Archive - 2009

First Silent Movie on Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves (1905)

Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs directed by Ferdinand Zecca for the Pathé Studio's in Paris. (1905) >>>

مبارک

Pouya Yaghmaie and I wrote and performed this song/poem>>>

Haydeh Sings Bahar Bahar aka Spring Spring (1975)

Nice clip of a TV show where Iran's Great Diva sings an Ode to Spring and the Persian New Year. (circa 1975) >>>

Give OBAMA a Break!

While Obama has only been in the office for a little over 60 days, he is under attack from all sides.  I mean let’s give the guy a break.

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How to Insert Farsi Words in an English Sentence

In my previous blog, I introduced a few tips to help bloggers mix Farsi and English paragraphs in a passage of text. Although these tips were useful, one limitation was not addressed at all: >>>

Namâd

Namâd Ensemble is once again touring, delivering commendable performances at each venue. If you are already familiar with them, you understand what makes them worthy of praise. If, these musicians are unknown to you, however, you may wonder what genre their music falls under and what exactly sets them apart. Mentioning that these five men collectively play Tombak, Frame Drums, Daf, Udu, Kamanche, Queychak, Setar and Shourangiz, may automatically invoke images of a traditional Iranian group; but Namâd is more than that. Before we jump to labels, perhaps we should pause to consider that while a performance is a transitory experience for the audience, for the musicians it is the culmination of months and years of struggle to render the extract of their essence into the language of composition>>>

Way to Beg, lady

There is this lady who begs almost everyday near my workplace. I first noticed her more than couple years ago. What made her stand out from all the other beggars is how she went about asking for money. She said something to the effect that whether people wanted to help her with her goal of making some amount of dollars. I forgot the number of dollars she mentioned but what was interesting to me was how she talked about her goal and somehow made her begging a little bit higher class than all the others. She had a goal and was working towards it and here was passersby’ chance to help her achieve her goal>>>

Religious Equality and Tolerance

Equality of Religions as well as seperation of government and religion is what the imprisoned progressive Shia Ayatollah Boroujerdi promotes.>>>

The Left and Mullahs in Iran

Neither the Tudeh party nor Marxist-Leninist OIPFG could introduce Marx's "Religion is people's opiate" into their social analyses -- instead, they considered "anti-imperialist" Muslim movements as their strategic allies >>>

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas II

There is a cause and effect link between economic success and your aptitude. In addition, economic status connotes moral and social merit. The American nation, Mr. Miller seems to suggest, is moving toward a dangerous social duality because of a skewed reward system. He predicts a class war between “lower upper class” and those who are getting “ultra rich” undeservingly by harvesting the fruits of capitalism. He explains: “The widening chasm between rich and poor threatens our democracy. Ultras are not simply reaping the rewards of the free market, but are benefiting from a rigged compensation system in the boardrooms and on Wall Street that are likely to reward mediocrity as success.”>>>

مذاكره شروع شده است…

پیام نامنتظره نوروزی ‌باراك اوباما با پاسخ صریح و سریع علی‌ خامنه‌ای روبرو شد و فضای جدیدی در ‌روابط سیاسی جمهوری ‌اسلامی‌ با آمریكا ایجاد كرد. رییس جمهور جدید آمریكا از فرصت نوروز كه جشن ملی همه ایرانیان است و صبغه مذهبی ندارد برای ارسال پیام صلح و آشتی كمك گرفت. او با احترام از تاریخ و فرهنگ و ادبیات ایران سخن گفت و پیام خود را مشتركا به مردم ایران و رهبران جمهوری اسلامی خطاب كرد. او پاسخ خود را بسیار زودتر از آن كه انتظار می‌رفت از ولی ‌فقیه گرفت. این پاسخ البته به زبانی دیگر بود، ولی بر خلاف گذشته خشن نبود. علاوه بر این، پاسخ، همان طور كه آقای اوباما امید داشت، نه از زبان رییس جمهور تداركاتچی و بلكه از سوی كسی داده می‌شد كه قدرت اصلی‌ تصمیم‌گیرنده در ایران است. خامنه‌ای البته نمی‌توانست به یك باره پارانویای ضد خارجی/ضد آمریكایی خود را كنار بگذارد و دستی را كه به سوی او دراز شده است بفشارد>>>