Drift Reality > Washington, DC > October 2003

October 27 - Today, the Washington Post reported that the Washington Redskins are considering signing Darrell Russell, a defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders who has been serving a suspension for violating the NFL drug policy. Russell was the second overall pick in the 1997 NFL draft and has been selected to two Pro Bowls with the Raiders.

He is an excellent player who has the potential to change the dynamics of the Redskins defensive play.

In September 2002, 25 felony counts were dropped against Russell in a rape case, because prosecutors could not prove that he failed to intervene and videotaped a woman being raped by two of his friends in January 2002. In the case, he was also accused of drugging the woman with the date-rape drug GHB and charged as an accomplice.

If there is one feeling I have more than my passion for the Washington Redskins, it is my vehement hatred for rapists.

To me, the only thing worse than rape is pre-meditated rape involving a date-rape drug. The fact that this s@#t head may have been involved with taping the incident drags it down even further.

In Dante's Inferno, Circle Nine of Hell - Cocytus - was reserved for individuals who committed acts of treachery against those who had special ties. Round 3, Judecca, was the most damned area in this circle and lay at the center of the Earth, completely submerged in ice.

Here, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius were held in Lucifer's three mouths, where they were subjected to freezing gusts of impotence, ignorance, and hatred for all of eternity.

In the action of providing an unwitting and naive victim with a drug that is intended to reduce them to the point that they become completely subjugated to the aggressor's will, I would like to contend that they are involved in a treachery that should condemn them to this deepest pit of hell.

Also, if the Redskins decide to sign Darrell Russell, I will not watch any more of their games until he is no longer a member of their team.

October 22 - This past week, we headed to Moby Dick House of Kebab in Bethesda to get Siamak, Siavash, Hooman, and Jamshid having lunch together. The proprietors were extremely helpful and we got some good footage. Reviewing the footage, we may have been better off using the boom mic because the on-camera mic did pick up quite a bit of ambient noise. Also, we may want to return when it is less crowded because the forced proximity (and Jamshid's big head) made for some awkward camera angles. It was a fun experience and I give major props to everyone who was feeling sick for sucking it up and making it out there. Also, special thanks to Hooman for setting the shoot up (once again) and organizing everything.

After the lunch shoot, George, Pouria, and myself went into the streets of Bethesda, where we shot a number of interviews including one with a talking painting. Overall, the interview content was great as a result of the diversity of opinions we got.

Overall, we continue to make consistent progress and I'm pleased with the overall footage we have, considering we are still learning a lot on the fly. At the same time, there is a lot of room for improvement behind the camera and I hope we can start doing a more consistent job at a more rapid pace considering we are already half way into our shooting schedule. Also, people need to start researching their designated areas so we can begin preparing content for the VO narration segments.

In other news, George has had success contacting more potential partners for outreach activities, and he will be distributing an update on this later this week.

October 14 - In keeping with our decision to begin focusing more on Siavash's personal life, his thoughts, and his experiences, we met at his apartment this past Sunday and shot him speaking with George about recent events (including Shirin Ebadi's reciept of the Nobel Peace Prize as well as the recent STEP act) as well as by himself, discussing his job at Home goods and his feelings on his first few months in this country.

In another development, I've made contact with two freelance Flash designers who both expressed interest in contributing to the project. They have asked to see examples of content to integrate with the film and we need to provide them with some of Abbos' slides in digital format. At the same time, if anyone here knows anyone good with multimedia who would be interested in participating in a project like this, please e-mail me.

October 9 - After a fairly intensive first month, we took a break this past weekend in order to recharge our batteries and to step back and try to refocus our vision of this documentary. I think the small break was well deserved and much needed. Also, we were all going to kill one another if we didn't take the break.

Anyway, I am thinking that in the process of projecting what a great documentary about the life of an Iranian student would look like, we forgot the most important aspect of any documentary - that the focus should be on the subject's motivations and not on what we envison them to be.

October 1 - On this past Saturday, the entire group spent the afternoon at Siamak and Siavash's house in Rockville, MD and we got some great footage of the cast relaxing in their environment. Later that evening, we headed to Northern Virginia Community College for a ceremony in memoriam of Dr. Mosadegh, where we managed to get footage of Siamak and Siavash heading to the event and a bit of B-roll of the event itself and from the excellent performers that were there. Thanks to Hooman's excellent outreach efforts, we managed to shoot at Nick's Riverside Grill on Sunday evening to get Siamak and Siavash in a more Westernized setting. Hooman and George did a good job in eliciting conversation from both Siamak as well as Siavash and I have a general feeling that everyone is getting much more comfortable in front of the camera.