Two Nepalese lowebirds who had participated in the Rotary Centennial Everest Expedition this week got married atop Everest; yes, it’s a first. Sadly for you, Abhi was not around HQ for comment.

Other climbers were understandably floored by the event…or ceiling-ed, rather, at the simple, ten-minute ceremony.

They briefly took off their oxygen masks and put on plastic garlands, while the groom symbolically applied red powder on the bride’s forehead.

They kept it on the downlow:

Mr Dorjee said other couples had wanted to do the same in the past, but none had managed because they could not get up on top of the peak together.

Fearing the same possibility, they had kept their own plan secret.

Did you catch that? Before this couple, no one else had been able to use the world’s most exclusive location for their nuptials because apparently, they couldn’t get to the top of Everest at the same time as their intended. What did they do, ditch their slow beloveds in the snow? Stay with them and nurse resentment? Rethink the viability of marrying them on the long way down? I ask too many questions?

So, there’s more to this union than a unique location; Moni Mule Pati and Pem Dorjee Sherpa’s bond is extra special because it crosses caste and ethnic boundaries. In a statement regarding this aspect of his marriage, the groom, in an understated, black, backwards-facing baseball cap wisely quoted Depeche Mode:

“If some people are loving each other they have to get married,” Pem Dorjee told the BBC. “That’s why we want to give all Nepali people [the message] that people are people so there’s no problem about caste.”

Indeed. It’s been quite a week for Everest, besides this marriage made and/or “solemnised” in heaven, two Iranian women became the first Muslim females to make it to the top. No word on whether they left slow fiances in their dust. Snow. Whatever. Continue reading →

Screw blogging. I need to become an agent. SHOW ME THE MONEY! From ESPN’s Page 2:

Everyone is talking about it but no one can believe it. No one wants to believe it. Ninety million dollars? For a teenager? For a snot-nosed kid who’s never even competed at the college level, let alone the pros? Utter insanity.

Yeah, well, I’m the agent for that snot-nosed kid. And I’m here to tell you, this endorsement contract makes so much sense that I guarantee within five years, $90 million will seem like a damn bargain for the winner of the National Spelling Bee.

Why, the revenue from his personal line of pocket protectors and “You are here” solar system T-shirts will cover the $90 million nut, easy. After that, the sales from the “Got Paste?” campaign will be pure profit.

Besides, this kid isn’t going to embarrass anybody down the road. His name is rock solid. There aren’t going to be any paternity suits. There aren’t going to be any bling-wearing posses getting pulled over in his Escalade for smoking weed. He’s a spelling bee champion, for God’s sake. He doesn’t have any friends, let alone a posse. And even with $90 million drawing interest in his savings account, I doubt if there are any girls out there who want to spend an afternoon watching “Matrix Reloaded” over and over with him. Let alone have sex.

Whoa. That last line was excessively harsh. My boy IS gonna’ get some play now that he’s famous. I can’t spell worth crap (as evidenced plenty of times on this blog) or else I’d be living the thug life just like he’s about to.

That’s just the way this business works. I’m not proud of it. Blame it on television. Ever since they began broadcasting the National Spelling Bee on TV, everybody wants a piece of the action. And why shouldn’t the kid get his slice, just because he’ll wind up blowing it on Clearasil?

Trust me, you don’t know the half of it — and you don’t want to, either. I’ve seen parents send a six-year-old to timeout for three hours just because she didn’t know whether “catsup” or “ketchup” was the accepted spelling. The sad thing is, both spellings are.

Gotta’ get rich or die trying.

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The BBC reports that the Bangladeshi government’s nabbed their guy but couldn’t get the charges to stick –

A court in the northern Bangladeshi city of Bogra has acquitted a two-year-old child accused of adultery and theft, officials say. The infant appeared in court on his mother’s lap to seek bail. …The case is not the first in Bangladesh to involve infant children facing serious charges. In March, Bangladesh’s High Court stepped in to halt the trial of four infants – all members of an extended family – who were accused of looting and causing criminal damage.

The defense? The kid claims he was framed by an uncle & that his motive was old fashioned theft –

A report in the Daily Star newspaper said that the charges against the child and seven others were filed by Jahangir Alam on 9 February. He alleged that Saiful Islam, other family members and his neighbours were all complicit in stealing gold ornaments and clothes worth between 3,000 Bangladeshi Taka ($47 ) and 13,000 Bangladeshi Taka ($204) from his house. Mr Alam also alleged that the named parties lured away his wife, Mabia Khatun, to marry another man even though she was not properly divorced.

Yeah right… we’ve heard that one before. If the booties don’t fit, you’ve gotta acquit. Continue reading →

It always begins like this. The outbreak starts in one city or culture and slowly spreads. The youth are often the first to be infected. It builds slowly at first and then before you know it even you neighbors are infected. From MSN.com (tip from Amit):

Johannesburg– They sing songs from “Sholay” and “Kal Ho Na Ho”, they dance, they emote, complete with the glitzy costumes so typical of Bollywood stage shows. But they are not Indian!

In fact, the team comprising a pair of Chinese American twins, one girl from Italy and two of French-German stock never fails to amaze audiences with its Bollywood-inspired performances.

And now twins Michael and Martin McNally; sisters Celeste and Joanna Richard, who are half German and half French; and Italian Victoria Satanassi are here.

They first met after becoming volunteers with the charity Action in Focus, which hosts medical camps and other social services to the needy in the East African country of Kenya.

“We wanted to help raise funds in whatever way we could, and we started with performances in pop. But then the Indian community in Kenya inspired us to look at Bollywood, which became a real hit.

I really have mixed emotions about this. Before, when I met a girl I was into, I used to take her to a nearby park and “test her out.” Could she run around the trees fast enough that it would be at least a minor effort for me to catch her? Could she sing a song in a voice strangely not her own? Now when I go to the park I feel like I am increasingly going to be surrounded by couples of other cultures doing the same thing. I am not sure if I can handle that type of change.

The group admits that during tours of Canada, Dubai, Britain, Kenya and even India the audiences always react with surprise at seeing an international group of white performers doing Bollywood items.

“The reaction in India was particularly amazing,” said Michael.

“We met some people from the film industry there and were even offered a part in movies. But to be honest, we can make more money for the charity by performing as we do than in the time it would take for involvement in a Bollywood production.”

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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:

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Tatonnement pokes fun at fellow Bengalis, who may just lay claim to being the French of India, Pondicherry be damned:

Q) What do you call three Bengali men?
A) Two Political Parties…

We are actually a race of well-bred intellectuals interested in art, culture and the finer things of life. Gentlemen who watch cricket and… What’s that you say? Dravid is a better captain!?! …

For Bengalis more than other communities, the size of their immediate cohort almost completely determines their behaviour. The average Bengali is a pack animal… The sight of other werewolves is just the spark he needs and Dr. Bruce Bandopadhyay finds himself answering the call of the wild – transforming into a green-skinned monster… laying waste to every heavy vehicle… [the] Bonglomeration… is a sight to behold…

The Bonglomeration has risen in the past to fend of attacks from such savage races as the British and the Punjabis, who made the mistake of underestimating the capacity for violence in the Bengali, thanks probably to impressions formed based on Bengalis they personally knew…  remember that however mild-mannered your Bengali colleague may seem, do not provoke him in the presence of the Bonglomeration. Your life is forfeit if you do…

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