Category Archives: News

Vijay Agarwal lands on People’s ‘Most Beautiful’

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People magazine names Vijay Agarwal, an aspiring doctor and founder of a non-profit for underprivileged kids, to it’s annual “Most Beautiful” list (thanks, Karthik R.):

“Beauties on your block,” the magazine headline shouts. “Everyday people whose stunning looks match their big hearts.” “Page 161,” Agarwal says. Agarwal, a sometime model from San Jose, doesn’t mind that his chiseled good looks are what are giving him his 15 minutes of fame. A good friend nominated him for the splash in People. Now he fends off requests for autographs. And remains tight-lipped about whether he is single. [San Jose Mercury News]

Oh sure, he may be handsome, smart and altruistic. But the boy’s so poor, he can’t even afford a shirt and belt.

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A series of unfortunate events

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frogman.jpg

My favorite radio show, This American Life, had a riveting and humorous, true story this past weekend. It involved a twenty-something Afghani American who only wanted to impress his girlfriend by spray-painting some “frogmen” on the sidewalk outside of her apartment. By the end of it all he was in jail and on several terrorist watch-lists. The story even personally involves Donald Rumsfeld. It sounds dire but it all turns out well in the end. The many twists and turns in the story make it worth every second of its 40 minute recording time. Continue reading →

Murderous Mirchi

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Coming soon, to the purse of an auntie near you, a hot sauce so hot it could literally kill you:

Ultra-concentrated “16 Million Reserve” is the hottest science can make. The sauce is 30 times hotter than the spiciest pepper and 8,000 times more fiery than Tabasco. Diners must sign a disclaimer recommending “protective gloves and eye wear” — but even sweating testers in safety gear were blinded by tears for 30 minutes. Medical experts fear it could kill asthmatics or hospitalise a user who touches a sensitive part of the body afterwards. It is made of pure capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers “hot”. [UK Sun, via BoingBoing]

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MIA CD RLR @ NPR’s ME

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Oliver Wang gave a discerning review of MIA’s CD Arular on NPR’s Morning Edition, sidestepping the political hype and keeping the spotlight firmly on her music. He’s no slouch of a wordsmith either:

“Many music critics have played up her exoticness as she was the love child of Neneh Cherry and Che Guevara or the prodigal daughter of the third world returning home to soundbomb the empire”

The radio clip [RealAudio], is only 4:34 long, and worth listening to. Tomorrow, Morning Edition will be interviewing “the man who helped to spark the MIA Buzz.” Continue reading →

A model airline

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The magnate behind Kingfisher beer is launching an airline today which uses part-time models as flight attendants (thanks, Sapna):

Models work as flight attendants on the airline while its planes have seat-back entertainment systems… “We have a brand new fleet of aircraft. We have individual entertainment systems where every single seat has video screen…” India’s newest budget airline operates its first flight on Monday from Mumbai (Bombay) to hi-tech hub Bangalore.

Kingfisher Airlines is following the lead of Hooters Air. I suppose models will be able to shoot a beer commercial, then hop on a plane and get straight to work. They’re saving money, really. I think Van Halen did a video about this once.

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Abramoff’s Pakistan connection

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The New York Times reports that Jack Abramoff, the same lobbyist whose shady dealings with Congressman Tom Delay have been all over the news recently, has been brokering shady deals for many years:

Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a federal corruption investigation, led a Congressional delegation to Pakistan in 1997 but failed to tell the group’s sponsor or the lawmakers that he was a registered lobbyist for the Pakistani government, according to the sponsor and the two House members on the trip.

Lobbyists for foreign governments are required to register with the Justice Department. Disclosure statements filed by Mr. Abramoff and his former firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, show that the firm was retained by Pakistan in May 1995 to lobby to overturn sanctions barring delivery of American weapons to Pakistan if its government continued to pursue a nuclear weapons program. The initial six-month lobbying contract paid the firm a retainer of $165,000, plus expenses. A spokesman for Preston Gates had no comment.

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Witches and pirates dealt blows

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A couple of news items remind us that we’re not that far removed from the days of flattened globes and foppish robes. In Assam, an angry mob does what angry mobs do best — irrational accusations followed by violent consequences:

A Tribal mob in northeastern India lynched and decapitated two women accused of practising witchcraft, threw their bodies into a river and paraded their heads as trophies, police said … Villagers believed the women “had cast evil spells,” the police official said, and afterwards paraded the heads “as trophies.” Eight people have been arrested over the attack. [The Courier-Mail]

And on the high seas near Bangledesh, government crackdowns have led to a drastic decline in old-school, non-digital piracy:

… the number of attacks has fallen from 58 in 2003 to just 17 in 2004. The (International Maritime Bureau) has praised the Bangladesh authorities, saying that the fall in attacks shows that when governments “are committed to tackling piracy and provide the necessary resources, the attacks would eventually reduce.” [Jane’s]

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How to stick it to your wife (sort of)

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LetÂ’s say that youÂ’ve just had a brutal argument with your wife. SheÂ’s always giving you the business about something: You spend too much time with your friends…you ought to spend more time with the kids…you need to spend less time with your mistress…and so on. After a fight with his wife, an unemployed man in Uttar Pradesh had just about enough. He flew the coop, and returned two years later with the ultimate retort:

During his absence, he got himself castrated and became a eunuch, earning money by singing and dancing, a common form of employment among IndiaÂ’s ostracized community of eunuchs. “I was always fond of singing and dancing, but felt suffocated in my body as a man,” Nabiullah was quoted as saying. His wife, Shama Parveen, fainted when he returned home late last month… [Reuters/Yahoo!]

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Russian Bollywood

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Amitabh Bachchan said on The Charlie Rose Show last week that Bollywood has crazed fans in Africa and Russia:

… very surprisingly… the entire northern belt of Africa. So Morocco, Algeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, down to Egypt… And Russia. Massive. Massive… When I first went to Moscow for the first time, I was received by Russian female fans, who were actually dressed in our Indian dress and wore the bindi and the jewelry and everything, and spoke Hindi… and said that they were going to university to study the language so that they could follow our films. Remarkable.

When I visited Mockba, a young couple I had dinner with proudly opened a video drawer with nearly a hundred Hindi movies filed meticulously.

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