Patch.com | Marin County Gets Another Smug Reprieve from Housing Quotas Patch.com ... Will wrote at the time, a Baedeker guide to a desolate region, the monochromatic inner landscape of persons whose life is consumption, of goods and salvations, and whose moral makeup is the curious modern combination of hedonism and earnestness. |
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Marin County Gets Another Smug Reprieve from Housing Quotas - Patch.com
Londoners have strong opinions on visitors to the capital, but what do they make of us and our city? Isabelle Aron finds out. Portraits Andy Parsons
Tourists have a bit of a bad rep in this city. But for all the (selfie) stick we give them, theyre a huge part of London life. Want to know why Covent Gardens so damn busy? Because 19.88 million people from overseas came to London in 2016, making it the second most visited city in the world. (Bangkok scooped the top spot, but it does have tropical beaches nearby.)
People have long flocked to London for its hedonism, shopping and culture. (In 1900, the Charing Cross Turkish Baths complete with a chiropodist was a hotspot for visitors.) Tourists are as much a part of the city as locals.
We weary Londoners take so much of our brilliant city for granted. We try desperately to avoid tourist traps and barely bat an eyelid at the views as we rush along the South Bank. But tourists see things with fresh eyes, appreciating all the stuff we forget to. They celebrate the things that give London its identity from Beefeaters and double-decker buses to amazing parks and free museums. Plus, they bring a huge amount of cash into the capital (11.9 billion last year, to be exact).
So forget the stereotypes about escalator etiquette and giant rucksacks on the tube weve spent years having our say about tourists. Now its time to turn the tables. We headed to Londons biggest landmarks to find out what tourists had to sayabout us and our city.
Perhaps most surprisingly, none of them seemed tothink that Londoners were rude, although maybe they were just being polite. Either way,speaking to visitors highlighted how lucky we are to live in such a vibrant city. Tourists clearly have a lot of love for London so its timewe started showing them some back. Even when theyre standing on the wrong sideof the escalator
Is London how you expected it to be?
Im from New York, so I have high standards for cities and Im like, Wow! Im really impressed with London.
Got any big plans while youre here?
Were going to Sketch tonight I think thats a must-do. I want to check out the bars in east London because the vibe is like Brooklyn.
Have you found Londoners rude?
Its hard to top the rudeness of New Yorkers.
What about our public transport? Does it measure up to New Yorks?
We took the subway. I was surprised by how narrow the cars are. I figured it would be a bigger, er, tube.
How does London compare with Buenos Aires?
London is less crowded, much less noisy. Weve walked around the sights like St Pauls Cathedral and it seems quiet to us.
Is the city what you expected?
I was expecting more big buildings, very tall buildings, more office buildings. Instead, all the buildings are very low.
Have you seen the Shard? Thats about as tall as our buildings get.
I thought it was going to be taller.
What did you think a stereotypical Londoner was like before you came here?
I used to think Londoners were very closed people, lacking emotion you know, like in Downton Abbey? But when we came here I saw that Londoners like to laugh at themselves. For example, in Trafalgar Square, among the buildings in classic style, we saw the [David Shrigley] thumbs-up sculpture. Its very interesting.
Has London lived up to your expectations?
I think its been better. We cant believe all the museums are free its wonderful. Weve been to the National Gallery three times and wed like to go again.
Have you noticed anything weird here?
The food. Your beans taste sweet to me. In Brazil, beans are one of my favourite lunch dishes, but ours our salty. And there are the same restaurants and chains everywhere Costa, Nero, Starbucks, Pret its weird.
Have you tried fish and chips?
Yes. I love fish and chips but I dont like pie. I dont like that brown sauce.
Gravy?
Yes. Its disgusting.
What have you done so far?
We did the Emirates Air Line and we walked through the O2 Arena. They had some nice restaurants there.
Did you enjoy the Emirates Air Line? Its something Londoners never really do...
Yeah, it was a nice ride.
Youve just eaten at Angus Steakhouse. How was it?
The food was okay. I came here ten years ago after my sister got married. It was better then. Its very salty. Its not like that in Sweden. Our meat is much better.
What have you got planned for your trip?
Weve come to see the Meatloaf musical Im a big fan.
Any surprises here?
The telephone boxes. We got rid of them 20 years ago in Swedenwhen we got mobile phones. We also went on one of those bicycle cab things.
A rickshaw?
Yes. I think its probably a bit dangerous.
Youve just been to Buckingham Palace. Did you enjoy it?
Its smaller than I expected. Its actually a bit underwhelming.
Did you have any ideas of stereotypical Londoners before you came?
I thought: stiff upper lip, prim and proper. Actually, Londoners are warm and friendly.
What do you think of our public transport?
Amazing. In South Africa, our buses are normally stuck on the side of the road not working, and its too dangerous to catch trains. Here its safe to walk around at half-three in the morning.
Found anything a bit odd?
Your self-service tills. You have to put the money in and do it yourself I dont think well ever have that in South Africa, people will fight it.
Inspired to go exploring? Check out Londons top attractions.
Isabelle is deputy features editor at Time Out London. She has a hate-hate relationship with the Northern Line. Follow her on Twitter at @izzyaron
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What do tourists really think of London? We asked them... - Time Out London (blog)
Fresno Bee (blog) | Marin County gets another smug reprieve from housing quotas Fresno Bee (blog) ... Will wrote at the time, a Baedeker guide to a desolate region, the monochromatic inner landscape of persons whose life is consumption, of goods and salvations, and whose moral makeup is the curious modern combination of hedonism and earnestness.. |
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Marin County gets another smug reprieve from housing quotas - Fresno Bee (blog)
By Steve Krause
Ive been sitting here for two days trying to figure out a profound way to start this column that I had a funny feeling I was going to write. And then it dawned on me that there really wasnt a way to express my overall feelings about David Bowie that contained the right amount of intellectual gravitas and dewy-eyed admiration.
Thats because to me, David Bowie was, first, last and always, delightfully daffy. Weird. Willing to go to whatever outrageous lengths necessary willing to take on almost any persona and run with it, whether it was to relieve his boredom or to keep people guessing. Whatever it was, Bowie was game.
And that could be because despite all of his antics, his costumes, his glitter, his whatever else, David (nee Jones) Bowie knew he could get away with it because, beneath it all, the man had talent oozing out of him.
Theres nothing really intellectual about any of that, nor was there anything really intellectual about Bowie. He wasnt Yes or the Moody Blues, or anyone else penning metaphysical meanderings for the masses. He wasnt John Lennon or Bob Dylan, writing music that stood as representative of a generation stuck between hedonism and eternal angst.
He was unique. He gave us androgyny, and when he was tired of that, he gave us something else, whether it was the soul sound of Young Americans, or the Thin White Duke days of Golden Years, or his reincarnated disco king of the Lets Dance era (for which the late Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar).
Stripped of all his definitions, David Bowie wrote, and sang, killer songs. It didnt matter what he looked like or how much cocaine he was ingesting (and apparently it was quite a bit, especially in his emaciated Thin White Duke look).
In whatever iteration Bowie presented himself to the world, there was sure to be great music to go along with it. His early years were full of wonderfully innovative music, from Changes to Space Oddity, to Starman. And when he grew tired of that glam rock persona, he bade farewell to it with his album Diamond Dogs, that contained one of his stone-classics, Rebel, Rebel.
Bowie had the knack of easing out of one role and into another seamlessly. He took a lot of flack in some circles for Young Americans, but even if it represented a radical departure at the time, it was still a good song.
To me, that was Bowies gift to rock n roll. Songs. Some groups made their mark with albums. He did his with songs and not just the ones he sang by himself. He gave Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople All The Young Dudes, and it became a huge smash (and, personally, one of the real thrills of seeing the J. Geils/Ian Hunter doubleheader last August was listening to that song, which closed the opening set).
His collaborations with Iggy Pop made him better and his protege famous.
He went into the studio one day with Freddie Mercury and Queen, ostensibly to record another song. Next thing you know, they were collaborating on Under Pressure, one of the real strong eighties songs.
He even sang with Bing Crosby. As the story goes, he and Der Bingle were to do a Christmas show (which, ironically, was wrapped up about two days before Crosby collapsed and died of a heart attack after playing 18 holes of golf). The plan was to sing a duet of The Little Drummer Boy, except that Bowie hated the song. So, a counterpointed tune was written for him that became the Peace on Earth part of a song that is now one of the staples of the Christmas season.
Bowie went through several other phases during his career, and they always ended up yielding signature tunes, whether Fame, Ashes to Ashes, and my personal favorite, Heroes.
Bowie was more fortunate than many of the heavyweights among the circles in which he traveled. John Lennon was murdered at the age of 40. George Harrison died of cancer at 59. Through the last 30 years, weve seen so many of our childhood rock idols cut down by some combination of bad living and natural causes. Frank Zappa anybody? Chris Squire? Jerry Garcia? The list is long and there are too many names to mention.
Bowie died of cancer Sunday night at the age of 69. And while that might be too much for some to comprehend, when you see how some of these people including Bowie lived, you wonder how its possible theyve lasted as long as they have. Keith Richards? David Crosby?
Bowies musical legacy is writing a string of tremendous songs that, when you line them up and play them back-to-back-to-back on Spotify, as one of my friends said the other night, youre gobsmacked by how great he really was.
He also added an element of risk and campiness to the genre that has served it well over the years. How many times has Madonna reinvented herself? Do you suppose she thought of Bowie the king of reinvention every time she launched another incarnation? How about Boy George? Do you think hed have ever seen the light of day were it not for Bowie?
Think of all the rock n roll acts that were long on camp if not always talent. All of them can thank David Bowie for making that possible. Every time I saw Twisted Sister on MTV in the 1980s, all I could think about was how proud Bowie must have been to see that.
In typical Bowie fashion, he left us with one more bit of bizarre theater by which to remember him. If you havent already seen it, look up the Lazarus video on YouTube. Itll haunt you.
The journey is over for Major Tom, regrettably. But what a trip it was.
Steve Krause can be reached at skrause@itemlive.com.
Originally posted here:
It's an unlikely encounter, but popular comedian and provocative activist Russell Brand met this week with acclaimed Oxford professor and Christian apologist Alister McGrath to discuss the question 'Is there any point in God?'
The pair met for a wide-ranging, reflective conversation for Brand's podcast Under the Skin,in which Brand meets guests from academia, pop culture and the arts to explore 'what's beneath the surface of people we admire, of the ideas that define our time, of the history we are told'.
As an Anglican priest, molecular biologist and Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University, McGrath straddles the worlds of both science and religion. He and Brand discussed the pressure points, even though as McGrath sees it, both science and religion should work together to give a 'big picture' of the universe.
The tension between science and religion, he said, has often been 'all about power, who do you trust? Who's the top guy?' McGrath spoke from his own background as a committed atheist growing up in violent, religiously divided Northern Ireland in the 1960s. He had thought: 'If there was no religion, there'd be no religious violence...religion was a malevolent religious force.'
McGrath was once committed to a strict materialism that judged truth only on what could be empirically proved. But, he found, 'the really big things like "What's life all about?", "What is the good?", these lie beyond proof. We've got to go beyond what we can prove to lead meaningful lives.'
Rather than it being a combative debate, the conversation saw Brand frequently resonating with McGrath's ideas. He said he liked the idea of Christ's call to 'die to self' and being 'decentred by something bigger', and the ideas of deeper layers of truth and meaning to reality that McGrath spoke about.
However, Brand also said he was 'sympathetic' with the atheist worldview, given all the wrongs that have been committed in the name of religion. And he noted that in contemporary culture 'science' seems to hold far more value than religion.
While religion seems to be often bound up in power struggles, and demands faith where there is no proof, 'science has solved the problems where mankind most needed them to be solved, dealing with death, disease, fear...Connection, communication, healing...all of these problems seem to have been resolved [by science]', Brand said.
But, he added, a void remains. He said: 'My fear of atheism is that if there is nothing else, the material, the mechanical...then why not materialism? Why not individualism...without a deeper truth, for me there is only hedonism. Only indulgence.'
McGrath agreed, saying: 'What we need is a way of thinking that says no, you're part of something bigger, you need to go figure out what that is and transcend yourself, stop making the universe about you.'
Reflecting on his previous podcast interviews, Brand reflected that many of his guests had shared a common idea, a sense that human beings, particularly in the west, 'need a vision' wearied by the dead-end, cynical, hedonistic worldview of consumer-capitalism.
Again, McGrath agreed, saying that materialism 'boxes us in'.
He said: 'This is an age of fading dreams dying visions...I think we need hope. [But] that's not about being optimistic. No, it's saying things might actually get a lot worse. But there is meaning and once we see that and embrace it we can cope with whatever gets thrown at us and we feel we can do something with it, and there's a bigger vision of which we're a part and it empowers us to keep going even when it seems the world is falling to bits around us.'
The full conversation can be listened to here.
Originally posted here:
Russell Brand meets Oxford Christian apologist Alister McGrath to ... - ChristianToday
Shashi Kapoors character Rajkumar says it best at the end of Jawani Jaanemann from Namak Halaal (1982): Wah wah, wah wah, wah, splendid.
Bappi Lahiris irresistibly catchy tune, beautifully belted out by club song queen Asha Bhosle, is set in movie set heaven. For once, this trip into golden-hued intemperance actually has a context.
Rajkumar is the owner of a hotel that has previously seen performances by black-faced men, women in shiny colour-coordinated clothes and Arjun (Amitabh Bachchan) channeling Peter Sellers from The Party (1968). Rajkumar is unaware that a plot to kill him has been hatched by his manager (Ranjit). It involves a honey trap in the form of Nisha (Parveen Babi), a cabaret artist with dubious dancing skills but estimable seductive powers.
Nisha initially demurs when told that Rajkumar must be liberated from life. But she accepts the assignment and plays hard to get when she lands up at the hotel. When sent a bouquet through loyal waiter and Rajkumars eventual savior Arjun, Nisha spurns the flowers and sends her employer a cactus plant in return.
In the long tradition of men who are not used to being rebuffed, especially when they resemble Shashi Kapoor, Rajkumar is initially puzzled and, when he finally sets eyes on Nisha, gobsmacked.
Who wouldnt be? The dance floor is decorated with glistening golden-hued floral and cacti-inspired props. Nisha is resplendent in a shimmering lam gown and matching accessories, and she teases the drunk Rajkumar with loaded lyrics. The hunter is now the hunted, she informs him as her hands jerk out from her waist in robotic movements.
Parveen Babi wasnt the best dancer of the 1980s, but she was easily one of popular Hindi cinemas stunners. Terpsichorean excellence isnt the point in this unabashed tribute to hedonism in the decade that embraced it.
Babi is as ornamental as the cacti props in Prakash Mehras blockbuster, which is a multi-starrer in the tradition of 80s films but reserves its best lines and scenes for Bachchan. This is the movie with the monologue in which Arjun displays his English speaking skills. Its the one in which Shashi Kapoor stands by like a sport and Smita Patils character submits herself to an icky rain dance song.
Babi has another great moment of seduction in Raat Baaki, in which she is clad in a shiny black gown and sings of the unknown pleasures of the night. Its another smooth and catchy number, superbly rendered by Bhosle, but the bling and cacti are missing.
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Picture the song: Bring out the eyeshades for 'Jawani Jaanemann' from 'Namak Halaal' - Scroll.in
China's ruling Communist Party cannot rest on its laurels in the fight against corruption, President Xi Jinping said ahead of a key party congress later this year where he will cement his grip on power.
Since assuming power in late 2012, Xi has pursued a relentless campaign against corruption, warning that the problem could threaten the party's ability to retain power, though some analysts say he is also taking down political rivals.
The progress made in governing the party since the last party congress held nearly five years ago had been praised by the people, the official Xinhua news agency late on Thursday cited Xi as saying.
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"But we absolutely cannot be self-satisfied and blindly optimistic. Strictly governing the party is still a heavy burden," Xi told a meeting of provincial and ministerial government officials.
"We will forever be on the path of comprehensive, strict governance of the party. One political party, one political authority, it's prospects and fate rest on the support of the people," Xi said.
The comments come days after China's anti-corruption watchdog said the former party boss in the southwestern city of Chongqing, Sun Zhengcai, had been placed under investigation for "suspected serious violations of discipline", a term that can encompass everything from taking bribes to not toeing the party line.
Sun, the latest senior official implicated in the anti-corruption campaign, was once considered a contender for top leadership.
He had been party chief in Chongqing, one of China's most important cities, until an abrupt announcement this month that he had been replaced by Chen Miner, a rising political star close to Xi.
Chen is seen as a potential new member of the party's elite Standing Committee when it is unveiled after a reshuffle at the upcoming congress.
Xi's anti-corruption crackdown has punished more than a million party members, jailed top military figures and retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang, the most senior official toppled for corruption since 1949.
Separately, the official People's Daily warned in a commentary on Friday about corruption in the military, a central theme of Xi's ambitious military modernization program.
"In this era, there is corrosion from the worship of money and hedonism," it wrote, in a piece ahead of next week's 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
"This has dispirited some people's thinking, and depressed their will, drying up their spirits," the paper added.
A strong military needs to have a firm base in the rule of law, it said.
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China's Xi: We Can't Be 'Blindly Optimistic' On Corruption Inside The Communist Party - Newsweek
Sacramento Bee | Marin County gets another smug reprieve from housing quotas Sacramento Bee ... George Will wrote, a Baedeker guide to a desolate region, the monochromatic inner landscape of persons whose life is consumption, of goods and salvations, and whose moral makeup is the curious modern combination of hedonism and earnestness.. |
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Marin County gets another smug reprieve from housing quotas - Sacramento Bee
Canadian band Arcade Fires upcoming album, 'Everything Now,' released on July 28, 2017. AFP Relaxnews picNEW YORK, July 29 Few bands have straddled the divide between indie and mainstream quite like Arcade Fire eclectic in tastes and cerebral in views, yet enjoying rock-star recognition in the industry.
Releasing its first album in four years, the Montreal-based group which has always cast its net wide on instrumentation steps away from the rugged guitar that characterised its hits and heads to the dance floor, infusing its songs with disco.
Everything Now, which came out yesterday, nonetheless keeps the favourite lyrical themes of Arcade Fire introspective takes on modern consumer culture and self-image.
The result is an album that is both dark and full of catchy hooks vital to a band that has become legendary for its live performances. Yet Everything Now is also less consistent than Arcade Fires more conceptual works such as The Suburbs which in 2011 won the Grammy for Album of the Year in a startling first for indie rock.
Everything Now, the groups fifth studio album, starts off with a title track that reconfirms Arcade Fires skill at weaving together diverse influences into a unique but accessible pop song.
Built around a flute sample by the late Cameroonian artist Francis Bebey, the title track is driven by a choral refrain by the New Orleans-based Harmonistic Praise Crusade, as a funky bass and melancholic piano melody work in counter-balance.
Mourning what has passed in the age of universal internet and 24-hour media consumption, frontman Win Butler sings: Every inch of space in your head is filled with the things that you read / I guess youve got everything now.
And every film that youve ever seen / Fills the spaces up in your dreams, he sings.
Daft Punks Thomas Bangalter serves as a producer, bringing a retro electro sound that evokes the robot-clad French electronic duo on Signs of Life, a biting rap about empty hedonism, and the darkly abstract Electric Blue.
Dance music becomes dark and grand
Arcade Fire, masters since the bands inception at crafting a grandiosity around the sound, brings a disconcerting sense of uplift to Creature Comfort, a dance track with an industrial beat about self-hatred and suicide.
God, make me famous / If you cant, just make it painless, Butler sings.
Yet uncharacteristically for Arcade Fire, the album can also become predictable, with Chemistry, Good God Damn and Put Your Money On Me built over minimalist dance rhythms that stay confined. On Peter Pan, the band famed for its sophisticated lyricism takes up a surprisingly obvious metaphor for youth.
Everything Now marks Arcade Fires first album to be fully released by a major label, Columbia, after the band built its career on Merge, the celebrated North Carolina-based indie imprint led by members of Superchunk.
Arcade Fire, which remains loved for its energetic live shows, ahead of the album put on an elaborate set at Barcelonas Primavera Sound festival and on Thursday night played an intimate show to preview the new material at an ornate hall in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn show, livestreamed on Apple Music, caused an online stir when tickets recommended a dress code described awkwardly (and redundantly) as hip and trendy.
Was the guidance a sign that the rockers have finally become part of a ham-handed mainstream? Or maybe it was an elaborate and very indie joke. Arcade Fire denied the fashion advice, quipping on social media that the band members themselves wouldnt be admitted if the code were enforced. AFP
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Arcade Fire takes indie outlook to dance floor - Malay Mail Online
Written by D.N. Jha | Published:July 29, 2017 12:34 am There was a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha over the alleged association of Hindu deities with alcohol. (Express Photo/Ravi Kanojia, File)
I was amused to read in the media that there was a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha over the alleged association of Hindu deities with alcohol. Since the objectionable remarks were expunged, I am not able to refer specifically to the god or to the MP who mentioned him. Our politicians may not be well versed in all our ancient lore specially because and knowledge of the past is not their strong point; but it is not too much to expect that they should have the basic idea of the qualities and activities of the divinities whom they worship and defend. For constraints of space it is not possible to discuss here the traits of all those gods and goddesses who used alcohol, but I would like to draw the attention of readers to only few of them who binged on intoxicating drinks.
In the Vedic texts soma was the name of a god as well as of a plant from which a heady drink of that name was derived and was offered to gods in most of the sacrifices; according to one opinion it was different from another intoxicating drink, sura, which was meant for the common people. Soma was a favourite beverage of the Vedic deities and was offered in most of the sacrifices performed to please gods like Indra, Agni, Varun, Maruts and so on, whose names occur frequently in the Rig Veda. Of them Indra, who is known by 45 epithets and to whom the largest number of Rig Vedic hymns 250 out of more than a thousand are dedicated, was the most important. A god of war and wielder of thunderbolt, rowdy and adulterous, potbellied from excessive drinking, he is described in Vedic passages as a great boozer and dipsomaniac; he is said to have drunk three lakes of soma before slaying the dragon Vritra. Like Indra, many other Vedic gods were soma drinkers but they do not seem to have been tipplers. Agni, for example, may have drunk moderately though a detailed analysis will show that teetotalism was unknown to the Vedic gods and drinking was an essential feature of sacrifices performed in their honour. In a ritual performed at the beginning of the Vajapeya sacrifice, a collective drinking took place in which a sacrificer offered five cups to Indra as well as 17 cups of soma and 17 cups of sura to 34 gods.
Like the Vedic texts, the epics provide evidence of the use of intoxicating drinks by those who enjoy godly status in Hindu religion. In the Mahabharata, for example, Sanjay describes Krishna (an incarnation of the god Vishnu) and Arjuna in the company of Draupadi and Satyabhama (wife of Krishna and an incarnation of Bhudevi), exhilarated by Bassia wine. In the Harivamsa, which is an appendix to the Mahabharata, Balarama, an avatara of Vishnu, is described as inflamed by plentiful libations of kadamba liquor dancing with his wife. And in the Ramayana, Rama, an avatara of Vishnu, is described as embracing Sita and making her drink pure maireya wine. Sita, incidentally, seems to have a great fascination for wine: While crossing the river Ganga, she promises to offer her rice cooked with meat (shall we call it biryani!) and thousands of jars of wine, and while being ferried across the Yamuna, she says that she will worship the river with a thousand cows and 100 jars of wine when her husband accomplishes his vow. The use of alcohol by the gods is not confined to the Vedic and epic traditions. In the Puranic mythology, Varuni, who emerged from the samudramanthana (churning of the ocean), is the Indian goddess of wine; Varuni was also the name of a variety of strong liquor.
The Tantric religion is characterised by the use of five makaras madya (wine), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (gesture) and maithuna (sexual intercourse) and these were offered to gods, though only the followers of Vamachara were entitled to the use of panchamakara (five Ms). Much can be said about the Tantric affiliation of the goddess Kali and her various manifestations but it should suffice to refer to a goddess called Chandamari, a form of Kali and described in an 11th century text as using human skulls as drinking vessels. In the Kularnavatantra, an early medieval text, it is stated that wine and meat are the symbols of Shakti and Shiva respectively and their consumer is Bhairava. Not surprisingly, liquor was offered to Bhairava in early India. The practice has continued in our own times and one can see this at Bhairava temple in Delhi and at Kala Bhairava temple in Ujjain. According to a practice current in Birbhum, a gigantic vessel of wine is brought in front of the deity called Dharma who is carried in a procession to the house of a Sundi, who belongs to the wine-making caste. In both Tantric and tribal religions, the divinities are often associated with alcohol in various ways. These few examples cited here clearly show that some gods and goddesses were fond of alcohol and their worship would remain incomplete without it.
It may be pointed out that there were a large variety of intoxicating drinks, nearly 50 types of them, available in ancient India. The use of alcohol by men was quite common, despite occasional dharmashatric objections in the case of Brahmins; and instances of drinking among women were not rare. Buddhist Jataka literature mentions many instances of drunkenness. Sanskrit literature is replete with references to intoxicating drinks. The works of Kalidasa and other poets speak frequently of alcoholic drinks. Ancient Indians were bon vivant in a sense. If their gods were fond of good things of life, our politicians need not be offended by the divine hedonism. Prohibitionists should be considerate: Dont forget, gods are watching!
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | 'Atomic Blonde' proves a gritty and glamorous but garbled Cold War spy thriller Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Welcome to the world of David Leitch's Atomic Blonde, where the raw brutality of East Berlin crashes into the neon hedonism of the West with punk, sex and sleaze. The film cuts between Berlin and London as Lorraine acts as narrator and protagonist, ... |
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Humiliated. Mocked. Shamed. These are the words being used to describe the young women who have ended up on a Facebook page called Magaluf Walk of Shame. The holidaymakers have beenphotographed and videoedwalking along the streets of the Spanish town in broad daylight, in various states of undress.
The assumption, made by the creators of the Facebook group, social media and various tabloidsis that these women have been 'caught out' in a mortifying situation: the walk home that follows a one night stand or random sexual encounter.
The whole thing is dripping in shame.There is an overwhelming sense that these young women (even though some men are also featured, it is naturally the women's photos that have gone viral)should now, in the cold light of day, regret every second of that alcohol-fuelled hedonism.
But this narrative of humiliation is in direct contrast to the pictures themselves, which generally show the women laughing andsmiling as they stroll home in the sunshine, carrying their shoes.
Sat in front of our computersorlooking at our phones, we have no idea in what context the photos were taken, whether they follow a one-night stand, snoozeon the beach, or all-night dancing session.We dont even know who the pictures were taken by - it could be friends who submitted the pictures as a joke, or strangers who didn't ask permission to publicly share the images.
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Why there's nothing scandalous about a Magaluf 'walk of shame' - Telegraph.co.uk
Residents of a Markham, Ont. neighbourhood are saying boo, not moo, to a giant silver cow statue recently erected on stilts outside their homes.
The $1.2-million chrome cow towers over a tiny semicircle-shaped parkette on Charity Crescent in Markham, a community north of Toronto, where its clearly visible from the windows of 19 homes surrounding it. The carefully sculpted, realistic-looking cow has a large, thorny-looking wreath of metal maple leaves around its neck, and is meant to pay tribute to a prize-winning cow raised by one of the areas historic founders.
The cow was built earlier this month, and its already drawing a trickle of tourism from people looking to see it.
But the unexpected, unwelcome addition to the parkette has locals angry, with some particularly annoyed that theyre on the wrong end of the bovine monstrosity.
We have a perfect view of the cows butt, one woman told CTV Toronto.
Homeowner Danny Da Silva cited numerous potential issues with the cow, such as neighbourhood aesthetics, safety and its potential effect on property values.
He added that its bizarre to see a giant chrome cow idol in the middle of the Cathedraltown neighbourhood, which is named for the nearby Cathedral of the Transfiguration that towers over the area.
Weve all seen The Ten Commandments, and know what the raising of a calf is, and its just not a good thing, especially in Cathedraltown, he said.
The 1956 film featuring Charleton Heston includes a scene in which Moses Israelites, during a period of hedonism, fashion a giant gold calf to worship. Moses shows up in the middle of their party and smashes the freshly written 10 Commandment tablets upon seeing how far his people have strayed from God.
The Markham cow was donated by the heirs of the late Stephen Roman, a former mining tycoon and Slovakian immigrant who financed the construction of the nearby cathedral. Roman also owned Brookview Tony Charity, the prize-winning cow on which the statue is based. The park where the statue was built is on Charity Crescent, which was named for the cow.
The City of Markham is pleased to announce the installation of a statue Brookview Tony Charity to commemorate an internationally award-winning Holstein cow that was raised on Romandale Farm, says the inscription on a plaque included with the statue.
Statue supporter Ed Shiller suggests Cathedraltown wouldnt exist without the successes of Stephen Roman and his cow, Charity.
Charity really represents a significant part of the history of this community, Shiller said. Its animals like Charity that enabled this community to be built.
Coun. Alan Ho, who represents the Cathedraltown area, says he seconded a motion to accept the statue as an art donation to the city. He said the donor explicitly wanted the statue built in the parkette on Charity Crescent, although he acknowledges that the location may be a problem.
City council notes show the statue proposal was accepted on Apr. 13, 2016, with the caveat that the donor be responsible for alternate installation if the stilt platform is not feasible.
But resident Danny Da Silva says hed prefer to see the statue put out to pasture altogether.
Moooove the cow, he said. Lets find a new home for it.
With files from CTV Toronto
Excerpt from:
'A perfect view of the cow's butt': Neighbours cry boo over giant ... - CTV News
PERMANENCE by Cyd Casados (Libby Brodie Productions). At Tarragon Extraspace. To August 6. $27-$32. 416-531-1827. See listing. Rating: NN
This tumultuous relationship two-hander from London-based playwright Cyd Casados explores the emotional space between sex and love, hedonism and partnership, through shifting power dynamics in a fiery affair.
Rebecca (Samantha Michelle) is a young doctor completing a residency at a large metropolitan hospital when she picks up Steve (Ludovic Hughes), a painter whose art career is just beginning to take off. They have sex in his small apartment/studio, and afterwards she reveals that she regularly sleeps with other people behind her partners back (I just love fucking, she remarks dryly).
They carry on this affair with knowledge of each others promiscuity increasingly becoming a way of needling each other, but with Steve seeming to be more on the side of enduring rather than enjoying the arrangement. Things appear ripe for change when Rebecca reveals shes left her partner, and moves in with Steve to become his assistant following an incident at the hospital, but even as their lives become emotionally and materially intertwined, the cat-and-mouse, refuse-to-commit emotional games continue.
Despite the unconventional relationship under examination, the play never really gets that interesting, and one of the most potent moments when Rebecca shows up unexpectedly after making a big mistake at the hospital isnt very well directed (by Hannah Price) or acted. The scene is played too quickly, Michelles tears and panic are not convincing, and her numb-to-the-world character isnt developed in a way to elicit much sympathy. Overall, its unclear why Steve is so enamoured with her, which undercuts much of the hand-wringing and agonizing at the heart of the show.
Promotional materials say the play is set in the late 1990s, and this is reinforced with choice blasts of radio hits during scene transitions including Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Arrested Development and Madonna, but nothing in the main action save for the absence of smartphones takes advantage of this nostalgia, which is a bit of a head-scratcher and a big missed opportunity.
For this play to really work, the audience needs to connect more with Rebecca, in terms of motivation, backstory and, ultimately, likeability. Understanding whether she really is just chasing pleasure at every turn or rather fighting some inner demons would raise the stakes of what currently seems like an extended lovers quarrel.
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Every person has their own definition of hedonism, but we could all agree it implies indulging in some of the finer things in life: food, wine, art, and other various delights.
Now imagine all of those united in a single gorgeous setting wouldn't that make for a perfect evening? Every pleasant experience becomes more memorable when combined with enchanting ambiance and a handful of like-minded bons vivants, so instead of imagining, it's best to venture out and seek opportunities to enjoy everything life has to offer. The Adriatic is a treasure trove of hedonistic oases scattered all over the coast and the islands, and you'll have plenty of chances to spend your summer evenings immersed in an amazing atmosphere, delving into gourmet wonders and appreciating the local art and culture in company of other guests.
The best example of this was the recent opening of the exhibition of Damir Vrdeljak Mandeta in the Heritage Hotel Martinis Marchi. Located in Maslinica on the island of olta, the luxurious hotel has a home in a gorgeous historic castle, its tranquil ambiance providing a perfect setting for a display of charming maritime-themed sculptures.
A prolific artist, writer and sailor, Mandeta blends together his passions seamlessly. His sculptures are made out of two most rudimentary materials metal and wood, merged together in shapes that evoke images of ships preparing to sail away toward the open sea. They are solid, straightforward and humble, and yet they have a certain finesse to them, a form that escapes narrow defining and allows the viewer to create his own associations.
As Mandeta uses parts of old, run-down boats to make his sculptures, he's literally making it possible for them to live forever. He searches for material on beaches and bays, looks for inspiration in little local ports. He once stated that the magic of creating art continues to exist even after the pieces are finished, as his thoughts always keep searching for a new path, a new colour or a new form. "Nature provides an eternal lesson on how to make other people happy, as beauty surrounds us all. Sometimes it's necessary to scratch under that invisible glow to let the beauty come out to the surface. I see a piece of wood or metal, and I instantly know what the finished sculpture is going to look like", the artist said.
The title of the exhibition, Refuli, means gusts of wind in Croatian. It'd be hard to come up with a better name for the array of darling sculpted boats and ships, whose imaginary sails wait to be filled with fresh breaths of Adriatic air. Before they gently glide away, the sculptures will spend the summer safely moored at Martinis Marchi as part of their seasonal art programme if you missed the opening night, there's still time to go see the lovely exhibition.
The authentic atmosphere of the historic castle overlooking the marina perfectly pairs with maritime motives that are currently embellishing the halls. If someone asked you what boats make you think of, one of the first things to come to mind might be freedom, a desire underlying all our travels and adventures. That's what we all strive for when we manage to get away from work and other everyday troubles in order to spend a couple of weeks on the coast a liberating, all-encompassing sense of freedom. There's no better way to express that than through art, and there's no better opportunity to enjoy such an experience than resting your eyes on Mandeta's work. Martinis Marchi awaits.
The rest is here:
Immortal Sails: Damir Vrdoljak Mandeta at Martinis Marchi - Total Croatia News
You would never guess, given how texturally rich and nuanced it is, that Pickwicks LoveJoys comes as the result of a back-to-the-drawing-board approach, quickly written and recorded, but thats exactly the case.
We released our first record, Cant Talk Medicine, in 2013, vocalist Galen Disston tells the Straight in a call to his Seattle home. We toured it for about a year and a half, and came home and recorded about 30 or 40 songs. And then we scrapped em.
That material, he explains, was a little more garage than their previous releasenot fully punk, but a lot of that early Northwest-influenced, raw, rock n roll, R&B stuff. Initially, we kinda thought that was the direction we were going to go, but a lot of that music was a little too masculine-feeling, and us trying too hard, I think, to be something we werent.
Almost everything you hear on LoveJoys, Disston says, is new creations that we took not fully formed into the studio to work with award-winning Seattle producer Erik Blood. We wrote the album in about three months, and three weeks later it was recorded and finished.
Partially thanks to Bloods keen ear, the album breaks Pickwick out of the 1960s mould of Cant Talk Medicine.
I think we were trying to find a way out of the soul tag that wed been pigeonholed withneo-soul throwback or retro or whatever. Erik helped ease us into the 1970s. He made such a cool universe in his studio for us, and the songs were this kind of separate escapist universe, too.
Different listeners will hear different influences. The Rickshaws owner and booker Mo Tarmohamed, bringing Pickwick back to town to celebrate the venues upcoming eighth anniversary, hears Prince, Macy Gray, and even Talking Heads and Jimi Hendrix, though he notes the album is so beautifully crafted that all of the musical elements work perfectly.
But theres also a notable disco influence, a form being rehabilitated since the disco sucks backlash of the late 1970s and 80s, which even Disston took part in.
I was pretty prejudiced against disco and even 70s soul, Disston admits, like with the saxophones on Whats Going On. But something happened to me in the last couple of years.
He began exploring left-field disco pioneers like Arthur Russell, and learned to appreciate the amazing restraint that Marvin Gaye shows in his vocal stylings.
It just sort of eased me up, Disston says.
In Time features an obvious riff on Andrea Trues More More More. (And even the drums are pretty ABBA, Disston adds.) The strutting bass lines that kick off Turncoat suggest a grooved-out Stayin Alive, and the vocal harmonies are pure Bee Gees, circa 1978.
And thats where the real difference with Cant Talk Medicine comes to light: while songs like Hacienda Motel foregrounded Disstons charisma and strength as a lead singer, the layered approach to songcraft on LoveJoys allows him to lean back into the sound.
After touring the first record, I kind of felt the effects of singing my balls off every night for six nights a week, he says. Cant Talk Medicine is kind of exhausting for me to listen to because Im singing so hard, if that makes any sense.
The ethereal escapes and quasi hedonism of LoveJoys are a welcome relief and may just prevent Pickwick from being pigeonholed again.
Up to this point weve been known mainly as a live act, Disston acknowledges. Our first record, I dont think, succeeded in establishing us as more than that. This was an opportunity to make a product you can listen to, something that can have a life in your car.
Pickwick plays the Rickshaw Theatre on Saturday (July 29).
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Seattle's Pickwick dodges neo-soul tag on discofied LoveJoys - Straight.com
It's strange how six months can feel like six exhausting years when they've produced nothing but a string of nonsensical superlatives.
As Donald Trump celebrates the first eighth of his ridiculous "amazing, stupendous, unsurpassed" presidency, we mere mortals are left to ponder what we have learned. Well, here are some takeaways:
Facts do not matter to this White House. Trump has publicly lied about important matters more than 100 times since becoming president. These are not just equivocations open to dispute; they're flat-out, verifiable untruths. For example, he said he has accomplished more and signed more bills into law than any previous president. Not true. His staff follows his lead, disseminating statements that are lies.
Trump not only failed to drain the swamp, he deepened and widened it. He has filled top posts with Wall Streeters and business cronies, doling out jobs like mints to loyal minions. After he promised not to touch Medicaid, which serves the disabled, poor and elderly in nursing homes, we were introduced to a Trumpcare plan that called for disqualifying 75 million and taking another 22 million off health insurance.
He is a costly public servant. He is on track in his first year to spend more taxpayer money on personal travel than President Barack Obama did in eight. We also pay for security at Trump Tower, his hotels and his golf courses.
Trump does not care that he has the lowest approval rating of any president since polling started (about 70 years). His base loves him even though he has done nothing for them since taking office.
Trump has set the precedent that a president's conflicts of interest do not matter. Refusing to divest himself of his holdings, he has put his son Junior (the one who loves meeting with Kremlin operatives) in charge. His wealthy daughter and son-in-law have offices in the White House. His hotels draw foreign leaders who want to curry favor. Fees at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort have doubled to $200,000.
Getting rid of excessive and overlapping regulations is one thing. Gutting environmental protection and consumer protection regulations as Trump is doing is another. His administration has taken an astonishing number of actions to further the interests of big business to the detriment of Americans who love their parks, want to breathe clean air, drink clean water and buy products that won't hurt their children.
The artful dealmaker has not managed to make any good deals. Even with a GOP-controlled House and Senate, he has not repealed Obamacare. Instead he sabotages it by eliminating advertising, shortening the enrollment period and not enforcing the mandate to buy insurance or pay a tax to keep premiums low. Wages are not increasing. Exporters of American goods and services will be hurt by the lack of free trade he is engineering. No wall. No tax reform. No infrastructure plan.
The number of investigations caused by Trump's inexplicable fondness for Vladimir Putin, the Russian thief, thug and murderer, is unparalleled for a first term. Trump refuses to admit Russia meddled in our elections yet wants a national registry of all Americans' personal information to root out voter fraud the experts say does not exist. Hey, Russia, Trump will make it easy for you to re-elect him.
The United States is no longer the leader of the free world and fighter for human rights in the eyes of our once closest allies. After seeing Trump up close and personal at international meetings, some say openly they may never again trust us.
Trump's misogyny, hedonism, lack of discipline, coarse language, bullying and refusal to read briefing papers or attempt to learn what he doesn't know diminish us. The man who convinced millions to watch him say "You're fired" every week parlayed celebrity into the White House, but the applause is fading.
-- Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may send her email at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
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Ann McFeatters: What we've learned from 6 months of Trump - Columbia Daily Tribune
Every year Deus host a four day festival of art, music and surf, at their temple of enthusiasm in Cangu; this is Nine Foot and Single, 2017!
What started out a small gathering of friends has grown year on year since its inception, becoming one of the most celebrated and well attended single fin carnivals in the world. The event screens films, hosts music and stages several divisions of surf based competition, the most entertaining of which features a mixture of international logging talent and frothing locals on nine foot plus single fins.
We all get thrown out in up to six foot river mouth, high performance wave, and everyone goes crazy and does some shit youll never see anywhere else in the world said Lewie Buddons, of Newcastle.
The evening makes way for the international crowd of revellers to pour Bintang down their gullets and engage in bonding and general hedonism. Heres the super comprehensive after-movie to pick up the rest of the story:
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Nine Foot & Single 2017 The After Movie - Wavelength Magazine
Prefer low-key movies of past to the CGI-bombastic blockbusters? Looking for a string of golden oldies to binge on? Let TV comedian and classic film fanatic Vic Reeves point you to six of the best forgotten gems
The Flying Deuces (1939)
Laurel and Hardy join the French Foreign Legion to forget Ollies spurned marriage proposal. Fine business with smelling salts, mangle and biplane.
Woman in A Dressing Gown (1957)
Classy British kitchen-sink drama pivoting around a torrid domestic love triangle. Yvonne Mitchell shines as the put-upon wife.
Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (1960)
Vics favourite film: Albert Finneys working-class everybloke maintains a precarious work/hedonism balance when responsibility rears its ugly head.
Whistle Down The Wind (1961)
A childrens favourite with Christian allegories from director Bryan Forbes: three kids hide fugitive Alan Bates in a barn, believing him to be Jesus.
Hell Drivers (1957)
DEATH IS AT EVERY BEND! screams the trailer for this punchy tyre-screecher from Zulu director Cy Endfield, with Stanley Baker as a newly recruited extreme trucker.
Villain (1971)
A less-typical colour choice, this thriller (left) has Richard Burton struggling with a cockney accent as a bisexual gangster. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (Porridge) with Godfather actor Al Lettieri.
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What are the best classic films? Vic Reeves reveals his six favourite ... - Radio Times
Jessica Lange in American Horror Story, Francois Arnaud in Midnight, Texas and Anna Paquin in True Blood. Composite: REX/Getty Images/HBO
Ryan Murphy. Shonda Rhimes. Noah Hawley. Equally deserving of a place alongside these architects of modern television is Charlaine Harris perhaps an odd choice, considering the fact that the longtime novelist has never directly gotten her hands in the TV game. But as the writer behind the hot and heavy fantasy novels on which True Blood and the upcoming Midnight, Texas, are based, shes done a lot to shape the current landscape of the supernatural on the small screen. For better and, eventually, for worse her approach to longform storytelling has colored much of what followed True Blood in its genre. And as the next major Harris adaptation touches down on the network airwaves, it can learn from the successes and shortcomings of its enchanted, perpetually horny forebears.
True Blood had the good fortune of arriving during a time when national interest in vampires and their lore had spiked at an all-time high, but the skill with which it sold itself set it apart from a large pack. The hothouse romance between Sookie Stackhouse and vampire hunk Bill Compton fused the supernatural amusements of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a soap opera structure that favored season-long arcs over monster-of-the-week paranormal-procedural fare. But the real secret to the shows success laid in creator Alan Balls undying quest to top the last provocation. He capitalized on the elasticity of magic, a concept that essentially eliminated all narrative restrictions on his over-the-top hedonistic style. The show began with the spotlight on vampires, but their weird universe rapidly grew in size, eventually incorporating werewolves, werepanthers, erotic fairies and parallel dimensions. Whenever things threatened to get stale, Ball could just throw a new occult variable into the equation for added freshness.
This worked like a charm, until it didnt. The hazard of this anything-goes ethos of storytelling, which orients itself around the spectacle of novelty, is that it can only outdo itself so many times before spinning out of control. Unmoored from any laws governing its world, the show lost all sense of grounding and went haywire. Plot twists were freely doled out and undone when they became inconvenient, character traits were established then contradicted, and the supernatural elements eventually lost their luster as well. The shows final years were sloppy and scattershot, a far cry from the inspired lunacy of its sophomore season (also known as the orgy season).
This method of constant reinvention to hold viewer interest motivated the recent anthology boom as well. American Horror Story, for one, followed True Bloods same path, but with a series-long decline in quality condensed to each individual season. By beginning anew with a fresh premise and fresh cast every year, Ryan Murphy gave himself a reset button that could wipe away any and all writerly convolutions with a season finale. As such, every new batch of American Horror Story episodes begins bizarre and thrilling, only to eventually sputter into total incoherence about seven or eight hours in. The anthology structure freed Murphy up to cover more ground in the realm of the supernatural, but more than that, it gave him an escape route.
Other shows have devised ways to make the inevitable muddling of internal logic into a feature rather than a bug. After 12 seasons and 264 episodes, Supernatural is still going strong because its embraced its quirks of continuity to the point that the staggeringly complicated storyline has grown into a joke of its own. To make it work, the shows been forced to retreat into its insular fanbase, but that same core viewership has been devoted and sizable enough to render the show viable seemingly indefinitely. If a shows going to have to occupy a niche, its in that shows best interest to fully ensnare its audience.
Midnight, Texas, is already at a disadvantage. NBCs standards and practices department wont let fly half of what True Blood got away with on HBO, meaning one of supernatural fictions most reliable generators of intrigue and titillation has been taken off the table. But theyve still got plenty of lurid material to hold viewers interest, from psychics to witches to, yes, vampires. Now, the show lives or dies by the extent to which it can control itself while still maintaining that out-of-control feeling. Striking that elusive balance between the illusion of total narrative anarchy and an underlying sense of order requires delicacy and discipline. Historically, those have not been defining traits of Charlaine Harris bustling imagined world, a new series and new creative team means a new lease on serialization. Instead of hooking viewers by striving to do it all, perhaps this series can learn to keep them hooked by doing a few things expertly.
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How True Blood's supernatural hedonism changed genre television - The Guardian