Technology
Searching For Beauty Under A Knife
I am often amazed by the amounts of money people spend on their appearance. Many people want so desperately to be beautiful. Some even go as far as cosmetic surgery, in order to be what they would deem attractive. I’m sorry, but nobody will ever be able to convince me to have surgery unless my life truly depended on it.
If only more people would realize that true beauty does not depend solely in your appearance. From what I have seen some of these so-called ‘beautiful’ people certainly are not very kind to the elderly or to children, neither are they gentle with animals. I’m not saying that taking care of yourself is a bad thing. But what is truly taking care of ourselves? In my life it means taking vitamins, getting adequate rest, meditating or praying, eating healthy and doing some exercise. Continue reading
Ol’ Boogeyman Still Comin’ To Getcha?
In my line of work there is often an unhealthy obsession with the concept of evil. It appears we are simply not able to rid ourselves of this ‘thing’ we seem to have for the boogeyman (here in my country known as the tokoloshe).
Just the other day I was listening to a radio psychic scaring the living daylights out of his unsuspecting caller. She just wanted some career advice, but instead he was hell-bent on convincing her that her home was infested with evil entities. His charming co-host also jumped in to offer some old-wives’ cures for getting rid of all the demonic forces. Truth be told, the only disturbance I was picking up on was the fact that the poor, freaked out woman would not be getting much sleep for weeks!
Now, don’t get me wrong. The struggle between good and evil is very, very real. It is a fundamental component of the human condition. It is also the basis of all Creation. It stems from the duality found in every important aspect of our expanding Universe: dark versus light, life versus death, night versus day. Light needs the presence of darkness to be truly visible and meaningful. Continue reading
Movie Psychics: Villains, Freaks, Heroes
Psychics and mediums in the movies are traditionally depicted as shrewd, flaky or simply evil. To this day it remains the exception to the rule to find a decent film or television show that genuine psychics will be able to relate to. Very few films in the archives offer a reasonably authentic representation of the ordinary psychic’s true life experiences.
The range of stereotypical stock characters in film is almost never-ending: from the typical dumb blondes and computer-hacking geeks, to corrupt Catholic priests, zany black cops, Las Vegas mobsters, flamboyant gay men, conspiring politicians, sex-obsessed teenagers and bombastic corporate executives with fat cigars.
Of course, psychics and mediums also make the perfect stereotype. We are ideal to be cast in the role of the satanic villain, or merely as an odd source of comic relief. For example, Whoopi Goldberg’s madcap portrayal of Oda Mae Brown, the fraudulent medium in Ghost (1990), was so well-received after the film’s release that she won a Golden Globe for her hilarious antics, as well as an Academy Award!
Hollywood relies on these stereotypes to increase box office success. Portraying misrepresented characters in a one-dimensional manner has a much wider audience appeal. Sadly, it also leads to ignorance, misconception, prejudice and discrimination. Continue reading