I don’t want to belong to any cult that would have me as a member.

I tell every student I meet to “Please Google me.”

Following up with my due diligence on that comment, I googled myself and found this…

…and I love it.

Yes, I stumbled into a fabulous film event, once upon a time. It was 1985 or 86, I think. I was living in a basement apartment in Kitsilano and attending the UBC film program. The tenants living above me were architects. A nice couple, and they told me about a screening of The Fountainhead that was being organized by their classmates. I went.

I read Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead just after high school. I loved Howard Roark. He was the outsider. The rebel. I was so interested to see this movie. Gary Cooper? He’s always Gary Cooper. Ayn Rand wrote the screenplay? I thought this was going to be great, but I had no idea just how great it was going to be.

It was like a sacred ritual.

The Fountainhead was a “Movie that Changed My Life.” I recall it like yesterday.

It was like being on the wrong side of town at a Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screening in the early 80’s. There was a sense of danger. You could feel the energy build as the audience grew. It was exciting. Something was going to happen.

The lights dimmed. It was quiet for a moment, but people were clearly agitated. When Gary Cooper (playing Howard Roark, the uncompromising architect) started talking about blueprints, they became visibly angry. They stood and shouted loudly at the screen as he showed his drawings: “UNACCEPTABLE!” “FAIL HIM!” “HANG HIM!”

“HE MUST BE STOPPED!” “HE MUST BE PUNISHED!”

Things only got louder. I believe alcohol was involved.

This should be an annual university event. The architecture students should invite the film students over for a screening of The Fountainhead. Yes, it should be wild. And YES, it will be fabulous!

You’ve Been Warned!

I’m fascinated by cults. I grew up with Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh in the news. But have you seen this new freaky cult documentary? The Australian woman with the children* and the LSD? Bizarre.

*these are the real kids. NOT the Children of the Corn