'Splain This One...

Went to our local video store today. A wonderful man runs it and he loves the kids and is so kind. We went to find something for Darcy and her three friends to watch tomorrow night during a sleepover and stock up for the weekend. Here in Turkey, movies get their own rating which is sometimes marked on the DVD, sometimes not. Once, I noticed that Team America was in the kids section. Yes, it was a puppet film but most assuredly NOT at all for children.

Today I went and as Lucas was cruising through the kids' section and begging me to get the first Fantastic Four movie, I noticed The Complete Persepolis. Animated but again, NOT for children. A fantastic book, and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. But unless you want your kids to discover the graphic details about Iranian politics and culture during the Islamic revolution, I wouldn't recommend it.

On the flip side, Nancy Drew (the remake starring Emma Roberts) was in the grownup section and rating 18+. Huh?? I tried to read any of the Turkish on the back but no luck. I kept inspecting it to see why it was rated 18+, if maybe I missed something the first time around and half afraid I would inadvertently show 4 9- and 10-year-old girls graphic violence or sex. Or what if it was one of those cleverly renamed porn flicks?? Oh my goodness - can you imagine the phones calls from the other moms afterward!

Brought it home anyway. I think I will do a quick fast forward after the kids go to bed just to double check.

Happy Halloween!

Life in a foreign country - over the weekend Turkey blocked access to blogger.com and other blog sites. Why? Not because someone is dissing Ataturk, not because someone is threatening someone else's Turkishness. No, it plain ol' corporate greediness. Digiturk, a large Turkish cable network, got pissed off because it was possible to see video on some blog sites that they charge for as part of their premium service. So they petitioned the courts to have the websites blocked. Because NOTHING is more effective at stopping people from doing something than saying they can't do it. More later as I get more details. Thanks to my kids, I've discovered the way to use proxy sites to access blocked websites, like YouTube and now blogger sites. I KNEW there was a reason we decided to have kids!

Weird Turkish language moment: Me, translating into Turkish from English for native French-speaking expat friend to my cleaner, Nurcan. Nurcan, subsequently translating from my "Tarzan turkish" into actual Turkish for her friend who may or may not clean for my new expat friend. Oy, my head hurts!