DRAMA

Berkeley Rep Does Arabs

This vision of the Orient fortifies West’s image of itself as the White man who must forcefully rescue the decadent, dark East

20-Nov-2008 (3 comments)
Shahrazad entered and she had the whitest porcelain skin and the lightest blond hair. Dark-haired and dark-skinned actresses surrounded her, playing her sister and slaves but this future queen, the rescuer of Moslem virgins looked eastern European not Middle Eastern! And gone was her self-assertion, the will to decide her own destiny. In Mary Zimmerman’s The Arabian Nights, King Shahryar explicitly asks the Wazir for her. When the father brings news of this fate, Shahrazad weeps and finally acquiesces, reminding herself and the audience that she might be able to save other lives. Her wedding night encounter with the king is screechy, almost whiny. The sexual act is barely implied; yet the gleaming dagger at Shahrazad’s throat is real. It dominates the first act as the unhinged king, ferocious in his desperate pain, keeps it there and presses it into her flesh in every bit of conversation between them >>>

NOSTALGIA

Joy on wheels

Joy on wheels

Photo essay: Vespa motorcycles

by Majid
19-Nov-2008 (13 comments)

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WISHFUL

Gregory Peck Was Iranian

It was very casual, Gregory Peck's Iranian-ness

18-Nov-2008 (5 comments)
Gregory Peck was Iranian. That was the only explanation for it. He was speaking in English and his characters had American names like Atticus Finch and even particularly American accents sometimes, but if he was going to be as principled as he was, if he was going to be so attuned to the story of the search for justice, and so sure about how much of that story to tell and how much to hold inside him, then the only explanation that made any sense to me as a boy was that he was more or less Iranian, and languages and names and accents didn't have that much to do with it. He looked it too. Not just the black hair and brown eyes that looked even darker in black-and-white. It was the way he kept something of who he was for himself and something for the world>>>

YUM

Angels and devils and spoonfuls, oh my!

Are you a saint or a sinner? Well, when it comes to food, it shouldn’t surprise you that I fall into the latter category

17-Nov-2008 (5 comments)
Lately I have worked on a lot of events that have involved finger food or canapés and it has made me think about different ideas and combinations that are not only simple, but taste great… especially for the coming holiday season. Canapés are incredibly common in Europe, although I think when a food item is so tiny, it really is ridiculous if the preparation involved is time consuming and tedious. All that trouble for a single morsel of food? Forget it. Normal people like you and I, not only don’t have the time, but lack the patience required to produce something that will only get greedily chomped down without even the slightest thought given to the work involved in its creation! “Boooooo!” I say! Down with laborious, painstaking, fussy finger food and instead up with simple but delectable mini mouthfuls of pure heaven!>>>

POEMOGRAPHY

Taming my Animus

Taming my Animus

Poetry and photography

by Azadeh Azad
15-Nov-2008 (16 comments)

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POETRY

Taming my Animus
15-Nov-2008
Once upon a dream, a stream of senses surges in my bone
I feel a danger, a stranger chasing me in a forest unknown.
I waken and know it is you, my spirit, inner man
imprinted in my soul.
 
If possessed by you, your rigid voice of irrational lore
becomes the law of my world. Thus knowing you
and taming your bents is the key to my wholeness. >>>

ANAR

Pomegranate paradise

Pomegranate paradise

Photo essay: Largest collection of wild and cultivated pomegranate species in the world

by Persis Karim
11-Nov-2008 (4 comments)

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COOKERY

It's in the pot!

I seriously urge you to try the Irish stew

10-Nov-2008 (14 comments)
I took part in a UK based TV cookery show (The name of which, I sadly cannot repeat until it airs next year) But the idea is based on a group of strangers who each take turn to host and cook dinner for the group, often to hilarious and bitchy consequences. Each cook is scored for their efforts, by the other guests and the winner gets a prize at the end. It has a somewhat cult-status here in the UK and I can tell you that the whole process was a bizarre experience, indeed. A week of intense filming, Monday through Friday from 6pm-3am sometimes, leaves you absolutely exhausted as you have your normal day job to do also and so you are getting only 3 hours sleep each night! I wasn’t planning on even writing about this, but someone made me promise I would mention it… Although I did agree that only in the instance that I won, would I write about… and by some miracle I did actually win! >>>

FUN

Halloween in Hollywood

Halloween in Hollywood

Photo essay

by Jahanshah Javid
07-Nov-2008 (13 comments)

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OBAMA

Democracy is a beautiful thing

Democracy is a beautiful thing

Photo essay: Voting for Obama and listening to his victory speech

by Jahanshah Javid
05-Nov-2008 (42 comments)

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ART & ARCHITECTURE

Beauty inside and out

Beauty inside and out

Photo essay: Getty Museum, Los Angeles

by Jahanshah Javid
03-Nov-2008 (2 comments)

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NOMADS

Art on the move

Art on the move

Photo essay: Tent & Textiles of Central Asia and Iran

by Aria Fani
02-Nov-2008 (one comment)

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SIGHTING

Canadian Paykan

Canadian Paykan

Photos: I saw it last week

by Mohamad Ghajariyeh
21-Oct-2008 (12 comments)

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RACE

Silliness and style

Silliness and style

Photo essay: Red Bull Soapbox Race

by salim
20-Oct-2008 (one comment)

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SEX

«هیچ‌ چیز خطرناک‌تر از زنی نیست که می‌‌نویسد»

مردم می‌گویند این‌که نوشتی کس، بی‌ادبی است. می‌گویم چرا بی‌ادبی است؟

15-Oct-2008 (17 comments)
اگر به زبان من دقت کرده باشی، می‌بینی چیزی که می‌نویسم، جنسی یا اروتیک نیست. کلمات جنسی که استفاده می‌کنم به‌هیچ‌وجه اروتیک نیست. قصد من از استفاده کس، کون، کیر، کونی، بارونی و کلمه‌هایی از این دست، واژگون کردن معنای منفی و کارکردهای تاریخی این واژه‌ها و آوردن آن‌ها در یک سطح متفاوت است. وقتی این‌ها را می‌نویسم یک اجراگری کلاسیک زنانه نیست. یعنی قصد نوشته‌ من تحریک امیال جنسی مرد دگرجنس‌گرا نیست. بنابراین خطرناک است. این در بالاترین می‌آید. مردم می‌گویند این‌که نوشتی کس، بی‌ادبی است. می‌گویم چرا بی‌ادبی است؟ دارم کلمه را در معنای کاملاً متفاوتی استفاده‌ می‌کنم. دیدن این تفاوت‌ها برای کسی که ذهنش به مردسالاری در زبان، عادت کرده، سخت است. >>>