We immediately called the boat to make reservations and they told us that we didn’t need to bother ourselves with buying our tickets on the fantastic portal that is SehirFirsati, but that they would sell us said tickets directly from the boat, just to make our life easier.
My mother agreed and off we went to celebrate my fathers 66th birthday on the “Nis 2″ boat hosted by the Feraye company – as strongly recommended by Sehir Firsati.

Let me just say that living in Istanbul makes you ready for any kind of chaos that could be sent your way. It doesn’t matter how small or big the deed, if it involves chaos and you’re an Istanbulian, chances are you’re ready to tackle that son of a gun and pulverize it.
I wasn’t ready for this experience though..

After boarding the ship, and being greeted by a large group of people trying to get their ticket from two guys who were standing around a table at the front of the boat, we waited 20 minutes to be able to get our tickets and be seated. Another specification that I need to make before I forget is that my mother had especially requested not to be seated under or next to any speaker because she didn’t want us to suffer from temporary hearing loss.

I will let you guess where we were then seated.

Yes.

Right under them nasty speakers, the kind that would wake the dead and make them complain to the human rights commission. And amnesty international.

I kept my cool. I swear! When I asked to speak to the manager, I was as cool as an iced puppy. Cross my heart. After waiting 20 additional minutes for the manager and not seeing anyone coming our way I decided to go directly to the mountain myself.

I went back to the front desk equipped with the tickets that we were given and requested to speak to the manager. I was then shoved towards a lovely man who seemed to be either working the scene, or the PR manager. He then told me that he would deal with the situation immediately and he decided to seat us in the VIP section of the boat, which is situated right next to the band and artist. Sounded like a great plan! It was perfect! My parents would surely enjoy THAT!

That’s what I felt until I saw the table. Guess where it was situated? Next to a speaker.
At that point I had really given up on arguing with anyone and had decided to keep my cool even furthermore. The table had been used by other patrons who had decided that they wanted to eat under speakers so there were used plates and glasses and crumbs all over the table cloth. Mr PR person requested that the table be cleaned immediately by one of his minions. His staff was running left and right portraying the reaction a crowded group would have if an enraged bull was heading their way so they weren’t really ready to add some extra work to their load. We waited an extra 25 minutes before someone came anywhere close to our table to clean it from the waste and equip us with clean utensils. First they removed the dirty plates. Then they removed the dirty glasses approximately 10 minutes later. After a failed attempt at placing the new dishes of meze onto the dirty cloth, they had to remove that too, under my mothers watchful eye.

The Turkish starters weren’t all that bad. They looked terrible because they had obviously been waiting outside the fridge for a while but the taste was alright and we’re all still here, so no one died (that I know of).

After having made a brief stop on the Asian side the boat set off to greener pastures and started making its habitual trip around the Bosphorus. I’m assuming that Sehir Firsati sold a lot of tickets that night because it was relatively jam packed. (they sold the tickets for 55 instead of 110 TL)

While we were eating the meze, the live band started and soon after Suzanne Kardes came along. If it weren’t for her I don’t think the event would’ve been bearable at all. If you want to have a wonderful evening accompanied of Turkish songs and beautiful Turkish music, do not hesitate to check her website to glance over at her list of appearances (she’s soon to appear at a Kurucesme Arena concert.) You will not be disappointed!

The main course, which was fish, arrived approximately 1 hour after the band started playing. By then everyone was very intoxicated due to the heavy drinking of free alcohol and not a lot of attention was given to the main course which was either fish or red meat. Thankfully, I don’t drink alcohol so I was alert enough to see that the fish was dried when grilled and ended up being rather tasteless. It was all down hill from there on..The desert was four pieces of fruit thrown onto a huge plate (just to make them look very miserable) and to top it off, the boat ended up dropping us off one hour late to Arnavutkoy.

To sum it all up, do we like the “Nis II” events? God no. Will we ever join another one? Not unless I’m at gunpoint. Did Suzanne Kardes and her folkloric songs gain another fan? Indeed they did. Do I still like Sehir Firsati for proposing such a horrid experience? The jury is still out on that. My advice is to double and triple check the events you buy. Hopefully I’ll be changing my mind on them soon and we will be friends again.

Sehir Firsati Website: http://www.sehirfirsati.com/
The Feraye Boat by Urban Bug Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108781282496623&ref=share

Here is the last press release from the Istanbul Twitter Festival Team “Istanbul Twestival”. Unfortunately I only have a Turkish version. Google translate perhaps my pretties? :) I am happy to report that there will also be a Twestival in Ankara and in Izmir, which I will hopefully be helping out with.

You should follow them on twitter and keep posted, they also might still need help so get on helping!

İstanbul Twestival Global 2010 / 25 Mart 2010
Twestival ile Twitter Kullanıcıları ‘Dünyayı Değiştirecek’ Dakikaları Kutlayacak
300’den Fazla Dünya Şehri Aynı Gün Twitter Partisi Düzenliyor
25 Mart 2010’da 24 saat boyunca İstanbul’un da arasında olduğu 250’den fazla dünya kenti, Twitter üzerinden birbirini tanımış gönüllü organizatörler eşliğinde Twestival’i kutlayacak. Twitter’ın dünya çapındaki her kullanıcısının, yerel ve global bağış toplamayı sağladığı bu organizasyon, internetin sosyal yaşamı iyileştirme gücünü de ortaya koyuyor.
Hareketin lideri Amanda Rose, bir röpörtajında ‘Bu hareketin dünya çapında bu kadar pozitif karşılanması bizleri çok mutlu etti. Bu tip sosyal sorumluluk aktiviteleri, sanal dünyada tanımadığımız insanlarla bir araya gelmek ve böylece yardıma muhtaç vakıflara bağış toplamak için çok faydalı oluyor. Twestival %100 gönüllüler tarafından yapılmakta ve tüm gelirleri seçilen vakfa aktarılmaktadır. Bu sayede binlerce hayat üzerinde pozitif bir etkimiz oluyor.’ dedi.
İlk Twestival Global sonucunda, Etiyopya, Hindistan ve Uganda’da toplam 55 su kuyusu açıldı ve 17.000 çocuğa ömür boyu içme suyu sağlandı. Bu yıl ikincisi düzenlenecek Twestival Global için yine tüm dünya kenetlenerek iyilik yarışında olacak.
Twestival, Londra, Paris,New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Beijing, Sidney, Melbourne ve Lima gibi birçok cosmopolit kentte kutlanmakta. Detaylı bilgi için web adresi; www.twestival.com.
2009’da hem global hem de yerel olarak İstanbul’da da düzenlenen Twestival’lerde Charity Water ve TODEV (Türkiye Otistikleri Destekleme ve Eğitim Vakfı) desteklendi. Bu yıl hazırlıkları devam eden etkinlikte tüm dünyada olduğu gibi elde edilen gelirler, Madonna’nın da destekçisi olduğu Concern Worldwide vakfına bağışlanacak.
Dünya çapındaki bu büyük iyilik hareketi; ‘twiter üzerinden sosyal farkındalığı arttırma’ amacıyla 2010’da Concern Worldwide için bağış toplayacak. (www.concern-worldwide.org ve http://twitter.com/concern )
Istanbul Twestival Global 2010 faaliyetlerini ve gelişmeleri takip etmek için istanbul.twestival.com adresini ziyaret edebilir, twitter üzerinden de @IstanbulTWSTVL hesabını izleyebilirsiniz.
*Program akışındaki belirlenen gelişmeler: Anadolu Sağlık Merkezi, İndeks İletişim, Kurumsal Haberler, Saylam Residence, Showhow, İmece, Yeşim Mutlu, Teknobeyin, Virgin Radio, Cicice, Red Bull sponsorlukları ve Begum Salihoglu ile Anilive canlı defile performansı, Gece Grubu performansı, konuk sanatçılar ile söyleşi ve stand-up showları ve birçok değerli Dj katılımı olacaktır.
Twestival’in Anakara ve İzmir’de de kutlanması planlanıyor.
İstanbul Twestival Global 2010 Şehir Organizatörü
Duygu Saylam
www.twitter.com/istanbulTWSTVL
http://istanbul.twestival.com

There will be fireworks and concerts within key points of the city as follows:

Events at Haliç Congress Center

Time: 17:30

Place: Haliç Congress Center

Program Flow
17:30 Opening Cocktail
18:30 Opening Remarks
19:00 Special 16 January Opening Show directed by Yekta Kara
“Istanbul Magic”
Invitation of the protocol and other guests to the pier
Pushing the button by Participant protocol members to launch the firework show
20:30 Closing

Events in Taksim Square

Time: 19:00

Place: Taksim Square

Announcer: Ziya Kürküt

Program Flow
19:30 Screening of the Balloon Theatre realized in Kadıköy and DJ performance
20:10 Live Screening of the firework show realized over the Golden Horn
20:30 The Fire Theatre
21:15 Tarkan Concert
22:20 Closing

Events in Kadıköy Square

Time: 19:00

Place: Kadıköy Seaside, İspark Parking Lot

Announcer: Volkan Severcan

Program Flow

19:00 Balloon Theatre

20:10 Live Screening of the firework show realized over the Golden Horn

20:20 Mor ve Ötesi Concert

21:20 Closing

Events in Pendik Square

Time: 19:00

Place: Pendik Seaside, İspark Parking lot

Announcer: Gülhan Şen

Program Flow

19:00 Screening of the Balloon Theatre realized in Kadıköy

20:10 Live Screening of the firework show realized over the Golden Horn

20:20 Kıraç Concert

21:20 Firework show and closing

Events in Sultanahmet Square

Time: 19:00

Place: Front of Hagia Sophia

Announcer: Hande Kazanova

Program Flow
19:00 Mehter Concert

19.45 DJ Performance
20:10 Live Screening of the firework show realized over the Golden Horn
20:20 Mercan Dede Concert
21:20 Firework show and closing

Events in Bağcılar Square

Time: 19:00

Place: Bağcılar Square

Announcer: Jess Molho

Program Flow

19:00 Screening of the Balloon Theatre realized in Kadıköy

20:10 Live Screening of the firework show realized over the Golden Horn

20.20 Zara Concer

21:20 Firework show and closing

Beylikdüzü Square Events

Time: 19:00

Place: Beylikdüzü Municipality Social Events Arena

Announcer: Asuman Dabak

Program Flow

19:00 Screening of the Balloon Theatre realized in Kadıköy

19:30 Şaman Dance Group’s Show

19.55 DJ Performance

20:10 Live Screening of the firework show realized over the Golden Horn

20.20 Nil Karaibrahimgil Concert

21:20 Firework show and closing

And for those who cannot make it..you can watch the events directly from the comfort of your couch on the Istanbul 2010 website! (which is what I will have to do since I’m stuck in Cesme)

Have fun guys!

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed (including this broadcast function so we can more easily update everyone) but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Eighty five years ago today, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed from the capital in Ankara. From the corner of my balcony on the Asian side of Istanbul I awoke to scores of red flags  hanging from apartment windows, poles, shops and even draped across the backs of people walking down the street…the air is simply swirling with national pride.

Tonight Bagdat Caddesi will be closed to vehicular traffic from 7pm and an energy packed celebration will take place up and down the Asian sides most trendy boulevard. If you want to see Turk nationalism at its best…this is the place to be.

You can find more information on the ban on this website. Show us your support by leaving a comment and having a whinge with us about the whole situation :)

Three hand grenades were thrown at the building of the municipality of Uskudar, in Istanbul. 1 person has been injured from there knee following the attack and two people, 1 of them being a woman, escaped on a motorcycle and are being hunted down.

Is this going to be a weekly occurance? Are we not going to be safe any more? There is total ground for paranoia.

This isn’t the first and it will unfortunately certainly not be the last terror attack against Istanbul, we’re all like sitting ducks provided security measures are not increased.