Nirvana

Nirvāṇa (/nɪərˈvɑːnə, -ˈvænə, nər-/;Sanskrit: निर्वाण nirvāṇa  [nirʋaːɳə]; Pali: निब्बान nibbāna ; Prakrit: णिव्वाण ṇivvāṇa ) literally means "blown out", as in a candle. It is most commonly associated with Buddhism.

In the Buddhist context, nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with Brahman, the divine ground of existence, and the experience of blissful egolessness.

In Indian religions, the attainment of nirvana is moksha, liberation from samsara, the repeating cycle of birth, life and death.

Etymology

The word nirvāṇa is from the verbal root √vā “blow” in the form of past participle vāna “blown”, prefixed with the preverb nis meaning “out”. Hence the original meaning of the word is “blown out, extinguished”. Sandhi changes the spelling: the v of vāna causes nis to become nir, and then the r of nir causes retroflexion of the following n: nis+vāna > nirvāṇa. The term is used in the sense of “dead” in the Mahābhārata (i.e. “life extinguished”). [Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary sv nirvāṇa]

Nirvana (film)

Nirvana is a 1997 Italian cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Gabriele Salvatores. The film stars Christopher Lambert, Diego Abatantuono, Sergio Rubini, and Stefania Rocca. It was screened out of competition at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The film tells the story of a virtual reality game designer, Jimi (Christopher Lambert), who discovers that the main character of his game, Solo (Diego Abatantuono), has achieved sentience due to an attack by a computer virus. Asked by his creation (who feels everything the character in the game feels, including multiple deaths) to eliminate its existence, Jimi sets out to erase the game from the server of his employer, Okasama Star, before it's commercially released on Christmas Day, and thus spare Solo further suffering.

Nirvana (Elbosco song)

"Nirvana" is a 1995 new-age song written and composed by Rojotua, Loxatus and C. Max and performed by the Spanish musical group Elbosco. The song became a world success and was also used by Danny Boyle in the 2004 film Millions.

The song contains some lyrics in Latin, sung by the choral group of the Escolanía del Real Monasterio of San Lorenzo and also English lyrics, all this combined with a techno and hip-hop feel.

Loser (film)

Loser is a 2000 American romantic comedy film starring Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Greg Kinnear. It is about a small-town teenager who is accepted into New York University and must cope with the pressures of college life and the big city.

Plot

Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs), a small-town, intelligent kid from Upstate New York is accepted into NYU on an academic scholarship. Trying to follow the advice of his father (Dan Aykroyd) he tries to gain friends by trying to be polite and interested in others. His attempts are noticed by his new roommates Chris (Thomas Sadoski), Adam (Zak Orth) and Noah (Jimmi Simpson), three rich, spoiled, obnoxious city boys who consider his polite behavior, working class background and determination for education lame and brand him a loser. To salvage their reputation, the trio concoct a false story to the housing administration about Paul's attitude and have him thrown out of the dorm. Paul takes residence in a veterinary hospital. Chris meets Paul and again concocts another story about how they were trying to help him as a ploy for Paul to let them use the hospital to throw parties since a resident at the dorm fell into sickness due to excessive alcohol, forbidding them to hold any parties thereon.

Loser (Ayreon song)

"Loser" (originally "Day Sixteen: Loser" in the album) is the fifth single by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal opera Ayreon, released on July 26, 2004 from its sixth album, The Human Equation. It is the fifth track of the second disc of its sixth album The Human Equation, and the sixteenth track of the overall album. Although it is released under Ayreon's name, the single version, very different, was made by Lucassen's other band Star One.

Lead vocals are provided by Mike Baker from Shadow Gallery, who is playing the character Father in his only album appearance. Devin Townsend provides vocals at the end of the song, in the third and final appearance of his character Rage. The song was composed by Lucassen, who also wrote Father's vocals; however Rage's vocals are written by Townsend himself.

On the single version, Peter Vink is playing bass and Joost van den Broek is playing keyboards;the two instruments were originally played by Lucassen. The most notable difference is the substitution of the Hammond solo of Ken Hensley by a duel between Lucassen and van den Broek.

Pejorative

A pejorative (also called a derogatory term,derogative term, a term of abuse, or a term of disparagement) is a word or grammatical form expressing a low opinion of someone or something, or showing a lack of respect for someone or something. It is also used as a criticism, hostility, disregard and/or disrespect. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social or cultural groups but not in others. Sometimes, a term may begin as a pejorative and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa) in some or all contexts.

Name slurs can also involve an insulting or disparaging innuendo, rather than being a direct pejorative. In some cases, a person's name can be redefined with an unpleasant or insulting meaning, or applied to a group of people considered by the majority to be inferior or lower in social class, as a group label with a disparaging meaning. Also, an ethnic slur or racial slur can be pejorative and to imply people of those groups are inferior or deficient.