Likud members know how to close ranks when they have too, and that includes the ministers, some of whom bit the bullet on Wednesday evening and sat at the front row at the Likud rally, opposite the stage. They found it difficult to hide the heartburn, but none of them opened their mouths. Anyone looking to the future knows that this isnt the time to talk.

Netanyahu at Wednesdays rally, against the backdrop of the Likud logo. Cynically and sophisticatedly binding himself and his family together with his party (Photo: EPA)

Theres so much Machiavellianism here, so many lies. Why even the latest polls have shown that if Likud is headed by a different leader, the party will gain even more Knesset seats.

Nevertheless, it was impossible not to feel discomfort. Watching this demonstration, the factual distortion (not to mention the historical distortion), hearing Netanyahu turn his familys unlimited hedonism and exploitation into a harassment of his wife by the media, as if its all about a cup of tea served to her righteous father on his deathbed.

Hearing the disparagement, the lies, the hatred towards members of a large public, who felt on Wednesday that this isnt their prime minister, that theyre outsiders in this country in light of such a divisive speech. A speech of a camp leader, turning to the members of his camp and inciting them against the other camp.

A person in Netanyahus situation should have bowed his head and kept silent. He definitely shouldnt have organized an Erdoan-style rally for himself. He should have waited quietly for the attorney generals decision. Instead, Netanyahu chose war.

Go here to see the original:

Netanyahu's cynical tactic: I'm Likud, Likud is me - Ynetnews

To use the language likely heard in music-industry boardrooms circa 2010, around the time of the great female pop-superstar boom, Kesha once benefitted from strong market differentiation. She wasnt the cryptic alien provocateur Lady Gaga; she wasnt the coy Betty Boop update Katy Perry; she wasnt the unflappable fashion assassin Rihanna. She was the glorious, superheroic epitome of a very familiar typethe party girl. In neon face paint and with a dollar sign in her name, she squealed about brushing her teeth with booze and sleeping with the heirs to Mick Jagger. She was fun: the brand.

But this was, in a way, just a different flavor of the same product on offer elsewhere. Keshas music was powered by the backbeat of Dr. Luke, a producer whod helped set the template for 2000 club-pop and whod been groomed by Max Martin, the most important architect of hits for a few decades now. She also was on-trend thematically: Her hedonism handily doubled as capital-e Empowerment, serving as a rallying cry for misfits and the marginalized. She sassily bit back at male creeps (Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk), casually preached self-acceptance (We R Who We R), and insisted that girls could have as much a good time as guys without being called sluts. In their way, the likes of Gaga and Perry did something similarbaby, you were born this way; baby, youre a firework.

The Exquisite Horror in Lana Del Rey's Nostalgia

The novelty of such an act might be expected to wear off eventually, but the public never got a chance to fully get its fill of Kesha. Instead, about two years after her 2012 sophomore album, Warrior, she filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke alleging abuse, sexual assault, artistic tyranny, and general horrible behavior by the producer. The illusion of her invulnerable persona was smashed foreverand its origins given grim new context with the assertion that Dr. Luke had manipulated her starting in 2005, when she was 18. The suit sought to end her contract with him; he denied all allegations; a long legal battle has resulted in no ruling on the merits of the accusations but rather a series of procedural losses for Kesha. She recently announced her intention to move on from this ugly chapter by releasing new music.

Her comeback album, Rainbow, is fascinating in terms of narrative and fine-just-fine in terms of pop. It is being released by Kemosabe Records, the imprint that Dr. Luke founded but no longer runs, and has come out reportedly with his support but not involvement. It appears he will get a cut of the profits. Lyrically, Keshas show of resilience doesnt have a ton of specificity about what shes overcomingwhich is perhaps an artistic choice, or perhaps a sign of legally prudent caginess. Whats certain is that the outrageous character and commercial force Kesha once represented is gone, replaced by a human being: poignant, striving, and flawed.

Though Keshas situation isnt fully precedented in pop, the spectacle of resetting after a setback is, and the most common tropes of the licking-ones-wounds narrative are all here. Like Gaga with last years Joanne, Kesha trades thumping electro for analogue instruments and genres that, fairly or not, have an easier time being perceived as authentic: rock and roll, country, folk. Also like Gaga, she tries to execute this turn while tamping down, but not altogether ditching, her previous persona. Kesha opens the album with a slowly blossoming acoustic singalong, but she peppers it with motherfuckers and assholes as she would have with any given song five years ago. She goes full cowpunk on the love-crazed Hunt You Down, but harkens back to her old Cannibal shtick by saying, cheekily, that she probably wont murder a guy who cheats on her.

Somewhat stripped down as Kesha is here, you get a clear sense of what made her musically distinct all along. Its that voice, sharp and nasal and highly conversational, earning cringes from skeptics but a strong sense of kinship from fans. She can also belt with soul, and she cares about articulationno lyrics sheet required to follow along. With a writing credit on all but two songs (both of which are cowritten by her mom, Pebe Sebert, including a 1980 Dolly Parton cut updated here with Partons participation), its also as obvious as ever that Kesha is accomplished in the art of pop songcraft. The title ballad in particular, reportedly written while she was in rehab for an eating disorder, captures the sense of falling right back in love with being alive with remarkable finesse. Dense with syllables but also graceful, it could be a showstopper in Disneys follow-up to Frozen or Moanano small feat.

That track and the single Praying both stand out for their reconciliation of the limits of the radio-pop form with walloping trauma and emotion. Praying in particular just gets more brutal with each listen, both because of her vocal performance and because of the tricky way it threads the line between condemnation and acceptance. A slightly more uptempo single, Learn to Let Go, makes for a competent empowerment anthem in line with current radio trends (islands lilt? check). It also shows some nice self-awareness: I know Im always, like, telling everybody you dont got to be a victim I think its time to practice what I preach. The tracks currently sitting at the low end of the Hot 100, but just one good TV-drama soundtrack deployment could turn it into a hit.

Elsewhere, she determinedly signals that her old party-animal ways arent gone. Woman, a straightforward feminist cry with sax touches from the Dap Kings, is laced with snippets of laughtera winning, if not altogether convincing, touch. Boogie Feet, featuring the Eagles of Death Metal, has her screaming like a member of Sleater-Kinney before delivering her vintage so-dumb-its-fabulous rapping: Some people they got the big brains / They make all the computer games. The engines of the fast songs are purring guitars and live drums, and while the results are catchy and charmingly brash, theyre also a challenge to a pop-radio landscape that has mostly exiled rock.

Even on such highlights, though, theres a sense of tentative-ness that blunts the materials impact. For all the profanity she threads in, her account of the healing process doesnt quite transcend the generic; if only she were able to make like, say, Alanis Morissette, and use her sailors mouth for tarter, smarter poetry. Dont let the assholes wear you out / Dont let the mean girls take the crown / Dont let the scumbags screw you round / Dont the bastards take you down, she sings on the opener, Bastards, letting common teenage disses do most of the descriptive work.

There is one memorably unique through line, though, and its about religion. On songs like Hymn, Finding You, and Spaceship, she seems to be inventing her own faith, insisting on an afterlife of aliens and energy while noticeably avoiding Christian iconography: Lord knows this planet feels like a hopeless place, she sings on the closer. Thank God Im going back home to outer space. This cheeky new-age kick is also the direction hinted at in her trippy album art, but Rainbow itself is so caught up reacting to Keshas recent real-world narrative that it never fully develops its dreamscape. As she continues to rebuild her career, she might do well to find a way back to wild, uplifting fantasywhich she can, one hopes, now control more fully.

Read more:

The Very Human Return of Kesha - The Atlantic

A scene from Tom of Finland. Photograph: Josef Persson

Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, known by his nom de plume Tom of Finland, is brought above the radar of cultural history in this well-acted biopic.

In postwar Helsinki, in conditions of the gravest illegality, Laaksonen produced thousands on thousands of homoerotic fetish illustrations, showing bulgingly endowed leather-clad guys having an unapologetic good time. Tom of Finlands work reached the liberated US in the 1960s via mail order, and he became a counterculture hero of gay liberation, virtually inventing a whole language of hedonism that influenced Queen, the Village People and the club scene.

Pekka Strang is very good as Tom; the movie suggests that he was traumatised by his wartime experiences Finland being a co-belligerent of Hitlers axis powers. The film shows a perhaps imagined episode of Laaksonen killing a Russian parachutist. But something in his creative alchemy responded to the brutality of Nazis and Soviets in uniform, and then to the uniforms of the police employed to break up cottaging in the parks. His eroticism subversively reclaimed these styles.

So what was Tom of Finland, ultimately? A gay version of R Crumb? Not exactly. Interestingly, the movie doesnt locate a happy ending for him in being accepted by the contemporary art establishment: a much-discussed exhibition never happens in this film. Tom of Finland is perhaps closer to the 50s fetish pinup Bettie Page.

Either way, this drama suggests his importance is in something less culturally high-flown: simply being a rocknroll standard-bearer for gay men, he was the means by which happiness could be achieved. It is arguably a structural problem that the movie ends just as the HIV-Aids debate begins, with Laaksonen depicted fearing that he will be blamed, and rather earnestly promoting condom use.

Still: an intriguing demonstration of how eroticism in gay culture became overt, while straight porn retains its furtiveness and hiddenness.

Read the rest here:

Tom of Finland review intriguing biopic of a gay liberation hero - The Guardian

Darrell Nance/Tyler Woods/

Cuz Lightyear / Adam Torres / Jabee

Downtown Birmingham Alabama is facing the one thing in thirty years it never thought it would see renovation. The city happens to pack the largest population of any in the state. Through hilly regions, country sprawl and more collegiate joy than a frat party in nearby Tuscaloosa, Birmingham enjoys its status as both a crest of modernism and a hastily fastened 1960s time warp.

Churches adorn many a city block, both garish in design and some medieval. The local blues station plays the kind of beer-joint-blues where cheating on your spouse is the base template for all subject matter. Even the strip clubs, perhaps the holy mecca of both hedonism and self-restraint, are next to lots where a sign that asks for your salvation and time sticks out like a sore thumb.

Given that context and backdrop, Birmingham, Alabama is an absolutely perfect destination for a music festival geared around artist discovery, and thats exactly what last weekends Secret Stages offers.

Secret Stages is one of the few festivals that have stuck to the now antiquated South By Southwest model of throwing a ton of shows in a centralized location and keeping the commercialization factor down to zero. There was only one food truck placed in the middle the Loft District downtown, Secret Stages proverbial ground zero, and its only in the South that Ill get an oyster and shrimp po boy and ask myself, How seasoned is this? before devouring it in less than ten bites.

Starting from the centrally-placed Doubletree and walking downtown, I made my way down to the trio of buildings housing every Secret Stage performer. Hearing Austins Adam Torres wail with a haunting, yet relaxing voice was a definite mood shifter, and before long, I found myself close my eyes and picturing how his music couldve easily soundtracked Birmingham, from the daily grind of city workers attempting to maintain its look, to the various citizens who are unsure of what change and the Civil Rights movement would present.

Read the original here:

Introducing Secret Stages, The Southern Festival Where Undiscovered Acts Shine Like Stars - UPROXX

Colognes new Springinsfeld Festival is ready to launch later this month, with doors opening to punters on Saturday 19th August, and the party running through the night.

The event boasts an enviable lineup, topped by tech house deity Solomun. Other names set to appear include Fritz Kalkbrenner, Don Diablo, Oliver Heldens, Yellow Claw, andhim, and Martin Solveig, who found himself back in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list last time round after a few years out.

Run by the crew behind the Bootshaus club and Prookaville festival, both also in Cologne, the party will take place in Fhlinger See, a series of connected artificial lakes spanning 100 hectares in the suburb of Fhlingen, just south of the city proper. Three main stages have been confirmed, dedicated to house, tech house, and bass, with the promise of letting revellers take a break from everyday life, its stresses and strains, and venture off into this urban wilderness to find pristine waters, unspoilt meadows, unadulterated hedonism, and the kind of side attractions and food offerings youd expect from a major outdoor session.

Tickets are priced at a bargain 59 per person, and weve included the trailer below to really whet the appetite. For more information, check the official website, here.

Read the original post:

Cologne's Springinsfeld Festival ready for August 2017 launch ... - DJ Mag

Published: 10:47 Thursday 10 August 2017

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Lenka Vagnerov is one of the Czech Republics brightest dance stars, known for blurring the border between choreography and theatre, and always thinking outside of the box.

Zoo Southside (Venue 82)

***

Her latest production, Gossip, continues in this vein, setting the action at a decadent birthday party where champagne flutes and fake laughter cover up the rotten inner-workings of the friendships at play.

There are moments when the action feels left-field almost for the sake of it, not to make any great point. But these are outweighed by inspired and surprising theatrical devices that catch you unawares and make their mark (giving them away here would spoil the fun).

When theatre hands over to dance, the choreography is fast and tough, with dancers gliding across the floor on their backs and jumping on each other in a maelstrom of movement. And then, in amongst the hedonism, the two-faced superficiality and the unidentifiably bizarre, comes a scene of true emotional integrity. A couple stands side-by-side, while the party host details all that is wrong with their relationship, highlighting how two people can view the same situation so very differently.

Its not for everyone, but if you like your dance served with a side order of the theatrically weird and wonderful, Vagnerov has something for you.

Until 15 August. Today 8:30pm.

{* loginWidget *}

{* traditionalSignIn_emailAddress *} {* traditionalSignIn_password *}

Email Address {* traditionalSignIn_emailAddress *} Password {* traditionalSignIn_password *}

{* traditionalSignIn_emailAddress *} {* traditionalSignIn_password *}

{* traditionalRegistration_firstName *} {* traditionalRegistration_lastName *} {* traditionalRegistration_emailAddress *} {* traditionalRegistration_password *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordConfirm *} {* traditionalRegistration_displayName *}

{* socialRegistration_firstName *} {* socialRegistration_lastName *} {* socialRegistration_emailAddress *} {* socialRegistration_displayName *}

{* socialRegistration_jpCommsOptIn *}

Registering with The Scotsman means you're ok with our terms and conditions.

{* socialRegistration_captcha *}

{* socialRegistration_firstName *} {* socialRegistration_lastName *} {* socialRegistration_emailAddress *} {* socialRegistration_displayName *}

{* socialRegistration_jpCommsOptIn *}

By registering you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions of the website.

You're almost there.We've just sent a confirmation email to . Check it out to confirm your registration.

We are unable to send your welcome email at this time. Please try again later by clicking the resend welcome email link from your profile page.

{* traditionalSignIn_emailAddress *}

{* traditionalSignIn_emailAddress *}

{* newpassword *} {* newpasswordConfirm *}

{| foundExistingAccountText |}. Either connect these accounts, or create new one using a different email address.

{| existing_provider |}

{| existing_displayName |}

{| current_emailAddress |}

{| rendered_existing_provider_photo |}

Created at {| existing_createdDate |}

Email is already registered with OtherSite. You'll be able to use the same account on current Site. Alternatively, you can create a new account with another email address.

{* traditionalSignIn_emailAddress *} {* mergePassword *}

Enter your postcode so we can keep you up-to-date with the latest local news and exciting deals.

is already registered with . You will be able to use the same account on . Alternatively, you can create a new account with another email address.

Validating

Email address is required.

We have sent a confirmation email to . Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.

We are unable to process your request at this time. Please try again later.

Congratulations, you've just sealed the deal! Sign in to your profile now to get started.

That's it, you're all done! Close this window to start browsing the site now or click here to go to your profile

Unfortunately that verification link has expired. To get a new one, just sign in to your profile now and resend the verification email.

Unfortunately that verification link has expired. To get a new one, just resend the verification email by going to your profile page.

Are you sure you want to remove this linked account?

Here is the original post:

Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus review: Gossip - The Scotsman

CommonSpace

Love, Bombs and Apples raises dilemmas facing young Arabs in our times CommonSpace Over the course of their night together, the young actor discovers more hedonism and depth to the woman than previously thought. Swiftly and smoothly, with the help from sound designer and composer James Hesford, Khan transforms from his young ...

Go here to see the original:

Love, Bombs and Apples raises dilemmas facing young Arabs in our times - CommonSpace

This article originally appeared on VICE Germany.

From ravers sucking spaghetti off one another, to live alpacas strutting around the clubthere's hardly a part of Berlin nightlife that Jess Pastor hasn't caught on camera. Over the past seven years, the photographer has roamed Berlin's most hedonistic parties to document its "animals of the night," as he likes to call them. "In Berlin, people are really awake at night," he tells me.

Pastor started in 2010, by capturing the hazy after parties of the Berlin International Film Festival. Soon, his reputation got him and his camera access to the kind of events that traditionally ban photographylike parties in the King Size Bar (famously tiny and hard to get in) or the House of Red Doors at the Wilde Renate nightclub, which its organizers describe using the key words "sex, hedonism, escapism, and exuberance."

Jess Pastor's latest series, Wild Wolves, brings together his best photos showcasing the hedonistic glory of Berlin after dark. He tells me that what he likes about Berlin nights is that people there have almost no taboos. "You can smell the freedom from every corner," he says.

Scroll down to see photos from Jess Pastor's Wild Wolves.

See more here:

NSFW Photos of Berlin's Hedonistic Nightlife - VICE

A NAKED News presenter has bared all from behind the scenes of a swingers party in Jamaica.

Outrageous Carli Bei stripped totally nude to visit the event Hedonism II in Negril this weekend.

She dared to quiz the sex experts on their favourite positions before they volunteered to show her how its done.

Her raunchy interview comes after the whole Naked News team got covered in whipped cream during a backstage game of Pieface on the show last week.

Before that the presenters were filmed snogging lads in the buff in a bid to raise money for charity.

The programme started in 1999 as an English speaking show and now has one based in Japan too.

It was reported to be attracting more than six million viewers at its height.

Current anchors include Whitney St-John, Isabella Rossini and Elise Laurenne.

The male version closed in 2007, six years after it was launched.

The channels Twitter page has more than 60,000 followers and the site even has a Naked at the Movies show for film fans.

Naked News airs six days a week, with 25-minute bulletins showing the women carrying out interviews and presenting the big news stories of the day completely starkers.

Earlier this month the presentersmesmerised viewers with their fancy moves doing an Irish jig.

One Reddit user pondered: Certainly the first time Ive sat through an entire hour of Irish dancing.

Continue reading here:

Outrageous Naked News presenter Carli Bei strips totally NUDE to visit a swingers party in Jamaica - The Sun

The Rolling Stonesguitarist Ronnie Wood has revealed that he refused to undergochemotherapy after a recent cancer scare because he did not want to lose his hair.

The musician recentlyunderwent a five hour operation to have a growth in part of his lung removed.

Speaking to theMail on Sundays Event magazine, Wood said that the possibility ofchemotherapy had been discussed but that he decided against it.

Its more I wasnt going to lose my hair, he said. This hair wasnt going anywhere. I said, No way. And I just kept the faith it would be all right.

Wood also revealed he prepared to say goodbye to his family after the diagnosis. There was a week when everything hung in the balance and it could have been curtains time to say goodbye, he told the mag. You never know what is going to happen.

He revealed that hed been surprised that he hadnt fallen ill sooner after his life of hedonism.

I had this thought at the back of my mind after I gave up smoking a year ago: How can I have got through 50 years of chain-smoking and all the rest of my bad habits without something going on in there?' the guitarist said.

So I went along to see our good old doctor, Richard Dawood, because we [Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts] all have to be checked before we go on tour, and he asked me if I wanted him to go deeper and check my heart, lungs and blood. I said, Go for it.'

Wood told the mag that hes fine now, and will be going for regular check-ups.

He quit smoking before his twins were born in 2016 and is now sober after being in rehab eight times, and having treatment for alcoholism.

On what bandmate Keith Richards thinks of his sobriety, Wood said: He was more bothered Id quit the fags I took Champix [a nicotine inhibitor] for three weeks. That stuff is heavy duty. Makes me sick even to think of it now. I just stopped wanting the ciggies.

Wood is expected to join the band on their No Filter European dates in September.

The Rolling Stones upcoming No Filter European tour dates are below.

9 September Hamburg, Germany: Stadtpark 12 September Munich, Germany: Olympic Stadium 16 September Spielberg, Austria: Spielberg at Red Bull Ring 20 September Zurich, Switzerland: Letzigrund Stadium 23 September Lucca, Italy: Lucca Summer Festival-City Walls 27 September Barcelona, Spain: Olympic Stadium 30 September Amsterdam, Holland: Amsterdam ArenA 3 October Copenhagen, Denmark: Parken Stadium 9 October Dusseldorf, Germany: Esprit arena 12 October Stockholm, Sweden: Friends Arena 15 October Arnhem, Holland: GelreDome 19 October Paris, France: U Arena 22 October Paris, France: U Arena

Go here to read the rest:

Ronnie Wood refused chemotherapy because he didn't want to lose his hair - NME.com

By Bert Montgomery

Bert Montgomery

Fleetwood Macs Rumours is one of the best-selling albums of all time, though its a wonder it ever got recorded at all. The inner turmoil of the band at the time is now legendary breakups and divorce, the excesses of the mid-seventies hedonism and drug use, etc.

The first single from Rumours was Go Your Own Way, written by guitarist Lindsay Buckingham after his breakup with vocalist Stevie Nicks. The lyrics capture a recurring biblical image a person spurned by an uncommitted lover.

Buckingham sings: If I could, Baby, Id give you my world. How can I, when you wont take it from me? Tell me why everything turned around? Packing up, shacking ups all you wanna do. You can go your own way. Go your own way.

The prophet Jeremiah uses the lovers analogy to describe the relationship between God and humanity. God is the spurned lover watching, heartbroken, as we continuously sneak out at night chasing after other little-g gods under every rock and in every nook and cranny: the gods of money, power, fame, security, dominance, winning.

The lyrics reflect the story of God and humanity from the very beginning. God wants to give us Gods Kingdom, but we wont take it we stay closed to it, we run from it, and, yes, we go our own way.

And yet, God still waits and watches and searches

The Apostle Paul is convinced that there is nothing nothing! that can separate us from Gods love for us in Christ. We can all name things that others have done to us or that weve done ourselves that in our eyes goes beyond the line which Gods love cannot and will not cross. We can all name others, and sometimes even ourselves, as being far, far beyond the love of God.

And yet, Paul is convinced

Remember Psalm 139? Where can we go that is too far? Where can we go that God is not? Even if we jump headfirst into all the darkest darkness of the world seeking to escape from God, so dark there is no light even when we go our own way, and close ourselves off to the world God wants to give us even then, we cannot separate ourselves from Gods love for us.

Preachers preach and people hear the Christian message as one of sin and separation from God, which to a certain degree is true. The overarching biblical message, though, from the beginning to the end, and especially in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, is that even with all of our sins and all of our running away we can never cross a line beyond which God will not go for God is already there waiting to embrace us again.

Yes, our human patterns and our personal behaviors reflect that although God offers us the Kingdom, packing up, shacking up is all we want to do.

But, if we open our eyes and look at the day, we may see things in a different way

One of the most enduring hits from Rumours is the hopeful Dont Stop:

Why not think about times to come, And not about the things that youve done,

If your life was bad to you, Just think what tomorrow will do.

Dont stop, thinking about tomorrow, Dont stop, itll soon be here.

When you look at the world around you, are you filled with despair? Do you see a God-forsaken world? Or, can you see past the worst of the worst, through the darkness, and see the love of God at work in spite of it all? Can you look into the dark void of humanity and see the love of God in Christ moving and reconciling and redeeming? Can you see glimpses of Gods Kingdom breaking through?

In so many Fleetwood Mac songs, we hear our human stories with all their betrayal and pain, and love and heartbreak. But, if we listen closely, we may also hear the Gospel and the promise of the Gods will being done on earth as it is in Heaven: Dont stop thinking about tomorrow, itll soon be here. Yesterdays gone! Yesterdays gone!

Yes, I hear a lot of biblical stories in Fleetwood Macs catalog, but Ill leave it to your own imagination to make the connection between the Song of Solomon and You Make Loving Fun.

Rev. Bert Montgomery pastors University Baptist Church in Starkville, Miss., teaches sociology and religion courses at Mississippi State University and thinks angels probably sound a lot like Christine McVie. Contact him at bert@bertmontgomery.com.

Note: The views expressed here in columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.

Interested in writing for CBF at Patheos? Submit your column idea to CBF Communications Director Aaron Weaver ataweaver@cbf.net.

Link:

Hearing the Gospel in Fleetwood Mac - Patheos (blog)

Written by Vivek Deshpande | Nagpur | Published:August 5, 2017 4:06 am RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat (File Photo)

DOES Hindu dharma stress on self-correction, or does it tell followers to strive to lead the world on the path of correction?

The valedictory function of Vishwa Sangh Shiksha Varga (world Sangh training camp) saw conflicting views being expressed by chief guest Bibek Debroy and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat here on Friday.

While the NITI Aayog member expressed the opinion that Hindu dharma directs followers on the path of self-correction and any attempt to bring about correction in others is reflective of egotism, Bhagwat clarified that the god-ordained (ishwar pradatta) duty of Hindus is to free the world of the ills of unbridled consumerism and hedonism engendered by uncontrolled capitalism.

We are too insignificant to change the world or the universe. If you feel you have to change others, then it reflects your ego. The Hindu dharma says that if each one of us corrects oneself, the world will automatically get on the path of correction, Debroy said addressing a gathering of 112 young men and women from different parts of the world.

Bhagwat, in his speech, referred to Debroys opinion, saying, The chief guest spoke of involvement of ego in trying to bring about change in others. When K B Hedgewar founded the RSS, he was of the opinion that the Hindus should blame themselves for all their ills, not the British or the Muslim rulers. But one of the resolutions pushed by Hedgewar during the Nagpur convention of Indian National Congress, where he was a key organiser as its member before he went on to set up the RSS, was to usher India on the path to help the world rid itself of the ill-effects of unbridled consumerism. So, if we have to carry out that responsibility, we need to spread the Vishwa Dharma named Hindu Dharma by visitors from outside world.

He added: There is no ego involved in this mission. There is atmiyata (affinity). Like how the squirrel did by contributing its mite in the construction of Ram Setu during the Ramayana war. She didnt have ego, she had affinity for the cause and a will to contribute.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App

Go here to read the rest:

It's duty of Hindus to rid world of unbridled consumerism: RSS chief ... - The Indian Express

The guitarist had a five hour operation to have the growth removed.

The Rolling Stones Ronnie Wood has spoken out about the surgery he had to remove a growth in his lung.

The musician received the diagnosisback in Mayand underwent a five hour operation to have part of his lung removed.

He spoke exclusively to the Mail on Sundays Event magazine, saying he prepared to say goodbye to his family after the diagnosis.

There was a week when everything hung in the balance and it could have been curtains time to say goodbye, he told the mag.

You never know what is going to happen.

He revealed that hed been surprised that he hadnt fallen ill sooner after his life of hedonism.

I had this thought at the back of my mind after I gave up smoking a year ago: How can I have got through 50 years of chain-smoking and all the rest of my bad habits without something going on in there?' the guitarist said.

So I went along to see our good old doctor, Richard Dawood, because we [Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts] all have to be checked before we go on tour, and he asked me if I wanted him to go deeper and check my heart, lungs and blood. I said, Go for it.'

Wood told the mag that hes fine now, and will be going for regular check-ups.

He quit smoking before his twins were born in 2016 and is now sober after being in rehab eight times, and having treatment for alcoholism.

But what doesbandmate Keith Richards think of his sobriety?

He was more bothered Id quit the fags, Wood revealed. I took Champix [a nicotine inhibitor] for three weeks. That stuff is heavy duty. Makes me sick even to think of it now. I just stopped wanting the ciggies.

Wood is expected to join the band on their No Filter European dates in September.

The Rolling Stones upcoming No Filter European tour dates are below.

9 September Hamburg, Germany: Stadtpark 12 September Munich, Germany: Olympic Stadium 16 September Spielberg, Austria: Spielberg at Red Bull Ring 20 September Zurich, Switzerland: Letzigrund Stadium 23 September Lucca, Italy: Lucca Summer Festival-City Walls 27 September Barcelona, Spain: Olympic Stadium 30 September Amsterdam, Holland: Amsterdam ArenA 3 October Copenhagen, Denmark: Parken Stadium 9 October Dusseldorf, Germany: Esprit arena 12 October Stockholm, Sweden: Friends Arena 15 October Arnhem, Holland: GelreDome 19 October Paris, France: U Arena 22 October Paris, France: U Arena

More here:

Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood opens up about his lung cancer - NME.com

JERUSALEM Since becoming an adult, the eldest son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly drawn media criticism for what has been portrayed as a life of privilege at taxpayers' expense.

Yair Netanyahu, 26, has been described as someone who hobnobs with world leaders and enjoys a state-funded bodyguard, while living at the prime minister's official residence.

But his recent behavior, including a crude social media post, has now drawn public rebuke from the children of a former Israeli leader, along with threats of a libel suit. It has also revived criticism of the Netanyahu family's perceived hedonism and sense of entitlement, at a time when the prime minister faces multiple corruption allegations.

Israeli police on Thursday disclosed that Netanyahu is suspected of fraud, breach of trust and bribes in a pair of cases, just as his son was being pilloried in the press.

The younger Netanyahu hit the tabloids last weekend when a neighbor posted an account of how he refused to pick up after the Netanyahu family dog at a public park and then, when confronted, gave the neighbor the finger.

Yair Netanyahu then lashed out on Facebook at a website run by a liberal think tank that detailed what it said was his lavish lifestyle at taxpayers' expense.

In the post, Netanyahu alleged the site is funded by what he claimed are foreign interests, referring indirectly to the dovish New Israel Fund, which he renamed the "Israel Destruction Fund." He signed the post with emojis of a middle finger and a pile of excrement.

The Times of Israel said Thursday that the Molad organization which runs the site served the younger Netanyahu with a notice of intent to sue. The notice reportedly said that his posts "had no iota of truth to them" and that Molad stopped receiving money from the NIF last year.

Representatives of Molad could not be reached for comment.

The New Israel Fund noted that Yair Netanyahu made the comments on Tisha B'Av, the day Jews mourn the destruction of their biblical Temples, brought upon by internal divisions and hatred.

"On this day ... it would be appropriate for the prime minister to educate his son to spread the love of Israel," the fund said in a statement.

But perhaps the harshest reactions came from some of the other targets of his post, in which he claimed the children of former Israeli leaders Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert did not come under such scrutiny.

It included an insinuation that one of Olmert's sons had an "interesting relationship with a Palestinian man" that affected national security.

Olmert's son Ariel fired back on Facebook, denying he was gay, dismissing the claims as a fabrication and accusing the younger Netanyahu of "racism and homophobia."

"I've ignored that until now, maybe because in my opinion there's nothing negative about being either gay or Palestinian," he wrote. "Your attempts to drag me into your twisted reality are doomed to fail."

Ariel Olmert added that he works for a living, never slept in the prime minister's residence and "on principle, try to pick up my dog's doody."

His older brother Shaul then chimed in, calling Yair Netanyahu a fascist thug.

Their sister Dana Olmert declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

The online exchanges highlighted Yair Netanyahu's pronounced presence of late around his father.

In May, he was on hand to welcome President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the official Netanyahu residence and was heard telling Mrs. Trump how he related to their youngest son Barron's struggle with the spotlight.

He has also reportedly taken a leading role in his father's social media platform.

Yair Netanyahu has also been questioned though not as a suspect about a corruption scandal in which his father was asked by police "under caution" about ties to executives in media, international business and Hollywood.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are said to have received more than $100,000 worth of cigars and liquor from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who reportedly asked Netanyahu to press the U.S. secretary of state in a visa matter.

Australian billionaire James Packer has reportedly lavished Yair with gifts that included extended stays at luxury hotels in Tel Aviv, New York and Aspen, Colorado, as well as the use of his private jet and dozens of tickets for concerts by Packer's former fiancee, Mariah Carey.

Police are trying to determine whether these constitute bribes, since Packer is reportedly seeking Israeli residency status for tax purposes.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, portraying the accusations as a witch hunt against him and his family by a hostile media.

His office declined comment Thursday on the latest affair.

David Bitan, the coalition whip from Netanyahu's Likud party, said Netanyahu's son was not involved in policy and dismissed the chatter as kid's stuff on Facebook.

"He's a private person and that is how it should be treated," he told Israel's Army Radio.

Others disagreed.

Columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in a front-page piece in the Yediot Ahronot daily Thursday that the prime minister's plea to the media to leave his family alone had no merit once his son had written "one of the nastiest and most vile posts ever."

____

Follow Heller on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

See more here:

Israel's 'crown prince' Netanyahu under fire for crude post - Fox News

You can't build marriage on a foundation of selfish hedonism, because that would be to promise people only roses, and marriage is also thorns. Alan Keyes

the tree of life [was] also in the midst of the garden, Bible

All of us live and make our decisions according to some rationale. Perhaps its arbitrary and capricious, changing day by day. Or maybe we have a stronger set of standards that we have developed and utilize because they seem to work for us. At the extreme, we may accept and adhere to a more rigid set of rules established by a higher authority, which may include consequences for both good and bad behavior.

Our life-behavior is like a tree. This tree has three basic components: the fruit and leaf-bearing branches, the trunk, and the roots.

The branches (fruits, leaves) are what we enjoy in life. They may be all those blessings God gives us (whether or not we know God), such as health, success, happiness, etc. They may be the fruits of our own labors. They may be our family and friends. They are frequently the consequence of obeying the rules of society, adhering to common-sense rules and life styles, or following the Bible.

These branches are subject to the storms of life, however. We remember the ice storm of a few years ago. I lost lot of branches out of my trees. And then there was the late freeze this spring. The peach crop is not nearly as plentiful this year.

The trunk is also exposed to the tempests and vagaries of life. But its a lot sturdier. I didnt lose any tree trunks during the ice storm, and the peach trees will live to see another year.

The root is the foundation of the tree. The branches may be gone, and the trunk may be destroyed, but the roots are HARD to permanently remove if they are firmly entrenched in the soil. I tried to destroy an undesirable tree by cutting the trunk off at the base, but the next year I see little tree sprouts coming up from the base of the tree its not dead!

Our lives are a lot like the tree. If our life choices are based on our own definition of whats OK, we may get along for a while, but the storms will come. If we live in the branches we will get blown away. Divorce, abuse, and untold distress come from the storms because our way doesnt work it has no authority, no basis.

Now if we live in the trunk we have a lot better chance for surviving the storms. Society provides us with significant help if we are willing to seek it. Doctors are there to help with physical healing. Therapists are available to deal with emotional turmoil. We may have decided to follow some set of rules that seems good to us.

Our best chance for survival, however, (let me assert the only chance) is to live in the root. We have an established foundation that isnt affected by the surface storms of life. That foundation must be something that doesnt change. It isnt based on our opinion. It comes from a much higher authority. For example, it doesnt come from knowing whats in the Bible (or some arbitrary rule book). It comes from knowing the authority behind the rule book. The Bible is the only rule book with the authority that we need, that being the Word Jesus Christ.

If you are living your marriage in the branches, look out. The storms will come and the branches will fall and so will you.

If you are living in the trunk, you will benefit from much of the help available in the world, and may survive for a while. But a forest fire will destroy the trunks as well as the branches.

Choose to live your marriage in the root and make it the Bible. It doesnt change, and the storms dont affect it. In fact it becomes stronger, and so do you.

Roger Rollins is the executive director of The Family and Marriage Coalition of Aiken, Inc. Contact him at 803-640-4689, rogerrollins@aikenfamco.com or http://www.aikenfamco.com.

Read the original post:

FAMILY AND MARRIAGE: Where are you in the tree? - Aiken Standard

s s

Sections

You've read 3 of 10 free articles this month.

Get unlimited access to PressDemocrat.com, the eEdition and our mobile app starting at 99 cents per month.

You've read 6 of 10 free articles this month.

Get unlimited access to PressDemocrat.com, the eEdition and our mobile app starting at 99 cents per month.

You've read all of your free articles this month.

Get unlimited access to PressDemocrat.com, the eEdition and our mobile app starting at 99 cents per month.

We've got a special deal for readers like you.

Get unlimited access to PressDemocrat.com, the eEdition and our mobile app starting 99 cents per month and support local journalism.

Thanks for reading! Why not subscribe?

Get unlimited access to PressDemocrat.com, the eEdition and our mobile app starting 99 cents per month and support local journalism.

Want to keep reading? Subscribe today!

Ooops! You're out of free articles. Starting at just 99 cents per month, you can keep reading all of our products and support local journalism.

2 killed in sky-diving accident near Lake Tahoe

Northern California authorities seize 27,000 pot plants in 4-day raid

Southern California thunderstorms leave damage

Shuttered Santa Rosa recycling center gets major overhaul

CSU to drop placement tests, remedial class

Longtime Univision news anchor to step down

ARON HELLER

ASSOCIATED PRESS | August 4, 2017, 7:53AM

| Updated 2 hours ago.

JERUSALEM Since becoming an adult, the eldest son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly drawn media criticism for what has been portrayed as a life of privilege at taxpayers' expense.

Yair Netanyahu, 26, has been described as someone who hobnobs with world leaders and enjoys a state-funded bodyguard, while living at the prime minister's official residence.

But his recent behavior, including a crude social media post, has now drawn public rebuke from the children of a former Israeli leader, along with threats of a libel suit. It has also revived criticism of the Netanyahu family's perceived hedonism and sense of entitlement, at a time when the prime minister faces multiple corruption allegations.

Israeli police on Thursday disclosed that Netanyahu is suspected of fraud, breach of trust and bribes in a pair of cases, just as his son was being pilloried in the press.

The younger Netanyahu hit the tabloids last weekend when a neighbor posted an account of how he refused to pick up after the Netanyahu family dog at a public park and then, when confronted, gave the neighbor the finger.

Yair Netanyahu then lashed out on Facebook at a website run by a liberal think tank that detailed what it said was his lavish lifestyle at taxpayers' expense.

In the post, Netanyahu alleged the site is funded by what he claimed are foreign interests, referring indirectly to the dovish New Israel Fund, which he renamed the "Israel Destruction Fund." He signed the post with emojis of a middle finger and a pile of excrement.

Avner Inbar, the chairman of the Molad organization that runs the site, said they had served the younger Netanyahu with a notice of intent to sue if he does not retract his comments. He said Molad stopped receiving money from the NIF last year and that the posts "had no iota of truth to them."

He also said their item on Yair Netanyahu was the most viral in their four years online and viewed by 1.25 million Israelis.

"It's probably because his antics have just irked so many Israelis," said Inbar. "It's not just that he lives off the taxpayers in an unprecedented fashion but that he thinks he belongs to the royal family and is therefore immune from criticism. He thinks he is above the people."

The New Israel Fund noted that Yair Netanyahu posted the comments on Tisha B'Av, the day Jews mourn the destruction of their biblical Temples, brought upon by internal divisions and hatred.

"On this day ... it would be appropriate for the prime minister to educate his son to spread the love of Israel," the fund said in a statement.

But perhaps the harshest reactions came from some of the other targets of his post, in which he claimed the children of former Israeli leaders Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert did not come under such scrutiny.

It included an insinuation that one of Olmert's sons had an "interesting relationship with a Palestinian man" that affected national security.

Olmert's son Ariel fired back on Facebook, denying he was gay, dismissing the claims as a fabrication and accusing the younger Netanyahu of "racism and homophobia."

"I've ignored that until now, maybe because in my opinion there's nothing negative about being either gay or Palestinian," he wrote. "Your attempts to drag me into your twisted reality are doomed to fail."

Most Popular Stories

Rohnert Park police find possible brothels

Marijuana company buys entire California town with hopes of turning it into pot paradise

Passenger on Bay Area flight spots man texting about child sex abuse

Healdsburg driver to be charged in Sebastopol cyclists death

Willits dad arrested after son, 2, found tethered to tree

Ariel Olmert added that he works for a living, never slept in the prime minister's residence and "on principle, try to pick up my dog's doody."

His older brother Shaul then chimed in, calling Yair Netanyahu a fascist thug.

Their sister Dana Olmert declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

The online exchanges highlighted Yair Netanyahu's pronounced presence of late around his father.

In May, he was on hand to welcome President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the official Netanyahu residence and was heard telling Mrs. Trump how he related to their youngest son Barron's struggle with the spotlight.

He has also reportedly taken a leading role in his father's social media platform.

Yair Netanyahu has also been questioned though not as a suspect about a corruption scandal in which his father was asked by police "under caution" about ties to executives in media, international business and Hollywood.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are said to have received more than $100,000 worth of cigars and liquor from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who reportedly asked Netanyahu to press the U.S. secretary of state in a visa matter.

Australian billionaire James Packer has reportedly lavished Yair with gifts that included extended stays at luxury hotels in Tel Aviv, New York and Aspen, Colorado, as well as the use of his private jet and dozens of tickets for concerts by Packer's former fiancee, Mariah Carey.

Police are trying to determine whether these constitute bribes, since Packer is reportedly seeking Israeli residency status for tax purposes.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, portraying the accusations as a witch hunt against him and his family by a hostile media.

His office declined comment Thursday on the latest affair.

David Bitan, the coalition whip from Netanyahu's Likud party, said Netanyahu's son was not involved in policy and dismissed the chatter as kid's stuff on Facebook.

"He's a private person and that is how it should be treated," he told Israel's Army Radio.

Others disagreed.

Columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in a front-page piece in the Yediot Ahronot daily Thursday that the prime minister's plea to the media to leave his family alone had no merit once his son had written "one of the nastiest and most vile posts ever."

____

Follow Heller on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

Most Popular Stories

Rohnert Park police find possible brothels

Marijuana company buys entire California town with hopes of turning it into pot paradise

While total eclipse will shade Sonoma County, others head to path of totality

Passenger on Bay Area flight spots man texting about child sex abuse

Healdsburg driver to be charged in Sebastopol cyclists death

Luxury resort, winery OK'd in Sonoma Valley

Willits dad arrested after son, 2, found tethered to tree

High-speed pursuit through Santa Rosa leads to crash, arrest

See more here:

Israel's 'crown prince' Yair Netanyahu under fire for crude post - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Justine Decker August 3rd, 2017 - 7:10 PM

Warped Tour 2017attendees were welcomed with the hateful signs and religious music of protestors from Westboro Baptist Church at the festivals stop in Kansas City on July 27th.

Some of the bands, including Stick to Your Guns, I Prevail, and Blackcraft Spirits took it upon themselves to reciprocate the love to protestors by making shirts that boldly read F*** Westboro Baptist Church, Some people are Trans; Get over it, and other rebellious phrases. Eric Vanlerburger and Brian Burkheiser of the hardcore band I Prevail even swapped a generous amount of spit directly in front of a protestor whose shirt advertised the churchs website domain GodHatesFags.com. Vanlerburger shared the photo on his twitter with the caption Love will always win.

A representative of the church released this statement to the press in regard to their protest of Warped Tour:

Our young generation believes they can make a game of sin and mock God but suffer no consequences. The modern lifestyle of decadent hedonism leads to eternal misery as the wages of sin are death. The youth of this doomed nation set up these rock stars like golden idols of old that God warned us about. These musicians and celebrities are not worthy of worship and adulation. They have no power to save your soul from eternal hellfire. Instead of learning the lyrics and chords to these songs, focus on learning what the Lord requires of you.

The elitists of Westboro Baptist Church, which is located in Topeka, Kansas travelas far as Californiato spread unwarranted hate at festivals and concerts ranging in genre from rock to rap. They proudly promote their protest schedule atGodHatesFags.com. Their upcoming schedule includespicketing at Green Day, Kendrick Lamar, and Bruno Mars concerts in Kansas City.

Go here to see the original:

Westboro Baptist Church Boycotted the Vans Warped Tour and Artists Responded by Trolling Them - mxdwn.com

Pavel Haas

Summer is still in swing, but Thursday in Putney, Vt., Yellow Barn offers an appealingly offbeat what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation report: the String Quartet No. 2 by Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944). Subtitled From the Monkey Mountains a nickname for the hilly countryside the composer visited, inspiring the work the quartet is resourcefully pictorial, evoking birds and horses, creaking carriage wheels, and rambunctious late-night frolics. But recent scholarship suggests Haas was also influenced by modernist assertions that such sharply-observed pleasure was not just a summer-getaway souvenir, but the proper purpose of art itself.

Composed in 1925, the quartet was Haass first major work after completing his studies with the Czech master Leo Jancek, and it echoes Janceks folk-like melodic penchant and his idiosyncratic approach to rhythm motives and textures moving among distinct rhythmic strata, each layer casting its own distinct mood. But Haas was also attuned to post-World War I avant-garde musical currents. The quartets illustrative exploits gently heady avian flurries; heavy, groaning glissandi standing in for beast and vehicle; high, keening moonlight; the finales rowdy, rhumba-tinged dance-band thump, enhanced by the audacious addition of a percussionist tweak conventional string writing (and conventional propriety) into something bright and visceral.

Advertisement

Haass goal, perhaps, went beyond mere effect. In a 2016 paper, musicologist Martin Curda connected Haass quartet to the Devetsil group of Czech avant-garde artists that flourished in the 1920s in particular, the theory of Poetism, promulgated by Devetsil writers Karel Teige and Vtezslav Nezval. Equally informed by postwar anti-Romanticism and leftist materialism, Poetism rejected the 19th-century burden of academic craft for an art of living and enjoying, as Teige wrote: Nothing but the immediate data of sensibility. Nothing but the art of wasting time. Nothing but the melody of the heart. Senses partitioned by modern assembly-line life could be reintegrated into lyrical and visual excitement over the spectacle of the modern world. The brash immediacy of Haass postcards parallel the Poetist ideal in Teiges words, a harlequinade of emotions and ideas, a series of intoxicating film sequences, a miraculous kaleidoscope.

Today, Pavel Haas is mostly remembered as a tragic figure, a victim of the Nazi regime who wrote a handful of pieces while imprisoned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp before being killed at Auschwitz. But the second quartet happily, bullishly reveals Haass capacity for pointed delight, finding radical hedonism in the sounds of summer days and nights.

Yellow Barn presents music by Toshio Hosokawa, Bedrich Smetana, Harold Meltzer, and Pavel Haas, Aug. 3, 8p.m., at Big Barn in Putney, Vt. Tickets $9-$18. 802-387-6637, http://www.yellowbarn.org

Get The Weekender in your inbox:

The Globe's top picks for what to see and do each weekend, in Boston and beyond.

Matthew Guerrieri

Continue reading here:

Capturing the brash melodies of 'Monkey Mountains' - The Boston Globe

A TROUPE of Naked News presenters got starkers to play an X-rated whipped cream game.

Eila Adams, Kat Curtis and Carli Bei enjoyed a few rounds of the tense childrens game Pieface, where players take turns facing a hand filled with cream before it eventually splats them.

The scantily clad presenters also sprayed whipped cream directly into their mouths and grinned for the camera.

Naked News started in 1999 as an English speaking show and now has one based in Japan too.

NAKED NEWS

We've rounded up the sexiest pictures of busty babe Lindsey Pelas.

1 / 63

Lindsey Pelas flashes 32DDD assets in jaw-dropping lingerie snaps

It was reported to be attracting more than six million viewers at its height.

The channels Twitter page has more than 60,000 followers with current anchors are including Whitney St-John, Isabella Rossini and Elise Laurenne.

Naked News airs six days a week, with 25-minute bulletins showing the women carrying out interviews and presenting the big news stories of the day completely starkers.

Last month, Carli Bei went completely nude to interview a group of swingers.

As part of the feature, couples at the Hedonism II nudist resort in Negril spoke on camera about how they got into swinging and embarrassing moments theyve had.

NAKED NEWS

Celebs intimate shower shot spread across social media.

1 / 17

Sexy celebs strip off to get wet and wild in the shower

Another segment which caused a stir last month showed a presenter interviewing gobsmacked members of the public in a local park.

New Naked News presenter Shannon Blake was given the challenge of quizzing the public in a park in Toronto, Canada.

She asked them about their food preferences, while they tried not to be distracted by her lack of clothes.

See the article here:

STUNNING Naked News presenters covered in cream in very raunchy topless game - Daily Star

Author Donn Raffat has written a compelling novel that follows the collective story of five individuals whose lives unexpectedly intertwine in Cowpet Bay.

PHOENIX (PRWEB) July 31, 2017

Author Donn Raffat has published his most recent literary publication, "Hedonism - A Novel." Raffat received critical praise for previous works including reviews in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, The Times Literary Supplement, and Publishers Weekly.

His latest novel examines the notion of hedonism as viewed and experienced by five characters three men and two women whose interaction leads to major changes.

A Wall Street banker, his young mistress, an aspiring academic, a retired professor of literature, a German graduate student of philosophy, and a local waitress all find their lives intertwined in a way none expected. As their collective story unfolds, the events are viewed sequentially from the standpoint of each, revealing their impact not only on each other but also, ultimately, on the whole Cowpet Bay community in St. Thomas.

"All of my novels deal with periods of transition. The characters are unprepared for it, however the readers know more about the transition than the characters do at first," said Raffat. "The same applies to Hedonism' as the characters are trying to determine what constitutes a good life."

To learn more about Raffat's novels, please visit http://www.draffat.com.

"Hedonism A Novel" By Donn Raffat ISBN: 978-1-4990-2200-1 (Hard Cover), 978-1-4990-2200-1 (Soft Cover), 978-1-4990-2199-8 (eBook) Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the Xlibris Bookstore

About the author Donn Raffat has published seven books with one completed and another in progress. Much of Raffat's writing has been inspired by his experience and travel to various parts of the world and time living in several different countries. In addition to his novels, Raffat has also written reviews for publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Nation. He received a B.A. from Harvard, a doctorate from Michigan and was a visiting scholar at Cambridge.

For Review Copies & General Inquiries Contact: LAVIDGE Phoenix Lauren Dickerson ldickerson(at)lavidge(dot)com 480-998-2600

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/07/prweb14556179.htm

Continue reading here:

New Literary Novel Explores Philosophy of Hedonism | Benzinga - Benzinga