Category Archives: Pop Culture

TCGN* Update

[*Tom Cruise Goes Nuts]

I’ve been confining my thoughts on this matter to Sallie’s ever-so-funny running commentary at So Anyway…, but I just had to share this tidbit.

Quite frequently, I’ll make an observation on something to myself or someone else, then later on I’ll hear someone else make the same observation in a more public forum. And then I’ll think, hey! I said that yesterday! (or whatever). I’m still trying to decide if this makes me a trendsetter or simply unoriginal.

Anyhoo.

Last Friday I commented on Eden’s post about TCGN’s appearance on Today:

You know back in the day (i.e. the 80s), I liked TC. That gradually wore down to neutrality. My feelings toward him remained pretty much neutral until the last, oh, how long would you say it’s been? two months or so? Now I actively dislike him. I may never pay to see another movie with him in it. And I can’t imagine I’m the only person who’s feeling that way.

Then last night I was noodling around TWoP and after catching up on the AC360 thread, I saw the Today Show thread, remembered Eden’s post (I didn’t actually see the interview) and thought I’d see what the TWoPPers had to say about it.

Just a few snippets:
ctygrltif2:

Between that and the “Matt, Matt, Matt” he was just so offensive. I hate the way he’s trying to force his cult on the rest of the world. I was never a big fan of his movies anyway so it’s no big loss that I’ll never pay money to see one again..

Damaris56:

Well, after this whole thing with Katie Holmes and Brooke Shields and this latest interview on Today, I’m boycotting his films. I’m never giving this guy a penny of my money. I had planned to see War Of The Worlds because Spielberg was directing it, but nothing will get me in to watch any movie with this idiot in it.

Lizziedrew:

Add me to the list of those who will be boycotting his movies in the future. That pompous asshat doesn’t need any more of my money, for damn sure.

BitchySmurf:

I never liked Tom Cruise. I never disliked him. But I never “got” the whole appeal. I’m never going to another one of his movies. War of the Worlds seems like the kind of thing I would enjoy too. But I won’t go.

So, heh. There are also links to transcripts of the interview wherein TCGN proves that he is, in fact, a crazy person. It’s funny (funny weird, not funny haha). The main reason my initial like of TC wore off was because I could never get a read on him in interviews. Maybe this is stupid, but if I find someone to be vacuous or annoying or assholey in interviews, I find it hard to like his/her work. Conversely, if someone comes off as bright or witty, I’m more inclined to enjoy his/her work.

Anyhow, to me, TC never came off as anything. He was like a robot, a shell. I got the impression that he had no personality of his own, he just filled this shell with roles, and when the role ended he was empty again. Now, I realize this was in part due to his publicist (you know, the one he fired) suppressing his urge to reveal that he’s a crazy person. But I also think that my instinct that he had no personality of his own is probably not that far off. That’s the kind of person that cults appeal to, after all, isn’t it?

One more thing: in all this frenzy, little mention has been made of TC’s children. I’ve been thinking about how they’re getting to that age (according to IMDb, they’re 12 and 10) where everything your parents do, regardless of how ordinary, is embarrassing. Can you imagine being a pre-teen and having to watch your dad behave as he has for the last while? I’m mortified for them.

Continuing Sagas

Conspiracy Theories

“If you liked The Da Vinci Code, you’ll love the Downing Street Memo.”

Okay, so this article at Slate isn’t really about the Da Vinci Code. But I had to share anyhow, because it’s exactly what I’ve been thinking ever since the hype started and exactly why I haven’t read it yet (well, that and the hardcover vs. paperback thing).

A few weeks ago, at an airport in Europe, I saw Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code staring at me across the bookstore bins. I had seen it many times before and averted my gaze, but I was facing a long delay, and I suddenly thought: May as well get it over with.Well, of course I knew it would be bad. I just didn’t know that it would be that bad. Never mind for now the breathless and witless style, or the mashed-paper characters, or the lazy, puerile reliance on incredible coincidence to flog the lame plot along. What if it was all true? What if the Nazarene had had issue, in fleshly form, with an androgynous disciple? The Catholic Church would look foolish but, then, it already looks foolish enough on the basis of the official story. “Opus Dei,” according to Brown, is a sinister cult organization. Excuse me, but I already knew this, so to speak, independently.

OPEN LETTER TO KANSAS SCHOOL BOARD

As previously mentioned, snarking at creationists? Always fun.

I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him….

We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it.

…

It is absolutely imperative that they realize that observable evidence is at the discretion of a Flying Spaghetti Monster. Furthermore, it is disrespectful to teach our beliefs without wearing His chosen outfit, which of course is full pirate regalia.

…

I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.

Bwahahaha.

Always Wait for the Paperback.

Open letter to ‘The Da Vinci Code’ publisher

This one’s a guy ranting about why he won’t buy The Da Vinci Code in hardcover. (For the record, I’m the other person who has not yet read The Da Vinci Code.) And why won’t he? Well…

Why? Well, it’d go against one of the two rules by which my mother taught me to live life: Always Wait for the Paperback.

FOCLMAO. I had the hardcover vs. paperback discussion with some other reader/writer-types a few years back. I said I only bought paperbacks. Trade paperbacks, usually, but paperbacks, nonetheless. I think people thought I was wacky or something. Like, hardcovers are soooo much better! They smell great, etc. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. They’re also f’ing expensive and big/heavy (i.e. hard to carry around). I have changed my stance on the hardcover thing a little in the last couple years, though, since I discovered the remainder table. I mean, if I the hardcover is selling for $2.99, who’m I to say no? (I actually got one for 99 cents! That’s like FREE in American!)

I suspect there’s something politically incorrect about buying books off the remainder table. Like the author gets no royalties or something. (Anyone know?) But here’s the thing: if I’m buying full-priced paperbacks, I generally stick to writers I’ve read before. Who wants to shell out 20 bucks for a book that sucks? Also, the regular bookshelves in a large bookstore can be somewhat overwhelming–there are so many books! Which ONE to choose? So it’s easier just to go to my favorite authors and look for something I haven’t read yet.

With the remainder table, I can get 4 books for 20 bucks. If a book sucks, well, it’s no great loss. I’m free to take risks. The selection is smaller and more eclectic. It’s generally not literary phenomenon-type stuff, The Book Everyone is Reading. Which is good, because I’m really not into jumping off cliffs just because everyone else is. But often there will be books by “name” writers that I haven’t read. Hey, here’s a chance to check them out. And I always look at first novels. Sound interesting? I’ll pick it up.

It’s the randomness of it that I like. It’s the same principle as used bookstores, which I’ve always loved. You never know what you’re going to find, what you’re going to discover. And the selection is never the same twice. So you can’t waffle. You have to leap.

And the thing is, all it takes is one book to hook me. Next time? I’ll be looking for you on the regular shelves. As long as you’re in paperback 😉

Something “more”

Teen spirit

When [girls] pick up Forever, her hallmark folksy, first-person voice eases their transition into the book’s more adult world, conveying subliminally the idea that sex is not something “other” – and therefore to be feared – but something “more”; the logical next step on the ladder to adulthood.

I always liked Judy Blume, despite the fact that I never understood Margaret and her friends in Are You There God? (I thought they were insane.) Anyhoo. Never owned a copy of Forever (or any other Blume books that I can recall, though I read them all), so I can’t reminisce about where I hid mine. That’s not a slight. For as much as I read, I really owned very few books as a pre-adult. Most were library books or borrowed. Forever was borrowed. It got passed around my junior high until everyone who wanted to had read it. Who it actually belonged to, I don’t remember, if I ever knew.

Blume now finds herself in the rather curious position of being, as she herself puts it, “one of the most banned writers in America” …

What I find fascinating about Judy Blume is how her books are always on those “most-banned” lists. In fact, most of the authors on those banned lists are YA authors. I find that amusing because I started reading novels-written-for-adults when I was about 10. Nothing a teen novel could throw at me was particularly revelatory. I don’t even particularly remember much about the plot of Forever (I think there was a ski trip?). What I remember is that dog-eared paperback being passed around the school.

“No soup for you!”

Larry Thomas, who played New York’s famed ‘Soup Nazi’ on NBC’s Seinfeld, … will serve soups, such as mulligatawny, crab bisque, turkey chili, jambalaya, black bean, chicken broccoli and clam bisque, at the diner, 412 Columbia St., on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Soup Nazi! Bwaaah. If the roads weren’t still crusted with snow, I might drive myself out to New West and pick me up some mulligatawny. Or crab bisque. *shuffles to left* *asks for soup in expressionless voice* *avoids PDAs* *hands money to cashier* Wait!

“No bread? Everyone else got bread.”

“You want bread? Three dollars!”

“But…”

“No soup for you!”