smitten: five crush Friday

[lampshade_days]

1. Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in Elementary. I must admit I was initially skeptical about this series. A female Watson? Someone other than Benedict Cumberbatch playing a modern day Holmes? Set in New York City? Where's Lestrade? Etc. While this rendition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous work is not without its flaws, Jonny Lee Miller has really won me over with his Sherlock. He brings a tenderness and vulnerability to the character that is unexpected but not unwelcome. He's quite good, and I'm a little enamoured. (I will state for the record, though, that I don't think I would buy a female Watson if anyone other than the forever-badass-in-my-eyes Lucy Liu was playing the part.)
2. Lizzie Brocheré as Grace in American Horror Story, season two. I am loving season two of AHS just as much as I loved the first season. It's such a unique show, and so unabashed in its efforts to make viewers squirm! Zachary Quinto, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, and Chloe Sevigny are all very strong in their roles, but I am most intrigued by Grace. She's the little French bird on the shoulder of the other inmates - Kit, Lana - and I have a pretty strong feeling that there is much more to her than we have learned thus far. (P.S. - I've been trying my best not to ship Kit/Grace and failing spectacularly. They're doomed, right? They're so doomed.)
3. Chris Messina as Danny Castellano in The Mindy Project. This is mostly a shallow thing, or maybe my love for the character is a "Kim has a thing for seemingly pompous dudes who make like they have swagger" thing. Either way, I love Mindy Kaling and the Mindy Project and this guy. Looking forward to getting more background on his character.
4. The runner who stopped to hug a volunteer working who was sweeping up discarded Dixie cups during the marathon on Sunday.
5. Jeff Probst. I started watching Survivor again this season for the first time in I don't know how many years, and it took exactly two episodes for my truly embarrassing crush on Jeff Probst to resurface. Is he a jerk in real life? I know not, but I do know that when just-voted-off castaway Dawson, all bedroom-eyed and swoony, went in for a cheek-kiss and hug before departing, all I could think was, "I feel you, girl".

In unrelated news, if I don't have another idea by Thursday, I am thinking of writing a 50 Shades of Grey parody for NaNoWriMo. It'll be a book about a librarian who writes dirty stories and poems and sticks them in various library books in the hopes of getting caught and chastised by the Dean of Libraries, which I'm fairly certain isn't even a real job title. I intend to call it "Dirty Words".