name	Following
director	Christopher Nolan
producer	Emma ThomasJeremy TheobaldPeter Broderick
writer	Christopher Nolan
starring	Jeremy TheobaldAlex HawLucy RussellJohn Nolan
music	David Julyan
cinematography	Christopher Nolan
editing	Gareth HealChristopher Nolan
studio	Syncopy FilmsNext Wave Films
distributor	Zeitgeist Films (US)Momentum Pictures (UK)
released	12 September 1998 (Toronto International Film Festival)2 April 1999 (New York City)5 November 1999 (UK)
runtime	69 min.
country
language	English
budget	$6,000
gross	$48,482 }}

''Following'' is a 1998 British neo-noir film directed by Christopher Nolan. It tells the story of a young man who follows strangers around the streets of London and is drawn into a criminal underworld when he fails to keep his distance. The film was made on a small budget and features an unusual non-linear plot structure which has been a feature in several of Nolan's films.

Plot

A struggling, unemployed young writer takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his first novel.

Initially, he sets strict rules for himself regarding whom he should follow and for how long, but soon discards them as he focuses on a well-groomed, handsome young man in a dark suit. The man in the suit, having noticed he is being followed, quickly confronts the young man and introduces himself as "Cobb". Cobb reveals that he is a serial burglar and invites the young man to accompany him on various burglaries. The material gains from these crimes seem to be of secondary importance to Cobb, who takes pleasure in rifling through the personal items in his targets' flats, and doing things such as drinking their wine. He explains that his true passion is using the shock of robbery and violation of property to make his victims re-examine their lives. He sums up his attitude thus: "You take it away, and show them what they had."

The young man is thrilled by Cobb's lifestyle. He attempts break-ins of his own, as Cobb encourages and guides him. At Cobb's suggestion, he alters his appearance, cutting his hair short and wearing a dark suit. The young man assumes the name of Daniel Lloyd based on the credit card Cobb gives to him and the young man begins to pursue a relationship with a blonde woman whom he meets at a bar and who claims to be the girlfriend of a local gangster. It is later revealed that he and Cobb had broken into her flat prior to this first meeting. Soon, the blonde confides that the gangster is blackmailing her with incriminating photographs. The young man breaks into the gangster's safe, but the only photos he finds are innocuous modelling shots. After confronting the blonde, he learns that she and Cobb have been manipulating him into mimicking Cobb's methods to frame him for Cobb's recent murder charge.

The young man leaves to turn himself in to the police. The blonde reports her success to Cobb, who then reveals that he actually works for the gangster and has a plan of his own. In order to stop the blonde from blackmailing the gangster with evidence from a recent murder, Cobb kills her. Once the young man finishes his story to the police, he learns that he has been framed for the blonde's murder, which was Cobb's plan for him all along. As the young man is arrested, Cobb disappears into a crowd.

Cast

Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man

Alex Haw as Cobb

Lucy Russell as The Blonde

John Nolan as The Policeman

Dick Bradsell as The Bald Guy

Gillian El-Kadi as Home Owner

Jennifer Angel as Waitress

Nicolas Carlotti as Barman

Darren Ormandy as Accountant

Guy Greenway as Heavy #1

Tassos Stevens as Heavy #2

Tristan Martin as Man at Bar

Rebecca James as Woman at Bar

Paul Mason as Home Owner's Friend

David Bovill as Home Owner's Husband

Production

''Following'' was written, directed, filmed, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan. It was filmed in London, on black-and-white 16mm film stock. Nolan used a non-linear plot structure for his movie, a device he again used in ''Memento'', ''Batman Begins'' and ''The Prestige''. This type of storytelling, he says, reflected the audience's inherent uncertainty about characters in film noir:

''Following'' was written and planned to be as inexpensive to produce as possible, but Nolan has described the production of ''Following'' as "extreme", even for a low-budget shoot. With little money, limited equipment, and a cast and crew who were all in full-time employment on weekdays, the shoot took a full year to complete.

To conserve expensive film stock, every scene in the film was rehearsed extensively to ensure that the first or second take could be used in the final edit. For the most part, Nolan filmed without professional film lighting equipment, employing only available light. He also used the homes of his friends and family as locations.

Reception

''Following'' received generally positive reviews. Its aggregate review score from Rottentomatoes.com is 76%.

''Los Angeles Times'' reviewer Kevin Thomas was particularly impressed with the film, saying that it was a "taut and ingenious neo-noir" and that "as a psychological mystery it plays persuasively if not profoundly. Nolan relishes the sheer nastiness he keeps stirred up, unabated for 70 minutes." ''TV Guide'' called it "short, sharp and tough as nails", praising its fast-paced storytelling and 'tricky, triple-tiered flashback structure'. David Thompson of ''Sight and Sound'' commented that "Nolan shows a natural talent for a fluent handheld aesthetic."

However, Tony Rayns felt that the film's climax was uninspired, saying that "the generic pay off is a little disappointing after the edgy, character based scenes of exposition". ''Empire'''s Trevor Lewis questioned the skill of the film's inexperienced cast, saying that they "lack the dramatic ballast to compensate for [Nolan's] erratic plot elisions." In contrast, David Thompson was of the opinion that the "unfamiliar cast acquit themselves well in a simple naturalistic style."

References

External links

Category:1998 films Category:1990s thriller films Category:British independent films Category:British thriller films Category:Neo-noir Category:Nonlinear narrative films Category:Films set in London Category:Films directed by Christopher Nolan Category:Directorial debut films Category:Black-and-white films Category:English-language films

ar:تابع (فيلم) de:Following fa:تعقیب fr:Following it:Following ka:დევნა (ფილმი) ja:フォロウィング pl:Śledząc pt:Following ru:Преследование (фильм, 1998)

name	Leonardo DiCaprio
birth name	Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
birth date	November 11, 1974
birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor, film producer
years active	1989–present
website	http://www.leonardodicaprio.com/ }}

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''The Aviator'' (2004). In addition, he has won a Silver Bear, a Chlotrudis Award and a Satellite Award among others, and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera ''Santa Barbara'' and the sitcom ''Growing Pains'' in the early 1990s. He made his film debut in the comedic sci-fi horror film ''Critters 3'' (1991) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in ''This Boy's Life'' (1993). DiCaprio obtained recognition for his subsequent work in supporting roles in ''What's Eating Gilbert Grape'' (1993) and ''Marvin's Room'' (1996), as well as leading roles in ''The Basketball Diaries'' (1995) and ''Romeo + Juliet'' (1996), before achieving international fame in James Cameron's ''Titanic'' (1997).

Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as ''Catch Me If You Can'' (2002), ''Gangs of New York'' (2002), ''The Aviator'' (2004), ''Blood Diamond'' (2006), ''The Departed'' (2006), and ''Revolutionary Road'' (2008). His latest films ''Shutter Island'' (2010) and ''Inception'' (2010) rank among the biggest commercial successes of his career. DiCaprio owns a production company named Appian Way Productions, whose productions include the films ''Gardener of Eden'' (2007) and ''Orphan'' (2009).

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism.

Early life and family

DiCaprio, an only child, was born in Los Angeles, California. His German-born mother, Irmelin (née Indenbirken), is a former legal secretary, and his father, George DiCaprio, is an underground comic artist and producer/distributor of comic books. DiCaprio's mother moved from Oer-Erkenschwick at the Ruhr, Germany, to the U.S. during the 1950s, while DiCaprio's father is a fourth-generation American of half south-Italian (from the Naples region) and half German descent (from Bavaria in southern Germany). DiCaprio's maternal grandmother, Helene Indenbirken (1915–2008), who was born Yelena Smirnova, was a Russian immigrant to Germany. In a 2010 conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, DiCaprio stated that two of his grandparents were Russian.

DiCaprio's parents met while attending college and subsequently moved to Los Angeles. He was named Leonardo because his pregnant mother was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in a museum in Italy when DiCaprio first kicked. DiCaprio was raised Catholic. His parents divorced when he was a year old and he lived mostly with his mother.

DiCaprio and his mother lived in several Los Angeles neighborhoods, such as Echo Park, and at 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Feliz district (which was later converted into a local public library), while his mother worked several jobs to support them. He attended Seeds Elementary School and graduated from John Marshall High School a few blocks away, after attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for four years.

Career

Early career

DiCaprio's career began with his appearance in several commercials and educational films. After being booted off the set of children's television series ''Romper Room'' for being disruptive at the age of five, DiCaprio followed his older stepbrother Adam Farrar into television commercials, landing an ad for Matchbox cars at 14. In 1990, he got his break on television when he was cast in the short-lived series based on the movie ''Parenthood''. After ''Parenthood'', DiCaprio had bit parts on several shows, including ''The New Lassie'' and ''Roseanne'', as well as a brief stint on the soap opera ''Santa Barbara'', playing the young Mason Capwell. His involvement in ''Parenthood'' and the daily soap earned him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor each.

1991–1995

His debut film role was in the comedic sci-fi horror film ''Critters 3'', in which he played the stepson of an evil landlord, a role that DiCaprio described as "your average, no-depth, standard kid with blond hair." Released in 1991, the movie went direct-to-video. Soon after, he became a recurring cast member on the ABC sitcom ''Growing Pains'', playing Luke Brower, a homeless boy who is taken in by the Seaver family. DiCaprio made his big screen breakthrough in 1992, when he was handpicked by Robert De Niro out of 400 young actors to play the lead role in ''This Boy's Life'', co-starring Ellen Barkin and De Niro himself.

Later in 1993, DiCaprio co-starred as the mentally handicapped brother to Johnny Depp in ''What's Eating Gilbert Grape'', a comic-tragic odyssey of a dysfunctional Iowa family. Director Lasse Hallström admitted he was initially looking for a less good-looking actor but finally settled on DiCaprio as he had emerged as "the most observant [actor]" among all auditioners. Budgeted at US$11.0 million, the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a domestic box office total of US$9.1 million and various accolades for DiCaprio, who was awarded the National Board of Review Award and nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his portrayal. ''New York Times'' critic Janet Maslin praised DiCaprio's performance, writing "the film's real show-stopping turn comes from Mr. DiCaprio, who makes Arnie's many tics so startling and vivid that at first he is difficult to watch. The performance has a sharp, desperate intensity from beginning to end."

DiCaprio's first effort of 1995 was Sam Raimi's ''The Quick and the Dead'', a western film in which he appeared alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, and Russell Crowe, playing the role of Hackman's alleged son named Kid. Sony Pictures was dubious over DiCaprio's casting, and as a result, Stone decided to pay for the actor's salary herself. The film was released to a dismal box office performance, barely grossing US$18.5 million in the United States, and received mixed reviews from critics. Jonathan Rosenbaum from the ''Chicago Reader'' observed that "Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though ''The Quick and the Dead'' is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn't come across as very convincing." Afterwards DiCaprio starred in ''Total Eclipse'', a fictionalized account of the homosexual relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, played by David Thewlis. He replaced River Phoenix in the role of Rimbaud, who had died during pre-production on the project. A minor arthouse success, the film grossed US$0.34 million throughout its domestic theatrical run.

DiCaprio appeared alongside friends Kevin Connolly and Tobey Maguire in the mostly improvised short film called ''Don's Plum'' as a favor to aspiring director R.D. Robb. When Robb decided to expand the black-and-white film to feature length however, DiCaprio and Maguire obtained its blocking, arguing that they never intended to make it a theatrical release as it would have commercial value thanks to their stardom. Nevertheless, the film eventually premiered at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics, with ''Time Out New York'' writer Mike D'Angelo calling it "the best film [I saw] in Berlin." DiCaprio's last film of the year 1995 was ''The Basketball Diaries'', a biopic about Jim Carroll.

1996–2001

In 1996, DiCaprio appeared opposite Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's film ''Romeo + Juliet'', an abridged modernization of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name which retained the original Shakespearean dialogue. The project was one of the first films to cash in on DiCaprio's future star-status, with a worldwide box office take of $147 million.

Later that year, he starred in Jerry Zaks' family drama ''Marvin's Room'', reuniting with Robert De Niro. Based on Scott McPherson's screenplay adaptation of his own 1991 stage play of the same name, the film revolves around two sisters, played by Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, who are reunited through tragedy after 17 years of estrangement. DiCaprio portrayed the character of Hank, Streep's troubled son, who has been committed to a mental asylum for setting fire to his mother's house. On his Chlotrudis Award-winning performance, Lisa Schwarzbaum of ''Entertainment Weekly'' commented: "The deeply gifted DiCaprio [..] keeps right up with these older pros [Keaton and Streep]. The three are so full-bodied and so powerfully affecting that you're carried along on the pleasure of being in the presence of their extraordinary talent."

In 1997, DiCaprio starred in James Cameron's ''Titanic'' (1997), alongside Kate Winslet. Cast as twenty-year-old Jack Dawson, a penniless Wisconsin man who wins two tickets for the third-class on the fated RMS ''Titanic'', DiCaprio initially refused to portray the character but was eventually encouraged to pursue the role by Cameron who strongly believed in his acting ability. Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film to date (it was surpassed in 2010 by Cameron's directorial follow-up, ''Avatar''), grossing more than US$1.843 billion in box-office receipts worldwide, and transformed DiCaprio into a commercial movie superstar, resulting in fan worship among teenage girls and young women in general that became known as "Leo-Mania." He was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, including a second Golden Globe nomination. Upon the success of ''Titanic'', DiCaprio stated in 2000: "I have no connection with me during that whole ''Titanic'' phenomenon and what my face became around the world [...] I'll never reach that state of popularity again, and I don't expect to. It's not something I'm going to try to achieve either."

The following year, DiCaprio made a self-mocking cameo appearance in Woody Allen's caustic satire of the fame industry, ''Celebrity'' (1998). That year, he also starred in the dual roles of the villainous King Louis XIV and his secret, sympathetic twin brother Philippe in Randall Wallace's ''The Man in the Iron Mask'', based on the same-titled 1939 film. Despite receiving a rather mixed to negative response, the film became a box office success, grossing US$180 million internationally. Though DiCaprio's performance was generally well-received, with ''Entertainment Weekly'' critic Owen Gleiberman writing that "the shockingly androgynous DiCaprio looks barely old enough to be playing anyone with hormones, but he's a fluid and instinctive actor, with the face of a mischievous angel," he was awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for both incarnations the following year.

DiCaprio's next project was the drama film ''The Beach'' (2000), an adaption of Alex Garland's same-titled 1996 novel. Starring alongside Tilda Swinton and Virginie Ledoyen, he played an American backpacking tourist looking for the perfect way of life in a secret island commune in the Gulf of Thailand. Budgeted at $US50 million, the film became a financial success, grossing $US144 million worldwide, but as with DiCaprio's previous project, the film was largely panned by critics. Todd McCarthy of ''Variety'' noted that "Richard [DiCaprio's role] is too much the American Everyman and not enough of a well-defined individual to entirely capture one's interest and imagination, and DiCaprio, while perfectly watchable, does not endow him with the quirks or distinguishing marks to make this man from nowhere a dimensional character." The next year, he was nominated for another Razzie Award for his work on the film.

2002–2007

DiCaprio's first film of 2002 was the crime-comedy ''Catch Me If You Can'', based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, used his charm, confidence, and several different personas, to make millions in the 1960s writing bad checks. Directed by Steven Spielberg and co-starring Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken, the film was shot in 147 different locations in only 52 days, making it "the most adventurous, super-charged movie-making" DiCaprio had experienced yet. ''Catch Me If You Can'' received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Dicaprio's highest-grossing film since ''Titanic'' with a total of US$351.1 million worldwide. Roger Ebert praised his performance, and noted that while "DiCaprio, who in recent films [...] has played dark and troubled characters, is breezy and charming here, playing a boy who discovers what he is good at, and does it." The following year, DiCaprio received his third Golden Globe nomination for his work on the film.

Also in 2002, DiCaprio appeared in Martin Scorsese's ''Gangs of New York'', a historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. Director Scorsese initially struggled selling his idea of realizing the film until DiCaprio became interested in playing protagonist Amsterdam Vallon, a young leader of the Irish faction, and thus, Miramax Films got involved with financing the project. Nonetheless production on the film was plagued by blown-out budgets and producer-director squabbles, resulting in a marathon eight-month shoot and, at US$103 million, the most expensive film Scorsese had ever made. Upon its release, ''Gangs of New York'' became a financial and critical success however. DiCaprio's acting was well-received but remained overshadowed by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance among most critics.

Forging a collaboration with Scorsese, the two paired again for a biopic of the eccentric and obsessive American film director and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes in ''The Aviator'' (2004). Centering on Hughes' life from the late 1920s to 1947, DiCaprio initially developed the project with Michael Mann, who decided against directing it after back-to-back film biographies in ''Ali'' and ''The Insider''. The actor eventually pitched John Logan's script to Scorsese, who quickly signed on to direct. Altogether, DiCaprio reportedly spent more than a year and a half in preparation for the film which was not necessarily shot in continuity because of actors and locations schedules. ''The Aviator'' became a critical and financial success. DiCaprio received rave reviews for his performance and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, also receiving another Academy Award nomination.

In 2006, DiCaprio starred in both ''Blood Diamond'' and ''The Departed''. In Edward Zwick's war film ''Blood Diamond'', he co-starred alongside Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou as a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia who is involved in the Sierra Leone Civil War. The film itself received generally favorable reviews, and DiCaprio was praised for the authenticity of his South African Afrikaner accent, known as a difficult accent to imitate. In Scorsese's ''The Departed'' he played the role of Billy Costigan, a state trooper working undercover in an Irish Mob in Boston. Highly anticipated, the film was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and became one of the highest-rated wide release films of 2006. Budgeted at US$90 million, it also emerged as DiCaprio and Scorsese's highest-grossing collaboration to date, easily beating ''The Aviator''´s previous record of US$213.7 million. DiCaprio's performance in ''The Departed'' was applauded by critics and earned him a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild nominated DiCaprio twice in the Best Actor category for both of his 2006 features, and in addition, DiCaprio earned his third Academy Award nomination for ''Blood Diamond''.

2008–present

In 2008, DiCaprio starred in ''Body of Lies'', a spy film based on the novel of the same name by David Ignatius, set in context of the Middle East and the War on Terror, unfolding the story of three men battling a terrorist organization, and each other. Directed by Ridley Scott and co-starring Russell Crowe and Vince Colosimo, DiCaprio dyed his hair brown and wore brown contacts for the role, which he chose to pursue because he considered it a throwback to political films in the 1970s such as ''The Parallax View'' (1974) and ''Three Days of the Condor'' (1975). The film received mixed reviews from critics, and at a budget of US$67.5 million, became a moderate box office success, grossing US$115 million worldwide.

The same year, DiCaprio reunited with Kate Winslet to film the drama ''Revolutionary Road'' (2008), directed by Winslet's then-husband Sam Mendes. As both actors had been reluctant to make romantic films similar to ''Titanic'', it was Winslet who suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe, knowing that plot had little in common with the 1997 blockbuster. Once DiCaprio agreed to do the film, it went almost immediately into production. He noted that he saw his character as "unheroic" and "slightly cowardly" and that he was "willing to be just a product of his environment." Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for '' Revolutionary Road'', which earned them favorable reviews. For his portrayal DiCaprio garnered his seventh nomination from the Golden Globes.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film ''Shutter Island'' (2010), based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. Co-starring Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams in supporting roles, the actor played U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on an island and comes to question his own sanity. With US$41 million, the film opened at number-one at the box office, giving both DiCaprio and Scorsese their best box office opening yet.

Also in 2010, DiCaprio starred in director Christopher Nolan's science-fiction film ''Inception''. Inspired by the experience of lucid dreaming and dream incubation, DiCaprio portrays the character of Dom Cobb, an "extractor" who enters the dreams of others to obtain information that is otherwise inaccessible. Cobb is promised a chance to regain his old life in exchange for planting an idea in a corporate target's mind. DiCaprio, the first actor to be cast in the film, was "intrigued by this concept — this dream-heist notion and how this character's gonna unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life." Released to critical acclaim, the film grossed over US$21 million on its opening day, with an opening weekend gross of US$62.7 million.

DiCaprio is also set to star in Clint Eastwood's ''J. Edgar'', a biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial first director of the FBI. He was cast in the title role in Oliver Stone's film ''Travis McGee'', in which he is expected to play a salvage consultant who helps his clients on recover lost property, and is attached to star as a father who kidnaps and tortures the man who kidnapped his daughter in the thriller ''Prisoners''. In addition, DiCaprio is said to be involved in the pre-production of Ridley Scott's projects ''The Wolf of Wall Street'' and ''Brave New World'', Marc Forster's ''The Chancellor Manuscript'' and the biopic ''Sinatra'', a film about Frank Sinatra to be directed by Martin Scorsese. In July 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio had pulled out of a Viking movie to be directed by Mel Gibson amid controversy over Gibson's rage-fueled rant tapes and domestic violence probe. On November 1, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio's production company had acquired the rights to the Erik Larsen novel, ''The Devil in the White City''. The novel tells the true story of Dr. H. H. Holmes, a serial killer responsible for the death of hundreds of women during the Chicago World's Fair. It has also been announced that DiCaprio will star in the film, playing the role of serial killer H. H. Holmes. He was also cast in the role of Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of the novel ''The Great Gatsby''.

On November 19, 2010, it was announced that DiCaprio will produce and star in the upcoming 2013 movie based on the book ''Legacy of Secrecy'' by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann. The storyline examines how, in the early 1960s, the combined forces of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Mafia conspired to initiate and execute the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. DiCaprio is expected to play FBI informant Jack Van Laningham. The book asserts that Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello confessed to Van Laningham that he had ordered JFK's assassination, while the CIA and the Mafia were conspiring together to try to assassinate Fidel Castro. After the assassination, as part of a dangerous and long-secret undercover operation, the FBI positioned Van Laningham to become a confidant to Marcello, who ruled organized crime in Louisiana and most of Texas for decades.

On June 8, 2011, DiCaprio was announced to be in talks for the role of the villainous Calvin Candie for the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film, ''Django Unchained''.

Personal life

DiCaprio is a close friend of Tobey Maguire, whom he met while auditioning for the ''Parenthood'' series in 1990 and is a longtime friend of both fellow actors Kevin Connolly and Lukas Haas, and ''Titanic'' and ''Revolutionary Road'' co-star Kate Winslet. He was a childhood friend of the late Christopher Pettiet.

thumb|right|upright|DiCaprio at the red carpet at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. His romantic relationships have been widely covered in the media. DiCaprio has dated women including model Kristen Zang on-and-off for several years, and British model and socialite Emma Miller. In 2001, he met Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen with whom he had an on-and-off relationship until their separation in 2005. DiCaprio began a relationship with model Bar Refaeli in November 2005 after meeting her at a Las Vegas party thrown for members of U2. In the course of their trip to Israel in March 2007, the couple met with Israeli president Shimon Peres and visited Refaeli's hometown of Hod HaSharon. The relationship was on hold for a period of six months starting in June 2009; in early 2010, the romance was rekindled. In May 2011, it was reported that the couple had ended their romantic relationship, although still remaining friends. In August 2011, it was reported that he was in a relationship with actress Blake Lively since mid-May.

DiCaprio owns a home in Los Angeles and an apartment in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. In 2009, he bought an island in Belize on which he is planning to create an eco-friendly resort. He also owns an apartment in Riverhouse, an eco-friendly building overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan.

Environmental activism and philanthropy

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism. In the past, he has opted to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering private jets, and it was reported that he drives a hybrid car and has solar panels installed on his house. In an interview with ''Ukula'' about his 2007 film ''11th Hour'', DiCaprio cited global warming as "the number-one environmental challenge."

At the 2007 Oscar ceremony, DiCaprio and former Vice President Al Gore appeared to announce that the Academy Awards had incorporated environmentally intelligent practices throughout the planning and production processes, thus affirming their commitment to the environment, and on July 7, 2007, DiCaprio presented at the American leg of Live Earth. In 2010, his environmental work earned DiCaprio a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Award. The awards show, produced by VH1, is dedicated to honoring people who do good and is powered by Do Something, an organization that aims to empower and inspire young people.

In 1998, DiCaprio and his mother donated $35,000 for a "Leonardo DiCaprio Computer Center" at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, the site of his childhood home. It was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and opened in early 1999. During the filming of ''Blood Diamond'', DiCaprio worked with 24 orphaned children from the SOS Children's Village in Maputo, Mozambique, and was said to be extremely touched by his interactions with the children. In 2010, he donated $1,000,000 to relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake.

During the 2004 Presidential election, DiCaprio campaigned and donated to John Kerry's presidential bid. FEC showed DiCaprio gave $2300 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, the maximum contribution an individual can give in an election cycle.

In November 2010, DiCaprio donated $1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society at Russia's tiger summit. DiCaprio arrived late after two near-miss flights, causing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to describe him as a "muzhik" or "real man".

In 2011, DiCaprio joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund's campaign to free Tony, a tiger who has spent the last decade at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.

Filmography

Acting

+ Film
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
1991	''Critters 3''	Josh
1992		Guy
1993
1993	''What's Eating Gilbert Grape''	Arnie Grape
1994	''The Foot Shooting Party''	Bud
1995		Fee Herod, "The Kid"
1995		Jim Carroll
1995		Arthur Rimbaud
1996	''Romeo + Juliet''	Romeo Montague
1996		Hank	Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997
1998		King Louis XIV/Philippe
1998		Brandon Darrow
2000		Richard	Nominated—Teen Choice Awards
2001	''[[Don's Plum''	Derek	Filmed in 1995
2002	''Catch Me If You Can''	Frank William Abagnale Jr.	Teen Choice Awards
2002	''[[Gangs of New York''	Amsterdam Vallon
2004		Howard Hughes	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaMTV Movie Award for Best PerformanceNominated—Academy Award for Best ActorNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Italian Online Movie Award for Best ActorNominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – DramaNominated—Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Visual Effects Film
2006	''The Departed''		Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorCentral Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorCentral Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best EnsembleIrish Film and Television Award for Best International ActorGransito Movie Award Best ActorItalian Online Movie Award for Best ActorNational Board of Review Award for Best CastSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureSatellite Award for Best Cast – Motion PictureNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Empire Award for Best ActorNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—People's Choice Award for Best On-Screen Match-Up Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – DramaNominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
2006		Danny Archer	Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActorNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association for Best ActorNominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Drama
2007		Narrator/Producer	Documentary
2008		Roger Ferris
2008		Frank Wheeler	Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble PerformanceNominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association for Best Actor
2010		Teddy Daniels	Italian Online Movie Award for Best ActorTeen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Horror/ThrillerNominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year Nominated—National Movie Award for Performance of the YearNominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor Nominated—Saturn Award for Best ActorNominated—Scream Awards for Best Horror Actor
2010	''Hubble 3D''	Narrator	Documentary
2010	''Inception''	Dom Cobb	Scream Award for Best Science Fiction ActorNominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best EnsembleNominated—Empire Award for Best ActorNominated—Irish Film and Television Award for Best International ActorNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen TeamNominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated—Saturn Award for Best ActorNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Scream Award for Best EnsembleNominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2011	''J. Edgar''	J. Edgar Hoover	Completed
2012		Jay Gatsby	Filming

+ Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
1990		Kid Fighting Scout	Episode: "Pilot"
1990		Garry Buckman
1990	''The New Lassie''	Young Boy	Episode: "Livewire"
1990		Young Mason Capwell
1991		Darlene's Classmate	Episode: "Home-Ec"
1991–1992	''Growing Pains''	Luke Brower

As producer

+ Film
! Year	! Title	! Notes
2004	''The Assassination of Richard Nixon''	Executive producer
2004		Executive producer
2007		Producer
2007	''Gardener of Eden''	Producer
2008–2010		Producer
2009		Producer
2011		Producer
2011		Executive producer

Other accolades

! Year	! Group	! Category	! Result
1993	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	New Generation Award
2004	Hollywood Film Festival	Actor of the Year
2007	TV Land Award	Little Screen/Big Screen Star
2009	Kids' Choice Awards	Big Green Help Award

References

External links

Category:1974 births Category:Actors from California Category:American child actors Category:American environmentalists Category:American film actors Category:American soap opera actors Category:American television actors Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:California Democrats Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American people of Russian descent Category:Living people Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Echo Park, Los Angeles

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David Shayler (born 24 December 1965) is a British journalist and former MI5 (Security Service) officer. Shayler earned notoriety after being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act 1989 for his passing secret documents to the ''Mail on Sunday'' in August 1997 that alleged that MI5 was paranoid about socialists, and that it had previously investigated Labour Party ministers Peter Mandelson, Jack Straw and Harriet Harman. David Shayler's website (davidshayler.com) is no longer being maintained by him.

Early life

Shayler was born in Middlesbrough. He attended John Hampden Grammar School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire whose head teacher once described him as "a born rebel who sails close to the wind ... and suffers neither fools nor their arguments gladly". He later attended the University of Dundee starting in 1984 where he was editor of the student newspaper ''Annasach'' and was responsible for publishing extracts of the book ''Spycatcher'' by another former MI5 officer Peter Wright (banned in England at the time). He graduated with a 2:1 degree in English in July 1989. After leaving university he worked as a journalist at the ''Sunday Times'' newspaper although his employment was terminated six months later.

MI5 career

Shayler joined MI5 in October 1991 after responding to an oblique job advertisement in the 12 May edition of ''The Observer'' entitled "Godot isn't coming" a reference to the play ''Waiting for Godot'' in which Godot never arrives. The advert asked if applicants had an interest in current affairs, had common sense and an ability to write. Believing the job was media related, Shayler applied.

He claims that he started work in F branch, which dealt with counter-subversion, including the monitoring of left-wing groups and activists, where he worked vetting Labour Party politicians prior to the 1992 election, later being transferred to T branch, which handled Irish terrorism, in August 1992. While at T branch he alleges that he was involved in an investigation of Sean McNulty.

Shayler moved again, to G9 branch, responsible for Middle Eastern terrorism where he allegedly headed the Libyan desk as G9A/5. It was during his tenure at the Libyan desk that he claims that he learned of the MI6 plot to assassinate Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi from his MI6 counterpart David Watson (PT16B) and Richard Bartlett (PT16) who had overall control and responsibility for the operation. He left the service in October 1996.

After MI5

Shayler stated that MI6 had been involved in a failed assassination attack on Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in February 1996 without the permission of the then foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind. The plot involved paying the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group with supporters in London and links to Al-Qaeda £100,000 to carry out the attack. The group was paid to plant a bomb underneath Gaddafi's motorcade. The attack happened in March 1996 in the coastal city of Sirte. The bomb was planted under the wrong car and failed to kill Gaddafi but did result in the deaths of several innocent civilians. In November 1999 he sent a dossier of detailed evidence of this including the names of those involved to then home secretary Jack Straw who stated that he was "looking into the matter" as well as Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee and the police. In 2005, the LIFG was banned as a terrorist group in Britain.

He also stated that the intelligence services were deliberately planting stories in newspapers and the mainstream media by feeding willing journalists with misinformation, such as a November 1996 article in the ''Sunday Telegraph'' by Con Coughlin linking Colonel Gaddafi's son with a currency counterfeiting operation citing the source as a British banking official when in reality the source was MI6. This was later confirmed when Gaddafi's son served the paper with a libel writ which later admitted the true source of the information.

According to Shayler the 1994 bombing of the Israeli embassy in London was known to the intelligence services before it happened, and could have been prevented.

The British government later placed an injunction on the republication of Shayler's claims although this was later lifted on 2 November 1997 allowing the paper to print his claims of how the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in London in 1994 could have been prevented if the service had acted on prior knowledge it had obtained. On 19 June 1998 he told ''The Spectator'' magazine that the security service had information that could have prevented the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing. After revealing information to the ''Mail on Sunday'' in August 1997 Shayler fled the day prior to publication, first to Utrecht in the Netherlands and then later to France with his girlfriend and former colleague Annie Machon and was arrested by French police on 1 August 1998 with an extradition warrant on the request of the British government and then held in La Santé Prison for four months under the prisoner number 269151F. On 18 November 1998 the French courts decided that the British government's extradition request was politically motivated and therefore not grounds for extradition.

In 2000, Shayler appeared on ''Have I Got News For You'' via satellite. He was the subject of many jokes on the show, including when team captain Paul Merton receiving huge applause for switching off David Shayler's TV screen.

Return and trial

In August 2000 he voluntarily returned to the UK on condition he was not remanded in custody pending his trial. He was arrested and subsequently released on bail.

He was charged with three charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act 1989 on 21 September 2000, one charge of passing on information acquired from a telephone tap (a breach of Section Four of the Act), and two others of passing on information and documents obtained by virtue of his membership of the service (a breach of Section One of the Act). The judge at the trial was Mr Justice Moses. At pre-trial hearings he ruled that Shayler had to disclose all information and argument he intended to present to the jury to the judge and prosecution beforehand. At the trial Shayler represented himself, claiming that the Official Secrets Act was incompatible with the Human Rights Act and that it was not a crime to report a crime although these arguments were dismissed by the court with the latter being ruled irrelevant. Shayler's defence attempted to argue that there were no other avenues to pursue his concerns with the service and its performance. The judge ruled that while this was true it was irrelevant. The judge instructed the jury to return a guilty verdict and that the House of Lords had ruled in another case that a defendant could not argue that he had revealed information in the public interest. After more than three hours of deliberation the jury found him guilty. In November 2002 he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, of which he served three weeks in Belmarsh prison and just under five weeks in Ford Open Prison, with the four months served on remand in France being taken into consideration, finally being released on 23 December 2002 although he was electronically tagged and under a 7pm to 7am curfew for a further seven weeks.

9/11 Truth Movement

Following the release of the 9/11 Commission Report, David Shayler joined the 9/11 Truth Movement, a movement which holds as a primary tenet the belief that the official explanation for the September 11, 2001 attacks is partly (or completely) fraudulent. The ''New Statesman'' has reported Shayler stating "no planes were involved in 9/11" and that the apparent "planes" were missiles camouflaged by holograms. Shayler allegedly argues that the planes seen crashing into the World Trade Center were switched out planes with detonation pods underneath, although he says the attack on the Pentagon was not the result of a plane impact.

These and other public statements led some in the 9/11 Truth Movement to dismiss him as an agent of government disinformation and a provocateur working to discredit legitimate questions about the events of September 11, 2001.

In February 2007, Shayler appeared in Ireland with Annie Machon and William Rodriguez. who unsuccessfully sued President Bush and 155 others in federal court alleging their complicity in the 9/11 attacks.

Claims of divinity

In an article in the ''Daily Mail'' Shayler claimed that he was the son of God stating, "I am the messiah and hold the secret of eternal life," and that he was the reincarnation of various historical figures. This claim is echoed on his official website where he notes that "David Michael Shayler -- ‘Sheylr’ in Hebrew ... was anointed Messiah on 2 July 2007 and proclaimed on 07.07.07, in line with ancient prophecies." He also claims to have divine powers which allow him to influence the weather, prevent terror attacks and predict football scores.

Claims of antisemitism

Shayler has quoted the antisemitic document ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' approvingly. ''Searchlight'' magazine reported in 2008 that Shayler remarked in a speech that "we know from documents like ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' that the New World Order were going to use control of the money supply to create depressions and recessions."

Transvestism

In an article in the ''Evening Standard'', David Shayler further discusses the Messiah claim and reveals that he is now living as a woman in a squat in Abinger Hammer, Surrey. Shayler has since told newspapers that his transvestite 'alter ego' is called 'Delores Kane': "I don't give a fuck what other people think of me. A bloke in a frock is whole lot less offensive than blowing up innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan." In August 2009 UK based tabloid Metro reported that Shayler had been evicted from a squat, quoting him as saying the eviction would not matter to him as he was "the son of God".

Middlesbrough Football Club

Shayler is a supporter of Middlesbrough Football Club. It was hypothesised by the BBC that part of his reason for returning to the UK was to watch a home fixture against Tottenham Hotspur. In 2007 Channel 4 reported he claimed that his "channelling of the light" put Middlesbrough into the 2006 UEFA Cup Final. Both he and his former partner, Annie Machon, have repeatedly claimed that the mainstream British media has misreported their statements and judgments passed against them in an attempt to smear their reputation.

See also

List of messiah claimants

List of people who have claimed to be Jesus

References

Further reading

External links

David Shayler: spook or psychic? by Channel 4 News

Extracts from 'The Organisation - An unpublished novel by David Shayler

Guardian Special Report on the Shayler case

Early Shayler timeline from the BBC

Timeline: Shayler spy row by BBC News

A more critical view of Shayler from UK Indymedia

Shayler Analysis of 911

Discrediting By Association: Undermining the Case for Patriots Who Question 9/11: Shayler

Category:Alumni of the University of Dundee Category:British whistleblowers Category:MI5 personnel Category:People from Middlesbrough Category:Self-declared messiahs Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Transgender and transsexual people Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at John Hampden Grammar School

fr:David Shayler

name	Alistair Begg
birth place	Glasgow, Scotland
occupation	Pastor, author
spouse	Susan Begg
death place	}}

Alistair Begg is the senior pastor of Cleveland's Parkside Church (located in Bainbridge, Geauga County, Ohio), a position he has had since 1983. He is the voice behind the ''Truth for Life'' Christian radio preaching and teaching ministry that broadcasts his sermons daily to stations across the United States. He is also the author of several books and has played one small role as a film actor.

Begg is a strong advocate of historic Protestant Evangelical theology. He stresses the importance of believing the Bible to be the completely authoritative Word of God, and the importance of using the mind to know the Bible and knowing God through repentance and faith in Jesus.

Biography

Begg was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1952 and still carries a distinctive accent after nearly 30 years of ministry in the United States. On November 2, 1972, his mother died. Regarding the incident, Begg wrote that "more spiritual progress is made through failure and tears than success and laughter." Begg graduated from The London School of Theology in 1975 and then served eight years in Scotland at Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh and Hamilton Baptist Church in Lanarkshire. Begg is a Council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He was educated at Trent University and Westminster Seminary. Among Begg's influences are: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Stott, Derek Prime, Eric Alexander, Sinclair Ferguson, Dick Lucas, Eric Liddell, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Jim Elliot, and Hudson Taylor.

Begg's wife, Susan, is American by birth and Begg himself became a U.S. citizen in 2004. He and his wife have been married over 30 years and have three grown children. In 2004, he played Stewart Maiden in the film Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.

Theological views

Begg believes in the inerrancy and supremacy of Scripture, and in the saving power of Christ alone. He has stated that the core belief of Parkside Church is "that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and that to know Him is to know life, both now and forever [...] Jesus Christ is the only Savior, because Jesus is the only one who is qualified to save." Fellow theologian and author R.C. Sproul wrote that "Alistair Begg incarnates this Neo-Puritan movement, a humble champion who has been galvanized by a magnificent obsession with the God-centered life. [...] Begg is an anachronism. He breaks the mold of contemporary evangelicalism, the mold that has been marred by narcissism and sullied by a preoccupation with a man-centered focus on method, technique, and a virulent form of self-esteem." His work has been praised by such people as John MacArthur, Max Lucado and Joseph M. Stowell. Begg is critical of Hyper-Calvinism and he also removed himself as one of the speakers at the "REiMAGINE" conference because of some of its other speakers, such as Leonard Sweet who has been criticized for New Age teachings.

Bibliography

''What Angels Wish They Knew: The Basics of True Christianity'', Moody Publishers (1999) ISBN 0-8024-1709-4

''Preaching for God's Glory'' (2000) ISBN 1-58134-123-7

''Pathway to Freedom: How God's Laws Guide Our Lives'', Crossway Books (2000) ISBN 1-58134-123-7

''The Hand of God: Finding His Care in All Circumstances'', Moody Publishers (2001) ISBN 0-8024-1704-3

''On Being a Pastor: Understanding Our Calling and Work'', (with Derek Prime) Moody Publishers (2004) ISBN 0-8024-3120-8

''Made for His Pleasure: Ten Benchmarks of a Vital Faith'', Moody Publishers (2005) ISBN 0-8024-7137-4

References

External links

Truth for Life Ministry website

Truth for Life daily radio broadcast on OnePlace.com

Parkside Church

Alistair Begg at IMDb

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American religious leaders Category:People from Glasgow Category:American sermon writers Category:Calvinist ministers and theologians Category:American Christian clergy Category:Scottish Baptist clergy Category:Baptist ministers Category:Christian writers

region	Western Philosophy
Era	20th century philosophy
Color	#B0C4DE
image	Mckenna1.jpg
name	Terence Kemp McKenna
Birth date	November 16, 1946
Birth place	Paonia, Colorado, United States
Death date	April 03, 2000
Death place	San Rafael, California, United States
School tradition	Metaphysics, phenomenology|
Main interests	shamanism, ethnobotany, metaphysics, psychedelic drugs, futurism, primitivism, environmentalism, consciousness, phenomenology, historical revisionism, evolution, ontology, Mind at Large, virtual reality, dominator culture, criticizing science, the Logos
Influences	psychedelic drugs, Marshall McLuhan, Alfred North Whitehead, Teilhard de Chardin, Aldous Huxley, I Ching, William Blake, Riane Eisler, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, Heraclitus
Influenced	Rupert Sheldrake, Robert Anton Wilson, Ralph Abraham, RU Sirius, Cliff Pickover, Timothy Leary
Notable ideas	Novelty Theory, The "Stoned Ape" Theory of Human Evolution, Machine elves }}

Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an Irish-American researcher, philosopher, speaker, spiritual teacher and writer on many subjects; such as human consciousness, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and the end of the universe, cybernetics, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.

Biography

Early life

Terence McKenna grew up in Paonia, Colorado. He was introduced to geology through his uncle and developed a hobby of solitary fossil hunting in the arroyos near his home. From this he developed a deep artistic and scientific appreciation of nature.

At age 16, Terence moved to Los Altos, California to live with family friends for a year. He finished high school in Lancaster, CA. In 1963, McKenna was introduced to the literary world of psychedelics through ''The Doors of Perception'' and ''Heaven and Hell'' by Aldous Huxley and certain issues of ''The Village Voice'' that talked about psychedelics.

Terence claimed that one of his early psychedelic experiences with morning glory seeds showed him "that there was something there worth pursuing." In an audio interview Terence Mckenna claims to have started smoking cannabis regularly during the summer following his 17th birthday.

Studying and traveling

In 1965, Terence enrolled in U.C. Berkeley to study Art History. In 1967, while in college, he got involved with shamanism after being lead there by studying Tibetan religions That year, which he called his "opium and kabbala phase," he also traveled to Jerusalem, where he met Kathleen Harrison, who would later become his wife.

In 1969, Terence traveled to Nepal lead by his "interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic shamanism." During his time there, he studied the Tibetan language and worked as a hashish smuggler, until "one of his Bombay-to-Aspen shipments fell into the hands of U. S. Customs." He was forced to move to avoid capture by Interpol. He wandered through Southeast Asia viewing ruins, collected butterflies in Indonesia, and worked as an English teacher in Tokyo. He then went back to Berkeley to continue studying biology, which he called "his first love."

After he completed part of his studies and his mother's death from cancer in 1971, Terence, his brother Dennis, and three friends traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of oo-koo-hé, a plant preparation containing DMT. Instead of oo-koo-hé they found various forms of ayahuasca, or "yagé," and gigantic psilocybe cubensis which became the new focus of the expedition. In La Chorrera, at the urging of his brother, he was the subject of a psychedelic experiment which he claimed put him in contact with Logos: an informative, divine voice he believed was universal to visionary religious experience. The voice's revelations and his brother's simultaneous peculiar experience prompted him to explore the structure of an early form of the I Ching, which led to his "Novelty Theory." During their stay in the Amazon, Terence also got romantically involved with his translator, Ev.

In 1972, Terence returned to Berkeley to finish his studies. There he decided to switch majors to a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Conservation, in a then-new experimental section of the same university called the Tussman Experimental College. During his studies, he would also develop techniques for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms with Dennis.

In 1975, he parted with his girlfriend Ev, when she left him for one of Terence's friends from Berkeley. Their parting left him "tormented with migraines and living alone." He graduated in 1975. That same year, he began a relationship with a friend he met in Jerusalem, Kathleen.

Soon after graduating, Terence and Dennis published a book inspired by their Amazon experiences, ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching.'' Terence also began lecturing. The brothers' experiences in the Amazon would later play a major role in Terence's book ''True Hallucinations'', published in 1993. In 1976, the brothers published what they had learned about the cultivation of mushrooms in a book entitled ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric.

Later life

In the early 1980s, McKenna began to speak publicly on the topic of psychedelic drugs, lecturing extensively and conducting weekend workshops. Though associated with the New Age and human potential movements, McKenna himself had little patience for New Age sensibilities. He repeatedly stressed the importance and primacy of felt experience, as opposed to dogma. Timothy Leary once introduced him as "one of the five or six most important people on the planet." }}He soon became a fixture of popular counterculture. His growing popularity culminated in the early to mid-1990s with the publication of several books: ''True Hallucinations'', relating the tale of his 1971 La Chorrera experience; ''Food of the Gods''; and ''The Archaic Revival''. He became a popular personality in the psychedelic rave/dance scene of the early 1990s, with frequent spoken word performances at raves and contributions to psychedelic and goa trance albums by The Shamen, Spacetime Continuum, Alien Project, Capsula, Entheogenic, Zuvuya, Shpongle, and Shakti Twins. His speeches were, and are, sampled by many. In 1994 he appeared as a speaker at the Starwood Festival, documented in the book ''Tripping'' by Charles Hayes. His lectures were produced on both cassette tape and CD.

McKenna was a colleague of chaos mathematician Ralph Abraham, and biologist Rupert Sheldrake, creator of the theory of "morphogenetic fields", not to be confused with the mainstream usage of the same term. He conducted several public debates known as ''trialogues'' with them from the late 1980s until his death. Books containing transcriptions of some of these events were published. He was also a friend and associate of Ralph Metzner, Nicole Maxwell, and Riane Eisler, participating in joint workshops and symposia with them. He was a personal friend of Tom Robbins, and influenced the thought of many scientists, writers, artists, and entertainers. His influences include comedian Bill Hicks, whose routines about psychedelic drugs drew heavily from McKenna's works. He is also the inspiration for the Twin Peaks character Dr. Jacoby.

In addition to psychedelic drugs, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality, which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics; techno-paganism; artificial intelligence; evolution; extraterrestrials; and aesthetic theory, specifically about art/visual experience as ''information'' representing the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics.

In 1985, McKenna co-founded Botanical Dimensions with his then-wife Kathleen, a nonprofit ethnobotanical preserve in Hawaii, where he lived for many years before he died. In 1997 he and Kathleen divorced. Before moving to Hawaii permanently, McKenna split his time between Hawaii and Occidental, located in the redwood-studded hills of Sonoma County, California.

Death

A longtime sufferer of migraines, in mid-1999 McKenna returned to his home on the big island of Hawaii after a long lecturing tour. He began to suffer from increasingly painful headaches. This culminated in three brain seizures in one night, which he claimed were the most powerful psychedelic experiences he had ever known. Upon his emergency trip to the hospital on Oahu, Terence was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. For the next several months he underwent various treatments, including experimental gamma knife radiation treatment. According to Wired magazine, McKenna was worried that his tumour was caused by his 35-years of smoking cannabis; though his doctors assured him there was no causal relation.

In late 1999, Erik Davis conducted what would be the last interview of McKenna. During the interview McKenna also talked about the announcement of his death:

Terence died on April 3, 2000, at the age of 53, with his loved ones at his bedside. He is survived by his brother Dennis, his son Finn, and his daughter Klea.

The library fire

On February 7, 2007, McKenna's library of rare books and personal notes was destroyed in a fire which burned offices belonging to Big Sur's Esalen Institute storing the collection. An index maintained by his brother Dennis survives, though little else.

Ideas

Terence McKenna advocated the exploration of altered states of mind via the ingestion of naturally occurring psychedelic substances. For example, and in particular, as facilitated by the ingestion of high doses of psychedelic mushrooms, and DMT, which he believed was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience. He spoke of the "jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs" or "self-transforming machine elves" that one encounters in that state.

Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of monotheism), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being "trans-dimensional travel"; literally, enabling an individual to encounter what could be ancestors, or spirits of earth. He remained opposed to most forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening.

Either philosophically or religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, Alfred North Whitehead and Alchemy. McKenna always regarded the Greek philosopher Heraclitus as his favorite philosopher.

He also expressed admiration for the works of James Joyce (calling ''Finnegans Wake'' "the quintessential work of art, or at least work of literature of the 20th century") and Vladimir Nabokov: McKenna once said that he would have become a Nabokov lecturer if he had never encountered psychedelics.

The "Stoned Ape" Theory of Human Evolution

In his book ''Food of the Gods'', McKenna proposed that the transformation from humans' early ancestors ''Homo erectus'' to the species ''Homo sapiens'' mainly had to do with the addition of the mushroom ''Psilocybe cubensis'' in its diet - an event which according to his theory took place in about 100,000 BC (this is when he believed that the species diverged from the Homo genus). He based his theory on the main effects, or alleged effects, produced by the mushroom. One of the effects that comes about from the ingestion of low doses, which agrees with one of scientist Roland Fischer's findings from the late 60s-early 70s, is it significantly improves the visual acuity of humans - so theoretically, of other human-like mammals too. According to McKenna, this effect would have definitely prove to be of evolutionary advantage to humans' omnivorous hunter-gatherer ancestors that would have stumbled upon it "accidentally"; as it would make it easier for them to hunt.

In higher doses, McKenna claims, the mushroom acts as a sexual stimulator, which would make it even more beneficial evolutionarily, as it would result in more offspring. At even higher doses, the mushroom would have acted to "dissolve boundaries", which would have promoted community-bonding and group sexual activities-that would result in a mixing of genes and therefore greater genetic diversity. Generally McKenna believed that the periodic ingestion of the mushroom would have acted to dissolve the ego in humans before it ever got the chance to grow in destructive proportions. In this context he likened the ego to a cancerous tumor that can grow uncontrollable and become destructive to its host. In his own words:

The mushroom, according to McKenna, had also given humans their first truly religious experiences (which, as he believed, were the basis for the foundation of all subsequent religions to date). Another factor that McKenna talked about was the mushroom's potency to promote linguistic thinking. This would have promoted vocalisation, which in turn would have acted in cleansing the brain (based on a scientific theory that vibrations from speaking cause the precipitation of impurities from the brain to the cerebrospinal fluid), which would further mutate the brain. All these factors according to McKenna were the most important factors that promoted evolution towards the ''Homo sapiens'' species. After this transformation took place, the species would have begun moving out of Africa to populate the rest of the planet Later on, this theory by McKenna was given the name "The 'Stoned Ape' Theory of Human Evolution".

Bibliography

1975 - ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching'' (with Dennis McKenna) (Seabury; 1st Ed) ISBN 0-8164-9249-2.

1976 - ''The Invisible Landscape'' (with Dennis McKenna, and Quinn Taylor) (Scribner) ISBN 0-8264-0122-8

1976 - ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' (with Dennis McKenna: credited under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric) (2nd edition 1986) (And/Or Press) ISBN 0-915904-13-6

1992 - ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' (with Dennis McKenna: (credited under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric) (Quick American Publishing Company; Revised edition) ISBN 0-932551-06-8

1992 - ''The Archaic Revival'' (HarperSanFrancisco; 1st edition) ISBN 0-06-250613-7

1992 - ''Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge - A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution'' (Bantam) ISBN 0-553-37130-4

1992 - ''Synesthesia'' (with Timothy C. Ely) (Granary Books 1st Ed) ISBN 1-887123-04-0

1992 - ''Trialogues at the Edge of the West: Chaos, Creativity, and the Resacralization of the World'' (with Ralph H. Abraham, Rupert Sheldrake and Jean Houston) (Bear & Company Publishing 1st Ed) ISBN 0-939680-97-1

1993 - ''True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise'' (HarperSanFrancisco 1st Ed) ISBN 0-06-250545-9

1994 - ''The Invisible Landscape'' (HarperSanFrancisco; Reprint edition) ISBN 0-06-250635-8

1998 - ''True Hallucinations & the Archaic Revival: Tales and Speculations About the Mysteries of the Psychedelic Experience'' (Fine Communications/MJF Books) (Hardbound) ISBN 1-56731-289-6

1998 - ''The Evolutionary Mind : Trialogues at the Edge of the Unthinkable'' (with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham) (Trialogue Press; 1st Ed) ISBN 0-942344-13-8

1999 - ''Food of the Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution'' (Rider & Co; New edition) ISBN 0-7126-7038-6

1999 - ''Robert Venosa: Illuminatus'' (with Robert Venosa, Ernst Fuchs, H. R. Giger, and Mati Klarwein) (Craftsman House) ISBN 90-5703-272-4

2001 - ''Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness'' (with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham) (Park Street Press; revised ed) ISBN 0-89281-977-4 (Revised edition of Trialogues at the Edge of the West)

2005 - ''The Evolutionary Mind: Trialogues on Science, Spirit & Psychedelics'' (Monkfish Book Publishing; Revised Ed) ISBN 0-9749359-7-2

Spoken word

''History Ends In Green: Gaia, Psychedelics and the Archaic Revival'', 6 audiocassette set, Mystic Fire audio, 1993, ISBN 1-56176-907-x (recorded at the Esalen Institute, 1989)

''TechnoPagans at the End of History'' (transcription of rap with Mark Pesce from 1998)

''Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines'' (1999) 90 minutes video

''Alien Dreamtime'' with Spacetime Continuum & Stephen Kent (Magic Carpet Media) (CD) video

''Conversations on the Edge of Magic'' (1994) (CD & Cassette) ACE

''Rap-Dancing Into the Third Millennium'' (1994) (Cassette) (Re-issued on CD as ''The Quintessential Hallucinogen'') ACE

''Packing For the Long Strange Trip'' (1994) (Cassette) ACE

Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell, broadcast on May 22, 1997, Five hour interview covering various topics

''Global Perspectives and Psychedelic Poetics'' (1994) (Cassette) Sound Horizons Audio-Video, Inc.

''The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge'' (1992) (Cassette) Sounds True

Discography

''Re : Evolution'' with The Shamen (1992)

''Alien Dreamtime'' with Spacetime Continuum & Stephen Kent (Magic Carpet Media) (DVD)

2009 - ''Cognition Factor'' (2009)

See also

Ethnomycology

Exopheromone

List of notable brain tumor patients

Machine Elf

References

External links

Terence McKenna Land at Deoxy.org

Terence McKenna at Levity.com

Erowid's Terence McKenna Vault

Botanical Dimensions

Rotten.com bio

FloatingWorldWeb's McKenna Pages

Terence McKenna's Last Trip 2000 Wired Magazine article by Erik Davis

"Mind contagions" (2001) at disinfo.com

Psychedelics, Evolution & Fun 2008 essay by Patrick Lundborg

Machine Elves 101, or Why Terence McKenna Matters - Reallity Sandwish by Daniel Moler

Transcription from 1991 interview regarding cannabis

Audio and video resources

Terence McKenna's interview Conducted by John Hazard in October 1998

Audio and video archive at Deoxy.org

Terence McKenna media archive at EROCx1.com

FutureHi.net MP3 Downloads - Terence McKenna, Albert Hoffman, Robert Anton Wilson, and more

McKenna at the 1999 Entheobotany Seminar - Audio Podcast

Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines - Video samples from the 1999 DVD

McKenna Video on FloatingWorldWeb - McKenna Video Portal

Over 100 podcasts of Terence McKenna talks - Audio Podcast

Transcripts

MindofMcKenna - McKenna Audio Excerpts, Transcriptions and Quotes

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