You know what the real trick is to picking up chicks half your age?

Weird religions started by mediocre science fiction writers, that's what.

The Holy Weblog links to this article about how Tom Cruise creeped out 19 year old actress Scarlett Johansen through repeated phone calls pressuring her to meet him at the Scientology Center in Los Angeles. According to the article:

...when the actress finally agreed, the supposedly professional get-together took an oddly spiritual turn. “[Cruise] took me into this room, which was stifling hot, and was showing me all kinds of info about joining the church,” Johansson told our source. “The whole time he didn’t even offer me a cookie!” Instead, he offered her dinner—and a glimpse into the Twilight Zone.

Shortly thereafter, Johansen dropped out of Mission Impossible 3, "reportedly due to scheduling conflicts."

The article ends with this observation:

"After striking out with Johansson, Cruise reportedly turned his attentions to 24-year-old Jessica Alba, 22-year-old Kate Bosworth, and 18-year-old Lindsay Lohan, before settling on the 26-year-old Holmes. As far we know, Cruise’s War of the Worlds co-star, Dakota Fanning, was never under consideration."

Nichole Kidman is looking smarter all the time.