Saturday, May 10, 2008

TC revisited

Tom Cruise on Oprah this week.
You could hardly find anybody more different from me than "TC", apart of course from our good looks. I'm the incarnate introvert, he is extroversion personified. But durnit, he is just too sincere and charming to keep hating, I give up.
(I'd like to watch the show where Oprah visits Tom's home. If anybody finds it online, please give notice.)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course Cruise is sincere. He's an actor and can turn on any emotion to project whatever façade necessary to the performance. Besides, he has the training and background of L.Ron H. to cover him all the way.

Anonymous said...

Here's Tom on Letterman.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

"Of course Cruise is sincere. He's an actor and can turn on any emotion to project whatever façade necessary to the performance."

But that would be the opposite of sincerity!

:)

Johnnie Walker said...

I find him creepy and weird. Have you seen that crazy Scientology video of his on YouTube? That sent shivers down my spine.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

He seems to me like a good person, though it's clear that he's kinda... overwrought.

Anonymous said...

johnnie walker asked: “Have you seen that crazy Scientology video of his on YouTube?”

Johnnie, Eolake has offered an extensive¹ commentary on that video (and Scientology in general) in “About Scientology, a considered critique.”

[1] At least by Eolake's standards. ;-)

Johnnie Walker said...

Sure, he's great - just as long as you're not involved in the pharmaceutical industry in any way, as long as you're not a doctor who has ever prescribed any drugs for psychiatric illness, as long as you're not a psychiatrist or psychologist, as long as you're not someone who has ever seen a psychiatrist or psychologist or taken any of those prescribed drugs for any mental illness... If you have, then he's no friend of yours. If you do not buy into the idea that psychiatry is evil, he wants nothing to do with you. What a great guy!

Anonymous said...

KABEL said: <<<<<< "Of course Cruise is sincere. He's an actor and can turn on any emotion to project whatever façade necessary to the performance." >>>>>

EOLAKE said: <<<<<<< But that would be the opposite of sincerity! :) >>>>>>

I think in KABEL´s comment quotes are missing in: Of course Cruise is "SINCERE".

How can you trust an actor? By definition if they are good at acting you never know if they are acting, role playing or being sincere.

Anonymous said...

That requires an extra degree of knowledge. The only way an actor can fool everybody 100% of the time is if he himself believes what he's saying. This means close observation should reveal odd tics, changes in the pitch of his voice, and things of that nature. Yes, he's trained to minimize things like that, but unless he is incredibly skilled at Orwellian-esque doublethink he's going to give himself away somewhere.

To the casual observer this is as good as agreeing with the previous comments, that if he's insincere there's no way of telling. Honestly, who cares enough to watch him that closely? If he's not running for office it's none of my business. Yeah, he's become a front man for what many would consider a crazy cult, but Scientology is a lot less wide-spread than other harmful religions and there's enough information available that people have no excuse for their ignorance if they go into it uninformed.

To me, Tom Cruise seems like a charming, well-meaning guy most of the time. Doesn't mean he is. Either way I don't give a damn.

Anonymous said...

To me, Tom Cruise seems like a charming, well-meaning guy most of the time. Doesn't mean he is. Either way I don't give a damn.

You've given it a lot of thought for someone who doesn't give a damn.

Anonymous said...

That was 30 seconds of thought. The comment was 5 to 10 minutes of minor effort. My mind pieces stuff like this together all the time, entirely on its own. I just roll with it.

Anonymous said...

Nah. That would have taken you much longer. I bet you got to bed late that night! Maybe 2, 2:30.