Chinese New Year is an annual celebration marking the start of the new year according to the chinese lunisolar calendar. Chinese New Year always falls in the months of January or February, and each chinese new year is represented by 1 of the 12 creatures of the Chinese Zodiac – 2013 is the year of the Snake.
Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, and in pre-modern times it would signal to farmers in China that they must begin preparation for the sowing of their fields.
There are several variations on the mythology behind Chinese New Year celebrations. Most are based on a ugly bloodthirsty monster named Nian that would emerge on the last night of each year to destroy villages and eat people. A wise elder advised villagers to scare the monster away with loud noises. That night, they set fire to bamboo, lit fireworks, and banged their drums. The monster, afraid of the loud noises and lights, ran away to hide in its cave.
In another version of the myth, an old man persuaded Nian to turn its wrath on other monsters, not the villagers. Before he was seen riding away on Nian, the old man, actually a god, advised the people to hang red paper decorations in their homes and set off firecrackers on the last night of the year to keep Nian away.
On the first day of the new year, the villagers celebrated, greeting each other with the words “Guo Nian” which means “survive the Nian”, a tradition that has continued to this day to mean “celebrate the new year.”
Gong Xi Fa Ca!(“wishing you prosperity”, traditional CNY greeting in Mandarin.)
I love music. It has the uncanny ability to lift your spirits, give you courage, define a special moment, spur you to action or have you trippin’ & fallin’ into love lol! I’m particular excited about the fresh new blood in the industry right now, thanks in part to the high traffic social media outlets and new technology available that allows independent artists to sidestep giant music industry moguls and invent new ways to create and market their own music — without ever signing a traditional recording contract!
Well–tonight’s the Grammys, so be sure to tune in later to this blog to check out my take on the celebration!
She has a way with words, but hearing what Ann Coulter had to say tonight on Fox News’ The Red Eye, made me take another look at the screen. The group was talking about criminals and one guest Joe Derosa, stated that the environment is responsible for creating “most criminals.” To which Ann Coulter chimed in claiming that single mothers produce the most criminals, a talking point that originated in 1995 with the Republican group, the Heritage Foundation.
Most criminals come from single mothers. It’s true. And I think you’ll agree on my other point which is why this leads to my conclusion, once you committed a violent crime let’s say, I say death penalty.
At this point, there’s laughter in the group but Coulter wasn’t finished. She then continued to say that if a criminal cannot convert to Christianity, then they should be put to death. Mr. Derosa asked if she’s only focusing on Christianity and not any other forms of Religion, to which Coulter answered in a rather sarcastic tone, “what, Muslim?” She then ended with “that’s a FANTASTIC idea!”
I’m sure this is what Christopher Dorner was waiting for… a video from Charlie Sheen.
Dorner, a former police officer is presently on the run from the LAPD, He is accused of multiple murders including that of a fellow officer and is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Before he disappeared, Dorner left a manifesto naming other police officers, their families and celebrities as possible targets.
On Saturday, Charlie Sheen – apparently one of the celebrities mentioned in Dorner’s manifesto – made a video and told Dorner to call him. Said Sheen;
“I am urging you to call me. Let’s figure out together how to end this thing. Call me. I look forward to talking to you.”
Well, that’s what we’ve all been waiting for. Now the LAPD can call of their search. Charlie Sheen is on the case. Everything is under control.
Oh come all ye faithful played in the background as Mariah Carey looked into the cameera and discussed the special occasion that means so much to her… Christmas. The only problem was the date – February 8th, the day Nemo The Snowstorm blasted the north east.
February 8th will forever be called Mariah Carey’s December 25th.
Nearly five months after Apple shipped iOS 6, an untethered jailbreak for the operating system is now available. Unlike its predecessor, the Evasi0n iOS 6 jailbreak tool works on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux at launch.
The release of Evasi0n has been highly anticipated for owners of the iPhone 5 and fourth generation iPad, both of which shipped running iOS 6 by default. For others, the release means they can finally upgrade their devices to iOS 6 without losing the ability to download unauthorized apps and customize the look and feel of their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
OMG. Did you see what Bill Maher did to Donald Trump on his last show? WOW! If you didn’t see it, here’s a brief summery.
Bill Maher began the segment by describing what happened over the last few months, when Donald Trump tried to convince his followers that President Obama somehow faked his education. Trump broadcast a video in which he demanded the president should produce evidence of his education. Trump promised $5 million dollars to the President’s charity if the president did what the Donald wanted.
Of course, no one took Trump seriously.
Bill Maher also had a proposition for the Donald. Produce your birth certificate and prove that you are not the offspring of an orangutan If you do, I will donate $5 million to your charity. It was a joke from a very funny comedian. No one took Maher’s proposition seriously. No one that is, except Trump.
Trump’s lawyer quickly produced a birth certificate claiming that Trump’s parents are in fact, Fred Trump and not an orangutan. Thinking this was enough proof, they then demanded $5 million dollars.
Maher explained that he disregarded the letter just like he does with the letters he get from all “crazy people.” But he was surprised when the Donald sent him a lawsuit.
At this point, Maher took the liberty to tear into Donald Trump, showing just how stupid he and his lawyer really are. “Do these morons even know it’s impossible for people and apes to produce offspring?” And he ended the Trump dismantling by stating that “the legal system in this country, it’s not a joke, it’s not a toy for rich idiots to play with.”
Over the last few years, Democrats and Republicans have come together and cut our deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending cuts and higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. That’s more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties say we need to stabilize our debt.
I believe we can finish the job the same way we’ve started it – with a balanced mix of more spending cuts and more tax reform. And the overwhelming majority of the American people agree – both Democrats and Republicans.
Now, my preference – and the preference of many Members of Congress – is to do that in a balanced, comprehensive way, by making sensible changes to entitlement programs and reforming our tax code. As we speak, both the House and Senate are working towards budget proposals that I hope will lay out this kind of balanced path going forward.
The Weather Channel has pissed off practically the entire meteorologist community by their decisions to begin to start naming ordinary here-today-gone-tomorrow winter storms like the one that’s presently surging over the northeast side of the country day rather than reserving to tag more severe weather anomalies like the tropical storm Sandy that hit last year. And what’s worse is that the execs at the station made this decision without any confirmation from the rest of the more, shall we say professional, forecasting community. “The idea,” according to Bryan Norcross, senior executive director of weather content for the company, “was to draw more attention to storms and get people to prepare.” But irate meteorologists across the land, who are lamenting publicly on what they think is just a publicity stunt for the station, say that the potential danger of making a big whoopdedoo about every seasonable winter storm could eventually numb the public to responding appropriately to more dangerous weather. Aaah! The old Boy-Who-Cried-Wolf syndrome…
A spokeswoman for the National Weather Service, which names tropical storms like hurricanes, said the agency has no position on the Weather Channel’s decision to name winter storms. Also no word on which Nemo the brain trust at TWC had in mind when naming this present storm. Was it the cute little clown fish from the Disney Pixar movie or the ancient mariner, Captain Nemo from the literary works of science fiction writer Jules Verne?…I’m guessing the clown fish.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT: Nemo also means “The Man” in the African Oromo language, which would also be another silly name for a storm.
The Golden Age of Hip-Hop: Radio Station 107.5 WBLS spins “Golden Era Radio” every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm, featuring the best of 70’s, 80’s and 90’s hip-hop music with the legendary MarleyMarl and RoxanneShante. Damn, there are times when living in the past could be a good thing. I would love for these so called present day rap artists to assimilate just one iota of what the old crew used to throw down in the day. You would think that rapping about Bitches, Money & Hoes would have played itself out by now, wouldn’t it?
Actor Will Smith‘s daughter, Willow, turned turned down the role to play the little orphan girl Annie in her father’s remake of “Annie”. Will’s production company Overbrook Entertainment recently hired “Easy A” director Will Gluck to guide the production to the big screen, as well as Willow in the lead role. Speaking at Temple University in Philadelphia this week, Smith said that Willow herself ask to not be put in the film:
“Willow was supposed to be doing ‘Annie,’ we got Jay-Z to do the movie, got the studio to come in and Willow had such a difficult time on tour with ‘Whip my Hair’ and she said, ‘You know Daddy, I don’t think so, I said, ‘Baby, hold up!’ I said, ‘No, no, no, listen; you’ll be in New York with all of your friends and Beyoncé will be there. You will be singing and dancing,’ and she looked at me and said, ‘Daddy, I have a better idea, how about I just be 12.”
How about I just be 12? Whippin’ my hair back n’ forth with mad respect for this little girl : )
And take heart–Will and his boychild Jaden Smith will be appearing together again in the scifi thriller“After Earth” directed by that weird guy, M. Night Shyamalan and produced, once again by Overbrook. The plot? After crash landing on a planet abandoned for thousands of years, father and son astronauts are left to explore and survive on the planet. Scheduled film release is June. I’ll be there.
Halle Berry, Lisa Leslie, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Clarence Avant and my Girl Chaka Khan will be honored at the BET Awards televised this coming Monday the 11th. Hosted once again by the beautiful Gabrielle Union the show will celebrate Chaka and her fellow nominees for their outstanding achievements in their respective careers. I’ve been rockin’ with the legendary Ms. Khan from day one of her Rufus days all the way up to the multi-Grammy Award winning solo career she enjoys today. And I’ve prided myself on introducing other fans to some of her least known songs. Ill taking you out with my personal favorite, “Roll Me Through The Rushes”… N’joy!
THANK GOD WE MADE IT THROUGH “NEMO” IN ONE PIECE! (or whatever you wanna call it.)
The Steinbrenner family has a rule. That rule was not even broken for the captain himself. The rule is that the team does not talk about a new contract with a player until that players contract has expired.
Today, word broke that the Yankees have broken that rule. The team has reached out to Robby Cano in hopes of extending the leagues best second baseman. The organization wants Cano to be a Yankee for the entirety of his career and this is the first step. There is no word on whether or not Cano is open to discussing an extension or not but word is that he does not intend to give the Yankees a home town discount.
The Mariners are in the process of making sure the Yankees don’t get their greedy hands on the teams most prized asset. Soon, the team will finalize an extension for Felix Hernandez that would add up to 7 Years and $175 million. This contract makes the young righty the highest paid pitcher in Baseball. Yes, even more than C.C. Sabathia, Clayton Kershaw or even Justin Verlander.
Believe me, I understand the move. He is by far the best player on that team and he’s what keeps the fans coming to the ball park. So as far the team is concerned, they have to make that deal. Even if it is way too much money. At 26, I don’t see how a righty can possibly have proven to be worth the money they have thrown at him.
Further more, I can’t understand King Felix not at least testing out the free agent market. He was going to make a big paycheck regardless. I don’t see how he could not want to try to put himself in a position to win. Unless he thinks the team can win in the next seven years. If so, he sees more potential in the team than I or most do. Testing free agency is just something that makes sense for his situation but I suppose a record breaking contract can keep someone in one place especially if that person is comfortable.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By agreeing to this, we can analyze browsing behavior and unique IDs on this site. Declining or revoking consent may affect certain features.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
