24 January 2015

Movie Review: American Sniper (2014)

Here is an intense film in the traditions of the “all-American” movie. It is an emotional rush, showing the horrors of war; it is very well made; and I highly recommend it. Directed by Clint Eastwood, it stars Bradley Cooper portraying the late great Navy SEAL sniper, Chris Kyle, the patriot acclaimed as the deadliest sniper in US military history from his four (!) tours of duty in Iraq. The film is based on Kyle’s book of the same name, and his widow had a hand in ensuring the film’s authenticity.

Personally, I was very much against the 2003 US invasion of Iraq (foreseeing it as a stupid, counter-productive, bumbling disaster), and so was director Clint Eastwood. But Clint explained his desire to direct this particular story because it so highly honored American military servicemen who believed in, and fought for, what they thought was their country’s defense against rabid enemies; and it portrays the burdens their families suffered from this “war on terror.”

Eastwood’s direction is expertly done, and Bradley Cooper’s acting is his very best yet. The film’s editing is extremely tight with no wasted moments. It is one hell of a story.

-Zenwind. .

08 January 2015

Book Review: Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology (2009) by Marc Headley

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Blown for Good is an autobiographical narrative but it reads like a thriller. In Scientology’s esoteric babble, to be “blown” is to have escaped from the Sea Org (SO), the cult’s dedicated hard core of workers and executives, each of whom have signed up for a “billion year contract.” And one must really achieve an all-out desperate escape, because they send out a massive manhunt of security people and SO staffers to drag you back in; they scour bus stations, airports, and any other place you might try to get away. Scientology has elsewhere been very accurately called the “prison of belief.” I knew that Marc Headley “blew” several years ago, and I knew the eventual outcome, but his story had me enthralled with its suspense to the very last page. I couldn’t put it down. His depiction of the cult as an “Iron Curtain” is perfect. Think of the people risking all to escape East Germany from 1945 to 1989.

Marc Headley grew up in Scientology with his mother and sister, and at age 16 he signed the “billion year contract” to join the Sea Org. Long hours, hard work, little sleep, poor food, pathetic “pay,” insane policies, and brutal harassment were the norm in the paranoid and crazy International Base in the California desert. This is Scientology’s headquarters, run by the Chairman of the Board (COB) of the Religious Technology Center (RTC), David Miscavige, who is the indisputable dictator of the entire worldwide cult and a certifiable asshole. Headley gives proof and describes Miscavige as being “evil” and delighting in the suffering of others – a fact confirmed by countless others who have experienced his cruelty and have escaped from the cult.

One of the things preventing anyone from “blowing” from Scientology is that if you do you will be “declared” as a “Suppressive Person” (SP), a kind of apostate heretic, and your family members still locked into the cult must “disconnect” from you and never communicate with you ever again. It is an absolute church law for all (unless you are a special rich celebrity like Tom Cruise). Marc and his wife Claire have been disconnected by almost all of their families, who refuse to communicate with them per church commands. The church denies having this policy, but it has been church doctrine starting with the founder L. Ron Hubbard, and it still goes on.

After 15 years of loyal, productive, and hard work at Scientology’s headquarters, taking an increasing amount of abuse in an increasingly crazy organizational atmosphere, Marc decides to blow. His story is fascinating.

Scientology has a special language of acronyms and slang that is hard to get through. But Headley has provided a Glossary for acronyms to help you maneuver through it.

I have read many books on Scientology, but this is one of the best because it describes individual life on the inside the cult so well.

-Zenwind.

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