Sikap 'Pelik' Anak Tanda Bermasalah

Oleh Nor Afzan Mohamad Yusof

500,000 kanak-kanak di negara ini hidap disleksia dan ada tidak disedari ibu bapa

RAKAN sebaya anak anda seronok setiap pagi untuk ke sekolah, tetapi anak anda bersikap sebaliknya. Jika menghadapi masalah sebegitu, anda dinasihatkan supaya mencari jawapan di sebalik alasan diberikan bagi mengenal pasti masalah dihadapi.

Kerap gagal dalam ujian diberikan, selain gagal mengikuti pengajaran guru menyebabkan kanak-kanak itu sering dilabelkan sebagai murid lembab dan nakal, sekali gus memberikan kesan mendalam kepada murid berkenaan yang rata-ratanya mereka sendiri mungkin tidak tahu bagaimana untuk diluahkan kepada ibu bapa atau guru, apa sebenarnya yang mereka hadapi.

Tanda yang ditunjukkan anak berkenaan, mungkin sebenarnya disebabkan masalah lain termasuk menghidap disleksia yang memungkinkan berlaku kesukaran kepada hidupnya kerana kanak-kanak disleksik bermasalah dari segi pembelajaran.

Maklumat yang menakutkan, apabila anak berkenaan tidak dibantu pada peringkat awal lagi, beliau akan menjadi remaja bermasalah. Sungguhpun ramai orang ternama dunia termasuk Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Tom Cruise, Leonardo Da Vincci, selain data menunjukkan kira-kira 30 peratus Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) syarikat ternama juga adalah disleksik yang membuktikan penghidap disleksia boleh menikmati kehidupan cemerlang, pada masa sama kajian di Amerika Syarikat (AS) mendapati 50 peratus banduan di negara itu adalah penghidap penyakit berkenaan.

Senario itu membuktikan kanak-kanak yang dibantu boleh menjadi manusia berguna, sebaliknya sekiranya dibiarkan begitu saja, boleh memberikan kesan negatif pada masa depannya.

Presiden Persatuan Disleksia Malaysia, Sariah Amirin, berkata sungguhpun isu berkenaan menjadi masalah ‘cukup tua’ dikesan di dunia, kesedarannya masih berada di takuk lama yang mana ibu bapa, malah guru masih belum memahami sepenuhnya dan kanak-kanak disleksik terus terbiar tanpa bantuan.

“Kanak-kanak disleksik masih ramai terabai kerana masih ramai guru yang gagal memahami karakter disleksia. Sekiranya mereka mengetahuinya, mereka tidak memiliki kemahiran khusus. Dengan kekurangan tenaga pengajar yang mahir, kanak-kanak yang sepatutnya mendapat tunjuk ajar khusus, sebaliknya bercampur satu kelas dengan murid normal.

“Apabila bercampur, mereka sudah pasti tidak menunjukkan prestasi membanggakan, sering dilabel pelajar bodoh dan lembab, selain diabaikan kerana guru juga tidak mempunyai masa cukup memberikan tumpuan lebih terhadap murid disleksik. Bayangkan, anda dilabel bodoh dan lembab sepanjang waktu? Bukankah ia mempunyai kesan buruk, sedangkan anda tahu anda bijak,” katanya ketika ditemui pada majlis Penajaan Dutch Lady Menerusi Filem Kung Fu Panda kepada persatuan berkenaan baru-baru ini.

Majlis itu turut dihadiri Pengarah Pemasaran Dutch Lady Milk Industries Malaysia Berhad, Jan Pieter Tanis.

Disleksia adalah masalah kesukaran pembelajaran, yang memberikan kesan terhadap pembacaan, ejaan, menulis dan mengingat. Ia adalah kesan daripada kerosakan kebolehan otak untuk mentafsirkan imej yang diterima menerusi penglihatan atau pendengaran untuk diterjemahkan dalam bentuk bahasa yang difahami.

Individu disleksia memiliki beberapa kelemahan termasuk melihat huruf secara terbalik seperti ‘was’ sebagai ‘saw’; ‘b’ sebagai ‘d’ atau ‘p’ sebagai ‘q’. Kesukaran dalam memahami, mengingat atau mengulang apa yang disebut melalui tulisan dan mempunyai tulisan yang tidak cantik.

Sariah berkata, pengesanan awal amat membantu kanak-kanak berkenaan hidup menikmati kehidupan bermutu dan memudahkan mereka belajar membaca serta menulis dengan baik. Sungguhpun hari ini ada sekolah yang memiliki kelas untuk murid disleksik, masih banyak sekolah tidak memilikinya, malah hanya boleh menempatkan cuma 20 murid pada sesuatu masa, sedangkan kajian menunjukkan lebih 500,000 kanak-kanak sekolah menderita akibat disleksia.

Menangani masalah berkenaan, katanya, persatuan itu bersedia melatih guru menangani kanak-kanak disleksik sekiranya Kementerian Pendidikan benar-benar serius menangani isu berkenaan.

“Kita perlu faham bahawa kanak-kanak ini bukanlah sakit atau menghadapi gangguan mental, sebaliknya kebolehan dari segi pembelajaran. Berbekalkan kesabaran dan teknik yang betul, kanak-kanak ini mampu menangani masalah yang mereka hadapi itu.

“Individu disleksik adalah insan pintar dan sekiranya kita terus mengabaikan, mungkin kita kehilangan saintis, doktor serta bijak pandai kerana ramai orang hebat di dunia, juga disleksik. Kanak-kanak yang diabaikan ini membolehkan mereka terjerumus dalam kancah sosial yang merosakkan,” katanya.

Mengulas mengenai pembiayaan kos ditanggung persatuan berkenaan, Sariah berkata, menjalankan kerja mengajar dan program kesedaran, persatuan itu bergantung sepenuhnya daripada derma serta sumbangan korporat.

Puluhan ribu diperlukan setiap bulan membabitkan gaji guru dan pekerja, selain sewa yang perlu dibayar bagi membolehkan persatuan terus berbakti kepada pihak memerlukan.

Sariah berkata, persatuan berkenaan ditubuhkan sejak 1993 dan banyak menganjurkan seminar serta bengkel membolehkan kanak-kanak disleksik terus belajar dan mampu kembali seperti normal yang tidak mungkin boleh didapati di sekolah biasa,

“Kanak-kanak ini bukan sepenuhnya belajar di sini, sebaliknya akan ada beberapa kelas dan dalam tempoh tertentu untuk mereka belajar dan teknik pembelajaran diberikan adalah berbeza. Dengan jumlah murid yang kecil seperti lima orang, guru akan mampu memberikan perhatian sepenuhnya.

“Sekiranya di sekolah, kanak-kanak ini belajar bahasa Melayu, kita di persatuan pula mengajarnya dalam bahasa Inggeris dan matematik. Selama tiga bulan pembelajaran komprehensif, selebihnya mereka boleh menghadiri kelas tambahan,” katanya.

Mengulas mengenai tajaan oleh Dutch Lady, ia diadakan bagi meraikan lebih 50 tahun kewujudannya di Malaysia, Dutch Lady secara rasmi menaja filem animasi ‘Kung Fu Panda’, berserta pelbagai aktiviti berkaitan yang menarik meliputi jelajah ke seluruh negara, pemberian percuma premium filem berjenama, hadiah hebat seperti lawatan ke taman perlindungan panda di China, serta tayangan khas Kung Fu Panda sebagai sokongan kepada persatuan berkenaan.

Pieter Tanis, berkata penajaan ini juga adalah selaras dengan manfaat Dutch Lady 123 dan 456 yang dirumus secara eksklusif dengan TT-Ratio, iaitu untuk menggalakkan pembelajaran yang berkesan di kalangan kanak-kanak.

Katanya, pelanggan Dutch Lady boleh mengharapkan pelbagai tawaran kerana setiap pembelian Dutch Lady 123 dan 456 (pek 700g atau 1.1kg) mereka akan diberi premium ‘Kung Fu Panda’ berjenama (sementara stok masih ada), dan juga peluang untuk memenangi pakej pelancongan ke Wolong National Panda Reserve di Chengdu, China.

“Kami merasakan Po (watak utama), pengalaman panda mengatasi sifat takut dan cabaran untuk memenuhi potensi yang ada pada diri dia sepenuhnya sama seperti kanak-kanak yang menghidap disleksia yang berjuang untuk mengatasi kesukaran belajar,” katanya.

Berita Harian

Bengang Taukeh Butik 'Celupar'

BINTANG Hollywood, Tom Cruise, mendapatkan khidmat peguamnya untuk memberi amaran kepada pemilik sebuah butik bayi terkenal di Los Angeles agar mengunci mulut mereka.

Tom khabarnya begitu marah dengan tindakan pihak butik, Petit Tresor, kerana mendedahkan kepada pihak media apa yang beliau beli di sana tanpa terlebih dahulu meminta keizinannya.

Menurut Tom, maklumat yang dibocorkan itu tidak tepat.

Khabarnya, Tom dan isterinya, Katie Holmes, membelanjakan AS$350,000 ($476,000) untuk membeli pakaian puteri mereka, Suri, sepanjang dua tahun setelah Suri lahir.

Laman web, TMZ.com, yang berjaya memperolehi dokumen itu melaporkan, pihak peguam tegas menyatakan tidak ada sesiapa dari butik itu yang boleh ‘bercakap apa sahaja (sama ada betul atau salah) mengenai tabiat membeli Encik Cruise dan Cik Holmes.’

Apa jua yang dibeli harus menjadi rahsia…

Cyberita

The Iconic Wayfarer

The Original Ray Ban Wayfarer in black.

The Ray Ban Wayfarer has stood the test of time and is now an essential summer accessory, says CHEONG PHIN

Reproduced in various sizes and colours.

The white choice of the celebrities.

FASHION always seems to renew itself on what has come before and the current revival of many things from the exciting 1980s is no exception. It was a time when bright colours, chunky plastic jewellery, leggings, skinny jeans and rock music ruled the world. The younger fashion followers today were only born then and never got to experience the explosive fashion of the ’80s.

It’s therefore easy to see why it is like a breath of fresh air to them and when it’s mixed up with today’s contemporary clothing, we all end up finding that everything old (or ’80s) is new again. One must-have plastic accessory from that era that stood the test of time and is fast becoming a must-have accessory again today is the iconic Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses.

Reproduced and re-imagined in various colours and sizes in almost every fashion corner in London this season, the square framed plastic sunglasses is the essential unisex summer fashion accessory.

The fad started a few years ago when fashion forward celebrities like Chloe Sevigny and Mary-Kate Olsen started wearing vintage Wayfarer frames. The Ray Ban designers soon noticed the increasing popularity of these vintage pieces and the prices they were commanding on eBay.

Responding to this new fashion craze in the market, Ray Ban reintroduced the original Wayfarer design in 2007 with a marketing strategy that included the use of new media like MySpace to connect with a new breed of consumers.

A host of the young Hollywood celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Kirsten Dunst, and British “bad” girl Amy Winehouse have already been spotted wearing these “cool” sunglasses.

The Ray Ban Wayfarer is an iconic design of sunglasses available with polarised lens and spring hinges that has been manufactured by Ray Ban since 1952. It’s reported to be the best-selling style of sunglasses in history and has been labelled as “one of the most enduring fashion icons of the 21st century”.

Designed by Raymond Stegeman, an inventor who procured dozens of patents for Bausch and Lomb (Ray Ban’s parent company), the radically new shape of the Wayfarer was “a mid-century classic to rival Eames chairs and Cadillac tail fins”. According to design critic Stephen Bayley, “the distinctive trapezoidal frame spoke a non-verbal language that hinted at unstable dangerousness, but one tempered by the sturdy arms which, according to the advertising, gave the frames a ‘masculine look’.”

These Wayfarer which took advantage of the new plastics technology at that time was revolutionary and targeted at men initially. However, it became increasingly popular among Hollywood starlets and was evidently a pop culture icon worn by many celebrities for the last 50 years on and off the screen.

In the 1960s, Audrey Hepburn famously paired her Wayfarers with her Givenchy black dress and pearls in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a look that was absolutely “cool”. The oversized shades then were an example of the early Wayfarer silhouette.

A series of design modifications ensued and two decades later, Tom Cruise reinforced the “cool” factor of these dark shades in Risky Business while influential Material Girl Madonna inspired a huge fashion follow up when she wore them in Desperately Seeking Susan. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd even made it looked “cool” in their bad ways in the cult movie The Blues Brothers.

To a certain extent, musicians like Bob Dylan and Blondie also gained their iconic “cool” style from donning these shades. The incredible impersonation of the Dylan character by Cate Blanchett in her recent movie I’m Not There was based on that 1980s iconic look. When celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise started wearing them off-screen, these plastic square frames quickly became the decade’s sunglasses of choice. Apparently, Ray Ban expanded from two models of the Wayfarer in 1981 to more than 40 models in 1989 and the Wayfarer went on to become one of the biggest cultural icons of the ’80s.

If you’ve never owned a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses, it’s never too late to buy one now and enjoy the “cool” Wayfarer experience. The current collection of Ray Ban Wayfarers is available in Original Wayfarer, New Wayfarer and the Wayfarer Folding style. In addition to the classic black and tortoise, they also come in an array of colours such as red, white and blue. You can buy them at almost any optical store that sells Ray Ban products or simply buy online on the Internet from shopping websites like http://www.sunglasses.co.uk and http://www.totalsunglasses.com.

The revival of the Wayfarer in mid 2000 and the expiration of Stegeman’s 1953 design patent also produced numerous designs inspired by the original Ray Ban Wayfarer. These include Oliver Peoples’ “Hollis”, REM Eyewear’s “Converse” and various styles by fashion houses such as Juicy Couture, Hugo Boss, Chanel and Marc Jacobs.

 

New Straits Times

Holly Hunter Gets Star On Hollywood's 'Walk Of Fame'

LOS ANGELES: Oscar-winning US actress Holly Hunter got star treatment on Friday, as her name was embedded and her film career honored on Hollywood’s “Walk of Fame”.

The 50-year-old actress, her two-year-old twin sons, director Steven Spielberg and actor Ed Harris were all on hand for the unveiling of the 2,363rd star to be laid on Hollywood Boulevard.

Hunter won a Best Actress Oscar for her starring role in Jane Campion’s “The Piano” (1993) about the mute bride of a landowner in 1850’s New Zealand.

Spielberg directed Hunter in “Always” (1989), and she also appeared in “The Firm” (1993) with Tom Cruise; David Cronenberg’s “Crash” (1996); and the Coen brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000) with George Clooney.

She can currently be seen in the television series “Saving Grace”.

– AFP/so

Channel News Asia

Oscar-Winning Director Sydney Pollack Dies At 73

LOS ANGELES: Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of “Out of Africa” and “Tootsie” and occasional producer and actor, died of cancer Monday, his agent said. He was 73.

“Mr. Pollack died of cancer this afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, surrounded by family. He had been diagnosed with cancer nine months ago,” Leslee Dart told AFP.

Pollack balanced box office success with critical acclaim over a half-century career, working with stars such as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Sydney Poitier, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

He tackled a variety of social issues on the silver screen and earned a worldwide reputation for an acute romantic and political sensibility that led to some of the most respected films of the late 1960s through the 1980s.

Pollack was twice nominated for an Oscar for best director, with “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?” (1969) a harrowing Depression-era drama starring Jane Fonda, and “Tootsie” (1982), starring Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who makes his way by pretending to be woman.

He finally won the coveted Academy Award with the period drama “Out of Africa” (1985) starring Streep and Redford, which many considered to be his greatest work.

Born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, the son of a pharmacist, Pollack first had ambitions to be a dentist. But he moved to New York at age 17 and learned acting under legendary coach Sanford Meisner.

He spent several years teaching, interspersed with two years in the US army, and directed a number of television series before heading to Los Angeles where he helped create a slew of films, many of which have gone on to become classics.

They were not all successes. “Havana” (1990), another venture with Redford, was a commercial failure, but Pollack soon returned with the box office smash “The Firm,” an adaptation of John Grisham’s thriller starring Cruise.

More recently, Pollack was an executive producer on Anthony Minghella’s Oscar-nominated “Cold Mountain” (2003) and won acclaim for his production of and acting alongside George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (2007), which was nominated for seven Oscars.

“Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better,” Clooney, who also starred in this year’s Pollack-produced “Leathernecks,” said in a statement quoted by Variety.

“A tip of the hat to a class act. He’ll be missed terribly.”

Pollack’s role in “Michael Clayton” was a return to his first trade, and he also played memorable parts Woody Allen’s in “Husbands and Wives” (1992), and Robert Altman’s “The Player” (1992).

Last summer, Pollack pulled out of directing a film about the disputed 2000 US presidential election for cable channel HBO, after coming down with an undisclosed illness.

He was married with three children. – AFP/ac

Channel News Asia

Victoria Ditawar Berlakon

VICTORIA dan suaminya, Beckham.

LOS ANGELES – Aktor Hollywood, Tom Cruise mengundang isteri bintang bola sepak David Beckham, Victoria untuk memegang peranan kecil dalam filem The Hardy Men, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Victoria yang merupakan bekas anggota kumpulan Spice Girls ditawarkan peranan itu setelah dia diupah oleh aktor Tom Cruise untuk mereka kostum pelakon The Hardy Men. Ketika majlis ulang tahun ke-34 Victoria yang diadakan baru-baru ini, penyanyi itu kelu selepas Cruise membuat tawaran supaya dia mencipta kostum pelakon filem tersebut.

Menurut akhbar The Daily Express, Cruise turut mengundang Victoria untuk melakukan satu penampilan istimewa dalam filem itu. – Agensi

Kosmo

Bintang-Bintang Hollywood Hamil

Susunan JESSABELL SOO

JULIA ROBERT bersama anak-anak dan pasangannya.

AKSESORI adalah teman rapat kepada kaum wanita. Tidak kira rantai, subang, gelang, tas tangan mahupun kasut, semuanya menjadi pelengkap hidup wanita.

Mungkin sudah bosan dengan aksesori yang boleh dibeli sesuka hati, golongan selebriti Hollywood kini berlumba melahirkan anak untuk dijadikan sebagai ‘aksesori’ terbaru mereka.

Tidak pasti sengaja atau aliran terkini, dua tahun kebelakangan ini, ramai bayi-bayi Hollywood dilahirkan. Bermula dengan Julia Roberts yang melahirkan anak kembarnya, Hazel dan Phinneaus, 3, serta Henry, 7 bulan dengan suaminya, Danny Moder, aliran kemudian diikuti oleh Angelina Jolie dan Katie Holmes.

Angelina berbaju kebaya?

FOTO Angelina Jolie ini dirakam di Santa Barbara, California baru-baru ini.

Walaupun masih belum berkahwin, Angelina Jolie, 32, melahirkan anak bersama Brad Pitt, Shiloh Nouvel, 19 bulan. Terbaru, dia juga dilaporkan sedang mengandung anak kembar bersama teman lelakinya itu. Namun, pasangan Brangelina itu enggan membuat sebarang komen mengenai perkara tersebut. Ketika mengunjungi Santa Barbara Film Festival di Arlington Theatre di Santa Barbara, California pada 3 Februari lepas, Angelina yang hadir bersama Pitt dilihat menyarung kostum yang seakan-akan kebaya longgar dan ia segera menimbulkan spekulasi mengenai dirinya yang hamil lagi.

Namun pada majlis tersebut, ejen publisiti Angelina telah mengeluarkan arahan kepada para wakil media yang hadir supaya tidak melontarkan sebarang soalan mengenai kehamilan kepada Angelina dan Pitt.

Pelakon filem A Mighty Heart ini sudah mempunyai tiga anak angkat, Maddox, 6, Pax, 4 dan Zahara, 3.

Selain Angelina, Katie Holmes, 29 yang kini merupakan isteri kepada Tom Cruise, 45 turut melahirkan anak sulungnya, Suri sebelum berkahwin. Kini dia dikatakan sedang mengandung apabila dia membeli baju dengan tulisan ‘big sister’ kepada Suri.

Aktres siri hit di TV Alias, Jennifer Garner turut melahirkan anak pertamanya, Violet Anne Affleck pada tahun 2005 dengan suaminya, Ben Affleck.

Penyanyi bermasalah, Britney Spears, 26 juga melahirkan anak pada usia muda dengan bekas suaminya, Kevin Federline. Namun, dia kini telah hilang hak penjagaan kedua-dua anaknya, Sean Preston, 2, dan Jayden James, 16 bulan.

Namun Britney kalah kepada adiknya, Jamie Lynn, 16, yang menjadi selebriti Hollywood termuda hamil anak sulung pada tahun ini.

Pasangan suami isteri Gwen Stefani dan Gavin Rossdale juga sedang menanti kehadiran anak kedua selepas Gwen mendapat pengesahan kehamilannya di hospital Cedars Sinai. Anak sulung Gwen, Kingston kini berusia 20 bulan.

HALLE BERRY

Nicole Richie dan Christina Aguilera masing-masing telah melahirkan bayi bulan lalu di hospital sama. Anak Nicole bersama teman lelakinya, Joel Madden, Harlow Winter Kate Madden dilahirkan pada 11 Januari lalu.

Manakala anak Christina Aguilera, 27 dengan suaminya, Jordan Bratman menyambut kehadiran Max Liron Bratman pada 12 Januari lalu.

Aktres, Tori Spelling yang melahirkan anak pertama, Liam bersama suaminya, Dean McDermott tahun lalu juga sedang mengandung.

Bekas isteri Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, 40 turut menyertai senarai bakal ibu selepas dilapor mengandungkan anak pertamanya dengan suami, Keith Urban.

Tahun sibuk buat paparazzi

Seorang lagi aktres yang mengandung pada usia lanjut adalah Halle Berry, 41 bersama teman lelakinya yang merupakan seorang model, Gabriel Aubry, 32.

JESSICA ALBA juga tersenarai dalam barisan wanita terkenal yang sedang hamil ketika ini.

Aktres seksi, Jessica Alba, 26 juga sedang mengandungkan anak sulungnya bersama, Cash Warren, 28.

Sementara itu, Jennifer Lopez, 38 yang sedang mengandungkan anak pertama dengan suaminya, Marc Anthony dilaporkan giat mencari ibu bapa angkat untuk anaknya.

Berlandaskan senarai ibu-ibu selebriti Hollywood yang hamil pastinya tahun ini meriah dengan berita kelahiran bayi-bayi. Nampaknya tahun ini merupakan tahun yang paling sibuk buat paparazzi dalam berusaha mendapatkan foto anak-anak selebriti popular Hollywood ini.

Gambar bayi comel manakah agaknya yang bakal menjadi penghias muka depan tabloid dan majalah dengan harga yang paling mahal? Ini semua menjadi sasaran dan matlamat paparazzi.

Kosmo

Tom Cruise And Katie Holmes Choose Hebrew Name For Baby Girl

Katie Holmes gave birth to Tom Cruise’s baby yesterday – and no, it wasn’t an alien, as some people had half-jokingly speculated.

Cruise, 43, the Hollywood uber-star and Scientology poster boy, and his 27-year-old fianc
e welcomed a 3.4kg baby girl into the world amid intense media interest. They named her Suri, which means “princess” in Hebrew or “red rose” in Persian. It also means “pickpocket” in Japanese.

The birth of Suri was preceded by some of the most bizarre behaviour by a celebrity in recent memory.

Now, Cruise isn’t a desperate B-lister eager to climb the Hollywood hierarchy.

He is arguably the world’s best-known actor and one who is at the top of his game. But that hasn’t stopped him from behaving as if he’s coming slowly unhinged.

LET’S GET IT STARTED, YOU HEAR!

From the start, the supposedly fairy tale romance between Cruise and Holmes has seemed to many people more like a weird wonder tale.

When the couple started dating in April last year, rumours surrounded the circumstances of their first meeting.

According to the gossipy New York Post, the story went that Cruise was on a recruitment drive for a “photogenic virgin-type” actress who could serve as a potential partner.

Apparently, Holmes was not the first choice: Blue-eyed blonde Kate Botsworth, who also happens to be Orlando Bloom’s on-off girlfriend, was.

The same tabloid newspaper earlier alleged that TomKat’s relationship was a publicity sham.

The night the two held hands in front of photographers in Rome was also the day that Cruise’s publicist sister Lee Anne De-Vette formally announced the pair were dating – which gave the impression that the affair was part of a carefully orchestrated plan.

It did not help that, at the time, Cruise was promoting his latest film, War of the Worlds, and Holmes was the female lead in Batman Begins.

Rumours may be rumours, but the general public lapped it all up because Cruise himself seemed to perpetuate the stories.

However, it was the infamous “jumping the couch” incident that really set tongues wagging, with most suggesting that some Cruise control was called for.

On an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in May last year, Cruise leapt up on a bemused Winfrey’s couch and performed an impromptu jig while proclaiming his love for Holmes.

The phrase “jump the couch” has since entered the lexicon. It is defined at http://www.urbandictionary.com as “a defining moment when you know someone has gone off the deep end”.

Of the much-publicised incident, Cruise told US magazine Entertainment Weekly magazine two months later: “There are some people who just don’t like to see other people happy ῅ They’re like the bullies you grow up with in school. But you know what?

If they don’t like it, f*** them. If people don’t like it, f*** off.”

GOING ON A CRUISE-ADE
The masses might have done just that had Cruise dealt with the negative publicity in the way most celebrities would – by keeping a low profile.

But far from going into self-imposed exile, Cruise launched a crusade aimed at publicising his belief in the quasi-religious principles of Scientology, speaking out on a range of topics including psychology, religion and drug addiction.

If Cruise seemed like just another overpaid Hollywood eccentric before, now he was treading on shakier ground and setting himself up as a symbol of pop culture’s disproportionate influence on people’s lives.

In May last year, he said in an interview on TV’s Access Hollywood that actress Brooke Shields should have simply taken vitamins for her postpartum depression, comments that set off a furore among psychiatrists and a very angry Shields.

Cruise later said he had received 154,000 positive responses to his advice. (In a strange coincidence, Shields announced the arrival of a baby girl, Grier Hammond Henchy, on the same day that Cruise and Holmes’ came out with their big announcement).

Cruise also called psychiatry a Nazi science, saying: “Look at the experimentation the Nazis did with electric shock and drugging.

Look at the drug methadone. That was originally called Adolophine. It was named after Adolf Hitler.”

A writer for Entertainment Weekly disproved Cruise’s claims and his research findings were run in the magazine alongside the actor’s responses.

Seemingly unrepentant, Cruise subsequently claimed that he could help someone quit heroin in three days using a Scientology detox programme. News of the claim appeared in the following month’s issue of GQ magazine.

A hint to the reason for Cruise’s exploitation of the power he wields as a celebrity could lie in the tumultuous relationship he had with his father.

In an upcoming interview with Parade magazine, he revealed that his father was “a bully and a coward”. He also claimed that he was bullied countless times during his childhood.

Parade later scrapped its online poll as to whether the media or Cruise himself was to blame for his many public relations disasters because the overwhelming response in favour of the media – 84 per cent of respondents pointed the finger at the press – came from about 10 computers, which meant that the results were very likely rigged.

So unprecedented is Cruise’s behaviour that the line between fact and fiction has become a blur.

Last month, it was widely reported on the Internet that Cruise wielded his substantial influence to get an episode of South Park that lampooned Scientology pulled off the TV show Comedy Central. Representatives of Cruise have denied the rumour.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Best known for her role in the teen TV drama Dawson’s Creek, the Ohio-born Holmes had enjoyed a comparatively innocent romance with Chris Klein before Cruise proposed to her atop the Eiffel Tower in June last year.

Now, the former Catholic has converted to Scientology, much to the apparent chagrin of her parents.

Oddly enough, amid the media circus, Holmes has said very little.

One of the few things that she has said on the record – she spoke to talk show host Winfrey last year – is that she had fantasised about Cruise since she was a teenager.

Perhaps because Holmes says very little, the rumours surrounding her are even wilder than those which Cruise attracts.

The latest one was that Cruise ordered an adult pacifier to be custom-made for her in order to suppress her groans during the birthing process, because Scientologists believe that births should be silent.

Well, how bad can that be, when Cruise also told GQ that he wanted to eat Holmes’ placenta after the birth. But he was likely joking. A journalist from Parade, which ran an interview with Cruise timed with the upcoming release of Mission Impossible 3, said of the mother of his child: “Holmes wore a large diamond engagement ring. She seemed dazed, passive and vacant. She never stopped smiling.”

The secrets behind the TomKat love affair may only be uncovered by intrepid biographers in the years to come.

In the meantime, there’s a new story for the media to dig their claws into: The life and times of the TomKitten.

Channel News Asia

Sci-Fi As Social Commentary, But Is Anyone Listening?

ANAKIN Skywalker lowers his face, raises one eye, adopts his characteristic scowl and coldly informs Obi-wan Kenobi: “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.”

And suddenly, you’re watching a scathing, and none-too-subtle, critique of the current Bush Administration.

How did that happen?

Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith is, to be sure a Star Wars film. Just 30 minutes earlier, the audience found itself chuckling at Padme Amidala’s request for Anakin to hold her “like he did by the lake in Naboo”.

But by the end of the film, the woman had transformed into Michael Moore, spouting leftist lines like: “This is how liberty dies – with thunderous applause.”

Revenge of the Sith had evolved into Fahrenheit 9/11 – with thunderous applause from the critics.

That’s entertainment. That’s science fiction.

The early prophecies

George Lucas has retrospectively claimed that the idea to write Star Wars came in 1971, as a reaction to the expanded executive under then President Richard Nixon and the escalation of the Vietnam War. The rise of American militarism and the subsequent Watergate scandal of 1974 convinced Lucas to write a space opera about an empire controlled by a leader with a penchant for bombing foreign territories.

But Lucas had no intention of depicting the Nixon administration through a film such as All the President’s Men (1976). Instead he gave Nixon a black helmet, called him Darth Vader and shielded his political commentary behind the black cloak of science fiction.

This is nothing new, of course. The first instance in full-length feature film-making was Fritz Lang’s seminal 1927 sci-fi film Metropolis, telling a history lesson before the history had been written.

Lang created a futuristic dystopian nightmare. As industrialised factories with Henry Ford’s revolutionary production lines materialised across the western world, Lang recognised the widening chasm between the haves and the have-nots.

The Metropolis of Lang’s film featured endless skyscrapers and hellish, crowded subterranean dwellings. His simple message was prophetic: Dictators will learn to control science and dominate industry to rule over the masses.

Blade Runner (1982), Star Wars: Episode II – The Attack of the Clones (2002) and the upcoming The Island (2005) are just three films that have expanded on Metropolis’ basic theme of manipulating technology to incorporate the perils of human cloning.

(On a smaller-scale on television, but with equal if not greater impact, was Gene Roddenberry’s cult TV series Star Trek, which used alien worlds to more palatably discuss social issues of the day. Star Trek is also notable for featuring the first ever inter-racial on-screen kiss.)

Invasion of the unseen enemy

Interestingly, the Star Wars franchise and War of the Worlds, which was released worldwide on Wednesday, also highlights modern society’s inability to learn from its 20th century mistakes.

Lucas was fascinated by man’s willingness to forgo personal freedoms in his quest for greater homeland security to conquer perceived threats to society.

Examples include the Roman Empire after Julius Caesar, Adolf Hitler after the humiliating Treaty of Versailles and, of course, Nixon after the perceived lawlessness (race riots, student protests, anti-war demonstrators of the late 1960s), which triggered the first in George Lucas’ saga, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).

In 2005, little has changed. The parallels between Nixon/Bush and A New Hope/Revenge of the Sith are obvious.

America is once again manipulating a nation’s fears to fight an unpopular war against a foreign, weaker enemy, suppressing personal freedoms in the process.

But the evolution of War of the Worlds is quite remarkable. Written by the fervent socialist HG Wells in 1898, the novel tapped into Britain’s genuine concerns of an invasion.

Germany’s expansionism at the turn of a century was a very real threat to Britain’s empire and naval interests (the two countries would be at war by 1914).

The martians who invade our planet represent the ultimate imperialists, and highlight the folly of man’s dependence on technology.

(In line with Darwinism, the martians are eventually destroyed not by weapons of destruction, but by the Earth’s “alien” environment. Global warming, anyone?)

When Orson Welles’ radio play of War of the Worlds terrified the New Jersey populace in 1938 (they thought it was a genuine news bulletin), Hitler’s quest for Lebensraum (living space) would plunge the world into darkness a second time just a year later.

It just keeps going on

In 1953, War of the Worlds hit the silver screen for the first time. The Cold War was just warming and Joseph McCarthy had Americans looking for “Reds under the bed”.

But there is only one thing more terrifying than being attacked by a fellow superpower with an opposed political doctrine: Being attacked by an invisible enemy.

War of the Worlds has never been more relevant today. To Wells’ martians, the loss of human life is an irrelevance; a necessary but insignificant detail on their way to pursuing a greater goal (they want the planet for themselves).

It all sounds depressingly familiar and Steven Spielberg, who helmed the latest version starring Tom Cruise, has drawn parallels between the movie’s basic premise and the world’s fears of a faceless invader since 9/11.

The apprehension of German militarism has given way to concern over nuclear and biological weapons, but little else has changed.

From Nixon to Bush, Bismarck to Bin Laden, science fiction movies continue to present cryptic history lessons disguised as escapist fantasy.

Unfortunately, the storyline keeps repeating itself. –

Channel News Asia