Monthly Archives: September 2012
Sacred Tibetan Sand Mandala Ceremony This Week at the LA County Museum
Los Angeles: Performing a sacred sand mandala religious ceremony, which is sponsored by The Drepung Loseling Phukhang Monastery in South India, are Tibetan Buddhist monks at the Los Angeles County Museum.
From September 11, 2012 until the closing ceremony on September 15th, these monks will be performing the ritual of the sand mandala.
Monks who have performed these same rituals indicate that they are honoring the gods of the underworld who are depicted in the artwork of the mandala. In doing so, they release a “blessing” of these gods into the region in which they are performing the mandala, into the homes of those who take the blessed sand home, and into the waters in which the sand is poured out.
Source Sacred Tibetan Art Sand Mandala Painting – Events Calendar | County of Los Angeles Public Library.
They’re Back in Pasadena! Tibetan Buddhist Monks to Perform Another Sand Mandala at Pacific Asia Museum
Pasadena, CA. The Pacific Asia Museum is welcoming the Buddhists monks from Drepung Loseling Phukhang Khangsten to perform their religious sand mandala ceremony from September 5-9, 2012.
The Drepund Loseling Phukhang Khangsten Monastery used to be home to 12,000 monks. It is a sub-monastery of the Drepung Loseling Monastery now.
The mandala ceremony includes chanted mantras and music. The “artwork” is a depiction of a deity or deities or, god or gods. In blessing or consecrating the artwork to this god or gods and then releasing the “blessed” sand upon the mandala’s deconstruction, it is intended that the essence of this god or gods will accompany the sand and release its essence in the environment in which it is located.
They also will release some of the “consecrated” sand into the moving water where all living beings worldwide will be “blessed”.
Source www.pacificasiamuseum.org
Europe’s a soft touch for the world’s most dangerous terrorist – Telegraph
Europe’s a soft touch for the world’s most dangerous terrorist – Telegraph.
The world’s most dangerous man is an Iranian, and the head of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He is Qassem Suleimani. He works closely with Hizbollah and has mastermind mass murder in dozens of countries.
If Iran are allowed to build a nuclear device, it is one Suleimani and his terrorist groups will have access to.
However, in Europe Hizbollah has charitable status. The European Union does not recognise Hizbollah as a terrorist organisation. Therefore, Hizbollah are able raise millions in Europe and recruit in European universities. When confronted with this, EU officials asked for the “tangible evidence” for Hizbollah’s terrorist activities.
The head of Hizbollah has admitted that if they were placed on the European terrorist list it would “destroy Hizbollah”, by drying up their finances.
Iran sends elite troops to aid Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria – Telegraph
Iran sends elite troops to aid Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria – Telegraph.
Western Intelligence agencies have reported that Iran have sent elite troops to help Assad’s regime in Syria. They claim the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sanctioned the sending of 150 of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Syria is Iran’s closest ally in the region and the Iranians do not want to see the Assad regime fall.
Assad has enabled Iran to ship arms, supplies and equipment to Lebanon to help Hizbollah maintain it’s aggression against Israel.
It’s Official: Joel Silver Buys Historic Venice Post Office For Company HQ – Deadline.com
Back in June, Joel Silver inked a 12-film distribution deal with Universal Pictures a month after he ended his 25-year relationship at Warner Bros. At the time, we told you the Matrix and Sherlock Holmes producer made a pitch to the Venice Neighborhood Council to purchase the 1939-built U.S. Post Office on Windward Circle. Now that deal has been completed, with the facility to become the new home of Silver Pictures once restoration and renovations are completed sometime in 2014. The building was constructed as part of the Federal Works Progress Administration and is the latest historical structure purchased by Silver, who bought the Frank Lloyd Wright-built Storer House. “As a longtime preservationist of architecture, I’m thrilled to move forward with the restoration and renovation of the former Venice Post Office,” said Silver. “While we are still in the very early stages of the process, I am committed to the rehabilitation of the building and its unique WPA features and the restoration of the treasured Edward Biberman ‘Story of Venice’ mural. I am also committed to being a good neighbor in the Venice community, whether through providing public access to the space or in developing programs for the community related to film, art and architecture.”
Related: EXCLUSIVE: Joel Silver Going Indie And Making 12-Film Distribution Deal With Universal For Post-Warner Bros Producing
Tibetan Monks Perform 2nd Sand Mandala Ceremony in Middle of US in 1 Week
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence Kansas.
Not far from the geographical center of the contiguous United States which is located in Lebanon, Kansas, are Tibetan Buddhist monks.
These monks are from the same monastery (Drepung Gomang Monastic College) in India who performed a sand mandala in Kansas City earlier this week.
Their intent is to release world peace.
The mandala depicts a deity or deities, by creating and releasing the mandala, they indicate that it honors the deity or deities which in turn blesses the region.
Two mandalas in a week in Kansas, in the center of the United States… lose dry close to the IHOP International House of Prayer Christian community.
Source Tibetan Cultural Events at KU | Programs | Spencer Museum of Art.
Fashion Week Parties Swarm New York City
If you weren’t at a fashion party last night, well, you missed out on all the fun. With New York Fashion Week kicking off today, every stylish guy and gal in the city seemed to be toasting, speechifying, air-kissing and posing for pictures at a slew of fashion fetes last night to inaugurate the big week ahead.
Du Jour, the latest glossy magazine to hit newsstands, feted its debut issue with a party hosted by cover star Christy Turlington and photographer Bruce Weber. Held at Capitale, the party drew the likes of Russell Simmons, Amar’e Stoudemire, Hoda Kotb and model Hilary Rhoda.
New York’s revamped The Cut, which officially debuted August 13, also threw itself a launch party on the rooftop of the NoMad Hotel, attended by Nigel Barker, Coco Rocha, Lindsay Ellingson and Yigal Azrouel.
Farther uptown, shoe designer Brian Atwood — recently reprimanded for his overly sexy shoe ads — threw a party celebrating the opening of his new Madison Avenue store, attended by pals Rachel Zoe, Michelle Trachtenberg, Heidi Klum, Ryan Lochte and Candice Swanepoel (star of the aforementioned ads).
There were also ceremonies honoring some of fashion’s greatest: the Fashion Institute of Technology presented Oscar de la Renta with the 2012 Couture Council Award for Artistry at a luncheon earlier in the day (Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour were by his side) and the 9th Annual Style Awards crowned Carolina Herrera the Designer Of The Year that evening at Lincoln Center (Katie Holmes did the honors).
And that doesn’t even include SPIN and Refinery29’s party across the river in Brooklyn, the launch of the latest fashion tome, “Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex and Disco” (Lopez was a friend of Karl Largerfeld) and the splashy red carpet premiere of “Boardwalk Empire” which drew the Hollywood crowd.
It was hard to be in multiple places at once, but the most seasoned partygoers managed to hit several events each: Iman and Rachel Roy, for example, showed their faces at both the Style Awards and Brian Atwood’s fete and Kim Kardashian wowed in a dramatic cutout dress at both the Brian Atwood store and Du Jour’s launch.
As for us? We headed to Williamsburg for Refinery29’s bash and stayed put.
Check out last night’s party snaps… and just envision the hangovers everyone’s nursing today. Happy first day of Fashion Week, y’all!
via Fashion Week Parties Swarm New York City (PHOTOS)
Kanye West raps about Kim Kardashian’s sex tape
How charming. Kanye West is proud of his “perfect bitch” Kim Kardashian and her sex tape.
TMZ has heard West’s new single “Clique,” in which he references his girlfriend’s infamous sex tape from 2007.
West raps: “Eat breakfast at Gucci. My girl a superstar all from a home movie.”
If there’s any doubt who Yeezy could be rapping about, consider the title of Kardashian’s sex tape: “Kim Kardashian Superstar.”
West is a “self-described porn connoisseur,” according to TMZ, which also notes that Kardashian credits her initial fame to the film.
What a perfect pair.
more at: Kanye West raps about Kim Kardashian’s sex tape – NYPOST.com
Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland discusses his infamous “little pig” voicemail
Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland has talked for the first time about his infamous 2007 voice mail in which he called her “a rude, thoughtless, little pig” — saying he often speaks like that “because he’s frustrated.”
Ireland, the 16-year-old daughter of Baldwin and Kim Basinger, thinks the incident — which created a viral scandal and prompted Baldwin to temporarily lose visitation rights — was blown wildly out of proportion.
“The only problem with that voice mail was that people made it out to be a way bigger deal than it was,” she tells Page Six Magazine, out today. “He’s said stuff like that before just because he’s frustrated.
more at Alec Baldwin’s daughter Ireland discusses his infamous “little pig” voicemail – NYPOST.com.
MODERN-DAY EXORCISM IN COLOMBIA PHOTO GALLERY
Irma Beatriz, 46, who claims to be possessed by spirits, participates in an exorcism ritual performed by Hermes Cifuentes in La Cumbre, Valle, Colombia. Cifuentes, who is known as “Brother Hermes”, says he has performed more than 35,000 exorcism rituals in the past 25 years.
more atModern-day exorcism in Colombia photo gallery – NYPOST.com.
Christians fight for rights at work in European court – Home News – UK – The Independent
Christians fight for rights at work in European court – Home News – UK – The Independent.
Four Christians who faced disciplinary action in their respective jobs have taken their cases to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to argue their cases.
Two of the cases involve the right to wear crosses at work, another involves a marriage counsellor who lost his job after expressing reluctance at giving sex therapy to gay couples, and the final case, a registrar who would not perform civil partnerships for same-sex couples.
The four have delivered their cases to the court, arguing their right to religious freedom is a stake. The landmark case will have consequences for future cases in the UK, and Europe.
Furthermore, a top British QC has said that Christians should, “leave their beliefs at home or get another job”. However, some Christians feel there is a different set of standards for Muslims, with employers adapting dress codes to accommodate the headscarf for female employees, for example.
The European Court is expected to give it’s verdict shortly.
EU funding Orwellian artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour” – Telegraph
The European Union has undertaken a five year research program to develop computer programmes which will be able to profile entire nations. “Project Indect” will use artificial intelligence to build “agents” capable of detecting “abnormal behaviour” on the internet.
Project Indect’s website says its main objectives include “to develop a platform for the registration and exchange of operational data, acquisition of multimedia content, intelligent processing of all information and automatic detection of threats and recognition of abnormal behaviour or violence”.
It talks of the “construction of agents assigned to continuous and automatic monitoring of public resources such as: web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p [peer-to-peer] networks as well as individual computer systems, building an internet-based intelligence gathering system, both active and passive”.
Project Indect has received nearly £10 million in funding from the British taxpayer, and has many civil liberty groups worried. With Shami Chakrabarti of the human rights group ‘Liberty’ describing such mass surveillance of a country a “sinister step”, but doing so on a European scale “positively chilling”.
Dalai Lama given authority in Pasadena
Arthur Glasser, Professor Emeritus questions the authority given to the Dalai Lama when given the key to the city of Pasadena.