another year

getting older... and more cynical... happiness is tainted with guilt when your friends are in trouble. It's my birthday, and I wish the world were just a bit more fair.

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everyone is waiting for something big to happen

... so am I. I hopelessly wish for a peaceful protest... Tehran is just waking up... it's the 22nd of Bahman.

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My Part in the Winter Olympics

... hmmm, I guess it's considered some sort of a participation if the Olympic Torch goes right by your department, AND your house! :D I am starting to feel excited about this whole thing finally... Vancouver will be very alive during the next two weeks.. or at least we hope so!



(pay attention to the location of the torch around 6:14 and 6:52 p.m.) :D ... this happens tomorrow night by the way! yay...

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relationships are funny...

As any reader of this blog knows, I've spent a good deal of my time, and my nerves, pondering on relationships, and I think I will continue to do so. It's just that when you're heart broken, sad, and angry it's much easier to write a post that can touch another person. On the other hand, when you're relatively happy and calm, as I have surprisingly been in the past few months, you don't get inspired as much!!! pretty sad and pathetic, but true... at least for me. So do I need a relationship that works, or do I need one that inspires me by being dysfunctional? I'm beginning to wonder if I really need the drama... I hope not.

Anyway, I've said all this so you understand why I need to write about movies again and here are some of the ones I watched recently:

Avatar: Well, need I say anything? I think the experience of watching it in "real D" was amazing... even if the story wasn't the greatest. I don't think there is any point in writing about it since everyone will probably eventually watch Avatar. Although I'm not sure how it would feel to watch it on TV. Loved the soundtrack by the way.


Nine: Well, if you ever watched 8 1/2 and thought it was not as interesting as everyone said it would be, then you should watch Nine and reconsider. It is basically 8 1/2 for dummies (like myself) and I don't mean it in a bad way. I think it conveyed the confusion of the uninspired director very well, the soundtrack was great, and of course Marion Cotillard was just a treat to look at. As a musical I thought Nine was great, and if you do like musicals you should definitely watch it sometime.

The Blind Side: well, this was a typical well made Hollywood movie. Sweet story with some touching moments, a few jokes, and a happy ending. Of course it was based on a true story which made me really admire the main character, however I felt like something was missing from the movie. It might be just me though! anyway, watch it on DVD.

Paranormal activity: hmmm, it may come as a shock to some people, but I didn't understand what all the fuss was about? I didn't get scared even a little and I was watching it on a wide screen with a good sound system and lights off! Although, it might have been because everyone kept saying it was the scariest movie they've ever watched and how you couldn't sleep at night after watching it... high expectations, very little satisfaction!

9: loved it! great great animation and the little mechanical tricks were really fun too look at. definitely recommend it if you like dark animations.

Mary and Max: a very sad and somewhat depressing animations that you'll either love or hate. I enjoyed it very much... it's a bit more serious than you'd expect an animation to be, but it's worth watching. You'll certainly appreciate all the work it took to create the little hand-made figures and make the animation.

hmm, I watched a few more movies: District 9 (loved it), Bist (liked it a lot), 2012 (lame lame lame), Bandslam (funny and melo, not very well-made though). Ok... I think that would be enough for now. Will be back with more movies soon I hope!

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just an excuse to update!

Ok, so I'm sitting here in the library trying to get some work done. but it is a universally known fact that you can not get any work done until you update your blog! and you can not update your blog until you waste at least an hour tryng to come up with stuff to write about. and so after wasting enough time I thought I should just get it over with so I have no excuses left to not work. here it goes:

I used to be filled with ideas to write about, and in the past year I see myself getting less and less inspired. in writing, and in photography, and probably in life in general. is that a side-effect of staying too long in school and feeling unmotivated about anything and everything?! maybe. Or maybe it's because I used to whine about my love life a lot, and then just got tired of it...whatever it is, the only thing left for me to write about seems to be books and movies. and TV of course.

I have fallen in love with "the flight of the conchords"! It's so original, and so weird... this series follow two New Zealanders who are in a "digi-folk" band and like to get famous in New York City. Their characters are just unreal, stupid but cute at the same time and the songs are too funny if you listen to them in the context of the series. Their music (not necessarily the lyrics) is actually pretty good I think. Anyway, you definitely need a special sense of humor to find this series funny. Give it a try for one or two episodes, and find out for yourself.

I have also been watching "Law and Order: special victim unit" whenever I could catch it on TV and although I like it, I can't help but feel paranoid about everything after watching it. The whole series is about s e x u a l crimes, mainly involving women and children and it sometimes makes you sick to your stomach. of course the stories are fictional but it still hurts to watch! anyway, not for the faint of heart, but if you're into crime series it may be a good choice. it is a pretty old series as well, about 10 or 11 seasons, so lots of episodes to catch up on if you get into it.

hmmm, what else... I can't think of anything! I miss writing here... should try to update more often, with stuff other than movies and TV!

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Coppola, Almadovar, and other tales from VIFF

So here I am again, writing about Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). For me, VIFF is a big part of fall in Vancouver... I look forward to it every year and although I only manage to watch five or six movies, it still lightens up my October.

anyway, I have watched five movies so far, and have got two more to go. Here's what I thought about them:

Pandora's box: erhhhh... that's all I can say about it. I watch a Turkish movies every year and this year it didn't pay off at all! The film is about an old woman who gets Alzheimer and her dysfunctional family will have to face this among all their other issues. It mainly played with the viewers' sentiments and basically just made me cry without leaving any feeling behind.

Tetro: Francis Ford Coppola's latest movie was definitely a treat to watch. The story turned a bit Bollywood towards the end, but the images were absolutely amazing and except maybe for the last 15 minutes, I really enjoyed the movie. The whole movie is shot in black and white, except for flashbacks which are in color! cool, isn't it? anyway, I definitely recommend this movie, but beware of the length.

A prophet: OH MY GOD! Could this movie be any better?! I don't think so... the movie tells the story of a young French/Arab man (movie is French by the way) who goes to jail for six years and during this time goes up the ladders of prison mafia. I can't say how great the lead actor was! and the story was interesting on so many levels and nothing was done half-ass, and I can go on like this for hours. Apparently this was one of the main competitors for White Ribbon in this year's Cannes festival, although it didn't win in the end.anyway, watch it, watch it, watch it... you won't even notice it's 2.5 hours long!

My Tehran for sale : another errhhhh... why do Iranian directors insist on showing the "underground" life in Tehran when they are so limited by regulations that the end result is a mess of a movie that's got no taste of reality (or artistic value, for that matter) to it. The first half of the movie was so artificial and below average that I thought about leaving the theater, however it got better towards the end and in the end it was good if you missed Tehran and wanted to watch images of the city while listening to Namjou! not recommending it though.

Broken Embraces: last night I watched the latest movie from Pedro Almadovar, and although it wasn't a masterpiece like some of his older films, I liked the movie. It was light and funny and sometimes romantic. It had some "dark" elements but even they seemed comic somehow. Penelope Cruz was hot as usual, and some of the familiar faces from Almadovar's previous films were in it as well. This is a movie to watch as light entertainment or if you like to follow Almadovar's work, otherwise you won't miss much if you pass on it.

On a side note: I watched "Roman Holiday" again since it was on TV and enjoyed it as much as the first time. Honestly, how great is the last 5 minutes of this movie?!

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a link

this is a blog (in Farsi) that a friend of mine writes in a mainly minimal writing style. I find it funny, you may too.

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the world according to Neil Gaiman

"It is a small world. You do not have to live in it particularly long to learn that for yourself. There is a theory that, in the whole world, there are only five hundred real people (the cast, as it were; all the rest of the people in the world, the theory suggests, are extras) and what is more, they all know each other. And it's true, or true as far as it goes. In reality the world is made of thousands upon thousands of groups of about five hundred people, all of whom will spend their lives bumping into each other, trying to avoid each other, and discovering each other in the same unlikely teashop in Vancouver. There is an unavoidability to this process. It's not even coincidence. It's just the way the world works, with no regard for individuals or propriety." --from Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

it's so true!!

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isn't it amazing?

don't you think it's amazing how moms just bring the feeling of "home" with them wherever they go?

my mom has been here less than 6 hours and it already feels like our house is a warmer place.

Life is truly good now. :)

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:D

finally had my hair cut! :D feelin' much better and "light"headed...

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what I feel these days:

ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ihatemyhair ...

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how cool people spend their Saturdays:

1) get up early and take the car for regular service
2) have awesome tea in a specialty tea store and read a while
3) buy a few pots and a big bag of potting mix and spend all afternoon re-potting plants
4) and finally, have a glass of wine, grill a frozen pizza, and watch Michael Jackson in concert on TV!!!!

I bet you all wish you were that cool, don't you?!

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Of vampires and zombies

having the great experience of watching six feet under previously from HBO, I was really excited about watching " True Blood", despite its vampire-falls-in-love-with-mortal-girl plot which inevitably reminds one of "twilight" (may all existing copies burn in a sudden and selective fire accident). Unfortunately I was disappointed!

Actually, the beginning of the series is pretty strong, The starting credits are just awesome with a song that goes really well with the images. And then you meet a few of the characters and it all seems very interesting. it's not until the third or fourth episode that you kind of realize that it's not really that well-made, and actings are not the best they could be and that some characters are constantly on your nerve. and in my case it took me six episodes to realize I don't want to watch this anymore. I might be tempted to follow the story though, just because I'm an addict like that and have to know what happens in the end. maybe I'll just read wikipedia! Anyway, it's a shame!

Here's the starting song by the way:

Title: Bad Things, By: Jace Everette

Also, I have been reading Pride and Prejudice, and zombies. So far, so good... it's funny, but not hilarious, yet!

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Just a note:

skype add-on on firefox creates a mess when using facebook.

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Jane Austen, yet again

Remember a few months ago when i was reading Jane Austen novels? For some reason, I just keep getting drawn to them again. Last week I started listening to the an audiobook of "Sense and Sensibility"... of course the whole thing was triggered by me turning on the TV one day to find the 1995 movie adaptation of the book showing on a channel. I realized I had forgotten the details of the story (surprising after so many times of reading it!!!) and would like a review. In order to avoid having to read a 5.0 kg book in bed (I have all of Austen novels in one giant binding), I decided to listen to the audiobook and it was such a great decision. I picked the version read by Nadia May, and absolutely loved it. She made me realize how to read the super long sentences in Austen's novels and make sense of what's going on in the dialogues.

I also think that after reading her novels time and time again, I am finally beginning to see the comedy in them, and find myself laughing quite often, which was not the case before! So yeah, another round of Austen novels in audio is probably on the way! :)

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When hell freezes over

...today, for the first time ever, I got to experience real customer service from Apple Canada's support staff. It took a long time alright, but after hanging up the phone everything I wanted was taken care of without me needing to do much other than giving them the serial number of my phone! It probably should be an everyday experience with customer support staff, but well, unfortunately for me that doesn't seem to be the case.

anyway, I just thought I should publicly announce my gratefulness!

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ermmm, I thought I was smart

My mind has been a bit unwell these past few weeks for a number of reasons. So I have been frequently forgetting stuff, misplacing things, and unable to focus on anything important. But the highlight of this constant confusion came last week when I went to a food place on campus to order a burger:

I ordered my food and paid, then the cashier lady gave me a piece of paper with the number three on it:






Of course, I'm looking at it from the other side of the counter, so what I see looks like this:






(if you're not Iranian, that's how number four is written in Farsi). So then I , using my brilliant mind, thought to myself: "this is very confusing!" and then actually asked the lady:" Is this a three or a four?!"!!!!! of course as I was saying it, it occurred to me how stupid my question was, but too late! ... the poor woman looked at me like she was looking at a retarded kid, and then very slowly said :"I think it's a three."... I was embarrassed beyond measures! and my friend almost peed himself laughing at me! [sigh]

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Your romantic comedy correspondent reports

One month and a few romantic comedies after my last post, here I am! If you're following the news on Iran you understand why it's hard to find the inspiration to blog these days, and if you aren't then you probably think i'm a lazy good-for-nothing blogger! either way, here's what I got to watch in the past few weeks.

The proposal: I lost my interest in Sandra Bullock movies a few years ago and the only reason i went to watch this movie was because it was a girls night out. Surprisingly though, it was an O.K. chick flick. at least it was funny! I liked the ending credits the best where there was a weird questioning session going on between the immigration officer and random characters. I wouldn't recommend watching it in the theaters, wait for the DVD.

A break from romantic comedies came with Harry Potter and the half-blood prince: At last, the movie I've been waiting for since 2007 came to theaters! As a big HP fan, I have long lost my faith in a good movie adoption, the movies so far have been average at best compared to the books. This book especially was one of my favorites in the series, since it revealed a lot of history on Voldemort and of course you had the terrible ending and all! So I went in the theater expecting an average movie as a separate entity from the book, and that's why I wasn't disappointed. If you compare it with previous movies, it is as good as the last one, and I also liked some of the locations like the cave where the locket was hidden. Anyway, don't have high expectations, but go watch it in the theater if you can, you'll want the whole package to enjoy the sound and the special effects.

I love you, man: do I really need to write anything about this? It was a romantic comedy that I think guys would enjoy a bit more than girls! It was funny, but not all the time. I didn't find any hysterical funny scene in it (unlike Hangover), but that might be just me! definitely wait for the DVD, or even download it!

and last but definitely not least (500) days of Summer: one of the sweetest, most honest romantic comedies I have seen in years. It was so simple and light, but true at the same time. Anyone who's ever been in a one-sided relationship will relate to this movie 100%. The soundtrack was AMAZING and the cinematic tricks were also smart and well-used. The movie tells the story of a guy who falls for a girl that doesn't believe in relationships, and as cheesy as it may seem to you in text, I guarantee you'll enjoy it whether you're a guy or a girl. I don't think Zooey Deschanel is the prettiest of girls in her photos, but on screen she's just adorable!

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what I listen to these days:

... KCRW radio. A couple of my friends from the States told me about it and surprisingly you can listen to it in Canada, for now at least! it's just an online radio, not one of those databases that learns your taste in music. But I like their songs, mostly! and anyway, they've got a "today's top tune" feature which is basically a song they'll let you download for free. Just thought you might wanna give it a try at some point, especially if there is a big musical whole in your life after last.fm went all commercial!

by the way, it's official: my ipod is dead. A memorial service to follow shortly. :(

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happiness

there's always a place to find happiness even when things are not going so great. So although things are looking ugly in Iran, I had a chance to celebrate a happy occasion: my best friend from high school got married today (hmmm, technically it was yesterday!). The whole ceremony was just beautiful and the partying was of course really serious since i'm sitting here blogging at 4:00 a.m.!!!

a few pointers for you bridesmaids though:

1) always bring an extra pair of shoes that don't make you wanna jump of a cliff just to get rid of the pain in your feet!

2) watch out for champagne over consumption!

3) do not lose the bride's purse at 3:30 a.m. and then call her to ask if she's in fact got it!

4) do not mention x-boyfriends in your speech!!! it's just awkward!

5) do not get too friendly with the groomsmen, they're all married already.

6)and last but not least: DO NOT, under any circumstance, think for a second that you can get a group of more than 4 Iranians to listen to you and follow a fixed plan!!

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