My Celebrity Crushes, part 1

I thought it would be fun to do a series where I share some of my favorite celebrity crushes as well as some of my favorite celebs.

This first one solely focuses on male actors whom I have huge crushes on.

1. Johnny Depp
I first became aware of Johnny Depp when I watched part of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" on tv, back in the mid-90s when all the girls my age had "DiCaprio Fever" after Romeo+Juliet and Titanic had come out. Since then I recalled having seen him in both Edward Scissorhand and Benny and Joon when I was younger and I also caught CryBaby on tv as well. I didn't get to see a lot of his movies until I was in college (as many were rated R and I wasn't allowed to see those until I was 17), but when I could I did! I caught all his movies that played nearby as soon as I could - Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the Pirates movies, Finding Neverland, Secret Window, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Public Enemies, Alice in Wonderland and I rented or caught on tv some of the ones I had missed - A Nightmare on Elm Street, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, and The Ninth Gate.

And he's hot. In college when I lived in the dorms, I had a roommate for 3 semesters where we put together a massive Johnny Depp collage on our door.

I really think that Johnny Depp is one of the greatest character actors my generation has ever seen. Every role he does he pulls off really well! And he's so good at it - he's played a bank robber, a mad hatter, an author, a detective, a drugged out of his mind journalist, a loveable creep with knives for hands, a serial killer barber, a swashbuckling pirate, and a legendary serial killer, just to name a few! And no 2 characters he's played have been alike!


2. Jason Statham
Jason Statham is my action hero crush.

I first saw him in The Transporter 2, during my last week at the theater the first time I worked there. I wanted to make full use of my free movie privileges during that last week so I saw everything I hadn't already seen, this one included. I had caught parts of it while ushering and decided the action scenes were pretty cool so why not?

All I gotta say, Statham makes killing people and action movies look good, all while wearing a suit. And he's got a killer British accent too, which just adds to his hotness factor! When hubby wanted to shave his for awhile, I told him the only way I'd be cool with it was if he was going to start wearing a suit and speak in a British accent, lol...

I've seen most of his bigs movies since that 2nd Transporter movie - Crank, War, The Bank Job (where he proved he can act and carry a movie that isn't action packed), Transporter 3, Death Race, and Crank 2 - and caught the first Transporter and The Italian Job (where he plays the correctly titled "Handsome Rob" character) both on DVD. I'm eagerly awaiting to see his upcoming films 13, The Expendables and The Brazilian Job and have several of his earlier films (like Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Revolver, and Chaos) waiting in our Netflix queue.


3. John Cusack
Who doesn't love John Cusack?

In the 80s he starred in some very memorable classics and gave us memorable characters in the 90s, continuing into the 2000s.

I first saw Cusack when I was a little girl, having seen him star as Harry in the Disney flick The Journey of Natty Gann. It wasn't until years later when I saw the animated feature Anastasia, in which Cusack is the voice of the main male toon Dimiri and boy was his animated self pretty hot! (Yes, this is my cartoon crush, lol...). After that I saw him a few years later in Serendipity and America's Sweethearts, then in Identity, Must Love Dogs, Martian Child, 1408, and Hot Tub Time Machine. I also went back and saw Sixteen Candles (making a note of his small role), Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, Con Air, and High Fidelity.

Cusack's one of those actors who still looks as just as cute/handsome now in his 40s as he did back in his 20s. He's also extremely versatile, being able to perform in dramas, thrillers, comedies and rom-coms.


4. Nicholas Lea
Nick Lea was my junior high celebrity crush.

Starting in 5th grade and into junior high I was quite obsessed with the X-Files. But while my few female friends that watched were gushing over Fox Mulder, I was crushing on the former FBI agent turned renegade Alex Krycek. Something about his mysteriousness, dark hair and eyes and looking good in a leather jacket made this Canadian extremely attractive to me! I used to get soooo jealous when he'd start canoodling with Mulder's blonde informant (the one after X), and I always caught the episodes he guest starred in, as he was a regular guest star throughout the course of the series (I was so excited to learn Netflix has every season on Instant Watch so I can pick and choose to watch my favorites, including all the Krycek ones!) - I also was nearly in tears during the part in the season 4 Tunguska/Terma 2-parter where they amputate one of his arms.

I also found out that he had a small recurring role on the 90s police drama The Commish (starring Michael Chiklis) as police officer Ricky Caruso. I remembered watching this show during it's original run with my mom in the early 90s, and fortunately, around the time I learned Lea was in this, Lifetime was airing the episodes in the afternoon. I remember quickly coming home from school, running downstairs to turn on the tv and see if it was episode he was in. Netflix also has the first 2 seasons on Instant Watch as well - so yay! I might just have to have me a Nicholas Lea marathon!

He also starred in the short-lived John Woo tv series "Once a Thief" with Ivan Sergei in which the pilot was a 2-hour made for tv movie that premiered on Fox during an X-Files night. The series only had 1 season, originally only shown in Canada and later syndicated on UPN, where I caught a handful of episodes.

Aside from starring in the Chris O'Donell/Bill Paxton movie Vertical Limit, he's also been in a number of SyFy tv movies, various films that were never released in the US, as well as a short 4 episode appearance on CSI as Catherine Willow's boyfriend Chris (as much as we watch CSI, somehow I've missed these!) and 3 episode appearance on NYPD Blue, a major regular role on ABC Family's Kyle XY and currently I just learned he's on ABC's V, which I must now go watch.

5. Alexander Skarsgard
The newest addition to my list of celebrity crushes.

Like most, I first saw Skarsgard on HBO's True Blood as Eric Northman, the viking vampire bar owner and vampire sherrif of area 5 in Louisiana. Move over rocker Lestat, forget Edward Cullen and the Twilight vampires, I'll take this sexy viking vampire over any of the others! If I wasn't married, I'd be sooo jealous of Sookie!

Skarsgard plays the part so well too, really bring to life the character from the book. As rare as it is for a tv show to reach 13 seasons, I really hope they do the entire series, as Eric is such a major character in the last 2/3rds of it.

I haven't seen that much of his work yet (aside from his role as one of Zoolander's roommates in the movie Zoolander), but I'm looking forward to seeing in the upcoming movie 13 with Jason Statham (I am going to be SOOO giddy during that movie - 2 of my celebrity crushes together?! Heck yes!).

He is also the son of well-known Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, so you know acting is in his blood and he's great mentoring over the years to become a great actor!

Who are your celebrity actor crushes?

Also, don't forget to enter in my 1st Blog GiveAway! I'm giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to celebrate 5 years this month since I started playing World of Warcraft. All entires must be received by Noon (CST) on Wednesday, May 26, as the winning entry will be picked at random and announced as part of that day's Warcraft Wednesday post!  
Click here to read the details and how to enter!

Sing Talk

My former college roomie posted this on her facebook the other day and it's pretty funny!

It's another College Humor music video parody, this time doing Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" but going on about how all she actually does is "sing talk." It's one of those, funny, yet true which actually makes it kinda sad if you think about it...

Enjoy!

Also, don't forget to enter in my 1st Blog GiveAway! I'm giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to celebrate 5 years this month since I started playing World of Warcraft. All entires must be received by Noon (CST) on Wednesday, May 26, as the winning entry will be picked at random and announced as part of that day's Warcraft Wednesday post! Click here to read the details and how to enter!

Celebrating my WoW Anniversary, fun loot and Cataclysm!

Just the other day, I realized - it's been 5 - FIVE! - years this month since I first started playing World of Warcraft. Now I know, I haven't done any giveaways yet, but I thought, in order to celebrate this anniversary, I'd do so you guys (the readers) can celebrate it with me!

I am giving away a $25 Gift Card to Amazon.com!

Everyone should be familiar with Amazon by now - you can buy tons of neat stuff on there from video games and systems to movies, books, and most anything else you can think of - even some rare obscure items!

If you'd like to use it to purchase some WoW-related items (no obligation though), they have plenty to choose from, including:

• The Original World of Warcraft (aka Vanilla WoW) which comes with a 10-day free trial, for those who read my blog but have never actually played it before.
• You can also put the gift card towards your pre-order of the upcoming expansion Cataclysm!
• Various WoW-related books, including the artsy Atlas books for each version of the game, or the official strategy and dungeon guides among others - you could also get a few of the fiction books too!
• The Official Wrath of the Lich King z-board computer keyboard
• Some neat official WoW action figures, such as this hunter
• Fun novelty items such as WoW-related t-shirts, mana potions (see below in this post for more on these), and other fun little stuff like this Lion Heart Executioner sword!

The stuff you can find on Amazon is endless!

So how can you enter in this $25 Amazon Gift Card giveaway? 

Several ways:

• Follow my blog (if for some reason you aren't already!)
• Mention this giveaway on your blog
• Follow me on Twitter
• Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter
• Ask me a question on Formspring (only 1 question will count towards the giveaway though)

So that's 5 ways to enter in my giveaway for a $25 Gift Card to Amazon.com to celebrate 5 years since I started playing World of Warcraft (notice a theme here? hehe). For each way you enter, please leave me a message in the comments here (even if you already follow me), letting me know so I can count your entry - if you Tweet or Blog about this giveaway, please provide a link!

I will be choosing the winning entry via www.random.org next Wednesday, May 26th, so all entries must be received by NOON (central time zone) on Wednesday, May 26th. 

The winner MUST have a valid email address in order to accept the giftcard. 

Happy Entering and thanks for celebrating this anniversary with me!!

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Now as for today's Warcraft Wednesday post...

The other day a friend post a link to these babies on my Facebook wall.

I had a good laugh, but since hubby and I play both horde and alliance we'd have to get both banners and $30+ for one is just too much for a silly banner, not to mention we have nowhere currently to hang them, so it'd be better to wait til we have a house and a gaming room to get those and hang em up!

Also, while browsing around on the site (ThinkGeek.com) I found these and about died laughing:

Yes, that's right - actual mana and health pots!

Apparently they're like energy drinks, but the concept is actually pretty amusing, that someone thought to make these a reality. I'm tempted to order 1 set of each just for posterity! As mentioned above, I found you can also purchase the mana ones on Amazon.com.

Have you opt'd in for the WoW Cataclysm closed Beta yet? I did!

From a Blue Poster on the Cataclysm WoW forums:

Get those opt-ins ready for the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm closed beta! The sundering of Azeroth is nigh, and you don’t want to be left out in the cold of Northrend when you could be enjoying the sun-drenched beaches on the goblin isle of Kezan. To ensure you’re opted-in and eligible as a potential candidate, you’ll need a World of Warcraft license attached to your Battle.net account, have your current system specifications uploaded to the Battle.net Beta Profile Settings page, and have expressed interest through the franchise-specific check boxes.

So get your opt-ins set up, updated, and ready; we're worgen real hard to get the beta going soon!

It honestly took a whole 30 seconds and that was because I was distracted by something on TV so I didn't click the boxes as fast as they popped up, lol...

Hubby told me the other day that it's currently in Alpha, so Beta should be this summer which means that the expansion should be in the fall - plenty of time for us to set a little money aside each month to get me a spanking new laptop to play on!

My roommate in college got into the Beta for Burning Crusade and let me play on her account a few times just to check it out and then hubby and I opt'd in all of our accounts (1 in my name, 3 in his although one of his brothers primarily plays the 1 account but was a minor when hubby set it up for him) and hubby got 3 - 3! - Beta invites for Wrath! Of course he kept one for himself and gave me one. He toyed with selling the third on ebay but decided to give it to a WoW friend of ours that we meet up with in person from time to time as he's from nearby (and was in our wedding).

I never do *that* much in the Betas, as I'd hate to level up all the way only to have to do it all over again, but it is neat to roam around and check out all the new zones and get a feel for the starting quests so you're a bit ahead of the rest on launch day when it comes to knowing what you're doing and where to go. Also, with the Wrath Beta it was fun to finally try out the Deathknight Hero class too! 

I'm hoping at least hubby or 1 get into the Cataclysm Beta, as I can't wait to check out the new Goblin and Worgen races and see for myself how all the original zones I loved so much in Vanilla have been altered!

There's also going to be some major changes to professions in Cataclysm, one of which includes that they're getting rid of the specialized professions (for example, in alchemy you could do a quest to gain either Transmute Mastery, Potions Master or Master of Elixurs). I'm kind of annoyed by this, as the specialized alchemy quest chain required a lot of time farming mats and spending money on some of them too.

This sound kind of cool though - adding a friend through Real ID (aka email address)

To add a Real ID friend to your friends list, one of you will need to know the others email address. When you add someone as a Real ID friend, a request will be sent to the person you invite and they'll need to accept the request before you can see their information (character, server, etc.) in your friends list.

Your email address is not displayed in the friends list, and not visible to friends of people you are Real ID friends with. 

Just think, by the end of the year, it'll be here!

A day of Firsts

Today's been quite an interesting day (to say the least) and a day of firsts!

For some strange reason, hubby's wanting to try different foods that neither of us have tried before. In addition to wanting to try authentic Thai food, he decided we should try sushi.

I don't really recall how he came up with this idea, but he did. He also said this would count towards my "try something new" goal for this month (although that was technically met last weekend when we went to Cold Stone Creamery for the first time ever, hehe)

So today, since he had the day off work and I had the day off work we decided to make a lunch date and go to a local sushi bar nearby.

I looked up their menu last night, just to see what types of sushi they had to offer, as my college roommate had mentioned on her facebook not too long ago that she had sushi, but stated (after the comments began) that there's different types of sushi and not all include fish. I saw a few that sounded alright (I'm picky about certain foods and refuse to eat anything that resembles what it used to be either by look or texture) and prepared myself.

We get there, look over the menu and having no idea what we're doing, hubby orders the Chef's Choice Dinner for us to split, as it comes with soup, salad, 8 pieces of sushi and 4 California rolls.

He forgets to ask what kind of sushi the Chef's Choice is though, so I start to get a little anxious, afraid I'm going to have to stomach eel or fish eggs or something really really gross that just thinking about it will make me nauseous.

Anyway, they bring out the soup, which was really good - it tasted like Wonton soup with the chives, but instead of a wonton or whatever in it it has seaweed. I ate most of that.

Then they bring out the salad which has a weird dressing hubby doesn't like so I eat most of the salad too.

Then they bring out our sushi platter.

We had to flag down the waitress and ask her which was what kind of fish, as we were clueless. We got Salmon, Smoked Salmon, Yellowtail, Squid, White Tuna, some other Tuna, and 2 other kinds that hubby ate (he also ate all of the Squid - yuck!).

We agreed the California rolls were good (although I got a little grossed out in the car, looking over the To Go menu and learning there was crab in it), and we both really liked the Smoked Salmon even though hubby let me eat most of that one. I had some of both tuna's and part of the salmon too.

Teaching hubby to eat with chopsticks was pretty fun too, as he's never used them before! I have a little experience, as every year that we went to the ACEN in one of the Chicago suburbs we'd stop at this place called Bowl House near Arlington Heights and they have 3 course meals similar to what we had (soup, salad, entree) - it's kind of an insult there to ask for silverware so you pretty much have to figure out the chopsticks. I told him I have to take him there sometime, as I LOVE that place!

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Another first - I got my first "smartphone" - the Moto Droid.

Hubby's had his for like 2 months now and it's pretty neat. I bought my last phone (the Moto Krave) with the thinking that it would ease me into getting used to a touch screen, as all the phones these days seem to be going touch screen and back to the non-flip phone look and feel - it was a flip phone with a touch screen, but the touch screen is heat sensitive so half the time, if the phone was cold, it would take forever to send a simple text as the keyboard would act up. The guy at the mall kiosk warned us about that before I got it, but I thought I'd give it a try. It wasn't too bad, but it was annoying when it would happen on occasion.

I spent on and off throughout the evening working on the customization. There's a few apps my brother in law install on my hubby's phone that we're trying to figure out how to get on my phone, as we're not sure how he did it without us having to pay for it. We should have that figured out tonight though and I still have to create and set up my ringtones too.

Hubby also bought me a neat Ed Hardy snap on cover, which I found in his glove box a few weeks ago, while looking for napkins when we were eating at Sonic. It was supposed to be a surprise (which it was when I found it!) for when I got my Droid. It's got a black panther or puma on it with some neat design.

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And yet another first... we bought Tiger a harness and leash and attempted to try it out.

That's right, a cat on a leash.

We have a really nice walking/bike path just around the block from our apartment and hubby and I like to go for walks on it, but he works a lot and I'd like to use it more this summer and thought it might be fun to try and take Tiger for a walk.

When we first were putting the harness on her, she was laying there on the bed, looking like a defeated little kitty with this annoyed look in her eye like "Really? What ARE you doing to me now?!" (hubby just clipped her nails earlier today with the Pedi-Paws, which she hates).

Then we attached the leash to it.

She pretty much sat there, facing one of the corners near the door like she was humiliated or something!

I tugged on the leash, calling her to try and get her to come on. She wouldn't.

We gave her a little pull and she acted like she was a gimp kitty with non-working legs. She was NOT happy!

We opened our door to the hallway, and tried pulling her towards it, thinking maybe she'd get curious that we were letting her go into the hallway for once... we ended up practically dragging her out into the hallway, where she got a little curious once she was out there.

Then we opened up the hallway door to the stairs to the lobby near the front door to the building. She wasn't interested in going up the stairs, so I picked her up while hubby went ahead and opened the front door - we figured we'd just take her out on the front patio so she could get used to everything. Her little heart was racing!

As I started to walk out the front door with her in my arms she FREAKED out, extending her claws, gripping onto me as I tried to put her down, she took off toward the stairs, nearly backflipping down them and then started scaling the wall next to the hallway door that shut behind us (she almost got up to the ceiling!), before she hid around the corner, scared.

Hubby came back in, holding open the hallway door - as soon as he opened it she shot off back down the hallway, towards our apartment - she really showed us her speed!

She stopped just short of our door, so we opened it and had to coax her in - once she realized it was home she was fine, although she spent the next 15 minutes avoiding hubby as he was the one that put the harness on her, lol...

As bad as I feel for laughing as she was clearly unhappy at first, and then terrified when we tried to get her outside, seeing her facial reactions to wearing the harness and then watching her scale the wall like that and doing running leaps in the hallway to get home, it was pretty hilarious!

Don't worry - she's perfectly fine! We never pulled/dragged her very hard, and made sure the harness was tight and secure enough, but not too tight - it fit her as well as her collar does.

I think we'll have to gradually work up to getting her used to the harness and leash, maybe have her wear it for a little bit around the apartment so she's not all "what IS this thing you've put on me?!"

At least it's clear that she has no dire interest in going outside again though, which is good! She must have had some traumatic experience out there last fall to be THAT scared of going near an open door with her mommy and daddy!

Watch, someday that LOLcat in the picture will be Tiger getting her payback! lol...

Music Shuffle Monday 05.17.10

(Okay, so it's 20 minutes after midnight... it's been a busy day, sorry! Better late than never, right?)

1. "Break So Easily" - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
I remember going to my first music festival in Chicago when I was in Junior High - the Bosstones were playing and so during the drive the radio station was playing some of their songs, including the current big hit "The Impression That I Get." I hadn't yet gotten into ska, as this was 7th grade that didn't happen til 8th and 9th grade, but when I did, the Bosstone's "Let's Face It" was one that I often listened to!

2. "Goodbye Tonight" by the Lostprophets
This is a band from my early years in college. I remember raiding the "Weekender Desk" and it's music drawer weekly with one of my fellow page designers, borrowing CDs and ripping the tracks at home. This one was I borrowed and forgot to bring back right away and in the process it got scratched by my CD player. I did buy a replacement though... I just kinda forgot to put it back in the drawer - oops! This was one of the better songs on their 2nd album - it had some good songs and then some so-so songs. A bit of a different sound though than the first album, at least going off the single that was released from the first album (Shinobi vs the Dragon Ninja).

3. "Through the Glass" by Stonesour
I remember all the controversy when Stonesour came out. Singer Cory Taylor was also the lead singer of masked-band Slipknot. Stonesour being his side project and a completely different sound, he "took off" his mask while doing Stonesour stuff. Slipknot fans were apparently upset though, as the band vowed they'd always perform with the masks or something like that. I don't know... I like songs from both bands so I don't really care what he's wearing, so long as the music doesn't suck. For being a mellow song though, it's not bad. It's more lite rock, reminiscent of stuff I used to hear on top 40 radio in the mid-late 90s (think Duncan Sheik's "Barely Breathing").

4. "If I Die Tomorrow" by Motley Crue
Ah, Crue's big "comeback" song during my college years. I recently watched their Behind the Music Remastered special on VH1, considering some of the drama and health issues the members have had over the last 20-30s, it's pretty cool they're still around, back together and touring again and making music. Gotta love it when the older bands can still do their thing and keep up with the newer bands!

5. "Watch the Sky for Me" by Powerman5000
Honestly, as much as I love PM5K, I usually skip over this track - it seems more like a transition track, as it starts out with the record's Mr. Radio Transmission Voice talking about how "this is the end... or is it?" (for those not familiar with the album - Tonight the Stars Revolt - it's a hard rockin' musical journey through space, as it kinda tells a story narrated by Mr. Radio Transmission Voice). Clearly, Spider's singing/talking and there's a piano and some other mellow instruments but iono... I usually skip over this track as it sounds nothing like the rest of the album other than just being a hokey closing track to the album/journey. The little techno part for the last minute or so of the track is kinda cool though...

1 down... I think.

So I think I got my period starting last night (Saturday).

As I mentioned in the last post, I had been having some of the symptoms of it for the past week or so.

It started very very light though and didn't pick up til nearly 24hrs later - a small piece of me is hoping it might just be implantation bleeding, as according to the chart it's claiming I ovulated less than a week ago and the earliest implantation bleeding can occur is 4 days after ovulation, which would have been yesturday according to the chart, but then again, that's probably just wishful thinking, as this feels like a normal one (not to mention the cramps and pain have been some of the worst!), not to mention my temp dipped back below the coverline again to a 97.7...

So I guess this means the end of the first cycle of the pill, unless my average temps stay high. I might take a test at the end of the week though just to "make sure" and put my "wishful thinking" to rest so I can move on to the next cycle.