Me, Tom Cruise and My Mother's Vindication !

Tom Cruise is in his late 40's, listed somewhere between 5 foot 7 and 5 foot 9, my guess 160-175 lbs, hazel brown eyes, brown hair and a whole lot of sexiness!

Alejo Ramirez (me) is in his late 20's and is 5 foot 11 (&1/2). That half is very important. I generally float between 185-195lbs. I have dark brown eyes and dark brown hair with a whole lot of not bad looking.

Tom Cruise is world famous.

Alejo Ramirez is well known in his hometown. At least recognizable to some in his hometown.

Tom Cruise has over 1.5 million followers on twitter.

Alejo Ramirez has 23.

Tom Cruise has a 10 minute video on his website trying to show you that he has talent.

Alejo Ramirez thinks he has (some sort of) talent but has no propaganda to display the argument.

Tom Cruise is an international movie giant.

Alejo Ramirez wants to be an international movie giant. well, sort of.


let the comparison begin !!!!













look at how intense we are!

As you can see the parallels run deep between Cruise and myself. Okay, maybe not. But since I was a little boy my mother has repeatedly told me that I, Alejo Ramirez looks very much like Tom Cruise. I know, it's funny. HaHaHa. It's not that funny. I have tried to convince her otherwise. Not because Tom Cruise is a bad looking guy but because I don't look like Tom Cruise. Ben Stiller looks more like Tom Cruise than I do and I don't look like Ben Stiller either. My mother is very persistent. Even when discussing it with family, friends and strangers that disagree with her, she holds steady and firm. She is like an oak. As I get older, she is more certain that I look like Tom Cruise.

I've have mentioned this to friends over the years and the typical response is disagreement. Only a couple of times have people found it funny and my friend Seth likes to make Top Gun references when I have a short but not too short crew cut hair style, similar to the style of hair Tom Cruise had while playing his famous Maverick character in Top Gun. "Engage Maverick, engage!" Seth will shout. It's funny. He does it with charm.

No one else has seen the resemblance but others, when told the story, can maneuver their way into agreeing with my mother. There is the, "oh, yeah, I can kind of see it." But no one other than my mother has ever has flat out said. "You look like Tom Cruise."

Until a week ago. It happened. I was at work.

I was at the register of my Starbucks taking drink beverage orders. A nice woman named Karen ordered a chai and by the time we had finished our social and financial transaction she kindly says, "How often do you get the Tom Cruise thing?"

"Excuse me?" I replied.

"How often do you get the Tom Cruise thing? You look a lot like him. I know, I worked this distance," making a hand gesture of about 6 inches, "away from him for about 3 days." She finished her story and I could do nothing but laugh and then tell her the story of my mother's persistent crusade of reminding me and notifying the world that her son looks like Tom Cruise.

Maybe I just have to swallow my pride and look like a world famous movie star. Damn! But I've been told throughout the years that I look like other celebrities too. Rivers Cuomo (lead singer of Weezer), Jason Schwartzman, Mo Rocca, the guy from the "Can you hear me now?" Verizon commercials, the guy from the UPS white board commercials, the guy from the new State Farm commercials.... AGH! Let's not forget the monthly, " You look like a guy I went to high school with. Are you (insert name) from (insert place)?"

Apparently, I look a lot like a lot of other people or they look like me. Too bad for them. Or! I remind a lot of people of other people, which still isn't good for them and it's not great for me either. Hmm....

There can only be one! I don't mind if Tom Cruise wants to look like me. (Insert false ego) Sure he can still try to play parts meant for actors in their early 30's but I have yet to reach my early 30's, so suck it Tom Cruise! You and your fame, your success, your attractive girlfriends and wives and all the other really cool stuff you probably have! Yeah, I've got nothing. (insert real disappointment) Well played Tom Cruise, well played.

Mom, I guess you were right all along.

till next time.