Crushworthy

Sarah Polley

This crush can be considered kind of weird, because I grew up watching her on TV as a kid. She was freakin' Ramona Quimby and Sara Stanley from Road to Avonlea, for chrissakes!

Regardless of that, I still have a crush on Sarah Polley. I do think she's pretty, but I think I'm most drawn to her intelligence and passion. She's an actress, director, and a screenwriter. Pretty impressive. And what I mean by passion is that she's seems very tough-as-nails and she's not going to take your shit if she disagrees with it. One of the reasons she left Road to Avonlea was because she felt the show was becoming too Americanized when it was picked up by the Disney Channel for distribution in the U.S. (she, and the show, is Canadian. I love me some Canadians).

She's also been very involved in various political and social issues. At the ripe age of 12 she attended an awards ceremony and wore a peace sign to protest the Gulf War. Disney executives had asked her to remove it, but she refused. Last year, she directed a two-minute short film in support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada that was to be aired during the Academy Awards (in Canada). When she learned that the campaign was a marketing promotion for Becel, a margarine company, Polley withdrew her name from the project. She said when she made the film she thought she was promoting the Heart and Stroke Foundation and she was proud to be associated with such an organization, but she did not support her work being used to promote a product. She says she refuses to promote any corporate brand.
She also has a history of being very involved in politics. She's been involved with the New Democratic Party in Canada. She was part of Toronto mayor David Miller's transition advisory team. She's been involved with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. She protested against the FTAA. In 1995, during a protest against Mike Harris's Progressive Conservative provincial government, she lost two back teeth after being struck by a riot police officer. 

She was originally cast in the movie Almost Famous (as Penny Lane) -- which was a big budget, big hyped film that was bound to give her a lot of attention. But she decided to drop out of Almost Famous to return to Canada to star in a low budget independent movie for a Canadian director that she greatly admires. She makes choices that might not be the best for her career, but she makes the choices because she believes in them. That's admirable.

Jon Stewart

This doesn't really need an explanation. Jon is extremely smart, witty, and funny. And oh so adorable. And sexy. What's not to love? I got to see him in person twice in one week, and it was lovely.