Julianne Moore

By Adrienne Papp

I always admired Julianne Moore. She is sexy and smart, which combination of course is more than enough to intimidate anyone, but beyond all that she always carried a certain charisma that would take pages to describe in specificities. So, what is that charming something about Julianne Moore?

That charming something is the fact that she is a natural at being just as classy, sumptuous and gorgeous as she has always been without any effort on her part. There is nothing fake about her. She is a natural. Graceful, regal, elegant, intelligent, yet down to earth and engaging. She is a real woman, without any of the artifice that Hollywood adds to almost all of its stars: the self-conscious look of a Barbie Doll in terms of lips, hips, boobs, eyebrows, and the list goes all the way down to the toes.

Can you spot most Californian women at an airport from a mile away? I can. They look alike. It is called the “Californian Look.” It is almost hard, if not impossible, to find anyone in the vicinity of Hollywood (West or East) who looks like they are from this planet where gravitation does its thing.  The only humans benefitting from this, by the way, are the plastic surgeons.

Julianne Moore has not joined the crowd. Her beauty in fact I believe comes from not wanting to be anything or anyone else but herself. She is stunning, sophisticated and elegant, not looking anywhere near her age of 49.

A woman of her own, having gone through a divorce before, but happily married for seven years now, juggling motherhood and a career, which by no means is an easy task, she adds, “Believe me, I always can find something to worry about.”

And, that is what I find so captivating about her. While she is a megastar, she is human, and refuses to be anything else.

When asked what contributes to her glowing beauty that seems to never change, she says, “it is staying out of the sun, but also a certain amount of happiness.”

When we elaborate on the happiness remark, the simple message, which I always felt about Julianne Moore, becomes crystal clear: part of life is to figure out who we are, and what we are, and what to do with it.

It is not about changing one’s past (by changing one’s face and body artificially,) but rather trying to understand who we are by not denying the past. Fear, which almost all of us try to deny, should be embraced instead, and actually by doing so you realize that nothing is ever really for granted and that you really need to live in the moment.  Anything can end without any notice any time. Yet, that is what makes life interesting but scary at the same time.

Having loved reading as a kid and still keeping up with the habit, she is coming out with her third children’s book next year. “It is nice to have another interest, to have done something that has been fun and rewarding and kids like it.” And, that sums up Julianne Moore in a few words: real, present in the here, and caring about the world around, rather than just herself.

About the Author:  Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, West Side Today among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity company, Atlantic Publicity and publishing house, Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities, world leaders, inventors, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. She also owns Atlantic United Films that produces and finances true stories made for theatrical release or the silver screen. Spotlight News Magazine is owned by Atlantic United, Inc with Adrienne Papp being the majority shareholder.

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Debra Luptak

By Adrienne Papp

The Debra Luptak Story: The Worst Child Abuse Case in Recorded History

We’ve all heard fantasy stories, or true events that are either too good to be true, rags to riches tales, or so full of suffering and unspeakable human misery that we have a hard time comprehending its reality. No wonder that some of the biggest blockbusters made in Hollywood come out of true stories of ordinary people doing the impossible, exemplifying the good in us and not the all-too-common tragically wasted potential and literal loss of life when it comes to horrific circumstances like those of Debra Luptak’s.

The unbelievable true story of Debra incorporates not only the impossible, but also the exceptional and unprecedented.  It’s a story that begins in the deepest hell and most barbarian of conditions ever seen by the mortal eye, and yet transitions into a tale of triumph over impossible odds, redemption and a shared hope for the human existence.

Debra’s story is not an easy one to tell, some of the details are not only disturbing, but also painfully unnerving. Yet, the chilling perplexities while astonishing, also serve as a sad illustration and soul-penetrating lesson of what an individual “Homo sapien” is capable of by revealing both the darkest and most uncivilized characteristics, as well as the triumphant resourcefulness of the human spirit.

The nightmare began at birth. When Debra Luptak was born she was dubbed “The Devil’s Daughter,” as her paranoid schizophrenic mother bizarrely identified her as a child from the Devil in a family where she desperately wanted only male children.  Sexually abused herself as a child, Debra’s mother began to abuse her daughter at birth, putting her crib in a confining closet at the back of the house.  She was convinced that her newborn daughter was trying to destroy her marriage and would end up having sex with her husband.

Debra Remembers Her Childhood

When she was three weeks old a mosquito from the nearby swamps got through a hole in Debra’s closet and bit her, causing encephalitis, a high fever, convulsions and eventually a coma. Debra had to have her spine drained and spent weeks recovering in a hospital.  All along her Mother insisted that she had been “born crazy.”  At six weeks, Debra had to be rushed to the hospital when she stopped breathing and turned blue from lack of oxygen.  Her Mother claimed that “Debra tried to kill herself” by stuffing her blanket down her throat ( as if a six week old were able to do that,) not admitting to paramedics that she had tried suffocating her daughter until she was near death.

Debra, being the oldest daughter, took the full brunt of her Mother’s abuse, although younger sister Danielle was also badly mistreated when she was born. They were both routinely subjected to vindictive deprivation and homicidal rage, yet Debra was her Mother’s main target. In the young family living near St. Louis, MO, which also included two boys, but only the girls were subject to the terror and dread dealt to them by their mentally disturbed Mother. “My Mother wanted nothing to do with me or my sister Danielle, who was born eleven months after I was born in 1962,” Debra says. “Both of us were kept in separate cramped closets as infants and toddlers, and when we moved to our second home we were kept in a damp, musty, unfinished basement with just a mattress. The meager food we received was placed on the stairs, as if we were sub-humans or pets. Neither of us ever had any potty training and we would go for days without having our diapers changed and we both had terrible rashes and sores from our soggy diapers.”

Those sores caused Debra to scratch herself continuously, and when her mother discovered it, she became convinced that her daughter was touching herself sexually and was “queer.”  Her delusional thinking led her to devise  homemade straightjacketsthat she made Debra wear to control her “evil” habits.  “The straightjackets made sure that I couldn’t move, and I was continually strapped into this restraint with one of my legs placed over the other,” Debra says.  “That was how I learned to walk, in this straightjacket, with one leg over the other, hobbling in a contorted position, trying to move myself forward.”

The straightjacket also had long term physical implications.  “One of my legs grew to be deformed since I had it continually strapped over the other one,” Debra says.  “It took six months of physical therapy in a hospital to reduce the effect of that deformation.”

Debra’s mother also forced Debra to sit with strapped arms and legs to a potty chair for hours, and tried to get her to urinate by forcing a syringe up her vagina.  For years Debra learned to hold her urine and bowel movements, but eventually she would make a mess in her panties, which caused her mother to smear her face with feces and then dry it with an electric fan, a humiliation that she found humorous.  “And later when Danielle and I were together in the damp basement in our second home, she would  stand us over a drain and hose us down with icy water in that cold basement in the dead of winter,” Debra remembers.

Mother just wasn’t cut out for housework either, and didn’t think it necessary to attend to cleaning and housework.  “She never washed dishes.  There were pots of food molding in the kitchen and in the refrigerator,” Debra says.

It was a terrifying existence for a child.  Every day was simply something to endure, a test of survival.  Eventually young Debra thought her father might come to her rescue and become her savior, but he was a slight man and powerless to deal with the destructive behavior his domineering 5-foot 9-inch, 250-pound wife exhibited toward his daughters.

Things worsened when Debra’s Mother would fight with her father, Larry, whose concerns for the girls would cause her to increase their abuse. Shouting and arguments could continue for hours, as she verbally abused the girls’ father.  When police arrived they would arrest the Father, and he would spend a night in jail.

Young Debra Growing Up in Foster Homes

The daily torture continued in many ways.  Physical abuse was commonplace, and included cigarette burns and the use of pharmaceutical drugs (such as Valium) to keep Debra quiet, beginning at an early age.  “I was fed an assortment of adult pills to keep me sedated and immobile beginning when I was about two years old. Mother had convinced a doctor that she needed a prescription for stress and anxiety, and she used whatever drugs she could get to keep me in a stupor,” Debra says.

Within days of being force fed adult sedatives, Debra fell into a coma, losing sensory perceptions.  Her Father found her on the floor of her closet reeking of urine and feces in a comatose state. She was rushed to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, where she spent several weeks recovering from her Mother-inflicted drug overdose.

The overdose was reported to social services, which finally stepped in and took serious action against the family, telling them that Debra would be placed in a home in southern Missouri for a year until the family decided whether or not they wanted her or could take care of her.

Debra eventually was returned to her family after her one year stay at a foster home. A number of relatives gathered at the family home to welcome her, and were impressed with how nicely her hair had grown out during her time away.  Angered by the attention her daughter was getting, Debra’s mother took the scissors to her hair the next day, chopping off the offensive object of admiration.

For the first formative years of her young life, Debra Luptak was routinely brutalized, physically and emotionally on a daily basis. She was physically malnourished and beaten, emotionally and cognitively stunted, and completely without any nurturing or schooling.  She was caged both physically in a closet and later in a basement, and mentally with pharmaceutical drugs and strong adult sedatives, but through it all she learned to survive.

“Many days I heard a tiny voice inside me say that things would be all right, the voice telling me that ‘It’s not you,” Debra recalls.  “If it hadn’t been for that I don’t know if I could have survived the daily torment. Something deep inside me told me that there was something better for me and that I would survive my mother’s hatred for me.  I somehow knew that my mother could beat me, could physically and emotionally torment me, but she would NEVER take away my will to survive or destroy me.” Despite the reassuring voice, Debra’s life was always about “hanging on just one more day.”

In 1967, after her parents divorced, Debra’s mother packed up the kids and moved to Arizona to live with a man who owned a ramshackle 10-acre ranch out in the middle of the Palo Verde desert, about fifty miles west of Phoenix. “He was an ex-military man who had a twisted sense of discipline, and was an ideal partner in crime for the demented behavior of my mother,” Debra says.  “He built a form of animal pen for us out there, and we had to surrender our shoes so that we couldn’t run away on the scalding hot desert sand.  Years later I went back to the site of the ranch and found a pair of my shoes there.  I keep them on my desk now as the only keepsake as a little girl, and what I had to survive back then.”

Debra's Shoes, Reminders of Her Days of Horror As a Little Girl

Life at the ranch in Arizona also included other forms of abuse for the young daughters, including forcing them by cattle prod to scrub the bathtub in the trailer, constrain them to eat horse manure and dog food while the boys ate Oreo cookies and making them walk on hot galvanized metal in the 110-degree desert heat without shoes as a daily punishment. The girls, Debra and Danielle, were never allowed to stay in the trailer, and in many cases the boys were forced to torment their sisters as well.  “My Mother thought it would be fitting if we were branded, and encouraged my brother Matthew to use a hot fork to make brand marks on us, Debra says.

Other forms of abuse at the ranch included burning the girls with cigarettes, Mother wrapping her finger around her daughters’ hair and yanking chunks of it out, and pouring hot pepper spice or paprika on the girls’ private parts in her delusional mind’s attempt to destroy her daughter’s female parts.

It’s almost impossible to believe this kind of torture was routinely inflicted on young innocent children, three young girls trying to survive a life that seemingly couldn’t get any worse.  But Mother Jayne and stepfather Harold continued to find new ways to enhance the misery.  It was years later that Harold decided to sexually molest the youngest sister Doreen.

Debra and Danielle became desperate to find ways to escape the compound, and they were finally able to run away. The police became involved, and the girls’ rebelliousness eventually got to be too much for the mother and step-father who got “tired of the runaway girls” and, before Debra’s 6th birthday (an occasion the family never celebrated), she and Danielle were dumped at a social service center to begin new lives in a series of foster homes. Strangely enough, Debra’s Mother was never arrested for her brutality towards her daughters for the simple reason that no one ever pressed charges.

“I had no frame of reference for what a normal family life was,” Debra says, “but I didn’t think things could get any worse.  The odd thing was I really didn’t want to go.  I didn’t want to leave my siblings.”

Their first placement at a foster home happened to be with a family who were nudists.  The second foster family had an 18-year old son who raped Debra at the age of six.  There were a series of other homes for the girls, and eventually Debra went to a family on her own and separated from Danielle, which was yet another pivotal turn in her life.

Debra Published Three Books, Making Her Experience a Mission to Help Others

Each foster home was far from ideal.  When Debra was nine she moved to the home of an older couple in Minnesota who wanted a daughter to replace their daughter who had been killed in a car accident.  “That was a very strange experience for me.  They had sealed off their daughter’s room and kept her things in place like she was still alive.”

Life in Minnesota for Debra offered some stability, but also more torment.  By the 3rd grade Debra had figured out that she could get attention from boys, and by the 6th grade was running with a free spirited and unruly group of kids.  When she was eleven years old, Debra was raped again, and she then became a school drop out in the tenth grade.  “I was very rebellious towards the adult figures in my life, and yet on the flip side sexually very promiscuous with the boys, looking for the love and affection that I never got as a child,” she says.

While living with her adoptive parents in Southern MN, at the tender age of fourteen, Debra became pregnant.  She had a son at fifteen, who she ended up keeping.  She also tried to commit suicide later on, but her inner strength triumphed over death. The world needed Debra.

By the age of sixteen Debra was married, and by the age of twenty-two she had four boys.  She was now a full-fledged mother, and was determined to give her children the love that was denied her as a child.  By this point in her life Debra Luptak was determined to be the best mother she could be, virtually exploding with love towards her family.

Through her twenties, with the years of torture behind her and the healing ahead of her, Debra Luptak was finally on the right track to a balanced life.  She busied herself with her family, getting an education, earning a 3.7 to 4.0 GPA and studying psychology and paranoid schizophrenia in an attempt to understand her mother’s illness. She had acquired a passion for learning as a college student and became committed to pursuing a career that would fulfill her potential.  She had begun to recognize her true talents both as a woman and a teacher.  At that time in her life Debra felt ready and pursued a 3-year search on her biological family. It was when she summoned the courage to contact her mother on the phone as an adult for the first time in many years.  Her Mother’s first words to her were: “Yes, I remember you, you are the Devil’s Daughter.” In 1992 the family was reunited on “The Jenny Jones Show,” but there was no real reconciliation possible for Debra and her Mother.

And there were still many bumps in the road before Debra Luptak was to find her way to a stable, happy, fulfilling life.  In her thirties she attempted suicide twice, and in her forties her third son Bryce lost his life in an ATV accident in 2005. She dedicated her third book, (“Why we Cry for a Soul set Free”) to helping other parents heal from the unbearable tragedy of losing a child. But, almost as if each setback made her stronger, there was a healing process, a pivotal turn of life going on underneath it all.

“I took many different paths,” she says in her book A Survivor’s Closet, “the paths that I thought were the right ones.  Stubborn and full of determination, I believed I knew what was best for my child and my adult.  Long stretches of time were spent in tears, releasing endless pains from the inner part of my soul.  Allowing myself to breathe, to deeply inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth over and over to calm my restless body.  I revealed my deepest emotional and physical courage so I could reshape my future. It was as if a hurricane was living deep inside me and after years of life-threatening waters, I could finally find calmer seas.”

Debra Luptak Today

Today, Debra Luptak, after having survived inhuman conditions and constant torture, is a highly successful businesswoman, the author of three books (A Survivor’s Closet, Why We Cry for a Soul Set Free, …and then There Was Light,with as many as 11 more books in the works, a life coach, and a corporate lecturer (www.debraluptak.com) teaching others, either as individuals, or groups, what it takes to be survivors and become successful at beating the odds when the odds are stacked against you.

Her story is a very vivid example for even the most skeptical of souls that with the right thinking and determination we can not only endure adverse circumstances, but can also reach the highest of human potentials and triumph into the light from the deepest of darkness.  With a strong sense of self, Debra today commands all excuses begone, defines the true meaning of extraordinary, and proves every word of her teachings with her life experience. She earned her power through discovering her personal ability, which allowed the transcendence of intense and horrific situations and circumstances, something that other motivational speakers, although greatly recognized, cannot say about their own lives. Nobody has the personal history of terror and torment that Debra Luptak does.

Debra does not lecture philosophies; she puts thinking and realizations into practice. As Oprah once said: “We need to thrive to achieve the highest good within us and transform others through our own example.” Debra Luptak, a genius in her own right, dedicated her life to the most noble of causes: helping her fellow humans through a complete transformation of the self.  For asEinstein said: “Only a life lived for others is worth living.”

In her very successful hard cover book,  A Survivor’s Closet, Debra says: “Leave your memories buried beneath the dirt, Share your gift with those you inspire, and Dive into life with your gift of strength. “

This courageous, beautiful woman inside and out, turned her life into a raving success, raised four boys with love and caring, has the most supportive and giving marriage and is here to help all of us if we are willing to listen. Debra Luptak is God’s angel, an unparalleled inspiration and blessing to the World! She possesses the biggest treasure there is: the gift of forgiveness. That something inside her that was able to transform terror and daily fear into love and compassion is the very essence of what our 21st century crises-stricken humanity needs to find in each and every individual’s heart. Making a better world starts from within and is not only a must, but a responsibility that the majority of mankind does not understand. Most people in Debra’s shoes would choose drugs and alcohol to numb the pain or remain in denial, and even justify it, instead of realizing that the most joy and the biggest transformation is born out of hardship and not fun and games.

With Debra, a full presence emerges empowered by the encoded iron will granted by God to all humans, asking us to awaken, to become conscious and realize that our choices are the ones determining our destiny and not our outside circumstances, or other people’s actions.

Debra is a Successful Lecturer and Motivational Speaker

By telling her story, Debra conveys to us both the teachings of Jesus Christ and the latest discoveries in science about the workings of the human mind and how we connect to that higher intelligence we know exists. Are we ready to understand our own power? Are we ready to wake up from sleepwalking through life, and instead, become valued individuals helping the world and ourselves evolve? Are we ready for a new way of thinking, a new reality, a new life, a new destiny? Are we ready to hear the words of the universe through Debra’s voice?

Debra Luptak has been ready all along, sensing even as a child that someday she would be called to shine her light throughout the direst circumstances of the human condition. Her destiny has been written from the beginning, unbeknownst to her, but something that humanity cries out to hear from a source that has been through it all. And, that source is her story: the Debra Luptak story!

About the Author of This Article:  Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, West Side Today among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity company, Atlantic Publicity and publishing house, Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities, world leaders, inventors, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. She also owns Atlantic United Films that produces and finances true stories made for theatrical release or the silver screen. Spotlight News Magazine is owned by Atlantic United, Inc with Adrienne Papp being the majority shareholder.

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By Adrienne Papp

As if the beautiful scenery wasn’t enough, a galaxy of stars were also out in full force to support one of golf’s greatest charity events, the 21st Annual American Century Championship, held July 13-18 at the Edgewood Golf Course in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This premier event draws dozens of stars from both entertainment and the world of sports, and features a purse of $600,000. The event is owned and created by NBC specifically for broadcast for days in a row.  As the country’s premier celebrity golf tournament, it includes larger-than-life celebrities who compete for a record purse over a total of 54-holes in a modified Stableford format. The lineup at the sun-splashed, radiant lake area boasted a field of more than 120 celebrities, including greats like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Tony Romo, Kevin Nealon, Ryan Sheckler, Ray Romano, Emmitt Smith, Don Cheadle and Dale Jarrett among numerous others. While the skill levels may have varied from entrant to entrant, high spirits and plenty of goodwill were on hand to make the tournament one of the more enjoyable events in golf. This year the American Century Championship set an attendance record of 37,500 over the three days of festivities.

American Century Championship 2010

It was also another good year for participant and former NFL quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver, who got off to a strong start and was never challenged by the field, as he earned his third title with a record total of 84 points, placing him ahead of actor Jack Wagner and professional athletes John Elway, Tony Romo, and John Smoltz. In the scoring format, 6 points are awarded for an eagle, 3 for a birdie and 1 for a par. Golfers like basketball legend Michael Jordan are known to be very serious about the game and is always a fan favorite, but even those with humbling golf skills enjoy the camaraderie and endear themselves to fans as part of the charitable activity, a role that was well-filled by former basketball great Charles Barkley. Much more than just a golf tournament, this event sets the standard for charitable golf elsewhere as well, but has been held for the last 21 years at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf course. The namesake sponsor American Century is also part of a sponsorship group that includes ADT Security, Korbel, American Airlines and Sotheby’s, just to name a few.

Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course

While the tournament offers plenty of high spirits and entertainment value for the gallery, the event is designed to also bring awareness to deserving charity causes. This year, for the fifth year in a row, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) was the official charity of the American Century Championship. The tournament helps focus awareness on the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, and contributes to the LAF’s cancer survivorship initiatives. The LAF is a particularly good fit for American Century Investments, as a good portion of the firm’s profit from asset management goes to fund research for the prevention and cure of gene-based diseases such as cancer.

Debra Luptak Transforming Corporate America

One of the highlights of this affluent and high class tournament was the gifting lounge where the celebs, key CEOs and corporate sponsors were given gifts by such recognized names as Debra Luptak who is known for her revolutionary and well compensated programs to transform Corporate America through lectures and workshops, teaching how to obtain the right mind-set, a much-needed talent for corporations of any size in our rapidly changing world and economy.  The lounge also offered fun-filled socializing among the 400 celebs and execs that were privileged enough to receive expensive gifts. A true eye catcher was the exhibit of classy female nude sketches and art work by celebrated artist, Loraine Stern, ( Legsley) whose reputation as a distinguished and dominant artist have grown stronger over the past few years with numerous high profile homes decorated with her extraordinary pieces. Liona Boyd, the First Lady of the Guitar, with 22 CDs out worldwide had a noticeable presence as corporations competed for her music compilations for branding purposes at fundraisers and other high-ranking events.

Art Work by Loraine Stern Legsley

Liona Boyd

To perk up the value of the gift bags even more real estate companies’ various offerings, clothing companies’ expensive apparels, designer shoes, jewelry, travel cases and various other goodies were stuffed into these exquisite bags lining up an elegant collection of items. All in all, this ongoing classic tournament is a sterling example of what can be done when celebrities come together to enjoy an event not only for fun and games in a gorgeous locale, but also for the larger good of well-deserving charitable organizations.

Lance Armstrong

About the Author of This Article:  Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, West Side Today among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity company, Atlantic Publicity and publishing house, Atlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities, world leaders, inventors, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. She also owns Atlantic United Films that produces and finances true stories made for theatrical release or the silver screen. Spotlight News Magazine is owned by Atlantic United, Inc with Adrienne Papp being the majority shareholder.

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By Adrienne Papp

Hollywood and the world of entertainment have a long history of hard luck, good luck, tough luck, rags to riches and everything in between.  In many cases, shown in biographies and documentaries detailing events from a rough start to a birth of a star, the stories usually end in a triumph of overcoming long odds, personal hardship, and various obstacles imposed by the nature of the biz, to achieve success.  In some other cases the story may end on a less successful note, usually an accident or accidental overdose.

That’s why John Cassese’s story is more than inspirational.  It warms the heart. He’s not only one of the survivors who beat the odds, overcoming issues stemming from childhood, which in most cases almost always dooms the person, but he ended up following his dream and becoming a highly respected professional in the industry.

Cassese is perhaps the most talented and sharing icon in the world of entertainment, but his story also has a number of layers that can teach and help generations after generations, and those who dare to care.  He’s a multitalented creative artist who has excelled in the musical arts through sheer will and unquestionable talent, but who also is a magnetic and creative master of new age, classical and ballroom dance with a talent so unique it has made him become the most sought-after dancing and musical megastar of our time.  He is known as the Dance Doctor, a well-deserved and hard earned title, but one that surely makes him a legend. Watch any of his videos and you will see that this man was born to dance. Not a surprise that he taught some of Hollywood’s biggest names to dance and appeared in countless shows as well as wrote some. But, John Cassese does not stop at dancing; he’s also a fabulous vocal performer, with a number of recordings that deserve a wide audience and even Grammy mention.

But things weren’t always so great.  John Cassese grew up in a working class home in Lake Mahopac in upstate New York, the youngest of five sons born to a traditional Italian family.  John’s father was hard nosed and old-fashioned, and expected his sons to follow him into the construction business.

That wasn’t going to work for young John.  At an early age, at about ten years old, he realized that his heart and soul lay in another field, in the musical arts and, specifically, song and dance.

“There was always music in the house,” John says, “and I just started singing along.  My mother was fond of musicals, Broadway soundtracks, and singers like Mario Lanza. I used to go to matinees with her and we saw the movies she loved together.  I used to love watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance.  I just wanted to be Fred. One of the most indelible memories of my life was seeing Marlene Dietrich at Radio City Music Hall in New York when I was a kid. She was an absolute vision in a stunning gown and trailing fur stole.  I was just mesmerized.”

Bitten by the glamour of the movies and stage, John asked for dance lessons at the age of ten.  He had an intuitive understanding of what made boys popular with girls. “I had heard that the best way to a man’s heart was though his stomach because a man loves to eat,” John says, “but I knew that the quickest way to a woman’s heart was through her feet because a woman loves to dance.”  John’s father wasn’t so understanding and was often hard on John, physically abusing him at times in his frustration with John’s interests. It’s a trait that we see many times with the biggest names in history. There is something about wanting to overcome that environment by becoming successful. It is almost an invisible, unlooked at driving force.

Despite the tough times at home, John continued dance lessons and knew intuitively and instantly that was what he wanted to do.  It wasn’t long before he became a local dance sensation, burning up the dance floor in competition.  He quickly became popular at school dances, and began winning dance contests at a local dance emporium, the Village Barn.  In high school he acted in numerous school plays and sang with the glee club.  “Those were my fields of interest,” John says, “I loved music and dance, but not so much straight drama.”

Attempting to redirect his son’s career, John’s father persuaded his son to try working in accounting at a construction company.  That only lasted two weeks for young John.  The world of show business was out there, waiting, and for John Cassese, song and dance was going to be the ticket.

Arriving in New York City with a full measure of burning desire and talent, John Cassese quickly became involved in as many creative musical projects as he could.  While he got a job selling women’s shoes by day, by night he was a man about town, playing rock ‘n’ roll in a band called Pegasus, auditioning for dramatic parts in local theater, and dancing wherever he could.  He auditioned for Turtle Bay Music School, and was accepted on full scholarship, and became the first to introduce rock music to a classical music school cracking the traditional barrier for the first time.

Dancing took him to performances at Tavern on the Green, where he met his dance partner Nancy, and they quickly became one of the most popular dances teams in the city.  But it was at the Plaza Hotel where perhaps his most significant breakthrough occurred.  “I was opening for Judy Garland, and I invited my parents down to see the performance,” John says.  “It was after that performance that my father finally recognized that his son was an artist, and had become successful as a dancer.  That was a wonderful moment for me.  His acceptance and proving myself to my parents was everything.”

Life in New York for John Cassese was good in those days.  “I started out poor, in a small one room apartment, but I was determined to make it.  I just knew I had the talent to succeed and took whatever jobs I could.” Cassese’s dance card was continually full, with live dancing performances, musical theater and even work on the Merv Griffin Show.

And, like a lot of New Yorkers, he eventually began to feel the tug of the Promised Land, the sunny climate and glamorous world of Hollywood and the entertainment industry.

“I had a brother who had relocated to Los Angeles,” John says, “so I got intrigued and decided to come out and give it a try.”

John moved to Los Angeles in 1972, and starting out as an unknown musical artist proved to be challenging.  “I just went all over town, meeting people, making contacts, teaching people to dance, doing whatever I could to get involved in the business.”  He met a lot of people, worked with a songwriter and sold some material to Motown Records, and kept adding to his resume.

The breakthrough in southern California occurred when John decided to place an ad for dance lessons in a local paper.  “My cousin, who is a publicist, suggested I take out an ad for in-home dance lessons and call myself the Dance Doctor,” John says, “you know, as in someone who makes house calls.”

He placed a small ad in the back of Los Angeles magazine in 1984 and the new name clicked.  The word began to spread, and John Cassese was soon in demand all over town, giving dance lessons to anyone who wanted to learn.  His calls took him from the humblest beginners to the homes of studio executives and celebrities.  For a lot of people dance was therapeutic, a way to exercise and was also emotionally liberating.

I recently wrote a piece on a new movie (due to come out later this year) in which it is explained how “fear dance” is a psychological tool to get rid of unconscious fears and traumas. This is a scientific recognition. Mainly due to the fact that the body does not lie! Your mind may lie to you (and most of the time it does, as it really does not know the truth except it remembers a recorded feeling as the result of a certain experience, which feeling maybe so intense that it renders you into therapy for years, yet without any real results,) but the body will always know the truth. And, that is what you get from dancing. It is a healthy outlet to keep the flow of energy going, and prevent blockages whether emotional or physical. It gets rid of a problem before that problem has a chance to set in. When you dance on a regular basis you are a lot less likely to ever become depressed over any issue.  Dancing people are happy.

As his client list grew, he found himself giving lessons to a couple where the wife, Beth Ann Krier, turned out to be a writer for the Los Angeles Times.  She decided to do a story on John and the full blown feature put John Cassese, the Dance Doctor firmly on the map in Los Angeles and business began to boom.

From his humble beginnings in Los Angeles, giving lessons in his living room, to an expanded studio of 1,000 square feet next to JiRaffe Restaurant, Cassese was now finally able to move into his current studio, a 3,000 square foot gorgeous and well equipped facility on Fourth Street in Santa Monica.  It’s a bustling center of activity, with 12 instructors and dozens of classes, and it’s become a go-to place for dance instructions in Los Angeles.  Over the past thirty years in television and film, there’s hardly a venue in Los Angeles that hasn’t called on John Cassese, the Dance Doctor for his dancing expertise.  Chances are if there’s a dance sequence in a TV or movie production, John Cassese has been involved in either creating choreography or coaching the performers.  And John himself is often personally involved in dancing at many local functions, including movie premieres, celebrity birthday parties and local charity events.   “I’m enjoying every minute of my life,” says John with a big smile on his face, which only makes him more handsome than he already is.

For John Cassese, following his muse, the art of dance and song, has allowed him to live his dream.  But with all that success, there’s still more he’d like to accomplish.

In the picture: John Cassese with Holly Madison

“I still have a lot of ambition,” he says.  “I’d love to have another successful TV show, and for me another goal would be to create a version of my life story in a feature film, and we’ve actually had some interest in the screenplay. I’ve had a lot of success, but I’ve also had to overcome a lot of personal pain to get where I am.  I think it might be helpful to other people if that story was told.”

“As one more achievement, I am thinking about writing, choreographing, directing and staring in a Broadway musical about my life,” he says with that intriguing but humble smile. “I’m sure my mother would just love that.”

John is also actively involved with many charities and believes that giving from the heart is better than receiving. It is in the giving that we receive. He is an active patron of a charity that shelters homeless teenagers and as he gets daily invites to contribute to various causes, he never says no.

Vocals and Performance by John Cassese

I can count on one hand the number of people I have ever met or known of, who had the charisma, ambition, smarts and invaluable human virtue: determination to evolve that John Cassese has, which is what the 21^st Century is all about. Humans need to evolve onto a whole new level if we are to make it into the next century. Cassese has that “third eye,” the understanding of the higher power and purpose that we all have within but may be unaware of.  He sets an example to all of us by his unwavering determination and the clear focus of knowing one’s path. This is the story that needs to be told. This is the story that parents want their children to know and gain an understanding from that “no matter what happens you keep on in the direction of your destination (destiny.)”

Einstein said, do not become a man of success, become a man of value, and John Cassese did both. He proved that those who risk, win, and that talent eventually wins over everything else, no matter what! That is the law of the Universe!

About the Author: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders.

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Kristen Stewart MTV Awards

By Adrienne Papp

The MTV Awards are always the biggest highlights of the awards season.  Without all the pomp and glamour that comes with the other major award shows, MTV makes sure things stay lively by offering a show that’s a little low brow but with plenty of high jinks, some surprise stage pranks, outrageous fashion choices, and an unexpected surprise or two. From Sandra Bullock and Scarlett Johansson’s stage kiss, to Tom Cruise’s funny opening dance sketch reprising his ‘Tropic Thunder‘ character Les Grossman, there was plenty of entertainment, a few f-bombs, and of course, a full slate of winners from the year’s most popular movies.

While much of the actual award ceremony is a forgone conclusion, with films like Twilight New Moon winning numerous categories through the huge vote from its online fan base, there was plenty of good television and at least two major stars used the occasion to refurbish their images.

Tom Cruise at the MTV Awards

Cruise opened the show in his sleezy Les Grossman guise from Tropic Thunder and his fly dance moves went a long way to recast his public image from uptight Scientology pretty boy to a life-of-the-party greaseball.  It was a Tom Cruise character who looked like he was having a lot of fun, and it kicked things off in great style.

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock was presented the Generation Award,  at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and marking her first televised appearance since the March 7 Oscars and the domestic drama that followed. During her presentation Bullock shed even more baggage than Cruise. Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper and Betty White introduced Bullock, with the very mention of her name receiving a standing ovation, followed by prolonged applause – all as Bullock was sitting in the audience. White said of Bullock, “You are grace defined, and I adore you madly.” Then, in keeping with the irreverent nature of the MTV Awards, White made fun of Bullock’s movies, twisting all their plots shamelessly (At the Jan. 23 Screen Actors Guild Awards it was Bullock who presented the Life Achievement Award to White).  Scarlett Johansson, the wife of her absentee Proposal leading man Ryan Reynolds was there to help hand over Bullock’s award, and hinted she wanted to plant a kiss on Bullock, who awkwardly obliged.  What would the VMAs be without an outrageous kiss or two?

Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at the MTV Awards

In the awards categories, The Twilight Saga almost ran the table for the second straight year. New Moon picked up trophies for Best Movie Kiss, Best Female Performance for Kristen Stewart and Best Male Performance and Global Superstar for Robert Pattinson.

Other winners selected by online votes included Obsessed co-stars Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter for best fight, Jennifer’s Body star Amanda Seyfried for “Scared-As-S–t moment,” Ninja Assassin star Rain for “Biggest Badass Star,” The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis for Comedic Performance and Up in the Air co-star Anna Kendrick for Breakout Star.

About the Author: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

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Candy Spelling at the Gracies Award, 2010

By Adrienne Papp

What is there to say when you are sitting in one room with Suze Orman, Jessica Simpson, Andrea Mitchell, Jessica Yellin, who I believe is the most dedicated and heartfelt reporter on CNN; Christina Norman, the Producer of the Oprah Winfrey show; Candy Spelling; the producers of Larry King Live; Maria Shriver, First Lady of California; Edna Sims, who is the kindest and most professional publicist I have ever met, and many other fascinating women who shaped our personalities, our worlds, and literally altered our lives? The event was not only to thank them and acknowledge their contribution to building a better world, but also to salute them for daring to pave the path for the rest of us.

They are not only exemplary, but also lights shining in the dark for those who are still struggling to become their better selves. How many concerns are there for us women?  Our jobs, our husbands, the life-styles we are accustomed to, what if we cannot make it on our own, what about our children, our women-hood, and the list goes endless with the “what if’s,” and the “hows”?

Crushed for centuries, we took it up on ourselves the role that we learned throughout the ages: submission. Thankfully we also questioned it.  And, we finally decided, despite that it was not always easy or simple, that women can prosper on their own.  Most of the times much better off on their own, even if it takes a world of courage to change, than in situations that torture the soul!  Although mostly goes unnoticed, it is a very common phenomenal in today’s society: women stay in subordinate situations due to fear.

Suze Orman and Christina Norman, Producer of the Oprah Winfrey Show

We did not have someone coming down from up above holding up a blackboard declaring: “you women, this is what you need to do,” and listing the steps while assuring us that all will be okay in the end.  No, we are habitual creatures as all creatures are; believing is some passed-down “programming” that is very real and genetically coded.  I intentionally do not want to use the phrase that it is “a psychologically conditioned mind-runner,” but it almost literally is, and the mind uses that information every day in everything we do. And, as we know it from science, to change that programming may take a few generations. But we also know that we do not NEED to wait for generations to evolve us out of this dilemma. As these extraordinary women of the Alliance of Women in Media show us, and as neuroscience started to recognize, we have the power to change this programming and the brain’s habitual conditioning at will.

This is something we feel intuitively, but “feeling it” is not accepted in society at large as a way of “knowing something for a fact,” nor it is enough to actually create a change in the thinking process itself. (The thinking-feeling, feeling-thinking feedback mechanism that is recognized in neuroscience is more real than most of us understand.)

When the ultimate thinking does not change nothing has really changed. So, ladies, we need to change our thinking and our minds! That is what it takes. A choice, a decision.

Coincidentally enough, we also know from biology that women’s brain is structured very differently from men’s. And, sorry you guys, but from the evolutionary point of you, we, women, are better equipped, to drive evolution faster ahead than you do, due to the ability of multi-tasking and surrender, which are qualities men’s brain cannot do on an automatic pilot. They would need to literally learn them and rewire their brain.

The Gracies Award, 2010

Just to perk up the readers of this article I will use an old cliché and say that although “men are the crowns of creation,” we also know that it is only possible because of women.  And, while we, women, used to feel subordinate to men due to general conditioning from the Dark Ages to this day, we have passed the point of no return in the evolutionary chain. There is no going back now. Not to say that some backlash isn’t still in the “back of our minds,” but, knowing the facts today about the brain-functions of women, it is our duty to actually put it to the test and evolve society at large.

So, the old paradigm that “men need women and women need men,” while remains true, it does not imply the same meaning anymore. By putting “consciousness” into the picture (which all by itself is a very challenging task indeed) we can easily see that each sex can be whole, free and happy within themselves independently of one another, and chose to be together for joy if they will, and not out of necessity. Even in a material world. Women in general have not viewed the world this way up until now.

Therefore, in my vocabulary real “togetherness” means that we are together in our individual selves, each fulfilling the highest of our individual potentials to contribute to the betterment of the world, each in their own unique ways without expectations from the other to change or possess: I can give to you when I am so fulfilled that the overflow inspires me to share my life with you. How much happier men would be about this approach as well! They are now needed because we love them and not because we “need” them!

Andrea Mitchell at the Gracies Award

Without going into the science of how the brain works, the very fact that these amazing and exemplary women who were publicly recognized at the Gracies Awards go out there every single day and reinforce in their minds who they are, and who they are NOT, means that they recognize their greatness and take the courage to be that very essence themselves, which most women still are afraid to do. Why? Sometimes, it is as simple as “not wanting to upset the boss, the status quo, the system, the establishment, the chain of command, etc… ” In one simple phrase: due to the fear of the unknown.

The problem is not that women do not try. The problem is that most women do not understand what they are capable of achieving: their own power, their natural gift of thinking in ways that literally enables them to create in ways that men could never do, and due to the fear of the unknown they give up sometimes even before they really start.  That is the point when you want to look to these women who never gave up. Instead, they lit a fire that although seems frightening, is warming and nurturing at the same time.

Jessica Yellin of CNN receiving a Gracies Award

Women are able to think in complex ways while men are linear. Men think strategically, in practical step-by-step (what is your objective?) kind of a way, which propels a single-minded focus and that lets them achieve that one goal at a time, which is why they are born providers. And, they do this mostly without understanding the various outcomes of a situation that women’s brains are so equipped to map out in a matter of minutes BEFORE anything has ever even happened yet.

Men might realize some of what women are able to “know ahead of time,” but only after it has all been said and done, and also experienced, but not before. And, that, sometimes as we know from countless relationships, is already “too late.” This is where lots of the arguments are born between a man and a woman. She sees the whole picture, he sees in linear terms, he is a hunter. Naturally, at the end of the day, all this seems comic, yet is the seed of all problems.

Trying to change this genetic coding, I believe is a mistake. The real question is: would it even be necessary?

While women are “lost” in the “why, how,” and all other “what-ifs”, seeing the whole picture, men are out there to do, and do it now, not tomorrow or some other time, or “I will think about it,” they are out there to make things happen, and hunt things down without the fears of the “what-ifs”, and the million different possibilities of outcomes of a situation. For better or worse of course!

If women however were able to make that one step forward, that one more evolutionary move: to become able to provide for themselves without expecting a struggle, a fight and other fearful events, there would be a lot of hidden energy freeing up and technically have a healing affect on both sexes. Dependence and submission would disappear, rulership would find itself unproductive, and the tension these dependencies caused would evaporate.

Jessica Simpson at the Gracies Awards, recipient of the 2010 Dove Real Beauty Award

When a person drifts with life because it is easy, they will feel certain unhappiness, boredom, emptiness, and the monotone tasks they run like a machine may even create various addictions despite of financial stability.  But, when someone is living their own path, although it may not be an easy one, they will be in joy all the time. Now they have a purpose, and when one has a purpose they will get rid of every obstacle that may interfere with that purpose. Some women identify themselves with their man and when that man is gone, they feel purposeless, hopeless and lost. That is not only a mistake, but it has a devastating effect that can last for literally decades. Something that cannot be resolved in a psychologist’s office even tens of thousands of dollars later.

But, if they consciously watch their thinking, question their minds (which then unveils habitual thinking that tells you ideas that are not even true,) and they set a purpose and focus on that purpose with such intensity that the body and the mind start working together giving them an open heart and a receptivity to the universe in every second, – they will find joy, happiness and fulfillment.  The athletes call this: “being in the zone.” This is when you are in “your element.” and “things just fall into place.” This is when you take your power back and you know in your heart that you are on your own path.  No man can give you then the joy that you can give to yourself.

If we bring in science, according to quantum physics, the environment is an extension of the mind. The way you think today will influence tomorrow. The way you used to think in the past is what is presented today in your immediate circumstances.  The one you are today is not who you are, but who you USED to be! Knowledge is power and your mind will use it to empower you – if you allow it to!

What the saluted members of the Alliance of Women in Media teach us is that “WE CAN,’ and that the “FUTURE IS NOW!” Not any other time, but NOW! The past has past, and the future is only in your mind conditioned based on some past experience that the mind projects according to your beliefs into the future.  If the future feels better than the past, it gives you hope. If it feels worse than the past it makes you despair. Both are illusions. Everything is and only ever happening in the now. Be in the now and dare to walk straight into the direction of your destination (destiny) without questioning yourself (your essence, the immaterial part of you,) but constantly monitoring and questioning your mind as it may start chattering old programming and pull you back into old habits.

If you trust yourself and your abilities, you will know what to do when the time comes. You will be given what you need when it is needed, but not sooner and not later. That silent watcher in you who knows the truth and whispers to you if you only listen to it will tell you what to do and when to do it. That is your immaterial self that belongs to the higher intelligence we know exists. If you listen to it and trust it, it will feed you and direct you.

The Gracies Award

What would you say to your 13 year old self, (who by the way shapes your future, sometimes up to the day of your death, unless you become conscious sometime in your life prior to that point) was the question the main sponsor, Dove, asked in an effort to empower women at the Award dinner.

Being a very shy, insecure, almost frightened and insignificant little girl at the age of 13 myself, yet blossoming into a beauty and quite a strong personality without “knowing it,” I would say to myself:  Just be yourself !   You are good enough!  You are not only good enough, but you are absolutely and positively equipped in every living moment with every single “thing” you need to know, or have, in that very moment, to get from here to wherever you need to go, if you only listen to “it” and BELIEVE in “it.” And “it “will continuously support your very own self throughout your journey, IF you keep on believing “it” despite the outside world: No matter what happens, I know where I am going!

Nobody said that the journey would be easy, but I say, it certainly will be worth it!  In the final analysis, and in the end, – not that there really is an end, – it’s all going to be about how much you laughed and how much you really enjoyed your life- and this, I know for sure!

I wanted to close this article with Suze Orman, who I look up to for her work and generosity. She expressed some of what I am writing about here by calling on women to become independent financially and stay that way. Not only she is right, but if women do this, they will bring about a whole new world! And, in that world men and women will equally feel much more appreciated!

For more information please visit Maria Shriver’s The Women’s Conference at www.womensconference.org

About the Author: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

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Cannes Film Festival 2010

By Adrienne Papp

Even with the international community facing difficult challenges, the Cannes Film Festival remains one the world’s most prestigious film festivals, an event where the best in international filmmaking and traditional Hollywood glamour coming shining through.

In a very challenging year for filmmaking, the jury at the 63rd Festival de Cannes bestowed its Palme d’Or on the strongest movie in the competition, a low budget, part-Buddhist part-animist fantasy by the 39-year-old Thai director whose fans call him “Joe.” The Jury president named Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives as the winner of the coveted Palm d’Or Grand Jury Prize.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s film traces the dreamlike final days of a man dying of kidney failure as the ghost of his dead wife returns to tend him and his long-lost son comes home in the form of a furry jungle spirit.

The festival got off to a big start, with Hollywood’s big budget reinvention of Robin Hood opening the festival, with Russell Crowe hoping to turn the English folk hero’s adventures into a blockbuster franchise. The film, dubbed “Gladiator in Sherwood Forest” because it reunites the actor-director team of Crowe and Ridley Scott, co-stars Cate Blanchett as Marian.

Films at Cannes

Other well-received films include the runner-up Grand Prix prize-winner, French director Xavier Beauvois‘s well-received Of Gods and Men, an understated docudrama about a group of French monks taken hostage by Algerian terrorists. An early favorite, Juliette Binoche was named best actress for her role in Abbas Kiarostami‘s Certified Copy.  In a political departure, she used her acceptance speech to bring attention to the plight of jailed Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was on a hunger strike and has since been released. The prize for best actor was split between Javier Bardem, star of Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s Biutiful and Elio Germano, who appeared in Italian director Daniele Luchetti‘s La Nostra Vita.

Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet

In a relatively low key year for film, celebrities played a big part in bringing pizzazz to the glamorous event, beautiful actresses wearing gorgeous gowns at the très formal red carpet premieres and sexy soirees.  In 2010, fashion A-listers included Kate Beckinsale wearing a Marchesa gown, Salma Hayek modeling a maroon Gucci creation, Naomi Watts in a strapless pleated pink Gucci gown, Jennifer Lopez in a gray Gucci frock, Cate Blanchett wearing a gown by the late Alexander McQueen and Eva Longoria in a white silk Pucci.  Adding a little more sizzle, Pamela Anderson was spotted on a huge yacht before promoting her new film, Blonde and Blonder. One of Hollywood’s enduring male stars, Michael Douglas, was also on hand to promote his role as Gordon Gekko in 20th Century Fox‘s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

About the Author: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles / New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

Cannes 2010 soirée

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A Young Dennis Hopper

By Adrienne Papp

None of us will ever forget one of the most remarkable, if not the most remarkable films of the sixties, Easy Rider, starring Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and of course Dennis Hopper. The award- winning film was nominated for two Oscars and had ten other wins and nominations. It first premiered in Sweden in June of 1969 and received a unique recognition in Cannes, making Dennis Hopper an international household name overnight. My generation was not even born yet, still the movie lives on in all of us forever, which all by itself is an astonishing recognition and a phenomenal achievement: the next generation following well over twenty, thirty years into the existence of this masterpiece, welcoming the film as one of our own principles about freedom! Only a genius artist can make that happen.

Besides the unusual success of the film, few of us knew that it was actually written and directed by Dennis Hopper, and the director of photography was Laszlo Kovacs, a famous Hungarian cinematographer with more than one hundred major Hollywood films under his belt, including Miss Congeniality, Multiplicity, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Shampoo, Huckleberry Finn, Paper Moon with Ryan O’Neill and the list is endless. Sadly, Laszlo Kovacs just like Hopper himself has also recently passed on and left a legacy behind that is hard, if not impossible, to match.  Both of these extraordinary men shared something in common: both of them were true to themselves, gentlemen with rare, classy and elegant charm, politeness and a touch of shyness with humble personalities, a great deal of kindness and unparalleled modesty. In my book, this is the sign of a true talent, an incredible soul, and a special mindset that bestows success. Not because success is sought out, but because of the humble and brilliant mindset that cannot help but manifests success wherever it goes. Success by touching other’s lives though its pure existence.

In one of the last interviews with Dennis Hopper, in the evening at the “Cinémathèque Française”, a palace of glass and cement, located at Bercy, a suburb of Paris where the seemingly indestructible 72 year old artist appeared fragile despite his natural and always present upbeat personality, when we touch on the topic that he played death himself for Wim Wenders Hopper said “I would have preferred to suppress the thought of death for a little while longer.”

During the opening night of a Dennis-Hopper-retrospective, where he would be celebrated with a screening of his movies, from Easy Rider to  Apocalypse Now , as well as an exhibition of his photographs and paintings, he was pure charm and charisma, celebrating the presence of those who loved and appreciated him.

Wim Wenders, a dear friend of Hopper, (who predicted that Hopper will live to be a hundred, then revised his prediction to the late seventies) was raving about Dennis’s wisdom and kindness to which Hopper’s replied:

“Well, if you want to appear as wise and kind, it is helpful not to drink or to take any hard drugs, which is something I have managed to do for 24 years. All my drug problems had started with my shyness. Even though I had decided to live a public life, it was always difficult for me to exist in the public sphere. Drinking and taking drugs helped me to cope with this dilemma. They liberated me, and at the same time, they destroyed me. At one point it had to end, in one way or the other. As for Wim, he knows me in both conditions – and I can’t help, but my suspicion is that he prefers the present one!”

A Young Steven Papp

I would of course enjoy writing this article so much more had Dennis Hopper not been gone, with him answering questions with a shy, but charmingly smiley face.  But, I share a great deal of sadness with those who really loved him. The loss that one feels down to one’s core, and every cell of one’s body when a loved one is gone. Like I loved my Father, Steven Papp, who also just recently passed at almost the same age as Dennis Hopper. My Father did not even look that different from him and is perhaps the only man I ever really loved besides one platonic affair that has been the drive of my life along with my Father’s unconditional and affectionate love for me since I can ever remember. Dennis Hopper and my father shared one thing that I know about: the question, which I heard from both: “ If you could not create, would you die?”

And, as I ponder over it, I would certainly say, “yes.”

I did not know Hopper enough to be able to answer for him, but I know he would not have asked the question if he would not have felt just like my father, the answer, which is in the question. Yes, you would. I would. If I do not create every single day something new, a sickening feeling sets in and I MUST at least think a new thought, make a new plan, or do something that is on the list of  “ must change/do/create/achieve, etc…”

Like Hopper did. He had a weakness: a shyness, just like I do, my Father did, and so many great people, – but you get up and go every single day and concur just a tiny bit and you will be fine in the end. Dennis Hopper started as a nervous young man and became a rebel, a maverick and when Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures called him in and learned that up to that point Dennis had done nothing but Shakespeare, which he seemed to discount, Dennis walked out with a big “Fuck you!” out loud, – for which he got a contract from Warner and met his big mentor, James Dean!

Jack Nicholson

I personally remember Dennis Hopper most from Speed in 1994 where he technically stole the screen from Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock despite of playing a negative character. Role after role Hopper stood out for one thing: he was a real flesh and blood character, no “acting,” no pretending, just  genuine talent! The talent that will live forever! The creator will die but its work will live on.

Dennis Hopper: “I think that Easy Rider will stay with us for a while. Maybe also Out of the Blue, now that the Cinémathèque has a copy of it. And one or the other of my photographs, like the ones of Martin Luther King, Warhol, Rauschenberg, all those pioneers in the arts, before they became famous. But one certainly thinks that one could have achieved more…”

“And that is why we continue…”

Written By Adrienne Papp in Memoriam of Steven Papp, Dennis Hopper and Laszlo Kovacs

About the Writer: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles/New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

Jack Nicholson, March, 2010

Easy Rider

Laszlo Kovacs, Cinematographer

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Einstein's

By Adrienne Papp

What is the meaning of life?  “Nobody knows.” This was the answer I first heard in philosophy class at the University of Economics, where I got my Master of Science, and MBA degrees. One of the best schools in Europe.

Then, all the “new age” stuff came around, but we still could not express what the “meaning” of life was, – at least not conclusively. Then, finally we turned to science. It was time!  We are really in the last second of the 24^th hour. Not that my math teacher at the University did not say exactly the following words some twenty years ago: “…and here, ladies and gentlemen, we arrive to God! For we know in mathematics that THERE IS further from this point forward,” (referring to probability calculations, which nobody could comprehend despite of Einstein, and our very handsome  teacher,) “but we do NOT KNOW  WHAT THAT ‘FURTHER’ IS. THAT ‘FURTHER’ IS GOD’!” he said. Then he started drawing circles after circles on the blackboard. I thought: ” I see, this is what I had always known,” – not consciously of course. Not to the degree that it became obvious to me then. At the time it was just a lingering feeling, but one that I always knew was true.

In recent years Quantum Physics came to the rescue to a certain degree in the understanding (scientifically,) proving and correctly interpreting this “spiritual” power. But,  the word “spiritual”  got overused and discounted in the 21^st century for a number of reasons. Therefore, I feel it is better worded for the sake of  this article and of its true meaning to use  the Latin word spiritus instead of “spirituality.” Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, neuroplasticity, biochemistry, and other fields tell us, with mathematical precision in a feedback mechanism, much about the nature of human beings, including the workings of the brain, our physical and psychological selves and how the two connect, our behavioral characteristics, and the power of the mind, or in brief: about our spirit, the true nature of man and the essence of our existence.

Photo: The Image of Energy

So, now “spiritualism” (which lately sometimes is better expressed as “transformation”) all of a sudden gains credibility and traction with the support of the scientific community, confirming that what we intuit and sense is not only true, but it is a scientific presence, an immaterial aspect of the self. Something that we should pay attention to if we are to make it on Earth instead of dooming ourselves to extinction, which we do in many ways, – one of it is the  never ending self-centered chatter of the mind that leads to poor actions and reactions, causes and consequences and  to endless variation of outcomes in this instance for the worse. And this is a repeated cycle that we are stuck in and deal with day in and day out. The problem is our thinking. Because creating endless variations all by itself is part of the unpredictable quantum world, and is actually the law of  quantum physics: the world of endless possibilities. What possibilities? You decide! For better or worse! (In our current world, things seem to be happening mostly for the worse, but this is again the subject of a whole different discussion. Why is it this way? is there a reason? The answer is: yes, there is.) Mind is nothing else than the brain in action, which has a hundred billion neuro cells, each with at least 40,000 ways of connecting and forming neuro nets. Use this in a mathematical equation and you will have the number of mind-levels we as humans are able to create. It is technically infinite when you use all that we know in physics and mathematics to calculate the number of probabilities. This recognition alone can be the beginning of the end of unconscious, involuntary and compulsive habitual thinking, which is the core of all unhappiness and the cause of repetitive destructive behavior.

Now we know that  it is us who chose individually what we want to think and create, and what we do not.  Once the information about our own power is available it is simply a decision, a choice whether “to be, or not to be,” to think or not to think, chose one path over another, or lead a life of unconsciousness, and so it goes. There is not something outside there that will tell you who you are and what your life should be about as an individual. You actually have a choice for yourself about everything in your life.  And, once you make that choice there is nobody coming to save you should the choice  turn out to be a “mistake.”  You have to do it  for yourself. If you need help, it is you who will summon the help you need. If you believe in God it is you who will pray accordingly. In other words, you are the one making things happen. Jesus referred to faith with the size of a mustard seed, which is the tiniest of seeds. Yet, as the quantum world proves it, the smaller we go, all the way into subatomic particles, the more energy and creative power there is. So, if your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you are able to create.

Understanding our true nature will eventually create new realities and a new level of human consciousness. Once something has ALREADY been crated based on our choices according to that current level of consciousness, it is very hard if not impossible to undo that which has been materialized and objectified, – just like we know it from Newtonian physics.  That is the very point we are at as a planet and species at this very conjunction in history. With the addition of our understanding of the quantum law, which started its observations with Einstein. The quantum law says that the environment is an extension of the mind. This means that if we change our mind, something in the outside world must change. And that is the gift we have. And, by using this gift we can literally change the environment, – and that is to change the world.

Our brain is designed to evolve and the meaning of life in my opinion is now obvious: it is creation and evolution. Both of which mean: to overcome our fears, take action and just go for it!  This “it” is called consciousness. There is nothing to wait for anymore. With the current understanding of who we REALLY are, we know that we can create new realities and new levels of mind.  It is not a phrase, or a theoretical conclusion, but a call to action!  Theoretically understanding something is not evolution. Doing it is. Whatever it is that you are passionate about, just do it for as long as it serves humanity one way or another, small or big, understood or not, seen or unseen. For when you set sails in the direction of your passion, you create new levels of mind. You do not need to wait till everyone else around you becomes conscious. You may wait forever! Instead, use your mind ( your higher self), pay attention to your thinking, and with this new understanding manifest  your passion  into reality! Your soul will be joyous for it, which is the closest emotion to the feeling of the presence of God, and your life will also be an inspiration to others, which is what in return will further inspire you! (A lot more can be said about interconnectedness, which is overlooked by almost everyone today. This subject alone would go beyond the means of this article.)

So, I believe that the old slogan “nobody knows what the purpose of life is” is obsolete. I think the meaning of life is CREATION. When we pay attention to the meaning of the word “creation” it is a LOT bigger and embraces a lot more than what we have ever known up to this point in history. By the word “creation” I mean: manifesting in a physical world things that do not yet exist, but things that the mind is capable of calling into being. To create from the unseen into the seen. All humans do this already except not consciously. And, even when they do it consciously, the ability to evolve that consciousness onto a yet higher level is still ahead of us. And, it is also a task. We know it from the results of scientific research and lots of hard data that the brain is capable and is designed to do a lot more than it is doing today. Or, rather, what we allow it to do today. The brain is designed to evolve.

Without going into the ongoing conflict between Church and Science (which now surprisingly enough, but finally seems to almost merge at certain conjunctions), one of the points I am trying to make, and that science has confirmed, is that “spiritualism,”  ( although the wrong word)  is nothing else than “awakening to,” or “understanding of,” is very real.  Do not discount it! It’s a truth that must be understood as we fight for the planet’s survival along with our own! We might need a new vocabulary, which I wrote an article about before, but I believe it is coming now quite rapidly. Until then, let’s use what we have, for in truth, what we have is always more than what we really need. This is an axiom that is quite overlooked and greatly misunderstood.

Not only Consciousness is now a MUST and has become a reality, with its own scientific validation, but it’s also a principle that successful people intuitively understand, a source of inspiration that can be endlessly tapped. While mentally understanding an axiom is mere philosophy, experiencing it is life. And, when we allow ourselves to become fearless enough to experience certain knowledge more than once, we make it a habit, and when something is habitual it eventually becomes a part of our personality. This personality promotes a way of thinking, a mind-set, and a general approach to life, which then as the result of a new experience becomes a feeling and further perpetuates the new personality through the mind-body connection, through the feeling and thinking, thinking and feeling loop , forming the display of a new personality.  ( In other words: first thinking, then doing, then being.)  Not necessarily who we COULD ultimately become of course!  But, it certainly reflects a new personality born out of the mind with its consciousness at that time. The ultimate personality depends on our understanding and continuous practice of consciousness and who we want to become, who we are capable of becoming, and the repeated decisions and practice that lead the way to that even newer personality that will eventually become habitual again, but on a much higher level of consciousness!  In other words: it requires the practice of the biology of change! That, which we can see on the screen of a brain scan. Evolution.

Like the millionaire mind-set, the poverty consciousness, the victim mentality and a myriad of other human conditions based on thinking patterns examined by science show us that each of these mindsets manifest exactly what their beliefs are.

This observation is also proven in quantum physics as one of the quantum laws. As an example, if I give a million dollars to a poor man, it will not be long before he becomes poor again because his beliefs will be manifested in his life independent of its immediate good fortune or surroundings. Sometimes despite of its surroundings, sometimes because of it, – due to habitual compulsive  thinking, – but never as a direct and unalterable cause of the outside world alone will he create! The cause is the mind . Its power of belief is what will create!  Every man’s life is created by the way he thinks.

Although the statement that “every man is for himself” is an old cliché, it is also true. Only you can change the way your brain is wired and only over time, but never with time! Only by living in the here and the now! Not in the future and not in the past. Both are illusions. The past is over and is nothing else than the recordings of the mind. The future does not exists. It lives only in the mind’s projection. If the future “feels” better than the past or present, it gives you hope.  If  it “feels” worse than the past it causes despair.( Have you noticed that you might be in Paris and in love in the moment, but you are still unhappy thinking of some past experience that seems to dominate the present? It does not even exist, but you “feel” it?  You might be CURRENTLY wealthy and healthy, yet “feeling” the old poor and unwell self?” Whatever the case, you lose out! You are not in the present and you see things through a lens that your mind has created – based on who you are, or more exactly, who you think yourself to be,  who your habitual and environment-conscious mind has made you believe at the time. )  Be always in the now!  The now is divine, and divine is the only real! Whether you believe in the divine or not, the truth is that nothing really exists in the past and nothing exists in the future. Everything is ONLY and EVER happening in the NOW! Your imagined future can only and will only happen in the NOW when you get to that future point in time. Can it be any other time? Of course not!

This is the point where we could discuss the time and space continuum as viewed by quantum mechanics, but that is a vast subject and would make this article too long and too dense. Does time really exist? How about space?  Space only exists because of the empty space between the walls of a room. If there was nothing empty between two objects there would not be two objects. We are only able to perceive objects because there is emptiness between them. The creative essence always is in the emptiness, in the “no-thing”. And, not in the “things,” as is the general belief. The energy in the nothing is what will create the thing as the result of your thinking. This is when a thought becomes a thing. This is how Mr. Ford created cars. It started with a thought.

When you start using your brain differently, you will be thinking differently and thus you will be manifesting your life and its circumstances differently. For life is nothing more or less than what you record, just like on the film of a camera through its lenses. And, you watch that same film over and over again, for that is the only one you have… This is why Einstein said that a problem created by a certain mind cannot be resolved by the same mind. It is time to record something new!

Let’s evolve our brain through the God-given ability that we have: through the frontal lobe, which is the biggest in size of all living creatures in the case of humans, – we are able to create more than we THINK!

To become conscious is the task of the 21st Century. Becoming conscious means that you feel it with every cell of your body. Consciousness lays not in the chatter of the mind but in the silence, – it is a recognition made by the silent watcher.  It is not the busy and habitual mind, but it is a new level of mind.   Consciousness is not in the “things,” but in the “no-things” where all creation starts, Put your unwavering attention into your consciousness, believe that you can have it, and allow it to come to you. Do not try to “get there.” That would be your old self, the ego wanting to “achieve” something. Consciousness must be felt! Learn to welcome it and you shall manifest your mind.  And, that is to live by the quantum law!

About the Writer: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles/New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

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By Adrienne Papp

There is a lot of talk today about a new awakening, consciousness, a new era, a new way of understanding and treating the world, and how to obtain the “know-how” to do it. But, these ideas are sometimes discounted collectively under the term “spirituality,” a word that has become overused and easily dismissed in the 21^st Century.

Not a surprise!  At first spiritualism was associated with some shamanic practices and religious beliefs that varied widely from culture to culture, and as such, the word has lost the sense of importance it was trying to convey.

The Dalai Lama is considered one of the most influential “spiritual teachers” of our times, yet precisely because of that phrase, most people do not even bother to understand what he stands for. The title is a turn off all by itself. In our computerized world and speedy lives, who has the time for “spiritualism?”

What does it mean to be spiritual anyway?  The cliché suggests a meditative yoga pose with candlelight that must be stared at with focused attention. “That is rubbish,” most would say. “I have no time for that… my back hurts…I am happy to get around as is… I should pick up my dry cleaning, pay my bills,” – and so it goes, on and on as you argue with your siblings, coworkers, friends, everyone over one issue or another, resolve the million little “things” that never seem to end. They never end because we create them. Unconsciously of course!

Most people think that to practice meditation in our lives would mean that “we’ve lost it and became insane.”  The mantra for most people is “I must go, do, say, run, get, and take, because only then I will be successful!”

While successful people are very busy, they succeed by the way they use their minds, by the way they view the world, and  most importantly by the recognition of “thy self” that goes beyond the mind, yet is a constant companion that can be trusted at all times.

It’s this higher self that tells the truth, and not “thinks” the truth! This creative essence and intelligence, that we barely have a word for, is the “silent watcher” and a trusted constant companion.

The genius behind the very popular brand, Ed Hardy is Christian Audigier, who became a celebrity himself almost straight out of prison. His life story, just like many other creative entrepreneurs, is not without a very bumpy, topsy-turvy, and at times scary ride. But, it’s one that Audigier would not change for anything:  “I would say the ride was amazing. I am quite happy how my life has treated me,” he says.

And, if his fortune, which is estimated to be around 600 million dollars, disappeared tomorrow, he’d say “Let’s do it again!”

Audigier recently wrote a book in which he states: “I’d rather die than fail! I am very competitive. My company is big today. It’s a lot of work. I get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, go to the gym and start working.  I work more than before.  The economy is suffering right now. We are losing customers, we need to find new ways,” he says.

“I wrote the book because I wanted to take a little bit of control back. I have become somewhat of a celebrity myself, and I didn’t want people to write something that is not correct. And it was a little bit of therapy for me too,” he adds.

According to Audigier, he is living the American dream now, but it was not always easy. He had a lot of obstacles to face. He spent time in prison, as a kid he was looked upon as a gypsy, he needed to fight to get respect. “That was my karma,” he says. His father left when he was 2 years old, he was a street vendor when he was 14, all of which he says made him learn to stand on his own two feet.

“One thing that never went away was my dreams and my passion for life,” he says, and that statement alone exemplifies the principle of the various scientific discoveries about our brain and the human spirit as we know it today. Christian Audigier is an example of the principles this article addresses in terms of the power of the mind!

I say that instead of fighting, complaining and getting lost in meaningless details, let’s get to work and start creating the lives we want for ourselves. Just like those tycoons, humanitarians, philanthropists with unwavering determination did, leaving  examples of inspiration for those who care and dare.

Stick with your passion and beliefs despite all else, no matter what, uncompromisingly! You will succeed. And this is what I know for sure , – and experienced it in my own life as well.  By Adrienne Papp

About the Writer: Adrienne Papp is a recognized journalist who has written for many publications including Savoir, Beverly Hills 90210, Malibu Beach, Santa Monica Sun, The Beverly Hills Times, Brentwood News, Bel-Air View, Celebrity Society, Celeb Staff, It Magazine, Chic Today, LA2DAY, among many others. She is the President and CEO of Los Angeles/New York-based publicity companies, Atlantic Publicity andAtlantic Publisher. Adrienne writes about world trends, Quantum Physics, entertainment and interviews celebrities and world leaders. She also owns Spotlight News Magazine.

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