Now Mitt Romney is saying his fave novel ever is...Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard??? Could he be any more oblivious to how bad things sound? You're running for president and you're name-dropping Scientology's most famous product aside from Dianetics? It's not like Battlefield Earth is even considered good. Why didn't the dimwit say Atlas Shrugged and help himself out a little? (A lot!)
Neither Democrat nor Republican but simply "other," Scientologist Juliette Lewis is another star who thinks Ron Paul rocks, telling her Facebook fans that she likes how he is for "preserving the constitution [sic] and basic human rights which are slowly being dismantled with last couple presidents and then some."
Prove it!
As of midnight last night, it was exactly six years since my first post. It's been a tough thing to keep up with a dayjob and outside activities, and just when I think I might walk away, a valuable connection or interesting opportunity or a kind word comes my way. Thank you all for reading me.
Of whom are you more jealous?
Here are my favorite 100+ posts out of nearly 11,000. Please take some time to read (or re-read!) a couple and tweet or Facebook any you like.
xoxo Matt
The pocket pool championships were intense this year
BOY CULTURE
FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novell and novel Boy Culture as well as the movie version; might be my ultimate post.
Jonathon Trent & Derek Magyar make an Allan Brocka sandwich
BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.
I was left "Reeling" by the experience
FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.
No one would've mistaken me for Taylor Lautner
RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.
MY ART
Construction worker (shot this week) vs. James Dean
GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.
Unaltered iPhone image that still blows me away
"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.
DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.
The shirtless one
LOST ANGELES (2009): My favorite photographic travelogue of L.A.
Even then, New Yorkers feared 9/11 was the beginning of the end
ART IMITATES LIFE (2006): My 9/11 and my distaste for grief tourism.
ME
Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life
BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.
Signed, sealed (eventually) delivered
LOST BOY FOUND (2011): There is a book in here somewhere.
Be Italian
CIAO HOUNDS: OUR TRIP TO ITALY (2011): Finally got José to Europe.
ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.
Life is short...and meaningful
PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.
Lots more...
Via My Life as a Blog: A clever mash-up of Tom Cruise and Charlie Sheen is after the jump. Which is crazier: Scientology or actual craziness?
"I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't." —Paul Haggis
Paul Haggis, Oscar-winning writer and also the director of Crash, recently—and loudly—left Scientology after more than three decades spent (accent on the word "spent") in its clutches. His account to The New Yorker is mesmerizing. The article delves deeply into the structure of the organization, bringing up credible accusations of human trafficking and confirming that the Church has lied about L. Ron Hubbard's military service. Of that service, Church spokesdude Tommy Davis (Anne Archer's son) says that if Hubbard's injuries were faked, then that would mean that:
"...the injuries that he handled by the use of Dianetics procedures were never handled, because they were injuries that never existed; therefore, Dianetics is based on a lie; therefore, Scientology is based on a lie. The fact of the matter is that Mr. Hubbard was a war hero."
It's a bombshell exposé and fascinating read.
After '80s singer Tiffany "outed" him recently, New Kids on the Block singer Jonathan Knight has publicly confirmed he is gay for the first time, but makes sure to say he's never hidden his sexual orientation to begin with.
In a somewhat defensive, exclamation-point-heavy post on NKOTB's official blog (hidden behind a paywall), Knight says:
"I have never been outed by anyone but myself! I did so almost twenty years ago. I never know [sic] that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with NKOTB! I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay!"
He goes on to jab celebrities who have chosen to come out on the covers of magazines:
* Lee was an physically abusive drunk
* "If I see a Scientologist now, I cross the street. I was shopping recently when (Dharma & Greg star) Jenna Elfman, who's a staunch Scientologist, approached me. She spouted statements like a robot and treated me like dirt because she knew I'd broken free."
* She witness a tense scene between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman shortly before they divorced: "Jason and I were talking to Tom, and we told him that we went to the Scientology Centre in Los Angeles. He said brightly, 'Oh, yeah? Well, me and Nicole are Scientologists, too! Right, Nic?' But she turned and gave Tom the most evil look. She stared at him for about 10 seconds, and Tom looked at her like he was throwing daggers with his eyes. I interpreted her look to mean, 'I am not a Scientologist. And I will not be a Scientologist.'"
* Lee once asked Lisa Marie Presley why she really left Jacko. Her reply? "The reason I finally left him was that I didn't want him to be in the same room as my children!"
It's not a flattering article, but it's not too hard to believe.
J.D. Shapiro, the original (and still a credited writer) of the John Travolta Scientology disaster Battlefield Earth (2000), released a hilarious statement regarding its selection as the worst movie of the past decade—and accepted his Razzie in person.
I loved reading his account of how he at first resisted Scientology only to discover he was never pressured into studying it, then later how the true hard-sell involved changing his gritty script into the LOL-athon the movie ultimately became. It makes sense that the Scientologists wouldn't push him too hard to join up—their end game was to have a respectable, reasonably talented, legit writer make Battlefield Earth seem less of the recruitment tool they would later pull strings to make sure it was.
If you've never seen it, don't! But read Shapiro's account here...it's not only more entertaining than most movies (let alone Travolta movies, let alone Battlefield Earth), it's also short!
National Enquirer (January 11, 2010) tackles the age-old, oft-asked question: "Who's Gay & Who's Not?" this week. Here's the low-down on who's on the down-low:
Scientology is being invaded by body thetans right and left this week. First, its smarmy spokesman (and Tom Cruise look-alike) Tommy Davis threw an absolute hissy fit when Martin Bashir had the temerity to ask him what the tenets of his "faith" are (hint: they reallllly don't like being reminded that it's all about a big volcanco and an intergalactic warlord named Xenu), and now the "church" has suffered its highest-profile renunciation—Oscar-winning (not -deserving) director Paul Haggis has admirably trashed the Church of Scientology, leaving it over its deceit and its support of Proposition 8.
Maybe the real problem Haggis had in fitting in is that the Church is much more welcoming to youngish, handsome, fit men?
Davis, like Cruise and like Scientologist kingpin David Miscavige, is a bit of a looker if you like that sort of thing. I'm sure this has nothing to do with rumors that the organization actively seeks out disaffected homosexuals with promises of curing them and tapes their therapy sessions as a way of having leverage over any future misgivings.
