Absolute Random Nonsense

Former Bundesliga coach Alexander Nouri is no longer working in football - but McDonald's. The 46-year-old former attacking midfielder, who featured for the likes of Werder Bremen and Holstein Kiel in his playing career, did his coaches badges in 2016 with current Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann, but has now opted to drop out of the sport. After retiring from playing in 2011, he coached at the likes of VfB Oldenburg and also had a brief period as Bremen manager, last coaching at Kavala, which he left in 2022. He is now a manager of two McDonald's restaurants; one in Herzogenrath, a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, and one in Kohlscheid nearby. 'Ultimately, both worlds are about bringing people together. In football, it's the players; here, it's the employees,' he told German publication Suddeutsche Zeitung. He added: 'The basic principle is the same: you have to understand who is in front of you, what motivates him, what he needs to perform....

Similar to last year the school bus would handle that and after asking around I found the bus that catered to our neighborhood. Unfortunately I failed to inform the driver of my presence, perhaps thinking he already knew, and so the first day back from school after all students had been dropped off, with much amazement he spotted me and turned around asking, “Who are you?” “I’m new at school. They told me this is the bus I should take.” “Where do you live?” “On Mirdamad Boulevard.” He was beside himself. “Mirdamad? I already covered that area. Why didn’t you say something when we were there?” I fumbled for an answer. “I thought you were gonna circle around back.” The ride back to Mirdamad was by no means spent in silence. The entire drive the driver went on and on complaining about my failure to speak up the first time we were in the neighborhood. When we finally arrived at my door step he got out with me, spotted a few random people on the sidewalk and began sharing his sob story with...

On Wheel of Fortune there was a girl that initially when I saw her judging by her looks I thought she was Iranian. But then when I saw her name was Helena Asherian I figured she's not. In her introduction she mentioned that she is a Georgia State University alum who tries to get on the Jumbotron every time she goes to a sporting event (whether it’s on the dance cam or hanging out with the mascots), and also does Persian dancing (her dance appears on the entrance video screen).  

Monday mornings are the worst. When my alarm went off at 6:00am today I was in the middle of a nightmare in which I was kissing Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream. I wish it were Sunday.  

Born to Iranian parents, Ashkan Karbasfrooshan spent some of his childhood in Spain before arriving in Montreal age six.  "Not losing sight of our privilege, we left Tehran somewhat comfortably in 1983 thanks to my father’s occupation for the Spanish embassy. We moved to Madrid, Spain. A year later, we settled in Montreal. I grew up in Canada from the age of 6. While my Nurture vs Nature manifest traits of Persian culture, I grew up as Canadian as someone who’d move to the country at such a young age." He grew up and lived all across Montreal. He ended up enrolling in Concordia’s business program, though he said he also had a keen interest in humanities. For work, he imagined becoming an investment banker. “I was really good at finance, but because of the dot.com crash and being ‘Ashkan Karbasfrooshan from Montreal,’ it wasn’t like Goldman Sachs from Wall Street was going to go: ‘Oh, let’s hire this kid.’ But I said: ‘The internet is the future. Just go work at a startup.’” A...

Tehran Von Ghasri, is a comedian, actor, writer, host with a personality and charm that’s larger than life.  Tehran is a Washington DC native and Los Angeles transplant, born to an Iranian immigrant father and an African-American mother.  Adding to his eclectic roots is the mixture of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Zoroastrian grandparents. Tehran and his comedy are as international, inclusive, and culturally diverse as they come.  Armed with degrees in Politics & Communications, a Masters in Econ, and a Law Degree, Tehran combines academics with street smarts to bring comedy, social commentary, and social activism alive on stage in the most fun and humorous of ways.   "I've heard the 'What are you' question my whole life. So my father is Iranian and my mother is African American. I am born and raised in Washington, DC. My father originally did not teach me Farsi. He was practicing his English. He wanted to learn English and so he spoke to me in English. And...

In the 9th grade Ali Shahbazyar brought me an English text and asked me if I could translate the poem. I took it home and went over it and translated it as best as I could. Others at home also heard it and commented on it particularly the line "Run, rabbit, run, dig that hole, forget the sun, when, at last, the work is done, don't sit down, it's time to dig another one". The next day after I returned it to him he gave me another poem that seemed to be about time.  Almost 40 years later I remembered part of the lyrics and decided to google the poems. I discovered that neither one was a poem but rather they were two Pink Floyd songs (Breathe and Time). Furthermore I realized the instrumental opening part of Time was used in the radio show تقویم تاریخ although that I also didn't discover until recently.

Mahyar Rahmatian defines himself as an AI artist who draws from his other artistic inspirations including poetry, animation, video, and music. He describes his artistic background as quite multidisciplinary, “blending photography’s keen observation, poetry’s soul and symbolism, animation’s storytelling, and music’s sense of rhythm when I work with AI.” He uses AI as a primary medium, but shares a common foundation with traditional artists - a foundation built on diverse artistic inspirations, intention, personal vision, and a love for creative expression.

In the summer of 1996, having graduated from college, I took a summer job for the Bridge Program which gave incoming engineering freshmen a taste of what was to come in the freshman courses. After the summer, the program director, Teresa, kept me on board for the new school year where two nights a week I would tutor engineering students and on weekends I would instruct middle school students in pre-engineering classes.  In the spring of 1997 I applied for the summer Bridge Program but did not hear back for a while. I finally decided to go and ask in person. The secretary told me that the positions had already been filled. She asked if I wanted to talk to Teresa about it but I declined. As I walked away I thought to myself she probably would have rather given the position to current college students. But then again that did not prevent her from hiring me the summer before or throughout the year. I had recently bought the Neurotic Outsiders' debut (and only) self titled album with it...