Apparently an American distributor rejected Sita Sings the Blues because, culturally, “it only relates to a tiny slice of the world.”

Berliners and other pastries can catch one (and only one!) screening of Sita Sings the Blues this April 24 9:15pm at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures) immediately following the premiere of “play/dance/music/video/project” The Abduction of Sita by Joachim Schloemer.

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Praise be to Laxmi!

Laxmi is both the eternal form of Sita and the Goddess of Wealth. I never really thought about her wealth aspect until now. Because my mind is so blown by the donations coming in for the 35mm master of Sita Sings the Blues.

Folks, you are kind and generous beyond my dreams. So far over $13,000 have come in. Some is from people I know in real life, but most is from people I’ve never met, mere electronic impulses from other synapses in this great hive-mind we call the Internet. I’m sitting here in awe and disbelief. I’m so grateful, so touched, so dazzled my little pea-brain can’t quite handle it. So it’s time for me to envision this as divine and offer thanks.

I thank all of you, I thank the Internets, I thank the Universe, I thank Laxmi.

The lab making the 35mm print master of Sita Sings the Blues has been delayed receiving the requisite film stock, due to a delivery error. That means they can’t print the final reel - with the credits - until Monday. And that means I don’t have to render the credits until Sunday. Which means anyone who wants their name in the credits still has until 10pm Sunday January 27 to make a donation! All donors will be thanked in the credits, but donors of $1K or more get a credit of their choice (Key Grip, Caterer, etc.) in a larger font.

We need some VOICE EXTRAS for a last-minute crowd recording for Sita Sings the Blues. If you’ve got an authentic accent from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or anywhere else in South Asia, or even Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia or Indonesia (all of which have Ramayana traditions) and can come to a recording studio in Manhattan this Thursday Dec. 20 around 7pm, please email ASAP. No $, but you’ll get a credit in the film. nina underscore paley at yahoo (dot com).

One of the most frequent questions I hear about Sita Sings the Blues - from desis, no less - is “Who is that red dude on the goat? Is that Satan?”

This is Agni, people. The Vedic god of fire! God of priests and Priest of Gods! I know he’s not worshipped much these days, but he was a big deal back in Valmiki’s time. When Sita enters the fire, Agni carries her right back out, unscathed.

Agni’s vehicle is the ram. I screwed up by putting him on a male goat, rather than a male sheep, which I learned is what a ram is while researching this post. Oops. Although he’s sometimes depicted riding a chariot pulled by goats, so it’s sort of a compromise. But he’s still Agni. He’s got two heads, one for the creative, useful power of fire and one for its out-of-control destructiveness. He’s got multiple arms. He’s red.

He’s Agni.

I’m almost finished animating Sita Sings the Blues. I haven’t been posting images of the latest scenes, based on my own misadventures in love, so here’s one for ya. It depicts “Nina” months after being dumped by her husband by email, while similar events are analyzed by a shadow puppet voiced by Manish Acharya. Because the film is now 80 minutes long, I am omitting a song. I was going to have a composer sweeten it up and make it more pop-y, but I kind of like it as is (I “made” it myself! Thanks iTunes and Audio Hijack Pro!). It is about what everyone asks compulsively when their love fails. You won’t hear it in the film, it’s a ninapaley.com exclusive!

Very Similar to how sausages are made.