A Meandering Ramble of Thought
I’m not sure why, but having a beer with people is something very personal for me. I don’t do it with people unless I really like them. If I’m forced to have a beer with people I don’t like or don’t know, I’m always visibly uncomfortable, and usually the evening goes awry, usually in awkward ways. This is usually one of the last dates before I admit I've gotten serious about a lady in my life, largely because I'm a lightweight and say some stupid shit when I'm drunk. It's one of the last hurdles in my relationship obstacle course, followed only by a trip to the movies, where if she's a talker, I cut her loose.
So when someone asked me about my general disrespect for the celebrity community, it's because there are very few that feel real. Mostly what I see is fairly worthless, spoiled people who have more money than common sense. It's actually the complaint I'm having about increasing numbers of Americans. A lot of them are basically sluts in need of discipline (men and women both), and I just can't abide that.
The same friend asked me which celebs I like. Not necessarily in terms of skill, but the ones that feel the most… human to me. I had to think about it a little, although I could come up with three off the top of my head. There are others who I think have more talent, but these are the ones I could hang with, and I think these five plus me in a drinking group would be the best night EVER.
I don’t think he’s the world’s greatest actor, but I think he's always enjoyable on screen. I don’t think he has leading man potential, but I’m hoping that his entire career won’t be limited to big-budget action movies and cheesy, raunchy comedies. What I do think is that he’s a decent guy. What I’ve seen of him in interviews suggests that he loves and supports his family, still maintains “real” time with his pre-career friends, and feels approachable in a way that someone making hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more) for wearing spandex shouldn’t feel. I think he’s one of those actors who realizes that if it weren’t for the people mobbing him for an autograph, life would be very different. I’m mostly impressed that he’s an American actor who started working before he was thirty and he’s managed to keep himself out of the tabloids by not doing stuff that might make him look douchey. Shia LeBoeuf should take notes.
God help me, but I loves me some Quesen Latifah. She’s involved in some TERRIBLE movies, and I sometimes have trouble forgiving her for them, but there’s an earthy goodness to her that appears on screen, in print, and in television interviews that makes her very attractive. I basically think that her character in Just Wright was pretty much who she is in real life. That’s someone that I would love to have on my list of friends, even if she weren’t “rich and famous”. I also think it's also all kinds of sexy that she's quick to come to her own defense... and the media seems to LOVE to pick on her, although there may be correlation there.
I'd pick him largely for the same reasons I’ve discussed above for Chris Evans. Our senses of humor are very similar; actually, he seems like a guy I might know in real life, one who has some synergy between his private and public personae, but can still adapt both to fit the situation he’s in. The most recent interview I saw him in described his reaction to tabloid coverage of his divorce and I was impressed. Divorce is a hard, private thing, and the fact that the American people (and the media that is driven by public demand) can’t respect that should have earned some nasty reaction. It isn’t. He seems to think about it as the crappy thing about his job that he has to put up with. I can empathize with that. There are things about my job that I don’t like, but know I have to deal with them if I want to keep my job, and I like my job. So like Reynolds, I grumble (not so) quietly about the stupid things I have to put up with because I like my job.
One of the few memories I still have of my grandfather is watching The Golden Girls with him and watching him laugh his ass off repeatedly. Betty White is the last of those funny ladies, and a living tie to those memories with my childhood hero. I have loved watching her popularity resurgence, and now I have more than one source of entertainment with her in it. But seriously, can you imagine the shit she’d say when she was drunk? She’s hysterical sober, I just can’t think of a more fun way to spend an evening. Hell, I'd actually pay for an experience like that.
I’ve had a thing for Drew for a very long time, and it didn’t fade in the wake of her, um, dark, um, “Green” days. I have to respect the force of will that it would have taken to grow up in her circumstances, and then make a solid career for yourself while still maintaining the old family legacy. I’m impressed with her ability to recover from addiction, or at least live with it, depending on your terms and understandings. I also have it on good authority that she and I share a Zodiac sign and an allergy to coffee. I’d have a few questions I’d like to ask her about growing up in Hollywood, about ET, and about making her own mark. All that SHOULD be done with some beers. It would also be nice to talk to someone who seems to have an unlimited amount of sunshine in their lives to project outwards. I don’t know many folks like that.
