POETRY

Citizen of the world
by Sandra Nunez
07-Aug-2007
Walking in the flatness of this world,
listening to the same old abrupt sound.
What if our memories hadn't been lost
and our ancestors claimed the laces of our roots?
>>>

POETRY

Ode To #148240
by A. Bird
07-Aug-2007
those eyes deserve a home
that glare and the stare
should fall on eyes
that reflect back >>>

POETRY

American ideals
by Sasan Seifikar
07-Aug-2007
It is as if we are
In a horrific dream
What has happened to us?
Is this what we are about? >>>

POETRY

Azizam, Azat Motenaferam
by Nazanin Canadai
07-Aug-2007
You arrogant prick!
Thinking of you makes me god damn sick.
How could I, the strong one, be so easily deceived?
You crawled in, little by little, inch by inch...
>>>

POETRY

Mystic, misfit
by Sheema Kalbasi and Yahia Lababidi
07-Aug-2007
lover of longing's songs
and whispered promises
born exile,
homeless at last >>>

POETRY

L= The Markov Chain
by Tina Ehrami
07-Aug-2007
It was an evening in June
When like a monsoon
Liberation came (with the capital L)
With a single name (for which I fell) >>>

LAUGHS

Sheiky baby, I love you

Howard Stern interview with the Iron Shikh, the "Shah's bodyguard"

by Jahanshah Javid
05-Aug-2007
...>>>

STORY

The initial conditions

Me, Abbas, Ms. Morrison, jockstraps & Chaos Thoery

by A. Hamshahri
31-Jul-2007
The most popular way to describe the Chaos Theory is that a butterfly's wings fluttering might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or, for that matter, prevent a tornado from appearing). The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale phenomena. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the final outcome and its consequences would have been vastly different. Gently pressing the spot between side of his right foot and and top of his toes, I said: "Look son, if you want to get power and accuracy you simply have to shoot the ball with the front third side of your foot. Toe-poking it will give you zero control.">>>

FICTION

Screw

One day I was sitting alone on the roadside minding my own business when a speeding car ran me over

by Saeed Tavakkol
30-Jul-2007
A screw, a defective one, that’s what I am. Pay attention! I’m not a nail. Nails are flat head with no character I say. They are straightforward. I’m not. They have no twists and turns, I do. They are easy going. I’m not. Just hit a nail on the head and it obediently does its job, I don’t. You can straighten a crooked nail with a hammer and it works as good as new and if you hit me, I get even more crooked. The first time I was put into a good use, I failed miserably. The carpenter, who picked me out randomly from the box full of screws, could not drive me through the wood because I was slightly crooked and my head was stripped. His hand slipped and I made him bleed. So he tossed me to the ground cursing me under his breath.>>>

NAANAAM

Global man

The multi talented genius, Naanaam

by Sheema Kalbasi
29-Jul-2007
It was 2003 I had put my few months old daughter to bed and was browsing through Iranian Times when I came across a collection of poetry. The poems frustrated, angered, and amazed me at times. The collection titled "One Should Not Sleep with Juliet and Not Be Romeo," and the poems were simply incredible. I followed his works and a few years later included some of them in the Other Voices International Project. It was then that I received e-mails from some American poets who believed they were the works of a literary genius. This voice belongs to no one but one of the most controversial contemporary poets of our time, Naanaam>>>

MUSIC

Scary and exciting

Sarakhs' new album "Mordad 85"

by Siamack Baniameri
29-Jul-2007
In late 2000, an Iranian homegrown alternative band, Sarakhs, made it's debute with the release of Mordab. Mordab and other singles such as Vasvaseh and Raz marked the beginning of a phenomenon called, Iranian underground music. Although Mordab never made it to the commercial arena, it became one of the most widely acclaimed Iranian Alternative albums on internet. Fortunately, Sarakhs' new work will not leave fans disappointed. It is Sarakhs at its best. A milestone in Iranian alternative music and an example of originality in sound and lyric. The new tracks showcase the band's talent and give the fans what they're looking for: something very different>>>

FILM

Understanding pain

"David and Layla" director has not forgotten the unfair treatment of the people of his origin

by Kamal Artin
29-Jul-2007
After few screenings and revisions, Jalal Jonroy finally released his romantic comedy, David and Layla, to theaters. Like most of his fellow countrymen in Diaspora, Jonroy has not forgotten the unfair treatment of the people of his origin and remains devoted to their plight throughout the movie. To make his case more tangible by general public and entertainment industry in the West, he pairs another maltreated ethnic group with the people of his origin. Both ethnicities have remained preoccupied with their past traumas, fears, and prejudices. While one of them with a population of 15 millions has been represented by a modern state for the past few decades, the other with a population of 30 to 40 millions still remains stateless in the 21st century>>>

TRAVELER

Gmelin's Persia & Persians

Young German scientist and explorer's 1770 journey to northern Persia

by SamuelGottlieb Gmel
29-Jul-2007
Further, music is never played if the singers do not sing along. Often a dance is added, but this dance neither represents German nor French taste. Those who perform them only have in mind how they may express the power of the music by the wonderful turns and rotations of their bodies. It is due to this that they then bend backwards and then again fall down headlong with their arms outstretched on the ground, and often also clap their hands together over the head, until they finally get up to again make the most violent movements by another theme of the music, turn around in twirls and yes even tumble with their head over their bodies, all the while hand-clapping>>>

POETRY

Arrival

A new day

by Baharak Sedigh
29-Jul-2007

the wind whistles its arrival
as dawn returns
from its night travels

>>>

POETRY

Ah, Los Angeles

I accept you as my city

by Majid Naficy
29-Jul-2007
This is the revised version of my Poem, "Ah, Los Angeles" first published in Persian in "Daftar-haye Shanbeh" No. 2, 1994 and then in English in Muddy Shoes (Beyond Baroque Books) 1999. The City of Venice, California engraved one of the stanzas of this poem on a wall in Venice beach at Boardwalk-Brooks in 2000.>>>

POETRY

For Shirin Neshat

Your little black holes are too small for my bullets

by Brett
29-Jul-2007
Youssef and Zuleika have nothing on us
My love
Your little black holes are too small for my bullets >>>

POETRY

The earthquake

Nap time in the heat flattens you out to extract the most comfortable dream

by Jam Hamidi
29-Jul-2007
The earthquake
drunkenly rolled into town.
A town that, seen from above >>>

POETRY

Eclipsing the sun

We kill and kill and kill, that all may come to believe

by Dara Esfandiary
29-Jul-2007

The Sun rises because we will her to rise.

Her rays are made beautiful by our eyes.

In the microcosm, perception forges our reality:


>>>

FILM

Good spirit

Given today’s political and social climate, artistic efforts and films like "Daivd and Layla" need to be supported

by Shirin Bazleh
29-Jul-2007
Done with watching the mega-budget summer movies: Harry Potter, Hairspray and Transformer? Now what about a small independent romantic comedy about a Jewish New Yorker in love with a Moslem-Kurd refugee? Interesting subject, isn’t it? David and Layla’s Kurdish director Jay Jonroy takes the monumental task of balancing the complexities of a cross-cultural love story against its political and religious contradictions. Two hours of cheery entertainment to discover that there really aren’t any contradictions after all. We have more similarities than differences>>>

CINEMA

2 films, 2 views

I recently saw two Iranian films and jotted down my impressions on both

by Ana Bayat
23-Jul-2007
Ever since I saw FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY I have found myself increasingly discovering various layers of subtexts finding their way into my curious and analytical mind. Never before had the Iranian screen seen such fine performances as that of Hamid Farokh Nejad. If there was no improvisation involved whatsoever, then I have never seen such organic responses on screen or stage by a male actor. A psychological thriller? Hitchcokesc? Innovative? A social commentary? A non-judgmental account of life stories running parallel to each other?>>>
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