Shannon Curfman: "Fast Lane Addiction"

Celebrity Crush: Eva La Rue

Here's a celebrity crush who wasn't discussed in the most recent episode. I kinda wish I had, now that I've written up this piece, because she's a much more interesting person than a former soap star now on a C.S.I. series has any right to be -- or, in one case, would WANT to be.

Name: Eva La Rue
Hometown: La Rue was born in Long Beach, Calif., according to her Wikipedia entry -- which spells her last name as "LaRue" and notes she was born with the name "La Ruy." Since her official Web site spells the last name as two words, that's what we'll go with here.
Best Known For: La Rue was a regular on the daytime soap opera All My Children before joining the cast of C.S.I.: Miami in 2004, becoming a regular as of 2005.
Not Just Another Pretty Face: La Rue talks openly about her membership in the Bahá'í Faith, a multicultural religion that demands absolute equality between men and women and all ethnic backgrounds and that teaches that all the world's major religions point to the same ultimate authority. (Her Web site even links to a Bahá'í site from the front page.) She's biracial, of Puerto Rican, Dutch, French and Scottish ancestry.

Humble Beginnings: La Rue was a beauty queen in her teen years and started acting at age 6.

Aside from soap opera work, other early TV appearances from the late '80s include the Suzanne Somers TV series She's the Sheriff, plus the sitcoms Charles in Charge and Perfect Strangers. She also hosted a short-lived revival of Candid Camera in the early 1990s with Dom DeLuise. (Excuse Ye Olde Podcaster while he takes an aspirin, because that just gave him a headache.)
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: She spent time modeling for Frederick's of Hollywood. ... Don't judge. Who could blame her? Her IMDB credits also include some direct-to-video titles that may have been softcore erotica.
Write What You Know: In 2006, it came to light that La Rue's sister had been photographed by convicted serial killer William Richard Bradford, who met women in bars and took their photos, saying he would help them get modeling jobs. Some of the women, he killed; La Rue's sister was one of the lucky ones. An episode of C.S.I. Miami was based on the case, with La Rue delivering a public service announcement at the hour's end to help find other women in Bradford's photo collection who had not been identified.
Family Ties: She's a third cousin to Jane and Peter Fonda, godmother to Kelly Ripa's son, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is godmother to La Rue's daughter.

(She and Gellar were on All My Children at the same time and became close friends there, Wikipedia notes. Kelly Ripa also has a soap opera background, so one presumes that if one took the time to look it up, one might learn she'd been on the same soap with La Rue, but one didn't care enough to find out for certain.)
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Not only is she beautiful, she's a civilly engaged actress, not only using her fame to advance the Bradford investigation but also, more quietly, helping raise money for ovarian cancer research.

The C.S.I. shows are procedurals, not character-driven television -- usually one or two actors get a chance to shine, with the others almost set pieces, not always even given the opportunity to do much acting if they ARE really talented -- but she turns in solid work as part of the cast.
Shameless Commerce: Amazon and iTunes links below, with any affiliate fees from your sales going toward hosting expenses for my podcasts. If you shop online, consider shopping here -- or in the ads in the left-hand toolbar and the bottom of the screen.

CSI: Miami - CSI: Miami, Season 8


Lakeview Terrace


CSI: Miami - CSI: Miami, Season 7


CSI: Miami - CSI: Miami, Season 6


CSI: Miami - CSI: Miami, Season 5


CSI: Miami - CSI: Miami, Season 4


RoboCop 3


Charles In Charge - Charles In Charge, Season 4 - Chargin' Charles


Dangerous Curves (1988)

Josh Woodward: "I'm Letting Go"

Trying to get back in the habit of posting videos here...

Celebrity Crush: Nora Zehetner

Here's another of the celebrities discussed in Mental Nomad Podcast 143.

Name: Nora Zehetner
Hometown: Her Wikipedia entry lists a number of Texas towns, but we'll forgive her -- not her fault. She escaped; that's the important thing. :)
Best Known For: Zehetner has joined the cast of the ABC hospital soap Grey's Anatomy this season, easily her most high-profile role. Previous work includes extended stays on Everwood (as the best friend to the character played by fellow MNP crush list member Emily VanCamp) and Heroes (as the mind controller Eden in the first season).
If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out: Her role as a femme fatale in the high school noir movie Brick also showcased Zehetner's poetic delivery skills -- offering a musical reading of "The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze" from the opera The Mikado. (You only hear her perform a fragment of the song in the movie, but the soundtrack contains the entire piece as performed by her.)
Humble Beginnings: Bit parts include American Pie 2 (as "Girl at Party") and an episode of Gilmore Girls (as "Girl in Hallway").

Obligatory Edgy Stuff: She's not a huge enough celebrity for a lot of scandalous information to be out there about her, so I'll just mention that she has a brief nude scene in the movie Conversations With Other Women.
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: To be honest, Zehetner is a dark horse for Ye Olde Podcaster's list of celebrity crushes. True, she's a brunette like most of the others, but if she were just a model, Ye Olde Podcaster would write her off as too skinny.

As stated in the episode ... there's some hard-to-define quality that draws my attention. Her role of Eden on Heroes -- a young woman who could get people to do anything she told them too -- was a bit of casting that sums it up. There's just something about her that demands attention. So though she's small and physically not at all imposing, I found her plausible as a femme fatale in the Raymond Chandler pastiche-via-high school that was Brick.

My first introduction to her was on the show Everwood, playing the sister to the comatose young man who was the boyfriend of Emily VanCamp's character -- and her character was the best friend of VanCamp's character. But she was a town person who'd gone to school off in the east somewhere amid the tragedy of her family, and she came back with a somewhat haunted nature, more mature and worldly than the other kids on that series. Part of that was in the writing, sure, but part of it also owed to that je ne sais quoi Zehetner brings along with her.

What sort of character she's playing on Grey's Anatomy, Ye Olde Podcaster does not know as of this writing. I stopped watching that show near the start of last season due to bad characterization, ludicrous plot twists and -- frankly -- too few hours in the week to watch as much TV as I used to watch. Even though I was relatively newly single at that point, so I was no longer on the road at least one weekend out of every month, the podcast and such took precedence.
Shameless Commerce: Amazon and iTunes links follow. I've cut back on my TV viewing for you folks; you can at least consider buying or renting something to help pay for hosting fees, right? :)

Grey's Anatomy - Grey's Anatomy, Season 6


Brick Soundtrack


Everwood - Everwood, Season 1


Heroes - Heroes, Season 1


Conversations With Other Women


The Brothers Bloom


American Pie 2


May


Tart


Princess

Kristin Mainhart:: "Comfortable"

Here's a video from Kristin Mainhart (and the Khromozomes?).

Back in Tennessee for now.

Celebrity Crush: Maggie Lawson

Here's another celebrity crush who wasn't discussed in Mental Nomad Podcast 143.

Name: Maggie Lawson
Hometown: Born and raised in Louisville, Ky., according to her Wikipedia entry.
Best Known For: Lawson currently co-stars on the USA Network mystery dramedy Psych, playing Det. Juliet O'Hara, who tolerates the antics of fake psychic Shawn Spencer and his buddy Burton Guster. She also played the iconic character Nancy Drew in a 2002 made-for-TV movie.
Life Imitates Art: Lawson's chemistry with show star James Roday extends offscreen as well; they've been reported to be a couple since 2006.
Humble Beginnings: As a teen actress in the 1990s, Lawson made the obligatory appearances on a variety of sitcoms, including Unhappily Ever After, Boy Meets World, Cybill and Home Improvement, and she had a recurring role on the drama Party of Five. She appeared on Smallville in 2002.

In 2003-2004, she starred on It's All Relative, playing the daughter of a gay couple; the show centered around her relationship with a guy from a more conservative family, and reruns have appeared on the LGBT-focused network Logo within the past couple of years.

Deja Vu All Over Again: She did two episodes of the Fred Savage sitcom Working, and was a regular cast member on Savage's later program Crumbs -- a sitcom that dared to mine humor in a closeted gay man returning home to work at the failing family business and re-connect with his now-divorced parents after the death of his older sibling. Well, when you put it that way, it makes sense it didn't last a full season. But she made an impression on Ye Olde Podcaster then.

In 2008, she and her Psych co-star/real-life boyfriend Roday played a soon-to-be-wed couple in an episode of the NBC summer horror anthology series Fear Itself. (Note to anyone who might be getting married: If your priest looks like the Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files, elope.)
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: Urm ... she appeared in the direct-to-DVD movie Still Waiting..., the sequel to a film that had some gross-out humor. That's about as edgy a fact as Ye Olde Podcaster could find.
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: Lawson brings a mixture of rookie detective, bemused annoyance, sweet though subtle longing and a healthy dose of denial to her work on Psych. On Crumbs, she was in a minor role as the supportive best friend to Fred Savage's character, but there was an appealing warmth in that role, as well.

And, as you'll see above, she makes a really hot roller derby babe.
Shameless Commerce: Amazon and iTunes links to her work are below. Your purchases can help pay for the hosting fees for Dancing Mattress Productions programming, so I hope you'll consider checking something out.

Psych - Psych, Season 1


Psych - Psych, Season 2


Psych - Psych, Season 3


Psych - Psych, Season 4


Smallville - Smallville, Season 2 - Redux


ER - ER, Season 5 - Responsible Parties


Crimes of Fashion - Crimes of Fashion


Pleasantville (1998)


Winter Break (2003)


Cheats


Still Waiting


Cleaner

A Brokeheart Pro: "Dark Red and Loud"

Here's a great video from A Brokeheart Pro; I've been pleased to include the singer's music under this name and with The Chubbies, including this song, in a number of episodes going back to the earliest days of this podcast.