REVIEW

Last ditch effort for redemption

"Benedictus" is a good look at possible scenarios in current U.S.-Iran standoff

04-Oct-2007
The song of thanksgiving for the coming of the redeemer, is Jewish in origin but Christian in tone, as the expression of redemption and hope. For instance the song is used at funerals at the moment of internment when such matters are of sudden urgency. So it is only fitting that this clever little play about an Israeli Arms dealer, and an Iranian Mullah is called "Benedictus". The play is set in a Roman church for secret meetings between estranged, and unlikely friends, to help fend off a war with the US, and the ever present specter of religion serves as the backdrop for a poignant, sometimes funny, and always eerily accurate look at Middle East tensions today, and in particular the impending war against Iran. >>>

POETRY

I Do Not Want You, Petroleum
04-Oct-2007 (one comment)
I don't want you, petroleum!
For a long time,
I thought that you burnt for me.
Now I see that I am burning for you.

I'm not saying that it's not pleasant
Sitting near a kerosine heater
And enjoying the falling snow. >>>

POETRY

نمی خواهمت ای نفت!
04-Oct-2007 (5 comments)
نمی خواهم
نمی خواهمت ای نفت!
دیر زمانی می پنداشتم
که تو بر سر من می سوزی
اینک می بینم
که من بر سر تو می سوزم
>>>

POETRY

Khayamesque

Serve us claret my maid divine

04-Oct-2007 (3 comments)
How many nights this way I’ve spent
How many more will go misspent
A chance to dream wasted once more
Under this old and starless tent.
One spins a yarn, one twists a twine
And all awhile one waits in line
One weaves a cloth, be white it may
A newborn’s wrap, or shroud of mine. >>>

ART

Passant Pale

Passant Pale

Paintings by Khosro Berahmandi

by poonehtehrani
03-Oct-2007 (13 comments)

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INTERVIEW

Ultimate saviors

Porochista Khakpour author of “Sons and Other Flammable Objects”

03-Oct-2007 (one comment)
I wanted to poke a bit at Persian history and highlight my belief that many of the personal problems of the men in my book were actually ancient cultural problems that got a bit twisted through the filters of time. From the moment they were given their very DNA, even before they were tagged with their names, that very rich history was going to define their every step. It seems obvious but I think this is very different for many Americans, for instance, who often come from many different places—various European countries mixed with Native American blood, mixed with Black or Hispanic blood, etc.>>>

NOVEL

Political love story

Extracts from "Pomegranate Hearts"

03-Oct-2007 (2 comments)
In the midst of winter, suddenly an early spring showed on the horizon. The sun stood at the equinox, the heat woke the nature from her deep sleep, the heap of snow slid down the domes, forming layers of ice over muddy streets which crunched under footsteps, melted and streamed down the brooks. Nature was yawning, stretching, brightening, birds were singing, flower buds rippling, farmers ploughing. All unaware that winter had not yet departed, but waited in the shade of the moon planning his next return. Should he suddenly decide to return, gale-force winds and snowstorms would regain life and an embargo would put the city under an icy siege>>>

PLAY

Too much, too late

Too much, too late

"Benedictus" opening night in San Francisco

by Jahanshah Javid
02-Oct-2007 (one comment)

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ROCK N ROLL

Band on the run

Band on the run

Hanging out with Kiosk in Vancouver

by Shadi Yousefian
02-Oct-2007 (4 comments)

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LIFE

دو نيمه خوشبختی

لامذهب دقيقا می دانست چگونه دست به موهايم فرو ببرد كه نا خود آگاه لبانش را ببوسم

02-Oct-2007 (12 comments)
آنشب مسعود آمد. بوسه ای روی لبانم نشاند و گفت كه خسته است. می خواستم او را بر سر شوق بياورم. آهنگی شاد و ايرانی گذاشتم و شروع كردم به رقصيدن. حركات من او را هم به جنبش در آورد و مرا بوسيد و در گوشم زمزمه كرد: "دوستت دارم". لحظه دادن اين خبر خوش فرا رسيده بود. در حالی كه گردنش را می بوسيدم آرام گفتم: "مسعودم من و تو بچه دار میشيم. خدا كنه شبيه تو بشه".>>>

ART

Heroes

Heroes

Digital art, paintings and drawings

by Ali Nedaei
01-Oct-2007 (4 comments)

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STORY

ماههای آخر

دقیقن چهار ماه و هیجده روز است که " ره نمی پیمایم "

01-Oct-2007 (5 comments)
فکر نمی کنم بتوانم تاب بیاورم. دردهای جسمی ندارم، یعنی جسمی که درد می کرد، دیگر نیست. پنج ماه و دوازده روز پیش از من جدا یش کردند. آن را ا ز من گرفتند." چپم " را همان روزهای اولی که به جبهه رفتم، هنوزعرق ام خشک نشده بود، که از دست دادم....دومی را؟ خیلی باها ش کنار آمدم، اما حالا آن را هم ندارم. درد جسمی هم ندارم. دیگر نیستند که به مجرد کم شدن اثر مُسَکن، درد را روانه کنند.اگر هم بودند، دیگر کاری ازشان ساخته نبود. اما درد فکری چرا، خیلی هم دارم. گاه مدتها سرم را روی دست هایم می گذارم و درمانده، جان می کنم.>>>

PLAY

Thus, the dialogue began...

A conversation with the creators of "Benedictus"

01-Oct-2007 (one comment)
In the small set of San Francisco's Tick House, four theatre artists sit around a table and talk. What is different about this theatrical discussion is who these people are and what has brought them together. Who could imagine that the Israeli playwright Motti Lerner, the Iranian director Mahmood Karimi-Hakak, the American dramaturge Roberta Levitow and Golden Thread Theatre Company's Iranian-Armenian artistic director Torange Yeghiazarian would get together to make a play -- Benedisctus -- about the relationship between Iran, US and Israel?>>>

POETRY

Gold mines in America

God bless them all

30-Sep-2007 (11 comments)
I had gone to all-boys kindergarten, grade school,
high school and college.
It was time to do some thing about it. Being a short
Iranian male is a serious handy cap in America and
a reason for rejection by all the non-fat Amercan females.
That was when I discovered the overweight American
females. >>>

POETRY

Astrology II
30-Sep-2007
Step out of everyday
and into the starry sky
for without science
you have no aim. >>>

POETRY

شعرهايی که ديگر بوی گيلاس نمی‌دهند
30-Sep-2007 (one comment)
عکس‌اش را که کناراش می‌گذاری
از خجالت آب می‌شود
انگار که خاک مرده ریخته باشند
سکوت به هزار زبان داد می‌زند
>>>

POETRY

سر به سرم می گذارد این باد

نه راه پیش و نه راه پس

30-Sep-2007 (9 comments)
باد میان موهایت ایستاده بود
و من دیگر نه راه پیش و
نه راه پس از خطوط رنگ پریده ی انگشتان تو
>>>

POETRY

مجال
30-Sep-2007

کاکلی‌ها
لای میله‌های نگاه مضطربت
تا آخر
شادمانه پَرپَر زدند...ا

>>>

POETRY

آخر
30-Sep-2007
آخر شب قصه به دام افتاد
آخر خواب پری ناز بدست گرگ افتاد
آخر راز باد قدر به آس پیک افتاد
>>>

ROCK

Watch out, here they come! (part 2)

Guys from Kiosk talk about their album, their tour, and life

28-Sep-2007 (3 comments)
Arash Sobhani: ... it took us 3 or more years to write and record "Adam e Mamooli". Everytime I listened to it I could hear how I had changed during that period of time, and it gave me an idea how I was evolving (if you can call it that), but right after the album was out, I moved to the States, and I had to adjust myself to the new environment, so I was very busy "adjusting" myself to the new speed of life here, although I was surprised about how "Adam e Mamooli" had become popular and we felt very happy! But I had lost hope of doing a new album, first because I was outside Iran and thought that I have no right to talk about Iran anymore, and second because of the recording costs.>>>