Friday, June 11, 2010

Man Crush #13: Robert Downey Jr.

Best Known For: Iron Man

I have a shameful admission to make.  I know you would never use such information to mock me, and probably don't even want to hear about anything that I might consider to be an embarrassing skeleton in my closet, but if you would just humour me on this one, I'd appreciate it.  Ahem.  I enjoy…

The Bangles.

Don't judge me.  It's not really my fault.  Growing up, we had one tv and one stereo in the house.  And I had an older sister.  Which meant I could either watch what she wanted to watch and listen to that which she wanted to listen, or I could watch and listen to nothing at all.  More often than not, I opted for the former.  Luckily she had a decent taste in movies and I didn't grow up to be a complete wuss.  Well, not too much of one, at least.  But, looking back at my first musical exposure, it could have been a little less… well, lame.

But, as it stands I can't help but sing along to 80's Madonna.  And you may or may not find a fine collection of Cindy Lauper on my iPod.  It's just ingrained in me.  A part of who I am.  And it's also why I love… err… I mean like… well, tolerate, really… the Bangles.

(I know, I've had some pretty long winded, nothing-really-to-do-with-the-Man-Crush lead in's in the past.  And I agree, this one is really going long.  But please, continue to bear with me.)

My favourite Bangles song (and pardon the profanity, but fuck Walk Like an Egyptian… that turd is the reason I have to be ashamed of my Bangles love) was and still is Hazy Shade of Winter.  And yes, I know, it's not even their song.  But, long-story-short (or slightly less long, as the case may be) the video for the song, seeing as how if was recorded and released for the Less Than Zero soundtrack, featured clips from, you guessed it: Less Than Zero.


And, as much as I loved… err… tolerated the song.  I liked the video even more.  We had a copy on VHS and I tolerated the shit out of it.  Even if it was mostly just clips from the movie.  So one day it occurred to me that I should actually watch this movie that had intrigued me so.  And, I may not have known it at the time, but that was the day the foundation of my Robert Downey Jr. man crush had begun.

Over the years the resume was never in question: Weird Science, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers… but it was his off camera problems that always made you wonder about the guy.  Then he did a little ditty called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - one of my favourite movies ever - and all the heroin in the world couldn't stop my man crush from being cemented in stone.  Plus, I mean, Tropic Thunder Iron ManSherlock Holmes? The work speaks for itself.  And so does this spot on this list.

Proof of Awesomeness:


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