Iranians on the Internet: Saat Sheni
Continuing the informal pre-talk chats… Check out Saat Sheni, a blog by a really sweet young Iranian woman who started the blog when she moved to isolating Los Angeles two years ago. It’s mostly about her daily life; I love that she has a Tracy Chapman video on the first page now.
Iranians on the Internet
It’s 9:48… I’ve just spent 5 hours in a car and am drinking black tea as we’re all waiting for this to start… looks like they’re still setting up, still putting posters on the wall, and I’ve just met Haji Agha, who kindly told me that he’s linked to this coverage… hi, readers in Iran! I’m sorry this will be in English, but hopefully you’ll feel like you’re here. Jayeh shoma khaliyeh.
Mohsen Namjoo: Madman, Genius… or Both?
Just saw this video series on Iranian.com and had to point to it. It’s a sort of video opus, called “I am Mohsen Namjoo.” There are five parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I’ve only watched bits of the first two; the second includes scenes of him taking a shower as he addresses the camera. And all along there’s a lot of singing and music theory. It’s so bizarre and amazing, regardless of how you may feel about his music, though his originality is not even contestable. A lot of his lyrics are over my head because my Persian vocab is so crap, but this set of videos makes him a little more accessible.
Max Bigdeli on onBeing
The Washington Post recently created an award-winning video interview project called onBeing, and one of their subjects is Max Bigdeli, a 13-year-old half-Iranian with Down Syndrome. He appears with his mom, Ginger. Here’s Max’s video.
Art & Photography Iran & the World: Arash Shiva Photography Tehran
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Arash Shiva’s Iran Photos
Seattle-based designer/photographer Arash Shiva just sent a link to photos he took in Iran within the last month (see Iran one and Iran two on his site). I apologize because I cropped the one above to better fit this page; the original is here, on his photoblog Gentle Sea. The haze over the city makes it look like a very intricate drawing. My favorite of Shiva’s photos is the one below (also cropped, sorry!), of a little boy selling fruit – I love the expression on his face, and the odd position of his legs, and the fact that his hand is up his shirt. It reminds me of this photo by Diane Arbus.
Iranians on the Internet Conference in San Francisco
I heard about the “Iranians on the Internet” conference a couple of weeks ago and was planning to attend because I was going to be in the Bay Area, then a friend sent it along suggesting I go but my trip had been canceled, so that was a big bummer. But today I managed to wrangle a way to get up there, thanks to some very kind colleagues who are driving up and agreed to take me along.
You know what that means: live blogging! I’m told there will be wi-fi, so if all goes well, check back here on Saturday for frequent posts about the Iranian blogosphere that attends. Likely it’ll be similar to the Iranian Alliances Across Borders posts covering their conference in April, but there may be some very exciting follow-up to this coverage. I have to stay mum about that until it happens (if it happens). Just cross your fingers, please!
Since I can’t find a website for this conference anywhere, the details are in the image above and also typed out here, in case someone is desperately searching for them on some search engine like I was:
Iranians on the Internet Conference
A one-day gathering of bloggers and Internet gurus
When:
Saturday, September 22, 2007
9 am – 4 pm
Where:
Rosa Parks Hall
Cesar Chavez Building
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco (map)
Are you planning on coming? I want to meet you! Drop me a note or come say hi (I’ll be the girl with the white laptop and the big hair).
Update: Nazy Kaviani has posted the day’s schedule and a list of attendees.
Dancer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam
This video about Iranian dancer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam and his Nakissa dance company is fascinating and definitely worthwhile. He talks a lot about dance history and how his decision to be a dancer defies Iranian social norms. (via bebin.tv)
Art & Photography Events: art shows Khosro Berahmandi MEKIC Montreal
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Artist Khosro Berahmandi’s “Argile étincelante” Show
Montreal-based Iranian artist Khosro Berahmandi sent a note letting us know about his exhibition entitled “Argile étincelante” opening this Friday night at MEKIC in Montreal. The show ends on November 2, so check it out. Babel Fish won’t tell me what “Argile étincelante” means; if you can translate this, please leave a comment. (Apparently it means “bright/shiny clay” – thanks, Asad!) From MEKIC:
Khosro’s early visual language was based on an expressionistic cry that attempted to portrait the human despair. Based on his personal experience, he produced a body of dark abstract expressionistic work that was desperately destroyed by himself in 1992.
I kind of find myself wanting to see the stuff that was desperately destroyed. Here’s some more:
After his studies in Paris and his return to Montreal, he turned his attention towards a more fantasy based language that would replace the imagination and dream with despair and horrific human experience. He concentrated his attention towards the Iranian literature and mythology, while looking in to the culture of miniature visionary of the Indo-Iranian experience of 11th to 16th century for inspiration.
I’m not really sure what that means but I like the combination of muted, dark backgrounds, intricate lines, and bursts of color (like the bright red and turquoise in the piece above) in his work.
Google Blocked and Unblocked in Iran
I already blogged about this today, so in order that I not plagiarize myself, please click here to read about it in full. The gist is that Google was blocked in Iran, this block was confirmed by an Iranian official, and then Google was unblocked because, officials say, the block had been an error.
It’s important to note that the initial comments confirming the filtering did not give a reason for it, so it’s entirely possibly that it truly was an error all along. But since YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook have been and/or are currently banned in Iran, it makes you wonder if Google would ever be banned for real, and what the repercussions would be.
Zero Degree Turn
Farnam Bidgoli wrote the Iran’s Mojaz Culture post about Iranian film and TV a couple of weeks ago, and today, the blog Talking Points Memo includes an AP story about a television show she mentioned in that post, Zero Degree Turn (“Madar Sefr Darejeh” in her post).
Also check out this earlier WSJ article about the show (thanks, Javod!), which really helpfully points out that all the episodes are online. They’re also on YouTube; part 1 is embedded above, part 2 is below:
And here’s part 3:
