Sand Tank

2007-05-04T15:21:00.000-03:00

I found an old friend on the net last week. And it's all thanks to you sandtank... yep, good old Johannes True, who's a good old chap (lol). What was it ... 15 years ago?! I had just moved to a new school, and I didn't know anyone. You know what it's like to be the new kid ... But Joey True was there... and so was Ayush, and Yang, and Sameer, and Rahul.. I became instant friends with Johannes- we were best friends for the next 5 years, when I left for back home, and so did Joey.

We have so much catching up to do. It's been fifteen years, and we have each gone different ways. But before all that, it's awesome to remember all the memories from 15 years ago. We chatted the other day, and remembered some of those good old memories... My stomach hurt from laughing so hard... Man, we were lunatics back then... hahahahah... So much for good old days...

Bi-hess

2006-12-20T15:01:00.000-04:00

This is the lyrics to my favorite Iranian rap song "Bi Hess" by Zedbazi. I wrote it myself so some parts might be wrong (doubt it). Some people might find this lyrics offensive, the language is pretty coarse...

هر سال صد تا آهنگ مياد…
از همه جای دنيا
همه ميخونن
همه هم ميشنون
ولی فقط يه گروهه که وقتی ميخونه
تهران ميترکه... او ه ه ه
تهران
ز دبازی
عليرضا جی جی
سيجل

…
ام جی!
دختر خوب نکن بم نگاه
نه ما عين تو ايم و نه تو عين ما
من زدم تو خط جک و جنده ها
تا بيان و بگن امشبو زنده باد
کلّی بند و بساط
آره همون بنگ و موادی
که ديگه شده قند و نبات
همه شديم منگ و خراب
يهو گرم شد هوا تو هم شلوار تنگو در آر
نکنه ميخوای ببندمت با دستبند به تخت
نه- نری اصلاً از دستم يه وقت
خواسته هات هستن چه سخت
من خودم اينقد مستم که الان وصلم به تخت
پس منو شخصاً ببخش
تو که فقط نيستی بقيه هم هستن تو کف
بستن يه صف
هر وقت منو ميبينن
زود با يه سوت وا ميستن
انگار من داورم اونا فوتباليستن
ولی اونا دنبال اين توپا نيستن
دولو ميخوان
واسه همينم اين همه راه دورو ميان
ميمونن دورم
تا ديوونم کنن
ميدونم خودم
اينا ديوونم شدن
ميشينن بغلم
پس همه عملاً
دست ور نميدارن از سر کچلم (ای وای!)
نميخوام بزنم بهت ضد حال
خيلی رک و راست بگم فقط بت يه بار
فکر نکن حرفم دروغه وقتی بت ميگم خيلی سرم شلوغه
نگو حال نداری
منو قال نذاری
بيا بال در آريم
بريم بالا با هم
خرابتم خودتم خوب ميدونی
تويه شرايطه بد ما با هم خوب ميمونيم
هر جا برم، تو هستی پيشم
وقتی عادی ام يا تو مستی گيجم…
تو رو نميگم منظورم موزيکه
چون از روزی که رفتم توش ديگه مغزم گوزيده
دوست دارم از بس،
کاملا دادم عقلمو از دست
پس هر کس، داد با من دست
فهميد مهراد عجب آدم کس خلی هست
سعی نکن پس، ادا منو در آری، نه زاخار تو مثه من علاقشو نداری
نميخام بزنم من ضد حال بهت، يا دروغ بهت بگم يا که ادّعام بشه
فقط بهت ميگم که چه جوری …
تا که بدونی يه خورده بيشتر از من.
اسمم هيدنه …
خوب حفظ کنش، به خاطر خوب بسپرش
خوب حس کنش و حرف بيجا نزن،
آره داداش من اينجا اين کارتم
آره ديگه قدرت افتاده دست من
اومدم اينجا استاد رپ بشام
کس نگو بلا مييارم سرت
نزديکم نيا ميمالم درت
hidden

چرا بی حسم
هر چی راه ميام باز بت نميرسم
let’s go
امشب خيلی خل ام
که از دنيا هی ميخورم
شصت يک ميخورم
يا چون ری ميکنم
اين شکلی شدم
تويه دنيا جايی نديدم
يکی مثله خودم
زندگيمو بايد بگيرنو قصه کنن
ديگه هر چی پول داشتم رفت به باد
هر چی دختر باهام بود زد به چاک
همه برنامه هام يهو رفت به فاک
اگه بشينی بگردی پی رد پا
ميبينی هفته ها
يه سری شتک برام زير آب زدن
تا تونستن گرفتن ايراد ازم
ولی هنوزم آس پيک ايران منم
واسه همينم دخترا ميان دمم
امضاء ميخوان ازم
ولی داشی زندگی بالا پايين داره
تابستونت رفته حالا پاييز باته
کس خارش دودو بيار توپ بشيم
حالا کس خارش دودو بده دود بشيم (آره)
خيلی مونده راه، تا بخوايم که ما
آدم بشيم
واسه همينم وقتی که شب مياد، الک ميزنيم و ميريم بالا
...
سيجل که فقط تو رو ميخوايم، که فقط تو رو ميخوايم،
باشه برو مييام
chorus
دافا ميشنونو ميگن يه بار ديگه بذار
زنگ ميزنن موبايلم سه ثانيه يه بار
اجباريه انگار حرف زدن با اينا
ولی فقط واسه اين که بدم يه راه ديگه فشار
دنبالممو ميپرسن کوشی ويلسن؟
چون دوست دارنم بيشتر از کيف لويی ويتن
آهنگام هست تو همه مهمونيا و همه ماشينا يی که ميدن تو اتوبان صدر ويراژ
اما چيزی نميدونی
...
چارتا شنيدی و چار تا کردی لاش
آمار درست ما رو هر کی داشت
خايه کرد و صورتش شد رنگ زرد شاش
نگو حال نداری…
حالم دارم
اتفاقا
کل تهران آرزوشونه که مثه ما شن
رفته بودم فضا ولی برگشتم
هنوزم تو اين بازی به من ميگن سرلشکر
صد تا سربازه باهام
هيچکی هم تو کل اين بازی نداره قدرت اندازه ما
کسی شاخ نميشه پس واسه ما
وقتی اين همه آدم جلوم وايسادنو منم شدم دروازه بان
دليلشم واسه همه شماها بزارين دوباره بگم
بازيکن زياده ولی من شماره يکم
ويلسن!
chorus

2006-11-06T22:57:00.000-04:00

خيلی وقت بود چيزی ننوشته بودم
اين يه ماه و اندی که گذشته سرم خيلی شلوغ بوده... شديداً مشغول آزمايش های مربوط به کار خودم شدم... کارای تي ای هم که حسابی اين ترمی وقت گير شده... عجب غلطی کردم که واسه دو تا درس تي ای شدم... تازه در کنارشم توترينگ آخر هفته...
ديگه وقت واسه سر خاروندن نميذاره
يادم نمياد آخرين روزی که هيچ کاری نداشتم بکنم کی بوده... يه روز که بشينم خونه حوصلم سر بره از بيکاری...
شايدم يه جورايی خوب باشه اينم...
از الان کم کم به فکر اينم که بعد از فوق چيکار ميخوام بکنم... کجا ميخوام برم...
ميبخشيد که اين پستم فوق العاده بچه مثبتی بود... چيکار کنم ديگه بچه مثبت شدم ديگه

تازه الان دارم از اين آهنگای پيانو نيو ايج هم گوش ميدم.. که ريلکس کنم بعد از روز طولانی... آخر کار بچه مثبتی ...

A thousand and one things to talk about.

2006-09-28T17:42:00.000-03:00

1. Ahmad joon made the front cover of TIME magazine. Inside is a whole, detailed article on the attack strategies the US will have to use if there's to be a war with Iran. Everything is thought of. All is planned.

2. UN's general debate took place last week in New York. Iran's president had a lecture on the first day of the debate. UN has put the videos of the presidents and leaders of different countries' speeches on its website. You can watch the videos in the language the spokesperson was using, or, the English translated video. Iran's video had two links: English and ARABIC!

THE UN THINKS IRAN'S LANGUAGE IS ARABIC! I checked the website again today, and they have changed it from "Arabic" to "Original Language". Stop worrying about the ignorant civilians! Stick to the UN first!

3. I had a thousand and one things I wanted to talk about, but I'm running out of time here. School has started once again and I'm as busy as hell. But this time I'm trying to keep a balance between life and school, and I'm happy with it so far.

The stranger

2006-09-07T19:04:00.000-03:00

The stranger was determined to show that his culture was worth more than all the labor of the men and women in the bar. He pointed to a print hanging on the wall:

“Do you know what that is? It’s one of the most famous paintings in the world: The Last Supper, painted by Leonardo da Vinci.”

“It can’t be as famous as all that,” said the hotel landlady. “It was very cheap.”

“That’s only a reproduction: the original is in a church a long, long way from here. But there’s a story about this picture you might like to hear.”

Everyone nodded.

“When he was creating this picture, Leonardo da Vinci encountered a serious problem: he had to depict Good -in the person of Jesus- and Evil –in the figure of Judas, the friend who resolves to betray him during the meal. He stopped work on the painting until he could find hid ideal models.

“One day, when he was listening to a choir, he saw in one of the boys the perfect image of Christ. He invited him to his studio and made sketches and studies of his face.

“Three years went by. The Last Supper was almost complete, but Leonardo had still not found the perfect model for Judas. The cardinal responsible for the church started to put pressure on him to finish the mural.

After many days spent vainly searching, the artist came across a prematurely aged youth, in rags and lying drunk in the gutter. With some difficulty, he persuaded hid assistants to bring the fellow directly to the church, since there was no time left to make sketches.

“The beggar was taken there, not quite understanding what was going on. He was propped up slightly, opened his eyes and saw the picture before him. With a mixture of horror and sadness he said:

“I’ve seen that picture before!”

“When?” asked an astonished Leonardo.

“ ‘Three years ago, before I lost everything I had, at a time when I used to sing in a choir and my life was full of dreams. The artist asked me to pose as the model for the face of Jesus.’ ”

There was a long pause.

“So you see, Good and Evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being,”

He got up, made his excuses, saying he was tired, and went up to his room. Everyone paid what they owed and slowly left the bar.

in the middle of the night, i was thinking of a blog

2006-09-05T14:50:00.000-03:00

You wake up in the middle of the night... you need to go to the bathroom... while you're in the bathroom, suddenly an inspiring moment takes place, and you come up with an awsome idea, for a blog. You say to yourself, I better write this down now, so I won't forget in the morning. A part of you says that something this strong will never be forgotten, so why go throuth the trouble of turning on the lights and getting a pen and paper and not be able to go back to sleep afterwards? you'll remember it... Now go back to bed. So you do.

Funny you remember this much in the morning. You don't remember anything else...

Sandtank

2006-08-31T15:05:00.000-03:00

I was surprised looking at the archives of Sandtank today... Sandtank, you're almost SIX months old! happy half-anniversary! Man, I never thought I could keep up a blog for six months... actually I never thought I could keep up anything for six months...

During the past six months what I put in my blog has changed quite a lot. I started off with mostly writing my feelings and thoughts, in English. After some time, I started adding some Persian posts to here and there, and Sandtank became kinda bi-lingual (put that in your resume, Sandtank. It's gonna earn you some extra points). For me it was really difficult to type in Farsi, so I gave it up and went back to English.

After some time, I came up with the idea of writing posts in Farsi, Scanning and uploading scanned images. This way, I'd practice my Farsi writing every now and then, along with posting in Farsi (having ur cake and eating it too).

I don't have too many viewers here, so to you dear reader, who's reading this very line right now, I appreciate your time and I hope you liked my posts. I don't like to turn my blog into a whorehouse and add a dozen links to other weblogs in order to have them add me to their lists. I prefer if only people I know read what I write.

So, all the best to you sandtank, I am looking forward to celebrating your sixth anniversary!

2006-08-31T14:15:00.000-03:00

"To the one who understood her task and her purpose.
To the one who looked at the road ahead, and understood that it was a difficult journey.

To the one who did not make light of those difficulties,
but, on the contrary, made them manifest and visible.

To the one who makes the lonely feel they are not alone,
who satisfies those who hunger and thirst for justice, who makes the oppressor feel as bad as the oppressed.

To the one who always keeps her door open,
her ears listening, her hands working, her feet walking.

To the one who embodies the verses of another Persian poet,
Hafez, when he says: Not even seven thousand years of joy are worth seven days of sadness.

To the one who is here tonight, may she be one with all of us,
may her example multiply, may she still have difficult days ahead,
so that she can do whatever she needs to do, so that the next generations will not have to strive
for what has already been accomplished.

And may she walk slowly,
because her peace is the peace of change,
and change, real change, always takes time."

(Message from Paulo Coelho to honour Shirin Ebadi at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony, Oslo, December 11th 2003).

No don't get me wrong here. I'm not a Shirin Ebadi fan. I just thought it's interesting to see Coelho writing this message to praise her work. The way he has put the words together is beautiful.

Ahmad joon

2006-08-18T13:59:00.000-03:00

"...He's actually, in a strange way, he's a rather attractive man, very smart, savvy, self-assured, good looking in a strange way... He's very, very short but he's comfortable in his own skin."
60 minutes correspondant Mike wallace, when asked about Ahmadinejad's physicality.

YOU play, I'LL listen...Autophobia

2006-08-16T16:03:00.000-03:00

Philophobia

2006-08-10T17:04:00.000-03:00

Che

2006-08-09T17:36:00.000-03:00

Havana
April 1st, 1965

[Fidel,]

At this moment I remember many things — when I met you in Maria Antonia's house, when you proposed I come along, all the tensions involved in the preparations. One day they came by and asked who should be notified in case of death, and the real possibility of it struck us all. Later we knew it was true, that in a revolution one wins or dies (if it is a real one). Many comrades fell along the way to victory.

Today everything has a less dramatic tone, because we are more mature, but the event repeats itself. I feel that I have fulfilled the part of my duty that tied me to the Cuban revolution in its territory, and I say farewell to you, to the comrades, to your people, who now are mine.

I formally resign my positions in the leadership of the party, my post as minister, my rank of commander, and my Cuban citizenship [...]

Reviewing my past life [...] my only serious failing was not having had more confidence in you from the first moments in the Sierra Maestra, and not having understood quickly enough your qualities as a leader and a revolutionary.

I have lived magnificent days, and at your side I felt the pride of belonging to our people in the brilliant yet sad days of the Caribbean crisis. Seldom has a statesman been more brilliant as you were in those days. I am also proud of having followed you without hesitation, of having identified with your way of thinking and of seeing and appraising dangers and principles.

Other nations of the world summon my modest efforts of assistance. I can do that which is denied you due to your responsibility at head of Cuba, and the time has come for us to part.

You should know that I do so with a mixture of joy and sorrow. I leave here the purest of my hopes as a builder and the dearest of those I hold dear. And I leave a people who received me as a son. That wounds a part of my spirit. I carry to new battlefronts the faith that you taught me, the revolutionary spirit of my people, the feeling of fulfilling the most sacred of duties: to fight against imperialism wherever one may be. This is a source of strength, and more than heals the deepest of wounds.

I state once more that I free Cuba from all responsibility, except that which stems from its example. If my final hour finds me under other skies, my last thought will be of this people and especially of you. I am grateful for your teaching and your example, to which I shall try to be faithful up to the final consequences of my acts.

I have always been identified with the foreign policy of our revolution, and I continue to be. [...] I am not sorry that I leave nothing material to my wife and children; I am happy it is that way. I ask nothing for them, as the state will provide them with enough to live on and receive an education.

I would have many things to say to you and to our people, but I feel they are unnecessary. Words cannot express what I would like them to, and there is no point in scribbling pages.

Ever onward to victory!
Homeland or Death!
I embrace you with all my revolutionary fervour.

Che

2006-08-02T19:11:00.000-03:00

Acordeon

2006-08-02T19:01:00.000-03:00

2006-07-28T12:20:00.000-03:00

What starts with "F" and ends with "UCK"?

2006-07-26T17:46:00.000-03:00

2006-07-26T12:17:00.000-03:00

2006-07-19T20:59:00.000-03:00

He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth.

GOETHE

2006-07-17T14:48:00.000-03:00

Misconceptions

2006-07-13T21:56:00.000-03:00

Not all misconceptions are bad... no my friends... not all of them...

Some of them lead to interesting thesis topics...

25th hour (2002)

2006-07-11T11:54:00.000-03:00

Another good movie… I like movies in this genre, I don’t know what genre it would be exactly… slow-paced movies about day-to-day lives of people…

Don’t expect a movie full of strong emotional scenes that makes you smile or cry. 25th hour follows the life of a New Yorker drug dealer in the last 24 – or 25- hours of his life before going to prison.

And let’s face it, Edward Norton is a genius actor. He has a certain, mysterious, masochist look in his eye that you also see in Fight Club. That look that says: “beat the shit out of my face and I wouldn’t mind. As a matter of fact, I’d kinda like it”. A, boyish, just turned into a man, look. And he is born in 1969 (37 years old).

Hey if you know movies similar to this one, tell me about them ok?

And no, I don’t mind watching movies from a few years ago… I like to watch a movie when its heat is down… so I can judge it personally…

Good news

2006-07-04T15:17:00.000-03:00

I received very, very, very good news today…

Let’s just leave it at that

Good job sandtank!

Things are starting to work out!

ultimatum met

2006-07-03T14:11:00.000-03:00

The ultimatum posted on June 2nd, seems to have done the trick. I finally came up with an original idea, presented it to my supervisor, and he seemed impressed (and that’s all I need), so I designed my experimental setup, and amazingly, this was all done before June 15th. So I went to the lab technician with a list of all the material I will be needing, and again, all this is done around mid-June… and since then, I’ve been waiting… impatiently…for the ordered material to arrive… practically doing nothing important… well, I mean I still come to school and work for a few hours a day… but I don’t like the wait… I get nervous when I don’t have anything to do… I can’t just stay home and relax (like a normal person would do)… I start feeling guilty… so I’ll come to school. With nothing to do. Like today…

I also realized something else as I am writing this post. At any stage during my studies so far, I have always thought that compared to the previous stage, I haven’t been doing enough work…and that I’ve been lazy in this last stage… and I always blame myself for that… but heck, looking back at the posts I’ve had, all the times I have been complaining, I’ve been achieving something big during that very time… so, I won’t complain any more from now on… yep, you won’t be hearing me complain any more about being lazy, or not working like I should, or …

p.s. Hey it’s OK if I complain a little every now and then, right?

p.s.s. I have 11 mosquito bites on my back, and the funny thing is they are concentrated around one same spot. A mosquito must have gotten into my t-shirt and stayed there… from breakfast till supper, and he hasn’t stopped himself from having mid-day snack, an afternoon tea, and a late night snack, and even inviting a friend over for a movie night… it’s itching like crazzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyy.

Impatiently waiting for the ordered material to arrive.

Crash (2004)

2006-06-28T14:10:00.000-03:00

I watched Crash on DVD last night. Finally, after a long, long time of seeing boring, pointless movies, here was a film that really moved me. I started out as I usual… Press play… One eye on the screen and the other on the chips and food and drinks… sneaking a look at the headlines on this week’s TIME --and to be honest, when I looked back at the screen again I knew I hadn’t missed much-- But with Crash, after five minutes of watching, I literally didn’t take my eyes off the TV screen again in the remaining 2 hours.

Watch it. And watch it again. Talk about it with friends… This is a movie worth watching more than once. The cast is amazing. The flow is smooth and logical. The cinematography is astonishing. The music is breath-taking.

And oh, if you’re an Iranian reading this, double watch the scene where the Iranian mother and daughter are having a conversation in the morning after their store has been vandalized. Feel the hate in the mother’s voice as she turns to her daughter, and says “They think we are Arabs”. Yes, sad but true my fellow Iranians, we are hardheaded racists too. We should start by changing the man in the mirror… and I’m talking about myself too… Go ahead. Watch it. Get inspired.

2006-06-05T17:02:00.000-03:00

Happy Birthday dear friend :)
Happy birthday
Jaye man khaali :(