VG1

Scene from the episode "The Stand-In" of season 5 of TV series Seinfeld.

[Setting: Jerry's apartment]

Jerry: (hangs up the phone): Hey!

Elaine: Hello!

Jerry: So?

Elaine: What?

Jerry: Come on, how was your date?

Elaine: Oh, the date. The date.

Jerry: Yeah, how was it?

Elaine: Interesting.

Jerry: Really?

Elaine: Oh ya!

Jerry: Why? What happened?

Elaine: Let's see, (thinking) how shall I put this...

Jerry: Just put it!

Elaine: He took it out.

Jerry: (confused) He what?

Elaine: He took (blow on her glasses twice to clean them) it out.

Jerry: He took what out?

Elaine: It!

Jerry: He took it, out?

Elaine: Yessiree Bob.

Jerry: He couldn't.

Elaine: He did.

Jerry: (motions of making out) Well, you were involved in some sort of amorous...

Elaine: Noooo.

Jerry: You mean he just...

Elaine: Yes.

Jerry: Are you sure?

Elaine: Oh quite.

Jerry: There was no mistaking it?

Elaine: (looks straight in the eyes) Jerry?

Jerry: So you were talking, (Elaine making agreement sound "mmm") you're having a pleasant conversation, (Elaine making agreement sound "mmm") then all of a sudden...

Elaine: Yeah.

Jerry: It.

Elaine: It.

Jerry: Out.

Elaine: Out.

Jerry: Well I, I can't believe his. I know Phil, he, he's a good friend of mine. We play softball together. How could this be?

Elaine: Oh it be. (sarcastically) you got any other friends you want to set me up with?

(Kramer enters)

Kramer: Hey...(to Elaine) hey how was your date with Phil Titola?

Elaine: He took it out.

(Shocked, Kramer acts like he just got a cold shiver down his spine)

Kramer: Maybe uh, it needed some air. You know sometimes they need air, they can't breathe in there. It's inhuman!

(Scene ends)

The nightmare continues

Last Wednesday, we were kicked out of FA cup (one of our few shots at any possible silverware) by a Championship side at home. That game also resulted in El nino and Stevie G getting injured making them sidelined for 6 and 2 weeks respectively. The loss overshadowed the excitement over acquisition of Argentine winger Maxi Rodriguez, who in my opinion scored the most beautiful goal in WC 2006 against Mexico. We drew against mediocre Stoke yesterday in the most dramatic fashion i.e. conceding a goal in the injury time and adding to already long list of lows in this god damn season. If Rafa somehow manages to turn things around and finishes in decent style, he will earn the ultimate respect from haters as well as fans (a very good analysis on Rafa and the past unfortunate run can be found here).

However, the way things are heading, this season feels like a bad nightmare where you keep telling yourself that you will now wake up and everything will be fine and yet, you're still stuck in that nightmare and it just never ends...I'm just hope that we don't get relegated or something...God forbid!

Rubik

This thing has been on my mind for a while, mostly due to the fact that

1. I, for some unknown reason, feel it is long overdue
2. The complexity that lies behind utter simplicity is fascinating, hence:

Resolution 7. Learn to solve Rubik's cube by the end of the year.

Any tip on this subject matter is highly appreciated.

To the tools in the hands of oppressors

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"

-Voltaire

Cidade de Deus

Is a movie about the gangs in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro called City of God at the end of 60's to early 80's. It deals basically with a fight over control of drug dealing business between two gang leaders and how the kids in this slum are being recruited from very young age, the extent of corruption in the law enforcement and the practice of naked violence in every day's life in this underprivileged area. The story is told from the eyes of the narrator, a child whose main interest is photography while his peers are into rubbing, dealing, killing, guns and girls. Very interesting story with tasteful cinematography. Nevertheless, following the subtitles to keep up with fast pace of the movie and dialogues is somewhat tiring but rewarding.

The cold shower shock comes at the end of the movie when it is revealed that it is based on a true story and some of the real characters are shown in the final titles, which made me ponder for sometime, a goal that movie makers have successfully reached.

The passion of Rumi

Playlist V.

Music composed by Hafez Nazeri
Vocals by Shahram Nazeri
Note: This album is a celebration of the poetry of Rumi with a new and fresh musical approach , commemorating the international year of Mawlana Jalal-ad-din Balkhi Rumi.
Release date: August 21, 2007.

1. "Mystic"

2. "Evan Madaen"

3. "Enchanted I"

4. "Journey to Eternity"

5. "Fanayam Man I"

6. "Beyond"

7. "Fanayam Man II"

8. "In Solitude"

9. "The Passion of Rumi"

A link where you can download this playlist is available upon request.

Year's recap

It has been an end-of-the-year tradition (particularly in the media) that a recap of the year that has passed is done as the year comes to an end. While I believe that it is a good idea to review the year's event (for sole purpose of learning something), I feel sort of apathetic about it, at least for the state of mind of that I find myself in while putting down these words. I think the origin comes from the fact that one is living in the 'now' moment and this damn thing which we call time cannot-unfortunately!- be turned back to change its course and it is even more unfortunate that we cannot predict what is coming toward us neither, so it is a quite peculiar situation to say the least.

Having said this and in line with self-contradiction, I would say:

On a global perspective, I think the most important and distinct event of the year was what happened a few weeks prior and mostly after this year's presidential election in our country which sparked a massive unprecedented unrest afterwards, some of which are still ongoing as of now. I think many would agree that this single event can be regarded as the turning point in the contemporary history of the country, some radical would argue that it was a an embryo of a revolution. Well, I am not sure about that and more importantly, that's not up for contest now either. It nevertheless consumed, to say the least, hours and hours of our energy and mental capabilities...generously spent on discussing the every possible angle of it from many different perspectives followed by a full, in-depth analysis. If I were smart enough and recorded all those long, and often inconclusive talks, I would have had rich material to fill a whole book or something. The rest of events that happened in 09 are not equally significant as they do not have of much of impact on MY universe, and therefore I decline to bring them up now, they can be easily found in everywhere now.

On a personal level, I would say that the global credit crunch did have an impact on my economy, not that much of a hard blow though despite facing some remaining deficits from last year. After surviving a wave of layoffs at work, we were forced to work less and take a pay-cut which gave me extra time to spend with a few guests that we had over during summer, my brother among them who was having his first visit after 9 years. The year contained a fair amount of traveling into new places and visiting some old friends too...always more than pleasant. In this year, I also reconciled with our elegant and beautifully rich poetry and modestly, started to set foot in the marvelous ocean of Persian mysticism thanks to poems of His Highness Mawlana. I should mention that the massive help that I received from friends and family in providing me with the resources of thought nutrition has been invaluable in his aspect. The ending months was also marked by something that can be defined as changing point in my life and I will talk about this, inevitably and gladly, more in the future :-)

To wrap thing up, here are my bests of the last year:

1. Best movie seen: Into The Wild
2. Best book read: Into Thin Air (maybe because I haven't read 'the other' book yet!)
3. Best album listened to: Passion of Rumi by Shahram and Hafez Nazeri

Vater und sohn

When I was about 8-9 years old, my brother, who happened to be my number one enemy back then- typical!, did something quite uncanny and gave me a birthday present: a book called "The stories of me and my father" in 3 volumes. It was the collection of strips by German cartoonist Erich Ohser aka E.O. Plauen and dealt with short adventures of a father and his son Eric. It was a wordless feature but, I believe for the first time, they had written the short plot in Persian on the opposite page. The father, even though depicted as a rough violent man with thick mustache and supposedly short temper was extremely light-hearted and kind in nature, the kid was a bit of small devil on surface but deep inside he was very thoughtful and sympathetic. They both had a established set of values like fairness in treating others, standing up for one's right, mutual respect and compassion and etc. Their small adventures had a moral lessen hidden behind them. The whole strip was educating, rich, amusing, funny and innocent - a perfect gift for a kid of that age. I enjoyed that book immensely and grew close to those characters. I remember that at the end of the 3rd volume, as an end was inevitable, their creator decided to send them to the sky (heaven): they walk into to the air as they are holding hands and eventually, the father becomes the face of the moon with a gentle smile while the son turns into the tiny little star beside him and thus, they become immortal forever. This sweet ending was incredibly tragic for me and made me cry a lot - and I still do when I think about it...I really had to battle through tears when writing this! I read in the introduction of that book about the cartoonist himself, that he was arrested for expressing anti Nazi opinions and committed suicide just before his trial. Had he not done that he would have possibly faced the death sentence anyhow. This also contributed more tragedy to the series ending...and even more tears as a result! Needless to say, I was -and still am as mentioned before- touched profoundly by this invaluable piece of artwork for children and this short note, is hereby meant to pay homage that great work. I am going to put some of these adventures in here every now and then to continue with my tribute -though it may be cut short as I don't have my books anymore :(- without intentionally conforming to copyright issues since the sources of them are possibly various places on the internet and it's hard to keep track them. I hope that it is understood that I mean well.

I remember that, on the back cover of the book, there was a small picture of Ohser during work while his young son, presumably at the same age of Eric, watching by. That truly showed their gentle relationship of a father and his son. I have always maintained that there is something special in the relationship of fathers and their sons and yet, I have much difficulty to pinpoint it with words. One small attempt in this sense would be a series of letters that a father carved on handmade radio and gave it to his son in the movie "Men of Honor" which read: "ASNF: A son never forgets!"

Juicy, eh?

Date: 2008-11-18

Time: 12:50 local time

Place: Tampa, USA

Snow

Well, here it is. The very first heavy snow of the year has landed and I don't like it a bit. You see, I am not like the rest of people around who are excited with snow and skiing and stuff. I can't care less for the Christmas mood. Winter is definitely not my favorite season, I like spring much better. All I think about now is the slippery roads and consequent ice everywhere in a matter of days, falling down and breaking your body parts (stupid!) and above all, the dirty slush that will be there for months staring at you and mocking your dislike of the season. Hell, allow me to freely state that I genuinely disgust it.

Postulate 1. Where the hell is global warming? Cuz, sure as hell, I don't see it around here!

Postulate 2. It never snows in Florida.