Dr. Lynne Kitei reports that The Phoenix Lights documentaryfilm has won the Best Director Award in the New YorkInternationalFilm Festival. To can get this film on DVD fromunknowncountry.com,clickhere. If you prefer to read her fascinating book aboutthese strange lights–which were seen by hundreds ofpeople–clickhere.
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Newswise – The brain is more complex than we realize. For instance, theability to understand a sarcastic remark depends on asequence of complex skills based in specific parts of thebrain. Psychologists have discovered that in order to “getit,” listeners must understand the speaker’s real intentions(because even though the person using sarcasm says onething, he really means the opposite). This is one reason whyautistic children, although often extremely intelligent,don’t “get” sarcasm. Parents can attest that the immaturebrains of young children rarely comprehend it either.
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Newswise – Some fans of Star Wars, including fans of the newestentry, “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” consider watchingthese films to be a religious experience. Two religionprofessors at different universities have studied the roleof religion in science fiction and say that movies like theStar Wars series can be more powerful than the Bible orother religious texts.
Tom Martin, who teaches at Susquehanna University inPennsylvania, sees the Star Wars religious themes as aclassic example of good versus evil. He says, “The Star Warsseries deals with the fundamental struggles of good againstevil, which is a deeply religious theme that carries over toall parts of life.”
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Newswise – Seven years after tobacco companies signed the MasterSettlement Agreement, which prohibited them from paying fortobacco brand appearances in movies, the number of tobaccobrand appearances in movies has decreased. Buttobacco placements in movies made especially for teens haveactually INCREASED. According to psychiatrists, suicidalthoughts or attempts are associated with daily smoking incurrent smokers, but not former smokers.
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