The Squeee

It's a bit early in the year to decide on the weirdest celebrity crushes of 2013, isn't it? Every year, Heat magazine makes a list of unconventional-looking men and ask women to vote for who they think is the "weirdest crush". I came across the longlist earlier this year, and was absolutely puzzled as to why many of those men were on the list. I mean, Hugh Bonneville?! Lord Grantham is a dish! What's weird about him?! Anyway. I voted for a few, although I don't remember exactly who they were, but now, the top ten have been revealed. I snaffled the list from Virgin Media .

Epic tea time with Alan Rickman. (Thanks Leffe! :D)

This is my slightly longer than anticipated comment on ‘Rise and Rise Again’ – 100 YEARS OF ROBIN HOOD: Part Two . Today the Google Alert summary on Richard Armitage actually yielded 100% articles about the actor, as opposed to the former US secretary of state ... and a US murder victim. I'm surprised - and delighted. As the comment turned out to be surprisingly long, well, I can post it here too. Because I can. *cough* Det är Robin Hood jag vill ... jag vill haaa! Leaving 2006 aside for a mo, I LOVE the Disney film. I know it almost by heart in Swedish (which, imho, has better voice acting than the original – shock horror). Prince of Thieves is fun in a “yeah Kevin Costner is soooo from Nottingham … not” and the best part is Alan Rickman’s sheriff. Men in Tights is brilliant (“I am a Robin Hood who DOES have an English accent!”), and features Matthew Porretta as Will Scarlett – the actor who went on to play Robin in that godawful New Adventures series. He left after 20-od...

According to Expressen , who got the low-down from the Daily Express , a survey by Debenhams has revealed men are still seen as attractive until the age of 55. Seriously, they needed a survey to tell us that? I thought the evidence of hotness in guys over 50 was pretty obvious already: Exhibit A: Mark Harmon (1951) Exhibit B: Pierce Brosnan (1953) Exhibit C: William Petersen (1953) Exhibit D: Alan Rickman (1946) Exhibit E: Sam Neill (1947) I'm starting to stray into the 60s here, back to the 50s! Exhibit F: Ken Olin (1954) Exhibit G: Jeff Bridges (1949) Woops, relapse, let's over-compensate: Exhibit H: George Clooney (1961) I could go on. A lot longer than this. Richard Madeley, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Martin Sheen - and sons (they're not 50 yet, are they?), Harvey Keitel, Rik Mayall, Bruce Willis, Bruce Boxleitner , Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Douglas, Mel Gibson, Timothy Dalton ... No really, I...

This was something I posted as a comment on Avalon's Blog a few weeks ago, on the subject of why we love Guy of Gisborne of BBC's Robin Hood . Well, here's my reasoning behind loving the Man in Black: In a show where he was just meant to be a one-dimensional baddie, he turned out to be the hero. The transition from stereotypical goon, the sheriff's evil sidekick who leaves babies in the woods to die to lovestruck puppy - and later on very wounded puppy, and then fierce puppy - and angst-ridden emo to Man with a Tragic Past and then redeems himself... That range of emotion is very compelling to watch. A show where you don't root for the supposed hero (because the hero is a stuck-up brat) but for the guy you're supposed to hate - it's a bit confusing, but an interesting change to normal proceedings. A lot of the appeal of Gisborne is RA, though, that can't be forgotten. If someone else had played him, I doubt the show would've had the fanbase it n...

Good evening, everyone - I'd especially like to welcome any newcomers who have found the blog through the Richard Armitage FanstRAvaganza. Thanks for following! :) Today is St. Patrick's Day, the Republic of Ireland's national day, celebrated amongst the Irish, Irish descendents, or just friends and fans of the Emerald Isle everywhere in the world. I'm in the "friends and fans" category. I'm currently doing a course in Celtic Studies, I'm a big fan of traditional Irish folk music, and the time period I'm most interested in in Irish history is approximately 1825-1925 or so. That period covers emigration, potato famine, the Easter Rising and the Civil War. However, this is not a political or historical or religious blog, so celebrating will be in the shape of film. Two Irish films I particularly like are Neil Jordan's Michael Collins (1996) and Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006). Same time period, similar topic.

Been busy with stuff recently... and at the same time, not more than usual. Oh well. On the Squeee front... Couldn't help myself, so I've started on North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell... Think I'm on chapter six so far, and from sneaking a peak, I think it's in the next chapter (i.e. 7) where she first encounters dear Thornton. I've watched Jane Eyre '73 and been ogling some spin-off books on Amazon (waiting to get a voucher to buy them). Also been reading some... I think I've read past the shoelace scene. It's somewhere around when Blanche et al are at Thornfield anyway. Saw the Heroes and then the Heroines episodes of the documentary Reader, I Married Him yesterday, and for the first time, found myself disagreeing with Daisy Goodwin. Something she was saying about Rochester "marrying a mad woman for her money" had me exclaiming, "Oi! He was tricked into that marriage! He didn't know she was mad, and he didn't marr...

This is a general hommage to my favourite baddies from films and TV! :D The deliciously malicious people who you might love to hate, or hate to love... or just outright fancy. Whatever floats your boat. Most, if not all, of my favourite baddies are either Magnificent Bastards or Smug Snakes according to the TV Tropes Wiki. The two personality types being quite similar. What would Freud say? If I could make out in which order I prefer them, I would list them like that, but since I can't, I'll just go with an A-Z. So to speak. The links are to YouTube clips for the most part. Last revised: 3 June 2011.