"A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle: Review

As many of you know, Mrs. Axinar is a HUGE Oprah Winfrey fan and when we went to Chicago back in February to be audience members for the taping of Oprah segments with Valerie Bertinelli and William Shatner, Oprah also taped some spots for her "online class" featuring a book called "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle.

Well, the waiting list at the library was MASSIVE. Just last week I got the hard cover and the Book-On-CD and I've been starting to listen to it and I'm finding myself scratching my head.

He made the recording for the Book-On-CD himself and the first question I'm asking myself, "What IS that accent??" Bavarian? Austrian? All his Wikipedia bio says is that he was born in Germany. Now there are a few YouTube clips of him and in this particular one he's a little more animated than on the "A New Earth" Book-on-CD, but, I'm telling you, on the CD, he's putting me in mind of Malachi Throne's version of "The Keeper" from the B&W workprint of the first Star Trek pilot, "The Cage".

Of course then I got to thinking - was Malachi Throne DELIBERATELY trying to do a German (and specifically a SOUTH German) accent for The Keeper?

In fact, there is a remnant of the Malachi Throne voiceover of The Keeper in the preview of "The Mangerie" Part II.

I haven't gotten very far along in the CD, but I took a quick look through the hardcover and it's looking to be a pretty quick review of Buddhism.

Actually between trying to listen to that CD and watch What the Bleep!? - Down the Rabbit Hole" at the same time and I'm starting to get spacey.

Oh, speaking of which ... the goofnozzles at our Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County CLEARLY did not take a good look over this set because in their excitement to split this set up into the "movie" part and the "extra footage" part, they completely overlooked the fact that the extra-long "Quantum Edition" version of the movie is spread out over disk 2 and disk 3 of the set, so, yes, my friends, I'm watching What the Bleep!? - Down the Rabbit Hole OUT OF ORDER. Now, if that's not enough proof that I've started to take a turn around the bend, I'm not sure what would be.

Oh, and if that's not bad enough, the "Quantum" cut of "What the Bleep!?" has both Ramtha AND JZ Knight.

I'm not sure what to make of this, "Your thoughts create your reality," stuff.

I suppose in some sense it would be nice if one, by sheer force of will, could eliminate all suffering.

However, I think I'm more into the view of life taught to me by a rabbi from Canada once. Citing Ralph Nader this rabbi pretty much explained that, properly directed, righteous indignation is a GOOD thing.

In other words - there really ARE rotten bastards out there and people of good conscience ought to make concerted efforts to STOP them from being rotten bastards.

Or at least stop them from spreading their misery to others ...

Gayle's Va-Jay-Jay

So I'm at this taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday because Mrs. Axinar saw this notice on her web site that Oprah was looking for William Shatner fans.

Well, the way that the scheduling worked out, we actually saw an interview with Valerie Bertinelli first about her new book Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time.

Apparently in part of this book Valerie Bertinelli goes into some sordid detail about how she once kissed another woman.

Now, between the Bertinelli and Shatner segments Oprah chatted with the audience for a bit and she pretty much said, "Now while we're on the subject, I've heard all KINDS of rumors going around and YOU ALL don't think Gayle and I are gay do you? Because, let me tell you, even if I WERE to turn gay, Gayle would be the LAST person I would hook up with."

However, she went on to explain that the CLOSEST she ever came to getting in a compromising position with Gayle was once when they were in one of the camps in Africa. Oprah explained that conditions there are quite primitive of course and all you get for personal hygiene is a very thin bar of wrapped soap.

Gayle came to Oprah in something of a panic because she didn't have a wash cloth. Gayle seemed to be quite disturbed that she was going to have to make skin-to-skin contact with her own nether regions in order to wash up.

Oprah, apparently more experienced with primitive conditions, attempted to explain to Gayle how to use the soap directly, but Gayle still seemed freaked out.

Eventually Oprah said, "Good heavens, Gayle, do you want me to wash it FOR YOU???"

The Shatner segment was quite short. He talked about how someone paid enough for one of his kidney stones to buy a family in New Orleans a house. He also mentioned that he actually considered auctioning off the hip he had replaced about a month ago but figured that would be in WAY bad taste.

On the way out we all got a copy of Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete First Season Remastered ... although I'm thinking Mrs. Axinar would have prefered the Valerie Bertinelli book.

The overall experience of being on The Oprah Winfrey Show was pretty interesting. There were people there from Cincinnati who drove all night to get up to Chicago and were planning on driving straight back.

Now THAT'S dedication.

If you ever get tickets - GET THERE EARLY. There is a pay lot across the street from Harpo Studios that costs $24, but it looks to be about the only safe are to park.

Actually, if you can plan it out, it might be best to try to go to the show in the middle of your trip so you can take a cab in or some such.

Also - no cell phones, cameras or any such stuff. They have you go through a metal detector also.

Although, since we had to be there so early in the morning we did get fed - a muffin, a fruit-yogurt type of thing and a small bottle of juice.

Oh, and make sure you use the facilities before you go on the set - they don't roll breaks in real-time so you might not have a chance to get back in time.

Overall it was a highly fascinating experience that I would recommend if you ever get the chance.

The Valerie Bertinelli segment is scheduled to air next Monday, February 25 and the Willliam Shatner segment is scheduled to air next Tuesday, February 26. Set your DVR's!