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Questions from Tehranavenue.com
Some Irrelevant Questions
By Hamed Safaee
Who has been behind the remodeling of the City Theater?
Who decides what publications are allowed and which ones must stop?
What does it mean to have images of heavily made-up 5-year old girls on the cover of “family” magazines?
Why are the most important headers of all our news services unimportant news of the US “Empire”?
Why do we not have a “Ministry of Art”?
Does a country need to “acculturate” and “guide” her people indefinitely?
Why is the film Santouri [is a 2007 Iranian drama film dealing with the life of a santour player. The film's title Santouri refers to one who can play the santour instrument. In Farsi "playing the Santour" is also the euphemism for injecting heroin into one's veins] not allowed screening while The Snare Drum ["The snare drum" is how a satellite dish is referred to among residents of an apartment complex and the stories that unfold around this bringer of news from the outside] does?
Does The Snare Drum continue with the trend set by such films as The Lizard [A convicted burglar escapes from prison dressed as a mullah and accidentally becomes the leader of a provincial mosque. An Iranian comedy described by the Iranian cleric Ayatollah Jannati as "a hideous film" and a "bad influence", The Lizard was withdrawn from distribution after three weeks of playing in Iranian cinemas] and The Outcasts [The movie, which broke all box-office records in Iran is set during the Iran-Iraq War]?
If the Oscars represents a form of imperialist hegemony, why do our officials pass on the name of an Iranian candidate to the Academy each each?
Why is it that at the bottom of the Police Blotter page of newspapers we see ads for “sexual impotence”?
Was {Shahram Jazayeri} [Iranian entrepreneur involved in a high-profile corruption case with Iranian government] impotent?
Why were all the entries of the Fajr Film Festival this year about “women”?
Why one woman for two men?
Why don't they get rid of the offensive mural on Vanak Square?
What does the mural on Aladdin Building on Jomhuri Street say to us?
If Coca Cola is bad, why is it being bottled in the city of Mashad?
Why our national television broadcasts the soundtrack of Conquest of Paradise each year on the anniversary of the “Liberation of Khorramshahr” [Iranian recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq war] from the Iraqi army in 1983?
Why do we not rid ourselves of our national football league, which has become a source of constant collective anxiety?
Do we really need Bluetooth for mobile phones in Iran?
Why are text messages controlled?
Why are all the young people on the street called “thugs”?
Why is it impossible to take pictures next to the MILAD Tower?
Should we get rid of Valiasr Street trees because they were planted on an order from Reza Shah?
Is advertising legitimate?
Can we, as mortal beings, advertise ourselves?
Is self-advertising a form of prostitution?
Should parliamentary candidates be allowed to advertise themselves?
Is {Mohsen Namjoo} [Iranian singer-songwriter, author, musician] a genius?
What other things -- other than the right to nuclear energy, that is -- are our “absolute right”?
Whose permission had to be obtained to build the Tehran-Caspian Freeway?
Should we allow the screening of Omen in primary school?
Is it permissible to burn the US flag?
Does {Abbas Kiarostami} [Internationally acclaimed Iranian film director]come to Iran for vacation?
Is Abbas Kiarostami important?
Is {Moshen Makhmalbaf} [Internationally acclaimed Iranian film director] bad?
With so many of our filmmakers winning prizes at foreign festivals, why should {Masood Dehnamaki} [Is a right wing Iranian acivist, journalist, writer and film director. For decades he has been considered as one of the most extremist members of the ultra-conservative circles. He directed the movie The Outcasts] be making films?
Is Dehnamaki better than {Quentin Tarantino}?
Does {Mahmud Ahmadinejad} own a satellite dish at home?
Does the wind also change the direction of his dish?
Source: Tehranavenue.com (Iran), April 2008
Posted at: 2008-04-30
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