Monthly Archives: January 2005

Harold and Kumar: Uncensored

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Yep, that’s right. The DVD all you sex-crazed ignorant South Asian men have been waiting for has arrived, and it’s dirtier than ever…or is it? From The Houston Chronicle:

Now’s your chance to catch up on ketchup hounds Harold and Kumar. The only question is, do you get the film’s “Extreme Unrated DVD” or its original R-rated theatrical cut?

In truth, it hardly matters — just as it didn’t for The Girl Next Door and Eurotrip. Like Harold and Kumar, each came to DVD in R-rated as well as unrated versions, with the latter suggesting more raw and revealing material. Yet in each case, it was tough to tell the difference.

The fact is, Mary Poppins would be “unrated” if Disney added several more seconds of kids flying kites and didn’t resubmit the altered film for a new ratings review. “Unrated” doesn’t mean the equivalent of an NC-17. It just means unrated.

In Harold and Kumar’s case, it means a bit of incidental footage was added to a film already riddled with sex and vulgarities. But unlike Harold and Kumar, we don’t need to gorge.

More enticing are the unrated edition’s unique bonus features. These include another commentary track, a music video and more outtakes.

Continue reading →

Gheri Dosti

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Playbill.com has a preview of Gheri Dosti which is a series of five short plays with a “South Asian bent,” opening tomorrow in NYC:

The red-hot issue of same-sex marriage became a sticking point during the past election year in the United States. It’s no secret, however, that this controversial topic extends well beyond American soil to even the most remote reaches of the planet. Circle East, a New York-based company, will present Gehri Dosti, a collection of five short plays exploring same-sex relationships in South Asia, beginning on Jan. 6.

Playwright and director Paul Knox has conceived the work, which had its world premiere last fall at Harvard University’s Leverett Old Library. Prior to that production, the individual sections that comprise Gehri Dosti: 5 Short Plays with a South Asian Bent had been developed in festivals the world over, from New York to Cape Town, South Africa. The Harvard production represented the first time the pieces was combined to form a full evening of exploratory theatre.

With the AIDS epidemic spreading exponentially through developing countries, Gehri Dosti is as much about spreading knowledge as it is about civil rights advocacy. In addition to serving as Circle East’s executive director, Knox is the co-founder of the Tides Foundation’s India Fund, an organization that facilitates community building efforts and educational initiatives among South Asia’s gay groups. He has also conceived and co-produced Mela: A South Asian Festival of performances on the Indian subcontinent. For his work with the Russian Academy of Theater Arts, Mr. Knox has been a co-recipient of the United Nations Society of Writers Award.

Documentary on desis in hip-hop

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A 34-minute documentary called Brown Like Dat: South Asians and Hip Hop is screening Jan. 15 in Manhattan.

… gives a voice to South Asian MCs, beatboxers, spoken word artists and producers. With hip-hop as its lens… these artists speak on everything from racial profiling post-9/11 to identity in second-generation immigrant communities… Featured Artists: Abstract Vision Humanity, Chee Malabar from Himalayan Project, D’Lo, Jugular, Karmacy, and MC Kabir.

Saturday, January 15th, 5pm and 7pm, Two Boots Pioneer Theater, 155 East 3rd Street (at Avenue A), $9, advance tix strongly recommended (they usually sell out)

I dig Karmacy in particular (disclaimer: one of the guys in the group is a friend). Listen to some tracks. Continue reading →

Science Fiction as Prophesy

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The great science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Rendezvous with Rama, 2001: A Space Odyssey) is perhaps the most famous foreigner living in Sri Lanka. Long considered a visionary for his works, Clarke published a book about Sri Lanka in 1957 titled, The Reefs of Taprobane. As noted in the Hindustan Times:

In an open letter sent to his friends, the British author says that in Chapter 8 of the book he had described a tidal wave attack on Galle harbour in 1883, following the eruption of Krakatoa, in roughly the same part of the Indian Ocean as the epicentre of the December 26, 2004 sea quake, namely, off Sumatra in Indonesia.

The loss of life in Galle harbor is nearing 8000 and is one of the worst hit areas. Another claim in the article is the following:

In more recent times, he is said to have predicted, in one of his numerous science-fiction/futuristic writings, the Al-Qaeda attack on the United States on September 11, 2001.

This quote is not backed-up however, and I can’t think of which work they might be referring to. If any reader knows, then please comment.

Extra Terrestrial Mission (ETM)

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President Thomas Whitmore: I saw… its thoughts. I saw what they’re planning to do. They’re like locusts. They’re moving from planet to planet… their whole civilization. After they’ve consumed every natural resource they move on… and we’re next. Nuke ’em. Let’s nuke the bastards.

The above quote is one of the most poignant soliloquies in film history, and many of you may recognize it from 1996’s Independence Day starring Will Smith and Bill Pullman. Well at least one person isn’t as stirred by these words as you and I. He is quite enraged. Veda Naik has been seething for nine years and he ain’t gonna take it no more. From Sify.com:

An NRI film scriptwriter has dragged Hollywood studio giant Twentieth Century Fox to the Supreme Court [Indian] for allegedly stealing his script to make the mega blockbuster Independence Day (ID).

Veda Naik has moved the apex court against a Karnataka High Court judgement refusing to direct the Los Angeles-based studio to pay damages for infringing the copyright of his film script Extra Terrestrial Mission (ETM).

Extra Terrestrial Mission (ETM)? Geez, with a name that bad it deserved to be stolen. Continue reading →

Delhi sex clip portends sexual revolution?

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Mango Swami elucidates the sexual repression behind the Delhi sex clip scandal:

After all those years of aspiring and shamelessly emulating, the citizens of India have finally made it to the Western world… These two kids will go down in history. [It’s] the equivalent of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This is the shock beginning of a sexual revolution…

[The Baazee.com CEO] was arrested because millions of parents in India don’t know what to do now that they’re confronted with the reality that their kids have sex. Scapegoat a businessman with Western ties because demanding a citizenry to no longer live in denial is out of the question.

He gives us too much information:

I actually saw my first porn movie in New Delhi. We rented it from a local candy-shopkeeper who had to run back to his flat (and probably had to tip-toe around his wife and children) to retrieve an unlabeled VHS tape of seemingly German origin. The candy&porn shop was located right next door to, of all places, the local temple.

But we have our go-to excuse, our favorite scapegoat:

[U]nderneath all the posturing of purity and morality, Indians are a horny lot. And now it’s been made public that demure girls with long braids have sex! What is a nation of a billion to do?! A suggestion: Blame the British!

Continue reading →

Gadget blog speaks Hinglish

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A popular gadget blog starts a post with ‘Jaan pehchaan ho!’ That’s Hindi for ‘recognize!’ If I were drinking a pint of old-skool chocolate milk, it would be spraying out my nose right now. Thank you, Engadget blogger Phillip Torrone.

Jaan Pehechaan Ho! This week’s show is chock full of goodness.

Previous posts on Hinglish: 1, 2

Update: As Chaitanya points out in the comments, it may be a reference to a bouncy Mohammed Rafi tune from Gumnaam (Anonymous) which was featured in Ghost World:

Jaan pehchaan ho,
jeena aasaan ho.
Dil ko churane walon,
aankh na churao–
naam to batao.

       

If I knew you,
living would be easy.
All you heart-stealers,
don’t hide your eyes too–
at least tell me your name.

Who wouldn’t want to lick that?

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Remember my previous posts (here and here and here) on the drive to get the first (and up until recently, the only) Indian American Congressman onto a stamp? Well our boy has met with some resistance and the IACFPA reports that the stamp proposal has been defeated:

The U.S. CitizensÂ’ Stamp Advisory Committee was recently reported to have rejected the proposal to issue a stamp commemorating Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian to be elected to Congress in 1956. But Indian Americans and various legislative bodies have not given up the effort to garner recognition for the late Congressman.

Okay so what’s the next step? How to recover from this devastating news? What’s plan B? Continue reading →

Hope floats.

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We’re all aware that the Tsunami has meant tragedy for millions. I know people who can’t bear to watch another news report, because they know it will merit a saltwater response. This post is for them (and you).

From Rediff.com:

A 18-month-old Kazakh baby, apparently unharmed, has been found in Thailand’s Khao Lak tourist resort in southern Phang-nga province which has been devastated by the killer Tsunami last Sunday.
The baby, who was discovered floating on a mattress in the sea by an Indian national a few days ago, was handed over to the Kazakh ambassador on Saturday.
It was not until Saturday that officials were alerted to the miraculous discovery of the young survivor by the Indian national, who had been caring for the baby for the past few days, sources said.

Almost reminds me of the story of Moses, another miracle baby, although one from an ancient time. I hope they find more odds-defying survivors daily.

Mobile Mother India

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Like the rest of you, I’ve been swamped with holiday and family obligations these past few weeks. My Bloglines feeds have piled up and it’s going to take me forever to catch up on what some of you (supplesomething, Brimful, J …) have written. I devoted my surf-time today to reading the 200 (!) posts that had accumulated from Om Malik on Broadband.

Om–whom I sweat ridiculously–had an interesting tidbit over at GigaOm; it stated that India is “Truly, a Cell Phone Nation”. He goes on to state:

There are 44 million cell phone users in India, versus 43 million land lines. IndiaÂ’s mobile market will grow 40% every year through 2007.

I don’t know why that statistic captured my attention so completely, but it did. More cell phone users! I guess it makes sense now that I think about it…

This article has more:

India has also emerged as the second-largest market after China for mobile handsets. Mobile phone makers such as Nokia , Siemens, Sony Ericsson , South Korea ‘s LG and Philips are racing to offer newer models to keep pace with demand.

I think one of my favourite things about India is the juxtaposition of future with past, forward with backwards. I’m ridiculously excited (especially after reading posts like this) to see what develops…