Gorgeous new TOWER design for Jakarta Indonesia

This is a stunning new design by architects US architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).   Created for the state-owned energy company, Pertamina, the large-scale project will feature a performing arts and exhibition pavilion, a mosque, and a central energy plant in addition to the office tower. Rising more than 1739 ft (530 metres) above Jakarta, the tower will be a new landmark on the capitol's skyline. 

The unique, elegant design features an integrated "wind funnel" that generates energy from prevailing air currents.The new tower will be the tallest building in Indonesia and one of the tallest buildings in the world once completed  (the new One World Trade Center is 1,776 feet but that includes a 406 ft antenna).



I've always wanted to go to Jakarta after seeing the fantastic movie, The Year of Living Dangerously, with Sigourney Weaver, Mel Gibson and Linda Hunt decades ago.  Guess I'll have to wait unit 2020 to finally visit so that I can see the finished Pertamina tower.






ttp://www.dezeen.com/2013/12/11/som-indonesia-skyscraper-harness-wind-power/

R.I.P. Nelson Mandela--one of the most beautiful, remarkable men who ever lived

SCIENTIST says quantum physics proves there is an AFTERLIFE

Professor Robert Lanza asserts that quantum physics proves that there is an afterlife.    That would mean that ONE scientists asserts that SCIENTIFIC theory proves something exists after life in this dimension.  
Lanza's theory is based upon Biocentrism.   "Biocentrism is classed as the Theory of Everything and comes from the Greek for 'life centre'. It is the belief that life and biology are central to reality and that life creates the universe, not the other way round."1

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2503370/Quantum-physics-proves-IS-afterlife-claims-scientist.html#ixzz2kqf6U5Xc 

1  Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2503370/Quantum-physics-proves-IS-afterlife-claims-scientist.html#ixzz2kqf6U5Xc 
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HELP! I need participation on another SURVEY for my class

I'm taking a Race & Racism course at CSUSB.    The biggest portion of a grade is a research project on a race or ethnic group that is different than you.

I am focusing on Jewish ethnic group.  If you are Jewish (practicing or non practicing) would you please complete the survey!!???? 

Just click on the link below to go to the survey:

Click here to take the survey

The survey is anonymous.  I thank you so much for you assistance.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Mark Gaulding

Do you know how to order your STEAK?

A great Huntington Post article today about how to order a steak to be cooked the way you prefer.  I like 'em "blue".    How 'bout you?

Over the decades, I've ordered steak "rare" and it is usually deliver anywhere from "medium rare" to "medium well."   Which is infuriating if your paying $50 for a slab of beef.    I learned about the term "blue" and have found satisfaction with my steak orders since.  Maybe this chart will help you know how to ensure you get your beef cooked to you preference.

I find that the cheaper the steakhouse/restaurant, the less willing or the less understanding they have about these nuances.  I LOVE STEAK!

Check out the Huntington Post article at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/11/steak-cooked-photo_n_4240121.html

A temple for books: this is a wet dream for me

I love books.   Bookstores, libraries really get me going.   In fact, you could say I WORSHIP books and reading.   And this is literally and figuratively a church bookstore.   Now this is a church that I could attend and be baptized in.

Broerenkerk, a Dominican church in Zwolle, Netherlands, has been transformed into a book store "cathedral". This was in an article in the Daily Mail Online titled "Perfect for bibliophiles! 15th Century cathedral is transformed into a book shop."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483432/Perfect-bibliophiles-15th-Century-cathedral-transformed-book-shop.html#ixzz2jumiQgCM 

Take a short survey to assist me in my class for death and dying

There is not a scroll bar on the right.  To take the survey on this blog listing use the down arrow key to complete the report.  There is a lower scroll bar that you can use to read from left right.

You can also Click here to take the survey if you are having difficulty using the survey on this listing.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

A timely quote from JFK

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

--John F. Kennedy

Prescient, given the current ruin of our country.  This was in my professor's Race/Racism lecture in class last night.

Film Actresses who SHOULD HAVE won an ACADEMY AWARD but haven't yet....

Okay, so I have a beef to pick with the film industry.  Why haven't these outstanding actors not yet won an academy award.   Each of them have been nominated multiple times and their film portfolios are remarkable.  Is it that there aren't enough scripts written for females?  I'm pissed.  Every single one of these women should win and Academy in the near future.

Thoughts?  Did leave someone off the list.   I considered Cameron Diaz but wasn't sure that she is in this league, yet.  Although I love her and her all of her work.

Michelle Pfeiffer (nominated for three Best Academy Actress awards)



Glenn Close (nominated for six Best Actress or Best Supporting Academy Actress awards.....she has won THREE Tony Awards for her stage work)



Laura Linney (nominated for three Best Actress or Supporting Academy Actress awards)


Julianne Moore (nominated for four Best Actress or Supporting Academy Actress awards)


Annette Bening ( nominated for four Best Actress or Support Academy awards)

Interesting story about a person's SOUL

I'm taking a class at the local college titled Perspectives on Death and Dying.   The textbook has some very interesting, thought-provoking items in it.  This one was particularly so.  Thought I'd share it here.

Knowing What a Human Being Is  

Rollling Thunder often repeated, ‘We do so many unnatural things, we don’t know what’s natural anymore.’  One day he and I were sitting on the ground out in the desert.  He was describing a young Indian apprentice from another tribe and making designs in the sand with a stick.  Suddenly he said, ‘You people don’t even know what a human being is!’   I did not see the connection between the subject at hand and that sudden exclamation, but I had learned to understand what he meant by ‘you people.’  It was not a judgmental finger-pointing to be taken personally, but a sort of generalized identification to be applied wherever it fit.  ‘You can look right at someone’s empty body and take it down the highway at eighty miles an hour, leaving the person miles behind, not knowing what the heck is going on!” 

As an example, he then described to me an episode in which he went into the hospital to assist a young lady-a friend of a friends-who had been in a head-on collision and was a long time in a coma. ‘But the moment I took a good look at the body, I could see she wasn’t even there.  I had to find her-go get her-and she was way out in the field where the car’d flipped over the cliff, and she was sittin’ on a rock.  Her friend who was driving was killed.  And this one sittin’ on the rock, she didn’t even know where she was.  But, boy, she was determined to stay there.  She was totally disoriented.  I had to pull her, nearly force her back.  Only time we can do that is when we know their own will isn’t working—otherwise we always leave it up to their own choice. 

‘Well, in the early days, most everyone could tell when a person wasn’t in their body.  That was just natural to see that.  That’s been lost mostly.  Only thing I can say is, until you learn to understand these things, you should never, never move an unconscious body.  Unconscious means the person is not there.  So treat the body on the scene and never, never move it.  Not until you learn how.   People can’t find their own way back to the body—not when they’ve been pulled loose that way by some accident or something.  Time and time again, traumatized people get abandoned that way.  Time and time again, people die in a coma because of that.’
Quote in Doug Boyd’s, Mystic, Magicians and Medicine People:  Tales of a Wanderer*

*DeSpelder, Lynne Ann, and Albert Lee. Strickland. "Chapter 4, Death Systems: Mortality and Society." 2011. The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 150. Print.

To see more listings on this blog site about the soul, click here. click here

My favorite season FALL is upon us! Horray!

And the beautiful colors it brings.

Check out Huffington Posts beautiful photos of bonsais (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/bonsai-trees-color-fall_n_3976912.html?utm_hp_ref=huffpost-home&ir=HuffPost%20Home#slide=2942080).  Here's a sampling.

I WENT to see a FANTASTIC film today. You must see THE WAY WAY BACK

"The Way Way Back 
May Be the Best Movie of the Summer

Sam Rockwell shines in the witty, tender directorial debut of actor/screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash."

--    This is a quote of the film from the movie review by Christopher Orr on The Atlantic.  The link is below.

    

Mr. Orr provides a much better review than I could.  I suggest that you read Orr's review and then go see the amazing movie.

This is an amazing ensemble cast:  Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alison Janney, Amanda Peet, Maya Rudolph and Rob Corddry.   Carell, Collette and Janney show their thespian chops.  

Left Steve Carell who plays "Trent" and Liam James who plays "Duncan"

Sam Rockwell who plays "Owen" and Liam James

But it is Sam Rockwell that "rocks" this film, as far as I'm concerned.  And newcomer, Liam James, who plays the movie's protagonist.  What an impressive and unexpected movie delight this was.  Please read Orr's movie review at this location to see all the reasons why you shouldn't miss this movie.

If you go see this movie you'll immediately see a numerical ranking.  Won't give away the story, but I will say this movie is definitely either an eight or nine!

If you're a JANE AUSTEN nut like I'm then RUN to the theater to see the new movie AUSTENLAND

Based upon a novel by Shannon Hale (2007), I went today with little expectation.  except for my abundant obsession with Jane Austen's books (all of them) and the A&E' Pride and Prejudice series made in the 90's which starred Jennifer Ehle and the sexiest man who has ever been written, Mr. Darcy, aptly played by the sexiest man who has ever lived, Colin Firth.

This movie is an homage to Austen's books (Sense and Sensibilities is another favorite) and to the A&E series.   That moment in cinematic history when Mr. Darcy (ColinTo find out more, click here)

Firth) came out of the pond to find Elizabeth is I believe the sexiest cinematic male moment in history.  He was utterly drenched, but never has a man look more fine in clothes than Mr. Firth (as Darcy) did in that scene.   The wet breeches make swoon.  (

This movie is a delight.  If you are Austen fanatic like me you'll relish every moment.

I quote from Wikipedia a summary of the books plot:

Austenland tells the story of 30-something Jane Hayes, an average New York woman who secretly has an unhealthy obsession withMr. Darcy from the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. But after Jane accidentally reveals her secret to a great aunt, who shortly after dies, Jane gets the opportunity of a lifetime. In her great aunt's will, Jane's great aunt leaves Jane a trip to a Jane Austen–themed getaway destination where Jane hopes to meet her own real life Mr. Darcy.

While at "Austenland", Jane is plagued with self-doubt about pretending to be a woman from the Jane Austen era. However, along the journey Jane makes new friends and finds a new romantic interest.  (click here).

The protagonist of this film, Jane Hayes is played supremely by Kerry Russell (one of my favorite independent films, "Waitress" starred her in 2007....check it out.)  This film is really an ensemble triumph.   Although one actress little steals the show.  She does so in every film that I've seen her in.  She is always typecast.   She can play her this character better than anyone ever.  I have a great deal of respect for her talent and her work.  I'm talking about Jennifer Coolidge who plays another guest at Austenland.

I should make this caveat......if you're a serious film critic or you take things overly serious, you should probably not see this movie.  I do not mean to diminish it's excellence in any way.   But it is a very clever farce (if you are into Jane Austen/Mr. Darcy) and it is perfectly cast.

I can't wait to see it again.

Lot's of fetching male eye candy too.  If that's what suits your fancy.

Just saw THE FAMILY with DeNiro and Pfeiffer. Hysterical new movie

 Just returned from seeing The Family, or "Malavita", written, directed and produced by Luc Besson (“La Femme Nikita,” “The Professional”).  

Although the NY Times savaged it, I disagree completely with the critic's review.  

It is was very funny.   Very well acted by the ensemble cast.  It also had some interesting plot twists.  

Robert Giovanni Manzoni (Robert DeNiro) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Maggie Blake) and their two teenage children Belle Blake (Diana Argon) and Fred Blake (played by newcomer John D'Leo) are a mobster family who are living in Normandy France in the FBI's witness protection program.



It was like a modern day version of The Adams Family.....except that these characters were the essence of New York mobsters.   Murder, destruction, chaos, brutality, and illegal activities are just an every day occurs for each of the Blake family members.

The other star of the film was the word, my favorite word, Fuck.   

These people are so bad that the priest kicks Maggie out of church after she gives her confession.   But they are just a typical family.

Dark humor and a lot of violence!   But what a great movie experience.  Sure, the plot is a little far-fetched, but this wasn't meant to be "Goodfellas".  It is a film of satire.

Pfeiffer is magnificent.   As is Robert DeNiro.   But these two performances are almost stolen by the young actors who portray the Blake children.

Great ending too.

Thank God summer is over and the shit movies are finished.   Finally my season for seeing films has begun.  Will see "Austenland" tomorrow.

I LOVE elephants

Here's why.  This photo is from a great collection on huffington with the most cute photos of animals together.

TOKYO named Host City for the 2020 OLYMPICS GAMES and ZAHA HADID's design wins

Personally, I hope I'm not still around for that.  2020, that is.  No telling what kind of hideous world our species will have created.

However, if we haven't destroyed ourselves and the 2020 Olympic Games occur, then I would be THRILLED to see that my favorite living architect, Zaha Hadid's and her firm's design for the main arena which will host the opening and ending Tokyo Olympics ceremonies (below).

Photo:  Getty

I may be wrong but this I think is the most prestigious commission in Hadid's portfolio, to date? It is quite space age looking.  But what appeals to me about her firm's winning design is the undulating non-linear lines of the structure.   It is wonderful.

I visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West for my birthday, 8/23.  It was an epiphany for me.  I will do a blog post with photos and brief comments soon.

I read about this architecture design award in an article in http://www.telegraph.co.uk which is titled Zaha Hadid's greatest designs.

I hope that this distinguished design award will bring her to the upper echelon of living architects and that we will see more of her truly genius designs.

There are a few other blog posts on this about Zaha Hadid.   To see more click here:  http://markgsmusings.blogspot.com/search/label/zaha%20hadid

I'm adding a couple of more photos below from my Scottsdale, AZ Taliesan West visit which were evocative of Zaha Hadid's design.   Would love to hear anyone's opinions.

Although I haven't been through this building, I am wondering if it uses the "expand" and "contract" design element that I saw, and was astonished by at Taliesen West.  Not quite as claustrophobic though!

The building below is Bridge Pavilion, Zaragoza, Spain, which was constructed for the Expo 2008.  This building acted as the main entrance to the Expo.

Photo:  Getty

Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein (1994) is one of her earliest built designs.  This German building 'defines rather than occupies space'. (see Zaha Hadid's greatest designs telegraph UK as mentioned above)

In my uneducated view, this is Lloyd-Wright-esque in its design.   Would love other perspectives?

Photo:  Getty

This amazing artistic experience is what I hope my experience will be like when I leave this world for either death, or to visit another planet.  This is Guangzhou Opera House, China, built in 2010.  It is comprised of granite, glass and steel structure and it took five years to build. 

Photo: Getty

The building below was Hadid's first completed structure in the US.   This is the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, Ohio built in 2003.  According to the Telegraph article it is "
Hadid's first US project, described by New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp as 'the most important American building to be completed since the Cold War.'"

Photo: Getty

References:
1.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/10295499/Zaha-Hadids-greatest-buildings.html
2.  Photos:   Getty