Weirdest News I have Read this Week

What is going on in Japan? Is the country turning on to Cannibalism? Or is this just to attract attention? Judge for yourself after reading this article from www.gawker.com this week. Penis Eating Event Under Investigation This April, Japanese illustrator Mao Sugiyama offered to cook a special meal: the illustrator's surgically removed genitals. The following month, five diners paid the equivalent of US$250 to eat Sugiyama's bait and tackle, served with Italian parsley and garnished with button mushrooms. Approximately 70 people attended the event in Tokyo's Suginami Ward on May 18 to watch five individuals chow down on Sugiyama's cooked privates. While cannibalism is not illegal in Japan per se, health officials in Tokyo are now investigating the event. According to The Mainichi, health officials are investigating to see if any food hygiene laws were broken during the event; however, the event sponsor said that no laws were broken in eating a human body part that was legally removed by a medical institution. The Mainichi does not point out that, like in most countries, it's illegal to sell one's organs in Japan, which puts this meal in gray legal territory. You cannot even sell your own blood (blood donors get free drinks, instead). But, hey, charging people to eat your body parts is cool as long as you don't break hygiene laws? Sounds like a legal cock-up. Note: This news reminds of Philippines soup # 5 made of bull's testicles and phallus.

Just a Question of Love (A French Film)

Here's another award winning film for your viewing pleasure.

This heartwarming French coming-out drama details the difficulties of love between two young gay men, one of whom is able to outwardly express his homosexuality, while the other remains closeted. Laurent, a 23-year-old college student, keeps up appearances and avoids inquiries into his private life by living with his best friend, Carole. The effortless convenience of this situation is shattered, however, when Laurent falls for Cedric, an openly gay man who is proud of his sexuality. Laurent wishes to be able to live that way, but fears the response his conservative parents would have if they knew the truth. By contrast, Cedric introduces Laurent to his supportive mother, who accepts her son as well as his new boyfriend. But although Cedric truly cares for Laurent, he is unable to live a lie, and delivers an ultimatum that will test both Laurent’s courage and the strength of his love.

Top Ten Controversial Films (US) and Its Controversy

The Passion of the Christ: Image by Phillippe Antonello The following is a list of top ten most controversial movies and the reasons for the controversy according to EW.com . How many of these movies have you seen?. I am not an avid movie enthusiast, but I have seen five of the movies on the list. I really do not agree to the list since I feel Brokeback Mountain and The Da Vince Code should be in this list. How about you?

1 THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST DIRECTED BY MEL GIBSON (2004) THE PLOT You know the part in the Bible where Jesus gets betrayed, tortured, and crucified? That's it. That's all of it. THE CONTROVERSY : Gibson's intention — born of his deep Catholic faith — was to produce an unflinching depiction of Christ's suffering on behalf of mankind. What he succeeded at best, however, was igniting a culture-war firestorm unrivaled in Hollywood history. For months prior to its release, The Passion was both denounced and defended sight unseen amid reports that the film wasn't just brutal, but compromised by dubious biblical interpretation and anti-Semitic sentiment. Gibson refused to let concerned parties view and vet his self-financed film, even as he was giving Passion previews to Christians as part of an unprecedented church-targeting promo push. Ultimately, moviegoers pretty much got the experience they were expecting, while Gibson got a $370 million gross — plus a provocative new reputation.

2 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE DIRECTED BY STANLEY KUBRICK (1971) THE PLOT Teen troublemaker/gang rapist Alex (Malcolm McDowell) gets brainwashed by a futuristic English government so that he becomes deathly ill every time he encounters violence. THE CONTROVERSY : You mean besides its irreverent use of Gene Kelly's ''Singin' in the Rain''? That the movie first landed an X rating and was deemed pornographic across the U.S. was nothing compared with its reception in the U.K.: Social uproar and reports of copycat crimes led Kubrick to withdraw Clockwork from distribution in his adopted country. It wasn't officially available there again — in theaters or on video — until 2000, a year after his death.

3 FAHRENHEIT 9/11 DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MOORE (2004) THE PLOT Dubya's multitude of (alleged) sins, including the alliance between the Bush clan and Saudi Arabia and botched chances to prevent 9/11. THE CONTROVERSY : The documentary lit the fuse of right-wing America, detonating protests and hate campaigns to ban it (no dice). Moore was the first to break the post-9/11 moratorium on Bush bashing and set off a season of brutal smack-downs among the Bill O'Reillys and Keith Olbermanns of the world.

4 DEEP THROAT DIRECTED BY GERARD DAMIANO (1972) THE PLOT Distraught over her inability to enjoy sex, a young woman (Linda Lovelace) goes to a doctor (Harry Reems), who tells her the condition can only be treated, um, orally. THE CONTROVERSY : Intellectuals championed the film for striking a blow for First Amendment rights, while conservative leaders got it banned in many places and put Reems on trial for obscenity charges. Lovelace herself later denounced the film, claiming that while filming ''there was a gun to my head.''

5 JFK DIRECTED BY OLIVER STONE (1991) THE PLOT The true story of how New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) investigated conspiracy theories about President Kennedy's assassination. THE CONTROVERSY : Some saw Stone's documentary-on-steroids-like interpretation of those theories as lending them a certain patina of truth — raising fears that moviegoers would construe it as bona fide history. One result: a 1992 congressional act to release classified documents (which revealed nothing).

6 THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST DIRECTED BY MARTIN SCORSESE (1988) THE PLOT Jesus (Willem Dafoe) pursues his calling but, in a Satan-induced hallucination, dreams of a normal life that includes sex with Mary Magdalene. THE CONTROVERSY : Religious fundamentalists picketed and threatened boycotts weeks before its release. One group offered to buy the $6.5 million film from Universal to destroy it; some theaters, and later Blockbuster, refused to carry it. Oh, and the French rioted.

7 THE BIRTH OF A NATION DIRECTED BY D.W. GRIFFITH (1915) THE PLOT Griffith's epic follows the travails of two families during the Civil War and Reconstruction. THE CONTROVERSY : The film's depiction of African Americans as childlike, conniving, or rabid sex fiends, and the Ku Klux Klan as heroic saviors, sparked nationwide protests by the nascent NAACP. (It also became a KKK recruiting tool.) Censorship debates and protests have dogged the film in subsequent rereleases and when it was added to the National Film Registry in 1993.

8 NATURAL BORN KILLERS DIRECTED BY OLIVER STONE (1994) THE PLOT Homicidal lovers (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) cut a blood-soaked swath through America. THE CONTROVERSY : Though intended as a satire on the media, the film actually inspired several copycat killers to seek their own 15 minutes of fame, some even using imagery and dialogue from the film. Over 12 murders in the U.S. and abroad have been linked to Killers. One victim's family tried to sue Stone and Warner Bros.

9 LAST TANGO IN PARIS DIRECTED BY BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI (1972) THE PLOT A disaffected American (Marlon Brando) travels to Paris, where he throws himself into an affair with a young Frenchwoman (Maria Schneider). THE CONTROVERSY: Critics and audiences were sharply divided over this X-rated erotic psychodrama. The film's stark (as in naked) depiction of loveless, animalistic carnality horrified some — and landed its director and stars in an Italian court on obscenity charges.

10 BABY DOLL DIRECTED BY ELIA KAZAN (1956) THE PLOT A Mississippi cotton-gin owner (Eli Wallach) humiliates a competitor (Karl Malden) by attempting to seduce the man's still-virgin wife (Carroll Baker). THE CONTROVERSY: Written by Tennessee Williams, the film struck Catholic leaders as lewd. (A similar flap greeted 1943's The Outlaw over Jane Russell's bust.) New York's Cardinal Spellman forbade the faithful to see it ''under pain of sin.'' Some theaters pulled it, but it eventually earned four Oscar nominations.

Inspirational Messages for You Today

I received the following from my e-mail today. The messages included on the list below are sent to us by our friends and loveones. They are posted here for sharing and educational purposes only. They are sent to us for free and you can copy and send them to your friends too for free.

SILENT doesn’t always means YES. It may mean NO but it’s better left unsaid.

LAUGHTER doesn’t always mean HAPPINESS. Sometimes it is just a MASK.

ANGER doesn’t always mean HATRED. It could just be a means of COPING.

TEARS doesn’t always mean SORROW. It may also be an outlet of JOY.

STAYING AWAY doesn’t always mean IT’S THE END. It may also mean THE BEST BEGINNING.

And though life is so complicated, it is always beautiful.

-oOo-

What’s the point of being committed with someone if in the end you will get hurt. Why not just enjoy the time that you are together even without commitment, as long as you are both happy and you feel each other’s importance and see if you can commit that even in your life after death you will never be apart.

-oOo-

Whether you have been through your worst time or it is yet to come always remember that life can only be summed up to three words … “It Goes On.”

-oOo-

There are times we treat life like a mysterious door. it doesn’t open no matter how hard we push it. We never notice that a huge sign is posted that reads “PULL”.

-oOo-

God has placed you where you are now for a reason… You are there to bless, to inspire, and to create a positive influence. You are there because God has used you to be his hand, feet and mouth to carry out his work… continue to be a “BLESSING” always in everything you do.

Time for Some Classical Music-Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto

Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concierto is one of my favorite violin concierto. The following video has comments that will help the first listener appreciate more of the music. The soloist is Janine Jansen. Enjoy! Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 is his last large orchestral work. It forms an important part of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time. A typical performance lasts just under half an hour. Mendelssohn originally proposed the idea of the violin concerto to Ferdinand David, a close friend and then concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Although conceived in 1838, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David, seeking his advice with the concerto. The work itself was one of the violin concertos of the Romantic era and was influential to the compositions of many other composers. Although the concerto consists of three movements in a standard fast–slow–fast structure and each movement follows a traditional form, the concerto was innovative and included many novel features for its time. Distinctive aspects of the concerto include the immediate entrance of the violin at the beginning of the work and the linking of the three movements with each movement immediately following the previous one. The concerto was initially well received and soon became regarded as one of the greatest violin concertos of all time. The concerto remains popular and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master, and usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. Many professional violinists have recorded the concerto and the work is regularly performed in concerts and classical music competitions.

Time to visit a National Park Near You-Acadia National Park

June 1: It is only a few more days when school closes for the summer break. The temperature here in Northern California had finally reached to the low 90's for a couple of days. This reminded me that it is time to plan visiting a National Park near you to save on gasoline. Today, I am reposting my first posting on a series about our National Park. The first one is on Acadia National Park in Main.

Acadia National Park (ANP) is a National Park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast. The area first was inhabited by the Wabanaki people. In the fall of 1604, Samuel de Champlain observed a high-notched island composed of seven or eight mountains rising to bare-rock summits from slopes of birch, fir, and pine. In spite of many changes over nearly 400 years, the area remains essentially the same.

The landscape architect Charles Elliot is credited with the idea for the park. It first attained federal status when President Woodrow Wilson, established it as Sieur de Monts National Monument on July 8, 1916, administered by the National Park Service. On February 26, 1919, it became a national park, with the name Lafayette National Park in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, an influential French supporter of the American Revolution. The park's name was changed to Acadia National Park on January 19, 1929.

Expansion From 1915 to 1933, the wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. financed, designed, and directed the construction of a network of carriage trails throughout the park. He sponsored the landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, with the nearby family summer home Reef Point Estate, to design the planting plans for the subtle carriage roads at the Park (c.1930). The network encompassed over 50 miles (80 km) of gravel carriage trails, 17 granite bridges, and two gate lodges, almost all of which are still maintained and in use today. Cut granite stones placed along the edges of the carriage roads act as guard rails of sort and are locally known as "coping stones" to help visitors cope with the steep edges. They are also fondly called "Rockefeller's teeth".

Recent events On August 23, 2009, several park visitors were swept out to sea at Thunder Hole by high surf attributed to the remnants of Hurricane Bill. All were rescued but one of the tourists, a 7-year-old girl, who later died.

Centennial Initiative Project The National Park Service, as part of their Centennial Initiative celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, created a project to promote voluntary, multimodal park access for present and future generations. Going “car free” offers visitors the opportunity to explore Acadia by foot, bicycle, shuttle bus, commercial tour bus, private automobile, or private and commercial vessels. The project includes an inter-modal transportation center on state-owned land four miles (6 km) north of the park, multiple-use trails to connect gateway communities with the park, and rehabilitation of historic carriage roads surrounding Eagle Lake.

Terrain and features The park includes mountains, an ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. In addition to Mount Desert Island, the park comprises much of the Isle au Haut, parts of Baker Island, and a portion of the Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland.

Cadillac Mountain, named after the French Explorer of the same name, is on the eastern side of the island. Its green, lichen-covered, pink granite summit is one of the first places in the United States to see the sunrise. Miles of carriage roads were originally built by Rockefeller, Jr. The mountains of Acadia National Park offer hikers and bicycle riders views of the ocean, island lakes, and pine forests.
The inlet Somes Sound, often described as the "only fjord on the East Coast", is now called a fjard by officials.