Pop art‘in unlu isimlerinden Roy Lichtenstein‘in erken donem resimlerinin sunuldugu yeni acilan bir sergi vesilesiyle NY Times, okuyuculari icin tanitici bir yazi ve bu resimleri iceren bir slide show hazirlamis.

“Roy Lichtenstein: Girls, at the Gagosian Gallery, presents 12 of Lichtenstein’s early paintings of the female creatures otherwise known as women. Based on cartoons and mostly blond, they are anonymous, beautiful and often unhappily bothered, usually by men. Or, if you like, by boys.”

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slide show

Guardian, Haruki Murakami‘nin yeni yayinlanacak What I Talk About When I Talk About Running adli kitabinda bizleri nelerin bekledigini ozetleyen uzunca bir yaziyi sayfalarina tasimis:

The thing is, I’m not much for team sports. Don’t misunderstand me - I’m not totally uncompetitive. It’s just that for some reason I’ve never cared all that much whether I beat others or lose to them. So in this sense long-distance running is the perfect fit for a mindset like mine. Most ordinary runners are motivated by an individual goal: namely, a time they want to beat. As long as he can beat that time, a runner will feel he’s accomplished what he set out to do.

The same can be said about my profession. In the novelist’s profession, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as winning or losing. Maybe numbers of copies sold, awards won and critics’ praise serve as outward standards for accomplishment in literature, but none of them really matters. What’s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you’ve set for yourself. In this sense, writing novels and running full marathons are very much alike. For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. I’m at an ordinary - or perhaps more like mediocre - level. But that’s not the point. The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.

Yazinin tamami

resim: Jorg Block  

Yeni yazarlar, yeni kitaplar kesfetmek benim icin her zaman heyecan verici olmustur. Fazla bir beklentiyle baslamadiginiz ama okudukca sizi saran bir kitabin insanda uyandirdigi duygu gercekten cok farklidir. Aykut’u disarida birakirsam benim acimdan bu kesifler arkadaslarimin birinden gelen bir oneri sayesinde ama cogu kez de  sansin on plana ciktigi bir surec sonucunda gerceklesir: bir kitapcida rastgele bir rafa uzanmam, internette akalasiz bir anda karsima cikan bir blog, vb. 

Asagida linkini verdigim “Gnooks” adli site bu kesif surecini biraz daha kolaylastirmayi amacliyor. Yaptigi sey begendiginiz yazarlara bakarak size sizin severek okuyacaginizi dusundugu tavsiyeler siralamak ve yine sizden aldigi feedback ile de bu yazar iliskilerini guncellemek. Yani aslinda surekli bir ogrenme icinde olan tipik bir machine learning uygulamasi. Ama benim bu sitede asil ilgimi ceken sey map of literature adiyla sunulan data visualization ozelligi. Bir yazarin adini giriyorsunuz ve size sorgulanan yazarin orta noktaya yerlestigi ve bu yazara benzeyen diger yazarlarin da benzerlik derecesine gore dagildigi iki boyutlu bir harita donuyor. Asagi bir ornek olusturmak amaciyla Haruki Murakami sorgusunun su an itibariyla sonucunu ilistiriyorum. 

Gnooks