Intro

Greetings from the second week of the Weekstarter. It’s honestly nice to have something like this to start my week. Still trying to get into the weekly rhythm but I can feel it building up.

I’m starting the week with an extra boost thanks to Turkey’s basketball team. Back in 2001, they were one of the main reasons why I completely stopped following football and became a basketball fan and now seeing a new team playing a perfect game and losing their only game in the EuroBasket final against Germany was really nice.

Status Report

Inbox: 208
RSS Reader: 2413
Upcoming Events/Travel: 0

Working on an article about AI and people’s relationship with it (in Turkish).Figuring out ways to streamline admin stuff as much as possible.

I also have a Now page on my website if you want to check what I’m up to in a more detailed way.

What If I Just, Don’t?

There’s a Donald Glower quote I keep thinking about a lot lately. Talking about relevance and success, he says “You define success. Just like you define failure. So it’s really about autonomy. A lot of people you see on the internet HAVE to be on the internet.”

Most of the time, we talk about the internet, and especially social media, like it’s something we must be on. It’s certainly true for some people and I feel that way from time to time. But the problem is that we’re losing sight of when it gets to a point where avoiding or taking a step back is the right thing to do for ourselves. I certainly make that mistake a lot. Mainly because it has an important and useful role in my life — both professionally and socially.

But the more time passes, I realize that using those platforms doesn’t mean that I have to constantly consume and participate in them. Sometimes just having a presence is enough, just to make sure people can have a way to get in touch. This doesn’t mean that I need to be part of every discourse that specific platform has that day.

What made me realize that and start making changes in my daily habits accordingly —aside from that quote— is the moment I noticed that I was on the verge of starving myself intellectually. I was constantly consuming something media wise but it’s mostly junk food with zero nutritional value. People who actually share valuable stuff drowns under the pile of junk and never ending, meaningless discourse. Sure, I can make lists, try to fine-tune my algorithms but is it really worth all the trouble?

This is why I’m going to set some time aside to get my media diet in order. Go through my RSS, newsletter and podcast subscriptions; find some more magazines to keep an eye on, go over my to-read and to-watch lists. If you have recommendations (it can be your own or something you like) feel free to email me or leave a comment under this to share with everyone.

Song of the Week

Another album I fell in love with on release in 2025. Even though I don’t listen punk as I used to, I still keep track of and regularly listen certain bands like Propagandhi. Their latest album At Peace was released in May and I probably listen it from start to finish once a week. Cat Guy is one of the peak points of the album and I’m not saying that only because the whole clip is a montage of cat videos. But together with lyrics, this video really takes the song to another level.

Reading Log

“We have let school shootings in America persist long enough that we have created a culture where kids grow up seeing them as a path towards fame and glory. Another consequence of how thoroughly the internet has flattened pop culture, politics, and real life violence. All of it now is just another meme you can participate in to go viral. Made even more confusing by a new nihilistic accelerationist movement that delights in muddying the waters for older people who still adhere to a traditional political spectrum. Many young extremists now believe in a much simpler binary: Order and chaos. And if you are spending any time at all trying to derive meaning from violent acts like this then you are, by definition, their enemy.”

Charlie Kirk was killed by a meme – Garbage Day

“There is a fundamental truth about the internet, and it also applies to building/having an audience: 99.9% of opinions on the internet don’t matter. You don’t know these people, and they don’t know you. Other peoples approval won’t keep you warm but the perceived lack of it will keep you awake at night. Their disapproval also shouldn’t stop you from loving the thing. You don’t need anyones approval to post on the internet, you can just do things, and like stuff.”

Just Like Stuff – thejaymo

“Intelligence, Hollis, is advertising turned inside out.” “Which means?” “Secrets,” said Bigend, gesturing toward the screen, “are cool.” On the screen appeared their images, standing beside the table, Bigend not yet seated, captured by a camera somewhere above. The Bigend on the screen took a pale blue cloth from his pocket, pulled out a chair, and began to dust its arms and back and seat. “Secrets,” said the Bigend beside her, “are the very root of cool.”

Spook Country – William Gibson

Outro

And that’s all for this week. I’m still tinkering around with the format and see what works and what doesn’t, so let me know if you have any comments or something doesn’t works right.

Take care of yourselves, keep an eye for things to enjoy, and I’ll see you next week.

If you want to work together to make sense of what's ahead, Tuhaf Studio is open for new clients. You can also get in touch with London Speaker Bureau Türkiye if you want to hire me as a speaker or panelist. If you want to become a regular supporter of my public work and help me create more, you can visit my Patreon. Thanks!