Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I finally gone an' done it

here now

http://www.silpayamanant.com/

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 2:25 PM 1 comments links to this post

Sunday, May 20, 2007

"Dance of Mind" fumetti



Carmine Guida (above right) has been posting excerpts from an upcoming belly dance photonovel project, "Dance of Mind," that he's a part of. It's always a little weird when two of the artistic communities I'm involved in start to overlap--but I suppose some of this was coming, eh? I think it's obvious that the artists involved should take this to the Carnival of Stars Belly Dance and Comicbook Convention. The list of actors: Ariellah, Ayshe, Blanca, Carmine, Jeniviva, Neon, Sarah Skinner, Scott Shuster, Tempest.

We've recently played a show with Carmine, who is a wonderful Oudist and Arabic percussionist who often plays for belly dancers, and we'll be playing for Tempest in a couple of weeks for a benefit show for one of our belly dancer friends.

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posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 11:50 AM 0 comments links to this post

Monday, December 04, 2006

hmm

yeah, well--I don't blog too regularly around here. And really to tell the truth, I have so many different blogs that it is about time I got my own domain and consolidate. So, by next year, I will likely be doing my regular blogging at silpayamanant.com or something silly like that. Till then--if you're looking for some commentary on Orientalism, linguistics, culture--whatever--go here:

http://blog.myspace.com/silpayamanant

I may still post here ocassionally, but regular blogging may be found at the link above. Mostly my thoughts on a local scale (namely, Indianapolis) and other subjects I've been actively participating in (like local music scenes and central Indiana area belly dancers and Indianapolis ethnic music). Anyway...

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 7:01 PM 0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Namaste and Wai

Kind of a cool photo of Carenza and me after our set at the Burlesque Benefit show (Punk Rock Night, the Melody Inn, 10-14-2006).  She is doing, what some belly dancers have adopted from India, the Namaste gesture. And though what I'm doing looks similar, I'm Thai, and in Thailand we do a similar greeting called Wai.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting


the rest of the photos from our set begins on this page (photo 597):
http://www.punkrocknight.com/gallery/album264?page=43

Of course, this came at the end of a set that consisted of one Bulgarian dance (Graovsko horo), one Albanian folk song that I sang (Ani Mori Nuse), two of our (il Troubadore) original pieces that we play for belly dancers: Sands - which is an Arabic/Indian fusion piece; and Sensitive which is an Egyptian styled ballad, one Bhangra Techno tune that we sing in Punjabi (Daler Menhdi's Tunak Tunak), and on Columbian pop song that we sing in Spanish and Arabic (Shakira's Ojos Asi). We like to cram in as many cultures into a set as possible, eh? :P

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 5:14 PM 0 comments links to this post

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

RIP Steve Irwin

Crikey!!

Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006)

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 5:40 AM 0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Comic Strip Orientalism??

For Better or For Worse

humorous comments here

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 6:40 AM 2 comments links to this post

Friday, August 04, 2006

Fear the Mandarin

I think Phil Yu (aka "Angry Asian Man") summarized this better than I would have.

There's an interview over at CHUD.com with Jon Favreau, director of the announced Iron Man movie in the works, with some more information on the "Mandarin" character:

Q: And he’s a tough character because in his original appearances he's a racist caricature.

Favreau: There are certain fears and certain strengths the character evokes that are applicable, but of course you have to completely remove any of that short sighted cultural ignorance that leads to any sort of bigotry in the storytelling. That isn't to say those fears and shortcomings of Iron Man as relating to that character aren't relevant.

Think about what made the Mandarin someone everybody gravitated to – if you look at the message boards, overwhelmingly that's someone everyone wants to see. He was intelligent, he was powerful, he was mysterious. He was always one step ahead. Despite his suit and technology, Iron Man was always the underdog. Mandarin always had this Machiavellian web he would fall into. He was based in China which was then mysterious because it was Red China. Today China is mysterious in other ways because it's Global China. China is the economic powerhouse that is quickly catching up and will eventually surpass us.

A comic book movie that capitalizes on fears of China's future economic domination. Fun. And so timely. The moment they announced the villain was going to be Mandarin, I knew this was bad news. I'm not planning on seeing this one. Not willingly at least.


I probably am going to see this, if only to see Mandarin's portrayal. I'm sure there will be much to talk about...

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 4:34 AM 0 comments links to this post

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Who Wants to be a Superhero?

Is Stan "The Man" getting desperate for ideas? I'm just not so sure how a "Superhero reality show" is supposed to work...???
Who Wants to be a Superhero?
http://www.whowantstobeasuperhero.tv
Each contestant begins with an original idea for a superhero, a self-made costume, and their best superhero mojo. From thousands of hopefuls, Stan Lee chooses the lucky finalists who move together into a secret lair. There they will begin their transformations — and their competition for the opportunity to become real-life superheroes. Over the course of the series, they will test their mettle, try to overcome their limitations, and do what it takes to prove that they truly are super.

The finalists will leave their former lives behind and live as their brainchild heroes 24/7, all under Stan Lee's watchful eye. Each week, our aspiring heroes will be challenged with competitions designed to test their true natures. No one will be leaping over tall buildings in a single bound; our superheroes will be tested for courage, integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion, and resourcefulness — all traits that every true superhero must possess.

posted by Jon Silpayamanant @ 9:02 PM 0 comments links to this post