11.06.2003
For a nice frisson of cultural defamiliarization, it’s hard to beat reading pop culture news in English from The Times of India, which is often picked up at Google News. Yesterday’s Matrix-related Monica Bellucci article, “Is Monica Bellucci hotter than Ash?,” has a cheesecake angle that would be familiar to any U.S. or British reader, but most of the pop culture references are hilariously incomprehensible, starting with the title, a reference to Aishwarya Rai, who probably couldn’t be more famous in India, but could be over here. The best stretch comes a bit into the article:
If only she had been on this side, we could have proved the World Bank wrong. The Opposition would be more than happy to have her as the Prime Minister (so what if she is an Italian), we wouldn’t be mocked for our dress sense at Cannes then. Maybe Abu Salem would change his mind and hit the home trail (Advani will be more than happy).Yeah, I don’t get it, either, but I love not getting jokes in my supposed native language. This is why we love the Internet. comments 1
Imagine the amaranthine titles Bollywood would churn out (Monica, Oh My Darling; Monica ko dil de chuke sanam); dialogues (maa nahin, mere paas Monica hai). Maybe we wouldn’t have to wait for hits till Diwali.
more shey.net
11.05.2003: the ace
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11.09.2003: eyebeam - ny times
Eyebeam and its crew, including Cory Arcangel and Jonah, got some very good press today in The New York Times:…
Oh, that crazy Abu Salem! What will he do next :-)!
Posted by Buzz Andersen at November 6, 2003 05:50 PM