Changing Times Blog

Official Baha’i Photography Collection - Torrents

(rl) A couple of weeks ago the official Baha’i website put up over 500 photographs that were commissioned by the Baha’i World Centre for the International Baha’i Convention that was held back in April in Haifa, Israel.

For those of you that like to do your photo-browsing offline, we’ve torrent-ized the entire presentation, wrapped in a tasty flash coating. This way you can download it and take it over to the homes of those that are less internet-fortunate. Grab the torrent:

ATTAINING_THE_DYNAMICS_OF_GROWTH.torrent

As an added bonus, you can also download all of the high-res photos that can be used for all kinds of personal and non-commercial type things or just to print out and hang all over your walls (Please read the copyright information contained in the folder!) High-res photo torrent here:

ATTAINING_THE_DYNAMICS_OF_GROWTH_HIRES_PHOTOS.torrent

A Soul-Stirring Account of the Uvira Conference

A war close at hand, difficult financial straits, the need to travel long distances under unsafe conditions, and blazingly hot weather did not stop 776 people from attending the Regional Conference in Uvira, a city on the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the heart of Africa.

Nasim Parsa shares her heart-warming, enticing account of the conference, with wonderful descriptions of the circumstances at and around the conference:

(NP) Burundi is really a beautiful country. Roads are paved and the place looks very green and clean! When we arrived to the border [to the DRC], and got our visas done, suddenly the other side was a complete change. Roads were made of mainly dust and rocks and the place looked drier.

When the car finally stopped, we were facing two very big cloths attached to different trees that were welcoming the Baha’is to this Regional Conference. As we were coming out of the car, people started coming to us and hugging us with lots of joy and love, saying “Allah’u'Abha!”. We followed them between houses made of mud and the huge mango trees, walking on dust, underneath a burning sun and they took us inside this sort of tent made of wood and orange plastic sheets. The venue was a school belonging to the Baha’i community. The tent was built in the “outside” of the school, while some of the classes were used by the friends as dorms for those few nights during the conference. The venue was also decorated mainly with pink toilet papers! On the last day, they also added some balloons!
Do not miss your chance to read the rest of this story here and now

The Wayfarer Makes Its World Debut

(ky) The Wayfarer has made its world debut in London at a Soho Cinema. Over one hundred guests came to watch the first showing of documentary at the Curzon, in which one man explores the Baha’i faith.

Jess Firth, set off on his journey to learn more about the faith, after hearing a school friend was leaving her home in New Zealand behind to volunteer at the Baha’i World Centre in Israel.

The film starts in Haifa, and follows Firth, who himself comes from a secular background, as he travels to various countries where Baha’is live around the world.   During his travels he learns about the beliefs of the faith, it’s various humanitarian projects, as well as the persecution and struggles of some of its followers.

“The Wayfarer must be among the first independent documentaries to investigate the Bahá’í faith,” said Robert Weinberg, a spokesman for the UK Bahá’í community. “(the film) uniquely combines thought-provoking content with stunning images of the various locations where Bahá’ís are active in the world.”

The film is due to be screened by Jess Firth in Sydney at Govindas cinema on the 30th of November followed by a screening at the NZ Film Archive in Wellington and then in central Brazil on January 25th.

Purchase the DVD today at Quest Media Productions: http://questmediaproductions.co.uk/The%20Wayfarer.html

Watch the trailer to the documentary here:

http://www.vimeo.com/1963643
http://www.vimeo.com/1963643

Une agréable surprise!

On the occasion of the anniversary of the first airmail flight between Israel and France, the French post office has issued the stamp depicted below showing Haifa with the Shrine of the Bab.

Badasht Musical Empowerment Tools

This is good news for guitar/piano beginner/professional alike. The entire fantastic Badasht CD produced by JB Eckl and Eric Dozier is now available with guitar tabs, sheet music AND video instructions on how to play the songs. They provide three videos to every song: A live performance, guitar instructions, and guitar instructions with simple chords.

Your contribution to the next musical fireside?

Everything here: at Badasht Community
http://www.badasht.net/community

Devon Gundry’s Next Video

The music video to ‘Armed’ was amazing and unprecedented. Here’s your chance to help Devon shoot the next video (If only you’d pay a dollar for the times you hit repeat…)

“I’m trying to gather the funds to film my next devotional music video. $5 from everyone would go a long way :) thanks so much for all your support!”

It’s PayPal-safe!

Rainn Wilson coming to CT08!

The One and Only Rainn Wilson is coming to Changing Times!

The star of the American television comedy hitshow ‘The Office’ where he plays the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute and long-time assistant mortician Arthur Martin in ‘Six Feet Under’ is on his way to the Czech Republic. His film credits include ‘Juno’ and ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend’ and yet-to-be-released ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’. He also works as a spokesperson for the Baha’i-inspired non-profit organization Mona Foundation that tries to provide quality education to all children, raise the status of women and girls, and build community. Do not miss your chance to enjoy this guy.

CT Registration is still open! and we have spots left for participants 25+. Save your spot at www.changing-times.org

Devon Gundry’s “Armed” Music Video

Watch this dramatic new music video to Devon Gundry’s “Armed”. The cast is no less brilliant:

Eva La Rue (CSI: Miami), Alex Rocco (Oscar and Emmy-winning actor), Red Grammer (the godfather of children’s music), Benny Cassette (Dawnbreaker Collective), all of whom are Baha’is, plus a host of top US actors.

In case this doesn’t work: http://vimeo.com/2228238