Ellen Leventry: February 2008 Archives

When it was suggested that I write about attending the Spice Girls reunion concert in terms of spiritual experience, I scoffed a bit. As enduring and as deep as my love of Ginger, Sporty, Scary, Posh, and Baby is, I just couldn't see them as Divine, instead of just plain divine. But we here at Idol Chatter are often challenged with finding the spiritual in routine, everyday happenings, so I was game.

In general, I find that far too many things in this world are labeled "spiritual," since spirituality sells so well. And maybe it's all Oprah's doing, but even washing dishes can be your gateway to enlightenment. Sure, call me cynical, but in this age of dish soap touting itself as stress-reducing aromatherapy, it's not too hard to differentiate from real spiritual experience and spa spiritual experience.

So, on this last night of their reunion tour, I sat down to think about what could have possibly transformed my experience at the Spice Girls concert from just pure nostalgia into actual Spice Satori?

Stephen Colbert coined the term "truthiness," and now I would like to expand the lexicon with my own truth-based contribution, "truthlessness." What is truthlessness, you ask? Well, it's just what it sounds like, truth coupled with ruthlessness, the finest exemplar of which could be seen on last night's "Moment of Truth."

Lauren, a 26 year-old aspiring model (according to the Fox.com message boards), was in the hot seat. Joining her on stage was her husband Frank, a dark-haired Ryan-Phillipe look-alike, her father, mother, and two friends. Now, this is no normal episode; oh no faithful viewers, this is the episode touted for the past week as the one that will end a marriage! So, naturally, I had to watch.

Lauren, who stated that her family "might not like her answers, but they will eventually appreciate them," [read: money] was asked many probing questions about her marriage to Frank, a policeman. "Has she ever gone out with her friends and taken of her wedding ring to appear single?" "Yes," she responds truthfully. Frank responds that she must have her reasons and that they'll "discuss them later." I'm sure they will.

As she passes $100,000 and heads for the big money, host Mark Walberg, no stranger to tawdriness having hosted "Temptation Island," seems genuinely upset. He constantly rubs his furrowed brow and hits the arm of his chair while telling her that she might want to reconsider continuing play since the next question is even worse. But, Lauren plows ahead and runs smack dab into her ex-boyfriend—also named Frank—asking her whether she would leave her husband if he wanted to get back together with her.

As Americans, we expect three simple things: Life, liberty and the right to pursue happiness by selling things on eBay. But Scientology is standing in the way of that American dream, reports Scott Pilutik on RealityBasedCommunity.net. It seems that the notoriously litigious church has been using eBay’s Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO) to keep ex-Scientologists, hoping to recoup some of the amounts that they spent on church-mandated gear, from selling their E-meters and other materials via the online auction giant.

There's a serious ethical issue that surrounds this year's presidential campaign. No, it's not pulling out of the war in Iraq or universal healthcare, but a little thing known as campaign music clearance, a point illustrated once again by Democrat John Mellencamp asking Republican John McCain to stop using his music as a rallying cry and Boston founder Tom Scholz asking Mike Huckabee to do the same.

Yes, fellow constituents, there is nothing better than a rousing anthem, uniting like-minded people under a banner of bombast. But campaign music has changed since the days of the penned-for-the-purpose "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," and the tantalizingly titled "William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska." Now our politicos hope to tap into the national zeitgeist, or at least national nostalgia, by choosing popular rock anthems. You would think that a group of spin doctors would at least ask permission of the artist before spinning their record at rallies; it would be prudent, after all.

Apparently retirement does equal death, even for world famous gurus who once tirelessly toured the world like a rock star, spreading his message and hobnobbing with celebrity seekers. Less than a month after announcing his retirement from handling the daily business of his global Transcendental Meditation empire, said to have 5 million adherents and be worth $4 billion, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died on Tuesday.

Perhaps better known for being the controversial, "counter-culture" spiritual revolutionary who hung out with the Beatles and introduced the world to yogic flying than for his devotion to the Vedas (Hindu holy books), the yogi has had a more far-reaching influence on pop-culture than many know.

Not only did he influence the work of the Fab Four (who later fell out with the guru; see Lennon's "Sexy Sadie"), but inspired artists as varied as The Beach Boy's Mike Love, actress Mia Farrow, magician Doug Henning (maybe all the meditation can explain those wacky rainbow-adorned jump suits), and even everyone's favorite patriarch and pastor, "7th Heaven's" Stephen Collins, with his message of inner and world peace.

There was a time when the lawyers and PR firms of those accused of crimes and misdemeanors asked that their clients not be judged in the court of public opinion but given a fair trial in a courtroom far from...