Archive - Dec 18, 2007 - Article

Me and Persian businesses

Persian culture has never ceased to surprise me. Ever since I came to Los Angeles, the number of such cases has increased exponentially!!! And so has been the fun of ever increasing shock! When I first came to Los Angeles, I learned that Iranians are an integral part of the business in the society. Any normal person would think:” Oh wonderful! I'm sure people of my land are more sympathetic, as we experience the same feelings in exile.“ Alas I was so damned wrong! I don’t want to bore you by going through the details of my unfortunate events with Iranian-based businesses, so I confine myself to the world of beautification.>>>

بالاخره روسپیان مارکز قربانی شدند

اخرین کتاب مارکز در سال 2004 با سر و صدای فراوان در نماشگاه کتاب بوگوتا در کلمبیا رونمائی شد هرچند از یکی دو روز قبل از آن میشد نسخه قاچاق آنرا با دو سه هزار پزو ارزان تر در مرکز شهربوگوتا از دست فروش ها خرید. کتابی است حدود صدو چند صفحه که روایت عشق پیرانه سر مردی نود ساله است به جمال معشوقی نو جوان و باکره و اثرات این عشق در زندگی به بیراهه رفته او. نوعی عرفان یادآور شیخ صنعان عطار است البته به زبان مارکز و ذهنیت کارائیبی او و لزومی به تاکید نیست که مارکز\ پورنونویس نیست.>>>

Uncertain future

For the past few months, a plan has been going around in the Presidential Office in Kabul, as well as the corridors of certain Western foreign ministries. Some Western countries have reached this conclusion that they must sit at the negotiating table with Taliban in Afghanistan, and reintegrate some of the more moderate forces of this group into the current Afghani government’s political structure. The officials of these western nations have even succeeded in convincing Afghanistan’s President, Hamed Karzai, to consider this plan. Britain is possibly at the forefront of designing and promoting this plan>>>

How time flies

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Subprime loans, my foot!

That subprime fiasco, which is likely to mount losses between one-half and one trillion dollars, is just a small part of the true real estate problem which little by little is starting to take shape; a problem that Wall Street, politicians, economists, and the public at large have been unwilling to talk about, much less confront. And that is, the multi-trillion dollar excess valuation of real estate in the nation, in both residential and commercial markets; something which for the next 3 to 5 years, at a minimum, will have the US immersed in a recession, a modified version of the one experienced in Japan throughout the 90's and the first 2 years of the new millennium.>>>

بهنود، کیهان، آوینی

راستش نامردی است اگر درباره‌ی اتهاماتی که کهیان چند روز است با بی‌انصافی و بی‌احتیاطی محض به یک سری از آدم‌هایی که با آنها مخالف است می‌زند، سکوت کنم. نه تنها بخاطر اینکه با یک سری از این افراد نشست و برخاست یا دوستی داشته‌ام، بلکه بخاطر اینکه اصل نقدش را که در خیلی جاها هم موجه است منحرف می‌کند. من مدتهاست آقای مسعود بهنود را ندیده‌ام و هر چه هم گذشته است و من از آن ذهنیت حزبی و ساده‌انگارانه‌ و غیر انتقادی خودم دور شده ام با او و همفکرانش اختلاف فکری‌ام زاویه‌ی بیشتری گرفته اس>>>

Being Iranian.com

When a site grows as large as Iranian.com, it is only a matter of time before some archive rat comes along to dig out long-forgotten pieces to see the light of day again. And what the rat drags out we will call “Best of Iranian.com.” This archive rat started digging in 2006. My idea was to put together a “Best of…” covering the site to the end of that year – which I did. By 2007 the new site was going to be up and running “any day” and it made sense to wait and inaugurate “Best of…” in the new site. Well… that took a while. >>>

ملاقات پس از کشتار ۶۷

آذرماه ۶۷. بالاخره بعد از گذشت هفت ماه، موفق به دیدار خانواده شدم. مادربزرگم، مادرم و پدرم به ملاقات آمده بودند. بیچاره مادرم فکرمی‌کرد که اعدام شده‌ام. بارها مراجعه کرده بود. به او گفته بودند که ملاقات ندارد یا این‌جا نیست تا این که نامه‌ام را دریافت کرده بود. مادرم اشک می‌ریخت. سراغ مرتضی مدنی را گرفت. با چشمانی اشک‌بار پرسید که آیا از او خبری دارم یا نه؟ هنوز پاسخ نداده بودم، گفت: ملاقات ندارد، دل‌مان شور می‌زند. دلم هری ریخت پایین. به خودم دلداری می‌دادم که شاید زنده مانده باشد. با هم بزرگ شده بودیم. بعد از انقلاب دیگر کم‌تر از هم جدا می‌شدیم. روز پنج مهر دستگیر شده بود درحالی که تا چند لحظه‌ قبل از دستگیری در کنارم بود.>>>

Jazireye Gilligan

Like every Iranian kid of my generation whose family could afford a TV, I grew up watching Gilligan's Island in Farsi on Iranian TV. Not only that, we grew up to know every Disney character of the era, enjoyed watching Bewitched, Payton Place, Lost in Space, Wild Wild West, Flintstones, even Get Smart, all in Farsi. We grew up seeing every worthy Hollywood production and any worthy European movie in Farsi – and sometimes getting somewhat creative in translations, even in musicals such as the Sound of Music. As a result, when about one hundred of us ended up at a university town in the northeast United States in the early 70’s, we did not feel socially foreign at all.>>>