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Even by the bizarre theatrical standards of entertainers these days, American pop queen Lady Gaga is sui generis for her outrageous attire and antics (she came to the Grammys function in a huge egg carried by four men).

Upon seeing Lady Gaga in her de rigueur skimpy attire, the late night TV host David Letterman rightly asked her the other day, What are you not wearing ? :)

Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, the 25-year-old New Yorker is today a household name sensation in America.

Is Lady Gaga a path-breaking pop-star or just the hit of the season?

Oh, what a silly, lowbrow, middle-class question.

Who knows? And does it even matter any more given the worshipful throngs flocking and genuflecting at Lady Gaga’s altar.

Her latest album Born This Way debuted May 23.

And Billboard is projecting it’ll sell 1.15 million albums in the first week.

Lady Gaga - Born This Way

In a bow to popular taste, SI purchased Lady Gaga’s Born This Way from Amazon.com the other day.

(By the way, if you have iTunes installed on your PC, the Amazon MP3 tracks download directly into your iTunes software. Cool.)

Having listened to all the tracks in Born This Way, we confess that SI has joined the unwashed masses, the screaming hordes, the ecstatic devotees in paying homage to this savvy entertainer.

If you quidnuncs insist on knowing our favorites from the album, they are Government Hooker, Americano and Judas.

Americano is a clever fusion of English and Spanish lyrics designed to appeal to both the English-speaking and the growing Hispanic population in America.

With pleasing beats and frequent shouts of ‘America’ and ‘Americano’ in a come-here-my-man-let-me-deep-throat-you vocals, the track not surprisingly endeared itself to us, particularly in our inebriated state.

Our soused mind also read a not-so-veiled reference to immigration authorities with its taunt of Don’t you try to catch me.

Our second favorite track turned out to be Judas. With its refrain on a figure, whose recognition to the Western mind is second only to Jesus Christ, the track with lyrics such as the following is bound to easily strike a chord with the babe’s fans and previously non-fans like us:

I’m just a Holy fool, oh baby it’s so cruel
But I’m still in love with Judas, baby

Other interesting tracks include the funky Government Hooker with its outlandish references to John F.Kennedy, who died 23-years before this smartalec Lady Gaga was born.

Hoo-ooker
(Yeah, You’re my hooker)
Hoo-ooker
(Government Hooker)
Hoo-ooker
(Yeah, You’re my hooker)
Hoo-ooker
(Government Hooker)

Bloody Mary is a quieter, softer, sombre number that harks back to a slower era.

At the end of the album day, music is something that strikes at your heart and makes it skip a beat or two or three.

With Born This Way, Lada Gaga made our heart skip, skip, skip many, many, many beats.

By the way, the word Chola appears twice in the title track Born This Way. Whatever the hell Chola means to Lady Gaga!

Now, if you’ll excuse us, Scheiße scheiße be mine, bullshit be mine. (a line from the Scheiße track) is playing in the background. ;)

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(For SI Blog Reader and ardent Kamal Haasan fan prasath.j)

There was a time, really, when Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Haasan attracted crowds for his movies.

Even in America, Tamil movie fans lined up to watch Kamal’s movies.

We still remember going to Clearview Cinemas (now Anil Ambani’s Movie City) on Oak Tree Road, Edison (NJ) to watch Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu in August 2006.

Those days, Ulaga Nayagan’s stock was high and much to our dismay we couldn’t get tickets for the Friday show (Aug 25, 2006). So we returned on August 26, Saturday. We came early and found ourselves a slot at the head of the queue.

But in a few minutes, the crowds started to gather and soon the line extended almost as far back as Mughal Indian restaurant at the other end (see photo below).

That must have been the pinnacle of Kamal Haasan’s popularity.

Kamal Haasan - A Spent Force in Tamil Cinema?Kamal Haasan – The Crowds, Before Ulaga Nayagan Became Ulaga Madayan
(Movie City, Oak Tree Road, Edison, NJ, August 26, 2006)

Well, all that was before Ulaga Nayagan turned into Ulaga Madayan Continue reading »

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Indian food - Garlic Naan Bread Garlic Naan Bread

Indian Food - Pakoras, Biryani, Mango ChickenOnion Pakora, Spinach Pakora, Batata Vada,
Veg. Biryani and Mango Chicken

Indian Food - Samosa Chaat & FruitsSamosa Chaat, Grapes, Water Melon

Indian Food - Jeera Rice, Chicken Makhani, Lamb Kofta Tandoori ChickenJeera Rice, Chicken Makhani, Sprouts Salad
Lamb Kofta, Tandoori Chicken

Indian Food - Jeera Rice, Mushroom-Peas Curry, Mixed Vegetable Curry, Spinach PakoraJeera Rice, Mushroom-Peas Curry,
Mixed Vegetable Curry, Spinach Pakora

Rice Kheer, Fruit Custard, Gulab JamunRice Kheer, Fruit Custard, Gulab Jamun

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Is there any way I can bribe the judge?…because in my country [India], you know, we normally do that.

- Mahaveer Kankariya, a New York City diamond trader, speaking to a bail bondsman during his trial.

When he was out on bail, Kankariya also asked about removing his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.

Kankariya along with his buddy Atul Shah, were recently convicted and sentenced to prison for staging a fake diamond heist at their NYC store in 2008 to fraudulently claim insurance money.

As the wise SI often says, you can take the Indian out of India but you cannot take the India out of the Indian. ;)

Read the full story of the Indian crooks Mahaveer Kankariya and Atul Shah in the Wall Street Journal.

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Death is never the end of the story. It always leaves traces.
- the French/Arabic film Incendies

So much praise has been heaped on Incendies in so many quarters that any more from our side would be superfluous.

Directed by French-Canadian film-maker Denis Villeneuve based on the play Scorched by Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies is a non-linear war film that tells a multi-decade story, keeping you hooked to the screen from the quiet first moments right up to the scorching revelations of the last few minutes.

When Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal), secretary to a notary in Canada, dies, she leaves all her assets to her twin children but also bequeaths some extraordinary surprises in her will.

Nawal leaves behind two letters that the twins are supposed to hand over to their father and brother. Only then, the dead woman stipulates, can a gravestone be erected for her.

In honor of their late mother’s requests, the twins, first Jeanne and with Simon joining her later, set off on a journey to a Middle Eastern country (Lebanon??) in pursuit of a father and a brother they never knew existed until recently.

But the letters and the twins’ journey are only director Villeneuve’s clever ruse to unravel the story of Nawal Marwan in a novel way that alternates Jeanne’s journey with her mother’s difficult path decades earlier when the sound of guns reverberated everywhere and relentless killings were commonplace. Continue reading »

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Michelle Pfeiffer’s character Rita Harrison: Can you grasp the concept of manipulating the truth. Not lying, just a little tweak here and there.

Sean Penn’s character Sam: No

Source: I am Sam

Deiva Thirumagal Review – Rotten Stolen Trash

Since the Internut is rife with rumors that Tamil star Vikram’s upcoming movie Deiva Thirumagan aka Deiva Thirumagal is based on I am Sam (2001), we watched the decade-old Hollywood film last night.

Well, after seeing Sean Penn deliver a jaw-dropping performance of an autistic, handicapped man with the intellectual capacity of a seven-year-old who struggles to regain custody of his seven-year-old daughter all we can say is that in the acting department Vikram has so far proved himself  unworthy of licking the bottom of Penn’s boots.

We arrived at that dreary conclusion after sitting through a bunch of Vikram movies including Gemini, Anniyan, Raavanan, Bheema and Kanthasamy (all made after I am Sam released).

Will Vikram’s performance in Deiva Thirumagal match Sean Penn’s remarkable work in I am Sam?

For the definitive answer to the above question, we’ll have to wait for the Tamil film Deiva Thirumagal’s release. But given Vikram’s past lackluster record it’s gonna be a daunting if not impossible task.

Simply put it, Vikram is a podiyan (a kid) compared to Sean Penn. Like what y’all are to Einstein.

You folks get the point, right? ;)

I am Sam – Good Moments, Bad Moments

We wouldn’t call I am Sam a gem of a movie. By God, certainly not.

It has its good moments and it has its awkward moments. Continue reading »

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