Bullshit detectors

I recently posted a link with information critical about Landmark Forum stuff on a mailing list I'm on after a certain someone posted a message inviting people to find out more about it. I'm almost incapable of refraining from warning people about things I perceive as potentially dangerous. When someone in a public forum is advocating untested, unsafe therapies, whether they're for physical or psychological ailments, I always feel compelled to at least represent the other side and warn of the dangers. Nevertheless, it was my intent to warn and inform people, not to start a flame war; I hope I didn't annoy brighn too much.

Specifically about Landmark-- from the research I did, I think they teach some good things. Some of the teachings I read about that rang true for me are that 1. we superimpose stories on life events and 2. we're awfully attached, sometimes, to being right and making other people wrong. Put just those two things together, and it's a powerful message. I find myself drawing unkind conclusions about why someone is not responding to me the way I think that person should, when there is almost always more than one way to interpret events, for instance.

So, I don't think Landmark is evil. It's just 1. the format and 2. the marketing that concern me. Depriving people of food and potty breaks, breaking down their esteem and building them back up, and strong-arming them into paying 100's and 1,000's of dollars for further training bother me. I'm pretty guru-proof, and people who are self-help addicts annoy me. I had some friends of friends who went to Landmark Forum a few years ago, and were all gung-ho, but then crashed bigtime into depressive episodes.

It's almost inevitable with Landmark. They keep you on the spiritual "high" from connecting with other people and processing your shit. But when you can't attend for a while, or they've sucked your bank account dry, you don't have those wonderful Landmark-heads around to bolster your esteem and keep you on that retreat-style high, and so you crash. No big mystery there.

Spy Kids 3-D

Ooh, this was fun. The local Goodrich Theater shows free matinees of kid shows on Sat. and Sun. mornings in the spring and fall. We're in the middle of the spring run, and this weekend was Spy Kids 3-D.

Now, while I heard the first movie in the franchise was cute, I've heard it went downhill from there. I can't confirm because I haven't seen any of them but this one. However, it was free and it was 3-D.

I haven't seen a 3-D movie in ages. The last one I remember was Jaws 3-D, which was a rather traumatic experience. My Dad took me when I was in junior high (or maybe 6th grade) because I begged. I didn't care what the movie was so much-- I just wanted to experience 3-D. The ONLY thing I remember from that movie was the very life-like severed arm floating in the water, right toward my face, it seemed.

As for SK:3-D, though, I thought the bit in the middle where our hero, Juni, is stuck in the videogame does go on for a bit longer than necessary. But you've gotta love a movie where Sylvester Stallone is the insane villain, Selma Hayek is a sexy scientist and Ricardo Montalban is the wheelchair-bound grandfather who becomes a Transformer-style kick-butt robot inside the video game. Lots and lots of cool cameos, too: Bill Paxton, Cheech Marin, Steve Buscemi, George Clooney, and more. Antonio Banderas, as Juni's Dad, is in it, too, but just a bit role. That franchise gives a lot of business to Latin actors, and provides good role models for Latin kids, too.

Some of the "lessons" were a bit over-the-top, but still worthwhile. For instance, Ricardo Montalban as grandpa makes Juni swear that once they're out of the videogame, he must continue to look at his abuelo like the superhero he truly is inside, even though he's in a wheelchair.