ihateithere5150

A long overdue hello, and a hasty goodbye...

2008-10-25T19:22:19Z

I find it ironic that in my first blog here in 10 months, I'm saying goodbye to Livejournal. I shall continue to blog (often, I hope), but it'll be elsewhere on the interweb:

vinividivoloindomiumredire.blogspot.com

Those who have supported me so far (both of you!), please read the new blog and comment, etc. I'll love you forever, even of you don't, but I rather you did.

Ta.

Now THIS is funny!

2007-11-03T01:59:41Z

Especially if you're into baseball:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-a-rod-mudhens&prov=ap&type=lgns

I wonder what ol' Maxwell Q. Klinger would say about this. :o)

A Personal Update!

2007-10-21T21:29:15Z

A couple of weeks or so ago I ran into my former roommate who still lives in the old apartment. He told me the mailman had just given him a bunch of my mail earlier that day, some of which were from immigration. We met later that night and he gave me a bundle of envelopes, telling me I should have put in for a change of address.
I informed him that I had done so just before I went to Cincinnati and thanked him for the delivery. In case you haven't guessed it by now...
My green card was in an envelope among the bundle, post marked late May.
Thus ended that miserable saga.

In other news, I've been accepted into the M.Ed program in adult education at VCU. I will begin in January, specializing in adult literacy.

I can't wait. It should prove to be an exciting adventure.

Exclusively for my dearest 'Reteva'!

2007-10-15T21:40:17Z

Ok, I'm not even going to look this up. Instead, I'm relying on you exclusively to enlighten me as to what all this "Butoh" business means:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/arts/dance/15kazu.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin

(I didn't need a login, but others might)
The picture is priceless to me, if nothing else! :o)

Genocide: Apathy Will No Longer Do

2007-10-14T02:55:05Z

I know lately I've been posting a lot of links, but some issues just beg to be brought to the attention of all of you:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7043411.stm

Read all the way, then let's discuss.

I laughed so hard I cried!

2007-10-10T23:12:32Z

And not just because this is from "The Onion":

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nasa_announces_plan_to_bring_wi_fi?utm_source=yahoowidget_rss_1

Enjoy! :o)

Even God Hates the Yankees!

2007-10-06T15:09:07Z

Or at least it seems that way:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmGkHqBca6ZlsutU6QBbp1w5nYcB?slug=dw-aldsbugs100507&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I figured we all could use a little distraction from... hell, everything else.

Time to play... Musical Ass-Kissers?!

2007-09-17T14:50:06Z

So, is the new French president a replacement for Tony Blair as the European tool of the U.S?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6998118.stm

What sayeth thou, mon ami?

Yet another forgotten people

2007-09-08T18:14:19Z

After being declared an "outpost of tyranny" by the U.S. in 2005, Zimbabwe's plight goes unnoticed by all of those capable of helping.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6982183.stm

Perhaps the lack of exploitable resources is where Zimbabwe went wrong?!
I wonder.

It just shows to go you

2007-09-04T21:45:04Z

As David Mammet put it.
This relates directly to my previous post:

http://tv.yahoo.com/show/253/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20070904:tv_goldberg_vick__ER:66890

So, what do we think now?

A full day of doing nothing

2007-09-02T17:23:23Z

Yesterday, I resigned myself to festering on the couch and watching whatever was on the tube as I seethed and internally raged about the fact that my replacement green card is now going to take three to six months to arrive.
As I surfed the channels, I happened across the Virginia Tech University's opening football game of the 2007 season. There was much in the way of remembrance of the victims of the April 16th tragedy on the VTech campus, with numerous coaches, alumni, and even a few survivors sharing thoughts and memories about the tragedy.
One such alumni was Bruce Smith, a hall of fame defensive end and a football legend who was coincidentally wearing a 'Vtech Legends' t-shirt, adorned with the numbers of legendary Vtech football players, including the number 7, formerly belonging to Michael Vick.
This brought the attention of the sportscasters to the fact that Vick's name and number continue to be displayed prominently in the stadium and the football facilities at VTech, honoring his accomplishments as a VTech quarterback and acknowledging his generous donations to the school after his move to the NFL, including the 'Michael Vick Hall'.
All this was of course secondary to the day's events, and was only mentioned in passing by the broadcasters. But it did remind me of the previous Monday night preseason game between Vick's former team, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Cincinnati Bengals, taking place in Atlanta.
The game was filled with shots of fans still sporting their number 7 Vick jerseys, even though earlier that day, the man had plead guilty to many atrocious charges involving dog fighting, etc.
The curious thing was that all the people shown by ESPN wearing those jerseys were black. Even the Pulitzer prize winning journalist from Atlanta who was interviewed by the sideline reporter (and did her best to make excuses for Vick's behavior) was black.
Here in Richmond, when Vick appeared for his first court date a few weeks ago, the crowd outside the courthouse was divided between black and white. Whites called for Vick's head, while blacks cried foul, proclaiming his innocence.
I should be surprised, but I seem to recall Marion Barry's re-election as the mayor of D.C. after he was busted by the F.B.I. while during a cocaine addled orgy with prostitutes his first time as the mayor.
What I would like to know is this: Will Vick ever be regarded simply as a man who has committed a crime? Will his race ever stop being an issue?
I kind of know the answer, but I want to know what all of you think.
Holla!

Your call

2007-08-11T19:37:40Z

The man says the war in Iraq is progressing as planned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6942239.stm

What do you think?

Get ready to laugh!

2007-07-31T17:11:05Z

I figured this should be good for a chuckle:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6924273.stm

will they ever learn?

And now, for no reason at all...

2007-07-30T17:12:38Z

This past Sunday, I bowled for the first time in my life. I walled off the OCD in my brain, put on the oddly colored rented shoes, and began bowling with a 10lb., large ball.

I began with a 76, and peaked at 105, tweaking my left hamstring in the process.
That is enough for now.

Next, I plan to attempt to swing a baseball bat and hit a baseball. Then I can cross that off the list of things I've never done as well.

We'll see how things figure.

Questions...

2007-07-26T17:01:44Z

Ok, we all know history is cyclical in nature. To that end, here are a few things I've been wondering:

- Will Putin bring back 'The Iron Curtain' and be known as the one who re-unified USSR? Things sure seem to be headed that way. He is sure-handed and ruthless, and his open defiance of U.S. and Britain smacks of the old cold war days.

- Will the next president of the U.S. be the one to plan a troop withdrawal from Iraq and be consequently assassinated? So far, the war in Iraq has closely followed the path of the Vietnam conflict, and we can be sure that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be a deciding issue in the next election. Will we have another JFK as a result?

- Will the Arab people ever realize the dire straits they are in because of their tribal past and unite as a people? The benefits will be enormous, and it will even bring about the end of a few of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

What do you all think? Is there anything you'd like to add? Talk to me people.

Yet another thing to unsettle my mind.

2007-07-07T18:25:18Z

I've notice a certain peculiarity (other than the usual Richmond ones) since my return to Richmond this past Sunday. There seems to be a disproportionate difference between the price of regular and 'plus' gasoline, the next step up from regular.
See, the prices for gas used to go up in ten-cent increments: 2.80 for regular, 2.90 for plus or premium, and 3.00 for super. This past week however, I've been witnessing gas station signs that read thus: 2.79 for regular, 2.86 for plus, and 2.95 for super.
Or, sometimes there is a 20-cent gap between the price of regular and plus.
I am freaking out over here. Monk wouldn't put up with this, why should I?

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

2007-07-07T17:52:34Z

Here is my letter of intent. Refer to my previous post for instructions, and thanks again:

I intend to use a Masters degree in Adult Education, in conjunction with my B.A. in English, to help adults in need of obtaining a better and more functional understanding of the English language achieve that goal. This may include adults from non-English speaking countries who have migrated here, or those in parts of the U.S. who, due to factors beyond their control, have never achieved literacy.
However, while I feel that literacy is essential to all adults, I have especially strong feelings about the emigrants’ need to have a working knowledge of the English language due to my own personal experiences upon moving here with my family in 1992.
You see, ever since our arrival in the United States, I have seen firsthand the difficulties my parents face on a daily basis because they lack the necessary English language skills. My father, a CPA in Iran, has had to work basic hourly jobs because he doesn’t know enough English to take his re-certification exam, and my mother can barely put a sentence together in English, so she simply refuses to leave the house by herself. The only reason we survived as a family was because my father had put me in an international school during our stay in Tanzania where, due to my complete immersion in an English-speaking environment, I learned to speak English within a few months time, and continued to expand my knowledge of the language during our stay there.
But I was all of fourteen years old at the time of this immersion, and more perceptive to the challenges of learning a new language. The various elements of my education more or less just fell into place. In order to teach an adult the finer points of a language as complex as English, I will need to have certain skills and be knowledgeable in certain areas of the education curriculum, which I hope to obtain in the Masters of Education program in Adult Learning here at V.C.U.
And while I understand this program to be challenging and highly involved, I feel that due to my experiences with my parents after arriving here, as well as my aptitude in, and the sheer enjoyment I received from, helping other undergraduates with their English homework during my own undergraduate studies, I’ll be successful in this program. My strong desire to help others avoid my parents’ unfortunate circumstances about which I spoke earlier will also be a great driving force behind my success in this program.

I will need your opinions soon...

2007-07-04T19:00:15Z

Here's the deal:
I'm currently working on my letter of intent for the VCU School of Education's M.Ed program in Adult Learning (with a concentration in Adult Literacy), and will hopefully by done with it by the weekend. I will post it here as soon as it is done, and would LOVE for all of you to read it and give me your critique. The application is not due for a little while, so I'll have ample time to alter it in accordance to your (hopefully) constructive criticism.
I thank you all in advance, even if you choose not to participate. After all, I appreciate your friendships anyway, so the thanks will still apply.
:o)

"Flight of the Conchords" Saves the Day!

2007-06-18T03:29:19Z

My otherwise uneventful day took a bit of a sour note at about 5:30 est this afternoon when Barcelona failed to become 'La Liga' champs due to Real Madrid's better head to head record against them, since they both had the same amount of points.
So damn close.
But then, at 10:30 pm, "Flight of the Cochords" premiered on HBO, and all was well again. I recommend this show to all who want to watch an original, wonderfully quirky, and very funny show.
It just might be the reason to get HBO.

ihateithere5150 @ 2007-05-27T18:47:00

2007-05-27T23:24:17Z

I have been meaning to write something about Beckham's eminent arrival in the MLS (with the Los Angeles Galaxy) for sometime now, but hadn't. However, bit of news hit the wires a little while back which put me in the mood again.
For those of you who are unaware, the Galaxy paid somewhere around quarter of a million dollars to acquire Mr. posh spice (who are we kidding here folks?), who had been let go from the British national squad after their abysmal performance in world cup '06. He cried for a while, I'm sure, but then dried his tears with a few $100 bills, and went home to his hottie wife and kept on playing for Real Madrid and wearing Adidas heartbroken, surely.
You see, Mr. posh... er, Beckham is getting to be a bit old for professional sports (he's just a bit older than me, how sad is that for me?), so when Hollywood came-a-calling with quarter of a mill., he jumped at the chance to get into acting, etc. after his athletic career wound down. This was early this year, with the L.A. contract beginning in June.
The opinions were mixed at the time. MLS said he would do well to promote the American league domestically, to which everyone else (yours truly included) replied: "but teenage girls already play soccer!" As an ardent Barcelona fan, I was just happy he was leaving Real Madrid, to be honest. I was just so sick of hearing about him.
I think L.A. and Beckham deserve each other. After all, where else would an ok athlete super-hyped by the media because of his looks into super-stardom go but to the land of the fakes?
But, and unlike Mrs. Beckham's, this is a terrible 'but', due to injuries to a few members of the England squad, Beckham was recalled to the national team for at least the next few EURO 2008 qualifiers. Uh oh!
By FIFA rules (and just common sense, really), a player's club has to allow them to play for their national team regardless of what is going on at the club, and without suffering any financial penalties.
The Galaxy front office must be crapping their collective pants. Real Madrid has already released Beckham from his contract, and qualifiers for the European championship is pretty serious business (with subsequent world cup connotations). Beckham might not make to the U.S. after all, at least not anytime this year.
I will be following this unfolding saga, if only for the chuckles it is sure to provide. Maybe England will just use Beckham for a few games and release him again as soon as btter players recover from their injuries. Maybe L.A. Galaxy will pay Beckham to Play in Europe. Or maybe no one will care one way or another.
Any way you look at it, Beckham is well on his way to becoming an entertainer.
I'm having fun anyway!

A truly freigthening awakening!

2007-05-23T16:40:59Z

I have now been in the fair city of Cincinnati for 9 days, and so far I cannot fairly comment on its qualities.
You see, I had made plans to hit the ground running with a job at Borders to start with, allowing me time to pursue other ambitions, etc. But as is often the case, the fates had other plans for me. The first snag presented itself as a transportation issue, since the bus system doesn't run before 5 AM (when I have to be at work) and the routes don't even go near the local Borders. However, due to the kindness of my friend Karen who allowed me the use of her car, this became something of a non-issue.
Alas, as I limped along my planned route to a post-degree life, the real monster reared its ugly head: "The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services", or USCIS. I will elaborate.
Last August, I apllied for the renewal of my green card which was due to expire in November. I thought I had allowed enough time for the process, and even if I hadn't, I was assured by the folks at the said office that I will suffer no ill side effects. Having no other choice, I accepted this promise and went about my business.
In October, I was sent to Norfolk (I lived in Richmond at the time) for biometrics and pictures. I heard not a peep from the USCIS since then, but I assumed it was because of tightened security and my Iranian nationality. I called them occasionally, and I was told my case was pending and I will be notified as soon as it is done.
And I let things go at that since this last semester was an unusually demanding one with no room for error if I were to graduate as planned. About a month or so before the end of the semester I called again, worried about employment and not having the proper paperwork to get a job. Again, I was assured that all was needed was a phone call from a prespective employer to the USCIS for verificcation.
However, as you may have guessed by now, this was far from the case. I arrived in Cincinnati, was hired by Borders, and upon calling the USCIS, they were told that there was no such provision for employers. Fully sensing the impending doom, I phoned and was told that I had to make an appointment with my local USCIS office and have them put a sticker on my expired green card which would allow me to work until I receive my new green card.
If you have a headache by now and have stopped caring, just imagine how I felt! And it gets better, too!
I arrived at the office, and was told... there was no record of my fingerprints and pictures having ever been taken!!!
I cannot describe how I felt. There just are no words. I wanted to vomit, fall to the ground, and choke the life out of the people at the Norfolk office all at once.
I managed to barely pull myself together and ask what I had to do next. Obviously, I had to be fingerprinted again, this time properly. But the sticker promise had long been lost due to Norfolk office's utter inapptitude. I now had to wait for my green card to arrive in the mail, hopefully by the end of the month.
So I now sit here at the local Starbucks (yes, I found a nearby one here as well), unemployed and stressed out. And I worry. I worry about how I'm going to eat if this green card doesn't show up as 'promised', etc.
But most of all, I worry about the security of this country. I have never had any faith in the "Dept. of Homeland Security" since its inception, but I have now come face to face with the bureaucracy which only serves to cripple any and all security efforts. In my experience just this past Monday, I came face to face with computers in offices that were not linked to other offices, customer service windows without any attendants, and people just plain unwilling to do any shred of work beyond their one-line job descriptions. This doesn't even include the carelessness and indifference of the Norfolk office.
God help us all in case of another emergency.

Outrage and dismay.

2007-04-16T22:14:49Z

I'm not sure if my friends who read this are aware of the tragedy that occured this morning on the campus of Virginia Tech University this morning between 7 and 11 am. A gunman shot and killed two people in a VTech dorm just after 7, and about 2 hours later, he killed 30 more people at a location across the campus before turning the gun on himself. This incident is now the worst shooting spree in U.S. history.
I'm outraged and mortified at the absolute lack of care and intelligence shown by the VTech administration and the Blacksburg, Va police. After the first shooting, a student called the police, who, in conjuction with the school's administration, dismissed the incident as "a domestic dispute" (in a college dorm?!) and assumed that the gunman had fled the campus. The police then did nothing, and the school's administration sent out a mass e-mail informing the students, most of whom dont' check their e-mails every minute of the day (just as I don't) for obvious reasons, of the situation. Classes were not cancelled, no one heard anything over the public P.A. system, and there was no security in place in anticipation of anything. These are from Yahoo! News and also from what I've heard personally here at VCU in Richmond, quite close to VTech and Blacksburg.
How badly did VTech want to keep things quiet after the first shooting? How can such ignorance take place? How safe can I feel at VCU? Exactly how do you measure the 30 lives that were lost two hours later for lack of concern and for the love of money? What do you say to the parents of those kids, spouses of those professors? What do you say, Virginia Tech? How do you compensate for these lives lost?
Virginia Tech must be shut down permenantly. It should be sued into oblivion, if only to serve as a notice, a warning to other schools nationwide. There HAS to be cosequenses. People in this country have gotten away with too much without facing any consequences. Let it stop here. Let these 32 lives lost so tragically and unreasonably mean something.
I beg all of you, however reads this. Do something about this. I, Ali Reza Hesami, stand behind this wholeheartedly. Repost this if you like, with my name attached.
THIS MUST STOP!!!

You just know I was going to say something about this!

2007-02-28T00:04:28Z

Ok. Scorsese gets his loooooong overdue oscar. But just like Denzel Washington, he gets it for the wrong film.
Mind you, I loved "The Departed". I own the collector's edition DVD, and I'm ecstatic about Scorsese's return to what he does best (and leaving behind the distaters of Gangs of NY and The Aviator), but you have to admit, this is far from his best work.
"The Departed" is a film in which the director seems almost inconsequential to the viewer. It is superbly written, and just as superbly acted. These two facts and Scorsese's lack of any new or special direction make one wonder if the academy wasn't just making up for previous oversights, as they often do. I should also add that the Chinese origin of "The Departed" is somewhat to blame here, since it ties a director's hands to have to adapt a film from a very distinct style of cinema and be able to leave his own mark on it.
I just wish he could've gotten it for the magnificent "Raging Bull", or at least for the legendary "Taxi Driver".
Alas, we all know what they about wishes...

Did you ever wonder...?

2007-01-31T02:30:44Z

I'm quite a big fan of the discovery channel, especially since "Dirty Jobs" began a while back (Look, Mike Rowe is hilarious, ok?) and "Mythbusters"'s air time began to jibe with my work schedule. And of course, who can forget shark week, etc.
But I find myself drawn to a particular new show called "Future Weapons", whereby an ex-Navy SEAL (Richard Mankovitz, I think?!) travels the globe in search of the next best military equipment. Ineterestingly, he often doeasn't have far to go.
He looks at and tries out .50 caliber rifles capable of piercing a tank's armor at 600+ yards with no more kick and a lot more accuracy than a hunting rifle, a battle rifle that can shoot around corners, a mortar shell containing a survaillance camera which, shot over enemy camps, can relay back a clear picture of it, E.M.P and laser weapons still in test stages, and the M.O.A.B., a 20,000 lbs. iron bomb with a ground sensing fuse and a killzone radius of more than two football fields. They call it "The Mother of All Bombs". I wonder why.
I get a kick out of the insane technologies utilized in these scientific marvels. Like a young boy, I giggle and holler at their might and magic. But the blind rush wears off after a few minutes, and I'm left wondering.
I wonder why we humans go to such great lengths and expense to destroy each other? why do we rush to find a 'better, faster, and more accurate' way to wipe each other off the face of the earth? Granted, some animals do it in the wild, they kill a young if it is born with a defect and will only slow the herd down. They hunt and eat each other when there is no food. In a word, they do it to survive.
Why do we do it?

Perhaps a different look at "Pan's Labyrinth"

2007-01-28T02:23:25Z

I just returned from watching this amazingly wonderfull film, and I'm positively in love. What a masterpiece. The photography, the acting, the wonderful use of shadows and light and color, and the superb transitions between the shots which absorbed me right into the film, I simply cannot stop singing the praises of a gigantic effort well done.
But I must take issue with those who label this film a fairy tale or even a fantasy. I present to you that this is a very real story, a story of man's unreasonable brutality against man, a tale of twisted beliefs and overwhelming hatred that destroys all lives in its path indiscreminetly. Even a child's vivid imagination, as powerful as it is, stumbles against the shear weight of evil that surrounds us in this world, twisting and turning to find a resolve.
I'd love for this film to be viewed, even if not exclusively, as a lesson to all of us as we carelessly plow through our lives in these mostly putrid times.
On a lighter note, Hellboy II: The Golden Army has begun production with a completely (as far as I can tell) cast and again helmed by ol' Guilermo. Can't wait 'till 2008!