Thursday, August 25, 2005

Number Five

My friend who likes the "sexy mind" guys like Richard Holbrooke gave me a hard time yesterday for my freebie list. "Those guys are just good-looking!" she gasped in shock. Where's the intellectual beef? Because there absolutely is something to be said for a sexy mind, I have now chosen a number five who is not merely a pretty boy.

I considered Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker (another sexy mind who has rotated through my friend's list). His column about intelligent design and the White House's rejection of science in last week's issue was especially funny. Anyone who can turn a phrase like "albeit with a whiff of the risible" is all right in my book. However, I've seen photographs, and...Hendrik just doesn't do it for me.

Who else is ferociously smart but has enough charisma to offset a lack of traditional matinee-idol handsomeness? Bill Clinton. Facts in his favor: He went to Yale for law school. He was a Rhodes Scholar. He is known as a voracious reader. Hillary Rodham found him to be a worthy life partner. He's articulate. And—this is key—he digs crossword puzzles. Added to that are tremendous amounts of charm, warmth, compassion, passion, and humor.

So there you have it: Wong, Willis, Clooney, Pitt, and Clinton. The Five Temptations.

Update: Wait, do I need to jettison one of the pretty boys in favor of someone really funny? Laughing is good. Who's so damn funny that he's hot?

11 comments:

DoctorMama said...

Yes! Hendrik Hertzberg! OK, he's dweeby, but couldn't you turn out the light and have him read to you? My husband would totally let me have him as a freebie. (Maybe that would ruin it, though...) But Clinton, no way -- his nose is terrible, and you'd be able to tell even in the dark.
Brad Pitt, check. For sexy voices, it's Jimmy Smits, hands down (or eyes closed). But so damn funny he's hot? That's a tough one. I saw an article in the Village voice that discusses this vexing problem. The difficulty is, if he's that funny, I couldn't help thinking that he might joke about me ... in bed.
That said, Dennis Leary has a real bad-boy thing going on.

DoctorMama said...

P.S. Very cool blog, by the way, with or without a theme. Just found it today.

Mona Buonanotte said...

You're right on with Clinton!

And Un-Apologetic needs to post pictures of his hotness every Thursday, 'cause, you know, I do have a 'floater' fantasy boyfriend position...! ;-)

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Orange said...

Doctormama, you are clearly my good friend's missing twin.

Atheist, I had to Google Ted Rall because, amazingly, I'm not familiar with him. But if I'm giving a spot to a cartoonist, it'd have to be Francis Heaney, giving the edge to literary cartoons over political. (Plus, Francis digs crosswords, just like Bill Clinton.)

Mona, I knew you'd agree with Clinton!

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Orange said...

(Boy, you mention the term "Rhodes Scholar," and the spambots come out in droves.)

Delia Christina said...

is it wrong of me to think that paul krugman is hot? and when juan cole slapped down that little jonathan guy (or whatever) i thought that was hot, too.

so, um, yes. count me in for scary, professorial hotness.