The Daily Show Aasif Mandvi, Facebook, Sakina's Restaurant, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Today's Special 9:56 pm
Look what was in my inbox today! (click to enlarge):
Mandvi’s feature film Today’s Special is slated to open the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival on March 11.
Today’s Special has been described as “a heartwarming food comedy set in New York City.” It is based on Mandvi’s Obie Award-winning play Sakina’s Restaurant.
Rules of Engagement Adhir Kalyan, CBS, David Spade. Aliens in America, Junoon 8:56 am
South African actor Adhir Kalyan will officially become a regular on the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement when the show returns for its fourth season on Monday.
Kalyan plays Timmy, “the beleaguered assistant to eternal bachelor Russell Dunbar (David Spade).”
Watch this Timmy-centric trailer for the new season:
Kalyan’s first major American television role was playing Raja Musharraff on the short-lived CW sitcom Aliens in America. While that series was pretty cringe-inducing, I always loved hearing the theme song, a cover of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace and Understanding?” by PJ Olsson & Junoon’s Salman Ahmad.
Singapore drag queens, Kumar, Singapore 4:43 pm
Via CNNGo, a profile of Kumar, Singapore’s most popular drag queen:
Kumar pushes the boundaries of his shows by making fun of things that are taboo in Singapore. Surprisingly he has not been hauled up by the authorities. For him, it’s about knowing “what the rules are. The safest thing is — don’t be too political.”
It’s this instinct for balancing laughter with social acceptability, honed by 19 years of doing stand up comedy, that’s kept him out of trouble. But there are always repercussions, especially for a personality as controversial as Kumar. Those came from his family.
He recounted, “It was tough for my family because my father thought I was a prostitute. And my mother didn’t know what the hell I was doing. And it was very hard to tell them, so I let it be until they came to terms with it.”
It was seven years before his father spoke to him again, and his mother “knew at the back of her head that I was doing this, but she was hoping that I’ll end up in a desk job. But now it’s all different, it ain’t happening.”
The entire piece is an interesting read, you can find it here.
Below, a video interview with Kumar:
Elizabeth Hurley Arun Nayar, Elizabeth Hurley, Naked Heart Foundation, sari 8:46 pm
Elizabeth Hurley has never been known for making conservative sartorial choices (remember the safety pin dress?), but her decision to wear a chiffon sari sans blouse (and bra) to a charity event in London last night raised even more eyebrows than usual.
You can see the photos here (NSFW at all.)
Hurley clearly made a conscious decision to skip the blouse as she has been photographed wearing blouses with her saris in the past. Here’s Hurley and her husband Arun Nayar at their 2007 wedding, and here’s another of Hurley with her son Damian Charles. I also found a third photo of Nayer and Hurley at the 2007 Asian Women of Achievement Awards.
The funniest part of the entire episode? The charity gala Hurley attended was for the Naked Hearts Foundation.
Alpine Skiing and Olympics Alpine Skiing, Muhammad Abbas, Olympics, Pakistan 4:00 pm
After writing last week’s post about Indian luger Shiva Keshavan’s Olympic run, I thought I’d take a look today at the career of Muhammad Abbas, the first ever Pakistani Winter Olympian.
Abbas is a 24-year-old alpine skier and a member of the Pakistani Air Force. He had an unconventional introduction to his sport. According to the AP, he began skiing “by strapping two planks of pine wood to his rubber boots.”
While skiing is often looked upon as a sport for the wealthy, Abbas’ upbringing was different:
He grew up in a village in northern Pakistan, an area surrounded by mountains. His family couldn’t afford to buy him traditional skis, so his dad carved a pair out of wood.
The lift at the local slope only went up 500 metres – the downhill run at Whistler is 3,105 metres – so he skied the same smooth terrain over and over. He became quite proficient on that slope, on those homemade skis.
“I was the best out of the lot,” Abbas proudly said through his coach and interpreter, Zahid Farooq.
During the first Alpine Skiing run, Abbas finished 87th. Update: Just saw the results for the second run; Abbas finished 79th overall.
For those interested in reading more about Abbas: The BBC World Service did a nice interview with Abbas last week, and Abbas and his coach are featured in the first 5 photos in this Stamford Advocate slideshow.
Update #2: More from Pakistaniat.
(Hat tip: @tazeen, @kalsoom82)
Padma Lakshmi Celebrity Babies, Krishna Thea Lakshmi, Padma Lakshmi, Top Chef 6:12 pm
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi gave birth to a baby girl, Krishna Thea Lakshmi, on Saturday, according to People.com. A representative for the actress and model told the magazine that “Mother and baby are well and happy.”
Lakshmi’s pregnancy was often referred to as a “medical miracle” because she suffers from endometriosis, which in severe cases can cause infertility. Lakshmi co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America with Dr. Tamer Seckin last year. According to a 2009 Newsweek.com piece, the foundation “hopes to raise awareness, improve education, press Congress for more research money and lobby medical schools to teach students more about the disorder.”
Roosevelt Field Mall water bottles 8:01 pm
Water bottle for sale, Roosevelt Field Mall, Long Island
American Idol and Anoop Desai Anoop Desai, Desi, South Asian, Southeast Asia 7:50 pm
Former American Idol contestant Anoop Desai has been doing lots of interviews and media appearances lately to promote the release of his first single next month. Desai’s team has been specifically marketing the single to the South Asian community here in the States and on Friday he did a Q-&-A with Desi Hits over Twitter. (You can read the entire conversation here.)
Because Desai has spoken so much about the influence of Indian culture on his music, I was surprised to see his first Tweet to @desihits:
Confidential to Anoop: the term Desi refers to people from South Asia, not Southeast Asia. In case you are reading, the SAJA Stylebook has a nice definition of the term:
Desi: A colloquial name for South Asians, people who trace their ancestry to South Asia, especially India, Bangladesh, Pakistan. Pronounced “THEY-see,” it is the Hindi word for “from my country” (from the word “desh,” which means “country”). In an article about the South Asian party scene in the Big Apple, New York Times reporter Somini Sengupta described the word as a “Hindi version of homeboy or homegirl” (NYT, 6/30/96: “To Be Young, Indian and Hip”). That’s a pretty good definition. See South Asian.
In contrast, here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for Southeast Asia:
Southeast Asia consists of two geographic regions: the Asian mainland (aka. Indochina), and island arcs and archipelagoes to the east and southeast. The mainland section section consists of Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia while the maritime section consists of Brunei, East Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Singapore.
Desai’s not the only one who has confused South and Southeast Asian recently. During his last Comedy Central special, Aziz Ansari described Tamil as a “Southeast Asian” language. It’s not.
David Letterman and Shutter Island Ben Kingsley, David Letterman, Krishna Bhanji 11:16 pm
Sir Ben Kingsley was on The Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday to promote his new film Shutter Island.
I thought this interview was notable because it was the first time I had ever heard Kingsley talk about being half Indian. After Letterman asked the actor if “Ben Kingsley” was his birth name, Sir Ben talked about how his given name is Krishna Bhanji. He also spoke about his Gujarati grandfather, a spice trader who went by the nickname “King Clove” in Zanzibar. Kingsley attributes his decision to change his name to the difficulty he had auditioning with an unpronounceable name.
Interestingly, Kingsley never mentioned his heritage when he discussed filming Gandhi with Letterman back in 2008.
Part 1 of the interview starts at 5:07:
Part 2 (where he discusses his name and background):
