Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, June 30, 2005
■ In my opinion
RYAN NYBURG
BUDGET RACK
Who asked
Tom Cruise
for advice?
Goddammit, Tom Cruise is beginning to piss
me off. I’m not talking about his much bally
hooed “romance” with Katie Holmes, which I
consider as important as a cat fart in the wind,
but rather his idiotic mouthing off about his be
liefs concerning psychology.
In case you missed it, Cruise has appeared on a
number of talk shows to promote his latest film,
“War of the Worlds,” but has spent much of this
time using the interviews as a forum to discuss
his Scientology beliefs, in particular rallying
against Brooke Shields for using antidepressants
to combat post-partum depression. Cruise has
stated that psychiatry is a sham and that antide
pressants have no psychiatric basis. By the way,
Scientology teaches that all humans are the rein
carnated spirits of beings banished to Earth 75
million years ago by roaming intergalactic tyrants.
So there you go.
Tommy Boy seems to think that all Brooke
needed were some vitamins and an expensive
auditing course with his group. Really? In her
new book about her depression, “Down Came
the Rain,” Shields describes a time when she felt
she wanted to crash her car into a wall, taking her
own life. Yeah, vitamins. That’ll keep me from
murdering myself in a fiery auto wreck.
Cruise has also called psychiatry a “Nazi sci
ence,” and said that methadone’s original name,
Adolophine, stemmed from Adolph Hitler. The
first claim is based on utter bullshit and the sec
ond is an urban myth. Yet this asshole still gets to
spout his mouth off as if his opinions mean any
thing to anyone. What a world.
What is most infuriating about The Cruiser’s
whole religious trip is his arrogance about the
whole thing.
“I know the history of psychiatry, you don’t,”
he proclaimed to Matt Lauer.
He has stated in public that psychiatry ought
to be outlawed. What a dick. This vapid little bas
tard nets a few hundred million playing a block
of wood in a few crappy action films and some
how his views have merit? I would no sooner
turn to Tom Cruise for mental health advice than
I would turn to a chimp for a prostate exam.
Scientology is the biggest load of crap cur
rently festering in America. Of course people
have a right to believe whatever they want to
believe. And I have the right to tell them that
what they believe is stupid. End of religious
persecution argument.
What really sets this load apart is the frighten
ing extent the Church of Scientology will go to
protect its image. They are a highly litigious
group, have sued various publications, including
Time Magazine, and had a well-publicized tiff
with Germany when the country decided it didn’t
want Scientology around. The Church tossed
around Nazi accusations (again with the Nazis)
and threw a general overall bitchfest that was re
ally hard for anyone else to sympathize with.
The true humor of the whole Scientology biz
is that it is based on the writings of one of the
most arrogant sci-fi hacks of the past century,
Mr. L. Ron Hubbard. Did you think “Battlefield
Earth” the movie was bad? Tty reading the
book. Hubbard had no original thoughts and
was a terrible writer to boot. He couldn’t even
master basic verb agreement, let alone create a
believable character or situation. As for his “sci
entific” books, such as “Dianetics,” they’re
NYBURG, page 9
TTT
Art&r
The Vineyard
There will be plenty of wine to drink, art to admire, food to fill up on and music to
dance to during the 22nd annual event at Alton Baker Park over the long weekend
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
Art & the Vineyard is set to take over Alton
Baker Park this weekend. The annual event,
which raises funds for the Maude Kerns Art
Center, will be larger than ever this year; it has
been expanded to four days and features more
artists, music and wine than ever before.
Originally taking place in a vineyard, the 22
year-old event has since expanded and now at
tracts 25,000 people a year and is run by more
than 200 volunteers. Artists from around the
country come to sell their works while local
wineries provide a cornucopia of vintages for
the public. And with the event stretched out to
incorporate Independence Day, attendees will
also get to enjoy fireworks in a festival setting.
“We decided to stretch the festival out be
cause of July fourth,” Maude Kerns Publicity
Coordinator Marsha Wells Shankman said. “It’s
nice because it gives a little more room to
schedule music and other events. We’ll proba
bly see our attendance go up this year because
of the extra day. ”
The event will feature close to 150 artists this
year in its Artists’ Marketplace. Artists are cho
sen by a committee that sends out requests for
submissions to painters, sculptors and other
artists around the country. Those allowed to
participate are chosen based on their body of
work, their willingness to sell their art and the
quality of what they produce.
“We look for fine art from people with a sub
stantial body of work,” Maude Kerns Executive
Director Karen Pavelec said. “We don’t want
anything manufactured.”
Another aspect of the event is
the music. The festival’s main .
stage will feature an r
eclectic collection of groups and musicians,
playing styles that range from funk and disco to
Celtic, bluegrass and rock. Highlights include
festival mainstay Satin Love Orchestra playing
two sets on Friday, bluegrass and gospel group
Red Oak Station Saturday, Portland’s Dirty Mar
tini on Sunday and two sets from The Cheese
burgers on Monday.
The festival is also continuing its goal to be
come a zero waste event and will feature pre
sentations on waste reduction throughout the
course of its four days. Festival sponsors such
as Rexius will be present in a special Sustain
able Solutions area to discuss different ways to
reduce waste.
Other features of the festival include an Ore
gon Authors’ Table where local writers will be
signing books; a wine court with wine available
by the glass, bottle or case; a kids’ area featur
ing music, crafts and games; and a food court
featuring local favorites and international cui
sine.
The festival’s organizers haven’t forgotten
the original purpose of the event.
“We want to give people a place where they
can enjoy art outside, drink some wine and en
joy some good music,” Shankman said. “I hope
people get a chance to see something they
wouldn’t ordinarily see.”
Art & the Vineyard runs July 1 through 4
from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 8:30
p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 11:30 a.m.
to 10:30 p.m. on Monday. Admission is $5 for
one day and $12 for a three-day pass. Children
under 12 are free except for Monday, when
their admission will cost $1.
ryannyburg@dailyemerald. com
Brit Furtwancler | Graphic artist
s m t_w th f s
Thursday
Tom Heinl
Sam Bond's Garage
9 p.m., $4
Country
Friday
The Abyssinians
WOW Hall
10 p.m., $16 at door,
$14 in advance
Reggae
Saturday
JC Rico & Zulu Dragon
Luna
9:30 p.m., $6
Chicago Blues
Sunday
John Kenry’s Broadway
Revue
John Henry's
10 p.m., $2 to
$5 sliding scale
Burlesque show
1: "Batman Begins"
2: "Bewitched"
3: "Mr. & Mrs. Smith
4: "Herbie: Fully
Loaded"
5: "Land of the Dead"
NEWYORKTIMES
BEST-SELLERS
1: Elizabeth Kostova,
"The Historian"
2: James Patterson,
Maxine Paetro,
"4th of July"
3: Dan Brown, "The
DaVinci Code"
4: Sue Monk Kidd, "The
Mermaid Chair"
5: Douglas Preston,
Lincoln Child, "Dance
of Death"
BILLBOARDTOP 5
1: Coldplay, "X&Y"
2: Foo Fighters, "In Your
Honor"
3: Backstreet Bcfys,
"Never Gone"
4: Mariah Carey, "The
Emancipation of Mimi"
5: The Black Eyed Peas,
"Monkey Business"
K