Call me artsy, but you best not call me fartsy
because that's mean. And ignorant.
Anyhow, I was randomly checking out of the Indo-American Arts Council website, www.iaac.us , because I'm a nerd, and was excited to see that they have a couple of events coming up that I am ecstatic about. Not just because of the events themselves, but because I may actually get to attend.
I'm a semi-artsy-fartsy type of woman who enjoys the random artsy event. However, I'm also a broke law student. Therefore, I can usually only afford to know about the events and pass the word on to those who have 1. more time than I do and 2. a positive cash flow.
The first event coming up is in the first week of November. It's the Fifth Annual IAAC Film Festival. Check out the schedule: http://www.iaac.us/fifthannual_film_festival2005/Schedule.htm
The films that piqued my interest include Highway Courtesans, Born into Brothels, (ignore any inclination to look for a pattern), Kaya Tharan, and Continuous Journey/Runaway Grooms.
The majority of the films being played throughout the festival touch upon some subject/facet of the human condition that is perhaps easily looked over and not given the acknowledgement it deserves. I'm truly excited. Even though I'm still a hardcore American Desi fan, ("Hey Kris! You want to go to the Indian Club Meeting tonight? 7:30 pm!"), I'm glad to see that there are more than a few South Asian filmmakers out there that have the ability and desire to make a film with a point. Chutney Popcorn was cool and all, but movies like it and AD ended up leaving the door open for vomit residue like Namaste. Did you see it? If you didn't, don't. If you did, I feel your pain. We seriously don't need another fish-out-of-water, discovery-of-my-roots movie with a name made up of one really "American" term and one Desi-ish term to fuel the facade that either culture is appropriately represented. All you get is a bunch of fobs pretending to be confused Americans trying to distract us from their pronounced Delhi accents with their bad acting, dancing, and wardrobe. "Real" desis think us Amreekans are ignorant, slutty, mean to our parents, can't speak any language but English, and don't date other desis because they make us face the fact that we're not white.
We get it.
STFU... panchod.
Ok, focus. The other sweet event is "An Evening with Javed Akhtar". No, not that way, nasty. But for fifty bucks I should at least get some cheese cubes and a handjob.
http://www.iaac.us/JavedAkhtar/ja_schedule.htm
I guess I'll have to see about this event as the date approaches. Fifty dollars is a Contracts supplement and a set of flash cards, you know? Can those of lesser income not have a love for the arts? I suppose not. Well, maybe they charge that much because they'll be serving their drunken goat cheese with Keebler crackers *and* Ritz crackers. Or maybe they want to keep the riffraff out. Because riffraff know who the f Javed Akhtar is....
Right.
Anyhow, I was randomly checking out of the Indo-American Arts Council website, www.iaac.us , because I'm a nerd, and was excited to see that they have a couple of events coming up that I am ecstatic about. Not just because of the events themselves, but because I may actually get to attend.
I'm a semi-artsy-fartsy type of woman who enjoys the random artsy event. However, I'm also a broke law student. Therefore, I can usually only afford to know about the events and pass the word on to those who have 1. more time than I do and 2. a positive cash flow.
The first event coming up is in the first week of November. It's the Fifth Annual IAAC Film Festival. Check out the schedule: http://www.iaac.us/fifthannual_film_festival2005/Schedule.htm
The films that piqued my interest include Highway Courtesans, Born into Brothels, (ignore any inclination to look for a pattern), Kaya Tharan, and Continuous Journey/Runaway Grooms.
The majority of the films being played throughout the festival touch upon some subject/facet of the human condition that is perhaps easily looked over and not given the acknowledgement it deserves. I'm truly excited. Even though I'm still a hardcore American Desi fan, ("Hey Kris! You want to go to the Indian Club Meeting tonight? 7:30 pm!"), I'm glad to see that there are more than a few South Asian filmmakers out there that have the ability and desire to make a film with a point. Chutney Popcorn was cool and all, but movies like it and AD ended up leaving the door open for vomit residue like Namaste. Did you see it? If you didn't, don't. If you did, I feel your pain. We seriously don't need another fish-out-of-water, discovery-of-my-roots movie with a name made up of one really "American" term and one Desi-ish term to fuel the facade that either culture is appropriately represented. All you get is a bunch of fobs pretending to be confused Americans trying to distract us from their pronounced Delhi accents with their bad acting, dancing, and wardrobe. "Real" desis think us Amreekans are ignorant, slutty, mean to our parents, can't speak any language but English, and don't date other desis because they make us face the fact that we're not white.
We get it.
STFU... panchod.
Ok, focus. The other sweet event is "An Evening with Javed Akhtar". No, not that way, nasty. But for fifty bucks I should at least get some cheese cubes and a handjob.
http://www.iaac.us/JavedAkhtar/ja_schedule.htm
I guess I'll have to see about this event as the date approaches. Fifty dollars is a Contracts supplement and a set of flash cards, you know? Can those of lesser income not have a love for the arts? I suppose not. Well, maybe they charge that much because they'll be serving their drunken goat cheese with Keebler crackers *and* Ritz crackers. Or maybe they want to keep the riffraff out. Because riffraff know who the f Javed Akhtar is....
Right.
posted by Musiqal Light at 11:54 PM
6 Comments:
another real piece of shit movie is "indian fish in american waters". I'm almost tempted to suggest you watch it. Ok, maybe only the first 20 minutes, but just because you seriously haven't seen acting and directing THIS bad since the last time you watched a 2nd grade graduation play. It's horrid.
""Real" desis think us Amreekans are ignorant, slutty, mean to our parents, can't speak any language but English, and don't date other desis because they make us face the fact that we're not white."
I think I'm going to cry myself to sleep now... :-(
(really)
--hurt FOB
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
FYI - Musiqal_Light is my (Fuerze Dulce's) user name on blogspot. Didn't want to create any confusion.
I'm not saying that all desis think of desis in america like this, but frankly that's the impression they give off when they portray us in their movies. I mean, forget about the movies mentioned above - look at just about any Hindi movie where an American is portrayed, or any show on ZeeTV where a character is American. We're clearly portrayed as such because that's the impression that's had by the folks who make those movies and shows. And plenty of people respond to those portrayals because that's how they feel as well.
musiqal light: I do not disagree with what you are saying (though there is a recent trend, still very much a minority, to include at least some relatively nuanced portraits, as in the English co-lead in Mangal pandey: The Rising), but consider the other side as well. Speaking from personal experience, I was stunned to find that when I moved to the US, non-desis (I mean non-ABCDs) would not assume anything about my political ideology etc., but time and time again Americans of desi ethnicity would just assume--from the fact that I was a FOB-- that I must also be sexist, anti-African American etc. Especially as to the sexism bit I found this highly amusing (but also offensive), because in many many cases I found that the people making these judgments had hardly any commitment to progressive causes that were "gendered" for want of a better term....my point is simply that in my experience the "misunderstandings" and rush to judgment exist on both sides to an equal degree...
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