Absolute Random Nonsense

An Iranian Netflix star and bodybuilder collapsed and died in a gym while reportedly running on a treadmill just a day after posting a tragic last selfie. Vittorio Pirbazari, 44, known for his villain role in Dogs of Berlin, passed away on Monday with fellow actor and filmmaker Said Ibrahim taking to Instagram to confirm the tragic news. Ibrahim announced the death of his friend, writing: 'Vito had a soft heart like a ten-year-old'. According to the actor, Pirbazari may have suffered a heart attack while on the treadmill but this is yet to be confirmed. In January, the Netflix star uploaded a series of selfies from a hospital after undergoing surgery. He explained his right pectoral muscle had been torn and surgically reattached. He took his 90,700 Instagram followers on his healing journey, but before his death, a near-fatal car accident set him back. Pirbazari miraculously survived the ordeal, but suffered a fractured vertebra, tissue damage, and both of his legs required sti...

When I found out Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo formerly was part of Missing Persons I decided to collect all of their albums as well. The first one I got my hands on was Rhyme and Reason which I picked out from the clearance bin in (I believe) Ames Department Store in Manchester, Connecticut in 1997. As I played the cassette in my car the first song, The Closer That You Get, began blasting from my speakers. I quickly and correctly noted that as she sung, the lead singer, Dale Bozzio, tended to let out a high pitched yelp from time to time.  

The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction and life sentence of an Iowa woman found guilty of killing another woman she considered a romantic rival. The high court on Friday rejected Shanna Golyar's arguments that evidence presented at her trial was too thin to sustain a guilty verdict and that her trial lawyer was so deficient that she didn't get a fair trial. Golyar, of Persia, Iowa, was convicted and sentenced last year for murder and arson in the death of 37-year-old Cari Farver, who was last seen in Omaha in November 2012. Her body has never been found. Prosecutors say Golyar posed as Farver online and by phone for years after her disappearance and also posed as other people confessing to having killed Farver. An officer testified that Farver had been dating Golyar's ex-boyfriend for some weeks when she disappeared.

When I was around 12 one day I began recording our voices on a tape recorder with my cousins. Everyone was very excited to have their voice recorded which resulted in everyone trying to scream louder than others in order for their voice to be heard. One such incident was one cousin (whose voice definitely got recorded) screaming  "من خرم من گاوم من ان سگم".  

I just packed and left. When I moved to New York four years ago I thought I had finally found a city I could call home. But in the end I suddenly found myself unemployed and unemployable ("Wow... you've worked with a lot of Eye-rainian news organizations, haven't ya?"). I no longer saw the skyscrapers as magnificent works of art. They were becoming oppressive. That cold, blunt New York attitude was getting to me. I called my Abadani classmate Hamid and asked him if I could crash at his apartment in Palo Alto, near San Francisco, until I find a job. No problem. My sister Iran gave me her old car and I was on my way. I love driving but only when I can listen to music. The car radio was broken and I could use my portable CD player only on maximum volume. I had been listening to Googoosh and passing through corn fields for thirty-something hours straight on Interstate Highway 80 West when something caught my eye. I thought I saw an exit sign for "Per...

 In 1987 someone once expressed that if you want to die, you can cry.  

DuMouchelles conducted its first sale of the year over the course of two days, January 16-17, offering just under 600 lots for those itching to buy something new at the start of 2025. The auctions were led by “The Letter,” a heavy impasto oil on canvas by Iranian artist Manoucher Yektai (1922-2019), which earned $93,000 against an estimate of $40/60,000, including buyer’s premium. The 1967 painting was an abstract floral still life with a letter and vase that came to auction from its original owner: a private collector from Bingham Farms, Mich., who purchased it in 1970 from the Gertrude Kasle Gallery in Detroit. The still life, which was signed and dated by the artist, included the framing label of Birmingham Gallery, Inc. Additional lots from both days will be highlighted in an upcoming issue.  

Kurt’s plan was to talk directly to his boss, thus he would march right into his office, past his secretary and into his personal space and get things straight with him. He certainly wasn’t counting on small talk with Mr. Bones’ secretary, but the way she called him over as he walked past her left him no choice. “Yes?” he impatiently answered. “Is this your first time in today?” “Yes.” “No, I mean I thought you might have stopped in earlier and then left and just come back now. But you’re saying you didn’t do that?” “Yes.” “So this is your very first time in the building today?” “Yes.” His voice rose. “So you just got in and came inside here?” “Yes, you got a problem with that?” “No,” she said defensively. “It’s just that I didn’t see you bringing in any lunch so that’s why I was wondering.”

An Iranian scholar at Yale said on Tuesday that she has been terminated by the institution after being barred from campus two weeks ago. The move was prompted by allegations on a lesser-known, largely AI-powered news site called Jewish Onliner, which said that Helyeh Doutaghi had ties to the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, better known as Samidoun. The group was sanctioned in the US and declared a terrorist group in Canada in October 2024. Helyeh Doutaghi's lawyer told Middle East Eye at the time that Yale appeared to be retaliating because of Doutaghi's pro-Palestinian speech. On Tuesday, in a statement posted to X, Doutaghi said she "will not legitimise a process driven by Zionist actors", referring to the pro-Israeli lawyer the university hired to question her. Yale, she added, has not "presented a single shred of evidence demonstrating any unlawful connection or act on my part. I have been terminated based on unproven allegations". "The leg...

Back in the 80s it was generally believed that with a smaller home and garden there was still so much to do.