This week marked the 15th anniversary of the death of Kevin Smith, the New Zealand actor who played Ares on Xena and Hercules and one of my ultimate fellas. It’s crazy to think that he’s been gone for fifteen years already and that I’m so much older than he was when he died. In my mind, he’s still older than me– vibrant and handsome, talented, gracious and kind. It’s utterly remarkable to me how I am still friends with the people I met because of him. Miles might separate us but our hearts are still strong in friendship. And I will always be grateful to Kevin for that gift…
In those days oh so long ago (according to the calendar), most of my fellas were older than me (Kevin, Erik Thomson, Bruce Campbell) or close to my age (William Gregory Lee, Chris Conrad, Charles Mesure, Carlos Ponce). When I met and subsequently fell for Ryan Gosling, he was the first of what turned out to be several much younger than me fellas. For the longest time, Ryan was my age threshold. But as I grew older, my age threshold fluctuated. I attempted to keep the fangirl loving to fellas at least NEAR my age and at seven years younger than me, Jensen Ackles held my “top spot” for nearly a decade before being knocked out by Charles Mesure (who is actually just a little less than a year older than me). Skipping over Ed Quinn and Joe Manganiello (whose twitter blocking of me still stings, by the way), and Tom Hardy as well as my current constants Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester, brings us to Sam Hunt and Tyler Rich. Both pushed my age threshold and for a couple of years, I was fine with it. (Although being kinda sorta friends with Tyler has put him in a different category.)
Until Simon Kassianides.
Yes yes, he’s younger than me. But he’s also older than my latest fellas. “Discovering” him now, when he’s in his mid/late 30s as opposed to his early 30s, means that any trace of boyishness is just that, a trace. I didn’t realize it until remembering Kevin but discovering Simon is almost like coming full circle back to the darkly handsome and mysterious kind of man. He has an air and demeanor of sophistication with enough edge to counter being too slick. This is all my perception, of course. He is very likely a different person than the one in my head. It doesn’t really matter, my fangirl heart is quite set on him.
When I’ve talked about my different fellas and shown their pictures, the consensus is I have a type. I admit, I lean towards certain characteristics. Who doesn’t? I like green eyes, I like scruff, I like a good build, I like dark hair. I like men taller than me (which isn’t difficult since I’m only 5’4″), I like accents, I like tattoos (not too many), I like chest hair (not like a bear). Most of my fellas have one or two or some (but not all) of those characteristics.
I find it interesting that the New Muse (as I like to call Simon on twitter when I don’t want to actually name him) suddenly makes a bit of sense after remembering Kevin and how much I adored the man. On the surface, looks wise, they are similiar– dark hair, darkly handsome, dark eyes. Kevin played a Greek God. Simon is Greek (London born). It’s not that Simon reminds me of Kevin (if you want a current actor who favors Kevin more, check out Adan Canto), it’s that Simon reminds me of Kevin’s characteristics. I don’t know if that makes sense. But the other day, I thought, if they did a reboot of Hercules/Xena, what god could Simon play? I mean, what would be more awesome than a Greek playing a Greek god? My dreams are simple. LOL!
Until that happens, maybe I’ll write a Kiari story and a god she meets along the way who seems familiar and Simon can play him. Who knows, it could happen. 😉