Last week I posted an article that raised questions about the validity of the data being used to promote the flu shot. This post led to a great deal of interesting debate. It quickly became clear that the article in question had been largely discredited. However, the response on both sides of the issue points to different issues at play. I...
On some level, at its heart, our new film "All the Rage" is largely about ideas related to belief. Modern science uses the word placebo to describe the effect of one's belief on the efficacy of a treatment. When drugs, or procedures, are tested they are only deemed effective if they work better than a sham drug or procedure. The...
The above picture is a leaf growing on a big plant in my living room. The plant was there before I was born and it continues to live today. However, it was a bit sickly until recently. My wife and I re-potted it into a container that was twice the previous size. We also started to pay attention to it....
Half-Cocked - Guiloteens scene from rumur on Vimeo. The modern world is fast paced and full of deadlines. Media Makers are often expected to create work immediately, and to communicate information ever more succinctly. People want their news fast and clear. Unfortunately, things are never as simple as we want them to be. As filmmakers, we often face difficulties because the...
Ants from rumur on Vimeo. A few years ago, I read Jonah Lehrer's article in Wired "Why Science Is Failing Us". It was a lightbulb moment for me as he connected the dots to so many things that I had been thinking but didn't have the words, or data, to pull together. The deepest connection was his illumination...
A couple of years ago when I was doing research for our Dr. Sarno documentary I came across a blog post by Will Sacks. In this piece he talks about his ups and downs with back pain, surgery, and eventually finding Dr. Sarno’s “Healing Back Pain”. At the end of his intense tale he writes: Despite the fact that we have...
I'm not too good at grief. My mom is extremely emotional, and though I take after her in many ways, I'm more like my father when it comes to being sad. Like him, I cry in movies, but I have a difficult time accessing my own emotions. When I was in high school I remember sitting in rickety pool chairs,...
I clicked on an article in the Times today about surprise charges for surgery. I should not have been, but I was surprised to find that almost all of the charges mentioned were for back or neck surgeries for herniated discs. The first person discussed had a surgery for herniated discs in his neck. He had negotiated fees with his...
When we travel with our other films we often talk about the ones we are working on. On Friday night I showed “Who Took Johnny” at the Docuwest film festival in Denver and brought up Dr. Sarno in the q and a. I asked if anyone had read his book. A gentleman in the back raised his...
A few months ago a friend suggested that I check out Tara Brach, who teaches about meditation. This video popped up today and I found it to be very connected to our work on "All The Rage". [vc_video link='http://youtu.be/e23nUp3a9R8?list=UUE3E-d8dUieqIbKYIO5-pFg'] The focus of this talk is about becoming aware of our addiction to "doing". "Doing" is the opposite of...
Dr Turk on drugs from rumur on Vimeo. When we interviewed Dr.Dennis Turk, the director of pain research at the University of Washington, for our film “All the Rage” he pointed out two very important facts about drugs to us. The first is that for every dollar that a drug company spends on advertising it sees somewhere in the...
My good friend, and filmmaking partner, David Beilinson challenged me to the ice bucket challenge. I am of course pleased that this example of social viral action has led to a huge outpouring of financial support for research. There have been many people who have minimized the amount of money raised, but it is undeniable that it is significant for...