An island off Ireland’s south west coast is wowing audiences at screenings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Unveiled in the film’s closing minutes, this closely guarded secret ending to Episode 7 was filmed in September 2014 on Skellig Michael Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Since 1977, the record-breaking movie franchise has travelled through many galaxies, and this time, director JJ Abrams along with cast and crew jetted into a little village called Portmagee, County Kerry, on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. From here, they travelled eight miles (12 Km) by sea to a dream film location, Skellig Michael.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7718351-ireland-feels-the-force/
MSC Cruises has revealed today details of the two new Cirque du Soleil at Sea shows that are being created specifically for MSC Bellissima. The breath-taking shows will be called SYMA – Sail beyond Imagination and VARÉLIA – Love in Full Color and will be available exclusively to MSC Bellissima guests, following her launch in March 2019.
The long-term partnership between MSC Cruises and Cirque du Soleil first began in 2013 and has since set new standards in live entertainment at sea. The partnership, in total, will result in eight original shows that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world, exclusively on MSC Cruises’ Meraviglia generation ships coming into service between 2017 and 2020. MSC Meraviglia was the first ship to debut the new Cirque du Soleil at Sea concept with the launch of the two shows VIAGGIO and SONOR last June. Work is already underway for MSC Grandiosa, launching in November 2019, and MSC Virtuosa, launching October 2020.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8354651-msc-cruises-cirque-du-soleil-at-sea-msc-bellissima/
Every organ donor has the potential to save eight lives, which is the foundation of the new public awareness campaign from the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE). Using multiple channels such as outdoor, television, print and radio advertising, transit wraps, a brand new website and social media, CORE is encouraging individuals to “LiVE: 8” and end the wait by signing up to become an organ and tissue donor.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7253051-center-for-organ-recovery-and-education-launches-live-8/
Germany is witnessing a constant rise in the number of private schools – there are roughly 3000 at present. The reason: Many parents have lost faith in state-run education, not least after the damning verdict and the abysmal ratings of the so-called 2006 PISA report. They prefer to send their children to privately funded schools. The percentage of private students has reached eight percent nationwide and has doubled since the mid-1990s, regardless of monthly tuition fees of an average 150 Euros per child. Private schools may follow a variety of different educational approaches. Nevertheless they are united in their ultimate objective of providing a better and individually-tailored education to their pupils. Hamburg’s Bugenhagen College is one of the schools that are going down this route. It is particularly worth mentioning that the college does not differentiate between non-handicapped and disabled youngsters.
As kids, Shaun and Daz are inseparable, skipping school, racing bikes, knocking about down
by the lake with Katy, Shaun’s first love. Full of life, Shaun runs up against an education
system that cannot contain him. He is squeezed and eventually spat out, taking Daz down
with him as he self‐destructs.
Twenty years later, Daz is in a wheelchair and has eight weeks to live. Shaun is left to reflect
on one gilded summer of love, sex and loyalty that marked the end of his innocence. His
memories lead him to track down Katy, in a bid for personal redemption. This is a story of
bright lives unfulfilled, of hopes that are snuffed out and then, finally, rekindled.
It’s the summer of 1973, and eight year-old Bobby Burke’s father has been MIA in Vietnam for three years. He’s been keeping his father alive through the magic of his SafeKeeper, a charm bracelet he wears on his wrist, but it seems lately that the SafeKeeper’s power has been fading. The military has given up hope of finding his father alive, and even Bobby’s mom has taken up with a new guy, Nick, who seems determined to become a new father to him. What’s worse, Bobby has to contend with a pair of fearsome Tolltakers who have entered his life: one, a local schoolyard bully who demands money to let Bobby get home from school in one piece; the other a demon who visits Bobby’s dreams to try to snatch the SafeKeeper from his wrist. Bobby fights desperately against these forces that seem intent on keeping his father from him forever, until his final, shattering confrontation with the truth and the understanding of the toll he must pay in order to grow up.
Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the the Great Indian Bathing Festival, the Urn Festival, the Pitcher Festival and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)
Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is considered an endeavour of great merit, cleansing both body and spirit. The Allahabad and Haridwar (Hara Dwar) festivals are routinely attended by five million or more pilgrims; the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It may also be the oldest
Two traditions are in circulation regarding the origin and timing of the festival: one that stems from ancient texts known as the Puranas, and the other that connects it with astrological considerations. According to the Puranic epic, the gods and demons had churned the milky ocean at the beginning of time in order to gather various divine treasures including a jar containing a potion of immortality - Ambrosia. As the jar emerged from the ocean the gods and demons began a terrific battle for its possession. During the battle, which according to one legend the gods won by trickery, four drops of the precious potion fell to earth, when Jayantha (Jayanth) the son of the chief deity Indra carried the jar (Kumbha/kumbh) that held the ambrosia in the form of a giant bird - these places became the sites of the four Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals, according to another legend he ran away with the jar and hid them on twelve locations on earth where few drops of ambrosia fell, four of these places are known and identified as the four sites for the Kumbh (Kumbh) Mela, the other eight locations are being researched by our team
The astrological tradition (ascribed to a lost Puranic text and not traceable in extant editions) seems to stem from a very ancient festival called the Kumbha Parva, which occurred at Hardwar every twelfth year when Jupiter was in Aquarius (the Indian name being Kumbha/Kumbh) and the sun entered Aries
At some later time the term 'Kumbha (Kumbh)' was prefixed to the Melas held at Prayaga, Ujjain, and Nasik and these four sites became identified with the four mythical locations of the immortality potion - Ambrosia. In theory the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals are supposed to occur every three years, rotating between the four cities. In practice the four-city cycle may actually take eleven or thirteen years and this because of the difficulties and controversies in calculating the astrological conjunctions. Furthermore the interval between the Kumbha Mela at Nasik and that at Ujjain is not of three years; they are celebrated the same year or only a year apart. This deviation in practice is intriguing and cannot be fully explained by either astrological or mythological means.
kalpavasi.com
Brad Cutler, twenty-eight, is a rising star at his New York ad agency, about to marry the girl of his dreams. Anyone would agree he has it all a great career, a beautiful and loving fiancée, and a fairy tale life ahead of him—when memories of a high school girlfriend begin to torment him. Lost innocence and one very difficult choice flood his conscience, and he is no longer sure what the future will bring except for this: He must find his old love and make amends. Haunted by the past and confused about the future, he turns to God seeking forgiveness and redemption.
Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury. Christian fiction, literary fiction, Spiritual Growth, Contemporary. Find out more about Karen Kingsbury at http://www.karenkingsbury.com/. Find out more about the book at http://tinyurl.com/yg8agzt.
Brad Cutler, twenty-eight, is a rising star at his New York ad agency, about to marry the girl of his dreams. Anyone would agree he has it all a great career, a beautiful and loving fiancée, and a fairy tale life ahead of him—when memories of a high school girlfriend begin to torment him. Lost innocence and one very difficult choice flood his conscience, and he is no longer sure what the future will bring except for this: He must find his old love and make amends. Haunted by the past and confused about the future, he turns to God seeking forgiveness and redemption.
Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury. Christian fiction, literary fiction, Spiritual Growth, Contemporary. Find out more about Karen Kingsbury at http://www.karenkingsbury.com/. Find out more about the book at http://tinyurl.com/yg8agzt.
Bram Stoker and Lambda Literary Award-winning author Lee Thomas reminds us that sometimes the most terrifying aspects of the human condition come from within in this collection of eight original tales and seven acclaimed short stories gathered together in one volume for the first time anywhere. In The Closet Under The Bed Lee Thomas Book Trailer Find out more about this author here http://www.leethomasauthor.com Find out more about this book http://tinyurl.com/yl9xcrk Genre: Horror, GLBT
