To anyone who gives a damn, my week has gone as follows “so far”:

Work: Holy moly… Super busy… I’m running around like a headless chicken… No complaints though; it’s enjoyable…

Health: I had food poisoning with the worst and most unmerciful bone ache and fever!!! No more calamari for me, thankyouverymuch… At least not for another year…

Reading (a.k.a. intellectual stimulation): I’m reading three books at the same time (typical ME!)…

“Kite Runner” is a great read… I’m halfway through… Quite inspiring I would say… “Chicken with Plums” (the author is my all time favorite black and white illustrator – I even had a conversation about her with a stranger on the train last night!)… Ahmad Shamlou‘s poems (cool, but maybe a bit too heavy while you’re suffering from food poisoning!)

Listening: Non-stop Tori Amos, as always! This week I’m obsessed with her album, “Little Earthquakes“… Keane‘s new album, “Under the Iron Sea” (like the rest of the Brit bands, I have a special affinity to them and their new work is quite special)

Shopping: I spent all my Indigo gift vouchers over books and CD’s (Chicken with Plums, Keane’s new CD, etc. etc.)… I also bought the coolest green hat e.v.e.r. from my favorite store at the Distillery District… Arghhh, can’t even remember the name of the store! Can I just say I currently hate calamari?!

C’est tout…

Laterz,

S

“Experience is a dim lamp, which only lights the one who bears it.”

— Louis-Ferdinand Céline

I love the way she illustrates… I love the way she narrates her memories… I think she truly ROCKS… and her new “black and white” graphic novel will be released in only few days, on October 3, 2006…

“Following her best-selling graphic Persepolis memoirs, Iran-born writer Marjane Satrapi zeroes in on celebrated musician and family member Nasser Ali Khan in the darkly delighted Chicken With Plums (Pantheon), which narrates events that took place in Tehran in 1958. Here Khan takes to his bed after his beloved tar (a long-necked guitar) is broken beyond repair, and memories (and future events) flow, guided by Satrapi’s inspired, poignantly rendered pen-and-ink panels.”

Rush Rush… Pre-order your copy HERE before it hits the newsstand! ENJOY…

S

“Anger is a vital life force. Channeled artistically or nondestructively, it has the power to move worlds.”

— Alanis Morissette

Far Coast – a new café on 95A Bloor St. West…

The ambiance is so chill with influences from African decors and music… The walls are coloured a peaceful, cool shade of turquoise blue… The furniture is a mix of West Island knick-knacks and mismatched wooden pieces inspired by the Far East… Far Coast, the new Coca Cola’s high-end brand of premium coffee and tea beverages, had its grand opening only two days ago, just this past Friday, September 22nd…

My Personal Experience: the top floor is a haven for sitting down with a mug, reading your book, and gazing down on the action on Bloor Street… The coffee was, well, OK, and at least the early Sunday morning food didn’t have much variety, but it’s the ambiance you should go for!

S

Roger Waters: The Dark Side Of The Moon
Air Canada Centre – Toronto
September 20, 2006

The concert was so GREAT that I’ll ruin the whole thing if I’m going to describe it in here… You really had to be there to experience it yourself… Mr. George Bush, who was bombarded during the show, would be the only one who wouldn’t be interested in the experience; I reckon! Especially in Roger’s new track “Leaving Beirut”…

Oh George! Oh George!
That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small…

An incredible night… A super quality concert… And I’m still HIGH…

S

P.S. Check out Sam’s pictures, taken at the show last night HERE…

P.S.S. Check out Ben Rayner’s article about the show last night HERE… On the dark side of the tune…

Sweetness:

After a long time wait, I’m finally going to see Roger Waters, the creative genius of Pink Floyd, tonight at the ACC… And I’m as EXCITED and as ECSTATIC as HELL 😉

On April 2006 I had the privilege to see his ex-bandmate, David Gilmour, on stage which was one of a kind concert and where I officially became comfortably numb!!! I’m quite positive that tonight will be a hell of an experience too…

Will catch you later…

Always,

S

P.S. All the fans will be missed!

I’m working hard behind this stupid box, tying to focus on what has to be done… but my mind is somewhere utterly different… I’m asking the same questions… Why am I not taking life as serious as others? Who is the winner in this game of life?

Good thing that the answer to most people is obvious… As with most things the one who keeps his/her balance is the winner… Bad thing, however, is that to me that’s cliché… I believe that the balance is never even… and the balance is always shifting in favor of the individual interest…

To me the question is what I was reading this morning… “Life – how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere?”

And there is no bloody answer…

S

So the TIFF 2006 is finally over…

I closed my festival films yesterday by watching “Mainline”, which I thought was one of the best movie productions of Iran in recent years… What impressed me the most was the acting of the leading lady, Baran Kosari, as a heroin addict…

The film is not based on a true story but on reality… Apparently the director, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, who had a post-discussion after the film, did a thorough research on the issue of addiction in Iran amongst the younger generation… The film was mostly black and white, which according to the director, was reflecting the mood she got after her exposure to addicts… I strongly recommend watching it yourself… It’s a pretty disturbing movie but very well made…

THE END

S

Charles Aznavour: The Farewell Tour
Hummingbird Centre – Toronto
September 15, 2006

The show was FAB… The fact that an 82 year old guy sings live for two hours (with no intermission) and still shines like a star on the stage is impressive…

Here come some comments from some of my concert companions:

“Missed my dad!”

“Pretty darn amazing… thought of my 60’s era parents a lot – they should have been there instead of me… the guy behind me kept humming (or was it hissing?!) all the songs in French, like a dubbed voiceover for the English songs… sheesh.”

“Never did I imagine that I would go to a performance of a singer from my parents’ generation and enjoy it so thoroughly.”

S