SMILEY POSSIBILITY???

ok i said lively, daft and literally smiley and trust me ive been through hundreds of songs today. this is a bit cheesey but could be funny. thought we could pause it when leo comes on =( n crank it back up when we gather round him to the lyics "people gather round" how convenient!! lol. might have to add a few more movements though if we went with something like this... liven it up a bit. =D http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LkIACz_DApQ&feature=related

for kat

just the first bit tho u can watch it all i no u have ur smiles but could u use this for the cult leader in the grotto?

Some images that stuck out to me

http://www.quickrob.com/weblog/Beslan%20Bodies%20After%20Seige%201.gif

http://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2008/06/wa_beslan_essay1.jpg

http://www.quickrob.com/weblog/Beslan%20School%20Seige%203.gif

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40046000/jpg/_40046402_grab13.jpg

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/uploads/2341Beslan2.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/823/bbcbeslangrafico11qm.gif

http://gdb.rferl.org/9294C7FB-A493-45C4-A555-CBED57AF34F2_w280.jpg

http://jewschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/child_suicide_bomber.jpg - this is nothing to do with beslan but thought it was striking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/images/main_promo/news/news_glance_wk35_wt_l_1.jpg

Look at the top left of this one. The coffin is not like we have. Easy to reconstruct?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40063000/jpg/_40063166_beslanhospital203.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/europe_beslan0_survivors0_impressions_a_year_on/img/1.jpg

http://www.thewe.cc/thewei/&/images3/2004_war_photos_5/lean_on_coffin_long.jpe

Leo can you get this link to work?:

I want to post Ibn Elnile's favourite video which can be found at: -

http://www.wayn.com/waynprofile.html?wci=view&member_key=11255326

But don't know how to take it. The details are below

Find more reactive videos at coull.com

Find more reactive videos at coull.com

just a couple of tracks i like the idea of possibly using : Death in vegas - Aisha. Clap your hands and say yeah - satan says dance.

got the pictures you can take them off

Pictures

Sorry folks. i've added these pictures for Michael but put them on as gadgets so they're a bit in your face. After Michael's downloaded them I'll take them off.

Review ordered after abuse death

death of a 17-month-old boy after months of abuse, despite him being on an at-risk register, has sparked an review of child protection in England.
It comes as two men were found guilty of causing his death in August 2007.
The boy, from Haringey, north London, suffered 50 injuries, and the case has revealed a series of failings by social workers, health workers and police.


full link is below, this was in the news today, don't know if this helps....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7723042.stm

quote on Islam

Quote from Ziauddin Sardar (very clever muslim academic)

But I soon discovered that when Islam and the state are one and the same thing, and when there is only one way of interpreting Islam and of being a Muslim, you end up with self-righteous fascism. If you believe that you possess the absolute truth, you naturally want to keep it pure and exclude everything that you see as falsehood. Moreover, you are keen to impose it on others whatever the cost. When you internalise Islam as a single ideology, you cease to be, in my opinion, human. In their excessive zeal to be guardians of their brand of hyper-orthodox Islam, many Saudis have forgotten how to be human.

When I first went to Saudi Arabia I thought I would discover a new level of humanity, a new, unparalleled appreciation of the dignity of difference. Instead, I encountered a type of religious xenophobia that I could not imagine. I realised then that Islam cannot be packaged into a single ideology. Later, revolutionary Iran and the Taliban further strengthened my belief. For me, Islam is all about knowing yourself as a human being. Before you can be a "good Muslim" you must be a good human being. Simplest, monolithic interpretations of Islam undermine this.

Full interview on http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization/sardar_3547.jsp

possibility for set

hi guys, anyone remember dan mentioning a television set wall? well i like that idea but ive elaborated a bit, combining the whole 'suspension' concept that a few people seem to like from the 'Perspective art' post. Considering the idea of our own cult and the heavens gate style recruitment videos i thought we could maybe hang television sets around the space... wherever the audience look they are being taken in by whatever is on them etc. anyway... i tried to find a picture to kind of support my idea and was sucessful... thank god for google images :p let me know what you think...

KATHRYN X

tick tick tick

if we do wanna use a ticking sound egg timers would be ideal =]

Paradise comes at a price?

Paradise comes at a price
That I am not prepared to pay
What were we built for?
Could someone tell me please?

The good news is, she can't have babies
And wont accept gifts from me
What are they for?
They'll just grow up, and break the laws you've loved

Take off your disguise
I know that underneath
It's me

Useless device, it won't suffice
I want a new game to play
When I am gone
It won't be long, before I disturb you in the dark

And paradise comes at a price
That I am not prepared to pay
What were we built for?
Will someone tell me please?

Take off your disguise
I know that underneath
It's me

scissor sisters - shes my man and the making of

just wanna mention cus i can

theres a band called paradise lost, well were/are called not sure if they are still touring/releasin material etc, but the only draw back is they are death metal band so not really anything we can work with lol, tho i havent listened to any of there stuff

Murder of Victoria Climbié

(2 November 1991–20 February 2000) was abused and murdered by her guardians in London, England, in 2000. The public outrage at her death led to a public inquiry which produced major changes in child protection policies in the United Kingdom, including the formation of the Every Child Matters programme; the introduction of the Children Act 2004; the creation of the ContactPoint project, a planned government database that will hold information on all children in England and Wales; and the creation of the Office of the Children's Commissioner chaired by the Children's Commissioner.[1]
Both her guardians, Marie-Thérèse Kouao (born 18 July 1956 in Bonoua, Ivory Coast) and Carl Manning (born 31 October 1972), were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at their trial on 12 January 2001.[2]
Born in Abobo, Ivory Coast, Climbié moved to England at the age of seven with her great-aunt Kouao. It is suspected that Kouao started abusing Climbié soon after her arrival in the country, and the abuse worsened when Kouao moved in with Carl Manning. Up to her death, the police, the social services department of many local authorities, the National Health Service, the NSPCC, and local churches all had contact with her, and noted the signs of abuse. However, in what the judge in the trial following Victoria's death described as "blinding incompetence", all failed to properly investigate the abuse and little action was taken. She died in February 2000, aged eight.

link below is too full post

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Climbi%C3%A9

Dad Snapped Baby Daughter's Spine

James Howson, 25, was told he must serve at least 22 years.
He had been found guilty of murdering his daughter Amy earlier this week after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.
Amy's mother, Tina Hunt, 26, was given a 12-month suspended sentence for allowing the death of a child and child cruelty. She admitted the charges.
Sentencing Howson, the judge, Mrs Justice Cox, recounted how the defendant placed his daughter over his knee or other object and broke her back at their home while he was looking after her.
He then sat with her body until the morning.
The judge said: "This was, in my view, a chilling and brutal attack. The bone was completely dislocated, resulting in spinal shock, rapid unconsciousness - mercifully - and to death."



full story is on this link........ http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Father-Who-Snapped-Daughters-Spine-Jailed-For-Life/Article/200810415127627?lpos=UK_News_News_Your_Way_Region_6&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15127627_Father_Who_Snapped_Daughters_Spine_Jailed_For_Life

Mix up!

mix up - photobooth artist

A reference point for physical comedy and clowning

just so you can see why what we're doing is funny the big smile and then the flop and shame and backing away.
uses these just as something to help your knowledge but don't try to copy anything the best thing you can do as a clown is give your response to something innocently and on the spot don't take time to think of a funny reply to play for laughs just go with it be natural, stop acting =]

Perspective Art

best i can find, basically if u look at this head on it looks completely normal =]

Something i was trying to describe earlier

Kaci - Paradise

here she talks about Paradise as a person not as a place......

Catlin and Aiden Samuel both killed by thier father

Catlin Samuel (5) and her brother Aiden Samuel (3) were found drowned at their home on Sunday. Caitlin and Samuel’s parents were separated, and their father Perry Samuel, who was babysitting the pair, was the only person in the home at the time.
Perry Samuel has been arrested and has now been charged with murder.

found this when reading a magazine, can't remember which felt it needed looking at.... below is the link.....

http://dvmemorial.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/caitlin-aiden-samuel/

Song

This is called Astral Projection - Amen

Didn't know what sort of music we were thinking of using or anything but this is quite dance/up beat with no lyrics. Thought it would be good for a movement piece of some description?

Heavens Gate Ex Member speaking out

There is pictures of the bodies including that of Applewhite

Creating YOUR paradise

On a slight tangent from Derren Brown but I saw this



It's Paul McKenna, and it's how to loose weight BUT by reprogramming your body, it uses belief systems but also trickery surely? If you convince yourself this person is going to help you then you will think everything works?

See what you think anyways

Not A Happy Bunny

I hope you had a productive day on Tuesday and have a decent performance to show me. If its still rough around the edges you will need to spend Friday afternoon polishing it up. I`m disturbed that the group has still not signed up to the blog. If you can`t find the email inviting you sign in with my email and the password I gave you at the start and title your message "From... (your name)".

Turkey is mind blowing, but I am working from 9 in the morning until ten at night so I will return very tired. Please be full of life next tuesdat, because I may be very tired - I dont get back until late Sunday night.

Missing you all...

The Year 2012

Go to Metaphysical Predications, section four for the juicy bit about apocalypse end of the world etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012#Metaphysical_predictions

Sorry think I mentioned this in a comment and never put it up, but know that it has been mentioned along with 12 steps...

Derren Brown - Messiah

derren's website


messiah part 1

messiah part 2
messiah part 3
messiah part 4
messiah part 5
messiah part 6
messiah part 7
messiah part 8

Break Free From Addiction

using the twelve step program - got this book out of central library, the book has a copy of the alcoholics anonymous program inside. i hope its the same as selina's, ill be bringing the book in Tuesday, just to say from steps 5/6 onwards they start to get rather 'cultage' in how they're worded

Step 1, is “I admitted that I was powerless over my addiction and that my life had become unmanageable.”
Step 2, is “come to believe that a higher power than self could restore me to sanity”
Step 3, is “Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him”
Step 4, is “make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves”
Step 5, is “admit to God, to myself and to another person the exact nature of my wrongs”
Step 6, is “we’re entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character”
Step 7, is “humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings”
Step 8, is “make a list of all the people we have harmed, and become willing to make amends with them
Step 9, is “make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others”
Step 10, is “continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it”
Step 11, is “sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out
Step 12, is “having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps we try to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs”

Man carrying child

how to use the blog

Like dis. Edited

significant number in judaism and the stations of the cross

7 - old testament

Seven came to symbolize completeness and perfection. God's work of creation was both complete and perfect—and it was completed in seven days. All of mankind's existence was related to God's creative activity. The seven-day week reflected God's first creative activity. The sabbath was that day of rest following the work week, reflective of God's rest. Israelites were to remember the land also and give it a sabbath, permitting it to lie fallow in the seventh year. Seven was also important in cultic matters beyond the sabbath: major festivals such as Passover and Tabernacles lasted seven days as did wedding festivals. In Pharaoh's dream, the seven good years followed by seven years of famine.

7 - new testament

The seven churches (Revelation 2-3) perhaps symbolized by their number all the churches. Jesus taught that forgiveness is not to be limited, even to a full number or complete number of instances. We are to forgive, not merely seven times (already a gracious number of forgivenesses), but seventy times seven (limitless forgiveness, beyond keeping count).

multiples of seven frequently had symbolic meaning. The year of Jubilee came after the completion of every forty-nine years. In the year of Jubilee all Jewish bondslaves were released and land which had been sold reverted to its former owner. Another multiple of seven used in the Bible is seventy. Jesus sent out the seventy (Luke 10:1-17). Seventy years is specified as the length of the Exile.

12

The Sumerians used twelve as one base for their number system. Both the calendar and and the signs of the Zodiac reflect this twelve base number system. The tribes of Israel and Jesus' disciples numbered twelve. The importance of the number twelve is evident in the effort to maintain that number. When Levi ceased to be counted among the tribes, the Joseph tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, were counted separately to keep the number twelve intact. Similarly, in the New Testament, when Judas Iscariot committed suicide, the eleven moved quickly to add another to keep their number at twelve. Twelve seems to have been especially significant in the Book of Revelation. New Jerusalem had twelve gates; its walls had twelve foundations.

Multiples of twelve are also important. There were twenty-four divisions of priests (1 Chronicles 24:4), and twenty-four elders around the heavenly throne (Revelation 4:4). An apocryphal tradition holds that seventy-two Jewish scholars, six from each of the twelve tribes, translated the Old Testament into Greek, to give us the version we call today the Septuagint. The 144,000 servants of God (Revelation 7:4), were made up of 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

just remembered we spoke about number systems, seeing as were talkin about 12 step programs etc, btw the stations of the cross, there are 14 not 12 but, 7 x 2...

so you all dont think im mad

here's a clip of the one off drama about the nativity i was trying to explain earlier



it useful to see how a 150% set works

cake and pedophile

"Joss Acklund's Spunky Backpack"!!!

Ossetia

Just so that we're clear where the hell Beslan is...

North Ossetia borders on Georgia. South Ossetia is a provinnce of Georgia. The Ossetians are ethnic Russians (or more accurately Cossacks) Russian soldiers are currently occupying South Ossetia in a bizarre political game involving the US as allies of Georgia and Russia as allies of the Ossetians. Needless to say Oil is involved - Georgia is the non-Russian access to the black sea for fuel pipes. The background to Ossetian-Georgian relations can be found at wiki - south ossetia

Now - Beslan came about following another terrotorial dispute: between Russia and Chechnia. The Chechnians are decidedly ethnically UnRussian - although Russia will not allow them independence. Whilst the most common religion in Russia is Orthodox Christianity, the Chechnians are Muslim. The beslan hostage taking came in response to the Russian's victory in the second Chechnian war of independence (both failed). Hence, the cause of the hostage taking was both Nationalistic (Chechnian Paradise) and religious (Muslim paradise)

Design

If the location of the show is a school hall (Amish School for Paradise Lost and Beslan school for Paradise Found)could the design of set and props be 150% larger than original so that the audience see things the way a child would? Has anyone been back to their primary school as an adult and been amazed at how low the ceilings look compared to memory? The Beslan school had a basketball court in the school hall. Could the starting point for the set be two 150% larger basketball hoops (the hostage takers hung the explosives from them)? If these could be constructed as stable structures we could sling zip-lines between them to hang things on or use as a death-slide (I can source a pulley to ride on).

Just a thought...

Pictures of the Beslan siege

Women in burnt out school from Beslan

Beslan siege - short version

Beslan siege
At approximately 08-00 local time on Wednesday, September 1, 2004, a group of men and women armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers seized school No.1 in the town of Beslan in North Ossetia.
After a brief shootout, the attackers forced the children and teachers inside the school and announced that they were being held hostage.
1 September
The gunmen call for talks with the presidents of North Ossetia and Ingushetia and renowned doctor Leonid Roshal.
Hostage-takers, numbering between 17 and 40, threaten to kill 50 children for every militant killed.
Nearly 50 children manage to escape. Gunmen set free 15 more.
President Putin breaks off his vacation and returns to Moscow.
Representative of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov denies involvement by forces loyal to him.
Russian authorities get in contact with attackers. Gunmen refuse to pass food, water and medicines to the hostages.
2 September
A government source reveals the exact number of hostages for the first time since the crisis, putting the number at 354 (It was not true. All in Beslan know the number of hostages is more than 1000 persons).
Schoolchildren held hostage report by phone that they are coping and that the conditions are “tolerable”.
Captors free several women and young children, the news agencies reported. The number of released hostages varies from six to 26.
3 September
When the gunmen allowed the bodies to be carried out of the school and the emergency officials started to recover them, the attackers blew up their explosives. It was at 13.05. Storming started…

Bridgend Suicides

Below is a link about the Bridgend suicides, it's quite lengthy, so the link is below,

timesonline - bridgend suicides

Millionare's Daughter missing

click me


Again another guy who killed his family for paradise, this time, he did the killings to stop his family finding out that he was in debt and would loose everything

a few poems about paradise or interpretations of.

http://www.poetseers.org/themes/list_topic/poems_about_paradise

artist representation

Hieronymus Bosch's painting entitled 'Paradise and Hell'...

An image which i find particularly inspiring in regard to design

"On the left we watch evil invading the world. The creation of Eve is followed by the temptation of Adam and both are driven out of Paradise, while high above in the sky we see the fall of the rebellious angels, who are hurled from heaven as a swarm of repulsive insects. On the other wing we are shown a vision of hell. There we see horror piled upon horror, fires and torments and all manner of fearful demons, half animal, half human or half machine, who plague and punish the poor sinful souls for all eternity".

www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/paradise/

kathryn x

guess i should start putting up some of the stuff ive been looking at...

This article looks specifically at a very religious woman, Lashuan Harris who believed the murder of her own offspring in 2005 was “ her attempt to transfer her children to heaven," following the "commands from God.” take a look guys, some people really will do anything for what they believe...

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14760/lashuan-harris-mother-believes-sf-bay-drownings-led-her-children-to-heaven

Towards Paradise

A Landscape Installation at the Venice Biennale

Project Paradsise - The Wire Through Which Happiness Flows

click me

Lorenzo's Ghilberti's 'Gates of Paradise'

Genesis

Noah

Cain and Abel

Abraham

Joseph

Issac

Moses

David

Soloman

Joshua

detailed descriptions of each scene

Paradise Sculpture?

Tim Bulmer Profile

paradise paintings

hmmm apart from beach scenes cant find anything i like maybe im lookin for stuff to abstract

Art of Eternity: Painting Paradise

BBC Iplayer

was just looking for art pieces entitled paradise, or with paradise in their title just for another form of multimedia we could use, found this haven't watched it but some one could and see if its helpful

Guns and roses - Paradise City

Amish Paradise

LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ecEF0nNNoM



I can't get a full link for this but have a look at it, it's an Amish interpretation of gangsteres paaradise.....

Gangsters Paradise

lyrics

There is a light that never goes out?

the song lyrics

is this morrisey touching on assisted suicide? or something similar?

Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit Wiki Page

Another murder suicide, but with no apparrent motive for it or personal problems...

a bit naughty...

stolen from paradise lost with thanks! Just to bear in mind...


some definitions of Paradise as found on dictionary.com


par·a·dise [par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]

–noun

1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.
2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.
3. (often initial capital letter) Eden (def. 1).
4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.
5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.
6. Architecture. a. parvis.
b. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.

7. (initial capital letter, italics) Italian, Pa·ra·di·so [pah-rah-dee-zaw] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Compare inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2).

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME, OE paradīs < LL paradīsus < Gk parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; cf. Avestan pairi-daéza enclosure]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

From Dan

Some interesting themes have emerged from a blg discussion between leo and Charlotte. The concept of Apocolypticism refers to beliefs in paradise on earth created through a catclysmic disaster after which the world becomes the perfect place to live. This is common to cults, but is suggested by Christianity in the book of Revelations. More details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypticism

The other issue is the fact that there tends to be a charismatic individual coming up with the belief system and persuasion (and often getting a good deal out of the cult with regards to money and sex) This is a description from an 'expert':

“[David Koresh is] your stock cult leader. ... They're all the same. Meet one and you've met them all. They're deeply disturbed, have a borderline personality and lack any type of conscience. ... No one willingly enters into a relationship like this. ... So you're talking about deception and manipulation (by the leader), people being coached in ever so slight increments, pulled in deeper and deeper without knowing where it's going or seeing the total picture."
Reed, Steven R. (April 20, 1993). "Deadly Finale/Standoff ends in firestorm/Would-be Messiah gave death, not life", Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-04-29

ladies and gentleman i give you mr marshall applewhite...again



and the rest of his and the heavens gate cults videos on...

google videos

Charlotte - Heavens Gate Cult

Alien Rescue

One of the most unusual mass suicides of the last decade was the Californian-based cult Heaven's Gate, who believed that a spaceship flying behind the Hale-Bopp comet was coming to pick them up.

Hale-Bopp comet
Heaven's Gate waited 22 years for Hale-Bopp
Thirty-nine members died in their mansion in San Diego after eating poisonous pudding or apple sauce, washed down with vodka.

The bodies were discovered lying in bunk beds covered in purple shrouds, each with a five-dollar bill in their pocket and a small suitcase beneath the bed.

Founders Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles wrote on the cult's website that in their suicide they were 'graduating' to a higher level of life.

From dan

I have sent you all an email so that you can have your own profile for the blog and it will be easy to see who is leaving what comments and we won't have to bother with the "From Such-and-Such" in the title. Please respond ASAP

Charlotte - Timothy McVeigh Oklahoma Bombings

This is a quick back ground of the Oklahoma Bombings - Turner diaries again mentioned.

bbc article on the bombings



Also


Ingredients to paradise? How we in turn try to establish paradise.

Lethal injection

Ingredient:
sodium pentothal
Effect: causes unconsciousness
Ingredient:
Pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride
Effect: stops heart and lung function
Time: 10-15 minutes

Charlotte - Timothy McVeigh Oklahoma Bombings

This was quoted in one fo the online BBC reports but thought it was very interesting....



An even stronger influence was The Turner Diaries, a racist, anti-Semitic novel which tells the story of a gun enthusiast who reacts against tighter gun laws and starts a revolution by packing a van with home made explosives and blowing up the FBI headquarters in Washington.

Interesting that even books really do have an effect on the world...

From Dan: Comments

Please use the Comments facility on this blog. Click on comments to read or post a comment on the post. Evemn if you haven't posted any research yet please read through the posts so far and add your thoughts to the blog

From Dan

This is not necessarily relevent but Lisa passed the website on to me:

Project Censored

The website contains hundreds of articles of current affairs that have been "buried" for government or corporate reasons. There may be some enlightening articles relating to Paradise Lost and Found and also useful for your dissertation on individual projects if you are approaching from a political angle

Michael: Timeline, the Beslan school siege

Timeline: the Beslan school siegeStaff and agencies guardian.co.uk, Monday September 06 2004 14:46 BST Article historyWednesday September 1
0530 (all times BST): School seized by unknown gunmen, shots exchanged with police. Reports of death toll range from two to eight people. More than a dozen wounded.

0750: Russian media report that attackers are wearing suicide-bomb belts and threatening to blow up school. Hundreds of hostages, including many children, are herded into the gymnasium and the building is mined.

0900: More gunfire and explosions reported.

1340: Russian news agencies report 15 children released.

1630: Security official says authorities have established contact with hostage-takers.

Thursday September 2

1000: Ruslan Aushev, an Afghan war veteran and former president of neighbouring Ingushetia region, holds talks with hostage-takers in school gym.

1100: In his first comments on the attack, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, says: "Our main task is, of course, to save the lives and health of those who became hostages. All actions of our forces working on the hostages' release will be devoted ... to this task exclusively."

1240: First hostages released, women and small children taken to safety. Officials say a total of 26 hostages released.

Friday September 3

0900: Emergencies ministry workers approach school with agreement of militants to retrieve bodies of dead hostages that have been lying in front of school for two days. Later reports suggest that 10 to 20 hostages may have been executed by this stage in addition to the earlier fatalities.

1000-1030: There are two large explosions from inside the school followed by gunfire. Later reports suggest that the militants themselves may have caused the explosions. One report said one of the female hostage takers may have accidentally blown up her suicide belt. Other reports said that explosives hung over the hostages from basketball hoops in the gymnasium may have fallen and exploded.

Whatever the cause of the explosions, they prompt the chaos that follows. Hostages take the explosions as a signal to flee and militants then open fire on them. Security forces return fire and lead 30 women and children to safety. Some of the militants try to flee the building.

Security forces pursue them into a nearby town and storm the school building. An intense exchange of gunfire is reported as troops blow a hole in the side of one of the school buildings and begin freeing hostages. Bloody, partially clothed children run from the school. Soliders carry out the badly injured.

1030-1130: The roof of the school partially collapses after a series of explosions. Gun battles rage as some of the gunmen attempt to escape by breaking through the crowds of relatives surrounding the building.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency says the school is under the control of Russian forces, but the sound of gunfire continues to be heard in and around the site. The Interfax agency quotes a security official as saying that most of the children have survived.

1130-1230: Gunfire continues at the school two hours after it was stormed. Itar-Tass reports all the hostages are believed to have been evacuated but it becomes clear later that some were still being held.

Several militants escape and take refuge in a local house, surrounded by Russian troops. Explosions and gunfire are heard in streets near the school.

1330: More than 100 bodies are found in the school, mostly in the gymnasium where the roof had collapsed. Two emergency workers are reportedly killed, as are 10 militants. Health officials say 409 are wounded, 219 of them children.

1555: Interfax reports three militants, possibly including the group's leader, are blockaded in school basement.

1630: AP reports a lull in the fighting. A Russian presidential aide says nine militants killed in the hostage crisis were Arab mercenaries.

1700-1800: A loud explosion is heard from inside school compound. Three militants are arrested trying to escape in civilian dress. Officials say four hostage-takers are still at large.

Itar-Tass cites a presidential aide as saying 70% of hostages in school were children. A regional security official says a police officer was killed by militants as he saved two child hostages. There are reports that almost 650 people were hospitalised.

1850: Fighting ends in the school's basement but two militants are still at large.

1910: A police explosives expert says on Russian television that bombs hung in basketball hoops in the school gym exploded, triggering commandos to storm the building.

1940:Interfax cites regional president as saying more than 400 adult and child hostages from the school are alive.

2015: Itar-Tass cites school crisis coordination centre as saying opposition by militants at the school has ended.

2120:The death toll rises to more than 200.

2140: Sporadic explosions and gunfire continue despite reports that all resistance by militants has been suppressed.

2150: Officials at the Russian crisis coordination centre say two militants have been killed in the past hour.

2300: Interfax quotes Russian official as saying a total of 27 hostage-takers have been killed.

Saturday September 4

0315:Mr Putin orders the borders of North Ossetia region closed while hostage takers are pursued.

0400: Mr Putin makes a surprise, pre-dawn visit to Beslan. During a hospital visit, a sombre president saw several of the victims. He was later criticised though for not meeting the families of victims.

1130: Itar-Tass quotes officials as saying 322 bodies, including those of 155 children, have been pulled from the school.

1400: The Russian deputy prosecutor, Sergei Fridinsky, says that all 26 attackers have been eliminated although later reports indicate there were more than 30 militants, two of whom were captured alive.

1530: In a televised address to the nation, Mr Putin makes a rare and candid admission of Russia's weakness in the face of an "all-out war" by terrorists. He said Russians must mobilise against terrorism and promised wide-ranging reforms to toughen security forces and purge corruption. "We showed weakness, and weak people are beaten," he said.

1800: Authorities allow Beslan residents into the husk that was once Middle School No 1 to let people see for themselves what remained.

Sunday September 5

· Official death toll rises to 335 after some of the injured die in hospital. The health ministry says only 207 of the dead have been formally identified. Some 700 people are injured, including 184 children, and 386 remain in hospital; 58 people are said to be in a critical condition.

· One unnamed militant, escorted by masked soldiers, is shown on television shouting in Russian: "By Allah, I have not shot. By Allah, I have not killed."

· The first of the funerals begin as hundreds of families continue to search for their children and relatives.

Monday September 6

· Some 100 funerals take place in Beslan.

· It emerges that the region's top police officer, Kazbek Dzantiyev, has tendered his resignation. "After what happened in Beslan, I don't have the right to occupy this post as an officer and a man," he says.

· The unnamed militant shown on television is charged with "personal participation" in the siege. Although 35 hostage-takers are believed to have been killed in the 10 hours of fighting that followed the end of the siege, deputy prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky says he believes that 32 terrorists had been involved and that two remained alive and in custody.

Leo: Contemporary Martyrs - Archbishop Oscar Romero

short paragraph
another site with info
info on the film 'Romero'

Michael: Man shot wife 'had hired hit-man'

By Arifa Akbar
Thursday, 30 September 2004

An abusive husband who shot his wife dead as she hid in a cupboard wrote a suicide note saying he had hired a hit-man to kill her in case he failed, an inquest was told yesterday.

Alan Pemberton punched his estranged wife Julia in the mouth after calling her a "fucking whore" and shot her four times at close range with a 12-bore shotgun. Moments earlier, Mr Pemberton, 48, had killed their 17-year-old son, William, outside their £1m mansion in Hermitage, Berkshire. He later turned the gun on himself. Mrs Pemberton's terror during her last moments were recorded in a desperate 16-minute 999 phone call.

The inquest at Reading civic centre heard the millionaire financial adviser was obsessed with taking revenge on his 47-year-old wife for trying to divorce him and accusing him of raping her.

Detective Inspector Steven Reschwamm, the investigating officer, said an undated note in which he admitted having a contract out on his wife was found in a black briefcase in Mr Pemberton's BMW, parked nearby on 18 November 2003, the day of the killings. The note read: "I have paid a substantial amount of cash to have her killed if I fail myself."

He also wrote that he wanted Mrs Pemberton to tell their son that the allegations of sexual abuse were untrue. "I hated to think that I died with my children thinking I had raped their mother. My anger for what she has done and the callous way in which she has done it left me with no alternative but to take my revenge."

Det Insp Reschwamm said Thames Valley Police had found no evidence that Mr Pemberton had paid a hit-man but it was clear "he had been prepared to do this for some time".

John Cownley, a family friend, had earlier testified that Mr Pemberton was a "proud father" but added that he was stressed by a legal battle with a business partner and his wife's allegations of sexual abuse. He spoke of Mrs Pemberton's fear that her husband would kill her: "She did say on a number of occasions, 'if Alan kills himself, he'll kill me first'."

The inquest heard how Mrs Pemberton had suffered years of abuse by her husband, who had threatened to kill her. On the evening of her death, she phoned 999 at 7.11pm. Officers arrived nearly 40 minutes later at 7.50pm, after some difficulty in locating the house.

Peter Bedford, the Berkshire coroner, described Mr Pemberton's "desperation" and "callousness" as he recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. He exonerated Thames Valley Police of blame.

The couple's daughter, Laura Pemberton, 20, who was away at Cambridge University when the killings took place, said afterwards in a written statement: "As you can imagine, it has been a very difficult time for me since the tragic loss of my family last November. Now that the inquest is over I would like to try to get on with my life. I am very grateful to everyone who has supported me through the past months, especially my family and friends."

Mrs Pemberton's brother, Frank Mullane, called William "a hero" for attempting to save his mother's life. "William took it on himself to stand before his father. He took two shots at point-blank range on the porch. It appears he then went round the side of the house to call his father back whilst bearing these wounds," he said.

He criticised shortcomings in Thames Valley Police's domestic violence policy and said he had not had an "adequate answer" as to why police waited nearly seven hours to enter the house at 1.53am the following day.


Found this article as remembered hearing about this story when younger... the man decided to kill his family but his daughter was able to live as she was studying away at university... but it mentions 'proud father' which has been used alot in these types of stories...

Leo: Vanessa Carlton - Paradise

Once upon a year gone by
she saw herself give in
every time she closed her eyes
she saw what could have been
well nothing hurts and nothing bleeds
when covers tucked in tight
funny when the bottom drops
how she forgets to fight... to fight

And it's one more day in paradise
one more day in paradise

As darkness quickly steals the light
that shined within her eyes
she slowly swallows all her fear
and soothes her mind with lies
well all she wants and all she needs
are reasons to survive
a day in which the sun will take
her artificial light... her light

And it's one more day in paradise
one more day in paradise
it's one more day in paradise
one last chance to feel alright... alright

Don't pretend to hold it in just let it out
don't pretend to hold it in just push it out
don't you try to hold it in just let it out and
don't you try to hold it in you hold it in

[chorus]

Once upon a year gone by
she saw herself give in
every time she closed her eyes
she saw what could have been

Leo: Rob Bell - Nooma and Rob Lacey - the word on the street

Nooma

Here is a series of short films looking at modern day Christianity, with a short clip of each movie, I'm not sure how relevant it'll be but its there for any one whose interested

For a full versions of the movies try Rob Bell on Google Videos

And for any one else interested in him talkin about spirituality;

Everything spiritual 1
Everything spiritual 2
Everything spiritual 3
Everything spiritual 4
Everything spiritual 5


Rob Lacey

This is the site for the street bible i shall bring in for anyone who wants to look through it

Posted by Lisa

A VILE gang of devil worshippers has killed and eaten four Russian teenagers in a sickening ritual.

The Satanists stabbed each of their victims a terrifying 666 times before dismembering their bodies and cooking them on a bonfire.

Russian cops discovered the teenager's limbs, hearts and scalps in a pit in the Yaroslavl region around 300 miles from Moscow, along with the dead body of a small rodent crucified on an upside-down cross.

The victims, three girls and one boy, all aged 16 and 17, disappeared from their homes in June.

But police only discovered the remains of Anya Gorokhova, Olga Pukhova, Varya Kuzmina and Andrei Sorokin last month.

The four pals – described as "Goths" – were lured one by one to a country cottage and were allegedly forced to get drunk before the revolting ritual began.

Hair from the victims was apparently found in the embers of the bonfire.

Cops arrested eight Satan worshippers in connection with the killings after finding out that all four victims had telephoned Nikolai Ogolobyak, the alleged leader of the Satan gang. His apartment lies just 250 metres from where their remains were discovered.

One of the arrested Satanists said: "Satan will help me to avoid responsibility, I made lots of sacrifices to him."

Gravediggers

Another suspect – Alexander Voronovic – said the gang had previously dug up a dead girl's grave and eaten her heart and a third suspect said he turned to Satan because praying to God did not make him rich.

Advertisement

He said: "I tried to turn to God, but it didn't bring me any money. I prayed to Satan, and things improved."

Teachers of the alleged Satanists said all had been moody at school and of lower than average intelligence.

Ogolobyak had previously been in his local church choir, according to his grandmother. All the dead knew Ogolobyak and other members of the Satanist gang.

The distraught father of victim Andrei Sorokin said: "My son said he knew some Goths, and that he had Goths and Satanists among his friends.

"I wasn't scared. I thought 'Well, let him spend his time sitting around in a cemetery, there's not much harm in that is there?'"

Some more links for Beslan

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=j2Xf2P92fS8

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=TwqYRAtyc0c&feature=related

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=GteQ2M0pSkE&feature=related

Week 1 Research Tasks

Conduct some individual research into one of the following.

1. The Beslan Siege
2. Men who kill their partner and children (Kate Hilpern article)
3. The Heaven’s Gate Cult
4. Contemporary martyrs (people willing to die for their beliefs)
5. The Bridgend Suicides

Be prepared to give a brief verbal presentation to the group, summarising what you have learnt and your reaction to the material.

Keep in touch with what the rest of the group is up to

Relevent Websites

Dead Soldiers - Beslan


Stills montage Beslan


Anti-Islamic site


Official site of suicide cult Heavens Gate


Initiation tape – Heaven’s Gate


David Cass Article


Christopher Foster Article


Diarmuid Flood article


Brian Philcox


Die-4-Christ

Paradise Found Introduction

Ever believed in something so much it was worth dying for? If you could create paradise would you be willing to sacrifice those who stood in your way? If you had power over the future, what world would you create? Are you the centre of your own universe?

Paradise Found looks at belief systems and convictions and imagines what world we could create if we had the power of a God – or all the resources of humanity. The creative starting point will be personal desires, fears and leaps of the imagination. The initial research task will be to look at recent attempts to define and create paradise: looking at extreme actions motivated by intense convictions such as the Beslan siege, religious fundamentalism and personal relationships.