I wonder how many lawyers scrutinised every frame of Scientologists At War – no, not the original title of Battlefield Earth but Channel 4’s documentary film about trouble in the organisation. Given Scientology’s noted embrace of the courts, quite a few, I suspect, but there is still enough scandal here to entertain those whose idea of a good time is mocking Tom Cruise for actually believing in aliens as well as being paid to pretend to fight aliens.
But the focus of the film is on those who, while they’ve left the Church of Scientology, haven’t given up on the tenets drawn up by former science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard: they are now calling themselves Independent Scientologists. They think that the first lot – Cruise’s pal David Miscavige and co – have lost the faith, not because of the aliens or for using e-meters to measure whether a person has been cleansed of spiritual hang-ups (available for sale on e-Bay), but for getting distracted from all that. In return, they’ve been dubbed heretics and “squirrels” – don’t ask.
Then there’s the delightfully-named Marty Rathbun, once the Inspector General of the Church of Scientology’s Religious Technology Centre (which apparently meant enforcing registered trademarks and copyrights), but now the most notorious defector who dished the dirt claiming, among other things, that the leadership beat people up, spied on members and regularly got together to drink whisky and have a right old laugh at secret recordings of Tom Cruise’s most personal confessions.
For an outsider, it’s almost impossible to know the truth (though one does come away feeling sorry for poor Tom), but there’s a peculiar fascination to the story, which takes in so many worldly elements: celebrity, money and the extraordinary life of the late Hubbard himself. Yet for all its strangeness, maybe the schism is the most normal thing about this new church – after all, every other religion has split at some time, hasn’t it?
http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/tv-and-radio/tv-previews-the-white-queen-scientologists-at-war-1-2968569
Rather than going to Channel 4's website about the show which is overrun by Independent scions the best comments are at Tony's blog
Rather than going to Channel 4's website about the show which is overrun by Independent scions the best comments are at Tony's blog
Cruise-ing along! Tom and his boy Connor spend the day paddle-boarding in Malibu
By AMELIA PROUD
|
It was the weekend to celebrate your father, on both sides of the Atlantic.
And after the rough old year Tom Cruise has had, it was down to his loyal only son Connor to show him some appreciation.
Tom, 50, and his 18-year-old son hit up Malibu with paddle boards and a group of the teenaged boy's lucky friends.
Daddy's boy: Tom Cruise was trailed by his son Connor as they hit up the Malibu surf on Sunday
And despite hitting his half century last July, Tom more than kept up with the youngsters.
In fact, the Oblivion hunk looked in age-defying shape as he deftly steered the paddle board in the ocean while Connor and his mates larked about around them.
He also put his teenage son to shame with his defined torso as he used his upper body strength to cut a swathe through the still waters.
Me and my boy: Tom always looks so happy to be spending time with his son Connor
Cruise control: Unsurprisingly the action hero is pretty nifty on a paddle board
Daddy cool: Connor brought friends along for the afternoon with his popular papa
Connor, who is the son of Tom and Nicole Kidman, Tweeted after his day out: 'Had a great Father's Day with my dad. Happy Father's Day to him and all other dads out there!'
The youngster, who DJs professionally for a living, was the first to comfort his father last year when Katie Holmes blindsided him by filing for divorce.
He jetted to Iceland where his father was filming scifi thriller, Oblivion.
Connor recently got into some hot water after posting an angry tweet to his own agent.
A rare day off: Mr Cruise has quite the work ethic so must've enjoyed a chance to bond with his son
Dad's got skills: Tom and Connor paddled along together happily
Tiny Tom: But the diminutive actor more than held his own with Connor's athletic friends
The teenager, a devoted New England Patriots fan, responded to a tweet sent by openly gay representative Todd Krim about his team losing the Super Bowl.
In the message, which was later removed, Cruise allegedly wrote: 'That was a gay a** f*****g tweet . . . You don’t say s**t like that about my team the second they lose. Low.'
Krim, who had been helping actor Tom Cruise's adopted son get DJ gigs, then wrote back: 'Ummm ok Dude I was f**king joking,' responded Krim, with Cruise blasting back 'That was f**ked / IDGAF', RadarOnline reports.
Furious Krim then copied and pasted their Twitter row onto an email and sent it to all his contacts writing: 'I am no longer working with Connor Cruise.
Smiles better: Connor had 'a great day' with his father
Getting cocky: Tom went quite far out on his board
Friends: Cruise and son were joined by a group of revellers
'In fact, I am no longer speaking with [him] ... I refuse to be professionally (or even personally) associated with someone that engages in this sort of behavior.'
He added Cruise’s comments were 'highly offensive and what I consider homophobic . . . after I jokingly tweeted about the Patriots losing.'
But it seems the row has been resolved after the agent posted a message saying he had received an apology.
It read: 'Everyone @theconnorcruise apologized to me for his texts which I accept so the matter is closed as far as I'm concerned,' he Tweeted on Wednesday, adding 'Let's move on!'
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