We will not lie to you: We kind of wish that Sean Penn would write columns about everything. After checking out his most recent missive for The San Francisco Chronicle, our minds are racing. Could he comment on the Gotti trial? Maybe have him cover some city council meetings? What does he think about the death of celebrity magazine editors? He's all-purpose, that Sean Penn.

Anyway, today's entry is about meeting Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson and discussing independent film with Iranian directors that Penn has never heard of. It's also about Penn's awkward ventures into the parts of the world that don't include alcohol.

I am a reasonably social person, but that isn't to say that I have been in a group or a party of more than four or five people without the support of alcohol in as long as I can remember. So, though we shared an industry, I found myself dry and shy.

Yeah, we know the feeling. Of course, we're not 45.

Sean Penn In Iran [SF Chronicle]

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