Friday, August 10, 2012

Music Friday: Justin Bieber Sings, 'I'll Be Your Platinum, I'll Be Your Silver, I'll Be Your Gold'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great tunes with precious metals, gemstones or jewelry in the title or the lyrics. Today we have teen sensation Justin Bieber performing his new hit, "As Long as You Love Me," a song that features the refrain, "As long as you love me/ I'll be your platinum/ I'll be your silver/ I'll be your gold."

Released on July 10, 2012, "As Long as You Love Me" is already an international hit, having charted in 12 countries, including a position at #15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

With more than 20 million followers on Twitter and a global fan base of "Beliebers," the 18-year-old Bieber was recently named the third-most-powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes magazine. As of May 2012, he had sold 15 million albums, and in July 2012 he took top honors at the Teen Choice Awards.

"As Long as You Love Me" is from Bieber's third studio album, Believe, and features the stylings of rapper Big Sean. The song is Bieber's first foray into dubstep, a style of music famous for its hand claps and vocal loops complemented by a booming beat. The video below features Bieber and Big Sean performing on NBC's "Today Show" on June 15, 2012. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along.

"As Long as You Love Me"

Written by Rodney Jerkins, Andre Lindal, Nasri Atweh, Sean Anderson and Justin Bieber. Performed by Justin Bieber and Big Sean.

We're under pressure
Seven billion people in the world trying to fit in
Keep it together
Smile on your face even though your heart is frowning
But, hey now, you know girl
We both know it's a cruel world
But, I will take my chances

As long as you love me
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold
(As long as you love me)

I'll be your soldier
Fighting every second of the day for your dreams, girl
I'll be your Hova
You can be my Destiny's Child on a scene, girl

So don't stress, and don't cry
We don't need no wings to fly
Just take, my hand

As long as you love me
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold
(As long as you love me)

I don't know if this makes sense but, you're my hallelujah
Give me a time and place, I'll rendezvous it
I'll fly you to it, I'll beat you there
Girl, you know I got you
Us, trust, a couple things I can't spell without U
Now we on top of the world, cause that's just how we do
Used to tell me sky's the limit, now the sky's our point of view
Man, we stepping out like whoa (Oh God!), cameras point and shoot
Ask me 'what's my best side?', I stand back and point at you

You the one that I argue with, feel like I need a new girl to be bothered with
But, the grass ain't always greener on the other side, it's green where you water it
So I know, we got issues baby, true, true, true
But I'd rather work on this with you than to go ahead and start with someone new
As long as you love me

We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold
(As long as you love me)


Thursday, August 09, 2012

1962 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud Is Bedecked With 1 Million Swarovski Crystals

Working with tweezers in a mind-numbing labor of love, seven artists toiled more than three years gluing one million Swarovski crystals to the body of a 1962 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II to create one of the blingiest and most expensive automobiles on the planet.

Edgar M GmbH, a Munich-based luxury jeweler, took on this effort in the name of the German "Help in Motion" charity foundation, which is dedicated to providing free medical care for the needy in developing countries. The Silver Cloud is expected to fetch more than a million euros when it's auctioned this month. (One euro is equivalent to $1.23.) The proceeds will assist the charity, which will see its first convoy heading to Ghana in 2013.

Potential bidders and curious onlookers got their first peek at the flashy auto when it was unveiled a few weeks ago at the Four Seasons Hotel in Munich, Germany.

Edgar M had to develop a special glue for the project, which also included the use of 4,200 4mm topazes in the design of the Rolls Royce logo.

A hugely popular choice of luxury car enthusiasts, the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II had been the primary car in the Rolls Royce family from 1955 through to 1966. The car weighs 2.11 tons, has a top speed of 114 mph, gets 11 miles on the gallon and had a 1962 price tag of about $17,000.

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Mammoth 'Polar Pride' Boulder Yields World's Largest Gem-Quality 'Jade Buddha'

The nine-foot-tall "Jade Buddha for Universal Peace" is the world's largest Buddha carved from gemstone-quality jade. Weighing 4.65 tons and considered priceless, the Buddha was carved from a mammoth boulder of nephrite jade sourced in Northwest British Columbia, Canada. Dubbed the Polar Pride boulder when it was discovered in 2000, gem experts called the 18-ton specimen "the find of the millennium." 

The Polar Pride was split in two and sold for an undisclosed price to an international Buddhist organization headed by the Nepalese monk Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 2006, the twin blocks were shipped from Vancouver to Thailand, where master craftsmen began their two-year labor of love – freeing the smiling, meditating figure of Buddha from an enormous block of gem-quality jade.

Rinpoche said that the statue made from the majestic boulder would illuminate the world and bring peace, happiness and solace and help prevent destruction, including war.

The colossal Buddha has been consecrated by the Dalai Lama and has been on a world tour since 2009, with stops in Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. At the end of its tour, the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace will be brought to its permanent home – The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia.

According to the Jade Buddha's official website, the purpose of exhibiting the statue around the world is for everyone, irrespective of their religion, to take a moment to reflect upon peace; peace for the world; peace in their relationships; peace for their families and friends; peace at work; peace in their mind. We hope that such positive inspiration will bring joy and motivation in the lives of those who are able to see the Jade Buddha.

The Jade Buddha's next appearance will be in Sri Lanka from August 10-19, and then it will end the year with multiple engagements in India.

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

In a Stroke of Serendipity, Exact Moment of Proposal Is Captured by Photographer and Goes Viral

For University of Texas senior Patrick Lu, it was the "photo op" of a lifetime. For Joel Bush and Jennifer Orr, it was magical moment that changed their lives. In an amazing stroke of serendipity, their worlds are linked forever - thanks to social media and the Internet Age.

On Wednesday night, on the lovely Capitol grounds in Austin, Texas, Bush got down on bended knee and asked Orr to marry him. They may have thought they were alone, but actually the cyber community was soon sharing their moment.

By chance, photographer Patrick Lu had been riding his bicycle on the Capitol grounds when he happened upon the couple from a distance. He grabbed his camera and captured the exact moment of Bush's proposal.

Lu previewed the photos on his camera and was pleased with the results. Despite the limited light, the exposure was perfect. He wanted to share the images with the couple, but they had already left the scene.

The photographer decided to post the images to Austin's Reddit with the question, "Did any of you propose at the [Austin] Capitol last night?" Reddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content and other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," a ranking which is used to determine its position on the site's pages. Within a short time, Lu's photo was the site's most popular post.

The post found its way to Bush only two days later and the groom-to-be tweeted his amazement and gratitude.

"WHAT THE WHAT!" Bush tweeted. "Thank You, Internet."

The story soon became an Internet sensation. It made the front-page story on Mashable.com Friday and was featured in the London Daily-Mail.

Bush says he and his fiancée got the best of both worlds, with a private moment shared by just the two of them, yet fantastic photos to cherish forever.

The couple told KXAN that they wanted to invite Lu to their wedding. Lu said he won’t be a photographer for the nuptuals, but is happy to attend as a guest.

Monday, August 06, 2012

'Majestic Pink' Offered for Sale; It's the 4th Significant Pink Diamond in the News This Year

It's only August, but we believe that 2012 will go down in history as "The Year of the Pink Diamond."

Back in February, we learned about the discovery of an extremely rare 12.76-carat light pink rough diamond called the Argyle Pink Jubilee, a stone that was eventually donated to the Melbourne Museum. In April, diamond dealer Brett Stettner placed the winning bid of $15.7 million for The Clark Pink, a 9-carat cushion-cut purplish pink diamond from the estate of the reclusive heiress Huguette Clark. Then, in early June, the 12-carat “Martian Pink” went on the auction block and was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $17.4 million, or $1.45 million per carat.

The latest significant pink to hit the market is the "Majestic Pink Diamond," a 12.27-carat cushion-cut fancy pink diamond with an impressive VVS1, Type IIa designation, which means that it is nearly flawless. The diamond, which is set in 18-karat rose gold and platinum, is being offered for sale by M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans. The asking price is $7.85 million.

Online buyers can get a look at the sparkler, starting on August 8th at 1stdibs.com. It will also be on display from August 23-26 at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show at the Baltimore Convention Center.