Survey #8 Round-up
Hi everyone, happy Friday.
Sorry for the two week gap, I’m sure you all have been waiting eagerly with bated breath.
Here’s the link to next week’s survey, also linked below.
Let’s get into it:
Survey Results
Q1: Tom Cruise - approve or disapprove?
Results:
Highlighted Free Response:
“I did know he was 5’8” which made me like him a little more (short kings).”
“Generally a good actor and I respect that he does his own stunts, but I think he also goes too far with the stunts just to put himself in danger for the clout. Also, can't trust a Scientologist.”
“This guy can continue to be a Scientologist freak as long as he keeps base jumping a motorcycle onto a moving train for my amusement”
“Unless he has an amazing PR team (who am I kidding of course he does) I don’t see a reason to hate.”
“...He inspires me to eat at much popcorn as I humanly can.”
Commentary:
I’ll admit that there isn’t exactly much ammunition to hate Tom Cruise on these days. The Scientology stuff seems to have mostly receded in the public awareness, and he doesn’t have any weird public relationship drama1 like he did back in the day:
Honestly I just had a hard time coming up with another controversial figure for this question and kind of just wanted an excuse to talk about Tom Cruise, my GOAT.
I play up and exaggerate my love for TC a little bit because it’s kind of funny, but also because we really just don’t have many true-blue movie stars like him these days.
I recently watched The Firm, a legal drama from the 90s, starring Tom Cruise, about a young lawyer who joins a law firm only to find himself entrenched in a web of lies and deceit, and who manages to get out using his guile and passion for minutiae of the law and attorney-client privilege.
Sounds kind of droll, but that thing made $400M! And Cruise really carries it at the center.2
Compare that to Paul Mescal in Gladiator 2, or Austin Butler in Caught Stealing or Pedro Pascal in...most movies he’s in. Good-looking guys in big roles in action-packed movies -- but somehow still not as compelling to watch as Tom Cruise reviewing mail fraud case law. They just don’t have the juice like my boy Maverick.
I also love that Cruise is also just an insane weirdo of a star. Maybe it’s all the dianetics and Lord Xenu mana he’s been receiving from the years, but the guy is like a facsimile of a human at this point.
He puts his body on the line for insane stunts, he loves his popcorn, and he can really bust a move in a fat suit:
During a time when it feels like many of our celebrities are beautiful and perfect, but texture-less and lacking in character, I’m glad to have the high-wired insanity of Tom Cruise still in our lives.
Q2: Do you keep any kind of journal or diary?
Results:
Highlighted Free Responses:
“I don't trust the curiosity of future generations”
“My favorite brand of journals has the slogan “to write is to think with the hand” and that is exactly how I approach my journal.”
“Does Beli count?”
Commentary:
I think there’s something valuable about externalizing your inner thoughts and desires in some way, shape, or form. Maybe that’s therapy, journaling, vision boards, or even prayer.
It’s also nice to have a past record to look back on for posterity, so you remember how dumb you used to be. Or still are.
Although maybe having a past record of your thoughts and ambitions can be dangerous. Just ask Greg Brockman, President of OpenAI who recently had his journal exposed in the recent Elon Musk v. OpenAI lawsuit:
Writing “what will take me to $1B?” in a Google Doc sounds like a parody of what a tech bro would journal to himself.
So to those of you jotting your inner monologues in your Notes app, maybe be careful about what kind of evil ambitions you’re putting to paper.
Q3: How do you feel about your job?
Results:
Highlighted Free Responses:
“I feel like an Ed Norton character (wah wah wah my job is too stable and meaningless)”
“While I sometimes get annoyed at my place of employment feeling like it's stuck in the early 2000s, there is something quaint and comforting about the utter lack of AI being shoved down my throat.”
“Some instances I literally feel like I’m in a fucked up version of The Office. Half the time I’m teetering between laughing and crying at how ridiculous it is.”
“Mostly hate it and a gossiping convo with some of the good co workers brings it back. I’m definitely entitled as I’m fortunate to have that type of job but it’s kinda just like who gives a fuck lol”
“Not a bad place to work in general but my manager drives me nuts”
Commentary:
The impetus for this question came from a friend who wanted to ask “how much do you hate your job?” but I opted for a more neutral phrasing.
One of the main themes from the responses is that the people you work with often have an outsized influence on your job enjoyment relative to your actual day-to-day work or the overall purpose of your job.
My last client was an absolute idiot man-child who constantly needed to be babysat and coddled at every turn, and made every aspect of that project disorganized and poorly run. So I am very very glad to not have to take his calls anymore.
I remember when I interned at Booz Allen I met a guy who was considered one of the leading data scientists at the firm. He told me that he received an offer from Nvidia to triple his salary, but turned it down to stay at Booz “because of the people.”
When I was 21 I thought this decision was insane (and considering what Nvidia has become in recent years it has maybe not aged all that well), but I have become more sympathetic to the concept of prioritizing the people you work with over other factors.
I will say I was surprised to not see more job discontent in the responses. Reading between the lines, I sense a kind of reluctant appreciation to just have a job in this current economic climate.
Q4: Do you regularly read any major newspapers (e.g., NY Times, Wash Post, Wall St Journal, Financial Times, etc.)?
Results:
Highlighted Free Responses:
“...I also hate read the New York Post”
“...I’m slightly ashamed to reveal that I barely read it anymore. It was just causing me so much rage before 9 am that it became unsustainable.”
“...I also algorithmically get news from reels that are catered to anger me and make me feel helpless about the world and if I’m not paying attention will let that affect me and further influence my world view.”
“Stating in a federal courtroom in that I read The NY Times every day is likely what got me pulled by a defense lawyer from being impaneled on a federal jury for a J6 defendant in 2024”
Commentary
Honestly, surprised to see this many yeses. Traditional newspapers seem to be dying and folding in favor of alternative media and The Algorithm, particularly amongst young folks.
Like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada 2, I do believe that “journalism still fucking matters!!” I read The NY Times like the Good Little Liberal I am, and The Wall Street Journal to make sure I keep up with my capitalist overlords. And I’ll periodically rewatch Spotlight, All the President’s Men, and Good Night and Good Luck as yummy liberal competence porn.
I still begrudgingly read The Washington Post, even though Bezos has seriously driven that paper into the ground, turning it into some off-brand Frankenstein of like, USA Today and Daily Wire:
Bending my “no politics” rule here to lib out briefly: journalism was already withering, and now we have the likes of Bezos and Bari Weiss gutting out these storied institutions in favor of cheap, click-baity, right-wing, “alternative truths.” These decisions are not just politically disagreeable to me, they’re also just bad for business and destructive to these institutions that historically have valued standards and impact. And finally, hollowing out The Washington Post is a loss for the citizens of Washington D.C. who need a serious newspaper to cover local topics and issues.
Alright lib-out over.
Q5: Cruises: overrated or underrated?
Results:
Highlighted Free Responses:
“...You know what? I enjoyed the dumbass thing. It was nice to kinda be a dumb American and go to places that I didn’t necessarily need to think about in a scholarly sense. The food is okay, if you get the drinks package, you really forget you’re at sea.”
“They are expensive and bad things always seem to happen”
“Hear me out, but I went on a cruise when I was 15 and had the time of my life. Old enough to have some tomfoolery but young enough to not really realize how shitty it was. Maybe the key is that you can’t go on a cruise past that age and that I wasn’t paying for it.”
“Idk man I think they’re gauche and it’s no way to travel or see a place and it’s bad and polluting.”
“A supposedly fun thing I will never do full stop”
“Everything is an expensive add on; constant crowds, noise, and thousands of children; and a very high likelihood you come home with some kind of virus or bacterial infection. Nope!”
Commentary:
Fuck cruises.
I first went on a cruise with my parents when I was in middle school, and I thought it sucked.
This last Christmas, my dad talked me into going on another cruise, and I thought, maybe this will be better as an adult. Nope! Still sucks!
Nothing on the boat is as good as they make it seem like in the ads. Now when I see those commercials, I’m like nope - there’s always a line for that thing, that part is overrun with children, that thing actually costs extra, that thing is broken half the time, you only get to go to that beach for 1.5 days out of the entire 7 day trip.
Being off the boat is good -- the private beach was a bit uncanny and maybe a bit unethical if I think about it too hard, but it was actually very nice. My dad bonded with another father in trying to crack open a coconut, so that was funny:
But being on the boat sucks ass. Everything that you would want to do or consume costs extra, has a line, or is overrun with children. Even the Wi-Fi costs $25 per day per device. At least the virus I brought home was free!
Call me a land-lubber, but I am never getting on one of those boats again. I lub me some land.
Next Survey
See here for Survey #9. Again, this will be on a two-week cadence, so you’ll have until Thursday, June 11th to submit your responses. I’ll send some periodic reminders over the next two weeks as well.
Secret gay relationship with Christopher McQuarrie excepted.
Although the killer supporting cast (Gene Hackman, Holly Hunter, Gary Busey, Wilford Brimley, etc.) deserves a shout-out as well.