So what are you saying? When you get divorced you turn in your library card? You get a new license? You stop being Jewish?

I can't say I've ever truly hated someone based solely on their body of work. I mean, I could name celebrities that I disdain (it might be easier for me to name those that I don't). Tom Cruise comes immediately to mind; but that's not based on his films per se, of which, arguably, there have been one or two decent ones (the only one I would count as such is Magnolia, and if anyone has seen his character in that movie, there's a reason probably why that one is good). John Travolta also comes to mind, but mostly for being an idiot, besides doing crappy movies. But Pauly Shore comes to mind (don't ask me why) as having done really bad movies that I have just absolutely hated, but he seems like a decent enough guy. Brendan Frasier is someone whose name used to make me recoil, but I'd probably argue he redeemed himself with Gods and Monsters (and, especially, with The Quiet American). But I can't say I really dislike people that I don't know based on their entertainment work alone. Usually the celebrities that I dislike, like a Paris Hilton or whatever, I dislike because of their "real-life" persona.

That mindset seems to extend somewhat into having crushes on actresses. I mean, sure, when I'm watching a movie, I might fall for the character in the movie, like Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Ann in My Life Without Me, or Charlotte in Lost In Translation, or, on TV, Donna on The West Wing or Juliet on Lost, but that ends when the credits roll, or shortly thereafter. Because why would I have a crush on Kate Winslet or Sarah Polley or Scarlet Johannsen in "real life?" That's just attributable to the storytelling of the movie or the actresses portraying a roll. But I will admit to having very much "fallen" for those aforementioned characters as I was watching the movie or TV show, which could tell you something about me I guess. The closest I've come is having a very slight infatuation with the actress/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, though that's more attributable to her music appealing to me so much, rather than her looks (she's not very physically attractive). Oh, I remember when I was little- does anyone remember that Nickolodeon show Salute Your Shorts? When I was young, I had a pretty big crush on the hippie girl on that show (I will be heading over to Wikipedia to look that up!).

I'd like to introduce a sort of sub-topic here: the man-crush. I know all of the males who post here are secure enough in their heterosexuality to admit to having had or still harboring man-crushes. I'll admit my biggest is probably John Cusack. I'll watch anything he's in- and he mostly picks good movies, I'd argue. I've also always for some reason been drawn to Ben Affleck- though he, in contrast to Cuscak, usually seems to pick shit movies to act in. Or, for the females, maybe there are some woman-crushes here? I think that might be more commonplace among women, at least for them to admit it. I think any Star Trek fan probably has or had a man-crush on Captain Kirk (or, for those Next Gen fans, Picard). That seemed to have been the whole thing beneath the surface of the movie Free Enterprise, if anyone here besides Glenn has ever seen that.

Also, has anyone ever fallen for a character in a book? Or a cartoon character? (Jessica Rabbit, anyone?) That'd be interesting to me; I mostly read non-fiction, but I would wonder if someone has read a book and fallen for a character in the book; it'd be interesting to know why, and how someone constructs a character in their mind based solely on reading words on paper-- I'm sure I have, but I'd have to think about that one a bit.