X Conference.

 

Has the government imposed a 60-year truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race and the planet Earth? Stephen Bassett - Executive Producer/Co-Host/ Panel Moderator of The X Conference thinks so. Bassett is the founder of the Paradigm Research Group, the Executive Director of the Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee (X-PPAC) and the creator of the Paradigm Clock. The X Conference 2008: The Insiders ll will be held at the Hilton Gaithersburg. MD from April 18-20, 2008.X-Conference Speakers - 2008

 

On Friday, April 18^th there will be lectures, a panel, Meet the Speakers Cocktail Party, and a documentary film screening.

 

The program on Saturday will have lectures, a panel, the banquet with Keynote Speakers (Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell and former Canadian Defense Minister, Paul Hellyer), the PRG Awards, special guests, and documentary screening.

 

Sunday continues with lectures; and on  Monday there will be a  National Press Club press conference (public welcome).

 

The documentaries screened will be Phoenix Lights; Touched (about the work of Dr. John Mack, pictured in Las Vegas in 1996); Odyssey (about contact; and Staya Erusa (about alternative science).

 

Among the speakers confirmed are my friends C. B. Scott Jones, PhD. And Dr. Brian O’Leary. Jones (pictured in his Maryland home office in 1993) is founder and president of the Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth.  The principal function of P.E.A.C.E. is to oversee the development of the global Center for Sustainable Peace and Development system.   Previous to this he was co-founder and president of the Human Potential Foundation.  This was established in 1989, and conducted research into all conditions of humankind: physiological, psychological and spiritual, to assist the individual to achieve the highest levels of human potential in body, mind and spirit in order to compete and cooperate at personal excellence through

out life.

 

Prior to this position he was Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell from January 1985 until March 1991. 

Brian O'Leary, PhD (pictured with John Alexander, Ph.D., who is also speaking at the X Conference) has over the past twenty years researched, lectured and written extensively about new paradigms of science and global transformation. His most recent book Re-Inheriting the Earth describes how we can lift out of ourselves out of our current path of global destruction. Much of his work is based on extensive international travels to some of the best and brightest researchers of new science, new medicine and "free" energy.

Dr. O'Leary has published internationally ten trade books on the frontiers of science, space, energy and culture.  He was a NASA scientist-astronaut, assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University alongside Carl Sagan, and has also taught Physics for Poets and Princeton University and technology assessment at the University of California Berkeley School of Law and Hampshire College. 

He is currently on the faculty of the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, teaching in the Masters program in Transformational Psychology. He is cofounding President of a new activist group The New Energy Movement.  He has recently completed the Sivananda Yoga Teachers Training Course and lectures widely at their ashrams and centers throughout the world. 

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Opening this Friday"

 

Semi-Pro

NO

 

 

 

 

Opens March 13th

Never Back Down

YES

 

 

 

 

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Semi-Pro. Will Ferrell has blundered with “Semi-Pro” and the ad campaign’s teaser line, “I just got back from an orgy” never made it into the movie I saw.

 

Someone left all the funny parts on the cutting room floor. And, who knew co-star Woody Harrelson was (a) so short, (b) so obviously medicated, and (c) needed a paycheck.

 

Let’s get started: It the 1970’s, which means Ferrell can wear goofy clothes and a Jewish afro. Like every Ferrell character, Jackie Moon (Ferrell) is unaware he is a buffoon. After penning one hugely successful song, Moon is living his dream: He’s the owner, coach, and star player of a Flint, Michigan basketball team. The Tropics semi-professional team is really all about Moon. He sings and choreographs the team’s dance numbers. What he is not interested in is strategizing a winning game.

 

Moon has cultivated a defeated team of players. He’s holding them hostage with his over-preening personality. As an opener to his character, he slaps one player several times.

 

The National Basketball Association is looking for four top teams for a merge and Moon decides that to win a spot he has to bring in a real player. He trades in the team’s washing machine for Monix (Woody Harrelson), a former “star” player with a bad knee who really spent most of his career on the bench. But he does have The Ring.

 

Besides winning games, the semi-pro teams must bring in 2,000 paying customers. Considering that Moon’s games are usually played in empty arenas, this is the biggest challenge he team has. Moon has an idea. He’s going to wrestle a bear in a cage as a pre-game draw.

 

Ferrell has no chemistry with Harrelson. Who decided to put these two together? The rest of cast is merely extras with dialogue.

 

Perhaps Ferrell’s rabid fans will make a hit out of this cheap, lazy production. The directing is terrible and, more important, it’s not funny. Who edited out the funny stuff? I happen to love Ferrell’s FunnyOrDie.com but no part of “Semi-Pro” would qualify for this internet site sensation. Ferrell has got to re-think his movie persona, now he’s just flogging his fame. 

 

The Other Boleyn Girl. I’ve read several books on Henry Vlll and I’m a fan of Showtime’s The Tudors (Mary Boleyn is omitted), yet “The Other Boleyn Girl” satisfactorily addresses many nagging questions left unanswered. Specifically, those charges against Anne Boleyn of treason and incest.

But first, some history: In 1520, King Henry VIII (pictured) attended the wedding of almost 12 year old Mary Boleyn and William Carey. According to “Henry VIII: The King and His Court” by Alison Weir, “At some stage, perhaps even before her marriage, although the timing is not clear, Mary Boleyn became the King’s mistress, supplanting Elizabeth Blount in his affections.”

In1526, Mary gave birth to her second child, a son called Henry. He was widely considered to be the king's son. He physically resembled the king, a fact often remarked upon. Perhaps more telling, Henry granted the Careys manors and estates during the affair and immediately before the child's birth. The King, who had already acknowledged one illegitimate son, did not do so with Henry Carey since by that time he was determined to divorce Katharine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn (pictured), the child's aunt. Henry VIII would have been too embarrassed to recognize his bastard son by his fiancée’s younger, married sister who had already given him a daughter. 

The conclusion by historians is that Mary and William’s two children were the king’s children. This suggests to historians that the marriage of William and Mary Carey was non-sexual.

Henry Vlll was obsessed with one thing – producing a legitimate male heir. Imagine the stress this put on his wives!

Princess Diana famously remarked that she had done her duty for her country and her sole purpose in life – producing not only an heir, but a spare as well.

“The Other Boleyn Girl” tackles the intense jealousy and conflicts that went on between Anne (Natalie Portman) and her younger sister, the virginal, saintly Mary (Scarlett Johansson), for the affection of King Henry (Eric Bana).

Anne and Mary’s father, Thomas Boleyn, is ruled by his brother-in-law the Duke of Norfolk, who plots to put Anne in Henry’s path after finding out that the King has lost sexual interest in his wife, Katharine of Aragon. Soon the King will be looking for a mistress, and the Boleyn family would profit handsomely if Anne were chosen. The girls’ mother, Lady Elizabeth, is horrified that her daughters are being prostituted.

Willingly, Anne is presented to Henry, but when he sees sweet, blond, naïve Mary, he is enchanted. He appoints Mary as one of Queen Katharine’s Ladies-In-Waiting and gives a prestigious position at Court to her husband. William Carey is well aware he is being a cuckold but for some reason not given, accepts. The entire family, including Mary’s brother George, is ensconced in London at Henry’s Court.

 

While Mary risks a dangerous pregnancy and is confined to her bed, the Duke of Norfolk tells Anne it is now up to her to seduce Henry. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

The screenplay by Peter Morgan is based on the 2002 novel by Philippa Gregory. By writing a novel, Gregory ponders a few points that have gone unrecorded by historical fact. Her reason, nicely revealed by Morgan, why incest was one of the charges against Anne, is understandable.

 

I’m not a fan of Portman, but as Anne Boleyn she shows the ruthlessness and jealousy that must have eaten at Anne. Her sister had given Henry a much desired and healthy son. Johansson has the more difficult role – that of innocent sister in the whirl of intrigue and treachery. But the historical Mary produced two children for the King: She must have been quite a sexual rival and was a powerful force at the King’s Court.