Letters
August 28-September 1, 2000 / Shahrivar 7-11,
1379
Today
* Nude:
- Hope God guides you (or destroys you)
* Film:
- Tired of films with poor kids
- Ghoncheh Tazmini?
* Jokes:
- Jokes made to protect Reza Shah
Previous
* Iran-U.S.:
- American missionaries in Iran
* Mojahedin:
- No good to ridicule
* Googoosh:
- Malaagheh
- Man behind Googoosh
* The Iranian:
- Aalbaaloo gilaas
* Politics:
- Rafsanjani, no (fair) chance
- Khatami will win again
* Film:
- Can you dig it?
- Bubble-gum cinema
- Film du jour
* dAyi Hamid:
- Clean laughs
- Baamazeh
email us
Friday,
September 1, 2000
* Hope God guides you (or destroys you)
I surf your site every day. But this week you had a so-called painting
of a naked
woman on your front page. Shame on you.
You are not Iranian. Iranians have "hojb o hayaa". You are
a disgrace to the Iranian people. I ask God to guide you and if not destroy
you!
Mehdi Paryavi
* Tired of films with poor kids
If we really think about movies like "Children of heaven",
"Apple", etc. , you see all these miserably poor kids, doing
incredible things so that they can buy a god damn "shoe" or "watch".
I'm sorry but I can't sit there and watch a movie where all women are covered
by a chador all the time and you hardly can see their faces. I'm also getting
tired of seeing misery and suicidal people...etc.
It doesn't represent my reality and it doesn't inspire me... it just
reminds me how awful things still are in Iran >>>
FULL TEXT
Dario Margeli
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* Ghoncheh Tazmini?
I wonder if you can help me. I rented a movie The 13th Warrior with
Antonio Banderas that came out in 1999. At the begining of the movie, there
was a brief appearence by a beautiful Iranian woman. Her name was Ghoncheh
Tazmini. Could you tell me about her; where she is from and is she a popular
actress?
Floyd Gadd
Editor: Never heard of her. But there's a poem by a person by that
same name (very uncommon name) in the Iranian women's web size, zan.org.
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* Jokes made to protect Reza Shah
I just want to mention that there is a research that shows that jokes
against Turks and Rashtis were part of a strategy to prevent protests against
Reza Shah. Unfortunately I have forgotten the reference but I hope if someone
knows about it will provide information.
Also I should remind you about the famous poet Ostad Shahriar who said
about this subject: Beh rashti kaleh maahi khor, beh turki turke ... gofti
Ali Moradi
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Thursday
Augus 31, 2000
* Malaagheh
Well I just finished reading your so-called review of the Googoosh concert
in New York and I must say I am quite dismayed by what I have read ["Baptized
in tears"]. No wonder critics are hated even more than what they
criticize. Where do you get off judging all the aspects of Googoosh's show?
The only aspect that you were right about was our oneness - being one
people from one place and that is IRAN! Too bad that you decided to leave
that as an unimportant thing in the last paragraph of your so called: "MAGHAALEH".
Well to me, it was more of a "MALAAGHEH"! If you get my meaning!>>>
FULL TEXT
Abbas M. Zadeh
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* American missionaries in Iran
Comments on Blood & Oil: Memoirs of a Persian prince by Manucher
and Roxane Farmanfarmaian: Dear Ms. Farmanfarmaian, I just finished reading
the book "Blood
& Oil" and I found it fascinating! I had been giving credit
to your father for the bulk of the writing, but in the Web heading with
your name I see that you should get the credit for most of the writing.
Congratulations!
Part of the reason I found the book so fascinating is that I grew up
in Persia/Iran. About the time your father was sent to England for school,
I was born to Presbyterian missionary parents in Rezaiyeh (Urumia) in Azerbaijan.
Except for furlough years (basically 1928 and school year 1937-1938) I
lived in Iran. I can picture many of the places that are mentioned, though
I saw them from quite a different perspective than your father. My parents
were stationed first in Rezaiyeh, second in Tehran 1934-37 and finally
in Resht (Rasht) where my father died and is buried in the Armenian cemetery.
One sister died and is buried at Seir just outside Rezaiyeh. My mother
retired in 1957 and died in 1974. But there are many memories. I left in
1944 after D-Day opened up a way to get back to the USA via the Atlantic
>>>
FULL TEXT
Myrtle (Browning) Fulton
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Wednesday
August 30, 2000
* No good to ridicule
In response to dAtyi Hamid's ["Hamvatanaan-e
araaqi": I read your satire piece about the "Mojafeqin".
I don't condone what they are doing as an organisation but believe many
who joined their ranks believe genuinely that this is the only way. Just
because you and I don't agree with their methods and strategies it doesn't
justify our blatant and mindless attack on their beliefs >>>
FULL TEXT
Anonymous
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* Man behind Googoosh
I feel our people don't give credit to Shahyar
Ghanbari as he is the one behind Googoosh's success. It was his poems
that touched our souls.
Of course Googoosh is also a very talented artist but look at the history
of the hit songs: Do Mahi, Harf, Safar, Jomeh..."Baa soghouteh dastaayeh
to dar tanam chizi forou rikht..." These were all written by Ghanbari.
WHY DOESN'T GOOGOOSH TALK ABOUT SHAHYAR GHANBARI? WHY IS THIS A BIG
CRIME? >>>
FULL TEXT
Nicole Radmand
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* Aalbaaloo gilaas
First of all thanks a lot for the good job and for creating such a wonderful
forum for all of us. Second, CHERAA CHESHMAATOON AALBAALOO GILAAS MICHINEH?!
Lately the links on The Iranian Times have sometimes been mixed
up. For example the link which was supposed to go to the article about
Persia in Hollywood films ended up in a story about pistachios!
Bbut you know what? I think even these small mistakes are fun and make
The Iranian more unique.
Neda
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Tuesday
August 29, 2000
* Rafsanjani, no (fair) chance
I think you are mistaken in your assumptions about Ali Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani ["Man
in the shadows"]. I doubt, if by the time of the next presidential
elections in a years time, Rafsanjani can win a fair and free election
against Khatami, given the present images of the candidates in the public
mind...
Now, if he were to stand against somebody like Abdollah Nouri or Mohsen
Kadivar, that might be a different matter, and he might even lose. But
no such chance exists against the candidates of the conservative right
like Ali Akbar Velayati or Ahmad Janati or Rafsanjani >>>
FULL TEXT
Behzad Djazaeri
M.ch , F.R.C.S
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* Khatami will win again
I read the first part of the article with great interest. It's an interesting
theory and definitely plausible ["Man
in the shadows"]. However, in the second half of the article,
Mr. Sajjadi claims that Mr. Rafsanjani has some hopes of becoming the next
president of Iran.
Everyone who has visited Iran in the last three years is shocked with
the popular support for Mr. Khatami. His efforts to relax the strict rules
of women's dress cover and other daily behaviors has brought tremendous
support for him.
The economic situation although very harsh, does not seem to affect
people's judgment when comparing Mr. Khatami with the alternatives. If
Iran continues to have free and untainted elections, my guess is that,
Mr. Khatami will definitely win another term in the office.
Bardia Saeedi
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* Can you dig it?
In regards to ancient Persia being represented in film ["Persia?"],
we can't overlook the overt reference in Walter Hill's cult classic "The
Warriors": New York, the turbulent late 1970s-- disunity and factional
conflict erupts between rival gangs out of the confusion and rage provoked
by the shooting of the ecumenically-minded underworld overlord Cyrus...
"Can you dig it?"
Cyrus Samii
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Monday
August 28, 2000
* Bubble-gum cinema
Finally someone with enough guts to put into words what many of us have
felt all along about the new invasion of Iranian cinema ["Not THAT good"]...
What is of concern is that once this fascination ends, what is remembered
of this era of Iranian cinema is one epitomized by a simplistic, bubble-gum-humanistic
view of Iran and Iranian culture which trivializes the complexity of we
know the real Iran to be >>>
FULL TEXT
Ramin Tabib
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* Film du jour
I read with great interest Naghmeh Sohrabi's critical piece "Not THAT
good". She is right to be criticizing the critical unquestioning
of Iranian cinema.
I live in England and unfortunately the same applies here, if not worse.
I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have fallen into pointless
heated arguments with Qestern intellectuals on this issue. It is as if
they are forbidden to make negative comments >>>
FULL TEXT
Nargess Shahmanesh
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* Clean laughs
I just wanted to tell dAyi Hamid that it was so refreshing to see things
like this ["Zan
gereftan"]! We Iranians really could use some clean laughs while
getting a taste of our culture.
Keep up the good work DAyi Hamid.
R. Habibi
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* Baamazeh
dAyi Hamid khasteh nabaashi! maghaaleh-haatoon kheili jaaleb hastand
va man az khoondaneshoon kheili lezzat mibaram ["Zan
gereftan"]. Omidvaaram keh hamisheh movafagh bashid va baaz ham
baa nevashtan naameh haaye baamazzatoon maa raa mostafiz konin.
Sheila Mohabbati
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