While an African safari or a European tour may not be on your calendar for this year, there is a simple way to appreciate Hemingway?

TV show A Current Affair has landed itself in hot water with the broadcasting regulator for trying to hypnotise viewers.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found that ACA breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice by “broadcasting a program that was likely, in all the circumstances, to be designed to induce a hypnotic state in viewers”.

The segment, titled Think Slim, was broadcast on Channel Nine in October 2008.

The program’s host, the reporter and the man who conducted the hypnotherapy all told viewers the segment would contain hypnotherapy which ended up lasting about a minute.

ACMA said through a press release that Nine had breached the code.

“The remarks made throughout the segment, in addition to the actual short hypnotherapy session that concluded the segment, clearly indicate that the segment was intended to induce a hypnotic state in viewers and help them lose weight,” the statement read.

Nine also breached the code by not responding to a written complaint by a viewer.

Nine has told ACMA has circulated the findings to all relevant staff and will reference in training sessions scheduled for September.

ACMA is satisfied with the response and will continue to monitor Nine.

Update:  Here’s a link to the video: Hypnotise your way to weight loss  (Thanks nekospecial!)

ACA hypnosis

(via Steve Silberman)

 
Never underestimate the wrath—or letter-writing determination—of a pissed-off film fan.  According to Scientific American, those pot-stirrers at Government Attic made what they thought was an innocent FOIA query: what do the residents on the International Space Station (ISS) do, like, for fun?

Well, they asked, NASA answered.  American booksellers seemed okay with the contents of the ISS library—everything from Dickens to Dan Brown—but the list incensed movie buffs, particularly the ominous-sounding Shooting People, a UK-based collective of independent filmmakers.  “Our members would like to see Harold and Maud [sic] rather than Harold and Kumar, that Man on Wire replace Man on Fire,” Shooting People’s James Mullighan wrote to NASA.  Spelling errors aside there, James, I totally agree with you. 

But, in a further sign that the demand for indie fare has, errr, cratered, NASA’s William Gerstenmaier explained that they don’t dictate the onboard selections?

(via Peter Serafinowicz)

Did you know that Carlos Santana has his own perfume? (He’s got two actually, one for women and man’s cologne) Or Kiss? Michael Jackson even had six different kinds! Antonio Banderas, too. Hell, even Alan Cumming has his own perfume! WHO wants to smell like Alan Cumming? It doesn’t make any sense! The Incredible Hulk and Spiderman have their own colognes, not to mention Austin Powers (it’s called “Mojo” and smells like someone pissed on candy). Above is an amusing vintage clip from MTV circa 1996 about some hits and misses in the celebrity scent sweepstakes. Seems that no one wants to smell like Prince and MJ’s scents weren’t that popular either…. and boy did they pick a bad name for Anna Nicole Smith’s fragrance, eh?