Kneejerk reaction to Tom Cruise

Being pretty much a well-informed critic of Scientology, I've never been a huge fan of Tom Cruise, as moral philosopher or prophet. He can act, no doubt (you want to argue? Check out "Magnolia", the boy has chops.)

But recently he has been so obnoxious I've started devloping a hate-hate relationship with him. I actually don't hate him (I can think of a dozen people off the top of my head that I have greater reason to loathe (including two ex-wives), and I don't loathe them...it's not in my nature to hate) but I am tired of him. So much so that I have decided not to go see "The War of the Worlds". I'm doing the American thing and voting with my wallet.

Then I read his comments on alien life. He's dead on, although I think his indelicate way of being confrontational on what is not a day-to-day survival issue is ludicrous. Angelina Jolie wants to save starving children. Bono wants debt relief for Africa. Tom Cruise wants you to know that you're a jerk if you don't believe in ET. I think there is such a thing a chemical imbalance, and I think we have a public case study with him.

I saw an online poll at CNN.com where they asked "do you agree with Tom Cruise about there being life in the universe" or words to that effect. I do. Have for decades (Tom did not persuade me...he would, right now, have a hard time persuading me that the sky is blue. He's pretty and he has money. Bill Gates has more money and Paris Hilton is prettier and I'd not change my views on any topic on their words, either) but my kneejerk reaction was to say "No"...to deny the existence of the zillions of life forms that are certainly out there just because of one obnoxious proponent.

Gotta get some caffeine (to correct MY chemical imbalance this morning, brought on by a changing schedule)

Hey, the new book looks spiffy. Have maintained the new exercise schedule, so far, all week...now have to decided if I want the BIG Press Release to go out tomorrow and risk being lost in the 4th of July news cycles, or send it out on Tuesday, and make it dangerously close to the edge for the actual release of the book.

To recap. Book: Good. Tom Cruise: at best, boring. Caffeine: Good. Angelina Jolie: Very good on so many levels I really don't have time to start in on (she would've been a nice Panther too...maybe if I ever finish that screenplay based on the story behind the poems...she plays the sexy-psycho dichotomy well...meow).

What? You didn't think I'd be working on a screenplay called The Songs of the Panther? Oh, you silly fool.