by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 04, 2010
The dualistic religious system founded by the Persian prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek) and set forth in the Avesta in the late 7th or early 6th centuries BCE, teaching the worship of Ahura Mazda in the context of a universal struggle between the forces of light and of darkness. It is one of the most ancient of living religions and once the faith of the Persian Empire. It is also rooted in ancient Aryan traditions. Today there are less than 200,000 Zoroastrians, mostly in Iran, India, and the West. At the age of 30, Zarathustra was returning with river water for haoma for spring festival when he had a vision and was taken before Ahura Mazda, The Wise Lord, the supreme creator & his 7 created helpers, the Holy Immortals (Amesha Spentas) by the Vohu Manah. Zoroastrianism teaches that Ahura Mazda is the supreme god and all others are subordinate to him. It also teaches that the evil spirit, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman in Pahlavi) and his demons (daevas) upholds the Lie (druj) instead of Truth (asha). As a result, this creates conflict between humans who follow the Lie (dregvant) and those who uphold the Truth (ashavan).
The religion also teaches that each person has free will to choose, with consequences of happiness and misery. Zoroastrians believe that when someone dies, the body must be kept in home for 3 days while the soul hangs about it. On the 4th day, the corpse-bearer raise a massive Tower of Silence (dakhma) with a circular stone platform on the top inclined to a central wall. The body is stripped and then placed on this, exposed to vultures and elements. When the flesh is gone, the bones are swept into the well to disintegrate. This is done to minimize effects of decay on the air, fire, earth, and water. Many Parsis still use Towers of Silence, but those in Iran have shifted to earth burial and those in the West use burial or cremation. After this life, each person is judged at the Chinvat Bridge, shaped as a sword. It turns on its edge for the evil and they fall into an abyss of torment and the righteous pass over it as a broad and flat path to rewards in heaven. The traditional temple of Zoroastrianism is the Fire Temple. It has a central chamber with a stone platform on which fire is always burning in a metal urn on a bed of sand or ash. The priest (magi) keep the fire, perform rituals, prayer, and wear masks so they do not pollute the fire. The fire at Udvada north of Bombay is held to have burned for over 1,000 years.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 01, 2010
Black Wall Street Records is a Hip-Hop recording company founded by Westcoast Compton rapper The Game in 2004. The name Black Wall Street is adopted from what was the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Though the company hasn't released an official retail album, it has released several mixtapes including the "Black Wall Street Journal" and "BWS Radio" series.
Some of the artists from Black Wall Street Records include: The Game, Juice, Clyde Carson, X.O., Shyne, Elijah, Nu Jerzey Devil, Southsider, and The Menace. Former artists include: Eastwood, Glasses Malone, Techniec, Cyssero, Vita, Charli Baltimore and Young Life.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ November 09, 2009
Kurosaki Ichigo is a 15 year old boy that has an ability to see ghosts/spirits. Because of his ability, he is able to meet a female death god (aka Shinigami) named Kuchiki Rukia. To save his family and friends from unwanted soul-eating spirits (Hollows), Rukia transfers her Shinigami powers to Ichigo. As Rukia takes on a human shell, together they solve mysteries involving spirits and hollows until from the spirit world comes 2 other shinigamis explaining that it is illegal to transfer Shinigami powers to humans and Rukia exceeded the time limit to stay in the human world. After they sentence her death for breaking the laws, Ichigo snaps and swears to everyone he will retrieve Rukia by breaking into the spirit world.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 04, 2010
In the distant future, Mankind has colonized space with clusters of space colonies at each of the five Earth-Moon Lagrange points, and down on the Earth, the nations have united as the United Earth Sphere Alliance. However, the Alliance oppresses the colonies with its military power. The colonies desire a peaceful resolution to the situation, joining together in a movement headed by the pacifist Heero Yuy. Yuy is shot dead by an assassin, forcing the colonies to search for other paths to peace. The assassination also prompts five disaffected scientists from the Organization of the Zodiac, much more commonly referred to as OZ, to turn rogue after the completion of the mobile suit prototype Tallgeese. It is the year After Colony 195, and war between the Space Colonies and Earth has begun. To give the colonies an edge, they send 5 young soldiers, trained to perfection, to earth in the most powerful of Mobile Suit-Gundams to destroy OZ. With their arrival, the tide of the war changes as they battle against the Earth forces and the Colonies of their origin.
Gundam wing is a 49 episode Gundam series. It aired in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Toonami in 2000. There is also a movie called Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 11, 2010
Rastafari is a "messianic religio-political movement" that began in the Jamaican slums in the 1920s and 30s. The most famous Rastafari is Bob Marley, whose reggae music gained the Jamaican movement international recognition.
There is significant variation within the Rastafari movement and no formal organization. Some Rastafarians see Rasta more as a way of life than a religion. But uniting the diverse movement is belief in the divinity and/or messiahship of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, the influence of Jamaican culture, resistance of oppression, and pride in African heritage. The Rastafarian lifestyle usually includes ritual use of marijuana, avoidance of alcohol, the wearing of one's hair in dreadlocks, and vegetarianism. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), is usually credited as the founder of Rastafari and is seen as a 2nd John the Baptist.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ July 18, 2010
The Rastafari movement is a monotheistic, Abrahamic, new religious movement, that accepts Haile Selassie I, the former, and final, Emperor of Ethiopia, as the incarnation of Jesus Christ, called Jah or Jah Rastafari. Within the Rastafarai movement Haile Selassie was considered the physical body through which the Power of the Trinity exhibits its power here on earth. Rastas assert that Zion (i.e., Africa, especially Ethiopia) is a land that Jah promised to them. To achieve this, they reject modern western society, calling it "Babylon", which they see as entirely corrupt. "Babylon" is considered to have been in rebellion against "Earth's Rightful Ruler" (Jah) ever since the days of the Biblical King Nimrod. The lion is a symbol of Haile Selassie. Jesus Christ is described as "the lion of Judah" in the Bible, and for this reason, Haile Selassie is seen as the reincarnation of Jesus.
The wearing of Locks is very closely associated with the movement, though not universal among, or exclusive to, its adherents. Rastas maintain that Locks are supported by Leviticus 21:5 ("They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh.") and the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6:5 ("All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow."). Followers of the Rastafari movement see Marcus Garvey as a prophet, with his philosophy fundamentally shaping the movement, and with many of the early Rastas having started out as Garveyites. He is often seen as a second John the Baptist. For Rastas, smoking cannabis, usually known as "healing of the nation", "ganja", or "herb" (from the Sanskrit word, "Ganjika", created by the Hindus of India), is a spiritual act, often accompanied by Bible study; they consider it a sacrament that cleans the body and mind, heals the soul, exalts the consciousness, facilitates peacefulness, brings pleasure, and brings them closer to Jah.
by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ October 06, 2009