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FILM AND STAGE

Banned in Tehran and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Mr. Grumpy McGrumpsterSay “hi” to our fancy new intern, Malaka Gharib. She writes a crazy restaurant thing for the D.C. Examiner, and also does production at Al Jazeera in Washington, and has this crazy food blog too. And she will be writing about all of those types of things, and also music and movies and etc. Hooray!

  • Friday, Jan. 23: What happens when Iranians use the internet? Nothing much, cuz they’re censored out of everything. Find out why at the screening of documentary Head Wind at the Freer Gallery, 7PM. And of course, the film is banned in Tehran. [Eventful]
  • Friday, Jan. 23-Sunday, Jan. 25: The Jameson Comedy Tour is in town, featuring Danny Bevins, Michael Loftus, Pete Correale and Billy Gardell. You may have never heard of them, but Correale has a comedy show on Sirius Radio that’s rated second to Howard Stern, who owns Sirius Radio. At the DC Improv Comedy Club, show times vary. [DC Improv Comedy Club]
  • Sunday, Jan. 25: Freak yourself out by attending the premiere of The Warning, a documentary about how Bush screwed up real bad and now it’s Obama’s problem. 8PM at Busboys and Poets. [Busboys and Poets]
  • Thursday, Jan. 29: Irving Berlin’s I Love a Piano opens Thursday at 7:30 PM at the Lincoln Theatre. If you were really into “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” as a kid, you might like this, but watch this video montage first so you know what you’re getting yourself into. [Lincoln Theatre]


4:58 PM on Fri January 23 2009
By Malaka Gharib
5204 Views

  1. PeteJayhawk v2.0 says at 5:02 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    And Malaka Gharib to you, too.

  2. shortsshortsshorts says at 5:04 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Where did Malaka come from? What does he/she/it/Ken Layne want from us?

  3. tunamelt says at 5:04 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Who is Malaka Gharib?

  4. masterdebater says at 5:05 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    They will never be free until we give them internet cafes with really expensive coffee! Don’t worry. I think this is on Obama’s “things to do in my first 100 days” list.

  5. shortsshortsshorts says at 5:05 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    THEY HAVE TOLD US.
    Welcome Malaka. LEAD US.

  6. AngryBlakGuy says at 5:07 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    …wait a second, I thought Ronald Reagan killed all the Iranian with his bare hands and used their skin to make his personal condoms! Who will the Republicans worship now?!?!

  7. tunamelt says at 5:08 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Oh. Writes for Examiner. Okay.

    I was hoping for something more scandalous and sexy, and less here is $2.50 per 1,000 page views, but okay.

  8. AngryBlakGuy says at 5:08 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    tunamelt: shortsshortsshorts: …Malaka Gharib is Malia Obama’s Mooslim name!

  9. tunamelt says at 5:09 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    shortsshortsshorts: So is she replacing Juli(e)?

  10. InsidiousTuna says at 5:11 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    When I hit someone else’s car in Grand Theft Auto, they call me a “Malaka”. This isn;t the same thing, is it?

  11. Roger Williams hates your ways says at 5:13 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    buttsecks?

  12. Ken Layne says at 5:13 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Nobody is replacing Juli! Malaka is an *addition* to the Wonkette staff box, not a replacement.

  13. Uh..hi.

  14. Hiya. I like food, too. Welcome!

    (You’re wrong about Papa Beard though. Those cream puffs rocked, at least at the location where I ate ‘em.)

  15. tunamelt says at 5:18 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Ken Layne: Despite our protests to the contrary, apparently we all fear the fuck out of CHANGE!

  16. The Real JR Revisted says at 5:20 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Wait- wait… what is this? Change?

    Ok, three days in and Obama is really overstepping. Now he’s meddling in Wonkette?

  17. bitchincamaro says at 5:20 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Suddenly, I have an *addition* in my staff box. Also.

    Oh, yeah. Pix, please.

  18. OffTheRecord says at 5:21 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I’m very interested to hear your fancy hobo bean recipes.

  19. sevenrepeat says at 5:21 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    i don’t think it would be banned if they let yo yo ma write the score and kanye west gets to sing all of the songs.

  20. NotUrEvryDayWEzl says at 5:21 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    kinky-neo-con: You know we can verify such claims nowadays

  21. SayItWithWookies says at 5:22 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I don’t know if I want to see The Warning now or just wait until the whole George W. Bush Fuckuppery Film Festival goes on tour and I can watch all 3,000 hours of documentaries about what an awful, hellish parade of incompetence, greed and toxic sludge the last eight years have been. Or I could just chisel out the part of my brain that — you know — remembers stuff.

    Oh, and welcome to Wonkette, Malaka!

  22. facehead says at 5:24 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Idk about this one. I went to her blog, did a search for “anal” and got zero hits.

    Hmmmm.

  23. BillyClubb says at 5:26 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Ken Layne: What the fug?! You’re hiring at Wonkette? That is so un-American.

  24. facehead says at 5:27 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Rodney Badger: With a name like “Malaka Gharib” she’ll be our next president.

  25. chascates says at 5:28 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Welcome Malaka! The Christmas Eve dinner looks fantastic! I’m hoping you drink alcohol, so as to fit in here?

  26. WagTehGod says at 5:30 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I fear we are headed toward an international incident. And by “fear” I mean “hope.” That’s all the rage now anyway, right?

  27. JeffGoldblum says at 5:33 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    So am I to understand that I didn’t get tapped for the Head Writer In Charge of Gittin’ Er Done job? This is bullshit piled upon more bullshit and I am LIVID, also.

  28. Welcome to the Dark Side. We have cookies.

  29. MARCdMan says at 5:34 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Welcome.

  30. Monsieur Grumpe says at 5:34 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Hello Malaka Gharib, if that is your real, we need to chat about your alt texting.

  31. MisterLoki says at 5:34 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Well, the alfredo sauce recipe sounds good, so welcome aboard.

  32. Rodney Badger says at 5:36 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    HA HA! I just went to one of Malaka’s 5,000 blogs. The first post was tips on how best to show off your tits. She’ll do just fine. . .

  33. tunamelt says at 5:36 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    JeffGoldblum: It’s not Ken Layne’s fault you are fail encased in pork sausage casing.

  34. Jukesgrrl says at 5:39 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Welcome, Malaka, now give us your hummus recipe or you’re fired.

  35. Delicious says at 5:39 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Wasn’t she one of the Mary Jane Girls?

  36. chascates says at 5:39 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Blago just said that ‘they’ want to impeach him so they can raise taxes! BASTARDS! Plus if he knew people were listening when he was trying to sell that senate seat he wouldn’t have cussed.

    This guy is a bulldog.

  37. Monsieur Grumpe says at 5:40 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Monsieur Grumpe:
    real name… more beer please.

  38. JeffGoldblum says at 5:41 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    tunamelt: Make me dinner now, plz.

  39. shortsshortsshorts says at 5:41 pm, January 23rd, 2009
  40. lawrenceofthedesert says at 5:41 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Berlin would have hated the cutesy renditions of his excellent songs, except perhaps at the end of his life when he lost all his marbles and fell in love with Nixon. Who but Irving would have thought to end a Western with “There’s No Business Like Show Business”? Remember that he wrote for the Marx Brothers and penned some of the most memorable Fred Astaire songs. Despite the sometimes ham-handed sentiment (”God Bless America”), he was capable of some pretty droll lyrics, and there have been very few successful composers on Broadway and Hollywood who wrote lyrics — Berlin, Coward, Steven’s Schwartz and Sondheim, Cole Porter and Frank Loesser are the others. If “I Love a Piano” stinks — and it looks just brainless on video — it’s not the fault of the composer. Watch “Top Hat” with Fred and Ginger the next time it comes around on TMC and tell me he wasn’t great.

  41. Giant Robot says at 5:44 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Can she explain the difference between the Oscars and the Razzberries because I’m very confused…

  42. pattycake says at 5:45 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Hi Malaka. Don’t listen to these people as they behave like swine. They did the same thing to Sara K. on her first shout out, and now they are her abject slaves, and hang on her every word. They’re really all nice people (except for shorts) and are only like this because it’s Friday and they’re drunk.

    Also, thanks for the tips on your blog re: tit enhancing through high fashion. You’re the best, and on my blog reader.

  43. 2druk2phluq says at 5:46 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    We elect one man President with a patronym that doesn’t appear on Yale’s skull and bones legacy list and now Wonkette has an intern with a name that the D.A.R. will not be able to pronounce. This is clear evidence that there is a liberal plot to complicate everyone’s names before forcing them to marry teh gay way, join unions and herd hapless old white invalids into concentration camps.

    Hi, Malaka. I be da druk wun.

  44. hockeymom says at 5:46 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Malaka is a cutie!
    And, she writes about fashion as well as food.

    I believe we are one step closer to becoming Jezebellette or Wonkettebell.
    Either way, more estrogen, so yay.

  45. Let us mock the newcomer.

  46. Ken Layne: the Wonkette staff box = the Ken Layne harem

    We know what’s going on here.

  47. I’m not quite sure how to take this:

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=malaka

    I think she might be toying with us.

  48. wtf is up with all these cultural plans? It sounds just a bit too damn earnest. How’ bout just getting shitfaced? The thing is, nobody will ever want to get into a nuke fight with someone they bonded with by puking in the alley behind a bar. That’s why we’ve never even thought about nuking Ireland. Puke the Nuke!!!

  49. rocktonsammy says at 5:59 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Whats Wonkette’s next hire?

    How about a sports guy?

  50. anabellum says at 6:00 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    geeze, what a bunch of rude bastards…i am, of course, so very very nice that i’m not in the least bit funny..

    so what ya say Malaka…wanna be my friend?…pretty please?…nobody else here likes me and i’m getting very tired of eating my lunch by myself…

  51. Vewol Mevemont says at 6:03 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I feel like I can’t say that name without jeopardizing my shot at a Virginia senate seat.

  52. Pop Socket says at 6:03 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    pattycake: And she wasn’t expecting a little hazing? She has read the blog before, hasn’t she?

  53. Are these entertainment suggestions for people who need to come down from the happiness of the inauguration? If so, well crafted.

  54. undermedicated says at 6:04 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I think the tit advice for the ladies is certainly what the world needs. But Malaka’s shoelace rules for d00ds have me frightened and confused. Not sure of the distinction between thin and thick or Converse and sneakers, I think I’ll have to stick to my Star Trek boots from here on out. Plus, they go with everything, even my furry costume. Also,

  55. cal: So Ken Layne has become one of those Fundamentalist Mormons? That would explain the whole moving-to-a-trailer-in-the-desert thing.

  56. Her new job will be ILLEGITIMATE AND ILLEGAL until she produces a birth certificate!

  57. IceCreamEmpress says at 6:09 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Hi, Malaka! Don’t worry, the dorkbots are just doing that little thing they like to call “freaking the mundanes.”

    So how many people did you have to kill during the Abu Ghraib scandal for saying to you “Hey, Malaka, are you related to that prison? HA HA HA HA HA” or “Did you notice that that prison is almost like your last name? HA HA HA HA HA”?

    You can tell us. No jury in the world would ever convict you. They needed killing.

  58. Lazy Media says at 6:11 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Um, if she’s really Iranian, why doesn’t she refer to herself as Persian, HENGHH?

  59. pattycake says at 6:12 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Pop Socket: don’t interrupt my ass-kissing. I lose my place.

  60. The Unfairman says at 6:15 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    New staff?! Does this mean we have to put up with more Campbell Brown staring at us and pink Wonkettes to “pay” for her “services”?

    Damn you capitalizmz!

  61. you cannot be serious says at 6:15 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I wish I could hear Rick Warren pronounce Malaka(!)

  62. I am so making that vegetable soup recipe.

  63. Malaka! Malaka! Today I had an English muffin, a chicken ceasar Pita Pit, and some birthday cake. I love food. This is so cool. We are bff!

  64. Lascauxcaveman says at 6:36 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Mahousu: I just assumed it was a humorous pen name even w/o knowing the slang definition of Malalka. Sort of like a Briton who writes detective novels about mental asylums and prisons using the name Chelsea Bedlam or somesuch.

  65. Come here a minute says at 6:39 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    What do gay Iranians see on the internet? Ha! Trick question!

  66. Oh, Malaka! Being a typical Wonkette commentard, I immediately checked out your Art Portfolio and the accompanying snapshot of Yerself. Anyway, thumbs up to both! Please write about food here in a snarky, political way.

  67. Welcome, new Wonkette slave-girl, Malaka. I hope you haz funny to tell us.

  68. Wait, I just read your blog article about Ethiopian food. Dissing injera? You are dead to me.

  69. Scandalabra says at 6:51 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    I had a shitty shitty bang bang that I’d just rather forget about.

  70. CARCUNTZ!(tm)-R-Us says at 6:57 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Malaka Gharib? Isn’t that an Iraqi prison? Are you in trouble, Mr. Layne?

  71. shortsshortsshorts: Since I have a muslin terrorist heritage - I have an obligation to educate my fellow soon to be hobos at wonkette. So when a name ends with an “a’, i.e Asha, Malaka, Amina, it is always a female.

  72. ZombieRichardFeynman says at 7:09 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Hi Malaka. Looking at your portfolio I fancy I see some Linda Barry and maybe even R. Crumb influences; perhaps a few unknown artists from Filmore/Winterland posters. This “grew up in the 60’s” zombie approves. Keep that Stoner Art coming!

  73. shortsshortsshorts says at 7:21 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Dreamer: Wait wait they let MUSLINs onto this website?

  74. I’d hit it!

  75. Lionel Hutz Esq. says at 7:40 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Cool, Malaka Gharib is my favorite Obama daughter.

  76. Lionel Hutz Esq. says at 7:42 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Ken Layne: And that is how we are going to get out of this recession, one unpaid internship at a time!

  77. facehead says at 7:47 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Dreamer: I knew Obama was a chick.

  78. Lascauxcaveman says at 7:53 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    ZombieRichardFeynman: Yeah, cool. Thanks for pointing that out, I missed it. It reminds me of the the stuff I’ve got doodled in all those old coupon notebooks they handed out in college. ( I mean that in a good way, Malaka. )

  79. Lionel Hutz Esq. says at 7:56 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Aurelio: I found a picture of our new Wonketter finally on the web: http://www.startrek.com/imageuploads/200412/tos-001-vina-orion-slave-girl/320×240.jpg

  80. V572625694 says at 8:04 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Lionel Hutz Esq.: I remember that episode — it was really the pilot before they signed up Shatner, and they spliced him in to stretch it over two hours. That slave girl was hot, in a pudgy, 60’s sort of way.

  81. KittyDiva says at 8:53 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Hi Malaka, this is my time too.
    was it good for you?

  82. KittyDiva says at 8:56 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Oops, my first time and a typo. wow, that’s lame.
    let me try again

    Hi Malak, this is my first time too.
    Was it good for you?

  83. President Beeblebrox says at 9:39 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    OK, that’s weird. Someone baleeted my /b/-inspired comment. I guess even the Wonkettes has its limits…

  84. gradgrind says at 9:57 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    lawrenceofthedesert: Are you another of the 10 or 20 Americans who caught Obama’s inauguration tribute to Fred Astaire and Dorothy Fields? You know, “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off . . . ” Because you write like you should be.

    Hi, Malaka!

  85. Hairy Reed says at 10:17 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    tunamelt: I haven’t said anything here for a while, because for some [lame] reason I have had actual work (!) to do, but thank you, tunamelt, because that made my day.

  86. donner_froh says at 10:31 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    Malaka Gharib is a recent graduate of Syracuse University. We all remember who also attended Syracuse, although not, I think, a grad.

    The original Ms. Buttsecks; The Washingtonienne; Jessica Butler.

  87. Allah Akbar Malaka

  88. So, le Wonkette has decided to compete with the al-Jezeera Jezebel.
    1. The veil: deep indigo or coal black? Readers’ response, with husband‘s permission.
    2. Open-toed sandals, what was old is new again.
    3. Raw dates, not for the Ramadan anymore.
    4. Britney Spears: Western whore or cheap prostitute? Commentary.
    5. Secret Sin: I once sat in the driver’s seat of a car in Yemen. (Posthumous.)

    I guess that means that I am banned.

  89. donner_froh says at 11:04 pm, January 23rd, 2009

    donner_froh: Jessica Cutler, of course

  90. PoliticalGraffiti says at 12:19 am, January 24th, 2009

    hey malaka. ur cute.

  91. Iggy Plop says at 12:58 am, January 24th, 2009

    She doesn’t like soup. Who doesn’t like soup? Hmm. Suspicious.

  92. hobospacejungle says at 3:03 am, January 24th, 2009

    Dreamer: “So when a name ends with an “a’, i.e Asha, Malaka, Amina, it is always a female.”

    Osama is a girl! I knew it. Way too thin to be a dood.

    Malaka my dear, first things first: What are you, 25? 30 tops? And you got 3 blogs, plus an Examiner column and the Al Jazeera thingy on the side? Slow the fuck down already! Some of us here are unemployed, lazy and good for nothing and we don’t cotton to overachievers making us look bad.

    On the other hand, if you bring the funny we’ll probably forget all about your 18 jobs and that third definition of Malaka in the urban dictionary.

    Finally, where is all this Iranian/Persian bunkum coming from? Malaka is Egytian/Filipino/Americano. Last I checked (actually I never really checked) they don’t speak much Farsi in any of the above. So lay off our dear Malaka!

    Oh wait, you were talking about that Iranian documentary. Never mind…

  93. kinky-neo-con says at 4:01 pm, January 24th, 2009

    Everyone, SHUT UP!!! -Im just looking for some hottie PERSIAN porn; Im really drunk & lonely and need to jerk-off to something after all those CJSOTF-A deployments…

  94. President Beeblebrox: Me too and mine was pretty mild. This is just showing us what it’s like to comment in Iran.

  95. MACACA!!!! Hahahaha!!!!!!

  96. Nyarlathotep says at 2:45 pm, January 26th, 2009

    Just checked out the new slave’s Portfolio Blog…

    WOW!!! So much I don’t care about, and it’s all in one place now!

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