Saturday, March 6, 2010

“Ferrera philosophy: ‘irrational belief in yourself’ - Boston Globe” plus 3 more

“Ferrera philosophy: ‘irrational belief in yourself’ - Boston Globe” plus 3 more

Ferrera philosophy: ‘irrational belief in yourself’ - Boston Globe

Posted: 06 Mar 2010 10:58 AM PST

Ferrera's professional evolution has been no accident, with what even she concedes were some lucky breaks along the way. Still, she appears not the slightest bit surprised to find herself the star of a studio movie, or the lead voice in the upcoming DreamWorks animated film, "How to Train Your Dragon.'' The youngest of six siblings, she has been acting since she was cast as the Artful Dodger in her fifth-grade class play, "Oliver!'' She says it never occurred to her that being short, curvy, and Honduran would hold her back. Back then she hated her impossibly patriotic first name and went by her middle name, Georgine.

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The Tantric Sex in Avatar - Daily Beast

Posted: 06 Mar 2010 12:24 PM PST

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BS Top - Nomani Avatar Tantric Critics are praising the epic film's social significance, but Asra Q. Nomani, author of Tantrika: Traveling the Road of Divine Love, says its sex scene—accurate to the ancient Tantric tradition—is truly award-worthy.

When former Marine Jake Scully drapes his sinewy blue body around his Na'vi bride, Neytiri, the heroine of James Cameron's Oscar-nominated epic Avatar, his neural tendrils fuse with hers, in the script, but off camera, in one of the most unusual sex scenes ever produced on film. Critics and commentators have been dissecting the themes of the Hollywood mega-blockbuster, from its just-war doctrine and environmental ethics. But there's a philosophical dimension that this otherworldly sex scene captures that most folks have overlooked: the Tantra of Avatar.

A precursor to Hinduism and Buddhism, the ancient philosophy of Tantra dates back some 6,000 years to the Dravidian culture that flourished in the Indus Valley cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan, seeping later into the religious traditions of India, Nepal, and other parts of the region. Its tenets of goddess worship, self-discovery, and spiritual liberation resonate in Avatar, from the Neytiri's deity-like qualities to Jake's journey of self-identity. Avatar's climax is actually not the Tantric sex of their consummation, but a moment that comes later, when they do something modern-day Tantric sex experts call "soul gazing," and racier sexperts call "sex gazing."

I learned, like Jake in Avatar, that the true Tantric journey is, first, a lone struggle of self-discovery.

The Tantric theme in Avatar follows a tradition of Eastern philosophy in popular culture. Consider Star Wars' iconic line, "May the Force be with you." Writing the script for that film, director George Lucas became influenced by 20th-century thinker Joseph Campbell, whose encounter with Hindu aesthetic Jiddu Krishnamurti years earlier sparked a lifelong passion for Hindu thought.

• The Daily Beast's Complete Oscar CoverageIn Avatar, the sex scene took me back to the erotic Tantric sandstone temples I visited almost a decade ago in the northern Indian village of Khajuraho. Built by Hindu kings of the Chandel Empire from the 10th to the 12th centuries, the most notorious of the temples have images of divine, carnal acts carved around the highest points of their exterior walls. For Tantric scholars and historians, the iconography celebrates the highest possibility of sexual union, captured in the mating ritual in Avatar. In the original script, Cameron is even steamier in his depiction of sex on Pandora on pages 90 and 91:

NEYTIRI: Kissing is very good. But we have something better.

She pulls him down until they are kneeling, facing each other on the faintly glowing moss.

Neytiri takes the end of her queue and raises it. Jake does the same, with trembling anticipation. The tendrils at the ends move with a life of their own, straining to be joined.

MACRO SHOT – The tendrils INTERWINE with gentle undulations.

JAKE rocks with the direct contact between his nervous system and hers, and ripples of light spread out around them. The ultimate intimacy.

But there is a deeper philosophical understanding of Tantra to be found in the movie, one that I learned during my reporting. To avoid the cop-a-feel swamis I met in temples and caves dedicated to Hindu gods such as Ram and Shiva, I turned inward. And I learned, like Jake, that the true Tantric journey is, first, a lone struggle of self-discovery. The philosophy of Tantra comes from the Sanskrit verbal root tan, meaning "to weave," just what Jake must first do with the Na'vi universe of Pandora, before he and Neytiri's braids literally weave together when they mate for life in the mind-blowing Tantric bliss of their mating ceremony. (Tra comes from a Sanskrit word trayate that means "to liberate.")

There is a powerful union of male and female energies in Avatar that are core teachings of Tantra, represented through a link between the goddess Shakti and the Shiva. In Tantra, the goddess Shakti is the primordial deity, her name coming from the Sanskrit word shak, meaning "power." In the Tantric model, it's Shakti who brings healing and enlightenment to the god Shiva, just as Neytiri does with Jake. Jake and Neytiri are the Shiva and Shakti of Avatar. The Sanskrit noun avatāra is derived from a verbal root that means "to cross over," just as Jake does in his journey. Most often, in Tantric philosophy, there is a goddess that guides the journey. She is represented here by Neytiri.

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Katherine Kersten: Yale: A great school for curious types - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 06 Mar 2010 01:28 PM PST

This being Yale, the week started with a veneer of academic respectability: a lecture by museum curator Katharine Gates (Yale '85). Gates has served as a curator -- not at the Smithsonian, but at the Museum of Sex in New York City. The author of "Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex," she presented a "video-and-slide-illustrated talk" on the Kinkmap -- "her ongoing project to collect and organize the world of sexual subcultures from Adult Babies to Body Inflation, Cannibal Play to Zoophilia," according to the Sex Week schedule. Nathan Harden, a 2009 Yale graduate who reported on Sex Week for National Review Online, explained that Adult Babies include "men dressing up like babies (complete with diapers)."

Anybody aroused yet?

Harden also reports that Gates' lecture covered "gay fur erotica" (any animal rights issues there?) as well as "sneeze fetishes."

Yalies eager to learn more could follow up with a workshop on masturbation, a "sex toy demonstration," a lecture entitled "Beyond Monogamy" or a seminar on sexual fantasies by Dr. Susan Block (Yale '77). There, Block handed out a video she said contained footage of an orgy she had held in celebration of President Obama's election victory, according to Harden.

Or students could attend "an interactive workshop on sexual self-realization," led by Diana Adams (Yale '01) -- a "sexual civil rights lawyer, polyamory activist, and national jiu-jitsu champion."

You might suspect that Yale's focus on sex is entirely student-driven. Not so. The university's administration is doing its best to ensure that the subject becomes a year-round preoccupation. In February, the Yale College Dean's Office announced a new "sex@yale" initiative. The project will be led by a 22-person advisory board of faculty and administrators. It will solicit essays for the Dean's website from students -- almost 100 so far -- who will "reflect anonymously on their sexual experiences at Yale and their impressions of the sexual culture here."

No doubt these student essayists will draw inspiration from Sex Week's other events. These included an "Erotic Bondage Suspension Performance" (moved off-campus at the last minute, according to Harden) and a "fetish fashion show." The fashion show -- held in Yale's dining hall -- featured erotic lingerie designed and modeled by Yale students. "The outfits evoked various role-play themes, including devil and angel, boss and secretary, and one that I can only describe as girls in leather with chains," according to Harden.

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Top 10: MLB storylines entering 2010 - Washington Examiner

Posted: 06 Mar 2010 01:28 PM PST

Spring is upon us, baseball is back and we have 10 burning questions heading into Opening Day:

10. Will the Indians regroup?
Two years ago, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee were the core group of the AL Central's rising star. Now? Not so much. Hafner is a shell of his former self; Sizemore's average has dropped like a lead weight and the rest have been traded away. Can new manager Manny Acta right the ship?

9. Is the AL West up for grabs?
The last eight American League West winners in order: Athletics, Athletics, Angels, Angels, Athletics, Angels, Angels, Angels. Hmmm, we sense a theme. But don't be surprised if neither of these teams is at the top of the division this September. The Rangers won 87 games last season and the Mariners (more on them later) are charging hard.

8. Will Baltimore's youth work?
The Orioles have two of the best young position players in the division in Adam Jones and Nick Markakis. Will their young pitchers follow? Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz have a world of talent and should get plenty of opportunities this season. If they progress as planned, the Orioles should crack .500.

7. Will Boston's philosophy work?
The Red Sox have used a ferocious lineup to build a perennial playoff team for most of the past decade. But after losing ground to the Yankees last summer, the Boston brass shifted philosophy: power arms over power bats; defense over run production. So the Red Sox brought in John Lackey and Mike Cameron, closing the gap in the AL East.

6. Is Seattle the best out West?
The best one-two punch in baseball resides in the Pacific Northwest, where the Mariners have coupled young fireballer Felix Hernandez with last year's postseason star, Cliff Lee. The American League West doormat for the past half-decade, Seattle now has a lethal left-handed ace to go with last season's AL Cy Young runner-up.

5. Does Bay = power in New York?
The Mets spent $66 million to bring Jason Bay to New York. And they did it for one reason: more power. Bay has cleared 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in four of the past five seasons. Last year, New York's three most productive outfielders — Gary Sheffield, Carlos Beltran and Jeff Francoeur — hit 30 home runs combined.

4. Can the champs repeat?
The Yankees have undergone some turnover. Gone are Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon — both via free agency. Curtis Granderson brings speed and pop to the lineup. Meanwhile, Javier Vazquez patches up the only question mark from 2009 — depth in the rotation. But what will they do with Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes?

3. Did the Phillies actually upgrade?
The two-time defending National League champions made the offseason's big splash by pulling off a multi-team deal to acquire Roy Halladay. But they gave up postseason ace Cliff Lee in the process. Is Halladay an upgrade over Lee? Possibly. But we're not sure how much better the Phillies are from a year ago.

2. Are Pujols and Jeter on the move?
Both stars are in the final years of huge contracts, but it's unlikely either will be playing for a different team next year. Albert Pujols is the game's best offensive player and is looking at another longterm deal in St. Louis. And there's no way the Yankees let Derek Jeter get his 3,000th hit (he's 253 away) while wearing a different uniform.

1. Is Strasburg the real deal?
The San Diego State flamethrower likely will start out in the minors, but expect to see him at Nationals Park this summer. And expect attendance to go through the roof when he makes his debut. But the jury will be out on Stephen Strasburg for a while, so the Nats — and their fans — must strap themselves in for the long haul.

jirwin@washingtonexaminer.com

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