Jean Loup Benet

Last week, some doctors assembled and made threats of suing an agency that made the newly FDA approved weight loss device. The group is attempting to collect 4,000 physician signatures. According to them, AspireAssist is not safe and may only result to eating disorder. The device allows the users to pump some of the food they just consumed directly from their stomachs into the toilet.

An endocrinologist and dialectologist from Pembroke Pines, Florida named Joseph Gutman, questioned the decision of the FDA. He said “This is the first time that I look at a device that was approved by the FDA and I am absolutely, utterly, and totally appalled that it was approved.” Dr. Gutman has treated patients with obesity for more than three decades. He wants to take the said weight loss device off the market. He strongly believes that AspireAssist is the “most pathetic exhibition of ignorance on the part of our agency, the FDA. It is nothing but a bad trick. It’s like a bad joke.”

FDA based their decision on a one-year study of 111 individuals. Patients with eating disorders should not have this.

To start using the product, the patient must undergo a tube surgically implanted through his abdomen into his stomach. A port valve is used to make an opening just above the belly button. The patients can close or open it to drain the food. They have to wait about 20 to 30 minutes before they can connect the pump to the valve. The food is drained and dumped into the toilet effortlessly.

The entire process may take about 10 minutes and then a patient can remove up to 30% of the calories consumed with a meal. The port valve of the device can cause infections and the tube may leak. Some experts are worried that the device itself might trigger eating disorders. In some aspects, AspireAssist mimics bulimia. This is a disorder where a patient binge eats and then throw up. Instead of throwing up through the throat, you do it through the tube. This is somehow a “mechanized bulimia.” The device makes this kind of eating disorder all right.

But AspireAssist makers are quick to dispute such claim by saying that binge eating is impossible because people should chew their food. If they do not chew enough, the food may get stuck in the tube. The tube is no bigger than a straw.

There are success stories, but there is no enough evidence to say that patients won’t regain the weight after removing the weight loss device. Like the garcinia cambogia extract, most weight management methods require maintenance.

Since patients are required to chew their food, they will need to eat slowly and usually feel full faster. This process makes them eat less. Some got tired of chewing and opt for eating a lesser amount of food.

It is possible that after the device is taken out of your body, patients will have 98% chance to regain all the weight back. Also, AspireAssist gives the impression that a person can eat as much as he wants.

Remember that the implant procedure will last 15 minutes, does not require general anaesthesia. You will likely feel the intolerable pain for about two weeks after getting the tube. FDA released warnings that the procedure may cause risk of infection, nausea, vomiting, bleeding and sores on the interior of the stomach.

The FDA approval means that AspireAssist is considered safe, but by no means should be seen as the most amazing treatment modality. Also, their approval does not mean that this weight loss device is applicable to everyone.

Among the different genre of films, the movies that provide the reverse attraction of sadism and violence are the horror movies. If anything succeeded to draw the audience to the multiplexes post-Scream it is the Saw series. Its gory, eerie setting revolving around captive and hapless prisoners to test their skill and patience to save them caters to the taste of the thriller lovers.

The Plot

Tobin Bell featuring as John Kramer, a lunatic murderer sets traps to kill innocent lives. The only way to escape is to follow his evil design to save them. Adam and Lawrence wake up to find themselves in a dilapidated and discarded bathroom. They are both chained except the third guy who is a corpse lying in a pool of blood. Two tapes tell them to follow some directions to escape from their ordeal. The tape instructs Lawrence to kill Adam before six o’clock if he wants to save his wife Allison and his daughter. To their utter horror they learn that the corpse belongs to another victim who committed suicide before the lethal poison could kill him. Following the signs they find a saw that is meant to cut their feet rather than their chains.

Production

Though the film was not the first of its kind, it was shot in an extremely low budget but managed to draw the attention of moviegoers, and did a box office of $103,096,345 worldwide. Initially Australian director, James Wan and screenplay writer Leigh Whannell had difficulty in finding a producer for their way ward film. Until they came across Twisted Pictures which enabled them to shoot initially with $30,000 and shot on a short schedule of 18 days.

Opinion of the Makers

Leigh Whannell in an interview mentions that the term “torture-porn” which is ascribed to the movie does not affect him much as its popularity has brought him fame. For director Wan it is not so because only a section of the feature film focuses on torture.  Due to stringent financial condition of the film, the duo got to experiment with lot of innovative ideas, like, shooting in an elevator with the help of security cameras. What both the creators unanimously agreed upon is the role of music. The score provides some extra thrill and enhances the horrifying factor of the movie. The sound track was composed by Charlie Clouser in six weeks.

The Result

Renowned actor Cary Elwes posed as Lawrence whereas Leigh Whannell himself as Adam. Together they did an outstanding job that broke all box office records in the first week of its release with a gross collection of $18.2 million.

Sequels of the Franchise

• Saw II
• Swa III
• Saw IV
• Saw V
• Saw VI
• Saw VII

Saw II is said to be a worthy sequel with excellent performances by Wahlberg and Bell. The sadistic game that that was the backbone of the first part remains the main attraction here too. A group of vulnerable prisoners is held captive in a discarded house. They are warned to save themselves within two hours before a poisonous gas kills them. The son of detective Matthews also inhabits the house. Jigsaw strikes a deal with him, saying that the detective can save his son if the former chats with him. The awesome performances of the duo at once remind the audience of the legendary Hannibal Lecter.

Saw III is made by the duo James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Bell manages to deliver a stunning performance as Jigsaw, who this time plays the sadistic game through his loyal protégé Amanda. The same dark sinister approach seemed to have worked wonders with the audiences.

The menacing game continues again in Saw IV. Jigsaw’s elaborated traps lead two FBI agents to hunt him down after a tape is found in Kramer’s stomach during autopsy. As per the trend Bell stunning acting remains to be one of the positive features of the movie.

The following sequel attempts the discovery of the identity of the protégé of the notorious Jigsaw. The plot revolves around the desperate attempts of five hapless people trying to solve an intricate maze to save themselves.

The last and sixth sequel of the Saw portrays Costas Mandylor as Hoffman shows the continuation of Jigsaw legacy. Director Kevin Greater features this film around a vile health insurance executive who constructs a series of traps leading to brutal deaths.

The latest in this list is the addition of the 3D version of the movie. It shows the continuation of the sadistic game of Jigsaw, which is carried forward by his loyal Costas Mandylor. The film offers various intriguing traps with a touch of a twist. The additional flavor is added by Bell through the strategy of flash back, though his presence in the screen was for a very short time.

The film won several awards like

• Golden Trailer Awards
• Fantasporto, etc.

The Works of Jean-Loup Benét

Novels:
The Wolf Hunter. Master’s Thesis novel. Seton Hill University. 2005. Advisors Michael A. Arnzen, PhD; Timons Esaias.

Short Stories:
“Scrum Buddies” – Sweaty Sex: An Anthology of Sports and Sex. Edited by Alexandra Rowan. Ravenous Romance. 2009.
“The Hide” – Vintage Moon. Edited by Nancy Jackson. RAGE Machine Books. 2006. (reprint)
“The Hide” – Hacker’s Source. Issue #16. June 2004. (reprint)
“Ask Dr. Occult: Advice for the Disturbed” – Hacker’s Source. Issue #15-18. Feb.-May, 2004 to 2005.
“Bennie the Happy Homicidal Axe Murderer” – Hacker’s Source. Issue #15. Feb.-May, 2004.
“Ask Dr. Occult: Advice for the Disturbed” – Hacker’s Source. Issue #14. Oct.-Dec. 2003.
“The Secret Spot” – Playgirl. May 2003.
“The Christmas Massacre” – Hacker’s Source Christmas newsletter. December 2002.
“The Hide” – Transformation Stories, Art, Talk. Issue #23. Aug./Sept. 2002.
“Hell’s Bells” – Hacker’s Source. Issue #10. August 2002.

Non-fiction:
“So, You Want to be a Werewolf?” – FATE. Vol. 55, no. 6, Issue 627. July 2002.
“Lobo-Hombres of Latin America” – Fang, Claw, & Steel. Issue #13. Winter 2002.
Rugby Spring Break article – Rugby. January 28, 2001
“Silva Mind Control Method: Key to Enlightenment or New Age Cult?”
– Psychology of Religion. Edited by Dr. Dick Mann, Prof Emeritus, Univ. of Michigan- Dept of Psych. Fall 1996.

Edited Works:
The Best of Werewolf.com – Werewolf short story anthology booklet. Black Tail Press. Detroit, MI. March 2004.

Screenplays:
“The Curse of the Wendigo” – seeking placement.

Samples of my creative non-fiction writings
Manna of an Icy God
The Allure of the Written Word

Interviews
The Red Light District Fireside Chat. October 4, 2005. Transcript

The Life of J.L. Benét

In horror writing it helps to be somewhat familiar with the some variety of horror. Jean-Loup Benet’s personal introduction came in the form of the small, northern Michigan town. To be honest, it wasn’t the town that was horrific but the need to somehow experience other horizons that lead Jean-Loup to the vistas of horror. John Bellairs and Stephen King were devoured alongside Doyle, Poe, and Asimov. It was this last author who sent the young thinker out into the world.
Jean-Loup attended the University of Michigan with the desire to see Asimov’s fiction become engineering reality. Majoring in both electrical and mechanical engineering, he discovered a horror too real even to be in a novel: the life of an engineering student. After three years of drinking hyper-caffeinated bad coffee, spending 20 hours a day coding and showering far less than desirable, Jean-Loup decided to be done with engineering before he was done in by engineering. It was onto the green lawns, historic markers and protesting hippies of U of M’s Central Campus.
Changing his major to English, he discovered a natural talent for teaching and enrolled in the College of Education. While engineering had never really dampened his love of the written word, the greater immersion in literature caused it to bubble to the surface with renewed vigor. He also discovered the terrible bias of academia toward the inferior realm known as genre fiction. This was the style of writing he enjoyed most and considered many genre authors to be as great of writers if not better than those taught within the ivy-covered walls.
For this reason, Jean-Loup chose to attend Seton Hill University for his Master’s. Obtaining a degree in Writing of Popular Fiction, also finished his first novel. While this novel is still trying to find a home at a publisher, other works of his have been published in both fiction and non fiction magazines, as well as an up-coming anthology. But as many writers lament, it’s not a well paying field.
The search for employment brought Jean-Loup full circle when he found a position as a middle and high school English teacher in the next town over from where he grew up. After working for a while in the fine arts school in northern Michigan, he decided to head south to warmer climes. He and his anthropologist wife (who is also a fantastically talented seamstress) currently reside in Tampa, Florida. Jean-Loup teaches creative writing and reading at a Tampa area high school, where he also acts as faculty advisor to the creative writing club. When not playing rugby or procrastinating on the internet, he complains about the lack of time and resources available to teachers and writers alike. In his office he has gargoyles, bats, ravens, and a foam Jack-o-Lantern which he leaves out all year and his wife puts a Santa hat on at Christmas.
-Courtesy of Erica Marks