Golden Feathers of Simurgh!

I need your golden feathers
I need you to be here
Or
To take me with you there

Just this once
Be real
So I can call upon you
Without fear

For the time has finally come
Here, now,
I need your golden feathers
To warm my Siberian night
And
To rain on my deserted sight

I need your golden feathers
To sing
The song of daylight
Into
My sleepless night

Just this once,
So I don’t take fright
In seeing the light;

I need your golden feathers

Golden Feathers, Sanibel Island, April 2008

*Simurgh

Spring In Princeton

I missed my train at the train station in Princeton Junction. In the 20 minutes I had to wait for the next train I inhaled these early blossoms of spring; one of many times that I was happier for having my camera with me. Do you carry yours? Read: 5 Reasons to Take Your Camera Everywhere

Tiny White & Pink Blossoms, April 2008

From Pink to Blue

Back in Princeton; tired, cold and drowsy; You would feel the same coming from that beach to Princeton.*

Exhibition:
Brooklyn Museum has a very tempting exhibition, which I will try to catch up next week: © MURAKAMI works of Takashi Murakami, the most famous of contemporary Japanese artists: he is considered a link between fine arts and media-animation.


Film:
I just finished watching Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie, The Conformist (1970) based on the novel by the same name by Alberto Moravia (1951). The movie focuses on the psychology of new bourgeoisie in fascist Italy, pretty much like most of the movies Bertolucci made in 70’s. The thing that astonished me was the scenic quality of the images, which is also apparent in the transitions between each two plans. Although this picturesque quality is visually fulfilling, sometimes the symbolism is too obvious – even for Bertolucci it is too much I think.

These days I am very much into American Film Noir and I am watching lots of movies in this genre. Soon I will write about them. Just a quick advertisement is needed here; you don’t need to be a movie lover to enjoy this genre; the good thing about them is that you don’t even need to try to follow the story, you just sit and enjoy watching a good film. If you want to start from somewhere, I suggest you start with Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder in 1944. I cannot stop myself from saying this: it has the most amazing dialogs one can ever imagine.

Flower Ball (3-D), Takashi Murakami, 2007

* From Pink to Blue, by RN, Sanibel Island, April 2008

My Day Break!

We are in Sanibel Island, Florida for the weekend. I just got back from a long walk on the beach along the Gulf of Mexico. There is no need to say that it is humid here, my frizzy hair and sticky body scream it out loud. Last night I finally finished and sent out my article for PCCSD Peyk magazine on Qajar Royal Portraits; I will give the link as soon as this issue comes out. I had a short piece on the previous volume on Abbas Kiarostami's photographs. (English, No. 114, March & April 2008, Peyk)

In the past two weeks my New York trips were full of joyous moments and activities. I went to Courbet exhibition at MET as I had planned, and it was truly worth the time I spent there. I will write about it in another post. I think most people know, but it doesn’t hurt to say it again that Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has the pay as you wish policy, which means that you should pay something, but it can be as little as 1 cent. If you are a student I really suggest you to take advantage of this and pay as little as you wish. Of course they have a suggested fee that is written all over their website and you can see it everywhere around the museum’s information booth, and most people pay that amount without even knowing about the pay as wish policy; three years ago the suggested fee for students was $7 now it is $10.

On my other trip to New York, this week, my friend and I met with two New York based filmmakers, Hamid Rahmanian & Melissa Hibbard, (aslo his wife). They are editing their latest film, Fining Home (2008). I strongly recommend you to see their short films, Shahrbanoo (2002) and Hamid Rahmanian’s first feature film, Day Break, 2005 (Dame Sobh). It was a very pleasant meeting. After that we went for a quick lunch and then we engaged ourselves in the best thing one can do in New York city: walking and talking with a dash of gossiping.

I haven’t slept for two days now, and it is near my day break so, have a great weekend.

Study of the Nude, by Julien Vallou de Villeneuve, 1850's
This was one of the photos in Courbet Exhibition at MET

A Personal Game

A Personal Game: playing against horizon with Serra's piece,
R.N., San Francisco, 2007

Ballast, Richard Serra, 2004, USCF San Francisco
Just to show you how Ballast looks under undisturbed light,
I took this photo in early Autumn, in the afternoon, 2007

*Just felt like playing. At first I thought the colors are soothing; not any more, They are pushing me to the edge.