One or two story apartment buildings or villas are now a rarity. Most have been replaced by four or five story buildings.

Pedicured foot of a female friend. There aren't exactly places run by Thai or Armenian ladies that do these kind of things; they're mostly done by private stylists inside their homes. I'm told it costs about US $15 for a pedicure.

Old Tehran featured brick buildings similar to this one. They had better architecture than this particular one.

A tree barely making it through the summer in our backyard, where we had a building meeting discussing the horrible parking situation.

Marco Polo passed through here in 1273 AD. He visited the valley of the Assassins, where 800 years ago Hasan-i-Sabah and his Hashshashin followers lived in the Alamut fortress and masterminded assassination of the top political figures of their time. The word "assassin" comes from "hashshashin."

On the road to Alamut, a young shepherd asked us for a cigarette. The image is a bit distorted by the camera phone.

At the kitchen of the local boarding school for the surrounding villages of Moalem Kelaye. The writing on the wall reads "eat and drink as you desire, but do not waste," which is a verse from the Quran.

Schoolkeeper of the boarding school in Kooshk, 40km south of Alamut.

A Persian cat chillin'.

I find it unfair that a US court can fine Iran $2.4 Billion dollars for Hezbollah's attack on a US Marine barracks back in 1983 that killed 241 servicemen. With all due respect to families of the victims, can Iraq sue Bush for a war that has cost over 75,000 civilian lives? By comparison, US paid the families of the 248 Iranian civilians it killed in 1988 only $62 million dollars.

My cousin the industrial engineer was working at home one day and he reminded me of my time working at home back in LA. It looks similar; no shirt, behind the computer and in your own time-frame. I wish more people worked at home in Tehran; there would be a lot less traffic.

I had to sit in a boring Driver's Education class for five days in a row as the first step towards obtaining my Iranian driver's license. When asked whether I really have to take these courses considering that I've been driving for 12 years, the supervisor replied: "Even if Schumacher came to Iran, he would have to take these courses."

Shadows crawling up on one of the buildings in Shahrak-e-Pars in north eastern Tehran.

Thousands attended the Cinema Festivities on the Day of National Cinema at Saad-Abad Castle. The annual event is like the Golden Globes of Iran -- the Iranian Oscars being the closing ceremony of the Fajr Film Festival in late January.

Third Annual Typography Festival on display at the House of Artists in Tehran.

Where have all the [women] gone?

Another one of those S.U.I.B photos; So Ugly It's Beautiful.

The final resting place of hundreds of movies and movie posters in a random room in Cinema Rex, a movie palace of yesteryear on Lalehzar Avenue.

Tasty little monkey brains and corn on the cob, sold on the side of the road to Fasham, a popular destination outside of Tehran. They're actually fresh walnuts, not monkey brains you sicko!

Stairway to heaven. A dude who doesn't even work on this low budget movie set holds the ladder as a grip hangs a 2K from the street lamp.

Importing your very own 2008 BMW 3 series hard-top convertible will cost you about US $115,000 cash. Imported cars cost twice as much because you have to pay a 100% tax to the government (some say the money goes directly to the office of the Leader.) A base model Toyota Camry costs $45,000.

What is even more amusing than the attention the Western media gives Ahmadinejad is how he has managed to completely outsmart them. He feeds them controversial sound bites, they get better ratings and they stay off the real issues facing his presidency and country. In his defense, I think George Bush is a much bigger threat to world peace.

Another weirdly composed building shot with nice cloud formations. This one is in Saadat Abad.

This banner asks "what would have happened if we didn't stand up?" During the week of "Holy Defense," war banners commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war. It's called Holy Defense because they rightfully believe that the war was imposed, when Saddam invaded Iran on September 22, 1980.

Sometimes you run into a construction site on your way home when you wonder "what the heck are they building?" Then the next day they're gone and you still don't know!

Two little friends and a baby doll. I don't know why, but I feel like I need to feature more photos like these to battle the wrongful threatening image that Bush and his gang are building of Iran. Unfortunately they're fooling the American public once again and the US media just plays along...

Seven months and counting. Still no artistic ambitions fulfilled. Life goes on... But I hear the seconds ticking by. In other news, my good friend Manash is now an uncle! Congratulations to him and his family!

Seeing how well-guarded and walled-in people's homes are in Iran reminds me of Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine. Like Canada, firearms are outlawed, but unlike Canada, people don't leave their doors unlocked. This discredits any conclusions Moore was trying to get. Because what's missing is trust, and the reason it's missing has to do more with economics than guns.

First day of the Iranian month of Mehr marks the first day of autumn, as well as the first day of schools.