The Latest Scientology Appearance

(Posted on alt.religion.scientology 11/15/04 by Cerridwen)

Tom Cruise spoke at the International Association of Scientologists Gala on Sunday, November 14th. Here is a report from someone who attended.

Remember I told you that I thought Tom Cruise was going to get a Freedom Medal at this IAS event? Not only did he get a Freedom Medal Award, but he got a super-duper first-ever spectacular award for being the OT celebrity that they all think he is. Tom Cruise was the recipient of the first-ever

(For pictures, see here.)

FREEDOM MEDAL OF VALOR AWARD!

I can tell you what Tom was like in this event, in one word. Megalomania: A psychological state characterized by delusions of grandeur.

Tom Cruise, like DM, was wallowing in a highly exaggerated estimation of himself. He was way too happy and pleased with himself.

It wasn't so much about all the things he's accomplished but about his tough attitude and his ethics. He often got this look in his eyes that was over the top. You had to wonder if the guy was really OK or becoming a stark raving nut job.

It's fine to be happy with yourself and happy with achievement but he has gotten so intense that it's scary to see the looks that come over his face sometimes.

That gleam in the eye is the making of a fanatic. It's that "fixed dedicated glare" that LRH talks about in KSW. I would think that you would want a serene and confident look, not a fixed dedicated glare. Tom Cruise is beginning to look like a fanatic and it's damned creepy.

If he's very lucky, this guy will have a soft landing when he crashes back into the real world.

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The Tom Cruise section of the event was a big DM and TC love fest. They reminded me of the Ambiguously Gay Duo on Saturday Night Live.

DM was Batman and Tom Cruise was his Robin.

DM is awarding him but is careful about stroking him (at least publicly) because what they want to put across is that Tom is doing all of this because HE knows he should be doing it. Pay attention to that because that is important. It's at the heart of the Scientology mindset.

OK Back to what happened.

The video introduction to Tom is all about his celebrity thing around the world. It went on for ages. There he was at NASA, and thanks to his dissemination of study tech, the NASA website has a glossary of difficult terms. There he was with the leader of Japan. There he was being interviewed all over the world. On and on and on and on.

His involvement in many Scientology programs including his promotion of CCHR was hammered home. It was a totally glowing report showing him to be the most influential celebs on the planet, the most active shilling member of the cult. It wasn't about stroking Tom. It was about stroking Scientologists to get them to PRODUCE MORE.

One story he told was about a wog. Tom told him all about SP's until the guy finally asked with his voice full of awe, "Have you ever actually MET an SP?" Lots of laughter at that line and I missed whatever the point was that he was making. By that time I had a fixed glare of my own and it wasn't dedicated to getting everything he was saying.

What I heard next was Tom saying he tried to imagine later what it would be like in a future when SP's were only a part of history. At that point I tried to imagine what it would be like when Church of Scientology PR was a part of history and you could take ANYTHING a Scientology shill says without a sack of salt.

Here are some more of Tom's cognitions. "WE are the authorities. We know who we are and what we have. We are Scientologists! We don't need to ask anyone for a permission slip! We should just go out and DO it." Those were not his exact words but they are close enough.

What did Tom have to say about the psychs? "Show no mercy! None!" That is a direct quote.

The audience hung onto every word he said. They lapped him up like a drunk with a bottle.

The IAS did their own long interview with Tom. I can't remember how many times he said it was all about having your ethics in and Keeping Scientology Working. He said the turning point for him was when he realized that. Because of his position in the world, he had to be more responsible than he was before. What it tells me is Tom has moved into FULL INDOCTRINATION MODE.

It was so obvious DM and Tom had a coordinated message and the message was ONE BIG HINT to all Scientologists. Tom has accepted mega responsibility for the mega celebrity he is. He is doing ALL he can to Keep Scientology Working. If you're a Scientologist, YOU don't have another option. YOU have to do ALL YOU can.

Tom went onto the stage and was given his award to thunderous applause by DM. You've never seen anyone accept an award as though they knew they had it coming to them like Tom did. But his acceptance speech was a mega acknowledgment of DM.

This is a paraphrase but pretty close to exactly what he said. "I've met the leaders of the world. I've met the leaders of the leaders. I've met them all. And I can tell you we're lucky to have Mr. Miscavige, the smartest, most competent, most compassionate and caring of them all." Then Tom walks to where DM is standing on the stage and they shake hands and hug. But not too closely.

Eventually, as this information gets to the mainstream media, it will destroy his career or at least make a big joke out of him, but he doesn't care. He now has that fixed dedicated glare and he truly doesn't care.

The Rolling Stone Interview

The entire webbed article can be found at
www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6420217?rnd=1092364818611&has-player=true&version=6.0.11.847&

"Want to meet my mom?" Tom Cruise asks as we walk through the halls of the Celebrity Centre, ground zero for Scientology in Los Angeles. Um, sure.

We round a corner and enter the president's office, where Mary Lee (a.k.a. Mom) has just ordered a salad. In town from Florida, she is leaning against a door frame near Lee Anne DeVette, Cruise's sister and publicist, and Tommy, who manages Cruise's philanthropy work. Mom is thin and tan, and she beams an even toothier smile than her son when she is introduced.

Considering that she is a practicing Catholic, it is somewhat surprising to see her in the Celebrity Centre. "I just finished taking the Way to Happiness course," she says. "I learned so much."

She pauses for a moment and reflects on the day's lesson: "And I thought I was happy before."

Cruise joined Scientology, the controversial church of religion and life philosophy started by L. Ron Hubbard, after church courses helped him overcome his dyslexia in the Eighties; he was followed, one by one, by his three sisters. His mother was the lone holdout in the clan. A year ago, however, after going through what she describes as "some things," she relented.

But doesn't Scientology conflict with her Catholicism? Not at all, she says: "I think Jesus wants me to be here right now. My church may not agree, but I personally know that."

We sit down on the couch, and Lee Anne puts in a video. It is a tape of Tom Cruise speaking at her daughter's graduation from the Delphian School, which uses L. Ron Hubbard's learning principles. It is a passionate speech, in which Cruise sings the praises of Hubbard's "Study Tech" and rails against psychiatry and psychiatric medication. After graduating, Lee Anne's daughter will work in Cruise's office. They're a tight little family.

On the surface, Cruise seems to be at a turning point in his life and career. Romantically, he is alone, having divorced Nicole Kidman after ten years and broken up with Penelope Cruz after three. And he recently left his longtime -- and notoriously overprotective -- publicist, Pat Kingsley, preferring representation by his family. Meanwhile, in his movies, he is taking steps to shed his old persona of headstrong-young-hotshot-with-a-good-heart-underneath-it-all in favor of progressively more evil characters -- from Lestat in Interview With the Vampire to Frank "T.J." Mackey in Magnolia to Vincent in his latest film, Collateral. An older character with salt-and-pepper hair, Vincent is not a nice guy: He is a cold-blooded killer and an unredeemable sociopath who leaves a trail of bodies in his wake.

But the most surprising change is that the famously press-phobic Cruise seems more open than ever about his commitment to Scientology, having provided funds for a detoxification clinic to help New York firefighters who became sick after 9/11.

Since Scientology, in the popular imagination, is such a loaded word -- often associated with heavy-handed recruitment tactics, strong-arm-lawyer assaults and steep membership and course fees -- one would think that Cruise wouldn't be so willing to take a journalist through that world.

"Who are those people that say those things?" Cruise asks when I bring it up over lunch one day. "Because I promise you, it isn't everybody. But I look at those people and I say, 'Bring it. I'm a Scientologist, man. What do you want to know?' I don't mind answering questions." He lists some of Scientology's selling points: its drug-abuse, prison-rehabilitation and education programs. "Some people, well, if they don't like Scientology, well, then, f**k you."

He rises from the table. "Really." He points an angry finger at the imaginary enemy. "F**k you." His face reddens. "Period."

Wow, what a nice guy. We'll take your foul-mouthed abuse for a compliment, Tom. We must bother you. Really. Th**k you.

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WHY CAN'T TOM KEEP HIS GIRLS?

3/27/04 by Fiona Cummings, Ms. Showbiz http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews

TOM Cruise is one of Hollywood's most handsome and richest stars and has had a string of beautiful women on his arm.

But there's the rub - he just can't seem to hang on to them.

His three year relationship with actress Penelope Cruz is over, Tom's sister Lee Anne DeVette confirmed yesterday.

"It was amicable," she said. "They broke up at the end of January."

Penelope, 29, was said to have lived in the shadow of Tom's ex-wife Nicole Kidman and his devotion to cult religion Scientology. But Penelope's publicist Robert Garlock was at pains to deny any link between the sect and the breakdown of their romance. Penelope was brought up Catholic and dabbled in Buddhism. She refused to join the Scientologists but publicly defended Tom's beliefs.

Mr Garlock said: "Penelope is not a Scientologist, but she has taken church courses and found them beneficial." He added: "They remain friends and still talk often. There is no other person involved."

So why can't a man like Tom, who has the world at his feet, find a life long partner? He was brought up by his mother, has three sisters and seems to know the ways of women. Tom once said: "Women to me are not a mystery. I get along easily with them. I trust women easier than men." He has twice filed lawsuits over false claims that he is gay.

Tom's first marriage to Mimi Rogers in 1987 lasted three years. Her days were numbered when he fell in love with Nicole at a casting for Days of Thunder in 1989.

She claimed the end came when he told her he was thinking of becoming a monk. She said: "He thought he had to be celibate to maintain the purity of his instrument where as I like to play mine from time to time."

Tom, 41, met many of his girlfriends on film sets. He dated actress Melissa Gilbert when they were teenagers. Then, in 1983, he fell in love with Risky Business co-star Rebecca De Mornay. But their relationship turned sour when he moved to England to film Legend. They parted in 1985. Rebecca said at the time: "Our parting was not a friendly one. "I burned the bridge named Tom Cruise behind me. Now we have no contact."

Last Samurai star Tom has also been linked to Dynasty actress Heather Locklear and singer Cher. And he once dated Patti Sciafla, who went on to have three children with Bruce Springsteen.

Tom met Penelope when they starred in Vanilla Sky in 2001. He said they only started dating after his split from Nicole and they made their first public appearance together at a premiere a week after his divorce came through.

But even as their love grew, Nicole and their adopted children - Isabella, 12, and Connor, nine - always seemed to be in the background. Tom gushed in one interview: "I have always loved Nic and I always will. Always. "That will never change - the times that we have had together."

And he has never really explained why he left her after 10 years. Their traumatic divorce, during which Nicole revealed she was carrying his child and then miscarried, has appeared to put him off marriage. He said last November that he would not marry Penelope.

"I love Penelope and I have a lot of fun with her. But in terms of marriage there are no particular plans at this time. It's not going to happen this Christmas."

There were rumours of a rift when Penelope failed to accompany Tom to the Golden Globes in January. She was said to be visiting her sick father Eduardo in Madrid. Two weeks ago, Tom rushed to her side when she collapsed in the heat filming in the Sahara. But by then they were already living apart.

Yesterday Eduardo laughed off suggestions that his daughter was mourning their separation. The former car mechanic said: "My daughter is happier than I am. I've no reason to be sad."

It remains to be seen whether Tom will finally settle down. He had a rootless, poverty-stricken childhood after his parents split. Now he believes you have to move on. He said: "You have to have the strength to separate. "People are more prone to stay together for security, which is something I have never really done."

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Walls' Scoop Newsletter No. 118 MSNBC

The three most thankless jobs in the show business industry are probably:

1) Courtney Love's stylist

2) Lara Flynn Boyle's nutritionist

3) Tom Cruise's publicist

For the last 14 years, job No. 3 has been held by a square-jawed, steely-eyed, sharp-tongued woman named Pat Kingsley. Because she controls access to Tom Cruise – as well as a slew of other fact-suppressing, info-manipulating celebs — Pat Kingsley is known as The Gatekeeper. She berates, belittles, and blacklists reporters who dare write anything negative about any of her powerful clients. Tom Cruise is almost certainly the driving force behind such image control, folks say, but Pat Kingsley takes the heat for it all and has been called the most feared woman in Hollywood – while Cruise profiles call him Tom Terrific.

Last week, obnoxious reporters such as your Snarky Scooper were stunned to hear that Pat Kingsley would no longer be representing Tom Cruise.

Well, maybe not so stunned. You see, Dear Readers, this is what sometimes happens when celebs are going through an image problem. In the early '90s, after Julia Roberts abruptly cancelled her wedding to Kiefer Sutherland, was panned in “Hook,” and was fielding bizarre rumors about what she did during her sabbatical from films, she went through publicists like they were bon bons. During the height of the Bennifer madness, both Ben and Jen switched their publicists.

And as of late, Tom's public image has taken a few hits. It all began around the time of the appropriately named “Eyes Wide Shut” and has continued with Tom's congressional lobbying efforts on behalf of Scientology causes, his declaration that psychiatry should be outlawed (another Scientology concern), several films that didn't live up to the old Tom Cruise box office draw, and – despite the presence of the lovely Penelope Cruz—pesky rumors about his sex life.

Meanwhile, Tom's ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, has never been hotter.

Tom, Dear Readers, is the ultimate control freak when it comes to his public image. The stories are legendary. On some of Tom Cruise's press junkets, reporters were told to sign contracts saying they would not write or say anything negative about Tom – or they wouldn't get to interview him. TV reporters were required to get approval of the exact wording of the intros into their Tom Cruise segments or no interview. One reporter who wrote a big magazine profile of Tom Cruise dared to interview a friend without Tom's permission. He went ballistic on her. Pat Kingsley stepped in and told the reporter that she couldn't use the quote – even though the friend had only fond memories of Tom. The writer used the quotes anyway, and claims that she was pretty much blackballed out of the celeb-profiling business.

Pat Kingsley denies that the reporter was punished for running the quote, but freely admits that if any journalist crosses one of her clients, she won't let them talk to any of the other A-list celebs represented by the powerful PR firm PMK-HBH. “Am I stupid?” she once said. “If they burn me once, won't they burn me twice? I will absolutely not work with them again. I'll tell a magazine, ‘Listen, this writer has a bad history with my clients to give us another writer.'”

Pat Kingsley also sees nothing wrong with setting conditions for interviews with her stars, asking reporters to sign contracts, etc. “Since when is it a bad thing to make tough demands on behalf of your client?” Kingsley has said. “The person who has the goods has a much stronger position. Why not exercise that position? In which business do you not do that?”

Let me say here and now, Dear Readers, I am not a fan of Pat Kingsley – and she is even less a fan of me. I have often been on the receiving end of Pat Kingsley's wrath, and it ain't pretty. But I will say this (through gritted teeth): Pat Kingsley does a good job for her clients. She would bite the head off a gossip columnist and let the blood run down her chin if it would keep the dirt from coming out about her celebs. It is why so many journalists loathe her, and so many of her clients love her.

But the buzz is that Pat Kingsley told Tom Cruise to cool it on the Scientology proselytizing. It wasn't good for his image, she advised him. This became an issue. So Pat Kingsley was replaced with Lee Anne DeVette, who has vehemently denied that Scientology had anything to do with Kingsley's replacement. De Vette is not one of Hollywood's most feared or powerful public relations pros. She is Tom's sister. She also happens to be a Scientologist. This does not bode well for Tom Cruise's career.

Pat Kingsley says she remains friendly with her former client, and has been quoted as saying that “Tom wants to go more internal.” He certainly will get his wish. Will Tom's own “Battlefield Earth” be far behind? I am looking forward to dealing with Ms. DeVette – though perhaps I risk losing access to other Scientologists such as John Travolta or former Pier One spokeswoman Kirstie Alley. And I remain, as always,

Your Faithful Scooper,

Jeannette Walls

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Basement Files: My brother's keeper

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, April 15, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

With post-production now wrapped on Collateral, a taut, action thriller from director Michael Mann, dates for the press junket are taking shape. Editors wishing to propose cover stories/photo layouts should contact Lee Anne DeVette no later than April 23. As always, we retain the right of final approval for all journalists, photographers and stylists assigned to cover Mr. Cruise. In addition, we ask that all interviewers submit a list of questions for preapproval.

The following guidelines will be strictly enforced during all interviews:

1. Tom's association with the Church of Scientology is a private matter and questions about his personal faith will not be permitted or entertained. This subject has caused a great deal of pain within our family (especially for Momma), and I don't need you stirring up a hornet's nest. I still remember when Tom brought Mimi Rogers home for Christmas back in '89 and told us he'd joined the Church of Scientology.

Well, Momma was so tickled that Tom was back in the house of the Lord, she just blurted out, "Oh, honey, I wish you'd try out for their choir. You always had such a pretty voice, Tom. I always said that." Tom gave Mimi's hand a little squeeze for support and said, "They don't really have a choir, Momma." Well, by the time he'd explained Dianetics and the genius of L. Ron Hubbard, Momma was fit to be tied. Momma took one look at Mimi and said, "What have you dragged my baby into?" Naturally, Mimi wouldn't back down an inch, telling Momma that Tom was "old enough to make his own decisions." Momma cut her off with a hateful glare and said, "Maybe the two of you would be more comfortable at the Days Inn, where you can light your satanic candles and drink all the baby blood you can swallow, but I won't have it in my own house." That's pretty much where the family left it and we'd appreciate your leaving it there too.

2. Don't ask Tom any math questions where an individual column's sum exceeds 10 and necessitates the carrying of an imaginary 1 to the adjacent column. To do so is to see his beautiful smile melt into a pained mask of eternal bewilderment. He's my brother and I love him, but he ain't got the sense God gave a goose.

3. If the interview's not going that well, you might ask Tom what happened at summer camp when he was 11 years old. My guess is he'll shoot you a dazzling smile and shrug his shoulders as if he has no idea what you're talking about. But then do your best imitation of a little boy sobbing on the phone and screaming, "But, Mother, it's bleeding." I guarantee that'll get a rise out of him. In fairness, Tom was young and very lonely at camp. The kind of lonely that makes you especially vulnerable to an older and more experienced boy's tender kiss.

4. Momma would like for you to ask Tom why he always falls for these cold, domineering foreign women instead of just settling down with someone sweet like Laura Linney. Momma and I just love her. But good luck getting a straight answer on that one.

5. It's probably not fair to ask Tom about Momma's hip-replacement surgery, as he was too busy with "samurai training" to fully immerse himself in the dreadful particulars. Oh, he called when he could, I suppose, but cell phones can't tend to catheters and bedsores, and fancy Japanese flower arrangements won't wipe your own blessed mother's ass as she screams from the pain. No, that takes someone being there every single day. And then to swoop in at the very last minute with a $12,000 computerized recumbent bike and L.A.'s preeminent physical therapist in tow...well, you just think people would see through that. But all Momma can talk about is how she had Gary Busey's physical therapist. Unbelievable.

6. Don't ask Tom about the time he brought Penelope Cruz to visit Momma and somebody threw a big giant fit when she couldn't order tapas at Applebee's. I would be ashamed to act like that in public, but Tom fell all over himself making excuses for her behavior. And then, after making us spend 10 minutes talking her into trying the chicken pot pie, she has to make these exaggerated gagging noises and tell us all it's the worst thing she's ever eaten in her life. You know, maybe some people consider it classy to rub their greater sophistication in your face. Maybe they think it's classy to make sure you know they've eaten way better food than Applebee's. But you know what? I don't think it's classy at all. In fact, I think it's the exact opposite of class. I guarantee you Laura Linney has eaten better food than Applebee's, but she'd eat her chicken pot pie like a little soldier and then tell you it's the best meal she's had in ages. A hearty, welcome change from all that prissy Hollywood food. She'd make you feel good about taking her to Applebee's. That's just the kind of person Laura Linney is, I bet. But then, Laura's American. And she's got class.

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"Dances with Samurai"

by D Gordon Hilton
December 12, 2003

From JapanToday: http://news.japantoday.com/gidx/comment513.html

Somewhere in Japan, Akira Kurosawa's bones are rolling over in their urn. Kurosawa, the grandfather of the samurai flick and a legendary director of Japanese cinema, may have finally met his match in Edward Zwick's wannabe epic "The Last Samurai."

"Samurai" is a not-so-subtle tribute to Kurosawa and a Zwickian ode to the predictable complexities of patriotism and redemption. It also has something no Kurosawa film ever had: Tom Cruise and his hair.

A tried-and-true formula with a new twist (this time the cowboy is in Japan), "Samurai" stars Cruise as Nathan Algren, an embittered Civil War hero haunted by his past and seeking solace in a whiskey bottle. Once captured, he finds unexpected redemption at the hands of his enemy and quickly learns their ways. Growing to respect and love his former enemy, he eventually fights with them against his own countrymen. If it sounds familiar, it should: Cruise dances with samurai like Kevin Costner danced with wolves.

Like most of what Hollywood has to offer, "Samurai" falls apart when it attempts to suspend our disbelief and tries to sweep us away in grandeur. Thanks to great costumes, some historical accuracy and a fantastic Japanese cast it almost works, but the gaping holes in Zwick's fairy tale are too great to ignore.

In a "Crouching Tiger" universe where martial artists defy gravity and float across rooftops, "Samurai" might make sense. Algren's feats of unexplainable ability could be laughed off as a metaphor for the strength of U.S. forces or the implied superiority of Caucasian men. But sadly "Samurai" is intended as a historical portrait, making the pain that much more acute.

The implausibility of a drunkard American Civil War soldier defeating multiple samurai in hand to hand combat can be overlooked once or twice. But Zwick doesn't know when to stop and keeps hitting us over the head with it. Algren not only defeats samurai but also outsmarts ninja, masters swordplay and teaches the true meaning of bushido to the Japanese and presumably, the audience.

What "Samurai" communicates is that cowboy American individualism will beat out traditional Japanese discipline every time, and that only the benevolent retrospection of American filmmakers (or proactive U.S. foreign policy) can protect Japan from itself. On top of this, it portrays the hapless samurai, equipped with only a lifetime of training in the Way of the Warrior, as no match for a white-guy hell bent on victory and half drunk on whiskey.

In one particularly jaw-dropping scene "Samurai" jumps from the realm of fantasy to offensive absurdity when Algren, limping slightly from his last stand as the last samurai, waltzes uninvited into the emperor's chamber. Without batting an eye, Emperor Meiji listens intently to Algren's pedantic lecture about the importance of honor and discipline and, shedding an over-dramatic tear, embraces the wisdom of this handsome gaijin.

Watching an American impart the Japanese emperor with his wisdom of bushido, honor and discipline is enough to make someone sick and portraying an American as the last samurai is beyond fantasy. Like most of the movie, it's an outrageous affront to Japan's history, an insult to the Japanese and an inexcusable piece of American propaganda.

"The Last Samurai" is to movies what donuts are to breakfast foods: satisfying at first but sure to leave you feeling empty. Based on an implausibly simple premise and dressed up like an epic, "Samurai" tries hard to be something it's not and relies on star power, costume design and cinematography to get it there. But it doesn't get there, because just like Cruise's character Algren, "The Last Samurai" is a true American fallacy.

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