September 04, 2007
Sam Arora is the anti-Sanjaya...TV
…and he shall redeem us, Amreeka.
As many of you may recall from the “Aviyal” post, I am fascinated by Facebook, and once again, I must insist that it’s not for the usual reasons (though I do enjoy throwing sheep at several of you). No, when I’m not discovering groups which specifically support inter-religious, inter-regional desi relationships, I’m reading this about Giuliani or planning to restock my iPod with these choons. I’m also discovering potential reality TV stars, via my News “feed”:
The show that Sam is auditioning for is called Tontine (Achtung! Pseudo-mystical yodeling awaits you, if you click that link…and you wonder why I went with wiki…wiki is silent AND it lets me copy text…take that official site!):
A combination of Survivor and The Amazing Race, Tontine follows 15 contestants as they travel to all seven continents and contend for the $10 million prize. Contestants each begin with a key, the final contestant who posses all 15 keys unlocks the prize. The show is hosted by “Boston Rob” Mariano, who was a contestant on both Survivor and The Amazing Race before signing on for Tontine. [wiki]
Doesn’t that sound like something our Abhi should have done? :D
Here’s what the show’s casting director wrote in an email to Sam (and perhaps a few others):
I’m excited that for this show, I’m going to have the public helping me choose some of 15 contestants selected for Tontine! So, if you’ve been asked to submit a personal video to YouTube, that means that we like you and want to get to know you better, while giving you the opportunity to demonstrate to us that the public likes you too.
Go Sam! I thought he was just randomly auditioning; I didn’t realize he’d survived a “first cull” and been asked to participate in a nearly-impossible popularity contest. ;) Hmmm…maybe I’m being harsh about that last part.
The focus of the contest seems to be on the video’s ratings and comments, so you’d be helping me out by leaving them. You may need to register to do that, but it only takes 30 seconds. [link]
Nope, YouTube popularity contest it is. Well, for those of you who want to see more brownz on the teevee…we can either wait for everyone to get roles as terrorists/cabbies/cornershop staff or we can stuff the ballot box and invade Hollywood via reality television. Which would you rather do? Check yes or no and pass it back.
Samir’s story is cute:
Somehow, I’ve found myself somewhere in the second round of the casting process for a new network reality show called Tontine. By chance I stumbled upon their casting setup in NYC when I visited in June. After I told the casting director, Tad, that the premise of the show was morally ambigious (he told me the goal may be to win a kitty comprised of the contestants’ bank accounts) and that I wasn’t sure that I was comfortable with it, he told me that he hadn’t heard that from anyone before and that he thought I’d go to the next round. Irony. [link]
Oh, that alone got my vote. Good luck, Sam. And if you don’t win this thing, save your energy for a bigger challenge— run for office. I’ll vote for you (and blog about you) then, too.
anna on September 4, 2007 11:23 PM in TV · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
i can't wait 'til puli comments on the height of this guy
oh and i mean that in a totally joking way.
aside.... i really really hate reality tv and refuse to watch any of it. more brown faces being on there doesn't make a difference to me. i prefer my drama to be fake and less pathetic.
Why do you think I posted it? ;)
i was just watching this over and noticed that sexyback is playing during the part where he talks about his parents and the importance of getting a good yeducation. heh.
Quick Question
Was the cameo from his girlfriend:
a) Simply unnecessary?
b) Comic Relief?
c) Unnecessary comic relief?
Wow! it's a real honor to be blogged on a blog I read and love!
Oddly, I got about 350 hits overnight, of which a large number "rated" me negatively (whereas nearly all the ratings I got yesterday were positive). Man, those internets are something...
im not THAT obsessed. it was just a casual observation on my part.
although...being on TV does help overcome the height issue.
...and $10m DEFINITELY overcomes the height issue. all of a sudden grls will notice how nice his eyes are and shit.
good luck, sam!
All of a sudden even Puli will notice how nice his eyes are and shit.
not for all the tea in china....or the chai in darjeeling.....
Puli, are you saying you're eye-ist?
im just saying that im straight. im open minded, but not THAT open minded...
im a 0 on the Kinsey Scale. no more exciting than that.
i dont think a nice "repressed" boy such as myself would ever venture into higher kinsey scale values.
but why is it even THAT open-minded? i mean, i'll say when a woman is hot, has a nice figure, has great eyes etc and it has nothing to do with my sexual attraction to her. you wouldn't say the same about other men? e.g. when i mention that some guy is hot, or point out some specifically nice features - almost every single one of my guy friends becomes defensive or has to insult the guy in some way. gentlemen, can you please explain the rationale to me?
ah. im not saying i am incapable of pointing out an attractive guy. im just saying i wouldnt think the guy is hot.
that line in the context of this discussion sounded like, i would get all googly eyed about the guy cause he has a lot of vig. i said "not for all the tea in china". i.e. all the money in the world couldnt turn me gay.
the guy gets defensive needing to feel attractive himself. the same way every grl gets catty when a really pretty grl walks into the room.
sounds like your guy friends at some subconcious (or concious) level want you.
i would find that plausible with some of the guy friends, but certainly not with all who made such statements. maybe it's a 'you should want me even though i would not want you' thing?
no. i dont mind complimenting. a compliment isnt what i meant by the grl "noticing how great his eyes are" after him earning $10m. im talking about attraction.
im not claiming its always true. just largely true. these things hold true most of the time. not ALL the time.
guys want to feel attractive. especially feel that the pretty grls around them find them attractive. if they (at absolutely no level) found you appealing, they wouldnt be concerned with what you say about other guys looks. the fact that they care means that (at some level) they find you sexually appealing.
now i feel like the drty, messed up, i-banker version of dr. phil.
re #24 - maybe - but i'm not a jealous type when it comes to such things, so i guess it's difficult to see how it makes sense. but i guess it doesn't need to make sense - it just is :)
puli speaking in southern drawl confidently while looking into AK's eyes "now....how IS that workin' for YOU?"
im not even saying that this is an explicit concious process. im just saying that its true "at some level" deep inside. i think people are petty inside. everyone.
Go Sam! Nice to see another accomplished and motivated Indian reprezent.
puli and ak sitting in a tree, k-i------
Get a room you two. or a tree.
you just gave me horific flashbacks to the first grade. the only think worse than having "kuties" was being accused of having "kuties". and everyone knows, you get "kuties" by hanging out with grls. not that i had any precise clue as to what a "kutie" was at the time, although i knew i didnt want the crowd to point at me.
Mystical yodeling...I can't wait!
The funniest bit in Sam's video is his microphone adjustment(or lack of) at the comedy club. Brilliant!
Puli, it's cooties! "Kuties" is like cuties...you want those.
I had no idea that cooties was a fictional disease. I always thought it was mono and was surprised that American kids were so well versed in STDs from elementary school!
i believe cooties = lice. don't want those either.
yes, this is true. thats why im on SM all the time.
its more than a fictional disease. its a tool of oppression by the 6 year old Ochlocracy.
I thought "cooties" were lice? Not to be confused, of course, with "the clap" :)
Puli, I don't really buy the "it makes guys feel less attractive about themselves" rationale... I always thought it was because we're socialized to find it acceptable for a woman to say another woman is hot, whereas for some reason (guys) acknowledging male beauty is thought to undermine masculinity, and by extension, to indicate homosexuality.
For the record, I think one can be totally straight and find someone of the same gender attractive. Isn't it strange that the initial reaction is to reassert hetereosexuality?
what im talking about isnt "acknowledging male beauty" im taking about actually wanting another guy. i have no issues talking about a guys beauty without having my sexuality undermined. im just not increasing my kinsey scale rating.
but puli, the comment that ardy made was you noticing (not even admiring) sam's nice eyes - which you seemed to be interpreting as an implication of being gay.
but the context of that comment was that I was saying that "the money will compensate for the height factor. all of a sidden, grls will start noticing his nice eyes, etc". what i meant by that, again, this was in the contex of my prior comments(sorry if this wasnt obvious) was that:
1.) girls are largely interested in the tallest richest guy they can nab.
2.) if your short, your invisible. You can compensate for being short by making boat loads of dough.
3.) if the guy has $10m, girls would all of a sudden start "noticing" the guys "nice eyes".
4,) what i meant by this isnt that the guys eyes are nice. I mean, girls will want to hook up with the guy despite his shortness given that he now has $10m. In order to convince themselves that they are not being shallow, they will then say things like "he has such nice eyes". His eyes didnt improve when he got the dough. They just started "noticing" them.
5.) Ardy then said that "I would start to notice his nice eyes and shit"
6.) I responded with "not for all the tea in china". in other words. it doesnt matter to me how much dough he has, im not hooking up with a guy (not that there is anything wrong with homosexuality. its just outside my nature).
well, he was tapping his foot
short version of pulli #40
Greeeat. It's like SM jinxes any desi who is on a reality show, who depends on votes from the public. Thanks, people! Way to rally, there. ;)
ak, any time. My martyr complex also results in verbal diarrhea ;)
Puli, I think Ardy was just joking but not necessarily trying to insinuate that you would be attracted to Sam.
At any rate, good luck to Sam. The vid was funny and made me smile.
How come there have been no post's on Pradeep, from "The Pick Up Artist" on VH1?
I think he is in the final 3 and can you imagine a Indian guy winning a show based on how many women you seduce?
Because that douchebag "mystery" annoys me so much, I now have a cracked television set, from hurling my remote at it. What. the. fuck. Take that stupid hat off and stop acting like your shit smells like the Aqua di Gio you predictably marinate in. GAH.
The Indian kid/contestant is adorable though. I'm sad that he's being ruined by such a &%$@*%$#?. I'd totally corrupt him.
Aristotle Onassis and this vertically challenged guy are good examples of that.
Plus he wears guyliner and does magic tricks. Argh and double GAH!
India WIN the 6th ODI chasing 317 runs in 300 balls with 2 balls to spare!! YESSSSSS. Wow!!
(sorry about the irrelevant post where else can I be this happy!:)
So including Uthappa pays off. Nice.
Try UberDesi. :) They're covering it.
Damnit. Should have hit refresh. Oh vell.
ANNA said:
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That guy is an utter and complete TOOL.
i did try to watch ANTM, but i'm not that interested in whatever this particular program shows about the modelling industry or in tyra's egomania. i also watched a few episodes of flavor of love but then i realized i was just contributing to such stupidity being on tv in the first place, plus i didn't find it THAT entertaining. i guess if you count the stuff on HDTV like Divine Design, Clean Sweep, etc. I technically do watch reality tv. but the competitive reality shows (like Trading Spaces) generally bore me. oh and i watch my super sweet 16 if i'm bored and it's on tv, or those ridiculous mtv dating shows like Next. i never actually make a point of setting aside time to watch a reality show like i do for scripted dramas that i'm interested in though (like Lost).
what makes you say you're repressed??
RE: guys
heh, i was just talking about this with my brother! he brought up how he thinks a certain female celebrity is hot and got all defensive when i said i don't see it, so i went through a list of both hollywood and bollywood, male and female celebrities and asked him if he thought they were good-looking or not (though good-looking is admittedly different from hot). we really only agree on christian bale and clive owen being attractive.
...what, this isn't how you spend YOUR quality family time??
i have fairly conservative life habits...
i do too actually, but i think there's a difference between refraining from certain things and being 'repressed'
how much vanity does it take to do something like this?
also, i dont doubt his sincerity in believing he's working for positive change, but self-promotion + morally sentimentalist 'do-gooder' is a generally a really uncomfortable combination.
how does one promote his own humility?
On topic, people...and by that I don't mean insults to either him or his girlfriend.
sonu sez:
I'm sorry you feel that way, but given that pretty much everyone who gets into politics has to be a self-promoter to at least some extent, and that many people who get into politics do so in the hope of affecting positive change, this combination isn't that rare. That's the combination I saw when I saw Sam's YouTube clip.
I also get the sense that you missed out on the humor of the whole thing -- you know, like much of his talking about politics is set to "SexyBack."
P.S. to #59. I guess I should add that I'm not one who thinks poorly of all politicians, and certainly don't think that combining a desire to do good with a certain amount of self-promotion, as Sam appears to be doing, is a bad thing at all.
I don't know if it's fair to say Sam is self-serving. I don't know the guy, so I have no clue, but he's pretty up front about saying that he's Type A (and by extension, a bit extreme) but also committed to the public good. I think politics tends to draw people with both those characteristics, although it also seems to draw in a lot of dynastic, ne'er do well lazy types as well. At any rate, don't hate the player, hate the game :)
It is silly to assume that someone is not a good person just because they self-promote. The more reach Sam has, the more good he can do. So if he truly wants to help people, he would be preventing himself from doing so if he were too humble.
Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy both had big egos. If they didn't, they couldn't have possibly believed that they deserved the power they attained (which they needed to do to attain it).
The notion of an artist needing to starve to be an artist is false. Just as the notion of a charity worker needing to toil in obscurity is false.