I'm leaving on a jet plane...

for two weeks in Thailand! Just a heads-up to all of my adoring blog-fans (both of you)... expect radio silence until the week of 5/21. Stories promised upon my return!

A thousand words...

Now this photo may just look like two dogs sniffing each other's butt... and yet it illustrates volumes about life here. I took this shot at a very fancy house party last weekend. The dog on the left is an extremely expensive, pampered and purebred Dalmation, whose life is cradled in luxury. The dog on the right is the poor, homeless and starved mutt of a street dog (he comes around whenever there's a party because he knows there will be better scraps in the trash afterward). And the white line in the photo is the solid steel gate that divides their worlds...

You can tell which was my favorite (he was a super nice dog, and even had this little doggy smile). I think I got pretty far in convincing the owner's wife that all he needed was a bath and some shots and then the dogs could be best friends.

My favorite childhood superhero is coming to India!

"Dressed in a flowing dhoti, or a sarong, pointy shoes and a familiar red mask, he will swing between three-wheeled auto rickshaws and scooters down crowded Indian streets to take on the evil Rakshasa, or demon.

Creators of India's Spider-Man, who is called Pavitr Prabhakar, hope he will soon be as well-loved as the original one, Peter Parker.

Like Parker, Prabhakar is an orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle in Bombay, India's answer to New York City.

And like many residents of India's film capital, he dreams of becoming a movie star. The source of his powers is a yogi, or an ascetic, not a radioactive spider, and his enemy is a business tycoon who turns into a rakshasa, or demon, with a magic amulet." Full article.

Hmmm. Okay, I was all on board until the "dreams of becoming a movie star" quip and bit about where he doesn't get bitten by a spider... I mean I'm all for local adaptation, but no spider?! Sacrilege! :-)

I took a look at the sample sketches, and this new Spiderman is of a noticably smaller build. But I think the costume actually looks pretty cool... yay for cross-culturalism!