Comments on: Book Review: MOVIE STAR BY LIZZIE PEPPER by Hilary Liftin

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 01:45:51 +0000

Which is one reason Tom Cruise seems so damn boring. Flaws are the interesting parts. It is an interesting “belief,” however.

By: Pop Culture Nerd

Pop Culture Nerd — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:36:48 +0000

I’ve had one encounter with Scientologists and agree they were friendly and not pushy at all.

Many years ago, when I was part of touring theater company, our regular rehearsal space was under construction and our general manager needed another place to rehearse in and fast because we were about to put on a new show. She announced one morning we’d be rehearsing at the Scientology building on Melrose. The reason: the center had agreed to let us rehearse there for free.

The actors all screamed: “It’s not free! We won’t be able to leave!” But alas, it wasn’t up to us. So we went.

The theater there was gorgeous, with a clean, spacious stage and red velvet seats. Before we began, a rep from the center came, welcomed us, and said there were brochures on our way out if anyone was interested in learning more about what they do. It wasn’t a speech, just a brief welcome, without even one mention of Scientology.

The rep left us alone after that, checked in once to ask if we needed anything, and…that was it. We rehearsed there a couple more days. No one accosted us or tried to push anything on us. Nothing creepy at all.

I still don’t know anything about Scientology so I’m not endorsing or defending it. Just sharing my experience at one of its locations.

By: Pop Culture Nerd

Pop Culture Nerd — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:16:18 +0000

Yes, Liftin’s explanation for Rob’s behavior is interesting. He believes he’s being his best self because there’s no gain to showing his flaws. It’s kind of sad–a man afraid to be himself, even around those closest to him.

By: lauren

lauren — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 19:10:18 +0000

What a great, creepy story! That’s the start of a good book right there. 🙂

By: Eirego

Eirego — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 19:03:31 +0000

I like it that the book humanize a as opposed to villainizes Scientology, Cruise and the way we outsiders view that world. I think I’m with Lauren in that I’m sort of interested, but not sure how interested I am in reading about it.

I was waylaid a few different times on the streets of Los Angeles and NYC into taking a “personality test” by seemingly innocent and very attractive women with clipboards. In each case, I was early for a meeting and killing time when I was approached. They took me into a clean room, gave me a couple of pages to fill out and checked back in on me, adding a couple more pages each time. What can I say, the women were very sweet and not pushy and they flirted with my younger, single self. Next thing I knew, I had answered almost 20 pages of multiple choice questions and had used up all my extra time. It was really tough to get out there. They didn’t restrain me, but they kept distracting me every time I said I had to leave. Finally, I just ran out the door. I didn’t realize until I looked back to see if I was being chased, that the entrance clearly said Church of Scientology.

I never felt I was in danger. It did have a creepy factor of 7 out of 10, though.

Maybe reading about it in my own place with the doors locked will be easier.

Thanks, PCN.

By: lauren

lauren — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 15:07:07 +0000

Ugh/yay. I am so not a fan of Cruise or much of what he does, so why, if his real story didn’t interest me all that much, does THIS? Maybe because what IS interesting about Cruise is what is behind his perfect facade (and I’ve always felt that fake thing from him, too), and this delves into that, albeit in a fictional way. This book was hanging out on the fringe of my radar and I’m still not sure if I’ll read it, but this pushes it closer for sure.