It's me.

Well then damn, Vivek...you foine. ;)

ha!

Blue dress looks good on her brown skin. Pretty girl.

Still not buying Office 2007.

Vivek:

So, er, you like, er, chinese food?

HEY. I saw him/her/it first.

Yes Manju, and I like you too...

FOR ME TO POOP ON

Tech support?

HAR. Okay had to get that one out of the way :)

(I'm a bit slow today...can someone explain the ad to me? Seriously...I don't get what Windows 2007 and going crosstown have to do with each other.)

FOR ME TO POOP ON

Nevermind. Manju, he/she/it is all yours. Shawty doesn't get down like that. :D

¡Oh mi dios! Su Marianna. ¿Cómo es usted, mi querido?

her office has office 2007 so it's worth going crosstown for because it's a whole new day? admittedly, it's a stretch but i think that's what they were going for... the billboard where they had dancers on the walls was definitely more fun. or maybe that microsoft ad in europe with the guy trying to unhook the bra and then running into a password prompt. :)

Actually, it is the wife who I found interesting.

This is a great day because you can leave your house and buy MS Office. You won't have a day this good until the next Microsoft product comes out, so enjoy it while it lasts. And don't forget to take out your earbuds when you cross the street, or to drop your iPod in the path of an oncoming bus.

It seems likely that the picture is from orbis!

Love that blue dress - any idea where that is from?

Trinity, I am wondering the same thing. Love the dress.

Yay! She is the every[brown]woman! fierce.

i don't get the slogan though, it's pretty bad.

I like her already, regardless of the dress (which IS cute). Awww so superficial :) I still won't buy Office 2K7.

ella no es india, usted gente muda que ella es mi amante colombina dulce.
(she is not indian, you dumb people. she is my sweet columbian mistress.) :-D

Stylish and gorgeous. Her identity must be, um, identified!

And while we're avoiding the newest versions of Microsoft 2007, Windows VISTA sucks butt.

aim that shit at Office 2007, which has brought me (and everyone else in my office) nothing but pain. Soooo not intuitive

I'll bite. Can you please tell me what you hate so much about it? I'm just curious. Whats the most unintuitive thing about Office 2007?

As the great Mitch Ryder one sang

"Devil with a blue dress on"

19 · buster de la burbuja(bubble buster) on April 11, 2007 02:21 AM · Direct link

ella no es india, usted gente muda que ella es mi amante colombina dulce.
(she is not indian, you dumb people. she is my sweet columbian mistress.) :-D

ella no es DE india

the way you had it read "she is not india"

Hrmm, there is also an "uncle" in a different Office advert: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/2007office/images/image008.jpg (link is a 1.6 MB JPG).

If you really want to know who the model is, you could contact the Microsoft Office press contact on this page or McKesson Worldgroup (the company that may have created the campaign). But that would be cheating since the whole purpose to find 2 degrees of separation :-)

I know her -- she looks great on the outside -- unfortunately, she comes with a lot of baggage (8 billion terabytes of hard disk space), leaves you when you need her the most (could my version of Word crash any more?!), and there's far better alternatives out there for the taking (StarOffice, Google Docs, heck, even Apple's iWork).

12. neel on April 11, 2007 12:58 AM · Direct link

Actually, it is the wife who I found interesting.

I started singing Who's that girl...la la la by Eve.

She is very pretty. I love her dress and her bag.

ella no es DE india

ermm, it really should be "ella no es de la India"...

Now that's what im talking about...

the bag is h&m from last spring.

Don't know her - but I've got to say it. She's super pretty.

are we sure that photograph is taken in this country?

her ? she's well dressed, no doubt about that.. she has the "I am a sophisticated business professional" look to her clothes..

But I have seen more attractive Indian women before.. She's too light skinned, she would be more attractive if she was darker..

http://abc.go.com/primetime/notesfromtheunderbelly/index?pn=bio&name=sunkrishbala

And it's weird how in India (well in the south atleast), they don't even look at facial features, they just look at skin tone, they consider light skinned women to be more attractive regardless of the facial features..

But I find that most Indian women look better when they are darker unless they are really really attractive..

this particular woman looks like she would look better if she was darker, because her skin tone looks like she is white but her features are very Indian looking so it does not look right..

seen the billboard, and i guess i'm the only asshole who doesn't think she's anything special?

That's my second cousin Boopa circa 1984.

I guess we've come a long way when we can get fairly average looking south asian women on billboards in NYC.

Yo Filmiholic and Sonia:

The comment about the Colombian mistress (#19)was such idiotic anglo trollery that it's pointless to try to 'correct' the Spanish in an attempt to call them out on it.

I know you probably don't mean it like it sounds, but it's considered a form of classist bullying to correct someone's Spanish when you aren't an elder (abuela, tio, etc.) to them. Just a little FYI for your real world interactions. :)

Many of us 3rd genr latinos speak Spanish differently than our grandparents. Sometimes we make errors in grammar, merging urban street slang English, Yoruba or Creole into our Spanish.I have been known to mix it up with some Arabic too.

Hey, my English (as exhibited here) isn't all that great. Language evolves though, and no matter how many professoras contend that we must 'preserve' the classical Spanish, whatever that is, it continues to be a tool that some of us see as improvable in our own way.

I just couldn't keep my mouth shut, even if it was about a response to a troll.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread re: the beauty on the billboard.
I like her serene, madonna smile.

One veiwpoint on speaking Spanish in the states.
Miran.

Desi seem to show up in the orbit of Microsoft more.

I remember a set of Visual Studio ads using a caca. In fact he reappears in the installer. Also, their Ms. Dewey campaign for Microsoft Live Search used Janina Gavankar as the naughty mistress of search.

I know there's been more, but I can't point to them right now. I blame a lack of coffee.

I guess we've come a long way when we can get fairly average looking south asian women on billboards in NYC.

yeah, I guess it is good for desi's in NY, and good for society as a whole.. but models are supposed to be attractive, I don't want to see average looking people on advertisements (unless they are modeling clothes for average looking people or something like that)..

yeah, I guess it is good for desi's in NY, and good for society as a whole.. but models are supposed to be attractive, I don't want to see average looking people on advertisements

Blah blah blah. You're of below-average intelligence, and I'm not calling you out on your shit. Show some tact.

yeah, I guess it is good for desi's in NY, and good for society as a whole.. but models are supposed to be attractive, I don't want to see average looking people on advertisements (unless they are modeling clothes for average looking people or something like that)..

Dunno if you are aware that Microsoft's advertising campaign has been like this for a long time, normal people who do normal things who use normal software, their advertising is much larger in Asia, they got America and the EU by the balls when it comes to desktop software, primarily due to english and european languages. Its the asian market which their market share is lagging in, thus the need to pump much more into advertising, if you get a chance go to Singapore or Shanghai, you will be bombarded with more MS advertising than you see for American Idol here.

She is purrty..i likes
speaking of advertising to the desi crowd, I love the new Chrysler ad with desis showing pictures of their family...its howlarius

Blah blah blah. You're of below-average intelligence, and I'm not calling you out on your shit. Show some tact.

Kobayashi - hahaha, realize that with your superior intelligence, that Sadaiyappan maybe tactless, but makes a valid point regarding advertising. Market studies prove that more attractive product models sell more products than regular looking people, perhaps it doesn't correlate with the software industry as much , however if you ever have gone to CES you'll realize that every tech company hires superhot models, look at godaddy.com. Also I think we're all in agreeance if you are a straight man that the Victoria Secret commercials with Gisele and Adriana Lima wouldn't have nearly the same affect as lets say the woman on this billboard?

anna, dude i think she might be sister to my friend nisha (who i never met though). i remember her telling me she's a model in nyc. and this girl strictly looks like her sister. i'm gonna call her up and find out for you.

I truly believe that every brown person in Amreeka is two degrees apart

word.

Also I think we're all in agreeance if you are a straight man that the Victoria Secret commercials with Gisele and Adriana Lima wouldn't have nearly the same affect as lets say the woman on this billboard?

I'm in "agreeance" with no such nonsense. This lady is very beautiful, very appealing, unlike the underfed clotheshorses in the VS stable.

Saw it a couple of days ago. Love it. Love that it's stylish. I think that's a Tahari from Spring that she's wearing and it looks like any woman walking down the street in the city.

Actually come to think of it almost all the technology ads today, SAP, Microsoft, Verizon, Intel etc have some kind of desi scenario in it. Whether it's a guy in a rickshaw in Mumbai or a guy eating breakfast with his family in his flat in Mumbai before heading off to work or some silly sounding brown man pitching his plan for success to a bunch of CEOs or the Ramaswamy (not sure if I got that name right) family across the street getting the better wireless plan America is browning and it's lovely :-)

I'm in "agreeance" with no such nonsense. This lady is very beautiful, very appealing, unlike the underfed clotheshorses in the VS stable.

LOL, you are a better man than most, yet somehow i smell bullshit somewhere

This lady is very beautiful, very appealing, unlike the underfed clotheshorses in the VS stable.

seen the billboard, and i guess i'm the only asshole who doesn't think she's anything special?

I guess we've come a long way when we can get fairly average looking south asian women on billboards in NYC.

Obviously, personal taste is personal taste, but can I just say MY GOD the media has really warped what we find as attractive these days. I think people have spent way too much time staring at airbrushed photos of tanorexic starlets and not enough time walking around in the real world. The reason she looks "average" to some might be because SHE ACTUALLY LOOKS HUMAN. She's a pretty girl AND she looks like someone you might actually bump into on the subway.

//Rupa steps down off soapbox

i don't know the girl..
but every brownie is separated by 1.5 degrees, not two..

and

SHE ACTUALLY LOOKS HUMAN

word.
rupa, can i join you on your soap box, or is the place next to you taken?

but every brownie is separated by 1.5 degrees, not two..

How is that socially possible?

but every brownie is separated by 1.5 degrees, not two..

everyone is related by some blood relation or another.
and if you want to get seriously technical about it,
consider it a joke.

(off soap box, ducking with rupa).

$20 bucks says she is Bengali. She has that look.

You guys, that dress might look ok, but that sweater makes the whole look undeniably FUG.

Also, I am ROFLMAO thinking that Windows 97 will make someone's day so great that walking crosstown to the office will be SUCH a joy. "YAY! I get to go to work and sit in a cubefarm at a workstation loaded with Windows 97. Could life get any better!!!???"

You guys, that dress might look ok, but that sweater makes the whole look undeniably FUG.

I agree; with that dress a 3/4-sleeve jacket might have looked more chic but perhaps fug makes her more realistic. Either that or Microsoft's photo sylist is my grandma. And I am totally with you on the ridiculousness of the advertising -- I love that faraway dreamy look in her eye thinking about how Windows 07 will make all her wishes come true.

I should get a billboard for rockin' Windows 98 in '07 Howzat Billy Gates?

The whole state-based beauty system really puts me off. I don't understand the logistics of it. I've seen Gujarati girls who are prettier than Punjabi girls and vice versa. In fact, I'm a mix of individuals from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Ujjain, and Gujarat and I've gotten mistaken for everything from Bengali to Punjabi to Sri Lankan (as opposed to the places I'm actually "from"). The ONE thing I hear more often than not at the once-in-a-blue moon Indian event I attend is the whole "Muslim girls are prettier than Hindu girls." Man, if religion was a beauty cream....

Anyway, I agree with Rupa and chick pea, she is one classy looking *real* lady *remains on soap box*.

Thanks JoaT for the tip on the dress! not that Tahari is in my spring budget...

As for the sweater, anybody who's worked in any midtown office knows they break the thermostat off at 58 degrees F when they kick on the AC, so every woman in the joint, unless suffering hot flashes, will have a sweater or wrap at her desk. :)

ps: is it dating myself that I think of Madonna and not Eve, when I hear "who's that girl?"

The whole state-based beauty system really puts me off. I don't understand the logistics of it. I've seen Gujarati girls who are prettier than Punjabi girls and vice...

Nobody is disparaging anyone else here. As a half-Bungu myself, I was just rooting for her to be another Bungu. btw i think she is very pretty.

Actually come to think of it almost all the technology ads today, SAP, Microsoft, Verizon, Intel etc have some kind of desi scenario in it.

Two non-tech ads that come to mind:

AETNA billboard featuring smiley desi doc somewhere around exit 12 on NJ Turnpike
SECRET magazine ad featuring desi mom and her two daughters (her secret? She has a favorite daughter...)

The reason she looks "average" to some might be because SHE ACTUALLY LOOKS HUMAN. She's a pretty girl AND she looks like someone you might actually bump into on the subway.

Go Rupa. I'm with you. This isn't about her being attractive or unattracive but sort of cool that she's the average woman in NYC on a bill board ad and she happens to be brown. That is what the kudos is about. I think it's utther bullshit that people feel the need to point out she's average. What is the point??

ps: is it dating myself that I think of Madonna and not Eve, when I hear "who's that girl?"

DD,

absolutely..that rule is not restricted to women. Right now it is so cold in here that, as Joey puts it succinctly, "my nipples could cut glass".

Yes desidancer;) I think the lady on the billboard is really cute.

AETNA billboard featuring smiley desi doc somewhere around exit 12 on NJ Turnpike SECRET magazine ad featuring desi mom and her two daughters (her secret? She has a favorite daughter...)

Oh yeah there was a Blue Cross ad a few years ago that had a desi family and their grandma iceskating.

OH yeah and DD the sweater or wrap is a must. You'd have to be cold blooded to not have to wear a sweater in the office. Secondly that sweater looks like any average wrap someone throws on themselves during this insane weather when it's neither warm nor winter coat weather and you need a sweater. Well today you needed gloves but that's a different story. There is absolutely nothing out of place about the sweater. It lookes like it could be from Banana or Limited.

Yo Filmiholic and Sonia:

The comment about the Colombian mistress (#19)was such idiotic anglo trollery that it's pointless to try to 'correct' the Spanish in an attempt to call them out on it.

And its idiotic because... u don't get it?
Maybe the name should give you a clue. I was trying to say that the assumption here need not be true - ie, she need not be south asian. I have encountered so many south americans who look very Indian (to desi eyes, that is) and found them to be native spanish speakers.

And wth is "anglo trollery" and how is it different from regular trollery?

I have encountered so many south americans who look very Indian (to desi eyes, that is) and found them to be native spanish speakers.

I think people have a tendency to seize upon the familiar and therefore assume that someone is like them. For example, other desis and white people always seem to know I'm Indian, but South/Central Americans often speak to me in Spanish assuming I'm a native Spanish speaker. I recently had a patient who was quite obviously shocked when I said I didn't speak Spanish--I understand enough that I knew when I left the room to get an interpreter, he and his wife were having a discussion about how it was possible I didn't speak Spanish. This happens repeatedly despite the fact that I think I look pretty unmistakably Indian. It also happens to my husband who doesn't look anything like me, but looks sort of Mediterranean. Similarly I was convinced for a while that Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye and Nelly Furtado were both half Indian, and I asked my husband if he was half Indian when I first met him (he's not). So the explanation I've come up with is that people want other people to be like them, or they see primarily those features that are familiar to them.

Oh, and I agree with those who think the sweater is bleh. It's a rare cardigan that doesn't look matronly.

So the explanation I've come up with is that people want other people to be like them, or they see primarily those features that are familiar to them.

I really like that! My mom has this persistent cracked-out thought that George Clooney is half-Indian and I call it wishful-thinking. I get the same thing -- people want to talk to me in Spanish although I think I look unmistakeably Indian. I've also gotten Syrian, Greek, Italian, Brazilian, Persian and Moroccan. We do like to seek out the familiar in others, I guess. It is super-exciting to discover you have something in common with someone so I guess it's worth asking, especially in a society where you're a minority - doesn't bother me at all. A Greek patient I had on my subI kept insisting I was Greek until I told him I was Indian-American, at which point he told me that of everyone he'd ever met, I was the only one who had "a right to be here." I had no idea what he was talking about (I get a lot of really dumb comments from people so my general reaction is to smile and nod) until later I figured out he probably thought I meant "Native American."

we need a SM banner with all the bloggers on it..
now that is some real macaca-soft action.

I really like that! My mom has this persistent cracked-out thought that George Clooney is half-Indian and I call it wishful-thinking.

Maybe Clooney is Melungeon

My mother to this day insists that her tailor from India was the spitting image of Clooney. She only refers to him as Tailor, much to my amusement! As for the lady in the billboard - she does appeal to a more curvy south asian asthetic, but that does not necessarily make her a beauty in the eye of every beholder (not that that's possible). I, too, prefer 'real' women (hey, Ashwariya has back rolls and she's still hot), but I'm waiting for not just the desi next door to have this spot. We have beauties with realistic figures and more striking mugs that do roam the streets of every city we settle in. They are the girl next door, and they do have style and flare. I'd say at least 1 out of 3 of my female desi girlfriends are stunning, more so than this lady. All the same, bravo to this add campaign for projecting a healthier beauty image.

I have been confused for looking human, even though I am clearly half vulcan half klingon.

This reminds me of the old pick up like that charm's the ladies every time.

GUY: You have any Indian in you?
Girl: No!
GUY: You want some?

I keep checking Wikipedia...but George is still Irish. *sigh* Does anyone have any kind of lead as to who this girl is, though? Do modeling agencies in the US actively look for women like her? I wonder where they found her....

Coach, my assumption from the way sentences were written was that they were by someone who's been studying Spanish for a while but hasn't quite reached proficiency yet. I'd be the last one fight to the death over the Real Academia, but there's gotta be some recognizeable foundation in any language, no? The way Jorge Ramos and Moonshadow speak may be quite different, at the edges, but at the core, we get what they're saying because there's certain basics that are the same.

ella no es india, usted gente muda que ella es mi amante colombina dulce

...wouldn't anyone who's spoken Spanish in his/her home would say Uds. when adressing Sepia Mutineers, because we're a group, not Ud.? And doesn't "muda" seem like the product of someone taking the first Babelifish translation for "dumb" without looking at the meaning ("mute", not "stupid"), and also, Colombian is "colombiana", (as anyone who's ever song along with "Boricua, morena, dominicana, colombiana..." two summers ago will recognize, though o.k., maybe it's just a typo....)

And as for classist bullying, don't people correct each other on technicalities here all the time? If el/la Rompeburbujas has been offended, then I apologize, de veras.

I'm in "agreeance" with no such nonsense. This lady is very beautiful, very appealing, unlike the underfed clotheshorses in the VS stable

Kobayashi:

I want Sepia Mutiny to be a place where Victoria Secret models can feel comfortable discussing a wide range of topics without feeling put down, objectified, or devalued. A safe space.

Also, glad to hear I'm not the only racially ambiguous Indian! The number of times people have expected me to speak Spanish... And I can't say more than "hola." God forbid I ever try out my Hindi on this board - I'd be picked to shreads.

As for the young lady - I wonder if she had a "why me" moment when they chose her for the campaign, or if she was just devestatingly confident and approached it with an, "of course/it's about time" attitude.

Kobayashi: I want Sepia Mutiny to be a place where Victoria Secret models can feel comfortable discussing a wide range of topics without feeling put down, objectified, or devalued. A safe space.

You're right. It was a regretable comment. If there are any Victoria's Secret models reading, I'd be happy to make it up to them.

Desishiksa, had a interesting flip on that situation in college.

Met up with a girlfriend in the cafeteria, where we claimed a table in anticipation of the rest of our friends joining us shortly. Along comes this guy, who we assumed was Indian, and he had the audacity to plunk himself down at "our" table. The two of us then commenced to complain to each other about him, in Spanish (what we had been speaking before he ever arrived), and of course, we were mortified when he finished his tea, got up to leave and said "Nos vemos" in perfectly accented Spanish, leaving us blushing and embarassed. Later, I got to know him, and it turned out he was.............. Peruvian.

And yes, I learned my lesson about not talking about those around you, in their presence.

Much better to wait until they've left! ;-)

aim that shit at Office 2007, which has brought me (and everyone else in my office) nothing but pain. Soooo not intuitive

I'll bite. Can you please tell me what you hate so much about it? I'm just curious. Whats the most unintuitive thing about Office 2007?

Anyone? Or is it just hip to hate Microsoft?

It's hip to love free software. I use OpenOffice.

#78 ShallowThinker..LMAO..I am so gonna use it someday

As for the current discussion..I hereby call her sUi8bLeGrrL2..I think the only person who can find who she is is my MOM..she found everybody else to hook me up wit.

Never underestimate a Mummeeee in search for a "homely" indian bride

What ever happened to the quest to find her identity? I'm surprised no one has the answer so far.

Free software is cool. Glad it works for you.

The reason she looks "average" to some might be because SHE ACTUALLY LOOKS HUMAN. She's a pretty girl AND she looks like someone you might actually bump into on the subway.

That woman looks hot to me. Am I the only straight guy who thinks fashion models appear somewhat freakish? I work in the fashion district in NYC and occasionally see unbearably skinny, tall model chicks with disproportionately large heads strolling down 7th Ave--they look like aliens. I can't figure out how this became the standardized ideal of beauty in the fashion world, it seems to contradict everything I've read about how body shape (as an indication of fertility) correlates to how attracted males are to a woman. I think I read something once about how the hip/waist ratio as a signifier of fertility/attractiveness cut across many, if not all, ethnic groups.

That woman looks hot to me.

i heard that. but you wanna stop drinking that haterade?

Am I the only straight guy who thinks fashion models appear somewhat freakish? I work in the fashion district in NYC and occasionally see unbearably skinny, tall model chicks with disproportionately large heads strolling down 7th Ave--they look like aliens.

I think she is pretty, and by that I mean average. Someone made a comment that South Indians only care about skin color and don't care about features. That hasn't been my experience at all. The person who made that comment - I'm curious, are you South Indian by any chance?

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope!

ShalowThinker...that iz phunny.. I am sooo going to use it, even if it results in bodily injury caused by 4 inch heels :)

I am pretty dark but I've rarely felt unattractive among Indians. My experience has been in Kerala, that even though fair skin color is prized, my family is very concerned about features and I can't say one goes above the other. Include that with money, education, family status and caste/religion (for some).

I'm not sure if this impression comes from caring relatives or friends of the family who'd never want to disparage me by negatively commenting on my skin color - whatever the reason I've always grown up with people (indians) saying they think I'm pretty. And I have heard from other Indians who were dark, that were treated badly b/c of their skin color - even treated badly by their family. I think Amma, the Kerala hugging guru, was treated like an outcaste by her family b/c she was dark. On the other hand I've heard punjabis say to me that punjabis are obsessed with skin color and they look at that above everything.

Regardless, I think that generalization of South India doesn't hold.

desi cheapos and office 2k7? doesn't go together. will be a perfect match in open office ad.

desi cheapos and office 2k7? doesn't go together. will be a perfect match in open office ad.
What's wrong with OpenOffice? And what exactly does Office 2007 have to offer anyway? Groove? Shared Excel workspaces? Or, OMG, that new GUI. IMHO, it is a good way to waste money.

What ever happened to the quest to find her identity? I'm surprised no one has the answer so far.

maybe, just maybe she is not desi after all...

Filmi,

I hear you on the language tip, which is why I said anglo trolling, the way an anglo might sound when posing as latino to troll, but could also be a Latino who grew up speaking Nuyorican Spanglish in the inner city and without much written Spanish experience, like myself. Lots of supposed poor grammar in there. (And the 'you dumb people' is certainly inflammatory like a troll, no? The smug 'how do you know she's desi?' undertone reeks of a troll trying to turn an Anna thread, as so often happens here.)

I agree with you on the muda point and who the hell says columbina? Still, if language is going to be corrected, who is the corrector and by what authority? Who decides the foundation? Why is it that the way Spanish should be spoken is according to the upper class descendants of the colonizers? I get my Spanish and English corrected all the time and get told I sound 'too ghetto, too street, uneducated, too black, etc' both in Spanish and English. It gets irritating. This is a running debate in many Latino communities, and that's why I linked to LatinaLista's fine blogging about it.

I don't see too much correction of English on this blog, only numbers and stats/demographics. I hear you on your reasoning, and I know I can get insane about this issue.

If you want to discuss it further, my blog and email are available. ANNA likes to keep a thread on topic and outta respect-well, you know...

Still, if language is going to be corrected, who is the corrector and by what authority? Who decides the foundation? Why is it that the way Spanish should be spoken is according to the upper class descendants of the colonizers?

I'm totally with this, that kind of behavior reeks of classism. Language is about the conveyance of ideas. Grammar too often devolves into the arbitrary imposition of irrelevant "rules" to that communication (and yes, I realize that some grammar is necessary for effective communication). Preach!

I work in the fashion district in NYC and occasionally see unbearably skinny, tall model chicks with disproportionately large heads strolling down 7th Ave--they look like aliens.

I hear you on that. I see so many of them in my building. Little girls, some of them have to be accompanied by parents because they are 16 or 17 years old and they look so emaciated and scary.

I think I read something once about how the hip/waist ratio as a signifier of fertility/attractiveness cut across many, if not all, ethnic groups.

Paging Dr Tripathi. He's the authority on the hip/waist/fertility ratio.

True story. I'm interviewing at UC San Diego. One of the other applicants, Vamsi, mentions that she is from Pittsburgh.

"Oh my fiance (now wife and Asha's mom) is from Pittsburgh. You don't know Kavitha do you?"

"We took dance together for 10 years."

She later mentions that she attended Wash U in St Louis for undergrand. So I casually mention if she knew Indhu, the only desi I knew that went to Wash U and also happened to be my chief resident.

"Oh my god. I knew Indhu from Pittsburgh and we had a lot of the same classes"

So the 6 degrees of Desi Kevin Bacon does hold some water.

It is a nice dress by the way.

All of youz r 2 young to remember Marlo Thomas walking through the city in the tv classic "That Girl." This chick looks just like a brown Marlo, so the title of your post is deep. Theme song lyrics:

Diamonds, Daisies, Snowflakes,
That Girl
Chestnuts, Rainbows, Springtime...
Is That Girl
She's tinsel on a tree...
She's everything that every girl should be!

Sable, Popcorn, White Wine,
That Girl
Gingham, Bluebirds, Broadway...
Is That Girl
She's mine alone, but luckily for you...
If you find a girl to love,
Only one girl to love,
Then she'll be That Girl too...
That Girl!

That and I truly believe that every brown person in Amreeka is two degrees apart

Heh. I believe it, and now I'm sorely tempted to go and try out the hypothesis on every desi person I know. If I end up with a statistically significant sample, I'll let you know if you're right or not! :)

Nice dress on the girl in the picture. Designer?

asha's dad: you interviewed for a faculty position?

i don't get the ad at all. but the girl is cute. and detachedly curious if that is possible.

I have encountered so many south americans who look very Indian (to desi eyes, that is) and found them to be native spanish speakers.

My best friend is Mexican-American but looks very Indian. Whereas I don't look very Indian at all...
It's become a running joke every time we're introduced to strangers. Every now and then someone will chuckle when they hear our names, assuming we're having a little fun at their expense...

As far as the billboard goes... why does she have to walk across town to use the new nifty keen Microsoft stuff? Sneakernet is so 1980's...

Anna, please check if it is Roopa Unnikrishnan and end the hoopla. Looks like her and she lives in NY too.

So no one knows who she is, eh? :) I'm kinda surprised. Maybe she ISN'T brown after all.

::

I'll bite. Can you please tell me what you hate so much about it? I'm just curious. Whats the most unintuitive thing about Office 2007?

Anyone? Or is it just hip to hate Microsoft?

We switched to Office 2007 a week or so ago and every day I discover something new which is suddenly screwy thanks to the change. Yesterday, I found out that one of our databases was acting very weird; editing records was suddenly impossible, since it would erase, not edit whatever I was working on...not that I can get in to specifics. Of course, I have to "enable" content in order to even GET to said db, which adds an extra two steps to something which used to be rather mindless.

Beyond that, in Word or Excel, the new toolbars/GUI are pretty but useless. I'm constantly going, "wait...where's format painter again?" or similar. Worse, when I tried to do a simple word count, it took me 15 minutes to find something I used to be able to discover via "properties". It's just not logical. Everything requires extra clicks to do...and nothing is where I or my coworkers would expect to find it. I'm not trying to be hip, alternative, contrarian or all Pitchforkian-holier-than-thou; though I adore my Mac so much, my exbf was jealous of it, I swear my issues with Office oh-heavens-no are genuine.

Anna, please check if it is Roopa Unnikrishnan and end the hoopla. Looks like her and she lives in NY too.

It is not Roopa chechi. If you don't want to play along in the "Are we less than 2 degrees apart?!"-desi game, fine, but don't accuse me of "hoopla" or make inane allegations-- our billboard babe looks NOTHING like Roopa Unnikrishnan.

Also, it matters not where a model lives; what on earth made you think she has to be local??

what on earth made you think she has to be local??

My two cents on this - if she is in fact desi, and is a model at all - she might be a model who works mainly in the desh, and that might make it difficult, even with the fantastic site stats here at SM, to positively ID her. One more reason I would think she's in the desh is her hairstyle - don't know if anyone brought that up, but it looks very desi-from-the-desh to me. And I think the street scene she is superposed on is in Europe, judging by the looks of the dudes behind her.

Anyone? Or is it just hip to hate Microsoft?
The GUI now comes with "ribbons" instead of toolbars (check out Anna's comments (#108) on the GUI). Functionality wise, the major additions have been to support XML (XML-based file formats for documents and spreadsheets) and for collaborative work (Sharepoint Server 2007 and Groove). You can check out this review of the new suite from PCWorld, which found it to be a worthwhile upgrade. The collaboration features sound pretty cool (assuming your definition of cool includes being able to manage data in a corporate or small-business setting :)), but I believe that's pretty much it.

If you are a home user, I think your current Office software probably already supports all the features you need.

And I think the street scene she is superposed on is in Europe, judging by the looks of the dudes behind her.

But it looks like there are yellow NYC-style taxis in the picture. The street lights do look sort of European.

Maybe the name should give you a clue. I was trying to say that the assumption here need not be true - ie, she need not be south asian. I have encountered so many south americans who look very Indian (to desi eyes, that is) and found them to be native spanish speakers.

It works both ways. I studied abroad in Peru and was assumed to be mestiza when I was in Lima and an indigenous Quechua-speaker when I was in Cusco. My good friend is Mexican (and I'm Punjabi) and people are always asking if we're sisters, that's how alike we look. The belief that South Asians or Mexicans or Peruvians or whoever should "look" a certain way is pretty flawed.

39 · coach diesel on April 11, 2007 09:59 AM · Direct link

Yo Filmiholic and Sonia:

The comment about the Colombian mistress (#19)was such idiotic anglo trollery that it's pointless to try to 'correct' the Spanish in an attempt to call them out on it.

I know you probably don't mean it like it sounds, but it's considered a form of classist bullying to correct someone's Spanish when you aren't an elder (abuela, tio, etc.) to them. Just a little FYI for your real world interactions. :)

Many of us 3rd genr latinos speak Spanish differently than our grandparents. Sometimes we make errors in grammar, merging urban street slang English, Yoruba or Creole into our Spanish.I have been known to mix it up with some Arabic too.

Hey, my English (as exhibited here) isn't all that great. Language evolves though, and no matter how many professoras contend that we must 'preserve' the classical Spanish, whatever that is, it continues to be a tool that some of us see as improvable in our own way.

I just couldn't keep my mouth shut, even if it was about a response to a troll.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread re: the beauty on the billboard.
I like her serene, madonna smile.

When I made that correction, I had no idea who the original poster was. I don't know if it was a South Asian or a Latino/a or a first-gen or a third-gen or a whitey who has studied Spanish or whatever. I just saw it written, noticed it didn't make sense, and added in what I thought was missing when I commented. I was not trying to make any commentary about the Spanish abilities of whoever posted it - I honestly do not care. I've had enough "real-world interactions" to know that no one should be judged according to their grasp of a particular language.

heyy! I know Roopa - she was a year junior to me at Good Shepherd School in Madras. Represented India at the Asian Games in Rifle, or whatever it is they called.

Nice!

Diesel, Sonia, and Filmi,

Diesel was right when he pegged bubblebuster (I prefer to think of him as "rompeculo") as an Anglo troll. If Rompeculo has studied Spanish at all, it is only at the most basic level, as shown by his syntax. It looks suspiciously like something vomited out by one of those cheap translation programs. Both of you caught him on the syntax, so "right on yer", as the Aussies would say. (Oye, Diesel, somos todos hijos de los conquistadores, a pesar del mito inventado por nuestros nacionalistas-romanticos que somos hijos de tainos. Como ya te apuntaste, las personas mayores tenemos derecho de criticar. Siendo su servidor de epigrafe un viejo, ademas de ser graduado de la "Inter" en San german (1974) y la "UPR" (1977), considero que tengo derecho).

Speaking of Latin America, it's worth noting that Panama has had a respectable Indian (both Hindu and Muslim, as well as some Sikh) community ever since the digging of the Canal. Needless to say, there are some very attractive Indian-Panamanians.

It is simple. she is the Sexxy5@biPrinc3ss.

Speaking of Latin America, it's worth noting that Panama has had a respectable Indian (both Hindu and Muslim, as well as some Sikh) community ever since the digging of the Canal. Needless to say, there are some very attractive Indian-Panamanians.

Very true. A lot of people don't realize that there has been a lot of migration to Latin America, making it even more diverse in addition to the Europeans, indigenous, African, and mixed populations from the colonial age. There are huge Asian and Arab populations throughout the region. My Spanish professor is a Korean who was born in Bolivia and raised in Chili.

"Regardless, I think that generalization of South India doesn't hold."

I don't know, I've found that generalization to be mostly true... I find less than half the cover models of the various Tamil magazines (vikatan, etc.) moderately attractive, and one thing that is common amongst all the cover models are their light skin. However, I know plenty of better-looking tamil girls out there, but I suppose they do not have the requisite skin tone to be considered for magazines/tv-shows...

What part of the following do some of you NOT understand?

Can we have a thread that doesn't devolve in to retarded commentary regarding weight and skin color? PLEASE?

Further comments about skin color will be deleted with prejudice. Do you know who the model is? If so, comment. Do you have something worthwhile to say? Comment. Are you just gagging for a discussion on colorism? DO NOT COMMENT.

The model does bear some resemblance to Roopa U, and that's a compliment to both women (but that's not her in the ad).

Of course, I have to "enable" content in order to even GET to said db

Are you referring to the security alert? You can disable those if they're annoying
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA100806061033.aspx

Beyond that, in Word or Excel, the new toolbars/GUI are pretty but useless

Theres definitely a learning curve, but I think its worth it. Its like getting used to T9 on your mobile - its hard at first, but you develop speed very quickly.Did you notice you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse to slide the ribbon? I guess you wouldn't if your mouse doesn't have a scroll wheel but..

ms word 2007 ate my homework today. helll-oo-o why is there no ama citations style option in this new doohicky??!? am i just part of the citing underclass? doth ama citation-ists not bleed?

i had to revert back to word 2003 by the evening and start from scratch. watevz...

I don't like the ablist pejorative employed in the post.

In fact, there appears to be some filter that prevented me from even typing out the actual word with quotation marks around it.

ret_rded?

You know, generally I cringe when I see it, but for some reason I didn't notice it in that sentence until you pointed it out. Probably because I was focusing on the sentiment of the rest of the sentence, with which I agreed vehemently.

It goes to show how the issues with which one is most primarily concerned can determine what one picks up and what one filters out.

I agree with you, Boris.

Boris, why do you people have to politicize everything? jk :) That was actually my first reaction when I finished reading the post.

...but, you know, I believe in a hierarchy of oppression and all, and I'm already a hypersensitive commie for calling out racism, classism, sexism and heteronormativity in everything, so I told them ret*rds that the gays are getting too powerful for us to say "that's gay" so we have to say "that's ret*rded". I mean, what are they gonna do, write a letter? baha!

.

Bad sarcasm aside, if you were serious in your complaint, I'll go out on a limb (cuz I'm fully abled!) and say that Anna is considerate enough to not have used the term "ret*rded" if she recognized it in the way that you and I do. Still, it's a point to be taken :)

(wow, the filter thingy really doesn't let you say ret*ard!)

Wow, I sounded like an asshole in my last comment. (It's late and I'm getting inane.) My point: let's avoid ablism. Good night all :)

lirelou
No romanticization here-my grandfather's mother was from Spain-I'm just saying that correcting language, even in the event of trollery could be construed as rudely classist and you don't have to be a Taino to sympathize with that. It's not really even a new idea. But who the hell am I to scold anybody about it either? We can talk about it more if you like, but not on this thread

We can talk about it more if you like, but not on this thread

...and the award for staying on-topic goes toooooo

COACH DIESEL!

Coach, we heart you. :)

Gracias SM Intern/Anna. I know how you like to keep a thread neat;)
Besos.

this chick is average looking. she is not of model status and does indian girls injustice; since it is a rare occasion they are actually featured, a good one should get the call.

in a dec 2006 sports illustrated (vince young cover) there was a devastatingly hot indian girl in the kool cigarette ad. i stared at the ad for an hour the first time i saw it. perhaps i missed that thread, but if anyone knows her name please post.

this chick is average looking. she is not of model status and does indian girls injustice; since it is a rare occasion they are actually featured, a good one should get the call.

I respectfully disagree with this point of view. To say that someone, because she is average looking, "does indian girls injustice" is rather harsh. It's saying that if someone is to represent us, then only certain (elitist-looking) people can. What gives her the authority to represent all "indian girls," as you put it? There is so much diversity and complexity within the community, so why should only "a good one" get the call? What makes her not "a good one"? I'm super tired so I'm not articulating my thoughts well, but hopefully ya'll get the point. What is your criteria for a "good one" who WOULD do us "justice"?

I noticed in 1968-69 Vietnam that Indian films were quite popular. Part of the reason was that the Vietnamese consider Indian faces, particularly the eyes, to be quite beautiful. Many Vietnamese singing and screen stars had large, almond eyes, sometimes naturally so, sometimes surgically assisted. Weterners often scorned the latter as "trying to ape westerners" but were ignorant of the fact that Indian films and beauty stars were the model, not Westerner ones. Later, I married a Vietnamese, and so return there occasionally to visit in-laws. Bollywood films still (often from pirated DVDs) still find a large audience, and Vietnamese continue to envy the expressive eyes that are a trademark of Indian beauty in both males and females. My wife has an uncle who never misses a Bollywood film. Of course, Central Vietnam was taken from the Cham Empire, a series of Hindu states, in the fifteenth through sixteenth centuries (with some holdouts as late as 1820), and the Mekong Delta was taken from the Cambodians back when they were dropping the Hindu faith in favor of Buddhism. (Thus the French term "Indochina") Even the Vietnamese national dress, the Ao Dai (pronounced Ai Yai in the south/central, Ao Zai in the north) looks very much like an Indian dress (pants and tunic) with Chinese touches. Within the Delta, some Indian goddesses have been incorporated into the local Buddhism, and the Can Tho city museum has a few Hindu gods and goddesses from the Cambodian period on display. Unfortunately, as they were carved from wood, they are not well preserved, but I credit the local authorities with at least showing people that Can Tho was once an outpost of Indian civilization.

Microsoft used Flickr to hire amateur photgraphers for some of its Vista Desktop Wallpapers. Who knows may be this was also from an amateur street photographer.

Vanity Fair went an awful lot of trouble to find the photographer and the subject location of one of Microsoft Vista's wallpapers. Despite having contacts in the media industry, it was a needle in a haystack situation for them too. Wonder if this mystery will ever be solved.

dear sonia,

the girl from the kool cigarette i spoke of would definitely do all indian girls (and boys, no doubt) a lot of justice. models ALWAYS represent the beauty of their ethnicity, even moreso than the product they are selling. i don't remember one occasion when on the thousands of occasions i have been appreciating female beauty at its height (ie viewing models) and not wondered where she is from. the bottom line is that when americans think of indian girls they do not automoatically correlate them with hotness, and to me that is wrong since proportionately there are just as many hot indian girls as other brown girls (brasilian, latin). sonia, you sound like someone who would say "why is it so important to be hot?" the answer is very long and complicated. the short one is that it just is. sorry.

Sonia #113

It works both ways. I studied abroad in Peru and was assumed to be mestiza when I was in Lima and an indigenous Quechua-speaker when I was in Cusco. My good friend is Mexican (and I'm Punjabi) and people are always asking if we're sisters, that's how alike we look. The belief that South Asians or Mexicans or Peruvians or whoever should "look" a certain way is pretty flawed

That's so funny what people thought you were. It has happened to me in central america as well, and my very Indian dad has been accosted numerous times by people trying to speak Spanish to him, and he looks really "Indian" to me. Lots of people also think I'm Russian, because of my brown hair and my international first name, which is actually Indian but homonyms of it are found it every country. I get a lot of the "you don't look Indian" treatment from people (less common in desis though) and even met a lady who I think was Bengali who said she herself didn't look Indian (??) When I ask those people what typical Indian features are, they can't answer!

The poster girl is pretty though. I don't have any idea who she would be, but she has a look reminiscent of Priety Zinhta (sp?)

Actually come to think of it almost all the technology ads today, SAP, Microsoft, Verizon, Intel etc have some kind of desi scenario in it.
Two non-tech ads that come to mind:

AETNA billboard featuring smiley desi doc somewhere around exit 12 on NJ Turnpike
SECRET magazine ad featuring desi mom and her two daughters (her secret? She has a favorite daughter...)

Dear Zen,
Actually the ad around NJ Turnpike featuring the smiley doc is not of Aetna but if Horizon BCBS of NJ.

Hii..The poster girl is pretty though, may be this was from an amateur street photographer.

Love that blue dress !!!!

Her name is Saima. I know her.