Fantasies

Except for in reality i'm too scared of insects, too worried to catch a cold, too afraid of being out alone in dark... So all together it adds up to a no no. But hey, it's a fantasy; you don't need to get real! And now that we're fantasizing can i please have this song played on the background too?:)

Friends

Having a good friend in this bad world, is like having a cup of hot coffee in a cold day. It wouldn't make the weather any warmer, but it will warm up your heart.

P.S. I watched El Laberinto del Fauno tonight. Great film.

Are you anyone's favorite person?

Two types of people...
Those with stars in their eyes when being asked this question,
And those whose eyes seek a refuge from the answer.

Sweet as Aspartame*

Wierd Al Yankovic was in Champaign yesterday. His concert was quit fun. I specifically liked his parody of James Blunt titled "you're pitiful!", it was so funny. Read a bout the debate about the song here and you can download it from there too. Well he did many parodies that didn't get me much because i didn't know the original versions. But the american kids there were quite enjoying themselves. Here's some of his songs i liked: His White and Nerdy is my brother's all time favorite! Amish Paradise is good too! Look at this Trapped in Drive through cartoon clip, it's looong but very funny. His We all have Cellphones is quite hilarious too, and everybody were pulling out their cellphones and waiving them, quite a view in the dark assembly hall. His stage performance of the song Albauerque is quite exciting, in the part where he is in the doughnout shop asking for different doughnots (look at minute 4:50), he included all the different possible berry doughnots: strawberry, rasberry, blueberry, cranberry, blackberry, gooseberry , loganberry, and... Halle Berry!!!

* "Sweet as Aspartame" is directly from one of Wierd Al's lyrics. He referred to his girl being sweet as aspartame! And so was his concert yesterday, not a real one, but a sweet substitute.

Mist and the Moonlight

"When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie that's amore..."
It was a full moon tonight, and such a beautiful one. I went out earlier in the evening, and the moon was in a wonderful bloom in the clear night sky. Now a few minutes ago i went out again to rent a movie, and the city is covered in a thick white mist. I walked literally in the clouds to the blockbuster.

P.S. Thanks for your comments on the previous post. I guess i'll keep it open for a while before i count the votes:)

What do you think?

What do you think the baby in the picture feels like? A friend of mine who shared the photo believes that the baby is suffering. I on the contrary say that he is amazed and quite happy. So we said I post the picture here and see what you guys think? Is the blue eye baby gonna laugh or cry after the kissing is over?:)
Please comment!

Motherland

I went out to buy some bread. The weather outside was delightful. I didn't want to drive back home. It was one of those nights that you like to just take a long walk with a friend and let the calm of the dark velvety sky and the singing of jeerjeeraks(!) soak into you. I thought if i were in Iran i would call up this and that friend and we would go to Park-Jamshidiye... And thus the thoughts came back to me again. The homeland. Where your school buddies whom you can call up late in the evening are.

My dear friend Nazy has asked me to write about "Vatan". For a person like me, who is hanging in between two countries, this is a sensitive topic to write about. I now can't name either of these two counties as a land i belong to. I was born and raised in Iran. If I like it or not, my mindset has formed there. My values, my insights, my way of living.

However there were many things about Iran that made me feel like a cast away there. Things that don't happen to you in US. In Iran, your daily encounters are often tough and hurtful. People are often harsh to you, the doorman, the taxi drivers, the bank clerk, the secratary, the sales associate, ... . You have no space there, any minutes you should expect anybody to come and confront you for how you walk, how you talk, how you are. In Iran you grow up to learn how to hide your thoughts, how to fade into the crowd, how to suppress your opinion. In Iran you're robbed out of excitements, out of laughs, out of colors, out of music and out of silly small things that make a package called youth.

Perhaps these feelings are personal, perhaps now the kids in iran experience a happier life. Perhaps iran is "nice"r since the gloomy day i left it. But i can't let go of the feeling that the people i see around me here, are more like me. I feel less of a cast aways in this country that is not my homeland.

Family

Family... you don't often realize what a huge source of constant care and love they are to you till for any reason you're robbed out of it. My parents left for Iran today. My mom stayed here for almost 5 months. I turned on the tv to kill the silence, Emmy's red carpet interviews are on, and i'm thinking how much my mom would like watching this...
Tonight my small apartment looks and feels cold and blue.

Haale

Oh my adored,
you set me on fire.
Now come,
see the smoke
rising high off me.


I'm not sure if it was solely the magic of the powerful lyrics of Rumi and Hafez in their original words, or her music also had a say, but i very much enjoyed Haale's performance at Highdive tonight. I actually had been to her concert in the World Bank for the Iranian New Year last March. But tonight, in the cozy nightclub of our small town, her music touched me deep.

Haale's upcoming performances in Midwest:
FRI SEP 14 MADISON WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL Memorial Theater at Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison WI
SAT SEP 15 CHICAGO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL Venue TBA, Chicago IL
SUN SEP 16 GLOBAL UNION FESTIVAL Alverno Presents/Alverno College, Milwaukee WI

A Musical Babel

I went to a concert in our university today. It was a duet for Tar (a classic persian instrument) and Piano . Somehow the music to me felt like a troubled relationship. The Tar was talking in its own language and the Piano was sincerely trying to sing along, but sounded dull and irrelevant. Listening to the Piano's desperate struggle was kinda heartbreaking.

Those were the days, my friend*

Morning. I open my eyes. Look at the radio clock in the bookshelf in front of my bed. Reach for my laptop. Adjust my pillows. Stay beneath the sheets, checking my emails, blogs, and feed reader. And the news hit me. Pavarotti is dead. Sad, sad way to start a day.

* I looked to find his performance of "Those were the days". I had it on tape in my car in Iran, and used to shout along with his heavenly voice while driving...:)

Who will wipe your tears?

I've never been much into Iranian pop music. Not that I have anything against it, but since I was a kid i had this passion for the "foreign" songs my mom listened to, and so my musical path kinda went in a different direction. But still there are a couple of Iranian pop singers that I like alot. One is Ebi. He is a very popular singer, with lots of popular songs. He also is a very nice and easygoing person. In his concerts he mixes with the crowd, approaches them and uses them as his chorus. Ebi was in concert in Chicago last night.

What a concert! What a night! My vocal cords are scratched. My ears are clogged. My calf muscles cramped from standing and dancing for hours on high heels! My eyes are red from the long night drive back home. But yet my mind still feels the content from its last night climax.

He has a unique voice. Strong and manly, but yet soft. Having him in in flesh and blood, singing the high notes that would have my heart beat was at first unbelievable, and then wonderful. I had never been to a concert where i could sing along most of the songs. And it is an amazing experience, the lyrics march through your brain like a movies subtitles, your lips pronounce the words, but your ears only hear them in the singers voice.

And then there is the magic of your mother tongue. No matter how fond of foreign music you are, still the words in your own language bear a heavier weight. You hear the words and they get you back to a journey in your mind. Old and new memories. You remember speaking these words to a person yourself. Hearing them from someone. Having laughed with some. Sheding tears with others. Unless most your memories are also in another language, no foreign song could have this big of an impact on you. Another aspect of the Power of the lyrics.

One of Ebi's songs has such impact on me, more on the rainy part i'm afraid. When the concert was almost finished and i was thinking I got away with it, he sang it. Our song. I found my knees shaking. I had to sit down. Sat down I did, as far from my friends as i could. And i looked at him bringing the words back to life in high notes:

Who will wipe your tears,
in your nights of sorrow
Whose fingers will brush your hair,
when you don't have me anylonger
Whose shoulders will host your sobs yet again
whom will you blame
when stars don't shine in the sky
Who will stand by you,
even in the lonegst of the long nights
till the smile is back on your lips,
at the rise of the new dawn

To my own surprise I hold back my tears. I rejoiced the song and i cherished the memory of a lost friend, the one who named me Jeerjeerak:)

--------------------------------
P.S. to the previous post:
Ebi has a song called پشت ديوار شب Reading something like this: On the other side of the dark night wall is a path to his heart, where among the all good things he counts to happen there, is the lady-sun doing her eyebrows;)

P.S. to this one(!):
This was such a looooong post. I guess i'm off the hook of updating here for quite a while:)))

A big change

A big change in me. Really BIG:) You'll be surprised the next time you see me in person! Mysterious post, i agree, but I don't want to give it away in my weblog. Just wanted to put this date down somewhere for the record!!!

The educated sandwich!

If you happen to pass by downtown Indianapolis, go and get an educated sandwich from Indianapolis Teachers Association coffeeshop!!! They are closed on Sundays though:)

Nice downtown btw, the streets were red, the sky was blue and the rhythm was in the air (or in my feet for that matter!)

Car Talk!

I so much enjoy driving on Saturday mornings in the boring midwest roads! Guess why? Well, i've gave it out already:))) In case you didn't know, -seriously is there anyone who doesn't know?;) - Car Talk is a radio talk show on NPR broadcasted on Saturdays. There are two brothers hosting the show, taking questions about car problems from callers. And they are soooooooooooooooooooo funny. I have absolutely zero knowledge and inerest in car mechanics, but i love their show. And it specially is even more enjoyable when you're driving while listening. If you have not listened to their program, do it once for me:) You're missing some good fun. Okay here's a taste: At the end of their show they introduce their crew. The complete list can be found here. Pick up a few names and try reading it aloud for a couple of times, you're going to laugh. Who do you think "Haywood Jabuzoff" could be?..... Customer Car Care Representative!!!

Everchanging life

Oh my life is changing everyday
Every possible way
Though my dreams,
it’s never quite as it seems
Did you ever stop to think what a great thing this everchagingness* of life is? Lets you dream big and bigger...

*Making nouns out of long adjective used to be the hobby of me and my buddy when i was a kid taking English classes in Simin Institute:)

The 08/08

Today is the anniversary of my arrival to US. Four years have passed. I look back at the girl who arrived in O'hare with two big suitcases and a bigger spirit to explore the brave new world. She saw new things, made new friends, tasted new tastes, learned new customs, fell in love, had her heart broken, played a fool, acted wisely, stood up, struggled, learned, cried, laughed, and still keeps looking forward.

What would my life be like had i not left my home country? It's always hard to see the counter-factuals, but one thing is for sure. This country gives you more chances to grow, the opportunities that you had to fight hard to get back home. And I'm grateful to be exposed to that.

Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam's Dance

Dancing is my new obsession. This summer I have done no work on my thesis, and I've learnt 4 new dances! While blog-browsing today I came across this clip, and it took my breath away. See for yourself. (It's well worth the 8 minutes of your time, trust me!)

I had seen the Turkish version of Sufi Whirling before, but this is way beyond that. Unbelievably beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes watching it the first time. I never could have imagined someone could dance this beautifully to an Iranian traditional music piece. His name is Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam, an Iranian artist living in France. Here's his website in French (For me it might as well be in Chinese! ). And for those of you lucky people who live in California or Canada, he apparently has a tour coming up.

P.S. More info here.

Lyrics and Melody

A melody is like seeing someone for the first time. The physican attraction. Sex. But then, as you get to know the person, that's the lyrics. Their story. Who they are underneath. It's the combination of the two that makes it magical.

-Quote from Music and Lyrics (2007)

Picture frames

A particular photo, in a frame on a particular wall...
I'm gealous of a figure in a photograph.