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Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape in Books

Mar 15, 2018  
Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape
Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape
Jenna Miscavige Hill, Lisa Pulitzer | 2013 | Biography
6
6.9 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/beyond-belief-my-secret-life-inside-scientology-and-my-harrowing-escape-by-jenna-miscavige

<i>3.5 stars</i>

<b><i>The problem is that Scientology is a system that makes it nearly impossible for you to think for yourself.</b></i>

What is Scientology? Is it a religion or is it just a way of life? I can’t quite get my head around it. I also can’t get my head around the fact that Scientology has become such a widely followed… thing. L. Ron Hubbard, was a sci-fi author, an adulterer (he eloped with his 2nd wife while still married to his first wife), an abuser, a hypocrite and a criminal. Did you know, when he <i>kidnapped</i> his 2nd wife, he told her she would never see her baby again if she didn’t go with him. He then, obviously, retracted this statement and told her that he’d “chopped the child into little pieces and watched them float down a river” and it was her fault he had done so, because she had left him. What kind of sick maniac was this man, and <i>why</i> do people follow his beliefs? No wonder he thinks psychiatry is evil, they obviously all told him he was medically insane and he refused to believe it because his ego was so big.

Scientology is just a big manipulation machine. Do as you’re told or you get humiliated - it’s disgusting.

<b><i>Anyway,</b></i> on to a review of the actual novel, not just the religion/following (which clearly I have some issues with).

Reading all about Jenna’s life in Scientology from such a young age is certainly eye opening and while a lot of people are saying she gives us too much information, I actually thinks it’s great that she’s included so much of what she did day in and day out throughout her progression in Scientology because it really gives us an insight into how messed up being in the Sea Org is and Scientology as a whole.

The humiliation and abuse she was put through, all because she did something as trivial as fancying a guy with a lower title than her or wanting to call her parents, is absolutely horrid and I’m amazed she’s come out of this life long experience rather normally. That being said, this isn’t as juicy as I was hoping it would be. I’m glad she wasn’t beaten and physically harmed in anyway, but I was lead to believe this was going a bit more terrifying by the “My Harrowing Escape” part of the title. Don’t get me wrong, Jenna went through some awful, awful stuff, I’m not discounting that at all, but… I don’t know, it just wasn’t macabre enough for me, as horrible as that sounds.

This is definitely a great book if you want to get a better look into life as a Scientologist, it gives you plenty of insider info, but I wouldn’t say it was the best of these kinds of book that I’ve read, though it’s probably the best about Scientology.
  
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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Luca (2021) in Movies

Jun 16, 2021  
Luca (2021)
Luca (2021)
2021 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
6
6.9 (12 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The artists at Disney and Pixar have returned with a new animated film “Luca” which will debut on Disney+ on June 18th.

The film introduces audiences to Luca (Jacob Tremblay); a young Sea Monster who lives with his family and fellow fish off the coast of a small town in Italy. Luca is warned not to go on the surface and to avoid humans at all costs by his parents.

When a rebellious Sea Monster named Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer); happens upon Luca and gets him to the surface; Luca discovers that he and Alberto appear as human boys when their skin is no longer wet.

Fascinated by the rebellious life Alberto leads and amazed by what he sees upon his brief land excursions; Luca looks for new ways to find time on the surface which leads to him being more and more deceptive to his parents.

In time Luca and Alberto head to the village and meet a spunky local girl named Giulia (Emma Berman); who is on a break from school and longs to win a local race in order to get back at the reigning champion and bully.

Luca and Alberto see the race as a chance to win money to buy their own Vespa which they see as the key to exploring the surface world which sets a chain of events into motion as their two worlds are about to collide leading up to the race.

The film is visually appealing, but the story for me dragged and did not have the spark and heart that have made countless PIXAR films enduring classics. While the characters were fine; they did not have the appeal or charisma that I have come to expect with the PIXAR brand.

There have been reports that after “SOUL” was moved from a theatrical release to streaming during the Pandemic that some at PIXAR were upset with the decision to make “Luca” a streaming option. My take is that it was 100% the correct decision as while it is an entertaining film; it is not one that is likely to light up the Box Office and is better suited for a streaming debut.

The biggest issue with “Luca” is that coming from a studio with such a long line of classics; it fails to reach the levels previously set and while entertaining comes up lacking.

3 stars out of 5