The Tin Cocoon

Owner of a Lonely Blog

2011-01-28T05:17:00.003-05:00

Dear dear dear!

Ever since I tried writing in the first person entries have been evaporating before I even think of logging on and writing. But to be honest -- there hasn't been much Central Asian production out there in 2010 land. However, I have found some fantastic sparks that has re-inspired me to return and blog blog blog my little Turko-Eurasian heart away!

But first things first -- it's the dissertation you know. It has taken over my life and I am a few steps from well, you know how it is, I am just a few steps away from writing the first few sentences of the chapter before chapter one... you know... my name and the title of the work!

laugh laugh wink wink

I am off to fiddle with theorists. I will be back very soon lonely mistressless blog to tend to your blank white possibilities.

Till then I should just say -- here are some books you should read:

One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature Ed. Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi (University of Arkansas Press, 2010)

Halal Pork & Other Stories by Cihan Kaan (UpSet Press, 2011)

Yes I was involved in both -- as editor for one and as publisher for the second!
Let's hear it for some new Central Asian material that is cool!

There very simple endorsement -- read this buy this listen to this and look forward to this. Otherwise, the harm statement is, remain eternally dull and ho-hum.

Till soon my lonely blog!

Fire Jumping NYC Style! Charshanbe Suri the week before Nowruz!

2010-03-22T02:18:00.012-04:00

Chronicles of a Nowroz spent properly in NYC... Nowroz is New Year for Iranians, Afghans, Kurds, Azeris, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmans, and Uyghurs and it falls on the Spring Equinox.

Last few years have been very busy, too busy for even tradition! But this year, I was lucky and had a great community of friends to help make Nowroz memorable. Also, this year the UN officially recognized "International Day of Nowroz" spring and new year to 300+ million people. Here are some photos from the last two weeks of fire and fruit!

Charshambe Suri (Tuesday the week before Nowroz)
March 16 @ Dias Y Flores Community Garden on 13th street. This was organized by the most generous and creative Aresh Javadi, community activist and gardener.

Sahar lighting the small pyre so we can jump over it.

And the bonfires were lit!

Organizer, Aresh Javadi, whirls and leaps over the fire!

Aresh Javadi nurturing the flames.

Since this was NYC there were two fire dancers!

The embers at the end of the event.

This tradition of fire jumping is not very common or familiar amongst Afghans or other Central Asians. I wasn't familiar with the tradition that spirits of lost relatives come to the bonfires. I get spooked easily, so I felt strangely nervous when I heard that! At today's Uzbek Nowruz party, an Indian NGO worker who spoke lovely Iranian Farsi, set up the small bonfire that the kids and a few of the brave jumped over.

The little song, however, I was able to pick up quickly "Zardeh man as tu, surkheyeh tu as man!" My yellow is yours and your red is mine! Yellow representing the pale and sickly -- the red representing the robust energy of a new year.

The event managed to make it on Al-Jazeera:

The funny thing is that the faces featured as Iranians in the diaspora, were not Iranians at all! The majority of people who showed up to the event, which was a lovely show of solidarity and support, were non-Iranians and non-Afghans. So it was very exciting to share the newness of a tradition that was almost new to me!

More Nowroozian material coming!

Rabia Balkhi

2010-03-18T00:28:00.005-04:00

Rabia Balkhi was a 10th c. poet, and the first farsi-language woman poet. Her story is quite intense. She falls in love with her Turkish slave, Baktash, and as punishment, her brothers slit her with razors all over her body. She is left in a hamam, a steam bath, to bleed to death! Her last poem to Baktash is written in blood on the walls of the hamam. There have been many paintings of her last poem. She is only in her towel and desperately writing her last poem.

Love

By Rabia Balkhi

I am caught in Love's web so deceitful
None of my endeavors turn fruitful.
I knew not when I rode the high-blooded stead
The harder I pulled its reins the less it would heed.
Love is an ocean with such a vast space
No wise man can swim it in any place.
A true lover should be faithful till the end
And face life's reprobated trend.
When you see things hideous, fancy them neat,
Eat poison, but taste sugar sweet

Now that is turning blood into ink!

Her tomb still exists in Mazar i Sharif. Young couples pray at her tomb in hopes of having their relationship succeed. One who dies for love is a saint in the Muslim tradition. Look at Layla Majnun, Sooni Maywal, and Heer Ranja. All stories of tragic love that elevates the lovers to a mystical/spiritual level. Through intense love of another one discovers love of God.

"In Mazar stands the Tomb of Rabia Balkhi, a beautiful, tragic medieval poetess. She was the first woman of her time to write love poetry in Persian and died tragically after her brother slashed her wrists as punishment for sleeping with a slave lover. She wrote her last poem in her own blood as she lay dying. For centuries young Uzbek girls and boys treated her tomb with saint-like devotion and would pray there for success in their love affairs. After the Taliban captured Mazar, they placed her tomb out of bounds. Love, even for a medieval saint, was now out of bounds."
- from the book Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid

Perhaps it is her story that made me want to become a poet. Her story and the story of Sadi's daughter who out-writes her father. Quite lovely feminist stories my father used to tell me when I was a little girl.

This clip is a song that Baktash sings. The playback singer is Ahmad Wali. I believe this film was made in the late 60s. Hollywood created Afghan Films in 1968, so I imagine it is slightly after that. I am much too lazy to be clicking and researching for you at this late hour. So, you'll have to take my laziness into consideration when doing your research.

The first Afghan film is the story of Rabia Balkhi and Baktash. It's a humble attempt but quite remarkable in telling the story of a woman poet and it was the first film that had an international run.

Lots of firsts in this entry!

Oh yeah, besides being a poet she was also a Queen. Did I forget to mention that little detail?

Here is another image from the film with the Afghan actress Seema playing the Poet Queen:

Wait one cotton pickin' minute!

2010-03-17T23:13:00.015-04:00

Cotton Field in Uzbekistan

A little old Russian lady stopped me on the street (Location: Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn) to ask me if I was Uzbek. I stopped and chatted with her, delighted by her three gold teeth. She told me that Uzbeks were the best at cooking and at housekeeping. No one else in the world like them. Uzbekistan should never have become independent because all they have are good cooks and pakhta -- cotton.

Quite an opinionated little crumpled lady! What did I do? I just smiled and nodded... "Oh, how interesting..." Wondering why this sadistic little lady called me over. Did she need a cook or something? Note to self: Dress up a little more...

Is racism so deep against Uzbeks? I have met many newly immigrated Uzbeks in Brooklyn and I see that people with PhD's from Moscow in Pharmacy are now homecare help for elderly Russian families. So fascinating... how do they cope with the racism? I'm very curious about these dynamics.

Well... after some more of this sidewalk Soviet-Colonial nostalgia, her granddaughter came to fetch her from the beach chair she was sitting in (surrounded by the counsel of powder puff lil old ladies). Turned out that her granddaughter was a former student of mine at XYZ College. The friendly little old lady suddenly turned absolutely indignant that her granddaughter was being sweetly adoring of me. Then bewildered when granddaughter called me professor. (Yes, imagine that I didn't live up to my potential of picking cotton and cooking for you slave master!)

Yes, fuzzy-haired gold-toothed granny, despite my youthful good looks I teach adult kids! And I adore them too.

She was a meanie. I had better babushkas growing up in Sheepshead Bay. They gave me candy and said "Yaxshi!" Who are these newfangled grannies!

Next time I get stopped, I'm coming straight out and telling them I'm descendant of Basmachi.

That may do the trick. Actually forget that -- I'm just going to say Afghanistan and that usually ends all conversations with racists of all kinds (or start screaming matches ha!).

Not to paint Uzbeks as saints of first-time conversations. I met an Uzbek woman at the Dunkin Donuts and she asked me two questions in the first five minutes of greetings (such a big no-no in any culture). 1) Do you have a greencard? 2) Are you married?
Then she went onto state that she had a greencard and was married and in fact, had a little boy. She forgot to mention that she had a gold canine.

I want to adopt this woman as my grannie (bu'eh), she looks Afghan Uzbek (just like me):

I'll love her for her gold teeth and her floral scarves.

The Weight of the Crescent: Said Atabekov

2010-03-17T22:56:00.005-04:00

"Way to Rome" art by Said Atabekov (2008)

Track suited migrant on the steppe. Dismantled mosque, or some-assembly-required mosque on its way to Rome? Such a powerful image. The sky reminds me of an Emily Dickenson poem, although New England blue sky seems tame in comparison.

Vintage Uzbek Photos

2010-03-17T22:37:00.009-04:00

This photo makes me dream up a movie of two sisters...

I'm planning in slow baby steps a trip to Uzbekistan.

The one on the left looks Cherokee:

I found these photos online... website long gone yet these photos remained somehow accessible.

I wonder why the women were photographed in pairs...

These are my real maternal aunts in Kabul circa 1973. My aunt Jamila redesigned the traditional ikat fabric (so famous now in fashion) into something more modern. For some reason as a little girl this photo scared me a little... (maybe its the tangle of colors):

What a Headache...

2010-01-24T01:43:00.004-05:00

So Miss Talibonita has been debating her name. For some reason she feels ready to stop talking in the 3rd person and to reveal her name. But still debating on that one...

Is it me, or has the last months of 2009 given everyone a headache? (Okay, ready to speak in first person -- at any moment may switch back to the 3rd person)

Afghanistan... new troops for longer occupation?!?!

Feminist groups foaming at the mouth because they want troops to STAY?!!

Oil pipeline still a possibility?

Quarrels with Afghans in the diaspora because Afghan men still act condescending towards Afghan women speaking about politics?!!

No wonder I was talking in the 3rd person! Who can speak directly when so much passive and many times aggressive sexism still lurks even in the most progressive sectors. Please stop proving to me how progressive you are cause your wife wears a short skirt -- you still can't man up and face the fact that Afghan women can spark back political talk double fast... alas who listens?

More on the headaches later...

Shahzoda

2009-10-16T15:57:00.003-04:00

Nothing like a sick day to keep me internet-tuned all day. Here are some of my discoveries:

2007, Shahzoda (Yes yes, Miss Talibonita is two years late!) Love the romanticism for the yurt and no-epidural birthing days on the steppes of CenAsia!

This is a beautiful song full of blessings and protection (like what aunties say when you go visit them except she's all sexy and you want to look like her!). And Miss Talibonita is not sure if this is right... but can you say a dude is hot while he's doing namaz? (Eeeeek I hear lightening getting ready to strike...) Miss Talibonita loves the other message of ending corruption in Uzbekistan... (who knew she was so political!) The question is... Who is that Arab dude in the back responding to her Salaam? (And why is it so funny to see him there?)

Nancy Agram

2009-10-11T14:01:00.001-04:00

Not Central Asian -- but this Arab Pop Star is just beautiful and Miss Talibonita loves this vision of vintage America through director Leila Kanaan's eyes.

Ramadan Commercials

2009-09-02T02:04:00.005-04:00

Favorite Ramadan commercial! And well, seems like one of the few funny ones!

Mosque Series: Central Asia

2009-08-29T21:36:00.008-04:00

Mosque Architecture, a few samples, in Central Asia.

In Karakol, Kyrgyzstan this is a Dungan (Chinese Muslim) Mosque (built 1907). The blue makes it kin to the blue domes of Central Asia and Persia, but the rest of the architecture certainly looks like a Buddhist Pagoda.

Sky-blue minaret in Dungan Mosque, Karakol

Inside of the Dungan Mosque in Karakol

Astana, Kazakhstan (breathtaking mix of modern and ancient)

Golden Mosque in Astana, Kazakhstan

Ramadan in Brooklyn: Day 4 Qabili Palau (for the busy chef)

2009-08-26T23:27:00.013-04:00

Qabili Palau (The Palau only the most capable can make -- that is the rough meaning of the name) is my latest recipe to post.

But lets catch up to Miss Talibonita's last few days of Ramadan, which has mostly been her feeling a little sick. Found out that the dry skin under the super hawkeye Miss T's eyes wasn't sudden aging (although did discover some great anti-aging mask recipes) it was dehydration! Yes, more water and fruit for this faster.

The most beautiful aspects of not eating (once you get control of that lack of water issue noted above) is being able to enjoy breeze. NYC's mugginess is out of control this summer. When there is no water, the body adjusts and Miss Talibonita's has appreciated breeze under trees, under awnings as if she were drinking a nice glass of water. The other benefit has been getting renewed tastebuds! Day 2 Miss Talibonita just ate farm fresh organic eggs, organic butter and whole wheat bread. For the mouth, it felt like tasting eggs for the first time.

Day 4, let's stick to the plan and so here is the Qabili Palau recipe that has been handed down from father to father and perfected by Miss Talibonita to suit the busy chef. One version of Qabili Palau requires the chef to cook each individual part separately, which is exhausting. Didn't they know we had better things to do than spend 6 hours in the kitchen! Well, this one is very flavorful, healthy and takes about 2 hours to prep and cook. Still long but comes a long way from the original. Also use a cast iron pot if possible and one that is wide rather than tall. The wider the pot the better the palau.

Ingredients:

2 small yellow onion
4 carrots (the big fat carrots)
2 tsp of dried tomato paste
2 tsp powdered cumin
1 pinch ground black pepper
1/4 cup of black raisins
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2lbs lamb (on the bone or chicken or beef meatballs)
4 cups basmati rice (preferrably Aahu Bara rice, since Indian rices like Pari have a strong scent that isn't very appealing to Miss Tbonita)

Aahu Bara Rice (Found in Afghan shops)

Heat the oil. Fry the onions till they get golden. Add meat. Salt to taste (usually a tsp or tblsp for each cup of rice but again CenAsians oversalt). Once meat browns a bit add carrots (shredded or cut into little matchsticks). Add 2 tsp dried tomato paste. Fry up. Add powdered cumin. (See below)

The magic paste! (No tinny taste)

Cumin -- powder this cumin put half in while it is frying the other half when it is simmer (before the rice)

Carrot time!

Onions Carrots cooking with the lamb. Fry till the carrots look like they have browned around the same color as the onions.

Add six cups of water. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add rice. Simmer till water has evaporated and you can hear the sizzle at the bottom of the pot. Add raisins on top and if you want a little treat, place the cut stalks of rhubarb on top along with the raisins. Cover top with towel. Put lid on it. Lower heat to a very low flame. Turn timer on for 20 minutes and "dimla" or simmer it. (See below)

Dimla

Place a Bounty or towel over the pot and cover the lid over it so the fluid can evaporate. 20 minutes.

Finished Qabili Palau!

Eat and Enjoy!

Ramadan in Brooklyn: Day 1 Samsa Recipe (Revamped)

2009-08-22T23:03:00.002-04:00

Day 1:

Fortunately, Ramadan started on a Saturday this year, allowing Miss Talibonita a weekend to get used to the new schedule. At night, after the fast is broken, there is that feeling that only the Uzbek term "elit" describes best. "Ramadan mon'eh elitdi" (sorry this is all phonetic since Miss Talibonita cannot spell properly in Uzbek) which means, "I've been softboiled by Ramadan." It's quite a lovely feeling of being satiated and elated all at once.

On this night, since Miss Talibonita and her father had to attend a business meeting, our meal had to be something portable and easy to eat at a nearby park.

The meal we broke fast with is a revamping of the traditional Uzbek samsa. A lot of Uzbek cuisine seems to depend on chunks of fat nestled into the meat to make it taste rich and hearty. But this is absolutely unhealthy, especially since there are no battles on the steppes to balance off the fat, a healthy revision of samsa is necessary!

In this version, which was quite flavorful, Miss Talibonita dropped the fat, using lean meat, whole wheat dough instead of that filo dough (one serving of anything made with filo dough is enough calories for the entire day). In place of fat chunks, Miss T used rhubarb for a dash of tartness to contrast the chili peppers thrown in.

Samsa (serves 4 ppl)

1 whole wheat dough (bought frozen at Whole Foods)
1/2 lb of ground beef
2 medium red onions
10 chili peppers (okay, choose how spicey you want your dish)
1 stalk of rhubarb (adds freshness and tang)
2 pinches of cumin
2 pinches black pepper
2 pinches of coriander seeds
1 tsp yogurt

Defrost and roll out dough. Miss Talibonita just flattens them out with her hands on a nonstick table top. Just wet hands and work the dough out (don't use flour). Separate into four long rectangular pieces. Flatten out these individual pieces.

Throw onions, rhubarb and spices into foot processor (of course, the spices must be freshly ground). Salt to taste (most Central Asians are generous with salt so for this filling, let's say a 3/4 tbsp.)

Mix into the lean ground beef. The idea is to have more of the onion showing than the meat. So measure it on your own and make sure it is 2 parts onion/rhubarb mixture to meat. The less meat the better, the more onion the more flavorful the filling.

Set aside for at least 15 minutes. You can flatten out your dough while waiting for the filling to mingle with each other. Most likely you'll have a lot of filling left over, and this is great you can let it marinate in the fridge or freeze it and bring it out next time you feel like unrolling some dough.

Fill the rectangular dough pieces with the meat stuffing. Miss Talibonita recommends a filling that allows space on the sides so the dough may fold or be pinched together and a layer that is not too generous that it spills out. Think a monkish appetite rather than a Mcdonald's appetite when filling. Fold up the two sides like an envelope. Seal it and brush over the closed samsa with yogurt.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put it in the middle rack and bake for 45 minutes. Don't let it get too brown on top. If it is browning quickly then lower the heat to 375 and maybe you want to cook on that heat till its done.

The result is a samsa that is rectangular rather than square and something that can be foiled up and carried with you for a quick nourishing meal.

Miss Talibonita and family ate the samsa too fast for any photos. Email me if you have questions and maybe I can post up some photos from the next samsa.

The result of this samsa is low calories and a very flavorful, fresh tasting and zingy quick meal on the go. If you have time then make some black tea and add some sugar. Samsa goes best with sweet black tea.

Take that Lean Pockets!

Ramadan in Brooklyn: Night Before Ramadan

2009-08-21T23:02:00.004-04:00

Night Before Ramadan:

When I was 5 years old, I would fast on weekends and only half a day to prepare for growing up when I would fast the entire month.

The first fast I broke accidentally, I drank a box of grape juice on a Sunday while I was babysitting my 4 year old brother. I was 8 years old. I remembered I was fasting after the last drop of grape juice was emptied from the little waxy box. I cleaned the entire house in pennance. I admitted it to my father, teary-eyed and sorry. He said, "It's okay God invited you to drink the juice. Tomorrow is another day to start over."

Perhaps this is where my optimism began.

Tonight, I made lamb qorma with asparagus. I've prepped onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and tart dried plums for the qufta (meatball) qorma (simmered down stew) that I am planning. The onions, garlic and jalapenos to season the minced meat. The dried plum is for the center of the qufta a surprise streak of tart in the center of a meaty meal.

In honor of Ramadan I will post up some recipes and keep a diary of food and prayers for this month of pause; a pause in which we look deep into ourselves and reorganize ourselves.

Ramadan Kareem!

(This Ramadan card is odd. It's an Urdu card but the dudes are white cartoon men. And... white cartoon men who look like they are ready to smooch! Oh those Urdu Ramadan cards!)

Farhad Ahad (1970-2003)

2009-08-11T08:13:00.005-04:00

This is a tribute to my dear friend, Farhad Ahad. After successfully leading Afghan Solidarity, Farhad jan went to Afghanistan in 2002 to be part of the reconstruction. He was one of the first group of Afghan-American engineers who returned to Kabul to survey the region. He later joined the Afghan government and was part of the committee to build an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan. I have included an interview on his work a few weeks before he was killed off the coast of Karachi. He will always be missed. Perhaps the most painful part of this is the mysterious circumstances of the crash that was never investigated properly by either the Afghan or American government (Farhad jan was an Afghan-American). Here is a blurb on the circumstances of the crash by another Afghan-American, Homaira Nassery.

Farhad Ahad, one of the most vibrant of young Afghan-Americans, with an MBA from the University of North Carolina, and founder of AfghanSolidarity.com left the United States to work for free as economic advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was one of three Afghans to perish on February 24,2003, in a mysterious plane crass off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. The team was to have observed Chinese mining operations in Pakistan to capture ‘lessons learned’ and implement them in Afghanistan. In addition, they were the central advisors in the $US3.2 billion gas pipeline deal involving Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

"Reverse of the Braindrain: Afghan-American Diaspora in Post-conflict Peacebuilding and Reconstruction"

Homaira Nassery

I found this lovely tribute to Farhad jan online posted by Brad.

Farhad Ahad: Rebuilding His Homeland
By Nancy Oates

Editor's note: As our spring alumni magazine was going to press, we learned of the tragic death of Farhad Ahad in a Feb. 24 plane crash in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan. Farhad was among a delegation of Afghanistan officials, including the country's mines and industries minister, who died in the accident. We hope that this article, written before his death, will serve as a tribute to the passion and commitment he had for rebuilding his country. Farhad will be greatly missed by his classmates and all members of the UNC Kenan-Flagler community.

Even if Enron had not fallen so spectacularly, the pull of his native Afghanistan probably would have taken Farhad Ahad (MBA '99) back to the country he fled with his family as a teen-ager. The opportunity to rebuild his homeland was simply too great to resist.

"Afghanistan was never too far from my heart," said Ahad, who today is serving as the chief of economic affairs in Afghanistan's foreign ministry. Though he'd lived in the United States about 15 years, he kept close ties with the community of Afghan expatriates and closely followed news reports from his homeland in recent years that were full of turf wars and violent resistance against the Taliban.

"I'd tell myself I should forget about Afghanistan's hardships and enjoy my life in the United States," he said. "But your heart will always cry. You'd always tell yourself, 'That could have been me.' "

In June 2001, Ahad founded Afghan Solidarity, an organization dedicated to helping Afghanistan thrive and repatriating its refugees. In March 2002, a month after he met Afghanistan's President Hamed Karzai at a mosque in Washington, D.C., Ahad flew to Kabul as part of a delegation of the Society of Afghan Engineers. There he met Afghanistan's minister of foreign affairs, who offered him a job in the newly restructured government.

Ahad didn't accept right away.

"Kabul was a mess," he said. "Nothing was heated; there was a 9 p.m. curfew; it was chaotic."

And he'd been through enough chaos at Enron.

On Dec. 3, 2001, the morning after what was then the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, senior managers at Enron's Houston headquarters gathered all of the employees together.

"They told us, 'You may all go home now,' " Ahad said.

Within a week, Ahad had landed a managerial position at Progress Energy in Raleigh. But going through changes at Enron had provided the impetus to reflect upon larger issues. The day he rescheduled a meeting to accommodate an online discussion on Afghan Solidarity's chat board was the day he realized where his true priorities lay. He talked to his boss about the responsibility he felt to serve his homeland. He then told the foreign affairs minister he would come to Kabul for one year.

"Progress sent me off with the best imaginable blessings," he said.

Six months into that commitment, the full weight of the challenge has hit. As chief of economic affairs in the foreign ministry, his top priority is to develop investment opportunities to draw business from other countries into Afghanistan. His days are spent on everything from prioritizing aid from the United Nations to negotiating an agreement on building a $3.5 billion gas pipeline through Afghanistan from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India. At other times, Ahad travels - sometimes with President Karzai - to countries interested in mining Afghanistan's coal, iron and copper.

Although his background in engineering and business did not prepare him for a career in diplomacy, he is making up for that now. He must motivate the 16 career diplomats in his department to take more initiative - something that living under communism for so many years has drained out of them. At age 32, he is a young leader in a country that values its elders.

Ahad is considering his next step. Afghanistan's ministry of finance is recruiting him, as is the ministry of mines and industry. He may return to the private sector to work for an energy concern that will invest in Afghanistan. Though the past year has been difficult, he has no regrets about his commitment to rebuilding his homeland.

"This is an experience I want to be a part of," he said.

Hangama and an 80s Girlhood in Queens

2009-06-11T02:03:00.007-04:00

There is nothing like a few Hangama videos to celebrate the coming of summer:

For Miss Talibonita, 80s Hangama reminds me of Flushing, Queens and picnics at the park just behind the Queens Botanical Garden.

Teen cousins lined up near the mirrors curling their hair in big curlers trying to get Hangama/Googoosh hair, while we, the younger children, were pushed away from all the fanfare of prepping for weddings. Their imitation of her hairstyle was so effective that each year one girl married all in a row, just as they had wanted.

This one is a repeat but definitely, someone put up a better quality 80s Hangama video. Not entirely sure why a trout comes out and takes the hook right over her face, but there's intrusive special effects again!

NWFP and the Fear of Pakhtuns

2009-04-12T13:40:00.003-04:00

In response to the demonization of the NWFP and gunmaking, violent warriors... Miss Talibonita responds with a set of Pakhto films made with actors and singers from that region: Northwest Frontier of Pakistan.

Orbal (1970)

This singer has a feather boa and can hold her own among any drag queen!

Dehqaan (circa 1960s)

Thanks to youtube.com everyone has access to a large collection of Pukhto (Pashto, Pashtun, Pushtu, Pakhtun various spellings of the same linguistic group). Just subscribe to: Anwargul

Sevginator (Not Terminator its the Love-inator) Uzbek Film does it again!

2009-04-06T00:22:00.006-04:00

So Sevginator is an Uzbek film (2007) that is just my favorite freakie deakie film. Its the story of a timid professor (ahem!) who begins teaching at the university. The students are out of control and totally abuse her. Some science geek (the cute dude in all the movies) falls in love with her and makes an android of his professor in his attic apartment! (Yes, as you can tell, it is the boy's rescue the cute professor fantasy) Its Weird Science Uzbek style but ends in marriage not an overly sexual party that goes wrong:

He makes his own wife! Its amazing what some rolls of saran wrap, metallic fabric and a clear plastic pod can do for this young Uzbek genius.

The domesticated android gives up metallic fabric for traditional Uzbek dress and muses on the meaning of marriage:

Android professor has set the students and the principal straight:

And in a final twist of feminist gusto, the android girl he creates, not only kicks the butt of all the students and sets them straight (using her laser eyes and martial arts skills) but she also creates a husband for herself via the saran wrap, plastic clear pod and metallic fabric. So everyone lives happily ever after.

No subtitles! But it doesn't matter... their gestures say it all! And who says the Silk Road is all tea houses, camels, pretty Uzbek girls with gold teeth and their hairs in 16 braids?

Jodha Akbar (2008) Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker or the Resurrection of Mughal/Rajput Glam

2009-03-02T13:01:00.012-05:00

The city of Jalalabad in Afghanistan, birthplace of Miss Talibonita, was built by Jalaladin Mohammad Akbar. So in honor of Jalalabad's namesake, this blogpost about the imagined life of the Mughal Emperor Akbar via Bollywood.

Bollywood's beautiful film is based on the life of Jalaladin Mohammad Akbar, Mughal Emperor of India 16th century (contemporary of Queen Elizabeth) and his early years as emperor unifying India and new husband to the Rajput princess he marries, Jodha. Starring Hrithik Roshan as Akbar Pasha and Aishwarya Rai Bachan as Jodha.

The director Ashutosh Gowariker's earlier film Lagaan starring Aamir Khan was nominated for an Academy Award. This film also won its fair share of awards. It also stirred its own controversy. The Rajasthan area of India refused to screen this film because they felt that the Rajputs were shown in a negative light. There was quite an uproar and an attempt to ban the film, which was not approved by the courts. There is controversy over whether or not her name was Jodhaa or some Brit dude named her that in his historical text, but who really cares about the details of history, we go to films for their overall message and beauty not to be in history class.

Although the subtitles do not do the film justice, its available on "instant play" at netflix.com (the best part about joining netflix).

The Rajput King of Amer offers his daughter, Jodhaa, to the Mughal Emperor Jalaludin (He is not named Akbar until later by his own people after he removes the tax that Hindus had to pay for pilgrimages). After some deliberation he accepts to make peace.

Groom:

Bride:

Married life is not so easy. The court threatens mutiny against the Emperor for marrying a Hindu wife. But Akbar is too cool for the court. He dismisses his court after hearing the Queen sing a religious song and opts for the intimacy of a Hindu religious ritual between husband and wife over the ritual of the court:

Miss Talibonita loves seeing the softer, more intimate sides of rulers (earlier in 2008, there was also the domestic life of Ghengiz Khan as you all remember).

Well, this is the age of feminism, so no love story is complete without a friendly sword match between newlyweds. In this clip, Akbar returns to apologize to his wife (he dismisses her from the palace for reasons you will find out when you watch the movie):

*warning* the subtitles are in such bad English its hilarious!!!

Then there is the turf-fight within women, Jodhaa fights with Elder Mother (Akbar's wetnurse and considered second mother) for the right to run the kitchen. Oh I can feel this battle resonating the most with new brides!

The movie had a beautiful message. A good leader is one that turns to building peace rather than war to bring unity. The Mughal Emperor Akbar was known for his humanism above all things. The lines in this film can be applied to our current time of extremism, intolerance, and wars that destroy civilian populations. Kings no longer get off their horses to come fight it out one on one. For these reasons, the film was timely. There is an emphasis on Sufism over extremism. Sharifuddin's army is dressed in what many jihadists would consider their colors: green and black. Sharifuddin is also a total jerk to his wife, and Akbar is loving and yielding to his wife. Akbar is shown praying at the shrine of Khwaja Chisti and doing this beautiful dance:

Watch this film, despite the odd translation (much of the poetry is lost) but its visually stunning and a beautiful story of love with lots of Mughal masculinity moments (taming a wild elephant shirtless, practice his sword moves shirtless, bathing and lounging around shirtless... he could have unified India with his physique alone!).

Auditions for an Afghan American Actor

2009-02-06T04:28:00.004-05:00

Tanzil Kayani with Ali Zaka and David Newark

This was one of the submissions to LinkTV's One Nation Many Voices contest for short films about the American Muslim experience.

Red Dawn, 1984 (Remember when American Movies fantasized about Russian Invasions?)

2008-12-27T03:08:00.010-05:00

Well, coincidentally, this Russian invasion film happened just around the time that the Soviet-Afghan war was at its thickest and Afghans were winning popular American support. Americans scared the crap out of themselves and little Miss Talibonita had nightmares of the Russians invading Brooklyn. The first scene is especially traumatic! The commies invade just as the high school teacher finishes up a lecture on the invading Mongol hordes!

Some of the same all-American boys from The Outsiders are also in this film like Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, and Darren Dalton (the Soc kid). The rest of the teen cast are popular 80s icons like Jennifer Grey (before their Dirty Dancing days), and not Emilio Estevez, but his brother Charlie Sheen, and Leah Thompson:

See the similarities... okay so the Afghan Mujahideen are not wearing letterman jackets and posing on bleachers, but you get what Miss Talibonita means! In this photo by the Lithuanian photographer the Mujahideen are photographed in the Kunar Province, 1985). This was Miss Talibonita's favorite movie as a kid, and she was not smart enough to realize the connection between the Wolverines and the Mujahideen. Of course, the religion is different and it takes place in a mountainous area in the American Midwest not West Asia.
Photograph by: JONAS DOVYDENAS

Not surprisingly, considering the current political situation, a remake is in the works. Of course, it has a post-9/11 coloring. If turbans end up invading America, I don't know if I am going to feel the same about this film! Thankfully, at least, the actresses will not be the thin-lipped 80s screen ladies (ie. Jennifer Grey, Leah Thompson, Margot Kidder etc)

OMG all hell would break loose if McDonalds was conquered by the Soviets! What would happen next? Silver Spoons in Russian?!!

War Inc. (Brilliant)

2008-12-24T15:27:00.005-05:00

Tartarous the Noble insisted, no made it a requirement in order to rightfully continue as Miss Talibonita, to watch this film. So we watched it yesterday and he was right! How did this amazing film have such a short theatrical run? Oh... because its smart, political and critiques the current wars!

Here is a trailer and some clips. You can't go wrong with a film that has Joe Strummer music, War Profiteering, Absurdist humor, and John Cusack. What more can two Central Asians ask for?

Trailer:

Hillary Duff plays the Eurasian pop star Yonica Babyyeah, she licks a gasoline pump, and makes John Cusack puke (just as Marisa Tomei asks him "What are his views on the images of Turaqi women?").

Interview with John Cusack on CBC:

Synopsis

An assassin posing as a trade-show producer fixes his crosshairs on a Middle Eastern oil minister while maintaining his cover by organizing a high-profile wedding in this satirical action comedy starring John Cusack, Hilary Duff, and Marisa Tomei. A private American corporation run by a former U.S. vice president (Dan Aykroyd) is occupying the war-torn nation of Turaqistan, but a powerful Middle Eastern oil minister is preventing them from taking total advantage of the situation. In order to gain a monopoly on the lucrative opportunities that Turaqistan has to offer, the CEO of the corporation hires an evenhanded hitman named Hauser (Cusack) to take the oil minister out of the picture. Now, in order to carry out the contract without a hitch, Hauser will pose as the corporation's trade-show producer. The stakes are high and the potential for disaster is evident, though if Hauser can successfully organize the wedding of Central Asian pop-star Yonica Babyyeah (Duff), he's got a good chance of pulling it off. But sexy and resourceful left-wing reporter Natalie Hegalhuzen (Tomei) is determined to uncover the truth about what's happening in Turaqistan, and the moment she does, this carefully constructed scheme will crumble like a house of cards. Joshua Seftel directs a screenplay co-written by Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser, and producer/star John Cusack.

~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Fotima va Zuhra: Sisters 4E

2008-12-22T03:25:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago, Miss Talibonita watched the Uzbek film Fotima va Zuhra on googlevid.com and she could not stop crying.

Gulchеhra Eshonqulova (Fotima)

The film itself is a tragic story of a family that falls apart. About half hour into the film, the sister has killed herself, the brother is knifed by his former friends, and his father is killed by a chubby Uzbek mafioso (well... okay... Godfather wasn't so slim either). There is no translation, so not many of you out there may understand.

So here is the full story: Fotima and Zuhra are happy sisters. Okay, Zuhra is a little lazy and spoiled while Fotima, the elder, is the more responsible one. Their mother died a while back, so its just the sisters, their father and a wayward brother who comes home drunk most of the time and joins a bad gang of friends, who are sociopathic serial rapists (but they only attack hookers except on one tragic night!). One of the brother's bad friends does not harm Fotima, so he follows around Zuhra with a heavy heart and ends up falling in love with her! Its his chubby father who killed Zuhra's father. Anyway, the rest is tragic cinema Uzbek style. Tough girl that Zuhra turns out to be! Perhaps the most moving part for Miss Talibonita were the sister scenes.

The film stars a famous Uzbek pop singer Shahzoda, so there is a music video for the movie on youtube. The film seems to have won the drama of the year award (2006) in Uzbekistan. Miss Talibonita found another review of the film and a few other Uzbek films that came out around the same time and the reviewer, who was a mother, complained that this film and others of its genre promoted limitless power for youth, especially those with money in Uzbekistan.

Its true there weren't any authority figures in this film, not effective ones anyway. No policeman helps Zuhra and her family (no police reports are filed! Or at least, not on camera). But then again, this is Uzbekistan. Her uncle walks with a cane, appears only once and is much much older than her father was. There is a sense of the youth having to take things into their own hands without any of the older generation or government authority being able to help. This is interesting. It connects with the latest ads Uzbekistan is running on Euronews: "Young Uzbekistan Welcomes You."

Still any film whose main character is named Zuhra has Miss Talibonita's attention! It had a feminist ending, the surviving sister, Zuhra sets things straight. And remember, much of this film watching is to strengthen linguistic skills. All in all it was an enjoyable film!

Ulug'bek Qodirov (Gorgeous!) and Shahzoda (Zuhra)

See 8:30 in this clip for the happy sisterhood of Fotima and Zuhra.

Here she meets her sister's spirit at midnight and gets her advice (starts at 11:04):

Topkapi (1964)

2008-12-18T14:37:00.007-05:00

After years of enduring movie lampoons of his 1955 crime-caper classic Rififi, director Jules Dassin topped them all with his own spoof, Topkapi. It's a rather disreputable crew that teams for the elaborate jewel theft masterminded by Maximillian Schell. Sexy Melina Mercouri (Mrs. Dassin) is probably the best of the batch: the others are faffling Robert Morley, unreliable Gilles Segal and Jess Hahn. Bumbling Peter Ustinov (who won an Oscar for his performance) is duped into helping the thieves, and soon finds himself uneasily straddling both sides of the law. As in Rififi, the theft itself (taking place in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace museum) is played out in near-complete silence. We won't tell you how the crooks are foiled; just be advised that money flies out the door when something else flies in the window. Topkapi was based on The Light of Day, a somewhat more somber novel by Eric Ambler.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Starring Melina Mercouri and (Sir) Peter Ustinov

Akim Timoroff, our favorite Armenian who plays all the Turk/Arab/Indian roles in 60s Hollywood (like After the Fox with Peter Sellers).

And rumors of a remake:
PETER USTINOV - BROSNAN TO REMAKE TOPKAPI AS THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR SEQUEL

Former JAMES BOND PIERCE BROSNAN is set to return to the big screen as master thief THOMAS CROWN in a remake of PETER USTINOV's 1964 crime caper TOPKAPI. Brosnan hopes to cleverly implant his Thomas Crown character into the Topkapi plot, which revolved around the theft of a jewelled dagger from a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. The new film will be called THE TOPKAPI AFFAIR. Brosnan tells website Moviehole.net, "(Topkapi) is much loved by people who love that genre of film, and it has a sentimental resonance to it. "So we just took Thomas Crown off the shelf, kind of dusted it off, and took Topkapi, which is much loved, and is also in the cannon of the MGM library, so it didn't cost us anything. "This version of Topkapi will have a different part, different woman, and different affair... and we're using wonderful locations." The THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR remake, which starred Brosnan and RENE RUSSO, was a critical and commercial success when it was released in 1999.

The Man Who Would Be King (1975) John Huston

2008-12-13T17:52:00.005-05:00

Mid-Film Sean Connery is the new Sikandar:

The people here say "Astafurrilla" meaning "God Forgive Me!" fantastic Moroccan extras who were chanting under a giant idol!

Miss Talibonita's favorite mess of an orientalist film! Sean Connery is awesome! (The best meglomaniac colonizer on screen!) The people speak in Arabic or jibberish. Their translator speaks Hindi. Its set in Kafiristan (Nuristan Afghanistan). Filmed in Morocco and uses the same music and feel as Pasolini's Medea (also filmed in Morocco -- at least the "savage" areas are).

Miss Talibonita showed this to her BMCC students many moons ago and they could not deal with this film. (Could you blame them?)

Oirat Mongols

2008-12-12T02:37:00.009-05:00

Wow, Oirat Mongols are gorgeous! What amazing faces! They live in the same area as Uyghurs: The North West of China.

Directly from The NationMasters Encyclopedia:
Oirats (also spelled Oyrats or Oyirads; Mongolian: Ойрадын Ojradyn) refers to both a Western Mongol people of Europe and Asia and, historically, to a Turkic people now known as the Altays.

Although the Oirats originated in Dzungaria in north-central Asia, the most prominent group of Oirats today are the nearly 200,000 Kalmyks of Eastern Europe. Other Oirats remain in present-day Mongolia (ca. 200,000) and China (ca. 140,000 in Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Inner Mongolia).[1] Oirats are traditionally Tibetan Buddhist and many still follow a nomadic lifestyle. Oirats speak Western Mongolic languages including Oirat, Kalmyk, Dorbot, Torgut, and Darkhat as well as the official languages of the regions they inhabit.

Ancient pot stash found in China tomb

2008-12-12T01:48:00.005-05:00

Ancient pot stash found in China tomb
December 5, 2008

SUN-TIMES STAFF REPORTS

Researchers say they've found the world's oldest stash of marijuana in a tomb in a remote part of China.

The cannabis was in the grave of a shaman or holy man and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes" rather than for fiber or as food, researchers say.

It is the oldest example of cannabis being used as a drug and reportedly had a high THC content, the main psychoactive ingredient in the plant.

It is not clear if the cannabis would have been smoked or taken orally. No pipes or other clues were found in the tomb of the 45-year-old shaman.

The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, a member of the Gushi culture based around Turpan in northwestern China.

The cannabis was in such good condition due to the region's dry conditions and alkaline soil that acted as a preservative.

___________________________________________________

Miss Talibonita could not resist posting this. One question, How do they know his eyes were blue if he was dead for so long?

Of course y'all know that Turpan is Uyghur land, right?
More on Gushi people of North-West China: Gushi

Tahir i Zuhra Dir. Nabi Ganiev (1946)

2008-12-12T01:45:00.006-05:00

Directed by : Nabi GANIEV (Наби ГАНИЕВ)
Release date in Russia : 16/11/1946

Plot synopsis
During WWII, the base of Soviet moviemaking operations shifted to the east. Eisenstein shot his glorious Ivan the Terrible in Almaty, and there were many films shot in Uzbekistan. Including this glorious period piece, based on the Uzbek Romeo and Juliet. Takhir and Zukhra are childhood sweethearts brought up together at the royal court, only to be torn apart as teenagers when Takhir is banished from the kingdom. Shot in shimmering black-and-white by Daniil Demutsky, the great cinematographer who shot Dovzhenko's Arsenal and Earth, with eye-filling sets and costumes, TAKHIR AND ZUKHRA is a feast for the eyes and ears, with the magicaly beautiful Gulyam Aglayev and Yuldus Rysayeva as the enchanted lovers (it's hard to say who's prettier, Takhir or Zukhra) and Bollywood-style musical interludes in the bargain.
Source : www.seagullfilms.com

Miss Talibonita saw this classic at the Walter Reade Theater during the 2003 Central Asia Film Festival. It was fantastic! In the 40s-50s turbans and tragic love stories were all the rage! The Soviet Union had the same cravings as the U.S. and Bollywood for similar films. Except of course, rather than Arabia it was Central Asia that was the "orient" for them. This is a great follow up to the Hoja Nasruddin film. Alas, where does Miss Talibonita get this film?!

The Uyghur Poet Queen

2008-12-11T13:04:00.003-05:00

This movie is based on the life and work of Amannisahan who is a writer,poetess,musician and queen of the Yarkend(Yeken) Uyghur kingdom in 16th century. Educated by her father, a distinguished musician of his time, and supported by her husband Abdurishithan,the king of Yarkend Uyghur kingdom, she devoted her life to the collection and promotion of Uyghur music/Uyghur 12 muqam.
The movie was made in 1994.
(Duldul601 Posted this on Youtube)

Miss Talibonita just loved this clip of a movie she found on youtube. As you can tell, she's been watching a lot of Central Asian films on youtube or googlevid! Her dad set it up so the computer is connected to a large flatscreen tv. Its just the blurriness that is slightly irritating, but hey its free movies on Sundays!

Miss Talibonita has no idea where to find this movie. If you have any leads, pass it on. The dancing lady is awesome! Its funny that the colonizing Chinese ambassador falls in love with the dancer. Y'all know that Uyghurs are another one of China's oppressed minorities, right? Except that China uses the convenient post-911 "Islamic Radicals" line to excuse their behavior.

Sardor Rahimxon

2008-12-11T02:52:00.002-05:00

Just because his songs are adorable:

This song is "Just give me a glance"

Love the mix of traditional outfits and the cool spikey-haired Uzbek boy singer!

Hoja Nasruddin Vintage Soviet Film

2008-12-11T02:35:00.006-05:00

Here is a Mulla Nasruddin story that always appealed to me as a kid:
Mulla Nasruddin's wife sent him to the store to get some yogurt. Since he was known to forget things, she told him to keep repeating it to himself till he got to the store. Mulla was rushing and saying at each step "yogurt! yogurt! yogurt!"

He jumped over a small stream and when he got to the other side, he forgot what he had been saying.

"Aye!" He screamed out. "I lost something in the stream!"

There were some people around him who thought he had dropped something by the stream and dropped what they were doing to come help him look for what it was he had lost. Some time passed and they could not get from him what it was he lost and could not find anything that could have dropped.

So a woman who had come to help said, "This is a waste of time! I need to get some yogurt and finish setting up dinner!"

At this the Mulla said, "AHA! I found it!"

Then he went on his way saying to himself at each step "yogurt! yogurt! yogurt!" leaving behind a very perplexed group of people!

Miss Talibonita is rather bad at retelling good jokes, so this may be an example of that. So lets just get to this film she found online.

Huja Nasreddin vs. Buhare

In 1943 the Soviets made a film of Mulla Nasruddin. He is always shown on his donkey and he is quite poor, since a mulla, a man of religion is not known for having lots of money. In this film, he is simply "hoja" or "Khwaja" so he has been removed of his religious position. He becomes the perfect example of the proletariat within a Central Asian context and in this film, which is in Russian, he manages to mock the Amir of Bukhara, who is shown as a cruel lazy man with a very over-sized turban!

The film is Russian without subtitles. So Miss Talibonita did not watch all of it because she still cringes a little when she sees people with her face speak Russian (sorry its anti-colonial Afghan thing!) But it was something worthy of passing along to those who speak Russian. Maybe you can send the translations!

The songs are in Uzbeki!

Winter Blues!

2008-12-09T00:55:00.003-05:00

Sure NYC doesn't get snow like this... but winter is coming and despite the holiday music in the shops... all Miss Talibonita feels only the sickie germs that sneak into her life like extra treats along with midterm and final papers to grade. Alas Miss Talibonita has fallen into her annual routine of 3 extended weeks of coughing and running a fever. The happy little blogoworld of Central Asians still goes on, with less words, less commentary and more funny images... like this one:

Friendly Bearded Man vs Scary Bearded Man... and the Call for Tolerance

2008-11-27T02:32:00.004-05:00

Cynthia Duxbury (2003)

You can download the full poster at: Tolerance.org

The text says:
"Funny how the tiniest thing can make people feel different about you"

Telba: Uzbek Film

2008-11-12T03:34:00.003-05:00

Telba (Crazy)
2008 Uzbek Film (no subtitles)

I am crazy about films with lovely cityscapes. This one of Tashkent was quite a treat! I'm sure the majority of you will not be able to understand this film since its in Uzbek. I think just watching it may be interesting enough. I have to be honest, it made me crave "khanums" (I imagine the closest thing would be a knish at a real-deal Jewish deli on the Lower East Side, right by the Sunshine Theater). Its a love story that tries to transgress class lines in a new Uzbekistan (complicated with its own new class of wealthy returnees).

Street Scenes:

Afghan Disco: In case the last vid made anyone feel as if Afghanistan is a timeless place of ancient glory

2008-11-03T09:27:00.006-05:00

Afghanistan caught up with the West pretty quick! Perfect example: Parisa Morsal

In her own happy disco world with a red bow in her hair:

Another bit of warm and fuzzy (grainy) disco. This time in her happy world with bright red hair:

Letters from Kabul from Kabul 1966-1968

2008-11-03T09:10:00.002-05:00

From New Jersey to Kabul. I made that trek the other way, from Kabul to New Jersey. Half of my childhood was spent in Parsippany, NJ that had its own enclave of Afghan Americans. So this was lovely to find on youtube. This is the story of Janice Minott's collection of letters from her stay in Afghanistan from 1966-1968. Her husband was Director for the Peace Corps. Here is her description of her project:

As a suburban wife and mother, I lived for two years there with my husband and three young children, at a time when this small, unknown country was just opening its doors to the twentieth century, and westerners commonly thought Afghanistan was somewhere in Africa.

The fifty letters in Letters from Kabul cover twenty two months that my family was there from June 1966 through March 1968.

During that time, we lived in a spacious mud-brick house inside a walled compound in Sherpur, one of the older sections of the city...

Samangan, 1965

2008-11-02T15:36:00.008-05:00

I found this beautiful footage on youtube while researching yurts (one yoga fad has been to practice yoga in yurts -- I think it is just for alliterative joy that people do this, not exercise). It is such a delight to have footage of Afghanistan before the wars completely devastated the country. I don't know much about the Takht-e-Rustam but I remember it appearing from time to time in the fairytales my dad told me. The stumps are visible here in this footage. Also there are close-ups of the draped cloak of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Remember the ones the Taliban blew up? Of course, Miss Talibonita is not Taliban! Mark the clever little "o" making her simply a pretty student -- talib means student and bonita is exactly what she is [on the inside, of course]). It is also the very funny alter-ego of a girl who was born in Afghanistan, raised to school age in Saudi Arabia and then did the rest of her growing up in the beautiful red-brick neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

This footage was filmed on June 14-16, 1965 by Watson Kintner for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Learn more about eh Watson Kintner Collection here: http://www.archive.org/details/UPMAA_...

Footage contains the following: Uzbek camp at base of mountain. Circular wooden framework for top of yurt.  Sheep tied to stakes.  Tribesmen.  Uzbek plowing: wooden ox-pulled plow.  Ruin, hut on hill.  Ruins of Takhte Rusten:  Stumps of palace pillars.    Farming area: general view.  Old man on mule.  Loaded trucks: one on left carries matches from Russia.  Harvesting wheat: stones hold sheaves in place.  Farmer: heavy coat to keep him cool. Village at mountain base: stone or adobe houses, flat roofs.  Water conduit: split log.  Village: walls, rooftops (enroute to Mazar-i-Sharif from Samangan).  Tangi Siah (?) (Hunter's Gorge): red rock formation  In Khulm:  Skin water bags for sale  Millstones for sale.  Pot making: the liner for an open vessel for baking bread  Potter walking on clay to form flat sidewall of baking pot.  Potter sprinkling sand, compacting it with round tool. Making clay vessel: a finished pot is used to shape bottom of pot  in progress. Hand tools.  Forming inside base of pot using wooden pestle.  Making clay handle for vessel by hand.  Vessel for sale.  Camel herd on plain  Shrine (at Mazar-i-Shrif)

This film was digitized by www.archive.org

All rights are reserved by the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Any use of the footage in productions is forbidden unless rights have been secured by contacting the Penn Museum Archives at 215-898-8304, or email films@museum.upenn.edu. This film and all of the films in the Penn Museum collection are copyrighted by the Penn Museum, and are not in the public domain.

Blake Snyder: Save the Cat (Tips on Screenwriting)

2008-10-23T12:49:00.010-04:00

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder was really a random place to find something that has a strong racist twang. Tartarous the Noble was reading the latest rage in screenwriting when he came across this passage (second paragraph):

The passage in question says: Well, God and aliens don't mix, why? Because it's two sets of different kinds of magic. It's Double Mumbo Jumbo. And if you don't believe me, try substituting the word "Allah for the word "God" and see if your brain doesn't melt.

So Blake Snyder assumes there are no Muslim American screenwriters reading this? How offensive to block out an entire possible audience. And why would our brains melt? Allah and God don't mix? Or is it East and West don't mix?

Is it the Kipling theme: "East is East and West is West, and never shall the twain meet?"

Then say it a more clear way rather than just saying "your brain will melt".

This from such a popular screenwriting book is a shame.

PS: Since I got such biting responses about how Mr. Snyder was not racist. I also received this from another reader via email. A short short lesson on the difference between what is a racist act and who is a racist person. Fits perfectly in this discussion and the rabid response I got from another commentator proving me how nonracist Snyder is. What I care about is how racist that particular line is -- not anything about Signs or anything about how the writer's soul is beautiful. Watch this vid! Thanks reader!

And this analysis of Shyamalan and Hindu cosmology in his film Signs was recommended by another brilliant reader: America Loves Shyamalan by V.G. Julie Rajan

Uzbek Pop Music

2008-10-19T01:51:00.004-04:00

This one is my favorite so far... Miss Talibonita is a bit ignorant. Is Uzbekistan just like the U.S.? Uzbeks play basketball and become cheerleaders? Or is it that music videos are the same wherever you turn? But this is a cute song... a duet about first love. Of course, the video was chosen because the "crush" is a teacher:

And then this... what a cute little boy duo! Is that a trailer park out there in the steppes? Miss Talibonita just wants to bite their little 8 year old "mamadana" cheeks! They dream of driving cars and taking cute girls out but alas, they cannot even read yet! Yes those are the lyrics.

OMG! Further youtube investigations produced this... the little boys were doing a funny remake of this video... (now it makes sense!). In this song the boys are illiterate in the earlier one the boys haven't read yet. Okay, is there an illiteracy problem we have to address? It is a very cute song!

Mongol by Sergei Bodorov Release on DVD Today!

2008-10-14T13:46:00.032-04:00

Mongol is being released today on dvd!!!

One wonderful reader sent me gorgeous photos of Mongol! Thank you anonymous reader who loves Mongol! Here they are:

Ramadan Photos

2008-10-13T01:26:00.008-04:00

Photos from Boston.com

Ramadan in its most American form -- a table setting in Massachusetts does justice to my experience of iftaar-breaking as a prolongued Thanksgiving (turkey-as-optional).

Just before where she was and where she will be, the girl with the heart stitched onto her dress is a breath of stillness at the center of such blurringly active spirituality.

My favorite prayer mat as a little girl was my green slim mat which had come from a shopping trip in Mecca. Mother was in her abaya and a strand of curled hair had slipped out. The heat had made her face red and moist. She was laughing with the prayer mats rolled under her arms. I tried climbing up to her lap, but slipped on layers of black silk. My father slipped a cold Pepsi (which we pronounced Bebsi) into my hand and the world was beautiful even if I couldn't reach my mother's lap.

Zarif Design

2008-10-11T23:23:00.004-04:00

Founded by the dark-eyed beauty, Zolaykha Sherzad, Zarif Design is not just about creating small revolutions (fabric for men are now redesigned for women) it is also about re-infusing energy back into the cultural crafts such as weaving and embroidery. She's reinvented the Uzbek chapan (coat for men that Karzai made famous) and taken a turban to make a blouse for women. Viva La Feminist Resistance! A self-proclaimed bridge between here and there, Sherzad's visual interpretation of Reconstruction Era Afghanistan is reaching the world.

(Designer Zolaykha Sherzad with Afghan children in Kabul)

Manty/Mantu

2008-10-05T01:36:00.010-04:00

Perhaps one of Miss Talibonita's favorite CenAsian dishes is manty/mantu (Afghan Uzbek version): Meat Dumpings. In her spare time, in between power teaching, writing, and editing... she loves to cook. This two level steamer can fit two Thanksgiving turkeys! For her Eid guests, she steamed up four platters of manty as her main dish! It took her four hours to make this (she was on her own working her little Uzbek fingers to the bone!!!) Here is the famous pot:

Miss Talibonita will not share her own manty recipe because she is jealous with her recipes (they have been handed down from father to father in her family!). Here is a sneak peak at the manty on the first rack:

And here are the manty after three plates were filled:

Here is a manty dish from www.firedupcatering.com
It is not what Miss Talibonita goes by (she prefers to steam the manty longer and to jam pack her steamer like a 3rd world train), but it is a good version:

Ingredients:
For Dough:

2 cups water
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

For Forcemeat:

2.2 lb lamb or beef
2 large onions
Pinch of salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
Directions:
1. Mix olive oil, salt and water together. Work up flour into thick dough. Cover with a napkin and let it stand for 10 - 15 minutes. Cut the dough into balls about the size of walnut. Roll each ball to make thin round flat cakes

2. To make forcemeat, cut the lamb or beef into small pieces or mince it not too finely. Cut a little bit of fat from lamb into small dices. Shred onions. Mixed thoroughly, add salt, spices and a little water

3. Put a ball of filling (approx 1 tbsp forcemeat) on each square piece of dough and shape to make a big dumpling. To do that you’ll need to fold the dough over the filling to make a half moon, pinch the edges and draw the 2 points together to make a purse

4. Lay Manty on the ranges of a double boiler in such a way as to have no contact with each other, splash cold water over them and place over the lower section of the boiler and steam for 40 – 45 minutes

Eid Mubarak!

2008-09-30T11:28:00.006-04:00

This was the funniest Eid Mubarak greeting card she could find on the internet:

Miss Talibonita Umbaleki is Fasting...

2008-09-22T07:38:00.003-04:00

Miss Talibonita hasn't had fast food in years (especially BK). But this was the best expression of American/Muslimness. This was an ad for Egypt -- sadly no Americans saw this on their televisions...

16 Braids and Two Uyghur Courtship Songs

2008-09-06T22:13:00.008-04:00

What? Miss Talibonita has been going too far south? Well let's bring it up north with these songs:

Uyghur Mermaid Fest with the Turum player (perhaps Trumpet is from Turum?):

Gul Baagh (Flower Garden)

Uyghur courtship dance

Vinod -the Pathan- Khanna (1970s)

2008-09-05T20:30:00.001-04:00

Need Miss Talibonita say more?

This is from a great blog: Filmi Girl Falling for Bollywood

Kabuliwala

2008-09-04T04:03:00.003-04:00

So if India is the exotic oriental fantasy of the West then what is India's fantasy of an exotic and oriental land? Central Asia, of course!

Miss Talibonita's daddy is an avid Bollywood fan and luckily for us, daddy's collection has some rare black and white finds, which will be posted up in parts.

Kabuliwala is a 1966 production featuring Balraj Sahni as the Afghan Almond/Pistachio seller working in India to make money to take care of his daughter. Never read the Tagore story "Kabuliwala" or Man from Kabul, so can't say if it is close to the text. But this fantasy of Afghanistan as wild, bearded (in this film with some bad stage beards!) and poor is rather interesting and continues to be repeated in Bollywood.

What makes Miss Talibonita laugh is the presence of cactus in this nostalgic song about Afghanistan.

Here is an excerpt from the story:

"A Kabuliwallah! a Kabuliwallah!" Sure enough in the street below was a Kabuliwallah, passing slowly along. He wore the loose soiled clothing of his people, with a tall turban; there was a bag on his back, and he carried boxes of grapes in his hand.

I cannot tell what were my daughter's feelings at the sight of this man, but she began to call him loudly. "Ah!" I thought, "he will come in, and my seventeenth chapter will never be finished!" At which exact moment the Kabuliwallah turned, and looked up at the child. When she saw this, overcome by terror, she fled to her mother's protection, and disappeared. She had a blind belief that inside the bag, which the big man carried, there were perhaps two or three other children like herself. The pedlar meanwhile entered my doorway, and greeted me with a smiling face.

Ahem! We wash our clothes, thank you very much Mr. Tagore! And WE DO NOT EAT CHILDREN. For your information, we prefer fattened up Midwestern ladies whose flesh are sweet from all the Little Debbie treats they graze on all day.

All that aside, Miss Talibonita's fav Bollywood Pathan is:

Pran as the Khan in Zanjeer (1973)
He makes his grand entrance in squeaky fresh-pathan-made-leather shoes... and kicks everyone's butt!

Vintage Footage of Shah Amanullah (1919-1929)

2008-09-02T02:54:00.005-04:00

Shah Amanullah overthrew the British as Protectorate of Afghanistan in the third Anglo-Afghan war. This footage is of his 18 day tour of Europe with his wife, Queen Soraya. Known as the modernizing King, he returned from this trip and tried to modernize Afghanistan too quickly. In 1929 the conservatives won and he was overthrown. He lived in exile in Rome. This footage is from his 1928 visit to Liverpool.

This is footage of him rallying Afghans to rise up against the British in 1919.

This is one of my favorite photos of Queen Soraya, who in the 1920s was the first Muslim woman to go unveiled. It was also one of the factors that lead to the uprising against her husband. Who would have thought an Afghan Flapper would cause such chaos! So here is the Helen of the Afghanistan Troy! She is totally fabulous!

Lida Abdul: Afghan Performance Artist/Filmmaker on Youtube

2008-08-31T05:05:00.012-04:00

Lida Abdul's vision is just gorgeous! Who else would wear a veil and glitter up her tongue?! Here is an interview with her showing her work at the Tate Modern:

This is Lida talking about her work at the Brooklyn Museum March 2007. Why does she look so annoyed? They didn't do the best job introducing her and the AV staff was mouthing off in the back instead of putting up her material. Miss Talibonita thought Lida was going to go behind the curtain and bitchslap them all into submission. Luckily for them, she didn't and went on with her talk. In this recording she talks about her early work in the 1990s and her later work in Afghanistan:

This is a photo of her performance work: ICE
She said this piece was the most physically exhausting pieces she's ever done. But it is cathartic. She pulls and pushes the ice on the Afghan carpet till it is completely melted and then pours ash over it. Gorgeous!

Subtitles Please!

2008-08-17T23:15:00.005-04:00

No, this has nothing to do with CenAsian things but its so hilarious! Miss Talibonita could not resist posting this clip from (not sure what show this is from!). Although, definitely a few years old. Thanks to Tartarous the Noble for passing it on!

Eurasian Eyes

2008-08-17T12:45:00.003-04:00

Its 1986, Corey Hart ventures out into the Eurasian Tundra (or maybe its just some place in Canada) in search of "Eurasian Eyes". Wild Horses come together as he searches, searches and searches for "Eurasian Eyes"!

Miss Talibonita is Back!

2008-08-07T12:36:00.002-04:00

If you open Miss Talibonita's secret diary, you will find this sequin-happy Afghan songstress still dancing her westernized heart out. Why is she so blurry? Its from the tears Miss Talibonita sheds each night for the lost disco idols of Kabul!

Vacation Time

2008-07-18T01:50:00.006-04:00

Miss Talibonita is water skiing in a tutu and tiara!

Okay, we're all allowed to dream a little...

Move over Xena, Setora Uzbek Woman Warrior is here!

2008-07-09T16:54:00.006-04:00

Setora, the Uzbek pop singer, discovers an ancient book set in 1219. She has some kind of a flashback to when Jingiz Khan massacres the Khawarzam Kingdom (Northern Afghanistan). In this massacre three girls survive the massacre. They are saved by a priest who raises them to be bow & arrow warrior women who can dance in the rain with their swords!

8Bit Release of The Dead Tracks

2008-07-09T00:39:00.017-04:00

The CenAsian Heart Throb, the Vein of the Steppe, the Eternal Urban Sufi re-releases his classic underground electronic music produced in the bowels of Brooklyn. The Dead Tacks can be purchased at iTunes (just click on the iTunes bar to see the album):

Dead Tracks (d'ed - ch'rakz) :

abandoned traintracks that
extend throughout the entire borough of Brooklyn in New York. Before
Trance, Jungle, and before the genre and Rave scene exploded onto the
mainstream the first techno outlaw parties in the United States
occured at these tracks.

Here is an interview with him at Wire to the Ear:

http://www.wiretotheear.com/2008/03/31/8bit-interview-music-from-brooklyn-and-second-life/

Schizo directed by Guka Omarova

2008-07-08T23:57:00.004-04:00

Miss Talibonita and her Po-Co students are watching this beautiful film by Omarova. Co-written by Sergei Bodorov, its a wonderful follow up to the trip to see Mongol. The soundtrack is similar to Mongol. The best reason for showing this 2004 film is to break the romanticism for the harsh yet beautiful Central Asian steppes. The landscape in this film is littered by incomplete architectural projects by the Soviet Union. Lots to say about this... stay tuned! The lovely students said that this film was their favorite in a list of wonderful films screened in class. Especially after watching Mongol.

A Short Horror Film from Afghanistan

2008-07-01T02:42:00.003-04:00

Yikes! As if the reality of Afghanistan (three decades of war) was not horrific enough, Mustafa Mirza directed this very frightening short film. Miss Talibonita is easily scared and now that she watched it so late, she may not be able to sleep at all! But here it is... the story was written by Aman Mojadidi (an excellent writer!).

A Sufi Tale

Don't watch it at night if you are a scaredy cat like Miss Talibonita...

Bjork and the Mystery of the Silk Ikat

2008-06-29T15:00:00.005-04:00

Of course, Miss Talibonita adores Bjork! Recently, she came across this outlandish Bjork fashionism... and guess what she's wearing? Yep, Silk Ikat from CenAsia! Silk Ikat could be the national flag of Greater CenAsia -- its that distinct! Unfortunately, the beautiful fabric (which is showcased nicely in the film Mongol) is put together like some warning flag. This outfit has the shape and at least for the top, the fabric of CenAsia. The flouncy top with a pair of tighter pants underneath (here its leggings) is common especially in Afghanistan. But the rainbow skirt attached demeans the fabric and makes it look like a circus show. On EuroNews there was a clip with her hat on, which looked like a Rainbow Brite version of a Turkman female headdress.

Oh Bjork, such beautiful politics! Such a push at tribalism meets the Big Apple Circus on outfits.

Silk Ikat has turned into a Silk Ickie on this stage!

Ariana Delawari: Lion of Panjsher

2008-06-28T15:28:00.005-04:00

Miss Talibonita is loving this band: Lion of Panjsher, named after the late Ahmad Shah Masood. Ariana Delawari has spent quite some time in reconstruction-era Afghanistan spreading love and understanding through music. If beauty is as beauty does... then she is the perfect example.

And here she covers Madonna's "Crazy for You." In this video she connects LA with Kabul (so beautiful!)

7 Songs Tag

2008-06-22T22:54:00.003-04:00

The Super High Fashion Diva, Vain & Vapid tagged me to put up 7 songs and then to tag 7 people. Now, Miss Talibonita has a small blog circle, but here it goes:

1) 8bit (the electronic CenAsian musical Sufi master)

2) The Smiths: Ask

3) The Blow: Hey Boy

4) Le Tigre: Deceptacon

5) Gogoosh: Hejrat

6) Ahmad Zahir (the Afghan Elvis): Lailly Jan Jan

7) Setara: Dukhtar i Herat (Girl from Herat)

And these are my favorite CenAsian & American songs... yay! I am sure all put together sound like an odd mix. But that's whats on my ipod! Thanks Vain & Vapid for the fun tag!

I have to make some new friends to tag in the blogosphere.

Mongol: Film Review

2008-06-22T22:47:00.010-04:00

Mongol directed by Sergei Bodorov

Miss Talibonita had to see this film three times to quench her thirst for the steppes of Central Asia. Each viewing had a different impact on her:

1) While watching this with her buddy Tartarous the Noble, she exclaimed in the movie theater "OMG, I love my face!" Yes, as vain as this sounds, the film made her love high cheekbones, klik klaki language, and the textiles in her home.

2) After watching it with her students, she felt that she could articulate her experience with her students intellectually and within the context of postcolonial studies. Miss Talibonita also loved her students expressions after the film. Soon, she will be posting her students responses on this entry.

3) With her Daddy jan, Miss Talibonita was able to piece apart the linguistic connections between Uzbek/Farsi and Mongolian.

In one of the blissful domestic moments, out in the middle of a field with his two children and his wife, Timudjin says: "Mongolian is a beautiful language. Soon the world will be speaking it." Although, the world doesn't speak it, his empire spread many Mongolian words into Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, India/Pakistan. My Indian students said they were able to pick out some familiar words (thanks to the Mughals) and Miss Talibonita's Daddy was able to pick up a lot more.

Here are some similarities (Mongolian will be listed first):

Akha: Aka (Uzbek for brother)
Manekheh: Manekeh (Mine)
Otur: Otu (Hindi/Urdu Get Up)

In another scene Jamukhai says "My liver hurt when I heard your wife was kidnapped." In Farsi, we say "Jigar khoon" to describe something sad or tragic. Meaning: Bloody Liver.

Also Paiposh, boots (literally: foot wear) in Farsi, was used to refer to boots in the film "bebesh." In Uzbeki we use the term bebesh for shoes, but I heard it more when I had to get baby shoes.

These are all based on what was heard in the movie theater. Of course, more research would be necessary, but the familiarity of the language was just a wonderful experience.

On a last note, they kept saying "A Mongol does this..." or "A Mongol would never do that..." which made the film reveal itself as a film for outsiders or a crash course for Mongolians who want to know what they are like and were like in the 12-13th centuries. Mongen was Borte's daughters' name. I imagine it meant something like little Mongol or something. But I can see why she was named this since she was born in China. The emphasis on Mongol identity in a foreign land makes sense in this case. But the continued discussions of what a Mongol is like and not like amongst each other felt like they were foreigners in their own land, or aware of foreign eyes... ahem... like Miss Talibonita and company in the audience!

This was the only pebble in my paiposh about this film.

(The softer side of Jingiz Khan: "Honey can you please pass the yak milk?")

Tartarous the Noble

2008-06-06T01:38:00.005-04:00

Life Magazine issue on Sinkiang

Tartarous the Noble (from Life Magazine Dec 13, 1943)

Finally! An Afghan American Comic!

2008-06-04T02:35:00.004-04:00

Move over Kal Penn is right (this from his myspace blurb) Fahim Anwar is hilarious! Please be famous so we can have more things about us Afghans (other than boy-rape and bearded terrorists!)

This was such a hit on youtube (of course being in academia made me a year late in discovering this gem):

Live:

This one is my favorite:

Here is his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/fahimanwar

Adventures in Afghanistan for Boys: or the Predominance of Moustaches

2008-06-02T02:30:00.009-04:00

Adventures in Afghanistan for Boys by Lowell Thomas (1928), one of Miss Talibonita's favorite book-finds (bought at Strand for $.50) is chock full of American pomp and bravado.

This book, written by the same 1920s moustached-journalist who made Lawrence of Arabia a household name, is definitely amusing to read.

Thomas visited Afghanistan under the reign of Amir Amanullah (1919-1929).

Here is our late Amir in his tennis suit hanging out with members of cabinet (he is the one with the moustache, first one on the left).

This photo was taken about the same time as Thomas' visit to Afghanistan. Unforunately, even after being a guest at the Western oasis in an "Oriental" land, the palace, Thomas did not portray a flattering image of Afghanistan. At least he was a little better than the Canadian journalist (and contemporary) Gordon Sinclair who called Waziristan "The Homeland of Homicide".

Here is a clip found on youtube with Lowell Thomas narrating a show on America's growth and potential in the 20s.

What a collection of moustached men! Eat your heart out Tom Selleck!

The Edge of Heaven Dir. Fatih Akin

2008-05-28T03:06:00.008-04:00

Miss Talibonita just watched the latest film by Turkish German Director, Fatih Akin: The Edge of Heaven. It is playing at the Film Forum (wonderful cocoon of a place featuring Indie Films) until June 11th. So go see it now while you can!

The film was beautiful. Such incredible shots of Turkish landscape. After teaching Head-On this semester (which the students loved), it was great to see his latest film. Akin captures youthful defiance, loss, and the fragility of life in this film. Its a father-son / mother-daughter film. So bring a hanky if you are soft on these things. If you have a blood-sucking vamp for a mother (like Miss Talibonita) then you can get through dry-eyed at all those mommy scenes. No more can be said about this film without spoiling it for you. Note: Do not read too many reviews of the film before you see it. Just go and dedicate 2 hours and 15 min of your life to the film!

Akin's films do bring up one question: Why do the Turkish German characters end up returning to Turkey? (Wait is that a spoiler?)

CenAsians <3 Brooklyn

2008-05-26T14:13:00.013-04:00

Miss Talibonita has been a Brooklyn girl ever since she was five and always thought that her Dari infused Turkestani language was something home brewed, something only spoken within the warm-womblike confines of her home. However, in the past five years, she's been pinned as a CenAsian at her local train station, supermarket, laundromat, 99 Cent Store, and pizzeria. Although, she cringes at hearing a CenAsian face speaking Russian (a side effect of being Afghan), she has been fascinated with these interactions.

Apparently, this side of Brooklyn, Shish Kebab Bay (named for fish shaped like kebabs), is a palimpsest of CenAsian footprints:

*
1950s: Bunch of Turks (as in from Turkey)
1960s: Bunch of Crimean Tatars
1970s: A Drizzle of Afghan Turkestanis
1980s: Tons of Afghan Turkestanis
1980s: Whole Lotta Turks (by the 90s most of the shish kebab shops were owned by Turks)
1990s: Bunch of Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Kazaks
2000s: Whole Lotta of Uzbeks (mostly here as caretakers or babysitters for Russian families)

*These facts are based on tea visits with elder CenAsians who told Miss Talibonita of "the first" Tatar or Uzbek or Afghan they remembered moving into the area. The info has not been fully verified or researched properly.

Miss Talibonita loves some CenAsian appreciation of her round face, however she has been presented with a matchmaking scheme at almost every one of these interactions. So let's make it public. "Yes Miss Talibonita is American. No she will not meet your brother/cousin/uncle/nephew/neighbor's nephew/third cousin's wife's little brother/ or whoever else out there male (or in male drag) to settle down with!"

Xinjiang Kebabs in NYC

2008-05-18T22:43:00.005-04:00

Miss Talibonita has been wading through a sea of articles to write and papers to grade... she had little CenAsian news, other than her own silly struggles such as a bad haircut in Chinatown followed by way too many conferences to attend and pretend to be smart.

Anyway, this weekend Miss Talibonita the brave stumbled upon a Xinjiang Kebab street cart on Main Street and 41 Ave (right where Kissena splits off) Flushing, Queens. For a $1 a stick of lamb or chicken, she had some amazing kebabs from back home!

Miss Talibonita could not tell if they spoke Uyghur, she did not try too hard, her mouth was all a drool from the heavenly smell (at least heavenly for the carnivorous at heart) of lambs grilling over an open fire.

Apparently, there is another Xinjiang Kebab cart in Manhattan:

Division St. , New York, NY 10002
at Forsyth St. $2 a kebab

If anyone knows anymore locations, pass it on! Its definitely Turkistani kebabs at its best!

Baby Ruth

2008-04-28T02:36:00.007-04:00

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo had Miss Talibonita laughing hysterically at the movie theaters. Yes yes it flips around all that racial profiling against us brown/olive folks. But what won Miss Talibonita over was this scene, which references the best film ever: The Goonies!

Super Robo Cop vs Afghanistan

2008-04-27T15:45:00.017-04:00

Iron Man, as a revived high-tech Knight in shining tin, slaughters the Taliban and escapes after being kidnapped in Afghanistan. Miss Talibonita saw the trailer first at a Kashmiri tea shop television (it was advertised on a Pakistani satellite television show) and wanted puke out the oily samosa she had just eaten.

So while he was held hostage in Tora Bora, he had the time and luxury to smelt some iron and cast himself a suit?

And they cast Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man? With his drug history, should he even be allow to go near Afghanistan?

PS: Miss Talibonita went to see it. It wasn't as bad as Talibonita thought! There is a pleasant Afghan intellectual who sacrifices himself to save Iron Man and builds the first heart gadget, which Iron Man later perfects. Terrorists are not shown as Afghans! Surprise, Surprise! And Miss Talibonita read an article on Robert Downey Jr. in Vogue that updated her on his post-druggie fully organic and herbalist friendly identity. So there there friends... she realizes Iron Man was a critique of the Vietnam War and now a critique of War Mongers in Afghanistan/Iraq etc. The best part of the film was his battle with Jeff Bridges (who is forever the star of TRON in Miss Talibonita's eyes). Tartarous the Noble pointed out that Jeff Bridges' new bad-guy-robot outfit was a lot like the bad guy in Tron he had to battle. Who knew aged once-heroes have to wear the bulky bad-guy robot outfits!

Yes, this calls for a clip from TRON (which is just deliciously random!)

Happy Afghans

2008-04-15T21:32:00.005-04:00

Miss Talibonita's first 8,760 hours of life was spent in a citrus city... a place that floated from the sheer power of orange blossom fragrance. And this was the first language poured into her ears. However, after years and years of migration and languages and fragmented cities, all Miss Talibonita knows of the Pashtu language is when to get bread or tea when guests come.

Naghma is a famous Afghan singer who sings in Pashtu. Miss Talibonita's father's gen seemed to have listened to Qamar Gul (a singer who never left Jalalabad even for recordings) a lot.

This youtube video features Nawib Orakzai (non shiny and moderately-hair-gelled-out) who revives Naghma and translates the original Pashtu into English. This is a very sweet attempt at making traditional Afghan songs danceable (perhaps at some dingy dank club in Germany...).

Miss Talibonita is putting up fun images in the Pashtu language because Western encounters with Afghanistan have always made Pashtuns seem overly-testosteroned out (see Vice Guide to Travel clip a few days ago) and made other Afghans seem more approachable. So a dash of dance music seems to do the trick in evening out that scale (well... Miss Talibonita is known to be a hyper-optimist).

Man-Whipping Session Kazakh Style

2008-04-15T20:59:00.005-04:00

Who can resist a clip of a woman whipping her beau?

Ahhh... a great way to get out those pre-wedding jitters! (Note to PETA folks, there is a dead fox --head and all-- hung around one groom's neck. Don't worry the fox was fed sugar cubes before it was offed!).

Googoosh in the Classroom

2008-04-15T20:08:00.009-04:00

Miss Talibonita was at Kim's Video again (trying to get one of those brat film students who work there to tell her the exact location of Josephine Baker films) when she stumbled onto this documentary on Googoosh: Iran's Daughter directed by Farhad Zamani (2000).

Naturally she felt elated and thrilled because she could bring some of her dance moves into the classroom.

Miss Talibonita was not prepared for this film at all!

She just looked up the reviews on amazon.com and apparently, many people felt the same. Googoosh was not in the film. Her son seemed good-spirited enough to be part of it, however, it was a very unflattering interview. He looked rather bored the entire time and absentminded.

Other than the appearance of critics Farzaneh Milaneh and Hamid Dabashi who added a layer of intellectualism, the film made Miss Talibonita laugh without meaning too and this in turn freed up her students to laugh as well. This of course can be disasterous, but good thing her students are so mature and sophisticated.

Beautiful classic footage of an Iranian Madonna (but more amazing -- perhaps an Iranian Cher sans the rib-removal and black electrical tape outfits she wore at age 50) were combined and turned into rather heavy-handed avant-garde (if that was what it was meant to be) video art (with some stray narratives) or something.
Miss Talibonita wants to say good things about it...

...
...

Um... the director admired Googoosh.

Anyway, Googoosh still shines through and makes it worthwhile to sit through the triple takes and repeats and odd jumps and overly-literary moments. Miss Talibonita does not understand why there were so many clips of Googoosh giving birth? Was she giving birth to the nation of Iran? Then the painful expression on her face is understandable!

Here is a great Googoosh clip from Iranian TVs:

She could be a yoga model! Even in her childhood clips, she was an amazingly muscular little person (must have been the acrobatic training she had).

Okay this will be the last Googoosh Oggling post!

Madonna of Central Asia: Googoosh

2008-04-10T02:30:00.007-04:00

Miss Talibonita is compiling this selection of Googoosh clips mainly for her students. They are very adorable beings but say very odd things like Hey, I had no idea Iran had streets!

Googoosh's parents came as refugees to Iran from Azerbaijian. This, almost unimportant fact, allows her to fit into the theme of this blog. She is U.S.-based now but remained in Iran until 2000 when she re-emerged. She can only be compared to Madonna.

And even though Miss Talibonita feels a little lame having to compile these images just to prove that a group of people knew what to do with concrete and bell-bottoms, it is all for the sake of education (and some nostalgia on her part).

This is Pre-1979 Iran (time of an opulent eurocentric King). And as you can see, disco is very much alive in Iran:

A clip of her singing at the royal palace for Reza Shah Pahlavi's birthday.

This one reminds me of Three's Company (Iranian blonde Janet dances with Larry):

Miss Talibonita has the best memories of this video. It was part of the Afghan videos her family used to buy from the shop that was also a meat market/bookstore/video store/rug shop/trinket shop all in a nice nook in Queens surrounded by pale blue buildings that all looked very similar to one another.

She watched this as a musical interlude to the films about war and suffering that the Mujahideen made and sold to refugees, so their kids could feel terribly guilty in their nice brick apartments in urban centers or in the basement of their suburban homes.

Googoosh is a Sufi mystic singing of love. There is a line that says "Let's escape from this nation..." which seemed to strike a cord with Afghans and Iranians, both leaving as refugees after revolutions in 1979 (except that one promoted atheism while the other promoted God) and Miss Talibonita wishes she could translate more but she's afraid someone will bust her for her faulty Farsi. This is one of her favorite songs (and hair styles!):

1958 Ford Commercial in Herat, Afghanistan

2008-04-07T03:00:00.005-04:00

The 1958 Ford is contrasted with the Afghan horse & buggy. This came part of a catalog documenting a trip that began in Turkey and ended up in Afghanistan (and back as the ad says). Miss Talibonita has it framed by her entrance hall.

Fun Capital of the World

2008-04-07T01:28:00.020-04:00

Which bastard made this poster?

This leads to a report of today's Afghanistan finds. The great expert on CenAsian/MidEastern popculture, Tartarous the Noble introduced Miss Talibonita to this clip from Vice Guide to Travel (2006) dvd.

Co-Producer Suroosh Alvi visits the Northwest Frontier (ethnic Pashtun people), aka gatekeepers of the infamous Khyber Pass in: The Gun Markets of Pakistan

Miss Talibonita's father told her a similar story of his visit to Nooristan (just over the mountain in Afghanistan) to a remote gun-maker at the top of a mountain. He made a handgun using some scrap metal from an old faucet. He had even inscribed Made in Germany. This was circa 1960s when Miss Talibonita's dad was traveling in parts of Afghanistan that could not be traveled without a gun (even if you were just a dentist going to help remote villages). This is the first time Miss Talibonita saw with her own eyes this story in English! For some reason, she thinks stories told in her native language are made up to keep her interested in her connections to the wattan (homeland).

Masculinity III: No not Rambo... The Iron Sheik

2008-04-06T00:49:00.017-04:00

WWF of Miss Talibonita's 80s childhood would not be the same without the presence of this screaming Iranian. To our glee, the gang of Afghan bubble gum kids, the Iron Sheik spoke Farsi when he was yelling at Hulk Hogan! He didn't just scream out made-up words, which was usually what "middle eastern" characters did in the films those days.

This photo is a classic. He's got the Ayatollah with angry bulged out eyes on his cape. It makes me think of this: "The Ayatolla of Rock-N-Rolla" a line from a Clint Eastwood film (circa late 80s with Mario van Peebles).

Okay this footage is way way before Miss Talibonita's time! He gets clotheslined with his own robe! But he does manage to Hulk Hogan in a "Boston crab".

Here is a great poem by the Iranian-American poet, Roger Sedarat that speaks of an Iranian wrestler, Miss Talibonita can imagine that is no other than the sheikh of all Iranian wrestlers.

Taarofing
By Roger Sedarat
August 14, 2002
The Iranian

Uncle Farhang ringside cracking seeds
Wildly cheers"The Fearless Iranian"
In the black mask, Come on now, body slam
Him champ! spitting shells on the metal seats.

The good guy wins. We follow ours back in
His dressing room for autographs. He knows
My uncle's friend (a coach) and even shows
Pictures. Great seeds, he says, watermelon?

My Uncle gives his bag away and asks
Him to the house. We have to wake my aunt
At 3:00 a.m. to cook but then she can't
Because the wrestler wants a dozen eggs

With bacon (pork is wrong, but mistreating
A guest is worse). At the all night Kroger
She buys every package of hamburger
Meat, fully aware he's never leaving.

They feed him forty kabob koobideighs
Each night, then let him sit in their bathroom
For hours. My cousins, as if to welcome
Him out, grin, with both hands on their kidneys.

When he decides to leave, my Uncle says
Stay three more weeks. And then when he insists,
Uncle dumps the fridge into an ice chest,
Fishes in his pants' pockets for the keys

To his new Ford, (his only way to work),
Because the bus is slow. You'll return it
In a few months, when you come to visit�
So he drives off, emitting random sparks

From the bumper grating the street, too much
Weight in the trunk: potatoes, ground meat, shoes
My uncle found "too tight," and slightly used
Toys from cousins, who scream, Come back to us!

:::::::::::::::::::::
PS: Of course, Iran is not part of CenAsia. But every once in a while, a lovely Iranian will slip across the borders and find their way here.

Speaking of Masculinity... The Orator a film by Yusuf Razikov (1998)

2008-04-04T23:45:00.006-04:00

Miss Talibonita watched this film at the Central Asian Film Festival at the Walter Reade circa 2003. She went to see this film with an American scholar on Afghanistan's Turkistan and a Russian scholar (husband and wife). So she had some fabulous insight whispered into her ears during the film in regards to music/setting/history.

The Orator is based in Uzbekistan just when the Bolsheviks come in (1918).

Iskander inherits his brother's two wives, after he passes away. He has also returned home after getting married on his own. Just outside, a revolution is beginning that will disrupt this tranquil village love nest.

A very significant line in the film clip is when the Bolshevik says "While you are comfy with your wives, we are fighting to save you!" And in a retort that would make our favorite anti-colonialist theorist Franz Fanon applaud, Iskander says "I didn't ask you to save me. It looks like you need my help now."

Definitely odd scene with the wives... perhaps overly nostalgic for the good old days when men could marry and inherit so many pretty wives.

Shiny + Overly Cologned + A Mercedes = Quintessential Afghan Diaspora Masculinity

2008-04-04T14:57:00.012-04:00

Little known fact: The song, Zim Zim (a classic by Ahmad Zahir) comes embedded in little Afghan babies' marrows when they are born.

Combine this birth right with a generous amount of hair gel, new cars (or ships), shiny silver fabric and you get this fun version by Valy. Make sure to get your shades, it is Bollywood-sparkly.

Who is Talbonita?

2008-04-02T03:15:00.014-04:00

Miss Talibonita loves mushrooms, lives in a part of Brooklyn where Shish Kebab shops peep from every other block, and speaks a language she thinks makes too many "kliki" sounds in her mouth. She is also short and has small square feet.

Miss Talibonita teaches at a college in nyc... so she isn't very little at all. She teaches the very same inventory of images she is listing up here. She knows how to make lamb's head soup and is not afraid of looking right into the eyes of what she eats. She is bestfriends with labyrinthian libraries and sometimes, she dawdles onto stages for short-lived torrid affairs with the spotlight.

Miss Talibonita likes nonsense. Her favorite kind of nonsense is sometimes found in academic books or films that try to draw her face for her.

Miss Talibonita is at the worst part of her dissertation, the part where you come up with all the excuses in the world for why you are not writing the damn dissertation (maintaining a blog is one of them). However, her dissertation focuses on Central Asia... so this is a public way to gather her thoughts.

Most importantly, Miss Talibonita is an insomniac who does not care if she has made grammatical mistakes and, as you can see, Miss Talibonita has developed a blog-induced phobia of using that very powerful pronoun: "I".

Now, time for a random music video of a Turkistani girl singing in Farsi, the person who posted it on youtube says she is from Balkh. Balkh is in Northern Afghanistan and is known as Afghan Turkistan. Of course, you know that Uzbek, Kazak, Turkman, Kyrghiz, Uyghur (groups that make up Afghan Turkistan) are Turkic languages while Dari is Persian, right?

Not entirely sure what is going on with the little fat boy in this music video... but here it is with some revamping of the Uzbek traditional outfit for the dancers:

The Destiny's Child of Uzbekistan

2008-04-01T02:22:00.005-04:00

One of the girls start out wearing a garish golden turban... but hang in there, its a pretty Uyghur song.

Wanna bet on which will be the Beyonce of the batch?

We begin with... Burka Blues

2008-04-01T01:52:00.007-04:00

Presenting: The Three Muses of Fledgling post-Taliban Afghan Garage Bands!