Absolute Random Nonsense

Jazz singer Angelina Jordan Astar has deep ties to Iran through her maternal grandmother, Mery Zamani. Born in Oslo, Angelina credits her Iranian heritage and her grandmother's background as a significant musical and artistic influence on her life. She won the 2014 season of Norway´s Got Talent, better known as Norske Talenter in Norway. After this win, and with more than 40 million combined YouTube views, she was featured in People magazine, Time , and other news outlets all around the world. In 2015, Angelina published the book Mellom to hjerter (Between two hearts) illustrated by her grandmother Mery Zamani. The book tells the story of Angelina’s meeting with a poor motherless girl in Iran to whom Angelina gives her shoes. In return the girl promises to always pray for Angelina. It’s based on a true story which Angelina cites as reason for always performing barefoot. "They were sea green ankle boots. I loved those boots. Right then and there, I felt as if a door in...

I didn't like Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". One reason was that it wasn't her song but a remake of Dolly Parton's.  Another was that I found the song rather lame in general. Lastly when I saw the video, particularly the end of it where Whitney Houston was sitting and singing, I used to think it looked like she was constipated and was using all her might to force her poop out. Watching the video now it doesn't quite give me the same impression.    

In Japan’s underworld of organized crime, there is of course the infamous Yakuza, but there are also foreign nationals, including Iranians. For more than two decades now, they have been dealing drugs on behalf of the lower rungs of Japanese criminals. An Iranian with insider knowledge of these activities explains how this came about. Pejman (not his real name) lived in Japan from the mid-80s to the late 90s. Today, he is in close touch with Iranian friends who still live there. All the details about the drug trade he shares in the following account were confirmed by a Japanese police source and a Japanese journalist interviewed by FRANCE 24 on condition of anonymity.  "A wave of Iranian immigrants headed to Japan after the Iraq-Iran war (1980-1988), when jobs were hard to come by. At that time, Japan was looking for foreign workers to do tough jobs. This attracted many Iranians from the lower classes, quite a few of whom already had criminal records back home. "However, it wa...

Going to school, albeit an international one, completely submerged me into Iranian culture. While on one hand I was able to listen in and absorb all that was being said and done around me, at the same time it gave me an idea of what my fellow students thought about the ongoings outside of the country. In one exchange, which I can’t recall whether was for or against the topic at hand, my classmate Arash asked the group of listeners gathered around him, “Do you know for how long each day they show cartoons in the US? Twenty-four hours!” For some this came as unbelievable or an exaggeration, however, others were convinced based on the signs they had already seen. Case in point on one weekend (which we quickly learned was a solitary Friday) when we were at a relative’s house, the TV was on and I immediately recognized a Saturday morning cartoon in between cartoons about a kid being lonely and singing to that effect. While most of the bit was dubbed in Persian, his singing of “I’m lonely, I...

Any fashion-conscious eye who has had a chance to see sharply fashion-savvy Iranian women in all their haute couture galore around the world (especially in Tehran), knows that Iranians are by far of the most fashionable sect on the planet. (In fact Iranians single-handedly made summer 2009, an inspiring and fiercely-emotional-yet-green one.) Now we’re delighted to introduce you to the first Iranian fashion designer, Shirin Askari, on the show of shows in fashion: Project Runway. In the words of Project Runway’s gorgeous German host, Heidi Klum: “In fashion, one day you’re in, and the next day… you’re out.” And we believe that as long as the fresh-faced designer continues to “make it work” a la’ Tim Gunn’s request, Shirin is sure to be in for a long time to come. The petite Askari won the second challenge: “We Expect Fashion” (and immunity for tomorrow night’s episode), which revolved around the designers creating a maternity dress for Hollywood actress Rebecca Romijn, on episode 2 of P...

In the mid 90s we were visiting a friend at their place. At one point he sat on a chair while his wife sat in front of him on the ground. As he spoke with us he would run his hand through his wife's hair and gently caress her head. Having gotten out of a bad breakup I watched them and thought to myself what a great relationship they seem to have and how nice it would be to have something similar although I knew I wouldn't as I had decided against ever getting married in order to prove a point.  

Majors Elham and Arezoo Barani are identical twins who, after immigrating to America to go to college, joined the Air Force. Both are dentists in the 436th Aeromedical Dental Operations Squadron here and recently were promoted to major in a dual ceremony. "It's natural to want to have the same career when you spend every moment together," said Maj. Arezoo Barani. "We wanted to become doctors since high school." "We do everything together," said Maj. Elham Barani. "We always have." The first hurdle the sisters conquered on their way to becoming doctors was the language barrier. When the Baranis came to the U.S. they knew little English. "We could say things like, 'hi, good morning, goodnight,' but nothing more," said Maj. Elham Barani. "We had no conversational skills." It took them just six months to learn English. "We watched lots of T.V., especially soap operas," said Maj. Arezoo Barani. "Actors sp...

In the summer of 1984 I went to the movies to see Gremlins. Unfortunately it was sold out and so instead we decided to watch Revenge of the Nerds. I did not understand much of the movie. For starters I didn't know what a nerd was nor was I familiar with the concept of fraternities and sororities. At the end of the movie when the black Tri-Lambs arrive I assumed they were the police. While I didn't grasp much of the story, however, I was very clear on the nudity scenes which stuck with me for years even though at each one I would get my baseball cap pulled down over my eyes until I finally removed it half way through the movie.  

Four Iranian Kurds who died trying to cross the Channel in high winds were members of one family who paid smugglers thousands of euros after two failed attempts to reach Britain, the Guardian has been told. Rasul Iran Nezhad and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, and two of their children, Anita, nine, and Armin, six, drowned as they tried to reach Britain by boat, according to a relative of the family and the Iranian-Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw. The fate of the family’s third child, 15-month-old Artin, is unknown, though French officials have said it is possible an infant also died when the vessel sank. The family was from the north-western city of Sardasht. Speaking from Sardasht, Iran Nezhad’s brother Khalil said he had last heard from the family two days ago. He said they had crossed from Iran into Turkey during the summer before proceeding through Europe to France. A representative from Hengaw said the family had attempted to enter the UK by train twice but fai...