BKS Iyengar: Four facts you need to know about the yoga guru behind today"s ...

Medical class, BKS Iyengar in Australia "92.

Google has chosen to honour the Indian guru BKS Iyengar - who is credited with bringing yoga to the West - to mark what would have been his 97th birthday.

BKS Iyengar - whose birth name was Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar - died last year after an eight-decade career popularising his version of Iyengar yoga in India and across the world.

But here are some of the things you may not know about the great yogi:

1.His brother-in-law was known as the father of modern yoga

In 1934, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya first invited his young, sickly brother-in-law to train with him in what was then the kingdom of Mysore (now Karnataka state) in southern India to improve his health.

Krishnamacharya was one of the key figures behind the revival of hatha yoga - from which Iyengar yoga developed - in the early 20th century which focused on the correct alignment of the body.

2. He owed his international success to an American violinist

In 1952, Yehudi Menuhin befriended BKS Iyengar. Menuhin believed doing yoga improved his playing and invited him to Switzerland with him in 1954.

After that visit, Iyengar travelled frequently to the west to demonstrate his special technique and hundreds of Iyengar yoga centres sprang up around the world.

3. He taught the 85-year-old Queen Elisabeth of Belgium how to do a headstand

Iyengar was first introduced to the dowager Queen in 1958 and she told him she wanted to learn how to do his signature sirasana headstand.

She gave him a bust of his head which she had sculpted herself. In 1965, he visited her again to help her regain some control of her movements after she suffered a stroke at 92.

Iyengar was a favourite of main celebrities such as writer Aldous Huxley and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

Woman perofrms yoga on live subway tracks

4. His children became celebrated yoga teachers as well

His eldest daughter Geeta and his son Prashant have become internationally renowned yoga practitioners and now run the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute - which BKS Iyengar founded in 1975 in honour of his late wife.

He also trained his granddaughter, Abhijata Sridhar Iyengar as a yoga teacher for many years and she now teaches at the institute and abroad.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/bks-iyengar-four-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-yoga-guru-behind-todays-google-doodle-a6772111.html

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Redskins Injury Report: TE Derek Carrier Suffers Knee Injury

Redskins vs. Bears | Week 14 Highlights | NFL

CHICAGO The Redskins escaped Soldier Field with a 24-21 victory over the Chicago Bears and limited injuries.

The most serious injury was to tight end Derek Carrier, who was already fighting an Achilles tendon strain and a sore ankle. Carrier sustained a knee injury after catching a pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins with 2:37 left in the first quarter.

With JeRon Hamm inactive, only Jordan Reed and converted offensive tackle Tom Compton were available to play tight end once Carrier left the field. He did not return. He will have an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the damage.

Were checking [Carriers] knee, Redskins coach Jay Gruden said.

In other injury news, right tackle Morgan Moses missed some time while being evaluated for a concussion, but was allowed to return to the game. DeSean Jackson banged his knee and limped to the training table. He, too, returned to play.

Just a little sore, Gruden said of Jacksons injury.

Veteran defensive end Jason Hatcher (pinched nerve, ankle) played a limited role on Sunday, though he was active. Other injured players who were not active included running back Chris Thompson (shoulder), wide receiver Andre Roberts (knee), safety Jeron Johnson (hamstring) and linebacker Perry Riley, Jr. (broken foot).

(TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Source: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/12/13/redskins-injury-report-te-derek-carrier-suffers-knee-injury/

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Santa convention invades San Francisco

Santacon 2014 highlight video
21st Annual SantaCon comes to SF

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KTVU) - Jolly old St. Nick multiplied by the hundreds in San Franciscos Union Square on Saturday for the 21st annual SantaCon.

Participants were encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy for the San Francisco Fire Departments Toy Program.

A person dressed as Darth Vader donned a Santa suit and said he takes about 400 photographs with the crowd each year.

Its the one time that were not on the dark side, he said.

The most popular part for some was doing the bar crawl where those dressed up as Santa indulged in adult beverages.

Those who participated said the event is about giving back and spreading holiday cheer.

Source: http://www.ktvu.com/news/57203430-story

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Krispy Kreme offering special "Day of the Dozens" promotion for Dec. 12

Ultimate Krispy Kreme Challenge (15,000 Calories) | ErikTheElectric

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) --Krispy Kreme is offering a delicious deal for fans.

Tomorrow is Dec.12, or 12-12, so any customer who buys a dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme tomorrow, will get another dozen glazed donuts for free.The giveaway is part of the company"s "Day of the Dozens" promotion, which is now in its third year.

All you have to do is get the coupon through the Krispy Kreme app on your smartphone, or you can bring a printed copy to the store.

Copyright 2015 by WDRB News. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.wdrb.com/story/30727336/krispy-kreme-offering-special-day-of-the-dozens-promotion-for-dec-12

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Golden Globe nominations: Box office champs and movies with female ...

2016 Golden Globe Nominations Announced Live

Now that the Golden Globe nominees have been announced, films like Carol and Spotlight have cemented themselves as awards season frontrunners, while movies like Mad Max: Fury Road have had their awards season chances boosted by snagging major nods.

The nod for Max in the prestigious best drama category is a nomination for a mainstream movie rather than a little-seen indie Max was one of the biggest box office success stories of the year.

Meanwhile, the movies Carol, Max, and Room show the continued presence of female-led movies this awards season, something that is not always the case. Carol centers on the relationship between two women, while Room is the story of a woman and her son who are kept imprisoned. Max was praised by many for its strong female character, portrayed by Charlize Theron.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association splits movies into drama and comedy or musical categories. The movies that are contenders for the best drama prize are Carol, Spotlight, Room, The Revenant, and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Nominees for the best musical or comedy prize are Joy, The Martian, The Big Short, Spy, and Trainwreck.

Max had been selected as the best film of the year by the National Board of Review but was still viewed as more of a long shot for the Oscars than, say, Spotlight because action movies arent often nominated for, let alone win, the Best Picture prize. But the chances of Max appearing as a Best Picture nominee have certainly increased with the Golden Globes recognition.

Those behind Joy and The Martian, movies which had missed out on earlier nods like those by the Screen Actors Guild Awards, are no doubt happy to see the movies appear as best comedy or musical nominees. However, because the HFPA nominates movies in two categories, not all these movies will get a nod for Best Picture. Chances seem extremely slim, for example, that Spy or Trainwreck will appear on the Oscar Best Picture ballot.

As for the movie acting races, Bryan Cranston was nominated for Trumbo in the best actor in a drama category, as were Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant, Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs, Will Smith for Concussion, and Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl. This is almost the exact same list that was named by the SAG Awards now Smith and Johnny Depp, who was nominated by the SAG Awards for Black Mass, may be vying for the last slot in this category for the Oscars.

The list for the best actress in a drama race was a bit different than that for the SAG Awards. Cate Blanchett was nominated for Carol, as was Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn, Rooney Mara for "Carol," Alicia Vikander for "The Danish Girl," and Brie Larson for Room." For the SAG Awards, Carol actress Mara and Girl actress Alicia Vikander were nominated in the supporting category, but those behind the Globes put them in the lead actress category.

As for the comedy/musical acting races, the contenders for the best actor in a comedy or musical prize are "The Big Short" actors Christian Bale and Steve Carell, Al Pacino of "Danny Collins," Matt Damon in "The Martian," and Mark Ruffalo in "Infinitely Polar Bear." The actress contenders for a comedy or musical are "Trainwreck" actress Amy Schumer, Maggie Smith of "The Lady in the Van," "Grandma" actress Lily Tomlin, Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy," and "Spy" actress Melissa McCarthy.

For the Globes, the best supporting actor race for drama, musicals, and comedy are combined. For best supporting actress, Kate Winslet was nominated for Steve Jobs, as were Vikander for Ex Machina, Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight, Helen Mirren for Trumbo, and Jane Fonda for Youth.

Other than Winslet, the nominees in this category were completely different than those for the SAG Awards. Vikander was nominated in the SAG category but for a different movie (The Danish Girl), and Leigh and Fonda were nowhere to be seen. Rachel McAdams was nominated for a SAG Award for Spotlight but is missing for the Globes.

Those who earned nods in the best supporting actor category were Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation, Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies, Michael Shannon for 99 Homes, Sylvester Stallone for Creed, and Paul Dano for Love and Mercy.

Elba, Rylance, and Shannon seem like sure things for this race after receiving SAG and Golden Globes nods, while Stallone and Danos nods are crucial after having missed out on a SAG nomination.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2015/1210/Golden-Globe-nominations-Box-office-champs-and-movies-with-female-protagonists-lead-the-way

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How Serial Season 2"s Snazzy Sound Design Drives Home Its Big Themes

Bowe Bergdahl takes center stage in Season 2 of ‘Serial’

Serial podcast

In a narrative medium like a podcast, music is rarely the main event; it enriches, complicates, or maybe just co-exists with the spoken story. But with Serial, particularly in Season 2, the music represents a lot more than emotional tone-setting. This seasonabout the controversy surrounding Bowe Berghdal, an American soldier who disappeared from his Afghanistan post under mysterious circumstanceswill likely have a lot to say about the interaction of individuals and huge, impersonal systems. And so far, its sound effects are helping to underscore the way unseen institutional forces often inform human livesand the way big structures are made up of human beings.

Katy Waldman is Slates words correspondent.

This season, the theme music is different: Vulture has a smart interview with composer Nick Thorburn enumerating some of the changes, but the biggest surprise, for me, was the horn weaving across what Sarah Larson has called the original songs plink-plink-plink charm. I think the new version is catchy and great. It evokes Homelands famous opening sequence, which feels thematically apt for a podcast about the war on terror, and the saturnine-yet-military quality of the trumpet adds depth to the playfully chromatic piano.

But most notable is the way Serials second season, thus far, crackles with incidental aural detail, little lifelike flourishes that make the story seem authentic. Playing snippets of Berghdals recorded conversations with filmmaker Mark Boal (they total about 25 hours of rangy and raw audio), Sarah Koenig draws our attention to peripheral noises: the sound of the microwave beeping as Boal fixes a snack, the bark and scuffle of his dog. This ambient needlepointing is meant to communicate intimacy, to remind us that the characters were encountering are real people. Likewise, the episode opens with Koenig describing video footage of the Taliban releasing Berghdal in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay prisoners. First, we hear only her voice. Theres a silver truck and some scrubby desert. Black Hawk helicopters circle above. The music kicks in when we get our first look at the human being, Berghdal, at the center of the rendezvous. Tense, slow, and uncertain, a wash of foggy sound seems to mirror his state of mind as he blinkshis eyes are bothering him. He looks up at the machines in the sky, and the piano melody climbs a few notes, following his gaze. In the midst of a sensitive, high-stakes geopolitical operation, Serials music suggests a human consciousness at work.

Later, a sad bass melody creeps into the accompaniment when we hear Berghdals voice for the first time. Hes asking the president and the country to bring him home.

As the music invokes the humanity hiding within a vast and anonymous conflict, it can also be a backdrop to interviews and testimonies, never allowing us to forget that personal stories exist alongside and on top of bigger forces. The most emotionally powerful part of the show gets no accompaniment. Its just Berghdal talking about what its like to be imprisoned in a pitch black room.

Theres times when Id wake up and its just so dark. I would wake up not even remembering like what I was. You know how you get that feeling when that word is on the tip of your tongue? That happened to me only it was like, what am I? . Its like youre standing there screaming in your mind, in this blackened dirt room thats tiny. And just on the other side of that flimsy door that you could probably rip off its hinges, is the entire world out there. It is everything that youre missing. Everyone is out there.

His voice in our ears, his imagery in our minds, is all we have. Its an incredibly claustrophobic moment in which were forced to wrestle with the most humanistic and existential questions imaginable: What is a person? What is a life? And then Sarah Koenig picks up the narration to explain what waits on the other side of that flimsy door. She talks about the whirlwind of people and systems that circled Bowes disappearance, from his parents and community back home to debriefers at Guantanamo Bay, the State Department, and the White House. As she talks, the music wakes up. Faster in tempo, gaining complexity, it conjures a cosmos of interlocking parts. Berghdal may feel alone, but hes not.

Slate"s Serial Spoiler Special, which drops every Thursday evening ET, will keep you up to date on Serial"s second season. Subscribe here.

Source: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/12/11/serial_season_2_theme_music_the_narrative_brilliance_of_the_podcast_s_sound.html

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Dec. 9, birthdays for Kirsten Gillibrand, Kirk Douglas, Judi Dench

The Way West 1967 Kirk Douglas Robert Mitchum Full Length Western Movie

Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 343rd day of the year.

ON THIS DAY IN 1919, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled Strike Paralyzes Harbor Traffic; Ferries Tied Up.

The article focused on an extreme harbor strike among the boroughs, which delayed the mail and threatened a food crisis.

The greatest harbor strike in the history of the city went into effect as scheduled at 6 oclock this morning when 15,000 harbor men left their jobs, tying up virtually all the ferries, steam lighters, tow boats, coal barges, grain boats, steam holsters and other craft, the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading, who was born in 1950; actress Reiko Aylesworth, who was born in 1972; Emmy Award-winning actor Beau Bridges, who was born in 1941; Hall of Fame football player d**k Butkus, who was born in 1942; Oscar Award-winning actress Judi Dench, who was born in 1934; TV personality Kara DioGuardi, who was born in 1970; actor Kirk Douglas, who was born in 1916; actor Simon Helberg, who was born in 1980; U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, who was born in 1966; actor David Anthony Higgins, who was born in 1961; actress Felicity Huffman, who was born in 1962; golfer Tom Kite Jr., who was born in 1949; actor Joe Lando, who was born in 1961; actor John Malkovich, who was born in 1953; Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, who was born in 1995; actress Dina Merrill, who was born in New York City in 1925; actor Jesse Metcalfe, who was born in 1978; actor Michael Nouri, who was born in 1945; singer and actor Donny Osmond, who was born in 1957; and actor d**k Van Patten, who was born in 1928.

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JOHN MILTON was born on this day in 1608. An English poet, historian, civil servant and defender of freedom of the press, Milton is considered one of the greatest poets of the English language. Author of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, he died from gout in November of 1674 in London. No man who knows aught, he wrote, can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free.

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Special thanks to Chases Calendar of Events and Brooklyn Public Library.

Source: http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/12/9/dec-9-birthdays-kirsten-gillibrand-kirk-douglas-judi-dench

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