MEDIA O.D.
ARE YOGA TEACHERS THE NEW PUNK ROCKERS?


The Bourne Supremacy, seen for $5 w/ free parking at the nearby Ghettoplex, was brilliantly mindless entertainment -- like traveling without having to leave one's 'hood (just one's head) -- although it was too-too crowded (Why not bring the kids to the 9:30 PG-13 show? And the infants, too!). The fillum opened in Goa, India and featured among other things women in saris, cows in the street, the auto-rickshaws, the beached fishing boats, the chaos, the backwaters, everything -- and it reminded us of how much we miss India. Although on our trip we didn't have anyone in particular chasing us, apart from our own demons and a certain someone.

This week's episode of "Entourage" with the Yokolike yoga teacher, on the other hand, reminded us of one of our beefs with the media's portrayal of yoga teachers (our B.A. thesis examined how the punk rock subculture was viewed by the media -- anyone else remember that episode of Quincy?). This show's YokoYogi was a vegan codependent wheatgrass-chugging pothead tantric sex junkie who worked *at Gold's Gym.* As with Josh Harnett's insufferable detective/yoga teacher in 2002's Hollywood Homicide (caught it on an airplane) they always seem to be skipping savasana, spending endless supplies of money and f*cking their students. OK so a studmuffin-y real-life teacher *has* been sued by a student for impropriety. But really. If it were like that, wouldn't more people be yoga teachers (actually, there *are* too many yoga teachers). And let's not even talk about Madonna's icky toenail-painting, gay man-banging instructor in 2000's Next Big Thing (her classroom delivery was about as lively a royal blue sticky mat). I've never seen an episode of "Dharma & Greg" (or "Friends" for that matter) but if I had I'm sure I'd have something to say about it, too.

My solution in college was to make a film depicting a day in the life of a mohicanned punk rock chick (me of course). Maybe it's high time for a new type of sit-com....