FOOD

Mangia mangia!

Mangia mangia!

Experiencing Italy's amazing range of food in our recent trip

by Farah Ravon
15-Aug-2007

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MEDIA

BBC's best-kept secret

Really impressed with "Rooze Haftom"

15-Aug-2007 (one comment)
My friends tease me endlessly about my fascination with the radio. Many of them think radio to be a dying or a dead medium, seeing very little use for it. I beg to differ. I love the radio on two accounts. One is that listening to radio is a convenient pastime. You can do other things when you listen to the radio. You can move around and do house chores, write bills, and exercise as you listen. Another is that listening to the radio can be both an entertainment and a good source of news and information. As compared to the internet, radio programming on more official stations supported by large teams of reporters and analysts could provide a much more reliable source of information.>>>

WAR

Eyes on Iran

But surely America does not have the soldiers for another illegal and immoral war?

15-Aug-2007 (one comment)
We were ‘told’ that we, the civilized world, are fighting the ‘uncivilized’ terrorists’. So it is that Dick Cheney whispers into Mr. Bush’s ear to attack Iraq, confident that with her children buried, the parents too weak from mourning and disease, she will surrender – quickly. He made sure America stayed on track; track of deception. Prior to the invasion, Cheney was confronted with a report from the IAEA which threw doubts on the administration’s allegations about Iraq’s WMD, and he responded: “We know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. I think Mr. ElBaradei frankly is wrong" The demon of greed never seems to get enough. Over 1 million dead Iraqis – with Dick Cheney’s old company KBR/Halliburton being the prime benefactor of theft, Mr. Cheney now has his eyes on Iran� >>>

FILM

از اینجا و آنجا

نگاهی به شصتمین جشنواره فیلم لوکارنو

15-Aug-2007
مطابق معمول هر سال، فیلم های ایرانی نیز در جشنواره لوکارنو حضور داشتند اما نه مانند سالهای پیش در بخش های اصلی یا مسابقه، بلکه در بخش های فرعی و هر سال که می گذرد از شمار آنها نیز کاسته می شود. در حالی که لوکارنو با شناساندن عباس کیارستمی به جهانیان، به سینمای ایران دلبسته شد، اکنون دیگر به نظر می رسد دوران طلایی سینمای جشنواره ای ایران به پایان رسیده است و دیگر چنته سینمای ایران که هر چه بیشتر در هزارتوی سانسور بی در و پیکر دولتی گرفتار آمده است، خالی مانده است.
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IDEAS

بازگشت به خويشتن براي گذار به دموکراسي

در اين ره دره ها راهند/ بدين سو کوه ها صافند

15-Aug-2007

وجود حکومت هاي استبدادي شاه و شيخ، که بطور گزينشي تاريخ ايران را سانسور و يا مصادره به مطلوب کرده اند، مانع از آن بوده است تا ايران و ايراني، با شناخت و اتّکا به هويت تاريخي خود، جايگاه شايسته اش را در دنياي مدرن امروز باز يابد. بويژه در دوران مدرن، دنباله روي از ايدئولوژي هاي وارداتي شرق و غرب مانع از بازيابي و احياي سنت هاي حيات بخش نهفته در فرهنگ غني و سرشار ايران، که راز شکوفايي و تأثيرگذاري اين کهن ديار در گذشته، و بقاي آن تاکنون است، بوده اند. گويي اين داستان فراق و جدايي، قصهً پرغصه و تکراري ما ايرانيان از گذشته هاي دور است.
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IDEAS

قانون ظروف مرتبطه و اسلام زدگی

اگر صبر داشته بايم، شاهد فرو نشستن توفان نيز خواهيم بود

15-Aug-2007
اکنون جهان اسلام، در قالب «طلبکار»، برخاسته است تا گستاخانه به جهان بگويد که دارای ارزش هائی برتر از ارزش های غرب است؛ زنانش از زنان غرب مرفه تر و مصون ترند؛ قوانين بيابانی شکنجه و قطع دست و سنگسار و اعدامش در راستای ريشه کن کردن جرم و جنايت از روند پيچيدهء دادگستری در غرب کارآمدترند؛ و تازه دری گشوده به ملکوت خداوند هم دارند که، در چشم کسی که چيزی برای از دست دادن ندارد، مرگ را خار و حقير می کند و زندگی در گلشن رضوان و همآغوشی با حوری و غلمان را تضمين جانفشانی توده ها می سازد.
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FICTION

Cataracts, root canals, young women and aging men

Short story

14-Aug-2007
Zakaria, a personable not-by-choice Iranian immigrant, had been introduced to me by another client, Ron, a general contractor who often utilized his services in the flooring trades; and who had always praised his tile work as artistry not to be found anywhere else in the United States. And it was during the first few months in the righting of his listing ship that Zak and I began to develop a friendship extending beyond the confines of business counsel. Now running a large successful business, my effort for his firm doesn’t extend beyond counsel provided at board meetings or occasional assignments. But our get-togethers as friends continue to be frequent and enjoyable. Curiosity was getting the best of me. What could be bothering him all of a sudden?>>>

ART

The look

The look

Tehran fashion art

by Nikki Koohpaima
14-Aug-2007 (one comment)

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LOVE

Afternoon delight

She smiled as she moved her hips around the floor seductively

14-Aug-2007
The other day I had received a call from a friend, a dear and a wonderful friend from my college years, a person who brings a gentile smile on my face when I just remember her, for her free spirit and the passionate unconditional caring attitude she displays. She wanted to see me that afternoon, I took the train to the city and in no time I was with her, in her tiny but cozy apartment. I love to be in her place particularly in the kitchen with her, it’s so narrow that one has to touch the other person in order to move around, and it often leads to hugs to satisfy the first personal touch that triggered it, the hugs that are filled with love and creativity. She hugs back with all her heart, I feel her breast on my chest, it's personal and affectionate, every cell of my body is pleased to feel her; she is warm, kind and blissful.>>>

RIGHTS

What happened?

Why is the Middle East stuck in the Middle Ages?

14-Aug-2007 (one comment)
Sometimes comparing Iranians, Arabs, Turks and other Middle-Easterners to Westerners I thought there may be something wrong with Middle-Eastern genes or something that makes people be so much more aggressive, so much less honest, and altogether far more impulsive. Just an innocent thought! Never reached any conclusion to prove the hypothesis. However it is a fact that peoples of the Middle East are not usually trustworthy, get angry very quickly and usually act emotionally. This is all beside other defects such as arrogance combined with gullibility and so on>>>

AROOSI

A night to remember

A night to remember

Photo essay: Amir and Halé's wedding

by Jahanshah Javid
13-Aug-2007

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PERSIAN

No, you're Iranian

Facebook culture wars

13-Aug-2007
There are more people from Persia than Iran on Facebook. Yup... Many young people of Iranian origin in the US construct 'Persian' as an alter-ego to being 'Iranian' because Iran has been reconstructed as something unattractive, backward, alien, and terrifyingly Muslim by their families, other Iranians in their social networks, and not least by American media and foreign policy ever since the Revolution. It is a defense mechanism against the (perceived) enormous social cost that comes with identifying as Iranian. I am fully open to the prospect that maybe it's not an "either-or" proposition, and some use the terms interchangeably-but looking at some of these group names, there seem to be a significant number of people that have crystallized Persian vs. Iranian into a dichotomous cultural struggle>>>

FREE SPEECH

A threat to all of us

If someone could silence whatever he or she didn't like we are all going to be in big trouble soon

13-Aug-2007
While everyone is on holidays, a new blow to online free speech has taken place and I would like to share it with you and ask for help. Last Friday, my blog was shut down by my hosting company (Florida-based Hosting Matters), as a result of a legal notice sent by Mehdi Khalaji, an Iranian fellow at a neo-conservative think-tank (Washington Institute for the Near East Policy with Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and James Woolsey on its advisory board). Khalaji's lawyer has sent a notice to my hosting company and also my domain registrar, Go Daddy, asking them to a) remove any 'defamatory' material about him, b) make me publish an apology, and c) pay $10,000 for the claimed damages>>>

HODER

Price of baseless accusations

Hoder was not aware of the terms and conditions of writing on the web

13-Aug-2007
TORONTO -- One of the most controversial and maybe most read Persian blogs has finally been shut down. It belonged to Hossein Derakhsan, aka Hoder. No doubt, many of his enemies and those who did not like him very much may be very happy. But only a few may even ask why this has happened. The following is a brief account about the rise and fall of the so called THE GODFATHER OF PERSIAN BLOG. I think one of his biggest mistakes was lack of knowledge and skill in the field of journalism and professional writing. Hoder was not aware of the terms and conditions of writing on the web. He simply accused anyone who did not think like him. Maybe this is why he called his blog: EDITOR MYSELF.>>>

TRAVELERS

On nature's edge

On nature's edge

The village of Calcata, Italy

by Farah Ravon
12-Aug-2007

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