Akbar Radi

I first go to theater as a serious watcher in high school times. Then most of groups play foreign acts. Lately , thanks to one of my friends, we discovered Iranian writers and find a good group directed by Hadi Marzban and saw 3 or 4 plays written by Radi. I like them very much due to his cultural and national point of view.
Anyway we lost him recently in sadness.
I enclose here the news from TehranTimes

TEHRAN -- Iranian playwright Akbar Radi died of cancer on December 26 at Tehran’s Pars Hospital. He was 68.

Akbar Radi was born on October 2, 1939 in Rasht, Gilan Province. His family moved to Tehran when he was still a child and he continued his studies in the Iranian capital.

In 1955, he became familiar with the works of author Sadeq Hedayat and began to write. His first story, “Dead Mouse”, was published in the Tehran daily Kayhan and he later became interested in playwriting.

In 1959 he participated in a story writing competition held by the Tehran daily Ettela’at and won first prize for his story “Rain”.

But his love for playwriting was still within him and he penned his first play “Blue Hole” in 1960.

Around that time he met poet Ahmad Shamlu, who liked “Blue Hole”.

From the beginning of his career in the field, his skill in playwriting and his power with words drew the attention of the giants of Iranian theater. His works were compared with the plays of Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen.

Radi himself even believed that in some of his plays the track of Chekhov’s style of writing could be observed.

Radi regarded his birthplace Gilan as his permanent domicile and had a nostalgic feeling about the province. He had great interest in the memories of his childhood and depicted them in his plays with scenes and sets like big houses with several rooms, wood ceilings, carpets from Kashan, gardens with lots of flowers, and even foggy weather and rain.

His play “Melody of Rainy City” is about his beloved Gilan Province. His feeling for the place is so strong that he named one of the main characters in the play after the province.

“Melody of Rainy City”, “The Descent”, “The Fishermen”, “Death in the Autumn”, and “Slowly with the Rose” are some of his plays.

His plays the “Glorious Smile of Mr. Gil” and “Beneath the Passage of Saqqakhaneh” were recently staged by director Hadi Marzban.

He was last seen in public early this year at Tehran’s City Theater Complex during the closing ceremony of the play “Glorious Smile of Mr. Gil”.

Inside Man

In this 2006 movie, we see a hostage situation in which you see a detective (Washington) tries to persuade the bank robber (Owen) to release the hostages, and a powerful woman (Foster) about to keep a secret unfold.

Although in this movie you hear the name of "Dog Day Afternoon", it is far too different. In that the bank robber do not know what to do next but in this the bank robber do as scheduled and know what he wants.

Lately when you saw a film and the characters wanted to refer to something they mentioned a book but in these days they mention a movie. In other words, written literature is gradually replaced by a literature based on movies and TV shows.

Any way I can call this movie a "who's the boss game". Every main character in the movie is going to show "I am the boss." The Captain, the bank robber, the detective, the old banker, the mayor and the powerful woman all tries to prove that the situation is under control by him/her, even the Albanian women entered as a translator shows it by smoking a cigarette.

Spike Lee always refers to race problem in his movie. I think the turban scenes are good examples of how different the people react to a piece of clothing.

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a powerful modern movie. It projects the view that achieving rational values is possible if one thinks and acts -- even when trapped in a corrupt, brutal environment.
I like to say just some words about it.
being patient,
thinking rational ,
developing hobby,
developing goals,
making good friendship,
get rid of problems,
benefiting the consequences,
enjoying music,
having always hope, and
get busy dying or get busy living

Babel

I would not believe that it is a Hollywood movie if its director was American.

You are faced with a simple story divided into three sub stories happening in three different countries. It is so wisely mixed up that you can not find the chronology until you reach the ending scenes. Then you notice that the story first begins in an Arab country then in Japan and last in USA-Mexico region.

The first scene catching my eye was the strange look on the tourists face when entering the village, a place that no tourist bothers himself to step in. It is a remarkable shot contrasting the east and west people.

Also, the next point that had my attention was that about more than half hour of crying. Every character in the story cries but each cry is so different and strange. It was the best composition that you can imagine yourself in place of other people with different cultures and trying to feel the same.

I like Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel a lot and one of the reasons is that it is not a single-culture story.

Practise mobile manners

We've all seen - and, worse, heard - the people who offend against this.

Probably most of us have been guilty of it ourselves - although maybe not to the extent shown here.

But the etiquette of using a mobile is pretty simple, really - just think of it as the opposite of great sex.

Keep it quiet.

And keep it short.

A Qoute

Be a philosopher but, amid all your philosophy be still a man
David Hume

SE7EN

I saw se7ev for the third time translated in Persian and transmitted by the Iranian TV. I expected to see a full cut version of it and fully changed dialogues in some scenes. However, I enjoyed the move for the third time and saved the remaining four time slots for the future.

Seeing this mo I for the first time was very shocking. As story goes on, you cannot guess what will be happen. Although after a couple of killing it reveals the most important motive of the killer but the story and also the movie do not want the audience to guess in advance what is going on.

When I saw it shortly afterward for the second time I considered the dialogues more carefully to get the idea better. It worked out some story puzzle made in my mind. Clearly, the joy was not the same as the first but it was different.

If a movie left you thinking after the The-End sign, I consider it a good movie. I can say after a decade and for the third time that it is still a good movie.

This time a frame of the most important scene, the killer pointing gun to the young detective’s head in the rain, caught my eye. This part satisfies all the things the director was after: No clue to recognize the face of the killer, showing the power of killer, and in my point of view, the influence of the killer to choose the story line.

There was also another point regarding to the titling of the movie. At the end you saw Kevin Spacy’s name not in the beginning. This is another director trick to hide the killer.

Anyway, there is always some stories and believes about the numbers. The number Seven is believed to be a holly number. As it is sporadically used in almost all cultures such as Seven Sins, Seven days of a week, seven trays (haft sin in Nowrooz ceremonies in Iran and Persian-oriented region), seven seas, and so forth, the movie showed seven killing in seven days according to seven sins. [And this is my seven paragraph too ;)]

Constantinople

The Basilica Cistern, also called the Yerebatan Sarayı or Yerebatan Sarnıcı, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that still lie beneath the city of Istanbul, former Constantinople. This is the only place that let me feel that era in istanbul. It was built in the 6th century, the age of glory of Eastern Rome, also called the Byzantine Empire.

Istanbul

My getting to here has a long story. Anyway I just post this letter from a guest house in Istanbul near Hagia sofya to remember this moment.

Cuttlas

I read a column about this remembering animation in one of our city dailies and translated some parts as below.

This animation which is made based on comic strips with the same name is an art phenomena; it uses primitive lined characters of our childhood and by all means is a magic of line.

Story of each episode is Cuttlas fighting with bad men, especially his main foe, Bad Jack. Jack is known by his cylinder hat and pistol. Cuttlas was slim with a cowboy hat. Their fight concluded with a thousand dead lined men spreading their blood all over the frame.

This 1992 animation is made by a Spanish animator named Calpurnio (b. 1959, Spain). There is a saying: "there is always a big name behind a simple but effective art work.

A quote of Albert Einstein

“If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.”

The hidden memory

The Hidden(1987) is a story of an alien who can use human body on earth to live and satisfy his needs but he is not alone. Another alien is after him for revenge and terminating him.

The first time I saw this movie was a couple of years after the release. I was young and passionate about movies and Sci-Fi stories. The mixture of three elements of Sci-Fi, Police story and action made me a good feeling about this film and it remained in my memory.

Anyway I saw this movie last night. I have to admit that it is a regular movie. In spite of wining some unknown awards, I now rate it 2.5 from 5.

Time is a complicated matter to me. Sometimes, time is good when is past and Sometimes it makes things worst.

Delicatessen

Delicatessen (1991) is a French black comedy by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon.

Delicatessen is set in an unspecified time and place with a post-apocalyptic appearance. Food is in short supply: grain is used as currency and animals are scarce and extincted. The story happens around a bizarre group of neighbors living in an apartment building, over a butcher's shop, who pay the butcher a weekly rate for both food and board. However, the food they eat is in fact human flesh, as the butcher regularly murders the workers that he hires to do odd jobs.

The hero of Delicatessen is Louison, an unemployed circus clown, who is the latest part-time worker to move in. He develops a romantic relationship with the butcher's daughter, Julie, while trying to survive constant attempts on his life. He is ultimately rescued by a vegetarian underground terrorist organization who calls themselves the Troglodists.

I like to thank Gog who suggested me this movie; I found it today and have seen it some hours ago. The opening of the movie is like a complete short film. The first 5 minutes of the movie caught my eyes in many aspects especially cinematography. Such a conversationless opening thoroughly depicted the main root of the film.

The main idea which can make it Sci-fi is shortage of food. After a while I recalled Soylent Green where they made biscuits from dead human flesh. Another thing I want to mention is that whole the story at last conclude within itself. All the answers are in the closed circuit of the butcher's apartment. There are two main out-neighbor elements, the post man and the terrorists. The point about them is that they enter the story mostly at the end and they fight wit each other. The directors used them well in conjunction with other neighbors and made some comic scenes.

at last but not the least is the cinematography of the film by Darius Khondji, an Iranian cinematographer who has been in Hollywood recently. it is one of his early but perfect works.

Ignore,Laugh, Fight & Win

Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi
Painting by Vikas Kamat. Acrylic on canvas, 2003

First they ignore you.

Then they laugh at you.

Then they fight you.

Then you win.

--Mahatma Gandhi

I first heard this quot from Bob Geldof yesterday when he was commenting on G8 summit.
there is a strange relation between what Gandhi said and what I released in my life. I mean which ever aspects of my life, education, work and social-political. I clearly remember the way my teacher in university treated me in his class. I notice these phases in my current job and I feel bad about this words regarding to my country.
Any way if anybody reads this post I would appreciate his comment on the quot and the relation to our life in My Country Iran.

What if

"The lake house" is a fantasy movie released in 2006. It is directed by Alejandro Agresti and Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock played the lead roles. Its story is about love and loving a person in different place and different time!

All the movies based on time travel or being informed of events in the future (or even past!) use a medium. In a TV serial it was the newspaper of tomorrow. In the movie "Frequency" it was a radio and in this movie it is a mail box in front of a lake house.

The lake house has some special characteristics. It is built on lake water, water flows underneath but the house is there. It is very symbolic. Another characteristic which is also covered in the dialogue is that it has no walls and mostly it has windows. The house could itself be the medium but it was not and I liked that.

Anyway writing a story which is going to play with time is hard, especially when you want to use butterfly effect in it. The movie try to make us beware of that at that tree scene and make it well but it could not satisfied me in the other scenes.

What if I could change my life by writing to a girl living some years ahead of me? Just imagine!

Reli-Fi

"The Fountain" is directed by Darren Aronofsky. The movie released in 2006.It is his next movie after "Requiem for a Dream".
I can't say I like this movie. I may rate it 2 or 3 from 5. If I want to compare it with his previous work, I have to say I am disappointed. I expect a very better film.
The movie starts by mixing three different characters from different eras. At the end of movie, you can understand these characters belong to past, present and future. The base character is a man (the same man in tree eras) and the main stream is love. The man from the past loves a woman who is hard to achieve. The man from the present loves a woman who is achieved but there is a fear to loose. The man from the future loves a woman who is wishfully going to achieve if the mission accomplished successfully. At the end there is another mixing of the characters that let the viewer choose the ending.
Any way, when I look the movie up in IMDB, I noticed it is also categorized as science fiction. In Sci-Fi you are looking for a base resumption which the whole story is happening around it. I can't find such resumption but I find that the resumption is philosophical or mostly religious. The resumption is metempsychosis or transmigration of souls. This is the main idea of religions or ideologies like Buddhists, Yoga and Eckankar. You can find a single soul in those three men of times and is somehow depicted in the last scenes. So I may categorize this file as Reli-Fi(religious fiction) more than Sci-Fi.

Fallen Art

Fallen Art (Polish Sztuka spadania) is the name of a 6-minute, animated short film written and directed by Tomasz Bagiński. It is his Second film. In 2006 it has received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award.

Plot:

Atoll, An old, forgotten military base somewhere in the Pacific. Soldiers who lost their minds, due to the hardships of past missions, and exemplary officers the Army can't yet get rid of are sent there. There, far away from civilization, laws and rules they nurture their insanities.

Sergeant Al cultivates his love for young and brave soldiers.

Dr. Friedrich cultivates his talent for photography.

And the old, mentally lost General A creates his art. He uses neither paper nor canvas. He attempts something completely different.

It is very beautiful. You may find some clues but the whole idea is amazing. If you consider it as a philosophy, it will be so easy to define the leaders' actions.

Respect

I also attended "the dark side of the moon" tour by Roger Waters in Dubai. I was like most the Iranian attendants looking forward to hearing a word about Iranians from Roger. Instead we hear some good phrases about Arabs before "Leaving Beirut".

The day before I was listening to "Me or him" from "Radio K.A.O.S." and I noticed at the end of track a sentence in the back ground. The man says: "Do you really think Iranian terrorist would have taken Americans hostage if Ronald Reagan was president?"

I know lots of foreigners and home citizens. I respect them for their role in human society. It is thoroughly a personal and individual respect and I hope there is such respect mutually. But from a nation point of view I saw no signs of respect between the two countries.

Any way I have no clue if Roger calls America home or not.

I wish you ...

Wishing health, luck and fortune is an old tradition, especially in New Year's Day in any country. It is interesting that most people making the wish simultaneously with another physical action, here are some examples:

In Brazil, if they are in a beach city, after midnight, people go to the beach, jump seven waves and throw flowers in the sea while making a wish.

In Korea, on New Year's Day a lot of people go to the sea to watch the sunrise. The beaches of eastern Korea are filled with crowds of people. On seeing the sunrise, people make their new wishes.

In Mexico, many people usually gather with their relatives and friends to celebrate the New Year. Some have some special customs. For example, they turn on the TV and wait to see or hear the bell ringing twelve times. Each time the bell rings, they eat one grape and make a wish.

In Venezuela, Some people write wishes in a letter, and then they burn it to make sure that nobody can read what they wrote.

In Iran, on Nature Day(سيزده بدر, the 13th of Farvardin when families go to nature) people knit grass after making a wish.

Anyway when I want to make a wish I suddenly recall "Three wishes" from Waters. In his song you can see how simple and unreachable the wishes are.

Reached back for the bottle
And rubbed against the lamp
Genie came out smiling
Like some Eastern tramp
He said hey boy what's happening
What is going on
You can have three wishes
If you don't take too long
I said well
I wish they all were happy on the Lebanon
Wish somebody'd help me write this song
I wish when I was young
My old man had not been gone
Genie said consider it done
There's something in the air
And you don't know what it is
You see someone through a window
Who you've just learned to miss
And the road leads on to glory but
You've used up your last wish
Your last wish
And you want her to come home
Genie said I'm sorry
But that's the way it goes
Where the hell's lamp sucker
It's time for me to go
Bye
There's something in the air
And you don't know what it is
You see someone through a window
Who you've just learned to miss
And the road leads on to glory but
You've used up your last wish
Your last wish
And you want her to come home

Depressed!?

You can analyze a system by looking at the action and reaction between elements inside it or just observing those relations with other systems outside.

Human beings are amazing creatures by themselves, I agree; but there are some drawbacks to them when you consider the actions and reactions of it as a system. Let's approach it from another point of view. Human beings have got two states: wake and sleep. No need to talk about sleep state cause there is no worthy sub states to be mentioned. In other hands, in wake state there is lots of sub states worth to mention.

In order to simplify those sub states, I set a definition rule named 'Need' to define the sub states. Wake sate of human beings can be basically subdivided to at most number of hands fingers. One needs something to eat, something to wear, someplace to stay, someplace to defecate and someone to mate. You can simply gather all other minor needs like rest, shelter, or live in someplace to stay. Although now we can not imagine ourselves nude in public but also something to wear keeps us warm and protected.

I think still these five basic needs rule the human being life. There is no there needs and if there is, they are artificial. There is no place foe creativity or motivation for a pure goal. There is no ideal way for leaving. All the moves are somehow toward satisfying those five, even these writings somehow and that’s the bothering!

Nowruz نوروز

Celeberation and happiness are necessary for the life of each normal and hopeful human being. Additionally, paying attention to the beginning of the year has a meaning its meaning is for us to know that a year of our age has been finished and another year is beginning a year is gone and another year is coming. It is to remember the gone year and evaluate our goodness and bad behaviors it is to plan for the coming year and to think for goodness. It is obvious that all these behaviors should be accompanied with good well intentioned and benevolent emotions as well as happiness and hopefulness.


see this

300 Cartoons about Persia

I lately saw the 300 movie trailer. it bothers me some how. I planned to write about it after I see the movie. Today in a weblog I read something about it and i liked the idea. here is the link and the content:

300 the movie is an ongoing collaborative art project featuring art by
artists using the theme of 'ancient Persia'. Driven by an admiration for arts,
and united by a common concern about the barbaric and demonic portrayal of
Persians in Frank Miller's graphic novel and
the movie 300, we have come
together to voice our objection in a uniquely artistic fashion. The call for art
has just been released and the initial gallery will soon be set up. If you are
an artist and would like to participate, please send your art to submit at
300themovie dot info .You can join the growing list and link to us by copying
the following line of code on your blog or website.
300 the movie

Living In a world like that

David R. Russell is a professor at English Department in IOWA university. His interests are in writing in the disciplines and professions, international writing instruction, writing assessment, and the history of writing instruction in education--all from the perspective of cultural-historical activity theory and genre systems theory. Recently He has been creating and researching online multi-media case studies as environments for writing to learn.
There is two Quotations from him:

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

We live in a Newtonian world of Einsteinian physics ruled by Frankenstein logic.

Voices in my head

This is an album from a Polish rock band called Riverside. After some years of listening to different music now I can say I like another band and that’s Riverside. I heard another album from this band called Second life syndrome. It is another good album but I am fond of writing about Voices in my head.
This album consists of 8 tracks. The last 3 tracks are live performances. I think of them as just some filer tracks to make the time of album in the standard value for releasing; although this cause do not effect the tracks in any way. Each track has a unique feeling for me. It is hard for me to express my feelings- and that is why I did not write about The Dark Side of the Moon Live- but I quote a few statements about each track below:

1. Us: freezing the joy of being together in your mind
2. acronym Love: Eating pills to sleep but the dreams will disturb you more
3. Dna Ts. Rednum Or F. Raf: I can't understand the title but I like the music very much. It is just like the times I go to bed and everything -happened or will happen- attack to my mind and I try to escape from them.
4. The Time I was daydreaming: regret from the result of challenge between telling the truth and face the reality or just pretend everything and try to keep the situation as is.
5. Stuck Between: it is begun in a style very similar to Aviv Geffen but what a pity it is more electronic than progressive.

Some feelings need music to be expressed

Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to nought
Or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone
The song is over
Thought I'd something more to say

Live!

Thanks to all my virtual friends in internet society; after 10 days with no real music around, I listened to a live acoustic performance of Steven Wilson in Tel Aviv.

After Listening to almost a lot of studio recorded albums, I enjoyed very much this live performance with different mood and strange performance, full of fun and improvising and engaging audience. I can not guess the atmosphere of the place but the performance just reminds me of those friendly parties we had at our 20s.

In my opinion the interesting thing is that you can hear a dozen of porcupine tree songs just in pure rhythms with the lyrics. I almost drowned in the whole coloring of songs music and each individual instrument –if I can- that I forgot the lyrics. Sometime Steven mentions some point about songs and other stuffs like using fifteen guitars in blackest eyes. It is awesome particularly when you hear "Feel So Low" with Aviv Geffen performing a part in Hebrew-I guess.

Anyway there are a couple of songs Steven says he needs a piano to do them. We wait for a piano acoustic performance.

One more thing, I can't get what he says at the end of each song, if any body knows, I will be much appreciated to know that.

Love taught me to lie

...

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't want to scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know

At last I found some time for listening music, O by Damien Rice. I listened to a bunch of Irish singers and song writers but Damien has got a beautiful voice and emotional songs.
He uses guitars and cello mostly in his songs-I like cello very much. The songs may be folk but you may hear jazz or pop or even rock but I like the simplicity of music with those two instruments and little use of drums or percussion.
It is emotional and lovely. I like to listen it when I am alone but if you like it can make a good background music when you work too.

Code 46(2003)

It is another Sci-fi and love story movie. This time the assumption is men are enable of deleting the memory of an event from anyone's mind.
It is not a bad film. Story telling is a bit different. The near future architecture shown in the movie is very beautiful and acceptable. Vast empty spaces in the airport with lots of light tube on the ceiling and the sound of see waves is remarkable.
A wise and good usage of multi language greetings is used all over the movie-even Persian. Maybe some viewers can not understand the dialogs if they had no background of other foreign languages.
Anyway everything around human being will change but love will be still a questionable matter!?

Childeren of Men(2006)

This a Sci-fi Movie from Alfonso Cuarón. The Idea like all other Sci-Fi Stories is reversing one of obvious facts of life. Here, Humane race looses his ability of fertilization. the next generation is going to see his extinction amongst whole the other problems we see today like global warming, pollution, terrorism and illegal migration.I like the idea very much (apart from that part showing only Moslem's demonstrating).

I also liked the role of Clive Owen, it was very different. I may suggest him for the next 007. Michael Caine acted very justly. He managed to show an old man in new time still attached to his first years of youth. some one else could play the role of Julianne Moore but Claire-Hope Ashitey as Kee Played very well. There is a sequence of good scenes from the city war section.

I recommend it to all my friends who like to Watch Sci-Fi movies without any glory or space shuttles.

Before Sunrise (1995) ---> Before Sunset (2004)

It is an odd coincidence that I saw "Before Sunrise" on one of satellite channels then I found the "Before Sunset" in my shelf, not yet seen. I am very glad that I had not seen the later because when I saw it the other day it pleased me very much.

"Before Sunrise" at the beginning seemed to me a normal and popular movie. I was sitting at my chair and think of it as an American boy, Jesse (Ethan Hawke), say hello to a European girl, Celine (Julie Delpy), then Bang and Bye. But the movie really shocked me as movie continued. They began to talk and talk about everything they like and enjoyed to be with each other and all the things they do is freely and respectfully chosen. They were so attached to each other in that night that they don’t even exchange address or phone numbers to each other but promised to see each other six month later.

Although the base of the story seems so fictions and fantasy to me, the conversations worth a lot because they talk about everything two couple often talk about. And the subjects and the words are cleverly chosen and sequenced that I shall recommend it to all of my friends.

One of the scenes reminded me of the classic movie "The Third Man (1949)" when Jess and Celine ride on The Ferris wheel in Vienna.

In "Before Sunset", the page turns. Jesse is back again in Europe, not in Vienna but Paris to talk about his book. Celine goes to the book shop and they meet each other after 9 years. Now they -having an unbelievable intimacy- begin to talk. This time, the subjects and words are completely approached different. They talk about life, love, marriage, religion and world's problem. The whole idea of each person is the same as 9 years ago but broader and experienced.

Those long takes are astonishing. Delpy and Hawke start from the first turning into a French alley and with no interruption or changing they walk along to the next turning. Another Interesting thing about the movie is that it is real time. The time elapsed in the story is also the run time of the film.

The last common interesting thing about these two love story movies is that you can not put an end to the movie.

May be we can see another sequel after 9 years when they are in their middle-ages.

Calendar

I really like astronomy. The Stars and planets above our head in night sky are astonishing. One of the related topics in astronomy is calendar, the system which people in countries use to calculate the days and month and other events in a year.
We just passed the first day of new Gregorian year. Today is the first day of Islamic calendar. We will reach to Chinese New Year's Day in a month. And in March there will be Persian New Year's Day (نوروز).
Mostly the old calendars are lunar type. A lunar calendar is a calendar oriented at the moon phase. The only widely used purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar, whose year always consists of 12 lunations.
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun. Gregorian and Persian calendars are examples of solar calendars.
Chinese calendar is lunisolar, The reason for this is that a year is not evenly divisible by an exact number of lunations, so without any correction the calendar year will drift with respect to the seasons.
The interesting question is always popped: Why this day is New Year's Day?
Gregorian calendar decided the birth of Christ (actually a day between two most saying) and Islamic calendar decided the first day of great journey of Prophet Mohammad.
Chinese calendar uses a bit complex mathematical and astronomical calculations to determine the first day. In one sentence, the Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.
The Persian year starts at vernal equinox. (The time when the sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are of equal length, marking the beginning of spring.)
The Persian mathematicians used a simple and universal method for the calendar which impress me too much.

Blackfield II

After five years, Wilson and Geffen managed to record another studio album. The first Blackfield album consisted of 10 tracks. On year 2004, they published their first album again with three bonus tracks, one of them "Where is my love?" is now reappeared in the new album, Blackfield II. This new album is also consisted of 10 tracks.

• Track listing:
1. Once
2. 1,000 People
3. Miss U
4. Christenings
5. This Killer
6. Epidemic
7. My Gift of Silence
8. Some Day
9. Where is My Love?
10. End of the World

From the music aspect, it's the same kind of sound and quality as the first album and more piano than usual. I really like a lot of this album (mostly Epidemic, My Gift of Silence and End of the World).

From the lyrics aspect, it reminds me of the No-Man's 'Together We're Stranger' album. All the lyrics Core is love and its consequences (happiness, joy, sad, jealousy, anger and void).

Minimalism

Minimalism is simply defined as:

"A style of art in which the least possible amount of form shapes, colors, or lines are used to reduce the concept or idea to its simplest form"

This style influenced music by the slowing down of musical processes through the repetition-with-variation of short fragments.
In literature that aims at reducing the elements in a text to a bare minimum.
there is a track by "Porcupine tree" in the album "In Absentia (2002)" that bares this kind of minimalism in its lyrics.

Lips Of Ashes

Paralysed
Lips of Ashes
Synchronised
Blue vein crashes

Touching you inside

Idolised
Black Eyes fading
You and I
Connection failing

I drill down inside