POETRY

تولدم مبارک
04-Feb-2009 (4 comments)
روز پونزده آبان ماه هزارو سیصدو هر چی‌ که بود
مثل هر روز دگر برخاستم
ناگهان به یادم آمد که من امروز متولد شده ام
پس شتافتم سوی آینه تا ببینم صورت سی‌ ساله‌ام را
توی آینه محو خود گشتم و گشتم
آینه باز شد من به داخل رفتم آنگاه
سی‌ سال عمر گذشته روبرویم شد نمایان >>>

SMELL

Too Much of a Good Thing

Sometimes think it would be nice to go back to when the air could only be polluted with natural and “organic” smells

02-Feb-2009 (2 comments)
Manufactured smells that permeate in public used to be limited to occasional wafts of smoke, industrial fumes and/or fragrances. That’s changed. Nowadays, if it isn't burning incense, it's aromatic baths, scented candles, air-fresheners and God only knows what else. Even the “new and improved” household cleaners are like a cheap perfume that while failing to mask the stink, they can bring tears to your eyes. While it’s good to be considerate of others, sometimes the attempt to mask a pungent odor can exacerbate the situation. Personally, I’d rather smell tobacco than put up with the stink of a cab driver's extinguished cigarette added to the strong scent of that fake pine tree cutout dangling from his rearview mirror>>>

MEDIA

جای خالی "تلویزیون"!

نگاهی به برنامه‏های تلویزیون فارسی بی‏بی‏سی (بخش نخست)

31-Jan-2009 (5 comments)
تلویزیون فارسی بی‏بی‏سی سرانجام پس از دو سال تدارک گسترده، دو هفته پیش برنامه های خود را برای مخاطبان فارسی زبان آغاز کرد. این شبکه که از پشتیبانی نزدیک به 150 کارمند و روزنامه نگار در لندن و برخی دیگر از نقاط جهان برخوردار است، به دلایل مختلف از اهمیت و اولویت بسیاری برای نقد و تحلیل های رسانه ای برخوردار است زیرا به نظر می رسد پس از نزدیک به دو دهه از آغاز به کار تلویزیون های فارسی زبان در خارج از کشور مهم ترین و حرفه ای ترین شبکه تلویزیونی فارسی زبان مستقر در خارج از کشور باشد. >>>

LIFE

From BBC to Rumi

A story from the heart

29-Jan-2009 (4 comments)
Amidst the madness around us, the joys and the sorrows, sometimes it is soothing to read or write about something that is very personal and light. Two weeks ago, I was at the Philadelphia indoor food market where many vendors bring their produce and sell them at relatively low prices. Walking around I lost my Kafia, or let’s say someone picked it up after I dropped it. I felt really bad because I had had it for nearly thirty years; I had bought it in Iran and would wear it when going to meetings at Tehran University or around the corner at the many street gatherings, during the now long gone spring of freedom of 1979>>>

OPIUM

خاطرات شاطر علی – 2

درد سرهای یک معتاد مسافر!

29-Jan-2009 (4 comments)
فکرش رفت تو خاطرات اروپا رفتن بچه محل ها زمان شاه. یادش اومد که برو بچه ها میرفتن آلمان بنز میاوردن!آخه بنده خدا نمیدونست که اولین قدم در راه حج پاک کردن مال و اموالشه! ملاهه بهش حکم کرد که اول باید همه قرض و قوله هاتو بدی. بعدش باید مالتو پاک کنی! یعنی مالیات شرعی ات رو به خدا بدی! ترجمه اش این بود که باید خمس و ذکاتت رو بدی به من (یعنی آقا پیش نماز محله)! خلاصه اینکه شاطر علی بخت برگشته اول رفت یه چرتکه خرید و شروع کرد به حساب و کتاب.سه، چهار هفته بعدش شاطر بلیط و پاسپورتش حاضر بود و روز شمار پرواز به جده بود. در نتیجه ملای محل چندین میلیون تومن ثروتمند تر شده بود!با نزدیک شدن سفر طولانی خارج از کشور، شاطر روز به روز فکرش مشوش تر و مشغول تر مشگل اصلی اش میشد!>>>

SACKED

Bye Bye Cockroach!

Was it me or was it corporate America that made a cockroach out of me?

27-Jan-2009 (8 comments)
n Monday, corporate America announced that they are laying off 50,000 people. As this gloomy day progressed, this number got even bigger... Although losing my job was hard, tough, emotionally as well as financially, I can't deny the big positive impact it had on me. It made me think about myself. What I've been doing?... Where do I stand?...Is this what I wanted? How far am I from where I want to be? And that was fabulous. To stop. To take a break from the life of a mechanical cockroach that I was. To observe this mechanical cockroach and wonder why it was programmed the way it was. >>>

VIOLENCE

Cock Fighters

The motivations remain the same: penis against penis

21-Jan-2009 (4 comments)
"The ranks that you wear on your uniforms represent the chain of command. The soldiers with the higher ranks will give you orders. You must obey orders. This system is a hierarchy. The tradition and history of the ranks is as follows: each mark on your rank represents a penis! A private has one penis, a corporal has two, and a sergeant has three." One of my Basic Military Qualifications instructors mentioned these words with a grin on his face. I was becoming a young soldier in the Canadian Forces and I did not at the time appreciate what these words represented. In the instructor's example, the symbolism of domination and patriarchy were clear. In fact, these words in a way defined the five years of my experience as a soldier.>>>

WASHINGTON

Pilgrimage of hope

Pilgrimage of hope

photo essay: People at Obama inauguration

by Morteza Loghmani
20-Jan-2009 (3 comments)

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ARTIST

The gift

Tea and chitchat with Parviz Kalantari

19-Jan-2009 (4 comments)
My mom had already arranged everything. She had bought tickets for us both to fly from Shiraz to Tehran, she had arranged with my cousin and his wife so that we could stay at their place in Tehran, and she had made a preliminary appointment to visit Parviz Kalantari, one of Iran's most outstanding contemporary artists. We were supposed to be there "sometimes" in the afternoon of Sunday, December 28th. So Sunday noon time, after arriving to my cousin's place the first thing she did was to call Ostad (or Master in Persian) Kalantari and nail down the appointment for 15.30. Mahbobeh (my cousin's wife) had prepared a "small" lunch, a 3 dishes menu including my favorite dish Ghormeh sabzi, a herb and meat stew served with saffron-rice>>>

MEDIA

Happy birthday ayatollah?

Is BBC Persian TV a mere gift to mark the Islamic Republic's 30th?

16-Jan-2009 (11 comments)
In coming weeks, the Islamic Republic, like anyone turning 30, will be wondering what it has done with its life and what its prospects are. The fate it has dealt the scores of political opponents it has liquidised, incarcerated and tortured to consolidate its rule will probably not feature in its reflections. What BBC Persian TV holds in store for it, however, may feature. Funded by the UK Foreign Office – to the tune of £15m ($22m) a year – PTV, which launched this week, has assembled a veritable army of newly trained journalists (some 100 of its 150-strong staff are in editorial) that looks set to knock head-on rival VOA off its perch>>>

NABAVI

عکس امام در ماه وطنز نبوی

چند کلمه درباب شایعات رایج

14-Jan-2009 (30 comments)
چندی پیش دوستی برایم یک ایمیل فرستاد ونوشت :" متن ضمیمه طنزی است از سید ابراهیم نبوی بخوان! ازخنده می میری" طنز نبوی را خواندم ودریغ ازحتی یک لبخند چه رسد به مٌردن. محض اطمینان در اینترنت چند مطلب دیگر از نبوی پیدا کردم وخواندم وذره ای طنز در آن نیافتم. نمی دانم چه کسی برای اولین بار ادعا کرد که سید ابراهیم نبوی طنز نویس است ؟ خودش گفت یا رژیم اسلامی یا هردو؟ به هر حال حکایت ، حکایت عکس امام در ماه دیدن است که سال 57 شخصی ادعا کرد که عکس امام را در ماه دیده ودیگران هم دیدند. با وجود اینکه هیچ نوع دلیل علمی وعینی برای حضور شخص امام خمینی در ماه وجود نداشت وگرنه حتما فضانوردان روسی یا آمریکایی گزارش حضوراو در ماه را می دادند!>>>

LIFE

Restless

Restless

Photo essay

by Sid Sarshar
13-Jan-2009 (3 comments)

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SEX & RELIGION

شباهت سکس و مذهب

مشتریان اصلی هر دو مردها هستند و زنان از هر دو بیشتر برای کنترل مردها استفاده میکنند

13-Jan-2009 (4 comments)
حرف روحانیّت همیشه این بوده که زن و مرد مثل آتش و پنبه هستند و آنی که در کنار هم قرار بگیرند در هم افتاده و شعله ور میشوند. بنابراین واجب شرعیست که به هر وسیله که شده این دو جنس را ازهم دور و جدا نگاهداشت تا اسباب معصیت و گناه فراهم نیاید. بهمین جهت آنها دائماً در تلاش نگاهداری از ناموس و عترت و عورت و عصمت و در یک کلام قایم کردن سکس امّت اسلامی هستند. چه خوب میشد اگر رهبران مذهبی همین حسّاسیّت را در مورد خودِ مذهب هم نشان میدادند و آنرا مانند سکس از صحنهَ عریان دولت و جامعه به پشت درهای بسته میبردند. چرا؟ به این دلیل که سکس و مذهب از بسیاری جهات شبیه به هم هستند. بعنوان مثال: >>>

NOSTALGIA

Making a big splash

Making a big splash

Abadan, Masjed Soleiman swimming and water polo teams, 1960s

by Raymond Minassian
06-Jan-2009 (2 comments)

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FOROUGH

The good fortune

Claus Strigel talks about his film on Forough Farrokhzad's son

02-Jan-2009
Two months ago I had an opportunity to see Claus Strigel’s film MOON SUN FLOWER GAME at the Iranian Film Festival in Chicago. It was a fascinating experience! I must admit that I have been deeply engaged and obsessed to learn about Hossein Mansouri's life -- a great poet living in Munich now-- since Forough Farrokhzad’s death. I wrote a review... then I decided to interview Claus... In 1962 the young poetess Forough Farrokhzad visited the lepers at the end of the earth to make a film about their world. Her film, “The House is Black”, was to become world famous, and, by and by, change a small world too: the world of a small boy who had the good fortune to meet her. >>>