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Top Obscura
The Creepiest Amusement Park of All Time? 
21 Amazing Bangalore Breakfast Dishes 
Why Chinese People Eat Sea Horse 
Classic Chinese Torture Methods (and their cute names) 
Amazing Old Bollywood Poster Shops 
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi Cosplay 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) Disneyland 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese Films 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: Sanmao 
Why Chinese People Eat Ants 
Learn How to Speak North Korean 
Beijing’s Single Most Horrific Meal 
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas! 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie Posters 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist Hell 
About Andy Deemer & AsiaObscura 
Nazi Fashion in China 
The Poem I Can’t Find… 
Small Children Feeding Live Animals to Tigers in a Chinese Zoo 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong) 
The Sick Collector and His 1000 Pairs of Shoes 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites 
Why Chinese People Eat Deer Penis 
Whoring in Chiang Mai 
Why Chinese People Eat Snake as Medicine 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney Knockoffs 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park 
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura 
Beijing’s Dongyue Temple and Their 19 Incredible Taoist Gods 
American Imperialist Bastards in a North Korean Comic Book 
Our Six Best China Stories! 
A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters - The Disastrous Fall of Sanmao
A Postcard from Erenhot 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic Cinemas 
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing) 
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin - 15 More Pictures from weirdoid Tiger Balm Park
China’s first sci-fi movie: Death Ray on Coral Island (1980) 
North Korea frightening customs declarations form 
Sweet gruesome statue asking for donations 
The Taj Mahal… Murder, Incest, and Fratricide 
13 Amazing Indian Circus Posters 
Best Pix from Bangalore’s First Ever ComicCon 
On Horse Meat Sashimi 
Pyongyang Too: A Tribute to Guy Delisle 
Return to Fake Disneyland? Sweeeeeet! 
North Korean traffic lights… um… robot ladies. - Awesomely Steampunk Portable Corn Roaster
Author Archives: Andy Deemer
Other Obscura
The Poem I Can’t Find…
I spent the weekend on a Dutch barge on a French canal, working towards my helmer's license. Being back in France after so many years was perfect. A cold wet breeze over endless fields of rapeseed. A massive wheel in my hands, hands that had been ripped up by old ropes. A cyclist ...
Extraordinary Eats
Perfect Key Lime Ice Cream
If the scorching Bangalore summer is sweating you raw, you might just need a bucket of this insanely good lime ice cream. Sounds weird, but it's sweet, tart, cooling, and just about perfect. If you're in Ohio, I strongly recommend you try the version at the wonderful Fearless Flavors, but here in Bangalore, at ...
Shameless Promotion
The Eko Nugroho Flower Suit Lives On
Remember the Eko Nugroho flower suit we spent a month sewing? Well, even though we've left Beijing, the suit lives on! We'd gifted her to the fantastic prog-rock band Not There, and apparently she's been making the rounds. "Thousands" line up in Nanluogu Xiang for photos with her... Strawberry Music Fest 2013 gets a little ...
Extraordinary Eats
Deranged Clown Cream Biscuits
These Milk Bikis Milk Cream Biscuits might just be the creepiest teatime snack I've ever seen. Like the John Wayne Gacy of high tea.
Offbeat Museums
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura
It came up over a bowl of brain stew at Karim's, Old Delhi's famously-dingy 1913 eatery. "Tasty," I said, wiping my mouth. "By the way, did I tell you about the brain museum in Bangalore? The architect told me we should go." Michelle tore off a piece of naan, and sopped up a wet chunk of brain. ...
Life in Miniature
Another Diana Pose at the Taj Mahal
From Beijing's miniature Taj Mahal, of course... Oh, what an unforgettable day that was...
Historical Wonders
The Taj Mahal… Murder, Incest, and Fratricide
Well, we made it to the Taj Mahal last weekend. Huge. Overwhelming. Magnificent. I wiped away a tear or two. Shah Jahan built it in memory of his beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. That's like the awesomest romantic gesture, ever. But I was also reading William Dalrymple's City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi at ...
Holy Curiosities
Another Little Bangalore Boat Church
53 weeks ago, I posted about my first boat church. The other day -- deep in Bangalore's Austin Town -- I found another. So what does this represent? St Thomas coming to Kerala? Or Jesus and Mary coming to India? Is the boat a little Fisher of Men? Or the stormy trip ...
Consumerism
Damn Strong Tarps
I love this hand-painted ad for Bhadra Tarps. You know they're tough if even this mustached hunk can't rip them! (Then compare to their rather lackluster website. Oh....)
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
From Rags to Antilia: Guru
On the subject of Antilia, have you seen Guru, Mani Ratnam's fantastic biopic about Mukesh Ambani's dad? If not, it's worth picking up. Here's a trailer...
Other Obscura
Antilia: The Most Gratuitous House in Mumbai
When you're in Bombay, a great way to get some context is start in the alleyways of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in the world. About a million people live here, crammed into 0.67 square miles. "It's like mainlining gratitude for how much we have to be thankful for," said my old pal Chris. I couldn't ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Amazing Old Bollywood Poster Shops
Somewhere on Mutton Street, in Bombay's Chor Bazaar, sits a cave of musty sweetness. It's filled with old movie posters, piled almost six feet high. "You know V. Shataram, yes?" says the pint-sized operator, Khalim, who looks to be about twelve years old. "He's fantastic, amazing," he says, flailing his arms. "You ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
India’s First ZomCom
Now this looks absolutely fantastic. LOVE Saif Ali Khan as a Russian badass. My only question is, does he take out any blackbucks?
Shameless Promotion, Sweet Movies and Wild Books, The Zombie Files
On Making Trash Movies
Sorry that I've been so lousy about updating the blog... work in India has gone from regular to quite mad. However, expect a couple of good updates coming soon! In the meantime, I did have time for my first PechaKucha talk, on a lifetime dream that turned out to be more of a nightmare. ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Elvises, Genies, and Sandalwood Beach Madness
If you know me, you know I like things big and overdone. I care less about the society of the spectacle than I do the spectacle of the spectacular. And Shangrila fills that fetish. It’s this month’s hit song from next month’s hit Sandalwood movie, Topiwaala, starring the legendary Upendra (Uppi to his fans). And you ...
Offbeat Museums
The Quirk of Bangalore Palace
The old Tudor-style castle in the middle of Bangalore is touted as a tourist must-see. It’s not. But there are three reasons you might want to go... See them at BangBangBangalore.com
Shameless Promotion
Bang! Bang! Bangalore!!!
Living and working in Bangalore is amazing, but the one downside is less travel. At the same time, there's so much awesomeness here. Amazing new foods, temples of gorgeousness, crumbling museums, and people of fascination. Because it's not all obscura, I've launched a brand new city-based blog as a sister to AsiaObscura, ...
Fashionista
So this guy walks into a bar…
(Thanks to Julie for the lovely pic of Woo at the Kumbh Mela.)
Holy Curiosities
Noel Wilson’s Awesome Soccer-Themed House
In a street filled with single-storey houses, Noel Wilson's juts up like a skinny football-worshipping minaret. It's bizarrchitecture! You know Noel, right? He plays football. (Of course he does.) The outside is decorated with over 100 footballs, a shrine to Mary, and the words "God's Gift." The inside is plastered with IFA trophies, ...
Holy Curiosities, Modern Ruins
Hindus Are Buried…?!
I didn't know Hindus were buried. Like, they're always cremated, right? And then we stumbled on our local Hindu graveyard. And realized how wrong we were. The Bangalore architect laughed at me when I asked him about it later. "That's the great white myth," he said. "You Westerners still like to romanticize us Indians ...
AO Events
PechaKucha Bangalore: Coming This Friday!
UPDATE: Event in the past. Sorry if you missed it! Was great! Do sign up for the PKB Facebook group though! If you're in Bangalore, I hope you can come to Jaaga on Friday night Feb 15th for a night of glorious trash. I'll be there talking about Trash Film, but the whole line-up ...
Shameless Promotion, Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Japanese Release of Poultrygeist
Five years later, Japan is finally releasing my film Poultrygeist. Very exciting news... but I'd kill for a copy of the poster! Are you in Japan? Can you help me get it? Will gladly provide excellent Indian posters or art (or just hard cold cash) in return! March 23 at ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Great New Indian Sidewalk Movie Posters
First, does anyone know where in Bangalore, or perhaps India, I can get cardboard mailing tubes for posters? They just don't seem to be available. What is this nonsense!!! Second, if you missed these posts about the grand outsider Ramachandraiah sidewalk posters, see them now! Batch 1: Original sidewalk posters for Harry Potter, Tintin and more Batch 2: More real ...
Pretty Pictures
Beautiful Thanaka
It's Woo's birthday today. Whoohoo! She took this dazzling picture in Burma. It reminds me of the Diane Arbus girls from so many years ago... Wish her Happy Birthday at her (way un-updated) blog, TheWooLand Hotel.
Other Obscura
Dr. Ambedkar in Duplicate
For the last year, our local Dr. Ambedkar statue has been surrounded by rubble and faced by a 14-foot block of blue tarp. He's the second most important figure in Indian politics. He wrote the constitution. He led the untouchable rights movement. He wears awesome glasses. Well, this morning some kids took down ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
The Five Indie Docs You Need to See
My cousin Otis and I were talking documentaries this morning. It got me thinking about the best I'd seen. Films that warmed my heart, then chilled my soul, then demanded big cups of coffee, hefty scoops of Cheese-Steak ice cream, and long dark conversations after. And these were the ones I'd seen recently. ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
A Lovely Moment from Ghungroo
Standing alone, so desperately alone, she waits outside the Odeon. Will he come? Oh, will he ever come? This lobby card for Rajendra Jain's Ghungroo, which I pulled ripped and bent from a stack at Balaji's Rare Antiques, reminds me of college. Although I didn't wear a sari.
Extraordinary Eats
21 Amazing Bangalore Breakfast Dishes
The first time I saw the menu, I was lost. Sure, I knew dosas and idlis, but that was as far as it went. The other items were utterly alien to me. And so I did the only thing I could: I decided to eat them all. It took longer than expected. Tasted better than ...
Lost in Translation, Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Metropolis finally finds the right marketing campaign…
As currently promoted and sold, of course, in India.
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
The Great Poster Contest
So yesterday I got up to some dark nonsense... I ordered 600 more Bangalore sidewalk posters. You know, like these.... But not any of those. Chronologically, the movie's leads were Buster, Louise, Glenn, Lloyd, Hayao, Johnny. Hint: might be directors. Hint: four are Americans. Hint: If you know my taste in film, ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters
It was the Singapore Agent who told me about the poster guy on Rambuttri. "Rambuttri like Rambutan," he said. "But with a tree at the end. Look for the restaurant with the good pad thai, next to the massage place. That's where you'll find the poster guy." The pad thai restaurant next to a massage parlor? ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
Amitabh Bachchan: Comic Superhero
I'm a huge fan of Amitabh Bachchan. But then again, who isn't? He's the king of Bollywood. BBC readers chose him as the greatest star of stage or screen of the last thousand years. I'm sure you've seen him as the angry young man in Sholay, or the angry old man in Kabhi Khushi ...