Editor: Myself

Satrapi's 'Persepolis': Good versus evil, again (The Guardian)

Finally I sat down and wrote about 'Persepolis', Marjane Satrapi's anti-Iran's Spielberg-backed piece of propaganda. Here it is:

Good versus evil, again (The Guardian)

Persepolis is a black-and-white film which also adopts a very black-and-white view of Iran, Hossein Derakhshan writes.

May 15, 2008

Marjane Satrapi's film, Persepolis must have made George Bush and his new ally, Nicolas Sarokzy, quite happy. After all, despite Satrapi's rhetoric against the two leaders, her film's core argument is one that Bush and Sarkozy have long been busy constructing: the evil state versus the wonderful people.

Read the full article

Nowrooz with Kiarostami's 'Iranian Carpet'

Let me wish you a wonderful Iranian new year (Nowrooz) by presenting you a lovely little video, made by Abbas Kiarostami, as part a film titled 'Iranian Carpet', produced by the Farabi Foundation. Watch it and think of Dick Cheney or Hilary Clinton in comparison with the nation that has produced both this carpet and this filmmaker. A little pathetic our American friends look like, don't they?

This year, we will see how those Iranian carpet flowers are going to win over those American bunker-busters.

Iranian Carpet, by Abbas Kiarostami

'Anti-Western' Ahmadinejad permits Chris De Burgh to perform in Tehran

Yesterday, Reuters reported that pop-musician, Chirs De Burgh, is going to perform live in Tehran in early summer next year with the Iranian pop-music band, Arian.

Arian's manager, Mohsen Rajabpour, who runs a record label in Tehran, has said to Reuters that the ministry of Culture has approved of the performance and has officially given the license for the performance.

This is hugely significant in that it is the first time Iranian state is officially allowing a 'Western' non-Iranian pop-music act to happen and also because it is Ahmadinejad's government that is behind that.

So you would expect this to be at least covered by those media outlets which have always been interested in showing how Iran treats the 'Western' culture, etc.

But surprisingly enough, the news has not been covered at all in the British-funded BBC Persian, US-funded Radio Farda or Dutch-funded Radio Zamaneh. I wonder if it is just a matter of accident or it has political reasons.

It's not a secret that these media outlets are usually giving a big amount of time and space to reports about Ahmadinejad's alleged anti-Western actions and rhetoric. But ignoring such an important development is just strange.

Is it because they are not comfortable to report on something that counters their ideological discourse that Ahmadinejad is turning Iran into Taliban?

Nazanin Afshin-Jam: Reza Pahlavi's New Star

The newest star of the Neo-conservatives, after the faded away 'talented' Mr. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, is Nazanin Afshin-jam, a former Miss Canada who can hardly speak Persian and I'm sure can not read or write in Persian. (I interiewed her for BBC Persian a few years ago, when she had just won Miss Canada in 2003 and knew nothing about Iranian politics.)

Her new career, as a pathetic pop-singer, is symbolised with a new album, called Someday, which is also the name of hit single of the album.

Showing pictures of Ghandi, Ahmad Batebi, student protest in Tehran, Serbian and Ukranian 'revolutions', Nazanin repeats the same rhetoric of her real boss, Reza Pahlavi, on the necessity for unity to so 'someday, the dankness fades away.'

P.S: Here is the lyrics of 'someday':

SOMEDAY- (THE REVOLUTION SONG)
By Nazanin & Peter Karroll

VERSE I
They were on the march then
In 1978
They filled our minds with hate
They deceived the nation
In the name of religion
And soon it was too late
When the soldiers came
We were on the run
Our lives forever changed
That was no solution
Regressive Revolution
Together we must stand

CHORUS
Someday
We will find a way
Someday
Someday
Someday
Someday
The darkness fades away
Someday
Someday

VERSE II
I'm calling all the children
Now that were all grown up
Is it time to make a change?
Take this old oppression
With a new aggression
Redeem our rightful place

REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE (SPOKEN)
I have a new solution
Its called Progressive Revolution
And someday is right now

CHORUS
Someday
We will find a way
Someday
Someday
Someday
Someday
The darkness fades away
Someday
Someday

CHORUS
Someday
We will find a way
Someday
Someday
Someday
Someday
The darkness fades away
Someday
Someday

Don't kill BBC Radio 1's The Blue Room please

My most favorite Radio 1's show is The Blue Room and it's unbelievable they're ending it at the end of September.

I'm not sure what they're going to replace it with. But I'm hoping similar, otherwise it'd be such a disappointment.

What I played on CBC's Here and Now

Being on CBC's Here and Now radio show with Matt Galloway was fun. He's a nice, smart and educated guy with a great taste in music and interest in world politics and technology. I was following his stuff in Now Magazine and really liked what he was doing there.

So he openly accepted to play all my three tracks during the show, although they didn't have time to play the third track. Also, the show's format, as an early evening one when everyone is leaving work on the way home, was too snappy to let me get into much detail on various topics. But I tried my best to be as informative as possible.

For those interested, the tracks I played (or didn't manage to play) were:
# Darvish, music by O-hum, lyrics by Hafez
# Zendegi Khali Nist, music by Kambiz Roshanravan, vocals by Shahram Nazeri, and lyrics by Sobhrab Sepehri
# Ala Ya Ayoha Saghi, music by O-hum, lyrics by Hafez

I can email you all three tracks in MP3 format. Email me (hossein AT gmail DOT com) and let me know please.

'Napoleon Dynamite's for Bush

Having watched the hilarious Napoleon Dynamite last night, I have to say that now I realize what kind of people think Bush is the God's gift to America.

How can you be so isolated from the world and so absurdly distant from the urban life and not vote for conservatives.

It's not just Saudis who need a total reform in their education system, America needs it more.

Watch Irréversible at your own risk if you are a woman

Watched Gaspar Noé's Irréversible on DVD yesterday and I should say that I really liked it. Actually I always wanted to see it since it was screen at Cannes 2003, but never got a chance to catch it on Carlton theatre in Toronto, which is just in our 5 minutes walk distance. Last week at Jason's, he talked about it and reminded me of it. It was a pretty scary movie and I am happy that Marjan wasn't home to watch it--or in fact she heard Jason not to ever watch it.

I liked the cinematography, the crazy camera movements in the first half, and in the second half in another way; loved the soundtrack that in part was made by Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter; moved by the subtle but amazing visual effects; and I really liked the performances, especially by Monica Bellucci.

Aside from her great look and body--and honestly, breasts-- the fact that she was so real and natural as a young beautiful French woman, really stunned me; because in all her English speaking movies and even Malena (witch was an Italian production, but by a Hollywood taste) she is either a complete slut bitch, or a sad and depressed woman. So I had rarely seen her smile, laugh, or any sense of humor. She is always such a serious bitch/widow in those films that you can hardly find her a good actress. But here in Irréversible she proves she is really a talented actress who happens to be exceptionally beautiful.

Hope my wife doesn't read this, but if anyone asks me to define femininity, I just point to Monica Bellucci. She truly is femininity.

Links:
- Some reviews on Irreversible
- BBC's Interview with Caspar Noe
- IndiWire's interview with the director
- Guardian's interview with Vincent Cassel, who happens to be Bellucci's real husband
- Buy the DVD from Amazon.ca
- Buy the DVD from Amazon.com

Note:
- I changed the title a bit because I don't want to sound like a sexist.

Rippin

Through the amazing Ishkur guide to electronic music, I discovered this wonderful song by Golden Boy and Miss Kittin called "Rippin", and I really can't get enough of it.

Classicial Iranian music

In case you are interested to listen to some classical iranian music (or traditional music as we call it), Radio Darvish is a great start. The website doesn't look good, but the DSL/Cable version of the music is really good. The playlist is also available.