Jobs presents the Mac Air at one his keynote presentations. Photograph: David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Having tackled the Scientologists in his most recent film Going Clear, documentary maker Alex Gibney takes on a cult that is even more ardent, and with considerably more members that of Apple. His unsparing portrait of Steve Jobs will prove extremely displeasing to devotees, but its a riveting and important corrective to the myths Jobs helped to propagate, and which in the four years since his death have proved as seductive as his machines and a lot more durable.

Gibneys film comes ahead of the forthcoming Jobs biopic, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. That film is said to comprise of three acts, each set just before one of Jobss presentations, but Gibey sets about zeroing in on certain aspect of Jobss life to paint an unsparing portrait of a modern-day Citizen Kane. Jobs, a die-hard Dylan fan who Gibney paints as a product of 60s counterculture, was set alight by the way early blue box hacking technology, which allowed users to make long distance phone calls without paying for them, a way Jobs could delightedly stick it to the Man.

Yet this man, whose belief in his own righteousness was unshakeable, also terminated Apples philanthropic programmes, presided over huge corporate tax evasion, paid Chinese workers making iPhones a pittance, and only stumped up maintenance for his first daughter after dragging his ex-girlfriend through the courts, claiming that she was promiscuous and he was infertile, until a DNA test proved otherwise. Finally, he agreed to pay $500 a month he was worth $200m at the time.

The film also spends some time on the 2010 incident when a drunk engineer lost a next-generation iPhone 4 prototype in a San Francisco bar, and the man who found it sold it to Gizmodo, who splashed its secrets around the world. Jobs, just one year from death from pancreatic cancer, enacted a revenge that included the police battering down of the door of the journalists house. Gibney presents footage of an ailing Jobs justifying such Mafia-style vengeance on the grounds that not to do so would be a betrayal of Apples values.

But what were these values? Gibey traces Jobss love of the hippy set text Be Here Now and his journeys to India, before Jobs concluded that he was most fulfilled in the Japanese walled gardens of Zen Buddhism. Jobs took on Zens minimal design, and applied it to Apple with world-eating success, but the spiritual dimension was beyond him. Aged 18, Jobs had knocked on the door of Buddhist monk Kobun Chino Otogawa and said that he believed he was enlightened, but didnt know what to do with it. The monk, who died in 2002, asked for proof, and Jobs returned with a chip from a PC, a first computer he would name Lisa, after the daughter he had fought so hard not to acknowledge. Hes brilliant, but hes too smart, was the monks conclusion.

The film points out that Jobss genius was in personalising computers Lisa being the first but it also reveals that this impulse came from a pretty messed-up place. As well as being deeply ambivalent about paternity, Jobs also felt at once rejected and anointed by the fact that he was adopted. Jobs has somehow transmitted that mess to us too. Our iPhones connect us to faraway friends and family, yet we spend increasing amounts of time alone with them, seduced by machines that can never really fulfil us.

Gibneys film concludes that Jobs had the monomaniacal focus of a monk but none of the empathy of one, and it makes a powerful case. Jobss was an astonishing life of such significance that it will probably be studied for centuries, and Gibney does not downplay his genius. Yet the kernel of the film is probably the ex-girlfriend who says that Job blew it. How so? Jobs achieved things that the vast majority of us would never dream of. Yet Gibeys film ruthlessly anatomises the contradictions, the ruthlessness, and the pointlessly crappy behaviour that reveal Apples ideals to be a sham, even while the products themselves continue to prove almost irresistible.

The rest is here:

Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine first look review Apple founder's sour side

adopt a beginner's mind that is open to new experiences give yourself completely to whatever you are doing in the present moment experience the balm of stillness and a calm mind through meditation explore how your mind works and discover your Buddha-nature enjoy the challenges of koans and teaching stories of the Zen masters let go of unhelpful things, ideas, and habits cultivate single-minded attention and avoid distractions cherish "not knowing" and acknowledge the mysteries of life accept the transitory nature and fragility of life be a peaceful presence in service to the world move beyond an "us" versus "them" dualism to an affirmation of oneness experience the beauty of the Zen arts of flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, haiku, calligraphy, and martial arts

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SACRAMENTO It's quiet at the California Capitol.

While activity traditionally lags in the first few months of a legislative session, it's downright sleepy at the statehouse.

------------ FOR THE RECORD: Capitol scene: On the Monday Business page of the March 2 Section A, a Capitol Business Beat column about the relative quiet in Sacramento said that revised term limits gave elected officials more time in the Legislature, up to 12 years. The law allows lawmakers to spend a maximum of 12 years in one house of the Legislature, either the Senate or the Assembly. But it also reduced from 14 years to 12 years the total combined time that can be served in both houses. ------------

Lawmakers including scores of freshmen are still proposing plenty of bills 2,297 as of Friday's deadline for new legislation. But the usually camera-hungry politicians are holding fewer news conferences to tout proposals such as protecting consumer privacy and banning chewing tobacco at baseball games.

And Gov. Jerry Brown, who was handily reelected to a fourth and final term, is spending most of his time in his office working on the agenda he set in his state of the state speech in January. The governor wants more renewable energy projects, a controversial high-speed rail line and a replumbing of water facilities to ship water from Northern to Southern California.

Brown is no flashy politician. He has little taste for the Hollywood-style media events favored by his action-hero predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Veteran state politics watchers say they're dumbfounded by the Sacramento slo-mo.

The lack of electricity in the air around the Capitol is "eerie," says Barbara O'Connor, a professor emeritus of political science and communications at Cal State Sacramento. O'Connor said she was amazed last week at the few people she saw at a restaurant popular with legislators and lobbyists. The stillness, she said, "could be good or could be bad, nobody knows. But it's not normal."

The Capitol's quiet atmosphere perhaps is the result of Brown's philosophic style of governing and a certain contemplativeness that borrows from his time at a Jesuit seminary and his studies of Zen Buddhism in Japan in later years.

"The governor sets the tone in Sacramento, not the Legislature," said Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a speech writer for Gov. Pete Wilson in the early 1990s.

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California Legislature hits a lull

This scenario would have been unthinkable had it happened right after the former First Lady Imelda Marcos built the center in the 1960s. Hard-core patrons of the CCP would have shaken their heads in disapproval.

But Low Ngai Yuen, a Malaysian director, writer and actress, who does advocacy work with organization Kakiseni as its president, found it inspiring.

She understood that most of these students were probably entering a venue like CCP for the first time and it was just a matter of maybe setting aside five minutes to help the students contextualize the symphony orchestra.

The audience cannot be blamed. Its wonderful to feel that the audience wanted more, Ms. Low said. I have worked with GMA7 and ABS-CBN for TV formats, she noted (and was responsible for bringing Carmen Soo to the country), But this trip to the Philippines taught me something Ive never seen before: the huge and strong movement of young artists. Theres a lot of energy from young people who want to perform and to contribute artistically. The energy does not only come from the performers, but also the audience. What your country/government has done, its emphasis on art education, [has led to an] enlightened audience. The audience is already exposed, and educated. This is not to be taken for granted. Well done! she remarked.

Ms. Low was in town over the weekend to attend the three-day ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Performing Arts Market as a buyer. The CCPs annual Pasinaya festival (which serves as a preview for the centers upcoming performance season) happened on the markets third day, enabling her and fellow delegates to have a buffet of sorts of local arts and culture.

Noor Seela Binti Noor Sulaiman agrees. Ms. Sulaiman is the senior assistant director of the National Department for Culture and Arts of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia. The new generation is so creative, she said, noting that this cuts across different productions, whether theater, dance or music. She cited the playing of Tchaikovsky using gamelan gongs, and wayang kulit (puppets and shadow play) of Star Wars in her own country.

Vietnam showed a video of award-winning outfit Sine Crew which combined hip-hop and Vietnamese folk dance. This shows the peace that dancing brings, and that peace is the final destination in Zen Buddhism, said Le Minh Duc of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam.

Among the performances most admired by representatives of Thailand and Vietnam were those of CCP-based dance company Ballet Philippines (BP), which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. The ballet company has just finished a tour to six cities in North America, and is going to Hawaii next year. It will tour the US East Coast in 2016, says BP Executive Director Jenny Bonto.

Thanks to our Spanish heritage, and to a certain extent our American heritage, our dances are quite unique. From Luzon to Mindanao, we have a variety of dance menus to offer, giving us a nice mix of East and West, noted Eva Mari Salvador of the Arts Education Department of CCP. For instance, buyers respond to or appreciate our contemporary dance, she said.

WHY AN ARTS MARKET? The ASEAN Performing Arts Market is designed to enrich the ASEAN creative industry, especially in promoting and marketing the performing arts content of each ASEAN country to participating arts markets/festivals and cultural centers. At the Arts Market, performing arts professionals or groups network, showcase, pitch performances and seasons, and engage in business matching and exhibits.

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The ASEAN Arts Market

By Risa Bramon Garca and Steve Braun | Posted July 31, 2013, 4:18 p.m.

No flakey New-Age voodoo here. Just five powerful affirmations about you and your craft that most actors choose to forget. So remind yourself on the day of the audition and on every other day.

1. You are unique to the universe. You carry with you a collection of experiences that no other creature in the universe carries. This is huge. This means that if you choose to bring your emotional truth to the audition, you will be profoundly different from everyone else in the waiting roomand the universe! Even if every other actor is also sad about the circumstances of the scene, your sadness will be unique. And it is being unique that books you the job. So show them you!

2. You have the power to change the room. Virtually every human walking the earth seeks emotional connection, and when they get it, they will invest in and fight for the person that's given it to them. You have the power to walk into an audition room full of grizzled, bitter network executives with the thickest of calloused exoskeletons from years of industry wear, and give them a human experience that moves them to vulnerability. By offering your emotional truth within a scene, you give them what they need on a very basic, human level. They need it like they need air, and you have the power to give it to them. So do it!

3. Feelings aren't forever. One of the main principles of Zen Buddhism is that if you face your feelings head onin quiet meditation without anything to protect your heartyour feelings will eventually move and become lighter. Feelings are transient. For most people, no matter what feeling comes upeven the most intense feelings of anxiety, nerves, sadness or anger due to the audition itself, not getting chosen, being dropped by your agent, etc.those feelings will move and become more manageable if dealt with and expressed. The earth won't shatter. You will still be whole. So go on and feel it all! Express it all! Walk into that audition room with the freedom of knowing that anything you feel before, during, or after the audition won't stay forever.

4. Your acting is important. In the often vain pursuit of booking that angsty teen drama or guest starring arc on one of the many crime shows, it's easy to forget that acting is important. You are part of an ancient tradition of artists whose duty it has always been to provoke feeling, mirror the soul of a community, ease the hearts of the emotionally hurt, and define a culture. From the dawn of humanity, the actors presenting evocative and educational narratives changed and defined how a community thought and felt. You were profoundly moved by a performance somewhere along the line. You know what that feels like and how that changes you. And right now, there's a little girl or an old man or a brilliant casting director in some town somewhere in Wilmington or Islamabad or Pretoria or Burbank who desperately needs to see you offer your emotional truth so that they feel less lonely about theirs so that they are reminded of their humanity. No matter what the project is, this matters.

5. This is the most fun anyone can legally have. Let's break this down. You get to walk into rooms all over town, yell, fall in love, get super sad, curse, flirt, be an absolute jerk, share your heart, etc., and then go home, drive to a 99-seat theater, dress up, put on make-up, walk out on stage in front of a bunch of people, yell, fall in love again, make those people feel a lot of things, go home, wake up the next morning, and do it all over again. And then one day, someone invites you to come to a big studio in the valley to dress up, put make-up on, yell, fall in love, etc.in front of a camera. Is it all champagne and red carpets? No. But it's just about the most fun anyone could ever have at a job.

Risa Bramon Garcia (casting director, director, producer, and teacher) and Steve Braun (actor, coach, and teacher) are partnered in a studio for actors, The Bramon Garcia Braun Studio, dedicated to actors whole journey. New career changing classes and summer workshops are happening now! Fallclasses are on the schedule.Career and audition coaching and taping are in full swing. For more go to http://www.bramongarciabraun.com.

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5 Things To Remember Before Every Audition

Through his problems Clarke has always remained focused on his goals, given perspective at a young age by a horrific freak accident.

Before his athletics career Clarke only had eyes for mountaineering, desperate to be an explorer until one tragic day that stays with him and inspires him on the track.

When I was 15, I was climbing with a guide up the back side of the Grand Combin, near Verbier in Switzerland, he said. There was a group of six Germans, and one in the middle slipped off the cliff. Because I was with the only guide, he had to organise the mountain rescue because there were 70mph winds and the helicopters couldnt get in.

Traumatically, I was taken down to this group of Germans in their thirties crying their eyes out. Aged 15, Im sitting there going, My God.

The guide came back with an ice axe and I was wondering if this was a film or reality. When we were back at the hut, there was just a hand hanging off the stretcher.

It makes you realise, dont make mistakes. Its so important to be the best at what you do and put in the right preparation. This guy didnt have crampons on. Its like turning up to the track without spikes. Its a no-brainer. What it put into perspective is the fragility of what you do. And certainly when it comes to the track, when youre on the edge physically you value what youre trying to do and youre properly focused.

It is a shocking story that will forever live with Clarke, as will his theology and religious studies degree from the University of Bristol. I studied Zen Buddhism at university. The combination of mountaineering experience, Buddhism and this sport has made me incredibly focused.

Being in that call room, you have to have the ultimate focus. You have to be in a state of Zen and be in a meditative place. If you let anything in, its game over.

Clarke could also have told his team-mates the tale dating back to his childhood when he met the Dalai Lama who blessed me 100 times and hugged me for an hour. But that one does not relate to athletics.

By Friday night Clarke will hope to have a second senior medal to add to the bronze medal he won at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

More here:

Team GB captain Lawrence Clarke's near-death experience inspires him on the track

Through his problems Clarke has always remained focused on his goals, given perspective at a young age by a horrific freak accident.

Before his athletics career Clarke only had eyes for mountaineering, desperate to be an explorer until one tragic day that stays with him and inspires him on the track.

When I was 15, I was climbing with a guide up the back side of the Grand Combin, near Verbier in Switzerland, he said. There was a group of six Germans, and one in the middle slipped off the cliff. Because I was with the only guide, he had to organise the mountain rescue because there were 70mph winds and the helicopters couldnt get in.

Traumatically, I was taken down to this group of Germans in their thirties crying their eyes out. Aged 15, Im sitting there going, My God.

The guide came back with an ice axe and I was wondering if this was a film or reality. When we were back at the hut, there was just a hand hanging off the stretcher.

It makes you realise, dont make mistakes. Its so important to be the best at what you do and put in the right preparation. This guy didnt have crampons on. Its like turning up to the track without spikes. Its a no-brainer. What it put into perspective is the fragility of what you do. And certainly when it comes to the track, when youre on the edge physically you value what youre trying to do and youre properly focused.

It is a shocking story that will forever live with Clarke, as will his theology and religious studies degree from the University of Bristol. I studied Zen Buddhism at university. The combination of mountaineering experience, Buddhism and this sport has made me incredibly focused.

Being in that call room, you have to have the ultimate focus. You have to be in a state of Zen and be in a meditative place. If you let anything in, its game over.

Clarke could also have told his team-mates the tale dating back to his childhood when he met the Dalai Lama who blessed me 100 times and hugged me for an hour. But that one does not relate to athletics.

By Friday night Clarke will hope to have a second senior medal to add to the bronze medal he won at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

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Team GB captain Lawrence Clarke's near-death experience inspires him on the track