Waiting for the moon to turn full

Yesterday (or still today if you live in US) was the trailer day for hyper-hyped flicks. First was the trailer for the extremely secretive Avatar premiered and shortly after the first ever trailer for The Wolfman, which has been in production a couple of years but only shown in images, released. The latter even chose to release its trailer very limitedly and on smaller websites than Apple’s, so that the thrill of the chase would be prolonged. I myself spent an hour before I could find one in HD (watch)! Like I’ve said before, I can’t wait for the moon to turn full in February 2010!

Will Avatar be what it promises to be?

Its not everyday that a movie is kept such a secret and hyped like AVATAR has been so far. Earlier today when Apple premiered the trailer it was almost impossible to watch it due to the extreme traffic! Its a movie that promises much, basically to revolutionize the art and galvanize the genre. But will it be able to deliver on it, or is it just about a masterful marketing strategy to hide a lack of substance? Although I’m not a fan of either one of Cameron’s previous works this one really appeals to me thematically and aesthetically. Watch the trailer in HD, no youtube will do it justice!

The graceful fall

I’m glad I didn’t watch this one ‘til I was able to watch it on Blu-ray. Because every frame of this spectacular epic opus is like a painting filled with details that only viewing in high definition can do justice to!

I have always been a fan of Tarsem’s artistic signature style, a blend of symbolism and surrealism which works best in either music videos, dream scenarios or fantastic stories. While he delivered the former in REM’s “Losing My Religion” and the motion picture “The Cell” a decade ago, in “The Fall” he manages to present his vision in the latter format.

However this time around backboned by a solid story. “The Fall” will stand next to “Pan’s Labyrinth”, both in my collection and on my list of favorite films! It just has to be experienced, in all its grace and glory!

If anyone is able to make a decent cinematic adaptation of stories from Shahnameh it is without a doubt Tarsem Singh!

Payaame-Emrooz, good old news!

In the aftermath of Khordad the 2nd the Iranian press came to experience a short period of relative freedom in which the domestic oppositional (aka reformist-press) publications came to flourish and attend to relative self-ransacking and scrutiny of the system. During this period much of IRI’s dirty laundry was revealed and aired in the press before it was clamped down by the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei himself as a so called sovereign act of intervention for the welfare of the nation! One of the monthlies that was eliminated in this process was the progressive Payaame-Emrooz, which had been published even before the birth of the reform movement but came to take a more clearer stance against the establishment after the historic election. The publication was qualitatively the Iranian counterpart to Western magazines such as TIME and The Economist, with a very clever and bold cover design. Even though being banned in 2001 this journal came to leave behind a rich archive of many years of covering and analyzing, which today serves as perfect material for those who intend to do research about that particular era in the history of Iran and IRI, in particular. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the leather binded collected editions before they vanished. These extremely rare volumes are today among the most important sources in my research and valuable items in my collection!

Caught in the mirror

Another newly found drawing from that lost-and-found folder. This was a detail study in mirror (of course the birthmark was moved to the right cheek in the drawing), made for a 21th birthday self-portrait which was never completed! By the way, as promised there is a new artwork category added to the blog, in “The Gallery” I will be posting work from past, present and future.

Starting a new life, in Hi-Def!

If you’re a member of our forum then chances are that you already know about my recent technological upgrade. Yes, after the major house-cleaning project I’ve finally decided to jump on the last wagon, leave the 20th century and my chunky cube for a life in high definition! As you can see the generation leap is more than obvious as the predecessor and the successor stand here next to each other for a sad but long overdue goodbye!lol

Who says I only like half-naked girls?!

It’s simply not true! I’m a man who can appreciate modesty as well …

There you go!

This conservative young lady, by the way, happens to be the former America’s Next top Model winner Jaslene. Always charming me with her …modesty!

Torn between twins

Yeah, I’m torn. Between these two identical Aussie twins in “The Veronicas”! I have a thing for goth-sexy, false-singing punk-popping chicks and these sassy sisters stand perfectly on each side if the blond Avril Lavigne in my daydreams! hehe. No but seriously, I always saw that they got potential but felt that their material stayed at a very immature level of development. So did their image, it was on its way but not quite there yet! Thats why they’ve not made it internationally, ’til now! Their latest single and its goth-chic video however might be the step that is needed to take them all the way! I hope so.

It still wouldn’t help my case though! Decisions, decisions …!lol

Babes of Paradise

The Pussycat Dolls keep sexing up the world of entertainment by breeding one sizzling all-girl act after the other! Their latest offspring is the international Paradiso Girls whose video for the song “Patron Tequila” (talk about product endorsement!) is an eye candy and one of those videos which has almost completely met my expectations! The song has taken its beats from the Dolls’ HIT “Don’t Cha”, it even reminds of its music video aesthetically. Which in this case is a positive thing!

Girlfriend material

One of my favorite PORNSTARS, the über-sweet and super-sexy Sasha Gray, has done a Traci Lords! Well not exactly, since while Traci left the adult industry all bitter and for good Sasha has just crossed over to mainstream cinema while still being active in the adult counterpart.

She is starring in the lead role of the acclaimed producer/director Steven Soderbergh’s experimental and RedOne cam-shot “The Girlfriend Experience” which is being shown in international film festivals at the moment.

I’m attending a screening soon and am looking forward to meet miss Gray in person. Please don’t envy, or …by all means do!lol btw, the tag-line of the film goes “see it with someone you ****”! hehe, I love it!

Portrait of a beloved

My late dear grandfather was a painting artist. He was my teacher and source of inspiration when I was a child. I remember sitting next to him on weekends, when he attended to oil painting up in our family house’s attic. I sat beside him one day back in 1996 and quickly draw this sketchy portrait, I was 21 back then. He passed away a few years ago and ever since I have been searching for this portrait which I felt captured his smiling spirit as I always saw it! A while ago I found it in a long lost folder, together with many other drawings of mine from that time. God rest his soul …

Sax Appeal

Miss Candy Dulfer today, looking just as saxy and sexy as she did 20 years ago! I remember the summer of 1989 and “Lilly Was Here”, the HIT-theme of the not so famous Dutch movie “De Kassière”. Eurythmics had just split up and Dave Stewart gone solo before Annie Lennox, if I recall correctly. In this instrumental duet he invited a young unknown saxophonist by the name of Candy Dulfer. Candy became an instant success much thanks to her being beautiful, her catchy Candy name and a sex appeal (her debut was titled “SAXuality”) to go with the unconventional instrument! She came to set a new trend for other female musicians with classic instruments and sex appeal to follow the same path, artists such as the Aussie all-female quartet BOND and the Swedish-Finish violinist Linda Lapenius (who took it one step further by playing in nothing but a bikini!). Today, 20 years after, I am still enjoying miss Dulfer’s sassy classy sax appeal!

Naturalborn posers?

Speaking of posing for pictures, in the post about the 7th Music Band written days ago, people sometimes ask me how comes I tend to strike a pose when being photographed. I know I do and I have been thinking about it and come to the conclusion that its more of an automatic reaction than a conscious move. Of course through the years I have become more and more aware of the fact that I tend to do that, but ever since I was a kid even when I wasn’t fully aware of being photographed I happened to pose when I found myself facing the camera! Like in this candid pic which was taken by a lurking relative when I was on a daily escapade in our family house garden.

The Sartorialist is one of my favorite blogs when it comes to both fashion and photography. The fashion photographer Scott Schuman walks the streets of the world during spare time and shoots people whom he finds fashionable and photogenic. This image, courtesy of his blog, has managed to capture, what I would like to call, a family of naturalborn posers! Look at that father and his kids, the look in their eyes and their posture. Keep in mind that this was a candid shot of random people which was snapped in a matter of seconds when meeting them on the street. Yet each one of these gentlemen looks as if he has been preparing for this shot his entire life! Conclusively my argument is that its genetic, …being photogenic.

Much more than a sexy poster!

I’ve owned this movie in more than a year now, purchased solely because of its cover! OF COURSE! hehe! And I was under the impression of it being the kind of teen-movie with next-to-no substance and ambition other than cashing in on its only worth-watching scene depicted on the poster (warning: nudity!). Boy I was wrong! It is a comedy, in a way, but far from merely shallow. Its also something of a philosophical manifest which is mainly, if not only, revealed and realized at a particular stage in life. I personally have gone through a similar one, pondering the details of being, with my own “manifest” written and archived somewhere. I especially relate to the male lead character’s interest in art and thoughts about aesthetics, the female beauty and form in particular. The transitions back and forth between comedy and drama can be a tricky one, but in this case it is pulled off and paved through an amazing soundtrack. I mean Guy Farely has scored this movie, for God’s sake! My absolute favorite soundtrack scorer who doesn’t do less than epic proportions. Overall This movie shows how a clever cover can actually stand for a clever content and not just to cover the lack of it!

European Union

France’s Sophie Marceau and Italy’s Monica Bellucci, two international sex symbols! The photos above portray them as young starlets and even though I’ve always loved both of these ladies, there is no question to whom time has been extra kind!

These European beauties have recently realized the fantasy of many men (moi included) by uniting talents in a movie called “Ne Te Retourne Pas”. A thriller which looks promising!

I can’t wait to see them together in action, joining …talents!

Crocks, the dam-payi knock-offs!

I recall from my childhood back in Iran that we wore “dam-payis” of the Kafshe Melli brand, which were all one-piece roughly cut plastic footwears in all sorts of vivid colors. Cheap as hell! I found them incredibly tacky even back then. A couple of years ago when the Crocks hit the stores I had a horrible flashback! Just couldn’t believe my eyes! It was as if the Western world had waited decades to copy our crappy dam-payis!lol And what baffles me is that these became popular and are still popular, while they should be fashionably illegal! *%¤#”!!lol

Watch the Watchmen!

Even though I’ve always been a comic-book geek I had never read Alan Moore’s critically acclaimed Watchmen! Simply because I choose my comic-books based on the artwork and not the story. And while Watchmen’s story is one of the most complex stories written for a graphic novel and ranked by TIME as one of all time greatest novels, I never really liked Dave Gibbons’ POP artwork. It was first after that I had watched the movie adaptation recently that I picked it up and read for a more complete story. As a companion to the movie. Needless to say I absolutely loved the movie and yesterday I watched the Director’s Cut on Blu-ray. Wow, three hours of excellence! Keep in mind that even though it might come across as one this is not a generic super-hero story! Just disguised as one! I highly recommend it, especially if you like complex characters and philosophical dilemmas. If you haven’t watched it yet the DC is the cut you wanna watch. For now, that is! Because in December the ultimate cut with an essential side-story woven in will be released on five discs! Below is the Amazon exclusive set, a miniature “Nite Owl Ship” packaging.

D9

I can’t wait to watch this one! I love all the secrecy and viral marketing which preceded this trailer. Reminiscent of “Cloverfield”, which’s genius marketing sold and surpassed the actual movie!

A bit of trivia :

During the 70’s in Cape Town, South Africa, there existed an inner-city residential area where 60000 people where forcibly removed from their homes and relocated away in smaller houses away from the city center. This amounted to 1/10 of the city’s population.

The place’s name was District 6!

Restarting!

After two years of hibernation I've decided to once again update this blog! Mainly because many readers who do not have access to the Bia2 blog, due to filtering of the website in Iran, could be able to read the "miscellaneous" posts while the Iranian muisc related posts have always been updated in my other blogspot blog (revrand.blogspot.com) for them. However even though this blog wasnt updated in these two years similar posts have been posted in my Bia2 blog! For the posts of June 2007 - July 2009 feel free to visit http://www.bia2.com/pourya/?cat=5 since I never stopped updating that blog!