Kazakhstan angry about Borat, will go to Bush about it
 

The finest news item of the day, IMO.

Daily Mail:

It doesn't get any better than this. [/beer commercial]

Isn't he British?

Didn´t he say: "There is land of opportunities in US of A. For man, construction work, taxi driving and accountancy. For woman, as a prostitute."

Sasha Baron Cohen, as Borat, responds to Kazakhstan's desire to sue him over Borat:

Sounds like now they have something worth suing him over.

Oh let them whine, we don't get to sue every time someone mocks us or defaces our national image. :cool:

Personally, I can't stand the AliG character. Somebody should blow him up!

I don't care for him either, but blow him up? I'm not voting for you in the Queen of the world election, Aliantha. :lol:

AliG may be hard to take, but Borat and Bruno are hilarious.

AliG just does what every satire and commentary of its type do, take facts about a country that it would rather not be shouting to the world and blows them up into full view. Is it all truth? No. But it brings up Kazakhstans failure to modernize a great deal of its society. Good? Bad? That's personal opinion. Maybe instead of suing they should figure out WHY we find it so funny, we wouldn't be laughing if it made no sense.

Bruce...I didn't know I was up for nomination! How exciting!!!

White House Turns Borat Away

There was a cute little article about this in the Style section of the Post.

He held a "press conference" in front of the Kazakh embassy denouncing all those Kazakh ads (have other Dwellars seen them too?) that have been running, and then he announced that he was marching off to the White House next. Most of the reporters were ignoring him, until he mentioned the White House, and then a whole pack of reporters followed him to watch hilarity ensue. At the white house, he just talked to a guard for a while, mostly as show for the press, and then he left. He never broke character the entire time.

http://images.usatoday.com/life/_pho...9/29/borat.jpg

A statement from fictional Kazakh reporter Borat's D.C. press conference outside the Embassy of Kazakhstan:

"Jagshemash, my name Borat Sagdiyev. I would like to comment on recent advertisments on television and in media about my nation of Kazakhstan, saying that women are treated equally, and that all religions are tolerated — these are disgusting fabrications. These claims are part of a propoganda campaign against our country by evil nitwits Uzbekistan — who as we all know are a very nosey people, with a bone in the middle of their brain.

"There is a man name Roman Vasilenko who is claiming to be Press Secretary of Kazakhstan. Please do not listen this man, he is Uzbek imposter, and is currently being hunted by our agents. I must further say on behalf of my government, that if Uzbekistan do not desist from funding these attacks, then we will not rule out the possibility of military intervention. ...

"Furthermore, all claims that our glorious leader is displeased with my film, 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan' is lie. Infacts main purpose of Premier Nazharbayev's visit to Washingtons is to promote this moviefilm. This why together with Ministry of Information he will be hosting a screening tomorrow evening, to which he have invitate Premier George Walter Bush and other American dignitaries — Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Gates, O.J. Simpson and Mel Gibsons. This screening will be followed by cocktail party and a discussion of closer ties between our countries at Hooters, on 825 7th Street.

"Thank you, I must now return to Embassy where my government need me.

"Chenquieh"

That...is...awsome

So, has anyone seen this movie? Is it as good as all the buzz makes it out to be?

I've never seen him not be funny...

so he's not just a bigot?

heheh nope.
Have you guys seen the tv show Borat? He did this one where he, as Borat, was allowed to sing at a country and western club. He sang "Throw the Jew Down the Well." The audience responded very enthusiastically, singing along and making up their own actions to lines like "Grab him by the horns".

Was a real 'Cabaret' moment. Terrifying, and brilliant.

Borat
 

I saw it last Sunday. Sure, it was funny, but I was surprised how quickly I got used to the character and his "shtick" [sic?]. Several amazing guffaws for me, and the audience really helped me to laugh. Evidently, many of the scenes were basically set ups of "real" people, so in that sense it really did reveal unsavory aspects of America and Americans.

See it. I gave it 3 stars out of 5, but I'm hard to please.

Regarding Khazacstan [sic?], I don't think he should have done that; why not just make up a country. That country is actually fairly progressive for a former Soviet Republic. Also, Borat actually used several Polish phrases in the movie, so he's pretty loose with trying to be acccurate. Funny guy without a doubt.

It was really good. Lots of hilariously shocking moments. Not as good as Little Miss Sunshine.

In fact, he is so deliberately inaccurate that just believing he's legit is part of the commentary he's making.

He's trying to make the OPPOSITE point that he's displaying, duh... He's so RIDICULOUSLY anti-kazakh, that its not anti-kazakh except to idiots. He's so RIDICULOUSLY anti-semitic, that its not anti-semitic except to idiots.

I've only seen enough of him to see a British Jew portraying a Kazakh as an anti-semite.

Can Kazakhstan declare a fatwah on Borat and put him in hiding like Salman Rushdie?

That is the core of the problem. Kaz has no voice in our media, aside from their clumsy government. The comedian playing Borat is, as we chat here, creating the picture of Kstan that will inadvertantly be the dominant media view. KStanis do not have a media savy voice to explain who they are to the dominant culture. Borat represents the dominant culture. He is saying it is unacceptable in Western society to be a misogynistic anti-semite. Groovy. His profound popularity has made his the dominant voice in defining what Kstan is to the English speaking world. Not groovy. In short, his transition from small-time comedian to major media force has caused him to become what he decries, someone whose voice defines a group of people. Back and forth discussion in media is important in developing understanding between cultures, but this is a one way conversation. I'm not calling for any anti-free speech movement here, I just want folks to consider that bumpkins can be unfairly labeled and not everybody knows a bunch of folks from Kstan to balance their view.

Oddly enough, what really chills my blood is the depictions of Americans going along with his antisemitism. The portrayal of Kazakhstan is so absurd as to be ridiculous on the face of it. The Americans shown in the film (to my knowledge) were in agreement with his sentiments. :worried:

Good job Borat, an entire generation of Americans will believe that Kazakhis have their cars pulled by burros.

On ther other hand everyone was laughing just as hard at the scenes in Kstan as they were at the scenes in southern US. Maybe they get it?

Right. Stupid people are going to believe stupid shit no matter what you do. Have a laugh.

In this way, it's almost like a Public Service Announcement.

Do the Kstanis get it?

Well, you weren't talking about them.

and I've been completely off base before. Maybe now as well? I guess I'm just enough of a hillbilly to find his humor totally insulting to rural folk.

Of course not, those people are barbarians! Have you seen that one guy, who has the movie out? Horrible!

I'm a city boy and I find his humor insulting as well.

Thanks V. Maybe I'm not totally nuts on this.

i haven't seen the movie so i can't really judge, but the clips and trailers i have seen aren't really that funny. they don't motivate me to hand over $8 for a ticket and $3,374 for popcorn and pop.

then again, i think ben stiller is the single most UN funny person american followed closely by jerry seinfeld... so maybe my sense of humor is lacking something.

Woah, lookout -- are we related? :eyebrow: I hate Seinfeld!
The worst thing I heard about Borat (from a co-worker) is that most scenes go on for twice as long as necessary.

No Sir, you are not.....or you have us for company. We'll ask Wolf for a group rate.;)

The Kazakhstan isn't the only one upset....
 

From here..

So, like Mel Gibson, another racial incident blamed on alcohol.:drunk:

I'm not sure how anyone gets 'tricked into' making racist comments...