Shame on the Abbey clerics for scolding the cart-wheeling verger. There’s nothing wrong with showing joy in God’s house.
I’m sure Jesus didn’t mind one bit! To be able to do cartwheels at his age, Ben derserves a medal.
Daily Mail reports the Westminster Abbey verger who became an internet sensation after cart-wheeling down the nave following the Royal Wedding has been rebuked by senior staff.
Sources at the Abbey said the man was feeling ‘fairly chastened’ after his impromptu display of acrobatics was caught on film.
Although he is unlikely to face any formal disciplinary action, Abbey staff have warned him not to speak publicly about the incident.
While the Abbey has refused to identify him, sources have disclosed he is Ben Sheward, who lives in South London.
The sources said Mr Sheward is believed to have worked at the Abbey for ten years, and he has previously been pictured welcoming new choirboys by sharing sweets with them. According to some sources, he has studied music in New Zealand and is an expert on the composer Edward Elgar.
Mr Sheward waited until some 1,900 guests had left the Abbey before seizing his chance to cartwheel down the red carpet that William and Kate had just walked along for the first time as a married couple. In the clip, the black-cassocked verger is shown strolling down the carpet.
As a number of apparent stragglers from the wedding service look on, he embarks on one cart-wheel, smiles, and then squeezes in at least one other before disappearing out of shot.
ITV cameras caught his antics, which were beamed to millions of viewers around the world, ensuring the unsuspecting verger became an international celebrity.
The clip had already attracted 100,000 internet hits yesterday, and comments on various websites had come from as far afield as the United States and Australia. One said: ‘I think this self-publicist should be sacked!’ Most, however, praised him.
A Westminster Abbey spokesman said: ‘The verger, like all of us, was very pleased the service had gone according to plan, and was expressing his exuberance.’ He emphasised that the incident occurred some time after the wedding had finished.
But Abbey officials were keen to prevent the story spreading further yesterday with one saying: ‘We are just trying to keep a lid on this one. The verger has been spoken to a number of times and has been advised how to handle the situation.’
The official denied, however, that the man was in hiding, saying the Abbey had not resorted to such extreme measures.
Yesterday there was no sign of Mr Sheward amid the thousands of visitors to Westminster Abbey.
One verger, who was greeting the crowds, said: ‘We all found it jolly good fun when we heard but I don’t think he anticipated all the publicity.
‘I believe he thought the cameras would have been turned off by that point. Now some visitors are expecting all vergers to be doing cart-wheels.’
Another Abbey worker added: ‘It was lovely, just lovely. It reflected the joy we were all feeling at that point. But he really isn’t looking to become a media star – he isn’t that kind of guy.’
All of the carpets, furniture, fixtures and fittings which had been brought in for the wedding had been cleared away by Friday night.
The only evidence of the nuptials yesterday – besides the larger-than-usual number of visitors – were the 20ft potted trees lining the aisle.
A verger is usually a layman who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Church of England churches or cathedrals.
A verger’s main role is to lead processions during services, and they often play a prominent part behind the scenes, helping to plan the logistical details of a service and discreetly shepherding the clergy through it. But they have a variety of other functions, from acting as odd-job men to guiding tourists around the buildings.
The office’s title comes from the ceremonial rod which a verger carries, a virge, from the Latin virga, meaning branch, staff or rod.
Terry Jones may be out there, but not everything he has to say is off base. I have a problem with Muslims who refuse to assimilate to American culture no differently than if it were any other group.
But, Islam is the chic religion of the Left. As far as I’m concerned Islam is not a religion of peace at all. They put a much higher value on death and martyrdom which is why they have no problem strapping bombs to babies.
That’s pretty sick if you ask me!
Detroit Free Press reports amid a heavy police presence, Pastor Terry Jones delivered a rambling speech Friday from the steps of Dearborn City Hall that lashed out at Islam and President Barack Obama, but much of his words were drowned out by the voices of a swarm of protesters across the street who called him a bigot.
Jones repeatedly provoked the crowd and insulted them. At one point, he ignored police requests by ambling down to the front of police barricades while taunting his opponents.
Angered, some of those protesters stormed past their police barricades and marched across Michigan Avenue as they hurled bottles and shoes at Jones' supporters across from them. One woman spit in Jones' direction. The young crowd then pushed down a security fence that separated them from Jones' supporters and surged forward, their faces tight with anger. For a moment, it appeared a major clash was about to break out.
But Arab-American leaders and police pushed back the angry group as dozens of police officers in full riot gear marched out in single file to separate the two sides. At least two were arrested. Dearborn Mayor John O'Reilly Jr. said afterward that Jones was responsible for creating the disturbance by ignoring city requests not to approach the barricade.
"He refused to comply," O'Reilly said. "He was asked, 'Please don't come to the barricade.' He just ignored us. ... His goal was to start trouble. ... That shows his character."
This is not a good development! But, it wasn’t like people Sean Hannity didn’t see this coming. Look for Egyptian women to be treated like 2nd class citizens, but worse than that, Israel’s security is in grave danger.
This was never a Democratic uprising, but rather an Islamofacist takeover pure and simple.
The Blaze reports the once outlawed Muslim Brotherhood says it will contest half of the seats in Egypt’s parliamentary elections in September, revealing plans to become a major force in the country’s post-revolution politics. The elections will be the first since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak by a popular uprising in February.
The Brotherhood remained Egypt‘s best organized opposition group despite a campaign by Mubarak’s regime to suppress it. It successfully fielded candidates in previous parliamentary elections as independents. At a news conference Saturday, the Brotherhood named the leaders of its new Freedom and Justice party.
The party will test to what extent the Brotherhood is willing to moderate its rigid religious discourse to try to win broader political support.
Checkout the latest poster and Theatrical trailer for Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon", third installment in the Transformers film franchise.
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Malkovich, Patrick Dempsey, Ken Jeong, John Turturro, Frances McDormand and Peter Cullen.
The highly anticipated 3rd installment hits the theaters on July 1st, 2011
"I have a wedding date — I'm really excited! I am going to dance around my bedroom and hopefully lose some weight — and lift some weights and do what I can! I just have to work out on my own. There is no regimen I need to follow. There's no diet I need to follow. I just need to do some things for myself and that's it. And that will make me feel the happiest. But I'm still trying to figure out what to wear! I don't know if I want the big boom, or the curvy thing, but it will be something beautiful.”
So we all had a blast watching Game of Thrones episode 2 that we can barely wait for the next installment of this awesome series from HBO. This week’s episode is entitled “Lord Snow” and from the title alone, we know that this will be all about the bastard son of Ed Stark, Jon Snow. I am a fan of the books and I have read them all but watching the characters come to life in the tv screen is simply breath taking. I can’t wait to watch Game of Thrones episode 3 online this week.
Game of Thrones is the latest tv series from HBO that is based on the best-selling novels by George R.R. Martin. This is the first book of the series and one of the best fantasy books there is. If you haven’t read it yet, go read it before you watch Game of Thrones online to better understand the plot of the story on the series. But if you instead would like to watch Game of Thrones episode 3, then simply click on the link below.
Here’s a shorty synopsis of this week’s episode:
Arriving at King's Landing after his long journey, Ned is shocked to learn of the Crown's profligacy from his new advisors. At Castle Black, Jon Snow impresses Tyrion at the expense of greener recruits. Suspicious that the Lannisters had a hand in Bran's fall, Catelyn covertly follows her husband to King's Landing, where she is intercepted by Petyr Baelish, aka "Littlefinger," a shrewd longtime ally and brothel owner. Cersei and Jaime ponder the implications of Bran's recovery; Arya studies swordsmanship. On the road to Vaes Dothrak, Daenerys finds herself at odds with Viserys.
They have a death penalty in China for messing with prostitutes. So, this guy did what he thought had to do to avoid capture with his pants and everything else down.
Do you feel a draft?
Daily Mail reports one moment he thought he was just an anonymous punter in a backstreet brothel. The next he's in the nude hanging off a drainpipe after police burst into the brothel he was using in eastern China.
As the doors were smashed down the customer, leaving his clothes behind, ran on to the roof of the rundown apartment bloc in Changchun, Jilin province.
He then shinned down what appears to be a huge drainpipe and then ran off into the backstreets.
But he was not alone in making his escape. Moments after he appeared on the roof, two women - one just wrapped in a towel - could be seen running across the roof.
In the centre of the image another forlorn customer can be seen hiding behind a packing crate.
China has severe anti-prostitution laws and punishments including the death penalty for anyone guilty of human trafficking.
Almost a year ago, Obama and the mainstream media virtually ignored the devastating flooding in Tennessee. He never visited there either.
I wonder if it’s because he lost Tennessee by double digits? Rush Limbaugh sure thought so.
New York Daily News reports as President Obama meets with Alabama families affected by deadly tornados that swept through the South earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking: What about us?
The Republican, long a critic of the president, once again ripped the Obama administration Thursday. This time, he bashed Obama for not responding to an April 16 request for a declaration of emergency in the Lone Star State, where wildfires have destroyed nearly 2 million acres.
"You have to ask, 'Why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?'" said Perry.
Texas officials asked the White House to make the declaration, which would have allocated federal funds to help the state deal with the crisis.
"I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail," Perry added.
Obama is running for re-election. And even though he lost Alabama by nearly 20 points to John McCain, there’s still a significant numbers of African Americans in Alabama that heeds desperately needs to hold the White House.
The title of this post says it all. The question is, did Ryan bang the shit out of Erin or what? I say she took the quarterback challenge. So many photos, so little time. Erin just seems like the type that would bang anyone who gets their name in the paper. Classic fame-whore just lookin' to be on every blog on the planet. You keep it comin' hotstuff, I'll keep postin' every little slut move ya make. Bang. Done. Pay attention!
Originally a game designer behind such titles as Realms of Arkania and Das Schwarze Auge, Guido Henkel was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany and now calls Southern California home.
In recent years he has turned his attention to writing speculative fiction. Rather than creating full-length novels, he wanted to create a series of horror pulp fiction novellas in the style of Sherlock Holmes and the John Sinclair series, and to make each volume short enough that readers could finish one in a day. Inspired by the gothic horror dime novels he read in his youth, he created the Jason Dark: Ghost Hunter series, which follows the exploits of the eponymous detective who investigates supernatural matters in Victorian London. There are nine volumes in the series to date, with many more planned, and each involves a different paranormal menace, whether it's a ghost, a vampire, a demon, or a crooked doctor.
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Henkel about the Jason Dark series, how he came up with the concept, and the design behind his new book covers. Continue reading to check out the interview! [...]
Rubber Directed by Quentin Dupieux Starring Stephen Spinella, Wings Hauser, Roxane Mesquida, Robert The Tyre Released 11 April 2011 on DVD | Blu-ray (UK), June 7, 2011 DVD | Blu-ray (U.S.)
Just when I thought I'd seen every type of serial killer movie, along comes Rubber. We've all seen those horror films where the man in the mask stabs his young victims to death with a big knife, or creatures from outer space chomp on their human victims, or even elaborate devices are created to kill those who have sinned or are otherwise morally tainted. Rubber, however, is about a murderous car tyre with psychokinetic powers.
Robert (the tyre) shakes to life somewhere in the California desert. Robert takes his first tentative rolls, toppling over like a newborn calf and we discover he has a taste for breaking things – bottles, tin cans, scorpions. If he can't roll over something to destroy it, he uses his powers of telekinesis to make it explode. Robert happily wheels around among the plants and the discarded rubbish until, soon enough, he rolls into town seemingly fascinated by Sheila (Roxane Mesquida), a mysterious young woman. After blowing up rabbits with his mind, now humans' heads start to explode. [...]
Starz USA has released a new online teaser video for the upcoming series of Torchwood: Miracle Day. John Barrowman and Eve Myles return as Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper respectively in this fourth season of Torchwood, which takes them from Cardiff and London to the United States in an adventure that may "change what it means to be human forever." You can view the teaser video at the bottom of this post.
Joining the cast this year is Mekhi Phifer, who portrays CIA Agent Rex Matheson investigating a global conspiracy intertwined with the Torchwood institute. Bill Pullman will also be appearing in the new series [...]
The title character of Hesher, in the upcoming movie produced by Natalie Portman and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was inspired by the late Metallica bass guitarist, Cliff Burton. Gordon-Levitt revealed the inspiration during a recent interview, in which he discussed how he based his performance of the iconic metal god's behavior.
Apparently, according to Gordon-Levitt, the current members of Metallica weren't informed of the basis of the character before seeing the film, and were surprisingly reminded of the much-loved but long lost band member from years gone by. Burton is highly respected and lovingly remembered by the fans as well, so it will be interesting to see fan reaction to the performance as well [...]
Originally a game designer behind such titles as Realms of Arkania and Das Schwarze Auge, Guido Henkel was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany and now calls Southern California home. 
