If you look closely at the far left background, you will see the sign for ‘hair extension’. I just thought it was a funny juxtaposition with graffiti and the Uncle Sam wheat paste poster.
Old fashioned movie poster street art graffiti in Amsterdam
Turkish Belly Dancer Costumes
Telkari is the famous jewellery art in Mardin (a town in East Turkey)
If you are interested in this art, you will find a lot of stuff at this address
Delicious sculptures :)
Delicious sculptures :)
Originally ebru art or paper marbling was a step in bookbinding and used as a background for calligraphy. During the Ottoman Empire Ebru was used to prevent writing from being erased from a document. "Benjamin Franklin sed Ebru on currency to eliminate forgeries and also in accounting books", says Nuri Pınar, a well known Turkish Ebru artist.
The process of making ebru is unique due to its being completely painted under water. Water is placed into a rectangular tray in which gum is added to make the consistency much thicker. Then paint is sprinkled onto the surface and a pattern is created by running a thin stick through it. Once the pattern is completed, a sheet of paper is placed on top for a couple of minutes. The paper is then carefully removed revealing the Ebru design.
The meaning of the word ebru varies according to its cultral origins "Ebr" in Çağatay Turkish means clouds, while "Ebri" means reminiscent or resembling. "In western cultures it means marbling, which may sound cold ad harsh. We call it cloud-like because it changes its shape, colour and light, and you cannot touch it. The cultural differences come out trough the terminology", Pınar said.
Ebru's evolution
Ebru started as a form of decorative paper art and is now an art form itself. The oldest known example of Ebru is in the Topkapı museum. It is an anthology of poetry called Ruhi Cevgan by poet Arifi from 1539.
In its begginings, only organic paints were used and only one type of gum was available. Today, there are many pigments, both chemical and organic, that can be used, as well as many varieties of gum from seaweed to salep.
Originally Ebru was only abstract, but over the last 130 years it has became popular to add stylized flowers. And today most Ebru artists are women, whereas in days gone by it was an art form carried out mainly by men. The reasons for these changes are simple "necessity and demand", Pınar says.
Less talent more love and patienceTo become an Ebru artist is quite difficult; not because it requires a special talnt but because it requires patience, self-sacrifice, hard work and tolerance, said Hikmet Bartçugil, another leading figure in Ebru art. He adds that it is possible to larn the art of ebru by practicing and reading books on the subject, which is time consuming. "Trying to pick it up by yourself or just learning one aspect might take hours, whereas a master can show it to you in five minutes". On the other hand, Fuat Başar, another important contemporary ebru artist in Turkey, claims that the only way to learn the art is from a master. "You don't need any special talent to become an Ebru artist. Love and patience however are essential" e says.
Ebru not only has a long history within Turkey, it is also intgral to the Turkish identity."Culture is what makes me who I am. My identity is forget by this land, through Turkey. Our roots run underground, I belong here. Traditional art forms, such as these, are vital in all cultures. For this culture to continue, traditional art must continue" Pınar said.According t Barutçugil the way for a country to prove itself in the international arena is firstly by protecting its national culture. "Ebru is ours. We have to protect and evaluate these traditional and cultural values to bequeath a more advanced civilization to future generations", he said.
Some of the essential materialsGumming materials: Gumming materials are added to water to make the colour pigmens float on water and then, adhesion of them on paper is easier. The most popular gum used is tragaccanth, as well as flax seeds, orchid root, quince seeds, fenugreek seeds, ad carrageenan.
Turpentine: It is a natural thinner producing a light-coloured spotted pattern.
Pins and needles: A variety of pins and needles is used for dropping dye and shaping it on the water surface.
Paper: High quality paper of 80-90 g/m2 weight is used.
Combs: Combs varying in thickness and lenght are used to create rhytmic patterns on combed type ebru.
Drying shelves: A flat surface is necessary to properly dry the finished ebru.
Around the world as in Turkey golf is known as a sport for hte wealthy and also as an important type of tourism because it attracts prosperous tourists (tourists that add value). While an ordinary tourist spends 140 Euro in a week, a golf tourist spends on average 200 Euro in just one day. It is this added value that makes golf tourism grow so fast globally and also what makes it one the favoured areas of Turkish tourism. Belek is becoming Turkey's golf region, and in 2006 it attracted 209 thousands golf tourists. In 2007 this increased by 50 percent, reaching 300 thousand tourists. There are, according to the European Golf Association (EGA), 31 thousand golf courses in the world. 60 percent of these are located in North America. In Europe the number of cources comes to 6 thousand and there are 6.5 million golfers. The European golf market generates 2 billion dollars. Still considered at the early stages of this development, Turkey has only got 12 golf facilities. The golf courses in Istanbul, Antalya and Ankara yield approximately 6 million dollars annualy. Turkey's competitors in the tourism sector, Spain and Portugal, earn 250 million dollars.
Turkey's Golf Headquarters: Belek
Golf for diplomats
Busiest in March, April and November
The aim is 100 golf courses by 2010
You really ought to go to Yedigöller National Park in autumn to listen to the song of the colors. There a feast of yellow, brown, black, scarlet and green is awaiting you. Set out after midnight so that you can greet the morning on the road between Bolu and the lakes. In Bolu you turn off for the 42 km stretch to Yedigöller; if it has rained or snowed the past few days the road may preset a challenge to your car. But if it is a fine day, the sun will rise from the night's embrace and snow you dawn in its duvet. This is where-if someone else is driving-you should get out of the car and send it on. Perhaps this will be one of the best decisions of your life, because the light in Yedigöller National Park sings golden songs in autumn. A walk starting ten km ahead of the lakes will doubtlessly tire you, but the exuberance of nature and happiness dismantled by the cities will fill you again. Yedigöller's magnificent autumn colour feast begins on this road. The blanket of mist covering the white wllows, hawthorns, larches, beeches, mountain ashes and firs sometimes follows you from afar until noon. Don't be disappointed if the trees at the start of the road have lost their leaves. The further you come down between the sheltering hills you will see how the trees have turned into a daytime torchlight procession.
A silent paradise
A sea of leaves
The miracle of reflections
(April 21, 1930 – December 16, 1989) was an Italian actress.Known for her appearance, at a young age she won a Miss Rome beauty pageant, which led her to cinema. The movie that brought her to stardom was “Bitter Rice” and she continued to have success in cinema. Born in Rome to an Italian father and an English mother, Mangano lived in poor times caused by the war. Trained for seven years as a dancer, she was supporting herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, Mangano won the Miss Rome beauty pageant and through this she obtained a rôle in a Mario Costa movie. One year later she became a contestant in the Miss Italia contest. Potential actress Lucia Bosé became "The Queen", among Mangano and several other future stars of Italian cinema such as Gina Lollobrigida, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gianna Maria Canale. Silvana Mangano was trained as a dancer and worked as a model before winning the Miss Rome beauty contest in 1946 which brought her into the movies. In her first starring role, as a migrant farm worker in Bitter Rice, caught between social awareness and jealousy born of a passionate love affair, she was instantly thrust into the international limelight. American critics called her the Italian Rita Hayworth, with an extra 20 pounds; she was the first of the postwar stars to represent the full-figured, fiery Italian beauty.She accepted few film offers and chose her roles carefully, usually preferring to collaborate with directors whose work she admired. Pasolini used her as Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, in The Decameron, and as an upper-middle-class mother whose life is profoundly changed by the visit of a young man to her home in Theorem. Pasolini said that she was practically contemptuous of her great beauty and that she worked hard at constantly improving her dramatic capabilities. She often worked with Luchino Visconti, and in fact played in four of his last six films. She reportedly accepted the role of Tadzio's mother in Death in Venice for no salary; her portrayal of the impeccably groomed aristocratic woman relied entirely on mime for its effect. At the opposite extreme was her role as a vulgar and pushy nouveau-riche mother in Conversation Piece. She played both the grand sophisticate of the past and the reptilian modern mother with equal conviction. ( Elaine Mancini )
"A woman at 20 is like ice, at 30 she is warm and at 40 she is hot," Italian actress, Gina Lollobrigida once said. (Thinkexist.com) Most men would think that the 'Italian Sex Goddess', famous for her sultry looks and curvaceous figure was hot at any age. The only one who she failed to capture was Rock Hudson who 'fell asleep' when they became intimate, she told television interviewer, Larry King. 'It happens,' Lollobrigida said.
(Born September 20, 1934) She is an Academy Award winning Italian film actress. She is widely considered to be the most popular Italian actress of her time and is also famous for being a major international sex symbol.Eleonora Rossi Drago
(September 23, 1925 – December 2, 2007). Born Palmira Omiccioli, was an Italian film actress. She was born in Quinto al Mare, Genoa, Italy. She had the leading role in Michelangelo Antonioni's Le amiche. She worked with Pietro Germi in Un maledetto imbroglio. In 1960, for her performance in Valerio Zurlini's Estate violenta she won the best actress prize of the Mar del Plata Film Festival and Silver Ribbon. In 1964, she appeared in an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, The Citadel. She died in Palermo, Italy.
Canale was born in Reggio Calabria. In 1947, at the Miss Italia beauty contest, won by Lucia Bosè, she placed second. Canale received publicity in many Italian magazines after this.
Maria Grazia Cucinotta 
