Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

I ended up falling so hard in love with using the Twilight icon that I decided that perhaps after ten-ish years, it was time to alter the default userpic. On the one hand, I hesitated to, because I love the Faye Valentine icon and it's absolutely gorgeous. On the other, I no longer feel like I need to hide behind Faye's identity and of course, I haven't felt like I needed to for some time; the original reason I adopted her name as an alias was because I was trying to hide from certain people I didn't care to talk to and I didn't think I would ever be discovered using the name of a character as unlike me as Faye is. Over time it stuck, even after I didn't need to hide anymore. I'll probably leave my email accounts set to Faye's name, but for this journal right now, I kind of feel like I want to be me, and Twilight Sparkle is a much better representation of who I am.

Crystal had a very good idea that I could use the Faye icon on FF.net. However, trying that had led to my discovery that I can't use square icons there anymore (if I ever could at all). So part of the picture is cut off. Ugh. I will probably have to make a specific icon for FF.net that conforms to the size they want. Meanwhile, I still want to use the Faye icon somewhere, so I will probably either leave it here for now (just not as the default) or else use it on Dreamwidth (where I think I already have it uploaded). I always wanted the Dreamwidth journal to be a separate place from here, but then I ended up getting freaked out worrying Livejournal might crash and I should have stuff backed up, so a little over a year ago I copied all my entries at that time to Dreamwidth. I'm torn between wishing I hadn't done that and being glad that stuff is backed up somewhere. Maybe I'll have to create a second Dreamwidth to be the separate thing I wanted. I remember I started out posting lots of fun Perry Mason-related content there.

I had some strange and lovely dreams. One was a role-play type dream where I was "playing" Jim West, and I and Arte were investigating a weird house. It seemed to be haunted, and we went into the basement and found it was being used as a garbage dump. Lovely. Then some bad guy was there and we got into a shootout with him. I believe the house was fairly modern (there were soda cans everywhere in the basement), so the setting must have been in my time-travel verse, where Jim and Arte can come visit the present-day when they want to. Maybe I'll write it up into a story.

Then I had a dream that culminated in Simon Oakland meeting my dad and being told about me and agreeing to come meet me! We shared a hug and he agreed to talk with me over lunch. It was awesommmme. And in the dream, it felt so real. That was definitely one I didn't like having to emerge from. In the dream, he wasn't dead and it was all okay. He looked about like he did in the 1970s. And from articles Crystal and I have found, he was such a humble and down-to-earth person that I totally believe he would have been happy to share lunch with a fan.

Crystal and I have decided to do a Simon-only Tumblr: http://simonoaklandtribute.tumblr.com It was her idea, and I'm excited to see this branch of the project go forth!

I am having thoughts of getting another of JoAnn's pre-stuffed dolls to make a Simon plushie, if I could find another one with a bit broader build, like I used for Lou. I've been seeing a lot of Simon this week, and eeee, just seeing him always makes me happy, no matter what role he's playing!

Only problem is, I'm not sure what character I'd want to make a plushie of. Lieutenant Schrank or Tony Vincenzo would probably be among the top choices. If I chose Schrank, though, I wonder what color I should use for the suit. I know it's supposed to be gray, but I always think of it as being more of a purple-gray mix. This icon really seems to tint it purple, and it's what I usually think of when picturing the character, since I don't often watch the movie. Plus, Lou has a gray suit, so I'd rather use a different color for Schrank.

Also, if I chose either Schrank or Tony, I'd probably also end up wanting to make either Krupke or Kolchak too. I don't know if I'd be up for making two, especially when I've even had thoughts of wondering if I should make a Mike plushie to be with the Lou and Ginger plushies.

I wish they did several kinds of face shapes; if they had an elongated face shape, I'd make a Richard plushie too. But I'm still embarrassed over having the wrong face shape on the Hamilton plush, so I don't think I'll try any more plushies with face shapes that wouldn't work well with the JoAnn's plushies.

I've also been thinking of making a Sunset Shimmer plushie, since I prefer her as a human and there will probably never be human plushies of the girls. A few fans have made some other Equestria Girls plushies, and I'm particularly in awe of some made by Lavim on dA. I would probably try to make Sunset similar in style to that person's. Any movie-accurate Sunset plush would require making the plushie completely from scratch, though, and not starting with a pre-stuffed doll. That is definitely a frightening thought. I would probably have to use the sewing machine for at least some of such a task, instead of doing everything by hand. I might ask Setsuna how much she'd charge to make one, but ever since I discovered I actually can do it myself, I kind of prefer that, since I don't have to wait for several months and I can have the proportions be what I'd like the most, instead of being anything chibi-fied.

I'm also working on my first Table 3 piece for 100songs. I decided to use Bridge Over Troubled Water, because I felt the first piece should be serious and profound and use a song that has special meaning to me and actually use the song's lyrics in the piece, as per how I opened Table 1 with Hallelujah. I'm excited with the plot I've chosen for it, and I'm also excited about several other ideas I have in the works. One will involve idiots crank-calling Ginger and Lou and singing Weird Al songs at them, until Lou finally decides to play Weird Al's song Phony Calls any time someone does that. The calls stop soon after.

So, looking over a recent email from Amazon, I've discovered there is a genre called Magical Realism. I took one look at that and my immediate thought was, "... Magical ... Realism? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

I suppose the idea is that it uses fantasy settings/characters/etc. to teach real-world lessons, but I am still amused by the genre name. It just sounds so nonsensical.

And I finished a fic yesterday for the intriguing 31_days prompt "Between the last remaining headstones." I couldn't pass up a chance to do another cemetery fic. I used the real locale Bayside Cemetery as the setting. Its condition is absolutely, utterly appalling and heartbreaking. I've never heard of such widespread desecration of a modern cemetery. It's better than it was a few years ago, thanks to some people who have really tried to work on it and an official clean-up project, but as far as I know, it's still not ideal and it's still very bad off in the deeper places not visible from the road. I also hear it's haunted. Considering its state, that's no surprise. Coffins were broken into and robbed and the bones scattered all over the ground! Worse, I heard of at least one skull being deliberately broken by some intruder who apparently just wanted to make fun of it. I felt like crying when I read that. The dead must be very furious.

Also, I watched Joseph on Quincy, M.E. in The Final Gift episode. He was wonderful and adorable and the main guest-star and the character was a good guy! And there was a May-December romance going on that was going to be happy and I was thinking "Oh man. Lucky, lucky girl." And totally envying the actress who got to be there with him! I was inwardly squealing with glee.

I love whenever I see a May-December romance turn out happy. In 1960s TV, it generally didn't seem to, but by the 1970s, they were doing some great stories at least sometimes. Other than the Joseph one, I can think of two other awesome ones, both of which had Simon. One was an Ironside episode and Simon's character was a bystander. The other was a Marcus Welby, M.D. episode and Simon was involved in the romance. Squeeeee. Oh, and I just remembered one time 1960s TV did a really sweet one: The Lovers episode of One Step Beyond.

So of course, off and on I've heard the complaints of Trixie Belden fans regarding Nancy Drew. It seems like most Trixie fans can't like Nancy too and I hear the complaints so much I find them a bit tiring. They say Trixie is more realistic and relatable in personality because she's not good at so many things and she has self-esteem issues, etc.

Now, I'm not denying that's all true. But what I am saying is that while Trixie may be more realistic, so are her mysteries. And hence, they're a little bit dull for someone who wants lots of action, adventure, excitement, and very dangerous criminals.

Trixie is around 13. Naturally she and her friends are not going to get into mysteries on the same level as Nancy Drew (and the Hardy Boys). It would be rather concerning if they did. Not that there aren't problems, but I think usually they're accidents and not the result of crooks trying to kill young kids. Which is probably a good thing. But honestly, the best thing about Trixie books, as I see it, is the slice-of-life portrayal of a town and a group of friends when things were more innocent. I think the slice-of-life stuff plays a larger part in the stories than the mysteries, or at least, that's been the case whenever I've looked in a Trixie book (or read one).

Nancy Drew is older and while it's true that she was depicted at being good at so many things it seems laughable, I don't think the writers set out to have that happen. The mystery would involve a particular thing and they would decide to make Nancy good at that thing in order to advance the mystery in the best way. To be honest, I barely even notice when it's done; I'm more interested in the mystery than in whether or not Nancy is partially a canon Mary Sue. And I think she is a good role model in spite of that; she's stubborn, determined, won't give up, and is a good and thoughtful daughter and friend (much moreso than the TV series sometimes depicts her as being). And anyway, I think the idea of her knowing so many skills was toned way down by the time they started issuing books #57 and up into the #170s.

It's funny, you know; I hear Trixie fans complaining so much about Nancy, but I don't think I've ever heard a Nancy Drew fan make a rebuttal. The bottom line is, I think Trixie books were really written for a slightly younger audience. The characters are younger and the mysteries aren't as dangerous and there's more of an emphasis on slice-of-life than the mysteries. And I don't entirely think it's fair to compare them to Nancy Drew books since in Nancy books, the mysteries are more important than slice-of-life goings-on, Nancy is older, and the danger is more pronounced. They're really different book series for what different-minded people want.

I've rarely met anyone who likes both book series. My mom does. And I'll admit I find the innocence and slice-of-life stuff in Trixie books rather enchanting. I'd read Trixie books more for that. If I want really intense, dangerous mysteries, I'll choose Nancy.

Also, I made the odd realization that I think I pattern Snakes' speech on my version of Nack/Fang from Sonic the Hedgehog, especially the redo I did of the character for Sonic X. Originally I portrayed Fang as more of a good guy to begin with; when I did the Sonic X fic I decided I'd make him more mercenary, but a diamond in the rough. That's pretty much how I write Snakes, especially in the Maverick fic where it's the 19th century and he's a crime boss for Lucrece Posey.

And I know I was going to say something else, but now I can't think what it was. I'm sure I'll remember the instant I post this.

... Oh! I got The Hunting Party recorded and watched Simon's scenes. I'm not sure I can bear to give the thing up; Simon is absolutely precious, the bright spot in a very dark and depressing film. **hugs him!** I knew I felt for years that I just had to see his scenes in that film, even though the film overall sounded repugnant. I don't regret it for one moment. I only watched Simon's scenes; I ignored everything else. And Simon was so adorable I can imagine wanting to watch his scenes over and over. Help, I don't think I can let this thing go....

So last week on Monday MeTV started their new Fall schedule. First day went fine. Second day, Tuesday, our local affiliate had a really dumb screw-up that caused them to air everything an hour earlier than it was supposed to. We tried to watch CHiPs, but because of the screw-up, we got the TV on at what was then the wrong time.

I was really mad, not just that such a dumb thing had happened, but also that it had happened right after the new schedule went into effect. I'm sure there were lots of people trying to get the new shows and were disappointed.

I complained. On MeTV's Facebook, on their website, on the local affiliate's website, and on their after-hours answering machine. I was civil, especially on the phone, but I made it clear that I was not happy one bit.

The next day the problem was fixed. And I noticed to my chagrin that the local affiliate had actually called back on my cellphone. I didn't catch the call and I don't have voicemail set up, so there was no message, but I immediately worried whether I'd sounded nasty on the message I left on the answering machine. I hope not. I honestly hadn't expected them to call back. Naturally the mess was a stupid accident, but it was aggravating that they weren't paying close enough attention to prevent it from happening. It's not like no one was there and that's how it went wrong; Labor Day was the day when the schedule went correctly. The next day, when people came back to work, is when it messed up.

Also, Naked City is one of the most depressing things I have ever seen. It was created or written or something by the same guy who did Route 66, but it doesn't seem to have that series' charm and hope.

I waited for ages for MeTV to show the Simon episode of Naked City, which was one of the half-hour ones. It was a piece of badly-written junk. There was barely any time to properly advance the plot and it ended in about the lamest way possible, with Simon and the other guy shooting each other dead. I am so glad I didn't try buying the series to get that episode.

I hoped that maybe the series improved when it went to an hour-long format. I found one of Joseph's three episodes, Memory of a Red Trolley Car or something like that, and watched some of it. Unfortunately, even though it was admittedly better written and developed things more, it still ended in a really discouraging way. This poor guy played by Barry Morse was exposed to some chemical and spent the episode roaming around in a daze. When they finally caught up to him and had him in the hospital, he told his wife something about their kids and she looked stricken. "We don't have any kids," she said. "He never wanted any." And it just ended like that.

The other two of Joseph's episodes are going to air this week, as Naked City is now airing six times a week. Joseph didn't have a big part in the Trolley episode and I'm wondering if he has any better screentime in the other two. They both sound like they're probably the same discouraging way as the others I've seen, so I'm wondering if they're even worth watching or recording at all.

Sometimes I don't mind a tragic episode of something here or there; it's certainly realistic. But I get really annoyed if it seems like that's all a series has. I can do without that. There's so many shows and stories that just have what seems to me to be unnecessary tragedies. Even if I get the point of why they're there, their existence can seriously bug me sometimes. I like to watch things largely to escape from reality, not be presented with it even more. And that's not to say that I think all fiction should be sunshine and rainbows; that would be annoying too. I guess I just want a better balance.

And The Man From U.N.C.L.E. started tonight, with season 1. I was slightly worried whether they'd go straight to the color episodes, but no, it looks like they're going to show it all. I hope the episodes will be uncut, especially since they're the only copies of seasons 1 and 3 I'm likely to have. (I own 4 on DVD.)

I don't know that I'll record much of season 2; there's a few I want, but mostly I found season 2 unmemorable and a drag. I am amused that I feel like that and adore season 3, instead of the other way around.

I am also amused how someone once told me that all the seasons after 1 focus more on Illya. Actually, that's not even true. The other seasons focus more on Napoleon and Illya as a team and try to have equal screentime for them both. There's really very little, if any, focus on Illya as the main man instead of Napoleon, which is the impression this person gave me. There's only even one episode in the entire series that doesn't have Napoleon in it at all, and that's in season 4.

I guess compared to season 1's focus on Napoleon doing missions by himself (note I'm trying to avoid the pun of him doing missions solo **headdesk**), it would look like reduced screentime in the other seasons, but honestly, it's not anywhere as much as I was told. Interesting how two people can look at the same thing and see entirely different things. This person doesn't like Illya, so I suppose any more screentime for him, even if it's equally balanced with Napoleon's, looks like way too much screentime in their eyes!

Also interesting is that normally I would just go for Illya, since he's the serious, aloof one. But I honestly can't choose between him and Napoleon. Illya is gloriously aloof, a softie at heart, and not that interested in romance, but Napoleon always makes me laugh. Some of his comments are just priceless.

I can't even fully say why some characters strike me and others don't. Normally the aloof ones are always my main mans. And then other times, I'll like the funny ones. They have to be a certain, intelligent kind of funny, like how I adore Micky in season 1 of The Monkees but can't stand him at times in season 2.

One type I very rarely go for is the streetwise type, which is probably one reason why, even though I like them and want them present, characters like Joey in YGO or Ponch on CHiPs are not my favorites.

Then it seems like the Jack Webb shows always have one single guy and one married guy. And one of them is generally a little weird. I think I like Jim Reed (the married one) better on Adam-12. (Neither he nor Pete fit into the "weird" category, though. But Jim is usually trying to convince Pete to get married, same as on Dragnet.) Then on Dragnet, I like the serious, single Sergeant Friday better than his strange partners (even though I'm very fond of Harry Morgan in general). But on Emergency!, John Gage (the single one and the oddball) is my favorite instead of the more quiet Roy. Johnny seriously amuses me and I'm just so fond of him in spite of his oddities (and occasionally because of them). I totally related to him in the episode where he kept getting woke up while trying to sleep and then he ended up not being able to sleep because he was worried he'd get woke up again. (And Ponch, although not from a Jack Webb show, definitely qualifies under the "weird" category too. LOL.)

Then when it comes to shows like Mannix or The Six Million Dollar Man, even though I love the main characters too, I go for their bosses even more. (And their bosses usually fit the standard pattern of what I typically like in characters.) I relate to them and their concerns and don't feel it's fair when people say those characters aren't as good because they don't just jump in and do what's "right" without question, like how Steve often disobeys his boss and does what he thinks is right. But his boss Oscar, for example, is in charge of a government agency. He has to think of the big picture, even if that's going to clash with what his agent Steve Austin wants to do. He has to worry about red tape and bureaucrats and be concerned about keeping his job. After all, he won't be able to do any good at all if he gets fired. But he tries to always support Steve and Jaime, and if his job ends up clashing with their safety, he puts his job on the line for them. Both he and Steve do what they feel is right; they just have different ideas sometimes on how to go about it. But I think they agree on methods many times when it matters the most.

So yeah. It's pretty much a show-by-show basis and I'm never sure which way I'll go until I'm into the show and watching it. It puzzles me a bit, and yet I think it's probably a good thing that I don't just strictly stick to one type of character for interest. Aloof, serious ones will always be my favorites in general, but it's kind of fun when I have some favorites that break a mold a bit.

MeTV put up teaser trailers of some stuff coming in the Fall. Mission: Impossible will finally at long last be back. We're getting CHiPs and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.! And ohmygosh, it's BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP!

This calls for a post at the Simon blog.

http://metvnetwork.com/monitor/sure-it-s-summer-but-fall-is-just-around-the-corner

So much adorable Simon to record for keeps! And I'll need to record U.N.C.L.E. too, since getting the DVDs is a laugh. And I want CHiPs too, especially when they go to season 3, since only 1 and 2 have been released on DVD.

MeTV never disappoints. I'm still begging them for Garrison's Gorillas, but right now, I'm just ecstatic.

So somehow I stumbled across this little article, which is a nice read: http://www.fm100.com/public/queue/view/5828 And the bit about Paul still having conversations with John is so squeeable! Love it.

Now I have more decisions to make. I have enough spare money for a nice little shopping spree. But since I like to stretch it as much as I can, I wonder whether to spend a certain part of it on one DVD set that has two episodes I want, or whether to spend it on several smaller, Pony-related items.

The DVD set is a nice show, but probably one I wouldn't be interested in if not for those two episodes. But those two episodes have Simon, and if he's the main guest-star and has a lot of screentime, it would be SO WORTH IT. But the set is newly out and I'll have plenty of chances to get it. But Wal-Mart has the best price and they might not have it long. They've been rotating their DVDs more than usual lately (or so it seems to me).

Then I badly want some of the new Pony stuff: the Celestia and Cadance plushies I mentioned, and some of the new figure sets, and also I'm getting awfully intrigued by Sunset Shimmer and want to get that figure. And there's an adorable Christmas ornament of Twilight in a stocking that I really want. Hobby Lobby has their Christmas stuff 50% off, so if they have that one, she surely wouldn't cost too much (unless their ornaments are outrageously expensive, which I doubt).

I still haven't seen the Equestria Girls movie, but I plan to do that soon. I dunno, for some reason, while humans turning into animals is absolutely abhorrent to me, I am kind of fascinated when the reverse happens. Of course, that's the premise behind Princess Tutu, and then there's two Ponies in Equestria Girls who become human (Twilight and Sunset). I'm particularly interested in Sunset's experiences. She seems more spoiled/prideful than outright evil to me, so when ( spoilers! )

Of course, then there are times when I don't like the "animal to human" trope, either. I was trying to do that in one of my YGO mysteries and have Oreo the cat be temporarily human, but I ended up not liking that and had the human just be a manifestation of Oreo's heart, so she had a voice.

It's Simon Oakland's birthday today!

I'm posting pictorial tributes on Tumblr off and on all day today. http://lucky-ladybugs-lovelies.tumblr.com/

Also, if we can remember our password on the blog, there's going to be some long-overdue Simon content there. I wish I hadn't had to keep changing the password when Yahoo! was giving us some trouble getting in.

As if I needed more reasons to hate Yahoo. Now they refuse to let me access the account Crystal and I co-use to run the Simon Oakland blog and an email address. (http://simonoaklandtribute.blogspot.com/) I wrestled with it for over thirty minutes this morning, just so I could post a birthday tribute for Simon, and finally just reset the password. Now it won't let me in with that password, either! Both passwords were correct! Why is it doing this? Now Crystal probably won't be able to get in later to post more Simon stuff for our birthday tribute.

It seems like I had this problem one other time, but for the life of me I can't think how I solved it.

I hate Yahoo. And I hate that they partnered with Google. Of all the moronic, idiotic, utterly stupid things, to lock me out of an account is unforgivable.

I've made some edits to the previous post; upon thinking further I realized there were a couple of other answers to check off, plus, I wanted to say more on one of the Twilight Sparkle questions.

Here's a classic film era quiz.

1. Favorite classic Disney?

I’m going to assume that “classic” will refer to any time when Walt was alive. So for animated, Lady and the Tramp. I loved the story years before I ever saw the film. I bought novelizations and even scanned in a chapter book I rented from the library, so I would always have a copy. I only scanned the text, though, since we had a B&W printer, so alas, no pretty pictures. For live-action, That Darn Cat!, the 1965 original. Absolutely hilarious, crime-fighting, and an adorable cat. A perfect film!

2. Favorite film from the year 1939?

(Why 1939 in particular? Is there something extra-special about that year?) Probably The Wizard of Oz. I grew up on it and always found it very magical and special. I think the books are seriously messed up, to be honest, but I don’t think I could ever not love the movie.

3. Favorite Carole Lombard screwball role?

I … am not sure I’ve ever seen one of her screwball roles.

4. Favorite off screen couple? (It’s OK if it ended in divorce.)

I love it when I find couples who have stayed married all through the years, or couples who stayed married until one or the other died, even if it was an early and tragic death. Hmmm. I’m not sure I have one particular favorite. I’m not sure whether Simon Oakland and his wife would be considered “classic film era”. They married in the 1940s, but Simon didn’t come to Hollywood until the fifties and then was mostly in TV until about 1958.

EDIT: Also, of course Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

5. Favorite pair of best friends? (i.e: Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford)

Onscreen or off-screen? I remembering loving Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in Road to Utopia. I think that's my favorite Road picture; I didn't care too much for some of them because they all too often seemed to have the guys caring more about their own interests and survival than each other's.

Also, I like Sach and Slip from The Bowery Boys. Their caring for each other is evident in each and every film, even amid all the hat-hitting and name-calling (mostly on Slip's part).

And I like Sach and Duke from later in the series. They care about each other too; Duke is always genuinely upset if Sach ever gets hurt, no matter how much he might threaten to hurt Sach himself. Duke is still my favorite character aside from Jimmy Murphy's Myron, largely because of both his logic and his classiness. He seems higher educated than Slip, so it breaks my brain the few times the writers tried to make him a carbon copy by giving him the same speech pattern as Slip.

6. Favorite actor with a mustache?

I was going to say the guy who plays Captain Stottlemeyer on Monk, but this is for classic film era only, so hmmm. I like both Howard Keel and Clark Gable. It’s hard for me to imagine either of them without mustaches. Oh, and Keenan Wynn. And Ronald Colman and David Niven.

7. Favorite blonde actress?

Joi Lansing. And I don't mind Marilyn Monroe. I don't know; I think most actresses I like have darker hair, but it's honestly hard to tell in black-and-white. Sometimes the script will say their hair is blonde, but in B&W it looks more like light brown to me.

8. Favorite pre-code?

I’m not sure if I’ve seen enough pre-Code to judge. All of the Marx Brothers' films prior to A Night at the Opera were pre-Code, so I think I'll say The Cocoanuts. I remember particularly liking that one. Monkey Business too, but I'm not sure if I'd like that one as much if I saw it again now.

9. Which studio would you have liked to join?

Whichever studio my favorites were working for, haha. William Talman was with RKO in the early fifties, but I’m not sure if he was under contract. Both of his pictures with Robert Mitchum were for RKO.

10. Favorite common on screen pairing that SHOULD have gotten married?

Golly, I don’t think I’ve ever thought about this. After all, even if they have great chemistry onscreen, maybe they wouldn't have gotten along in real-life, or maybe they were already married to other people at the time, so it just doesn't seem like something I could feel comfortable answering even if I did think about it.

11. Favorite "I Love Lucy" episode?

The one with Hans Conreid, where they’re trying to learn how to speak proper English. LOL.

12. Out of these actresses which one do you like best: Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Greer Garson, or Katharine Hepburn?

Audrey Hepburn. I love just about every film I've seen that she's made. There are some things about her as a person that disappoint me, but as an actress alone she is still one of my favorites.

13. Shadowy film noir from the 1940s or splashy colorful musicals from the 1950s?

Film noir, baby, all the way.

14. Actor or actress with the best autograph (photo preferred).

I don’t typically study autographs, to be honest. I like Pleasant Valley’s answer of Walt Disney; his signature is definitely awesome and memorable. I also like Simon Oakland’s and William Talman’s, but that be more bias than anything else.

15. A baby (or childhood, or teenage) photo of either your favorite actress or actor (or both, if you’d like.)

I've been thinking about that subject for the last few days, actually. I don't think I can find one. Wait, I'll look.... Nope, I don't see any.

OH WAIT! I found one after all! http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/March-2012/One-Brave-Precedent/Talman%20family%20Tim%20Talman_cx.jpg William is on the left. Cute!

In fact, off-topic, but here's the link to the article it came from. Read, guys! It's just new this month. I'm so excited by this. William is still remembered and loved, and honored for his courage in being the first celebrity to speak out against the dangers of smoking. http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/March-2012/One-Brave-Precedent/