In Las Vegas you roll the dice and hope they come up seven: today thousands of newlyweds-to-be will descend on this desert city to gamble that the lucky number holds the key to marital bliss.
In the wedding capital of the world, couples are lining up to get married on July 7, 2007 - 7/7/7 - placing their bets on future domestic happiness.
In small chapels that have hosted weddings for decades and at large glitzy resorts where nearby gamblers are sweating and shouting as they watch the dice tumble, thousands will tie the knot.
PHOTOS: AFP AND AP
"This is the busiest I've been in my 49 years in this business. This is our magical, maniacal, historical moment of love," said Charlotte Richards, owner of the famous Little White Chapel.
An estimated record 3,000 couples have applied for marriage licenses in Clark County for today, cramming the schedule at the 40 or so chapels across the city that offer bargain-basement, legally-binding weddings.
Never slow to spot a marketing opportunity, the city's main venues are making the most of the calendar quirk.
The Mandalay Bay Hotel is offering a 777 Beach Extravaganza package that includes a ceremony on Mandalay Bay Beach, champagne toast, a concert featuring K.C. and the Sunshine Band, a catered reception with complimentary bar, a photo of the bride and groom and a souvenir gift bag.
The cost US$1,777, naturally.
The phenomenon is not just confined to Las Vegas. Lebanese couples in their droves want to tie the knot in one of the world's most volatile countries today, hoping it turns out to be one of the calendar's most auspicious dates.
"Raz wanted the date more strongly than me. He feels like it's a divine date. For me, it's cute," says Karma Ekmekji, unconcerned that flowers are "like 10 times more expensive" because of the popularity of their chosen date.
Razmig Boladian, the groom-to-be, jestingly tries to explain: "I'm bad with dates. I wanted a date that I couldn't forget."
They chose the "Triple Seven" date two years ago and the location last summer, while holding onto a Plan B in case Lebanon's chronic insecurity and string of bomb attacks since January sabotages their special day.
The church venue, however, had to be relocated from Beirut's attractive downtown district, almost deserted because of the tents erected by opposition demonstrators led by the Shiite group Hezbollah.
From an original invitation list of 800 people, more than half have confirmed, among them a handful of family and friends from overseas.
"I was landing in Beirut a couple of months ago and I looked down at the city and said: 'I don't want to get married anywhere else'," confides Karma, 23, echoing the sentiments of many Beiruti couples.
Churches will be full to the rafters, with a program of hourly services. The sheikhs are also busy this week, with Muslim couples signing wedding contracts in the run-up to today's fireworks.
"To me, it's all a bit stupid, but don't quote me," another wedding planner said, despite the rare boon for business in Lebanon where all the big and unusual venues have already been booked since last year.
Michel Hayek, who shrugs off the tag of "Nostradamus of the Middle East" after having predicted the untimely deaths of Princess Diana and Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri, complains of the rumors swirling around Lebanon.
"You must have heard all sorts of rumors, about how I had put off a 777 wedding of my own because it would be a black weekend," he says. "But I haven't decided on any date at all, only that I will marry this summer.
"The rumors have been attached to 777 to keep everything black in Lebanon, maybe for political reasons to destabilize, or for another agenda," he adds. "I didn't say anything bad about 7/7 of 2007."
Rumors are being spread to stir even more insecurity, as part of a dirty political game, he says. "Sadly, in this country, many people have grown used to hearing the bad things before the good things."
Time has branded 777 "the most popular wedding date ever," noting it has also been chosen by Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame amid a spike of US nuptials, drawn by the powers and mystic of the number seven.
For the gamblers of Las Vegas, a mecca for instant weddings, the triple seven is a lucky number on casino slot machines and the blackjack table. The supermarket giant Wal-Mart is offering free weddings to seven lucky couples.
For the religious, God needed seven days to create the World, the Jewish bride circles her groom seven times, and Muslim pilgrims go seven times around the sacred black Kabaa in Mecca.
Hindus recognize the seven chakras (spinning wheel sources of energy) of the body, while the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Wonders of the World are a source of fascination across any religious divide.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located