God how I miss “culture jamming”! If you are not familiar with the phenomenon its events or better said gatherings where creative minds from different medial and cultural backgrounds meet in one single domain. Painters, poets and musicians aspire to create cross-culturally. Its simply a cradle of creativity and culture and you can drop in unannounced and withdraw at any moment of the day-long session. The art created is consequently spontaneous, instant, inspiring and transcendental! Its been nearly ten years since I attended my last jam as both poet and painter. Simply unacceptable! Hopefully in future sessions I’ll be able to attend even as a musician, when me and my little lady are ready.
“Just when Andy & Kouros had reached the peak of their popularity and success as a duo, they decided to break-up!! And let me tell you that it became something of a NATIONAL TRAGEDY!! The fans (not only Iranians) were devastated, while the media announced the break-up repeatedly on the NEWS and prominent personalities commented and analysed the role that the Andy & Kouros-phenomenon have had in the life of the 2nd generation-Iranians and its impact on the future of Iranian music, in mass-media’s special reports and round-tables!! Today, 13 years after the historic separation I’ve still got the poster of their FINAL-TOUR (with them posing back to back, in their famous PIRATE-shirts and THUNDER striking down through their hands) glazed and hanging on my wall!”
The passage above is from my review on PLATINUM five years ago. I wanted to show you that poster designed by Behzad, who was THE designer of the Iranian industry back then (you can spot his signature by the letter “S”, he was also the only artist who signed his pieces). Andy & Kouros are doing gigs together again, every now and then, here and there. Of course not even remotely close to the grandeur of their “Final Show” back then (even starring the playmate Deborah Driggs, who had a recurring role in Andy & Kouros’ videos and album covers, on stage)! Nonetheless they are recycling this nostalgic sheet once again!
Lily Allen is one of those artists whom I cant really make my mind about. Some songs I really like and the others I just cant stand! But I really like the cover of her brand new album which is really a visual sum-up of her image and music, combined with a thought-thorough composition and colour consistency. Its simple yet descriptive, you basically know what you’re gonna get musically just by looking at it! Its neither surprising nor deceiving! This in my opinion is one of the main missions of an album cover which is accomplished here. The lass herself looks the way her music sounds, offbeatly sexy! The following images are from a recent concert which display her peculiar image very well!
Ehsan Khajeamiri’s highly anticipated new album “Fasle Taaze” is finally out on IranGam in Iran. However the album seems to be distributed by Century Records in USA. The album looks also be missing the promised cover on his dad’s (Iraj) old song “Fasle Barooni”!
One of the few recent additions to my movie collection. As you know I have a thing for so called “costume movies”! This limited Thai edition of “The Duchess” will look good next to my The Tudors set!
The photo above is a recent press-photo from Danny Fernandes whom I presented in this blog a couple of days ago. This particular image happens to have striking resemblances to an image used on Idin’s album “Guess” over two years ago! An album cover which I praised and nominated as the 2006 Best Album Cover. Just a coincidence?!
Taken is one of those movies that everybody has recommended to me! From those who love ass-kicking action to those who love wet-napkin drama. Everybody that has popped up in front of me has been unanimously praising and what other choice did I have but to give it a fair try? So I did, and enjoyed it! Taken is not really a unique concept, its rather a cliché and the title and the poster (above) gives it all away. Its not really interested to keep it a secret either. Instead the strength lies in its clever narration and serious style! Which is the result of a perfect combination. A combination of two cinematic excellences! Taken enjoys the finesse of the French action, which the Americans seldom have, and the conclusion of an American action, which the French often lack! Its emotional yet brutal at the same time, and Liam Neeson delivers the symbiotic duality perfectly in his role. If it was a purely French action I could have imagined Jean Reno or Daniel Auteuil playing the part. Taken doesn’t waste too much time on irrelevant ranting, its concise and non-stop! You don’t need to be a fan of the genre to enjoy watching Taken, though you need to take it seriously!
After Laleh and Janet, the 23-year-old Sheri Nowrozi is the new artist in the line of talented Iranian girls in Sweden who have stepped up to the plate and delivered quality music of professional standard! Sheri’s debut song is called “Hit and Run” and its to be featured on her debut album which is planned to be released in spring/summer 2009.
The album features collborations with the Guns N Roses guitarist Richard Fortus and Jack Spalsh, who is a name behind artists such as Alicia Keys and Beyonce. Needless to say the album is to target even the American market. We’ll be waiting and anticipating!
Friends often ask me how I find time and content for blogging. Well as most of you know I began blogging more than two years ago (mainly due to my ex’s encouragement) and it soon proved itself to be more fun than I ever expected! Fun and rewarding. As far as time goes, it does really take no time at all compared to everything else one does during the day. If you have a laptop then you can fit in a few minutes, while eating breakfast at home or waiting for your cup of tea to be served outside a Café somewhere. I fit the writing into spare moments each day, its really a break from my other styles of writing such as academic and poetry. Blogging is a freestyling, with practically no rules and boundaries at all! Its freewheeling. From a no-word blog to a minor article, everything is allowed. In terms of coming up with new content to blog about on daily basis, well let me explain it this way. This blog can be considered the public part of my private notebook! Blog or no blog I tend to observe, reflect and write about things that I experience every day anyway. By blogging I only share a portion of it with you. In a way I process and archive them by means of writing about them, perhaps for future recycling. Who knows! Would it make sense if I said that I was my most important reader? In the sense that I primarily write what I personally would like to read! Presumably you read my blog because you find what i write about interesting, by counting myself as one of you I am able to give you the best of me when blogging! The very same reason why I personally read others’ blogs. Which reminds me, I am so utterly disappointed to be right when it comes to us Iranians being lame and lazy in terms of blogging! I cant even put it into words! Needless to say I am still waiting for you to start your blogs and then invite me and your fellow readers to your realm of expressions!
The Swedish September has released a BEST OF collection called “Gold”, which is aiming at the international market. Although the cover of the non-Swedish edition looks nothing like the sweet Swedish one displayed above, you can still get it as an imported item from American Amazon! A true disappointment when it comes to the songs is that the great songs from her debut album are not present on this collection! Most likely due to them being owned by another company, but its still a collection worth getting for your collection. Here is one of the songs featured:
After having watched two and a half seasons, I am officially done with Heroes! What a farce this show has become! I was rather sceptic at first but it slowly started to grow on me. However somewhere along the way things went terribly wrong! Right at the latter half of the first season things started to drop in quality and instead pick up in quantity. I endured the second season hoping for a change, but season three has just taken things to a point of no return! I liked the slow pace of the first season, it nourished a mystery, let a story unfold and allowed character developments. This season however has been far too rapid in its moves and turns and consequently too shallow and messy! The story feels forced at times. An inflation of characters and immature returns and resurrections makes it look like those games wherein you never die! And if you do you’ll be back in no time! Sure it has more action now but lost much of its mystery and magic. However there are those who find the exact same elements and factors that have put me off as improvements, so everyone should watch it and then decide!
The image above is from one of those rare moments in season one where promises of epic proportions were made but never realised!
Danny Fernandes who is slowly but surely making a HIT with his “Fantasy” is the young star-aspirant who opened for Girlicious in their concerts last year. His debut album “Intro”, just like the supporting girl-group’s debut album, was first released in Canada.
A marketing strategy which I haven’t come to understand yet, considering today’s illegal downloading and the fact that by the time that its released in US and Europe its been file-shared beyond market value! Anyway, I recently recommended the Kurd-Swede Darin’s music and if you like that kind of R&B inspired POP with crispy beats and catchy hooks then give Danny’s debut a spin! Here is “Fantasy” featuring (only visually) Natalie, Nichole, Chrystina and Tiffanie from Girlicious.
Ramin Sadighi, the owner and director of Hermes record company, says that the Iranian industry is suffering from the same illegal-downloading which has plagued the Western industry. However, he claims, the Iranian industry does not enjoy other means for financing such as concerts and advertisement as freely and broadly as in Western countries. According to Sadeghi the domestic production is in 40% recession.
According to AZERNEWS the Sweden-based artist Arash has written the Azerbaijani entry for the EUROVISION 2009. The song which is to be preformed by the 19-year-old Aysel was picked out of 30 submitted songs for the purpose. “I participated in the open call because my family originally come from Azerbaijan. So I wanted to contribute to this country`s going down in Eurovision history”, Arash explains. He is reportedly a fan of EUROVISION and as such rather confident about the victory of his song in the contest. Arash wishes that he was able to peform at the EUROVSION himself, representing Azerbaijan.
Turkey’s contribution to this year’s EUROVISION is “Düm Tek Tek” which a girl by the name of Hadise is gonna deliver. The whole song and even Hadise’s vocal style screams a Helena Paparizou knock off! But as we ‘ve seen before such ETHNO-DANCE jams hit a chord with the general European public, since they’re manifactured in a way that most cultures around Europe can relate to some part of their musicality!
This poster for the upcoming “The Wolfman” movie perfectly evokes the mystical ambience and poetic tragedy which hides on the other side of the cult of vampires and werewolves! Even though often associated with cold-blooded horror and murder in Hollywood, there is a deeper sense of existentialism hidden behind the ancient myths and folktales about the doomed creatures of the night. Starring the ever-growing Benicio del Torro who looks awfully like Behrooz Vosoughi in this photo!
So far we haven’t seen any footage from this production (at least I haven’t), the hype in the air is instead due to the couple of pics released and the credibility of its actors! So there hasn’t been any promise made really, even though expectations are high. A vampire/werewolf film can either make or break, easily! Its been twenty years since the last successful werewolf movie “Wolf”, so we need one that can HUFF and PUFF strongly!! Not just look scary!
The über-cute actress Alice Greczyn is so fragile and fair looking that you fear the slightest touch of your hand would make her delicate and brittle figure shatter into tiny pieces!
On second thought, its not Alice who is fragile! But rather my heart …
Reza Sadeghi’s upcoming album “Cheghadr Sakhte” is to feature 14 tracks and unlike his previous albums he have several pieces by other creators such as Mehdi Zanganeh, Ashkan Rahimi, Hooman Alborz and Marjan Zanganeh. Sadeghi also announced that many might be shocked that the new album will not be enjoying new arrangements by Sirvan Khosravi, whose arrangement for “Vaaysaa Donyaa” became a huge HIT and he was said to be working also on the new album’s material. The man in black hopes that the fans will enjoy the album regardless.
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