ridiculous but beautiful weather

Vancouver is just not ready for snow! you would think with one-week-in-advance notice they would at least put chains on bus tires! I had to walk up a hill in crazy snow because the freakin' bus couldn't make it... very disappointing. Other than frozen pipes bursting out on us causing hot water shutdown until tomorrow morning, the snow is just great! couldn't ask for a more pretty sight really... the city is covered in white after almost a whole day of snowfall. yeah it has interrupted the daily life in Vancouver, and yeah people had to cancel their parties and shopping plans and so on, but it is still cool to have snow. Makes me feel like a kid again, and I think it has the same effect on a lot of people. As they say - over and over again in every single mall you step in - let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

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it's snowing in Vancouver

... and Vancouver has taken it very seriously this year, i might add, so it finally feels like I've come to Canada!... here's to real winters, and to friends getting married some eleven thousand miles away right at this moment! :)

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Derakhshan's arrest

Here's a link about him being arrested in Tehran. Freedom of speech for everyone, right?

related: http://freehoder.blogspot.com/

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Artsy stuff :)

Since I have nothing too exciting to post here, I thought I'd let you know about two of my friends' blogs.

Golrokh and Niyaz have both studied Cinema in Iran and are now continuing their studies abroad. they post some of their artwork (including sketches, animations, and paintings) on blogger and i personally like their stuff very much. I'm sure you'll find their work interesting as well. (I would write more about this, but art is so subjective and I'm afraid my take on what they do is completely different from what they have in mind, so I think it's better to let their work speak for itself.)

correction: I have no idea how I made this mistake, but Golrokh had actually studied graphic design in Iran!

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new addiction: how i met your mother

I've been watching it online for a while now and it's actually not bad! well, I guess you can say it's like a newer version of Friends, but it's still got some pretty decent jokes. The fact that one of the characters is Canadian is kind of cool too, although they usually make fun of her because of this anyway! I'm not saying it's like the greatest series ever or anything, but if you are looking for a funny series that's light and doesn't require any mental activity, then watch "How I met your mother"!

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another round of bad movies + a good concert

well, I know I said I wouldn't go watch Twilight, but then under the influence of some friends (you know who you are!!!) I ended up going anyway... and boy, was that a mistake! ... the first clue should have warned us even before entering the theater: everyone in the line was a girl, and under 15!!! we were literally the oldest people there... anyway, I thought the book was pretty average (even worse than average) in itself, but I could never imagine a movie made with such bad taste... The actors were AWFUL! and I mean REALLY AWFUL! Make-up was a joke, and soundtrack was a disaster... there was not one thing that worked in favor of the movie... and so I strongly discourage you from ever watching this movie... like EVER!

now that I got that off my chest, let's bash another movie: Australia! you would think Nicole Kidman + Hugh Jackman combination would save any movie, but nope! The movie was supposed to be an epic love story and it turned out to be a Hindi movie with Hollywood actors... All the magnificent-landscape-wanna-be scenes turned out fake and forced in my opinion, and almost all actors were performing below their usual standards. And why did it have to be so darn long?! anyway, do not waste your money on this movie, maybe watch it on DVD, but don't get your hopes too high.

The one positive event during this sad sad times for me was Kiosk's concert in Vancouver last week. I've always liked their work, and I absolutely love their new album : The Global Zoo. The lyrics are smart as usual, and I like the music a lot as well. They even have one song recorded with Namjoo! My favorite songs so far are "Pragmatism e eshghi" and of course "Yarom bia". You can buy their album on itunes, or buy the CD from CD Baby. The concert was much better than last year, and I definitely look forward to their future concerts!

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It had been too long

and I had almost forgotten the experience. It's funny how your memory sometimes can't do justice to reality.

I'll never give up "adas polo" for such a long period of time, ever again!!

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