Week seven, the Istanbul edition, is up.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Week five is live.

You know what’s up.

The weekly photographic episode is ready to go.

Week two is up.

Brand-new, often unshiny photo project featuring Josh Monk and myself here. Join us for fifty-two weeks of pixels galore.

Thanks for all your well-wishes on every social network everywhere— I’m pleased to announce that my ear has settled down as a result of truly superb Turkish medical care (honestly, best ENT treatment experience ever), and I’m feeling much better and just about ready to roll. Expect regular posting again as of Monday.

In the meantime, here are some of my favourite video links from this week, guaranteed to waste at least five minutes (okay, maybe three):

• If you haven’t heard of George Watsky, get ready for the next big viral.
• Always remember to take your birth control pills. In fact, just eat the whole pack.
• Friends don’t let friends text and walk.
• Sometimes people don’t suck as much as usual.
• Cat tries to talk some much-needed sense into the human race.

About ten years ago I was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease. You probably didn’t know this because I don’t talk about it much, and the reason I don’t talk about it is because, as with most illnesses, there is a psychological aspect that doesn’t benefit from dwelling. The more you advertise any illness to other people, the more opportunities they have to say, “oh, that’s terrible,” and the more inclined you are to respond with, “actually, yes, it is terrible,” and then next thing you know you start to get brainwashed with the thing you keep saying and hearing over and over, and then one morning you wake up wondering why you feel so terrible all the time. It is especially important to avoid negative self-talk with diseases like Ménière’s, because there is no cure, so the best you can do is just suck it up, live the best life you can, and try not to wallow.

I’ve been lucky in that my Ménière’s episodes have been few and far between; even though I have a constant low-level tinnitus and minor ear fullness, I’ve learned to ignore both, and the big flare-ups usually only happen a few times a year, and never last more than a day or two. However, I’ve recently been experiencing a flare-up that has gone on for longer than a week, and it seems to be getting worse, so I’m headed to the doctor even though I know he’s likely to tell me, “you have Ménière’s and you know that already, so get over it and wait it out.” I’m hoping that maybe it’s a bacterial infection that just happens to be in my affected ear, and maybe antibiotics can sort it out. You never know. We’ll see what the ENT says.

So to make up for what has been erratic posting over the past week or so, and will probably continue to be erratic posting over the next few days, here are a few links I found interesting. No theme here other than my personal interest— enjoy.

• Bored at work? Got a couple of lighters? Try this.
• This man got shot in the head, but then sneezed out the bullet like it was nothing. He’s expected to make a full recovery.
• No matter how much you think your life sucks, it really, really doesn’t.
• Memo for Lars Ulrich: embracing potential fans works a lot better in the long run than calling them dirty criminals and trying to prosecute them. Just saying.
• It was brought to my attention last week that there are still a handful of people on earth who are not familiar with Maru. When you fall in love with him, be sure to check out his other videos.

Continuing on from yesterday’s vintage find, here’s another post featuring photos of soldiers in times of war. The series is telling, poignant, and sometimes even heartbreaking. Link

A friend of mine pointed out this very insightful blog post featuring vintage photos of people along with their handwritten, self-deprecating comments. We like to think that body hatred was invented five minutes ago and that people in the good ol’ days knew how to appreciate a woman with curves, but given some of the women in these photos who describe themselves disparagingly as “fat,” I think things are actually getting better these days in terms of body acceptance. Link

The body positivity movement is like a house on fire at the moment, and not a moment too soon. It’s ridiculous how ashamed women are made to feel about their bodies, but luckily there are some great blogs out there fighting back for those of us with perfectly normal bodies for which others would ask us to apologise. The Great Big Body Project is one of my favourite blogs on the subject of body positivity, as it’s created by women from all over the world with all kinds of bodies: round, thin, tall, short, and everything in between. This helps bring awareness to the fact that it’s not just fat women who are made to feel that their bodies aren’t good enough; it’s all women. If you want to help fight back, you can submit your own photo and story to the site and become a part of a worthwhile cause: finally allowing ourselves to admit that we’re beautiful and worthy just the way we are. Link

Quite a lot of you over the years have asked me about Vipassana and my daily meditation practice. I’ve never been good at explaining meditation in general, as for me it is an experience that transcends words, and Vipassana in particular is a tricky nut to crack. But most of the questions come not from people who are trying to understand Vipassana, but rather those who just want to begin a daily practice of some sort and are looking for a place to begin.

The Chopra Centre are currently offering a 21-day online meditation challenge, free of charge. It’s a series of downloadable audio files, all quite short, that lead you through the basics of different types of meditation, focusing on one aspect per day. I’ve listened to a couple of the audio files out of curiosity, and they’re certainly suitable for any beginner, even if you’ve never meditated before, and Davidji (the man who guides the meditations) has a pleasant voice and is even humourous at times.

I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about Deepak Chopra, though I’ve heard plenty of reports both positive and negative, so I can’t really vouch for the overall quality of the material his organisation puts out. I certainly don’t think you should go into this 21-day challenge expecting to come out enlightened, or even an expert meditator, but that’s hardly the point. The point is to create the habit of daily meditation while exposing yourself to the different techniques that are available to you. I suppose the hope is that after you’re finished with the course, you’ll want to pursue meditation further, either on your own, or by seeking more formal instruction. So if you’ve always wanted to meditate but never managed to get the momentum up, now’s your chance. Link

If you find yourself today with a few extra minutes today and want to see something cool on the web. check out The Incredible Shrinking Man. This is a research site built on the premise that one way to relieve the current strain on the earth and its resources would be to genetically engineer smaller people. The eventual aim, according to the site, would be to have a planet full of humans who are 50cm tall and weigh 2kg. To quote the site directly: “It has been a long established trend for people to grow taller. This has many consequences, like the need for more energy, food, and space. What if we decided to turn this trend around and use our growing knowledge of genetics to actually shrink mankind?”

When I first stumbled across this site, I thought it was a satirical mockery of the green movement. Then I started reading and paying attention. These are real researchers who are serious about this idea, and frankly I find it fascinating. Well worth thinking about, even if you don’t buy into it in the end. Link

Tonic.com has published a fantastic story about the merits of crowdfunding sites like RocketHub, and Hidden Anatolia is one of the featured projects. It gives me a lot of confidence to know that major web hubs are picking up on the importance of crowdfunding, and thereby acknowledging the importance of independent art. It’s a great article, and it’ll only take you a minute or two to read it (I’ve heard you’re a pretty fast reader). Link

Who am I kidding, it’s impossible to choose favourites. Have a look at all the posters and you’ll see what I mean. Considering the pace of uploads, it looks to me like Gideon is timing it so that the end of his project coincides with the season finale. Fantastic stuff. Link

Yesterday, famed Atlanta photographers Leah and Mark featured the Hidden Anatolia project on their web site! I’m really thankful for the exposure, especially from two such respected artists. I encourage you to take a moment and read the write-up, as they do a great job of explaining the project and explaining how you as a supporter can benefit.

Becoming a part of the project is easy – you don’t have to sign up for anything new if you already have accounts with PayPal and Facebook. Project fueling starts with as little as a single dollar (yes, you can really give just one dollar and still take part!), and the best thing is that you get gifts, rewards, and prizes along the way for your contribution.

You can fuel the project here, and learn more about what you’re getting into here.

Many, many thanks to those who have already fueled the project and are helping to make it a reality!

Quick, go check out Levent Şen’s 360° panoramic shots of Kaleiçi. It’s basically like an upmarket version of Google Street View, except with exquisite photography and a nicer overall feel. It can be a bit processor-intensive, but if you’d like to see the most beautiful parts of the Antalya old town, it’s definitely worth it. Link

Originally I was going to delay the grand opening of hiddenanatolia.com, because the main purpose of it is to document the journey as it happens— daily photos, videos, anecdotes, micro updates, that sort of thing. However, the more I got to thinking about it, the more I realised that the site can also be useful as a sounding board for the preparations for the trip, as well as a tool for helping people decide at what level they’d like to contribute. I’ve set it up on Tumblr, and so far I think it’s looking really good— little bite-sized morsels of Turkishness. Do add me if you’re on Tumblr, or there’s an option to add the site to your RSS feeds, if you prefer that. See you there! Link

As you probably already know, the Turkish tradition of classical music varies greatly from the European tradition, but it’s also very different from the sort of classical music found in other parts of Asia. Turkish Music Portal is a great place to start if you’re interested in learning about the history, instruments, performers, or composers of Turkish classical music. I went there today to look something up, and ended up spending a couple of hours exploring. Fascinating stuff. Link

Here’s something I think is interesting in theory: a group of Turkish internet users has put together a Google map, which they are using as a venue to host a virtual protest march. The idea is to take a stand against internet censorship in Turkey, which isn’t as extreme as in some other countries, but still, slippery slope. According to the instructions, you’re supposed to put a marker on the map to represent yourself as a protester; when they reach a goal of one billion protesters (the actual map bears the typo “one trillion”— good luck with that), there’s going to be a pixel-by-pixel virtual march to the nation’s capital in Ankara.

While I agree that awareness is good, and that the internet is a great way to test things like this and get an idea of what sort of support is out there, in practical terms, exercises like this are futile unless they can be translated into real-life action. It’s this sort of lazy armchair activism, where people are happy to click on a link or change their Facebook status to the latest “support our cause” catchphrase, but if you ask people to put their money or their time where their mouse is, only a fraction would care enough to get out of their chairs and actually do something. Within a couple of days, everyone has forgotten again, so what exactly is the point?

I don’t think any of the policy-making bureaucracy in Ankara care in the least about an internet protest march, and to be honest most of them probably wouldn’t even understand what you were talking about if you tried to explain it. It just doesn’t affect them. Unless protest groups are willing to take the next step and move the protests off the screen and into the streets and voting booths, where lawmakers will actually have a chance of understanding what is happening, I’m afraid this is just wasted effort that could be put to better use. Link

Bread Came Sliced is another one of those nostalgia blogs that you just need to go look at, because I can’t explain it to you. It’s on Livejournal, which is a little bit of a strange choice of host for what is basically a public photoblog, but that just adds to the overall charisma. You’ll see photos in there you forgot about, photos you never knew existed, and photos that could have been taken by your parents or grandparents. Highly entertaining.

Incidentally, I totally remember grocery stores looking like the one in the above picture. I used to get in trouble for playing with the paper bags.

Oh, and the other day someone told me that people in the United States still write paper checks. Like… now, in 2009. Can you believe that? I’m not sure about the veracity of that claim, though. It seems pretty unlikely, actually, that something as simple and ubiquitous as chip-and-PIN technology has eluded the grasp of the world’s most influential superpower, but if it is true… how very, very quaint. It makes me want to go out and write a ton of checks for old times’ sake— it never occurred to me that something like that would even be possible anymore, since the rest of the world moved on more than a decade ago.

I wonder if American cars still have cassette players. That would be awesome… but not as awesome as 8-track.

I have a new site to add to my list of favourites: Everything Is Terrible.

I won’t explain too much, because it can’t really be explained. You’ll either get it or you won’t. You’re either delighted by intensely clever post-ironic video editing, or you’re not.

You either love terrible, or you don’t.

As with most sites of this ilk, the comments are an equal source of entertainment, so be sure to check out the discussions on the respective videos. Gold.

My current favourite is All Things Beanie, but past faves include Cat Massage and Dominatrix Workout.

If your brow is unfurrowed and your mouth unopen at the end of your visit to Everything Is Terrible… you’re doing it wrong.

If you’ve never visited Photofunia before, I encourage you to go and waste some time there. I used to frequent it a long time ago, but it’s been awhile, and I was shocked today to discover that they have tons of cool news ways to turn photos of yourself into strange and wonderful things. It’s a lot of fun, and all you need is one picture to upload. Give it a try. Link

At long last, my dream has come true— James Lileks has added the (old old old) currency of Turkey to his hilarious Curious Lucre series. Most of those notes I’ve never even seen before, that’s how old they are… so the feature was as educational for me as it was funny.

And if you’re weren’t previously familiar with the comedic stylings of James Lileks, (1) shame on you, and (2) don’t deprive yourself a moment longer. I know how you people love wasting time at work, and this’ll fit the bill, promise. You can waste hours on that site.

I’m that spoilsport who doesn’t see why deceiving people is funny, so I generally stay off the internet until the April Fool nonsense is over. Over the years, being off the computer on the 1st has caused this day to evolve into a cleaning day, and gradually it has become a bigger deal every year, to the point where now it even gets its own capital letters on my calendar: Spring Cleaning Day.

It’s evening as I write this, so Spring Cleaning Day is officially over. The house is spotless, I’m filthy, and all is right with the world.

You gotta love someecards:

‘Nuff said.

Who let March in? Was it you? Or you? I’m pretty sure I didn’t authorise that.

Just a quick state-of-the-union address:

• Last month I had a fantastic opportunity to photograph the fabulous Hillside Su hotel in Antalya. The place is beyond amazing, and I hope that comes across in the photos. Check out the set if you want to see how we roll with five stars round these parts.
• Site news: despite appearances, I am in fact working on the new site layout. Ironically, simplifying things has become a little more complicated than I expected, but I’m nearly done with the back-end mods, and soon I’ll be glossing up the front end. Expect major changes.
• The bazaar has been canceled the past two weeks due to being rained out. I think that’s the first time since I’ve lived here that we’ve lost two weeks in a row to weather. Obviously that’s not good for me, but the bigger issue is that it’s really not good for the vendors who depend on the bazaar for their livelihood. I really hope that people come out in droves today and make up for lost time. I certainly will— I’m almost out of photos, and completely out of vegetables.

Oh, and because I know you guys love social networks and fun timewasters, here are three things I’m into these days:

• Likaholix [check mine out and add me]
• Plinky [check mine out and add me]
• Physics Games [warning: you will waste hours playing these]

Time to head down to the bazaar and see what’s on offer.

See, the problem with most year-in-review things is that people wait until the end of the year to do them, and then it gets pretty long and boring. I’m doing mine on the 2nd of January, so this should be fairly concise.

2009 has been busy so far. In the past two days I’ve taken an insane amount of photos and done an even more insane amount of writing. I have a lot of goals for this year. I’ll share the full list in a few days when I’ve polished it some more, but here’s the gist: take lots of photos, make lots of money.

I feel I should mention that I don’t think those two things will have anything to do with each other, and it’s probably better that way.

I think my most artistic goal is to take 2009 photos in 2009. That’s 2009 finished, processed photos, not just 2009 random clicks of the shutter. It sounds ambitious. It averages out to six photos per day, roughly. That’s more than I’ve done in the past, but it’s nothing compared to the likes of people like Thomas Hawk, who sports a work ethic of steel and the determination to take a million photos before he dies (of exhaustion, probably— best way to go if you ask me).

There’s also all the regular health and wellness goals, trying to get myself swinging back a little toward yang after a year of way too much yin. And speaking of Asian philosophies, this year will be the year of the ox in the Chinese zodiac. I don’t really have any supernatural beliefs about astrology (or anything else, for that matter), but I do appreciate the psychological power of symbols, and as I was born in the year of the ox back in 1973, it’s nice to have the weight of the entire People’s Republic cheering me on in 2009. I feel good about the coming months.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a fun year-long project that combines internet time-wasting with productivity and accomplishment, here’s my hot tip: get yourself a Word Count Journal. The premise is simple: you write one word on the first day, two on the second, three on the third, and so forth. On the last day of the year you’ll only have to write 365 words, but in total you’ll have written 66,795 words, which is pretty impressive. It’s also good for people who find more intensive ventures like NaNoWriMo too demanding, or those who don’t find it demanding enough and need additional year-round writing exercises. I started my WCJ yesterday, and I’m curious as to where it’s going to take me. I’d also be very interested to read what other people are writing, so if you do sign up, please share your journal link in the comments.

That’s about it, I guess— 2009 in a nutshell. It’s been a crazy year full of ups and downs, but we’ve survived these two days and we’re still here, so we should take that as a positive sign.

And if you’re wondering about the annual January melissamaples.com revamp… yeah, it’s coming. Believe me, I’m as tired of this theme as you are.