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Thursday Thirteen - 217 - 13 Eye Candy T13s

Here's a look back at some of the rather distracting Eye Candy Series that appears from time to time at A Piece of My Mind.


1 - 13 Ways to Admire Jensen Ackles










2 - 13 More Ways to Admire Richard Armitage











3 - 13 Ways to Say Happy 40th Birthday to Gerard Butler







4 - 13 Ways to Admire Michael Fassbender











5 - 13 Ways to Admire Tom Hardy









6 - 13 Ways to Admire Djimon Hounsou











7 - 13 Ways to Admire Konstantin Khabensky







8 - 13 Ways to Admire Lenny Kravitz









9 - 13 Ways to Admire Jared Padalecki













10 - 13 Ways to Admire Alexander Skarsgård











11 - 13 Ways to Admire Kevin Smith









12 - 13 Ways to Admire Kevin Sorbo









13 - A double holiday round-up!

Since I'm a dual citizen of Canada and the US, and since I'll be celebrating Canada Day in New York, and the 4th of July in Nova Scotia, here are two tributes to the hotties of my two nations. Enjoy.


13 of my Favourite Canadian Hotties in Honour of Canada Day








13 of my Favorite American Hotties in Honor of the 4th of July

5 on Friday - Set 68

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Which takes us to my Supernatural obsession, which knows no bounds.

Season 6 just finished airing, and I'm still trying to process what happened.

*insert Luke Skywalker "No!"*

Since it's on my mind, here are five of my favorite Supernatural fan videos from my You Tube playlist.

Can you tell I'm a Dean Girl?

WARNING: violent images / screams / series spoilers if you haven't watched it yet

1 - Somewhere a Clock is Ticking - Snow Patrol



2 - Don't Let the Darkness Eat You Up - Jose Gonzalez



3 - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - Moby



4 - Imagine - A Perfect Circle



5 - New Divide - Linkin Park

Through the Opera Glasses - 69 - A Very Supernatural Christmas

Happy New Year!

My husband and I have just returned from a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday with his family in Toronto. More on that later in the week. I'll be putting my Eye Candy Thursday Thirteen series on hold for a few weeks in order to share our trip and other goodies with you, so do drop by on Thursday if you'd like to see what we got up to in the Big City.

Christmas money sent us dashing off to our favorite haunts, and because we're currently in the midst of a Supernatural obsession, we ended up with what you see here in our luggage:

















Gift cards for Chapters brought Supernatural companions for seasons 3, 4 and 5.

The Boxing Day blowout sale at Wal Mart got us the DVD box sets for seasons 1, 2 and 3.

And a last hurrah at HMV found the missing season 4 that was nowhere to be found at Wal Mart.










Now I can get my daily dose of Dean and Sam any time I want. My muse is currently very insistent on daily Dean and Sam.


















Did you indulge in any book/movie/TV/music obsessions this Christmas?

Announcing:

This year A Piece of My Mind will be changing up a few features. One of them is posting every second week for Poetry Train Monday, alternating with Through the Opera Glasses, which used to appear on Tuesday's.

Thursday Thirteen - 186 - 13 Ways to Admire Jared Padalecki

1 - A tall drink of water with a passion for rescuing damsels in distress - furry four-footed damsels, that is. Jared Padalecki is a hero on the small screen and off.











2 - Jared Padalecki - currently appearing as Sam Winchester on Supernatural

6' 4"

Eyes - Hazel/green

Hair - Brown

Type - Athletic / Late 20's

He works as an actor / Animal rescue activist

Works in television / Film














3 - Jared grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and concentrated on acting though he'd once made plans to attend college.

Appeared on Gilmore Girls for five seasons (2000-2005)

Portrayed painter Thomas Kinkade in the made-for-television film The Christmas Cottage (2008)

Like his Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles, Jared has done a lot of genre work, including:

Friday the 13th remake (2009)
Cry Wolf (2005)
House of Wax (2005)

Next photo is straying into Not Safe For Work territory...

























4 - Jared keeps in tiptop shape for the grueling stunt schedule required of his role on Supernatural.






































5 - No matter how delicious Mr. Padalecki may be, he's strictly eye candy, ladies - he belongs to Mrs. Padalecki, Idaho-bred actress Genevieve Cortese.

Also an actress, Genevieve met Jared on the set of Supernatural, when she had a featured role as an is-she-or-isn't-she-helping-Sam demon named Ruby.


















6 - Jared has appeared for the past six seasons as younger Winchester brother Sam. Along with his older brother Dean, he follows in the footsteps of his father, a hunter of the paranormal. When vengeful spirits, ghouls, angry pagan gods and all manner of gruesome beasts start taking down humans, the Winchesters step in and start taking down monsters.













7 - Sam looks so adorable when he's sad. Just sayin'.

Sam's sensitive nature sometimes pits him against his brother Dean as he tries to find alternatives to destroying the monsters they encounter. Of course, there's a reason Sam needs to believe that monsters can somehow be freed from their own natures.












8 - Remember my soft spot for a man in chains?

...well...

Supernatural gives us a tied-up Sam with wonderful regularity.















9 - And then there's the fact that Evil Sam is disturbingly attractive.














10 - I'm also quite fond of Sam's staring-down-disaster expression.











11 - But it's his straight-man-to-Jensen's-wisecracking role that is Jared's biggest strength.

These two actors hadn't met before being cast as brothers on Supernatural, but the producers played cupid to a real life bro-mance between them. They got along so well, they even lived together before they each married, and they were both there for the other on their wedding days.

Here's a clip that showcases their easy chemistry with each other. The clip has fun with the premise of the show when Dean and Sam need to become patients in a haunted mental health facility. Sometimes it pays to simply tell the truth...

(Note: in the clip they are using aliases.)

CLICK HERE to watch clip















12 - And Jared is an awesome crier.

CLICK HERE to watch clip




















13 - Jared is a serious dog lover and animal rescuer.

His two dogs - Harley and Sadie - were once shelter dogs. Jared helps coax strays off the streets of LA and to raise money for A Dog's Life.

5 on Friday - Set 35

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

As I mentioned on last week's Popculturedivas post, I'm currently and very happily under the spell of Supernatural. One of the strongest elements of the show is its use of classic rock tunes in the soundtrack.

And not covers. No, these are the original tunes by the original artists. Right away I wondered how they ever managed to pull off something so expensive. But when I realized that one of the executive producers, McG, is a former record producer, it all made marvelous sense.

So to continue my spooky October theme, here are five signature tunes used on Supernatural - often more than once - along with some rockin' fan fids that give a good sense of the show.

Keep in mind there are numerous frightening scenes included in these vids.

1 - Oh, Death - Jen Titus

Oh, Death
Won't you spare me over another year?

When God is gone and the Devil takes hold
Who'll have mercy on your soul?

Oh, Death

No wealth, no ruin, no silver, no gold
Nothing satisfies me but your soul

Oh, Death

Well I am Death, none can excel
I'll open the door to Heaven or Hell

- Jen Titus



2 - Carry On, My Wayward Son - Kansas

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

- Kerry Livgren



3 - Highway to Hell - AC/DC

No stop signs, speed limit
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Nobody's gonna mess me round

Hey Satan, paid my dues
Playing in a rockin band
Hey Mama, look at me
I'm on my way to the promised land

I'm on the highway to Hell
Highway to Hell

- Bon Scott / Angus Young / Malcolm Young

CLICK HERE to watch the clip











4 - Back in Black - AC/DC

Back in black
I hit the sack
I've been too long, I'm glad to be back

Yes I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about

I keep looking at the sky
Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse, cause I'll never die

I got nine lives
Cat's eyes
Usin' every one of them and runnin' wild

Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
I'm back in black

- Brian Johnson / Angus Young / Malcolm Young



5 - Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

Alright
I got something to say

Yeah, it's better to burn out
Than fade away
Alright
Gonna start a fire
Come on

Rock of ages
Rock of ages
Still rollin'
Keep a-rollin'

- Allen / Clark / Elliott / Lange / Savage / Willis