from afar
when i think of iran, there comes back to me a void.
a separation.
a place of endless beauty, yet no hope.
so much of it senseless.
one mistake after another
that has burned the lives of millions
for over four decades. but the land had not had relief,
even before that.
i am not there.
i am only there in memory —
once as a child, once as a teenager,
and then only through the memories of others.
now my connection is through the intricate cuisine.
i lost a friend there.
i don't know where she is now.
i have family there. worry persists.
i don't claim any solution without tradeoff.
it's not my place.
i don't blame others for their passions.
any solution leaves scars.
but i know it cannot stay like this.
a population that loses all hope is not sustained.
so i dream of better days,
from comfort,
ten thousand miles away.
The Argo Prequel as experiment, not directed by Ben Affleck
I released KHOOBI in 2011 as my only effort under a Creative Commons banner (this is a whole other discussion). It is a fiction. Watch it because it was formed by humans. Also, to ease that confirmation bias about THOSE people, because, not everybody are THOSE people.
Full disclosure, I thought Benny Affleck did well with Argo. Aside from what my mother called, “continuous long face”, his directing was wicked shhmmarttt. The film was everything you hope for from Hollywood these days, and it delivered. It was “cute”, but in the best and sincere usage of the word.
I get certain criticisms from people about the film not being “Oscar Caliber”, although I disagree. Have we so soon forgotten the Oscar selections?
Our collective expectations of Hollywood are relatively low, and it’s hard to find fault with a completely competent film. Calling the film, this year’s CRASH, is uninformed and emotional. But, then again, that's not a fair assessment of CRASH either.
Of course, in the the cinephile world, it’s hard to compete with Michael Haneke. The sheer breadth of emotionality, structure, and attention to form in Amour is breathtaking. And, Lincoln, although a talk fest, is a damn good film.
In the end though, who cares? Really. Are we hung up on a contest of subjectivity? Only time dictates greatness. That’s societies true measure. And, unfortunately, that takes time.
