Vaseline has created a face-whitening application for Facebook users in India to promote its Healthy White Skin Lightening Cream, because, um, yeah, that sounds really, really healthy. [Feministing]
Like AT&T in the 80’s, Ichiro Suzuki reaches out and touches someone. [MLB]
You break it, you DON’T buy it: Finally, a place for women having their lady time, in Shenyang, China. [People's Daily Online]
Tila Tequila is no longer part of Celebrity Rehab. Is it because she’s no longer a celebrity, or because she can’t be rehabilitated, or because no one gives a shit? Hmm. [RadarOnline]
Hayao Miyazaki likens iPad use to masturbation. Like that’s a problem?! [Gizmodo]
A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas already sounds like the greatest motherfuckin’ Christmas movie of all time. [MTV.com]
We can see why Prince said that the internet is over. Presenting…Kate Gosselin in a coolie hat. [Just Jared]
Eat, Pray, Love has a soundtrack, a home furnishings line, a clothing line, a jewelry line, a tour package that follows author Elizabeth Gilbert’s itinerary across Italy, India, and Indonesia, a fragrance, a tea, and, for its piece de marketing resistance, an unprecedented three-day selling orgy on the Home Shopping Network, beginning Aug. 6, a week before the movie opens, of “more than 400 items across a variety of categories, including beauty, electronics, home decor, travel, cooking, jewelry, accessories, and ready-to-wear,” including, as Variety reported this week, a line of lip glosses from Lancome, for whom Julia Roberts, star of the movie, is a spokesperson.
Many of the book and movie’s licensees seem to also have a personal stake in Gilbert’s story, er, “journey,” and are more than happy to share when promoting their product:
“When I read Eat Pray Love, I immediately identified with the story, as many aspects of Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey were synchronous with my own personal odyssey. Because of the immediate connection I felt to the story, as well as its emphasis on the culture, philosophy, and, in particular, alluring mystique of the East, I was able to create a collection that was striking, exotic, and timeless, and organic to the journey in the book and forthcoming film.”–Sue Wong, designer of the Eat Pray Love clothing collection
UK’s Telegraph is reporting that Lindsay Lohan could be blacklisted from visiting India due to a visa fudge during her highly (self-)publicized trip to film a BBC documentary. Apparently her tweets weren’t only annoying to us.
“The Mean Girls star had arrived in India to film an expose of child labour and trafficking of women which was later broadcast on BBC3, but she provoked a row when she claimed to have personally rescued 40 children.
In a series of updates on the social networking site Twitter, she boasted of her role in a daring raid on a child labour sweatshop and claimed the experience had changed her life….
…Now she may not be able to visit India again after officials looked at her case and found she had failed to apply for a work visa for her trip.“
Reports today have stated that Lindsay Lohan will be traveling to India for the BBC, to shoot a documentary on trafficking of women and children in the impoverished country.
Lohan: Helping the children
Lohan’s credits include The Parent Trap, Herbie Fully Loaded and I Know Who Killed Me. This will be her first documentary project.
In other affairs, BBC News released a report in 2007 entitled, “India’s Elite Cocaine Users.”
Say what you will about Tareq and Michaele Salahi; they know how to make an appearance.
"Sari, everybody! Didn't mean to threaten national security or anything!"
There’s a variety of opinions on the Salahis’ icky-tacky appearance at the Obama Administration’s first state dinner at the White House. Some people are jealous. Some people are furious. Some people are horrified.
The real shame, though, is that for one couple’s night of Presidential hobnobbing, the American attention turned to dissecting the party crash–instead of noting that the administration hosting India for its very first state dinner was a huge statement and a wise diplomatic move. As we continue to build dialogue with Pakistan, it’s increasingly important for the United States to maintain India’s confidence–and this was a clear acknowledgement of that by our White House. But instead, real political brain cache has been spent dealing with the party crash debacle, and few Americans even remember what the dinner was intended for.
“Ken, I am like, fully having soooo much fun in India! I’m so glad that I decided to wear my Indian vest and jean shorts to tonight’s gala. Remember when we bought this vest in New Mexico? I actually am kinda loving it right now.
Anyway, how much are you feeling this country? Everyone keeps saying sorry, sorry, sorry all the time. Who was it that was telling me that I should wear sorries for special parties? I didn’t know how to look sorry, so I just wore this old vest!
OMG, we have taken sooooo many awesome (three) pictures of all of the beautiful sights ( including ourselves at totally nondescript locations like the airport) here in this strange country!! Right?? I really kinda dig the hand b-b-bling, right? Look at this! It’s like somebody… drew all over my hand! I feel like they should, like, totally do this in America, cuz it looks so good on you no matter what size you are. Just like shoes and sweatpants. But I’m not sure about this bindi thing. I think it makes me look cross-eyed. Every time I look at it in the mirror I look cross-eyed.
Hails from: Bangalore, India (via Bihar and Patna)
Occupation: Physicist
Known for: Efficiency. Long recognized as a child prodigy (he completed high school by age 9, received a Bachelors degree at 10, and completed his Masters at 12), Tulsi–now just 21 years old–has just completed the six-year Physics doctorate program at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore to become one of the world’s youngest scientists. He is now potentially the youngest PhD in India. This basically means that he has successfully lived the collective wet dream of Jen’s and my fathers, making us seem all the more disappointing for pursuing careers in the liberal arts at an average American pace (Thanks, buddy!).
Worse Better still, Tulsi adds to the honorableness of his record achievements by humbly crediting his parents, saying, “I feel very lucky that I got proper environment in terms of my family members, particularly my father. He did his best to encourage my talent.”
Golly, we’d have to hate the kid if he wasn’t so freakin’ awesome. And accomplished. And adorable. And brilliant.
The one thing we’ve got on him is an updated site, however–his could some new finesse. But with his track record, we’d hate to see how quickly he’ll trump us on that one!
You can check out the 10+ comic book-issues chronicling the sexventures of bored housewife Savita Bhabhi–who bears a passing resemblance to Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger–at this NSFW site, although after reading a couple, you might find the storylines a little tedious (except perhaps when she fucks her cousin and keeps referring to herself as his “little sister,” ewww). Typically, she comes on to a stranger, then when he gets aggro, she becomes prudish, then she says “what the hell?” and goes to town on the dude anyway. But predictable plots don’t seem to deter the 60 million unique visitors who click on the site each month, because, I mean, porn is porn, after all, and not Tolstoy.
But let’s not bury the lead, right? India, where porn is illegal, has finally got its first porn star! That’s what? Half a billion cases of blue balls, cured like that?
Though the story broke in a barely-reliable “news” source, it took milliseconds for people to respond in shock and horror to British tab News of the World’s claim that 9-year-old Slumdog Millionaire star Rubina Ali was being peddled for adoption by her father.
Let’s just say the odds were stacked against Ali’s father, Rafiq Qureshi: Ali’s biological mother publicly praised the paper for releasing the story, even duking it out over the matter with Qureshi’s wife (and Ali’s stepmother) in the streets. And people have been naturally suspect of the Slumdog showbiz dad after his name first emerged, amidst controversy–after the film was a raging success, he felt his daughter should have been paid more (despite the fact that filmmakers arranged the Jai Ho Trust to provide the young actors and their families with education and housing needs).
While speaking to CNN with the young Ali, Qureshi did in fact admit to meeting with a wealthy Dubai couple (who turned out to be News of the World journalists), with the rather dubious caveat that he actually never intended to accept money for his daughter, and that he was misunderstood because of his poor English.
Ali added:
“’I talked to them in the room,’ Ali told CNN of the meeting, conducted by undercover News of the World journalists. ‘My dad said I could meet people if I want to, ‘But I will never give my daughter away for any amount of money.’”
But here’s the rub: although the undercover reporters argue that they have seven hours of taped evidence showing Qureshi and his brother negotiating the sale, the video has no sound. And this week, Mumbai police dropped their investigation of the father, citing a lack of evidence. So perhaps Qureshi didn’t attempt this terrible thing, and maybe he did. As is often the case, the truth is difficult to discern amidst the chaos.
All we can say is that we feel deeply for poor Rubina, who really just can’t seem to catch a break. And to anyone who’s actually thinking about it, might we suggest following PETA’s advice (not something we’d often do), merely applying it to adorable, talented, potentially-up-for-grabs children:
…y’know: “Always Adopt. Never Buy.” No matter how fucking adorable.
Dude. As we all know, The Cosby Show was way ahead of its time. But who knew that, in addition to being groundbreaking reprzentation for African-Americans, it had a Desi flava, too? Check out this show intro mashup:
Shameful member of the tribe who also happens to be gay.
Racial Dilettante –
A person who dabbles in the affect of another race or races (see Racial Drag), particularly when that race is “IN.”
Lifestyle Asiaphile –
A person who fetishizes Asian dress, food, religion, and/or culture, often to the detriment of his/her own health and that of others. Example: Jeremy Piven.
Racial Drag –
Accoutrement and/or affect donned by one race to mimic another. Example: when a white girl wears chopsticks in her hair.
