Spalding Gray: Swimming to Cambodia (video)

WritersBlocPresents.com, Laemmle Theatres, Wisdom Quarterly

"I hadn't had a perfect moment yet. And it's very important for me to have perfect moments in exotic countries like that... It kind of lets you know when it's time to go home..."

"Look, I got a vision of myself by now as a kind of wandering bachelor mendicant poet, wandering all the way down the beaches of Malaysia eating magic mushrooms all the way as I went until I reach Bali and evaporate in a state of ecstasy in the sunset!"

"But I wasn't telling Renee that. But she could see that my will, or what was left of it, was beginning to vacillate.

"And we fell into a fight on the way to the party in the Gulf of Siam. And we were fighting all the way, and we got there, to the Gulf of Siam, and it was exquisite, you know?

Gulf of Siam (Thailand)

"Unlike The Hamptons, where you have a boat, and a bigger boat, and then a ship, and a bigger ship, and desire, and the carrot, and the carrot, and the carrot, and desire, and desire, and desire, and desire.

"There was nothing to buy out there in the Gulf of Siam. I mean it was like one big piece of calendar art.

"I just said, 'Look, look, look, Renee, look at this beautiful sunset!'

"...I might be able to have a perfect moment right now."

Part 1 (iamtheuseless1)

Spalding Gray's "Talking Cure" is not only one of the best one-man performances but actually one of the best films ever. "Swimming to Cambodia" is a Jonathan Demme-directed performance film (before "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia" but after "Stop Making Sense"). The film is a performance of Gray's monologue ("Talking Cure") which centers around themes like his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in "The Killing Fields" and his search for a perfect moment.

"Swimming to Cambodia" was originally a theatre piece on which Gray worked for two years, and it won him an Obie award. The opening shots depict Gray walking toward The Performing Garage in New York. He goes in, walks past the audience, and takes his seat behind a table. On the table is a glass of water, a microphone, and a notebook. Behind him are two pull down maps. One is a map of Southeast Asia and the other is a diagram of the bombing of Cambodia, which Gray tells the viewers was called Operation Menu.

Spalding Rockwell Gray (1941-2004) was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist, and monologist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved notoriety for writing and acting in the play, which was adapted into a film.

• Tribute to Spalding Gray with Nell Casey...
• Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, 7:30 pm
• Laemmle Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset, WeHo

Dr. Gabor Mate (live in North America)

(DrGaborMate.com)

• When the Body Says No: Taking Care of Self While Taking Care of Others
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• Taming the Hungry Ghost: Combining Science and Compassion in Healing Addiction
• The Biology of Loss: Recognizing the Consequences of Impaired Attachments and Fostering Resilience
• Kids in Chaos: Recognizing the Consequences of Impaired Attachments and Fostering Resilience
• When Society Makes Us Sick: The Social Roots of Disease
• Women, Addictions and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
• The Archaeology of Silence: Working with Clients, Reading Between the Lines

• Stories of Strength: Perspectives on Mental Well-Being
• The Biology of Loss: A Biopsychosocial Perspective on Childhood Mental Health
• Fostering Health In A Toxic Society: The Social Basis of Illness and Well-Being
• Taming the Hungry Ghost: Combining Science and Compassion to Heal Addictions
• Beyond The Medical Model / The Hungry Ghost
• Hungry Ghosts, When The Body…, Scattered Minds: Dr. Maté at the 2012 BCAEA Conference
• Beyond Addiction: The Yogic Path to Recovery

Chanting "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" didn't save Amy

Amy Winehouse dies in spite of Soka Gakai chanting

Even though she chanted daimoku, she remained addicted, suicidal, and on a self-destructive path. Does that mean daimoku doesn't "work?" That depends what one means by "work." If we think namu-myoho-renge-kyo is a magic phrase that makes us happy and is a get-out-of-death-and-suffering-free card, no, it doesn't "work." Nichiren Buddhism is a life-long practice -- even if our life turns out to be heartbreakingly short. It's not a quick fix or magic cure. More

Just Chant This and That's It?

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

Is it possible that Brahminical-style chants that mimic Sanskrit hymns (gathas) do not have magical power?

The Vedas gave the ancient Indus Valley Civilizations, which Adi Shankara's Hinduism claims as its inheritance, mantras for everything.

These enchantments first focused the minds of seers (rishis) and were then used by brahmins to enhance their temple-bound priesthood that the Buddha (and other spiritual wanderers or shramans) rejected.

But the technique is sound -- repetition that cuts off normal consciousness and gives way to an elevated state. Simply chanting never works anymore than saying "Abracadabra" or "Open Sesame."

But sincere, persistent, and devoted utterance of special sounds is widely accepted as being effective IF it is consistent and in integrity with one's life. Living one way and chanting another is working at odds with one's professed intention. For example, trying to quit drugs while chanting Nichiren Buddhism's hallmark hymn might really help.

But getting high to enhance the elevation brought on by dedicated chanting is only mocking the process. Or, worse, using the chant as a quick shortcut to material riches -- why, IF that worked, who wouldn't do it? Nichiren goes much deeper than a pretty mantra and a cultish appearance.

• Maybe it worked: Did Amy Winehouse die of alcohol withdrawal?
• What is Nichiren and "Value Creation"? (sgi-usa.org)

Tina Turner chants on CNN's Larry King

• PHOTOS: Drugs ruin a person's youthful looks
• Too much of a good thing: When sex lasts too long
• Amy's parents, public braced for death for years
• Amy Winehouse joins unfortunate 27 Forever Club
• Three-way Los Angeles AdultCon cancels convention
• Squatting (adverse possession) to get a home
• Squatter gets $330,000 house in Texas for $16

Amy Winehouse: Drugs vs. "Rehab" (video)

In 2006, Amy Winehouse (1984-2011) became a star, the voice of a new generation, by insisting she would not be going to "Rehab." She would be dead within five years.

• TIMELINE: Life of Amy Winehouse (E Online)
• VIDEO: Amy Winehouse's Life and Death (ABC News)
• Norway: White man's terror attack done to blame Muslims

Already a star in the U.K., Winehouse makes her debut on U.S. TV with "Rehab."

Singer Found Dead in Apartment

LONDON, England - Troubled British singer Amy Winehouse [with her violent partner in prison] was found dead at her flat in north London, police said. She was 27 years old. The Grammy award-winning [neo-]soul singer struggled with well-documented drink and drug addictions. Her death is being treated as unexplained. "Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 4:05 pm (local time) today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased," a police statement said. "On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead..." More

Drunk and/or stoned, Amy Winehouse is booed during comeback tour, live in Belgrade on June 18, 2011. She then launches into "Back To Black."

Rehab without a "Higher Power"

Recovery from addictions of all kinds is possible in a Buddhist context. Buddhism is nontheistic (not dependent on a God for "salvation"/enlightenment). Many Buddhists are theists, but many others are atheistic, agnostic, or undecided.

Not recognizing a supreme being as a higher power makes traditional 12-Step programs unpalatable. (Of course, the nature of the "higher power" one chooses need not be a god, but that is definitely how most participants treat it as part of their recovery.

Thanks to mavericks like Kevin Griffin, who wrote One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps it is quite possible to successfully overcome addiction and unrelenting craving in a nontheistic context.

A Buddhist Version of the 12 Steps

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction -- that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2 - Came to believe that spiritual practice could restore us to sanity.

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the power of the Dharma.

Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 5 - Admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our suffering.

Step 6 - Were entirely ready to let go of all these defects of character.

Step 7 - Humbly asked for our shortcomings to be removed through prayer and meditation.

Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with reality and to live a life with more wisdom and compassion.

Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Obama's legal secret

Lawyers think amorally, that is, pragmatically. That means there isn't much to think about. It's either do as I'm told or cease to hold office. So by that measure, B.O. is a good president, not much worse than the others. He daily betrays the public by portraying himself as a man of change when the policies he is forced to back are more draconian than Pres. Cheney-Bush, who were not legitimately elected either.

(PHOTO: Ann Dunham with baby Barry)

(WND) President Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, told the U.S. government she would home school her son using U.S.-approved textbooks during the period she moved the family to Indonesia.

Dunham, however, broke her pledge. She enrolled the future president in Indonesian schools, where he was registered as a Muslim going by the name "Barry Soetoro."

Dunham's pledge to home school Obama was part of an ongoing attempt to secure an immigration department waiver so her second husband, Indonesian citizen Lolo Soetoro, could return to the U.S. after his visa had expired.

Because Obama's mother's first husband was married already (according to the AP) when he married Ms. Dunham, he was not legally Barack Husein Obama Jr.

Since Obama is not the child of US citizens, he is disqualified from office as the founding fathers stipulated that only natural born citizens of US citizens can be vice president or president. More

The Imperial Presidency
(HHG Project) The president is very much a figurehead. He wields no real power whatsoever. He is chosen by the government. The qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but of finely judged outrage. For this reason the president is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating yet fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.

COMMENTARY
Wisdom Quarterly
He is the great communicator. Does this mean Obama/Soetoro is not "president"? Well, only if one means "of the United States of America." He is apparently president of the corporation, which has its own secret rules. Violations of the rules the country's founders established have been going on since the time of George Washington.

In any case, a man with serious drug abuse (cocaine, crack), homosexual behavior (with Larry Sinclair), and criminal conspiracies to cover these up is not going to be worried about technicalities.

The important thing is that he is easily manipulated by blackmail (and other dissolute means) by those who can at any time reveal his secret. For the job of the imperial presidency is, according to Douglas Adams, not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.

Who are the real movers and shakers? The military-industrial complex, the "shadowy government" (as outgoing President Truman called it), the Pentagon, the CIA, NSA, NSC, and other clandestine services... an assembly of otherworldly-influenced powers?

• The truth about Obama's gay murder scandal

How could any of this be true and kept "secret"?

Is Obama Gay, Bisexual? (video)

Is our beloved president (of US, Inc.), who was born out of the country and is sure to be re-(s)elected, concealing other secrets? If the great communicator is gay, that's between him, his lovers, and Michelle. But how does it affect the extent to which he is controlled to take pro-war stands regarding Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Libya, and Iraq? The Pentagon probably doesn't mind his or Hillary's stand on gay marriage. He could save the US 100 billion by ending the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. But if he's blackmailed by information he has to keep secret, what promise of "change" can he fulfill?

• Obama should heed American mayors who want US out of Afghanistan
• Formerly-gay Pres. Obama on gay marriage, declares June "LGBT month"
• Pres. Obama's gay sex scandal in White House
• Obama once supported same-sex marriage "unequivocally"
• Pres. Obama and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel longtime members of same gay bath house
• VIDEO: Obama's gay affair with pastor?
• VIDEO: Dr. Manning interviews Larry Sinclair
  
• Michelle Obama in Africa on second solo trip
• Wife should have some say over who sleeps with whom

Hillary's lesbianism has long been rumored, her affair with Huma, making passes at women... But who knew she would take as fierce a pro-war stand as Cheney or Rumsefld?

• Hillary Clinton's female intern becomes porn star
• Hillary proud of women driver protest in Saudi Arabia
• Obama and Hillary Clinton vow to protect gay rights
• Huma Weiner: Dressed for Distress
  
• Hillary Clinton and personal assistant Huma were gay
  
• Is Weiner a beard for lesbian Huma, Clinton's body person?
  
• VIDEO: The president's gay murder scandal
  
• First gay president? (Hardly)
• Gay groups grumble about Obama's broken promises
  
• World's oldest woman dies in Brazil

Coca-Cola's cocaine manufacturing

The secret history of Coca-Cola, coca leaves, and cocaine

Coca-Cola imports 100 metric tons of coca leaves, makes cocaine, and sells it in the US (no longer adding to its addictive soda)

(NaturalNews.com) Coca-Cola is the only U.S. corporation that has been granted the right to legally import coca leaves into the United States, via a coca processing lab known as the Stepan Company). In 1922, the Jones-Miller Act banned cocaine imports into the United States, but Coca-Cola (and its lab) was granted an exception. This exception remained a secret until the late 1980's when the New York Times seemed shocked to discover the truth.

Coca leaves have been chewed and consumed as tea for thousands of years in the high Andes. They are rich in many essential nutrients; they ease respiratory and digestive distress and are a natural stimulant and painkiller. Indigenous tradition and scientific studies have both confirmed that in their natural form, the leaves are completely safe and non-addictive: It takes intensive processing and toxic chemical ingredients to produce cocaine. That's why more and more coca-containing products have started to hit the market in Andean countries in the past few years. More

Soda's effects in minutes

"Soft" drinks are hard on the body
Bitcoins on the New Silk Road: Buying illegal drugs online

What is Addiction?

If someone is struggling with an addiction, there is no doubt a great deal of pain, frustration, anger, and fear. Addiction is indeed a disease. It baffles both the addict and the addict’s loved ones in ways not common to other medical and mental conditions.

Addicts at the mercy of their disease betray themselves and those around them. As they destroy their bodies and their lives, addicts sometimes seem to be in systematic pursuit of death itself.

If we are seeking answers about addiction and recovery, we are in the right place. Recovery from addiction is possible. There is help available for substance abuse at drug rehabs in many cities.

What is addiction?Addiction is a compulsive, persistent need for a substance or behavior that the user cannot moderate or control. This is in spite of the fact that one knows it to be harmful. Many of us joke about certain behaviors, foods, activities (particularly sex), and substances, saying, “I’m addicted to brownies” or “I’m addicted to running.” More

• Buddhist 12 Steps: One Breath At A Time (Kevin Griffin)
  

Risk factors for Eating Disorders
Risk factors for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
Ghosts, Growing Back Limbs, and Human Sacrifice

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Taming Smoker's Brain: Better way to quit?

(TIME) Any American who has bought a pack of cigarettes since the mid-'60s might have seen the health warnings. One of the first, quaint and timid, said, “Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health.”

By comparison, last year I bought a scary pack of Lucky Strikes that I keep in the freezer for Don Draper-esque emergencies. It says, “SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.”

Such government warnings work, sort of -- research has shown that smokers in countries with strong warnings are more knowledgeable about smoking risks than those in countries where warnings are weaker. But it's unclear whether smokers who see any warning actually smoke less.

Public-health advocates have known for years that individualized messages are far more effective at getting smokers to stop. More

• How Hitler died (almost on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden)
• Go Harrison: The post Osama bin Laden episode (VIDEO)
• Is Osama bin Laden dead? (Time Magazine)
  

Excavating the Heart through Meditation

Excavating the Heart through Buddhist mindfulness meditation
Noah Levine (Huffington Post, Dharma Punx Against the Stream)
When I first heard the Buddhist teachings on loving kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, I was incredibly skeptical.

Coming from a background of drugs and violence, I saw those heart qualities as undesirable and perhaps unsafe. In the circles I ran in, compassion was seen as equivalent to weakness and would make you vulnerable to harm and abuse.

I learned early on that this world was full of pain and seemed to lack much kindness. In reaction to the pain in my life, I began to close my heart and to harden myself against all forms of love. So it was with great hesitance that I experimented with Buddhist practices of kindness and compassion.

In the beginning, I don't think forgiveness was even in my vocabulary. The only reason I opened myself to these meditation practices, often called heart practices, at all was because I had tremendous faith in the practices of mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment), the Buddha, and my teachers, who assured me that it was safe to love again.

I heard things like "love is your true nature" or "the heart has a natural tendency toward compassion." Now I had already been meditating for some time, examining my inner-world through mindfulness, and I didn't see any of the love and compassion of which these teachers spoke.

When I looked into my heart and mind I only saw fear, anger, hatred, judgment, more fear, and a lot of lustful cravings. When I sat quietly, paying attention to my breath, my attention was repeatedly drawn into fantasies of vengeful destruction or pornographic sex:

One moment I was bashing in my stepfather's head with a Louisville slugger, the next I was in a threesome with Madonna [pictured here in green cap] and Traci Lords [against wall].

I was pretty sure that was all that was in there. Mindfulness helped me deal with my inner confusion. It allowed to me to ignore my mind at times or not take it so personally at others, but it didn't seem to be magically creating a loving heart out of my inner-critic/terrorist/pervert/tough guy.

In the early days of my meditation practice I was only interested in mindfulness. I was introduced to breath awareness meditations and as a result I experienced the direct benefits of concentration and mindfulness. I immediately found temporary relief from fear of the future and shame about the past.

Learning to train my mind to pay close attention to the present moment was difficult, but fruitful. I experienced the immediate, if only momentary, relief from the suffering I created with my mind's tendency to be lost in the future and past.

Before I began my meditation practice, when my mind started to worry about what would happen in the future, I would get completely sucked into the fears and often become convinced that the worst-case scenario would play out.

Mindfulness gave me the tools to let go of those thoughts and to bring my attention into the body's experience of the breath. Mindfulness made sense to me and it wasn't difficult to gain a verified faith [saddha] in that aspect of Buddhism. For me, mindfulness proved to be the doorway to the rest of the Buddha's Dharma, or teachings. I came to believe that it was going to be possible to train my mind, but I still had no hope for my heart. More

• Dharma Punx: Against the Stream Meditation Society
  
• The Heart of the Revolution (Harper Collins)

"Meditate and Destroy"

Coachella is no Woodstock (video)

Wisdom Quarterly (REPORTING) WARNING: F-word. Cee Lo Green and his all-girl band CUT SHORT at Coachella 2011

The camera adds 90 percent of the excitement to Warpaint on a hot afternoon.

What can't be seen is the heat and a palpable sense of disinterest (with boredom creeping in). For example, notice the chinks in the armor: At minute 2:40, people are walking by without looking, cars are passing, big swaths of empty lawn lay barren, and massive numbers of yellow-shirted security dudes staring at hipsters have nothing to do but sip on solar-irradiated plastic water bottles full of xenoestrogens. Love you all! Wish you were here! Yawn.

No peace, no love, and very little rock 'n roll, it's all about looking for DJs in humid circus tents to get out of the sun. It gets better at night, but only if we have been sleeping all day.

Flogging Molly "Seven Deadly Sins," live at Coachella 2011

Fun is what we make of it: friends, good company, finding in the right tents, getting good phone reception, and keeping laptop batteries from overheating in the desert while trying to recharge them using a photovoltaic device hanging off a backpack. Dehydration makes one dizzy.

But the shocking thing is how well behaved everyone is. Woodstock was all about gate crashing and being so wet and muddy in the middle of August that nothing mattered. Of course, in those days, there was a war going on. Now we have three wars (not counting the secret ones). Coachella security won't let anyone within a mile of the gate without a wristband. We were born too late. We miss the myth of the 60s. Who even played Woodstock 1969?.

Techno, the real reason people drive out to Coachella