fredag, november 10, 2006

Unusual sex symbols

I'm sure I first saw it on one of your blogs. It's the 'celebrity affair list'. You know, it's where you think of famous people whom you are extremely unlikely to meet in your real life, and with whom, if you do meet them, and if they should happen to want to throw themselves at you, and offer you a night of unbridled passion, you could accept without it counting as an affair, because, well, they're on your list. I think there was supposed to be a set number only, like 5, I can't remember exactly. This came up at a Halloween party with a number of my school colleagues (actually I brought it up after having discussed it with Thor at a different event the night before). This generated list after list of members of the opposite sex, the same sex, dead people revived for the list, people whom we would not want on our list as they are now, but as they had been at some time in their past, and of course, anti-lists.

There were some common threads, of course. The number one person for the ladies (though he was on a couple of anti-lists as well) was George Clooney. Johnny Depp was also popular. There weren't as many men participating, so there were no women on more than one man's list. I seemed to be the only one, man or woman, with Angelina Jolie on my list, for some reason.

But, for all the people who made lists, all the people on our lists were actors. I suppose it makes sense. We think of the people who are marketed and known for their powers of attraction. When pressed, some of us could think of athletes (Ms. Mood, please don't laugh, but Rui Costa...definitely on my list). But that was the extent of our candidate pool. No captains of industry, no scientists, no academics, no intellectuals...I really wanted intellectuals for my list, but couldn't think of any. And no world leaders or other politicians. They may be charismatic, but not in a bedroom kind of way.

But, then I saw this from yesterday's front page of the free morning newspaper Metro x-Press...a picture of departing American secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the caption 'Goodbye to the older person's sex symbol'. And it makes me wonder. Donald Rumsfeld, sex symbol? Really? I know I have been living away from home for a long time...but really? The accompanying article said something about 'Rums-stud'...really? Politics aside, he's not a bad looking guy, especially for someone in his 70's, but he's not on my list at least. Is he on yours? Or would he be on the list of anyone you know?

And, while we're talking about it, who's on your list? Thor and I both had great difficulties generating lots of names for ours. Thor did instantly name Salma Hayek, which makes me very proud that I have a boyfriend with such good taste in women (I'd probably have to put her on my list too). I instantly named Adrien Brody. After that it was tough. Except for Angelina, of course. So, what about you...who is on your list? Extra bonus points if you can come up with any sexy intellectuals whom I can steal for my list.

28 kommentarer:

Jean-Luc Picard sagde ...

It seems to have lost something in the translation.

Michele sent me here.

Greg Mills sagde ...

Kate Winslet: smart, waspy

Janna Levin: smart, very not waspy

Shakira: Not sure if I care she's smart

Sarah Silverman: smart, very not waspy, foul mouthed

Graziela Moretto: Brazilian actress who played the woman journalist in City of God. Sort of not classically beautiful, but grrrrr.

Devil Mood sagde ...

Oh how I loved this post :)
This is so me...I'm not good at lists but this might be one of my favourite time-wasters.
I had to giggle when you told me not to, I'm sorry..but I think I can understand, I just really hate him because he's from Benfica...

At the moment, my top 5 list would consist of one name only: Joaquin Phoenix - I'm besotted with the man, I can't help it...
Usually athletes are at the top of my list, musicians have been once - in my teenage years...Actors are rarer, except for the time being.

Intelectuals?....hmm I don't think I'd want much debate on a "night of unbridled passion", seriously.

Greg Mills sagde ...

Hot intellectuals:

Of course, Naomi Wolfe is hot.

Uh, the philospher Gloria Origgi is sort of hot.

And avant garde musician Maja Ratkje is gorgeous.

i'm marion sagde ...

Stuart Murdoch from Belle&Sebastian (lovely, sexy Glasgow accent!), Ewan McGregor (see above), Tobey Maguire, Pierce Brosnan. Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, though I would rather give him a bowl of hot soup and tell him that everything's alright. Same with Sufjan Stevens.

jdbauer sagde ...

Ok here it goes:

1. Kate Winslet - Sexiest woman alive
2. Julianne Moore - except for the way she cries with the mouth...what it does and all...
3. Penelopé Cruz - She makes me want to pull apples out of tall trees and I'm afraid of heights
4. Hillary Clinton - Don't give me a hard time
5. Rinko Kikuchi - played the sexiest vulnerability I've seen in a long time. Aren't I terrible?

Vanessa sagde ...

hmmmm...
1. Jon Stewart - he's very intelligent but I'm not sure if he'd be qualified as an intellectual.
2. Adrien Brody - The Pianist, enough said.
3. Zach Braf - I love his goofiness
4. the guy who plays Jim in the American version of The Office - he's cute in a rather nerdy way,
5. John Cusack - this one is probably left over from my early crush on him in Say Anything.

If I were to include women in the list it would include Angelina Jolie and/or Kate Winslet.

erin sagde ...

The one sexy Canadian politician that comes to mind was Pierre Elliot Trudeau. I don't think he was particularly attractive at any age but everywhere he went he was swarmed by screaming girls and he fathered a child when he was 72.

Alright, Belinda Stronach is kind of hot and so is Jack Layton, even if it's only for the mustache.

In no particular order: Paul Gross, Fab Filippo, Geir Zahl, David Usher, and I don't know. I've never really given it much thought...

theblackscorpio sagde ...

Breaking news on Blackberry use:
http://news.com.com/BlackBerry+Thumb+sparks+new+massage+treatment/2100-1041_3-6134721.html?tag=st_lh

List:

Keany Reeves
Johnny Depp
Ofra Haza
Audrey Hepburn
Threesome with the Magpie and Hopey from the comic series "Love and Rockets"

Thst is six people ;)-

No intellectuals to offer, sorry :(

Greg Mills sagde ...

Oh, K -- I'm going to Beijing next week, for 6 days. For work, sadly.

sophie sagde ...

Thom Yorke
Ewan McGreggor
Kal Penn
Gael Garcia Bernal
Jimmy Fallon

i will be back with an intellectual-

NO to Rumy - and he's clearly
not very smart.

Anonym sagde ...

Gina Torres and Dawn French are at the top of my list. And if I had them both at the same time, I wouldn't need anyone else on my list.

I wondered why you hadn't been blogging lately, by the way - then I realized today that you HAD but when you switched to the new Blogger, your RSS feed disappeared from my Bloglines and I wasn't getting updates anymore. Grrr, new Blogger!! Anyway - the point is that I am looking forward to catching up!

Daphnewood sagde ...

My list changes with my mood but you got me thinking: Do actors, musicians and athletes have their own lists? I mean maybe Angelina Jolie was on Brad Pitt's list or vice versa. It would be interesting to know if the same rules apply to people in the same industry

mary bishop sagde ...

Great great question!

No Rummy no way.

Depp? Can't help myself there. Love that guy.

Intellectual? Sam Harris hands down.

Woman who stirs me by beauty and brains...the long dead Kathryn Hepburn. (sad)

Once, a long time ago, by a decade I'm sure it was James Spader who exuded something wonderful...not now. But then he'd be on the top of my list.

Alas, my own husband who is an intellectual must be number one on the intellectual list.

Paul Newman as the oldest sex pot...

God it's hard with women -- my favorite women now are my lesbian friends...beauty for sure, but their kind hearts and strong wills make them so attractive to me.

And, I love their politics too!

I do love Kate Winslet - thin or unthin...

But I used to have a crush on Susan Sontag a long time ago...

About the time I'd give my arm for an hour with John Updike...not now.

Randy Edsall as coach most likely to succeed. (Uconn)

Um have I gone beyond 5? oops

Anonym sagde ...

lol @ Simple American: Rummy. LOL.

alfaqeer sagde ...

Rumsfeld?? Erm, I think I shall pass. Well, they did say he's the sex symbol for the older generation. I'm enjoying my youth (and my youthful taste thank you very much!).

Top of my list would have to be Ronaldinho. He's a Brazilian soccer player that I've loved for too long. :))

Others would include Sean Paul (singer) Freddie Ljungberg (soccer player as well but he has a Calvin Klein underwear ad!! Hot stuff), Kaka (also from the Brazil team), Fernando Torres (from the Spanish team).

Okay its dominated by soccer players and no actors! *gasp*

elena prio sagde ...

How about Russell Crowe when he was acting for the gladiator. Strong, with unshaken morals and beliefs and what a body or voice or look...
I would also say Jeff Bridges, mysterious, beautiful smile... and my ex boyfriend god damn it!

Anonym sagde ...

Oh dear...have people missed the point you were making here? Or at least the point I think you were making?! Go on, look at all those lists. It's just symbolic of a truly dumbed down society in which we now live, where fame is religion and celebrity are the gods. I would name a list of all my favourites, but they are real people in a real world around me and no one would know any of them. How very sad indeed :(

x sagde ...

Rummy has white lips and grins like a maniac. NOT sexy. Speaking of old-er people Bryan Ferry is on my list.

kimananda sagde ...

Mr. American, I haven't had time to look the unknowns (to me) up...it occurs to me that I've seen this list before, so your blog was probably one of the inspirations for my playing this game to begin with.

Captain Picard, you could definitely say that. Which is why it ended up as a blog post.

Greg, Kate is on my list, too, waspy or not. And I'm so envious of your trip...I hope you got to see some of Beijing as well as just working...I heart Beijing.

Ms. Mood, I'm quite cerebral in that way...not totally mixing the debate and the unbridled passion, but maybe debate in the rest breaks?

Day, I'm undecided as to the attractiveness of Johnny Depp...he's alternately on my list and on my anti-list.

Marion, interesting choices. Pierce is on my list as well, from his Remington Steele days.

Mr. Heartburn, I'll try not to give you a hard time...she's a strong, smart woman, so not a bad choice, I'd say.

Vanessa, yep, 'nough said. Nice choices!

Erin, maybe Trudeau has the same kind of appeal as Kissinger, that 'power is the ultimate aphrodiasiac' kind of thing. Wouldn't be on my list, though. I'll need to look everyone else on your list up, as I don't know who they are. :-o

Ms. Black Scorpio, Ofra Haza is cool. Did I mention how I was in the second row of an Opra Haza concert, in a quite small venue, sometime in the early 90's? She' neat.

Sophie, you never came back with an intellectual! I'm waiting...;-)

Roro, so glad to see you back! I must start visiting you again as well...I've been neglectful! And I've read about your passion for both on your list. I can't quite see it for Gina Torres, but Dawn French is hot.

Daphnewood, they must have lists of their own...but of course they have the possibility to meet others from their same industry, so those wouldn't count.

Mary, which Sam Harris? There seem to be quite a few of them...some are cute and intellectual, some are neither.

Kunstem..., don't they call him that in Europe, too?

Ameera (sounds better than Ms. Pest!), you footie maniac you. ;-)

Elena, thanks for visiting, and for your interesting choices!

Fly, I'm not sure I had only one point. My point to examine the relationships between celebrity and certain fields, yes, that's been pretty much (though not totally) ignored. My point to see whom people find attractive, that's been covered pretty well. Also, it could be that we notice beauty in unattainable places, and intellect, personality, and other qualities in the people around us. That's how I do it, anyway. Unfortunately, the rules of the game don't allow for anyone whom you would be likely to meet in real life, and cut out the non-celebrities. So, we could do a useful deconstruction on the divisions brought up by the game itself.

Chloe, Bryan Ferry...I was really into him as a teenager, and now can't remember what he looks like.

Anonym sagde ...

Oh my God, you were at a concert with Ofra? *envy* Doesn't she just have the most beautiful voice?

-theblackscorpio

kimananda sagde ...

Yep, she is pretty awesome. I vividly remember that people had the opportunity to go on stage on dance (in sort of a large group) with Ofra...and I was too shy to go up. At the end of the group dance, each of the dancers got a hug from Ofra...I'm still upset that I didn't get on stage. :-(

Dok Holocaust sagde ...

I don't have a list of celebrities i would have sex with, but if ye want some intellectual-types to potentially add to your list:

Neil Gaiman: literary, full of folklore and old legends, british, cute, fantasy author

Chuck Palahniuk: american novelist, hulky, very critical of commercialism and consumerism and such

Warren Ellis: older, bald with a beard, walks with a cane, sort of a scholarly, poltical aging badboy who sits in pubs drinking Red BUll and writing poltiically-charged comic books and inspiring legions of insane fans.

Tim Burton: poet, director, fan of old-timey low-budget monster movies. Not much to look at, but retains a certain childlike imaginative quality without getting into creepy michael-jacksonishness. Loved by ladies everywhere, as he's like Johnny Depp without being pure sex incarnate.

Steve Jobs: this tall drink of water turned Apple Computer's small market share into a selling point, turning obscure incompatibility into exclusivity and art-snob prestige. He defends consumer rights by fighting for standardized pricing in the iTunes Music Store (which he gets - it's HIS store, after all) despite the RIAA and MPAA wanting higher prices on more popular stuff. he gives good presentations, too.

okay, so they're all artistic rather than intellectual, except for Jobs, who is a Captain of Industry. i can't put them on my list because they're all the wrong gender.

Dok Holocaust sagde ...

if I were gay, my previous comment would be my list, as I value brains and creativity over looks-pretty-on-screen.

Dok Holocaust sagde ...

oh, and Patton Oswalt. He's not an intellectual - he's a comedian, and that's even more important. He's a cackling insane gremlin who reads Lovecraft.

kimananda sagde ...

Neil Gaiman can be on my list, I had forgotten about him. Which reminds me, there are no writers on my list either. Well, until now, that is. Thanks!

Dok Holocaust sagde ...

but no Steve Jobs?! the man is t3h s3xx0rz, as they say on the internet. an inventor, a captain of industry, a computer programmer, sworn protector of music-lovers everywhere, fighting the RIAA to keep music affordable and easily downloadable! hell, slap a funny lookin unitard on him and he's a superhero!

that settles it. Steve Jobs IS my list.

kimananda sagde ...

Oh, my, we'll have to agree to disagree. Not that Jobs doesn't have his qualities, but a night of passion? Not my type. So, if I meet him, I'll send him your way, yes? ;-)