Due to all sorts of lacks of access, including the lack of access to the web and lack of access to a stationary chair [ =P ], I didn’t get the chance to post about what I’ve been up to in the past week or so… now I’m going to give you a general overview. And by the way, this is all aside from the 4th of November events… since I did already manage to post enough about that on Facebook…..

As I mentioned before, we were planning on seeing Lynn’s short film that was featured in the Roshd international film festival… and we did manage that, with a bit of adventure that is. The movie theatre showing this specific movie was “on the other side of” Tehran… non of my friends knew how to drive us there and even the driver of the cab we called was semi-uncertain about the location… so it was a bit funny, driving around and asking people where we were supposed to go. But we did get there at the end, and Lynn’s film was definitely worth the trip. =) Some very nice films were shown this year, and we managed to see a number of them in various movie theatres.

Unfortunately none of my favorite movies this year were from Iranian artists. With all the talent and intelligence that clearly exists in the Iranian youth, it was quite a bit sad to see that most of their movies were rather weak. Once upon a time, a couple of really amazing Iranian movie directors made some fantastic movies that were showing the pain and the hardship in the lives of the people living in small villages of Iran. Since then, it is as if a large number of Iranian artists think that if they just pick up their cameras and go take some movies from Iran’s small villages, that’ll make a great movie. Excuse me, NOT SO!

On my quest to see as much as I possibly can of the new developments in Tehran’s exterior and interior, my friends have been taking me to some interesting spots. TanTan took me to see a number of shopping malls and restaurants and such… One of the more interesting places she took me to, was this mall called “Milaade No”. Now the mall itself was rather good looking, but that’s not the interesting part of it. On the 3rd floor of the mall, there are 2 face to face shops that have some very cute decoration and jewelry stuff. The 2 stores are ran by 2 gentlemen and 1 lady, and all 3 are deaf. And guess what, in my entire shopping experience in Tehran in this trip, I hadn’t been treated so nicely and politely in ANY stores anywhere. With all the unfortunate behavior you keep running into these days, in the truly damaged society of Tehran [which I will write more about, later], this was a breath of fresh air. WAY TO GO FOLKS, LOVED YOU! I’m planning on going back there again for some serious shopping…. ;)

Mahyar finally took us to this café that he’s constantly talking about. It’s called the “Gramaphon” café, and I can see now why he’s so into this place! It’s this tiny little café that hardly has enough room for a few tables, and it has one of the neatest decoration I’ve ever seen. It gives you this really warm feeling of being in a very old and very familiar place… it’s difficult to describe, so I’ll just upload the photos I took. ;) I guess the nicest part of it all is the company…

Pehgah and her dad showed us around this shopping mall called “Tirajheh”. Another very nice looking new shopping mall in Tehran… but this one I really don’t recommend going to! Why? Because…. uh…. how do I explain this. Let me give you an instance of what may happen in there. My mom was with us that day… and the very first shop she went into, she nearly got into a fight with one of the attendants. Here’s what it was like… it was this perfume shop, and the first thing about it that took my attention was that one of the attendants was standing there behind the cash, shaving his arm!!! Yeah. No kidding. I mean… ewww!? Then my mom went in to ask about a couple of perfumes she’s into, and before she finished her sentence, the other attendant was already packing up the perfume to give it to her… no mention of the price, no question as to whether she actually wants to buy it or not… and my mom was a bit surprised, so she mentioned to the guy that she’s asking a question… and the guy goes “Oh, so you’re just asking questions? You’re just here to ask questions then??” SOOOO BLOOODY RUDE! I’ve not seen behavior like that anywhere in this world before… and heck I’ve been to a few places! Well you can imagine how my mom reacted… and the only thing I could do was to go in, and pull her out using all my bloody might.

So well, above was an example of what I mean when I say that the society here is sick. Due to all the pressure that the people here have undergone in the past few years, they have changed. Not that things like this didn’t exist in the past, but in the 6 years that I hadn’t been to Iran, the change has been HUGE. A large part of the society have became rude, uncaring and extremely indecent [so sorry to say…]. There needs to be some sort of a change… and that’s what people were shouting for, on November 4th….

Anyway…. tomorrow evening I’m flying to Shiraz for a short visit. Haven’t been there in nearly 12 years or so. Will take tons of photos…. =) I’ve taken a large load of photos so far, and I’ll do my best to upload them soon.

And something else… I’m searching for my dad.

Labels: Aasemoon, Art, Friends, Iran, Motion Picture, Tehran, Thoughts, Travel