Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, July 7, 2005
■ In my opinion
RYAN NYBURG
BUDGET RACK
Celebrities
should keep
rantings to
themselves
Can 8 million Scientologists be wrong?
In case you missed it, my last column (which
explained, in detail, why Tom Cruise is a dick)
got a pretty heavy response. I have since found
myself suddenly wrapped up in the ongoing
and fierce debate concerning Scientology. This
debate is carried on between Scientology pro
ponents, who number in the millions, and Sci
entology opponents, who number in the tens of
millions. The responses to my column have re
flected this disproportion, with about 20 people
writing me to say “right on!” and maybe two
writing me to say, essentially, “you suck.”
Honestly, I haven’t gotten this many respons
es to something I’ve written since the last time I
mocked Jesus. It’s nice to know that during my
last summer here at the Emerald I can still rile
people up a little before I head off into the Great
White North for an extended sabbatical. I’ll be
listening to some music, catching up on my
reading and working some menial retail or food
service type job while my woman gets a decent
education. A couple of last hurrahs feel in order
before this long stretch of nothing comes
around. Pissing off a few Scientologists feels
pretty good.
Far be it from me to criticize some crackpot
religion and its stupid beliefs, but you have re
ally got to be kidding me with this one. Peo
ple have gone for stupider things, I guess, so
you can probably just mark this down as one
more entry in the long list of things that are
going to send me to an early grave from heart
failure. Celebrities’ idiotic beliefs have long
been a pet peeve of mine. It’s not so much
what they believe but that they have to talk
about it in public. And people listen to them.
The opinions of these flashy, charismatic
beauties are noted and recorded as if they ac
tually had credence. People listen to Tom
Cruise’s opinion on psychiatry and believe
him when he says that he knows its real histo
ry, when actually he knows as much about
Carl Jung as I do about Mandarin Chinese, i.e.
not a whole hell of a lot.
Britney Spears and Madonna are reterred to
as very “spiritual” because they wear little red
things on their wrists and go in for some bas
tardized form of Judaic mysticism that offers
all the feel-good crap without any of the seri
ous sacrifice. People listen to Angelina Jolie
talk about how her adopted son Maddox is a
Buddhist when the kid is only three and does
n’t know the Dalai Lama from Ronald McDon
ald. Mel Gibson believes in a reactionary, anti
Semitic form of Catholicism and yet is treated
like some kind of Christian superhero when
he releases a violent, self-indulgent piece of
spiritual filth and calls it a movie.
Occasionally celebrities’ beliefs are on par
with a lunatic street preacher raving about
how God is communicating to him through
satellite transmissions emitted from the brain
of a border collie named Oscar, yet because
they have made millions acting in crappy
movies they somehow become authorities on
NYBURG, page 8
V .*
Tim Bobosky | Photo editor
The
weekend
before the
opening of
the Oregon
Country
Fair, cast
members
of"The
Red
Ukulele"
prepare
Stage Left
for shows
July 8,9
and 10.
I raditionally
UN CON KmTfl OflAl
The opportunity to let loose and feel free with fashion
happens this weekend at the Oregon Country Fair
BYRYANNYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
Once again thousands of people
will swarm to the unlikely location of
Veneta, Oregon this weekend and fill
up an otherwise nondescript field with
food, music, dancing and bizarre be
havior in one of the largest festivals in
the state, the Oregon Country Fair.
Now in its 36th year, the fair has
made a reputation for itself as a place
where people can let loose, be creative
and express themselves in whatever
fashion suits them.
“There aren’t many fairs were you
can meet a giant mosquito on stilts or
a bear in a tutu,” OCF Media Coordi
nator Jenny Newtson said.
This year’s fair promises to be a
larger, more diverse version of what
people have come to expect. An ex
panded kids area will offer more for
children to do, while the number of
spoken word performances has been
expanded to more than 50 speakers,
including former Ralph Nader running
mate Winona LaDuke.
A few new behind-the-fair innova
tions are also being implemented
this year.
“We’ll be adding a solar power struc
ture to the fair,” Newtson said. “That’ll
help defer the cost of power and by
leaving them running all year we can
put power into the system to make up
for what we use during the fair. ”
Getting to the fair has also gotten
easier. The Lane Transit District will of
fer regular bus service from the Eugene
Bus Station as well as from Valley River
Center, meaning fairgoers will be able
to park in Eugene and avoid the $5 fair
parking fee. Amtrak is also ottering dis
counted fares this weekend for select
trains coming into Eugene.
Once people have made it to the fair,
there will be plenty to keep them occu
pied. Craft vendors this year include
Ritz Sauna, Blessed Bead, RBI Drums,
Dragonfly Hemp Designs and Drift
Creek Farm. Food will be provided by
such vendors as Nearly Normals, Cara
van Cafe, Veggie Heaven, Liberty Cof
fee and Maty’s Peruvian Food.
Of course music will also play a
major part in the fair. Main Stage acts
include the Kitchen Syncopators,
David Jacobs Strain, Taarka, the Zen
Tricksters, Jason Webley and Flow
Motion. For those looking for more
physical performances, the W.C.
Fields Memorial Stage offers a collec
tion of vaudeville inspired perform
ances, including mind-reading, acro
batics, magic and juggling.
Advance tickets are $13 for Friday,
$16 for Saturday and $13 for Sunday.
An additional $2 is added to tickets
bought the day of entry. Tickets can be
purchased at any TicketsWest outlet
and there is a $1 TicketsWest service
fee. Tickets are not sold at the fair
grounds at any time. A three-day pass
is $40. Children under 10 are admitted
for free. The fair runs July 8 through 10.
ryannybmg@ dailyemerald.com
s m t w th f s
Today
Supernaught
Luc key's
10 p.m.,$3
Rock
Friday
Talk Dirty Tour
John Henry's
9 p.m., $4
Rock
Saturday
Velate
Diablo's
10 p.m.
Call for details for
entrance amount
Jam rock
Sunday
Kitchen Syncopators
Sam Bond's Garage
9 p.m., $5
Jug band
TOP 5 MOVIES
1. "War of the Worlds"
2. "Batman Begins"
3. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"
4. "Bewitched"
5. "Herbie: Fully
Loaded"
NEWYORKTIMES
BEST-SELLERS
1. Janet Evanovich,
"Eleven On Top"
2. Elizabeth Kostova,
"The Historian"
3. Dan Brown, "The Da
Vinci Code"
4. Sue Monk Kidd, "The
Mermaid Chair"
5. James Patterson,
Maxine Paetro, "4th of
July"
BILLBOARDTOP 5
1. Coldplay, "X&Y"
2. Mariah Carey, "The
Emancipation of Mimi"
3. Foo Fighters, "In Your
Honor"
4. The Black Eyed Peas,
"Monkey Business"
5. Boyz N Da Hood,
"BoyzN Da Hood"