Absolute Random Nonsense

In the world of science, Harvard geneticist Pardis Sabeti is a rock star. She also fronts a guitar-heavy alternative rock band from Boston. She was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1975, where her father, Parviz, was a high-ranking official in the shah’s government. Two years later, on the cusp of the Iranian revolution, the Sabeti family fled to the United States, eventually settling in Florida. “My father took one of the toughest jobs in the government because he cared about his nation more than himself,” Pardis says. “His courage and conviction have always driven me to want to make a difference.” In the early 1980s, Pardis’ mother, Nancy, bought some old textbooks, a chalkboard and a couple of school chairs and set up a makeshift summer school in the family’s home for Pardis and her sister, Parisa, who is two years older. Parisa, assigned the role of teacher, put together lesson plans and gave out report cards; Pardis directed the “performing arts” and helped run phys ed. The wide-eyed, to...

One day as everyone was at Khanom Joon’s house in the living room and Ardi and I were sitting in the family room, a cockroach darted across the floor. We quickly cornered it and placed an empty matchbox on top of it. We then slid the matchbox’s exterior sleeve around it thus trapping the cockroach inside. We then began thinking of ways to wreck havoc with the cockroach. Although we had no specific plan in mind we both agreed that we should somehow involve Nina as the target. “Let’s just call her in here and ask her to open the matchbox,” Ardi suggested. “No that’s too obvious. She’s gonna know that something is up.” We scattered some matches around the matchbox. We figured that eventually everyone would come to this room and seeing the matches and matchbox on the coffee table, someone, hopefully Nina, would attempt to put them back in the box and thus release the cockroach. Scrutinizing the plan we found a number of flaws in it. For starters there was no guarantee that Nina would be am...

The Palme d’Or went to compatriot Jafar Panahi, but Roustaee’s feature won praise as did the performance of its star Parinaz Izadyar. She plays Mahnaz, widowed mother of two in her 40s and hardworking nurse, who rises to the challenge of a series of devastating personal tragedies.  “She finds herself almost in quick sands… but instead of retiring into mourning, she becomes an agent for change and improvement, not just for herself, but also for a younger generation around her,” Roustaee told the Deadline Studio. “Since I was small, I was surrounded by women like Mahnaz, family members, friends, relatives. She is composed of all these women,” he added. Izadyar is joined in the cast by Payman Maadi (A Separation), Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy (The Circle) Soha Niasti (The Two Lives of Sepideh) and and big screen debutant Sinan Mohebi, in the role of Mahnaz’s unruly teenage son.  Mother and Child is produced by Iranian film company Iris Film. Paris-based Goodfellas is handling internat...

"My ninth birthday fell on a school day, a bright and clear-skied Tuesday in September. I expected my mom to bring cupcakes to school during lunch, a tradition I loved because for one day each year, I knew I wouldn’t have to feel like the weird bookworm, the Iranian American, the outsider who couldn’t kick a soccer ball to save his life. I would be celebrated. But that year, no cupcakes. I went home to a dark house, disappointed. I was too young to know what it meant that my birthday fell on 9/11. People are always surprised when I tell them my birthday is Sept. 11. They’ll raise their eyebrows, or just flat-out say, “Ouch.” Given that I’m also visibly Middle Eastern, I get it. 9/11 was a day that changed America forever. It changed my life forever, too. During recess, boys would ask me why “my people” had attacked the Twin Towers. I was taunted and called names, like so many other Muslim and Middle Eastern people at that time. I was already used to feeling like an outsider. Now I...

I once had a math debate with a girl where I thought I would win for sure but ultimately she blinded me with precalculus.  

Diddy has said he couldn’t “function without” his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, who was allegedly so instrumental to his “freak offs” and alleged sex-trafficking enterprise she is being called the Ghislaine Maxwell to his Jeffrey Epstein. As Sean “Diddy” Combs sits behind bars after being denied bail, and the feds pursue their investigation into his alleged trafficking venture, sources told the New York Post that “Kristina would know everything,” as she was more like his “manipulator-in-chief.” Combs was arrested on Tuesday and indicted on three counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution, and sources allege to the Post that Khorram helped him recruit sex workers—some underage—just as Maxwell was convicted of doing for Epstein. Diddy himself has emphasized Khorram’s role in his daily doings. In 2020, he wrote that she “keeps my world twirling” and “makes sure that I smile every day, and I don’t go into those dark places.” One way...

When I was younger my dad once threatened me, "You've got 6 months to get yourself a job or get out of this house." Luckily my career panned out nicely.  

One time we came across the movie Sahara starring Brook Shields. It was already the evening when we began watching it and by the time it ended and we continued killing time just hanging out, it was close to midnight. I offered to drive everyone home afterwards. As we piled up into the car something occurred to me. “It’s pretty late and we’re probably gonna get stopped and asked where we’re going. If I say I am dropping you guys off he’s gonna wonder what we had been up to this late. We can’t say we were watching an illegal movie. So we need to get our stories straight.” “No one’s gonna be stopping us,” Ardi said. “Let’s just go.”   “Ok but if we do get stopped, let’s say we were all playing a computer game. There’s nothing illegal about that.” “Fine,” Ardi replied. “Wait,” I continued. “What if they ask us what we were playing? We can’t have different stories. We have to coordinate this.” “No one is gonna ask us these stupid questions. The cops probably don’t even know what a compu...

Sorry to this man, but The Traitors season 3 cast had "no idea" who Sam Asghari was when they all arrived to the castle. The model/actor has a few onscreen appearances on his resumé, including Hacks, NCIS, Black Monday, and Mel Gibson's action-thriller film Hot Seat. But Asghari is best known for being Britney Spears' ex-husband — a fact that went over the heads of his Traitors costars. "I didn't know Sam," Wells Adams told Entertainment Weekly. "I know who Britney Spears is, but I don't know some random ex of Britney Spears." And Adams wasn't alone. Bob the Drag Queen revealed he felt the exact same way in a recent YouTube livestream. "I did not know this man was Britney Spears' ex-husband," Bob said. "I don't know him, I do not know this man ... He's a nice guy — to me. He might not be nice, I don't know. I can't vouch for anything beyond that." In fact, a cast member actually thought Asghari wa...