Leila...

is a nice movie. Did u know that the actor & the actoress got married after the movie?
Ali Mosafa (actor) is the grandchild of an Iranian poetess & both his parents are university lecturers. Leila Hatami (actoress) is the only daughter of our great movie maker Ali Hatami. The movie is rather old & the first I watched it, I cried my eyes out!

I'm still alive!

Well, Don’t Go Making Promises You Cannot Keep!
That’s all I have to say about the whole situation right now in Iran!
Tomorrow will be a day to make better or worse!
& oh yeah... the bomb didnt hurt me although I had been around where it exploded earlier which caused a major heart attack for my mom!

Presidential Election:

Well, honestly you didn’t think I would forget something as big as this, did you? It had been about a year that we have been getting ready for this election. Since Parliament elections last year & the change toward Islamic hard-liners, we’ve been expecting this election to be a huge step backward in our politico-sphere.
During president Khatami’s era, social participation in political affairs had been reducing day by day. That could be due to disappointment the nation feel…. “There never would be a change anyway,” one of my friends told me, who had been in President Khatami’s campaign for his first election with me. “Khatami’s a great person but he is no rebellion.” He continued. & this is how most of reformist’s fans think about the situation in Iran.
Most people I know gave up voting a long time ago, which led to hard-liners victory in parliament elections. They say no to the system by not voting & participating in political matters. I’m not saying I would vote or not, but I don’t know if Boycotting the election would solve anything. On the other hand, participating won’t change the basics either. Another friend says: “Boycotting will only let you blame others for a decision even they themselves didn’t make”. He is right in a way… the boycott only omit the responsibility.
Mr. Hashemi (Iran’s ex-president) is participating in election & he seems to have the greatest possibility to win by the polls taken by governmental system. However these official (& since distrust-able) polls show that more than 50% are not participating in the election. This number is very vague yet everybody is expecting him to win.
His most powerful rival Dr. Moeen had been Education Minister during the infamous military attack to the University of Tehran. He is a very knowledgeable gentleman & seems to be a man of high caliber but unfortunately, he is not a decision maker like his fellow politician Pr. Khatami. This factor makes most hesitant reformist fans doubt his ability “I don’t want another Hashemi era for sure” declares a friend “but I don’t want a Khatami era either”. With this trend of boycotting the election by reformists, I personally doubt he can pull off in the election.
Mr. Ghalibaf is…. What can I say about him? He is a Military man, a pilot & has a Ph.D. (!) (Although he doesn’t have the Masc.)…. Ironically, he was in charge of Tehran Military force during the attack to university. Well, he has a very important privilege! He looks good. He is one the most handsome middle-aged men I’ve ever met. & he is elegant. Yet hmmm… a handsome military president is creepy….
Mr. Larizani, ex-head of Governmental Media, is another candid. He is a true politician, an Iranian Churchill. He seems to be a good manager too but he belongs to hardliners & well, most hard-liner fans will vote for Mr. Hashemi, so there is almost no chance for him to win.
Mr. MehrAlizade is the ex-head of Sports Organization & the recent Iran’s National Football team victory is a very good propaganda for him. He has proved that he is a very good manager but I doubt anyone even give him a fighting chance since he is in reformists campaign & reformists are trying to back up Moeen to defeat Hashemi.
The last but not the least is Mr. Ahmadinejhad, the Mayer of Tehran. Honestly, I don’t know much about him. He had been a university lecturer & he seems to do fine for the year he’d been the Mayer. There is only one point about him, which might be a major problem. He is well to put it bluntly, ugly. It’s not that physical beauty is that important, I know better to be this much superficial yet; the matter is he can improve his looks a lot by just combing his hair & dressing more elegantly. My cousin decided to leave the country if he wins the election. “People will think Iran is a big zoo,” he says, “if our president looks like a monkey”

FOOTBALL

Yes baby! We won! Iran is the first country to join the world-cup 2006 in Germany! They did it!
Last night was a very exciting night for Iranians all over the world. We tend to be in-love with soccer & Iran is called Asian Brazil for having so much football fans. Last night Iran national team played against Bahrain in AZADI Stadium, Tehran. We only needed 1 score out of six scores possible from two remaining matches. & Iran defeated Bahrain 1-0 & scored three scores & yeah we’re on our way to Germany!
ZENDE BAD Iran! That is ‘long live Iran’ in Persian. I’m so proud of my country. Going to world cup may be nothing for some teams but for Iran, it is a huge step. I pray for my national team success in the world cup.

Where on earth I have been?!!!!!!

Nowhere special actually! I had been where I have always been, doing what I always did. However, there had been one BIG change! My computer needed a heart surgery! Therefore, I had to back up ALL my files & programs & then we format the hard & re-partitioned it. & right after we were done, I went & plugged my modem into the electricity outlet! & that’s how my poor PC almost died! We had to take him to CCU for intense care & finally he got back today. He is still weak & sometimes passes out while working but we’re coping ;) .
So this is how I disappeared for more than a month. I’m back though & hopefully I will be able to update more. I’m about to get an internet account over at my job but I’m not sure I would be able to update the blog from work.
My boss had been the pain in the neck (sorry) & he gave my account password to Apple-of-his-eyes (who is one of the employees) & wanted to make me share the net with him. Now I usually don’t get annoyed & I don’t care about small things. Yet internet usage (especially in Iran with all these filtered sites & such) is a very private matter & is not something I would like to share. What if the other one feels like checking the taboo sites (like political sites) under my name & get me into trouble for something I haven’t done? I’m not saying that he would do that, but I know for sure that he is chatting on Yahoo & it’s against the contract. Therefore, I asked MR. Moody Boss to give that account totally to him, insisting that I can connect to internet from home. Unfortunately, Apple-of-boss’s-eyes is not permitted to use Internet yet so my boss kindly (!) asked me to let him use mine although I had changed the account type & such. However, when I told Mr. Apple-of-boss’s-eyes he got upset (!) & he is not talking to me since!
Anyway, I am back & there are many issues to talk about presidential debates & campaigns, Election Day, & FOOTBALL!