Back from Peru, Shihan Gary Alexander, 8 Movies in 6 Days, If Celebrities Were Real People, Buddha Relic Shrine Tour at The Flamingo, Bad Newz Kennel Entertainment, and more…

Back From Peru. The Retreat, Part 1. All the guests (owner and shaman Scott Petersen prefers to call them “pilgrims”) at Refugio Altiplano anointed it the “5-star ayahuasca retreat.” They should know, since many of the pilgrims had been on a shamanic tour, visiting many retreats in the area. (After visiting other retreats, most returned Refugio.)

Scott met me at the airport in Iquitos and took me to his well-run office in town. We then went by speed boat (pictured) to the Refugio. It is approximately a 1.5 hour ride south of Iquitos on the Amazon River. There is a small village, Tamshiyacu, about 20 minutes from the Refugio that, at times, is said to have satellite internet service.

The Refugio Altiplano currently has 1200 acres with 200 acres developed. It has 16 huge, isolated multi-story thatched roof houses (with 3 more houses being built) and vast wooden structures on the property for meetings, meals, and the daily practice of hammocking (pictured). I became so enthralled with the hammock I brought a red one in the Belen market for our bedroom. Since I am afraid of the sun and never go outside, it will have to be an indoor activity for me. The enormous ceremony structure, the malacho, can easily hold 50 people. I adored the staff and every time someone came to my house to bring me something or to lead me around the Refugio – I gave them gifts I had especially brought from Las Vegas. Since I do this on every trip I take, I brought makeup kits and jewelry for the women and tools and T-shirts for the men workers. (I brought a gift for our Mali, West African guide’s wife. He told me: “But I have 3 wives. I cannot play favorites.”)

Reducing my strict shamanic diet from egg-whites only to daily 2 servings of instant oatmeal packages I had brought with me, I did attend several breakfasts, lunches, and the last night dinner. Everyone told me the meals were fantastic and urged Scott to publish a Refugio cookbook. A light pre-breakfast of a plate of fresh fruit, juice and tea came to each house at 7 AM. (I declined the fruit every morning). Formal breakfast consisted of a generous bowl of soup prepared of eggs, noodles, chicken and vegetables and then a spiced egg omelet. A lunch was served late afternoon and consisted of fish or chicken, rice, potatoes and a salad.

Each large, two or three story house (photo of my “house”) is equipped with electricity, a hammock, and a large bathroom complete with toilet, shower and sink. There is a water tank on a balcony on the second floor. Every few days one of the workers came and filled up the tank. Each house has a bed on a wooden platform with a mattress covered by a mosquito net. There are also 2 tree houses on the property. They are impressive structures rising 4 stories above the jungle floor (pictured, the path up to the tree house). The property has several fish ponds and a botanical garden where they are growing all their medicinal plants that they use in their healing medicine. The Refugio pilgrims could also swim, hike, kayak, fish and visit neighboring villages.

Next week, Part 2: The Refugio Shamans

Shihan Gary Alexander Coming to the West Coast. Shihan Gary Alexander, Grand Master 10th Dan, will be in the Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Las Vegas area from August 15 to 29th. Shihan Alexander is the “Very First” Mas Oyama North American & International Full Contact Champion & “Undefeated Fighting Master” Land, Sea, Air.

Shihan Alexander’s seminars are for Military, Law Enforcement, Dojo‘s and the Film Industry. Shihan Alexander teaches Core Fighting Combative Seminars specializing in Explosive Striking Power, “One Hit, One Kill“, Strategic Offensive & Defensive Fighting Combinations, Tactical Strategic Situation Self Defense and Tactical Strategic Fighting with, and defense against, Edged Weapons.

Shihan Alexander’s Seminars feature protective and defensive Combative Arts. The Seminars increase one’s fitness profile, concentrates on discipline, individual capability, and survival techniques. All attendees receive Certificates of Participation. If you would like to sponsor a Shihan Alexander Seminar for your Dojo, Organization, or Event call 732-906-0165 or email: garyalex2@verizon.net. For further information go to: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzet3n68/garyalexander/

Bad Newz Kennel Entertainment. While New Agers keep talking about love and peace and how we, as a species, are moving towards a higher vibrational spirituality, comes the news that Americans are enjoying vicious canine death matches as family entertainment. They bring grandma and the kids.

The horror of centuries of cheering crowds watching vicious Roman gladiator games, wholesale crucifixions, Aztec and Mayan human sacrifice, The Spanish Inquisition, and The Holocaust are all “never again” grotesque human behaviors. Violent video games and slasher-torture movies are our modern ways to satisfy our reptilian brain urges – I call it “Reptilian-Complex Nirvana”. Or, at least that’s what I thought until I started reading about the horrific bloody sport-to-death of dogfighting.

Dogfighting has it all: The screaming crowds waving cash, the wailing sounds of suffering dogs being ripped apart, the blood spilling all over the fans in the small dirty ring, the chewed body parts, the suffering, and the death rattle. There’s loud music, food stands, and beer!

No one has been able to explain why Michael Vick (pictured), the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons quarterback star, a very rich man, was running dogfights. The case against Vick began when investigators conducting a drug search at a home owned by Vick found 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and equipment typically used in dogfighting. They included a "rape stand" that holds aggressive dogs in place for mating and a "breakstick" used to pry open a dog's mouth.

Vick’s dogfighting operation began in 2001, not long after Vick was the first overall selection in the NFL draft. His first contract was for $62 million. In 2004, he signed a 10-year, $130 million deal, then the richest in league history. The indictment says the fights offered purses as high as $26,000, and that Vick once paid $23,000 to the owner of two pit bulls that had beaten Bad Newz Kennels dogs.

Dogs that don't win are electrocuted, shot, hung, beaten to death or burned. The animals' owners file the dog's canine teeth into a sharp point, or put ground-up glass in their fur before a fight. And how’s this for the fine points of the competitors?

“Gameness” is what the dog fighters strive for. “Gameness” is the willingness to continue fighting, even in the face of extreme pain, even in the face of death and is something that's bred into the dogs.

There are pit bulls that have been bred away from the fighting lines that are perfectly socialized, but the game-bred dogs -- bred for fighting -- just have it bred in them to want to kill any dog in front of them. The Humane Society estimates 40,000 people may be involved in the blood sport nationwide and 100,000 in street dogfighting in urban cities.

8 Movies in 6 Days. Since coming back from Peru, I’ve been plunged into a week of movie going. I’ve seen “Talk To Me” (No), “No Reservations” (No), “El Cantante” (Yes), “Sunshine” (Yes), “Stardust” (Yes), “The Bourne Ultimatum” (Yes), “I Know Who Killed Me” (Yes, but…), and “Rush Hour 3” (No). Very brief summaries of my film reviews follow.

“Talk To Me”. Petey Hates Whitey. I’ve learned that a negative review of any sports movie, comic book movie, or black biography movie is guaranteed to get irate responses from rabid fans. I’ve sworn off sports movies altogether. “Talk To Me” is the true story of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene, Jr. (Don Cheadle), a convict who, in the 1960s, becomes a highly influential Washington D.C. radio DJ. Petey is a bully who throws away his career. All the characters are straight out of black exploitation films. The most interesting psychological aspect of Petey was set aside as the director and screenwriters preferred to keep the focus on the bravado nature of the character.

“No Reservations”. Inconsequential and predictable. I used to live in Manhattan’s West Village and it still looks like the charming neighborhood I cherished in “No Reservations.” Trust me, you would prefer I wrote about my years living on Bank Street than this movie, which is dull and boring. 22 Bleeker Street’s head chef Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a workaholic whose life is disrupted with the death of her sister. She gets custody of her 9-year-old niece, Zoe (Abigail Breslin). Then her boss brings in a new sous-chef, Nick (Aaron Eckhart). Jealousy, dislike, then predictably love comes to Kate and Nick through Zoe.

“El Cantante”. I loved it. It has great acting, direction, story, and music. The sexual chemistry of the stars was palatable. Lopez and Anthony are sensational. Marc Anthony is very short, maybe 125 lbs tops, and has been nicknamed “Skeletor” on gossip websites. Yet on the screen he is mesmerizing. You can’t stop looking at him. He’s got it and the camera shows it. I know exactly what it is and, if I wanted to tell you what it was, I could.

As weird as it sounds, Marc Anthony has a sexual electricity that comes across. He does a terrific job as the likeable, drugged-out Hector Lavoe. And he is a terrific singer and performer, so his stage performances as Lavoe are exciting to watch. The film opens with a personal-war-ravaged Puchi (Jennifer Lopez) being interviewed about her famous dead husband, The King of Salsa, Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony). Puchi is a tough lady and lays out the warts-and-all-story of her 20 years with Lavoe. And what a story it is. Lavoe reaches international superstardom but along the way becomes a willing victim to the vices of, among many things, other women and drugs.

Someone once said about heroin: “If God created something better, He kept it for Himself.”

Real life husband-and-wife acting teams rarely work on screen and most people were astonished when Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony announced they would co-star together. With Leon Ichaso directing (as well as having written the screenplay with David Darmstaeder) and Lopez foregoing the glamorous, saintly wifely role for one of honesty, depth and grit, she delivers a terrific performance layered with many dimensions. Lopez is sensational. She has returned to acting.

As producer, Jennifer Lopez chose the perfect director to bring Hector Lavoe’s life and music to the screen. Ichaso presents the music as a celebration of sexuality and love of life. All the scenes are vivid and filled with an emotional charge. He has fashioned performances from Lopez and Anthony that are psychologically vibrant. This is more than a musical about the birth of Salsa, it is a stark look at a marriage destroyed by fame and drugs.

“Sunshine”. Fascinating thought-provoking religious-psychological sci-fi thriller. We have all heard that our 4.5 billion years old sun is dying. It has used up about half of its nuclear fuel and in approximately 5 billion years from now, our sun will begin to die. Or, as “Sunshine” presents it, something happens in 2057 and our sun is on its deathbed. The planet is freezing. Something must be done. A spaceship, Icarus, was sent to throw a bomb into the sun and revive it. Icarus never reached its destination, so Icarus ll takes off seven years later with eight crew members. The crew hears a distress signal from Icarus l. As they are out of radio contact with Earth and on close course to their target, the crew has to decide if they ignore the signal or go on a rescue mission?

They agree to go to Icarus l and get its bomb as back-up insurance. The Navigation officer makes a grave miscalculation. “Sunshine” raises a question that it answers in the affirmative: If God plans our sun to die, do we interfere?

But what if a crew member got a message from God saying, “Mind your own business”?

This fascinating ideological premise is abstractly presented and obscured by “Sunshine’s” quick turn into a horror flick with a sunburned villain (or is he God’s handyman?) on a rampage.

“The Bourne Ultimatum”. He doesn’t talk, eat or sleep and goes around the world on a fake passport and ten bucks! He beats a guy to death. It’s non-stop excitement. Jason Bourne is Matt Damon’s Golden Ticket. It is the only role that has showcased his masculinity and intelligence. We like Bourne because he improvises a reflexive instinct of survival in clever ways. We also learn some tradecraft. We do not learn how Bourne travels around international cities with no luggage, credit cards, or cash. He never has to wait 6 hours between flights.

Bourne (Matt Damon) is still being hunted mercilessly by black program leaders within the CIA and NSA. As we know, he was part of a secret assassin program. His handlers are fed up and want him dead and buried.

Bourne knows by heart all flight schedules (he flies to Paris, Turin, London, Madrid, and New York) and also when the Tarifa-Tanger Ferry leaves port. He uses Obi-Wan’s “These aren't the droids you're looking for” to pass through Morocco’s Mohammed V International Airport.

Not only is “Ultimatum” sensational action, we do learn the back story that Bourne has been desperate to uncover. Paul Greengrass directs with a lightning pace that never lets up. Bourne keeps running through mobs, cities, and rooftops. Bourne, not even wearing helmets or seat belts, miraculously survives multiple car crashes. While “Ultimatum” may challenge the reality of real life car crashes, it certainly delivers high octane action. 0This is supposed to be the end of the Bourne trilogy. I wouldn’t beat the family farm on it.

“Stardust”. Simply divine fantasy. Pfeiffer casts a spell. A star falls and Victoria (Sienna Miller) agrees to marry Tristan (Charlie Cox) if he finds it for her. To do so, he has to go beyond his village, where a wall is guarded by an old man. No one is allowed to pass into the magical land. He gets past the old man and finds Yvaine (Claire Danes), the fallen star.

Lord Stormhold (Peter O’Toole) wants the star as well and sends out his last three living sons (accompanied by their four dead siblings) for the star. And, then there’s ancient witch Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her two sister-witches. If they can find the star and eat her heart, they will all be young and beautiful again. They store up all the magic they have left and give it to Lamia to venture out in search of Yvaine. Along the way Tristan meets pirate Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro), a rather unusual man. But it is Pfeiffer who is spellbinding and will be everyone’s favorite witch, even if she stayed old and ugly. Director Matthew Vaughn has done a sensational job. It beats “Harry Potter” in wizardry.

“I Know Who Killed Me”. Terrible, but not a bad as Lohan’s last 5 movies. It is obviously is not a teen comedy but I was surprised when it began with a low-rent stripper, Dakota Moss (Lindsay Lohan), wringing around on a tiny stage (though clothed) in front of old men. Immediately we go to a perfectly normal upper-middle-class family where Aubrey Fleming (Lohan) is prissily fending off the sexual advances of her football player boyfriend. There’s a serial killer in this picture-perfect town and one of Aubrey’s classmates has been brutally mutilated and dumped. Then Aubrey is kidnapped by the town’s serial killer.

Strangely, Dakota’s middle finger starts bleeding at the strip club and then is pulled off as double Aubrey is horrifically mutilated while wide-awake. The old couple next to me got up and left, and I hid my eyes. It was grotesque.

Weeks later, Aubrey is found alongside a road and denies being Aubrey. She insists her name is Dakota. She is also a feisty, capable young woman who accepts her mutilation with a degree of, “Well, shit happens.” She’s missing a leg and a hand. Dakota’s attitude is refreshing.

After being fitted with a fake hand and leg, she’s too lazy to bother plugging in the mechanical leg. I know I’m supposed to hate “I Know Who Killed Me” but, if I judged it alongside other low-budget horror films in this vein, like “When A Stranger Calls” (or even cruel fluff like “The Princess Diaries”), I would say that Lohan does a very good job, especially when playing Dakota. And the film is rated “R.”

“Rush Hour 3”. A dated, anti-American comedy. I hope they all make enough money never to make another Rush Hour movie again. “Rush Hour 3” is going to be huge and Chris Tucker was a stubborn genius to wait until New Line bowed to his $20 million salary and 20% back-end profits demands. How do I know this movie is critic-proof and will make Tucker enormously wealthy? I heard that for the Friday night 8PM advance screening, people began lining up at noon.

Some things have changed. Chinese Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) is now guarding an ambassador and LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) is directing traffic. They team up once again, and while the homoerotic suggestions, “You are my brother, I love you!” are still flying in abundance, Carter’s constant humiliation of Lee has been dropped. Can you believe the writer, Jeff Nathanson, actually put that dinosaur routine, Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First?” in “Rush Hour 3”?

Director Brett Ratner, who directed “Rush Hour” and “Rush Hour 2”, takes home his big paycheck, but who directed this movie while he was hanging out in Paris? The direction has no style and is lazy. Tucker plays his part to the extreme but has no chemistry with Chan. They sing songs.

Buddha Relic Tour. From July 27 to 29, the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel hosted “The Maitreya Project Heart Shrine’s” relics. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of Maitreya Project, said: "Relics come from masters who have devoted their entire lifetime to spiritual practices that are dedicated to the welfare of all. Every part of their body and relics carries positive energy to inspire goodness and reduce negativity… we can see how these relics are so precious."

The Maitreya Project Heart Shrine relics have been donated to and collected specifically for placement in the Heart Shrine of the 500ft/152m Maitreya Buddha statue.

The collection is truly extraordinary. I went to the Opening Ceremony and after the monks chanted and I viewed the relics (including those from Tibet’s great yogi Milarepa - we viewed his cave in Tibet), I knelt in front of a monk who placed Shakyamuni Buddha’s relics on my head and said a prayer. It was so auspicious and I gained much “merit.”

There are many relics of Shakyamuni Buddha and of the Buddha's well-known disciples - Maudgalyayana, Ananda and Sariputra - as well as relics of many other saints and spiritual masters from the Chinese, Indian and Tibetan traditions.

Among the relics are The Buddha Shakyamuni's blood relics (pictured) and head relics.

The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni or Gautama Buddha, lived about 2,500 years ago in India. However, he was not the first Buddha, and will not be the last either. He taught that during this eon (very long time period, maybe comparable to the life-time of the universe as we know it), there would be 1,000 fully enlightened Buddhas who would introduce Buddhism (after it has been totally forgotten). The numbers one to three in this eon are Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kashyapa, then comes Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha). The next Buddha will be called Maitreya.

What if Stars Were Normal People? What would they be doing? What would they look like? For one thing, they would all be fat. This is absolutely brilliant. Go to planethiltron.com to see your favorite stars and celebrities. The photo captions are hysterical: Jennifer Aniston, Kansas City accountant and mother of two; John Travolta, Sacramento Arby's franchisee; J.C. Penney portrait of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, your Albuquerque real estate professionals; and Larry King: Grandma isn’t as sharp as she used to be.