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Song of the day and the blog is back!

"It's been a long time, I shouldnt have left you without a dope beat to step to"

Sorry its been a while kids....i have been uber busy and the blogging fell by the wayside...
Hopefully i am back for good now and can keep the masses happy...we will see...

i dont really have anything to write about so we will start out with a song of the day...
it comes from the group Rootbeer and is called "Pink Limousine"

Let me know what you think!

Read More 0 comments | Posted by JohnnyBighead

india - part 2

i want to start off by saying handi was amazing last night! im pretty sure dan and joyce and rob and holly all loved it so we have some new indian eaters! very exciting!

today we are talking about slumdog millionaire...it is a movie based on the book "Q & A" by vikas swarup...i have read the book and we will talk about that a little while later...this movie won tons of awards seemingly out of nowhere...its success is pretty unique because it is a low budget foreign film...granted, it is a british film and had a budget of $15 million, but when compared to the budget of the watchmen (&150 million) it looks like a drop in the bucket. To date it has grossed somewhere around 328 million worldwide, not a bad return on the investment....if only my 401(k) could give me something like that....

let's check out the trailer and we can move on from there...

slumdog millionare is about a guy who is from the slums of Mumbai and somehow gets on the indian version of who wants to be a millionaire...(pay close attention to how they say millionaire...classic). he does really really well and nobody can figure out how a "slumdog" can know the answers to all these questions...the show's host thinks he has to be cheating so he brings in the police...and the rest of the movie explains how he knows the answer to each question...its pretty cool how it uses scenes from each part of his life to explain his knowledge...from a little boy with his mother, to forced servitude, to scheming with his brother as adolescents, and so on...

he meets a girl along the way and he is hooked...he spends his whole life trying to get with her and the story unfolds from there....

i think the actors did a great job...they have done work before but nothing anywhere close to this scale...the main character jamal(in his adult form) is played by anoop desai, also made famous in this seasons american idol...see below for picture...

okay okay not really...he is played by dev patel who is from Harrow, north-west London...which has a pretty high Indian population, something like 22%...here he is:

he is also a black belt in taekwondo and finished third in the 2004 world championships...not bad...

the main female character ,Latika, was played by Freida Pinto, who is from Mumbai...

I thought they worked well together and i think they are dating now...good work dev!

i think that everyone should go see it and decide for themselves if they like it...i have heard that people love it and people hate it...there have been tons of controversies surrounding it about the welfare of child-actors, misrepresenting indian culture and Hindus, etc. while it may not perfectly portray the slum culture in india i think it gives us a glimpse into that lifestyle...of course we will never fully understand it but its nice to be exposed to it and know it is a reality for tons of people...

for me this movie is so enjoyable because the main character is so likable...you want to see him make it, see him succeed. so many characters in media today are unlikeable, think bella from twilight, and the director did a good job of keeping him a good guy. people want to see the good guy win sometimes. Even though we have different circumstances, we all can relate to the story...thinking about how our life experiences have made us who we are is a cool exercise. what questions the host would ask you for you to be successful in Jamal's shoes?

Does he win the money? you will have to watch and see, but really in the end, that's not what is important...

as far as the book goes, it is pretty different...i actually think the movie is better than the book and that rarely happens...first of all, salim in not jamal's brother, just his friend and i think that makes a huge difference...also, in the book is abandoned my his mother, quite different from the movie....and for me the biggest difference is Latika, the main girl character. In the movie she is his close childhood friend...in the book she is a prostitute he meets in a brothel at age 17....big, big difference...so i think the movie did a better job with the storyline and im not sure it would have been as successful if it was true to the book...but go buy it and read it for yourself...

if you have seen the movie let me know what you think...and if not you should go see it right now and let me know what you think!

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by JohnnyBighead

Song of the day...with video

in honor of india and slumdog millionaire day, our song today comes from a.r. rahman. i was lucky enough to find a good copy of the slumdog ending on youtube with the crazy dance routine...very fun.

the song is Jai Ho and can be found on the movie soundtrack (very good soundtrack by the way). it turns out that jai ho is hindi and means somthing to the effect of "may victory be yours."

watch out, it is very catchy and may make you burst out into random bollywood dance and your desk...dont say i didnt warn you...

Read More 0 comments | Posted by JohnnyBighead

Song of the day...with video

in honor of william shakespeare's birth and deathday...we are going to play a song that has to do with him somehow....can anybody see the connection? it will be easier for some than others....let me know what you think...

Read More 0 comments | Posted by JohnnyBighead

india - part 1

today kids we are talking about india...honestly i knew very little about anything india until fairly recently...i remember seeing the indian engineering students at clemson and seeing them playing cricket behind the baseball stadium....beyond that i didnt know much at all except the obvious...

Gahndi...

The Taj Mahal...

And the red dot...

Dont get me wrong, i had some indian friends in school but they didnt help the stereotype, they all came from hotel owning families and there may have been a service station owner in there as well...

I still know very little about india but i do love a few things about it....

First of all, the food....this is a touchy one...very many people hate it and think it stinks...i think a vast majority of these people have not tried it or given it a chance...it does indeed smell and look different to what us as Americans are used to but is that such a bad thing? and it should fit in the best in the United States seeing we are a melting pot and a mix of foods from all cultures...

For a long time the only place i had been was india palace in greenville...while delicious, india palace has some problems...first of all, it has the absolute worst service of anywhere ever...the waiters sit around and talk and seem that they could really care less that you are there...i think this comes from them being the only indian place in town for a long time...this could be overlooked because the food was delicious....the part i always had a problem with was the GIANT bug zapper on the back wall...im not usually a squeamish type but this is too much for me...also the door to the kitchen is open from time to time and cook looks like that guy from indiana jones, you know the guy that has the swords that Indy just shoots...see below...

Click here to visit their website for more details...

Then something wonderful happened! handi opened up in downtown greenville. handi is a delightful place right on main street. not that it matters, but it has a nice exposed brick interior that makes it seem like a more upscale place.

the waiters actually attend to you and sometimes even run to get your order/request....this may be a little much but its nice to know they actually do care about their customers...i am actually going their tonight with my wife and some of our dear friends....Dan and Joyce and Rob and holly...i think it may be some of their first times so we will see how it goes...i am not worried because this place is great! it turns out that a handi is a deep, narrow-mouthed cooking vessel that is used in Indian cooking...i like it for a name!!!

Click here for their website!

Everyone always asks what to get at an indian restaurant...thats a tough question...personally i think everything is great but i usually tend to lean towards something like...

Some kind of Vindaloo...which i just found out is not really that popular at all in india outside of Goa...it was a dish originally brought by the portuguese...hmm who knew...

I also like Saag Paneer...all i can say is that it tastes better than it looks...

i usually dont like spinachy type stuff but this is unbelievable...

another good option is tandoori chicken...it is chicken that is cooked in a big clay oven thing...

and no meal can be complete without some naan...which is just bread, but you can get all kinds of toppings/stuffings....this is garlic naan, which i love!

these are just a few things i like but there is so much more out there...Anybody want to share some of their favorites?

this is getting long so we will continue tomorrow with something else i love about india...slumdog millionaire...

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by JohnnyBighead

Song of the day, without video

Today we have K'naan, who i really like...he does hip hop in a way i would like to see mainstream hip hop go although i know that is impossible...people love pop music like what lil wayne and his sort do way too much...to me, its a crazy world where people will say lil wayne or t.i. or any of current "best rappers alive" are better than actual artists like mos def, common, talib kweli,etc, etc, etc...but i guess thats just person preference....i just like some substance in what i listen too...

anyways, thats my rant for the day....enjoy K'naan in I Come Prepared with Damian Marley...its not his best but its a good intro, for his best check his more raw earlier album the dusty footed philosopher....He's a somali who moved to nyc and then canada...check out his other stuff if you like it...

Read More 0 comments | Posted by JohnnyBighead

Song of the Day with Video - First Edition

Today is the first installment of something i am very excited about...it is my song of the day! I am going to do my best to post a song with video most everyday. These will be songs i like and people will probably hate some of them but its my blog so deal with it...also, i will take requests and maybe have guest song of the day posts...

It was hard to pick the first song since i liek so many but at the end of the day it wasnt that hard...it had to come from one of my favorite bands and it had to include an amazing beard, a singing stand up bass player, some craziness, and a concert lyric change....and with those parameters there was only one choice....

the avett brothers- left on laura, left of lisa

let me know what you guys think!

Read More 0 comments | Posted by JohnnyBighead

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This blog is by me, about me, and for me...maybe you can join in along the way...

Song of the day and the blog is back!

india - part 2

Song of the day...with video

Song of the day...with video

india - part 1

Song of the day, without video

Song of the Day with Video - First Edition

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