24 Hours Farsi People

There’s no sex or drugs but plenty of rock ‘n’ roll in No One Knows About Persian Cats, a semi-fictionalised film about the underground Iranian music scene, which director Bahman Ghobadi had to shoot guerilla-style because he didn’t have a Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance permit.

Already the winner of a Cannes Film Festival jury prize, it features acts like dream poppers Take It Easy Hospital and heavy metallers Nikaein who perform invite-only gigs in a cowshed.
“I played in a show, Iran’s first rock concert since the 1979 revolution, and all the audience and musicians got arrested,” Take It Easy Hospital’s Ash Koshanejad says. “Us musicians spent 21 days in prison.”
Get the full lowdown at www.facebook.com/pages/Take-It-Easy-Hospital/30563320772.
Having tired of all this iamwhoiam malarkey, Caught In The Net has this fortnight switched its attentions to Merton, the hoodie-wearing pianist who’s been serenading strangers on ChatRoulette. The more we’ve watched, the more we’ve started to wonder if he mightn’t be American quirk-pop genius Ben Folds doing a spot of internet moonlighting. Make your own mind up at www.youtube.com/user/PianoChatImprov.
CIN has also been loving Russell Peters, a Canadian-based, Anglo-Indian stand-up who the last time we checked had had his ‘Beating Your Kids’ sketch viewed 9,312,932 times on YouTube. He’s playing his first UK dates in September, so let’s hope some Irish promoter does the decent thing and brings him over. Find him online at www.russellpeters.com.
Which just leaves time for quick visits to www.fourlionsmovie.co.uk (the trailer for Chris Morris’ jihad-tastic new film); www.ni9e.com/nwa.html (the rude bits from Straight Outta Compton); www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/41796 (eight TV shows that were cancelled after just one episode); and savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/potato-chips-recipe (how to make crisps in the microwave).