"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a ..."

I get familiar with Eugen Ionesco by “Rhinoceros”. An absurd play about the people of a small city in France who are gradually transformed into rhinoceros. The first episode of this three act play is about the fact that how surprised were the people when the encounter the first rhinoceroses. There is a character of a “logic man” who tries to convince the shocked citizens that they were wrong by making logic reasons to ignore the reality. “ Sheep has four legs, rhinoceros has four leg so you have seen sheep”

By time, the “normality” shift to something completely contradictory to their first beliefs. Consequently, from now on not being a rhinoceros is abnormal. Till the last act, "Humanism expired! “ and considered as an old ridiculous essentialism. Thus all the citizens of the city transformed to the new normality except Bérenger (an alcoholic man who were not happy about the life), his mate and a worker.  The worker decides to follow his leader and the mass and become a rhinoceros. But Bérenger and her love decided to stay Human and save the Man race. Later on the women become reluctant and frustrated. She gave up the survival of the human being and transformed to a rhinoceros. Bérenger decided resist the metamorphosis and abide as the only human. He was always crying afterward, because he cannot become regretful and transform into rhinoceros anymore even if he wants so.

                          

   

Rhinoceros By Farhad Ayish - Tehran 

I have seen two performance of this play; one in Paris and the other one in Tehran. Honestly, the one in Tehran, performed by Naqshineh group in furnace room of the Tehran theatre was amazing. At the end, they have not finished the play as it has been written. They stopped the theatre at decision point of Bérenger. Then the director come to the stage and asked the audience which side they chose to stand? Bérenger (human) or all te others (the Rhinoceroses). And the majority preferred the majority.

Every now and then I stand in front of the mirror and look at myself to see if I am still a non-metamorphosed man in the city of the rhinoceroses?

I have found this interview with Ionesco on youtube. These days you may find everything there!

Montreal Jazz festival Opening

This Saturday, 32^nd Montreal Jazz festival begins. On contrary to long freezing winters, during summer Montréal is the city of festivals. It starts with Formula 1 and endure till the end of summer.  But Jazz festival is a summit.  This year the opening was with an energetic soul group called: Ben l'Oncle Soul.

I didn’t know them before. They were established in France, tours on 2004.  Their successful performance on Francofolie festival of Montréal on 2010, elected them to perform the opening of the Jazz festival 2011 in front of more than 100000 people.  

I enjoy the music and performance. Take a look at one their video here and keep in mind if you wanted to come to Montréal, try to be here in summer.  

Science and the grant dilemma

    

Long time ago, when I was still a young curious boy who gazes in all the creatures passionately, the term “Scientist” has another meaning to me. It designates a positive package of passion, curiosity, and admirable altruistic group of people that are devoting their life to find the “unknowns” and help the progress of human nature. 

All these positive views, direct me to pursue my educational, and consequently professional, life toward science.  I still remember how I reasoned (this is one thin I was very good at it) and convinced my family and friends about the importance of science and working in scientific field. I was following my dreams and beliefs about science and try to integrate in scientific world as much as possible. I have left Iran to get closer to the research frontiers and to improve and update my skills. I experienced the scientific society and research labs in Iran, Netherlands, France and Canada. 

It is difficult to confess, but I would like to say that I don’t feel the same about the science and scientific society. I am sorry to admit that the further I advance the more I comprehend the mafia like situation in science. Now I think there is not much difference between scientific field and business. The main distinction is that in science we follow the same rules as business but with hypocrisy. 

The real world of science is the empire of the administrations and grant companies.  To win a grant you should weather be part of the gang, or wait forever and suffer from failing again and again. It is better to forget the grand roster and instructions. 

The first and the most important choice and criteria is that, whom do you know in the juries? The myth of science and childhood heroes like Luis Pasture and Charles Darwin is like classic literature of old Greece. Nowadays, the wisdom of science downgrade to information and science reduced to new methods to make more money.  

Pure science is mostly rejected follow by a “so what?”.   The research budget is cut more and more in favor of the importance of army and defense ministry. Instead of neutral professional scientific officers that have nothing to do but evaluating the applications, “Giant” godfather scientists mostly govern the grant institutions in which weather their conflict of interests doesn't allow them to look at the grants objectively and stop the monopoly of science or they are too busy to go through the applications profoundly, for free. 

Therefore, young researchers can hardly scape from this domination and building a career in this situation became arduous and dreadful.

I think in this way with low budgets and monopolies in scientific world, it is better to close the pure science department in universities or reduce the number of students in these fields to open up more places for business students. I know situation is worse in social sciences and art. The whole world shifts to the celebrity world and business. That is why the further we go the more uneducated society we have. People prefer to watch and read cheesy movies and books and listen to superficial nonsense music that has had a good marketing.

The other thing that goes on my nerves is that nobody from the scientific society, protest actively against the whole situation. We just accept the situation and nagging for each other. 

This is not a proper approach and we cannot change anything in this way, at least not compatible with scientific philosophies. I would like to brainstorm more about this situation, what should we do and what can we do. 

Golden old days

I have watched the last movie of Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris, yesterday. I should confess in advance that I am a fan of Woody Allen and as well a Paris Lover!  The movie was well made as usual and I can say that I enjoy it but I have also found it too Hollywoodish.

Midnight in Paris starts with some card-postal picture of Paris with special, non-cliché angels that shows that the director knows Paris very well.  Identical to all Allen’s other movies, it follows by some the relationship stories, Pseudo-intellectual critics, Right-left wing quarrel and so on.  

At the same time, the footprints of Woody Allen were not deniable in the movie, not only on the way that Gil Pender tries to mimetise Woody Allen intonations but also in many details in dialogues.The deep interests of the lenz family to collect the antiques formed a contrast with Gil nostalgia. Honestly it is really an achievement that Woody Allen admit to use professional actors as main character and not himself.  

Some plots were just some un-necessary repetitions about the main idea of the film. They repeated it directly again and again that each generation wants to have a shift to the back.   The Paris 1920’s was well made. The icons of that era were well characterized (or better to say that well caricaturized). The end of the movie was, as usual, so cliché!  In general I suggest the movie as an entertainment and I should mention that I deeply missed Paris, after the movie.

Le magazine Littéraire

Le Magazine Littéraire is one of those special french journals that every now and then (if not always) publish a volume on a special subject and making a great collection about the subject from well known writers and thinkers. This is happened more often in some other french journals such as Le point, Le mond or L'Histoire but seldom I have found the same collections in English language journals. 

The cover story of the volume 503 (december 2011) of Le magazine Littéraire is about the play writer Jean Genet.  

I suggest to all francophone to read this special issue of Le Magazine littéraire.

He is one of my favourite dramatists. He had an extra ordinary life full of ups and downs. He born from a young prostitute and had grown by a carpenter first year of his life. He was a great student in school and a good thief too.  One of his most famous works, The thief journal is a part-fact part-fiction autobiography of the author himself.

One my 5 favorite plays is his The Blacks: a clown show. 

This paly was performed in storeroom of Tehran Theater directed by Hamed mohammad Taheri. It was amazing. The other masterpiece of him is The maids. First time that I have seen this play, I found it a normal paly. After reading the critics of Jean paul Sartre on the play, I found that it was the weakness of the director and the play was very deep and have had various layers. Jean Paul Sartre has a book called Saint Genet on Jean Genet “to prove that genius is not a gift but the way out that one invents in desperate cases”. 

Genet was intensely touched by Sartre's analysis and stopped writing for the next five years.

 

One of the other special issues of this journal is an old volume on Solitude (loneliness).  That is also an awesome reunion of articles on the loneliness from various points of view. 

The power of Suggestion

Suggestion, besides its daily meaning has another meaning: "the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another". The second sense of the suggestion plays a great role in our society and culture. A great part of our taste has been made by the suggestion of the Other! The Other with a big O, according to Jacques Lacan, "it is only once it is formulated, named in the presence of the other, that desire appears in the full sense of the term"(1). In the other word, what we desire to have is what makes us happy to be acknowledged by the Other. In a way this was one of our priority to our cousins, Chimps, and help us to survive better through the evolution by mimicking and learning from the others, but nowadays can be abused as the origin of modern marketing and branding. To do what our Other ask you to do hence to be accepted kindly in a flock! Isn't it sad that the whole life is based on what other people, who they themselves do what others like, want us to be? 

1)Lacan, J., The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book I: Freud's Papers on Technique 1953–1954 (W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), ISBN 978-0-393-30697-2

To democracy!

I don't know if these uprisings of Middle East will follow the destiny of the Animal Farm, but I found a social evolution in that part of the world. A contagious evolution that by domino effect spreads out to all the countries of Middle East. An effect that might start from the after election coup d’état in Iran. The fact that Egyptians come to the point that not only believed but also acted against the ridicules monopoly of Mubarak power, will be a turning point in the history of Egypt even though the pleasant results will be felt many years from today.  The resignation of the Mubarak and Ben ali revealed that the public of the middle eastern countries are much more advanced and civilized than their leaders. This time the Tunisians and Egyptians came to the point that ask for a non-imported democracy with origins inside of the country.
Although at the same time I am sure this path will have several ups and downs but in long term it will result in a modern, peaceful middle east. 

Yesterday, thousands of Iranian people had a manifestation to not only show their support to Egyptians and Tunisians but also to show that the green anti-governmental movement of Iran is still alive.  The Story of Iran is a bit different. The totalitarian regime of Iran, decide to resist against the public with any means. On the other hand, the number of the pro-governmentals is still high enough to support the government. Although this will prolong the inevitable procedure of the democratization in the world, but can never block it.

Education is the only mean that can increase the speed of the progress in the world. Maybe the best support from the free world is to educate people.  By people I mean, not only the protester but also the totalitarians. In the world of knowledge it will be too difficult to abuse the ignorance of the people with fictions, ideologies and religions.