Arun Venugopal

As a native of Houston, it's always fun to watch hometown politics from afar, especially when it becomes intertwined with New York politics. Here's an interesting AP story [run on a Beaumont news site] on how Houston's former mayor, and current gubernatorial candidate Bill White, is struggling to distance himself from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group Mayor Bloomberg founded.

Last week, the Queens D.A. sent out a release about the conviction of 18-year-old Harpreet Singh, of Maspeth. The conviction followed a seriously disturbing incident: Singh had gotten in touch with a 16-year-old girl on MySpace, at first asking her for head-and-shoulder photos of herself, then asking her to send progressively more revealing images, including, finally, shots of herself nude.

Eventually (on June 23, 2008), Singh started blackmailing the girl, saying he'd post the nude photos online and send them to his friends if she refused to have sex with him. She agreed to his demand, and the next day, when she arrived at the home of his friends, he raped her, after which his friends -- Norman Gondal, Anjam Shahzad, Vikgram Singh and an unnamed juvenile -- took turns with her.

"That afternoon," the press release reads, "the girl returned home distraught and, locking herself in the bathroom, ingested medicine. She then attempted to tie a cord around her neck. Fortunately, her mother arrived home and called 911."

The thing that stood out to me initially was the fact that the defendants appeared to be South Asian. I can't remember hearing of another incident this brutal being committed by a group of young desis.

But who is the victim? Is she Indian or Pakistani as well?

I was just positive the mama horse was covered in copper, so beautiful and shimmery was its coat. But you know what, I was wrong. Glass tiles.

So sorry -- I don't have the artist's name.

The first Burmese restaurant I ever went to, next to Cooper Union, was so-so, and has since shut down. The next one I went to, on Roosevelt Avenue, was better, and has since shut down. There's apparently a Cafe Mingala on the UES, but really, what could be more incongruous than that?

Thai guy, Jimmy Wongwanich, whom I met in Woodside. I can generally read Sanskrit script, but not numbers. Apparently these say '1978' -- year of his birth.

Happy Puerto Rican Day. I like how the soft fuzziness of this gentleman's wristband offsets the hard chunkiness of his finger-bling.

In the last decade, American movie studios have been skittish about building storylines around terrorism. Meanwhile in India, Bollywood has been making lots of films that depict the sensitive topic. WNYC's Arun Venugopal shows Kurt how Bollywood is doing something Hollywood won't.

You know that incredible, electrical connection that takes place when you look directly into Beyonce’s eyes, and she into yours? I do.

It happened just the other night, actually, when we were at the Palm, in midtown. We were there, technically speaking, because this guy she knows, Jay-Z, is a producer for Fela!, the Broadway musical, and they’re hyping the show for the Tonys (this Sunday). Will Smith was there too, with his girl Jada. They’re all producers on the show, all except for Beyonce. She didn’t have anything to do with Fela.

You know that incredible, electrical connection that takes place when you look directly into Beyonce's eyes, and she into yours? I do. It happened just the other night, actually, when we were at the Palm, in midtown. We were there, technically speaking, because this guy she knows, Jay-Z, is a producer for Fela!, the Broadway musical, and they're hyping the show for the Tonys (this Sunday). Will Smith was there too, with his girl Jada. They're all producers on the show, all except for Beyonce. She didn't have anything to do with Fela.

New York, NY —

The idea of a "mega mosque," as its called by opponents, mere steps from Ground Zero, is generating national attention. For opponents like Herb London of the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute, this is about defining the future of the country.

"We have a responsibility to make ...

Dude's got veggies to pick up, at Patel Brothers. Let's the car idle, so the girls can check it out.

Oh, this? Yeah, it's an Om. Pretty sweet, huh? My man, Vik, he's always saying 'Om Sweet Om.' He's off the hook... Yo, you need a ride? That basmati looks mad heavy.

You know that notion of how some conservatives want to starve government, in order to prove how bad government is? I sense that's exactly what's going on with subway poetry these days. Someone in the subway poetry establishment wants people to become so disillusioned with subway poetry that they'll rise up in revolt against subway poetry.

New York, NY —

Over Memorial Day weekend, as the hordes descended in various states of undress upon the shores of New Jersey, about 1,600 Muslim athletes took a different tack: they headed inland to a nondescript high school sports complex in South Brunswick. They were there to participate ...

In the immediate aftermath of the Times Square bombing attempt, I kept waiting for reports of backlash incidents. There were plenty of attacks after 9/11, against both Muslims and Sikhs, but what kind of response would a failed attack bring?

So far, Faisal Shahzad's arrest hasn't inspired the same sort of backlash, although the NYPD is being asked to investigate the beating of a 57-year-old Bangladeshi man, who was jumped but not robbed.

However, it's hard to view attitudes towards Muslims as what they were, prior to Times Square. There are now about 30 buses driving around New York, with "Leaving Islam?" ads pasted on their sides. They may have been designed and booked well before the Times Square attack, but their significance is increased substantially by having appeared afterward. What makes them more potent than your standard Facebook discussions or YouTube vitriol is their sheer physicality, and the knowledge that they are being seen by many people at the same time.

The mind behind the bus ad campaign, Pam Geller, calls it a "human rights initiative."

"Islamic law mandates death for those who leave Islam," she wrote me. "The Rifqa Bary case in Ohio shows that people who leave Islam are threatened even in the U.S. We intend through these ads to offer help to Muslims in the situation of wanting to leave Islam and being threatened -- it's a matter of the defense of human rights and the freedom of conscience."

As a member of the press, I'm privileged to come into contact with celebrities, power players and assorted gatekeepers on a regular basis. But never have I received an email from musician John Legend! That too one in which I was personally addressed. He even included a little picture of himself. As it turns out, he wants me to attend a small get-together for Reshma Saujani, who's running for Congress against incumbent Carolyn Maloney.

It’s not easy being a moviegoer these days. Having emerged from my post-Oscar coma a few weeks ago, I’ve been struggling to stay on top of the city’s cinematic bounty, whether it’s the longer, uncut "Metropolis" (Film Forum), the "Cremaster" series (IFC Center) or "Iron Man 2" (everywhere).

None of ...

It's not easy being a moviegoer these days. Having emerged from my post-Oscar coma a few weeks ago, I've been struggling to stay on top of the city's cinematic bounty, whether it's the longer, uncut 'Metropolis' (Film Forum), the 'Cremaster' series (IFC Center) or 'Iron Man 2' (everywhere).

None of these need help luring audiences. But if there's one series that should be getting a lot more attention (and crowds) than it is, it would be 'Social Dramas and Shimmering Spectacles: Muslim Cultures of Bombay Cinema,' playing at the Walter Reade Theater through the May 27.

Bollywood has failed to cross over in this country, and that owes a lot to its reputation for frothy, ridiculous spectacles. What most people don't realize is that periodically, Indian cinema isn't just entertaining, but relevant as well, particularly at this point in time, when issues like Islamic radicalization and cartoon images of the Prophet Muhammad dominate the news.

WNYC's Richard Hake and Arun Venugopal discuss the new Bollywood film series.

If you've overdosed on the standard talking points -- the Us vs. Them geopolitics of Islam hashed out on cable news, ad nauseam -- consider this series a tonic of sorts. Its 13 films range from historical blockbusters like 'Mughal-e-Azam' (set during the extravagant, 16th century reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar) to modern critiques of India's Partition and the place of Muslims in society ('Garm Hawa'), to recent movies about radicalization, like 'Fiza,' starring heartthrob Hrithik Roshan as the Muslim turned terrorist.

New York, NY —

Some state lawmakers are proposing to limit the amount of personal data in the NYPD's stop and frisk database. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries says a bill he's sponsoring with fellow Brooklyn Democrat Senator Eric Adams would prohibit the police from storing the details about those who ...

New York, NY —

In the latest clash over the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy, a new lawsuit is seeking to stop the city from keeping a huge database of New Yorkers stopped, but never charged.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is leading the case, in which two men are suing ...

New York, NY —

In the latest clash over the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy, a new lawsuit is seeking to stop the city from keeping a huge database of New Yorkers stopped, but never charged.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is leading the case, in which two men are ...