Amazon on both sides of the pond has posted cover concepts for the new novels by Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith (thanks, Sapna). Rushdie fires first on Sep. 5, Smith the following week. As anyone in mass marketing will tell you, new products crowd the first weeks of autumn. Books and babies are best launched after the summer doldrums.
Little-known fact: If a wedding announcement in The New York Times does not carry a photo, the marriage is considered unofficial in the eyes of God. Other than that, there is nothing out-of-the-ordinary about this one.
I have been thinking about prison a lot lately while the lyrics to Black Steel echo in my mind. If I were to be incarcerated how would I get by? I am a pretty small guy compared to all the big guys in there. I have always felt that I would be the Andy Dufresne of my cell block, keeping hope alive. Lately, in order to calm my prison fears, I have been reading up on how to make prison weapons. Ever since that 60 Minutes episode showed how to make a lethal crossbow using underwear and a plastic knife I haven’t been able to sleep. I bought a bunch of tighty whiteys and have been taking some of them apart to practice making the crossbow. Prison is tough. The LA Times and several others have been reporting on a lawsuit that the ACLU and ENSAAF filed against the Yuba County, CA Sheriff’s Department:
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department on behalf of a Sikh asylum seeker who says his religious rights are being violated because jail officials refuse to let him wear a turban at all times.
Harpal Singh Cheema, 47, an Indian national, was detained by immigration authorities in 1997. He has been held at the Yuba County Jail since September 2002.
It’s troubling that he has been detained for as long as he has and, at the same time, that he is not being allowed to comply with the fundamental requirements of his religion,” said Robin Goldfaden, an ACLU staff attorney.
“He has been subjected to conditions that go against constitutional and statutory guidelines that are there to allow freedom to exercise one’s religion.”
Perhaps there is some way in which a turban can be used as a weapon? It has far more fabric than mere underwear.
Yuba County Counsel Dan Montgomery said head coverings were generally allowed as long as they were “consistent with safety and security and the orderly operation of the facility” and were not “perceived as posing a threat.”
He noted, however, that a turban could be used to conceal a weapon or contraband.
“Approaching a male Sikh and taking his turban off is a great affront, so the ability to search is impaired,” Montgomery said.
Last week, 65 year old Dr. Gulam Moonda, of Hermitage, PA (an Indian-American physician) was executed on the side of the Ohio turnpike (a well traveled highway) while his wife and mother in-law sat helplessly in the car. This has been a pretty well-publicized story due to the brazen nature of the killing. The Toledo Blade reported:
Gulam Moonda, 65, of Hermitage, Pa., died from a single gunshot wound in the head during a roadside robbery. Lt. Rick Zwayer, a spokesman for the Ohio Highway Patrol, said the incident occurred at 6:38 p.m. Friday after Dr. Moonda and two other people in his 2000 Jaguar stopped along westbound I-80 to exchange drivers.
The lieutenant said the suspect allegedly stopped behind Dr. Moonda and demanded money. He complied, but the suspect shot him and fled the scene. Authorities are searching for a dark-colored van but have not released a further description of the vehicle or of the suspect.
According to a Good Samaritan who was first upon the scene, his wife was described as frantic and waving her hands wildly to flag down a passing car for help. WKCY.com reported:
The Good Samaritan doesnÂ’t want to be identified until the killer is caught. But he wonÂ’t be silenced about what he saw. He will never forget, a wife trying to save her husband.
In the frantic moments after the shooting, Dr. Gulam MoondaÂ’s wife and his mother-in-law desperately tried to flag down other drivers for help.
In 2000, the University of Wisconsin at Madison was caught inserting the face of a black student into a photo of white Badgers fans for the cover of its undergraduate application:
“Robert Seltzer came to me, initially, with the photo – the undoctored one – and said he was going to use it for the cover,” Barrows said. Barrows, who is black, said he objected to the choice, arguing that the all-white crowd did not reflect the image the university was trying to portray…Seltzer, who is white, agreed that the photo did not reflect UW-Madison, where minorities make up more than 9% of the school’s enrollment… So when Seltzer was provided with a photo in which the head of a black student was electronically clipped from a photo from another campus event in 1994, and then reversed and inserted into the corner of the football photo, he approved it…
… Gould noticed late last week that the face of the black student, Diallo Shabazz, looked different from the others in the picture… “So Anna looked at the picture, noticed the glare and said, ‘Something isn’t right here.’ “
The university has apologized to application recipients and says they’ve learned from their mistake. By which they mean that next time, they’ll match the light source and contrast for a more believable fake.
Earlier this year, Sepia Mutiny itself was caught digitally inserting an underrepresented minority into a photo:
‘Sepiagate’ was a stain on our blogging credibility, and we’ve vowed never to repeat it.
However, we now feel absolved or, at the very least, in good company. Turns out that Hollywood has been caught doing exactly the same thing, albeit with more technical sophistication. They surveyed global film audiences and used a 64,000-processor supercomputer to calculate, with high degree of precision, the whitest man alive. They shot hours and hours of footage of that man. They crudely pasted him into scenes where he was clearly out of place, attempting things beyond his capabilities like ‘dancing’ and ’emoting.’ And the sad thing is, so far there hasn’t even been a whisper of an apology to filmgoers like you and me.
It’s pretty subtle, but see if you can spot the forgery:
A while back, SM profiled Mr. Hemant Lakhani, a Brit national accused of trying to sell missiles to Islamo-fundi-fascists. When asked Do You Feel Safer, one SM commenter noted –
I again wonder whether the government will be engaging in similar efforts to target White Christian populations in Michigan
Well, rest a little easier gentle reader, in what appears to be a near perfect copy of the Lakhani “sting”, a 68 yr old PA man (presumably a white christian?) has been arrested trying to sell bombs to an undercover agent posing as an Al Qaeda operative –
A 68-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested on charges he tried to build a bomb and sell it to an agent he thought was a member of Al-Qaida, officials said Monday. Ronald Allen Grecula of Bangor, Pa., was arrested Friday in Houston during a meeting with undercover FBI agents…
If only Mr. Grecula had read Sepia Mutiny, he’d know that this particular line of biz – esp. if you’re an amateur – isn’t one you wanna dip your toe into… BTW, Mr. Grecula, the racial profiling defense didn’t work too well in Mr. Lakhani’s case, I doubt you’ll have better luck with it. Continue reading
Karthik explains that Bollywood villains and temptresses are auspiciously named:
… [Saul] Bellow famously gave his characters physical traits that seemed to describe their characters… Indian movies, on the other hand, turned names into characterological maps. Pauls and Peters always had ill-fitting goatees, and took orders from their boss to do bad things, while Ritas and Sonas wore glittering, pointy boobed costumes that showed off a lot of thigh (and there was a lot of thigh to show off) and danced badly.
The Bollywood conception of the bad girl, the westernized one with a kicky English name, bobbed hair and go-go boots, always tickled me. And villains got the best names.
Sith, they’re no worse than ‘Bail Organa‘ — felonious prick? And ‘General Grievous’ has no pretensions above pulp. You’d expect General-ji in the WWE.
The Gray Lady’s reader advocate shows the back of the hand to a NYT reporter who dissed Padma Lakshmi and Indian fashion (thanks, akhan):
“A semicelebrated hustler Ms. Lakshmi may be.” – Fashion writer Guy Trebay on Padma Lakshmi, Feb. 8.… gratuitously nasty, and inappropriate in a newspaper that many of us look to as a guardian of civil discussion.
If gratuitous snark were banned, blogs would go begging for want of readers.
After complaints that a film by a Sikh director and a Sikh actor is insulting to Sikhism, some protozoans hid bombs in two Delhi theaters (thanks, Sapna). At least 44 people were wounded when the bombs went off this evening, some critically:
Bombs exploded inside two movie theatres showing a controversial Hindi-language film in the Indian capital on Sunday, injuring at least 20 people, officials said. Both theatres are located in the Karol Bagh neighbourhood of west Delhi and the explosions occurred 15 minutes apart, said Junior Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal.At least 13 people were injured in the first blast at the Liberty Cinema about 20:30 (15:00 GMT), chief fire officer RC Sharma said. The explosive was planted under a seat in the front rows, he said. About 15 minutes later, another explosion rocked the nearby Satyam Cinema, wounding at least seven people, Sharma said. At Satyam, the bomb went off inside the washroom. [News 24]
There’s some discrepancy regarding where the first bomb was placed:
The intensity of the blast was so powerful that the police fear that many of the injured, who are currently undergoing treatment at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, may succumb to their injuries… Explosions, suspected to be caused by bombs, occurred at Liberty cinema hall took place in the rear stall during the screening of the controversial film Jo Bole So Nihaal. The blast at Satyam took place in a toilet. PVR cinema halls in south Delhi has also been evacuated as a precautionary measure. [Times of India]
Members of Sikhism’s highest body, the Akal Takht, said the film, Jo Bole So Nihaal, was ok by them, so I wonder about the rationality of blowing people up in a neighborhood that’s itself full of Sikhs. It’s true that it’s not entirely cool to explicitly play to dismissive stereotypes — the official site begins with ‘He is cute! He is adorable!’ And using a religious phrase as a title was bound to chafe in a religion-obsessed country:
Some Sikh groups had taken offence at the use of the religious phrase in the title and to some scenes in the film which showed characters entering Sikh places of worship without removing their shoes and covering their heads — considered sacrilege by Sikhism. [Reuters]
But dissing a movie is the realm of bloggers and movie reviewers. This violent reaction to a schlocky, anti-terrorist Bollywood film is self-defeating on every level. You think a movie insults religion and shows people in a bad light? Try mass murder. I hope these criminals are hunted down and granted the love of a good Indian jailer.
Like Kal Ho Naa Ho, the movie is set partly in New York and shows off the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s playing at Loews State in Times Square:
… Sikh groups demanded a ban on it. They were angered by its title and scenes depicting a Sikh character being chased by scantily clad women.
I have no doubt that Vikram Chatwal begged to be included.
Here are more news stories about the bombings.
Cruel and unusual punishment? From NRI-worldwide (scroll down past the article about the bobbitised penis):
In confinement for the last two years on charges of theft, inside cell number 11 of the Ghaziabad district jail his only companions were the 120 white pigeons whom he met once a day to feed grains and corn.
But not any more.
Bringing an end to what many inmates believed was “an immortal friendship”, perverted jail authorities caught 100 of Chandra’s pigeons and broke their necks, one by one, in front of him on May 16.
This was done by jailer R.C.Singh and his men on instructions from the jail superintendent Rajesh Kesarwani, as a way to make Chandra admit to his crime.