An Unlikely Socialite

James Kurisunkal (New York magazine)

For socialites in New York City, there was one place to visit on the Web: SocialiteRank.com. For a full year, the mysterious Web site declared “itself unofficial judge, jury, and executioner of 10021—the Zip Code of upper Park Avenue and Fifth, and the home of many young women who appear on the charity-ball circuit. Each fortnight, the Web site released a ‘Social Elite Power Ranking,’ scoring the women on their personal style, public appearances, and publicity efforts,” wrote Isaiah Wilner in New York magazine.

Then, suddenly, on April 26, 2007, SocialiteRank.com shut down. New York society was abuzz—but luckily, the gliteratti flocked, instead, to Park Avenue Peerage. This new Web site, which had launched in March, also chronicled the lives of the rich and fabulous, though without the same snark that SocialiteRank.com had been famous for. But like its famous predecessor, the owner behind Park Avenue Peerage remained a mystery.

Until, that is, Isaiah Wilner’s “expose” in New York magazine two weeks ago: The Duo Behind Socialite Rank Confess How and Why They Did It. The 6,400-word tome is probably of little interest to most people—and even to most New Yorkers—but the final page offered perhaps the juiciest tidbit of all: The owner of Park Avenue Peerage, who wrote with such authority about the New York social scene, was no insider. In fact, he was an 18-year-old Indian American college student—from Illinois:

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Power Couple Palman Does The Rounds

Padma Lakshmi is gearing up for the third season (her second) of Top Chef, the Bravo network’s popular culinary competition. Starting June 6, tune in at 10 p.m. ET to see Lakshmi host the series which, this time around, takes place in Miami.

Not one to be left out of the spotlight, Lakshmi’s husband, Salman Rushdie, swung by the Colbert Report Wednesday evening to discuss the death of mainstream literary criticism. Colbert asked the Booker Prize winner why “it’s important to have need these elitist, ivory tower Ph.D.-types in magazines and newspapers” letting us know us what we “should and shouldn’t read” (especially with Oprah already telling us). Check out Rushdie’s response here:

The New Shah of Relationships?

Neel Shah. (Glamour.com)

Cybercelebrity Neel Shah (you know him as Gawker’s Intern Neel) wants to give you some advice.

You know that column in Glamour magazine? The one where single guy “Jake” dishes on women and relationships? The one you don’t want to read (Do I care what men are really thinking?) but ultimately do (Yes)?

That column.

Shah, 24, is one of three finalists hoping to take it over, becoming the magazine’s next Jake. Visit Glamour.com to cast your vote and to read up on the Long Island native.

Find out what his relationship (non)philosophy is (“I’m not so sure I want to be the type of guy who has a ‘relationship philosophy.’ Guys with relationship philosophies also use Axe Body Spray and say things like ‘Love ‘em and leave ‘em’ “) and why he thinks we should vote for him (“I already devote the overwhelming majority of my nonworking time and brainpower to lady-related matters. I figure I might as well put pen to paper and have something tangible to show for it.”).

And tune in to the CBS Early Show May 9 to see Shah and his fellow competitors vie for your votes.

More:
Neel Shah: pro-woman, anti-soap?
Shah on CollegeHumor.com

Film Festivals: Looking Back & Forward

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles wrapped up its fifth year last weekend. Did you go? I couldn’t make it this year, but my mom did and had the chance to view a few of the 36 features showcased

A scene from Vanaja.

at the six-day festival—Kamla starring Deepti Naval (IFFLA’s 2007 Tribute Honoree), a 1984 film about a reporter looking to prove the existence of the human flesh trade in India by purchasing a tribal slave girl, Outsourced (audience choice for Best Feature Film), a comedy chronicling the encounters of an American salesman who travels to India to train his replacement, Provoked, and Vanaja, Rajnesh Domalpalli’s film school thesis which closed the festival, the story of a fisherman’s daughter who works for a local landlady to learn dance and help with her father’s debt as well as an exploration of “social class, sexuality, gender and family.”

What’s up next? Read the rest of this entry »

Jain Fonda and Bhangra Beats

Photo courtesy of BhangraBeats.org

If you think the term “reverse bird” has something to do with Thanksgiving, you’re going to want to keep reading.

With his debut fitness DVD Bhangra Beats, dancer and seasoned choreographer Jay Patel hopes to get you off the couch, and onto the (living room) floor. Moves like the reverse bird, the shoulder twist and (my personal fave) the pump, mimic the stuff of bhangra music videos and, Patel promises, will make for one helluva workout.

Patel, a University of Pennsylvania grad, used to head up the successful dance group Dhamaka while on campus (American Public Media recently featured the troupe here). Since graduating, he has joined the DC-based desi dance school and performance company Dhoonya.

“I started teaching these bhangra workout classes and they really took off. People loved it,” Patel tells Nirali. “The classes were very diverse, men, women, different ethnicities and races. That’s when I started thinking ‘there’s potential in this’.”

“I wanted to give people a fun way to exercise and feel good about themselves.” Read the rest of this entry »

Sanjaya Keeps On Surfing

“I’m just riding the wave,” Sanjaya Malakar said Saturday, at an after-party for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which he attended as a guest of People magazine.

So far that wave has included an encore-worthy appearance on David Letterman’s Late Show to read a Top 10 list of “Things I Learned From American Idol” (#10—the camera adds 10 pounds to your mohawk), an appearance on the Today show, and being slimed on Nickelodeon’s ME:TV. Did I miss any? (Update: At least one—Ellen.) Where will this wave take the boy with golden highlights?

Previously: He May Be Gone, But Sanjaya Is Still Our Papaya

New CD Features Kashmiri Folk Music

U.S.-based nonprofit Funkar International preserves and promotes Kashmiri folk arts, with a special focus on folk music. Its latest recording is “Maenzraath [Night of Henna]—Kashmiri Wedding Songs,” a collection including devotional songs, love songs and poetry.

CD cover, from 1941 Kashmiri marriage contract (Funkar.org)

In keeping with the title, a number of the songs feature henna-themed lyrics like those of Track Number 8:

Make way for the henna bowl,
Let’s color our hands with henna
The night is full of desire
Henna is from the heavens

Recorded in Srinagar, Kashmir, and featuring singers Manzoor Shah, Gul Akhtar, Hasina Akhtar and Mahnaaz performing the kind of music often heard in the informal setting of a Kashmiri wedding, “Maenzraath” includes vanvun—somber supplications to God sung by women to bless and protect the couple—as well as more upbeat songs accompanied by tumbakhnaer (traditional Kashmiri drum).

Listen to audio samples, see pictures of the recording session, and browse through the CD booklet online, where it is available for purchase.

The Kumars At No. 42 Are Looking to Move

Meera Syal (BBC)

Brits Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen have made the journey.

And now it might just be Meera Syal’s time.

The actress and author is in talks to bring her enormously popular BBC comedy chat show, The Kumars at No. 42 ,to American television viewers.

“There’s interest from America and we are in talks,” Syal told reporters earlier this month. “It’s early stages and so much depends on the budget … I’d be really interested. Can you imagine, the Kumars interviewing Sylvester Stallone and Nicole Kidman? I think it would be hilarious.”

Syal’s previous projects include the (instant classic) film Bhaji on the Beach and Broadway’s hugely successful Bombay Dreams . She can next be seen in Ayub Khan-Din’s latest Rafta Rafta—a play about newlyweds who move in with the ‘rents and, er, have trouble consummating their union.

Rafta Rafta opens this Friday, April 26, at the National Theatre in London.

More:
Life isn’t all ha ha hee hee
Anita and me
YouTube clip of The Kumars at No. 42

Women 2.0 Napkin Business Challenge

Women 2.0 invites the public to join the finalists of their Napkin Business Challenge as they pitch their best business ideas to a judging panel of seasoned entrepreneurs, executives, and venture capitalists. Audience-member votes will factor into the decision-making of which teams will walk away with the two top prizes of $1000 each, a pitch coaching session from Guidewire Group, and 30 minute meetings with Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson or Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital.

Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2007, starting at 6pm
Location: CNET, 235 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA (Directions)
Cost: $20 general admission, free for bloggers (Register here)

Founded last year by Shivani Sopory, Wen-Wen Lam, Shaherose Charania and Angie Chang, Women 2.0 promotes the collaboration and growth of women in entrepreneurship, technology and business in the Silicon Valley. The group “understands that half the battle in business lies in networking and since we’re not eligible for the old boys clubs, Women 2.0 events are the new way for emerging young women leaders to grow their networks.” Read the rest of this entry »

He May Be Gone, But Sanjaya Is Still Our Papaya

His final song as a contestant on American Idol was Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About,” and that’s just what Sanjaya Malakar gave America for the last nine weeks, alternately exasperating and thrilling audiences with his morphing hairstyles and wacky performances. But it all came to an end this week as the 17-year-old from Washington state was finally booted from the show. In his farewell performance, Sanjaya crooned, “Let’s give them something to talk about—other than hair.”

That, Sanjaya, is why your fanjayas love you.

And maybe also because of this: “Before I was on American Idol, I loved to walk on the street singing very, very loudly. So if you ever saw a little Indian kid walking around singing, it was probably me.”

Many South Asians in America also got a kick out of Sanjaya’s success, even if they didn’t all agree on if he deserved to keep advancing. His father, Vasudeva Malakar (who came to the U.S. as a Hare Krishna pujari and met Sanjaya’s mother, also a Krishna devotee at the time), told the Indian Web site Rediff that “People of Indian origin here and in India love him. I will not be surprised if more and more Indian kids show up in this competition in its next season.”

The soft-spoken Sanjaya talked about his Idol run today—free from the sequestration the contestants face:

How surprised are you by all the fans you’ve formed over the last few weeks on Idol?
It’s crazy. I knew the show was big, but I had no idea how big it really was and how much impact it had.

Did you see it coming last night, especially when Ryan looked at you?
When we saw the show on Tuesday, I kind of had a feeling. I was in the dumps all day on Wednesday. I kind of knew.

Are you and your sister, Shyamali, going to form a duo now?
I think that we’re probably going to sing together. I don’t know if we’re going to become a duo band but I think that we will definitely sing together.

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