Under Western Sky

The Archers, Do you follow it?

2010-11-05T14:25:00.001Z

I know, I know. I have not been updating for ages. Now I am here with a question. Years ago I used to be interested in East Enders but soon I felt it to be too manipulative in plot etc.

For sometime now I am listening to 'The Archers' on BBC Radio 4, not that I know what is going on in
Ambridge or I know the characters well but I feels more lifelike than East Enders. I was wondering who else might be following it and have some ideas about it.

This is the official homepage of T he Archers.

Politics Made Easy: A Textbook

2006-08-03T21:17:00.000+01:00

(I couldn't help posting it; sounds familiar, doesn't it?)

Son: "Daddy, I have to write a special report for school, but I don't know what Politics is."

Father: "Well, let's take our home as an example. I am the bread-winner, so let's call me Capitalism. Your Mum is the administrator of money, so we'll call her Government. We take care of your need, so let's call you The People. We'll call the maid the Working Class and your brother we can call The Future. Do you understand son?"

Son: "I'm not really sure, Dad. I'll have to think about it."

That night awakened by his brother's crying, the boy went to see what was wrong. Discovering that the baby had seriously soiled his diaper, the boy went to his parents' room and found his mother sound asleep. He went to the maid's room, where, peeking through the keyhole, he saw his father in bed with the maid. The boy's knocking went totally unheeded by his father and the maid, so the boy returned to his room and went back to sleep.

The next morning he reported to his father.

Son: "Dad, now I think I understand what Politics is."

Father: "Good son! Can you explain it to me in your own words?"

Son: "Well Dad, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, Government is sound asleep, the People are being completely ignored and the Future is full of Shit."

Good Riddance

2006-08-01T20:18:00.000+01:00

A Dose of Blogging Is Good for Your Health!

2006-07-24T12:26:00.000+01:00

...: What?
Me: What what?
...: You look ... erm lost!
Me: 'Disoriented' you mean?
...: If it means 'lost', yeah. Is it a disease?
Me: Even worse; it's kind of constant dizziness.
...: Do you feel sick often then?
Me: So often....

Civilization!

2006-07-20T09:37:00.000+01:00

Just some pictures of the atrocities in Lebanon. You can find more pictures here.

Catwalk

2006-07-18T21:51:00.000+01:00

I am confident that the whole tradition of 'catwalk show' has been first inspired by this scene. I am two-minded, though, to decide which one is doing the job better. However, we should give more credit to the cat, I think, who is doing it so naturally, without taking his/her clothes off, and yet s/he has mesmerised so many! Even his/her arrogance is more genuine! Poor dogs!

And then this happened:

Sky in the Desert

2006-07-18T00:16:00.000+01:00

When there is a desert, there isn't much cloud. If you haven't been to a desert in a calm night you can hardly imagine what you have missed. And when I say desert, I simply mean some really dry weather not necassirily a Sahara.

With no stretch of truth, it is immensely difficult not to be charmed by the bright and awesome desert sky. All you need to do is to lie back and let yourself be lost in the all too close festivity of REAL shining stars. In an instant you find yourself among literally gazillions of stars tantalizingly inviting you to join the party. Don't miss the chance of treating your soul with a heavenly peace and light. The Western Sky in the Europe can never provide you with such a glory. (All the picture are taken about 20 Miles south of Tehran.)

Iranian Rice: Polo

2006-07-13T11:46:00.000+01:00

Iranian Rice is not as famous as Persian Rug or Persian Cat or even Iranian pistachio but I think it deserves a ranking of such recognition somehow. The thing is since its production only suffices Iranian consumers inside Iran, who love it to bits, it is not exported in large scale. What separates Iranian rice from other kinds, like let's say the famous Indian Tilda, is its smell.

For us Iranians who are brought up with its lovely smell it smells not only of a very yummy meal awaiting grumbling tummies, it also smells of 'home', of 'mum', of 'a hot family meal', of 'old good days'. I never forget overeating myself till I had a tummy ache and yet I did not like to leave it at that. I liked and llike raisin in my Rice a lot: 'Keshmesh Polo' it is called. In farsi, cooked rice is called 'Polo' and 'polo' always means a tasty meal for us. My other favourite is Zereshk Polo: which means Polo topped by gazillions of SWEETENED Zereshk. Then, I don't bother if there is any chicken or not. It usually comes with Chicken though. It is good to mention that Saffron is almost an indispensable companion to Iranian Polo.

God's C.V.

2006-07-10T09:51:00.000+01:00

The state of things as they are would leave God with no chance to apply for another Godship position. I, for one, would not give him a positive reference. All aspects considered, He must be either a funmonger who enjoys all the strife, struggle, and imbalance everywhere or He must be inefficient as he cannot fix the mess he has created. I am more inclined to think that he is the former rather than the latter: just like a disinterested child at a computer game bought second hand (which comes with faulty joysticks, faulty cards, missing cables, blurred screen, etc.) I wonder from where he gets his stuff! Is there a brand-new world somewhere?

Hateful Species

2006-07-09T00:54:00.000+01:00

Either I take things too seriously, or I am a coward, or I am paranoid or all or I don't know what! I just watched Species on BBC1. I hated it. I usually don't take to horror movies. I don't even want to try them.

I think some 20 minutes had passed when I turned the channel to watch it. I did not know it is a horror film and the title was not suggestive of such at all. Then I was curious to know what was going on. When I knew it was a horror film wrongly presented as Sci-Fi with a lot of manipulated love in it I just forced myself to watch on to see what will happen at end. It was the same American horror nonsense.

Yes, I am scared. Yes, I hate the whole idea of having monsters around. I especially hate all the femmes fatales in the world. I hate them when they are too actively predatory. I feel bad. I am already fed up with a world full of human-faced monsters, please let the horrifying monsters stay in their own den.

Hi Fellow Calculators! (No Offence meant!)

2006-07-07T11:37:00.000+01:00

I just feel like pouring out from time to time; thus if I keep posting, which I don't suspect would happen too often, don't be surprised.

I dislike all pretend. I hate all the calculations made to make life go smoother. Not that I don't like a smooth life, I cannot do without one, yet I think honesty should replace all the cunning and tactful ways. I am not a tactless person, well possibly I am; I just don't like it to be the common code practiced day and night. Humans are now more like calculators who wouldn't say 'Hi' to you unless they have measured every ups and downs of doing so. And when they do it or choose not to do it, it does not come from the heart it comes from the calculator.

(Of course I don't mean we should act rashly and just do as we whim at the moment and discard any consideration about the consequences of what we do or we don't.)

A tale told by an idiot!

2006-07-05T09:50:00.000+01:00

Of course life is not all sex; it is not all money either; nor is it all faith conflicts; you name it and life is not that. Life is just a waste of life-long time to decide what it is about. Not that you don't enjoy it; definitely you do, however occasionally. But then there are times you wonder why you enjoyed as you did! And that's the killer feeling! Or why you were so sad for such a trifle as that! Yet another killer feeling!

This is how Shakespeare puts it (Macbeth, Act V, Scene V)
Macbeth: ...
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

World Cup Match Between Germany and Greece

2006-06-29T21:58:00.000+01:00

In the heat of the World Cup have a look at this match too: Here

A Martian Reports Home about the Earth

2006-06-28T20:09:00.000+01:00

Basically there are two kinds of creatures in this planet: those with willies and those with holes. Some of these creatures called humans spend most of their daylight playing a 'pretend game' called 'life'. (They are even paid for the game!) In this game they act like they have forgotten about 'the-willy-hole thing'. Those who are not good actors and want to stay real all the time are put out of the game in a place called 'jail'. Those who are really good actors are called 'Stars' and respected by all. What they do best is that while they appear all forgetful about 'the-willy-hole thing' they are actually secretly busy doing it. That's why all respect them, I think.

P.S. I see that some of you don't even comment. Oh well, don't bother; you too should have a 'life', don't you? The Martian is not wrong after all!

Eyes Don't See!

2006-06-23T23:23:00.000+01:00

We are mostly visually conditioned. When we see somebody living with a disabled partner, we admire the non-disabled partner's devotion, sacrifice, loyalty etc. But we rarely appreciate a partner who is living with a psychologically disabled person. For instance, chances are that one who lives with an extremely unambitious partner is worse off than one who lives with an armless and legless spouse. Yet, this is rarely acknowledged either legally (as they don't carry a badge) or socially.
Truth is, psychologically disabled people are more in number but they are visually unrecognisable. So much of the injustice in the world is due to what we don't see and never know about it either.

Quote me if you want!

2006-06-22T11:17:00.000+01:00

"James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful' will become a classic." Me

Can any body send Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding Out for a Hero' to my email box, please?

Bespeak Thou Your Mind!

2006-06-17T09:52:00.000+01:00

As occasion befits and there is no fog
The Nantional Anthem of Britain I blog.
In London was it first composed and song
But also played in Malta and in Hong Kong.
Two centuries and half it is old
Yet, it liveth unimpaired and bold! (1)
"You may think it silly but you are wrong,"
A Brit told me, busy singing along.
So I thought I'd share it here with you
To see what you think, without much ado.

(1) In some manuscripts it was recorded as 'bald'.

British National Anthem

God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.

Players or Prayers?

2006-06-11T23:23:00.000+01:00

It's a long and sad story: we look at sports as a national therapeutic miracle. Invariably it does not work. The problem is that we lack team sense and defy discipline. We still rely more on prayers than players. I can't even talk about it. There are times that I take no pride in our being so obstinately patronizing vainly single-minded or delusioned, otherwise known as being Irani.

Damavand Peak

2006-06-08T22:46:00.000+01:00

Damavand is the highest peak in Iran (5774 metre). In a clean day you can see it from Tehran. The area around the mountain is so lovely, and cold of course. Once I spent one night in the area and I almost froze.

Wondering if ...

2006-06-06T11:02:00.000+01:00

I love kissing and I like bay windows too! Do they have anything in common, I keep wondering.

Smiles on TV

2006-06-05T09:08:00.000+01:00

Carol Kirkwood's smile and laugh is really infectious. It enlivens the mornings albeit the usually bad weather she can't help forecasting. She is charming and everything when her smiley figure fills one side of the screen. Her smile is a matter of talk whenever Breakfast presenters hand over to her to begin her weather report.

I felt like this for a long time until I saw her on BBC South presenting South weather forecast. I could not believe my eyes. Well, it is obvious that BBC South is not broadcast nationwide but it was less than obvious why all the smile has gone. This wasn't the same Carol Kirkwood! It was a very solemn and blank-faced Carol who was neither enjoying her job nor the weather, however lovely the weather was! And then it wasn't a rare incident of her like this either; I found the same unexciting Carol time and again on BBC South.

Now her smile has lost its charm and though I might sometimes absent-mindedly catch myself smiling while she is there all bubbly and happy I have grown suspicious about all the smiles on TV.

Google On You!

2006-06-01T18:21:00.000+01:00

Googlism.com will find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything! Search for your name here.
This is what I got for Behrooz! Here

Stacie Orrico

2006-05-30T22:55:00.000+01:00

I have not been into music so much but I love it if I give it a go from time to time. I have recently discovered Stacie Orrico. She has such a hot voice; and when I say hot I really mean hot and not hot sexy. I love its blurry corners; its mature tone and its wild romanticism. Besides, I also love the sincerity of the lyrics. I like "Stuck", "Strong Enough", "I Could Be the One", "Security" and "Hesitation" but it is difficult to decide which is the best. Especially the variety of performance is something you cannot help admiring and being entertained by.

These lines from "Stuck" are so captivating:
I ain't trippin, I'm just missin you
I hate you, but I love you; I cannot stop thinking of you;

Extras: To me she is not really beautiful but to gain such success at the age of 17 is something to envy!

Here listen to her and find the lyrics. And this is a video of Stuck which I don't like much.

More of What?

2006-05-25T17:11:00.000+01:00

...: If you open up you GET more.
me: Get what more?

Is It Just Me? (2)!

2006-05-19T17:17:00.000+01:00

You see a dickhead somewhere and you have to tell him/her how irritating/irresponsible/inconsiderate his/her behaviour is. S/he answers back just to prove what a complete arsehole s/he is. Then you say something and leave, still more irritated. Just seconds later or sometimes minutes or even hours later you come up with an answer which could really shame him/her but ... So all you are left with is to kick yourself why you didn't come with the idea at the right time, you arsehole!