During the Middle Ages (A.D. 500-1500), fierce warriors called Vikings lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula of northern Europe. The Vikings, a tall people known for their blond hair and blue eyes, were skilled craftsmen and daring seamen. They raided many European nations and explored far out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Around the year A.D. 1000, the Viking Leif Ericson discovered the North American continent. It is believed that the Vikings might have started several little villages at the tip of Newfoundland, an island off Canada's Atlantic coast. Although they did not tell anyone about their discovery, the Vikings were nevertheless probably the second people to discover America.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ November 15, 2010
One day, Usagi Tsukino, a clumsy 2nd-year middle school student (8th grader), stumbles upon a talking cat named Luna. Luna tells her that she is destined to be Sailor Moon, "champion of love and justice," and she must search for the fabled Moon Princess. Usagi finds friends that turn out to be destined senshi as well, and together they fight to save the world from the certain doom brought upon by the Dark Kingdom (Queen Beryl, the generals, Metallia).
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 28, 2010
Slam Dunk centers around Hanamichi Sakuragi, who starts as a delinquent outcast, becoming the leader of a gang. Hanamichi, being very unpopular with girls, has been rejected by them fifty times. Yet, he finds out that Haruko Akagi is the girl of his dreams, and is happy when she's not scared of him like all the other girls he has asked out. Haruko Akagi, who recognizes Hanamichi's athleticism, introduces him to the Shohoku basketball team. Hanamichi was reluctant to join the team at first because he had no previous background in any sports and thought that basketball was a game for losers (also because the fiftieth girl rejected him for a basketball player). Sakuragi, despite his immaturity and hot temper, proves to be a natural athlete with potential and joins the team in order to impress Haruko and prove that he is worthy of her. Kaede Rukawa — Sakuragi's bitter rival (both on the basketball court and love, even when Rukawa doesn't acknowledge Haruko's crush on him), the star rookie and a "girl magnet" - joins the team at the same time. Hisashi Mitsui, an ex-junior high school MVP, and Ryota Miyagi, a short but fast player, both also rejoin the team and together these four struggle to complete team captain Takenori Akagi's dream of making Shohoku the national champion. Together, these misfits gain publicity and the once little known Shohoku basketball team becomes an all-star contender in Japan.
Slam Dunk is a sports-themed anime series about a basketball team from Shohoku High School. There are a total of 101 episodes.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ September 04, 2010
A mode of dealing with the spirit world through the agency of an individual set apart as spirit possessed and specially equipped to deal with superhuman forces. The term Shaman is generically applied to healers, exorcists, sorcerers, magicians, etc.
A practitioner of Shamanism is a Shaman. Shamans gain knowledge and the power to heal by entering into the spiritual world or dimension. The shaman may have, or acquire many spirit guides in the spirit world, these often guide and direct the shaman in his/her travels. These spirit guides are always present within the shaman though others only encounter them when the shaman is in a trance. The spirit guide energizes the shaman, enabling him/her to enter the spiritual dimension. The shaman heals within the spiritual dimension by returning 'lost' parts of the human soul from wherever they have gone. The shaman also cleanses excess negative energies which confuse or pollute the soul. Shaman act as "mediators" in their culture. The shaman communicates with the spirits on behalf of the community, including the spirits of the deceased. The shaman communicates with both living and dead to alleviate unrest, unsettled issues, and to deliver gifts to the spirits. Often, unsettled issues can be resolved with money. Paper money can be burnt to transfer its value to the spirits.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 03, 2010
In the late 1950s and early '60s, songwriters like the classically-trained Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim and the soft-voiced guitarist João Gilberto created a smoother, jazz-influenced version of the Samba - which itself was a product of the nation's poorer classes. Middle-class Brazilians preferred the newer sound, which was dubbed Bossa Nova, or "The New Way." Bossa Nova is velvet sophistication atop a feathery five-against-four rhythm, and is most famously epitomized by Gilberto's "Girl from Ipanema." American jazzmen like Stan Getz - who went on to collaborate frequently with Gilberto and Herbie Mann visited Brazil and brought the Bossa Nova to international attention. Some commercial distortion followed, but Bossa Nova continues to influence modern Brazilian pop and other regional styles today.
Bossa Nova: Antonio Carlos Jobim Aka Tom Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Bebel Gilberto, Baden Powell, Eliane Elias, Elis Regina, João Gilberto, Nara Leão, Sérgio Mendes, Stan Getz, Maria Rita, Sitti Navarro, Rosalia De Souza, Celso Fonseca, Luiz Bonfá, Carlos Lyra, Tamba Trio, Gal Costa, Seu Jorge, Vinicius de Moraes.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ September 17, 2010
Nephthys, was the daughter of Seb and Nut, and the sister of Osiris, and Isis, and Set, and the wife of Set, and the mother of Anpu, or Anubis, either by Osiris or Set. The name "Nebt-het" means the "lady of the house," but by the word "house" we must understand that portion of the sky which was supposed to form the abode of the Sun-god Horus; in fact "het" in the name of Nebt-het is used in exactly the same sense as "het" in the name "Het-Hert," or Hathor, i.e., the "house of Horus." In the earliest times Nephthys was regarded as the female counterpart of Set, and she was always associated with him; nevertheless she always appears as the faithful sister and friend of Isis, and helps the widowed goddess to collect the scattered limbs of Osiris and to reconstitute his body. In the Pyramid Texts she appears as a friend of the deceased, and she maintains that character throughout every Recension of the Book of the Dead; indeed, she seems to perform for him what as a nature goddess she did for the gods in primeval times when she fashioned the "body" of the "Company of the Gods," and when she obtained the name Nebkhat, i.e., "Lady of the body {of the Gods}."
The goddess is represented in the form of a woman who wears upon her head a pair of horns and a disk which is surmounted by the symbol of her name, or the, " symbol only; and her commonest titles are, "dweller within Senu," "lady of heaven," "mistress of the gods," "great goddess, lady of life," "sister of the god, eye of Ra, lady of heaven, mistress of the gods," "lady of heaven, mistress of the two lands," "sister of the god, the creative goddess who liveth within An," etc. The chief centres of her worship were Senu, Hebet, (Behbit), Per-mert, Re-nefert, Het-sekhem, Het-Khas, Ta-kehset, and Diospolites. In the vignettes of the Theban Recension of the book of the Dead we find Nephthys playing a prominent part in connection with isis, whose efforts it seems to be her duty to second and to forward. She stands in the shrine behind Osiris when the hearts of the dead are weighed in the Great Scales in the presence of the god; she is seen kneeling on, by the side of the Tet, from which the disk of the Sun is thrust upwards by the "living Ra," at sunrise; she is one of the "great sovereign chiefs in Tettu," with Osiris, Isis, and Heru-netch-hra-f; and she kneels at the head of the bier of Osiris and assists him to arise.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 04, 2010
God of the sun (originally separate gods). The sun is seen to cross the sky by day. By night is passes through the Underworld to be reborn the next day.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 04, 2010