Roozi ke raft bar bad, roozi ke mand dar yaad

It's exactly one year since I went to Kiosk's concert last year in Toronto. I had an amazing time, and heard some original persian music in an amazing crowd :) This year, I went to Mohsen Namjoo's much-anticipated concert in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. It was an amazing performance, an unforgettable experience, and again, a wonderful crowd :) I wish all my friends were there with me to share this!

It's amazing how creative Iranian musicians have become, each in their own genre, to produce such amazing and touching pieces of art. I love how the Iranian music is getting out of the ordinary, allowing new thoughts and new trends to be injected in our veins, to feed our hearts and our soul. You just have to open up your ears, your mind, and your heart :)

In Kiosk's concert, I went with a group of friends and we sang all the songs from the beginning to the end! The crowd was crazy for Kiosk, and they were amazing. We all sang out the "Bitarbiat" song, so loud that we couldn't even hear ourselves anymore. After the concert, we headed to the Distillery District with a larger group of friends, but the few of us knew that the rest were not excited enough about the music, and were not at all interested in meeting the band! So later we decided to chase the actors to the milestone's restaurant in North York, and we spent around an hour walking around the milstone's patio, discussing whether we should join the reception or avoid the embarrassment! And of course in the end we just decided to leave ;) Nevertheless, we had an amazing time :)

I went to 127's concert in March in Berkeley with a couple of my friends who were highly excited about the concert. I had an amazing night there as well. It was a much smaller concert in an underground bar, but the crowd energy level was extremely high, and the artists interacted with the audience at a more personal level. The trombone player was the best! Again, I sang all their songs out loud, and loved their performance :) I also got their autograph on my CD, as well as a photo with the band :)

Only a few days ago I went to Namjoo's concert in San Francisco with my family, who are extremely excited about Namjoo as well. I also met a lot of my friends there. The concert couldn't be better! Namjoo was perfect! His performance touched my heart and soul so deep that I wanted to cry. Though he appeared to be a bit nervous and shy in the beginning, he finally connected with the audience, and gave the most wonderful performance I have EVER seen in my ENTIRE life! You would be right to think that a two and a half hour SOLO concert would be boring, but not when Namjoo is on stage. He played setar, dotar and guitar! And of course his own voice is a complete musical instrument. He uses all these tools in such unimaginable ways to awaken all possible senses and feelings in you: awe, surprise, laughter, sadness, and love. You just have to be open and ready to be surprised by his magic, by the sounds he makes with his voice, and with his setar. You have to allow his poems to show you their own world. The world of pain, tragedies, love, and life. It's much more than a concert, it's a life-altering experience.

And of course the crowd was amazingly energetic! Though this time the concert was much larger than Kiosk and 127's concerts. However, there were some people in the crowd that were not exactly aware of his work, and did not understand his poems. I found it highly absurd when people laughed during the performance of "Diazpam". Though his words are intended to convey a dark humor, the tragedy strikes with such heavy hand that leaves no room for a mockery. Nevertheless, I think it was at least an opportunity for other people to learn about Namjoo's work, and maybe later, they would give a second thought to realize the true meaning of his poems.

After the concert, I had a chance to attend the reception. So I got a photo with him, and his signature on my CD. I wish him the best, he is an incredible person, and a wonderful artist.

I hope this pattern repeats next year :) I love being exposed to the kind of music that penetrates to the depth of my soul.

1 + 1 = 1 + 1

Here we are,
Just going through the motions one more time,
You looked in my eyes but you don't see me,
Here I am, feeling like a stranger in your arms,
I touch you, I hold you, but lately I don't know you...
Something is wrong but we go on from day-to-day,
And we just pretend it all away,
We act like nothing's changed,
But in our hearts we know it's not the same...

Cause we're not makin love anymore,
Baby we're not makin love like before,
We may hold each other tight,
Say that everything's all right,
But we're not makin love...

Remember when you couldn't wait to run into my arms,
When the love inside my heart was all you needed,
Remember when you made me wish the night would never end,
The fire, the thunder, we lived to love each other,
If ever two hearts were one, then it was yours and mine,
But that was another place in time,
Now all we have to show,
Are memories of a dream we used to know...

Cause we're not makin love anymore,
Baby we're not makin love like before,
We may hold each other tight,
Say that everything's all right,
But we're not makin love...

When did we lose our way, we had it all,
Don't know how it all just slipped away,
But oh, can we get it back again,
Is it too late, can we try,
Just one time, cause darling...

Cause we're not makin love anymore,
Baby we're not makin love like before,
We may hold each other tight,
Say that everything's all right,
But we're not makin love...

Nostalgia!

The days where I used to feel sharp... the days where I had the most inner excitement about learning that is possibly imaginable!
The days where I would skip my classes to study what I want to study! Self-motivation, and pure love for learning, and for playing... playing the games of brain, challenging the ordinary, proving to be extraordinary...

Alas, those days are gone with the wind, the wind that was blowing on the same day I entered a new type of classroom, where everything was given, and...

And now... oh how I miss those days, how I regret missing out on learning, all this time, six years! Six years have gone by, and I was always content! I was successful, but never challenged what was given... motivation is somehow gone with the wind, and now that I feel it coming from around the corner, will I ever be able to fully become what I was once trying to become? To learn, and love to learn? ...

Oh and one last question: Could you ever lose your mental abilities? My answer: It may well be possible... if you don't want to be exciting anymore, why should your brain care?

Now, Come on! Who are you fooling?! You've slided down the warm rabbit hole, where comfortable rules define ordinary days and nights...

A transient lightness, and yet, more melancholy...

Do you even remember, when we were so happy, when we were so alive? Singing out loud the joyous songs through the open moon-roof, and yes, the breeze caressing us ever so softly ... We got excited with the sight of the slightest beauty, and yes, that was exactly when we actually noticed the details: nature's surprises, and the subtleties of our world. Did you record those moments forever in your heart, just like I did? Do you pay attention to details? I mean, there are details that make things what they are!

A postcard from a friend shares something very personal about his/her character! A postcard should not be ignored, it should be opened, and read out loud... its being should be celebrated! Its message should be proclaimed to emphasize its existence. Simply looking at the postcard from a distance rids the postcard of its own being! You merely look at it, from a distance, and don't you see that you are suffocating it? The details! It's all about the details!

And by the way, I am not holding a magnifying class! I'm just constantly trying my best to celebrate life, celebrate everything that is worth celebration... trying so hard to avoid dailiness... or so I think...

چهارشنبه سوری

دلم برای چهارشنبه سوری بد جوری تنگ شده... برای رنگ آتش... بوی چوب سوخته... اون بوی همیشه آشنا و دلنشین
بوی درخت های تازه جوونه زده
دلم برای رمز و رازهای آتش تنگ شده
که تو سرمای زمستون دستتو بگیری بالاش و گرمت کنه
گاهی هم یه حس ناگهانی بهت می گه که نکنه زیادی بهش نزدیک شدی
ولی رمز و رازها و گرمای لطیف آتش عمراٌ تورو پس بزنه
پاش بیفته می خوای تا فردا صبح هم که شده همون جا وایستی
و وای می ایستی
این قدر تا آخر سر یکی اعتراضش بلند شه که بابا! بسه دیگه! پاشو بریم به کار و زندگیمون برسیم

بوی عید....

بوی عیدی
بوی توپ
بوی کاغذ رنگی
بوی تند ماهی دودی وسط سفره نو
بوی یاس جانماز ترمه مادربزرگ
با اینا زمستون و سر می کنم
با اینا خستگیمو سر می کنم

23!

feels weird, 22 feels like a much better number! دو تا دو!
23 has a lot of weight, it shatters the harmony! Am I entering a new part of my life? I mean, what was wrong with 22? Well... maybe it's time to try something new, this time without the repetition!

ریشه در خاک

P.S. I just noticed that my blog is starting to look like a bunch of youtube links! I'm not going to stick to this trend forever!!! But you have to allow me this one, I just can't NOT post it... it's a truly magnificent poem, and when he, himself, reads it, it's just perfect!

Belle....

I am in love with this performance...

Sleepy in Gerstein

I took the overnight flight from San Francisco to Toronto last night. Right when I got to the airport, my friends picked me up, and we had an aaaamaaaaaaazing breakfast at Marche :) overall, it has been a wonderful day! I realized that I miss Toronto more than I thought :P the only problem is that, due to sleep deficit, my brain is not at its full functional level, and I think my body is also stopping to respond fully even when my brain finally succeeds in sending the freaking message across the neurons. As I watch my missed lectures online in Gerstein, it feels kind of like I'm here and I'm not... lol... which is a very good feeling... I started to feel fresh again, which is a feeling I really needed... it's very ironical since just a meter away, outside the windows, I see the leaves falling from the trees, which should not be translated to rebirth :P but for some reason beyond my current analysis capabilities, the fall seems to transmit the exact opposite message as it intended to!

Rainbow

I can't get enough of this one! It gives me such a great feeling! Watch till the end, and you'll know what I mean :D
An expressionless moment of happiness ... that's all we need, we need to be in the moment, in our moment, and we need to paint it up with all sort of colors, for it cannot live in a black and white world of true's and false's.

take-home midterm DONE

So I'm finally done with my take-home midterm! :D :D :D I pulled an all-nighter, but I felt like I didn't really need to do so... A little better time management and less worrying about small details could have been useful... well of course as the hours go by and by, the processing speed of the brain goes down and down, and the minutest and least significant issues seem to have some sort of "trick" embedded in them, so for an instance, you feel smart that you actually pin-pointed the "trick"! But alas, that's where the moment of smartness ends because for the next few hours your thoughts circle around your brain without actually getting processed, which obviously results in a huge spaghetti in which you get lost and forgot where you started from!

As you can see, the above are all symptoms of a degenerated brain! In the past 38 hours, I have slept (lightly) for only 3 hours! At this point in time, I don't feel sleepy at all, but my body feels degenerated, my muscles are jittery, and it takes some time for me to actually say what is going on in my head (due to the huge spaghetti!)

For a more specific list of symptoms, refer to here.

P.S. By the way, there was also another thing that has kept my mind busy for the past day: are Halloween parties usually thrown the weekend before the actual Halloween, or the weekend after? You know why this is important? Cuz if the former is true, I just missed it (for the 5th time, i.e. as always!), but I really really really hope that some really good Halloween party happens next weekend :(((

Assignments never end!

I'm just sitting at the kitchen table, doing one assignment after the other, one question after the other... I regularly take a peak at the gmail page to check for any new e-mails (and to satisfy my infinite thirst for refreshing the gmail page), and that leads to ctrl-tab, youtube page, to once again watch one of the videos in my favorites list! Then I do another question, and triumphantly look at my neat solution, all the while thinking, is this victorious enough for a break, to watch a little movie online? And I found myself thinking about all the movies I want to watch: Mohsen Namjoo's autobiography, or BBC's "Human All Too Human" program on Nietzsche, or another episode of Lost. And finally I say to myself: no, this question was too easy, I cannot allow myself such a celebration yet!

Here I am!

So my friend gave me this really good idea, to keep in touch using our weblogs. And she has been really successful in doing so :) I love her weblog! I tried to start doing the same a couple times, i.e. opened the blogger dashboard and clicked on "New Post", but I couldn't write anything. I was more reserved, I don't know why. I felt like I can only write here when I have like a real tornado going on in my head or in my heart. At least those were the times that I used to write in this blog so often.

Another goal was to try to add a meaningful photo to each post, to try to express my emotions and my thoughts with more color.

Well, maybe these standards are too tight! As of now, my decision is to write in this weblog, whatever I want to write, or whatever I want my friends to know, or whatever seems cool, basically: "whatever"! And from there, we shall see how the trend of the posts are going to take form. I guess they will morph themselves into what they should :)

So for today, I am going to adhere to the traditions developed by babyblue :)



Thanks to Windshield for the link :)

Carpe Diem

The only sense of time we really need to have is a sense of now. This now, that now, the "now" in itself. Seize the day, the hour, the minute, the moment! The moment of grief, the moment of ecstasy, the moment of anger, and the moment of love! Indeed, Seize the moment. Don't just "observe" the moment, for the clocks tick away, and the moment is gone. It is only by acting upon the moment that we can seize it, eternally. The moments that we hold up in our soul define us, and henceforth summon our soul to a higher level.

Oh how I love to seize my anger, my passion, my joy, and my sadness. Albeit, my mind is too agile, and my tongue is too slow.

127 band - good music, interesting style!

ای خسرو خوبان نظری سوی گدا کن
رحمی به من خسته دل بی سرو پا کن

Indifference

The picture shows a very particular kind of indifference.... a very sad one

300. The truth?

300 the movie

Face-blindedness

Prosopagnosia, or face blindedness, is a disorder of face perception. It can be caused due to an injury to the occipital and temporal lobes.

It's unbelievable... this means that it is possible for someone not to be able to detect faces, while its ability to recognize other objects is left relatively intact. I wonder, how your life can be evolved with this disorder. The face is often what you would associate with the people around you, with events, with memories of past events; now if you don't have the ability to assign a face to symbolize these things in your mind, then what would you use as a symbol?

This opens up a question though; so many face detection methods can be generalized to object detection methods. If the mechanism for detecting faces is the same as all the other objects, then how is it that we operate differently? How can a face-blind person detect other objects then? Should we take these rare cases of brain damage patients more seriously, and perhaps, learn a lesson from it?

Perhaps there could be some overlap between face detetcion and object detetcion mechanisms; it's so puzzling though, I wonder if there is an object-blindness disorder as well...

Hayejanzadeam raje be zudtar residan be Iran...

Hayejanzadeam ke beram pishesho kolli baham dige hey behsinim harf bezanim! baad ... oon ye seri harf bezane, man ye seri harf bezanam!

Baad oon mano bebare coffeeshop haye bahalo hayejan angiz!

Ya inke bahash beram daneshgash karaye ajib gharib bokonam o dobare ehsas konam ke baham dige ye madrese mirim!!!

Ya inke khol shim o berim dobare tehrangardio jahaye random berim o ghaza bokhorim o bekhandim baad begim ma raftim folanja bebin cheghadr bahalim!!! :P

Baad kolli aks begirim o did haye mokhtalefe akso ke hamishe oon mibine...

Baad berim khoonashoon o... kolli maskhare bazi darbiyarimo o kholbaazio...

Baad berim too hayateshoon mesle rahnamayio dabirestan alaki bekhandim ke hame fek mikardan in do ta divunean! :P

Baad berim az un daste khiyabvoon chips e serke namaki begirim! :D beshinim roo pellehaye poshte asansor bokhorim!

Baad beshinim montazeresh ke biad o bekhandimo... kolli hayejan! Ba inke kaare poochi bud, va khodemoon ham midunestim, vali nemishe hayejan, va khandehasho enkaar kard ;)

Baad berim shahreketabe Niyavaran, hameye tabaghehasho bebinim...

Baad berim ghesmate ketabaye English o maskhare bazi darbiyarim o bekhandim

Beirm baraye ham dige cactus bekharim!

Baad berim ghesmate card hash... harkodom ye card vase khodemoon entekahb konim ke unyeki baramoon bekhare!!

Baad ham berim Mug hasho bebinim o nazar bedim... va az hame bahaltar ghesmate khodkar medad haash! vaay khodaaaaaaast!

Baad berim khooneye ma o roo takhte man deraz bekeshim o oonghadr harf bezanim ta khaste shim o khabaloo!!

Hamishe ham akharesh ya un diresh mishe o baayd bere... ya man...

Hamishe ham akharesh harfaye nesfe... karaye nakarde....

Va ba hameye inha, kolli harfhaye mizanim ke adam ba hichkas nemizane, va karayi mikonim ke ba hichkas nemikone...

Va kolli doostiye ghashang....