too! I saw a girl faint when a
waiter winked at her once. They had
their benefits, but do you have any
idea how much it costs to fly them in
from Russia?
Now, we use the preps as waiters instead, to save some money.
Even though they aren’t as eager
and not as good looking, they do
fine, I guess. Plus, they learn some
valuable skills that’ll help them
throughout their lives.
Rumor#5- Heliport (In Campus?)
Now, let’s clear the air about this rumor once and for all. Some say that
wealthy students come to school every day in private helicopters. Obviously not.
First of all, Gretchen, stop trying to
make helicopters happen. It’s not
Photo Courtesy of Nisan Şele
going to happen (Mean Girls). Secondly, helicopters are a mess. How
would we keep our hair beautiful
with all that wind blowing into our
face? Unfortunately, this rumor just
doesn’t end here. People also say
that RC provides students with high
GPA’s helicopters on snow days, so
they can come to school. I would
face palm right now if I wasn’t typing. Please, if you’re going to gossip,
then at least make it consistent. Of
course, we don’t use helicopters, we
have a better way to travel to school
every morning. We all have our private jets now.
Rumor #6- Everybody Hates RC
Students
Correction: Outsiders hate RC students. They think we’re nosy, selfabsorbed and too intelligent for our
own good. Since when a student can
be too intelligent, that’s beyond me,
but I kind of smell some jealousy
coming our way. It stinks.
Also, they might think those are insults, but I personally thank them
for it. I love being nosy, and selfabsorbed and intelligent. It’s better
than running around talking about
people’s supposed hairdressers, private jets, American Football sessions
and many other things. As once a
very wise woman said, my friends,
“Haters gonna hate, hate, hate,
hate, hate” (Swift.)
Related to this rumor: people also
say that all RC students are super
wealthy. I’m wondering if that took
them a while to figure out. Of course
we all have bank accounts worth
thousands of dollars and our parents
buy us everything we want. I think
the other day, I saw two girls fighting in the corridor because they had
the same coat. Gross!
Those are some of the rumors going
on about our school, most of them
debunked. Next time someone asks
you or says something to you about
these, you know what to say. We’re
fabulous, smart and can play American football. I just think they feel
bad because they don’t have their
own private jet. Good luck keeping
your hair stylish with that helicopter
of yours.
Works Cited:
Mean Girls. Dir. Mark Walters.
Screenplay by Tina Fey. Prod. Lorne
Michaels. Perf. Lindsay Lohan and
Rachel McAdams. Paramount Pictures, 2004. Film.
Swift, Taylor A. By Max Martin and
Shellback. Shake It Off. Taylor Swift.
Max Martin& Shellback, 2014.
MP3.
The glamorous flowers and the brightening sun are looming large on the horizon.
Spring is about to come!
So let’s capture the best moments of spring in RC.
Please submit your photographs to bosphoruseditor@gmail.com by April 23rd
for the Bosphorus Chronicle Photography Contest.
We will publish the best ones in the next issue of BC.
12
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
MARCH 2015 Issue
January 2008 Issue
FEATURESBOSPHORUSCHRONICLEFEATURES
Travel Talks: Tolstoy, Tsars, Tombs and T-shirts
Umut Deniz Dinç
It is during this time of the year that
most people start planning their vacations. This article is aimed to help
those who are looking for advice in
deciding where to visit in spring/
summer. The number of beautiful
places on earth is of course countless, but one country stands out this
year and wishes for you to give it the
attention it deserves. This country is
Russia.
It has been more than a year now
since Russia started appearing in everyday news. Conflict in the Ukraine,
sanctions, Crimea, Russian aggression, Putin - it is impossible that
you haven’t heard of those terms,
but completely normal if you didn’t
pay attention. Most people don’t.
But there is a chance that you will
now, because with all those news,
and falling oil prices, there is one
yet highly important result: the
devalued ruble (Russia’s currency).
Although this is bad news for Putin,
it is not for you. So if you go now, it
is highly possible that you will spend
less than you would just a year ago.
If you spend your money at local
businesses the difference will be
evident, meaning you may want
to avoid places that calculate their
prices according to foreign currencies, like some international hotel
chains. Also, reports suggest that
the number of international tourists
in Russia will decrease in 2015 due
to country’s bad reputation in Western media. This may cause more
advantages economically, but even
more importantly it means that you
will be surrounded by fewer tourists
and more locals. Anyone who seeks
to discover and understand a country with its culture should be well
aware of the advantages here.
Those were the reasons the this reporter has chosen Russia as a good
tourist destination. This article, due
to limited space, will focus on Moscow and Saint Petersburg being two
of the most prominent cities in the
country.
People
In Turkey, there is a belief that the
most friendly people live in Mediterranean countries, and as you go
north the rate of friendliness decreases- this looks bad for Russia.
More bad news is that Russia was
ranked the third most unfriendly
nation by the World Economic Forum. Don’t worry though, because
in my experience these notions are
simply not true. I visited the country
twice, and in neither of these visits
did I experience any significant act
of unfriendliness. The only problem
with Russians about communication
is that a vast (really vast) majority
don’t speak English, but a good traveller shouldn’t mind that at all. So
be a good traveller and carry a small
pocket dictionary or use your phone.
Also, young Russians try their hardest to speak English and help you
with whatever problem you may
encounter.
A Country of Museums, Arts and
Literature
Russia has some of the most outstanding arts museums, including
the world-famous Hermitage which
is in the heart of St. Petersburg. Although less famous, the Tretyakov
Gallery in Moscow is also a must
see which focuses on Russian art
through the centuries. If you are
interested in modern art, the Multimedia Art Museum and Winzavod
Center for Contemporary Art are
both in Moscow and have interesting expositions throughout the year.
Performing arts in Russia are well
worth a visit too. After all, what other country can beat Russia in ballet?
In Moscow the best is the Bolshoi,
and in St. Petersburg it is the Mariinsky (also check out the SPB Opera in
St. Petersburg) . It is incredibly hard
to find tickets for the Bolshoi, but
the Mariinsky is a bit more accessible, although you still need to book
in advance. Finally, the literature. If
you love literature you must appreciate how much this nation has contributed to it. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy,
Pushkin, Turgenev, Gogol and many
others’ sources of inspiration lie in
this land. If you are going to visit St.
Petersburg, I recommend that you
read the novella White Nights by
Dostoevsky. Then when you arrive
at the city, you can wander around
aimlessly and dream as the main
character does. The book makes you
look at the city in a different, romantic and nostalgic way.
A Country of Putin
Putin needs no explanation. Just so
Saint Petersburg (Photo courtesy of bugbog.com)
MARCH 2015 Issue
Red Square, Moscow (Photo Courtesy of flickr.com/Girados)
you know, there are now vending
machines that sell his T-shirts in
quite a few places in Moscow.
A Country of Space Technologies
Aren’t you bored of “Houston we
have a problem”? Don’t you think
Hollywood puts too many American
flags in any space-related movie?
Well, visit Moscow and learn more
about the other side of the story
in the Space Race. The Memorial
Museum of Cosmonautics is a bit
away from central Moscow, however getting there is extremely
easy by subway. Among the display
are two stuffed dogs that actually
went to space (orbit) and returned
safely. They were the first ones to
do so. Another interesting exhibit
is a reproduction of Luna-2, the first
spacecraft to land on the Moon. The
list of interesting spacecraft goes
on, and you will be amazed by the
number of “firsts”. The only bad part
is that most descriptions are not
available in English; at least this was
the case one and a half years ago
and may have been changed. On the
opposite side of the boulevard from
the museum is a huge hotel named
Hotel Cosmos, which will give you a
taste of Soviet style hotels.
A Country of Soviets
This is for all the comrades out there.
Russia is the only country on earth
where you can visit Lenin’s mauso-
leum, which is quite impressive, and
then go eat at McDonalds, which is
100 meters away. Joking aside, if
you are interested in Soviet history
at any point, Moscow welcomes you.
Its architecture above and under the
ground may still make you feel that
the country remains Soviet. The famous subway is a must see and possibly the safest public place on earth
in case of a nuclear war. Among the
finest examples of Soviet architecture is the Ministry of External Affairs which is located near the end
of Arbatskaya Street (The street is
a popular venue). I would recommend that you walk through the
bank of Moscow river and visit Gorky
Park where you will see a huge
model of the Soviet Buran Space
shuttle. As an extraordinary activity,
you may visit a once secret facility
called Bunker 42 which is now is a
museum. Or you can go shooting
with famous AK-47 army guns just
outside Moscow. If there is someone
with enough English, ask him the
lowest price for the gun - you will
be surprised. You may even fly in a
Mig-29 (it’s like an F-16) if you are
willing to pay a lot of money. This
option is really, really expensive.
Overall, the best thing about Moscow is Red Square and Lenin’s Mausoleum though. Also don’t forget to
visit Nazım Hikmet’s tomb which is
accessible via subway.
A Country of Tsars
Tsars were the kings of Russia before
the revolution occurred. The capital
during Tsarist times after Peter the
Great was St. Petersburg and the city
is now the home of countless palaces. The luxury that you will see in
them is mind-blowing. No other European city can match St. Petersburg
and its palaces. Really the best part
about the most famous of summer
palaces is not their interiors; their
gardens are much more joyful and
lively. Circle the lake in Catherine
the Great’s Palace and look through
the sea in Peterhof. You will reach
nirvana, guaranteed.
Only if you go to Russia.
Works Cited:
Lovitt, Rob. “Why Russia Is Becoming a ‘hot’ Travel Destination.” CNBC.
N.p., 08 Jan. 2015.
Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Cha, Frances. “World’s Unfriendliest
Nations for Tourists? - CNN.com.”
CNN. Cable News
Network, 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Feb.
2015.
Powell, Laura. “Is Now the Time to
Visit Russia? - CNN.com.” CNN. Cable
News Network,
26 Jan. 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Vladimir Putin (Photo Courtesy cdn.frontpagemag.com)
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
13
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENTBOSPHORUSCHRONICLE
Life with Dreams
Zeynep
Ünsal
“You say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the
only one.”- John Lennon, Imagine.
We are all dreamers with different
fears, hopes and thrills… Dreams
are sometimes a way to escape a
boring lesson and be wherever we
want to be instead. Sometimes we
are happier in our dreams than we
are in real life.
However, for reasons we sometimes
cannot understand, we may also
have nightmares that ruin our sleep.
Dreams speak the language of our
subconscious and we have to try to
understand the codes of our dreams.
You can’t always dream of what you
want to dream of. Your brain combines different memories, thoughts,
and places. With these combinations you may discover new ways of
thinking, which don’t occur to you
when you are awake. For example,
you may see one of your friends in
your dream, and wake up to remember that it is her birthday- something that might have slipped your
mind if it weren’t for the dream.
Dreams also affect our mood a lot.
A nightmare can put you in a bad
mood the next day, and a good
dream can make your day go better
than expected.
People have between three to seven
dreams per night but in just two to
three hours. 90% of our dreams are
lost in the first minute when we
wake up. Each person has dreams
that are unique, as everyone has
different combinations of memories
of people, events and backgrounds.
People can also dream in black and
white. In fact, 12% of the people
around the world say they dream in
black and white and 88% of them
say they dream in color. Some say
this 12% see the world with sharp
limits as good or bad and right or
wrong and that the people who
dream in color are open minded to
lead you to new inventions.
Works Cited:
“With Deeper Sleep Comes Weirder
Dreams.” Medical Daily. N.p., n.d. Web.
18 Feb. 2015. <http://www.medicaldaily.com/times-strange-effect-ourdreams-we-sleep-deeper-they-getweirder-304128>.
“The Impact of Dreams on Your Social Life.” Psychology Today. N.p., n.d.
Web. 17 Feb. 2015. <https://www.
psychologytoday.com/blog/dreamcatcher/201105/the-impact-dreamsyour-social-life>.
Photo Courtesy of flickr.com
new ideas and more creative. One
more interesting fact about our
dreams is that some inventions are
the products of dreams like the idea
for Google-Larry Page and the periodic table.
There are also things you can do to
have better dreams. One is go to
bed earlier, and another is improv-
ing your diet, as eating right before
you go to bed can cause nightmares.
Dreams are also the reflection of
stress so clearing your mind and trying to reduce stress may help you
relax and you have a peaceful sleep.
Dreams are a whole different world.
They define a different world that
help you in real life, and may even
lombia and more. You may want to
look at their tumblr page: theperfectpour.tumblr.com.
Kılıçalipaşa Mah. Akarsu Yokusu
No:22/A Cihangir, İstanbul, Türkiye
MOC Istanbul
The favorite place of coffee lovers
living in Nişantaşı, this specious
coffee house offers a wide range
of coffee specialties. Sydney-raised
barista Sam Ceviköz and his team
use elaborate apparatuses like syphon and cold brew drip systems to
brew a delicious latte and cold drip
that keeps customers coming back
for more.
Şakayık Sok. No:4/A, Nişantaşı/
İstanbul
Rafine Espresso Bar
Rafine Espresso Bar can only hold 8
people at a time, and is owned and
run by a single person who brews,
cooks and takes care of the place.
Aside from its syphon coffee and
latte, the peanut butter cookie of
the place is a must-try.
Caferağa Mh., Moda Caddesi No:69,
Kadıköy
Cup of Joy
Hidden from the noise of
Cevdetpaşa Caddesi, you need to
have heard of Cup of Joy to find it.
Apart from its delicious treats, Cup
of Joy offers a delicious range of
lattes, espressos and more.
Cevdetpaşa Caddesi No: 53/5, Bebek
Drip Coffeeist
From the Belgium syphon to the
Aeropress, Drip Coffeeist offers a
wide selection of brewing methods. You also must try the aromatic
drip-brew coffee that takes 16
hours to develop its rich flavor.
Bağdat Cad./şaşkınbakkal Noter
Sok. Ahtep Apt. No:17/C
Heirloom Cafe
Dilek Çamlı’s creation, this coffee
“When Dreaming Is Believing: Dreams
Affect People’s Judgment, Behavior,
According to New Study.” Http://www.
apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
<http://apa.org/news/press/releases/2009/02/dreaming-behavior.aspx>.
“20 Amazing Facts About Dreams That
You Might Not Know About.” Lifehack
RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.lifehack.org/articles/
productivity/20-amazing-facts-aboutdreams-that-you-might-not-knowabout.html>.
Third Wave Coffee in Istanbul
Deniz
Şahintürk
Even if you are not a full-blown
coffee addict like me, it is nearly
impossible for you to miss the coffee houses springing up like mushrooms on every corner. However,
these places seem to be a bit different from the usual coffee chains we
used to see. This difference is actually a worldwide new coffee trend
named “third wave coffee,” which
aims at bringing the best quality
coffee made from the best quality
ingredients to customers, rather
than preparing an overpriced cup
of latte in under three minutes and
serving it in a plastic cup.
But what exactly is third wave
coffee? And what were the other
“waves” anyway? The period in
1900s when coffee first started
to appear in an ordinary citizen’s
home is named as the first wave;
the second wave defines the time
when coffee became an easily accessible commodity, mostly due
to the emergence of large coffee
chains. The third wave, however,
treats coffee more like a complex
culinary artform rather than a simple commodity. It aims to unleash
the full flavor and texture of coffee beans and involves a rigorous
process of selecting the best quality ingredients and brewing them
in complex methods (pour-over
brewing devices, vacuum coffee,
syphon coffee etc). As the Bosphorus Chronicle staff, we picked some
of the most promising places for
third wave coffee in Istanbul.
KronotRop
This small coffee-heaven in Cihan-
14
gir strikes the visitors first with its
thick smell of freshly ground coffee
and elegant decoration. From the
chalkboard menu customers have
the chance to choose from a large
variety of coffees, like cold-brew
or the place’s specialty, Red Eye,
which is a shot of espresso followed
by a cup of filtered coffee. A selection of coffee beans, imported from
all around the world, are roasted
specially for each customer’s order,
and most importantly, served with
diligence and love.
Kuloğlu Mh., Firuzağa Cami Sokak, Şelale Apt. No:2/B Cihangir,
Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Geyik Coffee Roastery & Cocktail Bar
Almost next-door to KronotRop,
this elegant and cozy jewel serves
coffee during the day and drinks
at night. Run by Serkan İpekli and
Yağmur Engin, this place houses a
wide variety of coffee beans from
Honduras, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Co-
MOC Istanbul (Photo Courtesy of bayaiyi.com)
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
haven in Çukurcuma introduces
people to various innovative ways
to experience coffee, most notably
the siphon method, which makes
a smooth cup using a vacuumpowered machine. The decoration of the place is also striking,
elegantly filled with hand-woven
tablecloths, olive wood handcrafts,
and more.
Kuloğlu Mh., Adile Naşit Sokak (G-4
Sk.) No:6
Çekirdek
Not even a year old, this newbie
in Moda, Kadıköy has managed to
attract the coffee-loving crowd.
Tunca Özgürer, a former pastry
chef, welcomes his customers with
a warm smile and offers them a
selection of flavored espressos and
delicious pastries.
Caferağa Mahallesi, Şair Latifi Sokak
9/A, Kadıköy
Rafine Espresso Bar (Photo Courtesy of cdn2.themagger.net)
NOVEMBER
March 2015
2013
Issue
Issue
January 2008 Issue
BOSPHORUSCHRONICLEARTS&ENTERTAINMENT
87th Academy Awards: The Oscars Special
Ege Ersü
Tuvana Kankallı
Ipek Ömercikli
“Now more than ever we need
to talk to each other, to listen to
each other and understand how
we see the world, and cinema is
the best medium for doing this.”
once said the Academy Awardwining director Martin Scorsese. Cinema covers one of the
widest grounds we stand on as
we interact with others and also
each other. A movie can make
you cry or laugh, think or feel,
and even change your perception of life. As writing, directing, acting, and editing come
together, a masterpiece appears
before the audience. Every year,
the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences rewards the
faces behind these masterpieces that are not always visible
to the audiences. This year, the
87th Academy Awards was as
glamorous and breath-taking
as always, and it took place on
February 22, 2015 in Los Angeles.
At Bosphorus Chronicle, we have
decided to create an Oscars Special for this issue to share some
insightful analyses of nominees
and winners. Because art is controversial and when it’s beyond
technical aspects, it depends on
one’s personal encounter with
the work; we have only meant
to shed light on some opinions and perspectives since the
Academy has already made their
choices.
This year’s favorite films were
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and The Grand
Budapest Hotel with 9 Oscar
nominations, followed by The
Imitation Game with 8 nominations. With these nominations,
both Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and
The Grand Budapest Hotel won 4
Oscars.
An Oscar statuette
weighs 8.5 lbs.
(3.86 kg)
Best Motion Picture of the
Year
Nominees: American Sniper,
The Grand Budapest Hotel, The
Imitation Game, Birdman or (The
Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),
Selma, The Theory of Everything,
Boyhood, Whiplash
Winner: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Regarded as the most important
award of all, Best Motion Picture is often the most discussed
and the least predictable by
the critics. How can one decide
the best film of all at the first
place? A film should excel in every category, sans the political
benefits. Recently the Academy
has given this award either to
a film about American heroism
or overcoming racism. Argo and
12 Years a Slave are the latest
examples. This does not mean
those films were not worthy
of the award, but one wonders
if the Academy is biased in the
face of propaganda. Both nominees, American Sniper and Selma fit in that category, but they
were not exceptionally successful. American Sniper was seen as
portraying unnecessary heroism
and Selma is not original in its
genre nor the most successful
film of its type, according to
most of the critics as apparently
to the Academy.
The Theory of Everything, which
appealed to many, was also a
highly favoured film. It focused
on the relationship of Stephen
Hawking and his wife, giving
the audience a different perspective on the physics genius’s
life. The film was excellent in
many aspects like the lighting
and soundtrack, but it appeared
as if it couldn’t decide whether
Birdman (Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)
March 2015 Issue
or not to focus on Hawking as a
whole or as a husband, resulting
in an overlooked life of the scientist. The Grand Budapest Hotel
was another favorite amongst
the nominees, winning four Oscars and having the first place
along with Birdman. The director Wes Anderson’s touch was
heavily observable in the film
with its colorful imagery, production design, and cinematography. It was maybe the most
successful film that created the
connection between the director and his art.
The Imitation Game was a biography which lacked creativity
and originality in its plot for the
Academy. It was a great choice
for Best Adapted Screenplay
but overall, it didn’t have the
twists and features of a Best
Picture. It had all the characteristics of a biography, with Alan
Turing changing the direction
of one the greatest wars of all
time; though his struggle for his
sexuality was minimised. This
decision was rather unrealistic
since sexuality was a big taboo
in those days and resulted in
Turing’s suicide.
Shocking its fans by winning
only two Oscars, Whiplash was
a tense and somehow terrifying
story of a young man who struggles to become the best in the
hardest of the music businesses,
jazz. He is committed and passionate only to be ignored and
betrayed over and over again
by his teacher, almost dying
for this cause until finally becoming the best. The film went
to great extent in this context,
creating an almost unbelievable
environment of a school and
teacher, but it also presented
the hard truth that being one
of the greatests means having
a single purpose in life. However, Whiplash doesn’t focus on
magic of music or jazz as it was
supposed to, it focuses on the
ego of two people fighting more
than it should, and that caused
the film to miss the point.
It came as shock to many that
Boyhood got only one Oscar
when it was nominated for
The Imitation Game (Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Host of the 87th Academy Awards, Neil Patrick Harris
many along with the Best Picture; it was an unusual film that
was shot in twelve years and it
told an actual coming of age
story. Unique only in its shooting, Boyhood gives the audience
no more than an usual ‘growing up to be a man in the West’
story, with no twists to capture
the attention of the viewer. Like
most of Linklater’s films, Boyhood was full of humanity and
warmth, but unfortunately not
quite the essence that the Academy sought.
As the winner of the Best Motion Picture Award, Birdman or
(The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) was the most unique
of the films with its plot and
directing. Telling the struggle
of an actor who is torn apart
between his love of acting and
his ego who wants to be recognized, Riggan is an original and
memorable character. Michael
Keaton’s Batman and Birdman
are basically the same. The film
alludes the Batman films in the
early 90s. In the film, “Birdman
3” was released in 1992, and just
like Batman 2 it was a turning
point for Keaton’s career, it was
for Riggan’s. Riggan is having
an identity crisis, being stuck
in a mortal and old man’s body
when he could be Birdman with
the superhero trapped inside
him. While it is not the reality,
the audience witnesses Riggan’s
superpowers as he imagines he
Boyhood (Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
is capable of moving things,
creating explosions, and flying.
While still some critics think
the picture did not deserve the
award, it is loved by the most.
With its psychoanalytic depth
and cruel reality, Birdman was
chosen the Best Picture of
2015.
Bob Hope has hosted
the most Academy
Awards shows, 19
times.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees: Eddie Redmayne,
Steve Carell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Keaton, Bradley
Cooper
Winner: Eddie Redmayne
Neither Bradley Cooper in American Sniper nor Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
left their comfort zones. Cumberbatch was once again the
outcast genius, just like he is in
the British television show Sherlock. Cooper portrayed a character whom he would be familiar
with, as a witness of American
patriotism. Michael Keaton was
another actor whose performance was outstanding, but it
lacked originality. As a former
actor who played Batman, Keaton was handpicked for his role
in Birdman. Unlike the others,
both genre and the role were
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)
15
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENTBOSPHORUSCHRONICLE
alien to Steve Carell. His usual
appearances in romantic comedies as silly characters were
overshadowed by a magnificent
performance in a dramatic leading role, that required him to
be more serious than he ever
was. Even though all four performances were powerful, Eddie Redmayne was the obvious
choice for the award with his
heartbreaking portrayal of Stephen Hawking. Eddie Redmayne
displayed Hawking’s illness,
ALS, so realistically that public awareness was raised. Redmayne’s performance kept its
rationality until the end by sustaining accuracy even when the
character’s illness got severe.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees: Reese Witherspoon,
Julianne Moore, Felicity Jones,
Rosamund Pike, Marion Cotillard
Winner: Julianne Moore
Just like Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of ALS, Julianne Moore
displayed the struggles of an ordinary person with Alzheimer’s
Disease. Her performance stood
out amongst the other nominees by juxtaposing what Alzheimer’s brings into a person’s
life to what it was before the
disease. Though her role was
more supporting than a lead,
Felicity Jones did such a good
job that Stephen Hawking’s
ex-wife Jane Hawking found
her performance utterly realistic and said, “I thought how
can I be on the screen and in a
cinema seat at the same time.”
Rosamund Pike also revealed
the extraordinary nature of a
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne in Theory of Everything (left), Best Actress in a Leading Role: Julianne Moore in Still Alice (right) (Photo Courtesy of oscar.go.com)
psychopath through her cold
glances and never changing
facial expression, but the Academy usually chooses roles with
more emotional depth rather
than the cold blooded calm that
Rosamund Pike displayed.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees: Mark Ruffalo, Ethan
Hawke, Robert Duvall, Edward
Norton, J.K. Simmons
Winner: J.K. Simmons
As usual, this year there were
some particular categories inwhich the audience knew exactly who would get the Oscar. J.K.
Simmons’ performance in Whiplash was the most captivating
portrayal of a supporting role.
The characteristics of Simmons’
character easily reached the audience, leaving them in awe by
Terence Fletcher’s authoritarian
Above: Patricia Arquette Photo Courtesy of oscar.go.com)
Below: J.K. Simmons (Photo Courtesy of oscar.go.com)
16
figure. Though Mark Ruffalo’s
character was an essential part
in the story, his performance
in Foxcatcher was significantly
lack-lustre and easily disregardable in his role. Edward Norton,
Ethan Hawke, and Robert Duvall
worked successfully as fillers,
neither excelling nor failing.
Only 3 comedies
have won an Oscar
for Best Picture in
the last 40 years.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees: Patricia Arquette,
Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Keira Knightley
Winner: Patricia Arquette
This category was one of the
weakest of this year’s Oscars.
None of performances stood
out as anything more than good
acting in an average Hollywood
film. Emma Stone’s nomination
was based on her character’s 5
minute outburst. It’s probable
that the Academy wanted to
recognize her for it being the
first time Stone has played a
role other than the “sweet high
school girl”. Boyhood’s overall
disappointment was slightly
made up through Patricia Arquette’s win. She was the owner
of the award from the start,
according to critics. It is a fact
that the Academy loves Streep
but her performance in Into the
Woods was hardly deserving of
an Oscar, or maybe the Academy didn’t want to give her one
more award and put her in the
same place as Katharine Hepburn who holds the reputation
as the most award winning female actress in the Hollywood
history, with four Oscars. Keira
Knightley gives the audience
her usual portrayal of a strong
woman who is independent and
clever so it would be inaccurate
to assume that she would win
an Oscar for the role, especially
since Patricia Arquette had an
incredibly realistic and impressively emotional performance.
Best Achievement in Directing
Nominees: Wes Anderson, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Richard Linklater, Bennett Miller, Morten
Tyldum
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
Winner: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
It is without a doubt that Wes
Anderson creates a world that
is his own completely. Some he
lets into his world and some he
does not. It is colorful and absolutely different from our own.
That may be the reason he either has fans who really admire
him or those who think he is a
fake. With his fast-paced movies
and settings that look like stages, Anderson certainly has style.
He uses slow motion walking
shots, symmetrical proportions,
and snap zooms a lot in all of his
films, creating a different environment. Furthermore, these
qualities are present in most of
his films. Richard Linklater, on
the other hand, uses his shots to
emphasize reality as much as he
can. However, Linklater drives
the story by dialogue rather
than different directing techniques. He tells the audience a
story of a boy through dialogue,
and he wants them to focus on
that, so the directing aspect of
the film is not magnificently
unique; besides that it was shot
in 39 days through 12 years.
The winner is, once again, Birdman. This is what was expected
by the most, since the camera
doesn’t stop through the entire
movie and moves along with
the story. It mostly revolves
around one building, constantly
circling around the theatre and
giving the audience a feeling of
completion; they know for a fact
that story takes place in a few
days due to its continuity. Alejandro Iñárritu shows his genius
by achieving a great success in
the making of this unmatched
movie.
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominees: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ida,
Mr.Turner, Unbroken
Winner: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Cinematography is probably
the most important aspect of
a movie. Whatever story you
write, or whoever acts in your
movie, if the film’s style and
cinematography is weak, the
whole movie fails. Vice versa, if
you have a genius cinematographer like Emmanuel Lubezki
who is famous for his really
long takes, it is easier to turn a
great story into a masterpiece.
The camera was constantly in
motion, tricking the viewers
into believing that the whole
movie was only one shot. That
mind blowing illusion which
was designed by Lubezki, made
the movie flow so naturally that
as a viewer, we also felt like
we were a part of this story as
spectators. Cinematography is
maybe the hardest part of the
filmmaking process, especially
if the film you have to make is
constantly moving, not giving
you a chance to arrange the
lightning and setting according
to different shots. Since lightning changes all the time, from
the theater stage to Riggan’s
room to streets, Lubezki had to
find a way to do that without
any obvious editing or sudden
changes to make the audience
feel like the movie was indeed
shot in one click. The colour also
holds a great importance in this
case for a film to feel natural
and moving. Obviously Birdman
was not one shot as it appears
to be, and one should appreciate the effort that was put
into the cinematographic elements of the film and its great
achievement.
Best Achievement in Film Editing
Nominees: American Sniper,
Boyhood, The Grand Budapest
Hotel, The Imitation Game,
Whiplash
Winner: Whiplash
The thing that kept Whiplash
going was its visual triumph.
Its smashing cinematography
and close ups combined with its
rhythmically outstanding editing is what defines this movie. If
we take a look at its story, Whiplash contains a limited setting,
only two actors with some character development, and nothing
else but drumming. Even if you
are someone who has no interest in drumming, you would be
amazed by the unending harmony between its editing and
sound mixing. Though the other
films were successful as well,
editing stood out significantly
in Whiplash.
march 2015 Issue
January 2008 Issue
NEWSNEWSNEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWS
FEATURESBOSPHORUSCHRONICLEFEATURES
A Scene from Whiplash
Best Achievement in Sound
Mixing
Nominees: Interstellar, American Sniper, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),
Unbroken, Whiplash
Winner: Whiplash
As American Sniper won an Oscar for Sound Editing, it was
only a matter of time before
Whiplash’s brilliant sound mixing was honored with an award.
Even if the film failed to feature
the soul of jazz, how music and
sounds were put together kept
the audience at the edge of
their seats. The thrilling atmosphere of the film was created
through sounds and how they
were paired with on-screen action. On the other hand, Interstellar’s loss came as shocking
to some, who argued that the
film was underappreciated by
the Academy.
Out of 87 films that
have won the award
for Best Picture, 63
of them also won the
award for Best Director.
Best Original Score
Nominees: Interstellar, The
Theory of Everything, The Grand
Budapest Hotel, Mr.Turner, The
Imitation Game
Winner: The Grand Budapest
Hotel
Nominated for both The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
won his Oscar with the score he
composed for The Grand Budapest Hotel. The score had orchestral elements along with European melodies integrated with
the use of a Russian stringed
instrument, “balalaika”. Opposing some who call the score
an attempt to create elevator
music, the Academy must have
found the composition both
successful as it is and also in a
harmony with the film itself,
completely ignoring Hans Zimmer’s masterpiece composed for
Interstellar.
No sci-fi movie has
ever won a Best Picture Oscar.
Best Achievement in Visual
Effects
Nominees: Interstellar, Dawn of
the Planet of the Apes, Guardians
of the Galaxy, Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days
of Future Past
Winner: Interstellar
Considering recent winners of
the Academy Awards such as
Life of Pi or Hugo, it’s obvious
that the Academy is interested
in more naturalistic effects
embedded in movies, instead
of computer generated worlds
from scratch. Their approach to
this category therefore eliminates several technological
masterpieces every year. There
is no doubt that in a short period of time we will be seeing
a whole separate CGI category
so that pieces of art such as The
Hobbit get what they deserve,
at least that’s what we computer freaks desire. If we take
a look at this year, it was more
of a duel between Interstellar
and Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes. The winner came out to be
Interstellar with its extremely
complex and challenging structure. During the post production process, the visual effects
team of Interstellar worked with
the famous astrophysicist Kip
Thorne, and they created real
visual representations of what
a black hole is meant to look
like with his mathematical data.
This has never been done before, and their supervisor Paul
Franklin states that they may
even have discovered a couple
of new things in the physics community as well as that
of visual effects. Dawn of the
Planet of the Apes motion capture team also did amazingly
realistic work and was equally
innovative with the technology
it developed, but the Academy
thought otherwise.
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Nominees: Inherent Vice, Into
the Woods, The Grand Budapest
Hotel, Maleficent, Mr.Turner
Winner: The Grand Budapest
Hotel
Apparently neither the 70s bellbottoms nor the sideburns of Inherent Vice, or the fairy tale-ish
atmosphere of Into the Woods
JUNE 2012
March
2015Issue
Issue
and Maleficent met the Academy’s expectations. Just like his
other films, Wes Anderson used
visually engaging costume design with a rich color palette. It
is ninth Oscar nomination and
fourth win of Italian costume
designer, Milena Canonero.
Best Achievement in Makeup
and Hairstyling
Nominees: Foxcatcher, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Grand
Budapest Hotel
Winner: The Grand Budapest
Hotel
Unlike Guardians of the Galaxy’s
mundane comic book make-up,
both Foxcatcher and The Grand
Budapest Hotel truly deserved
the award. In Foxcatcher, Steve
Carell of cheesy romantic comedies was turned into an old,
ruthless wrestling coach who
some did not even recognize
until they saw the credits. Tilda
Swinton who played Madame D.
in The Grand Budapest Hotel also
underwent a similar transformation through make-up which
left her virtually unrecognizable.
Winter Sleep: Why Didn’t the
Palme d’Or Winner Please
the Academy?
Though both the Palme d’Or at
Cannes and the Best Picture Oscar are highly respected awards,
the juries of Cannes Film Festival and the Academy are known
to have different tastes in film.
The 2014 Cannes Palme d’Or
winner, Turkish director Nuri
Bilge Ceylan’s Winter Sleep did
not get a nomination in the category of Foreign Language Film
at the Academy Awards. It was
the 20th time Turkey has sent a
film to this category, and once
again they were turned down.
But why didn’t Winter Sleep
please the Academy?
Every year, we witness best
films of Hollywood get chosen
by the Academy, and these films
often share common qualities.
For the last two decades, films
with strong plots and particular universal themes that reach
out to the masses are often
the Academy’s favorites. Win-
ter Sleep does not fit into this
outline. The film focuses on an
individual, and the atmosphere
is the main feature. Rather than
a plot and a series of events,
Winter Sleep displays personal
experiences and feelings of the
characters in a short period of
their lives. In the process of creating this atmosphere to reflect
the characters’ emotions, Nuri
Bilge Ceylan successfully brings
cinematography, dialogue, and
acting together. Since Cannes
choses art over a particular purpose, with Winter Sleep, Ceylan
gets his first and Turkey’s second Palme d’Or after the win of
The Way in 1982.
Works Cited:
Brody, Richard. “Getting Jazz Right
in the Movies.” The New Yorker. The
New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 23
Feb. 2015.
Coonan, Clifford. “Oscars: Turkey
Nominates ‘Winter Sleep’ in Foreign
Language Category.” The Hollywood
Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 8
June 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
“Oscar Fun Facts.” Oscar.com. N.p.,
Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
“10 Surprising Fun Facts about the
Oscars.” NY Daily News. N.p., n.d.
Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
“22 Facts About Oscar Movies Too Interesting for the Show.” Cracked.com.
N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
“Stephen Hawking’s Ex-wife: ‘I
Thought Felicity Jones Was Me’” BBC
News. BBC, 23 Feb. 2015. Web.
Above: Insterstellar Poster (Photo Courtesy of HDWallpapers.com)
Below: Young Murph and Cooper (Photo Courtesy of ReadtheSpirit.com)
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
17
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENTBOSPHORUSCHRONICLE
The 2015 !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival
Zeynep
Karababa
The !f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival was
founded in 2001, and each year
in February and March, it hosts
about 80,000 film buffs and celebrated filmmakers from around
the world. Every year various
types of movies are shared with
audiences from İstanbul, Ankara
and İzmir. This year the festival
was held between February 12
and 22 in the movie theaters of
more than thirty cities in Turkey
- but mainly in Istanbul, İzmir
and Ankara. The !f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival shared its festival spirit with
many movie fans in Turkey. If you
were not one of them, do not
worry! Some of these movies will
come to theaters after festival.
Among thousands of films shown
in the festival, here is the “Top 10
List” prepared by the Bosphorus
Chronicle:
1. Birdman: A black comedy drama film, Birdman was one of the
most popular movies in the festival. Alejandro González Iñárritu
received nine Oscar nominations
for this movie, including Best
Picture and Best Director. Michael
Keaton plays a faded Hollywood
actor famous for his superhero
role struggling to mount a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond
Carver story. The movie has a very
impressive script and amazing
acting.
2. A Girl Walks Home Alone
at Night is a film directed by
Iranian-American film director
Ana Lily Amirpour. The interesting side of the movie is that it is
the first Iranian vampire-movie
and is the first full-length film of
the director. The movie is set in
the Iranian ghost-town Bad City,
a place that smells like death and
where a lonesome vampire stalks
the townspeople. The critics are
really positive about this movie. If
you get tired of fancy and romantic vampire stories, this movie
will be the best choice for you.
3. The Look of Silence is a 2014
Danish documentary film about
a family of survivors, directed by
Joshua Oppenheimer (the director of Act of The Killing). After the
family learns how their son was
murdered and who killed him,
the youngest brother decides to
break the spell of silence and confronts the men responsible for his
brother’s death. This movie has
already won lots of awards from
different film festivals.
4. The Tribe is a 2014 Ukrainian
drama directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytsky. It is set in a boarding
school for deaf children, where a
new arrival is drawn into an institutional system of crimes (such as
robbing, prostitution etc.). There
are no subtitles in the film, just
sign language. If you don’t know
sign language, then you would
probably feel like you are watching a silent movie. The movie has
been nominated for more than
thirty-four awards and has currently won thirty- two of them,
an incredible score for a film. It
was also going to be nominated
for the Academy Awards as the
Ukrainian entry, but there were
some problems with Ukrainian
jury.
5. The Forbidden Room, directed by Guy Maddin, includes
many experimental, dramatic and
comical elements in its story. The
movie is about facing fears, in
very different ways, and is famous
for its visual effects. While watching this film, it is impossible to
guess what will happen next. The
Forbidden Room is really an epic
movie and has an amazing cast.
6. The Kingdom of Dreams and
Madness is a documentary about
the life of Hayao Miyazaki, one
of Japan’s greatest animation directors, and Studio Ghibli. While
Hayao Miyazaki tries to finish
his last film The Wind Rises, the
other director Isao Takahata tries
to finish The Tale of the Princess
Kaguya, and the movie shows
Miyazaki’s ideas about Takahata.
This movie also depicts the difficulties of directing anime films.
7. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya: The Oscar-nominated film
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya,
directed by Isao Takahata, is a
2013 Japanese animated fantasy
drama. Isao Takahata worked
with Hayao Miyazaki for a long
time in Studio Ghibli. After Takahata retired from Studio Ghibli,
the competition started between
the two old friends.If you are
a fan of Japanese anime films,
you should definitely watch this
movie.
8. 1001 Grams is in the “play”
part of the festival, which contains the movable films. A Norwegian drama directed by Bent
Hamer, 1001 Grams is about a
Norwegian scientist Marie who
believes that everything on earth
can be measured physically. That
is why when her father passes
away, Marie does not understand
her emotions. This movie is selected as the Norwegian entry for
the Academy Awards.
9. Big Eyes: Audiences have not
seen a movie directed by Tim
Burton for awhile, but in this film
festival he debuted with a biography called Big Eyes. It recounts
the story of Margaret Keane who
became famous for her portraits
of people with big eyes, and her
husband who tries to help his wife
to sell her paintings. The film received many positive reviews and
was nominated for three Golden
Globe Awards. Furthermore, the
audiences really liked Lana Del
Big Eyes (Photo Courtesy of imdb.com)
18
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (Photo Courtesy of reelnewsdaily.com)
Rey’s song for this film, Big Eyes.
10. The Color of Pomegranates: A 1969 Soviet film written
and directed by Sergei Parajanov,
The Color of Pomegranates is
based on the life of the 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat Nova.
Because of Soviet governmental
bureaucrats, this movie was not
shown internationally until 1977.
This year the movie was shown
in the festival, and many people
liked it.
Work Cited:
!f İstanbul Uluslararası Bağımsız
Film Festivali.” Ifistanbul. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 15 March 2015.
1001 Gram (Photo Courtesy of p3.no)
march 2015 Issue
January 2008 Issue
STATEOFSOUNDBOSPHORUSCHRONICLESTATEOFSOUND
Imagine Dragons: Smoke + Mirrors
Kaan Ertaş
For the past half century now, it was
only the most successful bands that
got the chance to fill stadiums. It
was considered a privilege to play
to thousands of people, and these
bands that hit the big stage actually
produced some of the finest pieces
of music mankind has ever heard.
The notion grew as decades passed,
morphing into a genre that is now
called “arena rock”.
The arena rock era was what it was
because there once existed rock
music that could convince tens of
thousands of people of all ages to
come together in a craze of sweat
and loud music. This was what
made Woodstock a milestone, or
what made Led Zeppelin have more
than a million people register for
a concert 27 years after they disbanded. The fact that the audience
enjoyed every bit of this mania in
the meantime, was what defined
the 80’s rock scene. However nowadays, the idea has taken a detour.
The concept of “arena rock” is gen-
erally any music with drums and
fancy guitar effects in it, which fills
a stadium. The concept now has
strayed from its original meaning,
as demand in the market diverged
into requesting either the “pop”
sound or the “heavy metal” vibe,
with virtually nothing in between.
Alas, any college-level teens who
can find their way around a keyboard and a drum set, can easily
make money in today’s industry. It
seems that after you get together
with some newly made college
friends, you require nothing but a
well-rounded sound engineer and
good marketing to make your music heard by the masses. As it stands
now, Imagine Dragons is hardly any
different. Even though their debut
album Night Visions has yielded
fairly acceptable tracks, I will have
to leave judgment on Imagine
Dragons’ fresh new album, Smoke
+ Mirrors to you, the readers, yet I
have few points to make.
Overall, Smoke + Mirrors diverges
from the simplistic and rather direct attitude that Imagine Dragons
brought with Night Visions. All
sounds in the tracks seem to be
over-engineered, and layered so
many times that one cannot help
but lose concentration while trying to assess the album as a whole.
Surely it was no easy task to produce
something that could compete with
Imagine Dragons’ previous album,
but Smoke + Mirrors tried to reach
out in every direction like its predecessor ably did, only to end up with
a disjointed bunch. It tried to take
everything that worked with Night
Visions and double them in amount,
to result in the current album. Amplifying the slightly crunchy vocal
effects in “Radioactive” results in
the distorted vocals in “Smoke and
Mirrors”(the song), which have
been taken too far, as can be seen in
the rest of the tracklist.
Imagine Dragons’ second album
Smoke + Mirrors is a feeble attempt
to cater to everything that appeals
to the average pop-rock listener.
The result is like a bird that tries
to fly in every direction (see album
cover) but accomplishes not much
at all in its course. This is partly because they have not been able to
settle into a specific music genre,
and are still experimenting to see
what they and their audience will
like. We must not forget that they
have been made famous with their
debut album, and so it is natural
for them to still seek direction. This
unfortunately points to the fact
that there are no prominent bands
on the scene that follow a certain
recipe for their music; a lack of es-
Album Artwork of Smoke+Mirrors
(Photo Courtesy of imaginedragonsmusic.com)
tablished artists, that is. This inconsistency in their sound, sadly, does
not mean that these American musicians will stop filling stadiums and
thus, they will still be considered a
band that does “arena rock”.
Nevertheless, give Smoke + Mirrors a spin and keep in mind that
this music is now capable of filling
the same arenas rock giants did decades ago. For better or for worse, it
is out there surely to pave the path
for modern rock, or what’s left of
it.
Panda Bear: Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
Cem Töre
Gökçam
Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets the
Grim Reaper
3/10
Favorite Tracks: Lonely Wanderer,
Mr. Noah, Tropic of Cancer, Acid
Wash
Hunt or be hunted, which one As
one of the defining bands of the last
decade, Animal Collective had a very
prolific period in the beginning of
the 2000s when they were releasing all-time classic neo-psychedelic
albums left and right. When Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009) came
out and was almost universally declared as one of the greatest albums
of the new millenium, Panda Bear
- one of the two founding members
of the band with lead singer Avey
Tare - already released his equally
well-received solo effort Person
Pitch. Both albums introduced an
electronically-backed, very ethereal
Album Artwork of Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
(Photo Courtesy of pitchfork.com)
march 2015 ıssue
yet powerful and exciting sound to
the music world; one that closed a
decade that pretty much belonged
to Animal Collective before anybody
else between all the iconic albums
like Sung Tongs, Feels, and Spirit
They’re Gone, Spirit They Vanished. As
the decade ended with the banging
end drums and the booming synths
on MPP’s last song, Brother Sport,
virtually every conscious music listener on Earth was already eager
to hear what would come next from
the band.
Five years later, here we are with
one full length effort, a few solo
recordings, and really, nothing else.
The album, Centipede Hz, is an interesting case: as Pitchfork, the best
known music publication there is
today, infamously compared the record’s sound to “someone throwing
a burrito on your windshield” and
it was disliked almost as universally
as Merriweather Post Pavilion was
praised. It was an odd reaction in
that the album is still very easy to
dance to, and yet equally as complex
and probably even harder to fully
comprehend.
The album was complemented with
two solo efforts from the true subject of this article, Panda Bear and
two more from the other founding
member of the band, Avey Tare.
While it is probably not correct to
directly tie Panda Bear’s solo efforts
to the recent history of Animal Collective as a whole, his solo albums
have generally been an early signal
of the sound the band is likely to
take soon. Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009 advanced the sonic
experimentations Panda Bear made
on 2007’s Person Pitch, and the raw
sound Centipede Hz reintroduced was
already visible in Panda Bear’s 2011
effort Tomboy.
With rumors of a new Animal Collective album in the near future looming, the release of Panda Bear Meets
the Grim Reaper was exciting news
to people who aren’t a fan of his solo
work. The results aren’t encouraging, to say the least. The album suffers from an acute case of “painfully
bland”. There really isn’t any other
way to put it.
Hidden behind multiple layers of
watery synths and reverb-boosted
vocals there are some interesting ideas, yet they are very hard to
uncover and really just not worth
the effort. The album sometimes
struggles to build something proper
around a simple beat, as all the
instrumentals and the vocals repeatedly become a jumbled mess
in an attempt to create harmony. It
is a common theme on this album
where tracks go on for a lot longer
than they should have, especially
the seven and a half minute long
experience of mumbled (and still
overly reverbed as usual) vocals and
overly redundant synths on the song
Come to Your Senses. I would say that
this obsession with unnecessarily
extending songs is something the
album suffers from as a whole. The
few tracks that I found enjoyable
were some of the shortest ones.
Another glaring issue with Panda
Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is how
Panda Bear, best known for his ecstatic back vocals on some of the
more synth-oriented Animal Collec-
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
tive albums (although I’d say some
of his most famous “cameos” come
on their debut Spirit They’re Gone)
has mixed this album so that he remains a back vocalist on an album
with no lead vocals. This is not to say
that softer, quieter vocals can’t be an
element of good music (Considering
the entire shoegaze genre is built on
this singing style, it’s a statement
that’s outright wrong, actually), but
without interesting lyrics or exciting
sonic experimentation it just sounds
like a drugged out teenager that
accidentally ended up with a synthesizer - not the ideal sound at this
point on a 17 year long music career
as a part of some of the greatest albums of the last decade.
Even after all of this, the album lives
up to the name behind it towards
the end, when it slows down and
finds its pace. The ambiguous synths
give way to quiet pianos, and the album finds itself a brief aesthetic on
the tracks Tropic of Cancer and Lonely
Wanderer. When the quiet vocals
aren’t drowned with overly ambitious instrumental backing, they
find a purpose; this comfortable
ambient feel at this point on the record is possibly the only thing that
saves the rating as a whole.
Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
is underwhelming, not properly
paced, and sounds like it was mixed
by a seven year old with a studio.
Its “moments” do not change the
overall disappointment this record
brings, and really it is not worth listening to for anybody who is not a
fan of Panda Bear.
19
Bosphorus Chronıcle
Matrix Themed Freeboard
Tuvana Kankallı
M. Miraç
Süzgün
Let’s welcome freedom of speech, the
superiority of imagination, and the
mystery of the most unanswerable
questions! For those who have not
yet heard of it, or do not remember
what it is, Freeboard is a Bosphorus
Chronicle tradition where everyone has the chance to express their
thoughts, free their imagination, and
be heard! In this most unlimitedly
creative corner of BC, you can dig into
the deepest thoughts of your imaginative subconscious without having
your motives or ideas questioned or
restricted. Here’s how it works: for a
couple of weeks, we go around asking people selected questions for the
issue, and the most extraordinary responses we get are published in this
corner. Since the first issue, we decided to focus on a different themes on
which to base our questions. Let’s see
what members of the Robert College
community have to say about one of
the late 20th century’s most iconic
films and winner of four Oscars, “The
Matrix”, and its not-so-successful sequels. There is, however, a warning:
all the readers should know in advance that all the answers of our historical characters (Christopher Robert, Cyrus Hamlin, George Washburn
and Mary Mills) do not reflect their
characters at any point. Their answers
are works of fiction that were written
just to make you laugh, so we hope
you will like their unique answers.
Unlike the themes we have chosen in
the previous issues, this time we will
dig into deeper and philosophical
themes of the movie, which is often
compared to Plato’s “Allegory of the
Cave”. Bosphorus Chronicle assures
you that you will still enjoy each one
of these ludicrous answers.
Would you take the red pill or the
blue pill? Why?
Colin Edmonds: I confess I don’t know
which one is which… but I think
I would take the red pill because
“isyankarım ben”.
Christopher Robert: Don’t you have a
pill which is the mixture of both? Like
a purple one? What a shame!
Aygül Tanaydın: I would choose the
red pill because I already know how
it’s like in the matrix. Why would
I stay in a mundane life when I can
discover the unknown?
Fulya Deniz Dal (RC’18): I’d take the
one to keep me in the matrix. Cause
I’m pretty happy with my life
Yasemin Tekgürler (RC’15): Definitely
RED! I know people kill to forget and
go back, but me? I’d kill for the adventure.
Maura Kelly: I cannot remember
what the difference was… but I
would take the blue pill because of
its color.
Marshall Hoovler: Blue pill. Who
wouldn’t want to spend their life
sleeping?
Eralp Ustaoğlu (RC’17): Red pill ofc,
I would take the painful truth rather
than living as an ignorant battery.
Hatice Becker: Maybe a mix of both?
Who could be “the One” of the
Robert College community and
be the epic hero of Neo’s journey?
Colin Edmonds: Cyrus Carter.
Hatice Becker: So, The Matrix… Is
Neo the bad guy? I’ll go with Mr.
Becker...
Yasemin Tekgürler (RC’15): I mean,
are you really asking? Of course Mr.
Gee! Who else could it be? Mr. Christensen? No, definitely not! WCEC
(Writing Center Executive Committee) already fired him.
Maura Kelly: The old periodicals librarian İffet Özseven. I was so sorry
when she retired. She was an incredible person.
Marshall Hoovler: I will pick Ms. Kelly.
She would look pretty spectacular in
tight leather and black sunglasses.
Christopher Robert: Let me think
about it for a second…. (Five minutes later) Of course it would be me. I
mean who else could that person be,
do we have an option here?
Anıl Yarkın Sıvacı (RC’17): No other
than yours truly…
Neo Stops Bullets (Photo Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk)
20
Colin Edmonds
Aygül Tanaydın: To be honest I haven’t
seen anyone like Neo, but I’ll keep
searching, it takes time to be a hero.
Eralp Ustaoğlu (RC’17): Doğacan
‘zürafa’ Çolak. Coolest guy in shades.
Fulya Deniz Dal (RC’18): Ms. HopeBrown’s cat. I swear each time she
meows she tries to tell us something.
As the Oracle tells Neo “only what
he needs to know”, she keeps
some information from him
though she is supposed to tell
him the future. Is it ethical for
somebody of her power to withhold information?
Colin Edmonds: No but typical...
Yasemin Tekgürler (RC’15): Well, everyone has their secrets... (Don’t tell
this to my boyfriend!) It’s always for
the greater good.
Marshall Hoovler: Of course it is! I do
the same thing with my students all
the time.
Christopher Robert: Are you one of
those “ethical” people? Oh my goodness…
Anıl Yarkın Sıvacı (RC’17): It actually
isn’t, because if you don’t share what
you know, that means you don’t respect others as much as you respect
yourself (see: arrogance).
Aygül Tanaydın: You don’t have to be
an oracle to keep information from
others, we all do that, for instance
the teachers. It’s not even functional
to know the future, what can you do
with that information? Are you going
to live that future or change it?
Eralp Ustaoğlu (RC’17): It is ethical
because she does that for a purpose.
She believes in that to be better for
Neo and his journey.
Fulya Deniz Dal (RC’18): I don’t believe that partial honesty is honesty
at all. Keeping information to oneself
is never a good thing.
Once you’ve learned the truth,
would you want to go back to
your old life and continue you
life in ignorance or fight with
what’s coming?
Yasemin Tekgürler (RC’15): As a 12th
grader Amerikaci, no thanks to the
old life, can’t live through it again...
I need some action! Anything’s better
than the old me, so let’s fight!
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
Maura Kelly: I would fight with what’s
coming because once you learn the
truth, you cannot be the same person
or go to chains (as in the Allegory of
the Cave) since you learn that shadows are not the reality.
Colin Edmonds: Probably want to go
back to my old life and continue to
live in ignorance.
Marshall Hoovler: I’d rather go back.
I’m a lover, not a fighter.
Christopher Robert: I would not fight
with anyone. I would rather hire
someone to fight for me.
Hatice Becker: I’d fight, once you
know you can’t resist.
Aygül Tanaydın: Ignorance is bliss is
a popular idea but you have to see
it from the other perspective, happiness also brings ignorance. Fighting
and struggles keep us alive but also
remember that there’s no need to go
overboard.
Fulya Deniz Dal (RC’18): I’d want
to go back to my life and cry in my
mom’s arms and then eat cookies and
milk. I’m no fighter.
Why, why, why? Why do you do
it? Why? Why get up? Why keep
fighting? Do you believe you’re
fighting for something? For more
than your survival? Can you tell
me what it is? Do you even know?
Is it freedom or truth?! Perhaps
peace?! Could it be for love?!
Colin Edmonds: Of course, everything
is for love.
Marshall Hoovler: First, calm down.
Second, I do not fight for freedom,
truth, or peace; I fight for sleep.
Maybe for chocolate. Occasionally for
a good book. Never for love.
Christopher Robert: I agree with Mr.
Hoovler, not for love but maybe for
chocolate.
Anıl Yarkın Sıvacı (RC’17): I liked the
question. But I don’t know what it
means…
Aygül Tanaydın: Fighting and war are
not as common as people think they
are, everyone’s trying to live their
lives. Freedom, truth, world peace,
love: these are not the topics to fight
for but make films about.
Hatice Becker: Fight for love? Okay!
Hahah.
We have imagined this moment
for a long time. Is it real?
Colin Edmonds: According to Descartes, “cogito ergo sum” - so yes it is!
Maura Kelly: It has to be!.. I mean I
was working with Mr. Gee’s Modern
Novel class on Friday, and one of the
questions he asked was “How do I
know you exist?” and the poor kid
had to write something to prove his
existence. So, I believe the only thing
we can do is to accept what we believe or perceive.
Hatice Becker: This time, this moment is real.
Marshall Hoovler: I sure hope it’s real.
Otherwise, my brain has come up
with a really boring alternate reality.
What sort of Matrix would include
rubrics, lesson plans, and level meetings?!
Christopher Robert: Are you kidding
me?
Anıl Yarkın Sıvacı (RC’17): Sometimes
it doesn’t feel real, I know. But if you
look closely, you would see whether
it is or not.
Aygül Tanaydın: The world is an interesting place, both real and unreal are
here. Also the humans have the ability to treat the real as unreal or the
unreal as real. It’s quite a cümbüş,
but is it real? This is the truth.
Fulya Deniz Dal (RC’18): I’m telling
you, its Ms. Hope-Brown’s cat that is
real. We’re all just her imagination,
nothing more than a dust particle.
If you were given a chance to
change one thing about the trilogy or the matrix system, what
would it be?
Colin Edmonds: I would make the
pills black and white.
Fulya Deniz Dal (RC’18): There was a
man who kept saying “action-andreaction” I’d slap that man hard in the
face. No reason, I just would.
Maura Kelly: Keanu Reeves, I did not
really think that he was the best actor
for that role.
Marshall Hoovler: It wouldn’t be a
trilogy. The second and third movies
sucked.
Christopher Robert: I would let Mr.
Vierling and Mr. Becker direct the trilogy.
Anıl Yarkın Sıvacı (RC’17): The scene
Neo fights that virus-guy, there’s
a song “15 Kişiye Saldırdım”. That
would be the perfect soundtrack for
that scene. No arguments.
Aygül Tanaydın: The computers and
the mobile phones in the film are
quite outdated, I would’ve replaced
those with newer ones so that the
film doesn’t lose its authenticity.
Eralp Ustaoğlu (RC’17): I would take
someone who is more charismatic as
Agent Smith. Just kidding. The trilogy
is cool enough.
March 2015 Issue