A student of Tibetan Buddhism - expect the unexpected

The Dalai Lama has been in town today, meaning lots of barricades, police horses and more protesting Buddhist monks than you expect to see in one lunchtime - not to mention all the tourists taking photographs of said protesting Buddhist monks. And right on the spot where Peter Sarsgaard was filming An Education the other week as well. However, all hope that something peaceful and good would result from my fleeting glimpse of the Dalai Lama being ushered into the Sheldonian Theatre was dispelled in shortshrift when, ten minutes later, round the corner, I was run over by a royal mail delivery van. Fortunately, I was ok and, unfortunately, so was the van.


This unusual lunchtime - unusual even for this town - inspired me to quote from my favourite onetime student of Tibetan Buddhism, Jake Gyllenhaal himself, whom, I believe, may have more luck in seeing the Dalai Lama without risk of damage by the postal services.


As mentioned here before, Jake and Maggie studied under Professor Thurman at Columbia University, and here Jake recalls how he got signed up for the course: '"The first class I took was Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism," he says, "My sister and I took that together; she was a senior when I was a freshman. And the first thing Professor Thurman says is 'All freshmen, out.' Maggie grabs my arm and says, 'Stay.' I whisper, 'He said freshmen out!' She's like, 'Yeah, yeah.'...So then he says, 'Sophomores out.' Then, 'All Juniors not majoring in Eastern religion, out.' And by now, I'm saying to Maggie, 'I've got to go!' She just kept telling me to stay."

"Eventually, he got through seniors-and she said, 'Now go up and talk to the TA. Beg him.' So I went up and begged and the guy said, 'Of course, no problem. The other people were just stupid and they left.' So we took that class, and it was wonderful. Maggie just knew. She's tough!...We're both pretty tough."'


Jake and the Dalai Lama have appeared together in print - in Radar Magazine's list of the top 100 overrated. Jake was no. 27, just two places behind the Dalai Lama at no. 25. I remember us having fun with the list at the time, and I am still bemused that cupcakes and going to Mars both featured in the top ten. Is it possible to overrate going to Mars? And do pandas, despite their limitations, really deserve the no. 13 spot?


It goes without saying that there's no argument with the top spot. And talking of Victoria Beckham - next Monday, Maggie Gyllenhaal will be sharing a stage with the WAG at the next event in the whirlwind that is the NYC social calendar. Maggie, Mrs Beckham and Eva Mendes will be co-presenting the Womenswear Designer of the Year award at the Council of Fashion Designer's America awards, 'with each of the women expected to wear a nominated designer. Posh (pictured) will don Marc Jacobs (she currently stars in the designer's ad campaign - click now to see the pics), Eva Mendes the face of Calvin Klein will wear (you guessed it) Calvin Klein in honour of Creative Director Francisco Costa who is also nominated, while Gyllenhaal will sport Proenza Schouler.'


Meanwhile, the saga that is called Nailed continues its ups and downs - this time, for a change, it's an up. Variety has confirmed that Nailed did go back to work yesterday (Thursday), despite its bouncing cheques, and gave some more background information. For the time being at least, SAG seems satisfied by the assurances concerning Nailed and other projects in the pipeline. Fingers crossed - although they've been crossed so long, they're starting to ache. That's even without the bash, courtesy of Royal Mail.


Includes pictures from IHJ, Just Jared and AFP.