And the Oscar goes to

As you already know I am a movie freak. From blockbusters to art-house movies, from independent movies to foreign language movies I try to watch every kind of movies and try to find in every movie something to appreciate but I am picky. I don’t like movies just because they are popular or they are appreciated by respectful critics. I have my own opinions and I like to give those opinions a good shape and put them in words. I am critical and with my words I can be cruel and harsh too. So if I don’t like a movie, you will know J I am also a big fan of Oscars. I am aware that Oscars can be political and dishonest but still I love to watch it. It is a tradition for me. Every year after the nominations are announced I print the list of nominees and make a schedule myself to watch all the  nominated movies and every year on Oscar night I woke up at 2 am and watch the Oscars live. For 4 years I was watching at home, but this year it was a special year, I will watch it at my childhood home like the old times and most importantly I will be watching with my mum.  

As always I have nearly seen all the movies that are nominated. So it’s time to share my predictions. Here it comes,

Best Picture

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Hidden Figures

Should Win: Hidden Figures (“If we look at the nominees it is the only film that stands for a very important issue…The others are good but this film should get the Oscar. It is also a team work. Not only one person leads the film but the whole cast makes the film good.” These were my words last year about ‘Spotlight’ and I will say exactly same words for ‘Hidden Figures’ this time that very important issue is racism and being a woman in a man’s world. I know that ‘La La Land' which is not a good movie at all will win, ‘Hidden Figures deserves the best picture Oscar.)

Best Director

Will Win: Damien Chazelle (La La Land)

May Win: Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)

Should Win: Mel Gibson (Actually there is no ‘may win’ here. Damien Chazelle will win but not because he did a good job with directing ‘La La Land’ but as ‘we couldn’t give you an Oscar last year with ‘Whiplash’ but see this as an late Oscar for your work in ‘Whiplash’ excuse. He definitely deserves it but not with this movie. Addition to that Mel Gibson did a so beautiful comeback with ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ that it should be rewarded with an Oscar.)

Best Actor in Leading Role

Will Win: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)           

May Win: Denzel Washington (Fences)

Should Win: Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) (I know that Andrew Garfield will not win I love this movie so much that as I told earlier this movie should be rewarded with an Oscar. Moreover if we look all the disgusting rumors about Casey Affleck the jury is doubtful I think. Should they look at the pure performance of an actor/actress or should they judge them with their personal life. Till now we know that the jury is always interested in actor/actress’s lives too so will see what happens.)

Best Actress in Leading Role

Will Win: Isabella Huppert (Elle)

May Win: Emma Stone (La La Land)

Should Win: Natalie Portman (Jackie) (Actually this is the only category that ‘Elle’ is nominated so I think that Isabelle Huppert will win but if you ask me Natalie Portman should win her second Oscar with her portrait of Jackie Kennedy. It is an incredible performance. Till now we have seen so many beautiful impersonations and this performance belongs to the category of ‘legendary performances’ with Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles or Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking. If Emma Stone wins I will be very mad!)

Best Actor in Supporting Role

Will Win: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

May Win: Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Should Win: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) (This category is the only category that ‘Moonlight’ is very strong. Last years Oscars seems to have a policy to give at least one Oscar to the every movie that is nominated for best picture so I think this is the category that they want to give an Oscar to Moonlight. Actually the movie was not great but Ali’s performance was short but powerful so he deserves it.)

Best Actress in Supporting Role

Will Win: Viola Davis (Fences)

May Win: Naomie Harris (Moonlight)

Should Win: Viola Davis (Fences) (There is nothing to say she is simple perfect. She deserves every inch of it. )

Best Original Screenplay

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Manchester by the Sea

Should Win: The Lobster (If they really mean the word ‘original’ then they should definitely give the award to ‘The Lobster’ because it was really original but if they just want to more glorify ‘La La Land’ which has NO original screenplay at all they will give the Oscar to them. Or as I said earlier they want to give at least one Oscar every movie that is nominated for best picture. If they decide to give no Oscar to Casey Affleck they will give the screenplay Oscar to the movie.)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: Hidden Figures

May Win: Arrival

Should Win: Arrival (This is a tough category because all the nominated movies had a powerful story and all of them deserves an Oscar but my heart wants Arrival to win because it was such a touching, beautiful movie.)

Best Foreign Language Film

Will Win: The Salesman

May Win: Toni Erdman

Should Win: I only watched ‘The Salesman’. I can’t say who should win but apart from ‘The Salesman’ being a good movie, because of political reasons (Iranian movie, Trump’s Muslim ban) they will win the Oscar. Probably there will be no one to get it because the director announced that he and his team will not attend the ceremony as protest.

Best Original Score

Will Win: La La Land     

May Win: Jackie

Should Win: Arrival (I can’t believe that ‘Arrival’ didn’t get even a nomination here. If I compare all the movies ‘Arrival’ has the most original, suitable, impressive score. I wish that at least ‘Jackie’ wins, ‘La La Land’ was a disaster sorry!)

Best Original Song

Will Win: City of Stars (La La Land)

May Win: Audition (La La Land)

Should Win: Audition (La La Land) (this is the only category that I think ‘La La Land’ should win but not with that stupid pop song (it supposed to be a jazz song as a jazz pianist wrote it but anyway) ‘city of stars’ but the only other song that we listened throughout the movie (it supposed to a musical, remember?! Normally you have millions of beautiful songs and performances.) and it was good.)

For the technical nominations I have some predictions but I can not say which film should win, cause I don’t have that knowledge to really question their judgement.

Achievement in Cinematography

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Arrival

Achievement in Costume Design

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Jackie

Achievement in Film Editing

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Arrival or maybe Hacksaw Ridge

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Will Win: Suicide Squad

May Win: Star Trek Beyond

Achievement in Production Design

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Arrival

Achievement in Sound Editing

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Arrival or maybe Hacksaw Ridge

Achievement in Sound Mixing

Will Win: La La Land

May Win: Arrival or maybe Hacksaw Ridge

Achievement in Visual Effects

Will Win: Rouge One: A Star Wars Story

May Win: Doctor Strange

Lastly let’s come to the categories for which I have no idea who will win or who may win: Best Documentary Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Animated Film, Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

On February 26, I will be watching the Oscars ‘live’ and I will keep scores so that I can share with you how many of my predictions become reality. Let the Oscars begin! 

Avocado Soslu Kiymali Makarna

Beni yakindan taniyanlar bilir. Ben bir avocado hastasiyim. Nerdeyse hergun bir avocado yerim. Ancak avocado kolay bulunan bir meyve degildir. Kolay bulunmadigi gibi secmesi de onemlidir. Orta yumusaklidir olmalidir bir kere. Ne cok sert ne cok yumusak. Basinda bulunan kucuk sapi cikarilip icine bakilmalidir yesilse ici de guzeldir demektir. Buna dikkat edilmedigi takdirde eve gelip de soyunca ici siyah bir avocadoyla karsilasilabilir. Soymak demisken soymasi da bir degisiktir avocadonun. Bunun icin Youtube’tan video izleyebilirsiniz yanlis okumadiniz bu meyveyi oyle kafaniza gore soyamazsiniz ozel bir sekli var. Soyduktan sonra da zorluklari bitmedi. Mumkunse hepsini bir oturusta bitirin. Yarisini da yarina saklayayim demeyim. Cunku avocado cok cabuk bozulan bir meyvedir. 1-2 saat icinde simsiyah olur ve yenmez. Dolayisiyla en son eklenmesi gereken seydir avocado. Yok ben ille de saklayacagim derseniz o zaman cekirdekli olan kismini (cekirdegini cikarmadan) kapali bir kabin icine koyarak (veya strec filme sikica sararak) buzdolabinda saklayin. Bu kadar eziyetli bir meyvedir kendisi. Dahasi bircoklari icin tek basina bir tadi yoktur (annemin deyimiyle) krem gibi birseydir fakat baska tadlarla birlesince muthis lezzetli olur. Meksika mutfagini sevenler bilir, fajita olsun, quesadilla olsun herzaman onlarin yaninda gelen yesil sos guacamole avocadodan yapilir. Avocado meksika mutfaginin olmazsa olmazlarindandir zaten. Fakat bana sorarsiniz avocado en cok icinde domates olan salatalara cok yakisir. Zaten yaptigim arastirmalara gore zaten cok yararli olan avocado domatesle birlkte yendigi zaman hiper yararli oluyormus. Evet zaten avocadoyu deneme sebeplerimin basinda tek basina cok saglikli bir meyve olmasidir. Karbonhidrat orani dusuk ama doymamis yag orani ve lif orani yuksek bir meyvedir. Bu doymamis yag bizim icin son derece saglikli olmasinin yani sira bazi besinlerin daha iyi emilmesine de yardimci. Muzdan daha cok potasyuma sahip olan bu meyvenin icinde K,C,B5 ve B6 vitaminleri de vardir. Yapilan bazi arastirmalar kilo vermeye bile yardimci oldugunu soyluyor (en azindan baya tok tuttugunu soyleyebilirim.) Daha da bircok yararlari var internetten arastirabilirsiniz. Ama gelelim simdi benim bunlari nicin soyledigime. Yeni bir tarif denedim gecenlerde ve bu tarifi sizinle paylasmak istiyorum. Tabi ki icinde avocado var :)

Avocado Soslu Kiymali Makarna (4 kisilik)

Malzemeler

• 500 gr makarna (uzun, kisa, burgu, fiyonk ne isterseniz)
• 1 adet Avocado
• 300 gr kiyma
• 1 adet sogan
• 2 dis sarmisak
• 1 yumurta sarisi
• 200 ml krema
• 150 gr parmesan (gozunuze az veya cok gelirse istediginiz gibi degistirebilirsiniz.)
• 1 adet limonun suyu

Yapilis

1. Soganlari kucuk kucuk dograyin. Tavanin icine cok az zeytinyagi koyup soganlari cok hafif kavurun pembelesmesine firsat vermeden kiymayi ekleyin ve kiyma iyice pisene kadar kavurun. Tuz ve karabiber ekleyip bir kenara koyun.
2. 500 gr makarna 1.5-2 L kaynamis suyun icine atin ve 10-15 dakika kaynatin. Istediginiz yumusaklikta makarnanin altini kapatip ve suzun.
3. Blendara 1 adet soyulmus avocado, 2 dis sarmisak, 1 yumurta sarisi, 200 ml kremayi koyup icindeki hersey ezilip puruzsuz bir sos olana kadar blendardan gecirin.
4. Makarnayi tencereye alin uzerine hazirladiginiz avocado sosunun hepsini dokun ve karistirin.
5. Rendelediginiz parmesan peynirinin 2/3unu makarnaya ilave edin ve karistirin. Bu sirada cok az olacak sekilde tencerenin altini yakin.
6. Peynir hafif eridikten sonra tencerenin altini kapatip tabaklara servis edin. Uzerine kiymalari ve geri kalan peyniri serpin.
7. Ozellikle de benim gibi domates hayrani iseniz ve makarna taze tatlar olmasindan hoslaniyorsunuz resimde goruldugu gibi makarnayi taze cherry pomodori domatesleriyle susleyebilirsiniz.

Afiyet olsun :)

Dare to dive into the sea

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” You’ve probably heard this quote many times before. Maybe it sounds a bit cliché or you think ‘do I really need to do bungee jumping to prove that I am actually living?’ However I understand the true meaning of this quote after I started to practice headstand.

Everybody has its comfort zone. For some it is their jobs, for some it is their relationships, for some it is their hometowns. Because of this comfort zone some people can’t change their jobs, some people are stuck in their bad relationships, some people can’t change even their hairdressers even if they know that they can have a better one. Comfort zone is something that we hold on to, something familiar. It feels good to stay in the comfort zone because it is known and known things can not harm us. It is known and that’s why we can control it. Leaving the comfort zone means stepping into something unknown and it is scary. Remember the moment when you want to dive into cold blue sea. It is hot outside, you want to cool down but the sea is cold so you don’t dive in because you are in your comfort zone. The worst thing with that is if you stay outside longer the sea feels colder and colder. In reality the temperature of the sea didn’t change however you stayed so long outside (in your comfort zone) that it seems impossible to dive into that beautiful sea, even if you know how relaxing it will be to swim there. Here comes the importance of yoga practice. Yoga will show you how to swim in that sea.

One of the most challenging poses in yoga are the inversions. At my first yoga lesson, the instructor has encouraged me to do a headstand. I couldn’t do it. I thought I need to build stronger abdominal muscles. After almost 6 months even if I had stronger muscles I couldn’t invert myself. So I thought it is the balance. Another 6 months passed and I still couldn’t do it even if I was doing a very balanced ‘tree pose’. Then I realized my problem wasn’t about strength or balance. It was about my comfort zone. This realization came up with some partner yoga practices. I couldn’t let go. I couldn’t trust my partner and let my partner to have the control and so both me and my partner were failing in the asanas because of my ‘comfort zone’. I realized that I was doing the same thing to myself with the inversions. I couldn’t let go off my fear. I couldn’t trust myself and leave my comfort zone. What now?

Through yoga practice, a person becomes aware of his/her body. He/she starts to know his/her body better than before. In every practice a different reaction of the body is seen to an exact same asana. After some time maybe there is some progress. Some asanas become easy and more challenging poses are tried. With those more challenging poses you start to trust to yourself. You start to see the power in you but at the same time you realize the power of breath. While at first you were trying to align your breath with the asana, you see that with the challenging poses you automatically do that because they are impossible to do without stable breathing.  And then one day with a complete clear mind and aligned breath, I was practicing the half headstand, I was not thinking that I could invert myself but suddenly I found myself at the wall upside down.

Now I see the path to inversions like a triangle. Obviously you can’t invert yourself by only leaving your comfort zone and trusting yourself, you need a base with two corners. One corner is the strength and the other corner is the balance. Both corners can be trained by other activities like fitness. However the most important corner, the top corner is the courage. Leaving your comfort zone, letting go off your fear and trusting yourself. That you will learn only with yoga practice.  Once you invert yourself you will more easily leave your comfort zone. So are you ready to dive into the sea? 

Today is International Yoga Day. When I think about yoga I think about breathing. That's why I wanted to share this quote with a little bit of commentary.

When do you own the breath?

We have a list of things that are very important for us. We have priorities. Where is the breath in our priority list. We are used to do it so automatically that we don't see the importance anymore. But breathing is the source of our lives. If we don't breath we don't live. So simple is it.

When/how do you own the breath then?

- When you try to imagine your breath's the route in your body while you inhale and exhale
- When you focus on your breath in the stressful times while other people are almost breathless because of the stress
- When you start counting your breath. In how many seconds you inhale and exhale?
- When you breath through different parts of your body. Through your chest through your belly...

Try to practice these things regularly and you will see the difference in you.

Have a peaceful yoga day :)

Magnolia Pudding

Everybody knows the famous Magnolia Bakery and especially their banana pudding. My first meeting with these puddings was –you won’t believe it- in Istanbul. All my friends were talking about this delicious pudding that they couldn’t get enough. The restaurant makes this magnolia puddings also with Nutella, Oreo, strawberry etc. But my favorite fruit in desserts is always banana. So I decided to make this pudding at home. It is extremely easy, dangerously delicious. It is so light and fluffy that you want to have it one more cup.

In few months I will be NYC and if I have time I will definitely pay a visit to Magnolia Bakery and tell you whether there is any difference I see/taste in their famous pudding with mine. But before that let me share my recipe with you :)

Ingredients

·         2 cups of milk

·         1 tbsp of starch

·         1,5 tbsp of flour

·         1 egg yolk

·         90 g of sugar

·         8 -10 g of vanilla flavor sugar (I always use it cakes, puddings, mousse, it gives very nice flavor.)

·         200 ml of single cream

·         45 g of digestive biscuits (crushed)

·         3 bananas

Method

·         Put milk, starch, flour and egg yolk in a middle-size saucepan.

·         Cook them for 2 minutes while continuously stirring, add sugar and vanilla and cook them for 3-5 minutes (till it is thick enough).

·         Add the single cream and cook 1 minute more. Then let it cool down.

·         Put the sliced bananas on the bottom of the bowls (for each bowl 5-6 slices of banana), transfer the half of the pudding to 4-5 bowls.

·         Add the 2/3 crushed biscuits and add the rest of the pudding to the bowls.

·         Top with the rest of the crushed biscuits and more bananas.

ENJOY!

Cookshop’a gidenler bilir. Meshur bir tatlilari var. Magnolia. Muzlu, cileklisi, nutellalisi, oreolusu ne isterseniz. Aslinda bu tatli Amerika’nin en meshur tatlicisi olan Magnolia’s Bakery’nin muz pudinginden esinlenerek yapilmis. Gecenlerde evde bunu yapmaya karar verdim. Inanilmaz kolay bi tarifi var, korkunc derecede lezzetli. Uyariyorum, cok hafif bi tatli oldugu icin de insan bir kap daha yemek istiyor.
Onumuzdeki aylarda New York’ta olacagim. Vakit bulursam muhakkak Magnolia’s Bakery’ye ugramayi dusunuyorum. Sizinle fikirlerimi paylasacagimdan emin olabilirsiniz. Ama ondan once iste size tarifi :)

Malzemeler

·         2 su bardagi sut
·         1 yemek kasigi nisasta
·         1,5 yemek kasigi un,
·         1 yumurta sarisi
·         1 (ince belli) cay bardagi (90 gr) seker
·         1 paket (8-10 gr) vanilya
·         1 paket krema
·         45 gr (3-5 tane) iyice ezilmis sade biskuvi
·         3 tane muz

Yapilis

·         Sutu,nisastayi,unu, ve yumurta sarisini bi tencereye koyun.
·         Orta hararet surekli karistirarak 2 dk. pisirin.
·         Seker ve vanilyayi da koyup pisirmeye 3 dk. daha devam edin. (Iyice puding kivamina gelene kadar.)
·         Kremayi da ekleyip 1 dk. daha pisirin ve sogumaya birakin
·         Kaplara dilimlenmis muzlari (3-5 tane) ekleyin uzerine pudingin yarisi kalacak sekilde kaplara esit miktarlarda koyun.
·         Ezilmis biskuvilerin 3te 2ini pudingin uzerine serpin.
·         Geri kalan pudingi de kaplara esit miktarlarda koyun.
·         Uzerine ezilmis biskuvi ve muzla susleyin.

Afiyet olsun!

Takus Hanimin Zeytinyagli Biber Dolmasi

"Eger Tanri sadece yemek tariflerini uygulayarak yemek yapmamizi isteseydi, buyukanneleri bize vermezdi." Bir restaurantin tavaninda yazilan bu sozu gorunce aklima tabi ki kendi anneannem geldi. Herkesin buyukannesi ozeldir ama benimkisi... Cok lafa gerek yok taniyanlar ne kadar ozel biri oldugunu bilir Takus hanimin :) (Asil ismi Takuhi tabi. Ermenicede kralice demek, kendisi hic hazetmez bu isimden ama sanirim benim ona Takus dememi seviyor.)
Kendi gibi tarifleri de ozeldir. Oyle su kadar gram bu kadar gramla calismaz. Tipki benim kendisinden ogrendigim gibi o da kendi annesine bakarak ogrenmistir tarifleri. Oyle bi keyifle yapar ki yemeklerini. 'Icine sevgisini de katiyor ondan bu kadar lezzetli'nin canli kanitidir. Bu yemek yapmaya olan merakimi da ondan almisim zaten:) Tariflerini oyle yazmaz cizmez yapa yapa, yaparken de tada tada olusturur sonra tekrar yapa yapa da aklinda tutar. Ayrica pratiktir de. Biraz goz karari biraz da adet hesabina gore yemek tarifi verir. Okudugu tarifi de kendine gore uyarlar. Kafasina uymazsa tarifteki bir malzame hayatta koymaz. Asci insiyatifi :)
Eh boyle bi ascinin yaninda cirak olunca ben de oyle pek tariflere uymaz oldum. Hersey kafama gore. Ustelik aci mi oldu at patatesi, sulu mu oldu kapagi acik birak harli ateste kaynat gibi mutfak hilelerini de ogretmistir bana. Bu yasinda (91 dile kolay) hala yeni tarifler hileler uretmektedir. Ustelik dedigine bakin: "Eger BIRAZ daha genc olsaydim kesin bir yemek kursuna giderdim." 91 senelik zorlu hayatinda hic kendi icin birsey yapmamis ki hep baskalari icin. Neyse biz ne diyorduk? Tarif diyorduk. Ermeni sofrasinin olmazsa olmazlarindan zeytinyagli biber dolmasi (Bosuna demezler ermeni kadini mutfakta olur die). Anneannemin ise tarifi pek pratiktir. O yuzden sizinle bu vesileyle paylasmak istiyorum. Iste size Takus hanimin zeytinyagli biber dolmasi.

Malzemeler

• 10 tane dolmalik biber
• 10 tane orta buyuklukte sogan (bu demektir ki hesap biber basina bir sogana gore yapilmistir. Eger soganlar buyukse asci insiyatifi 8 de olabilir.)
• 10 tatli kaşığı pirinc (yine biberde oldugu gibi biber basina 1 tatli kasigi pirince gore hesap yapilmistir.)
• Goz kararinca bol yeni bahar (tadina bakicaksiniz sart Takus hanim oyle su kadar gramdan falan anlamaz, tadina bakarak karar verir.)
• Goz kararinca yeni bahardan daha az olacak sekilde tarcin
• Tarcinla benzer miktarda kimyon
• Bir avuc cam fistigi
• Bir avuc siyah uzum
• 1 bardak zeytinyagi
• Tuz,karabiber,cok az da pul biber
• 1 domates (biberlerin ustune kapak yapmak icin)
• Pisirmek icin ise 10 tatli kasigi pirinc bir bardaga bosaltilir ve onun iki kati su kullanilir.

Yapilis

• Soganlar kucuk kucuk dograndiktan sonra tavada biraz yag ve biraz suyla hafif pembe olana kadar kavurulur.
• Biberlerin baslari cikartilir ve icleri temizlenir, yikanir. 
• Soganlar kavrulduktan sonra yag, baharatlar, uzum ve fistik konur. Karistirilir, tadina bakilir. Gerekiyorsa baharatlara ilave yapilir. 
• Pirinc de eklenip karistirildiktan sonra biberler doldurulur.
• Kare kare kesilen domateslerle biberlerin ustu kapanir.
• Tencereye biberler yerlestirilir. Su eklenir ve biraz da yag konur. 
• Takus hanim duduklu tencere kullanmaya pek alisik degildir ama dudukludeki gibi pisirmenin bir yontemini bulmustur. Biberlerin uzerine kapatacak bir tabak koymak ve uzerine tencerenin kapagini koymak.
• Bu vaziyette kisik ateste 1 saat pisirilir.
• Sogumaya birakilir. 

Takus hanim servis yapacagi gunden hep bir gun once dolmasini (genel olarak butun zeytinyaglilarini) yapar. Cunku hep derki : "Yavrum birgun buzdolabinda kalirsa butun baharat iyice soganla bir olur ve sonuc olarak daha lezzetli olur." Gercekten de oluyor. Size de tavsiye ederim.

Oyleyse afiyet olsun.

Let's be human again!

Everybody knows how I am crazy about young adult movies/books. As “Hunger Games” is over now I am giving my focus to “Divergent” series. Unlike “Hunger Games”, I didn’t read the books of “Divergent”. So I can’t compare the movies with the books ‘luckily’ J Let me give a quick summary before we go deep into it. The series took place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago where people are divided into 5 factions (groups) according to their dominant characteristic features. Abnegation for the selfless, amity for the peaceful, candor for the honest, dauntless for the brave and erudite for the intellectual. Every year all sixteen-year-olds are put on a test in order to determine their factions. They don’t have to accept the faction that comes out of the test. Then, they need to choose whatever they want  but they need to prove that they belong to the faction they have chosen. If they can’t prove that they are out of the society and they are labeled as factionless which make them live miserably. Their world is surrounded with the walls. They believe that the whole world is a disastrous place and they can’t and should not go outside. Straightforward, sounds familiar, so what? What if one person comes up and has all these features, selflessness, peace, honesty, braveness and intelligence. You know that it was coming right? The first film started there. Our female hero Beatrice “Tris” is divergent which means she possesses all 5 features. But she needs to hide this as a secret because the government punishes the divergents as they think they are threats to the society. Mankind is always afraid of what he doesn’t know or can’t control. This sounds very familiar too, right? So the first film was busy with showing how Tris tries to fit in in one of the factions and they that doesn’t work out. In the second film the government has already understood that Tris was a divergent and they wanted to catch him for a very difficult experiment. It was a very difficult test and she managed to survive that. (I assume that when I say test you don’t imagine a very difficult math test or multiple choice test ;)) Ta taaa the outcome of the test says that the divergent people are key for the survival of the mankind. Second film ends like this. Recently the third film is released and of course I’ve watched it immediately. While everybody was cheering because there was no government, no rules, factionless people took advantage of people’s anger to punish the governmental people and try to rule them again. Additionally they forbade people to go to behind the walls as they are afraid! Do you think that they can stop Tris? Tris and her friends managed to go behind the walls and they were welcomed in a new world. However now they are also discriminated because apart from Tris the others were not pure which means that they were forced to be in faction, so even they were born divergent they were not divergent anymore, so they were damaged. If we look at the picture what happened? They fought, they were killed, they suffered to be free from the factions and at the end they are again labelled as pure and damaged.

This got me thinking. I am looking to the world. Unfortunately we are also living in a world where everybody puts everybody into a category “you are black, you’re Jewish, you’re Asian, you’re Muslim, you’re democrat, you’re vegan, and even ‘are you a dog person or a cat person’ ?!”. More interestingly even if someone doesn’t fit into a group we just try to label him/her. This time as “crazy, anti-social, disagreeable”.  Because you have to fit into something. You have to be in a group of people like you as if you are a sheep and someone should be a leader to guide you, tell you what to do and not to do. Then we feel safe, we feel protected. It is also easier with labels to blame. We will just blame the whole group for one person’s action and done! By the time we are blinded by our group leader and the relaxation of being safe becomes dullness and there dies the creativity, sense of inquiry. We become really like sheep and at the end if one sheep jumps from the cliff the others follows.

I am always touched by these following words.

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

We forget that we are all human. We created all those labels. We drew all those lines. We build these systems and now we are fighting to each other for them. Before we realized there will be no one left to share this beautiful world and remember(!) “Happiness is only real when shared”.