BBC America’s “Jekyll”, Sylvia Browne and Me, ShowTickets4Locals.com, Lewis Barlow’s BBQ Party, My Ayahuasca Article in The Anomalist, The Marxist Devil in South America, “Superbad” and “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” and more...

Mr. Hyde: “Ever killed somebody, Ben?”
Ben: “No. I have people.”
Mr. Hyde: “You should. It’s like sex, but with a winner.”
 

BBC America’s “Jekyll.” I stumbled onto BBC’s 6-part series “Jekyll” and it is brilliant! It stars James Nesbitt in the roles of repressed Dr. Jackman and horney killer Mr. Hyde. When the series begins, Dr. Tom Jackman has left his grand country house, his wife and twin boys. He is in the throes of a very bad relationship with his evil alter, Mr. Hyde.

At 41, Dr. Jackman has made a strange agreement with Hyde. They share the same body and have an agreed-upon schedule – like the FLDS sister-wives have with husband Bill on “Big Love.” To monitor both men, Dr. Jackman has hired a sensual assistant, psychiatric nurse Katherine (Michelle Ryan). She keeps both men’s secrets, their schedule, and monitors them through high-tech surveillance. Dr. Jackman has kept Hyde from knowing anything about his family since Hyde likes visiting prostitutes and torturing people to death.

In the first 2-hour episode, Dr. Jackman and Hyde find out that a sinister organization has been shadowing Dr. Jackman for years, waiting for Hyde to emerge. The organization is Hyde’s “creator.” Now that Hyde has come forward, they marvel over his powers of speed, strength, and love of killing. Even Hyde’s “mother” is afraid of him.

Not only must you catch up with “Jekyll,” this must become an ongoing series. Only six episodes? I’ve watched the two-hour premiere twice already! If it wasn’t for our DVR’s, I’d never go out on “Jekyll’s” Saturday night. BBC America - Jekyll

Lewis Barlow’s BBQ Party. With “Jekyll” safely set to record, we went to Lewis’ BBQ party on Saturday night. Becoming grander with each party, Lewis put a caricature artist to work memorializing over 40 guests with their portraits, too much food, and a professional karaoke machine – brought out after guests had just enough to drink. Ever wonder who shouldn’t sing out loud? Break out the karaoke machine and let the flat notes fall where they may. For the next party, if you must sing, why not ask for the karaoke playlist and rehearse at home? I heard the piñata was filled with dollar bills but when I finally got outside there was only candy on the ground. Join as one of Lewis’ friends on his myspace page http://www.myspace.com/mmilestones and perhaps you will be invited to the next house party! (Pictured, left to right, the non-singing Stephen Thorburn, Mark Jonah, John Alexander and Lewis Barlow. Photo by Jeff Mishlove)

Sylvia Browne and Me. Thanks to the generous Penny Levin, Corporate Director of Public Relations for Thunder From Down Under and SPI Entertainment, I was invited to see Sylvia Browne at Excalibur Hotel-Casino. We were in the front row!

John’s interview segment on the British documentary, “An Alien History of Planet Earth,” aired on The History Channel Saturday afternoon. Nick Cook, a British aerospace journalist, came to our house to interview John.

So I thought it was auspicious when Sylvia announced the topic of discussion would be “UFOs.” She teased the audience by saying Sunday evening’s discussion would be “The End of the World (What to Pack)”. Montel William’s crew would also be filming Sunday night’s event.

Sylvia did not spend too much time discussing UFOs because the full house attendees really came to give Sylvia love and get their personal questions answered. Here is the gist of what Sylvia said about UFOs: Aliens are here among us. We see them every day. They are everywhere and resemble us except they walk with a shuffle due to their adjustment to our gravity. Sylvia had two encounters with aliens. One was a telepathic communication in Death Valley; the other was with a live alien in a diner. The male alien had fake doll hair (pre-hair grafting plugs).

Sylvia got right down to the evening’s real agenda. She said that on Friday night she answered 110 questions. This night she would nearly answer a question for everyone. I had my number called!

I learned fast a few things NOT to ask Sylvia: Do not bother asking if dead relatives are around you or still mad at you. Dead people in heaven do visit often but do not care what you did or did not do regarding them. No one in heaven cares about the petty things we still care about; Everyone is going to make money in their new endeavors; and moving is a good thing to do. Most women wanted to know if they would marry and have children. So when my turn came I wanted a definitive answer. I asked Sylvia: “What is the name of my son’s future wife?”

You have one more weekend (Thursday to Sunday) to attend "An Evening with Sylvia Browne” at the Excalibur Hotel Casino August 23-27. All performances take place at 7:30 p.m. in Excalibur's banquet center. General admission tickets, priced at $75 plus tax and fees, are on sale now at the Excalibur box office. Call toll free 1-800-933-1334 for tickets. Tickets are also available at www.excalibur.com.

ShowTickets4Locals.com. Entertainment industry veteran Chip Lightman and my friend, über-publicist Laura Herlovich (pictured), have joined forces to offer locals complimentary show tickets through a new outlet, ShowTickets4Locals.com. In an effort to show appreciation to locals for their support of entertainers as they are forging their careers in Las Vegas, ShowTickets4Locals.com offers a resource for shows to connect with locals for that most coveted ‘word of mouth’ exposure amongst the Las Vegas community.

ShowTickets4Locals.com will also donate a portion of the company’s proceeds to a local charity each month. Charities need only send their letter of request for consideration of the funds to the public relations team at P.R. Plus.

Locals may sign up free of charge for complimentary tickets by going to the ShowTickets4Locals.com website. There will be an additional opportunity for members of ShowTickets4Locals.com to upgrade their memberships beyond the initial sign-up, if they choose. In addition to the tickets which might be more readily accessible to the members of ShowTickets4Locals.com, Lightman will be purchasing tickets to some of the harder-to-get shows to add value to the memberships.

ShowTickets4Locals.com is only available to locals with Las Vegas addresses and was created with that community in mind as a thank you for their continued support of all the entertainment making Las Vegas a bigger, brighter and better place to live. http://www.showtickets4locals.com/

The Anomalist. I recently got a call from Patrick Huyghe, editor of The Anomalist magazine. My article, “Medieval Mysticism and Its Empirical Kinship to Ayahuasca” will be published in the next issue, No. 13, of The Anomalist. My article compares the ecstatic states of medieval saints with modern ayahuasca experiences. The article draws on my 2000 experiences with the jungle medicine at the SpiritQuest retreat in Iquitos, Peru. The issue’s title is “Intermediate States” and will be in bookstores in November. “The Anomalist” began publishing in 1994 and this highly praised nonfiction anthology has had as its focus maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, and strange talents. (Pictured, the cover of “The Anomalist”, No. 12) THE ANOMALIST

The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America by Michael Taussig. I could not resist a book with this title from famed anthropologist Michael Taussig. My knowledge of Marxism is nil, so only a book linking Marxism and Demonology could woo me. “The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America” is an enlightening discourse interpreting devil pacts, baptized banknotes in Columbia's Cauca Valley and Bolivian miners through Marxist ideology. The section on Bolivian miners is especially interesting in light of American miners recently trapped in Utah's Crandall Canyon mine. South American miners knew that offerings and prayers were necessary before going into the mines. Unfortunately, such “superstitions” have been discontinued.

Catholics beware! Don’t baptize your baby in the southern Cauca Valley of Columbia!

According to Taussig, “…the godparent-to-be conceals a peso note in his or her hand during the baptism of the child by a Catholic priest. The peso bill is thus believed to be baptized instead of the child. When this now baptized bill enters into general monetary circulation, the bill will continually return to its owner, with interest, enriching the owner and improverishing the other parties to the deals transacted by the owner of the bill.” The child, unbaptized, cannot go to Limbo (since this year the Catholic Church said Limbo doesn’t exist; however, because of original sin, baptism is still the only way of salvation for all people), Purgatory or Heaven. The child’s soul is basically screwed.

I do have a feeling you could successfully argue that since your baptism was stolen from you God should give you a free pass. Amazon.com: Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America: Books: Michael Taussig

Movies This Week. “Superbad” (YES) and “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” (NO). “Superbad” is a loving ode to the penis. The pitch must have been simple: It’s about our penises. Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are best friends who will soon be graduating and going off to different colleges. They do not want to arrive at college virgins. Fat, curly-haired Seth is so unappealing and foul-mouthed you feel sorry for him. He’s this year’s Baudelaire but without the poetry. Evan is pathologically shy and socially inept. But Evan has one redeeming quality – he’s a nice guy caught up in Seth’s demented sexual fantasies.

When Seth’s masturbatory fantasy Jules overhears his conversation with the even more blissfully awkward Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), bragging he’s off to get a fake I.D., she invites Seth to her party. She gives him money to buy liquor. Evan’s dream girl asks him to pick up some liquor for her as well. Now both teenagers must get Fogell to try out his fake I.D. and buy $100 worth of booze.

Seth and Evan must find a way to get liquor to bring to the party. They plan on getting the girls drunk and having sex with them. Or, more importantly, getting oral sex. My family says I see homoeroticism in every movie. If two men stand too close to each other in a scene, I see romance. There is no denying the homoeroticism in “Superbad.” If this was a 40s movie, the fade-out after Seth and Evan cuddle together in their sleeping bags, would mean only one thing. And their awkwardness in the morning confirms it! Well, at least it did for me.

The whole movie is a love poem to a male teenager’s constant focus on his penis. Everything else is an annoying distraction. If there ever was a teenage coming-of-age comedy that was gay, “Superbad” is it.

“Mr. Bean’s Holiday”. Remember 1997’s “Bean”? If you loved it (who can forget Bean’s crayon touch-up of “Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother”, aka Whistler's Mother, or wetting his pants?), stay away from “Mr. Bean’s Holiday.” I chuckled once. This will really be the last we see of Bean.

However, everybody got a vacation in the South of France! You’d think Willem Defoe wouldn’t need to whore himself out for a vacation in Cannes. But, with Christopher Walken’s agent putting him in every high-pay, non-acting, semi-supporting role (though, in all fairness to the great Walken, he never supports anyone – he’s always the star of a movie regardless of the length of his part), I guess Defoe decided to show he too could appear in anything if producers meet his “quote.”

What was Bean’s appeal? Well, he might have been harmless, but you wouldn’t leave him alone to babysit the kids. The family pet wouldn’t have a chance. And what about his indeterminate sexuality? In “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” he goes from London to the South of France after winning a trip to the sea. Bean is finally orgiastic over the idea of the sea!

Bean teams up with a 10-year-old boy he inadvertently caused to be left alone on the train to Cannes. Bean takes a non-verbal interest in helping the kid out. At least they don’t have to share a sleeper car. Bean’s bizarre personality and anti-charm works best when engaging with very normal people. Ten-year-olds are not socialized enough to be appalled, frightened, or even shocked by Bean’s autistic behavior.