Author Archives: Pavani

Family Matters: Mr. & Mr. Iyer

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In Mr. & Mr. Iyer, based on a story by Lavanya Mohan, a son tells his orthodox Tamil family that he’s going to get married, and they go through four phases of processing the news. That’s about two minutes per phase given that Charukesh Sekar’s short film in English and Tamil is about eight minutes long. (I don’t know Tamil but felt like I could follow along for the most part with the English and with help from the blog post linked above.) Naturally, his family is excited about his decision.

But, there comes the trouble. He has a surprise in store for them. What is the surprise? Will the family accept it? Will they break rules to make their son happy? Will conventional practices and beliefs allow him to get married to another man? Man? (Thamarai)

Via Uncubed. Fans of Goodness Gracious Me may remember a clip from that show that ends on a similar note, with parents seemingly most concerned about a gay child finding a partner of the same background.

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Haverfoodisms

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A food-centric monologue from Aziz Ansari’s character Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation may be changing the culinary vernacular forever. Or maybe it’s just a funny bit from last week’s episode.

The video below fills us in on the new food lingo. You know, in case someone asks if you’d like some super water with your long-ass rice and chicky-chicky parm-parm. In the special food vocabulary coined by Tom Haverford, super water isn’t really water, long-ass rice isn’t rice at all and chicky-chicky parm-parm has little or nothing to do with *that *Parm.

If you can’t get enough of those zerts, there’s a site serving up more: TomHaverfoods.com. Continue reading →

Friday: Clarence Jey’s Day

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In the immortal words of earnest autotween singer Rebecca Black, “Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday…Today is Friday, Friday…Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards.” The viral video sensation “Friday” produced by Ark Music Factory hit YouTube two months ago, and since then the video has received over one hundred million views and broken into the top track lists on Billboard and iTunes. The SF Chronicle’s Asian Pop columnist Jeff Yang interviewed Sri Lanka-born composer and Ark Music Factory cofounder Clarence Jey, who co-wrote and produced “Friday,” to find out more about this guy behind the song and his thoughts on pop music. Continue reading →

The Politics of Courting a Community

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CBC’s radio program The Current recently examined the politics of courting the so-called ethnic vote in the context of Canada’s current federal elections. The conservative ad embedded above, which opens with historical photos of the Komagata Maru and MP Nina Grewal saying “things haven’t always been fair for us, but the conservatives have always recognized our history…” is one of several ads–liberal and conservative–targeting ethnic voters. Continue reading →

Rollin’ with the Bhangra Queen

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Meena’s news post shares the info that popular DJ and repeat White House guest Rekha Malhotra will perform live at the White House’s largest annual event, the Easter Egg Roll. The event’s theme this year is “Get Up and Go!” promoting health and wellness and encouraging kids to be healthy and active as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to combat childhood obesity. DJ Rekha will be on the Ellipse with other musical performers, bringing her blend of bhangra and hip-hop beats to get people moving.
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Khan’s Calculus: Education for Everyone

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Salman Khan is a hit on YouTube. But it’s not because he’s a movie star shimmying across the screen sans shirt to the sound of music–that’s another Salman Khan. This Salman Khan doesn’t even walk on screen in the videos he makes, which are filmed in his bedroom closet. He prefers to be the voice in the background teaching people about calculus, chemistry, finance and a range of other subjects.

His Khan Academy channel on YouTube has received over 48 million views so far. But when he first started making video tutorials, he had just one viewer in mind. Back then Khan, who doesn’t have a degree in education but does have an MBA and degrees in math and science, was working as a hedge fund analyst in Boston. He made YouTube videos to remotely tutor his cousin in New Orleans in math. Continue reading →

Top Chef Masters: Coming Back to Earth

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top.chef.masters.chefs.jpg The third season of Top Chef Masters is different and not just because it includes for the first time ever, one–wait, make that two–desi chefs: Floyd Cardoz and Suvir Saran. Instead of having about 20 contestants as in previous years, this season has 12, and pits them against each other in elimination challenges like Restaurant Wars that come straight from the original Top Chef series format. But as usual they are all chefs already at the top in terms of professional success, competing to win money for charities and the title of Top Chef Master.

Cardoz and Saran definitely have what it takes to make it to the finals, and they made a good showing in the first episode. It’s too early to tell which of the remaining 11 chefs will make it to the end, but after the first episode last night it is NOT too early to know that Saran and his quips make for good TV. What did you think? Have you tried their food?

You can watch both chefs introduce themselves below.

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Chowpatty Time

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veggie.sloppy.joe.jpg Top Chef veteran Preeti Mistry has a pop-up lunch spot in San Francisco called Juhu Beach Club. Pop-ups are temporary guerilla-style dining spots that take over an existing location, and Mistry’s is located in the front part of a liquor store that has a deli and sells lotto tickets. I’ve yet to check out a Sassy Lassi or Bizarre Love Triangle from the Club, but I’m intrigued by the chef’s description of her food.

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Kondabolu on the Comic Quota

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Hari Kondabolu – The Belt Game
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The Economist blog More Intelligent Life has an interview with comedian Hari Kondabolu, who was most recently featured on Sepia Mutiny right before his TV special on Comedy Central (see above for a show clip). After questions about his approach, performing and club audiences, the interviewer asks him about a “comic quota” applying to desi comics and being compared to Aziz Ansari.

Some black American comedians have joked that in American pop culture, there’s only room for one black comic at a time. You’ve joked about being upset with Aziz Ansari comparisons. Does the same comic quota apply to Indian-American comedians?

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