SHARUKH KHAN – THE KING KHAN OF BOLLYWOOD

Khan was born to Muslim parents of Pathan ethnicity in New Delhi, India. His father, Taj Mohammed Khan was a freedom activist from Peshawar, British India. His mother Lateef Fatima was the adopted daughter of Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the Janjua Rajput clan, who served as a General in the Indian National Army of Subash Chandra Bose.

Khan’s father came to New Delhi from Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar before the Partition of India, while his mother’s family came from Rawalpindi, also in present-day Pakistan. Khan has an elder sister named Shehnaz. Khan attended St. Columbia’s School where he was accomplished in sports, drama and academics. He won the Sword of Honour, an annual award bequeathed to the student who embodies most the spirit of the school. He later attended the Hansraj College (1985-1988) to earn an Honors degree in Economics. After this, he studied for a Masters Degree in Mass Communications at Jamia Millia Islamia. After the death of his parents, Khan moved from New Delhi to Mumbai in 1991. In that same year, before any of his film releases, he married Gauri Khan in a Hindu wedding ceremony on October 25, 1991. They have two children, son Aryan Khan (born 1997) and daughter Suhana (born 2000).

In 2005, Nasreen Munni Kabir produced a two-part documentary on Khan, titled The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan. Featuring his 2004 Temptations concert tour, the film contrasted Khan’s inner world of family and daily life with the outer world of his work. The book Still Reading Khan, which details his family life, was released in 2006. Another book by Anupama Chopra, “King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema”, was released in 2007. This book described the world of Bollywood through Khan’s life. Khan’s life-size wax statue is available in Madame Tussauds wax museum, London, installed in April 2007. Khan has been chosen for the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award of the French government for his “exceptional career”.CAREER

AS AN ACTOR

Khan studied acting under celebrated Theatre Director Barry John at Delhi’s Theatre Action Group (TAG). In 2007, John commented thus on his former pupil “The credit for the phenomenally successful development and management of Shah Rukh’s career goes to the superstar himself.”

Khan made his acting debut in 1988 when he appeared in the television series, Fauji, playing the role of Commando Abhimanyu Rai. He went on to appear in several other television serials, appearing most notably in the 1989 serial, Circus (directed by Aziz Mirza), which depicted the life of circus performers. The same year, Khan also had a minor role in the made-for-television English-language film, In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, which was based on life at Delhi University and was written by Arundhati Roy.

After the death of his parents, Khan moved from New Delhi to Mumbai in 1991. He made his Bollywood movie debut in Deewana (1992). The movie was a box office hit, and launched his career in Bollywood. His performance won him a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award. His second movie, Maya Memsaab, generated some controversy because of his appearance in an “explicit” sex scene in the movie.

In 1993, Khan won acclaim for his performances in villainous roles as an obsessive lover and a murderer, respectively, in the box office hits, Darr and Baazigar. Darr marked his first collboration with renowned film-maker Yash Chopra and his banner Yash Raj Films, the largest production company in Bollywood. Baazigar, which saw Khan portraying an ambiguous avenger who murders his girlfriend, shocked its Indian audience with an unexpected violation of the standard Bollywood formula, yet his performance won him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award. In that same year, Khan played the role of a young musician in Kundan Shah’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, a performance that earned him a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Khan himself maintains that this is his all-time favorite among the movies he has made. In 1994, Khan once again played an obsessive lover/psycho’s role in Anjaam. Though the movie was not a box office success, Khan’s performance earned him the Filmfare Best Villain Award.In 1995, Khan starred in Aditya Chopra’s directorial debut Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a critical and commercial success, for which he won his second Filmfare Best Actor Award which entered its twelfth year in 2007 in Mumbai theaters. By then the movie had grossed over 12 billion rupees, making it as one of the biggest movie blockbusters.

1996 was a disappointing year for Khan as all his movies released that year failed to do well at the box office. His first 1997 release, Yash Chopra’s Dil to Pagal Hai, however, became that year’s second highest grossing movie, and he won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award. Earlier that year, he saw success with Subhash Ghai’s Pardes — one of the biggest hits of the year– and Aziz Mirza’s Yes Boss.

In 1998, Khan starred in Karan Johar’s directoial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which was the biggest hit of the year. His performance won him his fourth Best Actor award at the Filmfare. He won critical praise for his performance in Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se. This movie did not do well at the Indian box office, but was a commercial success overseas. Khan’s only release in 1999, Baadshah, was an average grosser.

In 2000, Khan starred in Aditya Chopra’s second film, Mohabbatein, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan. The film did well at the box office, and Khan’s performance won him his second Critics Award for Best Performance at the Filmfare. He also starred in Mansoor Khan’s Josh, which was also a box office success. In that same year, Khan set up his own production house, Dreamz Unlimited with Juhi Chawla. Both Khan and Chawla starred in the first movie of their production house, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.

In 2001, Khan collaborated with Karan Johar for the second time in the family drama, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham which was the second biggest hit of the year. He also received favorable reviews for his performance as Emperor Asoka in the historical epic, Asoka.

In 2002, Khan received acclaim for playing the title role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s award-winning period romance, Devdas. It was the third Hindi movie adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s well-known novel of the same name, and surfaced as one of the biggest hits of that year. Khan also starred opposite Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit in the family-drama Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, which did well at the box office.

In 2003, Khan starred in the moderately successful romantic drama, Chalte Chalte. That same year, he starred in the romantic drama movie, Kal Ho Naa Ho, written by Karan Johar and directed by Nikhil Advani. Khan’s performance in this movie as a man with heart disease was appreciated. The movie proved to be one of the year’s biggest hits in India and the biggest Bollywood hit overseas.

2004 was a good year for Khan, commercially as well as critically. He starred in Farah Khan’s directorial debut, Main Hoon Na. The movie did well at the box office. He then played the leading role of Veer in Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara, which was the biggest hit of 2004 in both India and overseas. Khan’s performance in the film won him awards at several award ceremonies. In that same year, he received critical praise for his performance in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades, which won him the Filmfare Best Actor Award for the sixth time, although the movie was a box office failure. He was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award for all three of his releases in 2004, winning it for Swades.

Khan’s only movie release in 2005 was the fantasy film, Paheli. It was a box office failure, but won him acclaim. The movie was India’s nomination for the Oscars.

In 2006, Khan collaborated with Karan Johar for the fourth time with the melodrama movie, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. It did well in India and much more so in the overseas market, becoming the biggest Bollywood hit in the overseas market ever. His second release in that saw him playing the title role in the action film Don, a remake of the 1978 hit Don. The movie was a success.

Khan’s first release in 2007 was a film about the Indian women’s national hockey team, Chak De India. Earning over Rs 639 million, Chak De India became the third highest grossing movie of 2007 in India and was critically acclaimed. In addition, Khan received his seventh Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance as the coach of the team.

Khan also starred in Farah Khan’s 2007 film, Om Shanti Om. The film emerged as the year’s highest grossing film in India and the overseas market, as well as earned him another nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony.

AS A PRODUCER

Khan turned producer when he set up a production company called Dreamz Unlimited with Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza in 1999. The first two of the films he produced and starred in: Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) and Asoka (2001) were box office failures. However, his third film, as a producer and star, Chalte Chalte (2003), was the first box office hit from his production house.

In 2004, he set up another production company called Red Chillies Entertainment and produced and starred in Main Hoon Na which was another hit at the box office. In 2005 he produced and starred in the fantasy film Paheli, which was a box office failure. It was India’s official entry to the Oscars for a nomination for Best Foreign Film, but it did not pass the final selection. That same year he also co-produced the supernatural horror film Kaal with Karan Johar and performed an item number for the film with Malaika Arora Khan. Kaal was moderately successful at the box office. The latest film Om Shanti Om, which he produced as well as starred in, has done very well at the box office. In 2008, The Red Chillies Entertainment became the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders in the BCCI backed IPL cricket league.

AS A TV HOST

In 2007, Khan replaced Amitabh Bachchan as the host of the third series of the popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The previous had hosted the show for five years from 2000-05. On January 22, 2007, Kaun Banega Crorepati aired with Khan as the new host and later ended on April 19, 2007.

On April 25, 2008, Khan began hosting the game show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, the Indian version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

M S DHONI – THE FLAMBOYANT BATSMAN OF INDIA

Mahendra Singh (MS) Dhoni (born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand) is an Indian cricketer. He is an aggressive right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper. He is currently ranked number four in the official ICC cricket rankings for batsmen in Limited over internationals.

He was picked to play for the Indian cricket team in December 2004 and has been a regular member of the Indian one-day international team since then. His success in the limited overs format has also secured him a Test spot, and he is rapidly becoming one of the most famous & marketable icons in India, noted for his shoulder length hair.

Dhoni (affectionately known as Mahi), made his debut for Jharkhand in the 1999-2000 season as an eighteen year old. He started off his career with modest performances at the local level. He was noticed by the national team selectors in 2004 after his performances in first class tournaments such as the Deodhar Trophy and the Duleep Trophy. Dhoni was selected to represent India ‘A’ on a tour of Kenya and his performances were good enough to win him selection in the Indian national team, making his one-day international debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong in December of that year.

Dhoni’s best performance for India thus far was an unbeaten score of 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31 October 2005, equalling the second best score by an Indian in ODIs. It was also the highest innings recorded by a wicket-keeper, and the highest number of sixes in an innings for a wicketkeeper with ten (all-rounders Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi have hit 11). He also broke Saeed Anwar’s record of most runs scored off boundaries by scoring a total of 120 runs off 4s and 6s eclipsing the previous record of 118. This has broken the record for the highest individual score for a team batting second. This has also established the new Indian record of number of sixes in a match, overtaking previous record holders, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (both hit seven 6′s in a match). Earlier, in 2005 he scored 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam, in his fifth one-day international; the score came off only 123 deliveries.

At the end of the year Dhoni was rewarded a BCCI contract, starting with a B-grade contract. Dhoni’s current batting average in ODIs is just over 50 (as of April 2006), the highest by any Indian player with more than 20 innings. With a career ODI batting strike rate of more than 100 he remains the only batsman with the unique double of a 50+ average scored at more than a run a ball. Currently, Dhoni has one of the highest strike rates in the world (103.00 runs per hundred balls). With 44 sixes in 38 ODI innings, Dhoni has hit more sixes than he’s played international matches.

Following his good one-day form against Sri Lanka, he ousted Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicketkeeper. He made his maiden Test century against Pakistan in the 2nd Test at Faisalabad in January 2006, reaching the landmark in just 93 balls. Dhoni’s career batting average at the end of the ODI series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi stands at 52.76, which is the fourth highest for any batsman having scored at least 1,000 runs in one-day internationals, behind Australians, Mike Hussey Michael Bevan, and Englishman Kevin Pietersen.

However, in the third Test against England, Dhoni attracted some criticism when losing his wicket after playing an injudicious shot. India went from 75-3 to 100 all out to lose the match. Just after the 2006 Test match Loss against England,which resulted in a 1-1 levelled series, Dhoni requested for more crowd support and he was obliged with the same, the team going to win the ODI Series that followed the Tests, his fans seem to be increasing by leaps and bounds and is received to a a rousing reception whenever he comes into bat. As of 22th April 2006, Dhoni ranks number one in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, overtaking Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for the top ODI spot.RECORDS

• On 31st October 2005 Mahendra Dhoni scored 183* runs of just 145 balls, accompanying that there are a list of records which he broke.
• He hit 10 Sixes, the most by an Indian in an Innings, and the second highest in ODI cricket (The highest is 11 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi)
• He broke Adam Gilchrist’s record of 172 for the highest score made by a wicket keeper.
• He is the second highest in scoring maximum runs in boundaries after Herchelle Gibbs of South Africa
• In this match Kumar Sangakkara also made a century, making it the first match in which both wicket keepers scored a century
• He has an average of 48.89 giving him the 4th highest average in the world overall
• The highest Indian average
• Highest average for a wicketkeeper
• 2nd Highest average among those who have made more than 1200 runs in one day international cricket
• Highest strike rate among the top 5 averages
• He has a strike rate of 100.96 giving him the sixth highest strike rate overall
• The highest by an Indian
• The 4nd highest among players who have made more than 1000 runs in International Cricket
• In April 2006 Dhoni was briefly ranked No.1 in the ICC one day Batsmen’s ratings. He is currently ranked No. 4 after a poor series in the West Indies

Dhoni married Sakshi Singh Rawat on July 04, 2010. Sakshi, a Kolkata girl, is studying hotel management and was working as a trainee at the Taj Bengal when the two of them met two years ago. The wedding stumped the media and the fans as it took place only a day after the couple got engaged. Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu, a close friend of Dhoni, was quick to inform the media that the wedding was planned for months and was not a spur of the moment decision.

ENDORSEMENTS

MS Dhoni signed with Kolkata-based celebrity management company Gameplan Sports in April 2005. Currently Dhoni has 20 endorsements, only Shahrukh Khan has more (21). In 2007 Dhoni had 17 endorsements. The following is the list of endorsements signed by Dhoni.

2005

• Pepsico
• Reebok
• Exide
• TVS Motors

2006

• Mysore Sandal Soap
• Videocon
• Reliance Communications
• Reliance Energy
• Orient PSPO Fan
• Bharat Petroleum
• Titan Sonata
• Brylcream
• NDTV
• GE Money

2007

• Siyaram

2008

• Fashion at Big Bazaar
• Maha Choco
• Boost (health food)
• Dainik Bhaskar

2009

• Dabur Honey
• Kolkata Fashion Week
• Aircel communications
• Nova Scottia Premium shirts

Checkout the ASCII Art, Wallpapers and Pictures of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the below link. Extract the Files from WinRAR Archive. Please use Lucida Console font to view the ascii art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

http://www.4shared.com/file/lvtzWRP2/Dhoni.html

CONFUCIUS – THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CHINESE PHILOSOPHER

The Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius was the founder of the school of philosophy known as the Ju or Confucianism, which is still very influential in China. He was born on 551 B.C.E in Tuo, China.

INFO OF HIS LIFE

Confucius is the Latinized name of K’ung Fu-tzu (Great Master K’ung). His original name was K’ung Ch’iu; he is also known as K’ung Chung-ni. The most detailed traditional account of Confucius’s life is contained in the Records of the Historian (Shih chi) by Ssu-ma Ch’ien, who lived from 145 B.C.E. to 86 B.C.E. Many modern scholars have dismissed this biography as only legend. Nevertheless, from this manuscript one can reconstruct a satisfactory outline of the philosopher’s life and influence.

According to the Records of the Historian, Confucius was a descendant of a branch of the royal house of Shang, the dynasty (a family of rulers) that ruled China prior to the Chou, and a dynasty which ruled China from around 1122 B.C.E. to 221 B.C.E. His family, the K’ung, moved to the small state of Lu, located in the modern province of Shantung in northeastern China.

It was believed that Confucius’s father divorced his first wife at an advanced age, because she had borne him only daughters and one disfigured son. He then married a fifteen-year-old girl from the Yen clan, who gave birth to Confucius. Ssu-ma Ch’ien refers to the relationship as a “wild union,” which very possibly indicates that Confucius was an illegitimate child, or a child born out of wedlock.

In the Analects, Confucius’s book of teachings, he writes that during his youth he was poor and was forced to acquire many different skills. It is clear that even though the fortunes of his family had declined, he was no commoner. Confucius unquestionably belonged to the aristocratic (ruling) class known as the shih. In the time of Confucius most shih served as court officials, scholars, and teachers. Confucius’s first occupation appears to have been as keeper of the Lu granary. Later he worked as supervisor of the fields. Both were low positions but consistent with his shih status.

CAREER AS A TEACHER

It is not known exactly when Confucius began his teaching career, but it does not appear to have been much before the age of thirty. In 518 B.C.E. he is said to have met the famous teacher Lao Tzu (sixth century B.C.E. ), who reportedly bluntly criticized Confucius for his stuffiness and arrogance. Confucius eventually returned to Lu around 515 B.C.E. For several years after his return he does not appear to have accepted a governmental position. Instead it appears he spent most of his time studying and teaching, gathering a large number of students around him. Although one can only guess about the school’s exact course work, it undoubtedly included instruction in ritual, music, history, and poetry.

Around 498 B.C.E. , Confucius decided to leave his home in Lu and embark on a long journey throughout eastern China. He was accompanied by several of his disciples (followers). They wandered throughout the eastern states of Wei, Sung, and Ch’en and at various times had their lives threatened. Confucius was almost assassinated (killed) in Sung. On another occasion he was mistaken for the adventurer Yang Hu and was arrested and held until his true identity became known.

Confucius was received with great respect by the rulers of the states he visited, and he even seems to have received occasional payments. He spent much of his time developing his ideas on the art of government, as well as continuing his teaching. He acquired a large following, and the solidification of the Confucian school probably occurred during these years. Not all of his disciples followed him on his travels. Several of them actually returned to Lu and assumed positions with the Chi clan. It may have been through their influence that in 484 B.C.E. Confucius was invited back to Lu.

FINAL YEARS

Confucius was warmly received in Lu, but there is no indication that he was given a responsible position. Little is known about his last years, although this would have been a logical time for him to work on the many texts and documents he supposedly gathered on his journey. Much of his time was devoted to teaching, and he seems to have remained more or less distant from political affairs. This was an unhappy period for Confucius. His only son died about this time; his favorite disciple, Yen Hui, died the very year of his return to Lu; and in 480 B.C.E. another disciple, Tzu-lu, was killed in battle. Confucius felt all of these losses deeply, and his sadness and frustration must have been intensified by the realization that his political ideas had found no support among the rulers of his own state. Confucius died in 479 B.C.E in Qufu, China. His disciples conducted his funeral and observed a mourning period for him.

CONFUCIUS’S TEACHINGS

Although we cannot be certain that Confucius wrote any of the works he is credited with, it is still possible to know something about the general nature of his philosophy. Shortly after his death his disciples compiled a work known as the Lun yü, commonly translated as the Analects but more accurately rendered as the Edited Conversations. This work consists of conversations between Confucius, his students, and an occasional ruler. The primary emphasis of the Lun yü is on political philosophy. Confucius taught that the primary task of the ruler was to achieve the welfare (well-being) and happiness of the people of his state. To accomplish this aim, the ruler first had to set a moral (good character) example by his own conduct. This example would in turn influence the people’s behavior.

Confucius is the first Chinese thinker to introduce concepts that became fundamental not only to Confucian philosophy but to Chinese philosophy in general. The most important of these are jen (benevolence), yi (propriety, or being proper), and li (ritual, or ceremony). Confucius believed that the chün-tzu, or “gentleman,” must set the moral example for others in society to follow. In the Lun yü jen, what has been translated as humaneness or benevolence (being kind) is a quality a chün-tzu should develop and attempt to encourage in others. Li is considered the rules and ritual that are observed in religious and nonreligious ceremonies and, as applied to the chün-tzu, composed rules of behavior. Yi represents what is right and proper in a given situation. The chün-tzu, by observing the ritual and because of his good nature, always knows what is right.

Confucius was basically a humanist and one of the greatest teachers in Chinese history. His influence on his immediate disciples was deep. His students continued to explain his theories until, in the first Han dynasty (206 B.C.E. –8 C. E.), the theories became the basis of the state ideology, the body of ideas reflecting the social needs of a culture.

JESUS CHRIST – THE SAVIOUR

It is likely that Jesus was born not later than 4 B.C., the year of King Herod’s death. Jesus’ crucifixion was probably in A.D. 29 or 30. (The term Christ is actually a title, not a proper name; it comes from the Greek Christos, meaning the anointed one; in the Bible it is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word Messiah.) Information about Jesus is in some ways scant, in other ways plentiful. Although such ancient historians as Tacitus and Suetonius mention him, as does the Jewish Talmud, the only detailed information comes from the New Testament. There are a few other ancient accounts of Jesus’ life, called Apocryphal Gospels because of their poor historical reliability; and in 1946 a Gospel of Thomas, actually a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, was discovered in Upper Egypt. But none of these sources adds significantly to the New Testament. The letters of Paul are the earliest biblical records that tell about Jesus. But the four Gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, although written later, used sources that in some cases go back very close to the time of Jesus.EARLY YEARS

Jesus first came to general attention at the time of his baptism, just prior to his public ministry. He was known to those around him as a carpenter of Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and as the son of Joseph (John 6:42). Matthew and Luke report that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a town near Jerusalem, famous in Jewish history as the city of David. They further report that he was miraculously born to the Virgin Mary, although they both curiously trace his Davidic ancestry through Joseph, to whom Mary was betrothed.

Little is known of Jesus’ childhood and youth. But about the year A.D. 28 or 29 his life interacted with the career of John the Baptist, a stormy prophet-preacher who emerged from the wilderness and called on the people to repent and be baptized. A controversial character, he was soon jailed and killed by Herod Antipas, the puppet ruler of Galilee under the Roman Empire. Jesus heard John’s preaching and joined the crowds for baptism in the Jordan River. Following his baptism Jesus went into the desert for prayer and meditation.

It is clear that Jesus had some consciousness of a divine calling, and in the desert he thought through its meaning. The Gospels report that he was tempted there by Satan as to what kind of leader Jesus would choose to be – a miracle worker, a benefactor who would bring people what they wanted, a king wielding great power. Jesus accepted a harder and less popular mission, that of the herald of the kingdom of God.GALILEAN MINISTRY

Returning from the desert, Jesus began preaching and teaching in Galilee. His initial proclamation was similar to John’s: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15; Revised Standard Version). This message was both frightening and hopeful. It told people not to cling to the past, that God would overthrow old institutions and ways of life for a wonderful new future. This future would be especially welcomed by the poor, the powerless, the peacemakers. It would be threatening to the rich, the powerful, the cruel, and the unjust.

Jesus attracted 12 disciples to follow him. They were mainly fishermen and common workers. Of the 12 it seems that Peter, James, and John were closest to Jesus. Peter’s home in Capernaum, a city on the Sea of Galilee, became a headquarters from which Jesus and the disciples moved out into the countryside. Sometimes he talked to large crowds. Then he might withdraw with the 12 to teach only them. Or he might go off by himself for long periods of prayer. On one occasion he sent out the disciples, two by two, to spread the message of God’s kingdom.

THE MIRACLES

The records concerning Jesus report many miracles. Through the years there have been great disagreements about these reports. For centuries most people in civilizations influenced by the Bible not only believed literally in the miracles but took them as proofs that Jesus had a supernatural power. Then, in an age of rationalism and skepticism, men often doubted the miracles and denounced the reports as fraudulent.

Today, partly because of psychosomatic medicine and therapy, people are more likely to believe in the possibilities of faith healing. The Bible candidly reports that on some occasions, when people had no faith, Jesus could do no mighty works. People were especially skeptical in his home-town, where they had known him as a boy (Mark 6:1-6). However, usually the Gospels report the healings as signs of the power of God and His coming kingdom.

TEACHINGS OF JESUS

Jesus taught people in small groups or large gatherings; his sayings are reported in friendly conversations or in arguments with those who challenged him. At times he made a particularly vivid comment in the midst of a dramatic incident. The starting point of his message, as already noted, was the announcement of the coming of the kingdom of God. Since this kingdom was neither a geographical area nor a system of government, it might be better to translate the phrase as “God’s reign.”

The rest of Jesus’ teaching followed from this message about the reign of God. At times he taught in stories or parables that described the kingdom or the behavior of people who acknowledged God’s reign. Perhaps the most famous of his many parables are those of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. At times he pronounced ethical commandments detailing the demands upon men of a loving and righteous God. At times Jesus taught his disciples to pray: the words that he gave them in the Lord’s Prayer are often used today. Jesus’ teaching was a subtle teaching, and often it was directed to the needs of a particular person in a specific time and place. Therefore almost any summary can be challenged by statements of Jesus that point in an opposite direction. One way to explore the dynamics of his teachings is to investigate some of its paradoxes. Five are worth mentioning here.First, Jesus combined an utter trust in God with a brute realism about the world. On the one hand, he told men not to be anxious about life’s problems, because God knows their needs and will look out for them. So if men trust God and seek His kingdom, God will look out for the rest of their needs. Yet, on the other hand, Jesus knew well that life can be tough and painful. He asked men to give up families and fortunes, to accept persecution out of faithfulness to him, thus promising them a hard life.Second, Jesus taught both ethical rigor and forgiveness. He demanded of men more than any other prophet or teacher had asked. He criticized the sentimentalists who call him “Lord, Lord” but do not obey him, and he told men that, if they are to enter God’s kingdom, their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, who made exceedingly conscientious efforts to obey God’s laws. He told men not to be angry or contemptuous with others, not to lust after women, and not to seek revenge but to love their enemies. Yet this same Jesus understood human weakness. He was known as a friend of sinners who warned men not to make judgments of others whom they consider sinful. He forgave men their sins and told about a God who seeks to save sinners.

Third, Jesus represented a kind of practicality that offends the overly spiritual-minded; but he also espoused an expectation of a future world (God’s reign) that will make the attractions of this world unimportant. As a worldly man, he wanted to relieve hunger and sickness. He wanted no escape from responsibility into worship. He taught that sometimes a man would better leave church and go to undo the wrongs he has done. But with this attention to the world was coupled the recognition that men are foolish to seek security and happiness in wealth or possessions. They would do better to give away their riches and to accept persecution. Jesus promised – or warned – that God’s reign will reverse many of the values of this world.

Fourth, Jesus paradoxically combined love and peace with conflict. His followers called him the Prince of Peace, because he sought to reconcile men to God and each other. He summed up all the commandments in two: love for God and love for men. He refused to retaliate against those who had harmed him but urged his followers to forgive endlessly – not simply seven times but seventy times seven. Yet he was not, as some have called him, “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” he attacked evil fearlessly, even in the highest places.

Fifth, Jesus promised joy, freedom, and exuberant life; yet he expected sacrifice and self-denial. He warned men not to follow him unless they were ready to suffer. But he told people to rejoice in the wonders of God’s reign, to celebrate the abundant life that he brings.

VIEWS OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES

To some people Jesus was a teacher or rabbi. The healing ministry did not necessarily change that conception of him, because other rabbis were known as healers. But Jesus was a teacher of peculiar power, and he was sometimes thought to be a prophet.

Jesus certainly was a herald of the kingdom of God. But then a question arises: was he simply talking about God and his reign, or did he have some special relationship to that kingdom? Those who heard Jesus were frequently perplexed. In some ways he was a modest, even humble man. Instead of making claims for himself or accepting admiration, he turned people’s thoughts from himself to God. But at other times he asked immense loyalty of his disciples. And he astonished people by challenging time-honored authority – even the authority of the Bible – with his new teachings. He was so audacious as to forgive sins, although men said that only God could do that.

There was also the question whether it was possible that Jesus was the Messiah. For generations some of the Jewish people had hoped that God would send a king, an heir of the great King David of past history, who would undo the oppression that the Jews suffered, would reestablish the glorious old kingdom, and would bring justice. Some expected even more – that a divine savior would come and inaugurate a radical transformation of life.

Various reports in the New Testament lead to various possible conclusions. Today some scholars think that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. Others feel that he clearly did. But there was one occurrence that is especially interesting. Once, in the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, a city north of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 8:27-30), Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” They gave various answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, or another of the prophets. Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “You are the Christ [Messiah].” Jesus’ answer was curious, for “He charged them to tell no one about him.”

Why, if he accepted the designation, did he want it kept a secret? One persuasive answer often given is that Jesus was radically revising the traditional idea of the Messiah. If the people thought he was the promised Messiah, they would demand that he live up to their expectations. He had no intention of becoming a conquering king who would overthrow Rome.

Jesus, who knew the Old Testament well, had read the Messianic prophecies. He had also read the poems of the suffering servant in Second Isaiah, the unknown prophet whose writings are now in Isaiah, chapters 40-55. These tell of a servant of God and man, someone despised and rejected, who would bear the cost of the sins of others and bring healing to them. It may be that Jesus combined in his own mind the roles of the Messiah and the suffering servant. The undeniable fact is that his life and character were of such a sort that they convinced his followers he was the Messiah who, through his suffering love, could bring men a new experience of forgiveness and new possibilities for human and social life.

PASSION WEEK

Soon after Peter’s confession Jesus led his disciples to Jerusalem in an atmosphere of gathering crisis. On the day now known as Palm Sunday he entered the city, while his disciples and the crowds hailed him as the Son of David, who came in the name of the Lord. The next day Jesus went to the Temple and drove out the money changers and those who sold pigeons for sacrifices, accusing them of turning “a house of prayer” into a “den of robbers.” This act was a direct challenge to the small group of priests who were in charge of the Temple, and they clearly resented it. During the following days he entered into controversies with the priests and authoritative teachers of religion. Their anger led them to plot to get rid of him, but they hesitated to do anything in the daytime, since many people were gathered for the feast of Passover.

On Thursday night Jesus had a meal with his disciples. This meal is now reenacted by Christians in the Lord’s Supper, the Mass, or the Holy Communion. After the meal Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed alone. His prayer shows that he expected a conflict, that he still hoped that he might avoid suffering, but that he expected to do God’s will. There into the garden one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, led the priests and the temple soldiers, who seized Jesus. That same night Jesus’ captors took him to a trial before the temple court, the Sanhedrin. Several evidences indicate that this was an illegal trial, but the Sanhedrin declared that Jesus was a blasphemer deserving death. Since at that time only the Roman overlords could carry out a death sentence, the priests took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.

Pilate apparently was reluctant to condemn Jesus, since it was doubtful that Jesus had disobeyed any Roman laws. But as the ruler of a conquered province, Pilate was suspicious of any mass movements that might become rebellions. And he also preferred to keep the religious leaders of the subjugated people as friendly as possible. Jesus, as a radical intruder into the conventional system, and believing that obedience to God sometimes required defiance of human authority, represented a threat to both the Sanhedrin and the Romans. Pilate thus ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. Roman soldiers beat him, put a crown of thorns on his head, and mocked him as a fraudulent king. Then they took him to the hill Golgotha (“the Skull”), or Calvary, and killed him as an insurrectionist. Pilate ordered a sign placed above his head: “King of the Jews.” Among the “seven last words,” or sayings, from the cross are two quotations from Jewish psalms, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalms 22:1) and “Into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Psalms 31:5); and the especially memorable “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). That same day (now known as Good Friday) Jesus was buried in a cavelike tomb.

THE RESURRECTION

On Sunday morning (now celebrated as Easter), the Gospels report, Jesus rose from the dead and met his disciples. Others immediately rejected the claim of the resurrection, and the controversy has continued through the centuries.

The New Testament states very clearly that the risen Christ did not appear to everybody. “God … made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40-41). Among those who saw Jesus were Cephas (Peter), the 12 disciples, “more than five hundred brethren at one time,” James, “all the apostles,” and finally Paul. Other records tell of appearances to Mary Magdalene and other women and of a variety of meetings with the disciples both in the Jerusalem area and in Galilee. The four Gospels all say that the tomb of Jesus was empty on Easter morning, but Paul never mentions the empty tomb. None of the records ever tells of an appearance of the risen Christ to anyone who had not been a follower of Jesus or (like Paul) had not been deeply disturbed by him.

The evidence is very clear that the followers of Jesus were absolutely convinced of his resurrection. The experience of the risen Jesus was so overwhelming that it turned their despair into courage. Even though it might have been easier, and certainly would have been safer, to regard Jesus as dead, the disciples spread the conviction that he had risen, and they persisted in telling their story at the cost of persecution and death. Furthermore they were sure that their experiences of Jesus were not private visions; rather, as in the statement quoted above, they “ate and drank with him.” The faith in the resurrection (and later the ascension) of Jesus, despite differences in interpretation and detail, is a major reason for the rise and propagation of the Christian faith.

Checkout the ASCII Art, Wallpapers and Pictures of Jesus Christ in the below link. Extract the Files from WinRAR Archive. Please use Lucida Console font to view the ascii art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

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DEEPIKA PADUKONE – BOLLYWOOD BEAUTY

Deepika Padukone was born in Mangalore, Karnataka in the year 1986. She is the most celebrated Indian model and an actress. Daughter of a former World badminton Champion Prakash Padukone and mother Ujjala Padukone, Deepika grew up into a sultry model with dreams in her eyes to make it big in showbiz industry. Though she played badminton during her school days and reached to the level of a State player, she did not take her game to the national level as she had set her sights on the glamorous world of showbiz.

Pursuing her dreams, Deepika Padukone quickly became a model endorsing leading brands like Liril soap, Limca, Close-Up toothpaste, Kingfisher and several other products, which include international cosmetics giant Maybelline. The pretty svelte model won numerous awards for her modeling style. Her sensuous photographs appearing on the 2006 Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar has virtually proved that she is indeed a supermodel in her own right. She was chosen as the ‘Model of the Year’ by Kingfisher at its Fashion Awards; and further was awarded the ‘Female Model of the Year’ award in commercial assignments category and ‘Fresh Face of the Year’ at Idea Zee Fashion F Awards. Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and later Levi Strauss and Tissot SA. In addition, she appeared in the music video for Himesh Reshammiya’s song Naam Hai Tera.

Deepika Padukone entered film industry with a Kannada film, “Aishwarya” in 2006 starring opposite Kannada hero, Upendra. The following year she bagged three Bollywood films, “Om Shanti Om”, “Pirate” and “Delhi 6”. She has also appeared in a musical video, “Aap Ka Suroor” by Himesh Reshammiya. In 2009, Deepika started writing weekly columns for HT City, the lifestyle supplement of Hindustan Times. These columns appear online on social network, Desimartini.

FILMOGRAPHY

• Break Ke Baad (2010)
• Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se (2010)
• Lafangey Parindey (2010)
• House Full (2010)
• Kantri Mogudu (2010)
• Kartik Calling Kartik (2010)
• Love Aaj Kal (2009)
• Billu Barber (2009)
• Chandni Chowk To China (2009)
• Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
• Om Shanti Om (2007)

Checkout the ASCII Art, Wallpapers and Pictures of Deepika Padukone in the below link. Extract the Files from WinRAR Archive. Please use Lucida Console font to view the art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

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JARON LANIER – THE TECH GEEK

Jaron Zepel Lanier, born on May 3, 1960. He is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author.

IN THE SCIENCES

Jaron Lanier scientific interests include biometric information architectures, user interfaces, heterogeneous scientific simulations, advanced information systems for medicine, and computational approaches to the fundamentals of physics. He collaborates with a wide range of scientists in fields related to these interests. Lanier’s name is also often associated with Virtual Reality research. He either coined or popularized the term ‘Virtual Reality’ and in the early 1980s founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products. In the late 1980s he led the team that developed the first implementations of multi-person virtual worlds using head mounted displays, for both local and wide area networks, as well as the first “avatars”, or representations of users within such systems. While at VPL, he and his colleagues developed the first implementations of virtual reality applications in surgical simulation, vehicle interior prototyping, virtual sets for television production, and assorted other areas. He led the team that developed the first widely used software platform architecture for immersive virtual reality applications. Sun Microsystems acquired VPL’s seminal portfolio of patents related to Virtual Reality and networked 3D graphics in 1999.

From 1997 to 2001, Lanier was the Chief Scientist of Advanced Network and Services, which contained the Engineering Office of Internet2, and served as the Lead Scientist of the National Tele-immersion Initiative, a coalition of research universities studying advanced applications for Internet2. The Initiative demonstrated the first prototypes of tele-immersion in 2000 after a three-year development period. From 2001 to 2004 he was Visiting Scientist at Silicon Graphics Inc., where he developed solutions to core problems in telepresence and tele-immersion. He was Scholar at Large for Microsoft from 2006 to 2009, and Partner Architect there from 2009 forward. Lanier received an honorary doctorate from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2006, was the recipient of CMU’s Watson award in 2001, was a finalist for the first Edge of Computation Award in 2005, and received a Lifetime Career Award from the IEEE in 2009 for contributions to Virtual Reality.

AS AN AUTHOR

Lanier is a well-known author and speaker. His book “You are not a gadget” will be released in early 2010 by Knopf in the USA and Penguin in the UK. “Jaron’s World” is his monthly column in Discover Magazine, currently on hiatus, and devoted to his own wide ranging ideas and research. He writes and speaks on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technological practices, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. His lecture client list has included most of the well-known high technology firms as well as many others in the energy, automotive, and financial services industries. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Discover, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Harpers Magazine, The Sciences, Wired Magazine (where he was a founding contributing editor), and Scientific American. He has edited special “future” issues of SPIN and Civilization magazines. He is one of the 100 “remarkable people” of the Global Business Network.

IN MUSICAs a musician, Lanier has been active in the world of new “classical” music since the late seventies. He is a pianist and a specialist in unusual musical instruments, especially the wind and string instruments of Asia. He maintains one of the largest and most varied collections of actively played rare instruments in the world. Lanier has performed with artists as diverse as Philip Glass, Ornette Coleman, George Clinton, Sean Lennon, Vernon Reid, Terry Riley, Duncan Sheik, Pauline Oliveros, and Stanley Jordan. Lanier co-composed the soundtrack to “The Third Wave,” a documentary released in Sept. 2009 to critical acclaim after winning awards at film festivals around the world. Lanier’s work with acoustic “world” instruments can be heard on many other soundtracks as well, including a prominent role in “Three Seasons” (1999), which was the first film ever to win both the Audience and Grand Jury awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

He also writes chamber and orchestral music. Current commissions include a symphony for the Bach Festival Orchestra. Recent commissions include: “Earthquake!”, a ballet which premiered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco in April, 2006; “Little Shimmers” for the TroMetrik ensemble, which premiered at ODC in San Francisco in April, 2006; “Daredevil” for the ArrayMusic chamber ensemble, which was premiered in Toronto in 2006; A concert length sequence of works for orchestra and virtual worlds (including “Canons for Wroclaw”, “Khaenoncerto”, “The Egg”, and others) celebrating the 1000th birthday of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, premiered in 2000; A triple concerto, “The Navigator Tree”, commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Composers Forum, premiered in 2000; and “Mirror/Storm”, a symphony commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and premiered in 1998. “Continental Harmony”, a PBS special that documented the development and premiere of “The Navigator Tree” won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. His CD “Instruments of Change” was released on Point/Polygram in 1994.

IN VISUAL ART

Lanier’s paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States and Europe. In 2002 he co-created (with Philippe Parreno) an exhibit illustrating how aliens might perceive humans for the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris. In 1994 he directed the film “Muzork” under a commission from ARTE Television. His 1983 “Moondust” (which he programmed in 6502 assembly) is generally regarded as the first art video game, and the first interactive music publication. He has presented installations in New York City, including the “Video Feedback Waterbed” and the “Time-accelerated Painting”, which was situated in the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage. His first one man show took place in 1997 at the Danish Museum for Modern Art in Roskilde. He helped make up the gadgets and scenarios for the 2002 science fiction movie Minority Report by Steven Spielberg.CELEBRITY FLUFF

In 2005 Lanier was selected as one of the top one hundred public intellectuals in the world by readers of Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (but certainly not the Wikipedia) includes him in its list of history’s 300 or so greatest inventors. The nation of Palau has issued a postage stamp in his honor. Various television documentaries have been produced about him, such as “Dreadlocks and Digital Dreamworlds” by Tech TV in 2002. The 1992 movie Lawnmower Man was in part based on him and his early laboratory- he was played by Piers Brosnan. He has appeared on national television many times, on shows such as “The News Hour,” “Nightline,” and “Charlie Rose,” and has been profiled multiple times on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

AWARDS

• Carnegie Mellon University’s Watson award in 2001
• Finalist for the first Edge of Computation Award in 2005
• Honorary doctorate from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2006
• IEEE Virtual Reality Career Award in 2009
• Named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in 2010 (nominated by Microsoft VP Dan Reed)

WORKS

WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC

• Instruments of Change (1994),[22] POINT Music/Philips/PolyGram Records
  

VIDEO GAMES

• Moondust (C64, 1983)
• Alien Garden (Atari 800, 1982)

SIGNIFICANT PAPERS

• “One Half of a Manifesto”, Edge, 11.11.00
• “Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism”, Edge, 5.30.06
• “Beware the Online Collective”, Edge, 12.25.06

BOOKS

• You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2010, ISBN 978-1846143410

SPEECHES

• ‘Finding Humanity in the Interface: Capacity Atrophy or Augmentation?’ A debate between Jaron Lanier and Will Wright from the Accelerating Change 2004 conference.
• Video of Jaron Lanier speaking at a Film Festival
• Video of Jaron Lanier’s “McLuhan Ramp” Lecture
• Video of Jaron Lanier with Neal Stephenson, Neil Gershenfeld, Raymond Laflamme, and Tara Hunt, on The Agenda with Steve Paikin at the Quantum to Cosmos festival
• Video of panel discussion with Jaron Lanier, Neal Stephenson and Lee Smolin, “Seeing Science Through Fiction” at the Quantum to Cosmos festival
• Podcast of Science in the Pub panel discussion with Jaron Lanier, Hod Lipson, Wilson da Silva and Eliezer Yudkowsky: “So We’re All Gonna be Robots, Now?”
• Video of Jaron Lanier giving a talk titled: ‘Staying Human in a Tech-Driven World’ at Zócalo public square, on January 28, 2010

INTERVIEWS

• Interview with Jaron Lanier on Music
• Coding from Scratch: A Conversation with Jaron Lanier, Part 1
• The Future of Virtual Reality: A Conversation with Jaron Lanier, Part 2
• Brown, David Jay; Novick, Rebecca McClen (1995). Voices from the edge: Conversations with Jerry Garcia, Ram Dass, Annie Sprinkle, Matthew Fox, Jaron Lanier, & others. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press. ISBN 0-89594-732-3
• Interview by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Counterpoint program; Lanier strongly criticises both Wikipedia and singularitarianism
• A Conversation with Jaron Lanier

Checkout the ASCII Art and Pictures of Jaron Lanier in the below link. Extract the Files from WinRAR Archive. Please use Lucida Console font to view the art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

http://www.4shared.com/file/d-4oDaac/Jaron_Zepel_Lanier.html

PADMA LAKSHMI – LADY RUSHDIE

Padma Parvati Lakshmi, Lady Rushdie (born September 1, 1970 in Chennai, India) is an Indian-American cookbook author, actress, and model who has described herself as the first well-known model from India. She has been the host of the reality television program Top Chef since season two and is an ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

She was born into a Tamil Brahmin family in 1970 and raised in Madras, India and the United States. Her first name means “lotus” in Sanskrit, as well as “pearl” or “jewel.” Parvati is a consort of Shiva. Lakshmi is the name of the Hindu goddess of wealth. She attended the Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA and was studying in Spain when she was discovered. Magazines like Vogue, Elle and Glamour had her in their pages and she soon became a famous fashion model. Her career started and since then she modeled for names like Emmanuel Ungaro, Ralph Lauren, Alberta Ferretti and Roberto Cavalli.

Padma Lakshmi made a 2002 guest appearance as alien princess Kaitaama in Precious Cargo, the 37th episode of the popular science fiction TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. She was also hostess of Domenica In, Italy’s top-rated television show. She portrayed Sean Bean’s nemesis in the 2004 -2005 iTV TV series Sharpe’s Challenge. On April 17, 2004 she got married to Salman Rushdie, a novelist. In 2006 Lakshmi appeared in ABC’s TV series The Ten Commandments with Dougray Scott, Naveen Andrews, and Omar Sharif. Padma took over as hostess of the popular TV cooking competition series Top Chef in 2006 during its second season and continues in 2007 in its third season.

Her first cookbook Easy Exotic was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. She was host of the Food Network series, Padma’s Passport, which is part of the larger series Melting Pot. She has also been a guest host on parts of the British culinary tourism show Planet Food, hosting the segments on India and Spain. Her second cookbook Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet was released October 2, 2007. The Food Network series, ‘Padma’s Passport’ and ‘Domenica In’ is hosted by her. Some of the movies in which she was seen are “Star Trek: Enterprise”, “Glitter”, “Boom”. She has a film production company and a cinematic partnership with her husband.

FILMOGRAPHY

• Top Chef (1 episode, 2006)
• Sharpe’s Challenge (2006) (TV)
• The Ten Commandments (2006) (TV)
• The Mistress of Spices (2005)
• Boom (2003/I)
• Enterprise (1 episode, 2002)
• Glitter (2001)
• Melting Pot (2001) TV Series
• Caraibi (1999) (mini) TV Series
• Figlio di Sandokan, Il (1998) (mini) TV Series
• Linda e il brigadiere (1 episode)

SELF FILMOGRAPHY

• Last Call with Carson Daly (1 episode, 2007)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live (1 episode, 2007)
• Top Chef (1 episode, 2006)
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (1 episode, 2006)
• The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (1 episode, 2001)
• Unzipped (1995) (uncredited)

Checkout the ASCII Art and Wallpapers of Padma Lakshmi in the below link. Extract the Files from WinRAR Archive. Please use Lucida Console font to view the art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

http://www.4shared.com/file/-ihNLfgu/Padma_Lakshmi.html

BAR REFAELI – MOST SEXIEST ISRAEL MODEL

Bar Refaeli was born on June 4, 1985, in a rural region of Israel. She was raised on a horse ranch, but her countryside origins never inhibited her imagination. She started modeling before she could even walk and talk. At eight months old, Bar was already doing commercials. After starting her career before she was even a 1-year-old, Bar had to undergo that traumatic experience that every child fears: getting braces. Of course, getting braces quickly derailed her modeling career. So for over three years, Bar resorted back to her normal life — a life void of modeling. But when the braces came off in 1997, Bar wasted no time getting right back into the industry. At the tender age of 11, she bursted back onto the modeling scene and has been there ever since.

She then appeared in numerous advertisements and infomercials in Israel. Bar’s rise to prominence seemed to happen overnight. At the age of 15, Bar began to modeling for catalogs such as Castro and Pilpel. Her undeniable good looks made her an automatic interest for most international magazines and covers. The turn of the century marked a sign of good things to come for the Israeli vixen. In 2000, she won the title of “Model of the Year” in a beauty contest, and in 2001, she won her title yet again, as her beauty and modeling talents couldn’t be denied. In 2002 and 2003, she was chosen to be the home model of the Renuar fashion network. Additionally, Bar was selected for an international fashion production and appeared in the French ELLE magazine.

It was during her rise to prominence that she attained gigs with GQ and Ralph Lauren. However, Bar claimed that it was the editorial section in an issue of ELLE France that laid claim to her celebrity. The editorial section attached her name with the face that so many people were becoming accustomed to seeing, and once her name was attached, a celebrity was born. Bar ended up doing photo shoots with Sports Illustrated magazine and Victoria’s Secret. She was the first ever Israeli to be featured in SI. Her career has essentially grown right in front of our eyes; she has developed a sense of how to work in front of a camera, and photographers are beginning to like working with her more and more. She says that working with photographers is “a cooperation between the model and the photographers.” Bar has lives the ife of a glamorous, international supermodel. She graced cover after cover and has worked with the most major brands in the world. In early 2007, Bar landed more work with SI, and signed a deal with Chanel’s makeup brands. Her romantic link with award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio speaks mounds for her popularity.

Bar appeared in a September 2007 Paris-Match issue where she was interviewed by reporter Caroline Mangez. The six-page article had many pictures and a great interesting interview about Bar’s life in Israel, her family and her work. She also appeared on the cover of Tatler magazine for the October 2007 issue.

AGENCIES

• Traffic Models
• Storm Models
• Irene Marie Management Group
• Premier Model Management
• Wiener Models
• Riccardo Gay Model Management
• Marilyn Agency
• Ford Models – New York

ADVERTISEMENTS

• Irit
• Naulover
• O’Neill
• Pupa
• Ralph Lauren
• Teleno
• Victoria’s Secret
• Yamamay

MAGAZINE COVERS

• France: ‘Elle’ – February 13 2006; ‘Elle’ – 27 March, 17 April, 17 July 2006
• Italy: ‘GQ’ – March 2006
• Latvia: ‘Elle’ – August 2006
• Norway: ‘Elle’ – July 2006
• Spain: ‘DT’ – June 2006; ‘Elle’ – August 2006; ‘Telva’ – December 2006
• Sweden: ‘Elle’ – July 2006
• UK: ‘Maxim’ – May 2006

Checkout the ASCII Art and Wallpapers of Bar Refaeli in the below link. Please use Lucida Console font to view the art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

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GISELE BUNDCHEN – THE BRAZILIAN MODEL

Born July 20th, 1980, in Horizontina, Rio Grande de Sul, Brazil. Gisele is a supermodel beauty. Gisele, raised in Horizontina, a small town of less then 20,000 people located in the southern part of Brazil. With six daughters in the family, her five other sisters are all natural phenomenons. Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Patricia, and Rafaela are all aspiring models.

As a school girl, she was taunted with the nickname Olive Oil, the waif thin girl friend of Popeye the Sailor in cartoons.Bündchen, 14, is spotted by an Elite Modeling agent in a São Paulo McDonald’s. “They asked if I wanted to be a model, and I was like, ‘Forget it,'” she tells New York’s Daily News in 2004. “But in Brazil, people struggle, so I thought, ‘You know what? I should try this.'” She moves to New York in 1997, where she catches the eye of top photographers Mario Testino and Steven Meisel, who coax magazines and designers to take a chance on the teenager. “I was mesmerized by her,” Testino tells PEOPLE. While grabbing a Big Mac in a shopping mall, she was seen by a modeling agent who approached her and asked if she had any interest in becoming a model. Despite her father’s lack of approval of the career choice, he allowed her to move to Sao Paulo and she entered the Elite Look Modeling Competition, and her career took off.

Bündchen single-handedly ends the “heroin chic” era brought in by Kate Moss when fashion industry’s bible, Vogue, puts her on its cover. The magazine declares the “Return of the Sexy Model.” The Brazilian import is named Vogue/VH1 Model of the Year and by 2001, graces nine Vogue covers. Bündchen follows the likes of Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum when she signs with lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret. “I think guys like me because they like girls in lingerie,” she tells Time about her Victoria’s Secret work. “They like any girl in lingerie.”

Gisele has modeled for all the major fashion houses such as Ralph Lauren, Versace, Valentino and Chloe. She also has appeared on several magazine covers such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar and Rolling Stone. Bündchen frolics on the shores of Malibu with actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The two remain coy about their relationship. “I don’t talk about my private life,” she tells New York’s Daily News. “The only thing I have to say is that I so appreciate [Leo].” They endure a rocky, nearly six-year, on-again, off-again relationship before calling it quits (for good) in November 2005. It may not be Vogue, but Bündchen graces the cover of Rolling Stone in a bikini. The magazine dubs the 20-year-old, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.” Time magazine says she’s “one of the few runway models whom straight men can name.”

Bündchen makes her acting debut opposite Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon in the box office disappointment Taxi. “It’s not Shakespeare, I’m not telling everyone I’m a serious actress, because that’s not who I am. I’m a model!” she tells New York’s Daily News of her role as Vanessa, a leader of a group of gorgeous bank robbers. After her split from DiCaprio, Bündchen is photographed surfing and cuddling with Pamela Anderson’s ex Kelly Slater on the sands of Hawaii’s Waikiki beach. The two tanned stunners are reportedly more than beach buddies. Bündchen appears in the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada despite reports that anyone involved would be banned from the pages of Vogue. She plays an editor opposite Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt.

Bündchen expresses her admiration for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, 29, telling the Herald, “Definitely not too shabby. He’s pretty cute. All-American, that’s a good way to describe him.” The following month, Brady, who recently ended a three-year relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan – who later discovers she’s pregnant – begins dating the 26-year-old supermodel. After seven years as a Victoria’s Secret model, Bündchen, 26, parts ways with the lingerie giant. New York Post’s Page Six reports that Bündchen split with the company because it wouldn’t raise her $5 million-a-year salary and many speculate that she’s heading towards retirement. In 2004, she told Vanity Fair, “I would never want to be one of those girls who is 30, and modeling is all they know how to do. I want to do my best, and then I want to close the chapter on this job so I can look back and say this is what I did from 14 to 26, and then have another chapter.”

Bündchen tops Forbes’ list of the World’s Richest Models and earns $33 million in the past year. Kate Moss and Heidi Klum take second and third place respectively. “Some people start modeling because they want to be models and they want the parties and the recognition, and then there are people like me,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I come from a simple family, and for me getting into modeling was a chance to make money and create a business.” Dubbed “the globe’s reigning symbol of female perfection” by GQ, Bündchen appears on the magazine’s cover, where she discusses meeting boyfriend Tom Brady. “We met through a friend who knew us both for a long time,” she says. “Our friend knew that we would like each other. And we did. So I guess he was right.” Formerly with DiCaprio, the supermodel admits: “I’ve had my heart broken.” But of Brady, she says, “He really, genuinely doesn’t have a bad bone in his body.”

Gisele has recently signed a multimillion-dollar contract with North American lingerie firm, Victoria’s Secret. As a result, the Brazilian beauty will appear in several of their lingerie, beauty and hosiery campaigns for television and print, as well as in their point-of-sale materials. According to rumors that circulated amongst the fashion crowd during New York Fashion Week, Gisele will receive a cool 20 million US dollars for the job. Gisele currently lives in Los Angeles, an apartment in New York and a house out in the country in up-state New York. She has had her belly-button pierced and has a tattoo of a star drawn on the inside of her left wrist. It is nice to see that Gisele, albeit a young, rich and famous model, still maintains her naturalness and a down-to-earth personality.

Bündchen, 28, and Brady, 31, tie the knot in a small, private ceremony in Santa Monica. The couple exchange vows again at Bündchen’s Costa Rica home that April. Then in December, the newlyweds welcome their son Benjamin. “To be a mother is a magical experience,” she says. “It really is the miracle of life. I am really happy!”

Checkout the ASCII Art and Wallpapers of Gisele Bundchen in the below link. Please use Lucida Console font to view the art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.


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ANGELINA JOLIE – HOLLYWOOD’S EXOTIC ACTRESS

Angelina Jolie (full name Angelina Jolie Voight) was born on 4 June, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a famous American actress and a former model. She is known for her exotic looks, her tumultuous off-screen life and her humanitarian work with refugees. Regarding her family, Angelina Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand and sister of James Haven. She is also niece of Chip Taylor and the god-daughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. Her grandparents were French-Canadian and her paternal-grandfather was from Czechoslovakia. Thus, she is of Czech and English descent on her father’s side and of French-Canadian and
Iroquois on her mother’s.

As a teenager , she dreamed of becoming a funeral director. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute from the age of 11, later attending Beverly Hills High School. Though Angelina Jolie enrolled at the film school at New York University after finishing “Gia”, she did not complete her studies. She has been long estranged from her father, blaming his infidelity for the break-up of the family , though a reconciliation was attempted by his appearing with her in “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”. In 2004, Angelina Jolie indicated that she was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her father, but that she did not hate him because she realised that “…we only have so much energy in this life”. Soon afterwards, he claimed that she has “serious emotional problems” while she legally dropped Voight as her last name and took “Angelina Jolie” as new legal name.

Before Angelina Jolie began a career as an actress, she was a model. Her first starring role came in the 1995 film Hackers. In 1998 Angelina Jolie achieved a major critical success, starring in the TV film “Gia”, the true story of 1970-80s supermodel Gia Carangi, who died of AIDS. She won Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Satmifie awards and was nominated for an Emmy. She had roles in several box-office flops until 1999, when she co-starred in “The Bone Collector” with Denzel Washington and won an Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted”. Beside the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the latter movie also brought three Golden Globes. Her first healding blockbuster role came from “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”.

Several of her subsequent films, such as “Life or Something Like It”, “Alexander” and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” were box-office disappointments, although Jolie herself usually received good notices. She did provide the voice of Lola in the successful animated film “Shark Tale”. Jolie quickly became one of Hollywood’s most “in-demand” actresses. Following the success of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (2005), she was set to earn up to $15 million to star in the film “The Good Shepherd” (2006).

Apart from her acting and humanitarian endeavours, Jolie has worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles and appeared in numerous music videos, including those of Korn, Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, and The Rolling Stones. As for her private life, after divorcing from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie has a wonderfull life with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has captured worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax and Zahara, and a biological child, Shiloh.

ANGELINA JOLIE DATES

• Jenny Shimizu (1994 – 1995)
• Jonny Lee Miller (1996 – 1999)
• Timothy Hutton (1998 – 1999)
• Billy Bob Thornton (2000 – 2003)
• Colin Farrel (2003 – 2004)
• Brad Pitt (2005 – present)

FILMOGRAPHY

• Wanted (2008) – Fox
• Kung Fu Panda (voice) (2008) -Master Tigress
• The Changeling (2008)
• Atlas Shrugged (2008) -Dagny Taggart
• Beowulf (2007) – Grendels Mother
• A Mighty Heart ( 2007) – Marianne Pearl
• The Good Shepherd (2006) – Catherine the Great
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) – Jane Smith
• Alexander (2004) – Olympias
• Shark Tale (2004) (voice) – Lola
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) – Capt. Franky Cook
• Taking Lives (2004) – Illeana Scott
• Beyond Borders (2003) – Sarah Jordan
• Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life: Tomb Raider 2 (2003) – Lara Croft
• Life or Something Like It (2002) – Lanie
• Original Sin (2001) – Julia Russell
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) – Lara Croft
• Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) – Sara ‘Sway’ Wayland
• Girl, Interrupted (1999) – Lisa Rowe
• Bone Collector, The (1999) – Amelia Donaghy
• Pushing Tin (1999) – Mary Bell
• Playing by Heart (1998) – Joan
• Hell’s Kitchen (1998) – Gloria McNeary
• Gia (1998) (TV) – Gia Marie Carangi
• Playing God (1997) – Claire
• George Wallace (1997) (TV) – Cornelia Wallace
• True Women (1997) (TV) – Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods
• Mojave Moon (1996) – Eleanor ‘Elie’ Rigby
• Foxfire (1996) – Margret ‘Legs’ Sadovsky
• Love Is All There Is (1996) – Gina Malacici
• Without Evidence (1995) – Jodie Swearingen
• Hackers (1995) – Kate Libby (‘Acid Burn’)
• Cyborg 2 (1993) – Casella ‘Cash’ Reese
• Lookin’ to Get Out (1982) – Tosh

Checkout the ASCII Art and Wallpapers of Angelina Jolie in the below link. Please use Lucida Console font to view the art in Notepad. Before that in Notepad go to Format and Uncheck the Word Warp and then Go to Font and Reduce the Font Size to 3 to 4 pt. Use only Lucida Console Font.

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