The Sheila Variations

Heh. When I saw an ad the other night I actually thought that Kidman looked quite a lot like Montgomery.

But boy does it look like a stinker.

Haha.. He put a warning at the top of the review!

a "slumming Michael Caine".. Well, he has bills to pay..

But.. "a good thing all the [original] cast members are dead"!!

and poor Will Ferrell.. pixilated.. Ouch.

Michael Caine always slums! He makes great movies, and then he makes stinkers. This has always been the case, because he is a practical man, trying to make a living.

I mean, good God, member Jaws: The Revenge???

Wait ... off topic, but have you checked out Drudge lately? Interesting exchange between Matt Lauer and Tom Cruise. This seems to be a good sign--the MS press not letting him off the hook for his craziness.

Not sure if it's bad blog etiquette to interject like this, but this has been one of my main resources for fun and insightful Tom/KatIE / Scientology commentary, so I immediately thought of you when I read the Drudge story. And since he was married to NK, it's not TOTALLY unconnected, right?

I'm still trying to forget The Revenge..

Caine's has no pretensions about his chosen profession.. he sees it as a job and he picks one of the best scripts he gets offered.. and if there are no best scripts he picks one of the second-best.. and if there are no 'second-best' then one of the ones that are left.. he has a quote about that process somewhere.. which may or may not reflect what I've just written.

pete - I love that quote from him about how he chooses films based on their location ...

"I close a script very quickly if it starts: 'Alaska. Our hero struggles through a blizzard'..."

Haha.. Yeah, Sheila.. based on his experience in Tunisia(?)

Ooooh...the Drudge Report story. The whole exchange. I considered counting the number of times Tom went "Matt, Matt, Matt..." but then thought that would just be crazy.

Here's a link to the entire video:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8344309/

It's long. But it's worth it to see the personality change.

Mere, you're right. The first half he was normal, friendly. He was like the guy on Letterman last night. Likable, promoting the movie, etc.

Then comes the Brooke Sheilds question - and everything changes. he goes into attack mode. And the attack immediately gets PERSONAL. Matt Lauer is "glib" and "doesn't understand" the issues. Matt Lauer hasn't done his homework.

Lauer points out that Cruise just wants people to behave in a way that he approves of. Cruise says, "I disagree." Then goes into his whole "I care" business.

But it is Matt Lauer who gets attacked - not the issues at hand.

This is classic Scientology behavior. Personally attack the suppressive element. It's kneejerk - you can see how kneejerk it is in how Tom Cruise's body language changes.

Tunisia?? Philippines.. sheesh..

*wanders off muttering 'mud-huts in Tanzania'*

Tom is REALLY starting to piss me off with this anti-psychiatry shit.

Cruise told Lauer he didn't know what he was talking about. "You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do," Cruise said.

You don't know one fucking thing about post-partum depression, you manic midget, I do. You haven't sat for HOURS sobbing on a couch while your baby screams in hunger because you don't have the energy or motivation to get up and feed him. You haven't gone for hours and DAYS without sleep because anxiety keeps you up. You haven't seen the look on your spouse's face when he comes home from work and you're still in the same clothes you've been in for three days because it takes too much effort to change them.

Psychiatry and anti-depressants SAVED MY LIFE, you pretentious douchebag. God. Shut the fuck up.

peteb - It was just a general comment about how he chooses his films, and not about the philippines or tunisia or whatever. He would rather do a movie in the south of France than in a muddy jungle ... and so he chooses his projects accordingly. I got the quote out of his book "Acting in Film", and it just has to do with his own priorities in picking projects.

Lisa - yeah, he sounds like an unthinking evangelical to me. You know - the kinds who rant about the evils of homosexuality or something when they have never met a gay person. You cannot argue with these people because they are completely CERTAIN at the same time that they are completely IRRATIONAL.

Ah yes, "vitamins" and "exercise" sure would have helped Andrea Yates, right?

In his nutso world, all that Andrea Yates needed was vitamins and exercise. What??? He truly believes this. I mean, he is so SURE.

Whatever, man ... Also, the "history of psychiatry" he keeps referencing is based on Scientology bullshit and lies. he keeps talking about how if you want to know about something you should look it up, and that people who don't know about Scientology shouldn't talk about it without investigating it ...

But dude... many of us HAVE investigated it and we just disagree VEHEMENTLY with your feckin' opinion on the damn thing. We HAVE investigated it and that's why we think it's a CULT.

But see, to scientologists ... You just can't argue with them. They are RIGHT.

Try arguing with an evangelical who has a Bible verse for every answer. Impossible.

And to you evangelicals out there: I probably offend you. But I will not temper this opinion. Sorry. I've got a strong opinion about fanatics. If you're an evangelical Christian and you're not a fanatic, then good for you. But if you are? Stay the feck away from me, please.

Lisa,
Did you know Brooke Shields wrote a book about her experience? I'm so pissed off about this, tonight, I'm going to go to a bookstore and buy it. I may never read it, but out of support for women like you and her, I'm going to buy the goddamm thing.

I think everyone else here should too.

I saw an interview with Shields where she recounted some of what happened to her. I felt miserable for the poor woman. Whatever it took to get her through it, pills, therapy, vitamins, whatever, I'm glad it helped her.

I'll try to remember that, Sheila.. I was trying to rationalise where I got Tunisia from. :)

Emily -

Matt kept trying to get Cruise to bend ... to say: "But ... if Brooke Sheilds says it helped her ... then ... is that not good enough for you?"

And no, it's not.

There is no "live and let live" here. Nope. It's evil. BUT Cruise reiterated that it's only because he cares so deeply about Sheilds and wants her to be happy.

BUT ... BUT ... BUT ...

She said she IS happy now. She got help! She is doing great!! So ... we're all just lying to ourselves out here, Tom, is that right?

You gotta see the video of this ... you gotta see Katie's vapid smiling face from behind the scenes. It's very creepy.

Emily,

I have it on reserve at the library, but I've already read part of it in Good Housekeeping. I can't wait to read the whole thing.

I really admire her for coming forward. She's done a lot to get people aware of PPD, and she should be praised, not vilified. Especially not by some cult troll.

I thought Brooke S. was very classy in how she handled this random attack, too.

Basically, she said from London where she's doing Chicago:

"Whatever, dude. Focus on saving the earth from aliens, and let women decide for themselves what is best for them."

Katie Holmes is an absolute moron.

"Whatever, dude. Focus on saving the earth from aliens, and let women decide for themselves what is best for them."

hahahahahahaha

Brooke's response was perfect - "focus on saving the Earth from aliens" - she has done her homework.. and an advocate of the Cult trying to claim science as supporting his position???

Mr. B - I know, she was just so classy and over-it. I have no idea her private emotions about being singled out by TOM CRUISE (grrrr), but in public she was cool as a cuke, and kind of disdainful.

Good for her.

I bet no matter what topic you write about, Sheila, your readers will somehow manage to divert the discussion to the subject of Tom Cruise. I challenge anyone here to try and name anything that we cannot bring back to TomKat in one way or another with a perfect segue.

Emily: I'll take up that challenge!

I forgot to empty my fridge before going on vacation, and my bag of cherry tomatoes is now a bag of vaguely red liquid. Since I couldn't find my latex gloves, I just shut the fridge door and haven't opened it since. I've since found the gloves, but now I'm pretty sure I need to buy a bottle of bleach before I dare open the fridge.

There was a refrigerator in the movie Jerry McGuire.

Inde, the thought of you carefully opening the fridge door and then tentatively reaching your latexed hand in across the gap illuminated by the fridge light make me think of that back-lit tongue scene between Tom and Kelly mcGillis in Top Gun.

George, to handle this situation and to prevent it from happening again, Doctor Cruise suggests vitamins. And, of course, we want to remind you that we really care about you.

WE CARE ABOUT EVERYBODY!

A bag of rotted cherry tomatoes is a perfect metaphor for Scientology. Your decision to just close the door and walk away is just like the decision of society to avoid confronting the evils of Scientology.

Say, did you know that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist? And that Kat[ie] is just another rotting tomato in the dripping paper bag of the cult?

Jeez, you'll have to try harder than that.

Rotten Tomatoes.

Serious questions:

1. Do Scientologists really believe in aliens?

2. Why is it described as a cult?

I'm just curious about these things. Ive heard a lot about Scientology but I really don't know what the core beliefs are. Can anyone tell me?

RTG -

Yes. They believe that aliens have invaded all of our bodies from 75 million years ago ... and only through Scientology can you 'get clear' of all of these aliens.

However: this is NEVER said up front. It is not on any fliers. If you go to their website, they do not mention aliens.

They call it a "bait and switch" cult. You go into it thinking it's one way. You have to pay a lot of money to "get clear". Workshops, sweat lodges, blah blah ... you go through all these different levels ... spending thousands of dollars ... and then when you reach a certain level of "clear", they tell you about the aliens.

By this point, so many people have spent so much money and are so intertwined in the cult ... it is nearly impossible to extricate themselves.

RTG - Here is an archive of stuff compiled by Rick Ross, THE cult expert in this country. http://rickross.com/groups/scientology.html

Probably way more than you need to know ... but it's all there.

Here are their core beliefs:

http://rickross.com/reference/scientology/history/history44.html

Oh, and RTG - here is THE anti-scientology website.

http://www.xenu.net/

Great stuff there. Many ex-scientologists write articles and perspectives about the inner workings of this organization and how they trap you.

Oh and RTG - I'm warning you: those sites are DEEP DEEP pools. I have lost hours of my life in those sites.

Awesome, that's a great start. Thanks Red. Oh, and one thing I do hear a lot about is how Scientology tries to hush critics. To me that is the red flag. I'll check out the links.

This cannot be real. It just cannot be.

Scary stuff, RTG, right?

Here's a long comment thread on my site - with more links. We talk about how Scientology basically beat the IRS' ass. These people are ruthless. People are afraid to leave. They ruin people's lives.

http://www.sheilaomalley.com/archives/004358.html

Sheil..im sitting here with my friend Olivia and i was trying to explain about the cult of scientology and the whole alien thing...her response was a very calm question..."well...has he ever had an x-ray?" HAAAAAAA! Brilliant! Seems like a sure-fire way to disprove the alien within theory!!

hahahahahahaha!!!

My general opinion on people who want to evangelize WHATEVER (be it the not-using of psychiatry for serious mental illness, or the vehement no-carbohydrates-ever diet, or the you-must-think-as-I-do politically) is that first off, they're basically insecure in their beliefs - a person who is secure doesn't harass other people into following them. And secondly, when someone tries to shove some kind of lifestyle choice on me, I just look at 'em and go "Walk in my shoes for a month. See how I live. Get inside my head. Then I'll talk to you about whatever."

I've found that most people who have a one-size-fits-all solution to life aren't good at seeing beyond their own nose.

Good on Brooke Shields for her response to Cruise's zaniness. I always DID like her....

RTG,
It's TOO real. The first woman that wrote a book about Scientology in the seventies was framed for trying to plant a bomb. They sue everybody who publicly criticizes them. Not for a purpose, not to win, but to bury your attorney in so much paperwork that you are bankrupted by your legal fees. One of the first "religious exercizes" they have you perform is to write down things you've done in your life that you might be ashamed of. Crimes, adultery, cheating, whatever. They do this under the guise that it will help you rid yourself of the guilt and be more free. Then they file it away neatly and if you ever decide you want to leave, there it is. In your own handwriting. All your dirtiest secrets.

Nasty, nasty stuff.

it's the combo of will ferrel and nicole kidman that really turns me off. kind of like pickles and ice cream.

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