Celebrities: September 2007 Archives

It’s been rumored that Tom Cruise is building a $10 million bomb shelter at his Colorado home. A source close to the actor told England’s Metro newspaper that the bunker will be “a self-contained underground system where up to 10 people can survive for years.” It’s said the underground complex will feature storage space for large amounts of food and survival equipment, and will have “a state of the art air purification system.”

It’s unclear whether Tom, a follower of Scientology, is worried about nukes from Korea and Iran, or a return of the deposed leader of the galactic confederacy, Xenu. According to Wikipedia’s entry on Scientology, alien leader Xenu caused the destruction of billions of his people from his overpopulated planets by paralyzing them, bringing them to earth on Douglas DC-8-styled spacecraft, stacking them up around volcanoes, and blowing them up with hydrogen bombs launched into the craters, an event that is said to be referred to as Incident II by the church.

Whatever the source of the nuclear threat, Cruise should heed the warning of Walton McCarthy, the president and chief engineer of bomb shelter builders Radius Engineering. He cautions that concrete is not a suitable construction material, being prone to cracks and damp. “Unless the shelter ceiling is 36 inches thick the concrete shelter is useless protecting against nuclear weapon blasts,” says McCarthy. “Concrete is not a viable material to protect shelterists from storms and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.”

Shelters can be ordered from McCarthy’s website, Bomb-Shelter.net, at a fraction of the cost of Cruise’s (they offer a 10 person military model for just $91,160). For those looking to save money by building one themselves, The American Civil Defense Association offers a helpful 400-page handbook, which features detailed diagrams and specifications, entitled Principles of Protection for just $59.95.

On Oct 9th Yoko Ono will officially launch her latest art installation, the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island, Reykjavik, Iceland. The date would have marked her late husband John Lennon’s 67th birthday. The tower of light is emitted from a Wishing Well platform which houses nine giant spotlights which will send beams of hope into the sky each year from October 9th (Lennon's birthday) to December 8th (the day of his death). In addition the installation, which was built in partnership with the City of Reykjavik, the Reykjavik Art Museum and Reykjavik Power, will light up on New Years Eve and to mark other special days to be agreed on by Ono and the city.

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream,
A dream you dream together is reality."
Yoko Ono

The light project was originally conceived by Ono over 40 years ago, appearing in Conceptual Sales List which was distributed to 200 art collectors. “In 1967, John Lennon invited me for lunch at his Kenwood residence in England. It was about six months after we first met in my Indica Gallery Show in London,” recalls Ono. “He told me that he read about the Light House in my publication and [asked] if I would build one for him in his garden.”

The Imagine Peace Tower, which has the words Imagine Peace inscribed on its base in 24 languages, will have hundreds of thousands of messages of peace installed under and around it, which Ono has been collecting since 1981 as part of her touring Wish Tree art project. If you’d like you own thoughts to be included, visit ImaginePeace.com, or send an email directly to: imaginepeacetower@mac.com

Daily Mantra’s new favorite website to pass some idle time on is MysticGames.com. The site offers free tarot, horoscope and rune readings, as well as natural remedies (celery seed for a hangover anyone?), games (including classics like Pacman), birthday info (we share our birthday with Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown), and all manner of personality tests (according to the site’s ESP test our psychic ability score is 59.52%). While our tarot reading was downright depressing, and we failed to find any mystical insight playing Pacman, we enjoyed checking out the site’s monster celebrity database, which features biographical, astrological and tarot info, and decided to put it to the test by looking up a couple of the most newsworthy names.

According to the site, Britney’s personality tarot card is The Lovers, which indicates a “relationship or love affair with a trial or choice involved.” Her Growth card for this year is The Hierophant, which indicates she needs “to find spiritual meaning in life.” Well hopefully she’ll find some of that through the Parenting Without Conflict and counseling programs she’s just been court-ordered to participate in.

Our second test subject is Phil Spector, who’s also making legal headlines today. According to MysticGames.com his personality tarot card is The Chariot, representing “a struggle or conflict" with "strong potential for triumph over adversity,” which could be accurate given his murder trial jury are currently hung with a 7 against 5 division, and he faces the real possibility of walking away a free man. Spector’s growth card is appropriately Justice, which represents “balance, wisdom and a need for rational, logical solutions.” Well we're feelin' the irony there.

Don’t get us wrong, the Daily Mantra would love to see Britney Spears do well. We’ve heard some of the tracks she recorded earlier this year, that at one point were destined for her new album, and quite frankly they’re great, pushing boundaries in the same way Toxic did. But right now Britney needs to do what’s best for herself and her kids, and not what’s best for fat cat record executives, sycophants and hangers on – and for that matter MTV – who mercilessly exploited her this past weekend at the VMA’s in their desperation for ratings. The station has since had its comeuppance, and announced late yesterday that it has been forced to remove Britney's VMA performance from all repeats. A brief statement on MTV's website said, "The performance has been pulled indefinitely from all MTV properties worldwide until further notice."

Britney’s VMA 'comeback' appearance was never going to be anything other than what it was, given her recent history. Emotionally disturbed people with substance abuse issues don’t get better overnight. Nor do they get better while the world is watching them fall, and while the likes of Sarah Silverman are publicly making unforgivably mean comments in the hope of boosting their own careers. That’s why we –– and the stars, according to our in-house expert astrologer Maria –– are suggesting Britney would be better leaving behind the limelight for a while so she can recover in the privacy of her own home.

Shannon Beach has traveled the world as a professional dancer for pop superstars such as Pink, Cher and Britney Spears. Life on the road can be frustrating however, with large chunks of time spent traveling, hanging around on buses and in airports. To get over the boredom, and to make the most of her time, Shannon began crocheting, making items for friends and family at first. Seven years on, and she's running her own business on the side, selling the unique pet carrier she originally designed for her own Shih Tzu, Ted D, to pooch-loving fashionistas everywhere.

"Being an open vessel for creativity, the combination of time and travel provides fertile ground to explore interests," says Shannon. "You can learn a language, learn an instrument, take up reading or writing or learn a craft. When I found out I was going on tour, discovering the art of crochet seemed like the perfect choice. Hours spent on planes, buses, backstage could be used productively to make beautiful, usable items."

Shannon describes the meditative state she slips into as she crochets as being "in the flow," naming her business (FeelTheFlo.com) after this area of blissful consciousness, where concentration is deep and ordinary worries are forgotten. Putting her crochet hook down this weekend, Shannon can be seen dancing with Britney at the VMA's. Broadcast live from The Palms Casino in Las Vegas, the show will air live on MTV this Sunday, Sept 9th at 9pm (ET).

After it was revealed last week that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes sleep in separate beds, it’s been reported that unconventional dating site AhsleyMadison.com have offered Ms. Holmes a free lifetime membership so she can find a fulfilling relationship and “fill her lonely bed.” The Ashley Madison website is a discreet dating service for married people only, their tagline being “when monogamy becomes monotony.”

While we’re certainly not condoning this website (karma will catch up with its users), it can’t be denied that the Tom Cruise’s third wife has to put up with more BS than most spouses given her husband’s much-publicized peculiarities. So is Katie coming to the conclusion that her relationship with Tom is becoming a nightmare? We asked our in-house astrologer Maria for her insight.