September 05, 2006

Europics

Amsterdam-Paris 19-22Aug06
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raminam/sets/72157594268981776/

Milan-Florence- Siena 22-25Aug06
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raminam/sets/72157594273020118/

Venice-AMS 25-27Aug06
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raminam/sets/72157594273048880/

06:02 PM

January 27, 2006

DC Trip Pictures

New Haven, CT: Dec 30, 2006

Williamsburg, VA: Des 31st, 2005- Jan 1st, 2006

Washington, DC : Jan 1st, 2006

10:27 PM

December 12, 2005

Toronto Pics

are here:
200511- Toronto Nov 26
and here:
200511- Toronto Nov 25
and here:
200511- Toronto Nov 24

09:22 PM

August 21, 2005

Flashdance

A relative, three weeks ago, asked me at a wedding party if I had seen "Flashdance":
"Why, of course", I replied.
This movie was actually a part of our multi-dimensional existence in the 80's.
"You look a bit like Michael Nouri", she said.
"Was he the bad man in the movie?!" I asked naughtily, not quite remembering who Michael Nouri was.

"Bravo", today, was showing Flashdance and I watched the second half of it so eagerly.
The girl actually looked a bit like a friend that I had in college. A friend who had a lot of passion for dancing.

I miss my college days very much.

12:01 AM

August 05, 2005

Passport Photo

BBC Persian has a very nice report (in Persian of course ;) about an Iranian Photographer's studio in Toronto, Canada.
The picture above, published on the report, shows a girl who's having a passport photo taken for her (Islamic Republic) Iranian passport.
The black bar on the girl's eyes is from BBC, so she wouldn't be identified. If this picture were not on a prestigious site like BBC, I would have said it was a staged photograph, but I'm afraid it is not.
A western look, a religious government whose rules we have to abide by if we want to visit our birthplace, and a black bar on our eyes that protects us and makes us look like criminals at the same time.

11:11 PM | Comments (1)

June 18, 2005

blo.gs and politics

A friend called me yesterday from Sydney, Australia for a little chat about jobs, marital status and so on, but he was clearly burning with a not-so-comfortable question that finally came out hesitantly:
"Did you vote?”
"Hell No!", I replied.
The day before yesterday, Iranians went to the polls to elect a new president.
Actually, a body of six theologians appointed by the Supreme Leader and six jurists nominated by the judiciary and approved by parliament, has the power to bar candidates from standing in elections (see this page ), then the filtered candidates can run for president and people are always encouraged to participate in elections.
Don’t you love this kind of democracy?
My friend was saying that political change had always been very slow and arduous. “Would 80 years suffice for a democratic change in a political system?” I said. Then we agreed that we had to get involved in some kind of changing people’s intellectual culture, instead. I said “yeah, I have always been into that”, remembering my trip to Tehran two years ago. Then and there, the pretty girls that I met were all into some sort of intellectual act, like writing poems, translating literary works, and talking mysticism. So when I rented a nice apartment in a decent neighborhood in Tehran for two months, I started asking the girls to come over for a coffee and some “cultural activity”.
They all laughed!
The dot, by the way, in blo.gs in the title of this entry, is not a typo. http://www.blo.gs , a weblog ping service that endears me most to blogrolling, was acquired by Yahoo last week. This is good news folks, good news!

07:16 PM

March 27, 2005

Project Report

Today I finished touching up my good old site, raminweb.com. I actually redesigned the entire structure of the site and merged all different parts of it into one multi-purpose weblog. The best advantage of the new structure is that my monthly archives will always look good because if I create a new entry in any of the available categories, the site will always look nice and updated! Kidding aside, all entries are now entered and stored in one database that can be managed, backed up and maintained very easily.
In Music and voice sections, I have started using MP3 streaming Sir Anthony style. He introduced to me the MP3 streaming controller a long time ago but I was afraid putting mp3 files on web-host servers would create problems for me. But since nothing has happened to Anthony since then, I'm going to go with it.
My next project: (hopefully) Podcasting!

Also posted some rather old L.A. pictures here:
http://www.raminweb.com/weblogs/photoblog/
The new categories are : Back to L.A.- Mexican Food, miscellaneous, my old jobs, my old places and New Farmers Market.

Aunt Farokh's gallery is also up and running but I should enhance it 'categorically'. Check the site out and you'll know what I mean!
http://www.farokh.net

Another very well structured web project that I did for a good unseen friend has almost been shut down for strange reasons.
We shall 'open it up' again very soon.

07:39 PM

August 16, 2004

Two days in Phoenix Arizona

Met in Los Angeles a very kind relative who lives in AZ, and she invited me over to their big and pretty house in Glendale, AZ. Phoenix, they say, is a fast-growing city in the heart of the desert. Didn’t have to drive, just got a ride! Weather not hot on the way; partly cloudy and a little rainy indeed.
1st day: relaxing
2nd day: eating, relaxing, going to downtown Phoenix
3rd day: returning to L.A.
Downtown Phoenix, like downtown San Jose, is dull, dry and spiritless but hot. No, not that kind of hot! No night life but bums all over the place.
Nice place to stay and good place to live, they say. Their downtown bum shelter actually looked very nice to me!
Should consider joining the club one of these days ;)

04:58 PM

August 13, 2004

L.A. without KCRW

Le Show: Harry Shearer

Cafe L.A. hosted by Tom Schnabel

I can usually tune in to it when I get close to "Magic Mountains" on Highway 5. It's a low-powered FM channel (89.9) that I can't wait to listen to when I'm on my way to Los Angeles: KCRW, the Santa Monica College Public Radio, my best companion in the late evenings and on the weekends in my first 2 years in L.A when I was not watching any TV at all. I didn't miss a Harry Shearer's "Le Show" ,though, in those lonely days.
Last week, alas, they were having a one-week pledge-drive and Cafe L.A.'s Tom Schnabel was saying proudly: “You might not miss L.A. but you will definitely miss KCRW." Damn right, but it's too bad it can't be heard in the San Jose area! I must add too that L.A. streets without KCRW are not the best places in the world to drive around.
I guess I have to bitterly march out of step and listen to another drum for a little while.

Read also:
KCRW- A Tradition of Excellence

04:12 PM

July 26, 2004

Don't turn around, your gypsy heart

Wild Horses: U2
(listen to it on Anthony's site)
http://www.my2cents.us/wildhorses.html

You're dangerous 'cause you're honest
You're dangerous, you don't know what you want
Well you left my heart empty as a vacant lot
For any spirit to haunt

Hey hey sha la la
Hey hey

You're an accident waiting to happen
You're a piece of glass left there on the beach
Well you tell me things I know you're not supposed to
Then you leave me just out of reach

Hey hey sha la la
Hey hey sha la la

Who's gonna ride your wild horses
Who's gonna drown in your blue sea
Who's gonna ride your wild horses
Who's gonna fall at the foot of thee

[Continue...]

08:51 PM

July 10, 2004

Long time, no write

It's been a while since I posted my previous note on this weblog. I should be ashamed of myself, I guess, but sometimes when I do have something to share I say:"who am I sharing this with?" and the answer is most of the time very obvious:"with me!" so, I will not forget...the books that I have read, the movies that I have watched or the adventures that I have had, but then...why do I forget?
I read Milan Kundera's "Identity" and "Ignorance" last month. Wanted to note down some of the paragraphs here or somewhere for reference but changed my mind later on. I still write the page numbers of my favorite pieces on the last page of the books I read. That would help me not forget the good parts, for now.
Did I see any good videos or DVDs? I don't remember!
Watched "The Terminal" a few days ago, a lousy fairy tale I believe it is, and yes, yes, I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 last week. Good documentary? I don't think so. Will it help voting Bush out of office? Well, it may but I doubt it.
I should start writing "about" what I do, what I read, and what I watch...very soon, that is.
More about Fahrenheit 9/11: The Guardian

01:40 PM

June 02, 2004

Coffee and Cigarettes

I’m not in the mood to write anything these days. Watched Jim Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarette” last week in SF and wanted to write something about it. Was not easy at all! Wanted to see “Night on Earth” again. I loved that movie when I first saw it, a long time ago, on Bravo. I think “Coffee and Cigarettes” has the same structure but with more recurrent themes and dialogues. Feels like Jarmusch has been trying to interconnect the vignettes by using concurrent motifs in all episodes. I did not have the same feeling when I saw “Night on Earth” though. A sheer chaotic world has always been more appealing to me than an orchestrated symphony on chaos and absurdity. Yeah, yeah, whatever…but for now, read this good review here or here.

11:02 PM

May 14, 2004

Slowness

I read Milan Kundera’s “Slowness” last week. A week earlier, I had asked Cousin Helen if I could borrow a book from her and when we were going through her bookshelf, I had pulled out this one. Its title somehow corresponded to my mood and feelings at the time. I wanted to read something that could make me think and relax and this book happened to go beyond my expectations. You don’t have to agree with Kundera on his rather strange observations but I can’t not admire him for his writing style and contemplations. Read this book if you like a short novel full of wit and irony and I’ll hopefully start posting my favorite bits and pieces of the book somewhere, very soon.

06:09 PM

May 08, 2004

She's raising the sail

A lonely bird on the ocean
Takes itself for a boat
She looks back
Says good-bye to Johnny Doe.
It's gone
She's raising the sail
Any way the wind blows
you only have one star
you have to follow it all the time
And now...ladies and gentlemen
Let the show begin
With a story of a piano bar
Which was down on its luck
Didn't know what to make of
the girl who sang of her life
A star...
Will he be on time?
...
It's nothing
if he ever sees the leaf
...
Give up the fight
->"And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen"

09:28 PM | Comments (0)

With time(Avec le temps)

Avec le temps
by
Léo Ferré
http://www.leo-ferre.com/
With time all fades away
One forgets the face
one forgets the voice
When the heart beats no longer
No point in searching any further
Just let go and it's all right
-> "And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen"

09:27 PM | Comments (5)

Life is a deep sleep

Watched the movie again on DVD after almost two years:
And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen
It begins with this quote:
"Life is a deep sleep
of which love is the dream"
Alfred de Musset

09:21 PM | Comments (2)