Via a press release:
Steve Madden, a leading designer and marketer of fashion footwear and accessories for women, men and children, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of privately held Big Buddha, Inc., a designer and marketer of fashion-forward handbags. Founded by Jeremy Bassan in 2003, Big Buddha sells its trend-right handbags to specialty retailers, better department stores and online retailers. Big Buddha had net sales in 2009 of approximately $13 million (unaudited).
That’s one expensive Dharma-Burger.
From the Star of Mysore:
“If only the Management gurus like Peter Drucker had known of Ashoka and his inscriptions, they would have unhesitatingly called Ashoka as the Father of Advertisements.”
Really. More here.
Evening Update: SunSpace reader Jigme pointed me to a new WTOP interview with Hume from earlier this evening. The newsman doesn’t seem to slag Buddhism as he did in his first controversial statement, but he does “ramp up his pitch of the superiority of Christianity,” as USA Today puts it.
Hume also argues that it’s his Christian faith that has left him open to attack from those who misunderstand him: “Suppose I’d said that what Tiger needed to do was to deepen his practice of the Buddhist faith. You think we’d be discussing this today?”
Here’s a link to the audio. (Opens in new window.) Also, for those wondering what The Daily Show had to say in Tuesday night’s 11pm show:
The Daily Show pretty much led off with the Hume story. Correspondent Aasif Mandvi (a seemingly out-of-nowhere great) expressed sympathy for Hume, saying that he felt bad that Hume received negative messages in response to his comments via, as Mandvi described it, “the Internet — where, as far as I know, only nice things are said.” Mandvi, identifying himself as a practitioner of Islam, went on in his mock sympathy: “I forgot how hard it is to be Christian — because it’s so easy to be Muslim.”
That statement was then followed by a montage of clips of FOX News hosts and talking heads mocking Indians, suggesting that all young Muslim men should be strip-searched (at airports, one presumes), and generally, as Mandvi put it, “shitting on Hindus.”
As for The Colbert Report: Stephen Colbert’s go-to Buddhist, Lama Surya Das, did not appear (as I’d imagined he’d would). In fact, no mention of the Hume controversy took place. Instead, Colbert focused the bulk of his show on a post-Christmas-plane-bombing-attempt segment called “Nightmare of Terror: The Crapification of the American Pantscape.”
Great title, Stephen. But no coverage? What gives? A fella could use all the laughs he can get.
Via Pharyngula, at ScienceBlogs:
If you go to the Google page and start typing in search phrases, it helpfully tries to offer suggests…sometimes. [...]
In the search field type “Christianity is” and you will see recommendations of “bullsh*t, not a religion, a lie, false, a cult, wrong, fake, dying, Jewish, and not a religion t-shirt.”
In the search field type “Hinduism is” and you will see recommendations of “monotheistic, false, polytheistic, the majority religion of, the oldest religion, not a religion, fake, most commonly found, characterized by, and wrong.”
In the search field type “Buddhism is” and you will see recommendations of “not a religion, wrong, not what you think, bullsh*t, polytheistic, a religion, false, based on what concepts, the best religion, and atheism.”
But what about others, like “Islam”? You’ll have to read more here.
Okay, I’ve tried to avoid getting into the whole Tiger Woods story. There’s been way too much of it.
But one new item is too notable to, um, not note. Check it out, along with video, at Shambhala SunSpace.
Via Ananova:
Photographs of a monk skateboarding inside a historic temple have caused controversy in China. [...]
“Monks should seek quietness and riding a skateboard is such a contradictory thing to Buddhist life,” said [internet commenter].
However, a spokesman for the temple said that the outside world did not understand the life of a contemporary monk.
“People get their impressions from TV or movies, where monks are praying all day long, without any motivation or desire,” he said.
“But these days monks also enjoy sports like badminton, table tennis and skateboarding in the spare time, as well as praying.
“They even use the internet and mobile phones to promote Buddhism. This is not contradictory to Buddhism but actually is part of the Buddhist spirit.”
Right on.
Via PR Newswire:
Borrowing the Zen practices of minimalism and focus, [St. Louis Tea Part movement co-founder Bill] Hennessy helps conservatives channel their anger and concern into positive steps toward reclaiming liberty.
“After the 2008 elections, I realized that shouting alone was useless. I also realized that we on the right were fighting too many battles at once. So I started to write myself a letter, and that letter turned into this book.”
Zen Conservative, the new book by St. Louis Tea Party leader Bill Hennessy, targets the millions of Americans who are fed up with government growth, regulatory intrusion, and unfathomable borrowing and spending in Washington, DC. But rather than just ratcheting up the volume, Hennessy’s “Zen Conservatism” aims toward effectiveness. The book advances the 5-2-1 method Hennessy has used to help the St. Louis Tea Party stay focused, engaged, and effective in issues like the proposed takeover of healthcare, the cap and trade tax scheme, and the undue influence of Andy Stern’s SEIU union.
Well, this sure isn’t my cup of tea. But if it’s yours, here’s the website.
Again with the “Zen President” thing. This via Scott Whitlock of NewsBusters:
Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer on Tuesday helped promote an upcoming HBO documentary on Barack Obama and allowed producer Ed Norton to gush over the “zen” presidential campaign of the Democratic candidate. Sawyer breathlessly teased the program as “the Obamas behind closed doors. The grandmother who raised him and the man you’ve never seen.”
[...] Norton was impressed with the “calm,” “no-drama Obama.” The actor continued, “And in a weird way, when you look behind the curtain with that team, they are really zen. It’s amazing how zen they are.”
Well, not anymore. From the Watertown (MA) TAB:
An undercover officer entered Zen Massage at 10 Mt. Auburn St. and was offered to engage in sex in exchange for a fee. Soucier also did not have the proper license for her massage parlor.
Zen Massage appeared on a message board on Oct. 9. A customer detailed a visit in which a masseuse charged extra to be naked while she massaged him and talked dirty. The massage cost him $80 and the “extras” $100.
As someone who’s studied/practiced/loved Zen, and is married to a massage therapist (legit!), I’m doubly offended.
That ain’t cool!
PS: Apologies for the tacky post title. But it’s better than the one I was gonna go with: “Dharma-Burger, hold the ____!”
(You can fill in that blank yourself.)
