Who in the world is the "Queen of the Tournament of Roses"? More commonly known as the "Rose Queen," she is a young woman selected for the annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses in California, U.S.
Six "Rose Princesses" are also selected to make up the Rose Court of seven. The Rose Court rides on a float in the Rose Parade on New Year's Day and they become ambassadors.
Riya Gupta, California Institute of Technology (Caltech);
Livia Amy de Paula, Temple City High School.
Qualifications and selection process
After the parade, there's a big football game
Each September, approximately 1,000 females between the ages of 17 and 21 interview to serve as a member of the Tournament of Roses Rose Court [1].
To be eligible, applicants must be a female resident of the Pasadena City College district, which includes the cities of Pasadena, Altadena, La Cañada Flintridge, South Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Temple City, the northern portion of Rosemead, and the western portion of El Monte.
Starting with the 2025 Rose Parade, the cities of Alhambra and San Gabriel and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Monterey Hills, and El Sereno will be included as part of the geographic expansion plan.
Australian Asian singer Rose
They must be currently enrolled as a 12th grade senior in high school or as a full-time college student (minimum 12 units) in any accredited high school or college in the Pasadena City College district, Alhambra Unified School District, San Gabriel Unified School District, or Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), possess at least a 2.0 grade point average in the current year's and previous year's course work, and be at least 17 years of age by Dec. 31 of the current year and not more than 21 years of age before Jan. 5 of the next year.
Each applicant also must never have been married or have had a marriage annulled, have no children, and must agree not to marry prior to Jan. 5 of the next year [1]. More
The Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as Yulan, falls on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. In 2025 it happens on Saturday, Sept. 6th, when the "gates of hell" (peta-loka) open.*
The Hungry Ghost Festival (known as the Yulanpen Festival in Buddhism and the Zhongyuan Festival in Taoism) is a traditional observance held in East and Southeast Asian countries. According to the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar, the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in parts of Cantonese Southern China). In Chinese culture, the 15th day of the seventh month in the traditional Chinese calendar is called Ghost Day or (especially in Taiwan) Pudu (Chinese 普渡, Pinyin Pǔdù, Pe̍h-ōe-jī, Phó͘-tō͘ [3]). And the seventh month of that calendar is generally regarded as Ghost Month, when ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, come up from lower realms (diyu, preta world). More
(Pasadena Weekly) Nostalgia is everywhere. The 90s are making a comeback. Baywatch actress Pam Anderson is on the silver screen in the Naked Gun reboot. And the wannabe-Beatles Oasis is at the Rose Bowl Saturday, Sept. 6, and Sunday, Sept. 7. They've buried the hatchet and reunited. And with apologies to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, this spectacle featuring the Brothers Gallagher is the concert of the year. More
"Where were you while we were getting high?" asks Oasis singer Gallagher Brother 1 ("Champagne Supernova"), probably talking to Sally and referring to their meteoric rise to stardom in the UK. They were the "new Beatles" for a moment. They couldn't sustain it, and they couldn't stop their sibling rivalry. But how much $$$ for a reunion? Money talks. So welcome to Pasadena!
The Rose Bowl is sold out, and the streets are going to be jammed with traffic troubles on the worst night of the year -- Hell Night (Saturday, Sept. 6th, 2025) of the Hungry Ghost Festival. That's bad luck. But "that's just superstition," others will argue so close to JPL and Caltech.
There are lots of things not to do this whole Ghost Month, but particularly on this night. Or the hungry ghosts will be upset and may take action. And if they do because, you know, they're pretas, don't look back in anger. Just walk away quickly or run. Not being fans of Beatle-esque schlock-pop, Oasis will be echoing through the canyon and foothills in the spectacle that is any big Rose Bowl event.
But they do have one really good song sung by Brother 2, Noel Gallagher, who wrote it (so we see who has the talent in the group, which one hopes they don't start fighting about), ripping off John Lennon's "Imagine," according to Nick Beato.
Pathetic and miserable hungry ghosts (petas, pretas) scrounging for any foul form of sustenance.
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Why are you sad? - My enemy is getting ahead of me.
THE BUDDHA TAUGHT: "Meditators, seven things befall one who is angry that are gratifying and helpful to an enemy. What are these seven things?
1. "Herein, meditators, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person BE UGLY.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's beauty. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, be that person ever so well bathed and well anointed, with hair well cut, clothed in white, yet that person is ugly through being prey to anger. This is the first thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.
2. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person BE IN PAIN.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's lying in comfort. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, for all one may lie on a couch spread with rugs, blankets, plush with covers, a canopy, and red cushions for head and feet, yet one lies only in pain through being prey to anger. This is the second thing gratifying to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.
3. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person HAVE NO PROSPERITY.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's prosperity. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, one mistakes bad for good and mistakes good for bad, and each being taken wrongly in the other's sense, these things for long conduce to one's own harm and suffering, through being prey to anger. This is the third thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.
4. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person NOT BE RICH.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's being rich. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, should that person have riches gained by endeavor, built up by strength of arm, earned by sweat, lawful and lawfully acquired, yet the ruler's treasury gathers (in fines) through being prey to anger. This is the fourth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is prey to anger.
Let's never fight or be angry again, Brother-jii!
5. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person NOT BE FAMOUS.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's having fame. Now when a person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, what fame one may have acquired by diligence one loses through being prey to anger. This is the fifth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is prey to anger.
6. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person HAVE NO FRIENDS.' Why is that? No enemy relishes and enemy's having friends. Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, the friends one may have, one's companions, relatives, and kin will keep away from being prey to anger. This is the sixth thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is prey to anger.
7. "Also, an enemy wishes this for an enemy: 'Let that person on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear [be reborn, rearise] in a STATE OF DEPRIVATION, in an unfortunate destination, in perdition, even in a hell.' Why is that? No enemy relishes an enemy's going to a fortunate destination.
"Now when this person is angry, prey to anger, ruled by anger, one misconducts oneself in body, speech, and mind. And by this misconduct of body, speech, and mind, on the dissolution of the body, after death, the angry person reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unfortunate destination, in perdition, even in a hell, through having been prey to anger.
"This is the seventh thing gratifying and helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry.... More: accesstoinsight.org
Slip inside the eye of your mind/ Don't you know you might find/ A better place to play?/ You said that you'd never been/ But all the things that you've seen/ Will slowly fade away/ So I start a revolution from my bed/ 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head/ Step outside, summertime's in bloom/ Stand up beside the fireplace/ Take that look from off your face/ You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out
[CHORUS] And so, Sally can wait/ She knows it's too late as we're walkin' on by/ Her soul slides away/ "But don't look back in anger," I heard you say
Take me to the place where you go/ Where nobody knows/ If it's night or day/ Please don't put your life in the hands/ Of a rock 'n' roll band/ Who'll throw it all away/ I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed/ 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head/ Step outside, 'cause summertime's in bloom... "But don't look back in anger/ Don't look back in anger," I heard you say/ "At least not today"
What makes this song great?
*When exactly is 'hell night' of Ghost Month?
Lunar/Lunisolar superior to Gregorian calendar
In 2025, the Hungry Ghost Festival falls on Sept. 6th. Ghost Month usually starts in late July or early August. Why? It follows the lunar calendar, which is generally about a month behind the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Lunar New Year in 2025 is on Jan. 29, so many would expect the seventh lunar month to start around late July. However, it begins on Aug. 23 this year. The main reason is due to how leap years and calendar adjustments work.
The Gregorian calendar based on the solar year adds a leap day every four years to account for the extra 0.25 days it takes Earth to orbit the sun, keeping the calendar accurate over time. While the Gregorian calendar follows the sun, the Lunar calendar tracks the moon’s cycle, with each month lasting about 29.53 days. This means a lunar year has only around 354 days, which is 11 days shorter than the solar year. If left unadjusted, over time festivals like Chinese New Year could drift into entirely different seasons. However, in reality, the “Lunar calendar” used in Chinese traditions is actually the Lunisolar Calendar. This system combines both lunar months and solar year alignment to keep important dates consistent with the seasons.
The seasons are changing because there comes a time when weekends start to jam up with events. This weekend is Wango Tango (LA's top of the pops festival featuring Doja Cat, Katseye, Meghan Trainor, DJ David Guetta, and others). The Altadena Future Fair is also in town at the Pasadena Convention Center alongside the Just Like Heaven Fest a few doors down Brookside at the Rose Bowl.
Just like Dharma Buddhist Meditation took over the BeachLife Fest for a mass meditation, we're on the lawn at Just Like Heaven doing some hometown healing along the foothills. There's no sense in trying to meditate to vapid pop rock and schlock. That would be like trying to achieve clarity at AC/DC's show at the Bowl.
Why attend a fest? It's not as if the Arctic Monkeys are going to show up
The Altadena Future Fair is a free community rebuild and healing event happening May 10-11, 2025, at the Pasadena Convention Center. This fair aims to unite residents, innovators, and local leaders to collaboratively envision and rebuild the community’s future.
Saturday, Sunday May 10-11, 2025, 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena (where Thich Nhat Hanh used to come every year to give a rousing dose of Zen, singing, and mostly silent notmuchtosayism, which people loved).
Speakers, workshops, trade show, locals' market, community healing, kids' room, music and entertainment (Saturday 5:00-9:00 pm), and a community vigil on Sunday at 4:00 pm
The mission is to ensure that every neighbor affected by the Eaton Fire has access to resources, knowledge, and community support — so no one rebuilds alone. It seeks to bring together displaced neighbors, builders, innovators, and local leaders to facilitate a collective recovery process. More
Across the empty pool (which not "the Pond" that is the Atlantic but rather the flyover states that are the heart of the country) in Bay County, Florida, they're trying to shut down Spring Break 2025.
Sunday will be super special for all the fans of the now defunct Brokechella (LA's alternative to Coachella). Hollywood superstar Woody Harrelson, owner of The Woods, is hailing the haoma (soma) of today in a 4:20-friendly festival he calls "Woodchella."
The Sperm Races are also going on in Hollywood, thanks to a startup that is making the content of seminal fluid respectable. And, of course, it being spring, The Renaissance Pleasure Faire (Ren Faire: California, Wisconsin, New York) is back in L.A. over by the lake (Santa Fe Dam) in Irwindale on the way east on the freeway to Coachella.
(First To Eleven) Better looking and sounding than the original Disney product Sabrina Carpenter and her new hit "Espresso." This cover is by First To Eleven and it is of the biggest banger so far, at least until Lana Del Rey comes up with a third summer-related hit. This was recorded in May 2024. #firsttoeleven #pop #rock
California hits record temperatures as heat wave drags on
(CBS News)
July 11, 2024: The heat wave gripping California is breaking records, with multiple cities in the Golden State reporting temperatures at and above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Death Valley Life: A Day at Lake Manly and a tour of guest trailer
(Wonderhussy Adventures) Oct. 25, 2023: Death Valley Life #38: Lake Manly is a real lake in the middle of the hottest desert in the world, Death Valley, California. It rained a lot after the drought, and the water filled up. There are even indigenous pup fish that live here year around, which may spread into the basin and spawn. Death Valley Park has finally reopened, so desert alcoholic Wonderhussy figured she should go out and see the "lake" that is temporarily filling Badwater Basin near Furnace Creek -- a rare event that only happens after extraordinary rainfall. But one can't really "swim" in Lake Manly because it's too shallow and salty...so she goes home and sets about getting a fifth wheel travel trailer ready for Mike Z to stay in while he's here helping with projects.
"Hot Girl Problems"
(Double Take) Hot Girl Problems, California song for residents and tourists
California Girls road trip: beach, Disneyland...
California Girls trip vlog: Disneyland, beach, sunsets, good food, and more ✨👙🌊☀️🎢
CBS News Los Angeles reporter Kara Finnstrom has more. CBS News 24/7 is the premier anchored streaming news service from CBS News and Stations that is available free to everyone with access to the internet and is the destination for breaking news, live events, original reporting, and storytelling, and programs from CBS News and Stations' top anchors and correspondents working locally, nationally, and around the globe. It is available on more than 30 platforms across mobile, desktop and connected TVs for free, as well as CBSNews.com and Paramount+ and live in 91 countries.
WHAT HAPPENED? It was the biggest parade ever with countless Monsanto [now Bayer Corporation] corn tortillas being thrown in appreciation of the freak flag, guys in drag, and all the wit, irony, and anti-Israel sentiment one would want in an anti-mainstream flotilla of nonsense. If only Republicans could have seen it. It was not even Democrat-friendly. This is an event for Greens, Peoples Party petitioners, Independents (not LaRouchian Libertarian types), and those willing to speak truth to power. Not that most people are paying attention. If there's one this this event is not is a Grand Tournament of Roses "Rose Parade," though it took place on the exact same spot, a stone's throw from the world-famous Rose Bowl. The after party was at the Old Towne Pub with a band headed up by one of the Hair: The Musical actors and strange vehicles, the rainbow clad, Asian gawkers, and just about the clearest skies after the rains one could ever wish for in Los Angeles.
(What's Up Pasadena!) Doo Dah Parade
Pasadena Media, Dec. 22, 2017: The occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade celebrates 40 years of irreverent frolicking on the streets of Pasadena, California, in East Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard, the original Route 66.
Website: pasadenamedia.tv/what-s-up...
Neo-Nazi marchers descended on Madison, Wisconsin [nowhere near Pasadena or Columbus], for a twisted weekend rally, prompting swift condemnation from state and local pols and University of Wisconsin-Madison officials. A group of approximately 20 people [angry white guys] dressed in red and black and masks while waving large [swastika] flags and making the [old] Nazi salute ["Heil, Hitler"] made their way from State Street near the UW-Madison campus to the state capitol Saturday, cops [who were on hand to make sure no one stopped them or stood in their way] said [proving that racist white supremacy is still alive and well in the heart of the USA]. More
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