Today's film: Snow Man (Adam Barfi). This film is about an Iranian man living in Turkey who's trying to get into America. To achieve his goal, he must dress as a woman. It was banned in Iran (cross-dressing is not considered to be appropriate behavior plus the film addresses the desirability of women who wear hijab). The film was multi-lingual as well: Farsi, English, and Turkish are spoken throughout. I linked y'all to the page that offers it with English subtitles if y'all are interested. It was very funny and truly showed what life is like for an Iranian in Turkey working to get the US visa (I'm speaking from personal experience as I have been in that situation myself). Also, here's a link to Bringing Down the House of Sand and Fog.



On : 6/23/2004 9:39:30 PM Samwise Tangee (www) said:

hey, I scored a 4 on that Iranian quiz!....... = | I'm, uh, sort of at a loss on what to do with it, though. Maybe I'd better remain a proud man of Chinese descent. Besides, EVERYBODY knows that everyone came from China, and as they left, they became "barbarians!" =) ...yes, I know, I will be slapped sooner or later...anywho, you know, my ancestors were royalty, I believe it was during during the Han dynasty! ...till my ancestor, who was an emissary to the emperor, decided to build a tower around his governing city instead of a Buddha...oh well!

On : 6/24/2004 5:04:32 PM prettydoc (www) said:

Sam, we share a common bond of having powerful royal ancestors until they screwed themselves over. Be proud of your dysfunctional ancestors! Oh, Sam, I would be happy to make you an honorary Iranian, but then I don't know if that would be a big honor, haha. I say just be proud of who you are, and we are all so proud of you, Sam.

On : 6/24/2004 11:37:27 PM gp (www) said:

i saw khandahar last night. i believe it was directed by an iranian.. but it was a documentary* about an afghan woman traveling in afghanistan during the taliban regime. not a great movie, but a good view of women in islam.

* not really a documentary, but filmed like a documentary and with horrible acting.

On : 6/25/2004 12:45:37 AM Sammy (www) said:

Hey, I just confirmed my ancestral history with my dad...it turns out my ancestor/emissary to the emperor was actually quite innovative building bridges across rivers and hard-to-traverse areas (only more efficient and faster than the high five construction...but I'll save that soapbox for another day!). However, building bridges were apparently frowned upon during that oh-so-entrepreneur-friendly administration, and was given the boot from Peking (Beijing) to the Fujian province, specifically the city of Xiamen, a treaty port-city that was opened after the British victory of the Opium War...that's government for you!...But in a sense, I'm happy (one might say thankful to God) that they were kicked out, as during the hostile takeover of our Commie "friends" it was easier for my grandparents to escape to the magical islands of the Philippines...interestingly enough, my great-grandpappy was a well respected doctor, who did charitable wonders for the poverty-stricken community, and to this day, the entire city still remembers him and will treat the Tan as if we were royalty

...all in all, ancestors are cool, and I want to be one when I grow up...oh, right..there's the whole getting married and having children and grand children part...bah! minor details!

Sorry!....maybe I shouldn't be commenting on people's blogs at 12:48 in the morning anymore

On : 6/25/2004 10:57:10 AM prettydoc (www) said:

gp, my parents saw Kandahar and they strongly disliked it as a film so I never got to see it. Sam, very cool history lesson. You're very diplomatic when in charge so of course you're a royal. My royal ancestor was a prince who ruled Mashhad (essentially founded the city as we know it today). He built the first school there as well as other infrastructure. His children continued to rule until the fall of the Qajar Dynasty in, I believe, 1929. But I still get to keep the title of Princess so that's pretty cool.