Does Indiana Jones, who's back in action this bank holiday weekend in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, know he's risking life and limb for a bunch of fake artifacts? Experts analyzed two skulls held by the British Museum and the Smithsonian that were once thought to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican relics, and concluded that they are modern fakes. The findings are published in the May 2008 edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
British and American researchers used modern techniques to uncover the quartz crystal skulls' secrets. Using electron microscopes and X-ray scanning methods, the teams found that modern industrial techniques had been used to fashion the stone. The British Museum skull was manufactured using rotary tools and an abrasive substance such as crystallized aluminum oxide or diamond particles, while the Smithsonian skull has been fashioned with a silicon carbide abrasive.
The British Museum skull first surfaced in 1881 in a Parisian antiques shop. It was bought at auction by Tiffany & Co, who then sold in on to the museum, at a profit, in 1897. The Smithsonian skull was donated anonymously in 1992. It was left with a note that said it had been purchased in Mexico in the 1960’s.
"There are about a dozen or more of these crystal skulls. Except for the British Museum skull and one in Paris, they seem to have entered public awareness since the 60s, with the interest in quartz and the New Age movement," said Cardiff University Professor and study researcher Ian Freestone, speaking to the BBC. "It does appear that people have been making them since then. Some of them are quite good, but some of them look like they were produced with a Black & Decker in someone's garage."
Suspecting their skull was a fake, the Smithsonian first carried out research on their relic in 1992. Meanwhile the British Museum list their skull as being "probably European, 19th century AD" and "not an authentic pre-Columbian artifact".
A simple search on the internet could have saved Indiana Jones the bother of coming out of retirement. Rather than chasing half-way around the world after these forged antiquities, leaving a path of destruction in his wake, it would have been far more efficient it he'd bought a lump of quartz and a power tool from Home Depot to satisfy his quest for a crystal skull.
Mariska Hargitay is the daughter of 1950's sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and the Hungarian-born former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay. She plays Detective Olivia Benson in the Law & Order spin-off TV series Special Victims Unit. Mariska is a Hungarian name meaning "sea of bitterness." Hargitay is also Hungarian, and means "of Hargita," a county in central Romania.
Namasté is a respectful greeting commonly used in India, Asia, and by people in yoga pants everywhere. It is a conjunct of two Sanskrit words: "namas" meaning "to bow" and "te" meaning "to you."
From a spiritual point of view, “Namasté: is taken to mean "I am your humble servant." Since Mariska Hargitay has overcome much adversity, including the grisly death of her mother to become a tough New York TV cop handling heinous crimes with poise and grace, perhaps the spiritual meaning of the guru greeting "Mariska Hargitay" should be "strength through adversity."
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Hindu groups in India are seeking to ban Mike Myers' new film, The Love Guru. In it, the shagadelic Austin Powers actor portrays a character called Guru Pitka, who is dubbed the "second best guru in India." Unfortunately not everyone is seeing the funny side of Myer's self-help industry satire, and pressure is apparently being put on India's Central Board of Film Certification and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ban screenings of the film in the country.
Bhavna Shinde, a representative of the Mumbai-based Hindu organization Janjagruti Samiti, is quoted as saying that Indian censors should, "stop distributing or screening the movie till Paramount has made necessary changes ... so that it will not hurt the feelings of the worldwide spiritual and Hindu community." American-based religious leader, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, has accused the film of "lampooning Hinduism."
Myer's Love Guru co-stars include Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Daily Show funny man John Oliver (as Dick Pants), and Gandhi star Ben Kingsley (as Guru Tugginmypudha). Real life uber guru Deepak Chopra also has a cameo role, and is featured in the film's publicity campaign. Guru groupies can log on to FavoriteGuru.com to vote for the man they'd most like to follow. So far Myer's alter ego Guru Pitka is leading with 62% of the vote, compared to Chopra's 38%, making it more decisive than a Democratic primary (if you ignore West Virgina like the superdelegates are).
Before Myer's started filming The Love Guru, he spent some quality time with Chopra to get the right vibe. In 2006 the double act appeared on The Sundance Channel's series Iconoclasts, and spent the day together in preparation for a symposium on comedy and spirituality that evening.
Chopra explained the need for laughter in spirituality, saying that, "When your soul responds to the paradox of our existence, to the contradictions of our existence, to the fact that wherever there is joy there is suffering, when your soul recognizes this, it can do nothing except laugh."
Myers closed the show, by saying, "Everything that I've read suggests that enlightenment is lightening up." After recent events, he may want to revise that statement.
Start the weekend off on the right foot with the highly contagious new single from Goldfrapp, entitled "Happiness," from their album Seventh Tree. Listening to this Sgt. Pepper style ditty certainly put a spring in our step.
If player fails to load click HERE to view music video.
TomKat welcome Oprah into their Colorado home for an interview the talk show host promises will "clear up everything." Does Tom pull-off his most challenging role to date, namely acting normal (a word Oprah uses in her interview repeatedly)? Will this intimate tête-à-tête repair the superstar Scientologist's damaged reputation? As Star magazine reports Katies Holmes is to spend 3 days at Scientology's Gold Base boot camp, is that even possible at this point? Watch the clips and decide.
The Daily Mantra joined actors Elaine Hendrix (What The Bleep, CSI, Joan of Arcadia) and Patrick Kilpatrick (Shark and Minority Report) last night at the U.S. premiere of Water, a film which carries on from where the 2004 sleeper hit What The Bleep Do We Know!? left off, exploring the mystical properties of water. The event was presented by Sandy Fox and Lex Lang, the husband and wife team who founded H2Om, the bottled water brand that comes pre-packaged with good intensions.
Photos (Nicole Powers): Top row, center Patrick Kilpatrick and Elaine Hendrix. Bottom row, l-r Elaine Hendrix, Lex Lang, Sandy Fox, and filmmaker David Sereda (The Voice).
The Daily Mantra would like to applaud pop star George Michael for his appearance on Eli Stone, (which stars Johnny Lee Miller as a lawyer with a higher calling in the title role). In the past, the publicity shy singer/songwriter has even refused to promote his own records, so when he stepped into the limelight for a cameo appearance on last week's installment of the hit ABC spiritually-charged legal drama, we knew it was for reasons beyond mere music and ticket sales, for Michael is a man who knows how to use his fame wisely.
In the episode in question, Stone represents a girl who was expelled from school for protesting about its abstinence-only sex education program by playing Michael's 1987 hit "I Want Your Sex" over the speaker system during assembly. In the show, Michael comes to her rescue, and funds her legal challenge to the expulsion; In reality, the singer used the high-profile TV appearance to challenge America's hypocritical, and highly misleading, policy of abstinence only 'sex education.'
"An abstinence only 'sex education' program is an oxymoron," said Michael from the witness box. "Abstinence can only be a choice if you have all the facts." One fact that's glaringly absent from such programs is that condom use is an effective option to protect against both pregnancy and disease. The silence is deafening, not just in our schools, but in the third world, where the poorest people on our planet have paid dearly, many with their lives, thanks to the deadly combination of AIDS and our no-sex dogma, which comes hand-in-hand with all U.S. government funded sexual health programs.
The AIDS issue is very close to Michael's heart. Michael's lover, Anselmo Feleppa, died of an AIDS-related cerebral hemorrhage in March 1993. "I Want Your Sex" was released in 1987, when Michael was still firmly in the closet (the singer came out to his parents shortly after Feleppa's death, and to the public in 1998). To dispel misconceptions about the anti-promiscuity but pro-sex song, which was banned by many radio stations due to its explicit lyrics, Michael recorded a prologue for the video in which he stated "this song is not about casual sex." During one of the scenes in the steamy video, which featured celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung, Michael is seen writing "explore monogamy" on her body in lipstick.
"It was inspired by a relationship. Like most of my work it was autobiographical," said Michael in response to a question posed by Stone's boss and trial colleague Jordan Wethersby (played by Victor Gaber) during cross-examination about the origins of the song. When asked if the song encouraged promiscuity, Michael responded by saying, "It's just the opposite. Ironically I wrote the song about abstinence and I was very much in love with someone at the time."
"When I wrote it we were in year six of the AIDS crises, a crisis that Ronald Reagan did not even address publicly until there were over 21,000 people dead, and what the government is doing right now, funding federal programs that tell children that condoms don't work, is killing people all over again."
To quote Mr. Wethersby, "Thank you, Mr. Michael." We rest our case. How many more of us will be caught 'praying for time' with HIV-infected loved ones before the state gets the church-infected dogma out our publicly-funded education programs and lets pragmatism take its course.
Talk about mixed messages. The rather inappropriately named Arts & Education channel is promoting the new series of Gene Simmons' Family Jewels with the tag line "One man, 4800 women?" Ironically the promotional campaign for the third series, which starts tonight, kicked into high gear (with the release of the rather sick widget pictured below which compares the mating habits of several animals, including Simmons) the same day a government CDC report came out that revealed that one in four teenage girls has an STD. The results are even more shocking when you consider that only 50% of the girls surveyed even admitted to having sex. The statistics were even worse for African American female teens, with nearly half having an STD (think about it, that means that statistically speaking 100% of black teenage girls who admit to being sexually active have an STD).
"The national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure, and teenage girls are paying the real price," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards in an AP interview. While our schools and doctors operate a "don't ask don't tell policy" due to confidentiality concerns, since parents would have to be told of any positive STD results, America's teens are having sex, picking up potentially life-threatening diseases, and find it hard-to-almost-impossible to get treatment because of our current laws, and the fear of church-driven parental retribution. This mass head-in-the-sand policy is clearly not working, and in the meantime we have A&E glorifying one gross (male) individual’s inordinate amount of sexual conquests, while promoting a reality TV show about a family. Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude, but we need a reality check, some balance, and some real arts and education here.
As we previously reported, Paris Hilton was only acting spiritual when she went out on the town in West Hollywood last Saturday night with a suspicious looking personal guru in tow. The shaman was soon revealed to be a shyster, a bit part actor whose previous credits include CSI, My Name Is Earl, and, our favorite, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Very spiritual.
Turns out the whole stunt was set up by Punk'd star Ashton Kutcher for a new TV show he's producing that premieres on E! this Sunday. The eight part series, entitled Pop Fiction, offers celebs the chance to turn the tables on the paparazzi.
In an interview with USA Today, Kutcher's Pop Fiction production partner, Jason Goldberg, claims that about twenty celebrities, including several A-listers, were in on the joke, and participated in similar stunts, though he's being tight lipped as to the names. He says that interest amongst stars wishing to exact sweet revenge on the out-of-control media was "pretty heavy."
"You're speaking their language. We live in a culture that's driven by media and obsessed with celebrity, to the point where they don't have private lives anymore," said Goldberg. "Two people going out to eat turns into, 'They're engaged.' It's a feeding frenzy. It's dangerous and it's irresponsible in some cases."
Goldberg claims that many media outlets have been duped over recent months, so it'll be interesting to see which stories we've read turn out to be fakes. Perhaps this explains Mike Huckabee's presidential candidacy, since surely that was never anything more than a joke.
"We're having fun," says Goldberg, "but we want to say to people, 'Can you really believe everything you read and see?' "
Quirky Icelandic singer Bjork set Chinese chatrooms alight after she shouted "Tibet...Tibet" at the end of a performance of her rousing song "Declare Independence" at a show at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center last night (March 3, 2008).
The song was originally written about the Faroe Islands and Greenland (who are bound to Denmark), and features the lyrics, "Start your own currency/ Make your own stamp/ Protect your language / Declare independence/ Don't let them do that to you."
Danwei.org, an English language site, translated some of the comments from angry Chinese fans. "If she was yelling free Shanghai, that would be great! Free Shanghai! Free Shanghai!" said one fan. "Those who put on the show should be severely fined and not allowed to bring this kind of trash in for performances," wrote another forum participant.
An earlier dedication of the same song to Kosovo during shows in Tokyo last month led to the rescinding of an invitation to perform at the Exit Festival in Serbia. While it's unlikely Bjork will be invited back to China anytime soon, it seems her comments did serve a purpose. "I don't understand, why do Western stars give a shit about Tibet. Isn't Tibet ours?" wrote one confused Chinese concertgoer. Inspiring people to ask the right questions is a good place to start, and is the intension behind much good, bad, ugly, and noisy art (click HERE to listen to the song and you'll know EXACTLY what I mean).
"In a time when the world is searching for enlightenment, one man is in a position to help." The man: Mike Myers. The position: Not exactly the Lotus.
Check out this hilarious trailer for Mike Myers' new flick The Love Guru. The Austin Powers star plays Pitka, the "second best guru in India," who, after being raised outside of his country by gurus, returns to the States in order to break into the self-help business. His first challenge: To settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player (played by 40 Year Old Virgin actor Romany Malco) whose wife left him for a rival athlete (played by Justin Timberlake).
The film, which gives Timberlake a pumped-up-in-the-trunks, Boogie Nights-style 70's porn star makeover, also features Jessica Alba (as Jane Bullard), Gandhi star Ben Kingsley (as Guru Tugginmypudha), and Daily Show funny man John Oliver (as Dick Pants). It promises some light-hearted enlightenment, and features the best transcendental invention ever: a motorized guru cushion so you can mediate on the go. Anyone know where we can buy one of those?
The Daily Mantra is glad to see new episodes of one of our fav shows, Medium, back on air. We’re loving the way the writers switched things up, with D.A. Manuel Devalos’ downfall making way for the entrance of Anjelica Huston’s mercenary character, Cynthia Keener (though we’re a little upset about seeing less of hunky detective Lee Scanlon played by actor David Cubitt).
In a recent TV Guide interview, Huston revealed there may be more to the seemingly cold-hearted Ms. Keener than we have initially been lead to believe. “Yes, Cynthia is flinty and weird, but there's a reason for that,” says Huston. “She harbors a dark secret and is on a quest. She needs money because of a personal interest I won't divulge. There's something very strongly at stake. In the end, you'll see she's actually a pretty good egg. I like that my character starts out being quasi-skeptical about Allison's powers, then starts to believe in them to the point where it unites the women.
When asked if she was “into this psychic stuff” the actress, who played who has played numerous supernatural characters, replied, “Oh, absolutely! I find it very fascinating. I don't want to sound like a page out of the National Enquirer, but I have some psychic powers of my own, a modest sixth sense, if you will. I think a lot of women have it, certainly not as acute a gift as Allison's, but we've got it! We weren't burned at the stake for nothing!”
Star Trek fans will have to wait an extra few months before their future begins. The new incarnation of the USS Enterprise had been set to blast off on December 25, 2008 (see previous story) but Star Trek XI's release is now being delayed until May 8, 2009.
"Summer is where you see the Star Wars and the Transformers," said studio spokesman Michael Vollman. "Star Trek is in that league." With the new release date, the stage is set for a battle of epic proportions between Star Trek XI and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is scheduled to open the week before. "Star Trek is in fantastic shape. This is all about box-office potential," said Vollman.
Click HERE to view official trailer.
Click HERE to find out which Star Trek leader those in the know think should be the next American president.
The Daily Mantra paid our respects to Aretha Franklin at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles last night. After randomly catching The Blues Brothers on TV the night before, and shopping at Whole Foods to the sounds of "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" yesterday, when some free tickets materialized at the last minute (thanks Ken!), we took it as a sign that the Universe wanted us to go see her, and we're certainly glad we did.
After the storm in a tea cup at the Grammys, when Beyoncé referred to Tina Turner as "The Queen," which upset Franklin since "The Queen of Soul" is a title she has long laid claim too, it was notable that the Nokia Theatre master of ceremonies kicked the performance off by introducing the legendary singer as the "Empress of All Music" (top that Beyoncé).
The night's performance seemed effortless to Franklin, who didn't break a sweat as she busted out classic after classic. When you watch the Aretha wannabes on American Idol, they always make you aware when they're going for a tough note, conveying the difficulty of the feat they're about to achieve as if to highlight their skill. While our new American Idols push and strain to attain pitch and volume, Franklin's only challenge is the fight to hold back and control her overwhelming vocal power.
The true magic of a great performer lies in making it all look so easy, rather than making the audience hit the edge of their seats every time they sense a challenging note coming along as today's so-called idols do. With the finale came a gospel choir, as if to underscore the fact that Franklin's talent doesn't lie in soulless vocal gymnastics, but is born of spirituality, and impassioned pleas to a higher power to raise all our spirits to a better place.
Check out the trailer for Morgan Spurlock's newest documentary, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (click HERE for our film review). You've gotta love Spurlock's premise: "If I've learned anything from big budget action movies it's that complicated global problems are best solved by one lonely guy." Ironically this trailer makes Spurlock's on-a-shoestring search for Bin Laden look like more of a blast than Indiana Jones' big budget quest for the Crystal Skull, the trailer for which also hit the net today.
While the end of the WGA strike is imminent, the teeming ranks of reality show replacements for scripted drama and comedy are about to be joined by a notable newcomer. None other than media mogul and people person extraordinaire Oprah Winfrey has, for the first time, tried her hand (and the many hands at her production company Harpo) at the reality genre. Oprah's Big Give, as the ABC show is called, will premier on March 2nd.
According to the Law of Circulation, both giving and receiving are necessary components of a healthy spiritual life, and freely and joyfully boosting one will likely boost the other as well. As believers in this law, we are pleased with the show's altruistic theme. For eight episodes, its contestants, who are given an initial tidy sum, will be judged on how much and how creatively and resourcefully they give away what they received. What sort of stewards and philanthropists each makes, in other words, will be the criteria of success or failure.
ABC's promo for the show (if player fails to load click HERE to view) tips off the audience that an extra million dollars to go to the champion giver is also at stake. This information appears to have been kept from the contestants the better to insure that a spirit of generosity rather than a spirit of greed prevails. Given Oprah's Midas touch and loyal fan base, the show's success seems all but assured. Hopefully it will inspire all its viewers to give more and to give more joyfully. At the very least, on March 2nd viewers can give in to their curiosity and give Oprah's Big Give a go!
Lost in Lost? Help is at hand, for viewers of the show at least, if not for those stuck on the island. Lost-Pedia is an unparalleled resource for all things Lost, hosting 3,575 articles, and counting, related to the enigmatic ABC series. If you've lost the plot, as Hurely did in last night's season premiere, you can fill in the blanks thanks to the kind folks at AOL, who are hosting all three previous seasons in HD online. With flash-forwards being the new flashbacks, even the most avid follower of the fortunes of Oceanic Flight 815 might need some enlightenment from Lost guru/blogger Daniel, who hosts a Lost Diary Q&A each Monday. Can't wait for the next episode? Oceanic Air promise to take you to "places you never imagined." Try booking a flight with them at FlyOceanicAir.com. And remember what's lost can be found. Join the search at Find815.com.
I was lucky enough to catch a screening of Morgan Spurlock's newest documentary effort Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While not in competition and therefore not up for any awards, the film was definitely a hit with festival goers.
Billed as a failed attempt to locate one demonized Arab, Where in the World succeeds admirably at achieving its true objective of humanizing the larger Muslim and Arab population for the film's American audience. The filmmaker, a charismatic, refreshingly down-to-earth West Virginia native best known for his earlier critique of the fast food industry, Super Size Me (and also for producing the light-hearted, anti-commercialization documentary What Would Jesus Buy - see review), uses his prodigious charm to create near-instant rapport with almost everyone he encounters in the film. Indeed, I for one was left wishing that the entire US diplomatic corps could be made up of Spurlock's ilk. Then I went further and took to fantasizing about a world in which his playful and guileless yet thoughtful persona and visage were the face of America throughout the world.
Viewers who tend to skip documentaries in favor of standard dramatic and comedic Hollywood fare will likely enjoy this often hilarious, well-paced movie. That Spurlock makes a series of conversations with serious-minded intellectuals, journalists and military personnel, along with a smattering of average, everyday folks, into such solid entertainment is a testament to his inventiveness. The film's video game conceit (pitting an animated Spurlock against an animated Bin Laden) along with the filmmaker's improvisational skill and quick conversational wit all contribute to the movie's many laughs. At the same time, Where in the World addresses serious issues such as the use by Al-Qaeda of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to recruit and galvanize extremists, the miserable conditions in remote regions of Afghanistan and the history of cynical, shortsighted US alliances with repressive Middle Eastern regimes.
Already set to be distributed by The Weinstein Company, Spurlock's documentary is likely to open wide. For the sake of increased international goodwill and deepened American understanding of the Islamic world, in other words, for the sake of peace, I certainly hope that it does.
The Daily Mantra awaits with interest the Thursday, January 31st premiere of the new ABC series Eli Stone. From The Flying Nun to HBO’s recent, ill-fated John from Cincinnati, supernatural offerings of one sort of another have rarely been absent from any TV season’s line up. The supernatural is a capacious genre. Even the presentation of just angelic phenomena encompasses everything from the wildly popular and equally treacly Touched by an Angel to the refreshingly gritty Holly Hunter vehicle Saving Grace.
Likewise, the prophetic territory staked out by Eli Stone’s creators has been explored before in shows like Joan of Arcadia. But while the new show’s content may be familiar, its promos suggest that its form is anything but. For instance, as fans of all things dance-related, Daily Mantra is pleased to see that this story of a high-powered attorney turned unlikely prophet contains some high stepping, toe tapping, straight-off-Broadway production numbers. And, having a high tolerance for kitsch when it is presented with a knowing wink, we refuse to be put off by the decision to dust off and resurrect 80's pop star George Michael, also featured in the promo.
Writers of TV shows often revel in the sly and not-so-sly naming of their characters. The makers of Eli Stone are no exception. “Eli,” after all, is a shortened form of a name shared with famed biblical prophet Elijah, and “Stone” recalls the substance on which the God of the Hebrew Bible etched the Ten Commandments before passing them along to another prophet, Moses. Will twenty-first century Eli Stone receive text messages from The Big Guy instead? More importantly, will this show spark our imagination rather than just pander to our most wishful and idle beliefs? In this strike hobbled era of slim TV show pickings, we’ve “gotta have faith, faith, faith” that it will.
A sneak peek of the all-new U.S.S. Enterprise has materialized thanks to the trekkies over at AOL. A teaser trailer has also surfaced online. Click HERE to view. The 11th Star Trek movie, which is imaginatively entitled Star Trek XI, is being helmed by producer / director J.J. Abrams (whose credits include Armageddon and Mission Impossible III). The film, to be released in Dec 2008, will star Zachary Quinto (Heroes) as the young Spock. The Star Wars-style prequel will focus on the early adventures of Spock and James T. Kirk. Leonard Nimoy has signed on to reprise his role, but, controversially, it has yet to be confirmed if the Enterprise's original captain William Shatner will have a place in the film.
You didn't hear it from us. There's a free special screening of our favorite documentary of 2007, The Price of Sugar, with a Q&A session with filmmaker Bill Haney. No RSVP is needed. Entry is on a first come first served basis.
Sia Furler would probably be the first to agree that she often wears her heart on her sleeve, and puts it out there in her music, her vulnerability being the source of her overflowing soulfulness, both vocally and lyrically.
After rising to prominence in 2001 as one of the stand-out vocalists of English hipster group Zero 7 's ever-changing lineup, Sia launched a successful solo career. Her debut full-length, Healing Is Difficult (2002), garnered rave reviews, but it was her second solo outing, 2004's Colour The Small One, that would firmly establish the Adelaide born singer/songwriter as a force to be reckoned with, the track "Breathe Me" being forever etched in the minds of many as the haunting song that played on as the cast of the HBO series Six Feet Under took their final gasps (click HERE to view).
While Sia's first two albums dealt with the turmoil in her own life, her third album, Some People Have Real Problems, released today, marks strides both musically and emotionally. Having moved from England to Los Angeles, and found a partner she cares enough about to convert to Judaism for, Sia has finally found herself on the road to happiness. The singer talked with the Daily Mantra about her introspective journey, which led her to dabble in both Buddhism and Scientology.
DM: I've noticed that throughout your solo work in some ways you've used your albums for therapy. Is the same true of this album?
Sia: Yes. Yes, it's a note to self. I'm getting a bit rich now, and I might be getting a bit famous, and I need to make sure that I don't lose touch with reality. While we complain about our bourgeois problems like bitter coffee, and things like that, there are people who don't have a mum, or legs, or rice. You know, some people have real problems.
DM: So that may be some kind of progression, because the last two solo albums...
Sia: Have been totally self-indulgent.
DM: Well not at all, because they're beautiful to listen to too, but I guess from a personal point of view this new album is up a notch on the happiness scale since you were able to take yourself out of yourself.
Sia: Yes. Although when I'm writing I don't ever think I'm writing about me. I think I'm writing a story or a notion. I've always thought it was about observation, or my friend's lives, but then sometimes I have to admit that that may have been about me at the time and I wasn't aware of it.
DM: Take me through some of the songs on the new album.
Sia: Well for me lyrically the most fun one was "Academia. "
DM: That's my favorite track.
Sia: That was so fun because that literally just vomited out. Then after I'd written it I then had to go back and do the research, make sure that the semantics were right. Really that's a song about when you're not getting your needs met in a relationship. You're not getting any love or affection, you're just getting palmed off with words. I guess it's when you're in a relationship with an intellectual, and it's just totally cerebral. There's no feeling or warmth. I think I had a bit of that experience with my stepfather because he was a judge and he was very intellectual. He wasn't very warm, and I could remember basically I was metaphorically tap dancing for him for like eight years hoping that he'd notice.
DM: And then you came to a realization that you didn't need to do that?
Sia: No. He left. He just left. I'm still tap dancing.
DM: So how long ago was that?
Sia: I was 17, and I'm 32 next week, so loads of time.
DM: But those things don't leave you.
Sia: Well you know, I think I've dealt with it. When I told you about it it didn't make me feel sick in the guts.
DM: It just made you write a great song.
Sia: Yes. You can't throw a dictionary at someone when they need a hug.
DM: Aside from "I Go To Sleep," which is cover of a song made famous by The Pretenders, are all songs on the album written by you?
Sia: Me and other people, because I don't write by myself. I'm no good at it. I'm not disciplined. Someone else has to be in the room, just to get it going.
DM: Like having an appointment at the doctors so you'll go.
Sia: Yes. Like we start at midday and finish at six. And with some people a song can take less than twenty minutes to be done. It's like channeling.
DM: So you say it's like channeling, where do you think it comes from?
Sia: I don't know. I don't ask.
DM: Do you have any kind of belief system?
Sia: I guess I think more than anything I believe in creating your own reality. But I've dabbled in loads of things, Buddhism, Scientology. I'm trying out Judaism now because I'm dating a Jew. I'll leave no stone unturned, sometimes I like boys, sometimes I like girls. I'm not one to let belief or gender get in the way of a good conversation.
DM: So what would you say you've taken from Buddhism?
Sia: I guess the peace element. You can't control anything so you have to learn to be able to experience everything, and just breathe through it.
DM: And the same question for Scientology?
Sia: I think a lot of it is very similar, like that whole 'only do things to other people that you think you would be able to experience easily yourself.' They're also heavy on the communication, on telling the truth and being above board, and really being as direct as you can be. And the main thing, which is their greatest teaching, is not suppressing anything, saying everything, getting it off your chest. That's what auditing is about. It's about someone listening to you without judgment. They just listen as you get everything you've ever had any shame about off your chest.
DM: And Judaism?
Sia: So far I don't know much about Judaism. I'm really just learning some of the Yiddish. I've yet to delve into that. All I know is I have to do the study otherwise apparently the mum won't like me.
DM: See, you've already got the Jewish guilt down. I think you're already 75% there.
The Daily Mantra saw a preview of Tim Burton's masterful gothic re-working of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd yesterday. While the 'priest pies' (see clip HERE) might put off our vegetarian readers, and the numerous cockroaches that died in the making of this movie may upset the PETA posse (well Mrs Lovett's kitchen is a dangerous place for any living thing to be), we have to say the ruby red blood fest is very entertaining, and strangely festive. Johnny Depp does pure evil disturbingly well, and handles the demon barber's vocal duties with aplomb, as does Helena Bonham Carter in the role of his pie-loving partner-in-crime. At least her baked goods have sustainably-farmed fillings, which on balance probably serve the environment better than the appetites of her hungry customers. Like the pies, the film is only for those with strong constitutions.
Does Indiana Jones, who's back in action this bank holiday weekend in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, know he's risking life and limb for a bunch of fake artifacts? Experts analyzed two skulls held by the British Museum and the Smithsonian that were once thought to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican relics, and concluded that they are modern fakes. The findings are published in the May 2008 edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Suspecting their skull was a fake, the Smithsonian first carried out research on their relic in 1992. Meanwhile the British Museum list their skull as being "probably European, 19th century AD" and "not an authentic pre-Columbian artifact".
The 
actor portrays a character called 
Talk about mixed messages. The rather inappropriately named 
As we 
Quirky Icelandic singer Bjork set Chinese chatrooms alight after she shouted "Tibet...Tibet" at the end of a performance of her rousing song "Declare Independence" at a show at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center last night (March 3, 2008).
The Daily Mantra is glad to see new episodes of one of our fav shows, 
The Daily Mantra paid our respects to 
The true magic of a great performer lies in making it all look so easy, rather than making the audience hit the edge of their seats every time they sense a challenging note coming along as today's so-called idols do. With the finale came a gospel choir, as if to underscore the fact that Franklin's talent doesn't lie in soulless vocal gymnastics, but is born of spirituality, and impassioned pleas to a higher power to raise all our spirits to a better place.
Lost in Lost? Help is at hand, for viewers of the show at least, if not for those stuck on the island. 
I was lucky enough to catch a screening of Morgan Spurlock's newest documentary effort Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While not in competition and therefore not up for any awards, the film was definitely a hit with festival goers.
