Iran

On the Line: Ali H. Zadeh of Port Restaurant, Part One

We met chef Ali H. Zadeh during Newport Beach Restaurant Week. Port Restaurant isn't your typical beach-city dining establishment. Then again, Zadeh isn't your typical proprietor. How do you define global cuisine? It is essentially international cuisine, or cuisines of the world. Cuisine is a style ... More >>

Tootsie Ice Cream Opens in Santa Ana; Also Offers Persian Shaved Ice

Cute name? Check. Awesome location? Familiar flavors of rocky road and vanilla? Check. Check. Offerings of waffle ice cream sandwiches, and faloodeh, Persian shaved ice? Yep.

Maz Jobrani Explains Why Its Way Harder to Tell a Joke in the Middle East

When it comes to supplying laughs, Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani enjoys his share of racial banter. Born in Iran and raised in CA, he delivers jokes rooted in his own heritage, mixing in jabs at his family, upbringing, even audience members. Before he headlines the Brea Improv February 21st ... More >>

Kiarostami In Exile

The great Iranian director lost a home but gained a planet

[UPDATED with Award Winners:] That Oscar Buzz You're Hearing May Be Coming From the Irvine International Film Festival

See Update No. 2 on page 2 with the IIFF award winners.See Update No. 1 on the next page identifying the nine IIFF selections among the Oscar nominees. ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 4, 5:18 P.M.: The lineup for the second annual Irvine International Film Festival running Jan. 17-21 at Edwards Westpark 8 inclu ... More >>

Marjane Satrapi Says There Is No Clash of Cultures

The writer/director on east, west, and how all stories are autobiography

Police: Welcome To Anaheimistan; Now Obey Our Whims or Die

It's a historical fact that the biggest threat to the citizens of any nation isn't outsiders but their own government's police and military--the folks with all the guns, arrest powers and unwavering insistence that their own violence is committed only as a means to peace.For proof, glance at the his ... More >>

Geena Davis and Abigail E. Disney Preview Women and War Documentary at UCI, While Jody Hassett Sanchez Brings Human Trafficking Film

​Two female filmmakers come to UC Irvine this week to discuss their projects about women caught in the middle of war and children mostly caught up in human slavery around the world.One, entertainment brand heir Abigail E. Disney, is bringing even more star power: Academy Award winner Geena Davis. ... More >>

Persian Dried Fruits And Nuts Purveyor To Open First American Store in Irvine

Photo from Tavazo's Facebook Page​Tavazo, a seller of dried fruits and nuts based out of Ontario, Canada, is planning to open its first store in the U.S. this summer in Irvine. The outlet, next to Smart & Final and Trader Joe's at Culver and Walnut, will also boast 300 kind of spices, dried o ... More >>

Reza Abedi's Greatest Escape

A local high-school-wrestling coach gave up his Olympic dreams to flee Khomeini's Iran

This Week in Food: Bánh Mì Rants, Awesome Catfish and Kittens in Pots (But Not Cooked)!

Flickr user namillionairee​Between infographics on Flamin' Hot Cheetos and much more, it's been quite a week on your favorite infernal blog. Best of the week after the jump!

Iran Bans 'Foreign' Cooking on TV--But What Does 'Foreign' Mean?

Flickr user quigibo​The Islamic Republic of Iran has decreed that cooking shows on state television may not promote foreign cuisine and must showcase traditional Iranian food. The ruling, issued by the state broadcasting service, seeks to reduce Western influence in Iran and, according to the gove ... More >>

Rick Warren Saddlebacks George W. Bush

Courtesy of Saddleback Church​As released WikiLeaks proved George W. Bush lied, told half-truths and lived in a world far from reality--at least as chronicled in his recently released memoir, Decision Points--the former president was receiving a reportedly "rousing reception" at Sad ... More >>

Farr Ligvani Exhibit

Soka University

Human Rights: Law, Religion and Gender

Irvine Barclay Theatre

Pick-up Soccer Doc "Pelada" Scores

Goooooooooaaaaallll!!!​You can't help but get a kick out of Pelada, a documentary about playing pick-up soccer games around the globe. But as I also discovered at the Saturday afternoon Newport Beach Film Festival screening, there's also a little Orange County twist at the end.

Directors Own Words: Gwendolyn Oxenham of "Pelada"

"When I was lying to the Iranian government." --Gwendolyn Oxenham, co-director of Pelada, in response to an audience question after Saturday's Newport Beach Film Festival screening about the scariest moment in making the documentary. She and life mate Luke Boughen, who also co-directed, play pick ... More >>

Obama, Economy, War, Swine Flu, Iran Election Crack Alamanac's Top 10 News Topics of 2009

Here are The World Almanac and Book of Facts Top Ten News Topics of 2009:​1. Obama Presidency Begins. With the U.S. at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Barack Obama swearing in as the nation's 44th president Jan. 20 in Washington, DC.her ... More >>

Mythologizing the Martyrs of Iran at Grand Central Art Center

Hidden Wounds, Paper Bullets

Grand Central Art Center

"Press Conference" Against Iran Government Produces No News, Much Political Support in Irvine

Rep. Laura Richardson (inset), Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Rep. Ed Royce, together at last.If the goal of a press conference is to produce a "big announcement" that makes news and warrants coverage--the usual reason one calls a press conference in the first place--then the Iran Sup ... More >>

Dishney: Flash Mob at Disneyland Plaza This Thursday

Paul Hiffmeyer/DisneylandFreeze frame!​In continued protest of the Iran Election, Twitter user @GreenThumbNails has organized a flash mob event for a two-minute freeze at Disneyland Plaza on Thurs., July 30 at 6:30 p.m. If you're not familiar with the flash mob phenomenon, it was recently popular ... More >>

"Slave Hunter" Co-Authors Chime in on Technology, Internet

CORRECTED VERSION...You'll find separate interviews on this site with Aaron Cohen and Christine Buckley, the co-authors of Slave Hunter: One's Man's Global Quest to Free Victims of Human Trafficking (Simon & Schuster). One thing you won't read in those Q&As is their shared beliefs that techn ... More >>

New Free Iran Movement to Hold Teach-in at UCI's Aldrich Park

Courtesy of PersianoEvents.comIt begs the question.The Iranian government now says Neda Agha-Soltan--the 26-year-old martyr in the struggle for freedom in that tense country--may have been killed by a gunman who mistook her for the sister of an Iranian "terrorist," the Islamic Republic News Agency r ... More >>

Irvine Protesters Fear Reprisals for Relatives in Iran

Photo by Christopher VictorioHeading to a protest in Irvine, for the people of Iran. Daniel B. Wood of the Christian Science Monitor spent some time with Iranian-Americans in Irvine over the weekend and discovered while they want to expose atrocities taking place in their homeland to the world, they ... More >>

Don't Tweet the Iranian Revolution Without Me

The protests with tens of thousands of participants in Iran dwarf the one Wednesday afternoon in Orange County with just shy of 1,000 locals (by some counts), but the word about demonstrating dissent on both sides of the world spread the same way: via blogs, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, other online ... More >>

[Special Screenings] 'Under the Bombs,' 'Border Café,' 'The Big Lebowski,' More

This Year's Model

Mannequin

Angel Baby

Screening: Children of Heaven

Bill O'Reilly and the Media Mobius Strip

Conservative Bush pal calls for launch of WW4 with Iran bombing

Dan Chmielewski at TheLiberalOC.com first noted this editorial in yesterday's Wall Street Journal: The Case for Bombing Iran I hope and pray that President Bush will do it. By Norman Podhoretz According to Podhoretz, President George W. Bush is "a man who knows evil when he sees it." In this case, ... More >>

A Boot Stamping on Your Face

The Actor's Gang Presents 1984

Commie Girl

Bullet Dodged! Dancing on 9/11 minus four

Hope

Persian Constitutional Centennial

Sleepers Awake!

Bigg Jus and Nikola Tesla and the Lunar Hip-Hop Robot Camera

New Reviews

Another Gay Movie; Cease Fire; Conversations With Other Women; The House of Sand; Pulse; Step Up; Zoom

What Rough Beast...

Given the horrifying carnage and grim prospects in Iraq, you'd think that the ideologues who pushed for the US to invade a country that posed no threat would have retired in shame from public life. But no. And now, some of the shameless are trying to midwife an attack on Iran, and they are trying to ... More >>

DeVore Cries Havoc

"Look at it burning." -Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader, speaking as his group's rockets struck a US-made Israeli warship Well, we're in for it now. Israel, Lebanon and Palestine are at each others' throats. Amr Moussa, General-Secretary of the Arab League, has declared the Middle East pea ... More >>

Under the Skin of the Country

2 Los Angeles film showcases lift the veil on Iranian society at the dawn of a new cultural conservatism

Bawitdaba Da Bang A Dang Diggy Diggy!

The Reagan legacy at a bar

Eight Days

Assal Pastry

Todays Special

Who Stole Christmas?

Grinch and bear it

VH1 Behind the Music: Saddam Hussein

Can the Baghdad Fad Stage a Comeback, or is he Vanilla Iced?

Palo Fields

The majestic meals of Caspian Restaurant

Our Man In Baghdad

War College

67 things you might want to know before the bombs drop

Not Too Late for a War Crimes Tribunal

He turns 91 this week, so its possible Ronald Reagan cant remember. But Jim Washburn cant forget

Letter to Shredder