Just Enjoy the Show

Clip: Directed by James Gulliver Hancock and Lenka

Click here for the clip. YouTube doesn't allow embedding it.

Being religious

I loved this story of BBC. It is in line with my way of looking into religion.
No one has the right to define how another human being must practice his faith.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/...pix1.shtml


Photo from BBC Persian. The girls exiting mosque room after the prayer.

The found book

My lost library book just came back to me in Campus mail :D

I'm jumping up and down!

This was driving me crazy. I needed the book and it was checked out by another patron for long. I had put on a call back request for it. I waited impatiently for it to come back to circulation; saw the available notice on my account, but i didn't have any good recollection of actually checking this one out at the library desk. But it appeared in my account as checked out. I had looked EVERY inch of my office, apartment , car and 17 bags for it. I was convinced that i'm suffering from Anterograde Amnesia!
The envelope doesn't have any useful information on it, just my campus address and the sender is the mailroom; so i don't know how the book found its way back to me. I bet it has an interesting story to tell, had he be able to talk! Good to finally see you Hosmer and Lemeshow's Applied Survival Analysis: Regression Modeling of Time to Event Data!

Pilobolus, an old friend, and I luv NY

Isn't this clip great? :) I don't see the need to add any comments to it, except for a very old friend of mine sent it to me. We were classmates and best friends when i was 14, and then each of us drifted away on her own way. She went to a different highschool and different college. I finished my school in Iran and came to US, she married a Newzealander and moved to England. Now she is in Arizona, US and we talked on the phone yesterday. After more than a decade. Many things have changed in her and in me, but we shared an I-Love-NY moment. It's funny how life paths divert and converge sometimes.

You can more info on the dance group, here.
There is also a TED-Talk about them , here.

Non freezing office space

MBA ladies have moved to another building and now it's only me tampering with the air conditioning gage which controls half a dozen rooms in this floor.
Life's small pleasures...:)

8-8-8

Image: Infinite Eight, David Friedman, Kabbalah Art

Eight-Eight-Eight,

and so it is, five years.
Half a decade of smiles and tears, of ups and downs
on this repeated 8 day.
In my anniversaries i usually look back
to what i did, to the paths i took, to what happened.
This year, in this 8-8-8, i'm gonna look forward
to what i can accomplish in the year that is in front of me
i am determined to make it something i'll be proud of in the next 8-8.

Küçelere Su Serpmişem

I watered the dusty alley
so when my darling passes through
No dust is rising.

So when she'll come
there's no hard feelings between us.
I fired the tea kettle
I put sugar cubes in the tea
but my sweetheart has gone away.
So lonely i am
Oh her memory, how sweet and how dear.

In the mountains runs the deer,
in the meadow, sings the nightingale
Why did you get upset with me?
Don't, please don't go, my deer,
Let me bear all your aches
If i can't look into your eyes again,
no sight will be left in my eyes.

Who falls for love is a man,
and who doesn't is a coward...
This is my raw translation of a Turkish/Azeri folk love song. I don't know any Turkish, but when someone sent me the Farsi translation of the song, i was touched so deeply that i couldn't let go of it. You can listen to a version of it here. If you have seen the English or Farsi translation of the song or other nice performances of it, please let me know.

Paolo Conte - Veini via con Me

Away away, come away with me
Enter this dark love
And don't get lost, for God's sake
Away away
For God's sake don't miss
The variety show
Of someone in love with you...

Please vote for my friend!

This is a singing contest, as far as i understood. Please view the clip and give my friend 5 stars. She is a very sweet girl!

Living in a single shot

Morrow Plots/Observatory, University of Illinois, Larry Kanfer

Sitting behind my desk, in my office, the calendar on the wall shows this image. I can't get my eyes off it. I have been to that observatory. I have sneaked in between those corn bushes before. I have seen many dark blue clouds ready to burst. But somehow the combination of all these elements all together in one shot has a mesmerizing power over me. I picture myself right in front of the very first row of corns, looking at that view. I can feel the moist dirt under my toes, and the humid wind on my face.

The absolute best Thai Soup in SF and elsewhere!

If you go to San Francisco,
make sure to wear some flowers in your hair,
and also make sure you taste the Thai coconut shrimp soup with the glorious his majesty Alahazrat!

The soup was lightly sweet, and yet lemony, with button mushrooms and shrimps and onion slices floating in it. It did had a coconut taste to it. I don't much regret i didn't make a picture of it, cause no pic could resemble the heavenly taste of that yammy soup! They serve it in china bowls with cute china spoons.

I also got to visit Scharffen Berger chocolate factory in Berkeley with dear Fly-on-the-wall. The tour was fun. We got to taste the roasted cocoa bean nibbles, and cocoa butter. If you like dark chocolate, I do recommend their 70%. Try their raspberry brandy truffle too, meltyyyy and yummm:)

Auld Lang Syne

One of the sweet moments of the Sex and the City movie, was listening to this song by Mairi Campbell & Dave Francis. "Auld Lang Syne" is a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. "Auld Lang Syne" in Scots means "old long since". It's a poem about love and friendship. Read more about it , plus the English translation, here.

From Berkeley

Blogging brought to me not only the joy of writing and being read, but also the friendship of some very good people. I spent an evening in the company of my blogger friends in Berkeley. Good friends, good food, good drinks, good laughs and good gelato:)

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P.S.1.The title is a tribute to my beloved From Berkeley.
P.S.2. Naia serves its gelato in very cute lotus shaped cups. I ordered hazelnut (Ala's good recommendation) and Scharffen Berger chocolate which as i was told is a signature of Berkley. Both tasted yammm.
P.S.3. If you are going to San Francisco, Be sure to remember where the fabulous Mr. Bayramali has parked or you'll end up looking for the car for an hour;)))

Like Father, Like Son

This past memorial weekend i went to Chicago to a concert of the legendary Iranian singer Mohammadreza Shajarian. He had his son in the ensemble as a percussionist as well as a co-singer. Aside from the beautiful performance, what touched me was the absolute similarity between the voices of the father and the son. It was so similar that the first time they switched turns, and it happened while i was not looking at the stage, i didn't realize it's the son that has started singing and not the father. My amateur ears had not heard two human beings sound this identical ever before. I was thinking to myself, how is the father feeling about this... having another individual sitting next to you, producing exactly the same sounds as if it's you yourself singing. It should be quite some feeling, outliving your voice in somebody else.

The story of the Pan Flute

It all started with this: The Lonely Sheppard by Gheorghe Zamfir and James Last, from the soundtrack of the film Kill Bill. I remembered how much i like this instrument which i figured out is called Pan Flute. The first time i heard this instrument played live was my 2nd christmas here when i went to San Antonio to visit an old highschool buddy. There in the River walk passage i saw a small band playing Latin American tunes and the sound that intrigued me the most was of the Pan flute.
Here's the old methodological story of how the pan flute was originated according to Ovid's Metamorphosis. Pan was the Greek god of shepherds, with legs and horns of a goat. Once in a pasture, he sees Syrinx, a beautiful nymph(human) known for her chastity. He chases her and she runs to the river's edge and asks the river nymphs to help her hide from Pan. An thus she is transformed into hollow water reeds that made a haunting sound when the Pan's frustrated breath blew across them. Pan could not find out which one of the reeds is indeed Syrinx, so he cuts seven of them and makes the first set of pan pipes, which were thence forth known as Syrinx. Claude Debussy wrote "Syrinx (La Flute De Pan)" based on Pan's sadness over losing his love.

Jeni's Ice Cream

It's not a big secret that i am a big fan of Italian style gelato. I have written here before about Pacciugo Gelato shop. Now i'm delighted to introduce to you my new found place that is as good! Jeni's Ice Cream is a locally owned and operated ice cream business in Columbus, Ohio. They have freshly made icecream and gelato made from real fresh fruit, that's a big deal: real fresh fruit! I had a hard time picking 4 flavors out of their about 30 selection on the menu, but at last i ended up with (1)Roasted Pestachio & Country Honey which even had the toasty salty taste of the good nut and a hint of honey, (2)Strawberry Rose Petal which was rosy and exquisite;) , (3)Dark Cocoa Gelato which was as you were tasting a very good dark chocolate truffle except for it was light and chilled, and ... i can't believe my last choice myself: (4)Cherry Lambic! I generally dislike the taste of american red cherries, but one spoon of this icecream made me reconcile with cherries:) If I get to go back to this place, i wanna try the Pear Riesling flavor too.

And we're baking

Having bought brown sugar the week before specifically to use in a particular recipe,
Having had to deal with the ordeal of a torn sugar packet and sugary kitchen floor,
And then...
Finding yourself beating the good old white sugar into the dough!
Any better definition of "absentmindedness"?

El camino del Rey

Amazing video. It gave me a feeling like i am stepping on this walkway myself.

"Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an approach to Makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro."

P.S. Fly has gathered more info about this passage. Check it out!

Dreamy

Dreaming...
Of so many little insignificant unnecessary things i can't sort them out in my head
Of a white sand beach, and deep blue sea
Of a flower garden, with vivid colors surrounding you from everywhere
Of a sunny warm day where you can wear light clothes and get worried about getting sunburned!
Of a fast car and an empty road and this music i have on the previous post playing loud
Of a new pair of comfortable shoes and a lane next to a lake
Of a glass full of carrot juice and vanilla icecream
Of cool feeling 400 thread egyption cotton sheets, down comforters and a super duper mattress
Of this, and of that
All these unsorted dreams send me off to bed... dreamy
(Or greedy... )

127- Perfect Esfahan Blues

I so much enjoyed this clip, i couldn't let go of it unless i posted it here. Besides the interesting music and lyrics, the video reminds me of all those road trips i had in my days in Iran. The music is composed by a rock band in Tehran, called 127.

P.S. The credit of introducing this clip of course goes to the grand Mr. Bayramali.
P.S.2. This update is dedicated to the dear old friend who asked for it!