XtineFiles

In celebration of Halloween, I've been stuck on several ghost hunting shows. Shows like A Haunting and Most Haunted have kept me moderately frightened and entertained. As a result, I've come to several compelling conclusions about possessions, hauntings, exorcisms, and the over-all evil doing un dead.


*When a family reaches their breaking point and leaving their haunted house is not an option their final attempt on eliminating the ghosts is calling in the Catholic Priest. Nobody ever seems to call a Rabbi, a Muslim Cleric or a Buddhist Monk. Sure every once in a while a shaman will show up, but for the most part de-haunting a house has become the plight of the Catholic Priest.

*During an exorcism the person calling out the spirit always screams and yells in a manner that seems to only infuriate the spirit more. Asking it to leave nicely seems totally out of the question. "Leave this house now, I command you!"

*The Night Vision Goggle Green Light Re-inactments: Why the hell would you ghost hunt in the dark?

*With regard to the Catholic Priest. Any Priest has the authority to perform a common exorcism, that is excising evil from a home or place. However, the Vatican must approve any attempt on an exorcism of a possessed person or persons. As in, "lick me lick me" and "the power of Christ compels you"

*Thanks to the Sixth Sense suddenly everyone is an expert. A light chill in the room? Clearly the house is haunted. Hairs raised on the back of your neck? Oh yeah, thats a ghost for sure.

*Advice to Ghost Hunters: Dont scream out, "Show yourself you evil bastard, I'm not scared of you!" and then scream like a little girl when the unplugged tv mysteriously turns on by itself. wuss.

Happy Hunting.

I just watched the controversial documentary Loose Change. The film Loose Change is a deeply concerning documentary that systematically pulls apart the details of September 11th providing a view point that clearly implicates the Government as the cause, catalyst and beneficiary of the Attacks. Some the the theories the film presents are not only plausible in its presentation but also quite alarming. The film maker never wavers in his point of view and never presents an alternative argument to his thesis. A lot of people are understandably pissed off about this film, but I have the feeling that was the intent.

This film is not a masterpiece by any means (the film has various versions due to legalities, fair use footage, copyright issues and an issue of Popular Mechanics which was devoted to debunking the whole film) and true this is only one of dozens of docs about 9/11 conspiracies. And of course whether or not you believe in the film makers 'conspiracy theory' is up to you. But what is refreshing is that now (more than ever) there is a willingness to question and consider new possibilities. And, I appreciate that this willingness is coming from a younger demographic.

Age of the film maker Dylan Avery: 22 years old
At the time of this post: 2,548,331 have dowloaded the film
According to a New York Times/CBS poll: only 16% of Americans believe the government is telling the truth on what it knew prior to the terrorist attacks

watch the doc here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7866929448192753501&q=loose+change+recut

This photo was taken of me last night at a party. Yes, I know my eyes are very telling (wine, rum, wine, rum, wine, etc) but that is not the point. The point is, above my head is an Orb. Some people say Orbs are just dust particles in the air or simple light reflections into camera lenses. Others however think Orbs are spirits, ghosts, guardian angels, fairies, or alien monitoring systems.

I was kind of on the fence about all of that, but 73 pictures were taken last night and I was the only person who had an Orb hovering above them. And as a result of my massive Internet research on the subject of Orbs I am totally freaked out!

What do you think? Discuss.

here is what the experts say:
ghost study
hollow hill

Those of you who work for a big company know at least once a year the whole company gets together in a giant hotel ball room to talk about successes, air grievances, sing songs, and celebrate working with the 'best of the business'. I had such an event the other day. At the event the head of the company gave out funny awards.

I received the Mary Richards Award.

At first, I was mortified. After all, Mary Richards is the fictional character played by Mary Tyler Moore in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary moves to Minneapolis after a relationship goes bad. She finds work as a producer in a small television newsroom. Mary continues to hope for romance but she finds her friends are more dependable. Hummm.

By now the shock is starting to wear off as I sit here with my framed Mary Richards award certificate. And, well, to be honest it is starting to grow on me. Perhaps Mary Richards and I aren't so different after all. And maybe thats not such a bad thing. Oh Mary.

My dear friend LM is proud of me. After all these years I have finally embraced the ever elusive documentary film. True I was forced into it by some strange office twist of fate, but nonetheless I am finding a new found joy in all that is truer than fiction.

In celebration, this weekend I watched the infamous 1975 Maysles classic Grey Gardens. Holy cow. Gray Gardens is a painterly like film that looks inside the very very strange lives of Edith Bouvier Beale and Edie Beale (the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy). The film looks at their eccentric lives in a cat infested broken down mansion in Long Island's well to do East Hampton. It is riveting from start to finish and not surprisingly is making a comeback as out takes are about to be released on DVD. Netflix it. Now.

# of times I called my outfits this week a "costume": 4
# of times I have heard "Its like Gray Gardens meets..." in pitch meetings: 14
# of head scarfs and pashmina's I own: 8
# of times I wear said head scarfs: 0 (well, maybe once on Memorial day weekend)
# of cats in the Beale home: more than 10
Rumored to play Edith and Edie in the "based on" movie: Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange
Other famous East Hampton residents: P.Diddy, Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Ronald Perelman


Scene from Grey Gardens set to Madonna music

The Remix

Claymation Edie on finding a Libra husband

Gray Gardens Fan Site

Prior to the plane crash moment in NYC this afternoon xtine had a celebrity sighting. I dont normally get star struck. I mean there was a time way back when celebrity left me in constant awe, but after you meet enough of them the enigma, allure, and exhilaration tends to wear off. It becomes, at the very least, only slightly amusing.

That said, today's celebrity sighting evoked the spirit of surprise and childlike giddiness I once had. I was walking down 23rd street, I had my new prada hand bag in one hand and script for my latest project in the other. I was lamenting on the rough cut I had just screened and continued on my walk back to the office as most NY'ers do, in silent soulless oblivion. I rounded the corner of 23rd street and 7th avenue when I bumped into, literally, CNN's Anderson Cooper. I stopped dead in my tracks, and like a star struck fool my mouth was agape as my body froze. Anderson Cooper, tv news super star and me on the corner of 23rd and 7th. My reaction was slightly embarrassing, I mean I've become a self proclaimed anti celebrity whore (goes to show you sometimes our personal declarations best go unspoken).

But all of this is not the point of my story. The point is, should I be concerned that the only people (celebs or sub-lebs) left for me are those who give me my tv news? Would Larry King have evoked the same reaction (yikes)? Are my tabloid days truly over?

Perhaps some meditation is in order.

p.s.
AR-be safe over in Tel Aviv, come home soon.

It is my dream to get Marco Materazzi and Zinédine Zidane to either make up or work their stuff out live on air on one of the shows I produce. I am starting to get the feeling I'm the only one in America who still cares, but I won't give up (yet).

Watch this VERY funny recap.

I saw this on "PopBitch." I'm not sure if its a joke or if its true, but I will admit it made me laugh: