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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 
Learn How to Speak North Korean 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall 
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi Cosplay 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) Disneyland 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese Films 
Beijing’s Single Most Horrific Meal 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: Sanmao 
Why Chinese People Eat Ants 
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas! 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist Hell 
About Andy Deemer & AsiaObscura 
Why Chinese People Eat Deer Penis 
Nazi Fashion in China 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie Posters 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong) 
The Poem I Can’t Find… 
The Sick Collector and His 1000 Pairs of Shoes 
Small Children Feeding Live Animals to Tigers in a Chinese Zoo 
Beijing’s Dongyue Temple and Their 19 Incredible Taoist Gods 
Why Chinese People Eat Snake as Medicine 
Whoring in Chiang Mai 
American Imperialist Bastards in a North Korean Comic Book 
A Postcard from Erenhot 
Our Six Best China Stories! 
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura 
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing) 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney Knockoffs 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic Cinemas 
North Korea frightening customs declarations form - The Disastrous Fall of Sanmao
China’s first sci-fi movie: Death Ray on Coral Island (1980) 
The Taj Mahal… Murder, Incest, and Fratricide - Awesomely Steampunk Portable Corn Roaster
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin 
Medicinal Sea Horse Soup 
Antilia: The Most Gratuitous House in Mumbai 
On Horse Meat Sashimi 
Deranged Clown Cream Biscuits 
Sweet gruesome statue asking for donations 
Pyongyang Too: A Tribute to Guy Delisle - 15 More Pictures from weirdoid Tiger Balm Park
Mr. Chiizu: Great New Photobooth App 
A Huge Pile of Gorgeous Old Thai Movie Posters
Tag Archives: India
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.
Holy Curiosities
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas!
So I'm in the middle of R.K. Narayan's condensed version of the Ramayana -- one of the great Indian epics -- and I have to re-print the amazing story of Ahalya, Gautama and Indra. It's too amazing. Now Ahalya was gorgeous. Like, insanely gorgeous. Brahma had created her from the ingredients of beauty, itself. Of ...
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?
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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
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
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 ...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
A Huge New Horde of Hand-drawn Indian Movie Posters
I hadn't seen Ramachandraiah for far too long. He's the movie poster artist. Some locals curse him as a ruin on this garden city. I hail him as an urban beautifying legend. - See his first batch of posters here. - His posters for my favorite movies: Suspiria, Wild at Heart, M, The Third Man, and ...
Holy Curiosities
The Ancient Roots of Swamp Thing?
This weekend we trekked down to Shravanabelagola, to see the 57'-tall statue of a naked god, apparently carved from a single piece of rock. It was big. It was holy. It was awesome. But at the same time, something about it looked so very familiar...
Sweet Movies and Wild Books
The Most Amazing Breakdancing Midget Sequence
It's 12/12/12, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAJINI! I posted this before, but I think only my nephew watched it (about 47 times, my count so far says)... so here it is again. The most amazing Rajini scene of all time: Now that's awesome. (As seen 10 minutes into Adhisaya Piravi, available on MoserBaer.)
Modern Ruins, Theme Parks
13 Amazing Indian Circus Posters
Shravanabelagola, India We were in this tiny village to see a 57-foot naked man, towering over everything, but he wasn't the only thing to catch my eye. Wheat-pasted to every surface -- crumbling walls and old wooden shop doors -- amazing Jumbo Circus posters! Now I'm not a huge circus fan. It's not that I have moral ...
Extraordinary Eats, Lost in Translation
Tastes Like Chicken
Since moving to India, we've seen a lot of Julie. And this is what Julie saw offered in Koramangala today.
Consumerism
More MaxiPad Fun, with UnSticky Stickers
Hannah took us deep into the bowels of City Market, a mad maze of alleyways crammed tight with shops stacked atop one another. Porters and motorbikes race past, honking endlessly and piled unrealistically high with samples. Cows tread through it all, slathered in shit and chomping slowly on four-foot piles of trash. ...
Fashionista
Sidewalk ad for Adira’s Period Panty
Not sure what I loved most about this banner we passed in a Bangalore market: the complete unexpectedness of it, or the incredibly bad photoshopping of two different women. Anyhow, I'm going for the hipster style.
Cute & Kawaii
Best Pix from Bangalore’s First Ever ComicCon
The blog has been ill-attended these last few weeks, with the move to India. Several grand projects are already underway here, but we'll have to keep those hush-hush for the time being. But in the meantime, we did manage to escape the craziness of the city for Bangalore's First EVER Comic Con this ...