Overture From Tommy (A Rock Opera)

I did get a few minutes late last night to read the first chapter of “Tom Cruise: The Unauthorized Biography” and as promised, I will share with you a recap and my reactions. But first….this is so friggin’ hysterical you just have to watch it:
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Seriously, that was some funny sheeyat.

On a related note: I lust Anderson Cooper, not only could he eat crackers in my bed, I would tenderly feed them to him…one…by…one. Yes, yes I know—the prevailing wisdom is that he plays for the same team, but an Aging Disco Diva can dream can’t she? Anyway, here is Anderson interviewing a scientoKook about the “church’s” stand on psychiatry:

Go Anderson Go! (click here)

Some of today’s gossip stories:


Eddie Murphy and his sorta’ bride have decided to sorta’ divorce. Yeah, it makes no sense but neither does the sorta’ wedding they had two weeks ago in Bora Bora. They did release this statement to the press:

"While the recent symbolic union in Bora Bora was representative of our deep love, friendship and respect that we have for one another on a spiritual level, we have decided to remain friends,"

Possible translation: She finally left the land called “Denial,” got a good look around and realized Eddie has some um..issues.

Britney is not pregnant. Yeah, I know, I saw the pictures too, but I am NOT going to post them. Just how friggin crass is this girl? Please Britney, next time use maxi-pads with wings…and keep your damn coochie covered with pants. Yuck, yuck and more yuck.

Ok, time for our book club meeting to come to order. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and help yourself to one of those fresh pastries...no, not the cream cheese one, that one is mine...

First things first…how bizarre to see in large print on the back cover “Not for sale in the U.K. and Ireland” Oh well, I am SURE that will stop anyone in those countries from getting a hold of a copy because we don’t have anything called the INTERNET. News flash for the scientoKooks who think that this will stop people there from getting a hold of a copy: I betcha' money, marbles or chocolate that as I type this somewhere, someone, is furiously photocopying each and every page and will convert it to .pdf format, soon to be posted on a torrent or newsgroup.

Chapter one recap and comments:

Who knew? The Aging Disco Diva and Tom had something in common: native born New Yorkers. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (“I'm Tommery the 4th I am, Tommery the 4th I am, I am,) was born on July 3, 1962 in Syracuse New York. The family name is not really Mapother, but instead was O’Mara. Thomas O’Mara’s (Tom Cruise’s great-grandfather) name was changed, sometime during his childhood, to Thomas Cruise Mapother. Mapother had been his mother’s first married last name (she was widowed) Cruise had been his mother’s maiden name. His father was Thomas O’Mara. This Kentucky based clan was Irish-American. The first Thomas Cruise Mapother was a lawyer as was Thomas Cruise Mapother Jr. Thomas Cruise Mapother III was an electrical engineer and somewhat of a cold duck (and not the bubbly kind) Tom Cruise’s mom, Mary Lee Pfeiffer, was also Irish-American from Kentucky. Tom was (is) very close to his mother. His mother loved the theater and encouraged her children to dabble in the performing arts. Tom showed a real gift for acting at a young age.

Tom is dyslexic and this learning challenge seems to have really impacted his feelings of self-worth. As the child and mother of a dyslexic I could empathize with his frustrations but wondered how much this twisted his life view. I am not sure if as an adult he purposefully created stories of how ill treated he was by teachers or genuinely believed what he might have imagined. He recounts a story of his first grade teacher hurling him over a chair because he was having problems reading. I can’t see this happening, not without everyone finding out about it (his first grade classmates certainly would have told plenty of people ) Tom claims this happened throughout his school years and certainly explains his rants about the American education system and why he would buy into the “us against the world” shtick Scientology seems founded upon. He claimed that his teachers forced him to write with his right hand and that added to his learning problems. Years later some of his teachers called B.S. on this story—especially his left-handed teachers! By the age of twelve Tom was doing so well in school that he was no longer taking any remedial or special courses.

Tom was bullied in school and apparently at home too. Schoolmates picked on him because he was so small…and his father picked on him because he (the father) was a cold S.O.B. The father was bullied too as a child and in a twisted kind of logic decided that he would bully his son in an effort to save him from being bullied (a real WTF?)

I found it amusing that the author of the book went to great lengths to portray Tom as a hot blooded heterosexual in light of all the gossip that surrounds Tom Cruise. If the writer had an ax to grind or was interested in making stuff up (as the scientoKooks are claiming) you would think he would have jumped on the “Tom is gay” bandwagon, but instead we get stories that seem to paint Tom as a girl chasing, horny preteen and teenage boy.

Tom was not a choir boy, pulling the usual “all boy” types of pranks but things turned more serious when his parent’s marriage crumbled. His dad appeared to be a real wackadoo, a closet drinker who was becoming more and more antisocial and cruel. Tom was the lightening rod of his father’s foul moods and this was driving a wedge between husband and wife. Finally one afternoon Tom’s mother, sisters and Tom fled the abusive home. Financially they struggled and everyone had to go out and earn money so that they could keep a roof over their heads. Tom is portrayed as a loving and protective son and brother. In 1978 Mary Lee married Jack Smith and the whole family moved to New Jersey.

Chapter One Aging Disco Diva rating (from 0 to 4 cups of espresso)

Overall interest: (3 out of 4 cups)

Juicy gossip: (1 out of 4 cups)

Believability of facts presented: (4 out of 4 cups)