October 24, 2006

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

Since I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing me whine about moving, I'm granting a reprieve and starting to get back into romance novel rambling. Well sort of...

Whilst reading my latest batch of craptacular offerings from TRR's editor (Two "D" reads in a row, and the latest isn't shaping up to be that great either), my mind got to wandering as it often does.

What makes a man attractive?

Now, I'm not talking sexy. Although for my money, nothing is sexier than a man who is confident. A guy who's comfortable in his own skin. In other words, a guy who doesn't try hard to be someone he's not. He knows who he is. That's sexy.

No, I'm talking about what makes you notice a guy? What feature jumps out at you and makes you take a closer look. Is it the eyes? The butt? A well-toned phyisque?

Oh sure, those are all good - but for my money it's his nose.

Swear to God, I'm not sure where I picked this up - but I got a thing for guys with prominent noses. Always have. It does have to have a nice shape to it. I'm sorry ladies, but Owen Wilson does not do it for me. The nose can't be deformed. It's got to have a nice symmetrical look to it, and naturally fall on the "big" side of the sliding nose scale.

I know, I'm weird as hell.

Let's look at some examples:

Nomar (or as the older sis calls him "Nose-Mar") Garciaparra (that's him on the left - pitcher Eric Gagne on the right). I'm willing to overlook the fact that he's married to that skank Mia Hamm. I just adore this guy. I mean, I could give a hoot about him as a baseball player - but that nose! Oh that big, beautiful nose!

Adrien Brody - I know what you're thinking, "He's goofy looking." But he's Wendy-Bait all the way. Tall - check. Skinny - check. Big nose - check, check, check. A pretty good actor too. I was indifferent on King Kong - but he's really great in the all-around underappreciated Spike Lee Joint, Summer Of Sam.

And no photo because (believe it or not) I'm not a crazy stalker - the cute sales rep that came to my office yesterday. Of Middle Eastern descent, tre' cute, from Michigan, and what a nose! Of course, he leaves 3000 miles away and had a ring on his left ring finger. And something tells me The Boyfriend would have frowned upon me throwing myself at the man. He can be so unreasonable.

I guess the point of this creepy post is that all sorts of things (even weird, bizarre things like noses) make a person attractive to the opposite (or same, if that's the way you wave your flag) sex. Romance novels like to condense it down to "tall, dark, and handsome" (lest I forget "bad boy," "rake," and "misunderstood outsider") - but as readers we have (I hope) enough imagination to mold romantic heroes to our own likes. That's not to say the author is wasting her time describing the guy - but as a reader, I take what she writes, and add a little something to it. Like say, a big nose.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hummmnnn... What doesn't work for me is probably a better question.

But let's see.... my downfalls are usually:
- dimples (like Matthew McConaughey and Josh Holloway)
- hands and forearms (I have no idea why)
- and bald heads (due to my background in swimming where guys shaved their heads to have less resistance in the water).

But really? I just love men. I love their laugh, their eyes, their legs, their chests, their stomachs.....

*Grins*
G.

Megan Frampton said...

I love big noses, too. Although Nomar's OCD makes me crazy.

I love Adrien Brody too, for all the reasons you cite.

Isabella Snow said...

Awwww... I love Owen Wilson!

Wasn't his nose broken in a sporting accident and he refused to have it set?

Or something?

I dunno.. I wasn't there.. ;)

Bookseller Chick said...

Wendy, I'm all about the nose as well. My first crush was Gabriel Byrne.

Yum.

Rosie said...

Hands...I don't care what a guy looks like if he has femmy hands then ugh!! I like strong square hands. I don't like men who are too pretty and smell like perfume either.

I have to admit Wendy, I thought I'd heard it all, but noses...well that was a new one for me.

Kristie (J) said...

LOL about Nomar. I always thought he'd be pretty cute if it wasn't for the NOSE!
For me - apart from the eyes - what I notice most about a guy are shoulders. Nice strong straight shoulders. That's why a lot of football players never did it for me. The don't really seem to have any - or if they do, they just slope right down. Now baseball or hockey players on the other hand - now that's a different story!

~ames~ said...

Oooh, Adrien. LOL I like him, and Bookseller Chick's crush, Gabriel Byrne. Looove him. :P

I like a man's eyes. Especially brown or green. I love Eric Bana's eyes.

And nice wide shoulders will catch my eye. And nice muscular arms (but not too big) will definitely hold my attention.

He's a winner if he's wearing glasses.

Shannon Stacey said...

I can forgive Nomar the nose---it suits him and I always did think he was hot---but I can't forgive the shirt.

Shannon (Red Sox fan from birth)

Wendy said...

Rosie: Ha! I was wondering who the first commentor to mention hands would be.

Ames: Love Eric Bana - although my crush didn't take hold until I saw Troy. Forget Brad Pitt - I'm all about Hector.

Bookseller Chick - Gabriel Byrne = Irish Hottie

Kristie: Yeah, shoulders do it for me too. Nice, broad shoulders....

Shannon - At least it wasn't a Yankees jersey.

Monica said...

Ahh Wendy, you know what they say about men with big noses . . . ?

It indicates the same sort of thing as as big feet. . . and big hands.

I like big noses too. Yessirreee.

Wendy said...

Monica:
Ha! I knew someone would mention that - which explains quite a bit about my big nose fixation don't ya think?