age30

"Jesus Camp" follows a group of eager, preteen evangelicals through the insular world of the religious right. Expecting a fun summer, the kids enroll in bible camp only to surrender to a numbing line-up of prayer and propaganda.

The fun, such as it is, is organized by camp director Becky Fischer, a hefty, zealous woman of questionable taste and morality. Under her tutelage, the children are humiliated to the point of tears, made to view disturbing material, and urged to praise George W. Bush.

In this weird world of twenty-four-seven salvation, harmless camp traditions, like ghost stories, are frowned on. Even heroic, goody-two-shoes Harry Potter is denounced as evil. The kids, many of them home-schooled, deeply religious and obedient, take it in stride. And this appears to be the mission of the camp: coercing children.

In a hard-nosed interview on "Air America," Fischer actually endorses brainwashing as key to achieving a radical Christian majority. It's an approach, she notes without a touch of irony, practiced by Islamic fundamentalists. It seems that the ultimate goal of these camps is less about finding Christ than stuffing the ballot box. Aware that their views on evolution, separation of church and state, and abortion are spurned by most Americans, the movement aims to turn the tide with the next generation.

It's a plan that's sure to fail. As their preachy line in the sand gets swept away by science, only the ignorant will stand behind it. (The camp closed in 2006, due to public reaction to the film.)

James Brown kicks it up a notch in this sizzling montage from "When We Were Kings," the story of the 1974 George Foreman / Mohamed Ali heavyweight championship bout in Zaire.

God hates trucks.

The masthead of Daily Rotten bears the motto "News You Can Not Possibly Use." One hopes not, for here is a shameless digest of the weirdest, sickest, and most salacious stories published in the news. Scrounged from tainted tabloids or a slumming mainstream press, it's a daily dose of poison boiled down for the devious mind. And with headlines so whacked-out and wrong, you'll pop a hemorrhoid laughing.

For anyone keen on self-improvement, tips like these may seem like a magic bullet. The advice is sensible and well intentioned, but in the end, it's about as helpful and enduring as a crash diet. Ten instant ways are issued, commandment style, of what to do and why -- but not how. We're told, for example, to "Stop jumping to conclusions," without the slightest suggestion how to embrace that rule. (Hint: take your time, consider alternatives, seek information.) Next we're told, "Don't dramatize," as if for many people, that weren't driven by deep dysfunction and stress. It's a hollow, "Don't worry, be happy," approach.

But correcting ingrained behavior is more like turning a ship around in a river. Deciding you should head upstream doesn't make it so, it takes awareness, perseverance, and knowhow.

Lost your keys? Or maybe your wife locked you out and filed a restraining order. No worries, here's some helpful tips and tools of the trade from the SAS, a special ops force within the British Army.

A long, rambling documentary packed with profound ideas on the subjective nature of reality, the physiological seat of consciousness, and the origin of supposed mystical experiences. For Dr. Michael Persinger, the gateway to understanding these phenomena lies in experiments with psychotropic drugs and with a new appliance which mimics their mind altering effects.

In this astonishing barrage of once-in-a-lifetime footage, people make miraculous scores, evade capture, or dodge certain death.