To Indians in India who insist the Popchips commercial isn't racist

THIS. All day, e’y day.

deafmuslimpunx:

I am so fucking sick and tired of all these obnoxious Indians in India who think they have the authority to tell us that the Ashton Kutcher Brownface Popchips commercial isn’t racist. When you are an Indian living in India surrounded by Indians and soaked in Indian culture 24/7 and see white (Caucasian) and black (Africans) foreigners and students wearing Indian clothes and eating Indian food and even speaking Hindi or whatever language in the region you come from, you have no FUCKING IDEA what racism or brownface is like. Being an Indian and a person of color in the United States is a very different experience from being an Indian in India.

Siva is the only fine one. Not that it’s relevant to the gossip below: turbanhead: Beef-loving British boy band The Wanted has already rumbled with One Direction and dissed Christina Aguilera twice over. How do they feel about Britney Spears, for whom they once served as the opening act? “We signed a confidentiality thing that we should never say anything about what happened, but let’s tell it anyway,” the band’s Tom Parker told Fresh 102.7 Radio. Explained Siva Kaneswaran, “I was in the hallway with me tour manager. Basically we were looking with a laptop, trying to get WiFi, and we were facing the middle of the hallway. Her bouncers came down with her and told us to face the wall … ” ” As Miss Spears is walking through,” continued Parker. “We’re like, come on!” And yet they did. Who else would you like to dish on, The Wanted? How about Justin Bieber? “He punched Siva in the balls,” said the band’s Jay McGuinness. Noted! [ via ] High-res

Siva is the only fine one. Not that it’s relevant to the gossip below:

turbanhead:

Beef-loving British boy band The Wanted has already rumbled with One Direction and dissed Christina Aguilera twice over. How do they feel about Britney Spears, for whom they once served as the opening act? “We signed a confidentiality thing that we should never say anything about what happened, but let’s tell it anyway,” the band’s Tom Parker told Fresh 102.7 Radio. Explained Siva Kaneswaran, “I was in the hallway with me tour manager. Basically we were looking with a laptop, trying to get WiFi, and we were facing the middle of the hallway. Her bouncers came down with her and told us to face the wall … ” ” As Miss Spears is walking through,” continued Parker. “We’re like, come on!” And yet they did. Who else would you like to dish on, The Wanted? How about Justin Bieber? “He punched Siva in the balls,” said the band’s Jay McGuinness. Noted! [ via ]

mutinousmindstate: It’s time to get BASS-ed! The Bay Area Solidarity Summer (BASS) is a summer camp to develop leadership skills for 15-21 year old youth in the South Asian American community.  BASS is a five-day four-night camp from August 2-6th in Berkeley where participants will learn about progressive issues, gain organizing skills, connect with South Asian activists and practice leadership. Interested in applying? Visit www.solidaritysummer.org and apply by May 25th. We only have 25 spots available so the sooner you apply, the better your chances! And be sure to like us at www.facebook.com/BayAreaSolidaritySummer Logo designed by Sabiha Basri of Design Action Collective circa 2012. High-res

mutinousmindstate:

It’s time to get BASS-ed!

The Bay Area Solidarity Summer (BASS) is a summer camp to develop leadership skills for 15-21 year old youth in the South Asian American community.  BASS is a five-day four-night camp from August 2-6th in Berkeley where participants will learn about progressive issues, gain organizing skills, connect with South Asian activists and practice leadership.

Interested in applying? Visit www.solidaritysummer.org and apply by May 25th. We only have 25 spots available so the sooner you apply, the better your chances! And be sure to like us at www.facebook.com/BayAreaSolidaritySummer

Logo designed by Sabiha Basri of Design Action Collective circa 2012.

It was three hours to sundown before the first night of Passover and the kitchen in this Kathmandu hotel was a steamy mess. Bath tub-sized pots bubbled with matzo ball soup, 900 chicken hunks in lava-like tomato sauce, and the googly eyes of a thousand boiled eggs. Nepali helpers wearing flip-flops and shalwar kameez grated long fingers of horseradish and cut cauliflower into snowy mounds. Plastic barrels overflowed with cabbages resembling pale green bowling balls. Young Israeli volunteers in cargo pants and Teva sandals sliced squash into orange arcs. The night before, a team of them had chopped onions and peeled vegetables until one in the morning to help prepare the world’s largest Passover Seder, which takes place in Nepal’s capital. More than a thousand guests, mostly Jewish backpackers who flock to Nepal after their military service, were expected for the holiday dinner that commemorates the Jewish exodus from ancient Egypt. (via 1,100 Pounds of Matzo in Kathmandu: Welcome to the World’s Largest Seder - Amy Yee - International - The Atlantic) High-res

It was three hours to sundown before the first night of Passover and the kitchen in this Kathmandu hotel was a steamy mess. Bath tub-sized pots bubbled with matzo ball soup, 900 chicken hunks in lava-like tomato sauce, and the googly eyes of a thousand boiled eggs.

Nepali helpers wearing flip-flops and shalwar kameez grated long fingers of horseradish and cut cauliflower into snowy mounds. Plastic barrels overflowed with cabbages resembling pale green bowling balls. Young Israeli volunteers in cargo pants and Teva sandals sliced squash into orange arcs.

The night before, a team of them had chopped onions and peeled vegetables until one in the morning to help prepare the world’s largest Passover Seder, which takes place in Nepal’s capital. More than a thousand guests, mostly Jewish backpackers who flock to Nepal after their military service, were expected for the holiday dinner that commemorates the Jewish exodus from ancient Egypt.

(via 1,100 Pounds of Matzo in Kathmandu: Welcome to the World’s Largest Seder - Amy Yee - International - The Atlantic)

Freida Pinto knows how to work “statement” jewelry! The actress stopped by Nylon’s 13th anniversary party this week, where she accessorized her Prada shift with a delicate gold chimpanzee pendant by Alex Woo, the sales of which benefit the Jane Goodall Institute. “It’s the kind of necklace that doesn’t need to be worn with anything special…When you’re wearing something to support a good cause, the rest doesn’t matter.” (via Why Freida Pinto Wears a Chimpanzee Necklace : InStyle.com What's Right Now)
Freida Pinto knows how to work “statement” jewelry! The actress stopped by Nylon’s 13th anniversary party this week, where she accessorized her Prada shift with a delicate gold chimpanzee pendant by Alex Woo, the sales of which benefit the Jane Goodall Institute. “It’s the kind of necklace that doesn’t need to be worn with anything special…When you’re wearing something to support a good cause, the rest doesn’t matter.”

(via Why Freida Pinto Wears a Chimpanzee Necklace : InStyle.com What's Right Now)

What the-? I thought MY mom was the only woman who stashed her sewing crap in a butter cookie tin. Aw. Now I feel a bunch of warm, Sepia-colored fuzzies. Huzzah for another shared Desi experience. Oh, my fellow browns. We may not speak the same languages or worship the same Gods, but we all have repurposed containers in common, don’t we? High-res

What the-? I thought MY mom was the only woman who stashed her sewing crap in a butter cookie tin. Aw. Now I feel a bunch of warm, Sepia-colored fuzzies. Huzzah for another shared Desi experience.

Oh, my fellow browns. We may not speak the same languages or worship the same Gods, but we all have repurposed containers in common, don’t we?

Mindy Kaling’s New Show? Promising.

Here’s some news you can use— according to New York mag/Vulture’s Margaret Lyons,  ”The Ten Most Promising Pilots of 2012” includes a brown candidate: 

Untitled Mindy Kaling Project, Fox It’s the funniest pilot script we read this year, and one of the stronger contenders in recent memory. Kaling stars as a smart, skilled doctor whose love life is a mess, but she only kinda cares about fixing it. Get ready for a huge wave of “Mindy Kaling Is the New Face of Feminist Comedy” stories, because … she is.

Kaling currently stars as “Kelly Kapoor” on NBC’s “The Office”; in her new project she’ll play a Bridget Jones/OB-GYN mashup. I’m sick of reading that comparison by the way, how about you? Anytime someone with a vagina is single, it’s “Bridget Jones”-revisited! Brunch, shoes or New York? “Sex and The City”!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly published an exclusive revealing that Ed Helms and Bill Hader would both be guest stars on the show:

First, Kaling’s The Office co-star Ed Helms is in the show as a potential love interest. He’ll play Dennis, a Wall Street analyst who goes on a blind date with Kaling’s character Mira.
Next, Saturday Night Live and Superbad veteran Bill Hader has joined the pilot to play Kaling’s ex-boyfriend Tom. He’s described as “upbeat, humble, almost infinitely appealing boy-next-door type who has such perfect chemistry with Kaling’s character that it feels nearly too good to be true. Mira sees him as the living breathing equivalent of an early 80’s Tom Hanks.”

Why would “Tom”/Bill Hader be her ex- if he’s that great? And why are none of her love interests suitable boys? Chee! Still, I can’t wait to see this.

Now if you’ll excuse me, writing this post has reminded me that I haven’t downloaded Kaling’s book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) yet. I know, I know…you’ve already read it. Well, pin a rose to your nose, sparky. While you were getting all comedic memoir with it, some of us were obsessed with snarks and grumpkins.

She’s All That: Shilpa Tummala

Harvard-bound Shilpa Tummala is 5’11” and one of the best high school basketball players in the country:

When she started club ball at the age of 9, shooting wasn’t an asset in Phoenix St. Mary’s senior guard Shilpa Tummala’s repertoire.

“I could not make free throws. I could not make short jumpers,” she said. “I couldn’t make anything if my life depended on it.”

But it wasn’t long before that weakness morphed in to a strength for Tummala. She spent hours in the gym, after school and on weekends, working with her dad, Chandram, to improve and eventually perfect her shot. Eight years later, Tummala is considered to have one of the better shots in not only the state but the country.

“It was a lot of work,” she said. “I committed the majority of my life — and I’m only 17 years old — but the majority of my life I’ve been living for basketball.”

  • Source: USA Today

“Saying Goodbye to Sepia Mutiny”

Another wonderful tribute:

jeevermadness:

When I was in high school, reading Sepia Mutiny was a matter of daily routine. In a nearly all-white school, reading and discussing the blog with my South Asian friends reminded me that I was a part of something bigger—a shared sense of identification that became my way of navigating both the everyday racial politics of suburban Texas and the generic, mundane angst that comes with being a teenager. In my worst conditions of high school senioritis, I found Sepia Mutiny to be a much better use of my time than whatever my assignment was in my required computer class…

…when I read blog posts by Desi youths directing rage at white women in bindis or South Asian-inspired runway looks, I’m disappointed by the way such conversations undermine larger discussions about how contested and unstable diasporic culture is. In its heyday, that’s what Sepia Mutiny was able to provide. Any claims to authenticity on the site were usually outweighed by a competing, contradictory perspective, so that Desi identity was never taken as stable or fixed. Though I didn’t realize it when I was in high school and first encountering the site, that’s the lesson I best learned through Sepia Mutiny. While I originally turned to the site to help me discover what it means to be Desi, Sepia Mutiny taught me the incredible, empowering impossibility of such an endeavor, and more importantly, why that was a reality worth defending.

It was an honor to help create and work for a site that inspired reactions like this. <3