CHC Gallry with Madam X

Last Friday we went to a photography exhibition in CHC Gallery in Chelsea. The artist was Susan Mikula(never heard her name before), the exhibit called "Sic transit". I am not art critic but to be honest with you I didn't like the show and didn't get inspired in any way and most importantly couldn't get the art. I usually consider myself to get photography, but the charm didn't work this time.

Friday was snow storm in New York area and I wasn't expecting anybody show up expect me with my craziness. Well, it turns out I wasn't the only crazy one in town(including Pete and my friends). Many people showed up and since CHC gallery is quite small it was really hard to walk in the gallery with packed people......

Personally I like photography but this time I had some curiosity for lesbian art(which didn't get satisfied by the way)too. I know sounds silly to say lesbian or non-lesbian art, but somehow I was hoping to see something and maybe that's why I didn't get the exhibition at first place.

Anyway, I didn't get the show maybe you go and get it but please let me know if you will. One more thing if you won't like the show CHC is in Chelsea neighborhood, make sure you go to other galleries located to the same street or in the neighborhood... you can find quite significant number of art galleries to enjoy new modern of art, just make sure to go between 10 AM to 6 PM.......

And if you are in the West Village area and like to hang out for a drink with friends I recommend checking Madam X.. sexy bar with black and red colors all over... nice music and you can still have decent conversation without going deaf............

The Bank Executive Bailout Shame

From Time and Assciated Press

More news in Wall Street

More update news on United State job market

Citigroup plans to cut about 50,000 jobs and reduce costs cross company by 20%... read more

J.P Morgan Chase & Co. is planing thousands of job cuts worldwide.... read more

The prediction for 2009 unemployment rate in United State is 9%.. Let's hope their perdition won't work.

More Bad news

More bad news......
As stocks tumbles below 9000 on Thursday, Fidelity investments (mutual fund giant) announced will cut 1399 employees......

Read the story in CBS Market Watch

Tech Gossip

I found Tech Gossip blog interesting especially at this time with many layoff and gloomy environment........ If you have time and you are working in IT maybe you like to check it out....

The most recent news is about LinkedIn website company which according to this web site LinkedIn is laying off people (no number came out yet) today and the confounder of the company is in Japan speaking at a conference.

MCCAIN CONCEDES

We just watched McCain conceded speech, I am now thinking not about McCain or what is he going to happen to his political future but I am wondering what Ms Palin would do in her politic future.......... What do u think she would do?

Election Day in United State

Today is the election day in United State. Since morning every body who can vote already voted or they are in the line to vote. This election is historic election for many reason and for one reason, American are voting for first African-American candidate. Just 50 years ago the African_American's life in the United State was very different and now they are voting for the first African_American... I can't vote but my heart is with all the American who can vote.......

I read some stories about the voting today........... read this one and .. I almost cried ........

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/eastside93/2008/11/i-didnt-vote-for-obama-today.php

Wall Street

من مدام این روزها اخبار Wall Street را چک میکنم شاید به این خاطر که خودم هم در این زمینه کار میکنم و هر اتفاقی در Wall Street تاثیر مستقیم بر کار ما واقتصاددر هم آمریکا خواهد داشت.
در دقایق پیش Lehman Brothers یکی از بزرگترین بانکهای آمریکا اعلام ورشکستگی کرد. تمام آخر همین هفته بزرگترین بانک های آمریکا سعی در نجات آن داشتند اما سرانجام موفق نشدند ودقایقی قبل بلاخره اعلام ورشکستگی کرد.

Bank Of America با قیمت خوبی Merill Lynch را خریداری کرد........
اینطور که به نظر میاد بانک بعدی Goldman خواهد بود....... باید منتظر بود و دید.........

من بلاخره موفق شدم یک ویراشگر خوب فارسی برای لپ تاپ مک پیدا کنم....... Melle که به هبرو میشود ؛متن؛

Mad Men

I have started to watch the first season of new American TV drama in aMC network recently through NetFlix after Pete told me about the show. I was surprised to learn such not popular TV network succeeded to get many attention.

Sets in New York City the show take place in the early 1960s in a prestigious advertisement agency in Madison Avenue. The show centers Dan Drapper smart, intelligent and mysterious as high executive manager who has a nice family, typical beautiful housewife, two beautiful children.. nice house in suburb ...... oh I forgot and a mistress....... like perfect American family.........

If you like me not much familiar with the American culture and economy in early 1960 it may come as a shock to you how people behave in the offices those days.

Men drank and smoke in office constantly, they slept with other women out of their marriage not to mention “no sexual harassment” ......They start drinking at 9 am and their “good housewives”.... they cooked, cleaned and usually didn't have a job ... they also drank and smoke... and most suffered from depression.... Men were in power, they ran everything in everywhere.......countries, business, houses and their wives.... Mad Men is about love, lost, money, art, business, power and I should warn you it is dark, serious even when they make jokes it is dark and you can feel is bitter rather funny.......... is just right for me.....

So if you haven’t start watching go to your Blockbuster or order with your NetFlix.

Weeds

Last week third season of Weeds was released on DVD. “Weeds” is an American dark comedy TV series airs in Showtime. The third season was premiered on August 13 2007 and attracted many audiences in Showtime.
I don't have Showtime with my TV cable so I must wait until the season finished and it releases on DVD. Thanks to NetFlix you can have it in your mail box the same day of the release......
We had “Weeds” marathon this weekend and it was one of the nicest weekends of this summer so far. I started to watch the show at the beginning of the last fall and right after the first episodes I couldn't stop watching it, and couldn't wait until end of the season to get the next one.
“Weeds” started August 2005 with 10 episodes in Showtime. It' a dark comedy with story you don’t usually see in American or any conservative family oriented country for that matter……It take place in suburb California, in a gated neighborhood, with same architect, color, roads and even somehow same people…….

The show is about an upper-middle class widowed wife who lost her husband, has two sons who should support and in the meantime her brother in law arrives with no money and no place to live. Since her husband died and didn't leave her much of money, in order to keep the life style for children as it was before her husband’s death she gets involve with selling Marijuana to get quick cash. What a beauty you might think.... but her challenges and struggle as a sexy, intelligent drug dealer makes the entire show very funny, sad and somehow dark.
I like this show since it’s very much different from regular TV series. Unlike most of the TV series which focuses on the family, religious, being a good employee and all that clishey this show questions all …. And lets you to think are we really looking from the right angel? Does it really matter how much do you weight when your parent are in a constant fight for money and to obtain social degree… does it really matter? The show comes with a twisted funny angle to each problem…..Not spoiling the story, show gets even funnier when you see how the cops get involved in the same business and each wants their share….
I enjoy the black, deep sense of humor in all the characters in the show when they make fun of everything… each character developed deeply and you can relate easily to the most of them.
What does scare me in the show is how fragile human being could get when it comes to money? It does scare me because if Nancy, who is very charming, sexy and intelligent women and can get a decent job but with circumstances of the life has been driven to drug dealer business , with all the violent, murders so where is it that we are standing?
The show is very funny as long as you feel is not happening to you and most of the time you feel the frustration of a young woman who is struggling… I am not sympathizing with her in any way… and I don’t want put myself in her shoe (I would’ve of done in different way for sure) but you can’t stop thinking that you really want her to not to get caught by cops.

اولین بلاگ به فارسی

اولین بلاگ به فارسی

Earth day

Tomorrow is Earth day and I believe each of us had an obligation to protect our environment and beloved Earth planet. Each of us individually can have a huge impact to keep our planet better place to live for now and for our children and our grandchildren.

Here are some small little things I do to keep planet better:

• try to use reusable containers as much as possible
• try to recycle as much as it holds
• try re-use the water bottle for drinking water. Avoiding to buy water bottle every time I need
• use least paper towel and use the regular towel for cleaning the kitchen(still sometimes I use paper towel but should minimum to the least)
• minimized the shower time(not very successful yet)
• I don’t print unless really necessary
• I asked my bank to send me online monthly statement instead of paper statement
• I was very good lat year in turning my computer off when I leave office especially during weekend) I only turn off the monitor Monday to Friday
• Turn off the light whenever I can


I am working on these to get better:
• When I brush my teeth I working to close the water
• I was using the plastic glass in the office I am changing this habit and using regular glass that I can wash it.
• I was bad using my shopping bag instead I was using the plastic bag offered by grocery stores. I am working on this too.
• TV is on when I am at home even when I am not watching it. This is really a bad habit I should work on this too.


These are really small little things that everybody can do in their daily life. After all we are here in planet for only couple of years; we should try to keep it clean and healthy for the next generation. Please at least give it a try …………………..

How can I write in Farsi in my blog? Anybody????

I really like to write in Farsi in my blog or at least give it try but I don’t know how???? Anybody can help? Sometimes I blog from my Mac laptop and sometimes from Windows based computer. So what is the catch to write in Farsi? Do I need to create a new blog in different server to be able to write in Farsi??????????????

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Couple of friends and I started a book club reading in New York City. We decided to read a book each month and talk about the book when we gather next time. The rule is whomever is hosting the book reading night next time can recommend books and we vote and decide which one to read. I was the first host so I recommended couple of books and eventually we picked “Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wild. This Monday we will be talking about “on the Road”.

“on the road” a novel by Jack Kerouac published in 1957. Mostly it is autobiography of his trips cross United State with his friends from Columbia University., experiencing life, drug, sex, poetry, etc…For me not familiar with American history especially during depression, after depression, and hippies this is a great book to start learning about all these. The book considered as postwar beat generation who inspired by poetry, jazz, drug and sex.

Jack and his friends are studied in Columbia University in New York; he is creator of the beat generation who they want to live. The philosophy behind it was I am poor so everything belongs to me. They belong to post war period (Second World War) which Jack and his friends mostly came back from. This is the period people started migrate to the suburb of the cities and owning affordable house, having wife and kids considered as an ideal life. Jack Kerouac and his friends on the other hand didn’t considered it as an ideal life(American Dream in 1960) and decided to live and experienced all they could in life and started with visiting different cities in America. Cars and using the car was a luxury and most people couldn’t afford buying tickets for train or bus so they ended up hitchhiking or using car services(which you drove the car or pooling car with other people to share the gas) and living on the road.

Sal Paradise represents Jack Kerouac an innocent writer who wants to experience the life. The fear of the death and not having much time to live he decides to live by experiencing as much as could. Seems the beat generation has only one ideology and that is life and the holly and precious life and maybe that’s explains the madness of Dean who wanted to leave and do everything he could in a short period of time. Fear of death and loosing all and being buried in a cemetery in gloomy suburb.

"I want to believe" Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim Museum in New York is only 10 minutes walk from where I live, so it is no surprise that Pete ad I visit this museum very often. Guggenheim Museum is very famous for its unique architecture and I always find myself enjoying walking around the spiral floors. Of course there are always ongoing constructions inside or outside the building. But yesterday we decided to see what is new in museum and checked out the exhibition since I saw a strange picture from new exhibition in the paper and was very curious.And we both were very impressed by the “I want to believe” by Cai Guo – Qiang exhibition. Cia is born in 1957 in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China. He is gone to Shanghai Drama Institute from 1981 to 1985, and his work has, since the outset, been scholarly and often politically charged. Cai is one of the most well-known and influential Chinese contemporary artists, having represented his country at the Venice Biennale in 1999 with his project Venice's Rent Collection Courtyard, a performance during which he had artisans recreate a famous work of Socialist Realist propaganda sculpture. For his complete bio and work please check here: Cia Guo-Qiang

Cia works inspired by many Chinese myths. He also experiences how energy can affect his artistic work. He also created many work using gun powder.

You can see better pics in Pete's blog

A trip to British Virgin Islands

Getting to Tortola from JFK airport in New York was a big challenge. Originally we suppose to fly from JFK to San Juan, 3 hours fly and then from San Juan to Tortola Island in British Virgin Island, total 8 hours.

That changed as a result of snow in New York City which starts at midnight the same day of our trip. How unlucky you can get????????? Usually there is a little snow in New York City or not. It hasn’t been this much snow in New York City almost 4 years.

After seating 5 hours in runaway finally our flight canceled and we had to fly out to Miami airport and then to San Juan and finally to Tortola.
We had to sleep in Maiami airport in the floor, no room provided and it was too expensive for us to get one. So we slept in the floor. The next day when we were checking our bag noticed there is bug line to go to Cuba. I had no idea there is flight from US to Cuba. I thought I heard wrong and asked twice but seems I heard fine.

Anyway, it took us almost 32 hours to get to Torotola. Finally we were there, sunny with blue sky.

It was a beautiful day to be there. From San Juan to Tortola is almost 45 minutes fly and you can see beautiful islands while you are flying. In the sky I was trying to see where our airport is and where in the earth we are going to land. To my surprise we landed in little tiny runway.

British Virgin Islands or B.V.I is in Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Torotola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Cooper, Peter, Ginger and Round Rock Islands.


The capital of BVI is Tortola Island, the official language is English and currency is US dollar. The population is 21,730 and the main industries Tourism, Yacht Charters & Offshore Financial Services. The status/affiliation is British Dependent Territory and head of the state is Queen Elizabeth II.

First stop at Torotola Island, meeting with other people in the boat, getting settled and taking shower in the dock. It was a long trip to get here, Pete and I both exhausted from long hours in airport. Our boat’s name is No Grief, soon find out that the boat is everything but NOT grief. The boat has 5 cabins, each included with bed, closet, shower and bathroom, small but clean.

We have a dinning room which includes stove, fridge, refrigerator, dining table and seating area.
After one hour sailing in the ocean I felt nausea and my sea sick start. Turns out that I need to take Dramamine all the time or I am tossed.

First stop is Peter Island. I was the first person to leave the boast since I was sick the most. So we were there just on time to see the sunset, seating in the beach and dining with other friends. I ate Mahi-Mahi which was excellent grilled fish from the same region.

Second stop Virgin Gorda Spanish town

Third night Bitter End in Virgin Gorda

Bitter End Yacht Club is the Caribbean's premiere luxury water sports resort. Located on the island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands , Bitter End is uniquely situated along a mile of lush gardens and beaches fronting the protected waters of the North Sound.

Known for its casually elegant atmosphere, secluded accommodations with spectacular views and robust activity programs, Bitter End is a safe island retreat where sailing, snorkeling, swimming and relaxation are a way of life.

Fourth and fifth nights, visiting Anegada Island. Lobster dinner and meeting all people in the group, next day exploring the island with motor bike, snorkeling during the day, fish for dinner in the boat.

I never snorkeled before so it was challenging to learn how to breath while swimming and your face is in the water. It turns out that is very fun indeed but you should learn not to panic when the water comes in your breathing system. I never did so I was sacred but it was really fun.

This is the only major coral island within the British Virgin Islands. Anegada features fabulous beaches, an immense barrier reef, salt ponds, flamingos, rock iguanas, spectacular sunsets, and great lobster dinners! Known as the "drowned island", Anegada's highest elevation is only 28' above sea level.

This Island can be divided into 6 different sections
Anchorage
Beaches
Salt ponds
The settlements
The outback
Anegada Reef


Sixth night Virgin Gorda, Spanish town. Dine on the top of the hill, spectacular view and drink in Café. Piano bar

Seventh night, back to the FootLoose dock in Tortola, swimming in the pool, relaxing and enjoying the land specially for me being tired of sea sick. Oh we should pack now.

Happy New Year and Happy Nowrouz

Tomorrow is official day of the spring, Iranian New Year and Nowrouz( meaning new day). All the events start 2 -3 weeks prior the arrival of spring.

The housekeepers set out to do the spring-cleaning, "Khaane-Tekaani" in Persian, which mainly entails the washing of the carpets and the other must-wash items and furniture.

The other preparation is growing "Sabzeh" (wheat, lentil, or barley seeds) in some pot, which is done about 2 or 3 weeks before Nowruz but today many people simply buy them. One other preparation to welcome Nowruz is "Nowruzian shopping", called "Kharid-e Nowruzi".It includes purchasing new clothes, sweets, flower (in particular hyacinths and tulips) and the articles of

"Haft Sin ".

Number 'seven' has got a holy position in the Persian mythology. We are told of seven levels of earth and heaven, seven deities superior to others, seven constellations which controlled the fate of the mortals and even seven days in a week. Seven-S spread, in Persian called "Sofreye Haft Sin", is the inextricable component of all homes on Nowruz. Sofreh means spread or tablecloth and Haft Sin, seven-S. Zoroastrians of Iran used to decorate their Haft Sin in seven big trays each bearing seven kinds of foods. The role of Haft Sin is very comparable to that of the Christmas tree in the Christian countries. Each item has its own symbolism, which stems from the advent of the custom.

Haft Sin's most outstanding item is

"Sabzeh" (the green sprouts of wheat, barley or lentil) which symbolizes rebirth and usually is beatified with a strip of red ribbon, while an orange may be placed atop.

A glittering red or yellow "Seeb"(apple) is the second and stands for beauty and good health.
"Samanu", kind of a sweet pudding or custard, is the next article symbolizing affluence.

The following item stands for love and is called "Senjed", fruit of the oleaster or lotus tree.

The forth one is "Seer" (garlic) and is the representative of medicine on the spread.

Then there exists sumac berries, "Somaq", which epitomizes the color of the sunrise.

The last article "Serkeh"(vinegar) epitomizes patience and age.

Happy New Year and Nowrouz everybody

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I recently read A Thousand Splendid Suns, second novel by Khaled Hossieni and I am stunned. As I was reading the book there were moments I needed to close the book, cry with Layla and grudge with Mariam and then I had to take a deep breath and continue reading.

When I started the book I knew it will be difficult to read specially after reading Kite Runner the first novel by same author. At the end again I was surprised how brutal and violence the life can be and how lucky we are.

The story sets in Afghanistan during Soviet war in Afghanistan and Civil war.
Khaled's story starts with Mariam, she is 14 years old lives with her mother in a suburb area of Heart. Her father visits her on a weekly basis. She is a child out of the marriage and this is prohibited in countries like Afghanistan therefore she has to be hidden from others. She loves her father but her mother doesn’t believe he loves her the same way and she thinks weekly visit is just a duty in his burden.

One day when she is waiting for her father to take her to the cinema, after failing to come she decides to find his father’s house that lives with other wives and children.

The dream of living with her father soon turns to a nightmare; she must marry to an older man, a shoe maker 12-15 years older than her who is abusive and violent.

Then story turns to a Layla, she is born almost the same time when Layla lost her child. We watch her to grow in a middle class family. The father is intellectual and he taught life and reading books and history. She has a grieving mother who suffers from depression in loosing of her two sons in war.

We meet Layla’s childhood friend who lost one of his leg passing by mine filed. She is growing up in the Soviet Union power in Afghanistan. She has the right of going to school. Then life get harder on people who lived in Afghanistan, when the childhood friend leaves the city layla’s family decide to leave the country too. But life had a different arrangement for Layla and her family.

Layla and Mariam’s life will change forever.

The book is a fiction novel but gives us a decent and not fictional suffering of ordinary people and the consequences of the war in people lives. The change of the regimes means change in believes, politic, economic and culture. In countries like Afghanistan the significant changes are toward women since they have the least right in the country. Women forced to give up their jobs, universities and schools.

Female doctors who were practicing until yesterday can't practice anymore, most hospitals only runs for men and only few for women. In women hospitals there are not much equipment and sometime they need do surgery without anesthesia.


In My opinion “A Thousands Splendid Suns” can't be claimed as a literature book nor can be references as a history book but we can give Mr Hosseini the credit of giving us a decent picture of the three decades of lives of ordinary people in Afghanistan. People who suffered, killed, tortured, lost family and friends as a result of the war in the past 3 decades.

Streets of New York City

It has been almost 2 years since I moved to New York City. I always been in love with this city and always reminded me of Tehran. Maybe sounds a bit joke to you but it really reminds me of Tehran.

Very expensive city, busy and crowded always and Times Square with those gigantic billboards reminds me of Revolution square in Tehran, Still funny hah?

Sometimes when I walk along the street in New York City I carry on my camera and take shots. Sometimes you can’t even imagine this could be New York City. Some area people are very poor and some area extremely rich.

I will write more, let us see pictures now.

Cassandra’s Dream Latest Movie By Woody Allen

I read several reviews about “Cassandra’s Dream” latest movie by Woody Allen. There wasn’t any good news for Mr. Allen. I expected to see a mediocre movie about life, murder, guilt and choices in life. By the end of the movie I was thrilled again. I am a long time Woody Allen fan and I can’t stop myself of going to see his movies. After movie I thought maybe all the negative reviews that Mr. Allen receives in recent years comes from his personal choices in life and in my opinion it is true that artist’s personal life can effect his/her professional work in some degree.
In any case I always loved his works and I think he is brilliant.

Personally I liked when he was filming his movies in the streets of New York City, his beloved city which recently became mine as well however he seems quite comfortable with London and its culture.

Cassandra’s Dream is set in London England; story is about two working class brothers who are struggling with the daily life. However they have their own life but the two brothers are very close and they see each other in a regular basis during the week or meet on Sunday lunch in their parent’s house and listen to their parent’s argue.

Ian (Ewan McGregor) is the one who has materialistic ideas and likes to climb up the success, get involve with hotel investment and tries to impress her girlfriend who she is an actress.

The other brother Terry (Colin Farrell ) already has a steady girl, Kate and works as a mechanic. He has the habit of gambling and alcohol use. Ian trying to impress more his new girlfriend so borrows money and cars from brother’s shop and will soon discover he is in a big debt as a result of gambling. He wins 30,000 pound in one night but looses all at once the next night plus 60,000 pound.

There is no one to help the brothers but their rich uncle who he is in plastic surgery business and always gets glorifies by his sister (brother’s mother). After speaking with uncle, he promises to help the brothers but asks for a favor in return. One of his business associate will be testifying against him and should be eliminate as soon as possible otherwise he looses everything. The crime itself is very simple nothing imaginative or hard.

But Mr. Allen is mostly interested in building up the pressure and emotional conflict in two brother’s life before the and after the crime. One of the highlight is using the wooden gun that can be destroyed after the crime but destroying the evidence doesn’t mean it has been washed away from the two brothers’s heart or mind.

Terry is the one who get hit the most by the crime and refuge himself in more drugs an alcohol. Ian handles their situation with more confidence maybe he is more aware of the reward. Mr.

Allen in his recent movies “Match Point” and “Cassandra’s Dream” emphasizes in human nature. Nature and energy which is inside us and make us make choices in our life depend on the circumstances. Being said that I am in no position to judge anybody or analyze psychology of human being but maybe all he is trying to show us is how human being can respond in different circumstances in life.

We all have choices in our life and when it comes to making one is finally is us who makes the decision based on the circumstances and finally is us who should suffers or get rewarded from the consequences of the choices. And finally maybe Mr. Allen is trying to say making the decision really shows who we really are.

Edward Hopper, Washington DC and Myself

Last summer I was in Washington DC visiting friend of mine who migrated with her family from Iran and landed in Washington DC. By accident I have noticed in the same weekend there is an opening of Edward Hopper exhibition. I had seen couple of his work in Whitney Museum in New York City and I fell in love with his work. He painted landmarks of American realism combined with loneliness, isolation and melancholy. His pain and sorrow and loneliness were familiar even though most of his painting that I saw painted in New York.

So the next day I went to the exhibition with excitement, I was eager to see rest of his work which I heard there are many. And I fell in love again. The exhibition contained about 48 oil paintings, 34 watercolors, and 12 prints. There was a documentary film which includes archival and new footage of the places that inspired him the most in New York and New England, including his boyhood and his studio in Washington Square where he lived for 50 years.

Edward Hopper born in Nyack, New York in 1882 and he lived almost 50 years in Washington Square in New York City. He studied illustration and painting in NewYork Institute of Art and Design largely under Robert Henri. For his formal education he traveled to Europe three times between 1906 and 1910 but remained unaffected by current French and Spanish experiments in cubism.

Most of his paintings portray scenes in New York or New England, both country and city scenes, all with a spare, homely quality—deserted streets, half-empty theaters, gas stations, railroad tracks, rooming houses. One of his best-known works, Nighthawks (1942, Art Institute of Chicago), shows an all-night café, its few uncommunicative customers illuminated in the pitiless glare of electric lights.
Although Hopper's work was outside the mainstream of mid-20th-century abstraction, his simplified schematic style was one of the influences on the later representational revival and on pop art. He died May 15, 1967, in New York City.

Manon Lescaut

January 30 2008


Last night I saw Manon Lescaut, an opera by Giacomo Puccini in Metropolitan Opera in New York City..

The story is based on a novel called “Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut” published in 1731. The story was controversial at the time of publication but despite this fact many people read the story.

Set in France and Louisiana in the early 18th century the story follows lovers named Des Grieux comes from wealthy and noble family, Manon a beautiful woman who fall for each other and ran away and get settled in Paris.
Des Grriux struggles to satisfy Manon for her taste of luxury and wealth and after a while earning and loosing money in gambling Manon leaves him for an older but richer man. The older man brings her money and luxury but the passionate love life between Manon and Des Grriux is missing in her life.She struggles between wealth and passion. Des Grriux convinces her to come back to him but she gets arrested by the old man while she was running away with Des Grriux and she will set to go to America which Des Grriux begged to be taken too.

Finally the two lovers settled down in Louisiana where the absence of the class differences allows them to live in peace. After a while Des Grriux reviles to the governor that the two lovers are not married and governor asked Des Grriux and Manon to be married.
However governor nephew falls for Manon and Des Grriux challenges him for a duel and knocks him unconscious. Fearing he might kill the man the couple flees to settle in an English neighborhood but Manon dies of exhaustion on the way in desert and Des Grriux returns to France to become a critic.

This is the third opera by Puccini and his first success, the first performance of Manon Lescaut took place in Teatro Regio in Turin in 1893. Although there was another opera made in France based on the same story called Manon but Puccini felt Manon is a heroine woman and she should not fail in wining the hearth of the public and despite of the fight with the producer he wrote the opera which was his first success.

The opera sets in 4 acts, the first act is in front of the Inn which Manon traveling in the company of her brother who they share the coach with Geronte, an old wealthy man. Manon meets Des Grriux who is a student and she agreed to meet him later and then they flee together. The Second act is set in Geronte house in Paris, the design is very colorful, elegant and beautifully done and the taste of the 18th century architect can be sensed in the set. In this act you learn that Manon left Des Grriux due to lack of providing elegant life however she misses the passionate love of him for her.
The third act is in front of the prison and heading to America, sad and passionate aria with the deep voices of the tenor and soprano. You can feel the deep sadness in Des Grriux voice in farewell and regret and disappointment in Manon voices. The fourth and final act is set in Louisiana desert an in my opinion is the weakest act in this opera in terms of design and the story lines. The last act who we learn only that the two lovers are in desert and Manon is about to die but there is no information of how did they arrive to this point and what happened after they moved to America if they were successful at first place. There was nothing exquisite about the stage design for this act and if there wasn’t for the powerful aria and great performances it could have turn to big disappointment.

Despite the fact that if you haven’t read the story and you may not be able to follow the story at some point in the opera but I still believe the Manon Lescaut Opera is a fine opera with great performance and beautiful setting. Even if you are not an opera lover, only by listening to the voices of the tenor and soprano and great arias you can feel that you have been taken to heaven and you have no choice but to laugh when the Manon get excited by the wealth of the old man, tries to fool him and fails to flee with Des Grriux or cry with Des Grriux when Manon dies in his arm. After all is a deep and sad love story.

The opera runs in Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center, New York City (MET) through 2007-2008 season.

My first post in this blog

This is only my first post in this blog. I am not sure what am I would like to post here but thought just give it a try. Mostly I like to write in Farsi but haven’t figured out yet how. Maybe I should move to Persian blog.

Anyway here I am with first post.