The Total Eclipse of (the Heart) Bonnie Tyler

(bonnietylerVEVO) Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (Top of the Pops, UK, 1984)

(ITV News)

Bonnie Tyler "Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around)" (official video) That raspy voice!

(Ass' Press) Bonnie Tyler, who topped charts with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' dies at 75

Bonnie Tyler "It's a Heartache"

Can metal ruin a masterpiece?

(Napalm Records) Exit Eden: Operatic Bonnie Tyler "TEOTH" cover

One man show Tommy Johansson power metal cover of "TEOTH"

(Irene Belserion) Symphonic metal cover of Bonnie Tyler's TEOTH

Sex and Suffering on Valentine's Day

(Matt on Buddha's Wisdom) SEX in BUDDHISM: not a moral rule but a deeper question

Valentines is a heart-shaped box of chocolates

Valentine's Day (aka Saint Valentine's Day, Feast of St. Valentine [1]) is celebrated annually on February 14th [2].

This celebration of going from Lust to Love like the Go Go's, it originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world [3, 4].

Cupid is Mara and Kama

There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Saint Valentines connected to February 14th [5], including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century [6, 7].

According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer [8]. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: Tradition maintains that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by the Roman emperor [7]. An 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell before his execution [9].

Will consumers buy cheap cards?

The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14th [10, 11]. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries, when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring.

In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid [who acts like the India god Kama, Greek Eros and Aphrodite, Roman Venus, and Buddhist Mara].

No sex please. We're Ameboids 'n Gatchularians

In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings [12] thanks to capitalism. In Italy, Saint Valentine's keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart" as well as to children to ward off epileptic fits (called Saint Valentine's Malady) [13], which could be thought of as an overwrought lover's obsessive mania, like St. Vitus' Dance. More

Jewish sex: stripping vs. old men

"Stripping vs. Old Men Sex" - Russian Vicka Margulis (stand up comedy)

Nat'l Mean Girls' Day (Mallika Sutra)

‘It’s October 3:’ Mean Girls' Day is so fetch [and flique and brat and Belgium]

(TODAY) Oct. 3, 2024: Every year on Oct. 3rd, fans of the popular teen [sex and relationship crazed] movie Mean Girls celebrate the Hollywood franchise with iconic quotes, Lindsay Lohan nostalgia, and pink outfits.

TODAY: @today. ABOUT: TODAY brings the latest headlines and expert tips on money, health, and parenting, waking up every morning to give everything every family member needs to start the day. If it matters to them, it matters to TODAY, who are in the people business, making a business out of people. Subscribe to channel for exclusive TODAY archival footage and original web series. Connect with TODAY online so we can track and monetize you. Visit TODAY's website today.com to get started. #meangirls #movie #popstart

The music industry tried to ram star Lindsay Lohan down US throats

as a popstar-movie star, but she lip-synced her national TV debut.

Were there "mean girls" in the Buddha's time? Oh, yes

What must the Kosalan garden have been like?

Ladies, ladies, please! Settle down and pay attention. Is girl meanness (and their crimes against humanity) new, or was it around in ancient proto-India during the time of the Buddha?

It seems like the meanness and pettiness of the females back then was worse, a matter of life and death, making crimes against Lohan pale in comparison. Not in all cases, but there was some palace drama surrounding the beautiful, kind, and enlightened Queen Mallikā, the chief partner King Pasenadi of Kosala, a great supporter of the Buddha.

Buddhist Teen Queen and the Drama

One day, when she was 16, the daughter of the head garland maker of Kosala, a beautiful girl named Mallika was on her way to a pleasure garden with her teen companions. She and her girlfriends were gorgeous and good.

Mallika was carrying three portions of congee in a basket for their picnic. Unexpectedly meeting the Buddha, she spontaneously offered him their food and bowed full of joy. The Buddha smiled on seeing her rapt in joy.

The Buddha's attendant monk Ananda asked about his smile. The Buddha explained that that girl would become the queen of the Kingdom of Kosala that day.

To explain Mallika's good fortune, the Buddha revealed the Kummāsapinda birth-story (Jātaka iii.405; SA.i.110ff).

It happened that on that very day King Pasenadi suffered a military defeat at the hands of neighboring King Ajātasattu of Magadha (the royal son who had committed patricide to usurp the throne by imprisoning and starving his enlightened Buddhist father, the stream-enterer Buddhist King Bimbisara).

Distraught and dejected, King Pasenadi, as he entered the flowery garden, was attracted by Mallika's melodious voice. Seeing the king coming and noticing his weariness, she seized his horse's bridle.

The king, learning that she was unmarried, dismounted. Having rested his head awhile on her lap, he entered Kosala with her and took her to her house then returned to his palace to make preparations. That evening, he sent a chariot to pick her up.

With great pomp and circumstance, he had her chauffeured from her house to his palace. He set her on a heap of jewels and anointed her his chief queen.

From that day forward she was the king's beloved and devoted chief wife and a devoted follower of the Buddha (DhA.iii.121f).

The king found Mallika wise beyond her years, sagacious, and practical. Delighting in her intelligence, he consulted her and accepted her advice when in difficulty.

For example, in the Asadisa-dāna Jātaka, he wished to excel his subjects; again when he was troubled by bad omens in 16 dreams, as narrated in the Mahāsupīna Jātaka (DhA.ii.8ff.), Mallikā called the king a simpleton for his blind faith in unreliable Brahmin priests.

She took him to see the Bodhisattva (the Buddha-to-be) who was a recluse yogi at that time, and while the king sat trembling, she asked his questions for him and had them explained until all his worries subsided.

The birth-story (jātaka) states how Mallikā saved many innocent lives from being sacrificed, and the Buddha declared that in a past life, too, when her name was Dinnā, she had saved the lives of a large number of people by her wisdom (DhA.ii.15f).

Both Mallikā and King Pasenadi's other queen, Queen Vāsabhakhattiyā, desired to learn the Dhamma (the Buddha's Teaching). At their request, conveyed through King Pasenadi, the Buddha asked Ananda to visit the palace regularly and teach them the Doctrine.

Ananda found in Queen Mallikā an apt and ready pupil, conscientious in her work; however, Vāsabhakhattiyā was not so devoted to her duties (DhA.i.382f).

For an incident connected with Ananda's visit to the palace, see Vin.iv.158f.

Teen Queen Mallika's knowledge of the Dhamma made her wiser than King Pasenadi would have desired. Once, in a moment of great affection, asked if anyone were dearer to her than herself.

"No, Sire," was the answer. The king was greatly disappointed, for he sought the Buddha, who explained to him that Queen Mallikā, in answer that way, had uttered a great truth (S.i.75; Ud.v.1). It is a truism that we all regard ourselves as most dear.

Queen Mallikā, though an exemplary wife, was not without lapses. Reference is made to the quarrels she had with her husband. Once, on the question of conjugal privileges, as a result of which they both sulked and had to be reconciled by the Buddha (J.iv.437; also J.iii.20).

In these quarrels the king was probably more to blame than Mallikā, for it is said that until reconciled by the Buddha, the king ignored her very existence, saying that becoming rich had turned her head.

The Dhammapada Commentary (DhA.iii.119ff) relates a ridiculous [sexual] story about her misbehavior with a dog in the bath house. King Pasenadi witnessed this shocking scene, but she was able to convince him that it was the fault of the lighting of the bath house and not to believe his lying eyes.

• The bestial sex story of Queen Mallika
• Queen Mallika upholding the precepts and not accepting adornments

Nevertheless, it is said that at the moment of her death she recollected this misdeed and, as a result, was reborn in Avīci (the "Waveless"), the very worst tormenting hell for a week.

The king was overcome by grief at Queen Mallika's death. After the funeral rites, he went to the Buddha to ask where she had been reborn.

The Buddha, not wishing to upset him if he were to know, caused the king to forget his question every time he visited for an entire week, until Mallikā's suffering in Avīci was over; then then the Buddha allowed the question to be asked. At this time, the Buddha was able to assure King Pasenadi that she had now been reborn in Tusita (a lofty heavenly world), which consoled him greatly in his grief.

It is said (A.iii.57) that King Pasenadi was on a visit to the Buddha when a man came with the whispered message that his chief queen was dead. It came as a terrible shock, and "his shoulders drooped, his mouth fell, and he sat brooding, unable to speak."

Queen Mallikā had a daughter by King Pasenadi; no mention is made of a son. This princess was probably Vajīrī, who is spoken of as the king's only daughter (M.ii.110). He is said to have been disappointed on hearing that his child was a girl. But the Buddha assured him that females were sometimes wiser than males and had many other excellent qualities (S.i.86f).

Mallikā is mentioned (Mil. 115, 291) as one of seven persons whose acts of devotion bore fruit in this life and whose fame reached even to the celestial devas. Only one instance is on record of Queen Mallikā asking a question of the Buddha.

She wished to know why some females are beautiful, others plain, some rich, and others poor. The Buddha explained to her the reasons for these discrepancies, which is karma. (See the Mallikā Sutta 1).

The Bodhisattva developed over many lives.

In the Piyajātika Sutta (M.ii.106ff.), King Pasenadi is said to have taunted her because "her recluse Gotama" (the Buddha Gautama) had said that dear ones bring sorrow and tribulation.

"If the Bhagwan says so, it must be so," she replied but secretly sends Nālijangha to find out from the Buddha himself if he had said so and why. Having learned the facts, she faced King Pasenadi again and convinced him too that the Buddha was right. Source (edited by Wisdom Quarterly): Mallikā 1 (palikanon.com)

National Crush Day (9/27)

"Love is like oxygen" (The Sweet)

Why would we have a day to celebrate crushes? Some say these are literal. We crush cans. We recycle. If we're smart, we pre-cycle (plan ahead about what will become of the waste) and use banana leaves instead of plastic plates or big rolls of seaweed instead of those maddening packaged ones in individual wrappers where the container weighs more than the contents. Of course, we all know what a crush is. And we should know it isn't harmless. Mara Devaputra (Kamadeva, Eros, Cupid) delights. It hurts pining, waxing, wishing, hoping, wondering, casting our hearts like lures into the sea to see if anything is biting. Those bites won't much matter. There's just the One who either got away or was never caught. And we idealize. We weave a fantasy that becomes a petard. We're hoisted by our own petard. We grow tendrils and then cry when the mass of vines grows so heavy it tears off the fence or pole. Oh, the hole! In our hearts, there are many spaces, but in all the space, there's only you. You send me, Crush. Woe upon us. If only, if only there were a way to snap out of it. If only there were a way to be mindful of the moment instead. This moment I'm free, I'm fine, everything's good -- ah, to be there. Where? Here. When? Now. Be here now? Yes. But Woo Deng is soo deng cuuuute!

Celebrities who dated lucky normal people

Starsinsider.com; Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

These celebrities have dated regular people

Lesbian Cynthia Nixon

We all probably have a celebrity crush, but the chances of actually ending up with one of them are one in a million [or more like one in 330 million, the approximate population of the country, now that the planet is supporting more than 8 billion]. Well, there's hope. Click through this gallery for a look at just who those lucky few are who have dated the stars. That's right, there are totally ordinary people out there who fell into the Hollywood limelight because of the person they are dating or married to—an A-list celeb! More

• Celebs have crushes, too, like Tom Cruise loves Shakira
• What is computer vision syndrome, and how to cure it?
• History's most shockingly brutal acts of revenge

Best chance: be a groupie

Love and violence: "The Crush" (Irish)

The Crush — Oscar® nominated short film

(NITVShorts) Check out an award-winning short film about love lost and moving on: youtu.be An 8-year-old schoolboy is so besotted with his teacher that he challenges her new fiancée to a duel...to the death.

Distributed exclusively by Network Ireland Television (NITV) worldwide. Visit website networkirelandtelevision.com. Written and directed by Michael Creagh. Produced by Damon Quinn. With Olga Wehrly as Miss Purdy, Rory Keenan as boyfriend, Oran Creagh as Ardal Travis.  imdb.com/title/tt1509756. Follow on Instagram for NITV updates: instagram.com/networkirel...

Lust, sex in Alice in Wonderland (video)

Timeline: History, 9/15/17; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Wiki

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll

Sexy or "artistic"? Alice photos by Carroll, c. 1861

ALICE IN WONDERLAND, 1865, is said to be the most quoted book in print, second only to the Bible.

It has a passionate army of fans who regularly congregate around the world to celebrate its rich and playful world.

But what of its creator, the mild-mannered Oxford U Math Professor Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (a.k.a. stuttering author and photographer Lewis Carroll)?

Famed not only for his wonderful stories, Lewis Carroll is also known for his ambiguous relationship with the young girl who inspired his most beloved creation: Alice [in Wonderland] Liddell.

A different time, marriage at 12

It was a seemingly innocent infatuation that he documented in his pioneering and provocative child photography.

With contributions from the likes of thespian Richard E. Grant, social commentator Will Self, and author Philip Pullman, at once adoring and provocative, this documentary casts a conflicted eye over the creation of mischievous Wonderland.

Don't make it dirty, dear Dodgey!

Pouring through historical evidence and stories passed down through generations, hear the tale of Carroll’s first encounter with the three underage Liddell girls and the first telling of Alice’s tumble down the rabbit hole one.

It was a hot and humid summer’s afternoon in a boat on the River Thames. This documentary was first broadcast in 2015. Content licensed from All3 Media International. Produced by Swan Films.

• A different time? Age of consent was 12 in England

Child sex scandal: private diary confessions?

Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

"Come to bed," Liddell sisters with come hither looks. The age of consent appropriate for marriage proposals in England at that time was 12. (Suggestive photos by author Lewis Carroll).

.

At least four complete volumes and around seven pages of text are suspiciously missing from Lewis Carroll/Prof. Dodgson's 13 diaries.^[90]

The curious disappearance of the missing volumes remains unexplained for such a meticulous and obsessive writer. The pages were removed by an unknown hand.

Most scholars assume that the diary material was removed by family members in the interests of preserving the family name. But this has not been proven to everyone's satisfaction.^[91] Definitive evidence of sexual misconduct was presumably destroyed to preserve the author's reputation.

Except for one page, material is missing from his diaries for the period between 1853 and 1863 (when Carroll was 21-31 years old).^[92][93] This was a period when the writer began suffering great mental and spiritual anguish and confessing to an overwhelming sense of his own sin.

This was also the period of time when he composed his extensive love poetry, leading to speculation that the poems may have been autobiographical and about Alice Liddell.^[94][95]

Many theories have been put forward to explain the missing material. A popular explanation for one missing page (June 27, 1863) is that it was torn out to conceal a proposal of marriage on that day by Dodgson to the 11-year-old Alice.

However, no conclusive evidence has been made public to suggest that this was so. One paper allegedly offers a little evidence to the contrary. It is said to have been discovered by Karoline Leach in the Dodgson family archive in 1996.^[96]

"Cut pages in diary document"

It is known as the "cut pages in diary document." It was compiled by various members of Carroll's family after his death. [So is it an admission that they cut the pages?]

Part of it may have been written at the time when the pages were torn out or destroyed, though this is unclear. The document offers a brief summary of two diary pages that were removed, including the one for June 27, 1863.

The summary for this page states that Alice's mother Mrs. Liddell told Lewis Carroll/Reverend Dodgson that there was gossip circulating about him and the Liddell family's governess, as well as about his sexual relationship with the child "Ina," presumably Alice's underage sister Lorina Liddell.

The "break" with the Liddell family that occurred soon after was presumably in response to this sexual gossip.^[97][98]

A plausible alternative interpretation has been made regarding Carroll's rumored sexual involvement with the child "Ina": Lorina was also the name of Alice Liddell's mother.

What is deemed most crucial and surprising is that the document seems to imply that Carroll/Dodgson's break with the Liddell family was not connected with the child Alice but her sister or someone else. It is odd that a recently discovered document is used to try to prove this.

Until a primary source is discovered, the events -- and the secret sexual life of the sinful celibate math don Lewis Carroll -- will remain in doubt. More

OMG! A "Twilight" sequel! (cartoon)

Amber Dorrian and my kid sister "Bela" not Bella (Wisdom Quarterly)

Breaking Dawn premieres. The forces of the Moon versus those badly affected by the Moon. "Twilight" is basically Dracula vs. Wolfman. Only the vampires are melodramatic and the wolves are so CGI. This series is a mess. But, melodrama can be good. Soap opera thrillers for tweens who need a romantic lead are keeping the mall theaters alive.

Giggly Bieber kids and gayish gothy teens are outnumbered by horndog moms. Fans everywhere are sure to keep this blockbuster going. And that's good. It's keeping "romance" alive. And there's nothing higher to live for. So get used to it.

The world needs more Harry Potter with heavy petting because Emma Thompson isn't doing anything to meet our need for sizzle. Taylor Lautner is pure peach fuzz for a hirsute leading man. Robert Pattinson is very, very Brit'ish. And Kristen Stewart's lesbian child molester kiss with Dakota Fanning was a real let down.

I don't even really like that guy, Kristen Stewart admits in various interviews. Like, you know what I mean? Like, uh, you know?

Buddhist solution to lust, love-torture, crushes

Waylon Lewis (HuffingtonPost.com)

Meditation on Foulness: the Buddha advised those who are ardent on attaining nirvana (release) to contemplate the body's manifold impurities.

Tortured by Love, Lust, a Crush? The Buddhist Solution

I'm a "Dharma Brat" -- an American Buddhist. My parents met and fell in love back in '72, at a seminar in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

While I appreciated my "sangha," or community, I didn't get into Buddhism personally until I was 16. I was graduating from high school and figured that before I left my teenage home (Karme Chöling, a Buddhist meditation center in rural Vermont) I'd say goodbye to all that by doing a weeklong meditation retreat. Nine hours of meditation a day, including zen-style meals.

And that's when I finally, personally, fell in love with Buddhism. Meditation, I belatedly realized, wasn't just some way of avoiding living life. It wasn't boring. It was...to use a word I generally avoid...transformative. I could enjoy life from a clear, open, sane, relaxed point of view (and as a teenager, that was one h*lluva discovery).

So I canceled my summer travel plans and stayed and studied and partied and meditated and worked (as a lumberjack) at Karme Chöling for a year. Along the way, I learned a whole h*ll of a lot. One of the funny little things that's stuck with me is how to wake oneself from that exquisite pain that is lust or having a crush on someone. More>>

Being Bad at Relationships is Good for Survival
Feeling happy and secure in our relationships is a goal many people strive for, but in times of need the emotionally insecure partners may be doing us a favor by being more alert to possible danger.

Dwindling testosterone levels reduce sleep

At 30 years, male testosterone levels drop by one to two percent annually. By age 40, men's quality of sleep begins to diminish. Could there be a link between decreased testosterone and reduced sleep? Absolutely, according to Zoran Sekerovic, graduate student at the University of Montreal (UM) Department of Psychology.

"Crush the Dalai Lama" -- China

China Orders Security Forces to "Crush" Support for Dalai Lama
VOA News (2/19/09)

Chinese authorities in Tibet are calling on officials, security forces, and the general public to "crush" any signs of support for the Dalai Lama.

In a report Thursday in China's state-run Tibet Daily newspaper, the local government vowed to fight what it calls the "savage attacks" of supporters of the exiled spiritual leader.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for Tibet and provoking mass protests against Chinese rule last year. Authorities have tightened security in Tibetan regions of China ahead of the March 10 anniversary of the start of the protests. More>>