Peter’s Man Crushes

For those of you who don’t know, a Man Crush is when a heterosexual male experiences a deep admiration for another male.  This attraction/admiration may be due to a variety of factors.  There is nothing wrong with a man crush.  I would say most guys have at least one, even if they won’t admit it.

The following are my man crushes, with brief explanations.  As I was compiling this list I realized that there were certain recurring traits in all of my man crushes, so I decided to categorize them and present them in that way.  My man crushes all meet most, if not all, of the following criteria: Canadian, musical/athletic, humanitarian, good looking, stylish, and gets hot chicks.  If they lack one category they compensate for it with an exceptional rating in another category.

After reading this list of mine, feel free to share your own man crushes.  I may add some more in the future.  You never know.

Raine Maida

• Canadian – Yes.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes.  Musical.  Lead singer of well-known Canadian band Our Lady Peace and also has a successful solo career.  Our Lady Peace has won 4 Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent to the Grammy’s) and been nominated 25 times.
• Humanitarian – Yes.  Is involved with Warchild Canada and the Make Poverty History campaign among others.
• Good Looking – Yes.
• Stylish – Yes.
• Gets hot chicks – Yes.  Married Canadian singer/song-writer Chantal Kreviazuk in 1999.
• Other Comments – Raine has been a personal idol of mine since I went to my first Our Lady Peace concert in 2000.  And I have met Raine in person, and he is a really good guy.

Bono

• Canadian – No.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes.  Musical.  Lead singer of a little band you may have heard of, U2 by name.  Has won 22 Grammy Awards.
• Humanitarian – You better believe it.  He co-founded the organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa), he is a common participant in benefit concerts, he co-founded the ONE campaign against poverty and Product Red.  He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times and he has been named Times Person of the Year.  He is the only person to have been nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Good Looking – Sort of.
• Stylish – Yes.  The sunglasses he wears have become iconic.  He is a co-founder of EDUN Apparel Ltd.
• Gets hot chicks – Yes.  Married Ali Stewart in 1982.

Justin Timberlake

• Canadian – No.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes.  Musical.  Member of popular boy band ‘N Sync.  And later brought sexy back as a solo artist.  Has won 6 Grammy Awards.
• Humanitarian – Yes.  Has been involved in the ONE campaign and is a spokesperson for the Shriners Hospitals for Children among other things.
• Good Looking – Yes.
• Stylish – Yes.  Co-founded the William Rast clothing line.  Brought sexy back.
• Gets hots chicks – Yes, including Britney Spears, Alyssa Milano, Cameron Diaz, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Biel.

 

 

 

Michael Buble

• Canadian – Yes.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes.  Musical.  Such a crooner.  Wooes the ladies with his amazing voice.  I wish I could sing like him.  Has won 6 Juno Awards and 1 Grammy.
• Humanitarian – Nothing of note, but his voice could probably cure malaria.
• Good-Looking – Yes.
• Stylish – Yes.  It’s tough to be a jazz musician and not have some style.
• Gets hot chicks – Yes.  Recently dated Emily Blunt.  But for now he seems to be enjoying the single life.

 

 

Josh Groban

• Canadian – No.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes. Musical.  Quite a singer.  Sings classical/pop music.  Very powerful voice.  I wish I could sing like him.
• Humanitarian – Has performed in many benefit concerts.  He established the Josh Groban Foundation to help children in need through education, healthcare and the arts.  He was an official ambassador for Nelson Mandela’s Project 46664.  He has participated in many other fund raising activities. 
• Good-Looking – Girls think so.
• Stylish – Yes.  He’s a classy guy.
• Gets hot chicks – dated actress/model January Jones for a couple of years.  Works for me.

David Beckham

• Canadian – No.  But I don’t even care.  David Beckham transcends nationality.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes.  Athletic.  International soccer superstar (he’s been called the most famous athlete in the world).
• Humanitarian – Yes.  Supporter of UNICEF, spokesman for Malaria No More, has participated in charity soccer clinics.
• Good-Looking – Hell yes.
• Stylish – Hell yes.
• Gets hot chicks – Another hell yes.  Married Victoria Adams (aka Posh Spice) in 1999.

 

 

 

George Stroumboulopoulos

• Canadian – Yes.
• Musical/Athletic – Yes.  Musical.  He is a former VJ for the MuchMusic music video channel in Canada.  I spent many an hour with George on MuchMusic when I was younger.  He is very passionate about music and his passion is contagious.  Not only that but he is very knowledgeable about music, past and present.
• Humanitarian – Yes.  He is a supporter of the Make Poverty History campaign and WarChild Canada.  He hosted the “HipHop4Africa” Mandela Children’s Fund Canada and CapAids benefit concert in 2006.  He has been involved with many other humanitarian organizations.  He hosts a late night talk show called The Hour that deals with humanitarian and political issues as often as it deals with humorous issues.
• Good-Looking – Yes.  In a hip, serious kinda way.
• Stylish – Yes.  And he gets to wear his casual styles, including his Adidas Allstars, on The Hour while he interviews high profile people like Bono, Jean Chretien and so on.  He’s real.
• Gets hot chicks – Not sure.  He keeps his love life very low profile, which makes me respect him even more.  He does wear a wedding band.

My good friend Randal reminded me of another man crush of mine, Anderson Cooper.  I just haven’t seen as much of him lately so I forgot to include him.  But he is a very worthy addition to this list.  He’s not Canadian and he’s not known for his musical or athletic ability but he makes up for it with his humanitarian journalism and his hair.

Anderson Cooper

• Canadian – No.
• Musical/Athletic – No.  At least, that’s not what he’s known for.
• Humanitarian – Yes.  His journalism is often focused on international and humanitarian issues.  He hosted the documentary Planet In Peril.  He has also won many international honors for his journalism.  He is a very socially conscious person and I look up to him for the work he does.
• Good-looking – Yes.
• Stylish – Yes.  I don’t know how he does it, but he could be in the middle of an artillery strike in Iraq or in the middle of a hurricane and he would still look great and his hair would be perfect.
• Gets hot chicks – This category holds little weight with Anderson.  He is conspicuously single and widely rumored to be gay.  But I’m sure Anderson could get anyone he wanted of either sex.
• Other comments – You probably don’t know this but Anderson is the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt.  I greatly respect the fact that he doesn’t seem to use his heritage to grab attention, in fact, he goes out of his way to avoid the kind of attention that his mother sought.