The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Columbia University in collaboration with the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center at the University of California-Santa Cruz and the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles present a series of films by the Grand Master in NY .

Details of screening here

Long before the Slumdog Millionaires of the world , Ray burst onto the international scene with Pather Panchali, which would be the first in the Apu trilogy. You can see that film as well as other gems like ” Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne” between April 15 and 30 th. I would urge all our readers who live there to try and make it to at least a single screening. After all Akira Kurosawa himself said ” To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun.”

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Our favorite rapper has named her offspring. Born to M.I.A and fiance, musician Benjamin Bronfman, the child is named – hold your breath – “Ickett”

What do you think was behind this decision?*

- Honoring the game of Cricket ?

- Homesickness for the sight of Ikat?

-  A concatenation of “Ice Buckett” ?

-  A dimunitive for “Half-Tickett”?

Send us your best guesses!

For the lil’ one’s sake I hope he and other weirdly named celebrity spawn  : Moses and Apple (Gwyneth Platrow’s kids)  Mars Merkaba (Erykah Badu’s daughter), Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa (Lisa Bonet’s son) all become friends for mutual schoolyard protection!

*( If the name is rooted in Sri Lankan tradition,  I apologize in advance and will happily take down this post!)

UPDATE: So it *WAS* too good to be true. MIA totally denies naming her baby “Ickitt”( note the new spelling!)

– the rapper writes on her MySpace blog that her “baby is not called Ickitt, Pickit, or Lickit. Thank you very much to all the Hollywood press. He’s a baby, he don’t need press.” (link)

Breakthrough, a human rights media org, sends us this story of a gay HIV+ South Asian immigrant and the harsh struggles he experienced while in detention.

Über Desi received this email from Akshaya Patra. We’re reproducing it verbatim.

Akshaya Patra is a non-profit organization providing midday meals to school children in India. Akshaya Patra’s “Feeding 1 Million Children Daily” project idea has advanced to the final round of the American Express Members Project.
Akshaya Patra has a chance of winning $1.5 million in funding from Amex if it wins. Amercian Express card members are eligible to vote and voting ends on October 13th. Please visit http://www.membersproject.com/ and vote by clicking
on “Feeding 1 Million Children Daily.” Card members are required to log in to cast their vote.

See Akshaya Patra’s press release http://www.foodforeducation.org/AMEXpressreleaseforlocalmedia.pdf for more details.

Website: http://www.membersproject.com/, http://www.foodforeducation.org/

Cricket Council USA is holding a Twenty 20 cricket tournament in the Washington DC area. The event will feature 4 homegrown teams: Royals, Washington Bengals, JBSA and Washington Tigers.

We received this email from Cricket Council USA.

The DC T20 Cricket Tournament ‘08 is another initiative undertaken by
Cricket Council USA and its Chairman & CEO Mahammad “MAQ” Qureshi.
CCUSA is the Main Sponsor and it is working closely with the Washington
Tigers CC to stage the Inaugural DC T20 Cricket Tournament. This Tournament
will showcase the best Cricketers in the greater Washington DC Metropolitan
in an exciting brand of 20/20 Cricket.

The DC T20 Cricket Tournament ‘08 is an invitation only Tournament. The
registration fee for each team is $ 400.00 and all games will be played
under ICC rules for 20/20 Cricket. A total of eight teams will participate.
There will be prize money awarded to the Tournament Winners, Tournament
Runners-up, Batsman of the Tournament, Bowler of the Tournament, Fielder of
the Tournament and Player of the Tournament.

The Venue will be the Woodmoor Cricket Field. The Match Schedule will be
posted on the CCUSA website: www.cricketcouncilusa.com next week.

CCUSA is taking the unprecedentant step of broadcasting three of the Matches
live via its website. The Opening Match, Semi-Final Match and Championship
Match will be televised.

The DC T20 Cricket Tournament is yet another example of the commitment that
Mr. Qureshi and CCUSA have in promoting 20/20 Cricket at all levels in the
United States of America. IT’S TIME TOPLAY 20/20 CRICKET!!!!!