DESIRE

A trip to Italy

I knew I was going to miss him but I didn’t want to grieve when he was still in my arms

by Shana Yazdi
14-Apr-2010 (6 comments)
I woke up in the middle of the night by the slow sound of his purring. He was in my bed and I hardly knew him. Only for a few days. His chestnut hair and blonde beard were highlighted in the semi-dark room and the light hair on his massive chest was a little shiny, reflecting the light coming from the lampposts in the street. We were in a hotel in Venice and he was actually a total stranger. He introduced himself as Steve and he was American. That was all I knew about him>>>

FILM

Complete without men

Shirin Neshat's "Women without Men"

by Maryam Womenfound
12-Apr-2010 (7 comments)
Women, given enough time, get to a point where they realize they are complete even without men. On Friday night I went to see the LA premier of Women without Men by Shireen Neshat. The treat was that she was there with us, and at the end of the film took some questions from the audience. A diminutive and soft spoken woman, Shireen Neshat is incredibly articulate and unmistakably passionate about her beliefs, her art and her cause. Her art resonates as globally well as it does because it is a representation of what she firmly believes and has a burning desire to share with the world>>>

LIFE

حاج خانوم

هر جا که هستی، امن و امان باشی

by hamidbak
12-Apr-2010 (4 comments)
آمد آهسته نشست روی صندلی، پشت میزی که توی آشپز خانه است. نفس عمیقی کشید و خدا را شکر کرد. با نگاهی آمیخته به کمی تمسخر،هر چند برای لحظه ای کوتاه، به او نگاه کردم. پیش خود سؤال کردم که "برای چه از خدا تشکر میکنه؟" پشت خمیده؟ نفسی که به سختی بالا میاد؟ توی این سن کار کردن و خونه ای نداشتن؟ ولی زود به خودم گفتم که، "ولش کن، بذار با خدای خودش حرف میزنه، به تو چه؟" >>>

POETRY

نگران تاریکیها
by Shahab Taherzadeh
12-Apr-2010
من و تو
مثل دو ستاره ایم
شب را بر نمی تابیم
از تاریکی روشن میگذریم
در سیاهی گوشه ای را پنهان نکرده ایم >>>

FILM

More credit than they deserve

"The Politics of Iranian Cinema"

by bparhami
10-Apr-2010
As I began reading this book in March 2010, I learned of the imprisonment of Jafar Panahi, a New-Wave Iranian filmmaker, along with several friends and members of his family. This made the subject matter of the book highly topical and quite relevant to today's political struggles in Iran. Further evidence of this topicality is the fact that Iranian government ministers have lost their posts or were impeached because of films. We learn from this book about two important genres of Iranian cinema: art films (made for the educated elite and film festivals), and social films>>>

POETRY

Collateral Damage
by Doug Soderstrom
10-Apr-2010 (9 comments)
Another batch of dead bodies, That few seem to recognize, Nor even care about.
Unless, Of course, The corpse,
Had been blessed,
By having been,
Made in America,
The land of,
A superior race >>>

NOVEL

خانم معلم ( پایان )

پرواز چند پرنده در آسمان به او می گفت که دوستی بهترین پرواز است

by Dariush Azadmanesh
10-Apr-2010 (one comment)
غروب یک روز بهاری از آخرین روزهای بهار سال هزار و سیصد و هشتاد و شش بود . گورستان شهر اهواز خلوت و ساکت بود. قبرهایی که افراد آرمیده درون آنها در آن هنگام از یک روز وسط هفته از میان زندگان ملاقات کننده داشتند بسیار کم بودند. در آن سکوت و آرامش کسی از میان قبرها می گذشت و با گام های آرام پیش می رفت. او بدیدار کسی آمده بود که می دانست جز در این گورستان جای دیگری نخواهد یافتش>>>

NAGHAAL

Ferdosi's Murder Mystery

Performance by Saghi Aghili, aka Neda Afarid

by Jahanshah Javid
08-Apr-2010 (22 comments)
...>>>

BOOK

Roxana's Worlds

I have no doubt Saberi was not a spy

by varjavand
08-Apr-2010 (14 comments)
It makes me wonder why a beautiful, successful young lady talented enough to earn the title of Miss North Dakota and seemingly enjoying all of life’s amenities in the United States would decide to live in a country like Iran, a well-known repressive regime with no reverence for human rights. I think only Roxana can answer this question and she has done a good job of doing so in this book. She writes eloquently about her love for her Iranian heritage, love of journalism, and more importantly, her desire to write a book about Iranian society>>>

POETRY

جمع اضداد
by Mahmoud Seraji
08-Apr-2010 (3 comments)
نگاهت مست و چشمانت خمار است
نمیدانم خدایا این چه کار است
به بادامی چنین زیبا و طناز
دو مغز تلخ و شیرین شاهکار است
>>>

SPRING

Before spring passes by

Before spring passes by

Photo essay: A stroll on a hill above Chihuahua

by Organic NUTritionist
07-Apr-2010 (3 comments)

>>>

ART

Merry Embroidery

Merry Embroidery

Photo essay: Embroiderers' exhibit in Victoria, British Columbia

by Azadeh Azad
06-Apr-2010 (7 comments)

>>>

MEDIA

Why Do Some Iranians Hate “Soraya”?

Controversy over “The Stoning of Soraya M.”

by S. Mostofi
06-Apr-2010 (4 comments)
When a Middle Eastern cultural center announced a special cast-and-crew screening of a film about stoning in Iran, coming up on April 15, 2010, local members in Los Angeles began a Facebook firestorm. “Crap propaganda!” screamed one irate Iranian FBer. “The film has zero artistic value!” wrote another. Some Iranians love to hate anything that can be reasonably criticized, and “The Stoning of Soraya M.” has plenty to hate. It’s anti-Iran propaganda, some say; others insist the stoning never happened—journalist Freidoune Sahehjam made it up, which is why he wouldn’t name names in his book of the same title>>>

POETRY

Still
by Mansour Khaksar
06-Apr-2010 (one comment)
With a ballpoint pen
Incidentally dark
I sign the manuscript
That he has put in front of me
And I am familiar with its text.
He is not more than a lad
With big eyes >>>

HOLLYWOOD

Disney's Shahnameh

Exclusive interview with "Prince of Persia" producer Jerry Bruckheimer

by Ari Siletz
04-Apr-2010 (32 comments)
Persia is one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known, so it give me a sense of its vast history, the magnificence of its architecture and design, literary heritage and imagination... "Prince of Persia" is a fantasy based upon history, so we hired an amazing team of designers who did an enormous amount of cultural research into Persia and its vast empire at that time. But at the same time, we gave them the freedom to invent a world especially designed for the film>>>

NOVEL

خانم معلم 9

آه ای عشق! درود بر آغاز تو و نفرین بر پایان تو

by Dariush Azadmanesh
04-Apr-2010
پیرمرد آرام ، آرام داشت به ناجی نزدیک می شد. پایش می لنگید و لباسش ژنده و کثیف بود. ناجی متوجه او شده بود و انتظار داشت بزودی یک مهمان پیر ناخوانده مزاحم خلوت او شود و با چرندیاتی که برخواسته از تجربیات بدرد نخور یک بازنده بودند سرش را درد آورد. از ظاهرش معلوم بود او یکی از آن بازنشسته هایی نیست که ساحل کارون را برای گذراندن بخشی از اوقات فراغت خود برمی گزینند. حتماً یک ولگرد بی خانمان بود که یا همه عمرش بیهوده زیسته بود و یا همه چیزش را در راه زن یا قمار یا تریاک و یا همه با هم از دست داده بود>>>

1895

Meddling Mollahs

Excerpt from "Persia Revisited"

by Thomas Edward Gordon
02-Apr-2010 (2 comments)
A change is coming over the country in regard to popular feeling towards priestly interference in personal and secular affairs. The claim to have control of the concerns of all men may now be said to be but the first flush of the fiery zeal of divinity students, fresh from the red-hot teachings of bigoted Moulla masters, who regret the loss of their old supremacy, and view with alarm the spread of Liberalism, which seems now to be establishing itself in Persia. There are now signs of the people resenting the arrogant assumption or power by the Moullas, and freeing themselves from their thraldom>>>

BOOK

The Patience Stone

Afghanistan fiction by Atiq Rahimi

by Susan Abraham
02-Apr-2010
The Patience Stone turns up a small intriguing novella and is the first of the many creative works I have been introduced to so far, belonging to 48 year old Atiq Rahimi, an award-recipient Parisian novelist and film and documentary maker. Since his emigration to France in 1984; the winner of the 2008 Prix Goncourt holds both Afghan and French nationality and his stories are recognised as highly significant>>>

STORY

جمهوری پیاز

امسال درست در سرد ترین و بی روح ترین روز زمستان حادثه عجیبی اتفاق افتاد که آرامش آبادی را به هم زد

by cyrous moradi
02-Apr-2010
کسی یادش نیست که کشت پیاز از کی در شهرک ناکجا آباد استان ننه من غریب معمول شده. هرچی هست برای مردم این آبادی و روستاهای اطرافش ،درآمد بخور و نمیری را فراهم میکند. پائیز که میشه، گونی های پر از پیاز در کاروانسراها و انبارها تلنبار و منتظر مشتری می مانند. مردان پیاز کاردر قهوه خانه ها جمع شده و به نقال ها گوش کرده و پشت سر هم قلیان می کشند. منتظر رسیدن تجار پیاز از تهران و شهرهای عمده هستند تا پیاز ها را فروخته و برای پسرشان زن گرفته و دخترشان را به خانه بخت بفرستند>>>

POETRY

بيت اللحم
by Mohammad Reza Tavakoli Saberi
02-Apr-2010
ماه از بالا همچنان نگران زمين مىچرخيد
خيابانها تاريك بودند و زمزمه محبت از هيچ جا به گوش نمىرسيد.
دو سايه از يك جيپ بيرون پريدند
و سكوت شب را شكستند.
به آرامى به خانه آجرى كوچك با در آبى رنگ نزديك شدند.
با عباى دراز و چفيه مانند دو خيمه در حال حركت مينمودند >>>
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