Moving day (bosph.wordpress.com)

Blogger is basically unusable for me unless I host every image, every video at a remote site, and that's just a ridiculously small hoop to jump through. It's not like the United States hasn't seized/blocked sites for copyright infringements. But Atdhe.net existed for the sole purpose of stealing television shows. Anyone who can't see the difference between that and Blogger, well, there's a seat awaiting you in the Turkish judiciary.

Is it just me, or is there an air of intolerance here? Visitors to Istanbul art galleries are beaten up for sipping sangria, a TV station is slapped silly by the government for showing a cartoon character with a pipe in his mouth, TV hosts are fined simply for inviting the wrong people to interview. And, as mentioned earlier, five dozen journalists are in jail for perceived slights against the government.

Perhaps this is what happens when a country has democracy bestowed upon it, in this case by the great Kemal Ataturk, as opposed to having to fight for it.

I'll be blogging at bosph.wordpress.com/ forthwith. Hope you can visit.

If the link doesn't work, try typing it in your browser's URL bar. Contact me at sluggh@gmail.com with any questions.

I arrive

Between the Blue Mosque and the Sea of Marmara is a hill. On the hill is a patchwork of alleyways. I arrived in Sultanahmet at 4:38 p.m. Five minutes after climbing to my rooftop flat I heard the muezzin's call to prayer. When it ended, I opened a window to the sound of bleating goats and the smell of cooking fires. This is gonna be good.

After 23 hours on planes and in airports, my ankles look like Oprah's. You'll pardon me if I put my feet up for a bit.

Some bad news: Blogger, which hosts this blog, has been blocked in Turkey. I am able to post for the time being but can't see my work or any comments you may leave. Freedom of communication is a fragile concept here. As I write this, 60 Turkish journalists are cooling their heels in prison for doing their jobs. WordPress and YouTube were also blocked by Turkish courts, but those decisions were eventually lifted. Will advise and migrate if necessary.

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Coming March 29