T
his Week:The Hangover 2, Raquel Welch at 69, Doorway to the Afterlife, Gringo Shaman on Coast to Coast With George Knapp, Virtual Child Porn in Japan, Clash of the Titans, Trance and Transformation With Sylvia Brallier, and more…

Raquel Welch, 69: Sex Is Overrated. Raquel Welch—69 years old—has been all over the talk shows, looking fabulous and hawking her new book Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage The book is hyped as “a message to women to embrace their aging spirits, instead of putting the focus on their aging bodies.” Welch has gotten much criticism about the book’s photoshopped/airbrushed cover.

However, she looks fantastic on talk shows. Good lighting can go only so far. In other Raquel news:

Raquel Welch, 69, arriving at JFK airport in NYC on March 30, 2010 said: “I don’t miss sex. Frankly, it is overrated and consistently hyped far beyond what it can deliver.”

Although Welch has been suspected of plastic surgery (no kidding!) and major airbrushing in photos, she attributes much of her youthful appearance to having a healthy lifestyle and exercising.

“Yes, of course I work out, because that’s my job. But I don’t expect every woman to kill themselves to look good. Why should it be their priority?” she said.

“Raquel Welch is the rudest, most unprofessional actress I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with, and if I could, I would spank her from here to Aswan.” —James Mason who worked with Welch on “The Last of Sheila” (1973).

ANCIENT DOORWAY TO AFTERLIFE DISCOVERED IN EGYPT.

          
Finally, they found the Doorway to the Afterlife. A large red granite false door from the tomb of an ancient queen’s powerful vizier has been discovered in Luxor, Egypt.

The carved stone door—which ancient Egyptians believed was the threshold to the afterlife—was unearthed near the Karnak Temple in Luxor and belongs to the tomb of User, a powerful advisor to the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut.

The rather small door, 1.75 metres (5.7 feet) high and 50 cm (19 inches) thick, is engraved with religious texts and various titles used by User, including mayor of the city, vizier and prince.

Hatshepsut (pictured), who ruled Egypt between 1479 BC and 1458 BC, was the longest reigning female pharaoh.

GRINGO SHAMAN ON COAST TO COAST AM WITH GEORGE KNAPP. I made a promise to Mother Ayahuasca I would do everything I could to make Ron Wheelock known in the U.S. for his humble and generous work with ayahuasca.

          
Ron is the only shaman not making a business out of performing ayahuasca ceremonies. Ayahuasca tourism is big business in Peru, with foreign retreat organizers becoming land barons.

Ron holds ceremonies typically on Tuesday and Friday nights at his modest retreat in Iquitos, Peru. The ceremony usually begins around 9 p.m. and cost 100 soles per person—a very modest fee. In fact, many of the big retreats in Iquitos are prohibitively too expensive for people wanting to continue working with the plant medicine year after year.

On Sunday, March 29, I was on the hugely influential radio show Coast to Coast AM hosted by George Knapp. Ayahuasquero Ron Wheelock and I were George’s guests for 2 hours. I got a lot of positive feedback! Ron Wheelock, affectionately known as “The Gringo Shaman of the Amazon” returns to his U.S. roots twice a year. (Photos: Ron with John Alexander; the morning after a ceremony at Ron’s retreat.) For more information on Ron and his work, go to www.ronwheelock.com/programs.

Virtual Child Porn. It’s a phenomenon in sexually-repressed Japan. Comic books (called “manga”) show children being sexual. The images are not illegal in Japan, because they are illustrations. The Tokyo municipal government plans to vote on March 30th to amend an ordinance against child pornography to include “non-existent minors.”

Much Japanese porn comes in forms that escape rules covering photos and videos: manga anime (cartoons); and video games. Japan makes no serious attempt to combat child pornography.

The legislation also applies to dating-simulation video games, in which the goal is a graphic sexual conquest. One, RapeLay, lets players choose their rape victims of any age.

THE HANGOVER 2. Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood has the exclusive. As usual, Nikki has the inside information. I have posted a summary of it here because it clearly states the star’s salaries for The Hangover.

Nikki says: “I’m told that Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms will each be paid in the vicinity of $5 million against 4% of first dollar gross. Director/producer Todd Phillips will be paid around $10 million against 10%. For Phillips, there are also escalators and bonuses that insure if the sequel does anywhere close to the original’s $467 million worldwide gross, Phillips will not make less than his income on the original. That meter is still running, and it has passed the $50 million mark.”

Nikki continues: “The three stars made less than $1 million collectively on a film that became Hollywood’s biggest grossing R rated comedy ever. Those stars did not have options locking them into a sequel. What they did have were teams of managers, agents and attorneys who negotiated together, determined about one thing: Warners and Legendary weren’t getting another Hangover unless the trio got paid well.”

“Warners’ uncertainty over Phillips’ casting choices were the reason the filmmaker gambled his upfront fee in exchange for slightly more than 15% of the film’s overall revenue that allowed him to make the movie for the $34 million budget ceiling that the studio established for that cast. At the time, only Cooper had any feature name recognition.

Cooper made slightly more than Helms and Galifianakis, but none made more than $300,000 to star in the original, I’m told. While Warners eventually cut each actor a $1 million bonus check right before sequel negotiations began, the cast was a bargain the first time around. So reps of the thesps were dug in for a long battle when the studio initially came to the table offering each actor $3 million against 1% of the gross, with a deadline attached. That deadline passed, and I heard that twice during the talks, Warner Bros chief Jeff Robinov walked away from the table and pronounced that the sequel was off.”

For the complete article, go to: www.deadline.com/.

TRANCE AND TRANSFORMATION WITH SYLVIA BRALLIER. On Wednesday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Sylvia Brallier will conduct a workshop on trance and transformation. Sylvia is a respected healer and spiritual teacher who has been transforming lives through her work internationally for over 20 years. She has authored two books, Dancing in the Eye of Transformation, 10 Keys to Creative Consciousness and Ancient Wisdom for Total Vitality.

Sylvia says, “I’ll be sharing trance techniques that will help you to dive deeply into the well of consciousness through meditation, dance, and shamanic journeying based on both ancient and new techniques for personal transformation. Hope you can make it!”

This is bound to be a fun and interesting experience for all who attend. Please come dressed comfortably for movement. Bring a blanket or yoga mat to lie on the floor, and a notebook to journal about your trance experiences.

The event will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, 3616 E. Lake Mead Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89115. There is a sliding scale contribution of $20–30. Please pre-register by sending an email to: sylviabrallierinfo@gmail.com. If you have questions you can call 510-417-2457.

Movie This Week. Clash of the Titans: The death knell of Greek mythology. Bury the Kraken.

Embarrassing and not worth wearing 3D glasses for 106 minutes. In fact, I did not even notice any 3D effects.

We are introduced to the ancient Greek’s reality of gods and goddesses running the universe and meddling into the affairs of the peasantry. Once it was reality; now merely childish and fanciful mythology.

The once colorful myth is the story of Perseus (Sam Worthington) who is saved from death as an infant by a fisherman. Since he is the only survivor of a catastrophe, he is immediately deemed a demi-god—the son of Zeus and a mortal woman.

Perseus is a fisherman and that is exactly what he wants to do—even though he doesn’t have a family or a boat anymore. He protests being acknowledged as a demi-god. He wants to fish.

Just so happens that there is a squabble going on between Zeus (Liam Neeson) and his hunched-back brother, Hades (Ralph Fiennes). As played by Fiennes, Hades is an unhappy supplicant to the mighty Zeus. He’s miserable with his post as overlord to the Underworld. As directed by Louis Leterrier, Hades is a sniveling, idolatry-driven sycophant—you know the type. The less-successful non-movie star sibling who keeps getting in trouble with the law. Hades keeps looking up to Zeus with an unnatural obsession. Where is Aphrodite when you need her?

With the humans becoming less dependent on the good will of the gods and goddesses, Zeus agrees to allow Hades to unleash hell and cause mayhem.

In order to restore order, Perseus must save Argos. Hades demands the sacrifice of Princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos), as a peace offering to the gods. Assisted by Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), Perseus meets up with a formerly human king (Jason Flemyng), a monstrous scorpion, and Medusa—who deserves her own movie.

The most annoying part of the story is Perseus’ ever-present and meddlesome guardian angel (Gemma Arterton). Perseus can either choose the Princess or the immortal angel.

And then there is the Kraken! All I can say about the feared Kraken is it is big and messy.

Now on to Worthington. As pre-demi-god Perseus, he’s hunched over and refuses to accept that Zeus is his father. One quick sword lesson and he’s ready to purge the world of the Kraken. Leterrier must have had a lot of delegating to do on this big project because Worthington is left to his own acting devices—(a) looking confused or (b) shell-shocked.

Also left to their own direction, Neeson and Fiennes star in their own movies—never making any meaningful contact with each other. Either they were paid a great deal of money or were contracted for a paid vacation in Africa for a weekend.

Yes, the vista is grand and the special effects impressive, but the 3D is rather dismal. And, with all the hail that Worthington has gotten, it is clear he needs a strong director to guide his performances. Or, an acting coach.