escape to insanity

While browsing the intarwebs, as I'm wont to do, I happened upon a strange advertisement to the side of the screen. Normally I would never have seen it (I ♥ Adblock Plus), but alas I had to use Internet Explorer temporarily. And so it was that I came across this delightful little gem.

This was the ad I saw. It's an ad looking for “local mystery shoppers” — supposedly, the idea is that you're paid to shop at particular stores so long as you report on how your experience was. You rat out the crappy clerks and “associates” and whatever other people are there to “assist” you in your shopping expedition, and you can keep whatever loot you've pilfered in the meantime. It's a simple enough scheme; lots of product-oriented businesses use it.

Except… what does this ad have to do with mystery shopping?

…yeah I couldn't figure it out either.

I suppose that could be a representation of what their mystery shoppers look like. Or… it could just be an attractive, highly-Photoshopped girl slapped up (no pun intended, I swear) on the image for no reason other than to get your eye to look at it. They must have spent some time oiling her up, too… look at the shine on her legs.

Let no one ever tell you sex doesn't sell. Cause… it does. I think. If people actually click that ad. I'm sure they do; people still click those stupid “swat the fly and win a prize!” banners, why should this be any different?

Erik and I were having a discussion about this tonight, and I thought it could make for an interesting post here. We were talking about movies we'd seen recently, and as conversations with Erik often do, the topic at hand quickly turned to the actresses in the movies.

We started talking about our favorite actresses, and by extension our celebrity crushes if we had any. I figured it'd be fairly easy to come up with a list of my top celebrity crushes. It was a topic that was brought up fairly frequently last year amongst the four of us roommates. So, I put some thought into it briefly, and here's my top five celebrity crushes, in no particular order:

• Piper Perabo. Okay, she's a little older than I (by eight years), but she's still gorgeous. You may know her from such movies as 'The Cave,' 'Cheaper by the Dozen,' and most notably the main character in 'Coyote Ugly.'
• Keira Knightley. She's been in quite a few movies. She's been Guinevere in 'King Arthur,' a handmaiden for Queen Amidala in 'Star Wars Episode I,' and you might know her best for her role as Elizabeth in 'Pirates of the Caribbean' opposite Johnny Depp.
• Speaking of Queen Amidala, next up is Natalie Portman. She's been in a few of my favorite movies — Evey in 'V for Vendetta,' Sam in 'Garden State'… and of course she got her start in 'Leon the Professional.' She's the all-around good girl, plus she's brilliant — and puts her education ahead of her career. Big thumbs up for that.
• Zooey Deschanel. My roommate and I apparently share this one. Trillian in 'Hitchhiker's Guide,' Reese in 'Winter Passing,' and Will Ferrell's romantic attraction in 'Elf.' She's one of those people where you're not really sure what it is about her that you like, but you know you like them anyway.
• The fifth entry becomes a toss-up, and the ones I decided not to include get honorable mentions. I decided the honor of my fifth slot goes to Rachel McAdams, which should appease Erik. She's probably best known for her roles in 'The Notebook' (sappy chick-flick, avoid at all costs if you have any testosterone in your body) and 'Wedding Crashers.' She's just… adorable.

Honorable mentions go to Mandy Moore and Jennifer Garner. Moore didn't make it because… well… I can't think of any good reason really. Because I said it'd be a top five, not a top six. She's beautiful, she's a good girl (the kind you can bring home to the parents), and she's multi-talented. Garner didn't make it because she's a few years older than the rest and married to Ben can't-act-his-way-out-of-a-paper-bag Affleck).

Okay… your turn. Any celebrity crushes? Not “oh man s/he is HOTT!” celebrities; this would be a list of celebrities who you'd love to date if they weren't celebrities. Andrea… that means no Johnny Depp for you.