The Movie Business

If I were not a Third World guy who felt an obligation to save the world - for me the word is not change, it is save, think malnutrition, think infant mortality - I think I might have gone into the movie business. I really like movies. But instead I have put time into politics, which I am really, really good at, and I have put some time into tech. When I have not had the option for tech entrepreneurship - like now - I have focused on tech blogging. Even tech for me has always been politics by other means. I have consistently talked of internet access as the voting right for this 21st century.

I keep having this thought that I want to befriend someone like Matt Damon and say, look, buddy, I don't have the time on my hands to do what you do, but I need you to insert me in your movies, about a minute per movie. That way I can have my cake and eat it too. I can be in the movies while still primarily trying to save the world.

I kid you not, in the Fall of 2007, I spent some considerable time wanting to cut a video clip of me reenacting that early scene in Scarface where Tony is being interrogated. I went ahead and bought the DVDs for study purposes. I should have either not had the strong, recurring thought, or I should have gone ahead and made the video clip and avoided myself a whole lot of hassle eight months later.

In the scene I had in mind, I had Hillary people interrogating me. I had the Obama 08 sticker on my cheek, and that was my scar. I had the DVDs, I had a few Obama 08 stickers in stock just for the purpose. I had my video camera.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

I won a best actor award in middle school.




How My Grandfather Became Mayor The First Time

One thing I do hope to do a bunch of down the line is video blogging. Vlogging, for short.

Newt Gingrich: Monkeyface

If the creationists in the Deep South needed proof that we did indeed descend from the apes, well, Newt Gingrich just opened his mouth.

New York Times: G.O.P. Uses Obama ‘Otherness’ As Campaign Tactic: Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, who this week accused Mr. Obama, whose father was a Kenyan economist and spoke out against the occupying force in his country, of exhibiting “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.”

Prominent Iranian Americans

Academia/Science

• Shahriar Afshar, physicist, namesake of Afshar experiment
• Siavash Alamouti, CTO Broad Band and INTEL fellow, inventor of Alamouti Code, code-communication engineer
• Abass Alavi, Professor of Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and neurology; University of Pennsylvania.
• Nima Arkani-Hamed, physicist from Harvard
• Mina Bissell, scientist and biologist, LBL.
• Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies, Columbia University in New York.
• Raymond Vahan Damadian, inventor of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Richard Danielpour, Professor of Composition, Manhattan School of Music
• Nader Engheta, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Haleh Esfandiari, Middle East Scholar
• Nariman Farvardin, Provost of University of Maryland
• Reza Ghaffarian, NASA senior research scientist
• Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Ali Javan, physicist, inventor of gas laser, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT.
• Sepandar Kamvar, computer scientist, Stanford University.
• Mehran Kardar, physicist, MIT.
• Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Founding Director of Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland.
• Farid Masrour, philosopher, Harvard University, previously in New York University
• Bahram Mashhoon, General Relativity physicist
• Abbas Milani, Director of Iranian Studies Program, Stanford University.
• Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford University Professor.
• Roxana Moslehi, DCEG post-doctoral fellow at National Cancer Institute, adjunct assistant professor at George Washington University.
• Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design
• Hossein Khan Motamed, Famous Iranian surgeon and founder of Motamed Hospital in Tehran, Iran 1936
• Hamid Mowlana, Director of the Division of International Communication at American University
• Firouz Naderi, NASA director of Mars project.
• Majid M. Naini, computer scientist, former Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Rumi expert.
• Kayvan Najarian, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr, philosopher, George Washington University.
• Vali Nasr, Middle East Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Camran Nezhat, Director, Stanford Endoscopy Center for Training & Technology.
• Jahan Ramazani, Professor of English Literature, University of Virginia
• Kaveh Pahlavan, Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
• Behzad Razavi, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
• Nouriel Roubini, one of the leading economists of our age, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University and chairman of RGE Monitor
• Alia Sabur, Youngest professor in the world.
• Homayoun Seraji, Senior Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Ghavam Shahidi, IBM Fellow, Director of Silicon Technology
• Manuchehr Shahrokhi, Craig Fellow/Professor & Editor of Global Finance Journal California State University, Fresno. Executive Director, Global Finance Association.
• Vahid Tarokh, leading communication theorist Harvard University.
• Ray Takeyh, Middle East Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Hamid Jafarkhani, leading communication theorist University of California, Irvine.
• Cumrun Vafa, String theorist in Harvard.
• Ehsan Yarshater, Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies, Director of Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, Founder and Editor in Chief of Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Lotfi A. Zadeh, Mathematician and computer scientist, and a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley; father of Fuzzy Logic.
• Hossein Zonnoor, Economics, Princeton UniversityAlumni, Shiraz University.
• Nasir Gebelli, Programmer.

Arts/Entertainment

• Fereidun Qajar Jorjani, awards winner motion picture director, producer, writer. ( Story Of Islam ) amozon.com best seller, award winner documentary.
• Bijan Pakzad noted fashion and perfume designer
• Amir Mokri, director of photography
• Shohreh Aghdashloo Academy Award-nominated film/television actress
• David Ackert, actor and writer
• Dan Ahdoot, stand-up comedian
• Jonathan Ahdout, actor
• Reza Badiyi, TV director
• Fairuza Balk, actress, Iranian father
• Nadia Bjorlin, TV/soap opera actress
• Nazanin Boniadi, television and film actress
• Mehri Danielpour, sculptor: sculpturebymehri.com
• Danny Huston, actor and director
• Maz Jobrani, comedian
• Cyrus Kar, film director
• Andre Khabbazi, actor, semi-professional tennis player
• Rosie Malek-Yonan, actress, author, director, and documentary filmmaker
• Marshall Manesh, actor
• Mozhan Marno, actress
• Emud Mokhberi, Academy Award nominated director/animator
• Amir Naderi, film director
• Amin Nazemzadeh, actor
• Cyrus Nowrasteh, screenwriter and director
• Adrian Pasdar, actor
• Nasim Pedrad, actress, comedian
• Artemis Pebdani, actress
• Behnaz Sarafpour, fashion designer
• Sarah Shahi, model and actress, Iranian mother?
• Bahar Soomekh, actress
• Massy Tadjedin, screenwriter
• Elie Tahari, fashion designer
• Shaun Toub, actor
• Bob Yari, Academy Award winning film producer
• Shiva Rose McDermott, actress

Business/Technology

• Habib Zargarpour, the famous Iranian-American computer operator that has been candidate for Oscar 2 times
• Anousheh Ansari, first female space tourist, leading telecommunication entrepreneur, and namesake of the X Prize
• Ali Asghar Abdullah Zadeh Nsrabady (EXPERT ccie cissp Head of Institute of Technology(PERSIAN DATA) WINNER Olympiad ACM
• Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International.
• Shahram Dabiri, video game producer, lead producer of World of Warcraft
• Ben Fathi, Senior Vice President at Cisco, formerly, Corporate Vice President of Development, Windows, Microsoft.
• Vartan Gregorian, President of The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
• Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President of Google
• Salar Kamangar, vice president of Google's web applications
• Taraneh Razavi, Doctor of Google headquarters in Mountain View,
• Reza Behforooz, Software engineer at Google
• Mike Jazayeri, Google Product Manager
• Shirin Oskooi, Associate Product Manager at Google
• Shamim Samadi, Product Manager at Google
• Maryam Kamvar, Ph.D. in Computer Science and currently a research scientist at Google.
• Francis Najafi, chief executive of Phoenix-based real estate developer and investor Pivotal Group
• Pedram Keyani, The engineering manager for the site integrity team at Facebook.
• Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment, manufacturer of Bratz dolls
• Manny Mashouf, founder and Chairman of bebe stores
• David Merage, co-founder of Chef America Inc., manufacturer of Hot Pockets
• Paul Merage, co-founder of Chef America Inc., manufacturer of Hot Pockets
• Sam Nazarian, CEO of the SBE Entertaintment Group
• Farzad Nazem, former CTO of Yahoo!
• Reza Mirkhani, President, & CEO of Pervasive Semiconductor Systems
• Houman Haghighi, Senior Manager of Qualcomm
• Mansour Jabalameli, Senior Network Designer Telecom
• Mehrdad Nikoonahad, founder & CEO, Nikoo Technology, Inc.
• Pierre Omidyar, founder of e-Bay (born to Iranian parents).
• Sina Tamaddon, Senior Vice President of Applications for Apple Computer.
• Ramin Rostami, CEO & founder, Technocel. CEO, Sensotech. CEO & founder, American Investment Group
• Mostafa A. Aghazadeh, Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Group Director, Chandler Assembly Technology Development
• Mohsen Alavi, Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Group Director, Product Quality and Reliability
• Nasser Bozorg-Grayeli, Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Group Director, Corporate Quality Network
• Babak Sabi, Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Group Director, Assembly Test and Technology Development

Law/Legal

• Banafsheh Akhlaghi, Former Western Regional Director of Amnesty International
• Susan Irene Etezadi, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge
• Babak Hoghooghi, Former Executive Director for the Public Affairs Alliance for Iranian Americans
• Tamila Ebrahimi Ipema, San Diego County Superior Court Judge
• Cyrus Mehri, One of Washington's Ten Most Feared Lawyers
• Nema Milaninia, 2008-2010 President of the Iranian American Bar Association
• John Tehranian, Professor of Law at Chapman University School of Law

Literature

• Reza Aslan, writer
• Mahnaz Badihian, poet
• Najmieh Batmanglij, chef, writer
• Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
• Roya Hakakian, writer
• Rosie Malek-Yonan, author of The Crimson Field
• Azar Nafisi, writer
• Majid M. Naini, writer, speaker
• Shahrnoosh Parsipour, writer
• Dalia Sofer, writer
• Bobak Zonnoor, writer
• Mahbod Seraji, writer

Media/Journalism

• Christiane Amanpour, CNN chief international correspondent
• Davar Ardalan, NPR producer of Morning Edition
• Rudi Bakhtiar, FOX news anchor, former CNN lead anchor
• Shmuley Boteach, rabbi, radio and television host, author
• Babak Dehghanpisheh, Middle East Correspondent, Newsweek
• Farnaz Fassihi, journalist, Wall Street Journal
• Alireza Jafarzadeh, FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs Analyst
• Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President of CNN Worldwide
• Arash Markazi, journalist, Sports Illustrated
• Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, Time Magazine
• Asieh Namdar, former CNN anchor
• Atoosa Rubenstein, former Seventeen (magazine) and CosmoGIRL! editor-in-chief
• Roxana Saberi, photojournalist whose 2009 arrest in Iran became a cause celebre (Iranian Father)
• Jahan Salehi, President, Agence Global, Inc. syndicate
• Reza Sayah, CNN International Correspondent
• Ramin Setoodeh, Newsweek Associate Editor
• Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

Music

• Lily Afshar, female classical guitarist
• Pouyan Afkary, synthesizer musician, member of Scary Kids Scaring Kids
• Axiom of Choice, world music group
• Leila Bela, Avant-garde musician, actress, writer and former member of Pigface
• Cyrus Bolooki, drummer of New Found Glory
• Richard Danielpour, composer, Professor of Composition, Manhattan School of Music
• Deep Dish, electronic music group
• Moe Rock, American Pop Singer
• Ramin Djawadi, composer
• Rostam Batmanglij, keyboard player of Vampire Weekend, music producer.
• Anousheh Khalili, vocalist
• Lotfi Mansouri, opera director
• Daron Malakian, guitarist/vocalist of four-piece Alternative metal band System Of A Down(Armenian-Iranian mother)
• Tony Petrossian, music video director
• Ali Tabatabaee, one of the lead singers of Orange County, California-based pop-punk band Zebrahead
• Kourosh Zolani, composer, soloist and inventor. Zolani is best known for designing and playing the world's only playable Chromatic Santour.

Politics

• Goli Ameri, U.S.& Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, former U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, former U.S. public delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and former Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives from the 1st district of Oregon
• Hushang Ansary, former Iranian Minister of Finance and Chairman of National Finance Committee of Bush-Cheney 2004 Campaign
• Michael Benjamin, 1996 Republican candidate for the U.S. House from the 8th district of New York, and 2004 United States SenateRepublican Primary candidate from New York
• Jimmy Delshad, Mayor of Beverly Hills, California
• George Deukmejian, former Governor of California (1983–1991)
• Ross Mirkarimi, Member of San Francisco City Council from the Green Party.
• David Safavian, disgraced former Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Administration
• Faryar Shirzad, former Deputy National Security Advisor and White House Deputy Assistant for International Economic Affairs to President George W. Bush

Sports

• Andre Agassi, retired championship-winning American tennis player, father is Iranian.
• Esfandiar Baharmast, World Cup referee, FIFA Instructor, known as Esse Baharmast
• Farzad Bonyadi, world champion of poker
• Shawn Daivari, professional wrestler and manager, better known by his stage names of Sheik Abdul Bashir or simply Daivari
• Hamid Dastmalchi, world champion of poker
• Antonio Esfandiari, champion poker player
• Alecko Eskandarian, American soccer player
• Andranik Eskandarian, former soccer player
• Matt Ghaffari, Olympic silver-medal winning wrestler
• Afshin Ghotbi, soccer coach, former assistant coach of Korea Republic national football team and LA Galaxy, currently coaching Iran national team
• T.J. Houshmandzadeh, NFL wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, father is Iranian.
• King Kamali, IFBB pro bodybuilder
• George Malek-Yonan, Iran's "Champion of Champions" in Track & Field and Pentathlon
• Amin Abraham Paul Nikfar, Shot Put for the Iranian National Team and 1st Iranian Asian Indoor Champion 2004
• Amir Sadollah, Professional mixed martial artist and winner of the ultimate fighter 7
• Behdad Sami, First Pro Iranian Basketball player to play in USA history.
• Michael Shabaz, tennis player, 2005 Wimbledon boys' doubles championship
• Amir Vahedi, professional poker player
• Leila Vaziri, The current world record holder of the 50 m women's backstroke
• Khosrow Vaziri, retired professional wrestler, better known by his stage name of The Iron Sheik
• Aravane Rezaï, tennis player, 2010 currently ranked 19th in the world.

Miscellaneous

• Farhad Rostampour, The first Iranian-born pilot to complete a record setting flight around the world

Source: Wikipedia