I'll take "interesting" over "beautiful" any day of the week....

All this talk of Alan Rickman has got me thinking. Why is it that someone like Alan Rickman is just so attractive? He isn't classically good looking and there are times when he looks plain scary.


Alan Rickman

He has that amazing quality that many truly gifted actors do of being able to transform themselves from deeply attractive to completely revolting. Mind you, even in "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves" as the repulsive Sheriff of Nottingham I would have taken Alan Rickman over Kevin Bloody Costner any day.

Another example! "Sense & Sensibility". Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon always seemed a far better choice to me than the classically handsome Greg Wise as Willoughby! But Marianne had to learn the hard way!

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson is another imperfect but gorgeous man.  He can be incredibly beautiful one moment but then, in another he sort of goes from "hot" to "whaaaat?"  The accent and his rugged imperfection is totally appealing to me. Liam Neeson in "Love Actually" *sigh*

Finally, and here is where I get a "bit left of centre" I suppose, Paul Giamatti.  Here is a guy who no one would consider to be Hollywood handsome.  He wears cardigans for goodness sakes!  And yet, I find him totally appealing!  Talented, a little tortured looking and interesting.  You can see in his beautiful eyes that the guy has depth.  Loved him in "Sideways" and in "Barney's Version".

Paul Giamatti

Interesting beats perfect hands down in my books.  I'm not saying Brad Pitt or George Clooney* aren't interesting.  They are probably very nice fellows and they would most likely be charming dinner companions.  Strange but true, I would rather spend time with a man whose looks are not his calling card, someone who wins me over with their mind and their personality and their character.

So am I a weirdo guys? Am I alone on this?

* If you are reading this George I am full of it, call me. I am free every day between now and oh, I don't know, eternity......

Big Night

“Big Night” is a great movie if you haven't seen it. This is the final scene in the film and isn’t a spoiler as such.

I can’t make an omelette without thinking about this scene; beautiful and quietly powerful.

The guy who is asleep on the bench at the beginning of the scene is Mark Anthony, J-Lo’s now ex husband. And you all know who is scrambling the eggs. Just as a side note, he can scramble my eggs anytime....

More Hank Azaria.....

"You're asthmatic, you're a robot. And what is the cape for? Are we going to opera, I don't think so."



Trivia note: Hank Azaria is the voice of Moe, Chief Wiggum and Apu on "The Simpsons"!

Hope is the thing with feathers

I love the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Her work is brave, unique, beautiful and poignant.

This is my favourite.

HOPE is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

“Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. She lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent.

Despite unfavourable reviews and scepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet.”