AHP on the spectacular public downfall of Tom Cruise:
The image of Cruise as Maverick and Jerry Maguire faded into that of a dark, bizarre doppelganger. The face was the same — preserved by some anti-aging magic — but it felt increasingly uncanny. When it was revealed that Christian Bale took his inspiration for the look of American Psycho’s Christian Bateman from watching Tom Cruise’s hollow, perfect laugh in a Letterman interview, it didn’t seem like a jab. It made perfect, terrifying tense.
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Bim LOVES Tig Notaro, and so do I (and Mallory!) and the documentary is on Netflix now, so hit it uppp:
Last week I was doing the dishes while watching Tig, a new Netflix documentary about comedian Tig Notaro. I found myself laughing and then crying, at first softly and then suddenly very hard.
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Oh, wow, this look at the history of the first black character in Peanuts is super-fascinating and also mad depressing (there is a very racist Dennis the Menace strip in here, if you’re not feeling like you need that in your day, btw):
Glickman must have been elated at Schulz’s willingness to at least consider including black characters in his strip. She had also contacted another nationally syndicated cartoonist, Allen Saunders, who wrote the Mary Worth strip. Saunders believed that “it is still impossible to put a Negro in a role of high professional importance and have the reader accept it as valid. And the militant Negro will not accept any member of his race now in any of the more humble roles in which we now regularly show whites. He too would be hostile and try to eliminate our product.” Against that background, Schulz’s openness to at least thinking about inserting a black character into his strip must have been refreshing.
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Yeah, I’m having a good time with the Wet Hot American Summer prequel, which I was resolved to enjoy NO MATTER WHAT, so fuck the haters (this review is not by a hater):
Netflix’s nefarious metrics aside, Wain and Showalter should be credited for not treating First Day of Camp as an opportunity for a cheap nostalgia cash-in. Much like the ambitious, plot-heavy fourth season of Arrested Development (which Netflix revived in 2013, seven years after Fox cancelled it), they’re aiming high rather than just bouncing around the same jokes fans remember. Remember the talking can of vegetables from the movie? First Day of Camp shows you exactly how that came about. Why was the astrophysicist Henry Newman (David Hyde Pierce) living nearby Camp Firewood? All will be explained. Did you think Elizabeth Banks’s character had a mysterious secret identity? Well, she does, and it’s one of the prequel’s best and most bizarre running threads.
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In related news, our Decider boys decided to devote a Who Would You Rather to the question of Andy v Coop:
Joel: Yes, but the movie made it clear that Katie made the wrong choice. The juvenile choice. The superficial choice. She chose Andy because he was hotter, which as I’ve said time and time again in this column doesn’t last! Except in Paul Rudd cases, which — goddammit. But it doesn’t really matter, because the movie had no way of predicting that Paul Rudd would sleep nightly in a man-sized tupperware container, sealing in and preserving all his hot-man juices for decades to come.
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This man is terrible and does horrible, destructive work:
Many policing experts are for hire, but Dr. Lewinski is unique in that he conducts his own research, trains officers and internal investigators, and testifies at trial. In the protests that have followed police shootings, demonstrators have often asked why officers are so rarely punished for shootings that seem unwarranted. Dr. Lewinski is part of the answer.
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Carrie Frye just got a puppy, here is a picture of her puppy:
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This super-dope 98 y/o lady is a Toastie’s co-worker’s mom (basically we’re sisters, is what that means):
Do you have a morning routine?
First, I set my hair in curls with pins every night. The minute I wake up, I get dressed in a complete look including jewelry, hair and makeup. I even lay out my clothes the night before. No walking around in my pajamas, I’ve never done that. I like to be ready to enjoy my day. It starts me off on the right foot.
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Deleted comment of the day on this piece:
Tags: feminism, link roundup, the internet
Eeeeegghh, Tom Cruise. Has anyone seen the new MI movie, if so, did you think it played creepily into Tom’s image, like Ethan being considered “paranoid” and insisting “I can see the way! Can’t you see it??” and genuinely looking unbalanced occasionally? Maybe it took other movie characters looking at him suspiciously, like “this guy we know and love might have a *problem*” to give me the creeps. 🙁 There was too much Real Tom in it for me.
When I watch the last MI movie, I thought that Jeremy Renner was stealing all of the scenes. The guy is a pretty great actor and maybe Tom is feeling the uh … competition? What would that be called.
Anyway, in the AHP article, she says “Or that arguing about the efficacy of antidepressants wouldn’t seem like standing behind his principles, but the speech of a fanatic. ”
Except he was right about the efficacy of the anti-depressants, wasn’t he?
I enjoyed Renner in Ghost Protocol as well, although I’m pretty sure he was cast because he is as short as Tom Cruise.
No, he wasn’t.
Oh, I think I read in The Atlantic and I think Psych Central that therapy worked better than anti-depressants, in terms of efficacy. My pdoc also said that the drug companies had lied about the effectiveness of anti-depressants, long term, and their side-effects. For some people though the anti-d’s work great, I’m just not one of them.
Well, for one thing, Tom Cruise didn’t recommend “therapy” as a treatment for depression, because Scientology doesn’t believe in any kind of therapy either; he recommended “vitamins and exercise.” (Certainly, these are useful tools when it comes to treating depression; they aren’t the same thing as antidepressants.) He also said that “there’s no such thing as chemical imbalance” — something that’s manifestly false if he thinks vitamins and exercise are going to do anything, the whole point of them is that they produce chemicals.
Though even if he DID mean that, it’s moot because the American Psychiatric Association doesn’t recommend using antidepressants solely for treatment of depression anyway; it’s supposed to be coupled with therapy. Saying antidepressants “don’t work” when you misuse them or when you’ve been incorrectly prescribed is like saying that codeine doesn’t work because kids take it to get high.
This is a really cool tool about the importance of publishing all trials for specific drugs (the example is anti-depressants). http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015…
It is true that drugs work really well for some people, but for others, the source of depression is probably a different biochemical pathway. It sucks that drugs that work only 30% of the time are marketed as working 60% of the time, it does not help.
(I realize this is off topic, but the ‘publish all trials’ thing is close to my heart and I share it obsessively.)
I don’t think I will ever pay money for a Tom Cruise movie ever again, unfortunately, but I saw an ad for the newest MI movie and thought it was funny that the very first “critical praise” quote was “Got a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes” … first of all, yay the internet! and second, when you have to prove its worth by a numerical score before you say things like “the best action-packed thriller of the summer,” maybe you have a problem with promoting your film.
Dr. Lewinski reminds me of that episode of Blue Bloods (this is a TV show that I saw a couple times because I only get 3 TV channels and also Magnum PI was on it, I thought it might be good, actually it is the “fascist dad variety hour”), where Magnum PI proved to Bebe Newirth that it was impossible for cops to remember the truth while they were scared of something, so they shouldn’t be fired for lying about why they shot an unarmed guy.
“Fascist Dad Variety Hour,” I am both horrified by this idea and intrigued.
“Fascist dad variety hour” is such a good description for this show (and, sadly, explains why my dad likes this show so much).
My mom loves this show. I haven’t been able to watch a full episode because cop dramas make me uncomfortable and I can’t look at Tom Selleck without seeing Magnum’s short shorts.
Well, it is pretty much straight up fascist propaganda.
I think you meant to say “Magnum’s plum smugglers.”
http://bestweekever.blogs.com/photos/uncategorize…
I am here to discuss all things Wet Hot all day long because it is PERFECTION and I am so happy and getting all nostalgic about Jewish summer camp and YARON
My two new fav characters are Drew and Logan St. Bogan I think. Is it horrible and weird that I love Drew?
No! The kid who plays Drew is PERFECT–he nails every line. It’d be so easy for that character to just be obnoxious and terrible, but he’s hilarious.
Overall the younger cast really blew me away!
Agreed, I just loved how he was so unabashedly horrible, without hesitation.
I LIKE DOING STUFF LIKE THIS!!!
I was already laughing, but that line had me in TEARS. He’s so wonderfully awful!!
All the young’ins are FANTASTIC. I was quite convinced Drew was related to the kid who wanked to death in World’s Greatest Dad, but apparently this is not the case, though they are very similar is their gingerness and perfect asshole deliveries.
I have never in my life seen such a spot-on portrayal of teen/pre-teen boys.
Abby Bernstein’s origin story made me cry laughing, I did NOT see that coming. And the cameo for Eric :O
I thought it was pretty good! There were some parts that fell flat for me, but overall I enjoyed it and had many good laughs. Paul Rudd is still mega-fine, just like he was back in the day, and I have to say I loved finally finding out who Ron is!!!
Well Ron does show up at the end of the movie, but we get to see how they met!
Ah you’re right! I probably should have re-watched the movie before diving into the TV show!
From the moment I saw Judah Friedlander in Regan’s office I got so distracted trying to figure out how he was going to end up with Molly Shannon.
Yep. Whole thing = super-enjoyable. Also I would 100% be on board for a Camp Tiger Claw spinoff
As we discussed on Twitter: Yaron is freaking PERFECT. So on point.
David Hyde Pierce’s parts were my favorite I think but only because “FUCK DICK OF A SHIT BUTT” made me gasp out loud. With delight, I mean.
YES, I was trying to remember the exact phrase this morning
OMG I haven’t watched yet, but this made me so happy, as one of my favorite curses is shitballs! Yay! I can’t wait to watch!
We only watched the first episode so far (we are trying to make it last!), and I am SO DISTRACTED by Sterling Archer!!!!!
YAROOOOOOOON YES. Also Jon Hamm as the Falcon. I literally gasped when he showed up.
This is very important: can anyone make me a gif of the scene at the end where Jon Hamm and Christopher Meloni are playfully punching each other in the stomach? I don’t have any use for it, really, I just want to play it over and over.
If the same person could make me two – one of Christopher Meloni sticking his head out of the bathroom as Victor & Neil run away, and one of him skipping through the woods after Victor – I would be eternally grateful.
THE SKIPPING. That scene was truly a genius piece of physical comedy.
I loved every minute of the series but the skipping was 100% my favorite thing. I could have watched it on loop, eternally.
TUMBLR DELIVERS ON ONE POINT
my god, it’s beautiful
The internet made this for me!
I also loved that, just like the movie, McKinley and Ben’s relationship is played COMPLETELY straight (ha), with very few laughs. Just a sweet look at how a new relationship develops and starts. And they were the first people in the series to kiss like non-lunatics!
Hahaha Toast I am still in bed as it is a holiday here and it’s GLORIOUS. and also AHP’s article on Tom Cruise was so excellent that I have nothing to add, other than I am firmly convinced his career will never recover as he is not mature enough to grow into the silver-haired legend type role.
He kinda did the silver-haired thing in Collateral though. And it looked good on him! But as I recall, that was pre couch-jumping.
Civic holiday pyjama day!
At some point I have to get off the boyfriend’s couch and check for storm damage at my place.
We had some pretty high winds and a couple power flickers here, but otherwise escaped unscathed, thank goodness.
I watched Eyes Wide Shut this weekend (I had never seen it and was tipsy and looking for something bizarre and FOUND IT), and I think that might be peak Non-Human Tom Cruise. There were scenes where no sane human would have been smiling, AND HE WAS SMILING in the most disturbed, creeptastic way. It sent literal shivers up my spine, because you’re supposed to be following this character on a strange journey, but said character was just making my skin crawl the whole freakin time! So weird.
Despite that, I would like to see the new MI movie because I like action movies.
Tom Cruise has made my skin crawl from Day One. There is no other actor on the face of the planet that I so deeply do not get. What on earth is his appeal? What was it ever?
Teeth.
AHP’s dissections of celebrity are always fascinating. Cruise is a perfect subject for her because so much of what she writes is about the craft of public persona. She is so right about his lip-sync battle w/Jimmy Fallon – Tom definitely practiced in a mirror for at least a week. I can’t recommend this article enough!
Happy Civic Holiday! I am on vacation on a lake north of Kingston and surprised it’s not busier on the water. Maybe the rain is keeping everyone away.
Couldn’t agree more with your assessment of Tom Cruise and the AHP article. He’ll never be a John Slattery type because he’s still trying to be a 30-year-old action star.
My neck of the woods! I have spent many delightful hours camping at Sharbot Lake myself since it’s only a couple hours from where I live, and the weather has been GORGEOUS today so the bay/lake by me has been absolutely CRAWLING with people.
We are on Eagle Lake, just down 38 from Sharbot Lake. It’s all delightful around here, even in the rain. 🙂
Gorgeous! Wave by exit 525 on the 401 if you’re going back towards Toronto.
So, Vice launched a new vertical aimed at women, “Broadly“. Which, hey, I’ll never say no to a good pun. And there are interesting articles on there! Like about “Satanists” fighting for reproductive rights! And an article titled “How to Embrace Your Aging Vagina”!
But there’s also a regular Astrology feature, for which the title tricks you into thinking it’ll be debunking astrology. The title’s “Your life sucks because it sucks, not because of Mercury retrograde”, and the author whines about “bullshit artists” … because apparently her bullshit is the one you should be listening to. I tweeted with editor Callie Beusman about this, and apparently it’s her idea because horoscopes are fun, but it’s just always such a disappointment to me when “aimed at women” is seen as an excuse for woo.
*clicks*
*sees article about Juggalo feminism*
*nope the fuck out of there*
JUGGALO FEMINISM WHAT
must read asap
I kind of have a soft spot for Juggalos, in a way. I mean, yeah obviously a ton of them are just horrible sexist people, but there’s a part of me that is like “well at least they all have each other.” Idk.
I once really embarrassed myself with my belief that Juggalo was just a term for a professional juggler. I’m really disappointed that it’s not.
I think we need to see a Venn diagram on this.
ASK A BRO?? On a women’s vertical? The only thing any woman ever needs to ask a bro is “Can you go away?”
Basically, every time a site aimed at women gets launched I have this tiny, cautious spark of hope… luckily, now I have The Toast to scurry back to when it’s inevitably a disappointment.
Did I mention the astrologer tweeted at me that “once upon a time i thought it was woo, too! but no longer, check out [website] if u r interested”.
Yeah. No.
Yeah I already knew about Broadly, am purposely not reading because a dude is in charge of it for some reason.
“for some reason”
🙁
Anyone who is looking to Vice for guidance on an “aging vagina” probably does not have one and will never, ever be allowed near one.
If I could learn how to embrace my vagina at any age, I’d be happy, because that would be a feat of contortionism that would surely make me millions.
Apparently they brought in Tracie Egan to launch Broadly. So. You can all do with that info what you will.
PUPPY
so soft and little
those gorgeous ears *happy sigh*
I feel like I need to know — does the puppy’s head smell like milk and love?
That is not a puppy that is a cartoon of a puppy.
You make a strong point.
I keep trying to reach into the screen to snorgle it, to no avail.
I firmly believe that 98-year-old ladies get to do whatever the hell they want, but I also believe there is no point to being a grown up if you can’t spend all day in pajamas (absent other, pants-required commitments.)
Hear hear! Pajamas are the best. Often on Sundays, if I don’t have to go anywhere, I’ll just put on a bra under my pj’s instead of getting dressed. It rules.
I’m not going to lie — I’ve definitely gone out in public sans bra in my PJs and a hoodie.
I went to our fave neighborhood bar sans bra once and it was both terrifying and liberating.
When I was away at university and craving a late-night snack, I would frequently throw a hoodie on over my pajamas and walk over to the convenience store. It was one of those intensely liberating things you do when you’re living away from home from the first time and realizing that no one can tell you what to do.
My bra comes off and PJs on as soon as I’ve finished work and don’t intend to go out again, but I’m prefectly happy to go out without it if something happens and I do end up leaving the house. My PJs are shorts and tank top though, so I will normally put jeans on at least.
I really want to bring back the house dress. My grandma wore them constantly and always looked lovely but comfortable as fuck.
I actually found a house dress in some magazine like Finger Hut or something. Looked exactly like my grandmother used to wear to do housework.
I have a house dress! At least that’s what I call it. It’s a babydoll polka dot dress that bought from a maternity dept (I am not now nor have I ever been pregnant) and it’s cozy and stretchy and doesn’t pick up cat hair.
YES! Does anyone know where to find a housedress? I feel like my life would change is I had one.
vermontcountrystore.com has all your old lady needs covered. Mumus especially.
Count me in on team housedress! I hate wearing pants, so I’ll just have designated dresses that are clothes-pyjamas. When it warms up I will, anyways.
It’s midmorning of day 1 of funemployment over here. I am torn between desire to sloth out hardcore and inner drive to do great and productive things (laundry! clean the bathroom! apply for more jobs!). I have compromised by washing myself and putting on fresh pajamas. I suppose that if I decide to go outside at any point in the day, I can progress to real adult clothing, but there’s just no compelling reason not to be wearing jammies right now.
Oh man, getting up, taking a shower and then putting on fresh pajamas is literally the greatest feeling.
I dunno. I’m looking forward to a wardrobe of “fancy” lounge clothes when I’m an old lady – silky pajama sets, fancy embroidered muumuus. Drapey, silky, flowy shit for dayyyyyssss. I will be fancy AND comfy as heck.
CAFTAN.
Little puppy! So cute! Not reading anything serious linked here, honestly, because I want to start the week off without being super sad…
Re: Charles Schultz.
Whenever I tell my daughter what stories I’m trying to tell, she always asks me, “where am I in this story?” Because she’s mixed race and she wants to see herself represented … . I’m writing fictionalized memoir right now though, and I grew up in an area populated by Swedes, Norwegians and Germans. There was one black family, and there were a couple Poles. I mean, my forebears had come over from the mother countries in the 1860s onward, so the culture was actually a throwback, a preservation of a society, almost as if time stood still.
So when my daughter asks me that, I have to think about how I can add a mixed race or black character to my stories without it being a character who was white is now going to be black. So how was it for her, growing up in an area that is overwhelmingly, stiflingly Scandinavian/German … and she can’t deny either culture because both are so strong. Sometimes she says she is a Scandinavian Strong Black woman, and she can say that because she is who she is and it’s her right to define herself.
So she can tell me what she thinks the character should be. And it’s never what I expect it to be, because that’s her and she’s not predictable. And it makes the worlds I try to write about more subtle, more layered, more complex than I had originally imagined.
I mean, I’m writing stories that represent my family, and there she is, my daughter, and how did we get here? Well, let us tell you … .
Please make a book called Scandinavian Strong Black Woman.
She is finding her voice as a poet, so there may be a book called that in future. She would jedi hug you btw for saying that … !
What about that hunky pea?!?!
Evel Barcus is my new hero.
Who would I rather circa movie? Coop, no question.
Who would I rather now? Andy, no question.
This seems obvious.
Very sad that they both overlooked the obvious right answer in their second choices at the end. The can of vegetables DUH.
Lidl advertised a power tool with a woman and she wasn’t told to look awkwardly sexy and nothing was made pink
https://twitter.com/fubarpops/status/627809153143…
Oh yeah, that’s not the first time! I think this year, they had about 50% female users in their ads.
Plus proper safety gear!
I was just thinking that! “Aw YEAH she’s wearing safety goggles!”.
And she has her hair tied back!
Did you ever watch Hometime on PBS with Dean Johnson and Robin Hartl? Robin was always in there getting stuff done, sensible clothes and safety gear present and accounted for. And no pink!
Everyone please go watch the Tig documentary (if you think it’s even a little your sort of thing). I came dangerously close to replaying it immediately after I finished, and only didn’t because it’s a weeknight. It was amazing.
I watched that the other day and it was excellent and also I sobbed a LOT. She was talking about her mother and at that moment my mother texted me something cute & innocuous and I just completely fell apart.
I just watched it last night. It was amazing and hilarious and heart-wrenching. Really good. I loved that her mom told her to tell people who didn’t like her to go to hell.
Tig & Stephanie are my favorite celebrity couple. I love those crazy goofballs.
Ok, I’m going to put it out there that I actually like Tom Cruise. The biggest problem I see w/ him is his association w/ Scientology, which is admittedly very bad. However, beyond that, I don’t understand what he’s done to warrant such levels of schadenfreude. As far as I know, he hasn’t committed any crime. We aren’t supposed to like him because he tries too hard? Because he didn’t look as cool as Emma Stone and JGL during Jimmy Fallon’s lip syncing battle. I’ll admit, I hate hate hate when celebrities go on these shows and pretend like we’d totally be friends in real life. I think it’s insulting to us both. The thing is, Tom Cruise is not my friend, and neither are JGL (except in my dreams) or Emma Stone (except in my dreams). As the article discusses, this has as much to do w/ having a good publicist as anything else. Here’s why I defend Tom Cruise. He’s a decent actor who gives it his all every time. I guess I like him BECAUSE (sorry, I don’t know how to use italics) he tries so hard. I saw Mission Impossible yesterday and it was a solid action movie. Watching him run (and run and run) and bust through windows and hang from airplanes, it’s like he’s saying “I’m killing myself over here; what else do you people want?!?” Sure, there’s a sort of manic energy to it all, but who cares? We all know that’s what Tom Cruise is gonna bring to the table. His star power is certainly diminished, but I don’t think this latest one has made so much power on the brand alone. I think he deserves some credit.
It’s not so much that he’s trying to hard as much as he comes off as being completely inauthentic, and there are so many rumors around his “real” life that his refusal to discuss them is suspect. I also like Tom Cruise movies, but Tom Cruise the movie star is a product of a time when movie star personae were manufactured, and he (perhaps because his world is so shielded through the batshit veil of Scientology) did not evolve with society in the age of social media when authenticity, relatability, and honesty became the admired qualities over, like, crooked smiles and doing your own stunts.
I dislike him for totally shallow reasons. He reminds me, in his intensity, of some people who terrify me. This does not make it enjoyable for me to watch him.
I honestly know very little about Tom Cruise (or why Scientology is supposed to be so terrible, either – I mean, it sounds ridiculous, but not significantly more than any other religion when taken seriously at face value??) and have been a bit bemused by the hate, both several years ago when it was fresh and recently when it resurfaced because of the new movie. I don’t enjoy his acting particularly so I wasn’t planning on seeing it, but it does strike me as kind of sad when someone’s career gets fucked up because a bunch of people inexplicably decided to hate them and everybody else jumped on the bandwagon because hating them was cool.
Especially when, over in the other corner, we have so many people FALLING OVER THEMSELVES to keep liking and patronizing the films of people like Woody Fucking Allen and co.
Important crowd-sourcing inquiry! I’m sending out some invites for a vaguely camping-themed party, but I’m having a hard time using my limited google-fu to find pictures of celebrity eye candy in wilderness environments. Any thoughts on movies that would have great stills of a shirtless chris evans in the woods or similar?
I am ashamed that I remember this, but there was an episode of Newlyweds in which Jessica Simpson and her then-husband from the boy band go camping. Perhaps there are pictures of that somewhere?
You could always use the gifs of Chris Evans chopping/ripping logs with his bare hands from the second Avengers movie
… those gifs moved me two notches up the Kinsey scale.
MY JOB HERE IS DONE
*poofs away in a haze of Mountain Lodge scented smoke*
D’aww. That bit always makes me want to take Stark aside, and remind him that the 90s are over, we don’t tie the flannel around our waists anymore, as comfortable and convenient as it was, and that he’s talking to a man who was literally in ice for longer than Tony was alive, and he has better fashion sense, so GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER TONY.
I don’t know, I could be into it. I am going camping this weekend and if RDJ (or Stark, LBH) came up to me with a flannel tied around his waist, I would certainly not kick him out of my tent.
Oh, totally wouldn’t kick him out of my tent, or farmhouse, or whatever.
I WOULD, however, take that flannel off him post-haste.
This is actually really easy (and potentially hilarious) to do yourself! Even powerpoint has a “remove background” button now so you don’t need fancy photoshop. Let me know if you want a tutorial!
This isn’t quite the theme you’re looking for, but if you wanted to break up the eye candy with a couple of funny photos, you can’t go wrong with stills from Troop Beverly Hills.
How about Gael Garcia Bernal? https://www.google.com/search?q=gael+garcia+berna…
Not in the wilderness but this Concord Museum video has him positively lumberjacked https://youtu.be/taFCpibjF0M
How do you feel about Chris Pratt and other Parks and Rec actors? They’ve had some good camping scenes with handsome men. If not hunky enough, may I suggest Liam Hemsworth in the Hunger Games movies?
Evel! I am so bookmarking that interview for future cheer-ups. I love that she could be featured in a midwestern version of Advanced Style.
I just saw Mr. Holms, so I’m extra death and decline focused today (no, it’s a pretty good movie! just very much about inevitable decline) but there is something about older people living vibrant lives that inspires me.
That Lewinski guy is a garbage person. AHP does a typically great job on Cruise; I still like watching him in movies, because he really is just sort of a magnetic presence, but it’s very difficult to square enjoying his movies with what we know about Scientology and his specific weirdness. But, I dunno, we do that with all kinds of actors about way worse shit and we give tons of people a pass on belonging to institutions that legitimize horrible behavior (you don’t see anyone really judging public Catholics or Hasidim the way you see them giving shit to Scientologists, despite the fact that their child abuse scandals were at least as bad as the Sea Org). I haven’t seen “Tig” yet, but it’s going to happen soon. And can Evel Barcus be my honorary grandma? (I actually see a lot of my real grandmother in her; my grandma ran a farm and raised five kids on her own after my grandpa died very young and she was never, ever flustered and never left the house without looking great.)
Possibly of interest to other Toasties with education and/or Chicago ties: Arne Duncan’s moving back to Chicago and sending his kids to the U of C Lab School. What makes Lab School special? Small classes, a strong, unionized workforce, plenty of extracurricular opportunities, PRACTICALLY NO FUCKING STANDARDIZED TESTING. Rahm’s kids also go there. God forbid these assholes actually subject their children to the experience they’re forcing on other people’s kids. UGH.
I think Tom Cruise is exceptional because he is THE public face of Scientology, as opposed to the average Catholic actor. It’s also very likely that given the way the church is structured, he has personally benefitted from its abuses and deliberately ignored them. Even horrible Mel Gibson has personally nothing to do with the Catholic church’s institutionalization of sexual violence. I think it’s fair not to have the same criticism of average Scientologists, but Cruise has invited condemnation as an official ambassador for Scientology.
ETA: AND HE STOLE NICOLE KIDMAN’S CHILDREN!
ARNE EFFING DUNCAN UGH. And remember this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKf4HmiNNDI What pieces of shit. What monstrous, cynical pieces of shit they all are.
“How dare you ask me if my kids will be enduring the same bullshit I inflict on the kids of people who don’t have the ability to pay $30,000 per year to send their kids to one of the best schools in the city!” Rahm is such a dickhead.
I totally judge Catholics and Hasidim, and I think more people should, too.
DC’s politicians do it, too. Lots of mouth flapping about “fixing the public school system” but, little actual commitment; meanwhile, their kids go to all the fancy private schools*, so the politicians have no first hand experience with the system that’s screwing over so many of their constituents.
*full disclosure: i went to one of the fancy private schools bc i had two+ prior generations of family who’d tried to work w/i the dc public school system and eventually threw up their hands and said “f*** it”. i have strong but mixed feelings about this.
Tom Cruise put all his SPECIAL points into Charisma.
the dissonance is because nobody actually likes Cruise but our thetans love him
Dump stat wisdom.
SHIT, THEY’VE LEARNED HOW TO RECOGNIZE JOKES
I dunno, that comment makes it sound like they’re still not quite sure. Like. They’re learning what humor is? But they’re not quite there yet.
Pat him on the head and send him on his way; he must complete his education somewhere else.
Tiiiiiiiggggggggggggggg.
Hello everyone, this weekend we got a new kitten!! He had to have one leg removed as they were a litter of 20 and not in good health, and one of his legs probably got twisted around in the womb. But apparently all the litter is doing well and most are adopted. He is also polydactyl (extra front toes).
His name is ‘Spooky’ after Spooky Fox Mulder and he is a pile of snuggles:
Litter of twenty?!? Holy fucking Bastet!
That says it better than I was going to!
What a little poppet though, and great name!
a
litter
of
20
holy, well. cats.
he’s super cute, though. glad to hear he’s found a good home with you and the rest of the litter seems to be getting better, too 🙂
He is SO CUTE.
Squeeeeee! Lookit dat face! He is adorable.
Some more pics:
brave kitten is brave
He is totally fearless. He got big slobbers from our bigger dog and just started purring like crazy.
Does he have additional toes to make up for the absent leg, or is he just reeeeeaaalllly stretching out his paws on that scratcher?
He has an extra toe on each front paw 🙂
What a beauty! And clearly no pushover, missing leg or no.
We just got an update from his foster parent, apparently he was climbing up the cat tree the day after his surgery!
He’s adorable and bouncy! It looks like he’s adapting to tripodism. But a litter of 20? I do hope momcat has been fixed.
Here all day for polydactyl kitties, thanks!
I like that name! What a cutie.
MNUHHHH he is BEAUTIFUL. Those big, beautiful round eyes! <3 He has eyes like my snuggly kitty boy.
His fur looks the softest. Is it the softest? I require scientific analysis. In the form of snuggles.
He is soo soo soft.
I didn’t know about the Schulz article, but that explains how I ended up Tweeting with another Santa Rosan about how there are Charlie Brown, Woodstock and other statues decorated by artists around town, but as far as we can tell there hasn’t been a Franklin season yet. Hoping we can figure out how to fix that (Schulz was from Minnesota but lived here for ages–the cartoon museum and ice rink in his name are still fairly big non-wine-related tourist draws). And yes, watch the Tig doc, definitely. I…there are too many things I could say about it, and her. Briefly: Yay.
I’m glad that the AHP piece exists as an antidote to this. There’s also a good discussion on MetaFilter about liking work by problematic stars/artists in general and some of the specifics of Cruise’s life and Scientology-mongering in particular.
Halfway through the Tig documentary I realized that she, Caitlyn Jenner, and Tom Cruise could all be secret cousins.
I want to be Evel in seventy years.
I definitely thought the “Andy vs. Coop” was a Twin Peaks fanfic and was disappointed.
Well don’t leave us hanging, who is it?
Coop, Coop, Coooooooop
ahem. For me, anyway.
Me too, but really it’s Sheriff Truman all the way, 4eva.
Now THAT is the kind of Who Would You Rather that I am 1000% down for.
First season Coop vs. second season Andy would be a difficult choice!
MNUHHHH he is BEAUTIFUL. Those big, beautiful round eyes! <3 He has eyes like my snuggly kitty boy.
His fur looks the softest. Is it the softest? I require scientific analysis. In the form of snuggles.
Ok but can we talk about how Evel washes her shoes in the washing machine??? Does this work??