PORN: "Hot Girls Wanted," "Miss Tibet" (video)

Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; Gianna Toboni, VICE Meets; ABC News
(Netflix) "A cinema verite look at the disturbing exploitative world of amateur porn." - Los Angeles Times. An official 2015 Sundance selection, "Hot Girls Wanted" shines a light on the thriving "amateur" porn industry in the U.S. through the experiences of five young women.
 

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Peter, look! They just keep making more!

"Parks and Recreation" star Rashida Jones has established a lovable reputation through roles in hit comedies like "The Office" and "I Love You Man." Over the past few years, she has also ventured into writing and producing films, currently tackling projects like writing " Toy Story 4." Vice had a chance to hang out and talk about her shift getting behind the camera and the documentary she recently produced on Miami's amateur porn industry, "Hot Girls Wanted."

(Han Sadbury) "Hot Girls Wanted" full-length movie

Monastery to Catwalk: Miss Tibet Pageant

Should I travel to Tibet?

(Journeyman.TV) Miss Tibet: a beauty pageant and a political act, Tibetan women's moment in the limelight. The Miss Tibet beauty pageant claims to give women a platform to highlight Tibetan issues, drawing attention to the the plight of the its Buddhist people as well as the brilliance of the lifestyle and culture.

For Director Lobsang Wangyal the event is not just a beauty pageant but a political act "celebrating our identity, our culture, and our proud tradition" while "implicitly asserting" Tibet as a nation [distinct from China] and Tibetans as a people. But does the pageant actually empower its women or simply exploit them further?

• COMMENT (Chris B.) This video should be entitled, "How to slowly lose your culture to become American."

Journeyman

Journeyman Pictures is an independent source for the world's most powerful films, exploring the burning issues of today, bringing stories from the world's top producers with a constant stream of new content. The channel has outstanding and controversial journalism covering many global subjects. Instagram: instagram.com/journeymanpictures.

Hey, I'm going to be a porn star!
(ABC News) Would be porn star Rachel Bernard said she answered a Craigslist ad for a modeling gig and somehow found herself doing adult entertainment. More: abcnews.com.
 

Happy porn actresses dislike doc?

WARNING: Frank discussion on the pro side of sex, porn, and our abusive U.S. flesh trade!

Hey, Quagmire, porn addiction is serious!

(Alexandria Mulino, June 2015) All of us here watched the recent documentary "Hot Girls Wanted." I think I can speak for a lot of us in the porn, or "adult" film industry that this is a very unfair depiction of our industry. So I wanted to take it on and share another view with my "models" Saya Song, Lucia Lace, Taylor Reed, Ginger Bytes, and Danielle to get their input as well. This video by a "madam" (competitive agent soliciting women to be filmed in porn) is a must see  and, according to said "madam," also a more fair view of the porno industry.

Miss Tibet winner is from Wisconsin (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; The World (pri.org)

"Miss Tibet" Tenzing Lhamo was the only contestant in the war-torn region, not that she's ever been to the war-torn region. She lives in Madison, WI (Lobsang Wangyal/pri.org).

"Nowhere to Call Home" a film by Joceyln Ford: a new perspective on Tibet (Forbes Asia)

  

Miss Tibet is from Wisconsin — she's never been to Tibet

(PRI's The World, June 6, 2014)

When most people think of Tibet, they think of peaceful "Free Tibet" demonstrations, violent Chinese crackdowns, vocal protests abroad, shocking self-immolations, and Buddhist monks emerging from holy monasteries to join in the anti-Han Chinese resistance. People do not think of beauty pageants. But this summer, the Miss Tibet pageant crowned its twelfth winner. Miss Tibet No. 11 is from Wisconsin and, like many of the contestants, has never been to Tibet.

Shocking sexism: The name for "female" in Tibetan

translates as "inferior birth."

Sexism in Tibet: "Nowhere to Call Home"

 

A new documentary shows the hidden, sexism-ridden lives of Tibetan women

American reporter Jocelyn Ford only set out to snag some contact in inaccessible Tibet. Instead, when she sat down to talk to a Tibetan woman named Zanta, she ended up as part of her own story, experiencing Zanta's struggles and the deeply-ingrained sexism of Tibetan society.

• Nowhere to Call Home: Tibet (Eric R. Meyer/Forbes)
• Undocumented Asian immigrants in the U.S. shy away from revealing their status [let the Latinos take the grief]

The Story of "Miss Tibet"

The world's most magnificent pueblo is Potala Palace, Tibet's "Vatican" (Adam Lai/flickr)

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Shocking monastic self-immolation suicide

(PRI AUDIO) How does we have a national beauty pageant when, according to some officials, we do not even have a nation? Or when the core identity of the nation might not really welcome a beauty pageant at all?

This Tibetan gompa is actually a pueblo in NM.

China considers Tibet to be part of China [a massive empire extending into the Himalayan plateau], not an independent country. And there are those who say the very idea of a beauty pageant betrays Tibet’s [animist Bon and monastic] Buddhist roots. In 2004, the prime minister of the government-in-exile declared it to be “un-Tibetan.” 

Though the [current] Dalai Lama does not seem to mind. He would just like to see the pageant be a little more equal in gender. [Young men in bathing suits? Some former baby novices or tulkus like that shocking scene in “Unmistaken Child” no one in the West talks about?]

"If more people want that, go ahead. I think it should not be only female, but male also," the Dalai Lama said.

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Are these the sort of "contestants" the 14th Dalai Lama has in mind? (Groobo/flickr)

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[Now why would a man in a men's monastic system, where only men can gain political prestige and power, not unlike the inner workings of the Vatican with its cardinals and bishops like the Tibetan rinpoches and lamas, which shares tastes in hats and ceremony, want to see handsome men in a pageant on display to be admired for their looks and nominal talents? Odd that.]
 

You going to sign up? - I'm thinking about it.

The Miss Tibet pageant was founded in 2002 by a journalist and event producer named Lobsang Wangyal. He started it, in his words, to give Tibetan women a platform to showcase their aspirations and [nominal] “talents” -- and [of course] to bring international attention to Tibet. Tenzing Lhamo is Miss Tibet 2013.

Filmmaker Jocelyn Ford (Nowhere to Call Home) and Zanta, a Tibetan woman (pri.org)

 

She’s never actually been there [to the country of Tibet or, perhaps, even the once-walled empire of China] though. And very few of the Miss Tibet contestants have. They have grown up scattered around the world  -- in India, Australia, Switzerland, and the U.S.
Tenzing spent her childhood in a Tibetan settlement in Southern India [where many Tibetans live in more or less permanent exile waiting for the right of return to a place they have never been. But not having been there, they nevertheless have recreated it in Himalayan India, particularly in Ladakh].

Do I think the young stars are mailed, your holiness? - No, are they males? (VSauce)

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"I knew about the Miss India contest, and I always thought that was so cool. But we were, like, 'We’re not Indians; we can’t participate in all that,'" Lhamo said.
 
She first heard about the Miss Tibet pagent in 2002 after she moved to Madison, Wisconsin. "The Tibetan community is so small, nothing really gets around without everybody knowing about it."

You're Tibetan? Well, I'm Chinese!

Beauty pageant contestants will give lots of reasons why they’re competing: for the money, for their modeling career, for world peace [or at least an end to police brutality in racist parts of the U.S. and Chinese Tibet]. Tenzing Lhamo wanted to bring attention to the Tibetan people. And she thought the sash and crown could do it:
 
"If I go around saying, 'Hey! My name is Tenzing. Do you want to learn about Tibet?' People wouldn’t pay as much attention as if I say, 'Hey, I’m 'Miss Tibet,' and I want to talk about Tibet.'"
 

"Tibet Burning: Enough China"!

Last winter, she mustered the courage to apply [for the pageant] online. But when the organizer got in touch with her, she found out it wouldn’t be a typical pageant, with disco balls and dance numbers [There might be bathing suits, however, at least sexy dresses].
 
"He kind of hinted, 'You might not have any competition,'" she said. More (from PRI's The World with support from the BBC).

Hidden, sexism-ridden lives of Tibetan women

How terrible are sexism and misogyny

Veteran radio journalist Jocelyn Ford admits she had an ulterior motive when she sat down on a Beijing sidewalk to chat with a Tibetan woman selling jewelry. (This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview.) Ford was trying to report about life in Tibetan areas of southwest China, which are generally off-limits to foreign reporters. She hoped the woman might have contacts who could help her out, so Ford bought a bracelet as an excuse to make conversation. But Zanta, a widowed migrant who had traveled to Beijing from a remote Tibetan village, had a very different understanding of that first meeting. “She concluded that since I was the first foreigner to stoop down and talk to her...that we must have been related in a past life," Ford says. More

Tibet was once a beautiful place, then the Han Chinese arrive (AP/Xinhua/Chogo)

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Wisdom Network News: Dalai Lama's Sister

Ashley Wells (Wisdom Quarterly)

Thailand denies visa to Dalai Lama's sister
BANGKOK — Thailand has denied a visa to the sister of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fearing it could upset relations with China. A top Thai Foreign Ministry official said that the Jetsun Pema [who some regard as the "Mother of Tibet," see video] and her husband had applied for visas to attend a cultural festival in Bangkok at Thailand's Embassy in New Delhi, India, but were rejected.

About 30 other Tibetan exiles in India were granted visas to attend a "Festival of Tibetan Spirituality, Arts and Cultures." "We welcome cultural diversity and have no problem with people coming in and participating in the activities," said Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister, but he added: "In this case, we fear giving permission will be linked to politics. We don't want to be in the middle of international conflicts."

• Dalai Lama is "political monk," says Chinese official
• Choosing the direct, democratic approach
• Want to look rich in China, buy a Tibetan
• Dalai Lama's sister denied visa

Fresh air for Burma's music

RANGOON, Burma — The dance music thundered through a crowd of thousands of drunken fans, past the pavilions where skinny women in impossibly high heels gyrated around metal poles and into the streets filled with taxis that ferried partygoers to this free, whiskey-soaked concert in the park: See VIDEO. “Our parents don’t allow it, but we do it anyway,” said Zun Pwint Phyu, one of the dancers who endured hours of lascivious stares.

Nepal's deposed king raises hope of return
KATHMANDU (AFP) — The former king of Nepal has hinted he hopes the country's centuries-old Hindu monarchy may one day be restored, nearly two years after he was dethroned. Ex-king Gyanendra lost his royal title in 2008 after Nepal's [communist] Maoists, who had fought a decade-long civil war with the state, won landmark polls and scrapped the world's last Hindu monarchy. "I don't think the monarchy is over," he said in a rare interview...

• Ex-King's statement on monarchy a daydream, say Nepali leaders
• Ex-king Gyanendra reviled for "trying to reassert monarchy"

Sanskrit mantras to open both Alaska Senate and House
Both the Alaska State Senate and House of Representatives in Juneau (USA) will open with Hindu prayers reportedly for the first time on April 9, 2010. Rajan Zed, Hindu statesman and leader, will read the opening prayers from the ancient Sanskrit scriptures before senators and representatives. After the Sanskrit delivery, he will read the English translation. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of all Indo-European languages.

Mindfulness on the menu
“When we eat, all our senses are in touch with the food in front of us,’’ says Harvard School of Public Health’s Lilian Cheung. Eating is as much about mind as matter. That’s one of the main points of Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung. Ven. Hanh is a Buddhist monk who lives in France, whereas Cheung, 57, is a lecturer and director of health promotion and communication at the Harvard School of Public Health.

One Foot in the World

"Miss Tibet" beauty contest in a devout culture once steeped in monasticism (AP)

Buddhist Approaches to Present-day Problems
Prof. Lily de Silva (WQ edit)

• Contents
• Preface
• A Layman's Happiness
• The Mechanics of Bondage and Suffering
• Understanding and Managing Stress
• The Buddhist Attitude to Gain and Honor
• Livelihood and Development
• Facing Death Without Fear
• The Human Body
• Sensualist Social Trends and Buddhism in Modern Times
• About the Author
• Footnotes

Preface
The dispensation of the Buddha includes not only monks and nuns, but male and female lay followers as well. All four groups, which comprise the Buddhist community, have but one ultimate goal. That goal is the attainment of nirvana (Pali, nibbana).

Though nirvana means "final liberation" from the world, while walking along the Path to liberation a Buddhist has to live in the world and deal with the conditions of worldly existence.

This problem is likely to be felt especially acutely by the lay Buddhist, who may find that the demands and attractions of secular life tend to pull away from the Path to deliverance. However, the Buddha was not unaware of or unconcerned about this dilemma confronted by lay disciples. He gave it his careful attention.

He taught lay followers to organize lay life in accordance with the ethical principles of the Dharma and how to lead successful lay lives without deviating from the Path of rectitude.

As lay Buddhists, we must be ever vigilant so that in our pursuit of worldly goals -- such as wealth, pleasure, and success -- we do not lose sight of our spiritual goal.

Care should be taken especially to avoid the violation of the basic moral principles summed up in the Five Precepts. Such violation leads to regression on the Path. We must often remind ourselves that the first two of the four stages of enlightenment or holiness can be attained by those still leading a married life; that there have been non-returners of the third stage who continued to remain in lay life though observing celibacy; and that the texts record instances of laymen who even attained arahatship prior to their deaths.

The Pali canon contains ample evidence of exemplary laypeople, such as Anathapindika, Visakha, and the parents of Nakula, to mention only the most prominent. Therefore, a layperson should make every endeavor to follow the way to the end of suffering in this very life, by leading a life of moderation and self-discipline and by practicing meditation with the aim of developing insight into the ultimate truths of life and death.

The essays here explore various facets of experience from lay life that require the attention of the lay aspirant to deliverance. They deal particularly with those that have become more pronounced and urgent in our contemporary materialistic and secularized world. My wish is to share these ideas with others who also may be attempting to follow the Buddha's Path in the lay life.

They are thus walking with one foot on the way to nirvana and "one foot in the world." I hope these essays will assist them to understand and overcome the problems they may face in their day-to- day lives. More>>