The profits of PORN (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Rory Carroll (theguardian.com) in Los Angeles 

(Robert the Republican) Does porno affect rapists', killers' and others' attitudes toward women? L.A. porn production (crime?) plummets by design in wake of mandatory condom law.

L.A.'s American Apparel, please spare the world your fantasies about schoolgirls

 

Burlesque satisfaction?

The number of permits issued for "adult" films plunges in the Valley and North Hollywood (both areas of greater L.A.) as the sex industry says producers have moved to Las Vegas and Eastern Europe.

The  number of permits issued for adult films fell 90% last year to just 40  permits compared with 2012, when the law was introduced, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

Hard Summer rave 2014

“We’ve  seen a dramatic drop in permits,” Paul Audley, president of FilmLA,  told the paper. “It is a cause for concern that people who are manning  the cameras, lights and other things on those sets are not working  anymore.”

Voters in LA County backed the ban after the Aids Healthcare Foundation, an advocacy group, argued that unsafe sex on sets  spread HIV and other diseases.

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The industry protested in vain that it conducted regular health screenings and that audiences and performers tended to prefer porn without condoms.

The state senate is due to vote this month on whether to widen the ban to all of California.
 

We're not a "post-racial" society

Most porn production takes place without permits -- a film can be shot in a  few days in a private house -- so it was unclear to what extent the 90%  fall in permits represented a wider flight.

Several porn producers said they had moved production to other parts of southern California, as well as Nevada, Florida, and Eastern Europe, where there is less  regulation. More 

• The state senate is due to vote this month on whether to widen the ban to all of California (Bret Hartman/AP)  
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Gaza talks: Hamas says Israel not serious about Cairo summit Negotiations mediated by Egypt in chaos as Israelis say they "will not negotiate under fire" and Palestinians threaten to leave

US and Germany threaten Russia with "additional consequences" over Ukraine

Moscow told it must not intervene without Kiev’s permission after Obama talks to Merkel on busy day for diplomacy 

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Glasgow and Fife councils are planning to raise the Palestinian flag to show solidarity with people affected by the conflict in Gaza. Do you agree with their plans? 

Iraq crisis: who are the Yazidis and why is Isis hunting them? The ethnic and religious minority descend from some of the region’s most ancient roots and face executions for a reputation as "devil worshippers" 

Uganda holds first pride rally after "abominable" anti-gay law overturned

Activists gather on shores of Lake Victoria to celebrate gay pride after law that gave homosexuals life sentence is thrown out 

Pope Francis: Isis violence against minorities in Iraq must be stopped 

Vatican says world must halt attacks against Christians and others, as Francis sends emissary to Iraq 

Police's fatal shooting of black teenager draws angry crowd in St. Louis suburb

Hundreds gather in Ferguson amid chants of "kill the police" following death of Michael Brown, 18, who was allegedly unarmed.
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Sexy Easter film reviews: Heaven is real

CC Liu, Irma Quintero, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; SCPR/FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and critics Tim Cogshell, Henry Sheehan, Charles Solomon

Jesus has a pony?

Let's give this pony to Jesus to ride in on.

(SPE) Based on a book by a Christian minister whose 11-y.o. son died (had an NDE), went to a heaven -- perhaps the celestial World of the Four Great Kings (Catumaharajika Deva Loka) or the Thirty-Three (Tavatimsa), and returned to tell about it.

Jesus rides in on an ass, the keychain

The boy (who is based on Colton Burpo) reports that Jesus is white with a tunic and a beard and swears he has a pony, just like his father expects heaven to be. It's an Easter miracle! Or it could be that visions of "heaven" (sagga) during a near-death experience accommodate our views and expectations, as reported by the spirit Seth (Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul) as channeled by Jane Roberts -- whether those expectations are heavenly or hellish.

St. Issa's Jewish Heaven on Earth

Happy Patriots' Day, Mass. Happy Holy Week, Christendom. The New Testament says Jesus rode in on an ass (WARNING: do not click!), butt this is not what the Bible's author(s) had in mind, nor this. 

SCPR reviewers talk about the week's new film releases including Greg Kinnear in "Heaven is for Real," H2O in "Watermark" (about dams, their consequences, and our relationship to water), Johnny Depp as Him or a computer program or virus in "Transcendence," flagging Woody in "Fading Gigolo," Jane Goodall in "Bears," Kristin Wiig, Hailee Steinfeld, Guy Pearce, and Nick Nolte in "Hateship Loveship," money-thriller "13 Sins,"  "Hank and Asha," Japanese animation from "Short Peace," Marlon Wayans in "Haunted House 2," and more. LISTEN

Wanna? - What, hunt for 'shrooms? (CH)

Holy water on Holy Week comes to a head on Easter, which is based on a sacred entheogenic mushroom forage rather than bunny egg hunt. These practices are Pagan throwbacks. Yet that does not stop Catholics, Christians, and some Eastern Orthodox adherents from wanting more coverage. Well, Hollywood is obliging. And that is rarely a good thing for truth, accuracy, or the long run. So first the nice movies then the perverted sexy ones:

 

Watermark

 

Water is precious but treated poorly.

(TD) Beautifully weaving together diverse stories from the USA and Mexico (Colorado river, etc.), Canada, India and Bangladesh (Ganges), China (Yangste and the largest human construction in history), and around the globe, this documentary shows in stunning detail humanity's relationship with water through the ages. It expresses the magnitude of our need for this rapidly vanishing resource. By showing the various roles water plays in all of our lives, this breathtaking and haunting doc paints a vivid portrait of our planet, illustrating the magnificent force of nature that is being depleted before our eyes. Directed by Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, released in April 2014.

Bears

Disney Ambassador Jane Goodall (BT)

(CM) "Bears" is in theaters today from DisneyNature not for Easter but for Earth Day. In an epic story of breathtaking scale with the help of super heroine Jane Goodall, this new True Life Adventure "Bears," which showcases a year in the life of two mother bears as they impart life lessons to their impressionable newborn cubs. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and they emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting -- but risky -- as the tiny cubs' playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches.  The brown bear families must work together to find food, while staying safe from predators in the wilderness, including an ever-present wolf pack.

Short Peace

Short Peace (ショート・ピース Shōto Pīsu) is a compilation of four short anime films produced by Sunrise and Shochiku. The films were released in Japanese theaters in July 2013 and will be screened in North America in April 2014. Sentai Filmworks have licensed the films for North America. A video game based on the series, Rinko Tsukigime's Longest Day, released in Japan as Short Peace: Tsukigime Rinko no Ichiban Nagai Hi (ショートピース 月極蘭子のいちばん長い日), was developed by Crispy's Inc. in collaboration with Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda, and published by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation 3.

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

Let's live on a tropical island, like in the Tropic of Cancer maybe (zeitgeistfilms)

Sexual intrigue, tropical love, and utopia

Fleeing conventional society, a Berlin doctor and his mistress start a new life on uninhabited Floreana Island. But after the international press sensationalizes the sexual exploits of the Galapagos' "Adam and Eve," others flock there -- including a self-styled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her two lovers. Clashing personalities are aggravated by the island community's lusty free-love ethos. And when some of the islanders disappear, suspicions of murder hang in the air leaving an unsolved mystery that remains the subject of local lore even today. To bring this extraordinary story to life, newly unearthed home movies of these original back-to-nature drop-outs, testimonies of modern day islanders, stunning HD footage of native flora and fauna, and powerful voice performances are interwoven. Macabre yet inspiring, "The Galapagos Affair" is a gripping parable of adventure and utopian dreams gone awry. This biography/documentary (NR) is directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller. The cast includes Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, Connie Nielsen, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Gustaf Skarsgård, and Josh Radnor.

 

Fading Gigolo

Hey, they weren't my biological daughters

(MC) Accused child molested (WQ) Woody Allen made a movie about a threesome, prostitution, and a Don Juan gigolo? No, some John did. He just co-stars. Synopsis: Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray as "manager," the duo quickly find themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money. (Featuring John Turturro, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Woody Allen, and not directed by an accused pedophile whom Scarlett Johansson defends as unindicted and Mia Farrow condemns as unconvicted).

Under the Skin

Earth boys are easy, and I'm a bad deva.

REVIEW: Shelly and J.S. talk about crude sex goddess Scarlett Johansson's role in Johnathan Glazer's film, and Scarlett chimes in, too. What is great about this very creepy "alien sex fiend" movie is that a lot of it was filmed with unsuspecting men using hidden cameras. They don't know this is Johansson, and they don't know it's a movie. She picks up hitchhikers and kills them. But they're happy to get in the car because a beautiful female is doing the inviting. One is reminded of a certain yakshini who recently made the news (FTZ).

Nymph()maniac

"Nymphomaniac: Volume II" from Denmark and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg is directed by Lars Van Trier co-starring Shia LaBeouf and Willem Dafoe. It is the continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life as it delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.

Transcendence

 

We love Will power! - Me, too, kids.

Depp as Dr. Will Caster examines the promise and threat of AI (artificial intelligence) as he works to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments make him famous, but they also make him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. As they attempt to destroy "Will," they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed -- to be a participant in his own transcendence. Should his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, stop him? Can they? Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a what seems an omnipresent quest for power.

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FREE Buddhist film archive (video)

Dhr. Seven and CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Donna Beresford (meridian-trust.org)

The CIA, Democrats, Republicans, almost everyone loves the Dalai Lama, seen here in the White House with Nancy Pelosi (left) and shaking hands with John Boehner (Newsweek.com)

In 1985 the Dalai Lama urgently asked the West, through the Meridian Trust, to preserve Tibetan culture at a time when its very existence was threatened by China.

In an effort to fulfill a promise to the Dalai Lama, it would be an accomplishment to transform a Buddhist Film Archive into a FREE online learning resource.

This would be for the benefit of all living beings on the planet. For the last 18 months, the Meridian Trust - Buddhist Film Archive has been digitizing, editing, and encoding more than 2,500 hours of rare film footage on Tibetan culture, traditions, artistic practices, and teachings. 

FREE TIBET prayer flags (komodo.co.uk)

The mission is to put this unique archive online -- fulfilling a promise made to the Trust's patron, the 14th Dalai Lama, more than 30 years ago. 

The Trust is a few days into its Kickstarter campaign with a target to raise £10,000. This is what is needed to build a Website through which all of the material can be viewed. 

More information about the Meridian Trust and this project can be seen here. Help support the effort through Kickstarter, Twitter, blogs, posts on NSA spying media, and news outlets. Share it with fans, followers, and friends. Download a banner.

 

You be nice to my Michelle and Jo Boner, and stop killing people with drones! - Mm-hmm.

Help transform Buddhist films into a FREE online learning resource making the insights of Buddhist wisdom available to all (meridian-trust.org/kickstarter.com).

Academy Awards come to Hollywood (preview)

Ashley Wells, Seven, CC Liu, Amber Larson, Dev, Wisdom Quarterly; AirTalk's Mantle, Loewenstein, and guest film critics prerecorded at the Egyptian Theatre (KPCC FM, SCPR.org)

Golden Oscar overlooking Hollywood lights, L.A., viewed from Griffith Observatory (below); golden Buddha towering over Nan, Thailand (above) in a haze (abilityriddle/flickr.com).

Oscar statue seen high atop space observatory in view of the stars, Hollywood, CA before 83rd Annual Academy Awards to be held Sunday, March 2, 2014 in rain-soaked LA (KAT/WQ).

   
Oscar ballots at the ready! Academy Awards preview

Oscar statue (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

KPCC film critics give the how and why on marking viewing-party ballots for awards-worthy films. For the 11th annual “FilmWeek on AirTalk” Academy Awards preview, Host Larry Mantle is joined by Wade Major of boxoffice.com, Tim Cogshell of Box Office Magazine, Alynda Wheat of People Magazine, Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor, Henry Sheehan of dearhenrysheehan.com, Charles Solomon of amazon.com, regular KPCC Film Critic Lael Loewenstein, and Justin Chang of Variety.

• AUDIO: LISTEN NOW

COMMENTARY

Give me an award for my art!

The most important category this year is "Best Documentary," and we have our fingers crossed for Jeremy Scahill and Richard Rowley's "Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield" (Democracy Now!). But it is a tough category this year with other great choices such as The Act of Killing (about Indonesia, its military regime, and the million Indonesians they killed to stay in power and enrich themselves), The Square (about Egypt's Arab Spring centered in Tahrir Square), and 20 Feet from Stardom (about the best part of most pop music, the amazing and unsung back-up singers). 

Hollywood Oscar, Griffith Park (ocio.go)

And then there's "Magnetism" in space between Sandy Bollocks and Ceorgie Glooney, which will probably sweep the whole show along with Jared Leto's "San Antonio Sellers Club" ably supported by Matt Mc Something or other. And we have our fingers crossed that this is finally Johnny Depp's year for his fantastic work as the pirate in "Saving Capt. Phillips." *Wink* See all of the nominees in all of the categories so as to memorize all of the fine minutiae for your Sunday viewing party: oscar.go.com/nominees

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"White Rabbit" Arabic version by Mayssa Karaa for "American Hustle"

Los Angeles skyline in window as viewed from Tinsel Town/Hollywood

Sex on the screen: No longer taboo?

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Nicholas Barber (Culture/BBC.co.uk, Jan. 8, 2014)

"Blue is the Warmest Colour," a French coming-of-age-story (Sundance Selects)

 

Sex on screen: No longer taboo?

The recent cinema movies "Blue is the Warmest Colour" and "Nymphomaniac" have attracted attention for their graphic sexual content. Is this explicit trend more than skin deep?

 

Troubled, sure, but smarter than us.

The most talked-about eight minutes in cinema last year [2013] were in the French film, "Blue is the Warmest Colour." The movie’s graphic lesbian sex scene was so explicit and prolonged -- frankly, it looked exhausting -- that Abdellatif Kechiche’s three-hour coming-of-age drama could have been dismissed as pornography.

It's out of control (Bjork)

And yet, while there was much debate concerning the morality of a 52-year-old male director telling two naked young actresses [Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos] to contort themselves into human reef knots, the film won the Palme d’Or ["Golden Palm"] at the Cannes Film Festival and went onto garner rave reviews. Most critics accepted that "Blue is the Warmest Colour" wasn’t a blue movie -- but an honest, unflinching portrayal of first love.

It wasn’t a one-off, either. When you scan the list of 2013’s films, you could be forgiven for thinking that today’s directors have sex on the brain....

Lust is a terrible thing ("Mondo Amore" Williams/laluzdejesus.com).

  

Gwyneth Paltrow [America's most hated celebrity] and Mark Ruffalo...appeared in "Thanks for Sharing," a drama about a support group for sex addicts. 

 

Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan made "The Look of Love," a biopic of Paul Raymond, one of Britain’s wealthiest strip-club proprietors and pornographers.

  

Outrageous celebrity sex quotes

Another biopic, "Lovelace," featured Amanda Seyfried as the star of the revolutionary 1970s hardcore hit, "Deep Throat." And Joseph Gordon-Levitt, last seen in "Looper"... chose a different kind of film for his debut as a writer-director. In "Don Jon," he played a New Jersey bartender who watched porn on his computer several times a day, despite having Scarlett Johansson (another Avengers star) as his girlfriend. More

Demi Moore's new boy toy?

Lindsay Lohan's X-rated laptop

Awards season gone wild

• Fútbol: The Beautiful Game Feb. 2, L.A., USA
• Cosquin Folk Festival Jan. 25-Feb. 2, Argentina
• India Art Fair Jan. 30-Feb. 2, New Delhi, India
• Mozart Week, Jan. 22-Feb. 2, Salzburg, Austria
• Sundance, Jan. 16-Jan. 26, Utah, United States
• VIDEO: Best of 2013 clips