Pars Arts

Diaspora Conference!

The Iranian Alliances Across Borders is holding its 3rd annual diaspora conference in NYC in April, and abstracts are due January 2, 2007. There are a lot of different topics, so check out the conference website to submit your abstract – they’re only asking for papers of about 15 minutes length, which is totally doable. I think this will be a really good opportunity meet Iranians doing amazing things.

Christmas Mobarak!

Merry Christmas! I’m in a food coma today so here are some links:

1. I just had my first taste of turducken and actually thought of (re)definition, one of my favorite blogs which is written by Mariam, a woman in San Francisco who is a fantastic cook and takes good pictures. The photos on her blog make my mouth water, and I’d trade 20 turduckens for whatever she’s cooking. Plus, she lives in San Francisco, which is sort of the city of my dreams.

2. Browsing around on Asad’s blog, I clicked over to this blog, which had a cool link to the text of Iranian school books. I’m working on improving my Persian, so this should be a big help.

3. Iranian.com has polls for the best and worst Iranians of the year. It’s not working right now but looks like they’re on it. Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G, aka Borat) is one of the choices for best, and so is Akbar Ganji, and so is the kid that got tasered at UCLA. The worsts include a guy who drove his car through a group of students, the president of Iran, and the boyfriend of an Iranian actress who put their sex tape on the Internet.

4. One last one, sorry to be depressing: UN Resolution 1737, from a couple of days ago. Sanctions, etc. Here is the press release from the UN Security Council. Let’s see what happens.

Persian Dad Video

My kid sister showed me this video that one of our friends had posted on Facebook. My favorite part of this is the actual report card that the “dad” whips around- “Mat” for math, “economy” for economics. Our mom hates this because the kid says some bad words at the end, but I’m a sucker for Persian kids who have a good Persian-parent accent, so enjoy.

Sadegh Tabrizi Calligraphy

I found my way onto the website of Iran’s Elahe Gallery recently, where Sadegh Tabrizi’s calligraphy caught my eye. I wish I knew a way to buy his work, because I think it’s really amazing and very different from other calligraphy I’ve seen, which tends to be much daintier, though I think the other stuff is gorgeous, too. My Persian reading skills aren’t good enough to make out much calligraphy yet, but I still love it – and Tabrizi’s work is really cool. If I hear back from the gallery regarding purchasing this work or if anyone reading this knows and could let me know, I’ll update this post.

Happy Yalda, everyone. (And happy birthday, baby sister.)

Shabeh Yalda Parties (Winter Solstice)

Tomorrow night is Shabeh Yalda (Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year), and the Persian Arts Festival is throwing a party in NYC. The DJ, Rok, is a friend of a friend and has pretty much every danceable Persian song every recorded, so this should be a lot of fun. There are also parties in Toronto on Friday night, at Berkeley’s Persian Center on Thursday, and a calendar of other events here.

Marjane Satrapi’s Chicken with Plums

What do you get the guy or girl that has Iranian illustrator/graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi’s first three autobiographical graphic novels? Why, the fourth one, of course. Chicken with Plums tells the tragic tale of Nasser Ali Khan, Satrapi’s great-uncle who died of a broken heart over his broken tar and an old lost love. It’s a quick read that I finished in one sitting at a cozy bookstore, but I wouldn’t mind adding it to the Satrapi collection on my shelf. She’s also a fantastic speaker (I saw her at UCLA last year or so) and her first book is being made into a full-length animated feature. You can buy the latest book at this online Iranian book store. And if you’re interested in cooking authentic chicken with plums, aka khoreshteh aloo, check out this recipe.

I <3 Behnaz on Clearance

By now everyone knows that Iranian designer Behnaz Sarafpour is currently featured in Target’s GO International series, in which high-fashion designers go low-brow for the benefit of those of us who can’t spend $600 on a single pair of pants (and if we could, would we?). I’ve been drooling over her clothes since her first line was introduced in 2001, so I am even more stoked about the fact that her stuff at Target, now only available until December 30, is on sale! There’s a lot of velvet and lace, two things that are hard to pull off for most people, but the cuts are flattering to real ladies. Also, there’s a lot of black – every Persian woman’s favorite color. I checked out the Behnaz GO International line when I went home to LA this Thanksgiving (getting to Target in New York is a little tricky), where unfortunately the selection had been pretty picked over. However, you can pick up Behnaz stuff on Target’s website. Below are three pieces I really like:

My first thought after thinking this shift-like, A-line dress ($28) was really fun and pretty was that, with its empire waist and looser shape, it’s also perfect for occasions where one might be apt to eat one too many hors d’oeuvres while drinking a wee too much Champagne (i.e., holiday parties and New Year’s Eve).

Lace sleeves on this sporty tank ($11) are one way to wear lace without looking too old or stodgy. My grandma wouldn’t be caught dead in this, though my hip mom might try to “borrow” it.

More velvet! This skirt ($18) might be a bit short, but throw on some opaque black tights underneath and all is well. See the whole collection here, before it’s gone for good.

Las Vegas Concert Invasion

Every Iranian and their mom (literally) is going to be in Vegas this Christmas to catch the annual tradition of Persian pop going down over the holidays. Namak Magazine has the full schedule on their homepage with a handy breakdown of ticket prices. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re going for the seriously romantic guitar ballads of Faramarz Aslani or want to dance along to poppy sexpot Sepideh (she reminds me of Shakira, which is cool because Iranians deserve a bottle-blonde pop star with nice abs of our own, even if I do have to share a name with her). My money’s on the 12/22 concert at the Mandalay Bay, poster above (don’t you love the glow around every artist and the mention of the stage designer at the bottom? What were they thinking?!). It has the most diverse lineup, with melancholy poet/composer/singer Siavash Ghomeishi (I saw him buying wine and cheese at the Woodland Hills Trader Joe’s once and nearly peed myself from excitement, no joke), really fun pop legend Andy (saw him at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of years ago, and met him a couple of times when I was a kid), and relative newcomer Farshid Amin, who is, admittedly, more than a tad metro, but he has a song called “Sepideh,” so how could I resist? That’s right, I can’t. Some of the other notables that will probably put on sweet shows on other nights are master of the white electric violin, Bijan Mortazavi (he was at my church on the day I was baptised), and “King of Persian Pop” Shahram Shabpareh (who I saw once walking past the makeup department of a Robinson’s May in the Valley – he was very short and wearing a track suit, and his hair looks just like that in real life).

Sadly, I can’t make it this year, but in writing this post I realized I’ve “seen” a lot of these people already. So weird. Tickets can be purchased here. Looks like it’s going to be awesome… and hilarious. Get ready for all the Benzes and Beamers, Vegas!

Persian Rock-Out… on YouTube

I’m on a big Vigen kick lately (it’s also spelled “Viguen,” in case you want to search for his clips on iTunes). He was called the “Sultan of Jazz” and was sort of the Elvis of Iran, and I was pretty stoked to meet him twice in LA (once after he performed and once in church, of all places) before he died in 2003.

Anyway, I’ve been poking around on YouTube and have found a TON of Vigen videos among those of other 60s and 70s Iranian pop stars. This old-skool gem should not be missed:

Maryam

I recently saw Ramin Serry’s 2002 film, Maryam, which stars notable Iranian actors Shohreh Aghdashloo (most recently in The Nativity Story) and Shaun Toub (who has a penchant for playing Iranian fathers and also for wearing a skullcap just like the one in his IMDB photo anytime I’ve seen him in real life).

The movie is about an Iranian-American girl living in New Jersey during the Iranian revolution and subsequent hostage crisis. Her very religious cousin comes to stay with the family, leading to all sorts of mayhem and many life lessons. Honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for this movie, and I’m not really sure why, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s truly top-notch. Serry did a great job of laying out the historical and cultural issues, and he gave it a very personal context which made it really emotionally engaging. Plus, he used my now-favorite Viguen song, “Chera Nemiraghsi,” which I then immediately purchased on iTunes and have been bopping to every morning at the gym (Dorky? Yes. And perhaps a post for later on.)

You can buy the movie on Amazon; I think it would be a great gift for Persian teenagers or college students.