T-Bone

Too bad you never worked your “magic” on staff at TWI and put them out of business.

Click on the Wikipedia link in my post - it’s the same institution - it merged with another - hence the hyphenated name But interesting you should ask that. I wonder if wierwille mentioning the Moody correspondence school and a seminary that went thru a name change as a ploy to make it a little more difficult to verify his claims. Like claiming you worked for some place that went out of business or the place burned down.

Yeah – interesting they removed his name…that reminds me of something else. I’ve shared this on Grease Spot many times before when I got into checking on some of wierwille’s credentials – during the aftermath of Passing of the Patriarch I was driven by a bad feeling I was getting from all the bull$hit flying around … In early June of 1987, I contacted The Moody Correspondence School Department of the Moody Bible Institute and spoke with Vivian Ruby in the Registrar’s Office. I was stunned to find out they had no record of wierwille completing a course with them. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. I had to have something more tangible than a woman’s voice over the phone telling me that in effect wierwille lied about something in his education. I asked her to mail me that information in a letter with Moody Correspondence School’s official letterhead. You can see her letter here Too bad I wasn’t more of an investigative reporter back then cuz there’s something else I never looked into – partly because I didn’t know how to go about doing it and partly cuz I got kinda sidetracked on another project of studying up on systematic theology and hermeneutics so I could be better equipped to reevaluate wierwille’s body of work…anyway in the authorized book on TWI, titled The Way: Living in Love (by Elena S. Whiteside, co 1972, American Christian Press, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-89132), on page 175, Whiteside quoted wierwille as he talked about his studies and influences: “I don’t remember much of the past. I’ll have to renew my mind. Oh yes, did I tell you I taught at Gordon Divinity School? Homiletics was my specialty – that’s preaching. I took everything I could take at the Moody Bible Institute too, through their correspondence courses. And in the years that followed, there were many men I learned from: Glenn Clark, Karl Barth from Switzerland, E. Stanley Jones, Paul Tillich, Starr Daily, Rufus Mosley, Dr. John Gaynor Banks, and there were many, many others. I tried to get all I could from anybody.” A few times since I left TWI I thought about checking out his claim of teaching homiletics at Gordon Divinity School…But over the years I forgot about that itty bitty detail…but after your post mentioning the JE Stiles omission – I thought about it again…seems kinda fishy that he would mention it to Whiteside but it’s not mentioned on TWI’s website about the founder . I looked this up Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary …. if I was bragging about my credentials and accomplishments, I would definitely list teaching at Gordon Divinity School – if it were true of course! It’s ranked 23rd see here > 30 Best Theological Seminaries in the United States Just read the first paragraph on Wikipedia – note if you read the article there was a merger or two – so you’ll see it listed with a combo name: “Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is an evangelical seminary with its main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and three other campuses in Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Association of Theological Schools, Gordon-Conwell ranks as one of the largest evangelical seminaries in North America in terms of total number of full-time students enrolled.” Wikipedia - Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary If you scroll down and look at notable faculty and alumni - I recognize a few names from commentaries, theological studies and Lexicons I've read. Just seems kinda odd that TEACHING at Gordon Divinity School is not mentioned in his list of accomplishments. What’s up with that? Inquiring minds want to know.

Do NOT ...I repeat do NOT make mention of the Karate Kid !!!!! They must have played that movie every other weekend at Rome City...I'm sick of that $hit I tellz ya!

It was a very long awkward moment. I had just handed Mr. Pacino the check and was going to tend to other tables – but his loud gasp and bug-eyed stare at the check made me snap to attention. It seemed like time stood still – and I thought for sure all eyes were upon Mr. Pacino and me. Did I bring him the wrong check? Did we overcharge him? Did I forget to mention the blue-plate special? Did I miss something? Did he want something else? I thought I had been very attentive since I knew who he was. After what seemed like years of my career being in suspended animation – frozen in uncertainty and embarrassment – Mr. Pacino gracefully withdrew his wallet as a magician would pull a rabbit out of his hat. He stuffed a bill in the check folder - kicked back his chair – and announced in a loud gruff voice while pounding both fists on the table in sync with each word: “Al Pacino is done!” . He stood up and briskly walked out. I dropped off the check folder to the cashier. I didn’t want to think about the incident anymore. I didn’t even go five steps when I heard Cheryl say “Geez, that’s a big tip for just pie and coffee – you want that now or later?” He had left a hundred-dollar bill.

I noticed they haven't opened the door to the research department yet

Beginning in 1967 there was PFAL And PFAL was from other stuff And other stuff plus wierwille Became The Word PFAL was wierwille’s big inning Through PFAL a con game was made wierwille came into his own he was a shyster by trade (started out as a parody of John 1:1 and ended up a poem…go figure...glad I don't get paid for my poems...I'm here all week folks)

I like that... This is not a pipe ...I had to look that up...good job - make your audience work for it - it will mean so much more to them! later on I showed my son your post - he informed me that's the pipe from The Mario Brothers game - the brothers are plumbers ! That's like a piranha or a Venus fly trap or something. You get double points that's like a wheel within a wheel ...I mean pipe within a pipe thing. way cool.

Not gonna happen… cuz I’d be a cheapskate on production costs …and a lot of my beliefs are in a state of flux anyway…there’d be too many re-writes…but it doesn’t cost me anything to post here …for anyone interested in stuff I have to say without going all over Grease Spot - they can check out the About Me tab on my profile…it’s a lump sum from some lump …It ain’t "terrific theology" but it is a terrorific account of my TWI experiences. Alright - so I said I think I can do a better job than wierwille…probably ANY honest PFAL grad who sticks to Bullinger’s basic keys to the interpretation of Scripture, plain logic and is NOT enamored with wierwille could do a better job than him! “About Me” has stuff I’ve already said here and there on Grease Spot…and a lot of stuff I’ve learned from others on Grease Spot…hmmmm this is starting to sound a lot like wierwille’s plagiarism disclaimer …anyway…I’ve also got links to a lot of informative threads on doctrine with thoughtful analysis, cult tactics, cult recovery, timelines, as well as online articles and books. I mostly keep up with it because it helps me organize my thoughts and it’s just good therapy…I wish everyone would do that on their profile – it’d make it easier for me to keep track of their stuff…instead I usually copy and paste a lot of threads in files on my laptop. I have high hopes disenchanted TWI-believers will find something on Grease Spot that resonates with them…maybe see they’re not alone in having a strong sense of disillusionment from the failure of wierwille /PFAL /other TWI-classes / WOW, way corps and other programs to fulfill their respective declared goals AND the perception of inconsistencies between the ACTIONS of wierwille / LCM / certain other TWI-leaders and the ideals they supposedly represent.

As a test pilot for Blue Origin, I often conduct a thorough shakedown of new products for space travelers. This Etch A Sketch Lunar Edition is sweet!

I used to work at Starbucks…until I was replaced by the Barista-3000

I got tired of working at The Mattress Firm, so I just got up and walked off the job

Here’s a fun fact about me. I once designed a vehicle that was rollover-proof. My inspiration was that old saying “you can’t beat a dead horse.”

One of the perks of working at The Farmers’ Market is getting to use the company car

One day at the Jenga Game Factory, I was wondering what would happen if I pulled out this oddly shaped brick in the breakroom wall...

Crap...I thought I had tonight off

This morning I was thinking about the first time I sat through the PFAL class. That was some 48 years ago. The class was run in an apartment on Long Island. It was winter. The class instructor was a young gentleman with a beard and usually wore turtleneck sweaters. I use the term class instructor very loosely – but that’s how we referred to the role when I was in TWI…it might have been something just peculiar to our neck of the woods…I’ve also heard them referred to as class coordinator. Perhaps that’s closer to a correct description…since they functioned more like a class monitor - responsible to ensure classroom discipline. They are answerable to “the teacher” (wierwille and anyone else in TWI’s chain of command) in case of any mischief. But the concern isn’t over run-of-the-mill classroom high jinks. It’s always to keep students on task with …learning… I mean acquiring knowledge of the Bible… more like absorbing wierwille’s indoctrination process. My undivided attention and disabling any critical thinking skills I was developing in my young life was absolutely required – indicated by the “listening with a purpose” questions in my PFAL syllabus for that session. I still have mine – stored somewhere in our home’s upper-regions-of-the-don’t-know-why-I’m-still-holding-on-to-this-stuff - i.e., attic. “Listening with a purpose” is another one of those odd TWI-redundancies. Why else would I be listening to something if I didn’t have a reason for paying attention to it? All you hypnotists, cult-leaders, deprogrammers, psych majors and marketing execs don’t answer that! Save all your answers until the end of this thread . I think the real purpose of “listening with a purpose” questions was twofold. It got me to hang on every word of “the teacher” eagerly anticipating when he announced “the clincher”. And as a result, it also sidetracked most of my learning faculties with busy work. In The Way International, my learning curve might be better described as an indoctrination curve - the rate of progress in gaining experience or new skill…i.e., accepting a set of beliefs uncritically. This morning while thinking along these lines I got into a familiar mental riff of What-Ifs. Believe it or not I do appreciate a few things I got out of PFAL... I sometimes wonder what would have happened if wierwille didn’t hold it up as THE gold standard of biblical research…the best…the most reliable…the most respected source for biblical studies...…but I guess he may have imagined himself being in competition with mainstream Christianity… a false teacher has gotta do what a false teacher has gotta do…so through the concurrent catastrophe (an antonym for "miracle" ) of plagiarism, incompetence, ambition and delusion wierwille cobbled together PFAL. You know, since I left TWI, I have humbled myself many times over before family and friends admitting I was wrong for going whole hog on wierwille's dogma...Of course, a cult-leader’s ego would never allow themselves such a self-mortifying move…because that would dissolve the illusion of being “spiritually distinguished” - - head and shoulders above everyone else.…If he really had such well-meaning intentions to help others better understand the Bible – why wasn’t he honest about it? He could have said “Hey, check out the work of EW Bullinger – he really gets detailed in analyzing the Bible” or “I took this class by BG Leonard and learned a lot of stuff about the holy spirit. I’d like to have him teach his class to our church. I’ll put out a sign-up sheet for those interested and we’ll figure out what it will cost us to have his class here.” Being a technical minded person, I’ve always had a pragmatic approach to problem solving. I had a faith in God ever since I was a little kid growing up in a traditional Roman Catholic home. By using reawakened cognitive skills as tools to methodically dissect all the plagiarism, twisted Scripture, logical fallacies and mish mash of ideologies in PFAL, I recognized there were a few things I got out of the class. For one thing it demystified the Bible. That’s not to say wierwille did a great job of explaining what it said. It was more like listening to a musician give their rendition of a familiar tune – it was okay – but now some 48 years later I think I can do better. As a Christian…as a layman…as a survivor of a pseudo-Christian cult it was extremely difficult to come to terms with the intellectual, emotional, social, and financial setbacks of being in a harmful and controlling cult. It's okay to be a layman and have hobbies like systematic theology and hermeneutics. Funny to think that a sham of a class like PFAL got me started in all that. I thought of all this over breakfast while I was reading Thiselton on Hermeneutics: Collected Works and New Essays . So much for the road not taken, false starts, misdirection. The paths of theology and hermeneutics fascinated me way back then. But I followed the brightly colored road sign PFAL with its promise of a shortcut to that and more…There’s no saying I can’t backtrack and explore other paths now.

Speaking of coming back from the dead – maybe they could combine PFAL and PFALT...like a two-class collection

I think you are correct in saying “The defining characteristics have little to do with dogmatic beliefs”. People can make a cult out of anything. If there’s a charismatic leader with evil intent at the center of it all - that’s when it becomes a harmful and controlling cult. Now we’re getting into psychological stuff. “Criminal psychology, also referred to as criminological psychology, is the study of the views, thoughts, intentions, actions and reactions of criminals and suspects. It is a subfield of criminology and applied psychology.” From: Wiki - Criminal Psychology I tend to think all “great” cult leaders think alike. (* check out an interesting article on cult leaders below). So, we’ll probably find common traits among them. Ideologies could be worlds apart. But in my opinion pseudo-Christian cults are ahead of the con game because a lot more folks are familiar with some of the big ideas of the Bible. Plus, if they’re young and naïve they probably won’t catch all the Scripture twisting and logical fallacies. And I know from 12 years in TWI it wasn’t unusual to hear about parents of TWI-followers – even if the parents were not involved in TWI themselves – they thought it was a good thing that their kids were getting into something as innoxious as The Bible. They suspected nothing. I do think Scientology might be a lot harder to sell. I’ve read a few books about their beliefs, control tactics and former members. In my opinion they have some whacked out beliefs that are a lot tougher to sell than innocent looking PFAL . But to be fair, you hear some pretty whacked out beliefs and conspiracy theories by the time you’ve had the Advanced Class…so six devil spirits, half a dozen suppressives…whatever…I heard even Tom Crui$e kinda tripped out for a little bit when he got to “Operating Thetan III” also called “The Wall of Fire” that deals with Xenu, the evil galactic overlord, and the H bombs on Hawaii 76 million years ago. from: Top 8 Levels of Scientology …Another thing I’ve gathered from a book by one former Scientologist was that you can retain your existing beliefs – and kinda meld them with Scientology – not sure what that meant – maybe reinterpret your existing beliefs through the Scientology lens. In that regard it seems like an easier assimilation - whereas in The Way International you are encouraged...and later on bullied into thinking ideas that are different than PFAL are incompatible...so just renew your mind. ~ ~ ~ ~ *Article on cult leaders by Joe Navarro in Psychology Today; Navarro is a former FBI Counterintelligence Agent and is the author of What Every Body is Saying and that’s a fascinating book too: Psychology Today: Clues to what makes for a pathological cult leader

Craig: How much does your behavior that people do not see, influence your example to them? vpw: It doesn’t, unless you believe it will. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ OldSkool, thanks for pointing that out…that’s another big error I missed on this thread …also thanks to Nathan_Jr for the partial 1973 corps teaching transcript…all I can say is absolutely mind-boggling! …I think there’s an alternate translation in the False Teachers’ Guide To Indoctrinating Impressionable Young Minds (or FTGTIIYM for short) of an old familiar proverb that says “What they don’t know about you won’t hurt them.” While we’re talking about translation work here’s an alternate translation of an inspirational quote by Napoleon Hill that I found in the New Incomprehensible And Almost Inconceivable But Definitely Diabolical Version Of Tips And Tricks For Shysters And Cult Leaders (or NIAAIBDDVOTATFSACL for short): Whatever minds you can deceive with something up your sleeve they’re the ones you can thieve For those interested in the original exposé on shysters and cult leaders you can check out these: Matthew 23 II Peter 2

~ ~ ~ ~ "Looking back at what I just wrote, I feel pretty embarrassed to admit I ever bought in to this nonsense. But, here I am, 50 years later, trying to decide whether to laugh or cry about it." That right there is my idea of a healthy frame of mind! Back in my TWI-days I was a very forgiving person when it came to interacting with others cuz I believed it was the right thing to do. But when it came to myself – I had a hard time breaking the cycle of guilt that seemed to get more and more ramped up the more I got involved in TWI. Trying to please leadership I’d get caught up in their guilt-inducing-tirades…guilt and frustration…I got yelled at for not rushing over to “batten down the hatches” of the corps tents when there was a torrential downpour. When asked why I didn’t – I replied “because Rev. Martindale addressed us all huddled under the main tent and said don’t ANYONE leave the tent”. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I think you’re correct on wierwille’s definition of the unforgiveable sin…since I’ve left TWI, I keep revising my own definitions of TWI-definitions...and so…the unforgiveable sin in TWI was questioning wierwille and other leadership.... ....that’s why the greatest sin a TWI-believer can commit is to break the first and great commandment…to NOT believe wierwille with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…the second is like unto it – thou shalt believe thy leadership just like you believe wierwille. On these 2 commandments hang all the PFAL books and TWI-programs.

interesting point - if all forms of sin are the same and none are worse than any other - then why is the unforgiveable sin unforgivable? ...just asking for a friend

Yes!!!! In PFAL wierwille said “The Word takes the place of the absent Christ”. I would like to submit a reinterpretation of that phrase as a Christian now free from a cultic mindset. But first let me just say wierwille probably thought his class was guiding students in the right direction - but as the old proverb goes “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” ...and sometimes... even good intentions when acted upon may have unintended consequences... … as always in analyzing PFAL there’s usually more of a mess to untangle than just the obvious like proof-texting. Among other things there’s lots of hidden assumptions. There’s at least two HUGE false assumptions within wierwille’s “The Word takes the place of the absent Christ”: 1. It was assumed that WHATEVER wierwille taught in PFAL was “rightly-divided” - and as such was equivalent to the original Word of God, when “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. Thus, PFAL equals “The Word”. 2. It was assumed that Jesus Christ was/is absent...which means the compelling authority defaults to # 1 wierwille / PFAL. So…to decrypt…or de-cultify (if that’s a word ) wierwille’s phrase in order to expose the old switcheroo I present the following reinterpretation of his phrase: wierwille / PFAL replaces Jesus Christ And I'd like to say to all you Christians in TWI - why do you let those anti-Christs run your life? Repent! Run! Get as far away from TWI (its doctrine and influence) as possible... ...and let Jesus Christ be lord in your life again!

Chockfull, your post got me thinking about the importance of appropriately evaluating wierwille’s life and works. According to some wierwille/PFAL fans we should appreciate the good things he taught us. The more I thought about it, I kept going back to one of the passages I listed in my previous post – here – discussing the impact of sin AFTER salvation...the ramifications of one person’s sinful behavior can affect the rest of the local church. Note in I Corinthians 5 Paul is coming down on them for tolerating a church member’s sinful behavior (which would include church leaders ); basically Paul is saying such open-mindedness is dangerous because it’s like yeast that starts the fermentation process in a new batch of dough…FYI yeast consists largely of fungus cells - spore-producing organisms that feed on organic matter that produces fermentation - in biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. I can imagine sin as something in a scary sci-fi movie about a creature who sucks the lifeforce out of other beings. No wait – I’ve actually seen this movie! It’s The 4-D Man a 1959 film. Now read I Corinthians 5 and see if you think confronting sin is that important to the health of the church. Paul’s instructions apply to ALL members of the local church: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” I Corinthians 5 NIV I don’t see here or anywhere else in Scripture a directive that says when it comes to sinful behavior, we’re to cut certain folks some slack because of their special status in the church. Instead, another passage comes to mind: Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism…Acts 10:34 Barnes notes on the KJV “no respecter of persons” - The word used here denotes "the act of showing favor to one on account of rank, family, wealth, or partiality arising from any cause." It is explained in James 2:1-4. A judge is a respecter of persons when he favors one of the parties on account of private friendship, or because he is a man of rank, influence, or power, or because he belongs to the same political party, etc. from Bible Hub Commentary Acts 10:34 …yet in TWI what I witnessed is that most way corps who had been around wierwille for a while were acclimatized to his decadent lifestyle. I think his depraved way of life was subsumed under the general opinion that he was so spiritual…was so spiritually mature…he so renewed his mind that he was unaffected by sin and maybe not even susceptible to sin…of course he’d go on about how humble he was and had no problem forgiving others because he knew what God forgave him for…sounds pretty sweet and fair-minded doesn’t it? God only knows – may be an unrepentant sinner’s famous last words. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. John 16:2 wierwille probably thought he was serving God’s word to the way corps as he served up his immorally laced ideology. what a betrayal of trust! Many of us assumed he was THE MAN OF GOD FOR THIS DAY AND TIME AND HOUR while he lived a double life… To the general public of TWI he was “the teacher of PFAL” yet he also maintained a separate…simultaneous… and secret depraved lifestyle. Paul’s words to the Corinthian church are just as relevant to the way corps today: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate…And you are proud! Must be something wrong with the way corps’ scale of values. For whatever weird reasons that drive people – I think some corps may have felt almost a deep pleasure or satisfaction over wierwille’s “achievement” of such renewed mind spirituality – like his way was the ideal to shoot for…an example of someone who mastered PFAL…once any newbie way corps got over the shock of seeing wierwille in his natural depraved state…their moral compass may suffer in emotional numbness…other psychological symptoms may follow…like an overpowering sense of fear or anxiety as if YOU are the weird one for thinking evil of “the man of god”. try a couple of thought experiments: 1.) try imagining if Paul never said anything to the Corinthian church about the influence of the immoral church member. How would that play out in the long term? What kind of credibility would the church have? 2.) Imagine if Paul and other church leaders were not only cool with rampant immorality but had all kinds of illicit side gigs going on themselves. Would you look at the epistles any differently? Would it bother you that there was a double standard in the Christian faith? The Bible says one thing – but we all know you can do as you full well please. ~ ~ ~ ~ what’s so bad about PFAL? Well, besides the fact that wierwille uses logical fallacies and twists Scripture to champion his cause - most new students are unaware of the wicked error that ferments as they continue to review the class materials once they’ve graduated from PFAL. Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]? I Corinthians 5:6 Amplified ~ ~ ~ ~ DVD Bonus features: Wiki – I Corinthians 5 Blue Letter Bible.org I Corinthians 5 Bible Study Tools: Matthew Henry on I Corinthians 5 Enduring Word Commentary: I Corinthians 5 Study Light Commentaries: I Corinthians 5 Bible Reference.com : I Corinthians 5 What does the Bible say about setting a bad example 6 warning signs of a bad pastor and spiritual abuse 8 dangerous pastors that will destroy your church emotional shock What does a traumatic experience do to your body and brain?

As you may recall from the origin story of this thread, my movie going experience is more about the experience than the movie…well…maybe not an origin story – just a thread title. My wife Tonto, daughter and I went to see Top Gun: Maverick at an EVO Cinemas theater…as stated on their website “In 2014, we set out on a mission to disrupt an industry with a new experience-focused approach to entertainment. Our goal was simple; create a state-of-the-art, one-stop entertainment destination…EVO has built a reputation as one the fastest growing independent cinema-circuit in the Nation, and a leader in the experiential-entertainment space.” From EVO Cinemas website . I’ll have more on my remarkable experience in a little bit – so let me just get a hasty review of the movie out of the way (with a little input from online reviews). You gotta see it to believe it’s by far a better movie than the 1986 Top Gun. My wife and I did like the 1986 movie – “a slick presentation” as my wife put it…The special effects of the 1986 film were great – very convincing. But we were unconvinced there was any on-screen chemistry between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis (who played one of the instructors at the Navy’s elite flying school) – don’t know if it was the directing, screenplay, acting, editing or what but the chemistry between Cruise and McGillis - how they acted and talked when together on screen - seemed kinda klunky – like it was scripted by someone who was clueless of how two people in love might relate to each another…like the screenwriters / director thought in terms of photogenic cliches…keep in mind I’m talking about the 1986 Top Gun…I thought it was necessary to give a brief review of the 1986 film as a reference point for how much more realism I found in the 2022 Top Gun. Perhaps most folks think of Cruise as more of an action hero than a serious actor. I think of him as both – off hand a few thoughtful roles come to mind. he’s portrayed emotionally torn characters in movies like Born on the Fourth of July Rain Man Vanilla Sky Jerry Maguire and The Firm In the 2022 Top Gun, I felt like some of the high-speed action takes a backseat to the tension and conflict that unfolds between Cruise and one of his trainees “Rooster” – played by Miles Teller. “Rooster” is the son of “Goose” …speaking of backseat – “Goose” (played by Anthony Edwards) was Maverick's Radar Intercept Officer and best friend in the 1986 Top Gun. Oh, there’s another throwback to the 1986 film that the 2022 gets into. There are several scenes that depict the slow boil competitiveness between “Rooster” and “Hangman” (played by Glen Powell). Tonto and I both agreed it was reminiscent of that subtle yet nervous hostility between 1986 Maverick and “Iceman” played by Val Kilmer – who also reappears in the 2022 film and is now the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet – outranking Maverick…and over the passing years “Iceman” has been instrumental in helping to keep Maverick involved in the Navy. Watching Rooster and Hangman interact it’s unmistakable to see “Rooster” is like the young impetuous and daring Maverick of 1986 and “Hangman” is the cool, calm and ridiculously good-looking Iceman…After one heroic scene Maverick literally pounces on Rooster for coming to the rescue “what were you thinking?” to which Rooster yells back “You told me not to think!” I won’t say anything else about the 1986 film if you haven’t seen it – and you’d probably enjoy this 2022 film as a standalone. But I think it’s even more satisfying as a sequel if you’re familiar with Maverick’s history. If you check out some of these reviews you’ll see there’s a consensus that the 2022 film is superior not only in cinematography and special effects but in character development: Top Gun: Maverick review by Tomris Laffly May 27, 2022 Grownup Filmgoers Make ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ a Historic Hit and "Top Gun: Maverick is a rare sequel that is not only better than the original but retroactively makes Top Gun's story altogether deeper." "Top Gun: Maverick improves upon the original in every conceivable way and does so in a way that might make this one of the greatest sequels ever made." from: Screen Rant: Why Top Gun: Maverick Reviews Are So Positive ~ ~ ~ ~ And now…drum roll please…the moment you’ve all been waiting for…my latest movie going experience. The high-tech manner in which I had to purchase tickets was a confusing foretaste of the ultramodern and personally challenging wonders to come. In the theater lobby - minus any living/breathing staff – I had to walk up to a touch screen – and like purchasing a plane ticket from a human-less kiosk at most modern airports - I had to choose the movie, the showtime, and seats – using the “next” button after each choice. I ran into a snag at picking 3 seats together – “the system” kept giving me this complicated re-pick message – thankfully Tonto figured it out – I was messing up theater seating arrangements by completing a row with one empty seat in the middle…By the way – there were only about 20 people in our show, but you know how bossy “the system” can be – so I picked 3 seats starting in another row. I pay with a debit card and the machine spits out 3 tickets with the alphanumerical message “Top Gun: Maverick EVX 1”...the EVX 1 at the end hit me as some kinda cryptic clue...what did it mean? Is there another version of Top Gun: Maverick I wasn't aware of? “The System” also offered up a drink menu. Great! Beforehand we all talked about getting icy cokes and those fancy gourmet pretzels mmmmmmmm. I touch on the icy coke icon. Bummer – they’re out. We enter the main hallway – now here’s the next challenge. There are no little marquees by each theater entrance to indicate what’s playing inside. We stand there in utter puzzlement. Ah ha! I notice above one door is “EVX 1” in glowing red. Feeling like I had Tom Hanks’ expertise in the DaVinci code we enter EVX 1. I later found out EVX stands for Enhanced Viewing Experience. I’m still not sure if we’re in the right place. As we’re walking up the steps to our row, I notice 2 ladies with what appeared to be icy cokes on the little swingout tray and hope they’re Tom Cruise fans. So, I ask them “Is this Top Gun?” They chuckle and say “Yes”. Then I feel stupid for asking – so I have to explain to them about my ticket purchasing snafu. I’m just a simple caveman confused by these modern ways. They were very nice in saying there’s a lot of new things to get used to with this theater. We’re 2 rows further back from the lady-guides. We settle into our seats and I’m a little concerned – how did THEY get those icy cokes? So, I go back to the lady-guides and ask them where they got their drinks. One of the ladies leans back and points to this big button on a diamond-shaped plate mounted on the sidewall and says just press that to summon a server and adds there’s menus in a sleeve under the swingout tray. I return to our seats…uh oh – no big button on a sidewall…there’s no sidewall…I go back to the lady-guides. “Sorry to bother you again – and I promise we won’t follow you around all day – but there is no big button by our seats.” I’ll tell you what true leadership is all about – when someone has the natural instinct to jump up and serve their fellowman. Without any hesitation she sprang out of her seat – went over to our seats and pointed to the smaller diamond-shaped plate with button mounted below the post of the swingout tray. Great!!!!!! We thank her profusely. Mind you, this is all before the movie starts – the theater has to brag about its enhanced viewing experience – we’re treated to a 360 degree speaker system and deep bass we could feel in our seats – kinda like the speaker orgasm scene in the movie Private Parts … what fun – here we are exploring the wonders of our seats (inuendo of your end – doh… a little Homer-esque pun there)…now they’re showing previews - I activate the server-summoning-system. I’ll tell you another great quality of true leadership – they are genuinely concerned about everyone’s well-being. The lady-guide came over to our seats again and told us about another button on the side that activates the heated seats. Wow – I was again surprised how high-tech this theater was. Tonto told me later she’s was glad that lady revealed another mystery - because her bottom was getting uncomfortably warm – she unknowingly turned the heater on while searching for the server-summoning button…hmmmm just a coincidence or was that lady-guide walking by the spirit? I like to think she was really tapped in…aware of the needs of her people. The server came by to take our order. “We’ll have 3 icy cokes and 2 orders of gourmet pre …” he interrupted me and said “The icy coke machine is down”. Damn! Oh well…we went with 3 regular cokes and split 2 orders of gourmet pretzels and settled in to enjoy a great movie…explosions and jet engines were beloved bowels of seismic-warmth…it’s funny with all the church-shopping we did after leaving TWI, how we finally found a satisfying denomination in the most unlikely place – at Our Ladies of Enhanced Viewing Experience.