A stupid joke

I just watched Philadelphia today and there was this joke in it I found kind of funny:

-"what do you call a thousand lawyers, chained together, at the bottom of the ocean?"
-"a good start!"

I liked the movie, by the way. Tom Hanks was definitely great. It's weird how their cell phones and laptops look all stupid and old to me, yet I clearly remember the year the movie came out. I thought old stuff only belonged to the time when I wasn't born or was really really young. Guess I have to accept the fact that I'm getting older after all!

Title: Streets of Philadelphia (from Philadelphia OST), By: Bruce Springsteen

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300: to watch, or not to watch?

well, I am usually not the one to skip watching a movie, unless i heard absolutely horrible reviews about it. I never watched Alexander, not because it showed a distorted version of the history and made Persians look bad, but because i almost never read even one good review about it as a movie.
Now, 300, is a different story. I've read reviews that praised the movie for its visual effects... and then i read in other reviews, that the movie sucked big time, with no innovative ideas and full of pointless slow-motion fight sequences.

Even the American reviewers think that the movie has been too one-sided, defending "freedom" and "democracy" as Greek ideals against "slavery" and "violence" and "barbarism" as - surprise, surprise! - Persian army characteristics. Hmmm, I haven't watched the movie, i don't know how bad it really was, so I am getting really tempted to go watch it and judge for myself. But that doesn't mean that I can not support 300 the movie, a collaborative project initiated by some Iranian artists to show the artistic side of Persians (and that's why I did not link to imdb record for the movie, you can find it yourselves, I'm sure). I hope the project takes off quickly and people get to see our version of the history as well, not only Frank Miller's. Check out the gallery page on the site, it's cool.

- The above picture was also copied from 300 project.

Also, here are the links to some of the reviews I've read about the movie:

New York Times, not supportive :Battle of the manly men: blood bath with a message
Slate, not supportive :A movie only a spartan could love
Monsters and critics, somewhat supportive :Movie review: 300
Sci-fi weekly, supportive : 300 review
LA daily news, not supportive :'300' Spartan sweat fest that's an ode to men in Speedos

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Two years of daydreaming!

Hey, I just realized today that this blog got two years old last week. Can't believe I survived this long... Viva daydreaming (and other stuff)!

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An inconvenient truth

A great, great documentary. Makes you think twice about many things. A little bit of political agenda, but not annoying. And very interesting and informative. Makes you want to run into the forest and hug the first tree you see :) As Melissa Etheridge says, we all have to wake up.

"...
Cause I need to move
I need to wake up
I need to change
I need to shake up
I need to speak out
Something’s got to break up
I’ve been asleep
And I need to wake up, Now
..."

Here's the final credit song:

Title: I need to wake up, By: Melissa Etheridge

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Free Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh

Read in Parastoo's blog...

and in SibilTala.

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Spring cleaning... shaking the house!

My back aches, and I'm exhausted... but drinking beer in a clean, re-arranged living room feels just great!

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An interesting piece in we 4 change

Here's a short article that I found interesting. Since we 4 change is filtered in Iran, I put the whole text here as well:

نقاب دروغین / راحله عسگری زاده
جمعه 18 اسفند 1385

دوست و همكاري دارم كه بين باقي جوان هاي همكار به احترام به خانم ها و مهرباني معروف است. چند شب قبل با او و دو دوست ديگر عازم جايي بوديم. در ماشين يكي از دفترچه ها را از كيفم در آوردم و پرسيدم آيا چيزي در مورد كمپين شنيده يا نه؟ ابراز بي اطلاعي كرد. وقتي شروع به صحبت كردم دوست ديگري كه در ماشين بود (یک پسر) شروع به شوخي و دست انداختن كرد كه: «محمد اگه اينو امضا كني فردا ديگه كسي بهت اجازه نمي ده دو تا زن بگيري.» و جو ماشين را به شوخي كشاند.

سعي كردم بحث را تغيير دهم و صحبت كمپين را بكنم. محمد پرسيد چه قوانيني رو مد نظر داريم؟ وقتي قوانين رو توضيح مي دادم سعي مي كرد به همه پاسخ دهد. انگار با توجه به جوسازي اوليه آن دوست مي ترسيد اگر تأييد كند ديگران مسخره اش كنند. مثلا اصرار داشت كه من براي پدر و مادرم بيشتر زحمت مي كشم پس ارثم بايد بيشتر باشد يا... در همين حين صحبت بر سر قتل هاي ناموسي رسيد. محمد به حرف هاي همه گوش مي داد و هيچ نمي گفت. متوجه شدم كه تحت تأثير قرار گرفته. با تعجب گفت: «نمي دانستم كه پدر صاحب خون بچه محسوب مي شود.» وقتي كسي مثال خيانت و روابط زناشويي را پيش كشيد محمد سررشته كلام را به دست گرفت و نطق بلند بالايي كرد در رابطه با اينكه زني كه به شوهرش خيانت مي كند و دو زندگي و خانواده را به بازي مي گيرد بايد كشته شود!!

همه شوكه شده بودند! كسي انتظار چنين حرفي از او نداشت. پس از چند ثانيه سكوت كسي پرسيد :

و اگر مرد خيانت كند ...

مردي كه زندگي يك زن شوهردار ...

نه عزيزم! اگر يك مرد زن دار خيانت كنه چي مي شه؟ بايد كشتش؟

محمد سكوت كرد . همه نگاهش مي كردند . همكار به ظاهر مهربان و به قول معروف خانواده دوست نفس عميقي كشيد و گفت: «نه! اون فرق داره!»

گاهي اوقات در حين جمع كردن امضا و يا صحبت با مردم مي بينم چقدر ماسكي كه ديگران به صورت مي زنند با واقعيتشون فرق داره. بين اين آدم ها كه زندگي مي كني مي فهمي كه ممكنه هر لحظه ماسكشون رو كنار بذارن و از حق هايي كه قانون بهشون مي ده چه سوء استفاده هايي كنن. اينجور مواقع بيشتر از هر وقتي احساس عدم امنيت مي كنم و لزوم اين حقوق رو توي زندگيم بيشتر احساس مي كنم. حقوقي كه بايد براي رسيدن بهش تلاش كرد. حقوقي ساده كه براي رسيدن بهشون راه مشكلي پيش رو داريم.

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It's one or the other:

1. either I'm completely consumed by Hollywood's movie culture

or

2. Divine Intervention sucks, big time!

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I wear this button because...

I act to end all forms of inequality based on gender, sexual orientation,age, ability, race, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status.

I challenge systems and ideas that reproduce inequalities.

I am committed to individual choice and self-determinantion.

I strive to create an environment where it is safe to question the status quo.

I am continually challenging my own privileged positions.

I am a feminist.

Happy International Women's Day! :)

PS - there are these buttons that UBC Center for women and gender studies give out and I tried to draw a sample one in MS paint (and I didn't do a very god job, of course!). Anyway, This has been a crazy week, I'll be back with my usual posts sometime soon!

PS 2 - the sentences are part of the campaign, I did not make them up!

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Wish I could be there too

would i dare to go if I were back in Iran? Would you?

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A requim for my homeland...

read in Maryam Momeni's blog...

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Still waiting...

and they're still in jail. Why can't our government men find a more civilized way of dealing with opposition, especially a peaceful one. Is it really that horrible if men and women have equal rights? I keep picturing these women behind the bars, and all I can say is that I'm thinking of them, and I know a lot of others inside and outside of Iran are, too. I admire them for their courage, these are the women that will change things, and I hope I can do my part as someone far away with such little power, by following their activities and taking part whenever possible.

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Women arrested over protest, again!

Read in BBC . A great way of showing appreciation for international women's day, don't you think?

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Have to agree with the Academy...

on the lives of others! It was one of the best movies I've watched recently and definitely deserved the Oscar for best foreign movie (and I am, like, in love with Pan's labyrinth, so this really means something)... It's a bit long, but is totally worth your time. No matter where you live, there are always good people around to help you.

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We 4 change

I have been meaning to post the link to this website for a while now, but kept forgetting. Some of you might have already heard of we 4 change, an organization of women's right activists. They have a pretty good website in both Farsi and English. Their main undertaking right now is the "1 million signatures" campaign to change the discriminatory laws in Iran. I suggest you take a few minutes to take a look at their website and find out what they're doing. (You can also sign the petition, if you haven't already!)

- Picture of the organization logo was copied from http://we4change.com

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Funny what helps you get over people...

it's their weaknesses more often than not, rather than your "inner poise" (as Bridget Jones would put it). Some people never cease to disappoint you, even after you figured you couldn't be any more disappointed in them.

You try and try to forget the way they talked to you, held you, looked into your eyes, lied into your face, called you by cute nick names, made plans with you, and then went on to break your hearth. Then they go and make this - otherwise negligible - mistake, and suddenly your eyes are open again. You stop checking your mailbox every 15 minutes to see if they emailed you, things stop reminding you of them, life gets back to normal... as in good! And that, my friends, is what they call "Closure"! (Ok, so I stole this line off "friends", big deal!)

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Another interesting book

So i got loads of books for my birthday, which is just awesome... and I'm reading a few of them together so I'm all confused. But one that is very interesting is "the curious incident of the dog at the night-time" by Mark Haddon. It tells the story of this young boy with "special needs" who decides to solve a murder mystery by himself. I'm half way through and am enjoying it very much. Here's a passage i liked in the book, so far:

"And father said,"Christopher, do you understand that I love you?"
And I said "yes", because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble,[...],and he looks after me by cooking meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me."

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One more year...

two birthday cakes, a few more books, and lots of movies later... here I am, sitting here, one year older. I am facing one of those "what- have- i- done- in- the- past- year"-kind of crises and so I should probably just stop writing right now. Don't you hate it when people only nag about their lives? I mean here I am, healthy, living a relatively purposeful life(!), surrounded by good friends, and still complaining. May I learn to appreciate the things I have more than before in the coming year, Amen.

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That cheesy time of the year is here again...

enjoy the pink everywhere, buy gifts, make love, drink wine, and celebrate your relationships. May we all turn into characters out of a Hollywood romantic comedy...

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It's foggy here...

and so I'm not in the best mood. Here you go with some more depressing folk music!

Title: I Still Miss Someone, By: Joan Baez

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