May, 2007 posts
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
I need sexy!
The most indelible image in the middling Cheeni Kum (Less Sugar) is Amitabh Bachchan wrapping his arms around the Qutab Minar’s iron pillar, screaming, ‘I need sexy, ma!’ at the uncaring sky. This is what age, and Freud, do to the vain.
Oh no he di’nt
I thought I walked out of this May-December [...]
manish vij on May 31st, 2007 3:00 am in Film · Permalink · 14 comments »
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
Listen to ‘Holdup,’ a collaboration between Apache Indian and Tamil raggamuffin singer Sasi the Don, who claims Tamil is better than Punjabi for ragga mixes because it’s more intrinsically rhythmic. At 1:20 he nearly proves it too:
Related posts: Desmond Dekker singing ‘Israelites’, Freshness rapper, Penang rap, Everyone recycles (updated)
manish vij on May 30th, 2007 7:35 pm in Music, Video clips · Permalink · No comments »
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
The hood surrounding the Apollo Theater in Harlem has a small pocket of Caribbean desis dishing roti, oxtail stew and cheap electronics. Whenever I’m in the neighborhood I usually hear chutney remixes of filmi music and bhangra.
Check out this soca mix of Daler Mehndi’s ‘Bolo Ta Ra Ra’ by Trini singer Bunji Garlin and Shamim:
Here’s [...]
manish vij on May 30th, 2007 7:32 pm in Music, Video clips · Permalink · 1 comment »
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
The trailer for Gypsy Caravan is making the rounds at New York indie theaters. The documentary about a New York gypsy music festival makes explicit the roma-flamenco-India connection, and the festival invited what a troupe of Rajasthani musicians. Captain Jack Sparrow has a cameo.
Founded in 1995 (originally named ‘Musafir’), [Maharaja] gathers musicians, poets and shamans [...]
manish vij on May 30th, 2007 6:58 pm in Film, History, Music, Video clips · Permalink · No comments »
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
At the beginning of the Korean monster flick + dysfunctional family comedy Gwoemul (The Host), a desi bystander witnesses a beast in the Han River. ‘Aap Pakistan se hai? … Woh samudra se aya. (Are you from Pakistan? It came from the sea.)’ Then the flick shatters monster movie convention with a flourish, showing the [...]
manish vij on May 29th, 2007 8:04 pm in Film, Video clips · Permalink · 1 comment »
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
Today marks a year and a week since Ultrabrown put up its first post. Sadly, all your restraining orders had little effect
manish vij on May 29th, 2007 6:20 am in Blog, Holidays · Permalink · 18 comments »
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
This model is the only thing in Central Park’s 24-hour Apple store which isn’t glossy and white. ‘Is anyone actually seized by the need to buy an iPod in the middle of the night?’ I asked.
‘No, it’s actually pretty dead.’
manish vij on May 29th, 2007 5:48 am in Ads, Business, Photos, Tech · Permalink · 1 comment »
Friday, May 25th, 2007
Amu, an indie film about the ‘84 massacre of Sikhs in Delhi, opens in NYC today and June 15th in L.A. Konkona Sen Sharma stars as a young Indian-American who visits Delhi and stumbles across the secret of her adoption against the backdrop of ‘84. It’s M. Night with a Molotov. The story behind the [...]
manish vij on May 25th, 2007 3:58 am in Film, Politics, Video clips · Permalink · 10 comments »
Friday, May 25th, 2007
So it isn’t just ‘Calcutta’ and ‘Bombay’ getting the postcolonial heave-ho
manish vij on May 25th, 2007 2:32 am in News · Permalink · 1 comment »
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
Check out the highlights of Penn Masala’s recent Bombay and Calcutta tour, set to their gorgeous original track ‘Aankhon Mein Tu Hai’:
Related posts: Ghee Lightning, Penn Masala
manish vij on May 24th, 2007 6:43 pm in Music · Permalink · 2 comments »
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
OMAHA, Neb. — A University of Nebraska-Omaha student took a job recently as a stripper for class credit. Jenny Heineman, a sociology student, said she wanted to bring sex workers out of the dark, so she felt she had to enter their world. Her thesis, “Gender and Work: An Ethnography of a Midwest [...]
turbanhead on May 24th, 2007 3:44 pm in Brown · Permalink · No comments »
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
Noureen DeWulf (American Dreamz) plays ‘Nuff Said Expo Girl’ in Oceans 13. Paul Walia, a regular bit player on TV, is cast as a security technician.
There’s something about the lighting here which makes DeWulf look dropped in through pixidigitation, an update to the wide-eyed Sridevi in Chandni.
… my parents are from Pune, India, although I [...]
manish vij on May 24th, 2007 2:15 am in Film · Permalink · 2 comments »
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
What both Hindu and Muslim fanatics have in common: both are currently hounding women for accepting hugs.
The Pakistani tourism minister resigned yesterday after hardline Islamic clerics accused her of obscenity for hugging her instructor after a [quake relief] parachute jump… the government appeared to cave in to the demands of the militants…
[Nilofer] Bakhtiar told a [...]
manish vij on May 23rd, 2007 4:23 pm in Issues, Religion · Permalink · 5 comments »
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
Knightley feeds an orphaned elephant at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. [Link]
An absurd Keira Knightley spread in Vogue (via Fashionista). Strapping designer wear on these undernourished babies is like throwing a JonBenét beauty pageant.
manish vij on May 23rd, 2007 3:18 pm in Environment, Fashion, Media, Photos · Permalink · 2 comments »