NINJA POWER!!!

There are few things in life that rock as much as watching a ninja movie with my papi chullo at a midnight showing. Which is precisely what I did last night on a whim, when we went to see NINJA ASSASSINS . It was like my ninja dreams come true ::sigh:: Ninjas have been much much too ignored by recent pop culture...sure there has been the infiltration of zombies and pirates in our pop culture conscious, but I say...NINJAS!!!
Everyone wants to be a ninja, I remember trying to mismatch tights and tying a t-shirt around my face in vain as a child. I remember how much I wished I could be Mileena and Kitana from Mortal Kombat (sans the slutty get ups). Hey, I had long black hair like them, what was stopping me ? Unfortunately there were no inter-dimensional fighting tournaments looking to recruit a bony pig-tailed 7-year old Bengali girl (they totally missed out).

Anyways back to the movie ( I have digressive personality disorder). I don't know if it's a critical hit, no idea if you ( or someone like you) will like it. BUT there was lots of blood, ninja stars, and major ass kickage...so in my opinion, it was tight.
Also, after watching this movie, I realized that Butters (my kitty) is indeed not a a Ninja-Kitty. Despite her always stealthily sneaking up on me, I just end up stepping on her. Ninjas don't get stepped on...sorry Butters.

Soaked, cold and subversive

Friday was a strange day...many of you following the news may have heard/seen/read about the strikes that have gone down all over the UC campuses. Berkeley of course, has garnered substantial attention. Do I agree with the demands of students and worked in the UC system? Of course! Was I out there protesting? No I wasn't. There is work to be done at my Center and as much as my personal experience working at Berkeley has been affected, there are invoices to be paid and a center to be run. A center where the garbage isn't being picked up due to the janitorial staff being laid off...

It was the third day of the strike and the university was carrying a strange, almost eerie vibe. It seemed dead, the emergency alarms were going off all over campus, and I had protest/vigil of my own to attend. As I stepped out, I realized that I couldn't walk through campus. Everything was barricaded, by either protesters or the police, in full riot garb. I had to wind through the inside of buildings to get through the university.

The other protest I was attending was an Anti-trafficking vigil to honor a young woman named Seetha Vamireddy, one of the many victims of Lakireddy Bli Reddy who died in 1999. If you don't know about this infamous case go to ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakireddy_Bali_Reddy


photos by Preeti Shekar

Despite the crimes this man and his family have committed, their restaurant is till prominent in downtown Berkeley where business is carried on as usual. Members of ASATA ( Alliance of South Asians Taking Action), Narika, Maitri, SAGE and others came together to protest outside of Prasand. It was about this time when it started to POUR like the weather had been paid off. We wrapped our signs in plastic fed ex bags and kept protesting. I was handing out soggy flyers to passerbys while soaked to the bone (no I did not have an umbrella, Roberto's umbrella is humungo and I refuse to carry that thing). I'm a total weeny, I can't take the cold. My fingers were numb and I was physically miserable. Despite this, I was very impressed by the turnout. Here were these people, volunteering their time for a cause against violence against women and trafficking. We were taping drenched roses on posts in Seetha's memory, and we stood in vigilance and solidarity, pushing our signs up against the windows for the customers to see (and hopefully lose their appetites).

After the talks, the sharing, and exercising our right to do our part to honor the memory of what happened, we decided to pack in and get pho.

Pho does wonders when you're freezing, the spicy broth was healing in its own way.

Then the sun came out...damn you bay weather.

On-Air (or full of hot air, what's the difference really)

This is me:

This is me on TV:

Megathon 09, The Captain, Nadia Hussain from Princeton Community Television on Vimeo.

If you want to see me act more ridiculous than I already am, stick a mic in my hand. Which is precisely what Princeton TV did, for 30 hours straight last May. Why would I host 30 hours straight of public access television? Is this clip really from 4 am in the morning? Is that why I'm wearing Spongebob pajamas? What's up with the dude in the mask and does it chafe (he did keep it on for 30 hours mind you).

This was my effort to have important questions and dire issues presented to the world via media. This was broadcast live over the internet, I had friends from Argentina to Geneva watching. I brought problems to the forefront, raw and real!

Actually, they said I could talk for 30 hours straight, and I got to eat cheviche...nuff said.

Princeton megathon 09 ---> http://www.vimeo.com/user2391581

When Love Hurts : The Tabloid Edition

I'm not going to lie, I'm a tabloid junkie. Would never buy the stuff, but it's seriously a guilty pleasure. So as I'm doing my daily view of e-online.com, I come across this:

Rihanna and Chris Brown Battle It Out Via Music Video

Chris Brown and Rihanna, the now famous incident. He's the new Ike Turner, and she's supposedly moving on, with a new album.

What caught my attention were the two new music videos released by each of them. The article above points out the imagery and meaning behind the videos. Out of curiosity and time to kill on a Sunday morning, I decided to check them out.

Here is the link to the Rihanna video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFpn1jVEYY

and the Chris Brown one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHLkDiyvFoI

What struck me as I watched both of them was how obviously DIFFERENT they were. Rihanna's video is full of angst, pain, blood, and scenes of her either bleeding or getting shot. Sure she's an artist and this is media ( or her just selling records) but I couldn't help but be amazed (not in a good way) with Brown's showing. His video is full of hope, and uplifting, with its "baby we can make it, baby I miss you and love you" theme.

I need a moment to express my sense of...disgust. This guy is so full of himself, and I must say, that this is so TYPICAL of how batterers are. It doesn't matter that he's famous, or trying to be the "good guy"now. Both displays are so blatant to show what the roots of Domestic Violence are. It is about an individual having power and using that power to control, subjugate and humiliate their partner. The time needed to heal from being hurt by the one you love the most is devastating and it can take years to recover from the emotional and psychological scars. For the abuser, from my experience I have seen NOTHING. They get away scotch free, they are free. In their minds there is no need to recover. They just move on, free as a bird. Indeed, in his video, there he is, singing on top of buildings, dancing with a smile (yes baby, I have hope for us!).

Can you see the hope in her video? Why isn't he shooting himself bloody? Honestly, the dude is only sorry that everyone sees him as a bad guy, because the public is making him feel bad, not because of what he did to her.

The saddest part though, is its not just him, he is only an sample of a wider disease. There are so many others like him who are part of this cycle of violence. They don't see and refuse to see the depth of the pain they cause in another human being.

He wants his baby back, but he's not sorry, he's just sorry that his image has been ruined.

this is only a test..

Gadzooks.....pimple cream, lampshades, cold feet and writers block

I need a new apartment, ways to achieve life goals (I have the vision, but whats the plan?)

I will write more when things get interesting

maybe they already are....