Benim Adim Kirmizi

last night I finished reading the Arabic translation of "My Name is Red" by the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, the winner of Nobel Prize 2006. it took me something like 2 weeks because of the bad translation, so i could barely finish 10 pages daily in the first week!

but despite what i mentioned about the translation the book is not by any means a quick read. the multiple perspectives that come from the characters make you stumble sometime in learning points of view over the vast range of perspectives and through the narrow miniaturists world in the 16th century.

many things stopped me to think in this book, one of them was:

ولكنني باعتباري نقاشاً عجوزاً أعمى أعرف أن الله خلق الدنيا كما يريد رؤيتها طفل ذكي في السابعة من عمره. لأن الله خلق العالم لنرى أولاً. بعد ذلك أعطانا الكلمات لنتكلم ونشترك فيما نراه، ولكننا عملنا من الكلمات حكايات، واعتقدنا أن الرسوم تنقش من أجل هذه الحكايات، مع أن النقش هو بحث مباشر عن الهام الله ورؤية العالم كما يريد الله

some readers may feel bored reading this novel, I agree, but it's a mentally stimulating read and I liked it.

I advise you to read it ... if you know Turkish it would be better .. otherwise try the English translation because the Arabic was not strong.

How does it go like in Turkey

Today I was reading the BBC Arabic news on their website and found the above article. Turkey is now trying to approach the EU to have itself a membership. and Ankara indeed is doing the best they can to eliminate previous unaccepted impressions about its culture, religion and jurisprudence. now they are banning this website by the higher court in the country just because of a video clip that insulted the founder of modern Turkey, who passed away 67 years ago. and they sentence to prison whoever make an insult about him. I went through Hürriyet, Turkey's famous newspaper and found the topic above in the headlines. what I could understand, which is not much because my Turkish language is not that good, is clear criticism to the insult and agreeing with the court decision.

i just want to refer to that Hürriyet, the name of the newspaper, sounds similar to the meaning in Arabic which is freedom or liberty!

STREETS ... MY FAVORITE ROCK OPERA

The rock opera is one of those types that appear once in a lifetime ... it's been 10 years since I started listening to it ... astonishing me still ... it takes me there ... to the place it precisely descripe .. to the streets! and it deeply explores the psychological side of the streets ... the streets that think, behave and act ... just another time before gulping down the buddies creeping over ... just one more tune before the curtain falls away ... until the last pick on the burning guitar strings ... I kept awake last night until late listning and discovering new things in the opera as if I heard it the first time in my life. at the begining I let it play while I was working on some report. and just before the first song was over I left what I was working in and got my entire senses occupied with that marvellous harmony between the very heavy sound of electric guitar ... the roaring bass ... and the warm piano hits throughout

The story features a fallen rock star called DT Jesus, who has hit hard times. He is a drug dealer as the story begins. DT Jesus is just another lowlife on the streets of New York City. Streets explains the story behind DT Jesus and his rise to fame again and his second fall.

for those who have love of music ... the music that does not classify in genres .. but only names itself music ... I advise you to listen to Streets: a rock opera by Savatage ... the greatest opera after Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Work in Your Head

I met atheists who claim they're religious, and I met religious who pretend they're atheists. And I met agnostics who never knew they are agnostics. And people still make themselves questions about God's existence, and they are really lost in vague mist between the affirmation and denial of Him.