If you are a fan of art-history or period pieces/costume dramas then I recommend you the latest BBC series “Desperate Romantics”. Its a fictive and romanticized account of the lives of the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
A romanticist movement that aimed to break academic ideals in order to go back to the original ideals of nature. Another influential school in my life and art. The six-episode mini-series is just as much comedy as it is drama, for better and worse!
Natalie Imbruglia is back, this time with a controversial little video! I am not sure that someone like me would agree with its controversiality but it involves some nudity or better said naked “skin” (since nudity is by definition exposed nipples and private parts)! But I like it. Its Metropolitan chic with a twist of Arthouse sensualism, the artsy-sexy kind that I personally love to see in movies as well as music videos. And most important of all, it fits and enhances the song and its theme!
The sound has gone through a bit of a change with an euro-electro overtone, unlike her previous singer/songwriter songs. It sounds very 90’s Kylie I must say, but still fresh! Since these things go in trend loops and right now this one is renewing its expiration date. She walks a fine risky line with this blend of image and style, but she pulls it (and takes it) off elegantly. I mean who can resist a girl in a black bodyhugging turtleneck?! Or out of it, for that matter!
Note: thanks to Pedram
One of the television series I caught this summer was the controversial Australian “Satisfaction”. A show based on the lives of a handful escorts in a luxurious Melbourne brothel. Interestingly the show has managed to entwine nudity and adult theme with everyday drama and serious dramaturgy, without coming across forced or provocative! Satisfaction tries to dedramatized sex and bring it to the public forum, something I personally believe in and like about it. In a way “Satisfaction” is the Aussie cousin to the British “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” from the very same network, namely SHOWTIME. However it is both edgier and heavier! So far two season have been aired and season three will kick off in December.
Pixie Lott is just like the half-Iranian Zarif one of the recent artists in the whole wave of British pop’s flirtation with the 60’s. This is definitely neither my favorite decade nor genre, but something about this trend really appeals to me. Its a blues that picks you up!
In more than three months I have tried to appreciate “The E.N.D.”, the latest album from The Black Eyed Peas but I fail to do so! The reason is that the album, despite being very trendy and tapping on the recent ELECTRO-fication of the Hip Hop and RnB genres, is a pure underachievement for this particular collective. They have previously been about groundbreaking, eclectic blending of genres and experimentation with vocal styles. In this album, however, they’ve got stuck in one single track which narrows down their register and while I can understand Will.i.am being severely influenced by the latest auto-tune frenzy (T-Pain, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne), to hear the versatile voice of an able and seasoned vocalist like Fergie being filtered throughout the entire album just to “fit in” is just unjustifiable!
I know its early, too early, barley autumn! But its the early bird that gets the worm! Or in my case the coat! As I am 185cm (6′ 1″) and broad-shouldered and the mainstream fashion is designed and manufactured with thin and tiny people in mind, its sometimes a hassle to find the clothes that I want in my size which is XL. Thats why you have to figure out a system to outsmart the others and get the sometimes only XL in store. Last year you met my retro cap and this year I present you my designated coat for the upcoming winter! I immediately fell in love with this coat as it has the classic cut (clean and sleek), the 70’s fit (body hugging) and a touch of street (urban inspired details). By the way, since I have been posting more and more fashion related stuff in the blog a new category has been opened to feature them, called fittingly “The Fitting Room“!
I have always had a fascination for angels and an admiration for the fallen ones! And if there is anything that amuses me more than superheroes kicking each other’s asses its archangels kicking each other’s asses! Therefor “Legion” is going to rock my wings off (if I had any that is)! Even though it looks like Terminator gone angels!
Emtiaaz wrote in a recent issue that of all the 457 registered music companies in the country only 20 remain in business. While others have either gone belly up or changed nature of business, like Hamavaaz Ahang which ten years ago was one of the leading companies has recently turned into a lamp shop!
There was a time when bootylicious was THE word, when big booties were considered mainstream and ruled the world (not just mine)! A time wherein J.Lo., Shakira and Beyonce and their alikes dared to flaunt their superior posteriors, showing pride in their healthy figures. Today however many of these ladies have starved off their naturally-endowed curves, to yours-truly’s great disappointment. There are those though who fight the power and peerpressure! The British Girls Aloud’s Kimberley is one of those few celebs who still brings that sexy back-rack of hers back. I support her cause and salute her courage!
I was once a huge admirer of the late poet/painter Sohrab Sepehri. Well I still am, but 15 years ago I did basically breathe his poetry! Sohrab’s gentle character and peaceful poetry have made him a mystic legend, someone who many young Iranians happen to discover while searching for an inner self and meaning to being! Needless to say a huge influence on me and my life. This drawing of mine made on the back of my notebook, while I was waiting for the next lecture in 1995 says it all!
In case you’ve followed my Mad Men recommendation I must now notify you that the third season of the well-made series has already kicked off! Don’t miss it!!
This is something I cook and eat a lot, “adasi” as we Iranians call it or lentil soup with onion and potatoes. Along with some crunchy 100% fiber Swedish knäckebröd! Cheap, healthy and easy to make. Delicious especially on chilly days. Served here in my legendary giant cup!lol
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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
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!
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 
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!
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!
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 …
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.
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!
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!
I can’t wait to see them together in action, joining …talents!
