Lord of the Universe is a 1974 American documentary film about Prem Rawat at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome called "Millennium '73". Lord of the Universe was first broadcast on PBS on February 2, 1974, and released in a VHS format on November 1, 1991. The documentary chronicles Maharaj Ji, his followers and anti-Vietnam War activist Rennie Davis who was a spokesperson of the Divine Light Mission at the time. A counterpoint is presented by Abbie Hoffman who appears as a commentator. It includes interviews with several protagonists, including followers, ex-followers, a mahatma, a born-again Christian, and a Hare Krishna. The production team of Top Value Television produced the documentary, using Portapak video cameras. The TVTV team followed Maharaj Ji across the United States over a period of six weeks, and edited a large amount of tape down to the fifty-eight minute piece. The documentary was generally well-received, and garnered its TVTV production team the 1974 Alfred I. du Pont/Columbia University Award in Broadcast Journalism. The documentary received a negative review in the New York Post, and positive reviews in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Sun-Times. The San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote that the TVTV team had improved since their previous work, but wanted them to move on to more challenging subjects.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Universe

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1653:

The Dutch colony New Amsterdam received municipal rights, thus becoming a city on territory that is now New York City. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam

1659:

Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle of South African wine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_wine

1982:

The Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing about 7,000–25,000 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre

1994:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its final ruling in Ney v. Landmark Education Corporation and Werner Erhard and affirmed the decision of the District Court; Werner Erhard defaulted on the payment due to Ney. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney_v._Landmark_Education_Corporation_and_Werner_Erhard

2004:

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he held for a record 237 weeks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Federer

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

valediction (n): A speech made, or phrase said, when [[leave http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valediction

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I'm not playing by their rules anymore! --Bill Murray http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Murray