Books and crushes

[bennmatt at yahoo.com]

Jenny wrote:

>desperate crush complete with letters written and concerts attended 
>tearfully was on... MENUDO.

Ricky Martin's group? Can't see anything embarrassing about that.

Ebony wrote:

>My first crush, at the tender age of almost two, was on Kermit the 
>Frog.  (Shut up.)  

Hey, I like Kermit. And can he sing!

> Minor crushes included Tupac, MC 
>Brains, Keanu Reeves, Shemar Moore,

Shemar Moore is the best reason to watch daytime TV I can think of. 
Well, him *and* Kristoff 
St John.

>So... do I win?

I think so.
 
>Well, if we're going to admit to crushes on book characters, I'll
>chime in with Johnny of The Outsiders.  :--)  

Oh, he was so adorable. I love that book to pieces (and I actually 
thought the movie was pretty 
good for an adaptation too).

Book characters - not till recently. The two I fell most hard for 
would be Ford Prefect from The 
Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I completely unexplainedly fell head 
over heels halfway 
through the first book of the trilogy. And I then fell head over 
heels for the Regency dandy who 
plays at being a detective, Julian Kestrel, from Kate Ross's Julian 
Kestrel mysteries.

And that was it for book characters until GoF and Bill Weasley, who I 
am unrepentantly, 
blissfully, majorly in crush with.

Wanda wrote:

>What, not Ricky Martin! 

I crushed on him during his soap days. Not so much recently.

Martin Hooper wrote:

>OK Penny... :)  Not strange though...

Thank you :)

>I can remember having crushes on people at school...  Rachael I 
think her 
>name was...  Shoulder length black hair as I recall...

Sounds lovely.

>I also had a crush on Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman in the 80's as I 
was 
>growing up.

She was gorgeous. Still is, I saw a picture of her recently and she's 
more beautiful than she was 
as Wonder Woman, IMO.

>I am 32 I have a crush on Renee O'Connor who played Gabrielle in 
Xena 
>Warrior Princess. (http://www.mikes-
images.com/html/gabrielle_2.html) 

I always preferred Gabrielle to Xena. Something about the bookish 
types appeals to me.

Sister Mary Lunatic wrote:

>I was crazy about those "Dark Shadows" boys -- Jonathan Frid as 
Barnabas
>(the vampire) and David Selby as Quentin (the werewolf).  

Oh...yes. I love David Selby, too.

>What IS that whole thing about vampires and
>sex?  All the vamp stories I read nowadays, the undead are 
irresistibly sexy
>and fantastic in the sack.  Having sex with cold dead people... 
really?  Why
>is there that paradox?

Actually, I think that's going back to the roots (so to speak) of the 
Dracula 
culture/phenomenon. In Victorian times, vampires were a metaphor for 
sex, with the neck-biting 
being, of course, penetration. Therefore, vampires must be incredible 
lovers, and because we 
live in a time that is slightly more open about sex, they are shown 
that way. Or something like 
that.

>I was also crazy about Mr. Spock.  I understand there is an 
entire "Mr.
>Spock Syndrome" in literature & television : lusting after the 
untouchable
>unattainable man.  (see Ramses Emerson, you Elizabeth Peters fans!)

I've read some stuff about that. Very intriguing.

Amanda wrote:

>About 11, came along Peter O'Toole, specifically in Lord Jim,

Oh, yes. That *voice*. Those eyes.

>Biggie, embers still gently warming a secret corner of my heart, 
James
>Mason. 

Another actor I love.

> Alan Rickman's a rank newcomer compared to these three, and my
>husband has noted how unusual my passion for Alan Rickman is, since 
he's
>not (a) dead or (b) sixty years my senior.....

Well, there you go. You could always crush on the Metatron, his role 
in Dogma. He's as old as 
time in that...

>P.S. -- I am delighted to report that James Mason's middle name was
>Neville.

Awwwwwwww! That is ever so adorable.

Heidi Tandy wrote:


> Rob Lowe and Michael J Fox in 1982, thanks to Outsiders and Family 
Ties 
>- those are the good ones. 

I was *just* over my crush on Rob Lowe when all that scandal 
happened. I watched it unfold in 
horrified fascination.

>Duran Duran, on the other hand - I still do love 
>the music, and saw them in concert back in 1997 - great show in NYC. 

I've always loved DD. Great band, great music, cute guys, with a 
special place in my heart for 
John Taylor.

Cindy wrote:

>Oh my gosh!  Someone else had a crush on Johnny!  Well, I also had a 
>thing for Ponyboy and Dallas, 

You know the one I really liked? Darrel. There was just something 
about his being responsible 
for his brothers that got to me.


David wrote:

>David, who vaguely remembers some girl who used to wait at the same 
>bus stop

Thank you, David :).

As for the conversation aspect, I think women just tend to talk more. 
We have to admit that, if 
nothing else...

Jenny wrote:

>Are there books that you have read so many times you *still* know 
>chunks by heart?  Are you also unable to explain why?

Yes. Most of the Discworld books, most of the Nancy Drew books (I 
wanted to be Nancy 
when I grew up), Little Women (and I never thought Jo should end up 
with Laurie, they didn't 
strike me as more than friends, but I was young when I read it, so 
maybe that was part of it), 
and (this is obscure) a British series of books about girls who grew 
up loving an abbey and one 
of them eventually inherited it, written by Elsie J. Oxenham. Some 
Enid Blytons, too. One of the 
reasons I love Harry so much is because I've always loved British 
school stories. Some of 
Jackie Collins's books. Lace, by Shirley Conran. All of SE Hinton's 
books. Too many others 
to name.

>--jenny from ravenclaw, who also had a wild crush on Ricky Schroeder 
>when he was on "Silver Spoons" and to this day cannot call him Rick 

I can't think of him as Rick, either. He'll always be Ricky to me, 
even when he's nude on 
NYPD Blue.

Joanne.