The Notwist Concert, Los Angeles

Picture courtesy of Dr. Ali Ayazi

Finally I went to a concert after more than two months. It's such shame that you live close to Los Angeles and don't enjoy many good performances! However, my good excuse is most concerts are on weekdays and those that aren't are so expensive. Anyways, on Wednesday, I went to The Notwist performance at Fonda, Hollywood.
The Notwist is a german Electronic/Indie Rock band. They started with alternative rock first and after a while switched to a more complex progressive music. They have an awesome skill in using different and sometimes weird electronic instruments. The band's background in rock mixed with progressive electronic music make their style unique.
Now I understand why O.S.I’s Kevin Moore asked Console, Notwist’s main keyboarder and programmer, to remix the song “Go” for their new LP. Console,the second guy from left in the picture, was using two remote controllers to change the flow of music coming out of the magic box infront of him!

Let go

“Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.”
Gloria Naylor.

Camel, Rajaz

I have been away and was looking for a good funny post subject but nothing seems funny these days. Politics and economy have fed people up including me. Anyways, yesterday I was looking into my music archive where I found Camel’s 1999 album named “Rajaz”. Rajaz is an Arabic noun meaning cry out desperately as a result of misery (That's why I shouldn't be a translator!)
Camel’s music is all about nostalgia with great guitar, keyboards and Indian Flute solos. No trash technical solo, like that of Dream theater (They look at their instrument as a finger exercise machine!) but soft and melodic like nostalgia itself. Even the names of the albums are nostalgic: Stationary Traveler, Dust and dreams, Mirage, Harbor of tears and Moonmadness.
Rajaz , my favorite album, can be considered as Andy Latimer, the singer and guitarist, solo album rather than a Camel project. There are less colorful keyboards and more minimalism involved.
Unfortunately, Andy is being treated for cancer but the good news is that he is doing well. I hope he goes back on stage again so that I can see Camel once in my life.
I don't know what the heck this video is all about. Just ignore the family pictures and listen to the song itself! Beautiful lyrics and melodies. Enjoy :)

Morcheeba - Enjoy the ride

When you see someone's profile on the net, e.g. on facebook, what do you look for first? of course after digging into the pictures! Info page? Education? Interests?
I go for info page and the first thing I look at is the music and movies. I think people's interests represent their state of mind. So, a nice person who listens to Britney Spears and likes chick movies doesn't impress me that much even she/he is very well educated. Remember: Superficiality is a state of mind. it's not a function of education, culture, etc.
The first time my cousin, who is almost completely American, added me to his friend list on facebook I found Morcheeba. There are only few female artists including Portishead's singer Beth Gibbons that I like. However, I had to share this song with you. Good stuff :)

Plans for the weekend?! Yes, I'm going hiking with some friends in San Jacinto State Park

American Dad new episode: a funny version of Mulholland drive and Lost highway

After Family Guy, my most favorite TV show is American Dad. It's about Steve, a C.I.A employee who is a typical shallow American dad with lots of patriotism and stupidity. His wife is a typical dumb blond woman. Their daughter is a hippy-like girl who is always fighting with her family over liberalistic issues. Son is a geek who suffers from lack of social skills. Additionally, they have a alien living with them who was found by Steve in a C.I.A. lab accidentally, and a gold fish with thick German accent.
My favorite character is the alien named Roger. He is so mean, self-centered, and always looking for ways to hurt people. He is also very passionate about being a movie star. Moreover since he should be at home most of the times so that C.I.A doesn't find him, he has developed a drinking problem to overcome his boredom.
In this episode, Roger finds himself having two characters. The scenes and the story is a mock copy of Mulholland drive and Lost highway of David Lynch. Very funny :).

P.S. 1) If you live out of united states, you can't watch this video here but you can check http://www.veoh.com/search.html?type=v&searchId=751116770802543423&search=american+dad for American Dad episodes.
P.S 2) As a matter of fact, I did not generalize American men or Blonds or Geeks. These adjectives apply to the characters of this particular show.

Iran's Winters, Dirty Sandwich Nostalgia and Mayer's Special Ice-smelting Recipe

Last time I went to Iran, I missed California for some reason. Especially its nice weather, sunshine, and cleanness. Have you realized how grey Iranians are? We like to wear grey clothes, buy grey cars. I think grey is the second most luxurious color for Persians after black. Now, imagine I went to Iran after three years during the coldest winter ever. Tehran's international airport (Imam) was covered with snow. There was only one lane open. The city was all dirty grey in addition to the cars and clothes for the snow. Every where I looked I saw filth and dirt. Tehran is only beautiful on the very first day of snow shower. Everywhere is white, a rare color on the streets of Tehran. Just a day after snow, everything is covered with dirt with a grain of engine oil and asphalt residues. The second you leave the carwash other cars take care of yours with some new grim. Add huge amount of salt the municipality uses to melt down the snow to the grim. Actually it's not salt; it's some snow-smelting recipe I suppose the Mayer found himself. No one knows what it is exactly! It’s like a mixture of dirt, sand, small stones with a grain of salt. He thinks salt is only for the taste of the mix! One year I remember they ran out of salt so they added some waste ground plastics and lots of needles to the mix!
Iran’s winters are the best time to eat. Especially when you're on vacation. Everything tastes great. The favorite part of my trip was what I call the nostalgic dirty sandwiches included but not limited to (!) "Ferry"'s royal and "Seeb", "Baharan"'s "Morgh-o-Maghz”, cold-cuts by "Hayda", "Tochal"'s "Vizheye steak", "Khaneh Kabab"'s roasbeef*, "Narenj"'s cheeseburger with lots of mayinaise on all of them. Don't forget Persian style pizza and pasta, “deezy”, momy’s special macaroni and “Loobia polo” :)
My advice: Before you plan your trip, see your primary physician to make sure you are in good health condition. Also, try to lose some extra weight to make room for the new fat :)

*Before I came to the U.S. I always thought roast beef was some kind of well-cooked beef marinated in garlic and onions and shredded on a piece of bread with lots of mayonnaise. The first time I ordered roast beef here in America, it disillusioned me big time. I still prefer “Khaneh Kabab” or “Park Sandwich” make my roast beef rather than Frank’s!

Forgetfulness

My memory goes back to the past where I barely remember the details. The more I think the less I recall. Images seem to be fading everyday. Nostalgia is the sorrow of forgetfulness. It does not depend on where you live. Whether you are an immigrant or living in your own county. Nostalgia is all about forgetfulness.

V.P. debate

Everyone knows how NBC corporate media, that people are doomed to watch because it's free and most good TV shows in America are first premiered on it, has close ties to the Republican party.
After the debate, NBC started to adore Palin using it's paid experts(!). There was a Peggy something lady who started her review right after the debate with "She(Palin) killed tonight"!
There was only one person from NPR radio who criticized Palin and her interview was followed by 3 reviews in support of Palin. One of them was even hoping Saturday night live would not mock Palin anymore!
Actually, what these paid experts pointed out was all about Palin's surprising performance after all the dumb interviews with NBC starting from a week before! You really need to watch those.

What I see is a dumb politician being presentable as VP candidate because she made a debate that was expected from everyone except her!
Poor America

I really need to google something

Today is one of those days. One of thoooosseeee days!
I am sitting in my cubicle by the computer.
I finished my assigned project yesterday and my boss doesn't expect me to submit it to him today. There is really no point in early submissions or taking that extra mile these days because no promotion is coming in the near future!
I have played well enough with other models and analysis I have from previous projects.
My desk is as clean and arranged as it can be.
I checked all my emails from YAHOO, Gmail, and my UD account.
I sent a reminder message to my advisor about that journal paper that I bet he hasn't looked at it yet.
Nothing is going on facebook, YAHOO360 or Orkut. Probably because it's Thursday and everyone is fed up with this week and waiting for their dear Friday to come tomorrow.
I have even spent my shopping budget for this week on some clothes and a pretty nice wireless audio station so that I transfer music wirelessly from my laptop or MP3 player to the audio receiver at home (look how lazy I am, BTW!).
I have also read all the online newspapers and blogs that I like and it's just 10:43AM!

So the only thing that can cheer me up is to google something interesting. BTW, it's really hard to find one. I have done pretty nasty searches in my spare time before that you can't think of!