It’s pretty clear from last night’s screening that “The Master,” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is all about the early days of Scientology. Philip Seymour Hoffman is clearly playing L. Ron Hubbard, creating his cult religion with the help of his wife (Amy Adams). In the clip reel we saw, Joaquin Phoenix is some kind of drifter who gets involved with the couple and become Hoffman’s right hand man.
Phoenix in real life has been on a sabbatical from acting. So it’s kind of interesting that he took this role. He and his family grew up in a cult in Florida, where the kids all changed their names. But the acting from all three principals in the clips was superb. Whatever PTA has in mind, it’s going to be controversial. Scientology doesn’t like people messing with their made up history. This should cause quite a discussion.
Hugo Chávez, he of the televised multi-hour conspiracy theory rant - and Noam Chomsky-loving, necrophiliac, socialist cult of personality in Venuzuela - is at it again. Keep in mind, this is the guy who had Sean Penn and Oliver Stone, amongst others, hooked on his every word during the Bush administration. (He famously claimed to smell "sulfur" emanating from George W. Bush, back in 2006, when Chávez spoke after him at the U.N. in New York.) Oliver Stone even went so far as to make a documentary about him, claiming Chávez is "misunderstood". See if you understand this:Capitalism may be to blame for the lack of life on the planet Mars, Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday.Got that? Understand it? I do - the man runs a cult - and it's "logic" like this that absolutely proves it. I don't care how high he's risen in politics:
"I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day.
I didn't post much yesterday because I was taken for a day out, which ended with a screening of Battle: LA. Great idea, right? Two "guy's guys" from Los Angeles, one (me) a vet, with my gung-ho friend, going to see a sci-fi film featuring the military, aliens, action, a fight over our fair city, and great reviews - what could go wrong? 
Everything.
Then came the movie - Gawd. It was Hollywood's usual modern day fare - bad acting, horrible dialogue, a camera man with Parkinsons - but good special effects - heard that one before? Once Michelle Rodriguez showed up, in her usual tough chick role, we were groaning so hard you'd have thought we had food poisoning. Save your money, folks:
Ha! This is hilarious - and more proof these NewAge weirdos are always on the wrong side:One person who won't be attending the U.S. premiere of artist Julian Schnabel's new film at the United Nations on Monday: Long Island Rep. Pete King.I bet they are. And what was Schnabel going to do if King did show up?
Schnabel and writer Rula Jebreal had written to King after the kickoff of his controversial hearings about Muslim radicalization last week and challenged him to watch "Miral," which portrays a Palestinian woman who becomes radicalized against Israel.
But the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee gave seeing the movie a thumbs-down.
" I'm not going," King said. "I've got a lot of things to do. I've got to get back to Washington. "
Schnabel, a Golden Globe winner, and Jebreal were outraged by King's hearings.
Oh, man, how messed up can a life get after hooking up with a NewAger? Read it and weep - or laugh, your choice:
Attorneys for a former aide to John Edwards today sought a court order to compel the two-time presidential candidate to provide additional information in a dispute over ownership of a sex tape he allegedly made with his mistress.
Edwards gave a sworn deposition in the case last month.
The details of the court filing are shielded from public view because of a broad protective order sought by Edwards' attorneys in advance of the deposition and issued last year by the judge. But if the court were to grant a hearing on the motion, it is possible that a transcript of Edwards' deposition, or portions of it, could be entered into the public record.
Edwards' testimony was taken in Chapel Hill last month in connection with the civil suit filed by his mistress, Rielle Hunter, against Andrew Young and his wife, Cheri.
Andrew Young, a former close aide to Edwards, claimed in 2007 that he was the father of Hunter's child, but retracted that assertion last year and published a tell-all book, writing that he took the fall for Edwards as part of an elaborate and expensive cover-up of the affair designed to protect Edwards' political aspirations.
Hunter brought the suit in January 2010, days before the publication date of Young's book, "The Politician." At the center of the suit is Hunter's allegation that Young took from her a "personal and private" videotape that depicts Edwards and Hunter in a sexual encounter, as well as a series of photographs that include images of Edwards with his daughter, Quinn, who turned 3 last week.
Attorneys for Hunter and Edwards, who is not a party in the lawsuit, have pointedly accused Young of trying to sell the sex tape and of using it to promote his book and a forthcoming film adaptation by Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
Rielle Hunter did assure Edwards that - if he'd follow her NewAge "guidance" - he'd be able to show the world the real John Edwards.
$100,000 is hardly chump change. But 70-year-old Leroy Tessina, a former delivery man, estimates that's the amount of money he's spent on psychics, UFO paraphernalia and other paranormal pursuits over the past few decades. He nearly lost his house in the process.
Among his purchases: several trips to UFO-friendly Roswell, N.M., countless books on extraterrestrials, nearly a decade's worth of sessions with a personal psychic and even a special helmet that supposedly prevents aliens from reading his mind.
But Tessina, a Los Angeles man, said he's a believer no more.
After a mind-bending, life-changing journey with independent filmmaker Blake Freeman, Tessina said he's "reformed" and won't pay peddlers of the paranormal any longer.
"I was into sci-fi as a child and young man and I guess it just evolved from that. I let it rule my life," he said. "Blake told me, 'You screwed up for a while, but now let's go see if we can straighten you out.'
"He showed me the error of my ways, so to speak."
In 2008, the thirtysomething Freeman and the then-sixtysomething Tessina went off on a cross-country adventure to interview so-called experts on alien abductions, ghost hunting, crop circles, psychic healing and more, all in an effort to expose the truth behind their wild, other-worldly claims.
The result is "Gawd Bless America," a documentary opening in theaters March 4, that blends "Borat"-like antics with "Religulous"-like irreverence to reach, Freeman said, something "real."
Hi, Lloyd. A little slow tonight, isn't it?
Yes, it is, Mr. Torrance. What'll it be?
We've covered this documentary before but, since it's finally coming to the United States, we think "David Wants To Fly" deserves all the exposure it can get:
"David Wants to Fly" is a documentary film that is at times hilarious, frustrating and enlightening. Bourgeoning filmmaker David Sieveking takes us on his path to filmmaking, as he peaks behind the Maharishi's curtain, that wonderful wizard of "Ohm." While Maharishi's teachings of Transcendental Meditation spread to the world through the likes of the Beatles, Sieveking tapped the unlikely source of David Lynch.The widely influential films of David Lynch such as "Eraserhead", "The Elephant Man", "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive" are transcendentally macabre, more than meditative. Yet, Sieveking idolized Lynch and jumped a plane to Iowa to see the master speak about creativity through Transcendental Meditation (TM). Iowa is of course the unlikely home to Maharishi University and its Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge.
Throughout the course of Sieveking meeting Lynch and embracing his assigned TM Mantra, the documentary traces the realization of true filmmaking. Sieveking knows he is his own subject, playing the protagonist on the yellow brick road of self-discovery. Though, David doesn't want to go home, "David Wants to Fly."
Inspired by his idolization of Lynch, Sieveking learns some essential lessons in documentary filmmaking and the deconstruction of Idols. Sieveking comes to odds with Lynch, challenging how he has become a spokesman for a multibillion dollar industry. Through Sieveking's deconstruction of Lynch, he obsessively questions the TM movement itself, thus deconstructing Maharishi.
Sieveking comes to the potent realization that Transcendental Meditation has done the exact opposite of what Lynch promised him. The documentary lens zooms in on the unraveling of Sieveking's personal life. He runs into the open arms of the TM community, but is banished once he questions that it is industry, rather than community. As his girlfriend leaves him, his filmmaking career seems to be blackballed by Lynch's disapproval and Sieveking's mantra chanting starts to sound more like a Country song.
Yet, the young filmmaker's journey is in essence transcendental as he finds his true path. He becomes a filmmaker, not by blindly following Lynch's advice to close his eyes in meditation. Instead he opens his eyes to the blind following of a movement and shines light on the dirt swept under the rugs they meditate on.
Catch it where you can, people, because this is a picture that contains a damn good lesson for everyone:
Do not follow.
Having started this blog to chase this subject - in the face of opposition from friend and foe alike - has been a breathtaking thing to behold. To see so many seemingly intelligent people - doctors, lawyers, journalists, police - all outsmarted by one of the dumbest belief systems on the planet (which makes it perfect for unraveling by us) is, both, extremely (EXTREMELY) frustrating and over-the-top hilarious. (Mostly the former, but we do have our fun,...) And we will not be stopped. 
NewAge will be exposed. And only when it's entire "spiritual" edifice comes down, in the real world, will we stop battering those who stand in our way, with their claims we must be crazy because we don't know our place. We have no place - and no one to say we do. TMR is the home of free men and women. We know our parameters.
Which is something else you can add to the list of things NewAgers, and those under it's influence, have never understood from Day One.
The Crack Emcee, when you finally reach the dead end of your New Age witchhunt, and you search all around for a new hobby horse to ride high on, let me suggest researching the strange phenomenon of machismo - exaggerated male pride and honor - the peculiar females it attracts, and the damage done by hyper-aggressive men who haplessly try to hide from their own anger, fears, and hatred toward women.Consider it done:
I'm serious - I can think of no one better than you to blog about what he discovers in the bizarre world of false masculinity.
