Tom Cruise + Scientology = Weirdness (Germany)

[rinselberg]

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the [German] Defense Ministry said ...

Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. [The German government] says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge [that] Scientology leaders reject.

The decision drew a sharp response from Cruise's film producing partner, Paula Wagner, chief executive of United Artists Entertainment, who said Cruise's "personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie's plot, themes or content ..."


Right on Paula Wagner! I don't see why the German government's issues v. Scientology should be factored into a straightforward request to use a Ministry of Defense site as a backdrop for a movie that's intended for a general (and international) audience.

-- editorial comment from rinselberg™


http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/25/cruise.germany.reut/index.html



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[optigrrl]

Wow.

I actually


Agree.


With Rinselberg!

[DragonLensmanWV]

I still subscribe to the story that, during a sci-fi convention, someone told L. Ron Hubbard that if you want to be rich, write a best-seller, if you want to be filthy rich, found your own religion.

Scientology makes about as much sense as the Church Of The Head, worshiping a head of lettuce.

[k12311997]

I still subscribe to the story that, during a sci-fi convention, someone told L. Ron Hubbard that if you want to be rich, write a best-seller, if you want to be filthy rich, found your own religion.

Scientology makes about as much sense as the Church Of The Head, worshiping a head of lettuce.

During college I tried founding pongisim devoted to the worship and understanding of the enlightenment of ping pong (split my time between playing table tennis and the bar it was hard to fit in classes), unfortunately never caught on.

[DragonLensmanWV]

During college I tried founding pongisim devoted to the worship and understanding of the enlightenment of ping pong (split my time between playing table tennis and the bar it was hard to fit in classes), unfortunately never caught on.


I thought Pongism was dedicated to the videogame.:bbg::bbg:

I used to be decent at ping pong. My dad was pretty good and he whupped me all the time, but would not tell me the secrets of his heavy sidespin. Eventually I learned , and would end up first beating him every so often, then regularly at which point he stopped playing. Then I saw an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond that had the exact same issue. When he could no longer beat me, he gave up since the grasshopper had passed the teacher.
The most fun I ever had at it was whaleing the tar out of my abusive high school gym teacher. He was a bully and pretty good at ping pong and could beat most everyone in school. But.. he sure could not handle sidespin and he got only 5 points in two games against me. I had one return I used that let the ball bounce off the edge of the table and slightly below the level of the table. I would hit it with a vicious right-to left swipe and the ball would go high and slow, arcing over the net. Now when it hit, it would bounce directly off the side of the table, but most people would see it as a slam opportunity, but when the went to hit it, it would likewise bounce almost at a 90 degree angle off their paddle out of bounds.
Now, both of my cousins could do the same thing to me because they were of the high-speed school.