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Archive for March, 2009

Holy Cities of India

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

varanasi

Varanasi & Bodhgaya are not that well-known in the western world, but many would consider them two of world’s holiest cities. Located in northeastern India, these ancient sites hold a powerful allure words seldom do justice.

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Varanasi is the place Hindus hope to die to expedite their karmic journey to Nirvana.
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Bodhgaya is where a young Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi tree until reaching enlightenment. It goes without saying that this is the holiest of all Buddhist sites.

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Join me below the jump for more info and photos from 2 powerfully spiritual meccas in northeast India.

(Cross-posted @ Daily Kos)

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Trailer now 99.44% pure

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

Also “high resolution” and “approved for all audiences.”

Nipplegate, part deux

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Apparently boobs are only allowed to hold office in Washington D.C.See: Above? Where it says “the most remote places on Earth?”

Via email from Facebook:

You uploaded a video that was reported for violating Facebook’s Terms of Use. After reviewing the video, we have decided to remove it. Facebook removes reported videos that are hateful, threatening, graphic, or that attack an individual or group.

More, from Facebook’s video FAQs:

Facebook does not allow users to upload videos that contain copyrighted content, nudity, drug use, or other obscene content.

After much head-scratching, I deduced that the 1.4-second clip (captured in the screen shot above) was the offending nanoseconds’ worth of video.

Someone reportedly found it “offensive” that we had video of native tribal women in their traditional Akha dress in our trailer on Facebook. Seriously? You are offended that there is a culture that dresses differently? Or is it that the female body that sacrosanct still?The “wardrobe malfunction” (LOL) seen round the world

Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson’s breast, which had the nipple completely covered by silver tape, was exposed by Justin Timberlake for exactly 9/16 of a second,

I never heard this part of the story, did you?:

Following the incident, the NFL announced that MTV, which also produced the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXV, would never be involved in another halftime show.

Banned? For life!?!

I mention this saga not because it has much in common with our story, but only because it is one of the greater “non-troversies”  in recent years. Yet the hammer came down with over $500,000 in fines of breathless severity.  Or was it with great vengeance and furious anger?

For many decades now, we have had the luxury of photography at our disposal. It is a tremendous tool that allows journalists to share “a thousand words” with a single image.

For many years, the wonderful and respected magazine National Geographic has brought the world closer via images that sometime show the people in tribal areas. They have never blurred their work so as to not offend.

To explain the tribal fashion of the areas we visit on “The Laughing Planet” would not only fall well short, but would leave the viewer wanting. There is an old adage I love:

Tell me and I’ll forget.

Show me and I may remember.

Involve me and I’ll understand.

We at “The Laughing Planet” seek to involve our audience. At very least, we will show them the world they didn’t otherwise understand.

The people who reported this, as well as the management at Facebook who caved in  pandered acquiesced to the moralist who reported our video as offensive, should be ashamed not of the exposure of a native tribe’s clothing, but of themselves.

Northern Pakistan: Muslim Mountains & more

Monday, March 9th, 2009

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Pakistan is home to a civilization dating back at least 5,000 years (one of the oldest in the world) but is actually one of the world’s younger nations (1947). The current political unrest seems to cloud most people’s impression of the country, but there is much more to the 2nd largest Muslim country in the world than “Islamofascism“.

Pakistan’s visually stunning north boasts the highest concentration of high peaks and glaciers in the world. The people get a bad rap due to a few bad apples, but are actually some of the friendliest I have encountered in over a dozen countries in the region I have visited.

Please read on for a closer look at this fascinating nation and its stunning scenery.

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The taming of the Water Shrew

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Survival of the fittest at its finest.

Stick it to The Man

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

For all you fans of TLP,  this is a must-have item! Works great to cover up those embarrassing McCain-Palin stickers. Or as a Valentines gift for that special someone. What? Valentines Day was last month? Damn. Dang. Well it might make a good St. Patrick’s Day gift. Look, just buy a sticker if you like it, m’kay?

(Clicky the pikky to see larger)

TLP for your car’s read end

These first-edition TLP stickers are waterproof and badass. In stores people buy one sticker for $499.99. (Yeah, they paid too much)

But for a limited time, we are making this special offer: Pay whatever you want.

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Below is the link to a secure login on PayPal where you can send whatever monies you haven’t lost in the recent housing/financial crisis. We are not picky, but paper money only please. You can also post a mailing address privately and discreetly.

 

 

<<<CLICK LOGO TO GO TO PAYPAL>>>
 

Become a fan of TLP on Facebook!

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Click the logo to view our new page.Today marks a new benchmark in the journey of going global. We have created our very own page on the intertubes’ most blathered about social networking website, Facebook. I suppose I should have read the fine print before I agreed to their terms. Do they now own me, the project, and everything there is to know about it for all eternity? Oh well.

Please click one of the many links in this post and “become a fan“! (Whatever the hell heck that does)

As much as I love “Flight of the Conchords“, I’d hate for our “fan base” to be only slightly larger than the band’s (1 fan) on the show. It’s a new foray into cyberspace for me, so any advice on what kinds of shit stuff I should post there is welcome. I’ve gotta start watchin’ my f*cking friggin language now that we have enhanced our profile. Which reminds me, since we have upped our profile, now up yours!

Screen shot from the most kickass page on Facebook. (No, I don’t believe that either)

Good news: We are up to 6 fans in the 1st hour!

Bad news: We have only 6 fans so far.

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Update (March 04, 2009 @ 12:34):

We are up to  34 fans in the 1st 24 hours. Thanks guys.

Roland Burris in 2010! Wait, WHAT?

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

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Yes, folks. It’s almost election season again. So dig down deep into that shrinking retirement fund and send off a contribution to support Senator Roland Burris (D-umbass). You see, the junior Senator from Illinois has been working in D.C. for only a few weeks, but we know you approve of everything he has done so far. So it’s time begin the -re-election campaign now, before your 401k is in the red.

I know you are all dying to know where to send the money…(We have made it fairly easy by putting the donation info on the front page of the website)

But WAIT! There’s more!

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