Paradise

Paradise (Persian: پردیس, Paradise garden) is the term for a place of timeless harmony. The Abrahamic faiths associate paradise with the Garden of Eden, that is, the perfect state of the world prior to the fall from grace, and the perfect state that will be restored in the World to Come.

Paradisaical notions are cross-cultural, often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, a land of luxury and idleness. Paradise is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, in contrast to this world, or underworlds such as Hell. In eschatological contexts, paradise is imagined as an abode of the virtuous dead. In Christian and Islamic understanding, Heaven is a paradisaical relief. In old Egyptian beliefs, the otherworld is Aaru, the reed-fields of ideal hunting and fishing grounds where the dead lived after judgment. For the Celts, it was the Fortunate Isle of Mag Mell. For the classical Greeks, the Elysian fields was a paradisaical land of plenty where the heroic and righteous dead hoped to spend eternity. The Vedic Indians held that the physical body was destroyed by fire but recreated and reunited in the Third Heaven in a state of bliss. In the Zoroastrian Avesta, the "Best Existence" and the "House of Song" are places of the righteous dead. On the other hand, in cosmological contexts 'paradise' describes the world before it was tainted by evil.

Paradise (Cody Simpson album)

Paradise is the debut studio album by Australian recording artist Cody Simpson, released on 28 September 2012 by Atlantic Records.

Background

On 12 June 2012, Simpson released Preview to Paradise, a four song teaser EP. The EP featured the songs "Got Me Good", "So Listen", "Wish U Were Here", and "Gentleman". All of the songs, besides "So Listen" were released as a part of Paradise. Simpson stated the reason behind only having a few collaborations on the album is because "I wanted my debut full length album to be a representation of me." It is rumored that Simpson could perform a one off song with JLS star Aston Merrygold once Surfers Paradise has been released.

Singles

On 25 May 2012, the lead single, "Got Me Good" was released as a teaser on Simpson's official website and radio. The accompanying music video was released on 5 June.

"Wish U Were Here", which features American YouTube singer Becky G, was the second official single off the album, released on 12 June 2012. The music video debuted on 7 August 2012. Four days later, three remixes of the song were released.

Paradise (Abdulrazak Gurnah)

Paradise is a historical novel by Abdulrazak Gurnah. The novel was nominated for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction.

Plot

The novel follows the story of Yusuf, a boy born in the fictional town of Kawa in Tanzania at the turn of the Twentieth century. Yusuf's father is a hotelier and is in debt to a rich and powerful Arab merchant named Aziz. Early in the story Yusuf is pawned in exchange for his father's owed debt to Aziz and must work as an unpaid servant for the merchant. Yusuf joins Aziz's caravan as they travel into parts of Central Africa and the Congo Basin that have hitherto not been traded with for many generations. Here, Aziz's caravan of traders meets hostility from local tribes, wild animals and difficult terrain. As the caravan returns to East Africa, World War I begins and Aziz encounters the German Army as they sweep Tanzania, forcibly conscripting African men as soldiers.

Major themes

African literary scholar J U Jacobs writes that Gurnah is writing back to Joseph Conrad's famous 1902 novel Heart Of Darkness. In Aziz's easterly journey to the Congo, Jacobs says that Gurnah is challenging the dominant Western images of the Congo at the turn of the twentieth century that continue to pervade the popular imagination.

Virgin (Virgin album)

Virgin is first album released by a Polish pop rock band Virgin.

Track listing

Virgin (film)

Virgin is a 2003 American film, directed by Deborah Kampmeier and starring Elisabeth Moss, Robin Wright Penn and Daphne Rubin-Vega.

Plot

When a teenager finds herself pregnant, with no memory of having had sex, she determines that she is carrying the child of God.

Awards

Virgin won 5 film awards and was nominated for 3 others:

Hamptons International Film Festival 2003: Won Best Screenplay: Deborah Kampmeier

" Nominated Golden Starfish Award Best Fiction Feature Film/Video: Deborah Kampmeier

Independent Spirit Awards 2004: Nominated Best Female Lead: Elisabeth Moss

" Nominated John Cassavetes Award: Deborah Kampmeier (writer/director) and Sarah Schenck (producer)

Nashville Film Festival 2003: 2nd place Dreammaker Award: Deborah Kampmeier

Santa Fe Film Festival 2003: Won Milagro Award Best Independent Spirit: Deborah Kampmeier

Sedona International Film Festival 2004: Won Director's Choice Award Best Actress: Elisabeth Moss

Toronto Female Eye Film Festival 2003: Won Jury Award Best Feature Film: Deborah Kampmeier

Virgin (title)

The title Virgin is an honorific that the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church bestow to female saints and blesseds who were consecrated virgins, nuns or unmarried women known for a life in chastity. Moreover, being referred to as Virgin can especially mean being a member of the Ordo Virginum (Order of Virgins), which applies to the consecrated virgins living in the world or in monastic orders.

Other titles are Abbess, Women religious, Holy Woman, Doctor of the Church, Martyr or some combination of these titles such as "Virgin and Martyr".

See also