On the “postage paid” topic…
The Australasian branch of the CoS puts out a lot of mail. As a large mailer, they have an account with Australia Post, enabling them to lodge mail in bulk. Well, that is they used to have an account. They still lodge mail in bulk, but these days Australia Post has cancelled their account and stipulated any dealings with the CoS be strictly cash. Cash, or bugger off. They simply don’t pay their bills.
Hehehe.
I don’t have too much invested in this story. Cruise is a bit odd, even for an occupation where that is seen as a virtue at times. His relative importance, though, is of a par with a circus clown. They both provide harmless entertainments, except that the clown does it for far less money and with considerably more dignity.
I did see this along the way, though, and one section in particular cracked me right up:
I’m not doubting you but… don’t you think he would have manifested some other erratic behavior before now? He’s always been very private and close-mouthed about personal stuff before this. His change in demeanor to openly belligerent and nearly evangelical about his beliefs, and his very public affection for Katie Holmes is so bizarre. It seems like something big must have happened to him to cause this behavior, because I imagine he’s been under stress and had an erratic sleep schedule before now.
But I’m not a psychiatrist, so what do I know? 
My Tom Cruise story…
I’ve told this before on these boards, but I forget where.
In the very early 90s, I was walking to work and up the street come Cruise and Nicole Kidman, surrounded by a gaggle of bodyguards. This was I guess at a bit of a peak time for Cruise as Top Gun was a recent memory, and it was his first trip to Australia, a place where the media had been kissing his arse because of his relationship with Kidman, and there was a kind of short-lived “adopted son” mentality. So the Cruise entourage is walking up the Bayswater Rd hill, and I’m walking down. There is nobody else around. Now, I’m not big on celebrity worship, autographs, or any of that stuff (and most celebrities don’t like it anyway), so I just made to walk past them without acknowledgement. As I did so, Cruise fixed me with this bizarre look that I took to be a mixture of complete and utter disbelief that one of the locals wasn’t rushing to fawn all over him, and a certain element of anger at the fact. This struck me as a very, very strange attitude for a famous person to hold. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, probably didn’t even notice me - a much healthier attitude.
So the above incident kinda cemented Tom Cruise in the “Arsehole” category in my mind, at least for the next decade and a half, and then, a few months ago, a friend of mine who DJs in a hip inner city nightclub told me that Tom Cruise had spent an evening there recently, and that “he was the nicest bloke you could imagine”. Friendly, generous, and down-to-earth, and he had all the staff really taken by him.
So I dunno. And does it matter?
I saw him and Nicole one night (probably about the same time as TLD) when they were having dinner in a restaurant in Crows Nest with Nicole’s parents, who live in that area. The restaurant was fairly full, but nobody was taking very much notice of Tom and Nicole. Tom certainly didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary. I assumed he was just enjoying the experience of being able to eat out with his wife and in-laws in a suburban restaurant without a lot of fuss.
I’m not a psychiatrist either, so I’m just talking out of my semi-knowledgeable ass…
I kind of think there’s a tipping point with mental illness. You can be a little bizarre or “off” and it’s not a big deal. Most people will never notice, especially if you’re a private person. Friends, family, employees will make excuses, just like for substance abuse – at first. But, sooner or later, the fulcrum moves past the middle point of the seesaw and it’s impossible to cover the bizarreness up. Other than the most recent round of interviews he’s done, how long has it been since he’s been in the public eye? I find it likely that between the publicity tour for Collateral and now that he’s reached his tipping point. And, his ass is approaching the ground very quickly…
However, there are plenty of other good explanations for this wackyass behavior. I like this one because the treatment, should he ever be forced to accept it, would be karmic retribution: the very drugs and medical professionals he’s speaking out against now.
Then you know better, because remember, psychiatrists are EVIL. 
So, Brooke Shields has written an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times. (Registration is free but required, unfortunately). Here are a free choice quotes:
Unbelievably, now fellow Scientologist John Travolta’s wife, Kelly Preston has felt the need to jump to Tom Cruise’s aid:
Seeing the controversy that has arisen from Tom Cruise’s ill-informed remarks and erratic behavior, what would inspire someone to align themselves with that trainwreck. Aside from being a fellow Scientologist, that is…
Yes, all medication has potential side effects. No one is suggesting we all start medicating ourselves willy nilly without medical guidance and research. And lets not forget Tom was not sharing potential risks - he was simply trying to invalidate psychiatry (and giving erroneous information on Ritalin to boot). Cripes!
Psst-for those who don’t want to register: BugMeNot.Com
It cracks me up that Tom goes on and on about how psychiatry is a “pseudo-science”, despite decades of research, clinical studies, experiments, observation, data, etc. But he believes whole-heartedly in Dianetics, which has NONE of that-it was just something Hubbard pulled out of his own ass. (Probably while hepped on-you guessed it!-drugs).
Xenu sending trillions of aliens to Earth in spaceships that look like exact copies of Douglas DC-8s and being nuked in volcanoes? Sound plausible.
Mental problems being helped chemically? That’s pseudo-science!!!
[hijack]Kelly Preston is married to John Travolta? She’s the woman who played the Amish character in ‘Witness’, isn’t she? [/hijack]
Sorry, sorry. Carry on with pissing on Tom. Love it.
So does he! 
hehehehe 
That would be a chemical shower, right?
Nope. It’s Kelly McGillis.
Oh heck. So it is.
Thanks Tuckerfan
But who’s Kelly Preston again?
Who’re also stupid enough to join his cult.
Thanks again, Tuckerfan. I can’t say she looks familiar, though she seems to have starred in ‘Amazon women on the Moon’.
Why can’t I remember her? I swear I’m not as old as Hendrikje van Andel - Shipper.