#literally grew up in a yoga cult

[twisted-tales-told]

Who let me buy this fucking book (it’s me. I did. And now I’m in shambles)

[whatisonthemoon]

On the lack of analysis when discussing UC parapolitical history

I appreciate all the open discussions on facebook groups, blogs, Twitter, of the Unification Church’s actual origin story and history, as well as unveiling their current role throughout the world’s governments. The Moonies own history has a lot to teach us about the world and how dominating countries maintain their positions in the global economy. Psychological warfare through the education system, media, social and cultural institutions (like CHURCHES), etc., is a major part of this, and how the UC made partnerships with governments (S. Korea, Japan, USA, Chile, etc.) shows how this is done in a very clear and expansive way. 

But I must say, there is something that seems a bit misguided to keep offering all this information without any kind of analysis. 

For those of us in developed capitalist countries, learning these things may only feed a kind of political paralysis... as we are somewhat assuaged by the spoils of our country’s exploitation of the world. 

We all know that how our economy works depends on the exploitation of the global south and, ultimately, the destruction of the climate. 

And yet... here we are. Ordering UberEats. Getting our monthly Amazon packages of skincare. Going to yoga, or happy hour. All fine things - there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, especially for us. But why do we think that we must find comfort and peace for ourselves as the world bursts in flame? Why are so many of us unwilling to explore real collective solutions to our real collective problems? Is it because, those solutions, may be uncomfortable... may require struggle... and for us ex-Moonies... may lead us to live for the sake of others...

This stumbling block makes sense. But individualism is a symptom of capitalist mode of production and how society molds us to think, especially for people living in the United States. It is not noble. It is not healthy. It is delusional, and quite literally killing the world.

Living for the sake of others is a refrain and notion that has left many of us unable to consider boundaries or how people’s behavior and actions are affecting us. It has left many of us accepting abuse. It has left many of us naive in some critical social ways. 

But what if instead of living for the sake of others, you lived a life where you recognized our undeniable interconnected nature as humans, and did what you could to honor and nurture that, so we can genuinely construct a society that makes it easy and natural to be a good (loving) neighbor...?

What would that mean for our governments? Our economies? Our day to day life? What would would it mean to get to that world where it is “easy and natural to be a good (loving) neighbor”? Especially when a few imperialist countries dominate the majority of the world and would never be actually willing to make semi-colonial countries “equal global partners.”

Recognize that people have been thinking and DOING something about these questions and contradictions for a long time. And many have made major sacrifices, even died for these solutions, and to their dying breath believed it was all worth it. Realize that this journey for a new and better road has and will be a winding path, and there are mistakes, there are errors, and many, many lessons to be learned. And that is scientific.

If we’re going to talk about how these imperial countries used the church we joined / grew up in, let’s talk not leave the conversation there. Let’s talk about the root problem, and let’s do something about it. 

People are doing something about that root problem all over the world. Look to their victories, look their lessons, look to their ongoing struggles... find hope and strength there... and do what you can to support them. We all need each other to overcome this root problem... in order to not just save people from cults, but to save the world from the worst of potential climate genocides, and to free billions into a new world, no longer bound to the violences of capitalism. 

Support anti-imperialist struggles all over the world. 

Do what you can to end our governments’ funding of bombings and state terrorism against Indigenous peoples, social activists, workers, peasants, and liberation movements.

Learn from these movements against imperialism and keep up with their asks from the international solidarity community.

Organization is KEY to achieving our goals. For those in the imperialist countries, join anti-imperialist solidarity organizations.

The world is full of extreme exploitation and suffering. It doesn’t have to say this way.

[loremonster]

Things that happened with me in the last decade I didn't fuckin expect

Writing for the Batman fandom -> realize I'm a pansexual disaster who had a repressed crush on their best friend since gradeschool and that's why I was always trying to play matchmaker for him cause I wanted someone to love him the way I would have

Writing for the South Park fandom -> realize I'm nonbinary but didn't have the language to describe it even 5 years ago because my parents were conservative assfucks who tried to Just Not Talk About It even tho MY MOM IS THE MANLIEST MOTHERFUCKER I KNOW like 24 pack of beer let's go cut down a tree and set up a bonfire to cook over with a cast iron skillet, but LITERALLY cannot focus indoors long enough to cook an egg because OH SOMETHING OUTSIDE NEEDS TO BE DONE ( she has caused 2 fires ) and GLEEFULLY recounts whenever she's called Sir instead of maam or miss

Still Writing For The South Park Fandom -> Meet enough other autistic folks that I share life experiences with that I begin to seriously consider I may have been misdiagnosed as a kiddo as ADHD

STILL Writing For The South Park Fandom -> Fully accept I Need Help with my mental and physical health and recommit to the overwhelming process of dealing with the health system, including persuing gender affirming care once I got back to WA

Get overwhelmed when lockdown happens

Stop in the middle of an unfinished holiday special because dear god lockdown was hell and financial difficulty had forced hubby and I to move onto base where the national anthem played EVERY DAY at dawn and dusk ( a ritual known as Colors ) that IT IS EXPECTED FOR CIVILIANS TO STOP WHAT THEY ARE DOING, FACE THE NEAREST SPEAKER OR FLAG, AND REMAIN STILL UNTIL ITS OVER, but no one tells you that. Ever. If you're driving, you're expected to pull over with emergency flashers and wait until the anthem is over. Again, you are not TOLD this, and base police will come after you for it and threaten to revoke your base privileges; meaning RENDER YOU HOMELESS if you live on base.

I suddenly got REALLY interested in cults

Learned way too damn much about the Alt Right, as well as the older hate movements they grew from

Started Writing And Drawing In The Fallout Space -> Realize I'm a socialist and Holy Shit All The Things My Parents Told Me About History And Politics Was A Gigantic Crock of Shit They Got Sold In The 50's And Never Fact Checked

Burnt Out In The Fallout Space -> wow I really need to do more yoga if I'm gonna draw that much, stretching is important folks pls take breaks for the love of all that is good and holy

Lost My Routine From Burnout -> hoooooooly shit I'm Autistic how the fuck did I not realize this????????

Still Burnt Out -> but goddamn I DO WANNA DRAW THAT MUCH! I WANNA MAKE COMICS AND ILLUSTRATIONS WITH MY STORIES! I WANNA MOVE MY SHIT TO AO3 AND LEARN HOW THAT SHIT WORKS BECAUSE IM PROUD OF MY WORK AND I WANT TO SHARE IT, DAMNIT

So

That's where I'm at, lol

[trendy00]

Why the ancient Indian art of hair oiling is the secret to healthier hair

Article from Vogue

When we first encounter Kate Sharma in Bridgerton Season 2, it's not so much her horsemanship that catches our attention but her gleaming, gloriously thick head of hair. A few episodes later her secret is revealed and it's just one of many reasons to fall in love with the Indian hair oiling technique “In Sanskrit, ‘sneha’ means both ‘to love’ and ‘to oil’,” says Akash Mehta who, together with his sister Nikita, founded Fable & Mane, a haircare line inspired by the Indian traditions and ancient fables they grew up with. “So in Ayurveda, the act of self-love literally starts at the crown." Specifically, Mehta is referring to hair oiling, a centuries-old ritual that is currently appealing to a very modern audience. In recent years, Ayurveda-inspired wellness practices have become a part of our every day lives without us necessarily realising it – drinking hot water with lemon in the morning to flush out toxins, dry brushing, doing yoga or knocking back a turmeric latte. But hair oiling remained shrouded in mystery. However, ever since the infamous scene in Bridgerton where Miss Kate Sharma is seen massaging oil into her younger sister Edwina’s hair, the practice has quietly been rising in popularity, stealing the spotlight away from simple masks for shiny, strong strands. A moment of cultural significance, it revealed hair oiling to be both an act of tenderness and familial bonding. Similarly, both Akash and Nikita recall their grandmother treating their lacklustre hair by massaging a blend of handcrafted oils into the scalp. “She would focus on the crown chakra to alleviate tension from the very roots of the hair, all the while soothingly recounting fantastic fables about India’s rich plant and animal kingdom,” they say.

Practically speaking, hair oiling is believed to strengthen and condition the hair, promote growth and rebalance the scalp. According to Michelle Ranavat of South Asian-founded Ayurvedic beauty brand Ranavat, the treatment should be practiced before taking a shower or before bed at night to harness the restorative powers of the natural oils and give strands much-needed nourishment. In terms of technique, apply your chosen oil to parted, dry hair, massaging into the roots in a circular motion to create warmth for better absorption, circulation and relaxation. Whether you choose to leave the oil on for 10 minutes or overnight is up to you. But given it's not being used as a leave-in styling product, all hair types from fine to natural will welcome its moisture replenishing properties. Ranavat recommends her eponymous Mighty Majesty Fortifying Hair Serum, infused with amla extract and a high concentration of oleic acid, jasmine and sunflower oils. Likewise, alma, bhringraj and bhrami are hand-blended into a traditional base of sesame and coconut oils in Mauli Rituals Grow Strong Hair Oil. While Fable & Mane's cult-ish HoliRoots Oil is a prewash treatment laced with ashwagandha, an anti-inflammatory adaptogen renowned in India for thickening the hair, as well as circulation-boosting dashmool and castor oil. “The head is home to our nervous system,” says Mehta. “So scalp massage, using oils that contain adaptogens, is part of a daily routine to calm the nervous system and balance energy. The ritual also stretches the hair from the roots, stimulating them to produce thicker strands.” Clearly good karma for the scalp and the soul.

The best products for traditional Indian hair oiling

Mighty Majesty Fortifying Hair Serum

https://amzn.to/3F440uB

HoliRoots Oil

https://amzn.to/3sl4gO2

Grow Strong Hair Oil

https://amzn.to/3VX5qwM

[prongsmydeer]

Ayesha Liveblogs Tiger King 

“I think it would be fair to say that Carole is the Mother Teresa of cats” now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear

“I’d never been a person who had friends” statements like this always perplex me because surely there had to be ONE other person in however long you quantify childhood that you identified with. Like not one whole ass person? You’re not the only person who loves cats Carole

The juxtaposition between Carole Baskin’s “Animal Print for Animal Rights” and Joe Exotic’s “Tiger King underwear is our bestseller” is poetic cinema

Okay this isn’t a reflection of my opinions on this man but I Saw a Tiger is a good country ballad there I said it 

“When I first met Joe, I was like a month out of high school” well that’s not good

[Joe Exotic voice] Some people have tigers to cope

Doc Antle has only been on screen for 30 seconds and already he has made himself memorable by directing the film crew

Is Bhagavan Antle Indian in some way or did he just have a really intense Eat Pray Love journey with his guru

Also is he really a doctor orrrrrrrrr

“I am out there in the forefront so known of being this guy that is in love with big cats and has them love him back” please don’t tell me this guy does anything weird to his animals

“People only care about saving what affects them” 

“You can’t put a price on holding a baby tiger” but you did and apparently it’s $625 

The fact that multiple tigers have had albinism is probably a sign of major inbreeding practices at these zoos

You know, even if I ate meat*, there is no way I would be able to handle any kind of early prep stage of it bc seeing these cow carcasses is A Lot

*If u r reading this I don’t care if u eat meat leave me alone

“Animals just wasn’t enough, okay? So then I started adding magic” well that took an unexpected turn

I don’t know if it’s for real fair to criticize every person who has brought a big cat out in a public venue/talk show because I know at least like Dave Sal/moni is always going “THESE ANIMALS MAKE TERRIBLE PETS” 

As a sidenote from what I understand this Saff person keeps being deadnamed/misgendered throughout this documentary and I do not appreciate it 

“I grew up a professional cowboy in a family of professional cowboys” every sentence on this show is a journey

WHO is letting their ONE-YEAR-OLD lay on top of a tiger cub I know you’re at a zoo but BRUH

“It’s going to be a small Waco” to say this ON THE NEWS

This 2 minute stretch of episode is all the PSA anyone ever needs to never own a gun

Well I think we can all agree that PETA is a fucking mess

God this is like battle of the people who are terrible at doing anything good for animals

“What do you carry that gun for?” “People” AHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!!!!?!?

“I sleep with an AK-47 under my mattress, loaded, ready to roll” WILL SOMEONE HELP THE U.S. OF A

I was warned about this show and yet I was still not prepared for the level of UNHINGED it would be 

How in the FUCK does a place like this not have an on-site medic

“Why don’t you come back on another day” he said, after telling the public an employee had his arm taken off 

“I am never gonna financially recover from this” SURE JOE THIS IS ABOUT YOU

To go back to work a WEEK after getting your arm amputated... BRUH

“Any law that you think’s unfair or unjustice, it is your obligation, it is your responsibility to stand up against that bullshit law” well Thomas Jefferson was a slaveowner so clearly the injustice thing was relative for him

Traditionally don’t drug addictions fuel people choosing extreme paths with their life rather than the other way around? 

JKHGKJHGKJH this whole exchange:

Interviewer: What kind of doctor is he?

Maria: Mystical science.

Interviewer: Mystical science?

Maria, nodding: Yeah.

“How many wives does Doc Antle have?” I didn’t expect this but somehow it tracks

I’m gonna bet none of these people with subcontinental names have a single bit of South Asian heritage like okay “Moksha” and “Rajnee” did Bhagavan name you

On a more serious note: It’s really fucked up that these men keep meeting literal teenagers, making them their employees, and then also get into relationships with them. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough THIS IS NOT GOOD OR HEALTHY

It’s pretty weird that Doc Antle keeps emphasizing so frequently that one of his partners is Italian 

“I’m gonna go be a yoga animal trainer” ah, white people bullshit

“Goodbye. Don’t fall in love with your boss.” Good advice, Dad

I was not expecting all this subcontinental imagery to get under my skin this badly but what’s your problem dude can’t u be normal for like a second 

“You’re this garbage person, but if you listen to me, I’ll make you great” again this tracks but gross

Again, on a more serious note: if a partner ever talks to you this way please call a domestic abuse hotline 

Not that India is at all in a good place right now but I personally ban Doc Antle from ever entering India. Banned. Forever. I will not be accepting constructive criticism at this time

“I didn’t really know any better” is a really good way of summarizing what all of these younger partners have been through

Wow Carole is really explaining this abuse issue succinctly 

Antle’s indignation at being implied to be a cult leader despite the fact he is most definitely a cult leader

Joe’s story in his documentary is constantly “is this going to be a humanizing moment PSYCH it’s still terrible”

HOW IS THIS LEGAL PAY YOUR WORKERS A LIVING WAGE

Why is this husband-killing thing JUST A FOOTNOTE AT THE END OF THIS EPISODE OH MY GOD

We have deviated so far from the tiger thing oh my god

Why is the only man in this documentary who is faithful to his spouse the man that smuggled drugs inside of snakes

Every time I learn a new thing about a person in this documentary I have to reorient myself

This whole episode has been about this murder and I’m concerned that its title, “The Secret,” hasn’t even been revealed yet

GOD I take back what I said about I Saw Tiger, the concept of this song/music video for Here Kitty Kitty is so disturbing that this man deserves no credit whatsoever as a musician 

CAROLE WHY ARE YOU GIGGLING ABOUT THE MEAT GRINDER IT’S NOT FUNNY

Well I don’t have much to say about this episode other than yikes

I guess if you’re really out to spite someone stealing their brand and posting exactly the opposite of everything they stand for is an effective if weird and petty way to do it

Do you think the whole throne footage moment was a “Frankenstein realizing what he has wrought” kind of thing for Kirkham

This is really like watching a sports game of two teams you can’t stand except the sport is murder and other miscellaneous crime

If we’re all being real with ourselves the documentary filmmakers themselves MUST have had some issues going on to be able to walk into this situation and not do anything about it

This series really seems to present a compelling case for why every major figure in this documentary has potentially committed at least one terrible crime

Ah there’s the judgment from the woman in Florida I guess it’s two crimes with one stone

God these poor animals they do not deserve anything happening to them

While obviously people are enticed by the prospect of someone they’re into having an animal JUST GET AN ALREADY DOMESTICATED ANIMAL LIKE DOMESTICATED CATS AND DOGS EXIST OH MY GOD DO NOT USE EXOTIC PETS AS DATE BAIT

 It has been so long since we heard about Travis ngl I already forgot about him 

Why is every single person in this show SO OFF THE WALLS I mean I know why but also WHY

This documentary is also a treatise in the flaws of the U.S. prison system and how it sets up people up to fail or re-offend upon release

Take a shot every time a middle-aged man in this show mentions that he casually bought himself a big cat as a teen

“Joe was the entertainment director.... by title” I don’t think this was meant to be a burn but what a burn

I am almost certain I WATCHED that Last Week Tonight episode during that election and if u told me that 4-5 years later I would be rewatching that clip in a documentary about this man’s journey to being convicted for murder then I cannot say I wouldn’t be surprised but I would probably believe it 

Also I have to wonder what John Oliver thinks about being part of this 

[“Beyonce?” voice] Shaun Majumder?

Sidenote: Until this exact moment I thought of Shaun Majumder as Ben Mulroney even though Brian Mulroney is white as hell I guess I have faceblindness but only for Canadian talkshow personalities

I have been aware of this before now but the fact you can buy a GUN at a Walmart what in the FUCK is U.S.A. doing

Man does this campaign manager really want to take ownership of anything Joe Exotic has ever done

Ngl I was wondering why someone who had at one point clearly had a lot of money seemed to have such poor dental care access but meth certainly does explain it

I mean people can be attracted to both men and women (hello) but since Joe was fuelling their drug addictions since they were teenagers attraction is at best a null factor and at worst an added layer of terrible to this whole mess

It’s hard to even respond to this in a meaningful way because this is so fucked up. Don’t own guns.

“That was a big fucking mistake,” he said, right after someone explained that he was driving large groups of people in an enclosed space in a busy city with wild animals that could maim or kill them

Padlock penls piercing really does not seem like a first date bombshell

“We went to dinner and he never went home” well if that doesn’t set you with a sense of foreboding

TWO MONTHS AFTER WHAT IN THE HELL OH MY GOD also I hope Dillon is okay

“It wasn’t about the animals anymore” you THINK

“It was sort of funny when they started but it’s gotten really dark” how meta

Of all the reasons Joe could’ve abandoned his zoo, I really didn’t think embezzlement would be what pushed him

“He won’t tell anyone where he’s at, not even me,” said Dial, with no acknowledgement of the fact that Joe is also theoretically still married and would maybe tell his husband???

Oh Dillon spotted??? Yikes get out dude

Take a shot every time a white person who really doesn’t understand where the word “karma” comes from starts talking about karma as if it is the Law of Revenge

The fact this man brings a film crew out with him while he’s on the run evading a federal investigation..... incomprehensible

“Joe just wanted to put it in somebody’s name and continue to be the tiger queen, I mean king,” really REALLY of all the reasons to object to Joe you’re going to choose homophobia wow

Is this about an attempt to have someone murdered or does something happen to Baskin it is very unclear

This documentary has an interesting format of switching focus from crime to crime to crime 

“I’ve never been as proud of being married to anyone as I am being married to you” It’s weird to compliment your husband by comparing him to all your other husbands

How is the lesson for Jeff Lowe in this “let’s build another zoo” surely at that point it’s better to just cut your losses

[Garretson voice]: You should pay me for being a bro, dude

“I’m a libertarian, so technically, fuck the Feds,” I’ve never heard an intonation that better suits a conservative millennial 

I mean I don’t think it was advisable but honestly why are people surprised Joe took the stand isn’t delusions of grandeur kind of his thing

Sometimes it’s just that they’ve added in other moments to break up the awful immoral crimes with just run of the mill douchebaggery like the nanny/gym thing huh

I guess the silver lining in this is that potentially these big cat zoos will shut down but like where do these animals who have been raised in captivity go??? I don’t trust anyone in this documentary to not exploit them in some way ugh 

“Not a single animal benefited from this war,” correct, Saff

“I was wrapped up in having a zoo,” not really an excuse but ok

[oh-shit-a-baby]

BLACK FRIDAY THOUGHTS PART TWO

A complete compilation of my thoughts throughout the musicals second half,,, this bois going to be real long bc I have a lot of thoughts lol

Now without @drawinglinesinarbitraryplaces :(

Yep dumbledore can still sing

Omg his voice

This song is going to make me cry aaaaa

Becky: you don’t look at all the same as I remember

Me: yeah no shit dumbledore grew a beard

Jesus,,,,, theyre just going to go for it right there,,,,,, ookay

Wtaf is this movie they’re watching

HOLY SHIT HER VOICE IS /PRETTY/ HER RANGE IS HUGE!!!

Idk if this is an unpopular opinion bc no one has an opinion yet but Becky and toms song is the cutest one ever and a bop and I love it

Jesus they payed for a balcony and they’re going to fucking use it aren’t they

WELCOME TO PEIP HQ IM SO DOWN FOR THAT

OH THERE ARE MANY DIMENSIONS????? U GONNA EXPLAIN THAT MR GENERAL MACNAMARA????

The black and white isn’t that what lexs sister was on about

Wiggly is the king u wot m8

President kurt knows nothing about anything and that’s a mood

So if the next movie isn’t about ‘13 years ago’ imma freak

U WANNA SEND ME INTO THE FUCKIN TWILIGHT ZONE AND HAVE DINNER WITH THE DEVIL??????!?!!

NO!!! FUCK THAT!!!!! FUCK THAT!!!!! FUCK THAT!!!!!

^^^president kurt quotes

In short, mr president, we are trying to stop the birth

*dramatic piano*

Of a god.

*dRAMATIC PIANO*

It’s good score tho 10/10

Sherman young

Nuff said

After today’s great battle???

Faith in the one true god!! All hail wiggly!!!

My new religion lol

LET LAKESIDE MALL BE A NEW JERUSALEM!!!!

*cue joey and Robert just screaming wiggly for like 5 mins straight*

NO THEY FOUND LEX

OH YEAH FUCKIN KILL THEM!!!

Who????????

FUCK YEAH LINDA

CULT??? NO! ITS A NEW EXCITING RELIGION THAT I STARTED!!!!

Yeah Gerald

She pronounces Cinnabon as see-nah-bohn what’s up with that lol

I NEED A WIGGLY DOLL...... IDEALLY FOUR OF THEM!!!

IVE MET GOD. HE HAD NOTHING NICE TO SAY ABOUT YOU.

*cue people dying and their mics stopping working*

Holy fuck they all wanna kill Hannah now (lexs sister gets a name now apparently)

LAUREN I LOVE YOU AS A VILLAIN

I would kneel before villain Lauren any day

I will deestroy everything, and then I will deestroy everything, and then I will deestroy everything and then I will oh shit it’s Gerald.

While I don’t want you to think for yourselves I do want you to understand what I mean when I say my evil shit

I’m sorry that choreo is a yike

ETHAN DARLING COME BACK I MISS YOU <<<333333

IM CRYING NOW

He’s in the black and white now we’ll that sounds like shit

NOT ETHAN

Hannah is the unsung hero of this musical so far

*said in wiggly voice* well, webby (Hannah’s spider imaginary friend who I think is gonna be the deus ex machina of this thing) is a stupid bitch!

Rotten little banana. I’m going to peel you. I’m going to split you in two. I’m going to eat you Hannah. I’m going to eat you right now. *all said in dramatic wiggly voice*

Aaand their mics broke again

We don’t get tricked! We’re grown ups!

And Becky and Tom are immediately evil the second they see the wiggly bc of course they are

Jesus beckys the villain???????

Welcome to the musical where everyone gets a villain song AND a hero song??????

Her voice is still beautiful

*Prancing around* DO YOU WANT SOME CANDYYYYY??????

She’s still wearing ethans hat my heart is going to go oh my god

And he just,,,,, leaves Becky to die?????

President Kurt in a space suit oh my god

And America is great again is playing in the background

MACNAMARA SAID ‘GODSPEED’ AND IS THAT A CATCHPHRASE I SENSE THERE

Yeah no president kurt can’t do foreign policy

His name is like howie or something but imma call him president kurt just like Tom was dumbledore for like the first half of this mess

Oh fuck joeys character is here and he’s gonna FUCK PREZ KURT UP

He’s eating an apple that means he’s a asshole

Holy fuck joeys character is like the ultimate capitalist

And also terrifying holy shit

NO MACNAMARA DONT GO IN THERE

Joeys character: Do you think that in the Netherlands they’d care about some toy??? Nah!!! They’re too busy with their free vacations and FREE healthcare!!

(When I refer to joeys character I mean the evil one he just doesn’t have a name yet so idk what to call him)

And joey can still sing I love him

His voice is so good and this whole villain is giving me spies are forever flashbacks

I have absolutely no fuckin clue what’s going on rn

Holy fuck joeys voice is so beautiful and his range is killing me

I take back what I said earlier this song is the best one bc joey

Holy fuck someone just hit like a high d and I have no clue who it was bc the video quality is not the greatest

JESUS THATS TERRIFYING

THE FUCK YOU MEAN DONT BE FRIGHTENED THATS MY SLEEP PARALYSIS DEMON

LOOK AT THIS FUCKER JESUS CHRIST

Wiggly is so scary because he speaks like a child and those are scary

MACNAMARA EX MACHINA

Mac: BEGONE

Prez kurt: SORRY JOHN I FUCKED IT UP

THATS THE HOOK FROM NOT YOUR SEED ISNT IT HOLY SHIT

Joeys voice and acting is gonna kill me

Yeah made in America is the shit

MAC NO U CANT DIE U DIE IN TGWDLM

Also the black and white is a dumb as shit name for an alternate reality

Prez kurt: MERRY CHRISTMAS MOTHERFUCKER!!!!

*wiggly voice* Uh-oh mr prezzy-wez. It seems you’ve misplaced your bomby-womb.

Well shits about to go down

I’m calling it the bomb bombed the White House

Oop no they’ve only gone and lost Moscow

Well fuck here comes ww3 I guess

And prez kurt is definitely insane in the brain

ITS THE HOOK AGAIN THE ‘ALIENS INVADING MINDS’ BIT OH MY GOD I FEEL LIKE A MUSICAL GENIUS

Jesus Sherman is a weird fuck and lex is kinda clever I guess it’s a shame we haven’t seen her for most of the musical

Lex: I THREW EM IN THE FUCKIN TRASH

LEX BABY NO DONT DIE

Lex: Is this what I live for? To be choked in a toy store?

Lexs beautiful song is this musicals version of not your seed but depression

And her voice is /pretty/

MAC?????????????

WHAT??????????????

OH MY GOD HE IS AUTHORISING HER TO USE HIS FIREARM YES QUEEN

I’m sorry lex and Hannah can do what

Jeffs voice kills me him and joey need a duet and that would be the end of me

What did lex just do in so confused

MAC DID THE SALUTE IMMA CRY YALL

And we’re back with Tom

Oh fuck lex is gonna shoot tom

Hold up Tom names his son Tim

Wiggly is playing mind tricks now yikes

Lex: KIDS DONT WANT THAT PEICE OF SHIT!!!

Tom: wat

Lex: THEYRE ALL INTO FORTNITE DUDE!!!!!

So the doll can only fuck with adults not kids???

Jesus Christ this is depressing

U wot lex

Lex: YOURE LIKE 40!!!!! YOU PROBABLY THINK YOURE LIFE IS OVER!!!!

Holy fuck this shit is deep

Wait lex still doesn’t know about Ethan oh my god

And Dylan gets another hero song holy fuck just give Robert a song already everyone else has one

At the same time though this is S a d

I’m not crying you’re crying

YES DUMBLEDORE U HIT THAT HIGH NOTE

Tom: in fact you’re real fuckin ugly

Me: yeah no shit

Lex: FUCK YEAH!!!! Should i move these boxes first?

*cue very clever scene change*

Yeah Gerald no one wants to talk to u

Oh my god Linda leave Hannah and ethans hat alone my heart is breaking for Hannah

Linda: is this some kind of a jooooke?????

They’re gonna set one of their dolls on fire ok ok ok this is fine

More villain songs ookay

If someone could tell me what the fuck is going on in this scene I’d be very impressed

Evil yoga

YES LAUREN U QUEEN

HOLY FUCK IS THAT CHARLOTTE??????

OH MY GOD ITS JAIME IN THE CHARLOTTE COSTUME IT IS CHARLOTTE HOLY SHIT

ITS CHARLOTTE AND THE HOMELESS DUDE HOLY SHIT

The choreo is...... interesting

Cue Robert not-Corey and Lauren being the only good dancers and getting special choreo

FUCK YEAH BECKY WITH THE GUN

LINDA NO

Ookay so everyone’s on fire this is fine

Emma and Paul ex machina

SOMEBODY NUKED MOSCOW!

paul is family third wheeling

YOU KNOW, SHE HAS THIS KOOKY RECLUSIVE BIOLOGY PROFESSOR

*audience fucking looses their shit*

WHO LIVES ON THE EDGE OF TOWN

Paul is having an existential crisi because he sHOULD HAVE WORN A WATCH

Someone’s gonna fall of that staircase by the end of this performance

HOLY FUCK ITS THE HOT CHOCOLATE KID

IT IS THE HOT CHOCOLATE KID OH NY GODDDDD

LOOK AT HIM

It’s the what if tomorrow comes bit!!!!!!!

Okay again this choreo is interesting but the vocals are all S t u n n i n g

They’re literally counting down until the end of the show imma loose my shit that’s the least subtle they’ve been during the entire show

Hang on hang on hang on hang on haaaaang on right there

Did lex just never find out that her boyfriend died we were deprived of a heart wrenching moment when she found out about Ethan

Like jeez I cried and I barely knew him she was dating the guy and just... didn’t ask about him????

ITS THE HOOK AGAIN

That’s it!!!!! Those were my thoughts the first time I watched this through!!!!!!!

Scream at me in the notes with any questions and I’ll try answer them :)

[calamity-bean]

Chambers (2019)

Anyone around here watched Chambers?

I binged it recently on a whim, knowing nothing about it, when I started, other than the basic premise: a horror series about a teenage girl who starts having strange experiences after receiving a heart transplant. Supernatural horror about transplant recipients is an established trope, so if you’re familiar with it, then I reckon you can imagine the major (heart)beats of where Chambers is going with it. But just because it may be familiar doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable ride!

And I did get pretty engrossed. The horror elements were not, to me, particularly scary, but they were well done. I grew attached to several characters quickly, especially the protagonist, Sasha, and her uncle/guardian, Big Frank. Characters almost always carry a story for me (more so than plot), and I liked getting to know the character dynamics here and watching the more domestic subplots unfold; Sasha’s actress (Sivan Alyra Rose) has to carry a lot of the tension and emotion based on her performance alone, and I think she did a great job. And I love the setting: the Arizona desert, which Chambers fills with vast expanses and roaring sandstorms and lightning that boils through the wide, wide sky. It’s a beautiful and effective backdrop, and I found the horror/mystery elements and the character work strong enough to rec Chambers to horror fans on the basis of those elements alone.

But I think what really makes Chambers stand out are its themes. Specifically, its critique of cultural appropriation, which underpins the setting as well as the narrative in many ways. It’s a story led by a Navajo protagonist that draws its horror from the idea of being taken over and used without permission by forces that are conspicuously ultramodern, performative, and white.

More explanation of what I mean by that below, but I’m going to get into spoilers to do so (some major), so... Short version, Chambers is worth a try if you’re interested in horror stories with female and/or Native American leads; for the long version, spoilers under the cut!

Cottonwood versus Crystal Valley

So. Like I said, Chambers is set primarily in Arizona, in two towns surrounded and separated by desert.

The first is Sasha’s hometown, Cottonwood. It’s smallish, working-class; money is a pressing concern for several characters there, and the high school Sasha attends is implied to be limited in its resources and academic opportunities. Notably, many of the residents we see are nonwhite. Sasha is Navajo, as are her uncle Frank and her boyfriend TJ, who is also half Pima. (Sasha, Frank, and TJ’s actors are all of varying Native American / First Nations backgrounds; I’ve seen articles saying Sivan Alyra Rose is the first Native actress to star in a Netflix series, and it’s certainly notable that this series has multiple Native leads.) Sasha’s best friend, Yvonne, is black, and we see plenty of other brown and black characters in supporting and background roles.

The other town, Crystal Valley, was home to Sasha’s heart donor. Becky was the same age as Sasha, and her sudden death under strange circumstances provides the mystery that drives much of the plot. The contrast between Cottonwood and Crystal Valley is... striking. Becky’s family and friends are all conspicuously wealthy and white-collar. Their school is extremely modern, in its facilities as well as in its sensibilities, and academically elite. And the vast majority of the students, Becky included, are white. Which makes it VERY intentional irony, of course, that Crystal Valley High’s mascot is...

...the Braves. YEAH.

I’ll say right up front that I’m (1) white and (2) not particularly well versed in Navajo culture (or the cultures of other Southwestern peoples) or in the specific issues relevant to them today. I’m sure there are people who could go into Chambers’s portrayal of Sasha, her community, and their concerns with much more nuance and depth than I can. But even a viewer with superficial knowledge can’t help but notice that cultural appropriation is very much a theme of this show, both in the details and in the grand scope of the narrative. Sasha feels like an outsider right away as (through the sponsorship of Becky’s family) she switches schools from Cottonwood to Crystal Valley, and the more time she spends there, the more the weirdness and isolation pile on.

One of the most conspicuously weird elements involves a New Age–esque group called the Annex Foundation, which Becky’s family has some sort of connection with. The Annex folks are very into crystals. They are very into energies and yoga, ayahuasca and equinox festivals, and burning sage. Their beliefs and behaviors are a grab-bag of practices loosely adapted/reinvented from all sorts of traditions, whereas the members themselves, as far as I can recall, are almost all white.

I’m not super well versed in the New Age movement either, but I have read that this exact sort of thing is something that the movement has been widely criticized for irl — its tendency to borrow beliefs and customs from various world religions and appropriate them to the movement’s own purposes, thus using them without permission and divorcing them from their original context. We see this idea echoed everywhere in the speech and accoutrements of the Annex Foundation members. We see it in the way Sasha is pressured into leaving Cottonwood and trying to assimilate into Crystal Valley. And we see it in the way that Sasha’s supernatural connection with Becky, whose memories and personality begin to seep into her, literally begins turning Sasha white. 

There are tons of other little details that flesh out this theme — far more than I can get into. I don’t think Chambers portrays all its white characters as evil or unsympathetic. But it’s absolutely grappling with race and with a specific racialized phenomenon, and I think supernatural horror is an interesting context in which to explore it. Sasha’s relationship with her own race and culture is also complicated. As a result of her upbringing, she hasn’t had much contact with her extended family, and she feels disconnected from and somewhat ignorant of the wider Navajo community. In contrast to much of the horror coming from appropriation, her efforts to reconnect with her own family and heritage become a source of inner strength.

There is one major aspect of the overall plot that’s connected to this theme and that... didn’t quite work for me. But it’s a plot point that crops up VERY late in the game, so major end-of-season spoilers in this next section...

Spoilers! Big Ones!!

It becomes clear pretty early on, imo, that the Annex Foundation is the villain of the whole piece. I’m fine with that; it’s what I expected, it makes sense, it’s coherent with the overall theme. It’s furthermore eventually revealed that Becky’s death was connected to the Foundation’s attempt to use her as the earthly vessel for a demon they summoned out of the desert. I’m... like... okay with that. I’ve mentioned in the past that I find horror about spooky masked/robed cults of demon worshipers to be... How can I put this? SUPER cheesy. So cheesy that it can ruin an entire story for me. That’s just a personal preference, though, and even I don’t know how to completely account for it. But whatever. It’s just one aspect of the overall story here, and it fits in with the broader themes well enough. I can deal.

But what bothered me, in this case, is that the demon in question is revealed, in the season’s final episode, to be... Lilith? For some reason?

There’s no mention of Lilith before the season finale. There’s nothing, before the finale, related to Jewish mythology, Adam and Eve, “the divine feminine,” or conflict between male and female — like I’ve said, the primary thematic tension is based on race, not gender, and I don’t think gender really plays a role in the show’s exploration of cultural appropriation, either. Yet suddenly these concepts are brought in during the season finale?

I guess the idea that the Annex Foundation would glom onto a random figure from a different world tradition fits in with the whole idea of cultural appropriation, but I don’t see how Lilith specifically fits in. I don’t see why she’s taken the form of a cloud of dust/smoke out in the Arizona desert. I see themes of complicated mother/daughter relationships in the earlier episodes, but nothing related to femininity as a force unto itself (which is what the Annex folks start going on about at the very end). On the one hand, I really appreciate that this series casts a white neoreligion as its ~strange, mysterious, dangerous supernatural force~ (as opposed to the many stories that use a white/outsider POV confronted with ~strange, mysterious, dangerous~ indigenous forces), but honestly, I had been thinking that perhaps the “demon” was some sort of spirit that was native to the desert and that the Annex Foundation had simply stumbled upon it, mistaken its nature/identity, and was trying to appropriate it for their own purposes. I think that would fit in with the appropriation theme and would also explain why the spirit was not a good fit for Becky’s body (ultimately leading to her death). Moreover, the very end of the season implies that Sasha does have some kind of harmony with the “demon” inside her and can utilize it and live with it in a way that Becky never could. If this “demon” were some sort of spirit that was native to her own land and that the Annex people had tried to appropriate, I think that would fit in with the theme of Sasha reconnecting with her own heritage and finding strength in it.

So... yeah. Still trying to figure out how I feel about that aspect, or whether I missed something somewhere along the way, idk. Maybe it’ll make more sense to me in season 2, if it gets renewed.

Overall...

Regardless, though, Chambers still has a lot going for it. It has a talented and diverse cast with many likable and/or interesting characters. It incorporates difficult, relevant themes into its narrative and utilizes its setting to great effect, both in terms of the cultures it explores and in terms of the landscape itself. I think the horror elements were done well, though in much the way I expected. If you’re already familiar with the “transplant recipient has supernatural connection with the donor” trope, then yeah, it's the “transplant recipient has supernatural connection with the donor” trope! And imo, the members of the Annex Foundation telegraph “EVIL CULT EVIL CULT” from pretty much their first appearance, so I wasn’t exactly shocked. But the acting, writing, themes, and setting are all strong, and I became invested in several of the characters very quickly. So if any of this sounds interesting to you, consider giving it a try!

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

well Markle has clear control issues and sometimes people who feel the need for control do go to psychics (as Diana did or Elizabeth I LOL). And yeah it would be so Dianaish cause just like Diana Markle has her very own psychic. I thought Lindsay Edwards was MM's psychic. There is a psychic blog dedicated to Harry's FD which was getting heavy sugar spam.

Control issues? LOLOLOL.

Did you catch this little nugget from the DM article about the teen boyfriend?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5573791/Why-Meghan-dumped-boy-kissed.html

He and Meghan first met in the most innocent imaginable manner, at the Agape International Spiritual Center, a huge, ultra-progressive, transdenominational church then based in Santa Monica, where she worshipped regularly with her mother, Doria Ragland. As she and Joshua were both budding performers, they developed a friendship."Agape International Spiritual Center" is a batshit collection of mind-healers and kooks based on nineteenth century Spiritualism. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape_International_Spiritual_Center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_ThoughtOne of their beliefs is "Life Visioning," which what "The Secret" is based on. https://www.agapelive.com/index.php?page=367I am not saying it was “like” The Secret. It literally WAS “The Secret.” The church's founder was actually one of the people in the "The Secret" video.  Meghan was raised to a church based on “The Secret.” (after, I suppose, Doria got bored of the kooky yoga temple she got married in). I didn’t even know there was such  a thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_BeckwithThis explains soooooo much. Holy crap, this was actually her "church." She grew up in this. And now she's pretending to be a devout Christian, LOLOLOLOL.

This woman is amazing. No matter how much crazy you think you’ve found, there is always more. No wonder they had to baptize her. Her native faith was “The Secret.” No wonder they call her “zen.” You literally cannot have bad thoughts in this cult because you will attract bad things.

This was her church. Goodness, this is better than the Jess Mulroney Birks videos.

No wonder they cannot deal with her. She will not accept that she can’t become Di 2.0. She literally will not even contemplate it because she thinks she will attract it. It WILL happen as long as she doesn’t even consider that it may not happen.

This is why she keeps saying she “doesn’t know” her family. As long as she wishes for it, it will come true.

In case you’re not familiar with the epic crazy that is The Secret or The Law of Attraction, here is the beginning of the video. Meghan’s “pastor” is at 3:05, 11:45, 13:45, 15:05, 19:35, 20:15, and 24:21.

[mid-something]

2020 Year in Review

I wasn’t going to write one of these this year. I wasn’t sure what the point was, normally they’re a list of accomplishments, places I went, projects I worked on, events I planned. But I feel like I didn’t do anything this year. It was a year that felt more like college, with long days that melded together into walks and work sessions. I loved it, but it also lacked the intensity that usually pumps through the months. As I started writing this though, it was surprisingly easy to fill, even without my usual go-tos like travel filling it in. 

Speaking of travel

Okay, I did hop around the east coast a bit. In January I went up to Montreal for Synchrony once again. I spent the trip up making a PICO-8 sketch of the snow falling around our train up north. 

Later, in February, I went up to Pennsylvania to volunteer as a performer for a LARP for the first time. I played an animal, a cult member taking part in a sacrifice that included biting into a giant cake heart (that everyone was touching, so much for that world), and played a hellhound bringing people back to a mystery portal in the middle of a field. We camped and hiked and took day-trips to Wawa for lunch.

My last trip was to Nashville Tennessee for a library conference. I loved it, library conferences are much less vendor-focused than ed-tech ones. I got a suitcase full of free books that I’m still reading my way through. My co-worker and I stayed in cool Airbnbs and found our way to a speakeasy inside an old phone booth. I had never been to Nashville, but thought it was like a cool weird Disney land with great food and incredible music around every corner.

Afterwards I headed down to Florida to see my grandparents for a week, and then went back to New York... and didn’t go anywhere for the rest of the year. A couple weeks after I got back to my Brooklyn apartment I packed a bag and headed upstate for the next three months to play animal crossing and hang out with my parents and dog.

Coding Club

When schools shut down, a couple things happened. First, we put our school product available online for free. Second, I started a coding club for kids who were home from school. I met with kids for an hour twice a week, and really saw them grow and experiment with code. It grew to a few hundred kids each week, all meeting up to code along and share their work. I was able to get a better feel for how teachers used our product, and was able to test out project ideas live. It was such a joy, and my favorite part of my job during that time.

Livecoding in Space

I co-organized Livecoding in Space at the start of shutdown. It was a day of workshops and an evening algorave that was originally going to take place at the Kennedy Center. I made the website, ran the lineup, and managed the Twitch stream the whole day, and somehow got a p5 workshop and performance livecoding visuals to a series of poets in there at the same time. It was wild, super fun, and I’m really glad I did it. 

Performances

I continued the Twitch streak performing with musicians at sPaCYcLoUd Livecode Thursdays, bringing in what I was learning at monthly shaders workshops. Working in GLSL was a completely different experience than working with Hydra, I was much more limited with a much higher chance of things going wrong. I moved more slowly, and was really able to get lost in the performances in a way I hadn’t before.

NYC

Back in New York City in the summer, everything was boarded up. Bars had tables outside, and people were in scattered groups around Astor Place. We went out one night on St. Marks and bought pre-bottled drinks from a place that had once been an impossible to get into bar. Cop cars were driving up and down the street announcing for us to stay apart on their loudspeakers. The whole thing felt very apocalyptic. We played tennis in courts without nets, with piles of leaves that no one had cleaned up since all the parks were technically still closed. I spent time walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn, more than I ever did before. I walked 13 miles to the dentist and back, walked over the Williamsburg bridge over and over again. I met up with friends to practice skateboarding, I walked up to the Williamsburg park for a picnic with friends, I walked to Bushwick for the same. I got better at electric unicycling and did yoga in different parks staring at the trees. And when I settled back into my Bed Stuy apartment John would come over every weekend and we’d cook and get work done. I’ve never been happier in my life.

Art?

I got much better at painting this year, which is something I had wanted to experiment more with for a while. I finally understand the difference between supplies and the benefits of good paper and brushes. I took part in virtual figure drawing sessions and around the world painting lessons.

I did a lot of figure drawing this year, most of it was online. My favorite, however, was at a place called Outerspace in Brooklyn. It was an hour walk from my apartment, and I loved the walk there through Bushwick and back. I went a few times, sometimes walking back in the dark past the largest church in Brooklyn, sometimes grabbing food in one of my favorite parts of the city and taking an uber after. Figure drawing online gave me the space (literally, usually I’d be too close to other people to have them out) to start experimenting with paints, something that followed my practice throughout the year.

In March, my friend who’s an elementary school art teacher started posting her prompts for her class online, which was an awesome first way to get back into traditional sketchbooking on the floor of my bedroom upstate. Above are some of the elementary-school art prompts that kept me occupied this Spring.

I also followed along with someone I had followed on Instagram, Travel Write Draw. The whole thing was definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, my sketchbooks tend to skew stranger and she comes from the fashion world, but I had always wanted to paint more and took part. The paintings above are in the order I did them, I think I got a lot better as we went through. The places are in order: Rome, Marrakesh, Capri, Cartagena, the Serengeti, and Paris at Christmastime. 

Over the summer I took part in Arsiliath’s Intro to Biological Simulation with Compute Shaders. The above are some of the experiments from the class. I read math papers and implemented them for the first time. 

&...

I applied to grad school, which took up most of my free time and energy this fall. Nothing to share here yet, I’ll know what’s up around March/April. I took the GREs as well, and did surprisingly well given I haven’t taken a test in about a decade. 

I’m heading out to Mars now, a remote spot in Southern California, to wait out the winter and try and make the most out of a weird quarantine world. I wonder if this should be longer or more interesting, end in bullets of things I can feel proud of from my 20′s. I don’t know. When you come back to this 2021 Leandra, I hope you’re happy and have finally found your footing in a world that feels like it’s constantly trying to drown you with the next wave.

[trendingnewsb]

6 Actors Who Did The Same Crimes Their Own Characters Did

At the beginning of every episode of Jackass, the show has to practically beg you not to try any of what you’re about to see at home, which seems a bit redundant when the guys start stapling their own testicles to an enraged bull. But it’s necessary. Some people truly can’t help doing whatever they see onscreen, no matter how bloody, stupid, or painful the results. Sometimes that even goes for the actors pretending to do it …

6

A Sopranos Actor Was Implicated In A Real Mob Execution

Michael “Big Mike” Squicciarini was typecast as, well, himself, and his role as “Big Frank” on The Sopranos was no exception. Though it seems impossible for a guy who has played everyone from “Thug Joey” to “Henchman #2,” his real-life rap sheet had more mob stereotypes than his IMDb page. While he worked for the DiMeo crime family on the show, he worked for the family they were based on, the DeCavalcantes, in reality.

HBOHis quotes include, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh that’s-a spicy meatball, capisci?”

Read Next

6 Hilarious Loopholes Normal People Used To Beat The System

Big Mike served five years for aggravated assault before officially graduating to murder in 1992, when he lured rival drug dealer Ralph Hernandez to a nightclub owned by mob capo “Joe Pitts” Conigliaro. Pitts was in a wheelchair because he and his partner failed so hard at shaking a dude down that they accidentally shot each other at the same time, but he didn’t let that hold him back. Someone (we don’t know for sure if it was Big Mike, but it, uh … it was probably Big Mike) locked Hernandez in a room with Joe, but didn’t stick around to see Pitts shoot the man in the forehead.

That would have been the end of it, had Big Mike not gotten stars in his eyes. Police were still investigating the crime, but all they had was a nickname, and you’d be surprised at the number of Big Mikes residing in that part of the country. Then they noticed that this Sopranos guy seemed suspiciously good at gangstering …

Bill TurnbullWhen they needed to make sure nobody snitched about the ending of the series, who do you think they called?

Witnesses were shown a few episodes of the show, and confirmed that it was an entertainment thrill ride (and also that Big Mike totally helped kill that guy). By then, Big Mike had turned his life around, but his crimes came back to haunt him. He passed away before he could stand trial, and Joe Pitts himself was eventually knocked off in a mob hit. Scorsese himself couldn’t have done better.

5

The Actor Who Played Young Ricky Bobby Really Did Like to Go Fast

In Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, there’s a flashback to a ten-year-old Ricky, played by Luke Bigham. Bigham’s career soon fizzled out, meaning that Talladega Nights was somebody’s acting high point, and dammit if he wasn’t intent on reliving it.

Columbia PicturesLooking like “Young Will Ferrell” is a bit of a niche career.

Eight years later in Alabama, Bigham caused a five-car pileup after crashing his sedan going 80 mph in a 35 mph zone. It wasn’t Bigham’s last brush with the law. Later that year, after recovering from his minor injuries, he was arrested on domestic violence charges for pushing his mother down the stairs. In the film, Ricky Bobby’s kids are awful to their parents, and Bigham had apparently decided to method act for the rest of his life.

4

Louis C.K. Has Been Warning Us That He’s A Sexual Predator For A Long Time

For years, Louis C.K. dismissed accusations of sexual misconduct — specifically, that he’s forced women to watch while he masturbates — only to recently admit the stories were true. But if we had been paying attention, we would have seen him trying to confess in slow motion over the course of his career.

20th TelevisionOr sometimes point blank.

In one scene of his FX series, Louis appears on a talk show to defend the merits of masturbation. He’s introduced as an “aficionado of masturbation” who “even brags about it,” which came across as a silly bit at the time, but obviously did not age well. After apparently winning the debate, Louis turns to his pretty, young evangelical opponent and says, “You know what, I’m going to jerk off to you later and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

He may as well have signed that confession note.

3

O.J. Simpson Attacks A Woman With A Knife In An Unaired TV Pilot

Before O.J. Simpson was a professional murderer, he was an actor (before that, he did something with football, which certainly sounds like a real sport). But shortly before being arrested and put on trial for the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown in 1994, O.J. had appeared in an unaired pilot for a TV series called Frogmen.

NBCUniversal Television“What if we take the volleyball scene from Top Gun and add wetsuits and O.J. Simpson?”

Simpson starred as John “Bullfrog” Burke, a Navy SEAL on a mission to rescue an old friend who has since married his ex-wife. At one point in the pilot, Burke is surprised by his daughter, whom he believes to be an intruder, and briefly holds a knife to her throat. Of course, Nicole Brown famously died of multiple knife wounds, mostly to her throat. We can’t help but wonder if O.J. had some “creative input” on the scene.

NBCUniversal Television“CUT! O.J., man, you gotta stop yelling ‘I’LL SHOW YOU, NICOLE!’ That’s not the line.”

NBC had already declined to pick up the show by the time the murders occurred a few months later, and the pilot remains unaired, sealed in a vault at Warner Bros. When asked if they would ever consider releasing it, executives reportedly burst into laughter and then said “no” 17 times with 17 different inflections.

2

The Guy Who Played Ricky’s Killer In Boyz N The Hood Became A Murderous Gangster

Lloyd Avery II was a nice young man who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, attended Beverly Hills High School, and played water polo. He was basically Carlton Banks. Then, everything changed when he met John Singleton, who cast him as the gang member who kills Ricky Baker in Boyz N The Hood. Because movie roles for young black men in the ’90s generally ranged from “Dead Thug #1” to “Dead Thug #2,” Avery continued to be cast as gang members until he apparently decided to cut out the middleman and become one. He moved to a crime-ridden neighborhood un-affectionately called “The Jungle,” got the word “Junglez” tattooed above his eyebrow, and eventually ended up sentenced to life in prison for double homicide, for which face tattoos are a notorious gateway.

Columbia PicturesDid you notice how his hat is color-coordinated with the car? That’s not by accident.

Sadly, life in prison wound up being a short sentence. While Avery did attempt to reform behind bars, he met way badder dudes than he could have ever hoped to be. Specifically, his Satanist cellmate, who killed him, created a pentagram with his blood, and performed a Satanic ritual over his body after an argument about — surprise! — religion.

1

An Actor In Rosemary’s Baby Went On To Start A Cult

Remember this guy from the party scene in Rosemary’s Baby?

Paramount PicturesWere talking about the creepy guy. Well, the creepy guy on the left.

That’s Michel Rostand. This is his only notable film appearance, and he apparently took it for an instructional video, because he soon founded a horrifying sex cult. The Buddhafield was ostensibly all about hippy enlightenment, and it began innocently enough, with a yoga class and some nature hikes. But as time went on, the focus shifted from personal enlightenment to worshiping Michel himself … literally. One follower carved sculptures out of fruit salads to give Michel every morning, while others carried his folding lawn chair around like a Roman emperor’s throne.

WRA ProductionsHe insisted the sculptures be made out of fruit because mashed potatoes seemed a bit too on the nose.

Now, the kind of power implied by human transportation and fruit art is notoriously corrupting, and things soon took a sinister turn. Michel started raping all the young men in his group. He had brainwashed them to the point where if any of them objected, he convinced them that they weren’t mad at him, they were mad at themselves, and this obviously meant they should continue having sex. Ah yes, the old “Why are you hitting yourself?” method of mind control.

When the group began to draw unwelcome attention from the normies, they bounced from California to Texas, then ultimately to Hawaii, where he’s still operating and presumably having sex of dubious consent to this day. That’s right: Somehow, impossibly, Roman Polanski was not the biggest creep involved in making Rosemary’s Baby.

Paramount PicturesReminder, Satan is also in the movie.

Support Cracked’s journalism with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more examples of life imitating art, check out 8 Bizarre Movie Scenes You Didn’t Know Really Happened and 5 Absurd Action Movie Scenes That Happened in Real Life.

It’s not a crime to follow us on Facebook.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_25453_6-actors-who-did-same-crimes-their-own-characters-did.html

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2pgqpMy via Viral News HQ

[centroreligioso-blog]

Top 10 Cults

Cult roughly refers to a cohesive social group devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream, with a notably positive or negative popular perception. Many cults are destructive or suicidal though others, whilst being controversial, do not commit extreme acts. This is a list of the top ten cults. In no particular order: 1. Church of Bible Understanding

Stewart TraillThe Church of Bible Understanding (formerly known as the Forever Family) is a destructive cult started in 1971 by former atheist and vacuum repairman Stewart Traill in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The cult targeted teens as young as 13 by drawing on their weaknesses. Throughout the 1970s, the cult expanded to many other parts of the United States.Traill, born in Quebec in 1936 is the son of a Presbyterian minister, who teaches that he is the reincarnation of Elijah, and that he knows the date of the return of Christ. Members of the cult live in a commune and donate 90% of their income to the cult. Traill amassed a fortune and owns four planes and a half million dollar mansion. According to former members, Traill controls every aspect of members’ lives through harsh criticism, shame, and public humiliation.Ron Burkes, a staff member at a residential treatment center for former cult members says this: “[Traill] has one of most effective means of shutting down critical thinking I’ve ever seen. Of the hundreds of people I’ve treated, COBU is definitely in the top five in terms of harm and psychological damage.” The cult also runs a mission in Haiti, where some former members claim Haitian children are indoctrinated in exchange for food and clothing. According to an article originally appearing in the Manassas Journal Messenger, COBU receives government funds for its Haiti Mission as part of President Bush’s Faith Based Initiative.

2. Manson Family

The Manson Family was a cult started by Charles Manson. Manson was born to Kathleen Maddox, an unwed sixteen year old girl, in 1934. It is said that his mother, an alcoholic, sold him to buy beer. When he was returned to her she had him sent to a boarding school. After a number of years living with his religious aunt and uncle, he returned to his mother who rejected him. After a number of robberies, he was put in jail for the first time. One month before his parole hearing in 1952, he raped a boy in jail by holding a razor to his throat. Two years later he was paroled. Manson began to pimp a young woman he met and eventually took her, and a second woman to New Mexico to work for him as prostitutes. He was caught and tried under the Mann Act (a 1910 act that prohibited white slavery and trafficking for immoral means).In 1967 he was released (having spent more than half of his life in institutions). Upon release, he requested permission to move to San Francisco which was granted. When he arrived he became part of the Hippie movement centered around the Haight-Ashbury region and he set himself up as a guru. He moved in with 23 year old student Mary Brunner and convinced her to allow other women to join them. Eventually eighteen other women were living with them – this was the beginning of the family.

By 1968, Manson had established a home for the “family” at a ranch owned by George Spahn. Manson convinced one of the family members, Lynette Fromme, to sleep with Spahn in order to get free rent. Manson began teaching his followers that social uprisings were coming – using the assassination of Martin Luther King as evidence. He also told them that the social turmoil he had been predicting had also been predicted by The Beatles. The White Album songs, he declared, told it all, although in code; in fact, he maintained, the album was directed at the Family itself, an elect group that was being instructed to preserve the worthy from the impending disaster.In 1969, on August 8, Manson told Family members at Spahn Ranch, “now is the time for Helter Skelter.” That evening the family, under the direction of Manson, would commit the famous murder of Sharon Tate, leading to other murders over the two day period.

3. Aum Shinrikyo

Aum Shinrikyo, is a Japanese religious group founded by Shoko Asahara. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out a Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subways. In 2000 the organization changed its name to “Aleph” (the first letter of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabet), changing its logo as well. In 1995 the group had 9,000 members in Japan, and as many as 40,000 worldwide. As of 2004 Aum Shinrikyo/Aleph membership was estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 people.The movement was founded by Shoko Asahara in his one-bedroom apartment in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward in 1984, starting off as a Yoga and meditation class known as Aum-no-kai and steadily grew in the following years. It gained the official status as a religious organization in 1989. It attracted such a considerable number of young graduates from Japan’s elite universities that it was dubbed a “religion for the elite”. Aum’s PR activities included publishing. In Japan, where comics and animated cartoons enjoy unprecedented popularity among all ages, Aum attempted to tie religious ideas to popular anime and manga themes – space missions, extremely powerful weapons, world conspiracies and conquest for ultimate truth.

Aum Shinrikyo had started as a quiet group of people interested in yogic meditation, but later transformed into a very different organization. According to Asahara, he needed “to demonstrate charisma” to attract the modern audience. Following his decision, Aum underwent a radical image change. The rebranded Aum looked less like an elite meditation boutique and more like an organization attractive to a broader, larger population group. Public interviews, bold controversial statements, and vicious opposition to critique were incorporated into the religion’s PR style. The cult started attracting controversy in the late 1980s with accusations of deception of recruits, and of holding cult members against their will and forcing members to donate money. A murder of a cult member who tried to leave is now known to have taken place in February 1989.At the end of 1993 the cult started secretly manufacturing the nerve agent sarin and later VX gas. They also attempted to manufacture 1000 automatic rifles but only managed to make one. Aum tested their sarin on sheep at a remote ranch in Western Australia, killing 29 sheep. Both sarin and VX were then used in several assassinations (and attempts) over 1994-1995. Most notably on the night of 27th June 1994, the cult carried out the world’s first use of chemical weapons in a terrorist attack against civilians when they released sarin in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto. This Matsumoto incident killed seven and harmed 200 more. However, police investigations focused only on an innocent local resident and failed to implicate the cult. 11 cult members have been sentenced to death, although none of the sentences have been carried out, nor the time and date for the executions to take effect has been publicly established.

4. Restoration of the 10 Commandments

The full name of this cult is the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a breakaway group from the Roman Catholic Church that formed in Uganda in the late 1980s. As the name implies the group strongly emphasized the Ten Commandments. This emphasis meant they even discouraged talking: out of fear of breaking the commandment about giving false witness. They also believed that their strict adherence to the Ten Commandments would be advantageous after the apocalypse.This proved significant as the group had a strong emphasis on the apocalypse, highlighted by their booklet A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time. New members were required to study it and be trained in it, reading it as many as six times. They also taught that Mother Mary had a special role in the apocalypse, and communicated to the leadership. They saw themselves as like Noah’s Ark, a ship of righteousness in a sea of depravity.The group tended to be secretive and as mentioned above, was literally silent. Therefore it was relatively unknown to the outside world until 2000, although in 1998 the school they ran was sanctioned by the government due to unsanitary conditions and violation of child labor statutes.In March of 2000, around 300 followers died in a fire in what is considered a cult suicide. Investigations conducted after the fire discovered mass graves, raising the death toll to over 1,000. This may mean it was larger than the Jonestown murder/suicide in 1978, but some speculate the death toll was around 800. There are also allegations that the event was more of a mass murder by the leadership.

5. Raëlism

Founder, Claude Vorilhon (right)Raëlism or Raelian Church is a UFO religion founded by a purported contactee named Claude Vorilhon, who is known recently for supporting Clonaid’s claim that an American woman underwent a standard cloning procedure, which led to the birth of her new daughter Eve in December 26, 2002. National authorities, mainstream media, and young adults have increasingly investigated the church’s activities as a result of controversial statements by Clonaid’s head Brigitte Boisselier the day after.Members of the Raëlian Church consist of people who have been baptized by Raëlian clergy in quarterly ceremonies, and among the converts are members of Raëlian-founded free love groups such as the Order of Angels and Raël’s Girls. The organization—which preaches a sensual philosophy and a physicalist explanation of the origin of life—could have as many as sixty-five thousand members.

Raëlians emphasize secular and hedonistic ideas, rather than worshiping a supreme metaphysical deity.[30] The Raëlian Church members follow a UFO religion that favors a strong version of physicalism – the belief that everything consists only of physical properties. Raëlians deny the existence of the ethereal soul and a supernatural god, and believe that the mind is a function of matter alone. This ties into their belief that mind transfer is possible and that it will be possible to create an identical human clone in terms of mind and personality—as long as the clone and the original are not alive at the same time.

6. Scientology

The Church of Scientology is a cult created by L Ron Hubbard (Elron) in 1952 as an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system called Dianetics. Scientology and the organizations that promote it have remained highly controversial since their inception. Journalists, courts and the governing bodies of several countries have stated that the Church of Scientology is an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and abuses the trust of its members. Journalists, governments, religious groups and other critics worldwide have often referred to the organization as a cult.

Reports and allegations have been made, by journalists, courts, and governmental bodies of several countries, that the Church of Scientology is an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and brutally exploits its members. In some cases of US litigation against the Church, former Scientologists were paid as expert witnesses and have since stated that they submitted false and inflammatory declarations, intended to be carried in the media to incite prejudice against Scientology, and deliberately harassed key Scientology executives, by knowingly advancing unfounded opinions, either to get a case dropped or to obtain a large settlement.Although Scientologists are usually free to practice their beliefs, the organized church has often encountered opposition due to their strong-arm tactics, directed against critics and members wishing to leave the organization.

7. Order of the Solar Temple

Joseph Di MambroThe Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire (OTS) in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the new age myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar. OTS was started by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret in 1984 in Geneva as l’Ordre International Chevaleresque de Tradition Solaire (OICTS) and renamed Ordre du Temple Solaire. It is believed that other members were also involved who have remained unknown to the public.In October 1994 Tony Dutoit’s infant son (Emmanuel Dutoit), aged three months, was killed at the group’s centre in Morin Heights, Quebec. The baby had been stabbed repeatedly with a wooden stake. It is believed that Di Mambro ordered the murder, because he identified the baby as the Anti-Christ described in the Bible. He believed that the Anti-Christ was born into the order to prevent Di Mambro from succeeding in his spiritual aim.

A few days later, Di Mambro and twelve followers performed a ritual Last Supper. A few days after that, apparent mass suicides and murders were conducted at two villages in Switzerland, and at Morin Heights — 15 inner circle members committed suicide with poison, 30 were killed by bullets or smothering, and 8 others were killed by other causes. Many of the bodies when found were drugged, possibly to prevent the members from objecting. The buildings were then set on fire by timer devices, purportedly as one last symbol of the group’s purification.In western Switzerland, 48 members of a sect died in another apparent mass murder-suicide. Many of the victims were found in a secret underground chapel lined with mirrors and other items of Templar symbolism. The bodies were dressed in the order’s ceremonial robes and were in a circle, feet together, heads outward, most with plastic bags tied over their heads; they had each been shot in the head. It is believed that the plastic bags were a symbol of the ecological disaster that would befall the human race after the OTS members moved on to Sirius.A mayor, a journalist, a civil servant and a sales manager were found among the dead in Switzerland. Records seized by the Quebec police showed that some members had personally donated over $1 million to the cult’s leader Joseph Di Mambro. There was also another attempted mass suicide of the remaining members which was thwarted in the late 1990s. It is believed that The Solar Temple group continues to exist, with thirty surviving members in Quebec at the St-Anne-de-la-Pérade center, with from 140 to 500 members remaining worldwide.

8. Heaven’s Gate

Heaven’s Gate is a destructive, doomsday cult centered in California. 21 women and 18 men voluntarily committed suicide in three groups on three successive days starting on March 23, 1997. Most were in their 40’s; the rest covered an age range of 26 to 72. Two months later, two additional members, Charles Humphrey and Wayne Cooke attempted suicide in a hotel room a few miles from the Rancho Santa Fe mansion; Cooke succeeded. Humphrey tried again in the Arizona desert during Feb 1998 and was successful.They followed a syncretistic religion, combining elements of Christianity with unusual beliefs about the nature of UFOs. They interpreted passages from the four gospels and the book Revelation as referring to UFO visitation. In particular, they emphasized a story in Revelation which described two witnesses who are killed, remained dead for 3 1/2 days, were revived and taken up into the clouds. They look upon earth as being in the control of evil forces, and perceived themselves as being among the elite who would attain heaven. They held a profoundly dualistic belief of the soul as being a superior entity which is only housed temporarily in a body. Applewhite said that bodies were only “the temporary containers of the soul…The final act of metamorphosis or separation from the human kingdom is the ‘disconnect’ or separation from the human physical container or body in order to be released from the human environment.”

Members called themselves brother and sister; they looked upon themselves as monks and nuns; they lived communally in a large, rented San Diego County (CA) home which they called their monastery. Most members had little contact with their families of origin or with their neighbors. Many followed successful professional careers before entering the group. Some abandoned their children before joining. They were free to leave at any time. They dressed in unisex garments: shapeless black shirts with Mandarin collars, and black pants. They were required commit themselves to a celibate life. Eight of the male members, including Do, submitted to voluntary castration. This seems to have been a form of preparation for their next level of existence: in a life that would be free of gender, sexual identity and sexual activity.Thirty-eight group members, plus Applewhite, the group’s leader, were found dead in a rented mansion in the upscale San Diego community of Rancho Santa Fe, California, on March 26, 1997. The mass death of the Heaven’s Gate group is said to be one of the most widely-known examples of cult suicide. In preparing to kill themselves, members of the group drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities. The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation. They were found lying neatly in their own bunk beds, with their faces and torsos covered by a square, purple cloth. Each member carried five dollar bills and a few quarters in their wallets. All 39 were dressed in identical black shirts and sweat pants, brand new black-and-white Nike tennis shoes, and armband patches reading “Heaven’s Gate Away Team”. The suicides were conducted in shifts, and the remaining members of the group cleaned up after each prior group’s death.

9. Branch Davidians

The Branch Davidians are a religious sect who originated from a schism in 1955 from the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists, themselves former members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church who were disfellowshipped during the 1930s. From its inception in the 1930s, the splinter movement inherited Adventism’s apocalypticism, in that they believed themselves to be living in a time when Christian prophecies of a final divine judgment were coming to pass. They are best known for the 1993 siege of their Center near Waco, Texas, by the ATF and the FBI, which resulted in the deaths of eighty-two of the church’s members, including head figure David Koresh. However, by the time of the siege, Koresh had encouraged his followers to think of themselves as “students of the Seven Seals” rather than as “Branch Davidians,” and other Branch Davidian factions never accepted his leadership.Some former members of Koresh’s group alleged that he practiced polygamy with underage brides, physically abused children, and stockpiled illegal weapons, legal authorities investigated these charges. On February 28, 1993, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) conducted a raid on Mount Carmel, a property of the Davidians. The raid resulted in the deaths of six Davidians and four ATF agents after a firefight broke out. Following this confrontation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) laid siege to Mount Carmel for 51 days, during which time the FBI and ATF conducted around-the-clock operations including psychological warfare (psyops) on the occupants of the complex.

The government’s siege on the Branch Davidians ended on April 19 when federal agents released CS tear gas into the compound. During the assault, several fires broke out and spread quickly through the buildings, killing approximately 79 Branch Davidians, 21 of whom were children. Autopsies confirmed that many of the victims, including David Koresh, had died of single gunshot wounds to their heads.The government put some of the survivors on trial. All were acquitted of conspiring to murder federal agents but some were convicted of aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter.

10. Unification Church

The Unification Church (Mooneyism) is a new religious movement started by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in the 1940s. The beliefs of the church are explained in the book Divine Principle and draw from the Bible as well as Asian traditions and include belief in a universal God; in the creation of a literal Kingdom of Heaven on earth; in the universal salvation of all people, good and evil as well as living and dead; that Jesus did not come to die; and that the Lord of the Second Coming must be a man born in Korea early in the 20th century who must marry and have children.In the United States in the 1970s, the media reported on the high-pressure recruitment methods of Unificationists and said that the church separated vulnerable college students from their families through the use of brainwashing or mind control. Moon dismissed these criticisms, stating in 1976 that he had received many thank-you letters from parents whose children became closer to them after joining the movement. Moon and his wife were banned from entry into Germany and the other 14 Schengen treaty countries, on the grounds that they are leaders of a sect that endangered the personal and social development of young people. The Netherlands and a few other Schengen states let Moon and his wife enter their countries in 2005. In 2006 the German Supreme Court overturned the ban.

In 1993, Chung Hwa Pak released the book Roku Maria no Higeki (Tragedy of the Six Marys) through the Koyu Publishing Co. of Japan. The book contained allegations that Moon conducted sex rituals amongst six married female disciples (“The Six Marys”) who were to have prepared the way for the virgin who would marry Moon and become the True Mother. Chung Hwa Pak had left the movement when the book was published and later withdrew the book from print when he rejoined the Unification Church. Before his death Chung Hwa Pak published a second book, The Apostate, and recanted all allegations made in Roku Maria no Higeki. Bonus. Jonestown

On 18 November 1978, more than 900 people died in the largest mass murder/suicide in American history. Most of the deaths occurred in a jungle encampment in Guyana, South America, where members of a group called Peoples Temple lived in a utopian community and agricultural project known as Jonestown. Most died after drinking a fruit punch laced with cyanide and tranquilizers, although some may have been injected; two residents died of gunshot wounds. Earlier that day a few other residents of the group had assassinated a U.S. congressman along with three members of the media and a departing Jonestown resident. And in Guyana’s capital city of Georgetown, yet another member of the group killed her three children and then herself after receiving word of the deaths in Jonestown. In all, 918 Americans lost their lives that day.

Since that time, Jonestown and its leader Jim Jones have entered American discourse as code for the dangers of cults and cult leaders. The expression “drinking the Kool-Aid”—which means both blindly jumping on the bandwagon, and being a team player—is one manifestation of this. The story of Jonestown, and of its parent organization Peoples Temple, however, is more complicated than sound-bites comparing strict parents to Jim Jones, or pundits relating religious violence (such as the suicide air strikes of 11 September 2001) to Jonestown. Instead, Jonestown serves as a lesson in how a combination of media, government, and citizens can create a climate of persecution and fear. It also provides an example of how uncritical acceptance of the status quo and social and geographic isolation can lead to violence and even death.

[trendingnewsb]

6 Actors Who Did The Same Crimes Their Own Characters Did

At the beginning of every episode of Jackass, the show has to practically beg you not to try any of what you’re about to see at home, which seems a bit redundant when the guys start stapling their own testicles to an enraged bull. But it’s necessary. Some people truly can’t help doing whatever they see onscreen, no matter how bloody, stupid, or painful the results. Sometimes that even goes for the actors pretending to do it …

6

A Sopranos Actor Was Implicated In A Real Mob Execution

Michael “Big Mike” Squicciarini was typecast as, well, himself, and his role as “Big Frank” on The Sopranos was no exception. Though it seems impossible for a guy who has played everyone from “Thug Joey” to “Henchman #2,” his real-life rap sheet had more mob stereotypes than his IMDb page. While he worked for the DiMeo crime family on the show, he worked for the family they were based on, the DeCavalcantes, in reality.

HBOHis quotes include, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh that’s-a spicy meatball, capisci?”

Read Next

6 Hilarious Loopholes Normal People Used To Beat The System

Big Mike served five years for aggravated assault before officially graduating to murder in 1992, when he lured rival drug dealer Ralph Hernandez to a nightclub owned by mob capo “Joe Pitts” Conigliaro. Pitts was in a wheelchair because he and his partner failed so hard at shaking a dude down that they accidentally shot each other at the same time, but he didn’t let that hold him back. Someone (we don’t know for sure if it was Big Mike, but it, uh … it was probably Big Mike) locked Hernandez in a room with Joe, but didn’t stick around to see Pitts shoot the man in the forehead.

That would have been the end of it, had Big Mike not gotten stars in his eyes. Police were still investigating the crime, but all they had was a nickname, and you’d be surprised at the number of Big Mikes residing in that part of the country. Then they noticed that this Sopranos guy seemed suspiciously good at gangstering …

Bill TurnbullWhen they needed to make sure nobody snitched about the ending of the series, who do you think they called?

Witnesses were shown a few episodes of the show, and confirmed that it was an entertainment thrill ride (and also that Big Mike totally helped kill that guy). By then, Big Mike had turned his life around, but his crimes came back to haunt him. He passed away before he could stand trial, and Joe Pitts himself was eventually knocked off in a mob hit. Scorsese himself couldn’t have done better.

5

The Actor Who Played Young Ricky Bobby Really Did Like to Go Fast

In Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, there’s a flashback to a ten-year-old Ricky, played by Luke Bigham. Bigham’s career soon fizzled out, meaning that Talladega Nights was somebody’s acting high point, and dammit if he wasn’t intent on reliving it.

Columbia PicturesLooking like “Young Will Ferrell” is a bit of a niche career.

Eight years later in Alabama, Bigham caused a five-car pileup after crashing his sedan going 80 mph in a 35 mph zone. It wasn’t Bigham’s last brush with the law. Later that year, after recovering from his minor injuries, he was arrested on domestic violence charges for pushing his mother down the stairs. In the film, Ricky Bobby’s kids are awful to their parents, and Bigham had apparently decided to method act for the rest of his life.

4

Louis C.K. Has Been Warning Us That He’s A Sexual Predator For A Long Time

For years, Louis C.K. dismissed accusations of sexual misconduct — specifically, that he’s forced women to watch while he masturbates — only to recently admit the stories were true. But if we had been paying attention, we would have seen him trying to confess in slow motion over the course of his career.

20th TelevisionOr sometimes point blank.

In one scene of his FX series, Louis appears on a talk show to defend the merits of masturbation. He’s introduced as an “aficionado of masturbation” who “even brags about it,” which came across as a silly bit at the time, but obviously did not age well. After apparently winning the debate, Louis turns to his pretty, young evangelical opponent and says, “You know what, I’m going to jerk off to you later and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

He may as well have signed that confession note.

3

O.J. Simpson Attacks A Woman With A Knife In An Unaired TV Pilot

Before O.J. Simpson was a professional murderer, he was an actor (before that, he did something with football, which certainly sounds like a real sport). But shortly before being arrested and put on trial for the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown in 1994, O.J. had appeared in an unaired pilot for a TV series called Frogmen.

NBCUniversal Television“What if we take the volleyball scene from Top Gun and add wetsuits and O.J. Simpson?”

Simpson starred as John “Bullfrog” Burke, a Navy SEAL on a mission to rescue an old friend who has since married his ex-wife. At one point in the pilot, Burke is surprised by his daughter, whom he believes to be an intruder, and briefly holds a knife to her throat. Of course, Nicole Brown famously died of multiple knife wounds, mostly to her throat. We can’t help but wonder if O.J. had some “creative input” on the scene.

NBCUniversal Television“CUT! O.J., man, you gotta stop yelling ‘I’LL SHOW YOU, NICOLE!’ That’s not the line.”

NBC had already declined to pick up the show by the time the murders occurred a few months later, and the pilot remains unaired, sealed in a vault at Warner Bros. When asked if they would ever consider releasing it, executives reportedly burst into laughter and then said “no” 17 times with 17 different inflections.

2

The Guy Who Played Ricky’s Killer In Boyz N The Hood Became A Murderous Gangster

Lloyd Avery II was a nice young man who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, attended Beverly Hills High School, and played water polo. He was basically Carlton Banks. Then, everything changed when he met John Singleton, who cast him as the gang member who kills Ricky Baker in Boyz N The Hood. Because movie roles for young black men in the ’90s generally ranged from “Dead Thug #1” to “Dead Thug #2,” Avery continued to be cast as gang members until he apparently decided to cut out the middleman and become one. He moved to a crime-ridden neighborhood un-affectionately called “The Jungle,” got the word “Junglez” tattooed above his eyebrow, and eventually ended up sentenced to life in prison for double homicide, for which face tattoos are a notorious gateway.

Columbia PicturesDid you notice how his hat is color-coordinated with the car? That’s not by accident.

Sadly, life in prison wound up being a short sentence. While Avery did attempt to reform behind bars, he met way badder dudes than he could have ever hoped to be. Specifically, his Satanist cellmate, who killed him, created a pentagram with his blood, and performed a Satanic ritual over his body after an argument about — surprise! — religion.

1

An Actor In Rosemary’s Baby Went On To Start A Cult

Remember this guy from the party scene in Rosemary’s Baby?

Paramount PicturesWere talking about the creepy guy. Well, the creepy guy on the left.

That’s Michel Rostand. This is his only notable film appearance, and he apparently took it for an instructional video, because he soon founded a horrifying sex cult. The Buddhafield was ostensibly all about hippy enlightenment, and it began innocently enough, with a yoga class and some nature hikes. But as time went on, the focus shifted from personal enlightenment to worshiping Michel himself … literally. One follower carved sculptures out of fruit salads to give Michel every morning, while others carried his folding lawn chair around like a Roman emperor’s throne.

WRA ProductionsHe insisted the sculptures be made out of fruit because mashed potatoes seemed a bit too on the nose.

Now, the kind of power implied by human transportation and fruit art is notoriously corrupting, and things soon took a sinister turn. Michel started raping all the young men in his group. He had brainwashed them to the point where if any of them objected, he convinced them that they weren’t mad at him, they were mad at themselves, and this obviously meant they should continue having sex. Ah yes, the old “Why are you hitting yourself?” method of mind control.

When the group began to draw unwelcome attention from the normies, they bounced from California to Texas, then ultimately to Hawaii, where he’s still operating and presumably having sex of dubious consent to this day. That’s right: Somehow, impossibly, Roman Polanski was not the biggest creep involved in making Rosemary’s Baby.

Paramount PicturesReminder, Satan is also in the movie.

Support Cracked’s journalism with a visit to our Contribution Page. Please and thank you.

For more examples of life imitating art, check out 8 Bizarre Movie Scenes You Didn’t Know Really Happened and 5 Absurd Action Movie Scenes That Happened in Real Life.

It’s not a crime to follow us on Facebook.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_25453_6-actors-who-did-same-crimes-their-own-characters-did.html

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2pgqpMy via Viral News HQ