What's the one thing my friend Laura has been quizzed about the most since she returned from New York City? The Sex and the City tour she did of Manhattan. As one of her friends pointed out, it was a tour Laura did of something that doesn't actually exist. And I'm sure she seriously contemplated this point as she sipped on a Cosmo in Steve and Aidan's bar at the intersection of Grand and Center streets in Greenwich Village.

For $US37 ($49) she saw more than 30 locations from the show including the park where Charlotte's dog, Elizabeth Taylor, was gang-raped by a group of mutts; the Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker Street where Miranda famously stuffed her mouth with cupcakes; the Pleasure Chest store where Charlotte purchased "the rabbit"; the church where Samantha becomes obsessed with the friar; and the restaurant where Carrie experienced an "illegal dumping" having been stood-up by a blind date.

And Laura is not embarrassed to say that the piece de resistance was when she got to have her photo taken sitting on the front step of Carrie's apartment, which is supposed to be on the Upper East Side but which in reality is in Greenwich Village.

It came as no surprise to me to learn that she is a sucker for visiting sites she's seen in her favourite films and television shows. Back in 1998, she lined up with about three dozen New Yorkers outside the Soup Kitchen International on W 55th Street. Doesn't ring a bell? Then how about "the Soup Nazi"? She lined up for 45 minutes so that she could taste what was considered to be the best soup in Manhattan. And to see if the real-life "soup gate-keeper", Al Yeganeh, was as scary as his television counterpart. He was.

The Seinfeld episode was no exaggeration and it was easy to see how Jerry Seinfeld came up with the idea for the episode. Anger management issues aside, Yeganeh's soup was the best she had ever tasted.

Of course, you have to draw the line somewhere. And for me it's doing the "Official Ramsey Street Tour" in Melbourne. Despite the fact that the tour is incredibly popular and rumoured to be great fun. And, let's face it, there's something strangely tempting about tagging along and watching hundreds of British tourists kiss, hug and occasionally urinate on Dr Karl Kennedy's letterbox. But it's one thing to want to wee on Karl's letterbox and another thing to start consulting actor Alan Fletcher (Dr Karl) for real-life medical advice. Or for the actor to start writing prescriptions.

Recently on NBC's Today Show Tom Cruise checked his Hollywood charm at the studio door and got into a heated exchange with host Matt Lauer over the credibility of the psychiatric profession. Huh?

Despite being on the program to promote War of the Worlds, Dr Cruise MD used his interview time to criticise Book Shield's use of anti-depressants and therapy to combat her recent post-partum depression. "Psychiatry is a pseudo-science," Cruise told host Lauer (probably while whipping out a stethoscope and white coat and attempting to listen to Lauer's heartbeat). "You don't know the history of psychiatry - I do."

In line with his Scientology beliefs, Cruise went on to criticise drugs prescribed to treat hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder in children. But the most concerning thing? Cruise's comments sparked a flood of calls to organisations like the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Society. It doesn't seem to matter that Cruise is merely an actor and not a trained physician - thousands of viewers took his opinion as law.

Responding to the outcry, society spokeswoman Peg Nichols hit the nail on the head when she said: "Since when would a celebrity have expertise in medicine? Would you go to your doctor and ask him about movie roles?"

As for Shields, who is performing on stage in London's West End, it is alleged that she responded to Cruise's barbs by sending him and his fiancée, Katie Holmes, complimentary tickets to her London show. Two tickets: one adult and one child.